Thompson on Hollywood

Amazon Studios Director Roy Price Talks Second-Year Changes

News

It's more than a year since Amazon Studios launched its radical new approach to making movies. Where are they now? Well, Amazon Studios director Roy Price has finalized a development slate of fifteen projects in the works.

By Anne Thompson
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April 6, 2012 4:29 PM
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Trailer Watch: Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' Punches America in the Face

Video

Keith Olbermann anyone? Actually, Jeff Daniels' news anchor, at the start of Aaron Sorkin's new HBO series "The Newsroom" (June 24), is an upstanding objective news anchor without political bias until he completely loses it--under video grilling that goes viral. Like Peter Finch in Sidney Lumet's 1976 "Network," he's mad as hell and he isn't going to take it anymore. Daniels ("The Squid and the Whale") is a terrific actor; I first met him at the start of his career, playing Debra Winger's husband Flap, on the set of "Terms of Endearment" in 1982.

By Anne Thompson
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April 3, 2012 3:51 PM
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Now and Then: In Two Foer Adaptations, Surprises and Disappointments Abound

Reviews

I'll admit it came as a shock, near the end of "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," to find myself crying. As it turns out, movies can still surprise us, and I don't just mean that they defy the expectations set by Rotten Tomatoes. I mean they can, in the midst of things, find what they've been missing.

By Matt Brennan
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April 2, 2012 12:29 PM
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Obit: Screenwriter Tonino Guerra, Three-Time Oscar-Nominee, Has Died

News

One of cinema's greatest writers, three-time Oscar nominee Tonino Guerra, has died. The poet/screenwriter from Northern Italy had just turned 92 on March 16. Guerra wrote over 100 screenplays, including "L'avventura," "La notte," "L'eclisse," "Red Desert," "Blow-Up," and "Zabriskie Point" for Antonioni;

By Anne Thompson
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March 21, 2012 1:43 PM
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Deadlines Approach for Academy's 2012 Nicholl Screenwriting Competition

Awards

Proof-reading your screenplay? The deadline for the Academy's 2012 Nicholl Screenwriting Competition is approaching.

By Maggie Lange
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March 15, 2012 12:51 PM
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Memoir of a Character Actor: Dark Visions of a Golden Age

Reviews

Rick Lenz's memoir "North of Hollywood" is full of "good drinkers." Jason Robards was one, shimmying up a flagpole one night; George C. Scott was another. Jackie Gleason, smashed through much of the shoot of a failed comedy called "How Do I Love Thee?" (1971), is not counted a "good drinker." He couldn't hide the slosh behind the smile.

By Matt Brennan
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March 7, 2012 11:37 AM
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TV News: 'Blood' Loses Ball, Lucy Liu First Female Watson for 'Elementary,' Robb for 'Carrie Diaries'

Television

Lucy Liu will play Watson in CBS' modern take on Sherlock Holmes, "Elementary." The pilot will star Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, living in New York City...

By Sophia Savage
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February 28, 2012 1:42 PM
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Saturday Night at the CAS and USC Scripter Awards

Awards

The Sound and Editing Awards were given out tonight, and winners were "Hugo" and "The Descendants" and "The Artist, respectively.

By Anne Thompson
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February 19, 2012 3:14 AM
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Oscar Watch: William Joyce Talks Brave New Interactive World of Oscar Winner 'Fantastic Flying Books' UPDATED

Awards

Who says high and low tech can't come together in animation and publishing?

By Bill Desowitz
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February 11, 2012 7:22 PM
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USC Scripter Award Nominations For Adapted Screenplays Include 'A Dangerous Method,' 'Jane Eyre'

Awards

One of the awards I vote for is the University of Southern California's Scripter Awards. Like the AFI Awards, the Scripters are voted on by a mix of industry insiders (many of them screenwriters), academics and critics. The idea is to award the adaptation of a previous work, so these awards have some influence on the adapted screenplay Oscars. Happily, the first three nominees are on my ten best list; all five are in my top twenty.