"Ninety seconds. That’s how quickly Steven Soderbergh believes the Academy Awards will convince viewers that this year’s telecast is different. The concept for the show, which Soderbergh is producing with Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins, is to treat the telecast not like a TV show but a movie. And he’s convinced he’s got a doozy of an opening scene. “We’re going to announce our intention immediately,” says Soderbergh. “Right out of the gate, people are going to know: ‘We’ve got to put our seatbelt on.’”

April 18, 2021

Paul Schrader on Facebook: “AN OBSERVATION ABOUT FILM ECONOMICS. The clever post-nickelodeon decision to monetize motion pictures (squeezing large numbers of patrons in un-air-conditioned large rooms with (for a time) intermittent vaudeville acts worked like a charm for decades. Then came TV. Yet movies survived. Became larger scope, racier subject matter, exploitation pix, women's pix, prestige pix, horror pix, genre pix, realistic pix. bigger in scope, racier in subject matter, newsreels. serious dramas, art films, European films—and air conditioned cinemas. But now comes Phase Three: BOOM! The growing desire of audiences to see film entertainment in theater like home entertainment at great discount, a transition 14 months in the training, but, more importantly, a shift away from the standalone 2 hr ‘important’ drama inspired by literature to the ongoing episodic dramas inspired by crime series (true or otherwise), telenovelas, expanded documentary and biographic sagas, stripping storytelling of its ability to compose concise stories which land like a punch in the face.”

April 18, 2021

Kris Tapley: “With the industry awards circuit* wrapped up…

• Chicago 7 & Mank won awards from four orgs
• Ma Rainey & Promising Young Woman from three
• Sound of Metal, Minari & Nomadland from two
• Judas from one
• PGA, DGA, SAG, WGA, ASC, CDG, ACE, MUAHS, SLC, ADG, SDSA, CAS, MPSE, VES, CSA”

Twitter | April 18, 2021

ASC Winners Are Mank And The Truffle Hunters

April 18, 2021

Anthony Breznican on Oscar-Winner Peter Ramsay's Rich Life Story

Vanity Fair | April 18, 2021

Why Rudin Stepped Back: “Hugh Jackman was ‘very concerned’ about ‘what it would look like moving forward’ with Scott Rudin in a visible role. Jackman never made any ultimatums or threatened to leave ‘The Music Man’ but expressed his position that something needed to be done. Jackman's co-star Sutton Foster took a stand and said she would leave if Rudin didn't take a seat.”

Hollywood Reporter | April 17, 2021

Scott Rudin: “Much has been written about my history of troubling interactions with colleagues, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior caused to individuals, directly and indirectly. After a period of reflection, I’ve made the decision to step back from active participation on our Broadway productions, effective immediately. My roles will be filled by others from the Broadway community and in a number of cases, from the roster of participants already in place on those shows.”

Variety | April 17, 2021

“According to multiple high-ranking people within Hollywood, it will take more than accusing him of systematically abusing his underlings to take down Rudin. One high-ranking studio executive who has worked with the 62-year-old impresario on several film projects — and is no stranger to his spittle-frenzied tirades — expressed skepticism that the revelations will have any effect on his standing. “The fact that Scott Rudin is a bully is not news,” this source says on condition of anonymity due to ongoing business sensitivities. “Everybody knows he has a terrible temper, throws stuff and terrorizes his assistants. People have been in business with him for a long time. Hollywood is known for forgiving a lot of really terrible behavior. A lot of agents and filmmakers continued to work with Harvey Weinstein despite years of rumors that he was a sexual predator.”

Vulture | April 16, 2021

The FT Profiles Chloé Zhao: "Zhao was born in Beijing to a father who worked for Shougang Group, a Chinese state-owned steel company, and a hospital-worker mother. After her parents divorced, her father married comic actress Song Dandan. As a teenager, Zhao boarded at Brighton College in south-east England, and then went to the US to study political science before attending NYU Tisch School of the Arts. There she was taught by Spike Lee and was in the same year as Shaka King, who is competing for a Best Picture nomination for his film Judas and the Black Messiah. Professor Michael Casale remembers her as “confident in what she was doing — even before she knew what she was doing”. There she also found a collaborator and partner — British cinematographer, Joshua James Richards."

Financial Times | April 16, 2021

Tom Brueggeman: "Of the greatest concern is Arclight Hollywood, which alone provided one percent of the total North American gross for acclaimed titles. Patrons and filmmakers have posted passionate pleas for its return, while inside the industry specialized distributors pray fervently for a resurrection. Pacific had a lease at The Grove, located in the Fairfax district in mid-Los Angeles, which grossed over $12 million in 2019. That location, and Arclight Sherman Oaks, are distributor must-haves; their areas leave few alternatives."

