Laughing when faced with Dying: '50/50' together with other Terminal Illness Movies That Buck Convention

You'd think a movie of a youthful guy fighting a terminal disease is a huge downer -- a la 'Dying Young' -- but '50/50' isn't your average death's door tearjerker. The funny new flick offers plenty of laughs with the tender moments, and handles to find humor inside an incredibly depressing situation. Ernest Gordon-Levitt stars as Adam, a 27-year-old radio producer recognized getting an uncommon kind of cancer with a 50/50 survival rate. (Hence the title.) His nearest friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) becomes Adam's rock, driving him to doctor's visits and annoying him with nights out and about. Clearly, this isn't the first time Rogen has carried out a personality being careful of somebody facing a terminal disease. Remember 'Funny People'? Rogen dutifully hidden in Adam Sandler's ailing character each evening. However digress. To '50/50.' It's refreshing to find out a 'terminal illness' movie that's not some details concerning the doting lady nursing the person to health (cough, cough, 'Dying Young'), and ultimately leading in to a sappy, sappy, sad, sappy love story. Ultimately, it's really quite simple with this specific genre to acquire schmaltzy. (Cough, cough, 'A Walk to think about.A) Sure: 'Terms of Endearment' is a good movie, but everything relating to this seems carefully calculated to extract tears. If you're looking for something a little more subversive with a lot of inappropriate dying-related jokes, you might like to try one of these brilliant rather. Behold, all of the my five favorite movies about people fighting terminal illness. (Sorry, 'Last Holiday.' You didn't increase the risk for cut. When I like the premise from the Full Latifah laugh-riot, the flick itself falls very, very short. And even though I give 'The Bucket List' credit to make popular the old saying and coping with dying in the completely new way, watching Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman skydiving did less than make my top-5.) 'The Royal Tenenbaums.' Royal's stomach cancer is probably not real, however would still reason why this fits the 'terminal illness' genre because of how his alleged illness causes everyone around him to behave. Royal's fake cancer wins him a location inherited home, and garners attention from his estranged family. Sure, he'll get caught. But he got in a few much-needed face time with the family because the trick made it. &ampampampampampampampltcenter&ampampampampampampampgt 'Igby Goes Lower.' I am aware it may be a bit of the spoiler to exhibit who comes lower while using terminal illness in this flick, therefore i won't. I'll condition it made my list because of its refreshingly cynical approach to dying. Plenty of movies present the dying person as some type of perfect angel. Not that certain. (Bonuses for featuring Bill Pullman AND Rob Goldblum. Extra bonuses for seeing Kieran Culkin yell 'Sookie!!' to Claire Danes years before Bill and Eric handled to obtain very popular on 'True Blood stream.') &ampampampampampampltcenter&ampampampampampampgt 'Beaches.' OK, it's a little schmaltzy. But Bette Midler saves 'Beaches' from being too syrupy sweet. Her dying Closest friend of three decades, Hillary, was kind of a wealthy bitch sometimes, but ultimately their friendship could endure disloyality, jealousy or perhaps a bizarre love triangular. The Divine One reaches share Hillary's last moments along with her at the lake. Like '50/50,' this is often a touching story about friendship. Plus, it's the flick that introduced us 'The Wind Beneath My Wings.' &ampampampampampltcenter&ampampampampampgt 'Moulin Rouge.' It figures Satine (Nicole Kidman) would fulfill the guy of her dreams (Ewan McGregor) before falling ill with TB! (The old-timey disease is a superb indication this super-stylized movie is indeed a period piece.) Even though you will discover plenty of professions of great love, the singing, dancing and John Leguizamo keep 'Moulin Rouge' from being another tragic love story. &ampampampampltcenter&ampampampampgt 'My Existence Without Me.' As if being recognized getting a terminal illness last year . wasn't bad enough, Ann (Sarah Polley) also provides a husband (Scott Speedman) and a pair of kids. Damn! She embarks by hand bucket-listy journey, including some steamy encounters with Mark Ruffalo. Again, that certain scores points for eschewing the whole dying-person-can-do-no-wrong trap. &ampampampltcenter&ampampampgt ('50/50' image because of Summit Entertainment)

