Leonardo DiCaprio will be presenting Robert De Niro with his Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 26th annual ceremony on 19 January 2020.
Actor in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems
Daniel Craig – Knives Out
Eddie Murphy – Dolemite Is My Name
Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Taron Egerton – Rocketman
Taika Waititi – Jojo Rabbit
Actor in a Supporting Role
Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes
Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Joe Pesci – The Irishman
Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood
Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse
Wendell Pierce – Burning Cane
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Hustlers
Knives Out
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Rocketman
The Farewell
Uncut Gems
Director
Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
James Mangold – Ford v Ferrari
Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
Pedro Almodóvar – Pain and Glory
Sam Mendes – 1917
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Screenplay, Original
Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth & Jason Keller – Ford v Ferrari
Lulu Wang – The Farewell
Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
Pedro Almodóvar – Pain and Glory
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Art Direction and Production Design
1917 – Dennis Gassner & Lee Sandales
Ford v Ferrari – François Audouy & Peter Lando
Joker – Mark Friedberg & Laura Ballinger
Motherless Brooklyn – Beth Mickle & Michael Ahern
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Barbara Ling & Nancy Haigh
The Two Popes – Mark Tildesley & Saverio Sammali
Martin Scorsese may be on the path towards winning a number of Oscars for his just-released epic The Irishman, but the filmmaker is already readying his next project. Back in 2017, word first surfaced that Scorsese was eyeing an adaptation of David Grann’s non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon as not only a new project, but a reteam with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The project has been firming up ever since that time, with Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Curious Case of Benjamin Button) writing the script, and now we know when the Killers of the Flower Moon movie starts filming.
I recently had the chance to speak with Scorsese’s frequent cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto about his stunning work on The Irishman, and during our phone conversation in mid-November, Prieto was actually in Bartlesville, Oklahoma (where Terrence Malick shot To the Wonder) doing some preliminary camera tests and scouts for Killers of the Flower Moon. He revealed that right now, filming on the project is expected to begin in March 2020. Obviously things can change, and in the world of moviemaking anything can happen, but that appears to be the targeted start of production for Scorsese’s next movie. It could also explain why Leonardo DiCaprio backed out of Nightmare Alley starring in Guillermo del Toro‘s , which starts shooting at the same time.
Killers of the Flower Moon tells the true story of the mysterious murders of the Osage Indians tribe in Oklahoma, where oil sat beneath their land. The case was one of the first ever to be taken on by the FBI, who fought against corruption to solve the grisly mystery.
Paramount Pictures came aboard to finance and distribute Killers of the Flower Moon in June 2019, and while no official casting has been confirmed, both DiCaprio and De Niro are expected to star.
I asked Prieto if he and Scorsese had hit upon an aesthetic theme or tone for the new project, but he said it’s still early days: “Right now I’m in the process of researching different ways of shooting it so we still have to actually meet, and I’ll show him images, propose ideas. He’ll probably have his thoughts too, but we still haven’t figured [out the tone of the film]. So, on the way.”
Credit: Collider.com
Jair Bolsonaro has leveled baseless allegations against Leonardo DiCaprio, who he claims has funded fires in the Amazon.
Leonardo DiCaprio is speaking out against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s baseless allegation that the actor is fueling fires in the Amazon by bankrolling nonprofits he claims are to blame for the destruction.
“The future of these irreplaceable ecosystems is at stake and I am proud to stand with the groups protecting them,” DiCaprio said Saturday in a statement shared on Instagram. “While worthy of support, we do not fund the organizations targeted.”
Continuing, he added that he is “committed to supporting the Brazilian indigenous communities, local governments, scientists, educators and general public who are working tirelessly to secure the Amazon for the future of all Brazilians.”
Earth Alliance, DiCaprio’s environmental group, has pledged $5 million in aid to battle the widespread blazes, which ravaged the rainforests over the summer.
On Friday, Bolsonaro told supporters in Brasilia, without offering evidence, that Leonardo DiCaprio was “giving money to set the Amazon on fire.”
The president raised similar accusations on Thursday during a Facebook Live broadcast in which he claimed Leonardo is “collaborating with the burning of the Amazon” and waging a “campaign against Brazil.”
The remarks are part of a broader effort by Bolsonaro to attack environmental groups. In August, he asserted(again without evidence)that nongovernmental organizations were at fault for the fires.
Asked whether he could back up the claims, Bolsonaro simply replied that he had “no written plan” and “that’s not how it’s done.”
