Press Releases Archive for September, 2017

Academy Museum Gets $50 Million Gift From Cheryl And Haim Saban

RON MEYER TO LEAD NEWLY ESTABLISHED MUSEUM BOARD OF TRUSTEES The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announces a landmark donation of $50 million from philanthropists Cheryl and Haim Saban. This commitment—the largest gift to the Academy Museum Campaign—brings the museum’s fundraising success to $288 million, nearly 75% of its $388 million goal. In recognition of…

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Louis C. K.’s Hot-Button Clandestinely-Produced Woody Allen Homage Gets November NY/LA Release

THE ORCHARD ANNOUNCES LOUIS C.K.’S “I LOVE YOU, DADDY” TO OPEN THEATRICALLY NOVEMBER 17 IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES Comedy Stars Louis C.K., John Malkovich, Chloë Grace Moretz, Rose Byrne, Edie Falco, Charlie Day, Pamela Adlon, Helen Hunt, and Ebonee Noel Photo credit: Courtesy of The Orchard. Click here for artwork. NEW YORK (September 27, 2017) – The Orchard announced…

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Dee Rees Adapting Joan Didion Novel With Producer Cassian Elwes And Others

[PR] Award-winning independent filmmaker Dee Rees (Mudbound, Pariah) will direct the best-selling 1996 Joan Didion political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted from publisher Alfred A. Knopf.  Elevated’s Cassian Elwes (Dallas Buyers Club, Lee Daniels’ The Butler) optioned the book last year from Didion to develop it in partnership with Rees following their incredible collaboration on Mudbound, which premiered to standing…

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Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Awards Grants Across Nonfiction Formats

Los Angeles, CA — Projects and artists on the frontlines of nonfiction storytelling received nearly $2 million in grants from Sundance Institute, furthering their work across subjects and forms. Works originate in 26 countries and six continents, and teams include Academy Award nominees (Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar, Richard Rowley, Jon Else and David France), and first-time feature filmmakers (Cody Lucich, Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu…

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Scorsese Joins The Online “MasterClass” Gig

Academy® Award Winning Director Martin Scorsese’s First Ever Online Class The filmmaker behind GOODFELLAS, CASINO, GANGS OF NEW YORK, and THE DEPARTED talks about film and filmmaking on MasterClass.com SAN FRANCISCO, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 – MasterClass, the premier online education platform, announced today that Academy® Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese will have his first ever online class. The class is open…

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Mike Plante Named Las Vegas Film Festival “Captain of Strategy”

MIKE PLANTE JOINS LAS VEGAS FILM FESTIVAL AS CAPTAIN OF STRATEGY Las Vegas Film Festival and CineVegas to Partner on Presenting Films, Comedy, Independent Video Games and More 2018 Festival to Return to Brenden Theatres and Palms Casino Resort June 6 – 10 LAS VEGAS (September 21, 2017) – Seasoned film festival programming veteran Mike Plante returns to…

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FOCUS FEATURES ACQUIRES INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS TO LADY BIRD

TORONTO, CANADA, September 11, 2017 – Focus Features has acquired international rights to Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed directorial debut Lady Bird, company chairman Peter Kujawski announced today. A24 and IAC Films are partners on the movie.  Focus will be handling distribution in all territories outside of North America. Lady Bird has emerged as one of the biggest breakouts of the fall season,…

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Telluride Fest Looks Back At 44

Telluride, CO, September 11, 2017 – Telluride Film Festival (September 1-4, 2017), presented by the National Film Preserve, reflects upon a spectacular four-day celebration of diverse programming and special guests attended by more than 4,000 movie lovers. “This was my 44th Telluride Film Festival,” remarked co-founder and artistic director Tom Luddy. “I feel it was one…

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NEON AND 30WEST LAND DOMESTIC RIGHTS TO CRAIG GILLESPIE’S STANDOUT DARK COMEDY “I, TONYA”

Toronto, Canada (September 11, 2017) – In one of the most high-profile sales of Toronto International Film Festival, NEON and 30WEST are excited to announce they have landed domestic rights to Craig Gillespie’s much talked about dark comedy, I, TONYA which premiered here on Friday to both critical and audience acclaim. I, TONYA is an at times absurd,…

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Annapurna Adds $350 Million Credit Facility

[PR] – Annapurna, an independent entertainment company with film, television, and interactive verticals as well as an upstart marketing and distribution operation, has completed a $350 million revolving credit facility, it was announced today. The new line of credit will provide a firm financial foundation as the company continues to expand their enterprises and build its production,…

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Press Releases

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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