Strand Releasing gets 'Crazy'

Strand Releasing has acquired U.S. rights to Adam Sherman's contempo noir drama "Crazy Eyes," starring Lukas Haas and Madeline Zima. The film, which will have its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival next week, follows a young man whose obsession for a girl he calls Crazy Eyes drives him to the brink -- as his hard partying lifestyle conflict with his familial responsibilities. Jake Busey, Ray Wise and Tania Raymonde round out the cast. The film was produced by Hagai Shaham. Strand plans an early summer release. "Crazy Eyes" marks the second film by Sherman to be distributed by Strand, which handled his "Happiness Runs" in 2009. Sherman's other directorial credits include "Dead Doll." He produced "Wristcutters: A Love Story," which screened at Sundance and was distributed by Lionsgate. Haas recently starred in "Contraband" and Zima was in "Breaking the Girl." Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

SAG-AFTRA Merger: How Actors Get Real Power

SAG-AFTRA merger ballots go out soon, and if members of Hollywood's two actor unions give a thumbs-up, they'll trigger a two-year process of combining staff, boards, contracts and, probably, pension and health plans.And then what?How about two more mergers? Don't laugh. Strategic combinations could change Hollywood and spawn a titan worthy of top billing in a summer action movie: a bulked-up superunion with star power, deep reach into every congressional district and unprecedented leverage against the major studios.The first step would be to merge SAG-AFTRA with Actors Equity, the stage actors union. That would bring virtually every professional actor under one roof -- allowing the megaguild to turn up the heat on Disney, a big theater producer.The merged actors union could then go a step further and join with a union that has almost no mind-share in Hollywood: the American Federation of Musicians. Besides sharing the concerns of all entertainment union members -- wages, benefits and job opportunities -- the connection here is AFTRA, the 77,000-member guild that represents actors, newscasters and, importantly, singers. Major-label tracks are usually done by AFTRA singers and AFM musicians, working 16-hour days together.The unions work together as well. They operate a joint royalties fund, and their music contracts are now synchronized, giving them more power when dealing with the labels -- including Sony Music, which becomes a pressure point against the company's movie studio as well.A combination of SAG-AFTRA with the AFM would be a game-changer. The musicians' union boasts 90,000 members, which would bring the combined total to a hefty quarter-million. More important, AFM's members are spread across 250 locals, a geographic reach SAG and AFTRA can only dream of.That translates to the ability to field significant numbers in every state and congressional district -- essential for fighting for union legislation priorities or against those of the studios. The union could, for instance, tie down NBCUniversal by flooding city councils across the country with complaints about cable companies owned by Comcast, the studio's parent.Now add the wattage of SAG-AFTRA celebrities -- essential for attracting national media attention -- and you have the ingredients for a potent campaign in the air and on the ground.Is the chairman of a key congressional committee from rural Kansas? SAG-AFTRA-AFM could deploy a Kansas-born star to garner local coverage and generate calls and e-mails. SAG alone, or even SAG-AFTRA, has little reach in places where cows outnumber people. But AFM members live all over the country.Indeed, the last time an entertainment union strode across the national stage was 70 years ago, when the AFM shut down the record industry -- and put the radio industry in a vise -- for two years beginning in 1942. Choking off entertainment at the height of World War II led to a national uproar, but AFM president James Petrillo stood firm, even in the face of a personal appeal from FDR. So undeterred was Petrillo that he didn't hesitate to call a second strike, in 1948, that lasted almost a year. Both ended with the companies capitulating.Can entertainment labor pull off a hat trick? SAG-AFTRA politics are sure to be complex, the AFM has its own stresses, and mega-union proposals often founder over concerns that one constituency might dominate. Certainly none of this will happen unless SAG and AFTRA merge. Equity won't join up if those two unions are estranged, and for SAG, the road to AFM leads straight through AFTRA -- and maybe to true national power.--------------MERGER FOES MAKE THEIR CASEDespite signs os member support for combining SAG and AFTRA, a small yet increasingly vocal minority is making its opposition heard. About 30 picketers gathered outside the Los Angeles headquarters of both actor unions in February for two "Save SAG" rallies designed to call attention to perceived shortcomings of the merger, including questions about whether SAG health plans would be weakened after combining with AFTRA. The unions' leadership argues that a merger will bring the clout needed to stand up to conglomerate-owned studios, beat back nonunion work and improve benefits. But some, such as longtime SAG board member and former vp Anne-Marie Johnson, call that a fallacy, arguing the plan would "marginalize actors and be a first step toward breaking the union." Others are agonizing over which way to vote when the issue is put before members in late February. "I'm leaning toward no," says Ron Ostrow, an alternate on SAG's negotiating committee, before adding that he is "concerned that saying no is worse than saying yes." SAG members rejected merger proposals in 1998 and 2003, but the union has elected pro-merger leaders in recent years, and 87 percent of its national board endorsed a combination plan in January. Still, a whiff of litigation is in the air, with at least one opposition group threatening to sue in federal court to stop the merger vote before it happens.Update: This story was prepared on February 20 for inclusion in the weekly print edition of THR. After that date, the lawsuit referenced above was indeed filed. The Hollywood Reporter

Saturday Evening Live Video: Maya Rudolph Has Came back!

Bertha loves nail polish, however is not totally hooked on manis and pedis. On Sunday's My Strange Addiction (10/9c, TLC), the 23-year-old unveils they likes to hit the bottle... the nail polish bottle that's. Bertha got her first craving to drink the colorful stuff five years ago when she couldn't resist the smell in the salon. Discover More > Other Links From TVGuide.com My Strange Addiction

Euro cold spell can't slow 'Ghost'

In a Feb. 3-5 weekend that saw much of northern Europe digging out from under snowstorms, Paramount's "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" collected $24.3 million, notching its third-straight frame atop the overseas box office (and fifth overall at the top) and pushing the pic's international take past the $400 million mark. With a worldwide cume of $626 million, "Ghost Protocol" is the highest-grossing pic globally for Tom Cruise, whose previous best, "War of the Worlds," grossed $591.7 million in 2005. "Ghost Protocol" is playing in 64 overseas markets, including China, where the film grossed around $20 million in three days. That reps a 46% gain on the film's two-day opening the previous weekend, with a current local cume of $55.7 million. "Ghost Protocol" benefited from a stockpile of screens in China -- approximately 3,000 -- compared with other markets like Italy, where the pic screened at 367 locales for a weekend total of $1.6 million, dropping a fine 47% in its second outing, bringing its local cume to $5.5 million. Also performing well overseas, 20th Century Fox's teen thriller "Chronicle" debuted in 3 3 territories for a three-day gross of $12.9 million. It bowed best in the U.K., where it topped the chart, at $3.5 million, followed by Australia and Russia, which contributed $3.1 million and $2 million, respectively. Pic bowed at No. 1 in Oz, and in second-place in Russia. Cold weather in Spain was a key factor in that market's so-so results, especially for family films like Disney's "The Muppets," which performed slightly under expectations, collecting just $1 million on 360 screens. "The Muppets" collected a reported weekend total of $3.5 million, pushing the pic's offshore cume to $30.2 million. Emilio Mayorga contributed to this report. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Morgan Manley dies at 84

Morgan Manley, a personality actor in TV and film, died in Tarzana, Calif., on Jan. 13. He was 84. Manley gathered greater than 170 television credits, turning up just like a series regular in "Nowhere Angels" at the begining of sixties and recurring on Broderick Crawford series "Highway Patrol." The actor also came out in than 25 movies, including "Apache Lady," "Fear Strikes Out," "Sensors are Ringing" and "Forbidden Planet." Manley was the second lead in Roger Corman 1957 cult classic "Not of the world.Inch Morgan Adair Manley was produced in Wooster, Ohio, and located California although within the U.S. Navy, situated on Coronado Island in the coast near Hillcrest. After his military service, he gone after Hollywood to pursue an acting career. While studying acting and undertaking in local theater productions, Manley got his first acting role, in "Singin' even though it is pouring down rain.Inch Manley was married two occasions, losing both partners to cancer. He first married actress Joan Granville, who ongoing being prominent Hollywood talent agent. Inside the seventies he married Carole Tetzlaff, daughter of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff. Manley is managed to get having a boy together with a daughter. Donations may be made to the film Home. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com