‘American Fiction’ Director Cord Jefferson Boards Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Just Cause’ Amazon Series, John Wells to Co-Write (EXCLUSIVE)

Scarlett Johansson has put together a cast for her directorial debut Eleanor the Great!

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.

Todd Gilchrist editor The creative process can sometimes be highly organized, and others completely ephemeral: for every story that’s been mapped out beat by beat there’s another that arrived completely intact from a writer’s fingers in a feverish outpouring of inspiration. Somewhere in between these extremes is the unglamorous, frequently tedious work of chipping away at an idea, a sequence, or line of dialogue that gets to the heart of what a scribe wants to say — or more precisely, hopes to communicate.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Scarlett Johansson is assembling the cast of her directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great.” June Squibb, the Oscar-nominated actor of “Nebraska” will be joined by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Broadway veteran Jessica Hecht and Erin Kellyman. The movie, formerly titled “Eleanor, Invisible,” follows Eleanor Morgenstein (Squibb), a 90-year-old woman trying to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “American Fiction” director Cord Jefferson, composer Laura Karpman and director John Hoffman (“The Barber of Little Rock”) were among the Oscar-nominated attendees at Gold House‘s inaugural Oscars One House Toast. In partnership with GLAAD, the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, La Cena, IllumiNative, Harness, Pillars Fund, The Blackhouse Foundation, The Female Quotient, and The Latinx House, Gold House honored the 2024 multicultural nominees and achievements across filmmaking at the celebration on Thursday night at Harriet’s Rooftop in West Hollywood.

Can you even hear a guild awards ceremony if it occurs after the Academy Awards? Thanks to the WGA strike, we’re about to find out. The nominees were announced this morning for the 2024 WGA Awards which will take place on April 14.

Die Hard 2, Porky’s and The Wanderers, has died at the age of 64.The news was confirmed on social media by Ganios’ fiancée, Amanda Serrano-Ganios, who said that he became ill last week and was treated in hospital for a spinal cord infection, before passing away on Sunday (February 18) from heart failure.Known for playing New York Italian-American tough guys, Ganios made his film debut in the cult 1979 coming-of-age film The Wanderers. On that shoot, Ganios struck up personal and working relationships with several figures that would reoccur throughout his career, including director Philip Kaufman and co-star Ken Wahl.Wahl paid tribute to his friend on X, saying, “Rest in Peace, Buddy…I love you.”Rest In Peace, Buddy …..

I share my colleague Pete Hammond’s fascination with Cord Jefferson’s BAFTA win for his screenplay adaptation, American Fiction. It is no small thing for a self-consciously American story to win a very British award against competition as formidable as Christopher Nolan, especially for a debut film.

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off directing and executive producing the first two episodes of FX’s Shōgun, Jonathan van Tulleken has been tapped to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of another high-profile limited series, Prime Video’s Blade Runner 2099.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor With just four days remaining until final Oscar voting officially opens, the race has taken a few unexpected turns at the BAFTA Awards. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a biographical drama about the father of the atomic bomb, has continued to surge ahead after seven wins, including best film and director. Its trajectory towards a triumphant night on the Dolby Theatre stage on March 10 seems assured.

After eight straight years of the BAFTA and Oscars failing to match on their choice for Best Picture, you can probably take it to the bank that this year that streak will be broken as Oppenheimer continues its flawless roll toward the Academy Awards and now adding seven wins at BAFTA including the big prize to its previous triumphs at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, and DGA awards. It is all going according to plan.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor When you have the SAG Award nominated ensemble of “American Fiction” – John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Tracee Ellis Ross and Jeffrey Wright (also individually nominated in male lead and Oscar nominated for the film) you have to ask them where it all began. In discussing their first jobs for the union, Ross revealed that, like many actors, she started with a commercial – this one for Infiniti cars.But her co-stars soon revealed surprisingly momentous stories for their first SAG-AFTRA jobs. Wright noted his onscreen debut was opposite Burt Lancaster and Sidney Poitier in the 1991 miniseries “Separate but Equal” about the Brown v.

Sundance dealmaking was buoyant, the awards season is coming to a head with a number of critically acclaimed movies having done well at the box office, and apparently peak TV is over. Whisper it quietly, but after years of movies being almost a dirty word compared to the lustre of TV, is independent theatrical film staging a comeback?

American Fiction filmmaker Cord Jefferson and writer John Wells have signed on to Just Cause, Amazon’s upcoming thriller limited series, starring and executive produced by Scarlett Johansson, Deadline has confirmed.

“The Holdovers” actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, nominated for Best Supporting Actress.Sterling K. Brown, nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “American Fiction”Best Actress nominee and “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone.“Maestro“ producer, director, writer, and actor Bradley Cooper nominated in the Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role and Original Screenplay categories with Best Leading Actress nominee Carey Mulligan.“Barbie” actress America Ferrera who is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The 96th annual Oscar nominees luncheon gathered a vibrant crowd of celebrities, filmmakers and cinephiles at the iconic Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. DeVon Franklin, a Board of Governors member, kicked off the event by announcing the roll call of attendees, starting with the esteemed composer Laura Karpman of “American Fiction” and concluding with the talented Robert Downey Jr., nominated for his supporting role in “Oppenheimer.” Here are some of the key takeaways from the event.

When it came to S.J. Clarkson‘s approach to Sony/Marvel’s spiderwomen origin story Madame Web, “It all started with clairvoyance,” says the filmmaker.

It’s been nearly eight years (2016’s “American Honey”) since we last saw a narrative feature from director Andrea Arnold. Since then, things haven’t been really easy for the filmmaker.

The Taste Of Things, a meditation on turn-of-the-century French cooking — no chicken wings or nachos in sight — is stirring up a nice weekend for IFC Films with $126k and the best per-theater opening of the year so far on Super Bowl weekend.

“I want to do an erotic thriller and I’m also working on a neo-western that is also is like a noir,” beamed American Fiction filmmaker Cord Jefferson about his potential sophomore directorials.