NT Live hits Fathom screens

'One Guy, Two Guvnors'London's National Theater has pacted with alternative content distributor NCM Fathom to develop the achieve of NT Live, the U.K. theater's quantity of cinema broadcasts of legit performances. About 200 more venues inside the U.S. will screen the options of NT Live, broadening the program's American achieve to urban centers including Vegas, Orlando and Detroit. Programming may even remain observed in the undertaking arts centers and native screens where NT Live formerly had about 90 Stateside berths. The 2011-12 NT Live slate starts with "One Guy, Two Guvnors" March. 20, following by "Your KitchenInch (November. 3), "Collaborators" (12 ,. 1) and "The Comedy of Errors" (March 1). All shows are produced onstage with the National. The additional "One Guy" tests could provide a U.S. profile boost for your play itself, a effective-selling hit london that's poised to produce the go to Gotham. Live performances have progressively been moving for the bigscreen, spurred this is the Metropolitan Opera's cinemacasts. Most initiatives are coupled with troupes that, like the Met, have a great profile among arts avids. The Royal Opera House, La Scala as well as the Bolshoi Ballet are also most likely the orgs whose works are disseminated to bigscreens. Presented by NT Live, BY Experience and Fathom, the NT Live tests will probably be distrubted via NCM's Digital Broadcast Network in theater chains including AMC, Cinemark and Regal, among others. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

French auds march to 'War'

'Declaration of War'PARIS -- It may be just a little-budget dramedy after a little-known cast, but Valerie Donzelli's "Commitment of War" has mastered French audiences and film testers alike. After bowing at Cannes' Experts Week to rave reviews, the 1.3 million ($1.7 million) pic, repped and compiled by Wild Bunch, makes nearly $3.3 million within the French box office in just 2 days. It's agreed to greater than 30 areas, like the U.S., where Sundance Selects will distribute. Coping with youthful couple beginning about the campaign to be able to save their baby, who's stricken getting a brain tumor, the film offers a great deal opting for this, states Jean-Philippe Tirel, topper of untamed Bunch Distribution. "For starters,In . Tirel states, "it is really an advantageous tale: Everyone knows right immediately the little one makes it, which is got a cheerful ending." Tirel notes the film is founded on an authentic story: Donzelli co-written and co-starred along with her former partner Jeremie Elkaim, with whom she elevated a youthful child who managed to get a brain tumor.Wild Bunch Distribution carried out within the positive vibe in the film within the marketing campaign, choosing, for instance, a colorful poster showing the happy couple about the curler-coaster ride. Based on positive word-of-mouth, Wild Bunch platformed the pic on 235 screens, adding 44 screens inside the second week. As proof of its crossover appeal, "War" has completed too in multiplexes just like arthouses. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Neil Patrick Harris Talks Acting, Musicals and also the Walk of Fame Star

