News

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock,...

Cary Fukunaga‘s “Maniac” has received a 10-episode series order from Netflix. The comedy, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, is based on a Norwegian series about a mental patient who lives in a fantasy world inside his mind. Stone and Hill will reunite after previously starring together in “Superbad,” to play patients at the same institution. Fukunaga will direct all the episodes. The series hails from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content, and no writer is attached Fukunaga, Stone and Hill will serve as executive producers alongside Michael Sugar and Doug Wald of Anonymous. Ashley Zalta will co-executive produce. Also Read: Jeremy Renner Says Taking.

Exclusive: Using aliases and fake credentials, two con men have been posing as licensed studio teachers for years, Deadline has learned, giving them access to child actors employed on dozens of low-budget movies and student film projects. In a bizarre coincidence, both men — Kent Linker and Fred Robbins — claimed to be Marty Carlin, an accredited and respected teacher who, at age 83, is retired from on-set work with kids.

California has strict labor laws governing the accreditation of studio teachers responsible not only for educating children working on film and TV productions but also with ensuring their safety and welfare on the set. That includes protecting them from characters like Linker and Robbins.

“It’s especially scary that these impostors are working so much on student films, because you have to wonder what their motivation is,” said Anne Henry, co-founder of BizParents, a nonprofit child actors advocacy group. “They couldn’t be getting paid much,...

Welcome to 2013 everyone! Hopefully this is the year that I finally get that hoverboard I’ve wanted since 1989. This week’s featured Blu-Ray, Looper, is dominating the sales charts along with (surprise!) The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight Trilogy. The latest James Bond film, Skyfall, doesn’t get a home release for at least another month, but it’s already making a not-so-secret-agent showing on the Pre-Order charts.

This week, watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt act like a young Bruce Willis in Looper, Cosmopolis will confuse and dismay Twilight fans everywhere, and the FX network’s hit show Justified gets its third season released in glorious gun-smoking Blu-Ray.

Ready for this week’s top releases? Then read on.

Looper

Release Date: December 31st, 2012

Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, and Jeff Daniels.

Director: Rian Johnson

A critically-acclaimed science fiction action film that was selected as the opening...

Here’s what hits stores this week.

Boom! Studios

28 Days Later Volume 6 Homecoming Tp, $12.99

7 Warriors #2 (Of 3), $3.99

Farscape Volume 6 Compulsions Tp, $12.99

Insurrection V3.6 Tp, $14.99

Irredeemable #1 (John Cassaday Artist Edition Cover), $3.99

Operation Broken Wings 1936 #2 (Of 3), $3.99

Reading Comics Postcard Book Tp, $11.95

Roger Langridge’s Snarked #3, $3.99

Dark Horse Comics

Baltimore The Curse Bells #5 (Of 5), $3.50

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #4 (Georges Jeanty Variant Cover), $2.99

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #4 (Steve Morris Regular Cover), $2.99

Flash Gordon Comic Book Archives Volume 5 Hc, $49.99

Kull The Cat And the Skull #3 (Of 4), $3.50

Occultist #2 (Of 3), $3.50

Orchid #3, $3.50

PC Cast’s House Of Night #2 (Of 5), $2.99

Star Wars Agent Of The Empire Iron Eclipse #1 (Of 5)(Stephane Roux Regular Cover), $3.50

Star Wars Agent Of The Empire Iron Eclipse #1 (Of 5)(Dave Wilkins Variant Cover), $3.50

Star Wars Episode I Adventures Tp, $7.99

Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace Tp, $7.99

Strain #1 (Of 11)(Mike Huddleston Regular Cover), $1.00

Strain #1 (Of 11)(Steve Morris Variant Cover), $3.50

Turok Son Of Stone Aztlan Volume 1 Tp,...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and special items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

Andrews McMeel

Dilbert How’s That Underling Thing Working Tp, $12.99

Antarctic Press

Gearhearts Steampunk Glamor Revue #1, $3.99

Gold Digger Christmas Special #5, $3.50

Very Zombie Christmas #3, $3.50

Arcana Studio

Scrooge And Santa Gn (resolicited)(not verified by Diamond), $14.95

Archaia Entertainment

Cyclops #7, $3.95

Everlast Hc, $19.95

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Hc, $19.95

Killing Pickman Hc (resolicited), $24.95

Secret History #17, $5.95

Sigh Hc, $10.95

Tale Of Sand Hc, $29.95

Archie Comics

Archie Cyber Adventures Tp (not verified by Diamond), $9.95

Archie Double Digest #224, $3.99

Mega Man #8, $2.99

Sonic The Hedgehog Select Volume 4 Zone Wars Tp, $11.95

Avatar Press

Stitched #2 (Mike Wolfer Regular Cover), $3.99

Stitched #2 (Mike Wolfer Gore Cover), $3.99

Stitched #2 (Mike Wolfer Wraparound Cover), $3.99

Stitched #2 (Movie Photo Variant Cover), Ar

Black Library

Faith And Fire Mmpb (Warhammer 40K)(New Edition), $8.99

Hammer And Anvil Mmpb (Warhammer...

CBS is taking aim at a television classic. The network is rebooting the Chuck Connors series "The Rifleman," the late-1950s ABC Western about Civil War vet and widower Lucas McCain, who takes his son and his hot-rodded Winchester rifle and settles in the New Mexico territory of North Fork, an individual familiar with the project confirms to TheWrap. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" director Chris Columbus will be directing the project, with "Shutter Island" scribe Laeta Kalogridis and "Drive Angry" writer Patrick Lussier on board to write. CBS Television Studios and Carol...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.

Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...

Fuquay-varina - It was a speedy two days with major stars dropping into my neighborhood.

On a Thursday night the man who made predicted FedEx arrived at a Durham library. Mister McFeely (David Newell) still fits in his Speedy Delivery uniform and hat as he greeted Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fans of all ages. Most of the ages were under seven. Luckily I had brought along a little kid in order not to stick out.

McFeely was at the end of a weeklong tour around the state to touch base with the kids. Lately whenever any star of kid focused tv shows comes to town, it’s part of some over inflated media spectacular stage show at the sports arena. There’s singing, dancing, indoor fireworks and motorcycle stunts meant to dazzle a three year old. Plus there’s a $18 convenience charge on the tickets. But this was not McFeely’s type of entertainment.

Omg! I was so saddened to hear this news this afternoon. One of the greatest television creators, Stephen J. Cannell, has passed away today at 68 due to complications associated with melanoma. Here is a statement his family made to the press:

“Aside from being a legendary television producer and prolific writer, Stephen was also a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, and a loyal friend. Mr. Cannell is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 46 years, Marcia, their three children, Tawnia, Chelsea and Cody and three grandchildren. Stephen was the pillar of strength within his family and he touched everyone he met. He will be most deeply missed. The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the American Cancer Society or The International Dyslexia Association. Details regarding his memorial service will be released.”

Cannell was renowned for his creations of shows like 21 Jump Street,...

The following is a list of Los Angeles-area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and coaches organized by category and alphabetically.Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school; address; phone and fax numbers; email address and/or website; average number of students per class; whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught; whether auditing is permitted; whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, school, or coaching are provided by the instructor of institution and edited by Back Stage.Schools of teacher who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listing, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list.  Acting Technique/Scene StudyAARON McPherson STUDIOWest Hollywood, CA aaron@aaronmcphersonstudio.comwww.aaronmcphersonstudio.com310-918-5335Class size varies, 12 max. for auditioning class, 40 max. for scene study; day...

With our favorite time of year just around the corner, Fango’s got news of a trio of literary terrors to keep you occupied throughout the fall. And if you’re partial to anthologies and short-story collections, get ready to rejoice.

First up, Running Press has just put out the third volume in its Dark Delicacies series, subtitled Haunted, and it looks to be their biggest yet. Edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb, Dark Delicacies III features 20 new works by the likes of genre legend Clive Barker, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, Masters Of Horror creator Mick Garris, Jeepers Creepers director Victor Salva, 100 Feet’s Eric Red, veteran horror scribe Richard Christian Matheson, Fango contributor Axelle Carolyn, First Blood author David Morrell and many more, with a foreword by The Shining actor Steven Weber.

Also arriving this month is Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories On The 50th Anniversary, a...

Great movies sometimes do not hit it off with the audience upon first viewing. Not even the sublime Citizen Kane found much appreciation on its release in 1941, taking over twenty years and critical re-discovery in order for everybody to agree it was a pretty special movie.

Cult films are different (and this is not a list of cult movies) – those do tend to find an audience (usually people who become hardcore fans) allowing the film to become celebrated in alternative ways – as opposed to garnering a multitude of awards.

This is a list drawn up of films I consider under-rated; overlooked; not thought about; dismissed, and so forth. I am not suggesting they should be regaled as masterpieces anointed and placed in a cinematic pantheon of greatness.

Compiling lists is very tough and as this is limited to a mere ten films, some wonderful films did not make final cut.