Spike Lee may not be done with Hurricane Katrina yet.
The director of the HBO miniseries When the Levees Broke said Thursday he's considering visiting the area where Katrina struck again in the next 24 months for a potential follow-up to Levees.
"I'm going to go back, not just to New Orleans but to other areas affected, because it's not over," he told audiences at Silverdocs, the AFI/Discovery Channel docu fest in Silver Spring, Md., where he received the fest's Charles Guggenheim award.
While Lee didn't specify what the project would cover, he hinted at its focus when he described his feelings about the current situation on the Gulf Coast. "What the press is not really talking about is the mental state -- suicide, self-medication," he said. It's horrible.
Lee also said he thinks there's room for a scripted feature about post-Katrina New Orleans and tipped that The Wire creator David Simon, whose Generation Kill debuts this summer on HBO, may be working on such a pic.
The director of the HBO miniseries When the Levees Broke said Thursday he's considering visiting the area where Katrina struck again in the next 24 months for a potential follow-up to Levees.
"I'm going to go back, not just to New Orleans but to other areas affected, because it's not over," he told audiences at Silverdocs, the AFI/Discovery Channel docu fest in Silver Spring, Md., where he received the fest's Charles Guggenheim award.
While Lee didn't specify what the project would cover, he hinted at its focus when he described his feelings about the current situation on the Gulf Coast. "What the press is not really talking about is the mental state -- suicide, self-medication," he said. It's horrible.
Lee also said he thinks there's room for a scripted feature about post-Katrina New Orleans and tipped that The Wire creator David Simon, whose Generation Kill debuts this summer on HBO, may be working on such a pic.
- 6/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
UPDATED 5:27 p.m. PT, April 21, 2008
CORRECTED 10:56 a.m. PT, April 22, 2008
Isaiah Washington has booked his first major feature film role since exiting "Grey's Anatomy" in June.
Washington will star opposite Forest Whitaker in "Patriots", the Dimension's sports drama being directed by Tim Story.
Also joining the cast are Taraji P. Henson, Robbie Jones, Jackie Long, Eric Hill, Bow Wow, Lil' Wayne, Irma Hall, Jarod Einsohn, J.B. Smoove and Chyna McClain.
"Patriots", based on a true story, is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Al Collins, a high school basketball coach in Marrero, La., assembled a team of players who previously attended five different schools and led them on the path to the state championships.
Washington will play an assistant coach at John Ehret High who helps lead the squad.
Robert Eisele ("The Great Debaters") and Greg Allen Howard ("Remember the Titans") wrote the script. Raymond Brothers and Scott Glassgold of IAM Entertainment and Stephanie Allain and Michael Beugg are producing.
Shooting begins this week in New Orleans.
CORRECTED 10:56 a.m. PT, April 22, 2008
Isaiah Washington has booked his first major feature film role since exiting "Grey's Anatomy" in June.
Washington will star opposite Forest Whitaker in "Patriots", the Dimension's sports drama being directed by Tim Story.
Also joining the cast are Taraji P. Henson, Robbie Jones, Jackie Long, Eric Hill, Bow Wow, Lil' Wayne, Irma Hall, Jarod Einsohn, J.B. Smoove and Chyna McClain.
"Patriots", based on a true story, is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Al Collins, a high school basketball coach in Marrero, La., assembled a team of players who previously attended five different schools and led them on the path to the state championships.
Washington will play an assistant coach at John Ehret High who helps lead the squad.
Robert Eisele ("The Great Debaters") and Greg Allen Howard ("Remember the Titans") wrote the script. Raymond Brothers and Scott Glassgold of IAM Entertainment and Stephanie Allain and Michael Beugg are producing.
Shooting begins this week in New Orleans.
- 4/21/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- NBC has asked Nielsen Media Research to consider moving next year's February sweep up a few weeks to avoid a potential disruption from the switch to digital television, set for Feb. 17, 2009.
ABC, CBS and Fox have not asked Nielsen to consider such a shift, but most are said to be in favor of the move. NBC first raised the possibility in December before the holidays, and the issue is expected to be discussed at next week's client meetings held by Nielsen Media Research.
NBC is suggesting starting the February 2009 sweep on Jan. 15 and ending it Feb. 14, three days before the digital transition. While sweeps are routinely moved back-and-forth by a few days to avoid Thanksgiving or daylight savings time changes, such a major shift by two weeks would be unprecedented. The only time Nielsen has canceled a sweep was in the New Orleans market where audience measurement was suspended in the months after Hurricane Katrina.
ABC, CBS and Fox have not asked Nielsen to consider such a shift, but most are said to be in favor of the move. NBC first raised the possibility in December before the holidays, and the issue is expected to be discussed at next week's client meetings held by Nielsen Media Research.
NBC is suggesting starting the February 2009 sweep on Jan. 15 and ending it Feb. 14, three days before the digital transition. While sweeps are routinely moved back-and-forth by a few days to avoid Thanksgiving or daylight savings time changes, such a major shift by two weeks would be unprecedented. The only time Nielsen has canceled a sweep was in the New Orleans market where audience measurement was suspended in the months after Hurricane Katrina.
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- Trouble the Water presents a unique, ground-level perspective on Hurricane Katrina that's been sorely missing from previous accounts of the disaster. In particular, amateur footage incorporated into the docu that was shot by a New Orleans resident who survived the storm speaks volumes regarding corporate media bias and government neglect of Katrina victims.
At the same time, the film's content presents singular challenges for theatrical release. With some judicious re-editing and the Sundance Film Festival Documentary Grand Jury prize as a selling point, Trouble could see a limited run followed by niche cable broadcast, although ultimately it might be best suited to festival play and DVD.
As Katrina prepares to slam into New Orleans in August 2005, African American Ninth Ward residents Kimberly and Scott Roberts search for a way out of the city before it hits. Short on cash for evacuation expenses, they get stuck in town and switch to survival mode.
Shooting with a consumer DV camera she bought off the street just the day before, Kimberly -- a former small-time drug dealer and aspiring rapper with three songs credited on the film's soundtrack -- narrates the haphazard storm preparations in her neighborhood as people stockpile supplies and prepare their homes for the onslaught.
When Katrina hits, the Roberts hole up in their attic with a meager stash of supplies and no electricity as 120-mph winds and torrential rain batter the structure. Once Katrina passes, Kimberly documents the flooding that follows burst levees and a near-total absence of official rescue operations, as well as the bravery and determination of impoverished, displaced citizens to escape the rising floodwaters.
By the time co-directors Lessin and Deal arrive on the scene, the Roberts have already evacuated New Orleans for centrally located Alexandria, La. The New York-based filmmakers take up the Roberts' story from this point, substituting smooth super 16mm and 24p digital for Kimberly's shaky handheld footage. Although the Roberts initially try to relocate to Memphis, they eventually return to their New Orleans home and attempt to put their lives back together.
Self-described "hustlers," Kimberly and Scott make compelling subjects as they surmount daunting odds and employ their street smarts to weather the hurricane by banding together with other residents (and rescuing many from Katrina's dangerous aftermath).
