LIFESTYLE37 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014 Music & Movies Filipino singer captures Israeli hearts in TV show 47-year-old Filipino caregiv- Israeli singer Shiri Maimon, a er has emerged as the judge on the show and former real- Anewest star of Israeli reality ity TV contestant herself, has television, putting a human face on served as Fontanes’ “mentor” the thousands of foreign workers throughout the season. After a who toil away in menial, back- recent rendition of Christina breaking jobs in this country. Israeli Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Maimon viewers of the country’s myriad of could barely contain her excite- reality shows have grown accus- ment. “It was so moving. I am so tomed to successful candidates proud of you. We will have an from various backgrounds, includ- amazing journey together,” she ing black-clad ultra-Orthodox Jews, said. “I’m speechless. It was more This image released by Disney shows, from left, Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, Ethiopian immigrants and a than perfect.” Olaf, voiced by Josh Gad, and Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff in a scene German convert to Judaism who Fostanes said she has dreamed became a celebrity chef. But of singing since she was a child, but from the animated feature ‘Frozen.’ —AP they’ve never seen someone like suffered discrimination because of Rose Fostanes before. her appearance. She said she still The diminutive woman with a can’t believe how far she has come. ‘Frozen’ tops North booming voice has taken “X-Factor “Sometimes I am telling myself, ‘Is it Israel” by storm and emerged as a Rose Fostanes speaks to the Associated Press before a rehearsal true that it happened to me?” she national phenomenon. Known sim- of the X-Factor Israel in Tel Aviv. —AP photos said. “At least I can express and ply as “Rose,” she is mobbed by fans show the people that I have also American box office wherever she goes. “It’s a big talents and it’s not too late for me change in my life because before to shine.” Fostanes said she has nobody recognized me, nobody been a caregiver since the age of isney animated musical “Frozen” lifestyle. Critically acclaimed comedy knew me. But now everybody, I 23, working in Egypt and Lebanon claimed top spot at the North “American Hustle”-starring Christian Bale think everybody in Israel knows my before coming to Israel. She is DAmerican box office this weekend, and Amy Adams as grifters who team up name. And it is very funny,” she said. among the roughly 10 million dethroning the latest installment of “The with an FBI agent, played by Bradley Fostanes arrived six years ago to Filipinos, or 10 percent of the over- Hobbit” fantasy trilogy, final figures showed Cooper, to bring down other con artists- work as a caregiver so, like millions all population, who work abroad. Monday. A loosely based retelling of a Hans was fifth with $12.4 million. of other Filipino workers around Israel’s estimated 40,000 Christian Andersen fairytale, “Frozen” added In sixth place was “Anchorman 2,” the the world, she could send money Filipinos enjoy relative freedom, as another $19.6 million in earnings, taking its Will Ferrell comedy which sees him reprise back home to her family. She long as they have work permits. seven-week haul in the United States and his role as screwball newsman Ron spends her days caring and clean- Most remain for an agreed-upon Canada to just under $297 million. In sec- Burgundy. The sequel took $10.6 million in ing for an ailing woman in her 50s. period of time before returning ond was horror film “Paranormal Activity: its third week. Seventh was “Saving Mr To save money, Fostanes lives in a home. Fostanes said Filipinos The Marked Ones,” the fifth movie of the Banks,” a drama about Walt Disney’s quest crowded apartment in south Tel around the world have heard about hugely successful franchise which opened to make a film adaptation of Mary Poppins, Aviv, a downtrodden area inhabited her and frequently send her text with $18.3 million, box office tracker with $8.7 million. Its stars-Tom Hanks as by foreign laborers, with seven oth- messages of support. But her suc- Exhibitor Relations confirmed. Disney and Emma Thompson as Poppins’ ers. cess has been tempered by the dis- The “Paranormal Activity” franchise has anti-Hollywood author-have both been Until recently, Fostanes was tance from her loved ones. She last earned more than $750 million worldwide nominated for Golden Globes. among the thousands of Filipinos Rose Fostanes sings during a rehearsal of the X-Factor. visited the Philippines two years since the original low-budget film, made In eighth was Ben Stiller’s romantic com- who work in similar positions in ago. “Really I miss them, my family for just $15,000, took the box office by edy “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” an Israel. The site of Filippino workers enter the “X-Factor” competition, a strong and soulful voice, belting especially because this is the time I storm in 2009. Last week’s top dog, “The updated adaptation of James Thurber’s wheeling elderly Israelis in public popular show hosted by Israeli out such hits as Queen’s “Bohemian really need them beside me,” she Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”, fell to famous 1939 short story about a strait- places is so common that the word supermodel Bar Refaeli. Standing Rhapsody” and Lady Gaga’s “You said, with tears in her eyes. “I need third spot with $15.7 million. The second laced office worker who loses himself in “Filipini” has become synonymous just 1.50 meters-tall (4-foot-11), and I.” She is among the final five their support not only because part of director Peter Jackson’s trilogy of heroic daydreams. The film, which stars with “caregiver.” Several months Fostanes has captured her audi- contestants and widely seen as a they are in the Philippines, I want films, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved clas- Stiller in the lead role, took $8 million. In ago, a friend encouraged her to ences’ hearts with a surprisingly favorite. them to be by my side.” —AP sic, has earned $229 million to date in ninth place was the second film in the North America. blockbuster “Hunger Games” franchise with In fourth spot was Martin Scorsese’s lat- $7 million, taking its overall earnings to est collaboration with actor Leonardo $407.1 million in North America alone. DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” earning In 10th was “Grudge Match,” a comedy Run Run Shaw, father $13.2 million in its second weekend. The seeing Sylvester Stallone and Robert De movie is based on the debauched rise and Niro play geriatric former boxers who agree of the kung fu film, fall of disgraced Wall Street financier Jordan to climb into the ring one last time to settle Belfort (DiCaprio), who conned his way to a feud. The movie-nicknamed “Aging Bull” dies aged 106 hundreds of millions in the 1990s while by one critic-took $5.3 million. —AFP un Run Shaw, the billionaire film pioneer hailed as the maintaining a notoriously drug-fuelled inventor of the kung fu genre and who launched a media Rempire that stretched from Hong Kong to Hollywood, died yesterday at the age of 106. The colourful mogul, whose flagship Shaw Brothers Studio helped shape Asian cinema in the 20th century and influenced the films of directors such as Quentin Tarantino, passed away at his home in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s chief executive Leung Chun-ying, leader of the city of seven million people, praised Shaw’s legacy. “Sir Run Run Shaw has for a long time promoted the enter- tainment industry in Hong Kong, his philanthropy also has spread from Hong Kong to China and beyond. He is an elder that we very much respect,” Leung told reporters. Shaw, listed by Forbes as a billionaire, was also a generous philanthropist who was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 1977 for his public service as a long-time backer of the Red Cross. He co-pro- Aamir Khan thriller breaks duced Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult hit “Blade Runner”, and his stu- dio’s kung fu films became genre-defining-but he famously missed out on signing Bruce Lee following failed talks over Bollywood records remuneration. Lee instead joined Golden Harvest, a Hong Kong-based pro- ollywood action thriller “Dhoom 3”, lead to a discrepancy in figures. duction house founded by Shaw’s former employee Raymond starring Aamir Khan, has smashed Single screen ticket sales remain uncom- Musicians Bono and The Edge of U2 arrive at the 25th Annual Palm Springs Chow, which propelled the martial arts icon to international Bbox office records to become the puterised and while multiplex collections International Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center stardom. Shaw and his older brother Runme first founded a film highest grossing Indian film of all time, are computerised, they are not linked on on January 4, 2014 in Palm Springs. —AFP according to industry experts yesterday. one network, so gross collection figures are The third film in the Dhoom franchise, usually supplied by the distributor. Singh which has been likened to Hollywood’s attributed the success of the “Dhoom 3” Why U2’s Bono considered Nelson “Fast and Furious”, is the first Indian film to partly to the “star appeal” of Aamir Khan, cross the five-billion rupee mark ($80 mil- whose earlier 2010 film “3 Idiots” held the lion) in gross revenues around the world, highest-grossing record for more than Mandela his ‘Bandleader’ according to its production house Yash Raj three years.