Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cellar victim Kampusch raped, starved in film of ordeal

VIENNA (Reuters) – A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.

Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.

Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.

The film, “3,096 Days” – based on Kampusch’s autobiography of the same name – soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.

The emaciated Kampusch – who weighed just 38 kg (84 pounds) at one point in 2004 – keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.

One entry reads: “At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear.”

The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift – but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.

GREY AREAS

Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray “the strength of someone’s soul, the ability of people to survive… but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don’t necessarily understand.”

The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. “It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused,” she told journalists as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.

Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.

In an interview with Germany’s Bild Zeitung last week, she said: “Yes, I did recognize myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can’t really show that in the cinema, since it wasn’t supposed to be a horror film.”

The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.

“I focused mainly on playing the human being because… we have to remember it was a human being. Monsters do not exist, they’re only in cartoons,” Lindhart said.

“It became clear to me that it’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about surviving eight years of hell. If that story can be told then I can also play the bad guy.”

The director was German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move “Desert Flower”, an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.

“I’m a mother and I wonder at the strength of this child, and it was important for me to tell this story from a different perspective, to tell how this child using her own strength could survive this atrocious martyrdom,” Hormann said.

The Kampusch case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.

The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbors could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.

The film goes on general release on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Paul Casciato)

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‘Identity Thief’ tops box office with $14 million

NEW YORK (AP) — A week after losing the box office title to Bruce Willis, Melissa McCarthy took it back again.

McCarthy’s road trip comedy “Identity Thief” topped the box office in its third week of release on Oscar weekend with $ 14 million for Universal. 20th Century Fox‘s “A Good Day to Die Hard,” starring Willis, slid to fifth with $ 10.1 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. “Identity Thief,” Universal, $ 14,017,085, 3,222 locations, $ 4,350 average, $ 93,619,615, three weeks.

2. “Snitch,” Lionsgate, $ 13,167,607, 2,511 locations, $ 5,244 average, $ 13,167,607, one week.

3. “Escape From Planet Earth,” Weinstein Co., $ 10,682,037, 3,353 locations, $ 3,186 average, $ 34,812,699, two weeks.

4. “Safe Haven,” Relativity Media, $ 10,454,713, 3,223 locations, $ 3,244 average, $ 47,916,356, two weeks.

5. “A Good Day to Die Hard,” Fox, $ 10,165,633, 3,555 locations, $ 2,860 average, $ 51,967,897, two weeks.

6. “Dark Skies,” Weinstein Co., $ 8,189,166, 2,313 locations, $ 3,540 average, $ 8,189,166, one week.

7. “Silver Linings Playbook,” Weinstein Co., $ 5,750,866, 2,012 locations, $ 2,858 average, $ 107,176,012, 15 weeks.

8. “Warm Bodies,” Lionsgate, $ 4,825,388, 2,644 locations, $ 1,825 average, $ 58,243,441, four weeks.

9. “Beautiful Creatures,” Warner Bros., $ 3,608,333, 2,950 locations, $ 1,223 average, $ 16,570,598, two weeks.

10. “Side Effects,” Open Road Films, $ 3,357,039, 2,070 locations, $ 1,622 average, $ 25,099,555, three weeks.

11. “Zero Dark Thirty,” Sony, $ 2,230,084, 1,197 locations, $ 1,863 average, $ 91,539,075, 10 weeks.

12. “Argo,” Warner Bros., $ 1,827,165, 802 locations, $ 2,278 average, $ 129,653,502, 20 weeks.

13. “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” Paramount, $ 1,684,532, 1,425 locations, $ 1,182 average, $ 52,945,086, five weeks.

14. “Life of Pi,” Fox, $ 1,605,366, 572 locations, $ 2,807 average, $ 113,525,126, 14 weeks.

15. “Lincoln,” Disney, $ 1,481,081, 875 locations, $ 1,693 average, $ 178,603,571, 16 weeks.

16. “Mama,” Universal, $ 1,173,900, 1,163 locations, $ 1,009 average, $ 70,230,570, six weeks.

17. “Quartet,” Weinstein Co., $ 1,125,886, 356 locations, $ 3,163 average, $ 8,844,950, seven weeks.

18. “Django Unchained,” Weinstein Co., $ 971,655, 659 locations, $ 1,474 average, $ 158,783,430, nine weeks.

19. “Amour,” Sony Pictures Classics, $ 716,186, 328 locations, $ 2,183 average, $ 5,147,242, 10 weeks.

