With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey

With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey By Melinda Loewenstein December 27, 2011 Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images With numerous blockbusters ("Lara Croft Tomb Raider," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Kung Fu Panda") and an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" to her name, Angelina Jolie has stepped to the other side of the camera. Her celebrity status is international, and her humanitarian work with the U.N. and marriage to Brad Pitt have only added to her high profile. With her directorial debut, Jolie is looking to divert the spotlight from herself and raise global awareness. With "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie takes on the controversial topic of the Bosnian war by setting a love story in the middle of the conflict.Falling Into the Film Jolie didn't set out to make a movie about the war. Rather, she wanted to study what happens to human beings during war to better understand post-conflict situations and find a way to help. Film was a natural choice, since that's what Jolie has spent her life doing. When she finished writing the script, she showed it to Pitt. "I just showed it to him as this private little experiment that was on my desk," says Jolie. After reading it, he encouraged her to make the movie. She was aware of the sensitive nature of the topic, so before moving forward, she sent the script to Bosnian Serbs, Muslim Serbs, and Croatians for feedback. Later, Jolie also sought feedback from the actors, who had all been affected by the war. Rade Serbedzija, who plays Nebojsa, credits her with being open to changes in the script so it would be more authentic. At his suggestion, Jolie changed some of the dialogue in the scene where Zana Marjanovic's character, Ajla, paints a portrait of Serbedzija's character. Jolie says her acting background made it easier to write the various roles: "I was able to flip characters in my head as if I was playing the different roles in order to write the different people, because you have to be one person and inhabit him and write from his voice, and then be her and write from her voice."Role Reversal Being an actor, Jolie was careful to make the audition process as painless as possible. Laughing, she says, "I kind of wanted to hire everybody or try to find something for everybody." She credits casting director Gail Stevens for making sure that actors got strong feedback even if they didn't get the part. "It was hard. I didn't want to put the actors through much." She had them do scenes as well as an interview on camera. She explains, "I pretty much cast them from that, and the people that I thought were going to be the ones, and I would say to Gail, 'What were they like when they came in? Were they nice to everybody? Were they humble? Were they gracious?' Because this was very important to me." Jolie then had the script sent without her name on it to the actors they wanted. "We kept our fingers crossed because we knew how sensitive it was."On Authenticity "When she called me and she said, 'I'm going to shoot it in both languages,' I was like, 'Well, wait a minute; you're a first-timer; we don't know the actors,' " producer Graham King recalls. But Jolie was passionate about it and sold him on the idea. Jolie didn't consider language while writing, but when it came time to adjust it to the authentic language, she made sure it was translated more than once: "A translator couldn't be just Bosnian Muslim or just Bosnian Serb or just Croatian, because even the translation would go slightly slanted to one side or the other." Generally they would do the first take in English, which helped the crew with the second take in the authentic language. "We understood exactly what was happening in the scene, and then when it changed languages, somehow in our minds we still understood what was happening completely. For example, the cameraman knew instinctually where to move in on that line because he somehow could feel that was that line," Jolie notes. After shooting in their native language the actors would often want to reshoot the English because their personalities and body language were different in their native language. While shooting she relied on the actors to help her check on performances: "So if Danijel had a big scene, I would pull Zana aside and say, 'It feels right for me emotionally, but textwise was there anything that I need to know?' " Acting Influences Directing Despite Jolie's first-time-director status, King notes that she had command of the set. Marjanovic says working with Jolie was great. "She's an actress, and it didn't feel like it was her first time directing at all. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she would just find an approach that was appropriate for the scene." Serbedzija compares Jolie's directing style to that of Clint Eastwood, and Goran Kostic, who plays Danijel, agrees. "Obviously they've been in front of the camera for such a long time, Clint and Angelina Jolie. And they understand the importance, and she allows time and space for us to bridge these troubles," he explains.The sensitive nature of the film made it especially important for Jolie to create a safe acting environment. One of the hardest days was when Jolie had to ask the old women to strip. "I hated it. I only shot it once." Because the women were Hungarian, she was speaking with them through a translator. "I think I must have gone up to them five times just to say 'Do they completely understand that the people inside have been directed; they've been told, and it's their job to laugh at them. They aren't laughing at them because they are getting naked; it's, they've been directed to do that, so please do not take it personally' and 'I'm so sorry that I need to ask them to do this, but for them to please know how much this is going to mean for people." She ended up having to shoot a lot of the reactions as cutaways, because the actors couldn't laugh at the women: "They kind of had a human reaction, and so then we had to do a cutaway when the women were gone." Jolie also feels that her acting background influenced her directing style: "I hoped that I was able to help the actors by giving them the space and the respect that they needed. I gave them what I always felt I needed when I was working, and I would protect Zana when there were scenes that she was very vulnerable or had to deal with sensuality or nudity, to be very considerate and only put in the film what is necessary for the storytelling. With the big emotional scenes I would kind of try to protect them from the crew, from the noise, from the, you know, so you just try to make these safe spaces and try to help them, because instinctually you know what you would need." Vanesa Glodjo (who plays Lejla) sums up Jolie's style by saying, "I think she fulfilled all her wishes as an actress first by writing the script and then by the way she directed us. I think she said, 'Okay, what I would adore; how would I love to be directed?' So that's how she did it."OUTTAKES "In the Land of Blood and Honey" was nominated for a 2012 Golden Globe for best foreign language film. Jolie says it will take a special project to get her back in the director's seat. Jolie wants to give her children a global experience, and the family has a home in Cambodia. With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey By Melinda Loewenstein December 27, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT Jason Merritt/Getty Images With numerous blockbusters ("Lara Croft Tomb Raider," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Kung Fu Panda") and an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" to her name, Angelina Jolie has stepped to the other side of the camera. Her celebrity status is international, and her humanitarian work with the U.N. and marriage to Brad Pitt have only added to her high profile. With her directorial debut, Jolie is looking to divert the spotlight from herself and raise global awareness. With "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie takes on the controversial topic of the Bosnian war by setting a love story in the middle of the conflict.Falling Into the Film Jolie didn't set out to make a movie about the war. Rather, she wanted to study what happens to human beings during war to better understand post-conflict situations and find a way to help. Film was a natural choice, since that's what Jolie has spent her life doing. When she finished writing the script, she showed it to Pitt. "I just showed it to him as this private little experiment that was on my desk," says Jolie. After reading it, he encouraged her to make the movie. She was aware of the sensitive nature of the topic, so before moving forward, she sent the script to Bosnian Serbs, Muslim Serbs, and Croatians for feedback. Later, Jolie also sought feedback from the actors, who had all been affected by the war. Rade Serbedzija, who plays Nebojsa, credits her with being open to changes in the script so it would be more authentic. At his suggestion, Jolie changed some of the dialogue in the scene where Zana Marjanovic's character, Ajla, paints a portrait of Serbedzija's character. Jolie says her acting background made it easier to write the various roles: "I was able to flip characters in my head as if I was playing the different roles in order to write the different people, because you have to be one person and inhabit him and write from his voice, and then be her and write from her voice."Role Reversal Being an actor, Jolie was careful to make the audition process as painless as possible. Laughing, she says, "I kind of wanted to hire everybody or try to find something for everybody." She credits casting director Gail Stevens for making sure that actors got strong feedback even if they didn't get the part. "It was hard. I didn't want to put the actors through much." She had them do scenes as well as an interview on camera. She explains, "I pretty much cast them from that, and the people that I thought were going to be the ones, and I would say to Gail, 'What were they like when they came in? Were they nice to everybody? Were they humble? Were they gracious?' Because this was very important to me." Jolie then had the script sent without her name on it to the actors they wanted. "We kept our fingers crossed because we knew how sensitive it was."On Authenticity "When she called me and she said, 'I'm going to shoot it in both languages,' I was like, 'Well, wait a minute; you're a first-timer; we don't know the actors,' " producer Graham King recalls. But Jolie was passionate about it and sold him on the idea. Jolie didn't consider language while writing, but when it came time to adjust it to the authentic language, she made sure it was translated more than once: "A translator couldn't be just Bosnian Muslim or just Bosnian Serb or just Croatian, because even the translation would go slightly slanted to one side or the other." Generally they would do the first take in English, which helped the crew with the second take in the authentic language. "We understood exactly what was happening in the scene, and then when it changed languages, somehow in our minds we still understood what was happening completely. For example, the cameraman knew instinctually where to move in on that line because he somehow could feel that was that line," Jolie notes. After shooting in their native language the actors would often want to reshoot the English because their personalities and body language were different in their native language. While shooting she relied on the actors to help her check on performances: "So if Danijel had a big scene, I would pull Zana aside and say, 'It feels right for me emotionally, but textwise was there anything that I need to know?' " Acting Influences Directing Despite Jolie's first-time-director status, King notes that she had command of the set. Marjanovic says working with Jolie was great. "She's an actress, and it didn't feel like it was her first time directing at all. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she would just find an approach that was appropriate for the scene." Serbedzija compares Jolie's directing style to that of Clint Eastwood, and Goran Kostic, who plays Danijel, agrees. "Obviously they've been in front of the camera for such a long time, Clint and Angelina Jolie. And they understand the importance, and she allows time and space for us to bridge these troubles," he explains.The sensitive nature of the film made it especially important for Jolie to create a safe acting environment. One of the hardest days was when Jolie had to ask the old women to strip. "I hated it. I only shot it once." Because the women were Hungarian, she was speaking with them through a translator. "I think I must have gone up to them five times just to say 'Do they completely understand that the people inside have been directed; they've been told, and it's their job to laugh at them. They aren't laughing at them because they are getting naked; it's, they've been directed to do that, so please do not take it personally' and 'I'm so sorry that I need to ask them to do this, but for them to please know how much this is going to mean for people." She ended up having to shoot a lot of the reactions as cutaways, because the actors couldn't laugh at the women: "They kind of had a human reaction, and so then we had to do a cutaway when the women were gone." Jolie also feels that her acting background influenced her directing style: "I hoped that I was able to help the actors by giving them the space and the respect that they needed. I gave them what I always felt I needed when I was working, and I would protect Zana when there were scenes that she was very vulnerable or had to deal with sensuality or nudity, to be very considerate and only put in the film what is necessary for the storytelling. With the big emotional scenes I would kind of try to protect them from the crew, from the noise, from the, you know, so you just try to make these safe spaces and try to help them, because instinctually you know what you would need." Vanesa Glodjo (who plays Lejla) sums up Jolie's style by saying, "I think she fulfilled all her wishes as an actress first by writing the script and then by the way she directed us. I think she said, 'Okay, what I would adore; how would I love to be directed?' So that's how she did it."OUTTAKES "In the Land of Blood and Honey" was nominated for a 2012 Golden Globe for best foreign language film. Jolie says it will take a special project to get her back in the director's seat. Jolie wants to give her children a global experience, and the family has a home in Cambodia.

