• Spirit Buzz: Woody Allen’s Dermatologist

    Penelope Cruz won a Spirit Award this afternoon for her performance in Woody Allen’s “Vicki Cristina Barcelona.” This wasn’t that surprising, but the Spanish star told a great yarn about the director. “Woody is a symbol of independent film,” she said. “He does whatever he wants. Including going to the dermatologist on the day that…

  • ‘Wrestler,’ ‘Milk’ Win Independent Spirits

    “The Wrestler” won best feature, and its star Mickey Rourke best actor at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica Saturday.

  • Complete List of Winners & Nominees

    BEST PICTURE WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire" "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" "Frost/Nixon" "Milk" "The Reader" BEST ACTRESS WINNER: Kate Winslet, "The Reader" Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married" Angelina Jolie, "Changeling" Melissa Leo, "Frozen River" Meryl Streep, "Doubt" BEST ACTOR WINNER: Sean Penn, "Milk" Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon" Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Mickey…

  • Why that “Oscar Winners” List is Super-Fake

    The idea of an Oscars “winners list” makes no sense, says Sid Ganis, AMPAS president. The tabulation takes place at the last minute. In fact, it’s still ongoing.

  • About That Fake Oscar List? What If It’s Right?

      What is hilarious about a list of “Oscar winners” circulating for the last couple of days around the Internet is how obviously a fraud it is. As most everyone in Hollywood know, the winners are tallied by PriceWaterhouseCooper up to just before the ceremony. It’s not as if some committee at the Academy of…

  • Dawn Hudson … Grilled!

    Ahead of Saturday’s Spirit Awards, the executive director of Film Independent tells why “Milk” has it but “Slumdog” doesn’t.

  • ‘Reader’ Controversy? Or Harvey Weinstein looking for attention?

    The makers of the Oscar-nominated film, “The Reader,” issued a statement on Friday defending the film from what they called “fringe criticism” that it is a Holocaust denial film. What’s going here? “Fringe” people writing on “the fringe” – that would be author Ron Rosenbaum (“Explaining Hitler”) on Huffpo and Rod Lurie (“The Contender”) on Slate…

  • Hollywood Preps for the Oscars

    The word from Mumbai! Soirees meet hard times! The web beating the telecast! Inside secrets of a luxe hotel — watch the slide show!

  • How Much to Cover the Oscars? 500 Bucks. Or There’s Dial-Up.

    TheWrap got a seat in the press room for the Oscars. And here’s what it costs to get one of those newfangled “high-speed” digital gadgets that’s become all the rage: $500. Yup. $500. Or else you can use dial-up. It already cost this much two years ago, when I last covered the Oscars for The…

  • ‘Madea’ Sets Record for Lionsgate, Perry

    “Madea Goes to Jail” busted out this weekend, taking in $41 million — the biggest opening for a Tyler Perry film and for any in Lionsgate’s history.

  • Calif. OKs $500M Tax Credit for Hollywood

    The new budget includes funds to help stem the flow of runaway productions.

  • Indians Talk Oscar and ‘Slumdog’

    On the streets of Mumbai, what some real folks think about the hit movie’s chances and and credibility — and what they’d rather see win.

  • Jack Valenti Gay? J. Edgar Hoover Thought So

    No one who knew the affable and charming Jack Valenti, Hollywood’s chief lobbyist in Washington for many years, thought he was anything other than a draw to the ladies. But it turns out that J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI chief who was himself was a major homophobe, was “consumed” with proving that Valenti and a…

  • Oscar Parties: Less Is More

    Recession or not, the Oscar party scene will be in full swing this weekend. Many hosts have saved their money to focus on one party.

  • Will Mickey Rourke Fight at Wrestlemania?

    From The Daily Beast: Hush-hush and strictly confidential, but the chatter percolating in the pro-wrestling community is that despite his publicist’s braying to the contrary, Mickey Rourke is seriously considering jumping into the ring at this year’s WrestleMania.     You don’t have to be plugged into the world of fanboy Internet kooks to smell…