Puss In Boots Tops Box Office

First Published: October 30, 2011 2:02 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images Caption Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas arrive at the premiere of Dreamworks Animations Puss In Boots at the Regency Westwood Theatre on October 23, 2011 in Westwood, California.LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots landed on all fours, opening with an estimated $34 million to lead the box office. The DreamWorks 3-D animated film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, proved the popular character voiced by Antonio Banderas was a big enough draw outside the Shrek franchise. The PG-rated Puss in Boots scored with family audiences on the weekend before Halloween, and also drew a large Hispanic crowd, which made up 35 percent of its audience. Though the box office for the top 12 movies was up 7.8 percent from the corresponding weekend last year, it was still affected by both the unseasonable winter storm on the East Coast and the appeal of the Game 7 broadcast of baseballs World Series on Friday night. DreamWorks estimated the storm took off several million from Puss in Boots. The new release on the weekend from 20th Century Fox, the Justin Timberlake sci-fi thriller In Time, was down as much as20 percent Saturday in markets like NY and Philadelphia. But the largest estimated opening didnt happen in North America. The Adventures of Tintin, which is being distributed overseas by Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures, opened in 19 international markets and hauled in $55.8 million. The performance-capture 3-D animated film, directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the beloved Belgian comic series, was especially popular in France, where its $21.5 million was the largest opening for a non-sequel Hollywood film. The film opens in the U.S. on Dec. 21. Were still waiting for the holiday season to kick in in earnest as we get into November, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. The holiday season is going to be very strong at the box office. Paramount also claimed the weekends second top performing movie with the low-budget horror film Paranormal Activity 3. That film took in $18.5 million in its second week of release, bringing its cumulative total to $81.3 million. Paramounts Footloose was the fourth film on the weekend, adding $5.4 million for a three-week total of $38.4 million. In Time opened with $12 million domestically but took in more ($14.5 million) overseas. The biggest disappointment was The Rum Diary, the Hunter S. Thompson adaption starring Johnny Depp. It opened weakly, earning just $5 million, a low figure for a film headlined by Depp and which cost an estimated $50 million to make. But the solid opening for Puss in Boots was much needed for DreamWorks. The company said Tuesday its net income fell by half in the third quarter as its early summer release, Kung Fu Panda 2, did not haul in as much at the box office as last years Shrek Forever After. Reviews and audience reaction have been positive for Puss in Boots. Its release date was moved up a week to essentially give the film more time to run in theaters before other large fall movies are released. It added $17 million internationally, with most of that coming from Russia. We always looked at this as a two-weekend release strategy, so we think weve got a good start on that plan, said Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing and consumer products at DreamWorks. Being the number one movie and the likely Halloween weekend record-breaker, were well-positioned to go into week two as well as play through the holidays. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. Puss in Boots, $34 million. ($17 million international.) 2. Paranormal Activity 3, $18.5 million. ($17 million international.) 3. In Time, $12 million. ($14.5 million international.) 4. Footloose, $5.4 million. ($1.4 million international.) 5. The Rum Diary, $5 million. 6. Real Steel, $4.7 million. 7. The Three Musketeers, $3.5 million. 8. The Ides of March, $2.7 million. 9. Moneyball, $2.4 million. 10. Courageous, $1.8 million. Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Exclusive Clip From The Awakening

Warning: contains scary dollhouseEven if we didn't tell you anything about The Awakening, we're betting that you'll be able to figure quite a lot out by watching this exclusive clip from the film. There's a mysterious child running upstairs in a large and empty-looking house, a distraught-looking woman running after him with her hair all askew, and at the top of the house a truly terrifying dollhouse (Yes, seriously. Who knew dollhouses could be this unnerving?). It is, in other words, a horror!Set in 1921 in a country recovering from the trauma of World War I,the film sees Rebecca Hall play the wonderfully-named Florence Cathcart, who visits a boarding school to expose what she believes is a hoax story of a ghost child haunting the place.We're guessing, in this case, it's not quite that simple.The film also stars Dominic West and Imelda Staunton, and it's all directed by NickWest. Look out for The Awakening on November 11; appropriately enough, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I.

DirecTV, Fox Systems in carriage dispute

A carriage dispute has broken out between DirecTV and Fox Systems that can result in what is the news Corp.-possessed channels being yanked by November. 1 during the night time.Fox went public while using tiff late Thursday getting an argument suggesting DirecTV designed a rapid threat of losing carriage just days after posting a proposal that Fox had not responded. "They have provided us no chance to retort prior to taking an unnecessarily aggressive posture so on public. It's disappointing they've selected bad belief tactics over significant settlement."But DirecTV countered that News Corp. is trying to gouge them for 40% increase in affiliate costs, therefore it considered within the own statement as "unfair and unwarranted."The channels that might be affected include Foreign exchange, National Geographic Funnel, SPEED, FUEL TV, FOX Soccer, FOX Soccer Plus, Fox Movie Funnel, FOX Deportes, and 19 regional sports systems.The Fox broadcast network and Fox News Funnel aren't prone to get yanked since they are covered under separate affiliate contracts while using satcaster, but a representative for Fox Systems mentioned it is possible they might be affected once the conflict will get worse. The broadcast network is presently airing the earth Series in primetime.As the deal were not known, the carriage deal between DirecTV and Fox Systems might have formerly expired by March. 1. Signals ongoing to become on air per mutual agreement involving the companies.The timing of November. 1 is probably not coincidental trained with is about the eve of News Corp.'s annual traders meeting.Yanking the plug round the Fox channels could hurt their advertising revenues given DirecTV is at nearly 20 million houses within the U.S. However, DirecTV could also find itself getting bruised within the court docket of law suit when the dispute continue given clients don't reserve their anger over missing shows for the systems themselves, either.DirecTV's statement established that tugging channels can be a final option may possibly not be capable of avoid."Hopefully to resolve this situation before any pursuit is taken, but we can do what's necessary to safeguard our clients from excessive and unwarranted fee increases. We already provide News Corp nearly a billion dollars yearly for channels, which we haven't any problem ongoing to pay for them fairly."What Is The News Corp.-DirecTV conflict might be the very first skirmish between programmer and distributor to go to public inside a very long time, though these clashes increased being progressively routine a year ago given growing demands for increases in retransmission consent costs.Fox Systems got involved with no less than three different similar standoffs this season, including Time Warner Cable, Dish Network and Cablevision. The 2nd dispute, which nearly disrupted last year's World Series, am heated it introduced the risk of FCC intervention.Fox has signaled it needs to rally support while using launch from the website Friday referred to as keepmynets.com. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

'Gambit' takes care of for composer

Composer Rolfe Kent has signed onto score Michael Hoffman's "Gambit." The Crime Scene Pictures film, starring Colin Firth and scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen, is presently in publish-production working in london, striving for any release next fall from CBS Films. Kent's past credits include "Sideways," "Up in mid-airInch and "Mr. Popper's Penguins." He gained a Golden Globe nom for his focus on "Sideways." Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Justin Bieber's 'Mistletoe' Debuts on Ryan Seacrest (Video)

Justin Bieber's new Christmas song "Mistletoe" premiered on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show Monday morning.our editor recommends Justin Bieber Is the 'Real Deal' and Will Have a Long Career Says Reality TV Producer Ne-Yo Pens Tunes for Justin Bieber, Rihanna PHOTOS: Justin Bieber's Top 10 THR Outtakes The song also hits iTunes Monday. It's off his holiday album, Under the Mistletoe, which will be released on Nov. 1 and also feature a duet with Mariah Carey. PHOTOS: Top 10 Highest Paid Music Artists Bieber told Seacrest: "I wanted to make a Christmas album, because my fans haven't heard my music in a long time. I wanted to do something that was charitable, but was also something that people haven't heard before. Because there are a lot of Christmas songs on my album that are new and original that people haven't heard." PHOTOS: The Most Watched Holiday Specials of 2010 The album will also include Band Perry, Usher and Boyz II Men. Bieber has hinted that Taylor Swift and Sean Kingston will be involved. Bieber also announced that he'll perform alongside Lady Gaga at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (hosted by Seacrest) this year. Related Topics Justin Bieber Mariah Carey Ryan Seacrest

Matt Reeves to helm 'Twilight Zone'

Variety's Entertainment and Technology Summit - Fall 2011October 17, 2011The Ritz-Carlton, Marina Del Rey, CA The 2011 Digital 25: Leaders in Emerging EntertainmentOctober 17, 2011The Ritz-Carlton, Marina Del Rey, CA Film Technology SummitNovember 7, 2011 The Annex Space @ Hollywood & Highland, La, CA Way Forward For Film SummitNovember 8, 2011 The Annex Space @ Hollywood & Highland, La, CA American Music Conference Presented By Variety and Dick Clark ProductionsNovember 18, 2011 Entertainment Applications ConferenceDecember 1, 2011Sofitel Hotel, La, CA Variety's Home Theatre Hall of Fame AwardsDecember 5, 2011Beverly Hillsides Hotel, La, CA Entertainment Security SummitDecember 8, 2011Hilton La, Universal City, CA

'Avenger's' Samuel L. Jackson, Hathaway As Catwoman Reveal Acting Inspiration

The Avengers star Samuel L. Jackson as well as the Dark Dark evening Increases' Hathaway As Catwoman are among 123 stars, producers, company company directors, ballroom ballroom dancers and entertainers who sitting for portraits and written in what the humanities mean on their behalf for just about any new book, Art & Soul.our editor recommends'Dark Dark evening Rises' Co-stars Hathaway As Catwoman, Ernest Gordon-Levitt Sing Together in French (Video)'Avengers' Star Samuel L. Jackson Joins Twitter (Video) "An action of creation is certainly an action of hope. Art provided my heart," produces Hathaway (the notes are printed inside the stars' own handwriting all records include signatures, many have doodles) just before signing her title getting a huge swoop. Jackson produces, "Art might be the actual, I am its slave!" PHOTOS: 'The Avengers': New Photos From Marvel's Superhero Film Adrian Grenier: "Art is Fart without any 'F.'" "Dance class was the most popular subject. And so they never assisted me climb a rope!" jokes actress-author Nia Vardalos, who signs off "in theater nerd solidarity." PHOTOS: 'The Dark Dark evening Increases' Start Searching: Round the Set Alyssa Milano and Kathy Najimy write poems, New Girl star Zooey Deschanel sketches out a more elaborate flow chart and Alfre Woodard produces about how precisely art affected her childhood in the page-extended essay. Also featured: Kerry Washington, Patricia Arquette, The X Factor's Paula Abdul, Kelsey Grammer, Modern Family's Ty Burrell and director Joel Schumacher. The coffee-table sized book, launched by Hearst Communications in colaboration using the new the new sony Electronics, hits stores on March. 26 and charges $40. PHOTOS: top ten Summer season Superheroes Ever: Fight of Box Office Brawn A portion in the proceeds will probably be led for the Creative Coalition, the nonprofit advocacy quantity of the humanities and entertainment cities. It absolutely was edited by Robin Bronk, the Boss in the Creative Coalition along with the producer of Poliwood, which broadcast on Showtime and was helmed by Oscar-winning director Craig Levinson. The photos were clicked on by Pulitzer Prize champion John Cruz. VIDEO: Hollywood Talks Charitable organization "Once I began this book, I asked for participants to pinpoint a instant that changed their lives. While everyone mind his personal individual and significant anecdote, typically the most popular thread woven throughout everyone's story was that a person or something like that like this fostered the artistic sensibility in most of these,In . Bronk notifies The Hollywood Reporter. Adds Private Practice's Tim Daly, the best choice in the Creative Coalition: "Art & Soul couples unique portraits nowadays's most identifiable faces utilizing their poignant tales. These tales are illustrative in the unique energy in the arts to provide the soul." Related Subjects Hathaway As Catwoman Samuel L. Jackson

TV Rankings: Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears Score for ESPN

Leon Halip/Getty Images Early rankings for Monday Evening Football's Detroit Lions versus. Chicago Bears have been in.our editor recommends'Monday Evening Football' Pre-Season Continues With Jets versus. TexansESPN Drops Hank Williams, Junior. Opening From 'Monday Evening Football' (Video) In Chicago, the overall game shipped a 18.7 household rating on ESPN, along with a 13.3 household for WCIU, for any combined 32. rating on the market. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Greatest Fantasy Football Fans In Detroit, the overall game ranked a ten.7 household on ESPN and 25.7 on WXYZ, having a combined 36.4 ratting on the market. The Lions beat the Bears 24-13. The typical metered market rating was 11.3. In the event that holds after final amounts have been in, it will likely be the 2nd best ranked game of the season for ESPN, behind Washington - Dallas two days ago. PHOTOS: 10 Broadcast and Cable Television Show Most Viewed By Males It beats the growing season opener of recent England - Miami, which ranked a ten.6 household. Monday Evening Football

At NYFF: Martin Scorsese Gives Hometown Crowd a Taste of 3-D Hugo

After a weekend of speculation, guesses and second-guesses about which top-secret “work in progress by a master filmmaker” would in fact screen tonight as a last-minute addition to the NY Film Festival, Martin Scorsese confirmed today’s reports by taking the stage at Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan and introducing his family-friendly 3-D opus Hugo to a loving hometown crowd. Not everybody in attendance had monitored the buzz around tonight’s event. A few wizened viewers who probably couldn’t distinguish the output of a stereoscope from that of a stereophone looked baffled as ushers issued fistfuls of plastic-wrapped glasses with their seating directions. (“What are these? “They’re for the 3-D.” “Row 3-D?”, etc. etc.) But most of the house settled in with the type of anticipation befitting any never-before-seen Scorsese film, let alone a crowd-pleasing gambit applying the premiere moviegoing gimmick of our day to a product that even the filmmaker admitted beforehand wasn’t quite finished yet. “So this is a work in progress,” Scorsese said from the stage, his right hand raising a slip of paper containing Hugo’s inventory of unfinished elements — which he commenced to read. Like, all of it. “Which means it’s not color-corrected. We’re starting that right now. At the beginning of the film and in other places there are things called pre-visualizations, which means they’re little, crude, computer-generated people, which they promise me are going become human soon. The visual effects are temporary. The 3-D is still being worked on, and the sound mixes are temporary. The music for the most part is still temporary. That means it’s an actual score but it’s on temporary instruments. He’s recording it now in London — Howard Shore. The credits are 2-D, and there aren’t that many on there right now. And you will see a few wonderful green screens. You can put in anything you want. “So look!” he concluded. “I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that those of you who do like it come and see the final film.” And that’s basically to say that the story is here to stay, for better or worse. Which is fine by me; I quite enjoyed Hugo for the most part, if only for its singular status as the world’s first activist magic-realist holiday family blockbuster-hopeful. (I think? Was there some ice-cap preservation angle to The Polar Express? I never saw it.) Scorsese and his Aviator screenwriter John Logan have adapted Brian Selznick’s acclaimed novel-comic hybrid_The Invention of Hugo Cabret_ as a pure tribute to not only cinema, but also the endangered legacies of its earliest practitioners. As Selznick did, Scorsese lathers the pill in generous coats of aesthetic sugar and bottles it in the story of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a young orphan whose primary, essentially accidental purpose in life has become to wind the clocks in a vast Paris train station circa 1930. Chased endlessly by a war-veteran station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and eyed with suspicion by a tired old toy-booth owner (Ben Kingsley), Hugo scurries and sulks around the premises by day while attempting to fix a wind-up automaton discovered by his late watchmaker father (Jude Law). Its Mona Lisa smile teases Hugo and is even occasionally reflected in the face of Isabelle (Chlo Grace Moretz), a more privileged orphan looked after by the toy-booth owner and his wife, Isabelle’s godparents. The kids make fast-ish friends whose bond over Hugo’s confiscated automaton notebook takes deeper root in the lure of cinema and the quest for belonging. A conventional festival review from this point would just be inappropriate; there are currently green-screen backgrounds visible in numerous shots and entire sequences of train commuters that wouldn’t be too out of place in a Taiwanese news animation, and anyway, Stephanie Zacharek will do the honors when the completed Hugo reaches theaters this Thanksgiving. Let it suffice to say that Scorsese, mining the innovations of his filmmaking forebears and contemporaries alike, runs his typically adventurous camera through the 3-D ringer with aplomb. His introduction — comprising a whooshing tour of the station, a hungry pursuit by the game, gimpy Baron Cohen and his equally game Doberman, and finally a gorgeous perspective on winter lowering over Paris — is a thing of nearly wordless beauty. A sturdy first act gives way to the marshmallow center of the story, stalling out like Hugo’s stubborn automaton yet never swinging its sentimental hammer with lethal, Spielberg-grade force. Stray diversions come and go, some in the forms of plot points (wait, Hugo’s father died how?), others in the forms of such humanizing devices as Emily Mortimer, appearing as the flower girl whose heart is the inspector’s only objective sought more desperately than Hugo himself. Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour orbit the scene in various other permutations of gravitas. But then Scorsese gets serious. Those familiar with Selznick’s source material will understand the allure of Hugo Cabret for the filmmaker, with their mutual passions for cinema as both mass entertainment and cultural heritage. Those unfamiliar shouldn’t have the specifics spoiled for them, save to say that the final 30 minutes are a captivating tightrope walk that evince both passions in without guile or reservation. It’s so over-the-top that many exiting theatergoers broke their smiles only to either admire or rue Scorsese’s whimsical evangelism. “It was so preachy!” I told one peer, only to realize before adding, “But I kind of liked being preached to!” At least I preferred it compared to the well-made, well-acted but relatively bloodless conviction of the film’s first half. In any case, I’m nothing if not eager to follow directions, especially those from the evening’s master filmmaker. Surprises are fun, but the jury is out. Second viewing, here I come. [Top photo: Getty Images]

Diego Boneta Is Adam In Paradise Lost

Castings continue on Legendary Entertainment’s Paradise Lost, the action- and effects-centered take on John Milton’s epic poem being directed by Alex Proyas. The latest: Diego Boneta, who is playing the lead in New Line’s musical Rock Of Ages, has been cast as Adam. He will play opposite Camille Belle, whom Deadline reported is playing Eve. Bradley Cooper is Lucifer and Benjamin Walker plays the archangel Micheal in the film, which tells the biblical tale of the battle between good and evil that was the war that began all wars. Production is slated to begin in January.

Full Avengers trailer hits the net next week

We've lived through a whole summer of on-set photography and been teased to the max with footage at the end of Captain America to get us in the mood for Marvel's Avengers.Plus - score! - those of us lucky enough to be in the audience at Disney's D23 watched a full scene. Now, finally, the whole world gets an official trailer!Well, we say finally. It'll actually show up next week according to information posted on Marvel's website."Next Tuesday, October 11, fans will get their first look at Marvel's The Avengers when the first official trailer for the film hits iTunes Trailers!"Internet speculation being what it is, some suggest that if the trailer debuts online next week then it might also play in cinemas this weekend. (We realise we probably just helped sell some more tickets by repeating that).TF hopes Marvel shares a specific time when the trailer will be posted or we're going to need some of Loki's magic to clean the dust from our eyeballs during our vigil. Joss whedon's The Avengers opens 4 May 2012.

May be the condition Title of 'Bond 23'?

Frustrated with mentioning to a different 007 movie as 'Bond 23'? We sure are! However, there can be you don't have to think of it as considerably longer. According to WhatCulture!, the title in the next Jason Bourne film may be 'Skyfall.' Or else. Per the web site, it appears the brand protection agency utilized by The brand new the new sony has recently registered twelve Websites mentioning with the idea to 'Skyfall' or 'James Bond' or both. That doesn't imply it is really an official title, it doesn't imply it is not. Despite the fact that 'Skyfall' isn't as awesome since the names of the couple of from the earlier Bond films, it sure beats the hell from 'Bond 23.' [via WhatCulture!] [Photo: MGM] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

CBS Lands Jerry Weintraub Drama Project 'The Producer' (Exclusive)

Prolific producer Jerry Weintraub is venturing into series television. The network has ordered a script for The Producer, a period project set in the fictional world of evening news. PHOTOS: CBS' New Season TV Shows: 'Person of Interest,' 'A Gifted Man' and More Rick Dresser (The Job) will write and executive produce the drama, which hails from Warner Bros. Television. The former United Artists chairman will serve as a nonwriting executive producer on the project, a rare foray for him into the primetime series business. PROFILE: Producer Jerry Weintraub The news comes six months after HBO aired a doucmentary, His Way, withWeintraub as its subject. The small sceen entry chronicled his rise from musicmanager (his client list included Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Led Zeppelin and John Denver) to promoter to film producer. TV REVIEW: 'His Way' On the feature side, Weintraub's producing credits include theGeorge Clooney-fronted Ocean's franchise, The Firm and the original Karate Kid films (and more recent reboot). He has overseen more than 100 TV specials, including Neil Diamond: I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight. Weintraub, with Vanity Fair scribe Rich Cohen, published his memoir, When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories for a Persuasive Man, last year. STORY: Jerry Weintraub Releases Memoir Aaron Sorkin's tentartively titled HBO drama, More as This Story Develops, which was picked up to series last month, will also explore the similarly themed cable news world. Related Topics Jerry Weintraub CBS TV Development Warner Bros. Television

