Sandra Bullock was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film The Blind Side. She also won a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (tied with Meryl Streep), Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role in The Blind Side.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Affairs
Photo: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the NATO summit meeting after a tour at Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg, France on 4 April 2009.
Carla Bruni, 42, born in Turin, Italy, is heiress to the fortune created by the Italian tire manufacturing company CEAT, founded in the 1920s by her grandfather Virginio Bruni Tedeschi. After the company was sold in the 1970s to Pirelli, her family moved to France in 1975. She left school at 19 to become a model.
As a model Bruni worked for designers and fashion houses like Christian Dior, Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel and Versace. Later she left modeling in favor of a career in music.
Her music career did not cease after becoming the First Lady. She released her third album Comme si de rien n'était (As If Nothing Happened) on 11 July 2008.
Bruni-Sarkozy sang for Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday on July 18, 2009 at Radio City Musical Hall in New York City. The event was her first public music appearance since marrying Sarkozy.
She is currently working on her fourth album collaborating with Lenny Kravitz. In January 2010, it was reported that she is working on two separate studio albums, one in French and another in English with release dates set for autumn 2010.
After a lot of speculation, on 23 November 2009 Bruni revealed that she had accepted a role in a forthcoming Woody Allen film, and said, "I'm not an actress at all. Perhaps I'll be completely hopeless but I can't miss an opportunity like this one. When I'm a grandmother I'd like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen."
It has been claimed that Bruni was involved with celebrities such as Louis Bertignac, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Donald Trump, Léos Carax, Charles Berling, Arno Klarsfeld, Vincent Perez and former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius. She has said she is easily ‘bored with monogamy’, and that ‘love lasts a long time, but burning desire - two to three weeks’.
Allegedly, while having a relationship with Jean-Paul Enthoven, Bruni fell in love and started an affair with his philosopher son Raphael Enthoven with whom she has a son, Aurelien. Bruni later denied ever having an affair with Raphael's father in an interview published in Vanity Fair, "I never slept with him, not even a minute." But the younger Mr. Enthoven left Bruni saying he felt she was ‘uncommitted to the relationship’.
Bruni met French President Nicolas Sarkozy in November 2007 at a dinner party and later they married on 2 February 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris. The marriage is Bruni's first and Sarkozy's third. She has an office and staff at her disposal in the East wing of the Élysée Palace.
There was a controversy on the eve of the French First Couple’s state visit to the UK, with the publication by Christie's auction house of a nude photograph of Bruni taken during her career as a model. The photograph sold for $91,000.
Bruni-Sarkozy met the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in August 2008 at a Buddhist temple on a hill in Languedoc, France. Another important event for Bruni was the reception of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to France in September 2008. She has been critical of Pope Benedict XVI on the controversial subject of religion and AIDS.
Bruni visited New York City in September 2008 with President Nicolas Sarkozy and met for lunch with First Lady Laura Bush at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Symposium on Advancing Global Literacy and attended the General Assembly in the UN with her Sarkozy.
She also attended state dinners with the Emir of Qatar and wife and with Iraq's president in Paris in 2009. She and Sheikha Mozah, wife of Emir of Qatar, will be working together on education promotion and she visited Doha on the invitation of Sheikha Mozah in November 2009.
Recently, there were reports in many blogs, newspapers and web sites that both Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni are having separate affairs outside their marriage. The suggestion that the couple were both committing adultery first emerged on Twitter, followed by a report in the Sunday newspaper le Journal du Dimanche.
The first tweet claimed that Mrs. Bruni-Sarkozy had become romantically involved with Benjamin Biolay, a French musician. It then claimed that the jilted Mr. Sarkozy had swiftly found solace in the arms of his 40-year-old ecology minister Chantal Jouanno who is also a French karate champion. French site suchablog.com alleged that Mrs. Bruni-Sarkozy had been a close friend of Biolay for many years and was now unofficially living with him at his flat in Paris. Now, for the first time, rumours of trouble in the marriage have reached the mainstream French media.
Mr. Sarkozy is reported to have had an affair with Cecilia Ciganer-Albaniz, who eventually became his second wife, while he was still married to his first wife, Marie-Dominique Culioli, the mother of his two elder sons. Mr. Sarkozy and his second wife split during his presidential election campaign in 2007.
