Yes, the wins for Everything Everywhere All At Once were a breakthrough for diversity and I’m not going to deny that I was moved by the wins for Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis, though I am not the biggest fan of the film itself. It did not warm me to the marrow of my being.
I did not feel it in my bones as Richard Burton once told me of his abiding love for Elizabeth Taylor. I do not feel that Everything Everywhere All at Once is an Oscar-winning film for the ages. I have seen it three times because I wanted to fully embrace it, but we love what we love, right?
I wanted a big popular movie to win. I wanted a gigantic motion picture that people sitting at home on their couches had seen to win. Okay. I wanted Top Gun: Maverick to win. Okay, I’ve said it.
The message from the Academy would have been: "Yes, we have been listening. We’ve been so wrapped up in our own little bubble that we forgot that the movies are meant for you, the people out there who pay to go to theaters for a collective experience. But we’ve listened and we’ve voted for the biggest bloody box office hit of the year to win the Oscar for Best Picture. We heard you!" >>>Baz Bamigboye's Column |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Double Trouble - Not only did the BBC's handling of a tweet from Gary Lineker, its highest-paid presenter, cause a weekend of high-profile fallout, it now turns out that the broadcaster failed to fully heed a series of recommendations it commissioned in 2020 that could have helped it avoid a weekend of carnage. >>>Grey Area
'Fire Country' Heats Up - Once Upon A Time alumna Rebecca Mader is set for a key recurring role on CBS’ drama series Fire Country. Additionally, Kanoa Goo (The Rookie) has been cast in the series starring Max Thieriot. Mader will play Faye, who is smart, stunning, funny and rich. Faye is also the head of a private concierge firefighting company. When she meets Manny (Kevin Alejandro) at an AA meeting, there’s a romantic spark. >>> The Plot Thickens
"I Was Going To Crawl Home" - Fox News’ Benjamin Hall tells Deadline's Ted Johnson about his rescue and recovery after he was nearly killed by an attack while reporting in Ukraine. >>>Q&A |
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"We’ve all seen these queer tragedies," said National Anthem director Luke Gilford of his film. "Every rural queer story we’ve seen has been a tragedy, so it was a real mission of all of ours to peel away those cliches to show something that was true, but also something that we haven’t seen before." >>>The Deadline Studio Interview |
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Hirings, Promotions & Exits |
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More News
✂️ Meta Platforms, corporate parent of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, is laying off another 10,000 workers. The cutbacks follow a round of 11,000 layoffs last November.
🤝 Newly minted Oscar winner Ed Berger, director, co-writer and producer of All Quiet on the Western Front, is set to direct and executive produce Helltown, an eight-episode crime thriller in development at Amazon Studios from Mohamad El Masri (Severance), Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey’s Team Downey. Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) is in discussions to star as author Kurt Vonnegut in the project, based on the book of the same name by Casey Sherman.
🗳️ The Washington Post Opinions will distribute the animated short How to Rig An Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest, which recently premiered at the SXSW Festival in Austin. Tom Hanks narrates the project, which was written and produced by Jeffery Robinson, founder of the Who We Are Project and former ACLU deputy legal director. It’s directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler and was animated by Reginald William Butler.
🗣 Top executives from Asian media companies including CJ ENM, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, BEC World and Bona Film Group discussed Asia’s changing media landscape on the first day of Hong Kong’s Filmart. While most of the talk was of booming OTT content production and formats traveling around the region, China still seems to be finding its way back to international markets and collaboration after three years of relative isolation.
In Brief - SNL alum Alex Moffat will make his Broadway debut in upcoming comedy The Cottage… Amazon Prime Video has canceled Three Pines after just one season… Mark Ballas is retiring from Dancing with the Stars after 20 seasons. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
18.7 million - The number of viewers for Sunday’s Oscars, which marks a 12% increase over last year |
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Obituaries
🕯 Rolly Crump, one of Disneyland’s most important designers, who made crucial contributions to such attractions as the Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World and the Enchanted Tiki Room, died Sunday at his home in Carlsbad, CA, where he was under hospice care. He was 93. 🕯 Tom Joyner, who was First AD on Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and Unit Production Manager on such features as The Blues Brothers, Starman and Tender Mercies, died February 22 after a long battle with cancer and heart disease. He was 79. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Tue - AMC Entertainment shareholder meeting
Wed - Ted Lasso S3 premiere; David Letterman on Kimmel
Thu - Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour kicks off; Keanu Reeves on Fallon
Fri - St. Patrick's Day
Sun - Lucky Hank premieres
Mon - WGA & AMPTP contract talks begin |
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Screen Scene - The cast of Dungeons & Dragons, which opened SXSW, sat for a portrait in the Deadline Studio there; as did the cast of Daisy Jones & The Six; Kerry Washington, Tracy McMillan, Marque Richardson, Faly Rakotohavana, Jordyn McIntosh and Delroy Lindo for Unprisoned; Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit and Lesli Linka Glatter for Love & Death; Lukas Gage and Zachary Quinto for Down Low and many more. |
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