Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 09/23/10

Marion Cotillard to Co-Star in Danish Girl?

That's the rumor going around the internet the past few days. A personal favorite among many Nicole fans (this Blogger included), snagging Cotillard would be dream casting. It's not out of the question, as Nicole and the French actress have become friends after filming Nine. More importantly they have a similar ethereal quality that would make them wonderful on-screen partners.

In any case Access Hollywood is reporting that Cotillard will be doing Danish Girl but it's tough to say at this point if they are misinformed or confusing it with The Rivals, another drama with two meaty female leads, potentially to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and talked about by fans as a fantastic Kidman/Cotillard pairing.

BleedingCool.com and PunchDrunkCritics.com have latched onto the story as well. We'll keep our eyes peeled for any news. In the meantime, here's a lovely photo of Marion and Nicole on the set of Vogue Magazine's Nine photoshoot.



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Click HERE to listen to Keith talk about Sunday and her first studio recording, courtesy of KFROG in California.

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Billboard.com

URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Keith Urban previews his seventh studio album, "Get Closer," out Nov. 16, as "Put You in a Song" roars onto Country Songs as the Hot Shot Debut at No. 29.

The song marks Urban's fourth to arrive in the chart's top 30. "Once In a Lifetime" charged in at No. 17 in 2006, followed by "Sweet Thing" (No. 30, 2008) and "Kiss a Girl" (No. 29, 2009).

Since Country Songs converted to Nielsen BDS-monitored radio airplay data in January 1990, only Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney have made more entrances in the top 30 (six each). With his sixth such song, "More Than a Memory" (2007), Brooks posted the first No. 1 bow in the chart's BDS-monitored archives.

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Oscar Predictions Updated: The Field is Beginning to Sort Itself Out

by Brad Bevet


On the actress side things aren't as simple. My current #1 is Annette Bening for The Kids are All Right. She's got a lot of buzz behind her, she's been nominated three times and has yet to win. However, the list of names behind her is extraordinarily strong, some don't have the buzz just yet, but in my opinion give better performances.

My personal favorite at the moment is Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, which was picked up out of Toronto by Lionsgate for a December release. Kidman has my #3 slot at the moment with Natalie Portman just above her in #2 for Black Swan primarily because the buzz behind Portman is a bit louder considering more people have seen Black Swan than have seen Rabbit Hole. Having seen both I believe Kidman has the stronger performance. Rounding out my top five are the as yet unseen Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs and what I believe to be the young-Hollywood sentimental lock, Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone.

It's a solid five should Hathaway's performance live up to the chatter, but hot on their heels are the likes of Diane Lane (Secretariat), Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) not to mention several others such as Gwyneth Paltrow's unseen performance in Country Strong and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in the Coens' True Grit. Steinfeld, for that matter, could take that "young-Hollywood sentimental lock" I just awarded Lawrence.

Continuing on the women's side, the Supporting Actress race is all sewn up if you ask me as Lesley Manville gives one of the best performances of the year in Mike Leigh's Another Year. Several pundits around the web are debating over whether she'll be pushed as supporting or lead, but she is undoubtedly supporting and Sony Classics would be fools to push her in lead against much stronger competition. However, the names behind Manville aren't so easily sorted out.

Right now I have Dale Dickey's menacing performance in Winter's Bone at #2 followed by Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole), Elle Fanning (Somewhere) and Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech). This is me just spit-balling at the moment as I am positive two or three of those names will not make the final ballot, but who will rise up is beyond me at the moment.

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1-10 Country Music Review: Put You In A Song

The new tune from Keith Urban is a shamelessly catchy and inoffensive ditty if ever there was one. He doesn't try to reinvent the wheel on this track, but what he does he does well.

In "Put You In a Song," Keith takes on the role of a lovestruck man who crosses paths with a girl who's "lookin' so fine." He wishes he could put her in a song, or more specifically, 'put her in his car, and drive, and turn her up loud.' Make sense? Not a whole lot.

There may not be much lyrical furniture here, but what really makes this track is the energy and excitement in Keith's performance, not the mention the wildly hooky melody that just begs you to sing along. When Keith shouts "I love this girl!" to the whole wide world, he sounds like he means it. The upbeat musical arrangement, featuring catchy guitar hooks paired with the beat of a cowbell, is perfectly on par with the energy in Keith's vocals.

There's no storyline to speak of, and there are no profound life lessons. "Put You In a Song" doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is - three and a half minutes of rockin' fun. It's definitely not cut out to be a country classic, and it probably won't even be one of Keith's best-remembered tunes. Yes, it will probably get old after a while. By the time it's done shooting up the charts, I'll probably hate it, and need some time away from it. But for now, I'm just going to do what the song says - Put it in my car, and drive, and turn it up loud!

KEITH'S SCORE: 7
(Scores are given on a scale of 1 to 10)

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Keith news from Australia's Channel 9

Keith Urban honoured by ACM

Keith Urban was among the stars honoured by the Academy of Country Music in Tennessee this week, winning praise for his long-running international career.

The big names of country music gathered at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Monday night for the star-studded show which saw performances from acts including John Rich, Kenny Rogers and Martina McBride.

Urban was presented with the Jim Reeves International Award and he used his acceptance speech to relive the moment he was introduced to country music at a Johnny Cash concert when he was just a child.

He told the crowd, "I couldn't say it was life-changing - I was five years old. But it was impactful. This music is global. It crosses all language barriers."

Jeff Bridges' Oscar-winning movie Crazy Heart was also singled out for praise, winning the Tex Ritter Award for films which promote country music.

The event was hosted by singer Lee Ann Womack and other honours were dished out to a variety of songwriters, producers and musicians for the contributions to the genre.