I invite you to check out the videos of my in-depth interviews with three great talents who were nominated for Emmys this morning, as well as a plethora of others who were not but just as easily could have been.
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
nominated for best actor in a drama series
Lena Dunham (Girls)
nominated for best actress in a comedy series, best directing for a comedy series, and best writing for a comedy series
Sarah Paulson (Game Change)
nominated for best supporting actress in a movie/mini-series
John Slattery (Mad Men)
Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23)
Brent Sexton (The Killing)
Debra Messing (Smash)
Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire)
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation)
Josh Charles (The Good Wife)
Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men)
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), #1 of 2
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), #2 of 2
Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager)
Jim Whitaker...
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
nominated for best actor in a drama series
Lena Dunham (Girls)
nominated for best actress in a comedy series, best directing for a comedy series, and best writing for a comedy series
Sarah Paulson (Game Change)
nominated for best supporting actress in a movie/mini-series
John Slattery (Mad Men)
Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23)
Brent Sexton (The Killing)
Debra Messing (Smash)
Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire)
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation)
Josh Charles (The Good Wife)
Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men)
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), #1 of 2
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), #2 of 2
Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager)
Jim Whitaker...
- 7/20/2012
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
The Latin Grammys remain with Univision for another six years: "The Latin Recording Academy and Univision announced today a new six-year deal that will keep the biggest night in Latin music, the annual Latin Grammy Awards telecast, on Univision through 2018. Univision has been the home of the Latin Grammys since 2005. This year's Xiii Annual Latin Grammy Awards will take place live on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas from 8 - 11 p.m. Et/Pt (7 p.m. Central) ... 'We are very pleased to continue our longstanding partnership with our friends at Univision,' said Gabriel Abaroa Jr., President/CEO of The Latin Recording Academy." Market Watch Jim Whitaker talks about his Emmy-contending 9/11 documentary "Rebirth": "At some point, Whitaker decided that it would be important to provide not only time-lapse footage showing the site rebounding from the trauma that it had endured, but also 'human time-lapse'...
- 6/27/2012
- Gold Derby
Chicago – Many critics failed to take Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin” seriously, dismissing it as an art house retread of “The Omen.” Such a simplistic label fails to take into account the film’s carefully textured portrait of a deeply fractured mother-son relationship. Though the film takes its premise to melodramatic extremes, it does harbor considerable insight into the repercussions of a disconnect between parent and child.
Eva (Tilda Swinton) is the sort of mother who causes strangers to wince while passing her in the supermarket. She can barely contain the intense dislike that she feels for her child. Motherhood is a form of entrapment in her eyes, and her attempts to care for her young son lack any sense of genuine compassion. When she snaps on a hollow smile to calm her crying son, the moment is both chilling and darkly funny. It only gets...
Eva (Tilda Swinton) is the sort of mother who causes strangers to wince while passing her in the supermarket. She can barely contain the intense dislike that she feels for her child. Motherhood is a form of entrapment in her eyes, and her attempts to care for her young son lack any sense of genuine compassion. When she snaps on a hollow smile to calm her crying son, the moment is both chilling and darkly funny. It only gets...
- 6/1/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Thomas Newman and Michael Giacchino Each Have Four Of The 97 Scores Eligible For Best Original Score
Of the 265 films eligible [1] for Oscars at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in February, 97 of them have been deemed worthy to be nominated for Best Original Score. Thomas Newman (The Adjustment Bureau, The Debt, The Help, The Iron Lady) and Michael Giacchino (Cars 2, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Monte Carlo, Super 8) lead all eligible composers with four films this year while Alexandre Desplat (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Ides of March), Tyler Bates (Conan the Barbarian, The Darkest Hour, The Way), Mark Isham (The Conspirator, Dolphin Tale, Warrior) and Henry Jackman (Puss in Boots, Winnie the Pooh, X-Men First Class) all have three. Other familiar names are on the list too such as John Williams (The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse), James Newton Howard (Green Lantern, Water for Elephants) and Danny Elfman (Real Steel, Restless) who along with Alberto Iglesias (The Skin I Live In,...
- 12/23/2011
- by Germain Lussier
- Slash Film
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that ninety-seven scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards®.
The eligible scores along with the composer are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“The Adjustment Bureau,” Thomas Newman, composer
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams, composer
“African Cats,” Nicholas Hooper, composer
“Albert Nobbs,” Brian Byrne, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anonymous,” Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser, composers
“Another Earth,” Phil Mossman and Will Bates, composers
“Answers to Nothing,” Craig Richey, composer
“Arthur Christmas,” Harry Gregson-Williams, composer
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource, composer
“@urFRENZ,” Lisbeth Scott, composer
“Atlas Shrugged Part 1,” Elia Cmiral, composer
“Battle: Los Angeles,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Beastly,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“The Big Year,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
“Captain America: The First Avenger,” Alan Silvestri, composer
“Cars 2,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Cedar Rapids,...
The eligible scores along with the composer are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“The Adjustment Bureau,” Thomas Newman, composer
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams, composer
“African Cats,” Nicholas Hooper, composer
“Albert Nobbs,” Brian Byrne, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anonymous,” Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser, composers
“Another Earth,” Phil Mossman and Will Bates, composers
“Answers to Nothing,” Craig Richey, composer
“Arthur Christmas,” Harry Gregson-Williams, composer
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource, composer
“@urFRENZ,” Lisbeth Scott, composer
“Atlas Shrugged Part 1,” Elia Cmiral, composer
“Battle: Los Angeles,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Beastly,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“The Big Year,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
“Captain America: The First Avenger,” Alan Silvestri, composer
“Cars 2,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Cedar Rapids,...
- 12/23/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I was actually beginning to believe Cliff Martinez's score for Drive may actually have a shot with all the love it has received in the precursor awards, but last night the Academy announced the list of 97 scores eligible for Best Original Score at the 2012 Oscars and, oops, what do you know, both Drive and Attack the Block didn't make the cut. The only other score I had on my current list of predictions for the category to not make the cut was Howard Shore's music for David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Why? Well, I would assume somewhere inside there the rules for requirement weren't met. As per the Academy, "To be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must be written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer. Scores diluted by the use of...
- 12/23/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Yesterday the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released the 97 original film scores that will running for the final five nominations for the Best Original Score category at the upcoming 84h Academy Awards. Billy Crystal will be hosting the annual awards show, which be presented on February 26, 2012. Some how I am not surprised that Attack the Block got nixed, seeing that Tron: Legacy pretty much got the same treatment last year. Glad to see that Henry Jackman’s X-Men: First Class is getting a nod, and of course Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had to be in it. Check out the full list below.
December 22, 2011
For Immediate Release
97 Original Scores in 2011 Oscar® Race
Beverly Hills, CA – Ninety-seven scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.
The...
December 22, 2011
For Immediate Release
97 Original Scores in 2011 Oscar® Race
Beverly Hills, CA – Ninety-seven scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.
The...
- 12/23/2011
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
Jim Whitaker believes New York City has taken huge steps in healing itself over the past ten years -- and he has photographic evidence to prove it in "Rebirth," a documentary that explores the city's emotional and physical healing after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Whitaker chronicles the emotional side via yearly interviews over the past decade with five individuals affected in radically different ways by the events of 9/11, including a fireman, a teenager who lost his mother in the attacks and a woman who worked on the impact floor of the second tower.
Watch an interview with "Rebirth" director Jim Whitaker at MTV News.
Whitaker chronicles the emotional side via yearly interviews over the past decade with five individuals affected in radically different ways by the events of 9/11, including a fireman, a teenager who lost his mother in the attacks and a woman who worked on the impact floor of the second tower.
Watch an interview with "Rebirth" director Jim Whitaker at MTV News.
- 9/11/2011
- by Bryan Enk
- NextMovie
"Has any attack in history ever been commemorated the way this one is about to be?" asked Edward Rothstein in the New York Times a few days ago. "It seems as if every cultural institution, television network and book publisher feels duty-bound to produce some sort of Sept 11 commemoration. Is there a precedent for this almost compulsive variety show about an attack on a nation's people? No examples suggest themselves. And in the United States, the attack on Pearl Harbor — the only incident remotely comparable — doesn't seem to have inspired anything similar, even though that surprise assault initiated one of the most traumatic and transformative decades in this nation's history…. Of course Sept 11 is something different…. Had a bomb fallen on the twin towers," he suggests, "even that would have been less traumatic. This was something unforeseen, expertly planned, a jarring demonstration of vulnerability. So otherworldly did it seem when...
- 9/10/2011
- MUBI
Chicago – How do we go on? How do we pick up the pieces after devastation so shocking and damaging that words can hardly do it justice? The great lesson on the ten-year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11/01 may be that we might have different ways to heal, but we all do it. We move forward. And that ability to go on in the face of unimaginable trauma has rarely been chronicled more beautifully than in Jim Whitaker’s “Rebirth,” a documentary currently on DVD from the great Oscilloscope Studios and airing Sunday night on Showtime. Don’t miss it.
TV Rating: 4.5/5.0
Even though the film wasn’t complete until recently, Whitaker’s most important filmmaking decision actually came ten years ago. In the days after 9/11, he decided to begin a film about the healing process and chose five people to follow through it. He picked five unique subjects — a widow,...
TV Rating: 4.5/5.0
Even though the film wasn’t complete until recently, Whitaker’s most important filmmaking decision actually came ten years ago. In the days after 9/11, he decided to begin a film about the healing process and chose five people to follow through it. He picked five unique subjects — a widow,...
- 9/10/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
'Rebirth' filmmaker James Whitaker talks to MTV News about documenting Ground Zero devastation and rebuilding for the past decade.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Tami Katzoff
Photo: Getty Images / MTV News
A month after the attacks of September 11, producer and filmmaker James Whitaker visited Ground Zero, where he found, in the midst of the devastation, a tiny glimmer of hope: the hole would eventually be filled; someday, somehow we would rebuild what had been lost and we would experience something of a collective rebirth ourselves.
Thus was born a 10-year documentary effort called "Rebirth," which premieres on Showtime on Sunday at 9 p.m. Et/Pt, marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
"The film is a combination of the physical and emotional healing of the site over time," Whitaker told MTV News. "It just dawned on me that it would be great to give an audience the...
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Tami Katzoff
Photo: Getty Images / MTV News
A month after the attacks of September 11, producer and filmmaker James Whitaker visited Ground Zero, where he found, in the midst of the devastation, a tiny glimmer of hope: the hole would eventually be filled; someday, somehow we would rebuild what had been lost and we would experience something of a collective rebirth ourselves.
Thus was born a 10-year documentary effort called "Rebirth," which premieres on Showtime on Sunday at 9 p.m. Et/Pt, marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
"The film is a combination of the physical and emotional healing of the site over time," Whitaker told MTV News. "It just dawned on me that it would be great to give an audience the...
- 9/10/2011
- MTV Music News
In late 2002, CIA officers at Guantanamo Bay reportedly rented the 1998 Roland Emmerich flick "Godzilla." The film had largely failed to engage the interest of even the most explosion-happy action fans, but the agents were not looking to be entertained. Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al Qaeda operative, had confessed to them under interrogation that the terrorist organization had made plans to blow up "the bridge in the Godzilla movie." Had the officers been familiar with the movie they would have known he was talking about the Brooklyn Bridge.
The possibility that a Saudi terrorist knew more about Hollywood than a roomful of American intelligence officials may be obvious in its irony, but isn't unlikely. The men who conceived of and carried out the September 11th attacks were infatuated with American entertainment (the young Bin Laden was said to have been particularly taken with "Bonanza").
The template for the Hollywood action movie is the Western,...
The possibility that a Saudi terrorist knew more about Hollywood than a roomful of American intelligence officials may be obvious in its irony, but isn't unlikely. The men who conceived of and carried out the September 11th attacks were infatuated with American entertainment (the young Bin Laden was said to have been particularly taken with "Bonanza").
The template for the Hollywood action movie is the Western,...
- 9/9/2011
- by Saki Knafo
- Huffington Post
(Rebirth is now available on DVD through Oscilloscope Pictures. Visit the official Project Rebirth website for theatrical screening dates and to learn more, and go here to watch a startling video detailing the time-lapse project.)
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, frankly, at the moment, I’m finding it hard not to feel more hopeless than hopeful about things. It’s bad enough that it’s still frighteningly easy to recall the visceral shock of that fateful morning, watching the twin towers crumble to the ground on television before rushing to my Washington Heights fire escape to confirm that they were, in fact, gone. But what is even more deflating to me is the realization that so many of the problems in our present world can be remotely-to-directly attributed to that monumental act of terror. Does time heal wounds? In this case, it appears to be opening new ones.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, frankly, at the moment, I’m finding it hard not to feel more hopeless than hopeful about things. It’s bad enough that it’s still frighteningly easy to recall the visceral shock of that fateful morning, watching the twin towers crumble to the ground on television before rushing to my Washington Heights fire escape to confirm that they were, in fact, gone. But what is even more deflating to me is the realization that so many of the problems in our present world can be remotely-to-directly attributed to that monumental act of terror. Does time heal wounds? In this case, it appears to be opening new ones.
- 9/8/2011
- by Michael Tully
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
This is a pretty big week for DVD releases with plenty of titles worth buying and renting as well as a couple worth skipping completely. There’s no real common thread here aside from almost half of titles featured below being TV shows on DVD. The best of the bunch include the second and third seasons, respectively, of Community and Parks & Recreation, but other TV releases include the classic seventies series Police Story, the trippy Sigmund & the Sea Monsters, the piss poor Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, and more. But there are some great releases for film fans too including Hanna and X-Men First Class. As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it. Rebirth The events of 9/11 affected all Americans in one way or another, but for many people the nightmare struck very close to home. Jim Whitaker’s documentary was almost a decade in the making and follows five of...
- 9/7/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Shortly after opening in select theaters last month (it hits more markets throughout September), Jim Whitaker's documentary portrait of emotional and physical rebuilding following 9/11, "Rebirth," hits DVD today. It's iW's pick of the week. The film, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, chronicles a decade in the lives of five people profoundly affected by the 9/11 attacks. Among them: a student whose mother died, a woman who ...
- 9/6/2011
- Indiewire
Exclusive: While the summer dealmaking has tapered off in the dog days of August, a big one went down yesterday. In a deal worth high-six against seven-figures, Walt Disney Pictures acquired a package to make a movie out of the bestselling book The Finest Hours, with Oscar-nominated The Fighter scribes Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson to write the story of a daring Coast Guard rescue off Cape Cod in 1952. The project was set up through Jim Whitaker's Entertainment and he will produce with Dorothy Aufiero, who worked with the writers as the original producer of The Fighter. Published in 2009 by Scribner, the Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias-authored book tells the story of a Coast Guard rescue undertaken after two oil tankers were torn in half by treacherous waves during a deadly nor'easter blizzard. There were four rescue efforts, including two undertaken by a handful of men on two old,...
- 8/12/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? Pearl Jam Twenty Trailer I'll admit it: My interest in Pearl Jam has been waning. Don't get me wrong, I own all their albums, have...
- 7/30/2011
- by Christopher Stipp
- Slash Film
Former Imagine Entertainment executive Jim Whitaker set up time lapse camera at Ground Zero to chart the physical recovery after 9/11 that could be sandwiched around a movie about the emotional healing of survivors of victims who perished in the terror attack on the World Trade Center. The result is Rebirth, which Oscilloscope Laboratories will open August 26 in Los Angeles and August 31 in New York, on the eve of the 10 year anniversary. Showtime will broadcast it on September 11.
- 7/20/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
The Russian drama Elena recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Composer Philip Glass wrote an original score for the movie. The film is directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev who is best known for helming the 2003 drama The Return, which received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film. Elena centers on an elderly woman who has lived with her rich husband in a large, comfortable home and tries to rescue her alcoholic son from poverty and give his family the opportunity for a better life that she alone could not provide. The film has won the Un Certain Regard special jury prize in Cannes and has received mostly positive reviews, which makes an international and domestic release likely.
Glass has also scored the documentary Rebirth, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The movie takes a look a the physical and emotional healing process involved in the...
Glass has also scored the documentary Rebirth, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The movie takes a look a the physical and emotional healing process involved in the...
- 5/22/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Showtime and Oscilloscope are teaming up on the release of Jim Whitaker's documentary about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Oscilloscope will release "Rebirth," which screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival, theatrically in August, and Showtime will air the documentary on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. "Rebirth" chronicles the efforts of nine people, from a NYPD officer who oversaw the recovery efforts to a Muslim-American woman who became an advocate for religious tolerance in the wake of the attacks. A film crew conducted lengthy interviews with each subject on every...
- 4/1/2011
- The Wrap
Oscilloscope Laboratories and Showtime Networks Inc. announced today their acquisition of the widely lauded Sundance Film Festival 2011 documentary, Rebirth, directed by Jim Whitaker. The result of a filmmaking journey into living history, the story of Rebirth follows the transformation of five people, over the course of 10 years, whose lives were forever altered on September 11, 2001 - and simultaneously tracks, via unprecedented multi-camera time lapse photography, the evolution of the space where the Twin Towers once rose over lower Manhattan. Whitaker seamlessly weaves these personal stories of hope and healing and reveals a universal truth, one which shows human beings will overcome and aspire to renewal, even when the very fabric of their lives has changed. Oscilloscope will release Rebirth in theatres in August 2011. Showtime will broadcast Rebirth on the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11th. The film as well as other original programming created by the Rebirth team will...
- 4/1/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Jim Whitaker Jim Whitaker, a producer and former president of production at Imagine, has signed a first-look deal with Disney.
It's the first new producer pact since Disney began a housecleaning on the lot under Rich Ross and new head of production Sean Bailey.
Although it recently re-upped Mandeville Films and Television, the shingle behind last year's "The Proposal," Disney has been cutting back deals, as in the case of ImageMovers, or letting some producers go, like Scott Rudin, with whom it is in negotiations to end their deal early.
Insiders said Ross and Bailey hope to bring fresher voices to its films by inviting a younger generation of producers to its lot.
Whitaker worked at Imagine for about 16 years, starting as a summer intern in 1993 and working his way up to production president, receiving executive producer credits on such films as "Friday Night Lights," "American Gangster," and the upcoming "Robin Hood.
It's the first new producer pact since Disney began a housecleaning on the lot under Rich Ross and new head of production Sean Bailey.
Although it recently re-upped Mandeville Films and Television, the shingle behind last year's "The Proposal," Disney has been cutting back deals, as in the case of ImageMovers, or letting some producers go, like Scott Rudin, with whom it is in negotiations to end their deal early.
Insiders said Ross and Bailey hope to bring fresher voices to its films by inviting a younger generation of producers to its lot.
Whitaker worked at Imagine for about 16 years, starting as a summer intern in 1993 and working his way up to production president, receiving executive producer credits on such films as "Friday Night Lights," "American Gangster," and the upcoming "Robin Hood.
- 4/7/2010
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jim Whitaker is a Henry Crown fellow at the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Formerly the president of Imagine Entertainment, he is also the founder of Project Rebirth, a non-profit organization that has chronicled the rebuilding of Ground Zero in New York City for the past eight years. Employing time-lapse photography along with more traditional documentary content, it is an effort unique in its scope and attention to time, able to compress the colossal efforts of thousands into a feature length film of unusual emotional power. With its hundreds of hours of footage slated to be a permanent part of the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, Project Rebirth is a valuable contribution to both the historical record and the world of cinema. Project Rebirth from Project Rebirth on Vimeo. I recently had a chance to speak to...
- 9/9/2009
- by Brad Listi
- Huffington Post
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