Pilot Season: Lucy Liu to Play Watson in CBS' Elementary

Alan Ball Alan Ball will step down as showrunner of True Blood after next season. The creator and executive producer of the HBO vampire drama, which returns for Season 5 this summer, announced Monday that he will continue on the series in a supervisory role should True Blood be renewed for a sixth season. He will continue to act as showrunner for the fifth season, which is currently in production. True Blood's Alan Ball developing medical drama at HBO "True Blood has been, and will continue to be, a highlight of not only my career but my life," Ball said in a statement."Because of the fantastic cast, writers, producers and crew, with whom I have been lucky enough to work these past five years, I know I could step back and the show will continue to thrive as I look forward to new and exciting ventures." "When we extended our multi-year overall deal with Alan Ball in July 2011, we always intended that if we proceeded to True Blood's sixth season that Alan would take a supervisory role on the series and not be the day-to-day showrunner," HBO said in a statement. "If we proceed to season six, the show will remain in the very capable hands of the talented team of writers and producers who have been with the show for a number of years." Ball's deal stipulates that he will develop series for both HBO and Cinemax, where he already has two shows in contention. Banshee is set up at Cinemax, and he's working on a medical drama for HBO. "This is the best possible world for both HBO and Alan Ball," the network's statement continues."Alan will remain available as executive producer to consult and advise on True Blood and he will be free to develop new shows for both HBO and Cinemax. Banshee, on which Alan serves as executive producer, is the first in house series for Cinemax and is expected to begin production this spring." HBO renews True Blood for a fifth season On Friday, Forbes.com reported that Ball was stepping down due to exhaustion. Back in July, Ball told reporters that he was not ready to walk away from True Blood just yet. "There will be an end for me at some point but I just closed a deal to do another season," Ball said at HBO's fall TV previews. "I don't have any desire to leave because I'm having more fun than I ever had in my life." Two weeks after the announcement of his new deal, HBO renewed True Blood for a 12-episode fifth season.

VIDEO: Suicidal Uggie, Oscar Cats Take Center Stage in Animated Awards Recap

Either animal obsessions are instinctive to this awards season, or someone's been unduly influenced by Movieline favorites Uggie and Otis the Oscar Cat. There is no other real takeaway from the latest animated news video from the folks at NMA, which makes nifty work of summarizing an utterly depressing, anticlimactic Academy Awards evening that "clocked in at just under 10 hours." Have a look and see if your memory matches theirs. [NMA]

Box Office: Safe House Edges The Vow Throughout Holiday Weekend

Peter Jacobson Under two days after Fox introduced that this is the ultimate season of House, Peter Jacobson has signed onto recur on Showtime's Ray Donovan pilot, Deadline reviews. House pulls the plug after eight seasons Ray Donovan stars Liev Schreiber as Los Angeles' best professional troubleshooter who are able to make anybody anyone's problems disappear, except individuals of their own family. Jacobson, who described Dr. Chris Taub on House, will have Lee Drexler, a foul-mouthed cohort who depends on Ray whenever his high-profile clients enter into a jam. As formerly introduced, Paula Malcomson, Jon Voight and Elliott Gould will even star. The project originates from Southland creator Ann Biderman, who'll executive-produce together with Mark Gordon (Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds) and Bryan Zuriff.

'Bel' rings changes

When Brit theater veterans Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod were contacted by "The Entire Monty" producer Uberto Pasolini to direct a movie version of 1800s novelist Guy p Maupassant's "Bel Ami," it had been as though almost all their Christmas wishes had become a reality at the same time.InchIt is a novel that we have always aspired to perform a aspect of,Inch stated theater director-author Donnellan, whose stage credits include "King Lear" and "The College for Scandal.""It is a completely modern theme about fame and corruption where a guy finds out the best way to energy is thru the ladies in Paris," he stated. "It is all about fame and cash produced in a global by which for women who live lots of influence.""Bel Ami," which premieres in Berlin on Friday and has a stellar cast including Taylor Lautner, Christina Ricci, Kristin Scott Thomas and Uma Thurman, may be the duo's first feature.Donnellan and theater designer Ormerod co-founded worldwide legit company Oral cavity By Jowl where they've co-created numerous plays including "The Changeling" and "Cymbeline.""That which was really ususual is the fact that we labored as two company directors around the 'Bel Ami' but introduced very separate abilities towards the table," Ormerod stated. "I worked mainly with space, like theater and-specific space, whereas Declan spoken to and directed the stars more often than not.InchDonnellan confesses the knowledge would be a rewarding one. "I learned new things here but you will find, obviously, lots of parallels between film and theater," he stated."What's absolutely exactly the same is the fact that you are bottling existence both in theater and film. It is the existence within the shot that means something as well as in stage, you have produced that each evening whereas in film, it needs to be canned. But we required into it just like a duck to water."Pic, which preems in Blighty on March 9 via Studiocanal, was introduced towards the company directors by Pasolini in 2004. Rachel Bennette composed the script and labored using the duo on developing it before lensing started in Budapest and London.The 9 million ($11.8 million) pic, created by Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment and offered by London-based Protagonist Films, finished shooting 2 yrs ago plus some have wondered why it's taken this type of very long time hitting the bigscreen."There exists a version since many of us are very pleased with,Inch stated Donnellan. "It's taken a very long time since it is an enormous story. It had been all set to go last August but because of a few of the actors' agendas, we have needed to wait to produce the film therefore we obtain full support."Even though the duo haven't yet decide what their next feature is going to be, they are saying they certainly want revisit the medium."We are dying to create another film and the two of us came alive whenever we were making 'Bel Ami,' " stated Donnellan. "It gave us enormous oxygen and and we are still stumbling onto it.Inch Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Tribeca nabs Keanu Reeves' 'Side'

Tribeca Film has acquired U . s . States rights to Keanu Reeves-produced docu "AlongsideInch in Berlin.Docu, that's helmed by Chris Kenneally, sees Reeves explore the development of cinema as well as the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with filmmakers for instance Danny Boyle, James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Lars Von Trier, the Wachowskis plus much more.Tribeca is arranging a summer season release for your pic utilizing a multi-platform rollout and filmmakers plan a broadcaster preem early 2013 to produce the pic to college grounds and film schools."Cinema reaches a tipping point," mentioned Kenneally. "Digital has challenged and somewhat completely overturned a process of making movies on photochemical film which has been an exercise for over a century. 'Side by Side' is certainly a romantic conversation between Keanu as well as the top professionals on the market relevant for this revolution which is impact."Deal was talked about for Tribeca Film by Nick Savva, director of purchases, and regarding the filmmakers by producer Justin Szlasa and attorney Marc Simon of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard.Pic features its own world preem within the Berlin Film Festival now. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Exclusive: Miranda Lambert Previews Her "Nerve-Racking" SVU Acting Debut

Law & Order: SVU, Miranda Lambert In her own acting debut on Law & Order: Special Sufferers Unit, Miranda Lambert not just needed to play a battling artist eager to pay the bills, but a timid one at this. "I needed to really pull from my stomach about this whole role I had been playing because I am a very, strong confident person," the nation star states, observing that they was representing " a far more subdued, naïve character" than herself. "I truly needed to really transform my personality that we wasn't i could do until I acquired around the set and kind of just attempted to place myself in her own footwear." Exclusive: Miranda Lambert to create acting debut on Law & Order: SVU Within the episode airing Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC, she plays Lacey Ford, an ambitious actress who falls underneath the spell of the dubious producer (Michael McKean). Lambert states it assisted that her first role was those of an actress. "It was really nerve-racking throughout, but additionally exciting because I have never behaved before," she states. "After which playing an actress looking to get a job, it had been as an audition inside an audition. It had been kind of my audition personally to ascertain if I possibly could even act whatsoever." Watch a unique start looking at Lambert's appearance here: