They didn’t kick off their Sunday shoes and break into dance, but Zac Efron did come toe to toe with Kevin Bacon for the first time on the red carpet at Sunday’s Golden Globes.
Efron is slated to reprise the role of toe-tapping rebel Ren McCormack in an upcoming remake of Footloose. Bacon shot to fame when he originated the role nearly 25 years ago in the original 1984 film.
“Finally, I meet you,” Efron, accompanied by his girlfriend and High School Musical co-star Vanessa Hudgens, exclaimed as he intercepted Bacon on the carpet.
The pair chitchatted for several minutes while Bacon’s wife, Kyra Sedgwick, who was nominated for a Globe for best TV actress for The Closer, conducted red carpet interviews.
“I was always a really big fan,” Efron told Bacon.
Tom Cruise must have gotten comfortable in that fat suit.
Cruise, nominated for a supporting actor Golden Globe for his nearly unrecognizable performance as fat, balding, foul-mouthed movie executive Les Grossman in the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder, said he and Stiller are considering bringing the character back in some other format.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. We keep talking about maybe doing something for the Internet,” Cruise said on the red carpet before Sunday’s Golden Globes.
“We really haven’t had a moment to talk about it thoroughly but it would be fun,” Cruise added. “It’s a fun character to play.”
For Tina Fey, Sunday night offered not only an opportunity to add to her collection of Golden Globes but to even some scores with her cyberspace critics.
Fey, a frequent target of catty Internet blog postings, collected her second consecutive Golden Globe for best actress in a TV musical or comedy for 30 Rock, which also took the award for best TV series, musical or comedy.
“If you ever start to feel too good about yourselves, they have this thing called the Internet,” she said as she accepted her award. “And you can find a lot of people there who don’t like you.”
Then, in colorful terms, she went on to name a handful of them, saving her strongest criticism for someone who posts under the name “cougar-letter.”
“All year you’ve been on me. All year,” she said, as several famous faces in the audiences laughed and nodded in agreement.
Recalling co-star Heath Ledger’s tragic death still chokes up Maggie Gyllenhaal, even during the excitement of the Golden Globes.
“It’s so hard to really feel how sad it is with the lights and the television and everybody screaming, but you know it’s also very sad,” Gyllenhaal, her voice choking, said on the red carpet before the show.
Ledger, who died in January last year of an accidental drug overdose, won the Golden Globe on Sunday as supporting actor in a motion picture for his performance as Batman’s nemesis The Joker.
“Our movie I think is great, actually. But I think he elevated it to a completely different place,” Gyllenhaal said of Ledger’s performance. “It’s hard to be that good in a movie that big.”
A subdued Dark Knight director Chris Nolan accepted Ledger’s award.
“For any of us lucky enough to work with him ... for any of us lucky enough to enjoy his performances, he will be eternally missed but he will never be forgotten,” Nolan said.
File portions of Mickey Rourke’s acceptance speech under “Things Most Likely to be Bleeped in the Tape-Delayed Version.”
As the show was broadcast live to the East Coast on Sunday, Rourke gave a rollicking, slightly profane speech while accepting the best film actor Golden Globe for his role in The Wrestler.
In between crediting everyone from musicians Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen to all of his dogs — living and dead — Rourke heaped praise on Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky.
“He hates it when I say he’s tough, but he’s one tough son of a bitch,” Rourke said.
The camera panned to Aronofsky, who offered Rourke a one-fingered salute.
He didn’t drop any four-letter words on the audience, but Sacha Baron Cohen managed to make a few people squirm as the Borat star poked fun at the way celebrities are surviving these hard economic times.
“This recession is affecting everyone, even celebrities,” Cohen said as he arrived on stage to present the Golden Globe for best motion picture, musical or comedy. “Victoria Beckham hasn’t eaten for three weeks, Charlie Sheen has been forced to have sex without paying for it ... and even Madonna has had to get rid of one of her personal assistants. Our thoughts go out to you, Guy Ritchie.”
But Cohen also took a shot at himself.
“It is said that in times of economic hardship that people flock to the cinemas to watch mindless, puerile escapism, which is great news because I’ve got a movie coming out,” he said.
Less than a month after abruptly leaving a hit Broadway show over health problems, Jeremy Piven showed up on the red carpet outside the Golden Globes alongside Mark Wahlberg.
Piven, who also plays Ari Gold on the HBO show Entourage, left the critically acclaimed production of Speed the Plow last month. The show business trade paper Variety reported the 43-year-old actor had been suffering from high levels of mercury, which caused fatigue and other problems.
Piven spoke briefly with former football player Tiki Barber, who worked as a reporter during NBC’s red carpet preview.
Piven likened his abrupt departure from the show to a team doctor telling Barber that he had to leave a game.
Barber joked that he often ignored such orders.
Wahlberg ran interference, saying a healthy Piven was needed for HBO’s Entourage, which Wahlberg executive produces.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
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