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Page 1 of 11February 13, 2012

By Shirley HalperinIf there’s one sentiment the producers of the Grammy Awards undoubtedly wanted to convey on Sunday night’s show, it was one of celebration.

Saturday’s news of Whitney Houston’s death cast a gray cloud over the ceremony hours before the red carpet kicked off, and because of that, it was addressed at the very start. “There is no way around this, we’ve had a death in our family,” said host LL Cool J, who then launched into a prayer “for a woman who we loved — for our fallen sister.”

Music A-listers seated in the front row — among them Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Tay-lor Swift and Nicki Minaj — bowed their heads in respect, and once the moment passed, it was time to get on with

the show, which honors the best music 2011 had to offer. “The power of music is what brings us all here,” said LL Cool J.

Indeed, the music industry saw what could be the begin-ning of a rebound in 2011, as music sales were in the black for the first time since 2004,

and that on its own was a reason to celebrate. But even beyond the numbers, variety ruled last year as dance and electronic music seeped into the mainstream, as pop turned to hip-hop and as rock infil- trated where it could, thanks in large part to Foo Fighters

Grammys Call Adele’s Number

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Inside:music world stunned by houston deathPAge 3

vow wows box officePAge 5

artist wins seven baftasPAge 8

uni lands lost rightsPAge 9

movie review: this means warPAge 11

Producer Paul Epworth and singer Adele accept the award for song of the year during the 54th annual Grammy Awards, held at L.A.’s Staples Center.

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grammysPage 2 of 11February 13, 2012

(winners of four Grammys on Sunday, including best rock album) and Mumford and Sons.

Not surprisingly, the night’s big winner was the one who also sold the most. Adele nabbed all six of her awards, including song of the year for “Rolling in the Deep,” tying Beyonce for the most wins by a solo female artist in one year. She’s also only the sixth art-ist to nab all three major categories — album, record and song of the year — join-ing the likes of Eric Clapton, Carole King and Paul Simon.

Not far behind was Kanye West, who had the most noms coming in — seven. The rapper won for best rap album for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, best rap performance for “Otis” and best rap/sung collaboration for “All of the Lights,” fea-turing Rihanna and Kid Cudi (he did not attend the awards). Other big winners included Taylor Swift, who picked up best country solo per-formance and best country song for “Mean,” but lost best country album to Lady

Antebellum, and Bon Iver, who walked off with the cov-eted best new artist.

Record of the year went to Adele along with “Deep’s” producer Paul Epworth (also handed the prize for producer of the year) and engineers Tom Elmhirst and Mark Rankin. The top prize of album of the year also went to Adele’s 21.

Wiping away tears and snot (her words), Adele exclaimed that it’s been “the most life-changing year” while accepting the final award of the evening.

But it was as much about the legends on Grammy night, especially where per-formances were concerned. To wit: Bruce Springsteen opened the show with his new single, “We Take Care of Our Own.” Recently de-parted saxophonist Clarence Clemons was there in spirit as one of several dozen musi-cians featured in the In Memoriam segment.

The Beach Boys, celebrat- ing 50 years as a band, also got to showcase their trade-mark harmonies by per-forming “Good Vibrations” together for the first time in

more than two years. Their openers were Maroon 5 and Foster the People, who tackled “Surfer Girl” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” re-spectively. Country legend Glen Campbell had his moment, a lifetime achieve-ment award presented by Taylor Swift and perfor-mance with the Band Perry and Blake Shelton.

Other performers included Rihanna, who delivered her latest hit, “We Found Love,” then joined Coldplay for “Princess of China,” off their latest album, Mylo Xyloto; Katy Perry, who sang “E.T.” followed by “Part of Me;” Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson, who duetted on their crossover smash, “Don’t You Wanna Stay”; and Foo Fighters, who rocked their Grammy-winning song “Walk” from an outdoor tent.

But perhaps the perfor-mance that most stood out was the last-minute tribute by Jennifer Hudson to Hous-ton. The American Idol alum started her performance of “I Will Always Love You” a capella, as Houston often did, then, clearly choked up, delivered a sophisticated

and tasteful rendition of the song that would go down in history as one of pop’s most enduring ballads.

As the show was about to wrap, Grammys execu-tive producer Ken Ehrlich acknowledged the difficulty of staging the music cele-bration. “This has not been the easiest night for any of us,” he told the audience. “But as I said to you three-and-a-half hours ago, get up off your ass for this one.”

And with that, Paul Mc-Cartney took the stage (he had performed new song “My Valentine” ear-lier in the night) for a Bea-tles medley of Abbey Road favorites, “Golden Slum-bers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.” With the stars dutifully on their feet, the legendary musician and songwriter was joined by an avalanche of guitarists that included Springsteen, Grohl and Eagles’ guitarist Joe Walsh in what was most certainly a medley worth waiting for.

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Neil Perry, left, Kimberly Perry, Glen Campbell, Reid Perry and Blake Shelton perform onstage in one of the award show’s many pairings.

Click here for more coverage of the 54th

annual Grammy Awards.

Katy Perry, a Grammy nominee for both best pop solo performance and record of the year for the song “Firework,” heats things up Sunday night.

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music newsPage 3 of 11February 13, 2012

By Shirley Halperin and Erik Pedersengrammy-winning singer Whitney Houston died Saturday in Beverly Hills. She was 48.

Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen said that there were “no obvious signs of criminal intent” and that the cause of death was being investigated.

The R&B singer and six-time Grammy winner was due to make an appearance at Clive Davis’ Grammy eve gala on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton. She was spotted in the hotel on Thursday morning, when she was overheard chastis-ing an assistant.

Later that night, Houston got into an altercation with The X Factor finalist Stacy Francis at an R&B appre-ciation event, where she was said to be acting “bel-ligerent.” On Friday night, as The Hollywood Reporter broke news that Houston had been approached for a seat on the judges’ panel on X Factor, her publicist said the singer was at a spa.

“This is a sad day, and it will be a sad Grammys weekend,” said a source close to Davis.

“Whitney Houston was one of the world’s greatest pop singers of all time, who leaves behind a robust musi-cal soundtrack spanning the past three decades,” Re-cording Academy president

Neil Portnow said Saturday. ”A light has been dimmed in our music community today.”

On Sunday, TMZ reported that the autopsy of Houston had been completed, how-ever the results would be de-ferred pending a toxicology report.

Officially, a coroner’s spokesperson said the results are on a security hold.

Additionally, Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was taken to a hospital on Sunday morn-ing. Paramedics arrived at the Beverly Hilton — the same establishment where Houston died — and took Brown to a nearby hospital.

Police confirmed to THR that Brown was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center around 10:28 a.m. Sunday morning and later released. The reason for the trip has not been revealed.

Brown is the daughter of Houston and her ex-husband, Bobby Brown. The couple

was married for 15 years.Houston will make a final

big-screen appearance play-ing the mother of showbiz sisters in Sparkle, a remake of the 1976 pic loosely based on the career of The Supremes. It could have marked the beginning of a feature film comeback for Houston, who shone briefly but brightly during the ’90s with star-ring roles in The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife.

Billboard reported Sat-urday that Houston’s final recordings will be heard in the film, which Sony will release Aug. 17 as planned. She sings the gospel classic “Eyes on the Sparrow” and duets with Jordin Sparks — who stars as the title char-acter — on a new R. Kelly song, “Celebrate,” over the end credits.

Born Aug. 9, 1963, in Newark, N.J., Houston was part of a musical bloodline: Her mother was gospel singer Cissy Houston, and

she was the cousin of pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin. She sang in church as a child and by age 11 was performing with gospel group New Hope Baptist Junior Choir.

Houston tried modeling in the early ’80s, appearing in Glamour and on the cover of Seventeen, but it was her voice that would make her a rarefied superstar, with worldwide sales of more than 170 million albums, singles and videos.

“The news of Whitney’s death has sent shock waves around the world,” Jim Donio, president of music business trade group NARM, said Saturday. “She was, without question, one of the most brilliant and un-forgettable singers the music industry will ever know.”

In her teens, Houston sang backup for the likes of Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls and Jermaine Jackson. It was soon after this that Arista Records label head Davis took note of Houston while she was performing in a New York nightclub. He signed her to his label and served as her mentor for the next two decades.

Houston was 21 when she exploded onto the pop scene in 1985 with the ballad “You Give Good Love,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Bill-board Hot 100. She followed that with a phenomenal run of seven consecutive No. 1 singles — from “Saving All My Love for You” through 1988’s “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” — beating the

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The autopsy of Whitney Houston was reportedly completed on Sunday, but the official results will be deferred pending a toxicology report.

Iconic Pop Singer Houston Dead at 48

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music newsPage 4 of 11February 13, 2012

record of six shared by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. She went on to rack up 11 chart-topping singles, tied with Rihanna for sixth- most in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.

Her self-titled debut album was released March 14, 1985, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart almost exactly a year later, even-tually spending 12 weeks at the summit and becom-ing the top album of 1986. The record, the first debut album and first by a woman to spawn three No. 1 hits, has been certified 13 times platinum.

Houston followed that with 1987’s Whitney, which became the first album by a female act to debut at No. 1. It topped the Billboard chart for eight weeks and gener-ated four more No. 1 singles — “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” — and Top 10 hit “Love Will Save the Day.”

The following year, NBC used her song “One Moment

in Time” as its theme for the Seoul Summer Olympics. It reached the Billboard Top 5.

Her 1990 album I’m Your Baby Tonight was not as big as its predecessors, peaking at No. 3, but it did spawn two more chart-topping singles in the title track and “All the Man That I Need,” and eventually went quadruple- platinum.

Houston was one of the world’s biggest stars when she was tapped to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Her stirring rendition — rousing the huge crowd that was brimming with patriotism fueled by the Gulf War — was released as a single and made the national Top 20.

