Perhaps the least likely torch-bearer of a philanthropic trend, 23-year-old Audrey Tautou has become just that. Fresh from playing the shy, well-meaning title character whose meddling alters the lives of fellow Parisians in the irresistible comedy Amélie, Tautou has been receiving stacks of mail recounting examples of "The Amélie Effect": an accumulation of good deeds and charitable acts the film has inspired.
Perennial Hollywood outsider Robert Altman crosses the pond to England and returns with an Oscar-worthy whodunit, the star-studded, genre-bending Gosford Park.
After years of paying her dues with solid television work on shows like "ER," Michael Michele knows what it's like to fight for respect--a skill she put to good use opposite Will Smith in the big-budget biopic Ali.
50 ways to cheer yourself up during this depressing time.
Once put off by poorly executed accents, auditory aficionado Joe Queenan now thoroughly enjoys the stupefyingly creative sounds that actors as varied as Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Michael Douglas and Brad Pitt have tried to pass off as foreign lilts.
Halle Berry has never shied away from using her stunning good looks to great effect in big Hollywood to-dos like X-Men and Swordfish. But now she's hoping to show off more than sex appeal by starring opposite Heath Ledger and Billy Bob Thornton in the gritty indie Monster's Ball. And judging from what she's already been through in real life--an abusive father, a violent boyfriend, a bad marriage to a sports star and a car accident that led to mountains of bad press--there's plenty to mine.
A title can make all the difference in the success of a film. But coming up with one that works is sometimes as challenging as dreaming up the entire concept for a movie.
In the span of three years, Steven Soderbergh directed the stylish critics' darlings Out of Sight and The Limey, followed by the Oscar darlings Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Now, Mr. sex, lies and videotape rolls the dice with Ocean's 11, a big, fat Vegas heist flick starring such scene-stealers as George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Will he crap out? Hit the jackpot is more like it.
LITTLE GIRL NOT LOST: The name Famke is unusual not only in America, but also in Holland, where the actress grew up. The meaning is anything but odd, however--in the Friesland dialect, Famke translates to "little girl," which is exactly what Janssen's playing on our pages. Lace jacket and velvet skirt by Tom Ford for Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche, leather slingbacks by Jimmy Choo and bracelet by Daniel Swarovski.
After a decade of trying to get noticed, Naomi Watts is receiving attention for two reasons--filling Tom Cruise's shoes by taking best friend Nicole Kidman out on the town and wowing critics with her daring performance in David Lynch's bizarre noir Mulholland Drive.
Hollywood has long made use of the One Last Big Score storyline because even though it's as predictable as apple pie, it helps make films as varied as Unforgiven, Heat and Entrapment work. In fact, some other genres could benefit from this tried-and-true structure--it sure would breathe life into anything starring Woody Allen or Kristin Scott Thomas.
More than just a writer and director, Michael Mann has proven himself to be a gifted psychologist, cultivating what he calls "structured schizophrenia"--working with actors to create personas unlike any audiences have seen from them before, as he did with Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans and Russell Crowe in The Insider. His latest transformation is Will Smith, who pulled no punches in altering not only his body but his entire mental state to play former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in the hard-hitting biopic Ali.
When George Lucas plucked Hayden Christensen out of the big nowhere to star as young Darth Vader in his later Star Wars epic, heads were scratched across the galaxy. But Christensen's performance as a troubled teen in Life As A House should reassure doubters that Lucas knew exactly what he was doing.
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