The Women in Animation (WIA) 2021 spring mentorship program will be taking applications starting March 31, with a special focus on mentoring women of color through its Mentor Circles series. In a new development, the WIA mentorship program is collaborating for the first time with Black N'ANimated and Latinx, and Rise Up Animations to directly advance career opportunities for women of color in the animation industry. While applicants are not limited to people of color, they are strongly encouraged to apply through these partnerships. As part of the collaboration, each organization recruited and referred industry mentors from their networks, adding to WIA’s pool of mentors.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with WIA for their Mentor Circles program,” said Waymond Singleton and Breana Williams, co-founders of Black N’Animated. “By having more mentors of color in these types of spaces it emphasizes that women of color, especially Black women, are leaders in this industry — as they are often overlooked. They are and always have been here, and are an inspiration for up and coming animation professionals.”

Bryan Dimas, co-founder and co-director of Latinx Animation, said: “LXiA is thrilled to partner with WIA in building pathways for more diverse voices in the animation industry, specifically for women of color. Opportunities like these that are intentional and intersectional are often limited to a smaller cohort. With WIA’s reach and the collective communities their Mentor Circles engage, we’re excited to scale our joint impact and support a vibrant generation of animation professionals.”

The program is part of WIA’s commitment to reach 50/50 in 2050 as the mentorship program connects women and gender non-binary individuals at all levels and across a variety of industry roles to mentors who can help them achieve their career goals through guidance on taking the next steps on their professional paths.

“RIse Up Animation is honored to be able to partner with WIA on the 2021 spring Mentor Circles. Mentoring the next generation of creative people of color and especially women of color in animation is a gift that we get to pay forward as industry professionals. We need to raise those diverse voices up now!,” said Rise Up Animation co-founder Monica Lago-Kaytis.

All WIA mentors receive training, experience and support from mentor coach Aydrea Walden. The 2021 spring mentor pool comprises 73% women/non-binary, with at least 48% BIPOC and 40%  based abroad.

“I’m super excited to see this round of circles reflect the amazing range of perspectives, voices, and talents that can help the animation industry continue to grow and thrive. Every single person has an amazing story to share and something unique, personal, wonderful, and important to bring to the table. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the things I’ve achieved without some amazing mentors, and I’m thrilled to help more women connect to mentors who can help them reach their goals,” Walden said.

Mentee applications will be accepted starting March 31, and for the first time, WIA members and members of any of the mentorship partner organizations can apply for free. “We realize that our members’ financial challenges may be daunting in these pandemic times, and that mentorship support is more valuable than ever in this moment, so we diligently adjusted our budget allocations to allow for wider mentee participation without charging for access to this program in 2021,” said WIA president Marge Dean.

A silver lining to the COVID-19 quarantine was the shift to virtual meetings for Mentor Circles, inspiring WIA’s launch of a proprietary online platform to organize and manage an even wider scale of mentors and mentee groups. With 45 mentors offering their time and expertise to the 2021 program, WIA expects to benefit up to 400 mentees in this round of Circles.

Since its initial operational year of 2014, the WIA Mentorship program has grown exponentially, starting with eight one-on-one pairings and reaching 631 mentees in 2020.

“The WIA Mentorship Program is really at the core of what WIA is about. We’re so proud of the tremendous success of this program and the many careers the program has supported and inspired over the years. We’ve received endless feedback from both mentees and mentors about how the program has had a profound impact on their lives,” added Dean.

Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett are penning a script for the big-screen treatment of the 1960s sitcom about a witch hiding in plain sight in suburbia.

Sony Pictures is twitching its nose as it orders early development of a movie version of the classic bewitched TV sitcom, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Bewitched ran for eight seasons on ABC, from 1964 to 1972 and starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, a witch who marries Darrin, a mortal (Dick York and later Dick Sargent), and attempts to become a typical suburban housewife.

Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett are conjuring up the script for the movie adaptation. Davis Entertainment is producing via John Davis and John Fox.

Sony, which owns the sitcom's rights, earlier attempted Bewitched TV series remakes, at CBS in 2011-12 and NBC in 2014, which did not go forward. Bewitched was also remade as a 2005 feature film starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

Matalas is under an overall deal at CBS and co-runs Star Trek: Picard. Matalas and Fickett are also developing the Witch Mountain remake for Disney+, again with Davis and Fox at Davis Entertainment.

Matalas and Fickett created and ran the TV adaptation of Twelve Monkeys for Syfy Channel. The duo are repped by ICM Partners. Matalas is also repped by David Kanter at Anonymous Content.

Article by:Etan Vlessingfor Hollywood Reporter

“Naked Singularity,” starring John Boyega, “Socks on Fire” and “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” are among the selections announced for the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival, which will take place in an all-new hybrid format.

Running April 9-18, the 64th edition of the festival will incorporate both online and in-person elements. Through the SFFILM website, audiences will be able to purchase tickets for digital screenings, Q&As with filmmakers, film parties, and industry networking events. Additionally, there will be live screenings and performances held at the Fort Mason Flix drive-in theater.

Featuring 103 films from 41 countries around the world, the festival lineup consists of 42 feature films, 56 short films and five mid-length films. Not quite feature-length and not quite a short, mid-length films will run between 30 and 50 minutes. 13 films will be making their world premiere with an additional 15 making their North American premiere. Among the full lineup, 57% of the films were helmed by female filmmakers and 57% by BIPOC filmmakers.

“The challenges of this year provided a creative and logistical obstacle course that the staff has navigated with great optimism and energy,” SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai said in a statement. “Inspired by the wonderful films we were seeing and motivated to create a fun and easy experience for our audiences and filmmakers, we are not only able to bring everyone together both digitally and in person, but to ensure that our Festival honors and celebrates a sense of community and connectivity. More importantly, as we strive to do every year, we are thrilled to bring together some of the most daring and unique filmmaking from across the country and around the world to our audience.”

This year, “Homeroom” director Peter Nicks will receive the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award. Established in 2011, the award recognizes a filmmaker’s distinguished service to cinema as an art form. Previous recipients include Claude Jarman Jr., Ray Dolby and Maurice Kanbar. Also, “Cryptozoo” write and director Dash Shaw will receive the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award. Established in 1997, the award (also known as the POV award) honors artists whose main body of work is outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking. Previous recipients include Barbara Kopple, Don Hertzfeltd and Guy Maddin.

The nonprofit event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First Republic Bank, Netflix, and Dolby Laboratories, Inc. will once again sponsor the event.

See the full festival lineup below:

Big Nights:

Opening Night: Naked Singularity, Chase Palmer, USA — World Premiere

John Boyega cements his leading-man status as an impassioned public defender who stumbles into a drug heist while his reality collapses all around him.

Centerpiece: Socks on Fire, Bo McGuire, USA — North American Premiere

Family tensions flare in this tenderly wrought film, as the filmmaker explores old family wounds between his homophonic aunt and drag queen uncle.

Closing Night: Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, Marilyn Agrelo, USA

This fascinating documentary delves into the origins of the beloved children’s show, Sesame Street. With humor, never-before-seen footage, and special guests, Street Gang explores the ongoing emotional resonance of this ubiquitous series.

International Narrative Feature Films:

Abou Leila, Amin Sidi-Boumédiène, Algeria/France/Qatar

Reality becomes increasingly tenuous in this intense, phantasmagoric drama when childhood friends visit the Sahara – one in pursuit of a terrorist – during Algeria’s bloody civil war.

Censor, Prano Bailey-Bond, UK

Film censor Enid’s concern over protecting the public turns into a chilling obsession when one particular horror movie strikes a chord with her past.

Dance of the 41, David Pablos, Mexico/Brazil

Based on true events, Dance of the 41 is the forbidden love story between a politician and a lawyer that became a society scandal that roiled early 20th-century Mexico. Critics Jury Award Eligible

The Dry, Robert Connolly, Australia

Based on Jane Harper’s bestseller, this riveting Aussie mystery stars Eric Bana as an investigator burrowing into a brutal murder-suicide involving a childhood friend.

Fauna, Nicolás Pereda, Mexico

Issues of representation and performance take center stage in Pereda’s wry feature about a couple – one a Narcos: Mexico actor – on a road trip to visit her dysfunctional family. Critics Jury Award Eligible

A Leave, Lee Ran-hee, South Korea — North American Premiere

The employer/employee relationship is explored with great nuance in the story of a middle-aged man who witnesses an accident at his job. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Nudo Mixteco, Angeles Cruz, Mexico

Converging around a Mexican village’s yearly festival, this powerful drama depicts the upheaval created when three people who left return home in this tense, empathetic drama. Critics Jury Award Eligible

Overclockers, Michal Wnuk, Poland — North American Premiere

Inventing a next-generation blimp is the goal of the brilliant but poor young aviator in this buoyant drama of friendship, romance, and the science of aeronautics. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science on Screen selection

The Perfect Candidate, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudia Arabia/Germany

A female physician challenges Saudi Arabia’s patriarchal society when she runs for local office in Haifaa Al Mansour’s pointed but buoyant and hopeful drama.

Poppy Field, Eugen Jebeleanu, Romania/France

This explosive drama explores how a Romanian policeman’s hidden life impacts his response to a protest at a Bucharest cinema over a film with queer content. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Skies of Lebanon, Chloé Mazlo, France — North American Premiere

Rich with whimsy and drama, this beautifully deft romance sets the relationship between a Swiss woman and her Lebanese astrophysicist husband against Lebanon’s civil war. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Son of Monarchs, Alexis Gambis, USA/Mexico

A butterfly researcher in the US returns to his home in Michoacán where he reconnects with family and friends in this rich and romantic visual tapestry. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science on Screen selection, Critics Jury Award Eligible

This Is My Desire, Arie Esiri/Chuko Esiri, Nigeria

Using a dual storyline format to portray life in Lagos, this moving drama’s protagonists dream of emigration and flight from the teeming city. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Tove, Zalda Bergroth, Finland

Shimmering portrait of the irrepressible bisexual artist and illustrator Tove Jansson, writer and illustrator of the globally beloved Moomins children’s book series.

Valley of Souls, Nicolás Rincón Gille, Colombia/Belgium/Brazil/France

Actor Arley de Jesús Carvallido Lobo is unforgettable in this powerful drama as a fisherman searching for his sons’ bodies after paramilitaries abduct them during Colombia’s civil conflict.

The Whaler Boy, Phillipp Yuryev, Russia/Belgium/Poland — North American Premiere

The internet brings the outside world to an isolated Russian whaling village in this involving coming-of-age tale shot through with offbeat humor and surprising pathos. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

U.S. Narrative Feature Films:

American filmmakers reveal their inspired imaginations in a variety of genres in this selection of homegrown features.

Cryptozoo, Dash Shaw, USA

Funny, sexy, and ambitious, Shaw’s hand-drawn feature captivates a far-out story of mythological creatures and the brave souls trying to protect them from harm. SFFILM Supported

Holler, Nicole Riegel, USA

Focusing on promising high-school graduate Ruthie, this coming-of-age drama is a deeply compassionate portrait of the day-to-day struggles present in America’s rust belt. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Home, Franka Potente, Germany/Netherlands — North American Premiere

Seventeen years after committing a heinous crime, Marvin returns home, attempting to pick up the pieces of his life and find redemption before he loses his last living family member.

I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking), Kelley Kali/Angelique Molina, USA

Single mom Danny races through COVID-era Pacoima, CA, on roller skates to try to amass an apartment deposit in this poignant and humorous debut. Golden Gate New Directors Competition

Ma Belle, My Beauty, Marion Hill, USA/France

Against the backdrop of a sun-drenched summer in Southern France, a surprise reunion stirs up old memories between two women who were once polyamorous lovers.

Strawberry Mansion, Kentucker Audley/Albert Birney, USA

Whimsical and unique, this story of a dream auditor falling in love with the woman he’s scrutinizing depicts the priceless sanctuary of imagination.

Supercool, Teppo Airaksinen, USA — World Premiere

After Neil undergoes a magical transformation, he and his best friend Gilbert make unexpected alliances that cause pure mayhem in this hilariously profane, teens-gone-wild comedy.

International Documentaries:

Captains of Zaatari, Ali El Arabi, Egypt — North American Premiere

Syrian teens Fawzi and Mahmoud come of age amidst a refugee camp’s harsh conditions, forging a friendship over soccer and shared questions about love in this captivating documentary. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition

Cuban Dancer, Roberto Salinas, Italy/Canada/Chile

Tremendous dance sequences and a teenager’s extraordinary talent drive this captivating documentary as a top Cuban ballet student emmigrates and begins to study anew in Florida. Schools at the Festival Inclusion

The Last Autumn, Yrsa Roca Fannberg, Iceland

Director Yrsa Roca Fannberg’s intimate documentary observes a husband and wife’s final season tending their beloved flock on an isolated Icelandic sheep farm.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche, Paul Sng/Celeste Bell, UK/USA

Raucous music adorns this deep dive into the life of Poly Styrene, frontwoman of the pioneering English punk rock band, X-Ray Spex.

Radiograph of a Family, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran/Norway/Switzerland — North American Premiere

Iranian filmmaker Firouzeh Khosrovani investigates her parents’ unusual marriage between a secular man and devout Muslim woman in this poetic documentary steeped in bittersweet history. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition

Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam, Nefise Özkal Lorentzen, Norway — North American Premiere

A rich portrait of Turkish-German radical feminist, lawyer, and imam, Seyran Ateş unfolds like a rose in a documentary that limns a life devoted to reforming Islam. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition

The Spokeswoman, Luciana Kaplan, Mexico

Maria de Jesús Patricio, known as Marichuy, is the first indigenous woman to run for president of Mexico. This powerful documentary follows her fraught campaign, detailing the intricacies of Mexican politics and the critical issues facing the indigenous population. Critics Jury Award Eligible

Writing With Fire, Rintu Thomas/Sushmit Ghosh, India

A trio of fearless female journalists expose rampant sexism and corruption in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in this moving and triumphant documentary. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition, Schools at the Festival Inclusion, SFFILM Supported

Zumiriki, Oskar Alegria, Spain

How do you relive a memory? Oskar Alegria revisits a place from his childhood and tries to answer that question in this poetic and pastoral documentary.

U.S. Documentaries:

After Antarctica, Tasha Van Zandt, USA/Canada — World Premiere

Thirty years after leading the first-ever coast-to-coast expedition across the frigid continent to bring attention to climate change, renowned explorer Will Steger recalls that thrilling adventure. Golden Gate Bay Area Documentary Competition, SFFILM supported

Homeroom, Peter Nicks, USA

Peter Nicks celebrates the resilience and grit of Oakland High School’s class of 2020 during a year of extraordinary challenges with this compelling and immersive documentary. Schools at the Festival Inclusion

In the Same Breath, Nanfu Wang, USA/China

Meticulously documenting the origin and spread of COVID-19, Nanfu Wang’s fourth feature captures the collective trauma of this global pandemic while also celebrating human resilience. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition

Lily Topples the World, Jeremy Workman, USA

A young girl’s passion for building and toppling vivid domino creations leads her to YouTube stardom and a career as an artist and entrepreneur. Schools at the Festival Inclusion

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, Mariem Pérez Riera, USA

Film clips galore unreel on screen as the indomitable Rita Moreno recalls her dramatic, topsy-turvy life and 70-year film career in this hugely entertaining documentary.

Unseen Skies, Yaara Bou Melhem, Australia/USA — World Premiere

Contemporary artist Trevor Paglen prepares his most ambitious project to date in this intimate and stunningly beautiful journey inside his mind and art. Golden Gate Documentary Feature Competition

We Are as Gods, David Alvarado/Jason Sussberg, USA

Stewart Brand, Bay Area icon and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, continues to shape culture and technology through his progressive and unconventional approach to the environment and wildlife conservation. Golden Gate Bay Area Documentary Competition, SFFILM Supported

Mid-Length Films:

Cloudscape — Sofia Gallisá Muriente, Puerto Rico — North American Premiere

Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma — Topaz Jones/Jason Sondock/Simon Davis, USA/France/Germany/Italy

Mum Is Pouring Rain — Hugo de Faucompret, France — North American Premiere, Schools at the Festival Inclusion

Sing Me a Lullaby — Tiffany Hsiung, Canada

Tales of the Accidental City — Maïmouna Jallow, Kenya — World Premiere

Schools at the Festival:

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Schools at the Festival program introduces students ages six to 18 to the art of international filmmaking while promoting media literacy, deepening insights into other cultures, enhancing foreign language aptitude, developing critical thinking skills and inspiring a lifelong appreciation of cinema. This section is programmed exclusively for teachers and students.

Acorns: Tonko House Presentation — Presented by Bradley Furnish, Toshi Nakumura, and Ryusuke Villemin

Art & Science of Lucasfilm: ILM Art Direction — Presented by Tyler Scarlet

Calamity, A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary —  Rémi Chayé, France/Denmark

City of Ghosts: Netflix Presentation — Elizabeth Ito, USA

My Octopus Teacher — Pippa Ehrlich/James Reed, USA

Short Films:

Shorts 1

This collection of narrative and new vision shorts shines a tender light on society’s frictions, from single parenting in a new country to patriarchal workplaces to the stresses of a job interview. The program features work from Germany, Ghana, the US, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Canada and Greece.

Bambirak — Zamarin Wahdat, Germany

Benjamin — Benny, Ben, Paul Shkordoff, Canada

Da Yie — Anthony Nti, Belgium/Ghana

Doretha’s Blues — Channing Godfrey Peoples, USA

Dummy — Laurynas Bareiša, Lithuania

The End of Suffering (a proposal) — Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece

Signal 8 — Simon Liu, Hong Kong

Shorts 2

Featuring a boy’s first summer fasting for Ramadan, a face-off with a comically seedy insurance agent and a chance romantic encounter on a late-night train, this fun group of narrative and animated shorts finds joy in the particularities of experience. This program features work from France, the U.S. and Sweden.

Blue Fear — Lola Halifa-Legrand/Marie Jacotey, France

Freezerburn — Sarah Rattay-Maloney, USA

The Night Train — Jerry Carlsson, Sweden

Summer Fasting — Abdenoure Ziane, France

Wiggle Room — Julia Baylis/Sam Guest, USA

Shorts 3

With care and diligence, these filmmakers have created life-affirming films that tell a wide range of stories about reconstructing memories, art therapy, call centers in Mexico and old friends. As a whole, these films address feelings of loss and the comfort we can find in one another. This program features work from France, Mexico and the U.S.

Ale Libre — Maya Cueva, USA

Dial Home — César Martínez Barba, USA/Mexico — World Premiere

If You Hum at the Right Frequency — Daniel Freeman, USA — World Premiere (SFFILM Supported)

Maalbeek — Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis, France

Mr. Wild — Caleb Wild, USA

Since you arrived, my heart stopped belonging to me — Erin Semine Kökdil, USA — World Premiere (SFFILM Supported)

Wavelengths — Jesse Zinn, USA — North American Premiere

Shorts 4

This selection of documentary shorts features flocks of wildfire-fighting sheep, the pursuit of happiness on behalf of a pet turtle and a prison art activation from a renowned artist. Together, the films explore the effect of people and animals on their immediate environments and their environments’ effect on them.

American Wildlife — Elizabeth Lo, USA — World Premiere

Halpate — Adam Khalil/Adam Piron, USA

Last Days at Paradise High — Derek Knowles/Emily Thomas, USA

Shepherd’s Song — Abby Fuller, USA

Snowy — Alex Wolf Lewis/Kaitlyn Schwalje, USA

Tehachapi — JR/Tasha Van Zandt, USA

Shorts 5

These beautifully crafted animated shorts tell deeply personal stories of father-daughter relationships, impending unrest and finding solace. These films push the form with a shockingly artful eye. This program features work from Canada, Italy, France, China, Portugal and the UK.

The Fire Next Time — Renaldho Pelle, UK

In the Shadow of the Pines — Anne Koizumi, Canada

Sogni al Campo — Mara Cerri/Magda Guidi, France/Italy

Step Into the River — Weijia Ma, China/France 

Shorts 6: Family Shorts

This diverse collection of stories is sure to please the smallest members of your family, along with the young at heart and everyone in-between. Featuring a deeply moving documentary exploring race in America, a delicately animated adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen classic, and a vertically challenged dinosaur longing to give his best friend a comforting embrace. Recommended for ages 5 and up. This section is part of the Schools at the Festival Program.

Broken Bird — Rachel Harrison Gordon, USA

A Concerto Is a Conversation — Kris Bowers/Ben Proudfoot, USA

Intermission — Freddie Claire/Simon de Glanville/Alice Jones, UK

Kapaemahu — Dean Hamer/Joe WIlson/Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, USA

The Magical Forest and the Things — Dave Russo, USA

Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug — Galen Fott, USA — World Premiere

To: Gerard — Taylor Meacham, USA

Tulip — Andrea Love/Phoebe Wahl, USA

Us Again — Zach A. Parrish, USA

Shorts 7: Youth Works

Young filmmakers from throughout the world offer up fresh and daring voices in this selection of narrative, documentary and animated films. From a lighthearted and comedic vision of the apocalypse to a documentary about working and living in Kozan, Adana, Turkey, to earnest treatises on growing up through the COVID-19 pandemic, these films are an introduction to the cinematic future. This section is part of the Schools at the Festival Program.

A Cure for Humanity — Jared Fontecha/Iziyah Robinson, USA

Greta — Sofie Verweyen , USA

I hate winters. — Shivesh Pandey, India — World Premiere

Ilea — Samuel Correa, USA

Just as I am — Arianna Azzaro, Italy — North American Premiere

Kozan — İlayda İşeri, Turkey — North American Premiere

A Loco Vivid Dream — Marak Ścibior, Poland

Music for the End of the World — Emmanuel Li, UK

Stranger Strings — Ava Saloman, USA — World Premiere

Through Their Eyes — Alisha Heng, USA

What’s That Sound — Tanya Cyster, USA — World Premiere

Shorts Paired with Mid-Lengths

These shorts screening before Mid-Length selections inspire and enhance, creating synergistic pairings of bold storytelling.

Al-Sit — Suzannah Mirghani, Sudan/Qatar

Dear Philadelphia — Renee Maria Osubu, UK/USA

Here, Here — Joanne Cesario, Philippines — North American Premiere

The Snail and the Whale — Max Lang/Daniel Snaddon, UK

We have one heart — Katarzyna Warzecha, Poland

Zog and the Flying Doctors — Sean Mullin, UK

Article by: Antonio Ferme by Variety

As productions gear up again with more cameras starting to roll, it’s likely that sets won’t look the same as before the pandemic. COVID protocols have emphasized working with smaller crews and experimenting with virtual and remote filming.

Location manager J.J. Levine (“The D Cut”) has also seen changes in the way sites are procured.

For the show she’s working on (it’s a dramedy, but she’s not permitted to reveal the title), Levine has mainly communicated over Zoom and FaceTime, since she could bring only a smaller scouting crew with her. “It was hard,” she says. “You’re used to asking each department, ‘What do you need to make this location work?’”

As the 1st vice president of the Location Managers Guild, Levine noted during one of the guild’s recent Coffee Tuesdays that location managers had become more interested in using apps and 3D technology for virtual walkthroughs of potential locations. It’s a technology widely used on real estate sites. But she has found that communication doesn’t always flow as smoothly when everyone isn’t in physical proximity. “There will be 20 to 30 crew department heads gathered, and sidebars will take place,” she explains, “and I’ll hear [after a location has already been scouted], ‘I need roof access.’” 

Levine wonders if she’ll soon be using her new iPhone 12, which has Lidar light detection and ranging capability, to scout locations. “I know I’m probably going to have to use it at some point,” she allows.

“American Gods” location manager John Rakish, the guild’s 2nd vice president, has also noticed a move to virtual scouting. “There’s a lot more digital photography” when scoping out a site, he says. “It’s not like before where 35 people get in a van to look at a location.” Rakish has taken to using drones to capture 3D footage, which he then sends back to directors or the scout team.

Levine says she has witnessed other changes on set, not just in scouting. For instance, before COVID-19, up to 100 crew members at a time would dine on craft services in expandable trailers. “Now we put six people in [the trailer],” she says. “One show I was working on outfitted those trailers with shower curtains as separators, and they were used as hair and makeup stations.”

Levine says that even such basics as the logistics of a car scene are impacted by health considerations. “We would normally drive around with a camera car and the car would be on a tow dolly,” she says. “But putting two people in an enclosed spaced in a COVID world — you can’t do that anymore.”

In one instance — a site in Santa Clarita that was supposed to double for Florida — the space just didn’t work under the existing conditions. But the crew found a solution with CGI: “Virtual shooting plates were used against a blue screen, and the sequence, in which a mother is teaching her daughter how to drive, was shot on a soundstage instead of on location.”

Levine points out that it’s not just location managers who are pivoting. Writers, too, are rethinking big background sequences. A scene that was once on the page as taking place in a crowded bar is now just a lone bartender stocking a shelf while a customer walks in. “We’re all adapting to change,” she says.

Article by:Jazz Tangcay for Variety

Working in entertainment may never look the same again.

To hear numerous executives tell it, the past 12 months have shifted the paradigm for modern office life. Gone are the days of staying tethered to a desk until the boss leaves for the night. Showing up to work with a nasty cold no longer a badge of honor but a mark of disregard for your colleagues. And getting hired for a job that is headquartered in a totally different city or working remotely from a distant location might become more commonplace.

Masks, social distancing and hand sanitizer will become staples of workplace culture in the way that copy machines, water-coolers and desktop computers were once emblems of corporate life. At the same time, companies are reassessing travel budgets. Far-flung set visits, meetings on different coasts or continents, premieres in multiple locations and globe-hopping press junkets may all be a thing of the past even as it becomes safer to travel.

“Face-to-face interaction is still going to be important and can’t be replicated,” says Michael Burns, vice chairman of Lionsgate. “But I still think our approach to travel will be altered. We’ve discovered a lot of problems can be resolved via Zoom.”

To get a sense of the new contours of a business that has been battered by the pandemic, Variety spoke with dozens of entertainment industry players, almost all of whom predicted that the nature of office life and how movies and television shows are made, marketed and distributed will be fundamentally changed.

“People are fooling themselves if they think we’re going back to a pre-pandemic work lifestyle,” says Arianna Bocco, president of IFC Films. “Yes, we all want to be able to gather together again, but some aspects of our virtual existence are going to remain. It’s been an awful year, but it allowed us to think in a more progressive way about how we achieve a work-life balance by giving people more flexibility.”

Big media companies such as WarnerMedia, Disney, Amazon and Comcast have been surveying staff as they contemplate overhauling their workplaces. On the topic of reopening offices, the common refrain is “No sooner than the summer.” And that may be overly optimistic according to various executives who still express a lot of trepidation about going back in the foreseeable future.

ICM partners is a good example of how the back-to-office effort will play out once health officials offer the green light for people to gather en masse. Just a handful of its most essential workers are in office. When the agency reopens its Los Angeles headquarters and New York and D.C. bureaus, only every other workstation in its open-office areas will be occupied, reducing workspace capacity by 50% – and each station will be divided by plexiglass.

The agency’s hallways will be marked one-way-only to prevent people from passing each other in walkways and potentially contaminating airspace. Only four people can be in an elevator at any given time, restroom capacity has been limited and each floor is equipped with hand sanitizer stations. Masks are a must, obviously. When employees trickle back in, they can expect to be welcomed with PPE goody bags on their desks filled with a mask, hand sanitizer, disinfectant spray and a stylus (so they don’t have to touch the buttons in the elevator with their hands). It will also contain a smart thermometer from Kinsa, which has a contract with ICM for no fewer than 600 thermometers; employees must check their temperatures daily and answer a wellness questionnaire two hours before they arrive at the office.

Jennifer Dodge, president of Spin Master Entertainment, a subsidiary of toymaker Spin Master, also has a temperature-check system in place. While she’s itching to get back into the studio — and even resume a life that involves trips through airport security — she does not foresee a return to her downtown Toronto office earlier than the summer. For the 20,000-square-foot studio, which employs 70 full-time employees, she has modeled out a few scenarios that include staggered seating arrangements and fewer seats in boardrooms.

“[There’s the] hoteling approach, where people just come in and grab a desk that’s socially distant,” says Dodge. “Then others will be planned out: having certain productions coming in on odd days and certain productions coming in on even days, for instance.”

Former Lionsgate motion picture group chief Erik Feig just signed a five-year lease for a bigger, airier office for his shingle Picturestart, after the pandemic nudged him toward not renewing the lease at the company’s current space. The free-standing building will feature “revamped airflow systems.” And he, like others, is installing distanced workstations and plexiglass dividers, and asking for self-reported temp checks.

But Feig, for one, misses the “casual serendipity” of running into people in the office. “I’ve always found unplanned encounters are the most fruitful kinds of things that end up happening,” he says. “So we wanted to have a place that was a wider space than what we would normally have thought.”

Whether everyone will want to physically come back to work is another matter. Studies suggest that between 15% to 30% of staff would prefer not to return to the office full time, and that desire is leading corporations to come up with novel ways to accommodate their rank and file. Among the ideas being discussed are allowing staff to work remotely for at least one to two days per week or to occupy shared office spaces that they would sign up to use on certain dates. Even those spaces might look different. Instead of a desk, a chair and a phone, there might be collaborative rooms where several colleagues could gather to tackle projects.

Nearly 80% of ViacomCBS’ more than 20,000 staffers will work in a hybrid environment after the pandemic — up from the 70% it previously disclosed — with most employees sharing desks at the office and working part of the week from home. The model is intended to offer flexibility but also give the merged Viacom and CBS the chance to cut real estate costs as it seeks out synergies over the next few years.

Freeform president Tara Duncan, who stepped into her role at the top of the cable network in June, has not yet set foot in the company’s Burbank headquarters. But she connected with her new staff through team-building activities like virtual cooking classes and cocktail nights.

“It’s been completely bizarre,” she says. “I work in my dining room, where I joke with the team that it feels like I’m in an episode of ‘Black Mirror.’ But I have to say, there’s also been something nice about everyone dropping a little bit of the office guard, if you will.”

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Brian Rea for Variety

Industrial Media CEO Eli Holzman had an oracle that sounded the pandemic alarm earlier than most, one that came in the form of colleague Matt Sharp, the CEO of Sharp Entertainment, a division of Industrial Media. Sharp is the unscripted TV powerhouse behind “90 Day Fiancé,” “Man v. Food,” and most notably, a NatGeo show about people preparing for the end of the world. Sharp phoned Holzman in late January 2020; Holzman recalls him saying, “Listen, keep in mind: I created ‘Doomsday Preppers,’ and I’m a little paranoid. But if they close the schools here in New York, my editors won’t be able to do their jobs.”

Industrial Media switched to a remote, cloud-based editing system in February ahead of the lockdowns. Now, Holzman has become more open to conducting business from afar.

“We hired lots of people that we’d never met in person,” he says. “Borders are drawn by people, by government. They don’t actually corral talent. There is a great opportunity to work with people from around the world.”

Hollywood is an industry that runs on power lunches and premieres, where handshakes and hugs are ubiquitous. That will likely change given how much more conscious people are, after months of avoiding COVID-19, of the way diseases spread.

“I’m never going anywhere without sanitizer,” says Eric B. Fleischman, the producer of “Sleight.” “I feel like all of us have become Howard Hughes, washing our hands obsessively with the bar of soap that our mother gave us.”

Fleischman says movie sets, where cast and crew members often spent hours huddled together in confined spaces or combing over the food at the craft services table, were often a hotbed of colds, flus and other diseases. Going forward, productions are expected to take a different approach, encouraging people to stay home if they’re not feeling well.

But don’t expect those expense-account meals at the Four Seasons to vanish. Many of those interviewed were quick to point out that TV and film is a “relationships business.”

“Lunches are the things that are going come back very strong, very fast, because lunches are where those personal relation- ships are established that go a little beyond just this project or that project but ‘How are your kids doing? How’s your family doing?’” says CBS Entertainment chief Kelly Kahl. “Those things are important. That’s also a great part of our business. The relationships, not just in the company but outside the company. And that really feels like it’s suffering.”

The loss of building a rapport doesn’t just apply to high-powered studio and network executives.

“When I was still an assistant, lunch culture and coffee culture was massive for my network,” says TV writer and #PayUpHollywood co-founder Liz Alper. “There’s such a tremendous loss because it’s so hard to make a personal connection over video. … What you’re missing is energy.”

That extends to post-production work. Filmmakers figured out ways to finish their films remotely even as communities went into lockdown last spring, but they missed the spirit of teamwork that exists in the editing bay.

“Film is a collaborative process, so nothing replaces being in person to exchange ideas and vibe off these artists,” says Diane Paragas, director of “Yellow Rose.” “The editing process in the beginning is the easiest to do remotely since the editor can make their initial cuts, but as it gets more into the finer cuts, I find it better to do it in the same room, where you can audition different takes or alternate shots.”

Zoom may be part of the fabric of the future, but junior execs and assistants are likelier to feel the pang of not being in the office, which can function as a critical milieu for observing industry veterans thriving in their natural habitats. And where a shared elevator ride or break room encounter might have served as a useful way to exchange pleasantries, younger staffers are now challenged with finding new opportunities to get on the radar of top brass.

“I think working from home has been challenging, specifically for younger agents who are building their careers and their relationships,” says ICM partner Adam Schweitzer, managing director of talent and branding. “Not having that in-person [relationship] with the buyers who they typically work with, or want to get to know, is hard.”

The brave new world has made buyers and managers more accessible online, however, and the agency can hold bigger meetings with studios, networks, production and management companies. “You wouldn’t necessarily go out to lunch with someone and bring 10 colleagues along, but it’s easy to put them on a Zoom and give your younger colleagues the opportunity to have access and a bit of face time,” he says.

For TV writers, the marathon video sessions that have replaced physical writers’ rooms have been exhausting. It isn’t the same, many say, in a creative profession that feeds off the energy in the room. Still, says Alper, some writers are discussing the possibility of moving out of state to be closer to family should the virtual environment persist. “I think we’re going to be on the Zoom model for a very long time,” she predicts. “It’s saved the studios a lot of money and they like that. They like having a reason to cut their costs wherever they can.”

Since production resumed last summer at a time when the pandemic showed no signs of abating, movie and TV sets have taken on a very different atmosphere.

“The work got more efficient,” says producer of “Get Out” and “The Purge.” “There’s not a lot of chitter-chatter and socializing. People want to get in there, get the work done and get home so they can take their mask off.”

Keeping the cameras rolling during the COVID lockdown has been excruciatingly challenging, leading filmmakers to be that much more resourceful.

Collaborators and friends Natalie Morales were fed up with quarantine and eager to get back to work after several projects they were supposed to shoot were scuttled or delayed indefinitely as production ground to a halt and forced the actors to remain largely confined to their homes. But last summer, Duplass and Morales were among the first wave of filmmakers who figured out a way to get back to work during the pandemic. Using the advice of health experts, the pair shot a low-budget movie, “Language Lessons,” that used a small ensemble of actors and a skeletal crew. Some precautions, such as applying their own makeup and handling costumes, were a concession to a raging public health crisis. Other elements of the scrappy production helped them shoot more economically and more efficiently in ways that could help shape the industry’s approach to post-pandemic work.

“As I went forward in this business, the budgets got bigger and the size of the sets grew,” says Duplass. “The pandemic forced me back down to working minimally just to be safe. But it also ended up revitalizing me and reminding me of what it was like when I was making the props myself and hanging the lights myself and doing my own hair and makeup and all of those things. There is a place for that moving forward. There needs to be a resurgence of this kind of streamlined approach, because it will free up budgets and that will free us creatively.”

It’s been nearly a year since the pandemic forced filmmakers like Duplass and Morales off the set and into an unprecedented period of isolation. However, there are signs that society, with the help of critical scientific advances, is sucking the air out of a virus that upended cultural life and reshaped the media and entertainment industry.

Vaccinations are rising, and COVID-19 cases, at least in the U.S., are declining. More movies and shows are going into production than at any time since the pandemic struck, and with cinemas reopening in cities like New York, there’s a sense that Hollywood is easing back into the old ways of doing business.

The COVID protocols that have been instituted on sets have been largely effective, but they are costly, adding as much as $10 million to $12 million to the budget of a major tentpole release, while tacking on an additional 15% to the film’s budget. That’s expected to be the cost of doing business for the foreseeable future. But that’s not the only financial challenge.

Even as the pandemic recedes, there will be no going back to normal anytime soon in the world of film production. Producers have had a hard time planning projects without knowing how exactly they will reach audiences. Even when in-person film festivals return and theaters are fully reopened, there will still be a lag in the production pipeline.

“We’re a good 18 months — even with the best news in the world — before people feel comfortable with the production plan they might have had in place two years ago,” says Jean Prewitt, president and CEO of the Independent Film & Television Alliance.

The IFTA is keenly focused on the issue of production insurance, which affects midrange independent films more than any others. Major insurance carriers are refusing to cover losses associated with the COVID pandemic. And even when vaccines are widely available, insurers will exclude coverage for future pandemics.

“So many indie producers have their hands tied,” says Rob Paris, president of Rivulet Media, which recently produced “Please Baby Please” with Demi Moore. “They can’t get bonded and they can’t find insurance policies that cover them. A lot of movies without major distributors and deep pockets behind them are struggling to get made.”

Brian Kingman, managing director of the entertainment practice at Arthur J. Gallagher, says he got a call from a well- known producer who was planning to have his whole cast and crew vaccinated in Israel, and wanted to know if he could get COVID coverage.

“And my answer is no,” Kingman says. “There’s just no insurance or reinsurance support in the marketplace to allow for coverage of COVID-19 or any other pandemic.”

Some smaller projects have been able to go without COVID coverage. They tend to build into the budget a contingency to cover a possible shutdown, and front-load the scenes with the bigger actors in hopes of getting them to finish their work as quickly as possible.

“And then you’re just running for it, going as fast as you can and just trying to get through it,” Prewitt says.

Movies and shows that have shot during the pandemic also learned to stage ensemble scenes in the first days of filming because those are the hardest to reschedule if disaster strikes.

“You have to get creative and be flexible, because there’s always the danger of getting shut down and not being able to reassemble your actors at a later date,” says Dylan Sellers, president of Limelight, the producer of “Palm Springs.” “It’s a lot easier to find time to get one actor to come back and shoot something. It’s much harder to bring back two or three.”

But that kind of creative scheduling might not be enough for a larger project — say, more than $5 million — that needs financing from a commercial bank, which has always required insurance for such contingencies. Larger studios are able to get along without COVID coverage (though they may not like it), but the projects in the middle are in big trouble.

“The true independent producer is kind of in a jam,” Kingman says. “The unfortunate thing is that’s where some of the best movies come from.”

Another key question is whether film productions can require crews to be vaccinated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced in December that employers can require vaccines However, Republicans in state capitals around the country are pushing bills that would prevent employers from issuing such a requirement.

“That could result in different rules in different states that companies would have to look at in deciding where to shoot films,” says Ivy Kagan Bierman, a labor attorney who works with several studios and production companies.

Even in liberal states like California, it could still become tricky to fire someone or deny them a job because they refuse to get the vaccine. The person could claim that demand goes against their religion, or that they have an underlying health issue that prevents them from getting vaccinated.

“There’s no protected class for anti-vaxxers,” Bierman says. “But there are other protected classifications. We are already starting to see some claims related to COVID based on age discrimination.”

Trade unions played a critical role in negotiating COVID safety protocols and would likely weigh in on any vaccine requirement. SAG-AFTRA did not comment on whether it would oppose such a mandate.

Hollywood could help shape the cultural understanding of the COVID pandemic, says Joshua Loomis, author of “Epidemics: The Impact of Germs and Their Power Over Humanity.” Loomis pointed to three potential historical parallels: the influenza pandemic of 1918; the polio outbreaks in the ’30s-’50s; and the AIDS epidemic of the ’80s and ’90s. Though the Spanish flu killed more than 50 million people worldwide, few movies or books were made about it in the decades that followed.

“People just wanted to forget it,” Loomis says.

In the case of polio, Hollywood took a leading role in raising money for the March of Dimes and celebrating the medical professionals who fought the disease. During the AIDS epidemic, Hollywood helped foster empathy with the suffering of its victims in films like “Philadelphia” and “The Ryan White Story.” So far, Loomis believes that the polio experience provides the best guide to how Hollywood will address COVID-19. As an example, he noted that the Golden Globes invited first responders to attend the ceremony, much the way that Hollywood celebrated the nurses and doctors who fought polio.

“The focus becomes on these amazing heroes — these frontline workers that dealt with unimaginable hardship,” Loomis says.

In each public health crisis — even in the AIDS epidemic — Hollywood has also avoided the harshest realities of the disease. Loomis expects that will be the case this time as well. A movie could be made about the race to invent the COVID vaccine, but probably not one about the realities of intubation or life inside a nursing home as residents die one after the other. Other producers and filmmakers believe that, at least initially, audiences won’t have much appetite for content that grapples with a plague that society just spent more than a year battling. Instead, many producers are focused on making escapist films or programs.

“Stories that are more uplifting and optimistic will be at a premium,” predicts Milan Popelka, chief operating officer of FilmNation, the company behind “Arrival” and “Late Night.” “There’s more than enough stress in the world. I don’t think people will be interested in watching something that adds to their stress levels.”

What awaits on the other side of this COVID crucible remains to be seen, but everyone seems to agree that many aspects of Hollywood life as it relates to customs and cultural norms will inevitably look different.

“No one has a crystal ball, but I would imagine that nothing will look the same way it did pre-pandemic, and that’s in almost every category you could list,” says Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXFilms.

But as Hollywood focuses on redefining the workplace, more productions get rolling and movie theaters on both coasts begin opening their doors, there is good reason to be hopeful that brighter days are ahead.

“It’s been a very long tunnel that we’ve gone through,” says John Fithian, head of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, “but we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of it.”

Article by: 

[This story contains spoilers for WandaVision.]

In August 2017, Matt Shakman received a fortuitous call from Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige regarding a general meeting. The request was just a few days after Shakman’s directorial debut on Game of Thrones blew away viewers across the world (as well as the Lannister army). From there, Shakman met with Feige and eventually pitched his take on WandaVision, which, at the time, was slated to be the studio’s second series on Disney+. Now, four-and-a-half years later, Shakman is finally able to reflect on the road to WandaVision’s closing credits and the secrets he’s been closely guarding.

After a tragic farewell between Wanda and Vision in Avengers: Infinity War, Shakman was eager to give the two characters a goodbye scene on their own terms. It may have led to another sad parting, but the star-crossed lovers’ final exchange still had a hint of hope and optimism.

“We filmed it relatively early on in the process, actually. It was something that we did in the first third of shooting,” Shakman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Paul (Bettany) and Lizzie (Olsen) have such chemistry together, and they do so well in every single genre and tone imaginable. We ask them to do all those things, but man, they sparkle when they are just together and connecting. Of course, it’s a heartbreaking scene, and it was a tough one, emotionally. We gave ourselves a lot of extra time for it because it was a tricky one to pull off.”

Since 2008, Marvel Studios has developed the most successful cinematic universe to date, and one of the key ingredients in that achievement has been the synergy between their numerous films in development and production. With the studio’s expansion into television and WandaVision being the first of thirteen (and counting) Disney+ streaming series to come, Shakman ensured continuity by working directly with the creatives behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Captain Marvel 2.

“The Captain Marvel 2 producer is the WandaVision producer Mary Livanos, and the writer of Captain Marvel 2, Megan McDonnell, is one of the writers of WandaVision,” Shakman explains. “So there’s a lot of direct connection there, and we were in contact with the team on Doctor Strange 2 as well. Michael Waldron, who’s writing it, also wrote Loki. So we spent a lot of time with him in Atlanta as we were overlapping production on WandaVision and Loki, and before he went off to work on Doctor Strange 2, we talked a lot about where Wanda was at. And then I talked to Sam Raimi a couple of times as we prepared to pass off the baton.”

In a recent conversation with THR, Shakman also discusses the creative environment at Marvel, shooting paul bettanys philosophical duel and how time functioned inside Wanda’s hex.

As the fan theories piled up each and every week, were you a bundle of nerves, or did you remain relatively zen about it all?

That’s an interesting question. I have to say that I was pretty zen. I was so impressed by the level of interaction and the passionate theories that people were creating. We put so much of our hearts into making this show that it was great to see people receive it with so much passion and heart. Some of the memes were hilarious; the Tik-Tok videos were fantastic. I was taken with it; I really was.

Like I told jac even though I love The Devil’s Advocate, I’m glad that the show remained faithful to its essence, which is grief.

Absolutely. I like The Devil’s Advocate too, but I think we had enough of a big bad in grief that we didn’t need Mephisto.

Whenever a director is hired by Marvel, or any franchise for that matter, there are some cynical voices out there that’ll say, “Oh, they’re making a Marvel movie and not an [insert-name-of-director] movie.” But from what I can tell, you had as much autonomy as you’d have anywhere else. Was that indeed the case?

Marvel is a great place to work as a filmmaker. They are hugely supportive. I don’t know how Kevin Feige does it with all the many projects that he has going, but he makes you feel like your project is the only one he's working on. It is absolutely a place where you can be creative and think outside the box. And I think WandaVision is a testament to that. They are not afraid of taking risks, they are behind you 100 percent when you propose crazy, wacky ideas like shooting in front of a live audience. Instead of saying, “No way, we’re the most secretive place in town,” they say, “Yes, let’s figure out how to do it.” And it’s been that way since we started.

You had lunch with Dick Van Dyke at Club 33, and you picked his brain for insight into The Dick Van Dyke Show’s process way back when. Was this the same meeting where you asked for his approval to use footage from his show?

No, we didn’t. We asked about that later on. This one was merely about telling him how much we admired his career in general. Who doesn’t? He’s a legend. And it was also about how much we admired that show. We wanted to know what the secret sauce was. What was the magic behind what made it work? We wanted to see if we could borrow any of that magic for ourselves and figure out how to approach balancing what I think is a timeless show, the way Dick Van Dyke is. You really feel for that couple; you believe in Rob [Dick Van Dyke] and Laura [Mary Tyler Moore]. And yet, there’s room for it to be incredibly wacky — like tripping over ottomans or having a whole show about aliens and walnuts, the one that we referenced. It was about how do you create room for both of those things because we wanted that for Wanda and Vision. This was a love story that people were rooting for, but also had room for a lot of wackiness.

You’ve talked about Senor Scratchy’s demonic moment that was cut. There was also a CSI episode idea that was kicked around in the early days. Were there any other roads not traveled that remain appealing?

There were a lot of different thoughts. When you’re working on something as meta as this, there’s really no bad idea. So many things are discussed and so many ideas are tossed around. But ultimately, I’m really happy with what we ended up landing on. It still has meta commentary; it’s a stand-in for the audience. Jimmy (Randall Park) and Darcy (Kat Dennings) were watching the show as closely as so many people were in the real world and asking many of the same questions. But to make it an exercise in genre, too, felt like a bit of a hat on a hat, ultimately. Especially because there is another genre that we’re playing in there, which is more of the traditional MCU universe.

]Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen)"> 

The new Scarlet Witch costume is already one of my favorite superhero costumes ever, but what made the reveal even more effective was that Wanda transitioned to it from her sad sweats. The contrast between the two looks created that extra oomph. Was this effect sheer happenstance since the depression stage of grief came right before the finale?

Not at all. We wanted the idea of this suburban mom fighting this witch. This is very much Wanda’s reality. It’s who she wants to be, and it’s what she’s chosen for herself. And the fight has come to her, but it doesn’t change what she looks like. There were versions that we played around with where she transforms into her Avengers: Endgame look, the Scarlet Witch look that we saw when she came out in episode five, with the drone, and let Hayward [Josh Stamberg] know what she thought of him. We talked about maybe having her transform into that for a few moments, but then we decided, ultimately, that it was far more satisfying to have her be in her look as a mom, a wife and a resident of this little suburban town.

When Wanda and Vision were saying goodbye, it was dark outside, but as the magic wall barreled through the town at the same time, the businesses and homes were transformed into daylight. Did time function differently inside the hex?

It did. There are episodes that you don’t get to see, or see clips of, when Darcy and Jimmy are looking at some of the screens in the SWORD base. There are elements of what’s happening on Wanda’s show that you don’t see. It’s always 70 degrees and blue skies inside the hex, whereas outside, it’s muddy, rainy and miserable. We wanted that contrast to be there. And sometimes, it’s daytime inside, nighttime outside and vice versa, because time does work differently. It’s working off of a sitcom clock inside, as opposed to the real-world clock outside. So Wanda has made her hex into nighttime in order to tuck her kiddos into bed, say goodbye to them for the last time, and say goodbye to Vision. But then, when the hex comes over, it’s revealed that you’ve really just been in one long day, the whole day.

“We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason… we’ll say hello again.” Was the filming of Wanda and Vision’s goodbye scene rather emotional for you and the actors?

We filmed it relatively early on in the process, actually. It was something that we did in the first third of shooting. Paul and Lizzie have such chemistry together, and they do so well in every single genre and tone imaginable. We ask them to do all those things, but man, they sparkle when they are just together and connecting. You see it in the Avenger headquarters in episode eight, when they’re on the bed together. That was the scene that launched a thousand memes, and you see it in that final scene together. It evokes their scene at Edinburgh in Infinity War, and their Civil War scene where they make paprikash. Their connection is so strong and it’s wonderful to see them together. Of course, it’s a heartbreaking scene, and it was a tough one, emotionally. We gave ourselves a lot of extra time for it because it was a tricky one to pull off.

Like all Marvel Studios projects, there was synergy between WandaVision and the other films or shows in development and production. Did the post-credit scenes require the most amount of dialogue between your inner circle and the Doctor Strange 2 and Captain Marvel 2 creatives?

Yeah, we’ve been in dialogue with them throughout, and there’s natural overlap. The Captain Marvel 2 producer is the WandaVision producer Mary Livanos, and the writer of Captain Marvel 2, Megan McDonnell, is one of the writers of WandaVision. So there’s a lot of direct connection there, and we were in contact with the team on Doctor Strange 2 as well. Michael Waldron, who’s writing it, also wrote Loki. So we spent a lot of time with him in Atlanta as we were overlapping production on WandaVision and Loki, and before he went off to work on Doctor Strange 2, we talked a lot about where Wanda was at. And then I talked to Sam Raimi a couple of times as we prepared to pass off the baton.

So just to be clear, the aerospace engineer reference was added late in the game to clarify Monica’s (Teyonah Parris) plan to re-enter the hex?

Yeah, we did reshoot some of that dialogue just to clarify what her plan was. She was getting from Darcy just how difficult the job was going to be, and that gave her the idea of who she could call and how she could get in. And that idea was a rover because Monica is an astronaut, and that’s how you would handle a similar situation in an otherworld environment, which is what SWORD is mostly dealing with. So, yeah, that’s what that was.

I love the Ship of Theseus scene between Vision and White Vision. Was that philosophical duel especially complicated to film since Paul was playing both roles?

It was complicated. Paul has an amazing stunt double, Adam [Lytle], and he went above and beyond the call of duty on that one. Normally, he’s just asked to do difficult stunts, the physical ones. But in this case, we were asking him to perform the scene with Paul and to know both the Red Vision and the White Vision’s sides as well as Paul did. That way, they could alternate, and Adam could take on the role that Paul wasn’t playing on that day. He did a brilliant job and really was a wonderful scene partner for Paul.

WandaVision was originally meant to be the fourth release in phase four of the MCU, but Covid bumped it up to first position. Is there anything you would’ve done differently had you known you’d be leading off this new phase?

No, we were always telling a relatively simple story. It’s a story about this amazing character who was learning to cope with grief, accept loss and move beyond that. So that story didn’t change regardless of when we came out. It did change in terms of the resonance of the story. When we were building it, we never could have predicted that it would come out during a pandemic, and this meditation on grief and loss has extra resonance because of that. But, no, in terms of the overall Marvel mythology, or as the MCU is rolling out, there’s nothing we would have done differently.

What was the final piece that you worked on before handing off the finale?

Gosh, I can’t even remember now. I think it was something SWORD base-related at the very end. It was a scene with Hayward, maybe.

Article by: Brian Davids for The Hollywood Reporter

Star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart are among those returning for a new and original musical journey.

Uma Thurman has joined the cast of Disney's sequel to Stargirl, the YA romantic drama that proved to be early hit for its streamer, Disney+.

Star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart are among those returning for the follow-up, who are now joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter who is writing and perform original music for the film.

The 2020 movie, which debuted on Disney+ March 13, 2020, adapted the best-selling book by Jerry Spinelli and told of a boy living in Mica, Arizona, who wishes nothing more than an anonymous existence but whose life is turned upside down when he meets and falls for an unusual and colorful girl named Stargirl.

The new story follows Stargirl's journey out of Mica and into a bigger world of music, dreams and possibility.

Thurman will play Roxanne Martel, a musician Stargirl admires and encounters on her journey.