But all that was a warm-up to 1992, when Houston reached the pinnacle of her career. That July, she married R&B singer Brown, who’d had a pair of No. 1 solo singles after leaving the teen vocal group New Edi-tion. Four months later, her first film, The Bodyguard, was released.

Houston starred oppo-site Kevin Costner, who was

among the biggest leading men in Hollywood, com-ing off JFK and his Oscar-nominated role in Dances With Wolves (he won the 1991 Academy Awards for best director and best pic-ture). Bodyguard grossed $121.9 million domestically and a staggering $411 mil-lion worldwide, becoming the year’s second-biggest film behind Disney’s Alad-din. Reviews weren’t great — the film drew seven Razzie nominations, including worst actress and worst new star for Houston — but no mat-ter: The soundtrack led to Houston rivaling Michael Jackson as the biggest star in pop music.

The album spent 20 weeks atop the Billboard chart and featured “I Will Always Love You,” Hous-ton’s soulful take on the song Dolly Parton wrote and took to the top of the coun-try charts in 1974. The single spent 14 weeks at No. 1, shat- tering the record of 11 held for 26 years by Elvis Pres-

ley’s two-sided “Hound Dog”/“Don’t Be Cruel.”

Houston was on top of the world, and she followed the mammoth success of the Bodyguard film and album with star turns in 1995 en-semble dramedy Exhale and a year later opposite Oscar winner Denzel Washington in Preacher’s Wife. Both pics did respectable box office, and the Exhale soundtrack spent five weeks at No. 1, generated the chart-topping single “Exhale” and even-tually moving more than 6 million units.

But her career had peaked, and hard times loomed.

Problems with drugs began to surface and eclipse her singing career. In an interview with Oprah Win-frey in 2010, Houston ad-mitted to using drugs and blamed her difficult rela-tionship with Brown on some of her behavior. They di-vorced in 2007, with Houston winning custody of Bobbi Kristina, who was born in 1993. Houston went to rehab twice, and said she was drug-free in 2010.

Lauren Schutte contrib-uted to this report.

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box office newsPage 5 of 11February 13, 2012

By Pamela McClintockThe force has returned to moviegoing.

The North American box-office recovery continued in a big way during the week-end as Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum Valen-tine’s Day romantic drama The Vow opened to a sizable $41.7 million, followed closely by Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds action-thriller Safe House with $39.3 million.

Both films vastly over-performed, driving the weekend up more than 30 percent from last year. Overall revenue hit a stag-gering $190 million, the best showing for a non-holiday weekend in February.

The strength of Vow — the top opening ever for Clint Culpepper’s Screen Gems, and co-financed by Spyglass — and Universal’s Safe House wasn’t the only surprise.

Warner Bros. and New Line’s Journey 2: The Mys-terious Island raced past Fox’s 3D re release of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace to gross $27.6 million, also far more than expected. Phantom Menace opened to $23 mil-lion, in line with pre-weekend expectations.

Outside of a holiday week-end, it’s the first time four films have crossed $20 mil-lion. Studio execs agreed moviegoers were respond-ing to the breadth of the marketplace, which offered

something for everyone — romance, action, family fare and nostalgia.

In 2011, domestic box-office revenue tumbled and attendance slipped. Year to date, revenue is up more than 11 percent from last year, while attendance has increased by 11 percent, too.

“It think it’s the combina-tion of a lot of diverse films being offered the past six weeks,” Universal president of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco said.

Sony worldwide president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer said the pair-ing of McAdams and Tatum proved irresistible. Women made up 72 percent of the audience, while 55 percent of those buying tickets were under the age of 25. Tatum also starred in Dear John, which debuted to $30.5

million, the previous best for a Screen Gems title.

Vow, directed by Michael Stucsy and costing $30 mil-lion to produce, opened in 20 markets overseas, gross-ing $9.7 million for a world-wide opening figure of $51.4 million.

One advantage Safe House had was an A- CinemaScore, versus a B CinemaScore for Vow. Safe House played far better than expected among females, who made up 50 percent of the audi-ence. The pic also drew a ethnically diverse audience, with African Americans making up 38 percent of the audience, Caucasians 23 percent and Hispanics 31 percent.

In terms of age, Safe House skewed older, with 62 percent over the age of 30. The biggest draw,

according to exit polls, was actor Washington, followed by type of movie. Rocco added that people enjoyed seeing Washington playing a bad-guy role.

Overseas, Safe House opened to $10.2 million in select markets for a world-wide bow of $49.5 million.

Journey 2, which received an A- CinemaScore, bene-fited from great word-of-mouth, evidenced by the fact that it was up an aston-ishing 94 percent on Satur-day, compared to 9 percent for Vow and 19 percent for Safe House. The film features Dwayne Johnson in the lead role (Brendan Fraser starred in the original, which bowed just north of $21 million).

Heading into the week-end, tracking suggested the sequel would open to $16 million or less.