Michelle Obama with Carla Bruni at the Palais Rohan
Michelle Obama meets with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the Palais Rohan (Rohan Palace) on April 3, 2009, in Strasbourg, France.
Carla Bruni with Michelle Obama
The US First Lady Michelle Obama meets with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of French President Sarkozy at the Palais Rohan (Rohan Palace) on April 3, 2009, in Strasbourg, France (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy).
The Black & White Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, an Italian-born French songwriter, singer, and former model, is the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy whom she married at the Elysee Palace on 2 February 2008.
French Singer Benjamin Biolay
Benjamin Biolay, 37, the French singer and musician and the ex-husband of Chiara Mastroianni, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, is a winner at France's recent Victoires de la Musique awards.
A recent tweet in on Twitter, the microblogging website, suggested that Biolay is in a relationship with the French First Lady Mrs Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, followed by a report in the Sunday newspaper le Journal du Dimanche. The story has also been reported by other established news web sites including Yahoo News France, Le Post, Agoravoxtv, and TV news channel i-Tele.
French Junior Minister for Ecology Chantal Jouanno
programme national de coordination des politiques de recherche sur les transports terrestres (Predit), conference de presse, originally uploaded by Wilfried Maisy.
Chantal Jouanno: French Junior Minister for Ecology (secretaire d'Etat en charge de l'Ecologie)
The 40-year-old former karate champion and French politician Chantal Jouanno has been the Secretary of State for Ecology in the French Government of François Fillon since January 21, 2009. She also has the reputation of being a close ally of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The former karate champion Chantal Jouanno, who was twelve times French champion in her category in Karate, is now alleged to be in a relationship with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is already jilted after news sites reported that his wife Mrs. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is currently unofficially living with French singer and musician Benjamin Biolay at his flat in Paris. Also, the French web magazine suchablog.com alleged that Mrs. Bruni-Sarkozy had been a close friend of Biolay for many years.
The rumours gained momentum after appearing in a blog on the website of Le Journal du Dimanche that read, "It's the gossip of the moment that could become the story of the year. A romance is said to have started a few weeks ago between the First Lady of France and music award winner Benjamin Biolay. The rumours started on Twitter and are now on blogs and websites everywhere. It says the presidential marriage is breathing its last breaths. Carla Bruni is in love with Benjamin Biolay and the president has found solace with Chantal Jouanno."
The news of the affairs -- Chantal Jouanno-Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy-Benjamin Biolay -- also flashed on popular news sites like Yahoo News France, Le Post and Agoravoxtv, as well as TV news channel i-Tele. However, now the rumours of trouble in the marriage of the Sarkozys have appeared the mainstream French media.
Earlier Mr. Sarkozy reportedly had an affair with Cecilia Ciganer-Albaniz, who later became his second wife, while he was still married to his first wife Marie-Dominique Culioli, the mother of his two elder sons. Mr. Sarkozy and his second wife split during his presidential election campaign of 2007 when Cecilia Ciganer-Albaniz started having an affair with the US publicist Richard Attais.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actress
All the five Academy Award nominees for Best Supporting Actress Oscar: Mo'Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), and Penelope Cruz (Nine) arrive at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA, on Sunday, March 7, 2010.
Zoe Saldana and a model in Givenchy dress
Compare Zoe Saldana's Givenchy dress and the model walking the ramp with the same dress, possibly inspired by the current wedding gown style. Apart from Avatar Blue, Pink, was another colour which found favor with the glamorous brigade, with Avatar actress Zoe Saldana going for an edgy Givenchy gown with a sparkly light pink bodice and a lilac skirt that descended into tight ruffles in all shades of purple.
Zoe Saldana in Givenchy Haute Couture
Avatar actress Zoe Saldana arrives at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in Hollywood, California. Though many actresses chose to wear the Avatar Blue, she chose a a sparkly light pink bodice and a lilac skirt.
Gabourey Sidibe arrives at Oscar Awards
Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe arrives at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in Hollywood, California, in Marchesa with Lorraine Schwartz jewels. Blue seems to be her choice for making a style statement with the attitude that befits a best actress nominee.
Even though Avatar failed to bag any major awards excepting three awards for technical categories out of the nine nominations, the colour blue emerged a favourite among the Hollywood fashionistas. Best Supporting Actress winner Mo’Nique, debutante Gabourey Sidibe, Mariah Carey, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kristen Stewart were among those who sported the colour blue. Instead of opting for boring black, many actresses made bold color choices and used sparkle strategically to stand out from the crowd.
James Cameron congratulates ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow
caption this photo of james cameron congratulating x-wife kathryn bigelow, originally uploaded by jasoncalacanis.
James Cameron, the director of Avatar that won 3 Oscars congratulates ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, the director and producer of The Hurt Locker that won six Oscars including the Best Director and the Best Picture, with a gesture as if he is going to strangulate her. Funnily, this is one of the most circulated Oscar photo on the Internet.
Marc Anthony and actress Jennifer Lopez arrive
Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, in Armani Privé, with Bulgari and Cartier jewels and Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. , originally uploaded by The Chic Spot.
Singer Marc Anthony and actress Jennifer Lopez arrive at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in Hollywood, California. Lopez was draped in Armani Privé with Bulgari and Cartier jewels and Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Her sculpted, strapless pale-pink Armani Prive had a dramatic slit on one side and an exaggerated modern train that jutted out from her hip. Her dress brought mixed reactions from fashion critics and entertainment bloggers, some of them calling her the worst dressed celebrity on the Oscar red carpet.
2010 Oscars: The Hurt Locker eclipsed Avatar
The Oscar night belonged to Director Kathryn Bigelow and her Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker winning six of the nine categories the film was nominated for, beating James Cameron’s Avatar that won only three awards out of the nine nominations, when the 82nd Annual Academy Awards were being announced on March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosted the show.
Also on the Oscar night of 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, and she is the second American woman to be nominated for the Best Director award, the other being Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003). The Hurt Locker won in all major categories like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.
The Hurt Locker won the Best Picture Oscar award beating nine other films such as Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air.
The Best Director award was won by Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, defeating James Cameron (Avatar), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds).
Mark Boal won Best Original Screenplay Award for The Hurt Locker. The film also won awards for Best Sound Editing (Paul N.J. Ottosson), Best Sound Mixing (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett) and Best Film Editing (Chris Innis and Bob Murawski).
James Cameron’s mega block buster sci-fi juggernaut Avatar, which is his first feature film since Titanic (1997) that won a record-tying 11 Oscars, though nominated for nine Oscars could win only three awards, that too in technical categories. The film was considered one of the top-most contenders with the highest ever box office revenue of over US$2.5 billion, and considered one of the most popular films in recent times.
For Avatar, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg won the Best Art Direction award, Mauro Fiore won the Best Cinematography Award, and the Best Visual Effects trophy was won by Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones.
Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress for The Blind Side, facing competition from Helen Mirren (as Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (as Jenny Miller in An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (as Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones in Precious) and Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia -- Streep is a two-times Oscar-winner who won the Academy Award nomination for a record 16th time. In The Blind Side Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a suburban mom, who takes in a homeless African-American teenager and nurtures his talents as a football player.
Jeff Bridges won the Oscar for Best Actor award for Crazy Heart, overcoming competition from George Clooney (as Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air), Colin Firth (as George Falconer in A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (as Nelson Mandela in Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (as Sgt. William James in The Hurt Locker). In the movie Bridges portrays Otis ‘Bad’ Blake a washed-up country music singer whose meeting with a young journalist might help him to turn his life around.
Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett won the award for Best Original Song for ‘The Weary Kind’, theme from Crazy Heart, competing against ‘Almost There’ and ‘Down in New Orleans’ both songs from The Princess and the Frog (Randy Newman), ‘Loin de Paname’ from Paris 36 (Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas) and ‘Take it All’ from Nine (Maury Yeston).
African-American actress Mo'Nique, who was widely considered as the front-runner for the award, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her harrowing role as the abusive mother Mary Lee Johnston in ‘Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire’, claiming her first ever Academy Award. Mo'Nique beat Penélope Cruz (as Carla Albanese in Nine), Vera Farmiga (as Alex Goran in Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (as Jean Craddock in Crazy Heart) and Anna Kendrick (as Natalie Keener in Up in the Air) to win the trophy. She was previously known mostly for her stand-up comedy and her performances on television.
Geoffrey Fletcher won the Best Adapted Screenplay award for Precious (adapted from Push by Sapphire) beating District 9 by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (adapted from Alive in Joburg by Blomkamp), An Education by Nick Hornby (adapted from An Education by Lynn Barber), In the Loop by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche (adapted from The Thick of It created by Iannucci), and Up in the Air by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (adapted from Up in the Air by Walter Kirn).
