Native Americans Refuse to Work on Adam Sandler’s New Film
Posted on May 3, 2015 at 3:35 pm
Adam Sandler is currently filming “The Ridiculous Six,” reportedly a comic version of the classic Western “The Magnificent Seven.” According to Indian Country Today Media, a group of Native American actors walked off the set because they were offended by racist and sexist material in the script, including character names like Beaver Breath and No-Bra and crude humor.
“There were about a dozen of us who walked off the set,” said Anthony, who told ICTMN he had initially refused to do the movie. He then agreed to take the job when producers informed him they had hired a cultural consultant and efforts would be made for tasteful representation of Natives.
This is the third time the MPAA has teamed up with media and technology partners to show Washington policy makers how important the movie industry is to our economy and culture, to give us a glimpse of changing technologies and outlets, and to remind us of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights. Snoopy was walking around to give hugs and pose for selfies — and to promote the upcoming Peanuts movie. Attendees got to pose for pictures like James Bond and try out virtual reality goggles. We heard about the way that ABC News was using footage from a doctor’s iPhone in a story about Ebola in Africa and from a drone inside a volcano — and all with the idea that the viewer might be watching it on a big screen, a computer tablet, or an Apple Watch. Filmmaker Howard Lukk showed us clips from “Back to the Future 2,” with Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) arriving in 2015(!) to find many technological innovations imagined for three decades ahead of 1985 that do in fact exist now, though most of them are not yet commercially available to consumers. Sidhant Gupta from Microsoft told us about their new HoloLens, which will create virtual game pieces and puzzles, maps and charts, medical assessments and data display, and even narrative content somewhere between a movie and a video game.
He also urged us to remember to “dream big and don’t ask what the financial value of the project will be.”
ABC’s Rick Klein interviewed studio head Nancy Utley of Fox Searchlight. Their movies fall into two categories; independent films they pick up at festivals and those they make in-house. She described the intense competition that festival films can inspire, with “Harvey Weinstein in the corner.” And like Gupta, she does not base all of her decisions on the projected financial returns. They are currently working on a film about Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
Harley Jessup of Pixar, like many of the other speakers, said that “story is king.” Whether working on “The Hunt for Red October in the pre-CGI days where the effects were all created by hand to hundreds of initial sketches over a two year period before settling on the look of “Monsters Inc.’s” big blue Sully, it is all in aid of telling the story. He showed us with a seven minute clip from “Ratatouille” that even without dialogue, the pictures and music can tell the story.
For me, the highlight of the event was the drone demonstration from Aerialmob. Camera-bearing drones can replace equipment like booms, dollys, and even helicopters, much safer and less expensive, taking a fraction of the time to set up. They lifted a drone with a GoPro camera off the stage and showed us ourselves in the audience, giving us a sense of the possibilities: “a new level of creativity, from the ground to the sky.” Beyond movies, drones are now reducing costs and improving safety in power line inspections and security as well.
Movies vs. Science — The Worst Science Mistakes on Film
Posted on April 19, 2015 at 8:00 am
The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum used to have a great little video with a claymation Albert Einstein shaking his head over the many mistakes in sci-fi movies. “They’re breaking my rule!” he exclaimed. As the animated genius went on to say, it is a lot of fun to watch movies and no one expects them to be entirely accurate. But it is good to know where they go wrong.
About.com has a great piece by chemistry expert Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. with some of her favorite movie mistakes about science. Some are the ones also identified in the Smithsonian’s list. You can’t hear sounds in space. And as Sheldon Cooper explained in one of the very first episodes of “The Big Bang Theory,” even Superman can’t catch someone falling off a building.
It was a great honor to be included on today’s panel of movie critics, along with superstars Godfrey Cheshire, Scott Foundas, Matt Zoller Seitz, Rebecca Theodore Vachon, Richard Roeper, Susan Wloszczyna, Michael Phillips, Brian Tallarico, and Sam Fragoso.
Actress Speaks Up Against Absurd Hollywood Casting Conventions
Posted on March 27, 2015 at 3:57 pm
Cheers to the understandably anonymous “Miss L,” an actress in Hollywood, for her Tumblr posting real-life casting information that shows how limited and misogynistic Hollywood casting is. Casting Call Woe shows actual casting call notices, most of which require actresses to be hot (no matter what the character). Here’s an example: “We need women comfortable dressing in revealing clothes, for the scenery.” And “She might not be the most beautiful woman in the room, like only a 7 on the typical hotness scale.”
A touch of almost Beckett-ian irony in this one: “Single mom desperate to pay her bills. Salary: no pay.”
And these: “Her scene will include being screamed at by a clown and being gagged briefly.” “Involves some leather clothing to attract YouTube fans.”
Of course it is fair to expect that performers will be attractive. But Miss L is absolutely right to call out these demeaning casting notices and I hope the existence of this Tumblr will mean there will be fewer of them.
