They were the box-office titans behind sumptuous period masterpieces. Yet underneath, reveals a new warts-and-all film, they were skint, stressed, prone to blood-curdling bust-ups – and ping-ponging between lovers
If you were asked to guess which prestigious film-making duo had spent their career scratching around desperately for cash, trying to wriggle out of paying their cast and crew, ping-ponging between lovers, and having such blood-curdling bust-ups that their neighbours called the police, it might be some time before “Merchant Ivory” sprang to mind. But a new warts-and-all documentary about the Indian producer Ismail Merchant and the US director James Ivory makes it clear that the simmering passions in their films, such as the Em Forster trilogy of A Room With a View, Maurice and Howards End, were nothing compared to the scalding, volatile ones behind the camera.
From their initial meeting in New York in 1961 to Merchant’s death during surgery...
If you were asked to guess which prestigious film-making duo had spent their career scratching around desperately for cash, trying to wriggle out of paying their cast and crew, ping-ponging between lovers, and having such blood-curdling bust-ups that their neighbours called the police, it might be some time before “Merchant Ivory” sprang to mind. But a new warts-and-all documentary about the Indian producer Ismail Merchant and the US director James Ivory makes it clear that the simmering passions in their films, such as the Em Forster trilogy of A Room With a View, Maurice and Howards End, were nothing compared to the scalding, volatile ones behind the camera.
From their initial meeting in New York in 1961 to Merchant’s death during surgery...
- 3/12/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
A brace of films exploring important subjects are in contention from India in the best live action short film category at the 96th Academy Awards.
Reema Maya’s “Nocturnal Burger,” an investigation of child abuse at a dysfunctional police station in Mumbai, had its world premiere at Sundance. It has since traveled to more than 50 film festivals globally and won 34 awards including the Oscar-qualifying Golden Chair for best international short at KortfilmFestivalen, Norway.
The cast includes Bebo Madiwal, Millo Sunka, Trupti Khamkar, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Pushpendra Singh, Somnath Mondal, Vicky Shinde and Mukesh Pachode.
“The journey of this film started from a very unfortunate true incident a few years ago. Everything that happened that night stayed deep inside me, and ‘Nocturnal Burger’ is the first outlet it has had. It is an exploration of abuse and trauma; fantasy and escapism. It talks about the omnipresence of sexual abuse even in our public spaces,...
Reema Maya’s “Nocturnal Burger,” an investigation of child abuse at a dysfunctional police station in Mumbai, had its world premiere at Sundance. It has since traveled to more than 50 film festivals globally and won 34 awards including the Oscar-qualifying Golden Chair for best international short at KortfilmFestivalen, Norway.
The cast includes Bebo Madiwal, Millo Sunka, Trupti Khamkar, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Pushpendra Singh, Somnath Mondal, Vicky Shinde and Mukesh Pachode.
“The journey of this film started from a very unfortunate true incident a few years ago. Everything that happened that night stayed deep inside me, and ‘Nocturnal Burger’ is the first outlet it has had. It is an exploration of abuse and trauma; fantasy and escapism. It talks about the omnipresence of sexual abuse even in our public spaces,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
There’s often been unfair snobbery about the films of Merchant Ivory, the production banner founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, which gives Stephen Soucy’s entertaining documentary study its title. The British costume drama was widely considered a wheezing genre — fusty, middlebrow and too calcified in its literary sources to acquire much cinematic vitality — when A Room with a View came along in 1986 and became a global art-house crossover hit. At their best, notably in Howards End and Remains of the Day, Merchant Ivory’s films stand the test of time as influential works that removed the starch from the stodgy period piece.
Contemporaries reductively dismissed their output as “Laura Ashley filmmaking,” referencing the design firm known for its pretty Romantic Victorian inspirations. But Merchant Ivory did more than anyone from the mid-1980s to the early ‘90s to popularize and legitimize the thematically and emotionally rich costume drama.
Contemporaries reductively dismissed their output as “Laura Ashley filmmaking,” referencing the design firm known for its pretty Romantic Victorian inspirations. But Merchant Ivory did more than anyone from the mid-1980s to the early ‘90s to popularize and legitimize the thematically and emotionally rich costume drama.
- 11/13/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The best moments of Merchant Ivory––a documentary directed by Stephen Soucy concerning the legendary production company––feel like their most-successful pictures: restrained and revealing at the same time. Mostly told chronologically and split into chapters with talking heads to drive the narrative, the film dutifully recounts the agony and ecstasy of Merchant Ivory Productions. Sections are devoted to producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and composer Richard Robbins. Dedicated crew members and stars sing their praises while softly criticizing their methods of madness, most of the latter directed at Merchant. Highlights include recollections of Merchant’s culling together funds for each production, often starting a film before all the money was put together. Or Jhabvala’s brutal judgment: Ivory recalls her dislike of Maurice from pre-production onward, all because the novel wasn’t, in her opinion, up to snuff. Somewhat ironically, Maurice is perhaps the...
- 11/13/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Cohen Media Group has acquired worldwide rights to Merchant Ivory, a documentary about the cinematic and personal partnership of filmmakers James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. The film directed by Stephen Soucy makes it world premiere on Saturday at Doc NYC.
Merchant Ivory became synonymous with quality filmmaking over a period of more than 40 years, earning particular acclaim for A Room with a View (1985), Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). They were life partners from 1961 until Merchant’s death in 2005.
Soucy’s film features interviews with major stars of Merchant Ivory productions, including Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, and Hugh Grant. Ivory, who turned 95 in June, and Charles S. Cohen, Cmg Chairman and CEO, serve as executive producers.
Director James Ivory (L) with actor Anthony Hopkins and producer Ismail Merchant on the set of ‘The Remains of the Day’ in 1993.
“Merchant Ivory...
Merchant Ivory became synonymous with quality filmmaking over a period of more than 40 years, earning particular acclaim for A Room with a View (1985), Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). They were life partners from 1961 until Merchant’s death in 2005.
Soucy’s film features interviews with major stars of Merchant Ivory productions, including Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, and Hugh Grant. Ivory, who turned 95 in June, and Charles S. Cohen, Cmg Chairman and CEO, serve as executive producers.
Director James Ivory (L) with actor Anthony Hopkins and producer Ismail Merchant on the set of ‘The Remains of the Day’ in 1993.
“Merchant Ivory...
- 11/10/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Director James Ivory became an art house favorite thanks to a series of lofty literary adaptations produced by his partner Ismail Merchant. He shows no signs of slowing down in his twilight years. In fact, he recently become the oldest Oscar winner in history for penning the script to “Call Me by Your Name” (2017).
Although the majority of his work takes place overseas, Ivory was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1928. After cutting his teeth as a documentarian, he kicked off a professional and romantic relationship with Merchant, and together they formed the production company Merchant Ivory. Together, with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala serving as the third member of their team, they produced a series of acclaimed films based on the works of E. M. Forster, Henry James, Kazuo Ishiguro and other seemingly unadaptable sources.
They struck Oscar gold with a trio of films that earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director,...
Although the majority of his work takes place overseas, Ivory was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1928. After cutting his teeth as a documentarian, he kicked off a professional and romantic relationship with Merchant, and together they formed the production company Merchant Ivory. Together, with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala serving as the third member of their team, they produced a series of acclaimed films based on the works of E. M. Forster, Henry James, Kazuo Ishiguro and other seemingly unadaptable sources.
