Thompson on Hollywood

LAFF Review: Documentary 'Casting By' Heralds the Unsung Yet Crucial Art of the Casting Director

Reviews

“More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting,” says Martin Scorsese at the outset of Tom Donahue’s engrossing documentary “Casting By.” And he’s not alone in his feelings -- Woody Allen, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and a legion of others put in face time in the film to trumpet the importance of the unsung, highly intuitive art of casting. The result is a cinephile’s treat.

By Beth Hanna
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June 15, 2013 10:00 PM
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Summer Line-Up Lacks Women: Thank God for Paul Feig's 'The Heat' and Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine' (Trailers)

Box Office

We all know Hollywood ignores the female audience, because half of the moviegoing public supposedly can't be counted on to show up in vast numbers on opening weekends. But the male bias also exists on the media side: check out EW's May 17 forecast of the top ten box office movies of the summer.

By Anne Thompson
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June 12, 2013 4:28 PM
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Woody Allen Returns to France for Next Film Starring Colin Firth and Emma Stone

News

Woody Allen is returning to Europe this summer for the eighth time to shoot his next typically untitled comedy in southern France. British star Colin Firth and American actress Emma Stone topline the cast.

By Anne Thompson
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April 30, 2013 3:06 PM
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First Look: Fashionista Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine'

News

The first released image from Woody Allen's latest annual film, "Blue Jasmine," shows fashionable Manhattan housewife Cate Blanchett looking a tad malaise-stricken. Per usual the upscale comedy boasts a sprawling ensemble cast, including returning "To Rome with Love" star Alec Baldwin as a man in crisis, Peter Sarsgaard, Andrew Dice Clay, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Stuhlbarg and Louis C.K.

By Beth Hanna
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March 7, 2013 3:08 PM
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Weekend Recap: TWC Acquires Vampire Franchise, Hathaway Wants More Musicals, Diablo Cody Talks Stripping Double Standard

News

Check out our weekend Hollywood breaking news wrap on what you need to know: stories about Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Roman Coppola's love affair with Woody Allen, Diablo Cody on the gender double standard on stripping, Netflix's House of Cards, Anne Hathaway and Melissa McCarthy's future plans, Pyramid of Movie Kids, and more.

By Maggie Lange
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February 11, 2013 12:11 PM
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Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine'

News

In its sixth collaboration with Woody Allen, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all North American rights to his latest film "Blue Jasmine," which marks the New York auteur's return to his native environs. The distributor also released "To Rome with Love" and Allen's best-performing film to date, Oscar-nominated "Midnight in Paris."

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2013 11:38 AM
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Weekend Recap: Hollywood's Most Secretive Directors, Cinema's Future, Tina Brown, AMC vs. Dish

News

Secretive directors: In a world where new posters, trailers, and spoilers are prized and rumors are updated minute-by-minute, remaining a "secretive" director takes willpower and determination. A select few directors manage to keep a tight lid on their projects, and Vulture's Kyle Buchanan posted a list of the most clandestine of these. Hollywood's most secretive filmmakers? Christopher Nolan, Woody Allen, and the Wachowskis...

By Maggie Lange
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October 22, 2012 2:35 PM
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In The Works: Woody Allen Does More Than Star in Turturro's Upcoming 'Gigolo'

News

I find it fascinating that Woody Allen would be so eager to play a pimp in John Turturro's upcoming portrait of a New York male prostitute, "Fading Gigolo," which was being sold at at Toronto. Turturro wrote and will direct the project, which is slated to shoot this fall, and will star as the gigolo.

By Anne Thompson
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September 24, 2012 4:52 PM
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Review Roundup: 'To Rome with Love' Not Wooing Critics

Reviews

Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love" had its stateside debut last night at the LA Film Fest, and American critics seem slightly more wooed by the director's latest loveletter to a foreign city than the Italians, but not by much. Review round-up below.

By Anne Thompson
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June 15, 2012 3:03 PM
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Woody Allen Completes Casting Untitled Stateside Film

News

Woody Allen has completed casting his latest untitled film, which returns him stateside to New York and San Francisco this summer. It's Allen’s second time directing in San Francisco, where he shot his directorial debut, 1969's "Take the Money and Run."