JAMES FRANCO stars in EAT PRAY LOVE

James Franco plays David, the young lover of Julia Roberts’ character, in Columbia Pictures’ new romance drama Eat Pray Love.

In the film, Liz Gilbert (Roberts) is a modern woman on a quest to marvel at and travel the world while rediscovering and reconnecting with her true inner self. At a crossroads after a divorce, Gilbert takes a year-long sabbatical from her job and uncharacteristically steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life. In her wondrous and exotic travels, she experiences the simple pleasure of eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of love in Bali.

Eat Pray Love starts off in New York, where the reasons for Liz’s need to get away is explored and established through her relationships with two men: her ex-husband, Stephen (Billy Crudup), and her lover, David.

“Liz and Stephen is a couple that has fallen out of love – they have material blessings, but they want different things in life,” explains director Ryan Murphy. “They’re not meant to be together, but this does not make their time together any less valuable or worthwhile.

In turn, Franco’s character, David, adores Liz and rekindles her passions that she thinks have disappeared from her life. Producer Dede Gardner strongly believed that if you don’t like who she goes off with after walking away from her husband, the story isn’t going to work. “There was no one else in the world to play this part,” she says. “James is adorable and sexy, but also very cerebral, with an enormous beating heart and generous spirit.”

“When David and Liz meet, Liz is searching on a lot of levels,” says Franco. “She’s looking for a way to connect to someone romantically, but also some deeper, spiritual meaning in her life. Maybe it’s not a relationship that’s going to last, but it sets her off on her journey, so there are positive things that come out of it.”

Franco and Roberts had their challenges as they had to dive in very quickly to their chemistry as a couple. Says Franco, “The first scene we shot together we made out, and by the end of the day we broke up. It was very intense.”

Franco is best known for his starring role as Harry Osbourne in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. He was last seen starring opposite Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant’s Milk in which his performance earned an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in David Gordon Green’s comedy Pineapple Express where he starred opposite Seth Rogen.

Opening soon across the Philippines, Eat Pray Love is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to get the latest movie news, video clips, games and free downloads. Find us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

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KATHRYN LASKY interview for Legend of the Guardians

The beloved Guardians of Ga’Hoole books by award-winning author Kathryn Lasky are brought to the screen by acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) in Warner Bros.’ fantasy family adventure in 3D, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.

The film follows Soren (voice of Jim Sturgess), a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’ Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd (voice of Ryan Kwanten), scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences—causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones.

Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians—Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.

A New York Times best-selling author, Lasky has written over 120 children's and young adult fiction and nonfiction books and sold over 11 million copies. She talks about her Ga’Hoole series of books in the following interview:

Question: How long did it take to write the first Guardians of Ga'Hoole book?

Kathryn Lasky: The first book took the longest because I was trying to really set the main characters and the whole future course of the series. So that was about four months of writing and editing.

Q: Where did you get the inspiration for the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series?

Lasky: Well, my first idea was to do a non fiction book about owls. My husband Christopher Knight, a former National Geographic photographer, and I had done several non fiction books together illustrated with his photos. But Chris said that it would be awfully hard doing a non fiction book what with owls shy, rare to the point of endangered and that the best pictures would be at night. So lighting would be difficult. It was his idea that I try a fantasy book. In the beginning I thought I would just do one book. But when I sent the proposal into Scholastic, Jean Feiwel, the editor in chief, called me up and said "This is not just one book. It's six". I was kind of shocked. I thought how on earth do I stretch this out to six? But now I am just starting book 13. So I guess I sort of figured it out.

Q: Did you hope, on some level, that your use of owls would enlighten readers to respect nature more?

Lasky: Maybe on some level. But I rarely write with a moral objective in mind. To me the most important thing is to tell a good story. If I can do that I think that enlightenment, respect of nature, etc. follows.

Q: How did you research the books? Did you consult with owl experts?

Lasky: I early on discovered the Owl Pages and it was enormously helpful. But I did a lot of research in libraries. I talked to some people at the Audubon Society. I live in Cambridge , Massachusetts and there are wonderful libraries there. So I used the Harvard libraries as well as the public ones.

Q: What is your favorite Guardians of Ga'Hoole book?

Lasky: That's like asking what is your favorite child. But I have to a admit that I enjoyed especially writing the legends trilogy, books 9, 10 and 11 - The First Collier, The Coming of Hoole and To Be a King where I delved back into the ancient history of the owl kingdoms.

Q: If you were an owl, what kind would you be? Or What owl are you most like?

Lasky: I don't know which of the owl characters I am most like but I have a special fondness for Barn owls and Spotted owls.

Q: Which Guardians of Ga'Hoole character are you most like?

Lasky: As is said I don't know which one I am most like. I think they all have elements of my own personality, except for Twilight. Twilight is absolutely modelled on Muhammed Ali who has always been right up there as one of my all time favorite heroes.

Q: Which books will be included in the Legend of the Guardians movie?

Lasky: The first movie, or what we hope will be the first of many, will include books 1 through 3. The movie is going to be CGI and they used a lot of the owls from the Harry Potter movies. It is the same movie company Warner Brothers and the same producer.

Opening soon across the Philippines, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole will be presented in 3D and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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CHARICE does the GLEEK sign

CHARICE Pempengco does the GLEEK sign! this was taken at the Glee Premiere Party.

photo courtesy of Zap2it.com

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GLEE Premiere Party Live Streaming

see the GLEE Cast on the Red Carpet as they premiere Season 2. Filipina singing sensation, and Youtube Star, Charice Pempengco, joins the cast in season 2 as Sunshine Corazon!

GLEE Season 2 premieres worldwide on September 21.

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the men of THE TOWN

Award-winning actors Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men) play cop-and-robber literally, in Warner Bros. The Town, an action-thriller about friendship and betrayal, love and hope, and escaping a past that has no future.

In the film, Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is an unrepentant criminal, the de facto leader of a group of ruthless bank robbers who pride themselves in stealing what they want and getting out clean. With no real attachments, Doug never has to fear losing anyone close to him. But that all changed on the gang’s latest job, when they briefly took a hostage–bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall).

Renner plays Jem, Doug’s closest friend and a kind of brother-in-arms, albeit on the wrong side of the law. Unlike Doug, Jem is resigned to the life he was essentially born to and has no compunctions about his criminal pursuits.

Renner observes, “Given their upbringing, Jem and Doug had to lean on each other throughout their lives, so they are definitely more like brothers than friends. But now Doug is veering away from the only life Jem has ever known and Jem is trying to reel him back in, to knock some sense into him, as if to say, ‘We’re bank robbers. That’s what we do; that’s all we are.’ The conflict between them lies within that.”

“Doug and Jem have a complicated back story,” comments Affleck, who also served as the film’s director. “They’ve been best friends since they were kids, but they have become very different people…people who would not be friends if they met today. However, because they have this shared history of loyalty and love they are bound to each other, and that puts a lot of pressure on Doug. Jem is always on the verge of being out of control, and Doug is the only one who has been able to make sure he doesn’t go too far.”

Renner and Hamm

Meanwhile, Hamm portrays FBI Special Agent Frawley, who heads up a task force investigating bank robberies in Boston. “He is an outsider,” Hamm acknowledges. “But although he is not from Boston, he has a lot of experience with these types of crimes and has been there awhile, so he knows all the players.”

This latest string of robberies is frustrating Frawley because he knows who the perpetrators are, but still hasn’t been able to nail them. “It creates an interesting dynamic between my character and Ben’s character,” Hamm says. “A fundamental element of a good heist movie is the interplay between the good guys and the bad guys. Who’s going to win? But here, the line between the good guys and the bad guys is less defined because you can empathize with both.”

“I’m a huge fan of Jon’s, so I felt really lucky to have him in the cast,” states Affleck. “When I met with the real FBI agents, I noticed that they projected a certain kind of power and intelligence, and Jon conveyed that. He’s acutely smart and there is something about him that innately commands respect. It would be hard to imagine an actor who was more right for this role.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, The Town is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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SP3: the THREE TRIBES

during the Tribal Council last week, the three tribe leaders are identified: Buwi, Aira and Jon as voted by the castaways. and now on Day 4, the whole tribe of celebrities are divided:

Magan Tribe

Nagar

Sar Mayee

the tribes went for their first challenge as tribes and team Nagar won. prize includes materials for the shelter, flint, bolo, pot, water container and rice. but before the other tribes went to their respective camps, RG called for 3 representatives to go to Isla Misteryo.

and nobody knows what happens next.

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THE OTHER GUYS sneak peek

Columbia Pictures presents an all-star cast led by Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell, Eva Mendes, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson, in the action-comedy The Other Guys.

In the U.S. No. 1 hit, detectives Christopher Danson and P.K. Highsmith (Johnson and Jackson) are the baddest and most beloved cops around. They don’t get tattoos – other men get tattoos of them. Two desks over and one back, sit Detectives Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg). You’ve seen them in the background of photos of Danson and Highsmith, out of focus and eyes closed. They’re not heroes – they’re "the Other Guys."

But every cop has his or her day and soon Gamble and Hoitz stumble into a seemingly innocuous case no other detective wants to touch that could turn into the city’s biggest crime. It’s the opportunity of their lives, but do these guys have the right stuff?

Director Adam McKay says that his challenge for this film was to keep the set as open and free to experimentation as he could, while also keeping it grounded enough that the action sequences made sense. "Obviously, we like to do silly, absurd things," says McKay. “The Other Guys is an action comedy, and I think it’s just as funny as the movies we’ve made in the past. But it’s also a bit more badass – we really tried to come up with action scenes we hadn’t seen before, and I think we came up with some fantastic stuff."

Opening soon across the Philippines, The Other Guys is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to get the latest movie news, video clips, games and free downloads. Find us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

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