Reuters Entertainment News Summary

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Oscar organizers scrap plan to award four Oscars in commercial breaks

The organizers of the Oscars ceremony on Friday scrapped a plan to award four Academy Awards during commercial breaks in the Feb. 24 telecast, following an uproar by Hollywood filmmakers, actors and others. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement that it had "heard the feedback" from members and that all 24 Academy Awards "will be presented without edits, in our traditional format."

Lead roles in Chinese saga 'So Long My Son' share best actor awards at Berlinale

Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei won Silver Bears for best actor and best actress respectively for their joint lead roles as husband and wife in Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai's epic family saga "So Long My Son" at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday. The two play a couple who live through the vicissitudes of life in China as it emerges from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution and rises to become today's economic superpower.

Swiss actor Bruno Ganz who played Hitler in 'Downfall' dies aged 77

Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor who portrayed Adolf Hitler in Oscar-nominated film "Downfall" and the kindly grandfather in "Heidi," died of cancer at his home in Zurich on Saturday aged 77, his agent said. Ganz had been active in German language theater, film and television for more than 50 years and was the holder of the Iffland-Ring, the most important award for German-speaking actors.

Mexican actor apologizes for racial slur against 'Roma' actress

A Mexican soap opera star apologized on Friday for using a racial slur to describe actress Yalitza Aparicio, whose performance in the critically acclaimed film "Roma" made her the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar. Video footage surfaced on Twitter on Friday in which actor Sergio Goyri, 60, can be heard criticizing the film community for nominating "a fucking Indian who says, 'Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am.'"

Fiascos and fumbles: Oscar organizers stumble to restore glory

First it was the furor over a proposed new "popular" film category, then it was the fiasco over planned host Kevin Hart, and last month the organizers of the Oscars were accused of intimidating celebrities not to present at rival award shows. Last week, another storm erupted when, as part of a pledge to shorten next Sunday's Oscars ceremony, plans to present awards for cinematography, film editing, live-action shorts and makeup/hairstyling during commercial breaks were slammed as insulting by actors, directors and cinematographers. Five days later, the plan was scrapped.

Israeli director Nadav Lapid's 'Synonyms' wins Berlinale

Nadav Lapid's "Synonyms," an anarchic story about an Israeli who tries to suppress his origins after moving to Paris, won the Berlin Film Festival's coveted Golden Bear award on Saturday. The film, a faintly comedic, semi-autobiographical study of identity and the ambivalence of national belonging, tells the story of Yoav, played by newcomer Tom Mercier, and his struggle to reinvent himself as French.

Portrait of Brazilian revolutionary is a salvo in fight over history

The makers of "Marighella," a film about a left-wing revolutionary murdered by Brazil's 1960s military dictatorship, hope their film will help counter a version of the country's history that they see far-right President Jair Bolsonaro as propagating. The drama was shot before last year's presidential election, but director Wagner Moura said the film was nonetheless an artistic response to the environment in which Bolsonaro won office to become Brazil's first right-wing leader since the end of the dictatorship.

'Roma' actress says she is proud of her roots after fellow actor uses racial slur

Oscar-nominated Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio, who stars in the critically acclaimed film "Roma," said on Saturday that she was proud of her indigenous roots after a soap opera star used a racial slur to describe her. "I am proud to be an Oaxacan indigenous woman, and it saddens me that there are people who do not know the correct meaning of words," Aparicio, who became the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, said in a statement.

Suspects in alleged attack on 'Empire' actor released

Suspects arrested in connection with an alleged racist and homophobic assault on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago were released on Friday, police said. "Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete," the Chicago Police Department said in a email to Reuters.

Chicago police seek follow-up interview with 'Empire' actor

Chicago police have shifted the direction of their investigation into actor Jussie Smollett's report of a hate-crime assault and are seeking to interview him again, after releasing two men detained for questioning in the probe, a police spokesman said on Saturday. Smollett, 36, an openly gay African-American performer who plays a gay character on the musical hip-hop TV drama "Empire," ignited a furor on social media last month when he reported he had been attacked on the street by two men yelling racial and homophobic slurs.