Bolsonaro’s son and politician Eduardo Bolsonaro promulgated the unsubstantiated claims on Twitter Thursday, saying DiCaprio gave $300,000 to “the NGO that set fire to the Amazon” and went on to accused the World Wide Fund for Nature of paying for photos of the flames.
In a statement, WWF condemned the comments, calling out “unfounded accusations” and stating that it “repudiates attacks on its partners and lies surrounding its name.”
© huffpost
The Hollywood Critics Association, formerly known as The Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society, announced their nominees for the 3rd Annual Hollywood Critic Awards being held at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles on January 9th, 2020.
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon in Hollywood tops the HCA nominations list with a total of eleven nominations.
A full list of the HCA nominations can be found below:
Best Picture
1917
Booksmart
The Farewell
The Irishman
Joker
Jojo Rabbit
Parasite
Marriage Story
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Waves
Best Actor
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Taron Egerton, Rocketman
Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy
Sterling K. Brown, Waves
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Margot Robbie, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Taylor Russell, Waves
Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell
Best Male Director
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
Best Performance by an Actor or Actress 23 and Under
Kaitlyn Dever, Booksmart
Julia Butters, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Noah Jupe, Honey Boy
Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit
Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit
Best Cast
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
Knives Out
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Waves
Best Blockbuster
Avengers: Endgame
Captain Marvel
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Shazam!
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Best Cinematography
Drew Daniel, Waves
Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse
Lawrence Sher, Joker
Robert Richardson, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Roger Deakins, 1917
Best Costume Design
Arianne Phillips, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Julian Day, Rocketman
Jacqueline Durran, Little Women
Ruth E Carter, Dolemite is My Name
Mark Bridges, Joker
Best Editing
Fred Raskin, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Lee Smith, 1917
Michael McCusker, Ford V. Ferrari
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Irishman
Yang Jin-mo, Parasite
Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and the cast of Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood attended a special screening of the film with Q&A in Los Angeles on Nov. 21.
After a showing of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the DGA Theater, in Hollywood on November 21, a ton of the film’s talent—actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Bruce Dern, Julia Butters, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Mike Moh and Margaret Qualley, as well as casting director Victoria Thomas and actor-stunt coordinator Zoe Bell—chatted about the movie in front of a packed crowd.
As you’d expect from his previous work, Leonardo DiCaprio put in a lot of work into his portrayal of Dalton. For instance, the nervous stammering Dalton sometimes drops into was inspired by a friend of DiCaprio’s who “has a nervous energy around what his future may hold.” And, as the film depicts, Dalton is on the verge of becoming a severe alcoholic.
“This whole idea is he is an actor who had his big shot in television and does he have what it takes to make that transition to this era of director-driven films,” DiCaprio explains. “Is he going to transcend his own insecurity and self doubt to make it or will he just be happy to accept the fact he loves being an actor? And that’s what Julie’s character sort of symbolizes. ‘Hey man, you’re working. Life is good.’ He’s so consistent in feeling sorry for himself. All that charater stuff just wove itself into what Rick was with conversations with Quentin.”
When asked how often improvisation occurred on set, DiCaprio said: “I would say I don’t know if it’s uncommon. [Tarantino] definitely gives you rein to improvise but in a lot of ways his words are Shakespearean. You take his lines very seriously. You want to give him the goods. But when he lets you go off and do your own thing, that’s a lot of fun too.” Such was the case in the scene where DiCaprio’s character melts down after flubbing lines: “That was great. Quentin gave me a lot of bullet points of thoughts that I could do and improvise. It was all in the trailer with [cinematographer] Bob Richardson, and I got to smash the hell out of that trailer. A lot of fun.”
Leonardo DiCaprio also Praised Brad Pitt’s ‘Subtle’ Performance: “Brad and I had some sequences together but seeing this sort of amazing portrayal..what Brad did is really not easy to do,” DiCaprio says. “You have to go back to Alain Delon or Steve McQueen. That kind of subtle power. It was so striking when I first saw it.”
Leonardo DiCaprio attends the 14th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival honors Martin Scorsese with Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara on November 14, 2019 in Santa Barbara, California.
