Thursday 22 December 2011

'American Horror' finale nabs 3.2 million viewers

FX's "American Horror Story" may have scared people, but it hasn't scared them away -- the freshman horror drama managed to sustain its viewership all season. Wednesday night's season finale of the Ryan Murphy-produced skein pulled in just over 3.2 million total viewers with a healthy 2.19 million in the demo, comparing favorably to the just-under 3.2 million pairs of eyeballs logged for its first seg, back in October. The show has also added plenty of all-important demo viewers; its initial ep only attracted 1.6 million 18-49-year-olds.It's a series that attracts plenty of late viewers -- those numbers for the series premiere later ballooned to 4.2 million with 2.8 million demo watchers when 3-day DVR viewership was included later -- so expect a healthy percentage of "Horror" fans to tune in Thursday, Friday and on Christmas Eve. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com

Wednesday 21 December 2011

11 Non-Christmas Christmas Movie Moments

If you prefer a real Christmas feel this holidays, stick to the classics like 'A Christmas Story,' 'It's an excellent Existence,' or the Disney films, because within the following holiday movies, the idea of Christmas (giving, loving, caring) is switched on its mind. A scene in the lately launched 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' featuring Father Christmas inside a Lenin mask singing the Russian national anthem, triggered Moviefone to generate another 11 Christmas movie moments that are not very Christmasy. From 'Gremlins' to 'American Psycho,' these moments are not happy. Non-Christmas Christmas Movie Moments 'Bad Santa''Die Hard,' 'Die Hard 2'Elf'Gremlins''A Very Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas''Trading Places''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation''Go''Goodfellas''LA Private''American Psycho' See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook [Top Photo: twentieth century Fox] #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-77428.cke_show_edges #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-77428, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-77428

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Amanpour's ABC Exit Announcement Spurred By New York Times Reporter's Twitter Gaffe

Firooz ZahediJane Fonda Jane Fonda is coming to the small screen.our editor recommendsJane Fonda, THR's Sherry Lansing Leadership Award Recipient, on Her Role Models (Video)Jane Fonda's Women in Entertainment Acceptance SpeechJane Fonda Opens Up About Her Father, Her Return to Acting and the Lesson She Learned From Warren Beatty Jane Fonda to be Honored at THR's Women in Entertainment Breakfast The two-time Academy Award-winning actress has booked a recurring role on HBO's newsroom-set Aaron Sorkin drama, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. She will join a collection of high profile actors, including Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer. In the project, which is set at a 24-hour cable news network, Fonda will play Leona Lansing, the CEO of the cable news network's parent company whose ideals often clash with the news outlet she oversees, according to TV Line, who first reported the news. STORY: HBO Gives Series Pickup to Aaron Sorkin Project Her character's name is a nod to two Hollywood icons, the late Leona Helmsley and the one-time Paramount chief Sherry Lansing. The news comes one week after Fonda was honored at THR's Women in Entertainment breakfast with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award for her influential role on- and off-screen. In a corresponding interview, Fonda told THR that she was eager to enter the TV fray with a comedy vehicle, much the way fellow actresses Laura Linney (The Big C) and Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) have done in recent years. "First of all, I like the idea of a regular job," she said. "And second, I like the idea of comedy about an older woman." To be sure, Fonda knows her way around newsrooms. In addition to a previous marriage to CNN founder Ted Turner, she played a TV news reporter in Columbia Pictures' 1979 thriller The China Syndrome, an early collaboration between Fonda and then-midlevel studio executive Lansing. HBO picked up the project to series in September. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery THR's 2011 Women in Entertainment Breakfast Highlights PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Women In Entertainment 2010 Event Jane Fonda Sherry Lansing Aaron Sorkin HBO

Carol Schreder dies at 65

Author-producer Carol Schreder, who produced landmark telepic "The Burning Bed mattress" and directed numerous documentaries throughout an even more than three-decade career, was destroyed in the cycling accident round the Mulholland Highway near Kanan Road, inside an area near Agoura Slopes, Calif., on 12 ,. 3. Schreder was finishing an ordinary 50-mile ride when she was struck having a passenger van towing a trailer and died your evening at UCLA's Taxation Hospital. She was 65. An analysis in the accident with the California Highway Patrol is pending. Schreder was one of the primary female Pointing Men in the American Film Institute's Center for Advanced Film Studies, where she developed a documentary about aerospace pioneer William Lear, "With the Chair of His Pants." In 1978 Steve McQueen hired her to evaluate and write the first technique to his 1980 Western "Tom Horn." Schreder produced numerous films for long-term friend Jon Avnet's production company, including acclaimed NBC telepic "The Burning Bed mattress" (1985), which starred Farrah Fawcett and directed national concentrate on the problem of domestic violence. She appeared to become showrunner for ABC's 1984-85 series "Call to Glory," a great Air Pressure family through the sixties co-producer of Avnet's 1986 ABC telepic "Between Two Women," starring Fawcett Colleen Dewhurst and author-producer of NBC's 1987 docudrama "For One Another and War," about Medal of Recognition recipient Admiral James Stockdale's gallantry just like a Prisoner of War in Hanoi. In 1995 Schreder traveled to Nigeria and asked Nelson Mandela, seeing his release from prison firsthand on her behalf behave as a author together with a producer on "Apartheid," an eight-part TNT miniseries created by Avnet and Jordan Kerner. She also looked into human rights issues in CBS' brief 1998 series "Mama Flora's Family," that they was nominated for just about any Humanitas Award. Born in Greenwich, Conn., Schreder received a bachelor's degree in Chinese Studies from Skidmore College together with a Masters within the USC School of Cinema. A longtime part of both Authors Guild of America as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Schreder had returned for the American Film Institute lately. Just like a part of AFI's 2005 Pointing Workshop for girls, she written and directed a short film, "A Establishing of Arms." Schreder is managed to get by her mother a brother together with a sister together with a niece and a pair of nephews. A public memorial service will probably be kept in Santa Monica within the Aero Theatre within the month of the month of january. Donations be created for the Carol Schreder Scholarship Fund within the American Film Institute in La. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Vital reveals new logo design design

Vital Pictures has revealed a completely new logo design design to commemorate the studio's 100th anniversary. The logo design design will first appear before "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," which opens in Imax theaters on 12 ,. 16. The completely new logo design design will probably be installed on Componen photos throughout 2012. In 2013, the 100th anniversary element will probably be removed, while using relaxation in the new logo design design installed on future Vital films. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com

Mary Tyler Moore To Obtain SAG Existence Achievement Award From Dick Van Dyke

It’ll happen through the Screen Stars Guild Honours telecaston The month of the month of january 29. Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke increased being TV symbols round the Dick Van Dyke Show. Moore ongoing to produce her production company MTM with Grant Mess and headinedThe Mary Tyler Moore Show, which produced several character spinoffs including Lou Grant. Other MTM shows incorporated The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues, The White-colored Shadow and St. Elsewhere. Nominations for SAG Honours will probably be introduced tomorrow at 9 AM on TNT.

Monday 12 December 2011

Mooning over Melies

French cinema pioneer Georges Melies produced the floor-breaking movie 'A Visit to the Moon.'Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' starring Asa Butterfield, can also be an homage to Georges Melies.'A Visit to the Moon'The concept of Martin Scorsese pointing "Hugo," a three dimensional family movie according to an highlighted children's novel, elevated some eye brows but his eagerness to tackle the storyline shows the breadth and endurance of French cinema pioneer Georges Melies' legacy.Around the 150th anniversary of his birth, Melies -- among the founding fathers of cinema and science-fiction movies, a guy whose dreams were crushed by piracy and personal bankruptcy -- is well known in Scorsese's pic and it is taking pleasure in a revival of recognition.French helmer-producer duo and fervent Melies lovers Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange oversaw Technicolor's restoration from the only making it through hands-colored color version of Melies' groundbreaking "A visit to the Moon" (1902) prior to Cannes' opening evening in May.The happy couple also directed Melies biopic "The Remarkable Voyage," featuring interviews with Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist") and Michel Gondry ("The Eco-friendly Hornet"), amongst others.Doctor is placed to be released in French theaters on the day that as "Hugo."Paris Forex, the animation and vfx showcase set to operate 12 ,. 14-15, will even host a roundtable talking about Melies' heritage.A French illusionist who produced the very first film studio, Melies developed using movie effects to produce dreams. He's credited with lounging the footwork for vfx-intensive spectaculars from such company directors as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, who see him like a type of spiritual father.Melies would be a perfectionist: applying his background as theater owner-manager and stage magician, he oversaw all of production on his films.He directed from their own scripts, supervised the cameraman, built scenery designed costumes and applied makeup.He edited the disadvantages and authored music to become performed being an accompaniment to his quiet, black and whitened movies.He seemed to be the first one to commercialize hands-colored movies."It's mind-coming to determine how Melies performed his ideas using the couple of tools available. He used every available motion picture trick -- editing, camera work, music, makeup, costuming and miniatures -- to produce illusions, states "Hugo" vfx supervisor Take advantage of Legato, whose credits likewise incorporate "Shutter Island" and "Titanic.""What Melies did in 1902 with 'Trip towards the Moon,' without copying anybody, has inspired lots of individuals work."In 1896, the first times of cinema, Melies broke ground with "The Disappearing Lady," by which he stopped your camera to create a lady disappear and changed her having a skeleton."Today, we all do these methods having a computer but they are exactly the same ideas," states Legato, adding that Melies inspired him to operate the "old-fashioned way" on "The Aviator," using miniatures. "It looked so convincing -- a lot more than using the computer, that make things look off -- also it am rewarding."Julien Dupuy, a French journo that has lately finished a magazine about Melies, states, "Melies may be the first filmmaker who gave effects a natural devote the creative process."Dupuy will host the Melies roundtable at Paris Forex."Today, in lots of films there's not limitations between different departments and effects are integrated everywhere. In Spielberg's 'Tintin,' for example, effects were considered in the beginning and therefore are area of the storytelling," Dupuy states.Melies also used prosthetic makeup to optimize illusions -- a method utilized on most genre films and tentpoles, highlights Dupuy, stating Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" and Spielberg's "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence." Melies also produced the precursors of animatronic effects in "The Conquest from the Pole."His relentless mission to enhance his movies is really a supply of inspiration, states Pierre Buffin, founding father of Paris-based shingle Buf and creator of numerous vfx techniques, like the "bullet time" shots within the "Matrix" franchise."He invented methods by testing various things and that is the way we operate in visual effects. And like him we fabricate everything: we model, perform the seem, we color, etc."Melies did not just create vfx, states Bromberg, "he gave them meaning and billed them psychologically."He wasn't inquisitive about the mundane but instead through the imaginary, the astounding. Melies powered audiences into an enormous amount of spectacle and poetry and presented the kid within."FRENCH VFX & ANIMATION:Mooning over Melies Universal benefit in Mac Gruff accord Forging forward Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Thursday 8 December 2011

