Moviefone Editorial

Tag: george-miller

  • Here Are the 2015 DGA Awards Film Nominees

    Fresh off its impressive haul at the Golden Globes the weekend, “The Revenant” is poised to nab yet another statuette with a nomination for a Directors Guild of America Award.

    The DGA announced its annual slate of honorees for outstanding directorial achievement on Tuesday, and “Revenant” director Alejandro G. Inarritu was among the five nominees. Inarritu also won the DGA award last year, for 2014’s “Birdman,” and with the new momentum from “The Revenant”‘s Globes wins, the director looks like an early favorite to repeat.

    The rest of the nominees were rounded out by Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), and Ridley Scott (“The Martian”). In addition to those names, the DGA also included a new category this year, honoring directors who helmed their first feature films in 2015.

    “There’s a first time for every feature filmmaker, but not every first time offers fresh viewpoints in storytelling that are imperative in this industry,” said DGA president Paris Barclay in a statement. “The first-time feature directors we’re recognizing with this inaugural award we hope will develop successful and lengthy careers. We are excited and invigorated by all they have to offer.”

    The full list of nominees is below. The DGA Awards will be handed out at a ceremony on February 6.

    FEATURE FILM NOMINEES:

    ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU
    The Revenant
    (20th Century Fox)

    Mr. Iñárritu’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Managers: Drew Locke, James W. Skotchdopole, Doug Jones
    First Assistant Director: Scott Robertson
    Second Assistant Directors: Megan M. Shank, Matthew Haggerty, Jeremy Marks
    Unit Production Manager: Gabriela Vazquez (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
    First Assistant Director: Adam Somner (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
    Second Assistant Directors: Trevor R. Tavares, Jasmine Marie Alhambra (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
    Second Second Assistant Directors: Brett Robinson, Kasia Trojak (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

    This is Mr. Iñárritu’s fourth DGA Award nomination.

    TOM MCCARTHY
    Spotlight
    (Open Road Films)

    Mr. McCarthy’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Managers: D.J. Carson, Michael Bederman
    First Assistant Director: Walter Gasparovic
    Second Assistant Director: Penny Charter
    Assistant Unit Production Manager: Danielle Blumstein (Boston Unit)
    First Assistant Director: Christo Morse (Boston Unit)
    Second Assistant Directors: Conte Matal, Kristina Mariko Peterson, Annie Tan, Andrea O’Connor (Boston Unit)
    Second Second Assistant Directors: Phil Robinson, Mark Romanelli (Boston Unit)
    Additional Second Assistant Director: Scooter Perrotta (Boston Unit)

    This is Mr. McCarthy’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

    ADAM MCKAY
    The Big Short
    (Paramount Pictures)

    Mr. McKay’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Louise Rosner
    First Assistant Director: Matt Rebenkoff
    Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
    Second Second Assistant Director: Cali Pomés
    Second Second Assistant Director: Josh Muzaffer (New York Unit)
    Location Manager: Michael Kriaris

    This is Mr. McKay’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

    GEORGE MILLER
    Mad Max: Fury Road
    (Warner Bros.)

    Mr. Miller’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Dean Hood
    First Assistant Director: PJ Voeten
    Second Assistant Directors: Samantha Smith, Wendy Croad, Chris O’Hara
    Second Assistant Directors: Eddie Thorne (Syndey Unit), Emma Jamvold (Syndey Unit)
    Second Second Assistant Directors: Danielle Blake (Syndey Unit), Joshua Watkins (Syndey Unit)

    This is Mr. Miller’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

    RIDLEY SCOTT
    The Martian
    (20th Century Fox)

    Mr. Scott’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Managers: Francesca Cingolani, Miklós Tóth
    First Assistant Director: Raymond Kirk
    Second Assistant Directors: Sarah Hood, Bogi Móricz
    Second Second Assistant Director: Nick Thomas

    This is Mr. Scott’s fourth DGA Award nomination.

    FIRST-TIME FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR NOMINEES:

    FERNANDO COIMBRA
    A Wolf at the Door
    (Outsider Pictures)

    Mr. Coimbra’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Clara Machado
    First Assistant Director: Suzy Milstein
    Second Assistant Director: Raquel Toledo

    This is Mr. Coimbra’s first DGA Award nomination.

    JOEL EDGERTON
    The Gift
    (STX Entertainment)

    Mr. Edgerton’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Luc Etienne
    First Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore
    Second Assistant Director: Matt Haggerty
    Second Second Assistant Director: Dillon Neaman

    This is Mr. Edgerton’s first DGA Award nomination.

    ALEX GARLAND
    Ex Machina
    (A24)

    Mr. Garland’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Sara Desmond
    First Assistant Director: Nick Heckstall‑Smith
    Second Assistant Director: Ray Kenny

    This is Mr. Garland’s first DGA Award nomination.

