Tudors, Elvis Costello, triumph at Canada TV awards - Comedy

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - British actors and shows were the big winners at the Geminis, Canada's TV awards, on Saturday night.
Scotsman Robert Carlyle was named the best actor for his star turn in Syfy's "Stargate Universe".
"I feel like a stranger in the ranks here tonight. But thank you so much, I really value this dearly," said Carlyle, who plays Dr. Nicholas Rush in the sci-fi drama shot in Vancouver.
Musician Elvis Costello, took home the Gemini for best Canadian talk series for "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..."
And the night of British triumphs also saw Showtime's "The Tudors", a Canadian-Irish TV co-production about English monarch Henry VIII, named best Canadian drama.
The HBO Canada comedy "Less Than Kind", a more recognizably Canadian series about a dysfunctional family in Winnipeg, won for best comedy, best series writing and best comedy acting for Benjamin Arthur.
In other acting categories, Caroline Cave won for her performance in the home-grown drama "Crash and Burn", Cle Bennett won for best supporting actor in "The Line", and Catherine Disher took home best supporting actress honors for her star-turn in the action drama "The Border".
The ceremony was hosted by "Glee" star Cory Monteith, who was born in Calgary and who plays football player and choir member Finn in the popular American TV musical comedy.
(Editing by Jill Serjeant)
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'Megamind' tops box offices for second week - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Animated comedy 'Megamind' proved to be the best of the movie class for a second week, claiming the No. 1 spot at North American box offices with $30 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
The family-oriented comedy saw its ticket sales drop 35 percent in its second weekend in theaters, pushing its two-week total to $89.8 million and showing solid staying power for its maker DreamWorks Animation and distributor Paramount Pictures.
In second place was 20th Century Fox's runaway train movie "Unstoppable," starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It pulled in $23.5 million and was the top-grossing new release over the weekend.
Among other major new movies, thriller "Skyline" was No. 4 with $11.7 million, while comedy "Morning Glory" was just behind in the fifth spot with $9.6 million.
Buddy comedy "Due Date" from Warner Bros. was No. 3 at $15.5 million, pushing its two-week total to $59 million.
"Skyline" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric's NBC Universal media division, and "Morning Glory" was distributed by Paramount Pictures, part of Viacom Inc 20th Century Fox is a division of News Corp.
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'Megamind' tops box offices for second week - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Animated comedy 'Megamind' proved to be the best of the movie class for a second week, claiming the No. 1 spot at North American box offices with $30 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
The family-oriented comedy saw its ticket sales drop 35 percent in its second weekend in theaters, pushing its two-week total to $89.8 million and showing solid staying power for its maker DreamWorks Animation and distributor Paramount Pictures.
In second place was 20th Century Fox's runaway train movie "Unstoppable," starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It pulled in $23.5 million and was the top-grossing new release over the weekend.
Among other major new movies, thriller "Skyline" was No. 4 with $11.7 million, while comedy "Morning Glory" was just behind in the fifth spot with $9.6 million.
Buddy comedy "Due Date" from Warner Bros. was No. 3 at $15.5 million, pushing its two-week total to $59 million.
"Skyline" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric's NBC Universal media division, and "Morning Glory" was distributed by Paramount Pictures, part of Viacom Inc 20th Century Fox is a division of News Corp.
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Comedy Central cooks up Waiting TV series - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Cable network Comedy Central has given a pilot order to "Waiting," a show based on the 2005 indie film about the food service industry.
"Waiting" follows the employees at Shenaniganz chain restaurant as they gossip, make fun of customers, and avert boredom and adulthood with their antics.
The original film featured an all-star cast including Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride and Dane Cook among others.
The $3 million film grossed $16 million for Lionsgate.
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Casey Affleck joins Ben Stiller in Tower Heist - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Casey Affleck has joined the all-star cast of the action comedy "Tower Heist."
Matthew Broderick and Judd Hirsch have also been added to the Universal Pictures movie. Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe and Michael Pena were previously cast.
"Heist," directed by Brett Ratner, is about an overworked manager (Stiller) of an illustrious tower residence. He leads a team of defrauded workers in a heist of its penthouse tenant, a Bernie Madoff-type Wall Street capitalist (Alda) who pulled a Ponzi scheme and swindled the staff.
Affleck will play Stiller's friend who also works under him in the penthouse. He is a straight arrow and wants to turn Stiller and the other co-conspirators in.
Broderick will play a Wall Street-type who is actually one of the good guys; he lost his job and joins Stiller's gang.
For Affleck, the "Heist" represents his first movie since starring in this summer's indie feature "The Killer Inside Me" and the unveiling of his much-ballyhooed pseudo-documentary "I'm Still Here."
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- Longoria to host MTV show, not eyeing music career - Comedy

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria may be hosting next month's Europe Music Awards for MTV, but she has no ambition to pursue a career in pop.
The 35-year-old, best known for her portrayal of Gabrielle Solis in the hit comedy series, will be in Madrid on November 7 to take charge of the annual awards ceremony, one of the music world's biggest nights outside of the United States.
"No, I'll definitely leave the music to the professionals," she said, when asked whether she was considering a career in music.
Longoria has made a spoof rap video for the show, in which she wears a black swimsuit and at one point rhymes "host" with "French toast."
"They handed it (the script) to me the day of the recording," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"They said 'Here are you words' and I thought 'Oh my God, this is pretty terrifying."
The actress, married to basketball player Tony Parker, said her love of music, Spanish roots and previous experience at hosting shows meant she was suitably qualified to do the job.
Previous hosts of the MTV Europe Music Awards have included Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
"I have some tough competition," Longoria said, adding, "I'm excited about it and I love to be challenged in new ways.
"I love Shakira, Kings of Leon and Katy Perry and Linkin Park - the performers they have lined up are amazing."
Longoria added that part of the appeal was to "expect the unexpected and anything goes and that raises the stakes on the night."
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Actor Josh Gad sells family comedy to CBS - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Back to You" and "Woke Up Dead" actor Josh Gad is near a deal for a comedy project at CBS.
The actor-comedian landed a script deal at the network for "Adopted Family." The premise: When a teenage girl shows up on his doorstep, a man discovers his new wife has a daughter he didn't know existed.
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Jason Alexander brings screwball comedy to Song - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "They're Playing Our Song" centers on a frank, sexy and neurotic relationship, circa late '80s, that is patterned loosely on its young creators Marvin Hamlisch (a.k.a. Vernon Gersch) and Carole Bayer Sager (a.k.a. Sonia Walsk).
We're talking a little bit spunky, a little bit brassy, a lot of poetry and oceans of heart. Oh, and music played by a backstage band that would have had boomers dancing in the aisles if Westwood's Freud Playhouse had any.
Stephanie J. Block captures Sonia's newly liberated woman unleashed at full force, dressed in a dazzling succession of Kate Bergh's posthippie fantasies. Block sings, dances and engages in sex with equal good nature and aplomb. Jason Alexander's power lies in his work as a consummate screwball comedy man; it even turns out he can dance and sing.
Although writer Neil Simon's obsession with Block's former lover Leon gets tired fast, nothing stops the madly careening love affair between Vernon and Sonia, despite the fact that they are as mismatched in physique and style as they are in neurotic dynamics and tone, leading to a nonstop barrage of good-natured humor that the audience responds to with split-second, laugh-track-quality precision.
Both stars are willing to share the play, to feed the straight lines as well as deliver the punches. They also ignite sexually in quiet, intimate ways that everyone will recognize.
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Ed Asner returning to primetime TV in CMT sitcom - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Can Ed Asner do for CMT what Betty White did for TV Land?
A seven-time Emmy winner, Asner is returning to primetime television in CMT's first scripted sitcom, "Working Class."
The "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Lou Grant" star is joining previously announced lead Melissa Peterman in the series about a blue-collar single mom who moves her family to a well-to-do suburb. Asner plays her misanthropic neighbor. The show will premiere in January.
The move marks the 80-year-old actor's first regular series commitment since NBC's short-lived "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" in 2006. He also was recently cast as Warren Buffett in HBO's TV movie "Too Big to Fail."
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TV script puts gender spin on Three's Company - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox has picked up a script for a comedy series whose rather provocative name won't last beyond the development phase.
Now dubbed the untitled Liz Meriwether project, or "Chicks and Dicks," the script is described as a "reverse 'Three's Company,'"
The show is an ensemble comedy centering on an optimistic Midwestern woman who moves into a New York apartment with three juvenile guys.
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French comedy Little White Lies a little too long - Comedy

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - That time-honored configuration known as the vacation house, a trusty venue for dramatic revelations, hidden secrets and all around less-than-exemplary behavior, finds itself fully booked in "Little White Lies" ("Les petits mouchoirs").
Thanks to a sparkling ensemble headed by Francois Cluzet and Marion Cotillard, the familiar backdrop still provides ample opportunity for audience pleasing in Guillaume Canet's nicely observed dramatic comedy.
The problem is, the film, which has its world premiere at Toronto, ultimately loses much of its effervescence as it goes on -- and on -- eventually passing the two-and-a-half-hour mark. With its popular cast, that won't be a cause for concern when the picture opens in France next month, but the 154-minute length will likely be an issue for North American consumption. A tighter edit could help matters.
There are deliberate echoes of "The Big Chill," and by extension, "The Return of the Secaucus Seven" in Canet's screenplay, which has a group of mainly thirtysomethings again gathering at a lovely summer beach house, even though one of their group (Jean Dujardin) remains back in intensive care after a very serious motorcycle accident.
Not that they're going to be enjoying themselves, anyway. Their somewhat older host, Max (Cluzet) is more uptight than even usual after his good friend and chiropractor, Vincent (Benoit Magimel) informs him that he's fallen deeply in love with the successful businessman, even though both are happily married with children.
But the others have their own problems, including the pining Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) who drives the group crazy trying to decipher an ex-girlfriend's cryptic text messages; and Marie (Cotillard) an ethnologist by occupation and a commitment-phobe by reputation. Their ailing friend's absence will eventually weigh heavily on their collective conscience, but first they're going to have to confront their own respective drama.
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Easy A an intelligent high school comedy - Comedy

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - If, as the old comic apocryphally said on his deathbed, dying is easy but comedy hard, then how is it every so often a film comes along that makes comedy look so easy? Such is the case with "Easy A," a high school romp that turns a stale genre upside down with sly wit and sharp satire.
Certainly much of the credit goes to Bert V. Royal, a playwright and sometime TV writer who has crafted a smart screenplay that introduces a classical theme into contemporary youth culture. And director Will Gluck keeps the screen busy and vibrant without the current fad of attention-deficit, run-and-gun editing.
Most of all, a young actress was needed to carry the movie. Emma Stone, who has been waiting in the wings for such a starring opportunity, seizes the moment with such self-assurance and old-fashioned brio that she elevates the game of every actor who comes within her orbit. Consequently, the film is loaded with sparkling supporting performances that make the comedy oh-so-much richer.
"Easy A" has the potential to be that rare avis that connects with audiences below and above the 25-year age demarcation. But to reach that wider demographic, Screen Gems will need to market its September 17 release as a "Juno"-like offering centering on a teenage girl with whip-smart dialogue and observant humor.
The story takes place in Southern California's Ojai Valley, the film's first stroke of brilliance as this lovely oasis of natural beauty with a spirited arts colony has scarcely appeared in movies since it was used to represent Shangri-La in Frank Capra's 1939 "The Lost Horizon." The conflicting interplay of liberal sensibilities and small-town small-mindedness underscores the themes in Royal's playful script.
You might not quite buy the notion that such a pretty and intelligent student as Stone's Olive Penderghast ever flew under everyone's radar at Ojai High School. But nevermind -- once a vicious rumor races through the campus, Olive certainly takes center stage. Trouble is, she is the source of the rumor.
To cover up for a dull weekend of doing absolutely nothing, Olive tells best gal pal Rhiannon (Aly Michalka) a lurid tale about having a hot romance with a college dude; she more than hints that she lost her virginity. Gossip-hungry Rhiannon is as pleased as she is shocked, but the tale is overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), leader of the school's Jesus-freak celibates, who is merely shocked.
The scandalized teen can't wait to tweet, so the social network of Ojai High is soon abuzz over Olive's promiscuity. Discovering to her surprise that her new notoriety is more appealing than alarming, Olive decides not to deny the rumor, which leads to surprising consequences.
Another school pal, Brandon (Dan Byrd), bullied because he is gay, persuades Olive to use her bad-girl reputation to help him fake his heterosexuality. Soon other losers in the popularity games of youth come to her with propositions.
It just so happens that while this is going on, Olive's English class, taught by the charismatic Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church), is studying Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." Realizing her newfound identity with its heroine, Hester Prynne -- a public pariah because of an act of adultery -- Olive starts to wear homemade trashy clothes festooned with a bright letter "A."
