It's OK to Like 'The Artist'

It's OK to like 'The Artist.' Really. Chances are, you haven't even seen 'The Artist' yet, but the general consensus from the Oscar cognoscenti (recently promoted from Colonel Consensus) has turned sour on the film. At first, General Consensus hailed 'The Artist' as the bees' knees. "Hooray, 'The Artist,' you're so different. We like you!" But, alas, General Consensus is a finicky fellow. Because, as of late -- even though it's still the favorite to take home an Oscar for Best Picture -- admitting that you like 'The Artist' will get you about the same reaction as admitting that you think the Gin Blossoms' 'New Miserable Experience' is one of the best albums of the early '90s. Yes, 'The Artist' has a lot more in common with the Gin Blossoms than you might think. Last night I was talking on the phone to a friend, Steve, who lives in St. Louis. Steve has two young daughters, so he has to be, let's say, choosy with his movie selections, given all the free time that he doesn't have. When I told him he'd like 'The Artist,' his less-than-thrilled reaction was, "The black and white silent movie? Not sure that's my cup of tea." And there lies the problem with 'The Artist': there's a perception that it's highbrow fare. It's not. 'The Artist' may have a highbrow concept, but its story is decidedly middlebrow. The expectation that's causing Steve not to want to see 'The Artist' is perhaps the same expectation that's fueling the backlash against 'The Artist.' People who critique movies for a living are a passionate bunch. When a movie like 'The Artist' comes along -- a movie that seemingly promises highbrow pleasures -- these people get excited. But 'The Artist' is a regular old story about a silent film actor trying to remain relevant in a changing world. Oh, and he has a cute dog. Put it this way: The guy who played Dauber on 'Coach' is in 'The Artist.' This is how backlash happens. I've now heard members of awards-voting organizations apologizing for 'The Artist' winning, which is weird because the ability of 'The Artist' to deliver such a mainstream, middlebrow story, despite its highfalutin concept, is exactly what I admire so much about it. There are four albums that defined my freshman year in college: Pearl Jam's 'Ten' (even though it was released a year before), R.E.M's 'Automatic for the People,' U2's 'Achtung Baby' and Gin Blossoms' 'New Miserable Experience.' For the most part 'New Miserable Experience' found critical success too, at first, receiving solid reviews from outlets like Rolling Stone. I still have 'New Miserable Experience' on my iPod and, almost 20 years later, every song on that album is still good. (Some better than others, of course; I do find myself listening to '29,' 'Cajun Song,' 'Cheatin'' and, yes, 'Hey Jealousy,' more than I do 'Hold Me Down'.) In 2011, Gin Blossoms are forgotten and no one would ever consider them as an influential band from the 1990s. If there is a middlebrow blemish somewhere on the Earth's crust, its oozing puss is bound to someday erupt to the tune of 'Found out About You.' The Gin Blossoms define middlebrow success and, really, people don't have a problem with that -- but, of course, the Gin Blossoms were quickly discarded. 'The Artist' is pretending to be highbrow with its concept when, in reality, its just as middlebrow as the Gin Blossoms. Only 'The Artist' doesn't want to be discarded, it wants to be remembered forever as the best movie of 2011. This is why people are angry. The Earth is a cynical place these days. I am cynical and that's one reason I have this job. I struggle with that fact quite often. I watch a movie like 'War Horse,' 'Hugo' or 'The Artist,' and I feel this knee-jerk reaction to somehow try to discredit the earnestness I see before me. It's almost like we've been programmed as a society to be skeptical of anything that appears to be earnest -- and 'The Artist' is really earnest. But people are predisposed to remember things that have a bit more of an edge. The Gin Blossoms had zero edge. The earnestness of 'The Artist' is its edge. And it's OK to like that. One common argument is that 'The Artist' just doesn't feel like a Best Picture winner; that we won't be talking about 'The Artist' in ten years. I don't agree with this sentiment, but I'm open to the possibility. My real problem with the argument is that there's no realistic alternative offered. The argument against 'The Artist' is starting to sound like the argument against pretty much anything that Obama does. In other words: "That plan sucks, but I don't have a better one. But it still sucks." The thing is, looking back, very few Best Picture winners actually deserve the title of "Best Picture." Over the past 20 years, there's, maybe, six films that have that all-important "Best Picture" feel to them. I'd argue outside of 'Unforgiven,' 'Schindler's List,' 'Braveheart,' 'Titanic,' 'The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King' and 'No Country For Old Men,' the rest just happened to be released during a weak year or got incredibly lucky. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that 2011 is a relatively weak year for movies -- good, but... -- but that's certainly not the fault of 'The Artist.' Yet, as the current frontrunner, it's taking the blame. 'The Artist' isn't the first film to disguise itself as highbrow, it's just the first to make its intentions this obvious and open. Which is exactly why it's brilliant. Based on past winners, 'The Artist' is certainly a deserving candidate. (You're telling me 'The Artist' doesn't live up to the "excellent" standards of 'American Beauty'? Oh, puh-leeze.) But that's not really even my point. I'm not specifically arguing that 'The Artist' should win the Oscar for Best Picture anymore than I'm arguing that 'New Miserable Experience' should have won a Grammy (U2's Auchtung Baby really should have won over Eric Clapton Unplugged). I am saying that I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Artist' and, yes, it's quite OK to feel that way without being ashamed for liking something that's earnest and middlebrow -- cynics like myself be damned. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter [Photo: TWC] The Best Movies of 2011 The Best Movies of 201150. 'Breaking Dawn'49. 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon'48. 'The Trip'47. 'Warrior'46. 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams'45. 'The Iron Lady'44. 'We Bought a Zoo'43. 'Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol'42. 'Horrible Bosses'41. 'Contagion'40. 'Winnie the Pooh'39. 'Win Win'37. 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'38. 'Hanna'36. 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'35. 'The Interrupters'34. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'33. 'The Guard'32. 'Captain America: The First Avenger'31. 'The Ides of March'30. 'Beginners'29. 'Martha Marcy May Marlene''A Dangerous Method'27. 'The Adventures of Tintin'26. 'Bill Cunningham NY'25. 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'24. 'Young Adult'23. 'My Week With Marilyn'22. 'Margin Call'21. 'X-Men: First Class'20. 'Attack the Block'19. 'Shame'18. 'Super 8'17. 'Melancholia'16. 'The Muppets'15. 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'14. 'Tree of Life'13. 'Rango'12. 'The Help'11. 'Moneyball'10. '50/50'9. 'Drive'8. 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'7. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II'6. 'Midnight in Paris'5. 'Bridesmaids'4. 'The Descendants'3. 'War Horse'2. 'The Artist'1. 'Hugo' See All Moviefone Galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

Bachelor Ben Flajnik Describes What Really Happened With Jennifer Love Hewitt

First Released: December 16, 2011 12:01 AM EST Credit: ABC La, Calif. -- Caption Ben Flajnik in the promo photo for that BacheloretteNot lengthy after Ben Flajniks proposal was declined by Bachelorette Ashley Hebert captured, gossips appeared that Jennifer Love Hewitt was thinking about the truth star. And today, Ben has described what really happened using the former Ghost Whisperer actress. It had been right in the center of time after i was determining to become The Bachelor, Ben stated on the business call Wednesday, per People, from the interest from J. Love. Ultimately, Ben made the decision he thought about being The Bachelor, and that he also stated he wanted a less famous face for his lady. If this is stated and done, winding up having a Hollywood celebrity isn't something which I would like, he added. The latest season from the Bachelor, starring Ben, premieres on Monday, The month of january 2, 2012 at 8 PM, as well as in it, fans might see much more from the love-seeker literally. To date, America has seen my bare butt, and that i don't have any trouble with male nudity, he stated, per People. Whenever a beautiful lady insists upon go skinny-sinking around the beach, you do not refuse. Granted you will find cameras around, nevertheless its a bare butt. It is not that large of the deal in my experience. As formerly reported on AccessHollywood.com, Ben, 29, is really a wine maker from Sonoma, Calif., but his relationship with Ashley didnt ripen perfectly throughout his time on last seasons The Bachelorette, and she or he ultimately chose JP Rosenbaum, who she's apparently still with. Throughout his operate on The Bachelorette, Ben never was shy about his look for not just love, however for a lady to begin a household with. The wine maker loves his hobbies, including crab fishing, sailing, golf, skateboarding, surfing, playing piano and singing inside a tribute band. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Speed' prexy makes pit stop

Speed prexy Hunter Nickell has resigned his publish in the network, good at the finish of the season. Nickell has capped Speed since 2005, coming after that 12 years as FSN South g.m. He intends to consult on the number remaining key Speed projects within the next couple of several weeks while seeking new possibilities in Fox Sports Media Group. A Speed spokesperson stated an interim alternative ought to be named by week's finish for Nickell, whose decision to go away seems to possess come relatively all of a sudden. "It's unfortunate that Hunter is walking away in the end that he's accomplished for Speed," Fox Sports Media Group chairman David Hill stated. "He's a guy of great character, a genuine gentleman and he's offered Fox relentlessly for several years.Inch Speed's achieve increased by nearly 25% to 84 million houses under Nickell's tenure, thanks simply to new high-profile occasions such as the Dale earnhardt jr . Sprint All-Star Race, the Dale earnhardt jr . Hall of Fame Induction events and all sorts of three from the Dale earnhardt jr . publish-season honours banquets. Nickell has additionally been credited with better marketing Speed at Dale earnhardt jr . occasions and building associations along with other major race orgs. "I labored with great people and awesome partners," Nickell stated. "Thanks, and I've had a great time.Inch Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

The Three Stooges Meet the iPhone, Ogle Sofia Vergara and Poke Snooki In Underwhelming First Trailer

There’s something for everyone in the first trailer for The Three Stooges. Well, something for everyone who enjoys Sofia Vergara in tight sweaters, lobster-down-the-pants gags and Jersey Shore cameos. If any of those ideas interest you, click ahead to see the Farrelly brothers’ take on modern-era Moe, Larry and Curly. After spending over a decade in development limbo, The Three Stooges finally arrives in theaters April 13 with Chris Diamantopoulos (Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Mork & Mindy’) playing Moe, Sean Hayes as Larry and Will Sasso (MADtv) embodying Curly. The bumbling trio, best known for their slapstick act that originated in 1925, are somehow transplanted to modern-day Earth for Bobby and Peter Farrellys’ film. The movie chronicles the Stooges’ attempt to save their childhood orphanage and their accidental forays into reality television and murder mysteries. The supporting cast includes Jane Lynch, Larry David (?!), Jennifer Hudson, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Collins and at least four members of the Jersey Shore cast. In spite of the promising slate of actors involved (and the gratuitous shot of a hot nun in a sexy swimming suit), The Three Stooges looks to be another remake that audience members would have preferred never been made. VERDICT: Why I oughta…wait until The Three Stages is released on Blu-ray. [via Apple]

'Melancholia' tops European Film Honours

'Melancholia'London-- Lars von Trier's finish-of-the-world drama "Melancholia" nabbed the most effective film prize within the European Film Honours, which have been given out Saturday in Berlin.The pic, that have assigned the noms with eight mentions, also needed home two craft honours, cinematographer for Manuel Alberto Claro, and production designer for Jette Lehmann.Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech" needed three honours: Colin Firth was named best actor, Tariq Anwar clicked in the editor award, as well as the film also needed the People Choice award, which was selected for with the public.Susanne Bier was named best director for contempo drama "In the Better World," as well as the film author prize visited Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for "The Child Getting a bicycle.Inch Tilda Swinton was named best actress for troubled teen tale "We must Discuss Kevin." Helmer-scribe Hendes Van Nuffel won the invention Award for "Oxygen," which concentrates on a teen in crisis. The pic follows a boy battling with cystic fibrosis.Ludovic Bource needed the award for composer for "The Artist." The docu prize was acquired by 3d dance film "Pina," written and directed by Wim Wenders.The animated feature film kudo was acquired by "Chico and Rita," directed by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba. Stephen Frears was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Mads Mikkelsen was feted while using European Achievement in World Cinema award.French thesp Michel Piccoli, who toplined "There exists a Pope," was presented with the Special Honorary Award. Contact Leo Barraclough at leo.barraclough@variety.com

