ABC News bolsters int'l plan

ABC News gets in a few fresh faces and reassigning others, deepening its worldwide coverage. The Alphabet is delivering three digital correspondents further abroad: Canadian journo Muhammad Lila is headed to Pakistan for his first assignment with ABC News, where he'll file from Islamabad on that country, Afghanistan as well as the surrounding region Gloria Riviera will vary from London to Beijing and Kirit Radia, who formerly covered the U.S. Condition Department, is headed to Moscow. The division introduced similar utilizes in November, making Kelly Cobiella london and Bazi Kanani in Nairobi -- each is experienced journos and many types of will be in areas with existing ABC News presence. Due to the tepid primary season, politics may not reign supreme this year, and 2011's glut of high-profile foreign tales have given every TV news operation grounds to boost worldwide newsgathering. ABC may also be making Mark Greenblatt from affiliate KHOU, where he labored becoming an investigative reporter and won honours plus a national Emmy award. Greenblatt will relocate to Gotham from Houston. News division prexy Ben Sherwood introduced the utilizes/reassignments on Tuesday. The Alphabet's news division remains the subject of great importance and scrutiny since it results in Katie Couric, moves Christiane Amanpour to worldwide, and returns George Stephanopoulos to "Now.Inch Using this type of change afoot and new branding just folded out, staffing up is only able to be described as a good register a division that experienced large-scale lay offs not way back when. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

Garrett Hedlund tunes up Coen Bros.' next pic

HedlundWith production on "Akira" pushing, Garrett Hedlund has found time in his schedule to jump into another music movie. The "Country Strong" and "Tron: Legacy" star is in negotiations to join the cast of the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" starring Oscar Isaac. Pic also stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman. Based on the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, the story follows the title character, who's loosely based on Dave Van Ronk. The folk singer was friends with Bob Dylan and other famed musicians. Hedlund's role wasn't immediately clear, but he's shown in "Country Strong" that he has the chops for a singing part. Scott Rudin is producing with StudioCanal is set to co-finance the film, which will be made without a domestic distribution partner. Robert Graf ("True Grit") is exec producing and production is skedded for early next year in Gotham. Hedlund had always been interested in taking a role, but scheduling with "Akira" forced him to pass. Now that "Akira" is pushing back production while it waits for a script polish, Hedlund was able to come on board. Hedlund, repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment, also has Walter Salles "On the Road" upcoming. Though the beat pic still has no distribution, it's expected to hit the festival scene later this year. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com