Witherspoon: I lied about pregnancy during arrest

ATLANTA: Actress Reese Witherspoon recalled that she panicked, said some ”crazy things” and even claimed to be pregnant the night she was arrested in Atlanta on a disorderly conduct charge.    

During an interview Thursday on ABC’s ”Good Morning America”, Witherspoon repeatedly apologised for her behavior during the April 19 traffic stop. A police report states that Witherspoon asked a Georgia state trooper, ”Do you know my name?” and added, ”You’re about to find out who I am.”

In her first sit-down interview about the arrest, the Oscar-winning actress told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that she had ”one too many” glasses of wine, and panicked after she and her husband were pulled over.

”I have no idea what I was saying that night,” she said. ”I literally panicked. I said all kinds of crazy things. I told them I was pregnant. I’m not pregnant.”

Witherspoon, 37, was arrested after the trooper said she wouldn’t stay in the car while her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, was being given a field sobriety test.    A dash-cam video of the arrest posted by the TMZ website on Thursday shows a state trooper repeatedly telling Witherspoon to get back inside the car while he speaks to Toth. She initially tells him she is pregnant and needs to use the restroom.

At another point, she approaches the trooper as he reminds her of his directive to stay in the car. When she defies his warnings to immediately return to the vehicle, he starts handcuffing the actress and she becomes irate.

”This is harassment! You’re harassing me as an American citizen! I have done nothing against the law!” she says.

After more words are exchanged, the trooper leads her away off-screen, presumably to the police car, while Toth looks on. When the trooper returns, Toth tells him, ”I had nothing to do with that.”

”I know,” the trooper responds.

Toth was charged with drunken driving and was due in court May 23. Witherspoon faced a May 22 court hearing on the disorderly conduct charge. Two lawyers for Witherspoon, one in Los Angeles and one in Atlanta, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment on Thursday.

”There are so many lessons learned,” she said.

”When a police officer tells you to stay in the car, you stay in the car,” she said. ”I learned that for sure. I learned a lot.”

Bollywood marks India’s century of cinema

MUMBAI: India’s movie industry toasted its 100th birthday on Friday with the release of two films celebrating its humble origins in the silent era and the influence of glamorous modern-day Bollywood.

“Bombay Talkies” comprises four short stories inspired by India’s love of cinema and the impact of the movies, created by some of the country’s leading filmmakers.

“You usually celebrate birthdays and that’s what we are doing today. Indian cinema turns 100 and we are acknowledging that,” said Zoya Akhtar, who directed the film along with Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee.

The acclaimed cast includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rani Mukherjee, with a cameo from acting legend Amitabh Bachchan.

The film’s theme song features Bollywood A-listers that include Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.

The movie will have a special gala screening at the Cannes film festival this month, where India is to be honoured as the “guest country” in its landmark year.

“The four short stories are about passion for cinema and ingredients like drama, music, dance and entertainment. All of these ingredients are a huge part of our films and culture,” said co-producer Ashi Dua.

Its release comes 100 years to the day since the opening in Bombay (now Mumbai) of “Raja (King) Harishchandra”, the first all-Indian feature film, based on the tale of a virtuous king from the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

It marked the birth of one of the world’s most vibrant film industries, which produced almost 1,500 movies last year in various corners and languages of the country, with Hindi-language Bollywood leading the way.

While “Bombay Talkies” explores life in the present, the second film opening on Friday is the award-winning “Celluloid Man”, which pays tribute to the founder of the National Film Archive of India, P.K. Nair.

The documentary, so far only shown at festivals, showcases Nair’s lifetime dedication to preserving films that date back to the silent era, and it is peppered with clips from historic black-and-white productions.

Thanks to the efforts of 80-year-old Nair, nine silent films out of 1,700 made in India have been preserved, although no records remain of many others.

“Almost 70 per cent of the films made before 1950 are lost, including some real gems like the first ‘talkie’,” Nair told AFP, referring to the first Indian film with sound, 1931′s “Alam Ara” (The Light of the World).

Also on Friday, Indian president Pranab Mukherjee will join stars and filmmakers at the annual National Film Awards in capital New Delhi, following a six-day festival showcasing the colourful history of Indian cinema.

Award-winners, already announced, include “Paan Singh Tomar”, a Hindi film starring Irrfan Khan about the Indian soldier and athlete who became a notorious bandit.

Native American tribe to dub ‘Star Wars’ in Navajo

The largest Native American tribe in the United States is seeking to dub the classic 1977 movie “Star Wars” movie in Navajo as a way to help preserve its traditional language.

Fluent Navajo speakers have been invited for a casting call in Window Rock in northern Arizona on Friday and Saturday to dub the roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and others, tribal officials said.

Manuelito Wheeler, the director of the Navajo Nation Museum, said he first came up with the idea 13 years ago as a way to preserve the consonant-rich Navajo language, believed to be spoken by about 170,000 people, according to government figures.

“We thought this would be a provocative and effective way to help try to preserve the language and at the same time preserve the culture,” Wheeler told Reuters. “What better movie to do this than ‘Star Wars?’”

Wheeler said he believes the popular science fiction movie will resonate with the Navajo people with its universal theme of good versus evil.

The project was given the go-ahead about 18 months ago.

A team of five Navajos then spent 36 hours translating the original script, hampered by the many words in English that do not translate word for word into Navajo. Instead, several words in Navajo are sometimes needed to convey the proper meaning.

For example, he said there is no direct translation for “May the force be with you,” one of the most recognisable lines in the movie.

Wheeler declined to reveal the Navajo words used for that and other catch-phrases, as a way to “build momentum” leading up to the movie.