Disney Channel's 'Good Luck Charlie' Holiday Movie Strikes Ratings Gold

Marni Grossman/CBS"Blue Bloods" It was another down week in the ratings following Black Friday, even with football as one of the programming choices on broadcast. CBS continued its reign atop a sleepy Friday, up against Fox's telecast of the first Pac-12 championship game between the Oregon Ducks and the UCLA Bruins. (Ducks won the game handily.) Averaging a 1.4 rating in the key 18-49 demo during primetime, CBS' lineup slipped across the board from their last originals -- with Blue Bloods seeing the biggest drop. A Gifted Man (8 million total viewers, 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 demographic) hovered around its usual demo home, but compared to two weeks ago, was down a tenth. CSI: NY (9.7 million, 1.4) dropped two tenths, while Blue Bloods (11 million, 1.6) plunged. Even so, CBS either tied (A Gifted Man) for No. 1 or won its hours (CSI: NY, Blue Bloods). Following CBS was Fox with the Ducks-Bruins football game. From 8-10 p.m., the matchup didn't prove to be a big draw as 4.3 million tuned in and the network averaged a 1.3. ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (4.8 million, 1.2) dipped slightly and Katie Couric's big 20/20 interview (4.5 million, 1.3) with a pregnant Beyonce didn't infuse a new energy at 10 p.m. ABC placed third on the night with a 1.2 average. The CW's midseason finale of Nikita (1.7 million, 0.5) dropped, while Supernatural (1.9 million, 0.7) held firm. NBC's telecast of Game of Your Life (2.2 million, 0.6) wasn't a ratings winner; Dateline (4.1 million, 1.0) followed with a steep drop. 8 p.m. Fox: Pac-12 Championship Game (4.3 million viewers, 1.3 rating in adults 18-49) CBS: A Gifted Man (8 million, 1.2) ABC: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (4.8 million, 1.2) NBC: Game of Your Life (2.2 million, 0.6) The CW: Nikita (1.7 million, 0.5) 9 p.m. CBS: CSI: NY (9.7 million, 1.4) The CW: Supernatural (1.9 million, 0.7) 10 p.m. CBS: Blue Bloods (11 million, 1.6) ABC: 20/20 (4.5 million, 1.3) NBC: Dateline (4.1 million, 1.0) PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Fall TV Death Pool: Will 'Charlie's Angels,' 'Whitney' or 'How to Be a Gentleman' Be Axed First? TV Ratings

