LAS VEGAS (AP) –  The thriller “Runner Runner“” starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck hasn’t even opened yet, but it’s already in the center of the fight over online gambling regulation.

It might be news to Timberlake and Affleck, but the stars of thriller “Runner Runner” were playing key roles in the fight over online gambling regulation Thursday, hours before the film’s opening.

The American Gambling Association has bought ads on major websites including Twitter, Facebook and the IMDb movie database framing the film as a “cautionary tale” that points to the need for Congress to legalize online poker. The ads also pop up when people Google the movie’s title.

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The screenwriters have said their story of a young gambler pulled into the criminal dealings of an offshore poker site was never intended as a political parable. The film is scheduled to open later Thursday.

The Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation, a national nonprofit, sent a letter to the casino lobby Thursday pointing to the writers’ comments, and calling the ads dishonest. The group is demanding that the ads — one of which warns, “sometimes movie villains are real” — be taken down.

National director Les Bernal wrote that there was no reason to think shady offshore operations would disappear if online gambling was legalized in the U.S. and accused the casino lobby of wanting a cut of the illegal operators’ business.

“Casino operators now hope to expand another key demographic to their base: young people, especially those of college age, which is why the AGA greedily seized upon ‘Runner, Runner,'” Bernal wrote.

Internet poker, never fully legal, has been strictly outlawed since 2011, when the Department of Justice seized the domain names of the largest offshore sites catering to U.S. customers and blacked them out.

This crackdown, dubbed “black Friday,” left poker fanatics with two options: Get dressed and visit a card room, or break the law and log into an offshore site.

Offshore gambling sites took in roughly $2.6 billion from U.S. players last year, according to Geoff Freeman, president of the association.

More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting, and three states — New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada — legalized some form of online wagering within their borders.

The gambling lobby, which counts MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment among its members, supports a federal approach, and warns that a patchwork of state laws will be unworkable for corporations, and could leave gamblers exposed to dishonest dealings.

The lobby is seizing any opportunity to try to jumpstart stalled federal legislation.

“Washington is changing, and how you share your message in Washington is changing,” Freeman said. “You’ve got to break through the clutter.”

Freeman dismissed the predatory gambling group’s complaint. He said online gambling empires like the one depicted in the movie often fail to verify gamblers’ ages and locations, and they offer no guarantee they’re playing fair.

“Runner Runner,” released by Twentieth Century Fox, tells the story of a Princeton University graduate student, played by Timberlake, who believes he’s been cheated after gambling away his tuition money. He travels to Costa Rica to stick it to an online poker tycoon, played by Affleck, who then offers him a job.

Writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman, who also created the 1998 gambling classic “Rounders,” told Reuters that they were surprised by the casino lobby’s campaign and found it amusing.

Early reviews have been mostly negative.

 

By Brent Lang
TheWrap

Oh Orlando, those blonde locks, that bow, and those Spock ears.

Orlando Bloom, the dreamboat star of “The Lord of the Rings” is front and center in a new trailer for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” Based on the videographic evidence, Legolas, the elvish archer he plays in the hit fantasy series, may find a love interest on this particular treasure hunt.

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As for the rest of the trailer, there are eye-popping visual effects and action scenes aplenty, and grand pronouncements about a danger that has been unearthed.

“It will not end here,” Evangeline Lilly, who plays a character created for the film called Tauriel, opines at one point in the sneak peek. “With every victory this evil will grow.”

There’s also a few, fleeting and partial glimpses of the fire-breathing Smaug, given voice by the dulcet toned Benedict Cumberbatch.

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is once again directed by Peter Jackson. It stars Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman and Luke Evans and hits theaters on December 13, 2013.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The daughter of the man who wrote the Oscar-winning movie “Raging Bull” is hoping the Supreme Court will give her a final second TKO against a movie studio for ownership of boxer Jake LaMotta’s life story.

The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal over the movie’s copyright, one of eight cases granted by the justices as they prepare for the beginning of the new 2013-14 session on Oct. 7.

The “Raging Bull” case involves an appeal from Paula Petrella, the daughter of the movie’s author, Frank Petrella. The elder Petrella died in 1981, with his copyrights reverting to his daughter. She sued Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. for copyright infringement for creating and distributing copies of the movie, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said she waited too long before filing her lawsuit.

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She “was aware of her potential claim (as was MGM) since 1991, when her attorney filed renewal applications for the 1963 screenplay,” the lower courts said. “She did not file her lawsuit until 18 years later, in January 2009.”

The Supreme Court will now review that decision.

Frank Petrella collaborated with his friend, LaMotta, on two screenplays and a book, which were used to make the movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro. The 1980 film won two Oscars, including best actor for DeNiro.

The high court also decided to referee a gun case out of Tennessee where a man’s plea to misdemeanor domestic assault banned him from ever legally owning a gun again.