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David Mitchell dies at 79

David I. Mitchell, who did the scenic design for more than 30 Broadway shows, was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won two, for "Annie" and "Barnum," died of cancer on Monday, Oct. 3, in Los Angeles. He was 79. His other Tony-nominated shows were "Trelawny of the Wells" in 1976, "Working" (1978), "Can-Can" (1981), "Foxfire" in 1983 and "The Boys of Winter" (1986).Other Broadway work included "La Cage aux Folles" and Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues"; his last Rialto effort was the musical revue "Dream" in 1997.Mitchell was born in Honesdale, Pa., and attended Kutztown State Teachers College, where he was first introduced to theater. He spent two years in the Army, after which he studied theater design as a graduate student at Boston U. There his teacher was Horace Armistead, a designer for theater, opera and ballet and an early winner of the Tony Award for set design. In NY, Mitchell worked as an assistant to Ming Cho Lee for several years and, through him, began a longtime association with Joseph Papp, designing sets both for Shakespeare in the Park and the Public Theater. At the NY City Ballet, he designed works for Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine, as well as "Sleeping Beauty." His opera designs included works at the NY City Opera ("Mephistophele") and other U.S. opera houses as well as Deutsche Oper in Berlin ("Aida"). As a production designer for film, Mitchell's credits include "Rich Kids," Paul Simon pic "One Trick Pony" and "My Dinner With Andre."He is survived by a daughter and son. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

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Andy Rooney Signs Off 60 Minutes

First Published: October 3, 2011 12:16 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Caption Television personality Andy Rooney attends a gala honoring Sumner Redstone presented by The Paley Center For Media at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on February 07, 2008 in NY CityAndy Rooney insisted hes not retiring. Hes a writer, and a writer never stops being a writer. Even so, he delivered his final weekly essay on 60 Minutes Sunday night, his last in his 33 years with the newsmagazine. It was a moment, he said he has dreaded. I wish I could do this forever. I cant, though, he said. CBS News announced last week that the 92-year-old Rooney would be stepping down from his well-entrenched berth on 60 Minutes after delivering his 1,097th commentary. I probably havent said anything here that you didnt already know or have already thought, he said. Thats what a writer does. A writers job is to tell the truth. Rooney began his long career by writing the words for people to say who were on TV or radio. Then when he began his weekly A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney in 1978, he began saying them on camera himself, though not as a television personality, but as a writer who reads what hes written. Rooney said in his farewell piece that he has lived a lucky life, luckier than most. But befitting his trademark crotchety nature, he voiced one parting complaint: He doesnt like being famous, nor does he like being bothered by fans. I spent my first 50 years trying to become well known as a writer, and the next 30 trying to avoid being famous, he said. I walk down the street now or go to a football game and people shout, Hey, Andy! And I hate that. So if you see him in a restaurant, Rooney said as he signed off, please, just let me eat my dinner. (Copyright 2011 by Associated Press) Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Slater Siblings set 'Rafael'

Slater Siblings Entertainment is entering the distribution business with indie comedy "My Uncle Rafael" early the coming year. The organization, producer on "House of Dust" and approaching Elvis biopic "Fame and Fortune," will concentrate on supplying platform releases and specific marketing campaigns among the short-altering distribution landscape. Slater Siblings has closed an offer for any United States theatrical release and worldwide representation of "My Uncle Rafael," recommended because the first American comedy by having an Armenian lead character. Pic, composed by Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei, follows a classic Armenian uncle who will get cast inside a reality show and it has 1 week in order to save a dysfunctional American family from splitting up. Directed and edited by filmmaker and former Spielberg assistant Marc Fusco, the film stars Missi Pyle, John Michael Higgins, Anthony Clark, Joe Lo Truglio, Rachel Blanchard and Pirhamzei because the title character. "Rafael" had its United States premiere in the Arpa Film Festival in the Egyptian the other day. Veteran film professional Todd Slater was professional Vice president of selling and distribution at Anschutz Entertainment, where he oversaw campaigns on "Ray," "Swimming Upstream" and "Sahara." Contact Dork McNary at dork.mcnary@variety.com