Puss In Boots tops US box office

Despite lacking the titular S-word of its predecessors, Dreamworks Animation's Puss In Boots still performed strongly on its opening weekend, with a $34 million take putting it top of the US box office.Despite making less than half the money Shrek the Fourth made on its respective opening, Puss In Boots now holds the record for biggest Halloween weekend opening of all time, narrowly edging out Saw 3 on $33.6 million.Paranormal Activity 3 was the lone flier of the horror movie flag this Halloween, its $18.5 million take putting it in second spot. The found-footage chiller was closely followed by Justin Timberlake's sci-fi flick In Time, which made $12 million on its opening weekend.The Footloose remake added a further $5.4 million to the pot in fourth place, whilst Johnny Depp endured a disappointing reaction to labour of love The Rum Diary, which opened to just $5 million. Shawn Levy's Real Steel slumped somewhat to sixth place, only managing to add $4.7 million to its overall gross.Meanwhile, the crash-bang-wallop extravaganza of The Three Musketeers continued to perform woefully below expectations, with a paltry $3.5 million weekend dragging its overall gross to $14.8 million. "Poor marketing", cried star Milla Jovovich. "Poor film", cried everyone else. That said, it was still more than was managed by some of the more cerebral fare on offer, with The Ides Of March and Moneyball bringing in just $2.7 and $2.4 million respectively.Christian saga Courageous rounded off the top ten with a $1.8 million haul, completing a relatively slow weekend across the board. Next week sees a comedy face-off between Tower Heist and, er, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Look forward to that one...

Trio of pics top Doha Tribeca

London-- Merzak Allouache's "Normal," Nadine Labaki's "Where Do We Go Now?" and Namir's Abdel Messeeh's "The Virgin the Copts and Me" were among the prize winners at this year's third edition of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, which wrapped on Saturday night. The five-day fest, which closed with an open air screening of Luc Besson's "The Lady," saw "Normal," a pic about a disillusioned Algerian youth in the wake of the Arab Spring, nab the Arab film competition's best narrative award while Messeeh's docu nabbed best documentary film in the Arab competish. "The Virgin, The Copts and Me" follows a French-Egyptian filmmaker travelling to Egypt to search for apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Both awards came with a $100,000 cash prize. Labaki, whose second feature pic "Where Do We Go Now?" has been selected as Lebanon's foreign language Oscar entry, walked away with the audience award at the fest.Story follows a group of Lebanese women who try to diffuse the tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village. Rania Stephan, helmer of "The Three Disappearances of Soad Honsi" and Roschdy Zem, helmer of "Omar Killed Me," took prizes for best documentary director and best narrative director respectively with both getting a $50,000 cash prize. "Omar Killed Me" thesp Sami Bouajila also won a prize for best performance in a pic and took a $15,000 cash prize. The best Arab short film prize went to "Where Are You?" by Abdulaziz Al-Nujaym while an honorable mention in the same category went to "My Father is Still a Communist - Intimate Secrets to Be Published" directed by Ahmad Ghossein. Ghossen will receive $10,000 in development services from the Doha Film Institute. Amanda Palmer, exec director of DFI said: "There are so many prestigious filmmakers here and the reason we have the festival is to discover new talent. We hope these talented people meet each other here and are able to make films together as a result."Mohammed Malas, jury prexy of the Arab narrative film competish, said that DTFF was "one of the best festivals to raise the profile of youth cinema, which will create our future."Following the screening of the closing night pic "The Lady," Brit popstar Leona Lewis performed to the crowd. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Sinead OConnors Tips For Teen Daughters Showbiz Dreams

First Published: October 28, 2011 5:07 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Sinead OConnor performs at the The 2011 amfAR Inspiration Gala held at the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, on October 27, 2011Sinead OConnor has told her teenage daughter that if she wants to follow mom into show business, she may want to use an alias. Ive told her to change her name, Sinead told Access Hollywood on the red carpet at the amfAR AIDS benefit in Los Angeles on Thursday night. The protective mom added that she told her teenager who acts and sings that if she does pursue a career in musical theater, she can go so far as to slam Sinead herself. We have it worked out cause Im always worried, will she get any [grief] because shes my daughter? So I always tell her the trick is to tell everyone she hates me. Just say, Oh my God! Shes a monster, and then shell be grand, Sinead added. While she knows her daughter can sing, Sinead admitted she hopes her teen never tries out for The X Factor, especially in the UK, where Take That singer Gary Barlow serves as a judge. Hes really horrible to people. He looks at people really horribly like when they come on and Id be worried about putting her in that, she said. I dont think shed wanna do that anyway, Sinead continued. She doesnt wanna be a pop star or famous. Shes actually really shy. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ra.One

Shah Rukh Khan in "Ra.One" An Eros Intl. Worldwide release.Produced by Gauri Khan. Executive producers, Anil Sable, Rajan Vanmali, Swapna David, Prashant Shah. Directed by Anubhav Sinha. Screenplay, Kanika Dhillon, David Benullo, Mushtaq Sheikh, Sinha.With: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal,Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami.Featuring superstar Shah Rukh Khan and festooned with enough CGI ornamentation to qualify as a subcontinental Christmas tree, "Ra.One" is a frenetic, tuneful, full-throttle action-comedy that has reportedly crushed Indian presales records. Still, this videogame-themed outing seems unlikely to become a crossover hit: While South Asian auds will likely flock to a film that does what Bollywood does with a major techno bump, the aesthetics of overkill will make the result inaccessible to Westernized Americans, the campiness, as usual, muddying the translation. (Hindi, Tamil, English dialogue) One can see where helmer Anubhav Sinha (who co-wrote with three other scribes) has gone right in co-opting a number of popular themes, most notably the Frankenstein myth: Shekhar (Khan) is a London-based videogame designer whose son, Prateek (Armaan Verma), thinks he's a nerd. He is -- and doing a Michael Jackson impersonation for Prateek's friends is more likely to send the kid into therapy than to win his affection. But the boy does spark Shekhar's imagination: When he asks for a videogame with an unbeatable villain, Shekhar creates Ra.One, a derivation of a Hindu demon. But the onscreen character takes over the game, crosses the threshold between virtual and real, kills his creator and startshunting down the last player he didn't beat: Prateek. Khan, a B.O. powerhouse whose recent output includes the "Forrest Gump"-like dramedy "My Name Is Khan," never holds back here. He even does double duty, playing both Shekhar and his vidgame avatar, G.One, whom Prateek and his mother, Sonia (Kareena Kapoor), create out of the vestiges of Shekhar left on the computer. (How? Don't ask.) G.One is an emotion-free robot who must keep the young Prateek from the grips of Ra.One (played in nonvirtual form by Arjun Rampal), and the "Terminator" references start coming fast and furious. Young Verma plays Prateek rather petulantly, but as a disgruntled adolescent he's perfectly convincing. Kapoor has little do besides smile insipidly or look aghast, and most of her scenes are shot like very ambitious hair-care commercials. She and Khan both acquit themselves admirably, however, during the musical numbers, of which there are several. Along with Khan's presence, it's the effects that sell "Ra.One," and they arrive more or less nonstop. Indeed, where the film goes awry is in belaboring all the stylistic flourishes -- the extremely slo-mo, "Matrix"-style battle stuff, the defiance of physics a la "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- as if it were all new, which it may be to Bollywood. Rather than incorporate the technology into the story, Sinha's CG acrobatics become the equivalent of a wide receiver doing backflips in the endzone -- amusing, but beside the point. At the same time, much of the film is marked by a sense of dead air, owing to the fact that there's not a lot of story, but nevertheless, per Bollywood conventions, a lot of time to fill. One way of filling it would have been to let auds in on one of the more tantalizing lines in the film, which states that Ra.One was created out of the "10 most evil men in history." Really? Who are they?) The pic also could have explained some of its not-so-hidden messages: Introductory titles warn that smoking is bad for your health and that none of the stunts in the film should be attempted at home, and both lessons are reinforced later in the story -- all of which is great and well-intended, but seems to come out of nowhere. The film's most memorable scene features the destruction of the Chhatrapati Shivaji train station (formerly the Victoria Terminus) in Mumbai. It's a great piece of chaos, the destruction of both a real-life Indian heritage site and a remnant of the Raj. And it shows what Sinha was capable of doing with all that technology at his disposal.Camera (color), Nicola Pecorini; editors, Martin Walsh, Sanjay Sharma; music, Vishal and Shekhar; production designers, Sabu Cyril, Marcus Wookey; costume designer,Tim Flattery; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Anoop Dev; sound designer, Resul Pookutty; visual effects supervisors, Jeffery Klieser, Haresh Hingorani; choreographers, Ganesh Hedge, Feroz Khan; line producer, Sameer Yusuf Khan; associate producer, Sanjiv Chawla. Reviewed at AMC Empire 25,NY, Oct. 26, 2011. Running time: 146 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

IDA sets documentary nominees

By DAVE McNARY The International Documentary Assn. has tapped a quintet of titles for its feature award: "Better This World," "How to Die in Oregon," "Nostalgia for the Light," "The Redemption of General Butt Naked" and "The Tiniest Place." The IDA announced the noms Thursday. Winners will be announced Dec. 2 at the DGA in Hollywood. "Better This World" is Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega's account of two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas, who wind up arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention; "How to Die in Oregon" is Peter Richardson's portrait of what it means to die with dignity; "Nostalgia" is a personal odyssey from Chilean director Patricio Guzman; Daniele Anastasion and Eric Strauss' "Butt Naked" confronts hard questions about both the power and limits of forgiveness; and "The Tiniest Place" is Tatiana Huezo's story of an annihilated Salvadorian town. The five nominated films in the short category are "Broken Doors," Goro Toshima's look at a young, homeless couple, struggling to survive on the streets of Hollywood; Barbara Hammer's "Maya Deren's Sink," a tribute to the mother of avant-garde American film; "Minka," Davina Pardo's story about architecture, memory and the meaning of home; Sara Nesson's "Poster Girl," a portrait of an all-American high-school cheerleader turned poster girl for women in combat struggling with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress order; and "The Warriors of Quigang," Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon's look at villagers in a remote district of China who battle a chemical company. IDA also announced that the best feature and short award winners would again be selected by IDA's members through an innovative online viewing and voting process. The five nominees for the Continuing Series Award are "30 for 30" (ESPN Films), "American Experience" (WGBH), "The Passionate Eye" (CBC), "POV" (American Documentary Inc. and POV) and "Vanguard" (Current). Limited Series nominees are "Boomtown" (Planet Green), "If God Is Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" (HBO Documentary Films), "On Series" (Current), "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook" (PBS) and "The National Parks Project" (Discovery World HD). Nominees for the IDA Humanitas Award are "The Carrier" (Maggie Betts, director), "How to Die in Oregon" (Peter Richardson), "The Learning" (Ramona Diaz), "Position Among the Stars" (Leonard Retel Helmrich) and "The Tiniest Place" (Tatiana Huezo). Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Braveheart's Angus Macfadyen Joins Chuck as Final Villain

Angus Macfayden Scottish actor Angus Macfadyen has grew to become an associate from the cast of Chuck within the final season, TVGuide.com has confirmed. See the relaxation of current day news The Braveheart star, whose TV credits include Alias, Californication and Mislead Me, will portray Nicholas Quinn, the series' final major villain. Quinn can be a former CIA agent who's now controlling a mercenary spy organization, TVLine.com reviews. The 48-year-old actor look in 4 or 5 episodes inside the final season, which premieres Friday at 8/7c on NBC.

Alec Baldwin's New Podcast is Just as Awesome as You'd Imagine

Now hear this! No, seriously, hear this: Alec Baldwin has a new NPR podcast called Here’s the Thing, which will comprise a series of conversations with the actor’s Hollywood peers and other cultural luminaries (including “makers of public policy, critics and comedians”) about “what motivates them” and “how […] they feel about what they do” — among other things. The first episode, which you can listen to below, feature Michael Douglas and is pretty much just as awesome as you’d imagine. This is what something like Inside the Actor’s Studio should be: Raconteurial aplomb without all the sycophancy, and generosity of spirit without all the fawning deference. Baldwin’s chat a few weeks ago with Matthew Broderick was a perfect tune-up for what he’s doing here — to say nothing of Baldwin’s other sterling public-radio milestone known as “Schweddy Balls” — and I can’t really wait to hear what’s next. Highlights include drunken “Greed is good” impressions and lessons from Jack Nicholson on the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And there’s so much more. Happy listening! [via WNYC]

Haunted Hollywood: Marilyn Monroe's Ghost, 'The Exorcist' and much more

Using the season of Halloween now here, you might want to celebrate having a horror movie or two. But who requires a movie once the real lives of Hollywood's cleverest stars are simply as freaky? Ghosts, killer cars having a mind that belongs to them, as well as the demon themself happen to be ended most abundant in glamorous males and ladies from the big screen. As the veracity of those stories maybe dubious, they actually give a creepy (and entertaining) new dimension to tales of Hollywood past. Haunted Hollywood The Phantom Stage?Houdini's Halloween Storm?The Ghost of Howard Hughes?James Dean's Killer Vehicle?Marilyn Monroe's Haunted Mirror?Ghostly Music in the Hotel?Jayne Mansfield Wiped out with a Satanic Curse?The Curse of 'The Exorcist'?The Woman in Black? See All Moviefone Art galleries »

Berlinale goes red-colored-colored

BERLIN -- Recently discovered film works produced between 1922 and 1936 having a Soviet-German studio venture will be the focus of next year's Berlinale Retrospective. Entitled "The Red-colored-colored Dream Factory," the retro will showcase films within the Russian-German film studio Mezhrabpom-Film which is Berlin branch Prometheus. Established by Russian producer Moisei Aleinikov and German communist and "red-colored-colored media entrepreneur" Willi Muenzenberg in 1922, the studio combined the partners' business ambitions utilizing their political objectives and enthusiasm for completely new film tales. Put into Moscow with headquarters in Berlin, the first Russian-German venture produced some 600 films, a couple of which championed socialist values, just before the German office was shut lower with the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler, who found energy in 1933. The retro will unspool such pieces of art as Vsevolod Pudovkin's "Storm over Asia" from 1928, Boris Barnet's "The Woman while using Hat" (1927) and Yakov Protazanov's 1924 sci-fi drama about revolution on Mars, "Aelita." While Mezhrabpom-Film made Russian revolutionary cinema classics for instance Pudovkin's "The Conclusion of St. Petersburg" (1927), the studio also dedicated to films that revolved around people everyday lives, according to Rainer Rother, mind in the Retrospective and artistic director in the Deutsche Kinemathek. "Artistically sophisticated films from an array of genres thrilled worldwide audiences and inspired the entire European film avant-garde," mentioned Rother. Also screening will probably be Margarita Barskaya's 1933 drama "Torn Shoes," about children in Germany when the Nazis found energy, as well as the 1935 sci-fi robot film "Lost Sensation," by Aleksandr Andriyevsky. Among the studio's respected works will be the Soviet Union's first animated films additionally to the first appear film, Nikolai Ekk's "Path to Existence" from 1931. Among the German films are socially committed photos in the late Weimar Republic, including operates by Phil Jutzi, Leo Mittler's "Jenseits der Strasse" (Harbor Drift, 1929) and Slatan Dudow's "Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehoert die Welt?" (Whither Germany, 1932). Curated by Alexander Schwarz and Guenter Agde, the Retrospective can have greater than 40 quiet and appear films. The quiet films all is going to be based on live music completed by famous artists. The choice includes numerous German premieres of films that are being supplied by Moscow's Gosfilmofond as well as the Russian Condition Documentary Film and Photo Archive at Krasnogorsk. The Retrospective continues to be develop in cooperation while using German Federal Archives, the Cinematheque p Toulouse, Munich Filmmuseum, the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna as well as the Museum of recent Art. The Retrospective will probably be based on discussions and occasions within the Deutsche Kinemathek additionally to a different book in regards to the legendary studio as well as the films produced there. Carefully connected using the Retrospective making possible having a collaboration with pubcasters Arte and ZDF might be the Berlinale's presentation of Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 masterpiece "October," with Edmund Meisel's original music completed with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. The film, which re-enacts the Russian Revolution of 1917, will probably be examined within the Friedrichstadtpalast on Feb. 10. Incorporated inside a completely new partnership involving the Berlinale, the Deutsche Kinemathek as well as the Museum of recent Art in NY, the MoMA can have numerous films at a negative balance-colored Dream Factory type in NY next spring. The Berlinale runs Feb. 9-19. Contact Erection dysfunction Meza at staff@variety.com

Five Good Reasons To See 'The Three Musketeers'

We have already started you five rather surprising things you should know about Paul W.S. Anderson's 3-D undertake "The 3 Musketeers," strange such things as how Orlando Blossom based his flamboyant character on Ziggy Stardust which Milla Jovovich's breasts are method stars. If such kooky details aren't enough to convince you to look into the flick a few days ago, then knowing this undertake the classic Alexandre Dumas story consists of a number of other surprises might. When you get fair maidens in corsets and sword fights in abundance, Anderson introduces a great deal of recent jewelry in to the mix: steampunk airships, excellent 3-D effects and much more. Here are five good reasons to see "The 3 Musketeers." The lack of a Bryan Adams Song Firstly: when moviegoers of the certain age consider this legendary threesome around the giant screen, they likely expensive to an extremely unfortunate 1993 adaptation starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Chris O'Donnell, a movie which boasted a cheestastic single known as "All for Love," thanks to Bryan Adams, Fishing rod Stewart and Sting. Difficult occasions. Fortunately, Anderson's film could not become more diverse from the prior version, even when both movies follow similar story lines. As you will see in subsequent reasons, the director (who's most widely known for that "Resident Evil" franchise) brings top-notch effects work and inventive fight moments towards the movie. Real 3-D Talking about individuals 3d, Anderson shot his film with 3-D cameras and did not suffer from a questionable 3-D conversion process. And sensibly, the director mostly uses 3-D to produce depth as though you are searching via a window right into a " new world " instead of using 3-D like a poke-your-eye-out gimmick. Mostly. Be careful for any Musketeer sword or two jutting from the screen. Blossom Gone Bad We'll let costar Orlando Blossom take that one. "They wanted me to participate the film as Duke of Buckingham, instead of playing among the Musketeers," he told us lately. "That offered me. The concept that I acquired to become the type of villain, kind of a poor boy, small rogue. Large amount of fun. Fun, fun, fun! I become an arrogant prick and pull off it!" Meet Gabriella Wilde If you have never heard about Gabriella Wilde before, you will be hearing a great deal about her later on. The British actress is making her Hollywood debut in "Three Musketeers" because the lady-in-waiting to Full Anne of Austria, employment that needs her to put on a lot of corseted dresses and appear great doing the work. Wilde was created to stay in a period of time piece. The Airships About individuals airships. Described within the film because the product of Leonardo da Vinci's actual designs, these suckers really are a hot-air balloon-meets-galleon hybrid. The appearance from the first airship is definitely an eye-popping little bit of anachronistic large-screen fun. Then more show on the scene. The climax from the film marries intense sword fights by having an epic aerial fight over the roads of Paris. 17th-century Europe hasn't seen anything that can compare with this. Neither perhaps you have. Take a look. Inform us what you believe within the comments section as well as on Twitter!

Wiig, Rock in Lab's 'Charades'

WiigRockCannavale Hoffman Kristen Wiig, Chris Rock, Bobby Cannavale and Philip Seymour Hoffman are among the performers on tap for the Labyrinth Theater Company's annual benefit event "Celebrity Charades."Cynthia Rowley, John Ortiz and Bob Balaban also are among the thesps to compete in this year's outing, called "Down and Derby." The fund-raiser, proceeds from which go to support the current season of nonprofit legit troupe Labyrinth, sees four teams compete at speed charades.Hoffman and Ortiz, former co-artistic directors of Labyrinth, are set to receive the org's Dave Hoghe Award, presented each year to standout supporters of the company.Labyrinth's current season recently launched with the world preem of "Atmosphere of Memory," starring Ellen Burstyn and John Glover. Show began previews last week and will open Oct. 30."Celebrity Charades 2011: Down and Derby" is set for Nov. 14 at Gotham's Highline Ballroom. Further participants remain to be announced. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

Giuliana Rancic: I've Initial Phases of Cancer Of The Breast

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic continues to be identified with cancer of the breast, she revealed on Monday's Today show. "Through my attempt to conceive for that third time, through IVF, we sadly discovered which i have initial phases of cancer of the breast. It has been a surprise,Inch she told Ann Curry. VIDEO: Giuliana Rancic describes why she talked about her miscarriage on her behalf show The E! News host has recorded her mission to conceive on her behalf reality show Giuliana & Bill. Within the Season 4 finale, she and husband Bill Rancic visited Colorado to have an IVF treatment. "This physician stated you'll need a mammogram and that i stated, 'Why, I am 36 years of age, I am too youthful,' and that he stated ... 'I won't enable you to get pregnant if [there's] probably the small risk you've cancer.' And So I went and also got a mammogram ... they known as me the following day and stated we need return, we have seen something," she stated. Upon hearing this news, Rancic states, "It had been like incredible instant sobbing and also the world just crashed around me." See more pics and vids of Giuliana Rancic Rancic states she's going through surgery now after which going through 6 1/2 days of radiation. The pair, though, isn't quitting on the hope to possess a baby. "I still want that baby. I usually stated there is some master plan of why IVF did not work, why I never became pregnant, and today I really think that God was searching for me personally,Inch she stated. "Had I become pregnant, a couple of years down the road I might be a lot sicker." E! News launched an argument following a announcement. "With respect to her E! family we're delivering our love and support to Giuliana and applaud her for discussing her recent cancer of the breast diagnosis with the hope that it'll encourage women everywhere to consider necessary and preventative measures." Watch Rancic's interview with Curry below. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news concerning the economy

Pena to step down at N.Y. fest

The 49th annual NY Film Festival wrapped Sunday night with the announcement that Richard Pena, the longtime program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the head of the fest's selection committee, will step down at the end of 2012.Next year's NYFF will be the event's 50th year, and Pena's 25th at the Film Society.Pena's tenure has included the opening of the Film Society's Walter Reade Theater as well as the brand new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, which added two more screens to this year's festival programming. Pena's years in the post also have encompassed influential NYFF spotlights on filmmakers including Pedro Almodovar, Mike Leigh and Lars Von Trier, among others. Pena announced his departure at the screening of "The Descendants," the closing night film of this year's fest. He ankles to pursue other opportunities, and said the fest's 50th anniversary seemed a good time to transition.Pena will remain affiliated with the Film Society, designing and organizing a new educational initiative. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

YouTube to include Television Channels With Premium Content From Hollywood Companies

Google's YouTube continues to be striking handles several content companies in order to add about 24 channels which will offer TV-style entertainment and news, associates confirmed Friday.our editor recommendsYouTube Gets near Original Content Handles 'X Factor' Producer, 'CSI' Creator, Tony HawkGoogle Launches YouTube Movies Service in Canada Your time and effort could yield some channels by early the coming year with original shows from such partners as Warner Bros., BermanBraun, FremantleMedia and ShineReveille. Particulars were sketchy on Friday, however, many sources indicated Google would spend around $150 million around the effort. Google, obviously, made its status from user-produced content but it's been adding premium fare in a fast clip, mostly as movies it rents for $3.99 or older game titles it offers free with advertising. While adding traditional Television shows with an a la carte model like the way YouTube offers movies is incorporated in the works, the roll-out of new channels with internet programming is really a somewhat separate initiative, associates stated. The official announcment from the project is anticipated within in regards to a month. Related Subjects Google Warner Bros. YouTube FremantleMedia

Starz Offers Full-Episode Previews of Kelsey Grammers Boss

In a strategy to build interest in the new Kelsey Grammer series Boss, Starz beginning today is making the premiere episode available for sampling to 76 million households across multiple platforms in the runup to the October 21 debut. Grammer plays Tom Kane, hardened Machiavellian mayor of Chicago who finds himself struggling with a potentially debilitating medical problem he desperately wants to keep secret. Connie Nielsen plays his wife and Martin Donovan plays his political advisor. Viewers can watch the full debut episode directed by Gus Van Sant on www.starz.com/boss and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boss.starz and on-demand or online via multiple cable or telco and satellite outlets. Boss creator Farhad Safinia is executive producer along with Grammer, Van Sant, Brian Sher, Stella Bulochnikov, Richard Levine and Lyn Greene. Starz has already renewedBoss, from Lionsgate TV, for a second season before the first one has officially begun.

Sony Pictures Acquiring New Steve Jobs Biography For Major Feature Film

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Sony Pictures is making a hefty deal to acquire feature rights to Steve Jobs, the upcoming authorized biography by former CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson. I’m hearing the deal is $1 million against $3 million and that Mark Gordon will be the biopic’s producer. But this will be an MG360 project, which is the movie production partnership between Gordon and Management 360. ICM reps both Isaacson and Gordon. Sony Pictures would not comment. The studio seems a good fit for the book, having boiled business books into compelling dramas with both the Oscar-nominated The Social Network and Moneyball. The Isaacson book was supposed to be published on November 21stby Simon & Schuster, but now the release date has moved up toOctober 24th, according to a spokeswoman for the publisher.Thiswas the hottest about-to-be biopic in Hollywood.[Will Hollywood Book Biopic Of Steve Jobs?] The 448-page profile is based on over 40 interviews with the Apple co-founder and over 100 conversations with friends, family members, colleagues and competitors. And its a compelling story: the building of the worlds most valuable technology company by creating the devices that changed how people use electronics and revolutionized the computer, music, and mobile phone industries. Jobs gave his full cooperation but had not read it as of mid-August. At first titled iSteve: the Book Of Jobs, Isaacson had second thoughts about what was appropriate for the first biography to get Jobs blessing and cooperation. Even when it wasnt even finished, it made it (briefly) into the top 50 on Amazons bestseller list. Isaacson eventually persuaded his publisher Simon & Schuster to go with the simple title of Steve Jobs. First planned for 2012, the books release date was moved up. Jobs reportedly fought off a long list of would-be biographers over the years then chose Isaacson, whos written about Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. Jobs himself said he had no skeletons in his closet, though there were things hed done he wasnt proud of. But he was touchy about his personal life, understandably. According to Fortune magazine, in the early 1980s Jobs invited Michael Moritz, then Times Silicon Valley reporter, to chronicle the Macs creation for the book that became The Little Kingdom (1984). But when Moritz reported, in Times 1983 Machine of the Year, a detail about Jobs family, access was abruptly cut off. At the time of Jobs death, only one movie had ever chronicled his rise to tech titan: Pirates Of Silicon Valley, a semi-humorous docudrama about the two visionaries behind Microsoft and Apple based on the book Fire In The Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine. Shown on TNT in 1999, the telefilm starred Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates and Noah Wyle as Jobs. Reportedly, Jobs thought the ER actor did a fantastic job donning the turtleneck. And, during the Macworld NY in July 1999, Jobs had Wyle come out dressed like him to start the keynote. TNT re-aired Pirates back-to-back on Thursday night in tribute.

'Django Unchained' Replaces Kevin Costner With Kurt Russell

Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" gets a little of the casting make-over. First of all, Kurt Russell is getting back together with his "Dying Proof" director within the approaching film. He'll be changing Kevin Costner because the psychotic Ace Woodsy, based on the Hollywood Reporter. Also getting back using the director is "Kill Bill's" Laura Cayouette, who THR reviews is going to be playing Leonardo DiCaprio's widowed sister. In related news, THR has found that Christoph Waltz hurt his pelvis throughout practicing "Django Unchained," which explains why he was not able to go to the NY premiere of "Carnage" on Friday. Browse the relaxation of present day casting news following the jump! Kevin Kline Joins Charlie Kaufman's "Frank Or Francis" Variety has found that Kevin Kline may have 1 1 / 2 roles to experience in Charlie Kaufman's approaching sophomore feature, "Frank or Francis." The veteran actor will have the brother towards the movie's primary character, a director, plus an animatronic disembodied screenwriting mind. Steve Carell is within foretells take part in the director, and Jack Black will have a blogger who berates him. Nicolas Cage can also be in foretells star within the flick, which starts filming in The month of january. Steve Carell To Become Listed On Bennett Miller's "Moneyball" Follow-Up Additionally to potentially joining "Frank or Francis," Variety has found that Carell has became a member of Bennett Miller's next film, "Foxcatcher." Like his previous feature "Moneyball," Bennett's "Foxcatcher" is really a true story. It'll stick to the murder of the Olympic wrestler by John du Pont, who owns a wrestling training facility. Production around the movie is placed to start in March. Melissa Leo And James Badge Dale Taking "Flight" Robert Zemeckis just arrived two more stars for his approaching film "Flight," The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Melissa Leo and James Badge Dale have been in foretells join the drama that presently stars Denzel Washington. Also starring within the movie is Bruce Greenwood, while Don Cheadle and Kelly Reilly will also be presently in discussions. Leo will have an investigator going to find Washington's character responsible for drug abuse while flying an airplane, while Dale will have a dying cancer patient. Woodsy Harrelson Looking For "Zombieland" Reunion Woodsy Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg might be starring in another movie together, but this time around about masters of magic rather than zombies. Variety is confirming that Harrelson is within discussions to become listed on Louis Leterrier's magician heist pic "You Now See Me." He'll be joining Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher and Melanie Laurent. CBS Films To Co-Finance "In Bruges" Follow-Up Should you, much like me, happen to be lengthy-anticipating author/director Martin McDonagh and actor Colin Farrell's follow-as much as "In Bruges," your wait is nearly over. Deadline is confirming that CBS Films is within discussions to co-finance their next project together known as "Seven Psychopaths." The film is all about a film writer battling to create his next script, and will get pulled in to the dognapping escapades of his buddies (performed by Mike Rockwell and Chris Walken). Inform us your ideas on present day Casting Get in touch with your comments ought to section below or on Twitter!