Sunday 15 January 2012

Extremely Loud’ director Stephen Daldry faced hard choices

It's hard to imagine a kid getting a swifter, more emphatic lesson in the importance of answering when opportunity knocks than 14-year-old Thomas Horn, breakout star of the new film "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."


Just 15 months ago, Thomas, then an East Bay eighth-grader, came home to find a phone message from his school's secretary informing his family that a Hollywood casting agency was trying to track him down. It turns out Thomas' appearance - and $31,800 win - that summer on "Kids Jeopardy!" had grabbed the attention of producer Scott Rudin ("The Social Network").


Thomas' father first thought the message might be a prank. "We were bemused, I guess, when we got the call from Hollywood," says the whip-smart boy, sitting on a bayside bench at Jack London Square during a recent interview. "We didn't know anything about the entertainment industry or even what a casting agency was. But I thought, what do I have to lose? It's not every day a great opportunity presents itself."


Based on the 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, the movie follows 11-year-old Oskar Schell (newcomer and former young “Jeopardy” champ Thomas Horn), a borderline autistic loner who loses the father he idolizes (Tom Hanks) in the World Trade Center attacks. Trying desperately to find some logic in the senseless, Oskar stumbles on a key that may unlock a final message from his father, and begins a two-year quest that seems to drive him away from his grieving mother (Sandra Bullock).


“People will have to make up their own minds whether the time is right or whether a story should or shouldn’t be told or what can and cannot be depicted,” Daldry says.


“But for me, it just felt like the decision about making a film — do you want to spend two years of your life getting into this subject? And for me it was also. I suppose it was also a cathartic experience to go into that, and to go into that with as much detail and depth as I could possibly muster.”


Whether American moviegoers are ready to relive Sept. 11 is an open question. “Loud” opened to decidedly mixed reviews. Warner Bros.’ marketing makes it clear that it is not a 9/11 movie.

Stephen Daldry

Stephen David Daldry, CBE, born 2 May 1960 is an English theatre and film director and producer, as well as a three-time Academy Award nominated and Tony Award winning director, most known for films like Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002) and The Reader (2008).


Daldry was born in Dorset, England, the son of bank manager Patrick Daldry and singer Cherry (née Thompson). The family moved to Taunton, Somerset, where when Daldry was aged 14, his father died of cancer.
After this, Daldry joined a youth theatre group in Taunton, and then aged 18 won a Royal Air Force scholarship to University of Sheffield to study English, where he became chairman of SuTCo (Sheffield University Theatre Company).


Daldry began his career at the Sheffield Crucible with Artistic Director Clare Venables where he directed many productions. He also headed many productions at the Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Stratford East, Oxford Stage, Brighton and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was also Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre from 1992-8, where he headed the £26 million development scheme. He was also Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, London (1989–92) and the Metro Theatre Company (1984-6). He is currently on the Board of the Young and Old Vic Theatres and remains an Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre. He was the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre for 2002 at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He won awards on Broadway as well as the West End.
Daldry made his feature film directorial debut in 2000 with Billy Elliot. His next film was The Hours, and it won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Nicole Kidman. Recently, he directed a stage musical adaptation of Billy Elliot, and in 2009 his work on Billy Elliot the Musical earned him a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He has also done a film version of The Reader, based on the book of the same name and starring Kate Winslet, David Kross, and Ralph Fiennes. Again, it won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Kate Winslet. He has received an Academy Award nomination for directing each of his three films.


Daldry describes himself as a gay man because people prefer it ("they don't like confusion"), has been married since 2001 to American performance artist and magazine editor Lucy Sexton, with whom he has a daughter, Annabel Clare (born 2003).
He was previously in a relationship with set designer Ian MacNeil for 13 years.[11] They met at an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland in Lancaster in 1988, and after settling in a bedsit in Camberwell, began collaborating on theatrical productions.


1993: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Play – An Inspector Calls
1994: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – An Inspector Calls
1994: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Play – Machinal
1994: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – An Inspector Calls
2000: BAFTA Award for Best British Film – Billy Elliot
2002: Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Director – The Hours
2009: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Billy Elliot the Musical
Nominations
2000: Academy Award for Best Director – Billy Elliot
2000: BAFTA Award Best Director – Billy Elliot
2001: César Award for Best Foreign Film – Billy Elliot
2002: Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directing – Motion Pictures – The Hours
2002: Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture – The Hours
2002: Satellite Award for Best Director – The Hours
2002: Academy Award for Best Director – The Hours
2002: BAFTA Award for Best British Film – The Hours
2002: BAFTA Award for Best Director – The Hours
2004: César Award for Best Foreign Film – The Hours
2008: Academy Award for Best Director – The Reader
2008: BAFTA Award for Best Director – The Reader
2008: Golden Globe Award for Best Director of a Motion Picture – The Reader
2008: Satellite Award for Best Director – The Reader

Ron Paul returns to South Carolina

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul tonight received the endorsement of South Carolina state Sen. Tom Davis, a state lawmaker popular with tea party activists.
Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, Davis praised Paul’s “drastic and radical” efforts to reign in government spending.
“There is only one candidate that is talking about this problem to the degree, at the scale, and with the scope that it needs to be talked about,” Davis said. “You can’t nibble around the edges anymore.”
Davis blamed lobbyists and loopholes for “rotting out our republic to the core.”
“That’s what’s happening in South Carolina and that’s what’s happening to our nation,” he said.
The Paul campaign describes the announcement as “consequential” and “game-changing,” adding in a statement that it “virtually assures” that Paul will get the support of fiscal conservatives in the “First in the South” primary.


Dr. Paul is somebody that I’ve watched for the past 26 years and I’ve always admired the principled stands he’s taken in Congress,” Davis told the overflowing crowd at the rally here Sunday that was Paul’s only stop of the day.
Paul, who gave this typical stump speech focused on economics and personal liberty, told the cheering crowd he had heard Davis was a “very popular senator, and now I believe that.”
“I really appreciate his vote of confidence in giving me this wonderful endorsement,” Paul said.
After the rally, Paul said he felt confident Davis’s endorsement would live up to the “game-changing” billing in a state where his campaign says it’s stepped up efforts following Paul’s strong second place finish in New Hampshire last week.
“He has a lot of influence,” Paul said. “So I do think it’s going to be a very significant event, because he’s been identified with the type of ideas I’ve talked about. He talked about Austrian economics, he was recently elected as a tea party person, and I think that’s exactly the kind of person that will get the attention. I think he’s going to be a big help to us.”
Paul’s been less of a factor in the South Carolina race than he was in Iowa and New Hampshire, but he told the crowd Sunday that his expectations for the state were rising.
“I don’t know if you noticed, you probably have, but the campaign’s been going pretty well,” he said during the rally. “It did well in Iowa, it did well in New Hampshire, and we’re going to do well next Saturday, right? And when we do well, we will send a powerful message.

Carol Paul biography

In February 2007, Ron Paul and Carolyn Paul celebrated 50 years of marriage with their large family. Here is information on how Ron and Carol met, their wedding, their children, and more.


Ronald Ernest Paul: August 20, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Carolyn Wells: February 29, 1936. Her hometown is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.




Carol and Ron Paul met in high school. In 1952, they had their first date when Carol asked Ron to be her escort to her 16th birthday party which was a Sadie Hawkins-type of party.
Ron proposed marriage to Carol in the summer of 1956 while they were having a picnic in a park.


During Ron Paul's senior year, he and Carol were married on February 1, 1957 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania at Dormont Presbyterian Church. They had about 300 guests at their evening wedding.
The wedding reception was held at The Dormont New Century Club. They had a four-tiered traditional style wedding cake.


Their first dance as a married couple was to Doris Day's "When I Fall in Love." Ron was 21 years old and Carol was 20 years old.


Carol: "We married in an all white wedding with the bridesmaids carrying armloads of red roses. The flower girl wore a white dress and sprinkled rose petals down the aisle. A fraternity brother of Ron's sang "The Wedding Prayer" and the "Lord's Prayer."
Source: "The American Dream -- Through the Eyes of Mrs. Ron Paul.". RonPaulforCongress.com. 3-16-07.
"Carol wore a white Chantilly lace gown with a bouffant tulle skirt and a silk illusion veil attached to a half hat. Ron wore a black tux and a white tie ... Carol held a cascade of white flowers; and Ron donned a white carnation boutonniere."
Source: BridesDecide.com


Carol and Ron Paul spent their honeymoon in Durham, North Carolina.
Children:


Carolyn and Ron have five children, eighteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Ronald Paul Jr: Married to Peggy. They have three daughters.
Lori Paul Pyeatt: Married to Tom Pyeatt.
Randall "Rand" Paul: Rand is an ophthalmologist and U.S. Senator in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He is married to Kelley. They have three sons.
Robert Paul: Robert is family practice physician. He is married to Monica. They have two children.
Joy Paul-LeBlanc: Joy is an obstetrician and gynecologist. She is married to Andy. They have five children.
More about Ron and Carol's family


Lake Jackson, Texas. In April 2011, Catalina Camia of USA Today reported that Carol and Ron put their home on the market since they built another home. "Ron Paul sells his Texas house through Facebook."
Occupations:


Ron: Congressman, obstetrician and gynecologist, author, flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s.
Carol: Through their years together, Carol has worked as a secretary, dance instructor, and other jobs to help the family finances.




Tomas Alex Tizon: "The couple talks on the phone two to three times a day. She makes him chocolate chip cookies to take on the road. "I worry for him," she says. "He gets very tired."
Source: "Paul, Gravel: They're last but not least." LaTimes.com. 7-25-07.
Carol Paul about what she doesn't like about being on the campaign trail: "Living out of a suitcase without enough hours to sleep."
Source: "Carol Paul -- Running Together." Time.com. 9/2007.


Tags: Ron Paul

Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul, born August 20, 1935 is an American medical doctor, author, Republican U.S. Congressman of the House of Representatives and candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination. Paul is currently the U.S. Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas, which comprises the area south and southwest of the Greater Houston region, including Galveston. Paul serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Joint Economic Committee, and the House Committee on Financial Services, and is Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, where he has been an outspoken critic of current American foreign and monetary policy.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. Paul served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968, during the Vietnam War. He worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the 1960s and 1970s, delivering more than 4,000 babies, before entering politics during 1976.
Paul is the initiator of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (2011), End The Fed (2009), The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008), Pillars of Prosperity (2008), A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (2007), and The Case for Gold (1982). According to University of Georgia political scientist Keith Poole, Paul had the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937. His son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate for Kentucky in 2010, making the elder Paul the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child of his in the Senate.
Paul has been termed the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party philosophy. He has become well-known for his libertarian ideas for many political issues, often differing from both Republican and Democratic Party directors. Paul has campaigned for President of the United States twice before, first during 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again during 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. On May 13, 2011, he announced formally that he would campaign again during 2012 for the Republican presidential nomination. On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term in Congress in order to concentrate on his presidential bid.


Paul was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Howard Caspar Paul and Margaret (née Dumont) Paul. His paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Germany, and his mother was of German and Irish ancestry. As a junior at suburban Dormont High School, he was the 220-yard dash state champion. He received a B.S. degree in biology at Gettysburg College during 1957. He was a member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. After earning a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Duke University School of Medicine during 1961, Paul relocated with his wife to Michigan, where he completed his medical internship at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He then served as a flight surgeon of the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and then of the United States Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968.
While still a medical resident during the 1960s, Paul was influenced by Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, which caused him to read many publications by Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand. He came to know economists Hans Sennholz and Murray Rothbard well, and credits to them his interest in the study of economics. He came to believe that what the Austrian school economists wrote was becoming true on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon "closed the gold window" by implementing the U.S. dollar's complete departure from the gold standard.That same day, the young physician decided to enter politics, saying later, "After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded.


Inspired by his belief that the monetary crisis of the 1970s was predicted by the Austrian School and caused by excessive government spending on the Vietnam War and welfare, Paul became a delegate to the Texas Republican convention and a Republican candidate for the United States Congress. During 1974, incumbent Robert R. Casey defeated him for the 22nd district. When President Gerald Ford appointed Casey to direct the Federal Maritime Commission, Paul won an April 1976 special election to the vacant office. Paul lost some months later in the general election, to Democrat Robert Gammage, by fewer than 300 votes (0.2%), but defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch, and was reelected during 1980 and 1982.


Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, at first during the 1970s in the House of Representatives where he also declined to attend junkets or register for a Congressional pension while serving four terms. His chief of staff (1978–1982) was Lew Rockwell. During 1980, when a majority of Republicans favored President Jimmy Carter's proposal to reinstate draft registration, Paul argued that their views were inconsistent, stating they were more interested in registering their children than they were their guns. He also proposed legislation to decrease Congressional pay by the rate of inflation; he was a regular participant of the annual Congressional Baseball Game; and he continued to deliver babies on Mondays and Saturdays during his entire 22nd district career.
During his first term, Paul initiated a "think tank", the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE). Also during 1976, the foundation began publication of the first monthly newsletter associated with Paul, Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report (or Special Report). It also publishes radio advertisements, monographs, books, and (since 1997) a new series of the monthly newsletter, Ron Paul's Freedom Report, which promote the principles of limited government.


Paul authors more bills than the average representative, such as those that impose term limits, or abolish the income tax[84] or the Federal Reserve; many do not escape committee review. He has written successful legislation to prevent eminent domain seizure of a church in New York, and a bill transferring ownership of the Lake Texana dam project from the federal government to Texas. By amending other legislation, he has helped prohibit funding for national identification numbers, funding for federal teacher certification,International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the U.S. military, American participation with any U.N. global tax, and surveillance of peaceful First Amendment activities by citizens.
During March 2001, Paul introduced a bill to repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution (WPR) and reinstate the process of formal declaration of war by Congress. Later during 2001, Paul voted to authorize the president, pursuant to WPR, to respond to those responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks. He also introduced "Sunlight Rule" legislation, which requires lawmakers to take enough time to read bills before voting on them, after the Patriot Act was passed within 24 hours of its introduction. Paul was one of six Republicans to vote against the Iraq War Resolution, and (with Oregon representative Peter DeFazio) sponsored a resolution to repeal the war authorization during February 2003. Paul's speech, 35 "Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq", was translated and published in German, French, Russian, Italian, and Swiss periodicals before the Iraq War began.


Beginning during 2010 there was speculation among pundits and journalists regarding the prospect of Paul campaigning for president again during 2012. When Paul's wife, Carol, was asked if he would campaign during 2012 her response was "If you would ask him now he would probably say 'no', but he did say... things are happening so quickly and fast in our country, if we're at a crisis period and they need someone... with the knowledge he has... then he would do it.
Paul won several early straw polls and began raising funds for an exploratory committee. In mid-April, 2011, Paul announced the formation of a "testing-the-waters" account, and stated that he will make a decision on whether to enter the campaign officially no later than May.In late April, he formed an official exploratory committee to campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He participated with the first Republican presidential debate on May 5, 2011. and on May 13, 2011, Paul formally announced his candidacy in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America.


Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian. He has been nicknamed "Dr. No", representing both his medical degree and his insistence that he will "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution", and "Mr. Republican". One scoring method published in the American Journal of Political Science found Paul the most conservative of all 3,320 members of Congress from 1937 to 2002. Paul's foreign policy of nonintervention made him the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate to have voted against the Iraq War Resolution during 2002. He advocates withdrawal from the United Nations, and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty. He endorses free trade, rejecting membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization as "managed trade". He endorses increased border security and opposes welfare for illegal aliens, birthright citizenship and amnesty; he voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. He voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, but suggested war alternatives such as authorizing the president to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists. An opponent of the Iraq War and potential war with Iran, he has also criticized neoconservatism and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, arguing that both inadvertently cause terrorist reprisals against Americans. Paul has stated that "Israel is our close friend" and that it is not the place of the United States to "dictate how Israel runs her affairs".
He opposes the Patriot Act, federal use of torture, presidential autonomy, a national identification card, warrantless domestic surveillance, and the draft. Citing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, Paul advocates states' rights to decide how to regulate social matters not cited directly by the Constitution. Paul terms himself "strongly pro-life", "an unshakable foe of abortion", and believes regulation or ban on medical decisions about maternal or fetal health is "best handled at the state level". He says his years as an obstetrician led him to believe life begins at conception; his abortion-related legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade and to get "the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters. Paul also believes that the notion of the separation of church and state is currently misused by the court system: "In case after case, the Supreme Court has used the infamous 'separation of church and state' metaphor to uphold court decisions that allow the federal government to intrude upon and deprive citizens of their religious liberty.
He opposes federal regulation of the death penalty (although he opposes capital punishment), of education,and of marriage, and endorses revising the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy to concern mainly disruptive sexual behavior (whether heterosexual or homosexual). As a free-market environmentalist, he asserts private property rights in relation to environmental protection and pollution prevention.He also opposes the federal War on Drugs, and believes the states should decide whether to regulate or deregulate drugs such as medical marijuana. Paul pushes to eliminate federal involvement with and management of health care, which he argues would allow prices to decrease due to the fundamental dynamics of a free market. He is an outspoken proponent for increased ballot access for 3rd party candidates and numerous election law reforms which he believes would allow more voter control. Referring to the federal government, Ron Paul has also stated that “The government shouldn't be in the medical business." He is also opposed to federal government influenza inoculation programs.
Paul was critical of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that it was unconstitutional and did not improve race relations. He once remarked: "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society".
On April 15, 2011, Paul was one of four Republican members of congress to vote against "The Path to Prosperity.


Tag:   Carol Paul

South Carolinians wary of Mitt Romney's corporate side

An administrative assistant from Taylors, South Carolina, Walmer is backing Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race.
As she tells it, Romney "doesn't have a backbone."
But like other conservative Republicans here, she is bracing for the prospect of a Romney victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
"It's not that people here are in favor of Mitt Romney," Walmer said. "It's just that so many people are splintering the votes in so many directions that by default he could very easily win. But if he wins, I wouldn't take it to mean that we are all gung ho for him. It just means that he eked it out and he's really lucky."
A similar fear is gripping conservative voters across South Carolina's Upstate, a picturesque territory fanning out from the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains and anchored by the cities of Greenville and Spartanburg.
With less than a week until the primary, the anybody-but-Romney wing of the Republican party here finds itself increasingly divided between Santorum and Newt Gingrich, with Rick Perry still alive but fading into the background, and Ron Paul holding onto his reliable base of libertarian support.
"Romney is so boring I can never remember what he says," explained Loretta Gilchrist of Spartanburg, who said that a recent Romney television appearance was "so boring" it sent her to the DVR in search of a movie to watch instead.
"I wasn't going to vote for him anyhow unless he is the last man standing," Gilchrist said. "But he might be."


