WebProNews

Tag: neil patrick harris

  • Neil Patrick Harris: Hosting Oscars Once is Enough

    Neil Patrick Harris hosted this year’s Oscars last month, and said recently that once is likely enough. The How I Met Your Mother star says it’s not something he anticipates doing again.

    You’ll no doubt recall that Neil Patrick Harris had big shoes to fill this year. He followed in the footsteps of Ellen DeGeneres as Oscars host, and those are some big shoes to fill.

    “I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it,” he said during an interview with the Huffington Post. “It’s a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don’t know that it’s a delightful balance to do every year or even again.”

    Neil Patrick Harris even admitted that following the criticism of everything he did while hosting the Oscars was a bit disconcerting.

    “It was interesting to see just what people thought landed and didn’t. It’s so difficult for one who’s simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing. Every joke. Wording of joke. Placement of joke. Canceling of joke. Embellishment for just one line,” he said .”And I’m not saying that to defend everything I said as if it was the absolute best choice, but it’s also an award show, and you’re powering through 14 acts filled with 20 plus awards. So my job was to try and keep things as light and specific to this year’s set of films as possible. And if people are critical of that, it’s a big giant platform, so I would assume that they would be.”

    How do you think Neil Patrick Harris did as host of the 2015 Oscars? Did he even hold a candle to Ellen DeGeneres’s performance the year before? Do you think Ellen will come back next year to host the 2016 Oscars? And if not, who do you suppose the 2016 host might be?

  • Academy Awards Diversity Tension Diffused By “Glory” Performance And Speeches On Social Issues?

    The Academy Awards, which aired Sunday night, were shroud in tension even before the stars began walking that red carpet.

    The lack of racial diversity that was glaringly apparent among this year’s nominees threatened to ruin the Academy Awards this year.

    In fact, there were protests scheduled to take place before Selma director, Ava Duvernay, asked that they be called off.

    All 20 of the actor nominees were white.

    This spurred Academy Awards host, Neil Patrick Harris, to jokingly announce the nominees as Hollywood’s “best and whitest…sorry, brightest.”

    As far as the Oscars’ exclusive history, Darnell Hunt, a UCLA professor and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and co-author of a 2014 diversity report on the film and TV industries, says it’s nothing new.

    “I was surprised but then I wasn’t,” he said.

    He added, “What we saw in terms of the nominations this year was business as usual. What we got was more or less an accurate reflection of the way the industry is structured and the way the academy is populated.”

    However, despite all the pre-Academy Awards tension, it seems the joking of the host, the social quips from winners, and an incredibly stirring performance of the song “Glory” from Selma by John Legend and Common, eased the friction a little bit.

    Christopher Sharrett, a film professor at Seton Hall University, managed to put the situation in a nutshell, “The ceremony managed to genuflect toward social issues … when the bets were that it wouldn’t, given the under-recognition of Selma.”

    Especially effective was the performance of “Glory”.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0FJy67C3pw

    Charles Bernstein, one of three music governors for the academy, said of the performance, “I really thought the standing ovation given to ‘Glory’ was the academy acknowledging that it was in error for not nominating [actor] David Oyelowo, or [director] Ava DuVernay for Selma.”

    But it meant so much more than that. The Academy Awards audience was treated to John Legend’s acceptance speech after the song won for best original song.

    In it he said, “Once a landmark of a divided nation, the spirit of this bridge is now for all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or social status. This bridge was built on hope and welded with compassion.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F3g6lkKleY

    He added, “We wrote this film for events that happened 50 years ago but we say that Selma is now. We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men incarcerated today than were in slavery in 1850.”

    The attention given to social issues really seemed to make the Academy Awards meaningful when all thought that the night would be a contentious white-out.

    What did you think about the Academy Awards? Do you think the jokes, speeches, and “Glory” helped soothe tensions?

  • John Travolta Pronounces ‘Idina Menzel’ Correctly on 2015 Oscars Stage

    John Travolta got a do-over of sorts at the 2015 Oscars, when he met on stage with Frozen star Idina Menzel–and pronounced her name correctly, Anyone who watched the 2014 Oscars, during which Menzel sang her hit song from Frozen, ‘Let It Go,’ knows John Travolta butchered the pronunciation of her name the first time around.

    Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris even made fun of the pronunciation faux pas John Travolta made last year.

    “Benedict Cumberbatch is….the name you get when you ask John Travolta to pronounce ‘Ben Affleck,’” he said.