James Castleman pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor domestic assault in 2001. He was then charged in 2009 with illegal possession of a firearm by a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence after being caught in a straw-purchasing ring with his wife.

A federal judge threw the illegal gun possession charge out, however. Federal law bars a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence involving physical force or a deadly weapon from possessing a firearm. The judge said that the Tennessee misdemeanor domestic assault conviction does not require that physical force be used, and so the federal ban could not apply to Castleman.

That decision was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals but the government wants it overturned.

Justices will also decide whether a motorist’s anonymous tip about reckless driving is enough for police to pull over a car, without an officer’s corroboration of dangerous driving. Officers did not observe erratic driving, but acted after dispatchers received a 911 call saying a vehicle had run the caller off the road and identifying it by its model, color and license plate. Officers searched the truck after smelling marijuana, found four large bags of it and arrested driver Lorenzo Prado Navarette and passenger Jose Prado Navarette. They want the case thrown out.

Those cases will likely be heard early next year.

By Brent Lang
TheWrap

James Franco isn’t content to offer up adaptations of William Faulkner novels and cook up “lost” footage from notorious films like “Cruising.” He’s going deeper into the pop culture bin with his latest directorial effort, “Sal.”

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The film centers on Sal Mineo, and checks in on the gay star of such films as “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Exodus” after his career in Hollywood was in ruins. “Sal” focuses on Mineo’s final days before his brutal murder in 1976 while he was dreaming of a comeback and playing a bisexual burglar in a stage show called “P.S. Your Cat Is Dead.”

Franco is nothing if not prolific. In addition to directing “As I Lay Dying” and “Interior. Leather Bar,” the Oscar-nominee has appeared in such films as “Spring Breakers,” “This is the End,” and “Oz: The Great and Powerful” — projects that would seem to have very little cross-over audience.

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“Sal” stars Val Lauren as Mineo and Franco in a supporting role. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, but the market being what it is for biopics about half-forgotten movie stars, it’s been kicking around for two years waiting for release. It will debut on VOD on October 22, before opening in select theaters on November 1.

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WENN

Singer Taylor Swift has signed on to join Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and Katie Holmes in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the book “The Giver.” The Weinstein Company announced Swift’s casting in a press release.

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Newcomer Brenton Thwaites has been cast as the young lead in the movie version of Lois Lowry’s novel, about a futuristic society where human memories are wiped to eliminate pain and sadness. Thwaites’ character, Jonas, is picked to receive his community’s entire collection of emotions from the aging Giver, to be played by Bridges, while Holmes will star as the youngster’s mom. Swift, who previously appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day,” has been given a supporting role in the movie, according to New York Post gossip column Page Six.

The casting would explain Swift’s meeting with Thwaites at the recent Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, which sparked a flurry of dating rumors. The shoot is reportedly set to take place in South Africa, but Streep is in talks to film her scenes in the U.K., where she is currently filming the movie musical “Into the Woods.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Hanks has had enough of playing real people.

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In Paul Greengrass’ docudrama “Captain Phillips,” which premiered on Friday as the opening night film of the New York Film Festival, he plays Richard Phillips, the captain of a cargo ship famously taken by Somali pirates in 2009.

Earlier this year, Hanks made his Broadway debut playing New York journalist Mike McAlary in Nora Ephron’s “Lucky Guy.” And later this year, he stars as Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks,” about the making of “Mary Poppins.”

“I got to get out of this racket,” Hanks said sheepishly ahead of the Friday night premiere. “It’s killing me.”

“Captain Phillips,” which is expected to be a major contender in Hollywood’s awards season, debuted at the NYFF to enthusiastic reviews and particular acclaim for Hanks’ performance.

But playing real-life people comes with various pressures of authenticity. Verisimilitude is a primary aim for Greengrass, who made the true-life tales “United 93” and “Bloody Sunday” with similar documentary-like realism.

Hanks met several times with Phillips at his Vermont home to help prepare for the role.

“You don’t want to be an idiot,” said Hanks. “You don’t want to ask, ‘What were you feeling? What was it like? What were you feeling? Are you a hero?’ — you know, ask questions like most journalists do when the time comes.”

The crowd, composed largely of members of the media, roared.

“Captain Phillips” opens in theaters Oct. 11. The 51st New York Film Festival, which also will feature the premieres of Spike Jonze’s “Her” and Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” runs through Oct. 13.

 

WENN

Hollywood magician and actor John Calvert has died, aged 102.

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The star passed away on Friday in Lancaster, Calif. A statement posted on the website of The International Brotherhood of Magicians reads, “John Calvert, 102, the venerable magician, author, and movie star, died Friday morning, September 27, 2013, in Lancaster, California… Mr. Calvert’s long-time wife, Tammy, was at his side.”

