Oscar oddities

Silver Eiffel Tower model, against white background, close-up The Invention Of Hugo CabretEvery year, Oscar nominations feature some oddities and notable achievements. In some ways, it's a quiet acting race: Berenice Bejo, Jean Dujardin and Max von Sydow utter only two words among their three performances. Michelle Williams was nominated for playing an actress (Marilyn Monroe) who never earned an Oscar nom. Alexander Payne is a triple nominee for "The Descendants." Lead actor contenders George Clooney and Brad Pitt also were given an adapted screenplay nom for "Ides of March," and a producer bid for "Moneyball," respectively. Cited in two races were Woody Allen, Michel Hazanavicius and Martin Scorsese. Allen's noms for "Midnight in Paris" broke Billy Wilder's record by making him a seven-time double nominee on the same film in the directing and writing categories. For their sound work, Gary Rydstrom scored two noms, after 14 previous bids; Greg P. Russell earned his 15th career nomination; Ren Klyce earned his fourth and fifth noms this year. "A Separation," written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, is the first Farsi-language screenplay to earn a writing nom. John Williams' twin noms bring his total to 47, making him second in Oscar history to Walt Disney, who earned 59 during his lifetime. Meryl Streep continues her record-breaking run, with a 17th overall nom for "The Iron Lady." Supporting actor nominee Kenneth Branagh has now been nominated five times in five different categories; others are for lead actor and directing in 1989 for "Henry V," live-action short in 1992 for "Swan Song" and adapted screenplay in 1996 for "Hamlet." All five films in the animated feature category earned first-time noms for their directors. Since the animation category started in 2001, the only times Pixar has missed out on a nom were in 2002, 2005 and this year. Wim Wenders' "Pina" is the first 3-D film to be nominated in the documentary category. Scott Rudin ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close") and Michael DeLuca ("Moneyball") received best picture noms last year for "The Social Network." There is a French accent this year: Paris serves as the backdrop for "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris" and the animated "A Cat in Paris," while Parisians produced, directed and starred in L.A.-set "The Artist." Contact Christy Grosz at christy.grosz@variety.com

Sundance Today: Swag Beats (Boots?) Snow

The Sundance Film Festival is about, as the name implies, films. But there's another secret agenda at the heart of the Park City weeks-long event: swaaaag, man! If you've been keeping up with the MTV Movies team's escapades in our Sundance Today blogs, then you know that yours truly has been having some difficult time walking bootless through the snowy slush of Utah. That is no longer the case. I've got my Sorel-branded boots tied tight, some sunglasses from the lovely folks at Solstice Sunglass Boutique shielding my eyes, and a big dopey grin on my face. You see movies at Sundance, and that is awesome. But when you get free high-end swag at Sundance, you know you've arrived. And folks, let me tell you: I have arrived. Anyway, enough bragging about swag, at least. There's more movies, more actors, more filmmakers in our immediate future. Today, we're going one-on-one with "John Dies at the End" actors Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti, "Luv" actors Common, Charles S. Dutton and Michael K. Williams, "Parks & Rec" favorite (and "Safety Not Guaranteed" actress) Aubrey Plaza, "Red Hook Summer" director Spike Lee, and many more. If you've got questions for any of those guys, we want to hear 'em. Tweet them our way at @mtvmoviesblog and we'll do our best to get you the scoops you crave. In the mean time, if you need me, you can find me stomping all over Park City in my new Sorels. No. Big. Deal. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.

The brand new the new sony, Televisa in co-production pact

The brand new the new sony Pictures Television and Mexican media giant Televisa have inked a preliminary-look co-production pact for scripted and telenovela formats. SPT could possibly get a distinctive start searching whatsoever Televisa's formats for co-production worldwide, excluding the U.S. and South Usa. Televisa could possibly get first choice on SPT scripted formats for co-production in the united states. Both companies creates any program selected beneath the the pact. "We expect this to become extended and fruitful partnership," mentioned Andrea Wong, SPT prexy of worldwide production, who mentioned the sale did not have enough time period which she expected it could expand afterwards. "We are for sale to proper partners together with other players, but we're focusing about this new deal with Televisa for the moment," she added. "The effective scripts, diverse library and writing capabilities that Televisa proposes to this alliance match perfectly with Sony's connection with creating quality content for local areas," mentioned Jose Antonio Baston, Televisa's prexy of TV and content. SPT has headed local-language adaptations for scripted series based on U.S. formats, including "Everybody Loves Raymond" within the center East, Russia, Belgium and Israel "MarriedWith Children" in Israel, Russia and Bulgaria and "King of Queens" in Russia. Televisa features a 14.5% stake in Spain's Imagina, a partnership between Globomedia, Spain's greatest producer of TV Fiction, and Mediapro, a built-being produced service and sports rights brokering company in the united states. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Watercooler: When Idol Attacks

Amy Brunfield Therefore The The American Idol Show Show has came back. Yay.It may be the rest of the X Factor hangover, or the fact The Voice does the very first models better by restricting the tryouts to worthy talent, but Idol's overwrought and too-extended auditions are merely carried out. Seriously, for every crazy aspirant or über-confident ear-screecher throughout last night's opener, we have got barely a passable possibility for your finals and lots of top reasons to just wait for performance shows.Sure, the idol idol judges continue being fun and there is a specific pleasure in thinking (wanting) the rejected contestant goes full-blown freak on Seacrest within the hall, yet that's still inadequate to exchange with two-to-four several hours each week of clearly staged situations such as this "pleasure hopping" 28-year-old sales representative or perhaps the 15-year-old who just happened to experience a former Major League pitcher for just about any father. And don't even get us started round the Tennessee "hippsie." Like we would never know she was coping with to Hollywood after being uncovered with a fully produced backstory about her tent-dwelling existence which came out being the audience of Deliverance. Please. Already been through it, done the whole destitute sob story...plus it was referred to as Season 7's Josiah.Still, the show can do killer ratings and we'll all watch with sick fascination and quiet shame while you to a different prepackaged cliché parades past the idol idol judges table, finally falling into an exhausted heap come Hollywood Week. Idol has us which we must accept it. Should you excuse us, we should go warm-up our texting thumbs, because people elimination episodes may be used faster than Steven Tyler have some understanding lascivious to have an under-aged hopeful.Perhaps you have watch Idol last evening, or are you currently presently finished with that certain?Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Mekhi Phifer Tries to Get Used to Broadway Screams

NY (AP) Mekhi Phifer is not used to being shouted at, but it's part of his Broadway debut.The 37-year-old actor, best known for the TV series "ER" and the film "8 Mile," is discovering that audiences aren't silent while watching him in "Stick Fly," Lydia R. Diamond's complex drama about a black family."People are spirited when they see this play," he says, laughing.Both white and black audience members in the Cort Theatre are known to burst out with spontaneous advice for the actors or to otherwise clearly telegraph their reaction to dramatic situations. "I had to get used to that," he says. "It's not very typical for Broadway at least the Broadway plays that I've seen."Phifer plays Flip LeVay, a successful plastic surgeon and ladies' man who attended Exeter and Harvard. Sparks fly when he and his younger brother bring their respective girlfriends one black, one white to meet their parents at their lavish summer getaway on Martha's Vineyard.Phifer, whose acting career began when he won the lead in director Spike Lee's "Clockers," is not what you'd call a stage veteran. In fact, "Stick Fly" marks his professional stage debut. But Phifer is hardly intimidated."Just being there live in front of an audience has been a very exhilarating feeling," he says. "It's definitely a different machine but I'm having a lot of fun because there are new things I learn every night."Produced by musician Alicia Keys, the play offers the New York-raised Phifer a great way to get his theater feet wet. He's close to his roots, can learn from the ensemble and doesn't have to dance. "This was actually the perfect piece. It just had the right amount of energy, the right amount of intrigue, the right amount of edginess," he says. "It didn't feel like a typical Broadway play."That's because Phifer, who has played his share of streetwise tough guys, gets to play an educated rich man whose secrets unspool slowly over the course of the performance. He says he likes the opportunity to move past race and explore humanity."There's no question that I'm African-American. OK? I'm a black man. We're not going to escape that. But I love being able to get past that and, as the play goes on, you're just watching people," he says. "That's one of the main things that drew me towards this role and this play it could be anyone."Phifer is the theater newbie in an accomplished cast that includes Emmy Award nominee Dule Hill ("Psych," ''The West Wing"), Tracie Thoms ("Rent"), Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson ("Lackawanna Blues"), Rosie Benton ("Les Liaisons Dangereuses") and Condola Rashad ("Ruined").So tight is the cast that they've come up with their own lyrics to the original music Keys has written for spots between the play's scenes. The rest of the time, they warm up together, eat communally and go out for drinks as a group afterward."It's always a pleasure when you get to work with people that you actually really like," Phifer says. "We hang out when we're at the theater. We sit in the hallways or sit on the steps and yap it up."He hopes the good feeling bleeds into the audience, which has been known to become so boisterous that lines get drowned out. (His advice if that happens: "You might have to see it twice.") He wants the audience to be intrigued, provoked and later discuss all of it."When you leave the play, you feel good. You want to go out and have a drink. You want to talk about it. You want to get something to eat. You don't want the night to be over. And I think that's what the Broadway experience should be about," he says. "Our play lends itself to that energy and that attitude."Director Kenny Leon has been hoping to help Phifer make his Broadway debut ever since the two were slated to work together on an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to mount a production of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.""In the back of my mind, I've always wanted to work with Mekhi," Leon says. "He has presence. He has charisma. He has everything that all great actors have, except he had never done a play before."When that time finally happened, Leon was impressed by how humble the young actor was when he walked into the rehearsal room. "I can't believe how much he's learned in such a short amount of time," Leon says. "The ease in terms of the transition from film to stage I don't think I've ever seen it happen like this. I couldn't be more pleased with what he's doing on that stage."Phifer was born in Harlem and raised by his mother, Rhoda, a choreographer and schoolteacher who always encouraged her son to be creative. After beating out hundreds for a spot in "Clockers" on a whim he got his headshot at a Woolworths near the audition site Phifer has had a varied career, one that has taken him from "Honey" with Jessica Alba and "Soul Food" with Vanessa Williams to "Dawn of the Dead," music videos like Brandy and Monica's "This Boy Is Mine" and the 2007 romantic comedy "This Christmas.""I do love being onstage. Even as a kid, I was (a) performer. Local talent shows, local this and that. When break dancing was out, I break danced. When rapping was the thing, I freestyled rap on the street and battled and all that kind of stuff," he says. "I'm a student of the game. I'm never not learning."His TV appearances include "NY Undercover," Fox's "Lie to Me," HBO's "A Lesson Before Dying" and "The Tuskegee Airmen," and the ABC television special "Brian's Song." He is particularly proud that he landed a part in the Starz series "Torchwood: Miracle Day" as a CIA agent after producers were unable to find a white actor. So hitting the stage for the first time is just a logical extension of a man wanting to learn."I've got to be quite honest: I caught the theater bug and I'm all about Broadway right now," he says. "It can be scary but you have to have a certain strength and fortitude about yourself."have gifts."