
The other night, The Academy of Television and Science hosted an exclusive panel with the cast and creator of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk recounts the rise of the duplicitous Nucky Thompson torn between the political upheaval and criminal birth of the Prohibition. His rise is cast against the downfall of his surrogate son, Jimmy Darmondy, a War Veteran scarred by his time over there. It is the tense interplay between the two characters that gave Boardwalk Empire much of its dramatic heft during its first two remarkable seasons – which is probably what made Season Two’s conclusion so… surprising.
During the panel, Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt discussed the controversial finale, costar Michael Shannon lamented always playing “the crazy person”, and creator Terence Winter previewed Season Three, among many other topics of conversation. For highlights from the panel (which also included costars Kelly Macdonald, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Kenneth Williams, Vincent Piazza and Gretchen Mol) hit the jump.

With the second season premiere of Game of Thrones (read my review here) putting all eyes on HBO, the network has been busy promoting all their forthcoming shows with new teasers for True Blood and the Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama The Newsroom showing up. Now we have another quick tease for the third season of Boardwalk Empire. There’s no footage from the new season, but an intimidating voiceover from Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson which promises some big changes this fall. Watch the teaser trailer after the jump!

We’ve got a couple more TV casting stories to share with you today. First up, casting for David E. Kelley’s (The Practice) new medical pilot Chelsea General is moving quickly. Just yesterday Alfred Molina signed on to star in the series which centers on “the lives of five surgeons as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings,” and now Ving Rhames has been added to the cast. Deadline reports that Rhames will play “a physically imposing former professional football player who now is the most celebrated trauma chief in the country.”
Additionally, Stephen Root has signed on for the impending third season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. The Live Feed reports that Root is set for a recurring role as “a forger, swindler, and murder suspect who became a Special Investigator for the US Department of Justice.” No word on whether or not his character has the potential to become a regular. Hit the jump for news concerning two recurring characters being promoted to series regulars on Showtime’s Homeland.

After cycling through hosts of women on his previous show Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen is on to new ventures and a new network with FX’s comedy series, Anger Management. Starring opposite Sheen will be, Selma Blair (Hellboy), in the form of a therapist/love interest for Sheen’s character, Charlie. Blair is one of two female roles on the show (the other being Shawnee Smith (Saw) who will play Charlie’s ex-wife) which has an initial 10-episode order from FX. Hit the jump for more from Anger Management, as well as details on Bobby Cannavale’s character in season three of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

The 2012 Screen Actors Guild Award winners were announced tonight, and The Help took home the top film prize, “Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture”. The drama also took home awards for Best Actress (Viola Davis) and Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer). If you think that’s no big deal in terms of affecting the Oscar race, I have one word for you: Crash. Granted, The Help didn’t even pick up an Oscar nomination for Best Director, but actors make up the largest block of Academy voters (25 percent). And as we’ve seen, actors really like movies that make us think we’ve defeated racism, which we totally have. That’s why all African-American actors pull in huge salaries. Actors like Will Smith and…Will Smith. I wouldn’t put The Help ahead of The Artist just yet, but Davis and Spencer should now be considered serious contenders in their respective catagories (Spencer is almost at a lock at this point).

The Artist has yet again taken home a major Oscar precursor award. The black-and-white silent film was recognized for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Pictures at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards last night. This is yet another notch in the column that points to a very big night for The Artist at the upcoming 84th Academy Awards. In a slight surprise, The Adventures of Tintin was the winner among animated films, besting critical favorite Rango. On the television side of things, Boardwalk Empire won for excellence in dramatic series (beating out fare like Mad Men and Game of Thrones), Modern Family was the winner for the comedies, and the fantastically addictive Downton Abbey won in the movies of the week/mini-series category.
Hit the jump to see the full list of winners.

The American Cinema Editors have announced their list of nominees for the 62nd Annual Eddie Awards. Before you brush editing off as an insignificant category, take note that no film has won the Best Picture Oscar without at least a Best Editing Eddie nomination in 20 years. Martin Scorsese’s longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker was nominated for her work on Hugo, as were last year’s Oscar winners Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Other films singled out include The Artist, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and Young Adult.
On the television side of things, Breaking Bad, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Friday Night Lights, and Game of Thrones all landed nods. Hit the jump to see the full list of nominees. ACE’s 62nd awards ceremony, hosted by Patton Oswalt, will be held February 18th.

I like to see the guild awards, because the specificity allows for nominees that you won’t see on more general lists. The Art Directors Guild is especially interesting because they separate the films into three categories: period, fantasy, and contemporary. The 15 nominees highlight everything from Oscar favorites Hugo and The Artist, to crowd-pleasers Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Captain America, to poorly received films like Cowboys & Aliens and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. There’s a similar contrast in the TV nominees between the classy HBO programs you’d expect (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, and Mildred Pierce) and the critical punching bags American Horror Story and The Playboy Club. The full list of nominees is after the break.

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire follows in a long line of prestige series produced by the cable network, which actually works against it a little bit. It’s hard to get excited about yet another must-see series from them, especially after the infamous letdown of The Sopranos finale and the way the network botched other great shows like Deadwood and Carnivale. One hopes, however, that those harsh lessons have been well-learned, and with Boardwalk Empire now a bona fide hit, HBO has a chance to capitalize on the very high standard that the first season sets. The new Blu-ray collection does the show justice, and makes an exquisite New Year’s present for faithful fans. Hit the jump for my full review of the first season of Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray.

The American Society of Cinematographers announced their nominations for the best-photographed TV of 2011. Boardwalk Empire topSthe list with 2 nominations in the one-hour drama category. HBO also had a presence in the movie/miniseries category with Mildred Pierce and the half-hour series category with Bored to Death. (This is the first year the ASC introduced a half-hour category.) I am happy to see Pan Am among the nominees, because the pilot was gorgeous. Due to the specific nature of the awards, there are a few curious selection that won’t get awards attention anywhere else, like Chase and Man Up. Reminds me of my surprise at discovering that Home Improvement won 7 Emmys, all of which were awarded to apparent lighting guru Donald A. Morgan for Outstanding Lighting Direction.
Hit the jump for the full eclectic list of ASC nominees.

The 2011 Golden Globes nominations have been announced. I don’t pay them much attention as an awards barometer since their nominations can be purchased (the Globes are run by the shoddy Hollywood Foreign Press Association) and the event is more to get a bunch of celebrities in a room together and hand them an over-valued award. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun show to watch and this year should be plenty entertaining with Ricky Gervais returning to host.
As for the nominees, you’ll find the usual suspects: The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, and Midnight in Paris. I have to give the Globes credit for having a separate comedy category, which allows actors like Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) to get nominated. As for “snubs” (again, it’s tough to take the Globes nominations seriously), nothing from The Muppets was nominated for Best Song . Hit the jump for the full list of nominees. Winners will be announced on January 15th.

With awards season in full swing, the Producers Guild of America has just announced the television series nominees for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards which will be announced on January 21, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In the comedy category, I can’t believe a show with such inconsistent writing quality as Glee beats out something like Community, but there you have it. There’s still some deserving nominations with Modern Family and Parks and Recreation though. On the dramatic side of things Game of Thrones gets some well-earned loved for their first season and both Mad Men and Dexter continue their collection of accolades. For the rest of the nominees in each category as well as talk shows, competition shows and non-fictions shows, hit the jump.

On the HBO drama series Boardwalk Empire, actor Michael Shannon plays Agent Nelson Van Alden, a Senior Prohibition Agent with the Department of Internal Revenue. He approaches his work with the zeal of a man on a mission, and will go to almost any lengths to uncover the corruption that he believes to be the root of all evil.
During a recent interview to promote Season 2, Michael Shannon talked about how nice it was to be invited to be a part of Boardwalk Empire, doing a long-term TV series where he never knows what to expect, the depths of despair and misery that his character is facing, how fortunate he feels to be so successful, at this point in his career, and how unprepared he is for the onslaught that comes with being part of a film like Man of Steel, due out in the summer of 2013. Check out what he had to say, along with highlights from the interview, after the jump:

The second season is only a few episodes in, but it’s not surprising that HBO is already pleased enough with the sophomore run of Boardwalk Empire that the pay-cable network has just announced their order of a third season. Considering the high ratings and Emmy award accolades that have been pouring in for the first season, the second season will likely get just as much, if not more praise. Standard publicity fluff has Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming saying, “Following a triumphant first season, I was eager to see what Terry Winter, Martin Scorsese and the rest of their stellar team had in store, and they continue to surpass our highest expectations. The response from the media and our viewers has been extremely gratifying.” See the full press release after the jump.

At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I was able to speak with Michael Shannon about co-starring in director Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher. The movie is based on the real-life story of Sam Childers (played by Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealer who turned his life around and now dedicates it to saving kidnapped and orphaned children in Sudan. It’s a hell of a story and one that I’m glad got told. Watch some clips here.
During the interview Shannon talked about being at TIFF, what the last few years have been like as he’s started landing very high profile roles, making Machine Gun Preacher, the kind of research he does, if he prefers a few takes or dozens, Boardwalk Empire, and how he got cast as General Zod in Man of Steel. In addition, he talked about The Iceman - which is the story of Richard Kuklinski, who was a hit man in New Jersey who kept his criminality secret from his family. Hit the jump for the interview.
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