Indie Wire | April 16, 2021

"Jim and John Thomas, the brothers who wrote 1987's Predator, have filed a lawsuit against Disney seeking confirmation of successfully recapturing rights to the franchise. Meanwhile, Disney's 20th Century unit has filed its own suit against the Thomas brothers with the goal of retaining rights. The Thomas brothers are seeking to exploit copyright law's termination provision, which allows authors to cancel transfers after waiting a period of time, typically 35 years for newer works. Given the time frame, studios are facing the prospect of losing franchise rights to many iconic works from the 1980s."

Hollywood Reporter | April 16, 2021

"As theaters began to reopen last September, Sony also started to be selective with the information it shares on opening weekend. With its recent releases, the studio has stonewalled initial revenues and holding until Sunday to send notes to the press. It’s also waiting until a movie’s second weekend to release more comprehensive data, such as city-by-city or theater-by-theater grosses. That information is circulated among distribution executives on the research platform Rentrak, which is owned by Comscore. It’s a service that Hollywood studios pay large sums of money to gain access."

Variety | April 16, 2021

Amnesty International: "The wrongful prosecution, conviction and sentencing of these activists underlines the Hong Kong government’s intention to eliminate all political opposition in the city. Having arrested the majority of Hong Kong’s most prominent dissidents using the repressive national security law, the authorities are now mopping up remaining peaceful critics under the pretext of bogus charges related to the 2019 protests. These convictions are a violation of international law, which states that participating in and organizing peaceful assemblies does not require prior permission by the state. Nor does failure to notify the authorities about an assembly make it unlawful to take part in it. The prosecution’s case against these activists is simply not tenable. The Hong Kong authorities must stop bringing unwarranted criminal charges against those who have peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. All those sentenced today should be immediately released and their record expunged.”

April 15, 2021

Mariel Hemingway: "It’s a bit touchy for me because he wasn’t disrespectful of me or unpleasant. I don’t know Mia, I don’t know Ronan and I don’t know Dylan. I don’t know that story. It’s not my story to tell.”Me saying that is not me going on a bandstand defending, but the integrity of his work to me still stays intact. I’m not going down that road with him. Maybe that’s cowardly of me.”

Variety | April 15, 2021

“Jimmy Lai, billionaire owner of Hong Kong’s last opposition newspaper, sentenced to year in prison over role in anti-Beijing protests”

The BBC | April 15, 2021

“We’re so sorry for the frustration that our silence has caused. It’s not because we don’t care. It’s not because we aren’t listening or that we’ve been caught off guard by the complexities of the show. Every day since the nominations came out, we’ve had an internal debate whether to release information about what we’re doing even though that information is often etched in Jell-O.”
London's BFI Southbank One Of Worldwide Club Hubs For Oscar Broadcast

Variety | April 14, 2021

Turner Classic Movies Passes Cash For A Filmmaker's Trip To Brazil in Search Of Orson Welles' Personal Workprint Of The Magnificent Ambersons

"Risco de incêndio é real": "Workers again denounce the abandonment of the Cinematheque in São Paulo: Brazilian Cinematheque workers, filmmakers and politicians denounce the neglect of the Bolsonaro government with the institution. Collection contemplates more than 100 years of Brazilian audiovisual history"

English-Language Version: "Manifesto Of the Workers Of The Cinemateca Brasileira"

Twitter | April 14, 2021

Edgar Wright: "While the majority of the press and reactions revolved around the Dome, it was also worth talking about the plight of the rest of the excellent Pacific and ArcLight theaters — many of which I would regularly frequent, not just ArcLight Hollywood itself, but also the theaters at the Grove and the Americana. These locations and many more in the same chain were the heart of the town for many filmmakers and film-goers alike. I have literally hundreds of memories, not just from screenings or premieres of my own work, but just watching new movies — be it in a packed house, close to midnight with the hardcore geeks or in the peaceful Sunday morning screenings. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it my home away from home, I’ve spent more time in those ArcLight chairs than my own couch in Los Feliz. But while many in the industry were posting photos of favorite memories, screen signage or ticket stubs, I didn’t want to post an obituary and refer to the theaters in the past tense. I wanted to know if this was in any way solvable or reversible...  It’s been easy, in the pandemic year and the dominance of streamers, for many to forget that people like going to the movies."

LA Times | April 14, 2021

Kevin Smith: "As an indie artist, I’m always looking for a new platform. And crypto has the potential to provide that, while also intersecting with our almost twenty-five years of experience selling real world collectibles online and at the brick-and-mortar Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Back in 1994, we took Clerks up to Sundance and sold it. Selling Killroy Was Here as an NFT feels very similar: whoever buys it could choose to monetize it traditionally, or simply own a film that nobody ever sees but them. We’re not trying to raise financing by selling NFTs for a Killroy movie; the completed Killroy movie IS the NFT. And If this works, we suddenly have a new stage on which I and other, better artists than me can tell our stories.”

Deadline | April 14, 2021

Televisa and Univision Set To Merge in Near $5-Billion Deal

Hollywood Reporter | April 14, 2021