LAS VEGAS – Martin Scorsese has become so enamored with 3-D filmmaking that he expects to use the technology in all his future projects.

The Academy Award-winning director of “The Departed” told a crowd of theater owners at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday that he wishes his landmark films “Raging Bull” and “Taxi Driver” had been three-dimensional. Scorsese is so convinced of the power of 3-D, he said he only saw “Hugo,” his first 3-D movie released to critical acclaim last year, once in 2-D.

“There is something that 3-D gives to the picture that takes you into another land and you stay there and it’s a good place to be,” he said.

Scorsese spoke at a filmmaking panel alongside director Ang Lee, who won an Oscar in 2006 for the gay cowboy love story “Brokeback Mountain.” Scorsese and Lee are among a growing crop of prominent directors who claim 3-D technology is the future of filmmaking.

Scorsese said the added dimension of digital films allows movie fans to feel a stronger connection to the story and actors on screen. He recalled filming “Hugo” and watching as Sacha Baron Cohen, who portrayed a stern train station inspector, leaned forward on set, and the motion that created.

“He sort of came right off the screen and we sort of felt like we were little kids again,” Scorsese said.

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Scorsese said he never thought he would have the opportunity to make a 3-D film. He said conquering the technology was challenging at first, but he ultimately decided to experiment as much as possible and watched 3-D versions of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder” and “The House of Wax,” the 1953 horror film, for inspiration.

“Hugo,” based on Brian Selznick’s award-winning “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” an illustrated novel about a Parisian boy and a broken automaton, won several technical Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards and earned the most nominations, including a best director nod.

“It’s like seeing a moving sculpture of the actor and it’s almost like a combination of theater and film combined and it immerses you in the story more,” Scorsese said. “I saw audiences care about the people more.”

Paul Walker in New Orleans shooting Katrina film

NEW ORLEANS – Actor Paul Walker is shifting gears in New Orleans, where he is playing a father struggling to keep his newborn daughter alive in a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Makers of the suspense drama, “Hours,” say this is one of the most challenging film projects yet for “The Fast and the Furious” star.

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Walker plays the lead character Nolan, a grief-stricken man struggling with his wife’s death while trying to keep his prematurely born daughter alive in an incubator through power outages and rising floodwater and chaos when the two are abandoned in a New Orleans hospital after Katrina strikes.

“Paul is literally in every scene,” said the film’s producer, Peter Safran, whose other films include the blockbuster parody “Scary Movie.” “I love how this project challenges him.”

Britney Spears’ fiance to help manage affairs

LOS ANGELES – Britney’s Spears’ fiance now has the blessing of a judge to help manage the singer’s personal affairs.

Jason Trawick received approval Wednesday from Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz to become a co-conservator over the Grammy-winning singer.

He joins her father Jamie Spears in that role and will have control over several decision-making aspects of her personal life but not in managing her assets.

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Spears requested that Trawick join her court conservatorship a few months after the couple became engaged. They appeared in court together earlier this year, but the entertainer did not attend Wednesday’s hearing.

She has been under a court-ordered conservatorship since February 2008, when her father stepped in to take control after she had been hospitalized twice and had a series of incidents involving erratic behavior.

 

 


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