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| Name | San Sebastian International Film Festival |
|---|---|
| Caption | Kursaal Palace |
| Host | Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián, Sociedad Anónima |
| Number | 200-250 |
| Location | San Sebastián, Spain |
| Language | International |
| Website | http://www.sansebastianfestival.com |
The following are the main awards for films in the other sections:
Category:International film festivals Category:Recurring events established in 1953 Category:Festivals in San Sebastián
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Terry Gilliam |
|---|---|
| Caption | Gilliam at the 36th Deauville American Films Festival. |
| Birth date | November 22, 1940 |
| Birth place | Medicine Lake, Minnesota, United States |
| Birth name | Terrence Vance Gilliam |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Spouse | Maggie Weston (1973–present) |
| Occupation | Actor, animator, director, producer, screenwriter, comedian |
The family moved to Panorama City, California, in 1952 because of his sister's bout of pneumonia. Gilliam attended Birmingham High School where he was class president and senior prom King, was voted "Most Likely to Succeed", and achieved straight A's. During high school, he discovered Mad magazine, which was then edited by Harvey Kurtzman; this later influenced his work.
Following high school, he attended Occidental College, studying physics and fine arts before finally majoring in political science. Gilliam contributed to the college magazine, Fang, becoming the editor during his junior year and turning it into a tribute to Kurtzman, to whom he later sent copies. While in college, Gilliam was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After finishing college, Gilliam worked briefly for an advertising agency before Kurtzman offered him a job at Help! magazine.
Gilliam later spoke to Salman Rushdie about defining experiences in the 1960s that would set the foundations for his views on the world, later influencing his art and career:
Throughout the 1990s, Gilliam directed his Trilogy of Americana, The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), which were based on scripts by other people, played on North American soil, and while still being surreal, had less fantastical plots than his previous trilogy.
As for his philosophical background in screenwriting and directing, Gilliam said on the TV show First Hand on RoundhouseTV: "There's so many film schools, so many media courses which I actually am opposed to. Because I think it's more important to be educated, to read, to learn things, because if you're gonna be in the media and if you'll have to say things, you have to know things. If you only know about cameras and 'the media', what're you gonna be talking about except cameras and the media? So it's better learning about philosophy and art and architecture [and] literature, these are the things to be concentrating on it seems to me. Then, you can fly...!"
His films are usually highly imaginative fantasies. His long-time co-writer Charles McKeown comments about Gilliam's recurring interests, "the theme of imagination, and the importance of imagination, to how you live and how you think and so on [...] that's very much a Terry theme." Most of Gilliam's movies include plot-lines that seem to occur partly or completely in the characters' imaginations, raising questions about the definition of identity and sanity. He often shows his opposition to bureaucracy and authoritarian regimes. He also distinguishes "higher" and "lower" layers of society, with a disturbing and ironic style. His movies usually feature a fight or struggle against a great power which may be an emotional situation, a human-made idol, or even the person himself, and the situations do not always end happily. There is often a dark, paranoid atmosphere and unusual characters who formerly were normal members of society. His scripts feature black comedy and often end with a dark tragicomic twist.
As Gilliam is fascinated with the Baroque due to the historical age's pronounced struggle between spirituality and logical rationality, there is often a rich baroqueness and dichotomous eclecticity about the movies, with, for instance, high-tech computer monitors equipped with low-tech magnifying lenses in Brazil, and in The Fisher King a red knight covered with flapping bits of cloth. He also is given to incongruous juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness, or antique and modern. Regarding Gilliam's theme of modernity's struggle between spirituality and rationality whereas the individual may become dominated by a tyrannical, soulless machinery of disenchanted society, film critic James Keith Hamel observed a specific affinity of Gilliam's movies with the writings of economic historian Arnold Toynbee and sociologist Max Weber, specifically the latter's concept of the Iron cage of modern rationality. Most of his movies are shot almost entirely with rectilinear ultra wide angle lenses of 28 mm focal length or less in order to achieve a distinctive signature style defined by extreme perspective distortion and extremely deep focus. In fact, over the years, the 14mm lens has become informally known as "The Gilliam" among film-makers due to the director's frequent use of it since at least Brazil.
In another interview, Gilliam also mentioned, in relation to the 9.8mm Kinoptic lens he had first used on Brazil, that wide-angle lenses make small film sets "look big". The widest lens he has used so far is an 8mm Zeiss lens employed on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
In the mid-1990s, Gilliam and Charles McKeown developed a script for Time Bandits 2, a project that never came to be. Several of the original actors had died. Gilliam also attempted to direct a version of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, which collapsed due to disagreements over its budget and choice of lead actor.
In 1999, Gilliam attempted to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, budgeted at US$32.1 million, among the highest-budgeted films to use only European financing; but in the first week of shooting, the actor playing Don Quixote (Jean Rochefort) suffered a herniated disc, and a flood severely damaged the set. The film was cancelled, resulting in an insurance claim of US$15 million. Despite the cancellation, the aborted project did yield the documentary Lost in La Mancha, produced from film from a second crew that had been hired by Gilliam to document the making of Quixote. After the cancellation, both Gilliam and the film's co-lead, Johnny Depp, wanted to revive the project. The insurance company involved in the failed first attempt withheld the rights to the screenplay for several years but the production was finally restarted in 2008.
Gilliam has attempted twice to adapt Alan Moore's Watchmen comics into a film. Both attempts (in 1989 and 1996) were unsuccessful. Most recently, unforeseeable problems again befell a Gilliam project when actor Heath Ledger died in New York City during the filming of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
On the other hand, Gilliam's first successful feature, Time Bandits (1981), earned more than eight times its original budget in the United States alone; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) was nominated for four Academy Awards (and won, among other European prizes, three BAFTA Awards); The Fisher King (1991) (his first film not to feature a member from Python) was nominated for five (and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress); and 12 Monkeys went on to take over US$168 million worldwide; whilst The Brothers Grimm, despite a mixed critical reception, grossed over US$105 million worldwide. According to Box Office Mojo, his films have grossed an average of $26,009,723.
Other recurring collaborators include Gilliam's cinematographers Roger Pratt (Brazil, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys) and Nicola Pecorini (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), and his co-writer McKeown (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus).
Gilliam has stated that he will never direct any Potter film. In a 2005 interview with Total Film Magazine, he stated that he would not enjoy working on such an expensive project due to interference from studio executives.
On 22 January 2008, production of the film was disrupted following the death of Heath Ledger in New York City. Variety reports that Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing. Production was suspended indefinitely by 24 January, but in February actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell reportedly signed on to continue Ledger's role, transforming into multiple incarnations of his character in the "magical" world of the film. Thanks to this arrangement principal photography was completed 15 April 2008 on schedule. Editing was completed November 2008. According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter channel launched on 30 March 2009, the film's post-production FX work finished on 31 March.
During the filming, Gilliam was accidentally hit by a bus and broke his back.
The UK release for the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009. The USA release was on 25 December 2009. The film has had successful screenings including a premiere at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. The director stated his intent to dedicate the film to Ledger. Depp, Farrell, and Law donated their proceeds from the film to Ledger's daughter.
It was rumoured that Gilliam may direct – or be involved in the production of – the animated band Gorillaz' movie. In a September 2006 interview with Uncut magazine, Damon Albarn was reported saying "... we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved." However, in a more recent interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial, Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the band, stated that since the time of the previous interview, Damon's and his own fixation on the film had lessened. In an August 2008 Observer interview, Gorillaz band members Albarn and Hewlett revealed the nature and title of the project, Journey to the West, a movie adaptation of the opera of the same name based on a 16th-century Chinese adventure story also known as Monkey. In January 2008, while on set of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Gilliam stated that he was looking forward to the project, "But I'm still waiting to see a script!" Participating were producer Richard D. Zanuck and screenwriter Pat Rushin. When little was revealed about the nature of the film writer Pat Rushin suggested that his short story "Vow: A Prolix Parable" was an example of the screenplay's sensibility. An article at film website Tout Le Cine stated the film was to be about a reclusive and tortured data processing genius working on a mysterious project. Production was said to start May 2009. However, in June 2009 Gilliam stated that he had dropped the film having to invest more time than expected in the promotion of the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as well as in preparation for his film of Don Quixote.
Gilliam is to make his opera debut at London's English National Opera in May 2011, directing The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz.
On December 16, 2010, Variety reported that Gilliam is to "godfather" a film called 1884 which is described as an animated steampunk parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with several former Pythons lending their voice talents to the project whereas Gilliam will be credited as "creative adviser".
In 1968, Gilliam obtained British citizenship, then held dual American and British citizenship for the next 38 years. In January 2006 he renounced his American citizenship. In an interview with Der Tagesspiegel, he described the action as a protest against then President George W. Bush, and in an earlier interview with The Onion AV Club, he also indicated that it was related to concerns about future tax liability for his wife and children. As a result of renouncing his citizenship, Gilliam is only permitted to spend 30 days per year in the United States, fewer than ordinary British citizens. held in the nearby hill town of Montone.
Upcoming films:
Category:1940 births Category:American animators Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American film directors Category:Surrealist filmmakers Category:American immigrants to the United Kingdom Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:British animators Category:British film directors Category:Copywriters Category:Living people Category:Monty Python members Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:British people of American descent Category:Occidental College alumni Category:People from Hennepin County, Minnesota
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| Caption | Tarantino at the Scream Awards, October 19, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Quentin Jerome Tarantino |
| Birth date | March 27, 1963 |
| Birth place | Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Occupation | Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor |
| Years active | 1988–present |
.]]
Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well. Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics and audiences. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.
Tarantino's third feature film but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.
Among his current producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer but with the movie set for release in 2009 he is no longer associated with the project) and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).
Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"
Tarantino's summer 2009 film Inglourious Basterds was the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008. The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide. It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.
Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.
In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade award at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards.
On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.
In 2010, his film Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.
In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie Freedom's Fury.
In a 2007 interview with The Daily Telegraph, he discussed an idea for a form of spaghetti western set in America's Deep South which he called "a southern",
In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words "The Bride will fight again!" Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino announced that Kill Bill: Vol. 3 would be his ninth film, and would be released in 2014. He said he intends to make another unrelated film before that date as his eighth film. He confirmed that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, to give her and her daughter a period of peace.
Tarantino has directed and been called to direct numerous television episodes.
Election is not one of "Quentin Tarantino presents...", but Tarantino loved the film so much that he still helped the DVD release of the film in some way; his quote "The Best Film Of The Year" is on this film's United States DVD cover.
In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax as a vehicle to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Switchblade Sisters (1975, dir. Jack Hill), Sonatine (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), Hard Core Logo (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), The Mighty Peking Man (1977), Detroit 9000 (1973), The Beyond (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and Curdled (1996).
In the 2002 Sight & Sound Directors' poll, Tarantino revealed his top-twelve films: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Rio Bravo; Taxi Driver; His Girl Friday; Rolling Thunder; They All Laughed; The Great Escape; Carrie; Coffy; Dazed and Confused; Five Fingers of Death; and Hi Diddle Diddle. In 2009, he named Kinji Fukasaku's violent action film Battle Royale as his favorite film released since he became a director in 1992.
In August 2007, while teaching a four-hour film course during the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Tarantino cited Filipino directors Cirio Santiago, Eddie Romero, and Gerardo de León as personal icons from the 1970s, citing De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly Women in Cages. "It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair". Michael Winner, whilst appearing on an episode of Piers Morgan's life stories (an ITV production), stated that Quentin Tarantino was a "big fan" of Death Wish.
Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".
According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."
Tarantino has been romantically linked with numerous entertainers, including actress Mira Sorvino, directors Allison Anders and Sofia Coppola, actresses Julie Dreyfus and Shar Jackson and comedians Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho. There have also been rumors about his relationship with Uma Thurman, whom he has referred to as his "muse". However, Tarantino has stated that their relationship is strictly platonic. Tarantino stated "I'm not saying that I'll never get married or have a kid before I'm 60. But I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time to make movies."
One of Tarantino's closest friends is fellow director Robert Rodriguez. Their biggest collaborations have been From Dusk Till Dawn (written by Tarantino, directed by Rodriguez), Four Rooms (they both wrote and directed segments of the film), Sin City and Grindhouse. It was Tarantino who suggested that Rodriguez name the final part of his El Mariachi trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as a homage to the titles Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leone. They are both members of A Band Apart, a production company that also features directors John Woo and Luc Besson. Rodriguez scored Kill Bill: Volume 2 for one dollar, and the favor was returned when Tarantino directed a scene in Rodriguez's 2005 film Sin City for the same fee.
He was thanked in the liner notes of Nirvana's final studio album In Utero although the spelling of his name is incorrect. Tarantino returned the favor by thanking Nirvana on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, along with the message "RIP Kurt". It was thought that Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love rejected an offer to act in Pulp Fiction as Lance & Jody. However Tarantino denied this rumor and claimed he had no real connection to Love and Cobain other than the fact that the couple liked Reservoir Dogs.
Tarantino is a fan of the film Superman Returns. He has stated that he plans to write a 20 page review of the Bryan Singer piece.
Tarantino has said that he plans to retire from filmmaking at age 60, to focus on writing novels and film literature. He also is skeptical of the film industry going digital, saying, "If it actually gets to the place where you can't show 35mm film in theatres anymore and everything is digital projection, I won't even make it to 60."
Category:1963 births Category:American cinematographers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American screenwriters Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:Edgar Award winners Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Obscenity controversies Category:American film directors of Italian descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Knoxville, Tennessee Category:People from Torrance, California
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Caption | Meryl Streep at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mary Louise Streep |
| Birth date | June 22, 1949 |
| Birth place | Summit, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse | Don Gummer (m. 1978–pres.) 4 children |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1971–present |
Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with Julia. Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), the former giving Streep her first Oscar nomination and the latter her first win. She later won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Sophie's Choice (1982).
Streep has received 16 Academy Award nominations, winning two, and 25 Golden Globe nominations, winning seven, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, four New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, an Australian Film Institute Award and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
She was raised a Presbyterian, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School. She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971 (where she briefly received instruction from Jean Arthur), but also enrolled as an exchange student at Dartmouth College for a semester before it became coeducational. She subsequently earned an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, she played a variety of roles onstage, from the glamorous Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream to an eighty-year old woman in a wheelchair in a comedy written by then-unknown playwrights Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato. "It was immediately apparent," said then-dean Robert Brustein, "that she was destined for greatness."
Streep began auditioning for film roles, and later recalled an unsuccessful audition for Dino De Laurentiis for the leading role in King Kong. De Laurentiis commented to his son in Italian, "She's ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?" and was shocked when Streep replied in fluent Italian. Streep's first feature film was Julia (1977), in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback scene. Streep was living in New York City with her fiancé, Cazale, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer. He was cast in The Deer Hunter (1978), and Streep was delighted to secure a small role because it allowed her to remain with Cazale for the duration of filming. She was not specifically interested in the part, commenting, "They needed a girl between the two guys and I was it."
She played a leading role in the television miniseries Holocaust (1978) as an Aryan woman married to a Jewish artist in Nazi era Germany. She later explained that she had considered the material to be "unrelentingly noble", Streep travelled to Germany and Austria for filming while Cazale remained in New York. Upon her return, Streep found that Cazale's illness had progressed, and she nursed him until his death on March 12, 1978. She spoke of her grief and her hope that work would provide a diversion; she accepted a role in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) with Alan Alda, later commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot", With an estimated audience of 109 million, Holocaust brought a degree of public recognition to Streep, who was described in August 1978 as "on the verge of national visibility". and that she had not been permitted to improvise a word of her dialogue. Asked to comment on the script for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), in a meeting with the producer Stan Jaffee, director Robert Benton and star Dustin Hoffman, Streep insisted that the female character was not representative of many real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles, and was written as "too evil". and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set. Jaffee and Hoffman later spoke of Streep's tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting, "She's extraordinarily hardworking, to the extent that she's obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else but what she's doing."
Streep drew critical acclaim for her performance in each of her three films released in 1979: the romantic comedy Manhattan, the political drama, The Seduction of Joe Tynan and the family drama, Kramer vs. Kramer. She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her collective work in the three films. Among the awards won for Kramer vs. Kramer were the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Her next film, the psychological thriller, Still of the Night (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of Kramer vs. Kramer, and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for the New York Times noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".
As the Polish holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally exhausting. Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Roger Ebert said of her performance, "Streep plays the Brooklyn scenes with an enchanting Polish-American accent (she has the first accent I've ever wanted to hug), and she plays the flashbacks in subtitled German and Polish. There is hardly an emotion that Streep doesn't touch in this movie, and yet we're never aware of her straining. This is one of the most astonishing and yet one of the most unaffected and natural performances I can imagine."
She followed this success with a biographical film, Silkwood (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood. Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."
Out of Africa (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas Heartburn (1986) and Ironweed (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, Secret Service, in 1977. In A Cry in the Dark (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Chamberlain.
In She-Devil (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."
In the 1990s, Streep continued to choose a great variety of roles, including a drug addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel Postcards from the Edge, with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon Thelma and Louise, until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.
Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of Death Becomes Her, attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties. Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family,
In 2009, she starred in Julie & Julia, in which she played the late Julia Child. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and also shared the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress with Sandra Bullock. Streep also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance. She then starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. She also received nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this film. Streep also lent her voice to Mrs. Felicity Fox in the stop-motion film Fantastic Mr. Fox.
In July 2010, it was announced that Streep will star in an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me alongside Tina Fey who will play her daughter. The film is being directed by Stanley Tucci. Streep has also been cast as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, a look at the Prime Minister during the Falklands War and her years in retirement.
In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in the Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. The staging, directed by Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Goodman.
In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.
At the 35th People's Choice Awards, her version of Mamma Mia won an award for "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack". In 2008, Streep was nominated for a Grammy Award (her fifth nomination) for her work on the Mamma Mia! soundtrack.
Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer for a Golden Globe Award (she has 25 nominations as of 2009) and has won the most Golden Globes overall since her win for Julie & Julia in 2010. Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.
In 2003, she was awarded an honorary César Award by the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. In 2004 at the Moscow International Film Festival, Meryl Streep was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.
In 2004, Streep received the AFI Life Achievement Award.
May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.
In 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Princeton University.
In 2010, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.
Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:César Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:People from Union County, New Jersey Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Yale School of Drama alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Swiss descent
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| Caption | Roberts in 2002 |
|---|---|
| Birth date | October 28, 1967 |
| Birth name | Julia Fiona Roberts |
| Birth place | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | Lyle Lovett (m. 1993–1995; divorced) Daniel Moder (m. 2002–present; 3 children) |
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias in 1990 and Pretty Woman in 1991, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Erin Brockovich. Her films My Best Friend's Wedding, Mystic Pizza, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, The Pelican Brief, Ocean's Eleven and Twelve have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts. Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films, formerly Shoelace Productions, whose name is "Moder" (her husband's last name) spelled backwards, as well as a reference to the sacred Om symbol in Hinduism, which Roberts practices. Her brother Eric Roberts, sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and niece Emma Roberts, are also actors.
Roberts was born in Atlanta, Georgia at Crawford Long Hospital (now Emory University Hospital Midtown), the daughter of Betty Lou (née Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts. Her parents were Baptist and Catholic, and she was raised Catholic. Her older brother, Eric Roberts (from whom she was once estranged, but reconciled with in 2004), and sister, Lisa Roberts Gillan, and niece Emma Roberts are also actors. Roberts' parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia, off Juniper Street in Midtown. While her mother was pregnant with Julia, she and her husband ran an acting school for children in Decatur, Georgia. The children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King attended the school. As a thank-you for their service, Mrs. King paid the hospital bill when Roberts' mother gave birth to Julia. She´s of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Swedish descent (Her maternal great-grandmother Eleanor Johnson was from Sweden).
Roberts' mother filed for divorce in 1971, with the divorce being finalized early in 1972. The family moved to Smyrna, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) in 1972, where Roberts attended Fitzhugh Lee Elementary School, Griffin Middle School, and Campbell High School. Her mother re-married to Michael Motes and had another daughter, Nancy Motes, who was born in 1976. Roberts' father died of cancer when she was ten.
In school, Roberts played clarinet in the band. She wanted to be a veterinarian as a child. After graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School, she headed to New York to join her brother and sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and pursue a career in acting. Once there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting classes. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she discovered that a "Julie Roberts" was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Her niece Emma Roberts, whom Julia used to take to movie sets when she was a young girl, has joined her father and aunts in the acting business.
In 1993, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. She also starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. In 1995, she appeared in season 2 of Friends (episode 13 "The One After the Superbowl"). She was offered the role of Lucy Eleanor Moderatz in the 1995 While You Were Sleeping but also turned it down.
In 2001, Roberts received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. While presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year, she made a gaffe, saying she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the Scottish actor. Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004). Later in 2001, she starred in the road gangster comedy The Mexican giving her a chance to work with longtime friend Brad Pitt. In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band.
Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. New York Times' critic Ben Brantly described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Brantley also criticized the production of "Greenberg's slender, elegant play," writing that “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello." Roberts starred with Clive Owen in the comedy-thriller Duplicity for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, she appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, with Bradley Cooper, and starred in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love.
Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts.
In 1998, Roberts began dating Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt, and he was her escort for the March 25, 2001 Academy Awards ceremony at which she won her Oscar. Three months later, in June 2001, Roberts and Bratt announced that they were no longer a couple. "It's come to a kind and tenderhearted end," she said of their relationship.
Roberts met her current husband, cameraman Daniel Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2001. At the time, Moder was married to Vera Steimberg Moder. He filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalized, he and Roberts wed on July 4, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Together, they have three children, twins Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus "Finn" Walter Moder (born November 28, 2004) and Henry Daniel Moder (born June 18, 2007).
}}
Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American film actors Category:American female models Category:American Hindus Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Best Drama Actress Golden Globe Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Category:Converts from Roman Catholicism Category:Converts to Hinduism Category:Georgia State University alumni Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni
Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Cobb County, Georgia Category:People from Taos County, New Mexico
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| Caption | Bardem at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Javier Angel Encinas Bardem |
| Birth date | March 01, 1969 |
| Birth place | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Spouse | Penélope Cruz (m. 2010–present) |
Bardem has been awarded an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, four Goya awards, two European Film Awards, a Prize for Best Actor at Cannes and two Coppa Volpis at Venice for his work. He is the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor, 2000, for Before Night Falls, lost to Russell Crowe for Gladiator) as well as the first to win (Supporting Actor, 2007, for No Country for Old Men) in an acting category not on the Foreign Language Film category.
Bardem's film debut was at the age of six and a half in the film El Pícaro (The Scoundrel) and he appeared in several television series before turning to painting and, eventually, sports. Before acting professionally, Bardem played rugby in Spain.
He'd appeared in TV bits throughout his youth but had not been inspired to seek a career in acting. In 1986 he was in Pedro Maso's 12-part series Segunda Ensenanza, he'd briefly toured with an independent theatre troupe, appearing in El Medico A Palos and El Sombrero De Tres Picos, and in 1989 appeared in Brigada Central, also for Pedro Maso. That same year he would impersonate Superman when appearing in the morning show "El Dia Por Delante", a mix of comedy, news and chat hosted by Pepe Navarro. He did not take these jobs seriously, instead just saw it as a way of making money, just like his other jobs as a bouncer, a construction worker and (for one night only) a stripper.
Bardem reunited with Jamón, jamón co-star Jordi Molla for the short Prognostic Reservat. He also took a brief but telling role in Running Out Of Time. Though, Bardem's most prominent performance of 1994 would be in The Detective And Death, directed by Gonzalo Suarez loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Story of a Mother. It was a strange, compelling film with haunting visuals and the moodiest of soundtracks. The film was nominated for five Goyas with Bardem winning a Silver Seashell at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The year 1995 brought him, yet, more acclaim. It began with a part in the black comedy short La Madre, a family affair directed by Javier's cousin Miguel and starring his mom Pilar. Then would come Boca a boca, directed by Manuel Gomez Pereira and written by Joaquin Oristrell. Here Bardem plays an aspiring actor so crippled by shyness and self-doubt he must psych himself up to work by doing Travis Bickle impressions, low on money and awaiting a part in an American movie, he takes work as a phone sex operator and there finds the freedom to convincingly perform. Unfortunately, it all goes wrong when he meets caller Aitana Sanchez-Gijon who involves him in a double cross and a romantic triangle. The movie would garner eight Goya nominations with Bardem being the only winner.
Javier's first English-speaking film became his international breakthrough, Before Night Falls in 2000. Javier portrayed Arenas from a 17-year-old, loving life and on the verge of sexual awakening, to a pallid 45-year-old, crushed by AIDS, eager to die. Bardem won the Volpi Cup at Venice, was nominated for a Golden Globe and became the first Spaniard to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film changed things for Bardem making him known worldwide, and becoming sought-after. at the Cannes Film Festival 2007.]] Immediately after Before Night Falls he'd turned down the role in Minority Report which eventually went to Colin Farrell and, perhaps more wisely, a part in Basic Instinct 2. Now, though, he'd step up for his first major Hollywood picture, making a brief appearance as a crime lord who summons Tom Cruise's hitman to do the dirty work of dispatching witnesses in Michael Mann's crime drama Collateral. That year Bardem won the Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in 2004's Mar Adentro, released in the United States as The Sea Inside, in which he portrayed the quadriplegic turned assisted-suicide activist Ramón Sampedro. In 2007, Bardem acted in two film adaptations: the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, and the adaptation of the Colombian novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. In No Country for Old Men, he played a sociopathic killer, Anton Chigurh. For that role, he became the first Spaniard to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also won a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the 2008 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bardem's rendition of Chigurh's trademark phrase, "Call it, friendo," was named Top HollyWORDIE of 2007 in the annual survey by the Global Language Monitor. Chigurh was named #26 in Entertainment Weekly magazine's 2008 "50 Most Vile Villains in Movie History" list. .]] He starred with Cruz and others in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Bardem was in talks to play fictional filmmaker Guido Contini in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Nine; the part eventually went to Daniel Day-Lewis. In 2010, he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Biutiful directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.
It was speculated that he would guest-star on the second season of Glee as a rock star who befriends Artie. He will indeed appear in the show in 2011. Bardem will appear in the untitled sixth feature by Terrence Malick, shot in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It's been reported that Javier is the front runner for the principal character, Roland Deschain, with Viggo Mortensen a close second, in Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower novels.
Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Gran Canaria Category:Spanish people Category:Spanish child actors Category:Spanish film actors Category:Spanish television actors Category:Spanish rugby union players Category:Spanish Roman Catholics Category:Canarian people Category:Canarian actors Category:Best Actor Goya Award winners
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| Caption | Pitt at 2008 premiere of Burn After Reading |
|---|---|
| Alt | A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes and a short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat. |
| Birth name | William Bradley Pitt |
| Occupation | Actor, producer |
| Birth date | December 18, 1963 |
| Birth place | Shawnee, Oklahoma, United States |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | Jennifer Aniston (2000–2005, divorced) |
| Partner | Angelina Jolie (2005–present) |
| Children | 3 sons, 3 daughters |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Missouri |
Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances, including a role on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas in 1987. He later gained recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995 he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter securing him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. He then starred in the major international hit as Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his title role performance in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt currently lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has generated wide publicity. He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include the 2007 Academy Award winning Best Picture, The Departed.
Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall). Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."
In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. However, the film was shelved on the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was released only in 1997.
Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Ken Tucker, television reviewer for Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."
After years of supporting roles in movies and frequent television guest appearances, broader public recognition came for Pitt with his supporting role in the 1991 road film Thelma & Louise. He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the moment that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.
After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred in the 1991 film Johnny Suede, a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock star, and the 1992 film Cool World, Pitt took the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford. His portrayal of the character has been described as a career-making performance, proving that Pitt could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk", although he admitted that he felt under pressure when making the film. Pitt added that he considered it one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for." Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit True Romance as a stoner named Floyd, providing much needed comic relief to the action film. He capped the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.
in 1995 and 2000.]]
Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall (1994), a film set during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Pitt portrayed Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), and received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed, many film critics complimented Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way" while the Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.
In 1995, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime thriller Seven, playing a detective on the trail of a serial killer (played by Kevin Spacey). Pitt called the film a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting horizons, expressing a desire to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing [...] and play someone with flaws". His performance was critically well-received, with Variety saying that it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job" as the detective. Seven earned $327 million at the international box office. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film
The following year he had a role in the legal drama Sleepers (1996), based on the Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name. The film received mixed reviews. In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany, a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent. Critical opinion was divided on his approximation of the accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the San Francisco Chronicle while a contributor from The Charleston Gazette opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie. The Devil's Own grossed $140 million worldwide, Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including by rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis. The film received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment.
Pitt then had the lead role in 1998's Meet Joe Black. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human. The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, Pitt was unable to "to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity."
, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001]]
Following Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch. Several reviewers were critical of Snatch, however most praised Pitt. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before Snatch, Pitt had been "shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;" while Amy Taubin of The Village Voice claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a one-joke role".
The following year Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican, a film that garnered a broad range of reviews but enjoyed box office success. Salon.com enjoyed the film, though noting that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience". On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the of the television series Friends, playing a man with a grudge against Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at the time. For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. Well-received by critics, Ocean's Eleven was successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide. and participating in his own staged abduction in another episode. In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, lending his voice to the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film and playing Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill.
In 2005, Pitt starred in the Doug Liman-directed action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin sent to kill the other. The feature received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who played his character's wife Jane Smith. The Star Tribune noted that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry." Mr. & Mrs. Smith earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.
in July 2009.|alt=A Caucasian male, who is wearing aviator sunglasses, has light brown hair and a short brown beard. He wears a grey suit jacket, white shirt, and grey tie. Behind him are people with single-lens reflex cameras.]]
For his next feature film, Pitt starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel (2006). Pitt's performance was critically well-received, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer believed that he was credible and gave the film visibility. Pitt later said he regarded taking the part as one of the best decisions of his career. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. Babel received seven Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, wining the Best Drama Golden Globe, and earned Pitt a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe. While less lucrative than the first two films, this sequel earned $311 million at the international box office. Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International, and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards. He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.
Pitt's next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy Burn After Reading, his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from critics, with The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy", noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest. with Pitt's "sensitive" performance making Benjamin Button a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun. The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination, all in the category for Best Actor. The film itself received thirteen Academy Award nominations in total, and grossed $329 million at the box office worldwide. Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France. The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide, The film received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations and seven MTV Movie Award nominations, including Best Male Performance for Pitt. He voiced the superhero character Metro Man in the 2010 animated feature Megamind. Pitt is due to appear in Terrence Malick's drama The Tree of Life, co-starring Sean Penn, and has signed on to appear as a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization in the Lost City of Z, based on David Grann's eponymous book.
Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world. He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, which discusses current global health issues and traveled to Pakistan in November 2005 with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The following year Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti, where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three organizations in Chad and Sudan dedicated to those affected by the crisis in the Darfur region. Along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is one of the founders of "Not On Our Watch", an organization that tries to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent genocides such as that in Darfur.
Pitt has a sustained interest in architecture and has narrated Design e2, a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design. He founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2006, organizing housing professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct 150 sustainable, affordable new houses in New Orleans's Ninth Ward following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The project involves 13 architectural firms and the environmental organization Global Green USA, with several of the firms donating their services. Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations. The first six homes were completed in October 2008, and in September 2009 Pitt received an award in recognition of the project from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. Pitt met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009 to promote his concept of green housing as a national model and to discuss federal funding possibilities.
In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world. The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders, According to federal filings, Pitt and Jolie invested $8.5 million into the foundation in 2006; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006 and $3.4 million in 2007. In June 2009 the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $1 million to a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting between troops and Taliban militants. In January 2010 the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.
in 2007]]
Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, in which he supported John Kerry. Later in October he publicly supported the principle of public funding for embryonic stem-cell research. "We have to make sure that we open up these avenues so that our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they believe they will find," he said. In support of this he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative intended to provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.
Starting in 2005, Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After confirming that Jolie was pregnant in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding the coupled reached what Reuters, in a story titled "The Brangelina fever," called "the point of insanity". Similarly intense media interest greeted the announcement two years later of Jolie's second pregnancy; for the two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.
In September 2008 Pitt donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage. Pitt stated his reasons for the stance: "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8."
and Pitt at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.]]
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they had decided formally to separate after seven years together. Two months later Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.
During Pitt's divorce from Aniston, his involvement with Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie attracted vigorous media attention. While Pitt denied claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set and said that production on Mr. & Mrs. Smith would continue after his separation from Aniston.
In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the pictures were construed in the press as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During the summer of 2005 the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, legally ending their marriage. In an October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said that he and Jolie would marry when everyone in America is legally able to marry. In February 2010, Pitt and Jolie sued the British tabloid News of the World over reports that the two were splitting up.
Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, in a February 2009 interview, Pitt said that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each others' lives.
In an October 2007 interview, Pitt revealed that he is no longer a Christian and does not believe in an afterlife. "There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible." In a July 2009 interview he said that he did not believe in God, and that he was "probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic."
In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia, where she adopted her second child, a six-month-old girl named Zahara, It was confirmed, in December 2005, that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children, Maddox and Zahara; on January 19, 2006, a California judge granted their request to change the children's surnames to "Jolie-Pitt".
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly born daughter would have a Namibian passport. The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images and the North American rights were purchased by People for over $4.1 million, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale, up to $10 million worldwide, were donated to an undisclosed charity by Pitt and Jolie. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh, making Shiloh the first infant to have a statue at Madame Tussauds.
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (originally Pax Thien Jolie). Since the orphanage did not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, and Pitt later adopted him as his son in the United States.
Following months of media speculation, Jolie confirmed in an interview at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that she was expecting twins. She gave birth at the Lenval hospital in Nice, France, on July 12, 2008. The twins were named Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline. The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to People and Hello! for $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The couple donated the proceeds to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Producer |- ! Year ! Film ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2006 | God Grew Tired of Us | Executive producer |- | 2006 | | Academy Award for Best PictureNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film |- | 2006 | Running with Scissors | |- | 2007 | | Executive producer |- | 2007 | Year of the Dog | Executive producer |- | 2007 | | Co-producerNominated–Independent Spirit Award for Best Film |- | 2007 | | |- | 2008 | Pretty/Handsome | Executive producer (TV) |- | 2009 | | Executive producer |- | 2009 | | Executive producer |- | 2010 | Kick-Ass | |- | 2010 | Eat Pray Love | |- | 2011 | | |}
Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:American agnostics Category:American atheists Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American television actors Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Former Baptists Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Category:University of Missouri alumni
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