By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer David Germain, Ap Movie Writer – Thu Jan 7, 4:09 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – The science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" has earned James Cameron his latest nomination for the top honor from the Directors Guild of America.
Cameron won the guild prize 12 years ago for "Titanic." Also nominated are Kathryn Bigelow for the Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker," Lee Daniels for the Harlem teen tale "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," Jason Reitman for the recession-era story "Up in the Air" and Quentin Tarantino for the World War II hit "Inglourious Basterds."
Like the Golden Globes on Jan. 17, the awards put Cameron up against ex-wife Bigelow, a first-time Directors Guild nominee.
Daniels and Reitman also earned their first guild film nominations, while Tarantino previously was nominated for 1994's "Pulp Fiction."
Directors Guild picks usually are a good reflection of how the category will shake out at the Academy Awards. The winner at the guild awards usually goes on to win the directing Oscar, as Cameron did for "Titanic" and last year's guild winner, Danny Boyle, did for "Slumdog Millionaire."
The guild announces TV, documentary and commercial nominations Friday. Awards will be presented at a banquet Jan. 30 in Los Angeles, three days before Oscar nominations come out.
If the Oscar nominees match the guild picks, it would be one of the most diverse lineups ever in the directing category, which usually consists of five white men.
Daniels would follow John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood") as only the second black filmmaker nominated for best director. Bigelow would be only the fourth woman nominated for director, following Lina Wertmuller ("Seven Beauties"), Jane Campion ("The Piano") and Sofia Coppola ("Lost in Translation").
Director Norman Jewison, whose films include "In the Heat of the Night," "A Soldier's Story" and "Moonstruck," will receive the guild's lifetime-achievement award.
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On the Net:
http://www.dga.org
January 07, 2010
Jay Leno canceled
NEW YORK – The future of "The Jay Leno Show" was in question Thursday, even as NBC defended its prime-time talk-show star amid Web site reports the program will soon be canceled or shifted into late night.
An industry Web site called FTV declared that Leno's show would be canceled as soon as the Winter Olympics begin next month, when much of the regular programming on NBC will be pre-empted for Olympics coverage.
Then the TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1. Following the Olympics (which take place in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28), Leno will take back the 11:30 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years that ended last May.
This would make Leno's successor at "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, "the odd man out," TMZ said.
Late Thursday, The New York Times reported that NBC executives held discussions with both Leno and O'Brien earlier in the day about the future of the network's late-night lineup. Those executives said that no final decision has been made, but did not deny that the network is considering options that could include returning Leno as host of the "Tonight Show."
Since September, Leno has hosted an hour-long talk and comedy show weeknights at 10 p.m. EST. But his lackluster ratings in prime time have upset NBC affiliate stations who complain they are getting weaker lead-in audiences for their local late newscasts than from past NBC fare.
In a statement released Thursday, NBC said, "Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. As we have said all along, Jay's show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working closely with them to find ways to improve the performance."
While this statement didn't clearly refute the Web reports that Leno's show would be dropped, a clarification from NBC executives denied "The Jay Leno Show" has been canceled.
During his monologue Thursday, Leno milked some laughs from the "rumor floating around that we were canceled. I heard it coming in this morning on the radio. So far, no one has said anything to me."
But if it's true, he joked, "it will give us time to do some traveling. I understand that (the) Fox (network) is beautiful this time of year."
"I don't think there is any truth to the rumors," he went on, referring to his frontrunner status in the ratings when NBC took him off "The Tonight Show."
"See, it's always been my experience that NBC only cancels you when you're in first place," Leno cracked. "So we are fine. We are OK."
O'Brien made no mention of the scuttlebutt in his monologue.
Thursday night, NBC issued yet another statement expressing the network's commitment "to keeping Conan O'Brien on NBC. He is a valued part of our late-night lineup, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."
On Thursday, the rumors surrounding Leno's fate left industry analyst Shari Anne Brill mystified.
"For me, the big question is what is going to happen at 10 p.m. going forward," Brill said, "because that's a critical time period to promote the late local news, and it was the affiliates' dissatisfaction with their lower audience numbers that was the catalyst for speculation on this purported move (for Leno) into late-night."
"The unsolved mystery is what happens at 10 p.m." said Brill of Carat USA.
What sparked Thursday's flurry of Web reports was unclear, but coincided with reports this week that NBC has as many as 18 pilots for prospective new series — presumably more than would be needed to replenish a prime-time schedule for a network that expected to continue filling five hours weekly with Leno's show.
The speculation may also be a run-up to the winter TV Critics Press Tour, which begins this weekend in Los Angeles. At this annual conclave, network programming initiatives are unveiled for media reporters. In turn, reporters have a forum to grill network brass on programming questions. NBC's session is scheduled for Sunday.
An industry Web site called FTV declared that Leno's show would be canceled as soon as the Winter Olympics begin next month, when much of the regular programming on NBC will be pre-empted for Olympics coverage.
Then the TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1. Following the Olympics (which take place in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28), Leno will take back the 11:30 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years that ended last May.
This would make Leno's successor at "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, "the odd man out," TMZ said.
Late Thursday, The New York Times reported that NBC executives held discussions with both Leno and O'Brien earlier in the day about the future of the network's late-night lineup. Those executives said that no final decision has been made, but did not deny that the network is considering options that could include returning Leno as host of the "Tonight Show."
Since September, Leno has hosted an hour-long talk and comedy show weeknights at 10 p.m. EST. But his lackluster ratings in prime time have upset NBC affiliate stations who complain they are getting weaker lead-in audiences for their local late newscasts than from past NBC fare.
In a statement released Thursday, NBC said, "Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. As we have said all along, Jay's show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working closely with them to find ways to improve the performance."
While this statement didn't clearly refute the Web reports that Leno's show would be dropped, a clarification from NBC executives denied "The Jay Leno Show" has been canceled.
During his monologue Thursday, Leno milked some laughs from the "rumor floating around that we were canceled. I heard it coming in this morning on the radio. So far, no one has said anything to me."
But if it's true, he joked, "it will give us time to do some traveling. I understand that (the) Fox (network) is beautiful this time of year."
"I don't think there is any truth to the rumors," he went on, referring to his frontrunner status in the ratings when NBC took him off "The Tonight Show."
"See, it's always been my experience that NBC only cancels you when you're in first place," Leno cracked. "So we are fine. We are OK."
O'Brien made no mention of the scuttlebutt in his monologue.
Thursday night, NBC issued yet another statement expressing the network's commitment "to keeping Conan O'Brien on NBC. He is a valued part of our late-night lineup, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."
On Thursday, the rumors surrounding Leno's fate left industry analyst Shari Anne Brill mystified.
"For me, the big question is what is going to happen at 10 p.m. going forward," Brill said, "because that's a critical time period to promote the late local news, and it was the affiliates' dissatisfaction with their lower audience numbers that was the catalyst for speculation on this purported move (for Leno) into late-night."
"The unsolved mystery is what happens at 10 p.m." said Brill of Carat USA.
What sparked Thursday's flurry of Web reports was unclear, but coincided with reports this week that NBC has as many as 18 pilots for prospective new series — presumably more than would be needed to replenish a prime-time schedule for a network that expected to continue filling five hours weekly with Leno's show.
The speculation may also be a run-up to the winter TV Critics Press Tour, which begins this weekend in Los Angeles. At this annual conclave, network programming initiatives are unveiled for media reporters. In turn, reporters have a forum to grill network brass on programming questions. NBC's session is scheduled for Sunday.
child sacrifice
A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.
One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.
Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.
The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.
In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners.
The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice.
He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth.
"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits… They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.
Asked how often clients brought blood and body parts, the witch-doctor said they came "on average three times a week - with all that the spirits demand from them."
