It may be a hit in the US, but the blockbuster movie 300 has angered Iranians, who say the Greeks-vs.-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and drums up present-day animosity against Iran.
"Hollywood declares war on Iranians,'' blared a headline in Tuesday's edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper.
The movie, which raked in US$70 million in its opening weekend, is based on a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days.
PHOTO: AP
Even some American reviewers noted the political overtones of the West-against-Iran storyline — and the way Persians in the movie are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.
In Iran, the movie hasn't opened and probably never will, given the government's restrictions on Western films — though one paper said bootleg DVDs were already available.
Still, it touched a sensitive nerve.
"The US has been always trying to humiliate nation of Iran and its rich identity,'' Javad Shamghadri, cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was quoted as saying by the state-run news service.
Moving from the ancient to the futuristic, Oscar-winning movie director George Miller has revealed plans to make a new sequel to his cult classic Mad Max, but said Mel Gibson was too old to reprise the role that made him a star.
The Australian filmmaker, flushed with his Academy Awards win last month for his animated penguin movie Happy Feet, said he wants to make a fourth Mad Max film, the post-apocalyptic movies he launched 28 years ago.
But Gibson, the heartthrob star who made his name in 1979's Mad Max and who has gone on to become one of Hollywood's most powerful directors, will not make a comeback as the series' leather-clad enforcer.
"I have a few projects in the pipeline including an animation ... but I do want to make another Mad Max movie and get stuck back into that," Miller, 62, said in Sydney.
"It (the lead) won't be Mel. He was 21 when he made the first one, now he's a lot older and his passion is for film making and directing," Miller said of the 51-year-old star.
Miller directed Gibson as a policeman waging a lonely battle against vicious biker gangs in two sequels — Mad Max 2 and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson has cemented her status as Woody Allen's latest leading lady of choice by signing up to appear in a third film by the veteran director, it was reported.
Johansson, 22, who appeared in Allen's 2005 film Match Point and last year's Scoop, will star alongside Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz in the as yet untitled movie to be shot in Spain later this year, Daily Variety reported.
It is Johansson's third starring role in Allen's past four movies, making her the director's most frequently used actress since his celebrated earlier films with Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton.
Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat has landed the lead role in Hollywood director Bill Bannerman's next film titled Unveiled, news reports said.
Bannerman had considered both Hollywood and Indian actresses including Hillary Swank, Penelope Cruz, Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty for the role, but selected Sherawat after a screen test in Los Angeles, local TV channels reported.
"I've come to town to announce our lead actress Mallika Sherawat for Unveiled and I'm very excited about it (the project)," Bannerman told the NDTV network in Mumbai.
"She has attributes that I have never been able to find in any actress that I've looked at or considered, to fit this role. She is the role," he added.
Sherawat who is known for her skin-flashing roles had earlier made an appearance in a supporting role with Jackie Chan (成龍) in The Myth (神話).
Her role marks the first time that an Indian actress has been cast in as the lead in a mainstream Hollywood project.
The Walt Disney Co has started production on an animated fairy tale called The Frog Princess, which will be set in New Orleans and feature the studio's first black princess.
The company unveiled the plans Thursday at its annual shareholders' meeting in New Orleans.
John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and the Disney-owned unit Pixar Animation Studios, said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using the computer animation that has become the industry standard. He called the film "an American fairy tale.''
The film is set for release in 2009.
May 18 to May 24 Pastor Yang Hsu’s (楊煦) congregation was shocked upon seeing the land he chose to build his orphanage. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to access it was to cross a river by foot. The soil was poor due to runoff, and large rocks strewn across the plot prevented much from growing. In addition, there was no running water or electricity. But it was all Yang could afford. He and his Indigenous Atayal wife Lin Feng-ying (林鳳英) had already been caring for 24 orphans in their home, and they were in
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As with most of northern Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) settlements, the village of Arunothai was only given a Thai name once the Thai government began in the 1970s to assert control over the border region and initiate a decades-long process of political integration. The village’s original name, bestowed by its Yunnanese founders when they first settled the valley in the late 1960s, was a Chinese name, Dagudi (大谷地), which literally translates as “a place for threshing rice.” At that time, these village founders did not know how permanent their settlement would be. Most of Arunothai’s first generation were soldiers
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