Calvert, assisted by his wife of more than 50 years, Tammy, enjoyed a career spanning more than eight decades, performing both on Broadway and in Las Vegas, and he was famous for his ground-breaking tricks, which included firing a woman from a cannon into a box suspended overhead on the stage.

He was also known for creating the illusion of sawing off the head of a spectator using a giant buzz saw.

His fans included movie stars Gary Cooper and Cary Grant, who often joined him on stage when he was performing in Los Angeles.

Calvert was also an actor, playing the detective nicknamed The Falcon in three movies, “Devil’s Cargo” (1948), “Appointment With Murder” (1948) and “Search for Danger” (1949), while his credits also include “Are These Our Parents?” (1944), “The Return of the Durango Kid” (1945) and 1956’s “Dark Venture,” which he directed and starred in.

He continued performing his magic show right up until weeks before his death, and two years ago he fulfilled a lifelong dream by performing at the London Palladium.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new study suggests the proliferation of gay and transgender characters in films and television shows has not prevented gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender actors from experiencing discrimination in Hollywood.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists commissioned the survey, released Friday. It found that more than half of the actors who identify as gay, bisexual and transgender think directors and producers are biased against them.

More than one-third of the actors who don’t fall into those categories agreed with that perception.

Only 16 percent of the gay, bisexual and transgender respondents, however, said they had experienced discrimination. Gay men reported the most, with about one-fifth saying they had been discriminated against.

The online survey of nearly 5,700 SAG/AFTRA members also found that more than half of the gay, transgender and bisexual respondents had heard producers and directors make anti-gay comments while working on-set.

The performers’ union, which is holding its annual convention in Los Angeles, said it pursued the first-of-its-kind research at the request of a committee that represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members and as a methodical way to explore an issue usually discussed through anecdotes.

The study was conducted by the Williams Institute, a think tank based at UCLA that specializes in sexual orientation, gender identity and public policy.

“The survey results show both progress and indications that more work will be necessary to make the workplace an equal and fully welcoming place for LGBT performers,” M. V. Lee Badgett, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst economics professor affiliated with the UCLA institute. “The good news is that almost no one thought that opportunities for LGBT actors were getting worse.”

Of the 5,692 participants, 465 identified as gay men, 61 as lesbians, and seven as transgender. Another 301 men and women described themselves as bisexual.

The survey also revealed that despite concerns about being typecast, two-thirds of the gay actors who had played gay characters felt that it had not harmed their careers or limited the roles they were offered. Nine percent of the gay men and lesbians said they had been turned down for roles during the past five years because of their sexual orientations.

Entertainment Tonight.

A little more than a week after news broke that Zac Efron reportedly completed a stint in rehab earlier this year, the former Disney star has finally broken his silence on the matter.

Pics: Candid Star Sightings!

In a tweet posted Friday, Efron thanked his fans for their support “these past few weeks,” including a happy photo of himself in Peru, where he just returned from vacationing with his father.

E! News first reported the story on September 17, quoting one source as saying that now Efron, 25, is “healthy” and “taking time to focus on working.”

According to People, sources claim that the Neighbors star completed his stint about five months ago.

Efron himself told E! that he’s “good, real good,” at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of his film Parkland, opening October 4.

Related: Zac Efron Completed Rehab

In the movie, Efron plays Jim Carrico, the first doctor to examine President John F. Kennedy after he was shot in Dealey Plaza.

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By Greg Gilman
TheWrap

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock play two astronauts stuck in space in director Alfonso Cuarn’s “Gravity,” and according to two real astronauts, everyone involved in the production did an appropriate amount of research.

“Somebody did their homework, “NASA astronaut Dr. Mike Massimino says in a new featurette for the upcoming IMAX release of the Warner Bros. film. “Everything is exactly what it was like on our mission.”

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Massimino was one of the astronauts featured in the documentary “IMAX Hubble 3D,” which Cuarn says was the “bible” for the fictional thriller, already getting Oscar buzz.

“We wanted to be as accurate as possible with those references,” Cuarn said. “I think our biggest reference was the Hubble documentary. That, for me, is my personal favorite in IMAX. IMAX was our bible.”

Dr. Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut and consultant on the film, worked directly with Bullock to help the actress craft her performance, which has garnered early praise from critics and anastronaut.

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“When I was about three months into my space station mission, my brother met Sandra Bullock’s brother-in-law, and they arranged that she and I would talk because she was about to go to space,” Coleman said. “We talked about how there’s outside, wearing 300-pound spacesuit, always holding on to something. And then there’s inside the space station, where it just takes the touch of a finger — or even I could take one of my long hairs and push it against a surface, and I could move myself down the entire length of the space station. That’s how little force it takes to move up there.”

“Gravity” arrives in theaters Oct. 4.

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