Her liberal-minded and most trusting parents (Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson), latter-day hippies one can only wish to have for parents, notice this change in their daughter and do question her about her choice of attire. But they never question her judgment or behavior.
So the film makes all sorts of comic attacks on hypocrisy, social networking, peer pressure, false values and double standards. Meanwhile, parents will no doubt thrill to any teen movie that treats the loss of virginity in a negative light.
If there's any drawback it's that the comedy peaks too early in Olive and Brandon's hilarious make-out behind closed doors at a raucous party. The film never finds anything nearly that funny in the subsequent "sales" of fraudulent sexual favors by Olive to other males eager to establish their reputations as studs. And the film struggles to find anything humorous in the sad demise of Mr. Griffith's marriage to a guidance counselor (Lisa Kudrow), which indirectly involves Olive.
The entire movie is framed as a live webcast by Olive to the entire community to confess her false career as a school slut. This allows Stone's character to offer wisecracks and wisdom while commenting on this career and everyone else's character-defining response to utter nonsense. The entire screenplay is shot through with zippy one-liners and puns that might possibly make the film funnier on second viewing.
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Modern Family wins best comedy series Emmy - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rookie comedy "Modern Family" won the Emmy for the best TV comedy series on Sunday, ending the three-year reign of "30 Rock."
The show, which revolves around an extended family in Los Angeles, earlier won awards for best supporting actor and writing.
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Y tu mama tambien duo join Will Ferrell comedy - Comedy

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who worked together in "Y tu mama tambien," are joining Will Ferrell in "Casa de mi padre," a Spanish-language comedy that will be told in an overly dramatic telenovela style.
The story is being kept under wraps, but it will feature English subtitles. Garcia Bernal plays a family friend; Luna is Ferrell's brother.
Also joining the cast are Genesis Rodriguez as Ferrell's love interest, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Hector Jimenez and Adrian Martinez. "Funny or Die" veteran Matt Piedmont is directing.
Ferrell is serving as a producer. NALA Films, an arm of the investment firm run by Televisa scion Emilio Diez Barroso, is fully financing the picture.
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Top UK comedy award goes to English comic - Comedy

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain's top annual comedy prize, the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award, went to England's Russell Kane at an Edinburgh Fringe festival ceremony on the weekend for his show "Smokescreens and Castles."
The award for best comedy newcomer on the Fringe was won by 31-year-old London comedienne Roison Conaty, while the Spirit of the Fringe award went to 20-year-old American Bo Burnham, who has accumulated an audience of millions from his YouTube internet comedy broadcasts from his Boston bedroom.
Awards' producer Nica Burns said Kane, 30, from Westcliffe-on-Sea in Essex, "takes the audience by storm with his boundless energy and enthusiasm."
In his new show he "explores self, family, and the consequences of his Dad buying their council flat" in the apartment block nicknamed The Castle. The Sunday Times described the show as "bold, defiant...Shot through with vulnerability."
Conaty, from Camden in north London, told Reuters her experience on this year's Fringe had been "life changing in terms of doing a show every day ... I've learned so much."
She made her debut solo in the show "Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar."
The tall, mop-haired Burnham, who started his YouTube comedy exploits four years ago, was also short-listed for the best comedy award.
The awards were announced by star comedian Al Murray, who won the best comedy prize in 1999, and last year's winner Tim Key. Burns said the judging panel had seen 418 shows and attended nearly 1,200 performances over the past three weeks.
The Fringe, the world's largest annual showing of the arts, has fostered a galaxy of stars of theater, film and comedy since its inception alongside the city's International Festival in 1947.
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Top UK comedy award goes to English comic - Comedy

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain's top annual comedy prize, the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award, went to England's Russell Kane at an Edinburgh Fringe festival ceremony on the weekend for his show "Smokescreens and Castles."
The award for best comedy newcomer on the Fringe was won by 31-year-old London comedienne Roison Conaty, while the Spirit of the Fringe award went to 20-year-old American Bo Burnham, who has accumulated an audience of millions from his YouTube internet comedy broadcasts from his Boston bedroom.
Awards' producer Nica Burns said Kane, 30, from Westcliffe-on-Sea in Essex, "takes the audience by storm with his boundless energy and enthusiasm."
In his new show he "explores self, family, and the consequences of his Dad buying their council flat" in the apartment block nicknamed The Castle. The Sunday Times described the show as "bold, defiant...Shot through with vulnerability."
