While we absolutely love scripted movies and television here at /Film, we also have a deep appreciation for documentaries — series and films alike. With so many streaming services available, it feels like there are more documentaries out there than ever before, which can make finding the right one to watch a bit intimidating. Thankfully, I'm here to help recommend some of the best docs streaming this May, from remastered versions of music classics like "Stop Making Sense" and "Let it Be" to new docs with a fresh perspective, like the shocking "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV" and "Stormy." There has honestly been a massive influx of showbiz docs lately, with a couple more great ones dropping fresh this month. The entertainment industry has always been rife with controversy and chaos, so there's sure to be no end of these docs anytime soon. Still, this latest crop is a real doozy.
- 5/1/2024
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
Music movies are having a moment — if, indeed, they ever stopped having one. Take the pop-music biopic. There are times, like right now, when it surges in popularity, yet the form has never gone out of style. And music documentaries, a staple of the indie-film world, have only proliferated during the streaming era. This means that they have to compete for visibility, but a ton of them are getting made and (mostly) getting seen. They’ve become a happy epidemic.
A few, like “Amy” or “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?,” are popular and vital enough to have carved out a place in the culture — and, in the case of both those films, to have inspired the creation of a biopic. I have it on good authority that when you’re trying to put together a music documentary, the prospect of it spawning a biopic can be a key selling point.
A few, like “Amy” or “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?,” are popular and vital enough to have carved out a place in the culture — and, in the case of both those films, to have inspired the creation of a biopic. I have it on good authority that when you’re trying to put together a music documentary, the prospect of it spawning a biopic can be a key selling point.
- 3/24/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
In one of many flavorful TV interview excerpts from the band’s prime in Devo, they identify themselves as aliens who have come down to Earth in UFOs with the aim of cultural infiltration. With their red plastic “energy dome” flowerpot helmets and utilitarian uniforms that look like kids’ home-made spacesuits, the group could almost pass for interplanetary messengers, preaching change as an urgent gospel for late 20th century America in rapid regression. As one member says: “We already felt like humans were insane, so for people to be enlightened, something had to happen.”
Anyone familiar with Devo solely through their 1980 monster hit “Whip It,” or even a handful of other heyday bangers like “Beautiful World,” “Working in the Coalmine,” “Girl U Want” or “Freedom of Choice,” will likely find Chris Smith’s propulsive documentary enlightening as well as vigorously entertaining.
At one point after the group’s classic lineup had undergone changes,...
Anyone familiar with Devo solely through their 1980 monster hit “Whip It,” or even a handful of other heyday bangers like “Beautiful World,” “Working in the Coalmine,” “Girl U Want” or “Freedom of Choice,” will likely find Chris Smith’s propulsive documentary enlightening as well as vigorously entertaining.
At one point after the group’s classic lineup had undergone changes,...
- 1/24/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Todd Haynes is, in this writer’s opinion, one of our greatest living filmmakers. Ever since his 1987 film, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a moving examination of the singer’s battle with anorexia using Barbie dolls and created while he was at Bard College, his unique voice has enraptured audiences. Safe. Velvet Goldmine. Far From Heaven. Carol. The Velvet Underground. There are too many classics to mention.
In his latest film, May December, Haynes has reunited with his muse Julianne Moore for their fifth collaboration over nearly three decades. She plays Gracie Atherton-Yoo,...
In his latest film, May December, Haynes has reunited with his muse Julianne Moore for their fifth collaboration over nearly three decades. She plays Gracie Atherton-Yoo,...
- 12/2/2023
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
On December 6, the 2023 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate 11 filmmakers, creators, and actors for their achievements in creative independence. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event.
From Cate Blanchett’s meet-cute hat-tip to shopgirl Rooney Mara in “Carol” and Julianne Moore’s farewell on a train platform to Dennis Haysbert at the end of “Far from Heaven” to, now, Natalie Portman’s straight-to-the-camera monologue as an actress playing an actress who is also playing another role in “May December,” Todd Haynes might not see his images as destined-to-be-iconic while on set as we do on our screens. At first.
That’s partly because, for the Oscar-nominated filmmaker upon whom IndieWire Honors will bestow the Vanguard Award on December 6 in Los Angeles, “every film has been a tremendous challenge in terms of resources and time and financing. I’ve always felt that I have...
From Cate Blanchett’s meet-cute hat-tip to shopgirl Rooney Mara in “Carol” and Julianne Moore’s farewell on a train platform to Dennis Haysbert at the end of “Far from Heaven” to, now, Natalie Portman’s straight-to-the-camera monologue as an actress playing an actress who is also playing another role in “May December,” Todd Haynes might not see his images as destined-to-be-iconic while on set as we do on our screens. At first.
That’s partly because, for the Oscar-nominated filmmaker upon whom IndieWire Honors will bestow the Vanguard Award on December 6 in Los Angeles, “every film has been a tremendous challenge in terms of resources and time and financing. I’ve always felt that I have...
- 11/29/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Clockwise from top left: The Beanie Bubble, Tetris, The Banker, Causeway (all Apple TV+)Graphic: AVClub
Unlike Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, which each offer movies to stream from many studios both large and small, Apple TV+ focuses almost exclusively on Apple Originals that are, for the most part, only available on its platform.
Unlike Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, which each offer movies to stream from many studios both large and small, Apple TV+ focuses almost exclusively on Apple Originals that are, for the most part, only available on its platform.
- 11/25/2023
- by The A.V. Club
- avclub.com
May December director Todd Haynes with screenwriter Samy Burch, and his producers Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Jessica Elbaum and Sophie Mas Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Todd Haynes’s May December, screenplay by Samy Burch, shot by Christopher Blauvelt and starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton opened the 61st New York Film Festival on Friday. Todd’s previous films screening at the New York Film Festival were Velvet Goldmine (NYFF 36), I’m Not There (NYFF 45), Carol (NYFF 53), Wonderstruck (NYFF 55 - Centerpiece Selection), and The Velvet Underground (NYFF 59).
Todd Haynes responding to Anne-Katrin Titze’s comment and question: “I did not create the lisp! There are some people who are missing today who could speak so beautifully about how they built these characters.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the press conference Todd Haynes spoke about connecting his composer Marcelo Zarvos to Michel Legrand’s score for Joseph Losey’s The Go-Between (Harold Pinter...
Todd Haynes’s May December, screenplay by Samy Burch, shot by Christopher Blauvelt and starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton opened the 61st New York Film Festival on Friday. Todd’s previous films screening at the New York Film Festival were Velvet Goldmine (NYFF 36), I’m Not There (NYFF 45), Carol (NYFF 53), Wonderstruck (NYFF 55 - Centerpiece Selection), and The Velvet Underground (NYFF 59).
Todd Haynes responding to Anne-Katrin Titze’s comment and question: “I did not create the lisp! There are some people who are missing today who could speak so beautifully about how they built these characters.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the press conference Todd Haynes spoke about connecting his composer Marcelo Zarvos to Michel Legrand’s score for Joseph Losey’s The Go-Between (Harold Pinter...
- 10/2/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The show must go on! New York Film Festival opened its 61st edition with “May December” as planned, despite a massive rainstorm that’s left streets and subways flooded across the five boroughs.