Lessin and Deal, who had producer roles on Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and "Fahrenheit 9/11," adopt a fairly conventional docu approach for their segments, tracking the Roberts as they attempt to navigate the FEMA disaster-relief bureaucracy and return home. Kimberly's ground-zero home video of the storm is what really makes the film exceptional, although much of it is of such rough quality and execution that it struggles to hold up on the big screen -- a significant consideration for theatrical distribution.
Regardless of whether the film reaches its widest-possible audience, Trouble the Water adds a notable chapter to the narrative of Hurricane Katrina's devastation by foregrounding the experiences of some of New Orleans' most disenfranchised citizens.
TROUBLE THE WATER
Elsewhere Films and Louverture Films
Credits:
Directors-producers: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
Executive producers: Danny Glover, Joslyn Barnes, Todd Olson, David Alcaro
Directors of photography: P.J. Raval, Kimberly Roberts
Music: Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge
Editors: T. Woody Richman, Mary Lampson
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- Trouble the Water presents a unique, ground-level perspective on Hurricane Katrina that's been sorely missing from previous accounts of the disaster. In particular, amateur footage incorporated into the docu that was shot by a New Orleans resident who survived the storm speaks volumes regarding corporate media bias and government neglect of Katrina victims.
At the same time, the film's content presents singular challenges for theatrical release. With some judicious re-editing and the Sundance Film Festival Documentary Grand Jury prize as a selling point, Trouble could see a limited run followed by niche cable broadcast, although ultimately it might be best suited to festival play and DVD.
As Katrina prepares to slam into New Orleans in August 2005, African American Ninth Ward residents Kimberly and Scott Roberts search for a way out of the city before it hits. Short on cash for evacuation expenses, they get stuck in town and switch to survival mode.
Shooting with a consumer DV camera she bought off the street just the day before, Kimberly -- a former small-time drug dealer and aspiring rapper with three songs credited on the film's soundtrack -- narrates the haphazard storm preparations in her neighborhood as people stockpile supplies and prepare their homes for the onslaught.
When Katrina hits, the Roberts hole up in their attic with a meager stash of supplies and no electricity as 120-mph winds and torrential rain batter the structure. Once Katrina passes, Kimberly documents the flooding that follows burst levees and a near-total absence of official rescue operations, as well as the bravery and determination of impoverished, displaced citizens to escape the rising floodwaters.
By the time co-directors Lessin and Deal arrive on the scene, the Roberts have already evacuated New Orleans for centrally located Alexandria, La. The New York-based filmmakers take up the Roberts' story from this point, substituting smooth super 16mm and 24p digital for Kimberly's shaky handheld footage. Although the Roberts initially try to relocate to Memphis, they eventually return to their New Orleans home and attempt to put their lives back together.
Self-described "hustlers," Kimberly and Scott make compelling subjects as they surmount daunting odds and employ their street smarts to weather the hurricane by banding together with other residents (and rescuing many from Katrina's dangerous aftermath).
Lessin and Deal, who had producer roles on Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and "Fahrenheit 9/11," adopt a fairly conventional docu approach for their segments, tracking the Roberts as they attempt to navigate the FEMA disaster-relief bureaucracy and return home. Kimberly's ground-zero home video of the storm is what really makes the film exceptional, although much of it is of such rough quality and execution that it struggles to hold up on the big screen -- a significant consideration for theatrical distribution.
Regardless of whether the film reaches its widest-possible audience, Trouble the Water adds a notable chapter to the narrative of Hurricane Katrina's devastation by foregrounding the experiences of some of New Orleans' most disenfranchised citizens.
TROUBLE THE WATER
Elsewhere Films and Louverture Films
Credits:
Directors-producers: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
Executive producers: Danny Glover, Joslyn Barnes, Todd Olson, David Alcaro
Directors of photography: P.J. Raval, Kimberly Roberts
Music: Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge
Editors: T. Woody Richman, Mary Lampson
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- "Man on Wire", James Marsh's documentary look at Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers, took home both the Grand Jury and the Audience Prize in the World Cinema category Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival.
In other top prizes, Courtney Hunt's single-mother immigrant drama "Frozen River" scored the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age dramedy "The Wackness", in which a young pot dealer in mid-'90s New York finds a mentor and customer in his shrink, took home the Dramatic Feature Audience award.
Sony Pictures Classics was a double-winner in its own right -- it picked up North American rights to both of those films during the fest.
The U.K.-produced "Wire" had not yet found a U.S. distributor as of Saturday evening, though a deal was expected as early as this week. Director Marsh thanked the jury and audience. "You've got impeccable taste", he quipped.
Also at the ceremony, the grand jury handed best documentary to Tia Lessin's and Carl Deal's Hurricane Katrina docu "Trouble the Water", which uses extensive footage from before and after the 2005 disaster to expose the real stories of the hurricane's impact on New Orleans.
Lessin told the crowd of a different kind of debut -- the birth of a baby this week to Kimberly Rivers-Roberts and Scott Roberts, two characters featured in the film.
The Audience Award for best documentary went to Josh Tickell's "Fields of Fuel", the portrait of a man fighting the oil industry.
In other top prizes, Courtney Hunt's single-mother immigrant drama "Frozen River" scored the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age dramedy "The Wackness", in which a young pot dealer in mid-'90s New York finds a mentor and customer in his shrink, took home the Dramatic Feature Audience award.
Sony Pictures Classics was a double-winner in its own right -- it picked up North American rights to both of those films during the fest.
The U.K.-produced "Wire" had not yet found a U.S. distributor as of Saturday evening, though a deal was expected as early as this week. Director Marsh thanked the jury and audience. "You've got impeccable taste", he quipped.
Also at the ceremony, the grand jury handed best documentary to Tia Lessin's and Carl Deal's Hurricane Katrina docu "Trouble the Water", which uses extensive footage from before and after the 2005 disaster to expose the real stories of the hurricane's impact on New Orleans.
Lessin told the crowd of a different kind of debut -- the birth of a baby this week to Kimberly Rivers-Roberts and Scott Roberts, two characters featured in the film.
The Audience Award for best documentary went to Josh Tickell's "Fields of Fuel", the portrait of a man fighting the oil industry.
- 1/27/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"A Walk to Beautiful" ran away with the prize in the feature category at the 2007 International Documentary Association Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards gala benefit Friday at the DGA Theatre.
The ceremony included many powerful messages, including one from a Hurricane Katrina survivor. And despite a back injury that prevented him from attending in person, Michael Moore delivered an enthusiastically received IDA Career Achievement Award acceptance message calling for efforts to have documentaries embraced by exhibitors.
"Walk" topped a field of nominees that included "Crazy Love", "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko", and "Taxi to the Dark Side".
The film, from director-producer Mary Olive Smith and executive producer Steve Engel, focuses on five courageous women in Ethiopia who have suffered from devastating childbirth injuries and have been shunned by their family and villages. The film follows the trials they endure and their attempts to rebuild their lives.
"A Son's Sacrifice", from director Yoni Brook, producer Musa Sheed and executive producer Marco Williams, won the short documentary category. The film follows the journey of a young American Muslim who confronts his roots.
The inaugural Alan Ett Music Documentary Award for exemplary creative use of music was presented to "We Aare Together (Thina Simunye)," from director-producer Paul Taylor and producer Teddy Leifer.
The ceremony included many powerful messages, including one from a Hurricane Katrina survivor. And despite a back injury that prevented him from attending in person, Michael Moore delivered an enthusiastically received IDA Career Achievement Award acceptance message calling for efforts to have documentaries embraced by exhibitors.
"Walk" topped a field of nominees that included "Crazy Love", "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko", and "Taxi to the Dark Side".
The film, from director-producer Mary Olive Smith and executive producer Steve Engel, focuses on five courageous women in Ethiopia who have suffered from devastating childbirth injuries and have been shunned by their family and villages. The film follows the trials they endure and their attempts to rebuild their lives.
"A Son's Sacrifice", from director Yoni Brook, producer Musa Sheed and executive producer Marco Williams, won the short documentary category. The film follows the journey of a young American Muslim who confronts his roots.
The inaugural Alan Ett Music Documentary Award for exemplary creative use of music was presented to "We Aare Together (Thina Simunye)," from director-producer Paul Taylor and producer Teddy Leifer.
- 12/9/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ballantine has acquired world English rights to a memoir by Sam Haskell, former executive vp and worldwide head of television at WMA.
The book will center on "living a principled life in unprincipled times," the publisher said. It will be written with David Rensin, who met Haskell when writing his 2003 book "The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up."
"Since I was a kid, I've been guided by principles that shaped me into who I am today," Haskell said. "Mostly, I have my mother to thank for that. She's not here for the telling of this story -- of life's lessons learned, promises kept and dreams fulfilled -- but I think if she were, she'd be smiling."
Haskell, who retired from WMA nearly three years ago at age 49, has represented such clients as Bill Cosby, Ray Romano, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Feinstein, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Martin Short and Sean Hayes.
More recently, he executive-produced "Mississippi Rising", a three-hour MSNBC special hosted by Morgan Freeman that raised $15 million for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
The book will center on "living a principled life in unprincipled times," the publisher said. It will be written with David Rensin, who met Haskell when writing his 2003 book "The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up."
"Since I was a kid, I've been guided by principles that shaped me into who I am today," Haskell said. "Mostly, I have my mother to thank for that. She's not here for the telling of this story -- of life's lessons learned, promises kept and dreams fulfilled -- but I think if she were, she'd be smiling."
Haskell, who retired from WMA nearly three years ago at age 49, has represented such clients as Bill Cosby, Ray Romano, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Feinstein, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Martin Short and Sean Hayes.
More recently, he executive-produced "Mississippi Rising", a three-hour MSNBC special hosted by Morgan Freeman that raised $15 million for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
- 11/29/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- The program for the RomaCinemaFest's Extra sidebar was unveiled Wednesday, with Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia Loren, Terrence Malick, Jane Fonda, Gerard Depardieu and Bernardo Bertolucci among the A-list talent tabbed to take part in a series of on-stage conversations.
Film's screening in the documentary-focused sidebar include "In Prison My Whole Life", about former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal and narrated by Colin Firth; "Taxi to the Dark Side", about torture in Afghanistan; Uganda-based "War Dance", about children preparing for a music contest; and "New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward," Jonathan Demme's film about the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
The world premiere of "In Prison My Whole Life" is particularly noteworthy because it will screen at exactly the same time in both Rome and at the London Film Festival, at least momentarily sidestepping some of the acrimony between the two events whose dates coincide almost exactly.
But the lion's share of the attention on the sidebar may be focused on the personalities who have agreed to discuss their craft.
Film's screening in the documentary-focused sidebar include "In Prison My Whole Life", about former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal and narrated by Colin Firth; "Taxi to the Dark Side", about torture in Afghanistan; Uganda-based "War Dance", about children preparing for a music contest; and "New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward," Jonathan Demme's film about the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
The world premiere of "In Prison My Whole Life" is particularly noteworthy because it will screen at exactly the same time in both Rome and at the London Film Festival, at least momentarily sidestepping some of the acrimony between the two events whose dates coincide almost exactly.
But the lion's share of the attention on the sidebar may be focused on the personalities who have agreed to discuss their craft.
- 9/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Carnivalesque Films
NEW YORK -- Taking a decidedly minimalist, human interest approach to the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, Ashley Sabin and David Redmon's "Kamp Katrina" depicts the efforts of a couple of residents to set up a makeshift shelter in their back yard.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't quite have the feel-good aspect that might have been predicted. Indeed, the lower-class, displaced citizens who take up residence there prove to be a less than desirable lot with problems far beyond homelessness.
Still, one has to admire the efforts of contractor David Cross and his American Indian wife, known as Mrs. Pearl, to help those less fortunate than themselves. In the aftermath of the hurricane, they dubbed their home "Kamp Katrina" and soon had more than a dozen newly displaced people staying in their backyard. They included a mentally ill religious zealot who claimed to have an intimate relationship with Joan of Arc; a pregnant former crack addict falling back into her old ways; her abusive husband; petty criminals and the like. One day Mrs. Pearl is surprised to find a man in her shower, which prompts her to comment, "I don't want a naked man in my shower, unless he happens to be John Goodman."
Although the film's concerns are more personal than political, it does deal with the inevitable interference from city officials after Kamp Katrina's neighbors start complaining about the impromptu shelter.
The film ultimately is too tedious and meandering to have the desired impact, with its subject matter more appropriate for a short newsmagazine segment than a feature length documentary. It will no doubt serve as a footnote to the many other Katrina-themed films that will be examining the subject from a deeper perspective.
NEW YORK -- Taking a decidedly minimalist, human interest approach to the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, Ashley Sabin and David Redmon's "Kamp Katrina" depicts the efforts of a couple of residents to set up a makeshift shelter in their back yard.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't quite have the feel-good aspect that might have been predicted. Indeed, the lower-class, displaced citizens who take up residence there prove to be a less than desirable lot with problems far beyond homelessness.
Still, one has to admire the efforts of contractor David Cross and his American Indian wife, known as Mrs. Pearl, to help those less fortunate than themselves. In the aftermath of the hurricane, they dubbed their home "Kamp Katrina" and soon had more than a dozen newly displaced people staying in their backyard. They included a mentally ill religious zealot who claimed to have an intimate relationship with Joan of Arc; a pregnant former crack addict falling back into her old ways; her abusive husband; petty criminals and the like. One day Mrs. Pearl is surprised to find a man in her shower, which prompts her to comment, "I don't want a naked man in my shower, unless he happens to be John Goodman."
Although the film's concerns are more personal than political, it does deal with the inevitable interference from city officials after Kamp Katrina's neighbors start complaining about the impromptu shelter.
The film ultimately is too tedious and meandering to have the desired impact, with its subject matter more appropriate for a short newsmagazine segment than a feature length documentary. It will no doubt serve as a footnote to the many other Katrina-themed films that will be examining the subject from a deeper perspective.
- 8/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Two years after Hurricane Katrina forever changed the Gulf Coast, its echoes still reverberate throughout TV journalism.
When Hurricane Dean formed earlier this month as the first major hurricane in the Atlantic basin since the 2005 season ended, the networks leapt into action using plans that have been honed and honed again since Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, 2005, leaving nearly 2,000 people dead and 1 million or more displaced.
"Katrina was a particularly poignant and compelling appraisal of what we do," said Paul Slavin, senior vp news coverage at ABC News.
Soon after the disaster, the networks broke down their responses to it -- what went right and what went wrong -- and found that the plans they had made in advance for a natural disaster didn't scale when faced with a story of Katrina proportions.
"There were a lot of operational and technical and editorially honing that I think Katrina just made us attack with more vigor," Slavin said.
NBC and CNN, in particular, have shown their commitment to the region with the establishment of full-time bureaus in New Orleans. NBC's Brian Williams, who this week made his 14th visit to the region for "NBC Nightly News", said it's a significant resource commitment that hasn't been easy but has been worthwhile.
While the networks spend millions to keep their crews safe in Baghdad, it took the violence and rioting after Katrina to bring such lessons home when gun-toting security personnel accompanied journalists into the deteriorating conditions in and around New Orleans.
When Hurricane Dean formed earlier this month as the first major hurricane in the Atlantic basin since the 2005 season ended, the networks leapt into action using plans that have been honed and honed again since Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, 2005, leaving nearly 2,000 people dead and 1 million or more displaced.
"Katrina was a particularly poignant and compelling appraisal of what we do," said Paul Slavin, senior vp news coverage at ABC News.
Soon after the disaster, the networks broke down their responses to it -- what went right and what went wrong -- and found that the plans they had made in advance for a natural disaster didn't scale when faced with a story of Katrina proportions.
"There were a lot of operational and technical and editorially honing that I think Katrina just made us attack with more vigor," Slavin said.
NBC and CNN, in particular, have shown their commitment to the region with the establishment of full-time bureaus in New Orleans. NBC's Brian Williams, who this week made his 14th visit to the region for "NBC Nightly News", said it's a significant resource commitment that hasn't been easy but has been worthwhile.
While the networks spend millions to keep their crews safe in Baghdad, it took the violence and rioting after Katrina to bring such lessons home when gun-toting security personnel accompanied journalists into the deteriorating conditions in and around New Orleans.
- 8/29/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Few movies come into the market as radioactive as The Invasion. Bloggers declared the movie DOA months ago. Even its studio, Warner Bros. Pictures, didn't give the film a premiere, despite a starry cast of Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
The film was intended as the English-language debut for German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made Downfall, the utterly compelling dramatization of the last days of the Third Reich. After production wrapped in early 2006, the Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame were brought in for reshoots. They in turn hired their V for Vendetta director James McTeigue to direct new scenes they wrote.
One can play the game of who shot what and how a potential masterpiece of creeping paranoia was ruined by Hollywood suits forever. But what we have is this: an involving sci-fi action-thriller, probably longer on chase sequences than the original director wanted and shorter on the "ick" factor than the studio wanted.
Unless pre-word-of-mouth already has sullied the title beyond redemption, Invasion should see a solid two weeks of boxoffice in theatrical release, both domestic and foreign, and then establish itself as a robust title on DVD.
This is, as you probably know, the second or third remake -- depending on what you count -- of Don Siegel's 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Based on the novel by Jack Finney, that film deservedly is credited as being one of the screen's pre-eminent commentaries on the McCarthy era in America. This new version, scripted by David Kajganich, makes a feeble stab at contemporary relevance by interjecting President Bush, Iraq, Darfur and Hurricane Katrina into the mix through background news reports. But in this version at least, this political context a nonstarter.
What Invasion -- like all its remakes and imitators -- has going for it is a mortal fear of microbes, going as far back as the Black Plague or as current as AIDS. And there is always that anti-establishment tone in the material, which sees government, police and all authority as untrustworthy. This time a space shuttle cracks up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and strews wreckage across America along with a strange substance. All the scientists know is that "it ain't from around here."
The film's protagonist, somewhat arbitrarily, is Carol Bennell (Kidman), a shrink. A patient complains that her husband is not her husband. Emotionless people stalk the streets. Her beloved son Oliver (Jackson Bond) comes home from Halloween trick-or-treating with this strange substance in his candy.
She takes the substance to an infatuated doctor friend, Ben Driscoll (Craig), who immediately gives it to lab technician Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), who right away knows something is wrong. Meanwhile, the government and media report that this is nothing more than a flu strain.
To cut to the many chases, a spore from outer space is attacking human DNA while people sleep and usurping their bodies. This is seen in hooky 3-D animation inside the body that looks like those Let's Learn Chemistry exhibits at Disneyland many years ago. Swiftly everyone around Carol and Oliver turns into pleasant though malevolent humanoids.
Carol's estranged husband, a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control who already is a humanoid, forcibly infects Carol. On the run, searching for Oliver, who turns out to be mysteriously immune, and linking up with the dashing Driscoll, Carol has the main goal of staying awake for as many hours -- or days -- as it takes to reach the safety of unaffected humans.
This involves chases, car crashes, shootings and hideouts as she gulps uppers. What is never clear is why the humanoids think this shrink and her son are so important. They still have the rest of the world to infect.
From the peeks at "the Hirschbiegel movie," one can perhaps glean amid all the action that the director -- who still is the director of record -- appears to have wanted a much more claustrophobic film, a paranoid nightmare about a frantic need to stay awake rather than sleeping oneself into a placid, lotus-eating nonexistence.
Maybe some day Warners will release both versions on DVD. For now we have an effective action thriller that only hints at the psychological complexity the director might have wanted.
THE INVASION
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures
a Silver Pictures production in association with Vertigo Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenwriter: David Kajganich
Based on the novel by: Jack Finney
Producer: Joel Silver
Executive producers: Roy Lee, Doug Davison, Susan Downey, Steve Richards, Ronald G. Smith, Bruce Berman
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Jack Fisk
Music: John Ottman
Costume designer: Jacqueline West
Editor: Hans Funck, Joel Negron
Cast:
Carol Bennell: Nicole Kidman
Ben Driscoll: Daniel Craig
Tucker Kaufman: Jeremy Northam
Galeano: Jeffrey Wright
Oliver: Jackson Bond
Wendy Lenk: Veronica Cartwright
Dr. Belicec: Joseph Sommer
Ludmilla Belicic: Celia Weston
Yorish: Roger Rees
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The film was intended as the English-language debut for German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made Downfall, the utterly compelling dramatization of the last days of the Third Reich. After production wrapped in early 2006, the Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame were brought in for reshoots. They in turn hired their V for Vendetta director James McTeigue to direct new scenes they wrote.
