The Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studios aren’t ready to give up their pre-strike talk. The studios were going to talk to the AFTRA (TV and radio) next week, but the SAG has asked for a one week extension.
“We owe it to our entire industry to give the current . . . talks every opportunity to result in an agreement,” they reasoned. The two parties seem to have a better understanding than the WGA and the studios had last year. But there is still a lot to talk about. For example, the actors want double the amount of money for DVD and media sales. And a strike could potentially be way more costly than the writers’ strike from last winter.
Is she this desperate for some money? Yoko Ono (and co.) is suing the creators of the controversial ‘Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed’ for using the song ‘Imagine’ in their documentary. While the movie is a critical flop, it still managed to get a bunch of people into the cinema. Which means they made money and, well, Yoko Ono could probably smell it and wanted some.
Of course, you have to draw the line somewhere and if they don’t sue, people might actually think they can freely use John Lennon’s music. And Yoko is probably not in for such a party.
The film makers, in their defense, say they used the song as a political comment and “are disappointed therefore that Yoko Ono and others have decided to challenge our free speech.” Yeah, they probably don’t mind if we illegally download their movie as free speech either.
At the premiere of the new movie ‘Three and out’ last Monday, Leicester Square wasn’t filled with celebrities as usual, but with a very different kind of audience. In a reaction to the movie’s plot, train drivers were handing out leaflets saying “deaths on the railway are never funny.”
The comedy is based on the fictional idea that if a train driver runs over three people in a month, he is taken off duty and gets a 10 year pension. “It’s a very serious subject for us. It destroys lives. The drivers are never the same again. The film trivializes it,” an executive train driver said.
A spokesman for London Underground, who allowed filming in the tube, said the movie “could further add to the distress of people affected by suicide.” The distributer naturally said “difficult issues portrayed in the film have been handled sensitively.”
Are the train drivers overreacting or is this really a macabre movie? The fact that they made up the premise about the deaths makes it a little strange. But I don’t think any of the drivers saw the movie. Just like me, so I don’t know.
After ‘The Wedding Banquet’ in 1993 and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ in 2005, Ang Lee is becoming an expert in the gay genre. And he’s always having some success at the box office with it.
Together with Focus Features, he is now making a comedy called ‘Taking Woodstock’ (A True Story of a Riot, Concert, and a Life). “It explores an inspiring historical moment when liberation and freedom were in the air,” said James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features.
Hmm, “a Riot, Concert, and a Life.” Sounds like this movie has a long way to come.
“… in class, she was sitting next to everybody!” That’s actually the only one I know, but I just had the need to share it with you.
Inspired by a book, several black comedians are currently being filmed for the documentary ‘Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy.’ Among them are Chris Rock, Steve Harvey and Katt Williams. And now joining them is none other than Bill Cosby.
This certainly has potential, I hope it will be accessible and funny to people from all cultures. And maybe even give a serious look into black humor.
‘Changeling,’ the new thriller by Clint Eastwood, is one of the three Hollywood titles standing out on the list of competitors for a Palme d’Or award. Then there is the Charlie Kaufman movie we mentioned earlier, called ‘Synecdoche, New York.’ And Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Che,’ a $40 million biopic about Che Guevara.
Outside the competition is Woody Allen, with his spanish comedy ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’ And of course the one and only Steven Spielberg with ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ still a way too long title.
You can find the full list of movies in competition after the jump.
I’m sorry in advance for the tabloidism, but this just sounds too good. Apparently, James Caan, the ‘Las Vegas’ boss, quit the new David O Russell movie. The reason? They disagreed about how to choke on a cookie.
Caan reportedly refused to cough while choking, because he think you are unable to do that when you are choking. When Russell wanted to shoot both versions, the story goes, Caan walked off.
Is this the art of cinema, fighting about how to choke on a cookie? Or is it just stupid — and quite funny? Since this article already turned into a Britney Spears write up, here’s a behind the scenes at the set of ‘I Heart Huckabees,’ also a movie by David O Russell — skip to the half for the good part.
Coming back to the story about the ‘Best Practices Guide for Green Production,’ the biggest pollution problem for Hollywood seems to be transport. While the stars drive a Prius, trucks and equipment are still running on dirty diesel.
“Movie production is an inherently high-polluting business. You usually must move large numbers of people and equipment fairly long distances, often to remote locations,” a consultant with the GreenSpeed Automotive Group said. “Once you get situated you have to power lots of lights and other equipment, many times by using diesel generators that are not especially clean.”
“Throw in a few special-effects explosions, and you clearly have left a significant carbon footprint along with many other types of pollution.” Yeah, that’s what I said. So if you are into the environment, think about what you are enjoying when Tom Cruise blows up the next car.
