Jason Momoa eyes breakout film role in "Conan"

Jason Momoa may not be a household name from Hollywood yet, but neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger when he took on the title role of "Conan the Barbarian" in 1982.

Nearly 30 years later, Momoa could see a similar starmaking trajectory if moviegoers embrace him as the new, 3D incarnation of "Conan the Barbarian," due in theaters on Friday. If there's one person who hopes they will, it is Momoa.

"Conan (is) going to give me star status," he told Reuters of his hopes for a movie that breaks him out of the pack of Hollywood actors. "It's going to put me in leading man roles."

Based on pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery fantasy stories, the "Conan" reboot begins with the barbarian's early years when, as a young boy, he witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his father.

As an adult, Conan embarks on a personal mission to avenge the death, which then turns into an epic battle to save an entire nation from a supernatural evil.

Unlike Schwarzenegger who, at 35, was a body building champ but a relative newcomer to Hollywood movies when he took the "Conan" role, the 32 year-old Momoa has 12 years of work under his belt. But only his hardcore fans, including followers of HBO series "Games of Thrones," likely know he's got the acting skills, not to mention the muscles, to wield Conan's weapons.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Momoa was raised by his single mother in Iowa, where he never felt like he fit in with his exotic looks inherited largely from his native Hawaiian father. After high school, in an attempt to "get to know my father better" Momoa went back to Hawaii where his looks became an asset. Modeling gigs followed, then came an opportunity he could never have predicted -- a gig on "Baywatch."

"I was 19 and folding t-shirts in a surf shop," Momoa told Reuters. "And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a lead role on 'Baywatch Hawaii.' I didn't even know how to act."

That led to another Hawaii-based show, "North Shore," which only lasted a year and after that, a dry spell.

"It took me five years to get an agent after 'Baywatch,'" said Momoa. "No one would take me seriously because it was 'Baywatch.' I lived in the shadow of that for a long time.'"

WARRIORS AND WARLOCKS

Eventually he landed the role of the dreadlock-wearing warrior Ronon Dex in the Sy Fy Channel TV series "Stargate: Atlantis," where he was quickly embraced by sci-fi fans. The show lasted on TV for five seasons.

His career took another fortuitous turn when he was cast as the powerful warlock Khal Drogo on HBO's "Game of Thrones," based on the popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels. After premiering earlier this year, "Thrones" became an instant hit with fans and critics, earning 13 Emmy nominations.

"It was the first project in my life where I was like, 'I have to have this, no one is gonna take this from me,'" said Momoa. "It was the first thing I've ever fought for."

Momoa's 6'3" frame and muscular body make him a strong choice for roles as tough guys who battle evil, and his exotic looks give him an eerie resemblance to Howard's original drawings of Conan.

But the actor, who is married and has two young children with actress Lisa Bonet, said it was being a father that made him connect with the Conan character.

"Conan's father is killed in front of him and as a father, if someone messes with your family, your children, you're gonna get primal on them," said the actor. "You're gonna go feral. It resides in everyone," Momoa said.

Clearly, going primal is one thing Momoa can do. His face bears a striking scar from a 2008 bar fight where, he said, "I took a pint glass to the face. It took a 140 stitches to put my face back together."

But those days are gone, he said, and the actor is focused on his future. Besides "Thrones," Momoa is currently shooting a villainous role opposite Sylvester Stallone in next year's crime thriller, "Bullet to the Head." He also has a couple of projects in the works with Bonet.

Though his career is moving at a faster pace now, Momoa paused to reflect about first seeing himself on the big screen in "Conan," complete with the physical transformation which included an additional 25 lbs. of muscle.

"There's moments you look at yourself," he said. "And wow, it's kinda cool."

Cody Horn circling Channing Tatum's stripper drama

Channing Tatum may soon be bumping and grinding for a genuine Hollywood princess.

Cody Horn, the daughter of former Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn, is circling Tatum's male stripper drama, "Magic Mike," TheWrap has confirmed.

ThePlaylist first reported her casting.

Horn would play Tatum's love interest in the film.

Steven Soderbergh is set to direct the semi-autobiographical story of Tatum's early years spent exotic dancing for his dinner.

Alex Pettyfer ("I Am Number Four") and Matthew McConaughey are set to co-star.

Horn is represented by Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. She has previously appeared in the films "Twelve" and "Flipped," and snagged a recurring role in the FX series "Rescue Me."

Johnny Knoxville, Paton Oswalt to co-star in comedy

Johnny Knoxville and "poignant" usually don't occur in the same sentence, but the "Jackass" star is set to topline a comedy its producers call "outlandish yet poignant."

Patton Oswalt will also star in the movie, which Todd Rohal is directing -- and still writing.

According to producers, the movie is "about a pair of battling brothers who attempt to honor their ailing father by taking a troop of boys on a last ditch camping trip that goes wildly wrong."

The movie doesn't have a title yet.

Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney and Patrice O'Neal will also star in the ensemble comedy.

Knoxville and Oswalt on the same screen could be quite a combination. Knoxville made his name with "Jackass" and has starred in "Men in Black II," "Lords of Dogtown," "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Walking Tall," among others.

Oswalt, who was the voice of Remy in "Ratatouille," is among the funniest stand-up comedians working. And he has starred as Neil on Showtime's "The United States of Tara" for three seasons.

On top of that is Todd Rohal, whose odd buddy movie "The Catechism Cataclysm" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is being released by IFC Films in October.

Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf's big Beach films is financing. Turtletaub, Saraf and Lisa Muskat are producing.

First countries enter Oscar foreign-language race

The Academy's often controversial and always interesting foreign-language race is picking up a little steam, with Romania, Morocco and Venezuela submitting their entries to join Greece and Poland this year.

We won't know for months if Greece has found another surprise nominee like last year's "Dogtooth," or if Romania will once again be overlooked for a strong, tough film the way it was with "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days."

But at this point we can start to discern countries' strategies for dealing with the Academy's Best Foreign-Language Film process. Greece, for instance, seems to have reacted to "Dogtooth" with an attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," while Romania may be going for something marginally friendlier than its usual grim submissions.

Under Academy rules, each country is allowed to submit a single film; a lengthy screening process narrows the field from several dozen (65 last year) to nine, and then two hand-picked committees choose the final five nominees.

So far, these are the entries. Many more to come before the Academy's September 30 deadline:

Greece: "Attenberg"

Director: Anthin Rachel Tsangari

Last year Greece got the Oscar race's strangest and most controversial nomination with "Dogtooth," and the country appears to have gone back to the same well with a film produced by "Dogtooth" director Yorgos Lanthimos and directed by "Dogtooth" producer Tsangari. Guy Lodge, who has seen the film, calls it "'Dogtooth'-lite: in addition to common themes of sexual discover and youth alienation, the films share a similar brooding, deadpan humor."

Morocco: "Omar Killed Me" ("Omar m'a tuer")

Director: Roschdy Zem

The true story of Moroccan immigrant imprisoned for murder near Cannes, "Omar Killed Me" examines a penal system in which French police and prosecutors were eager to pin the crime on a convenient target. Director Zem is currently receiving raves for the limited stateside release of "Point Blank."

Poland: "In Darkness"

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Director Holland has been Oscar-nominated for "Olivier, Olivier" and has worked in the United States on TV series like "The Wire," "The Killing" and "Treme," and her film has already been picked up by Sony Classics, the company with an impressive record of picking winners and nominees in this category. Besides which, the plot looks like ideal Oscar-bait: it's based on the true story of a Polish criminal who helped hide Jewish refugees during World War II.

Romania: "Morgen"

Director: Marian Crisan

Reportedly less grim than the Romanian fare that has been controversially overlooked by the Academy in recent years, "Morgen" looks at the friendship between a Romanian-Hungarian security guard and an illegal immigrant.

Venezuela: "The Rumble of the Stones" ("El rumor de las piedras")

Director: Alejandro Bellame Palacios

The least-known of this year's entries, Palacios' film deals with a woman in Caracas trying to rebuild a life for herself, her mother and her two sons in the wake of floods that destroyed their home.

Paul Rudd is nobody's "Idiot Brother"

Thanks to hits such as "Knocked Up," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," Paul Rudd has become one of the most reliable comic actors in Hollywood, unafraid of embracing slightly dorky who make people laugh.

In his new film, "Our Idiot Brother" opening on Friday, he embraces his inner hippie and shares the screen with three high-powered actresses (Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer) playing his neurotic New York sisters. His character -- the under-achieving, homeless, Croc-wearing brother Ned -- wreaks havoc in their lives.

Rudd recently sat down with Reuters to talk about portraying the easy-going Ned, the joys of tie-dyed T-shirts and why he's not shy about kissing dogs.

Q: "Our Idiot Brother" sounds like a very broad comedy, but it's not, is it.

A: "Not at all. There's lots of drama. You hear the title and see the main character with his beard and long hair, but I don't think Ned's an idiot. He's a gentle soul, and makes some idiotic decisions -- there's no getting around that. But we wanted to make it very clear he's living his life a certain way, and it's a conscious decision. He has an ethic he subscribes too, and it's not always easy for him. The cracks show in some scenes, and that's important. You don't want it to look like he's just out to lunch."

Q: After he's busted for selling pot to a cop and gets out of prison, Ned moves in with each of his sisters and chaos ensues. How much of you is in Ned? Can you relate to him?

A: "I can. It's not me, but there are parts that are. I like to think of myself as being optimistic and happy, although not as much as Ned, which is good and bad. The moment I read it, I wanted to do it, and I also felt it'd be a fun world to live in for a couple of months -- and it was. I was very happy making this movie because of Ned."

Q: So he rubbed off on you a lot?

A: "He did. I'm not a Method actor, I don't need to be called by the character's name. I don't take roles home with me. But when it ended, I actually went without shaving for a while and dressed in a similarly horrible fashion."

Q: You wore Crocs?

A: (Laughs) "No -- I drew the line at Crocs! But I wore cut-off shorts and flannel shirts. I've never owned anything tie-dyed in my life, but there was one tie-dyed shirt I wore in the movie with this hippie-dippy print that was so extreme. I still wear it. And had I seen this shirt before doing this movie, there's no way I'd have kept it."

Q: You have three sisters and an ex-girlfriend to contend with -- too many women on set, or was it fun?

A: "It was fun because I knew them all. I was already friends with just about everyone in the cast, and had been for years."

Q: Does that make it easier or harder?

A: "Much easier, especially with a movie like this -- not a long shoot. And we shot in New York where I live, so I could literally walk outside and start work some days. But it was incredibly hot and humid, so there was a lot of sweating and people getting patted down. And I got a chance to hang out with people like Steve Coogan, who plays Emily's cheating husband. I've been a major Steve Coogan fan for many years, so I was thrilled to get the chance to meet him and get to know him a bit."

Q: You have great screen chemistry with the dog, and there's a lot of kissing between you two. Sweet breath?

A: (Laughs) "Yeah, pretty sweet, in the way a golden retriever would have sweet breath. Now, I may have offended the dog, as I think I'd dipped into some hummus earlier, but I don't think the dog would judge me. I'm actually a big dog lover, and a golden retriever's particularly lovable. Growing up I always had dogs, so the dog-kissing scenes didn't gross me out."

Tests show no illegal drugs in Winehoushttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife body

Amy Winehouse had no illegal drugs in her system when she died, and it is still unclear what killed the singer, her family said Tuesday. The family said in a statement that toxicology tests showed "alcohol was present" in the singer's body but it hasn't yet been determined if it contributed to her death.

The 27-year-old soul diva, who had battled drug and alcohol addiction for years, was found dead in her London home on July 23, and an initial post-mortem failed to determine the cause of death.

A statement released by spokesman Chris Goodman on the family's behalf said "toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy's system at the time of her death." The statement did not mention whether any legal drugs were found.

It said the family awaited the outcome of an inquest that is due to begin in October.

Winehouse's father, Mitch, has said his daughter had beaten her drug dependency three years before her death, but he admitted she was still struggling to control her drinking after several weeks of abstinence.

Mitch Winehouse told mourners at the singer's July 26 funeral that she had said to him, "'Dad I've had enough of drinking, I can't stand the look on your and the family's faces anymore.'"

The Winehouse family announced plans to establish a charitable foundation in the singer's name to help people struggling with addiction — although Mitch Winehouse has said the plans are on hold because someone else had registered the name Amy Winehouse Foundation.

In her short lifetime, Winehouse frequently made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, destructive relationships and abortive performances.

Her health often appeared fragile. In June 2008 and again in April 2010, she was taken to hospital and treated for injuries after fainting and falling at home.

Her father said she had developed the lung disease emphysema from smoking cigarettes and crack, although her spokeswoman later said Winehouse only had "early signs of what could lead to emphysema."

She turned her tumultuous life and personal demons into songs such as "Rehab," from her Grammy-winning album "Back to Black."

Her death prompted an outpouring of emotion from fans — many of whom left flowers and offerings outside her house in north London's Camden neighborhood — and from fellow musicians.

Her final recording, a duet with Tony Bennett on "Body and Soul," is due to released next month as a charity single.

In Britain, inquests are held to establish the facts whenever someone dies violently or in unexplained circumstances. Winehouse's inquest is due to begin Oct. 26 in London.

Surfer witnesses 9/11 attack

Ed Hewitt planned to surf all day. The weather reports for the New Jersey coastline called for a blue September sky, warm temperatures, and the right wind for near-perfect surfing conditions.

A 39-year-old watersports enthusiast, Ed woke up early on Sept. 11, 2001.

He would surf a spot called Sandy Hook, a lonely spit of sand on the north end of Gunnison Beach that points like a finger toward Brooklyn and Manhattan, which rise out of the water a few miles away. When conditions are just right, you can ride a wave at Sandy Hook for hundreds of yards with the Empire City skyline as your backdrop.

It was one of those days that promised long rides and clear skies, and Ed, a travel writer taking the day off, was stoked. He loaded a 9-foot surfboard into his white minivan and pulled out of his driveway in Kingston, New Jersey, for the hourlong drive.

In the van, he set his cell phone down in the cup holder and cranked up some tunes on the radio. Halfway into his drive along State Road 36, his phone buzzed. Probably best not to check in this traffic, he thought, and ignored the call as he flew toward the beach. The phone buzzed again, signaling a voicemail. Ed ignored it. He was in the zone and feeling good: The radio was blasting, and he could smell the coconut from the fresh wax on his board. In a few minutes, he'd be cruising down the face of a wave.

As he pulled into the nearly empty parking lot, he saw a plume of black smoke rising from Manhattan. He called up the voicemail on his phone. It was his wife, Lori. She sounded worried. Something happened in New York. There's a massive fire. The news says a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It might have been an accident. No one knows anything yet. Be safe.

He pulled his board out of the van, slipped into a wetsuit and began the trek up the beach toward the point, where he joined a group of people watching the smoke. Suddenly, the black cloud turned white. They didn't know it at the time, but the white smoke was the ash and debris coming from the collapse of the South Tower.

"Everything that was in Manhattan changed color," he recalled later. "It was such a chilling thing to have watched."

Like most people throughout the country at that moment, Ed was unaware of the magnitude of the disaster. Fires are tragic, sure, but they happen all the time. Plane crashes are rare, but life goes on.

Ed felt uneasy, but he decided to hop into the water.

Holding the board under his arm, he stepped up to the shoreline, where the waves were crashing hard. He got a running start from the sand toward the water and plopped belly-first onto the board, paddling furiously. He maneuvered his board over and under the unforgiving waves, the water crisp with the coming of fall, and made it beyond the soup. Exhausted, Ed sat up on his board to catch his breath and realized he was alone. There was an uneasy silence as he looked toward the smoke. But there was little time to focus on that with the next set of waves marching directly toward him.

Ed caught the first wave, dropped in, and pulled off the lip for another one. He kept his eyes on the cloud of smoke, which continued to fill the morning sky.

He sat by himself, straddling his board as the nose bobbed in and out of the lonely water in front of him. The cloud grew larger, more menacing.

A few moments later, he watched as boats loaded with people came speeding in his direction from Manhattan. Hundreds of people were fleeing the island. Many were bloodied and injured.

"I'm sitting in the water and just watching this whole thing, and it really just piled up on me," he said.

In his mind, he saw the faces of his friends who lived in Manhattan. He thought of his wife, and he began to feel sick and anxious. What am I doing here? he thought.

He paddled toward the shore and caught a wave that deposited him on the sand. The crowd on the beach had gathered around a man with a radio. Everyone stood transfixed by the smoke coming from Manhattan.

Ed ran to his car, peeled off his wetsuit, threw the board into the van, and called his wife. Pulling onto the main road, he tried to keep his mind focused. On both sides of his van, drivers as shocked and horrified as he was sped past him.

"I remember trying to make sure that I didn't get killed," he said later. "I didn't feel myself, and I could tell that folks around me didn't feel themselves either. I didn't have my head on my shoulders, and I was very aware of it."

The world had changed in the short time since he'd tossed his surfboard into the van on that peaceful morning. Radio stations were no longer playing feel-good jams. Instead, he listened to news announcers tell the story as fast as they could gather the information, their own voices trembling over the airwaves. The World Trade Center had fallen. The Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., was on fire. A plane had gone down in Pennsylvania. Thousands could be dead. America had been attacked.

All this while Ed Hewitt sat alone in the ocean, watching it unfold.

Back in Kingston, he pulled the van into the driveway and ran into the house, where his wife was waiting for him.

"I got home and was very quickly put to work," he said.

His wife was a coach for a Princeton University rowing team, and she and Ed stayed connected to many of the rowers in the area through Row2k.com, which Ed had created for rowing enthusiasts. That morning, they started compiling a list of survivors in the local rowing community. Ed got on the phone, then blasted a mass email to rowers in the area and took down the names that could be accounted for.