Archive: December 2011 (131-140 of 380)

Dec 18 2011 04:01 AM ET

Best of 2011 (Behind the Scenes): 'Bossypants' cover photographer Ruven Afanador talks Tina Fey's man hands

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Filed under: Books and tagged: , , ,

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As 2011 comes to a close, EW.com wanted to honor some of the hardworking names and faces from behind the scenes for their outstanding achievements. One of the very best things about Tina Fey’s literary debut — the honest, gut-busting, don’t-read-it-on-the-subway funny best-seller Bossypants — aside from, of course, “A Mother’s Prayer for her Child” and all those wild 30 Rock anecdotes, was that outrageous man-hands cover. Renowned photographer Ruven Afanador recalls what it was like shooting the very funny image that clicked with readers. For more behind the scenes access to the year’s best TV and movie scenes, click here for EW.com‘s Best of 2011: Behind the Scenes coverage.

As told by: Ruven Afandor

We were doing the cover of the book and Tina had mentioned to me certain things that she liked, and while we were brainstorming, I told her this idea that she might like. I’ve always been fascinated with the [passe-têtes at the] carnival, where you stick your head in front of the thing and then you see a whole body. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 18 2011 04:01 AM ET

Best of 2011 (Behind the Scenes): 'Archer' creator Adam Reed talks about the cancer rampage episode

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Filed under: TV and tagged: , , ,

Archer

As 2011 comes to a close, EW.com wanted to honor some of the hardworking names and faces from behind the scenes for their outstanding achievements. The absurdist FX espionage comedy Archer has always bravely plumbed the depths of hilarious depravity, but the season 2 episode “Placebo Effect” was a bad-taste masterpiece. Titular superspy Sterling Archer is suffering from breast cancer, and discovers that his anti-cancer drugs are actually placebos cooked up by the Irish mob as a money-making scheme. This initiates an episode-long bloodsoaked vengeance rampage. Archer plays a grisly game of Family Feud (the penalty for not telling him what he wants to know: A shot to the kneecap.) He stuffs a grenade up a man’s rear end. The whole time, he’s vomiting from chemotherapy nausea and smoking relentless amounts of medical marijuana. And then the whole thing ends with an extended reference to Magnum, P.I. Creator Adam Reed talks about what inspired this grisly, offensive, utterly wonderful half-hour of television. For more behind the scenes access to the year’s best TV and movie scenes, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2011: Behind the Scenes coverage.

As told by: Adam Reed

Every year, it seems like they catch some pharmacist or some doctor who’s been giving people placebos for their cancer. The first time I heard about it, I was furious. Then I heard about it again a few years later, and was even more furious. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 18 2011 04:01 AM ET

Best of 2011 (Behind the Scenes): 'Breaking Bad' creator Vince Gilligan talks about That Scene from the season finale

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Filed under: TV and tagged: ,
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As 2011 comes to a close, EW.com wanted to honor some of the hardworking names and faces from behind the scenes for their outstanding achievements. Over the course of 13 thrillingly tense episodes, the fourth season of Breaking Bad gradually built up to the final reckoning between teacher-turned-criminal Walter White and druglord demi-god Gustavo Fring. Vince Gilligan is the creator and showrunner of Breaking Bad. He also wrote and directed the season finale, which featured one of the great horrifying images in TV history. Here, Gilligan describes that scene’s long journey from his brain onto your television. Needless to say, there are spoilers — but come on, how have you not seen it yet? For more behind the scenes access to the year’s best TV and movie scenes, click here for EW.com‘s Best of 2011: Behind the Scenes coverage.

As told by: Vince Gilligan

Gus is a man who had one Achilles Heel, as far as we know: His burning desire for vengeance against the people who killed Max, who was very important to him. We don’t tend to nail things down on Breaking Bad. It’s fun to be a little mysterious, and it’s nice to have the audience come up with backstories on their own. Having said that, I personally think Max was more than just a friend to Gus. I think they probably were lovers. And therefore it was understandably a very crushing, terrible loss for Gus, one that he would never forget. That one bit of emotion that he allowed himself ultimately proved to be his undoing. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 18 2011 04:01 AM ET

Best of 2011 (Behind the Scenes): 'Sons of Anarchy' music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr. on season 4's greatest hits

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Filed under: Music, Television, TV and tagged: , , ,
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Image Credit: FX

As 2011 comes to a close, EW.com wanted to honor some of the hardworking names and faces from behind the scenes for their outstanding achievements. We asked Sons of Anarchy music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr. to name five tunes from season 4 that represent the show’s best use of music — which in our minds, is also some of TV’s finest. For more behind the scenes access to the year’s best TV and movie scenes, click here for EW.com‘s Best of 2011: Behind the Scenes coverage.

By: Bob Thiele Jr.

“Coal War” by Joshua James: I introduced the music of Joshua James to [Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter] at the beginning of season 3. We were looking for an artist to sing “No Milk Today” (season 3 opening montage) and I thought JJ ideal. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 18 2011 04:01 AM ET

Best of 2011 (Behind the Scenes): Nolan North (a.k.a. Nathan Drake) talks about getting lost in the desert in 'Uncharted 3'

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Filed under: News, Videogames and tagged: ,
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As 2011 comes to a close, EW.com wanted to honor some of the hardworking names and faces from behind the scenes for their outstanding achievements. The essence of the videogame medium is action: running, jumping, shooting, dodging, flying. That’s especially true of the Uncharted series, a franchise which has made its name by offering better-than-Hollywood thrills. But November’s Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception took an intriguing turn when — following a fantastical plane-crash set piece — series protagonist Nathan Drake got lost in the desert. No guns, no exciting settings, no enemy except thirst: The player had to guide Drake through an apparently empty landscape, wandering and wandering and wandering. Nolan North — one of the hardest-working voice-over talents in the videogame industry — has played Nathan Drake via an intensive motion-capture process since the series began. Read on to find out how he helped to make something out of literal nothingness. For more behind the scenes access to the year’s best TV and movie scenes, click here for EW.com‘s Best of 2011: Behind the Scenes coverage.