“We knew things were turning around when we saw the jump on Saturday,” said Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman. “Toby Em-merich [head of New Line] made a great decision in casting Dwayne Johnson.”

Journey 2 did big business in Imax theaters, which gen-erated $3.8 million of the film’s gross, or 14 percent, according to Imax senior vp worldwide distribution Phil Groves.

Overseas, where Journey 2 opened three weeks ago, the movie continued to pros-per, grossing $25.5 million for an offshore cume of $74.7 million and a world-wide haul of $102.3 million.

Fox executive vp distri-bution Chris Aronson said

Vow Bow Receives $41.7 Mil in B.O. Love

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The Vow, starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, earned the best opening cume for a Screen Gems title, breaking Dear John’s previous mark.

box office newsPage 6 of 11February 13, 2012

the exit polls for the 3D re -release of Phantom Menace were well above average. Of those buying tickets, 60 per- cent were males, while 49 percent were under the age of 25.

At the international box office, Phantom Menace opened to $20.5 million for a global bow of $43.5 million.

Fox’s Chronicle held up well in its second weekend, falling only 44 percent to $12.3 million for a domestic cume of $40.2 million and coming in No. 5.

Placing No. 6 was Daniel Radcliffe starrer The Woman in Black, which fell 51 percent — a good hold for a horror pic — to $10.3 million for a domestic cume of $35.5 mil-lion. CBS Films is distribu-tinng the film in the U.S.

Woman in Black rocked the U.K. box office in its debut over the weekend, taking the No. 1 spot with an estimated $3.5 million for Momentum Pictures and beating the first weekend of The Muppets, The Vow and Phantom Menace.

journey 2 takes path to no. 1 spot at overseas b.o.By Frank SegersContinuing frigid weather causing traffic snarls, power outages and closed cinemas across much of Europe in-hibited weekend box office on the foreign theatrical cir-cuit as Journey 2: The Myste-rious Island claimed the No. 1 spot with a relatively modest take of $25.5 million.

The Warner Bros./New Line/Walden Media family adventure starring Josh Hutcherson and Dwayne Johnson played at some 8,300 locations in 29 mar-kets, including China and Russia, where box office was strong. Warners projects its China take at $9.5 million, drawn from some 2,000 sites, while the Russia tally is estimated at $7.15 million from 1,021 situations.

Foreign gross for Journey 2 ($74.7 million) is tracking 67 percent ahead of the com- parable figure logged by the

film’s 2008 predecessor Journey to the Center of the Earth at the same point in release in the same markets, according to Warner Bros.

No. 2 on the weekend was Fox’s reissue in 3D of 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, which collected $20.5 mil-lion from 5,019 situations in 61 markets comprising 87 countries. The biggest mar-ket was Germany, where a No. 2 ranking provided $3.7 million from 489 venues.

Opening No. 1 in Australia ($3.23 million from 215 play-dates) was Screen Gems/Spyglass Entertainment’s The Vow, released by Sony. (No. 1 openings were also recorded in New Zealand and the Philippines.) It ranks No. 5 on the weekend.

The amnesia-themed romantic drama starring Rachel McAdams and Chan- ning Tatum drew $9.7 mil-lion on the weekend over- all from 1,373 screens in 20 markets. A No. 4 U.K. debut provided $1.7 million from 323 sites.

No. 4 on the weekend was Safe House, ushered into the international arena via Uni-versal at 1,559 locations in 25 markets, grossing an esti-mated $10.2 million. The Relativity Media/Intrepid Pictures CIA crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds emerged in the No. 1 position in seven territories.

The leading market was Australia ($3 million at 207 playdates). Safe House opens in nine markets this week, including Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Other weekend highlights

include the $11.5 million drawn by Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol from 4,737 sites in 65 territories, includ-ing a muscular $8.2 million registered in China at 3,000 venues. It ranks No. 3 on the weekend.

Sony’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo generated $8.4 million from 3,665 sites in 61 markets thanks to a $3.8 million debut at 437 spots in Japan.

Sony’s Underworld: Awakening, the werewolf-versus-vampire sequel starring Kate Beckinsale, bagged $8.7 million on the weekend from 3,665 situa-tions in 61 markets, lifting the film’s overseas cume to 71.1 million.

Warners’ Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows eclipsed by $5 million the foreign gross rolled up by 2009’s Sherlock Holmes, thanks to a $5 million weekend tally collected from 3,625 sites in 55 territories.

Disney’s The Muppets drew $6.6 million on the weekend, playing 40 overseas territories. Its offshore cume stands at $43.2 million.

Overall on the foreign circuit, the Hollywood majors recorded mixed overseas box-office perfor-mances in the first month of 2012.

Leading the six major- studio pack is Warners, which logged an estimated $320 million in offshore box office during January, largely on the back of A Game of Shadows, which has grossed $310 million as of Feb. 6 ($320 million through this past weekend).

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weekend box office top 10This

week Movie/Distributor3-day gross

(in mil)Percent change

# of theaters

Per-theater average

Cume to

date

1 The Vow (Sony) $41.7 — 2,958 $14,097 $41.7

2 Safe House (Universal) 39.3 — 3,119 12,610 39.3

3 Journey 2 (Warner Bros.) 27.6 — 3,470 7,939 27.6

4 Star Wars: Episode I (Fox) 23.0 — 2,655 8,663 23.0

5 Chronicle (Fox) 12.3 -44 2,908 4,230 40.2

6 The Woman in Black (CBS) 10.3 -51 2,856 3,606 35.5

7 The Grey (Open Road) 5.1 -45 2,801 1,814 42.8

8 Big Miracle (Universal) 3.9 -50 2,133 1,810 13.2

9 The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) 3.5 -23 1,581 2,214 70.7

10 Underworld: Awakening (Sony) 2.5 -55 1,657 1,509 58.9rentrak

box office newsPage 7 of 11February 13, 2012

Paramount said its January foreign box office totaled $304.4 million, up 62 percent over last year’s comparable take, thanks to Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, which drew just shy of $170 million during the month. (Through the weekend, the Tom Cruise action vehicle has grossed $446.6 million since its for-eign run began Dec. 14.)

Fox recorded $218.8 mil-lion, down 22 percent from January 2011, citing a lack of first-month releases in the key Japan market com-pared with some $12 million in Japan box office earned in January of last year. The biggest earner this year is Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which grossed $108.6 million in January, and $193.5 million as of this weekend.

Sony’s offshore box office fell 20.5 percent from last year to $163.6 million, with director David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo the studio’s leading title, grossing $78.6 million in January. The film’s cur-rent cume is $110.7 million.

Disney is off to a slow start, despite the release (via DreamWorks) of Ste-ven Spielberg’s best-picture Oscar contender War Horse. Disney’s January total was $78.4 million, 69 percent down from the $255.7 mil-lion grossed in January 2011. (War Horse has an offshore cume of $47.7 million through the weekend.)

Universal’s January over-seas box-office figure was up 43 percent from last year (to $43.5 million) thanks to the $10 million earned by Tower Heist, the crime caper starring Ben

Stiller and Eddie Murphy. (The film’s current cume is $70.8 million, grossed since November.)

Fox’s The Descendants, another best-picture Oscar contender, drew $7.77 mil-lion on the weekend from 2,694 sites in 43 markets. The cume for the George Clooney vehicle stands at $57.1 million.

Fox’s Chronicle, the action/sci-fi title that revolves around high school students acquir-ing supernatural power, lifted its foreign gross to $23.4 million thanks to a $6 million weekend at 2,271

situations in 35 territories.Locally-produced titles

seized the No. 1 spot in four European markets on the weekend:n In the U.K., The Woman

in Black, helmer James Wat-son’s horror thriller starring Daniel Radcliffe, opened via Momentum Pictures at some 420 situations, drawing an estimated $5.5 million;n In France, Mars Distri-

bution’s Would I Lie To You? remained on top in its second week, grossing an estimated $7.6 million from 1,052 screens. The comedy about a group of Parisian textile merchants has rolled up a market cume of $22.5 million;n In Italy, Medusa Films

premiered director Fausto Brizzi’s 3-D sex comedy How Nice to Make Love at some 520 sites for an open-ing tally of an estimated $2.7 million; andn In Germany, phenom-

enally successful French comedy Untouchables con-tinues to maintain the No. 1 spot after six weeks, piling up a market cume of an estimated $37 million. In France, the cume over 15 rounds is $154 million.

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The 3D rerelease of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace earned $20.5 million overseas for a global bow of $43.5 million.

awards newsPage 8 of 11February 13, 2012

By Mimi TurnerLONDON — Writer-director Michel Hazana vicius was crowned BAFTAs king on Sunday night as The Artist was the runaway winner, converting 13 nominations into seven awards for best film, director, actor, screen-play, cinematography, orig-inal music and costume design.

Jean Dujardin beat out George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Gary Oldman to take the best actor award, while The Iron Lady’s Meryl Streep was named best actress.

“The recognition of your peers is I think the most im- portant thing,” said Hazana-vicius. “I am so happy and touched. I know I’ll have some bad days because I am a director, but I will remem-ber this day, today as a good day, so thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.”

Collecting the cinema-tography award, Hazanavi-cius got a cheer from the audience when he said: “Unfortunately Guillaume [Schiffman] can’t be here. But I guess if he were here he would thank — me!” Accepting the award for screenplay he also drew a laugh: “I’m very surprised to win this award, because so many people thought there was no script because there was no dialogue, so English people are very clever ... so congratulations to you.”

Dislodging the silent movie in a rare category, Streep was so excited about winning the best actress award that she lost a shoe in her rush to reach the podium.

“That couldn’t have gone worse,” she said as award presenter Colin Firth re-trieved her stiletto and stooped — Walter Raleigh-style — to place it back on her foot. But she recovered to pay tribute to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and revealed her own little-known British roots.

