Sean Penn to be honored with lifetime achievement award

Two time Academy-Award-winning actor Sean Penn will be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival on September 28.

The 51-year-old will be given the Golden Icon Award, which is the festival's highest honour, for his remarkable film career, said the Hollywood Reporter.

The festival will present a retrospective of Penn's work and also screen his directorial effort Into the Wild.

"Sean Penn is a man whose remarkable film career is matched only by his extraordinary and ongoing humanitarian pursuits that have helped improve so many lives. On screen, and off, Sean has a legendary presence and is revered around the world.

"He is one of the finest actors of our generation and defines the term icon. We are both honoured and excited to have him attend the Zurich Film Festival and accept the Golden Icon Award," said ZFF director Karl Spoerri.

Penn is currently appearing on screen in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt and will also be seen in the upcoming This Must Be the Place.

Survived coz of my will power: Vikram

He became a southern superstar after being in the industry for over a decade and actor Vikram says that it is his will power that has kept him going.

The 45-year-old Tamil movie actor, who made his Bollywood debut in Mani Ratnam's Raavan in 2010 said that he never gave up his struggle as he had faced a bigger challenge during his college days.

"I was riding pillion on my friend's motorbike and we met with an accident which badly injured my right leg," said Vikram.

He had to undergo 23 operations over four years to save his badly injured leg from being amputated.

"I was bedridden for three years and on crutches for one year before I fully recovered," he added.

Born as John Kennedy Vinod Raj, the actor tasted success after playing the lead role in Sethu in 1999 as a tough young man who uses violence as the only way to deal with people.

The actor was recently in Malaysian capital to promote his latest movie Deiva Thirumagal in which he plays the role of a mentally-challenged man who goes to court to seek the right to raise his young daughter.

The movie is based on Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning starrer I Am Sam, which got a Hindi remake in the form of Ajay Devgn-Sushmita Sen starrer Main aisa hi hoon.

Scarlett dating Justin Bartha

Has Scarlett found comfort in the arms of another man after her split from Sean Penn?

Scarlett Johansson is rumored to be in a relationship with Justin Bartha, an actor from The Hangover movie. He is also Ashley Olsen’s ex, with whom he broke up this past winter.

This weekend, Johansson attended the premiere of the play All New People in which Bartha stars. The piece is written by Zach Braff and it was presented on Broadway in New York.

The actress then went backstage to congratulate the actors and even dined with them.

According to a witness cited by the New York Post, Scarlett and Justin were inseparable and spent much of the night “completely engrossed in each other.”

“They seemed pretty fascinated with each other and only talked to each other,” the source continues. “It looked sometimes flirty, but also they seemed to be involved in a deep discussion.”

However, a source close to the 26-year-old actress claims the rumors are false: “The truth of the matter is they are just friends.”

Recently, Scarlett’s ex-husband, Ryan Reynolds –was also romantically linked to Charlize Theron.

Sean Penn dating again?

After a brief romance with actress Scarlett Johansson, Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn is now reportedly dating a brunette identified as Stacey Koplin.

The 50-year-old actor, who recently split from Johansson after a three-month romance, is currently enjoying a romantic break at exclusive Beverly Hills hotel Peninsula with Koplin.

"She came up to the roof with wet hair, he looked totally frazzled. They ate and had coffee, but they were talking about something intense. They were deep in conversation the entire time," a source said.

A buffed up Penn was also spotted on the beach in Malibu on Monday, Us magazine reported.

The actor went shirtless in the sand with Koplin, who kept somewhat covered up in a thin green mini-dress. They shared a walk on the beach and hit a jetski during the beach outing.

Penn reportedly broke up with Johansson because he didn't want anything "serious" since his 2010 divorce from Robin Wright.

After pursuing Penn, 26-year-old Johansson, whose own divorce from Ryan Reynolds was finalized in late December, briefly moved into Penn's Malibu home.

Sex Symbol!

Actress Scarlett Johansson is seen as a young liberal woman and she admits being comfortable with her image.

"I feel comfortable as a young woman - a young, modern, liberal person. I feel comfortable with my sexuality."

The 26-year-old actress recently ended her relationship with Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, which began just months after she filed for divorce from her husband for two years, Ryan Reynolds.

"However, I am protective of my private life. I don't think that my life is public just because I'm in the public eye. I am an actor. But you can't take things too seriously," she said.

Scarlett-Sean head to splitsville

The pair sparked speculation their romance was in trouble when the actress failed to attend the Cannes film festival in France last month with Sean for his film Tree of Life.

Instead, she was said to be concentrating on her new film The Avengers in New Mexico, where she is reprising her role of Black Widow from Iron Man 2.

Scarlett, 26, and Sean, 50, started dating in February, shortly after the Lost in Translation star split from husband Ryan Reynolds, and in April sources suggested they were already moving in together.

An insider said the actress had "essentially moved in over the last few weeks," to the 'Milk' actor's $3.8 million Malibu home.Scarlett initially struck up a friendship with Sean - who divorced wife Robin Wright in 2010 after 13 years together - when she was considering flying to Haiti to help people affected by the two earthquakes in January 2010.

Although Scarlett wasn't able to make the trip, the couple started dating and made their first public appearance together at the wedding of Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth in March.They were then spotted at a number of public engagements together, including a White House Correspondents' Dinner party in Washington D.C. in April.

Penn's 'Milk' voted the best gay film

Sean Penn's Oscar-winning movie 'Milk' has been voted the best gay film of the last decade.

Penn won an Academy Award in 2008 for his role as gay activist and politician Harvey Milk in the biopic, which topped the poll of the most important movies depicting gay people in the last 10 years.

Officials at charity Stonewall, who conducted the survey, commended director Gus Van Sant's drama for its realistic portrayal of the homosexual community, reported Daily Star.

Milk's gay activist friend Cleve Jones, portrayed in the movie by Emile Hirsch, said, "This is a fantastic achievement for Milk".

"As someone who was depicted in the film, I feel very proud that gay people are saying it's the most significant film for them in the last decade - it shows that the campaign for full gay equality has reached a whole new generation of people, which gives me real hope."

Family drama 'The Kids Are All Right', starring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lesbian mothers, was in second place, while cowboy movie 'Brokeback Mountain' came third.

'A Single Man', starring Colin Firth as a gay university professor, and 'The Hours' rounded out the top five.

Brad's "The Tree of Life" failed to impress !

Actor Brad Pitt's new film "The Tree Of Life" with veteran star Sean Penn failed to impress the critics at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival.

Director Terrence Malick's long-awaited film garnered boos and lacklustre applause from the audience. In the film, Pitt plays a brutal and strict father, while Penn plays his eldest son as a grown man. However, the director was not present at the screening, reports contactmusic.com.
Pitt defended Malick's decision to stay away, insisting it is not up to the director to "sell" the movie.

He said, "I don't know why it's accepted that people who make things in our business are then expected to sell them, and I don't think that computes with him. He wants to focus on the making of it, not the real estate, selling the real estate. It is an odd thing for an artist to start something and then be salesman."

The film's producer Sarah Green added, "Mr Malick is very shy, and I would say that I believe his work speaks for itself."