Lauryn Hill battles unruly VIPs at Sundance

Often called America’s best ever female rapper, Lauryn Hill got no respect from a group of self-important VIP’s at a concert on the sidelines of the Sundance Film Festival Wednesday night. So Hill, who is known for not mincing her words, asked her security to remove the people and their roped-off, Very Important Person section that was set-up just meters from the stage.

As she performed the latest concert on a current small tour — a comeback of sorts after a hiatus from the music scene — she had to contend with the VIPs, whoever they were, as they mostly ignored her set, often with their backs to the stage while swilling champagne and at times blocking the view of and distracting ticket-paying concertgoers.

For the record, Hill’s show was not affiliated with the festival itself, but was just one of many performances set up by party and corporate promoters that Sundance has long battled. For years, the sort of circus atmosphere created by the marketers has irked Sundance’s backers, including Robert Redford.

Sundance’s unheralded short film and grant winners

The Sundance Film Festival reaches its climax on Saturday when winners of best feature films and their directors, writers, cinematographers and sometimes actors are announced. And make no mistake, those winners will go on to claim movie glory both outside and inside Hollywood.

Don’t believe us? Take one quick look at last year. What was the Sundance 2010 jury prize winner for best dramatic film? “Winter’s Bone.” What is a 2010 best film Oscar nominee? “Winter’s Bone.” What was the Sundance 2010 jury prize winner for best documentary? “Restrepo.” What is a 2010 best documentary Oscar nominee? “Restrepo.”

Tuesday night at separate events, Sundance gave out awards to individuals who often go unheralded at the festival: makers of short films and, for the first time this year, winners of a filmmaking grant from Indian company Mahindra Rise.

First, the short films. Sundance uses a panel of film industry jurors to pick  winners and the jury prize for U.S. shorts went to “Brick Novax pt 1 and 2″ by writer/director Matt Piedmont. It tells of a faded superstar named Brick Novax who is now down-and-out with only weeks to live. The jury prize for internationals shorts went to “Deeper Than Yesterday” from Australian writer/director Ariel Kleiman. It’s the story of a crew trapped aboard a submerged submarine for three months. Honorable mentions went to “Choke,” “Diarchy” and “The External World” “The Legend of Beaver Dam,” “Out of Reach” and “Protoparticles.” You can watch the awards ceremony here.

Who said actors can’t direct ?

Many an actor has fallen by the wayside taking a shot at directing and with reviews still coming in, Vera Farmiga’s fate with her directing debut at the Sundance Film Festival is still unclear, yet promising.

The 37-year-old gained fans all around the world in movies such as “Up In The Air” and “The Departed” thinks acting can only be a plus when it comes to getting behind the camera for first feature “Higher Ground.”

“I don’t think it hindered. I haven’t gone to school for directing, but I did study theater and literature so I do know plot points and what makes a story move forward and I think it’s collaboration. You are not only thinking about your character, but you are thinking about everyone else’s character and how to push that plot along,” she told Reuters Television on the red carpet line for her premiere.

She is also clear about another thing. Her inspirations include classic directors she just happens to have worked with.

50 Cent at Sundance: A work in progess

(Note: strong language in quote, paragraph 2)

He’s not the first music star to try a crossover in entertainment to movies. Not even close. But at least Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is smart enough to know he can’t just jump into making films and be instantly an Oscar winner. So, on Saturday at a news conference at the Sundance Film Festival, the rapper whose albums include “Get rich or Die Tryin’” was quick to admit that as an actor and filmmaker, “I”m a work in progress.”

As a rapper, he’s known as 50 Cent, and his early work and life were as remarkable for their violence as they were his music. But as an actor, 50 prefers to use his name, Curtis Jackson. He has been acting for around six years, starting with an action movie titled after his album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” but more recently he has tried to stretch his talents. Three years ago, he came to Sundance and after seeing some of the films here, he told his producing partner, Randall Emmett, “we have to do the same shit they’re doing.” (something makes us think the Sundance organizers don’t consider their films that way, but we knew what Jackson meant).

So, Emmett and Jackson founded Cheetah Vision Films, cut a $200 million deal with Hollywood studio/distributor Lionsgate to make 10 movies. They have six in the can, and on Saturday at Sundance — his third time at the festival — he was talking about his new slate, his future in the film business and collaborating on movies with boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Sundance kid: “Not thought about retiring”

He’s past the age where most people retire, but actor, activist and Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford sees no reason to call it a work day, even at age 74.

“I have not thought about retiring,” Redford told reporters on Thursday, the opening day of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Redford rose up through Hollywood’s ranks in the 1960s, and hit the jackpot with his role as an outlaw in 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” He went on to major success in “The Sting,” “All the President’s Men” and numerous other titles. He won an Oscar for directing “Ordinary People” and became as well-known for his social activism as for his acting.

Thirty years ago, he founded the Sundance Institute for filmmaking in Utah and on Thursday at a press conference, he outlined its growth from a place where artists, writers, filmmakers and performers could get together and share ideas, to an institution which has given rise to the huge Sundance festival, a TV channel airing around the globe, a group of movie theaters and a supporter of the arts with links to other organizations worldwide. He said that even though the Institute has grown, it has retained its original mission. The Sundance festival, which is backed by the Institute, opened on Thursday night by screening a group of four movies, most notably the documentary “Sing Your Song,” which tells of the life of singer and activist Harry Belafonte. Read about that here.

Steven Tyler — “American Idol’s” new Paula Abdul?

Okay. So he’s no Simon Cowell. But based on his first outing on the “American Idol” judging panel,  Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler had the wackiness and unpredictability of  the much-loved, and much-missed Paula Abdul.

With Jennifer Lopez breaking her heart over saying no to some of the wannabe pop stars, it was left to Tyler, 62,  to inject much of the fun into the new line-up.

Whooping, clapping, hollering, and flirting with the contestants, the heavily made-up rocker also had the best of the jokes and one-liners — sometimes against himself.

“We are all here, because we’re not all there!” quipped Tyler — who has been in and out of rehab for addictions to everything from cocaine, to alcohol, to painkiller and sleep medication in his colorful 40-year stint with Aerosmith.

Did Gervais go too far at Globes?

The day after the Golden Globes, and, in Britain at least, there is as much media chatter about show host Ricky Gervais and his no-holds-barred approach as there is about Colin Firth’s acting award for his portrayal of the stammering King George VI in “The King’s Speech”.

Normally the reaction on this side of the pond to major U.S. movie award shows is to champion the victorious Brits, or otherwise bemoan their failure. This year would have been no exception — joy for Firth, otherwise disappointment for the film about the British monarchy — were it not for Gervais and his less-than-gentle jokes that took aim at, among others, Charlie Sheen, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp of “The Tourist”, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Cher, the actresses in Sex and the City, prominent Scientologists and Hugh Hefner.

The Gawker website’s reaction summed up its jaw-dropping bluntness: “Holy wow. Ricky Gervais … just opened the show with one of the most unrelentingly harsh and uncomfortable monologues in awards history.”

Some of the stars there on the night felt the need to hit back — Robert Downey Jr., the butt of one of Gervais’ less-than-flattering jibes, suggested that the host’s words were “hugely mean-spirited, with mildly sinister undertones”. The LA Times called the event a “snarkfest” and wrote of the “corrosive tone” Gervais set. Reflecting how taken aback some viewers were with his repartee, there was even online speculation that he had been sacked mid-show when he failed to appear for nearly an hour.

Can Tempah turn BRIT nods into awards?

He’s leader of the pack in terms of BRIT nominations tonight, but can London rapper Tinie Tempah convert them into prizes when the awards ceremony is held on Feb. 15? Bookmakers would have us believe that British pop’s biggest night could be one of disappointment, not delirium, with Ladbrokes backing the 22-year-old to scoop just one of his four nods, and arguably the least prestigious of them all — Best Breakthrough Act.

Not that the category is unimportant — a BRIT is a BRIT after all, and, after a Grammy, perhaps music’s most coveted statuette. But when you think that Tempah is in the running for best male solo, best British single and, most important of all, best British album, a Breakthrough prize alone may not be enough to keep him happy.

Elsewhere, the highlight of the nominations has to be Robert Plant, 40 years Tempah’s senior but a giant of rock as Led Zeppelin lead singer and, shockingly, a first-time BRIT nominee, according to the organisers. Given the huge success of his solo career after Led Zeppelin ceased to be, it seems almost scandalous. Not a whole lot of love for the singer among voting members, obviously, and the possibility of a heartbreaker if he doesn’t win. Or could it be celebration day? Enough bad Led Zeppelin puns.

Critics curse Cage and “Season of the Witch”

Nicolas Cage has a reputation for dividing the critics. Some love him, others loathe him, and many love and loathe him in the same breath. No such confusion over his latest movie, however, with “Season of the Witch“, out Friday, winning almost universal scorn among critics.

The Oscar-winning actor plays a war-weary, disillusioned 14th century crusader charged with transporting a young girl to a remote monastery on the orders of the church, which believes she is a witch responsible for a devastating plague sweeping Europe. Cage is not so sure, and promises her a fair hearing when they get to their destination. Accompanied by his comrade-in-arms, played by Ron Perlman, Cage’s character Behmen faces collapsing bridges and fierce, diabolical wolves on his way through the forest, only to come up against even greater forces of evil at the abbey.

Reviewers have not been kind to Cage, with the Rotten Tomatoes critic aggregator site giving it a putrid three percent approval rating based on one positive review out of 36. And all on the actor’s 47th birthday as well.

The Wall Street Journal, perhaps harshly, compares it with the Ingmar Bergman classic “The Seventh Seal”, in which a knight plays chess with Death. “Mr. Cage’s knight ends up playing second banana to a digital devil. Welcome to the January dead zone,” its review concludes. The Daily Telegraph had this to say: ”The stench of plague is all around, unless that’s an aroma emanating from the script.”

Threats follow cuddles in budding Justin Bieber-Selena Gomez romance

They said they were just friends and laughed off the photos a few weeks ago that suggested there might be a teen romance budding.

But  Justin Bieber broke the hearts of millions of his young fans when photos surfaced on Monday of the 16 year-old singer canoodling (bare-chested)  with Disney star Selena Gomez, 18,  (wearing a bikini) on a yacht in the Caribbean over the New Year.

Just to set the record straight, the pictures that we saw from paparazzi photo agency site Bauer Griffin didn’t actually show the kids kissing.  But they sure were up close and personal.

Nothing alarming there, you might think. Unless it’s the still boyish frame of the young Canadian crooner.