Peter Jackson in "Tintin" director's chair
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Hollywood Reporter) - The first of DreamWorks' Tintin movies will be directed by Peter Jackson, not Steven Spielberg, according to Herge Studios, which holds the rights to the vintage comic strip character.
Spielberg, who had been tabbed to direct the first installment of the would-be franchise, will now be only indirectly involved in the filming, the Brussels-based studio said.
The first film will be based on two of the books, "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure," written by Tintin creator Herge -- the pen name of Belgian artist Georges Remi -- between 1942 and 1944.
The film, scripted by Stephen Moffat, a writer on the British sci-fi series "Doctor Who," will be animated with motion-capture technology. It stars 18-year-old Thomas Sangster as the title character and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" triology, as Tintin's friend Captain Haddock.
'Murdoch Mysteries' leads Gemini noms
TORONTO - A pair of detective shows - one set in the 19th century and another that takes place in present-day suburbia - are this year's leading Gemini Award nominees.
"Murdoch Mysteries," which airs on Citytv and stars Yannick Bisson as a sleuth who solves crimes in Toronto in the late 1800s, is up for 14 of the prizes, which recognize excellence in Canadian television.
The show received nods for best dramatic series, writing, visual effects, photography, score and make-up. A host of guest stars who appeared on the program are also vying for awards.
"We're really, really excited...we're ordering quite a few bottles of champagne," said Christina Jennings, executive producer of 'Murdoch Mysteries.'
"Who would have thought a mystery series set in 1895 would capture both Canadian audiences and international audiences?"
"Durham County," in which Hugh Dillon plays a homicide detective who moves his family from Toronto to the suburbs only to discover that his neighbour may be a serial killer, nabbed 13 Gemini nominations.
Dillon is up for an acting prize, as are co-stars Helene Joy and Justin Louis. The program, which airs on The Movie Network and Movie Central, is also up for best dramatic series as well as for writing, directing, editing, sound and photography.
Jennings said that while TV audiences are well-versed in the crime genre these days, "Murdoch Mysteries" gives them some historical perspective.
"I think we all know about 'CSI,' and we've all seen these cop procedurals before," she said.
"This (show) is the beginnings of where forensics started, things that we take for granted like lie detectors...or infrared. I think the audience is interested in where all of that comes from."
In the best drama category, "Murdoch Mysteries" and "Durham County" will square off against the sexy Henry VIII drama "The Tudors," cop thriller "The Border and organized crime drama "Intelligence."
"The Tudors" received 12 nominations overall, as did "The Englishman's Boy," a miniseries based on a Guy Vanderhaeghe novel.
"The Fifth Estate" picked up 11 nods, while "The Border" and "CBC News: The National" tied with nine apiece.
The TV miniseries "Would Be Kings" picked up eight nominations and "Across the River to Motor City" and "Mayerthorpe" each collected seven.
"Marketplace," "ReGenesis," "Rent-A-Goalie" and "Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Revisited" amassed six.
Competing for best comedy will be: "Cock'd Gunns"; "Corner Gas"; "Kenny vs. Spenny"; "Odd Job Jack"; "Rent-A-Goalie"; and "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."
And, the reality show contenders are: "Canada's Next Top Model"; "Dragons' Den"; "Project Runway Canada"; "Triple Sensation"; and "The Week the Women Went."
Three nights of Gemini galas will be held on Oct. 20, 21 and 22 to hand out hardware for various categories including news, sports, documentaries and children's shows.
The main Gemini Awards show will take place in Toronto on Nov. 28.
The awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
A brief list of nominees in major categories for the 23rd Gemini Awards
Best Comedy Program or Series:
"Cock'd Gunns," (Tricon Films & Television) Andrea Gorfolova, Brooks Gray, Andy King, Shaam Makan, Leo Scherman, Morgan Waters.
"Corner Gas," (Prairie Pants Productions Inc., Verite Films, 335 Productions) David Storey, Brent Butt, Mark Farrell, Virginia Thompson, Kevin White.