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: Film Review

The life story of the late singer, dancer and actor Sammy Davis Jr. will be developed for the stage and as a feature by Entertainment Studios, it was announced Thursday, on what would have been the entertainer's 86th birthday.our editor recommendsOscar Rat Pack "Sammy Davis, Jr. was a phenomenal entertainer, icon, and American treasure whose inspirational story has to be told," said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios. Entertainment Studios acquired the life rights to the story from Davis's daughter Tracey Davis, whose mother is actress May Britt, the second of his three wives. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Riches to Rags: 18 Stars Who Have Lost It All "On his deathbed, one of the last things my father told me as he put my face in his hands was: 'Tracy, tell my story. Warts and all'," said Tracey Davis. "Byron Allen, who knew and worked with my father, is the perfect producer to help my family and I achieve my father's dying wish." Davis, who died in 1990, started out as a child in vaudeville as a dancer and singer working with his father and uncle. He later became a recording artist. Davis lost an eye in an auto accident in 1954 but continued to grow as a performer, starring on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful in 1956. He became even more famous when he was the only African-American who was part of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack," which led to movies, performances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. In 1966, Davis had his own variety show on TV, making him one of the first African- Americans to do so. He talked about the racism he faced in his life in interviews and was a supporter of the Civil Rights movement. However, he was criticized in 1970 for publically embracing then President Richard Nixon. Davis died deep in debt to the IRS of throat cancer. His estate was left to fight years of legal battles. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Hollywood's Riches to Rags: 18 Stars Who Have Lost It All Related Topics

Friday 2 December 2011

Amy Winehouse Foundation Makes First Donation

The Producers Guild of America announced their five 2012 Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture award nominees Friday.our editor recommends'Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest' Trailer HBO Acquires Rights to Elton John Documentary 'The Union'SUNDANCE: 'Project Nim' Broaches Big Issues on Opening Night'Senna' Starts Theatrical Run in High Gear Sony Pictures Classics' Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest from Michael Rapaport, Richard Press' Bill Cunningham NY from Zeitgeist Films and Senna, the profile of Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna from Asif Kapadia were among the nominees. VIDEO: 'Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest' Trailer Project Nim, which follows a chimpanzee who was raised like a human child from Oscar-winnerJames March (Man on Wire) also received a nod. PHOTOS: From 'The Artist' to 'War Horse,' 22 Awards Contenders That Prominently Feature Animals As did Cameron Crowe's film on the making of Elton John and Leon Russell's T-Bone Burnett-produced album, The Union. COVER STORY: Cameron Crowe Reveals How He Seduced Matt Damon for 'We Bought a Zoo;' Names His 5 Favorite Movies The PGA will announce television series nominations Dec. 7, followed by the rest of the categories Jan. 3. The awards ceremony is set to be held Jan. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Awards Watch Roundtable: The Producers Related Topics PGA Awards Elton John Cameron Crowe T-Bone Burnett The Union

'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' Extended Trailer Released (Video)

BERLIN - Acclaimed British film director Mike Leigh will be the Jury President for the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, which runs Feb. 9-19, 2012. Leigh, who has collected a Palme d'Or in Cannes, a Golden Lion in Venice and seven Oscar nominations in his 40-year film making career, will oversee the international jury that hands out Berlin's Golden and Silver Bears at the 62nd Berlin fest.our editor recommendsQ & A: Mike LeighGrief: Theater ReviewRelated Topics•Berlin International Film... PHOTOS: 61st Berlin Film Festival Buzz Films Leigh's debut feature, Meantime premiered in Berlin's Forum sidebar in 1984 but he didn't return until 2008, when Happy-Go-Lucky bowed in competition, winning the Best Actress prize for star Sally Hawkinsand launching her international career. Leigh is considered one of Europe's greatest living directors. His last feature, Another Year, premiered in Cannes in 2010 and earned Leigh an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The 57-year-old director continues to work on stage. His most recent play, Grief, is currently being performed across Britain. Related Topics International Berlin Mike Leigh

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Laura Lang tapped as CEO of Time Inc.

Time Warner topper Jeff Bewkes Wednesday named digital advertising exec Laura Lang as CEO of the conglom's Time Inc. publishing group, the nation's largest and home to People magazine, InStyle, Time and Sports Illustrated.Lang has served since 2008 as CEO of digital marketing agency Digitas, owned by French ad giant Publicis. Her appointment signals the company's increasing emphasis on digital solutions to counter a challenging print market. She takes the reins of Time Inc. in January from an interim management team of editor-in-chief John Huey, chief financial officer Howard Averill and general counsel Maurice Edelson, who have been leading the company since the resignation of Jack Griffin last February after only six months on the job."Laura's leadership experience, brand management expertise, understanding of digital and marketing and strong relationships with the creative and advertising communities are a great fit for Time Inc. She is the right person to lead the company as it aggressively evolves its businesses during a time of great change and opportunity in publishing," Bewkes said in a statement."Time Inc's premier brands and stellar reputation, along with Time Warner's commitment to lead the digital transformation of all its businesses, will lead to great opportunities to deepen our connections with consumers," Lang said.Before joining Digitas in 1999, Lang was president of Marketing Corp. of America, where she provided strategic consulting services to clients in pharmaceutical, technology, entertainment and financial services. She also led the consulting practice at Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. Earlier in her career, Lang worked in strategic planning at Pfizer and brand management at Quaker Oats and Bristol Myers. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Purchase of Broadway's 'Book of Mormon' Takes Care Of

NY (AP) Nine Tony Honours, critical praise plus some filthy humor makes "It of Mormon" a good Broadway investment.Producers from the hit show stated Tuesday it has recovered its $11.4 million capital after just nine several weeks.The musical may be the creation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, designers of "South Park," and Robert Lopez, who co-authored "Avenue Q."It had been crowned best musical because of its offensive yet good-natured take a look at two missionaries who get to Uganda and obtain a lot more compared to what they bargained for, including gun-carrying warlords along with a running gag about maggots inside a man's nut sack.The show is among the toughest tickets to attain and, because of premium prices, required in additional than $1.six million in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre a week ago.Copyright laws 2011 Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

T.J. Burns Lands Lead In Foxs Comedy Pilot Little Brother, Lifts Projects Contingency

EXCLUSIVE: Actor-comedian T.J. Burns (ABC’s Carpoolers) has showed up charge in Fox’s comedy pilot Little Brother, lifting the contingency round the project put together by Mike Royce, which will now proceed with production. Little Brother, a multi-camera comedy from 20th TV, 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods. and Hat Trick, is about a man who finds out he features a half-brother (Burns) he never understood about who is also an ex-disadvantage. The project was put together by British scribe Fintan Ryan and folded by Fox in the last 2 seasons until Everybody Loves Raymond alum Royce has been around since in September to produce a completely new script, which netted a cast-contingent pilot order. Royce is executive creating with Adelstein, Michael Thorn, Becky Clements and Jimmy Mulville, while Ryan is co-executive creating. Burns, whose feature credits include Cloverfield, Our Idiot Brother and Yogi Bear, recently released comedy stylish-hop album The Extended Play E.P. His stand-up specialNo Real Reason opened up 10 days ago on Comedy Central, while using connected DVD released the other day. This can be a viral comedy video released online captured together with Burns’s stand-up special. He's with WME and three Arts.

Monday 21 November 2011

Dancing with the Stars Finale: Who Will Win?

Rob Kardashian, Ricki Lake and J.R. Martinez Is Dancing with the Stars' Mirrorball trophy still J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff's to lose? The frontrunner suffered an ankle injury last week, meaning Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke, and Ricki Lake and Derek Hough are still very much in the running - not that they were ever completely out of it. Kardashian's improbable journey may be the story of the season, and Lake has Hough, the show's first three-time champ, in her corner.The trio will face off Monday and Tuesday with four dances: an unlearned dance, their favorite dance, the Instant samba and, of course, the freestyle.Who's got the edge? Let's size them up!Dancing's Cheryl Burke: Rob Kardashian is not distracted by Kim's divorceROB KARDASHIANFor: The Kardashian fan base and improvement arc. Kardashian might be the weakest of the finalists - he's the only one who hasn't score a perfect 30 yet - but he embodies what the show is supposed to be about: someone with absolutely no performing experience and isn't a natural dancer who buckles down and learns to dance slowly but surely. He's peaking at the right time, winning the cha-cha relay last week, and perhaps best news of all: Sister Kim's divorce doesn't seem to have affected him or viewers' fondness for him.Needs to work on: Confidence. Kardashian is seemingly an aberration in his family being so shy and uncomfortable in front of the camera. He's shown glimpses of self-assurance, but he has to kick it into gear if he wants to take down Lake and Martinez. "He's definitely getting better and better each week," Burke tells TVGuide.com. "He's working really hard and getting into character better, and my job is to help build up that confidence and reassure him." Why he might win: Who doesn't love an underdog? The unlikeliest finalist of the trio, Kardashian, like most people, never pictured himself in the final. "The fact that we're in the position that we're in? I shocked myself," he says. Many pre-season predictions had him going out early, like Kim did, but he's proved them wrong with his ability and commitment, so who's to say he can't top it off with a victory? Keep an eye out for: More booty-shaking. Kardashian's big bum has been both an asset and his own worst enemy, but he used his gluteus maximus to the, uh, max in the samba last week - and look at that! There's going to be an Instant samba in the finals. "He's learned to work with his butt, so we're going to use that to our advantage," Burke says.Dancing's Derek Hough: I don't feel pressure to winRICKI LAKEFor: Consistency. Martinez has two scores of 30s to Lake's one, but when you crunch the numbers, she holds the edge in score average and most weeks on top of the leader board with six. Lake is a very proficient dancer and rarely has had any bad weeks. Excluding her first-week score of 20, her second-lowest score was a 24, which is very good by most competitors' standards. "We've definitely had more ups than downs this season, which is always a plus, so we just have to keep that going," Hough says.Needs to work on: Performance factor. While she gives fans a great bang for their buck, Lake is not as flashy or expressive as Martinez is on the floor. At times, Lake, who's made it clear she's hard on herself, appears more in her head, thinking about the steps, than in the moment. Why she might win: Lake has reclaimed the momentum after relinquishing it midseason to Martinez. After Martinez hurt his ankle last week, Lake emphatically stamped herself as the current one to beat with her first 30 and the highest score of the evening. Plus, she has Hough as her partner, and he obviously knows what it takes to win. Did we mention that he's also been perfect in finals? Lake can make that record 4-0, but don't remind him of that. "I try not to think about it," he says.Keep an eye out for: Another trademark Hough, crowd-pleasing freestyle. Freestyles are Hough's bread and butter, and he says if theirs - an idea he's been kicking around for a bit - goes according to plan, it could be "really cool." And we all know that freestyles are the make-it-or-break-it dance.Read Maks' Dancing blogJ.R. MARTINEZFor: Musicality, personality and a back story for the ages. The All My Children star and vet - who suffered burns after driving over a landmine in Iraq in 2003 - can do it all: put on a showstopper that brings the crowd to its feet and put on a poignant number that reduces the audience to tears. "J.R. is just amazing," Kym Johnson says. "He just draws you in when he dances. I don't think anybody can not enjoy watching him dance."Needs to work on: Not much. But he twisted his ankle in rehearsals and on the floor last week, so here's to a speedy recovery!Why he might win: He's got the complete package: technique, talent, charm and sizzling chemistry with Smirnoff. Cynics might suggest his story will garner sympathy votes, but Martinez has proven week in and week out that he has the goods, and has undoubtedly won over more fans with his performance and fun-loving personality. "I think anybody would be a fool not to root for J.R. given who he represents and how great he is," Maksim Chmerkovskiy writes in his TVGuide.com blog. "Everything about him screams Dancing winner."Keep an eye out for: Not to be a downer, but any effects from his ankle injury. It would be a shame if he can't put his best foot forward (no pun intended) in the finals. "I hope his ankle's all right," Hough says. "He's overcome so much as it is. He's a fighter and a competitor, so I'm sure he will tough this out." Who do you think will win? Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke Ricki Lake and Derek Hough J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff vote view results

