Benjamin Master talks Abraham Lincoln subsequently: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln subsequently: Vampire Hunter lately launched an initial teaser trailer and today star Benjamin Master and Timur Bekmembatov have fanned anticipation even more by shedding a couple of nuggets of information on which don't be surprised in the historic horror."What's great about this is we are able to re-examine Abraham Lincoln subsequently as a person,Inch states Master. "He's an idol, we put him on the pedestal and find out him like a a sacred figure, and that we type of distance ourselves from him, and type of relinquished our very own responsibility to become like him."Bekmembatov can also be keen to speak up the value of Lincoln subsequently like a protagonist. "For me personally, he's an individual who may take responsibility to come to a decision because we reside in a global where everything's type of grey," describes the director. "There is no black and whitened."That is all fine and dandy, but both star and director appear to become skirting around a reasonably major plot point: Lincoln subsequently fights vampires of the underworld! Master appreciates the premise is outlandish, but urges audiences to suspend their cynicism, and have a punt around the project."I imagine you will see many people that'll be sceptical," states the star, "and that i would say, provide us with a go, because inside a landscape of movies where we have got lots of reboots, sequels, franchises and toy movies, we are doing new things!InchAbraham Lincoln subsequently: Vampire Hunter will open within the United kingdom on 2 August 2012.

An informed electorate? Not if trends hold

My attention this week should properly be focused on the best-actor and best-picture races but, candidly, the cast of characters now inhabiting the political stage seems more engrossing. The nation's ideological temperature is already soaring and the head-to-head presidential campaign hasn't even started yet. Even a political junkie like George Clooney admits he could not have created anything as off the wall as the Newt-Mitt-and-Rick show for one of his films. Hence while this year's Oscar race has rated high on spending but low on passion, events in the real world seem steeped in passion but underwhelming in intellectual content. So here's the inevitable question: While Oscar voters have dutifully seen the films and done their homework, will voters at large prepare themselves even minimally on the important issues of the day? We are heading into an extraordinarily polarizing political battle, with major issues at stake, but will the public simply be numbed by the projected $2 billion in campaign advertising? Where (if anywhere) do voters get their news? Studies show a continued decline in readership of newspapers and news magazines; further, news shows on broadcast TV have been losing viewers over the long term. A new study by Pew Research finds that cable news was cited by 36% of respondents as their key source of campaign news compared with 26% for network news and 20% for newspapers. When asked to name sources of online news, 5% cited either Facebook or the NY Times. According to Prof. Jonathan Taplin of USC, studies indicate that people tweet and retweet links from the mainstream media -- a hint that people may be digesting fragments of mainstream media news second- or thirdhand. Proponents of the social media are also quick to profess a growing role for entities like @MentionMachine as "the newest campaign benchmark." The problem, as Politico points out, is that there still seems to be no relationship between the most mentions on Facebook chatter and the outcome of primary elections. The news chiefs of the broadcast networks are trying to re-energize their presentations, each taking a different route. "Viewers pick what matters to them, and we are trying to be adaptive," Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News, told the NY Times. Hence ABC is trying to humanize the news with Diane Sawyer radiating nightly empathy; NBC's Brian Williams is arguably the best-known anchor -- he even does periodic turns at comedy on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show." While both NBC and ABC stress lifestyle angles, CBS is focusing more intently on hard news, with its "Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley fulfilling the profile of the more traditional anchor, formal in approach and elocution. Pelley led with news from Syria the same day others led with Whitney Houston. The chairman of CBS News, Jeff Fager, has shrewdly implanted the "60 Minutes" brand over all of the network's news coverage (Fager still oversees "60 Minutes," and Pelley remains one of its anchors). So when "60 Minutes" breaks a hot interview, such as its recent session with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, its insights were sprinkled across the CBS spectrum of news shows. ("60 Minutes" is up 8% this year in the 25 - 54 demo). Fager, himself a news junkie, has made several surprise moves this year to underscore that commitment. He's challenging the feel-good "Today Show" with a morning news team headed by Charlie Rose. He has instructed his news directors to pursue stories they deem important, even if those stories defy audience research. He also has urged correspondents in the field to pursue personal reporting rather than supplying standard summaries of events in the region. Ratings of CBS News reflect this invigoration. While the broadcast networks try to serve up their news objectively, as does CNN, Fox News and its smaller rival MSNBC believe their viewers prefer rants to facts. The typical Fox News viewer, it seems, wants to hear his favorite polemicist denounce the evils of entitlements even as he prepares to go to the bank to cash in his entitlements. So the coming months will shed light on at least one important question: Just how uninformed does the American public aspire to become? After all, they have nothing at stake except their economy and their culture. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Jennifer Beals on Her Castle Role: "I Wasn't Interested in a Catfight"

Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic and Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals wants to make one thing very clear about her guest-starring role on Castle: Her character isn't looking to rekindle her past relationship with Castle (Nathan Fillion). Exclusive: Castle boss and Stana Katic dish on Castle's first museOn Monday's episode (10/9c, ABC) - the first of a two-parter - Beals plays CIA Agent Sophia Turner, who served as the inspiration for the female agent in Castle's series of Derrick Storm novels. And while Sophia's reappearance may push the buttons of Castle's latest muse, Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), Beals insists her character's motives are pure."She's not trying to get [Castle] back," Beals tells TVGuide.com. "One of the things I said to [creator Andrew W. Marlowe] is that I'm not interested in playing a scenario where two women are fighting over the same man. Sophia can introduce lots of complications and lots of tension, but I wasn't interested in a catfight."Be that as it may, Sophia's involvement in Castle and Beckett's investigation will force that duo to evaluate the current status of their relationship. "Beckett has to wrestle with where she thought she stood in Castle's life and where she might really stand in Castle's life," Marlowe says. "I think it serves as a bit of a touchstone for them. It certainly brings up stuff in both of our characters about how they're handling the relationship and getting a sense of what they want, what they're afraid of, and what they hope might happen."Get more scoop on your favorite shows in our Winter TV previewAdds Beals: "Whatever feelings it brings up for Castle, that's his thing," Beals says. "But Sophia's trying to solve a case. She is trying to prevent the United States from going into World War III. She's not like, 'Can I rekindle my romance at this very moment?' There are bigger fish to fry."Indeed, Sophia re-enters the picture because Castle and Beckett stumble upon a murder that seems to have been perpetrated by a rogue CIA agent who just so happens to be at the center of Sophia's much larger international investigation. Regardless of whatever feelings may or may not still exist between Castle and Sophia, Beals notes that the pair still make a great team."When people have chemistry, they have chemistry," she says. "I think it's very rare that it completely changes. So they do sort of pick up where they left off. They are still able to finish one another's sentences."Check out our list of TV's sexiest crime fighters!Beals, who last season appeared as police superintendent Teresa Colvin on Fox's The Chicago Code, admits she was a bit hesitant about taking on another female law enforcer so soon. But she is able to appreciate the characters' differences."I have to say that as soon as I got the gun on and had to lead the troops, I had to fight like mad not to do a Chicago accent," Beals says with a laugh. "Teresa is definitely a scrapper and she's good with strategy, but Sophia is in a whole other class. If there was a fight, my money would totally be on Teresa, but you cannot put anything past Sophia. She's able to keep a lot of different puzzles in her head at the same time. "Does that imply that her character might have some secrets that will be uncovered? "She's CIA!" Beals says. "She'll do whatever she needs to do. She doesn't have any problem stirring the pot in order to get things done."Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

Concept art shows alternative Deathly Hallows ending

Whilst the 3D presentation of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 wasn't to everyone's taste, there can be little argument that Voldemort's death scene benefitted from the technology, particularly when the confetti effect blew his smoking remains into the spellbound audience.However, that great death scene could have been a little darker, at least according to a new set of production stills released by concept artist Andrei Riabotvitchev.The new images show Voldemort suffering a Raiders Of The Lost Ark style face melt, in a scene that was presumably considered too gruesome for the younger members of the audience.Another alternative ending shows Voldemort going the way of Cate Blanchett in Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. That's what happens to people who reach for too much power, you see...We were always fairly happy with the way David Yates elected to wrap up the franchise, but it's interesting to note that more adult conclusions were considered. Old snake-features is dead though, which is of course the main thing.