Lee Daniels talks to Screen about why he connected with The Butler and discloses that he wants Minka Kelly to play Jacqueline Kennedy

Screen sat down with The Paperboy director Lee Daniels in Cannes last night at the film’s reception drinks.

Daniels disclosed to Screen that he has chosen Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly for the part of Jackie Kennedy in his next feature The Butler, starring Forest Whitaker as Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served eight presidents.

Of new project The Butler, produced by Icon and being sold by IM Global, Daniels said: “I connected with it because it is ultimately a father son story with a civil rights backdrop. In my lifetime there were separate water fountains, pools and toilets for blacks. People forget that. This is such an exciting journey for me.”

Daniels begins location scouting on Monday. Shoot is due to start July 16.

The film’s intriguing casting includes Whitaker as Alan, Oprah Winfrey as his wife, Mathew McConaughey as John F. Kennedy, John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Allan Rickman as Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, and Cuba Gooding Jr, David Oyelowo, Lenny Kravitz and Terrence Howard also on board.

Danny Strong wrote the script with Daniels based on a Washington Post article by Wil Haygood.

Source: screendaily.com

Esquire Magazine once named actress Minka Kelly the “Sexiest Woman Alive”, so walking in the Heart Truth’s Red Dress Fashion Show to raise awareness for women’s heart health should be a breeze, right? Not quite. “I’ve been nervous all week!” Kelly said, when we got the chance to chat with her on her new ambassador title with Diet Coke. We caught up with the brunette bombshell hours before showtime to get the scoop on how she lives a heart healthy lifestyle, the exercises she swears by, and more.

Tell us about your partnership with Diet Coke and Heart’s Truth Red Dress Fashion Show. What made you decide to get involved?
Before I started working with Diet Coke as an ambassador, I wasn’t even aware that heart disease is the number one killer for women. I figured this would be a chance for me to use my voice and let other women know to how important it is to eat right and exercise to keep your heart in good health.

How do you manage stay in shape, especially with such a busy schedule?
I try to do yoga every morning at 7 a.m.; it’s good to get your workout out of the way early. I also work out with my trainer Gunnar Peterson two days a week on top of that. I owe him a lot of credit for the shape I’m in because I love to eat! I have to workout extra hard to balance my love for food out.

Do you have one body part you find trickier to tone up than others?
I tend to be heavier on my bottom half; I have big legs and big booty! I do a lot of lunges and squats to make sure all of that doesn’t fall down to my knees. I’m trying to defy gravity!

What’s one body part you’re especially proud of?
My mother always told me growing up that I had a beautiful neck, so I would say my collarbone. I think it is one of the most elegant parts on a woman’s body. Other than that I work hard for the body I have, none of it was just given to me.

Heart health and diet are directly related. What’s one diet tip you live by?
Portion control is really important and something I definitely had to learn to maintain my size. But you don’t have to deprive yourself of what you love. When you do that you’re bound to eventually cave and then you end up making an ever bigger mistake than if you had just had a little bit of what you wanted. I try to satisfy my cravings in small portions. I’d rather have one good cookie instead of five diet cookies.

Most people tend to crave either sweet or salty. Which one are you?
Both! When I have too much sweet I have to have something salty. I can’t just pick one and stick with it!

When you do want a treat, what do you reach for?
I’ll usually have a few piece of chocolate or some almonds. I try to steer clear from chips, those can get dangerous.
If we were to open your fridge, what foods would we find in there?
A lot of pressed juices. I have a green mix from Dr. Bo Wagner that basically has every vegetable imaginable in it that I’ll make in the morning. I really like to make breakfast at home so you’ll also find eggs. Other than that, it’s pretty bare!

Have you picked up any confidence-boosting tips for the runway?
I haven’t picked up many! I wish I had a lot of supermodel friends. One of my friends said I should walk on my tippy toes, but I tried it and just can’t do it. I’m going to do my best and stay calm. Getting down and back in one piece is all I can ask for.

Minka Kelly fought bad guys onscreen in Charlie’s Angels, but offscreen she’s made another type of killer her target: heart disease. The actress teamed up with Diet Coke on The Heart Truth campaign to increase awareness, especially among women, and agreed to walk the Red Dress Collection Fashion Show on February 8. She was joined on the runway by a range of celebrities, including Christie Brinkley and Rebecca Romijn, and chatted with us about how she keeps her exercise routine interesting and why you will almost always see her wearing a pair of heels.

ELLE: It’s just a few hours until the runway show—do you have any sort of pre-event routine?
Minka Kelly: I know, don’t remind me! I have no routine because walking on a runway is not what I do—I wish I did! I’m just going to wing it and hope for the best, and hope that my Diane von Furstenberg dress does all the work for me. The dress is gorgeous—it’s a floor-length, sequined, wrap gown. I don’t have to do much. Of course, I’m nervous; I’m always nervous for anything I have to do, but I’m OK with that because it means I care.

ELLE: Is there anyone walking with you tonight who you’re excited to see?
MK: I’m excited to see Chaka Khan!

ELLE: Are you a big fan?
MK: Heck yeah, who isn’t?! “I feel for you!” [singing]

ELLE: You have a nice voice! Having worked with a few different organizations in the past, including Stand Up To Cancer and the USO, what made you interested in doing something with the Heart Truth?
MK: When they reached out to me about being ambassador for the campaign, I didn’t know that heart disease was the number one killer in women—and that affected me. I thought it was important to raise awareness as best as I can and let as many women as I can know about this danger. I tend to be pretty conscious of my health and my exercise mainly because I really like to eat a lot, so I have to balance it out with how I work it out.

ELLE: Are you pretty active?
MK: I like to be as active as I can. I get bored quickly, so I do like changing it up. Right now I do yoga every day, and what I love about my instructor is that she makes it different every time. I also have my trainer, and with him it’s always different, it’s always fun. But I also like to go hiking, or my girlfriend and I go to the beach and ride our bikes.

ELLE: Do you have any other Fashion Week plans?
MK: Next week I’m going to Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa. I really enjoy just the creativity of these shows, and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to wear them!

ELLE: They’re both quite feminine. How would you describe your personal style?
MK: Comfortable, easy, simple. Once in a while I’ll play with trends, but usually it’s pretty simple. Sometimes I’m just a T-shirt and jeans girl, sometimes I like to wear girly dresses, sometimes I’m a tomboy. But what is consistent is that I’m comfortable. Except with shoes—the rule of thumb with shoes is that pain is beauty. I’ve come to terms with that.

Minka Kelly, formerly of the show “Friday Night Lights” reportedly turned down a date with Jake Gyllenhaal following her breakup from New York Yankees player Derek Jeter.

Gyllenhaal, 31, and Kelly have not commented on the report.

But if the former “Charlie’s Angels” actress was trying to mend the split from Jeter as reported, it worked because the two were spotted enjoying a romantic reunion in Paris in December.

Kelly and Jeter, who broke up in August after dating for three years, were spotted visiting some of Paris’ most famous spots, including the Musée D’Orsay and the Sacré-Coeur church in Montmartre, according to People magazine.

“They looked much in love,” a witness told the weekly. “They were always very, very close [and] very playful as a couple with each other.”

The actress and Jeter, 37, reportedly stayed with friends at a boutique hotel in the city’s Left Bank.

Kelly and Jeter have kept their relationship largely private and did not comment publicly about their August breakup.

Kelly appeared in the recent ABC reboot of the show “Charlie’s Angels,” which was cancelled in October after suffering from low ratings. She rose to fame playing Lyla Garrity on the drama series “Friday Night Lights.” She left the show in 2009.

Kelly later starred in the NBC series “Parenthood” and in the movies “The Roommate” with “Gossip Girl” actress Leighton Meester and the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy “Just Go With It,” both of which were released last year.

Are Minka Kelly and Derek Jeter rekindling their romance?

The couple, who broke up five months ago after three years of dating, jetted to Paris over the holiday weekend, according to People.

The former “Charlie’s Angels” star, 31, and her 37-year-old MLB pro reportedly stayed with friends at a boutique hotel on the city’s Left Bank, and hit up many of Paris’ most popular sites, including the Musee D’Orsay.

“They looked much in love,” an observer told the mag. “They were always very, very close [and] very playful as a couple with each other.”

The former couple reportedly hit the Montremartre district on Saturday, where Minka was spotted snapping of Derek with her cell phone at the Sacre-Coeur church.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the pair broke up in August after a 3-year relationship.

“They care about each other and it was amicable,” a source said at the time. “They’re still friends.”

Some classics — even the cheesiest ones — are better left in the past, and Charlie’s Angels, it seems, is no exception: ABC is shutting down production the reboot from Smallville scribes Al Gough and Miles Millar.

A network representative says the show will continue to air on Thursdays, filling the 8 p.m. slot with an unknown number of episodes (four of the show’s eight shot episodes have aired). Last night’s hour showed some ratings growth for the first time, climbing a tenth of a point to 6 million viewers and a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating. But it wasn’t enough to reverse the show’s fate.

Why did the reboot fail? As Ken Tucker said in his review, the series found more of its inspiration from the Angels movies (co-produced by Drew Barrymore, who also had a production hand in this TV remake) than it did from the 1970s TV series featuring the late Farrah Fawcett. So there was lots of Hollywood-style kick-assery, before Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh retreated all kitten-like to the requisite speaker phone to check in with Charlie.

In a column they wrote for EW, Gough and Millar saw it as a plus that Charlie’s Angels was picked up on the same day the series finale of Smallville aired. “We took that as a fortuitous omen,” they wrote. “The truth is, we won’t know if all our creative bets pay off until the show airs. We have our fingers crossed that the angels will be smiling on us.” Not this time.

Source: EW.COM

If there can be a new girl on a new show, that would be Minka Kelly on Charlie’s Angels. She plays Eve, the latest addition to the trio on the latest reboot of the classic series. She was also in (500) Days of Summer, and even though it was just one scene, you know I had to thank her personally after the Charlie’s Angels presentation to the Television Critics Association.

CraveOnline: What’s it going to take to make Abby (Rachael Taylor) trust Eve?

Minka Kelly: I think in any relationship, any solid good relationship, it takes a while to trust someone. So that’s all. It’s just going to take a little time and proving myself and building the bond.

CraveOnline: What costumes are you looking forward to?

Minka Kelly: Oh gosh, every day is new. Every costume is new. It’s fun. That’s another exciting aspect of the show but at the same time, with all the beautiful clothing, there is the realness and the emotion of it, the relationships which makes it you have everything.

CraveOnline: Of course it’s undercover work, and we saw the three of you as waitresses in the pilot.

Minka Kelly: Oh, you know what actually? I am excited about a salsa dance coming up which I’m very excited about. Bosley and I are going to go undercover as salsa dancers so I’m looking forward to that.

CraveOnline: The music is a really important part of the show. What are you listening to?

Minka Kelly: Oh my gosh, I listen to everything from Amos Lee and Ray Lamontange to Beyonce and Jay-Z. I love music. Music is something I’m very, very passionate about.

CraveOnline: What music helps you get into character?

Minka Kelly: Yes, sometimes I need to kick some butt and I’ll listen to some Beyonce and be an empowered woman. Or sometimes I have to be a little emotional so I’ll listen to my Ray Lamontange or Rosie Thomas or Patty Griffin.

In honor of “Charlie’s Angels’” 35th anniversary on Thursday, a new, sexy crime-fighting trio will debut on primetime.

Minka Kelly, Annie Ilonzeh and Rachael Taylor will star in the ABC reboot, which, despite minor differences, maintains the formula of the original series, said Al Gough, a writer and producer on the show.

And Gough, who executive produced the CW’s “Smallville” – the Clark Kent drama that ended its 10-year run in May – knows a thing or two about re-imagining iconic franchises.

“We tried to stick to the DNA of [‘Charlie’s Angels’],” Gough told CNN. “The idealized female friendships. The fact that they’re detectives. … With any iconic franchise, you have to hope you’ve changed enough to make it relevant, but haven’t gone too far.”

The changes include the Angels’ dark pasts, the fact that Ramon Rodriguez’s Bosley is a 30-something ladies man with a six-pack, and the location. Producers moved the series to Miami, Florida.

“Working from Miami felt more glamorous than Beverly Hills does,” Gough said. “Maybe just because we live in L.A.”

Also, giving the girls criminal backgrounds – as opposed to the original Angels, who were graduates of the Los Angeles police academy – helps with storytelling, he said.

Technology was another aspect that needed updating. It doesn’t make sense that, in 2011, Charlie is still just a voice on the telephone, Gough added; suggesting that perhaps a meeting is in order.

Bosley and the Angels also use tablet computers to crack a case in the pilot episode.

“The tone of [the reboot] definitely…plays a little darker,” Gough said. “People die in this world. You still have the fashion and the fun, but their back stories are slightly darker.”

“I always say, if Jack Bauer [from ‘24’] and Carrie Bradshaw [from ‘Sex and the City’] had a lovechild, it would be ‘Charlie’s Angels,’” he added. “If people embrace that sort of tone, where it’s fun, but more grounded than the previous version, then I think they’ll like it.”

Source: cnn.com

Source: fitsugar.com