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  • Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017
Annette Bening says still a long way to go to movie equality
Actress and jury president Annette Bening poses for photographers at the premiere of the film 'Downsizing' which opens the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
VENICE, Italy (AP) -- 

Female directors should fight film-industry sexism by making movies that appeal to as wide an audience as possible, Venice Film Festival jury president Annette Bening said Wednesday, the first day of a festival that has been criticized for a lack of female voices.

"American Beauty" star Bening, a four-time Academy Awards nominee, heads the panel that will choose a winner of the Golden Lion from among 21 films competing for the festival's top prize. Only one is by a woman: Vivian Qu's "Angels Wear White."

Bening said "it's a long road" to equality but things are changing for the better.

She told reporters at the festival that "we as women have to be very sharp and shrewd and creative ourselves about what we chose to make."

She said all directors struggle to get films made and "there is a lot of sexism of course."

"I think the more that we as women can make films that speak to everyone, we can be regarded as filmmakers More

  • Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017
Creative team set for Matthew Weiner's Amazon Original Series "The Romanoffs"
In this Feb. 6, 2016 file photo, "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner poses at the 68th Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Amazon Original Series The Romanoffs, created, written, directed and executive produced by nine-time Emmy award winner Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), and co-produced with Weinstein Television, has assembled its creative team for the season. The collaborators include executive producer/writer Semi Chellas (Mad Men), co-executive producers Kriss Turner Towner (The Bernie Mac Show), Blake McCormick (Mad Men), and Kathy Ciric (Z: The Beginning of Everything), along with consulting producers/writers Andre Jacquemetton (Mad Men) and Maria Jacquemetton (Mad Men).
 
The series behind-the-scenes creative team includes an array of consummate artists, including DP Chris Manley (Mad Men), costume designers Janie Bryant (Mad Men) and Wendy Chuck (Spotlight), production designers Emmy Award winner Henry Dunn (Mad Men) and Christopher Brown (Mad Men More

  • Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017
Stepdaughter: Fights thwart film remakes of Steinbeck novels
This undated file photo shows American author John Steinbeck, winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Grapes of Wrath." Film remakes of "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden" fell apart because Steinbeck's late son and widow impeded the projects, the writer's stepdaughter told jurors in federal court Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. (AP Photo, File)
By Brian Melley
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Film remakes of "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden" fell apart because John Steinbeck's son and daughter-in-law impeded the projects, the writer's stepdaughter says.

Waverly Scott Kaffaga alleges that long-running litigation over the author's estate has prevented her from making the most of Steinbeck's copyrights at a time when marquee names such as Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Lawrence were interested in bringing some his masterpieces back to the screen.

"The catalog has been dirtied by these legalities," Kaffaga told jurors in federal court Tuesday. "The whole Steinbeck canon has been put into doubt."

Kaffaga, daughter of the late author's third wife, Elaine, is suing the estate of stepbrother Thomas Steinbeck, who died last year, and his widow and their company.

The lawsuit follows a decades-long dispute between Thomas Steinbeck and Kaffaga's mother over control of the author's works.

Thomas Steinbeck has lost More

  • Monday, Aug. 28, 2017
Australian government open to CBS takeover of local network
In this June 14, 2017 file photo, a billboard advertising a television show is displayed near the offices of the Ten Network in Sydney. Troubled Australian television broadcaster Ten Network will be sold to U.S. giant CBS Corp. subject to regulatory approval of foreign ownership, the Sydney-based company's administrator said on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
By Rod McGuirk
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- 

Australia's communication's minister said Tuesday he did not have a preference for who owned troubled Australian television broadcaster Ten Network, with U.S. giant CBS Corp. making a takeover offer while a bid by local media moguls remains stymied in the Senate.

The CBS bid for the network's owner, Ten Network Holdings Ltd., announced on Monday, has yet to be approved by Ten creditors and the Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, which has to be convinced such takeovers are in the national interest.

The sale price will be revealed in a report to creditors this week.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield on Tuesday declined to comment on the likely of CBS passing the national interest test.

"I'm someone who sits back from these things and I let the markets do their job," Fifield told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I'm proprietor agnostic."

Ten appointed administrators as an alternative to filing for bankruptcy More

  • Monday, Aug. 28, 2017
Ed Skrein pulls out of "Hellboy" film after backlash
In this April 9, 2016 file photo, Ed Skrein arrives at the MTV Movie Awards in Burbank, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

British actor Ed Skrein has withdrawn from the upcoming "Hellboy" reboot a week after his casting sparked outcries of whitewashing.

In a lengthy post on his social media channels Monday, Skrein said he accepted the role of Ben Daimio unaware of its Asian heritage. The character Skrein was to play, Ben Daimio, is Japanese-American in the "Hellboy" comics the films are based on. Critics said Skrein's casting was just the latest instance of an Asian or Asian-American role being handed to a white actor.

"It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the arts," wrote Skrein. "I feel it is important to honor and respect that. Therefore I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately."

The backlash followed previous controversies including the More

  • Monday, Aug. 28, 2017
VR Playhouse merges with Identity FX; Ian Forester shifts to CEO
Pictured (l-r) are Leo Vezzali, Christina Heller and Ian Forester
LOS ANGELES -- 

Creative studio VR Playhouse in L.A. has merged with postproduction studio Identity FX, shifting co-founder Ian Forester from CCO to CEO and bringing on Leo Vezzali (of Identity FX) as executive producer. The union will pivot VR Playhouse in a more technology-centric direction, focusing on original technical IP and high-end interactive services, utilizing a global team of artists and technologists. Former CEO and co-founder Christina Heller, who will be devoting time to a new venture, will remain as chief development officer and continue to lead the educational and community initiatives at VR Playhouse, including the recently-launched VR Playhouse School.

The alliance comes on the heels of VR Playhouse’s migration into substantial CGI and interactive VR projects, including its recent character work on Skydance Interactive’s AAA videogame Archangel and recent Special Jury Recognition for Room-Scale VR at SXSW. The partnership continues this More

  • Monday, Aug. 28, 2017
CBS to buy troubled Australian broadcaster Ten Network
In this June 14, 2017 file photo, a billboard advertising a television show is displayed near the offices of the Ten Network in Sydney. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
By Rod McGuirk
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- 

Troubled Australian television broadcaster Ten Network will be sold to U.S. giant CBS Corp. subject to regulatory approval of foreign ownership, the Sydney-based company's administrator said on Monday.

New York-based CBS had "entered into binding transaction documents" to buy the network's owner, Ten Network Holdings Ltd., administrator KordaMentha said in a statement.

CBS is the biggest creditor of Australia's third most popular free-to-air commercial TV network that went into voluntary administration in June.

The sale is subject to conditions including approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, KordaMentha said.

The sale price will be revealed in a report to creditors within days.

Armando Nunez, president and chief executive of CBS Studios International, said CBS recognized the significance of Ten to Australian broadcasting.

"We are committed to the efficient, reliable and successful turnaround, More

  • Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017
David Gordon Green's film on marathon bombing survivor to premiere at hospital
This image released by Roadside Attractions shows Tatiana Maslany, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from "Stronger." (Scott Garfield/Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions via AP)
BOSTON (AP) -- 

A new film chronicling the story of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman will premiere at the hospital where he and others who were injured in the 2013 deadly attack were treated.

Director David Gordon Green tells The Boston Globe the movie "Stronger" will screen at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown on Sept. 12.

The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Bauman and "Orphan Black" actress Tatiana Maslany as Bauman's then-girlfriend Erin Hurley. It arrives in theaters Sept. 22.

Hurley was running the marathon and Bauman was there to cheer her on when the bombs went off. He lost both legs. The movie is based on his memoir of the same name.

Green says many of the people who treated Bauman play themselves in the movie.

  • Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017
Tobe Hooper, "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" director, dies at 74
In this file photo dated Aug. 27, 2010, filmmaker Tobe Hooper appears in London. (Ian West/PA FILE via AP)
By Robert Jablon and Jake Coyle
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Tobe Hooper, the horror-movie pioneer whose low-budget sensation "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" took a buzz saw to audiences with its brutally frightful vision, has died. He was 74.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office on Sunday said Hooper died Saturday in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles. It was reported as a natural death.

Along with contemporaries like George Romero and John Carpenter, Hooper crafted some of the scariest nightmares that ever haunted moviegoers. Hooper directed 1982's "Poltergeist" from a script by Steven Spielberg, and helmed the well-regarded 1979 miniseries "Salem's Lot," from Stephen King's novel.

Hooper was a little-known filmmaker of documentaries and TV commercials when he made his most famous work: 1974's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." He made it for less than $300,000 in his native Texas, and yet it became one the most influential films in horror: a slasher film landmark.

Marketed as based More

  • Friday, Aug. 25, 2017
"Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins fires back against James Cameron's criticism
In this May 25, 2017 file photo, director Patty Jenkins, left, and actress Gal Gadot arrive at the world premiere of "Wonder Woman" at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

The director of "Wonder Woman" says James Cameron's criticism of the film is "unsurprising" because he can't understand it.

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Cameron called "the self-congratulatory back-patting" Hollywood's been doing over the film "misguided." Cameron says Wonder Woman is "an objectified icon." He points to Sarah Connor, the gritty protagonist from his Terminator films, as a better role model.

"Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins fired back in a tweet Thursday night, writing that Cameron can't understand the character because he's not a woman. She adds that "if women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong ... then we haven't come very far."

"Wonder Woman" has made a global total of more than $800 million at the box office since its release in June.

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