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Showing posts with label dismisses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dismisses. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Angelina Jolie dismisses talk of marriage, babies (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Angelina Jolie has dismissed ongoing speculation about marriage and more kids with her partner Brad Pitt, telling Vanity Fair in an interview published on Tuesday that there are "no secret wedding plans."

The Oscar-winning actress revealed details of her upcoming wartime romance film, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," which she directed. She told Vanity Fair magazine that she feared stepping behind the camera for the first time.

"I've never felt more exposed. My whole career, I've hidden behind other people's words," Jolie said. "Now it's me talking. You feel ridiculous when you get something wrong."

The actress, who penned the script during a two day quarantine period when she had the flu, said she had Pitt read it over first. "He called and said, 'You know, honey, it's not that bad,'" Jolie told the magazine.

The story follows a couple's love affair during the Bosnian war, and Jolie made sure to get the script as accurate as possible by sending it to reporters and writers of Serbian and Bosnian nationalities who had experienced the war.

"I was gauging the accuracy...If they said no, I wouldn't have done it," she said.

But the movie did cause controversy last year when the leader of a woman's group in Sarajevo urged city officials to ban shooting the film in Bosnia. She complained that the love story was offensive because it was between a Bosnian woman and Serbian man.

At the time, Jolie said she hoped people would withhold any judgment until that had seen the film, which is expected to hit theaters in December of this year.

The "Salt" actress told Vanity Fair that she took the helm as director because the script "was something I didn't trust out of my hands." And she revealed how directing the film changed the way she perceived acting.

"Brad thinks I'm going to be a nightmare," joked Jolie, who won her Oscar for supporting actress in "Girl, Interrupted."

"I had such a good experience he thinks I'm going to be impatient with directors, which I already am. I get impatient with people working on a film that have their head in their hands like it's the most complicated thing in the world."

She said Pitt was very supportive of the film and offered suggestions, but she wasn't sure he was the best person from whom to take advice.

"He'd come in and say what he liked or what he didn't understand. Like any woman, I would listen to most of it and fight a few things. He's been so supportive. But it's hard to separate the person that loves you from the critic, so I don't think he's a fair judge."

Jolie cast many unknown actors in the film, which she felt was important for authenticity.

"It couldn't be anyone else. It's their story. It was important that they were willing to do it. If none of them were willing, I wouldn't have made it," said the actress.

And as for its ultimate success or failure, Jolie leaves it up to the audience to decide, hopefully in a good debate.

"People will judge for themselves. I think if you make a good movie people will walk away arguing," she said.

(Reporting and Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


Yahoo! News

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

NY judge dismisses charges against Foxy Brown (AP)

NEW YORK – A judge on Tuesday dropped charges that rapper Foxy Brown violated a court order by mooning her neighbor after the woman told prosecutors she would not testify at the trial.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Isdith said he had tried to meet with the neighbor, Irene Raymond, in the weeks before the trial and didn't get anywhere. When he finally got in touch with her, she said she didn't want to pursue the case, he said.

"While the district attorney's office has no doubt the defendant committed this crime, we have no other choice but to dismiss this case," Isdith said.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt and her trial was slated to begin Tuesday, following a dressing-down at her last court hearing by State Supreme Court Justice John Walsh when she appeared hours late.

The 31-year-old hip hop star was punctual this time, wearing a short silver silk dress and towering spike heels, and smiled and hugged he attorneys as the courtroom erupted when Walsh dismissed the case.

"I was falsely arrested twice, slandered and defamed," she said outside court, as she gave a thumbs-up and smiled for cameras. She described Raymond as jealous, and someone with a "borderline obsession," "someone who wants to be you or have your life ... that I worked really hard for," she said.

The Brooklyn-based rapper was a teenager when she broke onto the rap scene as a protege of Jay-Z, but her career has foundered in recent years.

Prosecutors said Brown violated the order in July 2010 by screaming at Raymond before bending over, baring her buttocks and showing her underwear while shouting an obscenity.

Had the case gone to trial, her attorney Salvatore Strazzullo said her defense would have been not only did she not moon Raymond, but she wasn't even wearing underwear at the time, so the neighbor was not telling the truth.

Brown was issued the order of protection after pleading guilty in 2008 to menacing Raymond with her cellphone. The two had been in a fight over Brown blasting her car stereo outside their Brooklyn building in the leafy Prospect Heights neighborhood. The restraining order is in effect until 2013, her attorney said.

Strazzullo said they would be filing a civil suit in Brooklyn alleging malicious prosecution.

Brown became one of rap's more popular stars in the 1990s, but in recent years she has stayed in the headlines mainly for her legal problems and hot temper. She also has said she suffered from hearing problems.

Her debut CD, "Ill Na Na," was released in 1996. She released her platinum-selling sophomore album, "Chyna Doll," in 1999. Her third album, "Broken Silence," — released in 2001 — reached gold status.

She rapped in the hip-hop group The Firm, which also featured Nas.

Brown said outside court that she's headed directly to the recording studio now that she's free of the case, and said she's not planning to return to criminal court any time soon.


Yahoo! News