January 28, 2011
Year’s top film stars to appear on SAG Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Screen Actors Guild Awards just got even more star-studded.
Executive Producer Jeff Margolis says Amy Adams, Annette Bening, Helena Bonham Carter, Jesse Eisenberg, Colin Firth, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Geoffrey Rush, Justin Timberlake and Mark Wahlberg will introduce their nominated films at Sunday’s ceremony.
They’ll join previously announced presenters Alec Baldwin, Jason Bateman, Jeff Bridges, Rosario Dawson, Josh Duhamel, Jon Hamm, Angie Harmon, Nicole Kidman, Eva Longoria, Cory Monteith, Amy Poehler, Jeremy Renner, Hilary Swank, Sofia Vergara, Betty White and Robin Wright, among others.
The 17th annual SAG Awards will be presented Sunday at the Shrine Exhibition Center and broadcast live on TBS and TNT.
NBC Universal now NBCUniversal under Comcast
Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – NBC Universal is now NBCUniversal – without the space, the peacock or the globe silhouette.
That was part of the message delivered to the company’s 25,000 employees at a town hall gathering on Thursday that featured top executives from prospective new owner Comcast Corp.
The bird will remain part of the brand of NBC, the broadcaster, while the spinning globe will still be part of the graphic for Universal, the movie studio and theme park operator. And officially, the company’s name is still NBC Universal. But the space-less corporate logo is meant to represent the unity of its two main divisions as it is set to be taken over by cable operator Comcast in a deal that is to close on Friday.
“We aren’t a family of two favorite sons, rather one filled with talented people and companies all tied for first,” according to a voice-over presentation that introduced the logo to employees.
Attendees of the meeting got a chance to ask questions and watch interviews of executives such as Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and the incoming CEO of the media company, Steve Burke, via a feed that linked locations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and London.
The new corporate bosses talked about looking for opportunities for synergy, not just among NBC Universal properties that include cable channels such as Bravo and E!, but with technology advanced by Comcast, said someone who attended the meeting.
The person was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke under condition of anonymity.
Layoffs were not discussed, the person said.
Each employee also received 25 Comcast shares, worth $23.31 each on Thursday; a family pass to one of the Universal theme parks; and other materials, including a “Big Idea Book” in which they were to record their own.
On Friday, Comcast will take a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal after a yearlong regulatory review resulted in government conditions that prevent it from impeding the growth of online video services such as Netflix and Hulu.
The deal values NBC Universal at around $30 billion, while Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV company, has a market value around $65 billion.
General Electric Co.’s stake in NBC Universal will fall from 80 percent to 49 percent and it plans to exit completely after several years. France’s Vivendi SA sold the remainder of its 20 percent stake to GE on Wednesday.
AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.
Hugh Jackman to return to the Academy Awards stageLOS ANGELES (AP) – Former Academy Awards host Hugh Jackman is returning to the Oscar stage.
Producers say the 42-year-old actor will serve as a presenter on the 83rd Academy Awards next month.
He’ll join previously announced presenters Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Oprah Winfrey, Halle Berry and Marisa Tomei.
Bullock and Bridges won the top acting Oscars last year. Bridges is a nominee this year for his leading role in “True Grit.”
Berry won the lead actress Oscar for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball.” Tomei won the supporting actress prize for 1992’s “My Cousin Vinny.” Winfrey, who appeared on last year’s Academy Awards, was nominated for a supporting-actress Oscar for 1985’s “The Color Purple.”
The 83rd Academy Awards will be presented Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre and broadcast live on ABC. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are hosting.
SAG Awards get greener with paperless ballotsBy Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Lots of Hollywood productions celebrate their eco-friendliness, but the Screen Actors Guild Awards has made one of the greenest moves yet: It has all but eliminated the paper ballot.
The union’s annual show, which recognizes the best performances in TV and film, urged its 125,000 members to vote online for this year’s winners and only sent paper ballots to those who specifically requested them.
The move saved three tons of paper, says SAG Awards producer Kathy Connell.
But it wasn’t without risk. Though members were notified of the digital shift in the November issue of the union’s magazine, some still expected the traditional paper ballot to arrive in the mail. Pundits have speculated that online voting may alienate some of SAG’s older or less tech-savvy members.
Connell contends that members handle all kinds of union business online, and SAG Awards staffers are on hand to answer any awards-related questions.
The guild has offered online voting for the past five years, but previously backed up that offer with a paper ballot.
“We’ve been sending the printed ballot and each year, more and more people chose to vote online,” Connell says. “We thought there might be a possibility of a few people who weren’t as comfortable (without) a printed ballot. When we get to the end, we’ll see what the results are.”
She declined to reveal how many paper ballots were requested or how many votes are typically cast. SAG Awards voting closes Friday. The awards will be presented Sunday at the Shrine Exhibition Center.
While Connell says the move to paperless voting is the show’s most dramatic green effort yet, the SAG Awards are always aiming to become more environmentally friendly. The Environmental Media Association, a nonprofit group that promotes sustainability in Hollywood, has recognized the show’s ecological efforts two years in a row.
“SAG is a zero-waste event, which is incredible,” says EMA President Debbie Levin. “Eliminating those paper ballots is huge.”
Connell says the show is close to a zero-waste event because of its ongoing eco-friendly practices. Besides digital voting, the show also handles its awards applications and credentials online. It embraces recycling: For bottles and cans and for stage sets and carpets. It serves locally grown food to guests and press, and provides hybrid cars for talent arrivals. This year, the show is using a biodiesel backup generator and will serve meals using eco-friendly plates, cups and utensils.
“We make small steps every year,” Connell says.
Levin says her organization has been working with other awards shows to make those productions more green, so expect more paperless voting in the future.
“It’s really tremendously innovative that SAG decided to make that statement, and they are going to be trendsetters,” she says. “I think everyone will move to paperless ballots because they’re easy and quick.”
Online:www.sagawards.org www.ema-online.org
Peter Jackson has surgery for ulcer in New ZealandWELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – “Lord of the Rings” director Sir Peter Jackson has undergone surgery for a perforated ulcer in his native New Zealand.
Publicist Melissa Booth says Jackson was admitted to Wellington Hospital the night before suffering from severe stomach pains and is now recovering from surgery.
She said Thursday that Jackson was resting comfortably and is expected to make a full recovery.
Jackson’s illness will delay the start of filming for “The Hobbit,” the two-part prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The movies are based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Nickelodeon debuts ‘SpongeBob’ episode on FacebookNEW YORK (AP) – “SpongeBob SquarePants” is giving Facebook friends a special treat.
The popular Nickelodeon cartoon will debut a new 15-minute episode Thursday on the popular social website. Nick said Wednesday that “SpongeBob SquarePants” has more than 16 million ‘friends’ on Facebook.
Those friends will be given instructions how to view the episode, which is titled “Trenchbillies” and guest stars Amy Sedaris, Thursday at 8 p.m. EST.
The hour-long “Legends of Bikini Bottom” will premiere in prime time Friday. It will be repeated, adding the Facebook episode, for its Sunday morning fans.
Snowstorms send TV viewership soaring
By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – With snow falling along the Eastern seaboard again Wednesday, kids aren’t the only ones cheering. So are television executives.
TV viewership increases when families are cooped up in their homes during storms, and nowhere was this more evident than during the Jan. 10-13 storm that dumped snow across a wide swath of the country, including areas of the South that seldom see it. The Nielsen Co. said that storm had a bigger impact on television ratings than any other in recent history.
Viewership across the country was up 8 percent over 2010 during that four-day period, Nielsen said. Among children aged 2 to 11, many home from school or day care, viewership was up 18 percent. It was up 15 percent among teenagers.
“The reason it was historic was because the storm spread as broadly as it did,” said Pat McDonough, Nielsen’s senior vice president for insight and analysis.
Storms frequently have a localized impact on TV ratings – or little impact when they hit areas used to it, she said.
It’s no surprise the storm caused The Weather Channel to adjust its programming that week, but Nickelodeon did, too.
The kids’ channel saw its average audience increase from 1.9 million to 2.4 million on Jan. 10, compared to the same day a year earlier. For the Disney Channel, the typical audience rose from 1.3 million to 1.6 million, Nielsen said.
Anticipating a heavy snow day on Jan. 11 as the storm moved north, Nickelodeon cut short its preschool programming block by two hours, replacing it with programming older children might appreciate, like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “iCarly,” spokesman Dan Martinsen said. The result: a 43 percent ratings increase over the year before.
Bad weather is a boon for The Weather Channel, whose audience was up 62 percent that Monday, Nielsen said. It was the fourth-highest day ever for traffic at the station’s website that day, the second-highest ever on Tuesday, spokeswoman Shirley Powell said.
Other snow day winners were MTV, whose ratings went up 32 percent, and BET – whose relatively small average audience increased from 368,000 people to 679,000 on that Monday, Nielsen said.
Fox no doubt is hoping for inclement whether on Feb. 6, when the Super Bowl is scheduled. Sports fans forced to stay at home instead of going to bars or parties means bigger ratings, McDonough said.
And there was evidence that parents stuck at home were looking for escapism: Bravo ratings were up 60 percent, and SyFy’s were up 42 percent that first day of the storm.
Then there was the ultimate in escapism: As snow piled up outside, television viewers sought warm vistas elsewhere. Viewership was up 57 percent on the Travel Channel, Nielsen said.
‘Manson Girls’ Film Announced at SundanceBy Alicia Rancilio
PARK CITY, UTAH (AP) – A new movie directed by Susanna Lo will focus on the female followers of cult leader Charles Manson.
Production on “Manson Girls” will begin this spring, Lo announced Monday at the Sundance Film Festival. Lo wrote the screenplay for the film, which will examine the lives of eight young women who were followers of Manson.
The cast includes Taryn Manning, Heather Matarazzo, Tania Raymonde and Monica Keena.
Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles in 1971 of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.
Lo said she became interested in the story when she realized she was living across the street from the house once occupied by Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, who were killed the next night.
She decided the most interesting element of the story was what made the girls fall under Manson’s spell.
“I wanted to tell their early story when they were teenagers to before the Tate-LaBianca murders. That was much more fascinating to me. Why and how. How could this tiny, strange man from prison and almost a derelict completely attract all of these fantastic girls?” Lo said.
“I thought that was a very innovative way to tell the story,” said Raymonde, who will play Manson follower Leslie Van Houten. “I thought that it wasn’t exploitative at all … and it wasn’t putting any focus on Manson because I think one of the most interesting aspects is you never see him in the film.”
Keena was so intent on playing Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme that she studied her intensely before her audition and now knows “everything about her.”
“It gives you a chance to have some sort of empathy toward them that you might not have had before,” Keena said. “I’m not saying you should forgive them, but there’s a method to their madness, let’s say.”
Songs from the 1960s will help drive the story. Guy Allison of the Doobie Brothers will compose the music for the film.
Manson is serving a life sentence in a California prison. He has a devoted fan base, which concerns Manning.
“I’m a little worried about random, weird fan mail, but you can’t really think about that,” she said.
Online: http://www.susannalo.com
Sorkin says he’s working on cable news TV pilotLOS ANGELES (AP) – Writer Aaron Sorkin says he’s going to give the world of cable news the “West Wing” treatment.
In a BBC interview, Sorkin says he’s written a pilot episode for HBO that takes place behind the scenes at a nightly cable show. The series is being cast.
After spending time observing at CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, Sorkin hopes to give viewers an appreciation of the fascinating work being done.
He says he wants to bring to cable news the same sense of idealism that made government appealing on “The West Wing.”
HBO declined comment on the project.
Sorkin received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for “The Social Network.”
German movie producer Bernd Eichinger dead
By Juergen Baetz
BERLIN (AP) – German movie producer, director and screenplay writer Bernd Eichinger, who produced well-known films “The Neverending Story” and “Downfall,” has died. He was 61.
Eichinger suffered a deadly heart attack Monday night during a dinner with family and friends in Los Angeles, German production firm Constantin Film AG said in a statement Tuesday.
“We are all shocked by this unbelievable news and we feel with his family and relatives,” the firm said in a statement. Eichinger, a former Constantin top executive and major shareholder, served as the deputy chairman of the firm’s supervisory board.
Over his 40-years in the industry, Eichinger was widely credited for his ability to turn novels and stories into movies that not only pleased critics, but also proved popular at the box office.
One of his most successful productions was the 2004 film “Downfall,” for which he also wrote the screenplay. The movie depicts the last days of Nazi Germany in Adolf Hitler’s bunker in Berlin and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005.
His 2008 movie “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” devoted to the history of Germany’s left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction, was also nominated for a foreign-language Oscar.
In 2005, German newspaper Tagesspiegel referred to him as a “genius” poised to succeed with whatever movie he touches. “May the critics be upset, people love his stuff,” it said.
Eichinger also produced “The Name of the Rose,” based on an Umberto Eco’s novel and “The House of the Spirits,” which was based on Isabel Allende’s book. He alsoco-authored the screenplay of the successful 2006 movie “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” after pressing author Patrick Suesskind, a friend of his, for years to sell him the movie rights.
“Bernd Eichinger’s death means the loss of a great German filmmaker and producer who marked international cinematography as few others have done,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement late Tuesday. Culture Minister Bernd Neumann added: “He was the German movie scene’s motor – his reliable sense for topics and issues impressed millions of spectators.”
Eichinger, born 1949 in southern Germany, started his career at Munich film school in 1970, and founded his first production company four years later.
In 1979, he bought a 25 percent stake in then-struggling movie production and distribution company Constantin, which he later increased to a 50 percent stake, successfully turning the firm around while laying the foundations for his extensive film business.
Eichinger, who lived in both Germany and Los Angeles, is survived by his wife Katja and a 29-year-old daughter from an earlier relationship.
Disney confirms layoffs at game division
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Walt Disney Co. is confirming layoffs amid a restructuring of its video game division, a money-losing unit that is focusing more on mobile and social games and away from expensive-to-produce console games.
The company didn’t specify the number of people affected, however.
Last week, Disney closed Propaganda Games, the console-game studio behind “Tron: Evolution” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned.”
Propaganda, founded and then bought by Disney in 2005, was housed in a 30,000-square foot facility in downtown Vancouver.
Disney also laid off some people at its Junction Point studio in Austin, Texas, on Monday. That studio was responsible for creating the console game “Epic Mickey.”
Disney says the restructuring was “part of setting a strategic direction for future success in the digital media space.”
Oscar odds, ends, facts and figuresLIMITED EDITION: “Toy Story 3,” which is up for five Academy Awards, is only the third animated feature film to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. “Beauty and the Beast,” nominated in 1991, was the first, and “Up,” nominated last year, was the second. “Beauty and the Beast” and “WALL-E” are tied as the animated films with the most Oscar nods at six.
SECOND TIME AROUND: Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”), Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) are nominated in acting categories at the Oscars for the second year in a row, while previous acting winners Bridges, Javier Bardem (“Biutiful”) Geoffrey Rush (“The King’s Speech”) and Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”) are up for another trophy.
GOOD HAIR DAY: If four-time Oscar-winning songwriter Alan Menken wins with collaborator Glenn Slater for their soaring duet “I See the Light” from “Tangled,” Menken would also score the record for the most wins in the original song category, surpassing Sammy Cahn, Johnny Mercer and James Van Heusen, who are each tied with four original song Oscar trophies.
SALES STORY: This year’s 10 best picture nominees have taken home $1.1 billion at the box office. Nearly $415 million of that comes from the animated blockbuster “Toy Story 3,” with two other nominees also cracking the $100-million earnings mark: “Inception” and “True Grit.” It’s not quite in the realm of last year’s nominees, led by “Avatar” with $1.5 billion.
BARDEM’S SPEECH: Javier Bardem would be the sixth performer to win an Oscar for a role using a foreign language if he wins as best actor for “Biutiful.” The previous winners are Italian speakers Sophia Loren (“Two Women”), Robert De Niro, (“The Godfather, Part II”) and Roberto Benigni (“Life is Beautiful”), Spanish speaker Benicio Del Toro (“Traffic”), and French speaker Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”).
Online:http://www.oscars.org/
Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