As told by: Nolan North

Lost in the desert! People loved that level! They felt isolated. They didn’t know what to do, or which way to go. The same way that Nathan Drake is feeling. I think that Uncharted 3, more than the earlier games, you got to experience not only what Drake was doing, but what he was feeling. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2011 06:00 PM ET

Jimmy Fallon hosts tonight's 'Saturday Night Live': Talk about it here!

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Filed under: Television, TV and tagged: , , , , , ,
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Image Credit: Dana Edelson/NBC

If only we had Jimmy Fallon‘s uncanny ability to peer into the future. (Not only did the Late Night host predict his own future stardom and subsequent return to Saturday Night Live as a host, but he had moves like Jagger long before Maroon 5.) Then we’d be able to know how tonight’s SNL turns out with Fallon at the helm for the first time in his career since leaving the show back in 2004.

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2011 01:30 PM ET

LEGO announces deal to reimagine 'The Hobbit' universe

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , , , ,

For years now, LEGO-playing fans of Tolkien’s universe have been forced to re-enact their favorite Middle-earth scenes with Han Solo, Dobby the House Elf and other franchise’s miniatures. But beginning next June, those days are history. Warner Bros Consumer Products has finally relented to bring all your favorite elves, hobbits, dwarves, wizards, and gollums to your precious LEGO universe. “It’s particularly exciting to now be able to create sets based on the fantasy worlds and characters from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the two films based on The Hobbit, not only because we know they will foster collectability and creative play, but also because these are two properties that our fans have been asking us to create for years,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “

A LEGO Lord of the Rings site has been set up, with the promise of upcoming announcements and details. For now, bask in the glow of your LEGO-ized precious. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2011 01:00 PM ET

'Young Adult': Is it wrong to relate to Charlize Theron's horrible character?

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Filed under: Movies, News and tagged: , ,

Phillip V. Caruso

So, I loooooved Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, which opened wide this weekend. Charlize Theron gave the performance of her career and the fantastically bleak script by Diablo Cody may even be better than her work on Juno. More so, I relished seeing such a complicated character study. There’s no redemption for Theron’s young adult author Mavis Gary. She doesn’t turn a corner or have the standard movie-plot revelation that she’s a truly vile human being and must change her ways. For me, that was an awesomely brave twist.

But as I walked out of the theater, the lingering thought in my head was, “Wow. That character was a real beast… and I kinda relate to her!” READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2011 12:00 PM ET

Best of 2011: Which celebs had the best (and worst) Twitter feeds this year?

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Image Credit: Donald Kravitz/Getty Images

A star with a Twitter account is every publicist’s nightmare and every pop culture junkie’s dream come true. That felt especially true in 2011, the year of the unfiltered celebrity tweeter. (We’re looking at you Ellen Barkin, Ashton Kutcher, and Charlie Sheen!) But which stars had the most entertaining — for better or for worse — Twitter feeds of the year? Is it Steve Martin, Seth Meyers, or Elizabeth Banks that deserves bragging rights for the best, thanks to their smart and silly musings? When it comes to the worst, does anyone come close to chronic over-sharers like Kim Kardashian and Courtney Stodden? Check out our rundown for the candidates for best and worst, then be sure to vote for your picks in the polls below and share who your pick is in the comments section.

BEST
Ellen Barkin (@ellenbarkin): Every now and then a  celebrity comes along and discovers that Twitter is a place where they can unleash a torrent of crazy upon the world and, in turn, make us fall in love with the Internet all over again. (We owe you one, Kanye West.) There may not have been a greater Twitter newcomer in 2011 (or ever, for that matter) than Ellen Barkin, who ranted about everything from politicians (she had a choice nickname for Michele Bachmann) to numbers (“I hate even numbers”), and dropped more f-bombs than fellow freshman tweeter Samuel L. Jackson.  Sample, if not quintessential, Barkin tweet: “Wow. Me and my big mouth. I guess I’ll try to find my filter now… Just kidding, muthaf—ahs. Suck it. If you don’t like it don’t read it.” READ FULL STORY »

Dec 17 2011 11:00 AM ET

This Week on Stage: Harry Connick, Jr. and 'Lysistrata Jones' drop the ball

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We at EW ended the year on stage by learning the news about Private Lives‘ early close, celebrating that George Clooney is hitting the boards in L.A., enjoying our readers’ memories of Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, finding out your thoughts on our 2011 Top 10 list, and reviewing the Broadway musicals On the Clear Day You Can See Forever and Lysistrata Jones. Read the highlights below.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever: According to EW stage editor Thom Geier, Harry Connick, Jr.’s new starrer about a psychiatrist who falls for his patient’s alter ego, “feels like one very long therapy session.” “[The revival] strains to be hip and contemporary, but manages only to feel awkward and dated,” Geier writes, giving the musical a C and adding that Connick “seems almost straight-jacketed in a fundamentally recessive role.”

Lysistrata Jones: Douglas Carter Beane’s basketball-themed off-Broadway adaptation’s quick move to the Main Stem seems “a little like a solid junior-high basketball team playing Madison Square Garden,” says Geier. “Too much of the time, it plays like a slightly raunchier version of a Nickelodeon or Disney Channel sitcom,” he writes about the B-grade musical, “rife with predictable plotlines and broad cultural and racial stereotypes. “

Read more:
First Look at Harry Connick Jr.’s new show
Harry Connick and daughter talk American Girl
Harry Connick returning to Broadway? Yes, please.

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