Charlize Theron is looking to do some investigatin’. The actress is in early talks to star in and produce the crime thriller Cities of Refuge. Inferno Entertainment optioned the script by Brandon Willer, and Deadline reports that Theron would play an investigator who is “brought in to solve a brutal murder and kidnapping in which things aren’t what they seem.” She’s certainly got the acting chops, and could definitely bring some gravitas to the strong female role. If the talks go through, this wouldn’t be the first film the Academy Award-winning actress has produced. She shared the title on 2003’s Monster, the 2008 drama Sleepwalking, and her upcoming film Young Adult.

The actress is currently busy filming Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, where she plays the evil queen, and she recently wrapped Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel sci-fi flick Prometheus. I was impressed by both films’ presentations at this year’s Comic-Con, as well as Theron’s affable and foul-mouthed charisma. Additionally, she’s set to shoot George Miller’s long-in-the-works Mad Max: Fury Road next spring. She’ll next be seen in Young Adult, which reunited Juno scribe Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman. In that film, she plays an alcoholic young adult novelist who returns to her small hometown to pursue her now-married high school boyfriend. Young Adult hits theaters December 2nd.

SOURCE

Top Chef has seen its share of celebrity guests. There’s been Adam Levine, Christina Hendricks, Natalie Portman and even Elmo.

The upcoming ninth season, Top Chef: Texas, continues the reality show’s tradition of surprising contestants with a star-studded lineup. There’s an Oscar-winner, a music icon and more.

Oh, and wait till you hear how many chefs are competing…Premiering Nov. 2 on Bravo, Texas will include appearances by—drumroll, please—Charlize Theron, Patti Labelle and Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman and a bevy of boldfaced culinary names like Cat Cora (one of my favorites!), Tim Love and John Besh.

“It’s a good season, a really good season,” head judge Tom Colicchio told me at the Emmys. “The drama is good.”

Host Padma Lakshmi added, “Lots of drama! Drama, drama, drama! Dramarama!”

“We’re shaking up the formula a little bit,” judge Gail Simmons said. “We made some changes.”

Those changes include two new additions to the judges’ table: Emeril Lagasse and Hugh Acheson, who fans may remember competing on Top Chef Masters.

In the true spirit of everything is bigger in Texas, the battle in the kitchen begins with—ready for this?—a record 29 chefs.

And it wasn’t only hot in the kitchen. “Honestly, we were like, ‘Oh my god! It’s 105 degrees!’” Lakshmi said of shooting over the summer in the Lone Star State. “But it wasn’t every day. Sometimes it would do down to like 98 degrees.”

P.S.: Perhaps I can get Colicchio to spill some scoopage next month when he comes west for the Los Angeles Food & Wine festival. Kicking off Oct. 13, the epicurean extravaganza features appearances by more than 100 celebrity chefs, including Wolfgang Puck, Giada de Laurentiis, Tyler Florence, Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud.

Yummy.

SOURCE

Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman and David Cronenberg will join previously announced recipient Tim Rothman as the folks receiving career tributes at this year’s Gotham Independent Film Awards.

The four will be feted on November 28, 2011 during the 21st edition of the awards, which is the first ceremony of awards season.  Nominations for the awards’ seven competitive categories -  Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You and Audience Award – will be announced October 20th.

Full press release below.

New York, NY (September 22, 2011) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, announced today that Actress, Charlize Theron Director, David Cronenberg and Actor, Gary Oldman, will join previously announced honoree Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, to receive their career tributes at the 21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday, November 28th at Cipriani Wall Street, in New York City.

Signaling the official kick-off of the film awards season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film. Along with these four tributes, seven competitive awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You and Audience Award will be announced.

This year’s honorees represents a range of individuals – all veterans well-versed in lower-budget independent films and large-scale studio releases.  In addition, the honorees represent some of the year’s most highly anticipated and critically acclaimed films including: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from Focus Features (directed by Tomas Alfredson and featuring Gary Oldman); the upcoming Paramount release of Young Adult (directed by Jason Reitman and featuring Charlize Theron) and A Dangerous Method from Sony Pictures Classics (directed by David Cronenberg).

“We are truly honored to pay tribute to four cinematic film luminaries, all of whom have greatly contributed to independent film, and have steadfastly supported the film community in their own individual and unique ways,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of the IFP.

Oscar-winner, Charlize Theron, is one of the great actresses of our time. The South African native captivated audiences as female serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster for which she received the Independent Spirit Award and the National Broadcast Film Critics Association as well as winning the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Theron’s incredible performance as Josey Aimes in North Country garnered her another set of best actress nominations (Golden Globes, SAG, Critics Choice, and Academy) and she also appeared in HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers opposite Geoffery Rush, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Emmys.

Moviegoers were first introduced to the seductive charm of Charlize Theron in her feature film debut, 2 Days in the Valley with James Spader. She co-starred alongside Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves in Devil’s Advocate, with Tom Hanks in That Thing You Do and in Jonathan Lynn’s Trial and Error. In addition, Theron starred in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, which she then followed with Mighty Joe Young with Bill Paxton. In 1999, Theron starred in the Oscar nominated The Cider House Rules and in New Line Cinema’s The Astronaut’s Wife with Johnny Depp. Then following in 2000, the much in-demand Theron tackled back-to-back roles in the following movies: Robert Redford’s The Legend of Bagger Vance with Will Smith and Matt Damon, Men of Honor with Robert DeNiro and Cuba Gooding, Jr., John Frankenheimer’s Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck and The Yards co-starring Mark Wahlberg. In 2001, Theron illuminated the screen in the Warner Bros. tearjerker Sweet November alongside Keanu Reeves, as well as in Woody Allen’s Curse of the Jade Scorpion. In the fall of 2002, Theron starred opposite Patrick Swayze in Waking Up in Reno, which she then moved on to star alongside Kevin Bacon in the feature film Trapped, directed by Luis Mandoki.

Next up, Charlize will be starring in Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, written by Diablo Cody and also starring Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser, and Patrick Wilson.  Recently, Charlize wrapped up filming Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott and is currently filming Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart. She was last seen in Guillermo Arriaga’s directorial debut The Burning Plain, co-starring with Kim Basinger, which she also produced.  In addition to producing the Burning Plain through her production company Denver and Delilah, Charlize is developing and executive producing an HBO series called Mind Hunter with director David Lynch.

Read the rest of this entry »