The Very Best Geek Moments of 2011: From 'Transformers' to 'Deathly Hallows,' the very best 11 in '11

Movies fit in with the nerds -- how else would you explain this area-office dominance of Harry Potter, Transformers and Marvel superheroes? Fans want out-of-this-world action and dazzling effects, and 2011's movies were pleased to deliver in spades. Maybe it's a summer time blockbuster or perhaps a frightening monster movie, we would like the most popular figures doing among three things whatsoever occasions: coming something up, doing something amusing or kissing someone hot (bonuses when they accomplish the 3 at the same time). But each year full of curler-coaster thrills, how can you choose the greatest peaks? We required another to trap our breath and title the moments that made us geek the most this season. From wizard make-outs to absurd foreheads, listed here are Moviefone's Best Geek Moments of 2011. The Geekiest Movie Moments of 2011 11. Wolverine's Cameo in 'X-Males: Top Classཆ. Peter Sarsgaard's Temple in 'Green LanternƏ. Geek Hollywood Unites on 'The Adventures of TintinƎ. The Plague from 'Hobo Having a Shotgunƍ. All of the Asgard Moments in 'Thorƌ. The Jotnar from 'The Troll HunterƋ. They Finally Hug in 'The Deathly Hallows, Part 2Ɗ. The Driller from 'Transformers: Dark from the MoonƉ. Andy Serkis as Caesar in 'Rise from the Planet from the Apesƈ. Moses Versus. the Monsters in 'Attack the BlockƇ. 'The Situation' from 'Super 8' See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

Chinese Government Thinks Christian Bale Should Be 'Embarrassed'

And you thought Bane was Batman's biggest antagonist. Following his scuffle with government authorities in China last week, Christian Bale has been called out by the Chinese government for being an opportunist looking to "create news." Bale was detained by Chinese guards last week when he attempted to see Chen Guangcheng, a blind civil rights activist and lawyer who has been under house arrest in China for over a year after defending "thousands of women who were victims of forced sterilizations and abortions." "I'm not being brave doing this," Bale told CNN. "The local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit Chen and his family and getting beaten up for it and my understanding is getting detained for it -- I want to support what they're doing." About his own lack of bravery, it seems the Chinese government agrees. "If anyone should be embarrassed it's the relevant actor, not the Chinese side," Liu Weimin, a Chinese ministry spokesman, told Reuters. "What I understand is that the actor was invited by the director Zhang Yimou to attend the movie premiere. He was not invited to any village in Shandong to create news or make a film. If he wants to create news, I don't think that would be welcomed by China." Bale stars in 'The Flowers of War,' about the infamous Rape of Naking in 1937. As Bale's publicist told Huffington Post, the Batman star was "there for work" and was "just really moved on a personal level," which is why he attempted to see Chen. [via NYT/ArtsBeat] [Photo: AP] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

Vin Diesel Confirms Back-To-Back 'Fast Six' And 'Fast Seven'

Plenty of movies are split into two in order to give the story more room to breathe. "The Hobbit." "Twilight: Breaking Dawn." "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows." Why can't the "Fast and Furious" franchise join all the fun? Vin Diesel, star of the franchise and one of its producers, announced that upon planning the sixth "Fast and Furious" film, the team realized that they would prefer a seventh movie to wrap up every storyline. "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 didnt have enough space," he told The Hollywood Reporter. The sixth and seventh movies will be written simultaneously, though he gave no details on a possible production schedule. "Fast Five," if you remember, was more of a resurgence than a sequel for the long-running series. Dwayne Johnson provided reliable action and catchphases, while the return of Eva Mendes and Michelle Rodriguez was teased in the final scene. It also made gobs and gobs of cash, certainly a powerful motivator for studio executives looking to pass the green light. "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," Diesel told THR. "The studio said, 'You cant fit all that story in one damn movie!'" You know what's coming with a sixth and seventh movie, right? Oscar gold. All of the blown up cars and carbon emissions will be so worth it if Diesel takes home Best Actor. Tell us what you think of back-to-back "Fast" sequels in the comments and on Twitter!

Rooney Mara's 'Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo' Training Made Her Attack a marriage Guest

Sometimes, stars go so deep into character, the role will suddenly appear within their actual lives -- or, based on Rooney Mara, despite the film has finished shooting. Mara, who got a Golden Globe nomination on her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in 'The Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo' -- a job that involved moments of torture, rape and nudity -- revealed to David Letterman the intensity she put in Salander suddenly arrived on the scene in a friend's wedding, following a drunk guest got a tad too frisky using the actress. Regrettably for him, which was an awful idea. "It had been very hard to leave [character]," she stated. "Right whenever we finished, my closest friend got married and that i visited her wedding, and among the visitors there is quite inebriated. He came to me and that he was attempting to dance beside me and that he selected me up, and that i guess I had been still kind of in character and that i just immediately snapped up his throat, and was like 'Put me lower. I'll hurt you,'" stated Mara. A clip from the interview, thanks to Vulture, is below. For Mara's Lisbeth Salander, you should check her in 'The Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo,' if this hits theaters 12 ,. 20. Best Performances of 2011 11. Uggie, 'The Artistཆ. Corey Stoll, 'Midnight in ParisƏ. Ryan Gosling, 'DriveƎ. Kristen Wiig, 'Bridesmaidsƍ. Michelle Williams, 'My Week With Marilynƌ. Meryl Streep, 'The Iron LadyƋ. Michael Fassbender, 'ShameƊ. Albert Brooks, 'DriveƉ. Charlize Theron, 'Young Adultƈ. Kaira Pitt, 'MoneyballƇ. Rooney Mara, 'The Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo' See All Moviefone Art galleries » [via Vulture] [Photo: AP] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

Componen publish czar Paul Haggar dies

Paul Haggar, who brought theatrical publish-production at Vital in the seventies until his 2005 retirement, died 12 ,. 7 of natural causes in La. He was 83. Throughout work at Vital that survived 54 years, Haggar grew to become probably the most well-known figures within the Hollywood publish community, managing publish on 100s of films, including "Love Story," "Chinatown," "The Godfather," "Yellows" and "Paradise Can Wait." A structure around the Componen lot was refitted for editing work and named the Haggar Building later. Haggar received the Hollywood Publish Alliance's lifetime achievement award last year. At that time, HPA leader Leon Silverman stated, "For many years, the title Paul Haggar was symbolic of publish-production. It's no exaggeration to express that Paul stored all of us on our toes. He required the very best and first got it from his publish-production team and the suppliers. He would be a master at balancing the creative and also the business, because he was always a tenacious advocate of both filmmaker's vision and also the studio's needs." Haggar was created in Brooklyn, but his family gone to live in La when he was youthful. He started his career within the Vital mailroom and rose to apprentice editor and finally to professional Vice president of publish-production, employment by which he continued to be in excess of two decades. Haggar was notable for his charitable organisation fund-rasing work with organizations such as the Vision Honours, that they chaired, American Heart Assn. charitable organisation Hollywood Has Heart. Children include four kids and 2 sons. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Dodgers Win Approval For Early TV Privileges Putting in a bid Bloomberg Reviews Fox To Appeal

The La Dodgersreceived personal bankruptcy court permission Thursday to try and sell future TV privileges to the baseball games several weeks before their existing contract with Fox Sports enables, Bloomberg reported. The government personal bankruptcy judge in Delaware overruled Fox’s objection towards the team entering early discussions with Fox rivals. Fox Sports has broadcasting privileges with the 2013 season but was fighting to retain exclusive putting in a bid privileges under that contract until November. 30, 2012. That contract might have precluded every other bidders just before that date however the judge’s decision Thursday removed that exclusivity.The judge gave Fox 45 days exclusivity arrive at a brand new agreement using the Dodgers. The countdown for your window began November 30. If no deal is arrived at, Time Warner Cable is wanting to jump in to the fray. It already won the privileges to broadcast La Opposing team games on the new regional sports network that will replace previous privileges holder Fox Sports. Competition for sports programming is driving up prices for privileges and permitting early putting in a bid around the Dodgers will probably increase the need for they within the approaching purchase. The Dodgers declared personal bankruptcy in June with the concept that arises from the purchase of media privileges would be employed to pay creditors. Current team owner Frank McCourt meant to retain possession but Mlb decided to a purchase to eliminate McCourt, whose stewardship continues to be under optimal. Fox appeals the ruling. Meantime, the Dodgers and Fox will attempt to determine whether discussions for any new TV contract can start immediately or must wait pending the network’s benefit of Thursday’s ruling. Regardless of the outcome, any purchase of TV privileges necessitates the approval from the personal bankruptcy judge, Major league baseball and also the winning bidder for that team.

Mark Zuckerberg's Private Photos Released After Facebook Security Glitch Is Discovered

In mid-December, Taschen Books releases what is perhaps the most weighty tribute to Marilyn Monroe ever produced: an 18-pound limited-edition art book titled Norman Mailer, Bert Stern: Marilyn Monroe. Each book, clocking in at almost two feet tall and wide, is signed by Bert Stern, who shot sessions with Monroe on assignment with Vogue magazine over the course of two weekends just six weeks before her death in 1962. The intimate portraits, which ranged from nude to fashion shots, are paired with Norman Mailer's 1973 biography Marilyn in this gorgeously executed book. The $1,000 book runs to just 1,962 numbered copies (with 250 of those a $2,500 art edition that comes with one print).our editor recommendsPhotographer of Marilyn Monroe's Famous Nude Photos Discusses the Icon's Calculated Bid for Publicity and Her Final Days (Q&A)The Making of 'My Week With Marilyn' PHOTOS: The Making of 'My Week With Marilyn' THR spoke with Stern-- who is also of the subject of an upcoming documentary, Becoming Bert Stern --- at the Bel-Air Hotel where his portrait sittings with Monroe took place almost 50 years ago. ON HOW HE GOT THE NUDE PHOTOS: "That was her idea," says Stern, who had brought a number of transparent scarves as accessories. "She could see they were transparents so she asked her hairdresser what he thought of doing nudes and he thought that would be a good idea. I didn't know what was going to happen." ON WHAT MOTIVATED HER TO POSE NUDE: It was "absolutely" calculated says Stern. "She had just had a divorce from Arthur Miller, she'd lost the movie Something's Gotta Give. I thought it was the only time in her life I could approach her. I had thought of it but I didn't think she would do it." ON HER RIVAL ELIZABETH TAYLOR: "On my way to photograph Marilyn Monroe I photographed Elizabeth Taylor," says Stern. At the time, Monroe was jealous of the huge amount of public attention Taylor was receiving. "Taylor was much more stoic for a portrait subject. Marilyn was a free spirit." ON MONROE'S BEHAVIOR DURING THE SHOOT: "She didn't talk about her life but she talked. She was combative in a way, confrontational. She asked me: Didn't I want to be a film director? What was my premise? She just made little comments." ON WHY HE HASN'T READ MAILER'S BOOK: "I read a few pages. I'm not a big reader," admits the often curmudgeonly photographer. ON MONROE'S UBIQUITY: "She's like part of the world. She's like the weather." PHOTOS: Hollywood's Lost Letters ON WHY SHE IS STILL AN ICON: "In the way that Christ represents religion, she represents femininity. The female spirit. She's the girl next door. The American dream girl. She was just gorgeous. She was everything, Funny, beautiful, very sexy, great body, she was clever, a good model. I didn't expect her to be so naturally beautiful. I had expected her more blown up, heavier, much more fake. She was very real. I took to her right away." ON WHETHER HE SAW HER END COMING: "No, I had no inclination. I just thought she was a typical beautiful crazy girl but particularly pretty and a lot of fun." ON HAVING PASSION FOR HIS SUBJECT: "I think I was in love with her before I met her. I would have run away with her. Who wouldn't? If you have a passion, it will do a lot. And I was the right age for those pictures," says Stern, who was around 31 years old at the time. "When the first sitting was over, we were gathering all the photographs together. I figured, well, I didn't get Marilyn but I got the pictures. But it wasn't over because after Vogue saw the first pictures they sent me back to do more. It's never over. Marilyn goes on." Below view an exclusive image from the book: PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery The Making of 'My Week With Marilyn' Related Topics Marilyn Monroe Books

New John Carter Banners Online

Check out the thoats on that!After Thursday's latest John Carter trailer, here are a few new banners for the film - and fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books can enjoy a closer look at the film's thoats, Tharks and white apes. The rest of you can find out what the heck a thoat is below.{New John Carter Banners}The film stars Taylor Kitsch as the titular adventurer, Lynn Collins as Princess of Mars Dejah Thoris, WillemDafoe as the green, four-armed Tars Tarkas and Mark Strong as no-goodnik Matai Shang. And vocabulary-wise, "thoats" are the big ox-looking things they're riding here, Tharks are the aforementioned speccy four-arms, and white apes are very big, very scary King Kong-looking monsters.JohnCarter is out on March 9 next, and there will be lots more about it in a future issue of Empire.

New You'll be able to Film Experts Circle Honours Preview: 'The Descendants,' Jean Dujardin and Meryl Streep Predicted to Win

By Tom O'Neil, GoldDerby.com Expect if some crazy award individuals who win leave the voting powwow in the NY Film Experts Circle on Tuesday morning. According a poll of award experts completed by Gold Derby, these will be the individuals who win: 'The Descendants' (Best Picture), Jean Dujardin (Best Actor in 'The Artist') and Meryl Streep (Best Actress in 'The Iron Lady'), Albert Brooks (Best Supporting Actor in 'Drive') and Jessica Chastain (Best Supporting Actress in 'The Help,' 'Tree of Life' and 'Take Shelter'). However, the critics' circle established fact for breeding voter clashes contributing to crazy honorees. All things have associated with the archaic voting procedure. Each critic ranks faves by setting three (top choice), two then one indicate each, as well as the champion must show on most ballots. Consequently, voting in each category frequently spans many ballots, rival camps form and victory is only able to be mentioned having a compromise candidate. 'Milk' won Best Picture of 2009, for example, only when gamers for 'Rachel Marriage,A 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' surrendered and recognized a contract. No experts entering the 2002 voting conclave planned to find the awesome 'Mulholland Drive,' nevertheless it emerged since the default choice after they couldn't decide among 'In the Mattress room,' 'Gosford Park' and 'Shrek' after many frustrating ballot clashes. Furthermore to 'The Descendants,' another movies with strong NYFCC support this year are 'Tree of Life' and 'The Artist,' but expect if 'Moneyball' or 'Midnight in Paris' emerges since the fallback choice. The very best champion matters a good deal because the Gotham experts have observed a effective impact on the Oscars with time. Within the last 76 years, they were the first to hail eventual Academy Award Best Pictures 28 occasions. It's apparent the NY Film Critics' Circle carried out an important role inside the eventual Oscar victories of those films as 'The Lost Weekend' (1946), 'Marty' (1956), 'Tom Jones' (1964), 'In the heat in the Night' (1968), 'The Deer Hunter' (1979), 'Ordinary People' (1981), 'Terms of Endearment' (1984) and 'The Silence in the Lambs' (1992). Nevertheless the agreement rate is not too impressive recently. Only five occasions formerly 2 decades gets the same film won Best Picture in NY and also on Oscar evening. A year ago 'The Social Network' taken all of the key critics' honours, but Hollywood didn't appear of taking care of. David Fincher's Facebook movie was usurped by 'The King's Speech' in the market honours presented with the guilds as well as the film academy. Nonetheless, the circle has carried out a starring role in spotlighting many stars who ongoing to win Oscars. Stars like Forest Whitaker ('Last King of Scotland,' 2006), Geoffrey Hurry ('Shine,' 1996) and Marcia Gay Harden ('Pollock,' 2000) probably owe their Academy Award victories mainly to early wins within the circle. See the Gold Derby expert picks for your NYFCC individuals who win this link. [Photo: Fox Searchlight] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

The earth the planet pandora Stock Drops, TiVo Shares Rise After Strong Results

NY - Internet radio firm The earth the planet pandora and TiVo Corporation. both reported better-than-expected quarterly results late Tuesday, however stocks went in a variety of directions on Wednesday. As the organization had released an unpredicted profit for your third quarter, The earth the planet pandora shares dropped as Wall Street made an appearance concerned about its financial outlook. Stifel, Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan made obvious the final results using this method: "Solid report, but likely inadequate to driver near-term upside." He mentioned that guidance of $80 millionth- $84 million in fourth-quarter revenue "was below previous implied guidance...no matter the strong third-quarter beat." By 9:50am ET, the stock was lower 10.six percent at $10.60, close to its low of $9.33, therefore it had established in September. Meanwhile, TiVo's latest quarterly results had exceeded Wall Street anticipation and seen the Digital video recorder firm return to overall customer growth the first time in four years. The stock was up 5.9 % at $10.13 by 9:50am ET. It's exchanged between $7.06 and $12.65 within the this past year. Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible on Wednesday elevated his fair value round the stock by 50 cents to $18.50. Lauding a "good quarter," more youthful crowd contended that "core momentum and legal prospects improve risk/reward" for traders. TiVo has existed patent suit with AT&T while others that experts say can result in trial results or funds that ought to benefit TiVo. Suit with AT&Its scheduled for that month of the month of january as they are funds conference with Verizon. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects

Shaun Lipskys Adopt Films Accumulates Mighty Fine As Third Acquisition

Adopt Films has acquired the united states theatrical privileges to Darlene Goodsteins semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy-drama Mighty Fine, the distributor’s co-controlling executive Shaun Lipsky introduced.Occur the seventies,Mighty Fine may be the story of Joe Fine, a higher-spirited guy who relocates his family wife Stella, kids Nathalie and Maddie from Brooklyn to New Orleans looking for a much better existence and palatial home, but his dreams and extravagance far exceed his means.Chazz Palminteri (Bullets Over Broadway, A Bronx Tale) and Andie MacDowell (sex lies and videotape, Groundhog Day) take part in the parents, and Jodelle Ferland (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Tideland) and Rainey Qualley (MacDowells daughter in her own debut) take part in the kids.Adopt plans a2012 Memorial Day weekend platform rollout. Goodstein helmed the 1988 Holocaust-designed documentary Voices in the Loft and authored 1991s Emmy-nominated Saying Kaddish. Mighty Fine was created by Ajae Clearway and Kathryn Wallack. Lipsky discussed the offer using the movies co-executive producer Barbara Goodstein.Mighty Fine may be the third title acquired through the recently created Adopt Films. All were directed by women. The award-winning documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is slated to spread out in March, and Anne monds Toronto fest entry Nuit #1 is placed for late summer time 2012. Minnesota-based Tim Grady and Karen Sternal are Lipskys co-controlling executive partners.

'Mission Impossible' Debuts New Poster, Heads Back To Dubai

We're getting closer and closer to the official release of "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," the fourth entry in the Tom Cruise-starring spy franchise. And with a fast-approaching release date comes a double dose of "M:I 4" news, beginning with a brand new poster, which you can see above. In addition to the new poster, news has dropped that the fourth "Mission" is headed to Dubai once again. After shooting what looks to be one heck of a breathtaking action sequence on the massive Burj Khalifa tower, "Ghost Protocol" is returning to the city for the eighth annual Dubai International Film Festival. According to a press release, the new "Mission: Impossible" will open up the festival, which runs from December 7 through 14, 2011. Cruise, director Brad Bird and fellow cast and crew members are expected to be on hand for the event. Part of the press release is below, courtesy of Bleeding Cool: Dubai will reprise its own starring role in the film when Cruise, Bird and the films co-stars take to the Festivals opening night red carpet alongside the citys leadership at the Madinat Jumeirah, The Arabian Resort Dubai, home to the Dubai International Film Festival. Todays joint announcement from Paramount Pictures and the Festival celebrates the Mission: Impossible teams return to Dubai after extensive filming in the city, including shoots spanning its old town, downtown financial hub and offshore Palm island development. With incredible stunt sequences featured throughout the movie, including the now iconic scene of Cruise scaling the worlds tallest tower, Dubais stunning Burj Khalifa, the movie also features Dubai footage shot in high-definition IMAX, promising crystal-clear imagery, powerful audio and a fantastically immersive experience. Framed for a terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, Impossible Missions Force operative Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his entire remaining team (Renner, Patton, Pegg) are disavowed along with the rest of the agency when the president initiates Ghost Protocol, essentially erasing the agency from existence. Left with no resources or backup, the team must find a way on their own to clear their names and prevent another attack. To complicate matters further, Ethan is forced to embark on this mission with a team of fellow IMF fugitives whose personal motives he does not fully know or trust. "Ghost Protocol" initiates nationwide on December 21, 2011. Tell us what you think of the news in the comments section and on Twitter!

