Announcing Freeman as the Cinema Icon award winner, Managing Director Mitch Neuhauser stated: “As one of the most esteemed actors of our time, Morgan Freeman has portrayed some of the most memorable characters ever to appear on film. From Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, The Shawshank Redemption and Unforgiven to Million Dollar Baby, for which he won an Academy Award, and the recent Batman The Dark Knight Trilogy, Freeman’s presence exudes a dignity, charm and soul unmatched by any other actor. We could not be more honored and privileged to have him be our recipient of the ‘2013 Cinema Icon Award.’”
Freeman will next be seen onscreen in Oblivion with Tom Cruise. He also has a starring role in the 2013 films Now You See Me, coming to theaters on May 31st, and Last Vegas.
Poster for 'Planes' - Courtesy of Walt Disney PicturesFollowing the debut of the poster and the release of the voice cast roster comes a sneak peek at Disney’s Planes. It’s just a short clip featuring one scene from the animated comedy, but it sort of shows what we can expect from this Cars-inspired airplane movie.
Directed by Klay Hall, Planes will be flying into theaters on August 9, 2013. The voice cast is led by Dane Cook and includes Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Cedric the Entertainer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Carlos Alazraqui, Gabriel Iglesias, Sinbad, and Brent Musburger.
The Plot:
From above the world of Cars comes Disney’s Planes, an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar.
Poster for ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’
The first film based on Cassandra Clare’s bestselling The Mortal Instruments book series will open in theaters on August 23, 2013, and just days prior to its release the soundtrack album will hit stores. Republic Records and Constantin Film announced they’ll be releasing The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones soundtrack on August 20th.
The track list was not yet made available, however, Republic Records offered this description of what we can expect from The Mortal Instruments soundtrack:
“The album opens the doorway into the world of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and the music fuels the film’s mind-blowing fantasy. It’s the perfect aural gateway to the City of Bones for fans of the series and newcomers alike. The music serves an integral role in the film, adding even more emotion to key moments. Every element comes together for an unforgettable experience.”
The film version of Clare’s book stars Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Robert Sheehan, Lena Headey, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and was directed by Harald Zwart (the new The Karate Kid).
The Plot: Set in contemporary New York, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones follows Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary teenager as she discovers that she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons.
After the disappearance of her mother, Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternative New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.”
AMC has set a June 2, 2013 premiere date for season three of The Killing. Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman return to star in the series alongside new cast members Peter Sarsgaard, Elias Koteas, and Amy Seimetz.
Season three will kick off at 8pm ET/PT with a two-hour episode. According to the network, this new season will focus on a case that will be solved over a 10-episode story arc.
“We learned so much from the first two seasons of The Killing and are thrilled to be bringing it back with the elements that the fans loved,” stated Charlie Collier, president and general manager, AMC. “Veena’s captivating storytelling along with the performances of Joel and Mireille, and the rest of the exemplary cast, will remind audiences of what they loved about the series and provide a season of suspenseful television.”
President of Fox Television Studios David Madden said, “From the beginning, Veena Sud has invested The Killing with some of the richest characters on television, testing and sometimes trampling the traditions of the television procedural — and we’re indebted to AMC for the opportunity to present a third season. We’re particularly excited by the new moves of our returning leads, ‘Sarah’ and ‘Holder,’ brought to life so beautifully by Mireille and Joel, as well as the addition to our stellar cast of Peter Sarsgaard in his television series debut, the brilliant Elias Koteas and Amy Seimetz, and a cluster of newcomers whom we hope will dazzle the audience as this new season unfolds.”
The Plot of The Killing Season 3:
Season three begins one year after the close of the “Rosie Larsen” case (the focus of the series’ first two seasons) with Sarah Linden (Enos) no longer working as a detective. But when her ex-partner Stephen Holder’s (Kinnaman) search for a runaway girl leads him to discover a gruesome string of murders that connects to a previous murder investigation by Linden, she is drawn back into the life she thought she’d left behind.
Oscar-nominated editor Saar Klein is set to make his feature film directorial debut with Things People Do, a project he co-wrote with Joe Conway. The cast of Klein’s directorial debut will include Wes Bentley, Jason Isaacs, Vinessa Shaw, and Haley Bennett.
Doug Liman, Nicolas Gonda, Ryan Rettig, Michael Macs, Kurt Billick, and David Klein are on board as executive producers.
Filming will begin in New Mexico this week.
The Plot: In Things People Do, Bill Scanlin (Bentley) loses his job and, unable to tell his wife Susan (Shaw) for fear of losing his family, embarks on a life of crime. He befriends a detective, Frank McTiernan (Isaacs), who has chosen to uphold the law for a living but believes very little in its value. Ruby (Bennett), the first stranger to show him kindness, inspires Bill to commit a crime in her honor, and he starts to enjoy his newfound power. As Bill stays ahead of the law, he discovers that sometimes the only thing worse than getting caught is getting away with it.
Bill Skarsgard from Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove.” Credit: David Schulze for NetflixNetflix scored big ratings with House of Cards, their first attempt at an original TV series, and up next to test the theory that audiences don’t want to wait three or four months – or even longer – to watch every episode of a series is Hemlock Grove. Executive produced by Eli Roth and based on Brian McGreevy’s book, Hemlock Grove is a 13 episode murder mystery featuring an interesting assortment of characters, some of whom are supernatural.
In support of the show’s premiere of all 13 one-hour episodes on April 19, 2013, Netflix brought the show’s stars, producers, and writers to the 2013 WonderCon in Anaheim, CA to discuss the series. Among the cast members on hand to talk about the series were Bill Skarsgard (brother of Alexander, True Blood‘s sexiest vampire) and Penelope Mitchell. Skarsgard plays a troubled teenager named Roman Godfrey who has dedicated himself to finding out who’s committed the murders in his small town. Mitchell plays Letha Godfrey, a character described as “delicate and virtuous.” But nothing is as it seems in Hemlock Grove…
Bill Skarsgard and Penelope Mitchell Interview
When you read this first script, were you hooked immediately?
Bill Skarsgard: “Yes.”
What grabbed you?
Bill Skarsgard: “I got the script and my manager pitched it to me and was like, ‘You should read this pilot. It’s really cool. It’s about vampires and werewolves.’ I am like, ‘Oh….’ He said just read it, just give it a shot. You know, when you just hear that to me I was just like, ‘Oh no, we’ve seen this before. This has been done.’ But then I started reading it and I couldn’t stop reading it. I’m like, ‘What the hell is this? This is so strange, so appealing, and something so refreshing.’ I had no idea what I was reading. I was like, ‘What is this?’ This is so strange and mysterious and so appealing. When I finished reading it, I was just like, ‘I need to know more.’ There were so many questions that I had. I was super-hooked from the start, yeah. How about you?”
Penelope Mitchell: “Yeah, likewise, very much. Yeah, similarly I read it right at the end of pilot season where I felt like I had been reading the same porridge for the last few weeks. It is remarkably written, and I think obviously I am a massive genre nerd so I was like, ‘Yeah!’ The characters are so beautifully developed and I think the issues they’re going through are so universal and so delicate and nuanced and something that really spoke to me.
Similarly I was kind of like, ‘Oh man, the same kind of crap,’ but I think what I love about it is it kind of takes that paradigm that we’re so familiar with and subverts it completely in a way that you never expect so it’s double as shocking. As soon as I read it I was like, ‘This is just remarkable.’ There is nothing like it. It’s iconoclastic.”
By the 13th episode do we really get to know more about your character?
Penelope Mitchell: “Mine? Yeah, very much so, definitely by the 13th episode – as you do with all of them.”
Your biography says this is your first real starring role. Being from Australia, were you ever involved in Home and Away or any of those productions?
Penelope Mitchell: “No. I had a relatively unique trajectory, I guess. I was at university and at acting school and then I moved straight to America. I kind of had a couple of appearances in a few bits and pieces. But, no, I kind of just threw caution to the wind I guess. The Australian industry, tragically, there is just not a lot of work out there for us. Ultimately you have to make the jump over here and I figured I may as well just do it now. I was so lucky to find a piece of material that just spoke to me, and pretty much that was that.”
Were you hesitant at all about this new Netflix model of showing a TV show?
Bill Skarsgard: “No, quite the opposite. I was really intrigued by it. Brian [McGreevy] and Lee [Shipman], they were so eager on they really wanted to end up on Netflix. I think that they, as well as we, represent a younger generation that grew up with the internet and grew up with that way of streaming and watching whatever we want…”
Penelope Mitchell: “Instant gratification.”
Bill Skarsgard: “…whenever we want. Me, from growing up in Sweden, we obviously did not get the shows at the same time as you do over here and all of those things. So they kind of used the model that was so pre- the internet in a way. Because me growing up, I knew every airing date on every show that I wanted to watch, so we made sure to get it anyway using the magic of internet. And we got it because that was the only way for us to see it. Me and my friends we were as up-to-date on every cool cable show that was out here as people were over here.”
Penelope Mitchell: “That’s the reality of it now.”
Bill Skarsgard: “So growing up in my generation we always found a way to go around stuff that we could not get because the industry, they were using an old model. So for me Netflix is where the future is. That’s how we’re going to end up watching stuff. I am sure within the next five or 10 years we are not going to watch TV in the same way at all. I think everything is going to be on demand.” Penelope Mitchell from Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove.” Credit: David Schulze for Netflix
Penelope Mitchell: “I think that’s the reality of it. Maybe it’s tragic or maybe it’s revolutionary, but I think it is really inspiring to be a part of something that is embracing rather than chastising and just going, ‘All right, let’s just go gung-ho and make the most of it.’ That was really cool and having that life-force behind the show definitely contributed to the atmosphere.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Yes. It is daring, it’s edgy. and it’s something new. It’s super cool to be a part of it.”
We hear it gets really dark in the later episodes. Were there any storylines that sort of pushed you?
Bill Skarsgard: “Oh yes.”
Penelope Mitchell: “Yeah, nothing that we could … I mean without elucidating too much I think those things definitely go on and take avenues that you would not have necessarily thought of initially.”
Bill Skarsgard: “The shocker and the ending of this show is something no one is going to ever expect.”
Will there be a cliff-hanger? Netflix’s House of Cards had a cliff-hanger?
Bill Skarsgard: “I mean I don’t want to spoil too much but I am telling you, no one is going to expect where the show is going. It’s so unpredictable, and I think that is one of the qualities of it is that it is so unpredictable.”
What was your reaction to reading that final season one script?
Bill Skarsgard: “Obviously we knew about it because of the book. And also what has been so fortunate for us is that we have been hanging out so much with Brian and Lee so much in Toronto as well that we became really close with him; we knew where the show was going. But even though we knew kind of where it was going, because we got the scripts maybe a week prior to when we started shooting it – when we were shooting the 4th episode, we got the 5th and 6th script a week before we started shooting those – so every time we got the new scripts, it’s still unexpected and blowing my mind, even though I knew what was going to happen. It was so bizarre.”
Penelope Mitchell: “It was fun. Every script day, everyone would be at home [looking feverishly through the script].”
Bill Skarsgard: “Yeah. It was so funny, me and Landon [Liboiron]…the actors got the scripts a little bit later when the scripts were finalized.”
Penelope Mitchell: “Yes, hair and makeup would have them.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Yeah, some departments had them already and me and Landon, we would go in and steal them. Landon was like, ‘I got them! I got them!'”
Is this the genre that you would have watched before you got this?
Penelope Mitchell: “Oh yes.”
Do you have any favorite vampire movies or shows?
Penelope Mitchell: “We were just talking about this before, actually. We were talking about American Werewolf.”
Bill Skarsgard: “American Werewolf in London.”
Penelope Mitchell: “And in Paris as well.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Oh yes, that’s the newer one. [Laughing] I didn’t like that one.”
Penelope Mitchell: “Yes, very much – Interview with a Vampire. I really love the old-school Nosferatu, the old black and white one.”
You’re not going to mention True Blood?
Penelope Mitchell: “Oh yes, definitely.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Of course True Blood. I’ve seen every episode.”
Penelope Mitchell: [Laughing] “That old show.”
Was that a concern at all going in that your brother already stars on a show with vampires and werewolves?
Bill Skarsgard: “That’s why it’s unexpected. This show is nothing like it, no. It’s really funny because I hope that people expect True Blood when they start watching this show, because they are going to get shocked. There’s no Fangtasia. It’s something else. True Blood is doing its thing and we’re doing something completely different. I think that’s really important. I told you just hearing about the show, I’m like, ‘You do realize that my brother is playing a vampire in this major hit show?’ But this is something completely different. I know on paper people are like, ‘Oh wolves,’ like associating these two shows.”
Penelope Mitchell: “It’s so reductive.”
Bill Skarsgard: “When the show is out there, people are going to be like it’s two completely different shows.” Bill Skarsgard and Penelope Mitchell in a scene from Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove.” Credit: Sophie Giraud for Netflix Can you talk about the brand of vampires and werewolves and other supernatural creatures – if we meet them? Have we seen anything like them before?
Penelope Mitchell: “I think that in a sense in the classic kind of gothic form, they do obviously take root from the Romanian foundations of what vampire culture was based on. I think it’s a testament to the brilliant writing that they’ve taken so many liberties and created this other world.
One of the things to remember is that the show fundamentally is exploring the human psyche and the polarity that there are monsters in each of us. I think what is so beautiful and refreshing about the show is that it’s not just going after the shock in a gratuitous kind of spectacle element. It’s like how do these monsters reflect what is going on inside of us? I think that’s what makes it so organic and so heartbreaking as well. We all identify with it.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Yes, it is trying to answer all of the questions that you would have to a werewolf. It would be like, ‘Tell me a little bit about what’s going on. So you become a wolf? How is it growing up?'”
Penelope Mitchell: [Laughing] “It’s like Dr. Phil but with monsters.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Which makes it so much more interesting. Could you imagine becoming a werewolf every full moon?”
Penelope Mitchell: “It’s really painful. It’s uncomfortable, and you’re nude.”
Bill Skarsgard: “Yes. And also with the Upyrs that they’re calling the show, we are not calling them vampires at all…Upyr is an old term for vampire in Romanian. But it’s like every major society has had a mythology with blood-sucking demons or creatures, so we have this vampire myth that has been around as long as society’s existed. It’s always been there, and they are very different. Some are demons with wings, some just eat babies. [Laughing] It’s really happy stuff. But they all have this different mythology of it. Now what we’ve seen is the pop culture vampire is nothing near maybe the old mythology vampire that all of these kind of different cultures had. So, Brian has made his own mythology of this creature. You won’t really find out what they are about, not even in the first season. It’s kept super-secret and it’s kind of hinted at towards the end. And obviously, you know, Roman being one of them, he is finding out himself as well with the audience as well through his journey. It’s really interesting to see. This first season is so much more about werewolves.”
Penelope Mitchell: “Yeah, it’s just the beginning. It’s mind-blowing.”
Does Letha have any kind of transformation?
Penelope Mitchell: “Yes, very much. Slightly more humanistic, but yeah definitely she balloons into a women in a truer sense. And also her understanding of what was once an insular world is completely blown apart. Yeah, it is pretty full-on.”
Season three premiered on March 31, 2013 to the highest viewership to date. According to the network, the first episode of Game of Thrones season three averaged 4.4 million viewers at 9pm which is up 4% over the previous series high of 4.2 million viewers (2012’s finale numbers). Season four’s premiere was also up 13% over season three’s first episode. And over the show’s three airings on March 31st, a total of 6.7 million viewers tuned in (up 7% over season two’s premiere).
Season three will run for 10 episodes, airing a new episode each Sunday night at 9pm.
Details on Season 3’s 2nd Episode – “Dark Wings, Dark Words”
Debut: SUNDAY, APRIL 7 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: April 7 (10:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m.), 8 (12:05 p.m.), 9 (11:00 p.m.) 10 (10:00 p.m.), 11 (10:00 p.m.) and 13 (1:15 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: April 8 (9:00 p.m.), 11 (11:00 p.m.), 12 (midnight), 14 (4:00 p.m.) and 19 (11:00 p.m.)
Sansa (Sophie Turner) says too much. Shae (Sibel Kekilli) asks Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) for a favor. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) finds a way to pass the time. Arya (Maisie Williams) runs into the Brotherhood Without Banners.
Maroon 5 has been tapped to headline the 12th edition of the Honda Civic Tour. In addition, Kelly Clarkson has been confirmed as being a part of the much-anticipated tour, which kicks off on August 1st in St. Louis, Missouri. The supporting acts set to join Maroon 5 and Clarkson on the road are PJ Morton, Rozzi Crane, and Tony Lucca.
The annual tour will hit 31 cities including Tampa, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta over three months.
“We are very excited to team up with the Honda Civic Tour,” stated The Voice coach and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine. “Kelly, PJ, Rozzi and Tony are all such unique and amazing artists. I’m really looking forward to hitting the road with them. Each night will be a great night of music.”
Pre-sale tickets are now available for Maroon 5 fan club members. Tickets for the general public go on sale beginning April 6 at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com. And Honda’s pre-sale, which begins today at hondacivictour.com/presale, will allow fans to obtain a code which is good for up to four tickets per show (maximum of 12 for the entire tour) via Ticketmaster.
“We are pleased to welcome Maroon 5 to the Honda Civic Tour stage,” said Michael Accavitti, senior vice president of auto operations for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “Now in its 12th year and arguably the biggest year in the Civic Tour’s history, it’s another great opportunity to bring music and Civic fans together.”
2013 Honda Civic Tour Dates:
August 1 – St. Louis, MO at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater St. Louis (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 3 – Indianapolis, IN at Klipsch Music Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 4 – Cincinnati, OH at Riverbend Music Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 6 – Pittsburgh, PA at First Niagara Pavilion (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 7 – Camden, NJ at Susquehanna Bank Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 9 – Mansfield, MA at Comcast Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 10 – Holmdel, NJ at PNC Bank Arts Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 11 – Wantagh, NY at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 25 – Chicago, IL at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 26 – Cleveland, OH at Blossom Music Center (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 28 – Detroit, MI at DTE Energy Music Theatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
August 31 – Hartford, CT at Comcast Theatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
September 1 – Scranton, PA at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain (Rozzi Crane to open)
September 4 – Darien, NY at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center (Tony Lucca to open)
September 5 – Saratoga Springs, NY at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Tony Lucca to open)
September 7 – Bristow, VA at Jiffy Lube Live (Tony Lucca to open)
September 8 – Virginia Beach, VA at Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach (Tony Lucca to open)
September 10 – Raleigh, NC at Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (Tony Lucca to open)
September 11 – Charlotte, NC at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte (Tony Lucca to open)
September 13 – Tampa, FL at Live Nation Amphitheater (PJ Morton to open)
September 14 – West Palm Beach, FL at Cruzan Amphitheatre (PJ Morton to open)
September 16 – Atlanta, GA at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood (PJ Morton to open)
September 18 – Austin, TX at Austin360 Amphitheater (PJ Morton to open)
September 19 – Houston, TX at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (PJ Morton to open)
September 22 – Dallas, TX at GEXA Energy Pavilion (PJ Morton to open)
September 24 – Denver, CO at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
September 27 – Portland, OR at Sleep Country Amphitheater (Rozzi Crane to open)
September 28 – George, WA at Gorge Amphitheatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
October 1 – Marysville, CA at Sleep Train Amphitheatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
October 2 – Mountain View, CA at Shoreline Amphitheatre
October 5 – San Diego, CA at Sleep Train Amphitheatre (Rozzi Crane to open)
'The Walking Dead' season three cast - Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels/AMCSeason three’s final episode of The Walking Dead delivered the show its biggest viewer numbers thus far. AMC’s The Walking Dead had 12.8 million viewers tuning in for the season three finale, making the show the #1 program on March 31, 2013. The Walking Dead also earned the top spot for the week in the adults 18-49 demographic by picking up 8.1 million adult viewers.
“Two words: Grateful. Dead. It’s a joy that we get to work with such tremendous talent to make The Walking Dead and Talking Dead come to life for audiences that continue to engage and grow,” stated Charlie Collier, AMC’s president. “In just three seasons, The Walking Dead has become a pop-culture phenomenon, entertaining millions of passionate viewers and obliterating traditional lines between cable and broadcast television.”
Overall, the season three finale was up 38% over season two’s finale.
Talking Dead also posted huge numbers immediately following The Walking Dead‘s season three finale, earning it the most watched episode of the series with 5.2 million viewers tuning in.
One lucky fan will be winning an all-expenses paid trip to Monte Carlo courtesy of The Young and the Restless and CBS during the just-announced “Watch and Win” sweepstakes. As part of the show’s 40th anniversary celebration, The Young and the Restless will award the show’s biggest fan with a trip to Monte Carlo and the opportunity to mingle with the cast at a special gala.
Per the network, in order to participate in the “Watch and Win” sweepstakes fans need to tune in to the show and then visit cbs.com/yrMonteCarlo and answer a trivia question. If the answer’s correct, fans will be entered in the sweepstakes (one entry per correct answer per person). The contest ends on April 21, 2013.
One lucky fan will be winning an all-expenses paid trip to Monte Carlo courtesy of The Young and the Restless and CBS during the just-announced “Watch and Win” sweepstakes. As part of the show’s 40th anniversary celebration, The Young and the Restless will award the show’s biggest fan with a trip to Monte Carlo and the opportunity to mingle with the cast at a special gala.
