Thompson on Hollywood

Recycling at the Cinema: True Grit, The Great Gatsby and RED

We all know recycling is good for the planet, but is it good for cinema? Consider three old-is-new retreads: a western remake, a 1920s period piece and a contemporary action flick. True Grit is a remake of a 1969 John Wayne film which was adapted from a novelization of a Charles Portis 1968 serial which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. The Great Gatsby started as a lauded 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel which became a film in 1926 and again in 1949 and 1974. Even comedy hit RED, although it is not based on a book or an old movie, still exists--argues Movie City News--due to recycling of the DC graphic novel's plot and characters. There's nothing new here: movies have been adapting popular fiction for as long as they've been around. What's horrifying is Hollywood's current aversion to anything original.

By Sophia Savage
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October 19, 2010 6:12 AM
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San Francisco Actuality, Days Before 1906 Earthquake

Much of downtown San Francisco was destroyed in 1906's infamous earthquake. How precious then is A Trip Down Market Street, an eleven minute film which 60 Minutes producer David Browning says "captures a city full of life and promise."

By Sophia Savage
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October 18, 2010 7:00 AM
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Sony Wants Jolie as Cleopatra, but Can They Land Cameron?

Sony envisions a mouth-watering Cleopatra franchise with Hollywood's only female action star, Angelina Jolie, as the mighty Egyptian Queen. James Cameron, post-Avatar, is being conjured to take on this project, reports Deadline's Mike Fleming, because he's one of the few directors Sony chairman Amy Pascal would trust with such a risky mammoth-budget 3-D period spectacle. But can she and producer Scott Rudin land him? (The answer I hear is yes).

By Anne Thompson
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October 15, 2010 7:20 AM
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SyFy's Hollywood Treasure: Help Find Dorothy's Ruby Slippers

Hollywood Treasure, SyFy's new docu-reality series, follows Joe Maddalena, the world's leading authority and auctioneer of original pop culture memorabilia. Think the Wicked Witch's hat from The Wizard of Oz or Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, which he is currently hunting down--they were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005. Maddalena will give you $10,000 if you help him find them.

By Sophia Savage
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October 12, 2010 12:32 PM
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Movie Monsters and Screenwriting Perspectives at Academy

Heading toward Halloween, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will celebrate the evolution of creature technology on October 21 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. "Monsters in the Movies" will include an on-stage discussion with industry technical experts plus film clips tracing technological progress from 1933's King Kong to 1993's Jurassic Park and beyond. A display of monster movie artifacts will welcome guests in the lobby. Click here for tickets and info.

By Sophia Savage
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October 7, 2010 6:04 AM
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Wes Anderson Picks Top Twelve Criterion Titles

When asked to deliver a list of his fave Criterion titles, Wes Anderson sent along twelve, with short write-ups.

By Anne Thompson
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October 6, 2010 9:16 AM
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TCM Promos Seven-Part Moguls & Movie Stars with Five City Exhibit/Tour

Turner Classic Movies is launching a five city multimedia, interactive, exhibit tour featuring Hollywood memorabilia from TCM’s original seven-part documentary series, Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood, which premieres November 1 at 8 PM (ET). The series delves into an in-depth history of Hollywood from its start in 1890 through 1970, including interviews with critics, filmmakers and film historians (Sidney Lumet, Richard Zanuck, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Peter Bogdanovich, Gore Vidal, Robert Osborne and Molly Haskell), the children of Hollywood's Golden Age, film clips and rare footage.

By Anne Thompson
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October 4, 2010 8:23 AM
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The Great Gatsby: Pitt vs. Pitt, Mulligan vs. Portman, Casting Poll

- The rumored Great Gatsby remake isn't that far along, it seems. While Deadline sets the record straight on the project's future--the remake might be Baz Luhrmann's next picture, but so might an original musical at Media Rights Capital--the movie does inspire juicy casting ideas.

By Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2010 8:20 AM
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Piling on Snow White, 360's Four-Poster Casting, BBC Lines Up Mendes, Campion, Hare

- Universal is finalizing a deal to land the latest public-domain brand-name fairy tale, Snow White and the Huntsman, written by Evan Daugherty and to be directed by commercials-turned-feature director Rupert Sanders.

By Sophia Savage
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September 30, 2010 7:21 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.