Tim Gray-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe team behind Disney Animation’s “Encanto” gave themselves a high degree of difficulty: In a development/production process that took five years of constant rewrites, they insisted on a film with a family of 12 principals, while most animated films center on half that number.The film is about 15-year-old Mirabel Madrigal (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz) and her family; the breakout star for fans and social media is Bruno, the exiled uncle voiced by John Leguizamo. “Encanto” was written by Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith from a story credited to six writers, including those two.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentOscar is a perfect metaphor for COVID. Or maybe COVID is a metaphor for Oscars. Either way, both center on a sense of uncertainty, with people loudly advocating a “return to normal.”The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced Feb.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWe are in the midst of Hollywood’s two big film events. One is the Oscar race, in which film artists salute great work.The other is the surrounding mini-industry that involves campaigners, contenders, agents, journalists and Oscar pundits.There is always confusion because the latter event is also called the Oscar race — but in fact, the two are very different species.Oscar Race #1 features major names (this year including Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg), newcomer/vets (Troy Kotsur, Ciaran Hinds) plus top-of-the-line artisans.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAfter Oscar nominations were announced Feb. 8, the buzz seems equally centered on who was nominated and who wasn’t.There’s an impressive roster of work in both categories.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“Don’t Look Up” has hit a nerve in a way that’s rare for films to do. That’s partly because it addresses an urgent, hot-button topic — climate change — with a film that’s partly a cry for help, partly a black comedy. The movie, written and directed by Adam McKay, with a story by David Sirota, boasts a starry cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSearchlight’s “Nightmare Alley” takes place mostly in 1939-41, but its sensibility is contemporary. It’s a time-capsule movie: If future generations want to know what life was like in the 21st century, tell them to see this film.“Nightmare,” written by Guillermo Del Toro (who directs) and Kim Morgan, depicts a world of liars and charlatans who manipulate the truth to gain wealth and/or power.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentOn June 29, 1966, CBS had an internal debate over its morning programming: Whether to cut to a news conference about a turning point in the Vietnam war — the U.S. bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong — or to air a decade-old “I Love Lucy” rerun. They decided to stick with “Lucy.”The sitcom, which ran 1951-57, is more than beloved: It’s become part of our collective unconscious.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentHollywood has given us a wide range of mothers, including the hard-working and devoted (“Claudine”), the self-sacrificing (“Bambi”) and the monstrous (“The Manchurian Candidate”).It’s hard to come up with anything new on the subject, but first-time writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, adapting Elena Ferrante’s novel, constantly surprises us by depicting several mothers who are complex, original and have the ring of truth in “The Lost Daughter.”“The book and, I hope, the film articulate a lot of the experience about being a woman that we don’t often talk about,” Gyllenhaal tells Variety. “Not just in terms of mothering and how complicated it is — it brings you to your knees.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentOscar voters take their duties seriously and seem to have a few key criteria in voting: Is this work emotionally honest, does it pop off the screen, and is it something that will be admired 50 years from now?Penelope Cruz in “Parallel Mothers” checks all those boxes. There are no guarantees with Oscars, but if there’s justice in the world, she will be nominated Feb. 8.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentJ.K. Simmons was reluctant to appear in “Being the Ricardos.” But reading Aaron Sorkin’s script, “I was able to see the gift that Aaron was giving to each of the actors.”It’s a gift exchange: Simmons is so versatile and talented that he brings gifts to any filmmaker he works with.Oscar voting runs Jan. 27-Feb.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThere has been media debate whether “Spider-Man: No Way Home” could get a best picture Oscar nomination, since voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences have been reluctant to celebrate movies in that genre. But describing this as a superhero movie is like saying “The Godfather” is a gangster film. It IS, but it’s much more.The box-office success proves that the film is hitting a nerve with audiences: They needed this film.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentIn April 2019, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences board of governors decided to change the name of the foreign-language-film category, saying it was “outdated within the global film community.” So they renamed it “international film.” It’s better, but still not precise: All films are international, whether they’re in English or not. This year’s Academy Awards race provides many reminders of that fact.Several 2021 Oscar contenders seem like all-American films, such as “West Side Story,” though the cinematographer is Janusz Kaminski, from Poland; “Nightmare Alley” boasts DP Dan Laustsen (Denmark), editor Cam McLauchlin and production designer Tamara Deverell (both Canada), not to mention director Guillermo del Toro (Mexico) and stars Cate Blanchett and Toni Collette (both from Australia).