20. “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney, $ 645,870, 402 locations, $ 1,607 average, $ 186,676,411, 17 weeks.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

___

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http://www.hollywood.com

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Mike Tyson sues Live Nation over embezzlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mike Tyson is suing a financial services firm affiliated with Live Nation, claiming it cost him more than $ 5 million due to a former employee’s embezzlement and mismanagement.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims an adviser from SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises embezzled more than $ 300,000 from the former heavyweight boxing champ. The suit claims the losses hindered Tyson and his wife from emerging from bankruptcy.

SFX is a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

The case claims Tyson and his wife lost millions more by having to hire new attorneys and advisers to handle their financial affairs, and they had to turn down lucrative contracts.

Messages left for a Live Nation spokeswoman and at the Washington, D.C., offices of SFX were not immediately returned.

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Singer Sande in line for big prize at BRIT awards

LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish singer Emeli Sande is favorite to win the coveted British album of the year honor later on Wednesday when the BRIT Awards are handed out in London.

Sande, whose profile received a major boost when she took part in the opening and closing ceremonies at the London Olympics last year, has been nominated for three prizes on British pop’s biggest night.

She was shortlisted for best British female, which she is expected by bookmakers to win, and best British single for “Next to Me”. Sande also features on another contender for the single prize, Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful”.

Arguably the biggest category is British album, where Sande’s “Our Version of Events” is up against other acts who each picked up three nominations – Mumford & Sons for “Babel” and Alt-J for “An Awesome Wave”.

Sande, who had Britain’s best-selling album in 2012, has hit back at critics who have questioned whether she had been over-exposed in the last 12 months.

“I feel like it’s a bit unfair,” she told the Sun tabloid. “I actually haven’t done that much, but it’s just what I have done have been huge events.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I worked so hard to get any exposure at all, so I don’t see that as a negative.”

Adele looks set to add to her groaning trophy cabinet with the best single award for James Bond theme “Skyfall”, while U.S. acts Lana Del Rey and Frank Ocean are bookmaker Ladbrokes’ favorites for best international female and male respectively.

“There’s a nailed on favorite in every category and it’s hard to see any last minute upsets at this stage,” said Ladbrokes spokeswoman Jessica Bridge.

It may be that the big surprises this year at the BRITs, which have a reputation of rewarding commercial success over musical originality, came at the nominations stage.

Last month eyebrows were raised when Amy Winehouse was nominated in the British female solo category some 18 months after her death for a chart-topping album of unreleased songs and demos called “Lioness: Hidden Treasures”.

And veteran rockers the Rolling Stones were shortlisted for best live act after they returned to the stage for a short, sellout tour of London and the United States at the end of 2012 to mark 50 years in the business.

The last time the group was nominated for a BRIT was in 1996, and the Rolling Stones are the only act to be nominated both at this year’s ceremony at the O2 Arena and at the first BRIT Awards staged in 1977.

Performing at the awards ceremony will be Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Muse, Robbie Williams, Sande, Mumford & Sons, Ben Howard and One Direction.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Singer Fergie says she and actor Josh Duhamel expecting baby

(Reuters) – The Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie said on Monday that she and her husband, actor Josh Duhamel, are expecting a baby.

“Josh & Me & BABY makes three!!!,” she tweeted. She also posted photos of herself and her husband as toddlers.

It is the first child for the couple married in 2009.

Duhamel, 40, appeared in the “Transformers” movies and stars this year in the film “Safe Haven.”

Fergie, 37, whose real name is Stacy Ferguson, joined The Black Eyed Peas in 2002 for their third album, “Elephunk,” which proved to be a huge commercial success.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst in New York; Editing by Barbara Goldberg)

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“Die Hard” action beats love stories at box office

(Reuters) – The fifth movie in the Bruce Willis “Die Hard” franchise scored the biggest box-office action over the U.S. holiday weekend, beating out love story “Safe Haven,” which came in third for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

“A Good Day to Die Hard,” with Willis returning as the tenacious, wisecracking hero John McClane, pulled in $ 25 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters over the three days, according to studio estimates.

The tally was expected to approach a total of $ 40 million for the five days that began with Thursday’s Valentine’s Day and ends with Monday’s Presidents Day holiday in the United States.

“Die Hard” beat “Safe Haven,” an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel that was aimed at luring couples during the week of Valentine’s Day. The film, which stars Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, pulled in $ 21.4 million over the three days.

Last weekend’s box office winner, the Melissa McCarthy comedy “Identity Thief,” stayed strong and ended up taking second place with $ 23.4 million from Friday to Sunday.

Willis prevailed with his reprisal of a role he played four previous times starting with the original “Die Hard” in 1988. Those movies grossed $ 1.1 billion around the world and made Willis a global action star.

In the new movie, McClane travels to Russia to help his estranged son, a CIA operative played by Jai Courtney, in a fight to prevent a nuclear weapons heist.

Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox studio, said the film performed “right on par with our expectations,” which was near $ 40 million for the five-day period.

Audiences were about 55 percent male and 45 percent female, with just over one-third under the age of 25 and two-thirds 25 and older, which Aronson said was in line with the franchise’s last installment.

“It just shows the consistency of the fan base,” he said.

The opening was nearly double the total of the original “Die Hard,” adjusted for inflation, but down significantly from the previous three films in the franchise, according to figures from boxofficemojo.com.

The film added another $ 61 million to its total at international box offices, performing especially well in Russian, Japan and the United Kingdom.

‘BEAUTIFUL CREATURES’ MISSES AUDIENCE

News Corp’s 20th Century Fox spent about $ 92 million to produce the latest “Die Hard” sequel. It hit theaters on Valentine’s Day, and, in addition to “Safe Haven,” faced another romance movie in “Beautiful Creatures.” Fox promoted “Die Hard” with commercials encouraging moviegoers to “get some action” on Valentine’s Day.

“Safe Haven” stars “Dancing with the Stars” alum Hough as a young woman who meets a widower played by Duhamel. Privately held Relativity Media produced the film for $ 28 million.

The studio said “Safe Haven” was on track to finish second for the Thursday-to-Monday period, with total sales of $ 34 million, beating industry projections.

“Beautiful Creatures,” the supernatural love story about a teenage girl with magical powers, made its debut with $ 7.5 million at the box office to rank sixth in the three-day tallies.

The film was another of several Hollywood films aiming to capture the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” audiences of teenage girls with adaptations of popular young adult novels.

Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president of theatrical distribution, said “Beautiful Creatures,” produced by Alcon Entertainment for about $ 60 million, had a number of competitors on a busy weekend and the studio had hoped for a bigger turnout. “It just missed the audience,” he said.

In fourth place, family film “Escape from Planet Earth,” pulled in $ 16.1 million over the three days. The $ 40 million animated movie features the voices of Brendan Fraser and Sarah Jessica Parker in the story of an astronaut who finds trouble when he responds to a distress call from an alien planet.

Zombie romance “Warm Bodies,” in its third weekend of release, took the No. 5 slot with $ 9 million over the three days.

“Identity Thief” was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp. The privately held Weinstein Co released “Escape from Planet Earth.” Lions Gate Entertainment’s Summit studio released “Warm Bodies.” “Beautiful Creatures” was produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles and Chris Michaud in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)

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Kate Upton says body shut down after Antarctic bikini shoot

(Reuters) – Swimsuit model Kate Upton said on Tuesday her body shut down after she posed in a skimpy bikini in Antarctica for Sports Illustrated magazine.

Upton, wearing only a white bikini bottom and an unzipped white parka, was picked as the cover girl for the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, unveiled on Monday, for the second consecutive year.

“It was freezing,” Upton, 20, told NBC’s morning TV show “Today” on Tuesday. “I’m from Florida, so it wasn’t easy for me.

“When I came back, I was losing my hearing and eyesight. My body was shutting down because it was working so hard to keep me warm.”

Upton joins celebrity models including Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley and Tyra Banks to appear more than once on the swimsuit issue‘s cover.

M.J. Day, a senior editor for Sports Illustrated, told Reuters that Upton braved temperatures as low as 24 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 Celsius) and wind chills as low as -20 Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius).

“We should name a passageway after her down there,” said Day, who accompanied Upton on the frigid shoot. “She braved six days in a bikini while we were head-to-toe in jackets … No one will ever accuse her of being a whiny model, ever.”

This year’s 17 models were part of photo shoots that stretched across all seven continents.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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Oscar’s oldest nominee, Emmanuelle Riva, on “Amour”: it’s a gift in the last stage of my life

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The life of an artist is full of surprises, and none has been bigger for French actress Emanuelle Riva than the one that has come late in life. The response has been overwhelming to her performance in this year’s meditative “Amour,” which brought her the first Oscar nomination of her career – and makes her the oldest Best Actress nominee ever, at 85.

Riva was best known previously for her role in the 1959 French New Wave classic, “Hiroshima Mon Amour,” directed by Alain Resnais. In Michael Haneke‘s “Amour,” she plays a wife declining inexorably toward death, losing her physical and intellectual grasp.

The loving husband who cares for her is played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, whose breakout role was playing Brigitte Bardot’s young suitor in the original version of “And God Created Woman.”

After a lifetime of steady roles in France, Riva has spent the better part of the past year responding to global interview requests and accepting accolades, including a New York Film Critics Circle award in January that led to her first trip ever to New York. The Oscars will be her first trip to Los Angeles. It will also take place on her 86th birthday.

TheWrap spoke by phone to Riva from her family home in Les Vosges, a region in eastern France.

