DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ With ‘Dream Scenario,’ Nicolas Cage Reclaims the Memes
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Nicolas Cage is not afraid to go big. “It’s not going to be the same old, same old.”But at some point, that bigness is exactly what audiences came to predict from him. Cage could sense that shift but felt powerless to stop it: How should a star react when the public’s changing perception starts to turn like a tidal wave? Cage sent up his persona by playing a heightened version of himself in last year’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” but found even more to mine in “Dream Scenario,” which has its limited release next Friday. Still, once those collective dreams become nightmares, the hapless professor is helpless against the public backlash.

Persons: Nicolas Cage, “, Peggy Sue Got, Pokey, Nicolas Coppola, Luke Cage’s —, ‘ Nic Cage, ’, “ It’s, YouTube supercuts, —, Ari Aster, Kristoffer Borgli, Cage, Paul Matthews, Paul Organizations: Beverly Hills, YouTube Locations: “, Beverly

☆ Wes Anderson Finally Found a Way Into His New Roald Dahl Film
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There’s mischief in every Dahl story, and the voice of the writer is very strong. When I made “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and I was working on the script, we stayed at the house for some time. In those days, that writing hut was still filled with his things and left the way he had it. I remember there’s a portrait of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon next to a portrait of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud. It sounds like the kind of set I might expect to see in a Wes Anderson film, filled with these totems and details.

Persons: he’s, Ophelia, Lucy, Theo, Henry Sugar, Ralph Fiennes, Fox ”, Dahl, He’d, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Wes Anderson

☆ Woody Allen Finds a Decidedly Mixed Reception at the Venice Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It has been six years since Woody Allen had a film released in the United States, but the Venice Film Festival was still eager to roll out the red carpet for the 87-year-old director’s latest effort. However, not everyone there welcomed the filmmaker with open arms. On Monday, his new film, “Coup de Chance,” debuted in Venice and earned the several-minute standing ovation that’s customary at most festival premieres. “Coup de Chance” is Allen’s 50th film and his first French-language effort. Starring Lou de Laâge and Melvil Poupaud, it’s a Paris-set dramatic thriller about a married woman who reconnects with an old flame, which drives her possessive husband to thoughts of murder.

Persons: Woody Allen, Chance, ”, ” Allen, Dylan Farrow, Luc Besson, Polanski, Lou de Laâge, Melvil Locations: United States, Venice, U.S, it’s, Paris

☆ Priscilla Presley’s Emotional Reaction to Sofia Coppola’s New Elvis Film
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Priscilla is also 14, a fact the film doesn’t shy away from. That aesthetic choice smartly steers “Priscilla” away from Luhrmann’s movie (which was much more interested in Elvis the performer) and further grounds the film in Priscilla’s perspective. The movie may also lack big musical scenes because Presley’s estate was unwilling to support the film or authorize the use of his songbook. Luhrmann’s hagiography was estate-approved and portrayed the singer as the innocent pawn of his craven manager, Col. Tom Parker. “Priscilla” shows how manipulative Elvis himself could be.

Persons: Priscilla, Elvis murmurs, ”, Nancy Sinatra, Ann, Margret, “ Marie Antoinette, Elvis, sensitively, Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Austin Butler’s, lister, Elordi acquits, Coppola isn’t, Elvis midsong, he’s, Priscilla ”, I’m, craven, Tom Parker, “ Priscilla ”, wouldn’t Locations: Germany, Graceland, “

☆ Venice Film Festival: Why David Fincher Wanted Michael Fassbender to Look ‘Dorky’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Fincher found no complaints from his leading man, who wasn’t in Venice because of the SAG-AFTRA strike: “Michael’s cool. “At one point, we even debated the Razor scooter,” he said, nixing that only because it wouldn’t perform well during a stair stunt. “I was like, ‘I want James Bond by way of Home Depot,’” Fincher said. “I love the idea of a Charles Bronson character who’s maybe misdiagnosed adult autistic,” he said. “And before 2023, I’m not sure anybody would have gone, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’”

Persons: Fincher, ”, John Wick, it’s, ” Fincher, Pitt, James Bond, ’ ” Fincher, Charles Bronson, I’m Organizations: SAG Locations: Venice, “

☆ Venice Film Festival: All Your Questions About Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ Answered
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

If you refer to “Maestro” as a biopic, expect a sternly worded email from the movie’s reps. It’s also true that “Maestro” doesn’t play by traditional biopic rules. What’s up with that fake nose? But when the film flashes back to Bernstein as a young man, the prosthetic proves intermittently distracting. It’s both too much and not enough: Unlike the fake nose in “The Hours,” which really did render Nicole Kidman unrecognizable, young Bernstein just looks like Bradley Cooper wearing a big beak.

Persons: ” Bernstein, Montealegre, “ Oppenheimer ”, Ferrari, Maestro ”, Bernstein, It’s, ”, Ken ”, “ Barbie, Cooper, Leonard Bernstein, Bradley, he’s, Nicole Kidman, Bradley Cooper Organizations: Netflix

☆ Venice Film Festival: Emma Stone Is a Bizarro Barbie in ‘Poor Things’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And you thought Barbie’s creation myth was head-spinning! “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, often plays like a wild, art-house remix of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster doll opus. But this is no family film: As baby-brained Bella starts to come of age, her lack of inhibitions steers her toward sexual situations that had the Venice moviegoer next to me squirming in his seat. Quite literally a child in a woman’s body, Bella can barely string words together and is given to shocking outbursts. Even gaining control of her limbs is a challenge: Bella lurches through Baxter’s mansion like a zombie dressed in drag, which I suppose she kind of is.

Persons: Billie Eilish, “ Barbie, Bella Baxter, “, ”, Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos, she’s, Willem Dafoe, Greta Gerwig’s, brained Bella, Alasdair Gray, Tony McNamara, Bella, Dafoe’s Dr, Godwin Baxter, McCandles, Ramy Youssef, Bella lurches Locations: Venice

☆ Venice Film Festival 2023: What to Watch For
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A year ago, the Venice Film Festival had enough star power to put even celebrity-worshiping Cannes on notice. But without all of those celebrities, can Venice still go viral? That puts Venice in a bind, as it’s regarded as one of the best places for Hollywood to unveil starry awards-season titles. (A low-profile Italian film is opening instead.) And I’ve heard of a few more starry fall films that were earmarked for Venice but opted for the Telluride Film Festival instead, since that event is less driven by the photo ops and news conferences that are no longer feasible in Italy.

Persons: Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chalamet, Brendan Fraser, Oscar, Luca Guadagnino’s, I’ve Organizations: Venice Film, Screen Actors, Writers Guild of America, Hollywood, ”, MGM, Telluride Locations: Venice, Cannes, Italy

☆ There’s No Such Thing as a Bad Movie Accent
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Red, White & Royal Blue” waits just seven and a half minutes to get to the good stuff, and by that I’m not referring to the movie’s big romance, between a hot British prince and the hot son of the American president, but to its even bigger accent, a syrupy Southern drawl from Uma Thurman that may be this season’s most audacious special effect. Imagine Gina Gershon in “Showgirls” crossed with Ross Perot and you’ll get halfway there — the rest of the distance must be traveled holding a mint julep that’s in constant, delicious danger of spilling. President Uma Thurman (the actual character name is incidental, since you will never not be thinking “President Uma Thurman” when she’s onscreen) is introduced accent-first, with her back to the camera, because encountering this voice head-on would surely be too much for the unprepared Prime Video viewers who stumbled upon the movie after bingeing “Bosch.” We meet her as she’s busy lecturing her hot son about his initial clash with the hot prince. “Darlin’,” President Uma Thurman says, “yew’ve dun some pretty stupid things in yur day, buh this …”To say my ears perked up is an understatement: It was as though Arianna Huffington had appeared before me reciting a monologue from “True Blood.” This is not an accent you should attempt while operating heavy machinery, but Thurman ladles it on so thick that you have to admire the movie-star chutzpah. I even started to miss her whenever “Red, White & Royal Blue” cut back to the hot boys’ romantic misadventures: Why are we spending time on these tedious hunks when the most suspenseful thing about the movie is how President Uma Thurman will pronounce any given word?

Persons: ”, I’m, Uma Thurman, Gina Gershon, “, Ross Perot, you’ll, Uma Thurman ”, bingeing “ Bosch, “ Darlin, Arianna Huffington, Thurman ladles

☆ Will Hollywood Learn These 5 Lessons From ‘Barbie’?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But can the runaway success of “Barbie” reshape Hollywood? I’m too cynical to think studio executives will learn all the right lessons from it. Still, “Barbie” proved at least five things to be true, if decision makers are willing to think outside the pink box. A summer movie can be smartly writtenWe count on summer movies to deliver spectacle, but how many also come with a witty, thoughtful script? “Barbie,” by contrast, feels totally thought through instead of frantically rewritten.

Persons: Greta Gerwig’s, Barbie ”, Mario, it’s, Jim Carrey, “ Barbie, they’ll, “ Barbie ”, “ Frances Ha ”, America, Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Barbie Organizations: Mario Bros

☆ William Friedkin’s Final Film to Premiere at the Venice Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” follows the trial of a naval officer (played by Jake Lacy) who is accused of leading a mutiny against his unstable commander (Kiefer Sutherland). The story was first adapted for the 1954 film “The Caine Mutiny,” which was nominated for seven Oscars including best picture. Though that film and Wouk’s novel take place during World War II, Friedkin contemporized the story and relocated the action to the Persian Gulf. “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” is Friedkin’s 20th narrative film and his first since 2011’s “Killer Joe,” which starred Matthew McConaughey. In the interim, Friedkin directed a documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” about a purported real-life exorcism.

Persons: William Friedkin, Friedkin, “, ”, Herman Wouk, Jake Lacy, Kiefer Sutherland, Joe, Matthew McConaughey, Amorth Organizations: Paramount, Showtime, Venice Film Locations: Venice, Persian

☆ ‘Barbenheimer’ Isn’t a Contest. But if It Were, Which Film Would Win?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Barbie is a famous clotheshorse, and Gerwig’s movie more than delivers on the fashion front: Whether Robbie’s doll is wearing gingham dresses or disco jumpsuits, she takes costumes that could read as cosplay and makes them chic. Still, even though Murphy is striking in period garments, there can be only one victor in this category. We have no doubt that Barbie would look fashionable even in Oppenheimer’s tailored menswear, but could the theoretical physicist pull off her rollerblading look in eye-searing fluorescents? (Kinky, yes, but Tatlock clearly knows that the way to this man’s heart is to first admire his bookshelf.) Advantage: “Oppenheimer”

Persons: Barbie, “ Oppenheimer, ”, Oppenheimer, Nolan, Murphy, Jean Tatlock, Pugh, Gita, “ Barbie ”, “ I’m, Ken ” Organizations: Mattel Locations: “

☆ How Those ‘Barbie’ Dreamhouses Came to Life: ‘We All Had to Believe in It’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To simulate that feel, “the Dreamhouses in the film are 23 percent smaller than they would be, as are the cars and roads,” Greenwood said. When Barbie opens her refrigerator, most of the foods are simply flat cartoon decals. “Once you’ve done that once or twice, those moments of dollness, it makes the whole thing believable,” Spencer said. With few walls to speak of, Barbie Dreamhouses are the definition of “open plan,” which presented its own logistical problems. If it feels artificial, that’s the point: Why preserve the fourth wall for homes that barely have any walls to begin with?

Persons: ” Greenwood, Margot, Ryan, Spencer, Barbie, Barbies, ” Spencer, Barbie Dreamhouses, ”, Greenwood, Greta

☆ Greta Gerwig on the Blockbuster ‘Barbie’ Opening (and How She Got Away With It)
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It felt so clear to me: If they didn’t want to make that [version], I didn’t need to make it. Part of me thinks that because it was all so idiosyncratic and so wild, it was almost like no one really knew where to start taking it apart. Like, where are you going to start hacking away at how strange it was? Her character tries to just keep the movie going normally again, but there’s no way to do it. But yeah, I don’t know that anyone totally knew what the tone of this was going to be until it was all done.

Persons: Noah, Margot, ”, Barbie Locations: Hollywood

☆ ‘Barbenheimer’ Is a Huge Hollywood Moment and Maybe the Last for a While
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Already, some upcoming films have had their release plans modified as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Sanders said the studio has assured him that, so far, no discussions have been had about bumping “The Color Purple” into 2024. And without the usual influx of year-end prestige films, this year’s awards season could look very different — and, in another way, all-too-familiar. “Worst-case scenario, every studio on the planet decides to move their fourth-quarter movies into next year,” Sanders mused. “Suddenly, the last contenders for awards are ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer.’ Then what happens?”

Persons: Helen Mirren, Julio Torres, Problemista ”, Zendaya, Emma Stone, ”, “ Barbenheimer, ‘ Oppenheimer, Tony Angelotti, Scott Sanders, ” Sanders, Sanders, HBO Max, Pepto, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, moviegoing, Barbie ’, ’ Organizations: SAG, “, ”, Venice Film, Toronto, Warner Bros, HBO Locations: Venice, Toronto

☆ How the Hollywood Strikes Could Affect Fall Festivals and Oscar Season
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With summer movie season at its midpoint, Hollywood typically begins to turn its gaze toward the fall, when a trio of major film festivals acts as the unofficial kickoff to Oscar season. That’s because SAG-AFTRA is prohibiting members from promoting any film while the strike is on, an across-the-board ban that includes interviews, photo calls and red-carpet duties. Without those appearances, festivals will be sapped of the star power that is invaluable to raising a film’s profile. The first event that will probably be affected is the Venice Film Festival, which begins its 80th edition on Aug. 30 with the premiere of the sexy tennis comedy “Challengers,” starring Zendaya. Venice has lately rivaled Cannes for glamour and headlines, so the loss of famous actors would be a big blow.

Persons: ”, Zendaya, Brendan Fraser, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh Organizations: SAG, Writers Guild of America, Cannes Film, Venice Film Locations: Hollywood, Venice, Telluride, Colo, Toronto, Cannes

☆ Angela Bassett and Mel Brooks Are Among Those to Receive Honorary Oscars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just a few months after Angela Bassett came close to clinching a supporting-actress Oscar for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” she’ll become one of four Hollywood figures to receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced. Also getting honorary Oscars will be the director Mel Brooks and the editor Carol Littleton, while the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter will be presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The awards “honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” the academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. Bassett, 64, was first nominated for playing Tina Turner in the biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and also starred in films like “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Malcolm X” and “Boyz N the Hood.” Her awards-season run for Wakanda Forever” earlier this year netted her a Golden Globe, and though she lost the Oscar to “Everything Everywhere All at Once” supporting actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Bassett is still one of only four Black actresses to have received more than one Oscar nomination for acting.

Persons: Angela Bassett, Oscar, “, she’ll, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton, Michelle Satter, Jean Hersholt, ”, Janet Yang, Bassett, Tina Turner, Stella, ” “ Malcolm X ”, Jamie Lee Curtis Organizations: Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Sciences, Sundance, Globe

☆ How Scorsese, DiCaprio and De Niro Made ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

His latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” took around seven years to come together, Scorsese and his collaborators explained on a sunny Cannes terrace the day after the Apple-financed project premiered there to glowing reviews. (It will be released in theaters this October, then debut on the streaming service at a later date.) Still, the finished film is very different than the one Scorsese and his star, Leonardo DiCaprio, originally intended to make: The material couldn’t be cracked until they were willing to throw out every notion of what they first thought “Killers of the Flower Moon” should be. There, the Osage Nation is the country’s most prosperous tribe; indeed, the discovery of oil on their land has turned them into the wealthiest people per capita in all of America. "I think Marty and I just looked at each other and we felt there was no soul to it,” DiCaprio said.

Persons: ”, Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Grann, Tom White, William Hale, Robert De Niro, White, Ernest, Eric Roth, Marty, ” DiCaprio, Niro, Hale, you’re Organizations: Apple Locations: Cannes, Oklahoma, Osage, America

☆ Johnny Depp at Cannes: ‘I Don’t Have Much Further Need for Hollywood’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If nothing else, Cannes is a reminder that nearly every major figure in the French film industry has a sizable “controversy” section on Wikipedia.) “Of course, if you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yeah, you feel boycotted,” Depp said. “Do I feel boycotted now? But I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about it. I don’t have much further need for Hollywood myself.”The 59-year-old Depp continued, “It’s a very strange, funny time where everybody would love to be able to be themselves but they can’t.

☆ Pedro Almodóvar’s Answer to ‘Brokeback Mountain’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Follow our live updates from the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival. “How do you want me to look at you?” replies the gunslinger, flirting. It wouldn’t be a western without a fraught standoff, but when Pedro Almodóvar is behind the camera, the glances are even more loaded than the pistols. In “Strange Way of Life,” a new short film that will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal star as a lawman and a cowboy who reunite 25 years after having a passionate affair. But will their old magic be rekindled, or are both men concealing ulterior motives for the meeting?

“One thing is that this will be the first year in the history of the Cannes Film Festival when the publicists will have no rumors to tell to each other,” Ostlund said. In Ostlund’s films, which skewer class and social hypocrisies, any character who made a vow like that would wind up doing the opposite. But don’t expect the top prizewinner or any of the other awards to be his choices alone. Damián Szifron, from Argentina, is best known for his comic anthology feature “Wild Tales,” which showed in competition in 2014. And the Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani was here last year with “The Blue Caftan,” which showed in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

☆ Cannes 2023: The Films We’ve Excited About Seeing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Wes Anderson’s films have premiered at a wide variety of festivals, but after “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), “The French Dispatch” (2021) and his upcoming ensemble comedy “Asteroid City,” Cannes is the fest he keeps coming back to. Last week, I asked Anderson what he finds so compelling about a debut on the Croisette. “The reason to go to Cannes, I think, is because they said yes,” he deadpanned. “After that, there isn’t really much to contemplate.”Well, there’s a little more to it than that, Anderson admitted: For cinema lovers, there is no holier pilgrimage to make than to the Cannes Film Festival, where movies are treated with the utmost reverence and routinely given marathon standing ovations. It is a place where great auteurs have been canonized, like Martin Scorsese, who won the Palme d’Or in 1976 for “Taxi Driver” and will return this year with his new feature “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and Quentin Tarantino, a Palme winner (for “Pulp Fiction” in 1994) and Cannes habitué who’ll be back at the fest this year for a wide-ranging conversation that may touch on his upcoming final film.

☆ James Gunn Always Knew How ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Would End
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

2” [2017], and then we talked about it happening in “Infinity War” and that worked better for the story. I knew that the whole trilogy is about Rocket, who we think of as a supporting character, becoming the captain of the Guardians. Drax realizes that he’s a father and that’s what he’s really good at — he’s not a destroyer. Well, Gamora’s death is the big one, but even her first kiss with Quill comes in “Infinity War” after the first two “Guardians” movies appear to be building to it. It wasn’t really about the kiss, it was about showing that they were now a couple.

☆ Will Poulter Is Just Getting Used to His Superhero Era
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“For that to be my introduction to the film industry, I couldn’t have asked for a gentler, nicer, more wholesome experience,” he said. That’s why, now that the tide has turned toward appreciative tweets instead of cruel jokes, Poulter is skeptical about putting any stock into what social media has to say about him. “It shouldn’t inform how I treat myself, because I don’t know those people,” he said. “One of the dangers with social media is we can conflate things that exist online to the real world without even questioning it. We just carry the one and don’t really ask whether it actually adds up at the end of the day.”He smiled.

Search resuls for: "Kyle Buchanan"

24 mentions found