“Britney Spears Inspired 'Country Strong' Lead, Director Says - MTV” plus 1 more |
| Britney Spears Inspired 'Country Strong' Lead, Director Says - MTV Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:38 PM PST Gwyneth Paltrow may have honed her country-music skills for her role in the upcoming flick "Country Strong," but her troubled character was actually inspired by a pop sensation. In the film, Paltrow plays embattled crooner Kelly Canter, who fights to resurrect her struggling career as a music superstar. Writer/director Shana Feste recently told the Los Angeles Times that Paltrow's onscreen drama was inspired by the very public meltdown of pop megastar Britney Spears. "That's where this movie came from. I mean, I was seeing what was happening in the media to Britney Spears," Feste said. The filmmaker also added that wrapping up the script coincided with the outsize media frenzy surrounding another superstar. "I finished the script when Michael Jackson passed away," she revealed. Feste also lamented the dark side of celebrity-making, which entails ripping apart a once-beloved public figure at the first misstep. "I think it's tragic how we treat people who give us so much, and we love to see them knocked down to build them back up again, to knock them down again," she said. "It's a weird fascination." Paltrow has said that work on the project was challenging, due to both the physical and creative demands of the role. "It was brutal," she told MTV News in September. "It was a brutal shoot. I mean, I wasn't naked, naked, but I was semi-naked, in various stages of undress. [My character] has a drug and alcohol problem, so she's struggling a lot. It was a lot of fun for me, as an artist." Check out everything we've got on "Country Strong." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Dec 2010 09:16 AM PST  Handout;Fox Britney Spears' (r.) recent meltdown inspired 'Country Strong's' Kelly Canter (played by Gwyneth Paltrowm, l.), according to the film's director, Shana Feste.Gwyneth Paltrow's washed-up alcoholic singer in "Country Strong" was based on Britney Spears' own struggles with substance abuse. Writer and director Shana Feste revealed during a screening of the film in Los Angeles that she used the 29-year-old pop star's fall from grace as a jumping off point for the film. "That's where this movie came from," she said, according to The Los Angeles Times. "I mean, I was seeing what was happening in the media to Britney Spears." In the film Paltrow, 38, plays, Kelly Canter, a once-shining country performer who attempts to resurrect her career after a stint in rehab for substance abuse. Seven years after becoming a teen pop idol in the 2000s, Spears had a highly publicized meltdown when she followed up a brief stint in drug rehab by shaving her head and later attacking a car with an umbrella. The next year she she was put under involuntary psychiatric hold and lost custody of her kids. But Spears made a comeback in late 2008 with the release of her sixth studio album, "Circus." Her single, "Womanizer," became the singer's first number one song on the Billboard charts since "...Baby One More Time" eight years prior. But Brit was not the only one who provided fodder for "Country Strong." Feste said she finished her screenplay around the death of Michael Jackson, whose relationship with the press also inspired her. "I think it's tragic how we treat people who give us so much, and we love to see them knocked down to build them back up again, to knock them down again," she said. "It's a weird fascination." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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