Calling from his dressing room concerning the Fox lot, where he would don glasses and mustache for your tape from the products he amusingly referred to as "an very dramatic, subtle episode" of his CBS sitcom, Neil Patrick Harris, 38, needed some time to talk to "THR" about attempting to the advantage of "oversaturating" and receiving his star concerning the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, September 15.The Hollywood Reporter: Continues to be funny innate or possibly could it be something which might be learned? Neil Patrick Harris: Timing is innate, but you can learn to be funny. It is not tough to make someone laugh. In addition difficult is always to keep people laughing.THR: You sing, you act, you host, you direct. What can't you must do? Harris: I'm not the most effective author. I'm a excellent rewriter together with a great fixer, however, if it calls for relaxing in an empty screen with Final Draft before me, I am unable to seem to eliminate much content.THR: How did your boyfriend or girlfriend of musical theater develop? Harris: I used to be a kid dwelling in a tiny New Mexico town when cassettes were turning to be Dvds. With cast albums came these literature that shown pictures in the productions as well as the librettos in the musicals. They offered us a window into what that world ought to be like. I commited to memory the tunes and imagined seeing the shows. They sparked a cutting-edge escapism that we wasn't succumbed football-centric New Mexico.THR: And you also weren't into football. Harris: I used to be slightly small for linebacker.THR: That are your comedy idols? Harris: Christopher Guest, Tim Conway, Buster Keaton, Vince Vaughn, John Ritter.THR: You want physical comedy, then. Harris: I really do! It's so quote-unquote easy and simple , base --nevertheless it requires agility. You have to be a couple of steps ahead inside your ideas when doing the job. Body awareness is important. THR: Additionally from the challenge: Drama or comedy? Harris: Comedy. What people find funny is actually subjective. You have to -- no less than on our show -- hit as different styles of funny concurrently as you possibly can. If you're just goofball funny, that will turn off intellectual types. If you're just highbrow, wordplay funny, then you'll disregard the employees who go back home to sit down lower and guffaw in your body body fat guy as well as the hot wife.THR: What genre of acting possibly you haven't handled that you desire to? Harris: Something hyper-dramatic as being a Ann Hathaway movie. My stuff is generally more glib and cozy casual acting. I don't perform a lot of intense things. THR: This TV development season remains chock full of reboots. In the event you could remake and star inside a past series, which could it be? Harris: There is a classic show referred to as "The Magician" that Bill Bixby starred in on NBC within the '60s. To create back that could be kick-ass.THR: You directed an plane pilot for CBS the 2009 pilot season and were installed on direct a component film referred to as "Aaron & Sarah." Do you have expects to complete more? Harris: Yes, however only have three and a half several days yearly to make it happen throughout my hiatus from "Mother." "Aaron & Sarah" didn't happen because of organizing.THR: The thing that was the advantage of doing "The Smurfs" and "The Muppets"? Harris: It is necessary becoming an actor being as broad within your census as you possibly can. Thx that we achieve do Mother, which honors one large audience, however i am also allowed the "Harold & Kumar" films and "Smurfs" all concurrently. This is actually the career I've been angling for -- trying hitting on as much cylinders after i can without oversaturating my market. Plus, I'm a huge fan in the "Muppets," which i simply begged ["Mother" co-star and "Muppets" author and star] Jason [Segel] to experience a cameo within it.THR: What can you think about the Walk of Fame recognition? Harris: It's flattering. Used to do formerly wander the streets of Hollywood searching within the stars once i will be a kid -- though that helps it be appear like I used to be destitute, that people wasn't for extended. The Hollywood Reporter

Michael Nyqvist Curious About Daniel Craigs Dragon Tattoo

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Michael Nyqvist, star of Swedens The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is interested in seeing Daniel Craigs take on Mikael Blomkvist the role he originated in the upcoming American big screen adaptation of Stieg Larssons Millennium Trilogy. The actor told Access Hollywood that hes met Daniel Craig, but they didnt trade notes or tips on the character. You protect your job in a way, but [they are] really nice guys, and I heard that they did a really good job from friends who have been in it, he told Access at the premiere of his new movie, Abduction. David Fincher is one of the best directors I know, so Im really curious to see it, he continued. Really curious, and I want to hear Daniel have the Swedish accent. Michael is confident that Daniel will be able pull off the challenging role. Ive seen him in a lot [of movies], even before Bond, and hes such a great actor, even on stage, he said. I like him very much. But will Michael be making a cameo in the American version? No, I dont think so. I stayed out of that, [it] would be weird, he said, but he went on to reveal that another Nyqvist will make an appearance in Finchers Dragon Tattoo. Actually my daughter is an extra in the film, he told Access. She poured some coffee [for] Daniel and said, Do you know who my dad is? So she had a good time there. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which also stars Rooney Mara and Robin Wright, is slated to hit theaters on December 21, 2011. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Watch X-Men: First Class Movie

FIRST BOX OFFICE: Lion King 3d Roars #1

FRIDAY 3PM: Very early amounts show Disney’sLion King 3d roaring to #1 with $15M weekend by 50 %,330 theaters Warner Bros’ holdover Contagion #2 with $12M in 3,222 theaters, FilmDistrict’s Drive #3 with $11M from 2,886 theaters, The brand new the new sony/Screen Jewel’s Hay Dogs #4 with $8M from 2,408 theaters, as well as the Weinstein Co’s I Don’t Know How She'll It with $7.5M from 2,476 theaters.

TNT develops 'Homeland Security'

OvitzTNT is developing the procedural drama "Tom Clancy's Homeland Security," with former uber-agent Michael Ovitz set to exec produce. Project would mark Ovitz's first onscreen credit as exec producer for a TV series. He would share exec producer duties with writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Clancy and Chris George. Plotline pits a select team of domestic intelligence operatives against all enemies, both within the country and outside. While many of Clancy's novels -- the Jack Ryan-centric "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games," "Sum of All Fears" and "Clear and Present Danger" -- have been adapted for the bigscreen, the author's television presence has been relatively minor.TNT Prods. will produce "Homeland Security." Also, TBS has ordered an untitled comedy pilot from Conan O'Brien's Conaco production shingle. Untitled half-hour laffer, from writers Ben Wexler (showrunner), Ross Novie and Jay Rondot, will center on a family man who quits his day job and returns to the neighborhood where he grew up. There, he reunites with his former best friend. Along with the three scribes, O'Brien will exec produce with David Kissinger and Jeff Ross. Project comes from Warner Horizon Television. TNT has been extremely busy on the development front of late in both scripted and reality. In addition to buying "Wasteland" from Mick Davis -- about a U.S. marshal who is charged with hunting down the supernatural escapees on the run following a federal prison break -- TNT has a handful of other shows in the pipeline. Titles include "H.I.K.E.," exec produced by Forest Whitaker, about a cop who deals with kidnappings in Phoenix; "The Order," about an archeologist professor who ends up working in Israel engaging in various digs that explore life's real questions of faith and meaning; and "Rush," a "Rashomon"-style hospital drama about life in the ER. Meanwhile, TNT is making a major push in the reality genre: There's "The Great Escape," from Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and "The Amazing Race" exec producer Bertram Van Munster, as well as "Search and Rescue," from veteran reality producer Thom Beers ("Ice Road Truckers") and his Original Prods. unit. Shows will aim to meet the net's newly created "smart popcorn" mantra, a theme recently explained by topper Michael Wright: "That means accessible, entertaining programming with an underlying sense of fun and intelligence." Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com

Watch X-Men: First Class Online Free

Methods For Beginning Off Your Commercial Audition Right

At the beginning of an industrial audition, your title was previously written on the small handheld blackboard, thus the word "slate." Whenever you slate (speak) your title in auditions today, it's the first time the director and ad agency reach help you and choose whether or not they will really watch the relaxation of the audition. So you need to produce a good first impression.Maria O'Driscoll of Popcasting, an industrial casting office in La, informs us, "The very first couple of seconds of every recording becomes the thumbnail that seems about the log sheet. You'll want that person to camera, having a enjoyable expression, waiting to become requested your title. And please hold that expression for any couple of seconds despite you are done slating. Never offer 'and my representative is...A or other things actory."Mark Randall of L.A.'s Mark Randall Casting adds, "Company directors and ad agencies actually want to think that they are employing a pleasant, real person with real-existence interests, which you simply occur to know the right path around a collection.InchWhenever you say your title, speak clearly and set a small slice of air involving the first and last names. Don't discuss anything or other people.If you're requested to exhibit your profiles, Randall urges, "Do not say something similar to 'Here's my advantages, and here's my evil twin!' Following the second guy, it is simply not funny. Whatsoever." States O'Driscoll, "Designs include a leg on most stars if this involves doing profiles. They are fully aware how lengthy to have their eyes within the lens before turning completely into profile, and also to bring their eyes to the lens prior to the relaxation of the face has came back."Keep in mind that you're in a close-up throughout every slate, therefore if requested to exhibit both hands, you have to place them right before that person, then switch these phones show the palms, then drop these phones your sides. It'll feel odd to place your hands before that person the very first time you're doing so, but simply think about playing peekaboo. Don't launch into "Oh, I want a manicure" or "I had been gardening" or "Focusing on the vehicle."If you're requested a "full turnaround," at this time your camera has increased to reveal you against mind to foot. They simply need to get a feeling of your shape. Presuming that the headshot and also the weight and height in your rsum are current, you'll be introduced directly into audition for roles that suit your physique. So just change.Here is just a little trick that causes it to be much more comfortable for everybody searching at the backside: Ladies, when you are facing the rear wall, just change unwanted weight in one stylish towards the other while you continue your spiral to manage camera. Gents, whenever your brawny back is toward your camera, provide us with the "up belt tug," then in a single continuous motion go back to facing camera. This states, "I understand you're searching inside my gluteus fabulous, and I am okay with this.InchNow let us discuss the personality question. O'Driscoll recommends that the answer ought to be more than a word but shorter than thirty seconds:Throwing director: Where do you turn just for fun?Acting professional: Hike.Casting director: Thanks. Next. And that is all of your audition. "Produce the very first factor that jumps to your mind," states Randall. "Don't stammer, 'Oh, gosh, ohhh, allow me to see,' searching for an ideal reply. We are not likely to fact-look at your answer. And when we request regarding your worst date, worst dinner, worst Christmas, we are searching for a humorous answer, not 'When I opened up this area, the kitten was dead.' "Also, avoid solutions which are product-related:Casting director: Where do you turn just for fun?Acting professional: I really like dusting my apartment with Pledge.Casting director: Uuggh. Next. And steer clear of anything political or sexual, regardless of how apparent it might appear. It is a commercial, folks ensure that it stays wise, happy, and clean.Director Robert Logevall talks for those company directors when he states, "Let me know in regards to you, not your acting world. I wish to determine if you are confident and interesting, then you will be everything on set."And O'Driscoll reminds us, "This can be a meeting. Come prepared. Know what you are seeing, what job you are meeting with for, and search for the edges online in advance. And produce something to consume. It isn't our responsibility to give you."

Toronto: Where Are The Film Deals?

Just as it did last year, the 2011 Toronto Film Festival has gotten off to a slow start on the acquisitions front. I spoke with many buyers after last night’s onslaught of acquisition title premieres, and the common feeling was these distributors need to fill slots in their schedules and they want to fall in love, but haven’t quite gotten there yet with most of these films. They had some reservations on just about all of the films they saw. These films will clearly find distribution homes, but the reaction means that deals will drag out because those distributors aren’t going to be posting large minimum guarantees, the way they did in Cannes. Even the big sale of the festival so far, the Steve McQueen-directed NC-17 sex drama Shame, wasn’t a huge commitment for all the press hoopla that followed Deadline’s reveal that the film had sold to Fox Searchlight. I am hearing the deal was a mid-six figure minimum guarantee around $400,000, and a P&A commitment around $1.5 million. That sounds about right, because the filmmakers were most concerned with entering this year’s Oscar race to capitalize on the performances by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, and ensuring that not a frame of the picture was changed. But it doesn’t sound like a wide release picture. As for the wide release titles, they are going to sell, but it will be a struggle for sellers to get the dollars they want. I saw one of those titles that sit atop buyer lists last night. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was scripted by Simon Beaufoy, directed by Lasse Hallstrom and stars Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked, the latter playing a wealthy sheik who pays a fisheries scientist to stock a stream with trout. The film is sophisticated, funny, timely and utterly charming, and I would be surprised if it isn’t snapped up by Monday or sooner. That film got the best reaction from the buyers I spoke with. The pace of auctioning has been complicated by the volume of premieres last night, including Rampart, Take This Waltz, The Oranges, the hockey comedy Goon and the Morgan Spurlock-directed documentary Comic-Con: A Fan’s Hope. Buyers had to make choices, and some were seeing films like Salmon this morning. I expect a flurry of deals toward the end of the festival, which is how it played out last year. Since there’s little going on so far, you have time to notice things. Here are a few things I’ve noticed: * A surprise hot title has been the martial arts film The Raid, which Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group smartly bought at Cannes based on some footage. Studios are now looking into remake rights on that one, mindful that Sony has first look. * I’ve liked everything Jonah Hill has done since Superbad, but this guy is poised to have a major career once Moneyball is released by Sony Pictures. Playing the statistics-savvy geek sidekick to Brad Pitt’s Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, Hill is a revelation and they make a terrific tandem in a picture that Bennett Miller directed with the heart you would expect from a script that has both Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin sharing screen credit. And while Hill initially shocked me with his weight loss, he seemed to be settling into his svelte frame quite nicely at the premiere and you could not have knocked the smile off his face if you tried. * There are few better places to watch a movie here than Roy Thomson Hall, the Toronto venue where the glitziest gala titles play. But there is a high price to be paid. You have to get there early, and once you find your seat, you are subjected to the most excruciating and torturous red carpet coverage, supplied by the broadcast team from E Talk TV. These talking heads have absolutely nothing interesting to say to the stars they chat up for a feed that is broadcast only to the audience inside the theater. It is loud, and there is collective squirming when they ask questions like this one, lobbed to Philip Seymour Hoffman as he made his way into the Moneyball premiere: “You play Oakland A’s manager Art Howe. When you put on that uniform, do you wear it, or does it wear you?” Hoffman responded as though he’d swallowed bad shellfish. I recall that at Cannes red carpet premieres, they also show footage of arriving stars. But there is no soundtrack and instead of being assaulted with loud verbal nothingness, you simply watch the stars arrive and pose as they make their way into the theater. It’s fun, provides a sense of spectacle and lets you know when they are going to lower the lights and drop the puck and start the movie. Toronto Film Festival organizers might want to consider this strategy going forward; I’ve gone to three Thomson Hall premieres, and what they’ve got going on right now is insufferable.

