Links, 11

NYT Amanda Peet on why she doesn't read reviews
Variety Ron Howard to produce and direct much discussed political book Hillbilly Elegy. A very odd fit if you ask us, since Howard is skilled at broad-stroked popcorn pictures, not nuanced thematic drama
NYT Radley Metzger, erotic cinema pioneer (The Lickerish Quartet, Score) has died at 88

Shadowplay looks back at Joan Crawford in Torch Song with some notes on Feud
Interview Mag talks to Pilou Asbaek (A War, Ghost in the Shell) 
MNPP John Waters still making trouble onscreen and in print 
Theater Mania Provincetown's got an amazing lineup of concerts this summer including Sutton Foster and Megan Hilty
Coming Soon Some Scarlet Witch action from the Avengers: Infinity War set. It's always amusing to see how strange these things look before visual fx
i09 reviews the direct to video animated feature Teen Titans: Judas Contract, based on the classic 80s storyline
Cinematic Corner the best and worst of 2016. Yes, it's still okay to post these. I know I need to finish up some categories in the film bitch awards

Finally, please do check out the Pulitzer Prizes for 2017. Winners and finalists have been announced. Nothing movie or TV related this year among the winners except, eventually, the fiction winner Underground Railroad, which is Barry Jenkins next project as previously discussed. There are two theater related winners so congrats to Lynn Nottage who is the first black woman to win two Pulitzers for Drama (her new play "Sweat" which stars Feud and The American's Alison Wright alongside Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson) and to Hilton Als of the New Yorker for his theater criticism. Among the finalists that didn't win is one worthy voice for movie lovers: Ty Burr of the Boston Globe was honored with 10 of his columns noted.

American Link Story

Playlist Adam McKay (The Big Short) planning a Dick Cheney biopic which may star Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Steve Carell
LA Times comedian Don Rickles has died at 90
Vulture Interesting observations: blockbuster filmmakers are making the same single parent family drama inbetween their visual fx movies
Movie City News on the tired false notion that 'movie stars don't matter anymore' in terms of box office which we're seeing a lot of post Ghost in the Shell opening and which we see every time a star driven movie fails essentially. Movie stars obviously do still matter but the economics of movies are always changing.

/Film in this week's strangest news: Actor/Hunk Joe Mangianello has written a Dungeons & Dragons movie
Washington Post another 'Nicole Kidman is awesome and always has been' essay. Glad we're getting a wave of these but kind of annoyed that people haven't taken our word for it all these years ;) 
Billboard Adele's "21" album from 2011 just broke a record long held by Carole King's "Tapestry"
IndieWire ranks the top 14 female action stars. The top three are unassailably major (Jolie, Johansson, Theron) but the list gets weird and debatable thereafter even including Cara Delevigne who's not yet headlined an action film at #14
Yahoo American Crime Story's Versace murder cast keeps growing and it's always celebrities. Ricky Martin has signed on as Versace's longtime partner Antonio D'Amico
Telegraph Stage star and sometime screen actor Tim Pigott-Smith has died at 70. Screen credits include V For Vendetta, Downton Abbey, and The Jewel in the Crown (BAFTA award)
Variety Angelina Jolie rumored to be buying a $25 million estate (less than two miles from Brad Pitt's home) that used to belong to Cecil B DeMille 
EW Alexander Skarsgård worries he won't get work after Big Little Lies because Perry was such a monster 

P.S. A follow up yesterday's "on this day" post. VOTE!

For his birthday, What's Francis Ford Coppola's greatest creation

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) April 7, 2017

P.P.S. Have you begun thinking of the Emmy race yet?

We're still in the eligibility period and the nominating doesn't begin until early June but the campaigning has already begun in force for many shows, both Emmy darlings and other.

Last nights #FYC for #crazyexgirlfriend was #bonkerballs As if performing live with our cast and having our creatives, executives, writers and casting director there wasn't enough of a love fest, we even got these swanning tote bags WITH Season 2 soundtrack CD!! 😮🎁🎉 #TotesTotes #ILoveSwagBags #TeamCrazy #crazyexfyc

A post shared by Vincent Rodriguez III (@vrodrigueziii) on Apr 6, 2017 at 10:25am PDT

It must be frustrating to be on great TV shows that the television Academy ignores. History has shown that they don't change course unless they're basically forced to which they will be this year at least in one category: Best Drama Series has a single new opening since Game of Thrones isn't eligible for the very first time. The Emmys would be so much more exciting, and frankly mean a lot more, if the nominations were done by special committees forced to watch a bunch of things. Imagine if the nominations actually shifted per season depending on quality. All series have ups and downs! 

And the Link Goes To...

Daily Mail Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman reunite... but for an interview series, not a film
The Muse Rich Juzwiak talks to Anne Hathaway about Colossal and the very tired subject of 'Hathahaters'... as I've always said: their loss, she's awesome.
Deadline omg Toni Collette has a lead role again (opposite Thomas Haden Church)
Criterion Director Amy Heckerling (Clueless) visits the Criterion Closet. She loves Federico Fellini, the story of Billy Wilder and Tokyo Story

Coming Soon Director Sam Mendes is considering a movie based on the graphic novel My Favorite Thing is Monsters  about a little girl trying to solve her neighbors murder
Towleroad there's a new documentary about Heath Ledger
This is Not Porn and speaking of... polaroids from the set of Brokeback Mountain
Hollywood Reporter 4 Japanese actresses discuss Ghost in the Shell. This is a fun conversation but I wish they'd engaged more with the central twist of the Scarlett Johansson character because that's something I would love to hear people discuss apart from the white-washing issue. It is a separate thorny issue actually and not entirely unlike Get Out's existential horror about race relations and bodies at odds with souls... or "ghosts" in this film's parlance.

Oscar Dates 
I'm not sure why the internet treated the news that the next Oscars would be held on March 4th, 2018 as "news" today but they did. The Academy announced the date two or three years ago (they normally announce multiple dates at once). For example: in the latest press release they've added the next four Oscar ceremony dates. It's the other dates (nominations, luncheon, etcetera) that we never know until we're in the film year

Next Four Oscar Nights

• 90th Academy Awards - March 4th, 2018 (nominations on January 23rd)
• 91st Academy Awards - February 24th, 2019
• 92nd Academy Awards - February 23rd, 2020
• 93rd Academy Awards - February 28th, 2021  

Off Cinema
MNPP on the subtle importance of Zachary Quinto's public romances
Variety the Lucille Lortel nominations (Off Broadway)
Theater Mania I've been so bored that NYC's free summer theater tradition Shakespeare in the Park has been strictly Shakespeare for a few years now. Despite the name they used to mix in non-Shakespeare stuff which made it less basic. But they get good casts. This summer: A Midsummer Night's Dream with two of Broadway's very best performers (Danny Burstein & Annaleigh Ashford) and Julius Caesar with Corey Stoll, Nikki M James, Elizabeth Marvel and more
Vox interesting piece on Sanrio's most popular character since Hello Kitty
Mic new study suggests cats like humans more than food. Great article punchline.
EW Lots of online furor when Marvel VP suggests that their recent diversity push has hurt comics sales. Oh Marvel. That is not the problem. You have so many of them but that ain't it. 

Power Linkers

Mashable the 8 main excuses Hollywood uses for whitewashing, and why they're all bunk in this day and age
Film Doctor 5 amusing notes on "Evil Disney Hegemony" and Emma Watson as Belle
The Muse Rich Juzwiak on the recent LGBT scraps thrown in mainstream Hollywood movies. Frankly I've been insulted, rather than thankful, by both of them. I just saw Power Rangers and I cannot believe people are crediting this movie with being LGBT inclusive. The Yellow Ranger never even admits she's queer. She just stays literally silent (and you know what silence equals) when someone asks if she has a girlfriend.

 

David Poland distributors are considering shrinking the theatrical release window again. Is this just suicide? (I hate to be an alarmist but I totally agree with David Poland's thinking here
Women in Hollywood interviews The Zookeeper's Wife author Diane Ackerman
Time lists the 50 best podcasts right now. I almost never listen to podcasts. Probably because I have no commute. I should get on that.
Pajiba on the costs of running independent film sites - ugh this hurts to read. It's so hard and we dont even do half as well as they do!
IndieWire Paul Thomas Anderson's fashion drama gets a Christmas day release 
World of Reel the early reactions to the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales are actually positive 
Awards Daily talks to composer Trevor Morris (as much as I hated Iron Fist, I liked his work on it!) 
Broadway Blog Bette Midler's super gracious moment with an understudy on Hello Dolly! 

Finally, Two Directing Offers of Note
Joss Whedon might write & direct a Batgirl movie. The deal is supposedly close to happening but he had such a terrible experience with Warner Bros on his Wonder Woman screenplay (and such a difficult time with Marvel on Avengers: Age of Ultron) that this is quite a surprise. The money must be really good but we keep hoping he'll create an original television series again soon rather than reshaping other people's brands. 

Jordan Peele is being considered to direct both Akira and The Flash at Warner Bros thanks to the huge success of his directorial debut Get Out. But both those projects seem so troubled. The first because every iteration Hollywood has dreamt up for Akira includes removing its very Asianness (goddamnit Hollywood, just stop. Asia is an enormous enormous market for movies. You make no sense!) and the second from DC's habitual superhero and filmmaker interference problems. Wouldn't it be better if Peele follows his own muse? That worked pretty damn well for him the first time.

Links: New Musicals, Life Tips, Netflix vs Hollywood

Variety Cher has dropped out of her expected return to acting with Flint, a TV movie about the water crisis in Michigan citing "serious family issues" (sending her good vibes)
Coming Soon Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Channing Tatum will team-up for an R rated jukebox musical called Wingmen about two pilots who crash land in Vegas
Variety Lola Albright film actress of the 1940s and 1950s and know for TV's Peter Gunn has died at 92

NPR there's a way to search IMDb now for movies that are female created or female focused... but it's tricky
Vanity Fair life tips from Shirley Maclaine
/Film Soderbergh's Cinemax series The Knick has been cancelled. :( 
AV Club Wonder Woman pees fire
Interview shares an old interview / photo session of Penélope Cruz from '99
Playbill recaps 'everything we know (so far) about Mary Poppins Returns' but they leave out the most important news that we covered here that the world's best costume designer is behind the new magical nanny looks 
Playbill Kelli O'Hara singing "Toyland" - staged concert version coming up in April
Guardian can Hollywood fight back against Netflix who wants us to get over our "romantic" notions of moviegoing. NEVER, NETFLIX, NEVER.
CHUD 'movies no one mentions' on Copycat (1995). Uff, I miss Sigweavie & Holly leading movies
Screencrush new Spider-Man: Homecoming poster, Spidey just chilling (note Avengers tower in the background)
Tracking Board Robert Rodriguez to direct a remake of John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981)