Douglas Carter Beane Spills the Broadway Beans

NY (AP) Douglas Carter Beane may have two musicals simultaneously playing on Broadway but that isn't enough."Neil Simon had four. Where are my other two? C'mon. I'm here to break records. I'm not here to do art," says the playwright, matter-of-factly. "I used to care about the process of creating art. Now it's all about the tally sheet at the end of the day."Then he smiles slyly, unable to keep up the ruse.To meet Beane is to laugh a lot his dialogue is littered with a wonderful mix of witty, arch and sarcastic humor that recalls the lost era of Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table. He drops bon mots the way regular people drop crumbs."He has something witty to say about everything," says director and choreographer Dan Knechtges, who has worked with Beane twice. "He is always on. If you give him an inch he takes a mile with the joke."These days are good ones for Beane. "Sister Act," one of the musicals he helped write, has been playing for more than 250 performances on Broadway, and he's about to watch his new offering "Lysistrata Jones" open a few blocks away. In the pipeline for the next Broadway season is a play "The Nance" with Nathan Lane and another, still hush-hush musical.He both recognizes his good fortune and laughs at it. "I have very important phone messages that will be playing Broadway," he says, cracking up. "An evening of my tweets I think is going to be booked into the Golden Theatre."At a Times Square restaurant for an interview, he orders green tea but isn't interested in food. The waiter wonders if he should take away the menu. "Leave it," Beane says. "You never know. I have violent mood swings."Beane, whose play "The Little Dog Laughed" earned a Tony nomination and who also wrote the cult movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," has just come from the Walter Kerr Theatre, where he is still tinkering with his crafty updating of Aristophanes' play "Lysistrata." Beane has taken the 2,400-year-old comedy about Athenian women withholding sex until their men stop fighting and plopped it to present day Athens College, where the basketball team hasn't won in decades.He wrote it with his real-life partner, composer and lyricist Lewis Flinn, who gave the 411 B.C. story a pulsing, extremely hummable and contemporary soundtrack. Beane's book is classically structured in honor of the Greeks but he updates a line every week."Whatever the news item of that week is, there's one place in the show where I change the line," he explains. "I wanted to have that sense of freshness, to remind people the beauty of live theater is you never know what they're going to say next."The musical has been gestating for 10 years and has traveled from a theater in Dallas to a gym in Greenwich Village. It has its origins on a terrible day Sept. 12, 2001. Beane and Flinn had only recently met."On our fifth date we were on a roof watching helicopters, smelling burning rubber, going, 'What's going on here? Let's write something positive. Let's write about positive change and something good,'" he says. "That's how we started writing it."Initially, Beane thought he would update the story to a college football field. But Flinn worried that football helmets might make the singers' faces hard to see. So Beane, who confesses he's not a sports nut, switched to basketball and consulted with his brother-in-law, a big University of North Carolina fan. He wanted to know why college basketball inspires such passion and got a very Greek answer: "He told me, 'It's so mortal. The NBA is more immortal.'"Beane, 52, jumped into the research, but worked on the script intermittently over the years. In the final version, Beane says he kept in two Aristophanes-era jokes. "So when the audience laughs, I go, '411 B.C. still works! Still works.'"He had already written a rough draft of "Lysistrata Jones" when he was approached to update the script of the Olivia Newton-John movie "Xanadu." He almost turned it down since he already had a Greek story in the pipeline.So he asked friend and playwright Wendy Wasserstein for advice. "She goes, 'Just tell everybody it's a trilogy and they'll be waiting for the third part.' I thought, 'That's the smartest advice ever,'" he says. "So 20 years from now I'll come up with something and be like, 'The trilogy is complete at last.'"Beane has seen his demand as a script doctor skyrocket lately, in part because he is widely credited with getting "Sister Act" based on the film starring Whoopi Goldberg, now a producer of the show ready for its NY run following a London stand.Building on a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner and working around songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, Beane feverishly wrote new material for the Broadway show. So crazed was the process that his typist Paul Downs Colaizzo became credited as an associate writer. Beane's script was nominated for a best musical Tony and his version is now touring the U.K.Asked if he's now considered a go-to show savior, Beane smiles. "I'm called in for shows all the time," he says, and looks down at his phone. "Someone just called me who has a musical based on the music of someone I just had to Google. I actually had to say to the agent, 'I will Google him and get back to you.'"Beane, who was raised in Wyomissing, Pa., says his humor and style were influenced by such writers as Parker, George Kaufman, James Thurber, Mark Twain and Noel Coward. Their works sustained him as a young man."If you go to the Wyomissing Public Library and pull up the files from 1976 to 1977, you will see 'D. Beane' took out all of these books. There is not one that was left behind," he says. "I just devoured them."While people often know Beane for his humor his addition of a couple of antiques dealers to "Sister Act" was stroke of comic genius his work always has depth and poignancy. The message of "Xanadu," even amid all the roller-skating silliness, was that art is still important. "Sister Act," for all the camp fun, reminds us to respect other points of view."My favorite moments are the moments everyone cries over," he says. "I see people in the audience crying and I go, 'I did that, too. I don't just do the jokes. I also do the cries.' Jokes and cries, jokes and cries. That's all I'm here for, people."Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Mark Kennedy December 2, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT AP Photo/Charles Sykes NY (AP) Douglas Carter Beane may have two musicals simultaneously playing on Broadway but that isn't enough."Neil Simon had four. Where are my other two? C'mon. I'm here to break records. I'm not here to do art," says the playwright, matter-of-factly. "I used to care about the process of creating art. Now it's all about the tally sheet at the end of the day."Then he smiles slyly, unable to keep up the ruse.To meet Beane is to laugh a lot his dialogue is littered with a wonderful mix of witty, arch and sarcastic humor that recalls the lost era of Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table. He drops bon mots the way regular people drop crumbs."He has something witty to say about everything," says director and choreographer Dan Knechtges, who has worked with Beane twice. "He is always on. If you give him an inch he takes a mile with the joke."These days are good ones for Beane. "Sister Act," one of the musicals he helped write, has been playing for more than 250 performances on Broadway, and he's about to watch his new offering "Lysistrata Jones" open a few blocks away. In the pipeline for the next Broadway season is a play "The Nance" with Nathan Lane and another, still hush-hush musical.He both recognizes his good fortune and laughs at it. "I have very important phone messages that will be playing Broadway," he says, cracking up. "An evening of my tweets I think is going to be booked into the Golden Theatre."At a Times Square restaurant for an interview, he orders green tea but isn't interested in food. The waiter wonders if he should take away the menu. "Leave it," Beane says. "You never know. I have violent mood swings."Beane, whose play "The Little Dog Laughed" earned a Tony nomination and who also wrote the cult movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," has just come from the Walter Kerr Theatre, where he is still tinkering with his crafty updating of Aristophanes' play "Lysistrata." Beane has taken the 2,400-year-old comedy about Athenian women withholding sex until their men stop fighting and plopped it to present day Athens College, where the basketball team hasn't won in decades.He wrote it with his real-life partner, composer and lyricist Lewis Flinn, who gave the 411 B.C. story a pulsing, extremely hummable and contemporary soundtrack. Beane's book is classically structured in honor of the Greeks but he updates a line every week."Whatever the news item of that week is, there's one place in the show where I change the line," he explains. "I wanted to have that sense of freshness, to remind people the beauty of live theater is you never know what they're going to say next."The musical has been gestating for 10 years and has traveled from a theater in Dallas to a gym in Greenwich Village. It has its origins on a terrible day Sept. 12, 2001. Beane and Flinn had only recently met."On our fifth date we were on a roof watching helicopters, smelling burning rubber, going, 'What's going on here? Let's write something positive. Let's write about positive change and something good,'" he says. "That's how we started writing it."Initially, Beane thought he would update the story to a college football field. But Flinn worried that football helmets might make the singers' faces hard to see. So Beane, who confesses he's not a sports nut, switched to basketball and consulted with his brother-in-law, a big University of North Carolina fan. He wanted to know why college basketball inspires such passion and got a very Greek answer: "He told me, 'It's so mortal. The NBA is more immortal.'"Beane, 52, jumped into the research, but worked on the script intermittently over the years. In the final version, Beane says he kept in two Aristophanes-era jokes. "So when the audience laughs, I go, '411 B.C. still works! Still works.'"He had already written a rough draft of "Lysistrata Jones" when he was approached to update the script of the Olivia Newton-John movie "Xanadu." He almost turned it down since he already had a Greek story in the pipeline.So he asked friend and playwright Wendy Wasserstein for advice. "She goes, 'Just tell everybody it's a trilogy and they'll be waiting for the third part.' I thought, 'That's the smartest advice ever,'" he says. "So 20 years from now I'll come up with something and be like, 'The trilogy is complete at last.'"Beane has seen his demand as a script doctor skyrocket lately, in part because he is widely credited with getting "Sister Act" based on the film starring Whoopi Goldberg, now a producer of the show ready for its NY run following a London stand.Building on a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner and working around songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, Beane feverishly wrote new material for the Broadway show. So crazed was the process that his typist Paul Downs Colaizzo became credited as an associate writer. Beane's script was nominated for a best musical Tony and his version is now touring the U.K.Asked if he's now considered a go-to show savior, Beane smiles. "I'm called in for shows all the time," he says, and looks down at his phone. "Someone just called me who has a musical based on the music of someone I just had to Google. I actually had to say to the agent, 'I will Google him and get back to you.'"Beane, who was raised in Wyomissing, Pa., says his humor and style were influenced by such writers as Parker, George Kaufman, James Thurber, Mark Twain and Noel Coward. Their works sustained him as a young man."If you go to the Wyomissing Public Library and pull up the files from 1976 to 1977, you will see 'D. Beane' took out all of these books. There is not one that was left behind," he says. "I just devoured them."While people often know Beane for his humor his addition of a couple of antiques dealers to "Sister Act" was stroke of comic genius his work always has depth and poignancy. The message of "Xanadu," even amid all the roller-skating silliness, was that art is still important. "Sister Act," for all the camp fun, reminds us to respect other points of view."My favorite moments are the moments everyone cries over," he says. "I see people in the audience crying and I go, 'I did that, too. I don't just do the jokes. I also do the cries.' Jokes and cries, jokes and cries. That's all I'm here for, people."Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Writers' words craft indelible images

Author-director Michel Hazanavicius (round the number of 'The Artist' with Jean Dujardin) began getting cure as being a 'short novel.'Silence.In films, quiet moments may be most likely the very best methods to stimulate a effective emotion to be able to portray a personality, and sometimes what's seen on the watch's screen is a lot more effective than any words may be.But telling tales visually is usually regarded as because the province in the director, not the writer, since authors are limited to words, whether it is dialogue or scene description. Yet authors frequently conceive images even when the story remains only words around the page.The year's most extreme example can be a film that's mostly quiet: "The Artist." By choosing to (almost) entirely avoid dialogue and appear effects just like a storytelling tool, author-director Michel Hazanavicius limited themselves to images to explain or stimulate a conflict.Hazanavicius points with a moment when diminishing quiet star George Valentin meets rising talkie star Peppy Burns around the staircase within the studio. "She's on the top (in the stairs) which he's gloomier than she which he might be a sad. She fitted in white-colored with very dark hair, and he or she is speaking and speaking because she's now doing speaking movies. He might be a faded and not speaking whatsoever. Plus there is a extended shot where he's listening and looking out at her where his eyes say he's deeply deeply in love with her. We use light and shadows," Hazanavicius states.Hazanavicius required to write his script before they're sure the project being possible. "I desired to carry out a modern movie though another film grammar," according to him. "Nobody attempted it for just about any very very long time which i didn't wish to carry out a spoof movie."So he written the script as being a short novel. "I'd write 'We understand he's confused' or 'He doesn't determine what she means,' after which it permit the actor perform,Inch Hazanavicius states."Shame" is actually no measure a basic film, but co-author/director Steve McQueen determines the main character's sex addiction inside the film's initial few minutes without many words. McQueen states writing a scene without dialogue is "about ritual.""Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is escaping . of mattress every morning, wiping the sleep from his eyes, switches the button round the reacting to machine, takes a shower and catches a train," according to him. Inside a couple of minutes he's round the prowl for his next liaison. "It is a kind of ritual -- once he'll wake up within the bed mattress, it's like 'Go,'?" McQueen states.For "Jane Eyre" film author Moira Buffini, writing moments left left without words is "a lot of the job." She states she produces to illuminate, using from "the kind of kitchenware the figures can use, for the banks of storm clouds coming.InchBuffini was very impressed with Jane Eyre's adoration for drawing and painting, so she written that to the script."There's one small scene inside the film where on her behalf account approach to bed mattress one evening, Jane holds her candle up to picture from the naked lady that Rochester has presented around the wall. I written 'She studies it by getting an artist's curiosity -- together with a girl's.' The scene very simply discloses Jane's sexual awakening to us," Buffini states.Like Hazanavicius, Buffini tried to be really apparent in their writing for your actor, as when explaining a specific emotion."For example, rather than saying, 'She is tearful,' say 'She is fighting to contain her tears.' That's active," she states.EYE Round The Oscars: The Writer Secrets exact harsh toll Writers' words craft indelible images Vet spice newcomer class Waking bad dreams or nightmares Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

'Key' slot at Comedy Central

Comedy Central has lined up its midseason schedule, with new sketch series "Key and Peele" set to premiere at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The net is clearly looking to give "Key" a good home -- the series debuts between the preem of ratings evergreen "Tosh.0" at 10 p.m. and the campaign-season kickoff on "The Daily Show" ("Indecision 2012") at 11 p.m. Russell Simmons and JB Smoove's "Russell Simmons Presents The Ruckus" will first air on Thursday at 10 p.m.; Smoove is another talent the net is looking to promote with a standup special on Jan. 21. Comedy Central will air new standup specials on Saturdays in January, with Tom Papa on Jan. 8, Kevin Hart on Jan. 15 and John Mulaney on Jan. 28. Late winter will see the March 14 return of "South Park" to its usual spot on Wednesdays at 10. The net's Comedy Awards will be back May 6. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com