Gus Van Sant - FishbowlLA

Aaron Sorkin Thinks Matt Damon’s New Movie is Fracking Great

Richard Horgan — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:00:58 +0000

Via EW staffer Anthony Breznican‘s great awards season column “Prize Fighting,” Sorkin has shared some thoughts about the new Gus Van Sant drama starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski.

Sorkin suggests that the December 28-January 4 release is no more about fracking than Jaws was about fishing. Instead, he writes, the screenplay – written by the film’s nauseatingly talented two stars – is anchored to a nifty narrative chassis:

Promised Land is so deft in its storytelling that it manages to dramatize one of the more compelling ANTI-environmental messages you’re likely to see. Forget you just read the words “environmental” and “messages” — you’ll be completely taken in by the con game, the humor, the stakes, the absence of easy answers and the typically detailed, subtle and charismatic performances…

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Ben Affleck’s Nod to Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee

Richard Horgan — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:40:35 +0000

A different kind of conversation flow is possible when a fellow filmmaker rather than a journalist interviews a Hollywood director. Witness the Interview magazine Q&A between Ben Affleck, whose critically hailed Argo opens tomorrow, and Gus Van Sant, the man who guided him through 1997′s Good Will Hunting.

Affleck admits he watched a number of classic American movies for stylistic research purposes. Cassavetes was instrumental for the California scenes, while 1982′s Missing greatly helped inform the Iran sequences. As far as the cloak and dagger stuff, he told Van Sant he reached back to arguably the best film ever made about American print journalism:

“I wanted the CIA stuff to feel like All the President’s Men (1976) – not the sexy CIA, but the CIA where papers are piled up on desks and there’s cigarette smoke everywhere. Bryan Cranston’s character in Argo is also a bit like the Ben Bradlee role played by Jason Robards in All the President’s Men. I thought that if what we did reminded people of movies from that era that were in the collective consciousness, then the subconscious would believe that our movie was actually taking place in the 1970s.”

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Win Tickets to GLAAD Media Awards Show

Tina Dupuy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:40:15 +0000

20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards
April 18, 2009
Nokia Theatre L.A. Live

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

Honoring Kathy Griffin, Rt. Rev V. Gene Robinson and The L Word
Special Appearances By: Jennifer Beals, Ilene Chaiken, Wilson Cruz, Alan Cumming, Thea Gill, Pam Grier, TR Knight, Megan Mullally, Peter Paige, George Takei, Bruno Tonioli, Gus Van Sant, and many more!

Event Details:

5:00 pm Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction
7:00 pm GLAAD Media Awards Show
9:00 pm VIP Dinner & After Party
For Tickets and Information Visit Here.

Live & Silent Auction
Preview this year’s live and silent auction items, donate or place a proxy bid, go here.

Be the first person to send us an email with “Go GLAAD” in the subject and a pair of tickets to the event is yours.

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Golden Globes Inexplicably Sort Of Overlook ‘Batman’ and ‘Milk’

Dan Cox — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:51:25 +0000

The Golden Globes, which are decided by about 92 Hollywood Foreign Press Association members came out with a comprehensive list of their nominations for 2008, but a couple of relatively major films were downright overlooked.

Gus Van Sant‘s “Milk,” starring Sean Penn in a tour de force performance, is a critical darling and will likely win an Oscar for Penn and possibly for the film.

The Globes only nominated Penn for best actor, but they did it almost reluctantly. And Van Sant as well as producers and scripters for the political power play of a film were ignored.

On the same list, “Batman Forever,” which had one of the best DVD openings of any film yesterday, was nominated only for Heath Ledger as best supporting actor. Sadly, it helps that Ledger passed away from a drug overdose in January. He has already been given a best supporting award posthumously from the Los Angeles Critics Association.

And the Oscars will likely follow suit.

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Broadcast Film Critics Want Their Say

Dan Cox — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:45:26 +0000

Though they’re sometimes reduced to thumbs up/thumbs down criticism, the country’s major broadcast critics are always keen to be heard as “Milk” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” both earned eight nominations for the 14th Broadcast Film Critics Assn.’s Critics Choice Awards, Variety says.

Both were among the 10 films named for best picture. “Milk,” which got off to a strong platform start last month, also picked up key nominations for lead actor Sean Penn, supporting co-stars James Franco and Josh Brolin, and director Gus Van Sant. “Button,” which opens Christmas Day, drew mentions for actor Brad Pitt, actress Cate Blanchett and supporting actress Taraji P. Henson.

Other titles nommed for picture were “Changeling,” “The Dark Knight,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Reader,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Wall-E” and “The Wrestler.”

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Spirit Awards Nominations Are The Usual Suspects

Dan Cox — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:01:40 +0000

The 24th Annual Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced and include the usual Hollywood indie suspects, Variety reports.

Jonathan Demme‘s stellar indie film “Rachel Getting Married,” Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and Gus Van Sant‘s “Milk” and most of their stars dominated the noms.

Spirit Awards are set for Feb. 21, 2009, the day before the Oscars are handed out.

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‘Milk’ Screening Brings Streaming Tears Of Joy

Dan Cox — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:30:21 +0000

Gus Van Sant‘s “Milk,” which opens Nov. 26, is already drawing raves from the long-lead critics, but the Sean Penn-starring film has already got local critics giving it plenty of thumbs up and Oscar buzz.

At a recent swanky Beverly Hills press screening, the film left the hard-bitten journos sniffling and downright weeping over the plight and ultimate demise of former San Fran board supervisor Harvey Milk.

What? Journos weeping and sobbing over a movie? What has the cinematic world come to?

And virtually everyone at the screening was convinced that Penn is a shoo-in for Best Acting Oscar. Well, he was pretty good.

Among the sniveling, er sniffling media reps were E! Online, People Magazine, Out.com and Campus Circle. No names were divulged, but FBLA watched as it went down and we have to admit we teared up (a bit) too.

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Trade Round-Up: Sept. 10, 2007

Guest Blogger — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:15:55 +0000

Yuma Scores at Boxoffice
James Mangold and producer Cathy Konrad‘s follow-up to their Walk the Line, the western 3:10 to Yuma starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, took top stop at the boxoffice over the weekend. Variety reports that it played on the high-end of expectations with Ben Fritz writing that it was moved up to “give it more breathing room” before the release of Brad Pitt’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Read about how the rest of the pics played here.

Cates to Produce Oscars, Again
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is standing by its lucky guy Gil Cates who has signed on to produce the Oscarcast again next year. It will be his 14th time driving the Oscar train, a job that in itself has garnered 99 Emmy nominations and 25 wins, Variety reports.

Variety on Blanchett, Elizabeth
On the heels of her best actress win at the Venice Film Festival, Cate Blanchett made her way overseas to Toronto to tout a return to the throne in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Variety‘s Todd McCarthy is happy to see her reprise the role that made her famous, but that’s about it. “Without the pleasure of watching Cate Blanchettâ€¦there would be little to recommend this latest of many cinematic and television accounts of the celebrated monarch’s lifeâ€¦” If you care to read on, click here.

Penn to Go Gay for Gus
Gay helmer Gus Van Sant is pushing Sean Penn and Matt Damon for a biopic about openly gay politico Harvey Milk. Penn is attached to play Milk with Matt attached to play the assassin who guns him down, reports THR out of Toronto. Sideways Michael London is producing.

Lionsgate loves Mandate
In other Toronto news, Lionsgate said in THR Monday that it has made a buy to acquire Mandate Pictures for $56.3 million in cash and stock. The trade paper writes that the deal reunites Lionsgate with Joe Drake, who prior to launching Mandate served as head of Lionsgate’s international distribution. Since he left, he has been involved in Mandate pics like Stranger Than Fiction and the upcoming Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

- CHRIS GARDNER

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