Latifah to perform with Catherine Z. Jones @ the Oscars on Sunday

AKA2D '91 · #1 02-11-2003, 11:59 AM

No A. Fisher
No Denzel

Oh well. I guess 2002 was our year.

Maybe the Queen has a chance. That IS a big competittion in her category. Still Congratulations to Dana Owens.

'Chicago' Dances to 13 Oscar Nominations
1 hour, 15 minutes ago Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Bob Tourtellotte

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) - Musical "Chicago" danced around the competition at the Oscars (news - web sites) on Tuesday, scoring 13 nominations including best film, as the U.S. film industry's top award show entered its final act.

Nominations Announced for Supporting Acting Roles
(AP Video)

The movie, which has dazzled audiences with its adaptation of the Broadway stage show about an actress whose murderous ways make her a media star, also earned a nomination for Renee Zellweger (news) in the best actress category but failed to earn star Richard Gere (news) a nomination in the best actor group.

Epic "The Gangs of New York," about gang wars in 19th century New York and "The Hours," a drama that ponders matters of life and death and centers on writer Virginia Woolf, followed "Chicago" with 10 and 9 nominations, respectively, also including best film.

Rounding out the list of best movie nominees were the story of a battle for Middle Earth, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and in a surprise, Holocaust drama "The Pianist."

Meryl Streep (news) earned her 13th nomination as an actress, surpassing screen legend Katharine Hepburn (news) as the most nominated actress. Streep landed in the category for best supporting actress for her role as a writer in offbeat drama "Adaptation," but was left out of the best actress grouping for her widely-touted part in "The Hours."

Julianne Moore (news) became the first woman to be nominated in two categories in the same year, best actress for drama "Far From Heaven," and supporting actress for "The Hours."

"It's a wonderful year for the women, and also the movies themselves are so diverse," said Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (news - web sites), which awards the Oscars each year.

This year's Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 23 and will be broadcast live on television from Los Angeles.

SOLID YEAR FOR MOVIES

Indeed, most pundits believe 2002 was a solid year for the movies, as evidenced by the close race for nominations this year which saw early favorites, "About Schmidt" and "Adaptation" edged out of the best film category.

"About Schmidt" star Jack Nicholson (news), however, was nominated for best actor for his starring role in the film about a retired man searching for meaning to his life.

It was Nicholson's 12th Oscar nomination in his career, earning him the distinction of having more nominations than any other actor.

Joining him in the best actor grouping were Adrien Brody (news) in "The Pianist," Nicolas Cage (news) for "Adaptation," Michael Caine (news) for "The Quiet American" and Daniel Day-Lewis (news) for "Gangs of New York."

Along with Zellweger and Moore in the best actress category were Nicole Kidman (news), who portrayed suicidal writer Virginia Woolf in "The Hours," Salma Hayek (news) for "Frida," about Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and Diane Lane (news) in "Unfaithful."

In the best supporting actress category, joining Streep and Moore were "Chicago" co-stars Catherine Zeta-Jones (news), and Queen Latifah and Kathy Bates (news) for "About Schmidt."

Supporting actor nominees were veteran Paul Newman (news) for "Road to Perdition," Ed Harris (news) for "The Hours," Chris Cooper (news) for "Adaptation," Christopher Walken (news) for "Catch Me if You Can" and John C. Reilly (news) in "Chicago."

Best director nominees were Martin Scorsese (news) for "Gangs," Roman Polanski (news) for "Pianist," Spain's Pedro Almodovar for "Talk to Her," Stephen Daldry for "The Hours," and Oscar newcomer Rob Marshall for "Chicago."

Finally, foreign language film nominees were Mexico's "El Crimen Del Padre Amaro," China's "Hero," Finland's "The Man Without a Past," Germany's "Nowhere in Africa," and the Dutch film "Zus & Zo."

darling1 · #2 02-11-2003, 12:15 PM

Now you know we are supposed to relish our achievements for another 100 years. Gosh, we had three in one year, that is enough!!!!

.

I am happy that Queen Latifah got nominated, but I will really be surprised if she actually won. With the other women in her category, it is highly unlikely.

I was surprised that Richard Gere did not receive a nomination. I think he is a very good actor who apparently had no formal dance training so this role was somewhat of a stretch for him.

AKA2D '91 · #3 02-11-2003, 01:06 PM

Maybe, just maybe the "big guns" will cancel each other out and they go for the Queen.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

9dstpm · #4 02-13-2003, 09:17 PM

Queen Latifah was GREAT in Chicago!!!! I was kinda upset that Oscar snubbed Richard Gere b/c he was really good too!!! If you get a chance to see the movie, GO SEE IT!!! It was worth the 4 stars that it got from the critics

ladygreek · #5 02-13-2003, 10:16 PM

I just came in from seeing Chicago and I highly recommend it. I am glad to see that Dana got the nomination because she was great in the movie. But I too doubt that she will get the award.

I am also not surprised that Antoine Fisher did not get any nominations. That would have been too much acknowledgment of a positive Black movie.

BabyBlue91 · #6 02-19-2003, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by darling1
I am happy that Queen Latifah got nominated, but I will really be surprised if she actually won. With the other women in her category, it is highly unlikely.

I agree -- it will be quite a feat if she beats out Oscar winners Streep and Bates, and I understand the performances by Moore and Zeta-Jones were nothing to sneeze at either.

AKA2D '91 · #7 03-05-2003, 12:51 PM

Chicago is Great!

If you haven't checked it out, you should! When it comes to DVD I think I'll get it.

AKA2D '91 · #8 03-19-2003, 09:48 AM

Disney Hold Court for Queen Latifah
Wed Mar 19, 2:56 AM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Michael Fleming and Cathy Dunkley

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Disney has made a preemptive purchase of screenwriter Michael Elliot's pitch "Just Wright" as a starring and producing vehicle for Queen Latifah.

Oscar-nominated for "Chicago" and still perched atop the box office charts in Disney's "Bringing Down the House," the Queen will get to play the princess in a modern-day retelling of Cinderella set in the world of pro basketball.

Latifah will star as Janice Wright, a physical therapist drafted by an all-star basketball player to move in and help him recover from a career-threatening injury. The hoop star then begins to fall for his therapist.

Latifah and her Flavor Unit Films partner, Sha-Kim Compere, will produce with Debra Martin Chase.

"This idea came about as I watched Queen Latifah looking great as she walked down the red carpet at the Golden Globes and a woman in the group said, 'Why doesn't someone put her in a romantic comedy?'," Elliot said. "They don't usually give actresses like Latifah those films, but as I looked around the room, most of the women there didn't look like Halle Berry (news).

"It took Tom Hanks (news)' clout to get 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' made, but (star) Nia Vardalos (news) proved that you don't have to be Julia Roberts (news), Meg Ryan (news) or Halle to appeal to the real women who identify with women like Nia or Latifah."

Elliot used basketball for his film's arena because it's an arena he knows well. His previous script credits include the romantic tale "Brown Sugar," the kids basketball fantasy "Like Mike" and the upcoming Malcolm Lee-directed street basketball film "The Rucker" at Universal.

"I'm from South Philly," he said. "So while I know that when parents of my white friends say they want their daughters to marry a professional, they mean doctors and lawyers. Where I come from, they want them to marry professional athletes because they are our princes

Ideal08 · #9 03-19-2003, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
"I'm from South Philly," he said. "So while I know that when parents of my white friends say they want their daughters to marry a professional, they mean doctors and lawyers. Where I come from, they want them to marry professional athletes because they are our princes

Interesting...

Steeltrap · #10 03-19-2003, 01:25 PM

For many of our kids in certain inner-city areas, professional athletes are the only black men they see with money. That's one of the unintended consequences of civil rights laws and open housing laws. In a lot of cases, the upper-middle-class professionals like doctors, attorneys, technology professionals, aren't in the community every day.

Back to the Queen, however. I just hope that she chooses projects with dignity and stature, and not end up like Cuba Gooding Jr.

LADY_1908 · #11 03-19-2003, 02:44 PM

Let me preface this by saying that I was raised in Philly (Southwest)....

It's comments like this that perpetuate the "ghetto" mentality. I'm not saying that there are not good men that play professional sports BUT I'll be damned if I encourage this MYTH. (Professional athletes as "our" princes).

Let's look at how the media portrays MOST of the African American professional athletes....

1. Ignorant. (Little education for the most part. Escapes the 'hood for the "bling-bling" lifestyle)

2. Baby Daddies. (If I hear one more story about an athlete who has 5,6,7...children by DIFFERENT women or the athlete who finally marries his first 3 children's mother...)

3. Not interested in marrying a Black woman anyway.

4. Stupid. (Can't manage their own money and end up broke)

IS this really the man we want our daughters/nieces/sisters to marry? (The prince to take them away from it all).

Philadelphia has a RICH African American history. South Philadelphia has a history of Black Achievement....Marian Anderson for one. South Philadelphia was home to some of the greats in the medical and cultural arenas. The history if this section of Philadelphia also boasts of many African American businesses that thrived (Restaurants, Funereal Homes, Clothing Stores...)

I can only guess that Mr. Elliott has bought into the "new" mentality ("We" only knows what you tell us marse John) OR that he was NEVER taught his true history.

Sorry for the long post BUT I get sooooooooo emotional on this topic.

showstopper_1908 · #12 03-20-2003, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steeltrap
Back to the Queen, however. I just hope that she chooses projects with dignity and stature, and not end up like Cuba Gooding Jr.

As an actor it is important to balence your ultra serious, epic tales, with lighthearted comidies. Sometimes you need to do a project that will just be fun to work on. Not every film you want to do will be a mini-revolution. It just goes to show, you can't please everyone all of the time.

AKA2D '91 · #13 03-20-2003, 11:03 AM

LOS ANGELES - Queen Latifah and the very pregnant Catherine Zeta-Jones (news) have agreed to perform a duet from their musical "Chicago" at Sunday's Academy Awards (news - web sites) ceremony.

The John Kander and Fred Ebb tune "I Move On" is nominated for best original song. Zeta-Jones, whose second child with husband Michael Douglas (news) is due in April, performed the number in the film with co-star Renee Zellweger (news).

Zellweger declined to reprise her performance for the live Oscar ceremony, the academy announced Wednesday.

Latifah and Zeta-Jones are both nominated in the supporting-actress category for their roles in "Chicago," while Zellweger is up for the lead-actress prize. The film has 13 nominations, including a nomination for best picture.

Other scheduled performers in the best-song category include Paul Simon (news)'s "Father and Daughter" from the animated "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" and U2's "The Hands That Built America" from "Gangs of New York."

The song "Burn it Blue," written by Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor (news) for the biography film "Frida," is set to be performed by singers Lila Downs and Caetano Veloso.

Eminem (news - web sites)'s "Lose Yourself," from his film "8 Mile," is also nominated, but the rapper's record label has said he won't attend the show.

RedefinedDiva · #14 03-23-2003, 10:00 PM

Is anyone watching? Steve Martin had a funny intro. So far, it's just the wack stuff that they have to get out of the way, like Best Animated Feature, Best Visual Effects, etc.

They have figured out a new way to force people off stage. The music comes up and the microphone drops down towards the floor. How are you going to give 7 people an Oscar for their work and force them to split 15 seconds of thank you time?

Like Stephanie from Full House, "How Rude!"

GRITS · #15 03-23-2003, 11:18 PM

Queen Latifah lost

. But Catherine Zeta-Jones won so i'm excited for her, she is 8 months pregnant! They had an amazing performance though and Latifah looked really happy to see her win. I don't agree with the new rule, everyone should have equal time, people have been waiting their whole lives for this, I'm a little dissapointed with that.