The Very Busy Chris Pratt on Preparing for Moneyball, Goofing in What's Your Number? and Ten Year

Television watchers have been hip to Chris Pratt since he first appeared on The WB series Everwood in 2002. Other supporting roles in television (The O.C.) and film (Bride Wars) followed, but the Minnesota-born star really came into his own with his winning turn as Andy Dwyer, pratfaller extraordinaire-cum-romantic lead, on the beloved NBC series Parks & Recreation. Now, with three films coming out this fall, including two next month, Pratt is poised to tackle the big screen with a fervor his Parks & Rec alter ego would usually reserve for the Meat Tornado. First up for Pratt is a key supporting role in the much-anticipated adaptation of Moneyball (out Sept. 23) with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill; he plays former major leaguer and sabermetrics poster boy Scott Hatteberg. Next comes a comedy turn in the R-rated romcom What’s Your Number? (Sept. 30) opposite Pratt’s real-life wife Anna Faris. Then there’s Ten Year (premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival before a theatrical release in December), a Big Chill-like ensemble drama about a ten-year high school reunion. He’ll also be seen on season four of Parks & Recreation (debuts Sept. 22) and then in Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt in 2012. Just a few things! On the eve of his biggest career month yet, Pratt rang up Movieline to discuss why Moneyball isn’t your average baseball movie, how his weight was initially a problem, that time he got into a fight with director Bennett Miller, and why What’s Your Number? might be hitting theaters during a perfect climate for success. Not just because of the Aaron Sorkin connection with the script, but Moneyball feels a bit similar to The Social Network in that when you hear there’s a movie based on this famed book about statistics and sabermetrics, it doesn’t necessarily seem cinematic. What was it about the script that really sold you? Well, I’ll tell you: when I read the script for the first time, I hadn’t read the book, so going into it I didn’t have that initial question of ‘How are you going to make this book about statistics into a narrative?’ My first exposure to the story was the Sorkin screenplay and it was just great. It had some interesting stuff about statistics and about scouting, but it was really just a brilliant character piece about this general manager of the Oakland A’s [Billy Beane], that I knew Brad Pitt was going to play. So, reading the story — and then reading the role of Scott Hatteberg — it was one of those situations where the script was under lock and key, no one was allowed to read it, and I got to read it shortly before auditioning. I had to sit there in the office and read the script and they wouldn’t let anybody leave with it; it was very top secret. At the end of it, I just thought, ‘That is just a perfect story. It’s so interesting. It’s a true human story — it’s not a movie about baseball statistics, it’s more of a character piece.’ It was all right there in the screenplay. Much like the The Social Network, I remember thinking, ‘How are they going to make this movie about Facebook?’ And then I saw the movie and I thought, ‘Oh, wow. That’s a character piece.’ The fact that Sorkin even came on to write is a testament to how human the story is and how there is a real story in there about real humans. It’s not just a baseball movie. Was Moneyball something you really pushed for? It was definitely something that I wanted, but I was just one of just a giant number of people who wanted the role. I read it and thought that it was incredible. My first audition was with Bennett Miller and I thought it went well. I felt like we found some real moments. Then, when I left, my agent called me and said, ‘Chris, they really thought you were good, but they think you’re too fat.’ I was like, ‘Fuck, really? That sucks. OK, well, I can lose weight. Did you tell them I could lose weight?’ ‘Yeah, we told them. They haven’t offered it to anyone else. There’s no guarantee, but…’ I just hung up the phone and from that point on — it was about a seven month process from that moment until the end of filming. It was another three months before I found out I got the role, but in that three months I think I dropped 30 pounds. I was bound and determined to become Scott Hatteberg whether they cast me or not. I’d imagine the baseball training was extensive and difficult. For example, you’re right-handed, but Hatteberg was left-handed. Was that very hard to master? It was. He throws righty and bats lefty, so luckily I didn’t have to throw the ball. I don’t think any amount of training could teach me how to throw the ball left-handed. In terms of swinging the bat left-handed, that’s pretty hard to do as well, but I’m a goofy-foot snowboarder, and in wrestling, I always wrestled with my right leg forward. I think I’m right-handed, left-footed, maybe. I never batted left-handed as kid playing little league or pick-up games. I’m still probably more powerful and accurate right-handed, but left-handed — just because of the amount of work I did with Chad Kreuter, the former head coach of the USC baseball team, and all my teammates with whom I shot Moneyball were real baseball players — I think the mechanics of my left-handed swing are much better than my right-handed swing. One of the biggest issues with baseball movies is that you can’t really hide the fact that the actors aren’t playing baseball — it’s not like football where there are helmets. Did they make you guys go through spring training to get the baseball down cold? Yes. They did a very thorough tryout as part of my auditioning process. After I read with Bennett and came back and read with Brad and maybe read with Bennett again — I think I had three readings at this point — I still didn’t get the part. But, I was still bound and determined