AFTRA decided this week to postpone negotiations while SAG drudged on through week 2 of talks. Also SAG has made an agreement with some indie producers as a back up just in case a strike does occur. Actors can continue to work through the strike. That is not a good sign. Let’s all hope this doesn’t lead down the same road WGA took. Don’t think Hollywood will be as forgiving a second strike around.
Finally! The bad news is that you have to wait until January 2009 for the new season to start. Rumors of a 24 film in September circulated a few weeks ago. Hopefully it will happen to tide over all the viewers like me.
Via TMZ. Lesson for all, PAY YOUR TAXES!
A judge has just sentenced Wesley Snipes to three years in prison for tax evasion. Forget black — always bet on the U.S. government! Snipes was not forced to surrender immediately. Instead, the judge ruled he could surrender at a later date, closer to his New Jersey home. Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, said, “Snipes’ long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal clear message to all tax defiers that if they engage in similar tax defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants … as inmates in prison.” Snipes was convicted in February on three misdemeanor charges for not filing his taxes. The government claimed he owed $2.7 mil — but Snipes’ attorneys argued it was just $228,000. No fine was imposed, but the three-year sentence was the max he could have gotten. Celebrity friends Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson wrote letters in his defense to appeal for leniency. Oh well …
In a major step forward on “The Hobbit,” Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel.
The widely expected announcement came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich and Mary Parent, the newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group.
Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and WETA production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel which will deal with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.
Here is the list of movies being featured at Cannes this year. Catch all the Cannes coverage on Trendy Reel here on the Cannes page.
In Competition
Three Monkeys
Le Silence De Lorna
A Christmas Story
Changeling
Adoration
Waltz With Bashir
La Frontiere De L’Aube
Gomorra
Synecdoche, New York
My Magic
La Mujer Sin Cabeza
Serbis
Delta
Linha De Passe
Il Divo
Leonera
The Palermo Shooting
24 City
Guerrilla and The Argentine
Out of Competition
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Kung Fu Panda
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Special Jury President’s Screening
The Third Wave
Midnight Screenings
Maradona
Surveillance
The Chaser
Special Screenings
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Ashes Of Time Redux
C’est Dur D’etre Aime Par Des Cons
Sangue Pazzo
Of Time And The City
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