IMG Worldwide CEO Ted Forstmann Dies

NY - IMG Worldwide, the talent management and TV production firm that has worked with such sports, fashion and other stars as Justin Timberlake, Tyra Banks, Tiger Woods, Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and Roger Federer, said Sunday that its chairman and CEO Theodore "Ted" Forstmann has died after a battle against brain cancer.our editor recommendsIMG Worldwide Demands Insurers Pick Up Cost Of Fighting Ex-Athletes In Video Game Litigation Forstmann, a Wall Street legend who invested in several media businesses over the year, was 71. He had led IMG since buying the company in 2004. During that time, former HBO head and now Starz CEO Chris Albrecht joined the agency for a year to head up its global media business. Recently, long-time Forstmann friend Michael Ovitz tried to take over IMG amid Forstmann's battle with cancer, leading to Ovitz's ouster from the company's board. In recent years, former Yahoo and Warner Bros. boss Terry Semel was also reportedly looking at taking over the company. Before IMG, Forstmann had made a name for himself as founder and head of investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. IMG said that his firm made 31 acquisitions and investments under his leadership, including a 1984 leveraged buyout of Dr. Pepper, which at the time was the largest ever, and returned more than $15 billion to its investors. Media investments during that time include sports and entertainment trading cards firm The Topps Co., later acquired by former Walt Disney boss Michael Eisner, publishing and Internet firm Ziff Davis, as well as radio station group Citadel Broadcasting. Forstmann is survived by his two sons Siya and Everest. His relationships over the years included one with Princess Diana. He was also romantically linked to Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi, according to Wikipedia. IMG didn't immediately name a replacement for the CEO and chairman roles. Related Topics Obituaries IMG

Friday 18 November 2011

Top Moments: Jon Stewart on Penn Condition and Practice's Intervention

Glee Our top moments every week: 15. Silence Is Golden Award: On New Girl, Jess asks Nick why he doesn't like Paul (guest star Justin Extended), her fellow schoolteacher crush who's over for Thanksgiving, which according to him it doesn't matter while he is not the one which will need intercourse with him. Jess replies they wants "to possess intercourse with him hugelyInch and "take him lower to Chinatown and slice him off a little of the pumpkin cake." Hopefully, Paul would like numerous that pumpkin cake otherwise dessert will most likely be really awkward. 14. Worst Cuisine Crime: Low on time and expense, Keith commits a cardinal sin and purchases pre-cooked shrimp for his team on top Chef. (Being fair, teammate Chris states "whatever, have itInch when asked for to weigh in.) Still, anybody who's seen the show and contains half a brain sees that that is not prone to fly (it doesn't he was axed). This is often a cooking show, therefore we are confident the idol idol judges need certainly, you understand, really prepare. 13. Worst Step Lower the Rabbit Hole: On Desperate Regular folks, Bree's ex, Chuck, notifies the ladies that he's thisclose to hooking up those to Alejandro's disappearance. Bree subsequently handles to get rid of her entire support system because Gaby and Susan are mad that they didn't inform them about Chuck's analysis, so she goes home and turns with a dangerous old friend - alcohol - and quickly gulps lower a sizable glass of white-colored wine. Sure, numerous Bree's alcoholic adventures were funny in older times (can remember the dressing room in Season 2?), but this is often a occur. 12. No Happily Ever After Award: Not such a long time ago has already established several protections while using fairytale figures we now have showed up at know and love, but not one of them a great deal similar to the Fairy Godmother, who was simply so close to making all Cinderella's dreams be realized. Rather, inside a couple of moments of her appearance on-screen, Rumpelstiltskin turns her to dust, showing the ABC series will not be shy about trampling throughout Disney tradition. 11. Least expensive Blow: Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog play Password with Martin Short and Michael Stipe, correspondingly, on Late Evening with Jimmy Fallon. Adorable, right? What might fail? Well, things have a unlucky and awkward turn when typically the most popular porcine diva knows just what the clues "eggs," "rasher" and "crisp" reference. "Oh, no!" she cries. "It is not... sausage?! ... Sometimes winning is not fun." (FYI: Kermit is not allowed to convey "sausage.") Not awesome, show, not awesome! Is always that in any manner to cope with your guest - especially an worldwide celebrity like Miss Piggy? But Miss Piggy does get yourself a make-out session with Martin from the sport. Which we know how much she loves to make her Kermie jealous... 10. Worst Slap: The Braverman family loves meddling, however, if grand dad Zeke notifies Julia and Joel that Sydney can be a sore loser on Motherhood, they don't purchase it -- that's, until Joel beats Sydney having a wide margin at Candyland and also the dearest daughter shrieks that her father can be a spouse, up-finishes the board and slaps her father within the face when he tries to pick her up. Princess Lolly and Gloppy the Chocolate Monster wouldn't approve. 9. The Getting-Too-Real Award: Sure, they are classified as The Particular Regular folks of Beverly Slopes, but things inside the 90210 usually stay fairly superficial - except each time a tea party in some manner morphs into an intervention about Taylor's abusive husband, Russell (who committed suicide in August after she declared divorce and accused him of striking her). Taylor tries to increase the risk for argument about Lisa when Camille states they've been trying to guard her "because we don't condition he hits you, because we don't condition he broke your jaw." A minimum of, you would like the cameras weren't moving for the conversation. 8. Worst Response: After he safeguards her from an unforeseen shooting, Cary tries his better to determine precisely what Kalinda is after round the Good Wife (Dana Lodge? Information on another situation?), but she demands he considers her as too tricky. As she accidently baby baby wipes blood stream from his ear showing she means well, he kisses her softly and asks her what they're doing. "I have not a clue,Inch she replies, compelling Cary simply to walk away without any word. 7. Best Press: When Jay unwillingly enables Phil, a classic masseur, massage his bum back on Modern Family, he's so soothed by Phil's miracle touch he blurts the 3 words that Phil has wanted to hear from him: "I like you." Jay immediately regrets it, but Phil was already on your way readily. It calculates, however, that Phil never heard Jay's commitment of love, but rather had received a text from two co-employees asking him to start a completely new property agency together. Knowing he can't deal with large options, Phil demands advice from Jay, who notifies him to make it happen - and utters four equally positive words: "I'd gamble you.Inch 6. Most Bitter: And concepts thought Maksim Chmerkovskiy was the primary one getting a 'tude on Dwts. Annoyed while using idol idol judges for supplying all of them with a 21 for first dance, Hope Solo notifies Maks, "F--- them! I don't even wanna have a look their way,Inch simply because they walk toward the judges' table for second critique. What went lower to obtain affordable sportsmanship, Hope? Or does that only apply in soccer? Positive factor these were given removed - at this point you will never need to think about the idol idol judges again! 5. Most Intriguing Twist: Things couldn't go more swimmingly throughout Brody and Carrie's weekend away on Homeland - they bond and possess sober sex! - until a slip-up forces her to confess they spied on him which she thinks Abu Nazir switched him. Brody notifies her, among other activities, that Abu Nazir told him to kill Tom Master, another soldier who disappeared with him. Peeved that Barbara still thinks he switched, Brody leaves - much like Barbara will receive a telephone call from Saul, who notifies her that Aileen has ID'd the particular Bang who switched: Tom Master, who's greatly alive. Same goes with Brody a genuine good guy? And what's Tom Master around? 4. Cruelest Change of Heart: After sleeping together the way i Met Your Mother, Robin and Barney accept separate with Kevin and Nora, and meet at MacLaren's to start anew. Barney dumps Nora along with her parents over the following room. Cold? Yes. But that's nothing compared to Robin selecting to stay with Kevin after which it getting him to MacLaren's, shocking Barney for the core. (Uh, why not supply him with a heads-up, Robin?!) Barney's puppy-dog face is devastating enough, however we watch while he cleans up her rose pedal-tossed, romantic mattress room he'd placed awaiting the reunion. Everyone knows you suck at love, Robin, in what of Kanye, how can you be so heartless? Weren't the main one pining for Barney? As of this rate, you don't deserve him. 3. Best Slap: Despite her passion for Brittany, Santana visited great measures to keep her homosexuality a secret on Glee (she dated Karofsky, for gosh sakes). But after bullying Finn, he retaliates by striking her where it affects. He calls her a "coward" due to not honest and open. Things vary from bad to worse when someone overhears their conversation and outs Santana in the condition-wide campaign commercial. With tears streaming lower her face, Santana slaps Finn within the face. Don't wreak havoc on Lima Levels-adjacent, Hudson. 2. Rudest Awakening: After her pals work for balance an intervention fail on Private Practice, Amelia and her new fiancé Ryan decide to get clean together - after another drug trip. Ryan overdoses, clearly, delivering Amelia straight into rehab. Let's hope it stays this time around around. 1. Best Evisceration: Jon Stewart criticizes former Penn Condition assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky round the Daily Show for giving an ill-advised interview on Rock Center with John Williams in regards to the sexual abuse charges he's facing. When Bob Costas asks if he's sexually attracted to youthful boys, Sandusky repeats the question too for about 20 second, fumbles his approach to finally saying no thanks thanks. "Everyone knows really the only time you repeat an problem happens when you're guilty!" Stewart states. "You can't even bring yourself to lie unquestionably." Stewart then highlights that Sandusky must have had the chance to coordinate a far greater defense, oh, say 2 decades ago. "You could've referred to as 'prevent me' defense," according to him. "When the ball button button snaps, pull everybody to prevent you motionless 50 yards in the kid!" What were your top moments?

Saturday 12 November 2011

Russell Brand to Star in and convey Comedy 'The Leader Stole My Girlfriend' (Exclusive)

Russell Brand is mounted on star in and convey The Leader Stole My Girlfriend, a comedy project Warner Bros. just acquired from author Matt Portenoy.our editor recommendsRussell Brand Pranks Fans Over Canadian Customs FracasRussell Brand Drawn on as Rosie O'Donnell's First Guest on 'The Rosie Show' Creating with Brand is his Top quality Films partner Nik Linnen, with the organization'sBeau Bauman professional creating. Girlfriend came from inside the organization andmarks the very first project setup by Logo and his lately-created Warners-based banner. PHOTOS: Modern Film and tv Comics "Within this movie, the leader steals the girlfriend of the sexy hippie-me, clearly," Brand informs The Hollywood Reporter. "It had been inspired through the evening I naively asked [Warners leader] Shaun Robinov for lunch.Inch STORY: Russell Brand Accepts Guy of the season Honors From Friendly Group The project may be the initial purchase for Portenoy, who did a highly-received rewrite around the in-development remake of Porky's. Younger crowd authored a segment for Movie 43, a Peter Farrelly-created Relativity comedy anthology his segment stars Emma Stone and was directed by Griffin Dunne. Portenoy is repped by WME, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and attorney Take advantage of Szymanski. Brand, who starred for Warners within this year's Arthur remake, will next come in New Line's all-star feature adaptation of Rock of Age range and it is set to star opposite Julianne Hough in Juno author Diablo Cody's untitled directorial debut. Email: Borys.Package@thr.com Twitter: @Borys_Package Related Subjects

Friday 11 November 2011

Work of Art's Bayet: I Couldn't Pull It Together At All

Bayete Did choosing a headline about Sister Act do him in? Or was it Simon's words of encouragement that led him down the wrong path? Perhaps, as judge Jerry Saltz suspects, exhaustion became a factor. Work of Art's Bayeté Ross Smith says the bottom line is he was sent home because his golden doorway just wasn't very good. TVGuide.com spoke with the 34-year-old multimedia artist, photographer and arts educator about what went wrong during this week's "Ripped from the Headlines" challenge, what the doors were supposed to say, and calling The Sucklord Sucklord: You didn't seem surprised to be eliminated in Wednesday's episode. Why? Bayeté Ross Smith: The piece that I made, I don't think was a very good piece. I was disappointed in myself for not figuring out a better way of conveying the idea, and crafting the idea into a good art piece. I prided myself on using this competition as a means to experiment... but I got myself in a situation where I was working with new materials and an idea I couldn't quite pull together. Well, not "quite" -- I couldn't pull it together at all. Watch full episodes of Work of Art What was the idea you were trying to convey with the doors and the headline you choose ("Different Church, More Sequins"): Smith: I've always been fascinated with the spectacle and the pageantry of organized religion, like how they can suck people in through spectacle. That's what grabbed me [about the headline, which was for a review for Broadway's Sister Act musical]. There's this play about this movie about these nuns and it's another commodification of religion. Unlike with some of your competitors, Simon de Pury seemed to like where you were going with the doors. Do you think that threw you? Smith: Well, no. He did encourage me to go with the idea, but it's a pretty unusual scenario to be creating art in. It's hyper-intense and the timing is short and you're on reality TV. Given more time, what would you have done differently with the doors? Smith: It's a tough question to answer. If we all had more time, everything would be completely different! But if I had more time, I guess I would've been able to figure out the paint drying, printing the crosses bigger, I probably would have done something more creative with the color of the doors and even how I hung them... You'd do so many things differently if you had more time. But not having a ton of time is also the fun and pain of the game. Check out today's news Jerry blogged that you were a "true artist," but suspected you might have been exhausted by that point in the competition. True? Smith: I think it's something that exists in reality TV scenarios. I'm not making excuses, but what you're dealing with is the competition, being in an environment that's unusual, and being in a production and dealing with a production schedule. Fatigue can sneak up on you and you might not even realize it. I think it's a fair assessment. Did anyone but Simone question calling The Sucklord Sucklord? Smith: That's the thing about reality TV -- it's an unusual situation, so you just go with it. Sucklord? OK! I asked him, "Am I supposed to address you as The Sucklord?" He was like, "Nah, when you're talking to me you just call me Sucklord." I thought, this is kind of fun; this is kind of a gas! It's a great character. I mean, Sarah Jessica Parker called him Sucklord! He's a really good guy actually. What was your favorite challenge? I really liked the stop-motion animation you made in Week 4? Smith: That was my favorite. The kids challenge relates to one of my goals as an artist, which is to create work that is a meaningful and compelling and insightful part of everyday life. When I make my work, my goal is to make things that can function from a "high-art" standpoint, but also be the types of things that everyday people can relate to in the context of their everyday lives... I think a lot of times artists wonder, if I'm doing a show for an art gallery or a museum, to what extent is that relevant to the world at large? Who is the strongest competitor? I thought Leon was going to be really hard to beat. He was one of the artists I was most impressed with, not because he was better than the rest of us, but because his style and aesthetic and the way he worked was really captivating. I thought he would go really far in the competition, so you can't really say... I think it's anyone's game. Check out Smith's current art projects Question Bridge and Got the Power. Work of Art airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie

A Geffen Playhouse presentation of a play in two acts by Alan Alda. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Marie Curie Anna Gunn Paul Langevin Dan Donohue Jeanne Langevin Sarah Zimmerman Pierre Curie John de Lancie With: Hugo Armstrong, Leonard Kelly-Young, Natacha Roi.Helmer Daniel Sullivan has assembled a topflight cast and goodlooking Geffen Playhouse production for Alan Alda's "Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie." But the play itself rarely rises above the level of a junior high instructional filmstrip on Great Men & Women of Science. Alda, who captured Richard Feynman's personality quite nicely in Peter Parnell's "QED," can't seem to get a handle on the woman or her work, nor combine them into a viable dramatic construct. For a while we're back with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, in the hagiographic 1943 biopic's idyllic marriage of minds of stolid, professional Marie ("Breaking Bad"'s Anna Gunn, in thick Polish accent and chrysanthemum hairdo) and avuncular Pierre (John de Lancie, as lovably cranky as the late Andy Rooney). They exclaim about the glowing potential of pitchblende until the same runaway wagon that mowed down Pidgeon rolls again, relegating the estimable de Lancie to the sidelines to light his cigar whenever Marie remembers him, which is less and less as years go by. Act one's freshest element is the collision of brilliant, wimpish physicist Paul Langevin (Oregon Shakespeare mainstay Dan Donohue) and neurotic, abusive wife Jeanne (Sarah Zimmerman). Their clashes, escalating from needling to outright violence, offer a vision of scientists' personal life distinct from the Curies' warm mutual respect. Donohue is especially effective as his puppydog longing for Marie visibly intensifies his frustration at home. But somehow, while we're out at intermission, Curie discovers she's mad about this nebbish, jumping into some PG-13 canoodling fully clothed. Not only can we not comprehend what she possibly sees in him, but Alda has this tower of self-possession suddenly go into conniptions at the thought of Jeanne's finding a mildly compromising letter. Still, as Marie dithers through her personal life and becomes enfeebled by radiation poisoning, she manages to keep processing enough pitchblende into radium to garner not one but two Nobel Prizes. Things really go to hell, for text and characters alike, once the unlikely lovers' affair becomes public. Alda gets in a few passing slams at fundamentalist Christians trying to rob Marie of her good name and blame her for the Franco-Prussian War; for her part, she turns on a dime to rail at her increasingly spineless lover for caring about what Jeanne might say or publish. The role simply fails to make sense from moment to moment or throughout its arc, notwithstanding Gunn's always sincere intelligence. Nobels in hand, in full command of her righteousness, Marie is never convincing as persecuted protofeminist victim, though her triumph over bigotry is evidently what Alda wants to leave us with. Eventually everything just sort of stops, lacking any kind of elegantly shaped resolution. Fine actors like Hugo Armstrong and Natacha Roi are stuck mouthing exposition in nothing parts, while Zimmerman is too restrained in the juiciest one. With Marie constantly described as meticulous and controlled, letting crazy Jeanne run riot would heighten the contrast while bringing some much-needed anarchy to the proceedings. Thomas Lynch's ingenious back wall, when treated with John Boesche's environmental projections, admirably conveys a variety of textures and moods, a trait unhappily not shared by the drama itself.Sets, Thomas Lynch; costumes, Rita Ryack; lighting, Daniel Ionazzi; sound, Jon Gottlieb; projections, John Boesche. Opened, reviewed Nov. 9, 2011. Runs through Dec. 11. Running time: 1 HOUR, 50 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Friday 4 November 2011

Five Reasons To See 'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas'

"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" is, as expected, a perfect "Harold & Kumar" movie. If you've enjoyed this mismatched duo's misadventures to White Castle and from Guantanamo Bay in the past, there's simply no way you'll have anything but an awesome time with their holiday spectacular, hitting theaters today (November 4). I don't think you really need extra convincing either you love these movies, or you don't but just in case you're seeking added incentive, go beyond the break for five reasons you need to see "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas." Time Heals All Wounds I love-love-loved the first trip to "White Castle," but I was left cold by "Guantanamo Bay." I suspect I'm not the only one who feels this way. Never fear: the latest "Harold & Kumar" erases those mediocre memories, largely because we get to see the titular stoners at very different points in their life. Well, very different for Harold, at least it gets different for Kumar. Regardless, these two have seen happier days with each other, and the story of their fragile friendship is actually quite touching in its own disturbing way thanks to the time that's passed within the world of "Harold & Kumar." Holiday Cheer Another reason why the latest "Harold & Kumar" works so well is the Christmas setting. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson and the film's writers did an excellent job at exploiting themes commonly seen throughout the holiday movie genre and giving them an appropriately gag-worthy makeover. Make no mistake, this is decidedly not "It's A Wonderful Life," but the 3-D extravaganza has all of the makings of a holiday classic in its own right. 3-Disgusting Speaking of 3-D extravaganzas, it's that very gimmick that makes this "Harold & Kumar" movie stand out from its predecessors. As is the franchise's wont, there's lots of winking and nodding at the camera, except this time, it's all in your face as eggs, explosions and other assorted unmentionables come flying furiously to invade your personal space. It's the most fun I've had with 3-D all year, second only to "Drive Angry." Santa's Little Helpers Kal Penn and John Cho are perfect as always, but it's their supporting cast that really elevates (and escalates) their latest adventure. Neil Patrick Harris is back, of course, and filthier than ever. Danny Trejo has a memorable turn as someone dangerously close to Harold. There's also the introduction of the Waffle Bot, my new must-have toy of the holiday season, as well as one of the greatest babies ever seen on film. Sadly, no Chris Meloni (as far as I could see), but you'll get the next best thing in the doppelganger department. "A Christmas Story" Yes, the whole movie is a tribute to the holiday season, but there's one very specific homage paid to the comedy classic "A Christmas Story." No, it's not the "you'll shoot your eye out" refrain. It's another equally memorable scene, though this time, it plays out a lot more painfully. Gentlemen, if you're checking out "Harold & Kumar" this weekend, bring some ice with you you're going to need it. Hear more "Harold & Kumar" thoughts in this week's Talk Nerdy to Me! Tell us what you think of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" in the comments section and on Twitter!

Wednesday 2 November 2011

eOne nabs Vivendi vid biz in Canada

LONDON -- eOne has had over Vivendi Entertainment's home theatre biz in Canada. The purchase, effective from Jan. 1, might find eOne's share of the market within the retail sector considerably elevated by Vivendi's library giving the distrib privileges to some raft of docu and special interest genre game titles. Underneath the deal, eOne will end up the exclusive distributor in Canada for key home theatre distribution labels, including Navarre, Funimation, Shout!, Factory, Classic Media, Mill Creek and National Geographic. Furthermore, Vivendi product will strengthen the distrib's presence in kids and home entertainment. eOne presently distributes WWE, Image, A&E, New Video and Acorn labels amongst others in Canada. Jim Fotheringham, senior veep of home theatre for eOne Films Canada, stated: "We are constantly striving to become the key independent distributor of shot entertainment in Canada and deals such as this provide us the chance to provide our partners top-level service and promote valuable associations." Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Seeking Volunteers for an Actorfest LA Street Team

Help Back Stage publicize Actorfest, and receive a FREE subscription and a ticket to Actorfest! You will come to the Back Stage offices on 11/1, 11:00am-5pm. We will give you a bag with postcards and you will hit the streets with a partner passing out postcards. You will go to various areas in the city and visit different parks, schools and rehearsal studios. You will be given ONE FREE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO BACKSTAGE.COM and A TICKET TO ONE PANEL at Actorfest.Interested parties please heather.gault@backstage.com with your Name, Contact, and Resume. The subject line should read "STREET TEAM."We look forward to a great event and are excited about your interested!!!

Monday 24 October 2011

River Road joins McQueen film

River Road has come onboard to produce and finance Steve McQueen's "Twelve Years a Slave" with Plan B. Deal for Bill Pohlad's River Road to join "Slave" closed Monday. Summit will handle international sales at the American Film Market. Michael Fassbender, who toplined McQueen's "Shame," signed on for "Twelve Years a Slave" two weeks ago. McQueen will direct from a script he co-wrote with John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor will also star in the true story of Solomon Northup, a NY citizen who was kidnapped in Washington in 1841 and rescued from a cotton plantation in Louisiana in 1853. Plan B's Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are set to produce the film, which is expected to start production early next year. CAA is arranging financing for the pic and representing U.S. rights. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Friday 21 October 2011

Nets wager on sitcom vets for next season

Seasoned sitcom stars, for instance Tim Allen of Do-it-yourself now Last Guy Standing, are generating comebacks. Roseanne Barr is coming initially from off Lives cancellation of Roseannes Nuts, but a show inside the works features a good shot at NBC. Alley Hayes BelushiMcEntireKilbornBreuerNow that Tim Allen makes his TV comeback round the new comedy "Last Guy Standing," ABC and NBC want with a slew of other former broadcast-TV stars to repeat the job. Faces famous for toplining half-several hours coming back a few decades -- think Roseanne Barr, Kirstie Alley and Sean Hayes -- are attached to some proper volume of the comedy scripts mounting up for your 2012-13 TV season. They all are wanting that whatever pixie dust got spread on Allen, who assigned ABC's "Get It Done YourselfInch inside the the 19 nineties, works well with them. Recent comedy hits like "Modern Family" and "The Big Bang Theory" are giving professionals restored confidence inside the half-hour format. And thinking about the truth that comedy had extended fought on broadcast TV until recently, it's only natural the nets are adopting a couple of from the key professionals from the time the genre was going gangbusters. Script handles talent attached change from the conventional holding deals because they pair an actress getting a author and/or concept rather than placing them in later with a script that wasn't always personalized to match their voice. But like holding deals, they're largely meant and also hardwearing . talent within particular net's roof, though some pacts give them an opportunity to opt out or possibly be blocked into other scripts later in development season. "Aside from a few exceptions, there's a extended period of time there when actor-based talent deals of any type were pretty nonexistent within the art galleries and systems," mentioned UTA talent agent Mike Jelline. "As the fitness of the tv business, particularly round the comedy side, has enhanced so rapidly within the last couple years, hunger of those deals has certainly elevated." "Standing" is really a standout for ABC up to now. Since premiering March. 12 since the net's finest-rated 8 p.m. comedy premiere in seven years, the show cooled off some but continued to be strong within the second week, lowering just 9% to 10.millions of audiences and three. rating/9 participate grownups 18-49. Banking on familiar faces is probably the earliest techniques inside the programming playbook. A title getting a good history not only gives professionals some reassurance inside the always harmful TV business but helps break using the cluttered fall sked with auds seeking to get reacquainted getting an established quantity. There's however no such factor just like a sure factor. A couple of of those stars understand that perfectly thinking about the truth that they're already around the third or fourth comeback attempts. Barr, particularly, just originated from the cancellation of "Roseanne's Nuts," an unscripted series on Lifetime. But she's wanting being back on NBC with "Downwardly Mobile," a comedy from last century Fox Tv in the mobile-home park that reunites her with Eric Gilliand, professional producer of her the 19 nineties smash "Roseanne." "Mobile" features a script commitment plus penalty, creating a great shot to produce the schedule. Hayes, who began round the NBC sitcom "Will and classInch from 1998-2006, is positioned to star in the gay-nurturing comedy from "Save Me" professional producer Peter Tolan through the new the new sony Pictures Television and Universal Television. Alley, who had two different series in-front and tail finish in the the 19 nineties with "Cheers" and "Veronica's Closet," is angling for just about any third with "The Manzanis," a comedy of a brash Italian-American family that's already bought to pilot at ABC from ABC Art galleries and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. ABC may also be trying to find talent from latenight's past, with onetime "Saturday Evening Live" cast member Jim Breuer and Craig Kilborn, former host of "The Daily Show" and also the own CBS latenight series, installed on scripts which will request these phones star in and professional produce their unique comedies. ABC may also be adopting some proven players within the aughts expecting lightning striking two occasions: Jim Belushi and Reba McEntire, who spent the higher part of that decade headlining half-several hours, have put-pilot obligations for scripts. NBC may also be sinking into 2000s-era talent giving a put-pilot persistence for Portia p Rossi, most particularly of Fox's "Arrested Development." Still more talent have script deals at ABC, which has "Curb Your Enthusiasm" supporting player Rob Garlin, and NBC, which has the eponymous stars of "The Sarah Silverman Program" (Comedy Central), E!'s "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood" (E!) and "Dane Cook's Tourgasm" (Cinemax). There's a smaller amount talent installed on scripts round the drama side, though a few, including Ethan Hawke and Jason Ritter, they're in mind for completely new hourlongs at NBC. CBS may also participate in the the 19 nineties revival getting guaranteed former Fox sitcom star Martin Lawrence with a holding deal that could put him to circulation next season. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

Former Top Chef: Just Desserts Contestant Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

Morgan Wilson Top Chef: Just Desserts finalist Morgan Wilson was charged with child pornography possession, Pegasusnews.com reviews. Wilson, who came out inside the first season of Just Desserts, was indicted on three second-degree legal charges of possession while using intent to market child pornography. The Bravo reality star was arrested in December 2010 after undercover scientists received multiple file transfers from his computer allegedly that consists of pornographic images and videos of youngsters as youthful as young children. See the relaxation of current day news After signing an affidavit acknowledging he'd seen the pornographic images, Wilson was released on 12 ,. 16, 2010 on $10,000 bond beneath the agreement he wouldn't access any computer without monitoring software. Around the program, the Texas resident was recognized for his emotional extremes, different from losing his temper to get teary while speaking about his youthful boy.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

New Soap from Desperate Housewives Creator Lands at ABC

Felicity Huffman, Vanessa Williams Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry is leaving Wisteria Lane, and moving on to another ABC project titled Devious Maids.Marc Cherry: The end of Desperate Housewives is "bittersweet and lovely"The hourlong series -- billed as a prime-time soap -- will follow four Latina housekeepers based in Beverly Hills, Deadline reports. The drama is adapted from the telenovela The Disorderly Maids of the Neighborhood, now in its second season. The original version revolves around five maids (rather than four) who find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery that rocks their ordinarily quiet community.Cherry will write and executive-produce the show with Housewives partner Sabrina Wind.

Julian Barnes Wins Guy Booker Prize, Major Sales Boost Expected

Author Julian Barnes required home Britain's Guy Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday, Reuters reviews, after standing on the candidate three previous occasions. The 65-year-old author was out there back in 1984 for Flaubert's Parrot, England, England in 1998 as well as in 2005 for Arthur and George. Barnes won for that Feeling of an Ending, a 150-page book which was referred to like a novella by one rater. PHOTOS: 10 Greatest Book-to-Giant Screen Adaptations from the Last two-and-a-half decades Throughout Barnes' acceptance speech, he recommended Jorge Luis Borges, a writer who never won the Nobel Prize for literature. "Borges, when requested, because he constantly was, why he'd never won the Nobel Prize, used reply that 'In Sweden there is a little cottage industry exclusively dedicated to not giving Borges the Nobel Prize,' " he stated, before adding later, "I wondered whether there wasn't possibly some similar sister organization operating right here. And So I am just as much relieved like me delighted to get this year's Booker Prize." PHOTOS: Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tintin: Secret from the Unicorn' The win is anticipated to enhance book sales for Barnes, whose book focuses on an regular guy Tony who discovers that his reminiscences aren't as reliable because he once thought. Former British spy chief Stella Rimington, who oversaw the idol judges' panel this season, stated of Barnes' book, "We believed that it had been a magazine which, though short, was incredibly concentrated, and packed into this very short space a lot of information you don't get free from an initial reading through." She added, "It's among individuals these books, a really readable book, basically could use that word, but readable not just once but two times as well as three occasions." While Barnes' book might have been around the shorter side, it wasn't the least. Offshore, a 132-page book, by Penelope Fitzgerald holds that one recognition. Barnes can also be the writer of Metroland and performed themself in Bridget Johnson's Diary. Related Subjects Worldwide

Monday 17 October 2011

Hollywood To Attack Its Own Block?

Rumblings and musings from Joe CornishIt's purely rumour-mongering at this point, but out doing the American rounds for his killer Brit-thriller Attack The Block, Joe Cornish has revealed that the word "franchise" is being bandied around.A nicely redemptive little tale of inner-city London troublemakers forced to become heroes when "shit falls from the sky and starts killing them" (Cornish's words), Attack The Block took the UK by storm earlier this year, and has been a surprise hit Stateside too.But that's not to say that some of the more baffled Hollywood suits wouldn't like to see it tinkered with. "We've had approaches for a remake..." reveals Cornish.Happily though, there are other options out there too, in the form of sequels and television. "We've also had approaches for a show to spin off it," Cornish continues, "but it's very early days, you know. It's not out of the question but I'd certainly like to do something different for my next thing... if I get a chance to do a next thing!"Looking forward to a possible Attack the Block Again? Cornish says his break-out star John Boyega is full of great ideas:"He has this image of a bigger alien attack on London, as if the attack we saw in Attack the Block was just the first wave and there's another wave of bigger creatures. And he described to me this image of Moses on a police horse, leading a whole army of hood kids across the Thames, next to the Houses of Parliament..."

Sunday 16 October 2011

New You are able to Comic Disadvantage: 'Spider-Guy: Switch off the Dark' Authors Talk Show Update, Financial Constraints

Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images NY -Spider-Guy: Switch off the DarkwritersRoberto Aguire-Sacasa(Glee, Marvel Comics'Sensational Spider-Guy) andGlen Bergerhere on Sunday talked about the difficulties of revamping and streamlining the once-troubled show.our editor recommends'Amazing Spider-Man' Star Detained at Comic-Disadvantage Following Incident'Book of Mormon's' Trey Parker, Matt Stone Call Spider-Guy Musical a 'Train Wreck' (Video)NY Comic Disadvantage: Electricity Entertainment Creative Chief Hopeful for 'Green Lantern' Film Follow up Throughout a NY Comic Disadvantage panel that added an aura of Broadway towards the convention among a slew of occasions centered on such films because the Avengers (connect to the storyline from late last evening) and Television shows asTerra NovaandThe Walking Dead(connect to other story from yesterday), Berger remembered how intends to use holograms in theater lanes needed to be axed. The author duo also described towards the audience of fans and -women how some time and financial constraints stored a beloved story concerning the origin of Spider-Guy from the Broadway show. Plus they remembered how Berger grew to become the p-facto voice from the Eco-friendly Goblin character around the writing team by directing a tale about howBonofirst met CNN founderTed Turner. The $70 million musical, probably the most costly ever, was initially directed byJulie Taymor, but reworked after various accidents, unsuccessful stunts and bad reviews. One question in the NY Comic Disadvantage audience, which generally famous the rewrite from the show, was why it doesn't have a popular burglary story which was also area of the first SonySpider-Manmovie. "We all like the thief story - it's the quintessial Spider-Guy origin story," Aguire-Sacasa stated. "Whenever we reconvened to update the show, all of us were built with a wish listing of stuff we desired to put in. All of us desired to place the burglary in. But there is this type of limited period of time and, at that time, budget it was essentially impossible." Berger also stressed that the things that work inside a movie or comic doesn't always focus on stage. Enhancing clearness and concentrate and ensuring audiences stay engaged through the show was the important thing goal from the update, he stated. Berger also stated that although a clause within the original contract he got from Marvel mentioned the show needed to have condition-of-the-art technology, he stated the creative team needed to eliminate some technology to concentrate more about the storyline. "We actually were searching in the latest holographic technology," Berger stated. "What we should been on mind was these supervillains could be appearing alongside you within the lanes. We believed that was possible, also it's not [yet]." Aguire-Sacasa added that inside a multi-billion dollar show with much spectacle, locating the humanity of figures and making people worry about them was particularly significant. "The greater technology there's on stage, greater it's for connecting using the people around the stage," he stated. In a single key script change, the love story arc within the update from the stage show was focused on the connection between Peter Parker also known as Spider-Guy and Mary-Jane, who audiences acknowledged as his passion interest in the movies. "Although there is a [more difficult] love story [together with a third character] initially, we felt it had been better to change the main focus to Mary-Jane and Peter," Aguire-Sacasa described. Which permitted the authors to alter a Mary-Jane solo number to some duet with Peter Parker that further increased the figures and story, he stated. Several fans told the authors they really loved the broadened role from the Eco-friendly Goblin within the show's update. "Right from the start, he'd a comic book and violent streak which was reading through well on stage," Berger stated concerning the character and why he wound up getting an broadened presence within the update. "Glen type of was the p-facto voice from the Eco-friendly Goblin, while he can just funnel this crazy in a moment's notice," quipped Aguire-Sacasa. Berger then described how he channeled the smoothness. "Initially, it originated from Bono explaining meeting Ted Turner the very first time,Inch he told fans. As the two were travelling within the fields outdoors of Atlanta, Turner stated a lizard within the grass and recommended it wasn't poisonous lizard, but his assistant remedied him, Berger remembered. "Ted had already selected up and stated hell, you're right, it's [poisonous]," he stated. Inspired with that story, the Eco-friendly Goblin character for him grew to become about re-planting that bundle of one's and personality right into a researcher, he described. A few fans also requested concerning the reduced and refocused role from the Arachne character in the present version from the Broadway show. Berger stated that original showrunner Taymor added another female voice towards the musical and make an amalgam of countless female Marvel figures. The development "requested Marvel as we might make a pleasant effective composite," he remembered. "Which was the concept. It wasn't working in addition to it will have and may have." Aguire-Sacasa stated he was confused through the Arachne character considering the fact that he would be a Spider-Guy fan. "I figured what's this character," he told fans. "However when you perform a musical version, you need to do want something unique and new. It causes it to be specific to Spider-Guy on Broadway...to ensure that it isn't only the first movie on stage." Email:Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Spider-Guy: Switch Off the Dark Comic-Disadvantage 2011

Friday 14 October 2011

Apple iPhone 4S Sells Out in U.S. Pre-Orders

NY - U.S. mobile phone carriers have sold out of Apple's new iPhone 4S in pre-orders, the NY Post reported.our editor recommendsApple iPhone 4S Elicits Mixed Web Reaction From ConsumersApple iPhone 4S Had Over One Million Pre-Orders in First DayApple iPhone 4S: What Hollywood Is Saying It said that all three major carriers that offer the phone - Sprint, AT&T and Verizon - have announced pre-order sellouts. Earlier in the week, Apple said the latest iPhone is its fastest-selling phone yet with more than 1 million pre-orders. Meanwhile, as the new iPhone went on sale in stores across the world on Friday, thousands lined up in such cities as London, Paris and Tokyo to get the final Apple device unveiled while co-founder Steve Jobswas alive, Reuters reported. "I am a fan, a big fan," Reuters quoted one consumer lined up in Tokyo as saying. "I want something to remember Steve Jobs by." The new phone was introduced one day before Jobs died. Initially seen as a disappointment, reviews have since been positive with many lauding a voice-activated software that helps answer user questions. New Apple CEO Tim Cookand his team hope to show with the device that they can sell hit products even without their long-time leader. Related Topics Steve Jobs Apple

Obama Adds Second Event to La Fund-Raising Trip (Exclusive)

The Obama Campaign has added another event for the leader'sour editor recommendsPresident Obama revisit La for Fundraising event Gala (Exclusive)Leader Obama to Hollywood: 'I Never Guaranteed You Easy'How Local Media Is Covering Leader Obama's L.A. Visit March. 24 fund-raising trip to La to be able to further tap entertainment industry dollars,The Hollywood Reporterhas learned. PHOTOS: 10 Hollywood Players That Will Really really make a difference inside the 2012 Elections The large event, a $35,800-per-person dinner within the Hancock Park home of Hitch producer James Lassiter and also the wife, Mai, will occur inside the late mid-day. Rigtht after is Obama's Latino fundraising event gala within the nearby home of Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas. Along with the Lassiter, other hosts in the high-dollar dinnerincludeJada Pinkett Cruz and may Cruz Troy Carter (Rhianna's manager) and also the wife, Rebecca and Def Jam senior v . p . Jay Brown and also the wife, Kawanna, mind of Miracle Manley Companies. PHOTOS: Best Presidents in Film and tv Obama goes "table to table, sitting and speaking with each quantity of site visitors. He'll address the crowd generally, informally and may take several questions from site visitors." Candid photos will probably be taken wonderful dinner site visitors. The Two occasions are needed to enhance greater than $millions of for theObama re-election campaign. PHOTOS: Box Office Politics: The Flicks and Stars Dems versus. GOPers Love (and Prefer to Hate) Adding the Lassiter event will come in the wake Thursday's announcement the Obama re-election campaign as well as the Democratic National Committee elevated greater than $70 million through the 3rd quarter of the season. No less than fifteen percent in the donations came from from California, government bodies mentioned. More particulars on Obama's third-quarter fund-raising jobs are expected inside the future. Related Subjects Antonio Banderas Obama Jada Pinkett Cruz Melanie Griffith Will Cruz Politics

