BBC Worldwide France busy with sales

PetkovicPARIS -- BBC Worldwide France, the Paris-based sales and distribution branch from the British pubcaster, has inked a flurry of deals across its slate. French pay TV giant Canal Plus has acquired the very first two seasons of dark-edged drama "Luther" and serial "Mad Dogs." A mental thriller, "Luther" stars Idris Elba like a cop who looks into crime while fighting their own devils. The show continues to be reupped for any third season by BBC1 and airs on BBC America. "With 'Luther,' BBC is trembling in the codes of British crime drama since it centers on one character who's highly charming, heroic but additionally very ambivalent," stated Sandra Petkovic, mind of distribution and purchasers at BBC Worldwide France. "It isn't an average cop show." "Mad Dogs," which bowed in Feb on paybox Sky One, is really a four-part, black comedy-thriller activating five old buddies who reunite for any vacation in The country that becomes a nightmare. Gallic pay TV giant Canal Plus also pre-bought the 2nd number of "Mad Dogs," set to become shipped at the begining of 2012, based on Petkovic. BBC Worldwide France offered the 2nd number of "Wallander," which toplines Kenneth Branagh like a Swedish detective, to Arte using the Franco-German internet in foretells pre-purchase the third series. Arte lately acquired BBC's serial "Occupation," the 3-parter set from the backdrop from the Iraq war. Composed by Peter Bowker, the small-series focuses on three British soldiers who struggle to adjust to existence in your own home after taking part within the invasion of Basra in 2003 and therefore are attracted to Iraq for various reasons. Arte will broadcast "Occupation" on Friday. Meanwhile, pubcaster channels France 4 and France 2 have grabbed in the second season of "Sherlock" following the first season came solid rankings. A modern day undertake Conan Doyle's figures, the BBC crime series follows the adventures of detective A Virtual Detective and Dr. Watson in modern-day London. France 2 also acquired John Downer's wildlife special "Lions: Spy within the Living room." Read by David Attenborough, the docu follows cubs becoming an adult into adult lions. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Bruno back as TWC marketing prexy

Former Weinstein Company VP Stephen Bruno has reunited with the company, joining TWC as president of marketing, effective immediately. Bruno will oversee marketing campaigns for all theatrical titles, reporting to intl. distribution prexy David Glasser and topper Harvey Weinstein. Bruno joins EVP of marketing operations and TV sales Francois Martin, EVP of creative advertising Jeff Elefterion and VP of marketing Bladimiar Norman. New exec most recently worked as director of consumer marketing at HBO, his first job after serving as VP of marketing for TWC. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

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CBS Buys The new sony TV Drama Projects From Amazing Spider-Guy Producer Matt Tolmach & Spider-Guy Director Mike Raimi

EXCLUSIVE: In the first foray into TV, former Columbia Pictures chief-switched-producer Matt Tolmach, who produces the approaching Spider-Guy reboot with Avi Arad, has offered a lady-driven drama project to CBS with author Jessica Goldberg (Refuge). Furthermore, CBS has purchased a drama project having a female lead in the director from the previous 3 Spider-Guy movies, Mike Raimi, that is being compiled by Sarah Thorp (Hawthorne, The Fugitive Hunter). Both projects hail from The new sony Pictures TV where both Tolmach and Raimi are based through extensions for their The new sony pacts around the feature side. The Matt Tolmach/Jessica Goldberg project is entitled Sleepers and focuses on a lady that has the gift in order to save “sleepers,” those who are caught approximately existence and dying. Tolmach, who's executive creating with Goldberg, left his publish as co-leader of Columbia Pictures in October 2010 to produce a movie production company and undertake creating responsibilities for that approaching Amazing Spider-Guy movie. Being an executive, he shepherded the very first 3 films within the franchise. Goldberg, who composed the 2008 ABC pilot The Prince of Motor City, is repped by UTA, that also reps Tolmach in television, and manager Dallas Sonnier. Shepherding Sleepers with Tolmach is his development executive Robert Kessel. The Mike Raimi/Sarah Thorp project is all about a lady FBI agent who's placed undercover inside a St. Louis homicide unit to resolve killings while looking into her very own precinct for corruption. Thorp, repped by CAA and Madhouse, is executive creating with CAA-repped Raimi, his creating partner Josh Donen and Eric Roth. Raimi’s TV projects are now being overseen by former CBS co-mind of drama Robert Zotnowski. Using the 2 CBS projects, The new sony TV has offered 22 drama projects to date this year.

Copyright Curmudgeon Harlan Ellison Sues To Prevent Discharge Of New Regencys Over Time

If director Andrew Niccol and New Regency’s Justin Timberlakethriller Over Time is dependant on a pilfered idea,asis stated inside a copyright suitfiled yesterday in L.A. federal court, they might have selected on thewrong guy. In the wrong time. The suit was introduced by sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, who states the movie is simply too near to his 1965 novel “Repent, Harlequin! Stated the Ticktockman” and wantsits scheduled March. 28 release blocked. A copyright curmudgeon, Ellison includes a history of filing high-profile copyright cases. Hereceived an acknowledgment credit after he prosecuted within the Terminator, declaring it took it's origin from two Outer Limits episodes her authored.And based on the suit, after many years of waiting,Ellison recentlyhad a 3rd party write an adaptationof it and was planning to approach thestudios by using it. Ellison’s suit alleges plot and character parallels, and heapparently isn’t the only person who sees commonalities. The writer notes in the suit that critic Richard Roeper in the Fall Movie Preview, states the film “is with different short story through the great Harlan Ellison.” Additionally to obstructing the film’s release, Ellison is seeking award for damages.

REVIEW: Ryan Gosling Is the Goslingest in Superb, '70s-Inflected Drive

Some actors are chameleons, shifting drastically from one color to another depending on the role. Ryan Gosling may not be one of them: There will always be a little Ryan Gosling, even just a mischievous glimmer, in any character the actor plays. But then, that’s part of what makes a movie star a movie star: It’s impossible to separate Cary Grant from his Cary Grantness, or to think of Bette Davis without seeing an enormous pair of eyes framed by mascara fringe. Though Gosling is still young, he’s at his Goslingest in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, playing a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman. Drive is a vibrant and meticulous piece of filmmaking, an homage to existential driving movies of the ’70s like Richard C. Sarafian’s Vanishing Point and Walter Hill’s The Driver. Refn — the Danish-born director who may be best known for his Pusher trilogy — understands the heart of his hero, a maestro who coaxes music from the gas pedal. The action sequences serve the conception of the character, not the other way around, an important distinction to be made in a time where there’s an undistinguished action movie being released almost every week. (The screenplay is by Hossein Amini, from James Sallis’s novel.) Drive has a pulse, a soul and a style — three elements that don’t always come together in contemporary entertainment — and they’re all channeled though the conduit known as Gosling. We know Gosling’s character only as Driver, a laconic man of action whose very name doubles as a job description. By day, he’s a movie stunt driver and car mechanic. By night he acts as a chauffeur for bandits and baddies, and his preternatural sense of calm behind the wheel — a toothpick perches delicately between his lips — is a little like Fred Astaire’s dancing: He makes it look like it’s nothing. Driver involves himself in his employers’ activities only tangentially and only for the amount of time it takes him to shuffle them from here to there. After that, they’re on their own — in the movie’s taut and exquisite opening sequence, he ends a tense chase by slipping off on foot into the night, an everyman being absorbed into an anonymous crowd as if he were a minnow rejoining his school. When he’s not driving, Driver has a crush on a neighbor in his apartment building, Irene (Carey Mulligan), a for-now single mom with a young son. Just as their romance starts to heat up — and after Driver has bonded with her kid, beginning with a captivating, exceedingly dry exchange that begins, “Wanna toothpick?” — Irene’s husband, Standard Guzman (Oscar Isaac) is sprung from jail. He may be free, but he’s not out of trouble. And when Standard’s thuggish pals threaten his family, Driver takes a job just to help him out, not realizing that the real danger at hand involves Albert Brooks’ two-bit crime boss and his overgrown, velour-sweatsuit-wearing sidekick, played by Ron Perlman. If you’re thinking Driver is the quintessential laid-back selfless hero, cool as cool can be in the Steve McQueen mode, the kind of guy you’ve seen hundreds of times in good movies and in bad ones — you’re right. In fact, if you’ve watched any movies made in the past 40 years, you’ll see and hear lots of familiar elements in Drive: The slightly grainy, low-lit look of ’70s cheapies (the DP is Newton Thomas Siegel); the new-wave neon-pink script used in the credit sequences; the at-first jarring but later sublimely perfect ’80s-style synth score. Refn doesn’t pretend to have invented any of this stuff. His movie is 90 percent unapologetic referencing, and he knows how to recombine familiar elements in a way that feels fresh and exciting. Refn has a knack for both violence and romance: The love scenes between Mulligan and Gosling are casual and sweetly unassuming. There’s lots of brutality in Drive, and while it isn’t always discreet, it’s not assaultive, either. (Refn isn’t a slavish Tarantino imitator, but it’s clear they share certain tastes in terms of references and tone.) And Gosling isn’t lost amid the movie’s violence, which sometimes happens to actors unaccustomed to playing action roles. Instead, the picture’s brutality seems to be a quivering compass arrow for him — he follows it to find the heart of his character, walking the line between being minimalist and mannered. Gosling’s Driver is all about sharp reflexes and meaningful eye contact, and he has a jazz musician’s ear for language — he knows everything sounds cooler when it’s just a hair behind the beat. Even the movie’s simple costuming is pure genius: Driver’s signature garment is a silver baseball jacket with an abstract scorpion stenciled on the back. Its very contrivance is part of its brilliance. Flashier than, say, McQueen’s (or Dean’s) Baracuta, it’s a garment that hisses “Look at me!” only to turn around and whisper, “Now you see me, now you don’t.” Drive could have been the best drive-in feature of 1975. As it is, it’s likely to be the best action movie of 2011. Refn hasn’t invented a new language; it’s just that he uses the vocabulary so well — he’s got the right tools and the right touch. The movie’s newness is, paradoxically, intertwined with an appreciation for the past. Drive is a picture retooled from vintage parts, proof that you can build them like they used to. [Portions of this review appeared earlier, in a different form, during Movieline’s coverage of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.]

