In a category that has historically overlooked female directors, this feels like progress. After all, only five women have ever been nominated for the best-director Oscar, and if Zhao, King, and Fennell all make it in, that number would nearly double in a single year. But look a little closer, and there’s still a pernicious double standard at play....
"Veteran producers Bruce Hendricks and Galen Walker have optioned the rights to the late Stanley Kubrick's unmade film Lunatic At Large, and have plans to bring the film-noir storyline to the big screen. … The project was one of three film stories found in Kubrick's archives after his passing." Production is expected to start this fall. - The Hollywood...
"Many private Polish TV channels and radio stations fell silent and online sites and newspapers ran black front pages on Wednesday in a concerted protest over a planned tax that critics fear will weaken or destroy some media." The ruling Law & Justice party says the tax is a "solidarity fee" to fund healthcare and COVID relief for arts...
"My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot. I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things like that. Maybe you should call your show Newsy things Considered, since I don't get to hear about all the things. Or please talk...
"Paramount has a screenplay for a new movie, according to court papers. But Alan Schwartz, Trustee of the Truman Capote Literary Trust, has been shopping a television series, and has gotten seven-figure offers from multiple interested buyers. Early last year, both sides pursued settlement with the idea that Paramount would be involved in the TV production, but in May,...
In the network's motion to dismiss the voting company's defamation lawsuit — which alleges that Fox News and three of its hosts knowingly spread a false conspiracy theory that Smartmatic's tabulation software (with the help of the late Hugo Chávez) changed vote totals — Fox's attorneys argue that any allegation, no matter how bizarre, by a President or his...
Nothing against the (many) kick-ass, and asskicking, Black actresses of the science fiction universes, but for something closer to reality? Enter Queen Latifah. - Los Angeles Times
Nomadland took top honors at the London Film Critics Circle on Sunday night. Zhao won for screenwriting, though; Steve McQueen took home Best Director honors for Small Axe, his anthology series of five films on Amazon Prime. - The Guardian (UK)
Yes, it's devastating all kinds of careers in the arts. One TV director: "The big question is ‘will I ever work again?’ And if not, how can I best say goodbye to an industry I have been part of for all my working life?" - The Guardian (UK)
Nearly two years after screenwriters fired their agents in a fight against agency actions that were costing TV writers quite a bit of money, the Writers' Guild Union approved a new deal with WME. - Los Angeles Times
The last big film festival from 2020 had its virtual tryout this year. It wasn't terrible, but, says one critic: "I’m usually whiny and cranky about Sundance. Why are we in the snow? Why January? I could see all you people in Los Angeles. But this year, I was so nostalgic for every bit of the experience. I wanted...
The director of Meek's Cutoff and First Cow is also feeling, well, a bit cynical. "There’s so much celebration of women and people of color this year and I’m thinking ‘that’s great,’ but a cynical part of me is thinking ‘Is this just Covid?’ Are they just thinking ‘Let’s just let women in and give them the awards this...
"Shot in half the time the Lugosi vehicle was allotted, and on a much smaller budget, Drácula" — yes, it's the Spanish version — "contains revealing differences. It's 29 minutes longer than the Browning film, with more dialogue – we see more of Dracula's castle; and the framing of shots are arguably superior – thanks to Melford's...
“At the start of the pandemic, no one had any work, so it wasn’t so much of a problem. At times it was even nice not to be working. But when you’re freelance, you wonder whose doing what and doubt yourself, and when shoots opened up again, it was difficult not being out and about and having a purpose.”...
"'My hunch is that, for some women, having me present means they have to examine their past experiences on set without an intimacy coordinator,' said Mia Schachter, intimacy coordinator on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and HBO shows such as Insecure and Euphoria." - The Guardian
