Month: January 2018

Wahlberg’s Greedhead Strategy

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N.Y. Times reporter Brooks Barnes has investigated the bizarre pay discrepancy between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams for the All The Money In The World re-shoots, with Wahlberg being paid $1.5 million and Williams doing it more or less for free.

Barnes writes that while Williams and Wahlberg had agreed to appear in All the Money in the World for less than their standard fee, “[they] took different approaches to the reshoots.

“Because of the circumstances, Williams quickly agreed to return. The people briefed on the matter said that she did so believing that other participants had made the same decision. She ultimately worked over Thanksgiving, racing to London on an overnight flight after arranging for her 12-year-old daughter, Matilda, to spend the holiday without her.

“’They could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted,’ she said of the production team at the time. ‘Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort.’

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How “Woke” Are DGA Members?

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For the 47th (or is it the 48th?) time the three greatest films of 2017 are Luca Guadgnino‘s Call Me By Your Name, Chris Nolan‘s Dunkirk and Greta Gerwig‘s Lady Bird. Why then are so many predicting that Nolan and possibly Gerwig will be nominated tomorrow by the Directors Guild of America, but aren’t even allowing that Guadagnino is a possibility?

I get the Guillermo del Toro and Martin McDonaugh noms as their films, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, have become across-the-board soft defaults, but…wait, Get Out‘s Jordan Peele is among the likelies? Did somebody put something in the water? Is the seed-pod situation I described yesterday worse than I realized?

The DGA has added a “first-time director” category, and this is where Peele belongs, at best. Peele barely pulled his film together from a script that he himself wasn’t entirely sure belonged in the horror or comedy realm, an uncertainty that lingered even during post-production. Get Out obviously came together and made a lot of money, okay, but Peele deserves a DGA nom more than Luca Guadagnino?

Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone is predicting the following five DGA noms as of this time tomorrow: McDonagh, del Toro, Nolan, Peele and Gerwig. She’s saying the fifth slot “could” also go to Guadagnino or The Post‘s Steven Spielberg. She suspects that Guadagnino, along with The Florida Project‘s Sean Baker and Phantom Thread‘s Paul Thomas Anderson, may be a better bet for the Academy rather than DGA.

Zermatt Can Still Bite Me

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It was reported yesterday that residents of Zermatt, the Swiss ski town that lies in the shadow of the Matterhorn, had to be airlifted out due to extra-heavy snow, non-running trains and a fear of avalanches. Gee, that’s too bad. Five and 2/3 years ago Hollywood Elsewhere had a very irritating experience with this precious little hamlet, which is why I feel no sympathy. Here’s the tale once more:

Ever since seeing my first image of the Matterhorn when I was eight or nine I’ve wanted to stand in its shadow and just go “whoa.” So yesterday the guys and I drove the wrong way (i.e., four hours over winding mountain roads) from Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt, the affluent ski town that lies at the base of it.

The trip turned out to be mostly a disaster. Because of an innocent mistake I almost got slammed with a 350 Swiss franc traffic ticket — thank God I was able to talk my way out of it.

The signs on the long and winding approach to Zermatt fail to explicitly point out a basic fact — you can’t drive into town unless you’re a resident or a cab driver or a city worker. You have to park in Tasch, an ugly little settlement about six kilometers north of Zermatt, and take a train or a taxi in. Fine, no problem, but there are no signs that clearly say this, and certainly none in English.

When I see a sign that says “park here,” I say to myself, “Okay, that’s an option, fine. It’s not something I necessarily intend to do as I am the sole master of my fate, but it’s nice to know it’s there.”

HE suggestion to Zermatt brainiacs: The words “Non-resident passenger vehicles are not allowed in Zermatt” would definitely be understood if you said as much on a road sign. Or how about an image of a car with a big red X or a circle slash across it? Idiots.

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Naah, Doubt It

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From 1.10.18 N.Y. Times piece by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Nicholas Fandos [see 8:35 mark]: “President Trump on Wednesday declined to commit to being interviewed by the special counsel investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election, backing off a promise he made last year to talk to Robert S. Mueller under oath.

‘“I’ll speak to attorneys,’ Trump told reporters in the East Room during a news conference with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, when asked whether he would speak with Mr. Mueller without preconditions. ‘We’ll see what happens.’

The dodge was a marked change from last June, when Mr. Trump defended his firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, denying that it was related to his handling of the Russia investigation, and said he would ‘100 percent’ be willing to give a sworn statement to Mr. Mueller.

“The president called Mr. Mueller’s probe and the ones being pursued by the Republican-led Congress a partisan ‘witch hunt’ and a ‘Democrat hoax.’

“’For 11 months, they’ve had this phony cloud over this administration, over our government, and it has hurt our government,’ Mr. Trump said. “When they have no collusion, and nobody’s found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that you’d even have an interview.”

Nice Vibe, Cramped Quarters

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Last night (i.e., Tuesday) Tatyana and I attended a well-catered if crowded Mudbound party. It happened inside a mid-sized, two-story Chateau Marmont bungalow (the fabled oval-shaped pool was just outside) and was sponsored by Sandra Bullock and Moonlight costar Trevante Rhodes. Director Dee Rees and costars Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garett Hedlund and Rob Morgan attended; ditto producer Cassian Elwes.


During last night’s Mudbound gathering: (l. to r.) director Dee Rees, costar and Best Supporting Actress contender Mary J. Blige, Sandra Bullock. (Thanks to Ginsberg-Libby’s Paige Niemi for supplying photos.)

The idea was to remind Academy members who haven’t yet filled out their nomination ballots (Friday, 1.12 is the final day) that Mudbound is (a) one of the year’s most awarded and nominated films, (b) that Blige is a serious Best Supporting Actress contender, and (c) that the striking cinematography by ASC-nominated Rachel Morrison deserves a nom of its own.

I spoke briefly to Clarke, Elwes, Showbiz 411‘s Roger Friedman and elite Manhattan party orchestrator Peggy Siegal, et. al. The Mark Wahlberg-Michelle Williams pay disparity thing was a hot topic; the James Franco and Michael Douglas accusations less so. People are rolling their eyes and waving the stories away. The waiters were serving small bowls of lightly sauced Fettucini Bolognese — best I’ve ever tasted since sampling a similar dish in Rome last June.

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Lean’s Folly?

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Ask ten film historians about David Lean‘s Ryan’s Daughter, and they’ll all say it nearly killed Lean’s career. Slow and stately, over-indulged, visually pompous and old-schoolish to a fault. And that awful, Oscar-awarded village-idiot performance by John Mills. Magnificent Freddie Young cinematography, okay, but otherwise a sudden fall from grace. Not even close to the realm of Lawrence of Arabia or Brief Encounter or Bridge on the River Kwai or even the respectably second-tier Dr. Zhivago or A Passage to India.

But you know what? Last night I began watching an HD Amazon stream of Ryan’s Daughter on my Sony 65″ 4K TV. I was sitting there like a 12 year-old and studying the Super Panavision 70 detail and just marvelling at how good it looks. The HD transfer was apparently taken from a 35mm source but it’s staggering all the same. It looks much better than what I recall from some half-forgotten viewing at some Massachusetts or Connecticut bijou (i.e., not a 70mm house).

And I realized that the trick to watching Ryan’s Daughter is to watch it on a monitor like mine, and to ignore as much of the story and the dialogue as possible (not to mention the bland British officer performance by Christopher Jones) and just focus on the visuals and the music.

That opening shot of the steep Irish cliffs near Dingle Bay, and that tiny little ant (i.e., Sarah Miles) running left to right as she approaches the edge…my God! And that footsteps-in-the-sand sequence with Robert Mitchum. 20th Century filmmaking rarely exceeded this level of immaculate care and visual eloquence.

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Fanfare For Coming Slaughter

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Listen to the kettle and snare drums during the first 14 seconds of this Taxi Driver clip. I so love it when a musical score, the right kind of musical score, tells an audience to sit up and hold onto their armrests because something’s about to go down. Bernard Herrmann was such a champ in this regard, and this kind of just-right set-up — call it “warning music” or “dread scoring” — seems to have all but disappeared from musical scores for the most part. Maybe I’m wrong.

By the way: Herrmann used a kind of low, downbeat sound along with the drums, but what musical instruments am I hearing? Oboes? Bassoons?

Second Weekend Is Everything

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The first 24 hours of Fandango pre-sales for Black Panther tickets have set a new MCU record blah blah. Hollywood Elsewhere says “fine but calm down — the second weekend is what counts.” That said, my suspicion is that the first all-black superhero flick — a super-charged concept if I ever heard one — is going to perform like gangbusters for at least two or three weeks, if not four or five. Depending on how good it is. I was initially revved, but the trailers have suggested a fleet, flash-bang quality…a little too gleaming and shiny-car. That said, it looks, sounds and feels like a legitimate, high-throttle superhero vehicle. And my faith in director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) has never been shaken.

The Fault Was With Williams’ Agent, No?

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USA Today‘s Andrea Mandell just reported that Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in Ridley Scott‘s All the Money in the World over a nine-day period, but costar Michelle Williams was basically paid zip — an $80 per day per diem for a total of less than $1000.

Mandell quoted “three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it.”


Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams at All The Money in the World premiere in Beverly Hills.

The pay disparity wouldn’t appear to be any fault of Wahlberg’s, although this looks a lot like classic payroll sexism. Nor was it Scott’s doing, I’m guessing. (Although I know nothing.) The drop-the-ball person in this equation is Williams’ agent, whose name escapes at the moment. In 2014 Williams left CAA for William Morris Endeavor. Maybe Williams was just trying to help by not being grasping, but why would the person in charge agree to pay Wahlberg $1.5 million if she agreed to do it for nothing?

The ATMITW re-shoot happened in Rome and London between 11.20 and 11.29, or less than a couple of months ago.

HE’s 2018 BFCA Ballot

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I just sent in my 2018 Broadcast Film Critics Award ballot. The show begins late Thursday afternoon (1.11, around 5 pm) inside the cavernous Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport (3021 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405). The CW will carry it.

BEST PICTURE: Call Me by Your Name

BEST ACTOR: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

BEST ACTRESS: Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me by Your Name

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Dafne Keen, Logan (I liked The Florida Project‘s Brooklyn Prince as much as everyone else, but I was really knocked out by Keen)

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: The Post

BEST DIRECTOR: Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, The Post

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin — The Shape of Water

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Getty Again

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Is Trust going to run with the notion that John Paul Getty III engineered his own kidnapping to get money out of grandpa? The trailer seems to suggest this. Donald Sutherland‘s performance as the stingy billionaire of legend is going to be worth watching. Brendan Fraser has the same Fletcher Chase role that Mark Wahlberg played in All The Money in the World, but good God, Fraser looks like an inflated balloon. The ten-episode series begins on FX on 3.25.18.

A Fifth Body Snatchers Required

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Over the last 60 years we’ve seen four Invasion of the Body Snatchers films — Don Siegel’s 1956 original, Phil Kaufman’s 1978 remake, Abel Ferrara’s 1993 version and Oliver Hirschbiegel‘s decade-old The Invasion.

Now it’s time for a fifth involving the installation of seed-pod mindsets, with the change agents being the Millennial and Generation Z sons and daughters of today.

I’m talking about a scenario in which the Anglo Saxon whitebread gene is regarded as inherently arrogant, criminal and bad for the planet — flawed, cruel, heartless, exploitive. A consensus emerges that the only way to correct this abhorrent culture is to fully indict the historical criminality of whiteness over several decades and in fact back to the beginnings of this nation — what it’s been, what it is now and where it’ll lead if things aren’t turned around.

Alien spores float down from space, affecting only the children and grandchildren of boomers and GenXers. Once turned, the awoken are free to call Anglo-Saxon culture by it’s true name — oppressor, a cancer, a scourge upon humanity. Within days the idea is spread that it’s time for enlightened non-whites to marginalize or dilute or even overthrow white culture so that POC culture can re-shape things and bring in a little fresh air and more fairness, freedom and opportunity.

Gradually seed-pod consciousness spreads to members of the liberal intelligentsia, and more and more of them are suddenly embracing the program. The general idea is “let those shitty old crusty white guys eat some of the shit that POCs have been eating for the last couple of centuries,” etc.

Gradually it becomes accepted that if you’re white and straight you’re kind of a bad person, or at the very least suspect. And that you probably need to re-educate yourself and embrace the new reality…or else.

A clever horror-comedy satire that ten years ago would have come and gone and been forgotten by awards season is transformed by seed-podders into a Best Picture contender, and those who question the validity of this are regarded as cranks or closet racists.

Friends and family members of seed-pod film critics begin to notice a certain robotic manner and a glassy, out-to-lunch look in their eyes. Local constable: “But he looks like his picture, madam. Obviously he’s Guy Lodge, the Variety critic.” Mrs. Lodge: “But it isn’t him, I’m telling you. Something is missing. It’s just not Guy!”

Liberal-minded film critics Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn declare that they’ve been making sure that POCs are ranked prominently in their year-end awards ballot, partly because they admire their films but also because they’re about or were made by POCs.

Seed-pod urban culture begins to adopt other changes. Millenial and GenZ types begin to regard heterosexuality as a problem, and it’s gradually decided that it’s time to let LGBTQ folks run the culture and push heteros off to the side a bit. They’ll be allowed to walk around and buy groceries, but they need to accommodate themselves to the notion that straight whites are an underclass.

And if educated liberal Democrat white guys complain about any of this on social media platforms, the seed-podders tag them as closet Republicans or closet racists or closet homophobes. Would the seed-podders be delighted to bust these white guys on any of these counts and thereby eradicate or at least marginalize their asses and put them out to pasture? You have to ask?

The transforming of society has never been a gentle process, and to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs.