Archive for the ‘Rumours & Headlines’ Category

Dorothy Dandridge was the first black woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Almost a half century passed before another black woman — Halle Berry — won the award.

They and three others — Pam Grier, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey — are subjects of the new book “Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film.”

“These women have pushed the racial boundaries for audiences, setting new standards for beauty and body type,” said author Mia Mask.

She took on the book because, while black male stars are now enjoying huge success, little has been written about their female counterparts — as performers who can headline a film, said Mask, who teaches film and drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Dandridge was nominated for her lead role as the hedonistic factory worker in the 1954 classic “Carmen Jones,” alongside Harry Belafonte.

Berry won an Oscar in 2000 for playing the wife of an executed murderer in “Monster’s Ball.” She also had portrayed Dandridge as a stunning femme fatale in a 1999 HBO film about Dandridge’s life.

When Dandridge became a star, “she was working in an environment in which there were almost no women of color (in leading roles),” said Mask, and Dandridge “had to fit into the mold of shapely and svelte.”

By the time the statuesque Grier arrived on the Hollywood scene, she could break that mold with her forceful but hip physical presence as an action heroine.

As for Winfrey, Mask said she chose her because the talk-show host’s television presence catapulted her film appearances to the level of global stardom, transcending any category.

In spite of vast changes, Mask said, sore points persist in casting black women for star roles: a paucity of quality parts, and a new trend of pairing black lead actors with female leads who are not.

“Studio heads don’t think two black characters will appeal to general audiences,” said Mask.

She chose Dandridge and Berry “as bookends” for the time span that transformed black women in commercial films.

“We’ve gone from the trope of the tragic mulatta to biracial beauty,” said Mask, who is taping a five-part series for National Public Radio to air in late October — each on one of the women in the book.

Actress Halle Berry – who recently released her first fragrance called Halle by Halle Berry – is so determined to smell unique she mixes different scents to create a personalized aroma.

She said: “I’ve always wanted to have my own scent. When I was younger, I never wanted to smell like every other girl in class. Even as an adult, I’d mix different perfumes together.

“Some days it would be great and people would say, ‘Oh, what fragrance is that?’ And I would say, ‘Well, it’s about five different ones!’ ”

When it comes to make-up, Halle is far less adventurous and generally sticks to the same products she’s used for years.

She explained to Britain’s InStyle magazine: “I’ll only follow a new beauty trend if it suits me and works with my skin tone. The most important thing for me is to stay fresh-faced and confident.

“I do try some new things. The only product I stay well clear of is green eyeshadow – it just doesn’t work for me!”

During Halle Berry’s memorably overwrought Oscar speech, she devoted her statuette to “every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened”. However, seven years later, it’s quite clear that whatever door was opened that night has now – in Berry’s case, at least – pretty much slammed shut. Enduring one of the most disappointing post-Oscar careers since Mira Sorvino (next seen in a film called Multiple Sarcasms), Berry’s place on the A-list is precarious to say the least.

After her winning performance in Monster’s Ball, where her character fell in love with a racist, Berry’s choices were highlighted by a refusal to let skin colour dictate her work. Once turned down for a role in John Woo’s Broken Arrow because “there are no black park rangers” (she told Michael Parkinson), Berry was given the chance to play race-irrelevant characters and compete at the very top of her game. But as her pay cheques rose, the quality of the films declined.

Her defining low-point was in 2004 when she picked up $14m (£8.7m) for her role as Catwoman, a record for a female black actor. The film was trash, or rather “litter”, and the only award it earned her was a Razzie. Refusing to give up, Berry continued to squander the talent that won her so many chances in the first place – for instance, two years ago she starred in the offensively stupid cyber-thriller Perfect Stranger, a film where we’re supposed to achieve a giddy thrill from the thought of instant messaging. Meanwhile, other female actors of colour gained prominence by playing roles that put race first, or at least very high on the list. Sophie Okonedo bagged an Oscar nomination for Hotel Rwanda, Thandie Newton won a Bafta for Crash while Jennifer Hudson won her Oscar for belting her way through Motown saga Dreamgirls. Simply put, none of these roles could have been played by white female actors.

Berry’s new film finally brings race back in the picture, albeit in a wildly improbable way. Frankie and Alice will see her play a woman with a racist alter-personality. The plot possibilities boggle my mind: will we see her burning crosses on her parents’ lawn? Or having heated arguments with her reflection? The movie is still, perhaps understandably, on account of that plot, struggling for distribution, and quite what it will do for her career other than continue to rip it into tiny, embarrassing pieces, is beyond me. Berry’s strategy to deal with the severe lack of non-cliched roles for black actresses has backfired, to put it mildly, and the oddly appropriate battle that will play out in Frankie and Alice may prove rather cathartic.

Berry once said that she wanted “to be an actress of colour who can make a difference and go down a path that no woman has gone down before”. No one can argue that her career hasn’t been especially unique, but since her Oscar win in 2002, no other black woman has even been nominated for best actress. Of course, this isn’t her fault – despite her best attempts to make the Academy formally rescind her award – but rather a predictably staid star system that refuses to deviate far from the norm.

Looking forward though, a change may be coming. One of Berry’s future projects has her playing the true-life story of a white teacher in Class Act, surely her most ambitious act of race-reversal to date. As Jamie Foxx also lies in the running to play Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming biopic (if reports are to be believed), maybe we’re finally reaching a new era of totally colour-blind casting. Whether or not these particular decisions are for the best is debatable, but I bet Frankie and Alice would have one hell of a time fighting it out.

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Halle Berry hates wearing too much make-up — because it makes her like a man in drag.

The actress — who has a child, Nahla Ariela, with partner Gabriel Aubry — says when it comes to slap, less is more.

“Less is more,” said the Catwoman star. “When I wear too much, I feel like a man in drag. I much prefer to be low maintenance.”

Berry, 43, revealed earlier this year how she uses the internet to find friends.

“I never went so far as a date,” she said in May. “But I’ve gone online and pretended to be someone else, in an attempt to have some anonymity.

“I’ve tried, many times, to have a normal conversation when celebrity wasn’t a part of it. Sometimes it worked and at others it became a little weird.

“The reason I did it was I wanted to remember what it was like to have a real, honest exchange with someone and to be treated normally.”

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The speculation is over.

When a svelte Halle Berry walked onto Jay Leno’s stage Thursday, the host told her she looked terrific, to which she replied: “You know, thank you for that, Jay, because that must mean that pregnancy rumors can be put to bed!”

Sources at The Jay Leno Show taping tell PEOPLE that Berry, wearing a low-cut, short black dress and black thigh-high boots, also told Leno with a laugh, “I was getting a complex! Because I was like, I’ve got to stop with the burgers or something!”

Berry, 43, and Gabriel Aubry, 34, welcomed their first baby, Nahla Ariela, in March 2008. The couple, who have been together since 2005 when they met while shooting a Versace ad, have made no secret of their desire for more kids.

In February, Aubry told PEOPLE Nahla “needs a sibling.” The model, who comes from a family of eight kids, added, “I believe in big families.” And in March, Berry said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she was ready to have a second child.

Berry was another in a series of high-profile guests for Leno in this inaugural week of his 10 p.m. show. In addition to fending off pregnancy rumors, Berry told anecdotes about Nahla and meeting Aubry. Simply put, Berry gushed, “My daughter is fantastic.”

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By choice or not, Halle Berry has stayed on the outskirts of Hollywood’s radar in the last few years, appearing in just two relatively low-profile films, with a third indie still awaiting release. The folks behind the “Twilight” franchise, conversely, are at the epicenter of the pop culture zeitgeist.

