Ricky Gervais talks Golden Globes performance

Despite some commentators suggesting Ricky Gervais' latest performance at the Golden Globes was tame in comparison to his recent outings, we actually found his more relaxed, confident delivery a welcome change from last year's wince-inducing controversy-fest.NBC bigwig Paul Telegdy was also impressed. "I think he scored," agreed the president of alternative and late night programming. "It's an incredibly bold and brave thing to take on a hosting job and do it for three consecutive years while facing such level of scrutiny. He came out, he was himself, he had a great time and he was backed by the biggest stars.""We would welcome him back," continued Telegdy." He is a gentleman and a scholar, I was greatly impressed by him as a host and have totally enjoyed working with him. I'm also a great believer that the only word that should be unspoken in the entertainment business is 'never'."However, Ricky himself sounds less keen on a fourth outing, even though he described the 2012 ceremony as his favourite of the three."Thank fuck that's over," he told Deadline. "I had a blast actually. It was by far my favourite of the three hosting stints. I've told my agent to never let me be persuaded to do it again though. It's like a parachute jump. You can only really enjoy it in retrospect when you realise you didn't die and it was quite an amazing thing to do.""The crowd were great this year too," continued Gervais. "I think they finally worked out that my gags only seemed rude and nasty but were actually not too scary at all. Or they were just drunker. Either way, it was fun but I'm glad to say I'm off to NY to chill out a bit. Ahhhhhh. And relax."

No rain for stars' red carpet parade

Sarah Hyland, mid zipper emergency NBCs Grace Wu and Universal TVs Bela Bajaria JolieAmy Poehler and Will ArnettJosh Brolin and Diane LaneThe Globes' red carpet had a tropical feel to it this year. The plastic tenting erected to keep out the rain that didn't come until much later wound up holding in all of the hot air, hair spray and publicists' exasperation expended during the two-hour crush of stars and showbizzers funneling into the Beverly Hilton.* * * The Globes is a favorite stop on the awards season express because it is low-key, and fortified with cocktails and Champagne at the tables. But that doesn't mean there's no drama. One of the big moments on the carpet came early on when "Modern Family" trouper Sarah Hyland had a "zipper emergency" on her form-fitting long lacy dress. A quartet of Emergency Handler Technicians hustled her off to the side and in short order, a needle and thread were correcting the problem, which cost Hyland at least 15 minutes of prime strolling time. While she was idled, journos on the other side of the carpet kept calling her over. She made the most of the situation with good humor, replying, "I can't! Do you want me to be naked?" Moments later, a cameraman from "Entertainment Tonight" had crossed the carpet and come over to Hyland's side.* * * Call him the 40 (plus)-year-old virgin. For as long as he's been in the biz, Judd Apatow had never been to the Globes, even when he was nommed years ago for HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show." (He would have gone in 2008 when "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" was nommed, but the writers strike got in the way.) And as much as he loved "Bridesmaids," he admitted to being "shocked" (pleasantly so) by the traction helmer Paul Feig's raunchy comedy has had in the kudos derby. "They deserve it," he said of the "Bridesmaids" wedding party.* * * Nobody rolled over for the red carpet media horde this year quite like Uggie, the adorable Jack Russell terrier featured in "The Artist." The pooch drew big crowds as he trotted down the carpet, and squeals from admirers including Glenn Close. His handler noted that he'd also had a role in "Water for Elephants." "He's a busy guy," she said. Later, Harvey Weinstein was asked if the dog's charm offensive would be a good omen for the pic's chances. "I hope so," Weinstein said, smiling.* * * It's still early in the awards marathon, but people are already feeling the burn. Producer Graham King greeted George Clooney on the carpet with a hearty handshake and quipped: "I haven't seen you for a day or so." King's empire was well-repped at the Globes with "Hugo," "Rango" and "In the Land of Blood of Honey." Of his expansion of GK Films and the GK-TV banner, King said: "We are making more movies, making TV shows. Maybe we'll be making a few errors, but we are becoming a real and growing business."* * * Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng shook a lot of hands as they made their way down the carpet. He was happy to be in friendly territory after stirring up a hornet's nest with his newly launched Twitter account and his recent critical comments about Google abetting piracy. He admitted the response has been "overwhelmingly hostile" from the online world. Rupe's favorite way to tweet? "IPad," he said, scoffing at the notion that anyone other than him would write his tweets.* * * Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes wouldn't single out Google for criticism, but he was happy to take a moment, amid the glitz and gossiping, to talk about the toll that online piracy takes on showbiz. He's frustrated at the way many in the tech lobby have been able to frame the terms of the debate over implementing curbs on illegal online distribution of Hollywood's wares. "When you have major companies masquerading behind free speech claims to protect illegitimate businesses -- well that's bullshit." Can we quote you on that, Jeff? "Yes."* * * Tom Rothman was happy to be at his umpteenth Globes ceremony (with daughter Nora Rothman on his arm) in support of a type of movie that he called "precious" these days, Alexander Payne's "The Descendants." "Character-driven filmmaking is hard," he said. "This is just an exceptional work -- intelligent, emotional storytelling. It's very rare nowadays."* * * Speaking of "Descendants," Clooney was ever popular and gracious in working the press line with galpal Stacy Keibler. He's in the happy career place where he's working as much as a director as he is a thesp. Which does he prefer? "Obviously in infinitely more fun to direct because you're doing more creative things." But that doesn't mean he's going to pass up chances to work with other helmers he admires. "There's no downside to it when you're working with a guy as talented as Alexander Payne. It's all good news." Next up for helmer Clooney is "The Monuments Men,"a drama for Sony about art theft during WWII.* * * Tom Rothman wasn't the only exec with kind words for Clooney. Sony Corp. boss Howard Stringer made a point of praising Clooney for his strong friendship with Brad Pitt, which he said far transcends the fact that they went head to head for Globes glory this year. "These are two people who would just as soon have the other one win," Stringer said. "They're very gentlemanly about it. I suspect it'll be that way at the Oscars too."* * * "My Week With Marilyn" helmer Simon Curtis was pulling double duty supporting his star, Michelle Williams, and his wife, "Downton Abbey" star Elizabeth McGovern. Not a bad showing for his feature directorial debut with a film that he "pushed at great length into production" after many years as a TV helmer.* * * It was a big year for deep, rich solid colors on the carpet, particularly purples, greens and blues. Octavia Spencer was resplendent in pale violet. Laura Dern was all sparkles in green. Sofia Vergara looked like a mermaid in a skin-tight deep blue number. Among the most distinctive frocks was worn by Universal TV's Bela Bajaria, in a chartreuse beaded gown, accented by several inches of glittery bracelets, from one of her favorite Indian designers. "I love these dresses because I know that no one else is going to have anything like it," she said.* * * "Game of Thrones" exec producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were mobbed by fans looking for tidbits about the HBO fantasy drama's upcoming season. The duo didn't give up much but Weiss did note that the romance factor will be higher in the second season. "We've been calling it 'Dame of Thrones,'" Weiss quipped, and quickly added, "There'll be just as much killing."* * * The "Homeland" crew was in good spirits (appropriately so, it turned out) as they made their way into the Hilton. Mandy Patinkin said he's never received such a response to anything he's ever done in his years onstage and onscreen. "People I don't even know are calling me about it," he said. The actors were as eager as the show's viewers to find out how the storyline unfolded. "We usually get the scripts emailed and wherever you were, even if you were driving, you'd pull over to the side of the road to read it," said David Harewood. "None of us knew how it would end."* * * Backstage, the mood was typically light and frothy ("Who are you wearing?" "What makes you feel beautiful?") but some winners brought up weighty topics. "Homeland" winner Claire Danes spoke about becoming aware of how she took national security for granted before learning about the work of intelligence officers. Laura Dern gave a shoutout to the importance of whistleblowers. George Clooney talked about gay rights as being "the last leg of the civil rights movement" and those who oppose them being "on the wrong side of history." "Modern Family's" Jesse Tyler Ferguson also said he and Eric Stonestreet get endless gratitude for portraying loving gay parents. "They say, 'Thank you for being on TV.'" Ferguson said. And as he spoke, Sofia Vergara snuck up behind to give him bunny ears.* * * Meryl Streep used her captive audience backstage to give a plug to her work on behalf of the effort to establish a national museum devoted to the history of women on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. "It's something we should have," she said, with conviction, spelling out the website "N-W-H-M-dot-org." She said her involvement in the National Women's History Musuem had led her to learn of two historical women that she'd be interested in playing: Deborah Sampson, who dressed as a man during the Revolutionary War to help fight the British, and Elizabeth Freeman, a slave who sued for her freedom in 1781.* * * George Clooney closed out the backstage gabfest by critiquing (at the urging of the room) Ricky Gervais' performance. "I thought he did a great job," Clooney said. "Tonight is a much tougher gig for him because there was so much build-up. I think he handled it like a proper, really good host. I think people were expecting a lot of trash talk. He just did what he does. He makes me laugh."* * * As for the other highlights of the night, Clooney graciously left out the part about his winning best actor for "Descendants." He cited the standing ovation for Sidney Poitier and "Jane Fonda in that dress. My god." Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

Hutch Parker closing Fox first-look deal

ParkerFormer New Regency co-chairman Hutch Parker is closing a 3-year, first-look deal with last century Fox, stretching his 18-year relationship while using studio. Parker brings over former Mandate Pictures professional Aaron Ensweiler and former Regency professional Serta Wilson within the vice-leader level. Former Regency employees Tom Vance and Matt Schwartz may even participate in the creative executive level, according to multiple sources with understanding in the move. Beneath the new arrangement, Parker and also the creative team are mentioned being around the quest for material-driven event films from new filmmakers. Fox declined to go over the sale, that's not completed. Parker grew to become part of Fox in 1995 as senior V . p . of production, eventually working his in position to vice chairman in the Fox Film Group before joining New Regency in 2008. Parker and Regency co-chairman Bob Harper left the business a year ago, the initial in the string of professional shakeups at Arnon Milchan's production shingle. Milchan, who preferred to possess a more active role within the organization he founded in 1991, installed former Vital professional Kaira Weston as Boss. Weston then hired Alexandra Milchan (daughter of Arnon Milchan) as professional V . p . of production. Most recently, former Fox 2000 professional Carla Hacken grew to become part of Regency in November as production prexy. Parker recently done Fox and New Regency's "With Time,Inch which has made greater than $140 million worldwide. Professional has furthermore been keeping busy inside the television world, getting setup "Beat the Reaper" while at Regency. Project recently provided to Cinemax, and Parker will remain round the project just like a producer. Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Ron Yorn's LBI Entertainment will produce along with New Regency. Regency, through which Fox has a 20% stake, is really a prosperous partnership for your studio since the pair pacted in 1998. Within The month of the month of january 2011, Regency restored its distribution pact with Fox through 2022. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Cumberbatch Joins Star Wars Follow up