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Image launches Slingshot Pictures

Image Entertainment keeps growing while using launch of Slingshot Pictures, focusing on belief-based game game titles and handled by industry vet Suzette Schafer as senior V . p .. The Slingshot Pictures brand will debut in November while using DVD relieve "Alleged," a romancer set through the 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial" with Nathan West, Ashley Manley, Fred Dalton Thompson, John Dennehy and Colm Meaney. Future Slingshot game game titles may include theatrical runs. Image Entertainment Chief Purchases Officer Bill Bromiley made the announcement Tuesday. "Getting a present estimate of $4.5 billion yearly, the idea-based market grows and, right now, is underserved," Bromiley mentioned. "By using Suzette and her huge knowledge of the marketplace, we've recognized several films that individuals feel are perfect for audiences and may still boost the films for the label's library." Slingshot has furthermore acquired two game game titles for release next season -- family drama "Decision" and "A person's Heart of Christmas." "Decision" stars singer Natalie Grant just like a widow who struggles to settle the debts following a tragic dying of her firemen husband and begins to eliminate control of her heartbroken teenage boy. "Any Christmas" notifies the story of just one family's mission for two-years of age boy, stricken with leukemia, to determine any magical Christmas. The movies stars Candace Cameron Bure, Jeanne Neilson, and George Newbern. Schafer most recently offered since the mind of belief and family division for your Weinsteins' Genius products and will be a senior V . p . at GT Media. She's labored with Family Christian Stores and attempted belief-based characteristics as "Megiddo: The Omega Code 2." Contact Dork McNary at dork.mcnary@variety.com

Monday 26 September 2011

'New Class': Lily Collins Might Be The Ass-Kicking Girl Nearby!

All week extended, we're praising "The Completely New Class," Hollywood's latest quantity of up-and-coming stars and stars round the cusp of graduation to greatness. Stay updated each day let's focus on exclusive interviews using these pending graduates along with your chance to election for your student body leader - the primary one you think props up smartest future on the market. Even nice women use a mean streak. Take Lily Collins, for instance: the youthful actress, with credits like the heart-warming "The Blind Side" as well as the pulse-pounding "Abduction" to her title, is simply as vulnerable to offer you baked goods around the bad day as she's to kick theif butt when the need arises. This is why we now have presented Lily while using title in the Ass-Kicking Girl Nearby incorporated within the New Class, which we believe her resume of past and future credits greater than foretells her sweetheart side and her badass streak. Have a look at her career highlights past the jump! Exploring Lily's "Blind Side," Worshipping Her "Priest" Lily, most broadly known in those days since the daughter of music artist Phil Collins, loved her initial feature film breakout role in 2009's "The Blind Side" by getting an correctly named character: Collins Tuohy, daughter of tough-minded Tennessee businesswoman Leigh Anne, carried out to Oscar-winning perfection by Sandra Bullock. Less than an "ass-kicking" role, sure, but Collins greater than got her licks together with "Priest," the 2011 supernatural action flick of a world overrun with vampires of the underworld from the underworld. Getting Kidnapped While using energy of "Priest" some distance inside the rearview mirror, Lily ongoing the loop track opposite Rachelle Lefervre in "Abduction," the "Twilight" star's latest action-thriller that borrows similar elements and designs within the "Bourne" franchise. Even though movie didn't use a stellar debut laminator tl901 office a couple of days ago, Lily greater than shown her weight opposite acting leaders including Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver, showing they has the required steps to visit swimming inside the deep finish while using large sea food. Mirror, Mirror It was not apt to be extended before Lily stood a franchise her own. The initial major property she's set to top-line is "Immortals" director Tarsem Singh's presently untitled Snow White-colored picture, which puts the youthful actress inside the titular mythic heroine's very stylized shoes. Getting a cast of fellow stars including Jennifer Aniston and Armie Hammer, in addition to another rival "Snow White-colored" movie just across the bend, Lily's initial franchise appearance is obviously anyone to monitor. More "Mortal" But it's Lily's other major franchise that has most YA-savvy fans champing within the bit. She'll star opposite fellow New Class friend Jamie Campbell Bower in "The Mortal Instruments," coping with the coveted role of average girl switched demon-hunting Shadowhunter Clarissa Fray. The film hasn't even begun shooting yet, but Lily remains attached to the work with almost couple of years now, and he or she regularly keeps her fans released with status updates on Twitter: @lilyasclaryfray. Election for that New Class student body leader inside the poll below! Who's your pick for 'The New Class' Leader?

Sunday 25 September 2011

'Boardwalk Empire': Creator Describes Decision to make use of Contemporary Theme Music

You will find so lots of things to love about Boardwalk Empire, in the figures towards the costumes towards the title sequence, featuring star Steve Buscemi sitting on an Atlantic City beach as 100s of bottles clean ashore around him. However, many fans from the Cinemax drama, whose second season premieres tonight, have wondered why the show's theme song, a track by indie rock-band John Jonestown Massacre using their 1996 album Children the Guy!, was selected as opposed to a period-appropriate bit of music.our editor recommendsEmmys 2011: Martin Scorsese Discusses His Pointing Win for 'Boardwalk Empire'St. Vincent Records Track for 'Boardwalk Empire''Boardwalk Empire' Gives New york city Subway Riders the Nucky Thompson Knowledge About Vintage Train "I needed unpredicted," Boardwalk creator and executive producer Terence Winter informs The Hollywood Reporter. "I did not wish to accomplish some Charleston, which did not really start working until 1924 anyway, and everything I been told by the time had people doing the Charleston." While experimentation using the opening, Winter states he paired the footage of Buscemi searching towards the horizon with a number of different bits of music, including John Jonestown's "Upright and Lower." "I used to be keen on the John Jonestown Massacre, therefore we attempted it, and that i stated towards the editor, that actually works best for me." Despite a lot attention compensated to period particulars for example wardrobe and props, the truth that the theme utilizes a modern day song using instruments not invented throughout the prohibition era, when Boardwalk Empire happens, does not bother Winter one bit. "It is a show occur 1920 seen via a different perspective, not really a literal consider the 20's," he describes. "Many people think it is jarring to determine 20's clothes and listen to contemporary music. I consider it as, it is a 90-second intro and you have the 20s you would like.Inch Watch the outlet theme below: Related Subjects Steve Buscemi Boardwalk Empire Terence Winter

Friday 23 September 2011

Kaira Pitt in 'Moneyball:' Just what the Experts Say

Kaira Pitt stars as Concord As manager Billy Beane in baseball drama Moneyball, which opens in theaters Friday.our editor recommends'Moneyball''Moneyball' finds actor to see David Justice Exactly what are experts saying in regards to the movie, which was directed by Bennett Burns and put together by Steven Zaillian as well as the Social Media's Aaron Sorkin? VIDEO: Kaira Pitt Learned a Lesson From Jennifer Aniston Comments "With Kaira Pitt playing Billy and Jonah Hill just like a Yale overall costs grad whose analysis of players helps that small-market team attain the 2010 national football league 2010 nfl playoffs when everyone else produces them off for dead, Columbia Pictures looks good possibly not for just about any homer and surely a extended double in addition to a thrilling scoot around the bases for just about any mind-first triple," produces The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt. STORY: Box Office Preview: Kaira Pitt's 'Moneyball' Looks to Out-Run Rachelle Lefervre's 'Abduction' "The moments between Pitt and Hill are delights simply because they struggle to discover a working language after which it a method to impose their recently found will round the most tradition-minded of sports. It's a great comedy act, with Pitt insisting that Hill complete his ideas or amplify their concepts for the slack-jawed baseball scouts," he adds. The La Occasions' Kenneth Turan states, "Starring Kaira Pitt in top celebrity form, it's a film that's impressive and surprising." VIDEO: Kaira Pitt Appears on 'Ellen DeGeneres Show' for brand new According to him Beane is "charmingly carried out by Pitt, the provocative gm in the Concord Athletics whose unconventional ideas in what a business with limited assets could triggered by deal with profligate powerhouses like the NY Yankees still infuriate the game's traditionalists." PHOTOS: 'Moneyball' Premiere in Concord "Chief among these is Pitt, who miracles getting a job from the good guy in the tough space, a man who combines the confidence and charisma in the former professional athlete Beane is to apply an unforeseen questioning character. That is low-key star energy at its best," he adds. STORY: New Movie Reviews: 'Moneyball,' 'Abduction,' 'Machine Gun Preacher' Striking Theaters But more youthful crowd credits Philip Seymour Hoffman and Hall for your movie's success. "Pitt, clearly, does not take action alone," produces Turan. "Aside from Hoffman, he's an ideal foil inside an all of a sudden dramatic Jonah Hill, who helps to make the perfect odd couple complement to Pitt's Beane since the awkward, chubby Peter Brand, a pc geek who examined overall costs at Yale but eats baseball statistics each morning and finally eventually ends up as Concord's assistant gm." Inside The NY Occasions, Manohla Dargis produces, "The hungry heart of Moneyball, a movie about baseball inside the digital age, can be a beautiful hard situation named Billy Beane. Coiled yet awesome, Billy gets the liquid physical sophistication and vibrant eyes from the predator. He was produced to win. Even his title, having its short syllabic bursts, sounds ready for ESPN exultations. That he's carried out by Kaira Pitt giving the fundamental Kaira Pitt performance just shuts the sale.In . Dargis calls Pitt's performance, "fully resided on, appealingly barbed," and adds, "It's tough to visualize anybody but Mr. Pitt inside the role. He's relaxed yet edgy and frequently unsettling, just like his testy trades, bristling with tamped-lower fury, while using A's manager, Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman, wearing a mind of peach fuzz together with a scowl). Though [the director] Burns keeps the romance of baseball that [mentor Bill] James while others aided remove (that is, ultimately, a merchant account of individuals who win and nonwinners), Billy doesn't really change: he just becomes his perfect self." Related Subjects Kaira Pitt

Thursday 22 September 2011

Report: Controversial Pastor Ted Haggard to Wife Swap With Gary Busey

Gary Busey, Ted Haggard Ted Haggard, the Evangelical pastor who gained national attention after it was revealed he had taken drugs and slept with a male prostitute in 2006, will appear on Celebrity Wife Swap, The Colorado Springs Gazette reports. Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, will trade spouses with Gary Busey on the ABC reality show. Check out our fall preview for galleries, scoop, premiere calendars and more! According to the report, the show will shoot Thursday at a local GLBT center in Colorado Springs. Since the scandal broke in 2006, Haggard has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live and Divorce Court. He is still married to his wife of 33 years, Gayle Acorn, and came out as a bisexual in February. Haggard is now a pastor at a nondenominational Christian church in Colorado Springs. Haggard and Busey would join other celebrity wife swappers such as Flavor Flav, Dee Snider, Carnie Wilson and Niecy Nash. No premiere date has been set for the Wife Swap spin-off.