    MARIELLE HELLER
    The Diary of a Teenage Girl
    (Sony Pictures Classics)

    Ms. Heller’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Molly Salz
    First Assistant Director: Brian Benson
    Second Assistant Director: Jerremy Stewart
    Second Second Assistant Director: Alex Gilbert

    This is Ms. Heller’s first DGA Award nomination.

    LÁSZLÓ NEMES
    Son of Saul
    (Sony Pictures Classics)

    Mr. Nemes’s Directorial Team:
    Unit Production Manager: Gábor Szántó
    First Assistant Director: István Kolos
    Second Assistant Directors: Zoltán Gyovai, Edina Galgócz

    This is Mr. Nemes’s first DGA Award nomination.

    [via: Directors Guild of America]

    Photo credit: Kimberley French/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

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  • Los Angeles Film Critics Honor ‘Spotlight,’ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’

    The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has handed out its annual honors, and the group’s top prizes went to both expected recipients (“Spotlight“) and wild card flicks (“Mad Max: Fury Road“).

    “Spotlight” nabbed the top prize, taking home Best Film, in addition to Best Screenplay. But “Max” is proving it’s a force to be reckoned with, earning runner-up to Best Film, as well as trophies for Best Director (George Miller), Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design.

    Though critically beloved and commercially successful, the high-octane “Max” hadn’t been considered a serious awards season contender. But its recent announcement as Best Film of 2015 by the National Board of Review and strong showing with the L.A. critics could indicate a push toward Academy Award nominations come January.

    The full list of winners (and runners up) is below.

    BEST PICTURE
    Spotlight
    (Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road)

    BEST DIRECTOR
    George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
    (Runner-up: Todd Haynes, Carol)

    BEST ACTOR
    Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
    (Runner-up: Géza Röhrig, Son of Saul)

    BEST ACTRESS
    Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
    (Runner-up: Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn)

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
    (Runner-up: Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria)

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
    Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
    (Runner-up: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies)

    BEST SCREENPLAY
    Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
    (Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa)

    BEST DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION FILM
    Amy
    (Runner-up: The Look of Silence)

    BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
    Son of Saul
    (Runner-up: The Tribe)

    BEST ANIMATION
    Anomalisa
    (Runner-up: Inside Out)

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
    (Runner-up: Edward Lachman, Carol)

    BEST MUSIC SCORE
    Carter Burwell, Anomalisa and Carol
    (Runner-up: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight)

    BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
    Colin Gibson, Mad Max: Fury Road
    (Runner-up: Judy Becker, Carol)

    BEST EDITING
    Hank Corwin, The Big Short
    (Runner-up: Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road)

    SPECIAL CITATION
    Film preservationist David Shepherd

    CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
    Anne V. Coates

    [via: Los Angeles Film Critics Association]

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  • ‘Babe’: 20 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Talking Pig Movie

    “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

    It’s been 20 years since the world fell in love with the sheep-herding pig at the center of the film “Babe,” which opened August 4, 1995. The movie was hailed as a kids’ movie that delighted viewers of all ages — it was the rare children’s film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar — as well as an advance in effects magic that launched a wave of live-action, talking-animal flicks.

    It’s hard to imagine that the G-rated classic came from George Miller, the same filmmaker behind the ultra-violent, hard-R “Mad Max” franchise. That’s one of many things you may not know about “Babe,” here are 19 more:

    1. In 1986, producer/co-screenwriter Miller became interested in the story during a long plane flight from Sydney to London, where the woman seated next to him was laughing uproariously at Dick King-Smith’s book, “The Sheep-Pig.” Upon landing, he found the book in a bookstore and immediately began negotiating with King-Smith for the rights, a process that ultimately took years.

    2. Part of the reason it took nearly a decade to get the film made was British author King-Smith’s objection to Miller’s insistence on shooting the film in his native Australia. He told Miller, “Pigs don’t fly, and neither do I.”

    3. The other reason it took so long: Miller was waiting for technology to catch up with his vision of putting live, talking animals on screen.

    4. The animals were a combination of real critters trained by Californian Karl Lewis Miller (the animal trainer behind the “Beethoven” films and “Cujo”), the London-based Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and John Cox’s Creature Shop in Australia, which built animatronic animals to match the real ones.

    5. Karl Miller also appears in the film as the man who buys three puppies.
    6. To make the animals talk, the filmmakers relied on computerized mouth movements developed by Los Angeles effects house Rhythm & Hues, best known for the talking cat in “Hocus Pocus” and the Coca-Cola polar bear ads.

    7. There were 48 purebred, Large White Yorkshire pigs cast as Babe, since the filming was spread out over the course of three years, and the pigs kept outgrowing the role. All the Babes were female, since the male pigs’ genitals were far too visible on screen.

    8. Some 500 animals appear in the movie, though Karl Miller trained 970 of them — not just pigs, but also dogs, cats, sheep, cows, horses, goats, ducks, mice, and pigeons.

    9. Christine Cavanaugh, a voiceover actress best-known for playing Chuckie Finster on “Rugrats” and Dexter on “Dexter’s Laboratory,” voiced the role of Babe.

    10. Magda Szubanski was one of Australia’s most popular comic actors when she was cast as Esme Hoggett. She was only 34 at the time; make-up was used to age her 20 years.

    11. Miller said at the time of the film’s release, “Babe” cost $20 million to make, though some reports said $25 or $30 million. Even at the higher price, that sounds like an incredible bargain by today’s standards.

    12. The movie earned $64 million in North America and a total of $254 million worldwide.
    13. Before starring as Farmer Arthur Hoggett in “Babe,” James Cromwell was best known for playing Mr. Skolnick in the four “Revenge of the Nerds” movies. He was 55 when “Babe” gave him his big break — and an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actor. He has said he almost decided not to take the role because it had only about 16 lines of dialogue, but a friend convinced him that the free trip to Australia would be worth it.

    14. “Babe” was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Chris Noonan), Best Adapted Screenplay (for Miller and Noonan), Best Editing, and Best Art Direction. Best Supporting Actor nominee Cromwell reportedly spent $60,000 of his own money campaigning for the trophy. But the movie’s only win was for Best Visual Effects.

    15. The film was briefly banned in Malaysia. Some reports said it was because the Muslim country objected to a film about a pig, but actually, it was because the name “Babe” is considered vulgar there. Eventually, it was released there on VHS, bypassing theaters.

    16. Cromwell, who was already a vegetarian, went the rest of the way and became a strict vegan and committed animal-rights activist after “Babe,” His career prospered, with prominent roles in “Star Trek: First Contact,” “L.A. Confidential,” and “The Green Mile.”

    17. Cromwell, Szubanski, and most of the voice actors returned for the 1998 sequel, “Babe: Pig in the City.” Cavanaugh declined to return and was replaced by her “Rugrats” castmate, Elizabeth Daily. Director Noonan also sat out the sequel, which George Miller directed and co-wrote. Many critics found it superior to the original, but the dark tone and occasional animal violence made families squeamish, and the film was a flop.

    18. Cavanaugh died in 2014, at age 51, from undisclosed causes.

    19. Chris Noonan’s most recent feature film directing job was 2006’s “Miss Potter,” another movie involving anthropomorphic animals — it was the biopic of children’s author Beatrix Potter, starring Renee Zellweger.

    20. After “Babe: Pig in the City,” George Miller made another animal film — the 2006 hit, “Happy Feet” — followed by its 2011 sequel. These three films were his only releases over the last 20 years, until 2015’s critically-acclaimed success “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
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  • ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Director George Miller Teases Sequel

    Fans flocked to theaters this weekend to see “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a reboot of the classic apocalyptic action series, dropping a collective $44.4 million at the domestic box office on the long-in-the-works flick. Based on those numbers, it seems that a sequel to the reenergized franchise is a no-brainer, and now, director George Miller himself has stated that audiences will be seeing more “Max” in the future.

    Miller, who just joined Twitter this weekend, didn’t mince words with his first tweet ever, thanking fans and critics alike for the love, and revealing that a follow-up is indeed in the works. “We had a lot of fun making it..and there’s more Max to come,” Miller wrote on Sunday evening.

    While there’s no greenlight yet from studio Warner Bros., an official announcement is all but a certainty. Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., said in a statement that the studio was pleased with the film’s opening weekend, and envisioned the movie having “some long legs” in theaters, with strong returns rolling in for weeks to come.

    That result should guarantee Miller and co. another shot at box office glory with a “Fury Road” follow-up. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take another 30 years to get off the ground.

    [via: George Miller]

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  • The New ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Trailer Is Basically ‘Fast and Furious: Apocalypse Edition’ (VIDEO)

    mad max: fury road
    A new, bats–t insane trailer for “Mad Max: Fury Road” is here, and like the flick’s other teasers before it, it’s full of explosions, car chases, and creepy dudes in masks and chains — all seasoned with an apocalyptic flavor.

    This time around, the clip focuses more on the villains, led by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who straps on a horrifying teeth-filled mask as he makes odd proclamations before screaming masses. He’s also consumed by the need to recapture a group of comely lasses who have escaped his clutches.

    Leading the charge against him are Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, with the latter explaining what’s driving him to fight back.

    “As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken,” he intones. “It was hard to know who was more crazy: me, or everyone else.”

    If we had to go out on a limb, we’d guess “everyone else,” but who are we to judge? In the world of “Fury Road,” it seems that insanity is the new black.

    “Mad Mad: Fury Road” is directed by original “Mad Max” mastermind George Miller. It’s due in theaters on May 15.

    Photo credit: YouTube

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