They struck Oscar gold with a trio of films that earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director,...
- 6/2/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The All Quiet on the Western Front cast and crew began trooping into the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts as the clock was about to strike 1 a.m. Monday
They were brandishing gold statuettes. “This is the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. We were were curious about this place,” the partner of one of the movie’s key creatives tells me.
Related: Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way
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They were brandishing gold statuettes. “This is the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. We were were curious about this place,” the partner of one of the movie’s key creatives tells me.
Related: Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way
Related Story Vanity Fair Oscar Party Photos: See Jeff Bezos, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Cardi B, Kendall Jenner & Many More On The Red Carpet Related Story Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way Related Story Ke Huy Quan Says He Honored His Mom By Reclaiming Birth Name As An Adult Actor; Declares "Goonies Never Say Die" – Oscars Backstage...
- 3/13/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscars 2023This year India basks in the spotlight with three Academy Award nominations – ‘Naatu Naatu’ from Rrr for Best Song; All That Breathes for Best Documentary Feature Film, and The Elephant Whisperers for Best Documentary Short Film.Youtube/ScreengrabAs the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gears up to announce the recipients of its honours this year at the 95th edition of the Oscars on March 12, Indian cinema enthusiasts look forward in anticipation of an elusive Oscar coming home. The year 2009 saw the ‘Mozart of Madras’, Ar Rahman, bag an Oscar for Best Original Score for the Danny Boyle directorial Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Academy Awards. Slumdog Millionaire also got Resul Pookutti the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, while lyricist Gulzar and Ar Rahman jointly won the award for the Best Original Song (‘Jai Ho’), taking India’s count for the movie to three. This year has brought...
- 3/12/2023
- by AzeefaF
- The News Minute
Click here to read the full article.
Ian Whittaker, the British actor turned Oscar-winning set decorator known for his work on such films as Alien, Howards End, Tommy and Anna and the King, died Oct. 16 of prostate cancer, The Guardian reported. He was 94.
Whittaker also served as set dresser on Charlie Chaplin’s A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), James Clavell’s To Sir, With Love (1967), Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and as art director on Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer (1969) and Derek Jarman’s The Tempest (1979).
He collaborated with director Ken Russell on nine features, from the 1971 releases The Music Lovers, The Boy Friend and The Devils to Tommy (1975), Lisztomania (1975) — both featuring The Who’s Roger Daltrey — and the Rudolf Nureyev-starring Valentino (1977).
Whittaker received his Oscar — shared with his production designer Luciana Arrighi, with whom he...
Ian Whittaker, the British actor turned Oscar-winning set decorator known for his work on such films as Alien, Howards End, Tommy and Anna and the King, died Oct. 16 of prostate cancer, The Guardian reported. He was 94.
Whittaker also served as set dresser on Charlie Chaplin’s A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), James Clavell’s To Sir, With Love (1967), Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and as art director on Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer (1969) and Derek Jarman’s The Tempest (1979).
He collaborated with director Ken Russell on nine features, from the 1971 releases The Music Lovers, The Boy Friend and The Devils to Tommy (1975), Lisztomania (1975) — both featuring The Who’s Roger Daltrey — and the Rudolf Nureyev-starring Valentino (1977).
Whittaker received his Oscar — shared with his production designer Luciana Arrighi, with whom he...
- 10/27/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Set decorator who worked for Merchant Ivory productions, and with Ken Russell and Ridley Scott
The set decorator Ian Whittaker, who has died of prostate cancer aged 94, won an Oscar for the 1992 screen version of Em Forster’s Howards End. This was among the best in a string of literary adaptations directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Whittaker was in the running for another Oscar for the same team’s film of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1993), though his career was not confined to costume drama. “Council houses, stately homes, spaceships, I’ve done them all,” he said.
His first nomination was for Ridley Scott’s intergalactic horror smash Alien (1979). To build the futuristic interior of the Nostromo spacecraft, where most of the action takes place, he assembled bits and bobs of old washing machines: “We just stuck them...
The set decorator Ian Whittaker, who has died of prostate cancer aged 94, won an Oscar for the 1992 screen version of Em Forster’s Howards End. This was among the best in a string of literary adaptations directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Whittaker was in the running for another Oscar for the same team’s film of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1993), though his career was not confined to costume drama. “Council houses, stately homes, spaceships, I’ve done them all,” he said.
His first nomination was for Ridley Scott’s intergalactic horror smash Alien (1979). To build the futuristic interior of the Nostromo spacecraft, where most of the action takes place, he assembled bits and bobs of old washing machines: “We just stuck them...
- 10/26/2022
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Cohen Film Collection Restoring More Merchant Ivory Classics, Including Duo’s First Film (Exclusive)
Cohen Film Collection is continuing its restorations of classic Merchant Ivory productions, among them 1963’s “The Householder,” the first film collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.
The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.
Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”
“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.
Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...
The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.
Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”
“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.
Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...
- 10/20/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The press blurb for “A Cooler Climate,” a 75-minute documentary from veteran director and writer James Ivory, calls it “deeply personal,” but this is a relative term in his case. At 94 years of age, Ivory is an extraordinarily reticent man, and that is partly a result of being born in a certain time and place. There is only so much he can or will reveal about himself before retreating and closing several doors firmly behind him.
The impetus behind “A Cooler Climate” was the chance to showcase color footage that a young Ivory shot in Afghanistan in 1960 with the idea of making a documentary. This was a few years before he made his first narrative feature with his longtime partner and producer Ismail Merchant, with whom he eventually made a series of prestigious literary adaptations in the 1980s and 1990s with screenplays by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Ivory’s literary adaptations...
The impetus behind “A Cooler Climate” was the chance to showcase color footage that a young Ivory shot in Afghanistan in 1960 with the idea of making a documentary. This was a few years before he made his first narrative feature with his longtime partner and producer Ismail Merchant, with whom he eventually made a series of prestigious literary adaptations in the 1980s and 1990s with screenplays by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Ivory’s literary adaptations...
- 10/8/2022
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Located 14 miles north of San Francisco with a population of just over 14,000, the community of Mill Valley has evolved into a West Coast epicenter for showcasing independent and international films. As the Mill Valley Film Festival prepares to celebrate its 45th year with screenings of films by Rian Johnson (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”), Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale”) and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, original founder and director Mark Fishkin attributes its pedigree for attracting top-tier talent to its unique combination of geographic and philosophical specificities.
“The Mill Valley Film Festival has the best of both worlds: the clout of an urban festival and the ambiance of the destination festival,” says Fishkin. “And this aspect of being professional but unpretentious is still very important to us.”
Fishkin conceived the festival, running Oct. 6-16 this year, precisely because he managed to be in the right place at the right time. A former...
“The Mill Valley Film Festival has the best of both worlds: the clout of an urban festival and the ambiance of the destination festival,” says Fishkin. “And this aspect of being professional but unpretentious is still very important to us.”
Fishkin conceived the festival, running Oct. 6-16 this year, precisely because he managed to be in the right place at the right time. A former...
- 10/6/2022
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Sony Pictures Classics presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard offered sound advice to U.S. theater chains, while explaining the reasons behind their continued success, during a discussion at the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday about their colorful and storied partnership that has spanned more than four decades.
