Thompson on Hollywood

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Lebanon Official Oscar Entry Where Do We Go Now?

With Almodovar's The Skin I Live In out of the foreign Oscar race (Spain chose Black Bread instead), as I had suggested, Sony Pictures Classics has indeed picked up U.S. rights to its fourth foreign language Oscar submission, Lebanon's Where Do We Go Now?, directed by Nadine Labacki, which played at Cannes and beat out considerable competition to win the audience award at Toronto.

By Anne Thompson
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September 28, 2011 12:18 PM
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Oscar Watch: Spain and Italy Snub Auteurs Almodovar and Moretti

On the foreign Oscar front Spain has disappointed Pedro Almodovar yet again by not picking The Skin I Live In, which failed to win a prize at Cannes. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the kinky thriller starring Antonio Banderas stateside. And Italy did not choose Nanni Moretti's non-award winning Cannes entry Habemus Papam, either, which IFC is releasing here.

By Anne Thompson
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September 28, 2011 5:23 AM
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Michelle Williams Lands Best Actress Honor at Sham Hollywood Film Awards

Remember, The Hollywood Film Festival is not a respectable fall fest. It's a well-timed award season facade which honors stars, filmmakers and craftspeople and lines the pockets of founder and internet magnate Carlos de Abreu. (Read all about it here.) But Hollywood players participate because the fest supports the award cause and provides vying Oscar contenders with yet another attention-grabbing red carpet showcase.

By Anne Thompson
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September 28, 2011 4:54 AM
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How Did Moneyball Director Bennett Miller Make a Smart Studio Movie? Brad Pitt.

Bennett Miller is not the first name that would come to mind as the director of Moneyball, which two years ago was a problem-plagued project stalled at Sony with $10 million in costs stacked against it from past writers Stan Chervin, Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin and departed directors David Frankel and Steven Soderbergh. And yet, for many reasons, Miller was just the right fit for this Sony adaptation of the 2003 Michael Lewis bestseller about Oakland As general manager Billy Beane. The movie launched to raves at Toronto and beyond and opened well this weekend. Now Oscars are in its sights.

By Anne Thompson
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September 26, 2011 8:25 AM
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First Poster Art for Zhang Yimou's Oscar Hopeful Flowers of War with Christian Bale Not Inspired

Picking the right poster art is an art in itself, and China's treatment for its official Oscar submission, Zhang Yimou's $90 million The Flowers Of War, leaves much to be desired.

By Anne Thompson
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September 26, 2011 7:41 AM
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Orgiastic Odyssey: Mark Cousins' The Story of Film

On the last days of the Toronto Film Festival, Meredith Brody settles into a fifteen-hour orgy of film history. If I wasn’t already a rabid cinephile, exposure to Mark Cousins' orgiastic The Story of Film: An Odyssey would turn me into one. I’d been looking forward to seeing the two-day screenings, eight hours on Saturday and seven on Sunday, since I caught a scant hour of it in Telluride, shown on an ordinary flat screen in a back room of an art gallery. But, over two days immersed in its entirety, I’m overwhelmed by its richness, depth, and philosophy. Cousins’ pleasing Irish brogue seduces as he narrates the entire 15 hours, a personal take on film history that will dazzle the neophyte but also holds surprises for the most devoted film geek. I already know I have a weakness for clip shows, but this is no mere clip show: it’s wittily written and the new footage shot all over the world (hence the “odyssey”) is meditative and cinematic in its own right.

By Meredith Brody
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September 24, 2011 9:16 AM
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Weekly Wrap: Oscar Talk, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Moneyball, Gordon-Levitt Interviewed on 50/50

WEEKEND PREVIEW:

By Maggie Lange
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September 23, 2011 10:29 AM
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Toronto Wrap: Best of Fest, Oscar Boosts, Winners and Losers

The trick with the fall film festivals is to gauge expectations going in vs. what was actually achieved. Various distributors launched their fall slates, and watched with pleasure or horror at how their movies were received by audiences and critics. Oscar contenders either moved forward in the awards race, or were pushed back. Other indies hoped their films would be picked up by the right distributor in time for this year's Oscar race. Some were, some weren't. It's tough for films that have already debuted at other festivals to pick up new momentum, although the press will bank features for release. The biggest noise goes to the new players, always.

By Anne Thompson
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September 21, 2011 7:04 AM
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That's a Wrap! Lee Daniels' The Paperboy with McConaughey, Efron, Kidman, Cusack

Director Lee Daniels has wrapped his follow-up to Precious, 60s erotic thriller The Paperboy. Shot around New Orleans, Lousiana, with Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo, Macy Gray and Scott Glenn, the film is based on Pete Dexter's novel and subsequent screen adaptation. Set in Florida, the synopsis is below. Release dates are pending as Toronto-generated pre-sales continue. As Daniels heads into post-production, he praises his cast for bringing "these offbeat characters to life. Everyone has knocked it out of the ballpark with their performances."

By Sophia Savage
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September 20, 2011 5:40 AM
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Rising Indie Music Box Buys U.S. Rights to Deep Blue Sea, Will Campaign for Weisz, Arentz Talks

Rising indie Music Box snapped up U.S. rights out of Toronto to Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston as mismatched lovers in post World War II London. The foreign language distrib, says managing director Edward Arentz, was ready to make the move to its first English-language pick-up. "Theaters and audiences are still out there," says Arentz. The film will play San Sebastian and close the London Film Festival before its UK opening on November 25.