A bevy of announcements have been made out of the Television Critics Association panel for Showtime today.  In addition to specific January premiere dates for Episodes, Shameless, and House of Lies, the following casting news was unveiled:

• Josh Hartnett and Eva Green will star in Penny Dreadful, the horror series from Skyfall writer John Logan and director Sam Mendes, who acts as executive producer.
• Ruth Wilson (Luther) has been set as the female lead in the drama series pilot The Affair opposite Dominic West (The Wire).
• The new comedy series Trending Down, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathryn Hahn has been ordered to pilot.

Hit the jump for much more.

Here’s the latest casting news for the small screen:

• Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) is in talks to star in another HBO pilot, an untitled rock ‘n’ roll series executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter, along with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
• In a bit of anti-casting news, Justin Chatwin will not be returning to season four of Showtime’s Shameless as a series regular, but may appear in future episodes.

Hit the jump for more on both stories.

Opening this weekend is Danny Boyle’s new film, Trance.  The hypnotic crime thriller centers on James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class) as Simon, a criminal mastermind behind an art heist who develops amnesia and forgets where he stashed the goods.  The mob boss, played by Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), is none too happy with this and resorts to torture to get his information.  Rosario Dawson (Sin City) also stars as a hypnotist who attempts to jumpstart Simon’s memory in another way.  For more on the film, here’s the red band trailer, some posters, and everything we’ve posted on the film.

At the Los Angeles press day, I landed a video interview with McAvoy.  We talked about how he still likes to audition for a role, how he prepared for this particular role, his recent string of high profile projects, the American version of Shameless (he was on the British version during the first two seasons), and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

The romantic drama Beautiful Creatures tells the story of 17-year-old Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), whose world is shaken up with the arrival of Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of gothic Ravenwood Manor.  Immediately drawn to each other, it becomes apparent that Lena is a Caster with powers beyond her control, and the two are faced with a curse that will claim her for either the Light or the Dark on her 16th birthday.

At the film’s press day, Collider spoke to actress Emmy Rossum (who plays Dark Caster Ridley, a Siren who can get others to do anything she chooses), in both a 1-on-1 and a roundtable interview, about why she wanted to play this character, why she enjoys playing bad girls, the fantastic wardrobe, shooting the family dinner scene, getting to know her co-star Thomas Mann on a rather crazy faux date in New Orleans, how much fun it was to work with Emma Thompson, and that she hopes to get to do more films adapted from this book series because she loves where her character goes.  She also talked about her new album of standards, how excited she is to go into production on Season 4 of Shameless in September, and that she just finished the drama You’re Not You with Hilary Swank.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

Some renewals for some popular cable television programs have been ordered.  Briefly:

• Showtime has ordered new seasons of Shameless, House of Lies, and Californication to air in 2014.
• Cinemax has renewed True Blood creator Alan Ball’s new series Banshee for a second season that will debut in 2014.
• BBC America has ordered an 8-episode second season of the mystery series Ripper Street to air in 2014.

Hit the jump to read the press releases.

Showtime has announced the premiere dates for its 2013 original series.  Here’s a brief look at the schedule:

• Shameless – Season three premieres January 13th.
• Californication – Season six premieres January 13th.
• Inside Comedy – Season two premieres February 11th.
• Nurse Jackie – Season five premieres April 14th.
• The Borgias – Season three premieres April 14th.
• The Big C – The final season premieres April 29th.
• Dexter – Season eight premieres June 30th.
• Ray Donovan – Series premiere June 30th.
• Homeland – Season three premieres September 29th.
• Masters of Sex – Series premiere September 29th.

Hit the jump for more details on all of the aforementioned series.

One of the many films being promoted at this year’s New York Comic-Con was director Richard LaGrevenese’s Beautiful Creatures.  Based on the three-book series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the story centers on two mystically charged teens who are mysteriously drawn to one another despite never having met, and uncover some unsettling secrets about their families and the small southern town in which they live.  The film stars Alice Englert, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson.  For more on Beautiful Creatures, here’s the first trailer, a featurette, our set visit preview, and Matt’s recap of NYCC.

Shortly before the panel, I got to sit down with Emmy Rossum for an exclusive video interview.  We talked about her experiences with Comic-Con, whether there’s anything she collects, her preferred version of the board game Risk and how she’s looking for a first edition, how she got involved in Beautiful Creatures and her accent, the third season of Shameless, her plans for hiatus, Twitter and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

The Sessions tells the remarkable, funny, heartfelt and optimistic story of California-based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes, in an award-worthy performance), a man who lived most of his life in an iron lung after having survived a bout of childhood polio.  At age 38, Mark becomes determined to lose his virginity and sets out to make his dream a reality by hiring a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), who becomes as deeply moved by the experience as he is.  From writer/director Ben Lewin, the film also stars William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Rhea Perlman, W. Earl Brown, Robin Weigert and Adam Arkin.

At the film’s press day, actor William H. Macy, who plays Mark O’Brien’s priest, spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about what attracted him to the role, what surprised him about the film, why he likes to read a script fast and go with his first instinct, how he most identified with Father Brendan, and what it was like to watch John Hawkes give this performance.  He also talked about what fans can expect from Season 3 of his popular Showtime drama series Shameless, returning on January 13, 2013, and why he loves playing Frank Gallagher.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The Gallagher family isn’t necessarily a traditional one.  It’s laced with sex, drugs and felonies.  At the heart, though, there is love.  Well, some of the time anyway.  As they approach season three, the cast—William H. Macy (Frank Gallagher), Emmy Rossum (Fiona Gallagher), Justin Chatwin (Steve/Jimmy), Jeremy Allen White (Lip Gallagher), Cameron Monaghan (Ian Gallagher)— presented at Comic Con and Mike O’Malley (who acts on Glee and writes on Shameless) moderated the panel.  Hit the jump for a bullet point recap.

Everyone’s favorite serial killer, Michael C. Hall (as Dexter, of course) will be on hand to open up festivities for Comic-Con 2012.  The SHOWTIME panel will also feature a Q&A with Hall, Jennifer Carpenter and special guest, Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) who will be joining the seventh season.  Fans will witness an exclusive first two minutes of the season premiere, along with a new chapter in the animated webisodes, “Early Cuts: All in the Family.”  SHOWTIME will also screen a trailer for the second season of Homeland and will host a Shameless panel.  Dexter returns September 30th at 9pm on SHOWTIME.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

On the Showtime drama series Shameless, actor Justin Chatwin plays Steve, a handsome and charming guy with a lot of money and a rap sheet a mile long. After a heartbroken Fiona (Emmy Rossum) was forced to choose her family over him in Season 1, Steve left for Costa Rica alone. But now he’s back, which is sure to throw a wrench in Fiona’s love life.

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Justin Chatwin sat down with Collider for this exclusive interview about what his character has been up to this season, what’s coming up for Steve, that getting past his own psychological barriers of being naked in front of people was part of the initial appeal for the show, finding out how different his character’s backstory is from what he expected, and that he likes Shameless because it brings up important issues, in a smart and funny way. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

On the Showtime drama series Shameless, actor Jeremy Allen White plays Phillip “Lip” Gallagher, the second and by far the smartest Gallagher child, who has a penchant for trouble and a relationship with wild child neighbor Karen (Laura Wiggins) that is always threatening to break his heart. With an even further strained and more contentious relationship with his father than ever, Lip begins to realize that the more he fights to be his own man, the more he may end up just like his father, Frank (William H. Macy).

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Jeremy Allen White sat down with Collider for this exclusive interview about how lucky he feels to have such amazing material in Season 2, how the relationship between Frank and Lip will change this season, what he’d like to see Lip do with his life, how bizarre all of the sex scenes can be, and what working on this show with this cast has taught him about the craft of acting. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Led by a truly remarkable performance by John Hawkes, writer-director Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate blew me away at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film’s based on the true story of Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, who decides that he no longer wants to be a virgin.  With the help of his priest (William H. Macy) and a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), we follow on his amazing journey.  Trust me, The Surrogates is great on so many levels (which explains why there was a bidding war; Fox Searchlight won), and it’s definitely going to be a contender at the 2013 Academy Awards.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s review.

Shortly after seeing the film, I sat down with William H. Macy for an extended interview.  We talked about being at Sundance, his reaction to seeing the film with an audience for the first time, how he prepared for The Surrogate, his philosophy as an actor, karaoke, and a lot more.  In addition, with Macy currently starring on the hit Showtime series Shameless, we talked about what’s coming up on the second season, how he wrote the sixth episode, the writers room, how the second season is completely different than the BBC version, and what do people always want to talk to him about when they meet him.  Hit the jump to watch.

While HBO made some big cuts from their original programming towards the end of last year, Showtime is keeping shows around as EW has learned that the cable network has given an additional season order to Shameless, House of Lies and Californication. Shameless gets a third season after its stellar ensemble cast, including William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, has come through with a great second season while House of Lies, with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, has gotten stellar ratings to earn a second season while its first season is still in progress. Finally Californication is still going strong to nab a sixth season, but I don’t know if it will last beyond that. Either way, it shows that Showtime has faith in their shows and should please fans of all three series.

In the animated family film Arthur Christmas, hitting theaters on November 23^rd, actor James McAvoy voices Arthur, the awkward but enthusiastic youngest son to Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent). When the ultra-high-tech Christmas gift delivery system fails, missing one child out of hundreds of millions, Arthur embarks on a rogue mission, with the help of his rather naughty Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and a giftwrapping-obsessed elf (Ashley Jensen), to deliver the last present before Christmas morning.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, James McAvoy talked about his desire to want to do more films for kids because they’re the best audience around, that he responded to the integrity and humor in the story, the challenge of voicing a character that is always so enthusiastic and nice, and that, if given the choice, he would likely go with the simple and classic ways of doing things versus the high-tech ones. He also talked about how freaky it was to watch even 10 minutes of the Showtime remake of Shameless (he starred in the original), his hopes for the X-Men: First Class sequel, which has not been greenlit yet, the amazing experience he’s had working with director Danny Boyle on Trance, for which he has one day left of shooting, how good the action-thriller Welcome to the Punch turned out, and shooting the fantastic but twisted script for Irvine Welsh’s Filth, starting in January 2012. Check out what he had to say after the jump: