Thompson on Hollywood

Working Title's Fellner Talks Slate, Oscar Bait Anna Karenina & Tinker Tailor, Bad Movies

What a difference an Oscar season makes. Back during the crash of 2008, when the indie market was in free fall, a new set of rules emerged: no dramas. That's how a little movie called The King's Speech was turned down by most Brit and U.S. backers, except UK's Momentum and Harvey Weinstein, who didn't need to get anyone's approval. He knew a likely Oscar contender when he saw one.

By Anne Thompson
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April 1, 2011 7:48 AM
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Genre Development: Sci-Fi Runner Lures Forster; Firth, Kidman & Wasikowska's Stoker; After Dogtooth

- The Runner is a futuristic sci-fi story about how the earth's surface is made uninhabitable by an attack and a group of survivors in the Rocky Mountains discover a way to send a man back in time to stop the devastation. But the man they send is secretly motivated by saving the love of his life. Disney is now developing The Runner as a vehicle for director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace); Imagine's Brian Grazer is producing alongside Brad Simpson, Forster's Apparatus Entertainment partner. Dave Andron, who originated the concept with Blacklight Transmedia, will write the script. Imagine and Disney are aiming for a transmedia franchise with The Runner intended for simultaneous TV, video game, graphic novel and hand-held interactive content.

By Sophia Savage
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March 9, 2011 6:38 AM
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Things I Learned On the Awards Party Circuit

On Oscar night I started on the red carpet --taking pictures, grabbing video interviews and tweeting madly--and then repaired to the interview room to listen to the show and backstage Q and As (transcripts here). After the best picture winners for The King's Speech had wrapped up, I walked over to the Governor's Ball just as Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban were leaving, heading down the escalator; the trio of winning producers, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, posed for me with their Oscars.

By Anne Thompson
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March 1, 2011 2:10 AM
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Oscar Talk: Final Edition, Oscar Wrap

It's a wrap, as In Contention's Kris Tapley and I analyze Sunday night's Oscar show winners and losers (below). Co-host Anne Hathaway came out ahead of James Franco, who seemed to be either too tired or too bored to do more than phone it in between tweets. (Caryn James' review is here.) Maybe he really was more comfortable at the Spirit Awards.

By Anne Thompson
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February 28, 2011 10:30 AM
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Oscars 2011: Best Actress & Actor Talk: Portman's "Little Dancer," Firth Threatens Dance Moves

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

By Sophia Savage
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February 28, 2011 6:01 AM
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Oscars 2011: Best Screenplay Winners Seidler & Sorkin Talk King's Speech and Social Network Wins

Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King's Speech

By Sophia Savage
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February 28, 2011 5:23 AM
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Live at the Oscars: Best Picture Goes to Period Drama The King's Speech, with Four Wins

The best picture Oscar, inevitably, goes to The King's Speech, which earlier in the Oscar show looked like it wasn't winning anything, but eventually won the night with four Oscars: best original screenplay, director (Hooper talks win), lead actor and best picture. A bevy of producers surged onto the stage, revealing the difficult task of getting the film made.

By Anne Thompson
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February 28, 2011 4:31 AM
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Oscar Predicts Chart 2010

Here's my list of predictions for Oscar wins (in italics) in all categories including shorts. (My nominations predictions are here.) Until February 27th!

By Anne Thompson
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February 26, 2011 12:51 AM
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Mark Your Ballots: Anne Thompson Predicts Oscar Winners

The Oscar polls closed on Tuesday at 5 PM. No more campaigning, lobbying or pitches for attention will make a difference now. It's all in the hands of the PriceWaterhousecooper counters, and will be revealed Sunday. Meanwhile the rest of us want to win our respective Oscar pools. This year, I must warn you, is tough to call. As Kris Tapley and I discuss in our latest Oscar Talk, there are plenty of sure-calls, but also several impossible-to-predict categories: documentary and foreign film, which are voted on by small groups who must prove that they've seen all the films, and supporting actress. The shorts are always a bit of a crap shoot too. Warning: I'm going out on a limb in a few categories, so when in doubt, choose the perceived frontrunner.

By Anne Thompson
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February 25, 2011 8:17 AM
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5 Comments

Cinematography: Best Shots of 2010, First Look at Malick's Untitled Film

Kris Tapley's Top Ten Shots of the year (parts one and two) is always something to look forward to. 2010's selection may not top the spectacular 2007 picks, but it's not always about the single image, Tapley explains: "...great cinematography isn’t (and shouldn’t be) dependent on singular frames or visual moments, but the overall canvas and mise-en-scene delivered from beginning to end. I have a lot of fun digging into the visual vocabulary of a year in film and, to say the least, discussing that vocabulary with the craftsmen and women involved, so who can complain? I hope you enjoy."