Category: media

“Following the announcement that Sony Pictures was cancelling the movie’s planned Christmas Day release amidst threats from hackers of attacks on establishments showing the film, the studio is reportedly allowing some theaters to screen it.”

“Google on Thursday attacked Hollywood and a state attorney general for attempting to achieve the goals of years-old Internet censorship law.”

Matt Zoller Seitz nominates Michelle MacLaren. “Her visual chops are undeniable, but the managerial skills she honed while toiling on the logistical side of showbiz are an equally important part of her success. TV is art made under pressure. … MacLaren approaches the job with a stoic unflappability leavened by nonchalant Canadian cheer.”

“It’s worth remembering that the idea for YouTube was hatched at a dinner party in San Francisco less than 10 years ago. Just as abruptly as it changed how we watch TV, it could become the victim of disruption itself.”

“Michael Lynton, the studio’s chief executive, insisted on Sunday it had ‘not caved’ to hackers who crippled the company and that it was exploring ways to let audiences see the film. ‘We would still like the public to see this movie, absolutely.'”

“Another set of broken or bruised relationships involves black stars and filmmakers, a group with whom Sony formerly had very sturdy ties.”

“Recall that Marco Polo’s cast is more than 90 percent Asian; how many other big-budget Western shows can say that?”

Your correspondent talks with the co-star/co-producer/co-writer of the comedy-turned-cause célèbre about why he decided to make a movie about Kim Jong-Un in the first place, negotiating with Sony about the details of the Dear Leader’s exploding head, and what he listens for at the many, many test screenings he attends.

“New Regency has ditched plans to produce Pyongyang, a paranoid thriller starring Steve Carell that was to be set in North Korea. … New Regency is 20% owned by News Corp., parent of 20th Century Fox. The studio had indicated to New Regency that it would not release the project.”

Leslie Savan: “You can’t stick with that kind of truthiness-based character (and play him in public appearances off the show) without some sympathy for him, and even for conservatism itself. Colbert expressed that sympathy by showing that beneath his character’s assertion of omnipotence and certitude, there’s a fragility, one that’s also buried in most of the real-life blowhards and their dittoheads. If they stop clapping, Tinker Bell will die.”