The Global Film Village

The 25th Santa Barbara Film Festival Wraps With Awards

// February 14th, 2010 // Comments Off // Film Festivals

Jeff Bridges CRAZY HEART Photo by Lorey Sebastian

by Marla Lewin

The final day of the 25th festival was proclaimed Jeff Bridges day. It is a full day of films starring Jeff Bridges concluding with a screening of Crazy Heart for which he is nominated for a Best Actor nomination by the Academy. A tribute to the Santa Barbara native will cap the evening.

At a Sunday morning brunch at the famed Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort the winners of the 2010 Santa Barbara Film Festival competition were announced.

Audiences packed the local theaters for the last 11 days in spite of the worst economy since the great depression. The festival, which celebrated its Silver Anniversary February 4-14, was a huge success according to SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. (more…)

OSCAR NOMINEES TO BE HONORED AT ACADEMY LUNCHEON

// February 12th, 2010 // Comments Off // Awards

Monday is the the annual Academy Awards Luncheon and the Academy reports that nearly 3/4 of the actors nominated will attend along with all of the directors. From the Leading Actor and Actress categories, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Renner, Sandra Bullock, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe and Meryl Streep are expected to attend. Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Woody Harrelson and Christoph Waltz will represent the Supporting Actress and Actor categories. Many of  those planning to attend have just been to the 25th Santa Barabara International Film Festival where they were honored.

Academy Awards® for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

SAG Awards Signal Front Runners in Several Oscar Categories

// January 24th, 2010 // Comments Off // Awards

by Marla Lewin

Sandra Bullock continued her remarkable year where she has dominated the box office and been declared the number one top grossing star in the movies today. Bullock has become a serious best-actress competitor in the past month, with her SAG win, a win last week at the Golden Globes and a tie with Meryl Streep in the Critics Choice Movie Awards. The stars seem to be aligning for this well liked actress who has entertained audiences for her entire career. Jeff  Bridges is the clear front runner in the Oscar race for his role as a fading country singer. These latest awards  make it a virtual lock for Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique in their supporting actor categories.

The Screen Actors Guild Award winners:

MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: “Inglourious Basterds” (more…)

A Conversation with Scott Cooper about Crazy Heart

// January 19th, 2010 // Comments Off // People

Director Scott Cooper on the set with Jeff Bridges Photo Credit: Lorey Sebastian TM and (C) Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved.

by Marla Lewin

I spoke with Scott Cooper the morning after the Palm Springs International Film Festival  Awards Gala about his first film Crazy Heart, which he wrote and directed. He is very excited about all the buzz and nominations that the film has generated.  Jeff Bridges was honored with an award at the Palm Springs Film Festival Awards Gala and last night he won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.

Scott said, “I was thrilled with all the excitement”.

Marla: How did this film come into being?

Scott: I wrote the role for Jeff, I told Robert Duvall, if I don’t get Jeff and T-bone to do the music, I shouldn’t do the film. (more…)

Marion Cotillard and Quentin Tarantino to be honored at Palm Springs Film Festival Gala

// December 29th, 2009 // Comments Off // Film Festivals

by Marla Lewin

The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winners Marion Cotillard with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the Festival’s founder. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also honor Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett, Mariah Carey, Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Helen Mirren, Jason Reitman and Jeremy Renner.

Quentin Tarantino made a bold debut with Reservoir Dogs, a cops and robbers tale that Tarantino wrote, directed and produced on a shoe-string budget. Following the film’s success, the screenplays that Tarantino wrote during his tenure as a video store clerk became hot properties including True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino co-wrote, directed and starred in Pulp Fiction, which won the Palme D’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, numerous critics’ awards and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director, and Tarantino received an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay. Tarantino also wrote and directed Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1and Kill Bill Vol 2. Tarantino will receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Award. His most recent film is Inglourious Basterds. (more…)

JEFF BRIDGES to receive 
THE DESERT PALM ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 
at 21st ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA

// December 8th, 2009 // Comments Off // Industry Event

by Marla Lewin

Marc and Marla chat with Jeff Bridges

Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present four-time Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges with the Desert Palm Achievement Award on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Jeff Bridges stars as Bad Blake a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. Bridges creates yet another richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero in the vein of the Big Lebowski and his other signature characters. (more…)

Ray Bradbury at 40th San Diego Comic-Con by Marla Lewin

// July 27th, 2009 // Comments Off // Industry Event

Johnny Depp, Megan Fox, Tim Burton, Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Tron, Superheros, and  Science Fiction are everywhere in downtown San Diego for 5 days. And then there is the man who epitomizes science fiction, Ray Bradbury. Ray wrote about Mars as well as The Illustrated Man little knowing that a future generation would become enamored with decorating themselves with tatoos to an unprecedented level. Ray attended the very first Comic-Con 40 years ago, and this year he wrote a forward to the program book, 40 years of Comic-Con.

Although in his 80′s Ray Bradbury  spoke again this year, as he has each year at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and at libraries and other venues where he can persuade young people to embrace reading.  He has spoken to the Palm Springs Womens Press, were he spoke to young students who were studing his book Farenheit 451. Ray’s message is always the same we should  treasure books. Ray once told us how he loved dinosaurs and exploration but didn’t fly until the age of 62 but then began to fly regularly. John Huston had hired him to write the script for his movie Moby Dick in 1953, after reading one of his short stories. Ray has published more than 600 short stories in 60 years. Ray will be 89 on August 22 of this year. I was fortunate to have attended his 80th birthday celebration which included performances of some of his plays and tributes from friends and performers he has known over the years.

Ray Bradbury really is a renassiance man, a forward thinker.  He writes short stories, and poetry; as well as  books and plays that get made in to movies.  He has planned shopping centers for cities including the Glendale Galleria.  He wrote The Martian Chronicles, and we all expected to have a man there by now.  He has writen about book burnings,(Farenheit 451) as we move into an internet age, he continues to write and speak and inspire us all. His latest book is, We’ll Always Have Paris.  In 2001 he received  the National Book Award for his contribution to American literature, and in 2004, he was awarded the National Medal for the Arts.  In 2007, he was made a COMMANDER OF THE ORDER OF ARTS AND LETTERS (Frances highest literary honor) and was was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Citation for his carreer.

Ray still makes his home here in Los Angeles. In recent years, Ray has been attending  performances of his plays, lately at the Frement theatre in Pasadena. His plays really should be staged around the world. There are three one acts, entitled RAY BRADBURY’S YESTERMORROWS,  playing at this time through September 5th, directed by Alan Neal Hubbs.

A Device Out of Time features David Fox-Brenton and brothers Seth and Daniel Casanova. This story is about how each of us is a time machine that allows others to glimpse the past through our experiences however fleeting.  The Cistern features  Georgan George, and Rose Prichard.  It is a story of love lost and rediscovered through reflection on a quiet afternoon. The Meadow is set in a decaying movie studio, which is haunted by old props and characters, sets of grand cities, and a caretaker not wanting to see the land sold for a real estate development.  Michael Prichard plays the caretaker and old friend to the studio mogul played by Steven Robert Wollenberg, it also features Andy Sell, and Robert Kerr. This was probably based on Ray’s own experiences as he watched movie studios close to his home converted into Century City and housing tracks from the imagination factories that he often worked at or passed on his daily activities.

Ray is a national treasure and we will be eternally grateful to his gift of imagination. So if you have a desire to walk among the stars on Mars or wander the African Veldt or visit the 600 other locations that Ray has chronicled pick up one of his books, watch one of his movies or television shows or attend a live performance and you might be fortunate enough to meet the master himself.