"Kenny vs. Spenny," (Breakthrough Films & Television, Blueprint Entertainment) Ira Levy, Abby Finer, Noreen Halpern, Kenny Hotz, Amy Marcella, John Morayniss, Trey Parker, Spencer Rice, Kirsten Scollie, Matt Stone, Peter Williamson.
"Odd Job Jack," (Smiley Guy Studios) Jonas Diamond, Adrian Carter, Jeremy Diamond, Denny Silverthorne.
"Rent-A-Goalie," (RAG-TV-2 Inc.) Chris Szarka, Christopher Bolton
"This Hour Has 22 Minutes," (Hour Productions XV Inc.) Michael Donovan, Geoff D'Eon, Mark Farrell, Jack Kellum, Susan MacDonald, Jenipher Ritchie.
Best Dramatic Series:
"The Border," (White Pine Pictures) Peter Raymont, David Barlow, Brian Dennis, Janet MacLean.
"Durham County," (Back Alley Film Productions Ltd. /Muse Entertainment Ent. Inc.) Janis Lundman, Adrienne Mitchell, Michael Prupas.
"Intelligence," (Watcher Films) Chris Haddock, Laura Lightbown, Arvi Liimatainen.
"Murdoch Mysteries," (Shaftesbury Films Inc.) Christina Jennings, Cal Coons, Scott Garvie, Noel Hedges, Jan Peter Meyboom.
"The Tudors ," (Peace Arch Television Ltd., PA Tudors Inc., TM Productions) Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan.
Best Reality Program or Series:
"Canada's Next Top Model," (Temple Street Productions) Sheila Hockin, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg.
"Dragon's Den," (CBC) Stuart Coxe, Catherine Annau, Lisa Gabriele, Tracie Tighe.
"Project Runway Canada," (Insight Production Co. Ltd.) John Brunton, Barbara Bowlby, Andrea Webb.
"Triple Sensation," (Triple Sensation II Productions) Garth Drabinsky, Sandra Cunningham, Sari Friedland, Alex Ganetakos.
"The Week the Women Went," (Paperny Films Inc.) Cal Shumiatcher, Sally Aitken, Trevor Hodgson, David Paperny.
Best TV Movie:
"A Life Interrupted," (Incendo Smith Production Inc.) Jean Bureau, Serge Denis, Stephen Greenberg, Josee Mauffette.
"Luna: Spirit of the Whale," (Screen Siren Pictures) Trish Dolman.
"Mayerthorpe," (SEVEN24 Films, Slanted Wheel Entertainment) Jordy Randall, Tom Cox, Jon Slan.
"Sticks and Stones," (Productions Hockeyville Inc., Dream Street SS Pictures Inc.) Josee Vallee, Andre Beraud, Timothy M. Hogan, Rick LeGuerrier.
"Victor: The Victor Davis Story," (Victor Movie Productions Inc.) Bernard Zukerman.
Best Host or Interviewer in a General/Human Interest or Talk Program or Series:
Jeff Douglas, "Ancestors in the Attic - Ghost Ranch."
Jeff Douglas, "Working Over Time - Building Up."
Peter Mansbridge, "Mansbridge One on One."
Les Stroud -Survivorman - Kalahari
George Stroumboulopoulos, "The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos."
Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series:
Natalie Brown, "Sophie - Door Number Two."
Louis CK, "Just For Laughs Gala Series - Show 3."
Jon Dore, "The Jon Dore Television Show - Jon Gets Scared."
Jo Koy, "Just For Laughs Gala Series - Show 4."
Ian Sirota, "Comedy Inc. - Season 4 - Episode 4-03."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role:
Hugh Dillon, "Durham County - Life In The Dollhouse."
Justin Louis, "Durham County - What Lies Beneath."
James McGowan, "The Border - Blowback."
Peter Outerbridge, "ReGenesis - TB or not TB."
Ian Tracey, "Intelligence - A Dark Alliance."
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series:
Ben Bass, "Would Be Kings."
Nicholas Campbell, "The Englishman's Boy."
Henry Czerny, "Mayerthorpe."
Michael Eisner, "The Englishman's Boy."
David Fox, "Across the River to Motor City."
Brian Markinson, "Mayerthorpe."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role:
Kristin Booth, "MVP Secret Lives of Hockey Wives - Sudden Death."
Natalie Dormer, "The Tudors - Episode 110."
Helene Joy, "Durham County - Guys and Dolls."
Jewel Staite, "Stargate: Atlantis - Missing."
Camille Sullivan, "Intelligence - A Man is Framed."
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series:
Jordy Benattar, "Charlie & Me."
Erica Durance, "I Me Wed."
Megan Follows, "Booky and the Secret Santa."
Natasha Henstridge, "Would Be Kings."
Rachel Marcus, "Booky and the Secret Santa."
Best Newscast:
"CBC News: The National," (CBC) Jonathan Whitten, Terry Auciello, Mark Harrison, Fred Parker, Greg Reaume.
"Global National," (Global Television) Kenton Boston, Bryan Grahn, Jason Keel, Kevin Newman, Doriana Temolo.
"Global News Toronto," (Global Television Network) Ron Waksman
Best News Anchor:
Ian Hanomansing, "CBC News at Six - Vancouver."
Peter Mansbridge, "CBC News: The National."
Kevin Newman, "Global National."
CBS Pushes Back 'Survivor: Gabon' Premiere
Scrap those "Survivor" viewing parties for Thursday, Sept. 18, but get ready to schedule an extra-long gala for the following week.
CBS announced Monday (Aug. 25) that "Survivor: Gabon -- Earth's Last Eden" will now premiere on Thursday, Sept. 25 with what will be the first two-hour premiere in "Survivor" history.
As has been well-documented, the franchise's second trip to Africa will also be its first season broadcast in high definition.
The "Survivor" premiere will be followed by a rebroadcast of last season's cliffhanger finale to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
Fall Out Boy Sets 'Deux' For November
Fall Out Boy will release its fifth album, "Folie a Deux," Nov. 4 via Island, the same day as the U.S. presidential election. The project was heralded yesterday (Aug. 25) with the release of an online mixtape, "Welcome to the New Administration."
On it were five Fall Out Boy demos expected to appear on the album, including "Lake Effect Kid," "America's Sweethearts," "I Don't Care (27)," "ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac" and "Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emancipation," the latter featuring Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy.
The album's first single, which has yet to be named, will hit radio Sept. 15, sources tell Billboard.
"Folie a Deux" is the follow-up to 2007's "Infinity on High," which has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
A fall TV season with questions in the air
NEW YORK - With fall in sight, ABC is inviting viewers to stay home and watch ABC as an energy-saving measure.
For this tongue-in-cheek promotion, National Stay at Home Week begins Sept. 21 — also the official start of the 2008-09 TV season.
If only sky-high gas prices would guarantee ABC a captive audience!
Alas, it's hard to make an argument that viewers are breathlessly awaiting ABC's fall season — or any other network's. Audience buzz remains at a hush.
With the networks still reeling from the disruption of last winter's strike by screenwriters, only 17 new series have been slotted for fall — about half the usual number.
And most of them have been unavailable for preview. As the networks continue to play catch-up, few new shows have been put in front of critics, who, in other years, would have been warming up the crowd.
Not that there isn't plenty going on. Broadcast networks were already dogged by audience erosion, growing competition from cable and the Internet, and TiVo-equipped viewers who blow off the commercials.
These challenges are only intensifying now. So whatever the programming networks air this fall, there is likely to be drama, suspense and pratfalls as the networks race to adapt to a medium in flux.
Beyond that near-certainty, mostly questions prevail.
• For starters: Will viewers surprise the networks (and themselves) by discovering a hit among the limited fall prospects?
The most eagerly awaited entry is "Fringe," Fox's paranormal thriller from J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias"). It also happens to be an exception to all the new shows no one's seen yet: Its 90-minute pilot was screened for critics way back in June and for fans at Comic-Con in July. For weeks, it could be downloaded by anybody else to sample from the Internet.
No one will be sampling "90210" beforehand — by design. The premiere will be kept under wraps until its Sept. 2 airing as a "strategic marketing decision," the CW network recently announced. Thanks to that strategy, any buzz about "90210" is free to dwell on the likelihood it will fall far short of "Beverly Hills, 90210," the 1990s cultural phenomenon that spawned it.
ABC is introducing just two new series. One, "Opportunity Knocks," is a trivia-based game show. The other, a cop drama with a time-travel twist called "Life on Mars," began life as a British series. But it's not the only transplant this fall.
• Will global imports tighten their grip on the networks?
CBS' wedding woes comedy, "Worst Week," and its sci-fi crime drama, "Eleventh Hour," also have been adapted from British TV. NBC's mother-daughter comedy, "Kath & Kim," sprang from an Australian hit. CBS' "The Ex List," a romantic comedy, was inspired by an Israeli series.
They will take their place with successful imports such as NBC's British-born "The Office" and ABC's "Ugly Betty," which originated as a Spanish-language telenovela.
It's worth remembering that last fall, CBS belly-flopped with its version of the British hit "Viva Blackpool," which, transformed into "Viva Laughlin," lasted two weeks.
But for a decade, the networks have been mining reality and game-show formats from around the world with spectacular success ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Survivor" and "Big Brother" are early examples). This fall, Fox is introducing a game show called "Hole in the Wall," from Japan.
If any of the networks were to strike gold this year with scripted imports, it would likely spur an even bigger global shopping spree.
• But will more imports, or anything else, do the trick for NBC and its entertainment czar, Ben Silverman?
A 36-year-old wunderkind producer when he came to NBC Universal 16 months ago, Silverman inherited a fourth-place network whose Fall 2007 schedule was already announced.
Today, NBC, thanks to the Beijing Olympics, has crept ahead of ABC to claim third place in total viewers. But the Olympics and their explosive ratings are just a beautiful memory as NBC heads into a brand-new season, its fall schedule crafted by Silverman's team.
Although he champions an inventive multimedia-platform approach to programming, his vision of what viewers want to see is oddly derivative: "Simple themes reinvented, accessible entry points, universality," he rhapsodized when pitching the schedule last April.
But it remains to be seen whether Silverman's stated mission — providing a video respite from the harsh modern world — will placate the restless channel surfer. Or whether other networks will convert to a similar gospel.
His new fall shows include "Kath & Kim"; a remake of the 1980s man-and-his-car hit "Knight Rider"; the self-explanatory "Crusoe"; and "My Own Worst Enemy," an action drama about a family man with a split personality.
At the same time NBC unveiled its fall schedule, it also presented a schedule for midseason, reinvigorated with more new and returning series.
Other networks are also adopting this strategy of prearranged replenishment. It's aimed at minimizing reruns and refreshing the lineup in an orderly way to keep viewers on board.
• But does alerting them this far ahead to all the shows awaiting them come winter undercut the effort to excite them about fall? Will the audience suspect the networks of holding out their best stuff for midseason, stuff like Fox's spinoff from "Family Guy," an NBC comedy starring "Saturday Night Live" alum Amy Poehler, and the return of ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "24"?
Long before then, the audience will be sizing up fall entries that also include a Fox comedy about a luxury Manhattan hotel, "Do Not Disturb," and "Gary Unmarried," a CBS comedy about a guy navigating his recent divorce. CBS' drama "The Mentalist" focuses on a consultant to the cops who has a keen eye for clues but a dubious past. CW weighs in with "Privileged," about a sexy live-in tutor in posh Palm Beach, and "Stylista," a reality show where competitors vie for a job at a fashion magazine.
Still, it won't be new shows that determine the outcome of the networks' ratings race. The pivotal factor: Which network has the strongest slate of veteran series.
Several proven hits — Fox's "House," NBC's "Heroes," ABC's "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" — are now awaited by viewers with eagerness that nothing new can match.
Whether returning shows like ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money," "Pushing Daisies" and "Samantha Who?" can reclaim their initial popularity after months on ice — that's less certain.
But is anything certain as ABC sets the stage for Stay at Home Week? Right now, the networks' biggest show is a guessing game, the one they're trying to win.
Kevin Smith makes a porno with `Zack and Miri'
LOS ANGELES - Kevin Smith likes to watch porn online, not to get his jollies but to marvel at how extreme the art of exhibitionist sex can be.
"I'm a morning porn peruser, and not for the titillation factor. I just find it interesting," said Smith, whose latest comedy is "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," the tale of best friends shooting their own skin flick to dig themselves out of debt. "I'll go read Google news, I'll go read Guardian UK, go read our Web site, and then if I've got nothing else, I will just peruse the porn sites, because it's an ever-expanding world."
"Just when you see the most outlandish clip you could ever see, somebody introduces something new. I just check in periodically just to see how far porn has gone in my absence," Smith said after screening "Zack and Miri" for The Associated Press at his Los Angeles home last week.
Debuting Oct. 31, "Zack and Miri" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as lifelong buddies who have shared an apartment for years but never considered each other as potential mates.
Writer-director Smith — whose films include "Clerks," "Dogma" and "Chasing Amy" — has taken two people who have yet to realize they're a couple and cast them into a sweet little romance — with a whole lot of sex and swearing.
Profanity is almost a given for Smith, whose characters barrage one another with four-letter words.
"It turns some people off but that's how mostly everybody I know speaks," Smith said. "It's kind of strange. Whenever somebody goes, `That offends me,' I'm like, wow, what kind of weird, opposite bizarro frame of mind do you live in? Cursing is just so second nature, you don't even think of it as cursing any more. It's just your lexicon."
At the outset of the new film, Rogen's Zack and Banks' Miri have known each other so long and so well that they're almost like siblings. The twenty-something slackers blissfully share a dumpy apartment on which they're far behind on the rent and utility bills. When the electricity is turned off in the middle of winter, they burn their unpaid bills in a garbage can for heat.
A chance encounter with a gay porn actor (Justin Long) gives Zack the notion that they could make their own sex flick to pay off their debts. When he and Miri add up how much money they could clear from one dirty movie, they wonder why everyone isn't busy making porn.
"Because other people have options and dignity," Zack concludes.
They recruit an amateur cast and crew to make their porno, among them "Clerks" co-star Jeff Anderson as "cinematographer" and Jason Mewes — Jay to Smith's Silent Bob, the pair of stoners in most of his movies — as a well-endowed "actor."
The cast also includes Craig Robinson as Zack's co-worker and producer, "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh as Long's lover, and former adult-film star Traci Lords and current porn queen Katie Morgan.
The porn shoot becomes something of a loving, though lewd, re-creation of how Smith made his debut film, "Clerks," at the New Jersey convenience store at which he worked.
"Basically, it's a dressed-up version of making your first film. It just happens to be a porn film," Smith said.
Just like "Clerks," "Zack and Miri" initially was hit with an NC-17 tag by the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America. That rating prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing a movie.
Smith nipped and tucked the key objectionable segment, a comically over-the-top sex scene between Mewes and Morgan. But the ratings board held to the NC-17 designation, which Smith later got knocked down to an R rating after stating his case to the MPAA appeals board.
With the exception of one tender, tame sex scene, the porn action in "Zack and Miri" was meant to be outrageous, a commentary on the impossibly silly deeds in real skin flicks, Smith said.
"It's not titillating in the least. It's comedic," Smith said. "If you're turned on by this, then we didn't do our job very well."