Largely white, part urban and part rural, the South Carolina Upstate is a hotbed of evangelicalism and Christian conservative political activity.
Romney's economy-themed pitch certainly has resonance here. Small towns across the region have been hit by manufacturing job losses in recent decades. Meanwhile, the Greenville-Spartanburg metro area is host to several international companies like BMW and Michelin.


And while Paul has avoided such attacks, a "super PAC" that backs the libertarian congressman has been running a TV ad in South Carolina that sends essentially the same message about Romney.


The ad, focused on the 2008 bank bailouts, shows Obama, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Romney and a cigar-smoking banker with $100 bills bursting out of his shirt pocket. "They took your money and gave it to their Wall Street friends," an announcer says. Paul is shown wagging his finger at Romney as the narrator calls the congressman "fearless in the face of corruption."


Romney, whose Bain career has been fodder for opponents since he tried unsuccessfully to unseat Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 1994, faced another variation of the attack in the 2008 presidential race: Republican rival Mike Huckabee compared him to "the guy who laid you off."


Among many Republicans, the attacks carry no weight. Jonathan Speers, for one, is leaning toward Romney, based largely on his business record. "He seems like he's got a level head on his shoulders," said Speers, 27, the manager of Frank's Car Wash in Lexington.


"Romney was just doing business," said Walter Early, 56, a Lexington insurance broker who backs Rick Santorum but sees Romney as "a very decent guy."


"That's the way business is done in this country. It's pure capitalism," he said.




Many of those who are rejecting Romney in the primary still strongly prefer him over Obama — among them, Mike Boozer, 67, a Paul supporter who looks askance at Romney's business record.


"He talks about creating all those jobs, but he fired as many as he hired, it looks like," said Boozer, a retired truck driver running an errand at Home Depot in Lexington.

NFL 2012: New York Giants stun Green Bay Packers, 37-20

The Giants spent most the first quarter a week ago against the Atlanta Falcons getting a feel for the game. They didn’t need that yesterday. Eli Manning started fast, using designed rollouts to complete his first two passes as the Giants took a 3-0 lead, and then turning to Hakeem Nicks on a crossing pattern that — after Nicks bounced off Packers safety Charlie Peprah — became a 66-yard touchdown. But the most important, and mystifying, play of the first 15 minutes came when Deon Grant appeared to strip Greg Jennings and Kenny Phillips picked up the loose ball. But one of the officials jumped in late and declared Jennings down by contact. Tom Coughlin challenged the ruling, but it was upheld. The Packers responded to the break by working the ball down inside the Giants’ 10-yard line on a quick pass to James Jones. Then the teams switched sides.


The way Eli controlled the ball and threw it around and never put it in harm’s way, that tells me right there that we were going to win,” Jacobs said. “He does a phenomenal job, and we do a good job of protecting him. That tells it all. We played against a great football team, and we were the ones who finished, and we wanted it more.”


The Giants, who will travel to San Francisco for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLVI, last came to Lambeau Field during the 2007-08 playoffs and rallied for a 23-20 overtime victory on their way to winning Super Bowl XLII. Sunday’s triumph also avenged a 38-35 loss to Green Bay on Dec. 4 and gave the Packers just their second defeat after a franchise-record 15 wins in the regular season.


Rodgers was largely responsible for that success by posting MVP-worthy statistics, but on this day the Giants limited him to 26-of-46 passing for 264 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. The fourth-seeded NFC East champions also ensured there will not be a repeat Super Bowl winner by holding Green Bay, the No. 1 scoring offense in the league, to 15 points below its average one week after beating Atlanta, 24-2, in the first round.


“Oh, it’s real,” Rodgers said. “We got beat by a team that played better tonight. That’s the reality of this league.”


Trailing 20-10 in the third quarter, the Packers cut into the deficit with Mason Crosby’s 35-yard field goal. The Giants responded with a 35-yard field goal by place kicker Lawrence Tynes for a 23-13 lead before Grant’s miscue.


Tynes’s 31-yard field goal opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, and Rodgers went to work with completions of 10 and 19 yards, but on third and eight from the New York 29, he missed a wide-open Greg Jennings for what looked to be a sure touchdown. The Packers settled for Crosby’s tying 47-yard field goal.


On the ensuing series, Green Bay safety Charlie Peprah tried to knock down Nicks, rather than wrap him up after a completed pass. The 6-foot-1, 208-pound Nicks bounced off Peprah and won a footrace to the end zone for a 66-yard touchdown.


But Tynes booted the kickoff out of bounds, giving Green Bay the ball at its 40-yard line and re-energizing the crowd. Nine plays later, Rodgers completed an eight-yard touchdown pass to fullback John Kuhn to knot it at 10 on the first play of the second quarter.


The Giants regained the lead on Tynes’s 23-yard field goal with 1:51 until intermission, and it appeared that’s how the half would end. The Giants had other ideas, getting runs of nine and 23 yards from Bradshaw to the Packers 39.


On the next play, Manning heaved the ball into the end zone, where Nicks shielded cornerback Charles Woodson and Peprah for the catch and a 20-10 lead as the half expired.


“I didn’t even see who was around me,” said Nicks, who couldn’t recall another completed Hail Mary in his career at any level. “All I saw was the ball. Once I saw the ball, I said, ‘I’ve got to jump and get it.

Tim Tebow has little to do with football

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Tim Tebow couldn’t beat the New England Patriots in Foxboro, but he didn’t do anything differently after the game.
“Whether I’m the hero or the goat, I still honor the Lord,” said Tebow after the loss.


At the Basketball Hall of Fame church-goers and sports fans had some interesting perspectives about the controversial quarterback.


“Any parent I think would be proud to let their child look up to him as opposed to a lot of the other players on the field,” said Jami Gorneault.


Gorneault attends service at NewDay church in the Basketball Hall of Fame. She and other members said Tim Tebow brought courage to the football field that they haven’t seen.


“I can’t help to root for Tim Tebow,” said Andrew Charko — a soon to be Pastor at NewDay. “He wears his faith on his sleeve, he’s bold about what he believes in and he’s a good guy from what we can see about him.”


Tebow’s brought a lot of attention towards Christianity in recent months, and possibly even brought some people back to their local churches.


There is the legion of believers who love his Christian values, put off by so many athletes absorbed by their own egos.


There is the legion of non-believers who hate his Christian values, put off by an athlete they feel is telling them that his path is the only one to be followed.


There is the legion of fans and observers who love that he is turning the stodgy NFL upside down with his quirky throwing motion and unorthodox way of winning games.


