Martha Marcy May Marlene is this year’s indie darling that took Sundance by storm and is set to make a star of Elizabeth Olsen (yes, those Olsens. She’s the younger sister of the infamous twins.) As far back as that festival in January, there was already talk of an Academy nomination for her. (Which probably ensures she’ll get one for an Independent Spirit Award in any case.) The film won its writer/director, Sean Durkin, making his feature debut, the award for direction at Sundance and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize (which is the festival’s equivalent of best picture.) It also played Cannes in May to favorable reviews.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is story of a damaged young woman (Olsen) haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, who struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

The cast includes John Hawkes, who appeared to come out of nowhere last year, but in reality just earned some notice with his Academy Award nominated performance in Winter’s Bone, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy and Brady Corbett, soon to be seen in another festival favorite, Lars von Trier’s Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst.

The trailer gives a nice taste of the paranoia, as well as the sense that none of us will know what is dream, reality or memory.

Despite the title, which is a mouthful, Fox Searchlight seem to have a lot of faith in this film and are putting on a big marketing push prior to its general release. It will open in a limited number of theaters in the US (probably NY and LA. Grrrr) on October 21 and in the UK on 3 February 2012.

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Last week Kate Winslet 35 was at Richard Branson’s Necker Island house with her boyfriend and children Mia 10 and Joe 7 when a fire destroyed the home leaving everyone scrambling to get out of the burning house. The house caught fire after being hit by lightning.

About 20 guests (including Richard’s 90 year old mother who Kate carried out) were staying at the house when fire broke out.  She tells Entertainment Tonight:

“I will never forget Richard placing his arms around both my children as we were watching the flames, and saying, ‘At the end of the day, what you realize is that all that matters is the people that you love. Everything else is just stuff. And none of that stuff matters,’”

“I’m just glad that everyone is safe,” Winslet said. “And this easily could not have been the case.”

It is great news that everyone is safe. She really does put into perspective what truly matters in life.

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Photo: WENN

As announced, MTV got the scoop on the teaser for the eagerly awaited film version of The Hunger Games when Lionsgate debuted it during last night’s Video Music Awards. Introduced by the film’s star, Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss Everdeen, it is indeed a teaser.

It doesn’t show much more than could be guessed at from the stills already released, but it does have a nice spin on the Hunger Games fiery logo. I’m sure this is just the first of many more teasers and trailers to come.

Based on the first in a series of novels by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games is the story of a young girl (Lawrence) who volunteers to take her sister’s place in a fight to the death in a dystopian future. The film also stars Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Lenny Kravitz and Wes Bentley.

The Hunger Games opens everywhere on March 23, 2012.

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The line up of stars for Dancing With The Stars is supposed to be officially announced tonight, but the cast has been leaked! Not sure about you, but this is a pretty uneventful cast. It was great about four years ago, but I think something drastic needs to be done. Without further delay:

• Nancy Grace
• Kristin Cavalleri 
• Riki Lake 
• Chynna Phillips 
• Hope Solis
• Elizabetta Canalis
• David Arquette
• Rob Kardashian
• Carson Kressley
• Jr. Martinez
• Chaz Bono
• Ron Artest 

Thoughts? Don’t shoot the messenger okay?

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Chris Cornell has debuted his new single, which happens to be an excerpt from the soundtrack for Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher due out in limited release on September 23.

Starring Gerard Butler as the Rev. Sam Childers, Machine Gun Preacher tells the story of Sam’s redemption from a life of crime and drugs to become an ordained minister who feels called to help the children of Sudan escape the tyranny of rebel forces who seek to turn them into child soldiers. His Angels of East Africa ministry is still operating in the area.

The song, called “The Keeper” can be heard at Cornell’s website and is available for the next 24 hours for download with a donation to the Angels of East Africa. 100% of the proceeds will go to Sam’s charity.  Starting Tuesday August 30, you can purchase the song on iTunes.

The whole soundtrack will be available on September 20 and will include music by Australian singer/songwriter Aaron Hendra, including “One Man’s War”. I confess to being very partial to this one. (The voices of the children give me goosebumps.)

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Lost’s Matthew Fox was in Cleveland, Ohio over the weekend when he tried to board a party bus that he was not a guest of. When a woman tried to block his entry to the bus, Matthew Fox allegedly punched her breast and vagina. Who does that?

Please tell me this is a complete misunderstanding and either one or both of the parties were so drunk they imagined this.  I can’t bear the thought of Matthew Fox being accused of doing such a despicable thing to a woman.

He was handcuffed by an off-duty officer and released without being arrested.  The matter is currently under investigation and TMZ has not heard back from Matthew or his representatives.

UPDATED

According to TMZ, Heather Bormann punched Matthew Fox in the face causing his lip to bleed and possibly breaking her own hand all in the name of ‘self-defense’. Apparently he was very drunk and when she told him to get off the bus that’s when he started. She is meeting with prosecutors today and is considering filing charges.

If what she is saying is true she has every right to defend herself; however, I have to wonder if she’s considering charges after finding out it was actor Matthew Fox?

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Photo: WENN