Thompson on Hollywood

McQueen's 'Twelve Years a Slave,' Starring Pitt, Ejiofor and Fassbender, Gets Oscar-Friendly 2013 Release Date

News

Fox Searchlight took a huge gamble picking up Steve McQueen's Toronto 2010 entry "Shame," starring Michael Fassbender as a tormented sex addict, which hit theaters in 2011. Fans of McQueen's work (which also includes 2008's "Hunger") have been chomping at the bit for his next film. Searchlight is giving his "Twelve Years a Slave" --starring dream team Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Fassbender--a limited release on the Oscar-friendly date of December 27, 2013.

By Beth Hanna
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April 2, 2013 2:06 PM
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Arthouse Audit: 'Hitchcock' and 'Rust and Bone' Fight for Attention

Box Office

In a weekend that had adult audiences flocking to theaters in numbers rarely seen apart from Christmas and New Year's weeks, core specialized theaters struggled to get their normal share of the action. Three potentially award-contending films opened, all with the kind of pedigree expected to make them stand out in the crowd. All of them did gain some traction, but none marked a successful Thanksgiving weekend opening.

By Tom Brueggemann
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November 25, 2012 4:27 PM
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Rating 'Psycho,' Behind-the-Scenes 'Hitchcock' and the Universal Hitchcock Fifteen

Features

I got over the awful HBO "The Girl," starring Toby Jones as Alfred Hitchcock and Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren, by watching the entire Dick Cavett Hitchcock interview. I had more fun with Thursday night's AFI FEST world premiere of Sacha Gervasi's light-hearted "Hitchcock," starring a superb ensemble led by Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren as the master auteur and his collaborator and wife Alma Reville, who the director thanked when he won his AFI Achievement Award, but I confess that I'd rather stick with the real thing.

By Anne Thompson
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November 2, 2012 2:23 PM
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EXCLUSIVE: 'Hitchcock' Set Visit with Gervasi, Hopkins, Mirren: "we explore the darker recesses of his mind"

Features

When it opens Nov. 23, Fox Searchlight’s “Hitchcock,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, will join a ‘frenzy,’ if you will, of new attention focused on the British master of suspense, including the HBO/BBC co-production “The Girl” and a year-long London celebration by the British Film Institute of Hitchcock’s entire oeuvre going back to the silent film era.

By Amy Dawes
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October 23, 2012 12:14 PM
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Producers Berger and Yerxa Talk 'Ruby Sparks,' 'Nebraska,' 'Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman,' 'Louder than Bombs'

Interviews

At a time when it has never been tougher to get a movie made, credit is due to indie producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, who have slowly but surely turned out quality indie pics ever since they hung their Bona Fide Productions shingle back in 1993. Their most recent film, romantic comedy "Ruby Sparks," marks the return to the screen of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, the husband and wife team who directed sleeper hit "Little Miss Sunshine"

By Anne Thompson
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August 14, 2012 4:19 PM
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Nicole Holofcener Starts Shooting New Movie for Fox Searchlight, Starring Keener and Louis-Dreyfus

News

Nicole Holofcener has started filming her fifth film, untitled, in Los Angeles. She has assembled quite a cast: regular alter-ego Catherine Keener ("Please Give"), Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep"), James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos"), Toni Collette ("Little Miss Sunshine") and 16-year-old fashion blogger (Rookie) and would-be actress, Tavi Gevinson, making her film debut. (That's why she was at the "Ruby Sparks" premiere!)

By Anne Thompson
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August 6, 2012 6:18 PM
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Arthouse Audit: New Releases Led by 'Ruby Sparks' Are Hurt By Olympics

Box Office

Four years ago at the 2008 Olympics opening, specialized distributors avoided the date like the plague for new releases. This year, several anticipated films opened--and none showed strength consistent with what has been a robust late spring/summer. As the games tend to appeal to older audiences, this is not particularly surprising.

By Tom Brueggemann
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July 29, 2012 2:41 PM
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Fox Searchlight Names Director Neil Burger for 'Animal Rescue' Adaptation from Dennis Lehane

News

Neil Burger will direct an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's short story "Animal Rescue" for Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertertainment after his surprisingly successful "Limitless" starring Bradley Cooper.

By Sophia Savage
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June 12, 2012 4:27 PM
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Arthouse Audit: 'Moonrise Kingdom' Conquers More Box Office; Specialized Success of The Year

Box Office

The news this week is in the expanding films. Two huge hits-- a phenomenal second week for Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" and more success for "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"-- joined with two other decently grossing expansions-- "Intouchables" and "Bernie"-- to provide an even better early June than last year.

By Tom Brueggemann
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June 3, 2012 2:55 PM
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Trailer Watch: 'Ruby Sparks' is Hipster Pygmalion with Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan

News

Fox Searchlight reveals the poster, promo photos, and a trailer (posted below) for their latest quirky number - "Ruby Sparks" - with Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, "Ruby Sparks" tells what amounts to a hipster pygmalion: a young novelist (Dano) suffers from writer's block and love life woes, until he starts to write a character so adorable that she manifests.