Press Releases Archive for February, 2018

Rotten Tomatoes Gets New Editor-in-Chief

[pr] ROTTEN TOMATOES NAMES JOEL MEARES AS NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Los Angeles, CA (February 27, 2018) – Rotten Tomatoes, entertainment fans’ go-to destination for movie and TV show reviews and information, today announced that it has named Joel Meares as Editor-in-Chief. In his role, Meares will oversee editorial content and expansion as Rotten Tomatoes continues to build a multi-platform…

Read the full article »

Nanette Fabray Was 97

SAG-AFTRA Mourns the Passing of Nanette Fabray SAG-AFTRA mourns the passing of performer Nanette Fabray, who died Feb. 22 at the age of 97. The multi-talented Fabray, who joined the union in 1937, was the 1986 recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the union’s highest honor. Fabray began her acting career at…

Read the full article »

True/False Film Fest Extends Sustainability Program

HY-VEE NAMED OFFICIAL SUSTAINABILITY SPONSOR OF TRUE/FALSE 2018 COLUMBIA, MO – Hy-Vee and True/False have joined forces to grow the film festival’s sustainability program, now in its third year. Hy-Vee’s values align with those of Columbia’s home-grown festival. “We continue to find ways to shrink our carbon footprint and generate awareness for best practices like…

Read the full article »

True/False Partners With “Brown Girls Doc Mafia”

Columbia, Missouri – True/False Film Fest is proud to host more than 30 members of the Brown Girls Doc Mafia collective in a new partnership to bring an infusion of women filmmakers of color to the festival space. Formed in 2015 by Iyabo Boyd, the Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM) is a collective of filmmakers…

Read the full article »

CENTROPOLIS ENTERTAINMENT AND VOLTAGE PICTURES SET TO PRODUCE ROLAND EMMERICH’S HISTORICAL EPIC MAYA LORD

Berlin (February 14, 2018) Centropolis Entertainment and Voltage Pictures are set to produce the thrilling historical epic feature film Maya Lord from visionary filmmaker and box-office powerhouse Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow), it was announced today by Centroplis. Angela Workman (The Zookeeper’s Wife) has written the script to be directed by Emmerich. Voltage is also handling international sales for…

Read the full article » 1 Comment »

SAG-AFTRA Releases Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment and Launches “Four Pillars of Change” Program

[pr] SAG-AFTRA today released a Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment as part of a broader program to protect its members and to confront harassment and advance equity in the workplace. Leading with a Call to Action to its 160,000 members and the entertainment, music and media industries, the Code defines sexual harassment and details what constitutes…

Read the full article »

Jóhann Jóhannsson

February 10, 2018 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winning Icelandic composer musician and producer, passed away in Berlin on Friday, February 9, 2018. The cause of death is unknown. He was 48. His death was confirmed by his manager. Known for his compositions that often blended electronics with classical orchestrations, Jóhannsson had…

Read the full article »

Janus Films Restores, Releases Oliver Assayas’ “Lost” 1990s Masterpiece

Janus Films presents the first-ever US theatrical release of award-winning French director Olivier Assayas’ COLD WATER (1994). The film received a stunning 4k restoration and will roll-out in theaters throughout the US beginning April 2018, following the March 9 premiere with the Austin Film Society (AFS). The film, which focuses on star-crossed adolescents in 1970s France, launched…

Read the full article »

True/False Film Fests Sets 2018 Slate

Columbia, Missouri – True/False Film Fest is proud to announce its 2018 slate of 40 new feature films that expand the boundaries of nonfiction and invite audiences to be challenged, inspired, and entertained. These films were selected from roughly 1,300 submissions plus hundreds more scouted at festivals around the world. The festival seeks to highlight work…

Read the full article »

CONDÉ NAST ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES ACADEMY-AWARD® NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY SHORT “KNIFE SKILLS” FOR THE NEW YORKER’S ONLINE PROPERTIES

  The Film Will Appear as Part of The New Yorker’s “Screening Room” Series Highlighting Short Films and the Stories behind Them   NEW YORK — February 6, 2018 — Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE) has acquired the Oscar® Nominated short documentary, “Knife Skills,” for The New Yorker’s online properties. Directed by Academy Award®-winning director, Thomas Lennon (“The Blood of Yingzhou District”), “Knife…

Read the full article »

Sundance Sale: Lionsgate And Roadside Take Juliet, Naked Romcom

LIONSGATE AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS ACQUIRE U.S. RIGHTS TO ACCLAIMED ROMANTIC COMEDY “JULIET, NAKED” FROM DIRECTOR JESSE PERETZ To Be Released In Theaters By Roadside Attractions this Summer   Stars Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd Based on Nick Hornby’s Novel SANTA MONICA and LOS ANGELES, CA, February 2, 2018 — Global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A,…

Read the full article »

Press Releases

Quote Unquotesee all »

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