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...

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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...

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Satire site The Onion apologizes for offensive Oscar tweet

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Onion, a source for online and printed satire that routinely skewers celebrities, apologized on Monday for a what it called a crude and offensive tweet directed at nine-year-old Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis.The Internet was abuzz with commentary after The Onion on Sunday night referred to the young Best Actress nominee using a four-letter term seen as perhaps the most offensive...

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Michael Imperioli to play tormented sensei on ‘The Office’

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – “Sopranos” veteran Michael Imperioli will join “The Office” for one of its final episodes, playing Dwight Schrute‘s tormented sensei.Imperioli‘s Sensei Billy will find his patience tested by his exasperating student, who has apparently maintained a love of karate first demonstrated in the second season of the show.He will go to unusual means to make Dwight (Rainn Wilson) go...

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Strange but true stories from Academy Awards past

(Reuters) – The Academy Awards are usually tightly scripted events, but sometimes even Oscar gets a taste of the unexpected. Here are some of the curious moments when things veered off course on the red carpet.REFUSING OSCARA few Oscar winners have felt compelled to turn down their prizes over the years. The first was screenwriter Dudley Nichols, who refused his Best Screenwriter award for “The Informer”...

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Cinema editors honor “Argo,” “Silver Linings Playbook”

LOS ANGELES(TheWrap.com) – “Argo” racked up yet another guild victory on Saturday night, taking home the American Cinema Editors‘ ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature (Dramatic).“Silver Linings Playbook” won the award for Best Edited Feature (Comedy or Musical).The award is an unusually reliable predictor of the film-editing Oscar, and adds to a substantial guild-awards haul for “Argo” that also...

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McCready’s ex: Anyone close could see it coming

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Mindy McCready threatened to kill herself after losing custody of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program days before she apparently killed herself, her ex-boyfriend said Monday.Billy McKnight, who was in a long, rocky relationship with McCready and who is the father of her oldest child, Zander, said the 37-year-old...

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Shadow Morton, 1960s songwriter, dies at age 71

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shadow Morton, a 1960s pop-song writer and producer whose biggest credits include “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” has died. He was 71.Family friend Amy Krakow confirmed with The Associated Press on Sunday that Morton, born George Francis Morton, died Thursday in Laguna Beach, Calif.Shangri-Las, the girls group from Queens, N.Y., gained fame after recording...

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Scott Brown joins Fox News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Fox News Channel has chosen another former politician to join its swelling ranks of contributors, and this one comes with TV-ready looks.The recently ousted Republican Massachusetts senator – who paid his way through law school with modeling gigs – has signed on as a contributor. Brown, who will offer political commentary on several programs, will make his debut Wednesday...

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Seth MacFarlane’s “Dads” series casts “Mindy Project” actor

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Tommy Dewey has been cast in the Fox comedy “Dads,” from “Ted” team Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.Dewey, who’s appeared in a handful of episodes of Fox’s “The Mindy Project,” will play Warner, the co-owner of a successful videogame company and stable family man whose otherwise perfect life is cast into chaos when his feckless father Crawford moves in with...

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Lady Gaga needs hip surgery, cancels remainder of tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her “Born This Way Ball” concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga’s injuries were more serious than she realized.“After additional tests this morning to review the severity of...

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Director Panahi defies Iran ban to make another film

BERLIN (Reuters) – Iran‘s Jafar Panahi has defied a 20-year ban on filmmaking to secretly co-direct “Closed Curtain“, a multi-layered portrayal of how restrictions on his work and movement have brought on depression and even thoughts of suicide.The movie, in competition at the Berlin film festival, has its premiere on Tuesday, but Panahi was not expected on the red carpet despite festival organizers...

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All eyes on Frank Ocean as Grammy Awards kick off

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Everybody’s thinkin’ about Frank Ocean.Ocean is a cause celebre and the man with the momentum as Sunday’s Grammy Awards kicked off with pre-telecast wins by Rihanna and Mumford & Sons. One of six top nominees with six nominations apiece, the 25-year-old R&B singer turned cultural talking point will have the music world’s attention.It remains to be seen if it will be the...

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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...

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Dame Shirley Bassey to appear at the Academy Awards

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dame Shirley Bassey, who recorded the theme songs for the James Bond films “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker,” will make her first appearance at the Academy Awards this month, the show’s producers said on Friday.Bassey, whose career has spanned more than six decades, will perform at the awards show on February 24 in Los Angeles, along with others including Adele,...

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Dick Morris dropped by Fox News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Dick Morris will no longer be serving as a contributor at Fox News, a spokesperson for the network told TheWrap.Morris’ contract had recently expired, and Fox will not be renewing it, the spokesperson said.Morris, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton who later turned into a harsh critic for the Clintons, had been a longtime contributor to Fox, but has not appeared...

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NFL says no indication Beyonce show caused Super Bowl outage

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – The National Football League was still working with New Orleans officials on Monday to determine what caused the power outage at Sunday’s Super Bowl at the Superdome, so far dismissing any connection with the Beyonce halftime show.With a record U.S. television audience watching along with viewers in 180 countries, about half the stadium lights went dark early in the second...

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Zombie love story “Warm Bodies” heats up Super Bowl weekend

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Warm Bodies,” a romantic comedy featuring a warm-hearted zombie, lured teenage girls to the theater, collecting $ 20 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada to take the box office title on a weekend dominated by Super Bowl parties and football watching.Playing in more than 3,000 theaters, the odd-pairing of a pale-faced zombie with his breathing girlfriend faced little...

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CNN Temporarily Blacked Out in China During Segment on NYT Hacking

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Chinese censors temporarily blocked CNN International’s broadcasting signal Thursday night, during a segment about Chinese hackers infiltrating the New York Times’ computer network, a CNN spokeswoman told TheWrap.On Wednesday night, the Times reported that it had suffered four months of persistent cyber attacks after publishing a front-page story about the wealth amassed...

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“30 Rock” closes its doors with a sentimental farewell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning TV comedy “30 Rock” bowed out after seven seasons on Thursday with bittersweet farewells but giving all its zany characters a happy ending.The satirical show-within-a-show about the inside workings of a fictional television sketch series saw Tina Fey‘s hapless writer Liz Lemon try to round up her unruly cast for a last hurrah.Along the way, unpredictable sketch...

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