Blog Posts by Meriah Doty

Matt Damon in 'Behind the Candelabra' (Photo: Jarett Wieselman)When childhood friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won an Oscar for writing 1997's "Good Will Hunting," the two Boston natives also became fodder for the Hollywood rumor-mill. Stories speculating the actor-writers were in a homosexual relationship together began to circulate.

It is a topic that Damon has apparently never addressed until now. The 42-year-old actor, now married with three daughters, recently expressed sensitivity around the longtime rumor in an interview with Playboy:

Ian McKellen as Gandalf in 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' (Photo: New Line Cinema)Two-time Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Sir Ian McKellen is unmistakable as the whimsical-yet-wise wizard Gandalf the Grey, now in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."

Known among the residents of Hobbiton as that wizard who sets off cool fireworks, Gandalf also lights a fire under Bilbo Baggins' backside, getting him to go on an action-packed adventure with him and 13 rowdy dwarves.

So, discovering that McKellen wasn't the actor who was first approached to take on the role when director Peter Jackson was casting 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" may be a tough pill for fans to swallow. It was famous James Bond actor Sean Connery who was first approached.

Anne Hathaway in 'Les Misérables' (Photo: Universal Pictures)She says she had to muster up major courage to perform her character's most iconic song in the movie musical version of the endlessly popular stage show "Les Misérables." And, it was all done in one take -- as were a lot of the songs performed in the film.

As Anne Hathaway has been doing oodles of press to promote the film adaptation of "Les Miz," in which she plays the tragic Fantine, she has revealed that getting the famed song "I Dreamed a Dream" right was both difficult and, in a way, easy.

"We did it upwards of 20 times, but it was the fourth take that Tom [Hooper, the director] came up to me and said, 'You know, I have it. That was the one. I don't imagine we're going to do better than that,'" the 30-year-old actress recalled during a recent interview with Yahoo! Movies (video below).

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand in 'The Guilt Trip' (Photo: Paramount Pictures)

One overzealous worker at Paramount may be in hot water today. As studios often do, they prepare promos for their own films that they think will get nominated, adorning video spots with lists of the nominations their film just garnered.

Apparently there had been high hopes "The Guilt Trip," starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen, would get Babs a Golden Globe nom. Paramount's post-Globes announcement promo spot went live on You Tube last night -- before the noms were even announced -- praising Streisand for her nod, according to Deadline. (The video has since been removed.)

The catch is, Streisand wasn't nominated.

Matthew McConaughey as Dallas in 'Magic Mike' (Photo: Warner Bros.)

He was gaining momentum with a New York Film Critics Circle win and two Independent Spirit Award nominations, but alas, Matthew McConaughey was snubbed by this year's Golden Globes, hurting his chances for Oscar glory come February 24.

Industry watchers and critics alike have been taking note of McConaughey's recent career revival with roles big and small in mostly independent films including, "Killer Joe" and "The Paperboy." He seemed to be a likely Globes nom candidate for his role as Dallas in Steven Soderbergh's male stripper film "Magic Mike." But McConaughey's snub on Thursday may very well be a lesson that only women get nominated for major acting awards for playing characters that take their clothes off for a living. Elisabeth Shue was nominated for an Oscar for playing a prostitute in "Leaving Las Vegas" and Halle Berry was nominated for a Globe for portraying a stripper in "Frankie & Alice" -- just a few of many examples.

'Hope Springs' co-stars Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones both earned Golden Globes nominations (Photo: Columbia Pictures)

This year marks perhaps the weirdest collection of Golden Globes nominations in film, filled with out-of-left-field surprises ("Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"!?), snubs (what, nothing for "Skyfall"?) and expected recognition ("Lincoln"). We crunched the numbers on this year's noms and garnered equally odd results in many cases:

Bilbo Baggins, left, and W.N. Bilbo (Photo: Warner Bros./ DreamWorks Pictures)Two characters. The same name. Go!

Bilbo Baggins and W.N. Bilbo have a little bit more in common than just their moniker. Played by Martin Freeman in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and James Spader in "Lincoln," respectively, these Bilbos are bold when they need to be, bewildered at times, and ultimately bent on bringing it on. Since their respective films are in theaters at the same time as of this weekend, Yahoo! Movies decided to pit them against each other in an ultimate face-off. See who wins in this battle of the Bilbos: