Thompson on Hollywood

Doc/Fiction Hybrid The Arbor Wins Guardian First Film Award

Clio Barnard's film The Arbor has won The Guardian's First Film Award. The film is a about English playwright Andrea Dunbar, best known for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, an autobiographical sexual-adventures drama about teenage girls living in the slums of Bradford, England. The play was turned into a film by Alan Clarke in 1986 and caused un uproar with residents of the Buttershaw council housing estate, where Dunbar lived.

By Sophia Savage
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January 28, 2011 6:29 AM
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A Tale of Two Speeches, President Obama vs. King George VI

King George VI vs. President Barack Obama. The Huffington Post pegs both men's speeches against one and other and considers how they fared:"President Obama is facing a very hostile House of Representatives, and a country that is torn on the efficacy of his presidency, though they all knew he could speak. Firth (as King George) faced a unified nation, but a country torn on the efficacy of his speech. Oh, and a swarming enemy that was invading his little island. Both oversaw what could be considered empires at their crossroads. Here's a basic scorecard between the two."Here is the scorecard, King George VI's speech, a clip from the film (which Weinstein Co. may trim for a PG-13) and Obama's State of the Union, below:

By Sophia Savage
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January 27, 2011 2:07 AM
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Weekly Wrap: Sundance Kicks-Off, Awards Impact, More Remakes In The Works

SUNDANCE

By Sophia Savage
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January 21, 2011 7:17 AM
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BAFTA Nominations Analysis: The King's Speech Reigns

The BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, have announced their nominations, dominated, natch, by Tom Hooper's The King's Speech with fourteen. The film presumably has already made a strong showing on Oscar ballots which were due last Friday.

By Anne Thompson
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January 18, 2011 5:30 AM
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Brits Weigh In: King's Speech, Another Year Lead London Critics

Don't underestimate the Brit factor when it comes to Oscar influence. There are many Brit voters in the Academy. The London Critics Circle just gave boosts to two Brit films, The King's Speech (seven nominations, including Film of the Year, Brit film of Year and Actor of the Year, Colin Firth) and Another Year (six, including British Director, Mike Leigh, British Actress, Lesley Manville and British Actor, Jim Broadbent). The Social Network nabbed five noms, while Brit debut featureThe Arbor got four, along with Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit. Full list below.

By Anne Thompson
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December 21, 2010 5:08 AM
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Lesley Manville Talks Another Year, Mike Leigh

Of all the descriptions I've heard from various folks about the famed Mike Leigh process--whereby the writer-director starts at zero with a troupe of actors and winds up after a lengthy workshop period with a solid character-driven screenplay--long-term Leigh veteran Lesley Manville (All or Nothing, Topsy-Turvy) does it best. The actress is celebrating her first win, from the National Board of Review, for the role of a boozy sad-sack in Leigh's latest, Another Year. More may follow: the Academy voters have rewarded Leigh and his actors many times in the past.

By Anne Thompson
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December 3, 2010 7:24 AM
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Bawdy Night at Britannia Awards with Bridges, Sheen, White, Nolan, Scotts

BAFTA LA's Britannia Awards is a fun night of Anglophilic pleasure, especially when wry wit Stephen Fry plays host. He likes doing the Britannias because there are only five awards, which keeps the proceedings short, he says. And everyone knows they're going to win; otherwise 80 percent of the nominees are disappointed, getting drunk in the bar.

By Anne Thompson
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November 7, 2010 1:16 AM
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BAFTA LA's Britannia Awards To Premiere on TV Guide Network, Fry Hosts

I am so pleased that Stephen Fry will host the 19th annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles' (BAFTA LA) Britannia Awards on November 7. I follow him on Twitter and he is hilarious.

By Anne Thompson
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October 25, 2010 8:43 AM
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Oscar Watch: Costume Designer Powell Talks Young Victoria, Shutter Island and The Tempest

Costume designer Sandy Powell has won two Oscars out of eight nominations, for Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and John Madden's Shakespeare in Love. She's known for designing "modern" period costumes for such films as Gangs of New York and has worked repeatedly with Scorsese, Neil Jordan and Todd Haynes. After Shutter Island comes Julie Taymor's Shakespearean The Tempest. In this four-part flip-cam interview, Powell not only talks about her BAFTA and Costume Guild-winning costumes on The Young Victoria (which will likely win her a third Oscar), but ranges over other films in her long career as well.

By Anne Thompson
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February 27, 2010 2:14 AM
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Weekend Wrap: Hurt Locker Gains Ground at WGA, BAFTAs

This weekend's key awards events--the Writers Guild (WGA) and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) awards--did much to advance the inevitable march toward multiple Oscar wins for The Hurt Locker, which won original screenplay at both shows, and a total of six BAFTAs, including cinematography (Barry Ackroyd is a Brit), editing, sound, director and best picture. When the DGA, WGA and Editors Guild all give awards to the same film, reports Awards Daily, it wins best picture 100% of time. This time in her acceptance speech, Bigelow, the first woman to win a BAFTA for directing, made a call for "finding a resolution for peace."