“What we want to avoid is like the Kung Fu movies of the past where the lips didn’t match up with the words they were speaking,” he said.

Casting for the voices of the movie’s major roles will be held at the museum in Window Rock. About 75 people have registered to audition.

The finished movie, which will include English subtitles, will be shown during the tribe’s Fourth of July celebration in Window Rock and again in September at the Navajo Nation Fair.

Steven Spielberg to direct ‘American Sniper’

LOS ANGELES: Steven Spielberg has his sights set on his next project, a movie about former Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, who is considered to be the deadliest sniper in US military history.

A spokeswoman for DreamWorks Studios says Spielberg will direct Bradley Cooper in an adaptation of the best-selling book ”American Sniper.”

”Spread” screenwriter Jason Hall wrote the script based on the autobiography of Kyle, who was killed this year at a Texas gun range. An Iraq war veteran, who he was trying to help deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is charged with the killings.

At the time of his death, Kyle was working on another book, ”American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms.”

The film will be a co-production of DreamWorks and Warner Bros.

Michael Jackson seemed at end of long illness: paramedic

LOS ANGELES: The first paramedic on scene at Michael Jackson's home the day he died said Tuesday the singer looked emaciated and like someone at the end of a chronic illness.

On the second day of a trial pitting Jackson's mother against tour promoter AEG Live, paramedic Richard Senneff -- the first witness to be called -- said doctor Conrad Murray was "frantic, pale and sweating."

"The patient was in pajamas. He looked very pale, very, very underweight," he said, recounting how he was called to the self-styled King of Pop's plush Holmby Hills mansion on June 25, 2009.

"He looked very ill .. To me, he looked like someone who was at the end stage of a long disease process," he added.

Murray -- who is serving four years in jail after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 -- "looked at me blankly at first," said Senneff, who was among witnesses who testified at the medic's 2011 trial.

"He was frantic, pale, sweating. He identified himself as a cardiologist," Senneff added, answering questions from Katherine Jackson's lawyer Brian Panish at the Los Angeles Superior Court, where the wrongful death trial started Monday.

"It just looked a lot more complicated than dehydration and exhaustion," Senneff testified.

When he asked Murray when the emergency had happened, Murray said: "Just this minute. Right when I called you," he told the court, adding that Jackson's eyes were dilated and his skin cool.

This suggested to him that the star had been dead for as long as an hour, he said.

The 50-year-old singer died from an overdose of powerful sedative and anesthetic propofol, administered by Murray to help the "Thriller" legend deal with chronic insomnia.

At the time of his death, he was rehearsing for a series of 50 shows in London, organized with AEG, in an attempt to revive his career and ease his financial woes.

On Monday the lawyer for 82-year-old Katherine Jackson accused tour promoter AEG of sacrificing the troubled star in a "ruthless" pursuit of profit in the months before his death.

But Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) lawyer Marvin Putnam argued the mega pop star had hidden the evidence of his addiction and health woes from everyone, including his family and the concert promoters.

Putman said evidence to be presented during the trial, likely to last at least three months, would show that Jackson began using propofol to help him sleep as far back as the 1990s, but concealed it from almost everyone.

Iron Man 3' blasts off US blockbuster season

LOS ANGELES: "Iron Man 3" is expected to launch America's summer blockbuster season with a bang this weekend, having already taken global box offices by storm, industry analysts say.

Robert Downey Jr returns as the metal-suited Marvel superhero, in a sequel to the last "Iron Man" movie in 2010, but also playing off the back of last year's comic-book mega hit "The Avengers," which also featured him.

The film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Kingsley as well, has already made nearly $200 million around the world in the last week, and could earn a similar sum in its first weekend in North America.

"The summer firework show has already begun for most of the world. Disney's cash rocket... is expected to light up the box office with $165 million," said Jeff Bock, box office analyst at industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That may be short of the best opening weekend box office ever -- $207 million for "The Avengers" -- but it would be the biggest "Iron Man" debut after $98 million for the first one in 2008 and the second three years ago.

Downey Jr was in suitably relaxed mood when promoting the movie recently ahead of its US release, bantering with Paltrow, whose character's teasing romance with his reaches new levels in this movie.

"These guys are wimps, okay? The suit is not that bad," Paltrow said after Downey Jr and metal-clad co-star Don Cheadle complained about how heavy their suits were, and how much they had to wear them on set compared to Paltrow.

The "Iron Man" star shot back: "And Gwyneth by the way, she did come in and she was having a ball, and her kids were there and she was in rockin' shape, so it was all nice and easy. I think she wore it once or twice.

"It's an accumulative issue," he joked at a Beverly Hills press conference, before acknowledging: "I admit, we're wimps."

France to honour film director Wong in Hong Kong

PARIS: Chinese film director Wong Kar Wai will join one of the art world's most exclusive clubs on Sunday when he is appointed a Commander of France's Order of Arts and Letters.

The renowned filmmaker is to be presented with the medallion awarded to recipients of France's highest cultural honour by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the opening of the French May arts festival in Hong Kong.

Wong's work has long been acclaimed in France. He won the Best Director award at the 1997 Cannes film festival for "Happy Together" and picked up a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Oscar, in 2001 for "In the Mood for Love."

His induction into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres sees him follow in the footsteps of fellow stars from the film world Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery and Michael Caine, as well as other illustrious artists including the poet TS Eliot and singer David Bowie.

As well as honouring Wong, Fabius is due to sign a visa accord with the Hong Kong authorities intended to facilitate travel and business links between France and the territory, which is home to up to 20,000 French expatriates.

The foreign minister is also hoping to stimulate investment in France by Hong Kong business figures and will deliver a speech on Europe-China relations at a lunch hosted by the Asia Society on Monday.