In Contention

Tag: Jason Reitman

  • Paramount takes on Reitman’s latest

    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 today they will co-produce, and Paramount will distribute, Academy Award®-nominated writer / director Jason Reitman’s LABOR DAY starring Academy Award®-winner Kate Winslet and Academy Award® nominee Josh Brolin. Indian Paintbrush will co-finance the project, with the company’s Steven Rales and Mark Roybal executive producing.

    The movie will be produced by Academy Award®-nominated producers Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith of Mr. Mudd Productions, along with Reitman and Helen Estabrook of Right of Way Films.

    Adapted by Reitman and based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, LABOR DAY tells the story of an escaped convict (Brolin) who seeks shelter with a single mom (Winslet) and her young son over a long Labor Day weekend.

    [Photo: Paramount Pictures]

  • 10/8 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Superman’ does well, Paramount grabs Reitman’s next, Lane on ‘Secretariat’

    • 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]

    (more…)

  • Reitman, Cody reteam on ‘Young Adult’

    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.

    Mike Fleming reports at Deadline that Cody’s “Young Adult” is being set up through John Malkovich’s Mr. Mudd production company for Reitman’s next gig behind the camera. 2007’s Oscar-winning “Juno” was also set up through Mr. Mudd.

    Charlize Theron is set to star as “a ghostwriter of young adult novels who realizes she has no identity with her pseudonym and plots to reclaim her identity,” Fleming writes. “Her campaign involves going back and rekindling a relationship with her high school boyfriend–who’s freshly married, is a new father, and wants no part of her.”  Reitman, meanwhile, compared the material to “To Die For” when we exchanged emails.  Sounds exciting.  He plans to go right into production on “Labor Day” after this project.

    Check out the rest of the story at Deadline.

  • Center of the universe

    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 really know what I could have added in the way of fresh perspective at this point.

    However, one thing caught my eye that is laughable on its face:

    “Mo’Nique was addressing me in her Oscar acceptance speech,” [Gold Derby’s Tom] O’Neil told HollywoodNews. “I had been very critical of her not campaigning when she should have.” O’Neil said after the speech, he received “200 e-mails” congratulating him.

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  • Interviews with the nominees

    Jeff BridgesAs 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 panned out at The Circuit.

    “Avatar”
    James Horner (Best Original Score)

    “Bright Star”
    Janet Patterson (Best Costume Design)

    “Coraline”
    Henry Selick (Best Animated Feature)

    (more…)

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Directing

    (from left) Lee Daniels and Gabourey Sidibe on the set of PreciousThis 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 that stuff?

    Seriously, though, this could be a milestone occasion for two of the filmmakers in question, a return to glory for two other former awards season players and is already  the second notch on an exciting young filmmaker’s belt as he continues to make his mark on the industry. Not a bad cross-section.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (James Cameron)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino)
    “Precious” (Lee Daniels)
    “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman)

    (more…)

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

    Peter Capaldi in In the LoopIn 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 and two were adapted, a rarity.

    Regarding the adaptations, things seemed to firm up for a while, but with the various WGA ineligibilities, one couldn’t shake the feeling that a surprise was in the works. At the end of the day, Scott Cooper’s run on “Crazy Heart” came to an unfortunate end, while a fan-fave British comedy found support.

    The nominees are:

    “District 9” (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)
    “An Education” (Nick Hornby)
    “In the Loop” (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche)
    “Precious” (Geoffrey Fletcher)
    “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)

    (more…)

  • Jason Reitman guest-programs the New Beverly

    Jason Reitman at the 2010 Golden Globe AwardsGranted, 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 and 9:30).

    Sunday, February 21 brings “Shampoo” at 6:30 (also Monday at 7:30) and “Boogie Nights” at 8:45 (also Monday at 9:45).  I’ll probably check out the former, as, believe it or not, I’ve never seen it.

    The festivities conclude Tuesday, February 23 with “Breaking Away” at 7:30 and “Bottle Rocket” at 9:45, the only screenings of each.  Again, I may go check out the former, because I’ve never seen it.

    For more info, check out the New Beverly’s official website.  Meanwhile, for further reading, Anthony Breznican recently sat down with Reitman and father Ivan at USA Today.

  • Nominated screenwriters convene in Hollywood

    Terri TatchellCreative 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 8:30 but Goldsmith was still hammering away at 8:45.  But he always asks well-considered, engaging questions and writers being writers, they have plenty to say.

    The panelists included Nick Hornby, Alessandro Camon, Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, Geoffrey Fletcher, Terri Tatchell, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner.  Quentin Tarantino, Mark Boal and Oren Moverman were scheduled to attend but bailed out at the last minute, while the Coen brothers — no shock here — were never going to be there.  So Goldsmith almost nailed down nine of the 10 nominated films.

    It was a great discussion with plenty of insights.  Goldsmith asked about defying genre, which he judged to be the connective quality of all the work represented by the panel, what the re-writing process was like for all involved, how they made it through the agony of staring at a blank page, etc.

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  • Up, up and away

    George Clooney in Up in the AirBack 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 of what we’ve seen on screens in 2009 has very much been about emotional purging, bleeding out the past and, not to be too on-the-nose with the zeitgeist connotations, change.”

    I bring it up because it’s something I was reminded of while reading this Cristy Gosz piece at the LA Times, which treads similar waters but comes up with the idea that a number of the year’s films use travel as a metaphor for a character’s “visceral transformation” on the screen.

    The piece takes quotes from Jason Reitman and Jon Landau (at least one more would have been nice) to buttress the thesis and ens up making a solid enough point.  It’s always interesting to note similar thematic rhythms in a given film year, however irrelevant they might ultimately be.

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  • ‘Up in the Air’ wins the Scripter

    Cover of Up in the AirI’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 follow suit, but for now, a great moment for all involved as Kirn gets his moment in the circuit’s sun. The Scripters, of course, celebrate both the screenwriters of adapted screenplays and the authors of the source material that spawned them.

    Reitman and fellow Scripter nominee Geoffrey Fletcher were here in Santa Barbara this morning for a writers panel. Reitman will be coming right back tomorrow for the directors panel after heading down to LA to accept his award this evening.

    There’s no rest for the wicked during the season.

  • SANTA BARBARA: ‘Kells’ screens and the writers talk

    The Secret of KellsIt’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 of Kells,” the film that probably served up the biggest surprise last Tuesday when it slid into the animated feature field over the populist, branch-respected “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and the less-respected “Ponyo,” which nevertheless comes from a titan of the medium.

    The film is beautiful in so many ways, offering a rich, artistic palette of shapes and color to paint a portrait of a well-circulated Irish story revolving around the non-fictional Book of Kells.  The artwork ultimately mirrors, in some way, the Insular art featured in the book, and the narrative itself, abstract as it feels at times, seems to be about the persistence of art and history.

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  • The nominees react

    Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy HeartThroughout 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 done so far.  But because I wasn’t getting nominated for anything, I wasn’t expecting it.  My phone was ringing so early and I thought, “Wait, maybe!”   I was staying at my brother’s in LA.  He said to me, “Your phone is going to be ringing all day.”  He made me a cup of coffee and then we watched the sun rise.  It was pretty mellow.  But this wouldn’t be happening for Jeff [Bridges] or me if it wasn’t for Scott [Cooper].

    (more…)

  • Reitman: “Bigelow is going to win and she deserves to win.”

    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 would like to think he is, I’d say.  Take a look:

    After the jump, he talks about where he sees his career going and again praises his fellow contenders.  But do head over to Ebert’s site for more (including his thoughts on why “The Catcher in the Rye” is probably not a filmable volume).

    (more…)

  • 1/29 Oscarweb Round-up

    Christian McKay• 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]

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  • Jason Reitman does Leno’s 10 @ 10

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

  • 1/27 Oscarweb Round-up

    Woody Allen• 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 at her feet. [The Times]

    (more…)

  • This again

    (from left) Jason Reitman and Sheldon TurnerWait, 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 than a showman when he moderated last night’s WGA post-screening Q&A between Turner and Reitman, but let’s not deflect too much here.  And I think Steve Pond is stretching matters a bit further when he writes that Reitman failed “to thank his credited co-writer” at the CCMAs last weekend.  Reitman clearly said “our screenplay,” gestured to Turner and stepped away for him to speak when he was finished.  He wasn’t conducting the band.

    I wasn’t going to bother with this whole mess because it was built on some sloppy journalism from the outset and serves to point a finger at something that isn’t as big a story as certain parties would like it to be, but, too late.  Here I am doing it anyway.