Conaty, from Camden in north London, told Reuters her experience on this year's Fringe had been "life changing in terms of doing a show every day ... I've learned so much."
She made her debut solo in the show "Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar."
The tall, mop-haired Burnham, who started his YouTube comedy exploits four years ago, was also short-listed for the best comedy award.
The awards were announced by star comedian Al Murray, who won the best comedy prize in 1999, and last year's winner Tim Key. Burns said the judging panel had seen 418 shows and attended nearly 1,200 performances over the past three weeks.
The Fringe, the world's largest annual showing of the arts, has fostered a galaxy of stars of theater, film and comedy since its inception alongside the city's International Festival in 1947.
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Modern Family wins best comedy series Emmy - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rookie comedy "Modern Family" won the Emmy for the best TV comedy series on Sunday, ending the three-year reign of "30 Rock."
The show, which revolves around an extended family in Los Angeles, earlier won awards for best supporting actor and writing.
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Top UK comedy award goes to English comic - Comedy

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain's top annual comedy prize, the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award, went to England's Russell Kane at an Edinburgh Fringe festival ceremony on the weekend for his show "Smokescreens and Castles."
The award for best comedy newcomer on the Fringe was won by 31-year-old London comedienne Roison Conaty, while the Spirit of the Fringe award went to 20-year-old American Bo Burnham, who has accumulated an audience of millions from his YouTube internet comedy broadcasts from his Boston bedroom.
Awards' producer Nica Burns said Kane, 30, from Westcliffe-on-Sea in Essex, "takes the audience by storm with his boundless energy and enthusiasm."
In his new show he "explores self, family, and the consequences of his Dad buying their council flat" in the apartment block nicknamed The Castle. The Sunday Times described the show as "bold, defiant...Shot through with vulnerability."
Conaty, from Camden in north London, told Reuters her experience on this year's Fringe had been "life changing in terms of doing a show every day ... I've learned so much."
She made her debut solo in the show "Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar."
The tall, mop-haired Burnham, who started his YouTube comedy exploits four years ago, was also short-listed for the best comedy award.
The awards were announced by star comedian Al Murray, who won the best comedy prize in 1999, and last year's winner Tim Key. Burns said the judging panel had seen 418 shows and attended nearly 1,200 performances over the past three weeks.
The Fringe, the world's largest annual showing of the arts, has fostered a galaxy of stars of theater, film and comedy since its inception alongside the city's International Festival in 1947.
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Diablo Cody sells comedy pilot to Fox - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Diablo Cody is headed to broadcast television with a top-secret comedy pilot.
The writer of the indie hit "Juno" and Showtime's "United States of Tara" has sold the project to Fox. Apart from the title -- "The Breadwinner" -- details are under wraps.
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Friends star Matt LeBlanc happy to send himself up - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Matt LeBlanc is heading back to TV after a four-year absence, playing a version of his old "Friends" character in a satire on U.S. network television.
So it's a good thing that LeBlanc, 43, has no trouble sending up his womanizing air-head alter ego Joey Tribbiani either in real-life or on screen.
"If people really believe me as that character, I have done my job," LeBlanc told reporters on Thursday, saying he is often greeted with the Joey catch-phrase "How you doin'?".
"I don't look on it as a negative thing. I take it as a compliment," LeBlanc said.
There are plenty "Friends" inside jokes in the new Showtime/BBC comedy co-production "Episodes," which tells of the hair-raising process of remaking a hit British TV show into a new program for American network television.
In the program, LeBlanc is chosen to play the lead character in a remake of a fictional British show that featured an elderly and erudite school principal. The big difference is that in the U.S. remake, the principal is turned into a high school hockey coach.
"Episodes" marks a comeback for LeBlanc after 10 years on "Friends" and another two on the TV comedy "Joey", which took his aspiring actor character to Los Angeles and ended in 2006.
LeBlanc said he had passed on most other TV offers since "Joey" because after 12 years of playing the same character, "I wanted to take some time off and spend time with my daughter."
But he said yes to "Episodes" after just one meeting, mostly because it is written by "Friends" co-creator David Crane.
"I committed right there. It's nice to be back with writing I have real faith in," LeBlanc said.
"Episodes" is due to premiere on cable channel Showtime in January. It promises to skewer U.S. network television, the short attention spans of TV executives and an industry that Crane described as "ruled by fear, panic and second-guessing" of how audiences and advertisers will react.