Josh Young's Favorite Performance

Josh Young's Favorite Performance March 7, 2012 Josh Youthful In the last decade it's taken increasingly more for any musical to really make an effect on me. I love to leave the theater transformed, moved, or getting learned something about myself or even the human conditionespecially if I am having to pay $150. I like watching wonderful stars and great choreography, but I have began to possess a strong aversion to shows with tunes that do not forward the plot. A show that doesn't fall under that category is "Within the Levels," the very best show I have seen since "Ragtime."I'd just finished my newbie like a company member in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival between seasons I ended in New york city to check this out show I'd been hearing a lot about. It had been closing on Broadway, and my pal Chris Jackson was rejoining the cast along using the creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda. I was expecting to become entertained as I used to be by every recent show I'd seen on Broadway. However, I'd a really rare experienceI was inspired. Inspiration! Please produce inspiration each time I visit a Broadway show. It happened after i saw my first Broadway show ("The Who's Tommy"), "Ragtime," and "L'ensemble des Miz" on tour in Philadelphia in the Forrest Theatre. That feeling continues to be evading me too frequently lately. But, relaxing in the Richard Rodgers Theater on that day in 2011, I had been amazed.I understood nothing about Miranda or even the masterpiece he'd produced. I'd been from the country throughout more often than not it had been being developed. I really like understanding how an excellent show involves be, and also the story of "Within the Levels" is just like it will get. Miranda authored the first version throughout his sophomore year attending college. From 1999 to 2008, the show was modified and presented in various forms in the National Music Theater Conference and Off-Broadway at 37 Arts Theater. Things I saw, with music and lyrics by Miranda and book by Quiara Alegra Hudes, was a bit of art perfected over nine years, and all sorts of hard labored demonstrated. It had been so effective and affective.The outlet number did what it really was designed to do. It came me to the advantage of my chair and did not allow me to go. It stated, "This is actually the world we are in, and listed here are the folks you will love." That first sequence was the phrase compelling, and each song later on were built with a reason. Each element had direction as well as an objective. There is no song or dance combination simply there "for show." Each clever lyric said in which you were each lighting signal said, "This is actually the story we are telling" and every set piece stated, "Let's transport you." The dancing was infectious.Initially when i first gone to live in New york city, I resided next to the A train stop at 181st Street, that is featured within the set. Living west of Broadway, I had been aware of the wealth and breadth of Latin culture only if walking daily towards the neighborhood Large Gym. I felt so alien towards the vitality, sound, and richness of this community. I so wanted to be aware what it had been about, and that i love that "Within the Levels" offered me a slice of this existence. I understand the existence of UsnaviMiranda's characteris imaginary, but unique because it is, I believe that within our melting pot society, we are able to all connect with it. That is what makes the work essential and wonderful. Personally i think fortunate to presently work using the lighting and costume designers from that demonstrate (Howell Binkley and Paul Tazewell) within the Stratford manufacture of "Jesus Celebrity," now in previews in the Neil Simon Theatre. Josh Youthful has spent two seasons in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He came from the role of Judas within the Stratford manufacture of "Jesus Celebrity," which later performed the La Jolla Playhouse and it is in previews on Broadway. Other Stratford credits include "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Evita." He's together with across the country in "L'ensemble des Misrables" and worldwide in "West Side Story." His new album, "Still Fantasizing of Paradise," can be obtained at iTunes. Josh Young's Favorite Performance March 7, 2012 Josh Youthful In the last decade it's taken increasingly more for any musical to actually make an effect on me. I love to leave the theater transformed, moved, or getting learned something about myself or even the human conditionespecially if I am having to pay $150. I like watching wonderful stars and great choreography, but I have began to possess a strong aversion to shows with tunes that do not forward the plot. A show that doesn't fall under that category is "Within the Levels," the very best show I have seen since "Ragtime."I'd just finished my newbie like a company member in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival between seasons I ended in New york city to determine this show I'd been hearing a lot about. It had been closing on Broadway, and my pal Chris Jackson was rejoining the cast together with the creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda. I was expecting to become entertained as I used to be by every recent show I'd seen on Broadway. However, I'd a really rare experienceI was inspired. Inspiration! Please produce inspiration each time a Broadway show. It happened after i saw my first Broadway show ("The Who's Tommy"), "Ragtime," and "L'ensemble des Miz" on tour in Philadelphia in the Forrest Theatre. That feeling continues to be evading me too frequently lately. But, relaxing in the Richard Rodgers Theater on that day this year, I had been amazed.I understood nothing about Miranda or even the masterpiece he'd produced. I'd been from the country throughout more often than not it had been being developed. I really like understanding how an excellent show involves be, and also the story of "Within the Levels" is just like it will get. Miranda authored the very first version throughout his sophomore year attending college. From 1999 to 2008, the show was modified and presented in various forms in the National Music Theater Conference and Off-Broadway at 37 Arts Theater. Things I saw, with music and lyrics by Miranda and book by Quiara Alegra Hudes, was a bit of art perfected over nine years, and all sorts of hard labored demonstrated. It had been so effective and affective.The outlet number did what it really was designed to do. It came me towards the fringe of my chair and did not allow me to go. It stated, "This is actually the world we are in, and listed here are the folks you will love." That first sequence was the phrase compelling, and each song later on were built with a reason. Each element had direction as well as an objective. There is no song or dance combination simply there "for show." Each clever lyric said in which you were each lighting signal said, "This is actually the story we are telling" and every set piece stated, "Let's transport you." The dancing was infectious.Initially when i first gone to live in New york city, I resided next to the A train visit 181st Street, that is featured within the set. Living west of Broadway, I had been aware of the wealth and breadth of Latin culture only if walking daily towards the neighborhood Large Gym. I felt so alien towards the vitality, sound, and richness of this community. I so wanted to be aware what it had been about, and that i love that "Within the Levels" offered me a slice of this existence. I understand the existence of UsnaviMiranda's characteris imaginary, but unique because it is, Personally i think that within our melting pot society, we are able to all connect with it. That is what makes the work essential and wonderful. Personally i think fortunate to presently work using the lighting and costume designers from that demonstrate (Howell Binkley and Paul Tazewell) within the Stratford manufacture of "Jesus Celebrity," now in previews in the Neil Simon Theatre. Josh Youthful has spent two seasons in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He came from the role of Judas within the Stratford manufacture of "Jesus Celebrity," which later performed the La Jolla Playhouse and it is in previews on Broadway. Other Stratford credits include "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Evita." He's together with across the country in "L'ensemble des Misrables" and worldwide in "West Side Story." His new album, "Still Fantasizing of Paradise," can be obtained at iTunes.

SAG-AFTRA projects 17% grow in dues revenue

The combined SAG-AFTRA is forecasted to usher in 17% more in member dues revenues -- or near to $a million per month -- compared to unions now generate separate organizations, based on court papers stemming in the suit filed recently trying to bar the merger.Screen Stars Guild chief financial officer Arianna Ozzanto made the disclosure included in SAG's motions towards the suit filed by Martin Sheen and 60 other stars. A hearing continues to be looking for March 26 -- four days prior to the unions are skedded to count the votes within the merger referendum.Merger backers haven't formerly revealed just how much the entire dues revenues could be if the unions mix."The quantity of dues presently forecasted to become received by SAG-AFTRA for that billing year that starts on May 1, 2012, is forecasted to become roughly $six million monthly,Inch Ozzanto stated. "Thus, SAG-AFTRA will forfeit $six million for every month that any merger of SAG-AFTRA is postponed. The main difference between the quantity of dues that could have been could be due to SAG individually and also to AFTRA individually when the merger doesn't happen is roughly $982,000 monthly.InchThe suit, filed February. 22, alleges that SAG and it is leaders are trying to merge using the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists "without performing the required research." SAG has labeled the suit "a obvious attempt for circumventing the desire from the membership" and "a pr stunt" and it has gone to live in write it off.Ozzanto noted in her own declaration when the merger is not consummated, it isn't realistic for SAG to gather dues on the month-to-month basis since SAG dues are calculated with an annual basis with six several weeks from the dues due at the outset of each billing year. "We don't possess the software in position to transmit a bill for just one month," she stated. "Additionally, because the current dues structure is mandated through the SAG metabolic rate, we're able to not achieve this anyway."For that fiscal year ended April 30, SAG dues came to $48.8 million and AFTRA's totaled $22.5 million, based on the LM-2 reviews filed through the unions using the U.S. Labor Dept. SAG's base dues are $116 yearly and 1.85% of earnings as much as $200,000, plus .5% of earnings between $200,000- $500,000 and .25% of earnings between $500,000-$a million.AFTRA's base dues are $127.80 plus 1.49% of earnings as much as $100,000 and .274% of earnings between $100,000 - $250,000.The dues structure within the merger might find base dues for dual card holders will fall nearly 20% from $243 to $198 each year with working dues of just one.575% of earnings as much as $500,000, aside from tv stations, would pay 1.575% of earnings as much as $100,000 plus .274% as much as $250,000.SAG's filings also incorporated a declaration from SAG general counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland revealing that SAG's national board chosen in 2008 to terminate the Phase I agreement, which spells the guidelines for joint discussions and making plans toward merger. In March, 2008, AFTRA leaders angrily split from joint talks with SAG the very first time in 30 years carrying out a dispute over stars attempting to switch jurisdiction on the cleaning soap opera from AFTRA to SAG. SAG hadn't formerly revealed the Phase I termination, based on plaintiffs' attorney David Casselman of Wasserman, Comden, Casselman & Esensten. He told Variety he will attack the possible lack of disclosure to people inside a court filing, saying that constitutional needs covering pre-merger studies were never suspended."SAG takes the positioning to prevent imposition from the necessary injunction, that the 2008 suspension allowing discussions to visit forward, permanently ended all individuals protections the people reasonably believe controlled the committee studies prior to the suggested merger," he added The unfiltered SAG claim on the contrary, never revealed to SAG people, are only able to be referred to like a unfaithfulness and stunning breach of the fiduciary responsibilities." Contact Dork McNary at dork.mcnary@variety.com

Lauren Gottlieb to star in UTV's 'ABCD'

MUMBAI -- India's UTV Movies has greenlit three dimensional dance musical "ABCD," starring U.S. dancer Lauren Gottlieb. Gottlieb has made an appearance on television in "Which Means You Think You Are Able To Dance" and "Glee," as well as in "Hanna Montana: The FilmInch and "Disaster Movie." Choreographer and director Remo D'Souza ("F.A.L.T.U.") will helm and co-star. Choreographers Prabhu Deva and Ganesh Acharya will also be attached. Those who win of UTV's popular TV reality show "Dance India Dance" which D'Souza would be a judge, will even come in the film. They're Salman Khan (no regards to the Bollywood star), Dharmesh, Prince and Mayuresh. The film arrives for release late this season. Budget particulars weren't revealed. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Now's Good Trailer Online

Dakota Fanning includes a bucket listDid you watch Gus Van Sant's winsome, terminally-ill-girl-meets-cool-boy-and-they-fall-in-hipster-love piece Restless this past year? Have you think, "This really is ok, but I'd rather it star Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine from War Equine and have plenty of British accents"? You probably did? Then you are fortunate! Browse the trailer for the time being Is Nice below.All snark aside, Good originates from Ol Parker, who authored and directed Imagine Me & You and also more lately scripted The Very Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The brand new film finds Fanning as Tessa Scott, a youthful lady identified with terminal leukaemia, who decides to forgo any more treatment and rather look for the items she's always aspired to do. Among her targets is sampling drugs and losing her virginity, but on the way she also meets and falls for Adam, her new neighbour. Which really changes her outlook.Parker has put together a good Brit cast to support his leads, with Paddy Considine, Olivia Williams and Kaya Scodelario a part of the ensemble. Whether it handles to increase over the mawkish, too-cute stylings of Restless, it might really be considered a nice little romantic weepy. Now's Good has gone out on May 25.

Top Chef's Paul: I Felt the Pressure to Win

Nick Cannon says his recent kidney failure stemmed from an auto-immune disease that he's suffering from. "They kind of say [my] autoimmune [disease] is - like a lupus type of thing, but no one else in my family has it," Cannon told People. Nick Cannon hospitalized for blood clots in his lungs Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Mariah CareyNick Cannon