to do it, and I was still, at this point, a little heavy as well. I went to a baseball tryout, a physical audition, and there were several hundred players there. These guys were pros. Literally ex-professional baseball players, both from minor and major league, but also foreign teams, ex-college guys. These were guys with tattoos of baseball bats on their body — they were real baseball players. We did a tryout and that’s how they cast 95 percent of the baseball players, was just based on physical ability and the likeness to the real players in real life. So, you’re definitely seeing baseball players play real baseball. I think that was really important for Bennett and everyone making the movie to stay authentic to the sport. There are guys hitting 95 MPH fastballs in this movie. It’s not like Mr. 3000 or Mr. Baseball where you can tell — this is authentic. Moneyball is one of those projects that has been hanging around for a long time, most famously with Steven Soderbergh attached to direct. Had you been following its development process beforehand? You know, I had never heard of it. I didn’t know about the project when it was a Soderbergh project. In fact, when it was a Soderbergh project, I don’t think I’d even be able to audition for it, because I think — I might be wrong here — Soderbergh wanted to use the actual baseball players and do it docu-style. Scott Hatteberg would have been played by Scott Hatteberg. In order to tell the story, though, I think they needed actors to play these characters. It’s a narrative; it’s a real story, and you’re not asking people about what happened, you’re reenacting what happened. So, I hadn’t heard about the project and didn’t know about it at all, and I’m really kind of — it’s one of those things that was really lucky for me. I’m sure a lot of people were bummed who were attached to the Soderbergh project. I’m glad it was Bennett so I could be in it. (Laughs) It’s not often you can replace a director the caliber of Steven Soderbergh with someone like Bennett Miller. After Capote it feels like a great many are excited to see what he does next. How was he to work with? I love Capote. Huge fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman; if he’s not my all-time favorite actor he’s definitely in my top-five. I just love him so much. Working with Bennett — this was the first time I’d ever worked with a director who sorta manipulated a performance out of me. After a while, you realize — Bennet’s a great guy, he’s a really nice guy; I’ll consider him a friend and be friends with him — but you can’t really judge a director on their ability to direct until you see the movie. You know what the experience is like, but you have no idea what they’re capturing in that little 35-millimeter lens. So there was one point when he came up to me, when Scott Hatteberg is trying to play first base and he’s feeling. It’s like spring training, and he came up to me in the middle — and I was working my ass off; I was sweating — and he says, ‘Stop being such a fucking pussy’ to me. I was volatile. It made me so mad. I think I even spit at his shoes. I was like, ‘You’re calling me a pussy, motherfucker? After all this shit!’ When I saw the movie, there’s a little bit of me mumbling to myself, furiously, that he put in the movie. So, I realized that was about the performance, it wasn’t about the camaraderie. There’s a lot of machismo among baseball players, and people calling each other pussies — very much like you are when you’re a kid playing sports. A lot of friendly bullying and bantering and he kind of adopted that a little bit, and I was like, ‘Don’t fucking do that to me motherfucker.’ And he did! And then I saw the movie and realized he did that intentionally. You mention being a huge fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman — it had to be a trip to work with him. Was he all you hoped for? [Hoffman plays former Oakland manager Art Howe] I didn’t work with him a lot, but at least a few days. It’s really hard to make a judgement on how someone is — their personality — when you’re on the set acting with them. You don’t know if you’re really meeting them, or if you’re meeting a version of them that they’re putting on to play this character. Phil was really nice, really nice. Asked a lot of questions, really wanted to get to know me. The way that a really good person will, if you’re getting to know somebody. The guy is really fucking cool. I don’t know if that’s because Art Howe was a really hands-on manager, or if Philip was a really nice guy, but he couldn’t have been nicer. He was interested, he met my family, remembered things about me. The kind of stuff that doesn’t normally happen with huge actors. He was really great, it was kind of a dream come true. Did you pick up anything from him as an actor that you’ll use in future jobs? Yes, there definitely were a lot of things. Maybe five minutes before rolling, he adopts this behavior that lets everyone know you’re not supposed to talk to him in the best way. He puts his head down and starts pacing back and forth. You’re in a stadium with thousands of extras, hundreds of crew people and another 40-50 baseball players. There’s a lot of people and a lot of conversation to be had, but when it’s time to focus you have to focus. That’s what I noticed with him — his incredible focus. When it was time to go to work he would start pacing and that just commanded respect. People left him alone because it was his process. That’s something that really works, because if you’re sitting there in your head and you’re trying to get yourself ready for a scene and someone comes up to you and says, ‘Hey, how’s it going? You know a friend of mine!’ or ‘Hey, my name’s Tony?’ You don’t want to be like, ‘Leave me alone!’ Because you come off like a dick. So, I’ve sorta taken that from him. It really lets everybody know, in a polite way, please don’t bother me right now.

Hurricane Irene: CW Shuts Down 'One Tree Hill' Production

Hurricane Irene has claimed another victim, as the CW shut down production of One Tree Hill for the weekend in preparation for the storm.our editor recommendsHurricane Irene Shuts Broadway Productions: Disney Shows Among Cancellations (Developing)Hurricane Irene Bumps Up Ratings, Web Traffic for The Weather ChannelHurricane Irene: FEMA Urges People to Tweet, Facebook "As a precautionary measure and in consideration of our cast and crew, One Tree Hill production has shut down for today and tomorrow due to Hurricane Irene. We will continue to monitor the situation over the next few day," a rep for the show told The Hollywood Reporter. The drama films in Wilmington, N.C., and Hurricane Irene is estimated to make landfall on Saturday in the Barrier Islands in North Carolina, and then travel its way up the coastline all the way to beyond Boston. STORY: Hurricane Irene Shuts Broadway Productions: Disney Shows Among Cancellations Sophia Bush, who stars in the series, wrote on Twitter on Thursday, "OTH production has been canceled for tomorrow. All our fans in town, please stay inside! We will not be filming. Stay safe." Bush's co-star Austin Nichols also tweeted on Thursday, "Shutting down production tomorrow. Can't wait to dance with this large woman called Irene." One Tree Hill will air its final season as a mid-season replacement on the CW. Other areas on the East Coast are shutting down movie theaters, and several Broadway productions have closed, including The Lion King and Mary Poppins. Related Topics The CW Sophia Bush One Tree Hill Hurricane Irene

Bust Out Your Mobile phones and obtain Two New Posters and Trailers for 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' (VIDEO)

With under two several weeks to visit until its October 21 release date, Fox Searchlight Pictures takes the hi-tech route to promote their approaching mental thriller, 'Martha Marcy May Marlene.' Because of individuals at Entertainment Weekly, we've two new "wise posters" with scannable QR codes that grant use of two new trailers when scanned having a wise phone. While it's most likely most widely known for starring Elizabeth Olsen (sister to Mary-Kate and Ashley), 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' is all about a youthful girl who struggles to piece her existence together after joining, and getting away from, a cult. It co-stars Oscar-nominee John Hawkes ('Winter's Bone'), Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy, amongst others and it is the feature film debut from author/director Sean Durkin. Knowing from what we have seen to date, together with the positive reception it got in the Sundance Film Festival, we are greatly searching toward seeing this movie to live in. So click through to look into the awesome new posters and also the corresponding trailers which go together. That John Hawkes sure loves playing the frightening hillbilly nowadays (not too we are worrying). What exactly would you think about the wise phone ad campaign for 'Martha Marcy May Marlene?' [via Entertainment Weekly] Photo thanks to Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Fortissimo pacts with Imagenation

