Carol St. John, Addison, Ill.
Brothers & Sisters was canceled in May, so chances are slim you’ll ever see it again other than on DVD. But if you’re a fan of Field, the one-time Gidget and Flying Nun is heading back to the big screen in 2012 for a pair of roles: The two-time Oscar winner plays the beloved Aunt May of Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker in July’s The Amazing Spider-Man, and she stars as Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Daniel Day-Lewis’ Honest Abe, in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln come December.
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt
Judith Constantino, Amsterdam, N.Y.
After playing a not-so-good guy in 2009’s Watchmen and the object of Amy Adams’ affections in 2010’s Leap Year, Goode has focused on smaller indie roles. He co-starred with Ricky Gervais in Gervais’ English drama Cemetery Junction and had a part in the Australian drama Burning Man, which played at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Next up for Goode, who has a 2-year-old daughter with his wife, Sophie Dymoke: the big-screen drama Stoker, which was written by former Prison Break star Wentworth Miller.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
McIntyre’s No. 1 fan: his mom.
The new season of Starz’s Spartacus: Vengeance just premiered, and newcomer Liam McIntyre— who replaced the late Andy Whitfield — says the show already has its biggest fan: his mother. “You have no idea. She’s just that kind of mom,” says the Australian actor, 29, an only child. “That picture of me as Spartacus on the Internet — she’s learned how to use the Internet because of it — she’s sending it to all her friends.” His next dream gig? “All my friends used to say, ‘I’ll bet you’ll play James Bond one day.’ I guess I’m another step closer.”
Holden-Ried
Kris Holden-Ried, 38, is playing two notable, werewolf-y characters in the new Syfy series Lost Girl and opposite Kate Beckinsale in the film Underworld: Awakening. A former member of the Canadian national pentathlon team, he says he trained hard as an athlete, “but I really didn’t know my body.” His secret to playing action-packed supernatural roles in later years has been “energy work” with disciplines like tai chi and yoga. “I was all of a sudden able to bring those different energy levels to the characters. That’s been a fantastic tool.”
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt
Renner
Tom Pientka, Antioch, Ill.
Based on Robert Ludlum’s popular spy novels, the movie series is still going strong, although without Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. The Bourne Legacy, directed by Tony Gilroy, is slated for release Aug. 3 and stars Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner as a new secret agent operating in the same world as Damon’s three Bourne flicks. Renner co-starred with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, and he puts on superhero garb as ace archer Hawkeye in The Avengers, out May 4.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Marrianna Getten, Whittier, Calif.
You and the rest of the actor’s fan base are in for a bunch of treats from D’Onofrio this year. First is his feature-film debut as a writer and director, Don’t Go in the Woods, a horror/musical hybrid in theaters now. D’Onofrio also is teaming with Ethan Hawke, with whom he co-stars in the horror film Sinister, for an upcoming TV cop drama for NBC called Blue Tilt.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Nate Parker stars in Red Tails (in theaters now), a story about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. A generation looked up to those heroes, and in Parker’s own life, he looked up to his four uncles. They were the only men in his life after his father died when Parker was very young, and they shared a three-bedroom apartment with him, his mom, his aunt and his grandmother in Norfolk, Va. “We didn’t have many material things, but we loved each other unconditionally,” says Parker, 32, who was an All-American wrestler at the University of Oklahoma. “My uncles and a couple of my coaches really, really set a high standard for me and pushed me further than I believed I could go.”
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Martha Harris, Lafayette, Ind.
Patterson is picky when it comes to his book adaptations. “I just want them to be done well,” says the admitted “movieaholic.” The best-selling writer says the movies featuring Morgan Freeman as detective Alex Cross — Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider— could have been better, so he hopes to break some ground with a new one. I, Alex Cross, due later this year, stars Tyler Perry, with Matthew Fox as his villain. “I was very happy with Tyler and Matthew, and they couldn’t have cast them without my saying yes. If we screw up, I have to allow myself to be flogged.”
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Nancy Mills, Brian Truit
Abby Matheny, Denton, Texas
Rossum, 25, has been mostly focused more on acting in recent years than showing off her impressive soprano voice. The New York City native starred in the action movie Dragonball: Evolution and the indie drama Dare but has found a home on the Showtime series Shameless. The drama, which just began its second season, features Rossum as Fiona, the de facto parent in a dysfunctional household.
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt
Bell’s back with Steven Spielberg and Tintin.
Jones
Georgette Jones, the only child of country music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette, writes about her parents in The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George. Jones, 40, didn’t pursue music herself until a few years ago, partly because she wanted kids someday and didn’t want them to grow up as she did with a parent who lived life on the road. “I didn’t want that crazy ‘I’m here, I’m not here’ lifestyle for my children,” says the mother of 18-year-old twin sons.
Thanks to the magic of performance-capture animation, Jamie Bell, 25, plays the title reporter/adventurer in The Adventures of Tintin, which teams him with director Steven Spielberg. Bell’s first Spielberg film: Jurassic Park. “For an 8-year-old, I was completely blown away,” he says. “I genuinely believed that dinosaurs existed and Mr. Spielberg was a magician.”
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter and Brian Truitt
10 readers will win a Blu-ray/DVD/Ultraviolet combo pack of Killer Elite starring Jason Statham. Read more…
Judy Mauldin, Hickory, N.C.
Not yet. The Irish actor who became a household name in movies such as Phone Booth and The Recruit in the early 2000s spent the past few years doing independent films but came back to the big screen in a big way this year. He played a horrible boss (fittingly) in Horrible Bosses and a vampire in Fright Night, out now on DVD and Blu-ray. And next year brings a starring role for Farrell in the remake of the the sci-fi flick Total Recall.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Anthony J. Rinna, Southgate, Mich.
Good eye! Dennis Haysbert, he of the commanding voice, is not only the man in the Allstate ads, but he also co-starred as baseballer Pedro Cerrano in Major League and its first sequel. The former star of The Unit and 24, who is a car buff and certified deep-sea diver in real life, recently filmed the bigscreen drama LUV with Danny Glover and actor/rapper Common.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Categories: In Print, Movies, People, Reader Questions, TV Tags: 24, Allstate, Dennis Haysbert, LUV, Major League, Michigan, Southgate, The Unit
Elizabeth Reaser says she has ‘good baby mojo.'
In the Twilight movies, Elizabeth Reaser plays matriarch to a family of perpetually teenage vampires. In Young Adult, she’s a rocking new mom. She may not be a mother herself in real life, but the Michigan native has had plenty of experience around youngsters as an actress and aunt to four nephews. “When I first started, I was very precious with them, and now I just feel very comfortable when I’m holding a baby,” says Reaser, 36. “I’ve been lucky in that they don’t cry. I’ve had some good baby mojo.”
Mitchell
Former Lost and V star Elizabeth Mitchell has an emotional role in the indie film Answers to Nothing, but her home life with 6-year-old son C.J. offers endless laughs. So she leaves her role’s negative energy on the set. “As a mom, because it is my job to be the adult in the situation, to get to go to work and be a kid is kind of fun,” says Mitchell, 41. “I can throw a temper tantrum and people will pay me for it — on camera.”
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Fans are saying that anyone who grew up with the Muppets must see the new movie. The breakout star of the movie, Walter, answers a few questions about trying to get his favorite act back together.
Read more…
Ashley Tisdale: Still chasing her dreams
Joe Cox, Tucson
Unfortunately for you and other fans of the cheerleading series, it was canceled after one season. But its stars are landing on their feet — with no back handspring required. Michalka is filming the big-screen drama Light of Mine, while Tisdale, a veteran of Disney’s successful High School Musical franchise, is developing a sitcom to star in for ABC called Under Construction. Inspired by the actress’s own life, the comedy is about a young woman who has to move back in with her father when her dream home turns out to be less than dreamy.
Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt
Alice Hirai, Ogden, Utah
Holloway, who found fame on the mysterious island of Lost as bad-boy Sawyer, guest-starred earlier this year on an episode of the NBC sitcom Community. He will be back in action, though — literally — in the adventure thriller Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, in theaters Dec. 21 and starring Tom Cruise, Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner. The 42-year-old actor also began work recently on his next movie, the music-themed drama Planet B-Boy, with singer Chris Brown and Laz Alonso.
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter and Brian Truitt
Categories: In Print, Movies, People, Reader Questions, TV Tags: Chris Brown, Community, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Laz Alonso, Lost, Mission Impossible, NBC, Paula Patton, Planet B-Boy, Tom Cruise
Tracy Holt Farmington, N.M.
Like many people his age, Hackman, 81, is enjoying retirement these days. The two-time Oscar winner, whose movie career dates back to 1961, stepped away from acting after his 2004 film Welcome to Mooseport. He lives in Santa Fe with his wife, musician Betsy Arakawa, and a pair of German shepherds. Hackman also has been writing: His newest novel, Payback at Morning Peak, was released in June. There is at least one man who wants to get the star of Hoosiers and The French Connection back on the big screen: Alexander Payne. The director of the comedy/drama The Descendants, starring George Clooney and now in theaters, is keen on casting Hackman in his upcoming movie Nebraska.
Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter and Brian Truitt
Showcasing some of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2011, the five-disc collection releases on November 22, but check back here tomorrow for your chance to win a copy on DVD! Here’s a sneak peek at the films included in the set.
- CATCHING HELL (Alex Gibney) 2011 Tribeca Film Festival selection, analyzes the fateful eighth inning of the 2003 National League Championship Series in which a Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman caught a fly ball that, in the eyes of other Cubs fans, prevented the Cubs from proceeding to the World Series.
ESPN Films "Catching Hell" captures the psychology of die-hard sports fans, the frightening phenomenon of scapegoating, and the hysteria that turned mild-mannered Steve Bartman into the most hated man in Chicago.
One of the most thrilling & groundbreaking motion-picture trilogies of all time roars onto Blu-ray™, Jurassic Park. enjoy all three epic adventures from filmmaker Steven Spielberg plus more than two hours of all-new bonus features! Available on Blu-ray™ for the first time ever on October 25, 2011. Three readers who enter via the form below will win a copy of the trilogy. Deadline for entries is 8 p.m. on Friday, November 4, 2011.
Read more…