Clint Eastwood by Todd Williamson/WireImage.com and Spike Lee by Tony Barson/WireImage.com
Remember last month at Cannes when Spike Lee promoting his African-American WWII movie Miracle at St Anna made some characteristically aggressive remarks about the dearth of black characters in Clint Eastwoods Flags of Our Fathers Well the man who once played Dirty Harry has a few choice words for LeeA guy like him should shut his face Eastwood told the UKs Guardian newspaper apparently thinking that calling Lee a dummy head might sound childish Despite his obvious anger Eastwood gave a straightforward response to why there werent more black roles in his film The story is Flags of Our Fathers the famous flag-raising picture and they didnt do that If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there peopled go This guys lost his mind I mean its not accurate Eastwood also claimed that Lee had once griped about Eastwood directing Bird the biopic about African-American jazzman Charlie Parker a story Lee thought should be told b
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Spike Lee by Tony Barson/WireImage.com and Clint Eastwood by Tony Barson/WireImage.com
Spike Lee has called out Clint Eastwood over two of his World War II-era films because they do not include any African-Americans cast as soldiersLee specifically cited Flags of our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima He made the comments in Cannes while promoting his own WWII film Miracle at St Anna which tells the story of an all-black US division based in Tuscany ItalyMany veterans African-Americans who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood Lee said In his vision of Iwo Jima Negro soldiers did not exist Simple as that I have a different versionWhen Eastwood also in Cannes promoting his upcoming movie Changeling was asked to respond to Lees comments a moderator instructed reporters to limit questions to Eastwoods movie JR Whalen
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SportsCenter's Scott Van Pelt by Rich Arden/ESPN
ESPN held its upfront presentation Tuesday morning at the Nokia Theater in New York. Anchors Scott Van Pelt and Steve Levy hosted the event as a mock SportsCenter episode. The 80-minute presentation was light on programming announcements, but the biggest news was the addition of a block of live SportsCenters from 6 am to 3 pm/ET, beginning Monday, Aug. 11. A new web site, SportsCenter.com, will also debut in August. It was also confirmed that The Early Show's Hannah Storm will be one of the new anchors for this block. In other SportsCenter news, a 1 am/ET edition produced live in Los Angeles, will premiere on April 9, 2009.Other new programming includes ESPN Homecoming, an profile/interview show with Rick Reilly, who the network poached from Sports Illustrated last fall.Features reporter, deadpan "comedian" and Dancing With the Stars vet Kenny Mayne will host a new humor show for espn.com called Mayne Street.ESPN will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2009 with "30 For 30," a series...
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Spike Lee on Tuesday announced his plan to make a World War II film based on the novel Miracle at St. Anna, which focuses on the contribution of African-American soldiers who fought and died to liberate Europe.... A Dog's Breakfast, a comedy directed by David Hewlett and featuring fellow Stargate players Christopher Judge and Rachel Lutrell among its cast, will premiere on iTunes and Amazon's Unbox this Tuesday, before arriving on DVD in mid-September.
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Julianne Hough and Apolo Anton Ohno by James Sorensen/ABC
Although he initially didn't sign up for Dancing with the Stars' live tour, Season 4 champ Apolo Anton Ohno is proving he's a real winner by joining the show for five East Coast performances. Also, fellow hoofer John Ratzenberger will do a single turn when the tour hits his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut.... Spike Lee will make his Broadway directorial debut with a spring 2008 remounting of the World War II dramedy Stalag 17, says the New York Times. Though no casting has been announced, Lee wants "a name" for the lead, and vows that no rappers are on his shortlist.... Per Playbill.com, Duke of Hazzard Tom Wopat is joining Faith Prince and Harvey Fierstein in A Catered Affair, an upcoming B'way musical based on the 1956 movie of the same name. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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• Michael Vartan has been tapped to topline an untitled ABC drama pilot about four friends who are either high-powered CEOs or CEOs-to-be, says the Hollywood Reporter.• Gabrielle Union, last seen on The Night Stalker, will play a model-turned-recording artist and fiancée of a star wide receiver in ABC's adaptation of the U.K.'s Footballer$ Wives.• Sleeper Cell's Melissa Sagemiller is a married lawyer drawn to Damian Lewis' falsely imprisoned cop in the NBC pilot Life.• Spike Lee is on board to direct NBC's pilot about the mayor of New York City, says Reuters.
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Mere days after the passing of the Godfather of Soul, Spike Lee has signed on to direct a feature chronicling the life of James Brown, Variety reports. Lee will first rewrite the latest of several drafts of the script, which has been tossed around for years and boasts Brown's blessing (as well as all music rights). He'll then hopefully begin production by late 2007, perhaps early 2008. Hey, Jamie Foxx, do you feel good?
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Tonight’s episode was directed by Ernest Dickerson, who is best known for his work as a cinematographer on a number of Spike Lee films including Malcolm X, Jungle Fever and Do the Right Thing. (This is his third directing stint for ER, having worked on two episodes in 2005.) Mr. Dickerson definitely crafted an edgier, more intense episode than we’ve seen in recent weeks, with cases that were compelling and polarizing.Tensions were running high on many fronts. Luka and Abby faced off over a possible spousal-abuse case and ran up against their complicated work relationship as he reminded her of her place in the pecking order. “Let’s try this. You be the resident, I’ll be the attending, OK?” Ouch. Of course, his callousness was likely the result of his agitation over the package he received from Curtis Ames. When he pulled the cop aside to ask for his help, his fear for his family was palpable.Fred Ward has been popping up all over my favorite hospital dra...
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Question: I just finished watching the conclusion of Spike Lee's Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. I know that it's really too soon to be thinking about next year's Emmys, but after seeing this documentary, I just wanted to say that it has "Emmy winner" written all over it. I totally agree with your review of this doc. It was poignant and eloquent, and Spike Lee gave it the right tone of voice. It made me wish that Lee had shown this in the theaters, in which case I think it would give the Al Gore global-warming doc a run for its money come Oscar time. What do you think its chances are for an Emmy? There is no way that a TV documentary can win an Oscar, right? Anyway, as a native New Orleanian, I just wanted to say that Spike Lee truly did a great job.
Answer: HBO has won a number of Oscars for its nonfiction programming, but I think the rules are that in order to qualify, it would have to air theatrically before going to TV. And while Levees did get ...
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The hot trend of the new TV season can be summed up in three words: "To be continued…." Serialized thrillers, sudsy dramas and even comedies with cliff-hangers beg the question: How many of these complicated stories will we be willing to follow each week?
Fox enters the fall race early with Prison Break's sleek new companion piece, Vanished (Mondays at 9 pm/ET) — not to be confused, though it will be, with NBC's upcoming Kidnapped. This is what you'd get if Without a Trace somehow turned into a cartoonish conspiracy chase thriller.
The missing person is the lovely wife of a Georgia senator, who disappears durin
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