Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Watch: Director/Picture Splits, Black Swan Promo

- What are the odds of a director winning an Oscar without their film? LAT's new Awards Tracker blog considers the importance of the best director and best picture unity. "Over the past 20 years, the awards for best picture and director split only four times. That's 80% overlap," notes Tom O'Neil, pointing out that being "overdue" is a big factor. Could this happen with Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Christopher Nolan (Inception) or and Peter Weir (The Way Back)?

By Sophia Savage
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November 5, 2010 3:06 AM
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Oscar Talk Wrap-Up: Never Let Me Go Wanes, Foreign Contenders, Blue Valentine, Harry Potter

During this week's Oscar Talk podcast, Kris Tapley (InContention) and I were joined by indieWIRE's awards expert Peter Knegt and InContention's Guy Lodge, both in London covering the festival.

By Anne Thompson
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October 20, 2010 1:42 AM
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5 Comments

TIFF: Tony Goldwyn Talks Conviction, Betty Anne Waters, Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell

At this year's Toronto Film Fest, indieWIRE interviewed filmmakers and stars at Live at the Lounge every day. In my talk with Conviction director Tony Goldwyn (video below), he admitted, as David Schwimmer had several days earlier with rape drama Trust, that serious dramas are the hardest films to finance.

By Anne Thompson
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September 13, 2010 11:19 AM
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Trailer Watch: Conviction Tugs at Tear Ducts

Fox Searchlight is releasing the online trailer for Tony Goldwyn's R-rated Conviction today (below). This trailer will debut on E.T. tonight and hit theaters attached to the Duplass brothers' summer comedy Cyrus on Friday. The movie opens October 12.

By Anne Thompson
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June 17, 2010 11:08 AM
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Same-Sex Kissing, Jamie Bell for Spider-Man? Kutcher's Katalyst, Swank Gets Toothy for Carpenter

-Rumors are swarming that Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell is Sony's choice for Marc Webb's Spider-Man reboot. The young Brit is already the face of Tintin in Sony's Spielberg directed/Jackson produced CGI The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which comes out December 2011. Could Bell really be both Tintin and Spider-Man? Sony PR refuses to comment on such casting speculation.

By Sophia Savage
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June 7, 2010 8:00 AM
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Amelia: When Biopics Go Bad

What went wrong with Amelia?

By Anne Thompson
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October 23, 2009 4:11 AM
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Trailer Watch: Will Amelia Biopic Play?

I'll be showing Mira Nair's Amelia at Sneak Previews this week. I've seen the biopic of the vanished aviatrix Amelia Earhart, which stars Oscar magnet Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, and look forward to grilling the screenwriters, Ron Bass (Rain Man) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Gorillas in the Mist). The question at hand: how do you tackle a movie biography these days, when authenticity is at such a premium?