Word: wagners
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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DIED. Astrid Varnay, 88, Swedish-American soprano whose intense, passionate style energized some of the most demanding roles of German opera, including Strauss's Elektra and Wagner's Isolde, Kundry and Brunnhilde (she sang Brunnhilde more than 300 times); in Munich. Her career took off unexpectedly in 1941 after she was called in as a last-minute, last-choice understudy to play Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkure at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, where she eventually performed 200 times. Of her emotional style, she said, "I feel my roles first, then I put them into action...
...before Redstone's comments, Cruise/Wagner was securing $100 million in hedge-fund money to finance films independently. "We decided that the best direction for us is to do something where we lead the way in terms of where the film industry is going," says Cruise's producing partner Paula Wagner. The private-equity model has suffered some high-profile failures, like this year's big-budget flop Poseidon, but new investors continue to rush to Tinseltown. In September, Flyboys, at $60 million one of the most financially ambitious and risky films funded entirely by private investors, lands in theaters. With...
...This week Paramount Pictures essentially invoked the sanity clause to end its 14-year deal with Tom Cruise and his Cruise-Wagner production company. (The star's partner, Paula Wagner, insisted that she and Tom had jumped out of their contract before they could be pushed.) "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount," harrumphed Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount's parent company Viacom, as if he were the provost of a starchy boys' school and Cruise a rambunctious pupil...
...years he had a film in release." The publicist added that Cruise's last two films, War of the Worlds and Mission Impossible 3, have grossed $977.8 million worldwide. "As an actor, Tom is responsible for almost $3 billion in box office revenue for Paramount," said Wagner. "That's more money than any other actor has made for any single studio in history...
...association with Cruise isn't risk-free for Paramount. It's a testament to the ongoing strength of the Cruise/Wagner brand that their company attracted such a huge amount of private capital. Moreover, two of Hollywood's biggest producers are still fans of Cruise the actor. Wagner says JJ Abrams, who directed Mission Impossible 3 and just inked big production deals of his own with Warner Bros. and Paramount, still wants to work with...