The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival gets underway tomorrow, with all its promise of discovery, community... and totally random juries. The festival has announced its full list of luminaries who'll judge this year's competition slates — no doubt the only place where you'll find a collaboration between Kim Cattrall and Michael Moore, or see Whoopi Goldberg sharing a jury panel with Kellan Lutz, or the guy who discovered Justin Bieber possibly breaking a tie between Brett Ratner and Susan Sarandon. Like, huh? Check out the full spectrum of jurors (headed by jury president Irwin Winkler) after the jump.
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There's no script, no budget and no confirmed Charles Grodin to complement the "buddy" part of the "buddy comedy" formula that worked so well 24 years ago, but that's not stopping the zeitgeist from panicking over the current state of Midnight Run 2. To wit, Brett Ratner is now linked up as the director. Like we've never heard that before. Everybody calm down!
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Any great awards show monologue skewers the nominees and sets the tone for the festivities to come, and this weekend's awards tour didn't disappoint -- if you were watching the Film Independent Spirit Awards and not the Oscars, that is. Host Seth Rogen trumped Billy Crystal the day before the Academy Awards when he roasted Hollywood's brightest along with Spirit Award nominees (like "creepy" -- and apparently good humored -- Michael Shannon). As for Rogen's best joke? It's got to be a toss up between his Ratner snipe ("Without awards season we wouldn't know how much of a horrible bigot Brett Ratner is") and his Lars von Trier hiding-in-Argentina bit. Hit the jump to watch the magic.
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Some folks out there may have enjoyed Billy Crystal's ninth outing as host of the Academy Awards last night, but his turn was as tepid as James Franco's 2011 "performance" was bizarre. Crystal's Oscars-themed song and dance routine? Dated. The weak banter and soft barbs at Hollywood's gathered illuminati? Snoozeville. Given that the previously and frequently great Crystal was upstaged by the night's random moments (Angelina Jolie's leg, J. Lo's boob, those Cirque du Soleil acrobats) and young, actually funny presenters (the Bridesmaids crew and Emma Stone) it's time to start anew and refresh what's already known as the fussiest night in the film calendar. In other words: Who would make the ultimate, charismatic, hilarious, non-sucky Oscar host?
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"When he stepped down as Oscar producer in November over the use of an anti-gay slur, Brett Ratner committed to work with GLAAD on issues pertaining to LGBT images in Hollywood. Now the media advocacy group announced a new video campaign, which will be produced and directed by Brett Ratner. [...] The upcoming video series will feature Hollywood celebrities, athletes, musicians and politicians ‘coming out of the closet’ as supporters of equality." I'll Brett you're GLAAD that's settled, amirite? Sigh. [Deadline]
It's over. It can mean the best of news or the worst of news, a new beginning or the utmost in closure. Its extremity is unparalleled, its harsh clarity often benumbing. Some people found out this week what It's over meant for them. For many of the rest of us, it couldn't be over soon enough. But you can get all the more closer here with Movieline's Week in Review.
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It's been quite a day, and quite a week for Oscar watchers, but just imagine what Academy president Tom Sherak and Co. have been dealing with on the inside of the RatnerGate hullaballoo! They're probably thanking their lucky stars for Oscar-winning uber-producer Brian Grazer, who has agreed to step in to patch together the 2012 Academy Award telecast. Hit the jump to read invisible sighs of relief between the lines of the AMPAS official press release.
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"Oh, no. I've done that gig," Robin Williams responded when asked by Moviefone this afternoon whether he would consider replacing Eddie Murphy as this year's Oscar host. "Years ago I co-hosted with Alan Alda and Jane Fonda and I pretty much saw my career flash before me, before I started. So, it was like, 'No...' It's a tough gig. It's a weird night, man. It's pretty thankless in terms of if you do great, if they say that you're a little edgy, they say, 'He's cool.' If you're not, they're going to go, 'He's timid.'" [Moviefone]
A brief tangentially related rant in the middle of RatnerGate: I usually give remakes a relatively fair shake before they prove their worth (or lack thereof), but Brett Ratner's potential redo of the underrated '80s teen sex comedy The Last American Virgin, I cannot abide. News of Ratner's intentions slipped by in his recent Howard Stern appearance, understandably, but he had this to say: "I think I jerked off to [LAV star Diane Franklin] at least two hundred times." Please, universe, don't let this guy ruin the most surprisingly sensitive teen comedy of the '80s. #RatnerFreeRemakes, anyone? [Howard Stern via Cinema Blend]
There goes the Tower Heist contingent of this year's Oscars. Less than a day after Brett Ratner resigned as producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast following a series of controversial remarks made while promoting Tower Heist, his star Eddie Murphy has forfeited his spot as this year's host.
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The latest in what's sure to be an ongoing and convoluted affair: national theater chain Cinemark has lobbed the first return volley in the face of Universal's Tower Heist VOD experiment, refusing to play the Brett Ratner-directed Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller comedy in any of its 300 locations and 3,800 screens come November 4. The question is: Will Universal back down from its $59.99 video-on-demand market test -- or will other exhibitors join Cinemark to boycott the move?
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The latest trailer for Tower Heist is out, and not a minute too soon as Universal prepares to undertake Hollywood's most adventurous journey yet on the VOD frontier: Releasing Brett Ratner's comedy to on-demand audiences just three weeks after its Nov. 4 theatrical opening. Exhibitors are pledging boycotts, pundits are wringing their hands, and competing studios are paying extra close attention to how it could all affect them. All of which misses the bottom line for viewers, which is: How much???
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The first week of August (and the official beginning of the end of summer) rolled by in fine fashion; sure, it was at times an agonizingly slow news week, but the first looks, surprise developments, and WTF? revelations kept things bouncy. Head into the weekend with your head held high, week. You gave us plenty to munch on. For starters: The terms "Brett Ratner" and "Oscars" in the same sentence? You so crazy!
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Well, isn't this quite the youthful shake-up! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the producers who will create next year's Oscars telecast: previous telecast director Don Mischer and Rush Hour/X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner. Does this mean less snooze and more explosions for the annual awards season centerpiece?
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When Steven Spielberg gets too busy to direct a film, which director pops into mind first to replace him? Altogether now: Brett Ratner! Deadline reports that Ratner will assume the helm of a live-action adaptation of The 39 Clues, a series of adventure books/online games/collectible cards about kids from the most influential family in history competing against rival clans in a globe-trotting scavenger hunt for world domination. Spielberg will stay on to produce with Scholastic's Deborah Forte and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour, Catch Me If You Can, Tower Heist). [Deadline]
