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Book-to-Movie News of the Day: Die a Little and The Memory Keeper's Daughter

BuzzSugar — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:20:18 -0700

Another day, another couple film projects based on books. First, there's Die a Little, a crime thriller based on Megan Abbott's novel. The movie will star Jessica Biel and "explores how the lives of a schoolteacher and her LAPD detective brother are turned upside down by a mysterious woman." The story is set in 1954 but the movie will take place in present day.

I haven't read that one, but I have read The Memory Keeper's Daughter, a weepy dramatic book by Kim Edwards. This project, which will star Emily Watson and Dermot Mulroney, won't make it to the big screen, but will be a TV movie made for Lifetime. In the telepic, "Mulroney plays a doctor who delivers his own twin babies - one with Down's syndrome. In order to spare his wife heartache, he tells her the child with Down's died at birth. The doctor tells his nurse, played by Watson, to put the girl in an institution, but instead she raises the baby as her own."

Reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I could easily envision it turning into a film and figured it was just a matter of time. Now that they have Emily Watson on board, too, I'm intrigued to see this heartstrings-yanker brought to life.

Biel photo source
Watson photo source

Talking New Moon With Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:15:50 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner may be dominating the promotional circuit right now, but they're not the only cast members with something to say about New Moon. I had the opportunity to chat with costars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, aka Emmett and Alice Cullen, during their recent stopover in SF. They chatted about their characters, the vampire craze, and what it's like to be a "Twilight celebrity." Here are highlights:

On why so many people are crazy for the Twilight Saga:
Ashley: I think this film in particular is highly relatable. There are a lot of situations that people can relate to. The love story - everyone can relate to being in love or being in lust. You add the vampire, and it adds that next level fantasy. Vampires are mysterious and sensual and dangerous and unattainable. And everyone wants what they can't have. I think on another level that this came together at the perfect time. All the elements just fit, the casting was spot on, and we're in a difficult time right now with our economy. That's why you never have a drop in ticket sales because everyone wants an escape, and this movie is very much an escape from reality.
Kellan: It's a good escape but also it deals with so many situations, on so many positive notes. Just looking at it from the vampire coven to the wolf pack. It just deals with everyday issues just on bigger levels, in a way. And you have Bella as the keystone in many situations. You can just all relate from different countries to issues within the United States. It's easily relatable.

To read a lot more about working with three different directors and why they feel so lucky, just read more.

On how their portrayals of the Cullens are similar or different from the books:
Kellan: We got the jobs because we brought something new to it. You can interpret the characters each their own, but I think it's what we did alongside. Just like Kristen said - she's playing Bella but she's putting her Kristen spin on it, just like all of us are. And I think that's what's making it unique. We're still following the cheat sheets that Stephenie created by making the books, and there's Wikipedia. We have a lot of information to go off of. But I hope it's what I did in my audition that set it apart from the other guys trying out.

Ashley: I think it's mannerisms too. People do fall in love with this book, but I think part of it is that they always want more. You can't write out every human mannerism. You can imagine it, but seeing the emotion in someone's eyes and seeing them be affected it - it was kind of easy to give something to it, because we were just being people. We kinda just got lucky.
On how much more of the Cullens we can expect in the remaining movies:
Kellan: Realistically, we stick pretty close to the books. Obviously us Cullens would love to be in the books a lot more, which would mean we'd be in the movies a lot more. Talking New Moon, the scenes that the Cullens - except for Ashley, playing Alice who gets to go to Italy and be a main lead in the movie - us Cullens, we have to stick really close to the books, and the scenes that we're in are really crucial to the story, as you know - the birthday scene, the voting scene. I don't know, it was kind of a tease. Chris Weitz is such an amazing director, and for us, for myself - I only worked about a week on that movie. And it didn't even seem like I really got a taste for what it was.

