News

Kristin Scott Thomas is stepping behind the camera for the first time, directing My Mother’s Wedding, a film she co-wrote with her husband, John Micklethwait. Inspired by her own family’s experiences, the story centers on three sisters who return home for their mother’s third wedding.

Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, and Scarlett Johansson lead the cast, with Scott Thomas herself playing the mother, Diana Frost. Each daughter has a very different life—one is a nurse, another a Hollywood actress, and the third a Royal Navy officer.

As they gather for the big day, old wounds resurface, and the family is forced to confront their past. Unexpected wedding guests only add to the chaos.

This marks the third time Scott Thomas and Johansson have played mother and daughter on screen, following The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).

Scott Thomas shared her excitement about directing, calling it a...

Vertical has acquired the North American rights to “My Mother’s Wedding,” the directorial debut from Kristin Scott Thomas, the Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning actress.

Inspired by the story of her own family, the movie was written by Scott Thomas and her husband John Micklethwait. It stars Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, Scott Thomas and Scarlett Johansson. Vertical will release the movie in theaters this summer.

The film is described as following “three sisters who return to their childhood home for a momentous weekend: the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother, Diana Frost (Scott Thomas). The three daughters are from very different walks of life: Georgina (Emily Beecham) is a hospice nurse; Victoria (Miller) is a Hollywood star; and Katherine (Johansson) is a Captain in the Royal Navy. Over the weekend, the family gathers to celebrate the new marriage, but mother and daughters alike are forced to revisit the past and confront the future,...

Lynne Marta, an actor who maintained a steady and prolific TV and film career for nearly 40 years best known for roles on Love, American Style and the 1984 film Footloose, died of cancer in Los Angeles January 11. She was 78.

Calling Marta “a beautiful light,” the actor’s friend Joan Sobel wrote on Facebook, “My friend, Lynne Marta lost her good fight. A wonderfully talented actress and a beautiful singer whose voice was of the angels. A dear heart who adored her friends both human and furry. I will miss her terribly.”

Born on October 30, 1945, in Somerville, NJ, Marta began her TV career in 1966 with appearances on Gidget and The Monkees, and relatively few years went by without a film or TV credit through her 2004 role in an episode of the NBC drama series American Dreams. She appeared in 24 episodes of the soap Days of Our Lives between 1983 and 2003.

A steady presence...

“We all have darkness, we all have things we need to be forgiven for and that is something important to remember” declares editor Joan Sobel. She was referring to a recent quote she read from actress Mary Louise Parker when summing up how she describes one of the core narrative arcs in the spectacular Marvel Studios six-part limited series “Moon Knight.” Sobel served as one of three editors on the series alongside Cedric Nairn-Smith and Ahmed Hafez, each of them tackling two episodes each. Watch our exclusive video interview with Sobel, Nairn-Smith and Hafez above.

“Moon Knight” was created by Jeremy Slater, based on the Marvel comics featuring the character of the same name. Slater’s vision as head writer was then shepherded during production by Egyptian helmer Mohamed Diab (who directed four of the six episodes) with collaborators Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson directing the second and fourth episodes...

There are important stories in “Boogie” about young love, about abusive marital and parental relationships, and about navigating Western culture as the child of Asian immigrants, but the film seems determined to be about the rise of a promising high-school basketball player, even though the basketball storyline is the least interesting of the plotlines on display.

Restaurateur and “Fresh Off the Boat” author Eddie Huang makes his feature debut as a writer-director, bringing a great deal of emotional honesty and cultural specificity to the table. But while his approach to the characters and their interactions feel fresh and personal, the entire basketball plot is cobbled together from countless sports-movie clichés.

Japanese-American actor Taylor Takahashi debuts as Alfred, aka Boogie, a high-school senior who carries the hopes and dreams of his Chinese-born parents (played by Pamelyn Chee and Perry Yung) on his shoulders. The film opens with a flashback of his...

Special jury prize awarded to Daphne Matziaraki for documentary 4.1 Miles.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the winners of the 2017 Student Film Awards.

In a gala ceremony in Los Angeles there was a tie in the first ever BAFTA Student Film Award for Animation presented by Laika between Alicja Jasina for Once Upon A Line (USC) and Kal Athannassov, John McDonald and Echo Wu for The Wishgranter (Ringling College of Art & Design).

The BAFTA Student Film Award for Documentary was awarded to Daphne Matziaraki for 4.1 Miles (USC), which also won the special jury prize.

The BAFTA Student Film Award for Live Action was awarded to Jimmy Keyrouz for Nocturne In Black (Columbia University).

This year, the BAFTA Student Film Awards underwent an international expansion, resulting in more than 400 submissions from 15 countries.

The BAFTA La Access For All campaign has benefited from the expansion and will drive funds towards the organisation’s scholarship...

Universal City, California, January 23, 2017 – Exploring the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption, Academy Award® nominees Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a divorced couple discovering dark truths about each other and themselves in Nocturnal Animals, coming to Digital HD on February 7, 2017, and Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on February 21, 2017, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Also starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) in his Golden Globe® Award-winning role, Nocturnal Animals on Blu-ray™ and DVD comes with an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of the film including an inside look with writer/director Tom Ford.

In the haunting romantic thriller of shocking intimacy and gripping tension from acclaimed writer/director Tom Ford (A Single Man), Susan (Amy Adams) is in an unfulfilling second marriage when she receives a package containing a manuscript from her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). Moved by Edward’s writing, Susan cannot...

Deadly deceptions abound in Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, coming out on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD on February 21st following its February 7th Digital HD debut, and we have a look at the film’s home media cover art and list of bonus features.

Press Release: Universal City, California, January 23, 2017 – Exploring the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption, Academy Award® nominees Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a divorced couple discovering dark truths about each other and themselves in Nocturnal Animals, coming to Digital HD on February 7, 2017, and Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on February 21, 2017, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Also starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) in his Golden Globe® Award-winning role, Nocturnal Animals on Blu-ray™ and DVD comes with an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of the film including an inside look with writer/director Tom Ford.

In the haunting romantic...

When Thelma Schoonmaker won the first of her three Academy Awards for “Raging Bull,” she humbly told journalists that she believed she was being honored for work done by the director, Martin Scorsese.

“I won the Oscar for ‘Raging Bull’ for those fight sequences,” said Schoonmaker in a 1991 interview with Wide Angle/Closeup. “If you look at those fight sequences, those were so incredibly storyboarded and shot in an incredible way – that is the conception a good director has to bring.”

Read More: Oscars 2017 -Editors on Bold Storytelling in ‘La La Land,’ ‘Manchester by the Sea,’ ‘Moonlight,’ and More

All below-the-line talent interprets a director’s vision through their crafts, but the editor’s work is most closely associated with the director’s. From 1981 to 2016, every Best Picture winner, except “Birdman,” was nominated for Editing. “Birdman” features long, unedited takes and elaborate camera movements; that might be the only way...

Read More: 2017 Oscar Predictions

The editors are often credited with picking the eventual Oscar-winner. So let’s assume that this year’s top four rivals, “Arrival,” “La La Land,” “Manchester By the Sea” and “Moonlight,” will land nods, along with war movie “Hacksaw Ridge.”

On the other hand, perhaps tellingly, Oscar hopefuls “20th Century Women,” “Jackie,” “Fences,” “Lion,” “Loving,” and “Hidden Figures” did not land drama or comedy editing nods from the American Cinema Editors, which leaves them on the cusp for Best Picture.

Frontrunners

Tom Cross (“La La Land”)

John Gilbert (“Hacksaw Ridge”)

Joe Walker (“Arrival”)

Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders (“Moonlight”)

Jennifer Lame (“Manchester by the Sea”)

Contenders

Julian Clarke (“Deadpool”)

Roderick Jaynes (“Hail, Caesar!”)

Mark Livolsi (“The Jungle Book”)

Yorgos Mavropsaridis (“The Lobster”)

Jake Roberts (“Hell or High Water”)

Thelma Schoonmaker (“Silence”)

Joan Sobel (“Nocturnal Animals”)

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Read More: 2017 Oscar Predictions

The editors are often credited with picking the eventual Oscar-winner. So let’s assume that this year’s top four rivals, “Arrival,” “La La Land,” “Manchester By the Sea” and “Moonlight,” will land nods, along with war movie “Hacksaw Ridge.”

On the other hand, perhaps tellingly, Oscar hopefuls “20th Century Women,” “Jackie,” “Fences,” “Lion,” “Loving,” and “Hidden Figures” did not land drama or comedy editing nods from the American Cinema Editors, which leaves them on the cusp for Best Picture.

Frontrunners

Tom Cross (“La La Land”)

John Gilbert (“Hacksaw Ridge”)

Joe Walker (“Arrival”)

Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders (“Moonlight”)

Jennifer Lame (“Manchester by the Sea”)

Contenders

Julian Clarke (“Deadpool”)

Roderick Jaynes (“Hail, Caesar!”)

Mark Livolsi (“The Jungle Book”)

Yorgos Mavropsaridis (“The Lobster”)

Jake Roberts (“Hell or High Water”)

Thelma Schoonmaker (“Silence”)

Joan Sobel (“Nocturnal Animals”)

Stay on top of the latest breaking Oscar news! Sign up for our Awards newsletters here.

2016 StLFCA Annual Award Nominees

[Nominations Announced December 12, 2016.]

Best Film

Arrival

Hell or High Water

La La Land

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Best Director

Damien Chazelle - La La Land

Barry Jenkins - Moonlight

Kenneth Lonergan - Manchester by the Sea

David Mackenzie - Hell or High Water

Denis Villeneuve - Arrival

Best Actor

Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea

Joel Edgerton - Loving

Ryan Gosling - La La Land

Tom Hanks - Sully

Viggo Mortensen - Captain Fantastic

Best Actress

Amy Adams - Arrival

Issabelle Huppert - Elle

Ruth Negga - Loving

Natalie Portman - Jackie

Emma Stone - La La Land

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali - Moonlight

Jeff Bridges - Hell or High Water

Lucas Hedges - Manchester by the Sea

Dev Patel - Lion

Michael Shannon - Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis - Fences

Lily Gladstone - Certain Women

Great Gerwig - 20th Century Women

Naomie Harris...

The first win for "Hell or High Water" from critics groups this award season. The film won Best Picture, director for David MacKenzie, supporting actor for Ben Foster, cinematography, screenplay, and ensemble.

Here's the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: Hell Or High Water

Runner Up: La La Land

Best Director: David Mackenzie, Hell Or High Water

Runner Up: Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Best Actor, Male: Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea

Runner Up: Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Best Actor, Female: Sonia Braga, Aquarius

Runner Up: Emma Stone, La La Land

Best Supporting Actor, Male . Tied: Ben Foster, Hell Or High Water & Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Best Supporting Actor, Female: Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea

Runner Up: Judy Davis, The Dressmaker

Best Comedic Performance: Ryan Gosling, The Nice Guys

Runner up: Alden Ehrenreich, Hail, Caesar!

Best Ensemble: Hell Or High Water

Runner Up: Hidden Figures

Breakthrough Artist: Lily Gladstone,...

During our recent webcam chat (watch above), “Nocturnal Animals” editor Joan Sobel admits that upon first reading director Tom Ford‘s screenplay for the film, “I cried. It was that powerful.” This Focus Features release stars Amy Adams as an art gallery owner haunted by her ex-husband’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) violent novel about a man’s (Gyllenhaal) desperate search for his wife […]...

Tom Ford is drunk on movies. Like the fashion icon he is, the director brings a keen eye for style, texture and design to the images he creates. But bruised humanity and the emotions roiling underneath elegant surfaces – those are his true subjects as a filmmaker. A Single Man (2009) was a masterful debut with Colin Firth giving a career-best performance as a gay professor feeling suicidal over the death of his lover. Ford hits it out of the park again in Nocturnal Animals, a stunning film noir that resonates with ghostly,...

This stylish psychodrama is a skilful synthesis of the mood of Hitchcock, the skewed reality of Lynch and Kubrick’s obsessive attention to detail

Like the heavy-framed Céline glasses that Amy Adams dons to read the story-within-a-story of this interlocking psychological drama, Tom Ford’s second feature is a handsomely crafted affair, designed to within an inch of its life to combine crystal-clear vision with eye-catching style. Working from Austin Wright’s 1993 novel, Tony and Susan, writer-director Ford filters the central concerns of the source material (a cautionary tale about love, loyalty, guilt and false gods) through the precise prism of his own distinctively machined lens. Crisp editing by Joan Sobel ensures the film’s joints are supple, with finely honed narrative hinges opening and closing in pleasingly swish fashion. That the finished product should appear just a little too transparent is perhaps the price one pays for this level of polish.

The Academy has announced the new class of invited members for 2014 and, as is typical, many of which are among last year's nominees, which includes Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender, Sally Hawkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o and June Squibb in the Actors branch not to mention curious additions such as Josh Hutcherson, Rob Riggle and Jason Statham, but, okay. The Directors branch adds Jay and Mark Duplass along with Jean-Marc Vallee, Denis Villeneuve and Thomas Vinterberg. I didn't do an immediate tally of male to female additions or other demographics, but at first glance it seems to be a wide spread batch of new additions on all fronts. The Academy is also clearly attempting to aggressively bump up the demographics as this is the second year in a row where they have added a large number of new members, well over the average of 133 new members from 2004 to 2012. As far as...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 271 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2014.

“This year’s class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy.”

The 2014 invitees are:

Actors

Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”

Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”

Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”

Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”

Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”

Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”

Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,...

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave were two of the 271 artists and industry leaders invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which determines nominations and winners at the annual Oscars. The entire list of Academy membership—which numbers about 6,000—isn’t public information so the annual invitation list is often the best indication of the artists involved in the prestigious awards process. It’s worth noting that invitations need to be accepted in order for artists to become members; some artists, like two-time Best Actor winner Sean Penn, have declined membership over the years.

Pop quiz: What do Chris Rock, Claire Denis, Eddie Vedder and Josh Hutcherson all have in common? Answer: They could all be Oscar voters very soon. The annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invitation list always makes for interesting reading, shedding light on just how large and far-reaching the group's membership is -- or could be, depending on who accepts their invitations. This year, 271 individuals have been asked to join AMPAS, meaning every one of them could contribute to next year's Academy Awards balloting -- and it's as diverse a list as they've ever assembled. Think the Academy consists entirely of fusty retired white dudes? Not if recent Best Original Song nominee Pharrell Williams takes them up on their offer. Think it's all just a Hollywood insiders' game? Not if French arthouse titans Chantal Akerman and Olivier Assayas join the party. It's a list that subverts expectation at every turn.

Ready to go back to school? Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Paul Rudd (This is 40) are paired for the first time on-screen in the new comedy/drama Admission. Every spring, high school seniors anxiously await letters of college admission that will affirm and encourage their potential. At Princeton University, admissions officer Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) is a gatekeeper evaluating thousands of applicants. Year in and year out, Portia has lived her life by the book, at work as well as at the home she shares with Princeton professor Mark (Michael Sheen). When Clarence (Wallace Shawn), the Dean of Admissions, announces his impending retirement, the likeliest candidates to succeed him are Portia and her office rival Corinne (Gloria Reuben). For Portia, however, it’s business as usual as she hits the road on her annual recruiting trip.

On the road, Portia reconnects with her iconoclastic mother, Susannah (Lily Tomlin). On her visit to New Quest,...

Production begins this week in New York and New Jersey on Focus Features. Admission, directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Weitz. Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today.

The comedy/drama stars Screen Actors Guild Award winner Tina Fey (30 Rock), Paul Rudd (soon to be seen in This is 40), BAFTA Award nominee Michael Sheen (The Queen), Golden Globe Award nominee Gloria Reuben (ER), Wallace Shawn (of the upcoming A Late Quartet), and Academy Award nominee Lily Tomlin (Nashville). The screenplay is adapted by Karen Croner (One True Thing) and Mr. Weitz from Jean Hanff Korelitz.s 2009 novel of the same name.

Mr. Weitz, an Academy Award nominee as one of the screenwriters of About a Boy, most recently adapted and directed Being Flynn for Focus. He is producing Admission with Andrew Miano, his partner in the production company Depth of Field, and Kerry Kohansky-Roberts (Nick and Norah...

Production begins this week in New York and New Jersey on Focus Features' Admission, directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Weitz. Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today.

The comedy/drama stars Screen Actors Guild Award winner Tina Fey (30 Rock), Paul Rudd (soon to be seen in This Is 40), BAFTA Award nominee Michael Sheen (The Queen), Golden Globe Award nominee Gloria Reuben (ER), Wallace Shawn (of the upcoming A Late Quartet), and Academy Award nominee Lily Tomlin (Nashville). The screenplay is adapted by Karen Croner (One True Thing) and Mr. Weitz from Jean Hanff Korelitz's 2009 novel of the same name.

Mr. Weitz, an Academy Award nominee as one of the screenwriters of About a Boy, most recently adapted and directed Being Flynn for Focus. He is producing Admission with Andrew Miano, his partner in the production company Depth of Field, and Kerry Kohansky (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist...

A Single Man is unmistakably an art house film but in the best sense of the term. It’s intimate, outside the mainstream, relies more on cinematography, music, and editing rather than dialogue to tell the story, and highlights actors, or in this case, an actor, who can completely embody a character and keep you mesmerized with a small, subtle performance. It may be an art house film but A Single Man is an experience that will completely entrance you no matter the venue.

Set in 1962 Los Angeles, director Tom Ford’s A Single Man centers on a day in the life of George Falconer (Colin Firth), a gay man working as an English professor whose world is cold and empty ever since boyfriend Joe (Matthew Goode) died in a car accident eight months ago. George isn’t sleepwalking through life as much as life has become lifeless without love.