Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

August 3, 2012

People & Entertainment
Foster turns attention to cable

SAN DIEGO - Jodie Foster is looking to cable TV as a future site for her Oscar-winning talent, joining other big-screen stars who are finding pay TV can pay off.

The 49-year-old actress and director says she is "developing a few things" likely destined for cable, calling the format "a good outlet for what I do."

"I think I may spend some time on cable," Foster said at July's Comic-Con, where she was promoting her next big-screen role: starring opposite Matt Damon in "Elysium," writer-director Neill Blomkamp's follow-up to his hit Oscar-nominated debut, "District 9."

Due next March, "Elysium" is set 150 years in the future in a world where Earth is polluted, diseased and overpopulated, so the wealthiest citizens create a utopic habitat in space.

Foster wanted to work with Blomkamp after seeing "District 9," which she called "a perfect film ... the movie I wish I would have directed."

Foster said she intends to direct again but hasn't found her next project. Her directorial credits include 1991's "Little Man Tate," 1995's "Home for the Holidays" and last year's "The Beaver."

"It's a long process," she said. "Because I do make personal films, they're hard to get off the ground, especially nowadays."

That's why cable might be her next stop, as it has been of late for such big-screen staples as Nicole Kidman, Kevin Costner and Julianne Moore.

"I think it's a good outlet for what I do," Foster said. "What I do are personal stories and, in some ways, usually involve family and they have equal amounts of comedy and drama, sometimes an absurdist twist, and they're very verbal. And I like constructing complex characters and hopefully seeing this sort of tapestry of how they interact with each other over time evolve. Well, TV's the place for that."

So would the two-time Oscar winner helm a series?

"Maybe," she said with a smile. "You never know."

Beyonce joins U.N. humanitarian campaign

NEW YORK - Beyonce is teaming with the United Nations and humanitarian aid organizations on a global campaign to encourage people around the world to get involved.

The pop star and songwriter Diane Warren will donate a video of "I Was Here" that will be filmed in the UN General Assembly Hall in New York in front of a live audience.

The video will premiere Aug. 19, World Humanitarian Day, and the UN hopes it will help the campaign reach 1 billion people.

A news release says the campaign website launched Thursday and allows people to share individual acts of good.

Beyonce says in the statement that World Humanitarian Day is a chance to work together and "this is our time to leave our mark on the world."

Jackson sister gets reality show

NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey has tapped La Toya Jackson to star in her own reality show.

"Life with La Toya" is described as a "candid look" inside Jackson's life as she juggles family, friends and business. It will air next year on Winfrey's TV network, OWN.

La Toya is one of Katherine and Joe Jackson's nine children and was Michael's sister.

She isn't the first Jackson to get a reality show. "The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty" aired for six episodes on A&E.

La Toya also competed last year on "Celebrity Apprentice."

On Thursday, OWN also announced a slate of celebrities sitting down with Winfrey for upcoming episodes of "Oprah's Next Chapter." They include Stephen Colbert, Bette Midler, Jennifer Hudson and Kelsey Grammer.

– From news service reports

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