Avatar 2 news: Sequels to be filmed concurrently says Sigourney Weaver
Avatar 2, 3, 4 to be filmed concurrently. [Photo: Sigourney Weaver in Avatar.] Audiences are clamoring for original fare, we all know that. They want new plots, new characters, new situations. That’s why movies such as The Avengers, Men in Black III, and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted have bombed at the worldwide box office. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers has taken in a miserable $1.437 billion; Will Smith / Tommy Lee Jones’ Men in Black 3 a paltry $578.33m; and Madagascar 3 a truly disgraceful $368.54 million after 17 days. That’s why I think James Cameron is taking on a big risk by proceeding with Avatar 2 next fall.
Avatar 2, 3, 4 shooting in the fall
Let me rephrase that. James Cameron isn’t “proceeding with Avatar 2.” Cameron is apparently going to forge ahead with three Avatar sequels, shot concurrently. At least that’s what Sigourney Weaver has told showbiz411.com.
But how can you shoot three films at the same time? Won’t things get confusing? Well, not if Cameron relies on a good continuity supervisor to prevent him from filming the same sequences over and over again. (“Does that scene go in sequel no. 3 or no. 2? Have we already done that?”) Or having Sigourney Weaver wearing different costumes or hairdos in the same scene – shot weeks apart.
Cameron, whose 2009 3D sci-fier epic Avatar broke box office records, should probably consult with Peter Jackson. After all, Jackson shot the three The Lord of the Rings movies concurrently in New Zealand about a dozen years ago and he recently repeated the feat (minus one film) with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Someone else who might give Cameron a bit of advice: Bill Condon, who filmed Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2 basically as one movie split into two. Or David Yates, who had a similar experience with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2.
I should add that Jackson’s all three Lord of the Rings movies earned Best Picture Academy Award nominations, with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King taking home the Best Picture Oscar in early 2004. Breaking Dawn – Part 1 received poor reviews, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is considered by many to be the best Harry Potter movie.
So, there’s definitely a chance that James Cameron can produce something of high quality – or at least what academies and critics (and the moviegoing public) consider high quality – even while shooting the three Avatar sequels all at once.
Director Barbra Streisand to make film comeback?
Barbra Streisand is reportedly going to work behind the cameras on her first film in 17 years. Skinny and Cat, about the romance between writer Erskine Caldwell (Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre) and photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, should start filming in January 2013. Oscar winners Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, 2010) and Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, 2004) are slated to star.
The source for this information is showbiz411.com, which adds that Linda Yellen wrote the Skinny and Cat screenplay and will also produce the independently financed film.
Barbra Streisand director: ‘controversies’
As a director, Barbra Streisand’s last film was The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), a (in my view quite enjoyable) romantic comedy-melodrama that was widely panned at the time. Streisand costarred with Jeff Bridges, but veteran Lauren Bacall was the one who stole the notices and received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her efforts. [Lauren Bacall Best Supporting Actress Oscar loss.]
Prior to The Mirror Has Two Faces, Streisand had directed the musical Yentl (1983), in which she dresses up as a man in order to get a religious education, and Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Prince of Tides (1991). Both Yentl and The Prince of Tides led to (in my view unfair) accusations of sexism within the Academy’s Directors Branch, for Streisand failed to receive a Best Director nomination for either movie. (Yentl was also bypassed for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.)
Linda Yellen’s previous credits as a screenwriter-producer – and director – consist mostly of television fare, including End of Summer (1995), with Jacqueline Bisset and Peter Weller, and last year’s William & Catherine: A Royal Romance, with Dan Amboyer and Alice St. Clair as the royal romancers. Yellen was also a producer of Daniel Mann’s multiple Emmy winner Playing for Time (1980), a Nazi concentration-camp drama starring Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Alexander.
A two-time Oscar winner – as Best Actress for William Wyler’s Funny Girl (tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter); as Best Song co-writer (with Paul Williams) for A Star Is Born’s “Evergreen” – Barbra Streisand will next be seen on the big screen in Anne Fletcher’s The Guilt Trip, costarring Seth Rogen.
Another Barbra Streisand movie project
Another Barbra Streisand movie plan is a remake of Gypsy, in which she’s to play the determined Mama Rose. Ethel Merman was Mama on Broadway, but the role went to Rosalind Russell in Mervyn LeRoy’s highly successful 1962 musical costarring Natalie Wood.
As for Margaret Bourke-White, Farrah Fawcett brought her to life in Lawrence Schiller’s 1989 television movie simply titled Margaret Bourke-White. Frederic Forrest costarred as Erskine Caldwell. Its sole Emmy nomination was for Best Sound Mixing.
Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road was made into a movie in 1941. John Ford directed Charley Grapewin and Gene Tierney. God’s Little Acre was filmed in 1958. Directed by Anthony Mann, the heavy drama starred Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, and Tina Louise.
Academy Award veterans Sigourney Weaver, Vanessa Redgrave in Political Animals
As per Deadline.com, Political Animals, Greg Berlanti’s upcoming series for USA Network, may feature veteran Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia, 1977) in the role of an openly lesbian U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Political Animals stars three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver (Aliens, 1986; etc.) as Elaine Barrish, who, like Hillary Clinton, is the wife of a former U.S. president (played by Ciarán Hinds) who becomes Secretary of State.
What’s unclear is how an openly lesbian judge managed to be appointed to the United States’ Supreme Court. But perhaps Political Animals is set in the 2030s or 2040s.
In addition to Weaver and Redgrave, Political Animals also features the following: Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1974) as the Secretary of State’s booze-loving mom, James Wolk as her straight son, and Sebastian Stan as the cocaine-addicted gay one.
In addition to Carla Gugino, Adrian Pasdar, Dan Futterman, Dylan Baker, Blair Brown, and Roger Bart.
Political Animals premieres on July 15.
MTV Movie Awards 2012: Highlight is Best Kiss co-winner Kristen Stewart’s self-smooching
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson won Best Kiss – the only category worth noting – at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards, held on June 3 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, just north of Hollywood.
Pattinson was nowhere to be found, as he has been busy plugging his latest release, David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, which earlier this year was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
All alone and with nowhere to go, Stewart called up her fellow Snow White and the Huntsman costar Chris Hemsworth. No answer. She invited her other SWATH costar, Charlize Theron. The Evil Queen refused to budge. The Twilight Saga’s Taylor Lautner, who was kissed by Robert Pattinson at a previous ceremony, ignored her pleas as well.
What’s a girl to do?
Stewart turned her back to the television cameras and did a bit of self-embracing.
On the big screen, Kristen Stewart will next be seen in the Bill Condon’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, opposite Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and Walter Salles’ On the Road, opposite Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund.
And for the record, this year’s other Best Kiss contenders were:
- Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone – Crazy, Stupid, Love
- Rupert Grint & Emma Watson – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Josh Hutcherson & Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games
- Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum – The Vow
Immediately below are a handful of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards’ choices.
MTV Movie Awards 2012: Partial list of winners
Movie of the Year: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Best Kiss: Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Best Actor: Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games
Best Cast: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Breakthrough Performance: Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
Oscar 2013: Hairstylist Nominations
Academy Awards 2013 new rules. The Academy’s Board of Governors has approved new rules for the 2013 Oscars. The most important changes are listed below.
“In the Visual Effects category, nominees will be selected from a pool of ten films chosen by the Branch Executive Committee by secret ballot. Previously, the committee could put forward … as few as seven [films].”
Really, a longlist featuring ten titles may still be too small. Think The Avengers, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hunger Games, Men in Black III, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Wrath of the Titans, Dark Shadows, John Carter, Battleship, Underworld: Awakening in the first half of 2012 alone. Not to mention the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, et al.
Academy Awards 2013: From now on, Make-Up and Hairstylists
“The award given in the Make-Up category will now be known as the Make-Up and Hairstyling Award. Additionally, during the nominations process, all branch members who have seen the seven shortlisted titles will receive ballots to list their top three choices.”
Earlier this year, Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland, and Marese Langan won the BAFTA for Best Make-Up for their work on Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in which Meryl Streep was transformed into Margaret Thatcher. Make-Up artists Coulier and Helland also won Academy Awards for their work on the film – but not hairstylist Langan. (Here’s wondering how Langan feels about this change in the rules.)
Other film academies, e.g., the British Academy of Film and Television and the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences already include “Hairstyling / Hair” in its make-up category.
Best Original Song (old) new rule
“In the Music (Original Song) category, the Executive Committee may recommend that a fourth songwriter for an individual song be considered in rare and extraordinary circumstances. This amends the rule that has been in effect since 2005, whereby up to two songwriters could be eligible per song, although a third songwriter could be added if he or she were found to be an essentially equal contributor.”
Every now and then, songs composed by more than three songwriters have been nominated for Oscars. Back in 1981, four songwriters won for Arthur’s theme song (“Best That You Can Do”): Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen. In 1996, The Mirror Has Two Faces’ nominated song, “I Finally Found Someone,” listed four composers: Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams, and Robert John Lange.
A similar Academy rule exists in regard to the number of Best Picture producers eligible for an Academy Award nomination. Generally, only three are allowed to be shortlisted, though on a few occasions a fourth name has been added to the roster of nominees.
Best Foreign Language Film rule change
“In the Foreign Language Film category, films must be submitted to the Academy in 35mm or DCP [Digital Cinema Package], but are no longer required to be exhibited in those formats in their countries of origin.”
Those hoping for a radical change in the way the Academy handles (or, as many would assert, mishandles) the Best Foreign Language Film category will once again be disappointed. Maybe next year.
As per the Academy’s release, “other adjustments to the rules include standard date changes and other ‘housekeeping’ adjustments.”
The 2013 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.
The Iron Lady / Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher picture: Alex Bailey / Pathe Productions Ltd / The Weinstein Company.
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