Seven top film producers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, November 28, at 6:00 p.m. Pt; 9:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.
RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Synopsis: When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.
Bio: James L. Brooks was a three-time Oscar winner for “Terms of Endearment” and was also nominated for “Broadcast News,...
RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Synopsis: When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.
Bio: James L. Brooks was a three-time Oscar winner for “Terms of Endearment” and was also nominated for “Broadcast News,...
- 11/14/2023
- by Chris Beachum and Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
“Inimitable storyteller” and “mythic storyteller” were a few of the superlatives sung of David Johansen, former New York Dolls frontman turned lounge act Buster Poindexter, at the Metrograph premiere of “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” in New York Tuesday.
But they could easily apply to the film’s co-director, Martin Scorsese, who made the cabaret concert documentary with David Tedeschi, the longtime editor on his past nonfiction music films like “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” and Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue.”
Curiously for an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has made eight music documentaries along with Fran Lebowitz portraits “Pretend It’s a City” and “Public Speaking” and other nonfiction efforts, Scorsese doesn’t exactly subscribe to the term documentary itself. Or differentiate it from his fiction features like “The Irishman” or the upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” at all.
“For me, what I’m trying to do is...
But they could easily apply to the film’s co-director, Martin Scorsese, who made the cabaret concert documentary with David Tedeschi, the longtime editor on his past nonfiction music films like “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” and Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue.”
Curiously for an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has made eight music documentaries along with Fran Lebowitz portraits “Pretend It’s a City” and “Public Speaking” and other nonfiction efforts, Scorsese doesn’t exactly subscribe to the term documentary itself. Or differentiate it from his fiction features like “The Irishman” or the upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” at all.
“For me, what I’m trying to do is...
- 4/12/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Martin Scorsese has turned his camera on the legacy of glam rock, as embodied by the famed band the New York Dolls.
Oscar winner Scorsese and Emmy nominee David Tedeschi (“The 50 Year Argument”) co-direct documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” about music legend and New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. The synopsis reads: Framed around an intimate cabaret performance filmed in January 2020 at New York City’s storied Café Carlyle, the film explores the life and musical transformations of New York Dolls frontman David Johansen’s enormous influence as he regales the audience with stories and music illuminating the art and cultural evolution of New York City.
“Vegetarian, gay, straight; I just wanted to bring those walls down and have a party,” Johansen says in the trailer.
Scorsese has helmed multiple documentaries, especially centered on rock ‘n roll. Past docs include “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan,” “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,...
Oscar winner Scorsese and Emmy nominee David Tedeschi (“The 50 Year Argument”) co-direct documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” about music legend and New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. The synopsis reads: Framed around an intimate cabaret performance filmed in January 2020 at New York City’s storied Café Carlyle, the film explores the life and musical transformations of New York Dolls frontman David Johansen’s enormous influence as he regales the audience with stories and music illuminating the art and cultural evolution of New York City.
“Vegetarian, gay, straight; I just wanted to bring those walls down and have a party,” Johansen says in the trailer.
Scorsese has helmed multiple documentaries, especially centered on rock ‘n roll. Past docs include “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan,” “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,...
- 3/16/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Legendary director Martin Scorsese will be this year’s recipient of the Location Managers Guild International’s Eva Monley Award, presented to filmmakers who have demonstrated extraordinary support for the work of location professionals. It’s named in honor of the late-Eva Monley, who scouted locations for David Lean, John Huston, Otto Preminger and many others. The 9th annual awards ceremony will be held Aug. 27 at the Los Angeles Center Studios.
“We are so proud to be able to honor Martin Scorsese, a master of cinema whose work has inspired generations of filmmakers, delighted fans around the world and made the work of his location managers shine on the screen,” said Lmgi president John Rakich.
Scorsese, whose film career spans seven decades, has directed such critically acclaimed, award-winning films as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Shutter Island,...
“We are so proud to be able to honor Martin Scorsese, a master of cinema whose work has inspired generations of filmmakers, delighted fans around the world and made the work of his location managers shine on the screen,” said Lmgi president John Rakich.
Scorsese, whose film career spans seven decades, has directed such critically acclaimed, award-winning films as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Shutter Island,...
- 7/13/2022
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
The 37th Annual International Documentary Association Awards, streamed online Friday night, capped a big week for nonfiction awards that also included the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors, presented live in New York on Wednesday.
Both awards groups honored Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated immigration saga “Flee” (Neon) with their top honors, while the Danish International Feature Oscar contender’s fellow Oscar nominee “Summer of Soul” (Searchlight/Hulu) notched three IDA awards: Rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won for Best Director, Best Music Documentary, and Best Editing. Oscar nominee Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension,” an observational look at the class structure in China, won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, the most of the evening, for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Original Score and Debut Feature.
Oscar nominee “Writing with Fire” nabbed the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award for the India-based directing team Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.
The IDA online ceremony, which was pre-recorded,...
Both awards groups honored Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated immigration saga “Flee” (Neon) with their top honors, while the Danish International Feature Oscar contender’s fellow Oscar nominee “Summer of Soul” (Searchlight/Hulu) notched three IDA awards: Rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won for Best Director, Best Music Documentary, and Best Editing. Oscar nominee Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension,” an observational look at the class structure in China, won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, the most of the evening, for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Original Score and Debut Feature.
Oscar nominee “Writing with Fire” nabbed the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award for the India-based directing team Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.
The IDA online ceremony, which was pre-recorded,...
- 3/5/2022
- by Anne Thompson and Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2021 at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were presented on Tuesday night in New York City. “The Rescue,” about the efforts to retrieve a Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave, won the Audience Choice Prize.
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
- 3/2/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
There’s a point in “The Oratorio” when the attention turns to the organ at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York City. The giant instrument is both a vestige and a living example of the long history of the church, located on Mulberry Street near Chinatown and Little Italy in Manhattan. With key parts made from wood and leather, it’s something for which continued existence isn’t a guarantee. It has to be nurtured if it’s going to continue on in its current form. “The Oratorio” doesn’t lean into the metaphor, but for a documentary about opera, it’s hard not to see it as a perfect representation of another institution that has survived with the help of people keeping it alive.
Airing on PBS on Friday, “The Oratorio” boasts Martin Scorsese as a cheerleader for the value of not just the organ or the artform,...
Airing on PBS on Friday, “The Oratorio” boasts Martin Scorsese as a cheerleader for the value of not just the organ or the artform,...
- 11/5/2021
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Cinema Eye Honors, an influential bellwether in the race for documentary awards, kicked off its 15th year with non-fiction award-winners announced at its annual Los Angeles lunch attended by many top filmmakers. Steve James’ five-part Chicago series “City So Real,” and Spike Lee’s filmed portrait of David Byrne’s Broadway show “American Utopia” lead the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast nominations list with three nods apiece. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while “City So Real” joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography.
“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.
“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.
- 10/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Cinema Eye Honors, an influential bellwether in the race for documentary awards, kicked off its 15th year with non-fiction award-winners announced at its annual Los Angeles lunch attended by many top filmmakers. Steve James’ five-part Chicago series “City So Real,” and Spike Lee’s filmed portrait of David Byrne’s Broadway show “American Utopia” lead the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast nominations list with three nods apiece. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while “City So Real” joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography.
“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.
“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.
- 10/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
“Secrets of the Whales,” the Disney+ docuseries that offers a deep dive on whale cultures, won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series on Sunday afternoon.
The documentary series, which was filmed in two dozen locations over three years, premiered on Disney+ in April 2021. Disney’s description for the show reads:
“‘Secrets of the Whales’ plunges viewers deep within the epicenter of whale culture to experience the extraordinary communication skills and intricate social structures of five different whale species: Orcas, humpbacks, belugas, narwhals, and sperm whales. Throughout this epic journey, we learn that whales are far more complex and more like us than ever imagined.
The project beat out PBS’ “American Masters,” National Geographic’s “City So Real,” Netflix’s “Pretend It’s a City,” and HBO’s “Allen v. Farrow” for the Emmy — the latter of which was heavily favored to win.
National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry,...
The documentary series, which was filmed in two dozen locations over three years, premiered on Disney+ in April 2021. Disney’s description for the show reads:
“‘Secrets of the Whales’ plunges viewers deep within the epicenter of whale culture to experience the extraordinary communication skills and intricate social structures of five different whale species: Orcas, humpbacks, belugas, narwhals, and sperm whales. Throughout this epic journey, we learn that whales are far more complex and more like us than ever imagined.
The project beat out PBS’ “American Masters,” National Geographic’s “City So Real,” Netflix’s “Pretend It’s a City,” and HBO’s “Allen v. Farrow” for the Emmy — the latter of which was heavily favored to win.
National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry,...
- 9/12/2021
- by Tyler Hersko
- Indiewire
The 73rd Primetime Emmys take place on September 19 and air live coast-to-coast on CBS. But the majority of trophies for TV’s highest honor will be handed out at the three Creative Arts Emmy ceremonies that take place in the weekend prior. On Saturday, September 11, and Sunday, September 12, the television academy handed out its Creative Arts Emmy Awards, honoring the best behind-the-scenes artists as well as achievements in animation, documentaries, reality TV, variety, and short form programming.
Saturday’s single ceremony is devoted to crafts while Sunday has back-to-back events with the afternoon focused on reality and documentaries and the evening on acting, music and variety.
Scroll down for the complete 2021 Creative Arts Emmy winners list. Winners are noted with an X and in gold.
Guest Acting
Best Comedy Guest Actress
Yvette Nicole Brown, “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
Issa Rae, “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
Jane Adams, “Hacks”
Maya Rudolph,...
Saturday’s single ceremony is devoted to crafts while Sunday has back-to-back events with the afternoon focused on reality and documentaries and the evening on acting, music and variety.
Scroll down for the complete 2021 Creative Arts Emmy winners list. Winners are noted with an X and in gold.
Guest Acting
Best Comedy Guest Actress
Yvette Nicole Brown, “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
Issa Rae, “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
Jane Adams, “Hacks”
Maya Rudolph,...
- 9/11/2021
- by Paul Sheehan and Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The Dorian TV Awards, which are voted on by LGBTQ television critics, honored “Hacks,” “I May Destroy You,” “Pose,” “WandaVision” and others on Sunday night.
Jean Smart, Michaela Cole, Mj Rodriguez and Kathryn Hahn also earned individual awards for those shows.
Find the complete list of winners and nominees below. The winners are highlighted in bold and denoted with an asterisk. There were two ties on the program, which is technically called Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ “Dorians TV Toast 2021.”
Best TV Drama
Bridgerton
The Crown
Lovecraft Country
P-Valley
*Pose (FX)
Best TV Comedy
The Flight Attendant
Girls5eva
*Hacks (HBO Max)
PEN15
Ted Lasso
Best LGBTQ Show
I May Destroy You
*It’s A Sin (HBO Max)
Love, Victor
Pose
Veneno
Best TV Movie Or Miniseries
*I May Destroy You (HBO)
It’s a Sin
Mare of Easttown
Small Axe
The Queen’s Gambit
Best Unsung Showa
Black Lady Sketch
ShowGirls5eva
*Love,...
Jean Smart, Michaela Cole, Mj Rodriguez and Kathryn Hahn also earned individual awards for those shows.
Find the complete list of winners and nominees below. The winners are highlighted in bold and denoted with an asterisk. There were two ties on the program, which is technically called Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ “Dorians TV Toast 2021.”
Best TV Drama
Bridgerton
The Crown
Lovecraft Country
P-Valley
*Pose (FX)
Best TV Comedy
The Flight Attendant
Girls5eva
*Hacks (HBO Max)
PEN15
Ted Lasso
Best LGBTQ Show
I May Destroy You
*It’s A Sin (HBO Max)
Love, Victor
Pose
Veneno
Best TV Movie Or Miniseries
*I May Destroy You (HBO)
It’s a Sin
Mare of Easttown
Small Axe
The Queen’s Gambit
Best Unsung Showa
Black Lady Sketch
ShowGirls5eva
*Love,...
- 8/30/2021
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
FX’s groundbreaking Pose — about an LGBTQ clique navigating AIDS, bigotry and drag-ball culture in ‘80s and then ‘90s New York — earned its third consecutive Best TV Drama win at Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorians TV Awards for its third and final season. The show’s Mj Rodriguez, who last month became the first trans woman to be nominated for an Emmy in a lead acting category, received the Galeca Lgbtqia+ Trailblazer Award for creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.
HBO Max’s Hacks and HBO’s I May Destroy You also received multiple awards during the pre-recorded ceremony, hosted by veteran West Coast radio personality and LGBTQ rights activist Karel, which was streamed free Sunday on subscription channels Here TV and YouTube’s PlanetOut.
