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Emma Stones star continues to rise with breakout film roles

Emma Stone has gone from layperson to expert on the two publishing sensations shes helping to bring to Hollywood this summer and next. Stone had not read Kathryn Stocketts The Help before auditioning for the lead role in the drama about a white woman who rocks the Deep South establishment by chronicling the hard lives of black maids in the early 1960s. The Help is expected to be a summer hit driven by the bestsellers female fans, a rarity in a season dominated by action tales and comedies. And before earning the female lead in The Amazing Spider-Man, Stone knew the Marvel Comics superhero mainly from Sam Raimis three past big-screen Spidey adventures and glimpses of the web-slinger on memorabilia.

Paperback hero: Emma Stone stars in film adaptations of The Help and Spider-Man.

DAVID GERMAIN (AP)

DAN STEINBERG/AP

I knew Spidey from Halloween costumes and Band-Aids and erasers and pencils and notebooks, Stone, 22, said in an interview at last months Comic-Con fan convention, where she and star Andrew Garfield joined the filmmakers to reveal footage of the 2012 summer blockbuster-in-waiting. Stone has been on a steady rise in Hollywood, co-starring in 2007s teen romp Superbad and 2009s horror comedy Zombieland, then charming audiences with her first big-screen lead in last years Scarlet Letter twist Easy A. After supporting roles in backto-back romantic comedies with last weeks Friends With Benefits and this weeks Crazy, Stupid, Love, Stones profile shoots higher with the Aug. 10 debut of The Help, costarring Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer. I knew that every little boy at school was obsessed with Spidey. I saw all the Sam Raimi movies, but I had not read the comics until I got involved. And now Im a ridiculously enormous Spider-Man fan.

Although he expects Fall Out Boy to come together again in the future, Patrick Stump says his solo career which includes the EP Truant Wave and the upcoming album Soul Punk will be a primary concern. I do have a lot of records I want to put out, Stump says. Im always going to be doing it. Stump For the initial gambits of Soul Punk, which is due in October, Stump is showing off an R&B-flavored style showing the acknowledged influence of artists such as Prince and Michael Jackson, among others. Its music Stump didnt record with Fall Out Boy because, he explains, This is a lot more of a distillation of my influences, and [the band] is supposed to be a combination of all of our influences.
GARY GR AFF (BILLBOARD.COM)

Oprah Winfrey is repackaging her now-ended talk show to make it a key part of the lineup for OWN, her struggling cable channel, as a classroom intended to help viewers improve their lives. Own Your Life, will air weekdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time starting Oct. 10. It will be paired with The Rosie Show, the new Rosie ODonnell talk show, which also debuts Oct. 10 and will air daily at 7 p.m. Eastern time, right before Own Your Life. (AP)

Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Wynter Gordon, John West; Aug. 14, 7 p.m., $20-$23; 202-388-7625, Rockandrollhoteldc.com.

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, FOLLOW THE TOP STOPS BLOG AT EXPRESSNIGHTOUT.COM/TOPSTOPS

Mellow Out
Bon Iver has somehow achieved indie stardom while simultaneously making bank by being on the soundtrack of a Twilight movie, so, clearly, the bands mellow acoustic music has wide appeal. Or scenester kids are secretly Twilight fans. Hmm. The Monday and Tuesday shows are sold out, but you could always bite someone and steal his ticket. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; Mon. and Tue., 7 p.m., sold out; 202-2650930, 930.com. (U St.-Cardozo)

Funkadelic
The CSC Funk Band brings together 10 or so musicians whove been playing all manner of punk and noise rock. The ensemble, which includes an oboe, doesnt sound thrown together at all in fact, as funk ensembles go, its remarkably disciplined, but still loose enough to dance to. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; Mon., 8 p.m., $10; 202667-7960, Blackcatdc.com. (U St.-Cardozo)

Go See Dead People

Its been more than 10 years since The Sixth Sense came out, so if you still dont know how it ends well, we suspect you may not have very many friends. Sorry. But even if you know the twist, its still a great, scary, atmospheric film keep your eyes peeled for a very young Mischa Barton, by the way thats screening in Arlington Monday night. 1851 S. Bell St., Arlington; Mon., dusk, free; Crystalcity.org. (Crystal City)