LONDON -- Fortissimo Films has pacted with Abu Dhabi's $1 billion production arm, Imagenation, to exclusively sell international rights for the shingle's first slate of local and Arabic language pics being developed, financed and produced by the company. The multi-year, multi-picture sales agreement will commence with Imagenation's first two Emirati productions: Nawaf Al-Janahi's coming-of-age story "Sea Shadow" and Tobe Hooper's Arabian supernatural thriller "Djinn." Both pics have finished lensing in the UAE and are in post. Deal comes after Imagenation announced last month that it had inked an exclusive deal with Empire Intl. to distribute its Emirati slate to cinemas and on DVD throughout the Middle East and North Africa region. With their extensive industry knowledge, Fortissimo will not only be an important partner in the distribution of our films internationally, but also in the development of our future film projects," said Imagenation CEO Michael Garin, who took up the role in February. "They will provide us with real time data on our existing projects, while also helping us to determine the type of films we will develop going forward." Fortissimo topper Michael J. Werner added: "We are witnessing the creation of a new, unique and talented source for international cinema and we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Imagenation Abu Dhabi." Since a series of exec reshuffles this year, which saw the departure of former CEO Ed Borgerding and chief operating officer Stefan Brunner, Imagenation has been keeping a low profile, which sources indicate is down to focusing on building up its local production biz. The company is still committed to its production and financing joint ventures with Hyde Park Ent., Participant Media and National Geographic Ent. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Kim Kardashian Wedding: The way the Media Covered

A minumum of one observer has compared Kim Kardashian's wedding to National basketball association player Kris Humphries towards the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.our editor recommendsKim Kardashian Wedding: The Hollywood Associates Who Attended Kim Kardashian First Wedding Footage Hits the web (Video)Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries Wedding Photos Cost $1.5 MillionCriticisms About Kim Kardashian Wedding SurfaceKim Kardashian Wedding Visitors: What Participants Say Concerning the Large DayKim Kardashian Expresses Happiness on Big Day, Thanks Fans for his or her Support While that could be overstating it a little, the television systems and entertainment magazines are earning a large deal from the ceremony, which happened Saturday. PHOTOS: Inside Kardashians Corporation. Possibly the television outlet covering the wedding probably the most is E! Entertainment, that was the only real media company permitted to possess camcorders inside, because of a lucrative cope with the pair. The network gave audiences a sneak look of the items's in the future in the October special, Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event, within an E! News are convinced that broadcast over the past weekend. Online, the network includes a special package dedicated to the marriage, featuring reviews on from Kardashian's day-of formulations towards the personalized party favors the visitors required home. E! News promotions for Monday's show are also concentrating on coverage from the wedding. Additionally, E!'s The Soup, located by Joel McHale, is also featuring quips concerning the wedding in the promotions for Friday's show. Meanwhile, the syndicated entertainment newsmagazines -- Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Access Hollywood andExtra -- all featured their wedding coverage conspicuously on the home pages, and also the story will probably dominate Monday's shows. STORY: The Company Behind Kim Kardashian's TV Wedding On Sunday, their sites all featured a slew of Kardashian-related content, and never nearly the ceremony itself. Access Hollywood, for instance, includes a poll asking audiences whether or not they will watch the E! wedding special along with a gallery entitled "The Numerous Males of Kim." Inside Edition -- with a larger focus compared to other shows -- comes with content on its website concerning the wedding but will not make any reference to it in the promo for Monday's show. The broadcast systems' morning shows are also since the ceremony. NBC News' Today got an increase about the coverage by airing a recap from the event Sunday. In the intro from the piece, reported by Michelle Franzen, Today's Lester Holt incorrectly known as Humphries "Ryan." Then he noted the ceremony was an "basically made-for-TV celebration." Throughout the report, Franzen notes the star-studded guest list, interviews staffers from Us Weekly the ones and asks the wonder if the wedding was "real or reality TV." VIDEO: Kim Kardashian First Wedding Footage Hits the web ABC News' Hello America also recapped the big event on its Sunday morning broadcast, having a People editor talking about the different dresses worn by Kardashian together with the celebrity guest list. (Because The Hollywood Reporter formerly reported, People compensated $1.5 million for exclusive privileges towards the photos.) The show also offers published several videos on its website associated with the ceremony. One of these, entitled "Kim Kardashian Ties the Knot," is sandwiched between "Gary Giordano Taken for additional Questioning" and "Baby Tigers in the Indonesia Zoo" on GMA's home page. From the three broadcast systems' news divisions, CBS News was the only person not featuring anything concerning the Kardashian wedding conspicuously on its home page Sunday. But a website search says the network did send a crew to speak to the fans secured out outdoors the marriage venue -- a personal 11-acre estate in Montecito, Calif. -- and cover the celebrity arrivals. CBS News also questioned a nearby who had been wishing to obtain a last-minute invite by posting homemade signs across the street. STORY: Kim Kardashian Wedding Backlash Illuminates Twitter CNN also sent a crew towards the event site, with reporter Kareen Wynter filing from Montecito. Her report centered on exactly what the bride used, the reported costs from the event and also the heavy security all around the "extravagant affair." But fellow cable news funnel Fox News hasn't published any videos in the event. Actually, the only real coverage on its site originates from the Connected Press. Additionally towards the coverage, several shops had reps as asked visitors: E! News' Ryan Seacrest, GMA's Lara Spencer now's Kathie Lee Gifford were among individuals attending the ceremony. In your area, La' KTLA devoted a unique section on its website, and also the station incorporated a study concerning the wedding in the Saturday evening broadcast. But KTLA didn't send a reporter to Montecito, selecting rather to obtain responses from people in L.A., including radio DJ Ellen K, who co-hosts On Air With Ryan Seacrest. Related Subjects Kim Kardashian

