T + 1 Parties

Aww alert: Brad Pitt wore diamond buttons and cufflinks designed by Angelina Jolie to the #oscars. http://t.co/QQAHV1iGWZ
— People StyleWatch (@StyleWatchMag) March 3, 2014

ew

Oscars ratings: Most-watched entertainment telecast in 10 years

By James Hibberd on Mar 3, 2014 at 12:43PM

 The 86th Annual Academy Awards set a major ratings record: Sunday’s telecast was the most-watched entertainment telecast in 10 years.

The 3.5-hour program hosted by Ellen DeGeneres delivered a whopping 43 million viewers and a 12.9 rating among adults 18-49. That’s the biggest non-sports audience since NBC’s 2004 Friends finale. It also represents the third year in a row for the ratings to rise, up 6 percent from 2013. The Oscars out-delivered January’s Golden Globes by 22.1 million viewers and the Grammy Awards by 14.5 million viewers.
According to Nielsen’s Social Guide, there were 11.2 million tweets about the event, with overall Oscar social media activity outpacing last year by 75 percent. ABC’s Oscar’s Red Carpet Live pre-show was also up, with the final half-hour delivering 27.6 million viewers.

Sorry, Angie! Ellen DeGeneres passed Angelina Jolie without giving her any pizza at the Oscars. Watch the GIF! http://t.co/D2B9HV73Wa
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) March 3, 2014

lol ;) RT @theoneringnet The sudden realization SMAUG sat next to MALEFICENT the entire night. pic.twitter.com/5tXNzmZ5uR
— sea (@sea_sky) March 4, 2014

"Angelina wanted a dress that would show how strong and healthy she is now." #Oscars2014 http://t.co/K3ZSiB3mCv
— E! News (@ENews) March 3, 2014

eonline

Angelina Jolie Chose Oscars Gown to "Show How Strong and Healthy She Is" After Double Mastectomy

by Lily Harrison Mon., Mar. 3, 2014 1:30 PM PST

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Angelina Jolie's Academy Awards gown wasn't just stunning, it was also a deeply personal choice made by the Oscar winner herself.
A source tells E! News that "Angelina wanted a dress that would show how strong and healthy she is now," adding that she picked the Elie Saab Haute Couture number specifically because it "was an empowering outfit."

"It was a big night for her and Brad [Pitt] and she wanted to send a message that while she's had a difficult time because of her health, she is now feeling fantastic," the insider added.
"She wanted to show off her body to prove that she is feeling great after having a double mastectomy. It was important to her that people see that she is as confident as she was before the surgery."

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

And considering that she landed on multiple Best Dressed lists, we can safely say it was a mission accomplished.

The recipient of this year's Governors Award looked every bit the Hollywood star in her long-sleeve metallic ensemble.

She wore her hair in a simple, sleek style and wore flawless 42-carat diamond earrings by her favorite jeweler, Robert Procop.

Procop told us that he and Angelina spent considerable time looking for the perfect finishing touches for her red carpet moment tonight, and wound up with the "largest, perfectly cut, flawless round diamonds" he and the actress could find.

Only the best for the future Mrs. Pitt! 

people

Inside Madonna's A-List Oscar Party

By Elizabeth Leonard and Liz McNeil

03/04/2014 at 09:15 AM EST

Madonna's annual post-Oscars party was the place to be after Sunday night's show.

The bash, held at her pal Guy Oseary's Los Angeles home, went on until 4 a.m. Celebrities were "wall to wall," a guest tells PEOPLE. "Everyone was dancing, mingling and eating."

Academy Award winners past and present let loose and dined on dishes such as Caesar salad, penne pasta with red sauce, rice and chicken in a curry sauce and potato knishes, served buffet style.

Best Actor winner Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila were inseparable.

Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder "were lovey dovey together," the partygoer adds, explaining that by the time Roberts arrived, she had ditched her Givenchy gown and "took all her glam off."

The show's host, Ellen DeGeneres, and wife Portia de Rossi were relaxed and "just hanging out," says the guest, while Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem showed off pictures of their 7-month-old daughter Luna to friends.

It was also a destination for other A-list couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, newly engaged Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio and Toni Garrn, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, and Nicole Richie and Joel Madden.

Even Madonna's ex, Sean Penn, popped into the party with girlfriend Charlize Theron. The new couple were "hugging and very sweet together," says the source.

Also among the revelers: Bette Midler, Meryl Streep, Jamie Foxx, Miley Cyrus and Pink.

But it was Jared Leto and Lupita Nyong'o who brought the most coveted dates of the night: their 13 ½-inch-tall golden statuettes.

Madonna, whose kids also attended the party, changed her outfit at least twice and wore diamonds – lots of them: "Diamonds, diamonds and diamonds on both wrists, and a headband," says the source.

• Additional reporting by AILI NAHAS

Inside Madonna's Post-Oscars Party: Mila Kunis, Miley Cyrus, Brangelina and More

by Marc Malkin
Madonna has done it again.
The Queen of Pop threw her annual celeb-filled post-Oscars bash last night at her manager Guy Oseary's house.
And we're not talking about just any celebs. Guests included Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, Julia Roberts, Miley Cyrus, Charlize Theron, Madonna's ex Sean Penn and spouses-to-be Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.
"Brad and Angie were talking to Julia and hanging out with Lupita, who was walking around with her Oscar telling everyone it was the best night ever," a source tells me.
 And then there was the dance floor.
"Miley was dancing with Madonna, and Julia was dancing with her friend," the source said. (Although not confirmed, we imagine it was Roberts' best friend from high school, who she brought as her date because hubby Danny Moder had to work.)
And continuing their PDA tour, "Sean and Charlize were making out on the dance floor," the source said.
Kunis and Kutcher (his ex-wife, Demi Moore, used to cohost the soiree with Madonna) were also spotted at the Gucci-sponsored bash, as were Leonardo DiCaprio and his model girlfriend Toni Garrn. Jennifer Lawrence was palling around with some girlfriends.
Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres was there with wife Portia De Rossi, as was Bradley Cooper with his first-time Academy Awards attendee girlfriend Suki Waterhouse. Cooper's American Hustle costars Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams also joined in on the fun.
Meryl Streep brought along her husband, Don Gummer.
Roberts did let her kids know she'd be home late. "They know I'm going to the Oscars," she told me earlier in the day on the Oscars red carpet. "I don't know if they know what that means per se, but they know I won't be home for bedtime, so that's the bummer."
Fifty Shades of Grey movie producers Dana Brunetti and Mike De Luca also hosted a private house party produced by John Terzian.
The guest list included Brunetti's girlfriend Kristin Chenoweth, Ryan Seacrest, John Stamos, Kellan Lutz, Tyson Beckford and Michael Strahan.
McDonald's provided a late-night menu of breakfast treats, including Egg McMuffins.
—Additional reporting by Sara Kitnick

Brad Pitt has been with Angelina Jolie for a million years and he still looks at her like she's the only good thing in the world
— Cammien Ray (@CammienRay) March 3, 2014

brad and angelina always make my heart melt, I can't with their cuteness. pic.twitter.com/PcOxzfGSml
— ` haanu (@haaaanu) March 4, 2014

Oscar bits

Yahoo

Oscar Week: Where The Stars Will Party

By Matt Donnelly | omg! – 20 minutes ago

 It may be customary to toast after claiming a prize like an Academy Award, but in Hollywood the celebrating starts much earlier. Oscar week is packed with some high-profile events, where nominees and their famous supporters will schmooze and sip. Here are a few that omg! is especially looking forward to:

• Remembering Liz: Jeweler Bulgari won back eight of its stunning pieces that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. Having acquired the jewels from her estate auction, they'll celebrate the late legendary actress with a special exhibition Tuesday that's got RSVPs from Julianne Moore, Kirsten Dunst, and Drew Barrymore.
• Full Chairs at Full Tables: The movie may have been gut-wrenchingly sad, but the filmmakers and stars of "Les Misérables" are rallying for cocktails on Wednesday. West Hollywood's Eveleigh will play host with Chrysler. Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway will attend the fete, which also serves as a benefit for the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education.
• Fun and Games: Each year Haiti relief group Artists for Peace and Justice partner with domino enthusiast and social butterfly Daya Fernandez for "Hollywood Domino," a fundraiser that brings the old school glam of Havana to the Sunset Tower Hotel on Thursday. Gerard Butler, Donna Karan, Adrien Brody, Moby, Ali Larter, and others are on the list.
• Girls Night: Non-profit Women In Film hosts an annual cocktail party to applaud the efforts of lady filmmakers. WIF president Cathy Shulman will welcome Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and a slew of others to West Hollywood eatery Fig & Olive on Friday. They're coming for solidarity, but staying for the epic gift bag -- this year's includes MAC cosmetics hand-selected by makeup artist Tami Lane (a nominee this year) and a bottle of Perrier-Jouët bubbly.
• The Artist: Legendary photographer Mario Testino will offer a sneak peek of his forthcoming exhibition at L.A.'s glossy Prism gallery on Saturday. A combination of portraits and landscapes, the event should draw a major bold-named crowd. Who hasn't Testino shot in Hollywood?
• Piano Man: The Elton John AIDS Foundation once again builds over West Hollywood Park for founder Elton and husband David Furnish's Sunday viewing party. Chelsea Handler, Kim Kardashian, Sean Penn, Rashida Jones, and Heidi Klum are some of the celebs who will show in their Oscar best.
• Gold Standard: It's the afterparty. Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter will greet Oscar's big winners, a bevy of movie stars as well as luminaries from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the fashion district, and beyond at the Sunset Tower Hotel.

The Wrap

Oscar Party List 2013: The Shindigs, From Intimate to Sprawling

Published: February 19, 2013 @ 4:40 pm

By Mikey Glazer

As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the voting is over.

The wave that started with questions over champagne at Cannes, morphed into awards whispers in Telluride, cocktail chatter in Toronto and full-scale debutante balls between October and December at AFI, Academy screenings and holiday premieres, finally crashes out wide to create a festive sea over the next five days.
Here’s how to surf your way through the 2013 slate of Oscar parties. Our listing is divided into four categories based on the guest list and tone of each: Nominees, Power Players, The Scene, and The March Through Oscar Sunday
Nominees
 
These rooms have people who may actually end up on stage at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday with a trophy in hand. But when they toast in the days before, everyone is still a winner.

Vanity Fair’s Campaign Hollywood – Dueling Dinners

Chrysler’s Toast to “Les Miserables” at Eveleigh (in support of The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education) &

Barney’s New York Dinner for “Silver Linings Playbook” at Chateau Marmont (in support of The Glenholme School)
David O. Russell’s son, who has become a big part of the media narrative of “Silver Linings Playbook,” attends this school in Connecticut. For Russell, Cooper, and De Niro, it’s been an emotional campaign, including a triple outpouring of tears on Katie Couric’s couch, and this intimate dinner will be one of the most reflective quiet notes in a boisterous week.

The Great British Film Reception
British Consul-General, The British Residence 4 P.M. – 7 P.M.
Consul-General Dame Barbara Hay hosts British nominees at The British Residence downtown.

Women In Film Cocktails
Fig and Olive, 5 P.M.
WIF needed a more spacious venue for their big turnouts, and they got it.
Octavia Spencer and WIF President Cathy Schulman host tons of nominees at this one: Debra Hayward (Best Picture, “Les Miserables”), Jacki Weaver (Best Supporting Actress, “Silver Linings Playbook”), Jessica Chastain (Best Actress, “Zero Dark Thirty”), Lucy Alibar (Adapted Screenplay, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”), Megan Ellison (Best Picture, “Zero Dark Thirty”), Stacy Sher (Best Picture, “Django Unchained), and lots of other producer, writer, and costume nominees of both genders.
Get the giftbag. I hear “The Hobbit’s” makeup artist Tami Lane drowned them in M-A-C cosmetics, and there’s bottles of the free-flowing Perrier-Jouët champagne from this event to-go in there, New Orleans style.

Agency Parties
Various Locations, Thursday and Friday Night
CAA and WME bring together their respective clients on Friday night. ICM Partners slides up a night with a party at a private residence on Thursday night.


Film Independent Spirit Awards
Santa Monica Beach, Noon

Andy Samberg hosts, and since he co-starred with Rashida Jones  in nominee “Celeste and Jesse Forever,” don't be surprised if Jones joins her real-life pal on stage at some point.

There’s something new on the plate this year. The kitchens from Boa, Katana, Sushi Roku, and the recently added Riva Bella take over the food, with an eye towards counterbalancing the early drinking. It’s still a tough task “with a big bottle of Jameson in the middle of the table,” as Hitfix’s Kris Tapley observed on his “Oscar Talk” podcast. Brancott Estate wines will also be poured for the “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Bernie,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Keep the Lights On,” and “Beasts” teams on Saturday afternoon.

The real action is in the tents before, during, and after. Inside the heavily fortified corner tent, it’s gifting with a tie-in. Mattel Games is making a donation to Film Independent for every talent that plays their movie-guessing game “Pass the Popcorn.”  While there, talent can snag a trip to a private island (from Caribbean Living Magazine), Jabra Revo headphones, and graze the commissary of last-minute fashion and beauty first-aid from sponsors like Fashion Forms and GKhair.

Weinstein Pre-Oscar Party sponsored by Chopard
Soho House, Saturday, 8 P.M.

Power Players
Hollywood’s 1 percent, these partygoers are the ones making decisions about other people’s careers.

TheWrap’s Award Season Celebration
Culina at the Four Seasons Hotel, Wednesday 6 PM
TheWrap's editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman hosts the key players of awards season and media. Last year, the social circles included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Harvey Weinstein, and Ryan Kavanaugh sprinkled amongst nominees in the plush setting.

Weinstein and Lexus’ Lexus Short Films
DGA Theatre, 8 P.M.

It’s not just Vanity Fair’s dinner planners -- Harvey’s double-booked as well. Weinstein and his COO David Glasser picked filmmakers to create a series of shorts in a branded entertainment crossover tied to Lexus’ theme “Life is Amazing.”  On Oscar week, the theme invariably brings back memories of Roberto Benigni’s spastic “Life is Beautiful” celebration in 1999 (right).

“Night Before” Party benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund
Beverly Hills Hotel, Saturday Night
“If you're over forty, working at a studio, agency, or production/management company and not at The Beverly Hills Hotel tonight, try harder.” This is how the anonymous industry skewering twitter account @AgentTrainee captioned the Night Before party just after midnight last year.
The big news is that The Hollywood Reporter replaces Variety as the partner on this massive roll call of all the industry’s power players. Anistons, Clooneys, Spielbergs, Afflecks, Hankses, Witherspoons, Downeys, Stillers, Smiths, Day-Lewises, Diaz, and Timberlakes are all expected.

The Scene
It’s the greatest week of the year to be in town. Even without a direct connection to this year’s Oscars, young Hollywood and other constituencies still want to piggy-back on the celebratory atmosphere. Here’s the best entries.

Art of Elysium Pieces of Heaven Art Auction
ACE Museum, Wednesday, 6 PM
Confirmed art connoisseurs include David Arquette, Justin Bartha, Moby, and Jason Statham. More fitting for art, the event moves from Smashbox studios to an actual museum.

Global Green USA’s 10th Annual Pre-Oscar Party 
Avalon Hollywood, Wednesday, 6 PM
No stranger to green, Willie Nelson performs for the climate-concerned demographic

 Expected: Orlando Bloom, Emmy Rossum, Miranda Kerr, Ed O'Neill, and an actor who performed in two nominated movies, Walton Goggins.
Oscar Wilde: Honoring the Irish in Film
Bad Robot in Santa Monica, Wednesday, 6:30 PM
The US-Ireland Alliance (headed by a former top staffer to the late Senator Ted Kennedy) honors Colin Farrell, Oscar winning make-up artist Michele Burke, and Lionsgate’s Michael R. Burns.  J.J. Abrams emcees, Paula Wagner presents and Liam Hemsworth is expected.

“Una Notte Verdie” with Fiat
Cecconi’s West Hollywood, Thursday

Oscar winners Hans Zimmer and Ron Howard (above left, with Jamie Foxx) do cocktails for the United Nation’s International Labour Organization and Green Jobs Programme.  Despite all the British spellings, it’s one of Vanity Fair’s Campaign Hollywood events. There’s a legacy on those coordinates on the corner of Melrose and Robertson: As Morton’s, it used to be the home of the Vanity Fair post-Oscar party.

Hollywood Domino & Bovet 1822 Pre-Oscar Gala & Tournament
Sunset Tower Hotel, 8 PM

Jon Hamm won the trophy last year…legitimately.
Saying he plays frequently on the “Mad Men” set, he knew the terminology and this was not some fix-job by a publicist hunting for a press angle. Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was outside laughing at and loving the outcome.
Gerard Butler, Paul Haggis, Donna Karan, and Adrien Brody (marking 10 years since his “The Pianist” win) will be there. They have repeated this event in Panama later in the year, so schmooze hostess Daya Fernandez on how to earn a seat on that jet.

Chez Andre at the Standard
Standard West Hollywood, Thursday-Saturday, from 10 PM
Hotel and nightlife moguls Andre Balazs and Andre Saraiva sneak their East Village karaoke club in to Balazs’ The Standard for three nights only. With a chunk of the week revolving around Balazs’ other property (The Chateau) and his neighbor (Jeff Klein’s The Sunset Tower), this aims heat towards the corner of Sunset of Sweetzer.

QVC’s Red Carpet Style-Live 
Four Seasons, 6 PM
The Thursday party where Kardashians and Keiblers roamed the party is no more. Friday night’s event is a shoot for a live televised shopping special with Jennifer Hudson, Nicole Richie, and Heidi Klum, so it should be more lucrative for QVC and less of an outright festivity.

OK Magazine Pre-Oscar Party
Emerson Theatre, Friday, 7:30 PM

The March Through Oscar Sunday
This is the varsity schedule. For those with a horse in the race the march through Oscar Sunday includes these A-list stations.


The 85th Academy Awards
Dolby Theatre, Sunday, 5 P.M.

The multi-page instruction booklet that contains actual Oscar tickets asks attendees to patronize the bar on their own floor of the theatre, importing the coach-class/first-class lavatory caste system to the Oscars.

  Nonetheless, most will congregate at the lobby bar before and during the show. Patron and Ultimat vodka are the official pours and organizers tell me that shots are not banned. Limes are no problem, but good luck finding a salt shaker.

Governor’s Ball
Hollywood and Highland Ballroom, Immediately Following the Telecast

Elton John Aids Foundation 21st Annual Viewing Party
West Hollywood Park, Sunday, 4 PM

The multiple tents are so sprawling, you have no idea you’re in a park on San Vicente Boulevard. It’s completely disorienting.
After a killer Florence and the Machine performance in 2011 and a hard-to-follow Foster the People set last year, Sir Elton brings Emeli Sande (who just made her industry debut at Clive Davis’ party) to the stage after the Oscar telecast.
The dinner is packed, the after party is white hot right after the show, but it peaks just before Elton leaves to go to the Vanity Fair party himself. Deep pockets can bid on the chance to join Sir Elton and David Furnish at the VF bash.
It’s the biggest fundraising event on Oscar night and all the money that is raised goes toward the fight against AIDS, which means everyone comes through to support.

Vanity Fair Oscar Night Dinner and Party
Sunset Tower Hotel; TImeslot Arrivals

If you’re going to this, Graydon Carter and or Beth Kseniak told you so back in January, around the time of Sundance.
For a party so cloaked in mystery (they don’t release the guest list in advance, they erect a multi-story wall blocking looking-loos from seeing the Sunset Boulevard arrivals), they have a robust social media presence in real time spitting out fully edited videos of what’s taking place inside.

For winners in smaller profile categories, a little gold man no longer guarantees entry. For a party reporter, it’s the pinnacle of the profession and a tough nut that’s been cracked only by a few.

Seth MacFarlane’s After Party
Private West Hollywood Location, Late
This could just as easily go in the “Scene” category, as MacFarlane’s resume of celebrations is impressive. On Sunday, the host of the show will host 500 guests well in to the night.
Two years ago, he performed with a big band on Thursday night at Hollywood Domino. Now, he’s bringing a 70-piece orchestra to his own after-party. With an impressive track record (offering to send his neighbors out for a night on the town or join in to his bashes), this will be a high-energy punctuation mark on awards season, especially when/if MacFarlane (or the animated “Ted”) kills on the telecast.
All of these events are private, by invitation only. Many will be tweeted in real time by @CelebSightings.

Read the original article at The Wrap

Slate

Does Oprah Get Thanked More Than God? No, but Meryl does.

Crunching the numbers on a decade-plus of Oscar acceptance speeches.

By Nathaniel Rogers and Chris Kirk

Posted Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at 2:38 PM

Natalie Portman accepts the Best Actress award at the 2011 Oscars.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Slate has updated this article and interactive feature to reflect the 2012 Oscars.

When Daniel Day-Lewis wins his third Oscar on Sunday night—an event as likely as last year's Best Actor Jean Dujardin struggling adorably with "Quvenzhané Wallis" while reading the Best Actress nominees—whom will he thank? After Day-Lewis’s first win for My Left Foot, he thanked only Christy Brown, the man he'd played in the film. The second time he held an Oscar aloft, for There Will Be Blood, he was more effusive, mentioning family members by name and focusing his speech on his director Paul Thomas Anderson’s "mad, beautiful head." Who will this new speech focus on? With the heightened emotion an Oscar win brings, how do the stars ever remember who to thank—especially with the academy requesting that winners speak “from your heart, not from a piece of paper”?

This Sunday, three more actors will win Oscars along with Day-Lewis, and one more historical performance will be required of each of them: the acceptance speech. During the past 11 years, 43 actors have given acceptance speeches during the Oscar ceremony. (We’ve updated our interactive from last year with the four winners from 2012.)  Morgan Freeman delivered a 32-second moment of grace. Halle Berry’s speech was a 4.5-minute aria of gratitude. (Heath Ledger, of course, could not deliver a speech at all.) I watched and catalogued each one to see what patterns emerged. It’s my firm belief that what comes out in the moment—or doesn’t—is a true reflection of feeling, whether the speech feels rehearsed and polished or immediate and spazzy. And in Hollywood—and what’s more Hollywood than the Oscars?—billing matters.

First is best, of course. Agents may battle for top billing on their clients’ behalf, but they rarely get it themselves on Oscar night—just one acting-Oscar winner recently, Tilda Swinton, thanked an agent before thanking anyone else. Last in the speech is also special; if you can’t get top billing, make sure you get the “And … ” spot that in a film’s credits might be reserved for the biggest star of all. At last year's ceremony Christopher Plummer ended with a gorgeous, self-deprecating tribute to his wife, Elaine, "who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life." Meryl Streep, on the other hand, thought this move too risky and placed Don Gummer first "because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech, they play him out with the music." Meryl's fears aside—really, who would ever dare play off Meryl Streep?—most winners end with a loved one, usually a spouse or child—even an unborn child. Catherine Zeta-Jones was very pregnant when she won for Chicago at the 75^th Oscars (“My hormones are just too way out of control!”) and ended by mentioning that she’d share the Oscar with her impending arrival.

The tool below allows you to see who was thanked in each actor's speech and when: first, second, third, in the rabble in the middle, or in that glorious final position.

Certainly it’s better to come last than to be forgotten entirely. It’s perhaps ungenerous to remind them, but here goes: Best Actress and Million Dollar Baby Hilary Swank attempted to apologize to her husband, Chad Lowe, at the 77^th Oscars for forgetting to thank him the first time she won, but she couldn’t help but congratulate herself in the process: “I'm going to start by thanking my husband, because I'd like to think I learn from past mistakes.” They were divorced two years later. Sean Penn thanked Robin Wright the first time he won for Mystic River at the 2003 Oscars but forgot her when he took home his second for Milk. They divorced a year later.

Winners are most likely to become choked up when they mention their family members, which could be one reason they save them for the finale. Moms are referenced most often, though dads are hardly snubbed. Occasionally a winner will mix it up with an inspirational grandparent. When Jamie Foxx told a loving story about his grandmother repeatedly whipping him, the atmosphere in the room seemed to change from exhilarated to should we be clapping?

Though it seems a cliché to thank fellow nominees, it actually happens less often than you think. That’s why Sandra Bullock’s extremely generous speech for The Blind Side at the 2009 Oscars—wherein she addressed each and every one of her fellow nominees by name—was so unusual; no wonder she’s beloved in the industry.

Hollywood (and by extension the academy) is notoriously hard on actresses, so is it any surprise that they receive fewer standing ovations than the men—yet work harder at ingratiating themselves to the powers that be? Actresses start by thanking “the academy” more often than their male counterparts, and once they get going, they aren’t as quick to stop and generally cite a longer list of people. More interesting still is that they have long memories, often ceding credit to those who helped them rise to fame. The Reader’s Kate Winslet thanked Peter Jackson at the 2009 Oscars presumably because he discovered her with Heavenly Creatures 15 years before. Penélope Cruz, who won the same night for a Woody Allen picture, thanked three earlier directors, including “my friend Pedro Almodóvar for having made me a part of so many of his adventures.” Halle Berry and Natalie Portman had similarly deep appreciation for the directors who gave them their big breaks.

Male winners occasionally looked back to early influences, but only if they were family members. Jeff Bridges, for example, thanked his mom and dad for “turning me on to such a groovy profession” and told a story about his dad teaching him the basics of acting. Colin Firth thanked Harvey Weinstein for “discovering me when I was a mere child sensation,” but it was a joke referring only to previous collaborations when he was a touch younger. He had to thank Harvey anyway for backing The King’s Speech.

You’ll hear Harvey’s name again on Sunday night if Jennifer Lawrence wins Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook. The Weinstein Company impresario helped shape the modern (relentless, shameless) style of awards campaigns, and his methods work. Perhaps you can even blame him for the amount of publicists who are thanked by name on the big night. It says something about the Oscars, or at least about celebrity actors, that their publicists are thanked by name so much more often than the people who help shape their award-winning performances. Costume designers, cinematographers, editors, and the like usually have to settle for the sad generic tent of “cast and crew”—though Natalie Portman’s Black Swan speech made a heartfelt name-filled detour toward her costumers, makeup artists, camera operators, and even the first assistant director.

When a name crops up without a connection to the winning film, it’s usually a legendary celebrity. The past 43 speeches held multiple mentions for Oprah Winfrey (two), Sidney Poitier (two), and Meryl Streep (four). Meryl, ever wittily self-deprecating, couldn't help herself when she won last year, confessing  "when they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, ‘Oh no! Oh, c'mon why? Her? Again?’ "

Though it won’t surprise anyone who thinks of Hollywood as a contemporary Babylon, God has only been thanked three times. Oscar is the world’s shiniest and most coveted false idol, the golden calf in the Hollywood Hills. It’s not that God is never mentioned: Denzel Washington started with “God is great,” and Jennifer Hudson claimed, “Look what God can do!” (Make the other four nominees lose?) There’s a reason for this notable lack of the divine, and it isn’t the absence of religious faith. It’s just that to actors, the director is God.

“You’ve truly rocked my life,” Marion Cotillard shouted to her director with the fervor of someone born again. Halle Berry named hers “a genius” and cried for his gentle guidance. Tilda Swinton directly noted the divine when she won for Michael Clayton. “Tony Gilroy walks on water. It’s entirely official as far as I’m concerned.” Only four of the 43 actors skipped their director by name in their speech: Mo’Nique, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin—and George Clooney, whose speech might have been the most curious of all.

When Clooney won for Syriana he began by quipping, “All right, so I’m not winning Director,” referencing his other nomination that night for Good Night, and Good Luck. The speech that followed had a couple big laughs but was mostly a serious ode to the academy’s progressiveness—and, by extension, George Clooney’s own. He thanked no one directly. Who needs to worship a false idol when the man in the mirror is a golden god?

Read the full article with images at Slate

GG Parties

From The Wrap

Golden Globes Party Week 2013: Brace For a Champagne Tsunami

Published: January 08, 2013 @ 4:29 pm

By Mikey Glazer

 It's Sunday night, freezing, and most major industry businesses are about to creak back to full power the next morning after a long holiday break -- the perfect time for a champagne jumpstart to this first of many awards weeks to come.

As Golden Globe nominee Connie Britton ('Nashville") caught up with Kate Bosworth over Brancott Estate wines on the patio at Cecconi's, "Homeland's" late Abu Nasir (Navid Neghaban) could barely polish off tiramisu at his corner table without interruption, infinitely more popular than he was at the same Audi Golden Globes kickoff party exactly a year ago.

 A few feet away, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber had a reserved table near Britton, illustrating the celebratory rally of both the TV and film worlds to come this week.





Here are your cocktail party talking points to use on the top social circles during what is now Oscar Nominations Week, Critics' Choice Week, and Globes Weekend. Who will be out where, and why will Prince Harry tilt the "international" slant of the Globes? Read on.


Thursday:

Critics' Choice Movie Awards *Top Pick*
Santa Monica's Barker Hangar, 5 P.M.
The CW nabbed this show away from VH1 just in time. With Oscar nominations announced just 10 hours earlier, this now becomes the debutante ball, further muzzling the Globes' awards relevancy.
For all the “eye-rolling”  (as one insider called it) about Judd Apatow’s Genius Award, the defense presents Exhibit A, his infamous off-the-cuff stand-up routine tearing down the Hollywood awards that he scribbled on his program during that dinner; and Exhibit B, the planned huddle of 30 Apatow “friends and family” just after the show for a Louis XIII Cognac toast that feels like a photo destined to land in a “Hollywood in the 2000’s” coffee table book.

Critics's Choice After Party
Santa Monica Airport, Following the Show
No more Palladium means no more walking down Sunset Boulevard. The after-party is on-site.


Friday

AFI Awards - *Top Pick*
Four Seasons Beverly Hills Ballroom, Luncheon
Talent, not from concentrate. The top 10 movies and top 10 TV shows of the year are all voted winners, with a scholarship to the AFI Conservatory given for each one. With no speeches and almost no personal publicists or “teams,” AFI’s Bob Gazzale lets the mingling run its course. A tough invite, but worth it if you can get it.


Saturday

Film Independent Filmmaker Grant and Nominee Brunch
Boa Steakhouse, Hollywood, 11 A.M.
Jeremy Renner and Salma Hayek co-chair six weeks before Film Independent's big Saturday by the beach.

BAFTA LA Award Season Tea - *Top Pick*
Four Seasons, Beverly Hills, 2 P.M.

Everyone from studio presidents to TV royalty, and many a guest with an actual title from the Queen. We have a few favorite deviled eggs eaters we'd like to see here.  However, this photo (right) of American royalty -- Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep -- is par for the course in one of the top rooms of the year.

Art of Elysium Heaven Gala
Secret Downtown Location, 7 PM

Nine-time Academy Award nominee Colleen Atwood ("Chicago," "Memoirs of a Geisha") designed her vision of heaven ("where the sea meets the sky in the mist of the eye") for this fundraiser that brings arts programs to hospitalized children.
Gerard Butler (left), Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ryan Kavanaugh, Courtney Cox, James Franco, Ciroc, UTA, WME, ICM, Untitled, Revolution Studios and Brent Bolthouse and his young Hollywood crowd are all onboard.

G'Day USA Los Angeles Black Tie Gala
JW Marriott at LA Live, 6 PM
John Travolta’s the headliner, but one of the two Aussies who played French this year (Hugh Jackman of "Les Miserables") will be downtown instead of down-under. Past honoree Russell Crowe, and Jackman's "Les Miz" co-star, may not be far behind.

38th Annual LA Film Critics Association Awards
InterContinental in Century City, 6 PM
"The Master's" best outing of the weekend. LAFCA president Stephen Farber presides over the already-announced winners including Paul Thomas Anderson (Director), Joaquin Phoenix (Actor), and Amy Adams (Supporting Actress), all from "The Master."

Showtime's Cast and Brass Dinner Party
Chateau Marmont, West Hollywood, 7 PM
Awards nominees from "Homeland," "Episodes," and Don Cheadle's "House of Lies" will gather.


Sunday

The Golden Globe Awards
Beverly Hilton, International Ballroom. Red Carpet Starts at 3 PM

In the ballroom or just faking it an after party, study up on TheWrap Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman's inside account on why thousands of dinner plates go untouched (at 4:30 in the afternoon) and why you need Jean Valjean or Matthias Schoenaert's muscle profile to get tipsy.

NBC Universal Viewing and After Party
Roof of the Parking Lot
Time has run out on "Sunday Night Football" for the season, but the No. 1 network and Globes host will still rule on this Sunday night, with home team players Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the helm.
E!'s newest reality darlings "The Saturdays" -- a popular Brit girl group, one of whom may or may not be Prince Harry's valentine --  will perform.

HBO
Poolside and Circa 55

An armada of above-the-title names, an indoor/outdoor hybrid locale and real-time reaction to "Girls," as Season 2 premieres simultaneously with the red carpet arrivals, should make this event a winner..
Despite a long line in the lobby they deserve an award for computerized check-in efficiency.






Even if Larry David isn't there, beware. Last year, The Hollywood Reporter's Janice Min pulled a "chat-and-cut,"...on me.

Warner Bros/InStyle
Oasis Courtyard

Fox Searchlight, 20th Century Fox, and Fox TV Studios
Robinson's May Building Lot










A view of Fox's 2012 Golden Globes set up, and Gary Newman and Jim Gianopolus inside last year's bash.

Weinstein
The Old Trader Vics

This one features a "We Are the World" of talent.
The regulars include Madonna, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba, Cameron Diaz, Michael Douglas, a gaggle of Hiltons, Al Roker, Jennifer Lopez, and Lindsay Lohan (left, at the 2012 party).

Expect this year's crop of active Weinstein players: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, Don Johnson, Dustin Hoffman, David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Tucker, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, a bunch of financiers, three tents, two rooms, and never a line for the bathroom.
With a singing Maggie Smith in "Quartet," a Dowager Countess collaboration with party-regular Diddy born on this night could be tearing up Spotify by the Grammys.

Freebies, Pampering, and Swag

Like Jamie Foxx's Django picking out his new bounty-hunter wardrobe, you can have almost anything you like in the suites. Load up.
InStyle's Beauty Lounge at the Four Seasons will push anyone who missed a wake-up call upstairs through a beauty carwash and spit them out ready for the AFI lunch in minutes: You can get makeup (L'Oreal), The Shave of Beverly Hills (for Ben Affleck-type scruff), and unisex manicures/eyebrow shaping. (Friday and Saturday, by appointment only with PR.)
For sparkle and flair, there are spray tans, hair braids and buns, teeth whitening (thanks, Colgate), manicures, Koolaburra shoes and Mavi Denim at the Joico-branded Nine Zero One Salon in West Hollywood.  (Friday and Saturday, by appointment only with Fingerprint Communications.)
Swag will be provided by Motorola, L'Oreal Paris, Tivo (yup, still "bleep-bleep-bleeping"), and Pandora at HBO's Luxury Lounge inside the Four Seasons.
And if all this makes you want to get away from it all, Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge at the W Hollywood has trips to Turks and Caicos and Miami. Their tiered system promises A-listers  a gameshow-esque $5,000 in goodies on Thursday and Friday.
Remember, all of these events are private, by invitation, confirmation, and security clearance only. Even then, we're not sure they'll have anybody's name on the list when it matters.
Take two aspirin and drink lots of water.


Photo Credits:Beverly Hilton Atmosphere by Jason Merrit/Getty Images; Diddy and Lawrence Bender by Getty Images for Chopard; Fox Golden Globes Atmosphere courtesy of Fox; HBO Atmosphere courtesy of Jason Merrit/Getty Images; Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep by Todd Williamson/Wireimage for BAFTA LA; Moet by self; Newman and Gianopolus courtesy of Fox; Hugh Bonneville by self; Kate Bosworth and Connie Britton, Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts by Wireimage/Audi; Judd Apatow and Ben Affleck by Christopher Polk/Getty Images; NBC Universal Atmosphere by Michael Buckner, Getty Images; Lindsay Lohan by Stefanie Keenan for Getty Images for Chopard; Gerard Butler by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Campaigns

 From THR

Holiday Oscar Parties Shift Into Overdrive With Early Voting Deadlines

8:00 AM PST 12/5/2012 by Scott Feinberg 

 

Les Miserables’ talent partied in New York at Universal’s Porter House bash Dec. 2.

This story first appeared in the Dec. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

You're invited to an intimate little cocktail party Dec. 6 at Rupert Murdoch's New York apartment. Well, only if you've been deemed a "tastemaker" who could help Fox's big Oscar contender Life of Pi and its director, Ang Lee, gain momentum in an especially heated awards season. Thanks to strong films and a shift of the start of Oscar voting to Dec. 17 -- the earliest date ever -- distributors are packing in as many parties and screenings as possible before voting ends Jan. 3. That means an early onslaught of bicoastal campaign lunches, dinners and A-lister-hosted screenings. "It's just exhausting," gripes one Academy member of the barrage of parties. "I've stopped going."
PHOTOS: Oscar Roundtable: 7 Actresses on Their Biggest Fears, Worst Auditions and Roles They've Fought For
Already this season, IFC Films hosted a Nov. 8 dinner at Circo in New York for On the Road writer-director Walter Salles and stars Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart; Focus Features organized a dinner for Promised Land co-writers/stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski at New York's Atlantic Grill on Nov. 28; and Roadside Attractions toasted Arbitrage star Richard Gere at Pizzeria Mozza in L.A. on Nov. 30. At Universal's Porter House bash Dec. 2 in New York, Les Miserables stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried worked a room full of Academy and Hollywood Foreign Press Association members (Jackman even sang an impromptu "Happy Birthday" serenade to Seyfried for her 27th).
In Los Angeles, New Line's Toby Emmerich celebrated The Hobbit director Peter Jackson with a reception Dec. 2 for Warner Bros. brass and a few journalists at his Beverly Hills home. In London, Angelina Jolie feted pal and The Impossible star Ewan McGregor, while in New York, his co-star Naomi Watts was toasted by Edward Norton, a friend from The Painted Veil (2006). Steven Spielberg took his Lincoln all the way to the White House on Nov. 15 for a VIP screening.
STORY: Academy Extends Deadline to Request Paper Oscar Ballots
Campaign events masquerading as studio holiday parties seem to be falling earlier than usual this year. Disney brought Tim Burton (Frankenweenie) and the Wreck-It Ralph and Brave crews to a Nov. 28 reception at West Hollywood's Pacific Design Center. Fox Searchlight held bicoastal holiday celebrations -- at New York's Andaz Hotel on Nov. 27 and at Cecconis in West Hollywood on Nov. 29 -- that seemed to exist solely for press to mingle with talent from The Sessions, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Hitchcock and with Beasts of the Southern Wild child star Quvenzhane Wallis. Meanwhile, in L.A. on Nov. 30, Paramount's holiday celebration at Spago brought out Flight's Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis, Not Fade Away star James Gandolfini and The Dictator's Sacha Baron Cohen, among others, plus HFPA president Aida Takla O'Reilly and Academy members Robert Forster, Sally Kellerman and Doris Roberts. (Spotted at the Paramount party: The Guilt Trip star Barbra Streisand noshing on pasta with truffles.)
PHOTOS: Oscar Roundtable: 6 Actors on Acting, Politics and the Pitfalls of Fame
The Academy periodically has cracked down on these types of things, if only to maintain appearances. This summer, though, it announced a rule change that effectively turned phase one of the awards season into an unregulated free-for-all while banning parties during post-noms phase two. "It has increased the amount of campaigning prior to the holiday and also the number of events," says one campaign strategist. "But that is helpful in encouraging people to see these films."

Hacking + Olympics parties bits

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie invited to Microsoft co-founder’s Olympics-themed yacht party in Canary Wharf

 

 

Knees-up ... Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

 

By GORDON SMART, Showbiz Editor

Published: Today at 01:55

BRAD Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in luck if their computer is on the blink.

The Hollywood stars have been invited to an Olympics-themed party on a yacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.
The minted American has moored his vessel in Canary Wharf, east London, especially for the Games.
And Brangelina tops the guestlist for his knees-up.
A source said: “Paul’s party is going to be amazing.
“Some big names have been invited but Brad and Ange are easily the most glamorous.”
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men, is also expected to attend.
The contents of his wallet will come in handy if catering staff run out of napkins.

Lord Jason Scott ‏@Penthouselord

Looking forward to working with @nomadfooddesign tomorrow @INDLondon and seeing Caroline Issa ,one of the most photographed women in fashion

Then off to see the most photographed couple in the world at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in honour of Ali. 

6:57 AM - 24 Jul 12 via web

London Olympics parties begin

by Rebecca Cope / 24 July 2012 / 

The Olympics party season kicked off last night, marking the start of a month-long season feting the London 2012 Games.

The International Olympics Committee was treated to a royal welcome at Buckingham Palace at a reception hosted by the Queen, before being whisked off to the Royal Opera House to listen to London mayor Boris Johnson perform an Olympic ode in ancient Greek.
A host of Hollywood stars as well as some of the world's wealthiest men, Lakshmi Mittal and Roman Abramovich, have already begun to descend on the capital ready to attend exclusive parties, with luxury yachts mooring in Canary Wharf and a private beach installed in Docklands. Lakshmi Mittal even played host to a glittering reception for Indian athletes yesterday at the Serpentine Gallery, with Bollywood's finest also in attendance.
In the fashion world, tonight marks the launch of Karl Lagerfeld's Olympics-themed t-shirt collection in Selfridges and Bazaar will of course be at the cocktail party launch to speak to the man himself. Later in the week, we'll be schmoozing with the music world at the Warner Bros Music Olympics party.
The most highly anticipated event of the party season is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s rumored UK-themed soiree taking place on Wednesday at the V&A, with Rihanna expected to perform and guests mooted to include David and Victoria Beckham, Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Held in honour of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, the charity black-tie dinner of fish and chips and beef Wellington is thought to be followed by an after party at the couple’s £20 million townhouse.
Elsewhere, Nicole Kidman and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps are rumoured to be attending a cocktail reception and secret garden party hosted by Omega at its Greek Street store in the coming weeks.


gee♥ast. ‏@Georgiaa_JLS

so last saturday my cousin was a personal bodyguard for muhammed ali, and tomorrow its for angelina jolie and brad pitt, wow!
8:25 AM - 24 Jul 12 via Twitter for Android


Eyewear By Olga ‏@eyewearbyolga

Angelina Jolie wearing the beautiful Bluebird! So simple and elegant! http://fb.me/A63Niy8r

Angelina Jolie in her #DITA shades..
 




Bloomberg TV

Former News Of The World Editors To Face Phone-Hacking Charges; Alleged Victims Include Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jude Law

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday July 24, 2012 @ 3:57am PDT

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson among eight journalists who WILL BE charged over phone-hacking

• Mrs Brooks faces two charges including one relating to the alleged accessing of Milly Dowler's phone messages
• The former News International chief executive says she's 'distressed and angry' about the charges and vowed to 'vigorously defend' the accusations
• The eight people will face a total of 19 charges and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court at a later date
• Prosecutors claim more than 600 people including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt allegedly had their phones hacked 

 By Emily Allen
PUBLISHED: 04:09 EST, 24 July 2012 | UPDATED: 07:34 EST, 24 July 2012

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are to be charged over the alleged phone hacking of murder victim Milly Dowler, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.
Brooks, a former News International chief executive, and Coulson, David Cameron's former spin doctor and former editor of News of the World, are among eight ex Murdoch employees who will be prosecuted.
Brooks will face three charges including one relating to the alleged accessing of Milly's voicemails and another relating to former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.
Coulson will face four additional charges linked to accusations of accessing phone messages, including those belonging to Milly, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.

Facing charges: Andy Coulson (right), walks to make a statement to the press outside his home in Dulwich, south east London today after it was announced he will be prosecuted

Investigation: Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, left, and NOTW's former editor Andy Coulson, pictured today, will be charged over the alleged hacking of murder victim Milly Dowler's voicemails

REBEKAH BROOKS WHO ROSE TO THE TOP OF NEWS INTERNATIONAL

Rebekah Brooks was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when she became editor of the Sun, before rising to become News International chief executive.
She resigned from her position in July 2011 after Rupert Murdoch closed down the News of the World after 168 years of publication following allegations that Milly Dowler's voicemails had been hacked after she went missing in Surrey in 2002.
She is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
She also faces two additional charges, relating to allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.

ANDY COULSON WAS DAVID CAMERON'S RIGHT-HAND MAN

Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007. He became Downing Street's head of communications and was at the heart of David Cameron's communications operation in opposition and when the Tory leader entered No 10. He quit the role in January last year.
Coulson was notoriously given a 'second chance' by Mr Cameron after his resignation from the newspaper.
He is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
He will face four further charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly Dowler, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.

The others facing charges include private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, and a series of former staff members from the now defunct paper.
These are ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former reporter James Weatherup.
The announcement was made this morning by the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) legal adviser Alison Levitt QC, who said a total of 19 charges would be brought.
Today Ms Brooks said today she was not guilty of phone hacking, saying in a statement: 'I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.
'I am distressed and angry that the CPS have reached this decision when they knew all the facts and were in a position to stop the case at this stage.'

Allegations: Former assistant editor of the News of the World Ian Edmonson, left, faces eleven further charges and former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, right, face seven further charges relating to alleged phone hacking

The former Sun editor said the accusations over Milly Dowler were especially upsetting.
'The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting, not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime.
'I will vigorously defend these allegations.'
Meanwhile, Coulson today said that he never had done anything to harm the Milly Dowler investigation and would 'fight these allegations'.
Speaking outside his home in south-east London, he said that the now-defunct newspaper had worked on behalf of victims of crime.
He said that he did nothing to damage the investigation into Milly Dowler’s murder.
Thurlbeck said he was 'most surprised and disappointed' that he will face charges over phone hacking and vowed to 'vigorously fight to clear my reputation'.

Charges: Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, left, will face four charges and ex-managing editor of News of the World Stuart Kuttner, right, faces two further charges relating to Milly Dowler and The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Edmondson, who was first arrested in April last year, said he only learned he would be charged when he saw news reports this morning.

He said: 'For the past 18 months my family and I have suffered in silence. I have not given interviews or spoken out in order to get my points across or to correct reported lies or inaccuracies.

'I have much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it. I will clear my name at trial when the truth finally emerges.'

Ms Levitt said that 13 files were passed to the CPS by the police and she had decided that there was a 'realistic prospect of conviction' in relation to eight of them.

Accusations: Former news editor of the News of the World Greg Miskiw, left, faces nine further charges and former reporter at the News of the World James Weatherup, right, faces seven further charges

All of them apart from Mulcaire will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority between October 3, 2000 and August 9, 2006.
All will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on August 16, the CPS said.
Prosecutors will claim that more than 600 people, including Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, were victims of the alleged offences.

Victims: Some of the charges relate to the alleged accessing of voicemails belonging to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, left, and actress Angelina Jolie, right. Prosecutors say more than 600 people were victims

Ms Levitt told the media that Brooks will face two additional charges, relating to allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.

VICTIMS, MPs AND CELEBRITIES: WHOSE PHONE WAS 'HACKED'?

Murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler

Former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist

The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

The Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Calum Best, son of late footballer George Best

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson

Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie

Celebrity chef Delia Smith

Actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller

Footballer Wayne Rooney

Former Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten

The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills

The Rt Hon Lord Prescott

7/7 survivor Professor John Tulloch

Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Sir Paul McCartney and his former wife Heather Mills

Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Coulson will face four charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly Dowler, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.

Kuttner is accused in relation to Milly Dowler and David Blunkett, and Miskiw faces charges linked to Milly Dowler, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Abi Titmuss and John Leslie, Andrew Gilchrist, David Blunkett, Delia Smith, Charles Clarke, Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and Wayne Rooney.

Edmondson faces charges in relation to David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Sienna Miller, Mark Oaten, Wayne Rooney, Calum Best, Tessa Jowell and David Mills, John Prescott, Professor John Tulloch, Lord Frederick Windsor and Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.
Mulcaire faces charges over Milly Dowler, Gilchrist, Smith and Clarke.
It is understood that former News of the World journalist Ross Hall, who wrote under the name Ross Hindley, freelance journalist Terenia Taras and former Evening Standard sports reporter Raoul Simons have all been told that no further action will be taken against them.
Police also asked Ms Levitt to defer making a decision over two remaining suspects while they make further inquiries.
Eleven journalists and one non-journalist were due to answer police bail today. When the eight who are facing prosecution do so they will be charged.
Once police have contacted all the alleged victims, a list will be made available, she said.
This morning, Labour leader Ed Miliband, speaking during a visit to Paris, said: 'Everybody was very shocked at the revelations of the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone.
'I said at the time we needed to get to the bottom of what had happened.
'It is now right that justice takes its course. This is now a matter for the courts.'

Spotlight: A series of former News of the World staff are to be charged today after prosecutors decided it was in the public interest. It follows an investigation by the Metropolitan Police lasting several months

All the people named today - with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire - will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006

CHARGE SHEET: WHO FACES WHAT ALLEGATIONS OVER PHONE HACKING?

All, with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire, will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
In addition, each will face a number of further charges of conspiracy unlawfully to intercept communications, as follows:
Rebekah Brooks will face two additional charges, relating to
1.   Milly Dowler
2.   Andrew Gilchrist
Andrew Coulson will face four additional charges, relating to
1.   Milly Dowler
2.   The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
3.   The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
4.   Calum Best
Stuart Kuttner will face two additional charges, relating to
1.   Milly Dowler
2.   The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Greg Miskiw will face nine further charges, relating to
1.    Milly Dowler
2.    Sven-Goran Eriksson
3.    Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie
4.    Andrew Gilchrist
5.    The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
6.    Delia Smith
7.    The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
8.    Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and
9.    Wayne Rooney
Ian Edmondson will face a further eleven charges, relating to
1.    The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2.    The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3.    Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4.    Mark Oaten
5.    Wayne Rooney
6.    Calum Best
7.    The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
8.    The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
9.    Professor John Tulloch
10.  Lord Frederick Windsor
11.  Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

Neville Thurlbeck will face a further seven charges in relation to
1.    Milly Dowler
2.    Sven-Goran Eriksson
3.    The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
4.    The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
5.    Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
6.    Mark Oaten
7.    The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
James Weatherup will face a further seven charges in relation to
1.    The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2.    The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3.    Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4.    Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
5.    Wayne Rooney
6.    The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
7.    Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

For legal reasons Glenn Mulcaire does not face the first of these charges. However, he will face four charges, relating to
1.    Milly Dowler
2.    Andrew Gilchrist
3.    Delia Smith
4.    The Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Two Ex-Editors for Murdoch Charged in Phone Hacking Scandal

By JOHN F. BURNS and RAVI SOMAIYA

 LONDON — After a year of furious controversy over the widespread phone hacking by one of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers, British prosecutors brought criminal charges on Tuesday against eight of the most prominent figures in the scandal, including Andy Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief at 10 Downing Street until the scandal forced his resignation last year. 

Also charged was Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper empire in Britain until she, too, resigned last summer. Others who were indicted include five journalists who played prominent roles at The News of the World, the tabloid where Ms. Brooks and later Mr. Coulson were the top editors at the time that the hacking is alleged to have occurred, from 2000 to 2006.

The criminal charges — and the possibility of prison terms if prosecutors win convictions — are a sharp turning point in the affair, adding the drama of high-profile trials to a saga that has already thrown the worlds of politics, policing and journalism in Britain into a prolonged fit of self-examination and shaken the foundations of the Murdoch empire.

The eighth person charged was Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who served a prison term in 2007, together with The News of the World’s reporter specializing in coverage of Britain’s royal family, for hacking into the cellphones of younger members of the royal family and their aides. Those convictions remain the only ones so far in the hacking furor.

After Tuesday’s announcement by Alison Levitt, the senior legal adviser at the Crown Prosecution Service, headlines in Britain focused on Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks, both of whom have strong personal links to Mr. Cameron — Mr. Coulson through his years at Mr. Cameron’s side, in and out of government, and Ms. Brooks because of the friendship she and her husband, Charlie Brooks, had with Mr. Cameron before the scandal erupted.

Political analysts said the fact that the two now face criminal trials that seem certain to run on at least through the next year, attracting wide news coverage, posed a potentially serious hazard to the prime minister. With a general election due in 2015, the analysts said, Mr. Cameron and the Conservative Party are now potentially vulnerable to any new revelations that might emerge from the trials, in the form of hitherto unpublished e-mails or testimony touching on the prime minister’s dealings with Mr. Coulson or Ms. Brooks.

The prime minister’s judgment in the affair — particularly his recruiting of Mr. Coulson as the Conservative Party’s media chief in 2007, and his decision to take him to Downing Street after the 2010 election, long after the hacking that took place on Mr. Coulson’s watch at The News of the World became known — is already a major dent in Mr. Cameron’s political armor. He has also faced extensive questioning as to whether his close relations with the Murdoch elite have skewed government policy favorably toward the media mogul.

With a bloc of about 100 Conservative members of Parliament already deeply restive about other aspects of his stewardship as prime minister, mostly because of the political compromises he has struck on important social and economic issues with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the ruling coalition, the criminal charges against Mr. Coulson, in particular, seem likely to intensify questions that Conservative dissenters have been raising about his judgment.

The charges, the most significant so far in a scandal that has rocked British public life and shaken faith in the media, politics and the police, relate to allegations that hundreds of celebrities, politicians and others named in news stories had their voice mail messages intercepted by The News of the World in a search of scoops. They refer specifically to more than a dozen high-profile figures, including the actors Jude Law, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who prosecutors say were targeted between 2000 and 2006.

Other well-known figures listed by Ms. Levitt, the prosecutor, as having been targeted include Sir Paul McCartney and his former wife, Heather Mills; the actresses Sienna Miller and Sadie Frost; Wayne Rooney, perhaps Britain’s best-known professional soccer player; Sven-Goran Eriksson, a Swede who is England’s former soccer manager; four former Labour party cabinet ministers, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, Tessa Jowell and John Prescott, who held between them some of the most powerful posts in government in the years when the hacking is alleged to have occurred; and Lord Frederick Windsor, a great-nephew of Queen Elizabeth II.

The criminal charges against a senior tranche of his former employees at The News of the World, the 168-year-old publication Mr. Murdoch shut down last year as a result of the burgeoning scandal, also have major implications for Mr. Murdoch and the News Corporation, his $53 billion global media giant. Ms. Brooks was a personal choice of Mr. Murdoch, 81, to head his British newspaper subsidiary, News International, and he made a priority of defending her last July, when he took an urgent flight to London to take over management of the crisis and to supervise the closure of the The News of the World, one of Britain’s most profitable newspapers.

That effort quickly collapsed amid outrage over a police disclosure that one of the targets of the newspaper’s cellphone hacking had been Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared in 2002 and was subsequently found murdered. The hacking occurred when she was the subject of a massive police hunt, but before her body had been discovered. The episode prompted Ms. Brooks’s resignation and led Mr. Murdoch to apologize personally to Milly’s parents at a luxury London hotel — and to offer a settlement that was reported at the time to run into several million dollars.

Five of the eight people now facing criminal charges are accused of involvement in the hacking of the schoolgirl’s phone. They are Ms. Brooks, Mr. Coulson, Mr. Mulcaire and three other journalists who worked in senior newsroom positions at The News of the World: Stuart Kuttner, a former managing editor; Greg Miskiw, another senior editor; and Neville Thurlbeck, the paper’s longtime chief reporter.

The other journalists charged with involvement in phone hacking, though not in the Dowler case, are Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup, who were also senior editors at the tabloid.

“I am not guilty of these charges,” Ms. Brooks said in a statement, referring to her time as editor of The News of the World. “I did not authorize, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.”

Mr. Coulson did not respond to a call seeking comment and a spokesman for News International also declined to comment.

A spokesman for the prime minister said he had no comment on the matter, beyond his public statements — he has stopped short of issuing an apology, but has told Parliament that he regrets hiring Mr. Coulson, and that with hindsight he would not have done so. Privately, according to people with knowledge of his thinking, Mr. Cameron and his office remain concerned about the matter. Speeches are vetted to omit references that might fuel jokes about it, and lawyers have been taking statements from staffers on their relations with the Murdoch family and their senior executives.

Ms. Brooks also faces three criminal counts of conspiring to obstruct justice, which were announced by prosecutors in May. She, her husband and four members of her staff at News International were accused of concealing documents, computers and other material from detectives investigating phone hacking at around the time The News of the World was closed. She also strenuously denied those charges.

Tuesday’s charges, which carry a maximum jail sentence of two years, mark a spectacular fall for Ms. Brooks, who joined The News of the World when she was 20 and by her early 40s had risen to the top of its parent company as one of Mr. Murdoch’s closest lieutenants. She and her husband were neighbors of Mr. Cameron, and they have admitted to exchanging frequent text messages and riding horses together.

The eight defendants will appear in court on Aug. 16, prosecutors said. But the charges brought on Tuesday are probably only the beginning: three police investigations — into the phone hacking, payments to public officials and data hacking — continue, Scotland Yard has said. So far, more than 50 current and former journalists, public officials and others have been arrested, and prosecutors have yet to decide whether they will be prosecuted.

Over the weekend, a News Corporation spokeswoman confirmed that Mr. Murdoch resigned last week from directorships at a cluster of companies that have oversight over his British papers, which also include the tabloid Sun and two major broadsheets, The Times and The Sunday Times. The spokeswoman described the move as no more than “a corporate housecleaning exercise” ahead of the company’s move to split its operations into two separate companies: one that will own the company’s newspaper and book publishing assets, including the British papers and The Wall Street Journal, and the other to  operate the company’s far more profitable television and film assets, including the Fox broadcasting channels and the 20th Century Fox movie franchise.

But the resignations from the boards of  the British newspaper companies fueled speculation, already rife among media analysts on both sides of the Atlantic, that Mr. Murdoch has decided that his lifelong passion for newspapering is outweighed by the financial and reputational costs of hanging on to the British papers, a major steppingstone in building his global empire. A powerful bloc of News Corporation investors has long favored selling the papers off, and the prospect of protracted criminal trials seems likely to intensify those pressures.

Mr. Murdoch also faces dozens of civil suits from a pool of more than 2,000 people the police have told might have been victims of phone hacking. And when all the court cases have been cleared, a process that could take years, a British public inquiry will begin sifting the evidence of wrongdoing in the Murdoch media empire once more.

If it is found that voice mail interceptions occurred on American soil, as some have alleged, Mr. Murdoch’s profitable American business interests could also suffer. A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on the matter, saying that the defendants are accused of conspiracy, not of actual interceptions.

 

Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face charges

Alison Levitt QC: "This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability."

Continue reading the main story

Phone-hacking scandal

• Phone-hacking: Timeline
• The main players
• Profile: Rebekah Brooks
• The big numbers

Eight people, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, will face a total of 19 charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

The two ex-News of the World editors are to be charged in connection with the accessing of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone messages.
They are among seven of the now-defunct paper's former staff facing charges of conspiring to intercept voicemails.
The CPS said the charges related to 600 alleged victims between 2000 and 2006.
The eight, who are to be charged when they answer police bail later, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 August.
The revelation that 13-year-old Milly's phone had been hacked by the News of the World (NoW) after she went missing in Surrey in 2002 led to the closure of the Sunday tabloid newspaper in July last year.
Mrs Brooks, who is also a former chief executive of the paper's publisher News International, faces three charges relating to the alleged accessing of phones belonging to Milly and former Fire Brigades Union boss Andrew Gilchrist, CPS legal adviser Alison Levitt QC said in a statement.
In a statement, Mrs Brooks said: "I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship."

Continue reading the main story

Phone-hacking timeline

• September 2010: Scotland Yard faces pressure to reopen phone-hacking investigation as celebrities launch legal actions for answers
• April 2011: Officers from Operation Weeting, the re-opened investigation, make three arrests
• July 2011: Rupert Murdoch closes down the News of the World after 168 years of publication. The same month, its former editor Andy Coulson is arrested, followed by Rebekah Brooks two weeks later. Other journalists are arrested during the course of the year
• November 2011: The Leveson Inquiry opens in London
• July 2012: Met Police say 74 people arrested to date, 26 in connection with Operation Weeting. Seven journalists and one private investigator charged in relation to phone hacking

She added that the charge concerning Milly was "particularly upsetting, not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime".

Mr Coulson, who also used to be Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief, will face four charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly, former Labour home secretaries David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, and Calum Best, the son of the late footballer George Best.
He told reporters outside his house he would fight the allegations and said anyone who had worked with him "would know that I wouldn't, and more importantly, that I didn't do anything to damage the Milly Dowler investigation".
"At the News of the World we worked on behalf of the victims of crime, particularly violent crime, and the idea that I would then sit in my office dreaming up schemes to undermine investigations is simply untrue," he added.
BBC chief political correspondent Norman Smith says many people will now be pondering how the PM came to appoint someone to his inner circle who had these question marks against him.
It will not be a short, sharp difficulty but a long, slow protracted problem for the government with the build-up to the court case and the trial itself likely to go on for months, he says.
Mr Cameron will be concerned about the bolt-from-the-blue factor - not knowing what will emerge from the court case, our correspondent adds.
'Surprised and disappointed' The others facing charges are former NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant editor James Weatherup and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr Thurlbeck said he was "most surprised and disappointed" that he would face charges and would "vigorously fight to clear my reputation".
Mr Edmondson said he had "much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it" and that he would clear his name at trial "when the truth finally emerges".

 

Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and Neville Thurlbeck are among the eight facing charges.

 

All of the suspects apart from Mr Mulcaire will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006.
The charge carries a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine.
Mr Mulcaire faces four charges relating to Milly, Mr Gilchrist, Delia Smith, and Charles Clarke.
Prosecutors will allege that more than 600 people, including Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, were victims of this offence, the CPS said.
Other victims of alleged hacking named in connection with the charges were former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, television stars Abi Titmuss and John Leslie, chef Delia Smith, actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and footballer Wayne Rooney.
Ms Levitt said that no further action would be taken in relation to three other suspects, former NoW reporter Ross Hall, sports reporter Raoul Simons and Terenia Taras, a former partner of Greg Miskiw.
Police have asked Ms Levitt to defer making a decision over two remaining suspects who have been re-bailed while officers make further inquiries.
The BBC understands they are former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis and Dan Evans, who was a reporter on the paper.
Mrs Brooks was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when she became editor of the Sun, before rising to become News International chief executive. She resigned from her position in July 2011.
She already also faces three charges of perverting the course of justice arising from the investigation into phone hacking, charges she has denied.
Mr Coulson was NoW editor between 2003 and 2007. He later became Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman but quit in January 2011.