Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Quvenzhané Wallis to play title role in “Annie” movie

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nine-year-old Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis will play the title role in “Annie,” Sony’s Columbia Pictures announced on Sunday.

“Annie” is due to hit theaters in 2014 during the winter holiday season, and is based on the stage play about an orphan’s adventures in finding her family and a better life while overcoming the schemes of orphanage mistress Miss Hannigan.

President of production at Columbia Pictures Hannah Minghella expressed confidence in Wallis’ talent and star power.

“With the recent Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim, Quvenzhané Wallis is a true star and we believe her portrayal as Annie will make her a true worldwide star,” she said.

“She is an extraordinary young talent with an amazing range, not only as an actress but as a singer and dancer, and we can’t wait for audiences to further discover her.”

Among the film’s co-producers are Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. Carter’s 1998 Grammy-winning album “Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life” contains a hip-hop version of “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” a song from the original Broadway musical “Annie.”

The hit musical was first made into a film starring Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan in 1982. A made-for-TV version with Kathy Bates in the same role aired on ABC in 1999, and earned two Emmy awards.

Wallis is the youngest actress to ever be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She was nominated for her role as Hushpuppy in indie drama “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which also earned a nod for Best Picture. “Beasts” is Wallis’ first acting job.

Among her other firsts, she will also be the first African-American actress to play Annie, who has been traditionally portrayed as a freckle-faced redhead.

Later this year, she will star alongside Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in Steve McQueen’s historical drama “Twelve Years a Slave,” based on the book by Solomon Northup.

(Editing by Eric Walsh and Jackie Frank)

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Hollywood couple Diane Lane and Josh Brolin split after 8 years

(Reuters) – Hollywood couple Diane Lane and Josh Brolin are divorcing after more than eight years, their representatives said on Thursday.

“I can confirm Diane Lane and Josh Brolin have decided to end their marriage,” said Lane’s spokeswoman, Kelly Bush.

A source close to the couple termed the split as “amicable” and said it was a mutual decision.

The divorce will be the second for both Lane and Brolin. They have no children together.

Lane, 48, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in the 2002 film “Unfaithful,” and Brolin, 45, married in August 2004 after being introduced by Barbra Streisand, the actor’s stepmother through her marriage to James Brolin.

Josh Brolin played a lead role in last summer’s sci-fi comedy franchise “Men in Black 3″ and his most recent film appearance was the January release “Gangster Squad.”

(Reporting By Noreen O’Donnell in New York; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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Oscars expand social media outreach for 85th show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is encouraging celebrities to tweet during the Oscars.

The film organization has expanded its digital outreach for the 85th Academy Awards with a new feature that lets stars to snap photos of themselves backstage during Sunday’s ceremony and instantly post them online.

What Twitter calls a “Magic Mirror” will take photo-booth-style pictures of participating stars in the green room and send them out on the academy’s official Twitter account. Organizers expect multiple celebrity mash-ups.

The backstage green room is a private place for stars to hang out before taking the stage and is typically closed to press and photographers.

The Magic Mirror is “giving access to fans at home a part of the show they never got to experience before,” Twitter spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said Friday.

A new video-on-demand/instant replay feature also being introduced Sunday will allow Oscar fans to view show highlights online moments after they happen and share them with friends on Twitter and Facebook. Dozens of clips from the red carpet and the awards telecast will be available on the official Oscar website beyond Sunday’s ceremony.

Oscar.com also offers other behind-the-scenes interactive features, including various backstage camera perspectives and a new live blog that aggregates the show’s presence across social media. It will track the traffic on whatever makes a splash, like Angelina Jolie’s right leg did last year.

The academy wants to make its second-screen experience just as rich as its primary one.

“Social media is now mainstream,” said Christina Kounelias, chief marketing officer for the academy.

“We’re not doing social media to reach out to young kids,” said the academy’s digital media director, Josh Spector. “We’re doing it to connect with all Oscar fans.”

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.

___

Online:

www.oscar.com

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Oscar “losers” to go home with $45,000 gift bags

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oscar nominees who don’t end up with a coveted gold statuette at the Academy Awards on Sunday won’t go home empty handed after all.

Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will be handing out its annual “Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag”, valued at more than $ 45,000, to the talented and well-dressed “losers,” the company said on Tuesday.

Among the items in the gift bags, known as swag bags, are trips to Australia, Hawaii and Mexico, personal training sessions, condoms, a bottle of tequila, hand-illustrated tennis shoes, appointments for injectable fillers and ‘portion-controlled’ dinnerware for those watching their figure, Distinctive Assets said in a statement.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, stopped its practice of giving gift baskets to presenters and performers in 2007 after the practice came under closer scrutiny from U.S. tax authorities.

Celebrities who receive gifts and free trips at awards shows are expected to declare them to the Inland Revenue Service as income and pay the appropriate taxes.

The Distinctive Assets gift bag is not endorsed by the Academy but has been creating consolation goodie bags for 11 years now. The bags are delivered to the losing nominees to their homes directly or through their agents or publicists.

This year’s “Not Everyone Wins….” swag bag also includes an under-the-counter water filtration system, acupuncture and aromatherapy sessions, a one-week stay at a fitness and weight-loss retreat, and a one-year membership to London’s Heathrow Airport’s private VIP service.

Nominees’ children also benefit: they get to enroll in professional all-kid circus classes.

The Academy Awards, the highest honors in the movie business, will be handed out a ceremony on Sunday in Hollywood.

(Reporting by Zorianna Kit, editing by Jill Serjeant and Philip Barbara)

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At 80, Yoko Ono sees a world full of new activism

BERLIN (Reuters) – Half a life-time ago, artist Yoko Ono lay in an Amsterdam hotel bed with husband John Lennon, staging a week-long “bed-in” for peace and feeling they were very alone in their activism.

Today, Ono, whose own energy for campaigning has never tired, sees a world full of activists, maintaining her energy and faith in humanity.

“When John and I did the bed-in, not many people were with us. But now there are so many activists, I don’t know anyone who is not an activist,” she told Reuters in an interview in Berlin on Monday, her 80th birthday.

“Even the corporations – John always used to say the corporations need to be with us… Corporations now say 10-20 percent of their profits will go to such and such charity. They have to do that almost for people to feel good about it.”

The late Beatle and Ono’s 1969 bed-in to protest against the Vietnam war was repeated in Montreal, Canada. Press attention was huge, but much of it was mocking.

Ono, who gave a sell-out concert in Berlin on Sunday alongside their son Sean Lennon which closed with the anthem “Give peace a chance”, said it was still critical to stand up for peace despite new conflicts in the intervening decades.

“I don’t want to be drowning in sadness. I think we have to stand and up and change the world,” she said.

The artist, born to a wealthy Japanese family in Tokyo in 1933, has recently become a passionate opponent of fracking, a controversial procedure which has sharply lifted energy output in the United States but which critics fear pollutes drinking water deep underground and could increase earthquake risks.

“Fracking is an incredible risk to the human race, I don’t know why they even thought of doing it,” she said.

Ono, whose birthday is being marked by a major retrospective of her work in Frankfurt, said she feels she is becoming freer in her art.

“My attitude has changed… I’m allowing things to happen in a way I hadn’t planned before,” she said.

Asked about her feelings on becoming an octogenarian, she said: “I’m surprised. It is a miracle in a sense that I am 80, I am proud about it. Not everybody gets there.”

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, editing by Gareth Jones and Paul Casciato)

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Discovery bets on 2 dope series about pot growers

NEW YORK (AP) — Cupcake makers, pawnbrokers and storage container raiders have all had their moments in reality television’s spotlight. Now the time may be right for marijuana growers — and the people who chase them.

The Discovery network debuts a six-episode series, “Weed Country,” at 10 p.m. Wednesday and will replace it with “Pot Cops” in April. Both examine the marijuana trade in northern California.

It fits Discovery’s efforts to introduce interesting subcultures to viewers, said Nancy Daniels, the network’s executive vice president for production and development on the West Coast. Discovery tried a series about a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland two years ago, “Weed Wars,” and is sticking with dope even though the show didn’t do very well in the ratings.

“We still think it’s an interesting world and maybe we didn’t tap into the right part of it,” Daniels said.

Based on its first episode, “Weed Country” is a nuanced effort at giving equal time to both sides of the issue. Producers find colorful growers who use science to make the best product possible. They don’t believe what they are doing is wrong. “We’re flying the flag of civil disobedience,” one grower said.

The growers may be trying to dodge the law, but don’t hesitate to open up different facets of their business to television cameras.

At the same time, “Weed Country” shows the challenges faced by law enforcement. It follows one group’s careful training for backwoods missions to find farms guarded by growers who are armed and intent upon protecting their crops.

“It surprised me with how deep and complex it was,” Daniels said.

The show does have some distracting reality TV contrivances. Before one commercial break, a grower making a late-night delivery to a customer becomes suspicious of a van that ominously pulls out behind him on a dark road. After the break, the van drives innocently by. At another point, producers lead you to believe the grower is about to be pulled over by police when, after a commercial, it becomes clear the officer is going after someone else.

The “Pot Cops” series will be told from the point of view of law enforcement, after producers reached an agreement for access to officers hunting down marijuana farms in California’s Humboldt County.

Discovery had planned to air the two programs back-to-back on the same night and promote it as “Weed Wednesday” on the network. But those plans were dropped because unrelated programming expected to be available this spring had fallen through and Discovery needed “Pot Cops” to fill a hole on its schedule in April.

The change had nothing to do with feeling cold feet about a “Weed Wednesday” promotion, Daniels said.

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Epic regrets Lil Wayne lyric about slain civil rights figure

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Epic Records has apologized to the family of Emmett Till, whose 1955 murder spurred the U.S. civil rights movement, over a graphic reference by rapper Lil Wayne and promised to delete the lyrics upon its release, the company said on Thursday.

Epic Chairman L.A. Reid told the family it was regretful that a remix of the song “Karate Chop” by rapper Future, in which Lil Wayne likens the beating of African-American Till to sex, had been leaked on the Internet.

“He (Reid) apologized to me and our family and stated the song is being pulled,” said a post on the Facebook page of the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation on Wednesday. Mobley, who died in 2003, was Till’s mother.

The song reportedly first appeared online over the weekend.

“Mr. Reid stated the song was leaked out and he had not heard the lyric,” the statement added. “He is a man of integrity that values our family’s legacy and wouldn’t allow such a heinous usage of Emmett Till’s name or dishonor his memory.”

The foundation, which was founded by Till’s cousin Airickca Gordon-Taylor, said that it had yet to hear from Lil Wayne.

Reid, an African American, is one of the music industry’s highest-profile executives and was a judge on the Fox singing competition “The X Factor” for two seasons.

Till, from Chicago, was beaten and murdered in 1955 at the age of 14 for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the village of Money, Mississippi, where he was visiting family.

An all-white jury acquitted two white men of Till’s murder, sparking national outrage. The trial is credited with mobilizing the civil rights movement and drawing attention to racial injustice and violence in the American South.

Epic Records called the song an “unauthorized remix” and promised to delete the reference from the official version.

“Out of respect for the legacy of Emmett Till and his family and the support of the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, we are going through great efforts to take down the unauthorized version,” the record company said in a statement.

Epic Records is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a division of Sony Corp.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie venture into winemaking

(Reuters) – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.

The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.

“They … want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can,” Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.

“They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery – where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks – to reworking the labels across the range of wines,” he added.

The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.

Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.

The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album “The Wall” in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.

Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Actor Steve Martin is first-time dad at age 67

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor, writer and comedian Steve Martin has become a dad for the first time at age 67 – and managed to keep it secret from the media for more than a month.

Martin and his second wife, Anne Stringfield, 41, “are new parents and recently welcomed a child,” a spokeswoman for the actor said on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman gave no details, including the sex of the child or the date of birth. But the New York Post cited unidentified sources as saying the baby arrived in December.

The multi-talented Martin, whose career as a writer and performer dates back more than 45 years, has played a father in movies such as “Parenthood,” Cheaper by the Dozen,” and “Father of the Bride.”

Martin, who has hosted the Oscars ceremony three times, married Stringfield, a former writer at the New Yorker magazine, in 2007. His eight-year marriage to British actress Victoria Tennant ended in divorce in 1994.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey: Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

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Beyonce shows marriage, miscarriage and Blue Ivy in documentary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Beyonce is letting fans into her charmed life, introducing daughter Blue Ivy to the world and talking about motherhood, marriage and miscarriage in a new documentary.

The 31-year-old pop singer and her rapper husband, Jay-Z, 43, one of music’s most influential couples, have been guarded about their private life.

But in “Life is But a Dream,” airing on Saturday on cable channel HBO, Beyonce gives fans a glimpse of her working life and even a peek at baby Blue Ivy, who has been fiercely shielded from paparazzi since her birth in January 2012.

The “Crazy in Love” singer addresses the widely reported claim from 2011 that she was faking her pregnancy, calling it “the most ridiculous rumor I’ve ever heard of me.”

“To think that I’d be that vain … especially after losing a child. The pain and trauma from that just makes it mean so much more to get an opportunity to bring life into the world,” she says in the documentary.

The Grammy-winning singer shows footage of a sonogram, her growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.

The HBO film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing by the singer, who took a year off after her first child was born.

The arrival last year of Blue Ivy Carter gained worldwide media attention and prompted Beyonce to share more with her fans, launching a Tumblr page with snapshots that showed glimpses of her family life, including the baby.

Her miscarriage had been kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song “Glory,” that he released following the birth of Blue Ivy.

In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying, “It was the saddest thing I’ve ever been through.”

“My life is a journey. … I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself … ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself,” she said.

“Life is But a Dream” serves as a coming-of-age for the star as she entered motherhood.

She gives audiences a peek into her four-year marriage to Jay-Z, showing footage of the couple singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” to each other.

“This baby has made me love him more than I ever thought I could love another human being,” she says.

The documentary shows Beyonce putting herself and her team through grueling choreography rehearsals in 2011 and planning every second of her performances at big awards shows that year.

Beyonce began her comeback with a controversial lip-synched performance of the national anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January, followed by a live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that wowed critics.

She has also announced a new album for this year. “The Mrs Carter Show World Tour” – Jay-Z’s real name is Shawn Carter – will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.

“Life is But a Dream” airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.

(This version of the story corrects the spelling of Shawn Carter to “Shawn” from “Sean” Carter in paragraph 17.)

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)

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How Oscar played matchmaker for a Scandinavian mutual admiration society

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Two Scandinavian directors.

Nikolaj Arcel, nominated for his smart Danish costume drama “A Royal Affair,” and Espen Sandberg, the co-director with Joachim Roenning of the Norwegian epic “Kon-Tiki,” had never met before this awards season – but when both films were nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes, the two men began to find themselves at the same events in Los Angeles, far from where they grew up.

Is there a kinship between Scandinavian filmmakers?

SANDBERG: Absolutely. It is a small scene, and I think every

Scandinavian movie that does well helps me.

ARCEL: When we heard the Oscar nomination announcements, me and my friends were in the room, and obviously at first we were screaming about our own nomination.

But then we immediately went into talking about how fantastic it was that “Kon-Tiki” got nominated, too. For two Scandinavian countries to be in one nomination pool is quite good for us.

SANDBERG: It’s a phenomenon. A small one, but still …

ARCEL: There is also something worth mentioning, which is that me and Espen and Joachim are sort of alike in the way we work. We are very un-Scandinavian. I think they are known in Norway as being the Hollywood guys in Norway, and I am known as the Hollywood guy in Denmark.

We’re both lovers of Hollywood films, and I think it’s fun that we both have these big films at the same time.

SANDBERG: I totally agree. We make movies sort of in the vein of the movies that they used to make here. They’re the kind of movies we grew up with, and we miss.

ARCEL: Some of the other Scandinavian directors are arthouse directors, more inspired by the French Wave and by filmmakers like Godard. Our generation, we are slightly younger, and we are inspired by Spielberg and Scorsese and Coppola.

Both of your stories are very dear to the countries you come from: “A Royal Affair” is about Johann Struensee, the German doctor who became the lover of the queen and helped push for human rights in Denmark, and “Kon-Tiki” is the story of a voyage by the legendary Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Were you thinking of the international audience when you made them, or were you just trying to please your home countries?

SANDBERG: We were thinking about both. We even shot a version in English, which was a demand from the financiers, and we also knew that the story, when it happened, was an international phenomenon. But we of course knew that we had to succeed at home first.

ARCEL: Didn’t it make you go crazy that you actually had to edit two films?

SANDBERG: Yeah, but we did the Norwegian one first. And then we matched the English and then adjusted slightly.

ARCEL: I have to say, we didn’t think about the international stuff, other than we knew that it had to be big in Germany – which was the only country where it totally flopped, by the way. It’s a period drama in Danish, and I never thought it would travel outside of Northern Europe.

Was it hard to pull off a period drama on a limited budget?

ARCEL: It was extremely difficult. It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do, and I think I will never do that again. It was $ 7 million to do the film, and I had to do five or six big scenes a day. So we worked 14, 15, 16 hours a day. And we didn’t focus so much on the surroundings. It’s still a little bit of a chamber piece.

I have to say, I am even more impressed with the work that the guys did on “Kon-Tiki,” because that looks like a $ 150 million Hollywood film. I still can’t figure out how you guys are doing that.

SANDBERG: Thank you. We are very proud of the effects work. I don’t think the effects houses made any money on this. I think they thought, like the actors did, ‘This is our chance to show the world what we can do.’ And they did. We sort of promised them that this movie can really break out, so it’s great now that we’ve come so far.

We had to be very well-prepared. We had to storyboard everything and make pre-visualizations of the scenes that had a lot of effects work. We shot digital, so we could shoot more with the actors in a shorter time. And then we were just being very economical about everything. We shot the two versions, the Norwegian version and the English version, in 59 days in six countries. It was very, very hard work, and four of those weeks were open sea.

Casting somebody to play Thor Heyerdahl, a national hero, must have been a big job.

SANDBERG:Yeah, it’s tough on the actor. We knew from beforehand, because he also plays a smaller part in Max Manus. He’s an amazing actor; he looks the part, but he was actually on his way to study biology when he got accepted to theater school. So I knew he would understand Thor on a deeper level. He is interested in the things that Thor was interested in. We knew very early on that it had to be him, and we cast around him.

ARCEL: I was actually wondering about these specific moments in “Kon-Tiki.” Whenever he gets faced with a real tough challenge, the actor has this little smile on his face, like ‘I can beat this.’ Was that something that Thor Heyerdahl was known for?

SANDBERG: Yes. He put on a smile whenever things got tough.

ARCEL: That was a great touch. You guys must have felt a little bit of the same thing that I did, because as much as Thor is a huge icon in Norway, in Denmark Streunsee is equally known and a very iconic character.

You must have felt the same pressure, that if you fuck this up the whole country’s going to hate you!

SANDBERG: Yes.

You’re both living in Los Angeles these days. Are you looking to do Hollywood films?

ARCEL: Absolutely!

SANDBERG: When Joachim and I started out making movies, we were watching American movies. That was what we dreamt of since we were kids. We always wanted to do that. We would love to do a movie here, and preferably a studio movie. We’re getting close. We’ll see how it goes.

ARCEL: I’m getting some very interesting things as well. But I have a process that’s very important to me. I need to develop my own stuff. Otherwise I have a problem steering the ship. So I’m looking for things that I can write – or maybe books, maybe scripts that are not good so I can fix them and rewrite them. So I don’t think I’m going to be directing right now. I might take a year or so and write.

SANDBERG: I was very happy to hear that you and your writing partner also work as scriptwriters. I would love to have you write something…

ARCEL: Oh yeah. Any time. Absolutely.

SANDBERG: Let’s make a deal here in the room. Anybody have a napkin?

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Mother’s obsessive love exposed in Romanian movie at Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) – Actress Luminita Gheorghiu plays a domineering mother trying to save her son from jail in “Child’s Pose”, a stark family drama from Romania competing in this year’s Berlin film festival.

The movie, directed by Calin Peter Netzer, shines an unforgiving light on the casual corruption and flashy materialism of post-communist Romania’s upper middle class which expects to be able to buy itself out of any difficulty.

Netzer belongs to a group of young Romanian directors who have emerged since the death in 1989 of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who had controlled the arts with an iron hand.

With its black humor, social satire and a remorseless focus on its protagonists’ neuroses, the film stands firmly in the tradition of Romanian new wave cinema that has wowed Western audiences over the past decade.

But Gheorghiu said the film’s theme is universal, not local.

“I don’t think this is a problem specific to Romania. There are mothers like this everywhere … who are victims of their unconditional love for their child,” she told a news conference after the film’s world premiere on Monday.

Gheorghiu’s character Cornelia hopes to win back the love of her son Barbu by using her social connections and splashing cash around liberally after he accidentally knocks down and kills a boy while speeding along a road outside Bucharest.

Barbu, 30, traumatized by the accident, faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted but he is also desperate to escape a mother who has always tried to run his life and refuses to let him grow up.

Cornelia, 60, always immaculately turned out in designer outfits and jewellery, lives in a plush villa in Bucharest where the bookshelves are lined with unread works by, among others, Romanian-born Nobel literature laureate Herta Mueller.

BUYING OFF PEOPLE

Cornelia’s imperious attitude to the police, her arrogant disdain for Barbu’s girlfriend, and her awkward attempt to buy off the poor family of the dead boy provide an unflattering insight into the attitudes of Romania’s nouveau riche.

“People from this social class are perhaps more likely to suffer from this kind of almost pathological relationship between a mother and her children than the lower social strata,” said Netzer, who spent part of his youth in Germany.

But Cornelia’s blindness to her own selfishness is also both comic and tragic. In the emotional culmination of the film, during a visit to the humble village home of the dead boy’s parents to pay her condolences, she ends up speaking obsessively about her own son as though he were the one who had died.

Netzer said the film’s title “Child’s Pose” comes from a yoga position, a detail that was edited out of the film, and refers to Cornelia’s inability to let her son break free.

“Child’s Pose” is one of 19 films in this year’s competition at the 11-day Berlinale, the first major European film festival of the year.

Netzer is best known for “Medal of Honour”, an ironic movie about a pensioner who erroneously receives an award for his “heroic” actions in World War Two.

(Reporting by Gareth Jones, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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Day-Lewis as Lincoln seeks home triumph at BAFTAs

LONDON (Reuters) – Stilettos sank into a sodden red carpet as stars of the silver screen gathered in cold and rainy London on Sunday for the BAFTAs, with freezing fans hoping Daniel Day-Lewis would warm British hearts with a best actor win for his role in “Lincoln”.

Rain turned to snow as the first nominees appeared, but the dreadful weather did not deter fans three rows deep who waited for hours to catch a glimpse of Hollywood A-listers arriving the Royal Opera House in the heart of London.

“I’m cold and really excited. It’s a funny combination. It’s the first time I’m seeing snowfall,” Suraj Sharma, nominated in the rising star category for his role in “Life of Pi”, told Reuters.

Steven Spielberg’s biopic of President Abraham Lincoln leads the field with 10 nominations, although a sweep of statuettes may not be a foregone conclusion after it was eclipsed by Ben Affleck‘s “Argo” at several top U.S. awards.

Day-Lewis has won a clutch of trophies already for his turn as Lincoln and seems a safe bet to triumph at home, but in other categories “Argo” could prove stiff competition.

Affleck’s drama about the rescue of American hostages from Iran in 1979 has seven BAFTA nominations including for best film. The other contenders for the top honor are “Lincoln”, “Les Miserables”, “Life of Pi” and “Zero Dark Thirty”.

“Very excited. I’ve not been here (to the BAFTAs). I’ve not ever been nominated. I’ve not ever been invited! So it feels very special to me to come here tonight,” Affleck said as he arrived.

Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi”, about a man and a tiger lost at sea, has nine BAFTA nominations including best director for the eclectic Taiwanese veteran.

“Les Miserables”, the film version of a global hit stage musical, also has nine BAFTA nominations including best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway.

“To be walking down the red carpet with nine nominations is a huge thrill two years after ‘The King’s Speech’,” the film’s director, Tom Hooper, told Reuters, referring to his Oscar-winning hit movie about British King George VI’s stammer.

“Les Mis”, as it is popularly known in Britain, has been a huge box office hit and fans sang songs from the film at Hugh Jackman, one of its stars, as he walked the red carpet.

JAMES BOND

The latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall”, is nominated in eight categories but despite becoming the most successful film in British box office history did not make the shortlist for best film or director. That was the latest in a long string of awards disappointments for Bond fans over the decades.

“Anna Karenina”, an experimental British adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel, is up for six BAFTAs.

Quentin Tarantino‘s slavery-era Western “Django Unchained” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty”, a thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, have five nominations apiece.

Tarantino and Bigelow, both heavy hitters among U.S. filmmakers, are both up for the best director award.

They will be up against Austria’s Michael Haneke, nominated for “Amour”, about an elderly couple struggling to cope with the aftermath of a stroke. The French-language film has four nominations, an unusually high number for a film not in English.