Variety is reporting that the thriller “Dark Tide” will have Berry and two “Twilight” producers, Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, joining forces. Nothing’s set yet — the Oscar-winner is still in those mysterious “advance talks” — but if everything works out, Berry will sign on to play a diving instructor who suffers a near-fatal accident with a great white shark and then decides — screw it! — to head back to the ocean.

The script comes from newbie Amy Sorlie, a screenwriter and journalist who — if her Twitter account is an accurate representation — is a committed beach bum based in Los Angeles. Clark Johnson, a veteran director on TV shows like “The Shield” and “The Wire” with a few action/thriller flicks under his belt, will take on helming duties.

It’s an indisputable fact that Berry hasn’t been in a watchable big screen flick since “X2: X-Men United” in 2003. And there are those stern folks among us who believe the unpardonable sin that was “Catwoman” should require the actress to go door-to-door with apologies and refunds before she gets another job again.

In the absence of much hard fact to go on for “Dark Tide,” I’ll say this: sharks are scary, water is scary and there are a ton of cool flicks focusing on one or both. “Jaws” (obviously), “Abyss” (James Cameron underwater with silver shape-shifting aliens!), “Sphere” (Dustin Hoffman underwater with a gold mind-reading alien thing!), “Open Water” (never see this if you ever plan on going scuba diving) and “Titanic” (spoiler… Leo dies! The ship sinks!).

Okay, I’m kidding about that last one. But! Sharks and the open ocean have delighted and/or freaked us out before, and who knows if “Dark Tide” can pull off a similar feat? At the very least, I’d be more than happy to see Berry reestablish herself as a Hollywood A-lister, if only because of all the joy, however fleeting, she brought to all of us during that one memorable scene in “Swordfish.”

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…over a false alarm.

Law enforcement sources tell us a few of L.A.’s finest burned rubber to Halle Berry‘s pad moments ago, after something tripped an alarm on the property.

We’re told cops quickly figured out everything was kosher and have already left the scene.

So no need to worry, the hottest mom on the planet remains safe and sound.

Halle Berry is in advanced talks to star in action-thriller “Dark Tide” for helmer Clark Johnson (“S.W.A.T.”).

“Twilight” producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will shepherd “Dark” via their Temple Hill banner.

Social Capital Films is arranging financing for the $15 million-$20 million pic. Company’s Martin Shore and Christopher Tuffin produce along with Tax Credit Finance’s Matthew Chausse and Plum Pictures’ Celine Rattray.

Project, penned by Amy Sorlie, concerns a diving instructor who returns to the deep after a near-fatal incident with a Great White shark. “Dark” is set to lense in South Africa later this year.

The Steel Co.’s John Baca exec produces, as does lit manager Sukee Chew, who helped develop the script.

IM Global will handle international sales.

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“The Jay Leno Show” has firmed up its guest list for the first week, and unsurprisingly it has several A-list names.

Tom Cruise will join Leno on the show’s second night, Tuesday, Sept. 15. He’ll also inaugurate a comedy bit called “10 at 10,” in which guests answer a series of ten rapid-fire questions. (Think the old “Daily Show” segment “Five Questions,” times two.)

Other guests lined up for Leno’s first week include Jerry Seinfeld, who will be on the inaugural show Monday, Sept. 14, Robin Williams, Miley Cyrus and Halle Berry.

Here’s the lineup for the first four nights (the show hasn’t nailed down guests for Friday, Sept. 18 yet).

Monday, Sept. 14: Jerry Seinfeld, musical guest Jay-Z with Kanye West and Rihanna

Tuesday, Sept. 15: Tom Cruise

Wednesday, Sept. 16: Robin Williams, Miley Cyrus does “10 at 10″

Thursday, Sept. 17: Halle Berry, musical guests Bruce Hornsby and Eric Clapton

Halle Berry features in LoveFilms.com top ten female beach film moments (Die Hard) and you can vote for her as your favourite! Just go to LoveFilms website (link below), register an account and place your vote on Halle of course.

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