Affleck unveils Argo at Toronto festival
Ben Affleck's latest film, Argo, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday. Argo, which Affleck directed and stars in, chronicles the joint effort by the CIA and the Canadian government to rescue six Americans from Tehran after the 1979 invasion of the US embassy, by masquerading as a Hollywood film crew. "You do all this stuff in a vacuum, write the movie, rehearse it, shoot it," says Affleck about unveiling his film. "When the audience is finally there, it's exhilarating and it's terrifying. Luckily, I'm always distracted by the constant evaluation between my expectation of the audience's reaction and how they actually experience it." - AP
Billboard names songs of summer
There's no maybe about it: Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe is the song of the summer. Billboard says the 16-year-old Canadian's infectious pop song topped its Songs of Summer chart. The list annually ranks the overall performance of hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between May to September. Rounding out the top five are: Maroon 5's Payphone, Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know, Katy Perry's Wide Awake and Ellie Goulding's Lights. - AP
Gaga's next album to be released as app
Lady Gaga has announced that her forthcoming new album Artpop will be available as an interactive application. "I'm excited to tell you all that Artpop is going to be a multimedia experience that comes in different forms. The most major way to fully immerse yourself is through the app," she said in a statement. The app will feature bonus content, including videos, games and extra tracks. Artpop is expected to be released next year. - IANS
REM battles with Fox News
Michael Stipe and his rock band REM have issued an open letter to Fox News, asking the network to stop using their hit song Losing My Religion in its coverage of the Democratic National Convention. "We have little or no respect for their puff-adder brand of reportage," said Stipe in a statement. "Our music does not belong there."
Blunt to co-star with Cruise in thriller
Emily Blunt will begin shooting next month the futuristic action saga All You Need Is Kill, headlined by Tom Cruise, who plays a soldier in a war against aliens. "It's sort of a Groundhog Day set in the future," says Blunt. "I play the toughest soldier alive, so get ready." The British actress has been training for the role by working out five days a week. She says she is unfazed by the publicity over Cruise's recent divorce: "Tom has always been nothing but professional and a lot of fun for me to be around. He's a doll." - AP
