Tron: Legacy Director “Fan Reaction To Early Sketches Helped Secure Funding”; New 3-D ‘Tron’ Film Wows Comic-Con with Footage
Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The follow-up film to 1982’s “Tron” wowed the high-tech crowd at Comic-Con.
The cast and creators of “Tron: Legacy” discussed the new film and shared about eight minutes of 3-D footage with some 6,000 fans at the annual pop-culture convention Thursday.
The clip centered on the character of Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund, entering the digital world where his father disappeared decades earlier.
Hedlund is shown being whisked away from the real world, stripped of his clothes and dressed in the glowing suit that has become a symbol of the “Tron” world.
The actors wore custom-made illuminated suits wired with electricity during filming.
“It was an honor to be able to wear something like that,” said star Olivia Wilde. “It was really beautiful.”
Jeff Bridges, who reprises his role as Kevin Flynn from the original film, said, “we were working with black velvet and white adhesive tape” back in the ’80s.
The Oscar winner actually plays two characters in “Tron: Legacy,” including a younger version of himself achieved with computer effects.
Director Joe Kosinski thanked Comic-Con fans for helping make the “Tron” sequel a reality. He said fan reaction to early sketches from the new film at Comic-Con two years ago helped secure funding for “Tron: Legacy.”
The film was shot entirely in 3-D, Kosinski said, using cameras developed by James Cameron.
Michael Sheen, another star of the film, noted that “Tron: Legacy” is actually in 4-D.
“It’s a 4-D film because Jeff Bridges brings an extra dimension of awesomeness,” Sheen said.
Bridges said the second film appealed to him for the same reasons the first did 27 years ago.
“It tickled the kid in me, to be sucked inside the computer,” he said.
“Tron: Legacy” opens in December.
Comic-Con continues at the San Diego Convention Center through Sunday.
Liberty Dissolves Overture; Relativity Hires Staff
LOS ANGELES (AP) – After months of unsuccessfully trying to find a buyer, Liberty Media Corp. is dissolving its Overture Films unit, sending its distribution and marketing staff to film financier Relativity Media LLC.
The deal does not include more than a dozen films made by Overture since 2007 that will stay with Liberty.
As part of the deal, Relativity will take on about 45 people and also receive a distribution fee on three movies that haven’t been released yet.
Liberty made the move to focus its resources on making original series for its Starz pay TV channel. Relativity is bulking up its operations so that it can compete with major movie studios.
Guillermo del Toro To Direct New ‘Haunted Mansion’
Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer“
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Guillermo del Toro will direct a new movie remake of Disney’s “Haunted Mansion.”
The Oscar winner made the announcement Thursday at Comic-Con, San Diego’s annual pop culture convention.
Del Toro said his film will be a scary 3-D, live-action take on what he called “the most precious real estate on Earth.”
“We’re making it into an e-ticket ride,” del Toro said. “It will be scary and fun at the same time.”
The new movie will be true to the “spirit, art and aesthetic” of the original Disneyland Haunted Mansion, where del Toro has made an annual pilgrimage since he was 3.
He said he goes on the ride to clear his head and has a Haunted Mansion-themed room at his house.
The film reboot will reintroduce the character of the Hatbox Ghost, whom del Toro described as critical to the Mansion’s mythology.
The director said his movie won’t be a comedy and won’t star Eddie Murphy, who appeared in a previous cinematic take on the popular ride.
“This, to me, is a dream come true,” del Toro said, “and I hope to steal as many props as possible.”
The Future is a Scary Place for Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro loves scary movies, so he’s making a bunch of them.
Besides developing a new “Haunted Mansion” movie for Disney, the Oscar winner says he’s planning to shoot a horror movie in May, hopes to do a version of “Frankenstein” and is working on an “anthology horror series” for cable TV.
He made the announcements Friday at Comic-Con, where he unveiled another horror flick, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.”
Del Toro produced the film, which is set for release next year.
Speaking to some 6,000 fans at San Diego’s annual pop culture convention, del Toro promised to respond to artists and aspiring filmmakers who submit their work to him. As soon as he said that, a fan gave the director a collection of 1,500 sketches.
‘Scott Pilgrim’ Creates Universal Comic-Con PandemoniumDerrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) – “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” won over Comic-Con.
At the end of Universal Pictures’ “Scott Pilgrim” panel at the pop-culture convention Thursday, director Edgar Wright had a surprise for the crowd. He invited anyone handed a button marked with an 8-bit rendition of the title character’s face at the start of the session to follow the filmmaker to a world premiere screening of the movie.
Wright stepped off the stage away from assembled cast members and quickly disappeared into a sea of more than 6,000 convention goers. Outside the San Diego Convention Center, masses of people split off into different directions, eventually converging seven blocks away on the historic Balboa Theatre for the comic adaptation debut.
Robert Rodriguez Unveils ‘Machete’ On Street Corner
Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Robert Rodriguez loves Comic-Con, but the San Diego Convention Center is just too limiting. So the filmmaker decided to unveil his new movie, “Machete,” on a street corner instead.
Rodriguez showed about seven minutes of footage from the film at an outdoor party Thursday night that featured free tacos and margaritas, scantily clad dancers, a dozen tricked-out low-rider cars and a graffiti wall.
Stars Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez were on hand for the celebration. The film also stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson and Lindsay Lohan.
The seven-minute clip was sexy, bloody and action-packed. In one scene, Alba puts out an attacker’s eye with a stiletto heel. In another, Trejo’s character slices open an opponent’s stomach and rappels down a wall with his intestine.
“The human intestine is 10 times longer than the human body,” Robert Rodriguez said. “True fact.”
The writer-director said “Machete” is a film of and for the fans, who clamored for a full-length movie after seeing a trailer in 2007’s “Grindhouse.”
“I was never going to go beyond the trailer,” he said.
“Machete” opens in September.
New Groups Aim To Spend Big on Election Ads
Sharon Theimer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two new groups — one Republican-leaning, the other pro-Democratic — seeking to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling allowing the use of unlimited donations for ads targeting candidates have gotten the go-ahead from election officials.
The Federal Election Commission on Thursday approved plans by the conservative Club for Growth and by Democratic activists to collect big contributions for ads on candidates. Both say the committees set up to run the ads will disclose their donors and spending to the FEC in publicly available reports.
A Supreme Court ruling in January allows the use of unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and unions for election-time ads that urge people to vote for or against specific candidates and are run independently of campaigns and political parties. The court struck down restrictions on political ads, saying they violated free-speech rights.
The FEC’s decisions on the two organizations do not necessarily mean it will be clear to voters where all interest groups airing ads this election season are getting their money.
The two groups voluntarily decided to file with the commission as political committees and periodically reveal who their donors are, but there are some political activists who believe that under the Supreme Court ruling, that degree of disclosure isn’t required to legally raise corporate and union money for ads that target specific candidates.
The commission has yet to set new rules in light of the court decision that clearly spell out which ad spenders need to register with it, how much information they must give the public about their fundraising and spending, and when. It is unlikely to do so before the November election, when control of Congress is at stake. Legislation that would require those who air ads supporting or attacking candidates to disclose details about their activities has yet to clear Congress.
The Club for Growth told the commission its new committee will raise unlimited donations from individuals for the ads, and that it will run its ads on candidates without coordinating with campaigns, political parties or other outside groups.
The other group asking the commission for guidance on its plans, Commonsense Ten, said it will raise unlimited money from unions, corporations and individuals for ads calling for the election or defeat of candidates.
2 Music Producers Guilty in Tax Case
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two St. Louis-area business partners who have written and produced songs for stars ranging from Nelly to Madonna to Britney Spears have pleaded guilty to failing to file income tax returns.
Shamar Daugherty of St. Charles pleaded guilty to three counts Wednesday. His partner, Alonzo Lee of Lake St. Louis, pleaded guilty to two counts on June 30. The U.S. attorney’s office announced the pleas Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors say Daugherty and Lee had gross income of more than $4.8 million for the tax years 2003 through 2005 alone, but filed no tax returns. As part of their plea deals, both will be required to file delinquent returns through 2009.
An attorney for both men, Scott Rosenblum, says they accepted responsibility for the misdemeanor charges.
Couple Charged With Killing Son of Film Producer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – A couple have been charged with murdering a Hollywood film producer’s son at a Beverly Hills home.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged 23-year-old Scott Barker and 20-year-old Chie Johnson with stabbing the son of Fuminori Hayashida, who produced several movies in the 1990s, including “Lured Innocence” starring Dennis Hopper.
They remain jailed on $1 million bail each and could face life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors say Barker wielded the knife that killed 21-year-old Katsutoshi Takazato on Tuesday.
A statement from the district attorney’s office says Johnson had dated Takazato but recently began dating Barker, who became enraged because he heard that Takazato may have abused the woman.
Lawsuit Over Rights to Film ‘Precious’ Settled
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Court records show a lawsuit between two film companies over the rights to the film “Precious” has been dismissed.
Lionsgate Films and The Weinstein Co. sued each other in February 2009 over rights to the film, which went on to win two Academy awards.
Lionsgate attorney Matthew Gershman says the case was “amicably resolved” but that he couldn’t provide further details.
Notice of the dismissal was filed Thursday in Los Angeles.
“Precious” is based on the 1996 novel “Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire.” Actress Mo’Nique and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher each won Oscar awards, and the film was nominated in four other categories.
Attorney Bert Fields, who represented Weinstein, was not immediately available for comment.
‘Tron’ Wows Comic-Con with 3-D Footage, Trailer
SAN DIEGO (AP) – The follow-up film to 1982’s “Tron” has wowed the high-tech crowd at Comic-Con.
The cast and creators of “Tron: Legacy” discussed the new film and shared about eight minutes of 3-D footage with some 6,000 fans at the annual pop-culture convention Thursday.
The clip centered on the character of Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund, entering the digital world where his father disappeared decades earlier.
Flynn’s father is played by Jeff Bridges, reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the original film. The Oscar winner plays two characters in “Tron: Legacy,” including a younger version of himself achieved with computer effects.
“Tron: Legacy” opens in December.
Comic-Con continues at the San Diego Convention Center through Sunday.
Darryl McDaniels Voices NYC Safe Child Care Ads
NEW YORK (AP) – Former Run DMC member Darryl McDaniels is lending his voice to a public awareness campaign about safe child care.
The hip hop artist is voicing radio ads as part of a campaign by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration.
The ads urge New Yorkers to think carefully about the caregivers they get for their children.
The city is starting the campaign amid an alarming spike of child deaths at the hands of their caregivers. This year, nine children younger than 2 years old have been killed while in the care of their fathers, their mothers’ companions or a babysitter. Last year there were three such deaths.
McDaniels said Thursday that violence against children cannot be tolerated.
David Schwimmer film ‘Trust’ to debut in Toronto
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – David Schwimmer’s latest directorial effort, “Trust,” will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The movie was shot last year in Michigan and marks the former “Friends” star’s second time directing a feature film.
The film’s publicist Cid Swank says Toronto’s the “perfect festival for everyone to see the finished movie for the first time.”
It’s about the fallout from an attack by an online sexual predator and stars Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis.
The film is set in the Chicago suburbs but was largely filmed in Michigan.
Detroit Hotel: Film Crew Walked Out on $37K Bill
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) – A luxurious suburban Detroit hotel says it was stiffed by a film company that left town without paying nearly $37,000 in food, lodging and services.
A lawsuit filed in Oakland County Circuit Court by the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham claims it provided Little Murder Productions and Arizona-based Mind in Motion Entertainment with an open account last year when the independent film production crew was filming “Little Murder,” a thriller set in New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina.
Among those named in the suit are actor Cary Elwes and Tim Gendreau, Mind in Motion president.
