Mike Nichols

Tom Hanks headed to Paris to promote Charlie Wilson's War with director Mike Nichols on Friday. Tom is up for a Golden Globe on Sunday, but his mind is already on the fate of the Oscars. Along with George Clooney, Tom is one of the many stars who is ready to get back to work and attend the Academy Awards. He said, "The show must go on, that is one of the tenets of everything. I am a member of the board of governors of the Academy, and we definitely want to put on a great show and honor the films that have come out in the course of the year."

No word yet on whether or not the actors will have an effect on the strike negotiations, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that Tom, George and all of our other favorite celebs will be walking the red carpet for the Oscars in February.

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Note: I asked GiggleSugar to go to write up this review, and she graciously agreed. Thanks, Giggle!

Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a Texas Congressman who drinks whisky in the morning, whose single notable legislative achievement is having been re-elected five times, and who hires only sexy young women as aides. “You can teach ‘em to type,” his secretary quotes him as saying, “but you can’t teach ‘em to grow tits.”

Yet we see him in a flash forward at the beginning of Charlie Wilson’s War receiving an unusual military honor for playing a part in helping to end the Cold War between the Soviets and the US. How do we reconcile the ne’er-do-well Charlie with the unlikely hero Charlie?

Based on a true story and adapted from a book by George Crile, Charlie Wilson’s War is a smart and fast-paced comedy written by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) and directed by Mike Nichols that seeks not only to answer the question of Charlie’s transformation but also to explain the complicated history of the U.S.’s often covert involvement in global affairs. It does this in an engaging way by focusing on the flawed people who turn the wheels of history. The film manages a difficult balancing act: it is informative without being boring, entertaining without being trivial, and political without being partisan. To see more what I mean, read more

Last night's NYC screening of Charlie Wilson's War was a formal affair with not a whole lot of color at all on the red carpet. Tom Hanks was there with one of his costars and fellow Golden Globe nominees, Philip Seymour Hoffman, but not Julia Roberts. While their leading lady wasn't around, a breakthrough redheaded actress with a gorgeous smile (and GG acting nominee) Amy Adams looked great in her LBD. Meanwhile, always love Steve Martin — even though my disdain for fedoras is no big secret he looks kinda awesome in his. Considering the recognition that Tom, Philip and Amy are getting for their roles this year, methinks we'll be seeing a lot of them in fancy wear as award season ramps up.

To see more from the premiere including Colin Hanks, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg and others just read more

The stage world is buzzing with the news that Jake Gyllenhaal will appear on Broadway in the Beau Willimon play "Farragut North". A politically charged drama directed by Mike Nichols (Silkwood, Working Girl, Closer), "Farragut North" has Gyllenhaal playing "an idealistic young press secretary who works for a Howard Dean-like presidential contender." Appropriately, the play will open the fall of 2008 — when we'll all be busy electing a new President ourselves.

Even before the show has hit Broadway, however, George Clooney and Matt Damon have reportedly bought up the film rights. No word on whether the duo will appear onscreen in the film version. I suppose whether Gyllenhaal reprises his stage role in the movie depends on how well he does on Broadway!

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Nothings better than kicking off a Monday with new Clooney pics! George is still hard at work on the set of Leatherheads, which he is both directing and starring in himself. We're sure he's got his hands full with all those responsibilities, but at least there's one big hurdle that he doesn't have to worry about this time. Turns out, while filming The Good German there was a little bit of on-set trouble with the, uh, German part. Here's more:

“It was brutal,” Clooney told Australia’s Herald Sun. “We had a dialect coach on the set who apparently didn’t speak any German. We didn’t know. He would say, ‘That was good.’” But when the film was shown to German speakers, they couldn’t understand a word of what Clooney said. Director Mike Nichols, who was born in Germany and speaks the language, was called onto the set to help out. “So, for dubbing, Mike was my dialect coach,” Clooney explained. “He would say, ‘Okay, say this.’ Every word of it was from Mike Nichols.”

We're sure George was good-natured as always about the whole mix up. Just another reason to love him -- after that sexy smile of course!

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