Thompson on Hollywood

Hollywood Reporter Poaches Associate Publisher from LA Times

Richard Beckman, CEO of e5 Global Media, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, has poached the LAT's movie advertising director, Michaela Apruzzese, to be associate publisher, entertainment of The Hollywood Reporter. She sounds like she has the right skill set for the job. Apruzzese will oversee entertainment industry advertising for THR's print, event and digital platforms. She starts in early June and reports to new publisher Lori Burgess, who replaced Erik Mica. “Michaela’s rich array of advertising and marketing experience across print, broadcast and digital in both trade and consumer media will be an important asset to The Hollywood Reporter,” stated Beckman. Prior to the LAT, Apruzzese was publisher of Law.com and National Law Journal and west coast sales director for Robb Report.

By Anne Thompson
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May 20, 2010 2:40 AM
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Godard Must-See: Breathless Trailer

Run don't walk to see New Wave critic-turned-filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 Breathless, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. I screened this movie for my USC Film Criticism students and they scarfed it up. This black-and-white Godard film, at least, which introduced the disjunctive jump-cut editing that inspired Arthur Penn and Dede Allen's Bonnie and Clyde, is still a breath of fresh air, even 50 years later. (See the trailer below.) On May 28 Rialto is releasing a pristine 35 mm print with new subtitles struck from a restored negative supervised by Godard's director of photography, Raoul Coutard, who used a held-held camera with mostly natural light.

By Anne Thompson
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May 20, 2010 1:14 AM
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Cannes Starts Buying: Another Year, Heartbeats, Prey

American buyers are finally opening up their pocketbooks. As expected, the two first buyers are Sony Pictures Classics, which has picked up critics' fave Another Year, from Oscar perennial Mike Leigh, who has delivered yet another exquisitely acted meditation on the middle-aged human condition. Lesley Manville is tagged for Oscar consideration, especially with SPC behind her.

By Anne Thompson
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May 19, 2010 11:45 AM
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Match Factory Picks Up Miranda July's The Future

It's a sin that it's been five years since Miranda July won the Camera d'Or for her first feature, Me You and Everyone You Know at Cannes.

By Anne Thompson
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May 19, 2010 11:16 AM
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Phase 4 Acquires SXSW Audience-Award Winner Brotherhood in Cannes Market

Rising indie distributor Phase 4 Films, in Cannes for the second time, has scooped up North American rights from the Cannes Film Market to SXSW audience-award-winner Brotherhood. Berry Meyerowitz, president & CEO of the year-old distrib, plans a late 2010 release for rookie director Will Canon's college fraternity hazing thriller starring Jon Foster, Trevor Morgan, Arlen Escarpeta, and Lou Taylor Pucci. The film is based on Canon's NYU film school short Roslyn, which aired on HBO, Showtime and the Sundance Channel. Canon participated in the new Directors Lab at Fox Searchlight.

By Anne Thompson
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May 19, 2010 4:51 AM
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Mubi's Big Move is Sony PlayStation 3

Mubi CEO Efe Cakarel has made a major move: partnering with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to put the global online cinema site Mubi (nee The Auteurs) on Sony PlayStations in Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. Cakarel made the announcement at a Majestic press conference, along with Andrew House (CEO of SCEE), Hengameh Panahi (CEO of Celluloid Dreams) and director Agnès Varda. Mubi will be available on PS3s in the U.K., Ireland, France, and Germany this fall, but will not broaden to 18 more countries until spring. House says he is taking a wait and see attitude about when to launch in the U.S. and Japan. Talks are ongoing.

By Anne Thompson
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May 18, 2010 9:53 AM
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Gilliam Restarts Don Quixote with McGregor

I ran into Terry Gilliam on the Croisette, surrounded by admirers. He had been doing meetings at the Majestic to fill some gaps in the financing for his Don Quixote movie. I find it slightly depressing that world-class filmmakers like Gilliam and Julie Taymor are forced to hawk their wares at Cannes to raise financing for their films. Gilliam laughed. "I'm whoring from one hotel to the other," he said.

By Anne Thompson
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May 18, 2010 4:49 AM
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Page Stars in Nyswaner's Freeheld

Endgame Entertainment is financing writer-director Ron Nyswaner's Freeheld, based on Cynthia Wade's Oscar-winning documentary short about New Jersey car mechanic Stacie Andree (Page) and her detective partner’s struggle to obtain pension benefits after she is diagnosed as terminally ill. The feature has lined up Juno star Ellen Page (Gawker's shameless headline: Ellen Page is a Lesbian). Endgame's James Stern (Every Little Step) will produce with Wade, Double Feature Films’ Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher and Vie Entertainment’s Kelly Bush.

By Anne Thompson
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May 18, 2010 4:08 AM
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Cannes No-Shows: Scott, Penn, Godard

The Festival d'auteurs was willing to bend over backwards to get Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life--to the point of not forcing him to do any press, which is not their usual practice. But he still said no.

By Anne Thompson
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May 17, 2010 11:21 AM
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Biutiful Stars Bardem, Inspires Polarized Reaction, Seeks Distrib

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is nothing if not consistent. Over his career--until now, working closely with non-linear novelist/scenarist Guillermo Arriaga--he has crafted a series of films (Amores perros, 21 Grams, Babel) about people in trouble who behave badly, who are in terrible pain. His camera (in this case, wielded by frequent collaborator Rodrigo Prieto) moves freely, swirling around his characters and boring in on their inner thoughts, seeking emotion, emotion, emotion. That's Gonzalez Inarritu's great passion.