A new crop of Hollywood up and comers has received the approval of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, as Oscar voting rights were extended to this year’s batch of 112 filmmakers. Among the invitees to the highly selective body of nearly 6,000 members were Pixar chairman Steve Jobs, directors Alejandro Amenabar and Marc Forster, writer Paul Haggis, and a bevy of actors including Jamie Foxx, Will Ferrell, Gael Garcia Bernal, Clive Owen, Jean Reno, Mykelti Williamson, and "Sideways" co-stars Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti. Representing an international cadre of actresses on the list were newcomers Catalina Sandino Moreno and Sophie Okonedo, Charlotte Rampling, Imelda Staunton, and Zhang Ziyi, and "American Pie" MILF Jennifer Coolidge.
Indian actors will soon have to just say no to on-screen smoking once a recently announced government ban goes into effect to banish cigarettes from the big screen. Starting October 2, no film or television projects will be allowed to portray tobacco-puffing as part of an effort to curtail the estimated 800,000 smoking-related deaths each year in the cinema-loving country. Indian filmmakers, who frequently use cancer sticks on-screen almost as much as Los Angelenos, have had a mixed reaction to the impending ban; some applaud the health-conscious move, while others argue that the threat to creative freedom is misdirected and unfair.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan has chosen to keep her distance from similar political debates — the "Herbie: Fully Loaded" star would much rather wear South African diamonds than worry about the plight of locals displaced by the lucrative gem industry. At the opening gala for diamond giant De Beers’ flagship American store last week, stars strolled down a red carpet past shouting picketers (including the outspoken Gloria Steinem). Critics link the mining industry to the evictions of native bushmen in Botswana, and De Beers has pleaded guilty to charges of price-fixing in federal court. Two former spokespersons for the company, models Erin O’Conner and Iman, have even stepped down from the post because of such allegations — but not diamond girl Lohan. When asked at the celebration her thoughts on the plight of the bushmen, she responded, "I don’t get involved in any drama."
