Kagan, Brown tip 'Tuck' for Boston

Broadway vets Howard Kagan ("The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess") and Barry Brown ("La Cage aux Folles") are teaming up with mega-production house Broadway Across America ("How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "Memphis") on new musical "Tuck Everlasting." The producers announced a pre-Broadway run to commence at Boston's Colonial Theater in June of next year. Show will be based on the 1975 children's novel of the same name, which also served as the basis for the eponymous 1981 and 2002 films. The story of Winnie, a girl who stumbles upon a family of immortals in the backwoods around her home, the original Natalie Babbit book has sold more than 2 million copies since its publication. Pedigree for the show includes Rialto vets Claudia Shear ('Dirty Blonde') on book, and Casey Nicholaw ('The Book of Mormon') helming, while music and lyrics will come from Lucille Lortel Award nominees Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. No casting decisions were announced. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

VIDEO: Kate Upton Strips Down for Carl's Jr.

War film Act of Valor took home the top spot at this weekend's box office, grossing $24.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie, which stars mostly real active-duty Navy SEALs, edged out Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, both of which opened this weekend. Perry's film came in at No. 2 with an even $16 million. Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Dwayne JohnsonRachel McAdamsTyler PerryChanning TatumGood DeedsGoneGhost Rider: Spirit Of VengeanceSafe HouseThe VowJourney 2: The Mysterious IslandThis Means WarThe Secret World Of ArriettyWanderlustAct Of Valor

Open Road Makes $2M Deal With $20M P&A For David Ayers Finish Of Watch

BREAKING: Open Road is closing a deal for U.S. distribution rights to complete Of Watch, the David Ayer-directed cop drama that stars Mike Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena and Anna Kendrick. I’m told that Open Road will release the film later this year. They’ve devoted to some,000-screen run, getting the absolute minimum guarantee just north of $2 million together with a $20 million P&Dedication. It's under as substantial commitment as Open Road made if the acquired The Grey for $8 million getting a $25 million P&Dedication, but it is substantial, and evidence that whenever Tom Ortenberg sees a film they can market, he goes after that it is hard. The Grey needs to date made $50 million domestic. Ayer, who written Training Day and written and directed the cop dramas Harsh Occasions and Street Nobleman, began this film just like a “found footage” type drama about two LAPD partners and close buddies. The story wound up being to discover within the perspective of surveillance cameras as well as the camera placed on the key of every single patrol vehicle. That progressed into really a regular narrative, quite a few the perspective still arises from cameras that offer the film a preliminary person feel. “David features a unique voice just like a filmmaker, he produces with authenticity and shows real figures within the streets where he was elevated,” mentioned John Lesher, who produced through his Le Grisbi banner. “He moves you, nevertheless the film is very accessible with one of these small cameras fabricated and fitted on figures together with other areas, it creates a 360-degree atmosphere, appreciate it was shot with the cops themselves and contains changed the grammar of filmmaking somewhat. Mike and Mike trained five several days being cops plus it shows.” Lesher mentioned they made a decision to re-create a festival atmosphere by showing the film in the employed screening, which happened last evening within the Arclight. They'd several distribution options but were astounded by Open Road’s aggressiveness and distribution plans. “We wanted entrepreneurs to find out it by getting a crowd plus it banded-room only,” he mentioned. “The film is gripping there is however also plenty of humor. It's best when compared to a screening inside an empty room with four professionals I’ve experienced people. It’s another experience watching with real moviegoers and customers responded.” Ayer produced with Lesher through his Crave Films banner, along with Exclusive Media’s Nigel Sinclair and Matt Jackson. The film was funded by Emmett/Furla Films and Exclusive Media. Gyllenhaal is professional producer along with Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Randall Emmett, Adam Kassan, Chrisann Verges, Stepan Martirosyan and Remington Chase. CAA brokered the sale and arranged financing round the film.

