Tesco's Fresh & Easy declares bankruptcy to ease sale to Burkle

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, weeks after being promised to Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle.

The grocery chain, which is in the process of trading hands from British supermarket giant Tesco to Burkle's Yucaipa Cos., cited debt between $500 million and $1 billion in its court filing Monday.

The move "is simply the next step in the restructuring process" during the sale and will have "no impact" on customers' shopping experience, Fresh & Easy said in a statement.

"It's business as usual as we continue the transition to new ownership," the company said.

As of early September, Fresh & Easy operated more than 150 U.S. stores in California, Arizona and Nevada from its El Segundo headquarters and had more than 4,000 employees.

But with six unprofitable years in the rearview mirror and a deal with Burkle, Fresh & Easy recently started closing down some stores, including a handful in San Diego.

The brand ran into troubles from its inception, opening in the crowded and ultra-competitive West Coast grocery market on the eve of the recession and relying heavily on technology in an industry driven by human contact.

Some analysts believe Burkle's game plan now is to use Fresh & Easy space to relaunch grocery chain Wild Oats Markets Inc., which has been closed since 2007.

A trademark application filed by Wild Oats Marketing surfaced this summer with Yucaipa's Sunset Boulevard address.

With Fresh & Easy in bankruptcy, Tesco can back out of leases before they conclude and auction off the brand's assets. Yucaipa, through an affiliate, would then have the right to bid first for the chain in a November court auction.

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'Don Jon:' How did Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directing debut stack up?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt took the increasingly common step of segueing from actor to director this weekend with Relativity Media's release of "Don Jon." After years of playing the likable hero in movies such as "50/50" and "(500) Days of Summer," Gordon got behind the camera for this story of a working-class type who finds his new girlfriend and his old love of porn at cross-purposes. (He also wrote the script and stars in the film.)

Though it delighted many critics (an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes), the movie didn't exactly set the film world on fire, grossing only about $9 million at the box office, good enough for just fourth place.

But the numbers aren't the only metric, or at least the film should be graded on a curve. As Relativity distribution president Kyle Davies told my colleague Amy Kaufman, "I think the most important result from the weekend is that this is the debut of a new filmmaker. He was already a successful actor and now he's added director to his resume. It's the start of an interesting and exciting career for him."

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How true is Davies' statement? Here's a look back at a half-dozen other actors who made the jump to directing to see how "Don Jon" compares. It turns out the first time is rarely the charm.

Jon Favreau -- After being told how money he was in 1996's "Swingers," Favreau's directorial debut didn't earn that much of it. The actor took his first turn behind the camera in 2001 with the crime comedy "Made." Though it reunited Favreau with his "Swingers" co-star Vince Vaughn, the film totaled just $7 million at the box office, adjusting for inflation, and garnered a 71% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Both numbers are lower than what "Don Jon" has already done. Favreau went on to much greater success: Two years later, his "Elf" became a holiday hit that exceeded $170 million in domestic box office receipts.

Mel Gibson -- Gibson made his debut with "The Man Without a Face," a 1993 drama about a disfigured man who moves to a remote locale in Maine. Gordon-Levitt could take heart from this too -- he surpassed Gibson's first film, which received more mixed reviews than "Don Jon" (67% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a lower opening ($6.5 million in today's dollars). And things went on to work out pretty well for director Gibson (professionally, anyway).

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Seth Rogen -- If Gordon-Levitt is looking for an actor-turned-director model to follow, this would be it. Rogen is a man who can play on both sides of the camera, particularly in comedies.  After years of being the stoner sidekick in Judd Apatow movies (and a mixed career as a writer, "Pineapple Express" but also "The Green Hornet"), Rogen took his first trip to the director's chair earlier this year with the apocalyptic meta-comedy "This Is the End." The movie was of course a huge hit, surpassing $100 million in domestic box office receipts. Unfortunately for Gordon-Levitt, he's not yet heading in a Rogen-ish direction. "End" opened to $20 million, more than twice the "Don Jon" figure. And though the Rotten Tomatoes score is comparable, "This Is The End" had a CinemaScore that, at B+, was a full grade higher than "Don Jon's" C+.

Clint Eastwood -- Yeah, Gordon-Levitt isn't likely to turn into Eastwood any time soon. For the record, though, Eastwood defied the rookie curse and had a pretty strong start -- his psychological thriller "Play Misty For Me" grossed $60 million in today's dollars when it came out in 1971 and drew solid reviews.

George Clooney -- The man who's become one of the preeminent hyphenates didn't get off to a great start in 2002, with his "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" taking in $22 million in today's dollars at the domestic box office, and a Rotten Tomatoes score a few points lower than "Don Jon." Gordon-Levitt, take heart.

Ben Affleck -- A porn-themed comedy doesn't have much in common with a gritty Boston kidnapping story, as Affleck's 2007 debut "Gone Baby Gone" was. Still, Gordon-Levitt can similarly take solace in the fact that the man who went on to win a best picture Oscar last year for "Argo" had a similar start at the box office -- Affleck's first movie grossed $23 million adjusting for inflation, which is right about where "Don Jon" will likely end up. Not exactly in the same ballpark review-wise, though. "Gone" on Rotten Tomatoes notched a remarkable 94%.

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Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT

steve.zeitchik@latimes.com

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'Breaking Bad' finale: Tears, ovation at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

They stood.

When the screen went to black, behind the haunting play-out of antihero extraordinaire Walter White against Badfinger's "Baby Blue," the crowd at the screening of Sunday's series finale of "Breaking Bad" at Hollywood Forever Cemetery wrestled out from their lawn chairs and blankets en masse.

They clapped, they whistled, they hooted, they hollered, they cried, they took deep breaths. And they stood. A standing ovation for their show.

"It was perfect," said Stefanie Turner, from Phoenix, with teary eyes. "Jesse got out! It lived up to my expectations -- and I had no doubt that it would. I can't really be intelligible about it. It's still surreal."

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It took hours to reach such muddledness. The line to get into the sold-out event began forming shortly before 1 p.m. (doors would open at 6 p.m.) Fans wore their devotion: outfitted in Heisenberg hats and various "Breaking Bad" shirts. Some came dressed in yellow hazmat suits. One, Rebecca Krakow, came dressed as a show staple and theory-inciter -- the pink teddy bear.

"I bawled my eyes out," Krakow, 23, said after the finale. "I wish they showed a throwback to the pink bear. [But] the best part for me was the nod Jesse and Walt exchange before Jesse takes off in the car." (Krakow's costume, which was essentially pink fur glued to a Halloween pig costume -- paid off; she met stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston and creator Vince Gilligan by the end of the night.)

Of course, some had their critiques of the 75-minute finale. Bridget McGraw, of Hollywood, said Walter White was redeemed "a little too much."

"Not that I didn't want that," the 35-year-old added. "But it was a little too perfect. I'd still rank it among the top series finales, though. Definitely. And I couldn't have experienced it in a better way."

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Hundreds paid $45 for tickets to attend the big sendoff, boosted by Aaron Paul as a fundraising campaign for his wife Lauren's anti-bullying nonprofit, the Kind Campaign. Tickets sold out quickly -- with some then asking as much as $700 on Craigslist and $1,000 on eBay for extra tickets. Also, donors to Paul's Omaze.com contest had the chance to win a trip to be his personal guest at the event. In the end, an estimated $2 million was raised.

On a grassy knoll inside the cemetery,  a celebration unfolded shortly after 6 p.m. on finale day. A DJ played tunes such as "For the Love of Money" by the O'Jays and "Car Wash" by Rose Royce.

On one side of the mostly sedentary party, the show's iconic RV (a.k.a. the Crystal Ship) sat parked, with fans lining up alongside to get their photos taken. Others hounded Lavell Crawford, who appeared on the show in the recurring role of Huell Babineaux,  for autographs, many asking the all-important question: "Is Huell still waiting in that motel room?" A few managed to take photos with Matt Jones, who played "Star Trek" expert Badger, in the RV.

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A screening of the pilot set the mood shortly after 8 p.m., before the long-awaited series finale rolled out around 9:30 p.m. A question-and-answer session capped off the night, led by Jimmy Kimmel and featuring Paul, Cranston, Gilligan, RJ Mitte (Walt Jr.), Bob Odenkirk (Saul), Jonathan Banks (Mike), Giancarlo Esposito (Gus) and some other cast and crew members.

"How could I not be here?" said Debra Trevino, 30, who lucked into the screening by waiting standby. "This is a communal experience. And 'Breaking Bad' is a communal show. Only, today, forget Twitter and social media. We all get to say goodbye together, side by side -- with our phones off."

---

With that, we kept track of how the crowd responded to the final episode. Here are the top seven moments that had people amped up.

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7. "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was alive.": Walter's quote when, his fate upon him, he is finally honest with wife Skyler.

6. Walter lurking in Elliot's and Gretchen's swanky home, and all that ensued in that home thereafter. ("Break all the glass in that house, Walt!" one fan screamed.)

5. Lydia meeting her fate via ricin-tainted stevia. Cranston joked during a question-and-answer session with Jimmy Kimmel following the screening that folks should "sell their stock in stevia."

4. The guitar twang of the "Breaking Bad" theme song.

3. When the audience saw Badger and Skinny Pete in the car; fist pumping and screaming was the only logical response.

2. The "Scarface"-style shootout at the clubhouse. Pressing the car alarm button will never be the same.

1. Jesse Pinkman choking Todd to death

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More than half of American adults read books for pleasure in 2012

The good news: According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of American adults read books for pleasure in 2012. The bad news is that the percentage of adults reading works of literature -- in the NEA's definition, novels, short stories, poetry or plays -- has declined since 2008, returning to 2002 lows.

Fifty-seven percent of American adults read one or more books not required for work or school in 2012 -- that's 128 million readers.

Some other interesting findings: More women (64%) read than men (45%). The biggest readers are older adults; 65- to 74-year-olds have the highest rate of reading of any age group, with 61% reading at least one book in 2012. Hispanic Americans read at lower rates than any other ethnic group (36%) but the percentage of Hispanic Americans reading for pleasure has gone up since 2008 (when it was 33%).

The worst news is for poets: People reading poetry for pleasure has plunged in the last decade, dropping by 45%. Among adults who read books for pleasure, less than 7% now say they read poetry.

Literature overall -- from which the NEA excludes nonfiction -- has suffered a decline. Adults who read novels, poetry, short fiction and plays have dropped in every age group since 2008. The biggest ground was lost among readers in middle age; 35- to 44-year-olds dropped by nearly 6%; and both 45- to 54-year-olds and 55- to 63-year-olds by 5%.

In its report, the NEA has a few bar graphs demonstrating its findings, but nothing particularly special. On Sept. 30, it will launch an infographic grants initiative at challenge.gov. The NEA will award more than $20,000 to "create interactive visualization tools" that will help make the arts data results "more accessible to the public." 

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‘Forever Evil’ No. 2: Geoff Johns talks Nightwing, Teen Titans

[Spoiler warning: This post, a preview of "Forever Evil" No. 2, includes discussion of a major event from "Forever Evil" No. 1.]

The Crime Syndicate wasted no time in announcing its presence and power to the villains of DC Comics' familiar Earth.

In "Forever Evil" No. 1, the recently arrived group of wicked, parallel reality Justice League counterparts declared "This world is ours" and assembled their new planet's greatest rogues, tossing into the crowd relics of the absent heroes: Superman's tattered cape, Aquaman's trident, Wonder Woman's lasso. And then they unmasked Nightwing on live television, revealing him to the world as Dick Grayson.

A cover for "Forever Evil" No. 2 shows Ultraman , Johnny Quick and Superwoman standing over beaten Teen Titans. (David Finch and Richard Friend / DC Comics)

It's a psychological blow to the world's remaining heroes, says "Forever Evil" writer and DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, comparing what the Crime Syndicate has done to Nightwing to the faith-shaking manipulation of Superman in this DC universe-wide story line's lead-in "Trinity War" event.

"With the Justice League out of the way, the top of the heap is Nightwing," Johns told Hero Complex in a phone interview. "Every other hero, in my opinion, looks up to Nightwing…. And I think in some cases, people listen more to Nightwing than they would to Batman, because Nightwing is sincere, and Batman can be a little bit mysterious."

Dick Grayson was the first Robin, and Nightwing is still part of the Bat-family, so his public identification could have major consequences for other characters. Johns is tight-lipped about what those might be.

One cover for "Forever Evil" No. 2 shows someone in a Batman suit. There's been much speculation about who that is, and Johns says the answer will be revealed in the new issue, out Wednesday. Hero Complex readers can check out pages from "Forever Evil" No. 1 in the gallery above or by clicking on the links below.

Issue No. 1 Cover | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Issue No. 2 Cover

When the Syndicate unmasks Nightwing, Ultraman proclaims, "We will hunt down and destroy everything this Richard Grayson cares about. All who would oppose us – you risk not your lives, but the lives of those you cherish."

This, Johns says, sends a message to the remaining heroes on Earth that "there are things that are worse than death."

But don't expect everyone to back down. In "Forever Evil" No. 2, the Teen Titans try to take on the Crime Syndicate. There would seem to be some natural matchups in that struggle: Superboy and Ultraman, Wonder Girl and Superwoman, Kid Flash and Johnny Quick. But the kids might not be ready for prime time.

"They're not very prepared," Johns says. "I think the Titans of the New 52 have a lot to learn, and I think it's partly illustrated here. But that group is not the New Teen Titans."

Cover for "Teen Titans" No. 24. (Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira / DC Comics)

After "Forever Evil" No. 2, the young team's story will pick up with the group divided in next month's "Teen Titans" No. 24 in an event tie-in. Whether Kid Flash and Wonder Girl's criminal pasts will play into their interactions with the Crime Syndicate and others remains to be seen.

Wednesday's issue also features Lex Luthor and Bizarro. Readers saw in the latter's Villains Month one-shot that in the reality of the New 52 he was made by that mad, bald billionaire genius. But the master may not fully grasp his Kryptonian-human hybrid creation.

"Luthor is going to be surprised by Bizarro," Johns says. "Bizarro is actually much more aware and emotionally present than Luthor could expect."

And, as Johns discussed with Hero Complex before "Forever Evil" No. 1 came out, Luthor isn't in lock-step with the Crime Syndicate. In that first issue, Luthor, observing what's happening to the world, shockingly says, "This is a job for Superman." In No. 2, Johns says, "He's going through a process of realization that Superman's not coming."

Johns' collaborator on the seven-part "Forever Evil" series is David Finch, and the writer says that in the new issue the artist has delivered a Bizarro that readers will see "emote and act like he's a real living, breathing person."

"There's beautiful shots of the Crime Syndicate in all their glory," Johns continues. "There's wonderful shots of the Titans battling the Syndicate. There's great shots of Luthor in the bowels of Lexcorp. The mood of it and the tone of it is perfect. David's captured it perfectly for a villains book."

Nightwing's unmasking wasn't the only surprise in Issue 1. Readers are introduced to businessman Thomas Kord, with reference to a son, possibly suggesting a New 52 arrival for Ted Kord, a.k.a. Blue Beetle. And, in the space of a few pages, the obscure villain Monocle makes his New 52 debut and exit, as he's vaporized by Ultraman.

Asked if he had any words of condolence for any Monocle devotees out there, Johns laughed and said, "If you're a Monocle fan, someone else can always put on the monocle."

– Blake Hennon | @BlakeHennon | @LATHeroComplex

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Youth Orchestra L.A. sets an example

When Edson Natareno talks about how Youth Orchestra L.A. has changed his prospects, his voice thickens with emotion.

"It's really kept me concentrated; it's really kept me away from bad things in life," says the 15-year-old clarinet player, who recently won a music scholarship to the Colburn School and hopes to join a professional orchestra someday.

As Edson's mother, Maria Simantal, describes her feelings when her son was among 10 YOLA students picked to perform last March in London with Gustavo Dudamel, she beams and uses a word in her native Spanish, orgullosa — proud.

It was Simantal who encouraged her son to join YOLA, sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, after a schoolteacher noticed his singing ability. She doesn't know where Edson's musical aptitude comes from; at home, she says with a laugh, "he doesn't like to listen to my rancheras."

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But she believes so much in YOLA's mission of using music to help at-risk, underserved youth that she now spends many hours volunteering at the orchestra's base at Harmony Project, in the Expo Center near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In the half-dozen years since the Phil launched YOLA, it has produced a handful of students like Edson with unusual artistic promise. At 4 p.m. Sunday, some of those star pupils will perform for the first time onstage at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Phil. The free concert conducted by music director Dudamel will be simulcast on giant screens in Grand Park. The program will include the Fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 and Arturo Márquez's "Conga del Fuego." The musicians also will play a few numbers with La Santa Cecilia, the Latin Grammy-nominated L.A. pop band.

Since its founding, the youth orchestra has become a national leader in a burgeoning music-education movement modeled on El Sistema, the celebrated Venezuelan program in which Dudamel apprenticed. Sunday's concert marks another milestone for the troupe, composed of about 300 students who train at Expo and 255 more based at HOLA, Heart of Los Angeles, a bustling Wilshire Boulevard community center.

Eric Booth, an education specialist, adviser and author, says Sunday's event is the latest indicator of how the Phil is attaining its ambitious goals. Around the country, Booth says, the roughly 100 El Sistema-inspired music-education programs turn to the Phil for leadership and as a positive model of how to adapt the Venezuelan program's lofty aspirations to the needs and resources of U.S. communities.

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"They've both exceeded their own expectations and the hopes from the field," Booth says of the Phil.

In an email, Dudamel said that "the LA Phil's involvement with YOLA has broadened the organization's horizons even further than we thought possible." The amount of time he devotes to championing the program, he said, "is never a question of less or more, it is essential."

But in a way, the involvement of people like Edson's mother might provide the most telling measure of the program's goals and achievements.

Like El Sistema, YOLA was conceived as a social project first and an artistic project second, although the objectives are regarded as complementary. That community-building philosophy has attracted not only students but also relatives, community leaders and aspiring music teachers studying in a recently established master of arts in teaching degree program supported in partnership by the Phil, Bard College in New York and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass.

The youth orchestra also has won the enthusiastic support of the Phil's musicians. Mitchell Newman, who plays in the orchestra's first violins, says that Dudamel's "collaborative" leadership as well as his personal example as a product of El Sistema has spurred the Phil's institutional embrace of the initiative.

Although participation is strictly voluntary, a number of Phil musicians work regularly with YOLA students. A third YOLA nucleo, at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts on the campus of Cal State L.A., will be opening soon. The Phil's annual budget for education-related activities is about $3.5 million, which includes the three youth orchestra programs.

"It hasn't been about making the next Jascha Heifetz for the violin," Newman says. "It's about having a lot of people enjoy and participate and learn and grow as human beings."

Christine Witkowski, director of YOLA at HOLA, has watched that process take root in the three years that YOLA has operated at the HOLA site. The community that HOLA serves is about 70% Latino and 25% Korean, with the rest composed of Filipino, African American and other students. When YOLA at HOLA opened in 2010, that ethnic mixture produced tensions.

"Our very first week of programming, we had a huge, huge challenge with our Korean-speaking students and our Spanish-speaking students because they would self-segregate in class," Witkowski says.

"And so we didn't focus on music for the first week, we focused on community-building and on appreciating one another's diversity. And that involved really pulling in our parents and asking our parents to come in and talk about their culture and special traditions and to share them with one another and to share them with the students."

Today, Witkowski says, ethnic segregation is a thing of the past, as evidenced by the center's family potluck dinners. "Everybody's plate has Korean barbecue and sushi and then also all these great tamales."

Deborah Borda, the Phil's president, says her organization is using various metrics in attempting to gauge YOLA's success. One of the more unusual is a decade-long study by USC neurologist Antonio Demasio, author of the influential book "Descartes' Error," who's assessing the neurological development of YOLA students compared with that of children in youth soccer leagues, Borda says.

"This is going to, I think, have international repercussions in terms of very clearly demonstrating the link between the processes that go into developing musicians," she says.

In the meantime, anecdotal examples abound. Elizabeth Baker, a Phil first violinist, tuned in to YOLA when Dudamel conducted some of its students during a 2009 Hollywood Bowl concert welcoming him to L.A.

"The looks on their faces, they had such pride," Baker recalls. Now she's enrolled in the Bard-Longy MAT degree program, which she juggles with her schedule of L.A. Phil commitments. And she logs many volunteer hours instructing YOLA students.

And she's contemplating one day starting her own youth music school in New Mexico, where she and her husband own property." It makes perfect sense to me," Baker says, "that when you give a child an instrument, they realize that they can do more with their life than they could possibly imagine."

reed.johnson@latimes.com

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Robert Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman's on-screen alliance

The letter was two sentences long, addressed to "Dear Mr. Rossellini" and signed "Ingrid Bergman." Like many moviegoers in the late 1940s, the actress was deeply affected by "Rome, Open City" and "Paisan," Roberto Rossellini's landmarks of neorealist cinema. Alone among the Italian director's admirers, she offered her star power and talents, as "a Swedish actress who speaks English very well," in hope of an on-screen collaboration.

Rossellini accepted eagerly. But any expectation that Bergman's high profile would heighten his clout at the box office were dashed. Together they would make five features and a short, none of which clicked with audiences or critics. The combination of Hollywood star and European auteur gave rise to unpredictable films that couldn't be pigeonholed as neorealism or melodrama, though they contained elements of both.

Years later, after the scandal surrounding their adulterous love affair had subsided into yesterday's news and with subjective directorial visions like Rossellini's thriving on the art-house circuit, the work was reassessed with a newfound appreciation for its gutsiness and aesthetic power.

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The couple's first three movies together — "Stromboli," "Europe '51" and "Journey to Italy," all of which revolve around a foreign woman in Italy and a difficult marriage — are daringly modern films, undimmed by time. They've been restored and compiled, with a rich array of extras, in a set from Criterion Collection released last week.

Turning his attention from the open wound of the war to the ways that life on the continent was resuming in its aftermath, Rossellini leapt into a new type of storytelling, one driven more by atmosphere and state of mind than by incident. Well before Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman would bring alienation to the forefront of international cinema, he used striking landscapes and cityscapes — an active volcano, dilapidated housing projects, the ruins of Pompeii — to explore troubled relationships.

Dissociating himself from the neorealist school wasn't simple for a director regarded as one of its leading proponents. But for Rossellini, the label referred to a "moral stance," one that didn't depend on depictions of working-class life. Though he favored nonprofessional actors and location shooting, he now had Bergman's glamour and fame as instruments in his creative arsenal, and he used them wisely. There's a metafictional commentary at play in their collaborations: She's the outsider playing the outsider, the northerner who's not quite at ease in the south.

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For "Stromboli" (1950), the project on which the director and star fell in love, Rossellini wrote Bergman's pregnancy into the film, an act of affirmation. By the time they were making 1954's "Journey to Italy," with its scorching portrayal of an exhausted marriage, their own off-screen partnership was in trouble. (They divorced in 1957 but remained devoted friends.)

"Stromboli" is set on the Aeolian isle of the title, a sun-parched piece of rock off the coast of Sicily that hadn't a hotel when the entertainment press headed there for scoops on the couple. Bergman plays Karin, a Latvian war refugee whose attempt at a new life leaves her in utter despair. After her other options fall through at a camp for displaced persons near Rome, she marries the soldier with whom she's been flirting across the barbed wire. On his native Stromboli, towering over the elderly black-garbed women, she feels like a member of "a different race."

Variously angry, imperious, despondent and outraged that "a woman like me" should be trapped in such a place, she's not a sympathetic character. And yet through Bergman's fearless performance and Rossellini's astute visuals, Karin's epiphany — on the slopes of the island's far-from-dormant volcano, no less — is a stirring narrative feat with an unexpected spiritual component.

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Spirituality is more overt in the couple's next feature, "Europe '51," and another volcano, Vesuvius, looms large in "Journey to Italy," whose soul-baring use of tourism has become a template for films as recent as the September release "And While We Were Here."

At once melodramatic and austere, "Europe '51" casts Bergman in a harsh light and then a beatific one as Irene, a character inspired by St. Francis of Assisi (the subject of an earlier film by Rossellini). A devastating loss inspires Irene to trade meaningless dinner-party chitchat for selfless pursuits.

Hers is a story of radicalization; her brief stint in a factory, where she's dwarfed by machinery, is especially momentous. And yet "Europe '51" can be viewed as an argument against Cold War ideological divisions; Rossellini was courted and attacked by communists and Catholics alike. Openhearted and refusing to cast blame or take sides, Irene threatens the social order and therefore is deemed mad. As a priest tells her, "We must do good, but within limits."

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Openheartedness might as well be a quality from another planet for the married tourists in "Journey to Italy." As a couple traveling from England to Naples in their Bentley, Bergman and George Sanders specifically locate the excoriating within the conversational. Beneath each lacerating complaint, though, lies a question, from one wary soul to the other.

Having made the trip to sell an inherited villa whose beauty they don't appreciate, much as Karin doesn't see the beauty of Stromboli, man and wife go their separate ways. He parties with a crowd of expats on Capri while she tours museums, lava fields, catacombs and sulfur pits. They wind up together at an excavation site at Pompeii that couldn't be more resonant.

Sanders found Rossellini's moment-to-moment methods exasperating. Whether Bergman, the unlikely muse who initially was drawn to his freedom, still felt free working with him is unclear. But there's no doubt that the director knew how to use his stars' beauty and misgivings to convey the moment-to-moment project of life. "My finales," Rossellini said, "are turning points."

calendar@latimes.com

   

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Egypt's political tumult tears apart families, old friendships

CAIRO — One aunt cursed him to hell, another accused him of murder.

The intense family passions were roused when Ahmed Samir posted on Facebook his support for Egypt's deadly crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood. The proclamation drew Samir and his irate relatives deeper into the nation's battles over politics and conscience after nearly three years of unrest.

"My one aunt calls me a liar and prays for me to go to hell. She says I am covered with blood of those who were killed," said Samir, a customer relations representative for a bank. "She told me she was no longer my aunt and never to talk to her again.... My other aunt called me a murderer because I supported the army.

"I killed no one and won't allow anyone to accuse me of something I have not done," he said.

Egypt's escalating political tumult leaves little room for common ground. Fistfights break out in cafes and on street corners. Screeds shoot like arrows across social media. Debates over religion, politics and patriotism rage on television talk shows. Bearded men call on God in the night, and pictures of dead protesters lift in the breeze.

The nation's fate has been framed by the army-installed government as a struggle between an emerging democracy and the Brotherhood, portrayed as a band of terrorists determined to impose an Islamic caliphate. Security forces have killed more than 1,000 Brotherhood supporters and anti-military protesters since the coup in July that overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

The brutality against and purge of the Brotherhood — its leadership is in jail and a Cairo court has banned its activities and ordered its assets confiscated — have unsettled many Egyptians. They accuse liberals and activists of blindly backing a military that for the second time since 2011 has resorted to excessive force and emergency laws to exaggerate national security dangers and crush its enemies.

Liberals and secularists, along with much of the country, are unapologetic. They blame the Brotherhood for polarizing Egypt with authoritarian and insular rule. That atmosphere led to massive protests against Islamists and made it clear that the street had become more potent than the ballot box at rendering verdicts on the nation's leaders.

Much of the dilemma flows from Egypt's conflicted identity. Since the uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago, the Arab world's most strategically important country has lacked a galvanizing vision to mend decades of repression and corruption. Morsi was the nation's first freely elected leader, but his downfall was a stunning rejection of the Brotherhood's brand of political Islam. The immediate alternative, however, was a military state.

Egyptians are living with a stilted sense of democracy, which, since the nation's independence in the 1950s, has left army men as the arbiters of power. Tension over how to bring about stability and create a model government for an Arab world in upheaval is cracking family bonds and friendships. Disillusionment and intolerance are intensifying amid a spate of militant attacks, including the assassination attempt on Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim early this month.

On a recent night in a cafe in Cairo's Heliopolis neighborhood, two friends, one a Brotherhood follower, the other an army supporter, began yelling and shoving each other.

"Only God is our savior against people like you," the Brotherhood man shouted, using an Arabic expression of condemnation.

"If that's what you're saying then I hope all you people [Islamists] die," said the erstwhile friend.

The men then punched each other until the scuffle was broken up by other patrons. The cafe owner ordered the pair to leave. They walked out in opposite directions.

Amir Ezzat is sympathetic to that kind of fury. His family has been loyal to the Brotherhood for years. But the 30-year-old electronics engineer said he never felt an affinity for the group until the latest violence left him "with no choice but to side with the righteous Brotherhood against the army and pro-Mubarak fascism."

"Until Morsi was deposed, I was quiet with my arguments, waiting to see what would happen," he said. "I understood people's frustrations against Morsi's rule and accepted their criticisms. But for the army to abolish a democratic vote and for people to cheer for it? Those are the same people who have long been calling for freedom and democracy."

On the other hand, Ezzat's friend, Khaled Tamim, a 28-year-old civil engineer and political liberal, has hailed the army's crackdown. He is angry about Ezzat's Islamist leanings even as Tamim, like a growing number of liberals, has difficulty reconciling the state's violence against the Brotherhood.

"I don't like being deceived by anyone and definitely not one of my best friends," said Tamim. "Egypt does not mean anything to the Brotherhood. They don't mind burning down the whole nation for some hidden aim that we never figured out. They are trying to justify everything. Amir is no different. They never admit one single error or mistake, and that's why it is irritating to see all their lies and false news."

He added: "The Brotherhood never sympathized with any liberal protester, and now they are nearly forcing us to sympathize with them. They are talking about democracy and legitimacy when not so long ago they considered democracy to be an act of the devil."

Ezzat and Tamim said they had discovered traits they never recognized in each other before. They feel they are being tugged apart by larger forces that exposed their hidden selves. Tamim said of Ezzat: "If we get together we meet among friends. I wouldn't just call him to meet him alone because it would inevitably lead to yet another ugly argument."

Ezzat feels the same. "We've known each other for so long, but now everyone is showing his true ugly colors."

Samir has the same sentiments about his aunts, the ones who have scolded him on Facebook and banished him from their lives. Egypt's political passions were similarly jolted in 2011, when families, many of them fearing the instability that would sweep their country, argued over their respect or hatred for Mubarak.

But the rage cuts deeper today.

"No one back then dared to accuse the other of murder. Never lost ties or allowed politics to destroy our relations," Samir said. "But Brotherhood loyalists care only about themselves and their leaders.

"I feel bad for anyone who has died. The army had no choice but to use violence that was catastrophic. But does that mean I am the one who killed them simply because I demonstrated against Morsi's rule?"

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

Hassan is a special correspondent.

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For 'This Is the End,' the show never stops

Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $40.99

Available on VOD beginning Tuesday

A generation of comedy stars has been dominating movies for the last decade by playing "themselves," so it was only a matter of time before they went all-in on the joke. This bold, funny film stars Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, James Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill and about a dozen other amusing young folks in a story about a decadent Hollywood party that gets disrupted by the biblical apocalypse. The actors riff on their screen personae while giving fans a glimpse into how petty, selfish and small-minded they can be "in real life." Whether they're portraying themselves accurately or not, these celebrities understand how in the Twitter/YouTube age, the game of Let's Pretend doesn't end when a director yells "cut." Case in point: the DVD and Blu-ray, which have all the bloopers, deleted scenes, behind the scenes and alternate scenes that have become essential to 21st century comedy. The show never stops.

The Big Parade

Warner Brots., $14.97; Blu-ray, $27.98

One of the biggest hits of the 1920s, the King Vidor-directed WWI film stars John Gilbert as a carefree playboy who joins the Army and learns about sacrifice, friendship and the fraternity of man. The battle sequences were as realistic and thrilling as any that had been filmed to that point, influencing war movies for decades to come. But what makes the film a classic is its satisfyingly full narrative arc, as it moves from mansions to muck. The new DigiBook Blu-ray edition is an impressive package, adding a documentary about Vidor, a vintage short, a big booklet full of rare art and a scholarly commentary track.

Big Sur

Available on VOD beginning Tuesday

It took decades for Jack Kerouac's semi-autobiographical "On the Road" to become a movie, but now the screen has suddenly gone Kerouac-happy, with the upcoming "Kill Your Darlings" covering the Beat writer's college years and the current "Big Sur" adapting Kerouac's 1962 account of his drunken, depressed retreats to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's coastal cabin in the wake of "On the Road's" success. Jean-Marc Barr plays Kerouac (or "Jack Duluoz," as he's pseudonymously known), with Anthony Edwards as Ferlinghetti, Josh Lucas as Neal Cassady and Kate Bosworth as Neal's mistress, with whom Kerouac has an embarrassing affair. Written and directed by Michael Polish, "Big Sur" is a slow-paced, moody film, meaning to capture the author's deep melancholy. It's not much fun to watch, but Kerouac fans should find it rings true.

The Little Mermaid: Diamond Edition

Disney/Buena Vista Blu-ray, $39.99/$44.99/$49.99

One of the greatest comebacks in showbiz history began in 1989, when the sputtering Walt Disney animation department returned to the world of classic fairy tales for the first time in decades, scoring a surprise hit with this heartwarming musical. In the context of the success Disney had over the next decade — and in particular when placed alongside the masterpiece "Beauty and the Beast" — "The Little Mermaid" today seems a little slight, with its curtailed story of a sheltered undersea princess who wishes for legs. But Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's songs are some of the best ever to appear in an animated film, which is why so many of the three hours' worth of special features on the spiffy-looking new DVD and Blu-ray are dedicated to the music.

And …

The Croods

DreamWorks, $29.98; Blu-ray, $38.99/$48.99

Available on VOD beginning Tuesday

The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary Edition

Warner Bros., $16.95; Blu-ray, $19.98/$35.99

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A walk on the wild side of art

Five years ago, art scholars David Carrier and Joachim Pissarro had an inspiration while dining at a now-shuttered bistro in New York. They were drawn to a piece of wall art at Le Boeuf à la Mode; it wasn't an undiscovered masterpiece but a reinterpretation of a 1797 French painting of a bull adorned in a headdress — a visual pun on the popular beef stew dish le boeuf à la mode, loosely translated as fashionably dressed beef.

"We started to realize that when we opened our eyes we'd find this art everywhere, but we're trained not to look at it as art in the typical sense," said Carrier, author of several books on art history and a former art professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the Cleveland Institute of Art.

That epicurean moment became the genesis for their new book, "Wild Art" (Phaidon). They coined the phrase to define the vast array of art created beyond the confines of the established art world. "We wanted wild art to be looked at the same way as wild animals versus domestic or wild plants versus domesticated," Carrier said.

CHEAT SHEET: Fall arts preview

Each of the 10 chapters contains around 50 works focusing on a specific genre such as street art, food art, minuscule art, ice and sand sculptures and wild architecture. There's a portrait of actor Kevin Bacon crafted with bacon, a spectacular fireworks display at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Wall Street bull statue yarn-bombed in pink and purple.

"We are not talking about outsider art," said Pissarro, a professor of art history at Hunter College in New York. "We are talking about people that are not part of the mainstream art world but have reached a certain degree of fame inside their own worlds and make a living out of it."

For instance, retired Atlantic City, N.J., fireman John Gowdy, well known for his ornate and meticulously detailed sand sculptures of mythical sea figures, achieved acclaim not only by winning contests but also through commissions from big corporations.

With the exception of body art, most wild art has a short life span. Sand and ice sculptures are victims to the elements, and deceptive 3-D anamorphic pavement chalk art regrettably fades away.

PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times

"We discovered early on that there's no difference in kind and principal between wild art and the art world," said Carrier. "The barriers between the two worlds are at times thin and porous but still remain."

Lines were blurred with the groundbreaking 2011 exhibit "Art in the Streets" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the authors noted. The first major U.S. museum to survey graffiti and street art brought the genre to the mainstream.

"Wild art has no class distinction. It's pure, simple, direct and unsophisticated," Pissarro said. "When you attend a performance by skateboarder Christian Hosoi, you don't feel like part of a selected public. It's just as fascinating, spectacular and heart-wrenching. It grabs you by the guts. It's out there in the open, and you don't have to pay for it. It's not intimidating."

calendar@latimes.com

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‘Green Arrow’ No. 24 first look: Count Vertigo, Shado face off

If you're a fan of the CW's "Arrow" but have never read the "Green Arrow" comic series on which the TV show is based, now might be a good time to start.

"Green Arrow" No. 24 offers readers a potential jumping-on point, with plenty of character descriptions and explained back story. The comic centers on Oliver Queen, a young man born into wealth and privilege. His life changes after he's stranded on an island for three years, and upon his return to Seattle he puts his survival skills to good use as a vigilante superhero.

In recent issues, Green Arrow has faced off against Komodo, a brand new supervillain who is part of an ancient clan of warriors called the Outsiders, as well as Count Vertigo, a super-powered mercenary. Fans of the series will also recognize Shado, Naomi and Henry. Issue No. 24 also debuts a character — the city's mysterious new crime lord.

Hero Complex readers get an exclusive first look at the new issue, which is slated to hit shelves Wednesday, Oct. 2. Preview the first four pages in the gallery above by clicking the links below.

Cover | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Variant cover

"Green Arrow" is written by Jeff Lemire ("Sweet Tooth") with art by Andrea Sorrentino, the Italian artist best known for her work on "I, Vampire." Lemire and Sorrentino took over the series from Ann Nocenti and artists Freddie E Williams and Rob Hunter earlier this year. So far, Lemire and Sorrentino's run has been well received by fans and critics.

Check out the preview and let us know what you think in the comments.

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Review: 'Masters of Sex' explores the science of sex

"Masters of Sex," which premieres Sunday on Showtime, takes as its subject Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the authors of "Human Sexual Response," "Human Sexual Inadequacy" and other medical potboilers of the 20th century. Without making any extraordinary claims for it, it is easy to watch and to recommend, mostly sweet-natured, with a host of well-shaded performances and almost nothing to insult your intelligence.

Created by Michelle Ashford ("The Pacific") from Thomas Maier's book of the same name, it is a story of men waking up to women and women waking up to themselves. (It begins in 1956, when, as the opening title card has it, "a nationally renowned fertility specialist met a former nightclub singer.") It is a biopic stretched into a series — not a miniseries, but a show to last possibly for years; its pace through their entwined lives and work is unhurried.

And although it hangs on bones of fact, it's more useful for the viewer to think of it as all made up. Because, mostly, it is, and because to the extent it tells the story of two real people, it also adorns the telling with dramatic practicalities, invented characters and narrative detours. Indeed, it's down these side streets, casting a brief light on a passing character (patients, prostitutes, provost's wife), that the show finds many of its best moments

FALL TV 2013: Watch the trailers

It is also, as the story of a pair of professional voyeurs, a subject tailor-made for premium cable, which is always looking for ways to get people — women, mostly — out of their clothes and into a little simulated sex. Here, for once, it isn't gratuitous. Technically.

Michael Sheen stars as Masters. When we meet him, he is about to leave a dinner in his honor at St. Louis' Washington University, supposedly to deliver a baby. In fact, he is off to crouch in a closet in a brothel, with a stopwatch and a clipboard, to time a sex act.

He is a man with a mission. "The study of sex is the study of the beginning of all life," he declares, "and science holds the key! Yet we sit huddled in the dark like prudish cavemen, filled with shame. And guilt." He wants to study sex not as Kinsey had, just by asking questions, but by monitoring bodies in a laboratory.

"Only hookers and insane coeds would agree to this," someone objects, but it turns out some people just feel useful having sex for science.

Lizzy Caplan is Johnson, the "former nightclub singer," who comes to work at the hospital as a secretary and manages to attach herself to Masters and his project, eventually becoming his partner. As conceived here, she's the driving spirit, both within the story and of the series itself. Masters' journey, though it involves a kind of awakening (women fake orgasms?), some (narratively dubious) institutional strong-arming, domestic drama and a lot of science stuff, is simply not as dynamic as her self-reinvention.

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"I picked you for this job," says he.

"If that's what you need to tell yourself," says she.

Johnson is a new woman, by nature; she likes sex, which she doesn't confuse with love (in which she is rather less interested). She wants to do "something important," and in her head lives in a world where sisterhood is already powerful, a memo some of the women around her have yet to receive. She's the one who sees in their data on the clitoral orgasm "a brave new world" where a man is just a fish's bicycle.

Indeed, the series looks back on this time as the beginning of the (still-ending) end of male dominance and privilege. (One self-improving nurse, played by Heléne Yorke, is reading Simone de Beauvoir. "'The Second Sex'?" a flirty doctor asks. "Is that book as thought-provoking as it sounds?") The male characters do seem the thicker, more comical ones. But perhaps that is merely true.

Though we are made to see that Masters can be an understanding doctor dealing with a troubled patient, much of the time he is an arrogant, stiff-necked, workaholic pill, the risque nature of his chosen field notwithstanding. He is, I suppose, a sort of anti-hero — like his chronological near-contemporary Don Draper, emotionally stunted, work-defined, with hints of darkness in his past and a perfectly lovely wife (Caitlin FitzGerald) he treats respectably but also less than well.

FULL COVERAGE: Fall TV preview 2013

She calls him "Daddy," which is meant both to describe their power relationship and to strike an ironic note, because they are trying to get pregnant, in a scientific way, and failing. (The Masters had two children, in fact, by the time the series begins.) Their perfect Modernist house is therefore not a home.

Beau Bridges, better employed here than on his new sitcom, "The Millers," plays Masters' friend and provost; Allison Janney, turning in some really lovely work, is his frustrated wife. Annaleigh Ashford is funny and touching as a sex worker looking to change her life; Margo Martindale pops in for a couple of dozen seconds to play an offended secretary; Barry Bostwick is a frisky pensioner.

It's a handsome thing, another well-dressed romp through the American mid-century, when things (we imagine) were simpler and (so we like to think) less sophisticated, but also more exciting. And it's true that sexual naiveté of that age can seem incredible in a day when pornography is just another thing on your platform of choice.

But even in an age when "Masters of Sex" is a TV show, the subject remains stubbornly powerful, private and confounding. We have come far, and we are still cavemen.

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

----------------------------

'Masters of Sex'

Where: Showtime

When: 10 p.m. Sunday

Rating: TV-MA-LSV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17 with advisories for coarse language, sex and violence)

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Jennifer Tilly has another date with 'Chucky'

Jennifer Tilly, who starred in "Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky," returns to "Chucky" land in the latest installment, "Curse of Chucky," part of a six-film package — "Chucky: The Complete Collection Limited Edition" — that Universal is releasing Oct. 8 to celebrate the killer doll's 25th anniversary. Tilly also appears in the high-school romance movie "The Secret Lives of Dorks," which opened this weekend, and in Wallace Shawn's "Grasses of a Thousand Colors," which will have its American premiere at New York's Public Theater on Oct. 7.

How did you get involved with "Chucky"?

Actually, when I first got offered "Chucky," I was really resisting it because I felt like horror movies were something you did at the beginning of your career and at the end of your career, and when I got "Bride of Chucky," I was sort of in the prime of my career. But I'd never seen a "Chucky" movie. I just knew the horror genre is sort of the red-headed stepchild of actual filmmaking, and that's kind of apropos for "Chucky."

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Ba dum dum.

Ba dum dum. But I'd been dating a German artist who used to take me to Hong Kong films. And when they said that Ronny Yu was directing "Bride of Chucky," I was really intrigued. But I think the capper was, there's an actress I'm really competitive with and she had said to my makeup artist, "I would love to do 'Chucky.'" Because she wanted to do it, that was the clincher.

I thought that "Chucky" creator Don Mancini wrote your bride character, Tiffany, with you in mind.

Yes, he said that he heard my voice when he was writing Tiffany. I think Don and [producer] David [Kirschner] agreed to take a pay cut because I wanted more money. I think my exact quote was, "I'm going to need a lot more money to ruin my career."

Actually, at that point, I was on board with "Chucky." It's funny to think of Chucky as an actual person, because you would think the doll would just go limp after the scene, but he doesn't, because the puppeteers are always practicing. I was in the bathtub and he languidly dips his hand in the water. Uh, hello! Is Chucky plugged in somewhere? Am I going to get electrocuted? And he looked at me and smirked like Jack Nicholson and he raised his eyebrow. He was like that obnoxious little costar that you can't stand.

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How has "Chucky" affected your career?

I've made so many films that I'm proud of, but everybody knows me from "Chucky," and it crosses over all generations. Any time a 7-year-old comes running up to me, they always know me from "Chucky." And those movies are quite gory. They're R-rated, so I'm like, "Where are your parents?"

Tell me about the latest film, "Curse of Chucky."

Even though Don knew it was going to be a video on demand and not in the theaters, he really crafted it with such loving care. Universal wanted it to go back to being scary, and I think it's actually time. When he did "Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky," [campiness] was the way to go because he was always trying to reinvent "Chucky." But I think the new movie is really truly horrifying. I just have a cameo in the movie, but it's amazing the buzz on the Internet. This is the first movie they released to the critics. It won the audience award at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.

Tell me about "Grasses of a Thousand Colors."

It's directed by Andre Gregory, who's Andre in [the film] "My Dinner With Andre." Andre and Wallace Shawn have been collaborating for 30 years, and it's so brilliant to be working with them because they're true artists. Every day you feel like you're at the Algonquin Round Table, just listening to the two of them talk. We opened it in London four years ago, and when my friends came to see it, I had to warn them — there's no tap dancing, and there's no explosions. I love the play, but it's a lot of ideas. People sit around on a sofa, and they talk for seven or eight pages. Once in a while they get up and have a knife fight and then they sit down and they talk some more.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll       

Your public persona is a ditz, but you're clearly not. Do people ever underestimate you in real life?

Constantly. I started out playing dumb blond characters, even though I wasn't blond, and it stuck. And it doesn't help that I've done so many appearances on talk shows. I've always thought of talk shows as a performance; I'm not a major motion picture star. Angelina Jolie does not have to make jokes to have everybody want her to be on the show. But I prefer to make people laugh than cry. When I see myself in a movie when I'm going through emotional turmoil or sobbing, to a certain extent I think it's indulgent.

The problem with America is that it's too confessional. They want to talk about being abused as children, how horrible their breakup was or devastating their drug problems. In polite society, those are things you save for your husband or people who are very close to you. I don't think that anybody who has a remote control should be privy to these things.

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I know you've had an on and off relationship with professional poker.

Nine years ago, I met my boyfriend, Phil Laak. He's a professional poker player, and I became obsessed with the game. Poker is such a brilliant game. All these books I've read about psychic phenomena, because a lot of times when I'm playing poker I can read people's minds. Also, I failed math twice, but now I know the particular odds of your card coming up. It's psychological warfare. I'm really, really competitive. I became obsessed with becoming one of the greatest poker players in the world. And the way you become the greatest is total immersion. I would spend 14 hours a day playing poker. But I'm trying to pull away from that now because lately I've been doing theater. Acting is more of an art form. I used to hate when actors would say about acting, "Oh, it's not brain surgery." I think they have contempt for the audience.

When my dad was in a coma in the neurological department of the hospital, the doctor was so fascinated by what I did. He goes, "How do you remember all those lines?" I thought, "Oh, my God, this is so ironic. Here's a neurosurgeon saying, 'How do you do it?' And I got to say, 'It's not brain surgery.'"

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'12 Years a Slave' dialect coach Michael Buster speaks up

"So much of who people are is expressed in their speech," dialect coach Michael Buster said. The master of many accents lent a Southern inflection to two upcoming movies: Fox Searchlight's "12 Years a Slave" and Cinemax's "Quarry."

Raised in Minnesota, Wisconsin and upstate New York with relatives from Illinois and eastern Kentucky, Buster, 56, grew up hearing what he describes as "that real hillbilly Southern sound and then the Northern sound."

He got involved in drama in high school and studied to be an actor at the Juilliard School and at the Professional Theater Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Ear training and speech work were essential parts of his classical theater education, and he studied with dialect legends Edith Skinner and Tim Monich.

Buster acted in regional theaters, earned an MFA and eventually joined the faculty at Boston University, where he taught voice and speech to master's degree students in the theater education program. He also taught at Atlantic Theater Company, founded by David Mamet and William H. Macy, and at the University of Texas at Austin.

It was during his time in Texas that Monich recommended Buster as a dialect coach for Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio for 1998's "The Newton Boys."

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Not long after, Buster moved to Los Angeles and started steady work as a dialect coach, working on such films as 2002's "Minority Report," 2005's "Red Eye" and 2009's "Star Trek."

Free samples: If the shooting location is the same as the script's setting, Buster interviews locals to get dialect samples. If not, he Googles it. "Now with the Internet, it's a gold mine," he said. "There are interviews, historical characters, regional churches that put their sermons online, town hall meetings. And then I do an analysis of what the sound changes are and teach it to the actor."

Alphabet soup: Each dialect has its signature sounds. "One of the first things you want to find out is: What's going on with the Rs?" Buster said. "Are they dropping their Rs? Are they rolling their Rs? Is it a real hard R in the root of their tongue, like in west Texas? Or is it just a really light R?" The letter L is also telling. "Americans have what I call a 'lazy L,'" he said. "So in some parts of the South, the L gets dropped. You see people saying 'footba'. I couldn't he'p it.' Irish has a really clear L, really forward. And the Slavic L is really thick."

Southern comfort: As the story of a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War United States, "12 Years a Slave" called for a variety of Southern accents. "We don't know what slaves sounded like in the 1840s, so I just used rural samples from Mississippi and Louisiana" for actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Buster said. "And the same thing for [Michael] Fassbender — rural Louisiana. And then for Benedict [Cumberbatch], I found some real upper-class New Orleanians from the '30s. And then I also worked with Lupita Nyong'o, who's Kenyan but she did her training at Yale. So she really shifted her speech so she could do American speech."

Long-distance relationships: Buster prepped the "Quarry" cast over Skype. "There was one actress in England, and then Stellan Skarsgård was in Sweden," he said. "They were doing Memphis area [accents] — except Stellan's character was not from Memphis, so we were working on a neutral American for him, being as he's Swedish. I would work with Stellan every day before he went to shoot — over Skype."

Spare me the details: Buster can adapt the dialect to the abilities of the actor. "When they're really good, you can give them so many details, and they just snatch it up and incorporate it," he said. "When the actor doesn't quite have the ability, you just don't give them all those details." Instead, Buster will select a few key sound changes to convey the general feel. "That will give it the flavor of the dialect, so it'll still be in the ballpark," he said.

The enemy of the good: At times, the best take isn't the one with the best dialect work. In these cases, the editors can either fix it in post-production or schedule an additional dialogue recording session with the actor. But it doesn't always have to be perfect. As Buster explained, "Sometimes you make the decision: 'The acting and everything was so fine in production. Let's leave it alone.' And the thing is, if the audience is listening to the dialect, we've failed. We want it to be seamless. We want them to be involved in the story."

calendar@latimes.com

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5 Questions: 'Top Chef' contestant Brian Huskey of Paiche

Brian Huskey will be L.A.'s lone hopeful when the new season of Bravo's "Top Chef" premieres on Wednesday. The Pasadena native, who started his career at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, decided to take a culinary journey around the world after he finished his training. During his travels, he learned to incorporate Asian, French and Peruvian influences into his food. He eventually returned to L.A. and landed a job with Ricardo Zarate. Huskey helped Zarate open Picca and Mo-Chica and currently works as a saucier at Paiche. If Huskey wins Season 11 of the cooking competition show, he'll be the first L.A. chef to win since Michael Voltaggio in Season 6.

Latest ingredient obsession?

My latest ingredient obsession is white soy sauce.

What restaurant do you find yourself going to again and again?

Sushi Gen for the sashimi lunch special and Yogurtland for all the fruit-flavored yogurts topped with fruity pebbles and gummy bears.

The last cookbook you read, and what inspired you to pick it up?

The last cookbook i read was "I Love NY: Ingredients and Recipes" by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara. It was gifted to me by good friend Michael Cirino.

What's your favorite breakfast?

My favorite breakfast is sausage eggs Benedict on a biscuit with extra hollandaise sauce and tater tots.

Your favorite day off away from the kitchen is ...

Spending the day with my girlfriend, Shannon Loera. Starting with sleeping in a little, a bloody mary, then enjoying L.A. (a sporting event, concert, museum, new places to eat, the beach) and ending by cooking together and watching a movie. Simple pleasures.

Paiche, 13488 Maxella Ave., Marina del Rey, (310) 893-6100

jenn.harris@latimes.com

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'Larger than life' proves too small for Metallica

SAN DIEGO — Singer and guitarist James Hetfield wore a familiar trickster grin and a pair of 3D glasses as he bobbed his head to the thundering riffs of "Enter Sandman," but it was a different sort of arena that was playing host to the world's bestselling hard-rock band.

Metallica had come to Comic-Con International in July to premiere the trailer for its movie "Metallica Through the Never," and the charismatic frontman had turned his chair to watch the clip unspool along with the 6,500 fans in the San Diego Convention Center's main hall. Towering likenesses of the musicians strode across a massive stage outfitted with electric charges, laser lights and fire pots, while a young roadie encountered an angry mob led by a mysterious figure on horseback known as the Death Dealer.

"It's our 'Apocalypse Now,'" drummer Lars Ulrich said.

PHOTOS: Movie Sneaks 2013

Opening Friday on more than 250 Imax theaters across North America, "Metallica Through the Never" is part genre fable, part concert movie, channeling the band's predilection for apocalyptic imagery through a cinematic lens.

The film, directed by Nimrod Antal ("Predators," "Vacancy"), stars actor Dane DeHaan as a runner named Trip who sets out on an errand for the group just as it's taking the stage for a show. Hetfield and his bandmates — drummer Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — roll through a greatest-hits set list as Trip is drawn into the chaos that's consumed the surrounding streets. As he fights his way back, things begin to go awry on stage, possibly a result of dark forces at work in the city.

The idea for a Metallica Imax movie dates to 1997 when the band's management team first approached the musicians about shooting a concert film, then conceived as a conventional 30-minute short. But the massive cameras that the format required at the time turned out to be too unwieldy to be arranged on a stage, and the project was shelved until three years ago, when the group was on tour in Belfast.

"There was a realization that a lot of our fans were so young that the theatrical elements of Metallica's stage presentations from the '80s, a lot of them hadn't seen — statues and crosses and all this crazy stuff," said Ulrich, 49, seated beside Hetfield, Hammett and Trujillo under the fluorescent lights of a hotel ballroom. "You could do so much more with the technology of that now, so to revisit that carefully without going too far and being stuck in the past [seemed appealing]."

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In the four decades since Ulrich and Hetfield met and formed the band in 1981, Metallica has sold more than 110 million albums, forging a reputation as a powerhouse live act whose muscular, masculine energy on stage magnified the sonic force of songs about violence and death and Old Testament-style retribution.

The band has an extensive history with film too — it was Dalton Trumbo's 1971 anti-war screed "Johnny Got His Gun" that inspired the group's 1989 single "One," a nightmarish first-person account of a soldier who loses his arms and legs, his sight, hearing and speech to a land mine. The long-form version of the groundbreaking video for the song intercut between scenes from the movie and shots of Metallica performing.

It was the 2004 warts-and-all documentary "Some Kind of Monster," however, that might have had the most profound influence on the direction of "Metallica Through the Never." Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's chronicle of the band during the recording of its "St. Anger" album charted artistic and personal clashes, as Hetfield returned to the group after a stay in rehab to treat alcohol addiction and Trujillo was tapped to replace longtime bass player Jason Newsted.

"What we learned from the 'Some Kind of Monster' experience is if you have a dramatic arc in your film, it puts a whole different spin on it," Ulrich said. "There were a lot of music-world people that thought the movie was way too transparent and there was too much stuff that you shouldn't see, but the film world received it warmly. It's not really a movie about a rock 'n' roll band, it's a movie about relationships."

For "Metallica Through the Never," the group selected 16 tracks stretching back to its 1983 debut album, "Kill 'Em All," and tapped British architect Mark Fisher (who provided concert designs for Pink Floyd's "The Wall") to construct a massive stage, 200 feet long and 60 feet wide, with various trap doors and risers to allow for some outsize theatrical elements, and a floor made entirely of LED screens.

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To develop the narrative, the band turned to Antal, a lifelong Metallica fan who earned early acclaim for his Hungarian-language subterranean thriller "Kontroll." He invented the Trip character, whose largely wordless journey was informed, in part, by the circular structure of Paulo Coelho's novel "The Alchemist."

"He totally understands Metallica and what we're about," said Hammett, 50. "He understands our audience, and he understands how passionate our audience is and how intense our audience is."

The band played a string of concerts in Mexico City last year to familiarize itself with Fisher's stage before traveling to Canada to shoot the film. Performing on the set, which takes up the entire ice floor of a standard hockey arena, required great care, and the musicians were amused and somewhat alarmed by the precautions that were necessary.

"You're playing a song, and by the way, don't go in this little area — there's a Tesla coil that shoots off 10,000 volts and you could get killed," said Hetfield, 50.

"Don't pass this little piece of masking tape with a little X on it or you'll get fried," Hammett added.

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Tom Sherak tapped as film czar. More cuts at Tribune papers.

After the coffee. Before making sure all my expense reports are filed.

The Skinny: A lot going on this weekend. I'm hoping to catch either "Don Jon" or "Enough Said" and then Sunday is football, "Breaking Bad," "Homeland" and "The Good Wife." Oh, and a Redskins game too. Friday's headlines include the box-office preview and movie executive Tom Sherak has been named Los Angeles film czar.

Daily Dose: Bloomberg TV scored a big win against cable operator Comcast Corp. The Federal Communications Commission said Comcast must move the Bloomberg business channel to the same group of channels occupied by similar networks including CNBC. Comcast has been fighting Bloomberg on this for years and said it is reviewing its options.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs or porn. There's something for everyone this at the multiplex this weekend. For families and kids, there is the animated "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2," the sequel to the surprise 2009 hit. For adults with a dark side (i.e. me) there's "Don Jon" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt whose affinity for Internet porn threatens his real-life romantic life. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" is expected to take in north of $40 million. "Don Jon" is projected to have a softer (no pun intended) opening of around $10 million. Also opening is the romantic comedy "Baggage Claim" and going wide is the Ron Howard-directed racing movie "Rush." Box-office previews from the Los Angeles Times and Hollywood Reporter.

Tough times. Tribune Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, is planning big cuts at its publishing unit, which is supposed to be spun off or sold if a buyer can be found. Chicago media columnist Robert Feder said Tribune is looking to trim $100 million, which the company has denied. Additional coverage from the Los Angeles Times.

Garcetti's guy. Tom Sherak, a former 20th Century Fox chairman and ex-president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has been tapped my Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the city's senior film advisor or "film czar." In that role, Sherak will attempt to stop or at least slow the exodus of movie and television production from the area. Sherak won't get rich(er) in the job. He's taking a salary of one dollar a year. That's only a little more than what I'm making. More on Sherak's appointment from Variety, Deadline Hollywood and the Los Angeles Times.

PHOTOS: Movie Sneaks 2013

Big man to replace big man. HBO has snagged Robert De Niro to take a role in the upcoming limited series "Criminal Justice" that was to be played by James Gandolfini, the star of the pay-TV channel's "The Sopranos," who died earlier this year. De Niro was the only actor HBO sought and if he'd said no the network would have likely scrapped the series. Details from the New York Times.

No happy ending. However "Breaking Bad" concludes this Sunday, there will be sniping about it on Twitter (imagine if Twitter was around when Tony Soprano's world went dark or the cast of "Seinfeld" ended up in jail) and other social networks. For every show credited with getting its ending right, another five are accused of blowing it. The Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges of ending on the right note.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Betsy Sharkey on "Don Jon." Gamechanger Films is a new entity looking to back female directors.

Follow me on Twitter and maybe one day you can be a reference for me. @JBFlint.

PHOTOS: Highest-paid media executives of 2012

ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen

PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies

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Consumers' mood dims with budget policy uncertainty

WASHINGTON -- It's become a familiar chapter in this sluggish economic recovery: Dysfunction in Washington drags down consumer confidence.

After rising to a six-year high this summer, the University of Michigan reported Friday that its gauge of consumer sentiment fell sharply in September to 77.5 from 82.1 in the prior month. That's the lowest reading since April.

"While few consumers expected a federal shutdown, complaints about the economic policies of the government have risen," said Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey.

So far, consumers' worries haven't been nearly as bad as they were in December of last year when Congress took the nation to the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and federal spending cuts.

Nor has it come close to the mayhem in the summer of 2011 when consumer confidence plunged amid the budget debacle in Washington that brought a downgrade in the U.S. credit rating.

"Although the shock and dismay expressed in 2011 has thus far been absent, the data indicate that consumers are headed back down this negative path," Curtin said in a statement. "Consumer confidence is fragile enough without this added source of economic uncertainty."

Indeed, half of the households surveyed last month by the University of Michigan said they expected no income increase in the next year. But two-thirds see higher interest rates in the coming year.

Taken together, that doesn't bode well for consumer spending, most immediately for the holiday season.

Personal spending ticked up in August but has been modest this year, growing at close to 2% at an annual rate. And income gains have been weak, held down by high unemployment, the slow pace of hiring and federal spending cuts.

Rising stock and housing prices have been bright spots, as has the easing of the debt troubles in Europe. But consumer sentiment -- and possibly spending -- are likely to fall sharply if the fight over the federal budget and debt ceiling drags on.

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Senate faces key votes to avoid government shutdown

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After big summer, Silver Lake Picture Show plans bonus screening

What speaks to the population of Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood more than free outdoor movie screenings, local grub and music?

Not much, as Silver Lake Picture Show co-founder Nicholas Robbins has learned.  

In its second summer, the Silver Lake Picture Show, which shows independent films and feature-length movies at a hipster-friendly spot known as Sunset Triangle Plaza, drew a total of nearly 4,000 attendees over the course of its seven screenings.

PHOTOS: Fall movie sneaks 2013

Not bad for a neighborhood event that Robbins and his associates started last year as a way to get people to come and watch short projects from local filmmakers. 

"I had no idea that this was going to be anything," Robbins said. "We were just trying to do our thing, but it ended up being this scene."

Residents flocked to showings of "Wet Hot American Summer," "The Sandlot," "Zoot Suit," "Empire Records," "To Wong Foo" and "The Princess Bride." That last one, the mother of all nostalgic crowd-pleaser fantasies, brought out the most visitors, with 700. 

The screenings also featured 14 shorts, including efforts by filmmakers from the nearby Echo Park Film Center.  

FULL COVERAGE: Indie Focus

This year's series also included live music performances and local restaurants giving out free food samples. Robbins and his crew got financial support from clothing brand Topshop Topman, Los Angeles City Council District 13 and Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.  

With cash left over, Robbins and his team will show a bonus movie, Tim Burton's 1988 comedy "Beetlejuice," on Oct. 17. 

Robbins said he wants people to experience an alternative to seeing films at traditional movie theaters, where people sit in the dark and aren't supposed to talk. He said the event will be back for a third season next year.

"What I hope people get out of it," Robbins said, "is a rediscovery of a community movie-going experience, where they're seeing a movie with their neighbors and experiencing it as neighbors."

ALSO:

Mayor Eric Garcetti appoints Tom Sherak as L.A. film czar

TV ratings: 'Modern Family' slips, 'Revolution' moves time slots

'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2' set for clear box office win

Follow on Twitter: @rfaughnder

ryan.faughnder@latimes.com

PHOTOS: Highest-paid media executives of 2012

ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen

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Hope for avoiding government shutdown dwindles as Senate votes

WASHINGTON -- Most Senate Republicans joined with the chamber's Democratic majority Friday to overcome a filibuster on a bill to keep the government running past Monday, turning back a persistent stand by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to use the vote to kill President Obama's healthcare law. 

The Senate is now expected to pass a Democratic amendment to strip a provision in the bill that cuts money for the Affordable Care Act. A simple majority is all that's required for that vote.

A final vote will return the bill to the House, putting pressure on the Republican-controlled chamber to act with just three days left to avoid a government shutdown before the end of the federal fiscal year.

If Congress fails to settle on a plan to keep the government funded by midnight Monday, the federal government will see its first shutdown in nearly two decades.

Republicans who lined up against Cruz's strategy explained that they were simply voting to move forward on a budget measure they supported. "I don't understand how I can otherwise vote on a matter that I want to see passed," said Sen. John Cornyn, the chamber's No. 2 Republican and Cruz's Texas colleague.

"There are some people across America that are so upset with Obamacare -- and I understand their frustration -- that say we ought to shut down the federal government," Cornyn said. "It won't work."

Furthermore, those Republicans also said acting quickly to return the bill to the House served the cause of undermining the law, commonly called Obamacare, because the GOP majority there would have time to attach alternative amendments that might have a greater chance of being passed in the Senate.

House Republicans have considered amendments to eliminate the law's new tax on medical devices or to postpone its requirement that Americans have health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine.

In a final floor speech before the vote, Cruz all but conceded defeat, acknowledging "Republican division on this issue." But the fight wasn't over, he said.

"I very much hope the next time this issue's before this body in a few days, that all 46 Republicans are united against Obamacare and standing with the American people, that we listen to the American people the way Senate Democrats are not," he said.

Cruz, in a more than 21-hour filibuster-like speech, interviews and more floor speeches, had insisted that the vote to move ahead on the bill was tantamount to a vote to sustain Obama's landmark healthcare law. If Republicans were united, he argued, the onus would be on Democrats to choose between the unpopular law and a government shutdown.

In an email sent Friday to supporters,  Obama said the economy was being put at risk by "a group of far-right Republicans in Congress."

"They refuse to pass a budget unless I let them sabotage Obamacare, something they know is not going to happen. Now, we're left with only four days before a government shutdown," he wrote. "This is reckless and irresponsible. Republicans are not focused on what's best for you. They're playing political games."

The GOP's divisions over Cruz's strategy have largely played out behind closed doors, but they spilled into the open Thursday during a rare intraparty debate on the Senate floor. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Cruz and his conservative ally, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, were more interested in generating publicity for themselves than supporting an effort to quickly send the bill back to the House.

On Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the battle is "very dysfunctional."

"We are dividing the Republican Party," he said in an interview on CBS' "This Morning." "Rather than attacking Democrats and maybe trying to persuade those five or six Democrats who are in states that are leaning Republican, we are now launching attacks against Republicans funded by commercials that Senator Lee and Senator Cruz appear in."

House GOP leaders have not yet indicated how they will respond to the Senate action. On Thursday, they presented to their colleagues a plan for the next fiscal battle -- over whether to raise the nation's debt limit -- but by day's end, it appeared short of the support it would need to pass in the chamber.

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michael.memoli@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeMemoli

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Stocks rise on encouraging reports on the economy

Encouraging news about the economy lifted the stock market in late-morning trading Thursday. 

Unemployment claims fell close to their lowest level in six years and new data showed that economic growth accelerated in the second quarter. 

The positive reports were welcome news for investors worried about budget gridlock in Washington, which has led the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index to five straight days of losses through Wednesday, its longest losing streak this year. The potential for a government shutdown looms in the next few days as the White House and Republican-led Congress square off in a budget fight. 

The S&P 500 index rose four points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,696 as of 10:54 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 43 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,317. The Nasdaq composite gained 21, or 0.6 percent, to 3,781. 

"There's a little bit of a bounce here," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners. "It may be a little bit of bargain hunting." 

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 5,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 305,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Steady declines in applications indicate that fewer companies are laying off workers. 

Economic growth accelerated to a 2.5 percent annual rate from April through June, the Commerce Department reported. The economy grew 1.1 percent in the January-March quarter. 

In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year note climbed to 2.66 percent from 2.63 percent late Wednesday. 

The price of oil rose 16 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $102.85 a barrel. Gold fell $3.60, or 0.3 percent, to $1,322.50 an ounce. 

Among stocks making big moves: 

— Bed Bath & Beyond rose $3.95, or 5.3 percent, to $78.16 after the company said Wednesday its quarterly profit increased 11 percent on stronger sales. That figure beat expectations of Wall Street analysts. 

— Hertz fell $2.81, or 11 percent, to $22.97 after the company cut its earnings and revenue forecasts because of weaker-than-expected volume for U.S. airport car rentals. 

— Caesars Entertainment fell $1.08, or 5 percent, to $19.90 after the company said late Wednesday that it plans to sell up to 11.5 million of its shares in a public offering. 

 

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CBS lands Vince Gilligan show. FCC proposes removing UHF discount.

After the coffee. Before figuring out what shows to drop from my DVR.

The Skinny: Last season, I got hooked on ABC's "Nashville." Unfortunately, the rest of the country didn't follow my lead, and ABC started to turn the show about country music artists into another guilty-pleasure soap. I watched last night's season premiere and it was as if NFL RedZone had produced the show. It was nothing but quick cuts from silly plot line to sillier plot line. Bummer. Thursday's headlines include an important FCC proceeding on TV ownership rules and reviews of new sitcoms from Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams.

Daily Dose: The FCC is planning on removing its so-called UHF discount from its TV ownership rules. More on that below, but one of the big worries of the FCC action was that it could derail some potential deals. However, the FCC has proposed grandfathering deals already announced before the plans to relax the regulations.

PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments

A whole new U. The Federal Communications Commission is considering tweaking its TV ownership rules. At its monthly meeting Thursday, the FCC is expected to propose changing the value it puts on a UHF signal compared with a VHF signal when determining whether a broadcaster is in compliance with the TV ownership rules. I know what you're thinking. Does anyone even care about UHF versus VHF anymore? Probably not, but this is a big deal for the industry. If a UHF is given the same value as a VHF instead of the current 50% discount, a lot of broadcasters may have to put the brakes on gobbling up TV stations. Details from the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg. Also, some good background on the issue in this recent story from TVNewsCheck.

Bet on 'Bad.' CBS has struck a deal for a new detective series from "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan. David Shore, creator of "House," is on board to serve as a writer and a show runner on the as-yet unnamed series. Interestingly, the script has been kicking around the industry for about a decade and CBS initially passed on it, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Shocking! DirecTV said it would raise its rates by almost 5% this year and laid the blame on rising programming costs, particularly distribution fees for carrying local broadcasters. Sports programming is also driving up programming costs. Coverage from Multichannel News.

PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times

Because there just aren't enough NFL highlights out there. The National Football League has struck a deal with Twitter to offer game highlights on the social networking platform. The folks who have TV rights to the NFL can't do that. According to the Wall Street Journal, the pairing of Twitter and the NFL has already sold millions of dollars in advertising.

Cup runneth over. The exciting finish in the America's Cup race was a boost to NBC and NBC Sports Network, which was carrying the event. Last year, America's Cup was only available online. This year the folks behind the race bought time on NBC and NBCSN. The numbers for NBCSN were better than what its heavily hyped soccer coverage has averaged. Still, the audience was relatively small compared with the late 1980s. More from the New York Times.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Robert Lloyd on new sitcoms starring Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams.

Follow me on Twitter and maybe the Redskins will start winning. @JBFlint.

PHOTOS: Highest-paid media executives of 2012

ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen

PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies

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Man stabbed to death after Dodgers-Giants game is ID'd

 

By Joseph Serna

September 26, 2013, 8:58 a.m.

Authorities have identified the man who was stabbed to death near AT&T Park in San Francisco on Wednesday after a Dodgers-Giants game as 24-year-old Jonathan Denver.

Denver was fatally stabbed during a fight reportedly between Dodgers and Giants fans after the game four blocks away from the ballpark.

San Francisco police gave few details, but said the attack happened at 3^rd and Harrison streets about 11:40 p.m., about 90 minutes after the conclusion of the game in which the Giants beat the Dodgers, 6-4.

Denver's brother and father were wearing Dodger blue when he was stabbed, NBC-Bay Area reported. The argument began after a comment about Dodgers apparel, KGO-TV reported.

It could not immediately be confirmed whether Denver was wearing Dodger colors, or if others in the fight were wearing Giants gear.

Police declined to comment on a possible motive for the fight.

Three suspects have been detained, said San Francisco police Sgt. Danielle Newman. Denver was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives are interviewing witnesses as the investigation continues, Newman said. One of the suspects had blood on his shirt, according to KGO-TV.

The Dodgers and Giants have a rivalry going back generations. In 2011, it turned violent when Giants fan Bryan Stow was severely beaten in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. Two suspects are in custody, charged with the beating.

Stow suffered brain damage and is still recovering.

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Joseph.serna@latimes.com

@josephserna

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