Sunset Boulevard

All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up - Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Before I start in on the real news, I just wanted to say hello to everyone reading, and invite you to come back for a new column every Friday morning. I also wanted to introduce myself – I work at a small production company in Hollywood and graduated from film school at the University of Southern California. Every week, I will be writing a column summing up the week’s biggest stories in the entertainment industry from an insider’s perspective. Of course, so much happens each week that I will have to pick and choose stories to tell – so please don’t hesitate to send me suggestions on areas you’d like more or less coverage on, etc.

  Okay, introductions over with, here’s the news:

Awards Season

Awards season is now in full swing. With the Golden Globes behind us, and Oscar nominations out, everyone is clamoring to pick the winners – and as in years past, there are bound to be some surprises. If you want my thoughts on the major Oscar contenders, please read my article here.

This past Sunday held the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Many of you may be familiar with the winners and losers, but the most interesting story about the SAG awards to me is the resulting speculation about Little Miss Sunshine being poised to win the Oscar. Despite the fact that Little Miss Sunshine is definitely the underdog of the Best Picture Competition, a lot of people are remembering last year’s awards. Last year, the SAG award for Ensemble Cast went to Crash, also the underdog in the Oscar race. Of course, as we all remember, Crash went on to win the Oscar. One of the reasons behind the correlation might be the fact that actors make up the largest voting bloc in the Academy, so it follows that whoever gets the most votes at the SAG awards, is going to have a definite advantage in the Academy Awards. Could Little Miss Sunshine pull a Crash? It’s within the realm of possibility…

In less talked about awards news, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Terrence Howard have signed on to host the Independent Spirit Awards which happen on February 22^nd.

Sundance
Every year, filmmakers, buyers, agents, actors, and celebrity-types head to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. Same people, different films. I wasn't there this year, but from talking to people who were, I get the feeling it was a strange year for Sundance movies and acquisitions. Although nobody seemed to come home with anything spectacular on their minds (i.e. Little Miss Sunshine), buyers came back with plenty. Whether an Oscar contender exists in this year's bunch is yet to be seen...Some of the most talked about films were David Gordon Green's Snow Angels, James Strouse's Grace is Gone, Chris Zalla's Padre Nuestro, Jeffrey Blitz's Rocketscience, and Brent Morgan's Chicago 10.

Of course, Sundance isn't Sundance without controversy - and these three films were guaranteed to cause discussion: Mitchell Lichtenstein's Teeth about a woman who has teeth in her...ahem; Robinson Devore's Zoo about the subtleties of bestiality; and Deborah Kampmeier's Hounddog, also known as the "Dakota Fanning Rape Movie."

New Movies Announced
Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Will Ferrell (Stranger than Fiction) have signed on to star in Semi-Pro, a basketball comedy for New Line. Ferrell will play the owner/coach/player of a fictional basketball team and Arnett will play a sports commentator.

Paul Rudd (The 40-year Old Virgin) and Sean William Scott (Dukes of Hazard) will star in Big Brothers as two beer reps who are forced to do community service and join the Big Brothers organization.

Penelope Cruz (Volver) was in the news twice this week for new movies. Word has it she will be starring in Woody Allen's next film which will be shot in both English and Spanish and set in Barcelona. She has also teamed up once again with Pedro Almodovar - their collaboration continues to get better with each successive film.

Jennifer Garner (Catch and Release) will be in a remake of Christmas in Connecticut about a Martha Stewart-type who everyone believes lives in a cozy cottage in Connecticut, but in reality lives with her boyfriend in New York City.

Russell Crowe will star in Nottingham, a film about Robin Hood from the Sherriff's perspective that incited a bidding war (Universal won out in the end, apparently paying seven figures for the coveted script). Crowe is reportedly receiving $20 million dollars for his role in the film.

Other Newsworthy Tidbits
Forget about movie trailers this Sunday, as only two films will have Super Bowl ads. I guess Hollywood figured $2.6 million dollar for a commercial slot just wasn't worth it. I can sort of see why...

Everyone should check out Anne Thompson's Risky Biz column on Women Filmmaking Statistics here.

Al Gore has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an advocate of the environment. If you haven't yet seen An Inconvenient Truth, I implore you to move it to the top of your Netflix queue.

Rumor has it....
Early in the week it was rumored that Rachel McAdams would replace Katie Holmes in the next Batman movie, Dark Knight (Holmes decided to take a role in the low-budget comedy Mad Money opposite Queen Latifah and Diane Keaton). New rumors say Emily Blunt is the top pick. Nothing has been made official yet.

Also rumored earlier this week was that Courtney Love had been approached by the producers of American Idol to replace Paula Abdul, whose on-screen antics have become increasingly....let's just say speculation about drug use has been widespread. She issued a denial, but who really knows...

Could Guy Pierce be replaying his LA Confidential role in the upcoming George Clooney-starring White Jazz (based on the James Ellroy novel which was a sequel to "LA Confidential")?

Finally, my favorite sleazy rumor - Sienna Miller and Hayden Christenson's on-screen love scene in Factory Girl is real. They're not faking it. Talk about dirty!


As they used to say, That's All Folks! Enjoy your weeks and go catch up on the Oscar nominees you haven't yet seen!

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Alex M., Movie Correspondent

Alex's column, Sunset Boulevard, published every Friday to Gather Essentials: Movies, is a weekly summary of the movie industry's biggest stories.

Alex is a film school grad working at a production company in Hollywood. She's been passionate about movies since she knew what they were and always has an opinion (for better or worse).

You can find all of Alex's Sunset Boulevard columns at gather.com/SunsetBoulevard

Keep up with Alex's other postings and Gather activity by joining her Gather network -- just click here and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page

You’ll find Alex and other Movie Correspondents, plus celebrity content and plenty of other movie buffs at Movies.gather.com