La Dolce Vita plays out with Italian films at Cannes. Agonizing family choice in Japanese film at Cannes ...
Sorrentino, Bruni Tedeschi bring Italy to Cannes. Paris Hilton's BF -- SHOVES FEMALE FAN at Cannes Film Festival. ...
Jozannah Quintanilla has your 1pm News Update Thanks for checking us out. Please take a look at ...
Amber Rose working out daily to lose baby weight. Robert Pattinson's Moving Out of Kristen Stewart's House. Olivia ...
Microsoft Confirms That The Xbox One Will Come With An Incredibly Sensitive New Kinect. As BlackBerry and Microsoft ...
Gawker: Barbara Garcia, a resident of Moore, Oklahoma, who survived yesterday's potentially historic tornado, was being interviewed by CBS News about riding out the storm in the bathroom of her former home. Garcia was holding on to her dog when the winds came, but after the walls fell down the two separated, and she had been unable to locate him since. Then, in the middle of the interview, little "Toto" suddenly emerged from the rubble, and the two were reunited in the most tearjerking of fashions. "Well I got God to answer one prayer to let me be okay, but he answered both of them," Garcia said.
Robert Pattinson's Moving Out of Kristen Stewart's House. 'Star Wars' to bring 'Rebels' to new animated Disney TV ...
Herbalife hires new auditors. BlackBerry shifting emphasis from smartphones to services. Glencore's top aluminum exec to leave, first ...
Hot 97 Radio host Ebro Darden, who revealed on Monday that he had emailed the music mogul to ...
Trenda Purcell reunites with her son Kamden after a massive tornado struck his school in Moore, Oklahoma. Purcell ...
La Dolce Vita plays out with Italian films at Cannes. Agonizing family choice ...
Sorrentino, Bruni Tedeschi bring Italy to Cannes. Paris Hilton's BF -- SHOVES FEMALE ...
Jozannah Quintanilla has your 1pm News Update Thanks for checking us out. ...
Amber Rose working out daily to lose baby weight. Robert Pattinson's Moving Out ...
Microsoft Confirms That The Xbox One Will Come With An Incredibly Sensitive New ...
Gawker: Barbara Garcia, a resident of Moore, Oklahoma, who survived yesterday's potentially historic tornado, was being interviewed by CBS News about riding out the storm in the bathroom of her former home. Garcia was holding on to her dog when the winds came, but after the walls fell down the two separated, and she had been unable to locate him since. Then, in the middle of the interview, little "Toto" suddenly emerged from the rubble, and the two were reunited in the most tearjerking of fashions. "Well I got God to answer one prayer to let me be okay, but he answered both of them," Garcia said.
Robert Pattinson's Moving Out of Kristen Stewart's House. 'Star Wars' to bring 'Rebels' ...
Herbalife hires new auditors. BlackBerry shifting emphasis from smartphones to services. Glencore's top ...
Hot 97 Radio host Ebro Darden, who revealed on Monday that he had ...
Trenda Purcell reunites with her son Kamden after a massive tornado struck his ...
Boston bomb brothers more American than Chechen. Irish opposition calls for multinational corporations ...
Irish PM says U.S. Senate's Apple tax claims incorrect. SAC's Martoma says U.S. ...
Irish opposition calls for multinational corporations to face parliament. Senate Panel Hammers Apple ...
Vodafone to Spend Verizon Dividend on Business. Stock indexes flip between gains and ...
Vodafone to Spend Verizon Dividend on Business. Samsung's Galaxy S4 Active leaks again. ...
Italian business owner Marcello Di Finizio protests at the government and over the ...
Ireland says not to blame for Apple's low tax rate. Vodafone says it ...
Stocks: Focus on Apple and JPMorgan. Sprint Ups Its Offer For Clearwire Shares ...
Sprint Ups Its Offer For Clearwire Shares To Around $2.5B. Nokia video ad ...
Stocks: Focus on Apple and JPMorgan. Apple accused of seeking 'the Holy Grail ...
Season 2 Episode 4 - Katie scrambles when she can't find a sponsor ...
Katie's Alice-In-Wonderland themed party goes unexpectedly dark. Thanks for checking us out. ...
Katie goes back to her roots by performing standup comedy. Thanks for ...
Katie ponders opening a second salon in Miami. Thanks for checking us ...
Katie returns to her hometown to recieve the key to the city. ...
Katie gives birth to Suri, becomes a fashion icon and starts a clothing ...
Tom and Katie become TomKat, but Tom's controlling ways become evident. Thanks ...
Seventeen fashion bestie Mary Alice Stephenson talks about Lucy Hale's Seventeen cover shoot. ...
Lucy Hale plays a fun word association game with Seventeen. Thanks for ...
See what you voted Lucy to wear in her Seventeen magazine cover shoot. ...
The Weinstein Company has acquired the rights to "Passengers," an upcoming sci-fi film starring Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon, according to multiple individuals with knowledge of the deal. The movie won't begin filming for at least a few months, and TWC plans to release it next year.
Reeves will star as a passenger on a spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant planet. Due to a malfunction in a sleep chamber, he awakens years before anyone else. All alone on the vessel, he decides to wake up another passenger (Witherspoon).
The concept and script have been popular for a few years, but the package for it did not come together until the past few months with both Reeves and Witherspoon signing on in the past month and a half.
"Game of Thrones" director Brian Kirk will make his feature directing debut from a script by "Prometheus" writer Jon Spaihts. Wayfare Entertaiment will finance and produce the film. Wayfare's Ben Browning will produce with Reeves and Stephen Hamel.
CAA handled the domestic rights while Exclusive Media is still shopping the movie overseas.
Headed into the festival Exclusive Media international sales chief Alex Walton described the movie as "big in terms of scale and ambition, and more than that, a big movie in terms of commercial potential."
The Weinstein Company has bought into that, with Deadline, which first reported the acquisition, claiming that TWC paid several million for the rights with a much larger marketing commitment. The New York-based company already plopped down $6 million for Stephen Frears' "Philomena" and also acquired "Suite Francaise."
VH1's documentary series, "I'm Married to a…" focuses on couples with a bit of a twist to them.
Episodes feature people in relationships with a quadriplegic, a cross-dresser, a gay Mormon and a dominatrix, for example. So, you'd think that a young man dating an older woman would be on the tamer side. You'd think...
Also read: VH1 Sets 'Gossip Table' for June 3
On Tuesday's new episode, you'll meet 24-year-old Antoine and 41-year-old Towana, an energetic couple who has very little problem with their age difference. But just like any couple on the series, things get complicated when they deal with the opinions of those outside their relationship looking in.
Find out about their dramatic meeting in TheWrap's exclusive preview below.
"I'm Married to a…" airs at 10 p.m./9c on VH1.
ESPN is laying off a large number of employees, but won't say how many. The sports site Deadspin reported the layoffs to be in the hundreds.
An insider at ESPN told TheWrap that Deadspin's early report of more than 400 people being let go was "wrong and high." The source said the cuts would come from existing jobs and from not filling open jobs.
Deadspin also cited an ESPN source who said the early 400-plus estimate was high.
"We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive," ESPN said in a statement.
The company, based in Bristol, Conn., has 4,000 U.S. employees and 3,000 in the rest of the world. The company is 80 percent owned by Disney, through ABC, and is 20 percent owned by Hearst Corp.
The layoffs come as ESPN's costs have gone up in part because of increasing rights fees and as Disney looks for ways to increase efficiency overall.
ESPN is looking to cut costs not tied to future growth. But it still plans to hire people in other areas, including at its recently announced SEC network.
Disney recently reported a 10 percent jump in quarterly revenues and a 36 percent hike in profits for the first three months of the year, with growth in ESPN's affiliate revenues and advertising revenues helping to off-set sluggishness at ABC.
Disney's cable revenues jumped 9 percent to nearly $3.5 billion, while operating income rose 15 percent to $1.7 billion.
In November, Forbes declared ESPN "the world's most valuable media property" after research firm Wunderlick Securities estimated its value at $40 billion.
But that hasn't kept ESPN from being cost-conscious. According to what Deadspin said was an internal memo last month, operations manager Severn Sandt asked employees covering the X Games in Brazil not to seek overtime for working a little late, and invited them to work an hour or so for free. It also asked them not to take free water bottles home from work.
Barry Diller and Alkiviades "Alki" David have agreed to put an end to a legal brouhaha that has vaguely amused the entertainment industry since last August.
InterActiveCorp (IAC) boss Diller and FilmOn honcho David have entered a settlement agreement over a lawsuit stemming from David's BarryDriller.com website.
Also read: Aereo, Enemy of Broadcast Networks, Raises $38M to Expand Into 22 Cities
As part of the settlement, which dismisses all claims from both parties with prejudice, David is barred from using the phrases "Barry Diller," "Barry Driller," "BarryDriller.com." "Barry Driller Inc." and/or "BarryDriller Content Systems PLC" in connection "with any commercial or business-related activity."
