The Accidental Turitz: Facebook Got Caught Censoring Advertising for a Holocaust Movie and Now It May Get Sued
I don’t get really mad all that often. Peeved? Yes. Aggravated? Sure. Irritated? Rather easily, actually. It’s something for which my wife makes great fun of me, how quickly I will express displeasure at someone for thoughtlessness or douchebaggery — like when you let someone cut in front of you in traffic and they... »
Union Roundup: Part 2 of Our Creative Arts Emmys Coverage, From Music Cues to Filmed Faces and Slow-Moving Changes
Randy Rainbow was one of the hosts on the first night of the two-part Creative Arts Emmy weekend, dressed in a sparkling tuxedo, and singing — to the tune of “It Had To Be You,” the words “It Had to Be Crew.” He paused during some of the lyrical play to note “I didn’t... »
The Accidental Turitz: D23 Revealed the Future of Star Wars and Marvel, But Harrison Ford Stole the Show
I don’t know when certain studios began spending an entire weekend touting all of their upcoming content, but Disney has certainly mastered the process. The latest D23 Expo took place this past weekend, and you have to hand it to the Mouse House — the folks over there know how to put on a... »
Union Roundup: Creative Arts Emmys Honor Those Who Both Paved the Way and Will Lead It Going Forward
On the second night of the Creative Arts Emmys (for indeed, it’s an event so sprawling, with so many categories, that it takes two evenings, a week ahead of the Primetime Emmys, to get it all done), Edward James Olmos kicked things off, exhorting the crowd into celebratory response. He started by saying that... »
Indie Filmmaker Neil LaBute on His Return Behind the Camera With Thrillers House of Darkness & Out of the Blue
It feels like we haven’t seen many movies from playwright-turned-filmmaker Neil LaBute in recent years. In fact, it’s been seven years since his last feature film, Dirty Weekend, which came after a fairly prolific run that began in 1997 with an adaptation of his own stage play, In the Company of Men. That was... »
Barbarian Filmmaker Zach Cregger on How He Made One of the Year’s Craziest Horror Films With the Help of a Bulgarian Crew
Zach Cregger spent many years making the series The Whitest Kids U Know, writing and directing most of the episodes with the late Trevor Moore. The two of them also co-directed a few comedy features, but none of Cregger’s past work hinted at the horrors that lurk within his new movie Barbarian, which hits... »
The Accidental Turitz: Warner Bros. Learned the Hard Way Not to Give Zack Snyder’s Rabid Fans What They Want
Some years back, I was involved in a film project that, in retrospect, was doomed from the start, but of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I hadn’t made anything in a while, so I got involved when I shouldn’t have and ignored repeated warning signs. To quote a line from the... »
Union Roundup: Production Incentives Experts Gather, Hoping Hollywood Can Bring Economic Recovery As We Learn to Live With Covid
During the dog days of August, one of our excuses for staying in, where the air was cooler, was a Zoom seminar (remember those, in these suddenly, precipitously, unmasked times?) from Entertainment Partners, that offered an update on U.S. Production Incentives for 2022. The seminar focused on four states — Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and... »
Summering Director James Ponsoldt on the Challenge of Capturing Elusive Female Friendships Among Tweens
Filmmaker James Ponsoldt cut his teeth in the world of independent filmmaking with a number of highly-regarded movies that premiered either at Sundance or SXSW, beginning with his 2006 debut, Off the Black, and continuing through Smashed in 2012, The Spectacular Now in 2013, and The End of the Tour in 2015. (Ponsoldt’s 2017... »
The Accidental Turitz: Celebrity-Obsessed Critics Groups Have Gone From Covering Awards Season to Playing Lead Roles in It
Many years ago, in a different lifetime, I was the staff writer at Us magazine, back when it was a monthly and, therefore, still semi-respectable. It was like a cross between Entertainment Weekly and Premiere, two late, lamented publications that had class and wrote interesting stories and weren’t just paparazzi rags, but it was... »