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Mark Kennedy January 9, 2012 PHOTO CREDIT AP Photo/Charles Sykes NY (AP) Mekhi Phifer is not used to being shouted at, but it's part of his Broadway debut.The 37-year-old actor, best known for the TV series "ER" and the film "8 Mile," is discovering that audiences aren't silent while watching him in "Stick Fly," Lydia R. Diamond's complex drama about a black family."People are spirited when they see this play," he says, laughing.Both white and black audience members in the Cort Theatre are known to burst out with spontaneous advice for the actors or to otherwise clearly telegraph their reaction to dramatic situations. "I had to get used to that," he says. "It's not very typical for Broadway at least the Broadway plays that I've seen."Phifer plays Flip LeVay, a successful plastic surgeon and ladies' man who attended Exeter and Harvard. Sparks fly when he and his younger brother bring their respective girlfriends one black, one white to meet their parents at their lavish summer getaway on Martha's Vineyard.Phifer, whose acting career began when he won the lead in director Spike Lee's "Clockers," is not what you'd call a stage veteran. In fact, "Stick Fly" marks his professional stage debut. But Phifer is hardly intimidated."Just being there live in front of an audience has been a very exhilarating feeling," he says. "It's definitely a different machine but I'm having a lot of fun because there are new things I learn every night."Produced by musician Alicia Keys, the play offers the NY-raised Phifer a great way to get his theater feet wet. He's close to his roots, can learn from the ensemble and doesn't have to dance. "This was actually the perfect piece. It just had the right amount of energy, the right amount of intrigue, the right amount of edginess," he says. "It didn't feel like a typical Broadway play."That's because Phifer, who has played his share of streetwise tough guys, gets to play an educated rich man whose secrets unspool slowly over the course of the performance. He says he likes the opportunity to move past race and explore humanity."There's no question that I'm African-American. OK? I'm a black man. We're not going to escape that. But I love being able to get past that and, as the play goes on, you're just watching people," he says. "That's one of the main things that drew me towards this role and this play it could be anyone."Phifer is the theater newbie in an accomplished cast that includes Emmy Award nominee Dule Hill ("Psych," ''The West Wing"), Tracie Thoms ("Rent"), Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson ("Lackawanna Blues"), Rosie Benton ("Les Liaisons Dangereuses") and Condola Rashad ("Ruined").So tight is the cast that they've come up with their own lyrics to the original music Keys has written for spots between the play's scenes. The rest of the time, they warm up together, eat communally and go out for drinks as a group afterward."It's always a pleasure when you get to work with people that you actually really like," Phifer says. "We hang out when we're at the theater. We sit in the hallways or sit on the steps and yap it up."He hopes the good feeling bleeds into the audience, which has been known to become so boisterous that lines get drowned out. (His advice if that happens: "You might have to see it twice.") He wants the audience to be intrigued, provoked and later discuss all of it."When you leave the play, you feel good. You want to go out and have a drink. You want to talk about it. You want to get something to eat. You don't want the night to be over. And I think that's what the Broadway experience should be about," he says. "Our play lends itself to that energy and that attitude."Director Kenny Leon has been hoping to help Phifer make his Broadway debut ever since the two were slated to work together on an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to mount a production of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.""In the back of my mind, I've always wanted to work with Mekhi," Leon says. "He has presence. He has charisma. He has everything that all great actors have, except he had never done a play before."When that time finally happened, Leon was impressed by how humble the young actor was when he walked into the rehearsal room. "I can't believe how much he's learned in such a short amount of time," Leon says. "The ease in terms of the transition from film to stage I don't think I've ever seen it happen like this. I couldn't be more pleased with what he's doing on that stage."Phifer was born in Harlem and raised by his mother, Rhoda, a choreographer and schoolteacher who always encouraged her son to be creative. After beating out hundreds for a spot in "Clockers" on a whim he got his headshot at a Woolworths near the audition site Phifer has had a varied career, one that has taken him from "Honey" with Jessica Alba and "Soul Food" with Vanessa Williams to "Dawn of the Dead," music videos like Brandy and Monica's "This Boy Is Mine" and the 2007 romantic comedy "This Christmas.""I do love being onstage. Even as a kid, I was (a) performer. Local talent shows, local this and that. When break dancing was out, I break danced. When rapping was the thing, I freestyled rap on the street and battled and all that kind of stuff," he says. "I'm a student of the game. I'm never not learning."His TV appearances include "NY Undercover," Fox's "Lie to Me," HBO's "A Lesson Before Dying" and "The Tuskegee Airmen," and the ABC television special "Brian's Song." He is particularly proud that he landed a part in the Starz series "Torchwood: Miracle Day" as a CIA agent after producers were unable to find a white actor. So hitting the stage for the first time is just a logical extension of a man wanting to learn."I've got to be quite honest: I caught the theater bug and I'm all about Broadway right now," he says. "It can be scary but you have to have a certain strength and fortitude about yourself."have gifts."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.