Star power – even stars like Thor and Valkyrie, er, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thomson; even Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, for heck’s sake – is crashing and burning on the big screen this summer. But movie stars on Netflix are doing just fine (or so Netflix says). Can Netflix save the movie star? – The Guardian (UK)
Category: media
The Director Of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Says The Young Don’t Have Self-Hatred Baggage
Jon Chu, on Asian and Asian American actors in Hollywood: “What’s great about this whole movement is that instead of getting one shot at this next time, maybe we get five. I just hope we get the opportunity to fail and keep going. It makes me so hopeful when I talk to actors and directors and audience members who don’t have the same baggage I was taught coming up in the business, that heavy weight of feeling so out of place that you develop self-hatred. I think they see beyond that now.” – The New York Times
What’s The Future For Arthouse Films In China?
Wang Jingchun, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes, says, “The rising box office is a really good thing. At its worst, we hardly had a box office to speak of. There also used to be a problem with content: The subjects and perspectives were too old. Now we need new concepts, and young people coming up now are bringing all sorts of new ones to the table, new kinds of cinematic thinking. Also, foreign and Hollywood films have come in, and everyone’s seen everything. . … Audiences have these needs, and theaters have at least started to provide a platform for them to see this stuff.” – Variety
The American Film Industry Has To Learn To Deal With Fire, And Climate Change
When people have a hard time seeing climate change as real, Hollywood could step forward – but it could also cause more problems. “While Hollywood’s version of climate change might bring a modicum of attention to the dangers of our altered world, we still must ask: is this revelation anything more than entertaining catharsis that ultimately reinforces individualism above all else?” – Los Angeles Review of Books
Here’s How Home Shows Get You Now: You’re Essentially Watching Unlimited-Budget Therapy
Yes, there’s even a new home redecoration show called “Unspouse My House.” What the … oh, there’s a reason for this. “If shows like The Bachelor provide a narratively satisfying, intentionally simplistic roadmap to finding true love, Unspouse My House does something similar for surviving heartbreak.” – HuffPost
Lorne Michaels: You Couldn’t Start “Saturday Night Live” Today
“You couldn’t do this show now. Mostly because of budget. The depth of costumes, design, film, all of those plus the talent office and all of the people working with each other…you can’t start that now because we’re in an age of narrowcasting.” – The Observer
Can Public Radio And TV Help Bring A Sharply Divided America Together? Should It?
Andrea Smardon: “To answer these questions, I talked with innovative producers who are working on projects that attempt to bridge political and cultural divides. This work is going on across public broadcasting — at local stations, by independent producers and at national organizations such as NPR and StoryCorps. Few journalists view themselves as ‘healers,’ but everyone I talked with agreed that public media does have a unique role to play in this moment.” – Current
With Everything In The Film Business Changing, Will There Even Be Movies As We Know Them In Ten Years?
“24 major Hollywood figures peer into the future, including: Ava DuVernay (on audiences), Jason Blum (on producing), Octavia Spencer (on acting), Kumail Nanjiani (on comedy), Lena Waithe (on black filmmakers), J.J. Abrams (on blockbusters), Jon M. Chu (on diversity), Jessica Chastain (on dramas), Elizabeth Banks (on female filmmakers), Barry Jenkins (on the Oscars) and Joe and Anthony Russo (on two-hour narratives).” – The New York Times
How Prosecution Of A Sex-Ad Website Will Have Profound Repercussions For The Internet
Backpage.com is the site. And “maybe they should have seen it coming: The betrayals. The asset seizures. The changing zeitgeist. They were, to be sure, brazenly cashing in on the sex trade. But here’s the thing: Silicon Valley had better hope they win. United States v. Lacey is a dangerous case, with potential consequences far beyond the freedom of two aging anti-authoritarians.” – Wired
Fundamentalist Group Demands That Netflix Cancel ‘Good Omens’ — Which Is On Amazon Prime
“The [six-episode miniseries] is a black comedy about an angel (Michael Sheen) and demon (David Tennant) who conspire to sabotage the End Times after the Antichrist is born in a small British village.” The petition, which was created by a group called Return to Order and has gotten more than 20,000 signatures, says, in part, “This is another step to make Satanism appear normal, light and acceptable. … Please sign our petition, telling Netflix that we will not stand silent as they destroy the barriers of horror we still have for evil.” – Newsweek