Zurich is honoring the duo for their services to film culture with its Game Changer Award on Sunday.
Speaking to Roeg Sutherland, co-ceo of CAA Media Finance, at the festival’s Zurich Summit industry event, Barker and Bernard took an engaging and humorous trip down memory lane, from first working together at United Artists Classics and then at Orion Classics, before establishing Sony Pictures Classics in 1992, to working with Akira Kurosawa, and managing to reacquire “Howards End” from Ismail Merchant, despite Harvey Weinstein’s efforts to significantly outbid them.
In discussing the current state of the industry, however, Bernard expressed exasperation with...
Zurich is honoring the duo for their services to film culture with its Game Changer Award on Sunday.
Speaking to Roeg Sutherland, co-ceo of CAA Media Finance, at the festival’s Zurich Summit industry event, Barker and Bernard took an engaging and humorous trip down memory lane, from first working together at United Artists Classics and then at Orion Classics, before establishing Sony Pictures Classics in 1992, to working with Akira Kurosawa, and managing to reacquire “Howards End” from Ismail Merchant, despite Harvey Weinstein’s efforts to significantly outbid them.
In discussing the current state of the industry, however, Bernard expressed exasperation with...
- 9/24/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
English novelist E.M. Forster never married, and why would he? The author of “Maurice” and “Howards End” was gay, reportedly maintaining relations with a much-younger police officer over the span of four decades. That man did marry, and history has it that his wife knew their secret. In “My Policeman,” this unconventional arrangement lends itself quite nicely to one of those slightly stuffy yet respectable period pieces of the kind that Ismail Merchant and James Ivory have made of Forster’s novels, jumping back and forth in time between the sexy stuff and the maudlin way it resolves itself so many years later.
It all starts with a special delivery to a dreary seaside cottage: An invalid arrives at the house of retired policeman Tom (Linus Roache) and his schoolteacher wife Marion (Gina McKee). It was her idea to take in the unpleasant and largely uncooperative Patrick Hazelwood, whose presence clearly annoys her husband.
It all starts with a special delivery to a dreary seaside cottage: An invalid arrives at the house of retired policeman Tom (Linus Roache) and his schoolteacher wife Marion (Gina McKee). It was her idea to take in the unpleasant and largely uncooperative Patrick Hazelwood, whose presence clearly annoys her husband.
- 9/12/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
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“Brosnan Before Bond”
By Raymond Benson
In 1986, Pierce Brosnan almost became James Bond, nearly a decade before he actually did so. He had been cast to replace Roger Moore as the iconic 007, but at the last minute, NBC waved his contract for the television series Remington Steele at him, exercising the option to make another season. Brosnan was out, and Timothy Dalton was in.
And then… Remington Steele’s new season ended up consisting of only six episodes, finishing its run in early 1987. So, Brosnan had been baited and switched. Nevertheless, in the interim years between then and his appearance in GoldenEye (1995), the actor set about establishing himself as a leading man in feature films.
One of these early starring roles was in the 1988 production, The Deceivers, a British picture made by the elite Merchant Ivory Productions, and it was produced by Ismail Merchant himself.
“Brosnan Before Bond”
By Raymond Benson
In 1986, Pierce Brosnan almost became James Bond, nearly a decade before he actually did so. He had been cast to replace Roger Moore as the iconic 007, but at the last minute, NBC waved his contract for the television series Remington Steele at him, exercising the option to make another season. Brosnan was out, and Timothy Dalton was in.
And then… Remington Steele’s new season ended up consisting of only six episodes, finishing its run in early 1987. So, Brosnan had been baited and switched. Nevertheless, in the interim years between then and his appearance in GoldenEye (1995), the actor set about establishing himself as a leading man in feature films.
One of these early starring roles was in the 1988 production, The Deceivers, a British picture made by the elite Merchant Ivory Productions, and it was produced by Ismail Merchant himself.
- 12/19/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Nicholas Meyer’s ‘other’ fantastic film project was ignored for all the wrong reasons; Pierce Brosnan fills a heroic leading role in a revisit of The Stranglers of Bombay, but filmed on location with great attention to authentic details. An officer of the East India Company detects an incredibly murderous cult of Kali-worshipping Thugs, a criminal underclass of thieves that practice ritual mass murder. The story has roots in history, snarled in colonial injustice and xenophobia. It’s a period picture unafraid to be controversial. Also starring Saeed Jaffrey and Helena Mitchell.
The Deceivers
Blu-ray
The Cohen Film Collection / Kino
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 16, 2021 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey, Shashi Kapoor, Helena Michell, Keith Michell, David Robb.
Cinematography: Walter Lassally
Art Directors: Gianfranco Fumagalli, Ram Yedekar
Film Editor: Richard Trevor
Original Music: John Scott
Written by Michael Hirst from the novel by John Masters
Produced by Ismail Merchant,...
The Deceivers
Blu-ray
The Cohen Film Collection / Kino
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date November 16, 2021 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey, Shashi Kapoor, Helena Michell, Keith Michell, David Robb.
Cinematography: Walter Lassally
Art Directors: Gianfranco Fumagalli, Ram Yedekar
Film Editor: Richard Trevor
Original Music: John Scott
Written by Michael Hirst from the novel by John Masters
Produced by Ismail Merchant,...
- 11/9/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
At 93, the Merchant Ivory director – and oldest ever Oscar winner – reflects on enduring love, delighting in his sexuality and defying film-making expectations
James Ivory’s movies revel in the elegance of the swan and simultaneously show how frantically its feet are paddling beneath the water. In the films for which he is best known – 1985’s A Room With a View, 1987’s Maurice, 1992’s Howards End and 1993’s The Remains of the Day, a fraction of his output – we see the effort put into making those rooms look so beautiful; the human cost of controlling your emotions. Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis) pretending to clean his spectacles after Lucy (Helena Bonham Carter) breaks their engagement in A Room With a View; Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) looking at Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) as she takes the book out of his hand: Ivory knows that an ocean of emotions can be contained in the smallest gesture.
James Ivory’s movies revel in the elegance of the swan and simultaneously show how frantically its feet are paddling beneath the water. In the films for which he is best known – 1985’s A Room With a View, 1987’s Maurice, 1992’s Howards End and 1993’s The Remains of the Day, a fraction of his output – we see the effort put into making those rooms look so beautiful; the human cost of controlling your emotions. Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis) pretending to clean his spectacles after Lucy (Helena Bonham Carter) breaks their engagement in A Room With a View; Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) looking at Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) as she takes the book out of his hand: Ivory knows that an ocean of emotions can be contained in the smallest gesture.
- 10/29/2021
- by Hadley Freeman
- The Guardian - Film News
Jerry Schatzberg is among the great American filmmakers who changed the landscape in the 1970s, but his name is one that has taken some time to get the recognition it deserves. While he may not have landed with the same initial impact as a Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese, the years have been kind to films like The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow, invigorating a passion that ranks them as some of the decade’s very best.
A renowned photographer with work in magazines such as Vogue and Esquire, Schatzberg is also responsible for the iconic cover of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. This was all done before he made his feature debut with 1970’s Puzzle of a Downfall Child, starring then-fiancée Faye Dunaway. That would begin a career working with some of the best actors the world has ever seen, from Al Pacino and Gene Hackman...
A renowned photographer with work in magazines such as Vogue and Esquire, Schatzberg is also responsible for the iconic cover of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. This was all done before he made his feature debut with 1970’s Puzzle of a Downfall Child, starring then-fiancée Faye Dunaway. That would begin a career working with some of the best actors the world has ever seen, from Al Pacino and Gene Hackman...
- 10/8/2021
- by Mitchell Beaupre
- The Film Stage
“The Rapist,” which has its premiere next month at the Busan International Film Festival is the hardest hitting film that Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen has ever made.
A chronicler of different aspects of Indian life, Sen has previously won global acclaim for her eclectic body of work, which includes “36 Chowringhee Lane” (1981), “Paroma” (1985) and “Iti Mrinalini” (2010) as a director.
Sen is also one of India’s most feted actors who has worked with the stalwarts of the country’s cinema including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Rituparno Ghosh and internationally with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.
Sen had the idea for “The Rapist” some 15 years ago, and decided to revisit the subject after the recent spate of rape incidents in India. “I began to wonder about why men rape. No one is born a rapist. They go through infancy, through the toddler stage and through boyhood in all innocence,” Sen tells Variety.
A chronicler of different aspects of Indian life, Sen has previously won global acclaim for her eclectic body of work, which includes “36 Chowringhee Lane” (1981), “Paroma” (1985) and “Iti Mrinalini” (2010) as a director.
Sen is also one of India’s most feted actors who has worked with the stalwarts of the country’s cinema including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Rituparno Ghosh and internationally with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.
Sen had the idea for “The Rapist” some 15 years ago, and decided to revisit the subject after the recent spate of rape incidents in India. “I began to wonder about why men rape. No one is born a rapist. They go through infancy, through the toddler stage and through boyhood in all innocence,” Sen tells Variety.
- 9/28/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Several Indian films, featuring eclectic subject matter, are making bids to snag Oscars in the shorts categories at the 2021 Academy Awards.
Keith Gomes’ “Shameless,” Tushar Tyagi’s “Saving Chintu” and Shaan Vyas’ “Natkhat” are aiming for nominations in the live action short category, and Saurav Vishnu’s “Tailing Pond” in the documentary short subject category.
All the films boast Bollywood or Hollywood pedigrees.
“Shameless” stars Sayani Gupta (Emmy-nominated Amazon series “Four More Shots Please”) and writer and actor Hussain Dalal (“Sitara”). Sound design is by Oscar-winner Resul Pookutty (“Slumdog Millionaire”). Shabinaa Khan (“Laxmii”) presents the film alongside producers Ashley Gomes, Sandeep Kamal and co-producer Girish Bobby Talwar.
Keith Gomes has a few shorts to his credit, including the award-winning “Doobie.” He also co-wrote and was an associate director on “Kick,” starring Bollywood royalty Salman Khan.
In “Shameless,” a work-from-home software engineer is trapped by a delivery girl, raising questions on the issues of entitlement,...
Keith Gomes’ “Shameless,” Tushar Tyagi’s “Saving Chintu” and Shaan Vyas’ “Natkhat” are aiming for nominations in the live action short category, and Saurav Vishnu’s “Tailing Pond” in the documentary short subject category.
All the films boast Bollywood or Hollywood pedigrees.
“Shameless” stars Sayani Gupta (Emmy-nominated Amazon series “Four More Shots Please”) and writer and actor Hussain Dalal (“Sitara”). Sound design is by Oscar-winner Resul Pookutty (“Slumdog Millionaire”). Shabinaa Khan (“Laxmii”) presents the film alongside producers Ashley Gomes, Sandeep Kamal and co-producer Girish Bobby Talwar.
Keith Gomes has a few shorts to his credit, including the award-winning “Doobie.” He also co-wrote and was an associate director on “Kick,” starring Bollywood royalty Salman Khan.
In “Shameless,” a work-from-home software engineer is trapped by a delivery girl, raising questions on the issues of entitlement,...
- 1/12/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
by Cláudio Alves
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant met in 1959, and quickly started a romantic and professional partnership. It lasted for 44 years until Merchant's death. Along with screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, they made a name for themselves with the production of prestigious literary adaptations. Their first brushes with success came in the late 70s and early 80s, but it was in 1985 and 1986 that their lives changed. A Room With a View, their first E.M. Forster adaptation was a huge hit, both with critics and audiences. The picture even won three Oscars, including for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Following such a triumph, one would expect Merchant & Ivory to bask in their glory, perchance repeating the formula of their success. They did end up adapting another of Forster's works, though they chose what, at the time, was the author's least known and least respected book. The result of this unexpected...
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant met in 1959, and quickly started a romantic and professional partnership. It lasted for 44 years until Merchant's death. Along with screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, they made a name for themselves with the production of prestigious literary adaptations. Their first brushes with success came in the late 70s and early 80s, but it was in 1985 and 1986 that their lives changed. A Room With a View, their first E.M. Forster adaptation was a huge hit, both with critics and audiences. The picture even won three Oscars, including for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Following such a triumph, one would expect Merchant & Ivory to bask in their glory, perchance repeating the formula of their success. They did end up adapting another of Forster's works, though they chose what, at the time, was the author's least known and least respected book. The result of this unexpected...
- 11/14/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
On Feb. 27, 1992, Sony Pictures Classics held the premiere for James Ivory's Howards End adaptation in New York. The film would go on to earn nine Oscar nominations at the 65th Academy Awards, winning three, including best actress for Emma Thompson, adapted screenplay and art direction. The Hollywood Reporter's original review is below:
From start to finish, Howards End is a sumptuous visual delight. But the beauty of this film is far more than skin deep.
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, two names synonymous with quality, have once again turned out a production that is ...
From start to finish, Howards End is a sumptuous visual delight. But the beauty of this film is far more than skin deep.
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, two names synonymous with quality, have once again turned out a production that is ...
- 2/27/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
On Feb. 27, 1992, Sony Pictures Classics held the premiere for James Ivory's Howards End adaptation in New York. The film would go on to earn nine Oscar nominations at the 65th Academy Awards, winning three, including best actress for Emma Thompson, adapted screenplay and art direction. The Hollywood Reporter's original review is below:
From start to finish, Howards End is a sumptuous visual delight. But the beauty of this film is far more than skin deep.
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, two names synonymous with quality, have once again turned out a production that is ...
From start to finish, Howards End is a sumptuous visual delight. But the beauty of this film is far more than skin deep.
Director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, two names synonymous with quality, have once again turned out a production that is ...
- 2/27/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: The 26th Annual Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference is putting some shine on the often unsung and overlooked heroes of film: the writer. This year, the fest revealed that they will be honoring Oscar-winning screenwriters James Ivory with the “Extraordinary Contribution to Film” Award and Ron Bass with the “Distinguished Screenwriter” Award. The fest, which takes place October 24-31, also unveiled their programming which includes conversations with Lulu Wang, director and writer of the critically acclaimed dramedy The Farewell and Sofia Alvarez, the scribe behind the Netflix hit To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
Ivory has received multiple Oscar nominations for directing and writing. He won the Oscar for adapting Andre Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name which was directed by Luca Guadagnino. He also received the BAFTA and the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In addition, he received d Best Director Oscar...
Ivory has received multiple Oscar nominations for directing and writing. He won the Oscar for adapting Andre Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name which was directed by Luca Guadagnino. He also received the BAFTA and the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In addition, he received d Best Director Oscar...
- 9/4/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
And the next prime minister of Great Britain will be… Hugh Grant!
Okay, maybe not.
However, Grant says he has entertained the idea of running for office. “I have thought about it a bit to be honest,” Grant says in this week’s episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast.
The 58-year-old actor knows his way around politics after being on the forefront of the battle against British tabloids that regularly bugged his and other celebrities’ phones. His anti-hacking campaign uncovered cozy relationships that elected officials had with press barons, including Rupert Murdoch.
He even has an campaign slogan. “My main slogan would be, ‘I Don’t Want to Be Reelected.’ It seems to me that the desire to be reelected or be a career politician poisons everything,” Grant said.
While Grant says he “gets incandescently angry” watching today’s political news, the chances of him actually running are pretty slim.
Okay, maybe not.
However, Grant says he has entertained the idea of running for office. “I have thought about it a bit to be honest,” Grant says in this week’s episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast.
The 58-year-old actor knows his way around politics after being on the forefront of the battle against British tabloids that regularly bugged his and other celebrities’ phones. His anti-hacking campaign uncovered cozy relationships that elected officials had with press barons, including Rupert Murdoch.
He even has an campaign slogan. “My main slogan would be, ‘I Don’t Want to Be Reelected.’ It seems to me that the desire to be reelected or be a career politician poisons everything,” Grant said.
While Grant says he “gets incandescently angry” watching today’s political news, the chances of him actually running are pretty slim.
- 8/15/2019
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Henry James novels have made terrific movies; this precise, strongly-felt adaptation expresses interior feelings that James — the master of ambiguity — may not have intended, yet seem essential to the story. A dynamic young female public speaker transfixes all around her, and is taken in and mentored by an activist for the women’s movement. But will a conventional, confining, repressive romance undo a perfect political relationship? The Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala combination does a powerful book full justice; Vanessa Redgrave got the awards attention but it’s also one of the best films by Christopher Reeve.
The Bostonians
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / 30.98
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Tandy, Madeleine Potter, Nancy Marchand, Wesley Addy, Barbara Bryne, Linda Hunt, Charles McCaughan, Nancy New, Jon Van Ness, Wallace Shawn, Peter Bogyo.
Cinematography: Walter Lassally
Film Editor: Mrk Potter Jr., Katherine Wenning
Original Music: Richard Robbins
Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,...
The Bostonians
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / 30.98
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Tandy, Madeleine Potter, Nancy Marchand, Wesley Addy, Barbara Bryne, Linda Hunt, Charles McCaughan, Nancy New, Jon Van Ness, Wallace Shawn, Peter Bogyo.
Cinematography: Walter Lassally
Film Editor: Mrk Potter Jr., Katherine Wenning
Original Music: Richard Robbins
Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,...
- 6/11/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
James Ivory celebrates his 91st birthday on June 7, 2019. The director, who became an art house favorite thanks to a series of lofty literary adaptations produced by his partner Ismail Merchant, shows no signs of slowing down in his twilight years. In fact, he recently become the oldest Oscar winner in history for penning the script to “Call Me by Your Name” (2017). In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Although the majority of his work takes place overseas, Ivory was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1928. After cutting his teeth as a documentarian, he kicked off a professional and romantic relationship with Merchant, and together they formed the production company Merchant Ivory. Together, with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala serving as the third member of their team, they produced a series of acclaimed films based on the works of E.
Although the majority of his work takes place overseas, Ivory was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1928. After cutting his teeth as a documentarian, he kicked off a professional and romantic relationship with Merchant, and together they formed the production company Merchant Ivory. Together, with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala serving as the third member of their team, they produced a series of acclaimed films based on the works of E.
- 6/7/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Most cinephiles associate the Merchant Ivory catalogue with English dramas like “A Room With a View” and “Howards End” — even the film company’s own Wikipedia page makes amusing note of how many of their best-known features follow “genteel characters who suffer from disillusionment and tragic entanglements” and often involve some kind of house — but with 44 films in its library, Merchant Ivory contains its own vastly different multitudes.
One such unexpected entry: the Jean Rhys adaptation “Quartet,” inspired by the “Wide Sargasso Sea” author’s own experiences as an up-and-comer in swinging Paris. While the film’s pedigree is classic Merchant Ivory — written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant — its subject matter and tone are a fair bit different than some of the more staid dramas in the company’s oeuvre. For one thing, it’s a surprisingly dramatic story of a love triangle gone darkly awry.
One such unexpected entry: the Jean Rhys adaptation “Quartet,” inspired by the “Wide Sargasso Sea” author’s own experiences as an up-and-comer in swinging Paris. While the film’s pedigree is classic Merchant Ivory — written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant — its subject matter and tone are a fair bit different than some of the more staid dramas in the company’s oeuvre. For one thing, it’s a surprisingly dramatic story of a love triangle gone darkly awry.
- 4/24/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
This flawed Merchant Ivory gem picks apart imperial and sexual politics to reveal a story of forbidden love – but of what kind?
Those two obliterating forces in the title are what officers of the British Raj famously and self-pityingly resented. Other colonialists saw empire as a personal adventure and an arena of secret delight and shame, a personal drama obscured by the dazzling glare and discomfiting dustclouds.
Heat and Dust, the 1983 movie adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from her own Booker-winning novel, directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, is now revived in British cinemas. It emerges from literary and cinematic styles that haven’t been fashionable for many a year: the Anglo-Indian world made famous by Em Forster, Paul Scott and Jg Farrell and the costumed Edwardian period-prestige movies that came out under the Merchant Ivory banner.
Those two obliterating forces in the title are what officers of the British Raj famously and self-pityingly resented. Other colonialists saw empire as a personal adventure and an arena of secret delight and shame, a personal drama obscured by the dazzling glare and discomfiting dustclouds.
Heat and Dust, the 1983 movie adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from her own Booker-winning novel, directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, is now revived in British cinemas. It emerges from literary and cinematic styles that haven’t been fashionable for many a year: the Anglo-Indian world made famous by Em Forster, Paul Scott and Jg Farrell and the costumed Edwardian period-prestige movies that came out under the Merchant Ivory banner.
- 3/8/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Ahead of the re-release of Heat and Dust, we apply a social pecking order to the duo’s best movies that had James Ivory as director and Ismail Merchant producing
No one liked this adaptation of Tana Janowitz’s novel, and I ain’t gonna lie, it’s pretty bad (save for an amazing turn from a drag Supremes troupe). But I have to include it for its sheer bonkersness. How did Merchant Ivory end up making a movie about the downtown New York art scene? Nothing about it makes sense, and I admire that.
No one liked this adaptation of Tana Janowitz’s novel, and I ain’t gonna lie, it’s pretty bad (save for an amazing turn from a drag Supremes troupe). But I have to include it for its sheer bonkersness. How did Merchant Ivory end up making a movie about the downtown New York art scene? Nothing about it makes sense, and I admire that.
- 3/7/2019
- by Hadley Freeman
- The Guardian - Film News
Arthouse specialist Landmark Theatres has been sold by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban to Cohen Media Group for an undisclosed price.
The sale ends months of speculation about Landmark’s fate — the company has been shopped around for months, reportedly drawing interest from Amazon, Netflix, and Byron Allen. Cohen Media Group chairman Charles S. Cohen, a real estate developer whose fortune is estimated to be $3.4 billion, said he will retain the senior management team of Landmark Theatres.
In an interview with Variety, Landmark Theatres president and CEO Ted Mundorff said he was pleased that the sale had been resolved and also said he was optimistic that Cohen, a cinephile, was an ideal owner.
“It’s a great day for the industry,” said Mundorff. “You have a film lover who bought a theater company… and he’s going to keep the ship running the way it has been going.”
The deal was announced Tuesday by Wagner,...
The sale ends months of speculation about Landmark’s fate — the company has been shopped around for months, reportedly drawing interest from Amazon, Netflix, and Byron Allen. Cohen Media Group chairman Charles S. Cohen, a real estate developer whose fortune is estimated to be $3.4 billion, said he will retain the senior management team of Landmark Theatres.
In an interview with Variety, Landmark Theatres president and CEO Ted Mundorff said he was pleased that the sale had been resolved and also said he was optimistic that Cohen, a cinephile, was an ideal owner.
“It’s a great day for the industry,” said Mundorff. “You have a film lover who bought a theater company… and he’s going to keep the ship running the way it has been going.”
The deal was announced Tuesday by Wagner,...
- 12/4/2018
- by Dave McNary and Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Hugh Grant and James Wilby star in this intensely poignant story of two young men forced to deny their love
Em Forster’s novel Maurice, unpublished in his own lifetime, often gets treated as an outlier in his work, and maybe the superlative 1987 film version, starring Hugh Grant and James Wilby, was first thought of as an outlier in the prestigious Merchant Ivory canon. This film was clearly capitalising on the 80s Varsity chic of Chariots of Fire and the TV Brideshead Revisited, but it is darker, less picturesque, more claustrophobically and even tragically male (though Judy Parfitt and Helena Bonham Carter do what they can with cameo roles). Now, Maurice, produced by Ismail Merchant and directed by James Ivory, who collaborated with Kit Hesketh-Harvey on the screenplay, is being rereleased as part of the Flare strand, showcasing Lgbt-themed films, at London’s BFI Southbank and in cinemas nationwide.
Related:...
Em Forster’s novel Maurice, unpublished in his own lifetime, often gets treated as an outlier in his work, and maybe the superlative 1987 film version, starring Hugh Grant and James Wilby, was first thought of as an outlier in the prestigious Merchant Ivory canon. This film was clearly capitalising on the 80s Varsity chic of Chariots of Fire and the TV Brideshead Revisited, but it is darker, less picturesque, more claustrophobically and even tragically male (though Judy Parfitt and Helena Bonham Carter do what they can with cameo roles). Now, Maurice, produced by Ismail Merchant and directed by James Ivory, who collaborated with Kit Hesketh-Harvey on the screenplay, is being rereleased as part of the Flare strand, showcasing Lgbt-themed films, at London’s BFI Southbank and in cinemas nationwide.
Related:...
- 7/26/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
There’s never been a better time to be gay in Hollywood. “Moonlight” won Best Picture the same year Kristen Stewart told millions of people on “Saturday Night Live” that she’s “like, so gay dude.” Now in its 10th season, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” boasts two Emmy nominations and ever-increasing ratings. The “Roseanne” reboot has a gender-nonconforming child, and “Love, Simon,” the first major studio film about a gay teenager, is playing in 2,402 theaters nationwide. It seems everywhere you look, progress is slowly doing its thing.
So why are so many actors still in the closet?
This week delivered a stark reminder of the real state of affairs, when James Ivory gave a no-holds-barred interview in The Guardian lamenting the lack of full-frontal male nudity in “Call Me By Your Name,” the gay awards film of last year, which earned the Hollywood legend his first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
So why are so many actors still in the closet?
This week delivered a stark reminder of the real state of affairs, when James Ivory gave a no-holds-barred interview in The Guardian lamenting the lack of full-frontal male nudity in “Call Me By Your Name,” the gay awards film of last year, which earned the Hollywood legend his first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
- 3/30/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
James Ivory was not a fan of “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino’s choice to not show full-frontal male nudity in the film.
Ivory, whose screenplay for the movie won an Oscar, said in an interview with the Guardian that his script included Elio, played by Timothee Chalamet, and Oliver, portrayed by Armie Hammer, being shown naked during intimate scenes. Ivory called Guadagnino’s claims that he never considered putting nudity in the film “totally untrue.”
“He sat in this very room where I am sitting now, talking about how he would do it, so when he says that it was a conscious aesthetic decision not to – well, that’s just bull—-,” Ivory said.
The screenwriter had previously told Variety that Chalamet and Hammer had contracts that specified there would not be any frontal nudity, which Ivory called at the time “a pity” and an “American attitude.
Ivory, whose screenplay for the movie won an Oscar, said in an interview with the Guardian that his script included Elio, played by Timothee Chalamet, and Oliver, portrayed by Armie Hammer, being shown naked during intimate scenes. Ivory called Guadagnino’s claims that he never considered putting nudity in the film “totally untrue.”
“He sat in this very room where I am sitting now, talking about how he would do it, so when he says that it was a conscious aesthetic decision not to – well, that’s just bull—-,” Ivory said.
The screenwriter had previously told Variety that Chalamet and Hammer had contracts that specified there would not be any frontal nudity, which Ivory called at the time “a pity” and an “American attitude.
- 3/28/2018
- by Ariana Brockington
- Variety Film + TV
Lgbt-themed films were seldom honored by the motion picture academy in the 20th century. But the first two decades of the 21st century have seen the Oscars change their tune, with more and more films with Lgbt stories winning awards. At least one Lgbt-themed film has won an Oscar every year since 2013, including last year’s historic Best Picture win by “Moonlight,” the first film with a gay protagonist to win in the top category. Two more acclaimed films joined the list of Oscar-winning Lgbt films in 2018: “Call Me by Your Name” and “A Fantastic Woman.” Click through our gallery to see the complete list.
“Call Me by Your Name” went into Oscars with four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Timothee Chalamet), and it took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. With that victory the film’s writer, James Ivory, made history by becoming the oldest Oscar-winner in any category.
“Call Me by Your Name” went into Oscars with four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Timothee Chalamet), and it took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. With that victory the film’s writer, James Ivory, made history by becoming the oldest Oscar-winner in any category.
- 3/11/2018
- by Tony Ruiz
- Gold Derby
Man, there were some great speeches at Sunday’s Oscars. Some were wordy and made grand points about the times we live in, like Best Director winner Guillermo del Toro. Others were simple and stood out because of a clever or memorable line like Allison Janney did when she won Best Supporting Actress. With that in mind, here’s a look at the six speeches that stood out the most during this year’s Oscar ceremony. Scroll down to vote in our poll at the bottom of this post, and check out the full list of winners right here.
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water”
While it’s been clear to most of us that del Toro would win this honor for several months now, the director seemed a little startled when Emma Stone called his name. But if he was nervous to speak in front of that massive crowd,...
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water”
While it’s been clear to most of us that del Toro would win this honor for several months now, the director seemed a little startled when Emma Stone called his name. But if he was nervous to speak in front of that massive crowd,...
- 3/5/2018
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
While none of the 2018 acting Oscars were awarded to people of color, diversity and representation remained a theme at the 90th annual ceremony. “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to anyone who has ever identified as an outsider, won four prizes, including the coveted Best Picture. “Growing up in Mexico, I thought this could never happen; it happens,” he said. “This is a door, kick it open and come in.”
Del Toro also claimed Best Director, becoming the fourth native of Mexico in five years to achieve the feat. Pixar’s “Coco” provided more reasons for Mexico to celebrate, nabbing Best Animated Feature (and a “Viva Latin America!” shoutout from presenter Oscar Isaac) and Best Original Song (“Remember Me”). As “Remember Me” co-writer Kristen Anderson-Lopez remarked of her fellow nominees, “Not only are we diverse, but we are close to 50/50 for gender representation. When you look at a category like ours,...
Del Toro also claimed Best Director, becoming the fourth native of Mexico in five years to achieve the feat. Pixar’s “Coco” provided more reasons for Mexico to celebrate, nabbing Best Animated Feature (and a “Viva Latin America!” shoutout from presenter Oscar Isaac) and Best Original Song (“Remember Me”). As “Remember Me” co-writer Kristen Anderson-Lopez remarked of her fellow nominees, “Not only are we diverse, but we are close to 50/50 for gender representation. When you look at a category like ours,...
- 3/5/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
The 89-year-old Room with a View director won his first Oscar for his adaptation of the impassioned gay romance novel
• Oscars 2018: the red carpet, the winners, the speeches
James Ivory has won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the 90th Academy awards for his work on the film Call Me By Your Name, adapted from André Aciman’s novel of the same name. At 89, Ivory is the oldest ever winner of an Academy award; it is his first win after three previous nominations in the best director category, for the films A Room with a View, Howard’s End, and The Remains of the Day.
Wearing a shirt emblazoned with the face of Call Me By Your Name star Timothée Chalamet, Ivory thanked his deceased Merchant-Ivory partners Ismail Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as well as André Aciman.
• Oscars 2018: the red carpet, the winners, the speeches
James Ivory has won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the 90th Academy awards for his work on the film Call Me By Your Name, adapted from André Aciman’s novel of the same name. At 89, Ivory is the oldest ever winner of an Academy award; it is his first win after three previous nominations in the best director category, for the films A Room with a View, Howard’s End, and The Remains of the Day.
Wearing a shirt emblazoned with the face of Call Me By Your Name star Timothée Chalamet, Ivory thanked his deceased Merchant-Ivory partners Ismail Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as well as André Aciman.
- 3/5/2018
- by Jake Nevins
- The Guardian - Film News
Roger Deakins finally wins cinematography award after 14 nominations. Follow Sunday’s 90th annual Academy Awards live here.
Guillermo del Toro won the best directing Oscar for The Shape Of Water, becoming the third Mexican in the last five years to claim the prize.
“I am an immigrant… like Alfonso [Cuaron] and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu], my compadres, like Gael [Garcia Bernal], like Salma [Hayek], like many, many of you,” del Toro said. “And in the last 25 years I’ve been living in a country all of our own. The greatest thing our industry does it to erase the lines in the sand.”
After 14 nominations, Roger...
Guillermo del Toro won the best directing Oscar for The Shape Of Water, becoming the third Mexican in the last five years to claim the prize.
“I am an immigrant… like Alfonso [Cuaron] and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu], my compadres, like Gael [Garcia Bernal], like Salma [Hayek], like many, many of you,” del Toro said. “And in the last 25 years I’ve been living in a country all of our own. The greatest thing our industry does it to erase the lines in the sand.”
After 14 nominations, Roger...
- 3/4/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Will Guillermo del Toro win best director on Sunday? Follow Sunday’s 90th annual Academy Awards live here.
After 14 nominations, Roger Deakins finally won the cinematography Oscar, claiming the award for his work on Blade Runner 2049.
Jordan Peele won best original screenplay for Get Out and thanked ’my mother who taught me to love in the face of hate.” The winner was only the third man to be nominated for best picture, directing, and original screenplay after Warren Beatty for Heaven Can Wait in 1979, and James L Brooks for Terms Of Endearment in 1984.
His award came shortly after an...
After 14 nominations, Roger Deakins finally won the cinematography Oscar, claiming the award for his work on Blade Runner 2049.
Jordan Peele won best original screenplay for Get Out and thanked ’my mother who taught me to love in the face of hate.” The winner was only the third man to be nominated for best picture, directing, and original screenplay after Warren Beatty for Heaven Can Wait in 1979, and James L Brooks for Terms Of Endearment in 1984.
His award came shortly after an...
- 3/4/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Will Guillermo del Toro win best director on Sunday? Will DoP Roger Deakins finally lay his hands on the prize? Follow Sunday’s 90th annual Academy Awards live here.
Jordan Peele won best original screenplay for Get Out and thanked ’my mother who taught me to love in the face of hate.”
Peele’s award came shortly after an intense emotional interlude that brought the most overt reference of the night to the unfolding Hollywood sex scandal that has shaken the industry to its core.
An emotional Annabella Sciorra, who has alleged Weinstein raped her, was joined on stage by Ashley Judd,...
Jordan Peele won best original screenplay for Get Out and thanked ’my mother who taught me to love in the face of hate.”
Peele’s award came shortly after an intense emotional interlude that brought the most overt reference of the night to the unfolding Hollywood sex scandal that has shaken the industry to its core.
An emotional Annabella Sciorra, who has alleged Weinstein raped her, was joined on stage by Ashley Judd,...
- 3/4/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
by Nathaniel R
Highlight of 2017: Meeting one of my true gay heroes, James Ivory.
They say you should never meet your heroes. But "they" haven't met James Ivory. The legendary director, currently nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars for Call Me By Your Name (2017) is 89 years old but you wouldn't know it. He's sharp and talented and thoughtful as ever. It's his fourth nomination in a rich career that extends way back to the late 1950s though he's best know for the popular costume dramas he made in the 1980s and 1990s with his producer and life partner, the late Ismail Merchant (1936-2005).
I had the pleasure of meeting with Ivory at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this season. I didn't quite intend to begin gushing but it couldn't be helped. He was deeply formative in my life, one of the first two or three directors that...
Highlight of 2017: Meeting one of my true gay heroes, James Ivory.
They say you should never meet your heroes. But "they" haven't met James Ivory. The legendary director, currently nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars for Call Me By Your Name (2017) is 89 years old but you wouldn't know it. He's sharp and talented and thoughtful as ever. It's his fourth nomination in a rich career that extends way back to the late 1950s though he's best know for the popular costume dramas he made in the 1980s and 1990s with his producer and life partner, the late Ismail Merchant (1936-2005).
I had the pleasure of meeting with Ivory at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this season. I didn't quite intend to begin gushing but it couldn't be helped. He was deeply formative in my life, one of the first two or three directors that...
- 2/27/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
"It's, like, some hiccup in nature," chuckles the legendary filmmaker James Ivory as we sit down at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to record an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's 'Awards Chatter' podcast and note that on Sunday, March 4, just three months and three days before Ivory's 90th birthday, he might well become the oldest person ever to win an Oscar. Ivory and Ismail Merchant, his partner in life and work for 44 years until Merchant's death in 2005, made films that accumulated 31 Oscar nominations and six Oscar wins. (The most well-known are period-piece literary adaptations...
