John Lithgow, the renowned American actor has joined the star cast of ‘The Accountant’ which will be directed by Gavin O’Connor. The film is touted to be a high octane thriller, and it will have Ben Affleck in the lead role. As per reports, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons and Jeffrey Tambor have also been included in the star cast.
Pre Production works of the movie is going on in steady pace, and the shooting is expected to start soon in Atlanta.
The project was in the cards of ‘Warner Bros’ for quite a long time. Earlier, it was speculated that Mel Gibson is directing this movie with Will Smith in the lead role. But later, the plan was cancelled, and finally, Gavin O’Connor was chosen to direct this movie.
‘The Accountant’ showcases the story of a government accountant who doubles as an assassin. John Lithgow will be playing the role of a robotics engineer in the movie. Ben Afflect will enact the title character of ‘The Accountant’.
The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominees for outstanding feature film directing on Tuesday. Five directors made their way to the final list, and it includes, Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Alejandro G.Innaritu (Birdman) and Clint Eastwood (American Sniper).
This is not the first time that Clint Eastwood is getting DGA Nomination. In 2004 and 1992, he won the outstanding feature film directing award for his movie, ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Unforgiven’ respectively. He was nominated for this award in 2003 for ‘Mystic River’.
Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater have not received any DGA nominations in their career. Innaritu was previously nominated in the feature category for ‘Babel’ in 2006.
Angelina Jolie for ‘Unbroken’ Ava DuVernay for ‘Selma’ was there till the final list, but failed to make it to the final list.
The 2015 Award season has begun in style as the first major award event, ‘The Golden Globe’ has been given out to the winners at Beverley Hills. The much awaited award ceremony began with style as J K Simmons for his role in ‘Whiplash’ received the award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
‘Boyhood’ was the ultimate show stealer throughout the award night. The film proved its Oscar front running status by winning the ‘Best Drama’ award. Richard Linklater bagged the award for ‘Best Director’, and Patricia Arquette won the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ award for her portrayal of an unappreciated single mother in ‘Boyhood’. Eddie Redmayne won the ‘Best Actor’ award in a drama for his performance in the Stephen Hawking biopic, ‘The Theory of Everything’.
For his performance in ‘Birdman’, Micheal Keaton won the ‘Best Actor’ award in a musical or comedy. The film also bagged the award for ‘Best Screenplay’. The ‘Best Picture Award’ in a musical or comedy was ultimately given to ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ directed by Wes Anderson.
Julianne Moore grabbed the ‘Best Actress Award’ in a drama for her performance in ‘Still Alice’.
‘Leviathan’ was selected as the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’, while the ‘Best Animation movie’ award was given to ‘How to Train your Dragon 2’.
Angelina Jolie, the mesmerizing actress who directed ‘Unbroken’ this year, made a surprise entry at the 40th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Award. The presence of Angelina Jolie added the dose of star power to the event which aims to honor the achievements in Independent and World Cinema.
The appearance of Jolie was the secret talking point of the event, but no official confirmation was being made by the organizers. The actress appeared in the stage to present career achievement honor to Gena Rowlands, the acting legend. Angelina and Gena have shared screen space in the past in movies like ‘Playing By Heart’ and ‘Taking Lives’.
Angelina’s words about Gena Rowlands during the presentation ceremony was really heart touching as she remembered Gena’s late husband, filmmaker and actor John Cassavetes. “Every artist in their room has looked at their partner and said, ‘I wish I could have what John and Gena had”, said Jolie.
Angelina Jolie’s second directorial venture ‘Unbroken’ has hit the screens on December 25, 2014. The film which features the life of Olympian Louis “Louie” Zamperini has been well received by the critics and audiences. As of now, the film has grossed nearly $ 116 million from the theaters.
The organizers of International Film Festival of Rotterdam have unleashed the lineup for its Bright Future and Spectrum programs this year. They also named the list of 10 films that will compete for its big screen awards.
The Bright Future Side Bar will feature first and second films from the directors. Two noted films in this side bar include, ‘I Swear I’ll Leave This Town’ directed by Daniel Aragao and ‘Sam Klemke’s Time Machine’ by Matthew Bate.
The Spectrum Section will feature more avant garde filmmakers. Some of the films in this section includes, ‘As The Gods Will’ directed by Miike Takashi, ‘Black Stone’ from Roh Gyeong-Tae and Nathan Silver’s feature film debut ‘Stinking Heaven’.
Please find below the full list of big screen nominees.
I Swear I’ll Leave This Town, Danial Aragao
Jauja, Lisandro Alonso
Key House Mirror, Michael Noer
The Lesson, Kristina Grozeva/Petar Valchanov
Magical Girl, Carlos Vermut
A Matter of Interpretation, Lee Kwang-Kuk
The Move, Marat Sarulu
Second Coming, Debbie Tucker Green
Undulant Fever, Ando Hiroshi
Das Zimmermadchen Lynn, Ingo Haeb
For the first time ever in India, a campus choice cinema awards for new generation is being organized in the premises of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) on January 9, Friday @ 5.30 PM. The event named ‘C-Awards’ will be conducted during the Silver Jubilee Celebration of ‘Anchorage’ – the national level cultural fiesta organized by Department of Ship Technology (DOST) in the campus.
The event, organized and executed exclusively by college students in Kerala, will be honouring young talents in Malayalam film industry based on their performances in the year 2014. As per the organizers, Kerala is going to witness its first red carpet event where legends of the likes of I.V. Sasi and Kaviyoor Ponnamma will be honoured for their life time contribution to the Malayalam film industry.
Sohan Roy, former student of Department of Ship Technology and the director of the much acclaimed Hollywood movie ‘DAM999’, is the concept creator of ‘C-Awards’. He is the one who laid the foundation of new generation wave in Kerala by initiating the state’s first ever campus talent search in filmography. Many of the present generation directors and popular young actors like Nivin Pauly emerged successful through that talent search programme. Mr. Roy, the CEO of Aries Group of Companies, said that C-Awards 2015 is being organized as part of the 10th anniversary of Aries Campus Talent Search held in the year 2004.
Renowned scriptwriter and film director B. Unnikrishnan is also a member of the C-Awards jury and founding committee. He is the Managing Director of Aries Vismayas Max, the main supporter of the event. Aries Vismayas Max houses the first Dolby Atmos Sound Mixing Studio in Kerala.
Categories for the Campus Choice Cine Awards include ‘The Most Popular Actor, The Most Popular Actress, The Best Supporting Actor, The Best Supporting Actress, The Best Movie Of 2014, The Best Director, The Best Music Director, The Best Promising Voice, The Best Cinematographer, The Best Poster Design, The Best Editor and The Best Comedian’.
For more readings please visit http://www.anchoragecusat.com and www.ariesgroupglobal.com
‘Boyhood’, directed by Richard Linklater is literally continuing its dream run, as the film won three top prizes at the 80th New York Film Critics Circle Awards. The movie claimed the ‘Best Picture Award’ along with ‘Best Director Award’ for Richard Linklater and ‘Best Supporting Actress Award’ for Patricia Arquette.
Before the starting of ceremony, director of ‘Boyhood’ revealed the news of a biggest recognition a movie can get-that too from the white house. “I was so strangely moved when I heard that the president liked the movie. This sounds crazy, I did think about Obama when I was making the movie. I thought Obama would like this movie. He and I are actually very similar. We graduated from high school the same year, we both have really strong single moms and there were some step-siblings and stepfathers. We had similar paths in a strange way, so he did cross my mind”, said Richard Linklater.
N.Y.F.C.C. chairman Stephen Whitty showered praises on the movie during the ceremony. “This is the year of Boyhood”, said Stephen Witty.
Boyhood stars Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Libby Villari in the lead roles.
Renowned American Television writer and producer Norman Lear will be honored with the reputed Evelyn F. Burkey Award at the East Coast Ceremony of WGA Awards. The Evelyn F. Burkey Award is meant to be given for people and organization that have brought honor and dignity to writers.
The 67th Annual Writers Guild Awards Ceremony will be conducted at February 14, 2015. Bill Moyers, the highly acclaimed American journalist will present the Evelyn F. Burkey Award to Lear during the ceremony.
“Over several decades, the Writers Guild East has presented the Burkey Award to celebrate the achievements of leaders — in the arts or politics — who have advanced the causes of creativity and freedom of speech. This year, by honoring Norman Lear, we choose a man who spans the worlds of both the arts and public affairs. Over his long career as a writer and producer, he has given audiences laughter that entertains and provokes. As a spokesman and advocate, he has been a forthright and resolute defender of civil liberty”, said WGA East president Michael Winship about the selection of Norman Lear.
Norman Lear is well known for writing and producing some of the noted 1970 sitcoms like ‘All in the Family’, ‘Sanford and Son’, ‘One Day at a Time’, ‘The Jeffersons’, ‘Good Times’, and ‘Maude’.
The 6th Annual New Media Film Festival is scheduled from June 09th – 10th 2015. The recent news from this corner is regarding the call for entries for this edition of the festival. Filmmakers from any nooks of the world can submit their movies to the festival, and it will surely help them to portray their movie in front of global public. The deadline for submission is February 3rd 2015, and the final submission date is April 20th 2015.
Each Entry submitted in this festival will be considered for Screening in a State of the Art Theatre, The Landmark, owned by Mark Cuban and/or Competition and/or Distribution. The qualifying entries will receive a VIP Badge and other festival perks.
The New Media Film Festival plans to give $ 45,000 as award in various categories, and it includes one grand prize too. The festival can be compared with any other top leading International events and it will be blessed with the presence of some eminent names in World Cinema.
The 2015 edition of ‘Hot Docs‘ will be conducted from April 23rd – May 3rd in Canada. This International Documentary Film Festival has a special segment, ‘Made In‘ which will celebrate a country or region’s contribution to documentary. This year, this segment will feature films from India, and this can be considered as the honor to the Indian film fraternity.
The ‘Made In India‘ program 2015 is expected to highlight the remarkable and impeccable cinematic legacy in the documentary community. The film titles which are shortlisted for the final screening will be announced soon.
Another news from this corner is regarding the opportunity to submit films in this festival. The late deadline for submission is January 7th, 2015 and the entry fee is USD 50 for short films and USD 150 for feature films.