Rapper Heavy D dies at 44

Rapper and actor Dwight Arrington Myers, better known as Heavy D, who served as the leader of popular 1990s hip-hop group Heavy D & the Boyz, died Tuesday in Los Angeles after being hospitalized with respiratory problems. He was 44. Grandmaster Flash was among the first to break the news over Twitter, posting, "I was just told Heavy D passed away." Hip-hop journalist Dream Hampton later confirmed the death, and social network tributes from the likes of A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip as well as Dwayne Johnson and Vivica Fox poured in immediately. In a statement, comedian and "In Living Color" cast member Tommy Davidson said: "Most know Heavy D as a rap icon; I considered him a brother who made an indelible mark on me as a performer and a human being. I miss him already." A gifted rhymesmith who largely eschewed profanity and adopted a cuddly recorded persona, the "overweight lover" Myers managed to break through to the pop crossover market without alienating his hardcore hip-hop audience, among whom he remained a beloved touchstone figure long after his commercial heyday. Born in Jamaica, Myers moved to Mount Vernon, N.Y., as a child. Joining forces with three childhood friends, Myers formed Heavy D & the Boyz in the late 1980s and managed to get a demo tape to Def Jam exec Andre Harrell, who signed them to his nascent label Uptown Records. The group released its debut, "Living Large," to respectable returns in 1987. Follow-up effort "Big Tyme" provided the group's true breakthrough in 1989. Anchored by production work from New Jack Swing auteur Teddy Riley and hip-hop classicist Marley Marl, the album broached the Billboard album chart's top 20 and hit No. 1 on the R&B charts, eventually going platinum; 1991's "Peaceful Journey" went platinum as well, and Myers was subsequently recruited to rap on Michael Jackson single "Jam" (produced by Riley), as well as Janet Jackson's "Alright." Heavy D & the Boyz provided the theme song for Fox sketch comedy show "In Living Color," and Myers landed a recurring role on sitcom "Roc." While still releasing solid-selling and well-received records with the group -- 1993's gold-certified "Blue Funk" featured guest spots from then-largely-unknown rappers the Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, while "Nuttin' but Love" went platinum in 1994 -- Myers began to branch out into further acting and label management ventures, serving as an A&R director and, briefly, president of Uptown. He also scored roles in the Laurence Fishburne-scripted Off Broadway play "Riff Raff" and sitcom "Living Single," starring Queen Latifah. In 1997, Myers released his first solo effort, "Waterbed Hev," to a top 10 berth on the pop charts. The modest-selling "Heavy" followed in 1999, and the reggae-influenced "Vibes" was released in 2008. Myers' acting career also included roles in "The Cider House Rules," "Boston Public," "Life" and this year's "Tower Heist." Last month, Myers performed a medley of his hits at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, marking his first live performance in more than a decade. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

'Goose' to receive Latin American reboot

MADRID -- Veralia, the Madrid-based production holding, is readying a Latin American reboot of mid-90s Spanish gameshow "El Gran juego de la oca" (Goose Game), which was based on the Snakes and Ladders boardgame. Produced in Bogota, and set up at Veralia's light entertainment producer Europroducciones TV, one of its five production companies, "Goose" will be syndicated to around four or five Latin American broadcasters, including a top channel in Mexico, Stefano Torrisi, director of Veralia's international division, told journalists in Madrid. Veralia will attempt to replicate the production structure set up by Europroduzione TV, Europroducciones' Italian subsid, which produced a big studio redo of "Guinness World Records," added Marco Fernandez de Araoz, Veralia director, international acquisitions and sales. Budgeted at nearly Euros1 million ($1.4 million) per show, the Italian "Guinness" studio production is used by smaller country companies for their own versions of the format. Veralia is in talks with Mexican and other Latin American networks. It is in advanced negotiations for Colombia's Dynamo Capital, a private-sector fund and producer, to co-produce "Goose" using its Colombian studios, Torrisi said. Each Latin American broadcaster will shoot its own version. According to Torrisi, producing out of Colombia could halve Spanish-level production costs, bringing the show in at Euros2.5 million ($3.4 million) for 20 episodes. The revamp will include a "Harry Potter"-style magical castle and a "Pirates of the Caribbean"-style sailing ship. Developed by "Fort Boyard" format creator Joselyn Hattab, the original was a big hit for leading Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 TV over 1993-95. Its original taped version punched high ratings in Chile, Mexico and other Latin American territories. A ramping up of international co-production, especially with emerging markets, looks like an increasing trend for Spanish TV production companies, as Spain's TV ad market double-dipped first-half 2011, plunging 7.4% to Euros1.21 billion ($1.66 billion). "Seeing what's going on in local markets, we have to go abroad to avoid shrinking until we close down," said Fernandez de Araoz. Europroducciones TV has also inked with Mediaset Espana to reversion "The Cube" for the ME-owned free-to-air web Cuatro. Sold by All3Media Intl., the BAFTA-winning U.K. gameshow will air from January in daily access primetime slot, a first for the format, which usually plays primetime. Europroducciones TV will produce 60 segs straight off, Torrisi said. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

English-speaking areas a priority for Aussie distribs

'Red Dog'In Australia's small market, indie distribs are rarely niche providers. Instead, they tread the line between a few select arthouse titles and the odd breakout hit to stay solvent."Two of our most successful films were at two ends of the spectrum. We had 'Source Code' that did almost A$6 million ($6.3 million) here and went wide and mainstream. At the other end of the spectrum we had 'Incendies,' the French-Canadian film that did about A$1 million ($1.05 million)," says Hopscotch Films topper Troy Lum. "I think films that work here are very distinctive, movies that cater to a very specific markets."Palace Films topper Nicolas Whatson agrees. "Films either work brilliantly or not at all, the middle ground seems to have slipped away," he says. "The audience is either passionately interested in something or it's really hard to get a result. That's making Australian distributors more selective, or more careful, about what they launch theatrically."Local films have had a good year, led by Roadshow's breakout hit "Red Dog," which has nabbed $7.9 million.In terms of cable and TV sales, Whatson says, "provided you have quality product those opportunities are still there," but Lum admits it is still tough."We struggle compared to the studios and we have a first-look deal with Showtime so we are the lucky ones," he says. "Free TV is very difficult."Both agree that VOD is providing a useful income stream, but they are not popping the champagne corks just yet."VOD is growing literally day by day, it's becoming an income stream that is big enough for us to budget for, big enough for us to take notice of," says Lum. "The court is still out on whether it's going to replace the reduction in the DVD market, but we're seeing some positive signs."Number of screens: 1,991Number of 3D screens: 686Top indie distribs and B.O.: Indie distribs in Oz account for around 15%-20% of the annual B.O., approx. A$1 billion ($1.05 billion) Palace Films and Cinemas: Distrib with an exhib chain that pitches to an arthouse audience. Has a strong foreign language bent. Hopscotch Films: One of Oz's indie success stories, balancing big local films like "Mao's Last Dancer" with foreign arthouse fare. Madman: Edgier distrib with a strong homevid market and a taste for special interest genres like anime and horror.Top exhibition chains for indie films: Dendy: City-based chain that leans heavily on arthouse fare but with the occasional mainstream film. Palace Cinemas: Main outlet for Palace Films' arthouse pics, particularly French and Italian titles. Greater Union: Big gun that unspools some of the indie distribs' more mainstream fare.Typical minimum guarantee paid: Most indies buy up and down the scale, but could range from $26,000 to $1.57 million depending on the film.Typical gross split for theatrical: There is not a typical split but distribs quote a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 55%.Top FIVE indie films: "Red Dog" ($7.9 million); "Source Code" ($6.3million); "Oranges and Sunshine" ($4 million); "Blue Valentine" ($1.46 million); "Incendies" ($1.05 million)Upcoming indie pickups: "Midnight in Paris" (Hopscotch); "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (Hopscotch); "Ages of Love" (Palace) Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

REVIEW: The Double Chokes on Cold-War Tropes, Gere-Sophistication Mismatch

The Double shows its cards immediately, when the screen fills getting a cable news show that your congressman demands “Russia’s back!,” watching the nation has reignited its nuclear program, its leader is freely hostile toward the U.S. and consists of more covert agents inside our edges than previously. Russia’s back, baby! And the like a relief that's, no less than if this involves spy thrillers — things made an appearance a great deal simpler inside the Cold War days, if this is an easy situation of superpower versus superpower, an excellent schism of ideology, and many types of an actress needed to triggered by play a theif was affect a highlight plus an air of stoicism. The Double, which marks the directorial debut of Michael Brandt, a movie author on Wanted and three:10 to Yuma, revels in Iron Curtain kitsch while including in gruesomely clichd set-ups including sleeper agents, code-named assassin cells together with a weary former CIA agent being attracted from retirement and expected to partner by getting an FBI eager beaver. That CIA representative is Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere), who lives alone and makes time to accept periodic neighborhood Little League game. (When he notifies mother of one of the players this simply because they sit together inside the stands, she’s charmed, and doesn’t appear whatsoever like she’s going to look for the sex-offender registry as soon as she'll go back home.) He’s unwillingly summoned in to the fold by his former boss (Martin Sheen, who warrants to own received more to accomplish), who thinks the present murder from the senator shows the signature of “Cassius” — the title the CIA gave with a top Soviet assassin who was simply really the only part of several seven agents not to are actually caught. There’s been no symbol of Cassius for any very long time, and Paul, who lead the efforts capture another six killings, demands it’s a copycat situation which his old enemy is dead. Nevertheless, he’s teamed with Ben Geary (Topher Sophistication), an FBI up-and-comer who written his master’s thesis at Harvard on Paul’s monitoring of Cassius, and who’s convinced the assassin has reemerged. Paul, it's obvious, doesn’t immediately decide to use being coupled with this snot-nosed kid. He doesn’t really speak what “snot-nosed kid,” but he's doing bark, “Where had you been when the wall came lower?”, that Ben genially solutions he was watching it in TV instead of mentioning he was likely in elementary school. Gere has not been an excessively significant actor, and also the initial dislike of Ben and gradual conditioning to him blend in to a general air of bemusement, as if he’s always mildly surprised to find themselves talking about a screen with Sophistication. There’s reason compared to that — Sophistication is sorely miscast here, every type of authority being thought with to ensure that like a loving family guy and father of two. I don’t dislike him becoming an actor, but his vague smarminess undercuts any expertise or likability he’s made to possess. You don’t want Paul to know to respect Ben, you need him to ditch the guy and stop taking his calls. Despite the possible lack of chemistry involving the film’s two leads, The Double does contain some wonderfully over-the-top twists which will make no sense but they're thrilling to consider. One early reveal necessitates the identity in the double agent the title describes, and adds some serious complications for the mission at hands. The implausibilities placed on since the story goes along — the film sandwiches in flashbacks to 1988, through which everyone looks exactly the same but they're shot using a filter, after which it jumps in to the present day analysis, through which Paul and Ben interrogate another survivor in the amount of assassins, carried out by Stephen Moyer. Why Moyer appear like Yakov Smirnoff while Cassius talks perfect American British? How's Paul capable of identify an ordinary-searching suede coat as Russian-made in one glance? Simply what does the shady informant/dealer of items within the homeland sell he couldn’t positioned on display inside a niche store — unlicensed Russian cleaning cleaning soap operas? Unpasteurized milk items? In the event you’re going to get the Double tolerable, it’s easier to let these as well as the many other questions that arise slide. Despite parallels, this film is several steps lower the ladder from Salt and lacks the charisma from the lead like Jennifer Aniston to tug you past nagging silliness. The Double does run a few nicely done setpieces, plus a highlight together with a prison breakout and also the other moment in flashback that appears to get into within the training sequence in Shiri. Nevertheless the film provides no real deliberation within the complications of existence just like a double agent, on national loyalty and sacrifice or possibly the conventional sad assassin angst. Really the only emotion it leads to is Cold War nostalgia — in Russia, direct-to-Dvd and blu-ray involves you. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Chaz Bono Goes Home During 'Dancing With the Stars' Week 5 Results