Play It Cool

A Mary's Hideaway presentation of a musical in two acts with music by Phillip Swann, additional music by Jim Andron, Michael Cruz, Marilyn Harris, Emilio Palame, Larry Steelman; lyrics by Mark Winkler; book by Martin Casella and Larry Dean Harris, conceived by Harris. Direction by Sharon Rosen.Henry - Michael F. McGuirkbr/>Lena - Robyn HurderMary - Sally MayesWill - Michael BuchananEddie - Chris HochThere is a subset of Off Broadway musicals that feature five or so folks in a bar who sing of love and loss for a couple of hours before everyone goes home unhappy. The characters, that is, although the malaise all too frequently extends to the audience. The producers of "Play It Cool," at the Acorn, at least have an ace in the hole: Sally Mayes, who grabs our attention every time they give her a song about jazz, love, or the thrill of wearing men's suits, and thereby prevents the evening (and one suspects half the audience) from wisping away. Story centers on a Hollywood nightclub, Mary's Hideaway, hidden away without a sign outside the door. The actions starts with a 1940s-noir private detective wrapped in trenchcoat and stage fog, this despite the fact that the show is decidedly non-noirish and the time is 1953. This is a "funny" club, we are told, and not as in ha-ha funny. The private detective turns out not to be a private detective; he is a plainclothes cop, who comes into Mary's Hideaway to collect his $200 payola and then just sits there through several days of plotting. The cop extorting money from Mary (Mayes) is, get this, Mary's ex-brother-in-law -- they are fond of each other; she makes him a sandwich -- and despite having a loyal offstage wife turns out to have a secret of his own (although it ain't no secret to anyone following the story). Also on tap are a sexy gal singer, who is itching for a movie contract and calls Mary "mommy" (though not in the parent/child sense); a slimy MGM producer linked to the Arthur Freed unit; and a sweet young boy-singer just off the bus who is catnip to the older men. None of this matters so long as Mayes stands there and sings. Michael Buchanan, as the sweet young thing, turns out to have a fine voice himself; he even holds his own in his second act duets with Mayes. The rest of the cast simply performs the material, such as it is. Show, initiated at the Celebration Theater in Los Angeles and further developed at both the NY Musical Theater Festival and the National Alliance for Musical Theater festival, comes to the commercial Off Broadway stage with five actors, three musicians, and no less than nine credited authors. Lyricist Mark Winkler, the only sole-practitioner among the group, boasts in his program bio that he is the coauthor of "Naked Boys Singing." There are no naked boys here, although the boys kiss the boys and the girls kiss the girls and everybody sings.Choreography by Marc Kimelman. Music direction by David Libby. Set, Thomas A. Walsh; costumes, Therese Bruck; lighting, Deb Sullivan; sound, Carl Casella and Peter Fitzgerald; music supervisor and arranger, Joe Baker; production stage manager, Jane Pole. Opened Sept. 14, 2011, reviewed Sept. 11. Runs through Oct. 9. Running time: 2 HOURS. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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Zooey Deschanel Talks 'New Girl' Theme Song, She & Him Holiday Album (Video)

Zooey Deschanel will make her highly anticipated debut as a sitcom star when New Girl premieres on Fox this fall. The actress and singer not only flexes her comedic muscle on the new series, she also provides the vocals on the show's theme song, which she wrote.our editor recommends'New Girl' Adds Justin Long as Zooey Deschanel's Love Interest'New Girl': Lamorne Morris Replaces Damon Wayans Jr. in Fox ComedyZooey Deschanel on 'New Girl' Character: I'd Play Jess 'For Ever and Ever' PHOTOS: Fox's New Season TV Shows: 'Terra Nova,' 'The X Factor' and More "There were theme songs I had in mind as inspiration, like, I love the theme from Welcome Back, Kotter," Deschanel told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, Sept. 12. "John Sebastian wrote that, from The Lovin' Spoonful. I really love that sound, so I wanted something upbeat that really felt like a theme song." The Elizabeth Meriwether created show focuses around a young woman, named Jess, who moves in with three male roommates after discovering that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris co-star, along with Hannah Simone as Deschanel's best friend. PHOTOS: 18 Familiar Faces of Fall TV "The theme song from Mary Tyler Moore felt really upbeat and gets you ready for a show about someone who is taking on a new life," Deschanel continued. "So, that was basically my inspiration, Musically, I wanted something uplifting -- and then when we went in to produce it, we sort of thought we wanted to have a Lovin' Spoonful kind-of-feel production." Deschanel, who is married to Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard, is also one part of the indie pop duo, She & Him. Deschanel and M. Ward recently announced that they would be releasing a Christmas album titled A Very She & Him Christmas on Oct. 25. PHOTOS: Fall TV's 12 Most Anticipated Shows "It's all holiday classics and just we recorded it really quickly," the songstress explained. " [We] just sort of wanted it to feel intimate, like we were in your living room playing Christmas songs." Watch our complete interview with Deschanel below. Related Topics Zooey Deschanel FOX New Girl

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Stellan Skarsgrd talks David Fincher's Girl While Using Dragon Tattoo

Has Stellan Skarsgård visit just a little Sigmund Freud? It seems the Swedish actor includes a little the Austrian mental health specialist about him if the involves evaluating company company directors."Everybody has their unique techniques for working as well as the more gifted the organization company directors are, the higher you've always wondered what their childhood was like really," the Thor and Avengers star told Superhero Hype."David Fincher mentioned in my opinion once we met, 'This will not be fun, because I sometimes do 40 takes of each and every set-up'. Which I mentioned, 'It ought to be fun, which i do not mind doing 40 takes, so let's make 40 fun takes'."So could it happen to be fun?"I really loved it. He's very thorough, but it's no rectal factor," Skarsgård added. "You'll be able to do 40 takes that are 40 versions from the scene, that literally brings it to existence."That being mentioned, seems Fincher might be anyone to avoid for stars that like going out inside their trailer."He works solid, meaning you shoot constantly. You don't sit and wait which i love this,Inch Skarsgård added.

Diverse Web Series Develops Through Social Networking

WASHINGTON (AP) After growing fed up with watching stereotypes of individuals of color on screen, Issa Rae produced her very own vision of reality with "The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl."The Net-based show follows J, performed by Rae, and her incidents and achievements in work and love."The Net series came into being because I truly did not see anybody much like me on screen, nobody which i could connect with,Inch stated Rae, the show's producer, author and director. "There's are so many limited archetypes for black women particularly, and merely people of color generally, and it is frustrating to check out the screen and just have the ability to connect with people like Tina Fey or Amy Poehler, individuals who don't seem like me."Because the series first published online in Feb, the debut episode has received a lot more than 240,000 hits. Subsequent episodes have obtained a lot more than 100,000 hits and 1,000 viewer comments. Nearly 17,000 individuals are devoted towards the show's Facebook page. Rae stated she and co-producer Tracy Oliver are packaging "Awkward Black Girl" like a half-hour comedy to market to some cable network, but they are strongly considering keeping it on the internet to construct the crowd and keep more powerful connection with audiences."Social networking is exactly what made the show honestly," Rae stated. "Been with them not been for social networking, this show just wouldn't happen to be what it's today. I could not did this ten years ago."Susan Fales-Hill, who created and authored for that lengthy-running NBC sitcom "Another World," known as Rae's work fresh, incisive, and non-stereotypical."She's showing an informed, African-American lady leading a built-in existence along with a professional lady with buddies of numerous different ethnicities and skills, and merely attempting to make her way," Fales-Hill stated.She stated Rae's guerrilla method of TV making is brilliant as well as an inspiration to veterans in the market like her."Most of us emerged throughout a period when there is a studio system, more jobs and also you emerged with the ranks," Fales-Hill stated. "So for all of us, it is a culture shock. ... I've found it very liberating that they has produced her very own show. She's certainly making most of us consider the way you can perform things and just how a lot more aggressive you should be.InchRae, 26, born Jo-Issa Rae Diop, produced the idea for that show 2 yrs ago during a public theater fellowship in New You are able to. A La native, she did not know anybody in New You are able to, which provided many awkward encounters. After coming back towards the West Coast, Rae collected a couple of buddies to assist her begin shooting the series together with her own cameras in The month of january."I understood basically did not shoot it myself it had been not going to have completed,Inch stated Rae, who attended Stanford College and also the New You are able to Film Academy in La.Rae employed her friend Andrew Allan James to star like a, her annoying co-worker and admirer. The diverse cast now includes J's closest friend CeCe, an Indian-American, performed by Sujata Day, and her love interests Whitened J, performed by Lyman Manley, and Fred, an African-American, performed by Madison T. Shockley III."Diversity is essential towards the series simply because it is available during my existence," Rae stated. "In tangible existence, I actually do happen to possess a Bengali-American closest friend."Because the show's group of followers is continuing to grow, so has its own production. By episode four, Oliver, who plays J's co-worker and rival Nina, became a member of in like a producer and assisted pull together a complete crew for that show. The episodes increased from four minutes to12.After episode six, Rae and Oliver, former Stanford class mates, recognized they might no more manage to fund the series. Rae, on the temp salary, stated she could not cover the 12-hour-day shoots and production costs.The 2 had received a few emails from people offering to give towards the show, so that they made the decision to begin the official campaign for audiences to give with the online fundraiser platform Kickstarter.com. Through the finish of the first day, Rae stated the show had received $4,000."It had been just overwhelming," she stated. "We simply understood that people had something on our hands which people really supported our project which only agreed to be very touching."After in regards to a month, the show had a lot more than $56,000 from nearly 2,000 contributor.Since "Awkward Black Girl" released, Rae has signed with U . s . Talent Agency and three Arts Entertainment. She hopes her success will result in more possibilities for unprivileged to inform their tales."It transmits a note to mainstream media that people do not have to have these whitened men and women leads for everyone to connect with them," Rae stated. "It's kind of unfair to consider that, so Hopefully this show influences future casting choices just based off what we have been able to perform to date. "Copyright 2011 Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Al Pacinos Wilde Salome Defies Description

FIRST Released: September 4, 2011 11:35 AM EDT VENICE, Italia -- Not really Al Pacino is certain things to call Wilde Salome, his film making its world premiere in the Venice Film Festival. Pacino states its neither documentary, nor film. He calls it an infinitely more ambitious and complex gesture in cinema. The film is Pacinos study of Oscar Wildes once-banned play Salome, which informs the storyline of Herods obsession for his wifes daughter, concluding with Salomes vengeful interest in the mind of John the Baptist on the platter. The film is premiering from competition Sunday. It weaves together a documentary on Wildes existence, footage of the reading through from the play in La along with a film version from the play. Pacino is also to get an award for his contribution to contemporary cinema. Copyright 2011 by Connected Press. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.