Pilot Season: David Arquette Cast in ABC's The Smart One Comedy

Awake In many ways, Awake is an even riskier bet for NBC than the showtune-happy Smash. The show follows a detective whose reality has splintered following a fatal car accident: one day, he wakes up to comfort his grieving wife because their son has died; in the next, he's a widower living with his son who survived. During one of his mandated therapy sessions, he lays it out: One of these existences might not be real - but he'd rather go on living in both. More ambitious and certainly more challenging than most network dramas, Awake is not nearly as complicated as traversing through Inception, a comparison some critics have already made. Instead, think of it as a cop drama with a twist, albeit a very ambitious twist -- while Detective Britten (Jason Isaacs) is trying to be a husband one day and a father the next, he's also carrying on with his day job catching bad guys. Each week, he'll have a case to solve, and details or clues from one realm will help him in the other. Video: Watch the series premiere of Awake The first hour, directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night), has been deftly - and beautifully - organized into two very separate realities. Time with his wife (Laura Allen) is warm, golden, sun-kissed, while days with his son (Dylan Minnette) are cooler and bluer. Britten also sees different therapists (B.D. Wong and Cherry Jones) and has different job partners (Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama), though both are tasked in some way with keeping an eye on him. Four episodes in, none of the narrative is particularly difficult to follow. More problematic is the NBC landscape: Awake is stuck in a tough timeslot - Thursdays at 10, following the network's low-rated comedy lineup and against established dramas The Mentalist on CBS and Private Practice on ABC. We say, let the network worry about all that. Here's your six-point cheat sheet, straight from creator-executive producer Kyle Killen (Lone Star): Somber premise, not so somber drama. Awake picks up well after the Britten family car crash. When we meet Britten, he's adjusted well to living a dual life - he even wears different colored rubber bands to help keep his realities separate. In other words, real or not, Britten still has both his wife and son in his life, and that's a gift he wants to take advantage of. "It isn't a show that's relentlessly about grief because, frankly, whether it's healthy or not, he's not a person who is grieving," Killen says. "As far as he's concerned, he has everyone." Fall TV scorecard: Which shows are returning? Which aren't? Which reality is real? Who cares? Britten doesn't. And if you get hung up on trying to suss out the dream world, you'll be waiting awhile. Killen is less interested in helping you figure out which reality is the real deal than they are in seeing the effect living a double life has on Britten. "It's not really a question the show is trying to answer because it's actually a question the character is trying to avoid the answer to," Killen says. "To us, what's more interesting is [what happens when] you stake your claim with wanting to live literally in two different worlds that are going in two different directions. The drama and conflict comes from seeing a person who is trying to live in two diverging universes." And at some point, the mental upkeep of Britten's denial will take its toll, i.e. in an upcoming episode, he hallucinates quality time with a penguin. "It must be extraordinarily difficult to construct an entire alternate universe," Killen says. "Keeping all the details straight, keeping it separate, protecting yourself from knowing which is real. Over time, there are probably consequences to that. So, in one episode, you spend some time with a penguin on one of your cases." The question you should be asking is: What's behind the car crash? That's a mystery that will be answered by season's end. Britten's boss (Laura Innes), who early on will be revealed as having a hidden agenda, could have something to do with it. There will be lots of crime-solving. Make no mistake: This is a case-of-the-week show (that happens to have a top-tier cast and a more-complex-than-usual premise.) Britten's workload makes up the meat of every episode. The spin is that details in one reality - something as innocuous as a packing slip or a parking spot -- can help crack cases in the other. He'll figure this trick out sooner rather than later, and then he'll begin asking himself all the questions that are probably occurring to you right now. "What can he do? What can't he do? Is it pre-crime? Are you seeing the future in one world? Those are things that Britten explores," Killen says. Awake review: A double life, but is either real? You'll want to root for Britten... to not wake up. Probably. The point is, he's a man you'll empathize with. Killen's last series Lone Star lasted just two episodes, and one of Killen's theories about why viewers rejected it is that it was, semi-similarly, about a bigamous grifter leading two lives. Awake's Britten is no such morally ambiguous character picking between wives. "Britten's a guy who's really struggling to hold on to his wife and his son, which is something I think we can empathize with," Killen says. Series star Jason Isaacs puts it another way: "The only reason I wanted to do this show is that it's completely universal. Although he has a unique situation, through that prism, we can explore what it's like to be a father, what it's like to be a husband, what it's like to reboot a marriage if you didn't get it right the first time..." P.S. Britten is not dead nor in a coma. At least, that's what we've come to believe after speaking to both Killen and executive producer Howard Gordon (24, Homeland), who both seemed to shoot down the theory that it's all a dream. "I understand there's a value to a twist on a twist, but I also feel like there's a value to seeing [the premise] to the end and finding out emotionally what it would mean to literally discover that there wasn't a way out of the box, that the rules are exactly as they laid out in the beginning," Killen said. And those rules are that Britten lives in two different worlds, one of which is all in his head. That's one interpretation anyway... Got it? Good. Now check out the first seven minutes of Awake and watch tonight's premiere at 10/9c on NBC:

Taylor Kitsch Saves Mars With MTV First: John Carter!

The year ahead of Taylor Kitsch would be considered a big one for any actor. With "John Carter" and "Battleship," he's leading the charge on two big-budget adventure movies, but then he'll also work with one of the most revered directors of all time, Oliver Stone, for "Savages." But before all of that, he'll be taking your questions as a part of "MTV First: John Carter." On Thursday, March 1, Kitsch will sit down with MTV News' Josh Horowitz to present a never-before-seen clip from "John Carter" on MTV at 7:56 p.m. ET. Immediately after, their conversation will continue on MTV.com, where Kitsch will take questions from you. All you have to do is send in your questions via Twitter, using @MTVNews and the hashtag #MTVFirst or #AskKitsch. And there's definitely a lot to ask him. As his first big year in movies, Kitsch will have a lot of eyes on him, as the lead in two summer movies. Long gone are the quaint days in Dillon, Tim Riggins and "Friday Night Lights." This summer, Kitsch makes the jump to full-blown action star. "John Carter" and "Battleship" rank among the summer's biggest movies, and they share a star in Kitsch. Actors consider themselves lucky if they find themselves in one big summer movie, nonetheless two. But that's ignoring July's crime drama "Savages," based on Don Winslow's novel and directed by Oliver Stone. In the movie, Kitsch will play Chon, a pot grower who must rescue his girlfriend, played by Blake Lively, after she's kidnapped by the Mexican drug cartel. So that's the 2012 Kitsch will have, but what will you ask him? Does he ever throw on the 3s and relive the glory days as a Dillon Panther? What was it like wearing a loin cloth for most of the movie in "John Carter"? What would you like to ask Taylor Kitsch? Let us know by tweeting @MTVNews using the hashtags #MTVFirst or #AskKitsch. Then be sure to tune into MTV at 7:56 p.m. ET on March 1 to see the never-before-seen clip from "John Carter."

Homeland Actress Could Make Another Killing

Is Cougar Town's Grayson departing Jules? Josh Hopkins has grew to become part of the cast of Lady Pals, Kari Lizer 's NBC pilot. Pilot Season: Have the scoop! Inside the comedy, two female pals, Nicole (Andrea Anders), who apparently gets the perfect existence, and Jen, who can't have the symptoms of it together, can't do without each other. Hopkins may have... Discover More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Danny ComdenJosh HopkinsAndrea AndersRachel DratchKari LizerBill LawrenceThe New Adventures of Old ChristineIn Plain SightCougar Town

TiVo: Jennifer Lopez Starred In Oscar Nights Most-Seen TV Moment

Billy Very-Situated Oscars Seen By 39.3 Million, Up From A Year Ago Nikki Finke: Live-Snarking The Oscars It’s amazing simply how much TV audiences be worried about somewhat show of nipple. No less than that seems to explain why Jennifer Lopez’s joint appearance with Cameron Diaz to supply the award to find the best Costume Design and Makeup was most likely probably the most-seen moment among TiVo Digital video recorder clients who seen last evening’s Oscars live or around 12 several hours after it broadcast.Their look had 14.1% more viewings in comparison to average for your relaxation in the show, TiVo states based on data from 300,000 of the clients.The business counts the quantity of occasions one minute is carried out or re-carried out — therefore it might be inflated by multiple viewings around the handful of Televisions. Messages showing that Lopez’s dress revealed greater than audiences generally see in primetime spread through Twitter together with other websites right after her appearance. The second-most-seen moment, at 13.5% above average,came nearly an hour or so approximately later when Robert Downey Junior. and Gwyneth Paltrow presented the award to find the best Documentary.Meryl Streep’s victory asBest Actress was close behind, with 13.3% more viewings than average. For minimal-seen moments, they were the acceptance speeches for Appear Mixing (9.8% low quality), Original Score (-8.2%), and VisualEffects (-7.3%).

Trujillo eyes transition

Focusing on French scribe Jean-Claude Carriere, Juan Carlos Rulfo's 'Carriere, 250 Meters' was one of 14 docs chosen from 56 entries. Whenever a large festival experiences a change in leadership, as was the case last year with the Guadalajara fest, the operative word is "transition." This was more the case than ever in 2011, when Ivan Trujillo took over the helm from Jorge Sanchez, and when the festival's center of gravity and activity shifted from the Hotel Fiestamericana at the city's bustling Plaza Minerva to the more expansive convention center facilities of Expo Guadalajara. Along with program director Gerardo Salcedo, Trujillo is working to establish his own stamp on the event, keeping his eyes equally on its festival and market dimensions. "We're very driven to provide market attendees with facilities, installations and an environment that's focused and extremely convenient," says Trujillo, who notes that the main cinema venues are now with exhibitor Cinepolis and are "new and revamped." Good news for festgoers as last year's edition experienced some growing pains, including problems with nearby cinema venues and a screening room built by the festival inside the convention hall that was, diplomatically put, less than optimum. Some fest vets missed the Fiestamericana as an ideal meeting place. Artistically, the festival could boast that it was the launch pad for Mexico's best received 2011 doc, Tatiana Huezo's "The Tiniest Place," but was perceived to be embarrassed when the film was ignored by the official jury, and yet scored the grand prize just a week later at one of the world's top doc fests, Cinema du Reel. Trujillo observes that the fest "learned from last year's challenge of building a cinema inside the Expo. Now, we have more space, allowing for a second cinema, and we've had a full year to work out the technical issues, including the sound problems that people complained about." The festival's well-established competition programs for narrative and non-fiction remain in place, with the doc side featuring new work from such leading Mexican docmakers as Juan Carlos Rulfo ("Carriere, 250 Meters") and Mercedes Moncada ("Magic Words") and recent fest hits such as Jose Alvarez's "Canicula," which preemed in Morelia. "There were some very hard decisions for our programing team this year," says Trujillo, with a healthy national film production trend reflected in facts that 13 Mexican narrative competish titles were culled from 45 completed films, while 14 docs were plucked from a pool of 56. A potentially intriguing sidebar comprises a selection of Mexican melodramas curated by veteran helmer Jorge Fons ("Midaq Alley"), while the fest is promoting a focus on British cinema, topped by a spotlight on Mike Leigh. "It's amazing how little industry relations Mexico has with the U.K.," says Trujillo, "so we want this event to be the start of an opening for new projects, as well as a way to study the U.K.'s system of film support, such as the lottery system, and development, such as the high standards applied for selecting screenplays."HIGHLIGHTS Leading Mexican director Rodrigo Pla's "The Delay" unspools in the Mexican feature narrative competition. Directors Milagros Mumenthaler ("Back to Stay"), Vicente Amorim ("Coracoes sujos"), Isaki Lacuesta ("The Double Steps"), Eryk Rocha ("Transeunte") and Andres Wood ("Violeta Went to Heaven") pepper the Ibero-American feature narrative competition. Mike Leigh will be honored, and his films are the subject of a nine-pic retrospective. Leigh will also give a master class, as will Michael Nyman, Rodrigo Pla and Gabriel Retes. New U.K. films, including Terrence Davies' "The Deep Blue Sea," "The Iron Lady" and Terry Gilliam's short, "The Wholly Family," are part of a Brit pic focus. Another highlight is Jorge Fon's curated survey of melodramas, including films by Lars von Trier, David Lean, Walter Salles, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wong Kar Wai, Akira Kurosawa, Frank Capra, Francois Truffaut, Vittorio De Sica, V.I. Pudovkin, Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Luchino Visconti, Pedro Almodovar, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Nikita Mikhalkov. The sixth edition of the Guadalajara Construction works-in-progress section has expanded its brief to include all of Latin America. Other honorees include actor Demian Bichir and director Retes, who is receiving a career achievement award. The fest has added another award, the Maguey Prize, to honor the best LGBT film.Spotlight: MexicoMexican prods target growing U.S. aud | Hollywood crossover no easy leap | Boiling overRegional pay TV sales up in MexicoFest Traveler: Guadalajara Film Festival Trujillo eyes transition Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

OSCARS: Indie Animation Upstart GKIDS Guns For Rango And DWA

Talk about the minis slaying the majors! It doesn’t get much more defined in those terms than in the financial divide between the nominees for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar. In one corner you have Paramount, which in addition to their own first big foray into the ‘toon competition with front-runner Rangohasa distribution deal with Dreamworks Animation, which landed both of their 2011 films –Puss In Boots and Kung Fu Panda 2 –in the hunt. In the other corner you have tiny upstart GKIDS. Who? The small NY outfit that became a distribution offshoot of the NY International Children’s Film Festival incredibly has the other two animated feature nominees with their indie pickups Chico & Rita and A Cat In Paris. Counting their initial foray into the Oscar race two years ago with The Secret Of Kells, this tiny distrib now has three ‘toon nominees in just a couple of years. Not bad. Left feeling shell-shocked are Disney/Pixar, a perennial nominee and winner in this category for the past four years running; Sony Pictures Animation, which touted Aardman’s Arthur Christmas;and 20th Century Fox’s Rio from Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age) — not to mention Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson’s intial animated effort, the motion capture The Adventures Of Tintin. Eric Beckman, founder of GKIDS and thekidpic festival that spawned it, was hoping for one nomination this year but almost didn’teven reallydream there could be two. “I won’t dare to lie: We had the hopes, if not expectations of getting at least one, having been down this road before with Kells, so we had planned onopening Chico & Rita in NY with that hope,” he says. “But I will completely fess up to the fact that when I was watching the Oscar nominations at 8:30 AM that morning and the first one that came up was Cat In Paris and the second one that came up was Chico & Rita I started spontaneously screaming around the room, and I had to rewind on TiVo to find out who the other actual films were because I was fucking floored. To have the Academy give us such a resounding endorsement made me really happy.” Beckman isn’t an Academy member so he can’t vote for his films, and when Kellswas nominated two years ago he couldn’t even get a ticket to the ceremony to cheer on the filmmakers — how times have changed. He says he doesn’t even believe in this kind of competition, comparing it to pitting Picasso vs. Van Gogh, but the marketing value is unmistakable. “For us our whole purpose is to help open the market up and expand the market for what I find both artful and thoughtful, sophisticated animated films for both adults and kids, an art form that exists with more economic success outside the U.S than inside,” he says. Indeed, both his nominees this year are international in nature. Chico & Rita is from Oscar-winning Spanish director Fernando Trueba and is a musical love story set initially in 1940s Cuba and spanning many years. It was first seen in the U.S.at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival but took over a year before a distribution deal could be set in motion. A Cat In Paris is a French ‘toon noir from first-timers Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol, a novelist who specializes in crime stories. GKIDS hope to use the Oscar nomination to launch the film in the U.S. in late spring after it is dubbed into English, possibly with star names — “If Matt Damon or Tina Fey are reading this now, please call,” Beckman laughs. Meanwhile Chico opened in NY a couple of weeks ago and received rave reviews and decent business with plans to slowly expand the adult ‘toon. Beckman hadn’t even met the directors until earlier this month; they had been doing everything by phone and email. In terms of finding films, Beckman says he hasa distinct advantage as Artistic Director of theNY Children’s Fest because, as he puts it, he looks at a “gazillion” films and has early tabs on stuff. Ironically, he first saw Cat In Paris because he was out at Pixar doing a promotional thing for 2009 festival winner Mia And The Migoo,which GKIDS distributed.Folimage, the French outfit behind it, was there and askedhimand the Pixar crowd to look at 15 minutes of the then-unfinishedCat In Parison DVD. Beckman loved it, waitedfor it to be finished and bought last year before Berlin. As fortrying to compete against the big-budget Oscarcampaigns of Paramount andDreamWorks Animation, Beckman is realistic. “I don’t think that double-fold wrap-around advertising or tweet, whatever, convinces someone to like a film,” he says. “I think it gets them to watch a film. Maybe it does shape their opinions in some way, shape or form. But our challenge is just getting the film into the hands of the Academy and getting them to put the damn thing in the DVD player. We’re an indie film company; we’re not going to spend a half million dollars on an awards campaign — we can’t. But we are spending something and we got a big shot in the arm from the NY critics (withChico). Beckman says he has several projects in the pipelinewith the basic goal of being the go-to home for Oscar-caliber independent animation, something the Academy members who vote in this category clearly appreciate. GKIDS is right in the thick of it now. And Beckman definitely has tickets for the Oscars this time.

The famous host oprah Winfrey to become listed on Due To Jimmy Kimmel on Publish-Academy awards Show

Beverly Kim After re-entering your competition following her Last Chance Kitchen victory and generating a place within the final four, Beverly Kim's second Top Chef stint found a fast finish when she lost the 3 models within the Olympic games-inspired tasks. "I had been removed two times! The number of people know that? It was simpler to look at this time around, however it was still being very heartbreaking for me personally,Inch she informs TVGuide.com. "I truly did wish to win and that i certainly took it completely. I wasn't all set to go so early the very first time. I believe this time around was OK. I wished for more, but because of the conditions, I gave my best. I am really glad which i managed to get far enough to exhibit my cooking, now people can easily see who I'm.Inch However the Chicago-based chef could not showcase her culinary style completely within the challenges which were more Top Athlete than Top Chef. Does she think the difficulties were unfair? And does she hold any grudges toward Sarah, Lindsay and Louise? Discover below.Top Chef's Erectile dysfunction: What's the purpose of Last Chance Kitchen?Have you think standing there it would be you going home?Beverly: I had been certainly thinking to myself, "There's a high probability it will likely be me since the tastes were good, however they were not my usual tastes which make my food punch." I did not have elements which i wanted. However, like a great chef, you need to use that which you have. Tom pointed out it had been just a little overcooked and that i understood that would be considered a really large reason to transmit me home, and so i really was nervous at that time. The very first time I checked the arctic char, it had been undercooked and also the second time, it had been overcooked, so at that time, I could not do anything whatsoever about this. Sarah did a fantastic job. Her tastes really labored and I am happy on her.I believe most fans were rooting for you personally, particularly to consider lower Lindsay and Sarah. Even Padma appeared sad getting rid of you. Have you believe that support, especially returning to film the finale following a break?Beverly: I certainly felt the fan support. I believe there is a great deal that even Padma could connect with beside me, as being a working mother not only is it an Asian-American lady. Sometimes you receive misinterpreted, originating from another culture. Despite the fact that I had been born here, becoming an adult, people just totally did not understand some things. My lunch was always a bit diverse from everybody else's lunch or my mother wasn't involved with PTA. Why was I likely to chapel for fun on saturday rather than hanging out with everybody? It had been each one of these cultural stuff that were difficult to explain and also the pressure - you buy a b, and [the fact is] "Why is not it a b+?" [Laughs] Then going home and seeking to describe to my parents what went down in school, they would not comprehend it either. I believe that stuck-in-between-two-cultures factor pushes you to definitely convince your folks and also the world who are around you who you're really, which explains why I seem like Padma had some link with me. That being stated, it is a cooking competition also it comes lower towards the last dish.You have together with mostly everybody, aside from Sarah, Lindsay not to mention Louise. Getting return, would you pinpoint why they'd such an issue with you? Maybe it was really just your personality?Beverly: I simply think women certainly work in a different way than males. I was raised with three older siblings, and so i understand what it's like being misinterpreted and being undervalued. There's certainly lots of competition. I believe it is a sociological study about women together and just how we compete. We are very competitive toward one another, however i think we always wish to stick out, less the very best lady chef, but because the best chef. During my personal expertise, dealing with males in the kitchen area, they've an simpler time letting go of things. You receive inside a fight together and subsequently day they are fine. I'm not sure if that is a part of their DNA not to believe that deeply [Laughs], whereas women overanalyze everything. Maybe which has something related to it. I had been cringing watching the way they treated you. I can not imagine what it really was like dealing with it.Beverly: It certainly wasn't fun. [Laughs] However I never was mad their way. I usually attempted to pay attention to myself and my food. For me personally, it's all regulated water underneath the bridge. I do not hold any grudges or anything against them. It's over.Top Chef's Grayson: I wasn't looking forward to Last Chance KitchenDid you are feeling any pretty much bitterness returning for that finale? Sarah vowed to become a better person after which she cuts you off within the vehicle.Beverly: [Laughs] It had been better. We'd return from time from the competition and time heals. And that we were returning from getting seen the episodes, and so i think there is lots of reflection without a doubt. For me personally at that time, I wasn't there on their behalf I had been there for my loved ones. Watching the things they did on their own finish, I totally respect them. I really hope they think exactly the same way about me.What have you think about the difficulties? I really like the Olympic games, but I'd prefer to help you prepare than almost kill yourself attempting to compete inside a biathlon. Beverly: [Laughs] Clearly it can make for excellent TV. I can not enter into the producers' heads, however it was certainly more extreme than I'd seen before. Could it be fair? I am talking about, I registered for everything. I registered for anything! The part you need to accept is the fact that you will find stuff that are from your control and you've got to beat them. It had been hard. The ice-pick challenge - I believe they did research and examined how lengthy it might take to obtain the ice damaged. I believe on that day was cooler compared to what they had expected also it only agreed to be very hard to cope with it. Psychologically it plays several you. However I had fun simultaneously. If only I'd gone further and labored with elements that displayed my style.Clearly you're a fan of Last Chance Kitchen, but many people don't believe it's fair because everyone don't compete within the same challenges because the chefs who're still on the program do. What's your undertake it, if you're able to be impartial?Beverly: Basically might be impartial, the only real factor I'd have to say is that Erectile dysfunction should have also were built with a second chance. He's the only person who did not get to get it done. I had been really considering that prior to the finale, like maybe there can be another twist and that he would participate that as well. It had been an unexpected to many of us, however i think this is when I thrive - when I am open and merely get lower into it. For me personally, it had been awesome. It had been another type of test. It examined your psychology once you were removed. Will you crumble once you totally thought you had been from it or will you rise towards the occasion? I certainly understand them thinking they experienced more physically using the challenges, such as the Pee Wee Herman one. It had been an excellent concept, I believe. Nyesha went home for something which wasn't her fault. It gave people an chance to determine what else a chef needed to offer. Returning a week ago, I certainly needed to fight again to earn my place within the final. I believe the idea requires a little fine-tuning, but It works. Top Chef's Chris Johnson: I'd a poor feeling about everythingDo you've still got that sheet of paper saying you are likely to win Top Chef?Beverly: I actually do really. I truly do seem like it is going to return in my experience in different ways. I believe you've dreams and you will map it, however it does not always exercise this way. ... Maybe it had not been intended to be for me personally this way. But that ambition and drive to win Top Chef, I have that within me. I am likely to display to the world what I have got. Whether it's a positive thing. It can make me wish to continue to work harder and prove and earn it. I believe that it is going to go an enormous means by my career. And perhaps you'll return for those-Stars.Beverly: [Laughs] Maybe! I am available to everything. Every chance, I'd go and seize it.

Oscars 2012: Why '50/50' Deserved A Best Picture Jerk

Nine films are nominated for top Picture within the Academy awards this year, pleading the question: who deserved a tenth perfect that list? Oscars 2012: 10 Place solutions that question, since the MTV Movies team highlights numerous 2011's finest films and argues why they deserved a jerk since the tenth Best Picture nominee. Director Jonathan Levine's affecting "50/50" might be worth recognition if, for few other reason, than transcending a unlucky shorthand (It's a cancer comedy!) to earn its place just like a well-regarded as as little bit of cinema. Why may be the dramedy truly Oscar-worthy (together with a made a decision snub for that Academy) is it is film a lot more than the sum its (excellent) parts, mentioning to some buffet of styles (existence, dying, love) without any oft-requisite side of stinky cheese. Inspired by his real-existence fight getting an uncommon kind of spine cancer, film author Will Reiser introduces us to 27-year-old Adam (Ernest Gordon-Levitt), who's facing their very own diagnosis and 50/50 odds. As well as the youthful man's support method is a motley crew understandably—well-meaning nearest friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), high-set up mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) and counselor-in-training (and potential love interest) Katherine (Anna Kendrick). Though Kendrick offers an serious performance much like her Oscar-nominated submit "Up in mid-air,Inch it's Gordon-Levitt who's the tortured pressure behind "50/50." The actor is actually much everyman Adam it's sometimes hard to remember he isn't really Adam. Even when improvising—like he and Rogen did for your memorable mind-shaving scene—he wears Adam's strife like it's a bespoke suit. And it is no wonder taking into consideration the well-measured material he must use. Reiser offers a script that masterfully toes the street between comedy and tragedy (and just what a little difference it might be). Whether it's a light-hearted scene through which Adam tries to use his diagnosis to obtain a lady or possibly a morose moment in which a fellow cancer patient's chair in treatment techniques are tragically empty, Reiser knows when you employ humor then when to permit the emotion as soon as possess a scene. For a number of, "50/50"'s Adam works like a type of surrogate for your cancer patient in their own personal existence, delivering some empathy and catharsis handful of films can. "The Descendants" is an additional such film that affects so excellent plus it by divine intention acquired a jerk within the Academy. Where's "50/50"'s? The MTV Movies team gets the 2012 Oscars covered! Stay with us for all that you should know just before the honours show, and also on Sunday, February 25, we'll placed you round the red-colored-colored carpet and convey everyone the individuals who win.

See Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace on vintage Deep Throat poster

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'Bubba Nosferatu' Could Become 'Bubba Roswell,' Paul Giamatti Reveals

Elvis versus aliens. If that doesn't sound awesome to you, then you and I are not living on the same planet. Though "Bubba Ho-Tep" director Don Coscarelli and actor Paul Giamatti have long been planning on putting rock icon Elvis Presley up against a pack of blood-thirsty vampires in "Bubba Nosferatu," it now appears that their scheme has gotten bigger -- franchise-sized big, in fact, including a detour to New Mexico. "Oh, we have all kinds of plans for a 'Bubba' franchise," Giamatti told MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival, appearing alongside Coscarelli to support their new movie "John Dies at the End." "We've been thinking 'Bubba Roswell,' is what we've been thinking." As implied by the title, "Bubba Roswell" would be "Elvis versus aliens," according to Coscarelli. I repeat: who could possibly say no to that? Well... perhaps a few someones. Despite a rabid fan following and the support of an actor of Giamatti's caliber, the "Bubba" movies have been sidelined, partly due to the departure of leading man Bruce Campbell, and partly due to the passing of too much time. "A key ingredient declined to participate in the film: it was Bruce Campbell, who as far as I was told decided he wanted to work on other projects and didn't want to do it," Coscarelli said of losing his Elvis. "That was pretty much the end of it. Then we talked to another terrific actor in Ron Perlman, who was interested, but at that time, a couple of years had gone by, and it was very difficult to get the funding together." People of Hollywood, if none of you are interested in funding an "Elvis versus aliens" movie, we have a problem. Just putting that out there. What do you think of the "Bubba Roswell" idea? Tell us in the comments section and on Twitter! Follow MTV Movies Blog editor Josh Wigler on Twitter as well!

Casting Company company directors Named for 10 Aircraft aircraft pilots

Kari Lizer has received two aircraft aircraft pilots acquired, one from ABC then one from NBC. It is not pilot season without one or more "Untitled Kari Lizer Project"!She'll be casting the comedy "Lady Pals" for NBC of a friendship between two women that endures despite their unique lots around. The project shoots in mid March. This season's "Untitled Kari Lizer Project" is certainly an ABC comedy of a no-nonsense career lady who meets her finest challenge when she's release and forced to become full-time mother to her two teens. The project shoots noisy . April.Dramas with supernatural elements are simply slightly less hot this year, but we've a few days to go to. However, it's searching like the vampire trend is fortunately drawing with a close.Patrick J. Hurry will cast "666 Park Avenue," a drama for ABC in regards to the managers from the historic apartment building in NY who begin to experience supernatural phenomena. The project shoots in mid March in NY. Junie Lowry-Manley and Libby Goldstein will cast the NBC drama "Evening time Sun" about FBI agents that are shipped to research disappearance in the residents from the remote Alaskan village. A shoot date is not set.Vampires of the underworld from the underworld may not be in but lady spies unquestionably are. Fox's drama "The Resource" will probably be cast by Lisa Beach and Sarah Katzman. The project shoots in March which is of a female CIA agent working out in the NY office who partcipates in covert methods. Ron Milikan is casting the "Untitled Karyn Usher Project," a drama for Fox in regards to the teenage daughter from the wiped out CIA operative who's employed for the agency. Here's another period drama that sounds intriguing. Anything including NY inside the late 1800s needs to be difficult to ruin. Linda Lowy is casting "Gilded Lillys" for ABC in regards to the grand opening from the luxury hotel in NY inside the late 1800s, put together by K.J. Steinberg. The project shoots in mid March. Julie Tucker and Ross Meyerson are casting the CBS drama "Baby Large Shot" of a lawyer getting a blue-collar background who uses her street inteligence to flourish at her white-colored-shoe lawyer. A shoot date is not set.After which you'll find more comedies, such as the "Untitled Nick Stoller Project " for CBS of a guy who eventually ends up requiring to function within the cubicle close to the girl who recently left him. Jeanne McCarthy will cast the project, that has not set a shoot date.Dava Waite Peaslee is casting "Friday Evening Dinner" for NBC, a comedy of a Jewish family which get together to kvetch over Shabbat. No shoot date remains set.

ITV Galleries America ink cope with Howley

ITV Galleries America has inked an initial-look development cope with unscripted professional producer Simon Howley. Howley and the shingle, Kowalski, allow us projects for ABC, CBS, the CW, ESPN, MSNBC, A&E, National Geographic, Spike, Lifetime and Bravo within the U.S. and also the BBC, Five, Sky and C4 within the U.K. Formerly, with Firefly/Dragonfly, he professional created such series as "Existence or Dying" for Discovery and "Sailing Gold" for NatGeo. "Simon includes a great history of making and creating programming accepted by both U.K. and U.S. tv stations," ITV Galleries America senior creative strategy veep Bruce Robertson stated. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

IFC in talks to acquire 'Liberal Arts'

'Liberal Arts'IFC Films is in final negotiations to acquire Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts," the writer-director-producer's follow-up to "Happythankyoumoreplease." Radnor ("How I Met Your Mother") stars as a newly-single man who is invited back to his alma mater, where he falls for a young 19-year-old college student (Elizabeth Olsen) and is faced with the powerful attraction that springs up between them. Jesse Hara produced through Tom Sawyer Entertainment, the production company he runs with Rachel Miller. BCDF Pictures financed the film, which was produced by Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra and Lauren Munsch. The Gersh Agency negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. More to come... Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Keith Urban Returning To Stage After Vocal Surgery

First Published: January 12, 2012 3:38 PM EST Credit: Getty Images NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Caption Keith Urban performs at the 49th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., on November 6, 2011Keith Urban will return to the stage on Feb. 3 at the Grand Ole Opry following vocal surgery. The country superstar had a polyp removed from a vocal cord at Vanderbilt University Medical Center late last year and has been on vocal rest. His appearance at The Ryman Auditorium next month will be his first public performance since he recorded a song for the CMA Country Christmas television special in mid-November. He was forced to postpone his All For The Hall benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame that was originally scheduled for Jan. 18. He also rescheduled the tail end of his 2011 concert tour for later this year. The Grand Ole Opry also announced Urban will perform in March. __ Online: http://www.keithurban.net Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Jill Zarin May Move West for Fox, The Beverly Jillbillies

Jill Zarin Jill Zarin may have been fired after starring in four seasons of The Real Housewives of NY City, but she could be setting her sights on another reality show on the West Coast. The sometimes-redhead is reportedly in talks with Fox to star in her own show, tentatively titled The Beverly Jillbillies, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Neither the show's producers nor the network would confirm, but Zarin has said she's looking for a home in Los Angeles. Bethenny Frankel on Jill Zarin's Real Housewives' firing: "She's a survivor" In September, Zarin, 48, was one of four NY cast members -- including Alex McCord, Kelly Bensimon and Cindy Barshop -- fired before Housewives returned for its fifth season. At Bravo's winter previews in early January, fellow ex-cast member and former Zarin BFF Bethenny Frankel told reporters that "[Jill] is a survivor. She's well-to-do. She's not worried about finding a job. I'm sure probably [the firing] just stings a little bit, I'm sure it's difficult. And it's difficult to watch what's gone on with me and she handles it the way she knows how." Bravo axes four Housewives of NY City cast members Frankel, 41, has her own spin-off reality show, Bethenny Ever After, which will begin its third season on Monday, Feb. 20 at 9/8c on Bravo. Would you watch The Beverly Jillbillies?

Adele notches 16th week at No. 1

Maintaining its torrid pace, Adele's "21" dangles onto its No. 1 slot around the U.S. album chart for any 16th non-consecutive week. In the 46th chart week, the British singer's Columbia set offered 144,000 copies, based on Nielsen SoundScan data for that week ending Jan. 8. It had been the only real title to maneuver a lot more than 100,000 models a week ago. If "21" holds the apex in a few days - a likely proposition among a skinny The month of january release schedule -- it will likely be the very first album to log 16 days at No. 1 because the blockbuster soundtrack for "Titanic" achieved that task in 1998. Barring an enormous sales slump, the gathering Up for six Grammys the following month -- should top the six million sales plateau on next week's chart. The week's only top ten debut - actually, the only real album to bow within the top 50 - is Oklahoma band SafetySuit's "These Occasions," (Universal Republic), which makes its way into at No. 7 having a 26,000-unit tally. Group's sophomore album was released being an iTunes exclusive. Week's some of the best 10 albums all drenched percentage declines with flagging publish-holiday sales. Ruling within the top 5 are Drake's "Be MindfulInch (No. 2, 42,000 offered, off 41%), the Black Keys' "El Camino" (No. 3, 42,000, lower 8%), Youthful Jeezy's "TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition" (No. 4, 36,000, off 47%) and Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto" (No. 5, 28,000, lower 37%). Finishing the very best 10 are Rihanna's "Talk That Talk" (No. 6, 27,000, off 35%), LMFAO's "Sorry For Party Rocking" (No. 8, 25,000, lower 38%), the "Now 40" compilation (No. 9, 24,000, lower 42%) and Florence & the Machine's "Ceremonials" (No. 10, 24,000, lower 50%). New sets by Snow Patrol, the David Crowder Band and also the Little Willies are some of the top chart candidates for in a few days. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Newly "Mellow" Charlie Sheen Preps His FX Series Anger Management

Charlie Sheen As he plots a return to primetime via FX's upcoming sitcom Anger Management, Charlie Sheen says he is putting last spring's "tiger blood"-fueled antics behind him."I'm a lot more mellow and focused and much more rooted in reality," Sheen told reporters Sunday night at Pasadena's Castle Green. Sheen took his image rehabilitation tour to the nation's TV critics, who were gathered at a party celebrating Fox's and FX's upcoming series. But once Sheen arrived, reporters mobbed him.Sheen jokingly calls his public meltdown last spring his "winning odyssey" but stands by his contention that he was unhappy with his involvement on Two and a Half Men.What happened? The actor says his behavior was triggered by "what was going on for all of those years on the set, and it was also about the pressure cooking up 30 years in the business, and just finally wanting to say all the things I wanted to say." He adds: "I said them all at once and it created a tsunami of bizarre proportions."Despite several accounts that Sheen's substance use was impacting his performance on Men - leading to his dismissal - Sheen says he believes that he was "right about what they [Men producer Warner Bros. TV] had done that was completely wrong vs. what I had done... in terms of who was in breach. That's why I pushed it so hard because I knew there was victory at the end."Nonetheless, when asked whether he harbored any regrets from last year, Sheen says, "I would have been a little less vocal about the people I worked with." (Sheen famously blasted Men exec producer Chuck Lorre, as well as CBS and Warner Bros., leading to his dismissal.)Exclusive: Chuck Lorre Talks Two and a Half Men's Turnaround and His "Painful" YearSheen's exit from Men led to several unusual moves - including a nationwide stage show that got off to a bumpy start. "It was a real [lesson] of sticking to what you know," Sheen says of what he learned from that experience. Since then, he's gone back to acting, having just wrapped the Roman Coppola movie A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, for which Sheen says he was paid $1,700 a week - "and I was never happier," he says. "It ain't about the money."Sheen renewed his gripe that he felt underutilized on Two and a Half Men and that it didn't solicit his opinions on the show - but as an executive producer and profit participant in Anger Management, he promises to be very involved. "Every time I see [Anger Management executive producer Bruce Helford], it's like a hundred warm hugs," Sheen says. "To have my input welcomed is an alien concept to me."Adds Helford: "Whenever I do a show with a star, then we partner. We're doing this together. Anything I do I run by Charlie and we talk about it. He's got great ideas and we're using those."The show itself shares a title with the movie Anger Management, but little else. Sheen will play a former baseball player with anger issues who winds up as an unconventional anger management therapist. Sheen's character (named Charlie, natch) juggles his work and personal life - as he has an ex-wife, a 13-year-old daughter and his own therapist.The character also works with two therapy groups: A private one, and one at a women's prison (that was Sheen's idea). "This is a show about how all of this affects Charlie's life," Helford says. "It's half workplace and half personal life but there's an organic flow back and forth... His life is way more screwed up than most of his patients."Helford says he's looking to give Anger Management a "mature tone" similar to Roseanne (where he once worked) and the shows of famed All in the Family producer Norman Lear. "We have the license to do it," he says.Sheen and Helford have already hired a writing staff for the show, and now plan to start casting next week. Two of the lead roles call for women in their late 30s or early 40s, "and those are going to be actresses that you know, I'm sure," Helford says.Lionsgate (the studio behind the show) and its Debmar-Mercury distribution arm will initially produce 10 episodes of Anger Management. If that initial order hits a certain ratings threshold, then an order by FX for another 90 episodes immediately kicks in.Under a heightened production schedule, more than one episode would be taped a week. "To do that kind of schedule, you need someone who knows their stuff, who has done this before," Helford says. "And Charlie is really sharp and really fast."Although Management will be shot with multiple cameras and audience laughs, the show won't be taped in front of a studio audience. An audience will screen each episode later and their laughter taped to be used in the telecast.As for his former Two and a Half Men stomping grounds, Sheen calls the new version (now starring Ashton Kutcher) a "whole new show." "I think parts of it are funny," he says. "I don't watch it that much, but from what I watched I thought it was a pretty good. [But] it's a different show."Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

J.J. Abrams Talks Casting Incredible Benedict Cumberbatch In The Exorcist Follow-up

First Launched: The month of the month of january 8, 2012 3:29 PM EST Credit: Getty Images Caption J.J. Abrams, Benedict CumberbatchLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- No matter the reviews, J.J. Abrams wont make certain Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch is especially set to see Star Treks villain inside the second film inside the intergalactic series, which begins shooting inside a couple of days, but he was ready to discuss what introduced the British actor for the fold. Hes a genius, J.J. told AccessHollywood.com on Sunday, carrying out a panel within the Television Experts Association Winter Session in Pasadena, for his new show on FOX, Alcatraz. Hes just an incredible actor, J.J. ongoing of Benedict. Honestly, if youve seen the task in Sherlock, hes got incredible capabilities. He did amazing be employed in Frankenstein [round the London stage]. Hes brilliant. I'm speaking about, you are trying to cast individuals who're great. We have got lucky. J.J. confirmed they met with plenty of stars for your The Exorcist follow-up, but Benedict was the very best fit. I merely loved his work and thought he was well suited for that which you needed, and then we were very lucky, J.J. told Access. The second The Exorcist under J.J. begins shooting inside a couple of days, but J.J. mentioned hell have time to fulfill his Executive Producer duties in Alcatraz, which reunites him with Lost actor Jorge Garcia. Beginning shooting The Exorcist on Thursday, therefore i gotta go, he jeered. What Ive been trying to complete is help, whether it is see the scripts, giving notes, giving suggestions on cuts, controlling doing the theme music, that kind of stuff, getting fun using the show and kind of help get it up running. Alcatraz follows a trio considering the reappearance of Alcatrazs renowned crooks and pads, fifty years after they disappeared. The show might have some resolution in each episode, but furthermore overriding questions. I cant help but liking shows by having an ongoing mythology, J.J. told reporters following a panel. Its an unusual factor in my opinion to appear like the situation is ended completely, so hopefully, Alcatraz enables products to exist over [the] lengthy-term where you can week to week specific puzzle that needs to be solved. Alcatrazs two-hour premiere starts at 8/7c around the month of the month of january 16 on FOX. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

News Corp. opposes U.K. media rules change

LONDON -- News Corp. has opposed necessitates the U.K. government to produce new limits on media possession, which is thinking that the bigger choice of voices across broadcasting, print an online-based are situated lately. Within the submission to British communications regulator Ofcom's summary of media plurality, the Rupert Murdoch-introduced org mentioned it may be wrong to "set absolute limits on news business.Inch "Areas works as well as the trend remains towards greater plurality rather than less plurality," News Corp. observed. Nevertheless the conglom, still spinning within the phone hacking and police corruption ripoffs at its now defunct U.K. tabloid what is the news around the world came concentrate on the energy in the BBC inside the U.K. media landscape. It known towards the BBC "since the greatest provider, by any measure, of news on tv, inside the radio as well as on the internetInch in Blighty. Which "therefore, it's tough to suppose any mix-media business test that could be adopted would not be triggered with the BBC's news provision." There's been calls from pols and media campaigners to tighten U.K. media possession rules carrying out a phone-hacking row as well as the details in regards to the Murdochs' partners to Britain's political elite. In the separate submission for the media plurality review, BSkyB, that's controlled by News Corp., also advised Ofcom to include the BBC in any assessment of media plurality. "There is no logical cause for excluding the BBC in any assessment of media plurality on one basis almost every other news and current matters provider," it mentioned. The Daily Mail, a fierce critic in the pubcaster, known for any cap restricting the amount of U.K. news provision anybody org may have, but mentioned the BBC needs to be excluded using this because of its "special status" because of its public service activities. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

'The Iron Lady': Margaret Thatcher Family Rejected a Screening Invite

'The Iron Lady' has stirred debate, this despite (almost) universal praise for Meryl Streep's portrayal of former Uk pm Margaret Thatcher. In November, THR reported that former co-employees and pals of Thatcher were unhappy with Streep's performance, stating it absolutely was unflattering. But what about Thatcher's family people -- is it unhappy with Meryl's acting, too? According to director Phyllida Lloyd, maybe: the Thatchers were requested an excellent screening in the film, but switched it lower. "They were the initial people we requested to look for the finished film," Lloyd told BBC Radio 4. "They didn't occupy our offer ... so we are not necessarily sure when they've seen it or else.In . Rejecting the invite doesn't imply your family has hopped round the anti-'Iron Lady' bandwagon, so you have to take good news getting a little suspicion. Regardless, the detractors who've gone public aren't preventing Streep from receiving lots of early Oscar buzz. The Iron Lady' is going in theaters now, that will help you judge Meryl's performance by yourself. [via Protector and BBC Radio 4] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook