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Jesse Tyler Ferguson recalled Matthew Perry helped calm his nerves while shooting his first show with a “Friends” anecdote.

While talking with Lisa Kudrow on his “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, Ferguson looked back to days on the set of “The Class” – a one-season show and among the “Modern Family” alum’s first – and remembered a shoot that was saved for him by Perry showing up and sharing a behind-the-scenes joke from his days on “Friends.”

“I remember we were shooting ‘The Class’ on the same stage that you shot ‘Friends’ on at Warner Brothers,” Ferguson said. “David [Krane] was very comfortable there, Jimmy Burrows was very comfortable there. And Matthew Perry was next door shooting the behind-the-scenes drama ‘Studio 60’ and he was dating a cast member of mine on ‘The Class’ but Matthew was the first one of you I met and became friends with.”

He continued, “I think...

“Russian Doll” returns this spring, and Netflix has released some first looks photos for the upcoming season.

Season 2 will be set four years after Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (Charlie Barnett) escaped mortality’s time loop. New episodes will follow the pair as they pass through an unexpected time portal located in Manhattan — causing both to face their pasts.

The show’s first season also starred Greta Lee, Yul Vazquez and Elizabeth Ashley. Sharlto Copley (“Powers”), Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) and Carolyn Michelle Smith (“Colony”) will join the cast for Season 2.

Lyonne will return as showrunner and executive producer. Season 2 of “Russian Doll” is also produced by by Alex Buono, Amy Poehler (Paper Kite Productions), Leslye Headland, Lilly Burns (Jax Media), Tony Hernandez (Jax Media), Dave Becky (3 Arts), Kate Arend (Paper Kite Productions), Regina Corrado and Allison Silverman.

See first look images of “Russian Doll” Season 2 below.

Also in today...

Casting directors have a strange distinction in the awards world: Their guild has an Academy branch, but it’s the only one without its own Oscar category. Imagine for a moment that they did. What are the best-cast films of 2016?

IndieWire asked 13 of the top casting directors to nominate films worthy of casting recognition this year. There were a few restrictions worth noting. Although casting directors often get early sneak peeks at films, many noted there are some films they still hadn’t seen. In particular, many are anxious to find out what legendary casting director Ellen Lewis has cooked up for Martin Scorsese’s “Silence.” The other restriction, which was imposed as responses came in: They couldn’t all write about “Moonlight.” (We’ll dig further into the casting of that film in another article.)

Read More: Casting Directors and the Academy: Why Lynn Stalmaster’s Honorary Oscar Matters...

Not funny enough, or too hip for the house? I found the Coen Bros.' send-up of old-fashioned movie madness good fun, with some great new actors. If you like droll comedy combined with spot-on recreations of old movie genres, this show can't lose. And there has to be somebody out there who wants to see George Clooney in a skirt. Hail, Caesar! Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 2016 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date June 7, 2016 / 34.98 Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Channing Tatum, Veronica Osorio, Heather Goldenhersh, Max Baker, Clancy Brown, Fisher Stevens, Patick Fischler, Robert Picardo, Christopher Lambert, Robert Trebor, Michael Gambon (voice), Dolph Lundgren. Cinematography Roger Deakins Film Editors Ethan and Joel Coen Original Music Carter Burwell Produced by Tim Bevan, Ethan and Joel Coen, Eric Fellner Written and Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen...

Stars: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Scarlett Johansson, Heather Goldenhersh, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Frances McDormand, Christopher Lambert, Jonah Hill, Veronica Osorio | Written and Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

In case you didn’t know, the Coens are pretty crazy about the movies. Having come close to making a film in every genre, a logical conclusion would see them swapping out western landscapes for dazzling musical numbers scene by scene rather than picture by picture, and Hail, Caesar! does just that. It’s not surprising to learn that Joel and Ethan can switch abruptly from cold war intrigue to farcical comedy (often in the same exchange); what is surprising is how natural it all feels.

The film takes us on a whirlwind tour of 1950s Hollywood with tough-talking, guilt-ridden studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin, playing a fictionalised version of a real Hollywood executive) as our guide...

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! will be out in the States on Friday before opening this year's Berlinale. A sendup of Hollywood in 1951, the film boasts an all-star cast—Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Veronica Osorio, Heather Goldenhersh and Alison Pill. Plus, it's been shot on film by Roger Deakins and the soundtrack is by Carter Burwell. As the first reviews come in, we'll be gathering the most notable, and of course, we've got trailers and clips as well. » - David Hudson...

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! will be out in the States on Friday before opening this year's Berlinale. A sendup of Hollywood in 1951, the film boasts an all-star cast—Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Veronica Osorio, Heather Goldenhersh and Alison Pill. Plus, it's been shot on film by Roger Deakins and the soundtrack is by Carter Burwell. As the first reviews come in, we'll be gathering the most notable, and of course, we've got trailers and clips as well. » - David Hudson...

The Class

Showcase Inventory

Created by David Crane & Jeffrey Klarik

Produced by CraneKlarik in association with Warner Bros. Television

Aired on CBS for one season (19 episodes) from September 18, 2006 – March 5, 2007

Cast

Jason Ritter as Ethan Haas

Lizzy Caplan as Kat Warbler

Heather Goldenhersh as Lina Warbler

Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Richie Velch

Jon Bernthal as Duncan Carmello

Andrea Anders as Nicole Allen

Sean Maguire as Kyle Lendo

Lucy Punch as Holly Ellenbogen

Show Premise

A young romantic (Jason Ritter) sets up a surprise party in order to propose to his girlfriend, inviting members of their third grade class. Attending guests range from twin sisters, one anti-socially cynical (Lizzy Caplan) and the other eager to find love (Heather Goldenhursh), to an awkward would be suicide (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), a scorned at the prom ex (Lucy Punch) of a since out of the closet homosexual (Sean Maguire), and a couple of former flames...

(Lynn Collins, left, and Heather Goldenhersh in The Merchant of Venice.)

(I did this interview with actress Lynn Collins for Venice Magazine a day after the premiere of The Merchant of Venice at the AFI Film Festival in 2004. Her work in the film was excellent, although few outside the festival circuit and the Shakespeare die-hards seemed to see it. It took a few years for Hollywood to catch up with her, but it's nice to see her landing some big studio roles now, such as last year's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the upcoming John Carter of Mars. She also had a stint on "True Blood" last season. And now that she's done some real populist entertainment, her next on-screen shot at Shakespeare should get the attention that her work in Merchant deserved six years ago. She was great as Portia. )

Lynn Collins

The Lady of Belmont Keeps It Real

By Terry Keefe

Al Pacino,...

Casting Director: Ellen Chenoweth Writer-Director: John Patrick Shanley Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis The Pitch: In a Catholic school in 1964, a nun (Streep) accuses a priest (Hoffman) of an improper relationship with one of the male students.When a film has already been a Pulitzer Prize-winning hit play on and off Broadway, with its original cast copping nearly every award in sight, a casting director is faced with a particular challenge: How do you find actors for the movie version who will bring their own incandescence to roles that have already been filled to acclaim? Casting director Ellen Chenoweth encountered this dilemma when she met with playwright John Patrick Shanley and producer Scott Rudin about casting the cinematic edition of Shanley's theatrical smash Doubt. Oscar winners Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep were already attached in the lead roles of a priest accused of conducting...

The Class aired its last first run episode Monday night on CBS, right according to schedule. The New Adventures of Old Christine will replace it in the 8:30pm timeslot starting March 12th. Does this mean that The Class has been cancelled? No. At least, not yet.

The Class debuted on Monday, September 18, 2006 on CBS. The sitcom revolves around a group of 28-year-olds who were part of the same third grade class 20 years before. After being reunited by Ethan (Jason Ritter), the former classmates begin to get to know each other once again and become intertwined. The series also stars Lizzy Caplan, Heather Goldenhersh, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sean Maguire, Jon Bernthal, Andrea Anders and Lucy Punch.

The series, created by the co-creator of Friends David Crane and his partner Jeffrey Klarik (Mad About You), had been the subject of a bidding war by several networks. It premiered at 8pm (a...