The Butler – Entertainably

1:23 pm, September 2nd, 2013

BOX OFFICE

(Weinstein Co.)

The Butler won the 2013 Labor Day weekend box office after a close race with One Direction: This Is Us.

Although the documentary-concert film out-grossed the Lee Daniels movie Friday through Sunday, The Butler held on tight to come out on top for the four-day holiday overall.

The Butler took in $20 million total, earning its third weekend in the top spot, compared to $18 million for This Is Us.

In third place was We’re The Millers, which earned $16.3 million over the four days.

Planes and Instructions Not Included came in fourth and fifth, respectively, with a total of $10.5 million and $10.3 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Elysium ($8.2 million), The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ($6.8 million), The World’s End ($6.5 million), Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters ($5.9 million), Getaway ($5.5 million), and Closed Circuit ($3.1 million).

What did you see this holiday weekend?

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President Obama: “I Did Tear Up” Watching Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Oprah “Can Act”

August 27, 2013Gossip Cop

Truth rating: 10

Barack Obama Lee Daniels’ The Butler The Butler

8:44 pm, August 27th, 2013

(Getty Images)

President Obama revealed he shed a few tears while watching Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

The movie, which is based the life of late White House butler Eugene Allen, who served under eight presidents, has topped the box office for the last two weeks.

Speaking on “Tom Joyner Morning Show” in a radio interview broadcast Tuesday, the President shared how the film moved him.

“I did tear up,” said Obama, explaining, “I teared up just thinking about not just the butlers who have worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled, but because of Jim Crow (segregation laws), because of discrimination, there was only so far they could go.”

Obama also praised the acting in the movie, which has garnered early Oscar buzz.

“All of the acting was terrific, and I thought Forest Whitaker was wonderful,” he said. ”And Oprah, my girl, she can act.”

Of his own White House staff, the President says, “I will tell you that the butlers who are now here in the White House, when we first arrived, when Michelle and the girls just — first arrived, they could not have been kinder to us and warmer to us.”

He continues, ”And part of it, I suspect, is they look at Malia and Sasha and they say, well, this looks like my grandbaby, or this looks like my daughter.”

“And I think for them to have a sense that we’ve come that far was a powerful moment for them, and certainly a powerful moment for us,” says Obama, adding, “We love them to death. They look after us just wonderfully.”

CLICK HERE for the President Obama’s full interview.

VIDEO – Meet the Real-Life Son of The Butler – WATCH HERE!

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Oprah Winfrey: If You Use The N-Word Around Me, “You Cannot Be My Friend”

July 31, 2013Gossip Cop

Truth rating: 10

Forest Whitaker Lee Daniels Oprah Winfrey Parade The Butler

4:11 pm, July 31st, 2013

(Parade)

Oprah Winfrey told the upcoming Parade, if you use the N-word around her, “You cannot be my friend.”

The former talk show host spoke to the magazine, alongside her The Butler co-star Forest Whitaker and the film’s director Lee Daniels, about the upcoming movie and racism.

In the film, Whitaker plays Cecil Gaines, a butler who worked in the White House from the Eisenhower through Reagan administrations, and witnessed the civil rights movement and assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Winfrey stars as Gaines’ wife.

During the interview, Whitaker said, “I don’t use the [N] word. Never did,” but Daniels admitted, “It’s a word I used quite a bit, until Oprah sat me down and talked to me about its power.”

Winfrey noted, “You cannot be my friend and use that word around me,” and explained, “I feel strongly about it… I always think of the millions of people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree.”

On the subject of racism, Whitaker said, “I’ve had many incidents… been thrown on the ground. I’ve been frisked. I’ve been arrested so many times I couldn’t tell you.”

And Daniels told the mag that he sends his white assistant out in New York “to get a taxi because I can’t.”

So, asked Winfrey, “Do we live in a land where Martin Luther King’s dream has been ultimately fulfilled? No. Has part of the dream been fulfilled?”

“Yes,” answered Daniels.

Still, Winfrey said today’s young people know “diddly-squat” about the civil rights movement, which is why people ”need to see” The Butler.