Friday, March 2, 2012

Schaech, Dorsey cast in Showtime's 'Donovan'

Showtime has cast Johnathon Schaech, Kerris Dorsey and Ambyr Childers in drama pilot "Ray Donovan," starring Liev Schreiber. Schaech ("That Thing You Do") will a movie star with a mysterious connection to Schreiber's Donovan, a professional Los Angeles trouble-shooter. Dorsey, who played the daughter of Brad Pitt's Billy Beane in "Moneyball," will play Donovan's daughter. Childers ("All My Children"), will play a young starlet under Donovan's protection. Also previously cast are Jon Voight, Elliott Gould, Dash Mihok, Paula Malcomson, Peter Jacobson, Pooch Hall and Kate Moennig. Ann Biderman ("Southland") created "Ray Donovan" and is exec producing with Mark Gordon and Bryan Zuriff. Production will begin in Los Angeles later this month. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

Monday, February 27, 2012

Insiders: Events

TODAY: The Broadcasters Foundation of America fetes Fox's Dennis Swanson with its Golden Mike Award. Plaza Hotel. BroadcastersFoundation.org Ben Vereen discusses his career as part of City College of NY's Black History Month program. CCNY's Aaron Davis Hall. Cuny.edu TUESDAY: Pixar's Andrew Stanton and "The Daily Show's" John Hodgman are among the speakers at the Ted 2012 Full Spectrum confab. Through Friday at Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Conferences.ted.com/TED2012 The Beverly Hills Bar Assn. hosts the seminar Get My Client's Content Off Your Website focusing on Internet takedown notices. BHBA's office on Beverly Drive. Bhba.org THURSDAY: Chuck Lorre and Michael Eisner are among the inductees to the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Beverly Hills Hotel. Emmys.tv A screening of Dervis Zaim's "Shadows and Faces" kicks off the inaugural Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival. Through Sunday at the Egyptian Theater. Latff.org Film Independent at LACMA spotlights French helmer Robert Bresson with a double bill featuring 1956's "A Man Escaped" and 1971's "Four Nights of a Dreamer." Bing Theater. Lacma.org FRIDAY: Producer Suzanne de Passe is among the honorees at the Mayor's Masked Ball benefitting the United Negro College Fund. Biltmore Hotel. Uncf.org SUNDAY: Bill Cosby and Rita Moreno will be feted at the Jackie Robinson Foundation's annual awards dinner. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. JackieRobinson.org MARCH 7: Turner's Michael Wright, AMC's Joel Stillerman, MTV's David Janollari, ABC Family's Kate Juergens and Starz's Carmi Zlotnik take part in the Hollywood Radio & Television Society's cable programmers luncheon. Beverly Hilton. HRTS.org Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Friday, February 24, 2012

Pilot Season: Mena Suvari and Kyle Howard Cast in NBC Comedy From Happy Being Scribe

Rob Grain A producer who labored just like a local freelance writer for your Amazing Race is discovered dead Friday in Uganda from an apparent cocaine overdose, E! Online reviews. An autopsy completed on Rob Grain, who tried Race's presently airing season just like a freelance company, shown cocaine within the system. Rice's assistant, Kathryn Bigger, also examined positive for cocaine. She's presently recouping in the hospital. Amazing Race's Phil Keoghan: You'd be crazy not to watch because of Government duo Grain and Bigger come up with Friday by themselves hotel balcony. Grain was apparently found face lower up for grabs, with blood stream coming initially from from his nose and mouth. Bigger was unconscious on the floor alongside him. Police also found a bag of white-colored powder inside their room that examined positive for opiates. Both were arrived at a health care facility where Grain was pronounced dead. Initial reviews that Grain and Bigger happen to be poisoned by "thugs" were shot lower by Ugandan Police. "The resort he continued to be at will be a 5-star hotel," mentioned Uganda Media Center representative Fred Opolot. "The rooms is only able to be applied by hotel employees or site visitors. No-it's possible to easily walk inside and out. There's good peace of mind in your accommodation. People accusations are misguided."3 "Our Amazing Race team is shocked and deeply saddened to know of Jeff's untimely dying," mentioned Race co-creator and executive producer Bertram van Munster."The show is not being created at this time around, but we have utilized Jeff's company on several occasions throughout the time from the series to help with advance work when the Race visited Africa.He was well loved and also the work was highly respected." Grain is managed to get by his wife Sally Blackman and a pair of youthful children.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Cold Light Of Day Poster Online

Henry Cavill & Bruce Willis vs. SpainHere's some eye candy for your Thursday afternoon: it's a fresh poster for The Cold Light Of Day, with HenryCavill, Bruce Willis and (sadly not pictured)Sigourney Weaver. Now sure, this is similar to some of the one-sheets already out there, but on the other hand he it is terribly handsome well-designed.{The Cold Light Of Day Exclusive Quad Poster}The story sees Cavill play son to Willis and Weaver, who have been kidnapped while on holiday in Spain. We can't help but think that it's very unwise to kidnap two such formidable characters, but in any case Cavill sets out to find Mom and Pops, and uncovers an international conspiracy en route. Expect action. The Cold Light Of Day hits the UKon April 6.[[Poll630]]

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Weinsteins Issue Statement On Fahrenheit 9/11 Lawsuit Settlement With Michael Moore

A lawsuit between filmmaker Michael Moore and the Weinsteins over a revenue dispute related to the 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which shattered nonfiction box office records, has been settled out of court. In a statement issued by The Weinstein Company, the brothers acknowledged they have settled with Moore and held out the possibility of working with the controversial director in the future: “Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s Fellowship Adventure Group and Michael Moore have amicably settled the lawsuit involving an accounting dispute on Fahrenheit 9/11, and they look forward to the prospect of working together on future projects.” No further details were provided. The Weinsteins formed the Fellowship Adventure Group when their former then-parent Disney barred Miramax from releasing Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The lawsuit filed last year in Los Angeles Superior Court alleged that at least $2.7 million in revenues had been “rerouted.” Moore’s attorney Larry Stein said at the time that an independent auditor found the discrepancy. Deadline reported last year Moore received $19.8 million in backend profit for the film which takes a critical look at then President Bush’s reaction to 9/11. Domestically, Fahrenheit 9/11 took in nearly $120 million at the box office.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Paramount Remaking Suspicion

Veena Sud will write & directIt's clearly open season on remakes of Hitchcock movies, as Paramount has announced that it is aiming to pump out a new take on the director's 1941 film Suspicion, with Veena Sud hired to write the script.Much like the Rebecca adaptation announced late last week, there's a healthy chance this won't be a direct redrafting of Hitch's work. Because, as with the other movie, Suspicion was based on a book, in this case Francis IIles' 1932 novel Before The Fact.Joan Fontaine starred in the original film version, which saw a dowdy young woman hitched to a smooth playboy charmer (Cary Grant) over the objections of her rich father. She soon starts to suspect that he's plotting to kill her so he can swipe her fortune. The performance nabbed Fontaine an Oscar for her role, so no doubt actresses will be queuing up to try their hand at the role.Sud is best known as the executive producer behind the US remake of Forbrydelsen, The Killing. She's also worked on the likes of Cold Case. We're hoping that she manages to find a solid ending for Suspicion as The Killing tailed off rather badly (though it has a chance to redeem itself when it returns to American screens on April 1.)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

RoboCop remake gets a screenwriter

Work on the forthcoming RoboCop reboot continues to move forward, with MGM announcing that Gran Torino screenwriter Nick Schenk has signed on to write the script.One of a raft of classic properties that MGM is seeking to revive (see this week's news story about Joe Carnahan's Death Wish revamp), RoboCop will be directed by Jose Padilha, who has outlined his plan to delve deeper into how Alex Murphy became a cyborg."I have my take on it," Padilha told Superhero Hype, "And I can tell you this: In the first RoboCop, Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts.""How do you make RoboCop?" he continues. " How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?"No further casting news has been released as yet, but rumours linking Michael Fassbender to the project refuse to go away. We're yet to be convinced by the need to reboot RoboCop, but if Fassbender were attached, we'd admit to having our interest piqued.Production is set to begin later this year, with RoboCop is expected to open at some point in 2013.