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.

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.

Director, David Cronenberg’s reputation as an authentic auteur has been firmly established by his uniquely personal body of work which includes Shivers, Rabid, Fast Company, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Crash, eXistenz, The Dead Zone, M. Butterfly, Spider, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and the recent opera version of The Fly. He is a member of the French Legion d’Honneur, and an Officer in the Order of Canada.  In 1999, he was President of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. David is releasing his film, A Dangerous Method, this fall and is in post production on his current project, Cosmopolis.

Earlier this year, at the 2011 Empire Awards, Gary Oldman was honored with the Icon Award for Achievement. An acclaimed presence in motion pictures for 25 years, he is regarded as one of the foremost actors of his generation. Mr. Oldman is known to millions throughout the world for playing Sirius Black (Harry Potter’s godfather), Commissioner Jim Gordon (Batman/Bruce Wayne’s crime-fighting partner), Dracula, Beethoven, Pontius Pilate, Lee Harvey Oswald, Joe Orton, and Sid Vicious, to name just a few of his iconic characterizations.

Over the past 18 years, the U.K. native has appeared in 11 movies that have opened #1 at the box office. As part of the two most successful franchises in movie history, he has appeared in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates, respectively; and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Mr. Oldman’s acting career began in 1979, and for several years he worked exclusively in the theatre; from 1985 through 1989, he alternated film work with stage work at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Among his early telefilms were Mike Leigh’s Meantime and the late Alan Clarke’s The Firm.

His features include Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy; Stephen Frears’ Prick Up Your Ears; Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead; Phil Joanou’s State of Grace; Oliver Stone’s JFK; Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Peter Medak’s Romeo is Bleeding; Tony Scott’s True Romance; Bernard Rose’s Immortal Beloved; Luc Besson’s The Professional (a.k.a. Leon) and The Fifth Element; Wolfgang Petersen’s Air Force One; the late Marc Rocco’s Murder in the First; Roger Young’s telefilm Jesus; Ridley Scott’s Hannibal; and Albert and Allen Hughes’ The Book of Eli.

With Douglas Urbanski, Mr. Oldman produced the feature Nil by Mouth. The film marked his screenwriting and directing debut, and was selected to world premiere as the opening-night film of the 1997 [50th Anniversary of the] Cannes International Film Festival, at which the film’s leading lady Kathy Burke won for Best Actress. Subsequent honors for Nil by Mouth included the prestigious Channel Four Director’s Prize, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; six British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nominations, and three wins including for Ms. Burke and her fellow actors Ray Winstone and Laila Morse; the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as BAFTA’s Alexander Korda Award for the Outstanding British Film of the Year, the latter shared by Mr. Oldman and Mr. Urbanski.

The team’s subsequent productions have included Rod Lurie’s The Contender, starring Joan Allen and Jeff Bridges. The film received two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, including one for Best Supporting Actor (Mr. Oldman). Additionally, the ensemble of The Contender and the writer/director were honored with the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Alan J. Pakula Award.

Next up for Mr. Oldman will be Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, opening on December 9th; John Hillcoat’s The Wettest County; and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, opening in 2012.

This year’s Gotham Awards tribute recipients join a prestigious group of previous honorees including: James Schamus, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, David Linde, Jonathan Sehring and film critic Roger Ebert; actors Robert Duvall, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Pénelope Cruz, Hilary Swank and Kate Winslet; filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, Mira Nair, Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese.

Nominees for the 21st Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards™ will be announced on October 20th and winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on November 28th.

The Premier Sponsors of the 21st Annual Gotham Awards™ are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and The New York Times. The Presenting Sponsor is Euphoria Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Collection, with Official Sponsors Heineken USA, Russian Standard Vodka and Andaz Wall Street as well.  Additionally, the awards will be promoted nationally in an eight-page special advertising section in The New York Times on November 18th, 2011.

About Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP)
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is one of the nation’s oldest and largest not-for-profit advocacy organizations for independent filmmakers.  Since its debut at the 1979 New York Film Festival, IFP has supported the production of over 7,000 films and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, providing an opportunity for many diverse voices to be heard. IFP believes that independent films enrich the universal language of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism. The organization has championed early work by pioneering, independent filmmakers, including Charles Burnett, Edward Burns, Jim Jarmusch, Barbara Kopple, Michael Moore, Mira Nair and Kevin Smith.

IFP represents a network of 10,000 filmmakers in New York City and around the world. Through its workshops, seminars, conferences, mentorships and Filmmaker Magazine, IFP schools its members in the art, technology and business of independent filmmaking.  The year-round program includes an Independent Film Week, The Gotham Awards, Filmmaking Labs and Seminars, and a range of programs to promote racial, ethnic, religious, ideological, gender and sexual diversity. IFP, often in collaboration with other cultural institutions, builds audiences by hosting premieres and special screenings.  The IFP fosters the development of 300 feature and documentary films each year. Recently, the organization licensed the popular Festival Genius software platform through which IFP now reaches over 200,000 film fans worldwide.

For more information: www.ifp.org
About the Gotham Independent Film Awards™
The Gotham Independent Film Awards, selected by distinguished juries and presented in New York City, the home of independent film, are the first honors of the film awards season. This public showcase honors the filmmaking community, expands the audience for independent films, and supports the work that IFP does behind the scenes throughout the year to bring such films to fruition.

SOURCE