Ashley: In the third film, you'll see a lot more of the Cullens because it's all of us collaborating and then getting ready to fight this war that's coming up. In the second one, my character got a much larger role because Alice is the Cullen, other than Edward, that really embraces Bella and they end up becoming best friends. In the beginning, you see her throw this huge party for Bella, and then Alice is the one who does, in fact, come back for Bella when everyone else decides to skip town. Alice is responsible for dragging Bella over to Italy, and she and I the whole time are fighting to save my brother's life. And then of course we get held up by the Volturi and stuff like that. My character got to grow a lot, which is really cool. You get to actually see the relationship develop between Bella and Alice, where in the first one you didn't. The first one was very much about the romance and showing the audience why these two people are willing to die for each other.
On working with a different director on each film:
Ashley: Each director is going to be very different. They're artists as well, and I don't think any of them are quite the same. The books, when you read them, all have very, very, different tones. So I think it's highly appropriate that we switch directors each go. The first one is very much a romance and is a very scenic, beautiful film. And Catherine's really, really great at capturing that. She's very high energy and works well in chaos and stuff like that. And it was fantastic because we didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into, and so it was nice to have her to guide us when we were freaking out a little bit. She was just so high energy, and it was really contagious. We were sad to lose her and move on to the second film, but then we got Chris Weitz and he's the complete opposite! But great as well. He's so giving and caring and collaborative and created this atmosphere that was kind of a safe haven for us. And it was really nice because we didn't know, switching directors, if they were gonna embrace us or if they had a completely different vision than what we created in the first one. It was nice that he was right there on the same page with us. And the second one is a warmer film, even from the color scheme. The first one is very blue tones, and the second one is much richer and warmer and I think he did a great job at capturing that. And we just finished shooting with David Slade, and I think he's highly appropriate as well. He just finished shooting 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy, and they're both very dark, edgy films. And Eclipse is very much that. It's all centered around the anticipation and us getting ready to fight this huge war. We just finished filming, we haven't gotten to see much of it, but I think it's gonna be fantastic. He is, technically, the most advanced director. The angles that he shot and how he knows that tweaking something can affect a whole scene and the lenses. He was really nice to work with.
On coping with the fan effect and being a "Twilight celebrity"
Kellan: That's what blows my mind, 'cause I feel like it's really unearned in a way. The fans are making our careers. Without them, we wouldn't be working and doing the saga. There's so many times that trilogy books become a movie and the first one bombs, and then that's it. And you're always hopeful that you get to do them all. Especially since we're all in love with our characters. I love Emmett Cullen to death, he's my favorite character I've ever played. It's just so cool to have made it this far, and I think we all hope that we get to finish this series and do Breaking Dawn. This is such a blessing, it's every actor's dream to be part of something like this. It's not terribly hard either. We don't shoot halfway around the world; we don't shoot for a year of our lives. I know a lot of us have homes, we have pets, we have family. And it's really nice to shoot on the West Coast, either Portland or Vancouver, and have the chance to fly down if we need to. But it's definitely amazing to be part of something like this. And I don't think any of us knew how crazy it would be and how exhilarating it would turn out to be. Going to the premiere, really just, wow. I don't even remember it because I was really just starstruck by how many fans and signs and cameras. It felt like I was just walking through a strobe light room. It's amazing.

Ashley: I still think we can't really wrap our heads around what's going on and what's happening. We're still in the midst of filming and kept very busy from one film until the next. It's only these brief moments where you sit back and are actually able to take a breath where you go "Whoa. Wow. This is crazy." I mean, the amount of tickets they've already sold for New Moon - I'm pretty sure I can't even get a ticket if I tried to see my film in Jacksonville and it's mind boggling. We're just very lucky. I went into this film thinking "Oh my gosh, I got a job" and the it turned into the biggest break of my life. I think we all feel very blessed to be a part of this.
On how it feels to be part of Twilight fan fiction:
Kellan: It's an escape, in a way. We do live in a trivial time period right now. There's so much depression that it's kinda cool to be a part of something where people use it to be an escape. In a way that's kinda what Stephenie did -she had a dream and just elaborated on it. It became a huge success and it's really encouraging that people are doing the same and just making up this journey.

Ashley: That's why people love it so much I think. You can take it and make what you want of it. Before the demographic was teenage girls, but now it's women of every age and guys are starting to get into it, too. It's because there is that element of fantasy. If you're 8 years old you look at it one way; if you're 80 years old you look at it another. I think it's fantastic that we can draw such a huge crowd. The other thing is - it blows my mind but people are making connections over this film and over this book. there are mothers and daughters and grandmas who can all sit and talk about the same story and all fantasize about it and I think that's a really cool thing. I think it's rare.

To see all of our Twilight and New Moon coverage, check out TwilightSugar!

Grey's Anatomy Rundown, "Invest in Love"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:14 -0800

This week I felt like Grey's Anatomy is finally getting back on track. The episode has a very sad central focus, as Arizona faces the inevitable loss of a young patient, but was nicely rounded out with the usual relationship issues, comic relief, and a few sweet moments.

For more Grey's fun, check out the Grey's Anatomy McAddicts group in the Buzz Community. To get into the money matters, the L-bombs, and the shirtless Karev from this week, just read more.

