A24 scoops Affleck’s ‘Ghost Story’
Film
Jackman on ‘Deadpool’s’ Oscar odds, retiring Wolverine
LOS ANGELES, Jan 9, (Agencies): For this week’s Golden Globes
Variety cover story, Hugh Jackman threw his weight behind
“Deadpool”, making the case for why the comic-book tentpole starring
Ryan Reynolds should be a prominent awards contender (and it might
be — following its Writers Guild of America nomination this week).
Jackman also spoke to Variety about retiring his claws as Wolverine in
“Logan”, out this spring, and if he’d ever come back as the character.
Question: You first met Ryan Reynolds when he played Wade
Wilson in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”?
Answer: Yeah, that’s where we became mates. He was about to get
married to Scarlett at the time, and I was friends with Scarlett. It was
like, “Hey dude, I’m checking you out.”
Q: What was it like working with him on that film?
A: He wasn’t in the Deadpool costume in my movie. He was laying
the groundwork. He came down to Australia. It was the writer’s strike,
so we couldn’t have a writer. Literally, the script would say things like,
“Deadpool comes in, talking a mile a minute, very funny.” Uh, where’s
the dialogue? We’d say: “Yeah man, do whatever you can.”
Q: What did you think of “Deadpool”?
A: A couple things I knew about. I had to sign a waiver for my
People magazine cover. The bit at the end with him kissing my face, I
had no idea. I saw it with my son and about 15 of his mates. I never
laughed so hard from the opening titles right through.
There’s been awards buzz for Ryan’s performance. I’ve been out
there campaigning. I think he should be nominated for everything.
That stuff is not easy, when you know how much of it he wrote himself
and created to keep that tone. Hats off to him.
Q: A comic-book movie has never been nominated for the Oscar for
best picture. Do you think that needs to change?
A: When I hosted the Oscars, “Batman” didn’t get nominated and
everyone was talking about it. I think the genre is evolving. It’s a
stretch to say these are injustices in life — we are happy and making
movies. But I love it when someone like Ryan gets recognized. I loved
it when Johnny Depp got recognized for “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
The word around Fox was if you’re doing anything with marketing
“Deadpool,” you don’t call Ryan’s publicist. You call him direct. He
was all over everything.
Q: Would you ever do a spinoff Wolverine movie with Deadpool?
A: I’m hesitating, because I could totally see how that’s the perfect
fit. But the timing may be wrong. I’m at the point where I’m finishing
up. In terms of a theory, it’s a great idea.
Q: How does it feel to finally retire Wolverine in “Logan”?
A: I’m really, really proud of this movie. I was really keen that I
didn’t leave the party feeling like I could dance more. I think I’m
pretty much danced out, and I had a great time. It’s been an unbelievable ride, but it feels right.
Q: Did you keep a Wolverine suit?
A: I have one from every movie and the claws. I sell them for charity. Maybe I’ll keep one — occasionally, on a Saturday night, to dress
up like Wolverine.
Also:
LOS ANGELES: With less than two weeks until the launch of
Sundance 2017, another movie has already sold. A24 has scooped up
worldwide distribution rights to David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story,”
Variety has learned.
The spooky drama reunites Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara,
who starred in Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” which debuted
at Sundance in 2013. “A Ghost Story” will premiere as part of the
festival’s Next section. A24 had such confidence in the film, they
bought it sight unseen, according to sources with knowledge of the
deal.
The movie is produced by Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston,
Adam Donaghey, and Liz Franke. Lowery, who previously directed
Disney’s 2016 remake of “Pete’s Dragon,” also wrote the script.
Just a year ago, Casey Affleck went to Sundance with “Manchester
by the Sea,” the Kenneth Lonergan drama that sold to Amazon
Studios for $10 million. Since then, that indie has grossed more than
$30 million at the US box office, as one of this year’s major Oscar
contenders, which is expected to earn Affleck a best actor nomination.
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HONOLULU: A new film will highlight two units in World War II that
were made up mostly of Japanese-Americans.
The film “Go for Broke” will focus on the 100th Infantry Battalion
and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
reported.
“The brave actions of these young Japanese Americans, along with
the perseverance of the original 100th Infantry Battalion draftees from
Hawaii, directly led to the formation of the all-Japanese fighting unit
the 442nd — the most decorated combat unit (for its size) in American
military history,” a release on the film said.
Filmmaker and author Stacey Hayashi started filming on Dec 11
and says people need to know Hawaii’s story.
Features
Variety
This image released by NBC shows the cast and crew of ‘La La Land’, winner of the award for best motion picture musical or comedy at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton
Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan 8. (AP)
Globes
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017
‘Moonlight’ wins best drama film
LOS ANGELES: DisneyLucasfilm’s “Rogue One: A Star
Wars Story” edged “Hidden
Figures” in the race for the top
spot at the North American box
office with an estimated $22 million at 4,175 locations, estimates
showed Sunday.
“Hidden Figures”, a wellreviewed comedy-drama about
pioneering African-American
women in the early days of the
American space program, trailed
by only $200,000 with $21.8 million at 2,471 sites. So the positions
could reverse when final figures
for weekend are released Monday.
Snowy weather in the Eastern
United States held down overall
moviegoing during Friday and
Saturday. Box office tracker comScore reported a 15% decline
from the year-ago weekend to
$135 million.
Disney’s seventh weekend of
“Moana” came in eighth with $6.4
million at 2,549 venues, pushing its
domestic total past $225 million.
Denzel Washington’s “Fences”
followed with $4.7 million from
2,368 theaters for a domestic total
of $40.7 million for Paramount.
Washington, who produced, directed and stars in the adaptation of
August Wilson’s play, is up for a
Golden Globe in the best actor
drama category while Viola Davis
is nominated for best supporting
actress. (RTRS)
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LOS ANGELES: Lionsgate’s “La
La Land” quietly crossed the $50
million mark at the domestic box
office over the weekend as it more
than doubled its locations count
from 750 to 1,515, portending a
strong future for the musical comedy-drama.
Despite snowy weather holding
down overall moviegoing, two
awards contenders generated solid
grosses over the weekend — Fox’s
“Hidden Figures” in second place
with $21.8 million at 2,178 sites
for an $8,822 per theater average
and “La La Land” in fifth with $10
million and a $6,601 average.
It’s a nice payoff for Lionsgate’s
strategy of opting to go with a platform release for the Emma Stone-
Golden Globes sing for ‘La La Land’
LOS ANGELES, Jan 9, (Agencies): “La La Land”
steamrolled, “Moonlight” swooped in at the last minute
and Meryl Streep offered an impassioned rebuke to
President-elect Donald Trump at a schizophrenic
Golden Globes that pivoted between heartfelt moments
of protest and old-fashioned song and dance.
Damien Chazelle’s bright-hued Los Angeles musical
“La La Land” dominated the Beverly Hills, California,
ceremony with seven awards — a Golden Globes
record — including best motion picture, comedy or
musical, further cementing its Oscar favorite status.
But perhaps its stiffest Academy Awards competition, Barry Jenkins’ tender coming of age drama
“Moonlight” — which competed largely in separate
dramatic categories — took the night’s final award,
best movie drama. It was the film’s only hardware
despite six nominations.
Yet the night belonged to Meryl Streep, this year’s
Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree, who most articulated
an argument for the inclusivity of the movies — an
ongoing theme of the night — over the platform of the
president-elect, who’s to be sworn in Jan 20.
“La La Land” came in with a leading seven nominations, and won everything it was nominated for.
Chazelle won both best director and best screenplay.
Gosling won best actor in a comedy or musical, as did
Emma Stone for best actress. The film also took best
score (for composer Justin Hurwitz) and best song for
“City of Stars.”
“I’m in daze now, officially,” said the fresh-faced,
31-year-old Chazelle accepting his award for directing.
In one of the evening’s more emotional acceptance
speeches, Gosling dedicated his award to the late
brother of his partner, Eva Mendes.
“While I was singing and dancing and playing piano
and having one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on
a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with
our second and trying to help her brother fight his battle
with cancer,” said Gosling, referring to Juan Carlos
Mendes.
Ryan Gosling vehicle to build
awareness amid awards-season
momentum. “La La Land” grossed
$881,104 from five theaters in New
York and Los Angeles on its opening weekend on Dec 9-11. (RTRS)
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LOS ANGELES: The Chinese
box office malaise of late 2016
continued into the new year as
Washington
The ceremony got off to a rocky start when a broken
teleprompter initially froze Fallon. “Cut to Justin
Timberlake, please,” implored a desperately improvising
Fallon. It was the second fiasco in eight days for Globes
producer Dick Clark Productions, which presented the
infamous Mariah Carey flub on New Year’s Eve.
As if predicting the “La La Land” haul to come, the
“Tonight Show” host started the show with a cold open
ode to the film in a lavish sketch more typical of the
Academy Awards than the Globes. Fallon did a version
of the film’s opening on-top-of-cars dance scene, with
starry cameos from Timberlake, Tina Fey, Amy Adams
and the white Ford Bronco of “The People v. O.J.
Simpson.”
Criticized
In a more truncated monologue, Fallon’s sharpest
barbs weren’t directed at the stars in the room (as was
the style of frequent host Ricky Gervais) but Trump.
Fallon, who was criticized for his allegedly softball
interview of Trump on “The Tonight Show,” compared
the president elect to the belligerent teenage king
Joffrey of “Games of Thrones.” His first line (at least
once the teleprompter was up) was introducing the
Globes as “one of the few places left where America
still honors the popular vote.”
That, though, isn’t quite true. The Hollywood
Foreign Press Association, a collection of 85 members,
has its own methods of selecting winners for the
Globes. Best supporting actress winner Viola Davis,
the co-star of Denzel Washington’s August Wilson
adaptation “Fences,” alluded to the group’s reputation
for being wined and dined.
“I took all the pictures, went to luncheon,” said
Davis, to knowing chuckles through the ballroom, as
she clutched her award. “But it’s right on time.”
Davis continued what appears to be a certain path to
the Oscar. Another favorite, Casey Affleck, also padded his favorite status. The “Manchester by the Sea”
star took best actor.
Chan
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
opened in China with a box office
win that was far below that of
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Releasing in an almost identical
slot to its predecessor, “Rogue
One” earned $32.2 million in its
opening three-day weekend,
according to data from Ent Group.
A year ago, “The Force Awakens”
Coming a year after a second-straight of
OscarsSoWhite protests, the night was notable for the
widespread diversity of its winners, in film and TV.
Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” won best comedy series
over heavyweights like “Veep” and “Transparent.
Glover later added best actor in a comedy, and looked
visibly surprised accepting each.
“I really want to thank Atlanta and all the black folks
in Atlanta,” said Glover. “I couldn’t be here without
Atlanta.”
Tracee Ellis Ross, accepting the award for best
actress in a TV comedy for “Black-ish,” dedicated her
award to “all of the women of color and colorful people
whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important.”
“I want you to know that I see you, we see you,” said
Ross, who was the first black woman to win in the
category since Debbie Allen in 1982.
There were some real upsets, none more than the
British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson who took best supporting actor for his performance in Tom Ford’s
“Nocturnal Animals.” It was a surprise that TaylorJohnson was even nominated, so his win over favorites
Mahershala Ali from “Moonlight” and Jeff Bridges
from “Hell or High Water” was a shock.
As expected, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” took best
miniseries, as well as an award for Sarah Paulson. And
Netflix’s Elizabeth II series “The Crown” won both
best drama series and best actress in a drama series for
Claire Foy.
But no one looked more surprised to win than Hugh
Laurie, co-star of “The Night Manager,” who took best
supporting actor in a limited series or TV film. Laurie
was one of the few winners to pepper his acceptance
speech with comments about Trump. “I accept this
award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere,” he said. (“The Night Manager” won two more
awards, including best actor for Tom Hiddleston.)
Continued on Page 21
enjoyed $53.2 million in its opening two day weekend, before
going on to finish its run with
$124 million.
After improving in its second
weekend, Jackie Chan’s
“Railroad Tigers” crumbled in its
third week. It placed third and
earned $5.58 million for a 17-day
cumulative of $87.2 million.
“The Great Wall” added $3.13
million in its fourth weekend. After
24 days it has hit a total of $160
million. It held up better than “See
You Tomorrow,” the much-hyped
comedy previously known as “The
Ferryman.” That added just $1.07
million in eighth place in its third
weekend for a 17-day cumulative
of $67.6 million. (RTRS)