There is the legion of fans and observers who hate his quirky throwing motion, and feel that Tebow's struggles against the Patriots will only mushroom next season, and that John Elway, John Fox and all the others in positions of power in Denver will kindly ask Tebow to step away from the huddle.


We shall see. That is a conversation moving forward, and one that frankly, probably won't consume Tebow and much as it will everybody else.


He has always been a bit of an accidental celebrity. He keeps the bigger picture in perspective, understanding that he will be judged beyond his ability to throw an out route.


Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote a fabulous piece ("I believe in Tebow") leading up to the Broncos' playoff game against the Pats, documenting Tebow's impact on people who are dying or have suffered serious injuries.


He has hosted them at home and on the road, picks up the tab through his foundation, and gives them far more than a perfunctory photo op and hand shake.


He spent an hour with a nine-year-old boy ravaged by pain after the Broncos beat Chicago during the regular season. Closer to home, Tebow recently spent 10 minutes with Blake Appleton of Lake Wales. It will remain one of the most cherished moments of a life cut short.


Pick on Tebow all you want for his problems behind center. Yes, he stunk on Saturday. So did a bunch of his teammates: offensive line, defensive line, anybody trying to cover Rob Gronkowski.


Tags: Tim Tebow typical AthleteTim Tebow PatriotsTim Tebow BroncosTebow Clifton Woman,  Tebow OC DolphinsTebow Brady faceTebow the hypeTebow Story,  Tebow good mix,  Tebow over NFL

Tim Tebow's OC in Denver a Dolphins coach candidate

Dolphins plan to interview Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy early this week, according to a league source.


McCoy has been the Broncos offensive coordinator since 2009. Before that, he worked nine years for the Carolina Panthers in several capacities, including receiver coach, quarterback coach and passing game coordinator.


McCoy designed the Broncos' offense to accommodate Tim Tebow's skills this season. The Broncos offense finished 23rd in the league after ranking 13th in 2010. McCoy, 39, was a former college quarterback at Long Beach State and Utah.


The Dolphins also might interview one or more additional candidates, with Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael among others who have been discussed internally.


Meanwhile, Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer remains a very strong candidate for the job. Zimmer and Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland worked together in Dallas, and the two have a solid relationship.


With Green Bay losing Sunday, the Dolphins no longer need to wait should they choose to hire, or schedule a second interview, with Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, who also impressed the Dolphins during his meeting with them.


Carmichael is now free to interview after the Saints were eliminated from the playoffs in San Francisco on Saturday.


Carmichael began directing the Saints' offense after head coach and playcaller Sean Payton broke his leg when he was bowled over on the sideline. As the Saints' offense began to soar, Payton kept Carmichael in charge. The result was an offense that broke several records, including Drew Brees overtaking Dan Marino's single-season passing yards mark.


"I'm so proud of Pete," Brees told Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. "To watch the job he has done and watch him progress as the season has gone on. I just know I consider Sean one of the best offensive minds and playcallers there are. To watch Pete now approach that level, I assume that there's a high demand for guys like that."


Pagano has bounced around several college jobs, including two stints at the University of Miami, where he worked as linebackers coach in 1987 and then as secondary coach for Butch Davis from 1995-2000. He rejoined Davis at North Carolina for one season in 2007 before moving on to Baltimore.


It's likely the Dolphins would have to wait to interview Pagano after the Ravens advanced Sunday to the AFC Championship Game.


As for candidates who already have been interviewed, NFL.com's Jason La Confora reported that Zimmer impressed in his interview and may be brought in for a second look. Bowles is a candidate for the Oakland Raiders' job.


Philbin's status is still uncertain, despite him rejoining the Packers on Sunday after the death of his son Michael last week. Michael Philbin was reported missing and later found drowned in a Wisconsin river just days after Joe Philbin interviewed in Miami.


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Next for Tim Tebow, Broncos

Our story begins with the end, with Tim Tebow walking from the interview room into the off-season via a chilly corridor of Gillette Stadium, where 20-year-old Zachary McLeod was waiting with his family. Tebow, the southpaw quarterback with the scruffy beard and smiling eyes, was about to execute the postgame plan a whole lot better than he and the Denver Broncos had performed outside on the field against Tom Brady and New England.


Back in the interview room, Tebow had mentioned McLeod, of Cambridge, Mass., who four years ago sustained a traumatic brain injury in a high school football game that left him mentally disabled, unable to return to school or ever live on his own.


He spoke of spending time with McLeod before Saturday’s game in what has become part of the weekly routine for Tebow wherever he has traveled as part of his foundation’s Wish 15 program.


“Over all, it wasn’t a bad day,” he’d said after a 45-10 playoff drubbing by the Patriots. “It depends on what lens you look through.


Typically, the second-year pro, whose popularity is buttressed by his humanitarian efforts and open declarations of faith, began his postgame address by thanking Jesus.


There's a lot of things we're proud of, even though it's hard to see that now," he said.
The Broncos were overmatched against the Patriots, and Denver's inability to mount a dangerous passing game around Tebow to counter the 363-yard, six-TD passing performance of Tom Brady underscored the most fundamental offseason issue the Broncos must address.
John Elway, the franchise legend and head of football operations, hasn't committed to Tebow for the long run, despite Denver's improbable trek to an AFC West title (won with an 8-8 record) after inserting him as the starter in October.
There is much reflection ahead. It seems unlikely that Denver can win a championship in the offense-heavy NFL by using a college-like running game built around the option. Tebow's development as a passer likely will determine his long-term stock.
"I was really proud of where he started and where he brought this team," Broncos coach John Fox said. "We're a work in progress. … That hasn't changed."
Tebow's teammates seem to believe. Wide receiver Eddie Royal say he believes the confidence and game experience that Tebow gained is something to build on.


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Golden State 99, Detroit Pistons 91: Warriors win first road victory

AUBURN HILLS -- The Detroit Pistons couldn't contain Golden State's one-two punch, Monta Ellis and David Lee, and lost 99-91 to the Warriors Sunday night.
Lee proved too strong for Jonas Jerebko and too quick for Ben Wallace, his two principal defenders, in dropping 24 points on the Pistons.
Ellis, the NBA's sixth-leading scorer, had 22 points.
The game got away from the Pistons when Greg Monroe was given a rest a minute before the first mandatory timeout of the fourth quarter, and Austin Daye and Jerebko became the offensive centerpieces.
Daye missed a pair of 3-pointers, Jerebko's turnover led to a fast break that pushed the lead to double-digits, and the Warriors didn't stop until a 12-0 run pushed the lead to 88-73.