The American Horror Story Finale: Ryan Murphy Tells Us Who's Coming Back for Season 2

Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton [SPOILER WARNING: This story contains key plot details from Wednesday's season finale of American Horror Story. Read at your own risk.] American Horror Story really lived up to its name, huh? In the FX series' first season finale, the Harmons were finally reunited in the afterlife when Ben's vengeful former lover Hayden hanged him by the chandelier, staging it to look like a suicide. (You'll recall that Vivien and Violet, Ben's wife and daughter, already died, respectively, in childbirth and by overdosing on pills.) What were the top TV shows of 2011? So what does this mean for Season 2? Will Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott, who starred as Vivien and Ben, return to haunt the new owners of Murder House? Nope! "Those characters and those stories are done," creator Ryan Murphy told reporters Thursday morning. "Every season of the show will be a different haunting. Every season will have a beginning, a middle and an end. What you saw in the finale was the end of the Harmon house. The second season of the show will be a brand new home or building to haunt." Murphy says the show was always intended to be an anthology, with a new set of cast members and characters each season. But there will be some residual elements from Season 1. "Some of [the actors] will be coming back... so there will be familiar faces and also new faces on the show, but they will be playing completely different characters, creatures and monsters, etc." "Connie and Dylan will not be playing the leads of the show," Murphy reiterated. "But I'd love for them to come back and do something, albeit a different part or a smaller part or a cameo." He cites NY's Mercury Theatre, a troupe founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman in the 1930s, as an inspiration. "You have a cast of actors that you love and believe in and you just rotate them every season.... I have been getting a lot of calls from film actors who've always wanted to dabble in television." While Murphy declined to specify which original actors they are negotiating with to return for next season, he says, "I'd have them [all] back in a heartbeat." An announcement of new cast members and the second season story line is slated to come in February. Season 2 is tentatively scheduled to premiere in late September or October 2012. Who were the breakout stars of the year? Until then, Murphy says he's happy with the finale, in which the reunited ghost Harmons decorated the Christmas tree together. "I thought it was a great goodbye to those characters," he said. "I felt a lot of peace with how they ended up and I hope other people felt that as well. We're simply not interested in doing another season with all those people trapped in the house. The criticism had we done that would've been that it would be the same old thing. You really can't win sometimes... I can say with 100 percent optimism, I really think they will love the second season, perhaps even more so based on what we've cooked up." So what is in store for the second season? Murphy says there are plenty of tales to choose from, "Be it serial-killing stories, true crime stories or prison stories. Every year of the show is almost like a miniseries in itself.... The only thing I don't think I would do would be a season about vampires. The season we're planning now is very different from the California house approach." Murphy teases that there is a clue within the last three episodes that indicates exactly what next season will be about. Any guesses? What did you think of the American Horror Story finale? Will you miss the Harmon family? Hit the comments with your thoughts.

Vin Diesel Confirms Fast & Furious 7

The story's just TOO BIG for part 6.While chewing the fat and shooting the breeze during a photo-session for The Hollywood Reporter, Vin Diesel appears to have confirmed that a seventh Fast & Furious is already in the works. Shooting on the sixth hasn't even started yet, but the story that's being mapped out is apparently too massive to be contained in a single movie.The two films are being written simultaneously, according to Vin, although there's no indication of whether they'll be shooting back-to-back."With the success of this last one, and the inclusion of so many characters, and the broadening of scope, when we were sitting down to figure out what would fit into the real estate of number six, we didn't have enough space," Vin explains."We have to pay off this story, we have to service all of these character relationships, and when we started mapping all that out it just went beyond 110 pages. The studio said, 'You can't fit all that story in one damn movie!'"Without wishing to drop a spoiler on those who haven't yet caught the gloriously ludicrous Fast Five, it already seems that the next instalment will see the return of Michelle Rodriguez and Eva Mendes. So that, along with the presumable return of Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot and, we certainly hope, Elsa Pataky and Dwayne Johnson, certainly indicates a lot of story to spread around. And then somewhere in there, there's the need to wreck some automobiles.It's not all about the cars though, Paul Walker believes; it's really about thefighting themes of brotherhood and family. "If the action was all it was, it would have fallen off a long time ago," Walker says. Let us know if you agree with that in the comments below. And tell us how long you can see the series continuing while you're there.Filming on Fast & Furious 6 gets going next year (after Diesel gets finished with Riddick 3), with Justin Lin at the helm, as he has been since Tokyo Drift. The release date is already set for May 27, 2013.

Brad Pitt Reveals What He, Sony Did to Save 'Moneyball'

Brad Pitt recalls it as "a dark weened for all of us." It was June 2009, and Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and CEO Michael Lynton had pulled the plug on "Moneyball" only days before it was to go before cameras with Steven Soderbergh directing and Pitt starring, after five years of development and months of preproduction."It was really hard," recalls Pascal. "It was hard making that decision. It was really hard making it OK with Brad. I feel terrible because I think Steven Soderbergh is a wonderful director."But she couldn't go along with Soderbergh's last-minute rewrite of the script by Steven Zaillian, which had been built on an earlier script by Stan Chervin. Soderbergh planned to take a semi-documentary approach to what was already a sports story with questionable commercial appeal -- at a studio budget approaching $60 million."It was just a case of honest creative differences because that script didn't reflect all of our hopes and Sony's hopes and ambitions developed prior to Soderbergh coming on," says producer Michael De Luca, who had been working on the project since 2004 with producer Rachael Horovitz, who had acquired rights to Michael Lewis' best-selling novel in 2003.With $10 million already invested, Sony offered to let Pitt and Soderbergh take the movie in turnaround to another studio if they could make a deal for the $60 million production before it unraveled -- which meant in a matter of days. After a frantic weekend of activity led by Pitt's and Soderbergh's agents, however, there were no takers."Moneyball" had struck out; few films had ever come back from such a shutdown.Pitt was unhappy because he had a passion to play Billy Beane, the unconventional GM of the Oakland Athletics baseball club. "I'm a sucker for injustice stories," says Pitt, "and wanting to right the injustice."But Pitt was also realistic. "I understood that the numbers didn't add up for what Steven wanted to do with it," he says, adding that "the studio is the one writing the check, so I don't take offense to that."Neither Pitt nor Pascal, however, wanted to give up on "Moneyball."Pascal decided "Moneyball" would need additional leadership and work on the script to get it back on track. At the time, Sony was in production on "The Social Network," on which De Luca was also a producer. Pascal asked "Network" producer Scott Rudin and writer Aaron Sorkin to get involved with the baseball-themed story, and Pitt agreed to produce as well as star. "This was really complex, unconventional material," says Pitt, "so the more guns, the better. The more bright minds we have on this, the better."Pitt and Pascal each credit the other for reviving the movie. Pitt, says Pascal, is the "soul and spirit of this movie. He is the driving force behind it, in all of its troubled times and all the best times. He championed it all the way and never lost heart.""I was just glad they didn't scuttle it," says Pitt, "that instead what happened was Amy Pascal became our patron saint. She kept us alive."Pascal brought the budget down to $50 million, which included the $10 million already spent as well as Pitt's salary, which reportedly was more than $10 million. That left less than $30 million for all of the other cast salaries and to make the movie.Before accepting the assignment, Sorkin called Zaillian, who was on vacation in Rome when his phone rang. "I was standing on a side street just around the corner from the Pantheon," says Zaillian, recalling that Sorkin said "he was being asked to write some new scenes. And I said: 'That's better than dismantling the script. Try not to do that, if you can.' What I remembered most about the conversation was when I asked him what he'd do if I was calling to tell him what he was telling me. Without much hesitation, he said, 'I'd burn the studio down.' "Sorkin is an ardent baseball fan and had created the late-1990s TV series "Sports Night," so he was up for the challenge. "I was hired for three weeks and then again for another three weeks, and that turned into a year and a half," says Sorkin, who began revising the script while in his Boston hotel room during filming of "Network."Even after Sorkin's return to L.A., the work continued. "Brad would ride his motorcycle over to my house being chased by a couple carloads of paparazzi," recalls Sorkin. "I wanted Brad to do most of the talking. He'd speak generally about his love of character-driven movies from the '70s."Pitt had been a fan of Lewis' book but wasn't sure at first if he wanted to star after reading Chervin's early script. "They were trying for something more commercial, more comedic," says Pitt. "In reading the book and doing my research, I became obsessed with the deeper meaning within the book and a value system that was out of whack."Pitt meant that big-city teams have much more money for top players than small-market teams. He committed after a new script was written by Zaillian, which gave him the character he wanted to play: "It was a character I hadn't seen in a long time that was verbose, competitive and sharp."Although sorry to see Soderbergh go, Pitt still wanted to play Beane if they could find the right director and approach.So Sony began the search. As numerous names were tossed out, Pitt made a suggestion. "My dear friend Catherine Keener said, 'You've got to talk to Bennett Miller,' " he recalls.Miller, who hadn't directed since 2005's "Capote," is notoriously picky. "I got a call from [CAA's] Bryan Lourd asking if I was interested in baseball," he says. "I said I used to be. He said, 'If you're interested in taking a look at this thing, Brad would be interested in talking to you about it.'"Miller, who had met Pitt when trying to put together an earlier film, thought it over for three weeks. He read Lewis' book, Chervin's draft, Zaillian's script and Sorkin's, then flew to L.A. full of doubt about doing a studio film with "strong and powerful personalities." He wondered, "Would I be able to do what I'm interested in doing?"Miller isn't a baseball fanatic, and he pitched Pitt on the idea of making a movie that was "subversive to the genre. It's not really a conventional sports movie. It puts all that stuff on its head.""I wasn't interested in making a sports movie, just recycling tropes and convention," adds Miller. "Then I'd just be a gun for hire, working for the studio. But the question was, How do you avoid that? Brad said it will be a Trojan horse. We will give them the gift of a Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt that's going to be real entertainment, but inside it is some cargo that is not really accepted in a vintage way, something that they don't anticipate."Pascal also signed off on Miller's concept, explaining that the director "had a wonderful vision for the movie. Scott, Rachael and Mike and I all believed he was fantastic with actors, and this movie was going to be about performance and getting inside the characters because it was really a character study."So Miller got the go-ahead to assemble his team, while Zaillian and Sorkin continued, separately, to write new pages. Each sent their contributions to Miller, who would then edit them together."Passing a script back and forth, obviously, isn't the most enjoyable way to work and is usually a recipe for disaster," Zaillian says of their tag-team approach. "Important things can get lost in the shuffle. But at the end of the day, difficult as it was, it worked.""Steve and I were now working at the same time," says Sorkin, "concentrating on different runs of scenes. It wasn't an ideal situation, but the point was, 'Whatever it takes to cross the finish line.' We were both courting the same girl, but we'd both invested way too much at that point to let ego stop us."Rudin, meanwhile, served as a kind of coach, overseeing work on the script and providing Miller with insights almost always in tune with the director's goals.For his crew, Miller looked for crafts people interested in making a studio film with an indie spirit. Cinematographer Wally Pfister had just worked with director Christopher Nolan on the big-budget "Inception," for which he won an Oscar, but had started on indies like Memento and as a news-documentary photographer in Washington."He had a sensibility that suits me and the film," says Miller. "The film has a quality not so much of telling a story but observing a story. The films I like are the ones that are not pedantic, that are not in your face, but the ones that reveal a story. He's never artificial."Production designer Jess Gonchor had collaborated with the Coen brothers on movies with an indie spirit such as "No Country for Old Men." For "Moneyball," Gonchor says: "We just wanted to keep it real. It was something real that happened that we were re-creating."Working on a razor-thin budget, he created the underbelly of the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum -- the players' locker room, the weight room, the coach's offices and a video room that became an extension of Billy Beane's office -- right on a Sony soundstage.Since there was no money to shoot in the eight different ballparks the A's visited, Gonchor dressed Dodger Stadium for three intense days of production to cover all those bases. He had less than two weeks to shoot the exteriors in the Oakland Coliseum, sometimes shooting at night because the A's were playing during the day. Other shots of Oakland actually were done in Long Beach and Glendale. They had a single day to shoot a crucial scene in Boston's Fenway Park, and it rained that day. The gloomy sky became a backdrop.Every set, location, uniform and piece of equipment had to be approved by Major League Baseball, which was cooperating with Sony, making the situation more complex. But Gonchor says they never interfered and often added ways to make the film more authentic.When Soderbergh proposed mixing interviews with real players into his story, he was shut down. But in his own quest for authenticity, Miller hired real players, scouts, umpires, executives and groundskeepers, whom he then mixed in with his actors.When his own schedule opened up, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who had starred in Miller's "Capote," called to say, "Have you cast the role yet of Art Howe?" Miller recalls, "We were on the verge of casting it, but had not yet, so I said, 'I'd love you to do it.' "For Peter Brand, the unlikely math genius recruited by Beane, Miller turned to Jonah Hill, whom he had known for five years. Hill was "desperate to change things," the director explains. "He was very funny in movies like 'The 40 Year Old Virgin,' but he had become stuck in that box and he wanted out of that box.""I love making comedies," says Hill. "It's amazing and a gift, but I am eager to do different types of roles. My worst fear is that at the end of my career they would say, 'He only did one thing over and over again.' I hope I'm going to have the opportunity to do many different things." (See "Inside Jonah Hill's Head," below.)Miller's biggest challenge was finding the right girl to play Beane's daughter. He saw dozens of young actresses before 13-year-old Kerris Dorsey came in and blew him away. "Not only was she perfect out of the gate," says Miller, "but the song she sang sent chills down my spine because it was impossibly perfect in every way."Her song, Lenka's "The Show," and the instrumental track "The Mighty Rio Grande" by This Will Destroy You are the only music among 23 pieces in the film that were not written by composer Mychael Danna. His goal was not to lay on music to force an emotional response but rather to use music to support the story. "It was important to Bennett and I that the music come from the material," says Danna, a Canadian who also worked on "Capote." "Baseball is a tradition-loving sport, and we wanted to use traditional [instruments] but come up with a new, slightly unexpected take."When principal photography ended after 58 days, Miller faced his greatest challenge: editing down not only footage he had shot but also hundreds of hours of archival material. He laughed when a Sony executive presented him with a postproduction schedule lasting 12 weeks. "I looked at it for 15 seconds and said, 'That's ridiculous,' " Miller says. "That's not going to happen."Instead, he spent the next 36 weeks editing in Los Angeles while working with his producers and two writers to refine the final script.Pitt frequently came by. "I'm really into the structure and putting together the puzzle and seeing what was working and what wasn't," he says. "I enjoy it, but I don't dictate."When Miller finally presented his director's cut, he was nervous about how it would be received. His cut was long and had an indie sensibility. He knew it wasn't a typical glossy commercial movie.It turned out he didn't need to worry. "There was such a great feeling when the lights came up and everyone felt we had done the right thing," recalls De Luca. "This was a movie that deserved its day in court."The test audience and a focus group afterward confirmed the feeling that the screening had evoked in the producers and studio executives."It was very emotional," says Horovitz. "I remember Amy Pascal and I both being teary-eyed when we saw the director's cut.""It scored beyond people's imagination and expectations," says Miller of the movie, which has gone on to beat the odds, grossing more than $74?million domestically and nearly $100 million worldwide since its Sept. 23 release. "We lived to fight another day." The Hollywood Reporter

ICM preps for publish-Rizvi future

Modern Household is most likely the suggests which have situated ICM and Rizvi Traverse Management to earn stout TV packaging-fee gold gold coin. SilbermannBergChris Silbermann spent nearly all this year driving toward the handshake agreement showed up at Friday to alter ICM in to a partner-possessed percentery, six years after it increased being the guinea pig website hosting equity possibilities in Hollywood's repetition business.The ICM prexy spent several days effective the agency's majority owner, Rizvi Traverse Management, that ICM's extended-term stability hinged on having the ability to keep top agents inside the fold and motivated. Inside the percentery world, motivation is doled to key players as partner status, huge bonuses or possibly an equity stake (even if basically a sliver) inside the agency.ICM hasn't had the chance to supply people perks because the possession remains so carefully held among Birmingham, Mich.-based Rizvi Traverse as well as the agency's top echelon, including Silbermann and ICM's longtime chairman-Boss, Rob Berg. Once the restructuring deal is finished, Silbermann's challenge would be to keep ICM competitive after making what comes lower to some large wager round the agency since it stands today.Experts mentioned ICM might be attractive just like a merger or acquisition target since there is no more an outdoors investor to cope with. However, industry sources mentioned ICM quietly examined the waters for just about any possible deal and among its bigger rivals taken and situated no takers (this remains declined by ICM affiliates, however).The campaign for just about any restructuring began early this year, as Silbermann stressed the requirement of the organization to own more flexibility in having to pay its finest adding factors and rewarding its up-and-comers.By multiple accounts, it absolutely was slow choosing for Silbermann with Rizvi Traverse prexy Suhail Rizvi and chief financial officer Ben Kohn, who runs their L.A. office and contains minded its acquisition of ICM. (Rizvi Traverse also provides possibilities in Summit Entertainment, Playboy magazine, Facebook.)Berg was mentioned being less intent than Silbermann on acquiring an offer done quickly with Rizvi until recently, when ICM began to eliminate prominent agents, including four defections to UTA.The inside drama spurred endless industry chatter of a boardroom fight for control raging between Berg and Silbermann. Knowledgeable sources have consistently downplayed the talk of extreme discord involving the two. Sources also stressed the pact revealed to ICM staffers on Friday (with little detail) won't have happened had Berg not been onboard, given his possession fascination with the organization, whether they have labored more than four decades.Berg orchestrated the 2005 deal with Rizvi Traverse that gave the organization an thought $75 million in recapitalization gold gold coin. It absolutely was a preliminary nowadays within this era for just about any Hollywood talent agency together with a personal equity finance concern. The Rizvi war chest allowed ICM to obtain Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann in 2006, getting its giant lit clients which is respected management team into ICM, which anxiously needed the completely new blood stream on fronts.A good investment has by all accounts been worth keeping for Rizvi Traverse, as ICM has received a windfall of TV packaging-fee profits within the off-network success of shows including "two and a half Males," "The Big Bang Theory," "Modern Family," "House," "Criminal Minds" and "Grey's Anatomy."Particulars in the restructuring deal remain murky, nevertheless it appears that Rizvi Traverse will cede numerous its equity fascination with ICM to have the ability to allow Silbermann and Berg to produce really its top artists into equity-owner positions.The sale was shown by people aware just like a "transfer of possession" for the new partnership instead of a proper management buyout, plus it was stressed that there is little rotate inside the transaction. Because of that, it's expected that Rizvi Traverse will hold onto a considerable chunk of ICM's best receivables ("Large Bang Theory" alone will generate 100s of vast amounts for your agency in later on through its syndie certification pacts).The quantity of agents in line for elevation to partner status remains unclear (one source mentioned "greater than two and under 100"). It'll encompass heavy gamers from within the agency's key divisions: TV, film, posting, legit, marketing, concerts and touring. Berg's and Silbermann's game game titles will most likely change beneath the partnership structure.Silbermann is mentioned to look for the reorg as relaxing the work for organic growth. Anticipation is the partnership structure will bolster the organization towards the top and supply new incentive up to the more youthful ranks. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

Selena Gomez Is Really A Spring Breaker

Disney star teams with Harmony KorineYou're the star of the Disney Funnel series, with a little of the pop career quietly, along with a boyfriend known as Attacking Young Boys. So what's the next project? Why, a movie through the director of Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy and Trash Humpers, obviously. Selena Gomez just became a member of Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers. That seem frequency higher is Uncle Wally spinning in the cryo-chamber.Spring Breakers does really seem abnormally mainstream for Korine, although considering the fact that his last film involved masked octogenarian tramps making love with dustbins, it's all regulated relative. This a person's four college women cutting loose and funding their springbreak by slowly destroying a cafe or restaurant. When they are arrested and jailed, then they end up entangled using the drug-runner who bailed them out, and who desires these to whack his primary competitor.James Franco has already been mounted on take part in the dope dealer, and Vanessa Hudgens and Emma Roberts are aboard as a couple of the 4 girlie reprobates. So by our elaborate information, which means there's yet another gang-member to become cast, since Gomez is Girl Three."I am really excited," Gomez told MTV. "It is a different character than I have ever performed before, along with a different type of vibe, I believe, than people are utilized to seeing me in. What you are likely to see is much more raw, I believe. It will likely be raw and much more about acting."Shooting begins - when else? - early in the year. And don't forget, The Actor-brad Pitt only agreed to be a teenager TV posterboy until he met John Waters and Tim Burton. At the minimum, this ought to be one step up from Monte Carlo for that celebrity.