OSCARS: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Peter Straughan

Tim Adler is a contributor to AwardsLine Peter Straughan would sit in his attic office typing away on the script forTinker Tailor Solider Spy listening to jazz on headphones, while downstairs his wife and writing partner Bridget OConnor was also writing the script, based on the bestselling spy novel by John le Carr. They would email each other drafts, critiquing each others work as they plowed on. OConnor, a prize-winning dramatist, found writing lonely and loved collaborating with her husband. That co-written script is now nominated for an Adapted Screenplay Oscar after collecting wins at the BAFTAs and the Online Film Critics Society among its many nominations. Straughan and his wife spent a year working on the Tinker Tailor screenplay when tragedy struck: OConnor died in September 2010of cancer at age 49, one week before filming was due to begin in Budapest, Hungary. I know Peter was tremendously badly hit by it, le Carr says. The script should be remembered as a monument to their collaboration and their marriage. Their best work together has been memorialised on screen. It brought about what most called the most memorable moment at the BAFTAs last weekend when Straughan said of O’Connor during his acceptance speech:She did all the good bits, I made the coffee. I love you, I miss you,this is for you. Straughan — who began his career as a playwright before becoming one of Britains most sought-after screenwriters, with credits including The Debt andThe Men Who Stare At Goats –says he and O’Connor were on holiday when they got a call from Working Title asking if they wanted to adapt Tinker Tailor. Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) wrote an original draft, having pitched a film version to the company already. Nobody was happy with Morgans thriller-ish take. Straughan admits he and OConnor were nervous about adapting Tinker Tailor especially when the 70s BBC TV series was so iconic. Le Carrs work is fiendishly difficult to adapt: The plot of the 1974 novel often takes place inside the head of George Smiley, a retired spymaster hunting the traitor inside the British Secret Service, and is mostly told in long flashbacks.We wondered if they were going to do a silly, sexy updating of it with car chases but we knew Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) was already attached as director, which was enticing,” Straughan says. “Le Carr had also given his blessing, so that calmed us down. Straughan says he and OConnor were interested in the core concerns of the novel, especially the human cost of the Cold War, which makes up the emotional heart of the novels labyrinth. That was what we tried to hold to, always going back to the victims one way or another, he says.The couple went through the book, creating a master synopsis that ran to a scroll of five taped-together pages. They set to work alternating scenes, occasionally telephoning le Carr for advice. Straughan says le Carr encouraged them to make the film of the film, not the film of the book. Indeed, the author was less reverential about the novel than they were, encouraging them to invent new scenes, and as a result, the script moved further away from the book with each draft.My principle, which I enunciated at our first meeting before they set pen to paper, was that I am a passive resource. If you hit a problem or want to expand an idea, you call me, le Carr says. And, as if straightening out the novels twists, turns and doublings-back was not enough, Straughan and OConnor added their own flashback: a Christmas party scene where all the spies are gathered. The idea sprang from an anecdote le Carr, who used to work for British Intelligence, told them about police being called to break up an MI5 Christmas party that had gotten too rowdy, with bottles being hurled into the street. People who live in the secret world absolutely let their hair down when they have a party, the former spook says. So much inhibition for 364 days of the year; you never know what other peoples work is. Its a huge release. Le Carr remembers emailing Working Title partner Tim Bevan after he read the first draft, telling him how pleased he was: When I read Bridget and Peters first draft, it was a piece of dramatic and intellectual architecture that I could admire. Right from the start it was clear theyd done the impossible — reducing the cow to a stock cube. The novelist admits he has not been happy with other movie adaptations: Eight of his 22 novels have now been filmed, with three others adapted for television. Anton Corbijn (Control) plans to film A Most Wanted Man next. The Looking Glass War was absolutely dreadful, while The Little Drummer Girl was a total failure in every sense, le Carr says. Straughan and OConnor, on the other hand, provided a seamless collaboration. … I think they did it splendidly. (Peter Straughan and Oldman/le Carr photos: Getty Images)

Comedy Central Greenlights Stand-Up Series Hosted By T.J. Miller

EXCLUSIVE: Comedy Central has greenlighted Mash Up, a new, half-hour stand-up series hosted by actor-comedian T.J. Miller and directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The show, which has received an 8-episode order, features performance by both established comics as well as up-and-comers as theyact out their own material in hilarious, stylized recreations and sketches. Mash Up started off as a Comedy Central stand-up special hosted by Miller, which aired on March 11 at midnight and featured appearances by comedians Matt Braunger, Hannibal Buress, Kyle Kinane and Kumail Nanjiani. But the project’s origins can be traced back to 2004 in Chicago with Braunger, Kinane, Miller, Nanjiani and other comedians pitching Vogt-Roberts ideas for online videos. Vogt-Roberts proposed adding visualized elements to make the clips more dynamic. After the videos netted millions of online views and screened at festivals, the idea eventually found its way to Comedy Central, which ordered a special and now a series, which will be executive produced by Miller, Vogt-Roberts and 3 Arts David Miner and Dave Becky. Since the special aired, actor-comedian Miller did a Comedy Central stand-up specialNo Real Reason, which premiered in November, and was cast as the co-lead in the Fox comedy pilot Little Brother.

Pilots Overwhelmingly AFTRA for 4th Year in a Row

Once again, TV pilots are being overwhelmingly produced under AFTRA jurisdiction, with that union covering at least 80% of this season's broadcast network pilots, a study by "The Hollywood Reporter" has determined.That continues a pattern that began in late 2008 and early 2009, when SAG was working without a contract and operating under an administration that threatened a strike. Although SAG's leadership has changed since then, the trend continues, even though AFTRA's minimums are 3.5% higher than SAG's. The 2009 pilot figures were a 180 degree switch from the previous year's, when SAG had about a 90% share.Pilot figures are a harbinger of series pickups: in recent years, AFTRA's share of pilots that went to series was similar to its percentage share of pilots themselves.The AFTRA figures are a slight dip from the numbers in recent years, which were 87% (2011), 98% (2010) and between 87%-94% (2009). (Variations in the 2009 figure result from differences in calculation methods.)The shift in work benefits AFTRA by increasing the number of members and total membership dues, and increasing employer contributions to the union's health and retirement funds. SAG is conversely disadvantaged.AFTRA members also benefit from the union's higher minimums. The union and its H&R fund benefit from this too, since union working dues and employer H&R contributions depend on member earnings. The 3.5% differential began when AFTRA reached agreement on a contract with the studios in May 2008, but SAG failed to do so until about a year later.However, actors who work in both film and television can suffer as a result of the migration of TV work to AFTRA. An apparently increasing number of them find that with their earnings split between two unions, they fail to achieve qualifying earnings levels in either union. That means they may not qualify for health insurance or for a credit towards vesting their pensions.Supporters and opponents of SAG/AFTRA merger draw very different conclusions from the pilot figures. Supporters point to the split earnings problem as a reason to merge, since that would eliminate the problem, if and when the two unions' health and/or pension plans also merge. Supporters within SAG also argue that merger is the only way to stop the loss of SAG television work.Merger opponents insist that the shift is a deliberate campaign by producers to weaken SAG because of what they describe as the guild's stronger negotiating stance against management. Opponents accuse AFTRA of colluding with the producers in this effort. The claims seem to be made by inference: opponents do not appear ever to have publicly produced any emails or memos from producers or AFTRA that would support their argument.Key merger opponents were also the leaders of SAG in 2008 and early 2009 and it was their decision to resist a deal with the studios that led to the flight of pilots to AFTRA. That would seem to put the initial responsibility for this shift squarely on their shoulders. However, it's unclear why AFTRA's share of pilot production has stayed at such high levels three years after control of SAG shifted to the pro-merger faction.The THR analysis is based on figures provided by the unions at THR's request, as well as an examination of breakdowns released on Breakdown Services' Breakdown Express Database, and a pilot tracking list prepared by veteran agent Christopher Barrett, president of Metropolitan Talent Agency, and his staff.The three sets of figures yielded slightly different results, but all showed AFTRA with at least 80% of network broadcast pilots: THR's review of breakdowns issued as of Sunday for ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC projects found 51 AFTRA pilots and 12 SAG, or 81% AFTRA and 19% SAG.Breakdowns are notices from casting directors requesting agents to submit talent for various roles, which are described by age and characteristics. The information in a breakdown usually also includes the applicable union, network, production company, format, show description (log line) and the like.In addition to the 63 pilots accounted for (51+12), there are also 2 pilots indicating that choice of union was yet to be determined. All of the pilots are live action, except an untitled Demetri Martin animated show for Fox, which indicated nothing about union status. Several of the pilots have been ordered straight to series.There are about 88 pilots being cast or produced this season (based on MTA tracking supplemented with press reports in the last several days), meaning that there are no Breakdown Services breakdowns for about 22 pilots.Why the missing breakdowns? MTA's Barrett told THR that some producers and casting directors cast their pilots by sending breakdowns directly to a targeted list of agencies, rather than the wider distribution reached by Breakdown Services. In addition, some pilots may have yet to issue breakdowns, or may yet decide to use Breakdown Services if targeted circulation did not successfully cast all roles.The network by network figures are: ABC 11 AFTRA, 4 SAG, 1 tbd, 10 no breakdowns, for a total of 25 pilots; CBS 9 AFTRA, 2 SAG, 1 tbd, 4 no breakdowns, 16 total; The CW 4 AFTRA, 1 SAG, 2 no breakdowns, 7 total; Fox 8 AFTRA, 1 SAG, 5 no breakdowns, 1 unspecified, 15 total; NBC 19 AFTRA, 4 SAG, 1 no breakdown, 24 total; and total figures 51 AFTRA, 12 SAG, 2 tbd, 22 no breakdowns, 1 unspecified, 88 grand total. AFTRA figures as of Thursday indicated 80% AFTRA and 20% SAG. This was based on 24 ordered pilots as confirmed AFTRA and 6 SAG, out of 68 confirmed pilots ordered. AFTRA had no information on 38 pilots that were ordered.As for the difference between 68 pilots ordered and 86 pilots being produced i.e., 18 pilots Barrett explained that casting directors may issue breakdowns before a network has picked up the pilot. A few of those pilots may then fall through, i.e., not achieve a network order. For instance, one of the NBC-designated pilots is on hold, according to MTA's tracking. SAG figures as of Friday showed 9 SAG pilots ordered, out of a total of 68 ordered. SAG did not have figures on how many ordered pilots were AFTRA. However, if all of the remainder were AFTRA, the result would indicate 87% AFTRA and 13% SAG.Although pilot season is dominated by the five broadcast networks, there are some 38 basic cable and pay TV (premium cable) projects being cast as well. Of these, 10 are AFTRA and 4 SAG, or 71% AFTRA and 19% SAG. There are also two pilots being produced for new media: Netflix's "House of Cards" starring Kevin Spacey, which is under AFTRA jurisdiction, and Machinima.com's "Rapid Eye Movement," under the SAG new media agreement. The Netflix pilot is part of a series order of 26 episodes, for which Netflix successfully bid about $100 million last March. The show is produced by Media Rights Capital.In an unusual move, two half-hour multi-camera basic cable pilots "Anger Management" (a Lionsgate pilot being produced for FX) and an untitled Cedric the Entertainer project (Hazy Mills for TV Land) are under SAG jurisdiction. That format has traditionally been an AFTRA staple.In addition, two half-hour network pilots of unknown format (single vs. multi camera) have gone SAG as well: "Partners" (Warner Bros. TV for CBS) and "Prodigy/Bully" (John Wells and Warner Bros. TV for Fox). The Hollywood Reporter

