Exclusive: Elfie Hopkins Poster

Winstones Assemble!If this new Elfie Hopkins quad poster is anything to go by, all is assuredly not well in the Winstone household. Dad Ray and daughter Jaime have their hands full dealing with the film's sinister woodland goings-on. The last time Winston Sr. looked this focused he was being sucked into the space between spaces in The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. At least this time he's armed, which is more than it looks like Elfie herself (Jaime Winstone) is boasting. The 22 year-old wildlife-loving amateur sleuth has to get by on wits dampened by a spliff or two as she sets to work uncovering bloody work afoot in her dormant hunting village. Well, wits and probably some shotguns. {Elfie Hopkins poster}Written and directed by Ryan Andrews, a previous collaborator with Jaime Winstone, Elfie Hopkins promises to showcase the younger Winstone's skills. Her character is inspired in her crime-solving mission by noirs like Chinatown and The Maltese Falcon and aided by geeky pal Dylan (Aneurin Barnard).Together, they get busy investigating the suspicious Gammon family, fresh from the big city and - we'd wager - not especially friendly.Elfie Hopkins makes her big-screen bow on April 20.

VIDEO: Ellen Pompeo Addresses Rumors About Katherine Heigl's Grey's Return

Hayden Panettiere Heroes alum Hayden Panettiere has landed one of the leading roles in ABC's Nashville pilot, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Deadline first reported the news. The drama is a family soap set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene that follows two musicians, one who's already a star and the other who's on the rise (Panettiere). As previously announced, Jonathan Jackson, Powers Boothe, Robert Wisdom, Clare Bowenand Sam Palladio will also star. Pilot Season: Get the scoop! While Panettiere is best known for playing the impervious cheerleader on Heroes, she also recently starred in Lifetime's Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy and in the film Scream 4. Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) and RJ Cutler will write and executive-produce Nashville.

Watch Taylor Kitsch's MTV First At This Time!

Obvious eyes, full hearts, must watch: "MTV First: John Carter" begins the following, at this time! Tune in to the video below to determine Taylor Kitsch within an exclusive clip from "John Carter," his new Disney sci-fi adventure. Keep watching for a lot of actor's ideas on his latest flick, plus updates on his other approaching projects like "Battleship" and "Savages." Join the conversation on Twitter by utilizing #MTVFirst or #AskKitsch. Everything begins present, only on MTV.com.

Talkback: After Billy Crystal's Tepid Turn, Who'd Increase the risk for Ultimate Oscar Host?

Many people available may have loved Billy Crystal's ninth outing as host in the Academy awards last evening, but his turn was as tepid as James Franco's 2011 "performance" was bizarre. Crystal's Oscars-designed song and dance routine? Dated. The weak banter and soft barbs at Hollywood's collected illuminati? Snoozeville. Thinking about the formerly and often great Very was upstaged with the night's random moments (Angelina Jolie's leg, J. Lo's boob, people Cirque du Soleil acrobats) and youthful, really funny presenters (the Bridesmaids crew and Emma Stone) you are prepared to start anew and refresh what's already known to as fussiest evening inside the film calendar. Basically: Who'd increase the risk for ultimate, charming, amusing, non-sucky Oscar host? Let's start by taking anyone who already situated the Oscars in the board, for freshness' sake including 2005 host Chris Rock, who provided last night's telecast getting a significantly-needed jolt of real talk hilarity while he presented Best Animated Feature. Or, say, Ellen Degeneres, Emmy-nominated on her behalf 2006 turn, who was simply nonetheless all over the tube Oscar evening in people movie-designed JC Penney ads. The tradition utilizing comics to host can be a historic the one that paid out off in spades fathers and moms of Bob Hope (who situated accurate documentation 18 shows). But nowadays probably the most daring, subversive stand-ups (read: the funny ones) run facing the stifling sense of decorum perpetuated with the older-skewing Academy it seems you may either come with an "edgier and more personal and much more personal" host who dares to push the envelope and attract the coveted youthful demographic -- Bieber alone can't work, even if the ill-advised blackface can get press -- otherwise you use a safe host who'll not get caught up and bore everyone to dying. In justness to Very, he was saddled by getting an awfully boring script. The pair of sparks of existence only showed up the odd ad-lib or because he roasted stars inside the audience, but even that devolved into easy mean jokes. (Leave Nick Nolte alone!) Another past Oscar trend wound up being to cast a slew of famous stars to host the evening -- charming personas who split hosting duties and attract diverse audiences. In 1974 it absolutely was the eclectic combination of John Huston, Burt Reynolds, David Niven, Diana Ross yearly later the Academy attracted on Sammy Davis Junior, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Shirley MacLaine. Why not obtain present just like a b --lister superteam to host? I'm not speaking Hathaway As Catwoman and James Franco, but George Clooney! Robert Downey Junior.! Sandra Bullock! Cute little Emma Stone, for goodness sake! However, maybe you'll find stars available who could reinvigorate the Oscars solo: The famous host the famous host oprah, for starters? The talk show titan was batted around a year ago just like a potential Oscar host for now-telecast co-producer Brett Ratner hired Eddie Murphy (who'd also probably prosper, if he'd return). I'd watch an entire telecast situated by Zach Galifianakis, even if it absolutely was a 3-hour parade of weirdness on componen along with his and may Ferrell's crash cymbals gag. Once the Academy's older membership and demographic understood who the hell he was, Louis C.K. might be fantastically entertaining. Then there's Sacha Baron Cohen... I'll change it for you, Movieliners -- who'd are a fantastic audience-getting, attention-holding non-snoozeworthy Oscar host... and would the Academy ever bite?

