newsmakers
newsmakers
Rashida Jones unveils rom-com at Sundance
PARK CITY, Utah
Rashida Jones almost was upstaged by her famous father, Quincy Jones, at the Sundance premiere of her film, “Celeste and Jesse Forever,” but the actress and screenwriter didn’t mind.
“He’s what he is, and he will always be and has always been, way before I was here,” Jones said Saturday. “I feel lucky to hang out with him. And we’re different, too. People like us for different reasons.”
She added that her dad loved the film, which explores the nature of relationships and marriage and its meaning in society.
Jones’ first screenwriting effort (with co-writer Will McCormack) emerged from “pain, lots of pain.”
“We’re both very deeply feeling people, and we love to talk about relationships and love and feelings,” she said. “We like to be as inappropriate as possible when things are grave and difficult, so I think it probably came from that place. It also came from, as an actress, reading so many scripts; you kind of intrinsically absorb storytelling script structure into your being without even knowing it, and we wanted to try and tell this story.”
Jones stars in the film alongside Andy Samberg, Emma Roberts and Elijah Wood.
After the premiere, the cast celebrated at a party where Wood served as DJ and danced with Jones’ mom, actress Peggy Lipton.
The Sundance Film Festival continues through next Sunday.
Steve Harvey heads to Ala. principal’s office
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Steve Harvey is relinquishing his role as one of the Original Kings of Comedy to become an Alabama school principal — at least for one day.
Students at Phillips Academy in Birmingham will be answering to Principal Steve Harvey on Thursday after the school won a contest sponsored by Harvey’s morning radio show and General Mills.
The Birmingham News reports that Angela Strozier, the mother of an eighth-grader at Phillips Academy, entered the contest by submitting an essay about the school’s success. In it, she described how the deadly tornado outbreak in Alabama last April had affected many Phillips students.
In a statement, Harvey said he was impressed by the school’s “strong parental and community involvement.”
Associated Press