Dawn Hudson
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is replacing retiring executive director Bruce Davis with two people: former Film Independent head Dawn Hudson and long-time Academy executive Ric Robertson, who will become the organization’s CEO and COO, respectively. Robertson will report to Hudson in the new leadership structure.
Hudson spent 20 years at the helm of Film Independent. Film Independent’s two signature programs are the 26-year-old Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, held annually in June.
As per the Academy’s press release, “Robertson joined the Academy in 1981 following a short stint with the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX), and became the organization’s second-in-command in 1989, when he was appointed Executive Administrator. In that position he has overseen the Academy’s public programming, its library and film archive as well as its public relations, marketing, legal affairs, and numerous awards-related events and activities.”
Following a bylaw revision currently in the works, Hudson and Robertson will assume their new positions on June 1.
Photos: Dawn Hudson (Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com); Ric Robertson (Richard Harbaugh / © A.M.P.A.S.).
Post-Sucker Punch Zack Snyder & Man of Steel
In other movie news, could Zack Snyder be dumped from the upcoming Superman reboot, tentatively titled Man of Steel?
Some have been wondering if someone else will be directing Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, and Kevin Costner, following the critical drubbing and underwhelming box office performance of Snyder’s Sucker Punch, which opened with below the $20 million mark this past weekend.
In The Guardian, Ben Child wrote about Snyder’s position as the director of Man of Steel, who’ll have to answer to The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises’ Christopher Nolan, Man of Steel‘s official producer and co-screenwriter along with David S. Goyer. Time Warner, which owns Warner Bros., surely won’t be happy with another disappointment akin to Bryan Singer’s 2006 reboot Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh.
About Sucker Punch, Child writes:
Horribly misconceived, puerile, distasteful and hugely wasteful of the talent involved, Snyder’s latest release is Coyote Ugly for the fanboy brigade – or Girl, Interrupted, had Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie been forced to spend the entire film shooting things while tarted up to the nines in stockings and suspenders. Quite what Snyder was thinking is anyone’s guess, but one can only assume he was given free reign to indulge his cinematic vision following the relative box office successes of 300 and Watchmen (and promptly fluffed his lines).
Child also wonders: “Can one film ruin a career?”
Ask Michael Cimino, who, a year after winning a Best Director Oscar for The Deer Hunter (1978), became responsible for the flop that did United Artists in: Heaven’s Gate (1980). Cimino’s career came to an abrupt halt at that point.
In fact, in the last 31 years Cimino has directed only four features: Year of the Dragon (1985); The Sicilian (1987), which was taken away from him by the studio; Desperate Hours (1990); and The Sunchaser (1996); in addition to a segment from To Each His Own Cinema (2007).