The Office

Glenn Close was "blindsided" by Albert Nobbs story - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - When Glenn Close sees a good part she goes after it -- even if it takes decades.

Bringing "Albert Nobbs" to the screen was a 15-year effort on the part of Oscar-nominated actress, who first played the role in an Off Broadway production in 1982.

Something about the tale about a woman who pretends to be a man so she can work as a butler at a turn-of-the-20th century Dublin hotel registered with Close.

"It's a very complex issue, but it's very real," Close said at TheWrap's screening series of "Albert Nobbs" Monday night at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles.

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Anne Hathaway signed for Jackman's "Les Miserables" - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Anne Hathaway is going from Catwoman to Fantine.

As TheWrap reported in August, Hathaway has long been in negotiations for Universal's Hugh Jackman-starring adaptation of the Broadway hit. On Tuesday morning, the studio confirmed it -- and set a release date of December 7, 2012.

Jackman plays the fugitive Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe plays Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper's version.

Hathaway has at least a little experience with the role: She sang "On My Own" from the musical when she hosted this year's Academy Awards. And she sang it to Jackman.

William Nicholson ("Gladiator") wrote the screenplay.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, among others, will produce.

Deadline first reported the news.

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Citigroup Q3 net rises, boosted by accounting gain - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc reported higher third-quarter earnings on Monday as the bank set aside less money to cover bad loans and recorded an accounting gain banks can take in turbulent markets.

Investment banking fees dropped as the European debt crisis cut into stock and bond issuance and merger activity. Operating expenses rose, in part because of investments the bank is making to boost its business.

Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported net income of $3.77 billion, or $1.23 per share, up from $2.17 billion, or 72 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

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Hilary Swank gives fees from Chechen event to charity - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Hilary Swank is donating her fees for attending a controversial event in Chechnya to charity after criticism from human rights groups.

A spokeswoman for the two-time Oscar winner said on Friday that Swank would give her personal appearance fees to various charitable organizations.

Swank has said she "deeply regrets" taking part in a birthday celebration in the Chechen capital Grozny last week for regional strong Ramzan Kadyrov, who is accused of orchestrating human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch urged Swank and other celebrities who attended the event to return any money or gifts.

Swank said this week she was unaware of Kadyrov's policies, which human rights group say promote fear, abductions and executions of those involved in Chechnya's Islamist insurgency.

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Innkeepers, Cerberus in tentative sale pact - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cerberus Capital Management and Chatham Lodging Trust have reached a tentative agreement to buy bankrupt Innkeepers USA Trust at a lower price than an earlier deal that fell apart, a source close to the talks said.

Cerberus and Chatham would acquire the bankrupt hotel operator for about $1 billion in a deal that could become official as soon as Thursday, according to the person, who spoke anonymously because talks are private.

The parties are confident the deal will get done, though it is not official and could still fall apart, the person said.

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BlackBerry outages spread to North America - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - A three-day disruption to BlackBerry services spread to North America on Wednesday, frustrating millions of users of the Research In Motion devices just two days before rival Apple's new iPhone 4S goes on sale.

RIM advised clients of an outage in the Americas and said it was working to restore services as customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India continued to suffer patchy email and no access to browsing and messaging.

RBC analysts Mike Abramsky and Paul Treiber estimated that about half of BlackBerry's 70 million subscribers outside North America could be affected.

RIM, which had said on Tuesday services had returned to normal, said later it was still working to resolve the problem.

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Dexia agrees to Franco-Belgian rescue deal - Yahoo! News

BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Franco-Belgian bank Dexia agreed early on Monday to the nationalization of its Belgian banking division and secured 90 billion euros ($121 billion) in state guarantees in a rescue that could pressure other euro zone governments to strengthen their banks.

Under the terms of the rescue, Belgium will pay Dexia Group 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) to buy Dexia Bank Belgium, the largely retail Belgian division, which has 6,000 staff and deposits totaling 80 billion euros from 4 million customers.

Dexia also secured state guarantees of up to 90 billion euros to secure borrowing over the next 10 years. Belgium would provide 60.5 percent of these guarantees, France 36.5 percent and Luxembourg 3 percent.

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"How to Be a Gentleman" pushed to Saturday Night - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The new Kevin Dillon sitcom "How to Be a Gentleman" just got rude treatment from the network.

CBS announced Friday that the series -- which stars Dillon and David Hornsby as a pair of odd-couple pals -- is being bumped to Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., a relative no-man's land, effective October 15.

"Rules of Engagement" will be taking "Gentleman's" time slot of Thursdays at 8:30 when it returns with its season six premiere on October 20. In the meantime, a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" will run in the timeslot on October 13.

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Ted Danson times 2 on 'Bored to Death' and 'CSI' - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AP) — These days, Ted Danson has gone vegan. He laughs at himself as he says it, like: Here's the L.A. guy latching onto his next fad. But what the heck, Danson says it makes him feel better. And that hearty health-food shake he and his actress wife, Mary Steenburgen, quaff each morning — well, they actually look forward to it.

Meanwhile, even apart from his dietary focus, Danson is feeling great these days. And why not?

Two decades after ending his spectacular "Cheers" run, he's been savoring his latest career surge on cool shows such as "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (where he and Steenburgen comedically acted out their real-life friendship with series star Larry David), and on the gritty legal thriller "Damages" (where Danson played a cutthroat corporate billionaire).

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Pre-orders soar for authorized Steve Jobs bio - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AP) — An authorized biography of Steve Jobs was high on best-seller lists within hours of Apple's announcement of his death. And publisher Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that the release date has been moved up from Nov. 21 to Oct. 24.

As of early Thursday morning, Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" was No. 1 on Amazon.com and No. 3 on Barnes & Noble.com. Fittingly, the book also tops Apple's own list: the iTunes books best-seller list.

Isaacson's book includes extensive interviews with the Apple co-founder, who rarely discussed his private life. Isaacson has written best-selling biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.

Jobs died Wednesday at age 56 after a long battle with cancer.

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