SAG re-elects Ken Howard as president

HowardKen Howard has won a second two-year term as president of the Screen Actors Guild after spending the past two years pushing for a merger beteween SAG and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.Howard defeated a trio of relative unknowns for the presidency -- David Hillberg, Asmar Muhammad and Sharon Rubin. Official results were expected to be announced by Thursday evening.Howard's running mate, secretrary-treasurer Amy Aquino, won re-election without opposition as the heads of the Unite for Strength faction.Howard won the 2009 election with 47% of the vote over Anne-Marie Johnson with 33% and Seymour Cassel with 18% while Aquino narrowly beat incumbent Connie Stevens. Unite for Strength candidates, who have stressed merger and pragmatism, have dominated in recent elections over the self-styled progressives of Membership First.UFS won 10 of the 11 national board seats except for the seat held Scott Bakula. The faction all won all but two of the 22 Hollywood/National Alternate seats, which were won by Valerie Harper and Esai Morales.Unite for Strength spokesman Ned Vaughn said, "If you're in tune with what members need and want, they will support your leadership - that's what happened today. The leaders who have been working hard to bring SAG and AFTRA together were overwhelmingly re-elected here in Hollywood and across the country. We're going to continue that vital work and by January, I believe we'll have a solid plan for the boards to review.The first two formal meetings between reps of the AFTRA and SAG have begun working out details of the merger plan as part of the official process of delivering a merger plan by next January.A member vote could take place by mid-year by the 120,000 members of SAG and the 70,000 members of AFTRA -- with 45,000 members belonging to both. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

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The Latest Addition to The Expendables 2 is... Liam Hemsworth?

Variety’s Showblitz reports that youngster Liam Hemsworth, who gets his biggest break since dating Miley Cyrus in next year’s The Hunger Games, has been cast in the sprawling ensemble of The Expendables 2. Wait, you say — isn’t he, like, four or five decades too young for this film? At 21, Hemsworth is quite a bit less wrinkly than his co-stars. Let’s start guessing now who he’ll play: Sly’s son? A flashback version of Jean-Claude Van Damme? Mickey Rourke’s bicep? [Variety]

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Toronto: ATO Pictures Plucks The Oranges

Toronto, CANADA (September 16, 2011) NY based ATO PICTURES happily introduced today it's acquired all U . s . States rights for the ORANGES, most likely probably the most buzzed about Toronto game game titles directed by Julian Farino making his feature film debut. Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester star. David and Paige Ostroff (Laurie and Keener) and Terry and Trina Walling (Platt and Janney) are close buddies and neighbors living on Orange Drive in suburban Nj. Their comfortable existence goes awry when prodigal daughter Nina Ostroff (Meester), lately separate along with her fianc Ethan (Mike Rosen), returns home for Thanksgiving carrying out a five-year absence. Rather than creating a desire to have Toby Walling (Brody), the effective boy of her neighbors which might please each family, its her parents’ nearest friend David who captures Ninas attention. When the link between Nina and David becomes indisputable, everyones existence is thrown into upheaval, particularly Vanessa Wallings (Shawkat), Nina’s childhood nearest friend. It's not extended just before the implications in the affair start to pay attention to everyone people in unforeseen and amusing ways, leading everyone to mirror on exactly what it method to be happy and the way sometimes what seems just like a tragedy, calculates being the primary one factor we would like most likely probably the most. ATO has slated a hostile platform release beginning in 2012. Produced by Olympus Pictures Leslie Urdang and Dean Vanech and Likely Storys Anthony Bregman, THE ORANGES was put together by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss. According to ATOs co-founders Johnathan Dorfman and Temple Fennell: We love to this film! Julian is doing a great job pointing an aspiration cast within our opinion will most likely be one of the finest crowd pleasers of 2012. Urdang and Bregman look at say, “ATO attacked THE ORANGES with immense passion, creativeness together with a readiness to commit significant assets for that release — basically, they found us with just what i had been trying to find once we introduced the film to Toronto. We are greatly searching toward coping with this strong and independent company.” Sarah Lash, ATOs Mind of Purchases talked about the sale with CAA who brokered it regarding Olympus, Likely Story and Jay Reiss.

Emmy not afraid to make bold choices

Hitchcock never won an Oscar. (No, honorary awards do not count.) The Grammys never thought enough of the Beatles to give the band record of the year.By that yardstick, Emmy voters can hold their heads reasonably high for the way they've recognized groundbreaking television over the years."All in the Family," "Cheers" and "30 Rock" won for top comedy series in their first year of eligibility, while over on the drama side, "Mad Men," "Lost" and "Hill Street Blues" won series Emmys for their freshman season. "Saturday Night Live" took top variety honors on its first try.In fact, the majority of television's most acclaimed shows took home plenty of Emmy gold in their heyday, some, admittedly, sooner than others."Groundbreaking shows are, by their nature, such departures that often they are overlooked initially," says three-time Emmy-winning producer Paul Junger Witt ("The Golden Girls," "Brian's Song"). "But the Television Academy has always been good at playing catch-up. They inevitably recognize quality."In some cases, that recognition might be a bit muted compared to the amount of critical acclaim showered upon a series. "Seinfeld" won the Emmy for comedy series in 1993, but lost to the more traditionally minded sitcom "Frasier" over the following five years. Larry David's post-"Seinfeld" HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," has yet to win the top comedy award, losing to network shows such as "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The Office" and "30 Rock.""The Sopranos," one of the most influential dramas in modern television history for the way it ushered in a wave of complex, dark-themed shows, won top honors just twice in its six seasons, losing to "The West Wing" in its other four tries."Some people just couldn't get around the violence in that show," says screenwriter Richard Walter, a professor at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. "The brutality was too much. If you can't watch a show, you can't give it any recognition."Judging from the ratings, few people watched another HBO drama, "The Wire." Because David Simon's critically acclaimed series aired on the same network as "The Sopranos" during roughly the same time period, advocates enjoy debating the merits of each. Yet "The Wire" scored just two Emmy nominations -- both for writing -- during its five-year run."That's just criminal," says Josef Adalian, West Coast editor for NY magazine's Vulture.com and a former Variety staffer. "It was a dense, dark show that probably didn't play out as well if you just watch an episode by itself via a screener. You'd like to think all Emmy voters were passionate TV fans who watched everything good, but people have lives."Historically, there's also been a certain prejudice against the fantasy genre. Emmy voters ignored critical and fan favorites such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Battlestar Galactica," though this year's nomination of HBO's medieval fantasy series "Game of Thrones" for best drama may indicate a shift in that line of thinking."As television has become more daring, voters have, too," Witt says. "I think any self-imposed limitations have gone by the wayside. It's an exciting time for creativity."Related Links: The 25 shows that changed television Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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Samsara

A Magidson Films presentation. Created by Mark Magidson. Directed by Ron Fricke. Written, edited by Fricke, Mark Magidson.Getting obtained popular with "Baraka," which permitted its specific New-Age crowd to globe-trot from cozy theater seats, director Ron Fricke and the team revisit very similar worldwide turf 19 years later with "Samsara," an identical kind of dialogue-free picture-postcard. The Sanskrit-language title, which means "cyclic existence," does not quite affect in addition a sizable-scale travelogue, lensed in 65mm and forecasted in 4K HD (a Toronto fest first). Attractive but basically empty fundamentally, "Samsara" should match "Baraka's" B.O. panoramas. Fricke and the producer/co-editor/co-author Mark Magidson venture to 26 nations, Fricke shooting by having an eye for beautiful sights (for example Yosemite, Angola's Epupa Falls, the Himalayas), a couple of tourist points of interest (for example Petra), several close-up stationary portraits of individuals across a variety of cultures (from the gun-carrying Anglo family to African tribal people), in addition to key religious centers from Tibet and Mecca to Jerusalem's Wailing Wall and European cathedrals. The editing plan conveys no particular meaning, because the film changes from volcanoes to Tibetan monks creating mandalas to Egyptian pharaoh items to numerous ancient pay outs as far flung as Poultry and also the U.S. Southwest to Medieval cathedrals and, voila, Versailles. That's are just some of the outlet section, and although you could achieve for connective threads as "Samsara" proceeds, any thematic designs appear obscure at best, with what a lot more carefully parallels the result of paging via a gigantic fine-arts coffee table book. Despite certain moments when Fricke's camera captures contemporary configurations laden with political meaning, like the wall dividing Israel and also the Palestinian Areas, the overwhelming sense -- as with "Baraka" -- is of the eye-popping bigscreen spectacle. This sense is urged with a enchanting score by Michael Stearns, Lisa Gerrard and Marcello p Francisci, with substantially strong additional choices from Keith Jarrett's organ album, "Hymns/Spheres" (utilized in William Friedkin's "Wizard") and cues by Steve Tibbetts. The main interest here's Fricke's technical achievement like a roving cinematographer who appears to understand no physical limits within the spaces and places he photographs, one of the most resonant being massive high-position lengthy-shots of Mecca throughout Hajj when 1000's of pilgrims generate and pray in the holy site. One of the humans shot, standouts range from the 1,000 Hands Goddess ballroom dancers from China for sheer expressiveness and startling beauty, and artist Olivier P Sagazan's wild act with clay, grime and fresh paint for grotesquerie. The 2 have little related to one another aside from their inclusion inside a general file entitled "Eye Chocolate." Seem in Dolby Surround 7.1 and 4K image (mastered from electronically oversampled 8K hi-res from the original 65mm-lensed film image) present the pic in the optimal condition, though 70mm fans might clamor for any celluloid projection.Camera (color, 65mm-to-HD), Fricke music, Michael Stearns, Lisa Gerrard, Marcello p Francisci seem (Datasat/Dolby Surround 7.1), Kaspar Hugentobler seem designers, Stearns, Miguel Rivera supervisory seem editor, Rivera re-recording mixer, Matthew Iadarola line producer, Myles Connolly connect producer, John Chandler Earle. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (Real to Reel), Sept. 11, 2011. No MPAA Rating. Running time: 102 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Newspapers' 9/11 Sunday Edition's Math Math Comic Strips Recognition Tenth Anniversary

our editor recommendsSeptember 11 News Coverage Collected in Internet ArchiveHollywood Tales: Stan LeeRelated Subjects𔅝/11 There's little to laugh about on September 11, but this year the tenth anniversary in the terrorist attacks tomorrow happened to fall about the Sunday-when newspaper site visitors switch for his or her beloved funny pages. And this Sunday, nearly 100 cartoonists, for instance Stan Lee and individuals behind Acne, Family Circus, Marvin, Hi and Lois, and Blondie, have became a member of to dedicate their Sunday math math comic strips to think about the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives duringthe September 11thterrorist attacks ten years ago. In the event you didn't obtain the local New You'll be able to Occasions, LA Occasions, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News on Sunday, all of the digital cartoons are actually come up with on a single site for viewing, cartoonistsremember911.com. The comics can also be featured inside the Newseum in Washington, D.C., The Toonseum in Pittsburgh, The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco Bay Area, The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New You'll be able to City as well as the Society of Illustrators in New You'll be able to City. A couple of from the 93 cartoonists spoke in regards to the significance your entire day located in their math math comic strips. "One factor many of us parents remember might be the overwhelming need to hug and safeguard our kids within the finish of the day. It returnsa type of muscle memorywhenever we remember September eleventh," mentioned Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, cartoonists for your Acne comic strip. "Forgiveness does not increase the risk for horrible wrong disappear,Inch Agnes cartoonist Tony Cochran mentioned. "It frees us to deal with wrongs of now and prevent wrongs afterwards.Inch "Cartoonists are visual people," Marvin cartoonist Tom Remedy written prefacing his 9/11 comic. "Despite 10 years, numerous my most effective recollections of the tragic day in September will be the jarring pictures around the world Trade Center's Twin Towers progressively failing lower. To recognition all people who lost their endures 9-11, I made a decision to draw in an even more hopeful image, the one that shows the tower reconstructed...no less than inside the innocent mind of the people.Inch Related Subjects La Occasions The Wall Street Journal News Group Newspapers 9/11

From the Sky Down: Toronto Review

Revisiting a moment in the career of U2 that many early fans may remember unfondly, From the Sky Down both makes the case for Achtung Baby as a "pivot point" that kept the group from disintegrating and allows viewers to hear some of its much-played singles with fresh ears. Though less obviously cinema-worthy than director Davis Guggenheim's recent "big issue" docs, the film arguably musters enough appeal to justify theatrical release. It certainly holds the interest of viewers who have cared much about any phase in the band's long life.our editor recommendsToronto 2011: U2's Bono in Spotlight on Opening NightShowtime Acquires U2 Documentary 'From the Sky Down'Related Topics•Toronto International Fil... PHOTOS: 13 Films to Know at the Toronto Film Festival Pegged to U2's 2011 Glastonbury performance, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby, the doc follows them down memory lane to Berlin's Hansa Studios, where they intend to "rethink" the albums songs before Glastonbury while taking time out for interviews with Guggenheim. The director meets elsewhere with the record's sonic masterminds Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Flood, and includes a welcome talk with photographer Anton Corbijn, whose importance to the band's persona rivals that of their producers. Working quickly through their formative years (and offering brief but amusing glimpses of early live shows), Sky arrives at The Joshua Tree and its reputation-hardening impact: U2's masterpiece was accompanied by stark desert photography, a roots-searching American tour, and a self-important tour doc (Rattle and Hum) that made them look insufferably earnest and pretentious to many music lovers. Guggenheim never really probes Bono's possible messiah complex (the singer's offstage political activities aren't mentioned here at all), but he does show how "shell-shocked" the group was by both the public's perception and their own failure to perform consistently in the stadiums they were suddenly able to fill. This burst of soul-searching humanizes the group, likely making onetime fans willing to entertain the rationale for some of the sillier provocations they undertook as a result. ("Let's get a big fuckin' chainsaw and cut down the Joshua Tree," Bono said at the time, before hatching an irony-soaked new popstar persona to counter his earnest image.) The film's account of the ensuing Achtung Baby sessions is interesting enough to hold non-obsessives' attention: The one scene that initially looks unforgivably navel-gazey, featuring a long DAT playback, turns out to capture the surprise birth of the hit "One" within a meandering improv for another tune. With its limited chronological focus balanced against insights into the group's dynamics, Sky is neither a comprehensive portrait nor one of those tossed-off featurettes that would be at home only as the filler for a commemorative Achtung Baby boxed set. But some of Guggenheim's efforts to make it more movie-ish -- like his use of now-obligatory animated sequences, which really don't jibe with the band's visual style -- do little to enhance the material, finally giving the impression of a filmmaker who can tell this story competently but isn't quite up to making a lasting film about one of rock history's most successful bands. Venue: Toronto International Film Festival Production Company: 2011 Documentary Partners Director: Davis Guggenheim Producers: Ted Skillman, Belisa Balaban, Davis Guggenheim, Brian Celler Executive producer: Paul McGuinness Director of photography: Erich Roland Music: Michael Brook Editors: Jay Cassidy, Geraud Brisson Sales: Mercury Records/Universal Music Group/CAA No rating, 85 minutes Toronto International Film Festival International Davis Guggenheim U2 Larry Mullen Jr. Bono The Edge

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