French actress Emanuelle Riva, 85, is nominated for the leading actress BAFTA for her role in “Amour”. Her rivals for the award are Helen Mirren in “Hitchcock”, Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”, Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty” and Marion Cotillard in “Rust and Bone”.

Mirren surprised red carpet fans by appearing with bright pink hair.

“It’s in aid of breast cancer. I’m wearing wigs in the theatre as I’m in a play … so I can do anything I like to my hair,” she told Reuters.

The contenders for best actor are Day-Lewis, Affleck in “Argo”, Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”, Hugh Jackman in “Les Miserables” and Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”.

Versatile British director Alan Parker, whose body of work ranges from musical gangster film “Bugsy Malone” to Turkish-set prison thriller “Midnight Express” and civil rights drama “Mississippi Burning”, will receive a BAFTA fellowship.

“It’s nice because I’m the only one who knows they are going to win an award,” Parker told Reuters on the red carpet.

“Everybody is more nervous than me. It’s a sign I’m getting old. Next it’s a memorial service.”

(Writing by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Mary J. Blige honored by Vibe at pre-Grammy party

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Babyface called her an icon; Diddy said she was like a sister; and Anita Baker credited her for helping secure her latest Grammy nomination.

There was no shortage of superlatives bestowed on Mary J. Blige on Friday night as Vibe magazine celebrated the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s career, which has now spanned for more than two decades.

“She’s a musical soulmate, she’s my sister, she’s one of my best friends in the world,” said Diddy, who has worked with Blige since the beginning of her career. “Mary is our queen. … There is no one to come after her.”

Blige was feted during Vibe’s first Impact Awards, which coincided with the magazine’s 20th anniversary. The event included guests like MC Lyte, Jermaine Dupri and Queen Latifah. Blige appeared to wipe away tears at moments as she was lauded by one guest after another.

Babyface, who wrote one of Blige’s biggest hits, “Not Gon’ Cry,” recalled being a little intimidated by the idea of working with Blige, whom he saw as a tough New Yorker.

“Mary walked in and she was so sweet … and so respectful and totally melted me right there,” he said.

Diddy recalled how Blige worked with him after he got fired from one of his first high-profile jobs in the industry and when no else one would, and also said she was one of his best friends.

One of the more emotional tributes came from Baker, who was a childhood idol of Blige’s. Baker thanked Blige for seeking her out for collaborations and helping a new generation discover her music.

“That kind of generosity is non-existent in our business,” said Baker, who is nominated for a Grammy at Sunday’s awards. “This Grammy nomination that I have is in great part because you spoke my name into the 21st century.”

Latifah noted the personal transformation of Blige, who overcame substance abuse and other obstacles to become one of music’s leading role models.

“For me when I look back at you and the journey you’ve taken, I find you to be extremely inspirational and aspirational, especially to young women,” Latifah said.

When Blige got up to accept her honor, she thanked everyone for embracing her throughout her career, even during her very public missteps. She also thanked people for accepting her imperfections. She recounted a story about being sent to charm school early in her career by handlers who thought she needed to smooth over her rough edges. But Blige was not a good student.

“I just walked out and I never went back,” Blige said. “I’m glad I didn’t go back because I don’t think that I would have had an impact on anyone’s life had I lived someone else’s life.”

Blige recently starred as Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, in the Lifetime movie “Betty & Coretta” co-starring Angela Bassett.

___

Online:

http://www.maryjblige.com

___

Follow Nekesa Mumbi Moody on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

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Fall Out Boy ends three-year break with new album, tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fall Out Boy unveiled plans for a new album and world tour on Monday, three years after the pop punk band‘s four members announced a hiatus to pursue solo projects.

“This isn’t a reunion,” the band said on its website, “because we never broke up.”

The new album, “Save Rock and Roll,” will be available worldwide on May 6-7. A tour kicks off Monday night in Chicago.

A new song, “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up),” is available on iTunes.

“When we were kids the only thing that got us through most days was music,” the band’s website statement said. “We needed to plug back in and make some music that matters to us. The future of Fall Out Boy starts now.”

Fall Out Boy soared to fame in 2005 with the album “From Under the Cork Tree.” Hit songs like “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and “Dance, Dance” mixed energetic guitars and angst-ridden lyrics. The group released two more albums in 2007 and 2008 but went on an indefinite hiatus in 2009.

The band’s members include bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley.

(Reporting By Nichola Groom; Editing by Bill Trott)

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