Thank you for making the time to speak to us.

Well, I am horribly tired. I don’t have a moment to rest. They don’t leave me in peace. But, my word, I said I’d do it.

Have you been surprised by the response to “Amour”?

It surprises us, this much success. I didn’t expect so much interest. But it’s not only to me, it’s to the film, those who worked in the film. We are very happy for this huge public response.

How did Michael Haneke approach you about doing the role?

It’s not me who decided. It’s Haneke who decided. When a director like him chooses someone, he is so precise. He knew me from “Hiroshima Mon Amour.” I was 30 years old. He hadn’t seen me since that time. And he wanted to meet me. It was done very classically. A director looks for an actor, he has a vision, we met.

And then what happened?

We did a rehearsal with the scene in the kitchen – when she begins to depart, to go elsewhere. the regard that’s no longer there. The absence. It’s terrible. He looked at it closely. He wanted to see me on the screen. He said I touched him deeply in this scene.

What did you think of the role when you read it?

When I read the script I found it so extraordinary.

I had the profound certitude that I could do it. I felt that at that moment in my life as an actress, I was immediately capable of doing it. If he didn’t give me the role, I would have been so sad.

Were you afraid of confronting this theme of mortality?

Afraid? No, not at all. Why would I be afraid? This role presents the subject of the film that touches each of us, every human on the planet. As an actress, it’s so exciting to be engaged in a role like this. I would never have felt fear for this. If an actress is afraid, she should head for the door right away.

I was so happy in the work. Every day, every day. Two months of work. It was such happiness-a feeling of complete fullness. Of life, of death, of love. I never lost the excitement of the work. I was so infinitely happy during this shoot. So serious, but it wasn’t sad at all.

What was it like creating that intimacy with Jean-Louis Trintignant?

I’d met him in Rome many years ago when we were young, but I don’t know him well. This is the heart of our work. We meet other people we don’t know, and immediately we are in complete intimacy. I didn’t do anything. I just was there, and him also.

We started with the kitchen scene after the concert at the Champs Elysee Theatre. I seem to recall that scene. We were facing each other at the table as if we’d been for years. I just lived it. This is what’s so marvelous. When I don’t know someone, I’d say I have more freedom as an actress. Sometimes we surprise ourselves, but one can surprise the director with how deep you can go. Haneke – he is fantastic – he was the music of the film.

What direction did Haneke give you?

There was one direction, not 36. From there we had a lot of freedom. He’s not tyrannical. His direction was very simple, very rigorous. We were doing a scene and he said, “It’s very nice – very sweet, very tender – but it’s too tender. No sentimentality. From here on in, no sentimentality.” This was the key that opened the horizon of the film. Once I heard that, it became much more clear. I said, “I get it.” This husband and wife each have very strong personalities. But it is not expressed in sentimentality.

How did you react to the Oscar nomination?

I found out in New York, I was there for the critics circle award. The 10th of January, early morning. My neighbors who help me when I travel shouted for joy. I was barely awake. They were screaming, “You’re nominated!” I stayed very calm. I got up and said, “I’m not nominated.” Of course I was very happy.

And how do you feel about coming to the Oscars?

I am very calm in the face of all of this. I am 85 years old. I am not going to flop about like a fish. What makes me nervous is these hours on the plane. Frankly, it seems like a hell of a journey to me. It’s so long. But I will do things to the end. I will fall in someone’s arms if I need to.

This adventure, this gift, in the last stage of my life – it’s not easy to measure up – but it’s the exact moment in my life when I could do it. Before would have been too early. Later might have been too late. But it’s a great treasure to participate in this film.

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”Downton Abbey” star Maggie Smith never watches TV show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Maggie Smith‘s sarcastic dowager Countess may be the star of British period drama “Downton Abbey,” but the award-winning actress says she has never watched the TV series.

Smith, 78, who has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her role as the acid-tongued Lady Grantham, tells CBS in an upcoming TV interview that she is amazed by the popularity of the show both in Britain and the United States.

Asked whether she is proud of “Downton Abbey”, Smith said, “I haven’t actually seen it. So I don’t, I don’t sit down and watch it,” she told CBS reporter Steve Kroft in the interview to be broadcast on Sunday.

“Never?” Kroft asked. “No, I haven’t watched it,” Smith replied, according to an advance excerpt released on Thursday.

Smith, known as a perfectionist, said that watching herself would make her worry about her performance. “It’s frustrating. I always see things that I would like to do differently and think, ‘Oh, why in the name of God did I do that?’”

“Downton Abbey,” a drama about the lives of aristocratic Britons and their servants in the early 20th century, attracted some 7.9 million viewers for its third season premiere in January on U.S. television.