Miguel Ferrer Adds Class to Desperate Housewives

Miguel Ferrer Miguel Ferrer has signed on to recur on the final season of Desperate Housewives, TVLine.com reports. The 56-year-old Protector star will play Andre Zeller, an unpredictable and moody artist who teaches a course at the local college where Susan (Teri Hatcher) is enrolled. Is Desperate Housewives on your Watchlist? Add it and your other favorites now and never miss an episode Ferrer, whose credits also include The Manchurian Candidate and RoboCop, is one of many additions to the final season, including Friends' Jessica Hecht and V's Charles Mesure. Desperate Housewives returns Sunday, Sept. 25 at 9/8c on ABC.

Marlon Brando Estate Sues Over 'Brando' Sofas

Vital Pictures/Getty Images Brando Businesses, the entity that controls Marlon Brando's estate, hasfiled a suit alleging that Rooms to visit, aFla.-based store, is infringing the late actor's title, likeness, and trademarks in sofas and sectionals referred to as "Brando." The suit was filed in La Superior Court on August twelfth. "A part of our ongoing efforts with respect to Brando Businesses would be to carefully monitor the manufacturing and retail marketplace to make sure that any commercial utilisation of the Brando title, image or trademarks is licensed via a discussed agreement with Brando Businesses' duly hired certification reps," saidJeffrey Abrams of Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin, representing the estate. This isn't the very first time that the deceased Hollywood star has prosecuted over furniture. This past year, the estate of Humphrey Bogart suedAshley Furniture Industries, alleging that the "Bogart" couch was prone to confuse, mislead or trick the consuming public. That dispute continues to be ongoing. In the response to the complaint, Ashley required exception to the concept that while using "Bogart" mark will probably dilute what it really thinks to become a generic term. Additionally, it searched for judicial declaration that privileges of publicity can't be relevant to the bogarting of the title to explain a couch. Ashley ended up being hit in June having a similar suit by the one and only Brando Businesses, that has asserted its privileges on a number of products including motorcycle boots. In the suit against Ashley, Brando claims that the type of unlicensed "Brando" sofas andottomans are illegal. We'll help you stay up-to-date whether dead celebs can find some coinage between your cushions of those allegedly too-close-for-comfort furniture products. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner Marlon Brando

