John Belushi Biopic Revived With 'Walter Mitty' Writer to Direct (Exclusive)

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John Belushi

John Belushi is coming back to life.

A biopic of the great comedian had been set up at Warner Bros. with a script by Steve Conrad and Todd Phillips producing and directing. But the project is now moving forward as an indie. Phillips (The Hangover) has stepped aside and Conrad, whose writing credits include The Weather Man and the upcoming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, will direct the picture himself.

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Conrad already is on the hunt for actors, and according to sources, he has met with Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Adam Devine (Comedy Central’s Workaholics) to play Belushi. Joaquin Phoenix's name also has surfaced in connection with the role.

Nelson Franklin, who has done stints on Veep and New Girl, is among those who has met to play Dan Ackroyd, one of Belushi’s best friends, with whom the comedian not only starred in Saturday Night Live but also several movies, such as The Blues Brothers and 1941.

Belushi, who also starred in Animal House, is one of those Hollywood icons whose talent was cut short at a fairly young age. The comedian famously died at the age of 33 from a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont in 1982. Insiders say the biopic hopes to tell the story of a man that embodied both the glory and the tragedy of the American dream as it focuses on Belushi at the height of his fame.

VIDEO: Dan Ackroyd Remembers John Belushi 30 Years After His Death

This isn’t the first attempt to bring Belushi’s life to the screen. Michael Chiklis portrayed him in the 1989 adaptation of the Bob Woodward book Wired, which reportedly was boycotted by Belushi's friends and family.

This project, however, is promising to be different: Belushi’s widow, Judy Belushi Pisano, is one of the producers and Aykroyd is on board as an executive producer.

Alexandra Milchan, who is executive producing The Wolf of Wall Street, and Bonnie Timmerman of the production shingle Emjag, have been steering the project as producers, as has Scott Lambert of the financing and production entity Film 360.

The moviemakers are eyeing a New York shoot in spring 2014.

Conrad is repped by CAA.  Aykroyd is repped by CAA and Bloom Hergott.

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Rashida Jones Slams Other Female Stars, Says "Stop Acting Like Whores"

Rashida Jones thinks celebrities need to keep it in their pants. On Saturday, Oct. 19, the Parks and Recreation actress took to Twitter to voice her displeasure with people -- and, in particular, other famous women -- flashing their private parts (emphasis on private) for all to see.

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"This week's celeb news takeaway: she who comes closest to showing the actual inside of her vagina is most popular," the 37-year-old daughter of music producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton wrote, along with a hashtag imploring her fellow stars to "stop acting like whores."

"Let me clarify. I don't shame ANYone for anything they choose to do with their lives or bodies...BUT I think we ALL need to take a look at what we are accepting as 'the norm'..." the Harvard grad explained.

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"There is a whole generation of young women watching. Sure, be SEXY but leave something to the imagination," she continued.

Then, in a sarcastic aside, she quipped: "Also, calling on all men to show me dat ass."

Jones didn't single out any one female celeb in particular, but plenty of stars have made headlines recently for their barely-there (or not-there-at-all) ensembles.

PHOTOS: Stars who've gone topless

Miley Cyrus, for example, went completely nude in her "Wrecking Ball" video in September and then again for Future's upcoming "Real & True" video. And Nicki Minaj has posted photos on Instagram of both her thong and her almost-bare, pasties-adorned breasts. Kim Kardashian, too, shared a revealing photo of herself in a skimpy bathing suit, with sideboob galore.

Tell Us: Do you agree or disagree with Rashida Jones?

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/rashida-jones-slams-other-female-stars-says-stop-acting-like-whores-20132110
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New talks raise hopes for end to SF transit strike

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Representatives of the San Francisco Bay Area's transit rail system and its striking unions returned to the bargaining table Monday, raising hopes among the region's frustrated commuters that a four-day work stoppage that has gridlocked highways and doubled travel times is about to end.

Bay Area Rapid Transit officials hoped to have an agreement in place by Monday evening so trains could begin running on the system's 104 miles of track by Tuesday, BART spokesman Rick Rice said. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 President Antonette Bryant confirmed the talks but declined to comment further.

ATU represents station agents, train operators and clerical workers who walked off the job early Friday along with mechanics and maintenance workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. Contract negotiations had broken down over work rules for scheduled hours and overtime.

Area residents who endured long lines for crowded buses and ferries into San Francisco on Monday offered differing opinions on which side bore more blame for the impasse, but they were unanimous in the view that the public was being unfairly hurt and that the strike had to end.

"We need BART to be running right now," Karen Wormley said as she waited for a bus at a BART station in the East Bay city of Walnut Creek, where the line was at least hundred-people deep before dawn. "I need to get to work."

Federal investigators, meanwhile, were searching for clues to a weekend train accident that killed a BART worker and a contractor who were struck by an out-of-service train while inspecting an above-ground section of track in Walnut Creek.

The Contra Costa County coroner's office identified the victims as Laurence Daniels, 66, of Fair Oaks and Christopher Sheppard, 58, of Hayward.

The four-car train was not carrying any passengers due to the strike. BART has said it had dropped off some vandalized cars to be cleaned and was returning to a train yard under computer control Saturday when it hit the two men. They are the sixth and seventh BART workers to die on the job in the system's 41-year history.

Two National Transportation Safety Board investigators were looking into the accident. It could take several weeks to determine if the work stoppage or the way BART management deployed non-striking workers played a role in the fatalities, said Jim Southworth, the NTSB's railroad accident investigator-in-charge.

The ongoing investigation at the collision site could delay the resumption of service there if the strike's end is imminent, Southworth said.

Oklahoma State University transportation engineering professor Samir Ahmed, who has studied rail transit safety, said he would be surprised if the strike did not somehow factor into the accident.

"When you have a strike like what is happening at BART now, communications are poor in general," he said. "The strike environment causes confusion."

That the two inspectors were hit by a train shows that critical information was not relayed either to the workers on the track or the people operating the train, Ahmed said.

"There should have been someone at the controls there talking to the workers and talking to the train engineer," he said. "Something did not did not go right, and if it is their policy to have this kind of maintenance during a strike they should have communicated that to the engineers."

___

Thanawala reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Haven Daley in Walnut Creek contributed to this report.

• Transportation
• Society & Culture
• Bay Area Rapid Transit

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/talks-raise-hopes-end-sf-transit-strike-230734357--finance.html
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Martin Sheen to Be Honored at Dubai Film Fest

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Martin Sheen

LONDON -- Martin Sheen will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work in the film industry during the opening ceremony of this year's Dubai International Film Festival.

Sheen's acting career spans film and television and includes star turns in classic films such as Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Badlands, Wall Street and The Departed.

PHOTOS: Charlie Sheen Roast: THR's Red Carpet Interviews

His TV work includes his SAG-winning outing as fictional U.S. president Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing.

Sheen said he was "honored by the exciting news" of being chosen for the Dubai plaudit.

"This esteemed recognition inspires me to continue doing what I love most: telling stories through the art of cinema," Sheen said. "I am very much looking forward to visiting Dubai in December and being immersed in the region's blossoming film industry."

Sheen will also take part in a public 'In Conversation with Martin Sheen' Q&A event, which will be held during the course of the festival.

DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma described Sheen as "a cinematic legend whose remarkable career has spanned five decades."

Said Juma: "In that time, he has brought to life a huge variety of compelling, intelligent and wonderfully engaging characters on the big and small screens. We are honored to present Martin Sheen with the DIFF lifetime achievement award, and we look forward to welcoming him to Dubai."

Previous DIFF lifetime achievement honorees include Omar Sharif, Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Terry Gilliam, Michael Apted and Mahmoud Abdel Aziz.

The 10th edition of the festival runs Dec. 6-14.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/film/~3/evXgwCzfJ6A/story01.htm
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Syria's Grinding War Takes Toll On Children

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Two million Syrian children have been displaced by the war. Many have witnessed violence and experienced trauma that could have life-long consequences. One of the biggest challenges for international aid agencies is healing the invisible scars of the youngest victims.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NprProgramsATC/~3/_5X4NIkTaLw/syrias-grinding-war-and-the-toll-it-takes-on-children
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Unbounded Robotics introduces UBR-1, a one-armed semi-autonomous robot for $35K

Willow Garage is a company of some renown in the world of robotics. While it's known primarily for the bots it builds, the company may one day be more famous for its alumni and the spinoff firms it has spawned. Unbounded Robotics is the latest such company, and its creation is the UBR-1, a sort of ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/tDYlu03nEO4/
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Management, unions resuming negotiations in San Francisco rail strike

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Management for San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit district and unions representing striking commuter rail workers will resume negotiations on Monday in hopes of ending a four-day walkout that has snarled traffic across the region, a BART spokesman said.

A federal mediator would take part in the talks, BART spokesman Rick Rice said.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/commuter-rail-strike-tests-san-franciscans-patience-201107599--sector.html
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