Thompson on Hollywood

Sony Pictures Classics Changes Title of Woody Allen Film--Again

News

Woody Allen is having serial title issues. Remember "Anhedonia"? That was the first title of Allen's "Annie Hall," which went on to win the 1977 best picture Oscar. Last year, Allen changed the title of his upcoming Rome comedy from "The Bebop Decameron" to "Nero Fiddled."

By Anne Thompson
|
March 19, 2012 4:26 PM
|
2 Comments

More:

IN THE WORKS: John Turturro Casts Woody Allen in His Bid for Commercial Success, 'Fading Gigolo' UPDATED

News

For the first time in over a decade, Woody Allen will play to another director. Fellow triple threat actor-writer-director John Turturro cast Allen in his upcoming "Fading Gigolo."

By Anne Thompson and Maggie Lange
|
March 7, 2012 12:10 PM
|
2 Comments

More:

Oscar Watch: Indie King Woody Allen PBS Doc Streams Online; Sister-Producer Letty Aronson Talks Overseas Shoots

Awards

Sony Pictures Classics has kept Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," not only his highest-grossing film ever, but also the year's most successful indie release, in theaters for almost nine months. And SPC is still campaigning to win a few Oscars (the likeliest is Best Original Screenplay) to add to Allen's three wins to date.

By Anne Thompson
|
February 15, 2012 3:23 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Woody Allen's DGA Speech: Says Awards Fall Somewhere Between Nobel Prize & Republican Primary

Awards

Woody Allen wasn't present at the DGA awards, where "The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius was the big winner, but that didn't stop him from stealing the show with a suitably neurotic speech via video. It went like this:

By Sophia Savage
|
January 31, 2012 2:36 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Oscar Watch: Entertainment Weekly's Annual Oscar Issue - Snubs, Shocks, Surprises

Awards

Entertainment Weekly's Annual Oscar Issue breaks down the nominees, throws down some surprising predictions, gives tribute to the shocking snubs, and adds insights on what you might have missed. (Another amusing way to catch up: LA Times' The Envelope's interactive cheat sheet.)

By Anne Thompson and Maggie Lange
|
January 26, 2012 10:31 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

DGA Nominees Include Surprise Fincher Nomination

Awards

The Directors Guild has announced the nominees for its 64th Annual DGA Awards, to be held on January 28. The DGA is a much larger and more populist voting group --14,000 strong--than the elite Oscar directors branch, which numbers around 400.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 9, 2012 1:08 PM
|
11 Comments

More:

Now and Then: For Woody Allen, the Place is the Thing, from Manhattan to Midnight in Paris

Reviews

When asked about Woody Allen's New York, critics often cite the glorious black-and-white Gershwin cinepoem that opens “Manhattan” (1979). I’ve always been partial, though, to the rough magic of Diane Keaton’s terrible driving in “Annie Hall” (1977). (See clips below.)

By Matt Brennan
|
December 19, 2011 12:16 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Oscar Talk: Impact of New York Critics, National Board of Review, Indie Spirits, We Bought a Zoo Review

Awards

By Anne Thompson
|
December 2, 2011 11:53 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

Oscar Talk: Spielberg's Tintin, Gothams, NY vs. LA Critics Votes, Animation and Foreign Debates

In Contention's British correspondent Guy Lodge reports on his viewing of The Adventures of Tintin during this week's Oscar Talk with Kris Tapley. "The action sequences are more fluid," Lodge says, than anything else in Steven Spielberg's work. A downhill chase through the streets of Morocco is "jaw dropping...it's such a ride." We debate how the Academy's animation branch will regard this motion capture adventure. Is Spielberg an interloper in their ranks? Will the mainstream Academy take the movie, which has been compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark, seriously? (Here's TOH's London review.)

By Anne Thompson
|
October 21, 2011 4:00 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Woody Allen Ditches Decameron Title for Nero Fiddled

With Woody Allen's summer hit Midnight in Paris his highest grosser ever and heading for Oscar contention, the filmmaker has seen the wisdom of changing the name of his next film, his first shot and financed in Rome, from The Bop Decameron, which got too many stares, says Allen, to the more accessible Nero Fiddled (2012). "I couldn't believe how few people had heard of The Decameron even in Rome," he says. "And the few that did assumed the movie was based on Boccaccio's tales which it's not." The change marks the second time Allen has altered a title; the first was replacing Anhedonia with Annie Hall, which went on to win the best picture Oscar.