The Warriors came in having lost seven of eight, including a 112-100 defeat at Charlotte on Saturday. First-year coach Mark Jackson said before Sunday’s game he expected his group to play like “a team that’s upset.” Although the Warriors had a hard time stopping Monroe inside, they prevented any of the other Detroit players from becoming too comfortable on offense.


The Pistons snapped a six-game losing streak Friday night with a victory at Charlotte, but Lee hurt them inside early, then Ellis and Dorell Wright contributed some scoring of their own in the second half.


Lee’s streak of double-doubles ended at six games. He fouled out with 4:40 remaining with only six rebounds. Lee went 10 of 12 from the field, and the Warriors shot 52 percent.


Detroit shot 42 percent.


The Warriors were still without guard Stephen Curry, who has a sprained right ankle. Both teams seemed intent on going inside early. Monroe and Lee each scored 17 points in the first half.


Detroit coach Lawrence Frank was on his feet for much of the half, shouting detailed instructions to his team at the defensive end.


Wright scored on a breakaway in the third, capping an eight-point run and giving Golden State a 56-54 lead. It was 74-69 after Ellis made a shot from near the top of the key at the buzzer to end the quarter.


Detroit was still within striking distance at 78-73 in the fourth, but the Warriors scored 10 straight points. Backup guard Nate Robinson had six points during the run and finished with 10.


The Warriors had six players in double figures. Brandon Rush scored 12 points and Wright contributed 11.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt kick off Hollywood

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Well, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie certainly had the Golden Globes glamour thing down.
As if there was any doubt!
But were the superstar couple, both of them nominees for a change, in a chatty move? Jolie's icy white Versace gown with red accents almost made her look too majestic to be human, and Pitt is still nursing that nagging MCL injury that requires him to tote a cane around...


But of course they stopped to do their sacred duty on the red carpet—or else risk being the object of much what's-with-them derision.
A Salvatore Farragamo-tuxedoed Pitt pulled up lame to E!'s Ryan Seacrest first, explaining that his partner in criminal hotness got "stuck in the barrage of cameras."
But Jolie wasn't gone for long, and then Seacrest was able to congratulate both on their achievements in one fell swoop.
"It's certainly nice [to both be nominated]," Pitt, who had journalists' hearts aflutter when he was spotted opening the car door for Jolie upon their arrival.


Otherwise, though, the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., largely ushered in a new group of fashion stars, including Zooey Deschanel in a unique Prada dark-green halter gown with black and emerald glass pearls on the bodice and ivory pearls at the neck, and Rooney Mara, in a deep V-neck black gown with a bare, harness-style bodice. “It’s a Nina Ricci and it was the first one I tried on,” Mara said. “It was very comfortable.


Sofia Vergara turned some heads in a navy Vera Wang gown in the mermaid silhouette that’s becoming her signature. The dress was a little more fashion forward than she’s worn before — and she credits the fit. “She’s like a genius now with my body,” Vergara said.


Red made a statement, too, especially on Reese Witherspoon in a strapless, corset-style Zac Posen gown.


Claire Danes took a more modern turn in a graphic black-and-white J. Mendel gown with an open back, and Kate Winslet did the opposites-attract thing in a Jenny Packham gown with a black hammered silk satin bodice and ivory silk crepe skirt.


Madonna, whose style has been all over the map in her long career, went back to her rock ‘n’ roll roots for this event in a wearing a dark green embroidered gown with cap sleeves by Reem Acra and a diamond-and-pearl cross by Neil Lane.

Brad Pitt

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt, born December 18, 1963 is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one Golden Globe. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.
Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances, including a role on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas in 1987. He later gained recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995 he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter securing him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. He then starred as Rusty Ryan in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his title role performance in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted wide publicity. He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include The Departed (2006), which won an Academy Award for Best Picture.


While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London. He took on various occasional jobs, working as a chauffeur and an El Pollo Loco chicken to pay for acting lessons.
Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero. His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera Another World. In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall). Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay. Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said, "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before. Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.
In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997. Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together; the second a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters.[14] He made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.


1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. Despite his winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, his performance was poorly received. According to the Dallas Observer, "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis.


Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall (1994), based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Portraying Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish immigrant, Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed, many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way. The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.


Along with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures, Pitt founded the film production company Plan B Entertainment in 2002, although Aniston and Grey withdrew in 2005. The company has produced several films, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp in 2005, as well as 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie. Plan B was also involved in producing The Departed, the winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited onscreen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win. Pitt has been reluctant to discuss the production company in interviews.
Pitt has appeared in several television commercials: one for the U.S. market, a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who had directed Pitt in Seven, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Other commercial appearances came in television spots designed for Asian markets, advertising such products as the Acura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana Sorokko, as well as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.


In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head of the Class), Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class), and Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who, at the age of 16, was ten years his junior when they started dating. In addition, Pitt had a much-publicized romance and engagement to his Seven co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success; however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they had decided formally to separate after seven years together. Two months later Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, legally ending their marriage. Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each others' lives.


During Pitt's divorce from Aniston, his involvement with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie attracted vigorous media attention. While Pitt denied claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set. In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the pictures were construed in the press as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During the summer of 2005, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the first time.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie, born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975 is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "most beautiful" woman, titles for which she has received substantial media attention.

Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved wider fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).
Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, as well as three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She is the niece of Chip Taylor, sister of James Haven and the goddaughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. On her father's side, Jolie is of Slovak and German descent, and on her mother's side she is French Canadian and is said to be part Iroquois. However, Voight has claimed Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois", and they merely said it to enhance his ex-wife's exotic background.
After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York. As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting; she had not been influenced by her father. When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to Los Angeles and Jolie decided she wanted to act and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.

Jolie began working as a fashion model when she was 14 years old, modeling mainly in Los Angeles, New York and London. During that time she appeared in several music videos, namely those by Lenny Kravitz ("Stand by My Woman"; 1991), Antonello Venditti ("Alta Marea"; 1991), Jeff Healey ("Lost in Your Eyes"; 1992), The Lemonheads ("It's About Time"; 1993), and Meat Loaf ("Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through"; 1993). At the age of 16, Jolie returned to theatre and played her first role as a German dominatrix. She began to learn from her father, as she noticed his method of observing people to become like them. Their relationship during this time was less strained, with Jolie realizing that they were both "drama queens".


