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#BOXOFFICE: “BARBIE” TOYS WITH THE COMPETITION

It’s a Barbie World! BARBIE easily nabs #1 spot at the Box Office this weekend with $150 million from 4,243 theatres for Warner Bros. Critics are loving this Comedy-Fantasy starring and produced by Margot Robbie, told through a Feminist lens by Greta Gerwig, making it not only 2023’s biggest opening yet, but also setting a record for largest opening ever for a film by a female Director!

Christopher Nolan‘s OPPENHEIMER lands in second with $75 million from 3,610 theatres for Universal Pictures. It gets 93% on the Tomatometer.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE lands in third with $25 million, a two-week tally of $124.2 million for Paramount Pictures.

SOUND OF FREEDOM just keeps going in fourth with $20 million for Angel Studios, a total $124 million grossed over three weeks domestically.

Fifth is INDIANA JONES & THE DIAL OF DESTINY with $18.9 million, a running tally of $152 million for 20th Century Studios.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TEASER FOR “BARBIE”

Literally THE MOVIE we’re waiting for in 2023. Check-out this bubbly new Teaser for Greta Gerwig‘s BARBIE starring Margot Robbie!

Warner Bros. Pictures Canada release BARBIE Summer 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Canada)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR “WHITE NOISE”

We know you’re excited about this one because we are! See the new official Trailer for Noah Baumbach‘s WHITE NOISE starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig! Also below, some new Artwork for the Film.

Logline: At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, White Noise dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.

CAST: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Lars Eidinger, Andre Benjamin, Jodie Turner-Smith

Artwork:

WHITE NOISE is coming soon to Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

#FIRSTLOOK: MARGOT ROBBIE IN “BARBIE”

A new still has been released from Greta Gerwig‘s BARBIE, based on the beloved Mattel doll and starring and produced by Margot Robbie. With a Screenplay co-written by Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, this upcoming Comedy already is stacked with an Awards-caliber pedigree!

Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Hari Nef and Will Ferrell all complete the stacked Cast!

Warner Bros. Pictures Canada release BARBIE July 21, 2023.

(Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Canada)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “LITTLE WOMEN”

While we’re sad it isn’t announced for TIFF ’19, we are happy about getting to see its Trailer finally for Greta Gerwig’s reimagining of LITTLE WOMEN.

Synopsis:
Writer-Director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women each determined to live life on her own terms — is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the Film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet as their neighbor Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.

 

See the Trailer:

 

Sony Pictures Canada release LITTLE WOMEN this Christmas.

 

(Photo/video credit: Sony Pictures Canada)

#OSCARS: “THE SHAPE OF WATER” WINS TOP HONOURS AT 90TH ACADEMY AWARDS

The 90th Academy Awards took place at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles tonight. Sweeping top honours after gaining the most nominations (13) was Guillermo del Toro‘s Toronto-filmed Fantasy The Shape of Water winning four awards including Best Picture, Directing, Production Design and Original Score. The Film’s Toronto Crew celebrating tonight at Palais Royale, were credited for being a part of the Film’ success. del Toro, who has been vocal about his love for Toronto using the City regularly to base his productions, encouraged other Genre Filmmakers to continue breaking ground with the door he helped open.

See del Toro’s speech:

 

 

While many saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as the favourite to win Best Picture, it still took acting honours for Leading Actress with Frances McDormand and Supporting Actor with Sam Rockwell. McDormand gave a memorable speech which had her laughing nervously, devoting her time on-stage getting all her fellow female nominees to stand together in a call for inclusion and equality.  Both The Shape of Water and this premiered at TIFF ’17 with the latter winning the coveted People’s Choice Award and the two are released by Fox Searchlight.

See McDormand’s speech:

 

 

Dunkirk‘s win tally would come in at three with scores for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Film Editing. Blade Runner 2049 by Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve, would win for Cinematography and Visual Effects. Disney’s Coco was awarded Animated Feature and also for Original Song with Remember Me, performed on the broadcast by Gael García Bernal, Miguel and Natalie Lafourcade. Call Me By Your Name earned one win for Adapted Screenplay. Allison Janney nabbed Supporting Actress for her work in I, Tonya, which presenter Jodie Foster who appeared on-stage in crutches, would joke that Meryl Streep was responsible for her injury, having “I, Tonya-ed” her.

The Evening was hosted by Funnyman Jimmy Kimmel who tackled head-on several issues of now including #MeToo and #TimesUp using case in point, the substantial pay gap between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams on re-shoots for nominated All the Money in the World. Despite both being represented by William Morris Endeavor, Wahlberg was paid eight-times Williams‘ salary, although the former made right by donating his earnings to #TimesUp.