Hart and Jordan Horowitz, who co-wrote the initial adaptation with Kirsten Hahn, wrote the original script. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lee Stollman of Gotham Group return as producers while Horowitz will produce for Hart & Horowitz’s company Original Headquarters. Hahn and Spinelli are executive producers.

Thurman is currently in production on Apple TV+ series Suspicion, a thriller based on the award-winning Israeli series False Flag. The actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for her work in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic, Pulp Fiction, most recently appeared opposite Robert De Niro in comedy The War with Grandpa and in Netflix’s horror fantasy, Chambers, with Tony Goldwyn.

Thurman is repped by ICM Partners, Untitled Entertainment, Jonathan Sanders & Co., Hansen Jacobson

Article by: Borys Kit for Hollywood Reporter

"You think it’s a joke and that we shouldn’t be so serious about it. But then there are those who latch onto it with hatred and xenophobia and use it to fuel their fear and contempt until it explodes into heinous acts," says Shannon Lee.

The daughter of the legendary Bruce Lee on Wednesday linked the drastic rise in violence against Asian Americans to the language used about the pandemic, specifically by former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Trump was heavily denounced for repeatedly calling the novel coronavirus the "China virus" and "kung flu" during rallies; critics said such terms could lead to Asian Americans being targeted for hate crimes.

And after eight people were killed, six of them Asian women, during a shooting rampage in Atlanta Tuesday, Shannon Lee said the rhetoric was connected to the increase in violence.

"This is where 'kung flu' leads," Lee began in her Wednesday afternoon message via several tweets. "You think it’s a joke and that we shouldn’t be so serious about it. But then there are those who latch onto it with hatred and xenophobia and use it to fuel their fear and contempt until it explodes into heinous acts."

Lee continued, "This is what happens when we try to break the oneness into separate parts and decide to categorize and rank the parts as good and bad, better or worse, belonging or not belonging. What would it cost you to decide we are all one family? But really? What is lost by transforming contempt to acceptance?"

Lee concluded, "It’s time to look within and ask yourself, do I want to be at peace? Can I operate from love? Will I stand with my human family and embody the end of hate? You’re invited to the family gathering. Please join us. -Shannon Lee #stopthehate #onefamily #stopasianhate"

Attacks on Asians and Asian Americans attacks have risen dramatically during the pandemic. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that tracks violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., almost 3,800 instances have been reported over the past year to the organization's reporting center. The actual number of instances could be much greater.

Article by:Ryan Parker for Hollywood Reporter

The Academy has begun its voting for the 93rd Oscars, and many films and performances are vying for spots in various categories. Nearly 10,000 members could cast their ballots by Wednesday, March 10, with nominations set to be announced on March 15.

This has been an unpredictable awards season, with few consensuses forming in the 23 categories. We may be in store for this most surprising and jaw-dropping set of nominations in quite years, with genres and languages breaking the fabric of conventional awards picks. Here are a few recommendations for consideration as ballots are filled out this weekend.

Best Picture: “Borat Subsequent Movie Film”
(Amazon Studios) – Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

Baron Cohen made history at the Golden Globes for repeating his best actor and best movie – musical or comedy wins for the original 2006 “Borat” with dual wins in the same category for its sequel. The original “Borat” also scored an Oscar nomination for its screenplay. And with the exception of “The Hangover,” every best picture winner at the Globes has gone on to be nominated since the list expanded to 10. However, some people say that “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is not “an awards movie” – as though there is some dictionary definition of what does and doesn’t qualify a film for consideration. I think we can dispose of previous perceptions of “awards movies” since a sci-fi flick about a romance between a mute woman and a fish-man creature took the top prize a couple of years ago.

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is an astounding feat of filmmaking, a movie that utilizes real people and usually gives its cast only one shot at a good take. It’s a master class in acting, with Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova veering from outrageous acts of comedy to sweet, tender moments in their burgeoning father-daughter relationship. It’s a feminist anthem, with Bakalova’s Tutar taking the most impressive journey of the year from a sheltered girl literally living amongst animals to her country’s first female reporter. And it does it all with laughter and heart.

And if you think movies need to be “important” (again, that definition is up for grabs), consider the stakes at play: Baron Cohen returned to this character because he saw the state America was in and where we were heading, and he filmed during a pandemic to get this movie out in time for the election. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is outstanding entertainment, a call to action and a tale of empowerment that never feels preachy, largely because it uses comedy to highlight the difficult issues at hand. If that’s not an awards movie, I’m not sure what is. —Jenelle Riley

Best Director: Florian Zeller, “The Father”
(Sony Pictures Classics)

Navigating your own source material can be tricky, but stepping into the role of helming your first project with the talents of two former Oscar-winners, Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, can give the most confident artist the nervous nellies. Debut filmmaker Florian Zeller’s bold vision of a man navigating memory loss blends the human conditions of fear, anxiety or heartbreak, even at times feeling like a horror film. Making a house a character can be very “try hard” to those who attempt it. Still, Zeller brilliantly utilizes his cinematographer (Ben Smithard) and production and set designer (Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone) to bring the viewer on an enigmatic journey, where the time, place and people disconcert us. It keeps the four walls of the screen tight but never claustrophobic. —Clayton Davis

 

WATCH THE CFF OSCAR PREVIEW HERE

 

Best Actor: Mads Mikkelsen, “Another Round”

(Samuel Goldwyn Films)

It’s not just about that final dance number – though that alone should guarantee the Danish actor a slot here. Mikkelsen, an extraordinary talent, manages to convince the audience he’s an ordinary man stuck in a rut. So he makes a pact with his three friends to keep their blood alcohol content above 0.05 during the day – essentially, they are day drunk. It’s the kind of setup that could go very wrong or veer into raucous comedy, but Mikkelsen and filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (who previously collaborated on “The Hunt”) strike just the right tone, and the comedy-drama is allowed to soar.–JR

Best Actress: Radha Blank, “The Forty Year Old Version”

(Netflix)

The “Year of the Woman” has been celebrated by critics and on social media, and while we remain hopeful for multiple showings on Oscar nomination morning, here’s a gentle reminder that Radha Blank arrived in this cinematic year like Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) landing in her superhero stance after her crucial confrontation with Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) in episode seven of “WandaVision.” The writer, director, producer and star of “The Forty-Year-Old Version” hits on all cylinders, asserting herself as one of the most exciting, creative, artists this year. What’s been overlooked is how striking her performance is as a New York City playwright approaching her 40th birthday, desperate to have her big breakthrough, who finds inspiration in the blended world of hip hop and theater. While undeniably hilarious, Blank has magnificent moments of emotion, such as moments where she grieves her late mother or in raw discussions with her best friend Archie (played magnificently by Peter Kim). The best actress race would be elevated substantially by her inclusion. —CD

Best Supporting Actor: Will Patton, “Minari”

(A24)

The veteran Will Patton has been a staple of cinema and the theater community for decades. While Lee Isaac Chung’s deeply personal “Minari” looks to be on its way to a historic nomination day, Patton’s marvelous turn as Paul, a religious Arkansas local who is enlisted to help the Yi family, is understated and affecting. While his co-star Alan S. Kim has generated the supporting actor buzz for the film, one of the film’s key takeaways is the face of torment and pain that befalls the viewer as the Yi family passes Paul carrying a cross in the middle of the road. It’s a scene that remains engraved and one that should warrant a vote from his acting colleagues. —CD

Best Supporting Actress: Dominique Fishback, “Judas And The Black Messiah”

(Warner Bros)

“Judas” arrived a little later than some films to the Oscar race, though it hasn’t hurt Golden Globe winner and SAG nominee Daniel Kaluuya. Still, the film is perfectly poised to be at peak momentum as voting is underway, which bodes well for Fishback, who plays Deborah Johnson (later Akua Njeri), the pregnant girlfriend of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton. Fishback has long been a standout in projects like “Show Me a Hero” and “The Hate U Give,” and here she elevates what could have been a standard love interest into a complex, strong woman who is more than a match for Hampton. The most horrifying moment in the film plays out on her face, and it will haunt you long after the final credits.–JR

Best Original Screenplay: Alice Wu, “The Half of It”

(Netflix)

There was an embarrassment of riches when it came to original screenplays this year, particularly those written by women (see also: “Miss Juneteenth,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Palmer” and “Promising Young Woman”) but one that might not spring to the forefront of voters’ minds is “The Half of It,” Alice Wu’s high school-set, queer take on “Cyrano Bergerac.” It came out early in May 2020, and while it was a hit with critics and viewers, films starring teen characters aren’t always viewed as awards-worthy. That would be a huge disservice to the film, which manages to be smart, funny and often painfully insightful about love, sexuality and life in small-town America.–JR

Best Adapted Screenplay: M.B. Traven, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, “The Mauritanian”

(STXfilms)

Jodie Foster was one of the Golden Globes’ shockers when she won best supporting actress for her work in Kevin Macdonald’s “The Mauritanian.” With that win possibly bringing it to voters’ attention this weekend, the writer’s branch will see the value in the depth and construction of the film’s narrative beats by co-writers M.B. Traven, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. The United States government’s role in the injustice that wreaked havoc on Mohamedou Ould Salahi’s life (played exceptionally by Tahar Rahim) is examined with no political bias, only seeing the sins of his accusers brought to the forefront by its recount. Based on the novel “Guantanamo Diary” by Salahi himself, you find the hope of a better world in its tender moments shared between Foster and Rahim, and again in the motivations and dialogue with co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley. The film demands better from humanity. —CD

Article by: Clayton Davis and Jenelle RIley for Variety

“Crazy Rich Asians” screenwriter Adele Lim never thought in her wildest dreams that she would be part of a Disney animated feature, let alone one that is set in Southeast Asia.

But Disney’s newest tale, “Raya and the Last Dragon” (now streaming on Disney Plus), delivers its first Southeast Asian princess, Raya, a warrior who sets out across the mythical realm of Kumandra as she seeks out the last dragon.

Lim, who is of Malaysian descent, says: “To be a part of this where the place where I grew up was going to be the central inspiration and to have a Disney heroine, a warrior princess so that my daughter can look at and see her face reflected, means the world to me.”

The importance of Raya to Lim goes deeper than just seeing her culture represented in the feature. With a career that spans over twenty years, she has always been proud of her Malaysian heritage. “But I felt that part of me was always parked in a box somewhere because there was no space for that story,” Lim says, adding that there was never a chance to write a character that looked like her. “It would be hard to sell those stories.”’

Kelly Marie Tran Talks ‘Wonderful’ Dynamic in ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’
Writing Raya’s world came naturally to her, a process she describes like breathing. More importantly, she wasn’t the only Asian woman in the room. “I can’t tell you the number of amazingly talented artists we had on this movie. They could put their hearts and souls and their history into the film,” Lim says.

Another aspect Lim was delighted to bring to life and see represented on screen was the food which served to the authenticity of the film. “Any scene with Southeast Asians is food. We are obsessed with it,” says Lim. It was head of story Fawn Veerasunthorn who Lim says jumped at any chance to do the food scenes. With a large team of story artists and visual development artists behind the scenes, Lim says, “You can see how lovingly they picked the food. It was wonderful and exciting, but that’s what brings us joy, and that is the language of love.”

The timing of “Raya and the Last Dragon” could not be more relevant as anti-Asian hate crimes rise in America.

Actress Kelly Marie Tran, who voices the lead character, hopes the film will be cathartic for the Asian community and give them something to celebrate. Tran stresses the importance of representation and understands that hope is rare. She says, “What’s so cool with Raya is that [it’s being released] in the midst of this brokenness, and amid this horrible, emotional tumultuous time for people like us and people of Asian descent.” Tran continues, “I’m proud of being part of a moment and a movie that is celebrating where we come from.”

She is hopeful that audiences who watch “Raya and the Last Dragon,” regardless of race or socioeconomic background, will recognize that “human beings are just human beings, and we can all find compassion for one another.”

Screenwriter Qui Nguyen says the notion of any Disney film is about writing a story that is timeless. He is grateful the film will add to the conversation a message of hope. “Just like ‘Zootopia’ helped us talk about bias, and just like a ‘Big Hero 8’ helped us talk about grief, I’m excited and grateful that we get to start a conversation with our families about trust, forgiveness and about healing.”

Article by: Jazz Tangcayfor Variety 

In a year of quarantine isolation and global tumult, storytelling has never felt more necessary as a portal to the world.

To mark International Women’s Day, Variety offers a guide to female-centered stories that will reach big and small screens this year and at the creators behind them.

Take Malala Yousafzai, the trailblazing 23-year-old women’s advocate who was shot in her native Pakistan for championing the rights of women and girls to receive an education. Through a newly-formed production company, she will develop a diverse slate of scripted and unscripted content with Apple TV Plus designed to lift up women around the world.

“I believe in the power of stories to bring families together, forge friendships, build movements, and inspire children to dream,” Yousafzai said. “And I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Apple to help bring these stories to life. I’m grateful for the opportunity to support women, young people, writers, and artists in reflecting the world as they see it.”

Here’s a list of female-focused content we’re looking forward to in 2021:

Television

“Delilah” (OWN, premieres March 9)
Maahra Hill stars as the titular Delilah, a lawyer and single mother who juggles a growing business, taking care of her two children and her nephew, and an increasingly complex case against a large corporation. “All the women I met were operating as central hubs in all of the milieus of their lives that they move through, but no one saw that they were in the hub in all of them. And I heard that a lot: ‘No one knows everything I’m doing.’ So we thought, ‘Let’s make a show and show that,'” says executive producer Craig Wright.

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“Demi Lovato: Dance With the Devil” (YouTube, premieres March 23)
The multihyphenate finally takes her own story into her own hands more fully in this documentary, with which she has said she wants to “set the record straight” about things, such as her sobriety, that have been endlessly discussed on gossip sites and social media alike.

“Genius: Aretha” (National Geographic, March 21-24)
The third installment of “Genius,” subtitled “Aretha,” is the first one to tell the story of a legendary female figure. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks mined the Queen of Soul’s life and music catalogue to create a tale of family and the fight to find a voice in a crowded field. Cynthia Erivo plays Aretha Franklin in her adult years, but the show incorporates flashbacks to Little Re’s childhood to show what shaped her, too.

“Girls5Eva” (Peacock, Premiere Date TBA)
Created by Meredith Scardino, “Girls5Eva” follows the members of a 1990s girl group who had one big hit back then and gets a second shot at fame when it gets sampled today. They reunite to try their hand at fame with a little more wisdom and agency, but also a lot more to juggle, from romantic partners and kids to day jobs and new outlooks on life.

“Hysterical” (FX, premieres April 2)
Andrea Nevins’ documentary about what it means to be a woman in the world of stand-up comedy features archival footage from famous performances, as well as interviews with comedians including Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Iliza Shlesinger, Judy Gold, Sherri Shepherd and Rachel Bachman (who famously called out Harvey Weinstein when she saw him in the room during a set amid #MeToo allegations against him).

“Isabel” (HBO Max, premieres March 12)
Based on the life of author and activist Isabel Allende, “Isabel” is a three-part limited series that dives into multiple facets of the woman’s life, from leaving her native Chile, to using her work to heal from heartbreak, to the time she dropped everything to care for her ailing adult daughter.

“Rebel” (ABC, premieres April 8)
Katey Sagal stars as the titular Annie “Rebel” Bello, a legal advocate who doesn’t actually hold a legal degree but won’t stop fighting for the things she believes in and the people she loves. The show comes from showrunner Krista Vernoff (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and is inspired by the life of Erin Brockovich, who also executive produces.

“Run The World” (Starz, Premiere Date TBA)
Created by Leigh Davenport and steered by showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser, this upcoming comedy stars Amber Stevens West, Andrea Bordeaux, Bresha Webb and Corbin Reid and is out to explore the complexities of female friendship, as each one strives for success at work and at home.

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“Shrill” (Hulu, premieres May 7)
The third and final season of “Shrill,” which was originally inspired by Lindy West’s book of the same name, takes its central character of Annie (Aidy Bryant) on a journey of expanding her perspective through new experiences, both personally and professionally. “Part of what this season is is just realizing that there is no end for people who are looking to find their own self-confidence. It is a constant, everyday thing. There isn’t a final, ‘She wins’ or ‘she loses,'” Bryant previously told Variety.

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Courtesy of Rhona Graam/Berlin Film Festival

“Tina” (HBO, premieres March 27)
Featuring interviews with everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Angela Bassett, this documentary will celebrate music icon Tina Turner’s life and legacy, without shying away from her journey as an abuse survivor.

“Untitled Jean Smart Series” (HBO Max, Premiere Date TBA)
The new comedy series centers on the mentor-mentee relationship between legendary stand-up comedian Deborah (Smart) and the young writer she hires to help expand her audience (Hannah Einbinder). The more they work together, the more likely they are to learn from each other, all while better shaping the future of the genre.

“Ziwe” (Showtime, premieres May 9)
The titular writer, comedian, performer and showrunner is launching a new premium cable variety show that will combine interviews, music, sketch and unscripted interactions with everyday people into its six-episode first season.

Film

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Courtesy of United Artists Releasing/MGM

“Respect” (MGM, wide release set for August)
Delayed thanks to the global pandemic, this Aretha Franklin biopic was expected to be a major awards contender and showcase for previous Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. An expansive look at the globally-beloved musician, “Respect” follows Franklin from her earliest days singing in a church choir to achieving legend status.

“Passing” (Netflix, release TBD)
Acquired out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the Rebecca Hall-directed project proved to be a thought provoking exercise in identity surrounding race, gender, and sexuality. Led by Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, this adaptation of Nella Larsen’s novella will no doubt inspire conversations among Netflix’s 200 million worldwide subscribers.  

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Disney

“Cruella ” (Disney, currently set for wide release May 28)
Ignore the cheeky origin story of “101 Dalmatians” villain Cruella DeVille at your peril. Though based on Disney’s beloved vault property, the Emma Stone vehicle show’s the notorious dog fiend as a young woman in the prime of punk rock rebellion. In its first 24 hours live, the film’s trailer racked 71 million views around the world, besting first looks at Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and Will Smith’s “Aladdin.” The Dana Fox-penned script will position Cruella as a visionary young fashion designer beaten down by the establishment, prepared to go to any length for success. 

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Courtesy of Marvel

“Black Widow” (Disney, currently set for wide release May 7)
As the only female member of Marvel’s legacy Avengers crew, some would say this moment for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff is far overdue — a standalone film about the origins of her hero Black Widow. Pushed numerous times thanks to COVID-19, a film of this scope is not only important in establishing the myth behind this character, it may well bring us a new generation’s hero in the form of her on-screen sister, played by Florence Pugh. 

Untitled Mary J. Blige documentary (Amazon, release TBD)
Oscar-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth will give Amazon Prime Video subscribers a front row seat to the life of venerated R&B powerhouse Mary J. Blige, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her album “My Life” and how she overcame struggles with abuse, addiction, and heartbreak.

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“My Name is Pauli Murray” (Amazon, release TBD)
Another notable Sundance acquisition, this documentary comes from Oscar-nominated filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen (“RBG”), and follows the unsung women’s and civil rights activist Pauli Murray, an early gender pioneer whose rich legacy is woven into America’s equity milestones.

Article by: Matthew Donnelly and Danielle Turchiano for Variety 

The artisans behind some of this year’s films were tasked with creating a myriad of stunts, regardless of century or setting. While stunt actors execute the physicalities in a script, it’s not without support from other departments, including costumes. A costume may be wonderful, but unless it can withstand the necessary action sequences as well, it just won’t work.

For Disney’s live action “Mulan,” costume designer Bina Daigeler had to adapt design and corresponding textiles. Stunt versions of Mulan’s (Yifei Liu) leather boots were actually Stella McCartney sneakers in disguise. “I saw the sneakers on a weekend,” says Daigeler, who “bought the sneakers [and had the team] wrap the leather around them.”

It wasn’t just the footwear that had to be adapted for stunts. Daigeler worked closely with Weta, the New Zealand-based VFX, design and fabrication powerhouse, to build the elaborate warrior armor.

The armor is generally a painted leather with each section hand-stitched together using leather laces. Dressing the actors daily involved a two-person team specially trained in tying sailors’ knots, the only way to keep the material from coming untied mid-scene.

But while the leather was great, it didn’t always work for the action sequences, so approximately six different versions were required. “One was for the horse riding, another one was for underwater,” says Daigeler. “There were a lot of different types of armor for the different kinds of situations, with different kinds of materials and weights.”

Other adaptations led to shortening and removing some of the armored plates for ease of horseback riding in those particular scenes.

Eagle-eyed audiences may confuse these safety swaps for mistakes, though. Costume designer Mark Bridges received one such letter about his work on 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.” Someone wrote him, criticizing the design of Daniel Day-Lewis’ sneaker sole — a shoe bottom that appeared on screen for mere seconds during a campfire scene. It was made from a material that hadn’t yet been invented in the early 1900s when the film took place.

“I wrote them back and said simply that sometimes an actor’s safety outweighs the historical moment in time,” Bridges says. “I do take that with a grain of salt, but I do also take it into consideration in a way. We don’t want to have some of our techniques showing which might take somebody out of the scene.”

It’s that level of attention to detail that drives many costume designers, including Bridges, a two-time Oscar-winner. More recently, Bridges worked on “News of the World” starring Tom Hanks and set in 1870 Texas.

Tailoring for stunt actors involves as much consideration as costuming the leads. “I take it as a challenge to make it as seamless as possible,” says Bridges, who asks himself: Are these sleeve lengths the same? Are we seeing the same amount of shirt cuffs? Are the boots hitting at the same place even though there’s a little bit of height difference?

Details including sizing the stunt actor’s head accurately for a hat can also potentially ruin a take if not done well — it won’t work if a hat flies off in the middle of an elaborate stunt set-up, Bridges says.

Bridges always appreciates the transformation that takes place when a stunt double steps in for work. “It’s always shocking to see a stunt person come out of the make-up trailer and how they have [transformed] a 30-year-old man and made him look like Tom’s character,” says Bridges. “It’s always quite good.”

Prep time and budget can also affect how stunt costumes are sourced and adapted. “Judas and the Black Messiah” costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones was tasked with creating the fashions of late-1960s Chicago.

“Most of our stunt work was shootouts,” says Jones, “so we had to squib things, which means clothing was going to be destroyed [by the small explosives stocked with movie blood to simulate gun shots], and most of our clothing was vintage. We had to find a work-around.”

Jones mixed vintage and modern pieces for the action sequences so the silhouettes and color were accurate to the period. The less-expensive modern pieces were the ones that wound up getting destroyed.

The special-effects teams go through a negotiation with the designer to get enough multiples for prepping the squibs. The fabric is scored to ease the explosive process, and the team has enough on hand to anticipate as many takes as the director may need. All the clothes come out of Jones’ budget, so more back-ups for them means fewer resources for her.

And, since the squibbed clothes can be lumpy, Jones must pay particular attention to the types of fabric she uses for costumes in those scenes. “A lot of it is making sure that it doesn’t look bulky, [so] the fabric needs to have a little bit of weight to it.”

Watching the fabric during the shootout scenes, in particular ,reveals more mid- and heavy-weight knits. Ashton Sanders, who plays Jimmy Palmer, was costumed in black specifically “to help us with hiding the squibs,” says Jones. “Because he is so thin and it would have really shown up bulky on him, being in a black shirt was really helpful.”

Depending on how the sequences are shot, actors will typically change into the squib-prepped costume pieces only for that particular part of the scene, always wearing a special compression layer underneath so that the small explosives never touch skin for fear of burns. After all, “it is a mechanism that’s exploding,” Jones notes.

In a shootout-heavy film, there’s an additional consideration when it comes to budget: “the blood had to be able to wash out,” says Jones of the fabrics she chose, and “luckily, a lot of the stunt blood does now.”

Another area where modern-meets-period is in the shoes. All the vintage styles, originally with leather tread, were resoled with rubber. It was important for safety, not just in the action sequences but also because of the real-life Cleveland weather in which the production was immersed.

The pre-emptive updating was useful in other ways, too. “There were so many moments that things happened and it was heated,” says Jones. “There might’ve been an argument scripted, but then they actually got physical with each other.” So having safe shoes all the time meant the actors could truly be in the moment.

During one scene, LaKeith Stanfield, playing Bill O’Neal, jumped over a car and, says Jones, “that was something we didn’t even know he was really going to do!”

While period-specific research may guide the costume designers in their craft, it’s taking note of every detail from hat to heel that allow them to blur the space between dialogue and stunt.
Adds Jones: “We had to get super creative.”

Article by: Zoe Hewitt for Variety

Every film presents unique production problems, and Searchlight’s “Nomadland” had a high degree of difficulty. Writer-director Chloé Zhao and her team wanted total authenticity as they filmed nomads who travel from job to job in the U.S. Southwest.

Production challenges included multiple locations, changeable weather, a small crew, a limited budget — and accommodating the nomads, who were playing versions of themselves, with no acting experience.

“We were there to follow them, and let them lead their lives,” says Peter Spears, one of the producers. “They didn’t all move together. Everyone had a different schedule. Some had family obligations or medical things to attend to; sometimes people would suddenly peel off to a job.”

Zhao — another of the film’s five producers — had written a tight narrative script, inspired by the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The director and her team followed her script but with room for spontaneity.

This style of filmmaking was new for Spears and fellow producer Frances McDormand, who stars. “Having our other producing partners, Mollye Asher and Dan Janvey, was invaluable. Mollye had worked on Chloé’s earlier movies, and Dan had done Benh Zeitlin’s ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild,’ so both had made films with ‘real people.’

“Our mantra was: Stay open to the newness. We called it ‘producing on the fly,’ which is the opposite of everything one has learned,” says Spears. “There was so much work that went into Chloé’s script, and so much producing done beforehand. You don’t want to throw out your plans, but with this movie, the attitude was, ‘We’re planning to do it, but if things change, we’ll explore it; it might reveal something we didn’t know was there.’”

As Spears says, filming was all about “getting into parts of America you usually drive past or fly over. That’s where this movie lives, off the main road.”

Great films of the past have dealt with people traveling in search of jobs, such as Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” And mixing top actors such as Mc­­Dor­­mand and David Strathairn with “real people” can be traced to Italian neo-realistic classics including Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City,” but “Nomadland” feels totally original.

The five producers were “all wearing so many hats,” says Spears. “When you have 20-some people on your crew, your job
description is ‘do literally everything.’ There were the usual producer things, such as budget, location scouting and cost reports, but it also involved doing craft services, directing traffic, helping decorate the set, everything.”

Spears relates one of his duties, for a scene where Fern (McDormand) goes out to the cliffs. “It was hurricane-force winds. I was holding [DP Joshua James Richards], who had the camera, so he didn’t go off the cliff. It was scary, but a favorite memory of making the movie. Almost every day had moments like that, of coming together to tell the best story we could.”

All the nomads register strongly; Spears credits the director and star. “Frances and Chloé were open and curious and patient. That allowed the nomads to be themselves and share their stories and give over to a process that was completely new to them.

“We tried to avoid putting our handprints on their proceedings. When these nomads were with us, we were responsible for everybody’s safety and well-being. We were happy to do that. We were incredibly honored that they let us into their lives and allowed us to tell their stories.”

“Nomadland” is a metaphor for 21st century life: You follow your plans when possible, but throw them out if you need to. It’s what the nomads do, what the production did, and what we are all doing today. “Nomadland” is the tao of Zhao.

Article by:Tim Gray for Variety

The data revealed gender parity and proportional representation of Black cast members, but the streamer says it needs to do a better job of including other communities, including Latino, MENA, Native, LGBTQ and disability.

Last month, Netflix unveiled its first-ever inclusion report, a qualitative summary of what the company is doing to diversify its workforce and create a more inclusive workplace culture. Now the streamer has extended its commitment of inclusion—and transparency—by analyzing the diversity of its content, and making those results public.

To do so, Netflix commissioned USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the leader in this space, to analyze all of its U.S.-based, live-action original scripted content released in 2018 and 2019, using the same rigorous examination protocols that AII applies to its independent studies of inclusion in the entertainment industry. (Last week, Starz partnered with UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers to commission a similar study of its own programming as part of its new #TakeTheLead inclusion initiative.) Netflix's partnership with USC Annenberg is long-term; AII will release a report about Netflix original content every two years through 2026.

"An internal audit is a critical first step toward inclusive change," said AII founder Dr. Stacy L. Smith according to a blog post by Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos announcing the results of the report.

The study, "Inclusion in Netflix Original U.S. Scripted Series and Films," looked at the representation of gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ and disability status both onscreen and in director, writer and producer roles and compared Netflix's performance to real-world population numbers as well as, where possible, data from contemporaneous top-grossing movies or industry averages for series. At a symposium held to discuss the study's findings the day before its release, Netflix vice president of global film Scott Stuber agreed with moderator Elvis Mitchell that the streamer faces fewer external obstacles to inclusion because it doesn’t have to deal with exhibitors. "Our distribution platform definitely is an advantage because it's an equalizer," he said. "You're going directly to the audience, which you know is diverse."

Among the 126 movies and 180 series analyzed, key findings of the report include:

Gender parity in leads or co-leads, with a jump in female-identifying protagonists from 48.6% to 55.2% from 2018 to 2019. But when it came to populating the rest of the onscreen world, Netflix regressed to industry averages, with just under 40% of characters with lines identifying as female (15% as women of color). Stuber found that result particularly troubling, since having dialogue can significantly impact an emerging artist's career: "That SAG card is everything. That insurance is the beginning of a dream, and [could lead to] the next great artist." Women tended to work in key behind-the-camera roles for Netflix at a higher rate than the industry averages, but in no position did they comprise more than a third of the people in those jobs.

Netflix's non-white onscreen representation grew from 2018 to 2019 and bested industry averages, but white people still dominate in front of and behind the camera. Broken down by specific race/ethnicity, 15.2% of Netflix original content featured Black leads or co-leads, and nearly 20 percent of all main cast members across movies and series were Black. The other racial/ethnic groups were represented in single-digit proportions: 2.6% of content featured Latinos leads or co-leads (Latino actors comprised 4.5% of all main cast), 4% of content starred Asian protagonists (7% of Netflix's main cast members were Asian) and there were just seven pieces of original content in two years that featured leads or co-leads from either the Middle Eastern/North African (MENA), Native American or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities.

Among Netflix movie directors, 9.2% were Black (nine men and three women), 3.1% were Asian, 1.5% were MENA and one person was Latino. In scripted television, 6.5% of show creators were Black, 2.6% were Latino, 1.5% were Asian and 1.9% were MENA.

The AII researchers noted that projects led by Black creatives were much more likely to yield more Black leads and other characters. Presumably, the dearth of key behind-the-scenes Latino, Asian, MENA, Native and NHPI creators can be tied to their respective underrepresentation onscreen.

"When you have people of color in the room voicing their opinions, objecting, complaining and celebrating, it changes the texture of what you see [onscreen]," said George C. Wolfe, director of the Netflix feature Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, at the symposium. "Diversity has to be a holistic assault. Without it, people are scared of making decisions because they don't want to make wrong ones, so they end up making no decisions."

Alan Yang, whose Netflix projects include Master of None, Tigertail and the upcoming adaptation of Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires, added that communities of color can cooperate to increase their impact. "We have to look out for each other, and that's a big thing for POC communities," he said, adding that, as an example, he recently reached out to Charles King's media company MACRO for a list of Latino writers to staff.

LGBTQ characters are significantly underrepresented. At the symposium, Netflix vice president of global series Bela Bajaria admitted she was shocked by the company's poor performance in this area: "I feel like we're so active with storylines and big impact, so I was shocked we were not doing great. As Dr. Smith knows, I almost fell off my chair." Although the streamer's numbers are in line with LGBTQ representation across the industry, Netflix's study does not give it a pass. At the symposium, LGBTQ people represent 12% of the U.S. population, yet 2.3% of Netflix original content featured leads or co-leads from the community (17 characters total, more than half of them female-identified, 29.4% non-white and most bisexual). The study dives deep into intersectionality, breaking down LGBTQ representation by sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity and age—and even points out that only 11 LGBTQ main cast members were depicted as parents. "That detail was a great takeaway for me, because that's not what the world looks like," Bajaria added.

Characters with a disability are underrepresented, and when they are portrayed, they are usually white, straight, cisgender men. According to the U.S. Census, 27.2% of the population lives with a physical, communicative or cognitive disability, yet just 5.3% of Netflix original content featured protagonists with a disability—of those leads or co-leads, nearly 65% were male, more than 70% were white and just one was LGBTQ. As with the analyses of the other marginalized groups, when it came to more casual benchmarks of inclusion (main cast members, speaking characters), the proportion of PWD was even smaller, at 4.7% and 2.1%, respectively.

In addition to releasing the statistical deep-dive into its own content, Netflix also unveiled the creation of the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, which will see the company invest $100 million over the five years in internal programs and outside organizations to develop underrepresented talent for careers in the film and television industries. "Doing better means establishing even more opportunities for people from underrepresented communities to have their voices heard," wrote Sarandos, "and purposefully closing capacity and skill gaps with training programs where they are needed."

Article by: Rebecca Sun for The Hollywood Reporter

For his entire tenure as an Avenger, Anthony Mackie had never been the first name on the call sheet.

In a galaxy of stars populated by Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, the actor was aware of his place in the on-set pecking order, but would never miss an opportunity to make his presence felt.

“Number six on the call sheet has arrived!” Mackie would routinely shout on films like “Captain America: Civil War” and the box office-busting “Infinity Saga” sequels, according to Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige.

It exemplifies the sort of winning tone that the 42-year-old actor has brought to his superhero character the Falcon, aka Sam Wilson, for six movies from the top-earning studio — wry and collegial humor, with the potential to turn explosive at any moment. Both Mackie and his character are set to burn brighter than ever when the Disney Plus series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” lands on March 18.

 

On that call sheet, “Anthony is No. 1,” Feige is happy to report, “but it still says ‘No. 6.’ He kept it because he didn’t want it to go to his head.” The series is essentially a two-hander with his friend and longtime co-star Sebastian Stan, the titular soldier. All six episodes were produced and directed by Emmy winner Kari Skogland (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Loudest Voice”). The series, for which combined Super Bowl TV spot and trailer viewership earned a record-breaking 125 million views this year, is reported to have cost $150 million in total.

For Mackie, though, the show comes at a critical time for both his career and for representation in the MCU. Sam Wilson is graduating from handy wingman (Falcon literally gets his job done with the use of mechanical wings), having been handed the Captain America shield by Evans in the last “Avengers” film. While it’s unclear if he will formally don the superhero’s star-spangled uniform moving forward (as the character did in a 2015 comic series), global fandoms and the overall industry are still reeling from the loss of Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed Marvel’s Black Panther to culture-defining effect. With this new story, Mackie will become the most visible African American hero in the franchise. And when asked whether he’ll be taking the mantle of one of its most iconic characters, he doesn’t exactly say no.

“I was really surprised and affected by the idea of possibly getting the shield and becoming Captain America. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I did it the way they said you’re supposed to do it. I didn’t go to L.A. and say, ‘Make me famous.’ I went to theater school, did Off Broadway, did indie movies and worked my way through the ranks. It took a long time for this shit to manifest itself the way it has, and I’m extremely happy about that,” Mackie says.

Feige says that, especially with the advent of Disney Plus and the freedom afforded long-form storytelling, the moment was right to give the Falcon his due.

 

“Suddenly, what had been a classic passing of the torch from one hero to another at the end of ‘Endgame’ became an opening up of our potential to tell an entire story about that. What does it really mean for somebody to step into those shoes, and not just somebody but a Black man in the present day?” says Feige.

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – Feb. 19, 2021 – Actor Anthony Mackie photographed in the Tremé District of New Orleans.William Widmer for Variety

Like many comic book heroes, Mackie has an origin story marked by tragedy at a young age — specifically around the loss of a parental figure. The New Orleans native is the youngest of six children from a tight-knit middle-class family, whose trajectory was spun into chaos when his mother was stricken with a terminal illness.

“It was unexpected and very untimely. I was 15 when she was diagnosed with cancer, and a few months later, she was gone. She passed the day before my ninth-grade graduation,” Mackie recalls. “If my mom wouldn’t have passed away when I was so young, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Mackie had already gravitated toward the performing arts before the loss of his mother, having enrolled at the pre-professional school New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Like many young people grappling with trauma, Mackie says he began to act out. A core group of teachers helped get him out of trouble. Ray Vrazel, still an instructor at the school, personally drove the student to a Houston-based audition for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he was accepted for his senior year of high school.

“Everything I did, I did for my mama. The idea of leaving home at 17 to go away to school would have never been an option if she was still around. She was my best friend. Losing her gave me a kind of strength, and a desire to succeed,” Mackie says.

Succeed he did. Spending that formative year as a minor on a college campus helped Mackie find his “tribe,” a misfit crew of artists and performers, which propelled him to acceptance at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School in 1997. There he was part of the breakthrough class of students of color to be chosen for the notoriously selective drama program, which Mackie says was liberating given the institution’s track record.

“Our year was a huge transition. There were hardly any Asian people in the drama program, maybe one or two Black people and hardly any Black women. In our class, we had three black women, two black men, one Native American, one Asian female, out of 20 people. Ever since then, the classes have been wildly diverse,” says Mackie, whose fellow students included stage and film star Tracie Thoms and actor Lee Pace.

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – Feb. 19, 2021 – Actor Anthony Mackie photographed in the Tremé District of New Orleans.William Widmer for Variety

Following his training, Mackie launched a staggeringly versatile career. He has played Tupac Shakur and Martin Luther King Jr. to similar acclaim, a juicehead bodybuilder in “Pain & Gain” and a homeless gay teen in the Sundance player “Brother to Brother.” He has exhibited remarkable staying power in an industry that often pigeonholes actors and has a pockmarked soul when it comes to inclusion.

“I was drawn to Anthony because of his electrifying ability to combine intensity with sensitivity, courage with compassion, and all of it comes across as inevitable, as if it could be no other way,” says Kathryn Bigelow, who directed him in the 2009 best picture Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker.”

Samuel L. Jackson, whom Mackie calls a mentor and has played alongside in several films, says he has “an innate quality that first and foremost makes everyone want to cast him.” On a recent idle Netflix search, Jackson came across Mackie’s latest sci-fi film, “Outside the Wire,” and it triggered a memory of sitting in the audience for his performance in the 2010 Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s play “A Behanding in Spokane.”

“Watching him onstage, I thought, he’s a very adroit actor capable of putting on many hats. He’s fearless and will try to be anybody. Then, on my TV, he’s playing a nanobyte soldier or some shit,” Jackson says.

Though always humble about getting the next job, pre-Marvel Mackie was rarely offered pole position.

“There were certain pegs. My first was ‘8 Mile.’ It was a monumental step at the beginning of my career,” Mackie says of the 2002 Curtis Hanson film that elevated rapper Eminem to multi-hyphenate stardom.

“After that it was ‘Half Nelson.’ It blew up Ryan Gosling, so I was there to ride the wave. Then ‘The Hurt Locker,’ and it blew up Jeremy Renner. It was the joke for a long time — if you’re a white dude and you want to get nominated for an Oscar, play opposite me. I bring the business for white dudes,” says Mackie.

He remembers the sensation “Hurt Locker” caused during its awards season. It was a moment he thought would change everything as he stood on the stage of the Dolby Theatre with the cast and filmmakers, having just sipped from George Clooney’s flask while Halle Berry radiated a few rows away.

“I thought I would be able to move forward in my career and not have to jostle and position myself for work. To get into rooms with certain people. I thought my work would speak for itself. I didn’t feel a huge shift,” he says, “but I 100% think that ‘The Hurt Locker’ is the reason I got ‘Captain America.’”

 

He’s referring to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the 2014 Marvel film that was the first to be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (the current title holders for the highest-grossing film of all time with “Avenges: Endgame”). Mackie says that blockbuster not only gave him his largest platform to date but changed expectations of superhero movies forever.

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – Feb. 19, 2021 – Actor Anthony Mackie photographed in the Tremé District of New Orleans.William Widmer for Variety

“It was the first of the espionage, Jason Bourne-esque action movies at Marvel. After that, the movies shifted and had different themes and were more in touch with the world we live in, more grounded,” he says.

Bolstered by the words of another mentor, Morgan Freeman, Mackie feels no bitterness about his path.
“We did ‘Million Dollar Baby’ together, and when we were shooting this movie, I got offered a play. When you do Off Broadway, it’s $425 a week. In New York, that’s really $75 per week. I got a movie offer at the same time, and it was buckets of money. Three Home Depot buckets of money were going to be dropped off at my door,” Mackie says. “The script was awful; the whole thing was slimy. I went to Morgan’s trailer and asked him what he would do. He took a second and said, ‘Do the play. When Hollywood wants you, they’ll come get you. And when they come get you, they’ll pay for it.’ That blew my mind, and I left him that day with such a massive amount of confidence. He’s been a huge influence on me.”

He used the currency of that first Russo Brothers film and five subsequent ones to do what many creators and performers in Hollywood have done in recent years to help balance the scales of profit and representation in content: make things on his own.

Last year, Mackie produced and starred in “The Banker” — what would be Apple Studios’ first foray into original streaming film distribution and the awards landscape — through his banner Make It With Gravy. The film follows the true story of America’s first Black bankers and the white frontman they deployed to acquire the institution, all while supporting Black-owned businesses and communities in the process. A late-breaking scandal over sexual misconduct accusations involving the real-life family members of the film’s subjects delayed the release, overshooting awards-season deadlines and entangling the fledgling producer.

“It was a good lesson, and gave me a new perspective on the world around us. It’s very important to me that the women by my side are treated equally. It was a valuable lesson learned. I was very humbled by my sisters, for once not being mean to me,” he says.

Mackie is in development on the film “Signal Hill,” about the early days of lawyer Johnnie Cochran and the theater he brought to courtrooms long before the O.J. Simpson trial, and is hoping to secure the life story of civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin as a vehicle for his directorial debut. Raising four sons of his own now, Mackie wants his off-screen work to make them well-rounded men.

“Look at Robin Williams,” he says. “He used to be crass and funny, and then he had kids, and he started doing all these family-friendly movies. Same thing with Eddie Murphy. I’m trying to curate my children’s experience with the things that I’ll be producing, rather than starring in. That’s what is most important. They know my job is my job; they know who I am. I’ve given up the idea of them ever thinking that I’m cool,” he says.

Jokes about the call sheet are among many of Mackie’s filming quirks. Jackson says that sets are often littered with hidden cigar stubs, to be fired up between takes or after long days. Bigelow says his rapport with crew has led to nights where the “clock was ticking but it was impossible to regain composure enough to shoot.” But according to Evans, no Mackie-ism is more famous than the phrase he bellows whenever his directors cut a scene: “Cut the check!”

Evans says this “will be forever associated with Mackie. I find myself saying it on sets all the time. I love it. But I’ll never be able to say it as well as him.”

As the man handing Mackie his armor, Evan says the Falcon’s “role within the Marvel universe has answered the call to action time and time again. He’s proven his courage, loyalty and reliability over multiple films. Sam has given so much, and he’s also lost a lot too. He believes in something bigger than himself, and that type of humility is necessary to carry the shield.”

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – Feb. 19, 2021 – Actor Anthony Mackie photographed in the Tremé District of New Orleans.William Widmer for Variety

The question of Sam Wilson’s humanity will be explored at length in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” what Mackie calls a deeper showcase for both himself and Stan and their characters. It was a prospect that at first confused and frightened him.

“I didn’t think we could do on the television what we’d been doing on the big screen. I didn’t want to be the face of the first Marvel franchise to fail. Like, ‘See? We cast the Black dude, and now this shit is awful.’ That was a huge fear of mine, and also a huge responsibility with playing a Marvel character,” Mackie says.

 

He was quickly assuaged by the level of depth in the scripts from head writer Malcolm Spellman (“Empire,” “Truth Be Told”), especially when it came to the nuances of Wilson — a Black American man with no powers beyond his badass wings.

“Sam Wilson as played by Mackie is different than a Thor or a Black Panther, because he’s not from another planet or a king from another country,” Feige says. “He’s an African American man. He’s got experience in the military and doing grief counseling with soldiers who have PTSD. But where did he grow up? Who is his family? Mackie was excited to dig into it as this man, this Black man in particular, in the Marvel version of the world outside our window.”

Mackie celebrates Sam’s relatability in a universe full of mythological gods and lab-made enforcers.
“I’m basically the eyes and ears of the audience, if you were put in that position where you could go out and fight alongside superheroes. It adds a really nice quality to him, that he’s a regular guy who can go out there and do special things,” Mackie says.

While bound by standard Marvel-grade secrecy, the actor confirms there have been no discussions of a second season for “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” As the majority of domestic movie theaters remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he is equally unaware of the theatrical prospects for his Falcon character — or the Captain he may become by the end of this Disney Plus run. For now, he’s content to take up the mantle left by Boseman, a quietly understood pact of responsibility to Marvel-loving kids the world over.

“For Chad and I, [representation] was never a conversation that needed to be had because of our backgrounds. There was a hinted-at understanding between the two of us, because we’re both from humble beginnings in the South; we have very similar backgrounds. We knew what the game was. We knew going into it,” he says.

Outside comic book movies, Mackie is not done searching as a performer. There is a particular genre he would very much like to cut him a check.

“My team gets mad at me for saying this, but I would love to do a cheesy old-school ‘When Harry Met Sally’-type of project,” he says. “One of those movies where I’m working outside and have to take my shirt off because it’s too hot. I want a romantic comedy. I want to do every movie written for Matthew McConaughey that he passed on.”

---

 

The adaptation has Studio Ghibli's full cooperation and it will be written and directed by Tony winner John Caird ('Les Miserables').

The enchanting world of Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki is heading to the stage.

The director's beloved 2001 Oscar-winning classic Spirited Away will be adapted into a stage play for the first time, with a premiere date set for February 2022 in Tokyo. The adaptation will be produced by Japanese entertainment giant Toho, and written and directed by Tony and Olivier Award-winning director John Caird (Les Misérables, Nicholas Nickleby, Daddy Long Legs). Crucially, Miyazaki's notoriously reclusive Studio Ghibli has given the project its full support.

"We, Hayao and I, both liked John’s vision; he is a person we can trust," said Miyazaki's longtime producer partner Toshio Suzuki. "I am looking forward to seeing Chihiro grow on stage under his direction," he added, referring to Spirited Away's original Japanese title, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi.

"I feel so excited and privileged to be working on the first ever stage adaptation of Sen to Chihiro," Caird said in a statement. "I have for many years now regarded Miyazaki Hayao as one of the pre-eminent geniuses of world cinema and the greatest ever proponent of the anime form."

Spirited Away premiered in 2001 and became a global cultural phenomenon, earning $355 million and helping to spread mainstream international appreciation for hand-drawn Japanese anime. Like nearly all of Miyazaki's work, the story's heroine is a courageous and intelligent young girl, in this case Chihiro, a 10-year-old moving with her parents to a new home. They soon lose themselves in a mysterious world of fantastic spirits, ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba, who turns Chihiro’s parents into pigs. After a series of bizarre and dangerous challenges, including the loss of her identity, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange place and return to the human world.

The part of Chihiro already has been double-cast for 22-year-old pop star-turned-film actress Kanna Hashimoto (Assassination Classroom, Gintama), who will be making her stage debut, and Mone Kamishiraishi, best known for her voice work on the smash hit anime Your Name.

Spirited Away will premiere on stage at Toho's Imperial Theatre in central Tokyo, playing there from February through March, 2022. The production will then tour the Japanese cities of Osaka (April), Fukuoka (May), Sapporo (June) and Nagoya (June and July). Toho is hoping to take the play to other parts of Asia and Europe, where Miyazaki's work is enormously popular (Spirited Away the film was released 18 years later in China in 2019, but still earned $69 million).

Caird, an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said he has already spent over 1,000 hours developing his stage version of Spirited Away, and "looks forward to spending many thousands more."

He added: "I share a belief in all the most dominant themes of Miyazaki's work, themes that are at the core of the Sen to Chihiro world — care for the environment, reverence for nature, a belief in the force of the good spirits within us and the empowerment of young women and men to change the world for the better. I am looking forward with great pleasure to deepening my partnership with my dear friends at Toho through a new relationship with Studio Ghibli and Suzuki Toshio, their most generous and inventive lead producer."

"Minari is about a family. It's a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own," said director Lee Isaac Chungs during his acceptance speech.

Minari's win in the best foreign-language category at tonight's Golden Globes Award ceremony comes after a controversy about the film's classification that left the movie shut out of the best picture race.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was heavily criticized for its decision to place the Lee Isaac Chung-directed drama in the foreign-language category given that the film was financed and produced by American companies, A24 and Plan B, respectively. The cast and crew were also majority made up of American talent.

At the time, people took to social media to criticize the HFPA's decision, including Hollywood players like Daniel Dae Kim, Lulu Wang, and Simu Liu. Wang's 2019 film The Farewell was also placed in the foreign-language category, despite being financed and produced by American companies.

Minari follows a Korean family as they move to Arkansas, where they hope to build a farm.

The rules of the HFPA states that any film with at least 50 percent non-English dialogue must compete for the foreign-language award rather than for one of the two best picture categories. Minari is predominantly in Korean.

Said Chung while accepting the award, "Minari is about a family. It's a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own. It goes deeper than any American language and any foreign language— it's a language of the heart."

The Golden Globe Awards ceremony is produced by Dick Clark Productions, a division of MRC, which is a co-owner of The Hollywood Reporter through a joint venture with Penske Media titled P-MRC.

In Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” the sound of the 1960s is an authentic and riveting one.

As King tells the story of Illinois Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) and his betrayal by an FBI informant, the key for the sound team was to not just be authentic, but also to find a soundscape that was naturalistic. The idea was to use sound to support the characters’ stories.

For sound mixer Marlowe Taylor (“Queen and Slim”) he calls the experience one where he was “able to do all the things I loved to do.” King gave him the freedom to “showcase things I knew I could do.”

In one sequence, Hampton addresses a crowd of supporters inside a church in a rousing speech that culminates in him saying, “I am a revolutionary.”

Taylor explains there were 350 people in that scene as extras. For the first take, King filmed Kaluuya going up the stairs and walking to the pew in silence — with no crowd reaction. On seeing that, Taylor says, “I ran up to Shaka and said, let’s have the crows react to Daniel and just let it go, let’s have it organic.” He was inspired by going to church himself as a young boy and knew there needed to be something more dynamic to the sound later in post-production.

King agreed and had another take, this time with the crowd reacting. There were reservations about not being able to catch Kaluuya’s speech clean, but Taylor placed the mics exactly where he needed including a wired mic on the film’s star. “All that sound, when you watch that scene is all of us, there is nothing added,” Taylor says proudly.  “It was so dynamic,” he explains. “The only thing I needed to do was make sure I pressed record.”

Taylor’s instincts were right — sound designers Rich Bologna (Supervising Sound Editor) and Skip Lievsay (Re-Recording Mixer) did not have to do anything in post, including ADR, because the sound was captured perfectly.

Watch Taylor and the two-time Academy Award winning Sound mixer Russell Williams (“Glory,” “Dances With Wolves”) discuss the sound of “Judas and the Black Messiah.”

Article by: Jazz Tangcay for Variety

Hannibal Lecter's mask is among the most iconic props in movie history, but selecting the ghastly facial restraint was anything but simple. The Silence of the Lambs turns 30 on Sunday (Feb. 14), and to commemorate the Oscar-sweeping horror-thriller, The Hollywood Reporter looks back at one of the most important casting decisions of the film: Dr. Lecter's mask.

Kristi Zea, production designer of the 1991 Orion film based on the 1988 Thomas Harris novel, called choosing the right mask for the murderous cannibal an "interesting dilemma," during a making-of feature.

"[Costume designer] Colleen Atwood had a whole host of ideas, and we just kept going through them, one after the other," Zea said.

Anthony Hopkins would screen test with a variety of unsettling masks — some scary, others borderline ridiculous. "For a while, there were thoughts of fencing, sort of grid masks," Atwood said in the feature.

Jordan Peele has found the leads for his newest directorial project.

Actress and recording artist Keke Palmer has signed to star in the feature project while Daniel Kaluuya, who famously toplined Peele’s Get Out, is in negotiations to reunite with the filmmaker.

Details for the project are being kept secret, but Peele once again wrote the script and is directing and producing. Ian Cooper of Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions is also producing.

The movie already has a release date of July 22, 2022.

Senior vp production Sara Scott and creative executive Tony Ducret are overseeing the project on behalf of Universal.

Palmer has been appearing in both TV and film steadily, starring in recent shows Star and Scream: The TV Series, while also appearing in movies such as the splashy hit Hustlers. Last year she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for co-hosting Strahan, Sara and Keke and released a video aimed at raising voter turnout that went viral.

Kaluuya is currently earning raves for portraying Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton in Warners’ Judas and the Black Messiah. The role has earned him Golden Globe and SAG nominations

Article by: Borys Kit for The Hollywood Reporter