Thompson on Hollywood

Starry Night at Governors Awards Fete: Coppola, Wallach, Brownlow and Controversial Godard

Walking into the second annual Academy Governors Awards reception, I was gobsmacked by who was milling in front of the photographers at the entrance. 12-year-old Elle Fanning posed with her Somewhere co-star Stephen Dorff and The Ghost Writer's Olivia Williams; George Lucas was chatting up Godfather stars Robert Duvall and James Caan, as Sofia, Francis Ford Coppola and his wife of 48 years, Eleanor, greeted Peter Fonda.

By Anne Thompson
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November 14, 2010 11:18 AM
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Scorsese and DiCaprio Talk Shutter Island, Aviator, Gangs of New York, Sinatra, Hugo Cabret

While Shutter Island is likely to earn several technical Oscar nominations, the fact that Paramount wrangled Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio for a satellite interview at L.A.'s Egyptian Theatre for award season promo purposes is news. Academy voters always take Oscar-winner Scorsese (The Departed) seriously, and the movie is a gorgeous exercise in period style. DiCaprio, who has three noms under his belt and no wins, probably has a better shot at a best actor nom for contender Inception, although that too is a stretch, partly because the actor makes these roles look too easy.

By Anne Thompson
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November 14, 2010 9:47 AM
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Production Watch: Dark Knight Rises (in 2-D), Aronofsky's Machine Man, Goodfellas TV Prequel

- The Dark Knight Rises for Chris Nolan, but his villain is still unclear: whoever it is (and it's NOT the Riddler), Heath Ledger's Joker will be impossible to top. By playing it safe with the title, Warner Bros. is betting that box office numbers will match those of Nolan's second Batman installment ($1 billion worldwide). Nolan confirmed the title and his successful resistance to 3-D to his usual journo source, LAT's The Hero Complex.

By Sophia Savage
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October 27, 2010 5:39 AM
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Scorsese and DiCaprio: A Retrospective

As part of Paramount's Shutter Island awards campaign, the American Cinematheque is mounting a two-day (Nov. 13-14) retrospective of director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio's partnership, from Gangs of New York and The Aviator to The Departed and Shutter Island. All four films will screen and DiCaprio (in person) and Scorsese (via satellite) will participate in a conversation on November 14.

By Sophia Savage
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October 22, 2010 9:00 AM
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Oscar Talk: Diane Lane vs. Annette Bening vs. Julianne Moore, Inception, Hereafter, The Way Back

There's still a long way to go in the Oscar race. Kris Tapley and I debate whether Secretariat is this year's mainstream Blind Side, Diane Lane is this year's Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening will both make it for The Kids Are All Right, and if Chris Nolan's Inception, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, Pixar's Toy Story 3, Peter Weir's The Way Back, and Clint Eastwood's Hereafter have a shot at the top ten.

By Anne Thompson
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October 9, 2010 1:39 AM
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King, Schlessel, Berney Talk FilmDistrict, Plan to Release Depp's Rum Diary, London Boulevard

When a market contracts, it offers opportunities to fill the void. As expected, having imported Sony heavyweight Peter Schlessel as president, producer Graham King of GK Films, backed by his financing partner Tim Headington, is pushing forward to fill the current distribution gap with FilmDistrict.

By Anne Thompson
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September 27, 2010 12:19 PM
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GQ Remembers Goodfellas, Affleck Defends I'm Still Here

- Celebrating Goodfellas' twentieth birthday (September 19, 1990), GQ interviews nearly sixty of the film's cast, crew and "noteworthy admirers." GQ calls it "one of the most endlessly rewatchable American movies ever made," and dubs it the "greatest gangster film of all time." Here's a taste from their interviews: Ray Liotta (Henry Hill): For twenty years now, there's not a day that goes by that I don't hear somebody mention GoodFellas. Unless I stay home all night. It's defined who I am, in a sense.

By Sophia Savage
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September 22, 2010 5:00 AM
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Boardwalk Empire: Best TV Pilot of 2010 and Third-Best Scorsese Movie of This Century

I have ordered my TiVo Season Pass to Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter's Boardwalk Empire, which starts on HBO tonight. TOH critic Tim Appelo has already seen it. "(Steve) Buscemi and (Michael) Pitt have roles to kill for, their best career catapults yet," Appelo writes in his rave review:In the Scorsese-directed kickoff episode of Boardwalk Empire (HBO, Sundays 9 pm), the nude flapper floozy Lucy (Paz de la Huerta) flops her boobs at the camera, bouncing atop Atlantic City gangster Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), and bellowing nasally, “GIDDYAP, COWBOY!” “Stop with the ‘cowboy’ shit!” snaps Nucky.

By Tim Appelo
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September 19, 2010 7:44 AM
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Scorsese's Mafia Movie Dream Team, Mulligan in My Fair Lady, Cher and Fonda Aging Gracefully?

- It sounds too good to be true; Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese all working on a hitman drama entitled The Irishman? It's one of a handful of projects Scorsese is considering for his next film (he's currently shooting 3-D Hugo Cabret with Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen). De Niro has been developing the picture at Paramount through his Tribeca Productions. The script is written by Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List, Gangs of New York, David Fincher's Dragon Tattoo series), based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & The Inside Story of The Mafia, The Teamsters, & The Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt. The title comes from the first words ever spoken from Jimmy Hoffa to Frank Sheeran (presumably Pacino and Pesci), the subtext approximating: "I heard you kill people and paint the walls and floors with their blood." With a title like that, what better cause to reunite this Goodfellas/Heat/Casino crowd?

By Sophia Savage
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September 14, 2010 3:46 AM
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Fox Picks Up Scorsese's Letter To Elia, HBO Grabs Lebowitz Doc

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is acquiring Martin Scorsese's A Letter To Elia, which played well in Venice and Telluride. The documentary chronicles the life and work of legendary (and controversial) director Elia Kazan. The film is included in Fox's November 9 DVD release: The Elia Kazan Film Collection. Scorsese shares director credit with Kent Jones.