Christian Camargo

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The official start date for production on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1″ must be rapidly approaching as a bunch of new actors were added to the cast Thursday (September 30). Feast your eyes on the members of the Denali coven — the other “vegetarian” group of vampires who are considered friends/allies of the beloved Cullens.
According to a news release from Summit Entertainment, Christian Camargo (“The Hurt Locker, “Dexter”) will play Spanish vampire and former member of the Volturi, Eleazar; Mia Maestro (“Alias,” “Poseidon”) has been cast as Eleazar’s multilingual mate, Carmen; Kasey LaBow (“Moonlight”) is Kate, sister to Tanya and blessed with the ability of producing powerful electric currents under her skin that she uses to shock enemies; and MyAnna Buring (“Doomsday”) will play Tanya, the head of the Denali coven who once had a crush on Edward.
The four “Dawn” newbies join recently announced fellow Denali coven member Irina, to be played by “Lost” actress Maggie Grace. Irina ends up bringing a bit of havoc upon the Cullen family when she vengefully reveals a secret to the Volturi.
One other new “Dawn” addition is Rami Malek (“The Pacific”) who joined the cast last month in the role of Egyptian vampire Benjamin, a young vamp blessed with the special ability of controlling the elements (à la Storm from X-Men), though he has yet to fully master his powers. He comes to help Bella and the Cullens battle the Volturi.
“I think it’s going to be great,” Rami told “ET” of his joining the cast last month. “It’s going to be super exciting, and I’m thrilled.”
Summit announced in June that “Breaking Dawn” would be divided into two parts; the first of the two films is scheduled to hit theaters November 18, 2011, and the second on November 16, 2012.
Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.”
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Arthur Penn and Melanie Griffith on the set of “Night Moves” in 1975

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Revolutionary theater, television and film director Arthur Penn died Tuesday at his home in New York City, just one day after celebrating his 88th birthday. The The New York Times reports that the director, perhaps most well-known for 1967′s “Bonnie and Clyde,” passed away from congestive heart failure.
The Times calls Penn “a pioneering director of live television drama in the 1950s and a Broadway powerhouse in the 1960s,” and praises his ability to develop an “intimate, spontaneous and physically oriented method of directing actors that allowed their work to register across a range of mediums.”
Penn was born on September 27, 1922, in Philadelphia. He began his career in television and made a name for himself in 1957 with the production of “The Miracle Worker,” adapted from the stage for television on CBS’ “Playhouse 90,” for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Two years later, Penn took “The Miracle Worker” to Broadway, and he and star Anne Bancroft were awarded Tonys. In 1962, he directed the feature-film version with Bancroft, who went on to win the Oscar for Best Actress, alongside a young Patty Duke, who picked up a statue for Best Supporting Actress.
Penn also advised then-Senator John F. Kennedy during his debates with Richard Nixon in 1960 and directed the broadcast of the third debate.
All of these events led up to his most memorable work, directing Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in “Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Arthur Penn brought the sensibility of ’60s European art films to American movies,” writer/director Paul Schrader told The New York Times. “He paved the way for the new generation of American directors who came out of film schools.”
Penn continued to work in film, television and theater with some of the biggest and brightest names in the business, though none of those projects reached the level of critical mass as “Bonnie and Clyde” had done. His last theatrically released film was the apartheid drama “Inside,” in 1996. Penn served as an executive producer on several episodes of “Law and Order” in his later years, followed by one of his final theatrical productions, “Fortune’s Fool,” which earned Tonys for Alan Bates and Frank Langella in 2002.
Penn is survived by his wife of 54 years, Peggy Maurer, a son, Matthew, a daughter, Molly, and four grandsons.
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Justin Timberlake in “The Social Network”

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Facebook was recently valued at $33 billion. The movie about its founding should do about .09 percent of that total during its opening weekend at the box office, and Sony will be damn happy about it.

The studio is currently low-balling box-office estimates — all the better to manage expectations and post-opening buzz for a flick getting near-universal rave reviews — but experts suggest “The Social Network” could potentially flirt with the $30 million mark. David Fincher’s film is currently standing at 98 percent approval on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, making it one of the year’s critical darlings, just a notch below “Toy Story 3.” Will positive word-of-mouth carry the movie past the mid-$20 million range and into the glorious $30 million realm?
Here’s what the critics are saying. What will you be saying after the weekend?
The Story
“The creators of ‘The Social Network’ — screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (‘The West Wing’), whose dialogue here is so sharp it could slice ribbons, and director David Fincher (‘Zodiac’) — have something tricky and emotionally complex up their sleeves. The story of how Zuckerberg put Facebook together, one Silicon Valley bong bash and venture-capitalist powwow at a time, is intercut with a pair of deposition hearings in which he faces down the two parties he ostensibly screwed over. The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer, with body-doubling by Josh Pence), are super-WASP Harvard crew champions who accuse Zuckerberg of ripping off their idea for a website that will allow Harvard students to interface with one another. Then there’s Zuckerberg’s partner, CFO and only friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), whom he ultimately leaves out in the cold. The sizzling ethical-dramatic question that drives ‘The Social Network’ is: Why did Zuckerberg betray these people? Or, in fact, did he really? — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The Performances
“The script is filled with sharp, intense, witty writing, much of it performed at a thrilling rat-a-tat pace and played with sustained power. [Jesse] Eisenberg is at once furtive and bold and always unrepentant, Garfield is level-headed and decent, Hammer is very funny (and flawlessly rendered into two characters by Fincher), and [Justin] Timberlake, an increasingly impressive actor, has a merry time with his gladhanding jetsetter. Watch, too, as Douglas Urbanski steals a scene gloriously as Harvard president Larry Summers.” — Shawn Levy, The Oregonian
The Director
“It’s easy to see why the meticulous, technically gifted Fincher is drawn to Zuckerberg and the challenges of his story, and working from Sorkin’s best script yet, Fincher has struck perfectly the balance between calculated and human filmmaking. No single moment of the film stands out as a showstopper, but the cumulative effect of all the skill and talent on display here is devastating by the end, as we’re allowed to piece together for ourselves what this small story means for all of us.” — Katey Rich, CinemaBlend
The Dissenters
“If it is true that ‘The Social Network’ defines the decade, as an ad blurb states, then that’s just an accident of its shortcomings. We need to look deeper: It inadvertently defines an era when subterfuge and reprehensible behavior are accepted as a social norm — especially if it proves lucrative. No wonder mainstream media minions have flipped for ‘The Social Network’; they recognize the fiat of technological privilege.” — Armond White, New York Press
The Final Word
” ‘The Social Network’ is a great film not because of its dazzling style or visual cleverness, but because it is splendidly well-made. Despite the baffling complications of computer programming, Web strategy and big finance, Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay makes it all clear, and we don’t follow the story so much as get dragged along behind it. I saw it with an audience that seemed wrapped up in an unusual way: It was very, very interested.” — Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
Share your “Social Network” reviews in the comments below!
Check out everything we’ve got on “The Social Network.”
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The tragic wave of suicides among young people who have been targeted because of their sexuality has prompted several celebs to speak out against bullying.
In recent weeks, teens such as Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi and 13-year-old Seth Walsh have taken their lives after enduring taunts and humiliating incidents regarding their sexual orientation. Blogger Perez Hilton and several gay activists have spoken out against teen bullying, and columnist Dan Savage has started the YouTube channel “It Gets Better” to offer support, urging LGBT youth not to resort to suicide for relief from vicious teasing.
A diverse range of celebs also have blasted bullying and implored young people who have suffered abuse at the hands of their peers to maintain hope.
Media personality and former MTV VJ La La Vazquez teamed up with R&B star Ciara for a YouTube video offering support to young people affected by bullying.
“If you’re gay, bisexual, transgender, I know it can be tough in high school dealing with people who might not understand who you are,”
Vazquez says in the clip. “We just want to let you know that it does get better. We were in high school once, and we know how mean people can be who just don’t understand certain things.”
“You gotta know that your life is in your hands; you determine your destiny,” Ciara adds. “You’re in total control. You determine where things can go — where they can start, where they can stop. It starts with you, and it really does get better.”
Jay Manuel from “America’s Next Top Model” also made a video, explaining to teens that regardless of their current situation, the future is bright.
“I’m 38, and I can tell you, it does get better,” he says. “It’s not easy in high school; I don’t think anybody has it easy.
“People are gonna call you names, they’re gonna make you feel bad about yourself, but at the end of the day, we go off and do our own things, and you really do control your destiny. When someone calls you a name and they call you gay and they call you queer or whatever they call you, remember that at the end of the day, you can go off and be a success all on your own.”
Hilton had been tweeting several high-profile names in recent days to get involved in the “It Gets Better” initiative, and Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden responded with a link to the band’s anti-suicide video “Hold On.” Madden also pledged to make a personal video message.
“One Tree Hill” actress Sophia Bush also took to Twitter to express her concern about the ongoing bullying issues among young people.
“Anyone out there who thinks being a bully makes you cool? Wake up. It makes you a LOSER,” tweeted Bush, who created the Twitter account @MissUSethWalsh in honor of the late teen. “Cool means doing good things for people. ALL people.”
Openly gay talk show host Ellen DeGeneres maintained that bullying is an issue that affects more than just the young people lobbing insults and getting hurt in the melee, and urged everyone who is able to make a difference to get involved.
“One life lost in this senseless way is tragic. Four lives lost is a crisis,” DeGeneres blogged Thursday (September 30), referencing the suicides of Clementi and Walsh as well as Texas teen Asher Brown and 15-year-old Billy Lucas from Indiana.
“And these are just the stories we hear about. How many other teens have we lost? How many others are suffering in silence? Being a teenager and figuring out who you are is hard enough without someone attacking you.
“My heart is breaking for their families, their friends and for a society that continues to let this happen. These kids needed us. We have an obligation to change this,” she continues. “There are messages everywhere that validate this kind of bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop. We can’t let intolerance and ignorance take another kid’s life.”
DeGeneres closes her note with a sentiment echoed by many other
celebs: “Things will get easier, people’s minds will change, and you should be alive to see it.”
MTV’s ongoing “A Thin Line” project provides stories and resources for anyone who believes they are being cyberbullied or who is looking for ways to stop harassment by digital means.

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Christopher Plummer

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Could it have really been anyone else?
Christopher Plummer has signed on to play the haunted patriarch of the Vanger family in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” a casting move that seems a perfect marriage between actor and material.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Plummer, an Oscar nominee for last year’s “The Last Station,” had joined “Dragon Tattoo,” an adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s thriller that will be directed by David Fincher.
Plummer will play Henrik Vanger, the wealthy uncle of a teen girl who goes missing in the 1960s. Consumed for decades by the cold case — Was she murdered? Did she run away? — he hires a disgraced journalist named Mikael Blomkvist to attempt to finally find some answers. Blomkvist, in turn, hires Lisbeth Salander, a troubled, tough-minded computer hacker — and the girl with the titular body art — to help him. As sketched out by Larsson, Vanger is a shrewd, powerful old man obsessed with a murder that may never have occurred. He is a born storyteller and master manipulator, and the reader is never sure if he can be trusted — even as he somehow becomes a likeable fellow.
The formidable Plummer joins a rapidly growing cast. Daniel Craig plays Blomkvist and Rooney Mara beat out a slew of other candidates for the role of Salander. Robin Wright won the part of Blomkvist’s business partner and lover, Erika Berger, while Stellan Skarsgård portrays Martin Vanger, the brother of the missing girl.
Filming has already begun in Sweden. Initially there had been speculation that Fincher would shoot the adaptation of the book’s sequel, “The Girl who Played With Fire,” at the same time as “Dragon Tattoo,” but Fincher told MTV News back in July that wouldn’t be the case.
“No, there’s no plans for that right now,” he said. “You got to make one that people want to see a sequel to before you can make a sequel.”
Are you excited for the film adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”? Let us know in the comments!
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