The Detroit News says company officials could not immediately be reached for comment, and a telephone listing in Detroit was disconnected.
Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
Church’s Ad With Crutches Banned in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (AP) – A South African church won’t be allowed to show crutches or canes in its advertisements after some said it was making false claims of being able to heal people.
The church, which calls itself the Solid Rock Church of Miracles, says its display of discarded crutches and canes encourages ill and disabled people to join its congregation.
But others have complained that the ads are misleading, and South Africa’s main advertising complaints body said Wednesday it is banning the ads.
Leon Grobler, the advertising body’s disputes resolution manager, said the church is now being asked to provide more information.
Revivalist and healing churches have flourished in impoverished communities of southern Africa.
House seeks to revive law to stop ‘crush videos’Jim Abrams
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is attempting to put back on the books a 1999 law that bans so-called “crush videos” which graphically depict the abuse and killing of animals.
The 416-3 vote in the House Wednesday to again make crush videos illegal came three months after the Supreme Court struck down the federal law on the grounds that it was too broadly written and violated free speech protections.
The new legislation is more narrowly crafted to meet constitutional standards. It makes it a crime to sell or distribute videos that violate bans on animal cruelty by showing animals being burned, drowned, suffocated or impaled. Exceptions are made for normal animal husbandry films or films depicting hunting, trapping and fishing.
Crush videos appeal to a sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or wearing high heels.
All 50 states have laws against animal cruelty, but states have found it difficult to prosecute crush videos because they usually don’t show faces, dates or locations. The new legislation makes the interstate sale of such videos a crime subject to fines and imprisonment of up to five years.
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., who also sponsored the 1999 law, said the issue went beyond the torturing of animals, noting that murderers such as serial killer Ted Bundy and “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski killed animals before they killed people.
He said the crush video business virtually disappeared after the 1999 law was enacted, but has shown signs of reemerging after the court ruling.
The measure must still be considered by the Senate.
The bill is H.R. 5566.
Clooney To Receive TV Academy’s Humanitarian Award
LOS ANGELES (AP) – George Clooney will be recognized for his humanitarian efforts at the Emmy Awards.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will present the 49-year-old actor with its Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the ceremony next month.
Clooney is being honored for the “Hope for Haiti” TV special, which is nominated for an Emmy award, and his efforts to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and raise awareness about genocide in Darfur.
John Shaffner, chairman and chief executive of the TV academy, said Clooney was “an obvious choice” for the award because he used the power of television to move people to act.
The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award was established in 2002. Clooney is the fourth recipient of the honor and will receive the award at the Emmy ceremony on Aug. 29.
Nickelodeon Sets ‘Last Airbender’ Sequel for 2011LOS ANGELES (AP) – A sequel to Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is in the works.
The channel said Wednesday the new animated TV series will premiere in 2011. It has the working title, “The Legend of Korra.”
Nickelodeon says the series will build on the “mythology” of the original “The Last Airbender” series, which inspired this summer’s live-action movie from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan (SHAH-muh-lahn).
The “Legend of Korra” is from the creator-producers of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
Nickelodeon executive Brown Johnson says the new series will focus on a teenage girl avatar named Korra. Brown describes her as hotheaded, independent and “ready to take on the world.”
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” has ranked among the highest-rate series on the Nickelodeon and Nicktoons channels.
FCC: Broadband Market Not Serving All AmericansJoelle Tessler, Technology Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal regulators have concluded that the broadband market is not bringing high-speed Internet connections to all Americans quickly enough.
In a report set to be released as early as Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission says broadband is not being made available to all Americans in “a reasonable and timely fashion.” Although the report is the FCC’s sixth look at the state of broadband since Congress mandated in 1996 that it start tracking high-speed Internet connections, it marks the first time that the agency has concluded the market is not working in all corners of the country.
The FCC’s national broadband plan, released in March, found that between 14 million and 24 million Americans do not have access to broadband. The plan, mandated by last year’s stimulus bill, lays out a roadmap for bringing high-speed connections to all Americans.
Two of its top recommendations include tapping the federal fund that subsid izes telephone service in poor and rural communities to pay for high-speed Internet connections and unleashing more spectrum for wireless Internet services, particularly in rural areas where it does not make economic sense for phone and cable companies to build landline networks.
Rick Kaplan, chief counsel to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, said the findings of the FCC’s latest broadband report underscore the need to push ahead with those two proposals. He added that the agency is not seeking to impose heavy-handed new rules – such as line-sharing requirements – on the phone and cable companies that provide most Internet connections in the U.S.
Still, word of the upcoming FCC report raised concerns among telecommunications companies, which fear it could lead to more regulation. The industry has mounted an intense lobbying campaign to derail a proposal by Genachowski to define broadband access as a telecommunications service subject to “common carrier” obligation s to treat all traffic equally. The proposal is a response to a recent federal appeals court ruling that cast doubt on the agency’s authority over broadband under its existing regulatory framework.
USTelecom, which represents the big phone companies, said in a statement Monday that the FCC’s latest analysis “strains credulity” since the national broadband plan found that the number of Americans with broadband at home grew to nearly 200 million last year from 8 million in 2000.
Kaplan said that while the industry is doing a good job of expanding broadband, it is not reaching all Americans. Stressing that the FCC is required by Congress to examine the state of the U.S. broadband market, he added that there is no way for the agency to conclude that every American currently has access.
The FCC has changed the way it tracks broadband in its latest report. The agency lifted the speed requirement for a service to qualify as broadband to at least four megabits down stream – far faster than its previous 200-kilobit standard. It also measured broadband availability in far smaller geographic areas. The agency had been widely criticized for tracking broadband availability only by zip code and counting an entire zip code as served even if only one household could get access.
Director Polanski attends Swiss jazz fest
Bradley S. Klapper
MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) – Roman Polanski has made his first public appearance since being released this week from house arrest, attending the Montreux Jazz Festival on Saturday to watch his wife perform on stage.
The 76-year-old film director arrived at the Lake Geneva festival Saturday evening in a sport utility vehicle with tinted windows. When he emerged, he brushed his fingers through his hair – a trademark gesture – then was ushered into an elevator. Security personnel protected him from an eager crush of photographers.
Polanski’s wife, the actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner, performed shortly after his arrival, wearing a flannel shirt, a black hat and jeans.
In an interview earlier Saturday with Swiss television, excerpts of which were broadcast on France-2 television, Polanski thanked “the millions of people who kept sending me messages of support during those nine long months.”
“I would also certainly thank my wife Emmanu elle (and) my children, without whom I would have never been able to hold onto my dignity and perseverance,” Polanski said.
The Oscar-winning director was freed last Monday from seven months of house arrest at his Swiss chalet when Switzerland’s government refused to extradite him to the United States. Before that, he served two months in prison as the Swiss government pondered whether he should be handed over to U.S. authorities to be sentenced for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
Polanski still faces an Interpol warrant in effect for 188 countries.
“For the moment, I’m happy to be free and to be able to do the things I was kept from doing,” Polanski said.
He said his son cut off the electronic bracelet that Swiss authorities had required him to wear while he was under house arrest.
“They told me to throw it away, that’s it,” Polanski said of the authorities. His son “couldn’t stand it anymore,” so he was given “the privilege” of removing the tracking device.
AP correspondent Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.
Omnicom exceeds Wall Street expectations in Q2
NEW YORK (AP)–Omnicom Group Inc. reported a 4.2 percent rise in quarterly net income Tuesday (7/20), reflecting an uptick in spending on marketing and advertising.
A year ago, the advertising and communications conglomerate reported a sharp decline in profit as companies clipped marketing budgets to save cash during the recession. Now, those budgets are starting to return.
Omnicom reported net income of $243.3 million, or 79 cents per share, up from $233.4 million, or 75 cents per share.
Revenue climbed 6 percent to $3 billion.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. On average, analysts expected net income of 77 cents per share and revenue of $2.95 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
