Thompson on Hollywood

Polanski's Ghost Writer Scores Six at European Film Awards

The European Film Awards are not predictive of Oscars. But six wins for The Ghost Writer moves the film to the top of the screener pile. Maybe some folks will watch it now. One of my favorite films of last year, it shares with Shutter Island and The Town a formal elegance and control. These films are well-made across the board. But they are also genre films, accessible and fun--as opposed to high art. That is the question. This is no The Pianist. Summit is pushing the movie for awards consideration.

By Anne Thompson
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December 4, 2010 9:52 AM
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Doug Liman Talks Fair Game, CIA Spies, Valerie Plame, Bourne, Jumper, New York vs. Hollywood

Director Doug Liman fascinates me. He's hard to get a handle on. An indie filmmaker who broke through with Swingers and Go, after his smash hits The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Liman became a Hollywood director for hire (see: Warners' upcoming All You Need is Kill and Universal's Moon project).

By Anne Thompson
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November 24, 2010 4:52 AM
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Oscar Watch: How Box Office Impacts Oscar Contenders

Does a film's box office performance have an impact on its Oscar hopes? TOH box office analyst Anthony D'Alessandro crunches the numbers and evaluates the current field of Oscar contenders.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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November 11, 2010 9:00 AM
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Di Bonaventura Sees Old People; Scores with Red

The beauty of success in the movie industry is that it often comes to people who zig when others zag, who have the balls to call something and fight for it. Recession times don't encourage risk-taking, so I am happy to report that producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has not given up the maverick streak encouraged by his bosses during his glory days running production at Warner Bros. (Training Day, Three Kings, The Matrix). Now a heavyweight producer at Paramount, Di Bonaventura (Transformers, Salt) saw the potential in the dark DC graphic novel Red--about a CIA agent who fights against the dying of the light the only way he knows how--and kept pushing to get it made. That involved trying and failing to get Warners (which has a deal with DC) to back it, extricating the title from DC and finding another financeer, which turned out to be Summit, whose production chief Eric Feig, another smart cookie, saw the gold in Twilight early on, and saw it in Red too.

By Anne Thompson
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October 24, 2010 3:50 AM
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Casting Watch: Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Adds Lee Pace, Joe Anderson, Noel Fisher

Stop the presses! Director Bill Condon has cast the covens and nomads in Summit's next iteration of Twilight, Breaking Dawn. Ordinarily this sort of casting minutiae would not warrant a full-scale press release, but Twilight fans can't get enough info about the vampire world first imagined by novelist Stephenie Meyer. So for those of you who care, the actors cast in the Amazon, Egyptian, Irish and Romanian Covens as well as the American and European Nomads are listed below. They join returning leads Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

By Anne Thompson
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October 13, 2010 9:39 AM
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Beaver Director Foster is Loyal to Gibson, but Forget Oscars

Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson have been close friends for sixteen years, since they met on the set of Maverick. Foster stands up for him each time he gets himself into terrible trouble--and worries about his drinking--and this time is no exception. She gave a long-lead interview to More Magazine, which was originally timed to come out in conjunction with the release of her new movie The Beaver, in which Gibson stars as a man who talks to a sock puppet. Word is, he's very good in the picture, which was in the mix for a Toronto berth worthy of a serious adult drama with awards potential. Foster described her star to More as the "easiest, nicest person I've ever worked with...The second I met him, I said, 'I will love this man for the rest of my life.' "

By Anne Thompson
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September 23, 2010 9:43 AM
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Clip Watch: Mirren, Willis Play CIA Seniors in Red

Summit introduced their grown-up thriller Red at Comic-Con, where star Helen Mirren wore an American Splendor t-shirt in solidarity with the late great Harvey Pekar.

By Anne Thompson
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September 17, 2010 9:46 AM
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Waiting for Malick: The Tree of Life Should Open by Year's End

A new favorite sport among movie lovers is forecasting exactly when Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life will come out.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 1:06 AM
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Mid-Summer Box Office Wrap: Top Ten Chart, Studio Report Card

At mid-summer, the box office is lagging just behind last year's pace and ticket sales are flat, reports Anthony D'Alessandro, who charts the season's winners, losers and studio market shares so far (as of last weekend). Will red-hot Inception take the number one box office crown from Toy Story 3? Stay tuned, as numbers and rankings will change by Labor Day.

By Anthony D'Allessandro
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August 5, 2010 5:37 AM
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Comic-Con: Video and Art Round Up, Del Toro's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Check out some of new trailers and teaser clips revealed at the Con. Here's a compilation of visuals for Tron: Legacy, Megamind, RED, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Johnnie Depp made an amusing video appearance at the Disney panel Thursday, promoing the 3-D pursuit of the Fountain of Youth.