06:02 PM EDT 04/13/2013
The Help
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Octavia Spencer, Christopher Plummer Win Supporting Actor Oscars
Originally posted 02/26/2012 09:25PM
Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer have new fireplace mantel adornments – Oscars!
After a splashy opening with host Billy Crystal and bestowing honors in technical categories, the 84th annual Academy Awards finally got down to the business of presenting its first acting honor Sunday night. Octavia Spencer, whom Las Vegas oddsmakers gave a 70-percent chance of winning, did just that, taking the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her turn as the rebellious maid Minnie Jackson in The Help.
"I'm freakin' out," said the actress, who received the first standing ovation of the evening. Choking back tears, then finally unable to control their flow, Spencer, 32, said she needed to thank all her families: the one in her native Alabama, the one in L.A., her Help family. She also thanked the Academy for letting her sit next to the hottest guy in the room – Tate Taylor, director of The Help.
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Oscars 2012: Which Should Win Best Picture of the Year?
Originally posted 02/25/2012 05:45PM
Make no mistake: Oscar loves the movies.
Of the nine films in contention to be named Best Picture, the two with the most overall nominations – Hugo, with 11, and The Artist, with 10 – focus on the art form in its infancy and each is a Valentine to the medium – but will one of them snag Oscar's heart?
Having already earned Martin Scorsese a Golden Globe for his direction, Hugo sets its story in Paris, where orphan Hugo Cabret helps the real-life 1900s screen pioneer Georges Melies (played by Ben Kingsley) enjoy renewed appreciation in 1931.
With a number critics' circle awards as best picture of 2011, BAFTA's and the Producers Guild best picture of the year awards and the best musical or comedy motion picture Golden Globe, The Artist, set in 1927, examines of Hollywood's transition from silents to talkies as it affects a successful leading man (Jean Dujardin) who staunchly refuses to adapt to the new process.
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Octavia Spencer Plans Post-Oscars Gift to Herself: a Boob Lift
Originally posted 02/23/2012 09:40AM
She's earned it!
Asked by Parade if she's planning a splurge gift to herself in the wake of her success in The Help, Oscar front-runner Octavia Spencer says she does have a little present in mind.
"I am going to get my boobs lifted," she says. "That's going to be my first gift. I'm going to do that. I figured going into my 40s I want my boobs where they were when I was 17."
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Octavia Spencer Takes a Spill at the NAACP Image Awards
Originally posted 02/18/2012 03:40PM
At her latest stop on the awards show circuit, Octavia Spencer found herself in need of a little help.
While posing for pictures at Friday's NAACP Image Awards, Spencer lost her footing and took a spill off the stage.
But the actress, who stunned in a floor-length blue Tadashi Shoji gown, was back on her feet in no time after getting a hand from her The Help cast mates and crew (one of whom appeared to tumble with her).
Despite her fall, the actress walked away from Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium on top: She took home honors for her supporting role in the period drama, which has been one of the most decorated films of the red carpet season.
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Octavia Spencer Dons Triple Spanx for Red Carpet
Originally posted 02/01/2012 05:30PM
Oscar nominee Octavia Spencer says she's often found it hard to breathe on the red carpet of awards shows this season, and it's not just because she's racking up the accolades for her supporting role in The Help.
Spencer, 41, says she's taken to reinforcing her red carpet attire with Spanx – and doesn't always stop at one pair.
"I was not a Girl Scout, but I try to be very, very prepared," she told Ellen DeGeneres Wednesday. "I triple-Spank. Which is not good. Spanx really, really work, but you don't need to overdo it."
"It's wonderful because it gives you the illusion of an hourglass with the sand kind of spread out," she added.
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Jessica Chastain Reveals Her 'Embarrassing' Encounter with Meryl Streep
Originally posted 01/31/2012 11:15AM
Jessica Chastain has a fan base of her own, and it's only growing with her recent Oscar nod.
But her rising star aside, The Help actress – and first-time nominee for her supporting role in the period drama – says she still gets star-struck.
"I do it all the time, every time I meet a famous person," Chastain, 30, tells Vanity Fair in its Hollywood-themed February issue. "I'm such a geek."
So which actor did Chastain have a blush-worthy run-in with while she was starring in a play in New York? None other than veteran leading lady Meryl Streep.
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Screen Actors Guild Awards 2012
SAG Awards Honors The Help
Originally posted 01/29/2012 10:50PM
"Dream big, dream fierce." The real-life ladies of The Help would have agreed with Viola Davis, it's worth it.
Accepting the trophy for female actor in a leading role for the period drama, Davis told the audience gathered at L.A.'s Shrine Exposition Center for Sunday night's Screen
Actors Guild Awards: "What is there [in life] but a dream. You can't trade in your dream for another dream. I am so proud to be an actor."
It's an appropriate motto for a cast who were also recognized for their work in the film as an ensemble, the top honor of the night.
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Viola Davis, Shailene Woodley Join List of SAG Presenters
Originally posted 01/27/2012 09:30AM
And the list keeps growing.
Viola Davis, a double nominee this year for The Help, joins the list of presenters at Sunday's 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The actress will be joined by fellow two-time nominees Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), The Artist's Berenice Bejo and Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, who will also present awards, the show's executive producer announced.
And first-time SAG nominee Shailene Woodley, nominated alongside George Clooney in The Descendants, is expected to be a presenter, as well.
Previously announced presenters on the show include Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Natalie Portman.
The SAG Awards are a night for honoring one's peers, as the winners are chosen by guild members. The show will be broadcast live on TBS and TNT (8 p.m. ET) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on Jan. 29.
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Oscar Nominations: PEOPLE Critic's Take
Originally posted 01/24/2012 02:00PM
Nominations are out for the 84th Academy Awards. Here is PEOPLE Magazine critic Alynda Wheat's take on what went down at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hugo?! Fine, Hugo.
Leading the pack with 11 nominations is Martin Scorsese's kids movie that's not actually for kids. I confess that I still don't get it. Technically, Hugo is a triumph (you'll notice that the vast majority of its nominations are for technical awards), and Scorsese's nod for Best Director is certainly justified. But as a movie-going experience I still think it's remarkably cold (lectures about film history don't really move me). For my money, it's still a race between the French silent film The Artist and The Descendants, starring George Clooney, who did get nominated and Shailene Woodley, who missed the cut. Which brings me to my next point:
Snubs? What snubs?
Okay, sure, Golden Globe nominee Woodley might be a tad disappointed, as might Albert Brooks (Drive), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and even Steven Spielberg, whose amazing animated The Adventures of Tintin didn't rate a Best Animated Film nod, and who wasn't on the Best Directors list, in spite of the fact that his War Horse is a Best Picture nominee. But are these omissions actually snubs? Not really.
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Octavia Spencer Can't Wait to Show Off Cleavage in Oscar Dress
Originally posted 01/24/2012 01:00PM
Octavia Spencer woke up to some delightful news: The breakout star of The Help is up for Best Supporting Actress at this year's Academy Awards, it was announced early Tuesday.
"It's numbing!" Spencer, who won a Golden Globe for her role as Minny Jackson in the film, told PEOPLE of her nomination. "There were no guarantees. I didn't think I was in it and then they said my name and it was just a sigh of relief."
Once it sinks in and she has time to congratulate fellow nominee Melissa McCarthy – "I'm just going to call her and do a drive-by today," she says. "I'm thrilled for her!" – Spencer, 42, will have some decisions to make about what to wear on her big night.
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