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Category: Hollywood

  • ‘Siddharth’ wins top award at Beijing, Wong Kar-Wai takes the cake

    ‘Siddharth’ wins top award at Beijing, Wong Kar-Wai takes the cake

    NEW DELHI: India-shot Canadian film Siddharth by Richie Mehta has won the top prize at the Tiantan Award ceremony held during the closing of the fourth Beijing International Film Festival.

     

    This is the second feature by Mehta, about a father’s search for his son who has gone missing, that has won the ‘Best Feature Film’ at the second edition of the festival’s competition section.

     

    The award was presented by jury president John Woo and director Feng Xiaogang.

     

    However, renowned Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster won five awards, three for ‘Best Director,’ ‘Best Actress’ (Zhang Ziyi) and ‘Best Cinematography’ (Philippe Le Sourd). This is the tenth time the actress has won for her role as a martial artist seeking revenge for the death of her father.

     

    Adding to France’s success at the ceremony, French comedy Attila Marcel picked up two awards: ‘Best Actor’ (Guillaume Gouix) and ‘Best Score.’

     

    Peter Chan’s American Dreams in China won ‘Best Screenplay,’ child actor Lee Re won ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for Lee Joon-ik’s Hope, Alan Rickman won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for A Promise and Australia’s The Rocket won Best Special Effects.

     

  • ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ garners highest Hollywood BO opening of all time in India

    ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ garners highest Hollywood BO opening of all time in India

    NEW DELHI: Bypassing the record set by its predecessor, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 posted the highest opening in history for a Hollywood film in India.

     

    Sony Pictures India announced that the film grossed approximately Rs 41.7 crore ($ 6.92 million) in its four day opening weekend starting 1 May  with a final tally of 1523 screens – the widest release ever for a Hollywood film. 

     

    The film also registered the highest ever opening day gross for any Hollywood title when it opened on 1 May. It released in four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and in 3D, 2D, IMAX 3D and in Dolby Atmos where available. 

     

    Sony Pictures India MD Kercy Daruwala said, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2 once again consolidates Spider-Man’s position as a franchise that cannot be beaten. We are happy to say that the film garnered unprecedented buzz in the weeks before release. We have taken a mass marketing approach to this film with some unique and very local innovations, further amplified with the invaluable support of the entire Sony group. Thanks to these innovations, the film has the fourth highest opening amongst all films, including local titles, released in India this year.”

     

    “The film’s response has been excellent with many people calling it the best Spider-Man film ever and enjoying the spectacular 3D effects. We have some very good weeks ahead of us as we continue to reap the benefits of an open release period coupled with great word-of-mouth and repeat viewing,” he added.

     

    Sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have already been announced for release in 2016 and 2018.

     

    A report from Hong Kong said The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has set a new opening day record at the Hong Kong box office on the Labour Day holiday, making HK$9.56 million (US$1.23 million) from 720 screenings.

     

    According to figures from Hong Kong’s Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA), the previous record holder was 2007’s Spiderman 3, which made HK$7.56 million (US$975,000) from 641 screenings on its opening day exactly seven years ago.

     

    It ends its theatrical run with HK$55 million (US$7.1 million).

     

    While Spiderman 3 was in 2-D, The Amazing Spider-man 2 has also released in 3-D and IMAX 3-D, formats that impose considerable ticket surcharges in Hong Kong.

     

    The record for the highest opening day gross for a local film still belongs to Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle (2004), which opened with HK$4.43 million (US$571,000) for a total gross of HK$61.3 million (US$7.9 million).

     

  • ‘True Love Story’ from India is only Asian film in the Critics Week in Cannes

    ‘True Love Story’ from India is only Asian film in the Critics Week in Cannes

    NEW DELHI: While ‘Titli’ by Kanu Bahl is the Indian entry for Cannes official selection in Un Certain Regard, the Asian presence at the Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival is confined to one short, Gitanjali Rao’s 19-minute animated romance True Love Story.

     

    Behl will also be a contender for the Camera d’Or, the award for feature directing debut.

     

    Rao describes her film, which won the Golden Conch for Best Animation at February’s Mumbai International Film Festival, as a boy-meets-girl romance between two migrant teenagers in Mumbai who re-enact Bollywood fantasies.