Hacks was named Best TV Comedy, I May Destroy You won Best TV Movie or Miniseries, with the shows’ stars,...
HBO Max’s Hacks and HBO’s I May Destroy You also received multiple awards during the pre-recorded ceremony, hosted by veteran West Coast radio personality and LGBTQ rights activist Karel, which was streamed free Sunday on subscription channels Here TV and YouTube’s PlanetOut.
Hacks was named Best TV Comedy, I May Destroy You won Best TV Movie or Miniseries, with the shows’ stars,...
- 8/30/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
“Pretend It’s a City,” the seven-part Netflix docu-series directed by Martin Scorsese, marks the second time that Scorsese has turned his cameras on Fran Lebowitz, the author, sardonic wit and quintessential New Yorker.
This fact makes Lebowitz very uncomfortable.
“Marty made a documentary about me, ‘Public Speaking,’ in 2010,” Lebowitz said of that film, which was broadcast on HBO and received a Gotham Independent Film Awards nomination. “And as soon as we finished, he said, ‘Let’s do another one.’ I said, ‘No, what are you talking about?’”
Her reasoning, she said, was simple: “Truthfully, if someone told me that there were going to be two documentaries about one person, and that person wasn’t George Washington, I would say, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ And I don’t want to be that ridiculous person.”
A decade after “Public Speaking,” though, Lebowitz let Scorsese film her again for “Pretend It’s a City,” an...
This fact makes Lebowitz very uncomfortable.
“Marty made a documentary about me, ‘Public Speaking,’ in 2010,” Lebowitz said of that film, which was broadcast on HBO and received a Gotham Independent Film Awards nomination. “And as soon as we finished, he said, ‘Let’s do another one.’ I said, ‘No, what are you talking about?’”
Her reasoning, she said, was simple: “Truthfully, if someone told me that there were going to be two documentaries about one person, and that person wasn’t George Washington, I would say, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ And I don’t want to be that ridiculous person.”
A decade after “Public Speaking,” though, Lebowitz let Scorsese film her again for “Pretend It’s a City,” an...
- 8/24/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Social commentator Fran Lebowitz, known for being an endless source of witty and pointed observations about American life, has accrued a lot of fans over the decades. None bigger than filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
“I admire her clarity and unequivocal stances,” Scorsese says of his friend in a statement provided to Deadline. “We need people to tell us: this is crazy, this is absurd, this is ironic, this is funny, this is tragic. Her voice cuts through the din of contemporary discourse. I want to know what she thinks about pretty much everything.”
Scorsese doesn’t just take a casual interest in Lebowitz’s opinions. He has devoted his energies to directing two documentaries about her, the 2010 film Public Speaking and the 2021 Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. The seven-part series oscillates between Lebowitz and Scorsese in conversation, to public talks Lebowitz made before the Covid pandemic hit,...
“I admire her clarity and unequivocal stances,” Scorsese says of his friend in a statement provided to Deadline. “We need people to tell us: this is crazy, this is absurd, this is ironic, this is funny, this is tragic. Her voice cuts through the din of contemporary discourse. I want to know what she thinks about pretty much everything.”
Scorsese doesn’t just take a casual interest in Lebowitz’s opinions. He has devoted his energies to directing two documentaries about her, the 2010 film Public Speaking and the 2021 Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. The seven-part series oscillates between Lebowitz and Scorsese in conversation, to public talks Lebowitz made before the Covid pandemic hit,...
- 8/24/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Anyone who reads her work knows that Cindy Adams can’t be still.
In normal times, the columnist — now 91 and still publishing multiple times a week — goes out to do reporting for her column in the New York Post. The column is a strange mélange of quotes from celebrities, conservative political analysis, invective against foes real and perceived, anecdotes about the peculiarity of life in Manhattan, and aphorisms and puns. About the only consistent thing about her column day to day is the tone — choppy, clipped, and utterly direct, treating the reader as someone intimate enough with Adams that she can speak frankly, and in shorthand.
It’s fitting that “Gossip,” Showtime’s new documentary series on which Adams is the central figure, takes a similar attitude to its subjects. “Gossip” is, at once, a personal and professional biography of Adams, a look at the rise of Rupert Murdoch as a media mogul stateside,...
In normal times, the columnist — now 91 and still publishing multiple times a week — goes out to do reporting for her column in the New York Post. The column is a strange mélange of quotes from celebrities, conservative political analysis, invective against foes real and perceived, anecdotes about the peculiarity of life in Manhattan, and aphorisms and puns. About the only consistent thing about her column day to day is the tone — choppy, clipped, and utterly direct, treating the reader as someone intimate enough with Adams that she can speak frankly, and in shorthand.
It’s fitting that “Gossip,” Showtime’s new documentary series on which Adams is the central figure, takes a similar attitude to its subjects. “Gossip” is, at once, a personal and professional biography of Adams, a look at the rise of Rupert Murdoch as a media mogul stateside,...
- 8/20/2021
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
A letter from International Cinematographers Guild President John Lindley and 13 other top cinematographers was sent to Hollywood studios urging them to reduce excessively long workday hours on film sets as they resumed talks with IATSE on Tuesday on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Along with Lindley, the letter was signed by four Oscar-winning cinematographers, including Roger A. Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki (“The Revenant”), Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”) and John Toll (“Braveheart”).
“We are Local 600 Directors of Photography who are writing to express our ongoing concern about the hazards of unsafe working hours, a practice that continues despite all the medical and indisputable evidence of the harm caused by fatigue,” their letter says. “Most notable are the numerous car accidents our colleagues have suffered in recent years, including the weekend before we entered these negotiations.”
Workday hours have been established by IATSE locals as a major talking point heading into this round of...
Along with Lindley, the letter was signed by four Oscar-winning cinematographers, including Roger A. Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki (“The Revenant”), Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”) and John Toll (“Braveheart”).
“We are Local 600 Directors of Photography who are writing to express our ongoing concern about the hazards of unsafe working hours, a practice that continues despite all the medical and indisputable evidence of the harm caused by fatigue,” their letter says. “Most notable are the numerous car accidents our colleagues have suffered in recent years, including the weekend before we entered these negotiations.”
Workday hours have been established by IATSE locals as a major talking point heading into this round of...
- 8/19/2021
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Hollywood cinematographers have signed a letter urging the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to address “the hazards of unsafe working hours” that have plagued the industry for decades.
Among the signatories are Academy Award winners Emmanuel Lubezki (“Gravity”), John Toll (“Braveheart”), Roger Deakins (“1917”), and Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”), as well as Oscar nominee Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain”).
Also signed by John Lindley — president of the International Cinematographers Guild, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 600 — the letter asks producers “to create meaningful change” now.
The letter was obtained by Deadline and written ahead of Tuesday’s contract negotiations between IATSE and the Producers alliance. The letter “notes that drowsy driving after workdays that can last 14 hours or more have contributed to numerous auto accidents over the years, including one that occurred just before the contract talks began in May.”
Discussions over how to solve the problem of “drowsy driving,...
Among the signatories are Academy Award winners Emmanuel Lubezki (“Gravity”), John Toll (“Braveheart”), Roger Deakins (“1917”), and Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”), as well as Oscar nominee Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain”).
Also signed by John Lindley — president of the International Cinematographers Guild, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 600 — the letter asks producers “to create meaningful change” now.
The letter was obtained by Deadline and written ahead of Tuesday’s contract negotiations between IATSE and the Producers alliance. The letter “notes that drowsy driving after workdays that can last 14 hours or more have contributed to numerous auto accidents over the years, including one that occurred just before the contract talks began in May.”
Discussions over how to solve the problem of “drowsy driving,...
- 8/19/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Emmy Predictions: Best Documentary or Nonfiction Series — A Wide Array of Docs, but Only One Can Win
Last Year’s Winner: “The Last Dance”
Still Eligible: No.
Hot Streak: Netflix saw its two-year hot streak interrupted when ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries took home the Emmy in 2020 — however, Jason Hehir’s documentary series was released by Netflix internationally, as well as in the U.S. prior to the Emmys, so the streamer can take some credit for its viewership, and thus, its victory. Call it a “two-and-a-half year hot streak.”
Fun Fact: Since receiving its first two nominations in 2016, Netflix has been nominated every year since, including two nominations in every Emmy cycle save for 2020, and winning three of the last five competitions. The streamer’s heavy investment in docuseries, as well as the service’s general ubiquity, has certainly helped it make an immediate impact on the documentary world at large.
Notable Ineligible Series: “The Crime of the Century” (HBO’s two-part documentary is eligible...
Still Eligible: No.
Hot Streak: Netflix saw its two-year hot streak interrupted when ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries took home the Emmy in 2020 — however, Jason Hehir’s documentary series was released by Netflix internationally, as well as in the U.S. prior to the Emmys, so the streamer can take some credit for its viewership, and thus, its victory. Call it a “two-and-a-half year hot streak.”
Fun Fact: Since receiving its first two nominations in 2016, Netflix has been nominated every year since, including two nominations in every Emmy cycle save for 2020, and winning three of the last five competitions. The streamer’s heavy investment in docuseries, as well as the service’s general ubiquity, has certainly helped it make an immediate impact on the documentary world at large.
Notable Ineligible Series: “The Crime of the Century” (HBO’s two-part documentary is eligible...
- 8/2/2021
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Emmy nominations in the doc categories are giving films passed over by the Oscars a shot at some trophies of their own.
Dick Johnson Is Dead, directed by Kirsten Johnson, 76 Days, from director Hao Wu, and Welcome to Chechnya, directed by David France, earned nominations in the juried category of Outstanding Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Each of those films had made the Oscar Documentary Feature shortlist earlier in the year, but didn’t earn Oscar nominations.
The nod to 76 Days, a film set in hospitals in Wuhan, China during the city’s initial lockdown after the outbreak of Covid-19, marks the first Emmy nomination for MTV Documentary Films, the division headed by Sheila Nevins.
“It’s a great honor to be nominated for an Emmy,” Wu said in a statement to Deadline. “As we’re still reeling from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, we sincerely hope that...
Dick Johnson Is Dead, directed by Kirsten Johnson, 76 Days, from director Hao Wu, and Welcome to Chechnya, directed by David France, earned nominations in the juried category of Outstanding Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Each of those films had made the Oscar Documentary Feature shortlist earlier in the year, but didn’t earn Oscar nominations.
The nod to 76 Days, a film set in hospitals in Wuhan, China during the city’s initial lockdown after the outbreak of Covid-19, marks the first Emmy nomination for MTV Documentary Films, the division headed by Sheila Nevins.
“It’s a great honor to be nominated for an Emmy,” Wu said in a statement to Deadline. “As we’re still reeling from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, we sincerely hope that...
- 7/13/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Fran Lebowitz is a brilliant writer, thinker and talker. A sardonic wit in the vein of Dorothy Parker whose writer’s block has prevented her from producing new written material for the last 40 years, but who regularly churns out gems on the speaker circuit and during TV appearances, she is now, at the age of 70, as associated with the city of New York as just about anyone. She is also the subject of Pretend It’s a City, a new Netflix docuseries directed by Martin Scorsese, which comes 11 years after Public Speaking, a prior Scorsese documentary about her. During a recent episode of THR’s Awards ...
- 6/21/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Fran Lebowitz is a brilliant writer, thinker and talker. A sardonic wit in the vein of Dorothy Parker whose writer’s block has prevented her from producing new written material for the last 40 years, but who regularly churns out gems on the speaker circuit and during TV appearances, she is now, at the age of 70, as associated with the city of New York as just about anyone. She is also the subject of Pretend It’s a City, a new Netflix docuseries directed by Martin Scorsese, which comes 11 years after Public Speaking, a prior Scorsese documentary about her. During a recent episode of THR’s Awards ...
- 6/21/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fran Lebowitz is finally on record saying she does not care for Bowen Yang’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live — and the actor could not be more proud to hear the news.
On Thursday, Yang visited Late Night where he and Seth Meyers talked about a number of his projects, including SNL. Yang has quickly become a fan favorite on the NBC show thanks to his characters and impressions, which include the iconic author and New York City personality staple, Lebowitz.
Yang played Lebowitz during “Weekend Update” in January, around the time her and Martin Scorsese’s docuseries, Pretend It’s a City, premiered ...
On Thursday, Yang visited Late Night where he and Seth Meyers talked about a number of his projects, including SNL. Yang has quickly become a fan favorite on the NBC show thanks to his characters and impressions, which include the iconic author and New York City personality staple, Lebowitz.
Yang played Lebowitz during “Weekend Update” in January, around the time her and Martin Scorsese’s docuseries, Pretend It’s a City, premiered ...
- 6/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Fran Lebowitz is finally on record saying she does not care for Bowen Yang’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live — and the actor could not be more proud to hear the news.
On Thursday, Yang visited Late Night where he and Seth Meyers talked about a number of his projects, including SNL. Yang has quickly become a fan favorite on the NBC show thanks to his characters and impressions, which include the iconic author and New York City personality staple, Lebowitz.
Yang played Lebowitz during “Weekend Update” in January, around the time her and Martin Scorsese’s docuseries, Pretend It’s a City, premiered ...
On Thursday, Yang visited Late Night where he and Seth Meyers talked about a number of his projects, including SNL. Yang has quickly become a fan favorite on the NBC show thanks to his characters and impressions, which include the iconic author and New York City personality staple, Lebowitz.
Yang played Lebowitz during “Weekend Update” in January, around the time her and Martin Scorsese’s docuseries, Pretend It’s a City, premiered ...
- 6/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, comprised of over 300 entertainment journalists in the U.S. and abroad, has announced its 2021 Dorian TV Award nominations.
“I’m so proud,” said the Society’s newly elected president, Monika Estrella Negra. “Our group’s nominations are diverse and fresh, signaling the overhaul of invisibility of marginalized communities and the heralding of a new generation of entertainment journalists.”
The final season of Pose, FX’s found-family drama, leads with six nominations, including Best TV Drama. Disney+’s TV-spoofing Marvel fantasy WandaVision is close behind with five nominations. And with four nominations each are HBO’s grim Kate Winslet-led murder mystery Mare of Easttown and vividly frank I May Destroy You, as well as the heartrending drama It’s a Sin from HBO Max.
Spurred by passionate pleas from non-binary activists, as well as non-binary journalists and others in Galeca’s own ranks,...
“I’m so proud,” said the Society’s newly elected president, Monika Estrella Negra. “Our group’s nominations are diverse and fresh, signaling the overhaul of invisibility of marginalized communities and the heralding of a new generation of entertainment journalists.”
The final season of Pose, FX’s found-family drama, leads with six nominations, including Best TV Drama. Disney+’s TV-spoofing Marvel fantasy WandaVision is close behind with five nominations. And with four nominations each are HBO’s grim Kate Winslet-led murder mystery Mare of Easttown and vividly frank I May Destroy You, as well as the heartrending drama It’s a Sin from HBO Max.
Spurred by passionate pleas from non-binary activists, as well as non-binary journalists and others in Galeca’s own ranks,...
- 6/17/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” is widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, but Scorsese still has a bone to pick with his masterpiece. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times (via NME), Fran Lebowitz revealed that Scorsese often griped about “Taxi Driver” during the making of their Netflix documentary series “Pretend It’s a City.” Why does “Taxi Driver” agitate Scorsese so much? The color red.
“What takes long with Marty is the editing, because Marty never feels finished,” Lebowitz said. “I guarantee you if they had not taken it away from him, he would still be editing ‘Taxi Driver.’ He’s still angry. He said to me numerous times: ‘You know what ruins “Taxi Driver”? The color red. The studio wouldn’t give me enough money to correct the color red, and that’s why it’s horrible.’ I say, ‘You know what’s wrong with “Taxi Driver,...
“What takes long with Marty is the editing, because Marty never feels finished,” Lebowitz said. “I guarantee you if they had not taken it away from him, he would still be editing ‘Taxi Driver.’ He’s still angry. He said to me numerous times: ‘You know what ruins “Taxi Driver”? The color red. The studio wouldn’t give me enough money to correct the color red, and that’s why it’s horrible.’ I say, ‘You know what’s wrong with “Taxi Driver,...
- 6/15/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
If bon mots were bonbons, Fran Lebowitz would be Willie Wonka.
She has been dispensing witty observations for decades now, in her book The Fran Lebowitz Reader, as a frequent and reliably funny guest on late-night TV, and most recently in the Netflix documentary series Pretend It’s a City.
Her friend Martin Scorsese directed the Emmy-contending series, the second documentary he’s made that focused on Lebowitz, after the 2010 film Public Speaking. Pretend It’s a City consists of conversations between the two, as well as public speaking engagements Lebowitz made before Covid hit, moderated by the likes of Spike Lee, Alec Baldwin, and Olivia Wilde.
The seven-part series includes an ample supply of pithy comments, most of them springing from Lebowitz’s curmudgeonly point of view—a longtime New York resident (though originally from New Jersey) who feels constantly irked by the foibles of people with whom she shares the city.
She has been dispensing witty observations for decades now, in her book The Fran Lebowitz Reader, as a frequent and reliably funny guest on late-night TV, and most recently in the Netflix documentary series Pretend It’s a City.
Her friend Martin Scorsese directed the Emmy-contending series, the second documentary he’s made that focused on Lebowitz, after the 2010 film Public Speaking. Pretend It’s a City consists of conversations between the two, as well as public speaking engagements Lebowitz made before Covid hit, moderated by the likes of Spike Lee, Alec Baldwin, and Olivia Wilde.
The seven-part series includes an ample supply of pithy comments, most of them springing from Lebowitz’s curmudgeonly point of view—a longtime New York resident (though originally from New Jersey) who feels constantly irked by the foibles of people with whom she shares the city.
- 6/14/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
“What is really going on with all of these different projects are great stories about these extraordinary people who care a tremendous amount about what they do, or are doing it as well as they possibly can under high stakes circumstances,” says R.J. Cutler about his trio of nonfiction programs this year. He directed the documentaries “Belushi” (Showtime) and “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” (Apple TV+) and he created and executive produces the docuseries “Dear…” (Apple TV+). Watch our exclusive video interview with Cutler above.
“Dear…” explores a different public figure in each episode (ranging from Spike Lee to Gloria Steinem to Oprah Winfrey), with their stories told through the prism of letters written to them by people whose lives they’ve affected. “As [episode two subject Lin-Manuel Miranda] says, your work is like a pebble in a pond of water,” Cutler explains. “You put it out there and the ripple...
“Dear…” explores a different public figure in each episode (ranging from Spike Lee to Gloria Steinem to Oprah Winfrey), with their stories told through the prism of letters written to them by people whose lives they’ve affected. “As [episode two subject Lin-Manuel Miranda] says, your work is like a pebble in a pond of water,” Cutler explains. “You put it out there and the ripple...
