Sacha Baron Cohen, otherwise known as Borat, and Juno scribe Diablo Cody have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. According to Reuters, the Academy issued invitations to 105 new actors, directors and other glittery movie folks. Ms. Cody's pal director Jason Reitman was also invited, as well as Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Ruby Dee, Josh Brolin, Allison Janney, Jet Li and Ray Winstone.  read more »

Now that he has ditched his Borat and Ali G personas, Sacha Baron Cohen is taking on a more serious role: as 1960s counterculture icon Abbie Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman, was a "self-identified Jewish Road Warrior, communo-anarchist," who was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot during violent police confrontations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

The Times Online reports:  read more »

Sacha Baron Cohen told the Daily Telegraph that he is retiring two of the characters that made him famous. He told the UK newspaper that it was much easier to do interviews and act in movies as Borat and Ali G, but it was time to let go and move on to more challenging roles.  read more »

It’s been almost six years since Johnny Depp’s last London slasher flick, From Hell, so it’s understandable that his latest project, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, left the bohemian-chic thespian a little harried by the whole experience. In Mr. Depp’s first reunion with longtime collaborator Tim Burton since 2005’s Corpse Bride, the 44-year-old actor will co-star alongside Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Very nice!

“Having worked with sharp objects before [in Edward Scissorhands], everything was fine until I had to shave someone,” Mr. Depp told Scotland's Daily Record. “The shaving cream made me really nervous. It was the most uncomfortable moment of my life [shaving Mr. Rickman]. Poor Alan. I've never really experienced that full on thing. This is a full beard for me - this is a lumberjack thing for me. But I can definitely appreciate it because when you get into the chair with a stranger and they lather your face up with sharp instruments around your throat...it's frightening."

And while Mr. Depp is no stranger to a little music making—he has worked with Oasis and Tom Petty in the past—he said he was spooked to the max by the prospect of crooning for the camera. “I think I was probably more frightened than anyone. I've never tried karaoke. It scares the hell out of me. I've never been that drunk—and I've been drunk,” he told the paper at a recent press junket. "Tim said he didn't know if I could sing and, likewise, I didn't know if I could sing. I did these demos in my friend's garage studio because I didn't know if I'd be able to hit a note, to be honest, I really didn't. I did that and sent it to Tim and he said we're going to be okay. And then I became a bit more confident," added the seemingly unflappable star.

All funny on-set anecdotes aside, Mr. Depp still knows the importance of actually publicizing his projects at press junkets. Whetting the appetites of critics and fans starving for a little more Johnny, he settled in and got right down to business, saying, “Someone is probably weeping after watching my performance."

To see pictures of the actor from the Sweeny Todd press junket, click here.

It's minstrelsy because Cohen has taken on the the guise of a minority he secretly loathes in order to put them down.

The U.S. portrait Borat offers is of an ignorant redneck land pulsating with unexamined prejudice. A crowd at a rodeo cheer when Borat gives a speech about killing every woman and child in Iraq. College students who pick him up hitchhiking are pleased to talk about the power of Jews in America. His image of Christians at a revival meeting—crazies. And into this world comes Borat, from a village in eastern Europe, not far from the old Pale of Settlement, talking about Jews and money. When he shows us his village's annual festival of the Running of the Jew, culminating in the destruction of the Jew egg, the Jew baby, the American audience you're sitting with is laughing.

I don't agree with Borat on this. I think America is too liberal, too diverse and too loving of its diversity, to fall for such a thing. But I got a chill alright.