Bill Clinton watched Strictly Ballroom six times in White House Read more: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/bill-clinton-watched-strictly-ballroom-six-times-in-white-house/story-fnilxh2o-1226691568613#ixzz2b5A3F4L4

Bill Clinton watched Strictly Ballroom six times in White House 

BAZ Luhrmann says you never know who is going to be a Strictly Ballroom fan. "Forget that the Pope put it on his list of top five films,'' The Great Gatsby director said. "I remember the first time I met Bill Clinton ..." The former US President was in the middle of an argument when he turned to Baz Luhrmann to say Moulin Rouge! was great, but when it came to Strictly Ballroom, he must have played it at least six times in The White House. "And he leaned right over, he said, `how about that mother? What a piece of work, huh?' and then goes back to arguing with Richard Gere,'' Luhrmann told media in Sydney today. 1dc16c20-fda3-11e2-9e84-e97fbc5b6f85 director Director Baz Luhrmann receives a kiss from his wife and costume designer Catherine Martin, after he outlined his vision for "Strictly Ballroom the Musical". AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD Source: AFP Strictly Ballroom began life as a play Luhrmann created while studying at NIDA, inspired by the ballroom dancing he did during his childhood. After being made for the screen, he was told it was the worst movie one film distributor had ever seen. 24a668d8-fda3-11e2-9e84-e97fbc5b6f85 director Director Baz Luhrmann is joined onstage by dancers after he outlined his vision for "Strictly Ballroom the Musical". AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD Source: AFP The teacher behind Baz Luhrmann Autoplay ON OFF Watch On The Great Gatsby red carpet News Limited catches all the stars at the Australian launch of Baz Luhrmann's movie spectacular, The Great Gatsby. Play 0:00 / 2:33Scrubber mute Share Fullscreen Baz Luhrmann hits Paris Fashion Week with daughter Baz Luhrmann gets last laugh at the box office with Gatsby Feeling "hurt, burnt and sad'' Luhrmann went up the NSW coast to a caravan park. He was standing in the rain, mid haircut, with a bucket on his head to protect him from lethal falling coconuts, when he got a phone call inviting him to the Cannes Film Festival. From there, the little Aussie film went on to achieve global success and introduced Australia and the world to Luhrmann. He would go on to make Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, Australia and most recently, The Great Gatsby, before making the decision to return to his theatrical roots to stage a musical version of his beloved film. "Somehow the planets have aligned,'' he said of the timing. 0dd30eb6-fd9b-11e2-9e84-e97fbc5b6f85 Global Creatures Baz Lurhmann at Sydney's Town Hall for the launch of Strictly Ballroom, The Musical; With performances at the Sydney Lyric from March 2014. Picture: Creatures James Morgan/global Source: Supplied Luhrmann said a lot of going ahead with the production came down to teaming up with Global Creatures, the brains behind the creatures of King Kong and Walking With Dinosaurs productions, in order to bring it to life. "None of the dancers will be real. The entire cast are puppets,'' Luhrmann joked. But with new productions like King Kong raising the innovative bar, Luhrmann is promising something extraordinary. "If we are not actually breaking new theatrical ground with it, than at my age, why would you bother?'' he said. Luhrmann remained tight-lipped about casting, except that he had seen "the right kind of glimmer'' recently. However he did reveal that Strictly Ballroom will be a show where the audience can get involved. "That the audience are actually at times, they are at the (dance) festivals,'' he said. "So exploding out into the space, dancing in the space, dancing being all around you. "One thing I can guarantee you, everything dances in this show.'' Strictly Ballroom The Musical will play at Sydney Lyric from March 25 with tickets on sale from August 12 34be14dc-fda3-11e2-9e84-e97fbc5b6f85 Global Creatures Baz Lurhmann at Sydney's Town Hall today for the launch of Strictly Ballroom, The Musical with performances at the Sydney Lyric from March 2014. Picture: Creatures James Morgan/global



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Star Trek Into Darkness $84 Million Box Office Debut Misses Estimates

tar Trek Into Darkness $84 Million Box Office Debut Misses Estimates

Paramount Pictures' highly anticipated Star Trek Into Darkness arrived at the North American box office this past weekend with Captain James Kirk and crew beaming up a solid but unexceptional $84 million during the3 film's four days of release. The arrival of J.J. Abrams' latest Trek adventure pushed previous two-time champ Iron Man 3 and Warner's The Great Gatsby down a notch on the list, yet each continued to rake in the big bucks. Star Trek Into Darkness was projected to have a bigger opening, especially with the inclusion of IMAX and 3D screens. I've published a more in-depth analysis of Trek's debut here. Additionally, the Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD versions of Star Trek Into Darkness are already available for pre-order. The return of Kirk and Spock did knock Iron Man 3 down but far from out. Marvel's first Cinematic Phase 2 flick zipped by the $300 million (domestic) and one billion (global) marks on Thursday and added another $35.2 million to its North American fortunes this weekend. Foreign markets added another $40 million. The domestic total now stands at a towering $337 million with the $400 million milestone within its sights. The film has moved up to the number 25 position on the all-time highest domestic grossers and number nine globally. Third place went to Warner's smash hit The Great Gatsby, which has now become the studio's highest-grossing film of 2013. The Baz Luhurmann version of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel has successfully worked as counter-programming to the visual effects blockbusters and should continue to do so as it faces little competition over the next few weeks. The film dropped an understandable 51% from its huge opening to earn an estimated $25 million on 3,550 screens in its sophomore round. The Leonardo DiCaprio headliner has earned a great $91.2 million and could wind up with $130 million in domestic sales by the end of its run. Rounding out the top five were Paramount's Pain & Gain and Fox/Dreamworks' The Croods. The Michael Bay-directed feature dropped 38% from last weekend to earn an estimated $3.1 million to bring its four week total to $46.5 million. The prehistoric 3D animated smash lost a mere 23% of its audience from week eight to earn $2.75 million. To date The Croods has earned a great $176.7 million. The remainder of the top ten is as follows: 6. 42 (Warner Brothers) $2.73 million (-40%); $88.7 million 7. Oblivion (Universal) $2.2 million (-46%); $85.5 million 8. Mud (Roadside Attractions) $2.2 million (-13%); $11 million 9. Peeples (Lionsgate) $2.1 million (-53%); $7.8 million 10. The Big Wedding (Lionsgate) $1.1 million (-54%); $20.1 million Next weekend sees the arrival of Warner's The Hangover Part III on Thursday, along with Fox's animated Epic and Universal's Fast and Furious 6 on Friday to take advantage of Memorial Day weekend. Fast 6 should have no problem putting the pedal to the box office metal in swiping the pole position away from current champ Star Trek Into Darkness.


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No life in Leo DiCaprio’s ‘Gatsby’

No life in Leo DiCaprio’s ‘Gatsby’

The Great Gatsby” Rated PG-13. At AMC Boston Common, Regal Fenway 13 and suburban theaters. Grade: C- Forget about making a zombie-movie version of “The Great Gatsby.” It’s already here. If there is a recognizably human character in Baz Luhrmann’s wax museum adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 Jazz Age novel, I did not see him or her. In the midst of all the lifeless eye candy, flying confetti, tinsel, streamers and fireworks stands the pomaded, tuxedo-clad Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose tan has pumpkin highlights and who has no pulse. Former “Spider-Man” Tobey Maguire’s narrator-sidekick Nick Carraway is a crack-voiced aspiring writer. Carey Mulligan’s Daisy Buchanan sports dresses made of feathers and tassels and is not quite as gorgeously sculpted as her leading man. That she is the sylph-like Art Deco dream girl and femme fatale who lures Gatsby to his doom seems dubious. DiCaprio’s Gatsby appears cobbled together from his OCD Howard Hughes in “The Aviator” and bits of the dream-tormented Teddy Daniels of “Shutter Island.” Like the novel, the film is a love story and gangster-movie parable about a mysterious, fabulously wealthy young(ish in this case) man living in palatial splendor in Fitzgerald’s idyllic West Egg, a Long Island oceanfront paradise just outside of swinging, flapper-era Manhattan. Unlike East Eggers Daisy and her unfaithful, polo-playing husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton in Clark Gable mustache) or her cousin Nick, Gatsby, who dresses to the nines, tens and elevens, is not from “old money.” He’s nouveau riche, although he claims to be an “Oxford man” and calls everyone “old sport,” which DiCaprio pronounces awkwardly. After staging a computer-generated racing scene with Gatsby’s supercharged roadster and a PG-13 orgy with Tom, Nick, Tom’s mistress Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher) and some floozies, Luhrmann turns his attention to the bacchanalian parties thrown by Gatsby. The relentless snip-snip-snip editing of the film is cued to the bat of an eye, the swivel of a hip, a butt shake, a shrugged shoulder. This isn’t directing. It’s choreography. (“The Great Gatsby” contains violence, sexually suggestive scenes and scenes of drunken revelry.)


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Listen to Beyonce and Andre 3000's cover of 'Back To Black' in full Read more at

Listen to Beyonce and Andre 3000's cover of 'Back To Black' in full Read more at 

Andre 3000's cover of the Amy Winehouse track 'Back To Black' has , online - scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen. The pair's rendition of the song, which was recorded for the soundtrack to the forthcoming The Great Gatsby film, was debuted by Mark Ronson on his EastVillageRadio show. Ronson, who produced the original track for Winehouse's album of the same name, said it was a "wonderful take on our song" and added: "I'm flattered and honoured, I know Amy would be too." Earlier this week, however, Winehouse's father Mitch said that he didn't think Beyonce's version of 'Back To Black' "brings anything" to the song and added: "I wasn't asked for my permission if they could record it. They have got to pay for the privilege, which is what they are doing. I can't tell you how much it is but it's a lot of money." The Great Gatsby soundtrack also features The xx, Jack White, Florence + The Machine and Lana Del Rey. The album, which was was executive produced by Jay-Z and will also include his own new track '$100 Bill', will be released in the UK on May 6. The full tracklisting for The Great Gatsby soundtrack album is as follows: Read more at



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