Check out the First Footage of Wonder Woman in Action
You probably already know that Wonder Woman, played by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, has a pretty decently sized part in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While her involvement in the film was always known, we finally got to see her in action, briefly, in the most recent trailer. And ironically, when she arrives it wasn't Superman (Henry Cavill) whose hide she saves at the nick of time,...
Watch Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Benicio Del Toro & More in THR’s Actors Roundtable
It's an uncensored group of some of the finest actors working today, all seated around one big table, talking about their craft. The Hollywood Reporter's annual roundup of some of the best and brightest in the industry never fails to impress. This year's actor group includes Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight), Will Smith (Concussion), Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight), Benicio Del Toro (Sicario),...
Writer/Director Andrew Haigh on his Quiet, Devastating 45 Years
Writer-director Andrew Haigh jokes that his new film 45 Years is a sequel to Weekend, his 2011, intimate look at a hookup between two young gay men that develops into more. Sure, 45 Years is about a long heterosexual marriage between Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling, nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and Tom Courtenay) but it’s still about the nuances,...
Ice Cube & Kevin Hart Finally End Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Dominance
It was going to happen eventually, but let's give a solid hat tip to Ice Cube and Kevin Hart nonetheless for being the ones who finally slayed Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the box office this past weekend. Cube and Hart's Ride Along 2 took in $34 million, edging out The Force Awakens, which has been, as expected, a one-film Sarlacc pit at the box office, sucking up record-breaking amounts of money. It took The Force Awakens all of 31 days to earn more than $851 million in North America, and more than $1 billion internationally...
10 Cloverfield Lane and the Year of J.J. Abrams
Eight years ago, television impresario JJ Abrams triggered the biggest marketing juggernaut since The Blair Witch Project with a short, unassuming teaser for a then-unnamed horror film. Appearing in front of Michael Bay’s highly anticipated Transformers, the trailer featured familiar comedy faces in Lizzy Caplan and T.J Miller and clocked in at less than two minutes long. Despite its minimal length, the teaser didn’t lack in impact as it depicted the devolution of a casual house party into apocalyptic mania,...
Norm of the North, the Next Great Socially Conscious Kids’ Film for Everyone
Norm of the North, which opened this weekend, is ideal for the season: a 3D cartoon for the bleak remainder of the winter, led by a friendly polar bear (Rob Schneider) on a mission to New York. He and his trio of indefatigible, incoherent yet charmingly expressive lemming buddies aren’t headed to the Big Apple for cronuts, Times Square, or tickets to Hamilton, however, but for a more noble cause: to keep tourists and the development that comes with them,...
Alan Rickman: A Generation’s Most Thrilling, Complex Villain
Alan Rickman, who passed away yesterday in London at the age of 69, was an accomplished British stage actor who stood out in any film or production he was a part of. Rickman's presence could make a decent film good and a good film great. His career spanned more than 40 years, and that longevity allowed him to embody characters along the entire spectrum of humanity, from the sweet and humble to the treacherous, inscrutable and sociopathic. And, he had one of the best voices of any actor working...
Talking to Carol’s Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy
Phyllis Nagy is a patient writer. The playwright (Disappeared, The Strip, and Never Land) and screenwriter wrote her first draft for Carol, an adaptation of her friend Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt," back in 1997. Nagy adapted Highsmith's story of the burgeoning love affair between Therese, a New York City shopgirl, and Carol (Cate Blanchett), an affluent married woman, in 1950s New York. Nearly 20 years later, after several close calls evaporated and interested parties backed away, Nagy's ...
Taking a Deeper Look at the Oscar Nominations
The brutal historical epic The Revenant, with 12 Academy Award nominations, is now the frontrunner to win best picture, best actor and possibly a few more statues when the Academy Awards are broadcast live on ABC on Feb. 28.
The Revenant’s director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, could also snag a win as he did at the Golden Globes, though he won last year for Birdman and is up against sentimental favorite George Miller,...
Here’s Your Full List of Oscar Nominees
And it's done. Your nominations for the 88th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. Directors Guillermo Del Toro and Ang Lee, actor John Krasinski and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs revealed the nominations only minutes ago. The Revenant led the field with 12 nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture.
The Oscars will be held on Sunday, Feb. 28, live on ABC at 7 p.m. ET. It will be seen in 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Here's the full list on the Academy's page,...
Watch the Live Stream of the Oscar Nominations
It's that time, folks. The Oscar nominations will be live streamed in under an hour, and you can watch below. Here's the breakdown of the announcements:
At 5:30 a.m. PST/8:30 a.m. EST: Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee will announce the nominees in the following categories: Animated Feature Film, Cinematography, Costume Design, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Song, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
At 5:38 a.m...
Joy Editors on Playing With Peak Performances
Behind every award-winning performance there is an editor, or editors, who play an integral part in shaping it for the big screen, and Jennifer Lawrence’s Golden Globe-winning performance in David O. Russell’s Joy is no exception. We talk to editors Alan Baumgarten and Jay Cassidy about the role of the editor and when it’s necessary to tell Russell to ‘go away’.
When you are working together are there specific roles that you take on?...
Golden Age: Great Performances From Older Actresses Deserving of Oscar Noms
When the Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow, January 14, expect several of Hollywood’s best and brightest young actresses to lead the pack. Brie Larson, 26, and Saoirse Ronan, 21, should be shoo-ins as best actress nominees for their stellar work in Room and Brooklyn, respectively. Jennifer Lawrence, 25, already an Oscar winner, could easily land another nomination for Joy. And even though her film, Clouds of Sils Maria,...
Reporters Corner J.J. Abrams After Panel to Talk Star Wars Rumors
At some point, you sort of want to feel bad for J.J. Abrams. Okay, you don't, but the guy has moved the Star Wars franchise into the future admirably, after years of work and the most intense pre-release media scrutiny, possibly in film history, and he's still getting pigeonholed by reporters at events that have nothing to do with Star Wars. Poor guy! (Not really).
Abrams was at the Television Critics Association for a panel on his upcoming Showtime series ...
Writer/Director Michael J. Larnell on Cronies, His Inspirations & More
The NYU Production Lab helps finance a handful of student and alumni films every year. This past year, one of those films was the Spike Lee executive produced Cronies, which was a 2015 Sundance hit, and a first feature from NYU graduate Michael J. Larnell, who was one of Spike's students. Larnell wrote, directed, produced and edited it while earning his MFA at Tisch. Not too shabby a start for the young man.
Cronies is set in Larnell's hometown of St...
Composer Keegan DeWitt on Blythe Danner’s Magic in I’ll See You in My Dreams
We spoke with composer Keegan DeWitt, whose work has influenced a slew of very well respected films in recent years, including two very fine features by writer/director Alex Ross Perry; Listen Up, Phillip (one of 2014's surprise comedies) and Queen of Earth. DeWitt's latest work was on Brett Haley's I'll See You In My Dreams, a critically acclaimed film centered on a widow and former songstress (a great Blythe Danner) who re-embraces the world,...
Deadpool Teaser, Revisiting David Bowie’s Underappreciated Roles & More
Here's what we're reading on Tuesday, January 12, 2016:
The world continues to mourn the passing of David Bowie. We suggest listening to his last album, "Blackstar," all the way through. It's devastating. Here's Variety's Steven Gaydos deconstructing Bowie's filmography. One of those films is Labyrinth, a collaboration between three singular talents; The Muppets creator Jim Henson, George Lucas, and Bowie.
Speaking of Bowie's filmography,...
Marvel Nabs Ryan Coogler to Direct Black Panther
The Motion Picture Association of American hosted an evening with director Ryan Coogler after his breakout directorial debut, Fruitvale Station. Coogler was still fresh out of film school, and Fruitvale Station, which he wrote and directed, had recently won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature and Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, and, a few months later, the Avenir Prize – Un Certain Regard at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival...
David Bowie, the Golden Globes, Aziz Ansari’s Incredible Gag & More
Here’s what we’re reading (and weeping about) on Monday, January 11, 2016.
As we wrote earlier, the world is reacting to the death of legendary shape shifter and artist nonpareil David Bowie. Read his New York Times obit, revel in this incredible animated illustration by a young illustrator named Helen Green that honors the greatest chameleon of the modern era, and check out this video for his last release,...
David Bowie, 1947 – 2016
The world is responding to the news that legendary musician, performer, and unclassifiable chameleon David Bowie has died. Bowie passed away two days after his 69th birthday from complications from cancer. A Facebook ad on his page read; “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family.”
Bowie had just released an album on his birthday this past Friday, "Blackstar," which is a collaboration with a jazz quintet, very much in keeping with his relentless push towards new sounds,...
