Ben Kingsley

The Wackness: Sex, Drugs and Hip-Hop, at Any Age

• Jul 2, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Anna Dimond

Josh Peck and Olivia Thirlby by JoJo Whilden/Occupant Films/Sony Pictures

With The Wackness, writer/director Jonathan Levine has emerged as one of the first, few voices of that generation sandwiched between X and Y: The one that had Biggie and De La, Tribe and the Wu as its own soundtrack. Set in the throbbing, sultry New York summer of 1994, The Wackness not only explores the coming of age of its characters, but also that of the culture, as New York adjusted to Mayor Giuliani and a new brand of hip-hop hit the streets. In the intertwining stories of high-school grad Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) and Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), Luke's middle-aged therapist, Levine captures the simultaneous anxiety, hope, disappointment and happiness that adult life foists on us again read more

Mary-Kate Sells Out Spencer Pratt's Anger Issues

• Jun 30, 2008 03:32 PM ET
• by gdinunno

It's hard to decide what was better – Mary-Kate Olsen revealing dirt about famed reality villain Spencer Pratt from her high school days, or Letterman point-blank calling him a worm and truly meaning it. She was promoting her new Ben Kingsley movie The Wackness when the conversation took a turn to Pratt. Turns out the media-whoring star played soccer on Olsen's high school team and had a few anger issues. Yeah, definitely wouldn't pin him someone who would storm off the field when he didn't get his way. read more

Movie News: Russell Crowe Steps In for Brad Pitt

• Dec 4, 2007 02:16 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Russell Crowe by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com

We'd been hearing it was going to happen for weeks, and now it's official: The Beautiful Mind star has agreed to replace Angelina Jolie's babydaddy in State of Grace as the reporter who winds up falling for the wife of the politician he's investigating.... Ben Kingsley is scrubbing in as a mental hospital MD opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.... Las Vegas' Molly Sims has scored roles in both Jim Carrey's Yes Man and Steve Martin's Pink Panther 2.... To help promote Judd Apatow's upcoming rock comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, leading man John C. Reilly is going on tour in character. read more

Denzel Takes the Pelham 1, 2, 3, and More Movie News

• Sep 24, 2007 01:43 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Denzel Washington courtesy Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Denzel Washington will channel Walter Matthau in an update of the 1974 film The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3, in which four hijackers hold a subway train's passengers for ransom. David Koepp penned the screenplay.... Also per Variety, Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac will dance and sing as soul legends begrudgingly reunited on tour in the comedy Soul Men (C. Thomas Howell not included).... Jason Bateman is joining Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the feature take on the U.K. miniseries State of Play.... Per the Reporter, Ben Kingsley is William Shakespeare in a movie based on Will, a new novel concerning the Bard's deathbed confab with his lawyer. read more

At the Movies: "Borat" Takes on Bruno and Shmucks

• Sep 5, 2007 01:47 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat courtesy 20th Century Fox

Sacha Baron Cohen has decided on his next two film gigs: Bruno, based on his fashion-reporter alter ego, and Dinner for Shmucks, a remake of the French film Le Diner de Cons.... Also per Variety, Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) will direct Angelina Jolie in Lionsgate's adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.... Ashley Judd is Helen, a music professor and mom who suffers from deep depression.... Per the Reporter, Ben Kingsley has been cast as an ashram leader who mentors Mike Myers' Love Guru. Also joining the comedy's cast are Meagan Good and The Daily Show's John Oliver. read more

Gandhi Gets with an Olsen Twin, and More Movie News

• Aug 14, 2007 02:09 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Sir Ben Kingsley, 63, passionately locks lips with 21-year-old Mary-Kate Olsen in The Wackness, now lensing in New York and concerning a drug dealer who pays his shrink (Kingsley) in weed, says the New York Post's Page Six. Consider your eyes warned.... Emma Roberts will front the live-action comedy Hotel for Dogs, in which two orphaned teens hide dozens of strays in an abandoned hotel.... Also per the Reporter, Bernie Mac has come on board Old Dogs.... Rosario Dawson has joined Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan in the D.J. Caruso-directed thriller Eagle Eye.... Also per Variety, the BCC, in partnership with Pathe, is backing a $50-million live-action take on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. read more

At the Movies: 007 Woos Streep's Mamma

• Mar 7, 2007 02:59 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Per Variety, Pierce Brosnan will play Sam to Meryl Streep's Donna in the big-screen Mamma Mia!.... 20th Century Fox has greenlit M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a paranoid thriller about a family on the run.... Matthew McConaughey is a Surfer, Dude facing an existential crisis.... Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson will star in a drama based on the Philip Roth novella Dying Animal, about the ramifications of a student's torrid affair with her professor.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Rachel McAdams is one of three injured soliders back home from Iraq in The Return.... Lost's Dominic Monaghan and Ron Perlman are set to star in I Sell the Dead, about 18th-century corpse traders. That's right — another 18th-century corpse-trading film. read more

Power-Shifts Rock Commander in Chief

• Apr 20, 2006 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Webb Mitovich

Natasha Henstridge, Commander in Chief

Sure, all the headlines have been about the backstage power-shifts going on at ABC's Commander in Chief (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET), but there's a whopper of an on-screen power grab on the horizon. (Three words: Templeton in charge!) On the way to work yesterday, Natasha Henstridge, who plays the silver fox's chief of staff, Jayne Murray, spoke with TVGuide.com about Chief's never-boring term. TVGuide.com: The fact that you're on your way to the set kind of answers my first question about whether new show-runner Dee Johnson is working you.Natasha Henstr read more

Annette Bening Is a Real Lady Killer

• Feb 23, 2006 03:00 AM ET
• by Mark Nollinger

Annette Bening, Mrs. Harris

News flash: Annette Bening has once again fallen in love with a charming, wealthy older man who has a reputation for being a bit of a Casanova.

But unlike the story of Bening's real-life romance — her marriage to Warren Beatty has been going strong for nearly 14 years now — there's no happy ending for the character the Oscar-nominated actress plays in HBO's Mrs. Harris (premiering Feb. 25 at 8 pm/ET). Inspired by Shana Alexander's best-selling book Very Much a Lady, the movie explores the sensational 1980 murder scandal involving Jean Harris, the middle-aged headmistress of an exclusive girls' boarding school who shot and killed her longti read more

SOPRANOS WILL SLEEP WITH THE FISHES

• Jan 17, 2006 03:00 AM ET
• by TV Guide News

Series creator David Chase has confirmed that the forthcoming sixth season of The Sopranos — to air in two batches — will be the HBO crime drama's last. "There will be these 12 [episodes, which start airing in March] and then another eight [premiering in January 2007], and that will be the end," he says. Among the guest stars announced for the final flurry are Hal Holbrook (as a scientist involved with the mob), Ben Kingsley (as himself) and ER alumna Julianna Margulies as a real-estate agent. read more