- 6/6/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
When speaking with talent affiliated with some of the most prominent television documentaries of the past year, the subjects of their favorite documentaries as well as the challenges of conveying the truth in a time when it’s easy to get lost in disinformation were subjects that provoked deep discussions. Gold Derby recently put this question to James Gay-Rees (“1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything”), Hao Wu (“76 Days”), Madison Hamburg (“Murder on Middle Beach”), Ellen Kuras (“Pretend it’s a City”) and Wendy Williams (“Wendy Williams: What a Mess”) during our recent “Meet the Experts” panel.
You can watch the documentary group panel above with these five creative talents. Click on each person’s name above to be taken to their individual interview.
For Hamburg, he wasn’t able to single out one specific documentary that influenced him. He did cite masters of the genre including Frederick Wiseman and Steve James,...
You can watch the documentary group panel above with these five creative talents. Click on each person’s name above to be taken to their individual interview.
For Hamburg, he wasn’t able to single out one specific documentary that influenced him. He did cite masters of the genre including Frederick Wiseman and Steve James,...
- 6/3/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Ellen Kuras had never been to the Queens Museum prior to filming “Pretend it’s a City,” but Martin Scorsese wanted to shoot at the museum’s infamous Panorama of the City of New York, a massive scale model of the city. “The whole thing about that is that it is so delicate and fragile that when we first started going out and we started filming, we couldn’t put our cameras out in the middle. We had to put them on the very end,” Kuras tells Gold Derby in our Meet the Experts: Television Documentary panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). Shooting with Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz, Kuras was unprepared for what followed. “Fran comes up through the Verrazanos and comes all the way up and as it turns out, she ended up stepping over the Manhattan Bridge and knocks over the Manhattan Bridge!”
“Pretend it’s a City” is...
“Pretend it’s a City” is...
- 6/3/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
This story about Fran Lebowitz and “Pretend It’s a City” first appeared in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.
Fran Lebowitz has been a chronicler, raconteur, eloquent grouch and professional New Yorker for decades now, and the 71-year-old writer is on full display in “Pretend It’s a City,” a Netflix documentary series from her longtime friend Martin Scorsese. Drawn from conversations with Scorsese as well as footage of Lebowitz dating back to the 1970s, it’s a sardonic portrait of a woman who can’t stop complaining about the place where she lives, but would never consider living anywhere else.
I know you don’t like watching yourself on screen, but I imagine you had to watch “Pretend It’s a City” in the editing stage.
Right. I mean, one million times. I’m sure you’re aware of how much Marty edits. I can absolutely promise you...
Fran Lebowitz has been a chronicler, raconteur, eloquent grouch and professional New Yorker for decades now, and the 71-year-old writer is on full display in “Pretend It’s a City,” a Netflix documentary series from her longtime friend Martin Scorsese. Drawn from conversations with Scorsese as well as footage of Lebowitz dating back to the 1970s, it’s a sardonic portrait of a woman who can’t stop complaining about the place where she lives, but would never consider living anywhere else.
I know you don’t like watching yourself on screen, but I imagine you had to watch “Pretend It’s a City” in the editing stage.
Right. I mean, one million times. I’m sure you’re aware of how much Marty edits. I can absolutely promise you...
- 6/1/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Check out the premiere of our interviews with the creative teams behind “What a Mess” (Wendy Williams), “Pretend It’s a City” (cinematographer Ellen Kuras), “76 Days” (director and writer Hao Wu), “Murder on Middle Beach” (Madison Hamburg) and “1971” (producer James Gay-Rees). Followed by a roundtable discussion hosted by Charles Bright. The event is part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Btl Experts” series.
- 5/27/2021
- by Tom O'Neil
- Gold Derby
Fran Lebowitz on Wednesday dropped by The Tonight Show where she talked about a number of observations she has made recently in New York City.
The celebrated author, also a beloved NYC fixture and co-star of the Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, discussed traffic and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“I did notice that the very first thing that came back months ago was traffic,” Lebowitz said. “No one is here. There’s nowhere to go. Everything is closed. No one is working. No one is going to school. Nothing is open — but there’s just traffic....
The celebrated author, also a beloved NYC fixture and co-star of the Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, discussed traffic and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“I did notice that the very first thing that came back months ago was traffic,” Lebowitz said. “No one is here. There’s nowhere to go. Everything is closed. No one is working. No one is going to school. Nothing is open — but there’s just traffic....
- 5/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Fran Lebowitz on Wednesday dropped by The Tonight Show where she talked about a number of observations she has made recently in New York City.
The celebrated author, also a beloved NYC fixture and co-star of the Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, discussed traffic and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“I did notice that the very first thing that came back months ago was traffic,” Lebowitz said. “No one is here. There’s nowhere to go. Everything is closed. No one is working. No one is going to school. Nothing is open — but there’s just traffic....
The celebrated author, also a beloved NYC fixture and co-star of the Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City, discussed traffic and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“I did notice that the very first thing that came back months ago was traffic,” Lebowitz said. “No one is here. There’s nowhere to go. Everything is closed. No one is working. No one is going to school. Nothing is open — but there’s just traffic....
- 5/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Five top TV documentarians will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Wednesday, May 26, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our contributing editor Charles Bright and a group chat with Charles and all of the group together.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:
“1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything”: James Gay-Rees
Synopsis: The musicians and soundtracks that shaped the culture and politics of 1971.
“76 Days...
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:
“1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything”: James Gay-Rees
Synopsis: The musicians and soundtracks that shaped the culture and politics of 1971.
“76 Days...
- 5/18/2021
- by Chris Beachum and Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
It’s pretty rare that the legendary Martin Scorsese puts his name on something that ends up being bad. In addition to his directing credits over the past few years, he’s executive produced things like Uncut Gems, The Souvenir, Pretend It’s a City, Shirley, and Happy as Lazzaro, and he’s done the same thing for Port […]
The post ‘Port Authority’ Trailer: Martin Scorsese Exec Produces This New York-Set Love Story appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Port Authority’ Trailer: Martin Scorsese Exec Produces This New York-Set Love Story appeared first on /Film.
- 5/1/2021
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Exclusive: With New York City gradually emerging from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, one film-biz sign of life is a series of Oscar-nominated movies hitting the city’s big screens.
Megaplexes and arthouses alike have been in reopening mode over the past month. In-person screenings for Zoomed-out Academy members and press are now possible for the first time since February 2020. With the April 20 deadline for Oscar ballots looming, bookings are on the rise, even at one newer spot in the awards-season mix: the Queens Drive-In.
“Anything that reminds people of the communal experience, we’re all for it,” one Oscar consultant told Deadline. “We have all been stuck inside, so now even if we have to get creative and deal with safety restrictions, it’s totally worth it to try to break through and make a connection.”
The Paris Theatre on 58th Street, which was rescued by Netflix just before Covid-19 struck,...
Megaplexes and arthouses alike have been in reopening mode over the past month. In-person screenings for Zoomed-out Academy members and press are now possible for the first time since February 2020. With the April 20 deadline for Oscar ballots looming, bookings are on the rise, even at one newer spot in the awards-season mix: the Queens Drive-In.
“Anything that reminds people of the communal experience, we’re all for it,” one Oscar consultant told Deadline. “We have all been stuck inside, so now even if we have to get creative and deal with safety restrictions, it’s totally worth it to try to break through and make a connection.”
The Paris Theatre on 58th Street, which was rescued by Netflix just before Covid-19 struck,...
- 4/11/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
The Queens Drive-In, which became a lifeline for New York film distributors, festival organizers, awards campaigners and cooped-up cinephiles in 2020, has booked an encore for this spring.
Kicking off the 2021 slate will be a screening of Coming 2 America on March 5, the same day the Eddie Murphy sequel will start streaming for Amazon Prime subscribers. The event is free and open to the public with RSVP, and Amazon Studios will provide free food and merchandise.
Screenings at the venue, which can accommodate up to 200 cars, are slated to continue through June. The drive-in news follows word from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week that indoor movie theaters can reopen in the city on March 5, with limited capacity. The coronavirus pandemic has kept theaters shuttered for nearly a year.
For now, drive-in showings will be offered only to moviegoers inside of vehicles due to Covid-19 precautions. Organizers said they...
Kicking off the 2021 slate will be a screening of Coming 2 America on March 5, the same day the Eddie Murphy sequel will start streaming for Amazon Prime subscribers. The event is free and open to the public with RSVP, and Amazon Studios will provide free food and merchandise.
Screenings at the venue, which can accommodate up to 200 cars, are slated to continue through June. The drive-in news follows word from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week that indoor movie theaters can reopen in the city on March 5, with limited capacity. The coronavirus pandemic has kept theaters shuttered for nearly a year.
For now, drive-in showings will be offered only to moviegoers inside of vehicles due to Covid-19 precautions. Organizers said they...
- 2/24/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
The writer and raconteur embodied the hip, downtown Manhattan of the 70s. Now she is winning new fans in her friend Martin Scorsese’s documentary series Pretend It’s a City
Almost from the moment she set foot in New York more than 50 years ago, Fran Lebowitz has been part of the city’s social firmament. Like it, she has moved inexorably upmarket since she first made her name as a humorist in the 70s with a column in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Back then, she hung out with the likes of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the New York Dolls as well as jazz legends such as Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. These days, she rubs shoulders with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, while the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison was a close friend and confidante.
One person who has remained a constant in her life,...
Almost from the moment she set foot in New York more than 50 years ago, Fran Lebowitz has been part of the city’s social firmament. Like it, she has moved inexorably upmarket since she first made her name as a humorist in the 70s with a column in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Back then, she hung out with the likes of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the New York Dolls as well as jazz legends such as Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. These days, she rubs shoulders with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, while the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison was a close friend and confidante.
One person who has remained a constant in her life,...
- 2/7/2021
- by Sean O’Hagan
- The Guardian - Film News
The friendship between filmmaker Martin Scorsese and author Fran Lebowitz recently got an affectionate, quirky treatment in the Netflix documentary series “Pretend It’s a City.” The show is a tribute to New York City from two lifelong perennial New Yorkers. The pair were recently spoofed on this weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” when, during the “Weekend Update” segment, “SNL” cast members Bowen Yang and Kyle Mooney showed up as Lebowitz and Scorsese. Watch below.
In the sketch, Lebowitz and Scorsese are brought onto the segment for their comments about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing that indoor dining could resume, at limited capacity, this coming Valentine’s Day in February. A bespectacled Mooney doesn’t say much except get hysterically dumbfounded, while Yang plays up Lebowitz’s curmudgeonly disposition. “I’ve been so bored at home I was about to get married to my cufflinks,” Yang says. “I...
In the sketch, Lebowitz and Scorsese are brought onto the segment for their comments about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing that indoor dining could resume, at limited capacity, this coming Valentine’s Day in February. A bespectacled Mooney doesn’t say much except get hysterically dumbfounded, while Yang plays up Lebowitz’s curmudgeonly disposition. “I’ve been so bored at home I was about to get married to my cufflinks,” Yang says. “I...
- 1/31/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
In the new Netflix series, Pretend It’s a City, longtime friends and collaborators Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz chat and kvetch and complain about New York City. Well, mostly it’s Lebowitz sharing her caustic wit and many ruminations on what’s wrong with people, busted with the world, and what she misses most about her beloved Manhattan while the famed director sits by her side laughing and egging her on.
In a new bit during Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update,” Bowen Yang channels his best irascible Lebowitz — frizzy mop of hair,...
In a new bit during Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update,” Bowen Yang channels his best irascible Lebowitz — frizzy mop of hair,...
- 1/31/2021
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
A number of notable events transpired since the last Saturday Night Live Episode – from the violent attacks on the U.S. Capitol to the release of Netflix’s Pretend It’s A City – and Weekend Update hosts Michael Che and Collin Jost recapped it all.
Largely missing mentions of former president Donald Trump, Saturday’s Weekend Update segment featured a number of impersonations. Bowen Yang appeared as Fran Lebowitz and Kyle Mooney as an extremely giddy Martin Scorsese. The two actors took on the Netflix docuseries that sees the filmmaker in deep conversation with the New York icon and author.
As Yang’s Lebowitz chatted with Che about how she both loved and hated New York, Mooney’s Scorsese wheezed non-stop until the bit came to an end.
Beck Bennett also appeared as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who came under fire for meeting with Trump after the violent attacks on Jan.
Largely missing mentions of former president Donald Trump, Saturday’s Weekend Update segment featured a number of impersonations. Bowen Yang appeared as Fran Lebowitz and Kyle Mooney as an extremely giddy Martin Scorsese. The two actors took on the Netflix docuseries that sees the filmmaker in deep conversation with the New York icon and author.
