Academy, Under Fire Over Diversity (and After Apologizing For the Asian Jokes), Backtracks on Voting Eligibility
As promised, the Academy Board of Governors voted — again — to put through changes intended to diversify the voting body. They apologized after a protest letter from 25 members of Asian descent, they’re adding three new members to the 51 governors, who are not elected by the individual branches, and reaffirmed its January 21 resolution to make sure Academy voters are active in the motion picture industry. (TOH)
Not So Fast, Screening Room! Art House Convergence Releases Open Letter Opposing Proposed Platform
The specialty cinema organization representing 600 theaters and allied cinema exhibition businesses, announced yesterday in an open letter its position on Screening Room, the controversial and much-buzzed-about day-and-date home viewing platform being backed by Napster co-founder Sean Parker and Prem Akkaraju. The AHC took to polling its members to hear their take on the new technology. In short: They oppose it. (IW)
At Long Last, Feds Take Down Hacker Responsible For Celebrity Nude Photo Scandal
Federal prosecutors charged a Pennsylvania man with felony computer hacking related to the theft of hundreds of nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, Kate Upton and other female celebrities. Ryan Collins, 36, of Lancaster, Pa., signed a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, officials said yesterday. Collins gained illegal access to at least 50 Apple iCloud accounts and 72 Google Gmail accounts, most belonging to celebs. (VAR)
SXSW Winds Down, Announces Big Winners In Its 2016 Film Awards
Though attention out of the event this year has largely been on larger studio movies such as Everybody Wants Some, Keanu and Sausage Party,” the South by Southwest Film Festival has also long been a vital launching pad for new talent. This year, the festival’s narrative feature grand jury award went to Adam Pinney’s The Arbalest, and the documentary feature grand jury winner was Keith Maitland’s Tower. (LAT)
AMC Still Likes What It Sees In New Mexico, Renews ‘Better Call Saul’ For Season Three
Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) will get at least 10 additional episodes to turn into Saul Goodman during the show’s run, as the cable network announced yesterday that the show will return for Season 3, with showrunners Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould also returning. The series is set six years before Jimmy/Saul meets Walter White, so the show could conceivably continue to run until that point. (COL)
Sony Partners With Skydance for Jake Gyllenhaal-Ryan Reynolds Sci-Fi Pic ‘Life’
Studio has come aboard to co-finance and handle worldwide distribution of Skydance’s sci-fi film set to star Gyllenhaal and Reynolds. David Ellison’s Skydance is behind the project, developing it from the script stage with writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Deadpool). Skydance is also co-financing Life. Daniel Espinosa is directing the feature, which also has Rebecca Ferguson as part of the ensemble cast. (HV)
George Clooney, Julia Roberts’ ‘Money Monster’ to Screen at Cannes Film Festival
The news means that at least one major Hollywood studio, Sony, will have a presence at this year’s festival, which is set to run May 11th-22nd. So far, the lineup has been kept under tight wraps as festival director Thierry Fremaux and his team finish watching films and mull their options. Money Monster isn’t expected to be the opening-night film on May 11th, but could screen the next day since it hits theaters in North America on May 13th. (THR)
‘Taken’: Jennifer Beals To Play Female Lead In NBC Prequel Series
Written and executive produced by Alex Cary, who serves as showrunner, the Taken TV series is a modern-day prequel to the film franchise that depicts how Bryan Mills (Standen) developed and sharpened his particular set of skills. Beals will play Christina Hart, the Special Deputy Director of National Intelligence who has taken Mills under her wing. (DH)
No Burt Reynolds or Dom Deluise? No Problem For Etan Cohen, Who Will Reboot ‘Cannonball Run’ For WB
Cohen, who had screenplay credits on films such as Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder and Men In Black 3 before turning writer/director for last year’s Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, will write and direct the project for Warner Bros. The original film, released in 1981, starred Reynolds and Deluise in a star-studded tale of an anything goes cross country auto race. (EMP)
Screenwriters: ‘Monster’s Ball’
The 108-page screenplay by Milo Addica & Will Rokos, labeled Pink Revisions and dated May 10th, 2001. (DS)