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first ledger scholarship awarded

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Two days before Heath Ledger will certainly receive his first and only Oscar winner, the first scholarship in the late actor’s name was given out to Oliver Ackland, a 29-year-old actor from Ledger’s native-Australia.

The $10,000 award isn’t to find the next Ledger, though.  That was made very clear during the presentation of the award.

“Rachel Griffiths said, ‘How do we judge this?” Director Greg Jordan, who directed Ledger in Two Hands. “Are we looking for the next Heath Ledger?’

“We all said ‘No,” Griffiths responded.  “There is no next Heath Ledger, but there’s plenty of other people.’”

Ackland, a relatively unknown actor in the States, said that the award – especially the fact that it was in The Dark Knight star’s name – was especially meaningful.

“The fact that it is in his name means the world,” Ackland said. “I admired Heath and I admired the work that he chose, the path he created for himself. It shows a lot of integrity on his behalf.”

Fellow Australian actors Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts all contributed to the Ledger Scholarship, which pays for flights for auditions and meetings with casting agents and directors, among other things.

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For more on the movie business, follow Eric Van Dril on Twitter.

next year’s oscar winner is…

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The Oscars are next Sunday – Feb. 22 – but Harvey Weinstein has already handicapped next year’s race.

Weinstein recently said that the new movie that he is producing, a musical titled Nine, is the favorite to take home Best Picture next year.

After looking at the cast (while considering the format), I can’t argue against Weinstein’s statement.  The actors involved in Nine includes Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman.   On top of the all-star actors, Nine was directed by Rob Marshall, who directed Chicago towards six Oscars.

“You’ll see a lot of nominations,” Weinstein recently told WENN. “You’ll see a lot of dancing too. Really, this is a great musical, a lot of great musical numbers.

“It’s directed by Rob Marshall. We won the Oscar for Chicago; hopefully we’ll get in the arena again.”

Don’t bet against it.

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For more Oscar updates, follow author Eric Van Dril and his sites at www.twitter.com/isthisitx

kidman admits her work in australia sucked

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Nicole Kidman recently admitted that her work in Australia was sub-par, because she couldn’t connect emotionally.  This news has to be good news for people who paid their hard-earned money to see Kidman play a British aristocrat alongside Hugh Jackman in such dire economic times.

“I sat there (at the premiere) and I looked at Keith and went ‘Am I any good in this movie?’ Kidman said. “But I thought Brandon Walters (an 11-year-old Aboriginal boy) and Hugh Jackman were wonderful. It’s just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all.”

Kidman, one of the highest-paid actresses in the movie industry, has seen her star fade in recent years by releasing low-quality films like Australia, The Golden Compass, Bewitched and more. The interesting thing about Kidman’s status as a box office draw is that she’s been rumored to consider stepping away from acting.  How long is up in the air, but if she can’t connect emotionally, then I think it will be hard for her to stay in the business.

tom cruise mouths off again

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Valkyrie did OK this weekend at the box office, but Tom Cruise is still hawking it like it’s drastically underperforming.  The recent crazy thing the actor said is that he wants 10 kids with Katie Holmes.

They could then star in a realtity show like that couple with 18 kids that we so elegantly wrote about a couple days ago.  Especially the headline.

“I want ten children,” Cruise told The Sun. “I love kids.”

All right, but so does Michael Jackson.  That doesn’t qualify Cruise to be a father for 10.

But Maverick himself seems to have a pretty good track record.

“I feel really fortunate to have the teenagers and a two and a half-year-old. It’s a great dynamic.”

Come on, TomKat, have another one.  Hell, have seven more.  Please.  Do it for me and not for the money you’d get from the baby pictures.

hide your kids – tom cruise is coming

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Tom Cruise is currently doing a great deal of promotion for his new film Valkryie.  He’s appeared on The Tonight Show and Today, and has been asked many tough questions.

Do you regret your actions on the Oprah show probably being the toughest and most frequent.

But Cruise was recently asked if he would consider making a childrens movie, given that he has three kids – Connor, 13, Bella, 15 with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, and Suri, 2, with Katie Holmes.

His response to the question should be troubling for the entire family:  “I’d like to,” Cruise said. “I don’t have any right on the horizon. I like those movies. Some are really great, and it would just be fun.”

Hide your kids, mom & dad.  Hide your kids.

four christmases makes nearly $50 million

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Four Christmases took in an impressive $46.7 million this weekend, in an amount that can be equated to the Thanksgiving holiday (coupled with black Friday) and the fact that schools were out because of that holiday.

With its’ performance over the weekend, Christmases became the third highest grossing film to open over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Toy Story 2 debuted to $80.1 million, and last year’s Enchanted opened to $49.1 million.

The team of Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn easily defeated competition from Twilight, Bolt, Quantum of Solace and Australia.  Those four films, respectively, took in $39.5 million, $36 million, $28.1 million and $20 million over the five-day gross period.

The most interesting performance from this weekend wasn’t in the top-five. 

Milk, Gus Van Sant’s film starring Sean Penn, pulled in $1.9 million in just 36 theaters.  Milk, at the moment, is one of the favorites for the Best Picture Oscar.

On a personal note, I saw Role Models last night, and it was one of the most enjoyable movie-going experiences I’ve had in a while.  I highly recommend it, unless you have young kids (like one couple had last night), then you might want to protect them from the movie’s foul language and actions.

Did you see any of these films over the weekend?  What did you think about them?

nicole kidman to become a transsexual

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If you like movies about transgenders featuring two Oscar winning actresses, then be sure to check out The Danish Girl.

The film, set in Copenhagen in the 1920s, will star Nicole Kidman as the world’s first post-operation transsexual.  She will be married to Charlize Theron’s character.

The pair will play Einar and Greta Wegener.  Einar’s character experiences a bizarre chain of events that leads to his wife (Theron) encouraging a sex change operation, which may not seem like a big deal, but since the couple are famous around the world for their paintings - with Greta playing Einar – it shocks the world.

At this point, Arnard Tucker is on board to direct the indie film.  So look out for more news.