Muslim TV series spurs backlash

The TLC series "All-American Muslim" is compelling complaints from right-wing extremist groups declaring they have effectively compelled marketers to drag from the program. One particular organization, Florida Family Association, published an e-mail on its website it alleges to possess received from national store Lowe's Home Centers showing that the organization has withdrawn advertisements. "You will find certain programs that don't meet Lowe's advertising recommendations, such as the demonstrate introduced to the attention." That letter consequently spurred reaction Thursday from Muslim civil-protections group Council on American-Islamic Relations decrying the withdrawal. "Some 'All-American Muslim' marketers have apparently secured towards the hate-filled sights from the boycott's marketers," read a CAIR pr release. Lowe's has yet to reply to a request comment. A TLC speaker rejected comment. "Muslim" is definitely an unscripted series that opened recently around the Discovery Systems-possessed cable funnel following a lives of several middle-class American Muslim families in Dearborn, Mich. FFA, which states its goal as "enhancing America's moral atmosphere" in the mission statement, has belittled the series to be "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's obvious and offer danger to American protections and traditional values." CAIR also calls out other groups which have websites inviting its site visitors to complete forms that send messages lamenting "Muslim" to taking part marketers. These orgs claim that they can have motivated numerous entrepreneurs to drag from the show, though in some instances messages from individuals companies published online don't suggest they're doing so in reaction to requires boycott. "The program's detractors are utilizing every stereotype within the book to defame American Muslims and also to demonize Islam," stated Nihad Awad, national executive direcor of CAIR inside a statement. Though Lowe's message has not yet been clarified by the organization, it's already inspired a backlash on Twitter from customers upset that the organization might have drawn from "Muslim" because of pressure from hate groups. "Dear @lowes you are able to hug my company farewell,Inch tweeted @ArabVoicesSpeak. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

Who Are the Most Bankable Stars in Hollywood?

Earlier this fall, Forbes figured out which dead celebrities are still making millions from the grave. In the continual spirit of measuring Hollywood stars by their bank accounts, Forbes has calculated which of today’s actors and actresses provide studios with the best return on their investments. Can you guess the five most bankable stars in Hollywood today? I’m betting that you can name at least two… If you correctly listed the following young ones, pat yourself on the back and feel free to brag away below: 1. Kristen Stewart - For every $1 Stewart is paid, her films earn an average $55.83. 2. Anne Hathaway - For every $1 Hathway is paid, her films earn an average $45.67. 3. Robert Pattinson - For every $1 Pattinson is paid, his films earn an average $39.43. 4. Daniel Radcliffe - For every $1 Radcliffe is paid, his films earn an average $34.24. 5. Shia LaBeouf - For every $1 LaBeouf is paid, his films earn an average $29.40. For the record, for every $1 I am paid, Target earns an average of 43 cents. For the complete list of bankable stars, which includes a few surprise names, head on over to Forbes. Hollywood’s Best Actors for the Buck [Forbes]

Social Power Rankings: You People Are Totally Grossed Out By Virgins Kissing

Virgin Diaries The people have spoken, and they are all saying one thing: TLC's Virgin Diaries is going to be better than your first time. On Wednesday, we posted a preview of the new series (which premieres Sunday at 9/8c) about, among other virgins, a "sexually inexperienced" couple who waited until their wedding to share an agonizingly awkward first kiss. Some of you had something to say about it. As a result, the as-yet-unaired show is No. 1 in our Social Power Rankings, the list of the most talked-about shows of the week. "Between that pic and the video, it looks like a promo for the second half of The Walking Dead," cracked TVGuide.com commenter bobby-j. On Facebook, Steve Franco wondered aloud why Hollywood hadn't better taught them to kiss. "None of them saw any of the John Hughes movies from the '80s?" he asks. (Ah, Samantha Baker, Jake Ryan, The Thompson Twins, by birthday-cake candlelight...) Another hot topic this week: Was Drew's elimination on The X Factor premature? Check back anytime to see the latest Social Power Rankings, which are updated in real time throughout the week.

NOVEMBER SWEEP: CBS Late Show Tops Tonight For first Amount Of Time In 17 Years, Late Late Show Posts First Victory Over Late Evening

NBC’s primetime worries are starting to spill into late-evening. Both Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Evening With Jimmy Fallon experienced double-digit year-to-year declines recently, giving CBS’ late-evening selection historic wins. Late Show With David Letterman (.9/4 in 18-49, 3.41 million total audiences) published its first November sweep victory within the Tonight Show (.8/3, 3.60 million) among grown ups 18-49 in 17 years, since Late Show‘s second season in 1994. Late Show being in 18-49 versus. last November (lower 8% as a whole audiences), while Tonight Show was lower 20% (4% as a whole audiences). The second still won as a whole audiences. CBS’ Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (.6/3 in 18-49, 1.63 million) was the only real late-evening show around the broadcast systems to develop year-to-year in 18-49. It had been up 20% (lower 7% as a whole audiences) to publish the franchise’s first demo November sweep victory over NBC’s Late Evening (.5/3, 1.73 million). The second show, presently located by Jimmy Fallon, was lower 17% year-to-year and flat as a whole audiences, a category it won. ABC’s Due To Jimmy Kimmel Live! (.6/3, 1.97 million) tied Craig Ferguson and beat Fallon. It had been in 18-49 versus. this past year called the only broadcast late-evening show to publish development in total audiences, up 7%.

Taylor Lautner's Dude Problem, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Thank God it’s Wednesday. Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Aaron Sorkin inches closer to Steve Jobs… Jeremy Renner shares his Bourne name… David Fincher doesn’t want to do The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (for now)… Jimmy Fallon apologizes to Michelle Bachmann… and more. · Let’s make this quick and get to the turkey: This is a little late in coming, but reportedly a male admirer at last week’s Breaking Dawn - Part 1 premiere at the Nokia Theater shouted feverishly at the screen near the end of the film: “Taylor Lautner, you’re a sexy fuck!” Sir! Neither the time nor place! Where were you when Abduction needed you? [THR] · Aaron Sorkin, who was previously reported to be in the running to adapt Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of the late Steve Jobs, is inching ever closer to taking the job: “Sony has asked me to write the movie and it’s something I’m strongly considering. […] Right now I’m just in the thinking-about-it stages. It’s a really big movie and it’s going to be a great movie no matter who writes it.” [E! Online] · The name of Jeremy Renner’s character in The Bourne Legacy is Aaron Cross. Tell all your friends. [Empire] · Asked if he wanted to continue directing the English-language Millennium Trilogy after next month’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher replied: “At this point, no. But ask me again in two months. I’m so tired right now I can’t think straight. You don’t ask a woman in labor, ‘Do you want another child?’” Especially when she doesn’t get paid millions to deliver it. Anyway, he’ll be back. [Reuters] · Jimmy Fallon publicly apologized for the Roots’ choice of “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” to introduce Rep. Michele Bachmann during her appearance Monday on Late Night. It gets funnier: He also invited her back on the show. [AP] · To the naysayers who think the critically beloved Hugo is too cineaste-y to hold youngsters’ attention, Glenn Kenny has awesome evidence to the contrary. Huzzah! [Some Came Running]

'Angry Birds' Gets into Competitive Hollywood Toy Market

This story first came out inside the 12 ,. 2 problem in the Hollywood Reporter magazine.our editor recommendsIPO for Angry Wild wild birds Creator Rovio the moment Next Year'Angry Birds' Pressed Off The surface of Apple Application Store Chart by Wally Disney's SwampyNew Rovio Professional David Maisel Thinks Angry Wild wild birds Movie Can Alter Gaming Adaptations Entertainment art galleries that understand ruling the licensed toy market have a very formidable, feathered foe this holidays. Angry Wild wild birds, the web application from Finnish company Rovio which has been downloaded greater than 500 million occasions worldwide, has turned into a kind of plush animals, balls, pillows, key rings plus much more which could be hot merchants this holiday. "It's phenomenal," states Alec Kessler of Commonwealth Toys & Novelties, the NY company this year licensed toy rights for Wild wild birds, its fastest-growing property. Synergy involving the application as well as the toy is especially strong given how quickly the scowling figures are becoming a well known culture phenomenon. "It's the applying that has converted to a toy," states Kessler. "The higher downloads the applying can get, the higher identifiable the toys are." PHOTOS: Toy Wars: Fight in the Blockbuster Summer season As holiday shopping begins on Black Friday, Rovio goes mind-to-mind with Disney's venerable Princess line and Cars 2, that will probably function as season's top merchants, additionally to powerhouses Alien and Sesame Street. The improved Smurfs, riding full of $500 million worldwide gross from the new the new sony's summer season movie, will also be prone to sell large. Retail sales of licensed games and toys totaled $6.36 billion this season, lower from $6.5 billion this past year, in line with the Certification Letter. Though the economy somewhat enhanced, hopes are high for just about any strong holidays. According to Kessler -- who states the demographic for Wild wild birds is "3 to 83" -- there's only one challenge with the toys' soaring recognition: "Retailers are becoming a hard time keeping them available.Inch Related Subjects

