State of the Art (8/19)
From the Hollywood Reporter: The TV Academy has voted to cancel its timeshift of eight awards, including best movie and best miniseries, in favor of presenting all 28 of the primetime Emmys live. We at BOTO shudder to think what would have happened had the Academy totally eschewed scripted television on a scripted television awards show, although we believe that watching presenters and acceptees speak without relying on cue-cards or prewritten speeches would be sufficiently entertaining.
From Deadline Hollywood Daily: The Halcyon Company, producers of Terminator: Salvation, accused Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, LLC and former Pacificor employee Kurt Benjamin of extortion, bribery, and fraud. Halcyon filed two lawsuits, each of which seek over $30 million in damages. From this, we can conclude that the Halcyon Company “can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead…” or, at the very least, seriously strapped for cash.
From the New York Times: Under the direction of Maria Aitken, Hitchcock’s 1935 thriller, The 39 Steps, becomes the underdog success story on Broadway as it outlasts every other straight play by combating the recession and numerous cast changes with a healthy dose of nostalgia for minimalist theater.
From Ain’t It Cool News: James Vanderbilt has been hired to write the screenplays for Spiderman 5 and Spiderman 6. He is set to begin work on these films after he completes the final draft of Spiderman 4: Where Have All the Villains Gone?
From Variety: Pulitzer-prize winning playwright David Mamet will write, direct, and co-produce Disney’s upcoming film rendition of The Diary of Anne Frank. Mamet plans to contextualize Frank’s story as a “young girl’s rite of passage.” We at BOTO are confident that even Disney would be hard-pressed to fabricate a happy ending to this tale.
From the Boston Globe: Harry Potter wins over religious critics, some of whom are looking to make such chronicles as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings “jibe” with religious beliefs in scholarly studies. We are all for such academic conventions, so long as Dobby, Jar Jar Binks, and Gollum aren’t deified.
From the Los Angeles Times: Reality TV shows do not find a welcoming home at Cartoon Network. This is surprising, as we remember that “Tom & Jerry” had a successful stint at Fox Reality a while ago.
From Slate: Fahrenheit 451 becomes a comic book. BOTO endorses burnings of this graphic novel.
Nicole Catá is a rising junior at Columbia University. She is honored to serve as your humble co-editor and snark-provider. Nicole respectfully reminds you to make way for ducklings. Read more.