Noel Clarke also aboard!The sneaky British infiltration of Qq Abrams' revival of Star Trek's motion picture fortunes continues apace! With Simon Pegg already established as Scotty within the first film (Pegg just jetted to LA to start focus on the follow up), the following addition was Alice Eve, who signed on late this past year. Now a couple of the UK's cleverest filmmaking talents are heading into space, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Noel Clarke introduced as jumping aboard.This being the Abrams/Damon Lindelof/Roberto Orci/Alex Kurtzman Trek world, both actors' exact roles are now being stored a secret for the time being. Variety could search up, however, that Clarke is playing a household guy having a wife and youthful daughter and also the Hollywood Reporter has it that Cumberbatch will put on the role from the villain that Benicio Del Toro had been courted for.Cumberbatch continues to be pinging Hollywood's radar something rotten lately, between his superb focus on the BBC's Sherlock and supporting roles in Mess, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and War Equine. He's recently been clicked up for 2 evil roles, saying yes to experience greedy dragon Smaug and also the Necromancer for Peter Jackson's Hobbit films.Meanwhile, together with his pointing/writing/acting responsibilities such as Their adult years and 4.3.2.1, Noel Clarke already has space (and time) travel experience because of his time spent as Mickey Cruz in Physician Who's TARDIS. This time around, we doubt he'll concern yourself with being viewed as the container dog.Those are the latest inclusions in the cast, which already boasts Peter Weller like a villain and also the coming back regular crew complement, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana and Pegg.Presently known only as Star Wars 2, the film begins shooting shortly and will also be out in america on May 17, 2013.

News Corp. opposes U.K. media rules change

LONDON -- News Corp. has opposed requires the U.K. government to create new limits on media possession, and it is believing that a larger selection of voices across broadcasting, print an internet-based are located recently. In the submission to British communications regulator Ofcom's overview of media plurality, the Rupert Murdoch-brought org stated it might be wrong to "set absolute limits on news share of the market." "Marketplaces will work and also the trend remains towards greater plurality instead of less plurality," News Corp. observed. However the conglom, still spinning in the phone hacking and police corruption scams at its now defunct U.K. tabloid this news around the globe came focus on the energy from the BBC within the U.K. media landscape. It referred to the BBC "because the biggest provider, by any measure, of news on television, within the radio and on the internetInch in Blighty. Which "therefore, it is hard to suppose any mix-media share of the market test that might be adopted wouldn't be triggered through the BBC's news provision." There has been calls from pols and media campaigners to tighten U.K. media possession rules following a phone-hacking row and also the facts concerning the Murdochs' partners to Britain's political elite. Inside a separate submission towards the media plurality review, BSkyB, that is controlled by News Corp., also advised Ofcom to incorporate the BBC in almost any assessment of media plurality. "There's no logical grounds for excluding the BBC in almost any assessment of media plurality on a single basis every other news and current matters provider," it stated. The Daily Mail, a fierce critic from the pubcaster, known as for any cap restricting the quantity of U.K. news provision anyone org might have, but stated the BBC ought to be excluded out of this due to its "special status" due to its public service activities. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Online Experts laud 'Tree of Life'

'Tree of Life'The Online Film Experts Society drawn on Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Existence" since it's best picture of the season, the org introduced Monday.The film brought those with seven honours including best director and finest supporting actress for Jessica Chastain. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski, that has taken just about any experts award since November for his focus on the film, also gained a trophy."Tree of Existence" was the only real film to win multiple honours in the OFSC this season.Other notable victories were Michael Fassbender, who gained an online insurance lead actor jerk for "Shame" lead actress Tilda Swinton for "We have to Discuss Kevin"' and supporting actor Christopher Plummer for "Beginners.""Night time in Paris" was the very best choice within the original script category, while "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy" won for modified script.The audience named "Rango" its favorite within the animated film category.The entire listing of those who win from the 15th-annual Online Film Experts Society Honours follows:Best Picture"The Tree of Existence"Animated Feature"Rango"DirectorTerrence Malick, "The Tree of Existence"Lead ActorMichael Fassbender, "Shame"Lead ActressTilda Swinton, "We have to Discuss Kevin"Supporting ActorChristopher Plummer, "Beginners"Supporting ActressJessica Chastain, "The Tree of Existence"Original Script"Night time in Paris"Modified Script"Mess Tailor Solider Spy"Editing"The Tree of Existence"Cinematography"The Tree of Existence"Best Film Not within the British Language"A Separation"Documentary"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" Contact Christy Grosz at christy.grosz@variety.com