Watch X-Men: First Class Movie Online

Toronto attracts more int'l biz

The number of attending nations and registered sales agents are on the rise at the Toronto Film Festival, even though the fest has no official market component. NEW YORK -- Toronto is a well-known hunting ground for domestic film acquisitions, but along with last year's North American sales boom came a surprising boost in a new arena: international sales and presales.Toronto doesn't have an official market, yet more people are turning to TIFF as an international sales hub, potentially creating some serious competition for business with AFM, Berlin and Cannes.Registered sales agents repping international rights jumped 17% over last year, from 363 in 2010 to 425, says TIFF Sales & Industry Office senior manager Justin Cutler.Festival co-director Cameron Bailey says that much of the industry tends to focus on Toronto as a key buying market for U.S. films or for the U.S. market generally. "But we've got a much wider range of films and delegates than that," he adds. "I can't remember when (international sales activity) wasn't happening here, but I think the scale of it has increased a lot in the last four or five years."While the spike is clearly inspired by this year's economic rebound, it also reflects on TIFF's growing appeal, plus several new initiatives overseen by Cutler and encouraged in the last few years by Bailey. There's no hotel filled with tradeshow posters along the beach, but Bailey cites expanded space in TIFF's new partner hotel, the Hyatt Regency, and the fest's move to a centralized location downtown as helping to facilitate new services and more business transactions.The fest has also enacted new digital initiatives aimed to improve communication among buyers and sellers, much as the Bell Lightbox's free WiFi has for all festgoers.Program books are now readable on handheld devices and tablets, notes Cutler, and a new delegate guide download feature (similar to Cinando.com) allows for real-time updates for fest attendees. Electronic rights lists with available territories have new tags with more identifiable topics for each film.TIFF is now working with two B2B programs, Cinando Screening Room and Festival Scope, allowing rights-holders to screen films online for buyers after their debuts, and even after the fest ends. "It's kind of extending the breadth of those films under our curatorial banner," Cutler says. Two of this year's world premieres viewable on Festival Scope are Figa Films' "The Last Christeros" and Visit Films' "Fable of the Fish."The fest is helping foster the next generation of Canadian buyers and sellers with this year's introduction of discount student industry passes, targeting the many new film biz programs cropping up in Canada.TIFF is reaching out to new territories, many with outsized growth in film and entertainment such as China, Japan and Korea, with local-lingo outreach letters to better communicate with delegates. That's part of what has helped the fest slowly but steadily increase the number of attending countries, says Cutler, from 63 in 2009 to 65 last year to a record 67 this year.Japanese and Korean attendance figures have had particularly big spikes. "The Asian market is especially important for us," says Bailey. "We feel like that's an area where we can stand to grow a lot. I'm beginning to spend more time there -- I was in Beijing twice this year -- and plan to do as much as I can to keep travelling to that area. A lot of significant Asian films premiere here, and we feel the Asian buyers should be here in the same kind of numbers."Bailey knows that he has to walk a fine line between art and commerce when he promotes Toronto's potential for film sales. "We're not like Cannes or Berlin in the sense that there is no official market here, so we really do focus on the films that are in official selection," he explains. "But, of course, we're aware that companies that have films in official selection are also bringing along their wares for the next season, and they're showing some of that stuff off as well. Because the buyers are here, they can do quite well with that."Anecdotal evidence is everywhere. Last year, IM Global landed more than more than $30 million in foreign presales for DNA's 3D comic adaptation "Dredd." Companies like Myriad Pictures are lining up big parties, and even more action is expected with the official Toronto debut of sales/production/finance shingle Sierra/Affinity, which reps titles from Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, OddLot, Bold, Sierra Pictures and its partner, Incentive Filmed Entertainment. They're repping overseas rights to films screening in competition (Oren Moverman's "Rampart") and others still in production (the crime thrillers "Parker" and "The Place Beyond the Pines")"It's growing as a presales market, (but) the thing that's great about it is that it's not a full-on market, and I don't think buyers or sellers want to turn it into one" says Sierra/Affinity co-founder Nick Meyer. "It's such a great venue for people to talk about and screen movies, and to see footage. International buyers (can) get a sense of what the fourth-quarter Oscar movies will be, what (next) year's going to look like, and talk about movies in a less pure-market environment." n Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Tyler Perry Really Loved 'Warrior'

"I remember when 'Rocky' hit theaters...Wow! You remember that? Don't act like you're too young to remember," actor/director/Madea Tyler Perry wrote in an email blast to fans earlier Wednesday. "Well, the 'Rocky' movie for 2011 is 'WARRIOR.' It opens Friday and IT'S CRAZY GOOD. Check it out and lets chat about it. Talk soon." The feeling is mutual, TP! Wanna discuss over text? [TylerPerry.com]

HAMMOND: Eddie Murphy Oscar Host Choice Might Be A Win-Win For Academy AND Eddie

Eddie Murphy Concurs To Host Academy awards Producers Tell Film Academy It’s Official When you're an Oscar producer I suppose its smart to possess a film being released co-starring somebody that may be an ideal Oscar host. That’s the alluring position Brett Ratner found themself in because he arrived the Oscar gig just like he was editing his new film Tower Heist, featuring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy amongst others and it is producing good inside buzz prior to its November release. I hear test scores for Eddie were excessive theytalked about improving his part within the film. Sight unseen, it may sound — at first glance a minimum of — just like a go back to that old Eddie that made him amovie celebrity.So Eddie and Brett continues the collaboration for an additional couple of several weeks a minimum of, also it would appear to become a win-win throughout since Murphy has formally been named host. For that Academy, it provides them the chance revisit the tradition of getting a stand-up comic host the show, that has always labored best, as well as in Murphy they've one that is really a superstar, an Oscar-nominated actor (for Dreamgirls in 2006), along with a guy whose consider your experience on Saturday Evening Live and the stage gigs gives him the chops to drag this off — along with a reason behind the crowd to stay tuned. Actually, after i is at Telluride over the past weekend and Nikki first broke this news of Murphy’s possible Oscar-hosting gig, I went into Academy COO Ric Robertson and former Academy leader Sid Ganis and demonstrated them the storyline. Although both hadn't heard the report and appeared surprised, they immediately appeared to like the thought. A minimum of that’s the sense I acquired. At another party I went into producer Michael P Luca, who explained he'd been offering free advice to Ratner and stated he told himthe key factor ended up being to employ a comedian as host.In Murphy they clearly have one, using the added plus he’s fresh Oscar-hostmeat, lending towards the curiosity factor over precisely how well he may do before that infamously nervous and restless Kodak Theatre audience. It’s no easy job, despite the fact that the very best comics who've tried it (Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Billy Very, Steve Martin) allow it to be look this way. Among individuals previous hosts — Very, who made it happen eight occasions — appeared to become putting word outrecentlythat he may most probably to hosting again this season, however when I requested Ratner about this he stated he hadn’t seen what Billy had stated which he'd until mid-September to determine anyway. Clearly he opted for their own guy, an indication that Ratner has definite ideas by what he really wants to do and will also be a powerful partner for Don Mischer, who directs and co-produces because he did this past year. For Murphy, the hosting gig comes at a great time as it will likely be a 1-two punch following Tower Heist that provides him the chance to help remind audiences why they fell deeply in love with him to begin with. Believe compared to a possible hit movie along with a hosting gig on which is typically probably the most-viewed entertainment broadcast of the season? For me personally, it’s just a little surprising, though, since Eddie and Oscar appeared to possess had a little of the rocky relationship. His newest appearance, handing the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis last year (in one Nutty Professor to a different) discontinued with no hitch, however in 2007, when he lost the Oscar for the best Supporting Actor in Dreamgirls toveteran AlanArkin (Little Miss Sunshine), there have been blog reviews he “stormed out” from the Kodak.He did leave the theatershortly after losing, however it wasn’tin the dramatic way gossipers presented it: He just didn’t hold off for that relaxation from the show.Nodoubt he was disappointed in losing since he arrived to theOscars that evening getting wonmost from the precursor honours including SAG, Golden Globe and Experts Choice trophies. The greatest debate between Eddie and Oscar happened about the 1988 telecast, when he presented Best Picture towards the Last Emperor. Hebegan by saying he'd initially switched lower theAcademy’soffer to provide Best Pic because “they haven’t recognized black people within the film industry,” after which proceeded to indicate that only threeAfrican-American stars had ever won anOscar (up to then). “I’ll most likely never win an Oscar for saying this. Really, I would not enter any problem because the actual way it’s been going, it’s about every two decades we obtain one, therefore we ain’t due until about 2004,” hesaid, adding more fuel towards the fire. Then he almost didn't remember to title the nominees before audience murmurs expected him off. That little bit of audacity in showing the Academy’s most exclusive award may have been inappropriate, however it’s suggestive of the edgy type of guy Murphy might be on live TV, and that we only hope he's maintained a number of that edge when he will get the opportunity to finally host February. 27.

Watch Transformers 3 The Movie