Tag: Neil Patrick Harris

  • Romedy Now to air How I Met Your Mother next month, launches a new promo

    Romedy Now to air How I Met Your Mother next month, launches a new promo

    MUMBAI: Romedy Now is all geared up to launch the widely loved sitcom, How I met Your Mother, on 14 December 2015 at 8:30 pm. The channel has also launched a fresh promo of the TV series by giving it a unique touch as the kids will be seen narrating the story.

     

    In the show, Ted Mosby, in 2030, narrates a story to his teenage children on how he met their mother. The show focuses on Ted’s friendship with Barney, Marshall and Lily, his love for Robin, his journey of finding the girl of his dreams, etc.

     

    “The idea behind using kids in the promo is to make the property more affable and endearing. It also makes for great conversation especially when parents want to share their cute memories and moments with their babies”, asserted a spokesperson.

     

    The show known for its eccentric humour stars Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Cristin Milioti.

     

    Commenting on the launch of HIMYM, EEC VP Programming Sonal Khanduj said, “How I Met Your Mother is immensely popular with a great repeat value in India and we are confident that the show will strengthen our viewership further. Romedy Now is promoting the show with an adorable promo to generate buzz around the property.”

  • David Hill & Reginald Hudlin tapped to produce 88th Oscars

    David Hill & Reginald Hudlin tapped to produce 88th Oscars

    MUMBAI: After this year’s ho-hum response to the Oscars show, which was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the Academy has named two new producers for the 2016 show.

     

    Emmy-winning live television producer David Hill and Oscar-nominated producer-director Reginald Hudlin have been tapped to produce the 88th Oscars telecast.

     

    It will be their first involvement with the Academy Awards, which will be held on 28 February, 2016.

     

    Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, “We’re delighted to have this talented team on board. David is a true innovator with a dynamic personality. His vast experience as a live events producer, coupled with Reggie’s energy, creativity and talent as a filmmaker, is sure to make this year’s Oscar telecast a memorable one.”

     

    “What a great and exciting honour! The quest is to honour the year in film, honour the art, and above all, make it fun,” said Hill.

     

    “I’m looking forward to working with the Academy again. I love every kind of film and this year’s awards will be a celebration of the total range of cinema,” said Hudlin.

     

    “We’re excited to work with David and Reggie. With their enthusiasm and breadth of experience, they will bring a fresh perspective to the Oscar show,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.

     

    An executive with the Fox group of companies for more than 25 years, Hill most recently served as 21st Century Fox senior executive vice president, overseeing programming, digital initiatives, and other opportunities on five continents. He was previously Fox Sports Media Group chairman and CEO. Hill began his career with News Corporation in Great Britain, where he helped launch Sky Television, introduced the multilingual sports channel Eurosport, and created the subscription channel Sky Sports. He recently left Fox to start his own production company, Hilly, focusing on live and reality television. 

     

    On the other hand, writer, director, producer and executive, Hudlin received a 2012 Best Picture Oscar nomination as a producer of Django Unchained.  Hudlin’s film credits includeBoomerangThe Great White Hype and the award-winning comedy House Party, which he also wrote. He executive produced the TV series The Boondocks and The Black Panther; and has directed for Modern Family, Murder in The First, New Girl and The Office. Last year, Hudlin produced the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards ceremony and has been the executive producer of the NAACP Image Awards since 2012. Hudlin was the first president of entertainment for BET Networks from 2005 to 2009. He is a partner in Milestone Media, a multi-ethnic comic book company distributed by DC Comics, as well as New Nation Networks, a premium content provider in partnership with Google.

  • Anna Kendrick to perform at 87th Oscars

    Anna Kendrick to perform at 87th Oscars

    MUMBAI: Actress and singer Anna Kendrick will make a special appearance at the 87th Oscars. The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be held on 22 February.

     

    “Out of the woods and on to the Oscar stage, Anna will be performing something special that is sure to be an “Only on the Oscars” moment,” said show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

     

    Kendrick was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in the 2009 film Up in the Air. Her other film credits include Into the Woods (2014), Pitch Perfect (2012) and the Twilight film series. In 1998, at the age of 12, Kendrick was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for High Society. She will star in the films The Last Five Years, The Hollars and Pitch Perfect 2 later this year.

  • Common & John Legend to perform together at The Oscars

    Common & John Legend to perform together at The Oscars

    MUMBAI: Musical artists Common and John Legend will perform their Oscar-nominated song “Glory” at the 87th Oscars. The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be held on 22 February.

     

    Show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said, “Common and John Legend are artists who have always lifted our spirits and made us think. The Oscar stage is that much more profound because of their presence and we welcome them.”

     

    “Glory,” written by John Stephens (a.k.a. John Legend) and Lonnie Lynn (a.k.a. Common) for the film “Selma,” is nominated for Original Song. The four other nominated songs are “Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie,” “Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights,” “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me” and “Lost Stars” from “Begin Again.”

     

    Common won a Grammy in 2002 for Best R&B Song for “Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop),” and in 2007 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Southside,” with Kanye West. His many acting credits include the films “American Gangster,” “Wanted,” “Date Night” and “Selma,” in which he plays the role of Civil Rights leader James Bevel.

     

    Legend is a nine time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter. His critically acclaimed debut album, “Get Lifted,”scored multiple Grammy Awards in 2006, including Best R&B Album, Best New Artist and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The follow up was the platinum-selling “Once Again,” which garnered a Best Male R&B Performance nod. Legend’s most recent highly acclaimed fourth studio album, “Love in the Future,” scored two Grammy nominations and features his break out hit, “All of Me,” which is his highest selling and charting song to date and also earned a 2015 Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance.

  • Maroon 5’s Adam Levine to perform at the Oscars

    Maroon 5’s Adam Levine to perform at the Oscars

    MUMBAI: Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and actor Adam Levine will perform the Oscar-nominated song “Lost Stars” at the 87th Oscars.

     

    The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be held on 22 February.

     

    Show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said, “Adam Levine is an exceptional and dynamic artist. We’re thrilled to have him make his Oscars stage debut this year.”

     

    “Lost Stars,” written by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois for the film “Begin Again,” is nominated for Original Song. The four other nominated songs are “Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie,” “Glory” from “Selma,” “Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights” and “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me.”

     

    Levine is the lead singer for the group Maroon 5, which has received three Grammy Awards, two for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (2005 and 2007) and one for Best New Artist (2004), Levine made his feature film acting debut in “Begin Again,” which is directed by John Carney and also stars Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo.

     

    The 87th Oscars will be held on 22 February at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. The Oscars will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

  • First film to be shot in 6K and re-framed in 5K

    First film to be shot in 6K and re-framed in 5K

    NEW DELHI: David Fincher’s Gone Girl is the first feature film anywhere in the world to be shot entirely in 6K (with the Red Dragon) and the first studio feature film to be entirely edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CC.  

     

    Though the film was shot in 6K, it was re-framed for 5K. “Shooting in 6K, we had a large amount of Red media content to be converted and reviewed,” post engineer Jeff Brue said in a NVIDIA case study. “This, combined with a need for an ability during editorial for every shot to be reframed, posed a unique challenge.”    

    Starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, the film is based on a novel by Gilian Flynn who has himself written the screenplay. With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent. 

     

    It was also the first to use NVIDIA’s new Quadro K5200 GPU—which has double the memory and 30 per cent faster performance than its predecessor—in its workflow, according to the National Association of Broadcasters (US).    

     

    The NVIDIA GPU technology was used to convert the footage to DPX at “blazingly fast” speeds, according to Brue.  “The NVIDIA Quadro 5200 was extremely performant in the production by allowing the playback and real time downscaling of 6K to 4K—something that was crucial to ensuring the best post production experience,” Brue added.  

  • ‘Breaking Bad’s’ Bryan Cranston and ‘HIMYM’s’ Neil Patrick Harris snag major Tonys’

    ‘Breaking Bad’s’ Bryan Cranston and ‘HIMYM’s’ Neil Patrick Harris snag major Tonys’

    MUMBAI: The 68th Annual Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, well known as the Tony Awards saw firsts for Bryan Crantson and Neil Patrick Harris and a record-breaking win for Audra McDonald. Broadway’s biggest night honoured A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with Best Musical and All the Way for Best Play. Both productions scored four honours each.

    The awards show got off to a hoppin’ start with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman (X-Men: Days of Future Past) on Sunday in New York. The evening’s host entered Radio City Music Hall hopping his way from the city streets, down the aisles and then backstage where he proceeded to meet the cast members from many of today’s biggest Broadway shows.

    The first award of the night went to Rylance of Twelfth Night for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play. This marked his third Tony after having previously won for Jerusalem and Boeing-Boeing.

    Audra McDonald, known on the small screen for Private Practice, won best lead actress in a play for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, marking her sixth Tony and making her the biggest Tony winner of all time. She now tops five-time Tony winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris.

    All the Way won best play — and its lead star, Bryan Cranston, who previously won the Golden Globe award and the EMMY award for his portrayal of a high school chemistry teacher with terminal lung cancer in Breaking Bad, snagged his first Tony, taking home best lead actor in a play for playing former President Lyndon B. Johnson in his Broadway debut. The former Breaking Bad star beat Samuel Barnett from Twelfth Night, Chris O’Dowd from Of Mice and Men, Mark Rylance of Richard III and Tony Shalhoub with Act One.

    The lead actor in a musical honour went to Harris for his portrayal of a German transsexual in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Harris, well known as the womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother has won Primetime EMMY Awards, and now he has a Tony to his name. The actor edged out Ramin Karimloo of Les Miserables, Andy Karl from Rocky along with Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham, who both star in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Lena Hall of Hedwig and the Angry Inch took home the award for best feature performance by an actress in a musical.

    Presenters included Hollywood big shots like Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, Wayne Brady, Zach Braff, Kenneth Branagh, Patricia Clarkson, Bradley Cooper, Fran Drescher, Clint Eastwood, Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Vera Farmiga, Will Ferrell, Tony Goldwyn, Anna Gunn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Carole King, Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Kate Mara, McDonald, Leighton Meester, Alessandro Nivola, Zachary Quinto, Emmy Rossum, Liev Schreiber, Orlando Bloom, Barrett Foa, Jonathan Groff, T.I., Samuel L. Jackson, Judith Light, Rosie O’Donnell and Patrick Wilson.

  • Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron learn ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

    Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron learn ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

    MUMBAI: This summer, Universal Pictures India gears up to take audiences on a joyride with their latest offering ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West.’ From the makers of the acclaimed 2012 fantasy-comedy ‘Ted’, this sure-shot entertainer sees the multi-faceted Seth MacFarlane don the director’s hat once again as he stars alongside the likes of Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris and Liam Neeson. An adaptation of MacFarlane’s novel by the same name, the western comedy movie will release across Indian theatres in June.

     

    Set in the nineteenth century Arizona, ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ is the hysterical narrative of Albert (Seth MacFarlane), a sheep farmer whose lack of courage results in his withdrawal from a gunfight, thus losing his beloved girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) who leaves him for another man. However, when a mysterious and beautiful woman (Charlize Theron) rides into town, she helps him discover his bravery and courage and they begin to fall in love. Albert begins to realize his true potential but when the woman’s husband (Liam Neeson), a notorious Outlaw arrives seeking revenge and demanding payback, the herder is forced to put his new found courage to test.

     

    Interestingly, enough MacFarlane, who has created some of the most popular content on television and film today, while also expanding his career in music and philanthropy, turned author with the novel ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ on which the movie is based. Boasting a stellar star-cast, and bringing together the best in Hollywood, the movie promises to be nothing short of a laughter riot expecting to emulate the success of the makers’ previous outing ‘Ted’, which took the box office by storm.

  • ‘Gone Girl’ trailer finally released

    ‘Gone Girl’ trailer finally released

    MUMBAI: First shown at CinemaCon, the teaser trailer of David Fincher’s next film Gone Girl starring Ben Affleck and Neil Patrick Harris has finally been released online for the mass public.

     

    Having spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list at #1, Gone Girl – the principal suspense comes from an uncertainty about the main character, Nick Dunne, and whether he killed his wife, Amy Dunne when the latter goes missing on the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary.

     

    The book has a 3.93 rating based on 441, 306 ratings on Goodreads. The book is a “pathological, twisted freak-show of a relationship so demented that it leaves wanting for more”!

     

    Hairspray screenwriter Leslie Dixon read the manuscript of the novel in 2011 and brought it to the attention of Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Legally Blonde) in December of that year. Soon after, Academy Award winning actress Reese Witherspoon swopped in and bought the rights to the film adaptation of the blockbuster hit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Witherspoon was drawn to the script because of its strong female character and its use of multiple perspectives and non-linear structure.

     

    In January of 2013, it was announced that Witherspoon will only be producing, and will not be starring in the film. By May, Golden Globe Award winning director David Fincher (The Social Network, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo) was attached to the project with another Academy Award winner Ben Affleck (Argo) soon joining the project as the lead, Nick Dunne along with Rosamund Pike (Pride & Prejudice, Die Another Day) as his missing wife, Amy.

     

    In several interviews, Flynn has said she was interested in exploring the psychology and dynamics of a long-term relationship. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where Flynn worked as a television critic before bursting out as an author, she hinted that the film will have a different design than her twisty novel.

     

    Throughout the trailer, you might hear quite a few dialogues exchanged for more than a few seconds over Charles Aznavour serenading his classic English love song, “She”, but the haunting cover played in the background is by Richard Butler from The Psychedelic Furs.

     

    From the trailer, it becomes quickly evident the film will resonate the dark and haunting tone that is seen in most of Fincher’s films.

  • Seth MacFarlane releases the first look of his new film

    Seth MacFarlane releases the first look of his new film

    MUMBAI: The writer of popular shows Family Guy, American Dad and Ted, Seth MacFarlane, has now written and directed A Million Ways to Die in the West.

     

    The Western comedy stars Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried and the writer himself. In the film, MacFarlane will be seen playing the role of a humble sheep farmer, Albert, who finds himself humiliated when his girlfriend (Seyfried) leaves him for the dapper gent who runs their town’s local “moustachery”. Luckily, he learns to find his courage when he meets a more age-appropriate love interest (Theron), the mysterious wife of an infamous outlaw.

     

    The photo for his Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West shows MacFarlane running into his ex (Amanda Seyfried) and her new love interest (Neil Patrick Harris). Charlize Theron is also in the photo for the film, in which she plays a gunslinger helping MacFarlane’s character find his courage. The film centers on a sheepherder (MacFarlane) who loses his girlfriend after chickening out of a gunfight.  MacFarlane is directing the project, which is his followup to his raunchy comedy hit Ted.

     

    MRC and Universal are co-financing A Million Ways to Die in the West, which is slated to hit theaters 30 May. MacFarlane 2012 directorial debut Ted made nearly $550million at the box office.