Showing 69 posts tagged Movies

High-res theatlantic: For Kristen Wiig, an Uncharted Path From SNL to Movie Stardom When reports began circulating that Saturday Night Live scene-stealer Kristen Wiig will likely leave the show for Hollywood at the end of the current season, hardly anyone was surprised. Wiig, the thrice-Emmy-nominated mastermind behind the Target Lady, narcissist extraordinaire Penelope, and uncanny impressions of everyone from Paula Deen to Bjork, is coming off a banner year. She scored an Oscar nod for co-writing Bridesmaids, and already has six major films in the pipeline for the next two years, opposite A-listers like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. Just last week, she emerged as a frontrunner, along with It Girls Emma Stone and Emily Blunt, for the female lead in the hotly anticipated The Thin Man remake opposite Johnny Depp. Need more convincing that this is the perfect time for Wiig to leave? New York’s Josh Wolk noticedthat the most successful SNL vets from the last two decades left the show sometime between their sixth and eight seasons, a “sweet spot” window Wiig is in now. Will Ferrell, Mike Myersb and Dana Carvey all left after seven. Amy Poehler and Phil Hartman put in eight. David Spade and Tina Fey departed after six (on-camera) years. Those who stayed beyond that—Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows—have struggled. So look out, Hollywood, here comes Wiig, right? To quote my favorite SNL creation of hers, the nerve-addled Judy Grimes, “Just kidding!” Though her Hollywood prospects look promising, a survey of history reveals that success is by no means guaranteed. Wiig is entering essentially uncharted territory. The Oscar nominee is, understandably, avoiding another television gig and shooting for the (movie) stars. On the surface, this doesn’t seem all that unusual: Ferrell, Myers, Carvey, Sandler, after all, have all gone on to hugely lucrative film careers. But they’re all men. With the exception of Tina Fey, no former female SNL cast member successfully made the transition to movie star after exiting Studio 8H. But the grosses for Fey’s two major post-SNL films, Baby Mama and Date Night, were nowhere near the stratospheric hauls of Ferrell’s or Sandler’s or Myers’ flicks. Plus, Fey more typically associated with her TV work on 30 Rock than with her film roles. The same is true for Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon. In fact, a survey of the post-Saturday Night Live resumes of the show’s most talented female alumni reveals that almost all of them struggled to achieve a respectable film career, many struggled to find regular work at all, and those who managed to get steady jobs found them most consistently on television. Wiig’s road to movie stardom is rockier than it may seem. Read more. [Image: AP]

theatlantic:

For Kristen Wiig, an Uncharted Path From SNL to Movie Stardom

When reports began circulating that Saturday Night Live scene-stealer Kristen Wiig will likely leave the show for Hollywood at the end of the current season, hardly anyone was surprised. Wiig, the thrice-Emmy-nominated mastermind behind the Target Lady, narcissist extraordinaire Penelope, and uncanny impressions of everyone from Paula Deen to Bjork, is coming off a banner year. She scored an Oscar nod for co-writing Bridesmaids, and already has six major films in the pipeline for the next two years, opposite A-listers like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. Just last week, she emerged as a frontrunner, along with It Girls Emma Stone and Emily Blunt, for the female lead in the hotly anticipated The Thin Man remake opposite Johnny Depp.

Need more convincing that this is the perfect time for Wiig to leave? New York’s Josh Wolk noticedthat the most successful SNL vets from the last two decades left the show sometime between their sixth and eight seasons, a “sweet spot” window Wiig is in now. Will Ferrell, Mike Myersb and Dana Carvey all left after seven. Amy Poehler and Phil Hartman put in eight. David Spade and Tina Fey departed after six (on-camera) years. Those who stayed beyond that—Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows—have struggled. So look out, Hollywood, here comes Wiig, right? To quote my favorite SNL creation of hers, the nerve-addled Judy Grimes, “Just kidding!” Though her Hollywood prospects look promising, a survey of history reveals that success is by no means guaranteed.

Wiig is entering essentially uncharted territory. The Oscar nominee is, understandably, avoiding another television gig and shooting for the (movie) stars. On the surface, this doesn’t seem all that unusual: Ferrell, Myers, Carvey, Sandler, after all, have all gone on to hugely lucrative film careers. But they’re all men. With the exception of Tina Fey, no former female SNL cast member successfully made the transition to movie star after exiting Studio 8H. But the grosses for Fey’s two major post-SNL films, Baby Mama and Date Night, were nowhere near the stratospheric hauls of Ferrell’s or Sandler’s or Myers’ flicks. Plus, Fey more typically associated with her TV work on 30 Rock than with her film roles. The same is true for Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon. In fact, a survey of the post-Saturday Night Live resumes of the show’s most talented female alumni reveals that almost all of them struggled to achieve a respectable film career, many struggled to find regular work at all, and those who managed to get steady jobs found them most consistently on television. Wiig’s road to movie stardom is rockier than it may seem.

Read more. [Image: AP]

fastcompany:

Is technological connectivity mankind’s next evolutionary step?

“We created computers as an extension of our brains, and now we’re connecting through those computers and the Internet cloud as a way of expanding them,” - Tiffany Shlain, Filmmaker & Webby Awards founder

In her new documentary, Connected, which premiered at Sundance this year, Shlain sees digital connection as the next step in harnessing our collective brainpower—as long as we don’t lose our ability to relate to each other.

Read more…

(via fastcompany)

“Let’s get this out of the way quickly: Moneyball was not a book about nerds and statistics and butterball catchers who do nothing but walk—not really. It was a book about the temporarily misperceived value of nerds and statistics and butterball catchers who do nothing but walk and, above all, about how to profit off that misperception. Which is to say that, at bottom, Moneyball was a book about a charismatic visionary (Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane) who achieved success by exploiting market inefficiencies. This is a conceit known as Every Business Book Ever. The guy sitting next to you on an airplane is reading a book like that. Malcolm Gladwell farts books like that. Moneyball told a simple story and told it wonderfully, but baseball being what it is—a game so thoroughly wrapped in its own bullshit that you’d need a grand jury to find its soul—the book was received as heresy.”

BTW, everything you think you know about Moneyball is wrong - GQ
  • GQ
High-res Hollywood Reporter: ’Scarface’ Update Being Developed By Universal Say hello to Universal’s new little friend. The studio is developing a new Scarface movie to be produced by ousted former studio head Marc Shmuger and Martin Bregman, the veteran producer who made the 1983 remake. The project is in the early stages but it being described as not a sequel or outright remake of the 1983 Al Pacino-starring movie nor the 1932 Paul Muni-George Raft movie. Each of those were crime sagas telling the rise and fall of a gangster, and each was a mirror of their time. The 1932 version was set in Chicago and featured bootlegging, Italians and Irish mobsters. The 1983 version was set in Latin-loving Miami and cocaine was the vice of choice. The new Scarface is planned to be the same: a crime tale set in today’s world, offering a dark look at the American Dream.

Hollywood Reporter: ’Scarface’ Update Being Developed By Universal

Say hello to Universal’s new little friend.

The studio is developing a new Scarface movie to be produced by ousted former studio head Marc Shmuger and Martin Bregman, the veteran producer who made the 1983 remake.

The project is in the early stages but it being described as not a sequel or outright remake of the 1983 Al Pacino-starring movie nor the 1932 Paul Muni-George Raft movie.

Each of those were crime sagas telling the rise and fall of a gangster, and each was a mirror of their time. The 1932 version was set in Chicago and featured bootlegging, Italians and Irish mobsters. The 1983 version was set in Latin-loving Miami and cocaine was the vice of choice.

The new Scarface is planned to be the same: a crime tale set in today’s world, offering a dark look at the American Dream.

The Big Chill - Rationalizations

Michael Gold (Jeff Goldblum):
I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.

Sam Weber (Tom Berenger):
Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex.

Michael Gold:
Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?