Source: Deadline

The actress took to the stage to present Best Supporting Actor to Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage. Amber looked dynamite in her magenta cocktail dress by Dolce & Gabbana.

The awards show premieres on Spike TV on Tuesday, October 19 (9:00 – 11:00 PM, ET/PT) with simulcasts on VH1 and VH1 Classic.

Conceptually, Chenault is a stock fantasy character, a teasingly unavailable object of desire designed to mesmerize. Many a pretty young actress could have filled this requirement, but Heard charges the standard-issue role with moments of something extra, a fleeting sense of abandon, unscripted wildness, inchoate yearning that couldn’t have been planned but emerged in a fortuitous fusion of glance, turn of the head, youthful glow, lighting and camera angle. Stunningly beautiful, Heard creates tiny heartbreaks for this girl who is both free and trapped, one of nature’s elite and yet possibly doomed.

But the drama, starring out actress Amber Heard, got the ax after just three episodes as the retro show about Playboy Bunnies in 1960’s Chicago failed to secure an audience. Now, the show’s creator Chad Hodge tells Out that he wished he taken the show to Bravo, a network that has a solid fan base of women and gay men.

“I think NBC gave up too soon,” Hodge said. “Had NBC stuck with the show I think many more millions would have eventually shown up. Those who found the show realized it wasn’t what they expected—it was good. It was entertaining, sophisticated, and dazzling. It dealt with social mores and moral ethics. And it was an intentional guilty pleasure.”

But Hodge says he hasn’t given up hope that the show could get picked up by another network. “For weeks now, I’ve been saying we should move over to Bravo. This is a fun, sexy, soapy show, and our core audience is women and gay men. No brainer for them. Bravo has wanted to get into scripted programming for years now. I’d love them to pick up the show. If one million people watched our show on Bravo—a quarter of our NBC audience—it would be a runaway hit.”

He also said that he doesn’t think NBC’s yanking the show is indicative of any sort of move away from lesbian and gay characters in Primetime. We were never criticized for the gay characters, actors, or plots,” he told Out. “In fact NBC encouraged us to make the gay storyline even bigger because it was working so well.”

Here’s to The Playboy Club getting picked up by another network so that we can see how lesbian Bunny Alice’s (Leah Renee) story plays out!

Source: SheWired

Brian Williams’ newsmagazine show, Rock Center, will take its place beginning Oct. 31. Until then, repeats of Maria Bello’s Prime Suspect will air on Mondays at 10 p.m. The move to air Prime Suspect in Playboy Club‘s time slot is a clear sign of Bob Greenblatt’s desire to make the series, which is closer to his cable sensibilities, work.

Playboy Club‘s cancellation comes after the drama premiered Sept. 20 to underwhelming ratings, attracting 5 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The second episode of the series from showrunner Chad Hodge and 20th Century Fox Television, tumbled 19 percent, luring only 3.8 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo. Its most recent episode dropped even more, attracting 3.2 million viewers and a 1.2.

The series faced a backlash almost from the start, as the Parents Television Council called for a boycott and urged sponsors to pull out of the show that starred Amber Heard and Eddie Cibrian in a 1960s-set story about the Chicago Playboy Club and the bunnies and men who loved them.

Seven advertisers exited the series in the series’ second week after PTC president deemed the show a “commercial disaster” and called for the network to cancel the “degrading and sexualizing program immediately.”

The PTC targeted the show from early on for objectifying and degrading women since NBC ordered it to series in May.

Hodge downplayed the controversy after Gloria Steinem called for a boycott and NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate refused to air it.

“I think there’s a perception of the show that’s false,” he said. “There are different brands of feminism and I don’t think it should be boxed into any one version.”

“I think there was a perception that we were trying to do something politically ambitious or make a statement or make this a show about empowering women, which sounds super boring to me. That sounds like a documentary, which this certainly is not. This is more like Chicago, Moulin Rouge and All That Jazz, Desperate Housewives. This is a fun, sexy soap,” he added.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Amber graces the cover of Vs. and has editorials in BlackBook and Time Out Chicago, among some other clippings. Enjoy! Scans here are courtesy of her official website.

While all of the show’s stars and producers were closely on-message about the idea that employment at the Playboy Club in the early ’60s was a progressive choice, leading lady Amber Heard was particularly passionate on the subject.

At the NBC party that evening, I caught up with Heard (Hidden Palms, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane), who plays Maureen, the newest Bunny at Chicago’s Playboy Club, for a few follow-up questions regarding her take on the show’s message.

HitFix: You guys came out prepared for a little controversy today. It’s almost like you knew to expect it…

Amber Heard: Oh yeah? I thought they were just gonna ask me about my cute shoes.

HitFix: Did you have a good answer about them that we didn’t get to hear?

AH: They’re fantastic! How about that?

HitFix: Well, I’m sure controversy was expected, but did you think maybe it would wait until people actually saw the show?

AH: I did. I expected criticism and controversy to follow… viewing. I mean, call me crazy, but I just expected that people would wait to see it before they banned it. But I could never be an advocate for censorship, so who knows?

HitFix: What do you think has made this such a lightning rod? Is the word “Playboy” just that loaded?

AH: I think it could be. I think it could be the stigma that’s attached to the Playboy brand, the name. It could just be the semantics. But it could be that it’s scary, that we as a society aren’t ready for… yet… still… aren’t ready for seeing women in a casual way being completely in charge of their own sexuality. I don’t know. Maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s that we, as a society, aren’t ready for that, but we’d rather see them victimized by that.

HitFix: Do you actually think that this is a show that, in addition to pushing the edge of the envelope, could start conversations?

AH: It did today, didn’t it?

HitFix: It did, but our room isn’t like every room. We’re all about those discussions.

AH: Sure, but I don’t know. Do normally the issues like the social and ethical implications of what a show stands for on a political level, do those conversations normally come up? I don’t know. I haven’t been a part of them.

HitFix: Certainly your panel today was the only one that went in that direction.

AH: So then it came up. You know? That’s I guess the point. And no art that made any sort of impact or is remembered appeared on the scene without controversy. I think art and controversy often go hand-in-hand, so I guess I expected it, to a certain extent.

HitFix: On the panel today, you talked about meeting some former Bunnies. Tell me a bit about that experience.

AH: I’m blown away at really what it was for them. Every single one I talked to tells me this story about moving out of mom and dad’s house and choosing not to get engaged and instead to do something else. I’m blown away by these women who chose, in a time when it was very, very rare for a woman to want to go earn her own living, make her own life, have her own home, I’m blown away that these women chose that in a time when this was virtually unheard of. I’m blown away at the guts it took, the bravado it took to choose an alternative, despite what your mother said, and ultimately, from hearing the panel today, apparently that’s what we’re doing, we’re doing something that isn’t safe, that’s not the expected norm set before us, it’s not the thing that Parents Television Council approves of. But ultimately, that’s not what I’m setting out to do, I’m setting out to do this cool show.

HitFix: Though obviously, it’s not entirely comparable, being a woman today, being a woman then.

AH: Oh, it’s vastly different. It’s a completely different terrain. There are far more opportunities and expectations and far more given to women  now than back in the ’60s. There’s no question about. I think we still have work to do and I think that feminism has taken a new form and people are unprepared and perhaps not ready for what new feminists look like. But in my generation, I don’t have to choose a pair of combat boots instead of an apron, I can do it in heels. I can own my sexuality. I can own the way I look and be completely in charge of it and be completely empowered by it and that’s what I set out to do, onscreen and off.

HitFix: Have you always been this confident and assured?

AH: Well, I was a teenager at one point. I was very awkward.

HitFix: Well sure, but some teenagers are more awkward and some are less.

AH: I don’t know. I think my teen years were pretty awkward. I think it is for everybody, but some people just lie about it better.

HitFix: So was there a moment at which things clicked?

AH: I don’t know. Was there a moment for you?

HitFix: I’m still waiting.

AH: Me too. I’m still waiting.

HitFix: We’ve mostly dwelled on the political side of things, but I can’t imagine that was the primary thing that drew you to this project in the first place. Or was it?

AH: Absolutely! I’m so excited to be a part of a show that does have certain political and social implications and that pushes the envelope in certain ways and is as smart and as well-written as this. Certainly that was a huge factor for me, to tell a story on a platform of 1960s America, one of the most revolutionary, envelope-pushing, standard-challenging times  ever. That was a huge draw for me, to tell a story in this time. It makes a huge difference to me. That’s what makes this show so special. The Clubs could not exist today the way that they did then. It was a different era altogether.

The Playboy Club premieres on NBC at 10 p.m. on Monday, September 19.

Source: HitFix

The trailer for The Rum Diary was released a couple of weeks back and it features plenty of Amber Heard as the character of Chenault. It looks pretty good! Be sure to view the trailer in high definition below. I’ve uploaded the screencaps as well as a poster for the movie for your viewing pleasure.

“She was originally written to be different from the other girls in the way that she dressed and carried herself — with less feminine grace,” says Amber, who convinced executive producer Chad Hodge to rewrite the character. “I really pushed to challenge that stereotype, because I know firsthand that some stereotypes don’t always hold true. Who you have a propensity to fall in love with by no means determines how you carry yourself!”

Source: TV Guide

And even in the 1960s, a lot of what was popular on TV seemed to be a throwback to another era. The Andy Griffith Show? The Beverly Hillbillies? Petticoat Junction? Gomer Pyle? Bonanza? Gunsmoke? The Flintstones?

But in 2011, the ’60s are hot stuff.

Call it “delayed Mad Men mania” on the part of the big networks.

The Playboy Club, a drama about the bunnies and clientele at the iconic nightclub, debuts Monday, Sept. 19 on NBC and Citytv.

Pan Am, a drama about airline stewardesses working for the iconic carrier, debuts Sunday, Sept. 25 on ABC and CTV.

Nostalgia and cool clothes rule.

“I’m a huge Mad Men fan, so I was so psyched to be working in this,” said Pan Am series lead Christina Ricci. “And also, this is my period.

“You probably don’t know, but if you’re a big vintage shopper, me and my girlfriends, we buy vintage dresses and clothes, and we’re like, ‘You’re a ’40s girl, you’re a ’50s girl, you’re a ’60s girl.’ So I’m a ’60s girl, yes.

“I don’t look good in ’40s vintage, I don’t look good in ’50s vintage, ’70s disco not so good, ’80s not so good. But I look good in ’60s vintage. So it’s the perfect vintage for me. Everything about it is perfect.”

Although only 31, Ricci has an even more personal connection to the ’60s look.

“My mother was a model in the 1960s, and growing up, looking at her tear sheets and stuff, I think that made a huge impression in my head,” Ricci said.

Pan Am also stars Canadian Karine Vanasse, Kelli Garner and Margot Robbie alongside Ricci in the signature stewardess roles. There are some guys thrown in there, too, but really, it’s all about the girls, who combine to explore era-appropriate elements of rebelliousness, duty, adventurousness, espionage, precociousness, sexual power and emerging feminism.

Sexual power and emerging feminism are debatable subjects when it comes to The Playboy Club, relating to both the real thing and the fictional TV show.

Even today, the Playboy revolution prompts very different opinions. Did it hurt the cause of women’s rights or help to empower women? It depends on the individual, we suppose, but Amber Heard – who plays new bunny Maureen in The Playboy Club – leans toward the latter.

“I think we come from a somewhat puritanical and somewhat chauvinistic point of view, so that when we are asked questions about women being empowered by their sexuality, we often confuse that with women who are victimized by it,” said Heard, 25. “I have to make the distinction, because we, in 2011, should not see the two as the same thing.

“While doing research for this role I have been blown away by the amount of trail-blazers, people who weren’t afraid to go against the status quo and challenge themselves to do something that wasn’t necessarily approved of, to take charge and make a change in their personal lives for the better.

“Personally speaking, I aspire to always challenge the norm and do what I feel is right for me. A lot of the people I’ve met who were involved in the club were doing just that in the 1960s.”

Mad Men, of course, is one of the most critically acclaimed series in the history of TV. But in part because it originates on a relatively obscure cable channel (AMC), total viewership for Mad Men often has paled in comparison to far inferior big-network fare.

The makers of both The Playboy Club and Pan Am had to answer questions at this summer’s Television Critics Association tour along the lines of, “If so few people are watching Mad Men, what makes you think more people are going to watch your shows?”

It’s apples and oranges. Cable shows and network shows have different tones, different budgets, different ratings expectations.

The fact is, neither The Playboy Club nor Pan Am is as cerebral as Mad Men. There are more overt “stories.” The new shows feel more “broad” and less “specialty,” period-piece pageantry notwithstanding.

All things considered, The Playboy Club and Pan Am aren’t so much in competition with Mad Men as they’re in competition with each other.

Can both The Playboy Club and Pan Am survive? Or are there only so many eyeballs to go around for this kind of thing?

It’s a fun-to-watch, classic TV battle set in a classic era, whether you’re in the club or in the skies.

Source: Toronto Sun

“There are entrepreneurs,” Heard said. “They’ve talked to us about their experience. I’ve yet to meet an ex-bunny who’s disgruntled about their experience. I haven’t talked to them. On the other hand, I’ve talked to many who look back fondly on those experiences, are thankful for the money [they were able to earn.]”

The show will also deal with an African-American bunny and a closeted bunny, because those were the issues of the era. “The backdrop of the ‘60s and the club is going to be important to our story because everything was about to happen,” Heard continued. “This was right before the bubble burst. It’s pre Stonewall in relation to there being out lesbians, pre-women’s lib, pre civil rights, right on the cusp of where everything started to blow over. That’s going to lend itself well to our piece.”

First and foremost, The Playboy Club is a musical drama full of sexy costumes and fun song and dance numbers. Heard thinks these female characters are empowered for being at the forefront.

