It looks like Tom Petty won’t back down after all. The veteran rocker says he’s not retiring, despite a Rolling Stone article in July that suggested otherwise. Petty said 2006 was one of the most rewarding years in his career. “You never know how things are going to turn out, and I didn’t see this year coming,” Petty told the Los Angeles Times. “But maybe next year will be even better.” Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, recently earned two Grammy nominations for their latest album, “Highway Companion.” Petty’s many hits include “I Won’t Back Down,” “American Girl” and “Free Fallin.”
“Babel” actor Gael Garcia Bernal embraces his Mexican identity, saying it has a liberating effect on his expanding career. “I feel completely free to be whatever,” he said. “Actually, if I was an actor from the United States, it would be incredibly hard, because I would be pigeonholed immediately.” Garcia Bernal, 28, said that in Mexico, any perceived faux pas by a celebrity can draw criticism. “That’s something that in Mexico they pick up a lot on – ‘Oh, he didn’t give me an autograph, he’s lost it.’ And it’s funny because it’s so ephemeral and so trivial,” he said. Fans can look forward to seeing him this year in Hector Babenco’s “El Pasado” (The Past), which chronicles a married couple’s difficult breakup.
Uplifting movies got some uplift of their own as they dominated the box office over the New Year’s weekend, a busy period at theaters even though no new movies went into wide release. Ben Stiller’s playful “Night at the Museum” again came out on top, this time with $37.8 million, a 24 percent jump over its debut the previous week, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
Will Smith’s “The Pursuit of Happyness” took second place with $19.3 million. The musical “Dreamgirls” finished third with $15.5 million. Fourth was “Charlotte’s Web,” up 59 percent with $12 million. “Rocky Balboa” was in fifth place with $11.4 million.
