Wachowskis' and Tom Tykwer's 'Cloud Atlas' Picks Up Another Million in Production Funds

COLOGNE, Germany - Cloud Atlas, the big-budget indie adaptation of David Mitchell's award-winning novel, has received another dose of production funding, picking up $1.35 million (€1 million) from the German Federal Film Board, the FFA.our editor recommendsWachowskis, Tom Tykwer Set for 'Cloud Atlas' Shoot Mid-SeptemberHugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw Join 'Cloud Atlas' (Cannes Exclusive) STORY: Wachowskis, Tom Tykwer Set for 'Cloud Atlas' Shoot Mid-September Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski have co-written the script and will co-direct the film, which features six interlocking storylines, each set in a different location and a different era, spanning from the 19th century to a post apocalyptic future. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon and Hugo Weaving are among Cloud's ensemble cast. STORY: Wachowskis, Tykwer Talk 'Cloud Atlas' Cast with Cannes Buyers Tykwer's X Filme shingle will produce Cloud Atlas. Shooting is set to start next month at Studio Babelsberg outside Berlin. Warner Bros. will release the film domestically. X Filme will bow the title in Germany. A Company has picked up Russian and East European rights. Focus Features is handling sales in the rest of the world. STORY: Wachowskis, Tykwer Get 'Cloud Atlas' Cash From NRW One of the biggest projects ever to be produced out of Germany, Cloud Atlas has so far received nearly $3 million (€2.1 million) in production financing from Germany's many film subsidy bodies. The film is also set to receive around $8 million (€6 million) in tax credits from Germany's production tax break scheme, the DFFF. Another high-profile projects picking up FFA coin was Tarzan, the new 3D animated adaptation of the classic jungle tale from Constantin Film (The Three Musketeers). Reinhard Kloss (Animals United) is directing. Related Topics Halle Berry Hugo Weaving Tom Hanks International Tom Tykwer Andy Wachowski Lana Wachowski Cloud Atlas

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What's Her Line? Rooney Mara Gets Pointy in Latest Images From Dragon Tattoo

There’s been precious few sightings to date of Rooney Mara in character as Swedish punk-rock bisexu-hacker Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Which can only be a good thing; there’s only so much toplessness a marketing campaign can really withstand in the far-off months leading up to release. But what’s this? New Rooney? Fully clothed, hooded and pointing at a dude? Ooh la la, let us at it. (Bonus: Daniel Craig and Christopher Plummer, also fully clothed!) I kind of love Mara’s photo, which debuted today at Empire Online. What glorious, Steve Zaillian-scripted words could accompany this gesture? “That is a terrible hairpiece, son.” Or, “Get out of my movie, Colin Firth.” It could be anything. Plummer seems shocked about the Firth-a-like as well. You tell me? [via /Film]

Nyqvist connects with 'Disconnect'

Skarsgard"True Bloodstream" star Alexander Skarsgard, Frank Grillo, Colin Ford and Swedish thesp Michael Nyqvist are affixed to star in Henry Alex Rubin's indie drama "Disconnect," while Andrea Riseborough can also be circling among the lead roles. Rubin, who formerly directed the award-winning documentary "Murderball," makes his feature directorial debut using the film. Andrew Stern ("Go back to Me") authored the script, which follows a sizable ensemble of figures who're affected -- and perhaps destroyed -- through the Internet along with other types of modern communication. Skarsgard will have an old Marine who's battling to pay the bills and it is psychologically stop from his wife, compelling him to find an affair. Grillo is within line to experience just one father and computer safety expert who's overprotective of his 15-year-old boy and wishes to keep him from the risks of the internet. Ford would play Grillo's boy, a skater who handles their own emotional discomfort by talking online having a troubled teen underneath the guise to be a curious teen girl. Nyqvist will have a guy who Skarsgard and the wife suspect of stealing their identity. Riseborough has been eyed for that role of the ambitious TV reporter who, annoyed by her lightweight tales, chases a tale in regards to a youthful male model who poses nude online. Liddell Entertainment's Mickey Liddell is creating with William Horberg and Jennifer Hilton. Pic, that is allocated at $8-tens of millions of, is slated to begin production the following month in Gotham. Skarsgard next stars in Fishing rod Lurie's "Hay Dogs," Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" and Peter Berg's "Battleship." Grillo, who just reserved roles in "The Gangster Squad" and "Finish of Watch," will quickly be observed in Gavin O'Connor's MMA movie "Warrior," Joe Carnahan's survival pic "The Gray" and Stephen Frears' "Lay the favourite.Inch Ford, that has a recurring role about the CW's "Supernatural," next stars as Matt Damon's boy in Cameron Crowe's "We Purchased a Zoo." Nyqvist starred within the original "Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo" and can soon be viewed opposite Rachelle Lefervre in Lionsgate's "Abduction" and Tom Cruise in Paramount's "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol." Riseborough toplines Madonna's "W.E." as well as stars opposite Mike Riley in Rowan Joffe's "Brighton Rock" with Mike Riley. CAA reps Skarsgard, Riseborough, Grillo and Rubin, while Management 360 also reps the second duo. Skarsgard and Riseborough will also be repped by Principal Entertainment and Independent Talent Group, correspondingly. WME and Magnolia Entertainment repetition Nyqvist, while Ford is repped by Osbrink Talent Agency, Management 360 and attorney P.J. Shapiro. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com

Eight Days a Week

Peter loves his next door neighbour Erica and, on the advice of his grandfather, decides to camp out on her front lawn for the entire summer, or until she agrees to go out with him. His father is none too happy about the idea and refuses to let his son back in the house, even to get a change of clothes. Peter's friend, Matt, thinks Peter should give up on women (like he has) and just have sex with fruit, and have a total devotion to masterbation.

Truce

young trucker, Egor, from a small, nameless Russian town sets off on a journey that has no actual purpose and no verifiable destination. This slim pretext drives the virtually non-existent plot of Svetlana Proskurinas Truce. On his way to nowhere Egor meets his former school friends, now small-time crooks; he encounters several lovely women and briefly toys with the idea оf marrying; he helps his uncle get a large sum of money from his bank account, and then helps him and a local police officer to get the money back from people who had stolen it. The thin plot and the feeble directorial attempt at a road-movie suggest that the hero's journey should be read not as a physical, but as a spiritual one. However, this journey doesnt seem to end anywhere either.

Lucille Ball's 100th Birthday Celebrated in Her Hometown

More than 900 people dressed like Lucille Ball showed up in her hometown over the weekend to celebrate what would have been the late actress-comedienne's 100th birthday.our editor recommendsLucille Ball Remembered by HollywoodMila Kunis on Sexism in Hollywood, Looking Up to Tina Fey, Lucille Ball The gathering near a "Vitameatavegamin" sign in Jamestown, N.Y., set a world record for the most Lucy look-alikes, with a total of 915 -- including men -- according to published reports. It was part of an annual Lucy Fest in the upstate New York town. STORY: 'I Love Lucy': 5 Things to Know About the Series The crowd arrived in typical attire adorned by Ball in her 1951-57 hit show I Love Lucy, including red lipstick and redheaded upswept 'dos. Some recited "Vitameatavegamin" in unison -- the word is from a classic episode of the show in which Lucy is hired to promote a health tonic that gets her drunk -- and others sang "Happy Birthday" (the actual day is Aug. 6). During the gathering, one man even proposed to his girlfriend; both were wearing nightshirts with the image of Ball's iconic polka-dot dress and held cardboard cutouts of Lucy up to their faces. She said yes. STORY: Lucille Ball: Celebrating 100 Years of the 'I Love Lucy' Star Some attendees also came dressed as Ricky, played on I Love Lucy by her then real-life husband Desi Arnaz, and neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz, played in the show by William Frawley and Vivian Vance. The festival also included performances by Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone. Ball died in 1989 at age 77. She was buried in California but was later moved to Jamestown's Lakeview Cemetery by her daughter, who said her mother wanted to be buried next to her own mom. Related Topics Lucille Ball

Report: Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford Are Engaged

Carey Mulligan After five months of dating, Carey Mulligan and musician Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons) are set to tie the knot, Us Weekly reports. Carey Mulligan goes back to brunette hair The couple has a long history, as Mulligan and Mumford were pen pals in their youth. They reconnected in February at a Mumford & Sons concert and have been dating since. Shia LaBeouf on his relationship with Carey Mulligan Mulligan was previously attached to Shia LaBeouf, while Mumford split from folk singer Laura Marling in 2010.

Make It or Break It's Cassie Scerbo Continues to be the Queen Bee in Teen Spirit

Cassie Scerbo Playing snobby mean girl Amber Pollack in the ABC Family movie Teen Spirit was familiar territory for Make It or Break It star Cassie Scerbo."It's really fun to be a spicy character - it's never boring," Scerbo, who plays self-proclaimed "Queen of the Beam" Lauren Tanner on Make It or Break It, tells TVGuide.com. Make It or Break It's Cassie Scerbo: Mean girl Lauren is "crying out for love" There is, however, one big difference between Amber and Lauren: Amber is dead. The queen bee dies after a freak accident at prom. But in order for Amber to make it to heaven, an angel (Tim Gunn) says she must help Lisa (Lindsey Shaw), the most unpopular girl in school, become prom queen (as seen in the clip below). As Amber helps Lisa become cool, Lisa also adopts many of Amber's awful qualities. "Amber stars to realize the way she's been acting her whole life isn't right and it took seeing it in someone else for her to make the change," Scerbo says. See photos of Cassie Scerbo Unlike Amber, that transformation has yet to occur in Lauren on Make It or Break It, but Scerbo hopes Lauren will get to show her vulnerable side should the competitive gymnastics series get picked up for a third season. "They'll give her one episode to pour her heart out or to break down, but then they fade away," she says. "She's a fighter, so as much as I beg for that, I don't think they're going to give it to me." Teen Spirit airs Sunday at 7/6c on ABC Family.

'Mr Bean' Star Rowan Atkinson Wrecks Million Dollar McLaren F1 Supercar, Walks Away

LONDON - Mr Bean and Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson has been taken to hospital after spectacularly crashing his 230 miles-per-hour MacLaren F1 supercar and walking away.our editor recommendsMr. Bean's Holiday The actor, who has had the car since 2007 when he bought it for over a million dollars, was lucky to escape the burning and mangled vehicle with his life, and was taken to a local hospital in Cambridge suffering from superficial injuries. He is expected to be discharged later Friday. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which happened after the vehicle is thought to have spun out of control on a wet road Thursday night, spun around several times and hit the side of the road, bringing down a tree. The car, one of the fastest cars to be licensed for general road driving, is a limited edition vehicle that now can cost as much as four million dollars. "We were called to a single vehicle road traffic collision at 7.30pm on the A605 at Haddon," a spokesman for East of England Ambulance Service said, speaking about an incident Thursday night. A man was taken to hospital in Peterborough with "a minor shoulder injury," the spokesman added. Reps for Atkinson said the actor had no comment to make. Related Topics Rowan Atkinson International