A prominent Hollywood marketing and branding guru has raised eyebrows by telling staffers that they should refrain from working with anyone who is “posting against Israel.”
Ashlee Margolis, founder of the Beverly Hills firm The A List, wrote an email to her staff about a new mandate to hit “pause on working with any celebrity or influencer or tastemaker posting against Israel.” The company, which is a fixture on red carpets and is at the forefront of brand integration with celebrities, works with such companies as CAA, UTA, Lede Company and Wolf Kasteler Public Relations.
In the email, Margolis stressed that there was a distinction between what she deemed acceptable and unacceptable social media posts about the country and its current military operations in Gaza. “Anyone saying Israel is committing a ‘genocide’ is someone we will pause on working with, as that is simply not true,” the veteran marketing executive wrote.
Ashlee Margolis, founder of the Beverly Hills firm The A List, wrote an email to her staff about a new mandate to hit “pause on working with any celebrity or influencer or tastemaker posting against Israel.” The company, which is a fixture on red carpets and is at the forefront of brand integration with celebrities, works with such companies as CAA, UTA, Lede Company and Wolf Kasteler Public Relations.
In the email, Margolis stressed that there was a distinction between what she deemed acceptable and unacceptable social media posts about the country and its current military operations in Gaza. “Anyone saying Israel is committing a ‘genocide’ is someone we will pause on working with, as that is simply not true,” the veteran marketing executive wrote.
- 6/6/2024
- by Tatiana Siegel
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Chris Tenzis, Andrea Frankle, Gabriel Chung, Mikenzie Taylor, Jocelyn Shelfo, D.W. Moffett, Charles Green | Written by Alex Mechanik, Samy Burch | Directed by Todd Haynes
Best known for starring in a TV series, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) wishes to distance herself from that past role and prove herself as an actress. Her opportunity arrives in the form of an independent film which adapts a notorious tabloid story that gripped the nation. She intends to research the role by shadowing Gracie (Julianne Moore), the woman she will portray, and Gracie’s husband, Joe (Charles Melton), although Elizabeth’s arrival reveals cracks within their lengthy marriage.
Based off a script by Alex Mechanik and Samy Burch, director Todd Haynes slowly builds the mystery of May December regarding what scandal put the couple in the spotlight. They may be beloved within their community, yet the arriving parcels indicate...
Best known for starring in a TV series, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) wishes to distance herself from that past role and prove herself as an actress. Her opportunity arrives in the form of an independent film which adapts a notorious tabloid story that gripped the nation. She intends to research the role by shadowing Gracie (Julianne Moore), the woman she will portray, and Gracie’s husband, Joe (Charles Melton), although Elizabeth’s arrival reveals cracks within their lengthy marriage.
Based off a script by Alex Mechanik and Samy Burch, director Todd Haynes slowly builds the mystery of May December regarding what scandal put the couple in the spotlight. They may be beloved within their community, yet the arriving parcels indicate...
- 5/20/2024
- by James Rodrigues
- Nerdly
Pim Herrmeling, head of Benelux- based September Films has warned the territory’s buyers are becoming more cautious due to high asking prices.
“Normally, all Cannes Competition films are pre-sold for Benelux. This year, a lot of films were still available,” Herrmeling noted. “On the hot films, there is still a lot of competition but not as early as it used to be.”
As of press time, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope was unsold in the region.
“MGs have gone up in general, which is a bit strange,” said Hermeling
“Home entertainment/VoD is completely gone. SVoD is Ok on the...
“Normally, all Cannes Competition films are pre-sold for Benelux. This year, a lot of films were still available,” Herrmeling noted. “On the hot films, there is still a lot of competition but not as early as it used to be.”
As of press time, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope was unsold in the region.
“MGs have gone up in general, which is a bit strange,” said Hermeling
“Home entertainment/VoD is completely gone. SVoD is Ok on the...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
At some point in our lives, each of us has been exposed to the idea of how much harm corporations can do. Of course, it is too naive to divide the world into clear-cut 'black' and 'white' as it is often portrayed in pop culture, but in the case of multinational corporations, history shows that all of this is far more than essentialist hyperbole.
Corporations, sometimes no less powerful and capitalized than some states, have shown their true colors time and time again, cynically seeking profit at any cost. Even if the price is the health and life of their own customers.
That's why feature films about corporations based on real events have a special value. Yes, sometimes documentaries reveal a much more objective view of the terrible truth, but let's be honest, the format of feature films allows to convey these or those ideas to the viewer much more effectively,...
Corporations, sometimes no less powerful and capitalized than some states, have shown their true colors time and time again, cynically seeking profit at any cost. Even if the price is the health and life of their own customers.
That's why feature films about corporations based on real events have a special value. Yes, sometimes documentaries reveal a much more objective view of the terrible truth, but let's be honest, the format of feature films allows to convey these or those ideas to the viewer much more effectively,...
- 5/10/2024
- by louise.everitt@startefacts.com (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe will star in the Off Broadway world premiere of Mario Correa’s new play N/A this summer, playing congresswomen of different generations in a production directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus.
Taylor will play “N,” the first woman Speaker of the House, and Villafañe will portray “A,” the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. The play is described as being inspired by real people and events, and although producers did not name names the descriptions more-than-strongly suggest Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
N/A will begin previews on Tuesday, June 11, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, with opening night on Sunday, June 23.
The official synopsis reads, “N/A is a whip smart battle of wills – and wits – between N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Inspired by real people and events,...
Taylor will play “N,” the first woman Speaker of the House, and Villafañe will portray “A,” the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. The play is described as being inspired by real people and events, and although producers did not name names the descriptions more-than-strongly suggest Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
N/A will begin previews on Tuesday, June 11, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, with opening night on Sunday, June 23.
The official synopsis reads, “N/A is a whip smart battle of wills – and wits – between N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Inspired by real people and events,...
- 5/10/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The San Sebastian Film Festival will fete Cate Blanchett with its honorary Donostia Award at its forthcoming 72nd edition.
Blanchett, the second Australian actor to receive San Sebastian’s highest honorary award after Hugh Jackman, will also serve as the image for the festival’s main poster. Check out the poster below.
Blanchett will receive the award in person in San Sebastian and it will be her first visit to the festival. But she has had several films screen at the fest, including Babel and Veronica Guerin.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Blanchett has racked up more than 200 awards, including two Oscars, two Volpi Cups at the Venice Festival, four Baftas and four Golden Globes, an honorary César, and Goya for lifetime achievement. Her credits include collaborations with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg,...
Blanchett, the second Australian actor to receive San Sebastian’s highest honorary award after Hugh Jackman, will also serve as the image for the festival’s main poster. Check out the poster below.
Blanchett will receive the award in person in San Sebastian and it will be her first visit to the festival. But she has had several films screen at the fest, including Babel and Veronica Guerin.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Blanchett has racked up more than 200 awards, including two Oscars, two Volpi Cups at the Venice Festival, four Baftas and four Golden Globes, an honorary César, and Goya for lifetime achievement. Her credits include collaborations with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg,...
- 5/9/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
2018 and 2019 seem to have dominated the long list of new additions, with these four boasting great stories and high critical acclaim. From a heartwarming friendship to a dark cover-up, there's something here for everyone.
Dark Waters (2019)
Arrived on Netflix May 1
Dive right in, because this film has been available since the first of the month, and it's certified fresh, with an Rt score of 89% from critics and 95% from fans.
Based on true events and featuring an all-star cast including Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins, Dark Waters follows a corporate lawyer who risks everything to take down the giant corporation he once worked to protect. The film is based on true events in many ways, but delivers a gripping story that follows the decades-long contamination of a small town's water supply and the efforts to cover it up.
With Todd Haynes at the helm, Dark Waters manages to expose...
Dark Waters (2019)
Arrived on Netflix May 1
Dive right in, because this film has been available since the first of the month, and it's certified fresh, with an Rt score of 89% from critics and 95% from fans.
Based on true events and featuring an all-star cast including Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins, Dark Waters follows a corporate lawyer who risks everything to take down the giant corporation he once worked to protect. The film is based on true events in many ways, but delivers a gripping story that follows the decades-long contamination of a small town's water supply and the efforts to cover it up.
With Todd Haynes at the helm, Dark Waters manages to expose...
- 5/8/2024
- by info@startefacts.com (Catherine Hunter)
- STartefacts.com
Barbie dolls have had a shockingly huge impact on pop music. Perhaps the most famous example is Dua Lipa‘s “Dance the Night” from the soundtrack of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Lipa explained what she was trying to accomplish with the song and how she felt making it.
Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ is 1 of many songs inspired by Barbie
For a piece of plastic, Barbie is surprisingly musically influential. She inspired Aqua’s classic bubblegum hit “Barbie Girl” and its various derivatives. In addition, Nicki Minaj calls her fans “Barbies” and repeatedly references the doll in her songs and music videos. Avant-garde director Todd Haynes directed Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a film with no actors other than stop-motion animated Barbie dolls.
Perhaps the doll’s greatest musical moment was Barbie: The Album. The album served as the soundtrack for Gerwig’s Barbie and featured contributions from Minaj,...
Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ is 1 of many songs inspired by Barbie
For a piece of plastic, Barbie is surprisingly musically influential. She inspired Aqua’s classic bubblegum hit “Barbie Girl” and its various derivatives. In addition, Nicki Minaj calls her fans “Barbies” and repeatedly references the doll in her songs and music videos. Avant-garde director Todd Haynes directed Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a film with no actors other than stop-motion animated Barbie dolls.
Perhaps the doll’s greatest musical moment was Barbie: The Album. The album served as the soundtrack for Gerwig’s Barbie and featured contributions from Minaj,...
- 5/7/2024
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
- 5/3/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Every year, the Academy Awards are held in sunny Los Angeles to honor outstanding achievements in filmmaking. The biggest names in the business line the red carpet with acceptance speeches tucked into their pockets, but many will leave empty-handed. Some key actors, directors and films were overlooked during the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards ceremony this year. While it’s certainly impossible to nominate all deserving parties, these snubs shocked the film community the most. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. Oscar Snubs 2024 Best Actor – Leonardo DiCaprio and...
- 5/1/2024
- by Kaitlyn Murphy
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed New York-based documentary filmmaker Contessa Gayles for management across all media.
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Nearly a month after Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech reverberated across Hollywood and caused a wave of controversy, 455 Jewish creatives (and counting) have signed a letter in a show of support.
“We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks. Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation,” reads the letter, published amid the continued conflict in the Middle East. “We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1200 Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.”
The letter is signed by a mix of actors, writers, producers, filmmakers and other creatives. Among those backing Glazer are Joker star Joaquin Phoenix; Killer Films vet Pamela Koffler...
“We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks. Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation,” reads the letter, published amid the continued conflict in the Middle East. “We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1200 Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.”
The letter is signed by a mix of actors, writers, producers, filmmakers and other creatives. Among those backing Glazer are Joker star Joaquin Phoenix; Killer Films vet Pamela Koffler...
- 4/10/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Update: More than 300 Jewish creatives — including eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, “SNL” star Sarah Sherman, actor and documentarian Alex Winter and “Seinfeld” writer Larry Charles — have added their names to the list of signatories of an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech.
The number of signees now sits at 492, having more than tripled since Variety first published the April 5 letter, which criticized the attacks on Glazer for being a “dangerous distraction” from the mounting death toll in Gaza while also contributing to the “suppression of free speech and dissent.”
New additions also include Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” co-writer Arthur Harari, veteran U.K. producer and Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas, “Girls” co-showrunner and co-writer Jenni Konner and “The Hunger Games” writer and director and four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross. Many members of the Israeli film community have also signed the open letter, including Oren Moverman, Nadav Lapid,...
The number of signees now sits at 492, having more than tripled since Variety first published the April 5 letter, which criticized the attacks on Glazer for being a “dangerous distraction” from the mounting death toll in Gaza while also contributing to the “suppression of free speech and dissent.”
New additions also include Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” co-writer Arthur Harari, veteran U.K. producer and Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas, “Girls” co-showrunner and co-writer Jenni Konner and “The Hunger Games” writer and director and four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross. Many members of the Israeli film community have also signed the open letter, including Oren Moverman, Nadav Lapid,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Ellise Shafer and Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Miriam Margolyes has called on all Jews “to shout, beg, scream for a ceasefire” in Gaza as the Palestinian territory continues to deal with rising death tolls and, according to aid agency Unrwa USA, is facing a “man-made famine.”
The veteran British-Australian actress and activist, who is best known for starring as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film franchise, released a video on Saturday via the Jewish Council of Australia, in which she said Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza has left her “so ashamed of Israel.”
She added, “To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and do unto others as you would have them do unto you into this vicious, genocidal nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”
Margolyes said that she condemned Hamas’ actions. On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a terrorist...
The veteran British-Australian actress and activist, who is best known for starring as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film franchise, released a video on Saturday via the Jewish Council of Australia, in which she said Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza has left her “so ashamed of Israel.”
She added, “To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and do unto others as you would have them do unto you into this vicious, genocidal nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”
Margolyes said that she condemned Hamas’ actions. On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a terrorist...
- 4/9/2024
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“The People’s Joker,” a scandalous IP-on-acid coming-out comic-book psychodrama, is a movie that has all the earmarks of an underground/ midnight/guerrilla-cinema sensation. Vera Drew, who directed and co-wrote it, plays the title character, a mentally fractured aspiring stand-up comedian who bills herself as Joker the Harlequin. She wears a green wig parted down the middle, white makeup with big jagged dark blotches around the eyes, a razory red lipstick grin, along with a purple jacket and fishnets that make her, in every way possible, a transgressive presence. Onstage, when she puts an inhaler up to her mouth and draws in a breath of Smylex, the feel-happy drug prescribed to her as a child, she’ll let out a cackle of laughter so derisive it sounds like she’s going to fracture her own rib. She’s the maniacal Joker of DC legend, as well as an outlaw parody of...
- 4/6/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
In the weeks since the 2024 Academy Awards, figures throughout Hollywood have continued to declare their support for director Jonathan Glazer. While accepting the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, a film that centers on the Holocaust, the Jewish director criticized the dehumanization of “victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.”
The most recent show of support comes from an open letter signed by more than 150 Jewish creatives, including Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Ilana Glazer, Chloe Fineman, Todd Haynes,...
The most recent show of support comes from an open letter signed by more than 150 Jewish creatives, including Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Ilana Glazer, Chloe Fineman, Todd Haynes,...
- 4/5/2024
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, Debra Winger and Elliot Gould are among the 151 Jewish creatives who have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech.
Further signatories include directors Mike Leigh, Todd Haynes, Lenny Abrahamson, Sarah Gavron, Ira Sachs and Emma Seligman as well as actors David Cross, Chloe Fineman, Kate Berlant and Fred Hechinger.
The letter has been put together by a group of Jewish artists and filmmakers, who shared it directly with their friends and colleagues to gather support. Signatories are continuing to add names by getting in contact with a person they know on...
Further signatories include directors Mike Leigh, Todd Haynes, Lenny Abrahamson, Sarah Gavron, Ira Sachs and Emma Seligman as well as actors David Cross, Chloe Fineman, Kate Berlant and Fred Hechinger.
The letter has been put together by a group of Jewish artists and filmmakers, who shared it directly with their friends and colleagues to gather support. Signatories are continuing to add names by getting in contact with a person they know on...
- 4/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
More than 150 Jewish industry professionals, including Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, and Todd Haynes, have lent their names to a new open letter penned in support of Jonathan Glazer’s much-debated Oscars acceptance speech. Scroll down to read the full letter and list of names.
The full list of signatories first reported on by Variety features 151 names from across the film and TV world like Sorry to Bother You filmmaker Boots Riley, veteran indie director Nicole Holofcener, British auteur Mike Leigh, Passages filmmaker Ira Sachs, and Gossip Girl actor and writer Tavi Gevinson. Deadline was handed a copy of the letter and its signatories. We have also contacted reps for several names listed to confirm their involvement.
The open letter states that the signees “support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars,” adding they have been “alarmed” to see their industry colleagues “mischaracterize and denounce his remarks.”
“Their attacks on Glazer...
The full list of signatories first reported on by Variety features 151 names from across the film and TV world like Sorry to Bother You filmmaker Boots Riley, veteran indie director Nicole Holofcener, British auteur Mike Leigh, Passages filmmaker Ira Sachs, and Gossip Girl actor and writer Tavi Gevinson. Deadline was handed a copy of the letter and its signatories. We have also contacted reps for several names listed to confirm their involvement.
The open letter states that the signees “support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars,” adding they have been “alarmed” to see their industry colleagues “mischaracterize and denounce his remarks.”
“Their attacks on Glazer...
- 4/5/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Cinetic Media has signed Aaron Schimberg and Vanessa McDonnell, the filmmaker and producer behind the darkly comedic psychological thriller A Different Man, for management across all media.
World premiering at Sundance 2024 before going on to play Berlin, the conversation starter from A24 stars an unrecognizable Sebastian Stan as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.
Schimberg wrote and directed the pic, which next week opens Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films. Also starring Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve, in her American debut, the film is produced by Christine Vachon, McDonnell, and Gabriel Mayers.
World premiering at Sundance 2024 before going on to play Berlin, the conversation starter from A24 stars an unrecognizable Sebastian Stan as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.
Schimberg wrote and directed the pic, which next week opens Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films. Also starring Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve, in her American debut, the film is produced by Christine Vachon, McDonnell, and Gabriel Mayers.
- 4/1/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Esteemed cinematographer Benoît Delhomme’s credits have included a conspicuous number of thoughtful, visually sumptuous period pieces, such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Theory of Everything and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, as well as a few films made to promote fashion brands like Balmain, Dior and Chanel. In a way, that résumé partially explains why he might have been inclined to make his directorial debut with Mothers’ Instinct, for which he also serves as the Dp.
This pulpy, psychologically shallow and yet beautifully shot period thriller is all about two soignée suburban housewives — played by Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway — who spend the film’s 96 minutes suffering, scheming and losing their minds while wearing immaculate vintage-inspired costumes. Ultimately, the characters’ motivations, like their titular instinct, are weakly delineated, but viewers are well-advised not to worry their pretty little heads about any of that and just concentrate on the pantsuits.
A remake of a 2018 Belgian film,...
This pulpy, psychologically shallow and yet beautifully shot period thriller is all about two soignée suburban housewives — played by Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway — who spend the film’s 96 minutes suffering, scheming and losing their minds while wearing immaculate vintage-inspired costumes. Ultimately, the characters’ motivations, like their titular instinct, are weakly delineated, but viewers are well-advised not to worry their pretty little heads about any of that and just concentrate on the pantsuits.
A remake of a 2018 Belgian film,...
- 3/28/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Not every good film is necessarily a good time, and vice versa. On the latter front, see “Mothers’ Instinct,” a 1960s-set suburban psychodrama too silly to secure our belief and too reserved to pass muster as go-for-broke camp — but still compulsive enough, twisty enough and finally berserk enough to keep us hooked through all its tonal and narrative lane-changing. As a pair of model homemakers and next-door neighbors whose close friendship is severely undone by sudden tragedy, even stars Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain don’t always seem to be making entirely the same movie: Hathaway’s sly, high-gloss vamping points to a more brittly amusing one than Chastain’s earnest emotional commitment, turning their characters’ escalating picket-fence battle into a compelling tussle for the soul of the script itself. One wins, and not predictably so.
First-time feature director Benoît Delhomme, however, doesn’t have much command over this strange,...
First-time feature director Benoît Delhomme, however, doesn’t have much command over this strange,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The talented “Ripley” team is being feted ahead of the series premiere.
IndieWire can exclusively announce that Netflix-owned cineplexes The Paris Theater and The Bay will host two respective retrospective exhibits honoring “Ripley” writer/director Steven Zaillian and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” author Patricia Highsmith. Netflix’s limited series “Ripley” stars Andrew Scott in the titular lead role as the 1960s grifter who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), to return to the States. The limited series focuses on a sinister core love triangle between Ripley, Dickie, and Dickie’s fiancée Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning). The show debuts April 4 on the streaming platform.
The Paris Theater screening program is titled “Criss Cross: Highsmith & Zaillian on Screen” and features adaptations of Highsmith’s “Carol” and “Strangers on a Train” alongside Zaillian’s “Searching for Bobby Fischer,...
IndieWire can exclusively announce that Netflix-owned cineplexes The Paris Theater and The Bay will host two respective retrospective exhibits honoring “Ripley” writer/director Steven Zaillian and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” author Patricia Highsmith. Netflix’s limited series “Ripley” stars Andrew Scott in the titular lead role as the 1960s grifter who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), to return to the States. The limited series focuses on a sinister core love triangle between Ripley, Dickie, and Dickie’s fiancée Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning). The show debuts April 4 on the streaming platform.
The Paris Theater screening program is titled “Criss Cross: Highsmith & Zaillian on Screen” and features adaptations of Highsmith’s “Carol” and “Strangers on a Train” alongside Zaillian’s “Searching for Bobby Fischer,...
- 3/25/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
There may not be a more daunting artist from the twentieth century (and beyond) to grapple with in any form than Bob Dylan. The folk music legend is regarded by many as the most influential songwriter of the last 60-plus years, and, at the age of 82, is just as relevant today as he was in his rebellious young adulthood. He pricked the nation's conscience in the early 1960s with classic protest anthems like "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," inspiring many a teenager and twentysomething to pick up an acoustic guitar and sing their truth. Then, in what his folkie colleagues/admirers took as a betrayal, he went electric. This would be the first of many confounding transformations. In a way, he kept throwing fans off the scent of the big "Who is Bob Dylan?" question by, every few years, getting...
- 3/23/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Exclusive: UTA has signed actor Cory Michael Smith (May December) for representation in all areas, with an eye toward securing him new opportunities across film, television, theater and more.
The signing comes off of Smith’s supporting role in May December, Netflix’s Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated drama from director Todd Haynes, which was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2023. In the film scripted by Samy Burch, he played Georgie, a son from the former relationship of Gracie (Julianne Moore), who has become the subject of a scandal after entering into a relationship with, and ultimately marrying a man she first met as a pet store worker at just 13 years old.
Currently, Smith is in production on Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975, chronicling the events leading up to Saturday Night Live‘s debut, which has him playing actor and comedian Chevy Chase.
Previously, he’s starred on Gillian Flynn...
The signing comes off of Smith’s supporting role in May December, Netflix’s Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated drama from director Todd Haynes, which was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2023. In the film scripted by Samy Burch, he played Georgie, a son from the former relationship of Gracie (Julianne Moore), who has become the subject of a scandal after entering into a relationship with, and ultimately marrying a man she first met as a pet store worker at just 13 years old.
Currently, Smith is in production on Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975, chronicling the events leading up to Saturday Night Live‘s debut, which has him playing actor and comedian Chevy Chase.
Previously, he’s starred on Gillian Flynn...
- 3/20/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, Kyra Sedgewick, Frontline’s Raney Aronson-Rath and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Alex Borstein will among those honored at the New York Women In Film & Television Muse Awards later this month.
Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, whose doc 20 Days in Mariupol won an Oscar Sunday, will receive the Enid Roth Award for Excellence in Journalism. The Made in NY Award from Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment will be presented to actress, writer, and producer and star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein.
Honorees also include actress Critics Choice Award and BAFTA Rising Star Award-nominated actress Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), who will receive the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award; Michèle Stephenson (Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project), a filmmaker, artist and author, awarded the Nancy Malone Directing Award.
Cardinal, and Latasha Gillespie,...
Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, whose doc 20 Days in Mariupol won an Oscar Sunday, will receive the Enid Roth Award for Excellence in Journalism. The Made in NY Award from Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment will be presented to actress, writer, and producer and star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein.
Honorees also include actress Critics Choice Award and BAFTA Rising Star Award-nominated actress Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), who will receive the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award; Michèle Stephenson (Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project), a filmmaker, artist and author, awarded the Nancy Malone Directing Award.
Cardinal, and Latasha Gillespie,...
- 3/13/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
A movie marathon with our favorite auteurs? Where do we sign up?
Turner Classic Movies’ latest limited series “Two for One” features curated double features coupled with commentary from select guest programmers like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and more. The upcoming TCM series is hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, who will interview each director about why they chose to highlight their two chosen films.
“Two for One” will feature 12 nights of double features, beginning April 6. With the logline “two films, one filmmaker, countless perspectives,” the series is set to span all of cinematic history. Directors will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.
Martin Scorsese kicks off the show with a conversation comparing “Blood on the Moon” and “One Touch of Venus.” The following week, actress/director Olivia Wilde picks “Auntie Mame” and 1976 documentary “Grey Gardens.
Turner Classic Movies’ latest limited series “Two for One” features curated double features coupled with commentary from select guest programmers like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and more. The upcoming TCM series is hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, who will interview each director about why they chose to highlight their two chosen films.
“Two for One” will feature 12 nights of double features, beginning April 6. With the logline “two films, one filmmaker, countless perspectives,” the series is set to span all of cinematic history. Directors will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.
Martin Scorsese kicks off the show with a conversation comparing “Blood on the Moon” and “One Touch of Venus.” The following week, actress/director Olivia Wilde picks “Auntie Mame” and 1976 documentary “Grey Gardens.
- 3/8/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Turner Classic Movies have announced a new limited series, Two for One, that will feature 12 nights of double features curated by some of the most celebrated filmmakers in Hollywood beginning April 6. TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz will be joined by each director, including Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Spike Lee, Nicole Holofcener, and Rian Johnson, to introduce the two films they chose. They will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.
“This was such an eclectic group of filmmakers to sit down with, which was invigorating, from Martin Scorsese talking about a Robert Mitchum western, to Spike Lee discussing Elia Kazan, to Olivia Wilde’s breakdown of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame,” said Ben Mankiewicz. “In these double features, these 12 directors lead us on an insider’s journey through cinematic history.”
See...
“This was such an eclectic group of filmmakers to sit down with, which was invigorating, from Martin Scorsese talking about a Robert Mitchum western, to Spike Lee discussing Elia Kazan, to Olivia Wilde’s breakdown of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame,” said Ben Mankiewicz. “In these double features, these 12 directors lead us on an insider’s journey through cinematic history.”
See...
- 3/8/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Senegalese director’s debut movie, Banel & Adama, propelled her to the red carpet. She explains why she wanted to show the world its flawed lead character
Nearly a decade ago, when Ramata-Toulaye Sy sat down to write her graduation script at the end of a screenwriting degree, her goal was simple. “I wanted to tell the most beautiful and greatest African love story,” says the 37-year-old French Senegalese film-maker with a smile. “When I was growing up a lot of African stories were about misery, poverty, war. I wanted to say: we can have African stories about people falling in love.”
She pauses, her grin widening. “Most importantly, I wanted to write the story of how Juliet became Lady Macbeth.” It’s a description that nails the film she’s now directed, based on that script, Banel & Adama. A subversive feminist romance set in Senegal, it was the...
Nearly a decade ago, when Ramata-Toulaye Sy sat down to write her graduation script at the end of a screenwriting degree, her goal was simple. “I wanted to tell the most beautiful and greatest African love story,” says the 37-year-old French Senegalese film-maker with a smile. “When I was growing up a lot of African stories were about misery, poverty, war. I wanted to say: we can have African stories about people falling in love.”
She pauses, her grin widening. “Most importantly, I wanted to write the story of how Juliet became Lady Macbeth.” It’s a description that nails the film she’s now directed, based on that script, Banel & Adama. A subversive feminist romance set in Senegal, it was the...
- 3/7/2024
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
The films in contention for the 2024 Best Cinematography Oscar are “El Conde,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things.” Our odds currently favor “Oppenheimer” (31/10) taking the prize, followed in order by “Killers of the Flower Moon” (4/1), “Poor Things” (4/1), “Maestro” (9/2), and “El Conde” (9/2).
After 2013 and 2016, this is the third time that a 21st century cinematography lineup has exclusively consisted of previously nominated lensers. This case differs from the preceding two, however, in that none of the current contenders have ever won before. The one with the most losses so far is Rodrigo Prieto, whose bid for “Killers of the Flower Moon” is his third for a Martin Scorsese-directed film, following “Silence” (2017) and “The Irishman” (2020). Having initially earned a notice for his work on “Brokeback Mountain” (2006), he remains the category’s second most recognized Latin American-born nominee behind fellow Mexican Emmanuel Lubezki.
Currently on their respective third nominations...
After 2013 and 2016, this is the third time that a 21st century cinematography lineup has exclusively consisted of previously nominated lensers. This case differs from the preceding two, however, in that none of the current contenders have ever won before. The one with the most losses so far is Rodrigo Prieto, whose bid for “Killers of the Flower Moon” is his third for a Martin Scorsese-directed film, following “Silence” (2017) and “The Irishman” (2020). Having initially earned a notice for his work on “Brokeback Mountain” (2006), he remains the category’s second most recognized Latin American-born nominee behind fellow Mexican Emmanuel Lubezki.
Currently on their respective third nominations...
- 3/6/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
2023 was a tumultuous year for the film industry, with lengthy writers and actors strikes bringing Hollywood productions to a grinding halt and forcing fall festivals to proceed without their typical red carpet star power. But amid all the chaos, it slowly emerged as one of the best years for cinema in recent memory. Just take a look at the 50 best movies of 2023, as determined by IndieWire’s annual critics survey.
158 critics voted in our end-of-year poll, and the resulting top 50 films of the year are the closest you’ll find to a truly global critical consensus about the year’s best films.
The concept of Barbenheimer — that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” would release on the same day, July 21 — grew in the minds of cinephiles in the months leading up to both films actually unspooling on screens. How extraordinary is it that these films actually lived up to the hype? They are...
158 critics voted in our end-of-year poll, and the resulting top 50 films of the year are the closest you’ll find to a truly global critical consensus about the year’s best films.
The concept of Barbenheimer — that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” would release on the same day, July 21 — grew in the minds of cinephiles in the months leading up to both films actually unspooling on screens. How extraordinary is it that these films actually lived up to the hype? They are...
- 3/6/2024
- by Christian Zilko and Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
“Anatomy of a Fall” is the clear favorite to win Best Original Screenplay this year but nominees “The Holdovers,” “Past Lives,” “Maestro,” and “May December” are all hoping to spoil the party. But is “Anatomy of a Fall’s” status as frontrunner as solid as it seems? It’s won a bunch of precursor awards, sure, but what about the academy?
What movies do they like best in this category? Let’s take a look at the last 10 winners of Best Original Screenplay to see what they can tell us about the academy’s tastes in this category, and how that affects “Anatomy of a Fall” and this year’s nominees.
As you can see, drama is the order of the day for academy voters. Five out of the last 10 winners here have been serious fare: Kenneth Branagh‘s “Belfast,” Emerald Fennell‘s “Promising Young Woman,” and Kenneth Lonergan‘s...
What movies do they like best in this category? Let’s take a look at the last 10 winners of Best Original Screenplay to see what they can tell us about the academy’s tastes in this category, and how that affects “Anatomy of a Fall” and this year’s nominees.
As you can see, drama is the order of the day for academy voters. Five out of the last 10 winners here have been serious fare: Kenneth Branagh‘s “Belfast,” Emerald Fennell‘s “Promising Young Woman,” and Kenneth Lonergan‘s...
- 3/6/2024
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
What do you do when they come for you? Beloved horror franchise “The Strangers” is getting a revamp, courtesy of prequel “The Strangers: Chapter 1” starring “Riverdale” alum Madelaine Petsch. Two more sequels are due later this year, all from “Die Hard 2” and “Cliffhanger” director Renny Harlin.
In this first film, Petsch stars as a young woman who is trying to start a new life with her fiancé. Yet, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, the couple become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. Froy Gutierrez, Gabriel Basso, and Ema Horvath co-star.
Sure, it may sound like a run-of-the-mill slasher, but “The Strangers” franchise has a haunting allure, thanks to its creation by filmmaker Bryan Bertino. The director has a “story by” credit for “Chapter 1,” which is helmed by Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland.
In this first film, Petsch stars as a young woman who is trying to start a new life with her fiancé. Yet, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, the couple become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. Froy Gutierrez, Gabriel Basso, and Ema Horvath co-star.
Sure, it may sound like a run-of-the-mill slasher, but “The Strangers” franchise has a haunting allure, thanks to its creation by filmmaker Bryan Bertino. The director has a “story by” credit for “Chapter 1,” which is helmed by Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland.
- 3/1/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
American Cinematographer Ed Lachman will be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Camerimage Film Festival.
Lachman was born on March 31, 1946. His grandfather owned several vaudeville theatres in the 1920s, which were later converted into movie houses, co-managed with Lachman’s father, a film theatre distributor who later acquired a small cinema in Boonton, New Jersey.
Lachman’s extensive filmography includes numerous collaborations with directors such as Todd Haynes, Ulrich Seidl (Import/Export), Steven Soderbergh (The Limey and Erin Brockovich), Gregory Nava and Paul Schrader. He served as the cinematographer on Sofia Coppola’s debut feature, The Virgin Suicides, and lensed A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman’s last film.
He is a three-time Oscar nominee for Far from Heaven, Carol, and Pablo Larrain’s El Conde.
Lachman was born on March 31, 1946. His grandfather owned several vaudeville theatres in the 1920s, which were later converted into movie houses, co-managed with Lachman’s father, a film theatre distributor who later acquired a small cinema in Boonton, New Jersey.
Lachman’s extensive filmography includes numerous collaborations with directors such as Todd Haynes, Ulrich Seidl (Import/Export), Steven Soderbergh (The Limey and Erin Brockovich), Gregory Nava and Paul Schrader. He served as the cinematographer on Sofia Coppola’s debut feature, The Virgin Suicides, and lensed A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman’s last film.
He is a three-time Oscar nominee for Far from Heaven, Carol, and Pablo Larrain’s El Conde.
- 2/29/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Christine Vachon doesn’t mess around. She is a film professor, best-selling film book author, wife, mother of a film marketing professional, and most of all, producer of independent films. They’re often directed by her close friend and fellow Brown alumnus Todd Haynes. She launched her career at Sundance 1991 with her first feature film, Haynes’ “Poison,” which won the Grand Jury Prize.
Since 1995, she and her producing partner Pam Koffler’s company Killer Films has steadily produced hundreds of movies and television series. Many have won prizes and nominations over the years for the likes of Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”), Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”) and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (“Carol”), but this year’s Best Picture Oscar nomination for Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is Killer’s first.
New York-based Vachon was packing her bags for the Berlin International Film Festival when we spoke on Zoom, a...
Since 1995, she and her producing partner Pam Koffler’s company Killer Films has steadily produced hundreds of movies and television series. Many have won prizes and nominations over the years for the likes of Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”), Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”) and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (“Carol”), but this year’s Best Picture Oscar nomination for Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is Killer’s first.
New York-based Vachon was packing her bags for the Berlin International Film Festival when we spoke on Zoom, a...
- 2/26/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers won Film of the Year and LGBTQ Film of the Year honors from the Dorian Film Awards, the annual honors bestowed Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.
The Searchlight drama starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as two troubled souls who fall for each other in lonely London, also scored a leading third win, LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year, for Haigh’s script. It led all nominees this year with nine.
“Twelve years ago, Andrew Haigh’s fresh and observant queer romance Weekend ruled our Dorians as well,” Galeca president Walt Hickey said Monday in revealing the awards. “So the fact that Strangers obviously touched many of our members’ hearts as well counts as sort of a sweet homecoming to our organization.”
Related: ‘All Of Us Strangers’: Read The Screenplay For Andrew Haigh’s Romantic Fantasy Starring Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal...
The Searchlight drama starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as two troubled souls who fall for each other in lonely London, also scored a leading third win, LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year, for Haigh’s script. It led all nominees this year with nine.
“Twelve years ago, Andrew Haigh’s fresh and observant queer romance Weekend ruled our Dorians as well,” Galeca president Walt Hickey said Monday in revealing the awards. “So the fact that Strangers obviously touched many of our members’ hearts as well counts as sort of a sweet homecoming to our organization.”
Related: ‘All Of Us Strangers’: Read The Screenplay For Andrew Haigh’s Romantic Fantasy Starring Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal...
- 2/26/2024
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards stayed ahead of the Oscar curve once more, announcing their winners on Sunday, February 25 in the usual chilly white tent on the Santa Monica beach (and on YouTube). With Oscar voting not over until the evening of February 27, the winners at the 39th Spirits could gain valuable Oscar momentum.
Host Aidy Bryant played to a warm crowd who chuckled at her jokes. The Spirits are “also known as the bisexual Oscars,” she said. Being an awards show host is tricky, she added, “I could be panned, considered out of touch, and sexist, and potentially be slapped. Worst case: nobody mentions me.”
When she tried roasting the celebrities, she called “May December” star Natalie Portman a “stupid bitch,” Sterling K. Brown “a Stupid K. Bitch,” and said of Charles Melton, “everyone wants to have sex with you, you stupid bitch” and Greta Lee, “you...
Host Aidy Bryant played to a warm crowd who chuckled at her jokes. The Spirits are “also known as the bisexual Oscars,” she said. Being an awards show host is tricky, she added, “I could be panned, considered out of touch, and sexist, and potentially be slapped. Worst case: nobody mentions me.”
When she tried roasting the celebrities, she called “May December” star Natalie Portman a “stupid bitch,” Sterling K. Brown “a Stupid K. Bitch,” and said of Charles Melton, “everyone wants to have sex with you, you stupid bitch” and Greta Lee, “you...
- 2/26/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Arguably the biggest surprise at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards was the small but loud protest over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war outside the ceremony, the chants from which could be heard inside the tent in Santa Monica and on the livestream on Film Independent’s YouTube channel.
The demonstration was the first to disrupt a major awards show this season.
But as host Aidy Bryant and presenters and winners forged ahead with the ceremony, some acknowledging the protest, there were still some surprises in terms of which films won which awards — or didn’t win.
After seemingly losing its awards momentum with the Screen Actors Guild and Oscar nominations last month, May December could’ve had a big day at the Spirit Awards, as the Todd Haynes film, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, was up for five awards — the same number of nominations received by best feature and director...
The demonstration was the first to disrupt a major awards show this season.
But as host Aidy Bryant and presenters and winners forged ahead with the ceremony, some acknowledging the protest, there were still some surprises in terms of which films won which awards — or didn’t win.
After seemingly losing its awards momentum with the Screen Actors Guild and Oscar nominations last month, May December could’ve had a big day at the Spirit Awards, as the Todd Haynes film, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, was up for five awards — the same number of nominations received by best feature and director...
- 2/26/2024
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in ‘Past Lives’ (Photo Credit: Jon Pack / Courtesy of A24)
Past Lives took home top film honors at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The film also earned Celine Song the Best Director award, with American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and May December‘s Samy Burch earning screenplay honors.
On the television side, The Last of Us collected two awards: Nick Offerman for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and Keivonn Montreal Woodard for Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. Beef also netted two wins, with Ali Wong awarded Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and the show earning the Best New Scripted Series award.
2024 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations
Best Feature (Award given to the producer.)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin,...
Past Lives took home top film honors at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The film also earned Celine Song the Best Director award, with American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and May December‘s Samy Burch earning screenplay honors.
On the television side, The Last of Us collected two awards: Nick Offerman for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and Keivonn Montreal Woodard for Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. Beef also netted two wins, with Ali Wong awarded Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and the show earning the Best New Scripted Series award.
2024 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations
Best Feature (Award given to the producer.)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Another big award show took place this weekend (in addition to the SAG Awards), the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which celebrates indie film and TV. One thing about this awards show is that their idea of independent sometimes makes me scratch my head a bit, with HBO’s big-budget The Last of Us nominated a whole bunch in the TV category, along with Netflix’s Beef and several other streaming shows, which I’m not sure one could call independent. For films, there’s a $30 million budget cap. For TV, I’m honestly not sure what the benchmark is because Last of Us was notoriously an expensive show to shoot, costing at least $100 million.
Indeed, The Last of Us won some key awards on the TV side, winning Best Supporting Performance (for Nick Offerman) and Best Breakthrough Performance (for Keivonn Montreal Woodard). Over on the film side, American Fiction and...
Indeed, The Last of Us won some key awards on the TV side, winning Best Supporting Performance (for Nick Offerman) and Best Breakthrough Performance (for Keivonn Montreal Woodard). Over on the film side, American Fiction and...
- 2/26/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
The best in independent film and television were honored at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards!
Plenty of A-List stars were in attendance at the event on Sunday afternoon (February 25) at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif.
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Make sure to check out our post with photos of Every celeb who attended the event! Also check out our best dressed list.
Head inside to see the full list of winners…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of winners…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson,...
Plenty of A-List stars were in attendance at the event on Sunday afternoon (February 25) at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif.
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Make sure to check out our post with photos of Every celeb who attended the event! Also check out our best dressed list.
Head inside to see the full list of winners…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of winners…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
The 2024 Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday at the traditional Santa Monica beach tent location, with Aidy Bryant hosting. “Past Lives” took home the coveted Best Feature award, with “Beef” being honored as Best New Scripted Series. Check out the full list of winners and nominees below.
Best Feature
“Past Lives”
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
“All of Us Strangers”
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“American Fiction”
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
“May December”
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
“Passages”
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
“We Grown Now”
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
Best Lead Performance
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Jessica Chastain, “Memory”
Greta Lee, “Past Lives”
Trace Lysette, “Monica”
Natalie Portman, “May December”
Judy Reyes, “Birth/Rebirth”
Franz Rogowski, “Passages”
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Teyana Taylor,...
Best Feature
“Past Lives”
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
“All of Us Strangers”
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“American Fiction”
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
“May December”
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
“Passages”
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
“We Grown Now”
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
Best Lead Performance
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Jessica Chastain, “Memory”
Greta Lee, “Past Lives”
Trace Lysette, “Monica”
Natalie Portman, “May December”
Judy Reyes, “Birth/Rebirth”
Franz Rogowski, “Passages”
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Teyana Taylor,...
- 2/25/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
Live from a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California, it’s the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards! This year’s ceremony, which kicked off this afternoon, was hosted by “Saturday Night Live” alum Aidy Bryant and feted the best in indie film and TV.
This year’s pack of nominees included a slew of Oscar contenders and a number of indie gems, all competing for the biggest prizes in the indie sphere.
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” won Best Feature (which the filmmaker picked up just minutes after winning Best Director as well), while “The Holdovers” and “American Fiction” also enjoyed multiple wins, including a Best Performance win for “American Fiction” star Jeffrey Wright and Best Screenplay for writer Cord Jefferson, and a Best Supporting Performance win for “The Holdovers” standout Da’Vine Joy Randolph and a Breakthrough Performance win for newbie Dominic Sessa.
Thanks to the Spirits’ various TV categories,...
This year’s pack of nominees included a slew of Oscar contenders and a number of indie gems, all competing for the biggest prizes in the indie sphere.
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” won Best Feature (which the filmmaker picked up just minutes after winning Best Director as well), while “The Holdovers” and “American Fiction” also enjoyed multiple wins, including a Best Performance win for “American Fiction” star Jeffrey Wright and Best Screenplay for writer Cord Jefferson, and a Best Supporting Performance win for “The Holdovers” standout Da’Vine Joy Randolph and a Breakthrough Performance win for newbie Dominic Sessa.
Thanks to the Spirits’ various TV categories,...
- 2/25/2024
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards are being handed out Sunday, February 25, from Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA in a show hosted by comedian, actress and “SNL” alumnus Aidy Bryant. On the film side, the nominations were dominated by “American Fiction,” “Past Lives” and “May December,” which picked up five nods apiece. Those three films are up for Best Feature along with “All of Us Strangers,” “Passages” and “We Grown Now.” Best Director is a contest between Andrew Haigh (“All of Us Strangers”), Todd Haynes (“May December”), William Oldroyd (“Eileen”), Ira Sachs (“Passages”) and Celine Song (“Past Lives”).
Of the nominated features, only “American Fiction” and “Past Lives” are also in the running for Best Picture at the Oscars, while none of the nominated directors are up for Academy Awards. However, on the off chance that either “American Fiction” or “Past Lives” manages to take the top prize at...
Of the nominated features, only “American Fiction” and “Past Lives” are also in the running for Best Picture at the Oscars, while none of the nominated directors are up for Academy Awards. However, on the off chance that either “American Fiction” or “Past Lives” manages to take the top prize at...
- 2/25/2024
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
If you told me there was a plan in place to make four Beatles biopics — one each about John, Paul, George, and Ringo — and that they were going to be directed by Richard Linklater, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement. If you told me that those same four movies were going to be directed by Martin Scorsese, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement. If you told me that a quartet of Beatles biopics were going to be directed (one apiece) by Linklater, Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, and Todd Haynes, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement — and, in fact, that last option would make a beautiful kind of sense. When you think about it, why would anyone — even Scorsese, the poet of rock-operatic drama — want to direct all four Beatles biopics? Talk about hogging the spoils.
But Sam Mendes does. According to a master plan handed down on stone tablets by…...
But Sam Mendes does. According to a master plan handed down on stone tablets by…...
- 2/24/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The 39th Independent Spirit Awards will stream live on Film Independent and IMDb’s YouTube channels on Sunday, February 25. Scroll down to see our official odds in all 12 film categories (with our predicted winners highlighted in gold) and be sure to make or update your own predictions while there’s still time.
Heading into the ceremony, which will be hosted by comic actress Aidy Bryant, “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” stand as the year’s nominations leaders with five apiece. They will all face off in the top category of Best Picture, along with “Passages” (four total bids), “All of Us Strangers” (three), and “We Grown Now” (three).
Last year’s Spirit Awards previewed the Oscars success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which left both ceremonies with seven wins including Best Picture. Over the years, only eight recipients of the academy’s highest honor have first clinched the corresponding Spirit Award,...
Heading into the ceremony, which will be hosted by comic actress Aidy Bryant, “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” stand as the year’s nominations leaders with five apiece. They will all face off in the top category of Best Picture, along with “Passages” (four total bids), “All of Us Strangers” (three), and “We Grown Now” (three).
Last year’s Spirit Awards previewed the Oscars success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which left both ceremonies with seven wins including Best Picture. Over the years, only eight recipients of the academy’s highest honor have first clinched the corresponding Spirit Award,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Nominated in five categories at the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards, the darkly humorous and ominously cringey psychological drama May December is filmmaker Todd Haynes’ tenth (!) Spirit Award nomination. A pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement, Haynes previously won Best Director for 2002’s period romantic drama Far from Heaven (starring May December co-lead Julianne Moore), as well as the Robert Altman Award for 2007’s Bob-Dylan-inspired musical fantasia, I’m Not There.
Haynes has talked about how May December is about “the stories we tell ourselves” in order to “survive our lives.” Loosely based on the 1990s-era Irl story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the film follows 59-year-old housewife Gracie (Moore), who seems happily married with children to her 36-year-old husband, Joe Yoo, played by Charles Melton. Melton, too, is nominated for Best Supporting Performance at the 2024 Spirit Awards, streaming Live this Sunday at 2pm Pt.
The narrative tension kicks off when...
Haynes has talked about how May December is about “the stories we tell ourselves” in order to “survive our lives.” Loosely based on the 1990s-era Irl story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the film follows 59-year-old housewife Gracie (Moore), who seems happily married with children to her 36-year-old husband, Joe Yoo, played by Charles Melton. Melton, too, is nominated for Best Supporting Performance at the 2024 Spirit Awards, streaming Live this Sunday at 2pm Pt.
The narrative tension kicks off when...
- 2/21/2024
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed award-winning Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali for management across all media.
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
- 2/20/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Charles Melton’s awards campaign for his breakout role in “May December” started in May when the Todd Haynes drama co-starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman premiered at Cannes.
Since then, Melton has gone on to receive a slew of award nominations and wins. He picked up Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award noms and won a Gotham for outstanding supporting performance.
Fans of the film, however, were disappointed when Melton didn’t receive an Oscar nomination, and the movie only earned one for original screenplay.
But, I’m glad to report that Melton is doing just fine. “I’m happy,” Melton told me Wednesday night at Cultured’s art and film issue dinner (Melton and Lakeith Stanfield appear on separate covers of the magazine). “I just got back from Hawaii. I was just relaxing and processing and getting a nice little suntan. I reconnected with my friends and family...
Since then, Melton has gone on to receive a slew of award nominations and wins. He picked up Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award noms and won a Gotham for outstanding supporting performance.
Fans of the film, however, were disappointed when Melton didn’t receive an Oscar nomination, and the movie only earned one for original screenplay.
But, I’m glad to report that Melton is doing just fine. “I’m happy,” Melton told me Wednesday night at Cultured’s art and film issue dinner (Melton and Lakeith Stanfield appear on separate covers of the magazine). “I just got back from Hawaii. I was just relaxing and processing and getting a nice little suntan. I reconnected with my friends and family...
- 2/15/2024
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Some apotheosis of film culture has been reached with Freddy Got Fingered‘s addition to the Criterion Channel. Three years after we interviewed Tom Green about his consummate film maudit, it’s appearing on the service’s Razzie-centered program that also includes the now-admired likes of Cruising, Heaven’s Gate, Querelle, and Ishtar; the still-due likes of Under the Cherry Moon; and the more-contested Gigli, Swept Away, and Nicolas Cage-led Wicker Man. In all cases it’s an opportunity to reconsider one of the lamest, thin-gruel entities in modern culture.
A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.
A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.
- 2/14/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
With Civil War set for release this spring, Alex Garland is to direct again, this time an ‘untitled war movie’. More here.
In the summer of 2022, when he was promoting his pretty unforgettable horror Men, Alex Garland was giving the impression of a man done with directing movies. He’s credited with directing Ex Machina and Annihilation and was reported to have finished up 2012’s Dredd. Then, following Men, he launched straight into making Civil War, which is due for release in April.
However, if he was looking to step away from the director’s chair, it sounds as if the plan is at the very least on hold: according to Deadline, he’s just signed up to another project.
It’s going by the codename ‘Untitled War Movie’, and from that, I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s a war film, for which these is not yet a name.
In the summer of 2022, when he was promoting his pretty unforgettable horror Men, Alex Garland was giving the impression of a man done with directing movies. He’s credited with directing Ex Machina and Annihilation and was reported to have finished up 2012’s Dredd. Then, following Men, he launched straight into making Civil War, which is due for release in April.
However, if he was looking to step away from the director’s chair, it sounds as if the plan is at the very least on hold: according to Deadline, he’s just signed up to another project.
It’s going by the codename ‘Untitled War Movie’, and from that, I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s a war film, for which these is not yet a name.
- 2/7/2024
- by Simon Brew
- Film Stories
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