At the San Diego Comic-Con International in 2010.
Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn a British accent and undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant Magazine commented, "Angelina Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but [director] Simon West makes her journey into a game of Frogger."The movie was an international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide, and launched her global reputation as a female action star.
Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as the mail-order bride Julia Russell in Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms. Jolie's neckline."In 2002, she played Lanie Kerrigan in Life or Something Like It, a film about an ambitious TV reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award–winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."
Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003. The sequel, while not as lucrative as the original, earned $156 million at the international box-office. Jolie appeared in the music video for Korn's "Did My Time", which was used to promote the film. Later that year Jolie starred in Beyond Borders, a film about aid workers in Africa. Although reflecting Jolie's real-life interest in promoting humanitarian relief, the film was critically and financially unsuccessful. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Jolie, as she did in her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted, can bring electricity and believability to roles that have a reality she can understand. She can also, witness the Lara Croft films, do acknowledged cartoons. But the limbo of a hybrid character, a badly written cardboard person in a fly-infested, blood-and-guts world, completely defeats her."


With Brad Pitt at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour."She also provided the voice of Lola, an angelfish in the animated DreamWorks movie Shark Tale (2004) and she had a brief appearance in Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot with actors entirely in front of a bluescreen. Also in 2004, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, Oliver Stone's biographical film about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States.



Jolie as Christine Collins on the set of Changeling, November 2007

In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures the life in 27 locations around the globe during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and is intended to be distributed through the National Education Association, mainly in high schools.Jolie starred as Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007), about the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. The film is based on Mariane Pearl's memoirs of the same name and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving", played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent." The film earned her a fourth Golden Globe Award and a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Jolie also played Grendel's mother in Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf (2007) which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Mark Millar. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $342 million worldwide. 

Jolie first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Tomb Raider in Cambodia. She eventually turned to UNHCR for more information on international trouble spots. In the following months she visited refugee camps around the world to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas. In February 2001, Jolie went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed. In the coming months she returned to Cambodia for two weeks and later met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan where she donated $1 million for Afghan refugees in response to an international UNHCR emergency appeal. She insisted on covering all costs related to her missions and shared the same rudimentary working and living conditions as UNHCR field staff on all of her visits. As a result of assistance rendered to their former subjects the Royal family of Swat (princely state) have awarded her the honor Khanum Sahiba the equivalent of being made a lady.Jolie was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador on August 27, 2001 at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva

Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries. Asked what she hoped to accomplish, she stated, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon." In 2002, Jolie visited the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand and Colombian refugees in Ecuador. Jolie later went to various UNHCR facilities in Kosovo and paid a visit to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya with refugees mainly from Sudan. She also met with Angolan refugees while filming Beyond Borders in Namibia.
In 2003, Jolie embarked on a six-day mission to Tanzania where she traveled to western border camps hosting Congolese refugees, and she paid a week-long visit to Sri Lanka. She later concluded a four-day mission to Russia as she traveled to North Caucasus. Concurrently with the release of her movie Beyond Borders she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicle her early field missions (2001–2002). During a private stay in Jordan in December 2003 she asked to visit Iraqi refugees in Jordan's eastern desert and later that month she went to Egypt to meet Sudanese refugees.
On her first U.N. trip within the United States, Jolie went to Arizona in 2004, visiting detained asylum seekers at three facilities and the Southwest Key Program, a facility for unaccompanied children in Phoenix. She flew to Chad in June 2004, paying a visit to border sites and camps for refugees who had fled fighting in western Sudan's Darfur region. Four months later she returned to the region, this time going directly into West Darfur. Also in 2004, Jolie met with Afghan refugees in Thailand and on a private stay to Lebanon during the Christmas holidays, she visited UNHCR's regional office in Beirut, as well as some young refugees and cancer patients in the Lebanese capital.


Jolie and Condoleezza Rice at World Refugee Day, June 2005
Over time, Jolie became more involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level. She has regularly attended World Refugee Day in Washington, D.C., and she was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005 and 2006. Jolie also began lobbying humanitarian interests in the U.S. capital, where she met with members of Congress at least 20 times from 2003. She explained in Forbes: "As much as I would love to never have to visit Washington, that's the way to move the ball."
In 2005, Jolie took part at a National Press Club luncheon, where she announced the founding of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal-aid to asylum-seeking children with no legal representation which Jolie personally funded with a donation of $500,000 for its first two years. Jolie also pushed for several bills to aid refugees and vulnerable children in the Third World. In addition to her political involvement, Jolie began using her public profile to promote humanitarian causes through the mass media. She filmed an MTV special, The Diary Of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa, portraying her and noted economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to a remote group of villages in Western Kenya. In 2006, Jolie announced the founding of the Jolie/Pitt Foundation which made initial donations to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders of $1 million each. Jolie also co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, founded at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2006, which helps fund education programs for children affected by conflict.
Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work. In 2003, she was the first recipient of the newly created Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, and in 2005, she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country on August 12, 2005; she has pledged $5 million to set up a wildlife sanctuary in the north-western province of Battambang and owns property there. 
On March 28, 1996, Jolie married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, her co-star in the film Hackers (1995). She attended her wedding in black rubber pants and a white shirt, upon which she had written the groom's name in her blood.Jolie and Miller separated the following year and subsequently divorced on February 3, 1999. They remained on good terms and Jolie later explained, "It comes down to timing. I think he's the greatest husband a girl could ask for. I'll always love him, we were simply too young."
While shooting Pushing Tin (1999) she met American actor Billy Bob Thornton, and subsequently married him on May 5, 2000. As a result of their frequent public declarations of passion and gestures of love—most famously wearing one another's blood in vials around their necks—their relationship became a favorite topic of the entertainment media.[69] Jolie and Thornton divorced on May 27, 2003. Asked about the sudden dissolution of their marriage, Jolie stated, "It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it's scary but... I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself yet."

Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2007
Jolie has said in interviews that she is bisexual and has long acknowledged that she had a sexual relationship with her Foxfire (1996) co-star Jenny Shimizu, "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her." In 2003, asked if she was bisexual, Jolie responded, "Of course. If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it's okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!"
In early 2005, Jolie was involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal when she was accused of being the reason for the divorce of actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. The allegation was that she and Pitt had started an affair during filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). She denied this on several occasions, but admitted that they "fell in love" on the set.In an interview in 2005, she explained, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife."

On March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan.He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath Vibol in Cambodia, and he initially lived in a local orphanage in Battambang. Jolie decided to apply for adoption after she had visited Cambodia twice, while filming Tomb Raider and on a UNHCR field trip in 2001. After her divorce from her second husband, Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie received sole custody of Maddox. Like Jolie's other children, Maddox has gained considerable celebrity and appears regularly in the tabloid media.
Jolie adopted a six-month-old girl from Ethiopia, Zahara Marley, on July 6, 2005. Zahara was born on January 8, 2005. She was originally named Yemsrach by her mother, and was later given the legal name Tena Adam at an orphanage.Jolie adopted her from Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Addis Ababa. Shortly after they returned to the United States, Zahara was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition. In 2007, media outlets reported Zahara's biological mother, Mentewabe Dawit, was still alive and wanted her daughter back, but she later denied these reports, saying she thought Zahara was "very fortunate" to be adopted by Jolie.
Brad Pitt was reportedly present when Jolie signed the adoption papers and collected her daughter;later Jolie indicated that she and Pitt made the decision to adopt Zahara together.On January 19, 2006 a judge in California approved Pitt's request to legally adopt Jolie's two children. Their surnames were formally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, in Swakopmund, Namibia, by a scheduled caesarean section, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly-born daughter would have a Namibian passport, and Jolie decided to sell the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images herself, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these valuable photographs. People paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million.All profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it was the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.


Jolie at a photo op in Washington, D.C. in 2005
Jolie appeared in the media from an early age due to her famous father Jon Voight. At seven she had a small part in Lookin' to Get Out, a movie co-written by and starring her father, and in 1986 and 1988 she attended the Academy Awards as a teenager with him. However, when she started her acting career, Jolie decided not to use "Voight" as a stage name, because she wished to establish her own identity as an actress. Jolie was never shy about controversy and integrated her teenage "wild girl" image into her public persona in the first years of her career. During her acceptance speech at the 2000 Academy Awards, Jolie declared, "I'm so in love with my brother right now", which, combined with her affectionate behavior towards him that night, sparked speculation in the tabloid media of an incestuous relationship with her brother James Haven. She has denied those rumors vehemently, and Jolie and Haven later explained in interviews that after their parents' divorce they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support.


Jolie and Pitt at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009
Starting in 2005, her relationship with Brad Pitt became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her pregnancy in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the point of insanity" as Reuters described it in their story "The Brangelina fever". Trying to avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ", as it had been described. Two years later, Jolie's second pregnancy again fueled a media frenzy. For the two weeks she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.
Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31% of respondents in the United States said Jolie was familiar to them, by 2006 she was familiar to 81% of Americans.In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets Jolie, together with Brad Pitt, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide. Jolie was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2006 and 2008.She was described as the world's most beautiful woman in the 2006 "100 Most Beautiful" issue of People,voted the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British Channel 4 television show The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols in 2007,and named "Most beautiful woman in the world" by Vanity Fair in 2009.The Hollywood Reporter named Jolie the highest-paid actress of 2008, earning $15 million per film.She also topped Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list in 2009;she had previously been ranked No. 14 in 2007,and No. 3 in 2008.
Tattoos



Jolie in New York with several of her tattoos visible, June 2007
Jolie's numerous tattoos have been the subject of much media attention and have often been addressed by interviewers. Jolie stated that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, the large number of tattoos on her body have forced filmmakers to become more creative when planning nude or love scenes.Make-up has been used to cover up the tattoos in many of her productions. Jolie has thirteen known tattoos, among them the Tennessee Williams quote "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages", which she got together with her mother, the Arabic language phrase "العزيمة" (strength of will), the Latin proverb "quod me nutrit me destruit" (what nourishes me destroys me), and a Yantra prayer written in the ancient Khmer script for her son Maddox. She also has six sets of geographical coordinates on her upper left arm indicating the birthplaces of her children. Over time she covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including "Billy Bob", the name of her former husband Billy Bob Thornton, a Chinese character for death (死), and a window on her lower back; she explained that she removed the window, because, while she used to spend all of her time looking out through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.


Filmography


1995 Without Evidence Jodie Swearingen
1995 Hackers Kate "Acid Burn" Libby
1996 Love Is All There Is Gina Malacici
1996 Mojave Moon Eleanor "Elie" Rigby
1996 Foxfire Margret "Legs" Sadovsky
1997 True Women (TV) Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods Television
1997 George Wallace (TV) Cornelia Wallace Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1997 Playing God Claire
1998 Gia (TV) Gia Marie Carangi Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1998 Hell's Kitchen Gloria McNeary
1998 Playing by Heart Joan National Board of Review Award – Breakthrough Performance
1998 Pushing Tin Mary Bell
1999 The Bone Collector Amelia Donaghy
1999 Girl, Interrupted Lisa Rowe Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2000 Gone in 60 Seconds Sara "Sway" Wayland
2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Lara Croft Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2001 Original Sin Julia Russell
2002 Life or Something Like It Lanie Kerrigan
2003 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life Lara Croft
2003 Beyond Borders Sarah Jordan
2004 Taking Lives Illeana Scott
2004 Shark Tale Lola Voice
2004 Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Francesca "Franky" Cook People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Action Star
2004 The Fever (TV) Revolutionary Cameo
2004 Alexander Olympias
2005 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Jane Smith MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award – Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (with Brad Pitt)
2006 The Good Shepherd Margaret Russell
2007 A Mighty Heart Mariane Pearl Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role – Motion Picture
2007 Beowulf Grendel's mother Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
2008 Kung Fu Panda Master Tigress Voice
2008 Wanted Fox People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment
2008 Changeling Christine Collins Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role – Motion Picture
2010 Salt Evelyn Salt
2011 The Tourist Elise (post-production)
2011 Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom Master Tigress Voice
Awards

Awards
Year Award Category Film Result
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie George Wallace Nominated
1998 Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress – Series/Miniseries/TV Movie George Wallace Won
1998 National Board of Review Award Breakthrough Performance – Female Playing by Heart Won
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Gia Nominated
1999 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Gia Won
1999 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries Gia Won
2000 Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Academy Award Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2004 People's Choice Award Favourite Female Action Star Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama A Mighty Heart Nominated
2008 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role A Mighty Heart Nominated
2009 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Changeling Nominated
2009 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2009 BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2009 Academy Award Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Changeling