One can play the game of who shot what and how a potential masterpiece of creeping paranoia was ruined by Hollywood suits forever. But what we have is this: an involving sci-fi action-thriller, probably longer on chase sequences than the original director wanted and shorter on the "ick" factor than the studio wanted.
Unless pre-word-of-mouth already has sullied the title beyond redemption, Invasion should see a solid two weeks of boxoffice in theatrical release, both domestic and foreign, and then establish itself as a robust title on DVD.
This is, as you probably know, the second or third remake -- depending on what you count -- of Don Siegel's 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Based on the novel by Jack Finney, that film deservedly is credited as being one of the screen's pre-eminent commentaries on the McCarthy era in America. This new version, scripted by David Kajganich, makes a feeble stab at contemporary relevance by interjecting President Bush, Iraq, Darfur and Hurricane Katrina into the mix through background news reports. But in this version at least, this political context a nonstarter.
What Invasion -- like all its remakes and imitators -- has going for it is a mortal fear of microbes, going as far back as the Black Plague or as current as AIDS. And there is always that anti-establishment tone in the material, which sees government, police and all authority as untrustworthy. This time a space shuttle cracks up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and strews wreckage across America along with a strange substance. All the scientists know is that "it ain't from around here."
The film's protagonist, somewhat arbitrarily, is Carol Bennell (Kidman), a shrink. A patient complains that her husband is not her husband. Emotionless people stalk the streets. Her beloved son Oliver (Jackson Bond) comes home from Halloween trick-or-treating with this strange substance in his candy.
She takes the substance to an infatuated doctor friend, Ben Driscoll (Craig), who immediately gives it to lab technician Galeano (Jeffrey Wright), who right away knows something is wrong. Meanwhile, the government and media report that this is nothing more than a flu strain.
To cut to the many chases, a spore from outer space is attacking human DNA while people sleep and usurping their bodies. This is seen in hooky 3-D animation inside the body that looks like those Let's Learn Chemistry exhibits at Disneyland many years ago. Swiftly everyone around Carol and Oliver turns into pleasant though malevolent humanoids.
Carol's estranged husband, a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control who already is a humanoid, forcibly infects Carol. On the run, searching for Oliver, who turns out to be mysteriously immune, and linking up with the dashing Driscoll, Carol has the main goal of staying awake for as many hours -- or days -- as it takes to reach the safety of unaffected humans.
This involves chases, car crashes, shootings and hideouts as she gulps uppers. What is never clear is why the humanoids think this shrink and her son are so important. They still have the rest of the world to infect.
From the peeks at "the Hirschbiegel movie," one can perhaps glean amid all the action that the director -- who still is the director of record -- appears to have wanted a much more claustrophobic film, a paranoid nightmare about a frantic need to stay awake rather than sleeping oneself into a placid, lotus-eating nonexistence.
Maybe some day Warners will release both versions on DVD. For now we have an effective action thriller that only hints at the psychological complexity the director might have wanted.
THE INVASION
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures
a Silver Pictures production in association with Vertigo Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenwriter: David Kajganich
Based on the novel by: Jack Finney
Producer: Joel Silver
Executive producers: Roy Lee, Doug Davison, Susan Downey, Steve Richards, Ronald G. Smith, Bruce Berman
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Jack Fisk
Music: John Ottman
Costume designer: Jacqueline West
Editor: Hans Funck, Joel Negron
Cast:
Carol Bennell: Nicole Kidman
Ben Driscoll: Daniel Craig
Tucker Kaufman: Jeremy Northam
Galeano: Jeffrey Wright
Oliver: Jackson Bond
Wendy Lenk: Veronica Cartwright
Dr. Belicec: Joseph Sommer
Ludmilla Belicic: Celia Weston
Yorish: Roger Rees
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 8/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- NBC News said Monday that it has hired former CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan, while CBS News has picked up 25-year ABC News correspondent Dean Reynolds.
Cowan will be based in Chicago and work for all of NBC's platforms including "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" and "Today". Cowan began work last week after a 10-year career at CBS News.
Reynolds will work for his new network in Chicago, joining existing correspondent Cynthia Bowers in that bureau. Reynolds had worked as a correspondent at ABC News for 23 years, mostly for ABC's "World News" and recently covered the funeral of President Gerald Ford plus the presidential campaigns of Sen. John Kerry in 2004 and George W. Bush in 2000. Reynolds is the son of the late ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds.
Cowan's reporting highlights include the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the south Asia tsunami. He joined CBS News in 1996 and worked initially as an anchor for CBS Newspath.
Cowan will be based in Chicago and work for all of NBC's platforms including "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" and "Today". Cowan began work last week after a 10-year career at CBS News.
Reynolds will work for his new network in Chicago, joining existing correspondent Cynthia Bowers in that bureau. Reynolds had worked as a correspondent at ABC News for 23 years, mostly for ABC's "World News" and recently covered the funeral of President Gerald Ford plus the presidential campaigns of Sen. John Kerry in 2004 and George W. Bush in 2000. Reynolds is the son of the late ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds.
Cowan's reporting highlights include the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the south Asia tsunami. He joined CBS News in 1996 and worked initially as an anchor for CBS Newspath.
- 7/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- CNN said Tuesday that it has promoted Susan Bunda to the new position of executive vp content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide.
She is based in Atlanta and reports to CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton. Bunda was senior vp news for CNN/U.S., in charge of Atlanta-based programming plus domestic content and medical and science and technology reporting.
The network said her new role will be to develop programming for multiple platforms and also will involve "marshaling CNN talent, resources and experience on wide-ranging business initiatives."
"It's a combination of program development for CNN Worldwide, growing and understanding more fully the audiences we have online and on TV, and challenging this incredible staff to do more and to think differently as we go forward," Bunda said Tuesday.
Among her accomplishments at CNN, including directing the coverage of breaking news stories like Hurricane Katrina, Bunda aided in the development of I-Reports, CNN's citizen-journalism effort.
Bunda has worked at CNN for 20 years, joining the network in 1987 as a producer and writer.
She is based in Atlanta and reports to CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton. Bunda was senior vp news for CNN/U.S., in charge of Atlanta-based programming plus domestic content and medical and science and technology reporting.
The network said her new role will be to develop programming for multiple platforms and also will involve "marshaling CNN talent, resources and experience on wide-ranging business initiatives."
"It's a combination of program development for CNN Worldwide, growing and understanding more fully the audiences we have online and on TV, and challenging this incredible staff to do more and to think differently as we go forward," Bunda said Tuesday.
Among her accomplishments at CNN, including directing the coverage of breaking news stories like Hurricane Katrina, Bunda aided in the development of I-Reports, CNN's citizen-journalism effort.
Bunda has worked at CNN for 20 years, joining the network in 1987 as a producer and writer.
- 7/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- The Sundance Institute announced four topical projects selected for its fourth annual Documentary Film Editing and Story Lab.
The mentoring program will include Ngawang Choephel's political and musical history of Tibet's occupation by China, "Tibet in Song", and Julie Bridgham's "The Sari Soldiers", which revolves around six Nepali women on opposing sides of their country's political conflict.
Mahmoud Al Massa's "Recycle" looks at a poor Muslim father struggling to survive in Jordan. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's "Trouble the Water" uses footage concerning a young couple who turn from outcasts to heroes as they rescue neighbors in the New Orleans flood after Hurricane Katrina.
The directors and some of the projects' editors will work with veteran docu creative advisers. Editors Jean-Philippe Boucicaut ("Citizen King"), Kate Amend ("Thin") Lewis Erskine ("Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"), Mary Lampson ("Harlan County U.S.A".) and directors Robb Moss ("The Same River Twice") and Ra'anan Alexandrowicz ("The Inner Tour") will mentor the filmmakers.
The lab will be held June 22-29 in Sundance, Utah.
The mentoring program will include Ngawang Choephel's political and musical history of Tibet's occupation by China, "Tibet in Song", and Julie Bridgham's "The Sari Soldiers", which revolves around six Nepali women on opposing sides of their country's political conflict.
Mahmoud Al Massa's "Recycle" looks at a poor Muslim father struggling to survive in Jordan. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's "Trouble the Water" uses footage concerning a young couple who turn from outcasts to heroes as they rescue neighbors in the New Orleans flood after Hurricane Katrina.
The directors and some of the projects' editors will work with veteran docu creative advisers. Editors Jean-Philippe Boucicaut ("Citizen King"), Kate Amend ("Thin") Lewis Erskine ("Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"), Mary Lampson ("Harlan County U.S.A".) and directors Robb Moss ("The Same River Twice") and Ra'anan Alexandrowicz ("The Inner Tour") will mentor the filmmakers.
The lab will be held June 22-29 in Sundance, Utah.
- 6/15/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BANFF, Alberta -- Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" earned top honors Monday at the 28th annual Banff World Television Awards.
The HBO documentary about race and class divides spawned by Hurricane Katrina earned the Grand Prize as Banff honored the best in international TV programming.
"This genuinely seminal work will leave a creative -- and political -- legacy for years to come," said Slawko Klymkiw, chairman of the Banff international jury.
Lee's portrait of an embattled New Orleans also picked up the best social and political documentary prize in Banff.
As in past years, the 2007 Banff World Television Awards competition turned into a shootout between U.S. and British producers.
NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" from Warner Bros. Television earned the trophy for best continuing series, while the best comedy award went to British sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley: The Handsome Stranger" from Tiger Aspect Prods.
Other award winners included the Channel 4 telefilm "Death of a President", a fictional account of the assassination of President Bush, which grabbed the best TV movie prize; while the U.K.'s "See No Evil: The Moors Murders", came away with the best miniseries prize.
The HBO documentary about race and class divides spawned by Hurricane Katrina earned the Grand Prize as Banff honored the best in international TV programming.
"This genuinely seminal work will leave a creative -- and political -- legacy for years to come," said Slawko Klymkiw, chairman of the Banff international jury.
Lee's portrait of an embattled New Orleans also picked up the best social and political documentary prize in Banff.
As in past years, the 2007 Banff World Television Awards competition turned into a shootout between U.S. and British producers.
NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" from Warner Bros. Television earned the trophy for best continuing series, while the best comedy award went to British sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley: The Handsome Stranger" from Tiger Aspect Prods.
Other award winners included the Channel 4 telefilm "Death of a President", a fictional account of the assassination of President Bush, which grabbed the best TV movie prize; while the U.K.'s "See No Evil: The Moors Murders", came away with the best miniseries prize.
- 6/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Disney Channel has given a series pickup to "Imagination Movers", a show for the preschool-targeted "Playhouse Disney" daily programming block that stars the New Orleans-based music group of the same name.
In addition, the group, whose music videos have been airing on Disney Channel since the fall, has signed with Walt Disney Records.
"Movers", which will include music performances, stories and skits, is intended to emphasize creative problem-solving skills and introduce "high-energy" rock music to kids. It will feature the band members as "everyday guy" brain-stormers working hard to solve "idea emergencies."
The band comprises former journalist Rich Collins, former teacher Scott Durbin, architect Dave Poche and Scott "Smitty" Smith, a New Orleans firefighter who was a member of the Hurricane Katrina search-and-rescue team. Three of the band members lost their homes, production office, instruments and props to Katrina.
The series, which begins production at the NIMS Center in New Orleans in early October, is targeted for a 2008 premiere.
"After seeing the musical group perform at Jazzfest 2005 in New Orleans, we were determined to find a way to bring their energetic and infectious music to preschoolers everywhere," Disney Channel senior vp original programming Nancy Kanter said.
In addition, the group, whose music videos have been airing on Disney Channel since the fall, has signed with Walt Disney Records.
"Movers", which will include music performances, stories and skits, is intended to emphasize creative problem-solving skills and introduce "high-energy" rock music to kids. It will feature the band members as "everyday guy" brain-stormers working hard to solve "idea emergencies."
The band comprises former journalist Rich Collins, former teacher Scott Durbin, architect Dave Poche and Scott "Smitty" Smith, a New Orleans firefighter who was a member of the Hurricane Katrina search-and-rescue team. Three of the band members lost their homes, production office, instruments and props to Katrina.
The series, which begins production at the NIMS Center in New Orleans in early October, is targeted for a 2008 premiere.
"After seeing the musical group perform at Jazzfest 2005 in New Orleans, we were determined to find a way to bring their energetic and infectious music to preschoolers everywhere," Disney Channel senior vp original programming Nancy Kanter said.
ROME -- Spike Lee's latest film project, "Miracle at St. Anna", will start shooting in 2008 in Tuscany, backed by new production company On My Own created by veteran Italian producers Roberto Cicutto and Luigi Musini.
Rumors about a Lee project in Tuscany have circulated in Italy for weeks, heightened last month by news that the award-winning director would come to Tuscany in July to accept the 41st Fiesole Master of Film Prize, awarded in the village of Fiesole just outside Florence. The award is given to industry players for career achievements.
The film will be based on James McBride's prize-winning war novel of the same name, which tells the story of three U.S. soldiers who venture between the German lines and the squadrons of predominantly black U.S. divisions in World War II in Italy in order to rescue a fourth soldier.
The Fiesole prize will be the second time in less than a year that Lee was presented with a major honor in Italy: Last year, Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" won two prizes at the Venice Film Festival.
Rumors about a Lee project in Tuscany have circulated in Italy for weeks, heightened last month by news that the award-winning director would come to Tuscany in July to accept the 41st Fiesole Master of Film Prize, awarded in the village of Fiesole just outside Florence. The award is given to industry players for career achievements.
The film will be based on James McBride's prize-winning war novel of the same name, which tells the story of three U.S. soldiers who venture between the German lines and the squadrons of predominantly black U.S. divisions in World War II in Italy in order to rescue a fourth soldier.
The Fiesole prize will be the second time in less than a year that Lee was presented with a major honor in Italy: Last year, Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" won two prizes at the Venice Film Festival.
ROME -- Spike Lee's latest film project, "Miracle at St. Anna", will start shooting in 2008 in Tuscany, backed by new production company On My Own created by veteran Italian producers Roberto Cicutto and Luigi Musini.
Rumors about a Lee project in Tuscany have circulated in Italy for weeks, heightened last month by news that the award-winning director would come to Tuscany in July to accept the 41st Fiesole Master of Film Prize, awarded in the village of Fiesole just outside Florence. The award is given to industry players for career achievements.
The film will be based on James McBride's prize-winning war novel of the same name, which tells the story of three U.S. soldiers who venture between the German lines and the squadrons of predominantly black U.S. divisions in World War II in Italy in order to rescue a fourth soldier.
The Fiesole prize will be the second time in less than a year that Lee was presented with a major honor in Italy: Last year, Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" won two prizes at the Venice Film Festival.
Rumors about a Lee project in Tuscany have circulated in Italy for weeks, heightened last month by news that the award-winning director would come to Tuscany in July to accept the 41st Fiesole Master of Film Prize, awarded in the village of Fiesole just outside Florence. The award is given to industry players for career achievements.
The film will be based on James McBride's prize-winning war novel of the same name, which tells the story of three U.S. soldiers who venture between the German lines and the squadrons of predominantly black U.S. divisions in World War II in Italy in order to rescue a fourth soldier.
The Fiesole prize will be the second time in less than a year that Lee was presented with a major honor in Italy: Last year, Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" won two prizes at the Venice Film Festival.
Fourth-ranked NBC is first with the TV critics, according to the annual Television Critics Assn. nominations announced Tuesday. The peacock network led all others with 13 noms, including four each for 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and Heroes.
HBO took second place, collecting eight noms, three of which were for When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's documentary on Hurricane Katrina. The Sopranos, which concludes its run Sunday, garnered two noms, as did The Wire.
The nominations were compiled from ballots submitted from TCA's 200-plus membership. A second round of voting will produce the winners in each of 11 categories, to be announced during ceremonies July 21 at the Beverly Hilton.
No current CBS program made the final ballot but two series from the network's past, "M*A*S*H" and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, were nominated for TCA's Heritage award.
ABC was represented with two noms for Ugly Betty, one for Lost and a Heritage mention for TV's first miniseries, Roots.
PBS received three noms but, surprisingly, none in the children's programming category, which it has dominated in the past.
HBO took second place, collecting eight noms, three of which were for When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's documentary on Hurricane Katrina. The Sopranos, which concludes its run Sunday, garnered two noms, as did The Wire.
The nominations were compiled from ballots submitted from TCA's 200-plus membership. A second round of voting will produce the winners in each of 11 categories, to be announced during ceremonies July 21 at the Beverly Hilton.
No current CBS program made the final ballot but two series from the network's past, "M*A*S*H" and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, were nominated for TCA's Heritage award.
ABC was represented with two noms for Ugly Betty, one for Lost and a Heritage mention for TV's first miniseries, Roots.
PBS received three noms but, surprisingly, none in the children's programming category, which it has dominated in the past.
NEW YORK --- HBO and NBC led the pack at the 66th annual Peabody Awards ceremony Monday, HBO with five nods and NBC with four.
NBC, as host and employee Bob Costas noted, won more Peabodys this year than any broadcast network in over a decade. The peacock was recognized for series The Office, Scrubs and Friday Night Lights and a Dateline NBC segment which followed a middle-school teacher in Atlanta.
HBO won awards for its film Elizabeth I and documentaries Baghdad ER, Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer, The Music in Me and When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, Spike Lee's film about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Lee provided an emotional moment as he accepted his award.
"People still catch hell in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," he said. "They're still up the creek with no paddle, abandoned by local, state and federal governments. We can't forget them."
ABC also had a strong showing, winning three awards. The network was honored for Ugly Betty, a special report titled "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" and Brian Ross' ABC News investigative report on Representative Mark Foley and his inappropriate instant messaging with young male pages.
NBC, as host and employee Bob Costas noted, won more Peabodys this year than any broadcast network in over a decade. The peacock was recognized for series The Office, Scrubs and Friday Night Lights and a Dateline NBC segment which followed a middle-school teacher in Atlanta.
HBO won awards for its film Elizabeth I and documentaries Baghdad ER, Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer, The Music in Me and When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, Spike Lee's film about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Lee provided an emotional moment as he accepted his award.
"People still catch hell in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," he said. "They're still up the creek with no paddle, abandoned by local, state and federal governments. We can't forget them."
ABC also had a strong showing, winning three awards. The network was honored for Ugly Betty, a special report titled "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" and Brian Ross' ABC News investigative report on Representative Mark Foley and his inappropriate instant messaging with young male pages.
2006-07 SEASON WRAP
Overview: Patterns, measurements define season
Ratings rerun: Fox, CBS on top
Thursday, Monday are battlegrounds
Chart: Final series ranks
Network news makes headlines
NEW YORK -- A year ago at CBS' upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall, newly crowned network star Katie Couric made a grand entrance amid hopes that her anchorship of the "CBS Evening News" would be a strong step forward for women as well as the boost that the third-place newscast would need to make the leap to first place.
It didn't work out that way.
In the year since the announcement, the hope has turned to the realization that the "CBS Evening News" isn't destined for first place anytime soon. But another newcomer to the evening news, ABC's Charles Gibson, has leaped into first place in recent months and is poised to overtake traditional leader Brian Williams in the next few months.
That has caused a lot of turmoil in the traditionally staid world of the network evening newscasts, with NBC and CBS showing their executive producers the door this spring and hard-luck ABC heading to the top with a traditional newscast and a familiar face. NBC has been unable to stem ABC's advances, while CBS stays in third place no matter what the network does.
It's quite a change from a year ago, when NBC still was riding high from its high-profile and award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina that gave Williams the big story he needed to help viewers put his predecessor Tom Brokaw firmly in the past. Williams and NBC also was the beneficiary of the strong transition plan the network had, something that neither ABC nor CBS had in place when they unexpectedly lost their anchors.
Overview: Patterns, measurements define season
Ratings rerun: Fox, CBS on top
Thursday, Monday are battlegrounds
Chart: Final series ranks
Network news makes headlines
NEW YORK -- A year ago at CBS' upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall, newly crowned network star Katie Couric made a grand entrance amid hopes that her anchorship of the "CBS Evening News" would be a strong step forward for women as well as the boost that the third-place newscast would need to make the leap to first place.
It didn't work out that way.
In the year since the announcement, the hope has turned to the realization that the "CBS Evening News" isn't destined for first place anytime soon. But another newcomer to the evening news, ABC's Charles Gibson, has leaped into first place in recent months and is poised to overtake traditional leader Brian Williams in the next few months.
That has caused a lot of turmoil in the traditionally staid world of the network evening newscasts, with NBC and CBS showing their executive producers the door this spring and hard-luck ABC heading to the top with a traditional newscast and a familiar face. NBC has been unable to stem ABC's advances, while CBS stays in third place no matter what the network does.
It's quite a change from a year ago, when NBC still was riding high from its high-profile and award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina that gave Williams the big story he needed to help viewers put his predecessor Tom Brokaw firmly in the past. Williams and NBC also was the beneficiary of the strong transition plan the network had, something that neither ABC nor CBS had in place when they unexpectedly lost their anchors.
- 5/25/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the theatrical release of "The Reaping".If you were to put together a horror film by committee, it would look a lot like "The Reaping". Someone would suggest borrowing from "The Omen", which would lead someone else to propose lifting from "The Exorcist" and perhaps a third person would pitch an ending twist reminiscent of "Rosemary's Baby."
The Louisiana bayou would make a nicely mysterious location. Everyone knows that decadent, inbred Southerners live in antebellum mansions while poor white trash occupy shacks in the swamp. People there fear an Old Testament God, yet devil worshippers are everywhere. Throw in 10 biblical plagues, and you've got "The Reaping".
The only question is: What is two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank doing in this fanciful rubbish? Her name and the promise of hordes of CGI locusts probably mean the film will scare up a crowd for its opening weekend. But whether this religious horror will sustain the release in subsequent weeks is a real question.
"Reaping" never tips its hand as to how seriously it wants to be taken. The film comes from Warners-based Dark Castle Entertainment -- Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis' company that makes tongue-in-cheek genre movies, a kind of We're Just Kidding Prods. But the writers, brothers Casey W. and Chad Hayes, and director Stephen Hopkins, who cut his teeth on HBO's "Tales From the Crypt", play things straight, taking the religious miracles more or less at face value.
Swank certainly acts as if the stakes were real rather than camp. Her Katherine Winter has made a profession of being a nonbeliever. Once a minister, she lost her faith and family in tragic bloodshed in the Sudan, the result of narrow-minded religious fanaticism. So she spends her days debunking supposed miracles. Can that actually be a job? She also lectures at LSU about religion-as-nonsense, but you do wonder in what department she teaches.
A science teacher (David Morrissey) from a backwater town called Haven -- yes, that's the name -- comes to this debunker with a problem. Haven's river has turned blood red, and a child has died. Katherine and her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) agree to take a look. It takes only one spooky day and night for Ben to declare, "We are witnessing biblical events." Fish die in the bloody waters, frogs fall from the sky, and cows keel over.
Town folks believe a little girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) brought God's wrath down on Haven because she killed her brother. They mean to "destroy" her. Meanwhile, in a sanctuary far, far away, a priest (Stephen Rea) reads the signs and warns Katherine that she is in mortal danger.
Hopkins pulls all the usual horror-film tricks. He keeps his camera inches from his actors so any person, object or animal entering the frame causes a cheap jolt. Most investigations take place in the dead of night, electricity fails at a crucial moment, and many things go bump in the night. This is hokum with a capital H.
Swank looks justifiably perplexed, but there is no emotional depth to her character. Each fright sequence triggers a flashback both to the Sudan and to the little girl's recent experiences. You wonder how a character can have the memories of two people, but -- whoops -- here comes another plague to distract you from such thoughts.
One either likes this sort of thing or not. Even fans might not buy the ending in which more people get wiped out than in Hurricane Katrina. The tech departments lay on the Old Testament fireworks with appropriate flash, but the characters get thoroughly lost in the CGI blizzard.
THE REAPING
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures
a Dark Castle Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Screenwriters: Casey W. Hayes, Chad Hayes
Story: Brian Rousso
Producers: Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, Susan Downey, Herbert W. Gains
Executive producers: Erik Olsen, Steve Richards, Bruce German
Director of photography: Peter Levy
Production designer: Graham "Grace" Walker
Music: John Frizzell
Costume designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Editor: Colby Parker Jr.
Cast: Katherine Winter: Hilary Swank
Doug Blackwell: David Morrissey
Ben: Idris Elba
Loren: AnnaSophia Robb
Father Costigan: Stephen Rea
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The Louisiana bayou would make a nicely mysterious location. Everyone knows that decadent, inbred Southerners live in antebellum mansions while poor white trash occupy shacks in the swamp. People there fear an Old Testament God, yet devil worshippers are everywhere. Throw in 10 biblical plagues, and you've got "The Reaping".
The only question is: What is two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank doing in this fanciful rubbish? Her name and the promise of hordes of CGI locusts probably mean the film will scare up a crowd for its opening weekend. But whether this religious horror will sustain the release in subsequent weeks is a real question.
"Reaping" never tips its hand as to how seriously it wants to be taken. The film comes from Warners-based Dark Castle Entertainment -- Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis' company that makes tongue-in-cheek genre movies, a kind of We're Just Kidding Prods. But the writers, brothers Casey W. and Chad Hayes, and director Stephen Hopkins, who cut his teeth on HBO's "Tales From the Crypt", play things straight, taking the religious miracles more or less at face value.
Swank certainly acts as if the stakes were real rather than camp. Her Katherine Winter has made a profession of being a nonbeliever. Once a minister, she lost her faith and family in tragic bloodshed in the Sudan, the result of narrow-minded religious fanaticism. So she spends her days debunking supposed miracles. Can that actually be a job? She also lectures at LSU about religion-as-nonsense, but you do wonder in what department she teaches.
A science teacher (David Morrissey) from a backwater town called Haven -- yes, that's the name -- comes to this debunker with a problem. Haven's river has turned blood red, and a child has died. Katherine and her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) agree to take a look. It takes only one spooky day and night for Ben to declare, "We are witnessing biblical events." Fish die in the bloody waters, frogs fall from the sky, and cows keel over.
Town folks believe a little girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) brought God's wrath down on Haven because she killed her brother. They mean to "destroy" her. Meanwhile, in a sanctuary far, far away, a priest (Stephen Rea) reads the signs and warns Katherine that she is in mortal danger.
Hopkins pulls all the usual horror-film tricks. He keeps his camera inches from his actors so any person, object or animal entering the frame causes a cheap jolt. Most investigations take place in the dead of night, electricity fails at a crucial moment, and many things go bump in the night. This is hokum with a capital H.
Swank looks justifiably perplexed, but there is no emotional depth to her character. Each fright sequence triggers a flashback both to the Sudan and to the little girl's recent experiences. You wonder how a character can have the memories of two people, but -- whoops -- here comes another plague to distract you from such thoughts.
One either likes this sort of thing or not. Even fans might not buy the ending in which more people get wiped out than in Hurricane Katrina. The tech departments lay on the Old Testament fireworks with appropriate flash, but the characters get thoroughly lost in the CGI blizzard.
THE REAPING
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures
a Dark Castle Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Screenwriters: Casey W. Hayes, Chad Hayes
Story: Brian Rousso
Producers: Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, Susan Downey, Herbert W. Gains
Executive producers: Erik Olsen, Steve Richards, Bruce German
Director of photography: Peter Levy
Production designer: Graham "Grace" Walker
Music: John Frizzell
Costume designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Editor: Colby Parker Jr.
Cast: Katherine Winter: Hilary Swank
Doug Blackwell: David Morrissey
Ben: Idris Elba
Loren: AnnaSophia Robb
Father Costigan: Stephen Rea
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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