Perhaps the nearly year-long break between seasons of Breaking Bad has finally gotten to Aaron Paul. Either that, or he just likes that being famous means you can get paid thousands of dollars to drink eggnog at some millionaire's Christmas party in Arizona. Paul -- who won an Emmy for his Bad performance over the summer -- was given $16,000 by entrepreneur Jason Hope to attend his lavish Christmas party, alongside fellow compensated guests like Snooki ($17,500) and Bruce Jenner ($15,000). Hey, it beats making crystal meth. [TMZ]
Also in this Tuesday edition of The Broadsheet: James Franco is doing more stuff... A Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor passes away (but he's not the one you're thinking of)... The Arab League and Steven Spielberg reportedly don't see eye-to-eye... and more ahead.
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Sad news out of Iran: Jafar Panahi, who won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes film festival in 1995 for his debut feature, The White Balloon and has since made critically acclaimed films including The Circle, Crimson Gold and Offside, was sentenced to six years in prison by the Iranian government for joining in mourning the deaths of protesters during the 2009 presidential election. Additionally, for the next 20 years, he is not allowed to leave the country, give interviews, write scripts, make movies or find any other loopholes you might be able to think of to create art.
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When a trailer starts with Eric Bana telling a young girl who was raised in the woods, "You're dead. I've killed you," you know you're in for something a little different. Especially when the next shot is of said girl running and screaming like a banshee over a pulsing score from the Chemical Brothers. Thankfully, the trailer for Hanna never looses steam, veering wildly from Kick-Ass-style cool to fairy-tale wonder to the tender, coming of age moments of the titular young assassin, played by Saoirse Ronan. Oh, and it's from the director of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement.
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· The first still from busy Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz's new film The Deep Blue Sea, which only began filming in November, is a sumptuous treat for the eye: a moment of romance between Weisz and Tim Hiddleston, who live in high-society London during the 1950s. But Weisz's character Hester is a cheater, and her comeuppance for acting immorally in a reputation-centric society will be steep -- but gorgeous to look at, methinks. [Empire]
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You can scratch "a kidney for Tracy Morgan" off of your holiday gift list because the 30 Rock star already underwent the organ transplant two weeks ago. To recover, Morgan will take a two or three episode hiatus from 30 Rock. EW reports that Liz Lemon will explain Tracy Jordan's March absence "by saying he has some sort of a meltdown because of a good thing that's happened to him." Sounds like someone might get a little Oscar love for Hard to Watch: Based on the Book Stone Cold Bummer by Manipulate. Get well soon, Tracy! [EW]
There are thousands of forgettable female film characters piled into the IMDb database each year (Katherine Heigl's Killers persona Jen Kornfeldt anyone?), but when it comes to inspiring movie females of the kick-ass variety, there are considerably fewer. With 2010 rapidly coming to a close, their impressive wit, intellect, resourcefulness, brute strength and emotional endurance deserve to be recognized! In our continued holiday-list making spirit, Movieline recalls its favorite women to kick ass at the multiplex in 2010. Feel free to nominate your own femmes phenomenal in the space below and let's hope for many more of these exceptional females in the year to come.
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· "Guys, we gotta get the Trawn back. Trawnnnnn." So says Mr. Kotter in this Funny or Die fake trailer for The TRON Holiday Special, which imagines an alternate 1982, one where the public actually wanted a Tron holiday special. Merry Cyber-Christmas to all, and to all a good night -- well, except for Santa Claus. Click ahead to find out the fate of Kris Kringle, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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It figures that if some celebrity was going to prevent either Mark Zuckerberg or The Social Network from winning an award this month, it would have to be Betty White. As such, say hello to the AP Entertainer of the Year. "It's ridiculous," said White, accurately. "They haven't caught on to me, and I hope they never do." If only Aaron Sorkin included the Facebook campaign to get Betty White on SNL in the epilogue of his screenplay! [LAT]
It seemed that almost every week of this year brought another head-scratching or mind-blowing story involving James Franco. Thankfully, unlike many rumors that emerged from the wasteland of internet news in 2010, the facts about Franco were always more fascinating than the myths. Actually, there were so many jaw-dropping stories in succession that there wasn't much time to make up rumors. So join Movieline as we look back at the top ten stories involving the quotable, unpredictable actor who somehow managed to keep topping himself through the end of the year.
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Man, oh, man, what a weekend for sadists. If watching a bloated cultural institution run aground in front of millions of viewers -- thus squandering its talent and goodwill before finally collapsing beneath the weight of ego, misjudgment, bad decisions and competitive pressure -- is your idea of a riotous spectacle, you were in all kinds of luck. But enough about How Do You Know.
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Also in today's edition of The Broadsheet: Sad old man threatened by VOD... Bollywood misses an opportunity in Afghanistan, but not with Wipeout... Demi Lovato is an 18-year-old who likes to take flirty pictures. So what?... And more...
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This weekend, the legendary avant-garde bluesman Don Van Vleit, better known as Captain Beefheart, passed away. While his distortion-soaked, eccentric take on rhythm and blues was often cinematic in its own right, Beefheart almost had a brush with acting as well. In the early 60s, Frank Zappa and Beefheart holed up and worked on a script for a film called Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People, which Zappa rewrote in 1969, inspired by the success of films like Easy Rider. The script was never produced, but a huge chunk of it is available online and it's every bit as fun and weird as fans would hope.
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Directors like Tim Burton have cited the classic British horror movies produced by Hammer Films as huge influences on their work. Burton even used Hammer Films regular Christopher Lee in multiple movies, including his most direct tribute to British horror, Sleepy Hollow. Now after a long period of hibernation, Hammer Films is back! They produced this year's superb Let Me In, they are working on The Woman in Black, starring the grown-up Daniel Radcliffe, and now they've released the trailer for Wake Wood, their first original horror film since 1976. Get ready for Pagan rituals and people getting sucked into the ground.
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As 2010 wends its way to its eternal pasture, we can reflect on the movies and television we so hotly anticipated back in the early suckling days of this year. Some, like Toy Story 3 and The Walking Dead, turned out even better than we had hoped. Others, well, others were Alice in Wonderland. But like Charlie Brown, we can't help but line up in front of the football again and again, each year, because maybe this time will be different. Here are my picks for the 13 Most Anticipated Movies and TV Shows of 2011.
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