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Wednesday 21 September 2011

Recap: The X Factor Premiere

La, Calif. -- Simon Cowells The X Factor made its American premiere on Wednesday evening, moving out a number of performers youthful, older, as well as, an octogenarian, competing for any $5 million prize. For the majority of the first hour of these two-hour show, the auditions before Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid and British singer Cheryl Cole (whose exit prior to the second audition city, Dallas, remains totally inexplicable on the program) and then Nicole Scherzinger featured decent, but largely unmemorable performers, having a couple of exceptions. Individuals that did get that promotion incorporated 13-year-old Rachel Crow, who sang Duffys Whim. Her vocals got the idol judges moving, but that which was most impactful concerning the kid was her plucky personality. AH Nation Poll: What have you think about The X Factor? Click The Link to Election! Later, Siameze Floyd, a 30-year-old in tight, tight jeans, an aqua mesh top, and keen on James Brown style splits, also caught the idol judges attention, not for his voice, however for his moves, because he required on Ron James Create It For Me Baby. It had been among individuals where I had been like, Will I love this, and think its genius? Or perhaps is it strange? Cheryl stated. I dont fully realize what the reply is. Rachel and Siameze were subjected to, as was Stacy Francis, 42, who stated she was pressed around with a past boyfriend, put lower and told she was too old to really make it. She made her impression by revealing her feelings while singing Natural Lady, which gained her a standing ovation. You're so gifted, L.A. stated. You have what must be done. Numerous performers were then folded by helping cover their much less talent, including Geo Godley, a middle-aged guy in Dallas, who removed his pants, apparently revealing nothing on underneath (his package was disguised by an X Factor symbol). Because he sang an authentic song, Paula jumped from her chair and rushed backstage, in which the previous sight from the guys bare groin triggered her to almost loose her snacks. Geo would be a joke, but Marcus Canty, 20, was seriously good. The youthful guy told the idol judges his mother had given him 2 yrs to allow it to be before he needed to obtain a real job, and the audition - around the fringe of that time period grew to become the 2nd among the evening to totally bowl over not just the idol judges, however the audience. After an amazing rendition of Stevie Miracles If Only, Simon compared him to Usher and L.A. in comparison him to some youthful Bobby Brown. Because the show inched nearer to the finish of their two-hour run, a trio of males referred to as Answer, from Salt Lake City, also handled to exhibit off their X Factor using their harmonic undertake Adeles Moving Within The Deep. Finally (and ending the show on the tearjerker) joining within the mix was 70-days sober trash collector Chris Rene, 28, who carried out their own song, Youthful Homie, about his fight toward sobriety. He fascinated the panel, including L.A., who had been clearly moved through the performers journey, his talent and the words. Ive labored with a few of the finest stylish-hop artists, from Jay-Z to Kanye, and every one of my boys, they'd are proud of me right now to tell you just how you're the truth, L.A. stated. My personal favorite perspective of world happens when I sit within this chair and that i meet a star the very first time, Simon added. Theres something in regards to you You may require the show, and perhaps we want you. Marcus, The Solution and Chris counseled me subjected to through the panel. The X Factor proceeds FOX on Thursday at 8/7 C. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

A Decent Arrangement

A Kurm Event and Produ., Secret Pact production. Produced by Sarovar Banka. Co-producer, K.M. Das. Directed, written by Sarovar Banka.With: Adam Laupus, Shabana Azmi, Lethia Nall, Diksha Basu, Shreya Sharma, Farid Currim, Navniit Nisshan, Vikram Kadapia. (English dialogue)A vivid, surprisingly accomplished version of the cross-cultural romantic comedies that regularly show up at Indian diaspora fests, Sarovar Banka's "A Decent Arrangement" reps a definite cut above average. Shot on Super 35 and accompanied by a magnificent score by Neel Murgai, the pic juxtaposes its American-born hero's comical search for an Indian wife with an open-ended exploration of the wide streets and colorful byways of Chandigarh, the Le Corbusier-designed capital of Punjab. More "Darjeeling Limited" than typical Bollywood bride movie, Banka's wry twist on cultural confusion will be best appreciated by festgoers. Though born and raised in America, Ashok (Adam Laupus) decides to seek an Indian bride for reasons never entirely clear even to himself. In Chandigarh, the candidates are lined up and cross-referenced with ruthless efficiency by Ashok's older cousin Preeti (award-showered actress Shabana Azmi, excellent here) and pored over and commented on by Preeti's lively teenage daughter, Suriya (Shreya Sharma). But Ashok's casual dress and laid-back approach fail to appeal to his status-minded prospective in-laws, and his unapologetic lack of ambition (or worse, his vague desire to become a "real" writer instead of penning ad copy) sabotages much of Preeti's hard work on his behalf. After a series of comic mismatches, Ashok finally meets a contender whose candor and cultural ambivalence echo his own. Amita (Diksha Basu), an attractive, well-educated modern woman in her late 20s, takes Ashok aside to tell him she is marrying purely to please her traditional parents, warning him that she wants nothing to do with love. The two prove compatible enough to become cautious friends, as shots of Ashok perched comfortably on the back of Amita's motorbike attest -- but hearts, flowers and sex are all conspicuously absent. The arrangements proceed apace, Ashok's parents arriving from America for the nuptials. But Ashok has met Lorie (Lethia Nall), a backpacking American who's touring India not, she quickly assures him, for "enlightenment," but simply to experience a society different from her own. With Lorie, Ashok discovers not an India filtered through anxiety over ethnic identity, but a panoply of sights and sounds that strike responsive chords within him. Though Laupus and several of the other actors never completely inhabit their roles, their awkwardness convincingly reads as discomfort with an unfamiliar culture. Nevertheless, their non-pro style of thesping could pose a problem for distribs. Amol Rathod's cool-toned lensing captures the unique charm of Chandigarh's sights, richly abetted by Murgai's layered score, which incorporates many elements of classical Indian music.Camera (color, Super 35), Amol Rathod; editor, Tom Quinn; music, Neel Murgai; art director, Priten Patil; costume designer, Roopa Sood; sound designer, Anita Kushwaha; casting, Avani Parikh, Gita Reddy. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival (Focus on World Cinema), Aug. 21, 2011. Running time: 97 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

X-Men: First Class Full Movie

Maguire makes proceed to Cinema Alterna

Cinema Alterna (Formerly Terran Businesses) has hired former Horizon Entertainment director of development Dennis Maguire since it's mind of production.New professional will immediately oversee the business's feature film and TV slate, confirming straight to principle Charles Huddleston.Cinema Alterna, a completely independent film and tv production shingle, aims to create 2 to 3 includes a year. Company's next pic is really a modern-day adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play "A Toy House." Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Roush Review: 2 . 5 Males The Sheen Is Finished

Alan Harper, Ashton Kutcher They found bury Charlie, and was anybody surprised if this switched to be one lengthy ewww-logy? That's 2 . 5 Males for you personally: happily crude and heartily heartless. "His body just skyrocketed just like a balloon filled with meat," stated Rose, and that is about as sentimental as things got. (His nephew Mike quickly piped up, "Other people hungry?") There wasn't a wet eye in the home throughout the publish-Charlie Sheen/Charlie Harper season opener, which started with Alan attempting to read last rituals over his mangled brother's coffin, interrupted by vengeful exes rattling off a gamy litany of STD jokes along with a mother interested in getting a buyer for his Malibu manse. (One of the potential purchasers: John Stamos and, within the episode's best-stored surprise, Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson being an embittered version of Chuck Lorre's Dharma & Greg.) Want more fall TV news? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now! Plenty of fart and penis humor prior to being throughout, since you did not think Sheen's departure would prompt a reinvention of CBS's most effective and raunchiest comedy, have you? The show is and try to is a literal gag machine. "This really is depressingly familiar," stated Alan toward the finish, shortly prior to making his latest pathetic masturbation joke - several things never change - as well as for individuals who've never been amused, which was without doubt true. As well as the millions who've reveled in the caustic innuendo and assisted result in the show a cash cow in distribution, there is without doubt a feeling of relief in seeing the equipment chugging along again without any apologies. There's an obvious change, obviously, within the show's DNA, with entering the scene as Alan's new foil, the psychologically immature billionaire guy-boy Walden Schmidt, who buys Charlie's beach house to fix his damaged heart. (We first see him in the balcony window dripping wet from the unsuccessful suicide go swimming within the sea, his sudden appearance leading to Alan to spill Charlie's ashes. Signal the dust-buster jokes.) Though his genital characteristics were much talked about and nonchalant nudity liberally displayed - pixilated on camera, naturally - the brand new guy is hardly yet another sorry Charlie. To begin with, he does not such as the taste of liquor (though Alan handles to obtain him tanked on apple-tinis). And there is a guileless sweetness for this unwitting chick magnet, provided to impulsive naked hugs, causing you to question how he'll squeeze into Lorre's cruel realm of barbed zingers. A kinder, gentler Males? I wouldn't rely on it. Just request Charlie Harper. And also the morbid dying humor ongoing an hour or so afterwards Comedy Central's wickedly profane Roast of Charlie Sheen special, with roastmaster Seth McFarlane tugging out a mock obit - "Everyone knows there's a high probability Charlie Sheen is going to be dead soon" - and Jeffrey Ross ("How can you roast a meltdown?") peppering his blistering jokes with "Too early? Too early? Too real? Too real?" Even while we still debate how "real" was Sheen's olive branch to his former affiliates throughout that shateringly awkward Emmy moment, the very first impression from Males 2. is it can survive both Charlies all right not less than a while longer. Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!