10:37 PM EDT 12/06/2011
Jeff Bridges
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Five Things to Know About True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld
Originally posted 12/27/2010 01:00PM
Among a laundry list of seasoned scene-stealers starring in the Coen brothers's latest film, True Grit – Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges – there's a new leading lady ready to make a big name for herself: Hailee Steinfeld.
As her first starring role in a major film, which is the second adaptation of the Charles Portis 1968 novel of the same name, Steinfeld holds her own as Mattie Ross, a fiery teen avenging her father's death in the wild, wild west. Before you catch the film, meet the Thousand Oaks, Calif., native, 14, who isn't afraid to take on hefty costars or a pit of snakes.
1. She got her big break in a Kmart commercial
Just months before she was rubbing shoulders on the dusty plains with Bridges and Damon, Steinfeld was bantering with high school kids in a squeaky-clean "Blingatude" back-to-school commercial for Kmart. She's the girl in the light-blue headband and heart-print top. It was one of Steinfeld's few onscreen roles before being cast in True Grit.
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Jeff Bridges Wonders If Oscar Win Is All a Dream
Originally posted 03/08/2010 11:30AM
Jeff Bridges won't be pinching himself anytime soon. If all of this is an Oscars dream, he's fine with that.
"It's unbelievable," Bridges, 60, told PEOPLE at the Governor's Ball after winning the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday for Crazy Heart, nearly 40 years after his first nomination, for 1971's The Last Picture Show.
"This could be a dream," he said. "I might wake up. Maybe not. Not for a while, anyway."
The actor credited his friends, family and colleagues for their love and support during his long and winding road through Hollywood. During his acceptance speech, he raised the Oscar to the sky and addressed his late parents, Lloyd and Dorothy.
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Oscar History Made: Bigelow, Bullock, Bridges Win
Originally posted 03/08/2010 12:15AM
There may have been few surprises on Oscar night Sunday, but there was plenty of heart.
Glowing in gold as she stood in the winners' circle, Best Actress Sandra Bullock – who noted that George
Clooney once threw her into a swimming pool years ago – acknowledged each of her sister nominees, including the "great kisser"
Meryl Streep, then focused on the message of her movie, The Blind Side: that the mother figure is the one who brings light and love into a person's life.
In a moment that is bound to be long remembered, Bullock tearfully thanked her mother "Helga B" – Helga D. Meyer, a German opera singer and voice
teacher who died in 2000 – whose wise guidance included not letting her daughters ride in cars with boys until they were 18. The Oscar winner admitted that she would have done exactly what her mother feared she would.
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George Clooney Isn't Betting on Himself for Oscar Win
Originally posted 03/07/2010 09:00PM
George Clooney is a betting man – and even he is betting he won't win the Best Actor trophy at Sunday's Academy Awards.
"If you were to say to me, 'Put all of your property on one thing,' I would put all of it on that," Clooney joked with Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet. His choice? "I even voted for Jeff Bridges."
Still, that doesn't mean the actor wasn't in good spirits at Sunday's award show. "I am not a lonely guy," Clooney, who brought girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis as his date, said. "Look, I am surrounded by stunning women in long dresses."
And the actor had another celebrity admirer on the red carpet: Sherri Shepherd. "I'm traumatized because I want George Clooney," the View cohost, who emceed ABC's red carpet special, said. Then she asked Canalis: "You don't mind do you?"
While Canalis smiled and said "no," her Up in the Air beau joked that her answer was because she didn't understand the question. "She doesn't understand English or she'd kill you," he said with a smile. "She'd cut you with a stiletto."
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QUOTED: Maggie Gyllenhaal High-Fives Jeff Bridges's Heart – and His Vodka
Originally posted 02/17/2010 08:15AM
"[During filming], you had everyone come in your trailer and you had vodka and I wasn't used to that, but I had an almost 2-year-old and I was up for it. And I remember in the end it dwindled down [to a few people] and you put your arm around Scott [Cooper, the director] and said, 'This is our leader, man, this is our leader.' And I wasn't sure, but I went with you because you said that and you said that with all your heart … And I know something about his heart, and he deserves every award that you guys could come up with to give him."
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, presenting her Crazy Heart costar Jeff Bridges his best actor prize Tuesday night at AARP the Magazine's Ninth Annual Movies for Grownup Awards, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.
– Howard Breuer
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Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep Vie Again – for Oscars
Originally posted 02/02/2010 08:45AM
She's already taken home the Golden Globe and the SAG Award. Now, Sandra Bullock is up for Hollywood's biggest prize of all: the Academy Award, as was announced – along with all the other nominations – by Anne Hathaway early Tuesday morning in Beverly Hills.
As a Best Actress nominee for her turn as the real-life Memphis mother Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, Bullock shares her category with Carey Mulligan, for An Education; Helen Mirren, for The Last Station; Gabourey Sidibe, for Precious; and Meryl Streep, for her rollicking interpretation of French chef Julia Child in Julie & Julia.
The SAG and Globe male winner, longtime critics' favorite Jeff Bridges, also snagged a Best Actor Oscar nod, for his down-and-out country musician Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. His fellow nominees are George Clooney, for Up in the Air (considered Bridges's strongest rival); Colin Firth, for A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, for Invictus; and Jeremy Renner, for The Hurt Locker.
Harking back to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s, the Academy has increased the number of Best Picture nominees, from five to 10. This year's contenders are: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air.
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Jeff Bridges's Acting Secret: Häagen-Dazs
Originally posted 01/16/2010 10:20AM
To get into character as hard-living country legend Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges brushed up on his skills as a musician – and consumed more than his fair share of junk food.
"Normally I watch what I eat. I feel better when I'm in shape and not too overweight," the star told PEOPLE at Sunday's New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend. "When you're playing a part like [this] ... If you feel like a pint of Häagen-Dazs, you hammer the Häagen-Dazs."
Turning to food to get into character is nothing new for the celebrated actor. "It's something I always do," Bridges, 60, , who nabbed a Critics' Choice Award Friday, explained. "You think of the physicality of the character and what kind of food you need to help create the physical shape you're looking for."
Doppelganger Kris Kristofferson, whose looks and legend Bridges channeled for the role enjoyed the actor's look-alike performance and joked about sharing screen time in the future.
"We saw the movie together and Kris laughed at how much I reminded him of him," said Bridges. "We looked in the mirror and said, 'We gotta play brothers, man! We had a good laugh.' "
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