Trio of photos top ACE Eddie Honours

'The Descendants'"The Descendants," "The Artist" and "Rango" needed feature film kudos since the American Cinema Editors gave out their ACE Eddie Honours."The Descendants" and editor Kevin Tent won to find the best-edited dramatic feature. "The Artist" editor Anne-Sophie Brion and editor-author-director Michel Hazanavicius won for comedy or musical feature. "Rango's" Craig Wood won for animated feature. The award for Tent and "The Descendants" spurred an especially noisy ovation, since it came in just minutes following a ACE had saluted the pic's helmer, Alexander Payne, having its Golden Eddie filmmaker of year award, and Payne had shipped a wry speech explaining how he works together Tent.Payne, who always recognized to Tent by his full title and affiliation, referred to he stops watching dailies after about 2 days of shooting and trusts Tent's set of how the dailies look. "Highly attuned over time towards the subtlest nuances inside the mellifluous voice of Kevin Tent, A.C.E., I am in a position to readily discern because he lies then when he notifies the truth.In . "On set I alone am everyone else,In . mentioned Payne, "psychologically checking this raw material for believability, rhythm, vividness and cutting points. But Kevin Tent, A.C.E., is my audience, which i hunger to thrill him." Payne offered three ideas about editing itself: "One, editing might be the continuing technique of disguising how bad the film is actually. 2, each day we edit, we increase the risk for film suck less. And # 3, editing might be natural condition of guy."Inside the TV groups, Steven Rasch needed the half-hour series award for "Curb Your Enthusiasm - Palestinian Chicken." Rasch, who was simply also nommed with an espisode of "Modern Family" quipped that "Of my fellow nominees, I am in a position to say one or more was very worthy." "Breaking Bad - Face Off" and editor Skip Macdonald won for hourlong for commercial television. The "Homeland" pilot and editors Jordan Goldman & David Latham needed non-commercial hourlong honors. The "Cinema Verite" team of Sarah Flack & Robert Pulcini" won for miniseries or TV movie. "Anthony Borudain: No Reservations - Haiti" and editor Eric Lasby won for reality series. "Freedom Riders" editors Lewis Erskine and Aljernon CQ Tunsil needed documentary honors. Anne V. Coates, editor of "Lawrence of Arabia" among other classic films, possess a noisy standing ovation as she found the podium use a student award to Eric Kench. Two editors received Career Achievement Honours: Doug Ibold and Joel Cox. Dick Wolf introduced Ibold, recalling an instalment of "Miami Vice" Ibold edited which were directed by Don Manley. "It went half-million dollars over budget, that was 1986," appreciated Wolf. "The episdode made no sense." Within the climax, Ibold intercut a scene of Manley making love to guest star Melanie Griffith getting a scene of drug retailers killing guest star Vanity. "You'll find in the last 26 years nobody has intercut sex and violence on network TV," quipped Wolf. Ibold noted it absolutely was 2 decades since the ACE made a decision to upgrade the Eddie Honours. In 1992, he mentioned "Clint Eastwood was our first filmmaker of year and Joel Cox won an Oscar for editing 'Unforgiven.' And guess what happens? Many of us are here tonight."Eastwood introduced Cox, who received another Career Achievement Award. Eastwood mentioned "Joel which i were here 2 decades ago. We've frequently wondered the reasons you haven't requested us back." Fast-paced ceremony happened within the Beverly Hilton. Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

