The deal on The Wanted sequel: Universal wanted Angelina Jolie to star. That meant that she had to approve the script—which had to persuasively bring her back from certain death. Once she turned the movie down, Universal killed the sequel—what could have been a valuable franchise for the studio—and Jolie is moving on to space thriller Gravity, for Warners, reports New York Vulture.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Genres, Sequel, Headliners, Angelina Jolie on February 25, 2010 at 4:44pm PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
I am surprised by the film industry and the media’s continued willingness to give a free pass to entrepreneur Carlos de Abreu’s Hollywood Film Festival, a cannily constructed facade which honors stars, filmmakers and craftspeople and lines the pockets of de Abreu.
He’s created an awards show timed perfectly at the height of the awards season, which he presents inside the context of a film festival. While it is not considered to be a bonafide quality film fest curated by top programmers, like Telluride, Sundance or New York, and its premieres are often less than stellar, Hollywood players participate because it supports the award cause. It gives vying award season contenders yet another opportunity to grab attention. If de Abreu gives an award, why wouldn’t any self-respecting self-promoting player show up for their five minutes of PR? This years award-winners include Hilary Swank (Amelia), Robert DeNiro (Everybody’s Fine) Julianne Moore (A Single Man), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Relativity mogul Ryan Kavanaugh.
Here’s some background.
[Photo: courtesy Getty Images]
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Golden Globes, Oscars, Directors, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Festivals, Headliners, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nic Cage, Tom Cruise on October 19, 2009 at 5:31pm PDT | Permalink | Comments (7)
The one year that I covered the Hollywood side of the Vanity Fair New Establishment List, I found that the final list reflected less accurate reporting than who was a possible cover subject or socialized with editor Graydon Carter. This year the nasty economy allowed VF to trim some familiar names while the Hall of Fame protects some Carter cronies.
This year Silicon Valley comes on stronger than ever.
As for Hollywood, I’m not sure why Steven Spielberg goes up. DreamWorks did raise some money, but less than was expected, and it took longer. But for the moment, Spielberg does have it. And he got much of it from Anil Ambani, his Reliance backer, who goes down on the list from 67 to 97. Go figure. NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker is up? Because of Hulu? CAA’s Bryan Lourd is back, well ahead of Ari Emanuel, who had to be on the list. But the entry makes no mention of how he pushed out Jim Wiatt and came out on top in the William Morris/Endeavor merger. The beleaguered Weinsteins are still on the list, down four points to 91. Imagine’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are down just two after success d’estime Frost/Nixon and Angels and Demons, which made up its domestic losses abroad.
Pixar is up dramatically: right call. Star Trek‘s J.J. Abrams enters at 27. Judd Apatow is up after his movie Funny People disappointed. Movie star Meryl Steep enters the list behind Pitt, Jolie, Clooney and Hanks, who are lauded more for their political clout than their movie stardom. DeNiro is on because of Tribeca, not What Just Happened? or Righteous Kill.
New entries include Tyler Perry, Ryan Kavanaugh, Michael Bay, TMZ’s Harvey Levin, Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and NBC Universal’s Lauren Zalaznick, one of the few women on the list.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Directors, Steven Spielberg, Headliners, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Independents, Weinsteins, Moguls, Studios on September 3, 2009 at 1:16am PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)
by Anne Thompson, posted to Headliners, Angelina Jolie, Studios, Universal/Focus Features on August 25, 2009 at 10:55pm PDT | Permalink | Comments (14)
Given that I’d already seen Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds twice, I blew off the L.A. premiere in favor of a family birthday dinner at El Cholo (Nora and Jake made red velvet cupcakes with white frosting). Luckily, there was plenty of other coverage. UPDATE: Here’s Marc Malkin. And yes, Angelina wore black leather.
[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles]
by Anne Thompson, posted to Directors, Quentin Tarantino, Genres, Period, Headliners, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Independents, Weinsteins on August 11, 2009 at 11:00am PDT | Permalink | Comments (4)
The most remarkable thing about the top-ranked players in the Forbes Star Currency list (which measures power, money and fame) is that Angelina Jolie competes head-on with Johnny Depp, her partner Brad Pitt, and Will Smith. It helps that she nabbed an Oscar nom for Changeling. But she’s ranked so high because of Wanted. She nabbed $15 million to anchor that movie, because she’s an action star, the first ever to compete on a level playing field with her male peers. The studios will even give Jolie a role written for a man: she replaced Tom Cruise in Phil Noyce’s upcoming studio thriller Edwin A. Salt.
There was a time when movie audiences would not accept a woman with a gun. James Cameron’s kick-ass heroines Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton were understood to be fighting to save the world—and protect children. Somehow, from Tomb Raider to going mano a mano with Pitt in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jolie has been able to push the limits for women in action.
There is a downside to Jolie’s action stardom, though, just as there is with Cruise. She’s bigger than life. She’s a huge celebrity. She’s distracting.
Cruise and Jolie can be formidable in big movie star vehicles. Jolie was the only actor in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow who could comfortably inhabit that stylized fake universe. But what happens when she plays a real character in A Mighty Heart, Changeling or The Good Shepherd? No matter how skillfully she performs, she’s still Angelina Jolie.
Big movie stars are a distraction, especially when they are asked to be authentic real people, based on true stories, in naturalistic dramas. Cruise never quite disappeared into his role as heroic Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in Valkyrie. In theory the movie could have been made with a less well-known actor (who could have done the German accent), for less money and potentially more profit. (But Cruise was able to get it made.)
Meanwhile, Cruise is trying to claw his way back into commercial contention with The Tourist, Bharat Nalluri’s remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer, co-starring Charlize Theron, for Spyglass, and he’s also in talks to star opposite Denzel Washington in David Cronenberg’s film adaptation of the Robert Ludlum novel The Matarese Circle, for MGM (not UA). This should be well-tailored to the Cruise persona.
There’s little question that audiences want to see stars like Jolie and Cruise in movie star mode. And for the moment, both seem inclined to give them what they want.
originally posted on Variety.com
by Anne Thompson, posted to Genres, Action, Headliners, Angelina Jolie on February 12, 2009 at 8:14am PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
Anne Thompson does more than just break news; she provides an insider’s clear-eyed analysis of a business that defines culture at home and abroad.
Follow me on:
Oscar contender Sandra Bullock talks quality vs. crap.
Additional Videos:
