Satire Finds a Stage in Baghdad

Director insists he's mocking media, not rape and incest

(NEWSER) - A comic play about accused rapist Josef Fritzl is set to open in Vienna, drawing the ire—and death threats—of Austrians who are not amused, the BBC reports. Director Hubsi Kramar stressed that the largely improvised piece, co-starring victims of abuse, is a commentary on media coverage of Fritzl’s alleged crime. “The media are writing the play and I'm reacting to it,” he said. More»

Broadcasters are set to protest

(NEWSER) - The Brazilian equivalents of Jon Stewart plan to gather in Rio de Janiero this weekend to protest a law that prevents them from making fun of politicians. The law—a relic from Brazil's days of authoritarian rule—outlaws ridiculing candidates for 3 months before an election, the Telegraph reports. Broadcasters who break the rules can be fined $110,000 and have their licenses pulled. More»

(NEWSER) - John Forsythe, a versatile actor who gained lasting fame as Blake Carrington on the pioneering prime-time soap Dynasty and as the voice of the mysterious Charlie on Charlie's Angels, died yesterday in California. He was 92. Best known at the time as the affable star of Bachelor Father, Forsythe played a villainous judge in the 1979 Al Pacino vehicle And Justice for All, demonstrating he had the chops to channel the scheming Blake Carrington. More»

Star dishes on avoiding the fame 'trap' and doing what he always wanted to

(NEWSER) - Standing on the verge of Hollywood superstardom in the mid-'90s, Ethan Hawke blinked. Rather then sign on as the superhero flavor of the month, he turned instead to pal Richard Linklater's small indie flick Before Sunrise. The result has been a career trajectory not so much Hollywood glam as Big Apple cool—Hawke still does his movies, but he's a published author with a penchant for doing Shakespeare and directing off-Broadway plays (currently Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind) with his old cadre of friends. New York magazine stops in for a lengthy profile. More»

'You’re supposed to be unusual' in Hollywood: Wishful Drinking author

(NEWSER) - Carrie Fisher’s shrink told her, “If you worked in a supermarket they would’ve institutionalized you at 20,” she recalls. Not so in Hollywood, where the erstwhile Princess Leia suffered through drug addiction, manic depression, and failed relationships—her own and her parents’. But electroshock therapy helped her deal with all that and turn it into a one-woman show—and it was “worth it!” she tells New York. “Totally. Fucking. Worth it!” More»