Blog Posts by Meriah Doty

Connie Britton at this year's Golden Globe Awards show on January 13You know Connie Britton as the wife on "Friday Night Lights" and "American Horror Story," and as an aging country music singer clinging to fame in "Nashville." The 45-year-old actress is a television star who has truly come into her own, having earned her first Golden Globe nomination this year.

But there was a time when Britton had film fame on the brain. She gained notoriety in 1995 with her role as Molly McMullen in Edward Burns' indie darling "The Brothers McMullen," and attempted to leverage that into more, according to a profile the New York Times has written on Britton.

Burns was being courted for the lead in Cameron Crowe's "Jerry Maguire," which would come out the following year. The rising actor-director turned it down because, at the time, he only wanted to star in his own films, leaving the door wide open for Tom Cruise.

Bruce Willis as John McClane in 1988's 'Die Hard' (Photo: 20th Century Fox)Believe it or not, Bruce Willis' transformation from television star into bona fide big screen action hero almost didn't happen. Heck, it wasn't supposed to happen.

Up until the film's release in 1988, "Die Hard" had a long and somewhat sordid Hollywood history. (And it continues to have a long Hollywood history 25 years later with the release of its fifth installment this weekend -- "A Good Day To Die Hard.")

The first film in the famed action franchise is based on a book -- the second in a series, to be specific. And its first installment --"The Detective," published in 1966 -- was also made into a film. The crime drama "The Detective" (1968) starred none other than the Chairman of the Board himself -- Frank Sinatra. It was not only a box office success, but was also considered one of Sinatra's most intense acting performances to date.

The new 'Sorcerer's Stone' cover, left, and the original (Photo: Scholastic)It's hard to believe Harry Potter has been around for 15 years.

J.K. Rowling's first book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," launched in the late '90s, marking the beginning of a multibillion-dollar entertainment franchise.

In honor of the book series' 1998 U.S. debut (it launched in the UK in 1997), Rowling's American publisher, Scholastic, has unveiled the first of seven new book covers illustrated by graphic novel artist Kazu Kibuishi (the artist behind the New York Times bestselling series "Amulet"). Incidentally, Suzanne Collins' wildly popular "Hunger Games" trilogy is also published by Scholastic.

SEAL Team 6 members, as portrayed in 'Zero Dark Thirty' (Photo: Columbia Pictures)There is one real-life moment that wasn't portrayed in "Zero Dark Thirty" that is as cinematic as the Oscar nominated film itself.

We still don't know his true identity, but, for the first time ever, we are hearing from the man directly responsible for the death of al Qaeda and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. He is only identified as "The Shooter" by Esquire Magazine writer Phil Bronstein. And the Shooter is the SEAL Team 6 member who shot bin Laden dead on May 2, 2011.

After the Shooter returned from his mission, he gave the CIA operative -- portrayed by Jessica Chastain as "Maya" in the film, and whose identity is not public -- the magazine from his gun as a souvenir. It didn't happen that way in the movie, nor did Chastain cry upon seeing bin Laden's body. But the Shooter says the female operative responsible for finding the terrorist leader did, in fact, cry in that moment.

Over the past year, Bronstein spent time on-and-off with the military operative -- hanging out with him in his back yard and even going to see the Oscar-nominated film that is based, in part, on his life.

Tommy Lee Jones depicts Thaddeus Stevens while sitting in the U.S. House of Representatives in 'Lincoln' (Photo: DreamWorks Pictures)Earlier this week we told you how Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" was drawing criticism for various historical inaccuracies -- including the close examination that Oscar nominated actor Daniel Day-Lewis' ear lobes have been getting. One congressman, Rep. Joe Courtney, also caught errors in the way Connecticut representatives were depicted in the film as having voted for the 13th Amendment.

"Lincoln" screenplay writer Tony Kushner has offered explanation as to why he and Spielberg decided to change the Connecticut vote in the 12-time Oscar-nominated film [via The New York Times]:

Kelly McGillis then and now (Photo: Everette Collection/ Paramount Pictures)Kelly McGillis has nothing but great memories of filming "Top Gun" more than 25 years ago -- in spite of the fact that she had to go back to shoot the movie's iconic love scene after filming had supposedly wrapped.

"I was doing another movie and I wouldn't cut my hair," she said of her steamy scene with Tom Cruise in the 1986 film. "So, in the elevator scene, which we shot at that time as well, they put me in a baseball cap. And then [in the love scene] it was all silhouette because I had dark brown hair."

The actress, now 55 years old, spoke to Yahoo! Movies in honor of a Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray 2D two-disc set of the popular '80s film being released on February 19. (Starting February 8, there is also a six-day theatrical run of "Top Gun" in select IMAX^® 3D theaters.)

McCarthy at the premiere for 'Identity Thief' on Feb. 4 in Los Angeles (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)There are two sacred rules when it comes to commenting on a woman's looks: Never comment on a lady's pregnant belly before verifying that she is, in fact, with child; and never never -- under any circumstances -- call out a woman for being overweight.

New York Observer critic Rex Reed broke the second of those rules this week when he called "Identity Thief" star Melissa McCarthy "tractor-sized" and her character a "humongous creep" in his pan of the comedy that lands in theaters this weekend.

As if that wasn't enough, Reed's review is riddled with even more weight-related insults, calling the Academy Award-nominated, 42-year-old mother of two a "hippo" and "a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success."

Oh no he didn't!

Not only did readers come to McCarthy's defense in the comments section of Reed's online article, but people took to Twitter to air their grievances against the seasoned, 74-year-old film critic:

Christoph Waltz (Photo: Getty Images)Over the summer, Yahoo! Movies had the chance to sit down with Oscar winner Christoph Waltz to talk about his role in "Django Unchained." Perhaps eerily, perhaps all-too obviously, Waltz discussed the violence in the latest Quentin Tarantino film in which he stars -- and for which he won a Golden Globe Award and is in the running for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year. (2/11 update: He has also won a BAFTA Award for his role as Dr. Schultz in "Django.") Waltz specifically pondered the film's violence as it relates to American gun culture.

Since our discussion at Comic-Con on July 14, 2012, there have been at least eight mass shootings in the U.S. and, as I write this, a gunman is on the loose, putting the greater Los Angeles area on high alert.

Waltz, a European, born in Vienna, Austria, explains how one outsider perceives this unique -- and deadly -- U.S. phenomenon. And, oh yeah, the 56-year-old actor also sheds light on his acting method and ponders Tarantino's preoccupation with revenge: