Thursday, April 08, 2010

Movie Buzz: Selma, Jackson Rathbone shirtless, Zoe Saldana & lesbian talk, Nicholas Hoult, Gay English Patient

Actor Jackson Rathbone shirtless in "Hurt"
Jackson Rathbone stars in the "Twilight" franchise in some role that's not played by the broody dude or the super hot former-jailbait guy. MORE PICS


Twitter can predict the box-office success of movies?
Twitter can predict the future of movies - at least that’s what a couple of Palo Alto-based lab nerds are saying. They make a convincing argument. In a report -- dubbed "Predicting the Future With Social Media" -- HP Labs' Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman claim the algorithms they use can predict the opening weekend box office returns with up to 97 percent accuracy – better than the Hollywood Stock Exchange does. READ MORE


Zoe Saldana not surprised by lesbian talk
Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek) says she is not surprised to learn that some people might think she is gay. Speaking to Siempre Mujer, the Avatar star revealed that she is a bit of a tomboy. "People have sometimes told my grandmother, 'Your granddaughter has a bit of lesbianism in her'," Saldana said. "It's that my sisters and I spent all our time among men. We were very popular with them. Our way of thinking is very masculine." The 31-year-old added that she does not enjoy wearing dresses or skirts, saying: "But if you dress me in jeans and a button-down blouse, I feel very sexy, feminine and powerful." (Digitalspy)


Copyright conviction in Canada raises privacy concerns
The decision to send a Montreal man to prison for pirating movies has set a dangerous precedent that could threaten privacy rights, say civil rights advocates in Vancouver. Gérémi Adam, 27, became the first Canadian jailed for breaking cinematic copyright, when he was sentenced to 2½ months after pleading guilty to two counts of distributing high-quality pirated copies of Hollywood films. Canadian film distributors welcomed the sentencing of Adam, whom the FBI once called Canada's biggest movie pirate. READ MORE


Director Lee Daniels casts a Brit actor to play Martin Luther King Jr in his new film "Selma"
"Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" director Lee Daniels has turned to Britain while casting for his civil rights movie "Selma" - he's hired U.K. actor David Oyelowo (pictured)to play iconic American Martin Luther King Jr. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker is turning his attentions to the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, and will tell the story of the historic marches led by Luther King Jr. in Selma, Atlanta. (Aceshowbiz)

Sandra Bullock denies having sex tape
Contrary to recent rumor, Sandra Bullock didn't not have a sex tape with her husband Jesse James. In statement sent to People magazine on Tuesday, April 6, the star of "The Blind Side" insisted, "There is no sex tape." The actress went on to add, "There never has been one and there never will be one." Her denial came after an Internet report claimed that such tape exist and described it in graphic detail. According to the report, the alleged tape includes Jesse smearing feces on Sandra's upper lip during various types of anal sex. There are also lots of profanity hurled from both parties. Additionally, it features leather-clad Jesse, who sports a Hitler mustache with brown hat and a swastika, ramming a handcuffed Sandra's bottom with a shotgun in his left hand. (Celebritymania)

The real English Patient hero was a gay man in love with a soldier
Letters have surfaced in Germany proving that the World War Two spy who inspired the hero the the Oscar-winning film The English Patient was no womaniser but a gay man in love with a young soldier called Hans Entholt. The Hungarian-born adventurer Count Laszlo de Almásy did not die of a morphine overdose after suffering terrible burns and dreaming of the woman he loved, the fate the befell the fictional hero played by Ralph Fiennes in the film. READ MORE


Nicholas Hoult says he enjoys living with his parents
Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man, Clash of the Titans) is convinced the reason he's single is because he still lives at home with his mum and dad. Hoult explains, "I live at home with my mum and dad; that's probably the main reason why I'm single! READ MORE


'Sex and the City' creator directing Anita Bryant biopic for HBO
HBO is developing a biopic about anti-gay activist Anita Bryant (pictured) with Sex and the City creator Darren Star at the helm, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The former beauty queen and Christian singer became a crusader against gay rights in the ’70s when she fought a Miami-Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. “As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children,” she said. When she succeeded, she promised to “seek help and change for homosexuals, whose sick and sad values belie the word ‘gay,’ which they pathetically use to cover their unhappy lives.” (EW)