“In a puritanical way, we look at things that involve sexuality that somehow the woman must be compromised,” she said. “It’s just as chauvinistic to deny a woman her sexuality. It comes down to choices and if they’re making a choice, they’re not being exploited.”

The Playboy Club premieres this fall on NBC.

Source: Starpulse

executive producer Brian Grazer, about the world of the Chicago Playboy Club.

It’s set in the ’60s, and explores the lives of a group of working-class Bunnies, each of whom has some kind of secret that will be revealed as the show unfolds.

The show is based on some of those stories from a book called The Bunny Years by Kathryn Leigh Scott. Some famous women who were once bunnies, including Gloria Steinem, Barbara Walters, Lauren Hutton, Deborah Harry, Susan Sullivan, Sherilyn Fenn, even NBC’s own Barbara Bosson, the star of “Hill Street Blues,” was a Bunny, as well as Federal Judge Kimba Wood, and Dr. Polly Matzinger, a world-renowned immunologist.

The series will take a look into the Mob and the backroom politics of the Mayor Daley era, plus we’ve incorporated musical performances into the club, several of which will be from Tony- winning actress Laura Benanti who plays the mother Bunny Carol-Lynne.

You’ll also see big entertainers of the day performing, such as Tiny Turner, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and more.
The show will air on Monday nights at 10:00 p.m. starting September 19th.

Star Amber Heard spoke at the recent television critics’ association about her role in the series:

“It’s fun, though…you can’t be in the [bunny] suit for more than a few seconds without really feeling like you’re a part of the show. And that’s ultimately what it comes down to. You’re transported back to this time, this very specific moment in history. I mean, these clubs no longer exist the way that they existed then, and I think it’s special because these costumes are just as specific as the club is. They’re just as fantastic and imaginative and they exist nowhere else.”

“So you put on the suit and you’re instantly transported back to this time, this cigar smoke filled rooms and the music and the glitter and the songs and the heels and the fishnets and the whole nine yards.”

Source: Monsters and Critics

“Is it ever going to be shown in the U.S.? Yes, I imagine it will be,” Levine told Movies.com. “I’m friends with the guys who financed the movie, and the movie’s in some bizarre, crazy … like, this hedge fund owns it as part of their defaulted assets, and they don’t care. It’s just a line on a spreadsheet to them, and we’re trying to get it back.”

According to Levine and Co., the filmmakers are attempting to get said hedge fund to sell them back their own film, but there’s still no official word on how things will shake out.

The horror pic stars Heard as the titular teenager Mandy Lane, a virginal and beautiful girl chased after by every guy in school. When she accompanies classmates (Able, Luke Grimes, Edwin Hodge, Aaron Himelstein, and Melissa Price) to a ranch house for the weekend, an unseen killer starts picking off the group, one by one. Given its infamous status among the horror set and the higher profiles of its stars (Heard is toplining NBC’s The Playboy Club, Able starred in last year’s indie sci-fi fave Monsters, and Welch has a tween audience thanks to his role in the Twilight films), Mandy Lane could have a better shot at opening stateside now than it did five years ago, so cross your fingers for some movement in the near future.

Source: MovieLine

Also recently unveiled in a video promo which focuses on Maureen. I can’t stress enough how beautiful she looks and the character looks fantastic! Very excited for the series. (Caps to come soon.)

Paul Kemp is a freelance journalist who finds himself at a critical turning point in his life while writing for a run-down newspaper in the Caribbean. Paul is challenged on many levels as he tries to carve out a more secure niche for himself amidst a group of lost souls all bent on self-destruction

The film releases on October 28, 2011.

PLAYBOY: You came out of the closet last December, sharing details of your relationship with photographer Tasya Van Ree. As a Hollywood sex symbol, did you notice that the announcement had any effect on your career?
HEARD: First of all, to say I came out implies that I was once in. Let me be straight about that—no pun intended [laughs]—I never came out from anywhere. I’ve always lived my life the way I’ve wanted and have been honest with myself and everyone around me. It didn’t really affect anything in my career. I don’t think the producers and directors I’ve worked with care one way or another. The only frustrating part has been all the media attention. For someone like me who prefers to keep her life as private as possible, it has been disconcerting to have to define so much about myself. I don’t want to be labeled as one thing or another. In the past I’ve had successful relationships with men, and now I’m in this successful relationship with a woman. When it comes to love I am totally open. And I don’t want to be put into a category, as in “I’m this” or “I’m that.”
PLAYBOY: Gay marriage continues to be a contentious issue. If it ever becomes legal, would you be the first in line to get married to Tasya?
HEARD: It’s an important issue, and I’m fighting for the right to get married. [pauses] For other people.