- 2/21/2018
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2018 British Academy Film Awards were held on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Royal Albert Hall in London. The 71st annual Baftas hosted by Joanna Lumley (“Absolutely Fabulous”) serves as a preview of next month’s Oscars. Final voting for the 90th annual Academy Awards begins on Tuesday (Feb. 20).
As at the Oscars, “The Shape of Water” leads among nominated films at these important precursor prizes with a whopping 12 bids. “Darkest Hour” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” are tied for second place with nine nominations each. “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dunkirk” are in contention for eight BAFTA Awards apiece while “I, Tonya” is up for five and both “Call Me by Your Name” and “Phantom Thread” contend in four categories.
Our exclusive BAFTA odds were almost fool-proof. We correctly predicted that “Three Billboards” would be the big winner, taking home five of the top awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand...
As at the Oscars, “The Shape of Water” leads among nominated films at these important precursor prizes with a whopping 12 bids. “Darkest Hour” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” are tied for second place with nine nominations each. “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dunkirk” are in contention for eight BAFTA Awards apiece while “I, Tonya” is up for five and both “Call Me by Your Name” and “Phantom Thread” contend in four categories.
Our exclusive BAFTA odds were almost fool-proof. We correctly predicted that “Three Billboards” would be the big winner, taking home five of the top awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand...
- 2/18/2018
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
It’s not easy to land a Best Director Oscar nomination — even for a white man. Of the hundreds of filmmakers recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in nine decades, just 10 have been African American or women — which is why 2018 nominees Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig are so rare. Not one black Best Director has won since John Singleton became the first nominee with “Boyz in the Hood” in 1991. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to ever take home a gold statue, for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker.” The only Asian director asked to accept top honors is Ang Lee, who prevailed for both “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi.”
Many great filmmakers have been nominated for their work outside of directing, including Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Sam Peckinpah, and Rob Reiner, but have never been invited to the Best Director party at all. Still more picked...
Many great filmmakers have been nominated for their work outside of directing, including Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Sam Peckinpah, and Rob Reiner, but have never been invited to the Best Director party at all. Still more picked...
- 2/9/2018
- by Anne Thompson, Jenna Marotta, Michael Nordine, William Earl, Kate Erbland and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
This unique experience created a sense of family among us all and allowed us to meet the Bengali people as family. I am still processing all that I discovered in Bangladesh and how it changes my perception of the world as a large place filled with worthy and wonderful people.
Our Women’s Films Jury of Three
Bipasha Hayat
We formed a three person jury with myself and Bipasha Hayat, a Bengali cultural activist, freelance painter, actor, and playwright. She has had six solo and 74 painting exhibitions at home and abroad. She has acted in over 300 television plays, 12 stage plays and four feature films. She won the 17th Asian Art Biennal 2016 among other prizes. Her written books are Hridoy rajje and Ghum bhanga manusher golpo.
Our third member Bijaya Jena is a trained actress from Ftii, Pune, India who has acted in many Odia and Hindi films, and in Ismail Merchant...
Our Women’s Films Jury of Three
Bipasha Hayat
We formed a three person jury with myself and Bipasha Hayat, a Bengali cultural activist, freelance painter, actor, and playwright. She has had six solo and 74 painting exhibitions at home and abroad. She has acted in over 300 television plays, 12 stage plays and four feature films. She won the 17th Asian Art Biennal 2016 among other prizes. Her written books are Hridoy rajje and Ghum bhanga manusher golpo.
Our third member Bijaya Jena is a trained actress from Ftii, Pune, India who has acted in many Odia and Hindi films, and in Ismail Merchant...
- 2/5/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
One of the apparent locks all Oscar season has been James Ivory. The “Call Me by Your Name” scribe has been the favorite to win his first Oscar in an atypically weak Best Adapted Screenplay field, but is the renowned Merchant Ivory filmmaker as secure as we all think?
Ivory is still the overwhelming favorite to take home the Oscar, standing at 1/5 combined odds in our predictions, but two scripts have their ardent supporters to pull the upset. “Mudbound,” penned by Dee Rees and Virgil Williams, has the backing of two of our participating 18 experts — Thelma Adams (Gold Derby) and Erik Davis (Fandango) — and one of our Top 24 Users, Priti, who scored the best predicting last year’s Oscars. Meanwhile, Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” is the selection of two experts — Jack Matthews (Gold Derby) and Adnan Virk (ESPN) — and one of our All-Star Top 24 Users, Sean Cotter, who...
Ivory is still the overwhelming favorite to take home the Oscar, standing at 1/5 combined odds in our predictions, but two scripts have their ardent supporters to pull the upset. “Mudbound,” penned by Dee Rees and Virgil Williams, has the backing of two of our participating 18 experts — Thelma Adams (Gold Derby) and Erik Davis (Fandango) — and one of our Top 24 Users, Priti, who scored the best predicting last year’s Oscars. Meanwhile, Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” is the selection of two experts — Jack Matthews (Gold Derby) and Adnan Virk (ESPN) — and one of our All-Star Top 24 Users, Sean Cotter, who...
- 1/30/2018
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
At 89, James Ivory isn't done yet.
The American filmmaker, whose collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (and their longtime screenwriter, the late Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) made Merchant Ivory a byword for classy cinema in the mid-1980s and early '90s, has staged a dramatic late-career comeback with Call Me by Your Name, which Ivory wrote and co-produced for director Luca Guadagnino.
The touching gay love story, based on Andre Aciman's acclaimed 2007 novel, earned Ivory his first-ever BAFTA nomination for best adapted screenplay, and it's a near certainty he'll pick up his first Oscar nomination in the same category, adding to...
The American filmmaker, whose collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (and their longtime screenwriter, the late Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) made Merchant Ivory a byword for classy cinema in the mid-1980s and early '90s, has staged a dramatic late-career comeback with Call Me by Your Name, which Ivory wrote and co-produced for director Luca Guadagnino.
The touching gay love story, based on Andre Aciman's acclaimed 2007 novel, earned Ivory his first-ever BAFTA nomination for best adapted screenplay, and it's a near certainty he'll pick up his first Oscar nomination in the same category, adding to...
- 1/19/2018
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Veteran filmmaker James Ivory is happy to let “Call Me by Your Name” rest now. Nearly a decade in the making – much of that time spent with Ivory attached to the film in various positions, from producer to co-director to screenwriter – director Luca Guadagnino’s lush big screen take on André Aciman’s novel of the same name is hitting theaters on the wave of accolades first ignited during its Sundance premiere, admiration that has not abated in the months since the film first debuted.
And while Guadagnino has been actively chatting up the possibility of sequels for the film – or, at the very least, a film that picks up with the film’s main characters after many years have passed, as Aciman’s novel does – Ivory has no interest in returning to the material. For him, this chapter of his creative life is closed.
Read More:‘Call Me By Your Name...
And while Guadagnino has been actively chatting up the possibility of sequels for the film – or, at the very least, a film that picks up with the film’s main characters after many years have passed, as Aciman’s novel does – Ivory has no interest in returning to the material. For him, this chapter of his creative life is closed.
Read More:‘Call Me By Your Name...
- 11/23/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
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