Man Threatens To Jump Off New York's 30 Rock Before Surrendering

The usual bustle in the streets and sidewalks around New York's famed Rockefeller Plaza was halted for about an hour this afternoon after an unidentified man scaled the glass wall of the building's 66th-story observation deck and threatened to jump. Police and fire officials blocked off parts of 5th Avenue and West 50th St. as the man perched on the building's ledge; he eventually surrendered to authorities, but not before throwing several items to the street below.An NBC producer told the New York Daily News that 30 Rock's most famous tenant, NBC, had a live feed of the scene showing in one of the network's newsrooms. "The office was incapable of working once we caught wind of this guy," he said.

Anna Christie

A Donmar Warehouse presentation of a play in two acts by Eugene O'Neill. Directed by Rob Ashford. Anna Christopherson - Ruth WilsonMat Burke - Jude Law Chris Christopherson - David Hayman Marthy Owen - Jenny Galloway Larry - Henry Pettigrew Johnny the Priest - Paul Brightwell First Longshireman - Michael WaltersSecond Longshoreman - Matt Wilman Postman - Robert LonsdaleThe sea roars, plumes of light ignite billowing fog, rain cascades down the back of the set, cries of the shipwrecked rend the air, bodies of survivors crawl up from waves. Suddenly, like a brutish, wounded animal hurled up from the deep, Jude Law's gasping, soaked, semi-naked body heaves itself shuddering on to the deck, skidding down the vertiginously high rake of Paul Wills' astonishingly versatile set. O'Neill didn't write the stunningly staged storm scene, but it's crucial to Rob Ashford's visionary staging of "Anna Christie." Ashford's grip on this often melodramatic story of redemption is evident right from the opening. As Howard Harrison's chilly lights cut across the Donmar's bare thrust stage, actors surge in, filling the house with energy as they build the dockside drinking den beneath Adam Cork's suggestive, rising soundscape. The mix of literal location and a more mythic, sensory world not only speaks to O'Neill's self-conscious poetry; it charges up what is often a static play. Flicking cigarette ash away with neurotic abandon, pale Anna (Ruth Wilson) teeters in, stung with exhaustion. Her lipsticked gash of a mouth hanging slightly open, she looks both young and worn-through as she surveys her future, cracked as it is by her past. After 15 years in a horror-filled childhood on a farm, she's desperate for rest. She has since been working as whore, a fact kept from her enraptured, staunchly sentimental father, Chris Christopherson, played with fierce authenticity by a weather-beaten David Hayman in a gruff, perfectly sing-song period Swedish accent. And when the storm washes stoker Mat Burke (Law) aboard her father's coal barge, it's clear from their electrifying connection that he and Anna are on opposite sides of a fated union. O'Neill was never a writer to embrace understatement, and there's not a single thought in this play that he isn't at great pains to overexpress. That explanatory nature is further complicated by O'Neill's love of dualities -- Mat's yearning for love on land vs. the love of the sea, Anna's "depravity" vs. her idealized innocence, the tension between her hidden past and his dreamed-of future. To attempt to naturalize or, rather, neutralize all that into a comfortable middle range would render it absurd, which is why Ashford doesn't shrink from finding laughs in Christopherson's constant references to the devil that is the sea, and also why he encourages his actors to embrace the elemental nature of the writing. In true O'Neill fashion, the lovers' mutual longing is dressed in torment. As she struggles between self-disgust and flickers of wrenching hope, Wilson ricochets hypnotically between taut physical defiance and tremulousness without ever toppling into overt display, a restraint that keeps audienecs guessing. When Mat's vision of her is shattered by the revelation of her whoring past, Law hoists an iron bedstead aloft and slams it down, but never lets his anger boil over into indiscriminate, actorly shouting. Enraged by the wheedling father who stands between them, he literally picks him up, making Hayman look like Tom Thumb. But Law, going for broke with a rich Irish accent, also reveals Mat as a naive dreamer. When he tells Anna "I'd rather be friends with you than anything else in the world," he directs his longing out at the sea, partly out of shyness and partly because the ocean's haunting presence ironically represents security: It's all he truly knows. The production's hallmark is its boldness. This is a creative team working in remarkable harmony. The clarity of the thinking shows right through Wills' costuming, which gives the sailors necessary heft and weigh -- except Hayman, whose baggy clothes help him look hollowed out from the inside, and Anna, whose translucent fabric gently emphasizes her fragility, a quality highlit by Harrison wrapping her in toplight. "Anna Christie" is rarely staged, largely due to its ending awash with dangerously unearned emotions. But these actors bring such three-dimensional conviction to the play that unexpected hope is tempered by a serious ache of sadness. Ashford's grippingly rooted, operatic production not only makes the best possible case for this seriously flawed drama; it makes you long to see what the helmer might do on the operatic stage proper. "Peter Grimes," anyone?Sets and costumes, Paul Wills; lighting, Howard Harrison; music and sound, Adam Cork; production stage manager, Michael Dennis. Opened, reviewed Aug. 11, 2011. Running time: 2 HOURS, 30 MIN. Contact David Benedict at benedictdavid@mac.com

Russell Crowe Gets Corrupt in 'Broken City'

Russell Crowe has had a hard time lately. His last four films -- 'Body of Lies.' 'State of Play,' 'Robin Hood' and 'The Next Three Days' -- have all been inauspicious, though 'Robin Hood' pulled in big boxoffice (no thanks to Crowe's acting). That may be remedied by his next projects, which include his role as Jor-el in 'Man of Steel' and the just announced co-starring gig opposite Mark Wahlberg in the thriller 'Broken City.' According to Deadline, Wahlberg plays an ex-cop-turned-private detective hired by the mayor (Crowe) of a big city to see if his wife is cheating on him. The private eye confirms those suspicions, and when the mayor's wife's cheating partner ends up dead, the private eye immerses himself in the mayor's business and uncovers a real estate scandal and a lot of big city corruption. Allen Hughes ('Menace II Society,' 'The Book of Eli') will direct the independent film which is budgeted for $60 million and is being bankrolled by Emmett/Furla Films. That company is investing heavily in features lately, injecting cash into the Rob Cohen-directed Tyler Perry-starrer 'I, Alex Cross,' the Nicolas Cage and John Cusack fact-based Alaskan murder mystery 'The Frozen Ground,' the Stephen Fears-directed 'Lay the Favorite,' starring Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rebecca Hall and Vince Vaughn, and several other projects. 'Broken City' begins production in November.

Lou

Living in rural New South Wales, working-class single mother Rhia is struggling to evade debt collectors and raise three young daughters. The eldest, and hardened beyond her years, Lou blames Rhia for the departure of her father, who walked out 10 months ago and hasn't been seen since. Mother-daughter relations hit bottom when Rhia takes in Doyle, her father in-law, who is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. Doyle turns Lou's initial hostility around with exciting tales of his South Seas adventures. But coursing deepest in his mind are fractured memories of Annie, his late wife. Before long, Doyle "sees" Annie in Lou and imagines he is courting her all over again.

The Hunger Games Sequel Catching Fire to Hit Theaters Thanksgiving 2013

The Hunger Games Before The Hunger Games have even begun, the sequel is already on its way. Catching Fire, the second film in the trilogy based on Suzanne Collins' novels, will hit theaters November 22, 2013. One of the most buzzed-about film series since Harry Potter bid its farewell, The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future where a cruel government holds a yearly televised battle to the death. The film's heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) takes her sister's place in the competition against 23 other children, including fellow District 12 resident, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). The film, also starring Liam Hemsworth, is currently in production and will be releasedon March 23, 2012. First look: Meet the men of The Hunger Games Catching Fire continues the story, following what transpires in the dramatic finish of the 74th Hunger Games that may have sparked a rebellion amongst the districts. "The magical thing about the Hunger Games trilogy is that the books have such a vastly broad appeal," said Joe Drake, co-COO of Lionsgate, in a statement."The stories truly offer something for everyone, and the period around the Thanksgiving weekend is such an opportunity for families and friends to make an event of going to the movies."

William Jacobson dies at 91

Comedy writer William (Bill) Jacobson, who worked as staff or head writer for performers including Ed Wynn, Eddie Cantor, Pat Boone, Patti Page, Red Buttons, Maurice Chevalier, Victor Borge and Arthur Godfrey as well as for "Candid Camera," died July 19 in Encinitas, Calif. after a long illness. He was 91. As head writer of "The Kate Smith Show," he hired Woody Allen as a staff writer, and he provided valuable exposure for such entertainers as Johnny Mathis and Jackie Gleason as well as the musical theater team of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. Jacobson was a contemporary of and worked alongside Neil and Danny Simon, Larry Gelbart and Yip Harburg. He was also associated with director-producer Max Liebman's 1954 live TV adaptation of the operetta "Babes in Toyland." After early work as a journalist in New York, Jacobson began his comedy writing career providing material for nightclub comics during the 1940s. From there, he progressed to scripting "The Henry Morgan Show." When Universal brought Jacobson to Los Angeles as a creator, writer and producer, he developed, wrote and produced the NBC comedy series "90 Bristol Court" and also worked with those who developed "The Munsters." In the 1970s, Jacobson turned to acting, guesting on shows including "Charlie's Angels," "The Paper Chase," "Quincy" and "Lou Grant." In his later years, Jacobson remained active as a writer, winning a Harper's magazine competition with his article "Machine Ascendant: The Progress of Progress." Born in Utica, N.Y., Jacobson did not receive a formal college education, instead preferring to take courses in subjects and at institutions that interested him; he attended the U. of Buffalo, Oberlin, Harvard and Cornell. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, actress Bobbi Jordan; a daughter; a sister and a brother; a stepson; and two grandsons. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, Aug. 17, at 1 p.m. at Self Realization Fellowship Temple in Encinitas. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Joanna

An Akson Studio, Narodowe Centrum Kultury and Polish Film Institute production. Created by Michal Kwiecinski. Executive producer, Katarzyna Fukacz-Cebula. Directed, compiled by Feliks Falk.With: Urszula Grabowska, Sara Knothe, Joachim Paul Assbock, Stanislawa Celinska, Monika Kwiatkowska, Halina Labonarska, Iza Kung, Kinga Preis. (Polish, French, German dialogue)In "Joanna," the titular heroine endures constant stress by unlawfully holding a Jewish child throughout the German occupation, possibly right for the lastest film from Polish helmer Feliks Falk, whose operate in the seventies is most carefully connected using the nation's Cinema of Moral Anxiety movement. This serious, well-behaved drama reps a decent wade right into a bleak historic chapter, but can't quite avoid a feeling of familiar terrain trod more memorably. Pic's focus on closeups and something interior locale works very best in broadcast configurations. Joanna (Urszula Grabowska) is definitely an educated Warsaw resident reduced to menial work through the war time economy, while a housing shortage brings pressure on her behalf to consider additional tenants in to the spacious apartment she once distributed to a husband, missing since he was conscripted 2 yrs earlier. Eventually throughout her waitress change in a coffee shop, her clients incorporate a nervous youthful lady (Halina Labonarska) who's embarked out against her better judgement like a birthday treat for 7-year-old Roza (Sara Knothe). Their worst fears materialize once the establishment is raided by government bodies looking for Jews. Mother and daughter are separated, the first kind arrested as the child hides inside a chapel next door. She's later found there by childless Joanna, who impulsively takes the lady home for safekeeping and makes covert efforts to follow the parent's location. Child and protector rapidly bond. Already well familiar with making herself scarce, Roza understands how to stay quiet and from neighbors' sight. However the risk remains ideal for each of them, increased by Joanna's nosy landlady, the potential of having to look for a co-tenant, and possible military inspection -- all of the which indeed involves pass, departing Joanna to in some way deflect the romantic advances of the Nazi officer (Joachim Paul Assbock). A couple of a lot of crises stack up, making the pic progressively seem like a melodramatic showcase for star histrionics. (Grabowska duly won actress nods in the Moscow Fest and Polish Film Honours.) A number of Roza's dialogue is a touch too precocious, despite Knothe's solid perf. Still, Falk with confidence imbues the pic using the solemn weight essential for the storyline to attain a minimum of a number of its preferred tragic energy. Color scheme is moderate, score sometimes a tad overbearing. The very first Bay Area Jewish Fest screening was on forecasted HD, because of a shipping delay within the 35mm print.Camera (color), Piotr Sliskowski editor, Krzysztof Szpetmanski music, Bartek Gliniak production designer, Anna Wunderlich costume designer, Magdalena Biedrzycka seem (Dolby Digital), Maria Chilarecka casting, Ewa Brodzka. Examined at Bay Area Jewish Film Festival, This summer 27, 2011. (Also in Moscow Film Festival.) Running time: 108 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com