David is also prohibited from using "any derivative or confusingly similar variant of any of the foregoing terms, or any other aspect of the trademarks, name, voice, likeness or any other indicia of identity of Plaintiff Barry Diller."
Also read: Barry Diller Sues Copycat Site BarryDriller.com
Diller and David will also pay their own legal fees and other costs associated with the suit, which will surely come as a relief to the two business moguls.
Diller filed suit against David last August, claiming that David's website BarryDriller.com, purports to offer an identical service to Aereo, which allows users to watch broadcast television over the internet. (Diller backs Aereo via IAC.) Diller's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, claimed that the similarities in service, combined with the fact that BarryDriller.com is nearly identical to Diller's name, meant that BarryDriller.com is attempting to "associate their service with plaintiff."
"The terms 'BarryDriller.com,' 'BarryDriller' and 'Barry Driller' are substantially similar to Plaintiff's name, 'Barry Diller,' and are therefore likely to mislead consumers into believing that there is an association between Plaintiff and 'BarryDriller.com' when in fact there is not," the lawsuit read.
Diller can now focus on the other legal saga surrounding Aereo. The company -- which plans to expand to 22 other cities, after initially being available only in New York City -- is fighting copyright-infringement suits from the broadcast networks. So far, Aereo has weathered the legal challenges, with a judge shooting down the network's request to block the service. Last week, Aereo filed a motion for summary judgment on the complaints.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
JS Communications has agreed to a $300,000 breakup fee for its role as stalking horse bidder in the March sale of bankrupt visual-effects company Rhythm & Hues Studios, according to court filings.
The two companies have agreed to a settlement on a lawsuit stemming from the auction, but it still must be approved by a bankruptcy court judge. A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for June 4 in Los Angeles. As part of the deal, both companies are waving claims against each other, according to court filings.
Rhythm & Hues has won Oscars and acclaim for its work on films like "Life of Pi" and "Babe," but the Calif.-based firm struggled to compete with foreign companies based in countries that offer lucrative production incentives. It filed for bankruptcy in February, reporting that it had $27.5 million in assets and roughly $33.8 million in liabilities.
The company was sold to an affiliate of Prana Studios. As part of the company's auction, South Korean media company JS Communications agreed to serve as its stalking horse bidder. However, JS Communications withdrew its bid before the auction was held. Its chief executive officer told the Los Angeles Times at the time that the company's creditors were not being cooperative.
In bankruptcy cases, a stalking-horse bidder is selected from a pool of bidders so a financially distressed company can ensure that its assets are not undersold at auction. The stalking-horse bid represents the lowest acceptable offer.
Rhythm & Hues maintained that because JS Communications had pulled its bid, it no longer was entitled to a $425,000 break up fee. In court filings, JS Communications claimed it was unjustly denied its money and accused Rhythm & Hues of attempting to shut it out of the bidding process.
In a court hearing last March, Evan Jones, an attorney for JS Communications told Judge Neil W. Bason that the auction was not done in good faith, labeling the sale as a bag of "smelly goods."
In particular, Jones said that Rhythm & Hues had changed the terms of the auction, so bidders would be encouraged to submit a lower cash component while assuming more of its liabilities. Under the terms of the stalking horse bid, the breakup fee was triggered if they were outbid by at least $525,000.
An attorney for JS Communications declined to comment on the settlement and a spokesman for Rhythm & Hues did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
The Xbox One was just unveiled at Microsoft's Redmond campus and, true to multiple reports that circulated before the official reveal, the new console will indeed come with a Kinect.
And what a Kinect it is! The rumors of a vastly improved Kinect sensor array were right on the money -- this next-generation model is capable of tracking motions as minute as wrist rotations, and Microsoft's Marc Whitten said the new Kinect would even be able to read users' heartbeats when they're exercising or when players shift their weight.
Steven Soderbergh tonight unveils what he says is his final feature film Behind The Candelabra. The film explores the secret father/son/lover relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his valet Scott Thorson. It’s playing in competition here at Cannes, even though HBO will premiere it in the U.S. on Sunday before it gets a traditional overseas theatrical release. If that seems complex, it fits Soderbergh, a true maverick who has always been up for putting himself on the line for disruptive, ground breaking fare. The That began with sex, lies and videotape. That movie won the Audience Award at Sundance and the Palm d’Or at Cannes before grossing nearly $25 million in 1989. It is viewed as the picture that turned indie film into a viable business. “He is the father of this movement,” said Harvey Weinstein, who distributed the film. “Before him, there was no independent movie that did more than $5 million. This was the one that went out, almost wide, in the summer where they said these films could not play, and broke the art house ghetto.” Two Oscars (for directing Erin Brockovich and Traffic) later, and a career that spanned every genre and enterprising release strategy (he aroused the ire of theater owners by road testing the day and date release platform that is now a Sundance deal staple), the 50-year old Soderbergh ... Read More »
When the '60s procedural "Ironside" is revived on NBC this fall, the setting will move from San Francisco to New York and the lead character will be African-American. But one thing hasn't changed: The actor playing Ironside can still walk from his wheelchair when the director yells cut.
The colorblind casting is ironic to some disabled actors -- who say having a walking actor play a paraplegic is as offensive as blackface.
"This would be like being in the '50s and having a white guy do blackface, at this point," said "Sons of Anarchy" star Kurt Yaeger (left), an actor and pro BMX rider who lost his left leg after a motorcycle accident. "You need to start having disabled people playing disabled characters. Period."
Also Read: Kurt Yaeger's Guest Blog: My SyFy Experience with Director Jim Wynorski
NBC declined to comment to TheWrap on the "Ironside" casting, and on whether any disabled actors auditioned for the role, which went to Blair Underwood. But five disabled actors who spoke to TheWrap said film and television should at least give them a chance to play characters whose struggles they truly understand.
See photos: 20 Physically Disabled Characters Played by Able-Bodied Actors
Their point comes ahead of a 2013-14 television season in which NBC is putting three disabled characters front and center. "The Family Guide" features sighted actor J.K. Simmons as a blind lawyer, and "The Michael J. Fox Show" addresses the actor's real battle with Parkinson's, a disease of the nervous system that causes tremors and limits motor control.
All are part of a trend toward greater visibility for characters with disabilities. They include the paraplegic chorus geek played by Kevin McHale on Fox's "Glee"; Terry O'Quinn's John Locke on ABC's "Lost," and a man with paralyzing muscular dystrophy played by D.J. Qualls on FX's "Legit." All the actors are able bodied.
See videos: NBC Previews of 'Ironside,' 'Dracula,' 'Michael J. Fox Show'
They follow the path of Daniel Day-Lewis, who won his first Oscar for playing a quadriplegic man with cerebral palsy in 1990's "My Left Foot," and Raymond Burr, who played the original "Ironside."
Besides Michael J. Fox, some of the only people detailing their own physical struggles onscreen are the women in Sundance's docuseries "Push Girls," which returns for its second season June 3.
Auti Angel (right), a paralyzed actress and muscian on the show, wonders why shows don't want the perspective of an actor who is disabled -- or as she prefers, "differently abled."
"What are they afraid of?" she asked. "There are so many extremely talented individuals who are performing artists with a different ability."
Angel's fellow "Push Girls" star, Angela Rockwood (below, left), says she doesn't object to "Ironside" because the drama, like her show, challenges perceptions of how those in wheelchairs should look and act. All of the "Push Girls" are young, glammed-up, and athletic.
The five actors who spoke with TheWrap said they all believe the best actor should win a role -- as long as disabled actors are given an opportunity to compete. And they said there are circumstances in which it makes sense to use an actor who can walk.
Larry Sapp, a paralyzed independent filmmaker who is campaigning against the "Ironside" reboot with the Facebook page "Don't Shoot Ironside," said he believes O'Quinn's casting on "Lost" was a case where it was reasonable to use an actor who can walk.
"That is legitimate," he said. "You had to get an able-bodied actor to play that role because 90 percent of his role was walking around on that island."
But Robert Romani, an actor born with spina bifida who has appeared as a featured background player in shows including "Castle," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and NBC's "Law & Order: SVU," said almost no role needs to be off-limits.
"Any director worth his salt can use a stand in," Romani (right) said.
Networks often say they need to cast big names. But there lies a Catch-22: There won't be any disabled stars until disabled actors are given prominent roles.
Sapp cited a report that claimed NBC's pickup of "Ironside" was contigent on Underwood playing the lead. While members of Hollywood's tight-knit disabled community interviewed by TheWrap could rattle off names of disabled ctors they felt were capable of taking on the role, none could say if any -- like Mitch Longley ("Las Vegas"), Robert David Hall ("CSI") and Daryl 'Chill' Mitchell ("Brothers") -- had been asked to audition.
Tobias Forrest, an actor and rock singer who became a paraplegic after a diving accident at the Grand Canyon 15 years ago, commends "Glee" for giving him a shot at McHale's role. He was called back several times to read for it.
"Ultimately, my gripe is I need to be able to get into the room, at least," Forrest (left) said. "And if it's something that close to my life, then the opportunity to go into the room to win them over is really what we're looking for."
Yaeger said disabled characters should get to play disabled characters -- and not just disabled characters.
"I want disabled characters being played by disabled people, but i also want characters that were written as able-body to be played by disabled actors," Yaeger added.
Also read: It Took a 'Blind' Director to Look Past Casting Me ... an Amputee
Ray Bradford, SAG-AFTRA's former national director for policy and diversity advocacy, and independent feature film casting director Pam Dixon agreed it's much more difficult for disabled performers to find success in Hollywood, but wouldn't blame it on discrimination. Instead, they both emphasized the word "exclusion."
"Every group over the decades has come from a place of exclusion to, little by little, inclusion," Bradford said. "When it comes to performers with disabilities, there has been progress, but there's still a long way to go."
Dixon, who was once the senior vice president of casting at ABC, says part of the problem is that there aren't many places where casting directors and producers can find disabled talent. The Los Angeles' Media Access Office -- a once-rich resource for talent -- has closed and many disabled actors aren't represented by agents or managers.
See photos: The New Shows of 2013-2014 TV Season
Dixon hopes to launch a possible solution this summer in the form of ActorsAccess.com -- a database of all disabled actors, which will work in conjunction with industry-leading casting tool Breakdown Services. And it's "inclusive," meaning able-bodied actors can register for the service, too.
"You have to win on your talent, but if you don't have the opportunity, you can't do it," Dixon told TheWrap.
Hollywood's disabled actors also realize that a good portion of their opportunities depend on writers. And since writers write what they know, the first step is helping them get to know more about people with disabilities.
"The second step is to allow us to come in," Rockwood said. "And if we're not good enough, then by all means, go out and hire an able-bodied actor to play the role."
While we don't have all of the details on the new Xbox Live features announced at today's XBox One launch, it's clear that Microsoft is going all-in when it comes to social and multiplayer gaming. First, they are upping the number of dedicated servers for online play from 15,000 to 300,000 and that nearly all of your content and game data will be store in the cloud.
Now leading the pack in gaming consoles, Microsoft's future growth lies outside the gaming sphere. We'll surely see tons of games at E3 in a few weeks, but at the big reveal of the Xbox One, the company chose to focus on non-gaming features, such as media streaming and Skype conversations.
But what makes streaming and entertainment a true upgrade on the Xbox One, which already has access to almost all streaming platforms? Instant Switching. It allows you to switch between inputs, games, menus, internet explorer, and almost anything else almost instantly. And what's more, it lets you layer the the power of Microsoft partnerships and information across live TV.
Disney has released yet another trailer for blockbuster hopeful, "The Lone Ranger," and it's the most action-packed yet.
Bing bang booms and Old West villains galore fill the latest look at Armie Hammer rising from the dead to ride alongside Johnny Depp as Tonto after a gang of outlaws that killed his brother.
See video: 'Lone Ranger' Trailer: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer Debut Footage at CinemaCon
The $215 million production is said to be one of the summer movie season's wild card, given the titular hero's better known competition like Superman, Iron Man and X-Men character, Wolverine. If the movie from "Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski comes loaded with more high-octane action like this, however, Depp's star power shouldn't be the only draw for audiences.
Microsoft’s Don Mattrick pulled back the curtain on the Xbox One at a live event at the company’s Redmond campus, and it wasn’t long at all before the talk turned to software. One application in particular has been the subject of speculation for months, and SVP Yusuf Mehdi confirmed that Skype (which, if you recall, Microsoft acquired for $8.5 billion nearly two years ago) is part of the Xbox One experience. As you might imagine, the Xbox One Skype application allows users to participate in group video chats with their fellow users using the Kinect camera — so there are opportunities for a natural type of ongoing conversation, one that won’t require you to chat for thirty minutes and then disconnect. This could be an “always on” situation. You can answer a call by saying “Xbox, answer call” and then the video screen slides in from the right. Since the Xbox One aims to be your all-in-one “Home Entertainment System,” Skype is going to play a huge role in the overall experience. The demonstration showed a group Skype conversation happening while watching a video, with video quieting down a bit once the call is connected. Microsoft has always talked about being the hub of the living room, and it seems like the newly announced Xbox One is the device which brings its vision to reality. The game-changer with this Skype integration is that you can watch a television show or play a game while carrying on a conversation. This has been attempted, mostly as a “second screen experience,” but to make this a seamless reality is a huge step forward for Microsoft. Up until now, you were constrained to the functionality of a particular game supporting voice chat, but this gives you a more personal experience no matter what you’re doing on your Xbox.