Kyle Chandler Hunts Bin Laden

Clear eyes, fully loaded rifle...After scoring plenty of acclaim (not to mention a well-deserved Emmy) for his performance as Coach Eric Taylor on TV's Friday Night Lights, Kyle Chandler has seen his career start to hit the next level. And now it would seem Kathryn Bigelow has noticed, since she's cast him in her new, still-untitled film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.Chandler will join a cast that already boasts Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Edgar Ramirez and Mark Strong.Yet according to Deadline, the casting for the movie is still shrouded in some secrecy, with no official confirmation on any of the names attached. But then, what do you expect from a movie that features CIA operatives and Navy SEAL characters? Still, if it turns out to be accurate, Chandler will be playing an agent.Bigelow's film, which features Hurt Locker collaborator Mark Boal on script duty, has run into some controversy recently with the US Congress and the Pentagon investigating charges that the Obama administration somehow leaked information about the mission to kill Bin Laden to the filmmakers, which caused them to redraft the movie to reflect the man's death.There's no indication yet on whether that will affect the release schedule, but Sony still wants the thing in US cinemas by December 19.Chandler will next be seen in Ben Affleck's Argo (out here October 5) and has just finished work on Broken City opposite Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe.

The Exorcist Porn Parody Better-Examined Than Phantom Menace

I am talking about, clearly: "Now, anybody who's have you been made in hindsight through the large smooch Leia gives Luke inside a New Hope (whose renaming here's far too hysterical for all of us to give up) be advised: The incestuous high-jinks go way, way further within this version. For just one, in order to earn her freedom, Leia (Allie Haze) blows dad-o Darth Vader (Lexington Steelespeaking which, when exactly did Anakin turn bla ... let alone). For 2, Luke (Seth Gamble) joins Han in double-joining Sis as celebration of coming in the Dying Star. [...] And also the effects! Yes, we have seen lots of highly impressive effects in adult productions during the last many years, but this undeniably and positively sets a brand new bar. The lightsabers, the fight ships, the droids, the Dying Star ... should you did not know much better, you'd think someone from Lucasfilm really were built with a submit crafting this." [AVN, link NSFW]

BAFTA Best Film artwork arrives

BAFTA has commissioned a number of sales brochure covers to accompany the very best Film nominees in front of next Sunday's award ceremony, and rather gorgeous too.Created by Eda Akaltun and StudioSmall, 5 pamphlets produce an arty undertake 5 large films from the evening. Just in case you skipped the sooner bulletins, they're Drive, The Assistance, Mess Tailor Solider Spy, The Artist and also the Descendants.On balance, we'd state that the Drive cover is most likely our favourite, even though image for that Artist runs it close. Sadly, the pictures aren't presently on the market, otherwise we'd have clicked them up already.The BAFTAs is going to be passed out at London's Royal Opera House on Sunday 12 Feb. For now, have a look in the artwork entirely below...

Mitt Romney May Pull NBC Ad Featuring Tom Brokaw

Mitt Romney Mitt Romney stated Monday he'd consider tugging a TV campaign ad created directly from old NBC Nightly News footage following the ad triggered outrage in the network and it is former evening news anchor, Tom Brokaw. The commercial includes a 1997 segment of NBC Nightly News by which Brokaw introduced the home Ethics Committee's decision to penalize then-Speaker of the home Newt Gingrich - now among Romney's top rivals for that Republication presidential nomination. Newt Gingrich's ex-wife informs Nightline: He wanted an 'open marriage' "We'll sit lower using the lawyers, speak with individuals at NBC, and come to a decision on that front," Romney stated on NBC's Today. "Clearly, it was not something obtained from hidden files. It was around the evening news. Therefore it should hardly come like a revealing piece for those who watch it." Romney further defended the ad, that they stated is made after to loss to Gingrich within the Sc primary. "I was being whaled on by Speaker Gingrich and did not respond well in Sc," Romney stated. "Therefore we made the decision to reply. We managed to get obvious if people want alternation in Washington you need to generate someone from outdoors Washington. Both alternation in tactic along with the message have experienced a genuine impact in Florida." Watch more videos of Mitt Romney Romney's campaign initially defended the ad, which started airing Friday, saying they feel the commercial "falls within fair use." However, NBC's legal department sent instructions to Romney's campaign asking for that the network's material be taken off campaign advertisements. Brokaw also launched an argument saying he was "very uncomfortable" together with his participation. "I don't want my role like a journalist jeopardized for political gain by any campaign," he stated. Watch the ad under consideration below: Do you consider Romney should pull the ad?

Fox orders 'Prodigy Bully' pilot

O'MalleyFlitterFox has ordered comedy pilot "Prodigy Bully" from Mike O'Malley, who was a regular player on the network's series "Glee.""Bully" is also from Warner Bros. TV and John Wells Prods. The multi-camera series is about a 9-year-old genius with a knack for intimidation whether it's his fellow students or even the teachers. Thesp Josh Flitter is already attached to play the title character. Executive producers are O'Malley, Wells, Paris Barclay, Hank Perlman and Andrew Stearn. The pilot was previously in consideration at NBC back in 2005-06. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

Demi Moore Rushed to Hospital, Now Seeking Specialist

Demi Moore Demi Moore was rushed for the hospital on Monday evening, TMZ.com reviews. Paramedics maintained regarding Moore's La home late Monday, before she was moved for the hospital. TMZ reviews they was allegedly treated for substance abuse. Reps for your actress did not immediately respond to TVGuide.com's request comment. "Because of the stresses in their existence at this time around, Demi has selected to locate specialist treat her exhaustion and improve her general health,In . a repetition for your actress mentioned in the statement. "She looks toward getting well which is grateful for your support of her family and pals." Demi Moore divorcing Ashton Kutcher he responds on Twitter In November, Moore introduced thatshe has made a decision to divorce red-colored carpet years of marriage. News from the split came days after Us Weekly reported that Kutcher stood a one-evening stand getting a 22-year-old named Sara Leal in September - during the time of his and Moore's sixth anniversary. Reviews of trouble involving the couple made an appearance quickly (Star Magazine reported the 2 happen to be living apart for many days), but Kutcher needed to Twitter each week after his alleged affair promoting individuals to not assume anything. Moore and Kutcher married in 2005 after dating for just two years.

Murdoch To Pay For Jude Law & Others Hacking Damages

First Released: The month of january 19, 2012 9:54 AM EST Credit: Getty Images LONDON, U.K. -- Caption Jude Law attends the Peace Eventually Celebration 2010 at Le Zenith, Paris, France, September 17, 2010Rupert Murdochs British newspaper company on Thursday decided to pay damages to 36 high-profile sufferers of tabloid phone-hacking, including actor Jude Law, soccer player Ashley Cole and former British Deputy Pm John Prescott. Within the 15 pay outs whose financial terms were published, amounts generally went in to the hundreds of 1000's of pounds (dollars) - although Law received 130,000 pounds (about $200,000) to stay claims from the now-shuttered News around the globe tabloid and it is sister paper, The Sun's Rays. News Group Newspapers accepted that 16 articles about Law released in news reports around the globe between 2003 and 2006 have been acquired by telephone hacking, which the actor had been placed directly under repeated and sustained physical surveillance. The organization also accepted that articles under the sun tabloid misused Laws and regulations personal data - even though it didnt go to date regarding admit hacking. Inside a statement, Law stated Murdochs tabloids have been ready to do anything whatsoever to market their newspapers and to earn money, regardless of the impact it had on peoples lives. I transformed my phones, I'd the house taken for bugs but nonetheless the data stored being released, Law stated. I began being distrustful of individuals near to me. For me personally this situation never was about money. It had been about standing personally and discovering what had happened. I owed it to my buddies and family in addition to myself to get this done. Law was among 60 those who have prosecuted News Group Newspapers, declaring their cell phone voicemails were compromised. Other cases whose settlement was introduced at Londons High Court on Thursday include claims by former government ministers Chris Bryant and Tessa Jowell, rugby player Gavin Henson and Sara Payne, mom of the killed girl. Laws and regulations ex-wife and actress Sadie Frost received 50,000 pounds (about $77,000) in damages plus legal costs for phone hacking and deceit through the News around the globe. Bryant received 30,000 pounds (about $46,000) in damages plus costs, while Prescott - a prominent person in the Work Party - recognized 40,000 pounds (about $62,000). After each statement, News Group lawyer Michael Silverleaf was to convey this news companys sincere apologies for that damage and distress its illegal activity had triggered. The litigants referred to feeling mistrust, fear and paranoia as phone messages went missing, journalists understood their actions ahead of time or personal data made an appearance in media. Frost stated the papers activity triggered her and Law to suspect each other. Henson stated he accused the household of his then-wife, singer Charlotte now Chapel, of seeping tales towards the press. Other litigants incorporated Guy Pelly, a buddy of Prince William, who had been granted 40,000 pounds (about $62,000), and Tom Rowland, a journalist who authored for just one of Murdochs own newspapers, the Sunday Occasions. He received 25,000 pounds ($39,000) after News Group accepted hacking his phone. In some instances the organization accepted hacking into emails, in addition to telephone voice mails. Christopher Shipman, boy of murderer Harold Shipman, had emails that contains sensitive legal and medical information intercepted through the News from the Word. He was granted substantial undisclosed damages. The slew of pay outs is a results of the facts of phone-hacking along with other illegal tactics in the News around the globe, where journalists routinely intercepted voicemails of individuals making the news inside a relentless look for scoops. The wide-varying scandal motivated Murdoch to shut the 168-year-old paper in This summer, and many of his senior lieutenants have since lost their jobs. British political figures and police are also trapped within the scandal, which uncovered the comfy relationship between senior officials, top congress, and newspaper professionals at Murdochs media empire. A government-commissioned inquiry placed in the wake from the scandal is presently looking into the ethics of Britains media - and also the character of their links to police and political figures. The pay outs introduced Thursday add up to over fifty percent from the phone-hacking legal cases facing Murdochs company, but the amount of sufferers is believed within the 100s. Mark Lewis, an attorney for most of the phone hacking sufferers, stated within an email that fighting against Murdoch wasnt over. While congratulations are because of individuals (lawyers) and clients who've settled their cases, it is crucial that we dont get caught up into convinced that the war has ended, Lewis stated. Less than 1 % of those who have been compromised have settled their cases. You will find a lot more cases within the pipeline. This really is too soon to celebrate, weren't even in the finish from the beginning. Many sufferers had earlier settled with the organization, including actress Sienna Burns and also the parents of killed teen Milly Dowler, who have been granted two million pounds (about $3.a million) in compensation. Ten further cases are because of visit court the following month, though lawyers stated more pay outs are most likely. Copyright 2012 through the Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Hallmark Funnel Drops The Martha Stewart Show After Two Seasons