As Yang’s Lebowitz chatted with Che about how she both loved and hated New York, Mooney’s Scorsese wheezed non-stop until the bit came to an end.
Beck Bennett also appeared as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who came under fire for meeting with Trump after the violent attacks on Jan.
- 1/31/2021
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese and humourist Fran Lebowitz aren’t sure how they met. It may or may not have been at the 50th birthday party of a mutual friend, neither remembers. What they do remember is that every time they ended up at the same party, they’d spend the whole night talking. To guess from their new seven-part Netflix documentary series, it’s likely that Lebowitz did most of the talking, and Scorsese most of the laughing.
Talking is Lebowitz’s job. Her previous Scorsese collaboration, 2010 HBO film Public Speaking, followed the speaking engagements that have earned her a following, a reputation as one of America’s sharpest, funniest commentators, and, for the last forty years, a living.
Starting as a columnist and movie critic in underground NYC newspapers including the Andy Warhol-founded Interview in the 1970s, Lebowitz published her last essay collection in 1981. One children’s book and two unfinished novels later,...
Talking is Lebowitz’s job. Her previous Scorsese collaboration, 2010 HBO film Public Speaking, followed the speaking engagements that have earned her a following, a reputation as one of America’s sharpest, funniest commentators, and, for the last forty years, a living.
Starting as a columnist and movie critic in underground NYC newspapers including the Andy Warhol-founded Interview in the 1970s, Lebowitz published her last essay collection in 1981. One children’s book and two unfinished novels later,...
- 1/28/2021
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Travel shows are an inherently outward-facing genre, and if you’re like me, you spent a lot of the early days of quarantine looking to things like House Hunters International or any of a half-dozen food-centric Netflix shows for an escape from the couch.
Recent months, though, have seen a rise in shows that use travel tropes to explore something more insular. Shows like HBO’s How To With John Wilson or Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City are New York City travelogues of sorts, but they’re more inward-looking character studies of two people and their longtime home. The Anthony Bourdain ...
Recent months, though, have seen a rise in shows that use travel tropes to explore something more insular. Shows like HBO’s How To With John Wilson or Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City are New York City travelogues of sorts, but they’re more inward-looking character studies of two people and their longtime home. The Anthony Bourdain ...
- 1/22/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Travel shows are an inherently outward-facing genre, and if you’re like me, you spent a lot of the early days of quarantine looking to things like House Hunters International or any of a half-dozen food-centric Netflix shows for an escape from the couch.
Recent months, though, have seen a rise in shows that use travel tropes to explore something more insular. Shows like HBO’s How To With John Wilson or Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City are New York City travelogues of sorts, but they’re more inward-looking character studies of two people and their longtime home. The Anthony Bourdain ...
Recent months, though, have seen a rise in shows that use travel tropes to explore something more insular. Shows like HBO’s How To With John Wilson or Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City are New York City travelogues of sorts, but they’re more inward-looking character studies of two people and their longtime home. The Anthony Bourdain ...
- 1/22/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
As his delightful reunion with Fran Lebowitz, Pretend It’s a City, arrives on Netflix, it’s afforded the opportunity for Martin Scorsese to step into the spotlight a bit more, interview-wise, which means we have a significant update on his next narrative feature. Right before the coronavirus hit America, Scorsese and crew were planning to kick off their $200 million production Killers of the Flower Moon in Oklahoma. Led by Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, the adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, scripted by Eric Roth, was of course halted.
Last summer we got the update that an early February shoot was now planned, but with coronavirus levels rising across the country in recent months, not to mention every studio rethinking their output, we’ve wondered if that date would stick. It looks like it has, plus...
Last summer we got the update that an early February shoot was now planned, but with coronavirus levels rising across the country in recent months, not to mention every studio rethinking their output, we’ve wondered if that date would stick. It looks like it has, plus...
- 1/14/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Fran Lebowitz has a new show on Netflix, Pretend It’s a City, even if she does not, herself, have a Netflix account. Or an internet connection, computer, or what she calls “one of your modern devices,” a cellphone. What the iconic New York raconteur does have in her corner is a biting sense of humor, decades of rich life experiences and a longtime friend named Martin Scorsese. The legendary filmmaker directed and appears in the seven episodes, now streaming, and together, they navigate topics ranging from cultural affairs and transportation to libraries and sports. Meaning, Lebowitz says ...
- 1/14/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Series: Pretend It’s a City Where You Can Stream It: Netflix The Pitch: Martin Scorsese directs a seven-part series about writer Fran Lebowitz and, by extension, New York City. There’s a lot of laughing. Why It’s […]
The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘Pretend It’s a City’ Features Many Scenes of Martin Scorsese Laughing Uncontrollably, Which is What You Need Right Now appeared first on /Film.
The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘Pretend It’s a City’ Features Many Scenes of Martin Scorsese Laughing Uncontrollably, Which is What You Need Right Now appeared first on /Film.
- 1/13/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
They have been close friends for decades, shared countless meals, watched too many movies to count together, kept each other company at infinite ritzy midtown soirées. He grew up in downtown’s Little Italy neighborhood, and spent a much storied period in Los Angeles during the 1970s. She was born in New Jersey before moving to Manhattan. But Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz are the kind of bona fide, card-carrying New Yorkers that characterize the best aspects of that distinction, and are virtually synonymous with the city they call home.
- 1/11/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
It’s been a typically busy week for Netflix, who added some great new content to keep us all in catch-up mode as we continue to mostly be stuck at home. Particular highlights include the Nicolas Cage-fronted History of Swear Words, high-profile original film Pieces of a Woman, and French drama Lupin. What, then, are some of the television shows, movies, and other material that have been made available on the platform over the last few days?
Well, on the series side of things, A History of Swear Words is a documentary wherein Cage plays the host, and each episode deals with a different word, tracing its history and various cultural contexts. We also received Lupin, which updates the French thief and master of disguise for the present day, as well as new seasons of reality shows. In addition, the streamer released documentaries including the Martin Scorsese-directed Pretend It’s a City,...
Well, on the series side of things, A History of Swear Words is a documentary wherein Cage plays the host, and each episode deals with a different word, tracing its history and various cultural contexts. We also received Lupin, which updates the French thief and master of disguise for the present day, as well as new seasons of reality shows. In addition, the streamer released documentaries including the Martin Scorsese-directed Pretend It’s a City,...
- 1/10/2021
- by Jessica James
- We Got This Covered
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