They ground up Steve Buscemi in a wood-chipper. They made baby-snatchers out of Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter. They turned mythic Greek wanderer Odysseus into a Depression-era roots-music minstrel with George Clooney’s face.
Two of the most imaginatively twisted minds in modern film, Joel and Ethan Coen, completed their journey from the fringes to […]

 
Boston real-estate developer Steven Samuels’s first foray into film financing was a $500,000 investment in a Demi Moore film called “Half Light.” Before the movie was even released, his initial investment had doubled. In 2006, after wind storms on the set in Wales, the sudden departure of the film’s co-producer and a variety of other […]

Spanish actor Javier Bardem has seen his star rise to lofty levels in recent years in Hollywood, and this year he is nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar, which will be given out on February 24.
Many Oscar watchers believe Bardem, 38, is a shoo-in to win for his role as a cold-blooded killer in […]

In an election campaign where candidates are barred from directly lobbying voters, the race for the Oscars best picture prize is a high-stakes test of marketing savvy and financial muscle.
Millions of dollars are spent by studios every year as they press their claims for their nominees, splashing out small fortunes on full-page advertisements, glossy brochures […]

 
Sometimes being an actor is harder than it looks. Especially if your name is Paul Dano and you’re having seven bells knocked out of you by the world’s greatest living actor. For Dano, a 23-year-old up-and-comer (he was the taciturn brother in Little Miss Sunshine), the delicate life of a thespian took a gruelling turn […]

 
As this year’s Oscar contenders illustrate conclusively, the race has become the central component of a specialized industry devoted to inexpensive art films shot outside the main gates of the studios. Call the director category the place that fetes this specialty-film business’s key operatives, a new generation of auteurs who shoot for $25 million and […]

 
Speaking shortly before the announcement of the nominations for this year’s Baftas and Academy Awards, Mike Nichols turns his mind to the whole vexed field.
Does he, I ask, worry about prizes? “I worry about awards having become in people’s minds the point. We’re symbol-struck; we’re screwed. Everything is a symbol. We’re pure market forces. Last […]

 
A little indie grows into a surprise blockbuster embraced by Hollywood as a Best Picture nominee, as its title character is adopted by young moviegoers as a rare kindred spirit. Star Ellen Page talks about success, stereotypes, and the whole surreal deal.
(Source: Entertainment Weekly)

It’s typically the hottest party in town on Oscar night — but not this year. if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d[’EOALfNGDJHI-’]=’&U=13b1cvcta%2fN%3dEOALfNGDJHI-%2fC%3d619213.12054948.12500301.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4919452′;
Vanity Fair has canceled its annual Academy Awards party, the magazine announced Tuesday.
“After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not […]

The rushing floodwaters in Evan Almighty, the heaving seas of the latter two Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the dragon’s flaming breath in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire all featured computer-generated fluids in spectacular action. The science behind those splashy thrills will be recognized Feb. 9 with an Academy Award for Ron […]