Jennifer Lawrence was willing to go to great lengths to prepare for her role in Winter’s Bone. But she initially acquired the part for doing something in the auditions that most actors weren’t willing to.
How Jennifer Lawrence beat out other actors for ‘Winter’s Bone’ Jennifer Lawrence | John Shearer/WireImage
Lawrence was willing to do whatever it took to be cast in the feature Winter’s Bone. The 2010 drama saw the Oscar winner playing an Ozark teenager looking after her younger siblings. The movie was directed by Debra Granik, who felt Lawrence stood out immediately compared to the other actors. Granik noted that many of the actors Lawrence competed with wore makeup for the coveted role.
“I think a lot of those young women showed up in skimpy outfits because they were taught that that is what gets noticed in Hollywood,” Granik once told the Ocean County Register.
Meanwhile, Lawrence went all natural,...
How Jennifer Lawrence beat out other actors for ‘Winter’s Bone’ Jennifer Lawrence | John Shearer/WireImage
Lawrence was willing to do whatever it took to be cast in the feature Winter’s Bone. The 2010 drama saw the Oscar winner playing an Ozark teenager looking after her younger siblings. The movie was directed by Debra Granik, who felt Lawrence stood out immediately compared to the other actors. Granik noted that many of the actors Lawrence competed with wore makeup for the coveted role.
“I think a lot of those young women showed up in skimpy outfits because they were taught that that is what gets noticed in Hollywood,” Granik once told the Ocean County Register.
Meanwhile, Lawrence went all natural,...
- 1/5/2024
- by Antonio Stallings
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Jeffrey Wright is recalling the time he did not censor himself for the film Ride with the Devil.
Studios release different versions of films depending on where they are being exhibited. During a roundtable with his American Fiction co-stars, Wright opened up about dubbing himself for the “airplane version” of the 1999 Ang Lee film.
In the Civil War set film, the actor portrays a former slave fighting on the side of the Confederacy.
“In this scene in which he has this, kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n*****. And I will never again be anyone’s n*****,'” Wright recalled during EW‘s roundtable. “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
The studio asked Wright to replace the N-word with another word, to which Wright said,...
Studios release different versions of films depending on where they are being exhibited. During a roundtable with his American Fiction co-stars, Wright opened up about dubbing himself for the “airplane version” of the 1999 Ang Lee film.
In the Civil War set film, the actor portrays a former slave fighting on the side of the Confederacy.
“In this scene in which he has this, kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n*****. And I will never again be anyone’s n*****,'” Wright recalled during EW‘s roundtable. “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
The studio asked Wright to replace the N-word with another word, to which Wright said,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
Jeffrey Wright’s latest stop on his “American Fiction” press tour was a cast interview with Entertainment Weekly in which he shocked his co-stars with a story about how he once refused a studio’s request to censor his dialogue. The Emmy winner starred in Ang Lee’s 1999 Civil War drama “Ride With the Devil” as a former slave fighting for his freedom.
“In this scene in which he has this kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n—–. And I will never again be anyone’s n—–,'” Wright remembered. “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
“The studio at the time was so conflicted about how we market it. Ultimately, they decided we don’t need to market it at all,” Wright continued. “Then...
“In this scene in which he has this kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n—–. And I will never again be anyone’s n—–,'” Wright remembered. “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
“The studio at the time was so conflicted about how we market it. Ultimately, they decided we don’t need to market it at all,” Wright continued. “Then...
- 1/3/2024
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Independent studio wiip has preemptively acquired An Honest Man, an upcoming novel by Michael Koryta, to develop as a television drama series, with Koryta attached to pen the adaptation.
An Honest Man tells the story of Israel Pike, a man just released from prison for killing his own father, who returns to his ancestral island home in northern Maine and quickly becomes the primary suspect when seven men, including two Senate rivals and the prosecutor who sent Pike to prison, are found dead aboard a yacht drifting offshore. Lt. Jenn Salazar of the Maine State Police takes the lead in the investigation on Salvation Point Island, operating with secrets of her own to protect.
The novel will be published by Mulholland Books July 25, 2023.
wiip’s Paul Lee, Mark Roybal and Nate Winslow will executive produce alongside Koryta.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox, Roybal acquired Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead...
An Honest Man tells the story of Israel Pike, a man just released from prison for killing his own father, who returns to his ancestral island home in northern Maine and quickly becomes the primary suspect when seven men, including two Senate rivals and the prosecutor who sent Pike to prison, are found dead aboard a yacht drifting offshore. Lt. Jenn Salazar of the Maine State Police takes the lead in the investigation on Salvation Point Island, operating with secrets of her own to protect.
The novel will be published by Mulholland Books July 25, 2023.
wiip’s Paul Lee, Mark Roybal and Nate Winslow will executive produce alongside Koryta.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox, Roybal acquired Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead...
- 1/12/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman, the prolific producers behind series including Elementary and Justified, have teamed with Andrew Davies, the writer behind the original British drama House of Cards, on a drama about a fictional UK prime minster facing a string of crises.
The trio, along with Lionsgate, are producing Downing Street, which follows a Pm and a team of senior advisers and young staffers, juggling complicated personal lives with the round-the-clock demands of professional duty.
As a newly christened leader takes the reins of power, they are immediately confronted by a string of crises. The resulting scrutiny of the prime minister’s competence, motives, and personal life by political opponents, a cynical public, beleaguered royals and a rabid press, threaten to derail the Prime Minister’s tenure and expose damaging personal indiscretions.
The timing is delicious, coming as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been facing an avalanche...
The trio, along with Lionsgate, are producing Downing Street, which follows a Pm and a team of senior advisers and young staffers, juggling complicated personal lives with the round-the-clock demands of professional duty.
As a newly christened leader takes the reins of power, they are immediately confronted by a string of crises. The resulting scrutiny of the prime minister’s competence, motives, and personal life by political opponents, a cynical public, beleaguered royals and a rabid press, threaten to derail the Prime Minister’s tenure and expose damaging personal indiscretions.
The timing is delicious, coming as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been facing an avalanche...
- 2/14/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Acclaimed author Daniel Woodrell’s The Bayou Trilogy crime novels is getting a TV series adaptation. Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman are developing and producing the project via their Timberman-Beverly Productions banner. It is one of the first high-profile shows under the overall deal the duo signed with Lionsgate Television last year.
The Bayou Trilogy: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do chronicles business-as-usual corruption in the fictitious Louisiana parish of St. Bruno. In the eye of the storm stands Detective Renee Shade, whose sense of duty collides with a violent underbelly of Dixie Mafia, ex-cons, dirty cops, and political grifters, along with pesky personal demons and a web of family entanglements.
“Daniel Woodrell is a brilliant storyteller, wordsmith and poet, and his books are a master class in character, crime fiction and the South,” said Beverly. “He plunges readers into the murky depths of his characters’ lives,...
The Bayou Trilogy: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do chronicles business-as-usual corruption in the fictitious Louisiana parish of St. Bruno. In the eye of the storm stands Detective Renee Shade, whose sense of duty collides with a violent underbelly of Dixie Mafia, ex-cons, dirty cops, and political grifters, along with pesky personal demons and a web of family entanglements.
“Daniel Woodrell is a brilliant storyteller, wordsmith and poet, and his books are a master class in character, crime fiction and the South,” said Beverly. “He plunges readers into the murky depths of his characters’ lives,...
- 1/10/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Stream of the Day: 10 Years Ago, ‘Winter’s Bone’ Showed Why Jennifer Lawrence Was the Next Big Thing
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
When Debra Granik cast her as the lead in her Sundance-winning “Winter’s Bone,” Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t entirely an unknown quanity. The Kentucky native had already notched some major milestones by the time Granik picked the 19-year-old to star in her Ozarks-set drug drama, including a recurring role on a network sitcom (TBS’ short-lived “The Bill Engvall Show”) and the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging talent. But Lawrence’s work in the Oscar-nominated 2010 feature has long been hailed as her breakthrough role, announcing her as a major talent to watch before Hollywood inevitably threw her into the franchise maw with “The Hunger Games.”
Ten years later, the most remarkable aspect of Lawrence’s work in “Winter’s Bone” — the...
When Debra Granik cast her as the lead in her Sundance-winning “Winter’s Bone,” Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t entirely an unknown quanity. The Kentucky native had already notched some major milestones by the time Granik picked the 19-year-old to star in her Ozarks-set drug drama, including a recurring role on a network sitcom (TBS’ short-lived “The Bill Engvall Show”) and the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging talent. But Lawrence’s work in the Oscar-nominated 2010 feature has long been hailed as her breakthrough role, announcing her as a major talent to watch before Hollywood inevitably threw her into the franchise maw with “The Hunger Games.”
Ten years later, the most remarkable aspect of Lawrence’s work in “Winter’s Bone” — the...
- 6/15/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Thompson on Hollywood
Stream of the Day: 10 Years Ago, ‘Winter’s Bone’ Showed Why Jennifer Lawrence Was the Next Big Thing
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
When Debra Granik cast her as the lead in her Sundance-winning “Winter’s Bone,” Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t entirely an unknown quanity. The Kentucky native had already notched some major milestones by the time Granik picked the 19-year-old to star in her Ozarks-set drug drama, including a recurring role on a network sitcom (TBS’ short-lived “The Bill Engvall Show”) and the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging talent. But Lawrence’s work in the Oscar-nominated 2010 feature has long been hailed as her breakthrough role, announcing her as a major talent to watch before Hollywood inevitably threw her into the franchise maw with “The Hunger Games.”
Ten years later, the most remarkable aspect of Lawrence’s work in “Winter’s Bone” — the...
When Debra Granik cast her as the lead in her Sundance-winning “Winter’s Bone,” Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t entirely an unknown quanity. The Kentucky native had already notched some major milestones by the time Granik picked the 19-year-old to star in her Ozarks-set drug drama, including a recurring role on a network sitcom (TBS’ short-lived “The Bill Engvall Show”) and the Venice Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging talent. But Lawrence’s work in the Oscar-nominated 2010 feature has long been hailed as her breakthrough role, announcing her as a major talent to watch before Hollywood inevitably threw her into the franchise maw with “The Hunger Games.”
Ten years later, the most remarkable aspect of Lawrence’s work in “Winter’s Bone” — the...
- 6/15/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Though it was a small, $2 million budgeted crime drama set in the Missouri Ozarks, director Debra Granik's Winter's Bone cast a long cultural shadow after it landed in theaters in 2010. In addition to launching the career of Jennifer Lawrence and earning the then-20-year-old actress her first Oscar nomination, the film inspired a character in Star Trek Beyond, boosted previously obscure Ozarks author Daniel Woodrell's name in literary circles and saw character actor John Hawkes graduate into more prominent roles.
Still, during the eight years since she nabbed an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film, Granik has ...
Still, during the eight years since she nabbed an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film, Granik has ...
- 6/29/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Though it was a small, $2 million budgeted crime drama set in the Missouri Ozarks, director Debra Granik's Winter's Bone cast a long cultural shadow after it landed in theaters in 2010. In addition to launching the career of Jennifer Lawrence and earning the then-20-year-old actress her first Oscar nomination, the film inspired a character in Star Trek Beyond, boosted previously obscure Ozarks author Daniel Woodrell's name in literary circles and saw character actor John Hawkes graduate into more prominent roles.
Still, during the eight years since she nabbed an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film, Granik has ...
Still, during the eight years since she nabbed an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film, Granik has ...
- 6/29/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Irish Showcase celebrating Celtic culture set for April 23.
The 18th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (Nbff) will present the largest celebration of Irish Cinema on the West Coast during its eight-day run from April 20-27.
Highlights include an Irish Showcase event, numerous premieres, 12 narrative and documentary features, two shorts programmes, and the participation of Irish filmmakers and actors.
The Irish Showcase event will take place on April 23 and celebrate Celtic cinema and culture. Three films will premier during the event, including the Southern California premiere of A Date For Mad Mary and The Secret Scripture, and the North American premiere of Tomato Red, followed by a reception.
A Date For Mad Mary from Darren Thornton won Best Irish Feature Film and the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the 2016 Galway Film Fleadh.
The film stars Seána Kerslake as Mary McArdle, who returns from prison to attend her best friend Charlene’s wedding and sets out to prove...
The 18th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (Nbff) will present the largest celebration of Irish Cinema on the West Coast during its eight-day run from April 20-27.
Highlights include an Irish Showcase event, numerous premieres, 12 narrative and documentary features, two shorts programmes, and the participation of Irish filmmakers and actors.
The Irish Showcase event will take place on April 23 and celebrate Celtic cinema and culture. Three films will premier during the event, including the Southern California premiere of A Date For Mad Mary and The Secret Scripture, and the North American premiere of Tomato Red, followed by a reception.
A Date For Mad Mary from Darren Thornton won Best Irish Feature Film and the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the 2016 Galway Film Fleadh.
The film stars Seána Kerslake as Mary McArdle, who returns from prison to attend her best friend Charlene’s wedding and sets out to prove...
- 4/20/2017
- ScreenDaily
Adapted from a novel by Daniel Woodrell, this film about a man who falls in love with a crimson-haired girl he meets in a bar doesn’t quite match its source
Here’s that rare thing: an adaptation of a Daniel Woodrell novel that doesn’t live up to the source material. Woodrell’s work, focused almost exclusively on the challenges of working-class life in the mountainous American Ozarks, has previously provided the source material for two fine films: Ang Lee’s historical drama Ride With The Devil and the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone. But Tomato Red (adapted from the 1998 novel of the same name) to do justice to Woodrell’s austere vision. Jake Weary stars as Sammy Barlach, an ex-con who spends his time drifting through various dead-end jobs and drinking himself into a stupor. His life is altered dramatically when, while on a bender, he encounters the free-spirited...
Here’s that rare thing: an adaptation of a Daniel Woodrell novel that doesn’t live up to the source material. Woodrell’s work, focused almost exclusively on the challenges of working-class life in the mountainous American Ozarks, has previously provided the source material for two fine films: Ang Lee’s historical drama Ride With The Devil and the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone. But Tomato Red (adapted from the 1998 novel of the same name) to do justice to Woodrell’s austere vision. Jake Weary stars as Sammy Barlach, an ex-con who spends his time drifting through various dead-end jobs and drinking himself into a stupor. His life is altered dramatically when, while on a bender, he encounters the free-spirited...
- 2/24/2017
- by Gwilym Mumford
- The Guardian - Film News
Casey Affleck is set to topline Debra Granik’s film adaptation of the 2009 novel by Peter Rock “My Abandonment,” according to The Tracking Board.
Inspired by a true story, the film will center around Caroline, a thirteen-year-old girl and her father who live in Forest Park, an enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon. Living in the an elaborate cave shelter, they bathe in a nearby creek, store perishables at the water’s edge, use a makeshift septic system, tend a garden, even keep a library of sorts. Once a week they go buy groceries and blend in with the civilized world. Their whole world turns upside down when a jogger discovers where they live and Caroline is torn between her loyalty to her father and the possibility of a new and normal life.
Granik will direct and co-write the script with Anne Rosellini. Rossellini is producing with Linda Reisman and Anne Harrison of ReVision Films.
Inspired by a true story, the film will center around Caroline, a thirteen-year-old girl and her father who live in Forest Park, an enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon. Living in the an elaborate cave shelter, they bathe in a nearby creek, store perishables at the water’s edge, use a makeshift septic system, tend a garden, even keep a library of sorts. Once a week they go buy groceries and blend in with the civilized world. Their whole world turns upside down when a jogger discovers where they live and Caroline is torn between her loyalty to her father and the possibility of a new and normal life.
Granik will direct and co-write the script with Anne Rosellini. Rossellini is producing with Linda Reisman and Anne Harrison of ReVision Films.
- 7/31/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Jennifer Lawrence in a long, red dress at the Oscars Jennifer Lawrence at the Academy Awards Stunning in a red dress, Jennifer Lawrence arrives at the 2011 Academy Awards held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Lawrence was a first-time Best Actress Oscar nominee for her first major film role: a near-destitute, young Ozark woman looking for her missing drug-dealing father in Winter's Bone, Debra Granik's generally well-received indie drama. Winter's Bone also earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini; based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell). Jennifer Lawrence's competitors in the Best Actress Oscar race were: Annette Bening for Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. Michelle Williams for Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine. Nicole Kidman for John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole. Natalie Portman, the eventual winner, for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.
- 4/24/2015
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Exclusive: Irish Film Board to back productions including Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture and Tomato Red.
The Irish Film Board is to back productions from Juanita Wilson, Jim Sheridan, Julien Temple and Aisling Walsh in its latest round of funding decisions.
Noel Pearson (My Left Foot) is producing The Secret Scripture, which was announced in Berlin, with Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave attached, being sold by Voltage Pictures.
It has received this round’s biggest commitment of €600,000 ($820,000). In The Name Of The Father and My Left Foot’s Sheridan is now lined up to direct.
Johnny Ferguson’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s novel centres on the relationship between a 100-year-old woman who has been in a mental hospital for half her life and the psychiatrist who tries to understand why she is there. Production is due to get underway later this year.
Octagon Films production Tomato Red from writer-director Wilson (As If I Am Not There) has received...
The Irish Film Board is to back productions from Juanita Wilson, Jim Sheridan, Julien Temple and Aisling Walsh in its latest round of funding decisions.
Noel Pearson (My Left Foot) is producing The Secret Scripture, which was announced in Berlin, with Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave attached, being sold by Voltage Pictures.
It has received this round’s biggest commitment of €600,000 ($820,000). In The Name Of The Father and My Left Foot’s Sheridan is now lined up to direct.
Johnny Ferguson’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s novel centres on the relationship between a 100-year-old woman who has been in a mental hospital for half her life and the psychiatrist who tries to understand why she is there. Production is due to get underway later this year.
Octagon Films production Tomato Red from writer-director Wilson (As If I Am Not There) has received...
- 5/19/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
They say that anthologies and short story collections are a tough sell; it makes sense, then, that you don’t see that many on the shelves in your local big box bookstore (if you still have one in your neighborhood, that is). The mainstream merchants want product they can move and move fast, so yeah, they’ll stock a collection if it says Stephen King or Daniel Woodrell or Michael Chabon on the cover – otherwise, they might not be so inclined.
Multi-author anthologies with a narrow, albeit intriguing theme? Don’t hold your breath.
Thank goodness once again for the small press, for whom “good business sense” (or the line of thinking the big publishers brand as such) often runs a distant second to “damn, that’s a good idea, let’s assemble twenty stories on that, and be sure to leave a few spots open for relative newcomers, because...
Multi-author anthologies with a narrow, albeit intriguing theme? Don’t hold your breath.
Thank goodness once again for the small press, for whom “good business sense” (or the line of thinking the big publishers brand as such) often runs a distant second to “damn, that’s a good idea, let’s assemble twenty stories on that, and be sure to leave a few spots open for relative newcomers, because...
- 3/19/2013
- by Blu Gilliand
- FEARnet
(In Alphabetical order)
Meek’s Cutoff
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt had a stellar if hushed 2000s, and then she commenced the current decade with a film that is already beginning to feel like an unsung modern classic. Meek’s Cutoff is one of those exhilarating instances in which a marriage of disparate styles produces something tricky to imagine, but perfect to behold: a period piece set in mid-1800’s Oregon, shot in academy ratio and classically beautiful for it, but with Reichardt’s signature severe naturalism. The result is so stark and understated that it begins to feel graceful, weirdly epic. A small caravan of settlers (featuring Michelle Williams and a once again devout Paul Dano) hires a guide, big-talking Stephen Meek, to help them navigate the Oregon Trail. As the terrain grows less forgiving and water evermore scarce, the settlers begin to wonder if the route Meek...
Meek’s Cutoff
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt had a stellar if hushed 2000s, and then she commenced the current decade with a film that is already beginning to feel like an unsung modern classic. Meek’s Cutoff is one of those exhilarating instances in which a marriage of disparate styles produces something tricky to imagine, but perfect to behold: a period piece set in mid-1800’s Oregon, shot in academy ratio and classically beautiful for it, but with Reichardt’s signature severe naturalism. The result is so stark and understated that it begins to feel graceful, weirdly epic. A small caravan of settlers (featuring Michelle Williams and a once again devout Paul Dano) hires a guide, big-talking Stephen Meek, to help them navigate the Oregon Trail. As the terrain grows less forgiving and water evermore scarce, the settlers begin to wonder if the route Meek...
- 9/26/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
I have to give it to the Lawless redband trailer that came out this week. Heck, I have to stick a gold star on the work of the whole marketing team. They know how to ride a trend and ride it well.
The Lawless red band is woven from glimpses of every buzzing theme in American crime film these days.
Give a look. Then we’ll make like Highlights Magazine and circle the animals we see.
Of course, the mainstays of modern R-rated USA action film present themselves. I refer to the “Three T’s”: Torture. Tits. Tommy guns. If an action genre installment is to earn its Family Unsafe rating, it needs to show some skin, slash up helpless victims, and get its gun on in a major way.
Check, check, check – Lawless has those all, seemingly as gratuitous as can be.
But it’s the trends at the substance of the story,...
The Lawless red band is woven from glimpses of every buzzing theme in American crime film these days.
Give a look. Then we’ll make like Highlights Magazine and circle the animals we see.
Of course, the mainstays of modern R-rated USA action film present themselves. I refer to the “Three T’s”: Torture. Tits. Tommy guns. If an action genre installment is to earn its Family Unsafe rating, it needs to show some skin, slash up helpless victims, and get its gun on in a major way.
Check, check, check – Lawless has those all, seemingly as gratuitous as can be.
But it’s the trends at the substance of the story,...
- 8/23/2012
- by Matthew C. Funk
- Boomtron
PopWatcher Planner: 'Revenge' returns, Zac Efron will have you unhooked, and adorable 'Wild' animals
National Smile Month will come to a close faster than you can imagine, and we PopWatcher Planners are determined to make sure you get your fair share of toothy grins during the latter half of April. From good reads to devilish deeds, we’ve got a week’s worth of ear-to-ear good times, including a season finale, a primetime sudser’s return, some playful baby elephants on DVD, National Record Store Day, and political yuks. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 15
The 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Rms Titanic
Admittedly, this doesn’t sound like a cause to grin, but that...
Sunday, April 15
The 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Rms Titanic
Admittedly, this doesn’t sound like a cause to grin, but that...
- 4/15/2012
- by Lanford Beard
- EW.com - PopWatch
Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, and more to feature in David M. Rosenthal’s film adaptation of Matthew F. Jones’ A Single Shot.
If there was a better or more worthy crime fiction re-release last year, I certainly didn’t read it. The 2011Mulholland Books edition of Matthew F. Jones’ 1996 novel, A Single Shot, was justifiably lauded as a standout in a strong year, new books or old, for crime fiction in general, and particularly for what has come to be called (love it or hate it) “rural noir,” with strong works by writers such as Frank Bill, Daniel Woodrell and Joe R. Lansdale also hitting shelves.
News that A Single Shot had been optioned was cause for celebration enough, but with the project full steam ahead and talents like Sam Rockwell (who, in interests of full disclosure, is possibly this reporter’s hero — let’s face it, he even...
If there was a better or more worthy crime fiction re-release last year, I certainly didn’t read it. The 2011Mulholland Books edition of Matthew F. Jones’ 1996 novel, A Single Shot, was justifiably lauded as a standout in a strong year, new books or old, for crime fiction in general, and particularly for what has come to be called (love it or hate it) “rural noir,” with strong works by writers such as Frank Bill, Daniel Woodrell and Joe R. Lansdale also hitting shelves.
News that A Single Shot had been optioned was cause for celebration enough, but with the project full steam ahead and talents like Sam Rockwell (who, in interests of full disclosure, is possibly this reporter’s hero — let’s face it, he even...
- 4/2/2012
- by Cameron Ashley
- Boomtron
Okay, Daniel Woodrell of West Plains, Miss., has just been elevated by Winter’s Bone and Sundance and the Oscars and the general high opinions of critics everywhere into the stratosphere of Great American Novelists, Gritty Division. The buzz, cicadas on a summer night, is deafening. It should be. Woodrell single-handedly generated a new genre—country noir—with his Ozarks-based crime stories. Sure enough, the usual glowing comparisons to Chandler, Faulkner, Mosley, Jim Thompson and Cormac McCarthy have all been sung. He’s a “backcountry Shakespeare,” opines the La Times. He’s “deeply atmospheric and oozing with the mojo of the swamp,” says the Chicago...
- 8/3/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
Daniel Woodrell (Photo: Bruce Carr)
During Oscar weekend, Speakeasy published a short interview with Daniel Woodrell, who wrote the novel on which the Best Picture-nominated film “Winter’s Bone” is based. What follows is a longer conversation with Woodrell in which the 57-year-old author talks about his career and how he came to focus his writing on the Ozark region where he grew up and continues to live. “The Bayou Trilogy,” a collection comprised of three of Woodrell’s first four novels,...
During Oscar weekend, Speakeasy published a short interview with Daniel Woodrell, who wrote the novel on which the Best Picture-nominated film “Winter’s Bone” is based. What follows is a longer conversation with Woodrell in which the 57-year-old author talks about his career and how he came to focus his writing on the Ozark region where he grew up and continues to live. “The Bayou Trilogy,” a collection comprised of three of Woodrell’s first four novels,...
- 3/2/2011
- by Steven Kurutz
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
A week or so ago, Roadside Attractions, the distributor behind “Winter’s Bone,” called Daniel Woodrell and asked if he’d like to attend the Oscars. A tale of rural poverty and crime set in the Ozarks, “Winter’s Bone” is this year’s Cinderella story, a film shot on a $2 million budget and nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Two of the film’s cast members — Dale Dickey and John Hawkes — won Spirit Awards yesterday and are up for Oscars tonight.
- 2/27/2011
- by Steven Kurutz
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
As directors who have continually proven themselves to be at the cutting edge of what's next and new, it's hard to believe that all five of the nominees in this year's Best Director category have already been to the Spirit Awards sometime, if not multiple times, over the last decade. For some, they return with radically different films than they first broke onto the scene with, while others have kept mining the same emotional terrain in new and different ways, but all have applied their vision to the films we continue to be excited about then, now and the future.
Darren Aronofsky is a prime example of this, having debuted with the Spirit Award-nominated "Pi" in 1998 and making the most of a reported $60,000 budget to tell the story of a numbers expert who stumbles upon a code he believes could unlock the secrets of the universe before descending into madness.
Darren Aronofsky is a prime example of this, having debuted with the Spirit Award-nominated "Pi" in 1998 and making the most of a reported $60,000 budget to tell the story of a numbers expert who stumbles upon a code he believes could unlock the secrets of the universe before descending into madness.
- 2/27/2011
- by IFC
- ifc.com
This piece was originally printed in the Spring 2010 issue. Winter’s Bone is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini).
It’s not often a striking young girl makes it in Hollywood without accentuating her looks, but Jennifer Lawrence is not your typical 19-year-old actress. While many of her peers go for lightweight parts in bubblegum teen comedies, Lawrence has taken a more serious route, filled with dark roles that deal with issues well beyond her years.
The Kentucky native left home for L.A. at 14 and after getting bit parts on TV shows like Monk, Cold Case and Medium, landed the role of daughter Lauren on the TBS series The Bill Engvall Show in 2007. A year later she was cast in her first leading role in The Poker House, an intense drama playing a young...
It’s not often a striking young girl makes it in Hollywood without accentuating her looks, but Jennifer Lawrence is not your typical 19-year-old actress. While many of her peers go for lightweight parts in bubblegum teen comedies, Lawrence has taken a more serious route, filled with dark roles that deal with issues well beyond her years.
The Kentucky native left home for L.A. at 14 and after getting bit parts on TV shows like Monk, Cold Case and Medium, landed the role of daughter Lauren on the TBS series The Bill Engvall Show in 2007. A year later she was cast in her first leading role in The Poker House, an intense drama playing a young...
- 2/25/2011
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Debra Granik, director of Winter's Bone, is putting her true feelings about Hollywood aside
There's a scene in Winter's Bone, Debra Granik's award-winning "country noir" thriller, in which the teenage heroine, Ree Dolly, teaches her younger siblings how to skin a squirrel. It only takes a minute, from Ree asking, "You guys want these fried or stewed?", to her brother Sonny tugging out the intestines and wondering if they're good to eat.
Granik is an authenticity freak, so it troubled her when people from the Ozark forests in southern Missouri, where the film is set, complained the scene misrepresented their way of life. One blogger pointed out that no one goes to a supermarket in the movie, as if people in this insular community only eat animals they've killed themselves. Others griped that the incision was too small and the skinning too quick.
"There's a family up the street from where we shot,...
There's a scene in Winter's Bone, Debra Granik's award-winning "country noir" thriller, in which the teenage heroine, Ree Dolly, teaches her younger siblings how to skin a squirrel. It only takes a minute, from Ree asking, "You guys want these fried or stewed?", to her brother Sonny tugging out the intestines and wondering if they're good to eat.
Granik is an authenticity freak, so it troubled her when people from the Ozark forests in southern Missouri, where the film is set, complained the scene misrepresented their way of life. One blogger pointed out that no one goes to a supermarket in the movie, as if people in this insular community only eat animals they've killed themselves. Others griped that the incision was too small and the skinning too quick.
"There's a family up the street from where we shot,...
- 2/25/2011
- by Andrew Purcell
- The Guardian - Film News
As a way of celebrating this year's nominees for the Spirit Awards in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, we reached out to as many as we could in an effort to better understand what went into their films, what they've gotten out of the experience, and where they've found their inspiration, both in regards to their work and other works of art that might've inspired them from the past year. Their answers will be published on a daily basis throughout February.
Over the past few weeks, Jennifer Lawrence has complained of the cold, cinematographer Michael McDonough lamented an unforgiving schedule, and Dale Dickey spoke of the challenge of balancing a chainsaw while on a boat. And these were only a few of the obstacles that were overcome under the watchful eye of Debra Granik to make "Winter's Bone" one of the year's most unforgettable films.
That might sound like needless hyperbole,...
Over the past few weeks, Jennifer Lawrence has complained of the cold, cinematographer Michael McDonough lamented an unforgiving schedule, and Dale Dickey spoke of the challenge of balancing a chainsaw while on a boat. And these were only a few of the obstacles that were overcome under the watchful eye of Debra Granik to make "Winter's Bone" one of the year's most unforgettable films.
That might sound like needless hyperbole,...
- 2/24/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
I think one of the things that I love most about the Hunger Games series–Suzanne Collins’ riveting dystopian trilogy that everyone seems to have either read and loved or is currently reading and loving–is that it stars a girl. Not just any girl, mind you. It stars Katniss Everdeen–as resilient and competent and scrappy and flawed as any hero in pop culture that I can remember. She’s 16 years old. She’s not silly nor love struck nor a hand-wringer when it comes to boys or her appearance. She is a fighter, without ever seeming cartoonish.
“It...
“It...
- 2/20/2011
- by Karen Valby
- EW.com - PopWatch
As a way of celebrating this year's nominees for the Spirit Awards in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, we reached out to as many as we could in an effort to better understand what went into their films, what they've gotten out of the experience, and where they've found their inspiration, both in regards to their work and other works of art that might've inspired them from the past year. Their answers will be published on a daily basis throughout February.
One of the recurring oddities of awards season is reconciling the actors and actresses who walk the red carpet with the roles they so thoroughly inhabited that got them honored in the first place. For Jennifer Lawrence, the difference has been particularly stark, radiating old school Hollywood glamour as she's strolled through one ceremony after another in recent months for her performance in "Winter's Bone" where as the steely Ree Dolly,...
One of the recurring oddities of awards season is reconciling the actors and actresses who walk the red carpet with the roles they so thoroughly inhabited that got them honored in the first place. For Jennifer Lawrence, the difference has been particularly stark, radiating old school Hollywood glamour as she's strolled through one ceremony after another in recent months for her performance in "Winter's Bone" where as the steely Ree Dolly,...
- 2/9/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
"The Social Network," the movie, might have lost its luster with "The King's Speech" stealing its thunder. But the film's script by Aaron Sorkin continues to win accolades!
Based on "The Accidental Billionaires" by author Ben Mezrich, Sorkin's "The Social Network" screenplay beat "127 Hours," "The Ghost Writer," "True Grit," and "Winter's Bone" and emerged as the winner of the 23rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award.
Personally, I agree that Sorkin's script was the best of 2010. It's layered, with all the characters thinking they're the heroes, and the script is peppered with smart dialogue and affecting narrative structure. (Check out my review of "The Social Network" where I made a special plea about Sorkin's script)
Here's the complete list of nominees and winner of the 23rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):
*** "127 Hours" written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy,...
Based on "The Accidental Billionaires" by author Ben Mezrich, Sorkin's "The Social Network" screenplay beat "127 Hours," "The Ghost Writer," "True Grit," and "Winter's Bone" and emerged as the winner of the 23rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award.
Personally, I agree that Sorkin's script was the best of 2010. It's layered, with all the characters thinking they're the heroes, and the script is peppered with smart dialogue and affecting narrative structure. (Check out my review of "The Social Network" where I made a special plea about Sorkin's script)
Here's the complete list of nominees and winner of the 23rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):
*** "127 Hours" written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy,...
- 2/7/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
HollywoodNews.com: Although “The Social Network” was losing its steam in the weeks following the Golden Globes, David Fincher’s Internet-culture commentary took home the top prize at the annual USC Scripter Award Friday night.
Now in its 23rd year, the Scripters acknowledge the year’s best literary work-to-film adaptation. Unlike the Golden Globes, WGA and Academy Awards ceremonies, the Scripter Award is presented to both the writer of the original source material and the screenwriter of the adaptation.
The Scripter committee honored screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and novelist Ben Mezrich — who penned the book Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, on which The Social Network was based — with the prestigious prize. Both writers were in attendance Friday night to accept the award.
“Thank you for trusting me with your baby,” Sorkin said to Mezrich in his acceptance speech. “I hope that you...
Now in its 23rd year, the Scripters acknowledge the year’s best literary work-to-film adaptation. Unlike the Golden Globes, WGA and Academy Awards ceremonies, the Scripter Award is presented to both the writer of the original source material and the screenwriter of the adaptation.
The Scripter committee honored screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and novelist Ben Mezrich — who penned the book Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, on which The Social Network was based — with the prestigious prize. Both writers were in attendance Friday night to accept the award.
“Thank you for trusting me with your baby,” Sorkin said to Mezrich in his acceptance speech. “I hope that you...
- 2/6/2011
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Jesse Eisenberg, Joseph Mazzello, The Social Network Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and author Ben Mezrich were the winners of the 2011 USC Scripter Award, given to the best film adaptation of a book. Sorkin's screenplay for The Social Network is based on Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires. Seventy-three films were eligible for the award this year. The other four nominees were: 127 Hours (Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy / book by Aron Ralston), The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski / book by Robert Harris), True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen / book by Charles Portis) and Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini / book by Daniel Woodrell). In his acceptance speech at a ceremony held in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night (Feb. 4), Mezrich said that he hadn't yet finished The Accidental Billionaires when he heard that Sorkin was already working on a film adaptation of his book. "It's like getting [...]...
- 2/5/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
By Elliot V. Kotek
Winning the Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was just the beginning of a journey toward much adulation for director Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone.” Based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel, the bleak portrait of a teenage girl searching for her drug-addict father in the harsh elements of the Ozarks has since earned the film Best Feature and Best Ensemble accolades at November’s Gotham Independent Film Awards and put it right in the middle of contention for Best Feature honors in the Film Independent Spirit Awards competition — and garnered it four Oscar nominations, including best supporting actor for John Hawkes, best actress for Jennifer Lawrence and best picture of the year.
“Winter’s Bone” also provides a showcase for its young lead, Lawrence, who gives a star-making performance as the tenacious Ree Dolly. Shortly after the film premiered in January 2010 at Sundance,...
Winning the Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was just the beginning of a journey toward much adulation for director Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone.” Based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel, the bleak portrait of a teenage girl searching for her drug-addict father in the harsh elements of the Ozarks has since earned the film Best Feature and Best Ensemble accolades at November’s Gotham Independent Film Awards and put it right in the middle of contention for Best Feature honors in the Film Independent Spirit Awards competition — and garnered it four Oscar nominations, including best supporting actor for John Hawkes, best actress for Jennifer Lawrence and best picture of the year.
“Winter’s Bone” also provides a showcase for its young lead, Lawrence, who gives a star-making performance as the tenacious Ree Dolly. Shortly after the film premiered in January 2010 at Sundance,...
- 1/31/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
By Elliot V. Kotek
Winning the Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was just the beginning of a journey toward much adulation for director Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone.” Based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel, the bleak portrait of a teenage girl searching for her drug-addict father in the harsh elements of the Ozarks has since earned the film Best Feature and Best Ensemble accolades at November’s Gotham Independent Film Awards and put it right in the middle of contention for Best Feature honors in the Film Independent Spirit Awards competition — and garnered it four Oscar nominations, including best supporting actor for John Hawkes, best actress for Jennifer Lawrence and best picture of the year.
“Winter’s Bone” also provides a showcase for its young lead, Lawrence, who gives a star-making performance as the tenacious Ree Dolly. Shortly after the film premiered in January 2010 at Sundance,...
Winning the Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was just the beginning of a journey toward much adulation for director Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone.” Based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel, the bleak portrait of a teenage girl searching for her drug-addict father in the harsh elements of the Ozarks has since earned the film Best Feature and Best Ensemble accolades at November’s Gotham Independent Film Awards and put it right in the middle of contention for Best Feature honors in the Film Independent Spirit Awards competition — and garnered it four Oscar nominations, including best supporting actor for John Hawkes, best actress for Jennifer Lawrence and best picture of the year.
“Winter’s Bone” also provides a showcase for its young lead, Lawrence, who gives a star-making performance as the tenacious Ree Dolly. Shortly after the film premiered in January 2010 at Sundance,...
- 1/31/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Hands up who knows what the Ozark Mountains look like? Well, you won't soon forget after watching this bleak thriller. Winter's Bone (2010) has already received 4 Academy Award nominations this year and it's not hard to see why - you haven't seen a landscape so unwelcoming since No Country for Old Men (2007) or The Road (2009). Oh yes, Debra Granik's woodlands are bleak. Bleak, bleak, bleak.
Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year old living a hard-boiled life. Her crystal meth-cooking dad has disappeared and if he doesn't make his trial, Ree gets kicked off the family farm. Along with her younger brother and sister. And their dazed sick mum, who can't lift a finger to make ends meet.
Chopping firewood, fending off threats from the local Sheriff (Garret Dillahunt), teaching the kids how to shoot a squirrel - Ree is a tough Missouri chick, "bread and buttered". So it's inevitable that...
Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year old living a hard-boiled life. Her crystal meth-cooking dad has disappeared and if he doesn't make his trial, Ree gets kicked off the family farm. Along with her younger brother and sister. And their dazed sick mum, who can't lift a finger to make ends meet.
Chopping firewood, fending off threats from the local Sheriff (Garret Dillahunt), teaching the kids how to shoot a squirrel - Ree is a tough Missouri chick, "bread and buttered". So it's inevitable that...
- 1/31/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Winter's Bone; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Mr Nice; Amer; World's Greatest Dad
Somewhere between the doomed romance of Badlands, the communal violence of Deliverance and the dysfunctional family drama of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre lurks the haunting spectre of Winter's Bone (2010, Artificial Eye, 15). Directed by Debra Granik, whose use of authentically barren locations in the Ozark mountains of Missouri pays chilly dividends, this adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's novel walks a thin line between downbeat rural realism and mythological gothic horror. It's a beautiful balancing act that invests even the most incidental scene (a round-the-table rendition of "Fair and Tender Ladies", for example) with a level of eerie threat that elevates the entire drama into the realms of the metaphysical, a matter of life and death.
At the heart of the film's otherworldly appeal is rising star Jennifer Lawrence, whose best actress nod was just one of four...
Somewhere between the doomed romance of Badlands, the communal violence of Deliverance and the dysfunctional family drama of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre lurks the haunting spectre of Winter's Bone (2010, Artificial Eye, 15). Directed by Debra Granik, whose use of authentically barren locations in the Ozark mountains of Missouri pays chilly dividends, this adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's novel walks a thin line between downbeat rural realism and mythological gothic horror. It's a beautiful balancing act that invests even the most incidental scene (a round-the-table rendition of "Fair and Tender Ladies", for example) with a level of eerie threat that elevates the entire drama into the realms of the metaphysical, a matter of life and death.
At the heart of the film's otherworldly appeal is rising star Jennifer Lawrence, whose best actress nod was just one of four...
- 1/30/2011
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
“If you had a fleeting chance to escape a life of drudgery and poverty, of living hand-to-mouth in a closeknit rural community, would you take it?”
That’s exactly the thing with Winter’s Bone, an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell‘s 2006 novel of the same name.
The film was written and directed by Debra Granik, and stars lovely Jennifer Lawrence.
Winter’s Bone stars Lawrence as an Ozark teen named Ree Dolly, the sole guardian to her younger siblings, who is forced to search for her missing father in order to save her family’s home.
One of the people she goes to is Uncle Teardrop, played by John Hawkes, an intimidating relative who may have the answer to her father’s whereabouts.
“I think she was strong and stubborn and determined and she had a heart that was almost too big for her,” Lawrence said, describing her character, and...
That’s exactly the thing with Winter’s Bone, an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell‘s 2006 novel of the same name.
The film was written and directed by Debra Granik, and stars lovely Jennifer Lawrence.
Winter’s Bone stars Lawrence as an Ozark teen named Ree Dolly, the sole guardian to her younger siblings, who is forced to search for her missing father in order to save her family’s home.
One of the people she goes to is Uncle Teardrop, played by John Hawkes, an intimidating relative who may have the answer to her father’s whereabouts.
“I think she was strong and stubborn and determined and she had a heart that was almost too big for her,” Lawrence said, describing her character, and...
- 1/29/2011
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
The 83rd Academy Awards nominations announcement was at once exciting, and frustrating. Exciting because as a movie buff, it.s quite exhilarating to see your favorite films get nods. But at the same time, it was frustrating because some of the movies and the people that worked in these films were ignored.
(Check out complete 2011 Oscar nominations right here)
So here are my complaints, frustrations, and thoughts on the Oscar nominations revealed this morning. Who and what did the Academy ignore?
In the Best Actor category, Robert Duvall was bumped out of the race to give way to Javier Bardem. Duvall was nominated for a SAG award for his performance in .Get Low. but the Academy gave the slot Bardem for the foreign language-nominated film, .Biutiful..
Hilary Swank, who received a SAG award Best Actress nomination for .Conviction,. was ignored. In her place is the much-deserving Michelle Williams for .Blue Valentine.
(Check out complete 2011 Oscar nominations right here)
So here are my complaints, frustrations, and thoughts on the Oscar nominations revealed this morning. Who and what did the Academy ignore?
In the Best Actor category, Robert Duvall was bumped out of the race to give way to Javier Bardem. Duvall was nominated for a SAG award for his performance in .Get Low. but the Academy gave the slot Bardem for the foreign language-nominated film, .Biutiful..
Hilary Swank, who received a SAG award Best Actress nomination for .Conviction,. was ignored. In her place is the much-deserving Michelle Williams for .Blue Valentine.
- 1/25/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Best DirectorDarren Aronofsky'Black Swan'In many ways, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is similar to his previous film, "The Wrestler." Both lead characters are dedicated artists struggling with inner demons. To express themselves, they have only their bodies. Their age, injuries, and mental stability threaten to undermine their art.However, in "Black Swan," Aronofsky masterfully adds another layer. He parallels the journey of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) with the tale of "Swan Lake," the tragic ballet in which she performs. The astute viewer will notice his use of black and white in the set pieces of almost every scene, alluding to the contrast between the white and black swans. He adds elements of horror, drama, and paranoia, all of which exist in "Swan Lake." He directs the actors in such a way that you aren't ever sure what is fantasy and what is reality. All of these elements add...
- 1/19/2011
- backstage.com
I feel as if I am delivering my awards for 2010 so late this year, but then I realize the Broadcast Film Critics Association is kicking off the major award season this Friday, followed by the Golden Globes on Sunday and after that we're still two weeks away from the Oscar nominees, let alone the actual Oscars on February 27. So, while those organizations set about figuring out whom they will name the best of 2010 I am ready to put my lists of favorites to rest with the 3rd Annual RopeofSilicon Awards. You can browse my 2008 and 2009 awards right here, but before you do that have a look at what I consider to be the best of 2010 over the next six pages and be sure to add your thoughts and own lists in the comments below.
Best Actor Javier Bardem, Biutiful Runners Up: Colin Firth, The King's Speech James Franco, Howl Ryan Gosling,...
Best Actor Javier Bardem, Biutiful Runners Up: Colin Firth, The King's Speech James Franco, Howl Ryan Gosling,...
- 1/13/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Best Adapted Screenplays According to USC Libraries Scripter Award! Check Out Full List of Nominees!
"True Grit" is one of the nominees of the 23rd Annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Founded by the Friends of the USC Libraries, the award honors the author(s) and screenwriter(s) of the year's best motion picture adapted from a printed work. So Oscar fans take note, this is a great predictor of the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
According to the USC Award guidelines, "the Scripter Award selection committee is comprised of Writers Guild of America members, Academy Award-winning and -nominated screenwriters, authors, film industry executives, faculty, and selected members of the board of the Friends of the USC Libraries."
The winners will be announced Feb. 4.
Here's the complete list of nominees (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):
*** "127 Hours" written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, based on Aron Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place
*** "The Ghost Writer" written by Roman Polanski,...
According to the USC Award guidelines, "the Scripter Award selection committee is comprised of Writers Guild of America members, Academy Award-winning and -nominated screenwriters, authors, film industry executives, faculty, and selected members of the board of the Friends of the USC Libraries."
The winners will be announced Feb. 4.
Here's the complete list of nominees (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):
*** "127 Hours" written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, based on Aron Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place
*** "The Ghost Writer" written by Roman Polanski,...
- 1/6/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Entertainment Weekly: Dave Karger speaks with Julia Roberts after a special screening of “Biutiful” at CAA that she hosted for industry insiders to help call attention to the performance of her “Eat Pray Love” co-star Javier Bardem. (Robert Forster, Kyle MacLachlan, and Bardem’s pregnant wife Penelope Cruz were among the attendees.) Roberts explains, “I think the movie hasn’t gotten the exposure. You don’t know where it is. It’s like this hidden little jewel… I just have a great appreciation for what he went through to show us all this.”
Deadline Hollywood: Mike Fleming interviews producer-extraordinaire Scott Rudin, who this week became the first producer to receive PGA Award nominations for two features in the same year (for “The Social Network” and “True Grit”), and who will also be receiving the David O. Selznick Achievement Award at the PGA Awards ceremony. Rudin credits his “great [producing] partners on...
Deadline Hollywood: Mike Fleming interviews producer-extraordinaire Scott Rudin, who this week became the first producer to receive PGA Award nominations for two features in the same year (for “The Social Network” and “True Grit”), and who will also be receiving the David O. Selznick Achievement Award at the PGA Awards ceremony. Rudin credits his “great [producing] partners on...
- 1/6/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
The 2011 finalists for the USC Scripter awards: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for 127 Hours, adapted from mountain climber Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer,...
- 1/6/2011
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
If you're new to the awards game -- and there are some newbies every year welcome! -- the USC is a screenplay honor with a very specific focus. The idea is to honor "the year's most accomplished cinematic adaptations as well as the author of the written work upon which the screenplay is based." Got that? That means if you wrote a book 10 years ago that was awesome and someone makes it into a movie that people respond to you get the honor along with the screenwriter. It's a different way of doing things but it's not such a terrible idea since the original writer did do much of the heavy lifting in terms of plotting and character construction and what not.
The nominees:
127 Hours by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy based on "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. The Ghost Writer by Roman Polanski based...
The nominees:
127 Hours by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy based on "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. The Ghost Writer by Roman Polanski based...
- 1/6/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
After some NYC set indies, bittersweet docs and dramas, I continued soldiering through my Netflix Queue and trekking to theaters for matinee shows, taking in some tales of love and desperation.
Mademoiselle Chambon ~ Directed by Stéphane Brizé
A leisurely paced and subtlety told tale of star-crossed lovers, Mademoiselle Chambon centers on Jean, a construction worker who finds himself entranced by his son’s teacher. To be honest, because it is a French film that’s garnering notice, I expected something more daring or shocking than Brizé’s drama provides; his is a gently revealed story of romance simply told without surreal dramatics or grand gestures. It was bare but charming.
Nominations: Best Foreign Film
Snubbed? Mais Non.
The Exploding Girl ~ Directed by Bradley Rust Gray
Another leisurely paced and unconventional romance, The Exploding Girl stars Zoe Kazan as an epileptic girl in a winding search for love during spring break in Brooklyn.
Mademoiselle Chambon ~ Directed by Stéphane Brizé
A leisurely paced and subtlety told tale of star-crossed lovers, Mademoiselle Chambon centers on Jean, a construction worker who finds himself entranced by his son’s teacher. To be honest, because it is a French film that’s garnering notice, I expected something more daring or shocking than Brizé’s drama provides; his is a gently revealed story of romance simply told without surreal dramatics or grand gestures. It was bare but charming.
Nominations: Best Foreign Film
Snubbed? Mais Non.
The Exploding Girl ~ Directed by Bradley Rust Gray
Another leisurely paced and unconventional romance, The Exploding Girl stars Zoe Kazan as an epileptic girl in a winding search for love during spring break in Brooklyn.
- 1/3/2011
- by Kristy Puchko
- The Film Stage
Danny Boyle.s .127 Hours,. David Fincher.s .The Social Network. and Joel & Ethan Coen.s .True Grit. led the Houston Area Film Critics Award nominations with six nominations each including Best Picture and Best Director. But the Houston Film Critics also chose the Worst Pictures of the year pitting "Jonah Hex" against "The Last Airbender."
Here's the complete list of nominees:
Best Picture:
127 Hours, Fox Searchlight (produced by Christian Colson, John Smithson, Danny Boyle)
Black Swan, Fox Searchlight (produced by Mike Medavoy, Scott Franklin, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver)
Inception, Warner Bros. (produced by Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas)
Kick Ass, Lionsgate (produced by Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Kris Thykier, Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, David Reid)
The Kids are All Right, Focus Features (produced by Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann)
The King.s Speech, The Weinstein Company (produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin)
The Social Network,...
Here's the complete list of nominees:
Best Picture:
127 Hours, Fox Searchlight (produced by Christian Colson, John Smithson, Danny Boyle)
Black Swan, Fox Searchlight (produced by Mike Medavoy, Scott Franklin, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver)
Inception, Warner Bros. (produced by Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas)
Kick Ass, Lionsgate (produced by Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Kris Thykier, Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, David Reid)
The Kids are All Right, Focus Features (produced by Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann)
The King.s Speech, The Weinstein Company (produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin)
The Social Network,...
- 12/15/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
SXSW Review originally published on March 20, 2010.
Winter.S Bone, quite possibly, is one of the top five best films to see in 2010. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, the film is co-written and directed by Debra Granik, a New Yorker who has taken great care in meticulously ensuring an authentic and honest portrayal of the Ozarks region of Missouri, the people and culture and the struggle beset upon the impoverished families.
Jennifer Lawrence (The Burning Plain) plays Ree Dolly, a resourceful and determined 17-year old girl living in the rural Ozarks, caring for her sick mother and two younger siblings. The Dolly family has a history with the law, a reputation Ree wants no part of as she takes care of her family in the absence of her father. The dilemma for Ree is that her father placed their small house and land up as collateral for bail and...
Winter.S Bone, quite possibly, is one of the top five best films to see in 2010. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, the film is co-written and directed by Debra Granik, a New Yorker who has taken great care in meticulously ensuring an authentic and honest portrayal of the Ozarks region of Missouri, the people and culture and the struggle beset upon the impoverished families.
Jennifer Lawrence (The Burning Plain) plays Ree Dolly, a resourceful and determined 17-year old girl living in the rural Ozarks, caring for her sick mother and two younger siblings. The Dolly family has a history with the law, a reputation Ree wants no part of as she takes care of her family in the absence of her father. The dilemma for Ree is that her father placed their small house and land up as collateral for bail and...
- 11/14/2010
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It might seem somewhat surprising that, having honed and developed her craft in The Sundance Institute's world famous Labs program, indie darling Debra Granik would move so swiftly to distance her latest tale of windswept Midwest hardship from the festival. Doubly so since they saw fit to again bestow another major award on her this year, the coveted Grand Jury Prize. But when you see Winter's Bone, you will understand her concerns.
A slow burning, relentlessly downbeat story of one poor girl's journey through the harsh underbelly of desperately poor rural Missouri, a place of danger and secrets, this is a world away from the colorfully quirky indie road-trippers that the tight-sweater wearing, fancy coffee-ordering festival base so adore. Though to be fair to Sundance, Frozen River, Precious, and now this film, too, mark a trend of recognition from the festival that there is another side to indie America -...
A slow burning, relentlessly downbeat story of one poor girl's journey through the harsh underbelly of desperately poor rural Missouri, a place of danger and secrets, this is a world away from the colorfully quirky indie road-trippers that the tight-sweater wearing, fancy coffee-ordering festival base so adore. Though to be fair to Sundance, Frozen River, Precious, and now this film, too, mark a trend of recognition from the festival that there is another side to indie America -...
- 11/13/2010
- by Neil Pedley
- JustPressPlay.net
Courtesy of Curious Film, we have passes for the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone.
The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as 17-year-old Ree Dolly, who, in the isolated wilderness of the Ozark mountains in Missouri, sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Winter’s Bone is based on the novel by ‘southern gothic noir’ novelist Daniel Woodrell, and adapted for the screen by Granik and long-time collaborator Anne Rosellini.
Winter’s Bone opens on November 11 at the following...
The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as 17-year-old Ree Dolly, who, in the isolated wilderness of the Ozark mountains in Missouri, sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Winter’s Bone is based on the novel by ‘southern gothic noir’ novelist Daniel Woodrell, and adapted for the screen by Granik and long-time collaborator Anne Rosellini.
Winter’s Bone opens on November 11 at the following...
- 11/9/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Year: 2010
Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell (novel)
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Ree isn’t your average teenager. At 17, she’s the sole caregiver of her family: a young brother and sister and a mother who is too ill to look after herself never mind her kids. Life is hard but it goes on, one day at a time with each new hurdle jumped as it approaches. Life throws Ree a curve ball when the police come knocking. Her father, a meth cook, has a court date coming up and for bond, he’s put up the house and surrounding property that Ree and her family call home. If he doesn’t show, the bondsman is going to come collecting. Barely able to survive now, Ree can’t see how the family will manage with no place to live...
Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell (novel)
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Ree isn’t your average teenager. At 17, she’s the sole caregiver of her family: a young brother and sister and a mother who is too ill to look after herself never mind her kids. Life is hard but it goes on, one day at a time with each new hurdle jumped as it approaches. Life throws Ree a curve ball when the police come knocking. Her father, a meth cook, has a court date coming up and for bond, he’s put up the house and surrounding property that Ree and her family call home. If he doesn’t show, the bondsman is going to come collecting. Barely able to survive now, Ree can’t see how the family will manage with no place to live...
- 11/4/2010
- QuietEarth.us
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