Jason Segel on His Week Hosting 'Saturday Night Live' with the Muppets

As you may have heard by now, Jason Segel has a new movie coming out this Thanksgiving weekend starring the Muppets, appropriately titled 'The Muppets.' What you may not realize is that Jason Segel's three lifelong dreams were to (a) work with the Muppets, (b) be a guest with David Letterman and (c) host 'Saturday Night Live.' This past week, Segel finally achieved that elusive third dream. Ahead, Jason Segel gives Moviefone an extensive behind-the-scenes tour, if you will, of his experiences last week as the host of 'Saturday Night Live.' Before we get into your experience, what's your take on the infamous "Land of Gorch" Muppets sketches from the first season of 'SNL'? Well, what's interesting is that's what gave birth to the Muppets. Jim Henson was a maverick at that time. And the Muppets are famous now, in that era, I sort of equate it to the computer -- Steve Jobs was in a basement dreaming about the computer. So Jim Henson and these guys were these dudes that had an idea about puppetry. So they went to Lorne and they said that they would like to be a part of the first season of 'Saturday Night Live.' And it didn't quite work. The 'SNL' writers did not care for them. Yeah, it's hard to think of how to fit them into sketches. And they had created a new world of sort of adult, darker Muppets to fit in with SNL and it didn't quite work. But it did give birth to 'The Muppet Show.' They said to Lorne, "We'd like to do our own variety show, do you mind if we copy your format in a half hour -- and that's how 'The Muppet Show' was born. You mentioned them in your monologue. Was there any thought of bringing them back? Or would that reference be lost? I think that that is a reference that is probably lost to time. You know what I mean? They weren't even famous then [laughs]. OK, so we've known for months that 'The Muppets' is coming out over Thanksgiving weekend. How does a hosting gig at 'SNL' get set up? Who goes to whom? They are always trying to figure out who the host is going to be. You know, it's not a long lead time; I found out like three weeks ago that I was chosen to do it. And Lorne said something to me this week, he said, "We've been bouncing around the idea of having you several times, like with 'Sarah Marshall' or 'I Love You, Man,'" things like that. But he said, "It was never quite the right time. If you do 'Saturday Night Live' before you're established, it feels more like an audition." Like you're trying to show that you're good. And once you've reached a certain point, it's much more fun for the audience. Because they're watching someone that they know do fun skits. So he said that this was the perfect time: "People know you enough now that you've earned hosting the show." That's interesting. Because, of all people, I remember when Dane Cook hosted the first time and nobody knew who Dane Cook was, at that time. And I remember he was trying really hard. It feels like an audition, right? But with you, people can say, "I know this guy, so I can just watch him do his thing." Yeah, they're anticipating songs and fun and they have a sense of what you do. Whereas when you watch someone that you don't quite know who they are, there's a lot more judgment put on it. What was your pitch meeting like? The pitch meeting is intense, man. You show up on Tuesday and they sit you in a room and you're handed fifty scripts. Literally fifty. Just for you to read? Yeah, just to read through. For mine, they knew that I played piano and sang, so I'd say 15 of them had songs in them. So then you're reading them and you're also working with this musical guy to sing the songs -- in an hour! Fifteen songs! Not that you have to have them perfect, but so that you can do them adequately. And then you go into this room for a table read, where there are probably 100 people watching -- the entire cast. And you sit and you literally do all 50 sketches sitting at a table. Could you reject one if you wanted? Not at the table read. You read all of them. Yeah, because you don't know what's going to work. That's one of the things that I've learned about comedy is that you really don't know before you do it. There was a joke in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' that was pitched by one of the producers while we were shooting the scene. It's where I arrive at the hotel and I first see Sarah Marshall and Russell Brand. And she says, "What are you doing here?" And I had written that scene to be a guy really trying to put on a façade and keep it together. My response is, "I just needed a little vacation." And one of the producers pitched, "How about instead you say, 'I'm here to murder you'?" I literally was, "No! That is wrong! That is not his attitude during this scene." And he's like, "Just shoot it, you don't have to use it. Just see if it works." It's my favorite joke in the movie. And I lobbied super hard against it. I've learned that until you try something, you have no idea if it's going to work or not. That's a healthy attitude for 'SNL.' I have read of hosts worried if a sketch will make them look bad. Yeah, I think you have to give over to the process of 'SNL.' They are a well-oiled machine and they know what they are doing. And I'm sure they'd be the first to admit some shows are better than others. Some sketches are better than others. But there's something about that show that is a very, very controlled chaos that ends up, no matter what, feeling like you're watching something fun and exciting and dangerous. What's your favorite script you read that didn't make the show? We had an amazing moment during the table reads. Kristen Wiig wrote a hilarious sketch about a married couple that goes door to door and sings like carols on Thanksgiving. And the song was probably ten pages long. And the joke of the song is that it changed tune every two verses. So, throughout the sketch it kept randomly changing tunes to varying styles of music. Like, completely random. But because of the time constraints, we didn't get to learn the songs... and you still have to go perform it at the table readings. [Laughing] So we walked in and we looked at each other and I'm like, "What are we going to do?" She said, "We're just going to make it up and do our best, that's how it goes sometimes." We start the song, and we both realize that we have no fucking idea what to do. At all. You can't stop! It's like, you have to do the sketch. And I wish they had filmed it because it's probably ten minutes of us singing with no idea or context whatsoever. [Still laughing] And we're laughing so hard that we're crying. And it is a train wreck. And what is terrible is that the train left the station, and you can't get off until the next stop. Everyone is watching and everyone is laughing so hard, crying. We are bombing harder than I've ever bombed in my whole career. I mean, it was embarrassing how badly we bombed this sketch. It sounds like a real life Garth and Kat. It was called Lisa and Coy and it was the same concept, except the song was supposed to be learned. But at the read-through, it became Garth and Kat. Right! Except that we weren't able to even pull that level of mastery off. Was there anything that made it all the way to dress rehearsal that you were disappointed it got cut from the live show? Yeah. There was one sketch called "Balcony Songs" that I really, really loved and I'm really disappointed it got cut. It was a sketch that Andy Samberg wrote. It was a Broadway musical number that degenerated into becoming just really, really, really weird. But it was sung in full Broadway voice and there were twelve of us. It was kind of the equivalent of 'One Day More' from 'Les Miserables.' And that got cut after dress and we were all totally bummed. It literally just got cut for time. As host do you have much say between dress and the live show on what makes it or not? You know what? Lorne is obviously the big boss, but the host is called into every meeting and he's very conscious about, "What don't you feel comfortable with? Is there anything that you care so much about that you don't want us to cut?" He's very respectful of the idea that, at the end of the day, you're the one who is going to walk out there. You're the one who is going to have to do this stuff. So a lot of it is about the host feeling confident and comfortable with the sketches. During the live show when you did the monologue with the Muppets, you appeared to be glowing. I have a list of childhood goals. There are only three things on it: Be on David Letterman, work with the Muppets, and host 'SNL.' I had done Letterman before and I, obviously, did the Muppet movie last year. But, I did all three last week. In one week! That's not hyperbole, that's an actual list I had. If I could have, as a kid, seen this week, I would have freaked the fuck out [laughs]. You know what I mean? I didn't know that you could do an Antonio Banderas impression I can't! But I tried [laughs]. It wasn't a terrible impression. It was no Andre the Giant, but it was pretty close? Right? It was good. But the thing is, you had to follow Jay Pharoah's Denzel Washington, which is tough. That is the best impression I've ever seen. It's uncanny. The only impression that rivals it is my Andre the Giant [laughs]. OK, so you did Andre the Giant in 'I Love You, Man.' I did, yeah. So did you go to them and ask to have it in the show? The first thing they ask you is, "Do you do any impressions?" And the only impression I do is Andre the Giant. I'm not an impression guy. That's not my area of comedy. So that was, literally, the only one I had in my pocket. When it came to the 'Regis' sketch, they were like, "What celebrities do you do?" "I don't know, I can do the Nasonex voice?" So then they wanted that? That was more of a case of them wanting you do be involved in all of the sketches. I just don't do impressions, it's not what I do. Yeah, it was certainly fun. How early in the process did you know that Paul Rudd was around for "Kissing Family Thanksgiving." You know what happened? Everyone knew that I really wanted to do SNL. And it's, by a standard, a marker in your career. And our little group is very close and very supportive of each other. Jonah [Hill] flew out and watched the show. And Rudd came to watch the show. And as soon as we heard that Paul is there, we were already doing the "Kissing" sketch. And he originated "Kissing" sketch. And we thought, oh, this is perfect, let's have Rudd come in at the end. And Rudd and I have been on the collision course for a make-out for a long time [laughs]. I've seen every incarnation of "The Kissing Family" and have never seen the intensity between you and Rudd. That was new. It was much, much, much more intense in dress rehearsal. They should put that online We were told to tone it down. I 'Fatal Attraction-ed' him in dress rehearsal. I threw him up against the wall to the point that I almost destroyed the set. I yanked his hair back so violently, and I basically, like, I can't say the word, I mean, I hate-kissed him. [laughs] So hard! The last sketch I really want to bring up -- I think might've been my favorite of the night --- "The Blue Jean Committee." I loved that sketch! What I love about it, it isn't really a joke. It's just like, really pleasant. And everyone is so great in that. Even when Moynihan has two seconds of screen time, and he gets one of the biggest laughs with his intensity -- he's so into the song. Yeah. That's one of my favorites. I like weird humor. For example, the Andre the Giant sketch: It would've been very easy to do an Andre the Giant in context. You know, like a 'Princess Bride' sketch, or whatever. But when you do it out of context, Andre the Giant ordering ice cream, I love that kind of humor. Where there's no context as to why it's funny, it just is. I had trouble explaining that one to my girlfriend. So, overall, the episode's not a groaner, right? It was pretty funny? I thought it was the best show of the season so far. I have no context, because I haven't even watched it yet. It feels super good while you're doing it, but I have no idea how it came across. It came across alright? Yeah. People on Twitter were responding very positively to the show. The reaction was very good. The only one that didn't quite seem to play was "Retirement Party." Yeah, that's a weird sketch. That's the only one that I think people were like, "Huh." But the rest of the show, especially ending on "Blue Jean Committee," went well. In my humble opinion. Oh, good. It was so cool to see the guys behind the Muppets in the "Good Nights." You don't often see those guys standing there, with the Muppets. I have this thing, just so you know, it's like, contrary to what they want. But I have a big issue with that people don't know who these puppeteers are. They are the unsung heroes of this whole movie. The one I keep thinking about is this guy named Eric Dickinson. He plays Miss Piggy, but he also plays Fozzie Bear and Animal... Right, because you guys did our Unscripted and, as Miss Piggy, she did "her Fozzie impression." It's amazing. And all I think about is, in any other context, that's like a Peter Sellers-esque feat. He's playing three fully realized characters that are completely different, you know what I mean? And they sound completely different. His job is to be invisible, and so you never get to see who these guys are, and they're so fucking talented. And so yeah, it was important for me that they got up there and had their faces seen. So, obviously you're an 'SNL' guy, what's your favorite sketch of all time? It's an obscure sketch, it's when Steve Martin did Medieval Barber. Okay, that is a bit obscure. You remember that sketch? I do know it, I don't know it by heart. Steve Martin is playing a medieval barber, you know, a doctor, and he's so confident because it's modern medicine. But he says things like, someone comes in with a stomach ache and he'll be like, "You know, it's lucky that we've reached this modern age of medicine. People used to think that a stomach ache was caused by some sort of spirit haunting your stomach, ha ha ha, but now we know it's caused by a small toad living inside you!" [laughs] He's so confident that they have it all figured out. To take you off the hook, you can't pick someone in the current cast. Who's your favorite cast member ever? Wow. That's a great question. I mean, I gotta say Belushi. OK, that's interesting. Belushi? Well, because I'll tell you what Belushi did. Well, Phil Hartman is really up there for me as well, but Belushi did something really particular, and it's what the Muppets do so I guess it relates. He felt like things might bubble over at any minute, you know what I mean? It was a contained chaos but it could bubble over. You always felt a little sense of danger. Well, if you read 'Live from NY,' I think there was a little bit of danger actually, sometimes. Yeah, exactly. What would you have done if I had said something like, Piscopo [laughs]? I would have been shocked. Would you have thought less of me? [laughs] Let's say I would have been surprised if you picked someone like Denny Dillon or someone like the guy who played Sweetchuck in Police Academy, Tim Kazurinsky. I mean, he's funny, but... Were those the years -- I'm not 100% well-versed -- Lorne was gone for a little bit... Lorne left for five years. Lorne left in the Spring of '80. Jean Doumanian took over for about three-fourths of a season and then she got fired. Dick Ebersol took over until '85, and then Lorne came back in fall of '85. Although, I will say, "Ebony and Ivory" is one of the funnier moments ever. I mean, let's be honest, Piscopo was really good on that show. I think he's been downgraded since he's left. Totally. But he and Eddie Murphy were so good together. "Ebony and Ivory" was so fucking funny. My one non-SNL question: Are you still going to be using Twitter after 'The Muppets'? It's not going to end after Muppets. I don't love the technology, you know? Just in general, it's not really my thing. I do really like being able to communicate -- that sounds so fucking cheesy -- that's not what I mean. I was going to say, "Communicate with my fans," but I hate that phrase. It is cool to be able to talk to dudes. [Laughs] Put it that way. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter. Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

