Thompson on Hollywood

MTV's Eminem vs. Bruno Was Staged

Eminem and Sacha Baron Cohen rehearsed the flying stunt at the MTV Movie Awards dress rehearsal. HitFix has the details.

By Anne Thompson
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June 2, 2009 7:46 AM
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MTV Movie Awards: Twilight, Bruno vs. Eminem

The MTV Movie Awards, hosted by Andy Samberg, were the usual lackluster, pseudo-hip, mainstream youth alternative to the Oscars--and huge Hollywood marketing opportunity. Summer movies from Paramount (Star Trek, Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) and Warner Bros. (The Hangover) got promoed, but the big winner of the night was Summit Entertainment, which colluded with MTV and ardent fans to make the awards show a Twilight lovefest, with five wins.

By Anne Thompson
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June 1, 2009 7:48 AM
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Cannes Press Conference Erupts Over Trier's Antichrist

The Monday press conference for Lars von Trier's Antichrist was packed. Right out of the gate, The London Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye demanded that Trier justify his film. This immediately threw the filmmaker off, and he refused to expound on his thinking. "I don't have to justify," he said, his hand trembling.

By Anne Thompson
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May 18, 2009 9:34 AM
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Saving Journalism: from Obama to Pincus

President Barack Obama, at the end of his funny, barbed and self-mocking White House Correspondents speech, graciously thanked the assembled press corps for doing their jobs --even when he disagreed with them--and recognized that their profession was under duress. He wished them well as they reinvent journalism.

By Anne Thompson
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May 9, 2009 4:36 AM
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Transformers' Megan Fox Shoots Esquire Video

Clever marketing: put Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen star Megan Fox on the cover of Esquire. Shoot a Red One Camera video by Greg Williams to sell the cover story and photo layout--which come from the video shoot (a first). Let the video spread through the web like wildfire. (Which it would if they had provided embed code and allowed it to be uploaded on YouTube.) Annoyingly, you have to buy the magazine, which goes on sale May 10, to read the story and see the stills.

By Anne Thompson
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May 4, 2009 6:15 AM
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Media Future

Like it or not, both the publishing and media industries are undergoing seismic changes as they confront the digital future.

By Anne Thompson
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May 2, 2009 6:21 AM
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Time's 100 Influentials: Entertainment

This year, Time asked other "influentials" to write up their top 100 selections of the World's Most Influential People. That way we get filmmaker Peter Jackson profiling his Heavenly Creatures discovery, this year's best actress Oscar winner Kate Winslet; Roger Ebert pays tribute to documentarian Werner Herzog; best supporting actress Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz lands praise from Elegy co-star and fellow Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley; Claire Danes does the honors for Zac Efron; Alec Baldwin does his 30 Rock writer-director-co-star Tina Fey; You've Got Mail's Meg Ryan likes Tom Hanks; and Padma Lakshmi hearts Slumdog Millionaire Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman. Leonardo DiCaprio jumps the entertainment side to write up environmentalist Van Jones; Arnold Schwarzenegger praises Democrat and uncle-in-law Edward Kennedy; and Oprah Winfrey fusses over Michelle Obama. (My fave wrap-up of President Barack Obama's first 100 days is on Slate: his "Facebook page.")

By Anne Thompson
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April 30, 2009 6:35 AM
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Guilty Pleasures: Beautiful People

Here's a preview of People Mag's Most Beautiful People 2009 list. Channing Tatum's on it.

By Anne Thompson
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April 30, 2009 6:32 AM
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Will GE Sell NBC Universal to Time Warner?

As the reeling economy puts more pressure on Hollywood's giant conglomerates, and the Internet looms as the ultimate unknown devaluator, The Daily Beast's Kim Masters reports that at some point in time, whether it's sooner or later, General Electric will be forced to unload NBC Universal--no matter how well it's doing--and that Time Warner's Jeffrey Bewkes might not be able to resist buying it:

By Anne Thompson
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April 24, 2009 7:54 AM
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Star Stories, Google Trend Traffic

The new metric in journalism is online traffic. While the movie stars may not pull them in at the boxoffice like they used to, write a story about a star, and the traffic will come.