The Leather Vixens, a film directed by David Gugliemo back in 2008, screening at various festivals in Manhattan and Los Angeles — wins ActorBean.com’s category for Best Badass Film in “Indie Films We’ve Recently Discovered”.

The Leather Vixens, a film reminiscent of iconic bad-girl movie Faster Pussycat! Kill Kill! stars a smoldering skin tight legging, crimson-lipstick wearing Ashley Avis, a former swimsuit model, who plays the leader “Trina” in the black-leather-jacket wearing all girl gang — Luisina Quarleri as Annette, the unassuming girl-next-door sexpot and love interest of the lovable-asshole “boyfriend” – actor / musician Zachariah Bourne (who ironically grew up down the street in the same Florida town as Avis), and Holly Mitchell, who plays Betty — Trina’s entirely naive, entirely loyal Number Two.

Unfortunately there aren’t any clips of Vixens available online — but you can contact Target Pictures / David Gugliemo for more information or to purchase a DVD of the film.

From the set of The Leather Vixens:  Avis, Mitchell, and Quarleri round up a ManThing.

– Amber Hill

Ugly Betty alumna Ana Ortiz is set for a multi-episode arc on another HBO comedy series, Hung. She will play a woman with serious anger issues who becomes a client of part-time male prostitute Ray (Thomas Jane). He ends up helping her deal not only with her voracious sexual appetite, but also supporting her strong emotional needs. Ortiz, repped by Gersh, manager Geordie Frey and attorney Brad Small, recently starred in the Fox comedy pilot Outnumbered.

Also cast in a recurring role on an HBO series is Peter Macdissi who is joining the vampire drama True Blood. He will play Luis Patiño, a vampire sheriff in Louisiana, who harbors a troubled past with ties to the Spanish Inquisition, torture, and the witches that are settling in Bon Temps.

Alice Eve

Ana Ortiz

Peter Macdissi

From Deadline Hollywood Daily – deadline.com

Cannes has never been a place to shy away from politics. It’s not enough that official competition entry Melancholia’s director Lars von Trier stirred things up Wednesday by singling out Hitler and Nazis for his admiration, forcing the festival to ask for an apology. The last couple of days have also seen presidentialpolitics creep into the fest lineup in a very prominent way with eyebrow-raising equal-opportunity disses thrown at President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in two very different films screening in the official selection.

Before the Festival began May 11, we reported rampant rumors that Sarkozy might be attending the Cannes kickoff since his wife, Carla Bruni, was appearing in the opening-night film, Midnight In Paris. As it turned out, neither showed on the red carpet, but Wednesday Sarkozy finally made his debut in Cannes — sort of. The night’s main event, an out-of-competition premiere showing of The Conquest, launched the nationwide start of what can only be described as a French Primary Colors (a veiled story of Bill Clinton). Unlike that movie, this one, about Sarkozy’s rise to power, was not even thinly disguised, using real names and actors who look exactly like the real-life players.

Sarkozy cannot be very happy with this portrait, which paints him as a master manipulator who was dumped by his wife of 20 years and then participates in a charade to convince voters he is still happily married in order to get elected – even though the “future” First Lady has shacked up with another guy. It may be tres scandalous but it is also very entertaining, surprisingly one of the best times I have had in the Palais the entire festival.

At first, you would think a French film about national politics would be off limits to anybody but locals. The fact is this film could play anywhere. It’s a biting, hilarious story of a grab for ultimate power that with a revolving cast of ambitious, duplicitous characters is full of positively Shakespearean intrigue. It’s interesting that even though the names are real, an on-screen card at the beginning states, with a wink, that “the story is fiction.”

It also is lucky timing that The Conquest (French title: La Conquete) is using its high-profile Cannes launch  to open in theaters across the country just as a sex scandal involving presumed 2012 French presidential frontrunner and chief Sarkozy rival Dominique Strauss-Kahn (the International  Monetary Fund chief and leader of the Socialist Party) is making headlines here and in New York, where he is being held for allegedly sexually assaulting a maid at a high-end hotel — charges he denies. And in the very same week Sarkozy’s father announces that Bruni is pregnant with their first child, an event sure to boost the unpopular president’s sagging polls, which reportedly stand at 20% approval.

It’s the perfect background to view this shrewd and lively film that shines a light on the routine backstabbing involved in any political process. Plus, its got a sensational lead performance by Denis Podalydes, who has clearly studied Sarkozy with a fine-tooth comb and turns in a flawless portrait of a very flawed man — at least the way it’s painted in director Xavier Durringer’s take on things.

It was also fun to see it with a packed house of mostly French film fans at the 2300-seat Lumiere theatre this morning. Although U.S. distributors might shy away due to the very French political content, this is a film that with clever marketing could probably find some success in America. It’s certainly more worthy and a lot better than Sleeping Beauty and House of Tolerance, mediocre and exploitative French titles in competition here that have already been picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects.
The Obama bashing takes place in The Big Fix, the only documentary in the festival’s official selection of films this year. It focuses on the scandals behind the Gulf oil crisis and had its world premiere out of competition Tuesday night. With a tagline calling it “The ultimate un-cover up,” filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell hope to replicate the success of another doc that debuted in the exact same Cannes venue one year ago and went on to win an Oscar as Best Documentary Feature. That film of course was Inside Job, a brilliantly conceived indictment of Wall Street that Big Fix wants to emulate in style and substance. Unfortunately the Tickells’ half-baked movie never rises to the occasion, settling in to be a overly slanted agitprop that is bleak and hopelessly depressing. The directors have chosen interview subjects who offer repetitive theories on how the problems that got us into this mess will never be solved so why bother. The only solution and positive suggestion the filmmakers come up with is for people to rise up, as in Egypt and Wisconsin (there’s lots of footage), to take to the streets against the oil companies .

The film also comes out swinging against President Obama, repeatedly stating he is no better than George W. Bush and even implying at one point that his administration and all government is corrupt. It presents the most aggressive attack from the left on Obama yet seen. Peter Fonda executive produced and is seen mainly in the first 15 minutes of the film “observing” the problems that were the result of the worst oil spill in history.

Then the voice-over narration says he had to go back to L.A., making his entire on-camera participation pointless. At an American Pavilion news conference, Fonda went even further than the film in attacking Obama. “I sent an email to President Obama saying ‘you are a f****** traitor’ by those words. ’You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots (meaning ther BP oil company) on our shore, telling our military — in this case the Coast Guard — what they can and could not do,’ ” he said.

At least 20 minutes too long, The Big Fix is in need of a big fix itself, seeming more like a work-in-progress than something that would have any shot of theatrical success in its present form. It does focus worthy attention on the continuing plight of Gulf residents and effectively details BP’s broken promises (to date), but it doesn’t offer an alternative beyond picking up protest signs.

Beyond this, Cannes could be gearing up for more political impact if, as fest director Thierry Fremaux indicated today, persecuted Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (sentenced to six years in jail and banned from making films for 20 years; he is free on bail but can’t leave Iran) is allowed to travel to France and attend the festival before it ends Sunday evening.

IMDB:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1828981/

Director:

Chris Marrs Piliero

from Deadline Hollywood Daily, deadline.com

Deep cleansing breath,” CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said at CBS’ presentation after a very carefully edited clip from Two and a Half Men that featured no trace of former star Charlie Sheen. “It has been a hectic few months for us,” she said. “Just last week, thanks to our new cast member’s tweet, we found out what the square root of 6.25 is,” she said, referring to Ashton Kutcher’s tweet shortly after news of his deal for Menleaked. “We could not be happier to have actor, producer and social-media mogul Ashton Kutcher joining TV’s No. 1 comedy for the past five years. Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time together, the new cast of Two and a Half Men.” Kutcher, joined by co-stars Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, walked onstage, grooving to the theme song of the show. Kutcher looked genuinely happy and came across as likable as he gave unscripted remarks. “It’s awesome, it’s unbelievable to be here,” he said, adding that never in his 13-year career had he received so many congratulatory calls and emails. “You’d almost think I won the lotto … which I kinda did,” he said to laughs. “I got the best job in show business and I’m ecstatic.” He cited a piece of advice he was given when he was starting off. “If you want to be successful in life, surround yourself with the best and work your ass off.” “I’m surrounded by the best, and I will work my ass off.”

Cryer addressed the height discrepancy in the new cast, with Kutcher towering over him and Jones. “I asked (CBS’ bosses) Leslie Moonves and Tassler, Did you have to get a tall guy?” and went on to suggest a new title for the show, One and 2 Half-Men.

Olivia Munn and Alison Pill have now completed their negotiations for supporting roles in Aaron Sorkin’s drama pilot for HBO tentatively titled More As This Story Develops.

The project centers on cable news anchor Will McCallister (Jeff Daniels), who has his own show, as well as the show’s female executive producer and staff. Pill will play Maggie, an associate producer on the assignment desk. Munn, repped by CAA and Mosaic, will play a sexy financial analyst on the same cable network as McCallister.

Emily Mortimer is still in negotiations for the female lead of the executive producer, MacKenzie. Munn, who recently starred on NBC’s midseason comedy Perfect Couples, was courted for several broadcast pilots this pilot season but opted not do any. She continues to be a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Tony nominee Pill, repped by WME and Joannie Burstein, co-starred on the second season of HBO’s In Treatment.

From Deadline Hollywood Daily.

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office is continuing its crackdown on Hollywood agencies it believes are running afoul of the state’s labor laws. Today the city attorney and the State Labor Commissioner sent a letter to Burbank-based Central Casting, the industry’s largest extras-casting business, ordering the company to cease and desist from charging or collecting fees from its background actors. An investigation found that Central Casting “charges applicants a cash-only $25 ’photographic/electronic image’ fee, regardless of whether the applicant actually receives work, and that other casting companies collect fees ranging from $15 to $80.” Letter also were sent to 13 other casting companies, the city attorney said. “The Labor Commissioner’s office is committed to enforcing all of California’s labor laws. This includes ensuring actors are not required to pay a fee which the law prohibits,” Labor Commissioner Julie Su said. “An employer that requires a mandatory fee from actors applying for work as background performers in the entertainment industry violates this important rule.”

The letter marks the latest in a string of moves by city and state officials to ensure compliance with the state’s Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act of 2009, which prohibits charging advance fees. Four talent managers have been charged with charging improper fees, the highest-profile one being Nick Roses, a youth talent manager who worked for established management company Luber Roklin Entertainment.

We ran into him the other day while oggling the star he was training — and, well, his abs (he requested us to keep the young woman he was working with confidential, so we’re grudgingly acquiescing), and unlike many of the celebrity trainers with HeavyMan bicep sized egos… Wade was the nicest guy ever. And we rarely talk about fitness on here. So!

If you want to work off some of the beer you drank after your last bombed audition… (just kidding), or you just need to get in amazing shape, we’re giving a shout out to rockin’ fitness trainer Wade Foote of BodyDesignByWade.

He can be personally reach by email here, and trains primarily in Los Angeles.