Showtime Renews Dexter For Two More Seasons

Michael C. Hall Dexter has been renewed for two more seasons, Showtime announced on Friday. Star Michael C. Hall has also inked a deal to return. Mega Buzz: An explosive Private Practice, Castle's twist and a Dexter death "The series is bigger than it's ever been in its sixth season, both in terms of audience and its impact on the cultural landscape," Showtime president David Nevins said in a statement. "Together with Michael, the creative team on the show has a very clear sense of where they intend to take the show over the next two seasons." See photos from Dexter The Emmy-nominated series, currently in its sixth season, is averaging 5.12 million weekly viewers with all platforms combined. Hall won the 2010 Screen Actors Guild award for his role as the moonlighting serial killer and was nominated for the Best Actor Emmy in 2011.

Robert Wagner Responds to Natalie Wood Analysis

Robert Wagner, who had been married to Natalie Wood during the time of her dying, is meant for the La Sheriff's Department's decision Thursday to reopen its situation in to the 1981 dying from the actress.our editor recommends'48 Hours' Natalie Wood Special Discloses Boat Captain's Untold Story (Video)Natalie Wood Dying Analysis ReopenedNatalie Wood: A Hollywood Icon RememberedHollywood's Notable DeathsThe Hollywood Reporter's 80th Anniversary: 'The Legends' IssueRelated Subjects•Obituaries A representative for that actor told The Hollywood Reporter the department hasn't arrived at out however the Wagner family yet, but hopes the brand new information that brought towards the situation being reopened is legit. "Although nobody within the Wagner family members have been told by the LA County Sheriff's department relating to this matter, they fully offer the efforts from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and trust they'll evaluate whether any new information relevant towards the dying of Natalie Wood Wagner applies which it develops from a credible source or sources apart from individuals simply attempting to make money from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic dying." PHOTOS: Best Pictures of Natalie Wood Wood died almost 30 years ago at 43 while boating off Santa Catalina Island, from the Los Angeles shoreline. At that time, her dying was ruled an accidental drowning, but there has been many questions elevated by what really happened included within the time since. "Lately, sheriff's homicide researchers were approached by persons who mentioned they'd more information concerning the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning," the department stated, reported by the La Occasions. "Because of the extra information, sheriff's homicide bureau has made the decision to visit again the situation." The department has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. Friday. VIDEO: 5 of Natalie Wood's Most Memorable Roles Around the evening of November. 29, 1981, Wood and her then-husband Wagner went boating with Christopher Walken. The trio had dinner and drinks at Doug's Harbor Reef after which ongoing consuming aboard the boat, where Wagner and Walken started quarrelling. Throughout the argument, Wood visited mattress, so when Wagner came lower to express goodnight, she vanished. Speculation has it the dinghy came loose, and she or he went on deck to tie it when she accidentally ended up and fell overboard. A lady on the nearby yacht apparently stated to possess heard requires help around night time, also it was later came to the conclusion that Wood -- who apparently wasn't an experienced swimmer coupled with a long term anxiety about deep water coupled with been putting on huge robe -- have been intoxicated at that time. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Greatest Deaths and Surprises However, others have thought that the lover's quarrel between Wood and Wagner which had related to Walken happened prior to the accident.During the time of her dying, she was filming the sci-fi movieBrainstormwith Walken. For his part, Wagner has stated he places blame themself for that incident. "Did I blame myself? Basically'd had the experience, I possibly could did something," he told the U.K.'s Daily Mail last year. "I wasn't, but ultimately, a guy accounts for his family member. Yes, I blamed myself. I'd did anything on the planet to safeguard her. Anything. I lost a lady I loved with all of my heart, not once but two times, and that i won't ever completely be prepared for that." PHOTOS: Who Counts like a Hollywood Legend Wood was married to Wagner two times, from 1957-62 and again from 1972 until her dying. They'd one child, a daughter named Courtney, and made an appearance togehter in projects such as the TV movie The Affair and TV adaptation of Cat on the Hot Container Roof. Related Subjects Obituaries Natalie Wood Robert Wagner

UPDATE: Viacom States Nielsen Snafu Brought To Say No In Nickelodeon Toy Advertisements Predictions Strong 2012 Despite Economic Headwinds

The Sumner Redstone-controlledentertainment giant states it'll buy back $10B price of its shares, up from $4B — which will certainly make traders happy. However they’ll like the fiscal 4Q results: Viacom’s ongoing procedures had internet earnings of $583M, up 19% in the period this past year, on revenues of $4.05B, up 21.7%. Experts thought revenues will come in at $3.75B. And earnings from ongoing procedures, at $1.06 a share, exceeded predictions for $1.03. Vital’s shot entertainment unit was the star with revenues up 46% to $1.8B. The organization states which was mostly because of the strong box office sales for Transformers: Dark From The Moon. The media systems — the biggest operation with cable channels for example MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon — were up 8% to $2.3B. Ad sales were up 7% while rate increases increased affiliate costs 11%to $883M. “Our budget is really as strong as ever, which enables us to carry on to purchase the development in our companies, including new top quality television systems within the U.S. and worldwide, and Vital’s lately released animation label,” Boss Philippe Dauman states. The studio is “benefiting from the disciplined franchise-centric approach which has created an unparalleled quantity of hits,” headds, as the new stock repurchase effort shows “our confidence in Viacom’s lengthy-term outlook.” The organization spent $2.5B within the latest fiscal year purchasing back 19.7M shares, and it has $7.2B left in the recently elevated $10B authorization. Redstone states the financial results illustrate “the worth of our focused strategy and powerful leadership.”

There is a film Referred to as Zombie Ass, and 5 Other Tales You'll Be Talking About Today

Happy Wednesday! Also in today’s edition in the Broadsheet: Darren Aronofsky finally weighs in at in at in round the Kardashian divorce… Bargain-basement Captain Nemo adds a respected lady… The unfortunate conservative position on Ratnergate… plus much more. · It’s shaping up to become slow news day for anything excluding #RatnerFreeOscars and, uh, horrible movie posters, what exactly are focus of loving attention in this particular gallery of just one-sheets within the American Film Market. In my opinion I’m fondest of Zombie Ass: Toilet in the Dead, though I have got a sense Zombies versus. Strippers as well as the Kevin Sorbo/Danny Trejo action pairing Poolboy will greater than exceed their strongly hideous ads. [THR] · Possibly better but surprisingly appalling are these collections of tired poster tropes collected from around the globe. It’s kinda unmatched “Tiny People Round the Beach, Giant Heads inside the Clouds.” [Christophe Courtois via ONTD] · If he ever comprises a documentary, Darren Aronofsky goes vrit style — or, you understand, “the Kardashian form.” Speaking about which: “It’s amazing, huh, the fallout from that wedding? I have not a clue who this kind of person, but that’s interesting there’s backlash now — they’re in some manner anti-American, since they’re anti-family. Even Fox can beat them up.” It’s a great point! Meanwhile, Albert Maysles would love a factor with Aronofsky outdoors. [NYT] · “Keep in your thoughts this hoopla, phony outrage, and McCarthyism is yearly: ‘Rehearsal is ideal for fags.’ Now, because artistic freedom is dead in Hollywood, Brett Ratner will have the Tracy Morgan treatment a 3 YEAR re-education tour.” Really, all this hoopla is finished a loudmouth douche who thought he was bigger compared to Oscars, but nevertheless: “Artistic freedom is dead”? Seems like we finally found anybody to pity in this particular whole mess. [Large Hollywod] · Hayley Atwell and David Morrissey are aboard Captain Nemo, the $ten million 3-D steampunk 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea-quel planned to shoot soon in Romania. What exactly may possibly fail? [Deadline · Here's an airline travel that may start selling in-flight porn. That's all. [Gawker]

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy: The High School Years

Making a stoner movie -- it sounds easy, right? Well, it isn't! First, you need a good idea, and then you need a, uh... hey, have you ever, like, looked at your hand? I mean, really looked at it. You ever think there could be an entire universe living under your fingernail. Oh, sorry: I got sidetracked. Making a stoner movie! Right! Well, every stoner flick has a totally unscientific formula that needs to be followed in order for it to be successful. So, in honor of 'A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas,' which opens today, Moviefone offers you a brief user guide on How to Make a Stoner Movie. You will need... A pothead that's way more stoned and stupid than the rest of his friends: There's Jim Breuer from 'Half-Baked,' ordering pizza, Funyuns, water, celery and grape jelly; Rory Cochran of 'Dazed and Confused,' talking about how George Washington used to grow his own secret stash in the fields of Mount Vernon. You always need one stoner who's too stupid for his own good to make the rest of the cast look like Einstein. One psychedelic scene that is totally, 100 percent bonkers and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever: There's a scene in every drug-related film where the protagonists end up tripping on some totally ridiculous substance. Then, the weird stuff starts to happen -- rainbows pop out of trees, friends begin to look like animated characters, hands turn into some living, breathing creature that could choke them out at any second. Some good examples of this are the bowling dream sequence in 'The Big Lebowski,' where Jeff Bridges's The Dude pretends he's a bowling ball, and the bar scene in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,' where Johnny Depp's Hunter S. Thompson Raoul Duke imagines he's surrounded by a crowd full of gigantic lizards. The stoner hero who ends up saving the day despite the fact that he's, well, stoned: Seth Rogen saving James Franco from a burning barn in 'Pineapple Express' and Ice Cube beating up the neighborhood bully in 'Friday' are two perfect examples of stoner heroics. It's hard to feel motivated by anyone who sits around and smokes pot the entire film, but -- in the end -- they manage to save the day. A scene like this: Quotables: Lines that fellow pot smokers can quote back to each other is an absolute must. For example, 'Up in Smoke' has "Hey man, am I driving OK?" And then of course there's Matthew McConaughey in 'Dazed in Confused with "You got a joint? ... Well, it'd be a lot cooler if you did." These movies may not have lived on if it weren't for the memorable quotes -- it's not like the viewers are going to be able to remember anything as complicated as an actual storyline. An awesome soundtrack: No stoner movie gets by without an awesome soundtrack. The perfect example of this is 'Easy Rider,' which includes a murderer's row of awesome songs (Steppenwolf's 'Born to Be Wild,' The Band's 'The Weight,' Jimi Hendrix's 'If 6 Was 9,' etc.). A good soundtrack can overcome any plot deficiencies. An existential question: That scene where a character asks a question that really makes you think. These existential moments can be as jokey as the point in 'Knocked Up,' when Katherine Heigl first meets Seth Rogen's friends after finding out she's pregnant. That's when she ends up getting questioned about her unborn baby "stealing" her food. References to marijuana: Last but not least, the most obvious thing on this list. 'Up in Smoke,' features a car scene where Cheech and Chong smoke a joint the size of their arm. For something more recent, let's go with the main character in 'Grandma's Boy,' who has a giant bong he tries to play off as a flower vase. ### So, there you have it: the secret stoner movie formula. Now, all you need to do is get off the couch, write a screenplay, gather financing, hire some famous actors and a director. Hm, actually, on second thought, that sounds like it could be stressful. Before you start, you might want to take something that will cool your nerves... [Photo: Everett Collection] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

First 'Great Expectations' Photos: Helena Bonham Carter is Straight Creepy

Twi-hards may wish to obvious their calendars for that one. On Saturday, November. 5, at 7:30 p.m. EDT, Moviefone and Cambio will partner to create a live stream from the 'Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning Part 1' Q&A panel in La in the official 'Twilight' Fan Convention. Billy Burke, Taylor Lautner, Rachelle Lefervre and director Bill Condon all will be available, and -- better still -- they will be responding to the questions you have. To submit inquiries to the panel, compose a Tweet and tag it with #breakingdawnlive. To look at live, click the link on November. 5 at 7:30 p.m. EDT. That's tomorrow, fans! Remember: get a 'Breaking Dawn' tickets now. [Photo: Summit Entertainment] 'The Twilght Saga: Breaking Beginning - Part 1' Image Gallery From wedding ceremonies to werewolves, Moviefone has got the full-line of images in the approaching romance saga. See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

CAA Signs Mike & Molly Star Billy Gardell

CAA now represents both Mike and Molly from CBS’ sophomore comedy series. Actor-comedian Billy Gardell, who plays the male lead on Mike & Molly, has signed with CAA, which also represents his co-lead Melissa McCarthy. Gardell was with APA. Gardell’s previous series credits include CBS’ Yes, Dear and NBC’s My Name Is Earl. In addition to acting, Gardell continues to tour as a comedian. His latest standup special, Halftime, aired on Comedy Central earlier this year. Gardell continues to be managed by Chris DiPetta at Artists Management International.

Friday B.O.: 'Tower Heist,' 'Puss in Boots' strong

U's 'Tower Heist' is on the right track to win the weekend having a $$ 30 million opening. DreamWorks Animations' 'Puss in Boots' is holding strong in the second weekend, with $25 million."Tower Heist" is on the right track to win the weekend having a $$ 30 million bow, while "Puss in Boots" is waiting on hold strong for any $25 million second-week take, based on forecasts according to early Friday returns in the domestic box office. The prospects for "A Really Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas" were murkier -- it's drawn in $500,000 at the begining of matinees, but tend to pop with late-evening auds, passing on a variety from $14 million to $18 million, based on which team you request. Universal's "Tower Heist" made $1.4 million at the begining of Friday returns, which most B.O. experts believe should provide the weekend crown. But less positive estimations place it within the $23 million-$25 million range, establishing a possible equine race with DreamWorks Animation's "Boots." The three dimensional family toon, which experienced in last weekend's opening from the freakishly early winter storm within the Northeast, opened up to $34 million. But it is shedding a scant 30% week over week, using it track for that silver medal. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

AFM 2011: Robert Pattinson's 'Bel Ami' Nabs a U . s . States Distributor

The brand new the new sony Pictures Worldwide Acquistions has acquired U . s . States rights to Rachelle Lefervre starrer Bel Ami from Protagonist Pictures.our editor recommends'Breaking Dawn's' Robert Pattinson's New Film 'Bel Ami' Hits the internet (Video)'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn' New Poster Features Billy Burke, Rachelle Lefervre in Embrace (Photo)'Bel Ami' adaptation adds cast PHOTOS: Hollywood's A-List Transformed The film, directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod (Mouth area by Jowl), also stars Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci. In Bel Ami, Pattinson plays broke ex-soldier Georges Duroy, whose rise using the echelons in the Parisian love monde inside the eighties notifies a merchant account of ambition, energy and seduction. Rachel Bennette written the adapated script based on Guy p Maupassant's novel. VIDEO: 'Breaking Beginning's' Rachelle Lefervre's New Film 'Bel Ami' Hits the internet The sale was found the final outcome between Michael Helfand, executive v . p . of economic matters, and Tana Evans, v . p . of purchases and distribution for SPWA, and Ben Roberts, Boss for Protagonist. Produced by Uberto Pasolini and executive produced by Simon Bigger, Bel Ami will begin leaving overseas within the finish of February 2012. PHOTOS: 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon': A Behind-the-Moments Look The film remains agreed to Studio Canal inside the Uk, Germany and France, RaiCinema in Italia, Hopscotch nationwide, Independent in Benelux, Impuls in Europe, Scanbox in Scandinavia, Golden Scene in Hong Kong/Macau, Unikorea Culture and Art in Columbia, SSG in Taiwan, Central Partnership in CIS, Ablo in Eastern Europe, Ozen Film in Chicken, Lusomundo in Portugal, Front Row within the center East, California Filmes in Latin America, PVR in India, PT Amero in Indonesia, Pioneer inside the Philippines, Nu Metro in Nigeria, Passion Encore in Singapore and Hollywood Entertainment inside a vacation in a holiday in greece and Cyprus. Bel Ami can be a Red-colored-colored Wave Films production in colaboration with XIX Film, Protagonist Pictures and RaiCinema. Related Subjects AFM Rachelle Lefervre Kristin Scott Thomas The brand new the new sony Pictures Animation Uma Thurman AFM 2011

Hugh Dancy Steps Into Broadway's 'Venus in Fur'

NY (AP) Hugh Dancy was walking lower the road, minding their own business, when he arrived his first acting gig.At that time, he would be a teen in boarding school within the south of England coupled with lately been delivered to the school's theater while he was engaging in trouble someone's concept of punishment and community service. Dancy states he loved just hanging available and that he should have designed a good impression."A couple of several weeks later, quite literally, I had been walking lower the road which older kid in the school stated, 'Oh, you are likely to be Ariel during my manufacture of "The Tempest" the coming year,AInch Dancy recalls. "I had been cast in the pub. It's rarely been very easy since."There is something charmed about Dancy, and the being cast like a Shakespeare sprite for his first role in some way fits perfectly having a youthful actor that has since built a trans-Atlantic stage and film career silently but continuously.Over an omelet in a hotel dining area near his Soho home he explains to wife Claire Danes, Oxford College-educated Dancy is polite and cheerful, though tired from rehearsals. Outfitted in jeans along with a sweater, his hair tousled from mattress, he nonetheless radiates an unflashy attractiveness, a mixture of Orlando Blossom and Taylor Lautner.This fall sees two Dancy films launched "Hysteria" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" as they slips onto a Broadway stage for that second time for you to tackle David Ives' mental and kinky play "Venus in Fur."Dancy, 36, stars opposite Nina Arianda within the two-character play, which explores energy dynamics within the audition room. It thrilled audiences off-Broadway this past year and returns with similar creative team the director, costumer and scenic designer, in addition to Arianda aside from Dancy, who gets control the part performed by Wes Bentley."Used to do want to myself, 'I hope they treat me lightly,'" states Dancy. "In this way, I believe visiting it fresh ultimately achieved positive results me and that i hope really achieved positive results everyone."Director Walter Bobbie stated adding Dancy assisted they expand their conception from the play. "He's clearly an incredible actor having a huge emotional range that he's immediate access at any time. What he brings is intelligence," stated Bobbie. "You cannot direct intelligence. You can simply get it. Hugh brings might a great deal of charisma."Ives, the playwright, states Dancy won the part the moment he opened up his mouth throughout the audition. "He's an actress of immense range," he states. "He's introduced the gift not just of themself for this performance but a present for me personally meaning will be able to return and re-think speeches and re-think moments within the play."Dancy's home might be NY, but younger crowd keeps one out of London and it has labored both in metropolitan areas, equipped with an excellent American accent. "I have been lucky enough to get chart a type of strange course among,Inch he states. "I have been able to perform it enough to date."About this day, Dancy is waiting for the return of his wife inside a couple of days. She has been in New York since This summer filming the Showtime series "Homeland," and juggling an individual existence with two in-demand stars is not easy."I possibly could maintain London. I possibly could maintain NY. Same holds true of her," he states. "She's labored working in london a lot more than I've, ought to be fact, and I have labored in NY a lot more than she's. The periodic challenge is matched up through the great possibilities and advantages."He hates needing to area questions regarding his wife and squirms ever-so-slightly once the subject pops up. "It isn't which i can't stand being requested about this, I simply can't stand speaking about this because I believe it's private," he states.Dancy seems opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rupert Everett, Jonathan Pryce and Felicity Johnson within the movie "Hysteria." He plays the inventor within the Victorian times from the vibrator."It is a identifiable British costume drama that unexpectedly happens to actually cover the invention of the adult toy," states Dancy. "Like a modern audience, you're able to have your cake and eat it. Regrettably, all you say with regards to this movie seems like a dreadful double entendre. There is no way around that."His other film is "Martha Marcy May Marlene" with Elizabeth Olsen, the more youthful sister of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. It is a mental thriller in regards to a lady who returns home after getting away an abusive cult."For me personally, it will assistance to jump between TV, film, stage and whatever," he states. "I believe you excise slightly different certain muscles, although in the finish during the day, in the very, very heart from it, it is the same deal. You are telling a tale and you are finding truth inside it and you are attempting to keep it interesting."After boarding school, Dancy graduated from Oxford and gone to live in London, winning small theater parts and TV roles. He arrived the title role inside a TV movie of "David Copperfield" with Michael Richards, Eileen Atkins, Sally Area and Anthony Andrews. He acquired an Emmy Award nomination in 2006 for his role because the Earl of Kent in "Elizabeth I" and it has lately made an appearance on Showtime's "The Large C."He earned his Broadway debut inside a 2007 revival of "Journey's Finish" and the film credits include "Evening" with Danes, "Black Hawk Lower," ''Ella Enchanted," ''The Jane Austen Book Club," ''Confessions of the Shopaholic" and "Our Idiot Brother."Dancy was created in England's Stoke-on-Trent and traces his unconventional career to his parents, Jonathan Dancy, an instructor and moral philosopher, and writer Sarah Dancy. Hugh may be the earliest of three children. His sister Kate works best for Save the kids and the brother Jack runs a travel agent."We have all wound up during these slightly odd little pockets. Why that's, I'm not sure," he states. "However it must clearly happen to be something our parents did for that good, I believe.InchCopyright laws 2011 Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Sony Pictures Swings To Profit In 2Q While Parent Company Forecasts $1.2B FY Loss

Sony delivered a gloomy report as it reeled from problems that ranged from surprisingly low sales of TV sets tofloods in Thailand. For the quarter that ended in September, the fiscal 2Q, Sony had a net loss of $350M on sales of $20.5B. But it also slashed its projection for the fiscal year results to a $1.2B loss from a $769M profit. Sony Pictures delivered operating income of $268M, up from a $61.6M loss in the quarter last year, on revenues of $2.2B, up 17%. But that includes $278M from the sale of Spider-Man merchandising rights, as well as strong results for The Smurfs. Overall, the company says that theatrical was a drag on the higher sales of TV shows and home entertainment. The music unit sang a different tune, with operating income down 21.9% to $82M on sales of $1.3B, down 6.6%. The company attributes that to the appreciation of the yen, and lower album sales outside of the U.S.

Neil Patrick Harris Talks Sharing The Big Screen With Fiance David Burtka

First Published: November 1, 2011 6:14 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka arrive at Art Los Angeles Contemporary Opening Night Reception in Santa Monica, Calif., on January 27, 2011Neil Patrick Harris shares his life and two children twins Gideon and Harper (both 1) with fiance David Burtka, and in A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas, they share something new together, as well the big screen. We dont really act together, we just live together and we certainly exist together, like all the time, but acting it was weird, because we just exist on a different level, Neil told Access Hollywood of David joining the Harold & Kumar franchise, as he promoted the film over the weekend. And Neil had nothing but praise for David, who makes a cameo as himself (with a twist). Im very proud of him and I think he came across very well in the movie, Neil, who once again plays a druggie, womanizer version of himself in the third installment in the buddy comedy, told Access. Hes a funny guy, Neil added of David. The latest Harold & Kumar installment is in theaters Friday and Neil recognizes that the franchise has added to his hip factor. The H & K stuff brought a kind of hip-ness quotient to how people perceived me, I think he said. It seemed like before then, I was doing more mainstream kind of all-American guy. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New We Need to Talk About Kevin Trailer: The Baddest Seed

Tilda Swinton’s extreme exasperation is always a cinematic treat, but We Need to Talk About Kevin looks like it will achieve record levels of mania. As the mother of a sociopathic son (Ezra Miller), Swinton is giving it her all, which makes her underdog status in the Best Actress race a bit disappointing. Here, watch as Kevin tortures his mother to the tune of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” and adds some believable terror to your Halloween. Cannot wait for this movie. Possessed, evil children are always good on screen. The full spectrum from The Exorcist to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Veruca is craycray!) is memorable, and Kevin will fit right in — and maybe outdo all contemporaries. ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ Trailer [YouTube]

Fox and DirecTV Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avoid Blackout

Fox, Direct TV logos DirecTV and Fox Networks reached a last-minute agreement Monday to avoid a blackout that would have included FX, several regional sports networks and other Fox-owned cable channels, The NY Times reports. "Fox Networks and DirecTV have reached an agreement for DirecTV to continue carrying all Fox Networks," the two companies said in a joint statement. "We both know the past 10 days have been challenging, but we're pleased that both sides could eventually come together to ensure our viewers continue to enjoy Fox programming." Kurt Sutter takes on DirecTV over possible blackout with choice words Fox and DirecTV had been engaged in a public battle since Oct. 21. Fox claimed that DirecTV sent the company a proposal that stipulated that Fox agree to their pricing terms or else DirecTV's 19 million subscribers will lose access to more than two dozen Fox cable. DirecTV claimed that Fox was seeking a 40 percent increase in subscriber fees. They came to an agreement just nine hours before the Nov. 1 deadline. In the days leading up to the possible blackout, Kurt Sutter - the creator and executive producer behind FX's Sons of Anarchy, took to his blog to share the script of a promo he had written himself, but had not been approved or filmed. "Starting November 1st, DirecTV is pulling FX from your box. That means you'll miss the last five episodes of Sons this season. Perhaps five of the most critical episodes of the series," he said. "I know Fox has a horse in this race, but they're trying to negotiate in good faith. DirecTV is shutting down all conversation and using their customers as leverage. In the process, you're getting f---ed over. They're running ads with their corporate shill telling you how much 'they care about your business,' that dude's got one sincere hand on his heart while the other greases your unsuspecting backside. Because they're about to flip you over and f--- up the a-- till you bleed." DirecTV has 19 million subscribers. Are you happy Fox and DirecTV avoided the blackout?

Director Tom Donovan dies

Tom Donovan, a director in early television and later a producer who also played a key role in the 1960 merger between the Screen Directors Guild and the Radio Television Directors Guild, leading to the formation of the DGA, died in Englewood, N.J., on Oct. 27. He was 89.Directors Guild of America president Taylor Hackford said, "Tom's mark upon the new DGA was indelible. He was president of the NY Local of the RTDG when discussions first began in the late 1950s about forming a new, unified organization to represent film and television directors and the teams that support them under one roof, and then in 1962, he chaired the committee that organized a restructuring of the new guild that eased regional friction and consolidated power in a National Board in which both the East Coast and the West Coast were fully represented -- an organizational structure that continues today."Donovan first got a call about a possible merger between the respective guilds for film and TV directors from Frank Capra in 1958. Donovan agreed to meet Capra and others at NY's 21 Club. Donovan was initially skeptical about the benefits of such a merger for TV directors but eventually came around.During the 1950s and early '60s, Donovan directed a 1954 episode of "Danger," several episodes of "Studio One in Hollywood" and "The United States Steel Hour," adaptations of "The Hasty Heart" for "The DuPont Show of the Month" and of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" for "Sunday Showcase" as well as telepic adaptations of "The Bells of St. Mary's" and "Ninotchka."Many shows were moving to Los Angeles, but Donovan remained in NY.Later he produced and directed episodes of the show "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," helmed an entry in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" series and directed episodes of the daytime soap "Ryan's Hope."In 1981 Donovan directed his single feature film, "Lovespell," a take on the Tristan and Isolde story that starred Richard Burton and Kate Mulgrew, among others.Most recently he helmed episodes of the daytime soap "Another World" in 1997 and produced and directed an episode of "General Hospital" in 2006.Donovan served on the first national board of the newly formed DGA, eventually holding nearly every board position over the next 33 years including national VP. He also served five terms on the DGA's Eastern Directors Council and as trustee of the DGA Foundation.For his contributions to the guild, Donovan was made an Honorary Life Member in 1985 and picked up the Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service to the DGA and its membership in 2001.Hackford called Donovan "a beloved father figure here at the guild" who "took great pride in everything he helped set in motion all those years ago -- a single, unified guild that helped protect and improve working conditions, creative rights and economic benefits for all guild members."Donovan was also a trustee of the Actors Fund for 13 years beginning in 1993, playing key roles on the audit, human services and executive committee.In 2006, he and his wife, Marie, retired to the Actors Fund's Lillian Booth Actors' Home in New Jersey. She died in August.He is survived by a son and a daughter. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com