Kimmel joked that the Oscar statue is the ideal man in that he “keeps his hands to himself, never says a rude word and doesn’t have a penis. He is a statue of limitations”.  A running joke for the evening was that the winner with the shortest speech would win a jet ski in the same vein as The Price is Right, which Leading Actor winner Gary Oldman was clear he wouldn’t be winning as he took his time thanking those responsible for his success. Oldman‘s Film Darkest Hour would win also for Makeup.

 

See Kimmel‘s running joke with the help of Helen Mirren:

 

Following an outcry that the Oscars lacked diversity, that certainly was addressed full force this year and repeatedly the theme of inclusion was brought-up throughout the night.  We would see female nominees in categories like Directing (Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird) and Cinematography (Rachel Morrison, Mudbound) and first-time Nominee Jordan Peele winning Original Screenplay for Get Out. A Fantastic Woman starring Chilean transgender Actress Daniela Vega, would win Foreign Language Film.  Basketball icon Kobe Bryant also would win his first Oscar for Animated Short Film, Dear Basketball.

 

Complete list of winners here.

 

(Photo/video credit: The Academy/Getty Images/ABC)

#GOLDENGLOBES: “BIG LITTLE LIES” + “THREE BILLBOARDS” DOMINATE 2018 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
  • January 07, 2018
  • admin
  • First Look
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The 75th annual Golden Globes Awards took place tonight in Beverly Hills, California. With the #TimesUp initiative front and center of our attentions, we saw all talent uniformly wearing black to draw attention to the cause for equality and an end to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Seth Meyers hosted the affair boldly poking-fun at the likes of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. In the face of change, he calls 2018 “the year marijuana was allowed and sexual harassment wasn’t anymore.”.

Oprah Winfrey who next can be seen in Disney‘s A Wrinkle in Time, was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. Her Wrinkle Co-Star Reese Witherspoon introduced her as being all “a noun, a verb and an adjective”. And even Meyers joked DeMille should be honoured she was given the award. Winfrey recalls herself as a kid in Milwaukee back in 1964, watching Anne Bancroft speak a historic five words on television, “The winner is Sidney Poitier“. She hopes to inspire another black girl watching tonight seeing her be named the first ever black Cecil B. DeMille Award Winner. Winfrey states, “I wanted to express gratitude to all women who endured years of abuse and assault as they like my mother had mouths to feed, bills to pay and dreams to pursue.”. Recounting the story of rape (1944) victim Recy Taylor whose six attackers never were persecuted, she defiantly states that we are at the end of an era, “Their time us up!”.

 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri scored huge in the Film categories including a win for Motion Picture Drama. Martin McDonagh was awarded Screenplay for the Film which he also directed. He jokes, “My mother really wanted Lady Bird to win.”. Oscar Winner Frances McDormand before tonight had been nominated seven times for a Globe, but finally received her first win for Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.  She declined to make political comments but expressed pride that the Film still is filling seats in brick and mortar theatres across the U.S. the “old-fashioned” way. Sam Rockwell, after a career spanning almost three decades, finally won a Golden Globe for his work in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. “It’s nice to be in a movie people saw”, he kids before thanking others involved with the TIFF ’17 People’s Choice Award-winning Film and also wife Leslie Bibb.

 

HBO’s Big Little Lies was a major force in the Television categories winning TV Miniseries or Movie. Nicole Kidman was awarded her fourth Golden Globe for her Actress work, thanking her Co-Star, Co-Producer and fellow Nominee Reese Witherspoon with whom together she brought the HBO release to Television. Kidman despite getting the cue to shorten her speech, thanked her husband Country Star Keith Urban last, telling him “When your cheek is pressed against mine, the whole world just melts away, I love you.”. Co-Stars Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgård also won for their work as Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (Dern‘s fourth Globe too!) in the Miniseries.

Lady Bird, which premiered at TIFF ’17, won Comedy or Musical. The Film which loosely is based on Greta Gerwig‘s life, also is her directorial debut. Gerwig thanked her hometown Sacramento for giving her the wings and roots needed to succeed in life. 23-year-old Saoirse Ronan already has been nominated for three Globes but alas gets her first win tonight for her acclaimed work in Lady Bird. She kept pointing-out in her humble speech how her mom out of excitement was in the audience on FaceTime while she was on-stage.

 

Visionary Guillermo del Toro made a teary acceptance for Director with The Shape of Water while the Orchestra had tried drowning his speech out due to time restrictions. “Turn the music down, it’s taken me 25 years to get here” he said, drawing cheers from the audience. Moments before, Natalie Portman presenting his award alongside Ron Howard, pointed-out how all Nominees in the Category were male.

Gary Oldman was awarded Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in TIFF ’17 selection Darkest Hour. In his speech, he told us how his wife puts-up with his incredible dedication telling others “I go to bed with Winston Churchill and wake-up with Gary Oldman.”.

 

Jeered widely for having made the worst movie of all time, The Room, Filmmaker and Cult Icon Tommy Wiseau got the last laugh joining Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy Winner James Franco on-stage tonight. Franco stars in and directs The Disaster Artist which recounts Wiseau‘s process making that Cult Classic. Franco thanked his younger brother Dave in his speech saying “He always wanted his own Coen Brother” to make Films with and it looks like he too along with Wiseau saw his dream come true.

Allison Janney who delivers a chilling portrayal of Tonya Harding’s mother LaVona Golden in I, Tonya, was awarded a well-deserved Globe beating-out some stiff competition including Laurie Metcalf whom many also feel is deserving for her work in Lady Bird. Janney made a poignant statement about perception of truth in Media, an enlightenment after having worked on the Film which gives us a fresh perspective on the disgraced Figure Skater. It was a good night for both Tommy Wiseau and Tonya Harding.

 

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was this year’s Dark Horse, winning Comedy Series and also Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards) winning Actress in a Comedy Series. The Amazon Series centers on a Jewish housewife in the ’50s who becomes a Stand-up Comedian.

Elisabeth Moss shone a light on Canada dedicating her Actress in a Drama Series win to Margaret Atwood who wrote the source material on which Toronto-made The Handsmaid’s Tale is based. The Series also took home a Globe for Drama Series. This is her second Golden Globe win, her first for Miniseries Top of the Lake.

After four nominations, Ewan McGregor finally gets his first Globe win for Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie with Fargo.  Another Canadian connection, the Series was filmed in Calgary.

Sterling K. Brown was awarded his first Globe for his work on Series This is Us.  The rising star next can be seen in Marvel’s Black Panther and reminded his kids in his speech he’d be there to take them to school tomorrow morning, in addition to expressing his awe of Oprah Winfrey being seated before him on the podium.

 

After getting a nod last year and seeing MASTER OF NONE, for which he has directing and writing credits, Funnyman Aziz Ansari gets a Globe for Actor in a Comedy Series. He becomes the first ever South Asian Actor to win a Globe.

In addition to having grossed almost $600 million worldwide, Disney•Pixar‘s Coco goes on to Globe success, winning Animated Feature.

Hot off its #1 success on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart, The Greatest Showman also wins a Globe for Original Song, This is Me, sung by Keala Settle and also Kesha.

Fatih Akin‘s In the Fade won Foreign Language Film. The German Film starring Diane Kruger as a woman dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack, received a TIFF ’17 Premiere.

Awards Season culminates in the Academy Awards which air Sunday, March 4, 2018 on ABC, 7 PM ET.

 

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

#INTERVIEW: GRETA GERWIG ON “LADY BIRD”

One of the biggest breakout hits of TIFF ’17 saw not Indie Darling Greta Gerwig in front, but instead behind the camera. The star of acclaimed Films like Frances Ha and Jackie makes her directorial debut with self-written, though not entirely autobiographical LADY BIRD. For one, Gerwig unlike the Film’s central character would never make anyone call her by another name. Furthermore, she insists that none of its characters solely are based on people she knows, but more so bits and pieces of them.

The Film stars two-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan in its titular role  (name inspired probably by the Mother Goose rhyme). It centers on a teen Sacramento girl struggling to break-free from the confines of her hometown to a post-secondary life in cultured New York City. Her family is struggling financially as well as she herself to make the grades needed to succeed at her big plan. All the while she begins to find herself in love and life, determined to defy her loving mother’s (played by TONY winner Laurie Metcalf) discouragement. Despite her defiance, Lady Bird very much is a story about the love shared between mother and daughter.

Gerwig looks to great coming-of-age films like Boyhood, 400 Blows and Amarcord for inspiration, but these largely are male-centric.  Her Film gives us a refreshing spin as a look at a young woman’s experience with personhood.

Our Siobhán Rich (@Typo_Eh) had the pleasure of attending a junket with Gerwig recently in Toronto, her second visit to the City following Lady Bird’s festival success.  The Film just gained domestic distribution through Elevation Pictures.

Siobhán asks Gerwig  about the Film’s phenomenal casting.

Gerwig recalls about finding her perfect Lady Bird. “I met Saoirse here in Toronto at TIFF in 2015. She was here with Brooklyn and I was here with a Film called Maggie’s Plan. She read the script and she really responded to it. She had this real instinct about it. She said, ‘I know I’m from a tiny town in Ireland. And it’s all the way across the world but I just know this. I know character and I know this story. I feel it in my heart.’ We met-up and we read the whole script out loud. She read all Lady Bird’s lines and I read all everybody else’s lines. I just knew instantly that she was the right person for the part. But then I made her read the whole script because I’m selfish and I wanted to hear it out loud. That’s just what directors do! (LAUGH) So, I cast her and I moved the Movie for her because she’s my Lady Bird.”.

With several nods to Sondheim heard in Lady Bird, Gerwig‘s affection for Theatre is even more pronounced in the manner which she fills-out her cast. “Stephen McKinley Henderson I’d seen on Broadway. Lois Smith I’d seen off-Broadway. Laurie I’d seen at Steppenwolf and on Broadway. Tracy, I love all of his plays he’s written and I’d also seen him on Broadway. It felt like just a collection of people I think are incredible. Then the young cast: I saw Timothée Chalamet, who plays Kyle, on stage — I saw him in a John Patrick Shanley Play in New York called Prodigal Son and he was incredible. Beanie Feldstein just walked in and auditioned and I fell in love with her.”.

“There was a combination of ways we got that team together but really everyone was so great and I was so blessed with this cast. They were so ‘in it’ and able to make a family with each other.”.

Wearing her Helmer’s cap, she imparts an important bit of wisdom that helped make her directorial debut such a success. “Part of my process as a Director — I think the most important thing — is giving the candle, the little lit match of the character to the actor and saying, ‘It’s yours now. I don’t own it. I don’t know who this person is – it’s you. You tell me who they are because I can’t know what you know about this person.’ And I feel it’s this passing on of a character that’s vital to me.”.

Elevation Pictures release LADY BIRD Friday, November 10, 2017.

Get acclimated with one of the year’s greatest surprises.  Check-out its Trailer:

 

Gerwig with us at TIFF ’17:

 

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong/Elevation Pictures)

#GIVEAWAY: ENTER TO WIN ADVANCE + RUN-OF-ENGAGEMENT PASSES TO SEE “LADY BIRD”
  • November 02, 2017
  • admin
  • Giveaways
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Elevation Pictures x Mr. Will want to give Readers in Toronto a chance to win Advance Passes and Run-of-Engagement Passes to see acclaimed TIFF ’17 selection LADY BIRD.

Advance Screenings are as follows:

  • Halifax: Scotiabank Halifax at 7:30pm
  • Winnipeg: St. Vital at 7:30pm
  • Calgary: Eau Claire at 7:00pm
  • Vancouver: 5th Avenue at 7:00pm
  • Edmonton: North Edmonton at 7:00pm

 

 

Synopsis:
High school senior Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) — also known by the nickname she chose for herself, Lady Bird — is desperate to get out of California. She can’t wait to move to the East Coast, where she dreams of big city life and Ivy League universities.

However, because her grades are nothing spectacular and she has no connections, Lady Bird decides she needs to add extracurriculars to make her college applications stand out.

She considers joining Math Olympiad, but her math grades are terrible, so she joins the drama club. Meanwhile, her mother, who doesn’t understand Lady Bird’s aspirations and desire to move far away, has her hands full supporting the family by working double shifts as a nurse. She struggles to understand her self-centered daughter, who believes she deserves everything in life and that everyone should love her the way she is.

Trailer:

Artwork:

 

To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK.  Please indicate your City. Re-Tweet this Tweet from @mrwillw for an extra chance!

Elevation Pictures release LADY BIRD Friday, November 10, 2017.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#GIVEAWAY: ENTER TO WIN PASSES TO THE TORONTO PREMIERE OF “LADY BIRD”

Elevation Pictures x Mr. Will want to give Readers in Toronto a chance to attend the Toronto Premiere of acclaimed TIFF ’17 selection LADY BIRD. It takes place this Sunday, October 22, 2017. Director Greta Gerwig will be in attendance!

 

Synopsis:
High school senior Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) — also known by the nickname she chose for herself, Lady Bird — is desperate to get out of California. She can’t wait to move to the East Coast, where she dreams of big city life and Ivy League universities.

However, because her grades are nothing spectacular and she has no connections, Lady Bird decides she needs to add extracurriculars to make her college applications stand out.

She considers joining Math Olympiad, but her math grades are terrible, so she joins the drama club. Meanwhile, her mother, who doesn’t understand Lady Bird’s aspirations and desire to move far away, has her hands full supporting the family by working double shifts as a nurse. She struggles to understand her self-centered daughter, who believes she deserves everything in life and that everyone should love her the way she is.

Trailer:

Artwork:

 

To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. Re-Tweet this Tweet from @mrwillw for an extra chance!

Elevation Pictures release LADY BIRD Friday, November 10, 2017.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

For advertising opportunites please contact mrwill@mrwillwong.com