Kathy Griffin to Minaj: I want a booty challenge

lifestyle
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014
Emmys: Hollywood stars light
up TV, reverse is lacking
T
elevision is increasingly opening its
doors to Hollywood stars, as tomorrow’s
Emmy Awards will attest, but TV royalty
still struggle to make the transition to the silver screen. Seasoned actors Matthew
McConaughey, Kevin Spacey, Jon Voight, Jeff
Daniels and Woody Harrelson are all nominated this year for Emmys after having built much
of their careers in film.
McConaughey, a favorite to win a lead
actor Emmy for his role in HBO crime drama
“True Detective,” is riding high after winning an
Academy Award for last year’s “Dallas Buyers
Club.” “House of Cards” hero/villain Spacey
from the show “ER” into the Hollywood megastar firmament, “was the last one who really
did it,” said Glenn Williamson, a professor at
UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.
In contrast, though Jennifer Aniston parlayed her “girl next door” appeal from hit show
“Friends” into several big-screen roles, the
1990s comedy’s other stars have had stunted
success in the transition. The same holds true
for stars of more recent TV mega-hits like
“Desperate Housewives” and “Lost.” Some stars
have thrived on television without ever
becoming bankable in Hollywood: Julianna
Margulies, David Duchovny and Robin Wright
Lasers and lighting tubes will provide a hi-tech experience at the 66th Emmy Awards
Governors Ball during a Press Preview in Los Angeles, California. — AFP
already has two Oscar statuettes. Voight, nominated for Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” won a
best actor Oscar a generation ago, while
Harrelson (“True Detective”) is a two-time
Oscar nominee.
For them, having a go in a successful
broadcast or cable series adds gritty prestige
to their glittering careers. But cross-pollination
in the other direction has proven more difficult. Heart-throb George Clooney, who shot
are among those who earned numerous film
roles but never won the accolades there that
came with TV.
Kerry Washington, praised as much for her
role in Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Django
Unchained” as for TV’s “Scandal,” is in that small
clique of actors comfortably navigating
between the two worlds. Another is Claire
Danes, who hit it big as teen Angela Chase in
1990s series “My So-Called Life.” She followed
up with a number of roles in Hollywood films
like “Romeo + Juliet” and “Shopgirl” before
returning to television with a bang as the troubled star of Showtime thriller “Homeland.”
‘Inextricably linked’ to TV
With blockbuster series “Mad Men” and
“Breaking Bad” coming to an end, it remains to
be seen whether their respective stars Jon
Hamm (nominated this year for best lead
actor) and Bryan Cranston (also nominated,
and who has already won three times) can successfully make the jump. “No matter how well
known, a feature film role only lasts a little
more than two hours,” said Ellen Seiter, a professor of television at University of Southern
California.
“By comparison, successful television series
roles last for dozens of hours,” sometimes over
years, meaning “actors become inextricably
linked to those roles in the eyes of the audience,” she added.
Tom Nunan, founder of Bull’s Eye
Entertainment and a UCLA film professor, said
comedians often make a better switch to film,
like Tina Fey from “Saturday Night Live” and “30
Rock,” who is good value in Hollywood. Steve
Carell, Amy Poehler, Mila Kunis and Chris Pratt
also came from comedy TV to see their movie
careers take off.
Nunan also observed that there are
“women and men in their 30s, 40s and 50s
who are able to find really great work on great
TV shows,” which is not always the case in
Hollywood, where youth is so often the lodestone. US studios typically revolve around
movie franchises, which traditionally are
action, comedy or superhero-focused.
“Studios aren’t making dramas anymore,”
he said. Those are mainly reserved for independent or foreign filmmakers. That leaves
small-screen producers-for web series, cable,
video on demand and broadcast TV-to pick up
the slack. The result, many argue, is high-quality television. “It’s no surprise that you see
movie stars of the caliber of Kevin Spacey or
Matthew McConaughey,” he added. — AFP
Ukrainian participant Olga Klymenko poses after winning the “World Next Top Model 2014” pageant on
August 22, 2014 in the Lebanese capital Beirut. — AFP
French artists Agathe de Bailliencourt (left) creates her installation entitled “Landscape by Lanscape” with glowing
pebbles on the ground.
A projected visual art installation entitled “Divine Trees” by French artist Clement Briend is displayed.
An art installation of a floating structure entitled “Cyanea” by Cumulus Collectif of France is displayed during a
media preview for the Singapore Night Festival. The seventh edition of the Singapore Night Festival, to be held
over two weekends in August, will feature art installations from local and international artists and with a variety of
performances. — AFP photos
Kathy Griffin to Minaj:
I want a booty challenge
W
hile most people are inviting friends to complete the ice bucket challenge, Kathy Griffin
has another proposal for Nicki Minaj: a booty
challenge. The 53-year-old comedian said after watching the eye-popping, rump-shaking music video for
Minaj’s new hit single, “Anaconda,” she wants to go toeto-toe with the rap diva.
“Of course, everyone’s talking about that ‘Anaconda’
video and it’s fantastic. It’s a lot of boo-tay and I would
like to challenge Nicki to a boo-tay-off,” Griffin said in an
interview this week. The “Anaconda” video has racked in
35 million views since its Tuesday release and has trended on Twitter throughout the week. “It’s like the ice
bucket challenge, but it doesn’t even have any charity
associated with it at all,” Griffin continued. “It’s completely gratuitous.”
Griffin also has some stiff competition when it comes
to the music world apart from Minaj: She released a
comedy album last week, and she hopes to mirror her
success at the Grammy Awards earlier this year, where
she won best comedy album for “Calm Down Gurrl”
after five consecutive losses in the category. “I’m going
for another nomination, shamelessly,” said Griffin, who is
only one of five women to win the honor.
Her likely opponents: “Weird Al” Yankovic, who had a
pop culture moment this year with the chart-topping
“Mandatory Fun,” which featured a stream of highly
viewed - and highly praised - music videos. There’s also
Sarah Silverman, who will release “We Are Miracles” on
Sept. 23. “We know each other’s game,” she said of
Silverman. “Mine is two hours. I have a standing comedy
disorder. Once I get onstage I can’t stop talking.” Griffin’s
new album, “Look at My (Expletive),” is currently being
sold at Amazon for just 99 cents. — AP
This file photo shows host Kathy Griffin on stage at the 41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in
Beverly Hills, Calif. — AP