Jason Reitman will be off to New York once again shortly to start production on “Labor Day,” after spending months out that way filming this fall’s “Young Adult.” And it looks like both he and Paramount are happy with the relationship so far. The press release, in part: Paramount Pictures and Indian Paintbrush jointly announced […]

Continue reading »

• Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman” has performed better than several other high profile releases. [The Envelope] • David Poland sits down with “Let Me In” director Matt Reeves. [Movie City News] • Paramount to distribute Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” written by Diablo Cody. [Hollywood Reporter]

Continue reading »

Jason Reitman announced shortly after last season’s “Up in the Air” bonanza that his company had acquired the rights to Joyce Maynard’s novel “Labor Day.” But it turns out that, while he’s hard at work on drafts of that adaptation, another original script from “Juno” scribe Diablo Cody is what’s on deck for the director. […]

Continue reading »

I wasn’t able to participate in Robert Welkos’s Hollywood News piece on the drama of bloggerdom (which was already covered to some extent by LA Magazine three years ago). Travel and a period of self-imposed distance from this circus kept me off the phone, but even if I had answered a few questions, I don’t […]

Continue reading »

As we head into the big weekend of this year’s hotly anticipated Academy Awards telecast, I thought I’d toss this list up once more, broken down by film. We’ve added to it a bit since the nominees were announced. And if you’d like to re-live the season so far, you can see how things have […]

Continue reading »

This year’s Best Director category has stirred a media frenzy for featuring, along with Best Picture, a face-to-face duel frequently dubbed “the battle of the exes.” Unfortunately the desire to tout that headline has clouded the discussion of the films, their merits and the actual accomplishments of those at the helm. But who cares about […]

Continue reading »

In most cases, the adapted screenplay category of a given Oscar race is packed with Best Picture nominees or contenders. This year, however, there was a nice balance of adapted and original screenplays in the Best Picture category, and in fact, of the “top five” films that trickled down throughout the season, three were original […]

Continue reading »

Granted, this is pretty LA-centric, but beginning tonight, “Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman will be guest-programming three days of screenings at the Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly theater.  Tonight’s double feature is “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” at 7:30 (also showing tomorrow at 3:20 and 7:30) and “Election” at 9:30 (also showing tomorrow at 5:25 […]

Continue reading »

Creative Screenwriting senior editor, Jeff Goldsmith, always bites off a lot when he lines up a massive panel of the year’s screenplay nominees to discuss the evolution of their work each year, which leads to any number of publicists grumbling in the shadows about the time overage.  Last night’s panel was supposed to run until […]

Continue reading »

Back in a November installment of Off the Carpet, I noted that, by my measure, the films of 2009 reflected a particular theme.  “I’ve always come back to one thought on this year’s slate of films: catharsis,” I wrote at the time.  “With expected exceptions here and there, in one way or another, the bulk […]

Continue reading »

I’m currently sitting in the back of the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara for James Cameron’s Modern Master tribute and word has trickled in that Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner and Walter Kirn have won the USC Scripter prize for “Up in the Air.” This was obviously somewhat anticipated and the WGA and Oscars will likely […]

Continue reading »

It’s been a slow ramping up for me in Santa Barbara, coverage wise.  I’ve had some Wi-Fi difficulties that are being sorted and I’ve posted when I can from where I can, but a couple of notes on the last two days. Yesterday I took in a late afternoon screening of Tomm Moore’s “The Secret […]

Continue reading »

Throughout the morning and early afternoon we took statements from or hopped on the phone with 44 of today’s Oscar nominees.  Their reactions… Maggie Gyllenhaal, supporting actress, “Crazy Heart”: The thing is, you know, I’m so proud of the movie and I always have been, more proud of it than any of the work I’ve […]

Continue reading »

Over at Roger Ebert’s little corner of the web, the Chicago Sun-Times critics has posted a great conversation with “Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman.  There’s a bit of everything, really, but most noteworthy is his praise of “The Hurt Locker” and “District 9.” He proves he’s a lot more humble than his detractors […]

Continue reading »

• Krista Smith sits down with dark horse Best Supporting Actor contender Christian McKay. [Little Gold Men] • Pete Hammond reports on the town’s goings-on, including Jason Reitman’s program of films for the New Beverly Theater. [Notes on a Season] • A master list of FYC screenplays available for download. [MovieCultists]

Continue reading »

I can’t figure out how to embed the specific segment, so here’s the whole damn show. It’s the last segment:

Continue reading »

• Captain Kirk to host the Annie Awards. [The Independent] • Roger Ebert writes a love letter to famed paparazzo Ron Galella in the course of reviewing “Smash His Camera” in Sundance. [Chicago Sun-Times] • Carey Mulligan, self-deprecating British actress rejected by three drama schools who went on to star in An Education has Tinseltown […]

Continue reading »

Wait, did Pete Hammond really say that “the bloggers” are responsible for the whole (sensationalized) Jason Reitman/Sheldon Turner dispute thing without noting that Steven Zeitchik, at Hammond’s own outlet, was the one responsible for spurring the debate without having (or seemingly being interested in) certain facts? Anyway, not that Hammond needed to be anything other […]

Continue reading »