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<br />
<br /> The recently held <keyword id="3181600" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Renault-Sony-Guild-Awards">Renault Sony Guild Awards</keyword> 2016 was a glitzy affair. The latest release historical fiction <em><keyword id="6391813" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bajirao-Mastani">Bajirao Mastani</keyword></em> took home a total of 9 awards, including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Design, Best Costume Design, Best Dialogue, Best Choreography, Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actor in Leading Role.<br />
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Second name in the list was that of <em><keyword id="2411684" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bajrangi-Bhaijaan">Bajrangi Bhaijaan</keyword></em>, which won 4 awards including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Story and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.<br />
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The award show was hosted by India’s favorite comedian Kapil Sharma, and with his witty humor, he left the audiences in splits.<br />
<br /> There were some memorable performances too, by Sonakshi Sinha, Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khuranna, and <keyword id="1655" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Priyanka-Chopra">Priyanka Chopra</keyword>.<br />
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Another hit section of the evening was when Akshay Kumar was honored for having completed 25 years in Hindi cienspace. He was presented a special award by evergreen actor Anil Kapoor.<br />
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The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jeetendra by son Tusshar Kapoor and Poonam Sinha. Priyanka Chopra walked away with the award for Guild Global Honor for her US debut in Quantico and the Best Child Artist award went to Harshali Malhotra, who won million hearts for her role in <em>Bajrangi Bhaijaan</em>.<br />
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“Renault India is yet again happy to work together with Guild’s 11th edition. This is our fourth year and we are elated to celebrate the achievements of distinct personalities of Indian Cinema who are driven by a commitment towards passion and excellence. Renault, the most awarded automaker in recent times, understands what it takes to win the hearts of people and also win accolades from a proficient jury. As we have always believed, both the Guild and Renault lay special emphasis on Driving the Change and are therefore a perfect fit with each other,” said Sumit Sawhney, Country Managing Director &amp; CEO, Renault India Operations.<br />
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“Renault Sony Guild Awards recognized and felicitated outstanding people for their excellent contribution to the film fraternity in 2015. What made the night special are the power packed performances. Congratulations to all the winners and we hope our viewers enjoy watching it on the new years,” said N.P Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23RenaultSonyGuildAwards&amp;src=tyah"><em>Image source</em></a><br />

Bajirao Mastani bags 9 awards at the Renault Sony Guild Awards

<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Gawker released a bunch of Sony's leaked emails late Tuesday. </span></p>
<p class="p1">Among them is a brief, hilarious exchange between "Gone Girl" director David Fincher and Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal over a subscription email from Hollywood trade TheWrap.</p>
<p class="p1">Pascal forwarded an email with headlines about "Girls" actor Adam Driver cast in "Star Wars: Episode VII" and another about Fincher reportedly being out of the Steve Jobs movie that was originally supposed to film under Sony Pictures. The body of the email contained a simple "WTF".</p>
<p class="p1">Fincher's response is golden:</p>
<p class="p1">"Adam Driver is a terrible idea, I'm with you…"</p>
<p class="p1">Pascal wasn't amused, replying in all caps, "I MEANT THE ONE ABOUT US BUTTING HEADS AND YOU NOT DIRECTING JOBS."</p>
<p class="p1">Fincher kept on the defense calling the news "bulls-."</p>
<p class="p1">The report ended up being true.</p>
<p class="p1">Danny Boyle is now set to direct the Steve Jobs's movie at Universal Pictures. Michael Fassbender ("12 Years A Slave," "X-Men: Days of Future Past") <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-fassbender-will-play-steve-jobs-in-universals-upcoming-biopic-2014-11">will star</a>.</p>

Leaked Sony Email Shows Why 'Gone Girl' Director Is Amazing

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A24's "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is the front runner to win the best picture Oscar this year.</li><li>The film's popularity has once again put the studio — and its cult-like following — front and center.  </li></ul><p>With the Oscars quickly approaching, one thing has become abundantly clear: "<a href="https://www.insider.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-best-movie-of-the-year-2022-12">Everything Everywhere All at Once</a>" is going to have a big night — and with that, so is A24, the studio behind it.</p><p>The film was already a frontrunner when Oscar noms were announced in late January,<a href="https://www.insider.com/oscars-nominees-winners-list-academy-awards-2023-1"> scoring 11</a>, the most of any movie this year. Having recently won the top prizes at all the major guild awards — Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and Screen Actors Guild — "Everything" is the odds-on favorite to take home best picture.  </p><p>So there'll likely be a lot of champagne flowing Sunday night. Regardless of how many little gold men A24 takes home, the studio has once again proven that unconventional and original stories are what moviegoers want, and that's made them the cool kids of the business and the envy of all the other studios in Hollywood. </p><p>Let's look back. I'm sure you've heard of a few of these: "Spring Breakers," "Ex Machina," "The Witch," and "Moonlight." There's also "Lady Bird," "Eighth Grade," "Midsommar," and "Uncut Gems." Plenty of companies have come (and gone) that have a knack for feeding the appetites of moviegoers who crave original stories, but A24 is different.</p><p>It has consistently made great movies and built a cult following unlike anything the movie industry has seen since Miramax was at its zenith in the mid-1990s.</p><p>And A24 is using a <em>very</em> different playbook to pull it off.</p><div type="image" title="Uncut Gems A24" height="558" width="992" msid="98523181" hostid="261"></div><h2>The 'trick' to A24's success is not interfering with filmmaker creativity</h2><p>Thanks to savvy marketing<strong>,</strong> A24 has cultivated what every entertainment company, both large and small, craves: an air of effortless cool.</p><p>A24's founders, Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges (who previously all worked within the indie film world before teaming up), have ushered in a new era of filmmaking and marketing. It's set apart from Miramax's indie film era, which was dominated by Harvey and Bob Weinstein's full-court press Oscars campaigns that fed audiences low-budget and foreign movies like never before.</p><p>Where the Weinsteins — Harvey in particular — were known for sometimes brutally re-editing films behind filmmakers' backs, A24 has become a haven for storytellers who want little to no interference. And where the Weinsteins loomed larger than life, Katz, Hodges (who <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/news/a24-co-founder-john-hodges-exits-1202736308/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left the company in 2018</a>), and Fenkel rarely give interviews, creating a sense of mystery around the studio and leaving room for A24 to elevate what it brings to screens.</p><p>"They've done a great job of being synonymous with quality. That's a trick," a producer, whose identity is known to Insider but requested anonymity, told me.</p><p>That has been the key to A24's success. A company can be elusive and have fun with marketing, but if the product isn't successful, the rest of that doesn't matter. The "trick" A24 has pulled off is that it has showcased movies rich with creativity and wonder that find both critical and box office acclaim. You just can't turn away from what they offer.</p><p>"We find movies [for which] our perspective, our system, our people, can act to make it something special," Fenkel said <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/a24-studio-oral-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a rare interview with GQ in 2017</a> that the studio's goal is to find movies that it can turn into "something special."</p><p>"If it's gonna be released the same way by another company, we usually don't go after it," he added.<strong><br /></strong></p><div type="image" title="spring breakers" height="720" width="1280" msid="98523183" hostid="261"></div><h2>A24 has cultivated not just a brand but an aesthetic</h2><p>The trio formed A24 in 2012 and quickly became benefactors of the early days of meme culture with their third release, "Spring Breakers." The 2013 film, featuring Disney Channel pop princesses Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens drinking and toting guns, saturated social media and became a hallmark of the risky and unapologetic storytelling the company wanted to get behind.</p><p>At the time, the company was acquiring finished movies and distributing them with novel, Millennial-forward marketing campaigns ranging from an <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/3/15/8218927/tinder-robot-sxsw-ex-machina">"Ex-Machina"-themed Tinder bot</a> to a Twitter account for the <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackPhillip?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E634135017262858240%7Ctwgr%5E206192c96d90f59ff9902d57dd4293217b9c29e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vulture.com%2F2015%2F09%2Fthe-witch-goat-black-phillip-twitter.html">satanic goat</a> in "The Witch." A24 focused much of its marketing on grassroots social media rather than on billboard or commercial spends. These internet-first campaigns made younger viewers feel like they were part of an exclusive group of hip cinephiles. </p><p>Another way they pull that vibe off is through thoughtful brand extensions — sleek and limited edition merch, collabs with other cool, hip brands, and going big with influencers. All of this coalesced into making A24 not just a studio, but a cultural litmus test, a lifestyle, a personal brand. You <em>had</em> to see these movies to be a part of the conversation.</p><p>Fervor around the studio only increased in 2016 when A24 produced its first movie, Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight." Now putting skin in the game, the company (which currently finances or produces most of its releases, including "Everything Everywhere All at Once") used all of its tools and scored 10 Oscar nominations for the drama. The film then became part of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQn_FkFElI&amp;t=352s">most shocking moment in Academy Awards history</a> (pre-<a href="https://www.insider.com/oscars-2022-will-smith-hits-chris-rock-after-jada-joke-2022-3">slap</a>, anyway) when it won best picture over "La La Land."</p><p>In that moment, A24 went from indie chic studio to serious Hollywood player. It's maintained that status by staying clear of the safe bets and panic moves most other studios have leaned into in the last several years. </p><p>What other studio might greenlight a <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-box-office-milestone-1235325126/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$25 million budget</a> on a movie about a Chinese-American immigrant who, while being audited by the IRS, discovers she must connect with other versions of herself so that a powerful force doesn't destroy the multiverse? A24 did, and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has gone on to gross more than <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6710474/?ref_=bo_se_r_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$100 million worldwide</a>, making it the highest-grossing A24 release to date.</p><p>It's an impressive feat seeing that at the time of its release, the pandemic was still making <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/too-many-seats-not-enough-movies-theater-industrys-new-crisis-2022-9">audiences nervous about returning to theaters</a>. But unlike other studios and specialty houses, A24 didn't <a href="https://www.insider.com/pixar-staff-disappointed-turning-red-going-straight-to-disney-2022-1">lean into streaming to the exclusion of theatrical releases</a>. It stood firm that its titles would entice people back to the big screen, and it has paid off.</p><p>A24 not giving up on theatrical in 2022 led to it becoming the sixth-largest domestic box office studio, trailing only the legacy Hollywood studios — Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Sony.</p><div type="image" title="moonlight mahershala ali" height="1067" width="1600" msid="98523186" hostid="261"></div><h2>The cult of A24 is only going to grow</h2><p>Search around the internet and it won't take long to notice the fandom of A24. It's rare to say that about a movie studio, but it's true. </p><p>There are fan-created movie posters of A24 titles on Instagram. Someone famously chronicled their <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenrobinson827/video/7004639094286339334?embed_source=121331973%2C71011722%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&amp;refer=embed&amp;referer_url=cdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Fsrc%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252Fembed%252Fv2%252F7004639094286339334%26display_name%3Dtiktok%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252F%2540laurenrobinson827%252Fvideo%252F7004639094286339334%253F_d%253DsecCgYIASAHKAESPgo8NUspc1E%25252BABLNlRy3QtTNASr9WLy6gJIEkEyVC6pfk0%25252FLOERE2MVWxkEnakNAz7b70EItPD7BhcU%25252BYb%25252FsGgA%25253D%2526_r%253D1%2526checksum%253D7c9ec6d20e74b433fb0a8a93a143fa8cbf930d6a639afd763344b197dc9b589c%2526is_from_webapp%253Dv1%2526item_id%253D7004639094286339334%2526language%253Den%2526preview_pb%253D0%2526sec_user_id%253DMS4wLjABAAAAghzZwvtUcwQ7EwwSWIwdXUd5gTyVOg8zJ0mE2G9FHrye1NHcin2Qavav9ZAkARLj%2526share_app_id%253D1233%2526share_item_id%253D7004639094286339334%2526share_link_id%253DABB96A42-99A0-48D1-B62E-03405E3099ED%2526source%253Dh5_m%2525C3%252597tamp%253D1632699195%2526tt_from%253Dcopy%2526u_code%253Ddef5jm6mb8g1f5%2526user_id%253D6873812694648357894%2526utm_campaign%253Dclient_share%2526utm_medium%253Dios%2526utm_source%253Dcopy%26key%3De311eeb656fa11e088ae4040f9f86dcd%26type%3Dtext%252Fhtml%26schema%3Dtiktok&amp;referer_video_id=7004639094286339334" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A24-themed party on TikTok</a>, complete with the host channeling Florence Pugh in "Midsommar" with a flower crown. There's an <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/A24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A24 subreddit</a>, an <a href="https://a24.fandom.com/wiki/A24">A24 Wiki fandom page,</a> even <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/stories/a24">A24 fanfiction</a>.</p><div type="image" title="midsommar dani" height="674" width="1200" msid="98523188" hostid="261"></div><p>They have the type of fealty that other studios wish they could inspire. </p><p>On Sunday, keep an eye out for the other A24-related nominations from titles including: "The Whale," "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On," "Close," "Aftersun," and "Causeway." The studio has 18 nods in total, the most of any studio this year. With Oscar win(s) all but guaranteed, the brand is inching ever closer to becoming a household name.</p><p>"Moonlight's" director, Jenkins, might have put it best while pondering what the future held for A24 while <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/a24-studio-oral-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talking to GQ in 2017</a>.</p><p>"I put no limitations on what they're capable of."</p>

A24, the studio behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' is the 'cool kid' of Hollywood

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Universal</span></p><p class="caption">"Green Book" won three Golden Globes on Sunday.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Golden Globes were full of surprise wins on Sunday night.</li><li>They included "Bohemian Rhapsody" beating out "A Star Is Born" for best picture and Glenn Close beating Lady Gaga for best actress.</li><li>In a year when the Oscar race is wide open compared to the past, Golden Globe wins are more important than ever.</li></ul><p> </p><p>You might have been scratching your head while watching the Golden Globes on Sunday night and wondering why a hyped movie like "A Star Is Born" didn't win any of the evening's major awards, but Glenn Close took home one for a movie you probably had to go onto IMDb to confirm actually existed.</p><p>But the surprise wins were just the latest sign that there won't be many sure things on Oscar night on February 24. And that's great news for ABC, which airs the biggest night in Hollywood, and for those of us who watch the marathon ceremony. It will be a welcome change.</p><p>Recent Oscar nights have played out (for the most part) as the Oscar pundits said they would, and we've needed a colossal fail, like the best picture envelope mix-up, to bring any juice to the telecast.</p><p>But why is this year so different than others?</p><p>Simply put, this Oscar season has no runaway hit movie, so it looks like it's going to be a pack of titles sprinting to the finish (especially in the best picture category), and spending a lot of money campaigning along the way.</p><p>Since September when the Venice, Telluride, and Toronto film festivals set the foundation for the movies that would be in the conversation the entire awards season - such as Netflix's "Roma," Warner Bros.' "A Star Is Born," Universal's "Green Book," Fox Searchlight's "The Favourite," and Annapurna's "If Beale Street Could Talk" - the contenders have only increased in number with Fox's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Annapurna's "Vice."</p><p>And unlike most years, there was also a crop of pre-September movies that have had legitimate Oscar campaigns. That is extremely rare. These include Disney's "Black Panther" (opened in February), Paramount's "A Quite Place" (April), and Warner Bros.' "Crazy Rich Asians" (August). All of these could be nominated in multiple major categories, including best picture.</p><p>With this mix of titles, it has been a bloated race to handicap this year (and shows why 2018 was such a successful year for movies). But until the Golden Globes, most of the "experts" had been confident that "A Star Is Born" was still the frontrunner when it came to best picture.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APFN-US--BoxOffice/bd3fd98c37cd4ba3bae2b19b30acd88d/text?Query=box%20office&amp;mediaType=text&amp;sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&amp;dateRange=Anytime&amp;totalCount=65&amp;currentItemNo=0">Alex Bailey/Twentieth Century Fox via AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">"Bohemian Rhapsody" won two Golden Globes on Sunday.</p></div><p></p></div></div>But then the Golden Globes happened Sunday night.</p><p>Historically, the industry has thought of the Globes as a fun night - but not the best indicator of what will happen at the Oscars. There are around 90 members who make up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes on the Golden Globes winners, and none of them are Oscar voters. But in a year when it seems all conventional wisdom on Oscar season has gone out the window (I mean, Netflix has a legitimate chance for the first time ever to win multiple Oscars in major categories with "Roma"), what happened at the Globes Sunday night could have big ramifications.</p><p>Surprise wins for "Green Book" in the best musical or comedy category, as well as best screenplay (Mahershala Ali winning for best supporting actor was pretty likely), gave the movie an extra push as we go into the home stretch for Oscar season. And "Bohemian Rhapsody" getting the win for best drama over favorites like "A Star Is Born" and "Black Panther" took it from a title on the bubble to a real contender for a best picture nomination.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong></em>: <em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-and-fx-beat-hbo-and-amazon-at-golden-globes-2019-1">Netflix and FX won big at the Golden Globes, while HBO stumbled</a></em></p><p>And what made Sunday's wins all the more important was that Oscar voting for nominations opened on Monday (voting closes on January 14, with nominations announced on January 22). It's hard to imagine what happened at the Globes won't affect how some Academy members vote.</p><p>But if you still believe that this year is like any other, and the Globes don't mean squat, let's look at the Producers Guild Awards. The PGA, like many of the guild nominations (Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild) holds a lot more weight in the eyes of award season pundits because those members are also mostly Academy voters.</p><p>If you look at the <a href="https://www.producersguild.org/news/432578/All-Motion-Picture-and-TV-Nominations-for-30th-Annual-Producers-Guild-Awards-presented-by-Cadillac.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 movies nominated</a> for its top prize, "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Green Book" are among them. With Golden Globe wins and PGA nominations, these two titles look certain to receive best picture Oscar nominations. </p><p>With the best picture category likely going with the full 10 nominees this year, we are looking at the first year in a while when you can make a case that more than two contenders have a real shot.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Sony Pictures Classics</span></p><p class="caption">Glenn Close won a surprise best actress Golden Globe for her performance in "The Wife."</p></div><p></p></div></div>And that goes for the lead actor/actress categories as well.</p><p>With Glenn Close's surprise win for her performance in "The Wife" at the Globes on Sunday, there's now a three-way race for best actress. She's up against Lady Gaga for "A Star Is Born" and Olivia Colman for "The Favourite" (who won a Globe in the best actress in a musical or comedy category). And over on the best actor side, Bradley Cooper for "A Star Is Born" and Christian Bale for "Vice" (who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/christian-bale-thanks-satan-for-inspiring-his-performance-as-dick-cheney-2019-1">won best actor in a musical or comedy</a> at the Globes) now have competition from Rami Malek thanks to his win for playing Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the best actor in drama category on Sunday.</p><p>Perhaps it will be a good thing if there isn't an Oscar host this year, because it will bring more focus to the exciting races that some of the big categories of the evening will have. For once!</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chopped-food-network-ted-allen-tv-cooking-competition-2018-12">Ted Allen takes us behind the scenes at Food Network's 'Chopped'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Shocking Golden Globe winners like 'Green Book' and Glenn Close confirmed we're in for a wild Oscar night

<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Disney/Marvel" title_caption="" Guardians="" of="" the="" Galaxy="" director="" James="" Gunn.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b82fb269bedd7f2d036ea5-960/guardians-of-the-galaxy-james-gunn-1.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Disney/Marvel</span></p><p class="caption">"Guardians of the Galaxy" director, James Gunn.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Many people are weighing in on Thursday's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-nominations-2015-2015-1">Oscar nominations</a>, specifically the many <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oscar-snubs-surprises-2015-1">snubs and surprises</a> that have come from the announcement.</p>
<p class="p1">"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">is among Hollywood talent speaking out against many of the snubs.</span></p>
<p class="p1">After recognizing Oscar nods for the Marvel film's visual effects and makeup, the director <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jgunn/posts/10152445297411157">posted an impassioned note on Facebook</a> to his fans regarding his thoughts on many Oscar snubs including "Nightcrawler," "Whiplash," "Foxcatcher," and "The LEGO Movie" (he suggests the Academy may have dismissed the film as a "silly movie" from its title without watching screeners).</p>
<p class="p1">His entire note is a must-read, providing some insight into the Academy voters.</p>
<p class="p1">We've pasted his note in full below, adding in artwork to accompany his post for context.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">As I said, I'm extremely pleased with our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/guardiansofthegalaxy" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=263903657057997">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> Oscar nominations in Visual Effects and Makeup. Here are some other quick thoughts on the Academy Award Nominations -</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">1) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheLEGOMovie" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=142731419158626">The LEGO Movie</a> was flat out snubbed.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It was one of the best films of the year, not to mention one of the best animated films. It deserved to be nominated for Best Animated Film. Considering the average Academy voter is 63, perhaps the Tinkertoy Movie or the Erector Set Film would have fared better. Honestly, I don't think there can be any reason it wasn't nominated other than Academy members assumed it was a silly movie (like I did when I first heard of the movie, before seeing it) and didn't watch the screener.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">2) Whoo hoo for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cooper" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=315067592035189">Bradley Cooper</a> being nominated for Best Actor.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"> <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Even though it must be noted that Rocket is a much better shot, Bradley's performance blew me away in American Sniper. When I first saw the film, I was afraid it wasn't showboaty enough for the Academy. But, obviously, he came through. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">3) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JakeGyllenhaal" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=22214272464">Jake Gyllenhaal</a> deserved to be nominated for Nightcrawler. God, he was good in that film.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">4) Ditto for Amy Adams in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigEyesMovie" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=636499859797307">Big Eyes</a>.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">5) I think our Guardians costume designer, Alexandra Byrne, our Production Designer, Charles Wood, and our Sound team from Skywalker Sound were snubbed as badly as anyone.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Vince Bucci/Getty Images" title_caption="Costume designer Alexandra Byrne after her Oscar win in 2008 for " Elizabeth:="" The="" Golden="" Age.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b831e76bb3f76b39b23e44-960/alexandra-byrne-1.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Vince Bucci/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Costume designer Alexandra Byrne after her Oscar win in 2008 for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">All three of these departments created looks and sounds from nothing, from cultures that hadn't pre-existed, and created something beautiful that has already shifted the aesthetic paradigm of Hollywood films. Alex and Charles have been nominated by their peers in their guilds, but it'd be great to be acknowledged at the Oscars as well. I suppose they'll just have to be happy having made a film seen by more people than have seen all seven of the Best Film nominees combined. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">6) I also think Damien Chazelle should have been nominated as Best Director for Whiplash which is, to me, one of the greatest film accomplishments of 2014.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Deadline" title_caption="" Whiplash="" director="" and="" writer="" Damien="" Chazelle="" center="" with="" stars="" Miles="" Teller="" left="" J.K.="" Simmons="" right.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b82bd969bedd811bb5bc2e-960/whiplash-director-jk-simmons-miles-teller.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Deadline</span></p><p class="caption">"Whiplash" director and writer Damien Chazelle (center) with stars Miles Teller (left) and J.K. Simmons (right).</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">7) Foxcatcher was nominated for Best Director and not for Best Film. I don't get it.</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">What other department, exactly, was holding Foxcatcher back from being nominated for Best Film? The Director has creative control of a film - although there are some great films made without great directors, it is impossible to distinguish that without being on the inside. It really bothers me when awards for Best Director and Best Film go to different movies.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">8) The Academy has a long tradition of bad choices.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">After all, in 1941 How Green Was My Valley beat <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CitizenKaneMovie" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=105084362922372">Citizen Kane</a> for Best Picture. That said, some of the fury that's directed at the Academy because of various nominations is outrageous. I saw a lot of nearly violent anger this morning on Twitter. There may be good reasons to turn over cars in the street, but that Jennifer Aniston wasn't nominated for Cake isn't one of them. In the end, the Academy is just a bunch of people, like you or me, doing what they think is best. And they should have the right to not vote for whomever they want... besides the Lego Movie. I mean, that's just fucking ridiculous.</p>

'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Director Slams Oscar Snubs On Facebook

<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">Kin Cheung / AP</p><p class="caption">Actress Zhao Wei appears at a pro-government rally in Hong Kong.</p></div></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">THE buildings on the studio lot of <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> <keyword id="681" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="film">Film</keyword> Group, a vast government-owned company, are grey, windowless and identical. The air, even 20km outside Beijing, is heavy with pollution. Inside, Jiang Wen is filming his newest movie, "Gone with the Bullets", about a dance competition in 1920s Shanghai. He is standing on a stage with sequined dancers. Around 400 extras in black tie look on from a Gaudiesque theatre, built for the shoot. Mr Jiang, in a grey T-shirt and 3D glasses, scurries up and down the stage giving directions. Mr Jiang has been known to hold up a white board with "Sexy" written in red marker pen, and show the dancers how it should be done. Cameras swivel around the dancers, capturing their gyrations and the audience's reaction.</span></p>
<p>Mr Jiang, an actor as well as a director, is one of the stars of China's film business. His 2010 movie, "Let the Bullets Fly", attempted to invent a new genre: the Chinese Western. It was about a bandit who poses as the mayor of a remote Chinese town. The government did not appreciate its portrayal of an illegitimate leader gulling the masses, but the film was wildly popular. If everything goes smoothly "Gone with the Bullets", which is being shot in 3D, will open in theatres in China and around the world by the end of 2014. In terms of cost, the film is pushing the boundaries. It has a budget of around $50m, a princely sum by Chinese movie-making standards. A Broadway choreographer and American dancers have been brought in. On stage right near the dressing rooms, Keith Collea, an American 3D expert, sits in the dark watching his screens. "China is where it's at," he says.</p>
<p>Last year China overtook Japan to become the second-largest film market after America, with box-office receipts of around 17 billion yuan ($2.8 billion). Some people think it will be the world's biggest in five years' time. Young people, flush with cash, are eager to get out of the house. Films have become central to Chinese courtship and consumption. Enormous IMAX screens and 3D films are the rage, and in big cities carry a similar ticket price to America. Screens are flickering on around the country. More than ten a day were erected in 2012; today there are around 18,000, more than four times the number five years ago. "Journey to the West", an adventure film released in 2013, has grossed more than 1.2 billion yuan ($205m).</p>
<p>Most Chinese movies lose money: only around a quarter make it into theatres, and piracy means there is no legitimate DVD market. But then many films in Hollywood and elsewhere are unprofitable these days: according to a report by the British Film Institute earlier this month, only 7% of British films turn a profit. Chinese people like films and they like to gamble, so money is racing into the movie business. In September, for instance, Wang Jianlin, China's richest man, announced he would build the world's largest film-studio complex, for an estimated $8.2 billion, in Qingdao.</p>
<p>Hollywood is also trying to push in. Only 34 big-budget films, and a handful of independent foreign ones, are allowed into China each year, and foreign producers are allowed to keep only a small share--usually less than 25%--of box-office revenues. Even so, foreigners are desperate to get their product into China. Sometimes films are specially adapted for the market: four extra minutes of footage, featuring Chinese actors, were added to the Chinese version of "Iron Man 3", made by Disney's Marvel.</p>
<p>To gain a foothold in China, Hollywood studios are helping finance films or co-producing them. Mr Jiang's "Gone with the Bullets" has backing from Sony, a Hollywood studio; DreamWorks, which made cartoon hits like "Shrek", has set up Oriental Dreamworks, a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group, a state-owned studio, and two other firms, to make animated films for the Chinese market. There are risks to working in China as Relativity Media, a Hollywood studio, discovered in 2011. It got flak from the Western press for shooting a movie in Linyi, an ambitious city in Shandong province, when Chen Guangcheng, a well-known human-rights activist, was being held under house arrest in the city. But the lure of the Chinese market tends to outweigh reputational risk, and Relativity is financing a new film located in the city of Linyi (see box).</p>
<p>American influence in China's film business is nothing new. "Everything we learned, we learned from Hollywood," says Yu Dong, the boss of Bona Film Group, one of China's largest independent studios. In some ways China's movie industry resembles 1930s Hollywood, when studios controlled all business lines--from talent to production to theatres--before a 1948 Supreme Court ruling forced them to divest. In China, this is called "being a dragon from head to tail". Huayi Brothers, one of China's largest studios, whose name evokes the fraternal Warners, oversees actors, production, distribution and cinemas.</p>
<p>Yet the differences are more obvious than the similarities. China's film industry lacks Hollywood's technical sophistication. Even costly Chinese movies often look amateurish. "I fell asleep," confesses a woman when the lights come on at a Beijing cineplex. She had left work a few minutes early to catch a late afternoon screening of "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" in 3D. During some scenes the special effects looked like a 1990s video game. The plot and dialogue were not much slicker.</p>
<p>China's movie business also lacks Tinseltown's glamour. Mr Yu's small office is on the 18th floor of a dingy Beijing tower block above a busy road. Smoke from his cigarettes fills the air; honks rise from the street below. There is no Hollywood-style party scene because stars tend to keep out of polluted Beijing. They treat club openings as work events and expect to get paid to turn up.</p>
<p>But the big difference is in the location of power. In America power lies with the studios; in China with the state. The government controls which films are made and has a hand in every aspect of the film business, from production to exhibition. China Film Group produces movies and distributes Hollywood and Chinese films. The government rewards independent producers for making films it approves of--Desen International Media, a production company, received a bonus of 3m yuan for "Full Circle", which promoted filial piety, for instance--and blocks Hollywood films during national holidays, to help Chinese ones.</p>
<p>Hollywood has always been the world's dream-maker, but China's government wants the country to make its own. A communiqué released after the Central Committee meeting of the Chinese Communist Party in 2011 announced that "it is a pressing task to increase the state's cultural soft power" and to "build our country into a socialist cultural superpower". When Shanghai Media Group signed its deal with DreamWorks last year, Xi Jinping, then vice-president and now president, attended the ceremony in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>The government has twin ambitions in fostering the film industry, one domestic and one global. At home, it wants people to see films that will inculcate Chinese values and culture. And it wants them to go voluntarily: the party used to force people to watch propaganda films, but even it saw that this was like winning an ice-skating medal after beating up the competition with a bat. Abroad, the government wants to spread a more attractive image of the country. Hosting the Olympics was one attempt at this; but film premieres can happen more often. Yet China punches well below its weight in the film world: it has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes only once, 20 years ago, for Chen Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine"--which was banned in China at the time. The government wants to change that, and has recently helped organise events to showcase Chinese films in places as diverse as Fiji, Cambodia and New York.</p>
<p>As with the Olympics, the government does not feel comfortable leaving creative elements to chance. Except during the 1930s, when China had a thriving independent film industry centred in Shanghai and operating with relatively little interference, the political climate has defined and confined its films. Private studios were dissolved after the Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1937. When the Communist Party came to power in 1949, it recognised that movies could be useful. Government studios made films packed with peasants and propaganda, and wheeled mobile projectors to rural areas to ensure they reached millions. Tickets were given out at work, and everybody had to attend. Independent movies started again in the 1970s, and then sputtered along. Now a few independent studios operate within the constraints of a state-controlled system.</p>
<h3>If it's entertaining, cut it</h3>
<p>"The Chinese producer is the best producer in the world," claims Mr Yu. "He has to negotiate the Chinese government and the market." China does not have a sex-and-violence ratings system of the sort that operates in most of the rest of the world to protect children and young people, but films cannot be screened until they have been signed off by censors at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Film-makers must submit a draft of the script in advance of shooting, and later a final cut of the film. The censorship board, which has around three dozen members, objects to violence, sex, drugs and anything critical of the party, either explicitly or implicitly--in other words, every ingredient that might be used to fill seats. Success comes from predicting what censors will object to, and writing scripts in such a way that they do not. Overt political commentary is unacceptable; that is probably why so many films are set in the past.</p>
<p>Censors often ask for multiple script revisions before giving the go-ahead, and, after seeing the final cut, request that scenes be eliminated. Film-makers' reactions to these restrictions range from acceptance to outrage. Zhao Wei, a famous actress and the director of "So Young", a drama about college in the 1990s that came out this year, had to axe a masturbation scene. She considers herself lucky: movies can be held up for years. In April the China Film Directors' Guild honoured Feng Xiaogang, a director. In his acceptance speech he complained about the "torment" of censorship. Even when films have been given a green light, censors sometimes change their minds. Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" was pulled from theatres after a few days.</p>
<p>While producers in Hollywood try to drum up as much interest as possible in their films, those in China keep them quiet, so as not to pique censors' interest or suspicion. Your correspondent visited the set of a movie that had gone through around 20 versions of the script before it was approved. The censors signed off on it only after a sympathetic communist hero was written in. A crew member confided that the censors were still going through the script, even though shooting had begun, and were trying to get the final, climactic scene eliminated. When some of the producers heard a journalist had been on set, they were horrified, lest the movie's name be printed.</p>
<p>Some say that the censors are loosening up a bit. A racy scene was cut from "So Young", for example, but several abortions were left in. "No Man's Land", a sinister thriller, was held up for more than two years because censors thought it was "too dark" and "too distant from real life". But after what are believed to be significant modifications, it was released in early December. "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"--this autumn's Hollywood blockbuster, in which a totalitarian regime sacrifices its young for the entertainment of the masses--was, to general astonishment, screened in Chinese cinemas. Popular online video sites, such as Youku, host original movies, called "microfilms", which are not subject to the same censorship process, but this is probably an oversight rather than progress.</p>
<p>The government uses subsidy as well as censorship to get the kind of films it wants made. It forks out increasing sums for propaganda films, which account for an estimated 10% of movies being made each year. "The Founding of a Republic", a 2009 film celebrating the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, was a glossy Hollywood-style epic featuring so many stars that some had to be cut out of the final version.</p>
<p>Yet for all its efforts, the government is not really getting what it wants from its film industry. Far from inculcating the masses with Chinese culture and values the party approves of, successful films are often adaptations of Hollywood hits. "Lost in Thailand", a comedy about male friends reminiscent of Hollywood's "The Hangover", did well last year, as did "Tiny Times", a film about four materialistic friends in Shanghai and their luxurious lifestyle, which has been described as a cross between "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Sex and the City" (without the sex). A saccharine tribute to materialism, "Tiny Times" did particularly well in smaller, less-developed "tier 3" and "tier 4" cities, whose citizens aspire to be rich and fashionable but want to watch characters that feel home-grown. Ann An of Desen International Media, one of the producers, says the film appealed to stressed, overworked audiences. "We provided a two-hour dream for them." A film-maker says the head of the censorship board has privately described the Chinese films being made today as "trashy".</p>
<p>Nor do Chinese movies travel well. "Lost in Thailand" grossed around $192m in China, but a mere $60,000 in America. Even audiences in Taiwan and Hong Kong do not have much interest in mainland films. The plots tend to be blunt and the acting melodramatic. "Flowers of War", a costly movie about the Nanjing Massacre starring a Hollywood actor, Christian Bale, was intended to go global. But it fell flat outside China and failed to win the awards or critical acclaim officials had been hoping for.</p>
<p>Too many films are both too foreign and too familiar for audiences abroad: "Finding Mr. Right", for instance, is a romantic comedy about a woman who goes to Seattle at the behest of her married lover to give birth to their baby, and finds love there. The story feels relevant and modern to Chinese audiences, but to foreign ones it has no surprises and too many echoes of "Sleepless in Seattle", a Hollywood classic.</p>
<p>A lighter touch by the censors might produce films that were more authentically Chinese and artistically interesting. It would also avoid embarrassing incidents. The Chinese film that has garnered most attention in the West lately is "A Touch of Sin" by Jia Zhangke--a gloomy art-house portrayal of modern China that won the award for best screenplay at Cannes this year. The government has banned it from cinemas and journalists from interviewing Mr Jia. More Westerners have probably seen reports of this in recent months than have watched a Chinese film.</p>
<p>The head of the censorship board has privately described the films being made today as "trashy"</p>
<p> </p>
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