“One of the most remarkable things about Martin Scorsese — besides being one of our greatest filmmakers — is the generosity that he exudes to everybody on set, from his creative team to his crew and especially the actors that he works with. He treats each and every one of us as a real collaborator and that is not easily said. You can say you’re a collaborator but Marty truly wants to know what you have to say as an artist. These collaborations have been forged through the years. They’re strong, symbiotic relationships with Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Joe Pesci, and dare I say myself. Through the years, these collaborations have become more like his alter egos, his muse, or more like his family.” Leonardo expressed during his speech
DiCaprio then recalled the day, nearly 20 years ago, when he first “had the honor of stepping foot” on a Scorsese set for Gangs. “I was 25 years old and I remember through the mastery of Dante Ferretti I was walking around these sets, it was like a mass scale caravansary that had popped up. He created New York’s Five Points suddenly before my eyes all within the walls of the very historic Cinecitta Studios in Rome. I knew at that moment my life and my work would never be the same. Working with Marty became almost like an encapsulated ecosystem that vastly enhanced my knowledge and appreciation for cinema as an entire art form historically. He quickly became much more than a director, he became collaborator, a mentor, a friend and a guide through the history of our shared cinematic past.”
Leonardo then turned his attention to the present to open up on his reaction to Scorsese’s latest, The Irishman. “With his latest film, Marty has once again reunited with some of his most iconic collaborators,” he said of the epic which casts Pesci, Keitel, Pacino and DeNiro, the latter of whom anchors the story as Frank Sheeran, a truck driver turned top hit man. “It plays like an elegy. It’s a movie about looking upon what you’ve left behind and squaring up with all of it, but for me, what’s more astounding about this film, in my mind, Marty transcends his own signature genre and creates a film that methodically transforms itself into an exploration of our very own universally shared mortality. The film is absolutely breathtaking.”
DiCaprio then said as a whole, Scorsese’s “body of work will be revered for centuries and generations to come.” With that, he welcomed to the stage the man of the evening.
Then Martin Scorsese made his way to Ritz-Carlton Bacara ballroom stage, got a kiss on the cheek from presenter Leonardo DiCaprio and took his place behind the podium. He opened up on how he first fell in love with film at five years old, how Leonardo DiCaprio gave him a “new lease on life,” and why the industry should ignore algorithms and business calculations. But first, it was all about Douglas.
“He really had a very profound influence on me,” Scorsese explained. He said how in the late 1940s and early 1950s, cinema was “very essential” to his life primarily because he had asthma and thus, he wasn’t allowed to run or play ball. “So, they put me in a room and they took me to the movies.”
At that time — post World War II — Scorsese said the “mood of the films being made and the kinds of pictures people wanted to see” was changing. So were the stars on screen.
“There was a whole group of post-war actors, but there was one in the group who really stood out. … It was Kirk Douglas,” he continued. “The thing about this guy is that you couldn’t pin him down.” Scorsese went on to back up his assertion by listing the range Douglas displayed as a gangster in Out of the Past, a fighter in Champion, as a cultured English teacher in A Letter to Three Wives, as a monster producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (its poster has hung on Scorsese’s wall for 30 years) and as a washed-up star in Two Weeks in Another Town.
He loved the latter two films so much that Scorsese said he and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro attempted to pull together remakes for years. “We were obsessed with these pictures,” he noted, explaining that they tried different writers like Richard Price and Paul Schrader. “Somehow it all developed and found its way into The Irishman. That, in a funny way, is our version of what Kirk, [Vicente Minnelli] and all those guys did.”
More about Douglas. Scorsese also name-checked his films The Vikings, Lust for Life, The Juggler, Spartacus, Strangers When We Meet and Man Without a Star. “The thing about Douglas was that he seemed to live in all these films, in all these worlds. You couldn’t pin him down. He brought this very special quality. He had a very strong intensity…a strong desire to not be constrained by any conventions and certainly not limitations of the script, I can tell you. He went deep, deep into the emotional core … and this, kind of set him apart from the others.”
A compliment that has long followed Scorsese — and used to set him apart from the others — is a fierce loyalty to frequent collaborators both behind and in front of the camera. He paid special attention in his speech to the most recognizable ones, De Niro and DiCaprio. Scorsese explained that with the former, whom he has known since they were about 16 years old, there’s “an incredible trust” that has developed after doing so many films together. Their collaborations include iconic films like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino. Their latest is Netflix’s The Irishman, now in theaters, also stars Al Pacino.
Scorsese credited De Niro with introducing him to DiCaprio after the two actors made This Boy’s Life together in 1993. “He called me, he never does this, and said, ‘You gotta work with this kid, he’s really good.” So, they met up and it changed both of their lives thanks to creative partnerships on such films as Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street and the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon.
“For the past 20 years, he’s given me as a filmmaker, creatively, a new lease on life. I can tell you that. Because I see the same kind of commitment in Leo that Kirk Douglas had. He was inspired in turn by Bob and Al’s generation who was inspired by Kirk’s generation.”
Martin Scorsese on Leonardo DiCaprio
