Tag: Hollywood

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Nicolas Cage Talks About Leaving Hollywood And His Fears Of Doing A Movie With Disney

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There once was a time when Nicolas Cage was working with some of the biggest studios in Hollywood, including Disney on the National Treasure films.

But that version of Cage, the early-to-mid 2000s version, is much different than Cage in 2021. He’s a man of the people now, mostly starring in indie productions.

His latest film, Pig, is about a freaking truffle hunter named Rob for crying out loud. He’s not out here trying to make millions at the box office. In a recent interview with Variety, the 57-year-old actor talked about how he’d be a little scared of returning to mainstream Hollywood.

I do feel that I’ve gone into my own wilderness and that I’ve left the small town that is Hollywood. I don’t know exactly why Rob left his stardom. It’s never fully explained, and I like that about the movie. But as for me, I don’t know if I’d want to go back. I don’t know if I’d want to go and make another Disney movie. It would be terrifying. It’s a whole different climate. There’s a lot of fear there.

He talked about the pressure that comes along with creating those big budget action flicks…

When I was making Jerry Bruckheimer movies back-to-back, that was just a high pressure game. There were a lot of fun moments, but at the same time, there was also ‘We wrote this line. It has to be said this way,’ They’d put a camera on you and photograph you, and order you: ‘Now say the roller skate training wheels line.’ I’d say, ‘I’ll do that but I’d also like to try it this way.’  On independent movies, you have more freedom to experiment and be fluid. There’s less pressure and there’s more oxygen in the room.

Makes a lot of sense to me. By the way, don’t expect Cage to go crazy in ‘Pig’ — he chose to work on this project specifically because it would show that he’s able to give a subtle performance as well.

I wanted to remind myself and also remind some folks perhaps in the audience or in the media that I could also apply myself to a much more quiet and measured performance style. I had gone on this tear, mission almost, to kind of break form with film performance and what was considered good performance by being naturalistic or photo-realistic or minimalistic.

Pig is set to hit theaters this weekend. Check out the trailer below…

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LeBron James’ Time In Hollywood Is Not Going Exactly As Planned, ‘Space Jam 2’ Struggles To Recruit NBA Stars

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LeBron James moved out to Hollywood this past year, and it hasn’t exactly been an easy move. As you all know, the Lakers sucked it up on the court, and for the first time since 2005, there will be no LeBron James in the playoffs.

And his career off the court is taking a hit as well. The game show/course competition he developed, Million Dollar Mile, has received less than ideal ratings for its first two episodes, which forced CBS to move it out of its prime Wednesday slot. It’s now been moved to Saturday night, where most shows are left to die.

But he still has Space Jam 2, right? Well, yeah, but even that is not going as planned. According to multiple reports, James is having trouble recruiting NBA stars to make cameos in the film.

Why? Because of shoes.

As to why shoes matter, Nike is essential to the Space Jam franchise. The 1996 first film was based on the ‘Hare Jordan’ commercial directed by Joe Pytka, who also helmed the feature. That makes the involvement of Curry (Under Armour contract through 2024) and Harden (Adidas) nearly impossible, sources say. Durant, though a key member of Team Nike, is pursuing his own Hollywood efforts, including an Apple series, Swagger, based on his life.

The good news is that the script has more meat to it than the original film. It has more of a story, so they don’t need the entire NBA to make an appearance.

Filming is expected to begin this summer and the movie will be released in July of 2021.

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Netflix In Talks To Purchase The Egyptian Theater In Hollywood

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If you can’t please ’em, why don’t you join them? Netflix is reportedly in talks to buy the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood from American Cinematheque.

It would be their first movie theater purchase, and it could be a huge step forward for the streaming giant. They would presumably use the theater to premiere their original films, especially the ones up for awards.

The proposed deal would likely play out with Netflix programming on weekday nights while the non-profit Cinematheque would program screenings, lectures, and festivals on weekends.

Interesting. So they’ll simply be playing random Netflix films during the week? I guess they can show any movie that’s currently available on their platform, right? Which means a lot of old movies could make their way back to the theater. I suppose that would be cool to see.

I’d also be down to binge watch certain Netflix original shows inside the theater. I think a ‘Stranger Things’ event or ‘Black Mirror’ event would do very well.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. They are still early in the talks, so this deal might blow away in the wind. We’ll keep you posted. 

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Matt Damon Is Getting Slammed Following His Comments On Sexual Misconduct, Ex-Girlfriend Minnie Driver Says He Doesn’t Understand Abuse

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December 2017 will probably be a month to forget for Matt Damon. His new film, Downsizing, is getting (at best) mixed reviews from critics, his previous film Suburbicon got slammed by critics and failed at the box office, and now he’s getting slammed by women around the world for his comments on sexual abuse in Hollywood.

During an interview with ABC News last week, Damon told Peter Travers…

“There’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?”

He also defended Louis C.K. during his interview, and that did not sit well with a lot of people. Actress Minnie Driver, who dated Damon in the late 1990s, spoke to The Guardian recently and slammed Damon for his comments.

“I’ve realized that most men, good men, the men that I love, there is a cut-off in their ability to understand. They simply cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level. I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse. A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.”

And that’s a pretty fair response. I don’t think what Damon said was particularly harsh or insensitive, but it’s like…why? Why did he even comment on it? It’s time we sit back as men and just listen for a bit. Take some notes and try to learn.

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Jennifer Lawrence Reveals A Producer Made Her Do A Nude Lineup To Show Her She Needed To Lose Weight

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The ugly truth behind the glitzy mask of Hollywood continues to ooze out. Hollywood has treated women poorly for too long, and now for the first time, the women are joining together and speaking out.

During ELLE’s Women in Hollywood event on Monday, Jennifer Lawrence talked about how a female producer forced her to do a nude lineup with five women who were much thinner than she was at the time.

“And, during this time, a female producer had me do a nude lineup with about five women who were much, much thinner than me. And we all stood side-by-side with only paste-ons covering our privates. After that degrading and humiliating lineup, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.”

And when she asked to speak to another producer about the unrealistic diet requirements, he responded by telling her he didn’t know why everyone wanted her to lose weight, because to him, she was “perfectly f**kable.”

During another film, Lawrence was asked to lose 15 pounds in two weeks, and at the time, she felt trapped because she did not have any power in the business. She was still young.

“I couldn’t have gotten a producer or a director or a studio head fired. I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt like I had to for my career. I was young and walking that fine line of sticking up for myself without being called difficult, which they did call me, but I believe the word they used was ‘nightmare.'”

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Disaster Has Been Avoided: WGA Reaches Deal, There Will Not Be A Writers Strike!

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The past few weeks have been intense, and for a while, it looked like we were headed for another writers strike, but thankfully at the last minute a deal was reached.

Writers Guild of America reached a tentative deal early in the morning on Tuesday for a fresh contract with the major Hollywood studios. The deal still needs to be ratified by guild members, but it’s all expected to go smoothly.

In a memo to its members, the WGA explained the contract is packed with several upgrades. This new contract gives writers the respect they deserve in the industry.

“In it, we made gains in minimums across the board – as well as contribution increases to our Health Plan that should ensure its solvency for years to come. And we further expanded our protections in Options and Exclusivity.

We also made unprecedented gains on the issue of short seasons in television, winning a definition (which has never before existed in our MBA) of 2.4 weeks of work for each episodic fee. Any work beyond that span will now require additional payment for hundreds of writer-producers.

We won a 15% increase in Pay TV residuals, roughly $15 million in increases in High-Budget SVOD residuals, and, for the first time ever, residuals for comedy-variety writers in Pay TV.

And, also for the first time ever, job protection on Parental Leave.”

This is wonderful news for everyone in Hollywood. Studios don’t have to shut down production, crew members will still have work, writers get better contracts, and the audience will still have content to consume.

It’s a good Tuesday, folks. And I think we should all listen to the best song about a Tuesday ever produced…

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Jennifer Lawrence Is Sick Of Hollywood’s Gender Wage Gap, No Longer Cares If You Find Her Adorable

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It looks like Jennifer Lawrence is finally taking off the mask. For years now, people have felt like we weren’t getting all sides of the actress. She was holding something back, and she had something more meaningful to offer than the fart noises she made on Conan.

The 25-year-old actress combined that lovely humor with some brutal honesty in a powerful essay in Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter. The Sony leaks last year revealed Lawrence (and several other young actresses) were making significantly less than their male co-stars.

And Lawrence is ready to talk about it. She no longer cares if you find her adorable and likable. She’s ready for a change.

“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people [who were male], I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.”

But then she explains that there was a little piece of her that was afraid to ask for more because she didn’t want to seem difficult to work with, which is something men in Hollywood almost never have to worry about being accused of.

“Based on the statistics, I don’t think I’m the only woman with this issue. Are we socially conditioned to behave this way? Could there still be a lingering habit of trying to express our opinions in a certain way that doesn’t ‘offend’ or ‘scare’ men?”

You can read more of the letter by clicking here. And you can check out all the celebrities tweeting out their support for J-Law below…

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Keanu Reeves Reveals Hollywood Studios No Longer Contact Him And ‘It Sucks’

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Poor Keanu Reeves. Several years ago, he was one of the biggest movie stars in the business. Starring in hit movies like, Speed, The Matrix, and Point Break. Everyone believed his success at the box office would continue, but things started to go downhill in the early 2000s. He’s had a number of flops in recent years, most notably last year’s 47 Ronin, which failed miserably at the box office. The film lost Universal over $150 million.

Obviously, with the lack of success recently, big studios are afraid to work with Keanu Reeves. The 50-year-old actor (yes he’s really 50) talked with IndieWire and he was asked if he was okay with not receiving a lot of big offers.

“No, it sucks – but it’s just the way it is. You can have positive and negative experiences, but what I like about studios are the resources and the worlds that they can create. Obviously, a lot of good filmmakers work on studio movies. Even when I was working on studio movies more often, I was always doing independent movies. If we’re going to do a delineation between studio and independent [films], I was always hoping to do both.”

That’s actually a great response to a question like that. He was completely honest. Of course it sucks! However, he’s not going to let it stop him from making films. He still enjoys making indie films. His latest movie, ‘John Wick‘ has been getting great reviews. It currently has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and has scored an 8.3 on IMDb.

It releases nationwide Oct. 24, which is tomorrow for those of you without a calendar. Go check it out. It certainly looks like an entertaining movie.