ABC orders Judy Greer's 'Judy'

Judy Greer is back at ABC, toplining comedy pilot "American Judy." ABC Studios Project revolves around a cosmpolitan woman who marries and becomes a fish out of water in the suburbs juggling the demands of stepchildren, her mother-in-law and her husband's ex who happens to be the town sheriff. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont penned the pilot and will exec produce with Greer and David Gardner. Greer is a sitcom staple who toplined the ABC comedy "Miss Guided" in 2008. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

Kerkorian around the prowl for purchases

Kirk Kerkorian, who bought and offered MGM three occasions, is around the prowl for purchases within the entertainment business, based on a study within the Wall Street Journal Sunday evening, an improvement that may give a major wild card towards the already complex and fast-altering landscape. Within an interview using the paper, Jay Rakow, an professional at Kerkorian's investment firm Tracinda Corp., stated the billionaire is searching whatsoever kinds of deals including online film distribution, as well as in emerging marketplaces. He stated Kerkorian has hired MGM's former chief operating officer Charles Cohen to mind the search and brought on Raine Group to advise him. There have been no particular targets or dollar figures given. Rakow told the WSJ that Kerkorian's investment could incorporate a technology company, a studio or small-major. Kerkorian last left MGM and also the movie biz in 2005 as he offered the studio for $5 billion to some consortium brought by The new sony Corp. and including Comcast and private equity investors Providence Equity Partners and Texas Off-shore Group. The offer did not go well for that purchasers and debt-laden MGM declared personal bankruptcy this year. It emerged this past year updated and under new management. But because of the much talked about from the equity funds that lost their t shirts and also the many debt holders which were burned, its fall rocked the plus some have to say is one factor behind the reluctance of Wall Street - private equity finance and hedge funds particularly -- to purchase Hollywood. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Stunts given due

Harrison Ford co-starred in 'Cowboys & Aliens,' whose stunt pros were nommed. Veteran Hollywood stuntman and 2nd-unit director Conrad E. Palmisano used to be hidden alive for any scene in 1977's "It Happened at Lakewood Manor."Together with his only supply of oxygen from a small hose attached to him subterranean, he gave strict instructions towards the surrounding film crew: "Bury me once, bury me good. I only do once."It's this combination of levelheaded awesome and keen mental focus that Palmisano, who's labored most lately like a stunt double in CBS' "The Large Bang Theory" and "Transformers: Negative Side from the Moon," credits his success."When you begin in this career you believe to yourself, this can't hurt me, it may only kill me," he deadpans. "Technology has managed to get much far better to perform stunts of computer was 2 decades ago. In those days, you essentially required your existence with you.InchBut while a slew of honors are presented every year by stunt biz associates -- Taurus World Stunt Honours and also the Stuntmen's Assn. of Movies Honours included in this -- the SAG Honours and Primetime Emmys would be the only major kudofests to have a category for stunt coordination.Because the Academy awards still overlook their contribution to film, are stunt entertainers -- accountable for probably the most memorable moments in movie history, from "Ben-Hur's" chariot race to "Bullitt's" famous vehicle chase sequence -- getting their fair shake of industry praise?"Stunt entertainers get people into cinemas each year and that we deserve credit for your," states Palmisano, current chair from the SAG stunt and safety committee. "We perform area of the art which ought to be acknowledged."On the certain level, Remedy thinks the Academy is vainly holding fast towards the lengthy upon the market notion that film is pure fantasy."Within the nineteen forties and '50s, stuntmen counseled me hidden," he states. "Everyone desired to think that Errol Flynn did their own sword fighting which Laurence Olivier did their own horse riding. Today that's all transformed. Due to videogames and also the Internet, every 8-year-old knows of the presence of professional stuntmen and stuntwomen."Stunt coordinator Jane Austin ("Titanic," "Scream 3"), who's offered around the national boards of both SAG and AFTRA, is certain that sooner or later later on the Academy can give in to the collective push to incorporate a stunt category on its roster."We are delighted that SAG has put us within the category," states Austin. "My own feeling is this fact is really a step nearer to achieving recognition and acknowledgement in the Academy awards.""SAG and also the Emmys have honored us, therefore it is only time prior to the Academy awards relent," concurs Palmisano. "It'll happen."Although not every stunt artist is competing for Oscar's attention."I love the anonymity," declares legendary stunt driver and stunt coordinator Gary Davis. "If my actor really wants to say he's doing the stunt he should have the ability to achieve this. My job would be to lead him to look great, to not take bows."SAG Honours 2012Idol of capri to acting icon Howard talks up AFTRA merger Acad, SAG share same voter pool Partygoers relax, revel following the show Stunts given due Brisk pace gives those who win last word Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

'Leap of Faith' to Jump to Broadway

NY (AP) Someone on Broadway is finally taking a leap of faith on "Leap of Faith."Producers announced Thursday that the much-delayed musical based on the 1992 film starring Steve Martin as a shady preacher will start performances April 3 at the St. James Theatre.The show had its world premiere in late 2010 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and has been a work in progress ever since. It boasts music by Alan Menken and will be directed by Christopher Ashley.The Broadway version will again star Raul Esparza, who plays Jonas Nightingale, a fraudulent faith healer ready to scam residents of a dusty, down-and-out Kansas town.The cast will also feature Jessica Phillips from "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and Kendra Kassebaum of "Wicked."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Mark Kennedy January 13, 2012 NY (AP) Someone on Broadway is finally taking a leap of faith on "Leap of Faith."Producers announced Thursday that the much-delayed musical based on the 1992 film starring Steve Martin as a shady preacher will start performances April 3 at the St. James Theatre.The show had its world premiere in late 2010 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and has been a work in progress ever since. It boasts music by Alan Menken and will be directed by Christopher Ashley.The Broadway version will again star Raul Esparza, who plays Jonas Nightingale, a fraudulent faith healer ready to scam residents of a dusty, down-and-out Kansas town.The cast will also feature Jessica Phillips from "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and Kendra Kassebaum of "Wicked."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

U.K. cartoonist Ronald Searle dies

British cartoonist Ronald Searle, the creator of the willfully wicked schoolgirls of St. Trinian's who amused generations of Britons, died Dec. 30 of natural causes in Draguignan, Provence, France. He was 91.Searle was a prolific illustrator who drew for the NYer, Punch and Disney and did title-design and other work for several films, but it was the fictional girls' boarding school where the students ran riot that most captured the public imagination.The long-legged, leering schoolgirls drank, smoked and generally cut a swath of destruction; their weapon-wielding antics were colored by Searle's morbid sense of humor. His satire of the venerable English school system struck a chord, launching a series of hit films, including a 2007 incarnation starring Colin Firth, Gemma Arterton and Russell Brand that has spawned two sequels.Searle's secret, as one early profile noted, was to turn "the very epitome of decency and polite tradition for every right-thinking Englishman" into "a place of terror more hellish than anything conceived since the days of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel."Searle was born in Cambridge, but his dark streak may have been informed by his experiences as a soldier during WWII: His promising career as cartoonist was interrupted by his capture by the Japanese at Singapore. He spent the rest of the conflict under atrocious conditions as a prisoner of war but managed to keep drawing despite beatings and bouts of malaria and beriberi.His drawings of camp life were published following his liberation in 1945 in fellow prisoner Russell Braddon's account of his own captivity, "The Naked Island."St. Trinian's sly schoolgirls made him famous, but Searle long insisted that the students were just "a small part of my work."He designed cover art for the NYer and a series of editorial cartoons for France's Le Monde newspaper. He designed wry, occasionally absurd advertisements for Church's shoes and U.S. Rubber. His Molesworth books, set in the fictional St. Custard's, also proved popular.His first work as a designer of film titles was for "The Happiest Days of Your Life" in 1950. Other such credits included bigscreen adaptations "The Belles of St. Trinian's" (1954) (he also had an uncredited role as a visiting parent), "The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's" (1960) and "The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery" (1966), for which his titles work was uncredited, plus 1965's "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines," Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies" (1969) and "Scrooge" (1970).Searle was set designer on the 1955 film "On the Twelfth Day..."; production designer on a pair of films, "Energetically Yours" (1957) and "Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done" (1975); and both set and costume designer on 1963's "The King's Breakfast."Searle was married twice. His second wife died in July. He is survived by a son and a daughter. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com