Martha Stewart Hallmark Funnel has canceled The Martha Stewart Show after two seasons, in line with the Hollywood Reporter. The daytime show will wrap in May after which re-tell you the summer season, but Hallmark chosen not to bring the series back because of its high production costs. Lisa Gersh, the best choice and COO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, mentioned inside a conference in December the organization is wanting to discover a cheaper studio following a lease expires this year. Hallmark moment: Martha Stewart moving show to cable funnel Hallmark and Stewart's company wouldn't browse the cancelation to THR, only delivering a disagreement proclaiming that The Martha Stewart Show would carry on through this summer season. "The daytime block on Hallmark Funnel proven year-over-year ratings growth and acquired The Martha Stewart Show two Daytime Emmy Honours within the first season on Hallmark Funnel," the companies mentioned in the joint statement. "That relate is constantly on the air using the finish of summer season 2012. MSLO and Hallmark Funnel will be in discussions about potential new programming and concepts for daytime." Hallmark remains in talks using the organization about refreshing other Stewart-produced programs like Emeril's Table, in line with the Reporter. Watch videos of Martha Stewart Hallmark launched an eight-hour block of Stewart-high quality programs in September 2010, but following subpar ratings, that block has since been reduced to five several hours. The Martha Stewart Show was formerly broadcast in distribution from 2005 to 2010. Before that, Stewart situated Martha Stewart Living from 1993 to 2004, after which it the show ongoing hiatus due to Stewart's incarceration.

Judge: Marvel has Ghost Driver rights

Released: Thu., 12 ,. 29, 2011, 4:58pm PTA federal court judge has rejected a comicbook author's claim they can the level of smoothness Ghost Driver, ruling it had been apparent that Marvel Comics had the rights for the superhero. In the ruling launched on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest granted summary judgment to Marvel after concluding that, even though Gary Friedrich produced and written the initial comic that introduced the level of smoothness in 1972, he conveyed rights for the character by marketing assessments from Marvel by signing a 1978 agreement that "effectively ended any remaining possession claims" he may have observed. Friedrich remains pursuing the rights for the character since 2004, as plans were inside the is utilized with a movie adaptation eventually released in 2007 and starring Nicolas Cage. A follow-up is within the works well with release next season. He'd contended he maintained rights as they did his behave as an independent worker, which even though he signed over rights for the character, he did not sign inside the rights to non-comic used in films, TV and selling. But Forrest rejected people arguments. She mentioned that they didn't have to "travel lower the rabbit hole" of when the jobs are made "servicesInch or outdoors of Marvel. She noted that his freelance assessments contained a legend round the back watching that by marketing them, Marvel maintained the level of smoothness rights. "Regulations is apparent that whenever an individual encourages an inspection prone to an condition, he accepts that condition," Forrest written. She also mentioned the 1978 agreement "unquestionably conveyed whatever renewal rights he may have maintained, if any." Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Why the SAG Awards Need to Get Serious (Analysis)

Paramount Pictures has unveiled a new logo that pays tribute to the the studio's 100th anniversary. The new logo will be seen at the opening of Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, which opens on Dec. 16. The studio's logo, which depicts the Wasatch mountain range that stretches from the Utah-Idaho border, was created in 1916. The 100th anniversary logo was created by Devastudios Inc. The logo will be used throughout 2012 and the 100th anniversary wording will be dropped in 2013. Email: Daniel.Miller@THR.com Twitter: @DanielNMiller Related Topics Paramount Pictures

Charlie Sheen's 'Anger Management' Lands First International Deal With Canada's CTV

Casey Nicholaw, who co-directed The Book of Mormon as well as the stage version of Elf, is in talks to direct the Austin Powers musical being developed by Mike Myers and Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.our editor recommendsMike Myers Welcomes Baby BoyMike Myers Best Moments in Austin Powers (Video)Mike Myers Expected to Close 'Austin Powers 4' Deal Colin Callender, the former HBO Films president whose run included the acclaimed Band of Brothers and Angels in America, and partner Sonia Friedman are producing the musical, which will be set to the music of Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello. Myers will write the story, which will act as a prequel to the movies, though the NY Post reported that he will not star in the production. Sources tell THR that the musical will be set in 1960s London and detail how Powers first acquired his mighty mojo. PHOTOS: 'South Park's' Most Famous Spoofs The three Powers movies, released by New Line, spoofed the 1960s spy genre popularized by the James Bond series and featured a swinging spy transported to modern times. The movies had a "fake movie" self-awareness to them, sometimes playing up the fact that parts were taking place on soundstages. The movies also featured musical numbers and montages, and Myers is said to consider the movies to be musicals. He also is a fan of Bacharach's music (The Look of Love is Myers' father favorite song). Incidentally, it was first heard in the 1967 Bond satire Casino Royale and was nominated for the best song Oscar. PHOTOS: Tony Awards 2011 Myers also is developing a fourth installment of the Powers movies but that project hasn't yet reached the writing stage. Nicholaw has proven himself adept at wielding a comedic and musical touch. He shared a Tony with Trey Parker for directing Book of Mormon, which swept the Tonys earlier this year. He also did the choreography for the musical. Nicholaw also pulled double duty for the Elf production and choreographed Spamalot. Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com Twitter: @Borys_Kit PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Modern Film & Television Comedians Related Topics Mike Myers

Kino Lorber Acquires 'Putin's Kiss' Documentary

Replacing Elizabeth Shue with Jonah Hill can't be anyone's idea of an upgrade, but the former's spunky Adventures in Babysitting innocence would be a couple of notches too nice for The Sitter, David Gordon Green's attempt to infuse the 1987 film's setup with the grit and strangeness of other up-all-nighters by Scorsese and Demme. The fusion works far better than Green's sword-and-sandal-and-stoners dud Your Highness, but is unlikely to connect with audiences like his previous '80s riff Pineapple Express.our editor recommendsSeducing Charlie Barker: Film ReviewSherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: Film Review Hill plays loser Noah Griffith, who facilitates a rare night out for his divorced mom by babysitting her friend's three children -- any one of whom would be more than he can handle. A coddled neurotic, a wannabe celebutante, and a Salvadoran foster kid who loves blowing things up, the three adolescent nightmares hint at how broadly screenwriters Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka will draw characters throughout the film, particularly when it comes to African-Americans. Hill's character may be less thin than the rest, but little effort is put into convincing us he'd make the series of dumb decisions The Sitter requires in order to keep him running through Manhattan and Brooklyn in the wee hours. A transparently dishonest phone call from Marisa (Ari Graynor) is all it takes to make Noah pack the kids into a stolen minivan and go in search of the cocaine he thinks will convince Marisa to have sex with him. (Where, we wonder, are the siblings supposed to wait during this couple's tender moment?) Before the night's out, he'll be responsible for two stolen cars, a pocketful of diamonds, a few demolished bathrooms and enough wasted coke to turn a pool table snow white. In the midst of the familiar hijinks and confrontations that get between Noah and satisfaction, one is weird enough to remember: Sam Rockwell's "Karl with a K," a gregarious gangster who packs his drugs in dinosaur eggs and hires effeminate bodybuilders as enforcers, isn't really new territory for the actor, but Rockwell gets more than his share of the film's laughs hamming through it. Hill shows less snark and agitation than usual here, and the restraint serves him well during the one sequence -- Noah counseling a kid who doesn't yet know he's gay -- in which the movie actually cares more about believability than retro affectations. All things considered, though, the kids would be a lot better off with Elizabeth Shue. Opens: Friday, Dec. 9 (Twentieth Century Fox) Production Companies: Michael De Luca Productions, Twentieth Century Fox Cast: Jonah Hill, Max Records, Ari Graynor, J.B. Smoove, Sam Rockwell, Landry Bender, Kevin Hernandez, Kylie Bunbury, Erin Daniels, D.W. Moffett Director: David Gordon Green Screenwriters: Brian Gatewood, Alessandro Tanaka Producer: Michael De Luca Executive producers: Josh Bratman, Jonah Hill, Donald J. Lee Jr., Lisa Muskat Director of photography: Tim Orr Production designer: Richard A. Wright Music: Jeff McIlwain, David Wingo Costume designer: Leah Katznelson Editor: Craig Alpert Rated R, 81 minutes Ari Graynor Jonah Hill Sam Rockwell David Gordon Green The Sitter

