Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) will play the starring role of Joe Albany in the upcoming feature film Low Down, which he will also executive produce. Low Down will be directed by Jeff Preiss, known for his work in commercials. Preiss is a partner in Epoch Films, a multimedia production company active in such disciplines as spots, music videos, web content and features.
Producers Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa (Election, Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine) of Bona Fide Productions will team up with Epoch Films’ founder and managing partner Mindy Goldberg (Junebug, Gigantic) to produce the film. Amy Albany and Carlo Martinelli will co-produce.
Set in the colorful Los Angeles jazz scene of the late 1960s and early ’70s, Low Down explores the father-daughter relationship between legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany (who played with Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus) and his 11-year -old daughter Amy. Told from Amy’s point of view, the story poetically captures her unconventional childhood growing up with her immensely talented and charismatic but strung-out father and other eccentric characters in cocktail bars and transient hotels set amidst the faded grandeur of Hollywood.
The screenplay was written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany, based on her memoir of the same name. Filming is scheduled to begin at the end of the year.
Ruffalo will soon begin production on Marvel’s The Avengers, in which he plays scientist Bruce Banner (a.k.a. The Hulk). Ruffalo produced Sympathy for Delicious, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. The independent film, which also marked Ruffalo’s directorial debut, stars Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis and Ruffalo in a story about a Los Angeles DJ who finds that he has the power to heal. The film will be released by Maya Entertainment on April 29.
This year Ruffalo has earned supporting male actor nominations for an Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award and Independent Spirit Award for his performance in The Kids Are All Right.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More