    Idina Menzel was then welcomed to the Oscars stage. She followed suit–inviting John Travolta to the stage.

    She did so with a grand sense of humor, saying she’d like to introduce her “very dear friend, Glom Gazingo.”

    “I deserved that,” he said about both Neil Patrick Harris’s joke and Idina Menzel’s deliberate flub of his name.

    Last year, all John Travolta had to say when he took to the stage was, “Please welcome Idina Menzel.”

    Instead, he said, “Please welcome.… Adele Dazeem.”

    The flub was heard all around the world, and John Travolta was teased mercilessly for months on end. It became a game played by DJs and talk show hosts around the world to ‘Travoltafy’ people’s names.

    This year John Travolta handed the reading of the nominees over to Idina Menzel, since he stood a pretty good chance of messing those up, too.

    Did you see Idina Menzel and John Travolta at the 2015 Oscars on Sunday? Do you think he made up for his 2014 Oscars mistake?

  • Jennifer Hudson to Perform at the Oscars

    Jennifer Hudson to Perform at the Oscars

    Jennifer Hudson will perform at this year’s Oscars. The Academy announced that the Dreamgirls star will be singing for the big event.

    “We’re creating several musical sequences for the Oscars and we couldn’t be happier that our friend, Jennifer Hudson, will be performing in one of them,” the show’s producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, said.

    Hudson is excited about her upcoming performance, and shared that excitement with her fans via Twitter.

    Hudson was actually full of good news on Wednesday–some that even rivals being asked to perform at the Oscars, too.

    That’s not the only news Jennifer Hudson was excited about sharing either. She has a new album available on iTunes.

    Fans are no doubt thrilled to learn all this good news about and from Jennifer Hudson all in the same day. They can not only download her new album, but can look forward to seeing her perform live on TV at the Academy Awards later on this month. And if they don’t mind waiting until next fall, they can see her on Broadway in an Oprah Winfrey-back revival of The Color Purple, too.

    Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Oscars this year. Last year’s host was Ellen DeGeneres. Which of the two do you think will make the better host?

    Are you a Jennifer Hudson fan? Will you be tuning in to the Oscars on February 22nd at 7:00 PM ET on ABC to see and hear her perform?

  • Neil Patrick Harris: Variety Show Preview

    Neil Patrick Harris: Variety Show Preview

    Neil Patrick Harris’ new variety show released a promo video that attempted, and failed, to squeeze all of the greatness of the new show into a 15-second super bowl ad spot.

    Neil Patrick Harris begins the spot with, “I only have 15 seconds to tell you about my new really big show, so I thought, instead, why not perform a thrilling number to give you a glimpse of what’s coming? Let’s do it!”

    Then, of course, someone says, “We’re out of time, Neil.”

    Comedic genius.

    The new show will air in the fall and will be a 10-episode old-school-style variety show with Neil Patrick Harris as host.

    Almost broke off my arm during a show last week. Gots the bruises to prove it. Hedwig's outta control. #battlescars

    Fotka zveřejněná uživatelem Neil Patrick Harris (@instagranph),

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tZ_3srlLs

    The show will have comedy sketches, musical numbers, mini game shows, hidden-camera celebrity pranks, and tons of celebs.

    It was announced back in October that Neil Patrick Harris would be bringing a great new variety show to America. The show itself is fashioned off of the U.K.’s long-running Saturday Night Takeaway from ITV.

    Thank you @TomFord for dressing us for the Tony Awards! Our tuxes were classy fantastic!

    Fotka zveřejněná uživatelem Neil Patrick Harris (@instagranph),

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut8QW9IqDxc

    After the announcement, Neil Patrick Harris said of his first experience with Saturday Night Takeaway, “As I watched the show, I couldn’t stop smiling. Now that I’ve seen many seasons, my face hurts. It’s a game changer. Nothing like this has been done before, and its unique structure fits right into my random skill set. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and have some fun!”

    Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late-night programming at NBC Entertainment, said of the partnership with Neil Patrick Harris, “All of us here at NBC have been dying to work with Neil, as we’ve watched him brilliantly host the Tonys and Emmys. This series will suit his extraordinary talents perfectly. He is a versatile and thrilling talent for us to welcome into the NBC family.”

    Are you excited to see what Neil Patrick Harris’ new variety show will be like?

