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Leatherheads: Clooney Goes Retro
George Clooney is the sort of movie star who gets to do what he wants, especially if he's willing to direct himself. In this case the period football comedy Leatherheads had been languishing on the shelf at Universal for decades, and was going to be directed by Steven Soderbergh at one time. Clooney...
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Coens' Burn After Reading, Starring Pitt and Clooney, Goes Wide
While speculation runs rampant on whether or not the Coens will take their next movie, the CIA pic Burn After Reading, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, to Cannes--obviously Thierry Fremaux will want it, but he hasn't screened it yet; UPDATE: Working Title says it probably won't be finished in ...
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Oscar Watch 2008: Kate and Leo, Not Boleyn Girls
I'm so glad the Oscar season is over that the idea of professional Oscar watchers already predicting next year's awards makes me feel, well, tired. But this is their life, 24/7, while I move on to such mundane annual rituals as the ShoWest exhibitor convention in Las Vegas.
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Oscar Watch: Predicts
At long last, the Oscar ballots are in and it is the week before the Oscar kudocast! It's time to make your fearless forecasts and plunk your money down in your office pool. (I can tell you one thing--it's not easy to come out on top here at Variety, where everyone is an Oscar expert.)
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Oscar Watch: Nominations Analysis
There were some welcome surprises this nominations morning. (Here's Variety's story.) Atonement made it to best picture. While Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Joe Wright did not win noms, Saorise Ronin did. Christopher Hampton earned a screenplay nod. The Guilds don't always reflect the Academy, clearly; this means the battle for the fifth slot was fierce. But Atonement got seven noms altogether; Michael Clayton seven, Juno four, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, four, and Sweeney Todd got only three (Johnny Depp, art direction and costume); Juno's Jason Reitman, not Tim Burton, landed a director's slot. A surprise, but well-deserved. (I w...
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Heath Ledger Found Dead, Surrounded by Pills
Heath Ledger was ">found dead in his SoHo apartment, Tuesday, surrounded by pills. It may not be a suicide. He was 28.
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Sundance Video: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Martin McDonagh
Here's the first of many Sundance video-interviews we're putting up during the fest, with the In Bruges gang:
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Golden Globe Nominations: Atonement Leads Pack with Seven
With seven nominations, Joe Wright's Atonement led the field of Golden Globe nominations Thursday morning. It was a good day for Denzel Washington, who stars in two films out of seven in the motion picture drama category: American Gangster, in which he stars as a Harlem kingpin, and The Great Debate...
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Holiday Round-Up
The year-end results are in, from ten best lists to holiday openings (here's Pam McClintock's b.o. wrap). So what does it all mean?
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Sweeney Todd Opens in 5th Place
Sweeney Todd opened to excellent reviews (87% fresh on Rottentomatoes.com) and strong initial numbers on Friday, but the movie dropped an estimated 28 % (actually 25%) between Friday and Saturday. (Here's Sunday's Variety weekend boxoffice report.) This indicates that many viewers were lured by Paramount's mainstream horror-driven ad campaign, which did not sell the film as a Stephen Sondheim musical, and walked away disappointed. (The company also seeded the internet with clips showing the musical numbers.) Selling a unique movie like this, where there is no tried-and-true pattern to follow, is admittedly tricky. So Paramount made the call ...
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