Smith’s snobbish Lady Grantham and her withering remarks like “No-one wants to kiss a girl in black,” and “What is a weekend?”, have made her the show’s biggest star.

Smith also has two Oscars for her roles in 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and 1978 comedy “California Suite” but she said she had no interest in her recent fame. The actress is a rare face at Hollywood award ceremonies.

“I don’t feel any different to the way I felt before and I’m not quite sure what (being a star) means. I am familiar to people now, which is what I was not before,” she told Kroft. “That is entirely due to the television set.”

Smith also acknowledged her reputation as an actress who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

“Old people are scary and I have to face it, I am old and I am scary and I am very sorry about it, but I don’t know what you do,” she quipped.

The full interview can be seen on “60 Minutes” on February 17 on CBS television.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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Kevin Spacey, Eva Longoria find starring roles online

(Reuters) – “Desperate Housewives” alum Eva Longoria‘s new project won’t bring her back to ABC, or any traditional U.S. television network. The actress will produce and lend her voice to “Mother Up!,” a 13-episode adult animated comedy available in the U.S. this fall only on the online video site Hulu.

Longoria, Kevin Spacey, John Goodman and other top Hollywood actors are being wooed by the growing number of Silicon Valley companies rushing to get a foothold in consumers’ living rooms with exclusive shows that feature big names and hefty budgets.

As video streaming technology makes watching videos on laptops and mobile devices as easy as flicking on a TV set, Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc’s YouTube, Yahoo and Microsoft Corp are setting up shop in Hollywood to produce or license their own series.

Their models are pay TV channels like HBO and Showtime that built their subscriber rolls by creating shows like HBO‘s “Sopranos” or Showtime’s “Homeland” that a TV viewer couldn’t get anywhere else.

“Content creators think they’ve hit the lottery,” said Bernard Gershon, head of digital consultancy Gershon Media and a former Walt Disney Co executive. “Those companies are throwing a lot of dollars for content they can use to create a following.”

With 33 million global subscribers to its streaming service, Netflix can afford to plunk down what analysts estimate was up to $ 100 million for the rights to “House of Cards,” a slickly produced political drama starring two-time Oscar winner Spacey and produced by “The Social Network” film director David Fincher.

Upcoming only-on-Netflix series include the revival of one-time Fox comedy “Arrested Development” starring Will Arnett, and murder mystery “Hemlock Grove,” directed by horror movie producer Eli Roth.

On Tuesday, the Los Gatos, California-based company announced the December release of its first original children’s series, a show based on DreamWorks Animation’s coming summer movie “Turbo” about a fast-moving snail.

The companies have different business models — Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft have subscription services, YouTube sells advertising, while Intel Corp and Apple Inc may introduce cable-like services that offer channels online.

But they all sense an opening as consumers increasingly chafe at their mounting cable and satellite TV bills. A small, but increasing, number are starting to “cut the cord,” or drop their service, say analysts.

“We may be sowing the seeds of our own destruction,” Charlie Ergen, chairman of satellite operator Dish Network Corp, said at the AllThingsD “Dive into Media” conference on February 12. “A lot of people can live with Netflix and be perfectly happy.”

Netflix has won fans in Hollywood by giving writers and directors a “high level of autonomy as well as an increasingly global distribution platform,” Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt said in a note to clients.

“There is plenty of room for multiple producers and licensors of original content,” Devitt added.

Amazon.com’s Prime subscription, which combines a video streaming service with free shipping for products it sells online, stepped up its Hollywood dealmaking in the last month with pacts to be the exclusive online home for popular PBS drama “Downton Abbey” and upcoming CBS show “Under the Dome,” a series based on a Stephen King novel.

The Seattle-based company, seen by some analysts as Netflix‘s biggest threat, said last month it plans to air 11 original pilot episodes before deciding which to produce as ongoing series.

One of the pilots, “Alpha House,” follows four senators who live together in a rented house. “Roseanne” and “Argo” actor John Goodman will star, according to a person close to the situation.

Overall, Amazon Studios has 48 movie and TV shows in development, an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Hulu, owned by media giants Disney, News Corp and Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal, is beefing up its own original and exclusive content for its free, ad-supported service and its monthly subscription plan. Hulu already has distributed than two dozen exclusive or original shows, including Morgan Spurlock documentary series “A Day in the Life.”

Upcoming Hulu programs include Longoria’s “Mother Up!” about a former music executive navigating life as a suburban mom.

Microsoft, which offers services such as Netflix on its XBox video game console, intends to produce its own content later this year for its 40 million subscribers, said Nancy Tellem, a former CBS entertainment president who joined Microsoft last year to run its fledging Hollywood production studio.

“We’re not as constrained as other content creators,” Tellem said at the AllThingsD conference. “We can produce something that’s 10 minutes or an hour.”

The XBox’s benefit, Tellem said, is its interactivity. To generate added revenue, the service can sell tickets to concerts by stars of its comedies, or copies of the clothes worn by stars on red carpet events.

Deep-pocketed Apple Inc could also step into the entertainment production game. Industry insiders continue to believe that Apple intends to unveil a TV-based device that has the potential to shake up the television content and distribution industry the way the iPod and iPhone disrupted music and mobile content.

Sources say Apple, which already sells a $ 99 set top box called Apple TV that streams Netflix and other content, has opened discussions with providers, though its progress with the cozy club of Hollywood producers and distributors is unknown.

Chip maker Intel plans to launch an Internet television service this year with live and on-demand content, said Erik Huggers, vice president and general manager of Intel Media, who said he is negotiating with content providers.

The Silicon Valley newcomers may be taking aim at siphoning off cable subscribers, but executives at Time Warner’s HBO premium service, don’t seem particularly worried.

“Hulu and Amazon will be just another 200 hours on top of the 145,000 hours that are already available to the consumer,” said HBO president Eric Kessler. “What matters is that our content is exclusive. If you want ‘Game of Thrones,’ there is only one place you can get it.”

(Reporting By Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles and Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by M.D. Golan)

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Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley dies aged 72

(Reuters) – Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band’s leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.

Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.

The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.

“Glad All Over” holds the honor of knocking the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” out of the top spot on the UK chart in 1964, while “Over and Over” topped the U.S. chart in 1965.

The cause of death was not immediately known, said Clark, who added that Huxley had been “sprightly and in good shape” despite suffering from emphysema for several years.

“I spoke to him on Friday and he was in great spirits,” Clark said in a telephone call. “He went through a recent doctor’s check and had a good, clean bill of health. This came totally out of the blue, and I’m just devastated.”

Clark remembered Huxley for his modest demeanor and humor.

“He always made me smile and I’ll miss that immensely,” Clark said. “He was never arrogant and flashy. He was a gentleman and very low key. He was a very, very talented musician and a great friend.”

The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Huxley was born in Dartford, England, east of London, the same town that is home to the Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.

Huxley is survived by two sons and a daughter.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna hang at Roc Nation brunch

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jay-Z and Beyonce sat tightly with Solange. Kelly Rowland embraced Beyonce with a huge hug. And Rihanna spilled some of her drink laughing with Rowland.

Music’s top stars attended the annual pre-Grammy Roc Nation brunch Saturday at the Soho House.

Grammy nominee Miguel, Timbaland, Jill Scott and Kylie Mingoue also attended the exclusive event.

Jay-Z is one of six acts nominated for six awards at Sunday’s Grammys. Rihanna is up for three trophies, and Beyonce is nominated for one award.

The crowd Saturday was full of members of music industry, who mingled with performers like The-Dream, Jordin Sparks, Melanie Fiona, Diane Warren, Christina Milian, MC Lyte and Santigold.

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Britney Spears considers long-term Las Vegas deal

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star and former “X Factor” judge Britney Spears is in talks to sign a long-term contract to headline a show at a Las Vegas resort, Caesars Entertainment Corp. said on Friday.

“We can now confirm the company is actively engaged in discussions with Britney Spears‘ representatives regarding a potential headlining residency at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino,” the company said in a statement.

Representatives for Spears were not immediately available for comment on Friday.

Caesars Entertainment, which owns casinos and resorts including Planet Hollywood, has hired some of the world’s top-selling artists for residencies at various Las Vegas sites.

Canadian singer Celine Dion has a three-year deal with Caesars Palace that is said to be worth $ 100 million. British singer Elton John also has a long-term commitment to perform at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Singers Cher and Bette Midler had similar long-term deals at The Colosseum in recent years.

Spears, 31, shot to fame in the late 1990s with hits such as “… Baby One More Time” and has gone on to become one of the biggest pop figures of the 2000s.

She is waging a comeback after a turbulent few years in her life in which she lost custody of her children, entered rehab and shaved off her hair.

She landed a seat on “The X Factor” judging panel in May 2012, but left the show last month after one season. In the same week, she also split up with her fiancé Jason Trawick.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Martial arts drama kicks off Berlin film festival

BERLIN (Reuters) – The 2013 Berlin film festival kicks off on Thursday with the red carpet premiere of “The Grandmaster”, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai‘s martial arts period drama set in China at the time of the Japanese invasion in the 1930s.

Starring regular collaborator Tony Leung Chiu Wai as kung fu master Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as his rival and friend Gong Er, the heavily stylized picture is a story of honor, principle, betrayal and forbidden love all set in a time of turmoil.

Wong, also president of the jury at the cinema showcase this year, said he was determined to get beneath the surface of martial arts in a way most films in the genre had not.

“‘Grandmaster’ is a film about kung fu. It tells you more than the skill,” he told reporters after a press screening and ahead of the opening night gala.

“It tells you more about these people, martial artists, the world of martial arts. What is their code of honor? What is their value? What is their philosophy?

“I hope this film can bring the audience a new perspective about martial arts, kung fu and also Chinese,” he added, wearing his trademark dark glasses and speaking in English.

The idea for “The Grandmaster” was first announced more than a decade ago and it took the notoriously slow filmmaker four years to make, involving rigorous training for both Leung and Zhang which both actors said changed them profoundly.

Leung’s character, which dominates the first part of the film, is based on a real-life master of the same name who developed the Wing Chun school of martial arts and counted Bruce Lee among his students.

Gong Er’s character gradually takes a central role, and her repressed longing for Ip Man brings to the fore Wong’s mastery of melancholy, which he showed so memorably in his best known film to date “In the Mood for Love” also starring Leung.

IRANIAN FILM DEFIES BAN

Leung, 50, said he started training for the part four years ago, and reportedly broke his arm early in the process.

“There is a spiritual side of kung fu and that side cannot be learned from books or by fact-finding,” he said. “It grows spontaneously. So that’s why I had to practice four years. You can only achieve that thing through practice.”

“The Grandmaster” marks the official start of 11 days of screenings, photocalls, interviews and parties across Berlin where hundreds of movies will be screened, reviewed and traded at a film market that accompanies the Berlinale.

Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Nicolas Cage are expected on the red carpet, as are European heavyweights Catherine Deneuve and Jude Law and Asian stars including Leung and Zhang.

In the main competition of 19 movies eligible for awards is “Promised Land”, about the controversial drilling technique for extracting gas known as “fracking” and starring Matt Damon directed by his “Good Will Hunting” collaborator Gus Van Sant.

Steven Soderbergh‘s “Side Effects” is in part a critique of the pharmaceutical industry and boasts Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the cast.

Soderbergh, an Oscar winner for his 2000 narcotics drama “Traffic”, has announced it will be his final big screen feature film, at least for the foreseeable future.

One of the most eagerly awaited pictures at the festival is “Closed Curtain”, co-directed by acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi who made it in defiance of a 20-year ban on film making imposed by authorities at home.

Out of competition is 3D prehistoric animation comedy “The Croods”, featuring the voices of Cage and Ryan Reynolds, and “Dark Blood”, which River Phoenix was filming when he died aged 23 in 1993.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Smooth-singing Josh Groban offers edgier sound on new album

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After selling more than 22 million albums in the United States and becoming a staple in the classical music field, singer Josh Groban is embracing an edgier sound for his latest record, “All That Echoes,” out on Tuesday.

Groban, 31, put together a collection of covers and original songs for the album, including a rendition of one of his personal favorites, “Falling Slowly” from the movie and stage musical “Once.”

Under the guidance of veteran producer Rob Cavallo, the Warner Bros. Records chairman who has worked with rockers like Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls and Paramore, Groban showcases his usual smooth vocals against a more energetic, live-concert sound.

“It’s not about walking out of your lane and scaring people. It’s about slightly expanding what your lane is and allowing all of that to be part of your world,” Groban said in an interview with Reuters.

Along with covers including a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever),” Groban also wrote original songs, which he said emerged from frustration.

“It was the frustration of hearing songs that were maybe written for me after a little bit of success, going ‘Ahh, is that really what you think I do?’ Yes, I know the other thing was kind of cheesy, but that’s really cheesy,’” the singer said.

“All That Echoes” features original songs such as “Below the Line,” which draws in Latin jazz beats and sweeping ballads such as “Brave” and “False Alarms,” where Groban showcases his powerful voice.

ACTING CHOPS

Groban first found the spotlight in 1999, when he was asked to fill in for ailing Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli at a rehearsal with Canadian singer Celine Dion.

Groban went on to land a short role on TV show “Ally McBeal” in 2001 and released his debut self-titled solo album later that year.

Five studio albums later, Groban has cemented himself at the top of the list of pop-vocal performers. His 2007 holiday record “Noel” became the best-selling U.S. album of the year.

Los Angeles native Groban has also taken small acting roles in TV comedy “The Office, movie “Crazy Stupid Love” and will make a cameo appearance on an upcoming episode of “CSI: NY.”

If he had his dream gig, Groban said he would be fronting rock band Queen for a day. But in the more foreseeable future, he hoped to become a regular face in theater.

“There are only so many albums I’m going to want to make before I decide to go and follow that dream for a minute or longer than a minute,” the singer said.

“I think that there will come a time very soon, hopefully in the next two or three years, where I’ll take out a big chunk of time and dedicate it to theater and do some of that.”

For now, the singer will hit the road in support of his new album, heading to Australia in April before returning to Los Angeles to perform three dates at the Hollywood Bowl in July.

(Reporting By Lindsay Claiborn, writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Ed Koch remembered as quintessential New York City mayor

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was memorialized on Monday as an in-your-face, wisecracking leader who helped transform the city from a symbol of urban decay to the vital, glittering metropolis it is today.

As Koch’s casket was led out of Temple Emanu-El, a soaring Fifth Ave. synagogue opposite Central Park, an organ played Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” while mourners including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and a who’s who of New York politics stood and applauded.

Koch died on Friday at the age of 88 in Manhattan — the only place other than heaven he could imagine living, as he was known to say.

“I come today with the love and condolences of 8.4 million New Yorkers who really are grieving with you at this moment,” said the city’s current mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Speakers joked about the famously attention-loving Koch’s obsession with stage-managing his passing. His grave-stone, complete with an epitaph and a bench bearing Koch’s name, has been ready since 2008, and his friends said he had been planning the funeral for years.

“We started talking about his death in the ’80s,” said his former chief of staff Diane Coffey.

As mayor from 1978 to 1989, Koch, with his trademark phrase “How’m I Doin?”, was a natural showman and tireless promoter of both himself and the city. He helped repair the city’s finances as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, and later led a building renaissance that would see 200,000 units of affordable housing erected or rehabilitated in some of the city’s most crime-infested areas.

He could also be a divisive figure. His determination to shut Sydenham, a poorly-performing Harlem hospital that was one of the only city hospitals employing black doctors, angered black New Yorkers. And AIDS activists said he was too slow to react to the epidemic that ravaged the city’s gay population in the 1980s.

Tall, nearly bald and speaking with a high-pitched voice, Koch was an unmistakable presence. He was famously argumentative, and rarely walked away from verbal jousting.

His friend James Gill remembered Koch’s response to someone who had written a letter criticizing the former mayor.

“You are entitled to your opinion of me and I am entitled to my opinion of you,” Koch replied. “My opinion of you is that you are a fool.”

His nephews and grand-nephew and grand-niece remembered Koch, who never married, as devoted “Uncle Eddie” – eager to hear what they thought of his appearances on talk shows but also happy join his 11-year-old grand-niece for a manicure.

Clinton read from a stack of letters Koch had sent him over the years and said Koch had “a big brain, but he had an even bigger heart.”

Koch remained relevant in politics long after 1989, when he lost the Democratic nomination to David Dinkins for what would have been a record fourth term as mayor. But when asked if he would run for office again, he liked to say, “The people threw me out and the people must be punished.”

His endorsement was coveted by candidates decades after he left office. And his unwavering and loud support of Israel made Koch “one of the most influential and important American Zionists,” said former Ambassador Ido Aharoni.

At Monday’s memorial, Bloomberg noted the synagogue Koch had chosen for the funeral stood just a few blocks from the midtown bridge that had been renamed to honor him. Last year, the city released a video of Koch standing at the bridge’s entrance ramp, calling out to approaching cars: “Welcome to my bridge! Welcome to my bridge!”

“No mayor, I think, has ever embodied the spirit of New York City like he did. And I don’t think anyone ever will,” Bloomberg said. “Tough and loud, brash and irreverent, full of humor and chutzpah – he was our city’s quintessential mayor.”

(Reporting By Edith Honan; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Alden Bentley)

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Keys sings national anthem on piano at Super Bowl

Alicia Keys performed a lounge-y, piano-tinged — and live — version of the national anthem ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The Grammy-winning singer played the piano as she sang “The Star Spangled Banner” in a long red dress with her eyes shut. Her publicist said the performance was live, days after halftime performer Beyonce admitted singing along to a prerecorded track at the Inauguration.

Keys’ version was soft and featured additional lyrics: She added “living in the home” before belting “home of the brave” as she finished the song.

Before Keys hit the field, Jennifer Hudson performed “America the Beautiful” with the 26-member Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus, a performance that had some players on the sideline on the verge of tears.

The students wore green ribbons on their shirts in honor of the 20 first-graders and six adults who were killed in a Dec. 14 shooting rampage at the school in Newton, Conn.

The students began the song softly before Hudson, whose mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death five years ago, jumped in with her gospel-flavored vocals. She stood still in black and white as the students moved to the left and right, singing background.

Keys and Hudson warmed up the field for Beyonce, who is set to perform at the half-time show.

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Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

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