  • Neil Patrick Harris to Launch Comedy/Variety Show on NBC

    As if the recent news that he would be hosting the next Oscars weren’t enough, Neil Patrick Harris also just landed his own show.

    For years, Harris has been talking about hosting a television variety show. Three years ago, he told Craig Ferguson, “I want to do an Ed Sullivan–y kind of show, with all the variety acts.”

    As recently as May he talked to Howard Stern about doing that kind of show, and to have it be a regular, weekly thing.

    “I think if it’s weekly, and people really want to see it, and you trust that there’s a lot of really great shit on there, then you’re gonna get the guests to want to come on there,” Harris told Stern. “A weekly thing, you’d have more time to prep for stuff, you could pre-tape stuff that would be really exciting, you could flesh it out more.”

    Word is that Harris was inspired by British variety and comedy sketch shows, like Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, hosted by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

    “As I watched the show, I couldn’t stop smiling. Now that I’ve seen many seasons, my face hurts. It’s a game changer,” Harris said. “Nothing like this has been done before, and its unique structure fits right into my random skill set. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and have some fun!”

    NBC will carry the new show. Peacock Head of Alternative TV Paul Telegdy confirmed the network’s decision. “We have a natural affinity for this type of show,” he said “It’s in our DNA. There’s a natural progression with this,” he said. “This is something we felt was undeniably an NBC proposition. We’re not going to rush this. We’ll take our time and make a great show.”

    The name for the show has not yet been decided, but execs do know that they will not run it on Saturday night, despite being inspired by Saturday Night Takeaway. Their long-running comedy staple, Saturday Night Live, has that filled nicely.

    If Saturday Night Takeaway is what inspired Harris to launch this, perhaps this taste of the show will give you an idea of what may be in store.

  • Michael C. Hall: From Dexter To Hedwig On Broadway

    Michael C. Hall has left his kill room and knives behind. The former Dexter star returned to Broadway on Thursday as the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. You may remember that Neil Patrick Harris won a Tony Award last year for playing the same titular character.

    Harris left the musical in August. Book of Mormon star Andrew Rannells stepped in as a temporary replacement. Now, it’s Hall’s turn to take on the East German transgender rockstar who survived a botched sex change.

    This is not Hall’s first time on Broadway. He starred in the drama The Realistic Joneses. He also appeared as the Emcee in a revival of Cabaret in 1999. Of course, most people recognize Hall as the funeral director from HBO’s Six Feet Under or as the serial killer with a code from Dexter.

    Wearing full-on drag and dancing around the stage in three inch heels can’t be easy. For the past month, Hall has been involved in what he describes as, “an emotional, spiritual and cardiovascular boot camp.”

    Rehearsing in full wardrobe and makeup did help Hall with his character, “Rehearsing in the rehearsal hall with heels and fishnets and imagining the feel of the wigs or the look of the face is one thing, but leaving it to the creative powers that be to basically be the character for a time and give me my face and my hair, there’s nothing like it.”

    And what was it about playing Hedwig that appealed most to Hall? “The show has a profound and universal message,” he said. “It’s about self-acceptance. We’re all internally stitched up. That’s part of the inevitability of living.”

    If you want to check out Michael C. Hall on Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, you can get tickets by clicking here. His performance lasts until January 4.

  • Neil Patrick Harris Stoked to Host the 2015 Oscars

    Neil Patrick Harris is still buzzing about being asked to host the Oscars in 2015. The multi-talented star has hosted the Emmys four times and the Tonys twice. He is fresh off a Tony win himself for his role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway.

    “It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year’s Academy Awards. I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show,” said Harris, in a statement. “To be asked to follow in the footsteps ofJohnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true.”

    The Oscar producers are just as thrilled as Harris is. They also issued a statement.

    “We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars. We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and stage. To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resources and talent coming together on a global stage.”

    Harris is keenly aware that he will be watched closely to see if he brings anything fresh to his Oscars gig. He says he wants to make sure it’s not “derivative of other shows that I’ve done,” and adds, “It’ll be interesting to figure out how to make it movie-centric.”

    Harris said he wants to make sure his humor as a host is not mean-spirited or difficult for those celebrities in attendance. He praised what Seth Meyers did with his own Emmys hosting chance in that regard.

    “It wasn’t mean,” he said of Meyers’ style. “It wasn’t jokes about people who were sitting there hoping they’d win, and are nervous about what they’d say.

    “I also want to make sure it’s just a classy event. I really love what Billy Crystal brought to that table. I really loved his skill set … He was able to be so respectful and classy and sharp and yet still funny.”

    For the 2014 Oscars, Harris praised Ellen Degeneres’ hosting performance.

    “I thought Ellen was great. I was watching the show, anticipating some big opening number, and then she just walked out and told some jokes, and brought everyone down in a casual way. It was lovely.”

  • Neil Patrick Harris Married His Long-Time Partner In The Interest Of His Kids

    Earlier this month, actor Neil Patrick Harris finally married his fiancé David Burtka in Italy after a long engagement. Harris recently spoke about his destination wedding when he made a guest appearance on the talk show The View and said that the reason they did it was for the benefit of their three-year-old twins, Harper Grace and Gideon Scott.

    On Wednesday, Harris told the hosts of The View that he and Burtka decided to get married so that their children could better understand their family. He stressed that they weren’t getting married to elicit any kind of reaction from anyone as they had already been together for more than 10 years.

    “I think when our kids got to the age where they were having reasonable conversations — when they’re asking lots of ‘why’ questions — then it seemed like to be able to have a real, clear-cut explanation of who their daddy is, I think it’s great [to say], ‘He’s my husband,” Harris explained.

    Set in an Italian castle, the romantic wedding was described as intimate by Harris, with only 45 guests. “I just wanted to be able to say nice things about David to David in front of the people that mattered the most to us. It was less about a proclamation and more about a declaration that I was able to share in front of our kids,” he said.

    Harris confessed that despite having spent all those years living with Burtka, he and his groom still felt emotional at the ceremony. “It was so crazy, because when you watch other people say their vows and get all choked up, you say ‘Come on! Pull it together, man.’ Then when you are standing there and it’s you and you have this piece of paper in your hand and it’s shaking… you can’t help but just get super-duper choked up,” he said.

  • Kelly Ripa Dishes On Neil Patrick Harris’ Wedding

    Kelly Ripa was invited to the wedding of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka and she must have really enjoyed herself, because she cannot stop talking about it.

    On the Monday episode of Live! With Kelly And Michael, Kelly couldn’t wait to talk about the wedding.

    “I spent the weekend, in Italy,” Ripa, 43, told her co-host Michael Strahan. “I went to a destination wedding… the wedding of Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka,” she continued as the room erupted into cheers. “They got married, yes!”

    Kelly went on to say that Neil and David had planned the wedding as a private ceremony that only included close friends and family members.

    She even joked that they probably didn’t want her talking about it.

    “Neil said I could talk about it,” Ripa quicky added.

    “It was a beautiful family affair in Perugia, Italy. They rented a castle — or I think they rented it. I hope we didn’t break into a castle and just stayed there,” Ripa recalled. “Sir Elton John performed. There were fireworks. The food was amazing. There were magic tricks, because, you know Neil is way into magic. Their wedding vows were so beautiful.”

    Kelly said that the best part of the ceremony was the part that didn’t go according to plans and involved the couple’s two young children, Gideon and Harper.

    “Harper was going to be the flower girl and Gideon was going to be the ring bearer,” Ripa revealed.

    Gideon apparently didn’t think being the ring bearer sounded like too much fun so he gave himself a different role in the wedding.

    “He said, ‘I don’t want to be the ring bearer. I want to be the orange boy,’” Ripa said. “And he passed out oranges to everybody as he came down the aisle… he came up with it on his own. He had his little tux and his top hat and he passed out oranges.”

    Although Neil and David may have wanted to keep their wedding private, now that some of the details are out, everyone will want to know more and hopefully we’ll see a few photos.

  • Kelly Ripa Shares Intimate Details of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka’s Wedding

    Kelly Ripa was one of the lucky few who attended Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka’s top secret wedding over the weekend, and she shared some of the intimate details on Monday’s episode of Live! With Kelly and Michael.

    “I spent the weekend, in Italy,” Ripa told her cohost Michael Strahan. “I went to a destination wedding… the wedding of Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka.”

    As the room erupted with cheers, Ripa exclaimed, “They got married, yes!”

    Ripa, 43, said the wedding was a “very quiet, very private, family affair.”

    Perhaps she had second thoughts about sharing the details when she remarked, “I’m probably not even supposed to talk about it,” but decided it was alright because “Neil said I could talk about it.”

