Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Environmental group Heal the Bay announced its annual Bring Back the Beach gala on May 17 will reflect Hollywood-style glamour, saluting the accomplishments of eco couple Danny Moder and Julia Roberts, as well as actress and longtime board member Amy Smart.
The Santa Monica-based organization will also honor corporate executive Matthew Hart, who is the immediate past chairman of Heal the Bay’s board of directors.
Held on the sand at The Jonathan Beach Club in Santa Monica, this year’s benefit dinner— themed “Sea of Love” —will lure nearly 1,000 guests to party under the stars in support of clean oceans. In its second decade, the event consistently sells out and brings together a lively mix of eco-warriors, local government officials and business leaders.
In 2001, Julia Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who famously fought to keep drinking water free of dangerous chromium. In real life, Roberts and her husband Danny Moder have championed our local waters, diligently supporting Heal the Bay’s mission.
A current member of Heal the Bay’s board, Amy Smart will be honored for her steady commitment as an advocate for a healthier environment. For several years, Smart, who is currently featured on the Showtime series Shameless, has served as a spokesperson for such Heal the Bay campaigns as the Beach Report Card, A Day Without a Bag and Coastal Cleanup Day.
Matthew Hart, former president and chief operating officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation, will also be honored for his stewardship of the regional environmental group. He has used his business acumen to help the nonprofit improve its financial performance.
Highlighting the event’s live auction will be a new Toyota Prius c, generously donated by long-time Heal the Bay supporter and community member LAcarGuy. The five-door hatchback is the smallest and lightest hybrid in the Prius family — certain to appeal to the green-conscious set. Guests will also get an opportunity to bid on a piece of art designed by graffiti artist RISK exclusively for Bring Back the Beach, which he will complete at the event.
Over the last few years, Bring Back the Beach partygoers have danced seaside at live performances from such artists as Brian Wilson and Jakob Dylan. Attire is “beach chic.” Group tables and individual tickets, beginning at $500, are available at www.healthebay.org/bbb.
Amy Smart and Karolina Wydra have been cast in NBC’s drama pilot Bad Girls. Adapted from the long-running UK series, the project, from John Wells Prods and Warner Bros TV, follows the ins and outs of a group of unlikely women in a federal prison: a scandalous female warden, her new protégé and a host of inmates — some mothers, some friends — who struggle with loyalties to people on the inside and outside.
Smart will play “the perfect blond Barbie doll from Orange County” serving time for stealing her friend’s credit card and running it up to the max. Wydra will play a scheming, sultry inmate. Smart, repped by Gersh and Untitled, is recurring on Showtime’s Shameless. Wydra, repped by IFA and Artist Management, recurs on Fox’s House as Dr. House’s green card wife.
“Columbus Circle” is expected to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6th.
Universal’s Blu-ray presents the film in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Further supplementary details have not yet been confirmed.
“When…[the death] prompts NYPD Homicide Detective Frank Giardello (Giovanni Ribisi, Saving Private Ryan) to launch an investigation…[she] is distressed to find him outside her door, questioning her. Having tried to acquire the now vacant apartment to ensure her privacy, [the heiress] is further upset when new tenants Lillian (Amy Smart, Varsity Blues) and Charlie (Jason Lee, Chasing Amy) move in. [Blair's character] anxiously monitors her new neighbors from the safety of her front door’s peephole, but her well-ordered world begins to unravel when she finally encounters Lillian and Charlie face-to-face and her sheltered existence becomes threatened in unexpected and terrifying ways.”
Leslie Bibb (Zookeeper), Ryan Kwanten (HBO’s “True Blood”) and Amy Smart (Crank) have joined the cast of 7500, a thriller directed by Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge). The film follows a group of passengers who encounter what appears to be a supernatural force while on a transpacific flight.
Written by Craig Rosenberg (“LOST”), 7500 reteams Shimizu with Grudge producer Taka Ichise who will produce alongside Roy Lee (The Ring). John Middleton and Tracy McGrath are serving as executive producers.
Kwanten and Smart will co-star as married couple Brad and Pia Martin, who board Vista Pacific Flight 7500 with their two longtime friends for a trip to Japan. Bibb is set to play Laura Baxter, a flight attendant on the transpacific liner, who is involved in a complicated and secret relationship.
Senior Vice President of Production Maria Faillace and Creative Executive Ryan Conroy are overseeing the project for CBS Films.
Bloody Disgusting reports the studio is currently in talks with Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Amy Smart (Crank) to star in the “claustrophobic thriller,” going by the title Flight 7500. The story is set on “a transpacific airliner from Los Angeles to Tokyo where the passengers encounter what seems to be a supernatural force.” Smart would play one of the passengers; the specifics of Kwanten’s role are unknown. Taka Ichise and Roy Lee are reuniting with their Grudge director to produce Flight 7500. The premise is fertile, and Kwanten and Smart are amiable stars: CBS may have something on their hands.
Great news! Lightning Entertainment has acquired a few new films, including “Columbus Circle”, so hopefully that means we get to see it soon!
Lightning Entertainment, the Santa Monica-based sales, production and distribution company, announced today that it has acquired international sales rights in all media to seven new completed theatrical feature films and will debut the new slate at the upcoming American Film Market. All seven titles will have their first market screenings at AFM, with three key titles making their World Premiere debut: BRAKE, COLUMBUS CIRCLE, and WRATH.
The announcement of the new lineup is part of the company’s ongoing drive to acquire and develop high profile titles that will satisfy demand across all distribution platforms both internationally and in the United States, where the company is expanding its presence as a domestic all rights distributor. For three of the films, BLOODWORK, THE REVENANT and BOY WONDER, Lightning has acquired worldwide distribution rights and will be releasing them in the US through their domestic distribution label, Lightning Media. In the US, Lightning is continuing to expand its extensive reach via its direct VOD and digital release platforms, which it combines with traditional theatrical and home entertainment channels.
The new films span a number of genres from horror to comedy and feature top international stars including Stephen Dorff, Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu, Selma Blair, Amy Smart, and Giovanni Ribisi.
“We’re incredibly excited to bring this slate of films to AFM for our buyers,” said Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning Entertainment. “The reinvigorated marketplace is looking for compelling stories and cast driven theatrical feature films that will appeal to global audiences and we aim to satisfy that buoyant demand.”
COLUMBUS CIRCLE (World Premiere) – Directed by George Gallo (MIDDLE MEN), and starring Selma Blair (HELLBOY), Amy Smart (CRANK), Giovanni Ribisi (AVATAR), Jason Lee (NBC’s “My Name is Earl”), and Kevin Pollak (MIDDLE MEN) who also co-wrote the film, COLUMBUS CIRCLE is a stylish and riveting thriller about a reclusive young heiress, Abigail, (Blair) who lives a guarded and sheltered life in a luxurious New York penthouse. But when she is befriended by Lillian and Charlie (Smart and Lee), the glamorous new owners of the apartment next door, Abigail’s safe and secure existence is suddenly threatened.
In Amy Smart and Carter Oosterhouse’s marriage, the grass is always greener – in a good way.
The actress didn’t even know who the HGTV carpenter was when they met. But it was an auspicious beginning. They did a project together for the Environmental Media Awards, which would turn out to be a passion for both of them.
“We got assigned to adopt a school garden together,” Smart, 35, told PEOPLE Saturday at the 2011 EMA’s in Burbank, Calif. “We met, and we were both in relationships, so we just remained friends. And then we both got out of relationships around the same time, a year ago this summer. And then a year later we got married.”
Oosterhouse, 35, couldn’t count on Smart recognizing him from his TV work. “I don’t watch a whole lot of TV, so I kind of didn’t know who he was,” she admits. But they bonded over environmental work.
At their wedding last month in his hometown of Traverse City, Mich., they generated just one bag of trash. “For 220 people,” Oosterhouse points out.
It could be intimidating for a woman interested in home decoration to marry a professional builder. But Smart says it’s working out so far.
“He is actually the most balanced person that I’ve ever met, so he obviously knows a lot about building, a lot about green building,” she says. “I learn more and more every day, but he’s not super dominating. It’s never his way or the highway. He allows me to do what I need to do in the house.”
“I was going to say, she’ll put something up and I’ll be like, ‘That’s great. I’ll just put that over here…” Oosterhouse adds with a laugh. “Look, we both have our strengths, and we’re a month in, but so far it’s been working fantastically.”
The air date and synopsis for “12 Dates of Christmas” has been released!
“25 Days of Christmas” is the biggest cable programming event of the year, and ABC Family delivers the gift of holiday cheer with the world premiere of the original movie, “12 Dates of Christmas,” starring Amy Smart (“Just Friends,” “The Butterfly Effect”) and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (“Franklin & Bash,” “NYPD Blue”). Premiering Sunday, December 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), “12 Dates of Christmas” follows a young woman who re-lives the same first date on Christmas Eve over and over again until she learns to open up her world to new things and stop living in the past.
