R.I.P. Ben Gazzara

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 5:06pm PSTTags: Ben Gazzara

Ben Gazzara, the veteran actor of stage, movies and television, died of pancreatic cancer at Bellevue Hospital Center, his attorney Jay Julien told the New York Times. He was 81. The New York native studied at the Actors Studio and starred in numerous Broadway productions including Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof directed by Elia Kazan, though for the film version he lost out to Paul Newman. In the movies, he made a strong impression as the accused killer in Otto Preminger’s 1959 courtroom drama Anatomy Of A Murder. Of his extensive TV work, he’s perhaps best remembered for NBC’s 1965-68 Run For Your Life, in which he played a terminally ill man trying to squeeze the most out of his remaining time alive. He continued to work with numerous acclaimed film directors. His initial collaboration with John Cassavetes was on Husbands, which also starred Cassavetes and Peter Falk. Other films included the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, Spike Lee’s Summer Of Sam, David Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner, Todd Solondz’s Happiness, John Turturro’s Illuminata and John McTiernan’s 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair. Gazzara is survived by his third wife, the former Elke Stuckmann, and their daughters.

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Fox Picks Up Two Sony TV Comedy Pilots Produced By Peter Tolan & Jamie Tarses

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 4:51pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

Fox has handed two more comedy pilot orders, both cast-contingent.

Let It Go, written/executive produced by DJ Nash (Traffic Light) and executive produced by Peter Tolan, is an ensemble comedy about a married couple, his best friend, and her sister as they try to navigate, negotiate, and sometimes manipulate society’s unspoken rules. CAA-repped DJ Nash, currently co-executive producer on NBC’s Bent, is exec producing with Tolan and Tolan producing partner Michael Wimer. Sony TV is producing with Tolan’s Fedora banner.

Must Hire, from Sony TV and Jamie Tarses’ Fanfare, was written by Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne who executive produce with Tarses and Julia Franz. It centers on an uptight, young executive who hires his dad for an entry level position and is shocked to discover that his new hire is a disruptive office clown.

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Michael Angarano Cast As Lead In CBS’ Nick Stoller Comedy Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 4:39pm PSTTags: CBS, Michael Angarano, Nick Stoller
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Angarano (Haywire) has landed the lead in CBS’s single-camera comedy pilot from feature writer-director Nick Stoller (The Muppets). Stoller wrote and will direct the untitled project loosely based on his real-life experiences. It is a twentysomething ensemble comedy that centers on Jake (Angarano), a commitment phobic ad agency exec who, after breaking up with his girlfriend, realizes he has to continue working with her one cubicle away. Chernin Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV are producing. Angarano’s series credits include arcs on 24 and Will & Grace. 

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‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Creator Kurt Sutter Inks Overall Deal, Show Renewed For 6th Season

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 4:09pm PSTTags: FX, Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy
Nellie Andreeva

Sons Of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter has signed his first overall deal: a three-year pact with FX Prods and 20th Century Fox TV, whose division Fox21 co-produces SOA with FX Prods. The deal will keep Sutter at the helm of FX’s flagship drama series and allow him to develop for both cable and  broadcast. With him on board, FX has added a year to the show’s recent fifth-season pickup, bringing the series to 6 seasons. With Sutter locked in for three years, the expectation is that SOA will go to at least 7 seasons. The pact also includes a script commitment for Sutter at FX. News of the deal broke the way Sutter always does it, on Twitter. “Closed my deal for 3 more years on SOA. no headlines, no pushed schedule… thank you FX and 20th for your generosity,” he wrote on Sunday. He almost got his “no headlines” wish, with the tweet going unnoticed for days until finally spotted by reporters.

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Brad Ingelsby To Script ‘Raid’ Remake For Screen Gems

By MIKE FLEMING | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 3:59pm PSTTags: Brad Ingelsby, Screen Gems, The Raid
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Brad Ingelsby, the scribe who blazed on the scene with the script The Low Dweller and who recently sold the script Run All Night at Warner Bros, has been tapped by Screen Gems to write the script for The Raid. XYZ Films is producing the remake of the Gareth Evans-directed martial arts film that won the Midnight Madness Award at the recent Toronto Film Festival and was also a strong title at the Sundance Film Festival, with a new soundtrack from Mike Shionda of Linkin Park, with Joseph Trapanese. XYZ is run by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian.

The original is being released soon by Sony Pictures Classics. All of this was made possible when domestic distribution and remake rights were smartly collared by the Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group back at Cannes, a buy made on partial footage that also gave Sony the inside track on remake rights. The remake was placed at Screen Gems, and now SPC’s Tom Bernard and Michael Barker will release the original next spring. As for Evans, he’s going back to Jakarta to shoot a larger-scale film that incorporates the actors and storylines from The Raid. WME and Energy Entertainment’s Brooklyn Weaver rep Ingelsby. Just to remind you of what is in store from The Raid, here’s the trailer:

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HBO Developing Political Thriller Drama From ‘Training Day’ Writer David Ayer

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 3:34pm PSTTags: David Ayer, HBO, John Lesher
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: HBO is taking a look into the Los Angeles underworld with a new drama project from Training Day writer David Ayer and producer John Lesher. Ayer is set to write, direct and executive produce the untitled series project, now in development, which is described as a complex and provocative political thriller about U.S. Special Forces soldiers who take on new lives undercover inside the LA underworld, blurring the line between the war on terror and the war on drugs. Lesher is executive producing. This is the latest in a slew of series projects former Paramount Film Group president Lesher has set up at HBO, all with feature writers. This marks the TV debut for CAA-repped Ayer, whose feature credits also include The Fast And The Furious and S.W.A.T. He recently wrote, directed and produced the upcoming Exclusive Media Group-funded drama End Of Watch starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. And in November, he was hired to write the new version of Scarface for Universal Pictures.

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Fortissimo Acquires ‘Monsoon Shootout’, Mark Ruffalo & Scarlett Johansson Join ‘Can A Song Save Your Life?’: Berlin

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 3:32pm PSTTags: Can A Song Save Your Life, Judd Apatow, Mark Ruffalo, Monsoon Shootout, Scarlett Johansson

IM Global Brings Katherine Heigl Film ‘The Happytime Murders’: Berlin

Just ahead of next week’s European Film Market in Berlin, Fortissimo Films has come aboard thriller Monsoon Shootout, handling international rights outside India/South Asia, France and Germany. The film, executive produced by Senna director Asif Kapadia, is the feature debut of Amit Kumar, who picked up a couple of awards for his short The Bypass. Shootout follows a rookie cop who has to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on his first assignment. Three different scenarios are explored based on the decision he makes. Currently in post, the film will be ready for a spring/summer delivery. A UK/India production, Shootout is produced by Trevor Ingman of Yaffle Films and co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga, Martijn de Grunt, Arun Rangachari and Shahnaab Alam in association with Arte France. Kapadia and Lee Stone are executive producing. …

Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson are set to star in the romance movie Can A Song Save Your Life?, which John Carney (Once) is wrote and is directing. Judd Apatow is aboard as executive producer. Exclusive Media’s Tobin Armbrust will oversee production on the film, which will shoot in June. Exclusive is handling international sales and will unveil the film in Berlin. The plot centers on a woman (Johansson) who moves with her boyfriend to New York to pursue music careers. After he dumps her … Read More »

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‘One Shot’ Lawsuit Claims Producer Was Shut Out Of Tom Cruise Project

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 2:57pm PSTTags: Kevin Messick, One Shot, Paramount, Tom Cruise

One Shot LawsuitKevin Messick argues in the lawsuit filed today in L.A. Superior Court (read it here) that a 2005 oral joint venture agreement called for him and Don Granger and Gary Levinsohn’s Mutual Film Co to share credit and upfront compensation on Paramount’s One Shot. That’s the project the studio acquired in 2005 and now has Tom Cruise starring, with plans to turn it into a franchise. Messick, an executive at Gary Sanchez Productions, claims he spent five years developing and producing the adaptation of the Lee Child novel and says Granger and Levinsohn dragged their feet on formalizing their venture, eventually shutting him out of writers meetings. “I’m getting the message loud and clear that you have no intention of involving me [with the Picture],” Messick wrote the pair in a June 29, 2011 email. The next month, Paramount secured Cruise for the lead and greenlighted the picture.

According to the lawsuit, Granger and Levinsohn contend that their agreement with Messick was predicated on if the pair “received our deal,” Granger wrote Messick in another email. “We are not receiving our deal on the film.” Messick says such a deal was never a part of their agreement, and the original joint venture should be honored. He is suing for breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, promissory estoppel and unjust enrichment.

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Bobby Cannavale Joins HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’ As New Regular In Season 3

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 2:30pm PSTTags: Boardwalk Empire, Bobby Cannavale, HBO
Nellie Andreeva

A new man will be threatening Nucky Thompson’s reign on the upcoming third season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Bobby Cannavale has joined the cast of the mob drama as a series regular. He will play Gyp Rosetti, a charming but ruthless gangster who challenges Nucky (Steve Buscemi). The cast of Boardwalk Empire, created by Terence Winter and executive produced by Winter, Martin Scorsese, Tim Van Patten, Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, is a regular short following the demise of Michael Pitt’s character in the second season finale. The series repeated as a double SAG Award winner this past weekend in the best drama ensemble and best actor (Buscemi) categories. Read More »

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R.I.P. Zalman King

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 2:22pm PSTTags: 9 1/2 Weeks, Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid, Zalman King

The director of the erotically charged films Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid and Red Shoe Diaries and producer/co-writer of Adrian Lyne’s cult hit 9½ Weeks died today at his home in Santa Monica after a long battle with cancer, a family member confirmed to Deadline. He was 70. King, dubbed “the high priest of erotic filmmaking,” has dozens of film and TV producer, director and writer credits and often collaborated with his wife, writer-producer Patricia Louisianna Knop. They co-penned 9½ Weeks, the 1986 film that starred Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger as a pair of strangers who begin a relationship based solely on sex and was notably hot and heavy for its time. The MGM title grossed $6.7 million. King and his wife also co-wrote 1989′s Wild Orchid, starring Rourke and Jacquline Bisset, as well as many episodes of Red Shoe Diaries, the Showtime series that spawned a 1992 TV movie and numerous direct-to-video titles.

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Will Studios Waste Money On Their Super Bowl Ads?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 2:02pm PSTTags: Super Bowl, Super Bowl ads, Super Bowl XLV Advertising

It sure looks that way to Kantar Media’s SVP for Research Jon Swallen, who tracks the Super Bowl ad business closely. While other sponsors use the year’s most-watched TV event to showcase their funniest, most interesting, or most touching work, “nobody remembers (movie) commercials,” he says. “That’s because they run the same ads that they run all the time. In the Super Bowl it pales in comparison (to everything else) yet they pay the same money.” Last year no movie ad ranked among the 10 most watched, and re-watched, Super Bowl spots among TiVo owners, the DVR company reported. And the competition probably will be even tougher than usual in this Sunday’s game on NBC between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Swallen says we should see an increase in ads that will run a full minute or more. Madison Ave was impressed by the buzz Chrysler generated last year with its two-minute ode to Detroit featuring Eminem. Last year there were 10 ads lasting at least a minute, and they accounted for about 16% of all the spots, Kantar says. Read More »

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IMAX Sets Feb. 10 Release For ‘Journey 2′

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 2:00pm PSTTags: Dwayne Johnson, IMAX, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Warner Bros Pictures

Los Angeles, CA – Feb. 3, 2011 – IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX) and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that the 3D family adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, starring Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzmán and Kristin Davis, will be released in the immersive IMAX® 3D format on Friday, February 10. The New Line Cinema film will open in 282 IMAX® theatres domestically, simultaneous with the film’s North American wide release. It will also open on 166 IMAX® theatres internationally, 143 of which will open as of Friday, February 10th, with the additional runs debuting over the following weeks. Additional playdates will be added as pending bookings are confirmed.

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NBC To Order Josh Gad-Jason Winer Comedy Pilot With Gad Starring; Actor Also Poised To Topline MGM Feature ‘The Game’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 1:53pm PSTTags: 1600 Penn, Jason Winer, Josh Gad, NBC
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that NBC is about to hand out a late pilot order to 1600 Penn, a White House family comedy from Book Of Mormon star Josh Gad, Modern Family director Jason Winer and former speechwriter to President Barack Obama Jon Lovett. The order comes after Gad, originally only attached as co-writer and executive producer, also has agreed to also star in the project, produced by 20th Century Fox TV where Winer is under an overall deal. Additionally, Gad is in negotiations to play the lead opposite James Franco in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s feature The Game at MGM produced by the Weitz Brothers. The movie is based by the book by Neil Strauss chronicling his efforts to become a pick-up artist. Gad will play Strauss, a Rolling Stone journalist who is a great writer but is not great at picking up women. He goes undercover and his life changes. Franco plays Strauss’ teacher.

1600 Penn, co-created by Gad, Winer and Lovett, is a dysfunctional family comedy where the out-of-control oldest son (Gad) returns home and becomes not only it’s biggest liability but also the glue holding everyone together. The twist is that this family resides in the White House. NBC nabbed the pitch in October with a put pilot commitment. The project was tracking well and many were surprised when it didn’t end up among the 13 half-hour pilots picked up at NBC. But conversations between the network and 20th TV continued, zeroing on the possibility for Gad to star. After several days of intense negotiations, Gad agreed to do it, clearing the way for a pilot green light. Read More »

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UPDATE: Ex-HFPA President Says Transcripts Of Key Meeting “Missing”

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 1:50pm PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Associations, Mirjana Van Blaricom

Freelance journalist Dominic Patten is covering the trial for Deadline.

UPDATE, 1:50 PM: Mirjana Van Blaricom testified that “something is missing” from transcripts of the pivotal HFPA membership meeting at which a disputed perpetuity amendment was presented by Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions. The HFPA’s president at the time insisted Friday afternoon on the stand that despite a lack of documentation, the organization’s members on September 22, 1993 had a half-hour discussion about the amendment and the longevity of the deal with DCP after DCP executives had left the presentation. ”We had discussions,” Van Blaricom testified in a heated exchange with HFPA lawyer Dan Petrocelli, that “as long as Dick Clark keeps us on NBC, he had rights to Golden Globes. Members knew exactly that was the deal.”

Von Blaricom left the HFPA in the mid-1990s amid questions about her leadership. Her testimony as a witness for DCP adds credence to the production company’s claim that it legitimately holds TV rights to the Globes telecast as long as it is televised on NBC.

Earlier testimony from HFPA managing director Chantal Dinnage revealed a chaotic paper trail at the association, with missing transcripts, erased recordings and omitted minutes throughout the decades. DCP lawyer Marty Katz, when questioning Van Blaricom today, noted omissions from other HFPA meetings as additional examples. Van Blaricom has concluded her testimony. The trial will continue Tuesday and is expected to wrap up late next week.

PREVIOUS, 11:30 AM: The former Hollywood Foreign … Read More »

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Fox Tweaks Tuesday Comedy Block Lineup

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 1:35pm PSTTags: Breaking In, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, New Girl, Raising Hope
Nellie Andreeva

Breaking In is getting a time slot upgrade. After defying the odds to come back from cancellation, the comedy starring Christian Slater and new co-lead Megan Mullally has been assigned the post-New Girl Tuesday 9:30 PM slot. When Fox originally announced its midseason schedule in December, the all-comedy Tuesday block was supposed to feature a New Girl repeat at 8 PM, followed by Breaking In, New Girl and Raising Hope. Now the all-original lineup will open with Raising Hope at 8 PM going against ABC’s Last Man Standing, followed by I Hate My Teenage Daughter, New Girl and Breaking In. I Hate My Teenage Daughter was originally supposed to return in the spring airing behind the American Idol performance show. It is unclear what Fox will put in the slot now. The premiere date for Fox’s Tuesday comedy block, which will air while Glee is on hiatus, remains the same — March 6.

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Branko Lustig And Daniela Cretu Launch First Born Films With Drug Queenpin Biopic

By MIKE FLEMING | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 1:03pm PSTTags: Branko Lustig, Daniela Cretu, First Born Films, Griselda Blanco
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Branko Lustig and Daniela Cretu have launched a new film production company. First Born Films gets off the ground with The Godmother, the true story of Griselda Blanco, who is also known as “The Godmother of Cocaine” and “Black Widow,” who became the first and only woman in history to head a major Colombian drug network. Lustig and Cretu have made a life rights deal with Blanco and her family, and also her youngest son Michael Corleone (named from The Godfather character) for a film that chronicles the rise and fall of the woman who became the wealthiest, deadliest, most notorious and most wanted drug lord in the world. Her exploits were chronicled in the documentary Cocaine Cowboys 2.

Frank Baldwin is writing the script, and Goodfellas author Nicholas Pileggi will produce with Lustig and Cretu. They are aiming for a fall start and are currently scouting shooting locations and will be traveling to Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Miami, Florida this month to evaluate shooting options.

Lustig has won two Best Picture Oscars, for Gladiator and Schindler’s List. As for Blanco, she came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, fueling the Miami drug wars to bolster her position as the only woman to ever make it to the top echelon of drug cartel society. Blanco grossed millions of dollars a month amidst fierce competition as cocaine replaced … Read More »

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Selma Blair To Star Opposite Charlie Sheen In FX Comedy Series ‘Anger Management’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 12:55pm PSTTags: Anger Management, Charlie Sheen, Selma Blair
Nellie Andreeva

Selma Blair is set as the female lead opposite Charlie Sheen in his new comedy series Anger Management. On the Lionsgate TV-produced series, which has an initial 10-episode order from FX, Sheen portrays Charlie, a former baseball player with anger issues who winds up as an unconventional anger management therapist. Blair will play Charlie’s own therapist, envisioned as a love interest for him. Shawnee Smith was cast last week as Charlie’s ex-wife. In interviews at NATPE last week, Sheen raved about the possibility of working with Blair, who was among the actresses invited to test for the two roles and one of two finalists for the role. Production is slated to begin in mid-March. Under the model employed by Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, if the 10-episode run of Anger Management hits a ratings target, that will trigger a 90-episode order by FX, which would be produced on an accelerated schedule over the next two years. Blair is with Gersh.

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FIRST BOX OFFICE: ‘The Woman In Black’ And ‘Chronicle’ Tied For #1; ‘Big Miracle’ #3

By NIKKI FINKE | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 12:53pm PSTTags: Big Miracle, Chronicle, Hollywood box office, The Woman in Black

FRIDAY 12:30 PM: And we’re off and running on Super Bowl weekend which for some studios was all about counterprogramming. Both newcomers CBS Films’ The Woman In Black and Fox’s Chronicle are looking tied for No. 1 at this early point with $5M-$7M for Friday and $13M-$15M for their opening weekend. Right now Woman In Black has hung onto a slight lead longer than originally expected, including evening pre-sales. Both pics are low-cost/high-reward bonanzas for their studios, especially because marketing budgets were kept to a bare minimum. Fox may win today but lose guys on Sunday, so CBS Films could overtake. With the weekend’s biggest budget debut, Universal’s Big Miracle is No. 3 looking like $1.5M-$2M for Friday and a $5.5M-$7M weekend. Stay tuned.

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Pete Berg’s ‘Battleship’ Attacks Super Bowl With 60-Second Spot

By MIKE FLEMING | Friday February 3, 2012 @ 12:31pm PSTTags: Battleship, Pete Berg, Super Bowl, Taylor Kitsch
Mike Fleming

If Peter Berg has his way, by Sunday night the New York Giants will be Super Bowl champions and there will be a lot more enthusiasm for Battleship, thanks to a 60-second spot that Berg and Universal will unleash during the first quarter. The first teaser got a “WTF” reaction as it introduced an alien component to a nautical theme culled from the venerable board game. Berg tells me that the the new long spot will introduce “more effects, more story and a bit more humor. Universal has spent generously for this, to show our aim to deliver major summer entertainment. The scope of the film will be apparent in the Super Bowl spot.” Berg’s influence is all over the commercial, including his convincing Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello to come up with the music for a spot which the studio won’t debut until game time.

Berg, who’ll be at the game, actually helmed two other TV spots that will be shown during the big game: He directed one for the returning NBC show The Voice, and another for the NFL which shows what the league is doing to improve awareness in trying to prevent head and neck injuries suffered on the field. Read More »

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