Rihanna On Her Tough 'Battleship' Training and 'Crazy' Director

Pop diva Rihanna is totally unrecognizable in her first acting role as a soldier taking on some scary aliens in the upcoming 'Battleship.' Gone are the wild wigs and barely-there outfits; instead, she's in a uniform and wielding some badass looking artillery. Although she's in pretty amazing shape (as those skimpy stage costumes clearly show), she had to undergo intensive military training for the role. "We worked with real military people ... people in the Navy, people who have fought in Iraq before," Rihanna explained. "This one man, Donald, he pretty much drilled me, yelled at me, cursed me, made me do push-ups... I really wanted to say, "F**k you" right back, but then he probably would have thrown me through the window! I was so scared. I just stood there and looked at him like, 'I swear I'm going to get it right, I swear, I swear, I swear I'll be good.'" She said the training helped her "get into the mentality" of being a naval officer. "It's not a walk in the park." As for director Peter Berg, Rihanna said, "He's crazy. He really is, and so spontaneous, so nothing is memorized, it's a real reaction every time. I couldn't ask for a better director to work with on my first film. Who warns you that you have to jump into the middle of the ocean and pretend that you're drowning? Who does that? Him? Never." The singer said that acting is completely different than shooting a video. "It's night and day. I don't even want to think about being on stage right now. Being on stage, is a ... world that I'm a little more comfortable with. This is a whole different perspective, I mean it seems the same, it's not even the same as shooting a video. It really isn't." And, for the record, Rihanna's never played the board game that inspired the movie. "In Barbados that doesn't even exist," she said, although the production did give her a copy of the game in her trailer. Does she get to utter the famous "You sunk my battleship!" phrase? "No, that's not my line. Yeah, no one sinks my battleship." 'Battleship' stars Taylor Kitsch , Alexander Skarsgård and Liam Neeson. It opens May 18, 2012. [via UGO]

Circulation Stabilizes For Entertainment And Business Magazines In 1H

Magazines pretty much held on to customers in the first half of 2011 according to a report today from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Subscriptions and single-copy sales at 418 of the most popular titles only fell 1.4% vs the same period last year. The tally was down 2.3% this time last year vs2009. People continues to lead the pack among entertainment and celebrity-driven magazines: Its average circulation of 3.56M was flat with last year. TV Guide comes in second at 2.02M -- its 3.3% decline is a vast improvement from last year when it dropped 28.7%. It was followed by US Weekly (1.98M, +1.4%), Entertainment Weekly (1.80M, -0.1%), Star (880,256, -7%), OK! Weekly (747,040, +7.5%), and National Enquirer (659,562, -9.2%).Money still leads the business and finance magazines with 1.92M, -0.05%. Trailing are Forbes (928,900, +0.7%), Bloomberg BusinessWeek (921,839, +0.1%), Fortune (845,043, -1.4%), and The Economist (844,387, +2.6%).

AOL Strikes Out With 2Q Earnings As Personnel And Acquisition Costs Rise

Here's the bottom line: Wall Street expected AOL to deliver a 4 cent a share profit for 2Q, and the company reported an 11 cent loss. The net loss, at $11.8M, looks better than the $1.1B loss in the same quarter last year. But the 2010 figure included a $1.4B goodwill impairment charge. This morning's report shows that AOL generated $542.2M in revenues, down 8% from last year -- but ahead of the $530.4M that analysts forecast. AOL says its big investments in hyperlocal news service Patch are largely responsible for the continuing losses. The operation serves 846 towns, 44 more than it had at the end of March. In March AOL closed its $315M deal to acquire The Huffington Post. Revenues at AOL's mostly dial up Internet subscription business fell 23% to $201.3M. But the company cheered the 5% growth in ad revenue, to $319M. "AOL's return to global advertising growth for the first time since 2008 reflects the hard work of our team and another meaningful step forward in the comeback of the AOL brand," CEO Tim Armstrong said.

Amy Winehouse, Tony Bennett Duet To Become Charitable organisation Single

FIRST Released: August 4, 2011 2:31 PM EDT LONDON, U.K. -- Amy Winehouses family states the performers final recording is going to be launched like a charitable organisation single the following month. The late performers father stated Thursday the arises from Body and Soul a duet with Tony Bennett will visit the recently established Amy Winehouse Foundation. Mitch Winehouse states delivering it in September like a charitable organisation single was probably the most fitting tribute of to his daughter. Both performers recorded the only at Londons Abbey Road Galleries for Bennetts forthcoming Duets II album. The building blocks is placed to finance a variety of projects concentrating on youthful people. The household also hopes to determine a alcohol and drugs detox center for addicted youths. Winehouse, who had battled for a long time with substance addiction, was discovered dead at her London home on This summer 23. Copyright 2011 by Connected Press. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.K. to relax copyright laws

LONDON -- The U.K. government has announced a package of measures intended to liberalize Britain's copyright laws. They include rejecting plans to block websites that host copyright infringing material, which follow a review by local communications regulator Ofcom. Website blocking was one of the items contained in last year's Digital Economy Act legislation rushed through by the previous Labour administration. But the coalition government's business secretary, Vince Cable, said Wednesday that the law was too cumbersome and unworkable. However, he added that plans to close sites that offer pirated fare remain in the pipeline. Rights holders can still use the British courts as was evident last week when the Motion Picture Assn. won an injunction requiring British Telecom to block access to pirate film website Newzbin2. Cable, responding to May's report by Ian Hargreaves on U.K. copyright law, also confirmed that rules preventing people from making copies of CDs and DVDs for personal use, known as "format shifting," were being dropped. Although widely ignored, it is illegal in Blighty to copy the contents of a CD or DVD they own onto an iPod or other digital player. Cable said: "This brings the law into line with, frankly, common sense. A lot of this has to do with consumer freedom. We need to have a legal framework that supports consumer use rather than treat it as regrettable. We can't say that businesses should embrace technology but say to consumers they can't use technology for products they have paid for." However, making copies and sharing them online remains illegal. Intellectual property laws involving parody, which are tougher in the U.K. than in the U.S., will also be relaxed to allow comedians, broadcasters and other content creators more creative freedom. This would ensure that spoofs such as YouTube hit "Newport State of Mind" remain available to users. Responding to the moves, Chris Marcich, the MPA's prexy and m.d. for Europe, Asia and the Middle East, said while the org welcomed "assurances regarding better enforcement at home and abroad," it remained "concerned about a number of recommendations that could have a negative impact on the film industry, including format shifting for film." Hargreaves' original report argued that the U.K.'s intellectual property laws were archaic and were a barrier to innovation and economic growth in an online age. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Watch the Intriguing First Trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt

When Oscar-winner Francis Ford Coppola took to Comic-Con to present his new horror project Twixt, he blew minds in Hall H by live-editing footage from his iPad. Now you can watch the first trailer for Twixt to get a taste of what Coppola’s got cooking with his Gothic murder-mystery tale about a hack novelist named Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) who befriends a ghostly girl named V (Elle Fanning) while searching for his next story in a small California town. The new four-minute Toronto Film Festival trailer starts off in quirky fashion, a pony-tailed Kilmer playing the straight fish-out-of-water in an oddball town with a secret. Kilmer’s Hall Baltimore begins dreaming, and Coppola’s visuals get increasingly intriguing — Edgar Allan Poe in the moon, Baltimore’s first encounter with V in a foggy, black and white dream punctuated by her bright shock of make-up. And later: More visually striking glimpses of monochrome and color. Finally, a telling exchange: “I want to know the truth.” “There are consequences.” “What choice do I have? Tell me all of the story.” Twixt will have its world premiere as a special presentation at the Toronto Film Festival this September, where audiences can expect to get the full multi-media treatment that Coppola promised at Comic-Con before he takes the show on the road. And with the added element of 3-D (seen through those custom Edgar Allen Poe 3-D masks he gave out at Comic-Con, fingers crossed), paired with Dan Deacon’s live musical accompaniment, the eye-popping sequences should make for a full sensory experience. Verdict: Color me intrigued.