Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Talk Mid-Summer Outlook: New Rules, Midnight in Paris, Streep vs. Close

Kris Tapley and I reconvened over Skype for a mid-summer Oscar Talk (below). We covered quite a bit of ground. New Academy rules affect the top ten best picture ballot, VFX, documentaries and animation, but not foreign eligibility. New members may tip the scale as well on a more mainstream selection.

By Anne Thompson
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July 8, 2011 5:08 AM
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This is What Money Looks Like: Hollywood's Highest Paid Actresses...Is There A Magic Formula?

Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker lead the pack of women racking in the dough Hollywood-style. Gender-transcending movie star Jolie is no surprise (she would easily double her earnings if she said yes to every project she was offered), while Parker's success is due mostly to the Sex and the City franchise and her perfume line. The rest of the top ten: Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon at $28 million each, Julia Roberts and Kristen Stewart at $20 million, Katherine Heigl ($19 million), Cameron Diaz ($18 million), Sandra Bullock ($15 million) and Meryl Streep ($10 million).

By Sophia Savage
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July 7, 2011 6:36 AM
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Oscar Watch: Streep Keeps Pearls in Iron Lady Teaser: Faces New Oscar Rival

Pathe has released a new teaser (below) for Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady (December 16). Could this be Oscar number three for Academy perennial Meryl Streep, with a record 16 nominations?

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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July 7, 2011 4:51 AM
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Oscar Watch: Skin I Live In Gets October Date; Carnage Goes to November, Holiday Sked Shapes Up

The earlier a high-prestige art house movie opens in the fall, the less likely that its distributor harbors serious Oscar hopes for it. In other words, if Sony Pictures Classics moves Pedro Almodovar's retitled Skin I Live In from November to October, and slates Roman Polanski's Carnage on November 18, it means the latter is being given the Oscar advantage. Almodovar's kinky thriller starring Antonio Banderas met a mixed reception in Cannes. "This is not a move," asserts SPC co-president Michael Barker. "We never set the date until now. We were always going in the Fall. It is a great date."

By Anne Thompson
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June 27, 2011 1:50 AM
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Tommy Lee Jones Joins Meryl Streep and Steve Carell for Great Hope Springs

Tommy Lee Jones will play Meryl Streep's husband in Great Hope Springs, with Steve Carell playing their relationship guru.

By Sophia Savage
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May 19, 2011 7:29 AM
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Cannes: Weinstein Co. on Buying Spree, Acquires Iron Lady, Starring Streep as Thatcher

The Weinstein Co. is on a Cannes buying spree. Having acquired distribution rights to The Artist and Wu Xia, they have now picked up US rights for under $7 million from Pathe International to market title The Iron Lady, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Meryl Streep (star of Lloyd's Momma Mia!) and Jim Broadbent as UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband, Denis.Thatcher broke gender and class barriers to rise to power as Britain’s Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. The distrib is hosting several celebratory Croisette parties Friday.

By Anne Thompson
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May 13, 2011 2:00 AM
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Meryl Streep & Jim Broadbent in Margaret Thatcher Biopic The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent star in Phyllida Lloyd's Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady, her follow-up to global blockbuster Mamma Mia!. Check out the new still from the film, which started filming the end of January. Here's more on the project, including some of Margaret Thatcher's famous quotes.

By Anne Thompson
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April 22, 2011 7:38 AM
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Post-Oscar: Weinstein Co.'s Future Slate, PG-13 King's Speech

The question for The Weinstein Co. post-Oscars: how will the company run going forward? Will Harvey Weinstein's restored Oscar mojo with The King's Speech's four Oscar wins unleash his voracious appetites (he has been in buying mode), or will he keep himself in line?

By Anne Thompson
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March 25, 2011 6:14 AM
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Streep Starts Filming Iron Lady Thatcher Role, in Talks for Great Hope Springs with Prada's Frankel

Meryl Streep is portraying Margaret Thatcher (with Jim Broadbent as her husband) in The Iron Lady, director Phyllida Lloyd's follow-up to global blockbuster Mamma Mia!, which started principal photography in London on January 31.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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February 8, 2011 6:10 AM
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Golden Globe-Winning Actors: What's Next for Portman, Firth, Leo, Bale, Bening, Giamatti

Heat rises when an actor enters the awards fray. Look at how Helen Mirren (The Queen), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Melissa Leo (Frozen River), particularly, parlayed Oscar attention into serious careers. Take a look at the slates (including soon-to-be-released, rumored, in-production and in-development projects) lined up for this year's Golden Globe-winning actors Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, Annette Bening and Paul Giamatti. We start off with Portman, who has so much lined up that she risks overexposure: