Sundance 2016: Nate Parker’s Huge Night & More
We wrote yesterday about the rapturous response to Nate Parker’s Sundance-shaking Nat Turner biopic, The Birth of a Nation. Today, reports are flooding in that the whopping, festival record-setting $17.5 million offer the film got from Fox Searchlight was actually less than what Netflix was willing to part with.
THR reports that writer, director and star Parker, who had put $100,000 of his own money into the film to fly around the country in an attempt to find financiers (he eventually had a dozen investor groups,
Sundance 2016: A Roundup of Reviews, Part II
Let’s take a look at what the critics are saying about some of the films that have premiered at Sundance.
Nate Parker and Tony Espinosa in 'The Birth of a Nation.' Photo by Elliot Davis. Courtesy Sundance Film Festival.
Earlier today, we took a look at Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation,
Sundance 2016: Fox Searchlight Nabs Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation
Nate Parker, writer, director, and star of The Birth of a Nation's seven year commitment to his labor of love has paid off in a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures, The Wrap reports. Parker's epic is currently the talk of Sundance. The Hollywood Reporter Rebecca Ford writes that Parker’s film earned a rapturous standing ovation at its' premiere in Eccles theater in Park City,
Sundance 2016: A Film Review Roundup
Earlier we looked at some of the films that have premiered at Sundance that have found homes in a variety of studios, from IFC to Amazon. Now let's take a look at some of the films reviews coming out of the festival this year, perhaps gleaning what will be next on the bidding block.
Vulture's Bilge Ebiri has written that Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea,
Sundance 2016: Complete Unknown, Morris From America & More are Sold
As the first major film festival of the year, and arguably one of the most important on the ever expanding festival circuit, the Sundance Film Festival is something of a taste maker. Studios small and large vie for the distribution rights of a number of films, while unknown talents can, in a single Park City night, become hot commodities. Here's a look at the news coming out of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Before we get into what films have sold thus far,
Talking to the Writer/Director of the Epic Balkan Western Aferim!
It’s a safe bet that you’ve never seen a movie quite like Aferim!
An epic Balkan Western shot in 35mm black-and-white, Romanian director Radu Jude’s third feature earned a Silver Bear for best director at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival and was the Official Selection at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
Aferim! (an Ottoman Turkish expression that apparently translates as “bravo!” and is used ironically in the film) is set in the barren landscape of mid-19th-century Wallachia.
10 Episodes to Get Caught up on the X-Files Before Sunday’s Premiere
Thanks to its hefty publicity campaign, you’re probably aware that Fox has announced an official revival of the beloved science fiction show X-Files. And while reboots might strike fear in the hearts of many, this ground-breaking, well-reviewed and highly-rated show seems fitting, considering it changed the landscape of television before the cable explosion and putting the network on the map. It premieres this Sunday, January 24, at 10ET/7PT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1SmJUBT5q0
Most importantly,
Dates Set for Dates for Star Wars: Episode VIII & Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Walt Disney Studios has announced new release dates for two of their biggest upcoming films, hoping (and very likely) to recapture the magic that The Force Awakens managed in its mid-December slot.
Owing to the crazy huge success of J.J. Abrams first installment in the new trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release on May 26, 2017, will now debut on December 15,
Pee-wee is Back in new Trailer for his Netflix Original Film
“Heh, heh,” time for a winter’s giggle and bit of zany whimsy. Pee-wee Herman is hitting the road after a 30 year hiatus, and it's as if time stood still for the childlike Pee-wee. Netflix just released the first 39-second trailer for its original film, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, in all its Rube Goldberg glory. This feature will star the ageless Paul Reubens, reprising the role he created in the mid-1980s for his television show,
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,
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
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.
Your Full List of Golden Globe Winners
That's a wrap for the Golden Globes. We'll be taking a look at the highlights from the show, but for now, here's a list of every winner in every category.
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Winner: The Revenant
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Room
Spotlight
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Winner: The Martian
The Big Short
Joy
Spy
Trainwreck
Best Director,
Get to Know Your Golden Globes Nominees for Best Motion Picture, Animated
Yesterday we delighted and thrilled you with two Golden Globe primers to make you the toast/scourge of your friends and/or family. Our primer for the Best Motion Picture, Drama and Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy categories were designed to give you the tools (in the form of interviews we've done with the below-the-line artists who helped make those films great) to sound like a cinematic savant. "Harold, did you know Carol
Get to Know Your Golden Globe Nominees for Best Motion Picture, Drama
With the Golden Globes airing this Sunday night, we figured we'd put together a little hyperlinked primer for you. Unless your job it is to know how these films are actually made, chances are you've seen some, missed others, and know who the bold faced names are. With that in mind, and to shed a little light on the folks behind the stars you'll be watching during the broadcast, we've rounded up the interviews we've done over the past year with the below-the-liners who helped make these movies.
I Like the Way You Die, Boy: Tarantino’s 8 Best Villains
It’s no secret that professional provocateur Quentin Tarantino has one of the most twisted minds in the business, spawning some of the most vile (and violent) characters to ever exist on screen, with quirks and sadism aplenty.
Perhaps more unsettling is the knowledge that Tarantino’s cinematic worlds intersect, which means that Reservoir Dogs’ psychotic Mr. Blonde has ties to the menacing pawn shop owners Maynard and Zed of Pulp Fiction,
The Martian’s Screenwriter Drew Goddard on Adapting What he Loves
The Martian began its life with a cult following on the internet, then became a bestseller and ended up as one of the biggest movies of the 2015, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. Screenwriter Drew Goddard (World War Z) talks to The Credits about adapting Andy Weir’s page turner about surviving being stranded on Mars, handing over the directing reins to Scott and telling Weir it was time to quit his day job.
Around the Web: Christoper Nolan’s Next Movie, The Force Awakens Fan Theories & More
Here's what we're reading around the web today:
Christopher Nolan's next movie is going to be Dunkirk, based on another of his original screenplays. The film is set during the legendary evacuation in France in 1940 during WWII, and once again Nolan will be utilizing a combination of IMAX 65mm and 65mm large format film photography, much as he did on his last epic, Interstellar. The Hollywood Reporter
J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Debuts Trailer
As select journalists left a screening for Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night (they're not allowed to say a peep about the film until it opens), they were greeted with the news that Warner Bros. had slipped in a brand new trailer for their most anticipated film of 2016, the J.K. Rowling scripted Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Your Golden Globes Nominees Announcements LIVE
You can still catch the live broadcast of the Golden Globe nominations here. Below's the list thus far.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Idris Elba, Luther
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson,