“Half of me is Streep, but the other half of me is Wilkinson, from Lincoln-shire, so I come by this award honestly,” she said.

Christopher Lee, Robert de Niro and Max Von Sydow paid tribute to Martin Scor-sese, who was awarded a BAFTA fellowship for his

service to film.Scorsese’s Hugo, nomi-

nated in nine categories, collected awards for sound and production design.

Veteran actor Christopher Plummer was a hugely pop-ular winner in the best sup- porting actor category for his performance in Beginners, while the ensemble cast of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was named outstanding British film and also best adapted screenplay.

Accepting the screenplay award, co-writer Peter Strau- ghan dedicated the award to his late wife, the film’s co-writer Bridget O’Connor, who died in October.

“My wife died before this film came out,” he said. “She wrote all the good bits, I just made the coffee. Bridget, I love you, I miss you. This is for you.”

Octavia Spencer took the best supporting actress award for The Help, telling the BAFTA audience that she was thrilled that the movie had been recognized by a British voting panel.

“It has been said the film is an American movie about American problems and American stories, so thank you for recognizing it,” she said, “because surely oppres-sion and strife knows no age, orientation or country — so I appreciate this.”

Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and director Asif Kapadia took home the best docu-

mentary award for Senna, the biopic of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, which also took the editing award.

The Orange Rising Star award — the only award voted on by the public — went to Kidulthood and Adulthood star Adam Dea-con, who is also writer, director and lead actor in British comedy Anuvahood. John Hurt was handed the award for outstanding con-tribution to British film.

Rango was named best animated movie.

Paddy Considine and Diarmid Scrimshaw took the award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, with their project Tyrannosaur beating competition from Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut in Coriolanus.

The award for film not in the English language went to Pedro and Agustin Almo-dovar for The Skin I Live In.

Best makeup and hair award went to team behind Streep’s transformation into Thatcher in Iron Lady.

Tom Jones opened the 2012 BAFTA Film Awards with a rendition of “Thun-derball,” taking attendees minds off the freezing Feb-ruary chill.

It was left to Cuba Gooding Jr. — presenting the visual effects award to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II — to pay tribute to the late Whitney Houston at the awards, look-ing up to the sky as he told the audience, “Whitney, I will always love you.”

View the complete list of winners here.

Seven BAFTAs Add to Artist’s Repertoire

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The Artist’s Jean Dujardin holds his best actor BAFTA award Sunday night at the afterparty.

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berlin newsPage 9 of 11February 13, 2012

By Pamela McClintockBeRLIN — Marking another major Hollywood studio deal here, Universal has struck a multi-territory pact for Robert Redford’s next film, All Is Lost, directed by Margin Call’s J.C. Chandor.

Glen Basner’s FilmNation, which is shopping the newly announced project at the European Film Market, has virtually sold out world rights in less than four days, reflecting Red-ford’s continu-ing star status and the follow-ing Chandor enjoys in the wake of Margin, his directorial debut.

Lionsgate had bought up domestic rights to the film prior to EFM, but Uni-versal made sure to secure the movie for a number of key territories — including the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia — once the market got under way. All told, the deal includes 19 territories. FilmNation has also sold Lost to HGC in China, Square One in Germany, Sun Distribution in Latin America and Pony Canyon in Japan.

The deals for Lost, an at-sea adventure, are worth many millions, underscoring

the strength of this year’s EFM for top companies like FilmNation. Basner’s shop also is expected to close a raft of deals for Philip Sey-mour Hoffman starrer A Most Wanted Man, directed by Anton Corbijn and based on John le Carre’s 2008 thriller, and for Steven Soderbergh’s Bitter Pill, starring Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

FilmNation has enjoyed impressive box-office success during the past 18 months with titles including The King’s Speech, Insidious and Sanctum. And earlier in the market, Basner screened director John Hillcoat’s hotly anticipated Wettest County, starring Shia La-Beouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska for distributors who pre-bought the movie last year.

Lost is likewise a hot prop-erty and tells the exhilarat-ing journey of one man’s fight to survive. The film is set entirely at sea, and Red-ford — last seen in theaters in 2007’s Lions for Lambs — is the only cast member. Universal also has bought rights to Eastern Europe, Benelux, Iceland, Portugal, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa. Italia has taken rights in India and Pakistan, Greece

and Cyprus, Turkey and the Middle East. Chandor is set to begin shooting this summer at Baja Studios in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. Baja was built by Fox for Titanic.

Redford met Chandor at the Sundance Film Festival last year, where the direc-tor’s Margin had its world premiere. Chandor is up for a best original screenplay Oscar for the film.

Neal Dodson is pro-ducing Lost via his Before the Door Pictures banner, alongside Black Bear Pic-tures’ Teddy Schwarzman and Treehouse Pictures’ Justin Nappi. They are fully financing the project. Also producing are Anna Gerb and Jason Blum.