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe public considers the Academy Awards as a Hollywood event. True, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is headquartered in Southern California, and most of the best pic contenders are American and/or in the English language.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWhen Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” screened for industry audiences in late November, Oscar pundits were rapturous but immediately worried: “It’s great, but could a remake win best picture?”The answer, of course, is yes. (Pundits like to either predict the Oscar outcome five months in advance or else predict dire scenarios, nothing in between.)This year, there are some terrific remakes.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentGuillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” is physically stunning, which the director says “sustains the darkness of the movie by keeping the audience almost hypnotized by those textures. If you make a beautiful movie that’s not telling a story or defining a character, it’s just decorative. That’s the difference between eye protein and eye candy.”Every worker behind the camera on the Searchlight film was “first-rate,” says del Toro, who also singled out several key artisans.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentPedro Almodóvar has written and directed 23 feature films since 1978; each one carries his unique style, yet he manages to keep surprising audiences.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThis year’s Oscar race is in a bio rhythm, with a huge percentage of films based upon real people and events.Merriam-Webster defines “biopic” as simply a biographical movie.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentPamela Martin of Warner Bros.’ “King Richard,” says, “When it comes to editing, you have to love your characters, flawed or not. And I loved that family.”Before signing on, the editor says, “I knew very little about Richard Williams, and it was mostly filtered through the media: ‘That crazy tennis dad’ or ‘He’s a nut job.’ Now I think that guy’s a genius.”The Will Smith-starring film, which is an Oscar contender, concerns the early days of tennis champs Venus and

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAfter concluding his sixth Middle-earth film, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” Ian McKellen praised Peter Jackson, telling Variety, “He’s invented technology to match his imagination.”Jackson’s first “Lord of the Rings” film, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” premiered in December, 2001, and celebrates its 20th anniversary this month.Jackson oversees five companies in Wellington, New Zealand, that were each started to fill the films’ needs:— Weta Workshop w

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWhen Amazon announced in August 2021 that its billion-dollar “Lord of the Rings” TV series would shift production to England, fans were stunned. Though J.R.R.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentOn Aug. 31, 1998, Variety reported that New Zealand filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh would transform J.R.R.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAfter success with several small-scale films, Peter Jackson in 1992 told Variety he was looking for a project “that will really push me.”He found something that surpassed everyone’s expectations. This month marks the 20th anniversary of Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings,” which kicked off the 2001-2003 film trilogy based on the books by J.R.R.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentIt’s that time of year when film awards ballots are going out. Here’s some advice for voters: make sure you see Netflix’s “The Guilty” before voting.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAmazon’s “The Tender Bar” is George Clooney’s eighth film as director, with William Monahan scripting from J.R. Moehinger’s book about a family that spans the years, with Daniel Ranieri, then Tye Sheridan as J.R.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe first Oscars for documentary were in 1941: special awards to Rey Scott for “Kukan” (described as “a film record of China’s struggles”) and to the British Ministry of Information for “Target for Tonight” (about the Royal Air Force). Docus became a category in 1943 and for many years, a documentary was the broccoli of the film world: Good for you, but no fun.Things have changed, thanks to many greats who combined storytelling with urgency and heart.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“Luca” fulfills Pixar’s mandate of expanding its boundaries. The animated film, directed by Enrico Casarosa, is set in Italy, but the storytelling is influenced by Japanese films, especially the works of Hayao Miyazaki: subtle, beautiful and moving.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentMovies sometimes depict the difficulties of filmmaking and a few even deign to mention the screenwriter. Among the rare films in which scripters are front and center: “Sunset Boulevard,” “In a Lonely Place,” “Contempt,” “Barton Fink,” “The Player,” “Adaptation” and “Mank.”In these films and others, the writer is almost always male.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAt the Media Access Awards on Wednesday, honoree Marlee Matlin summed up the mood by saying that when she came to Los Angeles in 1985, “words like equality and access were so far outside the mainstream of Hollywood, I had to make noise.” Receiving the MAA’s lifetime achievement award “pushes me to be even louder.”The annual awards have long honored film and TV shows that offer positive portrayals of disabled people.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“CODA” may be the most radical Oscar contender this year.Writer-director Sian Heder tells Variety, “We told a simple story about family dynamics. I was trying to portray a complicated family that felt real.”She’s right: The structure is straightforward and the story is indeed simple, about a hearing daughter from a deaf family who wants to pursue her own career.But the film is revolutionary because it centers on a deaf family.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThis month marks the 40th anniversary of my joining Variety, which sets off a number of thoughts.The first is a realization: 40 years? I’m old! (This is startling, because for many years I wasn’t.)The second reaction is how much things have changed. Occasionally, people will say, “Wow, 40 years at one place!” And I think, well, yes, but that requires a few footnotes.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWinners of the 93rd Academy Awards were unveiled April 25, a day that included another notable announcement: The creation of 1in4, an advocacy group to help disabled workers starting out in entertainment.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentBleecker Street’s “Mass” takes place almost entirely in one room, with four characters. When writer-director Fran Kranz was hunting for funding, he resisted suggestions to “open up” the film.“I always believed it had to be this,” he tells Variety, because he didn’t want to “undermine” the characters.The film concerns an emotional meeting between two sets of parents whose sons have died in a school shooting.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentEvery year, the Oscar race is about questions: Who will be nominated, who will win? This year, there’s an added one: What’s the future of moviegoing?COVID has changed everything big and small— including awards eligibility, meaning a theatrical window was not necessary to qualify for awards. As cinemas closed in 2020, many studios’ opted for simultaneous streaming/theatrical releases.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentLongtime NBC press-publicity exec Gene Walsh died Sept. 1 at his home in Burbank.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentIt’s fun to make awards predictions in October, which is kinda/sorta the start of Oscar season.But here’s some perspective: In October 2018, audiences greeted Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” so rapturously that many were predicting an Oscar sweep. It ended up with one win (original song), out of eight nominations.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe Intl. Emerging Film Talent Assn.