Press Releases Archive for January, 2015

Sundance 15 Buy: HBO Docs Learns How To Dance In Ohio

HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS ACQUIRES U.S.  TELEVISION RIGHTS TO “HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO” PRIOR TO ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT THE 2015 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL NEW YORK, January 14, 2015 – HBO Documentary Films has acquired U.S. television rights to HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO. Directed by Alexandra Shiva (Stagedoor, Bombay Eunuch), the film will have its world premiere Sunday, January 25 at the 2015 Sundance…

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Mike Myers Signs HBO Deal: “‘I’m Thrilled To Be At HBO,’ Commented Myers”

Mike Myers has signed an overall deal with HBO, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. The deal includes TV exclusivity and runs for two years. “Mike Myers is one of the great comedy minds of this or any other era,” said Lombardo. “The opportunity to collaborate with a talent of his stature is tremendously exciting.”…

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Academy Awards Go To 21 Scientific And Technical Achievements

21 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS TO BE HONORED WITH ACADEMY AWARDS® David W. Gray to receive Gordon E. Sawyer Award LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 21 scientific and technical achievements represented by 58 individual award recipients will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical…

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Cinema Audio Society Announces Nominations For The 51st CAS Awards

Los Angeles, Tuesday January 13, 2015 — The Cinema Audio Society announces the nominees for the 51st Annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for 2014 in six categories and the CAS Technical Achievement Award Nominations. “This year’s nominations reflect the outstanding sound mixing being done in both film and television as determined by the…

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Academy To Announce Oscar Nominations Live In All 24 Categories, In Two-Part Ayem Press Conference

FOR THE FIRST TIME, ACADEMY TO ANNOUNCE OSCAR® NOMINATIONS IN ALL 24 CATEGORIES LIVE NOMINATIONS TO BE DELIVERED IN NEW TWO-PART PRESENTATION CHRIS PINE AND ACADEMY PRESIDENT CHERYL BOONE ISAACS TO PRESENT NOMINATIONS IN 13 CATEGORIES INCLUDING BEST PICTURE ALFONSO CUARÓN AND J.J. ABRAMS TO PRESENT SPECIAL EARLY ANNOUNCEMENT OF 11 CATEGORIES GLOBAL LIVE STREAM AVAILABLE AT OSCARS.ORG/LIVE LOS ANGELES, CA –…

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BAFTA Nominations 2015

NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE EE BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS IN 2015 The Grand Budapest Hotel receives 11 nominations. Birdman and The Theory of Everything are each nominated in ten categories. The Imitation Game has nine nominations. Boyhood and Whiplash are each nominated five times. Mr. Turner, Nightcrawler and Interstellar receive four nominations. Pride has three…

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NYFF’s Kent Jones Named Chevalier Of The French Order Of Arts & Letters

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR LYDIA DAVIS AND INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED WRITER AND FILMMAKER KENT JONES TO RECEIVE FRENCH ARTS AND LETTERS INSIGNIA   NEW YORK, January 8, 2015— Lydia Davis, acclaimed author, and translator of over 30 books from French to English including Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and Kent Jones, Director of the New York Film Festival and past…

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2015 Sundance Adds “Art Of Film Panels” With Robert Redford, George Lucas, Ross McElwee, Sam Green And More

2015 Sundance Film Festival Celebrates Art of Film with Panels with Robert Redford, George Lucas and More Discussing the Craft of Filmmaking Park City, UT — Sundance Institute announced today that the 2015 Sundance Film Festival will take an unprecedented look at the art and craft of filmmaking with its new ‘Art of Film Weekend’ series of…

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USC Libraries Name Finalists for 27th Annual Scripter Award

LOS ANGELES —The USC Libraries have named the authors and screenwriters of Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, The Theory of Everything, and Wild as finalists for the 27-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Scripter honors the screenwriter or screenwriters of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author or authors of the written work upon which…

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Slamdance To Close With James Franco’s First Film Of 2015

SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL TO WRAP WITH YOSEMITE PREMIERE AND JAMES FRANCO EVENT   Festival explores DIY world of filmmaking according to James Franco in “Coffee With” event, followed by his latest film collaboration “Yosemite”   (LOS ANGELES, CA – January 8, 2015) The Slamdance Film Festival today announced the latest edition of its “Coffee With” events featuring…

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CITIZENFOUR Takes Four At 8th Cinema Eye Honors For Docs

Edward Snowden/NSA Documentary Named Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Production 2 Historic Ties in Cinematography and Graphic Design 20,000 Days on Earth Wins Two Awards Keep On Keepin’ On Wins Audience Choice Prize ESPN’s The Price of Gold Wins TV Award / The Lions Mouth Opens Named Outstanding Short January 7, 2015, Astoria, Queens, New York…

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2015 Writers Guild Awards Screenplay Nominations Announced

2015 Writers Guild Awards Screenplay Nominations Announced LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK –The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during 2014. Winners will be honored at the 2015 Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 14, 2015, at…

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Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Mr. Turner and Unbroken Nominated For ASC Cinematography Kudos

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2015 – Five directors of photography will vie for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award in the theatrical motion picture category at the organization’s 29th Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony. The nominees are: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for Unbroken Óscar Faura for The Imitation Game Emmanuel Lubezki ASC, AMC for Birdman…

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And The Casting Society Of America Nominates…

CASTING SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES FEATURE FILM NOMINEES FOR 30TH ANNUAL ARTIOS AWARDS   Final Ballots Distributed Today HOLLYWOOD, CA (January 6, 2015) – The Casting Society of America (CSA) has unveiled its feature film nominees for the 30th Annual Artios Awards. Final film ballots have been distributed and votes can be entered at http://www.castingsociety.com/, through Monday, January 12th. All…

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Carrie Fisher to Present the SAG 51st Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds

Carrie Fisher to Present the SAG 51st Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® on January 25, 2015 LOS ANGELES (Jan 6, 2015) – Carrie Fisher will present the 51st SAG Life Achievement Award to her mother, Debbie Reynolds, at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer Kathy Connell announced today. The presentation of…

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Oscar Nomination Voting Ends Thursday 5pm PST

January 6, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OSCARS® NOMINATIONS VOTING ENDS THURSDAY, JANUARY 8 LOS ANGELES, CA – Nominations voting for the 87th Oscars will close on Thursday, January 8, at 5 p.m. PT. The votes will be tabulated and verified by the international accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The 87th Oscars Nominations Announcement will be held on Thursday,…

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PGA Awards Nominations 2015

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE, ANIMATED THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE AND LONG-FORM TELEVISION NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2015 PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS LOS ANGELES (January 5, 2015) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 26th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl…

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IN CELEBRATION OF THE UPCOMING “THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER” MOVIE, PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND NICKELODEON MOVIES DECLARE JANUARY 5, 2015 “THE DAY OF POSITIVITY”

TURNING THE WORST MONDAY OF THE YEAR – THE FIRST ONE AFTER THE HOLIDAYS – INTO THE BEST MONDAY EVER! HOLLYWOOD, CA (January 4, 2015) – One month before its debut in theaters, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies have declared the first Monday of 2015 “The Day of Positivity,” to celebrate SpongeBob SquarePants’ upcoming film,…

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AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS (ACE) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR THE 65TH ANNUAL ACE EDDIE AWARDS RECOGNIZING THE BEST EDITING OF THE YEAR IN FILM, TELEVISION AND DOCUMENTARIES

American Cinema Editors (ACE) today announced nominations for the 65th Annual ACE Eddie Awards recognizing outstanding editing in ten categories of film, television and documentaries. Winners will be revealed during ACE’s annual black-tie awards ceremony on Friday, January 30, 2015 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  Next week ACE will announce the Golden…

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon