Blumenkrantz takes Ebb award

Composer Jeff Blumenkrantz has picked up the 2011 Fred Ebb Award, the legit kudo that comes with a $50,000 cash prize. Blumenkrantz, who began his stage career as an actor ("Into the Woods," "Damn Yankees"), has penned one-acts "Woman With Pocketbook" and "Precious Little Jewel," both of which have been seen regionally, as well as contributed to the score of Broadway tuner "Urban Cowboy." His tunes also have been recorded by a number of musical theater faves including Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster and Victoria Clark. Ebb Award was inaugurated following the 2004 death of Ebb, who with longtime partner John Kander penned the music for tuners including "Cabaret," "Chicago" and "The Scottsboro Boys." Kudo goes to a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet carved out a significant commercial profile. Along with the cash, the laurel also comes with a one-night showcase of the winner's work. Past winners have included John Bucchino ("A Catered Affair") and Adam Gwon ("Ordinary Days"). Award is administrated every year by the Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the Roundabout Theater Company. Bebe Neuwirth will hand out this year's kudo at a Nov. 28 ceremony at the Roundabout's American Airlines Theater. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

Zentrops expands in Europe

'Summer Window'BERLIN -- The wider the net, the better the return for Zentropa Entertainments Berlin, one of two German subsidiaries of Peter Aalbaek Jensen's and Lars von Trier's Copenhagen-based group that has spread across Europe to become a leading cross-border player, with a network of shingles in 13 European countries, including Spain, Poland, Sweden, Norway, the U.K., Italy and France. "We are not interested in specific languages or specific nationalities, but if you have a film that needs to be produced cross-border and financed cross-border, that's what we can offer -- one company that represents two, three or four countries -- whatever you need to make your film," says Aalbaek Jensen.Hendrik Handloegten's surreal drama "Summer Window," loosely based on a 1967 novel by Austrian author Hannelore Valencak, reps a tailor-made production for the Zentropa arm. Shot in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Finland, and budgeted at 3.3 million ($4.6 million), the production tapped regional and federal funds in Germany as well as Finnish coin. TrustNordisk is selling the film internationally. Maria Koepf, who heads Zentropa Entertainments Berlin, developed the project with writer-director Handloegten, who spent his early childhood in Finland, and his memories found their way into the film's story.While "Summer Window" is Handloegten's first film with Zentropa, it's his third film with Koepf, who produced his previous pics "Paul Is Dead" and "Learning to Lie" while she was at Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool. The two had been developing "Summer Window" when Koepf joined Zentropa in 2007."This continuity is very important to me. We know each other very well," Handloegten told a local magazine. "When I work with Maria, I know she believes in it -- that gives me security."Zentropa's European subsidiary network not only gives the company a significant advantage in producing diverse international films, it also makes the group an ideal co-production partner. " 'Summer Window' is an ideal project (for Zentropa) because it had the Finnish part of the story," Koepf. Indeed, adding Finland to the story provided Liisa Penttila, head and co-owner of Zentropa's Helsinki-based subsid Edith Film, the opportunity to board the project as co-producer.While "Summer Window" marks the shingle's first full inhouse production, Zentropa Berlin has played a significant role as a co-producer on a slew of films, both Zentropa productions as well as pics from third-party producers, since its launch in 2007. These include Mans Herngren's "The Swimsuit Issue," Lukas Moodysson's "Mammoth" and Han-Christian Schmid's "Storm."Koepf is co-producing Peter Naess' World War II drama "Comrade," starring Rupert Grint, with Zentropa Intl. Norway, and Nikolaj Arcel's Danish historical romance "A Royal Affair," starring Mads Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander, which shot in Prague and Dresden.For Koepf, working for the Zentropa group offers significant plusses. "Being part of a big company is a major advantage when you're getting bank credit. It's a very different situation when you have this company, this big label behind you."Another advantage: Filmmakers can contact one Zentropa office and the group will manage production services and financing from more than one territory in Europe.In addition to the Berlin subsidiary, the network includes Zentropa Intl. Cologne. Run by Bettina Brokemper, the Cologne office serves primarily as a co-production arm for the parent company and further underscores the importance of Germany for the group.Indeed, Aalbaek Jensen says Germany is not only a main co-production country for all of Zentropa's big films but also a significant market for the rest of the company's pics.Zentropa Berlin is among the group's most active international subsidiaries, but Aalbaek Jensen says it is quality, not quantity, that is essential. "Maria is quite picky about what she is doing," he adds. "In this business, it's about choosing the right films, not making a certain number of films. We lose so much money when we make mistakes, so I support her being picky."Aalbaek Jensen says that U.S. producers are searching for additional funding out of Europe, and Zentropa has a U.S. co-production in the works that will likely start shooting next spring, although he wouldn't be drawn on details."The world is becoming smaller following the financial crisis. Everybody is much more open to collaborations, even the Americans," he says. "Zentropa's pan-European model is therefore more important than ever." Contact Ed Meza at staff@variety.com

Will Ferrell talks political comedy Southern Rivals

We lately sitting lower with legendary Anchorman mirth merchant Will Ferrell, to talk about his career to date.Talk result in his approaching political comedy, Southern Rivals, that will see him and Hangover breakout star Zach Galifianakis playing competing presidential candidates.Whenever we requested Ferrell concerning the intriguing project, he was more than pleased to spill the beans, telling us:"It's essentially the storyline of the small-time congressional district in New York, within the south, and I am the incumbent candidate who's going to run unopposed for my fifth term."You will find reference to me being regarded as an applicant for V . P . and that is up to my aspirations go. Among the finest to become V . P . and I've got a wife who would like to function as the Second Lady."We are politically hungry, and I am cruising along until I leave things i think is really a message on my small mistress' voicemail message but it is really only a random family also it fills up during my face. I am viewed as vulnerable the very first time and also the opposition decides to operate an applicant against me and that is Zach's [Galifianakis] character."However, you know, the film is simply a platform for all of us as one example of how insane our political process is becoming. The crazy ad campaigns which exist now and also the manipulations. We are will make it pretty farcical although not really that not even close to the reality.InchFerrell is obviously famous for his place-on take-from George W Rose bush will his Southern Rivals character be with different real figure? "No, no, just type of according to all of the political figures nowadays and just how nobody really discusses any issues, just pays lip plan to a lot of things."Southern Rivals is anticipated to spread out in August 2012.For additional from Will Ferrell, obtain the new problem of Total Film Magazine, that is out now!A subscription to Total Film Magazine, click the link. Now you can read Total Film magazine on apple iphone and iPad via Apple Newsstand!To locate it around the United kingdom Application Store, click the link. To locate it around the US Application Store, click the link.

Beavis and Butt-Head Is Back! What's New? What's Old?

Beavis and Butt-Head Ready for more Beavis and Butt-Head? MTV hopes so, as the cable network is re-launching the animated series from Mike Judge nearly two decades after its original debut. But will the show, which thrived in the '90s - when the M in MTV still stood for music - work today? Judge and MTV President Van Toffler, a self-described B and B fanatic, think so. Here's how they plan to bring the chuckling chuckleheads into the 21st century.Fall TV: Get the lowdown on this season's must-see new showsWHAT'S NEW?The 1990s Beavis and Butt-Head, of course, relied heavily on the dumbass pair mocking MTV's slate of music videos - the relative dearth of which these days posed an interesting problem for Judge. As a result, in the new version, B. and B. will make fun of other MTV programming, a solution that Toffler finds apropos. "I think MTV has been self-deprecating since its inception," he told reporters at this year's fall TV previews. But won't Judge feel weird about biting the hand that feeds him? "I don't think so," he says. "I mean, look at what they have on!"First up, the natural fit: Jersey Shore, a show on which Judge says he's hooked. "It really clicked [as a source of comedy]; it was just pay dirt," he says. They'll also target the cast of 16& Pregnant, UFC fights and popular viral videos from YouTube.Beavis and Butt-Head to return to MTVIn the premiere episode (Thursday at 10/9c on MTV), the pair sees Twilight and they decide to "get chicks" by becoming supernatural creatures themselves. So they ask a homeless guy with hepatitis (who they think is a werewolf) to bite them. So yes, the critical-thinking skills are intact. The show also still thrives on simplicity. In another short, Beavis smells an onion from his chili dog while watching a tear-jerking scene from The Bachelor. Butt-Head notices Beavis' onion-fueled tears, thinks he has been moved by the romance reality show and ridicules him for days.But the best jokes are the duo's impromptu voice-overs for Snooki and being total horndogs. While watching a music video for a dance track that consists of nothing but girls operating power tools, Butt-Head muses: "They're erecting a structure... in my pants." Comedy gold. WHAT'S OLD?Fans of the original series, fear not: Beavis and Butt-Head are the same emotionally stunted man-children you remember from their 1993-1997 run on MTV. In fact, it'll mostly seem like no time has passed at all. "I didn't want to do a big, conscious forcing of modern stuff on them, only when it makes sense," Judge says.Heh-heh. That's cool.Beavis and Butt-Head airs Thursdays at 10/9c. Will you tune in?

'Person of great interest,A 'Unforgettable' Get Full-Season Orders at CBS

Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS "Person of great interestInch CBS is two for 3 to date in starting drama series this fall. The network has given full-season orders to Person of great interest and Memorable, that the Hollywood Reporter noted was prone to happen. The happy couple joins newcomer comedy 2 Broke Women in CBS' new fare generating back-nine pickup orders. PHOTOS: 10 Television Shows Canceled Faster Than 'The Playboy Club' From executive producer J.J. Abrams, Person of great interest has carried out well in the competitive Thursday at 9 p.m. slot, calculating 9.5 million total audiences along with a 2.8 rating within the grown ups 18-49 demographic. Because of its 4th episode of year, Person of great interest ticked up in the previous week, tempting 12 million and posting a couple.8 rating. In Week 5, the hourlong drama averaged 12.4 million along with a 2.7. Memorable, starring Poppy Montgomery, regularly wins its Tuesdays at 10 p.m. slot as a whole audiences and also the demo against established dramas including NBC's Being a parent and ABC's Body of Proof. Most lately, the procedural came 11.9 million along with a 2.5. PHOTOS: Fall TV Dying Pool: Which New Show Is Going To Be Axed? Person of great interest stars Lost's Michael Emerson like a mysterious billionaire who teams by having an ex-CIA agent (Jim Caviezel) to avoid violent crimes in NY. Memorable focuses on a Brooklyn cop (Montgomery) who is able to remember everything. That leaves Friday newcomer A Gifted Guy, a supernatural medical procedural starring Patrick Wilson, that's been calculating 8.two million audiences along with a 1.3. It's the remaining CBS drama waiting for a complete-season pickup. The 2 pick-ups come at any given time once the network drawn battling comedy How to become a Gentleman, starring David Hornsby and Kevin Dillon, after shifting it from Thursdays to Saturdays because of weak rankings. Other rookie series landing full-season orders include Fox's New Girl, the CW's Ringer, Hart of Dixie and also the Secret Circle, in addition to NBC's Up Through The Night and Whitney. Person of great interest Memorable

Edmundo Ros dies at 100

Bandleader Edmundo Ros, who introduced wartime Britain to the percussive rhythm of the rumba, so capturing the nation's imagination that its young princess chose his songs for her public dancing debut, died of natural causes at his home in Alicante, Spain, on Friday. He was 100.Born in Trinidad to a Venezuelan mother and a Scottish father, Ros began his musical career in the Venezuelan army but took off after he moved to London in 1937. His five-piece Rumba Band was a runaway hit, playing for high society and international royalty. His music was so popular that then-Princess Elizabeth had her first public dance to the sound of Ros' band in the 1940s. As queen, she would award him the Order of the British Empire for his services to entertainment.Ros was effectively London's "ambassador for Latin American music," his son Douglas told the Associated Press.The prolific artist made more than 800 recordings over the course of his career. His 1949 number, "The Wedding Samba," sold 3 million copies.His band was a fixture at Regent Street's Coconut Grove club, which he bought in 1951 and counted Britain's Princess Margaret, Monaco's Prince Rainier and Sweden's Prince Bertil among its regulars.The club's demanding standards -- ladies wearing broad-brimmed hats or trousers were denied admittance -- kept the clientele exclusive through the 1950s, but the relaxation of Britain's gambling laws in the 1960s began to hit his takings.Ros sold the club and later retired to the Spanish resort city of Alicante. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Trailer: Love, War and Angelina Jolie Collide in Blood and Honey

So you might remember that Angelina Jolie wrote and directed a feature — a real good-time-party-blast called In the Land of Blood and Honey, about the illicit romance between a Muslim woman and a Serbian troop at the peak of the war in Bosnia. Now there’s a trailer. Honestly, I don’t even have an opinion on this because we all know that FilmDistrict just cuts trailers together to sell totally different movies than they ones they actually release, so for all any of us can tell, this putative holiday tear-jerker about love and war and van explosions is really just another one of their thoughtful, sophisticated, moody, arty dramas for adults. Boooooo!!! I can see the lawsuit now: “I was promised blood and honey. I received blood and a couple gallons of tobacco-flavored Eastern European teardrops.” And they’d be right. VERDICT: Sold, obviously.

REVIEW: Elizabeth Olsen Beguiles in Martha Marcy May Marlene

The opening scene of Sean Durkin’s debut feature Martha Marcy May Marlene suggests we’re in for a big rusty bread pan’s worth of rural miserablism, and even though we’re not, the yeasty grayness of those early moments is clearly intentional: A group of women in drab dresses and droopy T-shirts go about preparing dinner in a house whose unfinished interior looks either new and hastily erected or ancient and about to fall apart — it’s hard to tell which. A young boy stomps about in a dusty, scrubby yard; a woman sits on the porch working on a crocheted afghan. When dinner’s ready, a bunch of men sit down to eat; then they leave the table — the man who appears to be the leader murmurs something appreciative about the meal — and the women take their places. Then there’s one lone shot of a ton of dirty dishes jumbled into and around the kitchen sink — there’s no question who’s going to be scouring them clean. It’s as if Amishtown had been taken over by a nicer version of the Manson family. Or maybe they’re not so nice. But what makes Martha Marcy May Marlene so beguiling — aside from the performance given by its lead actress, Elizabeth Olsen — is that the pall of creepy groupthink that hovers over that first scene works as a perverse kind of seduction: You want to know more about this place, and about these people, even though you suspect that knowing more may not be a good idea. Even if you think your brain is soap-proof, Durkin succeeds in washing it just a little bit. The heart, soul and eyes of Martha Marcy May Marlene belong to Olsen’s Martha, a young woman who leaves this strange, crazy-cozy household very early in the movie: We see her heading into the woods with just a small pack on her shoulder, though we also hear the squeak of a screen door and a man’s voice calling after her. Wherever it is she’s running from, she ends up at the Connecticut summer home of her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson). The two are clearly estranged, and not just because Martha’s been in a cult for a couple of years; from their exchanges, both the early and the late ones, we can see that the two sisters have never been close. Lucy is now married — a development Martha knew nothing about — to a vaguely uptight architect or developer (all we really know, or need to know, is that he’s some kind of property guy) played by Hugh Dancy. The two welcome her into their luxurious split-level house on the lake, obviously wishing they could unwelcome her. From that point, Martha’s present, in oh-so-safe Connecticut, is intercut with scenes of her past, in that commune somewhere in the Catskills. The place she’s left is presided over by a bookish self-proclaimed prophet named Patrick (John Hawkes, looking like Charles Manson as shot by Walker Evans), who has built a pastoral Utopia where the inhabitants live off the land and allegedly love one another unselfishly. The setup works out fabulously for him — he gets to ritualistically sleep with all the women. But Martha, he claims, is his favorite, and if she stupidly believes it, somehow we do too: She has a solemn, knowing face, with eyes that can melt one minute and pierce the next. She takes to the welcoming pseudowarmth of this new family, even as we can see she’s holding herself apart from it just a little bit. When she’s first introduced to Patrick, by the savvy-dippy young cult member (played by Louisa Krause) who’s taken her under her wing, she compliments him on what he’s done with the land, planting vegetable crops and whatnot. “It’s as much yours as it is mine,” he says with a twinkle of phony generosity in his eyes; she smiles at him a little too demurely, as if to say that she’s listening but not buying, at least not yet. Olsen’s performance is restrained but not tentative; you could say the same for the movie around it. Durkin, who also wrote the script, doesn’t indulge in lots of shaky camera business to convey, you know, the character’s inner turmoil. (The DP here is Jody Lee Lipes.) Even though there’s at least some handheld camera work, you have to really look for it: Some camera dude out there is working really hard at keeping the frame steady, and it’s almost a subliminal effect — if Martha is looking for something to hang onto, maybe we are too, though we barely know it. Durkin is perhaps too obvious in the way he heightens the contrast between Martha’s lumpy-oatmeal commune existence and the overpolished gloss of her sister’s lifestyle. At one point Martha jumps up from sunbathing with her sister on a classy lakeside dock and leaps into the water completely nude, as she would have done back at the old communal swimmin’ hole. Lucy, aghast, hauls her out. “You can’t do that here!” she hisses, and I kept wishing the next line would be, “It’s Connecticut!” But of course it wasn’t — Durkin isn’t going for laughs here, though it’s all too easy to fill in the blanks for ourselves. Still, Paulson and Olsen capture the uneasy electricity of siblings who just can’t get along but who nonetheless remain connected. Paulson plays Lucy as uptight but not unwatchably severe: Sometimes she looks at Martha as if she’d just landed from another planet — or, equally weird, just stepped off a lilypad — and given the unnerving nature of Olsen’s performance, you can see why. One minute she’s bracingly direct; the next she seems to be blinking her way through amniotic fluid, like a newborn lamb fighting for life. You don’t watch her and think, What a dope she is, having fallen for all that hippie-dippie cult stuff. Instead, you see how the perceived security of that makeshift family would make sense to her, up to a point. In other words, Durkin doesn’t condescend to the character he’s written, and in return, Olsen rises to the challenge of that character. At one point, Patrick tries to punish Martha with twisted praise, asserting that she’s a lot like him. Minus the cruelty and the craziness, maybe she is: As Martha, Olsen throws off a muted self-assurance that reads as a kind of charisma. We fear for her every minute, and yet for better or worse, we’d follow her anywhere.

WME Signs Boss Creator Farhad Safinia

EXCLUSIVE: Farhad Safinia, creator, executive producer and showrunner of Starz’s approaching drama series Boss, has signed with WME. Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer just like a Machiavellian Chicago mayor who's hiding a potentially debilitating condition, does not premiere until next Friday but has acquired as second-season renewal with the network. The spec script for Boss, which Safinia developed with Grammer, marked the Apocalypto co-author’s TV debut. Safinia remains taking part within the feature side — he's installed on direct The Professor As Well As The Madman for Vital and Icon Prods., good book he modified, which is presently writing the Allen Counter project in the new the new sony for Will Cruz to star. Safinia happen to be agentless since departing ICM along with his agent-switched-manager John Sher in 2008. Sher, an expert producer on Boss, is constantly manage Safinia. While using signing of Safinia, WME now reps all key auspicies on Boss, including star/professional producer Grammer and director/professional producer Gus Van Sant.

Discovery Communications Names JB Perrette Chief Digital Officer

NY - Discovery Communications stated Monday it has hired former NBCUniversal executive Jean-Briac "JB" Perrette as chief digital officer, effective March. 17. Perrette was most lately leader, digital and affiliate distribution and content distribution technique for NBCUniversal where younger crowd were built with a leadership role at movie partnership Hulu. He'll certainly be reunited with Discovery Communications leader and Boss David Zaslav, an old NBCUniversal executive, to whom he'll report. The appointment is really a sign that Discovery is searching to help grow its digital business and revenue. "I anticipate growing Discovery's presence within the digital space, finding new possibilities to earn value because of its robust content and driving viewer engagement on all screens," Perrette stated. "JB is among the top digital strategists in media industry today and joins Discovery in an important amount of time in our development and growth,Inch stated Zaslav. "We anticipate JB's leadership in taking Discovery one stage further of growth once we continue concentrating on creating value, deepening engagement with increased viewer sampling in our brands, and making money with our 25-year programming library across an growing quantity of digital distribution platforms." Perrette will lead the business's digital strategy, including Discovery's U.S. Internet sites, for example Discovery.com, TLC.com and HowStuffWorks.com, digital procedures and programming group and digital distribution efforts with non-traditional affiliate marketers, for example Apple, Netflix and Amazon . com.He may also be accountable for Discovery Commerce, including certification and home theatre. Monthly video streams across Discovery's U.S. sites are up 83 percent to 126 million this season, and also the sites average a lot more than 50 million monthly unique site visitors, the organization stated. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects NBCUniversal Discovery Communications

'Speech' targets West Finish

SeidlerPlay is put together by David Seidler, who won the first script Oscar for your bigscreen version that belongs to them unproduced original.Produced by Playful Prods. and Michael Alden Prods., the show is helmed by Adrian Noble, former a.d. in the Royal Shakespeare Company, and produced by Anthony Ward ("Enron," "Mary Stuart")."The King's Speech," the first play that inspired the Oscar-winning movie, will bow within the civilized world Finish next spring undertaking a U.K. tour.Title role will probably be carried out by Charles Edwards (London and Gotham's "The 39 Steps"), who recently starred opposite Eve Finest in "Much Ado About Nothing" at Shakespeare's Globe. Jonathan Hyde may have Lionel Logue.The six-week tour commences Feb. 1 at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theater, while using West Finish berth not been nailed lower. Contact David Benedict at benedictdavid@mac.com

IMG Letter Removed Mike Ovitz From Board

Michael Ovitz And IMG World And Teddy Forstmanns Brain Cancer: The Real Story, And Also What Ovitz Told Me About It There will be no formal announcement because IMG desperately wants all the damaging talk to quiet down.So the unsavory Michael Ovitz situation was handled in privatethis week with a formal IMG letter removing him from owner Teddy Forstmann’s advisory board. (One insider tells me that three other board members who backed Ovitz’s allegedtakeoverattempt were removed as well. But I have no additional confirmation so won’t go into detail.)Thus ignobly ends yet another of Ovitz’s longest personal and professional relationships after hewas accused of maneuveringto run and/or own the global management and production giantwhile 71-year-old Teddy battled brain cancer.The allegations against Ovitz included that hewas harassing management by demanding IMG financial records; pressuring president/COO Mike Dolan and senior IMG executives to report to him by trying to set up a so-called executive committee within the board to oversee IMG activities because of Forstmanns illness and treatment; and approaching Forstmann, Little & Co partners and investors telling them he was interested in buying IMG with the backing of Greg OHara, the managing director of One Equity Partners LLC. Ovitz strenuously denied tome all the allegationsand insisted that running Teds company is not something Im interested in right now. My job is to support my friend who is really sick.” Then again, with friends like this on the eve of Yom Yippur, who needs enemies?

Werner Herzog to experience villain in Tom Cruise pic

HerzogCruiseWerner Herzog originates on because the villain in Vital and Skydance's "One Shot" starring Tom Cruise.The pic also stars Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins and Robert Duvall.Christopher McQuarrie is pointing from the script he composed.It series by Lee Child follows Jack Reacher, an old military policeman switched drifter. In "One Shot," Reacher looks into the situation of the sniper charged with killing five people prior to being taken.Herzog will have The Zec, an ex-prisoner of war who arranges and stages the killing and it is the mind from the conspiracy. Componen had no discuss the casting.Cruise and David Ellison will produce together with Don Granger, Paula Wagner, Dana Goldberg and Gary Levinsohn through Mutual Film Company and Cruise/Wagner Productions."One Shot" may be the initial acting role for that German auteur, apart from cameos as well as an periodic voice-over focus on "The Simpsons."Herzog continues to be focusing on docus recently, including "Grizzy Guy" and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams."Sources state that McQuarrie had always aspired to use the auteur, and after ending up in Herzog, he saw the chance to do this together with his latest project.The helmer's newest docu, "In to the Abyss," opened in the Toronto Film Festival.He's repped by Gersh. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com