GEORGE LUCAS HONOURED

LOS ANGELES -- After creating Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and American Graffiti, Darth Vader might insist it was George Lucas' destiny to get the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award. Lucas, 60, was picked on Friday to be the recipient of the organization's 33rd annual prize, following such recent recipients as Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks. "I've been very fortunate to have had a long career doing what I love to do, and being recognized by the AFI for it is really an honour," Lucas said. "I'm proud to be counted among such an extraordinary group of people whose lives are dedicated to the art of making movies."

Previous honorees include Jack Nicholson, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Poitier and Orson Welles. The gala dinner and ceremony, in which clips of his films will be presented by many of the stars he worked with over the years, is set to take place next June in Los Angeles. The award marks a busy year for Lucas. Last month his original Star Wars trilogy debuted for the first time on DVD (and became a best seller) along with a revised version of his first film, the sci-fi dystopian thriller THX 1138. Lucas also was one of the key presenters recently at the 75th anniversary celebration for the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television (which boasts him as one of its most famous graduates). And in May, he will wrap up his Star Wars prequels with the release of Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which will reveal how Darth Vader became a scarred, half-human half-machine villain. -A. Brezncan.

ENTERTAINERS BECOME LOBBYISTS

NEW YORK- "If you want to send a message," movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn once said, "call Western Union." Translation. Entertainers entertain. Leave politics to the politicians. But Goldwyn is 30 years dead, and this year more than ever, artists are using their art to inspire people to follow their lead to and at the ballot box. Fahrenheit 9/11 has smashed the box-office record for documentaries. In arenas around the country, music stars and punk rockers are performing with the hope they'll get people to vote. Even painters and sculptors have been infused with an election-year muse. While some of the politicization of entertainment is neutral -- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for example, which mocks both parties -- many in the entertainment industry are using whatever medium they can to send a partisan message. There is no agreement on whether it does any good. "It is more likely that someone who hears a celebrity speak out for a specific candidate will form a new opinion about that celebrity as opposed to forming a new opinion about the candidate," maintains Robert Thompson, a professor of media and culture and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.

 

 "Political opinion tends to run deep, and one celebrity is unlikely to change that in any but the most fickle and truly undecided." Kevin M. Scott of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College also doubts Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 or Bruce Springsteen's Vote for Change tour will change any minds. But he suspects it might get someone who already supports a candidate to become more involved in the electoral process. And that winds up being a de facto rebuttal to the criticism it's all just "preaching to the choir," says English professor Kathy M. Newman. "As a wise mentor once pointed out to me, most preaching IS to the choir," she says. "In other words, like the preaching of a favourite pastor, political culture energizes the base, cleanses the soul, reinvigorates the congregation, allows time for reflection and contemplation, and provides a gathering place." Terry Paulson, author of The Dinner: The Political Conversation Your Mother Told You Never to Have, sees the rash of movies, concerts, books, comedy tours and TV shows as "a reflection of suppressed anger over the contested election of George W. Bush in 2000 that has finally been free to surface." "The 'selected not elected' mantra that was so strong early was silenced by the need to rally in support of a leader facing the 9/11 tragedy and a war against terrorism," Paulson says. "But the questionable war on Iraq and the lack of weapons of mass destruction has unleashed that early anger with a passion that spills over into popular movies and a public ready to see them." Entertainers can even teach journalists a thing or two. Pop culture expert Jim Farrelly credits Moore "with teaching the media how to cover a president and his politics with both insight and panache." AP.

CHRIS ROCK TO HOST THE OSCARS

LOS ANGELES- The Oscars have a piece of the Rock. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday announced Chris Rock will host the next Academy Awards telecast. Rock, who's been in the films Head of State and Dogma, is best known for his standup comedy specials Bigger & Blacker, Bring the Pain and Never Scared. Rock, 39, has previously hosted the MTV's Movie Awards. "I am a huge fan of Chris Rock," said Gil Cates, the producer of the Oscars telecast. "He always makes me laugh and he always has something interesting to say. Chris represents the best of the new generation of comics. Having him host the Oscars is terrific." The one-time Saturday Night Live regular has won three Emmys for his TV programs and two Grammys for his comedy albums. Rock currently is shooting a remake of The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler and recently provided the voice of the zebra in the animated feature Madagascar, both to be released in May 2005. His other film credits include Pootie Tang, Bad Company, Down to Earth and Nurse Betty. The 77th Academy Awards telecast is set for Feb. 27.-A. Brezncan.

NICOLE KIDMAN PREFERS REAL BRUNETTE

PARIS- Blondes may have more fun, but Nicole Kidman says she'd rather have been born a brunette. In an interview with French magazine Paris-Match, the Oscar-winning actress also said she doesn't see herself pursuing her film career indefinitely. And she revealed that her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise changed her criteria for selecting roles. "Since my divorce, I lean, consciously or not, toward characters who are strong women taking control of their destiny, personal and professional," the weekly quoted Kidman as saying. "The position of a so-called 'powerful' actress is comforting for a single woman like me," she added. "It gives you a character of hardened steel." Kidman, envied for her golden curls and porcelain skin, said she believes a darker complexion would have left her less susceptible to the sun's damaging rays. She said she worries about skin cancer. "I would, all things said, have preferred to be a brunette with a dark complexion. But I work with what I have." Kidman's upcoming films include Bewitched, The Interpreter and The Producers, also starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.-AP.

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