Thompson on Hollywood

The Social Network's Treatment of Women, Winterbottom's Kercher Murder Mystery to Star Firth

-It's no surprise that David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network is getting Oscar-buzz, zeitgeist hype and debates about what is fact and fiction. Now the role of women in the film is kicking up controversy. The Daily Beast's Rebecca Davis O'Brien argues that the femme roles are props in a film that "not only reflects its era, but will shape it." Stephen Colbert declares that there are no women of substance in the movie except for the small roles of lawyer Rashida Jones and Zuckerberg's scorning girlfriend Rooney Mara. The women in the movie are seen as liabilities, writes Jezebel, if not woefully disrespected.

By Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2010 6:28 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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Portman Gaining on Gravity, Sex and the City's Cattrall and Noth Attack Critics

Alfonso Cuaron is in "active negotiations" with Natalie Portman to star in Gravity after failed attempts by Universal and Warner Bros. to keep Angelina Jolie interested. Nor did Blake Lively or Scarlett Johansson gain serious traction. And an attempt to push Sandra Bullock also came to naught. The role will be a challenge; it might as well be the industry's current prima ballerina. Cuaron wrote the script with his son Jonas, whose Hollywood Gang-produced script for a Mexico City-based thriller was also just picked up by Warners.

By Sophia Savage
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September 29, 2010 6:58 AM
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Love & Other Drugs and Black Swan To Bookend AFI Fest

The American Film Institute's 2010 Festival will open November 4 in Los Angeles with the world premiere of Edward Zwick's Love & Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Closing the fest on November 11 is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis (which opened Venice earlier this month).

By Sophia Savage
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September 23, 2010 5:53 AM
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Exclusive Interview: Aronofsky Talks the "Nightmare" of Getting Black Swan Made

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan opened the Venice Film Festival and took the Lido by storm. I talked with the director about the long "nightmare" of getting the script right and financing the film, casting Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel, shooting in a gritty up-close verite style, and how he set about "creeping out" the audience.

By Anne Thompson
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September 15, 2010 1:19 AM
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Venice Wrap: Best of Fest, Winners and Losers, Golden Lion Goes to Somewhere

The Venice Film Festival, the oldest in the world, is winding up its 67th edition, my first. (UPDATE: The Golden Lion award went to Sofia Coppola's Somewhere on Saturday amid charges of favoritism on the part of jury president Quentin Tarantino; they once dated.) Venice is more intimate than Cannes, with less of a junket/market/party/circus feel, and very European. And yet for seven years fest director Marco Muller has lured more than a few star-studded Hollywood event films to the Lido (the small island is a vaporetto-ride from the most elegant tourist attraction in Europe). (Check out my flip cam interview with Muller below).

By Anne Thompson
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September 11, 2010 12:09 PM
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Telluride Wrap: Best of Fest

One great thing about The Telluride Film Festival: it's all over in four days. So as America gets back to work and school, Tim Appelo wraps up the best of the fest:

By Tim Appelo
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September 8, 2010 9:06 AM
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London Film Festival Announces Lineup

From October 13 through 28 the 54th London Film Festival will screen 197 features and 112 shorts hailing from over 67 countries. Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go will open the fest, and he will be the subject of one of the Screen Talks, along with Darren Aronofsky, whose Black Swan will also screen. Among the seventy American features playing are Derek Cianfrance's Sundance/Cannes holdover Blue Valentine [pictured], Tony Goldwyn's Conviction, Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff, Aaron Katz's Cold Weather and Danny Boyle's 127 Hours (which will close the festival). The festival is broken into several programs; Gala Screenings (The King's Speech), Film On The Square (Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme and Chad's A Screaming Man), New British Cinema (Gilian Wearing's debut Self Made), French Revolutions (Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies with Marion Cotillard and Lola Doillon's In Your Hands with Kristin Scott Thomas), Cinema Europa (Eva Green in Womb), World Cinema (Michael Rowe's Cannes Camera d'Or winner Leap Year), Treasures From The Archive (Edward Yang's [Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation] A Brighter Summer Day), and Experimenta (Sharon Lockhart's feature Double Tide). On September 28, the fest will announce the award shortlist.

By Sophia Savage
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September 8, 2010 5:51 AM
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Portman Offered Gravity, Defining Adult Films, Toronto's Most Anticipated

- In the ongoing saga of who will replace Angelina Jolie in the lead role in Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity--she twice rejected the starring role--Natalie Portman has been offered the role, thanks to rave reviews on her Black Swan performance. With or without Black Swan's vote of confidence, Portman is a strong (but young) choice. The age range of the character in Gravity is apparently flexible. Should Portman accept the role, this will be a chance for her to stand out (although Robert Downey Jr. carries some of the load), a la Tom Hanks in Cast Away or James Franco in 127 Hours. Risky Business lists Portman's growing collection of possible projects, including a Terrence Malick film with Brad Pitt, a Tom Stoppard piece written specifically for her, not to mention Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Tom Tykwer's star-packed (Hanks, James McAvoy, Halle Berry, Ian McKellan) Cloud Atlas (both slated for 2011). All along, the actress has made diverse choices, ranging from Heat (1995), which RottenTomatoes rates highest of all her films, when she was 14 (the unheard of Free Zone [2005] is the lowest) to Star Wars (1999, 2002, 2005) and Garden State (2004).

By Sophia Savage
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September 8, 2010 3:35 AM
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Oscar Talk: Venice and Telluride Film Festival

Anne Thompson is in Venice and Kris Tapley is in Telluride, but that doesn't stop the two from getting into this year's award hopefuls. Topics discussed include Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Tyler Perry's prospects, and Venetian rainstorms. Stay tuned for next week's Oscar Talk.