And yes, Kristen Stewart was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Spencer. Can you imagine what the commentary will be like if she actually takes home the award? Look at me all excited and I haven’t even seen the damn movie. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen a single one of the movies that have been nominated, despite many of them currently sitting on my watchlist. I’ve really been slacking lately. Well, maybe slacking isn’t the right word because I’ve been busy as hell. Life comes at you fast sometimes and I just got out of hyperspeed. Now feels like the perfect time to make my way back to the movies.
News: Because of colorism in Hollywood, John Leguizamo stayed pasty to maximize odds of landing next role
Colorism is one of the infinite manifestations of racism that feels universal. When I was a kid (I’m Mexican), I clearly remember being told to stay out of the sun so I wouldn’t get “too dark.” I distinctly remember my mother standing in a harshly lit dressing room with me, telling me not to get the clothes I was trying on because purple and coral made me look so much darker. I remember elders telling me not to part my long, dark hair down the middle because it made me look too Native. I was super young so I didn’t really understand where this was coming from but I knew it felt weird to hear it. As I grew up, I figured it out and bought my purple and coral clothing, lingered in the sun whenever I felt like it and parted my hair however I wanted. SPOILER: It felt wrong because it was racist. And now that I know that, I point it out whenever I can.
It’s messed up John Leguizamo felt obligated to stay out of the sun for years in order to maximize his chances at landing his next role. However, it’s great to see that he’s talking about it now in an effort to change things. It’s especially nice to read that he was saying this in a conversation with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Leguizamo also reacted to last year’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which looked at the 1,300 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2019 and found that only 7% of films from 2019 featured a lead/co-lead Hispanic/Latino actor.
“Not only are we invisible, but when we are seen, it’s a negative portrayal,” Leguizamo said. “Things are improving. I think COVID made us really look at ourselves in America. Black Lives Matter was a huge awakening for America, a reboot for America to look at themselves and see what’s going on. I think everybody’s trying to do the right thing and hire many more people of color. What I want to see, I want to see 20% of the roles in front of the camera and the crew. I’m not asking for extra. I just want what’s due to us.”
Leguizamo was speaking to the Academy as part of the organization’s “Seen” interview series. The actor revealed that he is going to run for Governor of the Academy in order to better enforce change in the industry.
“You have to step up and make a change and change it from within,” Leguizamo said. “I feel like if you’ve achieved a certain amount of success, it’s your duty to give back.”
John Leguizamo Says He Avoided the Sun ‘For Years’ to Stay Light-Skinned for Hollywood Roles - variety.com
News: Two of Ana de Armas’ fans have sued Universal because she was cut out of ‘Yesterday’
Ok yes it sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous, but I also understand where these guys (Conor Woulfe & Peter Michael Rosza) are coming from. It’s happened to me, to lots of us I’m sure, and it’s always frustrating as hell. You see an amazing trailer, you finally decide you’re going to watch the full movie and so you commit to clicking the Rent button. Unfortunately, by the time the credits roll, you realize most of the stuff you saw in the trailer never made it to the final cut. Or you realize the movie that was sold to you in the trailer isn’t even all that similar to the one you just finished watching. For a second you’re furious but eventually you get over it because if you’ve learned anything in life it’s that dwelling on stuff like this a terrible use of time.
The suit accuses Universal of engaging in deceptive marketing, and seeks to recoup at least $5 million on behalf of affected consumers.
“Because consumers were promised a movie with Ana De Armas by the trailer for ‘Yesterday,’ but did not receive a movie with any appearance of Ana de Armas at all, such consumers were not provided with any value for their rental or purchase,” the lawsuit states.
Look, I get it. But I also do not have the time, energy or money to take Universal to court because they sold me false hope by way of a misleading movie trailer. False advertising is wrong and I thought illegal and considering how often folks are duped by some form of slick advertisement, all too common. So I guess if these guys want to stick it to the man on this one, more power to them.
News: Bong Joon Ho’s next big project will be a sci-fi movie based on an upcoming novel and Robert Patitnson is in talks to star
Bong Joon Ho will write and direct his next project for Warner Brothers. And it looks like Robert Pattinson will star in the lead role. The movie will be an adaptation of an upcoming novel by Edward Ashton called Mickey 7. The book’s a sci-fi story that centers around Mickey 7 who is a clone. He’s categorized as an expendable worker and as such is sent out to do especially dangerous missions while working with a crew attempting to colonize an ice world called Niflheim. Whenever Mickey goes out on a mission and dies, he regenerates with memory of his former life.
While cloning is cool, it appears multiple clones existing at the same time is frowned upon in this reality. One day Mickey heads out on a mission, doesn’t return and is presumed dead. Ultimately, he regenerates to find that he’s been replaced. Mickey 8 is out there and if people find out there’s two of them, one will surely have to go. This puts Mickey 7 in a precarious spot. He’s the older model so he’s likely the one that’ll have to be recycled.
At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the notion of Bong Joon Ho’s next project being a sci-fi venture but the more I read about this book the more I want to see what he’ll come up with. No one knows for sure how closely he’ll stick to the source material but I’m sure whatever he does put together will be interesting.
Bong Joon Ho Eyes Next Film At Warner Bros With Robert Pattinson In Talks To Star, Plan B Producing - deadline.com
News: Steven Spielberg’s next movie will be a coming-of-age pic loosely based on his formative years
Carolyn Cole - Los Angeles Times
The Fablemans is expected to be released on November 22 of next year, right before the long holiday weekend. Michelle Williams is playing the character based on Spielberg’s mother and Paul Dano, his father. Seth Rogan will be playing a character based on Spielberg’s uncle. Nothing has been released regarding the plot just yet, but TBH I knew I’d eventually see it the second I finished typing out Michelle Williams’ name just now.
Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fablemans’ to Hit Theaters Over Thanksgiving 2022 - hollywoodreporter.com
News: Several accidental prop gun discharges on set, safety protocols not followed, long hours and delayed pay led to walkout hours prior to the fatal shooting of DP on the set of ‘Rust’
People in charge are forever cutting corners when it comes to safety. The folks that pay the price for this, their friends and loved ones, they’ll never be whole again. And for what?
AP Photo - Jae C. Hong
The LA Times is reporting that:
Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.
Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set on Saturday said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges.
Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks — two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.
“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” a crew member said. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”
These working conditions are what lead to half a dozen of the camera crew workers walking off the set of Rust hours before the fatal shooting of Director of Photography, Halyna Hutchins.
‘Rust’ crew describes on-set gun safety issues and misfires days before fatal shooting - latimes.com
News: Alec Baldwin inadvertently killed a cinematographer and injured the director on the set of his new movie while using a prop gun
I was shocked when I heard the news late last night. I thought that after Brandon Lee had died in a startlingly similar way, that there had been significant changes to the safety protocols involved in using prop guns and blanks on set. I don’t believe there were. However, there are many safety protocols and cross checks in place specifically to avoid tragedies likes these. And here’s something I learned this morning: All prop guns are not fake guns, some are real guns—all property of the studio, ergo the term prop. Prop guns used for shooting are simply loaded with different ammunition: blanks. To be clear though, a blank round can also produce projectiles and kill people like in the case of Brandon Lee. The difference between a blank and a live round is that a blank does not have a bullet on the end and a live round does. That rounded tip you see on one end of a round is the bullet. Apparently the prop gun on the Rust set contained a single live round, at least that’s what NBC News is reporting right now.
“A live single round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor, hitting both the Director of Photography, Local 600 member Halyna Hutchins, and Director Joel Souza,” the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 44 said in an email to its members.
Fred Hayes / Getty Images
Halyna Hutchins was 42 and a rising star in her field of cinematography. She was well respected and loved, may she rest in peace.
Alec Baldwin has just recently commented via social media and indicated that the is cooperating fully with police during the investigation.
Alec Baldwin shoots prop gun, killing 1, injuring another on set of 'Rust,' officials say - nbcnews.com
News: Lee Daniels had to fire several crew members, including a DP who didn’t know how to light black actors, 20 days into the 'Precious' shoot
Lee Daniels took a risk doing the right & logical thing, and it paid off beautifully.
Lee Daniels and Gabourey Sidibe were in Toronto this week for the Toronto Film Festival to talk about their 2009 hit, ‘Precious.’ During this talk, Lee Daniels noted that 20 days into his shoot, he had to fire “everybody” because he was consistently unhappy with the dailies.
“I had a white line producer, a white AD, they also read [reviews that said my last film] ‘Shadowboxer’ was the worst film ever made, and they had zero respect for me, my vision, or what it was,” Daniels said. “They were New Yorkers that looked at this as a job. I kept coming home like, this doesn’t feel right, [Gabourey] doesn’t look right, the set looks weird. I felt like I was giving birth to an alien, literally, so I did something that I now don’t even know whether I’d have the courage to do, but I fired everybody. I shut it down.”
“I was so nervous about making sure that she was lit beautifully. It didn’t feel right,” Daniels continued. “Whether we were going to take a financial hit because of it, I just blindly shut it down.”
Gabourey Sidibe went on to further illustrate at least part of the issue by saying that the original cinematographer did not know how to properly light someone of her complexion.
Gabourey Sidibe - ‘Precious’ 2009
“One time we were shooting under a bridge in a literal gutter — not a ‘set’ gutter, like, gutter — with actual green slime on the ground,” the actress said. “I had to lay so they could light me on the ground, and I swear to you, I was on the ground for over an hour while they were trying to light me. Every now and then, I might run into a DP that doesn’t know how to light the variance of Black and brown skin, and that was one of the major problems with him.”
Makes sense to me that Lee Daniels would want to replace anyone who could not grasp his vision and was ill prepared to execute on what was needed of them.
And once again we’re provided with ample evidence that proper representation is critical in all aspects of the moviemaking process. Representation and the lack thereof have a deep impact on movies. If there were more diversity in the writer's room, behind the cameras, in the director's chair & in front of the cameras, then there would be no disparity. Cinematographers across the board would just know how to light black actors because they would have worked with enough of them to have gained the experience. Plus, there would be more black cinematographers to begin with. It’s a win-win.
Here’s to hoping that diversity within the film industry continues to grow.
News: Kristen Stewart got a 3-min standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival
The praise was for Stewart’s portrayal of Princess Diana. Her work in Spencer is being described as, “incandescent, a career best” and critics are already calling her an Oscar frontrunner.
Spencer is based on three days in the life of Princess Diana. The bulk of the story revolves around the breakup of Charles and Diana’s troubled marriage. Stewart’s nuanced approach was made for this role and vice versa it seems. I cannot wait to see for myself.
Turns out the naysayers (who insist on sticking to this tired narrative that Stewart is a one-note actor with limited scope) don’t know what they’re talking about.
News: Nia DaCosta has become the first black female director to debut at #1
Nia DaCosta has made history by becoming the first black filmmaker to debut at number one in the domestic market.
With the $20.4M opening of Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw’s Candyman, director Nia DaCosta becomes the first Black female director to debut a movie in the No. 1 weekend spot at the domestic box office.
At the same time, Candyman marks the second-highest grossing 3-day domestic weekend B.O. opening for a Black female director