HOLLYWOOD

Cate Blanchett

HOLLYWOOD — Robert Redford won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and is Oscar bound for “All Is Lost,” in which he was the only actor on screen for the entire film. After that, why do you suppose he chose (at 77) to do a featured role in the upcoming sequel “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” with Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, “Revenge” star Emily Vancamp and Samuel Jackson? It’ll be out in April.
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Cate Blanchett, who won a best actress nod from the Critic Circle for Woody Allen’s film “Blue Jasmine,” has completed five films, starting with “The Monuments Men” with George Clooney and Matt Damon; the animated “How to Train Your Dragon 2,“ with Gerard Butler and Jonah Hill; the third and final installment of “The Hobbit: There and Back Again”; and two films for Terrence Mallick: “King of Cups” with Christian Bale and Natalie Portman, and the untitled Mallick musical drama with Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Val Kilmer and Benicio del Toro. Cate currently is filming Kenneth Branagh’s live action “Cinderella.”
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Dan Stevens died in the season three closer of “Downton Abbey” and was the topic of the season four premiere, watched by 10.2 million viewers, because he wanted to move on. He’s filmed “The Guest,” screened Jan. 17 at The Sundance Festival; “The Cobbler,” with Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi, arriving in November; and is playing Sir Lancelot in “Night at the Museum 3,” with Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Ricky Gervais. And everyone thought he was crazy to leave “Downton Abbey”!
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CBS will send off “How I Met Your Mother” to rerun heaven March 31 with a special hour finale. … “Friends With Better Lives,” which stars James Van Der Beek (last seen in “Don’t Trust The B — — In Apartment 23”), Brooklyn Decker (wife of tennis pro Andy Roddick in real life) and Kevin Connelly (who will reprise his character Eric Murphy in the film version of “Entourage”) will follow it, hopefully to fill the void. … NBC plans a mid-season premiere of Jon Favreau’s “About a Boy,” with Minnie Driver and David Walton (of “Burlesque” and seven episodes of “New Girl”); and “Growing Up Fisher,” with Jenna Elfman (“Dharma & Greg”) and J.K. Simmons (so good on “The Closer” and in all those Farmers Insurance commercials). The show’s executive producer is Jason Bateman, who also will be the narrator. The pilot was directed by “Friends” star David Schwimmer. Bateman just completed “Horrible Bosses 2” with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Kevin Spacey, out in November. Wouldn’t it be funny if executive producer Jason Bateman turned out to be a “Horrible Boss” 2?