Really? A New American Psycho? (And 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today)

Happy Friday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: The Dark Knight Rises prologue peeks out… Ice Cube recycles some new Friday sequel hype… Guy Ritchie may cry U.N.C.L.E.… Arguably the most inspired Harrison Ford casting rumor ever… and more. · Lionsgate has reportedly commissioned Noble Jones to write and potentially direct a new adaptation of American Psycho, the nightmarishly violent Bret Easton Ellis novel that Mary Harron and Christian Bale turned into one of the early ’00s most searing, memorable films. This would be the same Noble Jones who, as Deadline’s Mike Fleming reminds us, “who cut his teeth directing commercials, videos for Taylor Swift and Mary J. Blige” but also handled second-unit directing duties on The Social Network, so hey. But really? They just made this movie. And it was good! Sheesh. [Variety] · “Mr. Beaks Has Seen The First Six Minutes Of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!” That and other fanboy splooge has commenced rocketing over the Atlantic if you’re into that kind of thing. The Movieline team is checking it out early next week and will report back with our take then. [AICN] · So there’s good news and bad news about Ice Cube. Bad news first: His production team is said to be angling for a fourth installment of the Friday franchise. Good news: This is all reported by very respected trade-news arbiter TMZ, so there’s a very high probability that it’s nowhere close to happening. [TMZ] · Guy Ritchie could direct The Man From U.N.C.L.E. So could I! You never know. Anyway, Warner Bros. wants to stay in business with Ritchie after Sherlock Holmes, so… yeah. [Deadline] · I love love love love love love love the idea of Harrison Ford playing the great Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey in 42, the long-gestating biopic about Jackie Robinson. I want nothing more than to cutout a floating Rickey head for the Oscar Index. Please, Legendary Pictures, please don’t screw this up. [Deadline] · “It’s truly a buyer’s market in the world of Barbie real estate.” Regardless of your feelings about the famous doll, this read will fascinate you. [The Awl]

Expecting

A Banco Estado presentation from the Ondamax Films, Mirera Escondida, Lastarria 90 and Zona Cinema production. Executive producers, Gaston Chedufau, Jose Andres Calderon. Co-producers, Felipe Braun, Juan Carlos Salfate. Directed, put together by Francisca Fuenzalida.With: Maria p la Garcia, Diego Ruiz, Claudia Hidalga, Maite Neira.A effective male lead together with an enthusiastic sense to take advantage from only one location help make "Expecting" more vital than general a view. But despite its talents, this scrappy teen abortion saga from Chilean author-director Francisca Fuenzalida provides extensive tips from the reluctant first feature, as well as the filmmaker's failure to tamp lower her characters' too-abrupt emotional changes turns what needs to be a pokey-writers into an frequently overheated melodrama. Appeal seems mostly limited to fests together with other low-key indie sanctuaries. Pic starts strong having its only outdoors scene, as sexy protag Natalia (Maria p la Garcia) buys a cache of pills in the pernicious nurse (Claudia Hidalga) in the park. Abortion remains illegal in Chile, and Natalia plans to employ a parentless evening in your house to furtively finish her first-trimester pregnancy. Boyfriend Diego (Diego Ruiz) seems to supply emotional support, as well as the two spend the comfort in the evening in your home, talking about should you undergo while using procedure, playing out their class versions and questioning their future together, until a medical emergency throws everything into chaos. "Expecting" is most effective if the stresses the quiet moments of creepingly indefinite terror because the two wait for pills to use. The naive youthful fanatics aren't entirely apparent by what they're participating in, so any minor discomforts or delays inside the pills' effect functions as tripwires of extreme anxiety -- a tense time-killing card-game scene is extremely well carried out, because regard. Yet as deftly since the film navigates these internalized sequences, the even even louder conflicts tend to be clumsily orchestrated, with a lot of storming from rooms, an ill-advised almost-sex scene plus an excessively spiky vacillation between tenderness and hostility making the central couple just a little difficult to believe. Garcia props up camera well, but frequently gives too telenovela-ant a contour to her character's rather rigid emotional arc. Ruiz can be a minor thought, however, effectively offerring a being applied sense of stress and helplessness submerged underneath his teenaged approximation of stiff-upper-lip maleness. Around the technical level, the film does well to use within its limited budget and positioning, remaining from claustrophobia or a sense of visual sameness despite happening almost entirely within the single dwelling.Camera (color), Pablo Letelier editor, Rodrigo Saquel music, Sebastian Jarpa production designer, Pamela Chamorro costume designer, Pamela Paredes appear, Jarpa connect producer, Alvaro Corvera casting, Pilar Zderich, Jimena Rivano. Examined at AFI Film Festival (Breakthrough Cinema), November. 7, 2011. Running time: 83 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Russell pics marked by raw passion

"People say, 'Oh, he's got bad taste,' or whatever," said composer Peter Maxwell Davies of helmer Ken Russell. "Well, of course he has -- thank God for that!"Indeed, a robust, unabashed vulgarity was essential to the charm of Russell's films. A Romantic in the original 19th-century sense of the word, Russell reveled in the depiction of lush, unbridled emotion, as extreme as it could go, crafting imagery that could be swooningly beautiful one moment and rankly repugnant the next -- often, in films like "The Devils" (1971), only a splice apart. He never, as the English say, did anything by half. If a reader -- say an educated one from Mars, but with some familiarity with culture here on Earth -- knew nothing about Russell, a cursory glance over his filmography would suggest a devotee of high art. His resume features plenty of literary adaptations (several D.H. Lawrence novels, including 1969's "Women in Love," 1989's "The Rainbow" and 1993's "Lady Chatterley" for TV, as well as Oscar Wilde's "Salome's Last Dance" and Bram Stoker's "The Lair of the White Worm," both in 1988), alongside period dramas about writers and performers (1977's "Valentino," 1986's "Gothic") and bio-pics about the classical composers he adored (1970's "The Music Lovers," 1974's "Mahler" and 1975's "Lisztomania"). Russell was also a learned aficionado of opera and classical dance (he aspired to be a ballet dancer in his youth), art forms that feature frequently in his films.However, the passionate, lusty way he tackled such material couldn't be more different from the dry, elegantly restrained style that's come to characterize British period drama and literary adaptations. Well into his dotage, when he started making ultra-low-budget pics literally in his own back garden, Russell remained an enfant terrible of the film world; he even looked a bit like an overblown, florid baby in his later years, with his twinkling blue eyes and colorfully garbed, rotund form. As strange as it might seem to say of a helmer who in "The Devils" filmed a scene of frenzied, naked nuns pleasuring themselves on a full-size effigy of Christ on the cross, there was an essential innocence about his work, a reverence for nature and a rapturous devotion to life's most primal pleasures: sparkly textures, soaring music, beautiful naked women, among many other things.Although born in 1927 and technically too old to qualify as a baby boomer, and politically a conservative according to some reports, Russell hit his artistic stride in the Swinging '60s, and the counterculture sensibility of those times haunted his work. Sure, "Women in Love" is set immediately after WWI ended in 1918, but every frame of it feels embedded in 1969, from the blithe, quasi-hipster way the characters talk to the let-it-all-hang-out exuberance of the famous naked wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed (Russell's male muse), which pushed the boundaries of censorship at the time.He pushed them perhaps too far for some with "The Devils," which shed scenes of sexual explicitness and extreme violence at the behest of first Warner Bros., then of the British censors -- the way an Afghan hound loses hair in summer -- before its release. And yet, it is in some ways Russell's masterpiece, ravishing in every sense, thanks to the outstanding perfs Russell coaxed from thesps Reed, Vanessa Redgrave and Dudley Sutton; the exquisite, starkly monochromatic production design by young Derek Jarman; and elaborate costumes by Shirley Russell, the helmer's first wife, who collaborated closely with him on some his best-known films including "Women in Love," "The Boy Friend" (1971), "Tommy" (one of his rare dalliances with pop music) and "Lisztomania."If his work from the late 1960s and '70s will stand as Russell's best, there was still energy, visual flair and a very English eccentricity to admire in those that followed, even those he shot Stateside such as "Altered States" (1980) or "Crimes of Passion" (1984), or those that were critically reviled at the time, like "Gothic." But then, Russell never much cared what critics thought, and has the distinction of being one of the few directors caught on camera bashing a film critic (Alexander Walker) over the head with a copy of the critic's own review. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com