ABC The season of surprises is well behind Dancing With the Stars, as most fans probably predicted the week 6 results. Yes, Maksim Chmerkovskiy's comments during Monday's show could have sent Hope Solo packing, but they also probably ignited his considerable fanbase. UPDATE:Cher Reacts to Son Chaz Bono's 'Dancing With the Stars' Elimination Which left Chaz Bono and Lacey Schwimmer, who couldn't overcome weeks of low scores. The couple seemed to handle the results well, with Chaz saying he wanted to show America "a different kind of man," but after Monday's show, Lacey said she felt the scoring and the comments over the season had been unfair. STORY: Maksim Chmerkovskiy's Fellow Pros React to his 'Dancing With the Stars' Tirade "The distasteful words... It's unnecessary. It's rude," she said. "I'm not going too speak poorly of their professions or what they've done in their careers, but they have no business saying the things that they do. This is a dance competition, not a favorites competition." Chaz didn't take the harsh critiques much better. After Monday's show, he went off on Bruno Tonioli's weight-centric comments in the confessional. (The judge had compared him to a penguin and an Ewok in recent weeks.) PHOTOS: 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 13: Rehearsals It's had to see anyone go this far along in the competition, but the particularly sour note of this exit makes it even harder. Did the judges cross a line in their critiques of Chaz? And did the right one go home? RELATED: PHOTOS: 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 13 Cast Official Photos 'Dancing With the Stars' Premiere: 5 Memorable Moments TV REVIEW: 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 13 Premiere ABC Chaz Bono Dancing with the Stars Dancing with the Stars the Results Show

Eric Bana To Experience Elvis Around The Giant Screen

First Released: October 24, 2011 5:39 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images La, Calif. -- Caption Eric Bana smiles in the La premiere of Funny People on This summer 20, 2009Eric Bana is headed for that giant screen as American icon Elvis. Based on Variety, the Australian actor will have the background music great opposite actor Danny Huston, who's in final discussions to experience the late Leader Richard Nixon in Elvis & Nixon. Cary Elwes, who notoriously performed Westley in 1987s The Princess Bride, can make his feature film directorial debut using the project. The film will focus on the bizarre meeting from the Leader and also the celebrity, who Nixon designed a Federal Agent-at-Large. Cary is co-author from the script with Joey Sagal and Hanala Sagal. Meanwhile Bana themself is executive creating the project. No start date was readily available for the film. Eric was lately seen around the giant screen in Hanna with Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Believe Me (Puss)

A St. Paul Film production in colaboration with Sveriges Television, Gotlands Filmfond, Nordisk Film, Filmregion Stockholm-Malardalen and 4 1/2 Film. (Worldwide sales: Trust Nordisk, Hvidovre, Denmark.) Created by Fredrik Heinig, Mathilde Dedye. Executive producers, Gunnar Carlsson, Bo Rehnberg, Lone Korslund, Ake Lundstrom, Karin Julsrud. Directed, compiled by Johan Kling.With: Susanne Thorson, Alexander Skarsgard, Philomene Grandin, Michael Segerstrom, Lotti Tornros, Gitte Witt, Lars Bringas, Michelle Meadows, Peter Carlberg, Moa Gammel, Richard Ulfsater, Vera Vitali, Gustaf Skarsgard.After winning some acclaim for his 2007 bigscreen debut "Darling," author-director Johan Kling encounters a sophomore slump with "Believe Me.Inch Still reading the fest circuit at least a year past its home-turf theatrical release, this glumly misanthropic backstage ensembler may be the type of enterprise one suspects amused its makers much more of computer ever will any having to pay clients. Thesp Alexander Skarsgard's rising worldwide star should help snag some home-format sales. The youngish people of the theater company brought by author-director Katja (Susanne Thorson) are practicing her latest play, but she appears the only real person truly committed to your time and effort. Everybody else is bored, lazy, predatory, pathetic and/or perhaps a liar, with almost all individuals terms relevant to Katja's b.f. Alex (Skarsgard), who's going to discover he's heavy-laden another company member (Philomene Grandin). Other forms involved with less-than-amusing hijinks range from the resident Don Juan (Lars Bringas), the lone plus-sized female (Lotti Tornros) and also the peeping-tom landlord (Michael Segerstrom) anxious to evict all of them for murky reasons. In the final stretch, the pic tries a turn toward the nice and cozy and fuzzy via enhanced romantic prospects and justice correctly meted out. But it is way too little, past too far after a lot time spent with dully unsympathetic figures in quasi-farcical situations lacking of fizz. A soundtrack full of retro jazz tries to pressure some jauntiness in to the proceedings, to little avail. Individuals who eventually rent "Believe MeInch (initially titled "Puss," or "Hug") to feast their eyes on "True Blood's" Skarsgard will feel a minimum of partially paid out the actor briefly temps clad only inside a towel, a revealing kimono. Entertainers are competent if hardly challenged. Packaging is clever enough.Camera (color), Jakob Ihre editors, Johan Soderberg, Patrik Gyllstrom production designer, Roger Rosenberg costume designer, Anna Grenas. Examined on DVD, Bay Area, March. 12, 2011. (In Mill Valley Film Festival -- World Cinema.) Running time: 119 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Mariska Hargitay Switches into an infant Boy

Mariska Hargitay Mariska Hargitay's family just continues growing. She and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, now utilize an infant boy, People reviews.Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann, born this summer time, joins Hargitay and Hermann's other two children: August, 5, and Amaya Josephine, adopted just six several weeks ago.Mariska Hargitay switches into an infant girlHargitay, 47, and Hermann 44, introduced home their boy inside a week of coping with the documents."We never inside a million year thought it might happen this rapidly, but something within us understood this was right, and that we stated, 'Yes, yes, yes!'" what the law states and Order: SVU actress informs People. "We understood it was our guy. Everything about this felt right. It felt divinely right."

Woodsy Allen 'Wouldn't Hestitate' to Cast Michelle Obama in the Movie

If another term inside the White-colored House does not occur, First Lady Michelle Obama could have a fallback: Woodsy Allen states he "wouldn't hesitate to request her" to remain in among his movies. He's really attempted it before: Allen cast France's First Lady, Carla Bruni, just like a museum tour guide in 'Midnight in Paris.' Allen told the British television program Daybreak he thought we would cast Bruni impulsively whilst getting dinner along with her and husband Nicolas Sarkozy, so when fate put him together with Michelle Obama, he'd happily make her the identical offer. "Essentially reaches a place with Michelle Obama, which i figured she was appropriate for any component, I wouldn't hesitate to request her," Allen mentioned. Clearly, since the The Audio-video Club highlights, "he'd have to write a black female character that's not really a maid or prostitute." Zing! [via USA Today] [Photo: AP] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

NBC Cancels New Comedy Free Agents

UPDATE 11:30 AM: NBC has managed to get official: Beginning in a few days, repeats of Whitney will air within the Wednesday 8:30 PM slot vacated by Free Agents. PREVIOUS: The inevitable happened today to another poor showing from NBC’s newcomer comedy. Free Agents averaged a paltry 1. rating in 18-49 and three.3 million audiences last evening. The underperforming new comedy got a stay of execution a week ago, if this also published single. demo rating, for just one more shot at enhancing — but that didn’t happen. There's no ultimate decision yet what NBC will make the Wednesday 8:30 PM slot, but reruns of recent comedy Whitney really are a strong possibility. NBC’s boss Bob Greenblatt the 2009 week changed canceled The Playboy Club with repeats of recent drama Prime Suspect for further sampling. I won’t be amazed if Whitney eventually migrates to Wednesday with originals while 30 Rock rejoins NBC’s Thursday selection.

Japan's Wowow takes 'Episodes'

Tokyo, japan -- Wowow, the operator of Japan's greatest private entertainment funnel service for satellite and cable, has acquired the very first two skeins from the U.K.-U.S. comedy show "Episodes" from Hat Trick Intl., the distribution arm of U.K.-based Hat Trick Productions. The very first skein will bow on Wowow this November, using the second skedded to air in 2012. The show, that was first broadcast on Showtime and BBC2, has since been licensed to more 180 nations. The offer was closed only at that year's Mipcom. Beginning March. 1, Wowow continues to be broadcasting a brand new funnel selection on broadcast satellite composed of Wowow Prime (foreign dramas, photos along with other general programming), the Wowow Live (live concerts and occasions) and Wowow Cinema (new and classic photos) strands. The entire of customers to any or all three strands is 2.4 million. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

'Twilight Portrait,' 'Volcano' Honored at Reykjavik Worldwide Film Festival

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Russian director Angelina Nikonova's film Twilight Portrait and Iceland's expect the foreign-language Oscar race, Volcano, by Runar Runarsson, won key honours in the eighth Reykjavik Worldwide Film Festival on Saturday evening.our editor recommendsBela Tarr: 'I Don't wish to Be Considered A Stupid Filmmaker Who's Just Repeating Himself'Iceland's First-Ever Animated Feature Gears Up for Theatrical RunAki Kaurismaki's 'Le Havre' Finland's Official Oscar Entry The festival jury, brought by Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen, selected the Russian film from a area of 12 features from first- and 2nd-time filmmakers and honored it using the Golden Puffin Discovery Award. The winning film informs a tale of revenge from a social worker along with a militia guy from the backdrop nowadays's Russia ridden with social conflict. Special jury mentions within the primary competition visited Italian director Andrea Segre's Shun Li and also the Poet, which handles the problem of immigration, and Norwegian director Joachim Trier's Oslo, 31. August. Family drama Volcano, which explores questions of aging with dignity, was honored using the Worldwide Experts' Award and also the Chapel of Iceland award. The Lick Audience Award for that festival's most widely used film visited Finnish pointing legend Aki Kaurismaki for Le Havre, his country's admission to the area of possible foreign-language film Oscar nominees. The film is all about a youthful African illegal immigrant who passes with the port city on his method to London. The Lick Environment Award visited Irish director's Risteard O Domhnaill's The Pipe in regards to a small Irish community divided through the prospect of the oil pipeline and it is expected economic gains. Borkur Sigthorsson's Skadi (Arrived At Harm) won the brand new Lick recognition for top Icelandic video clip. Festival director Hronn Marinosdottir told The Hollywood Reporter that ticketed attendance only at that year's festival, occur the main city from the Northern European island nation, is anticipated to achieve a brand new a lot of near to 27,000, in comparison with around 24,000 this past year. Iceland has only a population close to 320,000. "The festival has already established the very best turnout ever," the festival director stated. "8 percent of the nation's human population is attending. We'd many offered-out tests. This began being an audience fest, to ensure that's what it really could it have been about.Inch The main focus would continue being on "youthful films and rising company directors," in addition to documentaries which make people discuss social issues, she stressed. "Reykjavik should never be Cannes," the festival director stated. "We now have our very own focus that's good cultural means of Reykjavik, which concentrates on standing on the leading edge.Inch The Golden Puffin statue is definitely an expression of methods Lick differs. "Other festivals also frequently use creatures within their honours, however the puffin is really a funny and strange [seabird], so when we began, we wanted different things and humorous," described Marinosdottir. Past the honours ceremony on Saturday evening, the 2011 edition from the Reykjavik festival also honored Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr having a lifetime achievement award earlier within the week. Its Creative Excellence Award -- Women in Cinema famous up-and-coming Danish director Lone Scherfig. Lick also featured a James Marsh retrospective and honored Romanian filmmaker Adrian Sitaru being an emerging master. Lick systems on Sunday. The coming year's ninth edition from the festival will occur Sept. 27-March. 7. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects Worldwide

'Story' time for Rando

Rando John Rando has been tapped to direct the upcoming touring production of the tuner adaptation of "A Christmas Story," replacing Warren Carlyle, who originally signed on as helmer-choreographer. Carlyle ("Finian's Rainbow") remains onboard as choreographer. According to reps, he's bowing out of the director role due to the scheduling conflict that arose when "Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway" -- for which he provides musical staging and choreography -- set a fall run, with previews beginning Oct. 25. Rando ("Urinetown," "The Wedding Singer") joins a title that began life at Kansas City Rep in 2009 and went on to play Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater in 2010. The upcoming tour aims to solidify the property's status as a holiday staple, along the lines of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas," a stage tuner that has had a robust regional life as well as a couple of seasonal stints on the Main Stem. The road incarnation, which launches a five-stop tour in Hershey, Pa., on Nov. 8, will star Clarke Hallum, John Bolton and Matthew Lewis, who all appeared in the 5th Avenue staging, along with Gene Weygandt and Rachel Bay Jones. Musical version of the 1983 MGM pic "Christmas Story" has tunes by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book by Joseph Robinette, based on the writings of Jean Shepherd and on the film. Peter Billingsley, who starred in the movie, produces the tuner along with a team of commercial producers that includes Gerald Goehring, Roy Miller and Michael Mitri. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

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Praising six decades of I Like Lucy

I Like Lucy I Like Lucy opened up six decades ago this month, and our desire to have Lucille Ball has only grown as time passes. To recognition the comedian and her storied history with TV Guide Magazine (she's been in more covers than almost every other star), we asked for her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, 60, to discuss a couple of of her favorite recollections of the period. Arnaz, an actress and singer, has saved her mother and father Desi Arnaz's legacies alive giving scrapbooks and intends to museums and creating suggests that recognition the legendary couple. Presently, she's developing a tribute for the Latin music of I Like Lucy. TV Guide Magazine: This is often a large year for that mother, Lucille Ball. It isn't just I Like Lucy's 60th anniversary, nevertheless the 100th anniversary of her birth. What's it been like?Arnaz: Fabulous! There's been lots of festivities, including within the Hollywood Museum, the Library of Congress as well as the Paley Center for Media. Even Google did a salute became a member of while using Lucy Desi Center for Comedy that's in their hometown, Jamestown, NY. TV Guide Magazine: Let's start immediately. You will not ever came out on I Like Lucy, perhaps you have?Arnaz: My mother was pregnant with me at night inside the pilot - does that count? TV Guide Magazine: Sure! What's your chosen Lucy episode besides the pilot?Arnaz: [Laughs] "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" [11/6/57]. It's a flashback to when Lucy and Ough met in Cuba. My mom and dad use a drum duel in the nightclub that is so sexy. Once I [watch it], I check this out type of amazing volume of love and romance and sexual warmth. There's effective passion for them even though in solid existence, they were close to divorcing. TV Guide Magazine: Did your mother use a favorite episode?Arnaz: She mentioned she'd two. The sweet one when Lucy must tell Ough she's getting a baby ["Lucy Is Enceinte," 12/8/52]. The emotion in the scene got the higher of those and so they started to tear up. They thought they'd have to redo that shot, but everyone round the set mentioned, "No, no, no!" The wild and crazy [favorite episode] was when Lucy dresses because the Full in the Gypsies ["The Operetta," 10/13/52]. She mentioned, "I loved participating in costumes with my teeth all blacked out. I believed I looked hysterical, which i did not have such a lot of fun much like that silly-ass song and looking striking that note." TV Guide Magazine: Did your mother get plenty of enjoyment from doing I Like Lucy?Arnaz: It absolutely was her only pleasure! She and Viv [Vivian Vance], Father and Bill [William Frawley] were built with a lot fun in the office they never required it home. She loved the whole process. TV Guide Magazine: Did she believe pleasure along with her other Tv shows?Arnaz: My mother absolutely loved going to the studio each day and being that Lucy character. Nothing in their existence available her more comfortable, which describes why if the ended and he or she didn't have it any more, I seen her deteriorate psychologically. TV Guide Magazine: Lots of tales, including people in TV Guide Magazine, spoken about how precisely Lucy may have been the finest TV star, but she still will be a typical wife and mother. Truth or spin?Arnaz: Plenty of that came from from pr people, before I Like Lucy hit, she considered herself merely a married lady getting an attractive husband. [Laughs] She didn't prepare perfectly but she loved being in the kitchen area area and achieving all housewife-y. After they moved r / c show to television, she convinced [CBS] to put Desi on as her husband. She thought she only decided to receive an chance to make use of her husband so he wouldn't be on the road constantly. Your show needed off like Seabiscuit and he or she never looked back. TV Guide Magazine: Was your mother anything like her legendary on-screen character?Arnaz: She was opinionated and professorial and not the person that you would expect. People thought she was like Lucy Ricardo. And he or she wasn't whatsoever. TV Guide Magazine: Can you love - and hate - I Like Lucy concurrently?Arnaz: Yes. Clearly I wanted for people moments that we did not have with my mother, just the regular products that other kids ignore. That part was hard. The comfort was wonderful. TV Guide Magazine: If you think about the Lucy shows, exactly why is you most pleased with your mother?Arnaz: Unfathomable talent! She squashed every last bit of humor and fun from everything they gave her. TV Guide Magazine: You labored along with your mother on Here's Lucy for six years. What were most likely probably the most special moments?Arnaz: Once we accustomed to perform a dance number or singing. That wasn't her bailiwick, therefore i might be all excited and he or she would go, "I am unable to do this!In . We'd help each other. Once we first first got it right, we'd be, "Yay! We did a dance together!" It absolutely was a great hooking up experience. TV Guide Magazine: Why you think people continue to be poking fun at Lucy six decades later?Arnaz: The brilliant writing and execution! No stars carried out it appreciate it was funny. They carried out it legitimate and [everyone else] bought inside it. It's the best medicine ever. My mother developed a tonic that never must be restored. The date about it never expires. You can drink it and feel great. TV Guide Magazine: Which female comics today can make your mother laugh?Arnaz: She'd adore Ellen DeGeneres and Debra Playing. After I am watching Debra, she jogs my memory a little of my mother. And Tina Fey! TV Guide Magazine: On her behalf account centenary, give me an idea to say of Lucille Ball, your mother?Arnaz: I miss her - as well as Father - greater than anybody. I merely understand that she'd a great existence and he or she was always grateful to all or any individuals who loved her. Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Now Pitching For the Athletics, No. 5, Jonah Hill

The slimmed-down co-star of (and, if there’s any justice to be found in the awards cosmos, eventual Oscar nominee for) Moneyball climbed the mound in Oakland on Sunday to throw out the first pitch prior to the A’s-Tigers game. And the crowd… goes… wild! Seriously, these guys really dig Hill; see for yourself in the video after the jump, and stick around for more in today’s Buzz Break. [via Trailer Addict] · Simon Cowell is reportedly contemplating an X Factor stage musical for London’s West End. Right. [Deadline] · Alec Baldwin. Roman Polanski. Do we have an untoward obsession with the cult of the asshole celebrity? [Film School Rejects] · You know you’ve always wanted one of those bad-ass Daft Punk helmets. Now, at last, easy instruction to do it yourself! In… four months? [LikeCool] · Set your DVR! Radiohead will be the interview and musical guest Sept. 26 on a special one-hour edition of The Colbert Report. [Cinema Blend] · Lou Reed and Metallica have released a 30-second excerpt from their forthcoming collaborative record, Lulu. It’s… well, it’s destabilizing. (And probably NSFW — or anywhere else, for that matter.) [via The Awl]

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Roush Review: The 2011 Emmys