We saw a beaker of blood and what appeared to be a large, raw liver in the shrine before it was destroyed, although it was not possible to determine whether they were human remains.
Extortion
The witch-doctor denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to his clients.
He told us he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (£160 or $260) for a consultation, but that most of that money was handed over to his "boss" in a nationwide network of witch-doctors.
Mutilated three-year old with his parents
Three-year-old Mukisa had his genitals cut off by a witch-doctor
Head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said he knew of the boss referred to - involved in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.
"The senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things," he told us.
Mr Binoga said police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007.
"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced. We cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice," he said.
But child protection campaigners believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to police.
Activism
Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990.
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity
To punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity
Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed.
"The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said.
When he returned to Uganda he says he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, aged 10.
"I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone. Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine."
Asked if he was afraid he might now be prosecuted as a result of confessing to killing 70 people, he said:
"I have been to all the churches… and they know me as a warrior in the drive to end witchcraft that involves human sacrifice, so I think that alone should indemnify me and have me exonerated."
Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo believes that "to punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past."
Child protection activists in organisations such as FAPAD (Facilitation for Peace and Development) and ANPPCAN (African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect) have highlighted recent cases of ritual killing and called for new legislation to regulate so-called "traditional healers".
Witness testimony
In some cases against alleged witch-doctors due to come to trial later this year, police will use the testimony of children who managed to survive abduction.
One such witness is a three-year-old boy called Mukisa, who was left for dead after his penis was hacked off by an assailant.
He survived thanks to quick work by surgeons, and later told police he had been mutilated by a neighbour who is known to keep a shrine.
Mukisa's mother told us: "Every time I look at him, I ask myself how his future is going to be - a man without a penis - and how the rest of the community will look at him, with private parts that can neither be attributed to a man or a woman. Every time I recall the normal birth that I had and the way Mukisa is now, it is like the end of the world."
One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.
Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.
The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.
In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners.
The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice.
He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth.
"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits… They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.
Asked how often clients brought blood and body parts, the witch-doctor said they came "on average three times a week - with all that the spirits demand from them."
We saw a beaker of blood and what appeared to be a large, raw liver in the shrine before it was destroyed, although it was not possible to determine whether they were human remains.
Extortion
The witch-doctor denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to his clients.
He told us he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (£160 or $260) for a consultation, but that most of that money was handed over to his "boss" in a nationwide network of witch-doctors.
Mutilated three-year old with his parents
Three-year-old Mukisa had his genitals cut off by a witch-doctor
Head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said he knew of the boss referred to - involved in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.
"The senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things," he told us.
Mr Binoga said police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007.
"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced. We cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice," he said.
But child protection campaigners believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to police.
Activism
Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990.
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity
To punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity
Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed.
"The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said.
When he returned to Uganda he says he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, aged 10.
"I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone. Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine."
Asked if he was afraid he might now be prosecuted as a result of confessing to killing 70 people, he said:
"I have been to all the churches… and they know me as a warrior in the drive to end witchcraft that involves human sacrifice, so I think that alone should indemnify me and have me exonerated."
Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo believes that "to punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past."
Child protection activists in organisations such as FAPAD (Facilitation for Peace and Development) and ANPPCAN (African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect) have highlighted recent cases of ritual killing and called for new legislation to regulate so-called "traditional healers".
Witness testimony
In some cases against alleged witch-doctors due to come to trial later this year, police will use the testimony of children who managed to survive abduction.
One such witness is a three-year-old boy called Mukisa, who was left for dead after his penis was hacked off by an assailant.
He survived thanks to quick work by surgeons, and later told police he had been mutilated by a neighbour who is known to keep a shrine.
Mukisa's mother told us: "Every time I look at him, I ask myself how his future is going to be - a man without a penis - and how the rest of the community will look at him, with private parts that can neither be attributed to a man or a woman. Every time I recall the normal birth that I had and the way Mukisa is now, it is like the end of the world."
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