    “It was a beautiful family affair in Perugia, Italy. They rented a castle — or I think they rented it. I hope we didn’t break into a castle and just stayed there,” Ripa shared. “Sir Elton John performed. There were fireworks. The food was amazing. There were magic tricks, because, you know Neil is way into magic. Their wedding vows were so beautiful.”

    “Their wedding vows were so beautiful,” Ripa gushed. “It was a beautiful wedding. The speeches were very moving. They are such a nice family. They are such a beautify family.”

    According to Ripa, Harris and Burtka’s twins, Gideon and Harper, sorta-kinda stole the show

    “Harper was going to be the flower girl and Gideon was going to be the ring bearer,” Ripa explained.

    Apparently, the couple’s 3-year-old boy wasn’t too thrilled with his role in the wedding.

    “He said, ‘I don’t want to be the ring bearer. I want to be the orange boy,’” Ripa laughed. “And he passed out oranges to everybody as he came down the aisle… he came up with it on his own. He had his little tux and his top hat and he passed out oranges.”

    The adorable-ness didn’t end there. Ripa said she later encountered Gideon on the dance floor and thanked him for the fruit.

    “We were dancing I said to him, ‘Look, Gideon. I saved your orange because I’m gonna keep it forever.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t. They’re so delicious!’”

    Harris, 41, and Burtka, 39, have been together since 2004, and became engaged in June 2011 when New York legalized same-sex marriages.

  • Neil Patrick Harris Takes On ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Nominated By Ben Affleck

    Neil Patrick Harris gamely accepted the ALS ice bucket challenge he received from actor-director Ben Affleck. Affleck’s nomination made him feel “flattered”, the How I Met Your Mother star said. Affleck’s challenge was one of the three Harris received, the two others coming from Jayma Mays and Cookie Monster.

    Harris joked in an interview with the Daily News that he purposely took the challenge sans a shirt for Affleck. “Any time an Affleck goes on camera and says he wants to see you specifically with your shirt off, you can’t really ignore that one.”

    Harris’ partner David Burtka was tasked to pour out the ice bucket on the actor in the front steps of their New York City apartment. The couple’s adorable three-year-old twins, Gideon Scott and Harper Grace looked on.

    In turn, Harris passed on the ALS challenge to Neighbors star David Franco, Christina Hendricks from Mad Men and his ‘nemisis’ Nathan Fillion from Castle.

    Neil Patrick Harris takes on ALS ice bucket challenge

    The New Mexico native is notably lean and skinny in his ALS video, having just wrapped up his run in the Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His award-winning role as the transgender singer Hedwig required him to lose weight to have a more feminine figure.  The role won him a Tony Award as Best Lead Actor in a Musical.

    In the same interview with Daily Mail, Harris also shares that he currently enjoys playing “art ambassador” for the ongoing The Art of the Pixel, an art competition that asks students to create works to be displayed on LG’s OLED and Ultra HD TVs.

    “I’ve been a big fan of art and arts education for awhile,” he said, “So when they reached out to me, I thought it was a great fit.”

    Harris was one of the four people Affleck nominated for the ALS ice bucket challenge after he himself accepted the challenge from Tyler Perry. Affleck also nominated pals Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon along with wife Jennifer Garner. Harris and Affleck recently worked together in the film Gone Girl, a mystery thriller based on the novel of the same title.

  • Neil Patrick Harris Reveals Having Kids Made Him See Partner In New Light

    Couples are always being told by the media how to keep the fire of love burning, and Neil Patrick Harris has added his voice to the mix by telling the story of his own relationship. He told Glamour that when the Honeymoon phase ends, couples will have to find something else that turns both partners on, and for him and fiancé David Burtka, that something was having kids.

    “Watching David become another level of person, mastering this other domain, made me look at him with a whole other set of appreciative eyes. That sort of made me re-fall in love with him. That’s another important thing to realize. Everyone falls out of love with everything. You fall out of love with your house. You fall out of love with your job. You just have to figure out ways to keep [the love] alive,” Harris advised.

    He and Burtka have adopted twins Harper Grace and Gideon Scott, who are both 3 ½ years old. He also shared some lessons he learned while parenting the twins, such as the time when Gideon asked to put on a dress because he wanted to play with sister Harper, who was enjoying her Disney Princess outfits. Harris said that he and Burtka let Gideon put on the dress, but that the boy realized he didn’t really like it after all. Harris told Glamour readers, “Let people be who they are.”

    Harris is enjoying his latest projects, which include his leading role in Hedwig And The Angry Inch, which requires him to perform in high heels. “Initially, walking around in heels is a very challenging thing for a guy to do. But once you’ve done it six or seven times, it’s weirdly empowering,” he said. The How I Met Your Mother star is also set to come out in the upcoming David Fincher movie Gone Girl.

    Image via YouTube

  • Neil Patrick Harris Talks Love And Fatherhood

    Neil Patrick Harris is a successful actor, but he says he is the most proud of his family.

    Harris came out at the age of 33 and has been with his partner David Burtka for several years.

    Three years ago, the couple welcomed twins into their lives and completed their family.

    Harris said that after welcoming their children, he fell in love with Burtka all over again and saw what an amazing father he was.

    He said that raising children with his partner has helped keep their relationship interesting.

    “Watching David become another level of person, mastering this other domain, made me look at him with a whole other set of appreciative eyes,” he said. “That sort of made me re-fall in love with him.”

    Harris said that he is lucky to have found Burtka and to have such a great relationship with him. He recalled a time when things were much more complicated in his life and he was hiding the fact that he was gay.

    “In high school all my friends were sleeping with girls, and it just seemed like that’s what one did. So therefore that’s what I did, but it left me feeling unsettled, as if I had somehow done it wrong,” Harris told Glamour magazine. “That’s not a good feeling.”

    “But now I think it’s easier to avoid that fate,” he added. “Today, it’s cool to see a happy lesbian couple who are high school juniors. Better that than have those two girls marry people they’re not attracted to, have three kids, and then come out when they’re 50.”

    Harris said that he thinks the world is more accepting of gay people now and hopes that teenagers and young adults find coming out a little easier than he did. He also said that he wishes he would have been confident enough to have done it sooner.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Neil Patrick Harris On What Turns Him On

    Neil Patrick Harris spoke candidly recently about being married and what a long relationship can become over a period of time, saying that everyone’s “honeymoon phase” comes to an end eventually. But, he says, if you look for new ways to be inspired by the one you love, you can keep that spark burning.

    Harris and his longtime partner, David Burtka, have been together since 2004 and have two children together, which helped the actor see things in a new way.

    “Having kids was one of those great moments for me. Watching David become another level of person, mastering this other domain, made me look at him with a whole other set of appreciative eyes. That made me re-fall in love with him,” Harris said.

    Harris makes a good point by saying that everyone falls out of love with everything–homes and jobs as well as other people–so the key is to find new things to get excited about.

    “Honeymoon phases end. They just do. I think you have to find new elements that turn you on, and not only sexually,” he said.

    Harris has been busy with the hit Broadway production of “Hedwig And The Angry Inch” recently, which requires him to call up a very different side of himself. He spoke recently about tapping into his feminine side and how wearing heels really feels for a guy.

    “I thought that masculinity equated confidence, and I was struggling to feel confident. Hedwig was a great active departure from that [mentality] because everything that I had known about confidence had to be thrown out the window. Now, all of a sudden, those masculine postures and inflections were tells that I wasn’t doing the job right. I had to be overtly feminine, and it felt totally weird. Initially, walking around in heels is a very challenging thing for a guy to do. But once you’ve done it six or seven times, it’s weirdly empowering. I had to move my hips and legs in a way that guys don’t get to do so boldly – it was fun!”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Neil Patrick Harris Tweets Naked Selfie Post ‘Hedwig’ Show

    On Thursday, Neil Patrick Harris gave his fans a sneak peek of what goes on behind the stage of Hedwig and the Angry Inch by sharing a naked selfie from his dressing room.

    Harris was in front of the mirror holding his phone wearing nothing but remnants of his makeup and dark blue nail polish. The picture was captioned, “Other dressing room. Post show. Post wig. Just did this.” In the Broadway show, Harris plays a transgender singer and he goes through an extensive makeup process before going on stage.

    Before sharing his naked selfie, Harris also shared a picture pre-show with him wearing his full makeup sans wig. He captioned the picture, “Dressing room, Pre show. Pre wig. Let’s do this.”

    Behind the scenes of ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ with Neil Patrick Harris

    Harris has been starring in the production since March and he will continue to play the title character until August 17. Playing the character has earned Harris favorable reviews as well as a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical. After winning the award he said, “Playing Hedwig is an absolute joy, I was terrified at first but it has changed me and challenged me and exhausted me… The character is so beautiful and the songs are so amazing to sing.”

    The musical is “highly-improvisational” and Harris both impressed and surprised audiences by playing a transgender role. Just last month, Harris was so into his character that he spat water on a woman in the audience. The incident made headlines, but the show’s rep said that it was part of the show’s audience interaction and Harris did it “all in character.”

    After Harris’ leaves the show, Tony nominated actor Andrew Rannells will take over the role of Hedwig for eight weeks starting August 20. This means that Harris fans only have a couple of weeks left to watch him give his Tony-winning performance.

     Image via Actually NPH, Twitter

  • Kelly Ripa: Might She Be A Hoarder?

    Kelly Ripa might have a bit of ‘hoarder blood’ in her genes. She and husband Mark Consuelos, along with their three children–Michael, 17, Lola, 13, and Joaguin, 11–are moving, and the Live With Kelly and Michael host is having a tough time letting some things go.

    The family is presently moving out of their apartment in New York City, and Kelly Ripa says the ordeal is a “bit of a nightmare.” Of course no one likes to move, but when there are kids and moms involved, all sorts of things–and the issues surrounding them–come out of the proverbial woodwork when the packing ensues.

    “Mark likes to throw everything away, and I want to save everything for when the kids are older one day,” Kelly said during a recent interview with Vanity Fair magazine. “So, you know, they have their things, like their first report card, so it’s a constant struggle as to what we should toss versus what we should save.”

    “For some reason, I have a crib and a stroller and a Pack ’n Play, and a little kitchen,” she added, as she reminisced about some items she clearly had hung on to for years.

    It certainly doesn’t sound like Kelly Ripa is a hoarder. Hoarders let things pile up to dangerous levels–often living in filth and very unhealthy conditions. And after all, Kelly says she still has a reason for holding on to these things.

    “Right now, basically, David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris’ kids come over and play with everything,” she said. “Like, that’s what it’s there for, just to get them to bring the kids over.”

    And face it–everyone loves having little children around.

    Moving stinks. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are finding that out first hand. And while it often does mean letting go of some things, it also opens doors to new experiences. And from those new experiences come new things to stash–not hoard–in a brand new, uncluttered (at least for now) space.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Katy Perry Goes Out For Sushi With Broadway King Neil Patrick Harris

    No one can deny that Katy Perry is a musical sensation. So it makes sense that a star of her caliber may be headed towards one of the most defining locations for music in the United States.

    Broadway.

    Last Friday, Vulture made a report about the director and writer of the movie, Clueless, Amy Heckerling. Her biggest project these days is a musical adaptation of the movie for Broadway. She very interested in having the pop singer to play the lead. “Katy Perry has expressed interest, and I love her to death,” she said.

    What is a pop star to do when you might be headed to Broadway to act and sing in a major musical? Why go out and have sushi with Neil Patrick Harris, of course!

    But afterward you must tweet about the experience. Harris did:

    And so did Perry:

    Speaking of #Fancy. Perry’s biggest competition for the role on Broadway may be the creator of the viral music video, Fancy, Iggy Azalea, who happened to make a tribute to Clueless in the video. “It looked like they had more money for the video than I had for the movie,” Heckerling said when she saw it, “But I was extremely flattered and I thought she was amazing. And whoever did the costumes, I don’t know how they did that.”

    When asked about casting in the upcoming musical, she said “Maybe Iggy wants to do it!”

    The Broadway life may be too big of a commitment for a pop star like Perry. And if there’s anyone who can fill her in on the Broadway lifestyle, it’s the King of Broadway himself, Neil Patrick Harris. Currently he has the lead in a revival of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, for which he won a Tony.

    Image via chefantoniopark, Instagram

  • Neil Patrick Harris Spits On Woman During ‘Hedwig’ Performance, Audience Shocked

    Neil Patrick Harris was so into his character during his performance in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Thursday that he spat water on a woman in the audience.

    According to a source, the incident happened halfway through the performance. Harris was in full drag costume and leaned down towards the audience and asked the woman “Are you drunk?” The woman waved her hands in the air in reply and the audience assumed that it was all part of the act. Harris then continued to address the woman and reprimanded her for taking pictures. He then said, “I hate you” and walked away.

    Later, Harris was supposed to spit water at the audience as part of the performance, but he spat on the woman instead. “It was all a bit frosty and awkward. His anger was spectacular, especially the ‘I hate you’ bit. The audience went into a stunned silence. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife!” a source said.

    Reports do not indicate how the woman reacted after Harris spat on her face.

    A representative of the show said that in every performance, there is an element of audience interaction. They also said that the incident that happened is “all in character.”

    However, many still think that Harris was serious when he spat on the woman. Others say that he was bothered that the woman was taking pictures in the middle of the show. Taking pictures is prohibited during Broadway shows and other productions.

    This is not the first time that Harris was inappropriate during a performance. According to reports, Harris was the center of attention for swearing at an audience member. However, many people also understand that Hedwig and the Angry Inch consists of lots of improvisation from the actors.

    Harris won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Hedwig in the play.

    Image via YouTube

  • Neil Patrick Harris as ‘Hedwig’ Shares Spit With Audience Member

    Neil Patrick Harris spit water on a member of the audience as he took the stage as Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway on Thursday night. The How I Met Your Mother star was in full drag in his role as Hedwig–a transvestite–when he apparently noticed a woman snapping photos of him from the audience. This is prohibited at Broadway (and many other) productions.

    A source reports that about halfway through the production, Harris “leaned down into the audience and asked a woman, ‘Are you drunk?’ She waved her arms in the air and everyone assumed it was part of the act. Neil then berated her for taking photos, telling the audience she was sitting in seat 3A. He then sniffed, ‘I hate you,’ and turned on his high heels.”

    Later in the production Neil Patrick Harris was supposed to spit some water into the audience as part of the play, but instead “he spat the water straight at the woman,” the source shared. “It was all a bit frosty and awkward. His anger was spectacular, especially the ‘I hate you’ bit. The audience went into a stunned silence. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife!”

    A rep from the Broadway show reportedly told the New York Post that it was a planned spit.

    “There is always an element of audience interaction in each show, and it is all in character,” the rep explained.

    It certainly sounds as though Neil Patrick Harris had about enough of the woman’s incessant photo taking–as well as the fact that she wasn’t adhering to the theater rules. He might have even believed that if she was so enamored with this character that a little spit may have made her feel that much closer to his stage persona.

    Of course Hedwig and the Angry Inch features lots of improv and this actually wasn’t the first time Neil Patrick Harris made news for seemingly inappropriate behavior. Last time it was for swearing at a member of the audience.

    Neil Patrick Harris won a Tony Award for his role as Hedwig–so audience members aren’t that riled up over him swearing at and spitting upon them.

    It’s uncertain how the woman in the audience responded to Harris’s spitting–but after all, what’s a little shared spit among friends? She wanted all those photos–right? Now she even has bona fide DNA.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Gone Girl Trailer: Eerie Clip Piles On The Mystery

    Chilling, eerie, mysterious, and suspenseful are all great adjectives to describe the latest trailer for the film Gone Girl.

    20th Century Fox released the first official teaser trailer for the Ben Affleck whodunit back in April. Over the holiday weekend, eager moviegoers got a look at four different very creepy new posters for the film. Today, we got to see the latest trailer.

    Gone Girl, which was helmed by auteur director David Fincher, has a similar look to one of his earlier films, the neo-noir Se7en, which was also a murder mystery. The trailer also features the eerie mood music of Trent Reznor, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on another Fincher film, The Social Network. We are also introduced to a possible second suspect (or perhaps just a red herring) in Amy Dunne’s disappearance, Neil Patrick Harris who plays the role of Desi Collings.

    In the trailer, viewers are given reasons why Ben Affleck’s character Nick Dunne would kill his wife. Amy even wrote in her diary before her disappearance that she was scared that he would kill her. However, we also see Nick convincingly deny the allegations. And as the media circus builds around his wife’s disappearance, Nick is forced to do a television interview to get his side of the story out there. The interviewer (played by Sela Ward) even calls Nick “the most hated man in America.”

    Did Nick kill his wife or didn’t he? The trailer also gives us a good look at other key cast members in the film including Tyler Perry, Casey Wilson, and Patrick Fugit. The clip keeps the suspense at a high point without revealing any key information.

    Check it out:

    Gone Girl does not open in theaters until October 3. The film is based on Gillian Flynn’s enormously popular 2012 novel of the same name. The book was #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list for eight weeks and also spent 26 weeks on National Public Radio’s hardcover fiction bestseller list.

    Tell us what you think of the new trailer. And if you’ve read the book, please NO SPOILERS in the comment section.

    Image via YouTube Screenshot