عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks Accept Honorary Oscars at Hollywood Gala

Angela Bassett reacts as she accepts her honorary Oscar during the 14th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, January 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Angela Bassett reacts as she accepts her honorary Oscar during the 14th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, January 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
TT
TT

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks Accept Honorary Oscars at Hollywood Gala

Angela Bassett reacts as she accepts her honorary Oscar during the 14th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, January 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Angela Bassett reacts as she accepts her honorary Oscar during the 14th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, January 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Actor Angela Bassett was celebrated for a lifetime of memorable roles from Tina Turner to the queen of Wakanda as Hollywood's film academy handed out honorary Oscars on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Comedian Mel Brooks also received a golden statuette at the annual Governors Awards in front of a crowd of top stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper and Natalie Portman, it said.
On stage accepting her trophy, Bassett paid tribute to the 10 Black women who have won Academy Awards - naming each one - and said she hoped the film industry would provide more opportunities for people of color.
"My prayer is that we leave this industry more enriched, forward-thinking and inclusive than we found it," Bassett, 65, said. "At the end of the day, we all just want to have the opportunity to do great, meaningful work."
Bassett was nominated for two competitive Oscars. The first was for her breakout role as Turner in 1993's "What's Love Got to Do with It," and the second for playing Queen Ramonda in 2022's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
Bassett and other honorees were selected by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the group that will hand out this year's Oscars in March.
Writer, director and actor Brooks, now 97, began his career writing comedy routines for Sid Caesar's TV shows in the 1950s before making films such as "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein."
He won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for 1967 film "The Producers," which later became a hit Broadway play.
After a musical introduction by "The Producers" stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Brooks joked that he appreciated his new Oscar statuette because he had sold his previous trophy.
"I won't sell this one, I swear to God," he said.
The academy also honored film editor Carol Littleton and Sundance Film Festival executive Michelle Satter.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

Timothee Chalamet Channels Young Bob Dylan in 'A Complete Unknown'

FILE PHOTO: Timothee Chalamet attends a premiere of the film "A Complete Unknown" at Dolby theater in Los Angeles, California, US December 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Timothee Chalamet attends a premiere of the film "A Complete Unknown" at Dolby theater in Los Angeles, California, US December 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
TT
TT

Timothee Chalamet Channels Young Bob Dylan in 'A Complete Unknown'

FILE PHOTO: Timothee Chalamet attends a premiere of the film "A Complete Unknown" at Dolby theater in Los Angeles, California, US December 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Timothee Chalamet attends a premiere of the film "A Complete Unknown" at Dolby theater in Los Angeles, California, US December 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Timothee Chalamet likened his journey to playing music legend Bob Dylan to an athletic feat. It turned into a marathon that stretched longer than the actor had expected.
Chalamet signed up to play Dylan in 2019. Then came a global pandemic and labor strikes in Hollywood, forcing two extended delays to filming.
"A Complete Unknown," the movie about Dylan's quick rise to stardom in the early 1960s, will finally be released in theaters on Wednesday, Christmas Day, by Walt Disney's Searchlight Pictures.
The disruptions gave the "Dune" actor more time to work out how to translate the towering figure to the big screen. Chalamet learned to play guitar and harmonica and worked with a vocal coach to evolve from his smooth "Wonka" singing to Dylan's distinctive, nasal voice, Reuters reported.
"It was the most I've ever taken on," Chalamet said in an interview, comparing the preparation to "the climbing of a steep hill."
"A Complete Unknown" chronicles Dylan's arrival in New York in 1961 at age 19, his rapid ascent in folk music circles with songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind," and his divisive turn to electric rock music in 1965. The movie's title is taken from a line in the Dylan hit "Like a Rolling Stone."
Chalamet said he immersed himself in whatever video he could find of Dylan in the early '60s, a time of political and social upheaval in the United States.
"There's a finite amount of material available, especially in this period," Chalamet said. "At some point you can turn every page over. Not to say that I have, but if I haven't I've come damn close to it."
In the summer of 2023, Chalamet said, "I felt like I hit a runner's high" in the preparation.
"I felt like my muscles were strong and I was well prepared, and that every day was sort of just chipping away slowly at this bigger thing," he said.
Just as Chalamet was ready, Hollywood actors went on strike, and he worried that funding or casting might fall apart. The final go-ahead to start filming came in March 2024.
DYLAN WEIGHS IN
The real-life Dylan provided input on the script to director James Mangold but never met or spoke with Chalamet, though he recently described the star as "a brilliant actor."
"I'm sure he's going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me," Dylan wrote on social media platform X.
Chalamet's performance has earned praise from critics and predictions that he could garner his second Oscar nomination. He and co-star Edward Norton were nominated for Golden Globes.
Other co-stars include Elle Fanning, who plays girlfriend Suze Rotolo who appeared on the cover of the album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" but goes by the name Sylvie Russo in the film.
Monica Barbaro portrays singer Joan Baez, who had already landed on the cover of Time magazine when her career intersected with Dylan's. At the time, Baez was trying to figure out how to use her platform as an activist.
"Bob came in and was kind of a mess of a boy, but also an absolute poet and brilliant lyricist, and was putting words to all of these things that she felt," Barbaro said. "On top of his charisma, I think, she just was sort of magnetized to him."
Norton plays Pete Seeger, a banjo player and prominent singer of protest music who mentored Dylan.
"I think a lot of people have lost sight of who these people actually were and what they did and what they sounded like," Norton said. "If we can get some people tuning in again, that's probably worth the whole enterprise."
Chalamet agreed.
Dylan is "one of these names that is iconic to my generation," the 28-year-old said. "You know the name, but because he's such an elusive figure and a reclusive figure ... a lot of people my age don't know the music."
"This felt like an opportunity to be a bridge in some way and bring life to this amazing period," he added.