If you’re not aware, Amazon is looking to acquire MGM Studios for a massive $8.45 billion and means that future films could be heading directly to their streaming service Prime Video. This will likely lead to more commercially viable projects that will be cooked up at the studio, and a new MGM pic sounds like it meets that criteria. 

READ MORE: Amazon Secures $8.45 Billion Deal To Acquire MGM

A live-action feature film based on a beloved Mattel toy line is in the works, as Variety reports that actress Lily Collins will portray “Polly Pocket” in a movie that is going to be written and directed by Lena Dunham (“Girls,” Sharp Stick“) for MGM Studios.

Continue reading Lena Dunham To Direct Lily Collins In A Live-Action ‘Polly Pocket’ Movie At MGM at The Playlist.

Well, that was weird. 

Oscar night felt a bit like an off-brand version of an Oscar night – and not in a bad way (at least until the end). But there were times when the rehearsal-dinner vibe was impossible to ignore, especially at the end when it felt like ringmaster Steven Soderbergh handed the reins to Luis Buñuel, everyone was getting a little tetchy and impatient, the cake course was served before the entree and when it was time for Gramps’ speech he’d already gone to bed – possibly embarrassed by Mamaw’s twerking.

Continue reading The Snubs And Surprises Of The 2021 Oscars at The Playlist.

The last guild award ceremony of this long protracted awards season went to the American Society of Cinematographers and they were in a “Mank” mood for the 2021 ASC Awards. Their premiere honor went to Erik Messerschmidt for his work on David Fincher‘s passion project. This was Messerschmidt’s first nomination and win at the ASC Awards and a positive sign as he tries to win his first Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Continue reading ‘Mank,’ ‘The Crown’ & ‘The Mandalorian’ Among ASC Awards Winners at The Playlist.

There were few surprises at the 25th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards. The pandemic delayed virtual ceremony honored old favorites and eventual Oscar and Emmy, winners. The major honories of the night included “Mank,” “Soul,” “Ozark,” “Black Is King,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Mandalorian” and “Tenet.”

READ MORE: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Mank” among early 2021 BAFTA Award winners

This actually turned out to be Donald Graham Burt‘s second win of the day as “Mank” also took the BAFTA honor for Production Design.

Continue reading ‘Mank,’ ‘Black Is King,’ ‘Soul’ & ‘Tenet’ Top 2021 ADG Awards Winners at The Playlist.

This year the 2021 BAFTA Awards for Film were split over two nights. The first ceremony centered on eight awards for both below-the-line and short film categories. By the end of the one-hour event, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and were already big winners.

READ MORE: “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman” and “Rocks” lead 2021 BAFTA Award nominations

Costume Designer Ann Roth won just her second BAFTA for “Ma Rainey” while four artists gave the Netflix drama the Make-Up and Hairstyling BAFTA as well.

Continue reading ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ ‘Mank’ & ‘Tenet’ Among Early 2021 BAFTA Award Winners at The Playlist.

Costume designer Trish Summerville has collaborated with David Fincher on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and with other filmmakers on large fantasy films including “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “The Dark Tower.” None of that prepared her for tackling Fincher’s passion project, however. “Mank” not only found her designing clothing from Hollywood’s golden era, but translating those costumes specifically for a black and white digital canvas.

Continue reading ‘Mank’ Costume Designer Trish Summerville On Turning Color Into Black & White [Interview] at The Playlist.

And then there were eight. The Best Picture nominees have been widdled down to a chosen few and from a layman’s perspective, it might appear that the race to take Oscar’s most prestigious prize is surprisingly wide open. “Mank” led all films, including Best Picture nominees, with ten nods, but there were six films with six nods and one, “Promising Young Woman,” with five. But upon closer inspection, things are slightly more complicated.

Continue reading ‘Nomadland,’ ‘Promising Young Woman’ Or ‘Minari’ For The Win? [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

David Fincher made his return to feature filmmaking after a six-year absence with “Mank,” and it doesn’t look like he’s letting his momentum stop. The filmmaker revealed the projects he’s currently working on, including a TV series where he talks with special guests about the movies they love.

READ MORE: ‘The Killer’: David Fincher Teaming With Michael Fassbender & ‘Se7en’ Writer For A New Thriller

During a recent interview with Aaron Sorkin on the Director’s Guild of America’s The Director’s Cut podcast, Fincher outlined three projects currently in the works, including a “Chinatown” prequel and the aforementioned TV show.

Continue reading David Fincher Is Working On A “Film Appreciation” TV Series Where He Discusses His Favorite Movies With Special Guests at The Playlist.

Is now when the fun begins? After a historic two-month pandemic-related postponement, the nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards are about to be announced. It’s been a strange campaign with no official in-person screenings, virtual Q&As, and almost every major contender already available on streaming or PVOD. But, hey, it’s the Oscars! And a ceremony at the end of April means friends and family might be able to congregate (masked or vaccine confirmed, obviously) to watch outside.

Continue reading 2021 Oscar Nominations Predictions: ‘Sound Of Metal,’ Andra Day, Janelle Monae, ‘Minari’ & More at The Playlist.

Did we suggest there were no more guild honors to be handed out? Surprise! It’s not the ASC that has the last laugh before Oscar nominations, but the American Cinema Editors instead. The society revealed their nominees for the 71st Eddie Awards this morning which gave major Academy Award and Emmy boosts to “Sound of Metal,” “Minari,” “Ted Lasso,” and “The Queen’s Gambit.”

READ MORE: “Mank,” “Nomadland” and “The Great” among 2021 ASC Awards nominees [Full List]

The most prestigious category is Feature Film (Dramatic) where “Sound of Metal,” “Minari,” “Nomadland,” “Mank,” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” made the cut.

Continue reading ‘Sound Of Metal,’ ‘Nomadland’ & ‘Ted Lasso’ Earn 2021 ACE Eddie Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

The last guild awards announcement for 2021 was reserved for the American Society of Cinematographers which, in truth, isn’t a guild, but represents the most important creative aspect of a movie, the image itself. More than any other guild honor, the Oscar for Best Cinematography rarely deviates from the Feature Film nominees from the ASC Awards. So, that should make the Directors of Photography behind “Mank,” “Nomadland,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “News of the World” and “Cherry” quite happy today.

Continue reading ‘Mank,’ ‘Nomadland’ & ‘The Great’ Among 2021 ASC Awards Nominees at The Playlist.

The Producers Guild of America announced the pandemic delayed nominees for the 2021 PGA Awards and the “surprises” in the film category were not that surprising. Best Picture frontrunners “Nomadland,” “Minari” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” all made the cut, along with other familiar titles. The “surprises” came with the inclusion of two Amazon Studios releases, “Sound of Metal” and “Borat Subsdquent Moviefilm.”

READ MORE: “Minari” and “The Crown” lead 2021 SAG Awards nominations [Complete List]

The other five nominees were “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank” and “One Night in Miami…” and “Promising Young Woman.

Continue reading ‘Nomadland,’ ‘Minari’ & ‘I May Destory You’ Among 2021 PGA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

For the first time in decades, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will bestow just one Oscar for Sound. The Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories, for the time being, are no more. That doesn’t mean, however, that the artists who craft the sounds have given up dividing the riches. Over the past two days, the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and the Cinema Audio Society revealed their nominees for the MPSE Golden Reels Awards and the CAS Awards, respectively.

Continue reading ‘Mank’ & ‘The Mandalorian’ Lead MPSE Golden Reel & CAS Awards Sound Nominations at The Playlist.

The pandemic has forced a reckoning in the film industry, or at least that’s what countless of articles and industry analysts have said in the past year. A change to how movies are made, and even what types of movies get made at all is about to hit Hollywood, but Ben Affleck argues that this change was already happening before we got stuck at home for months at a time.

READ MORE: Cinemark CEO “Optimistic” Theaters Will Begin To “Light Up” This Summer With The Help Of Blockbusters

In a recent actors roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck shared what he thought the business will be like after things return to a sense of normalcy.

Continue reading Ben Affleck Talks The Future Of The Movie Industry “There’ll Probably Be 40 Movies A Year That Come Out” at The Playlist.

If it’s February it’s time for guild nominations! Wait, isn’t February when the winners are announced? Well, not in this pandemic timeline. This morning the Art Directors Guild revealed their nominees for the 2021 ADG Awards and there were few surprises as the artists behind “Birds of Prey,” “Mank,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Crown” and “The Queen’s Gambit” were all recognized.

READ MORE: “Minari” and “The Crown” rule the 2021 SAG Awards nominations [Full List]

Some standout nominees include Beyonce’s “Black is King” in the Variety Special category (a strange category for the film, it’s up against the Democratic National Convention telecast), “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” in Contemporary Film, “The Flight Attendant” in Contemporary One-Hour Series, and the video for Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” in the Web Series, Music Video or Commercial category.

Continue reading ‘Birds of Prey,’ ‘Black Is King’ & ‘Promising Young Woman’ Among 2021 Art Directors Guild Awards at The Playlist.

When it comes to screenwriting, there are few better and cheaper resources than the annual awards season. In a bid to get Oscar voters and film critics belonging to a critics group to consider their film in a certain script category, studios offer their screenplays for free. This means you can count exactly how many times the name Mank is uttered in David Fincher‘s “Mank” for yourself!

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See

If you want to see for yourself what changed from the page to the screen in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” or whether the script for “Tenet” makes any more sense than the film, then this is a golden opportunity to take a peek behind the curtain and see how the best or biggest in the business hone their craft.

Continue reading Download The 2021 Awards Season Screenplays For Free at The Playlist.

Everything with David Fincher is intention, precision, and exacting qualities. And some of that intention is the filmmaker knowing what he wants and surrounding himself with some amazing talents. Over the years, that’s included giants like Academy Award-winning composers like Howard Shore and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, legendary directors of photography like Harris Savides, Darius Khondji, and Jeff Cronenweth, to name just a few.

Continue reading ‘Mank’: David Fincher’s Longtime Editor Kirk Baxter Gets The Spotlight In ‘Precision Cutting’ [Video Exclusive] at The Playlist.

There are now less than three weeks left until voting for the 93rd Academy Awards is completed. And as the date grows closer, more members and consultants are expressing their belief there will be fewer Best Picture nominees than “normal.” Granted, we’ve heard this scuttlebutt before only to see the membership magically work the math to still land at least eight nominees. But could this be the year voters break that streak?

READ MORE: “Mank” and “The Crown” lead 2021 Golden Globe Awards nominations

Since the Academy went to a statistical formula to determine the Best Picture nominees for the 84th Oscars, there have been just three years where only eight nominees were selected (2015, 2016, 2019).

Continue reading Just How Many Best Picture Nominees In 2021? [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

It’s been covered a million times already. So anyone who even has the faintest idea of who David Fincher, knows he’s a very detailed filmmaker, sometimes requiring more than 100 takes for a given scene in a film. But according to Gary Oldman, who served as Fincher’s star in the new Oscar-contending film, “Mank,” the actor is happy to do whatever the director asks of him because that’s just part of the “work for hire” aspect of his job.

Continue reading Gary Oldman Talks David Fincher’s “Meticulous” Style & Why He’s “Happy To Be There” For The Director at The Playlist.

If there is any category that was full of surprises on Oscar’s shortlist day, it’s Visual Effets. To say there were unexpected selections and a slew of snubs is a major understatement. Of course, expected contenders “Tenet,” “Mank” and “Birds of Prey” made the cut, but that was about it.

READ MORE: “Minari” and “The Crown” rule 2021 SAG Awards nominations

An animated film, “Soul,” is among the 10 qualifiers as is the documentary “Welcome to Chechnya.” The biggest snub has to be “Wonder Woman 1984” with other VFX spectacles “Greyhound,” “The Call of the Wild,” “The Old Guard,” “New Mutants,” “Monster Hunter” and “Dolittle” all on the outside looking in.

Continue reading ‘Tenet,’ ‘Welcome to Chechnya’ Make Oscars Visual Effects Shortlist at The Playlist.

If you’re a fan of films, it’s always fascinating to hear David Fincher talk. No matter if you enjoy his work or not, he’s one of those creators that are just so knowledgeable and precise, he’s endlessly interesting when discussing just anything to do with the industry and creating films. So to get a full hour of him talking on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast? Yes, please!

READ MORE: Amanda Seyfried Talks ‘Mank,’ ‘Mean Girls,’ Working With David Fincher & The Benefits Of 100 Takes [Interview]

Over the course of the hour-long conversation, where Fincher spoke to Kent Jones about “Mank” and the creation of his acclaimed black and white feature, he discussed inspirations, Old Hollywood, and all the technical wizardry you expect from someone that is such a perfectionist (in the best possible way).

Continue reading Listen To A 1-Hour Conversation With David Fincher & Filmmaker Kent Jones About The Making Of ‘Mank’ at The Playlist.

Slightly delayed due to the pandemic, the American Film Institute announced their annual top 10 lists for 2020, and, as always, there were numerous surprises. Long hyped Oscar contenders such as “Nomadland,” “Minari” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” made the list, but so did underdogs such as “Sound of Metal” and “Da 5 Bloods.” On the television side, it was more predictable with only recent seasons of “Ramy” and “What We Do In Shadows” and newcomers such as “The Undoing,” “Never Have I Ever” and “P Valley” among the snubs.

Continue reading ‘Sound of Metal’ & ‘Judas And The Black Messiah’ Make AFI’s Top 10 Lists at The Playlist.

While actor Amanda Seyfried may be 35-years-old, if it seems like she’s been around forever, it’s because she’s been working in the industry for 22 years now. Starting in 1999 in the world of soap operas (“As the World Turns”), she quickly got noticed and by 2003, was already cast in “Mean Girls,” her debut feature-length film (the film would come out the next year).

Continue reading Amanda Seyfried Talks ‘Mank,’ ‘Mean Girls,’ Working With David Fincher & The Benefits Of 100 Takes [Interview] at The Playlist.

As America deals with the aftermath of a mob insurrection at the capital and a record number of COVID cases, the world continues to move forward in the best way it can. And that means, yes, for whatever it’s worth the extended 2021 Oscar season continues. Over the next seven weeks, there will be six new Best Picture contenders that will attempt to sway the opinions of AMPAS members before the February 28th deadline. Assuming voters haven’t already settled on their favorites over the holiday break and what’s turning out to be an extended COVID shooting shut down in LA.

Continue reading New Year, New Best Picture Players In 2021 Oscar Race [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

Would it be a brand new year if we didn’t have the unveiling of Steven Soderbergh’s watch list? At this point, if you’re a huge film fan, you probably come to expect the big release of everything the filmmaker watched over the past year, looking over every entry to try to piece together what Soderbergh loved and what he skipped. And in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing him to not make a half dozen films, it appears that Soderbergh did a lot of film and TV watching.

Continue reading Steven Soderbergh’s Most Watched Film Of 2020 Is ‘Mank,’ According To His ‘Seen, Read 2020’ List at The Playlist.