News

  With the Venice Film Festival behind them, HFPA members are heading for Toronto where almost 400 films will be crammed into 11 days. By far the biggest of the fall festivals, it has shown the last six Best Picture winners and five of last year's Best Foreign Film nominees.

Harvey Weinstein and Mia Wasikowska talk about her latest movie, Tracks. Marking the 70th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival a delegation of Hollywood Foreign Press Association members, traveled to Lido Island across the lagoon from Venice, to attend the historic festival’s opening ceremony, meet with filmmakers and look at films for Golden Globe consideration.

  The Italian operatic trio Il Volo met with HFPA members at their headquarters in West Hollywood as part of the association's Round Table series of interviews. Just hours before performing at a sold-out Gibson Amphitheater, tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto and baritone Gianluca Ginoble spoke about the challenges of their growing popularity in the United States.

While shooting t he second season of the country music flavored series Nashville, the producing company, Lionsgate, invited an HFPA delegation to their locations in Nashville, TN. Charles „Chip“ Esten, who stars as Deacon Claybourne, guided a tour through the expansive sound stages which included an exact replica of the original Bluebird Cafe, a famous Nashville hangout for songwriters, whose so-called Writers’ Rounds are a traditional way of introducing their newest creations to be judged by their peers.

After winning the Golden Globe for directing Argo, Ben Affleck is spending at least two hours a day in the gym getting in shape for his next role as Batman in the Man of Steel sequel, Batman vs. Superman, which will also star Henry Cavill.

Naomi Watts as Diana The release of Diana, the movie about the last two years of Princess Diana's life, coincides with the dramatic news that British police have received fresh information about the August 1997 car crash deaths of the Princess and Dodi Fayed. The announcement that detectives are looking into whether the deaths were " a criminal act" is sure to boost interest in the movie, which stars Naomi Watts as the Princess and Naveen Andrews as her secret lover, Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnet Khan.

HFPA President Theo Kingma introduces the Grants luncheon The HFPA gave away a record $1. 6 million in charitable grants during a light-hearted, star-studded luncheon of laughter and goodwill.

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