Precious has many firsts to its credit. Director Lee Daniels became the second African-American to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar award after John Singleton for 1991's Boyz n the Hood. Also ‘Precious’ is the first film directed by an African-American to be nominated for Best Picture, and Gabourey Sidibe is the first African-American to be nominated in the Best Lead Actress category since Halle Berry's win for Monster's Ball (2001). And Screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher is the first African-American to win a screenwriting Oscar.
Austrian actor Christoph Waltz won the Best Supporting Actor award, the first Oscar to be presented on the night, for his diabolical portrayal of a Nazi officer Col. Hans Landa in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. Also it was the first Oscar for the veteran stage and television actor Waltz, who beat stars like Matt Damon (as François Pienaar in Invictus), Woody Harrelson (as Capt. Tony Stone in The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (as Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station), and Stanley Tucci (as George Harvey in The Lovely Bones).
Disney Pixar's balloon adventure ‘Up’ won in the category of Best Animated Feature film (Pete Docter) and Michael Giacchino won the Best Original Score Award for Up.
The Cove won the award for the Best Documentary Feature film (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens). It had competition from Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller), Food Inc. (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein), The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith) and Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa).
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow) won the Oscar for Best Makeup beating Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano) and The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore).
The Best Foreign Language Film Award was won by Argentinean film El Secreto de Sus Ojos (in Spanish: Juan José Campanella). Sandy Powell won the award for Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria.
The New Tenants won an Oscar in the category of Best Live Action Short film. Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett) won the Best Documentary Short Subject Award. Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin) won the award for the Best Animated Short film award.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Hurt Locker beats Avatar to sweep 2010 Oscars
At the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, the Iraq war movie The Hurt Locker swept the Oscars winning six of the major awards, including the Best Picture and the Best Director Awards for Kathryn Bigelow.
She won beating stiff competition from her ex-husband James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure Avatar. Bigelow is the first female to win the Best Director award. Only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director so far.
The Hurt Locker is a war drama about a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War, and the emotional toll the war takes on them. The film also won writer Mark Boal the Academy Award for the Best Original Screenplay, and the film claimed honours for film editing, sound editing and mixing.
James Cameron's 3D sci-fi movie Avatar, the all-time top-grossing movie with $2.6 billion worldwide revenues at the box offices, was expected to bag most of the major categories’ awards at the time of nominations. But it could not match the low-budget film The Hurt Locker (budget only $11 million and worldwide box office revenue only $21 million). But for Avatar, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg won the award for Outstanding Art Direction, Mauro Fiore won Best Cinematography Award, and the film also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Jeff Bridges won the Oscar for Best Actor for Crazy Heart. In Crazy Heart, Bridges portrays an alcoholic country singer Bad Blake, whose meeting with a young journalist may help him to turn his life around. Bridges, 60, has swept the awards season this year winning Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Also, Ryan Birgham and T Bone Burnett won the award for the Best Original Song for Crazy Heart.
Sandra Bullock won her first Oscar Award for Best Actress for The Blind Side, beating stiff competition from Meryl Streep, whose role in Julie and Julia has earned her the 16th Oscar nomination. Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a suburban mother who takes in a homeless African-American teenager and encourages his talents as a football player.
The veteran stage and television actor Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor award, the first Oscar to be presented on the night for his diabolical turn as the Nazi officer Hans Landa in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. Waltz beat Hollywood veterans like Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones).
As was expected, the African-American actress Mo'Nique took home the Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress for her harrowing role as an abusive mother in ‘Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire’. Also, Geoffrey Fletcher won the Best Screenwriter award for Precious.
Disney Pixar's Up won in the category of best animated feature film, for which, director Pete Docter accepted the award on behalf of the studio and the animation team. Also, Micheal Giacchino won the Best Original Score Award for Up.
Argentina's The Secret in their eyes won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The New Tenant won in the category of Live Action short film. The Cove won the award for the Best Documentary Feature film. Star Trek won the Oscar for Best Makeup. Sandy Powell won the award for Best costume for the British film The Young Victoria. Music by Prudence won the Documentary Short Subject Award. For the complete list of the awards, go to the Official Oscars site.
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