Lindsay takes home top honors … at the Razzies
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- A year after his Academy Awards dream went up in smoke, Eddie Murphy has not just one consolation prize, but three: Razzie Awards as worst actor, supporting actor and supporting actress for the comedy "Norbit."
The fourth acting "dis-honor" announced at Saturday's Golden Raspberry Awards went to Lindsay Lohan, who actually was voted two worst-actress trophies for the thriller "I Know Who Killed Me," the worst-picture winner in which she played dual roles.
"I Know Who Killed Me" set a new Razzies record with eight awards, including worst screen couple for Lohan in her double role.
Topping the previous record of seven Razzies for both "Showgirls" and "Battlefield Earth," "I Know Who Killed Me" also won for worst director (Chris Sivertson), screenplay (Jeff Hammond), horror movie and remake or rip-off (Razzies organizers viewed it as a cross between torture flicks such as "Saw" and a twisted update of "The Patty Duke Show").
With his latest exercise in multiple roles, Murphy was the first person ever to win three acting Razzies in one year. He won as worst actor for the geeky title role, supporting actress as his tubby, shrewish wife and supporting actor as a stereotyped Asian man.
Some awards watchers say "Norbit" cost Murphy an Oscar, landing in theaters shortly before last year's ceremony and potentially displeasing enough academy voters that the balloting went against him for "Dreamgirls," for which he had been the supporting-actor favorite. Murphy lost at the Oscars to Alan Arkin for "Little Miss Sunshine."
"Part of why the Razzies exist is to make fun of the academy, which takes itself too seriously," said Razzies founder, John Wilson. "If you had tried to make something certain to offend the average 90-year-old academy voter, I don't think you could have done a better job than the foul-mouthed, physically ugly, emotionally ugly movie he unleashed on the world."
The Razzies ceremony at a magic shop in Santa Monica came a day before Sunday's Oscars, where "Norbit" ironically is up for the best-makeup prize against "La Vie En Rose" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
Between them, "Norbit" and "I Know Who Killed Me" won all but one of the Razzies.
"We've never had two films so totally dominate, at least not since the heyday of Sylvester Stallone," Wilson said.
The remaining prize still had a Murphy connection, with worst prequel or sequel going to Cuba Gooding Jr.'s "Daddy Day Camp," a follow-up to Murphy's "Daddy Day Care."
Lohan was nominated twice as worst actress, and the Razzie vote wound up in a tie between her separate roles as a small-town girl abducted by a psychopath and an alter ego, a stripper who's missing body parts.
"It's appropriate that it's a tie, because at the end of the movie, you don't know if it was one person or two people, or are they twins, or are we as mentally ill as the screenwriter and director?" Wilson said.
Looking ahead to next year's Razzies, Wilson said he already sees some favorites, including Paris Hilton's recent bomb, "The Hottie and the Nottie."
Stallone, the all-time Razzies champ with 30 nominations and 10 wins, dodged the ceremony a year ago after "Rocky Balboa" turned out far better than people expected. The same is not likely to hold true for Stallone's latest critically drubbed sequel, Wilson said.
"Without even having to think," he said, "I expect Sylvester Stallone to be back with 'Rambo.' "
TV bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman is preparing a return to the airwaves. The Chapman family confirmed Thursday that filming is set to resume on the A&E show "Dog the Bounty Hunter." The show features Chapman and crew in pursuit of bail jumpers in Hawaii and other states. It was the highest rated show on A&E before the network pulled it off the air in November. Chapman was heard in a taped phone conversation using a racial slur in reference to his son's black girlfriend. Chapman has apologized and tried to make amends with the network and the black community. Network officials says that since the show is about second chances, they decided to accept his apology and resume production. No air date has been announced.
Will Smith wasn't nominated for an Oscar this year, but his role in "I Am Legend" has earned a different "academy" award -- from the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy. Smith was named the first winner of the Cadet Choice Movie Award, which was designed to honor the fictional character that best personifies West Point leadership qualities on the silver screen. Smith's character in the film, Army virologist Dr. Robert Neville, is the lone survivor of a zombie-making virus that devastates Manhattan.
A busboy looking to clean up has settled a lawsuit against Lindsay Lohan over a 2005 car crash. "It's been resolved," said Robert G. Klein, the attorney for busboy Raymundo Ortega, who settled for an undisclosed amount on Wednesday. Lohan's Mercedes-Benz collided with Ortega's van as he was making a turn in October 2005. Though the California Highway Patrol concluded that Ortega caused the crash by making an illegal U-turn, he sued Lohan seeking at least $200,000 in damages.