09:16 AM EDT 03/28/2012
Melissa McCarthy
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Oscars 2012: Who Should Win Best Supporting Actress?
Originally posted 02/24/2012 06:30AM
This year's nominees of Best Supporting Actress couldn't be more different.
From Melissa McCarthy's hysterical gross-out part in the contemporary comedy Bridesmaids to Bérénice Bejo's romantic role in the mostly silent film The Artist, the nominees run the gamut of characters.
Also up for the Oscar are Janet McTeer in the moving period drama Albert Nobbs, and both Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain in the race-relations drama The Help.
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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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Screen Actors Guild Awards 2012
How to Play the Bridesmaids' Drinking Game
Originally posted 01/29/2012 10:10PM
That's one way to pass time during a two-hour awards ceremony.
The ladies of Bridesmaids enjoyed Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards one sip at a time with a game they invented that honors a filmmaker who's no stranger to winning the top prize: Martin Scorsese.
Taking the stage with beverages in-hand to present their film, which was nominated in the outstanding cast category, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy explained the rules to their drinking game of choice.
"You have to take a drink every time, and I mean every time, you hear the word 'Scorsese,' " McCarthy explained, a mini bottle of Grey Goose in her hands."You'd be surprised how much that comes up in just casual conversation because people like to throw that thing around."
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George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kathy Bates to Present at SAG Awards
Originally posted 01/26/2012 08:25AM
Multiple nominee Kathy Bates and lead actors (and former PEOPLE Sexiest Men Alive) George Clooney and Brad Pitt head up the group of presenters just announced for this Sunday's 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Other newly announced presenters include Owen Wilson, Melissa McCarthy, Zoe Saldana, Kristen Wiig and Sir Ben Kingsley, producers announced Wednesday.
Bates, 63, notably received nominations in film and TV categories this year for her roles as Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and Harriet Korn in Harry's Law.
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Melissa McCarthy Will Try Not to Swear at Glenn Close at Oscars
Originally posted 01/24/2012 02:30PM
Melissa McCarthy wants a second chance to make a good impression on Glenn Close.
The newly-minted Best Supporting Actress nominee joked that she'll be thinking more carefully about what to say to the Albert Nobbs star – a Best Actress nominee at this year's Oscars – should they cross paths again at the ceremony.
"I hope I can figure out something else to say to Glenn Close other than 'Holy s––– you're Glenn Close,' " McCarthy told PEOPLE after getting her Oscar news Tuesday morning. "I just think she makes beautiful, smart, perfect decisions in her characters and roles she plays. She looms very large to me."
The Bridesmaids star, who won an Emmy earlier this year for Mike & Molly, admits she was flustered when she first encountered Close at the Golden Globes but is planning ahead for Oscar night.
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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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George Clooney, Michelle Williams Receive Oscar Nominations
Originally posted 01/24/2012 08:45AM
Comedy counts in Hollywood, for once, with two surprise nominations for Bridesmaids, for Supporting Actress Melissa McCarthy and Best Screenplay writer Kristen Wiig, according to this year's Oscar nominations, announced early Tuesday at the Beverly Hills headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
As anticipated – given earlier honors from critics' group and the Golden Globes – nominations in the Best Picture category included those for director Alexander Payne's family drama set in Hawaii The Descendants (five nods) and the love letters to early movies, The Artist, with 10 nominations, and Martin Scorsese's Hugo, with 11. In all, nine films received Best Picture nominations.
Acting nods went to, among others, those friendly rivals George Clooney, for The Descendants, and Brad Pitt, for Moneyball.
For Best Actress, Michelle Williams was cited for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, as was Meryl Streep, who plays former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in The Iron Lady.
Streep's nomination is her 17th – an all-time Academy record. (Both Jack Nicholson and Katharine Hepburn received 12 nominations; he won three times and she won four.) Streep has won twice, as Best Supporting Actress for 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer, and as Best Actress for 1982's Sophie's Choice.
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George Clooney, Julianna Margulies Among Screen Actors Guild Nominees
Originally posted 12/14/2011 09:15AM
George Clooney , Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Michelle Williams were among the nominees announced Wednesday for the 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards, traditionally an accurate prognosticator for the Academy Awards.
Clooney, DiCaprio and Pitt, three of Hollywood's biggest stars, will square off against two relative unknowns, Demian Bichir and Jean Dujardin, in the category of best actor.
Williams is joined by Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton in the race for best actress.
The five movies nominated for best cast ensemble are The Artist, Bridesmaids, The Descendants, The Help and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.
Melissa McCarthy: My Body Is a 'Work in Progress'
Originally posted 11/28/2011 02:00PM
It's been a banner year for Melissa McCarthy professionally, but there's one thing the Bridesmaids star and recent Saturday Night Live host is still struggling with: her weight.
"I've been up and down," McCarthy, 41, tells Anderson Cooper during an appearance on Cooper's daytime talk show, Anderson, which will air Monday. "I've been much thinner since my second baby. I'm still working on it. It's a work in progress."
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