The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
AWA RDS SEASON ANA LYSI S & OPINION NO ONE IS A BIGGER FAN of the Oscars than I am. I don’t think the Academy Awards are broken — far from it — even if many others do. But as someone who wants them to survive and thrive forever, I do believe there are a few relatively simple changes the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can institute to make the awards even better. 1 Guarantee 10 best picture nominees — from throughout the year How much do filmmakers and distributors covet the Oscars? So much that their ambition affects the film industry’s release schedule, with the vast majority of awardquality films being released in the last quarter of each year so that they will be remembered by voters…
BEST PICTURE The Big Short It picked up a passionate champion in economist Paul Krugman, who hailed it in a Dec. 18 New York Times column, writing the movie “does a terrific job of making Wall Street skulduggery entertaining.” Star Wars: The Force Awakens After making the AFI’s top 10 list, it was added — somewhat controversially — as an 11th best picture nominee for a Critics’ Choice Award. And it crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide box-office grosses in record time. The Revenant and The Hateful Eight Although both posted promising numbers during initial limited playdates, their box-office potential hit a possible setback when pirated copies surfaced. The FBI is on the case. Straight Outta Compton As part of a big preholidays push, Oscar winner Jamie Foxx lent…
“In a sense, we were all addicted.” ALICIA VIKANDER The Danish Girl star, on how she and other dancers at ballet school in Stockholm — all of whom lived in “constant pain” — would divvy up painkillers whenever one filled a prescription. “I was like, ‘Mad Max? Without Mel Gibson? Forget that!’ I even wanted to get all defiant about it. Hashtag NotMyMax! But then I saw the movie. And OK, it’s terrific.” QUENTIN TARANTINO The Hateful Eight director, on his initial reluctance to embrace Mad Max: Fury Road, which he now singles out as the best movie of the year. “I’m constantly reading Russian authors now, wrapped in a scarf, huddled in a coffeehouse.” ADAM MCKAY The Big Short director, joking about adopting a newly pretentious persona after tackling…
VISUAL EFFECTS TO RE-CREATE PHILIPPE Petit’s 1974 high-wire performance at New York’s World Trade Center for Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk, which is on the Oscar VFX shortlist, the filmmakers had to start from scratch since the twin towers no longer exist. For visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie of lead VFX house Atomic Fiction (Montreal’s Rodeo FX and Prague’s UPP also contributed to the film), that meant extensive research and an unforgettable helicopter ride. “We looked through thousands of reference books and photos from the library and called the New York Port Authority,” says Baillie. “We also took a helicopter up and had clearance to hover over ground zero at the height of the former twin towers. I will never forget looking down at the memorial and the reflecting pools and…
Q&A When Sarah Silverman was tapped to star in the film adaptation of Amy Koppelman’s novel I Smile Back, the comedian immediately accepted, thinking the movie would never get made. “I’ve been around awhile,” she says with a wry smile. A year later, she received an email from producers crowing, “We got the money!” and immediately had what she calls a “full-body panic attack” at the prospect of playing Laney, a coke-addicted suburban mom of two. Her response helped Silverman — whose late mother was a theater director in Manchester, N.H., where the comedian grew up — realize that she already had access to the emotions she would need to play the daunting role: “I thought, if this panic attack is any indication of [my abilities], I got it,” she…
Nine contenders advance — three highlighted here — as the Academy selects a Europe-heavy shortlist FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILMS Eagle-eyed Academy members might have a deja vu moment when flicking through their screeners for potential best film and best foreign-language titles. While The Martian widely is expected to be among those competing for the best picture Oscar in February, Theeb — which also was shot in Jordan’s immense UNESCOprotected sandstone valley of Wadi Rum — is among the nine shortlisted international titles and stands a good chance of making it to the final five, having already outlasted high-profile favorites including Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin. Although their stories couldn’t be more different — Theeb is a World War I-set drama about a young Bedouin boy who finds himself fighting for survival against roaming…
