Anheuser-Busch Sponsors SNL to Launch New Brew
Emily Fredrix
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Anheuser-Busch is buying all the national ads on this week’s edition of comedy mainstay “Saturday Night Live” to launch its new brew, Bud Light Golden Wheat.
The brewer – part of Anheuser-Busch InBev – and NBC Universal announced the sponsorship deal Thursday. This Saturday’s episode will mark the first time in the 35 seasons of “Saturday Night Live” that one advertiser has bought all of the national ads for the show.
Both Anheuser-Busch and NBC declined to say what the sponsorship, which includes airing 11 commercials, will cost. The sponsorship will mean an additional 6 to 7 minutes of extra show time, NBC said.
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch released its wheat-flavored version of best-selling Bud Light last week and has been using music and entertainment to promote the brand. It’s also sponsoring the musical segment on ABC talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and a room on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” where guests relax before going on.
The “SNL” sponsorship also includes a segment called “Backstage with Bud Light Golden Wheat” that will show never-before-aired clips from “SNL” through the years. The show will also air highlights from viewing parties on Saturday night hosted by the beer across the country.
Anheuser-Busch wanted to promote the new beer – released nationally Oct. 5 – in a big way, and saw the “SNL” opportunity as the best way to do it, said Keith Levy, vice president of marketing. Combining the sponsorship with the show helps make sure consumers see the advertising, even if they fast-forward through commercials.
“If you can find ways to just get beyond the advertising, there’s a good chance they’ll see it,” he said.
NBC is working with advertisers who want more creative ways to reach consumers, said Marianne Gambelli, President of NBC Universal Network Ad Sales. Consumers are limiting their spending in the recession, and advertisers are doing the same as their sales fall.
The network has done sponsorships or limited-commercial episodes before, say for season launches of shows like “Heroes.” The integration has to be seamless, she said. If it comes off as a commercial, consumers won’t buy it.
“You want something authentic,” she said. “You want it to look original. You don’t want it to look like you’re selling something.”
Filmmaker Nichols Graduates to AFI Lifetime HonorLOS ANGELES (AP) – Director Mike Nichols has been chosen to receive the 38th American Film Institute’s life-achievement award.
Nichols, whose films include “The Graduate,” ”Working Girl,” ”Silkwood” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, will receive the AFI honor at a ceremony next summer.
The 77-year-old Nichols joins past AFI award recipients such as “Virginia Woolf” star Elizabeth Taylor, “Silkwood” star Meryl Streep and “Graduate” star Dustin Hoffman.
Nichols’ most recent film was 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War,” starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. He also is a Tony Award-winning stage director and made the Emmy-winning miniseries “Angels in America.”
Mays’ Family: Review Finds No Chronic Cocaine UseBy Christine Armario
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The family of TV pitchman Billy Mays released the findings of an independent medical examiner Thursday, who concluded that the informercial star’s cocaine use was not a significant contributing factor in his sudden death.
The report, released by a family spokeswoman, does not refute Mays’ cocaine use, but states there is no evidence to suggest he was a chronic user. A review of the official autopsy also concludes that “cocaine was not a significant contributing factor” in his death.
“There is no evidence that Mr. Mays’ death was related to acute cocaine intoxication with coronary artery spasm or dissection or even aortic dissection for that matter,” wrote Dr. William Manion, the independent medical examiner who conducted the review. “Rather, the use of cocaine by Mr. Mays appears to have occurred a remote time several days before his death.”
Mays, 50, was found dead in his family’s Tampa condo in June.
The Hillsborough County medical examiner’s office conducted the official autopsy. The office classified his death as “natural” but said that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that killed him. Mays’ family disagreed with that finding.
“We found this to be so upsetting that we asked for review by an independent medical examiner,” Deborah Mays, the late pitchman’s wife, said in a statement Thursday.
Mays was known for his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean. He got his start on TV on the Home Shopping Network and then branched out into commercials and infomercials. He developed such a strong following that he became the subject of a reality TV series, Discovery Channel’s “Pitchmen.”
Doctors Begin TV Ads Pressing Congress on MedicareBy Alan Fram
WASHINGTON (AP) – The American Medical Association is launching a coast-to-coast TV ad campaign to press Congress to approve higher payments for doctors treating Medicare patients.
The doctors group announced the ads Thursday, a day after Democrats agreed to push a $247 billion bill through the Senate next week averting scheduled cuts in physicians’ Medicare fees over the next decade. A 21 percent reduction is scheduled for January, with other cuts in subsequent years.
The ad, which the AMA said would cost seven figures, says the bill will “protect seniors’ access to quality care” and urges people to contact their senators to tell them to vote for it. Restoring the money has long been a top priority for doctors’ lobbyists.
The spots will run in 12 states with wavering senators of both parties, including North Carolina, Florida and Alaska, and in Washington, D.C.
The measure will require 60 votes to pass the Senate to overcome delaying tactics by opponents. The bill, which also needs House approval, would be paid for with federal borrowing, which has provoked opposition from many Republicans and some deficit-conscious Democrats.
Majority Leader Harry Reid set a test vote for next week on the legislation.
Republican leaders promised stiff resistance to the bill, which is part of the Obama administration’s attempt to enact a sweeping health care overhaul, and there was opposition from Democratic deficit hawks, as well.
AP Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this report.
Oregon Launches Anti-junk Food TV Ads Campaign
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon health officials are launching a public awareness campaign for parents to counter what they call “a barrage” of junk-food TV commercials aimed at children.
Jennifer Young of the state Office of Family Health says the average American child sees more than 40,000 advertisements each year.
Young says half those ads are for food and nearly all the food is sugared cereal, high-calorie snacks and fast food.
The statewide campaign launched Thursday by the Nutrition Council of Oregon will include ads in 200 TriMet buses in Portland and a Facebook page with information about advertising and healthy food.
Tanovic’s “Triage” Opens Rome Film Fest
By Marta Falconi
ROME (AP) – Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic’s “Triage,” a movie about the horrors of war and the scars it leaves on survivors, opened the Rome Film Festival on Thursday.
The movie starring Colin Farrell, Christopher Lee and Paz Vega, tells the story of two war photographers who set off for a conflict-stricken Kurdistan. Only one of them comes back to his family in Ireland – haunted by memories and struggling to cope with his friend’s disappearance.
Tanovic won an Oscar in 2002 for best foreign film with “No Man’s Land,” a movie on the conflict in his native Bosnia. He told reporters after a press screening of “Triage” that his new work aims to show how the aftermath of all wars is the same for those who were on the battlefield.
“You can change landscapes, you can change geography, but the emotion that stays afterward is the same for everybody,” he said.
“Triage” explores the physical and psychological traumas and the feelings of guilt in those who live through war. It also touches on the role of media in war zones and on so-called “mercy killings” – showing a Kurdish doctor who shoots the wounded he cannot save.
The movie, which was shot in Spain and Ireland, is among 14 films competing for the best movie award in Rome. Also in competition is Jason Reitman’s comic drama “Up in the Air,” starring George Clooney.
Among the movies screening out of competition are “Julie & Julia,” with Meryl Streep, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s “A Serious Man.”
The festival, running through Oct. 22, will also screen selected scenes from the highly anticipated vampire sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Afghan Director: Insurgency Threatens Movie SceneMin Lee, Entertainment Writer
BUSAN, South Korea (AP) – A Golden Globe-winning Afghan director who made the country’s first post-Taliban movie says he’s worried the group’s resurgence may threaten artistic freedom again.
The uncertainty brings back bad memories for Siddiq Barmak, who lived in exile in Pakistan from 1996 to 2002 during the rule of the Taliban, which destroyed film archives and movie theaters.
“I can tell you that for me, as a filmmaker, now it’s very difficult to say, ‘OK, I should go for my next project,’ Barmak told The Associated Press on the sidelines of South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival Tuesday , where he was promoting his new film “Opium War.”
The 47-year-old director said he was “so optimistic” when he returned to Afghanistan to make “Osama.” The story of a mother who disguises her daughter as a young boy so she can become her escort – the Taliban banned women from traveling alone – won the Golden Globe prize for best foreign film in 2003.
But six years later, his gloomy outlook is reflected in “Opium War,” a dark comedy about the interaction between two American soldiers who survive a helicopter crash and the family of a small-time opium farmer. The Americans bicker – the injured white soldier bosses around his black compatriot – get high on opium and mistakenly fire at an abandoned tank that turns out to house the Afghan family. Meanwhile, the opium farmer is forced to give away his daughter to his buyers to make up for a poor harvest. When a U.N. team arrives to set up a temporary polling booth, the Afghans are confused and end up delivering a baby in one of the ballot boxes.
“The film is completely, exactly the refection of the situation,” Barmak said, both “grotesque” and “funny.”
“I really worry about it because there is no guarantee for this newborn democracy in Afghanistan. No country – not even the U.N., America, Britain, or the European Union – no one can give us a guarantee that this democracy will continue,” he said.
The $700,000 film was shot before the presidential elections on Aug. 20, which was tainted by allegations of mass fraud, but Barmak said his movie was prescient of the chaos in his country.
Barmak said Afghan cinema has enjoyed a renaissance since the Taliban were forced out of Kabul, with young filmmakers shooting shorts, features and documentaries in digital format. The local theater market is dominated by Indian movies, but about 25 to 35 Afghan films are released every year, he said. There ar e nine movie theaters in Kabul – few outside of the capital – but many Afghans are still afraid of insurgent attacks and often prefer to watch DVDs at home.
The explosion of TV channels – Barmak says there are 25 private TV channels countrywide, 17 of them in Kabul – has provided steady work for filmmakers.
The persistent Taliban insurgency now makes many filmmakers uncertain about their futures, Barmak said. “They are working in a dark room,” he said.
Still, he vowed to plunge ahead with his next project: a love story set in the lead-up to the Taliban’s collapse.
Clooney, Streep in London for Film Festival Gala
By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) – Like the London Film Festival, Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is a mix of British grit and American glamor.
The movie was made in England using old-fashioned stop-motion animation, and has a voice cast led by George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray – American stars who were bringing a dose of Hollywood to Leicester Square on Wednesday with the film’s world premiere at the 53rd annual London festival.
Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach adapted Roald Dahl’s book about the battle between a chicken-stealing fox and evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.
The movie, from the director of “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” retains the book’s English setting and was made at London’s Three Mills Studios but the animal heroes speak with American accents.
“I feel like we were better writing American voices,” Anderson told reporters Wednesday. “So we decided that we would make all the animals American, and the humans woul d be British.”
“Because,” added Murray, “they’re the bad guys.”
Clooney said he had a great time working on the film – especially as the cast recorded their parts on a real-life farm.
One of the world’s oldest film festivals, London is trying to raise its international profile to compete with better-known events in Cannes, Venice and Toronto. Most of the 300 films from almost 50 countries in the London lineup have been screened elsewhere, but 15 are world premieres.
The schedule in cludes Austrian director Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon,” which won the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival; prison drama “A Prophet” from France’s Jacques Audiard; Jane Campion’s visually ravishing John Keats biopic “Bright Star”; “Steven Soderbergh’s whistle-blower saga “The Informant”; designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut “A Single Man”; and Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” the Nick Hornby-scripted story about a teenager coming of age in the 1960s.
British films include Lucy Bailey’s hard-hitting documentary “Mugabe and the White African”; Julien Temple’s rock-doc “Oil City Confidential”; and “Don’t Worry About Me,” directed by actor David Morrissey.
The festival wraps up Oct. 29 with the world premiere of “Nowhere Boy,” Sam Taylor-Wood’s film about the young John Lennon.
____
On the Net: www.bfi.org.uk/lff
