Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Red Carpet: Wolfgang, Price Waterhouse, and the Rain!

It was pouring rain for a bit on the red carpet; The tarps held up but there were gaps and handlers were whipping out umbrellas. Virginia Madsen got caught and had to wait for someone to cover her. The dynamic changed.

By Anne Thompson
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March 7, 2010 11:37 AM
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Oscar Party Circuit: HBO and Weinstein Co.

The Oscar party circuit continued Saturday night with HBO's Peninsula party, presided over by documentary doyenne Sheila Nevins. (Five out of the eight doc Oscar-nominees are connected to HBO.) Rob Kenner admitted that he's never been involved with a movie that has done as much publicity as Food Inc., while Roadside Attractions co-heads Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff were crossing their fingers that Oscar predicters are right to place The Cove as the front-runner to win the doc Oscar.

By Anne Thompson
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March 7, 2010 9:09 AM
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Jodie Foster Talks Indie Spirits

Jodie Foster has said this before: she's more comfortable in mainstream Hollywood movies as an actress. Some folks got her her talking at the Indie Spirits, where she presented the best actress award. She reveals a bit about directing her latest indie movie starring Mel Gibson, The Beaver.

By Anne Thompson
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March 6, 2010 10:14 AM
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Indie Spirits: Precious Sweeps, Izzard and LA Live Fizzle

Take the Independent Spirits back to the beach!

By Anne Thompson
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March 6, 2010 5:24 AM
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Final Oscar Picks: The Hurt Locker vs. Avatar

Here are my final picks for this year's Oscars.

By Anne Thompson
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March 6, 2010 1:38 AM
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Oscar Talk Episode 24: Final Oscar Picks

Kris Tapley and I agree on many things, but as we make our final Oscar picks, we debate the last contentious categories: original screenplay, cinematography, art direction, editing and yes, best picture. We will analyze the winners on Monday.

By Anne Thompson
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March 6, 2010 1:09 AM
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Oscar Coverage Round-Up

IndieWIRE's Sophia Savage culls the best of the Award coverage leading up to the Big Show Sunday night:

By Sophia Savage
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March 5, 2010 8:39 AM
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Oscar Party Circuit: from Sunset Strip to Gabourey Sidibe

My Oscar party week started out Wednesday night with The Cove at Andaz on Sunset, where Russell Simmons held court and Ben Stiller admitted that he had seen Oscar doc front-runner The Cove three times. On Noah Baumbach's Greenberg, Stiller said it was a huge relief to follow the script, word for word. (One of the Greenberg locations was Baumbach's wife, producer-star Jennifer Jason Leigh's mother's house.) Stiller and Rhys Ifans only improvised one scene, Stiller said.

By Anne Thompson
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March 5, 2010 7:43 AM
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Avatar Novel and Sequel: Fran Drescher's Audition

Last June producer Jon Landau gave me the flip cam interview below (for a Popular Mechanics Avatar feature I was writing) in the Lightstorm screening room the day he and James Cameron made their big videogame presentation at E3. I was about to see about fifteen minutes of 3-D footage from Avatar--which blew me away. It's hard to recall how nervous and concerned Landau and Fox and Cameron were about selling this unbranded original movie. Remember how badly the first online trailers played on Avatar Day, August 21? The rest, shall we say, is history.

By Anne Thompson
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March 5, 2010 12:31 AM
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Oscar Scandal: Career Boost for Hurt Locker's Chartier?

The Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier insists that he is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Late Wednesday night, drink in hand, pool side at Andaz above Sunset at a pre-Oscar party for The Cove, Chartier wasn't acting like a Hollywood pariah.