Reuters Entertainment News Summary

09/05/2016 8:58

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Post-war drama 'Frantz' shot in two tongues to add truth, director says

French director Francois Ozon shot "Frantz" in both his native language and German to make the post-World War I drama screening at the Venice film festival more truthful, he said on Saturday. The movie tells the story of Anna, a young German played by Paula Beer, who mourns the death of Frantz, her fiance killed in battle, and meets Frenchman Adrien, starring Pierre Niney, who lays flowers on her fiance's grave.

'Don't Breathe' Frightens Competition at Labor Day Box Office

The second weekend of horror-thriller "Don't Breathe" is showing plenty of life at an otherwise quiet Labor Day box office with an estimated $19.4 million at 3,051 North American locations for the four days. Warner Bros. fifth weekend of "Suicide Squad" showed impressive staying power in second place with about $13.6 million for the weekend -- enough for the supervillain tentpole to top the $300 million mark on Monday.

Actor Liev Schreiber takes 800 punches to make boxer drama credible

Liev Schreiber took around 800 punches when filming "The Bleeder" to make the boxing drama more credible and to not upset the prize fighter whose real life story it portrayed, the U.S. actor said at the Venice film festival on Friday. The movie, based on the life of Chuck Wepner who almost went fifteen rounds with world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, is one of several movies screening in the out of competition section in Venice.

Mel Gibson 'surviving' in Hollywood as war drama premiers in Venice

Mel Gibson called his relationship with Hollywood "survival" as he prepared for the Venice film festival premiere of a war drama that marks his directorial comeback after a turbulent decade in his personal life. The Oscar winner's troubled years began in 2006, when he was arrested for drunk driving and responded with an anti-Semitic tirade. That led to headlines around the world, tarnished his reputation and set back a remarkable career that had made him one of Hollywood's highest paid actors, directors and producers.

Bridget Jones is back in new film, this time facing motherhood

Oscar winner Renee Zellweger puts on her British accent again to play bumbling Londoner Bridget Jones in the third installment of the film franchise, with the much-loved character, now in her 40s, single again but unexpectedly pregnant. The Texas-born actress reprises the role of the weight and love-obsessed character for "Bridget Jones's Baby," with Colin Firth back as the reserved Mark Darcy and new addition "Grey's Anatomy" actor Patrick Dempsey as her love interests.

Jude Law says he was taken aback when asked to play Sorrentino's pope

Jude Law was thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, until it became clear that the character he was being asked to portray was that of a conservative, chain-smoking American pope named Pius XIII. "Like a ton of bricks it landed on me that I had to play a pope and I didn't quite know where to go or what work to do to offer it some weight and believability," Law told a press conference at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

09/05/2016 8:58