Free Republic

CBS has closed deals for Clarice, a crime drama series project based on the famous Thomas Harris character Clarice Sterling, which is set after the events in The Silence Of the Lambs. The project, written and executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, has received a big series commitment. The intention for the project, which has a pilot script written, is to go to series. It will film a pilot before a series order decision is made but a writers room has already been set up, and there is a lot of enthusiasm for the title, the premise and...

Jonathan Demme, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who observed emphatically American characters with a discerning eye, a social conscience and a rock ’n’ roll heart, achieving especially wide acclaim with “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 73. His publicist, Leslee Dart, confirmed the death. Mr. Demme disclosed that he had cancer in 2015. Mob wives, CB radio buffs and AIDS victims; Hannibal Lecter, Howard Hughes and Jimmy Carter: Mr. Demme (pronounced DEM-ee) plucked his subjects and stories largely from the stew of contemporary American subcultures and iconography. He created a body...

The actor, who was known for tough-guy roles, also appeared in "Philadelphia," "Silence of the Lambs" and "Rambo: First Blood II." Charles Napier, an actor who was known for his tough-guy roles in movies like Blues Brothers, died Wednesday afternoon at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, according to reports. He was 75. The actor was reportedly found sometime Tuesday morning in his Bakersfield home after having collapsed and was taken to the hospital, where he was put on life support in the intensive care unit. Around 1 p.m. Wednesday, he was taken off life support. The cause of death is unclear, but...

A Mesa(AZ) deputy fire chief is on paid leave after being accused of bestial acts with his nextdoor neighbor’s lamb. Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies took LeRoy Johnson, 52, into custody at his Gilbert home on Saturday. The 26-year veteran was booked on suspicion of disorderly conduct, trespassing and public sexual indecency, all misdemeanors, spokesman Lt. Paul Chagolla said. Johnson was released from jail on his own recognizance on Sunday. The arrest came after the neighbor and another man said they found Johnson in a small barn in the 1200 block of East Catclaw Street; his pants were down as he...

There was little surprise at Shepherd's Way Farm Tuesday when state and county investigators determined that the fire that killed hundreds of sheep Monday morning was arson. "That was obviously the suspicion from the get-go," said Steve Read, who with his wife, Jodi, owns the Rice County farm near Nerstrand, Minn. "We were prepared for that based on what happened last week" -- when another fire set hay bales ablaze in the middle of the night. Read added, "It certainly saddens you." He said he'd prefer that his four sons, aged 6 to 13, would "carry a sense of security...