Jane Lynch If perhaps we did not need to view an Emmy show to understand the Emmy those who win.The 2010 labor of laboriousness, located by a game title but ultimately defeated Jane Lynch (revealing that even this versatile talent could not go above such mediocre material), was fortunately enlivened by a few surprise and/or very deserving wins, particularly when the drama groups started in.Want more Matt Roush? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!Margo Martindale, the glorious character actress who required FX's Justified to new levels in the second year? Yes! Loved her euphoric acceptance speech: "Sometimes things take some time, however with time comes great appreciation."Talking about which: Kyle Chandler, in the end individuals many years of Friday Evening Lights being overlooked, finally winning within the final lap? And Jason Katims winning for writing the FNL finale? Double yes! (Why made it happen go ahead and take show moving to DirecTV to obtain observed such as this? Just wondering.)For that record, I used to be rooting for Mad Men's Jon Hamm to finally win an Emmy, as well as for Matthew Weiner's instant-classic "The Suitcase" episode of Mad Males to win for writing. But Mad Males might take security in winning, by divine intention, its 4th consecutive Best Drama trophy, as well as the jaded Hollywood audience appeared elated by FNL's come-from-behind victories. So similar to the actual show, no?How satisfying to determine such an array of great dramas get identified by the Emmys this season: Justified, FNL, Mad Males, Boardwalk Empire (for Martin Scorsese's direction from the pilot), Bet on Thrones (for Peter Dinklage's impish scene-stealing), The Great Wife (Julianna Margulies correcting her loss from this past year). No complaints out of this corner. Ditto for PBS' splendid Downton Abbey ruling within the movie-minis segment, trumping HBO's bloated Mildred Pierce (which did earn honors for stars Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce).Even though things were a lot more foreseeable around the comedy side, having a sweep by ABC's Modern Family in each and every category it had been qualified in - lead stars were able to escape, since the entire Family cast submits itself within the supporting area - the night's most endearing and long lasting moment happened throughout the reading through from the lead comedy actress category. Because the nominees were introduced, first Amy Poehler jumped to the stage, then Melissa McCarthy, then all the others inside a apparently automatically and wondrous celebration, holding hands just like a nervous promenade-full court before surprise champion - Mike & Molly's McCarthy (that Bridesmaids exposure most likely did not hurt) - was declared, along with a tiara and spray of roses were presented together with the Emmy. "It's my first and finest pageant ever!" she memorably gushed. I chuckled delightedly through this whole bit - which apparently was Poehler's inspiration, which alone should earn her a unique Emmy.Regarding all of the wins for Modern Family, TV's finest and most warm comedy in a long time, how right for the brilliant Ty Burrell and also the underrated Julie Bowen, who play couple Phil and Claire Dunphy, to both be honored. They are quite they, a part of an amazing ensemble, and hopefully when it's all regulated over, all may have had their moment the main attraction. Burrell's sweet and funny speech in recognition of his late father was the very best of the evening.And although my popularity of The Large Bang Theory's Jim Parsons is never-ending, his second straight win, this time around at the fee for The Office's Steve Carell (who walks from that role empty-handed), felt under satisfying. Still, his and McCarthy's Emmys represent a triumph for that old-fashioned of multi-camera, studio-audience laugh-out-noisy sitcom production, such a long time from favor in prime time."This really is so odd for a lot of reasons," Parsons stated, rather adorably. He wasn't just speaking concerning the surprise win, but about accepting the award from (of people) Charlie Sheen, whose mea culpa gesture of goodwill toward the brand new season of 2 . 5 Males (created by Large Bang's Chuck Lorre) rang so hollow - could it have been intended to be contrite, or ironic? - it had been easily the night's most awkward moment.Not too there wasn't plenty clumsiness for everyone. Like every time the chirpy "EmmyTones" troupe (the worst idea because the year the truth hosts located the show) put their hands up to sing an intro to another montage. This type of cheesy waste of talent like Joel McHale, Zachary Levi and Cobie Smulders. Or whenever the voice-over announcer attempted to vamp with lame jokes throughout a winner's walk towards the podium, compelling virtual vomiting in the appalled Twitter-verse. The presenter banter was typically awful, and also the musical amounts depressingly banal - or annoying, within the situation from the Lonely Planet segment, attempting to pressure some scattershot SNL anarchy around the proceedings. (Granted, Michael Bolton as Jack Sparrow is definitely funny, and "Freak Bill Macy" would be a moment to relish.)The only real sustained comedy segment that really labored was the mockumentary mash-up salute to work, with Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul delivering meth to Creed, Nathan Fillion griping, "All of the black men Sometimes with call me Whitened Castle," Cee Lo Eco-friendly inside a spinning-out-of-control Voice chair, a game title of Thrones Dothraki warrior growling, "I personally don't like how nobody ever rinses the equine heart bowl," and Ashton Kutcher recognizing he's around the wrong set: "I'm wondering in which the half-guy was."Lynch ended up getting off a minumum of one good joke: "Many people are curious why I am a lesbian. ... As well as gentlemen, the cast of Entourage."Score one on her. But watching the Entourage cast go ahead and take stage, people of the faded and today defunct series showing honours to (of other nutritional foods) Downton Abbey, only agreed to be another manifestation of how tone-hard of hearing the 2010 Emmys frequently were. Fortunately, the 2010 voters were a bit more on your ball.Sign up to TV Guide Magazine now!

Jersey Shore's Vinny Heads West to Raise the Stakes on 90210

Vinny Guadagnino Jersey Shore's Vinny Guadagnino is bringing his fist-pumping ways to 90210, but he won't be stopping by America's most famous zip code, TVLine reports. The reality star will appear in a Vegas-set episode of the CW drama where he will play a famous actor who gets involved in a big poker game with Liam (Matt Lanter). Fall Preview: Get scoop on your favorite returning shows The episode will air during November sweeps. 90210 airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW. Who would you bet on to win: Vinny or Liam?

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Rhianna, Usher To Do At Clintons Concert

FIRST Released: September 13, 2011 3:46 PM EDT La, Calif. -- Rhianna, Usher, The Advantage and Bono is going to be one of the entertainers in a La concert honoring the tenth anniversary of former Leader Bill Clintons foundation. The music artists will work in a Decade of Difference: A Concert Honoring ten years from the William J. Clinton Foundation on March. 15 in the Hollywood Bowl. Other entertainers is going to be introduced later. Clinton stated inside a statement Tuesday that he's proud that a number of the modern most influential entertainers are uniting to boost awareness concerning the work of my foundation. The concert is going to be streamed survive Yahoo.com. Within the last decade, Clintons foundation has searched for to enhance global health, strengthen financial systems worldwide, promote more healthy early years and safeguard the atmosphere. Copyright 2011 by Connected Press. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

National Geographic The Obama White House Through The Lens

Pete Souza is never far behind President Obama. In fact, sometimes hes ahead of him. As the Presidents chief White House photographer, Souza is the Presidents shadow. Now, National Geographic will follow Souza inside the Obama White House aboard Air Force One, backstage at the State of the Union, and into the heart of the West Wing. Its a behind-the-scenes look at the everyday grit of the American presidency and a chance to see what its like to cover the most powerful man in the world, for posterity.

Eddie Murphy to host 2012 Academy awards

It's official! Fast-speaking comedian Eddie Murphy will compere the 2012 Oscar ceremony on 26 Feb.Confirmation originated from the show's producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer.Don't expect the F-tanks of Beverly Hillsides Cop, though. Both producers the show will stay family-friendly."This person is at Shrek," Ratner told USA Today. "He's done family movies within the last ten years. He's done The famous host oprah.""He's very wise and knows it is greatly of the family kind of show," added Mischer."I'm enormously honoured to become listed on the truly amazing listing of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Very, Martin and Goldberg, amongst others,Inch Murphy stated.Hathaway As Catwoman and James Franco located the 2011 show.

Watch Harry Potter 7 Online

REVIEW: Zoe Saldana, Colombiana Impress With Crisp, Eye-Popping Action

Shamelessly entertaining when it’s not just silly, Colombiana begins with a young girl trading one shady underworld for another. The first is that of Bogot in 1992, where a deal between two heavies is going so well it can only mean someone’s about to die. That someone is the father of Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg), a schoolgirl who absorbs her father’s goodbye — a speech of family loyalty and legacy so archetypal Al Pacino mutters fragments of it in his sleep — with unblinking shock. “In this world,” an enemy henchman (Jordi Moll) tells her as her parents lay dead, “Smart girls always get what they want.” With that Cataleya’s trance is broken, and a stabbing followed by a spectacular foot chase announces her transformation into a pint-sized badass. The shadow announcement made by that sequence is that “this world” is the brainchild co-writer (with Robert Mark Kamen) and producer Luc Besson. “Vengeance is beautiful,” is Colombiana’s tagline, though it may not be smart, or even particularly specific. The vague provenance of the microchip that Cataleya winds up barfing onto an American embassy desk is part of the film’s passing acknowledgement of everything that is not the body of the adult Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) in head-cracking, lipstick-signing motion. Having slipped the Feds, the orphaned Cataleya buses it to Chicago, where her murderer-for-hire uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis) lives. When she tells him that she wants to study guns, not geometry, Emilio fires a few frustrated rounds into a playground. The audacity! How could a mere child get the fact that working through one’s grief (Emilio’s son was also killed) by becoming a vengeful assassin means “you have to learn to understand how to be psychological”? And stuff? All you really have to learn to understand about the skills of the grown-up Cataleya is that she has earned the trophy of elite female assassins all over the world: Michael Vartan. By day, Cataleya kills for money — Ponzi schemers and such — but she moonlights as a mortal debt collector, picking off members of the Colombian cartel who killed her parents, one by one. Barefoot and crafty, she savors the elaborate daring of getting booked into a prison just to get a clear shot at a mark being held there overnight. In catsuits, swimsuits, and skimpy underthings, Saldana is as potently elusive as a shadow can be. Cataleya’s trick is staying low to the ground; with feline confidence she slips into ventilation ducts, down sewer grates, and through subway tunnels, never once mistaking herself. The extent to which Cataleya’s life depends on the continuation of the game — the unquenchable killer’s inner life — is not part of this ride. When we do stop for ungainly confrontations with Emilio or Vartan, who plays her clueless boyfriend, the momentum of the pure cinema action scenes is thrown. And man, it is no small momentum. French director Olivier Megaton’s chosen last name (he was born Fontana) is just the first in a long line of things he’s not kidding about. Along with a spectacularly physical performance by Zaldana (although a scene of the anti-heroine shimmying with cool self-satisfaction feels corny and stale compared to the frank, appreciative mirror-gazing of her counterpart in Carlos), Colombiana features some of the best frame-for-frame shots you will see this year. Megaton’s weakness for big money moments feels old-fashioned in the best way: Who needs hyperkinetic camerawork or budget-busting effects when a director knows what to do with a woman, a shark pool, and a big fat drug lord? The action is as originally conceived as it is coherent; if it can’t quite make up for the hoariness of a lone FBI agent (Lennie James) cornering his unlikely killer with the aid of pure coincidence and bollock-y face recognition software, similarly fermented dialogue, and the primal but vacant gaze of its star, Colombiana comes close enough to make you forget to care.

Simon Cowell Breaks Silence on 'X Factor' Lawsuit, Slams 'Idol' Creator Simon Fuller (Exclusive)

Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesSimon Cowell Simon Cowell has some choice words for American Idol creator Simon Fuller: Keep your hands off The X Factor. Cowell is finally responding to the lawsuit filed in July by Fuller against Fox and producer Fremantle claiming Fuller is owed an executive producer credit and millions of dollars in fees from the Cowell-produced X Factor, which bows in the U.S. in September. "I'm surprised this has happened," Cowell tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. "Because you can't give someone an executive producer's title if they didn't executive produce the show." As THR first reported, Fuller sued July 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming he negotiated a hefty executive producer fee and credit on X Factor as part of a settlement of a 2004 copyright-infringement lawsuit against Cowell when X Factor launched in the U.K. At the time, Fuller claimed that X Factor, which had eclipsed Idol in popularity in Britain, was a blatant rip-off of the Idol format. To settle the feud between the two Simons, Fox and Fremantle, which produces both Idol and X Factor, helped broker a deal in which Fuller would end Pop Idol in the UK but Cowell would agree to remain a judge on American Idol for five years and keep X Factor off U.S. television until 2011. The Fuller suit claimed Fox and Fremantle are now refusing to honor that deal and credit him "commesurate with his duties and stature in the entertainment industry." COVER STORY: 'X Factor's' Simon Cowell Reveals He and Cheryl Cole No Longer Speaking But Cowell, who is not a defendant in the suit, tells THR that Fuller never negotiated any deal requiring a credit or fee associated with X Factor. Has Fuller had anything to do with X Factor at all? "No," Cowell reiterates. "It's like me saying I want to be executive producer on The Voice or Project Runway." Credits on movies and television shows can appear for various reasons, irrespective of the amount of work a person actually contributes. Executive producer credits, for instance, often are awarded to those who contributed either money or creative input during the development process. Credits in certain cases can even be the product of a settlement of a lawsuit. But Cowell says the resolution of the X Factor litigation did not grant Fuller any credit rights. EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of THR's X Factor Cover Shoot If not, why did he sue? "Genuinely on this one I haven't got a clue," Cowell tells THR. "It's not part of our settlement agreement, it never was. So I was as surprised as anyone." Cowell's latest comments are another jab in the ongoing international boxing match between the two megarich Simons. Fox, which will air both X Factor this fall and Idol in the spring, is in business with both men, but it is backing Cowell's version of the story in the X Factor litigation. "Mr. Fuller has not been hired, nor performed any duties, on the U.S. version of The X Factor," the network said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. "His suit seeks payment and credit as an executive producer despite his neither having been approved by the required parties, nor hired, as such. We believe this lawsuit is without merit, and we expect to prevail." PHOTOS: An 'American Idol' to 'X Factor' Timeline Fuller's attorneys have taken issue with Fox and Fremantle's position that they never "approved" him as executive producer under his X Factor settlement agreement, thus denying him the credit and fee. "It is precisely because Fox was contractually obligated to approve Fuller as executive producer and has breached that obligation that the case was filed," Fuller's lawyer Dale Kinsella said in a statement. "Fox appears to be admitting early on that they have breached the agreement. The Fuller lawsuit does not seek an injunction against the broadcast of X Factor, so regardless of the next steps, Cowell can be sure that the legal mess won't derail the show's premeire, set for Sept 20 on Fox. RELATED: PHOTOS: 'The X Factor': First Look at Simon Cowell's New Judging Team PHOTOS: Fox's New Season TV Shows: 'The X Factor,' 'Terra Nova' and More STORY: X Factor Drama: Cheryl Cole Has Offer to Return to Show Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com, Shirley.Halperin@thr.com Twitter: @THRMattBelloni, @ShirleyHalperin Simon Cowell American Idol Simon Fuller The X Factor

'Real Steel' Robots Were Trained By Sugar Ray Leonard

"Real Steel" is likely to be the coolest robot boxing movie that's been released (since, well, name another robot boxing movie), and the newest featurette for the film wants to tell you all about why it's going to be a fun adventure to watch. Arguably the biggest draw for audiences is the boxing in the flick, and the new featurette shows off how the filmmakers used motion-capture technology to make their fighting robots seem believable. The folks behind "Real Steel" hired real-life boxers, choreographed by Sugar Ray Leonard, to stand in for the robots, which means the action fans see on the big screen is going to be legit. Of course, there's the human element of the movie to look forward to as well, but I have a feeling Hugh Jackman might be a bit upstaged by his electronic counterpart in "Real Steel." Check out the rest of today's film news after the jump! A New "Underworld: Awakening" Poster Hits The Web Kate Beckinsale invites you in to see "Underworld: Awakening." A poster for the flick, courtesy of FilmWeb, focuses solely on the starlet in her iconic Selene get-up. In true "Underworld" tradition, the poster is a washed-out blue that has become synonymous with the franchise. The poster ditched the title for the film, opting instead to focus on Beckinsale as the lead and the 2012 release date. "The battle continues in 3D," the poster teases. A first trailer for "Underworld: Awakening" hit the web last week. "The Great Gatsby" To Begin Filming Soon Collider had a chance to sit down with "Great Gatsby" star Joel Edgerton, and he had optimistic things to say about the long-in-production project. "We have been sort of in pre-production where we did a really great kind of exploration workshop in New York. Im off on Monday and back to Australia where everything is getting prepped and ready," Edgerton said. "We are going to continue rehearsals and then we start shooting in a few weeks. Then it is all systems go until Christmas. "The Last Exorcism" Not Quite So Final Filmmakers need to be a bit more careful when they come up with titles like "The Last Exorcism" if they're going to want to come up with sequels to their movies. The producers of "The Last Exorcism" are faced with that dilemma right now as they hire Damien Chazelle to write a follow-up to the 2010 hit. The Hollywood Reporter doesn't know what the sequel will be about (or what clever title it will have) but did learn that it is set to go into production in the fall. "The Lady" Teaser Trailer The trailer for Luc Besson's latest, "The Lady," has hit the web at last. Starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, the biopic tells the story of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her love affair with academic and writer Michael Aris, set against the backdrop of political turmoil. Tell us your thoughts on today's Dailies in the comments section below or on Twitter!

VIDEO: Seth Rogen Mock Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Failing Sex Life in Red Band Clip From 50/50

50/50 is shaping up to be the sweetest, funniest comedy of the fall — and, as a new red band clip featuring stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen proves, it may also be the sexually frankest. Would you like to learn how to do it froggy-style? Allow Mr. Rogen to curate. NSFW video ahead! Joseph Gordon-Levitt is that rare young actor who is totally self-serious, yet likable and compelling. I can barely reconcile the overtly earnest @hitRECORDjoe part of his persona with the unassuming protagonist we see on screen. He single-handedly made (500) Days of Summer enjoyable despite its trite script, and he is unforgettable in Mysterious Skin. I’m loving his work here, as he conveys uncertainty, unpretentiousness, and — for lack of a better word — reality. Seth Rogen is playing a familiar character for his oeuvre, but he’s also fun. September 30th cannot come fast enough; I can’t stand this dreadful August a second longer. [via Movieweb]

All Quiet on The Western Front

The film follows young Paul Baumer, who during World War I enlists in the Imperial German Army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the sadistic Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), the enthusiastic young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with wounded returning soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of a pragmatic, yet good-natured older soldier, Stanislaus Katzinsky, called "Kat" (Ernest Borgnine). Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to catch game for food, and other survival skills. The film focuses on the suffering and tragedy caused by war, particularly the horrors endured by the young men serving in it.

A Streetwise, Stripped-Down Circus Hits NY

NEW YORK (AP) Doing skateboard tricks on a theater stage is usually deeply frowned upon. But at the Union Square Theatre these days, they're not only encouraged they're a big part of the show.During a recent rehearsal of the touring show "Traces," the seven ensemble members practiced flips, jumps and dance moves on and off their boards as they fine-tuned a section of their 90-minute, cardio-intensive circus."Is there any way I can get you guys to drop the boards at the same time?" Gypsy Snider, co-director and co-choreographer, asked from the empty seats. "Let's do it again and drop the boards at the same time."The show rolls into New York for a 10-week stand that combines traditional acrobatic acts juggling, teeterboard, hoop jumping and spinning inside an oversized wheel with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball.Billed as a stripped-down alternative to Cirque du Soleil, there are no costumes or makeup or elaborate sets. The cast six men and one woman interact with the audience when they're not doing things that make your head hurt just watching.Snider, one of the seven founding members of the Montreal-based collective known as 7 Fingers that created "Traces," acts as a gentle taskmaster on this day as opening night approaches, using both English and French to motivate her international cast."Run, run, run, people! This has got to be fast," she says at one point, somewhat annoyed. Another time she is more motherly and encouraging: "Places, people. And music. Cinq, six, sept, huit..."The skateboard scene is designed to be a light moment between some of the more grueling acts. In it, the cast jumps over each other and screeches across the stage with daredevil precision, but they also stop to dance with their boards as if in a Busby Berkeley musical as the song "It's Only a Paper Moon" plays. The show also includes music from Radiohead, Blackalicious and John Zorn.The performers two Americans, one Chinese, one Swiss and three Canadians range in size from the biggest, Mason Ames, who stands at 6 feet and 2 inches and weighs 228 pounds, to Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau, who is 5 feet and 2 inches and 112 pounds, but they're all made from solid muscle. That's important since they never leave the stage and keep doing crazy stunts for an hour and a half. The show has no understudies."The main thing is to try to stay injury-free the whole time. If you have a little sprained ankle and have to do the show every night, it's like super annoying," says Bradley Henderson, 27, who hails from San Francisco.Snider and her six collaborators all ex-Cirque du Soleil members founded 7 Fingers in 2002 and have created shows including "Loft," ''La Vie," ''Psy" and "Patinoire." The show "Traces" has existed in one form or another for five years it was last in New York in 2008 with only five performers and nicely encapsulates the troupe's mission statement of "circus on a human scale."During the show, the performers all dressed in workout wear or street clothes alternate from executing leaps and spins with playing a piano (all had to learn the instrument) or sketching on an overhead projector. At points, the show is like a confessional as the performers step forward to tell the audience who they are."They really wanted to put the emphasis on the artists. They don't want to put us in crazy costumes or makeup. They just want you to be you on stage," says Benoit-Charbonneau, 22, who attended circus school in Montreal for seven years. "That's the beauty of it."The company has found an ideal home in the 499-seat Union Square Theatre on 17th Street, close to another very kinetic, acrobatic show De La Guarda's "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up." Together, the two feed off the neighborhood's mix of hipster, grunge and skate-punk energy."I was walking around New York and just the energy of this city goes together with this show," says Benoit-Charbonneau, a Canadian who during the show often flies through the air like a rag doll.Unlike other circus shows that detest mistakes, 7 Fingers doesn't get too upset if a trick fails. In fact, Snider thinks an audience gets more of an intimate thrill if an acrobat they are getting to know fails and then tries again."There's no sense of embarrassment. They could fall flat on their face and it would be part of the show," she says. "What these kids do is 10 times as exciting than if it were some perfectly choreographed, spectacular, wow-I-could-never-do-that show.""Traces" got a boost last month when the seven performers did a medley of four acts on an episode of "America's Got Talent," spiking Google searches for the show and impressing many bloggers. "Canada's got talent, too, it seems," wrote one.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Mark Kennedy August 4, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT AP Photo/The Hartmann Group/Michael Meseke NEW YORK (AP) Doing skateboard tricks on a theater stage is usually deeply frowned upon. But at the Union Square Theatre these days, they're not only encouraged they're a big part of the show.During a recent rehearsal of the touring show "Traces," the seven ensemble members practiced flips, jumps and dance moves on and off their boards as they fine-tuned a section of their 90-minute, cardio-intensive circus."Is there any way I can get you guys to drop the boards at the same time?" Gypsy Snider, co-director and co-choreographer, asked from the empty seats. "Let's do it again and drop the boards at the same time."The show rolls into New York for a 10-week stand that combines traditional acrobatic acts juggling, teeterboard, hoop jumping and spinning inside an oversized wheel with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball.Billed as a stripped-down alternative to Cirque du Soleil, there are no costumes or makeup or elaborate sets. The cast six men and one woman interact with the audience when they're not doing things that make your head hurt just watching.Snider, one of the seven founding members of the Montreal-based collective known as 7 Fingers that created "Traces," acts as a gentle taskmaster on this day as opening night approaches, using both English and French to motivate her international cast."Run, run, run, people! This has got to be fast," she says at one point, somewhat annoyed. Another time she is more motherly and encouraging: "Places, people. And music. Cinq, six, sept, huit..."The skateboard scene is designed to be a light moment between some of the more grueling acts. In it, the cast jumps over each other and screeches across the stage with daredevil precision, but they also stop to dance with their boards as if in a Busby Berkeley musical as the song "It's Only a Paper Moon" plays. The show also includes music from Radiohead, Blackalicious and John Zorn.The performers two Americans, one Chinese, one Swiss and three Canadians range in size from the biggest, Mason Ames, who stands at 6 feet and 2 inches and weighs 228 pounds, to Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau, who is 5 feet and 2 inches and 112 pounds, but they're all made from solid muscle. That's important since they never leave the stage and keep doing crazy stunts for an hour and a half. The show has no understudies."The main thing is to try to stay injury-free the whole time. If you have a little sprained ankle and have to do the show every night, it's like super annoying," says Bradley Henderson, 27, who hails from San Francisco.Snider and her six collaborators all ex-Cirque du Soleil members founded 7 Fingers in 2002 and have created shows including "Loft," ''La Vie," ''Psy" and "Patinoire." The show "Traces" has existed in one form or another for five years it was last in New York in 2008 with only five performers and nicely encapsulates the troupe's mission statement of "circus on a human scale."During the show, the performers all dressed in workout wear or street clothes alternate from executing leaps and spins with playing a piano (all had to learn the instrument) or sketching on an overhead projector. At points, the show is like a confessional as the performers step forward to tell the audience who they are."They really wanted to put the emphasis on the artists. They don't want to put us in crazy costumes or makeup. They just want you to be you on stage," says Benoit-Charbonneau, 22, who attended circus school in Montreal for seven years. "That's the beauty of it."The company has found an ideal home in the 499-seat Union Square Theatre on 17th Street, close to another very kinetic, acrobatic show De La Guarda's "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up." Together, the two feed off the neighborhood's mix of hipster, grunge and skate-punk energy."I was walking around New York and just the energy of this city goes together with this show," says Benoit-Charbonneau, a Canadian who during the show often flies through the air like a rag doll.Unlike other circus shows that detest mistakes, 7 Fingers doesn't get too upset if a trick fails. In fact, Snider thinks an audience gets more of an intimate thrill if an acrobat they are getting to know fails and then tries again."There's no sense of embarrassment. They could fall flat on their face and it would be part of the show," she says. "What these kids do is 10 times as exciting than if it were some perfectly choreographed, spectacular, wow-I-could-never-do-that show.""Traces" got a boost last month when the seven performers did a medley of four acts on an episode of "America's Got Talent," spiking Google searches for the show and impressing many bloggers. "Canada's got talent, too, it seems," wrote one.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Critics Boo Oprah's Honorary Oscar

Discovery Oprah, meet Oscar. On Tuesday the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to give Oprah Winfrey an honorary Oscar at the Nov. 12 Governor's Awards. It's called the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.'" Not everyone is applauding the move, because Winfrey hasn't exactly shown a laserlike focus on movies since her 1986 Oscar nomination for The Color Purple. "She's in the motion picture industry?" New York Film Critics Circle chair John Anderson asks THR sarcastically. "It seems like a shameless bid for a ratings boost -- although once they start showing clips from Beloved and The Color Purple the numbers will plummet." Many charge that giving Winfrey the philanthropic award is really an attempt to get her to be philanthropic to the academy, by showing up at the February Oscar broadcast as well as the untelevised Governor's Awards. The Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein called Winfrey's award "boneheaded." Even a Winfrey fan like former NWFCC chair Armond White, who enthusiastically voted for her in the 1986 National Society of Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, was appalled. "Does this newly announced Academy prize prove that Oprah means the same thing to Hollywood as past Jean Hersholt Award winners Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Lew Wasserman, Charlton Heston?" White asks THR rhetorically. "Is this just another way for the academy to continue to grovel for TV ratings?" Yes, probably. And Winfrey could sure use some Oscar-fueled ratings boost for her fledgling Oprah Winfrey Network. Winfrey's award, along with the honorary Oscar that will be given to James Earl Jones, also serves to soothe the Academy's probable guilt over the much-criticized chronic absence of black faces among the regular Oscar nominees. Winfrey is the second black Hersholt winner after 1995's Quincy Jones. "Is the Academy kowtowing to the silly complaints that no black actors were nominated this year?" says White. "The Oscars are supposed to be about the works Hollywood admires, not a score-keeping mechanism for ethnic and racial equality. By that standard the Oscars fail Native Americans, Asians, Africans, Scandinavians, and Latin Americans every year. I'm afraid those complaints were just media hype, an attempt by some to hold the Oscars hostage to political correctness." It seems unlikely that Winfrey (or the exceedingly eminent actor Jones) is a mere example of PC tokenism. But so far, her Hersholt isn't winning many awards in the court of public opinion. Oprah Winfrey Academy Awards Oscars 2012

'Harry Potter' Makes $1 Billion Worldwide: Box Office Report This summer 29-31

The greatest news in the box office a few days ago had nothing related to the mind-to-mind fight between alien-wrangling cowboys and three-dimensional toys, though we'll reach that, obviously. Rather, it had been the 4th-place film, 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,' that conjured head lines using its $1 billion worldwide haul. Warner Bros. introduced on Sunday the franchise finale took over as ninth movie ever to mix that threshold, as well as the greatest hit within the franchise, beating the $974.8 million worldwide gross gained by 'Harry Potter and also the Sorcerer's Stone' in 2001. Meanwhile, Universal professionals needed to be thinking about, Exactly what the smurf? 'Cowboys & Aliens' rode into the city, guns a-blazin', basically sure to lasso the very best place. However the gunslingers and extraterrestrials found an suddenly equal foe within the wee blue folk using the floppy caps. The end result: an astonishingly strong showing by 'The Smurfs' that left both movies inside a virtual tie when early studio estimations were released on Sunday. There's barely a Smurf's price of difference within the stated figures for that two movies: $36,206,250 for 'Cowboys' versus. '$36,200,000 for 'The Smurfs.' This is a difference of less than 800 moviegoers. So, while 'Cowboys' keeps the slimmest of edges on Sunday, 'Smurfs' could end up in the saddle when final figures are launched on Monday. 'The Smurfs' - Trailer No. 3 How did this happen? Most commentators expected 'Cowboys' to spread out above $40 million and 'Smurfs' to spread out around $20 to $25 million. In the end, 'Cowboys' appeared a foolproof summer time movie, a large-budget action spectacle genre mash-track of a wonderfully explanatory title, produced by the director of 'Iron Guy,' starring Indiana Johnson and Mission Impossible, and amped with a stable-filled with IMAX tests among its 3,750 screens. Within the other corner, 'The Smurfs' appeared made to please kids while offending parents (using its terrible reviews) who fondly appreciated the small men from eighties TV. It had three dimensional in the holster but no large celebrities, in addition to a more compact release (3,395 screens). But, when Friday's amounts arrived on the scene, it had been the Smurfs who have been riding tall and also the cowboys who appeared Smurf-sized. On Saturday, 'Cowboys' required the pole position, while 'Smurfs' fell behind. That brought to Sunday's expected photo finish, though Sunday business has a tendency to favor family movies. Weak reviews did not help 'Cowboys,' while 'Smurfs' created quite strong word-of-mouth. 'Smurfs' also appears to possess been timed well, launched as 'Cars 2,' 'Zookeeper' and 'Winnie the Pooh' fade, and opposite a slew of movies targeted toward teenagers and grown-ups. The three dimensional factor assisted a great deal too, accountable for 45 percent from the 'Smurfs' haul. Which live-action/CGI hybrid cars did perfectly recently, even without large human stars - see 'Hop,' 'Yogi Bear,' and also the 'Alvin and also the Chipmunks' movies - while previous western/fantasy/sci-fi mashups have incorporated such equine-apples as 'Jonah Hex' and 'Wild Wild West.' 'Smurfs' continues to have a lengthy approach to take to create up its believed $110 million budget, but there will not be lots of family competition for that relaxation from the summer time, therefore the small blue military may go the length. However, it's searching just like a lengthy shot for 'Cowboys' to recoup its believed $163 million budget, especially with a brand new genre contender, 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes,' tossing a blueberry peel in the path next weekend. Last week's champion, 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' fell hard from the cowboy/alien/Smurf onslaught. It gained an believed $24.9 million, lower 62 percent from the debut the other day, landing in third place. (Commentators had expected another-week drop around 50 %, to about $32 million.) The film has a solid 10-day total of $116.8 million, but an autumn that steep indicates that supersoldier Steve Rogers' legs aren't that strong. In 4th place, 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' gained an believed $21.9 million. In the third weekend, it fell 54 percent, by what was expected. Its domestic total up to now is $318.5 million. Overseas, Warner Bros. is declaring earnings of $690 million, for any worldwide total of $1.009 billion. 'Deathly Hallows' becomes the very first from the eight 'Potter' pictures, in support of the ninth movie ever, to top $1 billion. It is the second movie this summer time to become listed on that exclusive club May's 'Pirates from the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' has gained $1.033 billion. Not modifying for inflation, 'Deathly Hallows' has become the eighth greatest-grossing movie ever (it's slightly in front of 'The Dark Dark night,' with $1.002 billion), as the current 'Pirates' is within sixth place. 'The Smurfs' wasn't the only real new movie to outshine anticipation. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' opened up in fifth place by having an believed $19.3 million, beating forecasts close to $16 to $18 million. Even though movie opened up inside a market saturated with adult-oriented comedies, that one boasted decent reviews, the star energy of Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling's abs. Overall, the 2010 domestic box office is gradually making up ground to 2010's earnings. The space between 2011's year-to-date grosses and also the same figure this time around last year is lower to five.2 percent, or $$347.8 million. The This summer outperformed last This summer by $78.3 million, up by 5.9 percent. 'Cowboys & Aliens' - Trailer The entire top ten: 1. 'Cowboys & Aliens,' $36.206 million (3,750 screens), era 2. 'The Smurfs,' $36.200 million (3,395), era 3. 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' $24.9 million (3,715), $116.8 million total 4. 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,' $21.9 million (4,145), $318.5 million 5. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love,' $19.3 million (3,020), era 6. 'Friends With Benefits,' $9.3 million (2,926), $38.two million 7. 'Horrible Bosses,' $7.a million (2,510), $96.two million 8. 'Transformers: Dark from the Moon,' $6. million (2,604), $337.9 million 9. 'Zookeeper,' $4.two million (2,418), $68.7 million 10. 'Cars 2,' $2.3 million (1,763), $182.a million Follow Gary Susman on Twitter: @garysusman.