     

    According to Rao, “The animation industry in India is still very nascent and undefined. This is in sharp contrast with our regional film industries and Bollywood, which have strong identities and a rich history that film-makers can draw upon while they create their own works.”

     

    “That sort of identity is just not there with animation,” she said. “We just end up imitating Disney. The thing is, Bollywood copies from Hollywood, but it doesn’t imitate it. True Love Story is an attempt to create a unique visual effect that is Indian in its aesthetic.”

     

    Rao previously participated in the Critics’ Week section in 2006 with Printed Rainbow (2006) about “the loneliness of an old woman and her cat, who escape into the fantastical world of match box covers”. She was a member of its short film jury in 2011.

     

    Last year, Critics’ Week screened one Asian film, India’s The Lunchbox.

     

    “Titli” is co-produced by Yash Raj Films and DBP, the production house of cult Indian producer-director Dibakar Banerjee. The movie stars Ranveer Shorey, Amit Sial, Lalit Behl and Shivani Raghuvanshi, and introduces Shashank Arora.

     

    Set in Delhi’s underbelly, the film centers on Titli, the youngest member of a violent carjacking brotherhood, who plots to escape the “family” business.

  • Indian Americans are succeeding in film, media and journalism

    Indian Americans are succeeding in film, media and journalism

    NEW DELHI: Doing something off the beat was the primary theme of the second annual intercollegiate South Asian Arts Festival (SAAF) in Washington with renowned actor Omi Vaidya and Indira Somani.

     

    The meet over the weekend presented an informative, inspiring, invigorating discussion on what it means to tread off the beaten path for many Indian-Americans and pursue careers in film, media and journalism.  

     

    Both Vaidya who catapulted to fame for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam in the 2009 Bollywood blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’; and Somani, an award-winning independent producer and director of documentaries, were refreshingly candid and struck a chord with the audience comprising mainly of undergraduate students at Howard University. 

     

    Vaidya, who graduated with honors from New York University Film School admitted, “I am doing something that is a risk, is different, is not a traditional field and that takes a lot of courage, not only for me, but for everybody that supports me as well!”

     

    Fortunately for him, his family has always been “very supportive”, he said. “I don’t think that I would have been able to achieve what I have so far without their help.”  Vaidya’s mother aspired to be a Bollywood actress but could not pursue a career in acting due to family pressure. She has realized her dreams through her son who dotes on her. Vaidya’s father and brother are both doctors, a profession well favoured by Indian-Americans. “Family support was really critical,” the actor underscored. “I’m doing it on my own now and it’s not easy,” he said.

     

    Encouragement from his family also meant he never had to deal with social pressure from the Indian community for choosing a career in acting. “That was there,” he recalled. “But, I was oblivious to it. I thought, my family is fine with it. I was proud of what I was doing, and I still am. I have so many more relations now than before,” he quipped.  

     

    For Somani, family support came much later, when she was in her mid 20s and working as a television news producer for CNBC and WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, DC. “In the initial years, I did feel that I have to prove myself,” she told the audience. “My mom tells me that my dad wasn’t speaking to me for a long time when I pursued my Masters in Journalism. I don’t remember much about our non-speaking days. But, I do know that I had to apply on my own, get financial aid on my own. I had absolutely no assistance from my parents.”  

     

    Somani grew up in a small town in Springfield, Illinois. She always had a penchant for writing and began her career by covering the Indian diaspora. “My first job in this industry was for $17,000 a year and I had student loans to repay,” she recalled. “It was the reality of what they had told us in Journalism School – to start out in a small market, make your mistakes in a small market and work your way up. By the time you get to a place like DC or New York, you don’t want to be making mistakes in a market with size.”  

     

    It is noteworthy that the driving forces behind the festival were all undergraduate students at American University – Madhavi Reddi, Anuj Gupta, Brad Korten and Palak Bhatnagar. It goes to their credit that they managed to juxtapose two interesting fields – film and journalism – in a heady discussion which kept the audience engrossed. 

     

    Vaidya recounted, “When I was in film school, they didn’t teach us that you’re not going to get jobs or have to work free forever. That was really disturbing, a shock. A lot of my friends left film and became lawyers and doctors. They couldn’t deal with it and maybe didn’t have the support. I did have the support and I was versatile in my skills. You know me as an actor. But, I am a very seasoned editor,” he told the audience.  

     

    In the initial stages of his career, Vaidya used his Indian connections to act in crossover films. “You will never see any of those films. They were terrible,” he said, with a refreshing candor. “But, I kept saying yes. I was open to anything. I just wanted to be there and do it. In some ways, I still am. I am always willing. If there is something to explore that I haven’t seen, let’s give it a try. I think a lot of it is attitude. It’s very easy to get discouraged. Sometimes, a break will come when you least expect it. Keep pushing, keep trying. You never know when opportunity knocks. It may not be the door you want to get in, but it could lead to that other door.”  

     

    During the course of the event, short clips were shown from Somani’s documentary, ‘Crossing Lines’, and Vaidya’s roles in ‘3 Idiots’ and a documentary, ‘Big in Bollywood’, made by his friends which chronicles his fairy-tale success following the release of ‘3 Idiots’

  • New film’s release on Vimeo takes Hollywood industry by surprise

    New film’s release on Vimeo takes Hollywood industry by surprise

    NEW DELHI: The film made on the sci-fi love story has taken the entire film industry by surprise in Hollywood.

     

     

    And this, not merely because of its difficult subject line, but because of the decision of Brin Hill, director of In Your Eyes, to distribute the Joss Whedon-penned romantic drama on Vimeo. The same coincides with the movies’ release in New York. Following the premier at the Tribeca Film Festival, Whedon announced that the film would be distributed via Vimeo for a $5.00 rental fee.

     

     

    It was a bold announcement, typical of the sci-fi tinged love story which tracks the relationship of Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) and David (Michael Stahl David), two strangers who discover they share the same senses of vision, smell and touch as they go through their very different lives in New Hampshire and New Mexico, respectively.

     

     

    Full of the clever turns of phrase and of genre to be expected from a script hailing from the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator, the film benefits from the tangible chemistry between its two leads and the sleek way Hill allows their relationship to unfold.

     

     

    Said Hill, “I had to tell the story of two people, thousands of miles apart, who can experience the world through one another’s senses.  The characters interact, but they are not in the same state, much less the same room.” 

     

      

    Given all the unusual elements at play, In Your Eyes could only emerge from Bellwether Studios, where copious creative control is afforded by low budgets and the benevolence of its bosses, Whedon and wife Kai Cole, who last backed the similarly envelope-pushing adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

     

     

    Hill said: “The first time I read the script, I saw the film in two different colour palettes. I knew that I always wanted to identify each environment by a colorscape. It’s much more subtle than, say, a traffic light, but it’s there, and it was there to root them in the ground and know where they are at any given time. Then [there was] the intimacy of camera and having it move a little bit because there is a talking nature to this. It’s about two people who are exploring each other through dialogue, so there’s a challenge of how you keep that energetic. I’d like to think my style lent itself to that really well, but I also was blessed to have Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David. Their dynamic and their chemistry is really, really great, and what makes the film so fun to watch is their discovery of one another.”

  • British-American film ‘Locke’ shot in just a week

    British-American film ‘Locke’ shot in just a week

    NEW DELHI: ‘Locke’, a British-American drama thriller written and directed by Steven Knight and featuring the harrowing experience of a man locked in a car for one night, was shot in just one week.

     

    The film stars Tom Hardy as the main lead sitting in the car and talking on the mobile with other people. The voices are those of Tom Holland, Olivia Colman, Andrew Scott, Ruth Wilson, Ben Daniels and Alice Lowe.

     

    Released recently in the United States and the United Kingdom, the film was shown out of competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. It has now been acquired for the Venice Film Festival.

     

    The film is the story of a single eventful night in the life of Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy, using a Welsh accent), a man on the verge of losing it all (his job, his wife, his sanity), It is entirely set within the confines of a souped up BMW driving on the M6 motorway in England. Locke is a construction foreman who leaves an important job in Birmingham and drives down to London. Along the way, he tries to settle stressful personal and professional problems on his mobile phone while having imaginary conversations with his long deceased father.

     

    Shot in just a mere week after one week of rehearsals, Knight had Hardy acted out the 90-page script in its entirety for every take with cameras stationed both inside and outside the vehicle that was being pulled along on the back of a low-loader, where Knight was stationed.

     

    Those who – as part of the script – called in to talk to Locke, including Olivia Coleman as Locke’s mistress and “Sherlock” star Andrew Scott as his work subordinate did so in real-time from a conference room nearby.

     

    Knight revealed in a media meet that the short shooting schedule was not a fun challenge they set for themselves — the crunch was out of necessity. The two had wanted to work with each other for four or so years before Knight pitched “Locke” to Hardy. But by the time the opportunity arose for the two friends to collaborate, Hardy’s schedule was jam-packed (the “Dark Knight Rises” star currently has three films in post-production phase, including George Miller’s eagerly anticipated “Mad Max: Fury Road”). Hardy could only spare two weeks.

     

    Despite the tight shooting schedule and challenging nature of the shoot, Knight called the film “charmed from the beginning.”

  • ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ cast announced

    ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ cast announced

    MUMBAI: Actors John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Mr. Selfridge), Adam Driver (Girls), Golden Globe Award nominee Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), BAFTA Award nominee Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings films, The Hobbit films), Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 & Part 2), and Academy Award nominee Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) will join the original stars of the saga, Golden Globe Award winner Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones films), Carrie Fisher (Family Guy), Mark Hamill (Uncle Grandpa), Anthony Daniels (Prime Suspect), Peter Mayhew (Breaking In, Glee), and Kenny Baker (Amadeus, Casualty) in the new film.

    Director J.J. Abrams said in a statement, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

    It has also been confirmed that Star Wars: Episode VII is set about 30 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and will star a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces.

    Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek reboot films) from a screenplay by Academy Award nominee Lawrence Kasdan (Darling Companion) and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy (The Adventures of Tintin), J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk (Lost, Fringe) are producing and Academy Award winner John Williams (Jaws, Schindler’s List) returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on 18 December, 2015.
  • The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    MUMBAI: The New Zealand director, producer and screenwriter Jane Campion, winner of the Palme D’Or or for The Piano, will be the president of the jury for the 67th Festival de Cannes. Cannes has always sought to adopt a universal and international approach, and in tune with this tradition, Campion will be surrounded by eight luminaries of world cinema, from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the United States, France and Mexico.

     

     As in 2009 the jury will therefore include five women and four men. Their task will be to decide between the 18 films in competition in order to select the winners – to be announced on stage at the ceremony on 24 May. The winner of the Palme D’Or will be screened during the festival’s closing evening on 25 May, in the presence of the jury and the entire team of the winning film.

     

    The jury members include:

     

    Carole Bouquet, actress (France): After her film debut in 1977 with Luis Bu?uel in That Obscure Object of Desire, Bouquet alternated between arthouse and blockbuster productions. A Bond girl in 1981 in For Your Eyes Only, she worked with Bertrand Blier on Buffet Froid (1979) and Too Beautiful For You (1989) for which she won the César for Best Actress. She appeared in Le jour des idiots by Werner Schroeter, Michel Blanc’s Dead Tired and Embrassez qui vous voudrez, Lucie Aubrac by Claude Berri, L’Enfer by Danis Tanovic, Nordeste by Juan Diego Solanas (Festival de Cannes 2005) and Unforgivable by André Téchiné.

     

    Sofia Coppola, director and screenwriter (United States): Coppola’s first feature film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it met with international critical acclaim. Four years later, after several Oscar nominations for Lost in Translation, including Best Director, she walked off with the Best Screenplay award. Her third film, Marie Antoinette was selected in Competition at Cannes in 2006. After picking up a Golden Lion in Venice for Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola opened Un Certain Regard with her last film The Bling Ring at the Festival de Cannes in 2013.

     

    Leila Hatami, actress (Iran): Born in Tehran into a family of filmmakers, she started out acting in films directed by her father, Ali Hatami, before starring in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1998) which brought her to national attention. It was Asghar Farhadi who established her on the world stage with A Separation (Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Festival). She picked up the Best Actress award in Karlovy Vary for her role in Ali Mosaffa’s Last Step in 2012.

     

    Jeon Do-yeon, actress (South Korea): The first Korean actress to receive the Best Actress award at the Festival de Cannes for her role in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong (2007), Jeon Do-yeon started out as a television actress before turning exclusively to cinema. Her major films include I Wish I Had a Wife by Ryoo Seung, My Mother, The Mermaid by Park Jin-pyo and The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo, presented at Cannes in 2010. A massive celebrity in her country, she has just finished shooting Memories of the Sword by Park Heung-sik.

     

    Willem Dafoe, Actor (United States): Twice nominated for an Oscar, for Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe has appeared in 80 films including Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Light Sleeper by Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, Antichrist by Lars von Trier and The English Patient by Anthony Minghella. He will soon be appearing in A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn and Pasolini by Abel Ferrara. A co-founder of the Wooster Group – an experimental theatre collective – he is currently on tour with Bob Wilson’s play The Old Woman.

     

    Gael García Bernal, actor, director and producer (Mexico): Bernal first came to public attention in I?árritu’s Amorres Perros, soon followed by Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón. He then featured in films directed by some of the greats of international cinema, such as The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry, Babel by Gonzalez Inarritu and The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. In 2005, he founded his Canana production company with Diego Luna and in 2010, after a few short films, directed his first feature film, Deficit, selected at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.

     

    Nicolas Winding Refn, director, screenwriter and producer (Denmark): His first film, Pusher (1996), written and directed at the age of 24, immediately became a cult movie and he shot to fame throughout the world. He then directed Bleeder (1999), Fear X (2003), Pusher II & III (2004 & 2005), Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009). In 2011, Drive was presented at the Festival de Cannes and won the Best Direction prize, awarded by the jury presided by Robert De Niro. His last film, Only God Forgives, featured in Competition at Cannes in 2013.

     

    Jia Zhangke, director, screenwriter and producer (China): After first studying art Jia Zhangke, born in 1970, attended the Beijing Film Academy in the 1990s. After the success of his first film, Xao Wu (1998), he directed Platform (Zhantai, 2000) and Unknown Pleasures (Ren xiao yao, 2002) selected for Venice and Cannes respectively. Still Life picked up the Golden Lion in Venice in 2006. He also presented 24 City at the Festival de Cannes, in Competition in 2008 and I Wish I Knew for Un Certain Regard in 2010. Last year, A Touch of Sin garnered the Best Screenplay prize awarded by the jury presided by Steven Spielberg.

  • 300’s Zach Snyder to direct ‘Justice League’

    300’s Zach Snyder to direct ‘Justice League’

    MUMBAI: Confirming the studio’s plans for a movie based on its iconic super-team for the first time to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Warner Bros. president of worldwide production Greg Silverman said the studio has set plans to make a Justice League movie.

    Like Man of Steel and its follow-up, which starts production next month, Justice League will be directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen). Henry Cavill is expected to return as Superman, along with Ben Affleck (Gone Girl) and Gal Gadot, who play Batman and Wonder Woman, respectively in 2016’s Man of Steel sequel tentatively titled Batman vs. Superman.

    “It will be a further expansion of this universe,” said Silverman to WSJ. “’Superman vs. Batman’ will lead into ‘Justice League.’”

    A script is still in development and Warner Bros. has not set a release date, though the movie is unlikely to come out before 2018. The studio has recently been casting the role of Cyborg, a half-robotic hero who is expected to have a cameo in Batman vs. Superman and then appear in Justice League. Other DC heroes who have been in Justice League comic books include Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern.

    The plans for three superhero movies in relatively quick succession show how intent Warner is on catching up with rival Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios in building a cinematic superhero universe after years of lagging behind.

  • Spielberg to bring Dahl’s ‘Big Fat Giant’ on screen

    Spielberg to bring Dahl’s ‘Big Fat Giant’ on screen

    MUMBAI: According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Steven Spielberg will helm the live-action film adaptation which will be based on the fantastical tale of a Big Friendly Giant (BGF) who befriends a young orphan girl.

     

    The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, the Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast. 

    When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

     

    DreamWorks acquired the book in 2011 with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall to produce. Melissa Mathison, who penned the script for E.T., wrote the screenplay. Marshall will produce with Michael Siegel on board as executive producer along with Madden.

     

    There has been one other adaptation of the popular children’s book: for a 1989 animated made-for-TV television movie in the U.K. Spielberg, has not directed a movie since 2012’s Lincoln, but Spielberg is officially committing himself to BFG and is planning a 2015 start date with a release in 2016.