Margo Martindale in ‘Justified’ – Photo Credit: Prashant Gupta / FX
Justified‘s Margo Martindale took home her first Emmy in a very competitive category. Martindale faced stiff competition from Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire), Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife), Christine Baranski (The Good Wife), Michelle Forbes (The Killing), and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) but in the end the Emmy voters went with the 60 year old actress who played a weed dealer you wouldn’t want to mess with.
Accepting her Emmy, Martindale acknowledged, “Sometimes things just take time. But with time comes great appreciation.”
Modern Family came out of the gate on fire, capturing the first four awards of the 2011 Primetime Emmys. Julie Bowen was named Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and her onscreen husband, Ty Burrell, captured the supporting actor award. Collecting his Emmy, Burrell thanked his deceased father who apparently gave him a hard time about the fact he chose a profession that required him to wear makeup.
The ABC series also scored the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Emmy for the “Halloween” episode directed by Michael Alan Spiller. Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman won Emmys for writing the “Caught in the Act” episode. The episode, which involved…well…Claire and Phil getting caught in the act (the title is self-explanatory) was based on something that actually happened, and in his acceptance speech Levitan thanked his “somewhat-satisfied wife” and three traumatized children.
Meanwhile, The Big Bang Theory‘s Jim Parsons collected his second Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series which was presented to him by a completely under control Charlie Sheen. Sheen didn’t mention his old co-stars or his replacement by name, but he did wish them well from the bottom of his heart.
Mike and Molly‘s Melissa McCarthy, who stole scenes from her co-stars this summer in the surprise box office hit, Bridesmaids, won her first Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
After its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the psychological drama The Hunter was picked up for distribution in the US by Magnolia Pictures. Daniel Nettheim directed the film which stars Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, and Frances O’Connor. Alice Addison adapted Julia Leigh’s novel for the screen.
In the press release announcing the acquisition, Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said, “We were blown away by this scary, beautiful, superbly made film. Willem Dafoe gives his best performance in years and he’s matched by the entire ensemble cast.”
Magnolia, which also acquired Goon and God Bless America at Toronto, plans a 2012 theatrical release of The Hunter.
The Story:
Willem Dafoe plays a mercenary hired by a bio-tech firm to track down a rare, possibly extinct animal called the Tasmanian Tiger in the remote and untouched wilderness of Tasmania.
Emma Stone sports a Yoda Stands Up To Cancer T-shirt (Photo Courtesy of Lucasfilm)
Lucasfilm, eBay and Major League Baseball – as well as assorted celebrities – have teamed up to help raise funds for the non-profit organization Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). In conjunction with the Star Wars: The Complete Saga blu-ray release (with its changed scenes – Darth Vader yells “No! Nooooo!” when tossing the Emperor to his death, a puppet Yoda’s replaced with a CG Yoda, etc – that have fans up in arms), Lucasfilm initiated a Use the Force for Good campaign in support of SU2C.
“Lucasfilm joining with eBay, Major League Baseball and a wonderful group of actors is an amazing force for good being brought to bear in Stand Up To Cancer’s fight against this disease, and we are profoundly grateful,” stated SU2C Co-Founder Sue Schwartz. “With one in two men and one in three women diagnosed in their lifetimes, cancer affects us all. SU2C’s mission is to persuade each and every person to support the scientists working to end cancer, and this initiative gives legions of Star Wars fans fun and easy ways to do that.”
The Use the Force for Good campaign launched on September 15, 2011, kicking off with a video featuring celebs recreating classic scenes from the Star Wars series. Celebrities involved in the campaign include Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg, Emma Stone, and Star Wars veteran Samuel L. Jackson.
Star Wars fans can bid on exclusive items on eBay with proceeds going to benefit Stand Up To Cancer. Items up for bid on ebay.com/usetheforceforgood< include a "one-of-a-kind Star Wars edition 2012 Volkswagen Passat and a once-in-a-lifetime experience: dinner with prominent Bay Area filmmakers George Lucas, Chris Columbus, Francis Ford Coppola, Philip Kaufman and John Lasseter.”
The charity auctions began on September 16th and will run through 4:00 p.m. PDT on September 23, 2011.
Other fundraising efforts include:
-a line of Stand Up To Cancer Star Wars t-shirts. The shirts feature iconic Star Wars artwork alongside SU2C’s signature upward arrows, with slogans like “Blast Cancer” and “Use the Force for Good.” The t-shirts are available at store.standup2cancer.org/shop.
-Major League Baseball promotions with Star Wars-themed nights. According to the press release, “the special events will offer Star Wars themed ticket packages with a portion of proceeds benefiting SU2C. Most packages will include appearances by Star Wars costumed characters, VIP fan photo ops, giveaways and the Star Wars Stand Up To Cancer exclusive t-shirts.” MLB has donated $30 million to SU2C since 2008. For more information, visit MLB.com/StarWars.
About Stand Up To Cancer:
“Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) — a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c) (3) charitable organization — raises funds to accelerate the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C facilitates collaboration among the best and the brightest in the cancer research community. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., conduct rigorous, competitive review processes through which SU2C’s grantees are selected.
By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C generates awareness and builds grassroots support for this new approach to ending cancer.”
Daniel Tosh - Photo Courtesy: Ian White / Comedy Central
Tosh.0 kicks off the 2011 fall season with the first ever episode from the road. Comedy Central held a contest – the ‘Tosh.0 College Campus Invasion’ competition – to see which college would play host to a taping of Tosh.0, and Arizona State University was chosen by Daniel Tosh as the lucky winner. The comedy series filmed the fall premiere, which is set to air Tuesday, September 20th, as well as one other episode in front of 6,000 ASU students at the ASU Gammage Auditorium.
Tosh.0‘s 30-episode third season was split in thirds, with part one airing January thru March, part two airing May thru July, and part three set to run September thru November 2011.
And when the series returns this week, the super popular ‘Web Redemption’ segments will be back, with future episodes set to include:
Rapper Eli Porter – Eli gives his millions of fans a return performance of the rap that made him famous.
Surfer Fail — Daniel helps the surfer deliver his important message to people everywhere.
I Just F*#%ing Shot Myself – The guy who shot himself learns to avoid shooting himself in the future.
More on Tosh.0:
”Tosh.0 is the most-watched and highest-rated series on the network. It ranks as the #1 show on all of television on Tuesday nights among Men 18-34 and Men 18-24 and is a break-out ratings success for Comedy Central, averaging 4.1 million total viewers.
The über-popular Tosh.0 blog, which is one of Comedy Central’s most-visited properties, continues to be updated daily with blog posts, web-exclusive behind-the-scenes content and interactive features. Viewers can follow Tosh on Twitter (currently with 3.3 million followers) as he live tweets during the show and also by becoming a fan of Tosh.0 on Facebook (currently at 6.5 million fans).”
Raised in Airdrie, a small town near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jessica Ridley was a performer from the start, putting on shows for family and friends at the age of 18 months. Don Somerville heard her sing at her church one day and persuaded her to sharpen her songwriting down in Nashville. She made the trek at 21 and has been getting ready for Fit to Be Tied from then up to the album’s release in June on EMG Universal.
Produced by Somerville, Chris Omartian, Billy Simon and Michael Lee, her debut album takes about one second to rope the listener in. The opening track, “Fit to Be Tied,” is out of the gate immediately with a bouncy groove anchored by a four-beat kick pattern. Over this, Ridley unfolds a half-sung, half-rapped tale of a bride’s last-minute jitters just before walking down the aisle. Her tongue-tripping vocal on the verses, bookended by backbeat-driven choruses, skims playfully over the rhythm, teases a few laughs and even ends with the story’s moral — a bow that makes this package complete.
Written by Ridley with producers Lee and Somerville, “Fit to Be Tied” is one of four songs on the album that she co-wrote. She also makes the rest of these 13 tracks her own. Bob Carlisle and Dennis Patton penned her first single, “Flaming Red,” but its wistful first verse, rhythmic lyric at the top of the chorus and overall exultation, provide a perfect vehicle for Ridley.
With minimal vibrato and underplayed phrasing, her voice relates a rainbow of expression and hits the high notes with neither effort nor effect. Whether letting the melody and plaintive narrative speak for themselves on “Cinderella Shoes” (Simon) or pouring on the sass throughout “Hit and Run” (Bill Champlin, Somerville, and Jim Windle), she brings the material to life in the light of her already distinctive style.
IN HER OWN WORDS
MUSICAL HERO
“George Strait.”
DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Vince Gill.”
SONG YOU SING IN THE SHOWER
“All the songs I might be rehearsing at the moment!”
MOMENT YOU’D LIKE TO RELIVE
“First kiss.”
BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
“The Bible and a Frank Peretti book called House.”
PET PEEVE
“Getting groceries and finding out you forgot one thing when you get back home.”
SONG YOU WISH YOU’D WRITTEN
“‘Stop Loving You’ by Toto.”
TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
“Read My Lips.”
SOMETHING WE’D NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU
“I’m completely terrified of spiders and strange showers.”
Official Synopsis: Vince Ferro is a man in desperate circumstances. While on a quick fix-it job, he steals an envelope containing instructions for a mysterious job that promises a potential fortune. He assumes a false identity and follows the instructions, only to find himself a numbered participant in an underworld Russian roulette competition, where gamblers place bets on who’ll survive when the trigger is pulled. The stakes are high, but the payout is more than he can resist. Many are competing for the first time, and a precious few have even returned to play again, but are his odds any better than other players in this most deadly game? What will it take to be the last man standing?
[tabs style=”default” title=”’13’ Resources”] [tab title=”Cast”]
Jason Statham
Sam Riley
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
Ray Winstone
Alexander Skarsgard
Mickey Rourke
Michael Shannon
Emmanuelle Chriqui
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[tab title=”Trailer”]Click to View the Trailer
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[tab title=”Photos”]Coming Soon[/tab][/tabs]
Dylan McDermott in ‘American Horror Story’ – Photo Credit: Robert Zuckerman/FX
Ryan Murphy’s new series, American Horror Story – which is not a spin-off from his hit show, Glee – will premiere simultaneously around the world, so says FOX International Channels (FIC) and 20th Century Fox. The dramatic horror series will premiere on FX on October 5, 2011, with the network pairing the new show up with the returning zombie thriller, The Walking Dead. The shows will run back-to-back, according to the network’s press release.
American Horror Story was created by Murphy and Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk and is described as a “subversive modern horror tale.” The series will have an initial run of 13 episodes.
The Plot:
The drama chronicles the lives of Ben and Vivien Harmon (Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton) who relocate from Boston to Los Angeles with their daughter in an attempt to put the dark memories of their past behind them. Their new residence in an old mansion hides dark secrets, as do next-door neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange), the home’s housekeeper, Moira O’Hara (Frances Conroy), and Larry, a former resident of the estate (Denis O’Hare).
All Time Low "Dirty Work" - Interscope Records
Following on the heels of their summer tour, All Time Low has announced the release of their new single, “Time Bomb,” off of their album Dirty Work (released June 7, 2011). The LA punk-pop band also announced they’ll be heading back out on the road on October 25th for their The Rise and Fall of My Pants tour kicking off in Huntington, New York. They’ll hit 22 venues before finishing up in Poughkeepsie, NY on November 19th.
“We’re really stoked to be touring with some bands that we haven’t toured with before and playing some cities that we haven’t played in a while. There’s nothing we enjoy more than playing live shows and this tour should be a blast,” said front man Alex Garskath.
The first single off Dirty Work, “I Feel Like Dancin’,” was written by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo. The group teamed up with producers Matt Squire (who produced All Time Low’s last two albums, Nothing Personal and So Wrong It’s Right), Mike Green (Paramore), Butch Walker (Weezer), and John Fields (Switchfoot) on Dirty Work, and Majar Ivarsson of The Sounds contributes vocals to the track, “Guts.”
2011 FALL TOUR DATES
10/25/11 Huntington, NY Paramount Theater
10/26/11 Stroudsburg, PA The Sherman Theater
10/27/11 Toledo, OH Headliners
10/28/11 Louisville, KY Expo Five
10/29/11 Madison, WI FreakFest
10/30/11 Iowa City, IA Main Lounge (University of Iowa)
11/01/11 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
11/02/11 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
11/03/11 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
11/04/11 Little Rock, AR Juanita’s Cantina
11/05/11 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theatre
11/06/11 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
11/08/11 Jacksonville Beach, FL Freebird Live
11/09/11 Gainesville, FL Florida Theater
11/10/11 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom
11/11/11 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
11/12/11 North Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
11/14/11 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
11/15/11 Norfolk, VA The Norva
11/17/11 Portland, ME State Theatre
11/18/11 Providence, RI Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
11/19/11 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance
The cast of 'The Oranges' - ATO Pictures The Oranges has been plucked by ATO Pictures for release in 2012 following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Directed by first time feature film director Julian Farino, The Oranges was written by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss and stars Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester.
ATO’s co-founders Johnathan Dorfman and Temple Fennell stated in the press release announcing the pick up: “We love this film! Julian has done a terrific job directing a dream cast in what we think is going to be one of the biggest crowd pleasers of 2012.”
Producers Leslie Urdang and Anthony Bregman added, “ATO pursued The Oranges with immense passion, creative thinking and a willingness to commit significant resources towards the release — in other words, they came to us with exactly what we were looking for when we brought the film to Toronto. We are very much looking forward to working with this strong and independent company.”
The Oranges Story:
David and Paige Ostroff (Laurie and Keener) and Terry and Cathy Walling (Platt and Janney) are best friends and neighbors living on Orange Drive in suburban New Jersey. Their comfortable existence goes awry when prodigal daughter Nina Ostroff (Meester), newly broken up with her fiancé Ethan (Sam Rosen), returns home for Thanksgiving after a five-year absence. Rather than developing an interest in Toby Walling (Brody), the successful son of her neighbors which would please both families, it’s her parents’ best friend David who captures Nina’s attention. When the connection between Nina and David becomes undeniable, everyone’s lives are thrown into upheaval, particularly Vanessa Walling’s (Shawkat), Nina’s childhood best friend. It’s not long before the ramifications of the affair begin to work on all of the family members in unexpected and hilarious ways, leading everyone to reassess what it means to be happy and how sometimes what looks like a disaster, turns out to be the one thing we need the most.