Downton Abbey Finale Preview: Love Among the Ruins

Downton Abbey "It's good to assist help remind people, love is love," states Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. And many 15 million audiences inside the U.S. and U.K. are becoming an appreciation affair while using structure-size hit, which has reinvigorated period drama and acquired raves around the globe (100 nations allow us rights to air the show). Definately not a sophomore slump, Season 2 in the scrumptious series about existence among the British gentry in addition to their servants through the First World War has extended the story's scope to accept violence in the battlefields as well as the impact in the conflict round the people both upstairs minimizing. The achieve in the drama, airing on PBS' Masterpiece Classic, has extended too. "We are getting perfectly known," Fellowes states from his home in England. (Yes, he's a 17th century country manor additionally to some London base.) "Once we won six Emmys, the was alert to us, but we'd not broken through. However, if i had been back [in La] for your Golden Globes lately, i had been stopped all the time, in shops, wherever we went. It absolutely was quite amazing." Trading time while using upper crust in the early last century can be a tonic for that troubled time, Fellowes signifies. "With this particular heads we resist the course system as well as the disempowerment a vast amount of in the population in individuals days, but concurrently, we hanker for just about any more bought world." But since the series continues, that order is dying as modernity encroaches on Downton, getting electricity and telephones, aristocratic kids demanding autonomy and employees agitating for further options. What audiences are desiring, aside from lots of costumes, the decor, contentment of the bygone era, is always to uncover if Matthew (Serta Stevens), the heir to Downton, is bound to marry the sweet Lavinia (Zoe Boyle) and forgive Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery). Will Mary finish tabs on caddish media mogul Mister Richard Carlisle (Iain Glen)? Can the downstairs couple Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) overcome apparently impossible obstacles? "We might possibly not have many sex moments, however believe we have lots of sexual feeling," states Fellowes. "We don't disassociate with the romance impulse." Season 2 remains particularly rough round the show's many sweethearts. An upsetting war injuries leaves Matthew paralyzed and impotent. Footman William married the love, reluctant kitchen maid Daisy, and rapidly gave directly into his war wounds. Bates remains torn from Anna with the sudden return of his estranged wife. And due to a near-Shakespearean comedy of errors, Mary and Matthew are usually heading toward marriage with others. Here's a review of and several scoop around the handful of within our favorite Downton couples. Anna Cruz and John BatesFor a particular pure, fierce love in many its certainty, have a look in the almighty Grantham's valet Bates and mind chambermaid Anna. "That's what helps it be so romantic," states Froggatt. "Both are absolutely one hundred percent certain another might be the main one. It's just circumstance that simply get inside their way." That circumstance might be the speaking of Vera (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Bates' vengeful, divorce-denying wife. "Anna and Bates are possibly the most effective suited as well as the least games-playing couple," states Fellowes. "Once Bates recognized he's deeply deeply in love with Anna, it's very straightforward, even though Vera [pushes] them in to a personal horror story." So, while Anna makes what Fellowes calls the "amazing gesture" of offering being Bates' mistress, there's more tragedy later on on their own account. Lady Sybil Crawley and Tom BransonSybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) features a decision to produce. If The almighty and Lady Grantham's youngest respond in kind to chauffeur Branson's transgressive relation to affection? "For Tom, it absolutely was love at first sight," states Allen Leech, who plays the Crawleys' driver. "He saw her spirit and her energy and the way she's not prepared to conform in the way the comfort in the family does. He sees change coming just before others do." The Irish revolutionary wants Sybil to hightail it with him, but they're her feelings sufficiently strong enough to disregard her family and society? "A person's heart doesn't consider rhyme or reason or perhaps the class divide, either," Leech signifies. That doesn't transform it into a cakewalk. "The problem with marriage to beneath an individual's self for your lady because period led to everything you've overlooked might be lost for you personally,In . states Fellowes. "It takes great strength of character - but Sybil is rather strong." Lady Cora and also the almighty Robert CrawleyFrom the start, "Cora was deeply deeply in love with Robert," states Elizabeth McGovern in the American heiress who saved her aristocratic husband's estate. "May possibly not are actually an appreciation match for him, but it's a union that by sheer all the best has truly prospered." All things have been shaky involving the extended-couple lately, however. While Cora finds herself controlling Downton's convalescent home for wounded vets, Robert (Hugh Bonneville) is despondent that he's considered too old for your war. "Robert has lost his feeling of a good world he's accountable for,In . McGovern states. Consequently, the Earl of Grantham "has a bit of the crisis," Fellowes states, hinting, "he falls in to a lapse of judgment." Look for some unforeseen comfort he courts inside the final episodes. Lady Mary Crawley and Matthew Crawley"It's rarely been easy between Mary and Matthew," Dockery states in the can theyOrwill not they element of the bond. "But it's what keeps the show engaging, as well as the audience is desiring [them] to acquire together." Possibly, but bad timing and miscommunication has ruled involving the would-be couple forever. "It's been apparent that Mary is stuffed with regret in what happened between her and Matthew," states Dockery of year 1 parting. "She's heartbroken." Adding to Mary's worries: "Matthew really loves Lavinia," states Stevens. "He'll also provide feelings for Mary, but his existence has changed beyond recognition, and Lavinia is an element of the change." For further on Downton Abbey, understand this week's problem of TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands Thursday, February 2! Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!