This week's episode belongs to Arizona, as she takes a few of the surgeons into the "magical" world of pediatrics. She introduces Yang, Hunt, and Avery to Wallace - a 10-year-old patient with a nutritional disorder that's kept him in the hospital for 7 months. Thanks to her particularly sweet bedside manner and close relationship with Wallace, his parents offer to donate $25 million to the hospital. But when his condition worsens, Wallace's parents and the chief put pressure on Arizona to perform a surgery she doesn't feel comfortable with - and she ends up losing Wallace on his 11th birthday. There is one saving grace though, and that's the "I love you" exchange that happens between Arizona and Callie after Arizona runs out on her own surprise party.
The tension continues for Cristina and Owen, and Cristina's obsession with performing a surgery finally takes hold of her when she goes against Owen's orders and performs in the OR. It leads to a big fight for the two (which according to Meredith means Owen loves Cristina), but causes Avery to take notice of Cristina. They share a kiss at Arizona's surprise party, but Cristina pushes him off, saying that she's "involved." Somehow, I don't think this is the end of Avery's little crush.
As if things couldn't get any worse for Alex with Izzie gone, he gets slammed with $200,000 worth of her medical bills. He takes his anger out on Reid, who finally admits to Avery that she has a crush on Alex. Alex sweetly cares for a baby he thinks is about to die, and manages to coddle her back to health (shirtless, no less). I loved the jokes about the softer side of Karev (specifically Derek asking if Karev is lactating yet), and was even more impressed with Reid's persistence, even as Alex continues to snap at her and complain about Izzie.

What'd you think of this week's episode? Are you excited for next week's Izzie return and Kim Raver introduction? How long before Karev and Reid finally get it on?

FlashForward Breakdown, "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:30:52 -0700

FlashForward gets into the Halloween spirit this week, with a few tricks for the characters and treats for the audience. We get just a bit more info about Simon and see a few costumes as Olivia and Mark's relationship issues come to a head in a big way.

This week's episode is heavy on the revelations (just like Sonya Walger promised), so to get into it, just read more.

Simon says: Within the first few minutes of the episode, one thing is abundantly clear: Simon is not Charlie from Lost. Instead, he's a smooth-talking, self-proclaimed "quantum physicist genius", who actually gets a woman into bed using the line "I know what caused the FlashForward." The scary part is that he actually does - and in his own vision, he's murdering someone. Totally creepy.

Trick or treat: Mark takes Charlie out trick-or-treating, and has an unpleasant surprise waiting when he gets home. He's understandably uncomfortable having Lloyd in his house, and things hit the fan when Olivia gets home and all three realize what's going on at the exact same time. I was so happy when Mark finally tells Olivia the truth about his vision (was totally expecting him to lie again), but then Olivia insinuates that they should break up - which seems a bit random to me. They're finally making progress and now they're going to throw it all away?

Runaway rapper: Lloyd's son Dylan runs away from the hospital in his rapper costume), and heads to the Benford residence. It's baffling when Dylan runs past Nicole and makes himself comfortable, until we finally see the kid's flashforward: he and Charlie are hanging out in the kitchen, eating cookies and having a grand old time. (So much for my kidnapping theory). So here's where I'm confused: Charlie looks perfectly happy to be hanging out with Dylan in her vision, so where did she get the "D. Gibbons is a bad man" idea from?

Janis's body: Janis is admitted to the hospital after last week's shoot-out, and Olivia is her doctor, naturally. My heart jumped for a split second when Janis pretends that she doesn't recognize Olivia (would be an all-too-easy explanation of her vision). Thinking about her flash-forward gets Janis all stressed out, and she has to undergo another surgery - this time, part of her uterus is removed, making it "almost impossible" for her to get pregnant. Almost.

Other major plot points:

Simon brings up the Schrödinger's Cat theory, discussing that it's up to the cat to decide if it wants to live or die. Is this foreshadowing for the flash-forwards? Perhaps each character can decide for him- or herself whether or not to make it happen?

Demetri sets off in search of his attacker, follows a bunch of blue-hand signs to an abandoned warehouse. I'm starting to get a little bored of his storyline.

Lloyd and Simon reunite at the end of the episode, with Lloyd saying, "Our experiment killed 20 million people Simon, what more is there to say?" What's do you think the relationship is here? Brothers? Old buddies? Lab partners?

The kangaroo makes an appearance!

This episode was one of my favorites so far, but what did you guys think about all the new revelations? Tell me your theories in the comments below!

Photos courtesy of ABC, Inc.

America's Next Top Model Quiz: "Let's Go Surfing"

BuzzSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:29:43 -0700

While it wasn't the most dramatic episode, this week's America's Next Top Model sure was beautifully picturesque. The models flew to the Hawaiian islands, tried out a little surfing, and then posed as a mix of different races. While Bella ranked the high fashion shoot as one of her 15 worst, I thought it was a nice hour of entertainment nonetheless. (Plus, Tyra stepped behind the camera a second time - a first in ANTM's history!) Do you remember everything that went down?

Dying to speak your mind about this week's episode? Don't forget to check out America's Next Top Model group in the BuzzSugar Community!

Photo courtesy of The CW

Take the quiz

Vampire Diaries "Lost Girls": The Good, the Bad and the Bloody

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:30:36 -0700

The cat's outta the bag on this week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, but Elena isn't the only one who has a rude awakening. We also get to see the history on the lives of Stefan, Damon, and Katherine in the 1860s - and the story behind those olden-day photos.

As usual, I've picked the moments from this episode that stand out as the good, the bad, and the bloody, so to see them just (spoilers ahead!) read more.

The Good

Turns out Katherine is a triflin' friend, indeed. Not only is Stefan and Damon's first love as selfish as Stefan mentioned before, but she's actually the vampire who turns both brothers to the dark side - and against each other.
Speaking of turning people into vampires, Damon decides to give Vicki the blood transfusion of her life. Her transition is surprisingly emotional; she cries to Stefan that she remembers things now, and begs to go home. Sorry, Vick, home is not where you're headed.
One of my favorite scenes this week? The dance-like-no-one's-watching sequence for Damon and Vicki. (Except I was watching. And I loved it.) Their slow dance scene is actually pretty cute, too; until, well, Damon breaks Vicki's neck.
On second thought, maybe this Katherine was pretty smart. Living forever in a freaky threesome with Stefan and Damon? Sounds sexier than Big Love.

The Bad

Is it OK that I don't care that much about Elena dumping Stefan and being all heartbroken about it? There's just so much more excitement going on Mystic Falls than Elena finding out her potential boyfriend is a vampire. She's feeling excessively sorry for herself - it's so Bella in New Moon.
Speaking of which, the Twilight parallel gets a little too close for comfort this week with Stefan revealing his secret to Elena. In particular, the scene where he says he's been 17 since 1864 is such an echo of Twilight's "How long have you been 17?" " . . . A while" scene.

The Bloody

Um, let's briefly discuss Damon and Vicki sucking each other's blood from their wrists. It seems sexual, it feels weird. OK, that's enough.
Vampire hunting squad 0, vampires 1. After Logan shoots Stefan with a wooden bullet, Damon actually comes to the rescue for his brother. Even though he says it's because if anyone kills Stefan, it'll be him, there seems to be a little deep-seated loyalty in saving Stefan - something we glimpsed in the flashback sequence before they were undead.
Aw, Vicki's character actually made me like her this episode - the kicker was her sheepish "I'm sorry" after feeding on Logan.

Seriously, this was one of my favorite episodes so far because of the action and the flashbacks. What did you think?

Dying to talk even more about the show? Join the Hooked on Vampire Diaries in the community!

Photo courtesy of The CW

Top WTF Moments From Gossip Girl Episode "The Lost Boy"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:30:43 -0700

Are we back on the horse now? After a couple of OK episodes of Gossip Girl, this week's "The Lost Boy" really felt like the show I know and love. Everyone's playing everyone else, everyone's lying to everyone else, mysteries solve and then re-form . . . yes, it was quite the return to form.

I have my favorite parts (and don't forget to take Geek's tech quiz), so to see them (spoilers ahead!), just read more.

Don't come a knockin' if the sock's a rockin': Blair walks in on Dan and Georgina! So it was spoiled in last week's promo, but all the same, I was still shocked, shocked, when Blair walks in - after gingerly removing the sock on the door with a glove. To make matters worse for Dan, he's also caught by Serena and then Vanessa. I love how Vanessa hopes he hooked up with Georgina and not Blair, and Serena hopes he hooked up with Blair and not Georgina. Really, S? You're so full of surprises.
There is no Scott Adler: Turns out, Rufus and Scott have been hanging out (and in matching striped shirts, no less), which made me want to warn Rufus to ensure his fingernail clippings were still in the trash. Right when things are getting totally creepy, the scorned female admin at NYU informs Vanessa there IS NO Scott Adler. Dun dun dun! But then Scott ends up being sort of normal by confessing his whole story to V.
The big reveal that isn't: I don't know if it's understandable or still kind of weird that Scott lies and says he's the brother of Rufus and Lily's son that died. In the understandable column: his mom would be heartbroken. In the weird column: what kind of mom wants her son to tell a ginormous lie?! Plus he's going to look like a crazy person again when the truth inevitably comes out. So understandable = 1, weird = 2.
Still crazy after all these years: Well, even though Scott's not a stalker, turns out Georgina is still a whack job. She plays Blair and Chuck against each other with a little ploy, which is not really a crazy person thing to do, just devious, but then we see something no girl should be caught with: a picture of her and Dan on her computer desktop! After like, two days. Oh, Georgina, no.
Serena, back in action: The old girl pulled out of her dense party-girl fog to discover Georgina's Patrick McMullan scheme, then tells Dan about her evil ways, which felt more mean girl than good Samaritan. I may have cackled a little when Serena says that Georgina had already left the Sotheby's auction, and she comes out in time to see the Humphrey limo (yes, the Humphrey limo) jet off and ditch her. When she has something to do besides whine, Serena gets back into my good graces. I'm even kind of cheering on her relationship with Carter. But tell me: must he always dress like American Psycho's Patrick Bateman?
Bree, no longer boring?: The final twist is that Carter has done something to wrong Bree's family. You know Bree: Joanna Garcia, who's been largely wasted in her guest role as Nate's girltoy. Maybe this family drama will give her a juicy storyline on the show, finally. OK, it didn't sound that juicy, but the rest of the episode was so exciting, it spilled over to this final moment!

So what did you think of The Lost Boy? How do you think the Scott secret will come out? Frankly, I hope it's soon, because what fallout can it even have now? Dan and Serena are broken up and Rufus and Lily are together. Let's wrap it up!

To talk more, join one of the Gossip Girl groups in the Community, like XOXO Gossip Girl!

Photos courtesy of The CW

Glee-Ful Highlights From This Week's Episode, Including Video!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:30:35 -0700

Just when Kanye West was defending "Single Ladies" as one of the best songs of all time, Glee swoops in with an entire episode dedicated to the tune. We've seen a ton of spoofs of the famous music video - Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg on Saturday Night Live, Joe Jonas - but I've gotta say that I think Kurt's version may be my favorite rendition so far.

This week was Kurt's magnum opus. He and Sue are quickly turning into my two favorite characters, and they both got lots of camera time to keep me happy. Of course it wasn't all about him - the show also included a shocker that should be interesting to see play out. (Big hint: It involves the episode title "Preggers.") Keep reading for my thoughts (warning, spoilers ahead), plus video of Kurt's Beyonce impression when you read more.

Kurt opens up the episode in a leotard (because "they wick sweat from the body") with a reproduction of "Single Ladies" - until his dad walks in. Check out the dance below. I'm a little over the Beyonce parodies, but Kurt's moves are spot-on, and he takes himself very seriously, which makes it all the more hilarious. I'm also kind of loving Mike O'Malley as Mr. Hummel. The scene where Kurt comes out to him gave me the warm fuzzies.

With the exception of "Single Ladies," the episode was fairly light on the musical numbers, which was kind of a disappointment. Where is the early '90s pop, guys? I hope they were just giving their vocal chords a rest after the music-heavy episode last week.
Having the football players dance = awkward and genius. Some of those guys really know how to body roll.

Quinn is pregnant? Ugh. I guess I should've seen that one coming. They don't make a character the president of the Abstinence Club and then not have her get knocked up. I'm a little annoyed with the whole covert adoption that's going to play out with her and Terri, but I can't wait to watch the news erupt that Finn isn't the baby daddy. (Although, if Finn had been paying attention in sex ed, he would've figured that out on his own by now.)
I was dying over Principal Higgins airline steward video for Mumbai Air. When they release Glee on DVD someday, I hope the full version is in the special features. Embolism-reduction stockings are surprisingly funny.
Rachel is wearing thin on me. Anyone else agree? When she gets P.O.'d over Tina's solo, I wanted to give that girl my two cents.
Sue's pro-caning speech on the local news was a highlight of the night. ("Yes we CANE.") I love hearing more from her, but towards the end of the episode, it seemed like they were trying to set up her news spots as a moral-of-the-episode lesson. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing - an earnest Sue just doesn't work for me.
My favorite line of the night was when Sandy says to Sue, "I'm living in a cocoon of horror!" How great is that scene at his house with the kimono and the doll collection? Creepsters. Second favorite: "My body is like a rum chocolate souffle. If I don't warm up right, it doesn't rise." That's courtesy of Kurt, of course.

What did you guys think of this week's episode? Did you like having the focus on Kurt? Did you miss the flashier production numbers? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you're a fan of the show, don't forget that you can join Whiplash's Glee Club Community group - then enter our contest to meet one of the cast members!

Photos courtesy of Fox