“Thank you all for braving the weather and making it here tonight,” director Todd Haynes told the mostly full theater. “We didn’t know what to expect.”
On one of the wettest N.Y. days in recent years, Haynes walked the red carpet at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and sat for a post-screening Q&a. The stars of the soapy drama, Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, weren’t able to attend in accordance with SAG-AFTRA strike rules.
Haynes expressed his disappointment that the cast couldn’t celebrate at the premiere. “We miss you guys,” he said, referring to Portman, Moore and Melton. “We stand by you. We want it to get resolved.”
NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim added,...
“Thank you all for braving the weather and making it here tonight,” director Todd Haynes told the mostly full theater. “We didn’t know what to expect.”
On one of the wettest N.Y. days in recent years, Haynes walked the red carpet at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and sat for a post-screening Q&a. The stars of the soapy drama, Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, weren’t able to attend in accordance with SAG-AFTRA strike rules.
Haynes expressed his disappointment that the cast couldn’t celebrate at the premiere. “We miss you guys,” he said, referring to Portman, Moore and Melton. “We stand by you. We want it to get resolved.”
NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim added,...
- 9/30/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has shared the official trailer for the upcoming movie, May December. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film stars Natalie Portman as an actress who gets entwined in the tense, twisted world of the real-life subject she’s preparing to portray. Watch the trailer ahead of its December 1st premiere below.
Loosely based on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau — the convicted child rapist who went on to marry and birth two children with her victim — May December follows Portman’s character as she prepares to play a woman (Julianne Moore) who began an affair with a 7th grader, and then eventually married him. Years removed from when their controversial “romance” caused a stir in the headlines, the couple welcomes Portman into their home, hoping to help her “tell the story right” for a movie about the affair.
But as the trailer shows us, the serenity of the couples...
Loosely based on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau — the convicted child rapist who went on to marry and birth two children with her victim — May December follows Portman’s character as she prepares to play a woman (Julianne Moore) who began an affair with a 7th grader, and then eventually married him. Years removed from when their controversial “romance” caused a stir in the headlines, the couple welcomes Portman into their home, hoping to help her “tell the story right” for a movie about the affair.
But as the trailer shows us, the serenity of the couples...
- 9/26/2023
- by Jo Vito
- Consequence - Film News
Todd Haynes’ May December will open the New York Film Festival on Friday, but Netflix is giving an intriguing sneak peek via the first official trailer for the film that was the talk of Cannes this year.
Starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, the film picks up 20 years after an affair between an adult woman (Moore) and a much (much) younger man (Melton) – think Mary Kay Letourneau – made tabloid headlines. In the present day, famous TV star Elizabeth (Portman) visits the now-married couple while researching a film that will be based on the old scandal.
As the official logline puts it, “as Elizabeth attempts to get closer to the family, the uncomfortable facts of their scandal unfurl, causing difficult, long-dormant emotions to resurface.”
Directed by Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch and story by Burch and Alex Mechanik, the film had its world premiere in Cannes, with...
Starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, the film picks up 20 years after an affair between an adult woman (Moore) and a much (much) younger man (Melton) – think Mary Kay Letourneau – made tabloid headlines. In the present day, famous TV star Elizabeth (Portman) visits the now-married couple while researching a film that will be based on the old scandal.
As the official logline puts it, “as Elizabeth attempts to get closer to the family, the uncomfortable facts of their scandal unfurl, causing difficult, long-dormant emotions to resurface.”
Directed by Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch and story by Burch and Alex Mechanik, the film had its world premiere in Cannes, with...
- 9/26/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, will be the Opening Night selection
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton will be the Opening Night selection of the 61st New York Film Festival. Todd’s previous films screening at the New York Film Festival were Velvet Goldmine (NYFF 36), I’m Not There (NYFF 45), Carol (NYFF 53), Wonderstruck (NYFF 55 - Centerpiece Selection), and The Velvet Underground (NYFF 59).
Todd Haynes’s longtime producer Christine Vachon Photo: Ed Bahlman
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American première of May December,” said director Todd Haynes. “It is a festival that plays a role in my work and life like no other in the world, since it enshrines...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton will be the Opening Night selection of the 61st New York Film Festival. Todd’s previous films screening at the New York Film Festival were Velvet Goldmine (NYFF 36), I’m Not There (NYFF 45), Carol (NYFF 53), Wonderstruck (NYFF 55 - Centerpiece Selection), and The Velvet Underground (NYFF 59).
Todd Haynes’s longtime producer Christine Vachon Photo: Ed Bahlman
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American première of May December,” said director Todd Haynes. “It is a festival that plays a role in my work and life like no other in the world, since it enshrines...
- 7/13/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
This year’s New York Film Festival will open with the North American premiere of Todd Haynes’s new film “May December,” festival organizers announced on Tuesday.
“‘May December’ is a tour-de-force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to-moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, the artistic director at the New York Film Festival, in a press release. “It cements Todd Haynes’s place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American premiere of ‘May December,’” Haynes said...
“‘May December’ is a tour-de-force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to-moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, the artistic director at the New York Film Festival, in a press release. “It cements Todd Haynes’s place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American premiere of ‘May December,’” Haynes said...
- 7/11/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Netflix sets November 17 theatrical release ahead of December 1 platform debut.
The North American premiere of Todd Haynes’s May December will open the 61st New York Film Festival on September 29.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in the drama about a TV star who ruffles feathers when she begins research for a role involving a couple whose origins called tabloid furore two decades prior.
Charles Melton also stars in the film, which premiered in Cannes Competition and finished joint second on Screen’s jury grid.
Netflix acquired May December in a reported $11m North American deal following the world premiere...
The North American premiere of Todd Haynes’s May December will open the 61st New York Film Festival on September 29.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in the drama about a TV star who ruffles feathers when she begins research for a role involving a couple whose origins called tabloid furore two decades prior.
Charles Melton also stars in the film, which premiered in Cannes Competition and finished joint second on Screen’s jury grid.
Netflix acquired May December in a reported $11m North American deal following the world premiere...
- 7/11/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Todd Haynes’ May December will open the New York Film Festival on September 29, organizers said today.
The film had its world premiere in Cannes and its North American rights were acquired by Netflix for $11 million after an all-night bidding war. New York will host the film’s North American premiere as the kickoff to its 61st edition. Haynes and members of the cast headed by Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are expected to be in attendance.
While the New York fest has sometimes opened with major world premieres like The Irishman in 2019, its DNA as a “festival of festivals” based in a media-rich city has led it to program plenty of non-premiere openers. The 2022 fest opened with White Noise, which had world-premiered in Venice. Even after an opening night featuring an established festival title, this year’s NYFF is likely feature quite a few world premieres during the course of its 17-day run.
The film had its world premiere in Cannes and its North American rights were acquired by Netflix for $11 million after an all-night bidding war. New York will host the film’s North American premiere as the kickoff to its 61st edition. Haynes and members of the cast headed by Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are expected to be in attendance.
While the New York fest has sometimes opened with major world premieres like The Irishman in 2019, its DNA as a “festival of festivals” based in a media-rich city has led it to program plenty of non-premiere openers. The 2022 fest opened with White Noise, which had world-premiered in Venice. Even after an opening night featuring an established festival title, this year’s NYFF is likely feature quite a few world premieres during the course of its 17-day run.
- 7/11/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
The psychedelic Folk Horror features The Other Side Of The Forest and Beyond The Speed Of Life are to be released on physical media and streaming this summer.
The Other Side Of The Forest
“The Other Side Of The Forest” is a fantasy Pop-Art Fairytale directed by Grant McPhee and starring Lori Stott (BBC’s The Demon Headmaster) and Ashley Sutherland (Night Kaleidoscope).
It is the story of a shy young woman seeking her fame in the dark world of the 1960s folk-music underground. Lori’s journey to stardom takes her on an adventure far beyond the music world she is trying to break into, and instead she travels far beyond her reality to a forgotten past of rural landscapes, magic, myth, dead Gods and mysterious fallen angels.
In this fantastical world Lori meets a mysterious time-travelling guide (Ashley Sutherland) who helps her navigate the malevolent threat of the Swine-Folk,...
The Other Side Of The Forest
“The Other Side Of The Forest” is a fantasy Pop-Art Fairytale directed by Grant McPhee and starring Lori Stott (BBC’s The Demon Headmaster) and Ashley Sutherland (Night Kaleidoscope).
It is the story of a shy young woman seeking her fame in the dark world of the 1960s folk-music underground. Lori’s journey to stardom takes her on an adventure far beyond the music world she is trying to break into, and instead she travels far beyond her reality to a forgotten past of rural landscapes, magic, myth, dead Gods and mysterious fallen angels.
In this fantastical world Lori meets a mysterious time-travelling guide (Ashley Sutherland) who helps her navigate the malevolent threat of the Swine-Folk,...
- 7/11/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Exclusive: After partnering with LeBron James on the 2018 HBO documentary Student Athlete, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) and Trish Dalton (Election Year) have reteamed for Reggae Girlz, a feature doc telling the untold story of the Jamaican women’s national football team and their inspirational journey, both on and off the field, to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Currently shooting in Jamaica, the new film hails from Red Bull Studios, Astronaut Films, Polygram Entertainment and Cedella Marley/Tuff Gong Collective, watching as the Jamaican women’s soccer team, also known as The Reggae Girlz, make a roaring entrance onto the international stage. After failing to qualify for the 2007 World Cup and the subsequent Olympic Games, the team was disbanded in 2008. But in 2014, Bob and Rita Marley’s eldest daughter, Cedella, made it her mission to resurrect The Reggae Girlz, since then helping to lead them to become the first Caribbean team,...
Currently shooting in Jamaica, the new film hails from Red Bull Studios, Astronaut Films, Polygram Entertainment and Cedella Marley/Tuff Gong Collective, watching as the Jamaican women’s soccer team, also known as The Reggae Girlz, make a roaring entrance onto the international stage. After failing to qualify for the 2007 World Cup and the subsequent Olympic Games, the team was disbanded in 2008. But in 2014, Bob and Rita Marley’s eldest daughter, Cedella, made it her mission to resurrect The Reggae Girlz, since then helping to lead them to become the first Caribbean team,...
- 6/29/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Polygram Entertainment, the film and television division of Universal Music Group, has announced that Daniel Inkeles will become the new senior vice president of film and television development and production.
Prior to his promotion, Inkeles was the vice president of scripted film and television for Umg. In that role he served as executive producer of NBC’s musical comedy “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.” During the series’ two-season run, it was nominated for seven Emmys, winning one for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming. Inkeles was also an executive producer for Alison Ellwood’s Critics Choice-winning documentary “The Go-Go’s,” which centered around the American rock band of the same name, as well as the 2019 film, “Billie,” James Erskine’s documentary about Billie Holiday.
Inkeles is based in Los Angeles and will report to David Blackman, the executive vice president and head of film and television development and production for Umg.
Also Read:
‘Louis Armstrong...
Prior to his promotion, Inkeles was the vice president of scripted film and television for Umg. In that role he served as executive producer of NBC’s musical comedy “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.” During the series’ two-season run, it was nominated for seven Emmys, winning one for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming. Inkeles was also an executive producer for Alison Ellwood’s Critics Choice-winning documentary “The Go-Go’s,” which centered around the American rock band of the same name, as well as the 2019 film, “Billie,” James Erskine’s documentary about Billie Holiday.
Inkeles is based in Los Angeles and will report to David Blackman, the executive vice president and head of film and television development and production for Umg.
Also Read:
‘Louis Armstrong...
- 6/1/2023
- by Kayla Cobb
- The Wrap
Netflix took out its big red checkbook at the Cannes Film Festival, and bested the competition during what Deadline has referred to as an “old-style, all-night auction.” The prize was “May December,” the new drama from director Todd Haynes.
The film stars Natalie Portman as an actress visiting a woman upon whose life her next character is based. That person is played by Julianne Moore who achieved some tabloid notoriety after going to prison for seducing a 13-year-old boy when she was a grown woman. Now it is 20 years later, and she and the boy (now played as a man by Charles Melton) are still together, raising a family in Maine. (Sounds like a prestige version of the Adam Sandler flick “That’s My Boy.”)
The project was received with great praise at Cannes (it currently boasts a 93 percent score on ye olde Tomatometer) with many critics highlighting its comedic side.
The film stars Natalie Portman as an actress visiting a woman upon whose life her next character is based. That person is played by Julianne Moore who achieved some tabloid notoriety after going to prison for seducing a 13-year-old boy when she was a grown woman. Now it is 20 years later, and she and the boy (now played as a man by Charles Melton) are still together, raising a family in Maine. (Sounds like a prestige version of the Adam Sandler flick “That’s My Boy.”)
The project was received with great praise at Cannes (it currently boasts a 93 percent score on ye olde Tomatometer) with many critics highlighting its comedic side.
- 5/23/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Netflix landed North American rights for “May December,” a soapy romantic-drama directed by Todd Haynes and starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, which debuted at Cannes Film Festival. It sold for $11 million, marking the first big sale of this year’s festival.
Several bidders, including Neon, were in the mix before Netflix emerged victorious. The asking price for the domestic deal was initially $6 million, but the price tag ballooned as the bidding went on. The streamer hopes to position “May December” as an Oscar contender in the fall.
A scandalous age-gap relationship plays out at the center of “May December,” which debuted on Saturday to raves and earned a six-minute standing ovation. Moore plays the “December” to Charles Melton’s much-younger “May,” who was just 13 when the two fell in love. Given their 20-year age gap, their marriage inspired a national tabloid scandal. Decades later, their relationship is put to...
Several bidders, including Neon, were in the mix before Netflix emerged victorious. The asking price for the domestic deal was initially $6 million, but the price tag ballooned as the bidding went on. The streamer hopes to position “May December” as an Oscar contender in the fall.
A scandalous age-gap relationship plays out at the center of “May December,” which debuted on Saturday to raves and earned a six-minute standing ovation. Moore plays the “December” to Charles Melton’s much-younger “May,” who was just 13 when the two fell in love. Given their 20-year age gap, their marriage inspired a national tabloid scandal. Decades later, their relationship is put to...
- 5/23/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
While there’s a great deal to appreciate in Wonderstruck, Dark Waters, and The Velvet Underground, it’s safe to say Todd Haynes has earned his most significant acclaim since Carol with May December, which premiered this past weekend at the Cannes Film Festival. One can read our review of the drama, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, here, and now we have an update on the next film the director is planning.
Haynes revealed that he’s looking to team with Joaquin Phoenix for a gay drama set nearly a century ago. “There’s another movie I want to do in early 2024,” he tells Les Inrockuptibles. “It’s a project that Joaquin Phoenix brought to me, and it’s set in the 1930s. A love story between two men, based on an original, very audacious scenario. This is, I believe, his first gay role. I am very excited about this project!
Haynes revealed that he’s looking to team with Joaquin Phoenix for a gay drama set nearly a century ago. “There’s another movie I want to do in early 2024,” he tells Les Inrockuptibles. “It’s a project that Joaquin Phoenix brought to me, and it’s set in the 1930s. A love story between two men, based on an original, very audacious scenario. This is, I believe, his first gay role. I am very excited about this project!
- 5/22/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After a quick trip to Paris for a retrospective of his career at the Centre Pompidou, Todd Haynes comes back to Cannes for his sixth trip. Masterwork Safe was in the Directors’ Fortnight back in 1995, and then he received comp invites for Velvet Goldmine (1998), Carol (2015) and Wonderstruck (2017) for competition films. The Velvet Underground was an out-of-competition selection in 2021. May December‘s main trio includes Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry, Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo and Charles Melton as Joe Yoo — the man-boy character who is slightly stunted in his emotional maturity.
Written by Samy Burch and based on a story Burch wrote with Alex Mechanik, twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.…...
Written by Samy Burch and based on a story Burch wrote with Alex Mechanik, twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.…...
- 5/22/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Florence Pugh is a household name because of her impressive acting career, but she is a woman of many talents. Pugh also has a passion for music. Her new movie A Good Person features songs she wrote and performed with her own voice.
Seeing Pugh belt out her own lyrics may surprise some viewers, but her interest in the medium goes back to her very first steps into the entertainment industry.
Florence Pugh enjoyed exploring her musical side for ‘A Good Person’ Florence Pugh at A Good Person screening | Dominik Bindl/WireImage
In A Good Person, Pugh plays Allison, a misfit 20-something stuck in a self-loathing spiral after surviving a fatal car crash in which she was behind the wheel, using opioids and alcohol to numb herself. Beneath the trauma of the accident is a bright, creative person capable of captivating a crowd at her engagement party with a cover...
Seeing Pugh belt out her own lyrics may surprise some viewers, but her interest in the medium goes back to her very first steps into the entertainment industry.
Florence Pugh enjoyed exploring her musical side for ‘A Good Person’ Florence Pugh at A Good Person screening | Dominik Bindl/WireImage
In A Good Person, Pugh plays Allison, a misfit 20-something stuck in a self-loathing spiral after surviving a fatal car crash in which she was behind the wheel, using opioids and alcohol to numb herself. Beneath the trauma of the accident is a bright, creative person capable of captivating a crowd at her engagement party with a cover...
- 4/18/2023
- by Sam Hines
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Writer, director and occasional actor Philippe Garrel shot his first full-length movie, Marie pour mémoire, when he was only 19. That was amid the turmoil of May 1968, and since then he has made a new feature every few years, becoming a regular fixture in festivals and arthouses, especially in his native France.
Working with unknown or established actors, including Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Léaud, his intimate tales of emotional unrest — often the same story told again and again, during different epochs, in color or black-and-white — have turned him into a dependable auteur but also an acquired taste. If you don’t like French movies about love, sex, family, adultery and anguish, then you probably won’t like Garrel.
His work has always had an autobiographical bent to it, and one of his best films, 1970’s La Cicatrice Intérieure, starred his girlfriend at the time, Nico of The Velvet Underground. But his latest feature,...
Working with unknown or established actors, including Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Léaud, his intimate tales of emotional unrest — often the same story told again and again, during different epochs, in color or black-and-white — have turned him into a dependable auteur but also an acquired taste. If you don’t like French movies about love, sex, family, adultery and anguish, then you probably won’t like Garrel.
His work has always had an autobiographical bent to it, and one of his best films, 1970’s La Cicatrice Intérieure, starred his girlfriend at the time, Nico of The Velvet Underground. But his latest feature,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Paul McCartney’s incredible creative output in the decade after he left The Beatles will come into focus in Man on the Run (working title), a documentary to be directed by Oscar and Grammy winner Morgan Neville.
Mpl and Polygram Entertainment – the film and television unit of Universal Music Group – announced the project today, a day before the 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The feature film will explore “Paul McCartney’s extraordinary life following the breakup of The Beatles and how the love he shared with Linda McCartney influenced a journey that would lead to the formation of Wings and more of the greatest music ever created.”
Paul and Linda McCartney, circa 1970.
Neville, whose directing credits include 20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, and Roadrunner: An Anthony Bourdain Movie, has been granted access to never-before-seen home videos and photos from the archives...
Mpl and Polygram Entertainment – the film and television unit of Universal Music Group – announced the project today, a day before the 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The feature film will explore “Paul McCartney’s extraordinary life following the breakup of The Beatles and how the love he shared with Linda McCartney influenced a journey that would lead to the formation of Wings and more of the greatest music ever created.”
Paul and Linda McCartney, circa 1970.
Neville, whose directing credits include 20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, and Roadrunner: An Anthony Bourdain Movie, has been granted access to never-before-seen home videos and photos from the archives...
- 2/4/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Moonage Daydream, a film about David Bowie, opens with “Hallo Spaceboy,” a deep cut from his 1995 album Outside. It’s clear from the use of this song that Brett Morgen isn’t making a traditional documentary about the Thin White Duke.
“I was completely trolling,” admits Morgen.
But the use of a relatively obscure industrial track from later in Bowie’s career illustrates what the director is trying to achieve. He’s looking to tell the story of Bowie’s work as an experience or a feeling, full of “chaos” and “fragmentation,” rather than a chronological, visual biography. This is something that many music documentaries don’t attempt.
Morgen says there are plenty of books and other documentaries about David Bowie that tell this version of the story.
“What can I offer that you can’t get in Wikipedia? It’s an experience. It’s something intangible. What’s great...
“I was completely trolling,” admits Morgen.
But the use of a relatively obscure industrial track from later in Bowie’s career illustrates what the director is trying to achieve. He’s looking to tell the story of Bowie’s work as an experience or a feeling, full of “chaos” and “fragmentation,” rather than a chronological, visual biography. This is something that many music documentaries don’t attempt.
Morgen says there are plenty of books and other documentaries about David Bowie that tell this version of the story.
“What can I offer that you can’t get in Wikipedia? It’s an experience. It’s something intangible. What’s great...
- 9/16/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
“Moonage Daydream” was reviewed by TheWrap out of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
The David Bowie documentary “Moonage Daydream” begins with a quote in which Bowie talks about Friedrich Nietzsche’s late 19th-century proclamation that God is dead and that humans must become gods themselves. It’s an appropriate enough opening, considering that Bowie’s most famous character, Ziggy Stardust, flirted with Nietzsche-style notions of man and Superman.
But a more telling quote comes later in Brett Morgen’s film, when Bowie talks about his fascination with “an artistic language that deals with fragments and chaos.” Because if there was ever a documentary that embraces the idea of fragments and chaos as organizing principles, it’s “Moonage Daydream,” which abandons all thought of straightforward narrative in favor of an immersive and purposefully mysterious and chaotic Bowie experience.
Or is “purposefully chaotic” a contradiction in terms? Regardless, “Moonage Daydream” is a bracing,...
The David Bowie documentary “Moonage Daydream” begins with a quote in which Bowie talks about Friedrich Nietzsche’s late 19th-century proclamation that God is dead and that humans must become gods themselves. It’s an appropriate enough opening, considering that Bowie’s most famous character, Ziggy Stardust, flirted with Nietzsche-style notions of man and Superman.
But a more telling quote comes later in Brett Morgen’s film, when Bowie talks about his fascination with “an artistic language that deals with fragments and chaos.” Because if there was ever a documentary that embraces the idea of fragments and chaos as organizing principles, it’s “Moonage Daydream,” which abandons all thought of straightforward narrative in favor of an immersive and purposefully mysterious and chaotic Bowie experience.
Or is “purposefully chaotic” a contradiction in terms? Regardless, “Moonage Daydream” is a bracing,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
And like that, Criterion’s 2022 is in the bag. Their December titles, announced today, wind down a year perhaps best-defined by the company’s ventures into 4K—none of which is represented here, sadly, but there’s always the next twelve months.
And I won’t complain about a well-stocked disc for Todd Haynes’ bewilderingly beautiful The Velvet Underground (read my interview here), which I think marks the first time an Apple TV+ feature has entered the collection. I’m also glad to see two trilogy boxsets: one for the little-discussed Swedish figure Mai Zetterling, another for the very-much-discussed Michael Haneke—here represented by The Seventh Continent, Benny’s Video, and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. (Not a great laughs-to-runtime ratio here.) Bonus: while I’ve never seen Cooley High, the cover basically sells me.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post The...
And I won’t complain about a well-stocked disc for Todd Haynes’ bewilderingly beautiful The Velvet Underground (read my interview here), which I think marks the first time an Apple TV+ feature has entered the collection. I’m also glad to see two trilogy boxsets: one for the little-discussed Swedish figure Mai Zetterling, another for the very-much-discussed Michael Haneke—here represented by The Seventh Continent, Benny’s Video, and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. (Not a great laughs-to-runtime ratio here.) Bonus: while I’ve never seen Cooley High, the cover basically sells me.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post The...
- 9/15/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Director Sacha Jenkins does the most important thing he could do in “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues”: He lets Louis Armstrong be messy.
Armstrong is one of those legends about whom people have had strong, polarized opinions. He’s either the greatest artist of the 20th century, in the esteem of Robert Christgau or Wynton Marsalis. Or he’s an Uncle Tom, someone who sold out and pandered to white audiences, as Sammy Davis Jr. once thought. And of course there’s the third path of corporate America, to sand the edges of someone like Armstrong down until he’s a cuddly teddy bear whose “What a Wonderful World” stands ready to accompany any commercial.
Jenkins’ new documentary for Apple TV+ avoids those absolutes. He’s interested in the man who was Armstrong, and that means a more complete, nuanced picture — a portrait of a human not so easy to categorize.
Armstrong is one of those legends about whom people have had strong, polarized opinions. He’s either the greatest artist of the 20th century, in the esteem of Robert Christgau or Wynton Marsalis. Or he’s an Uncle Tom, someone who sold out and pandered to white audiences, as Sammy Davis Jr. once thought. And of course there’s the third path of corporate America, to sand the edges of someone like Armstrong down until he’s a cuddly teddy bear whose “What a Wonderful World” stands ready to accompany any commercial.
Jenkins’ new documentary for Apple TV+ avoids those absolutes. He’s interested in the man who was Armstrong, and that means a more complete, nuanced picture — a portrait of a human not so easy to categorize.
- 9/9/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Christian Bale is known for disappearing into his roles and "Velvet Goldmine" was no exception. Written and directed by Todd Haynes, the 1998 movie was named for David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" era B-side. Haynes is no stranger to music movies, having begun his career with the 1987 controversial short film, "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story." He also helmed the incredible "I'm Not There" in 2007, which explored the various phases of Bob Dylan's career through a host of different actors. Haynes also made the excellent recent documentary about my all-time favorite band, "The Velvet Underground."
"Velvet Goldmine" chronicles the life of pop star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a Bowie-esque figure, as well as his love affair with the Iggy Pop-inspired Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). Their performances are swoon-worthy — Meyers and McGregor both did their own singing in the movie. Plus, the film's fictional bands included members of Radiohead, Suede,...
"Velvet Goldmine" chronicles the life of pop star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a Bowie-esque figure, as well as his love affair with the Iggy Pop-inspired Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). Their performances are swoon-worthy — Meyers and McGregor both did their own singing in the movie. Plus, the film's fictional bands included members of Radiohead, Suede,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Jamie Gerber
- Slash Film
Josh Olson shares his top 10 movies from his favorite movie year, 1992, with Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Star Wars (1977)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)
Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)
The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Popeye (1980)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Quintet (1979)
HealtH (1980)
Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Secret Honor (1984)
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary
Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Star Wars (1977)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)
Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)
The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Popeye (1980)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Quintet (1979)
HealtH (1980)
Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Secret Honor (1984)
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary
Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...
- 8/30/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The “Wap” revolution, it appears, has reached the folkies. Over two albums of sublime folk and glowering atmospheric rock – 2016’s Don’t Let the Kids Win and 2019’s Crushing – Melbourne-via-Blue Mountains singer Julia Jacklin made a name for herself as not just an imaginative songwriter, but as a frank and forthright lyricist, tackling topics such as revenge porn and sexuality crises. Her third album Pre Pleasure, recorded in Montreal with The National producer Marcus Paquin, further embraces the ideal that openness in modern songwriting should extend far beyond the emotional into all aspects of the female psyche.
Alongside songs of love, religion, self-doubt, family and lost friendship, then, Jacklin sings of bedroom role-playing a sexy magician “naked beneath the cape”, and of watching porn to try (and fail) to turn herself on. Thanks to the likes of Peaches, St Vincent, Khia, Cardi B and now Jacklin, overt sex in music,...
Alongside songs of love, religion, self-doubt, family and lost friendship, then, Jacklin sings of bedroom role-playing a sexy magician “naked beneath the cape”, and of watching porn to try (and fail) to turn herself on. Thanks to the likes of Peaches, St Vincent, Khia, Cardi B and now Jacklin, overt sex in music,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Mark Beaumont
- The Independent - Music
A two-part documentary film exploring the life and career of the legendary Steve Martin has landed at Apple Original Films.
Martin is working on the docu with Oscar winner Morgan Neville, who directs and produces the as-yet untitled films from A24 and Tremolo Productions. A24 will executive produce alongside Tremolo’s Caitrin Rogers (20 Feet from Stardom).
The film will join Apple’s documentary slate including the four-part Earvin “Magic” Johnson docuseries They Call Me Magic; Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry; The Velvet Underground; Sidney, the upcoming documentary honoring Oscar-winning actor, filmmaker and actor Sidney Poitier and the recently announced untitled feature film about the life of actor and advocate Michael J. Fox.
Martin currently stars in Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building, which has received 17 Emmy nominations at next month’s awards, including outstanding comedy series and lead actor for Martin.
Martin is working on the docu with Oscar winner Morgan Neville, who directs and produces the as-yet untitled films from A24 and Tremolo Productions. A24 will executive produce alongside Tremolo’s Caitrin Rogers (20 Feet from Stardom).
The film will join Apple’s documentary slate including the four-part Earvin “Magic” Johnson docuseries They Call Me Magic; Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry; The Velvet Underground; Sidney, the upcoming documentary honoring Oscar-winning actor, filmmaker and actor Sidney Poitier and the recently announced untitled feature film about the life of actor and advocate Michael J. Fox.
Martin currently stars in Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building, which has received 17 Emmy nominations at next month’s awards, including outstanding comedy series and lead actor for Martin.
- 8/10/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Steve Martin has been many things — a comic, an actor, a filmmaker, an author, a musician — and he’ll soon be one more. He’s going to be the subject of a documentary.
Martin is participating in a two-part feature from A24 which is set to be released by Apple TV+. Morgan Neville, who helmed Oscar-winning doc 20 Feet From Stardom as well as Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and dozens of other film and TV projects, is directing and producing. There’s no title or anticipated release date as of yet, but production has been ongoing.
“It’s somebody else’s take,” Martin tells THR of the process. “They found a lot of archival stuff. “They found a photo of my father in 1944 in Germany, touring Our Town with the Uso.”
For as well known as he is, Martin hasn’t...
Steve Martin has been many things — a comic, an actor, a filmmaker, an author, a musician — and he’ll soon be one more. He’s going to be the subject of a documentary.
Martin is participating in a two-part feature from A24 which is set to be released by Apple TV+. Morgan Neville, who helmed Oscar-winning doc 20 Feet From Stardom as well as Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and dozens of other film and TV projects, is directing and producing. There’s no title or anticipated release date as of yet, but production has been ongoing.
“It’s somebody else’s take,” Martin tells THR of the process. “They found a lot of archival stuff. “They found a photo of my father in 1944 in Germany, touring Our Town with the Uso.”
For as well known as he is, Martin hasn’t...
- 8/10/2022
- by Mikey O'Connell
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Michelle Williams was Academy Award-nominated for playing screen icon Marilyn Monroe and won an Emmy for transforming into Broadway star Gwen Verdon, but it seems that Williams will not take the mic to be singer Peggy Lee for an upcoming biopic anymore.
The “Showing Up” actress confirmed that the slated Peggy Lee biopic “Fever” with writer-director Todd Haynes is officially dead.
“It’s gone the way of the buffalo, I’m afraid,” Williams told Variety in a cover story. “But if anyone reading this story would like to resurrect it, Todd and I are on board for that.”
“The Many Saints of Newark” breakout Alessandro Nivola was set to play Dave Barbour, with Doug Wright penning the screenplay. Director Haynes, meanwhile, helmed the experimental Bob Dylan biopic “I’m Not There” and the documentary “The Velvet Underground.” The “Carol” director is currently readying for the drama “May December” with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman.
The “Showing Up” actress confirmed that the slated Peggy Lee biopic “Fever” with writer-director Todd Haynes is officially dead.
“It’s gone the way of the buffalo, I’m afraid,” Williams told Variety in a cover story. “But if anyone reading this story would like to resurrect it, Todd and I are on board for that.”
“The Many Saints of Newark” breakout Alessandro Nivola was set to play Dave Barbour, with Doug Wright penning the screenplay. Director Haynes, meanwhile, helmed the experimental Bob Dylan biopic “I’m Not There” and the documentary “The Velvet Underground.” The “Carol” director is currently readying for the drama “May December” with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman.
- 5/10/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Ed Lachman's Songs for Drella is exclusively showing on Mubi in most countries starting April 18, 2022 in the series Rediscovered.Lou Reed and John Cale created an album that pays homage, eulogizes, and reflects on their relationship with their mentor Andy Warhol three years after he died in 1987—it was their first collaboration in over two decades. The result was the album Songs for Drella, which was inspired by Warhol’s personal diaries. The album is comprised of 15 songs that deal with Warhol’s life, dreams, aspirations, work, and fears. In 1989, Reed and Cale performed some of the songs at St. Anne’s in Brooklyn and later played the full version at Bam’s Next Wave Festival.I previously worked on a video for the AIDS benefit project Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter. Derek Jarman was to direct one segment but became too ill to work. He...
- 4/20/2022
- MUBI
US producer Christine Vachon has been confirmed as keynote speaker.
Sundance Film Festival: London, the UK offshoot of Sundance, is to host its first industry programme, running concurrently with the festival at Picturehouse Central from June 9-12.
Industry passholders will have exclusive access to talks, events, round-table meetings, keynote speeches, masterclasses, panel discussions and daily networking drinks. Passholders will also have access to three public screenings of their choice.
“Sundance Film Festival: London has had industry talks and events in the past, but it’s great to formalise it and make it a real strand that offers the industry more,...
Sundance Film Festival: London, the UK offshoot of Sundance, is to host its first industry programme, running concurrently with the festival at Picturehouse Central from June 9-12.
Industry passholders will have exclusive access to talks, events, round-table meetings, keynote speeches, masterclasses, panel discussions and daily networking drinks. Passholders will also have access to three public screenings of their choice.
“Sundance Film Festival: London has had industry talks and events in the past, but it’s great to formalise it and make it a real strand that offers the industry more,...
- 4/13/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The Oscars best picture win was a March Madness upset of streaming proportions — though the slap heard round the world threatened to overshadow the achievements of “Coda” and other winners.
What started out as a great improvement in the presentation was diminished by Will Smith charging the stage and smacking comedian Chris Rock after he cracked a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in the last hour, just moments before the In Memoriam segment and prior to him becoming the fifth Black man to win best actor.
It might go down as one of the craziest moments in 94 years of Oscars history.
But back to the night’s biggest winner: streaming. Apple, under its film distribution banner Apple Original Films, became the first streamer to win the Oscar for best picture with Siân Heder’s family drama “Coda.”
It’s been no secret that Netflix has long harbored ambitions...
What started out as a great improvement in the presentation was diminished by Will Smith charging the stage and smacking comedian Chris Rock after he cracked a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in the last hour, just moments before the In Memoriam segment and prior to him becoming the fifth Black man to win best actor.
It might go down as one of the craziest moments in 94 years of Oscars history.
But back to the night’s biggest winner: streaming. Apple, under its film distribution banner Apple Original Films, became the first streamer to win the Oscar for best picture with Siân Heder’s family drama “Coda.”
It’s been no secret that Netflix has long harbored ambitions...
- 3/28/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to the 94th annual Academy Awards. Hang on tight.
Here are some of the things we know about the show, which begins at 4 p.m. Pt in the Dolby Theatre, an hour before ABC’s live broadcast itself kicks off:
The film that is crowned Best Picture will probably be the lowest-grossing winner in Oscar history.It will likely be soundly attacked on Twitter. The nominated films, for the most part, will have been seen by far more people on TV sets and computer screens than in theaters, taking away some of the feeling that the Oscars had as an event devoted to movies that got us out of the house.The ratings, if the Academy and ABC are lucky, will be the second-worst ever.At least one nominee, and probably more, will skip the ceremony because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has also forced an array of protocols...
Here are some of the things we know about the show, which begins at 4 p.m. Pt in the Dolby Theatre, an hour before ABC’s live broadcast itself kicks off:
The film that is crowned Best Picture will probably be the lowest-grossing winner in Oscar history.It will likely be soundly attacked on Twitter. The nominated films, for the most part, will have been seen by far more people on TV sets and computer screens than in theaters, taking away some of the feeling that the Oscars had as an event devoted to movies that got us out of the house.The ratings, if the Academy and ABC are lucky, will be the second-worst ever.At least one nominee, and probably more, will skip the ceremony because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has also forced an array of protocols...
- 3/27/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile,” a documentary that premiered Sunday at the South by Southwest Film Festival, has had its world rights acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, the company announced Wednesday.
“I’m over the moon that this special documentary has found such a perfect home with Sony Pictures Classics,” said Carlile, who is an executive producer as well as a subject of the film, in a statement. “I don’t think there’s a more fascinating human being on the planet than Tanya Tucker. I can’t wait for the world to fall In love with this legend all over again.”
Sony Classics said the film represents “the birth of a major filmmaker in Kathlyn Horan,” the doc’s director and producer. Horan had worked with Carlile on some shorter-form projects previously, including the 2018 documentary short “Brandi Carlile at Washington Correctional Center for Women” and a...
“I’m over the moon that this special documentary has found such a perfect home with Sony Pictures Classics,” said Carlile, who is an executive producer as well as a subject of the film, in a statement. “I don’t think there’s a more fascinating human being on the planet than Tanya Tucker. I can’t wait for the world to fall In love with this legend all over again.”
Sony Classics said the film represents “the birth of a major filmmaker in Kathlyn Horan,” the doc’s director and producer. Horan had worked with Carlile on some shorter-form projects previously, including the 2018 documentary short “Brandi Carlile at Washington Correctional Center for Women” and a...
- 3/17/2022
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to the feature documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker — Featuring Brandi Carlile, on the heels of its world premiere at SXSW.
The film from director Kathlyn Horan (The If Project) tells the story of the trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tucker, who defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after she slipped from the spotlight, six-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya’s extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history.
Horan’s TinFish Films produced alongside Motto Pictures’ Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn (The Velvet Underground), in association with Impact Partners and Artemis Rising. Carlile and InMaat Productions exec produced alongside Lynn Hubbard & David Zapolsky, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, The Wadsworth Family, Regina K. Scully, and Adam & Melony Lewis.
The film from director Kathlyn Horan (The If Project) tells the story of the trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tucker, who defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after she slipped from the spotlight, six-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya’s extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history.
Horan’s TinFish Films produced alongside Motto Pictures’ Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn (The Velvet Underground), in association with Impact Partners and Artemis Rising. Carlile and InMaat Productions exec produced alongside Lynn Hubbard & David Zapolsky, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, The Wadsworth Family, Regina K. Scully, and Adam & Melony Lewis.
- 3/16/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Two of the five Oscar nominees for Best Sound won at the Golden Reel Awards bestowed by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse) on March 13 . The Oscar frontrunner, “Dune,” picked up the prize for sound effects and foley while “West Side Story” danced off with the music award. The dialogue/Adr award went to “Nightmare Alley,” which had been snubbed by the sound branch of the academy.
Two of the other Oscar nominees — “Belfast” and “No Time to Die” — vied in sound effects/foley while the fifth contender, “The Power of the Dog,” was vying in dialogue/Adr.
The upcoming Oscars mark the second year for the new Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. There can be up to six nominees from a film: one production sound mixer, two supervising sound editors and three re-recording mixers. Last year, “Sound of Metal” won this award...
Two of the other Oscar nominees — “Belfast” and “No Time to Die” — vied in sound effects/foley while the fifth contender, “The Power of the Dog,” was vying in dialogue/Adr.
The upcoming Oscars mark the second year for the new Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. There can be up to six nominees from a film: one production sound mixer, two supervising sound editors and three re-recording mixers. Last year, “Sound of Metal” won this award...
- 3/14/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The Oscar frontrunner for Best Sound, “Dune,” contends in three of the six film categories at Sunday’s Golden Reel Awards bestowed by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse). It is tipped to prevail in two of these races: dialogue/Adr and sound effects/foley. “Dune” is expected to lost its other bid, for music, to one of its Oscar rivals: “West Side Story” is predicted to win that race, which marks its only nomination here.
Two of the other Oscar nominees — “Belfast” and “No Time to Die” — vie in sound effects/foley while the fifth contender, “The Power of the Dog,” is vying in dialogue/adr.
The upcoming Oscars mark the second year for the new Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. There can be up to six nominees from a film: one production sound mixer, two supervising sound editors and three re-recording mixers.
Two of the other Oscar nominees — “Belfast” and “No Time to Die” — vie in sound effects/foley while the fifth contender, “The Power of the Dog,” is vying in dialogue/adr.
The upcoming Oscars mark the second year for the new Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. There can be up to six nominees from a film: one production sound mixer, two supervising sound editors and three re-recording mixers.
- 3/10/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
“King Richard” got a big boost in its bid for Best Editing at the Oscars with a win at the Ace Golden Eddie Awards on March 6. It prevailed in the drama race at these awards bestowed by American Cinema Editors over two of its Oscar rivals –“Dune” and “The Power of the Dog” — as well as “Belfast” and “No Time to Die.”
Another of the Oscar nominees, “tick, tick…Boom!,” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “Don’t Look Up,” plus “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch” and “Licorice Pizza.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to take home the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in nine of the 13 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture. Last year’s drama winner,...
Another of the Oscar nominees, “tick, tick…Boom!,” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “Don’t Look Up,” plus “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch” and “Licorice Pizza.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to take home the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in nine of the 13 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture. Last year’s drama winner,...
- 3/6/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The American Cinema Editors used their Ace Eddie Awards on Saturday to fire back at the Oscars. Facing declining ratings and long running times, the Academy, the Oscars ceremony producers and ABC decided to award Oscars for editing and seven other categories outside the live telecast. Ace board member Kevin Tent introduced the awards saying, “There might be some setbacks and slights at times which can sting.”
Hacks editor Susan Vaill used her speech to implore everyone from PAs to other crafts to amplify each other, in order to “make those people who don’t think we should be on the broadcast listen.” tick, tick… Boom! editor Myron Kerstein concluded his speech by saying “present all 23” categories.
Deadline spoke with other nominees prior to the show. They shared degrees of disappointment, some understanding and hope for future inclusion. Andrew Weisblum won an Eddie with Kerstein for tick, tick… Boom! and...
Hacks editor Susan Vaill used her speech to implore everyone from PAs to other crafts to amplify each other, in order to “make those people who don’t think we should be on the broadcast listen.” tick, tick… Boom! editor Myron Kerstein concluded his speech by saying “present all 23” categories.
Deadline spoke with other nominees prior to the show. They shared degrees of disappointment, some understanding and hope for future inclusion. Andrew Weisblum won an Eddie with Kerstein for tick, tick… Boom! and...
- 3/6/2022
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
The 37th Annual International Documentary Association Awards, streamed online Friday night, capped a big week for nonfiction awards that also included the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors, presented live in New York on Wednesday.
Both awards groups honored Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated immigration saga “Flee” (Neon) with their top honors, while the Danish International Feature Oscar contender’s fellow Oscar nominee “Summer of Soul” (Searchlight/Hulu) notched three IDA awards: Rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won for Best Director, Best Music Documentary, and Best Editing. Oscar nominee Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension,” an observational look at the class structure in China, won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, the most of the evening, for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Original Score and Debut Feature.
Oscar nominee “Writing with Fire” nabbed the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award for the India-based directing team Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.
The IDA online ceremony, which was pre-recorded,...
Both awards groups honored Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated immigration saga “Flee” (Neon) with their top honors, while the Danish International Feature Oscar contender’s fellow Oscar nominee “Summer of Soul” (Searchlight/Hulu) notched three IDA awards: Rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won for Best Director, Best Music Documentary, and Best Editing. Oscar nominee Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension,” an observational look at the class structure in China, won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, the most of the evening, for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Original Score and Debut Feature.
Oscar nominee “Writing with Fire” nabbed the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award for the India-based directing team Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.
The IDA online ceremony, which was pre-recorded,...
- 3/5/2022
- by Anne Thompson and Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The Oscar-nominated “Flee” took home the top prize at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors on Tuesday evening at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
Going into the evening, Neon and Participant Media’s “Flee” led the field with a total of seven nominations, while “Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” followed with six.
Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye also received the organization’s legacy award during the ceremony. The director was honored for her landmark 1996 independent feature “The Watermelon Woman.” After accepting the legacy award on stage, Dunye presented the category of audience choice prize.
See the full list of film winners and nominees below.
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
“Ascension”
“Faya Dayi” (Directed and produced by Jessica Beshir)
“Flee” (Winner)
“The Rescue”
“Summer of Soul”
“The Velvet Underground”
Outstanding Direction
“Ascension”
“Faya Dayi”
“Flee”
“In the Same Breath”
“Procession” (Winner)
“Summer of Soul”
Outstanding...
Going into the evening, Neon and Participant Media’s “Flee” led the field with a total of seven nominations, while “Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” followed with six.
Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye also received the organization’s legacy award during the ceremony. The director was honored for her landmark 1996 independent feature “The Watermelon Woman.” After accepting the legacy award on stage, Dunye presented the category of audience choice prize.
See the full list of film winners and nominees below.
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
“Ascension”
“Faya Dayi” (Directed and produced by Jessica Beshir)
“Flee” (Winner)
“The Rescue”
“Summer of Soul”
“The Velvet Underground”
Outstanding Direction
“Ascension”
“Faya Dayi”
“Flee”
“In the Same Breath”
“Procession” (Winner)
“Summer of Soul”
Outstanding...
- 3/2/2022
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2021 at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were presented on Tuesday night in New York City. “The Rescue,” about the efforts to retrieve a Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave, won the Audience Choice Prize.
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
- 3/2/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
This year’s documentary Academy Award feature race is historical on many fronts. Four of the five nominated films were directed by people of color; Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee” made history by scoring three Oscar nominations: not only the doc feature category but also in the animated feature and international feature categories; Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas’ “Writing With Fire” became the first feature doc from India to earn a nom in the race; and four of the six nominated helmers are first-time feature docu directors.
But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this year’s nonfiction feature Oscar race is the dominance of nascent doc distributors and production units.
Paramount Plus, Showtime Documentary Films and Music Box Films each received their inaugural Oscar nomination in the documentary feature category Feb. 8 for: Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount Plus), Stanley Nelson’s “Attica” (Showtime Documentary Films) and...
But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this year’s nonfiction feature Oscar race is the dominance of nascent doc distributors and production units.
Paramount Plus, Showtime Documentary Films and Music Box Films each received their inaugural Oscar nomination in the documentary feature category Feb. 8 for: Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” (MTV Documentary Films/Paramount Plus), Stanley Nelson’s “Attica” (Showtime Documentary Films) and...
- 2/26/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced its Dorian Award nominations for the best in movies. Netflix and Neon dominate the nominations this year.
Jane Campion’s volatile period drama The Power of the Dog leads the pack with nine nods, including for best film, LGBTQ film, director and three for acting. Coming in a few rungs lower with five nominations each: The 1920s-set racial drama Passing, the unusual animated refugee documentary Flee, and Steven Spielberg’s vibrant reimagining of West Side Story.
Formed in 2009, Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards go to the best in film and TV, mainstream to queer+, at separate times of the year. Galeca consists of critics, journalists and broadcasters who work for some of the most prominent and influential media outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. A nonprofit professional organization, the Society—via its televised Toast awards specials,...
Jane Campion’s volatile period drama The Power of the Dog leads the pack with nine nods, including for best film, LGBTQ film, director and three for acting. Coming in a few rungs lower with five nominations each: The 1920s-set racial drama Passing, the unusual animated refugee documentary Flee, and Steven Spielberg’s vibrant reimagining of West Side Story.
Formed in 2009, Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards go to the best in film and TV, mainstream to queer+, at separate times of the year. Galeca consists of critics, journalists and broadcasters who work for some of the most prominent and influential media outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. A nonprofit professional organization, the Society—via its televised Toast awards specials,...
- 2/23/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Velvet Underground” marks Todd Haynes’ first foray into documentary filmmaking, and with the film on the Oscar documentary shortlist, Haynes could find himself making the cut for best documentary feature come Feb. 8. But when Haynes was first developing the project years ago, one of the hurdles he had to overcome was the fact that very little footage existed of the hugely influential rock band.
“What existed was entirely within the cinema of Andy Warhol, and they had a very close relationship to the avant-garde film world,” Haynes said of the group, which came out of Warhol’s Factory scene in 1960s New York.
With that as the groundwork, Haynes told his editors, Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz, that the film needed to be visualized by the artists and people who were there. Through doing that, the audience is transported into the visual and sonic world of Lou Reed, John Cale...
“What existed was entirely within the cinema of Andy Warhol, and they had a very close relationship to the avant-garde film world,” Haynes said of the group, which came out of Warhol’s Factory scene in 1960s New York.
With that as the groundwork, Haynes told his editors, Affonso Gonçalves and Adam Kurnitz, that the film needed to be visualized by the artists and people who were there. Through doing that, the audience is transported into the visual and sonic world of Lou Reed, John Cale...
- 2/1/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
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