Before the Door’s Zachary Quinto and Corey Moosa will executive produce with Cassian Elwes, Laura Rister and Kevin Turen.

kinnear, connelly starrer writers flying off shelves By Stuart KempBeRLIN — Newcomer Joshua Boone’s bittersweet comedy script Writers, starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Con-nelly, has found itself caught in a flurry of deal memos as overseas buyers ink deals.

The script is billed as a funny tale of a fractured

family trying to rediscover one another over the course of a year.

Sales guru Lisa Wilson, who founded start-up global sales label The Solution, has inked deals for the title with the Becker Film Group for Australia, eOne for Canada, Wild Bunch for Germany and German- speaking Swit-zerland, Dea-Planeta for Spain, Eagle Films for the Middle East, Village Road-show for Greece, Pinema for Turkey, California Filmes for Latin America, SPI for Eastern Europe, Shaw for Singapore, PVR for India and Cinesky for interna-tional airlines.

Los Angeles-based Wilson, attending the EFM, said she was “overwhelmed by the response to the material.” She added: “The story really resonates with the buyers and they recognize the great potential of the film.”

The film is produced by Judy Cairo of Informant Media (Crazy Heart).

Executive producers are Informant’s Michael A. Simpson and Eric Brenner, as well as Myles Nestel and Wilson.

The pic is produced in association with MICA Entertainment and is set to begin shooting next month in Wilmington, N.C.

Universal Finds Itself With Lost Rights

thr

Redford

Chandor

Click here to see THR’s Berlin Festival Daily.

Connelly

Kinnear

berlin reviewPage 10 of 11February 13, 2012

marleyBy Jordan MintzerBeRLIN — Stirring up an exhaustive portrait of the legend behind the music, Kevin Macdonald’s Marley is sure to become the definitive documentary on the much-beloved king of reggae. Filled with thrilling concert foot-age and scores of in-depth interviews with the singer-songwriter’s friends, family and fellow Wailers, this all-encompassing, rather clas-sically assembled biography forges a moving depiction of an artist who left the scene way too prematurely. Follow- ers worldwide will make the exodus to see this U.S.-U.K.-Jamaican co-production, though a lengthy 144-minute running time may have them jamming more on TV/DVD than in theaters.

Several years in the mak-ing due to various legal dis-putes and originally slated to be directed by Martin Scorsese, then by Jonathan Demme, Marley marks the only feature-length docu-mentary to have had its many lucrative music rights approved by the performer’s descendants (nine of whom came from seven different mothers, as detailed in one section of the film). With son Ziggy and producer Chris Blackwell (of Island Records) credited as execu-tive producers, this assures fans their fair share of hits, ranging from early Wailers tracks like “Simmer Down” to bona fide favorites like “Could You Be Loved,” “Three Little Birds” and “Redemption Song.”

Mixing a wealth of bio-

graphical information rang-ing from the time of Robert Marley’s birth in 1945 to his death from cancer in 1981, Macdonald (State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September) high-lights the man’s importance both as a major 20th century musician and as a figure-head for his fellow country-men. Tracing his rise from the forestlands of the Saint Ann Parish to the ghettos of Trenchtown to the upper-class quarters of Kingston, the pic welds personal anec-dotes culled from dozens of interviews with archive imag-ery that gives a feel for the places and times that influ-enced his music.

Though there are too many such details to recall here, perhaps most intrigu-ing is the prejudice Marley suffered as a child from a mixed racial background, with an elderly white father he never really knew (and who himself sired several

children with various women). The unifying message of songs like “One Love” seem at least partially motivated by the hatred he experienced early on, as does his conver-sion to Rastafarianism at a young age.

Showing a love of music from the very beginning, the ambitious and talented Marley eventually teamed with local musicians to form the original Wailers, a few of whose surviving members are interviewed at length throughout the movie. The band’s flamboyant percus-sionist Bunny Wailer pro- vides some of the more illu- minating and hilarious bits (the Jamaican sense of hu- mor is well on display here), as does a quick and wacky session with influential pro- ducer Lee “Scratch” Perry, responsible for what is un-doubtedly the best Wailers record, 1971’s Soul Revolution.

As the life story progresses to cover the group’s breakup, Marley’s climb to fame and

fortune and his long-term, very non-monogamous rela- tionship with wife and back- up singer Rita, the pic tends to get bogged down in an overabundance of informa- tion, some of which may only interest followers of Jamai-can music, politics and the Rastafarian movement.

But eventually it leads toward a lengthy and stirring finale showcasing some of the artist’s greatest live per-formances, the last ones given when he was termi-nally ill. Most notable are two late concerts in Kings-ton, the first of which he was shot at in a botched assassination attempt (“as professional as Jamaicans get,” cracks one band mem-ber) by one of the country’s rival political parties/street gangs. The fact that Marley persisted in appearing on stage reveals to what extent he was invested in unifying his violent homeland, and the closing credits reveal how his message continues to res-onate in the present day.

Production values are top notch, while the music speaks for itself.

Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Special). Production: Shangri-La Enter-tainment, Tuff Gong Pictures, in association with Cowboy Films. Director: Kevin Macdonald. Producers: Steve Bing, Charles Steel. Executive producers: Ziggy Marley, Chris Blackwell. Directors of photography: Alwin Kuchkler, Mike Eley. Editor: Dan Glendenning. Sales: Fortissimo Films. No MPAA rating, 144 minutes. thr

The man, the myth and his music are

explored in Marley.

movie reviewPage 11 of 11February 13, 2012

this means warBy Todd McCarthySome films have certain scenes that need to be redone, but on This Means War the whole picture should have been sent back for a reshoot. This perfectly dreadful ro-mantic action comedy man-ages to embarrass its three eminently attractive leading players in every scene, mak-ing this an automatic candi- date for whatever raspberries or golden turkeys or other dubious awards may be given in the future for the films of 2012. It’s an eye-roller from start to finish.

There is more than a hint of kinship between the even-tually violent rivalry that develops here when CIA buds FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) both court the very available Lau-ren (Reese Witherspoon) and the competitive relationship of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a fact that might have some-thing to do with the contribu- tions of screenwriter Simon Kinberg to both pics. The more elegant ladykiller FDR and brawnier but less refined Tuck are best mates and at first think they can handle the contest, but when it seems Lauren likes them both equally, the claws come out.

From the opening se-quence, set atop a Hong Kong skyscraper, in which the two CIA ops stymie an elaborate robbery attempted by Euro-trash criminal Heinrich (a scowling Til Schweiger), the action is staged in a manner that is both implausible and incoherent, although perhaps

the latter deficiency is delib-erate so as to disguise the for- mer shortcoming. In either event, you can’t buy what you’re looking at for an in-stant, a problem that un-relievedly permeates the subsequent 90 minutes.

In fact, it gets worse right away, in embarrassing scenes in which the beauti-ful Lauren runs into an old flame and his fiancee on the street in Los Angeles and pretends she’s off to meet her (nonexistent) boyfriend for lunch, then immediately encounters the couple again when she’s alone at a sushi bar. Surely a composed and confident 30-something professional woman like her would no longer act like a silly teenager in such a situation.

To cure Lauren’s condition, her so-called best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) registers her with an online dating site, which is where she comes to Tuck’s attention. For his part, FDR tries to pick her up in a giant video store (does such a thing still exist?), but Lauren gives him an initial heave-ho after an argument over the relative merits of Hitchcock films.

Romantic comedies have always generated fantasies of opulent lifestyles for char-

acters with little else to do than pursue their amorous activities, but what the di-rector known as McG puts onscreen in this regard is ludicrously beyond the pale: FDR’s apartment, which includes a babe-equipped swimming pool as a ceiling, is insanely extravagant (on a government salary), and the dates to which the boys treat Lauren include a private tra- peze session, an exclusive peek at Klimt masterpieces and an outing to a paintball commando park where Lau-ren uproariously splats Tuck in the crotch with green paint.

Topping things off are two ineptly conceived and chore-ographed action scenes: In the first, the guys start an all-out fight in a restaurant full of people, but when they finish it’s empty, even of staff or authorities who might want to take them to task for their destruction; the second is a car chase, climaxing on a dead-end freeway ramp, that doesn’t cut together properly at all, not to men- tion that what goes on makes no sense from the villain’s point of view.

At the center of things, presumably, is Lauren’s decision of which man to choose. Her confidant is

written in to provide a sounding board and goad her into action, but Handler has been photographed to look practically like Lauren’s mom and appears entirely at a loss; the “actress” barely even makes eye contact with Witherspoon and has no sense of creating a character.

The one thing Trish does suggest is for Lauren to give both guys a test drive. But such a move would have pushed the film dangerously into Jules and Jim territory, which might have been the one move that could have provided it with some gen-uine edge and interest but also would have made Lau-ren too loose a woman for a mass consumption pic such as this. No risk, no gain.

Opens: Tuesday (sneak preview), Friday (wide) (Fox).Production: Overbrook Enter-tainment, Robert Simonds Co.Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Til Schweiger, Angela Bassett, Rosemary Harris, Chelsea Handler, Abigail Leigh Spencer.Director: McG.Screenwriters: Timothy Dowl-ing, Simon Kinberg, story by Dowling, Marcus Gautesen.Producers: Robert Simonds, James Lassiter, Will Smith, Simon Kinberg.Executive producers: Michael Green, Jeffrey Evan Kwatinetz, Brent O’Connor, Lisa Stewart.Director of photography: Russell Carpenter.Production designer: Martin Laing.Costume designer: Sophie de Rakoff.Editor: Nicolas de Toth.Music: Christophe Beck.Rated PG-13, 97 minutes. thr

Tom Hardy, left, and Chris Pine have their sights set on the same woman in This Means War.