Benedict Cumberbatch 'bitterly disappointed' as chances to win an Oscar disappear

Daily Star
By Mike Parker / Published 22nd October 2017

The Brit, 41, had been tipped to land a Best Actor gong for playing light bulb inventor Thomas Edison in the upcoming movie, The Current War.

But instead of next month’s planned release, the movie’s opening – along with at least six others produced by fallen tycoon Weinstein – has been deferred “indefinitely”.

None of them will now be eligible for entry at the annual Academy Awards ceremony in LA on March 4.

Critics reckoned it may have been Cumberbatch’s best chance of Oscar glory.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/654164/benedict-cumberbatch-loses-chances-win-oscar-the-current-war-Harvey-Weinstein-sex-scandal

Benedict Cumberbatch's Oscar Hopeful Just Hit A Major Obstacle

Cinema Blend
By Conner Schwerdtfeger

The last week has seen a whirlwind of controversy sweep through Hollywood. With massive allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct leveled against film industry giant Harvey Weinstein, it has raised some fairly significant questions about the status of films associated with his name. One such film is Benedict Cumberbatch's potential awards darling, The Current War, and it looks like the Thomas Edison biopic has just hit a major obstacle on its road to Oscar season. Specifically, we have officially learned that The Weinstein Company has considered pulling the film from its planned release date in response to its current PR issues.

A new report from The Playlist indicates that The Weinstein Company's upcoming award contender, The Current War, may be pulled from the company's release schedule. Earlier statements from Harvey Weinstein himself had stated that the film was going to receive a significant overhaul anyway (it did not debut to the warmest welcome when it was screened for audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival), but the recent drama involving Weinstein seems to be making the scheduled release for the film even more difficult. Although it was initially set to hit theaters in limited release on November 24, this bump (yet another attempt to distance the company from the controversy) could effectively take it out of the coming year's race for Oscar gold.

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1713909/benedict-cumberbatchs-oscar-hopeful-just-hit-a-major-obstacle

Colin Firth expresses shame at failing to act on Weinstein allegation

The Guardian
October 13, 2017

Colin Firth said he read the allegations against Harvey Weinstein ‘with a feeling of nausea’. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

Colin Firth has expressed his shame for not doing more when a British actor he worked with told him of “a distressing encounter” with Harvey Weinstein in a hotel room more than 25 years ago.

He spoke out after Sophie Dix, who starred with him in one of the first cinema movies he made, went public with details of an alleged sexual assault involving Weinstein.

“She told me she had had a distressing encounter with Harvey Weinstein,” Firth told the Guardian. “I don’t think she went into all the horrific detail I’ve read in her interview. But I remember her being profoundly upset by it. To my shame, I merely expressed sympathy.

“I didn’t act on what she told me,” he went on. “It was a long time ago and I don’t know if she remembers telling me, but the fact that I had that conversation has come back to haunt me in the light of these revelations. It’s the only direct account of this kind of behaviour by Harvey Weinstein that’s ever been told to me.”

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/13/colin-firth-expresses-shame-at-failing-to-act-on-weinstein-allegation

Benedict Cumberbatch: Early Oscar 2015 Contenders

FEMALE FIRST
by Helen Earnshaw | 16 March 2014



The 2014 Oscars season has just ended - it really was a very exciting awards circuit this year - and we are already looking ahead to the films and stars that could be in contention for 2015.

There are a whole host of exciting film projects on the horizon, and we have already spied a handful of films that have awards contenders written all over them. We take a look at some of the films to watch out for between now and the Oscars 2015.

- The Imitation Game

One of the movies that we are particularly looking forward to is The Imitation Game, which will see Benedict Cumberbatch back in a leading film role; it could turn out to be his greatest film moment to date.

Harvey Weinstein has a great Oscar nomination and Oscar win record, and the infamous producer is behind this new biopic about Alan Turing. Cumberbatch will take on the role of Turing in the film. Turing helped break the Enigma code during the Second World War, but was hounded because of his sexuality.

We all know how much the Academy loves a biopic film, and this really could be a major player by the end of the year. Headhunters filmmaker Morten Tyldum is in the director’s chair, while Keira Knightley and Mark Strong are part of the supporting cast.

Could we all be willing Benedict Cumberbatch on to a Best Actor Oscar win by the beginning of next year?



Read more: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/early-2015-oscar-contenders-437083.html#ixzz2w9UHeMmv

Keira Knightley: Weinstein Bid for Knightley Film Likened to Sparta Battle

BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK

By Ari Altstedter September 12, 2013

The lights hadn’t even come up at the world premiere of “Can a Song Save Your Life?” when Marc Schipper’s BlackBerry began buzzing with messages from distributors clamoring for rights.

The drama, starring Keira Knightley playing a singer trying to make it in the music business, had been flagged by publicists and organizers at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival as one of the hottest titles for sale. It didn’t disappoint.

“Even before the credits were rolling, we had a bunch of offers in, people saying, ‘Don’t go to anyone else because we really want this movie,’ ” Schipper, chief operating officer of Exclusive Media Group and the negotiator for the film’s producers, said in a Sept. 10 telephone interview.

After an all-night bidding war, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s namesake company bought the U.S. distribution rights for $7 million. Organizers say the deal was one of the biggest in the festival’s 38-year history and highlighted Toronto’s place as one of the world’s leading film markets.

Perhaps the greatest battle played out at downtown restaurant Patria on Sept. 7. As Knightley, co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and director John Carney (“Once”) held court on a narrow patio, representatives from The Weinstein Co., Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF:US) pressed through the party’s 250 guests to make their pitch, according to Tobin Armbrust, one of the film’s producers.

Band of Spartans

He likened the scene at the restaurant to a battle depicted in the 2006 movie “300” in which the Persians struggled to surge through a gap in the mountains defended by a small band of Spartans.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-09-12/weinstein-toronto-bid-for-knightley-film-likened-to-sparta-s-war

Colin Firth and other guests at "Before I Go To Sleep" party on a boat at Cannes...

STORM SHADOW

MICHAEL FASSBENDER: An apology

By
Karen Wasylowski

I posted an article here that claimed Michael Fassbender had been after some woman.  (He's a young, single, handsome man.  How dare he.)  There has been no other article remarking on this event so it was probably a false report and I apologize to the man.  I don't usually post articles about an actor's personal life, unless they are in a positive light.  These men and women are entitled to a personal life and what they do, or any mistakes they may make, are entirely their own business and all part of being human.

I had one commenter on this article and very rightly she took me to task.  I apologize to her as well.  She is clearly a fan of his and was offended.  I don't know what gets into us.  I am no better than the other scumbags at times, who make up stories when they can't find dirt.  Nothing new was being reported about Michael Fassbender, and believe me I was looking - he's so good and so popular that to feature him gets a mass of hits on the blog, and that's what I want.  So I saw this article and jumped on it, the same as all the rest.  I had second and third doubts but put it up anyway even though, frankly, it sounded absurd to me.

Constantly reading these articles I think I've gotten quite good at finding the truth nuggets in between what their publicists spew out when they are hawking movies (the publicists, not the actors).  From what I can glean about Michael Fassbender he seems committed to his craft and is truly in love with acting.  Many of the better actors are in love with acting, not with the media.  They put up with the media.  If he mentions that he likes a woman and someone overhears it, the item gets sold for lots of money and his privacy is breached once again.  But he loves acting so he is polite and maybe retreats a little further away from the limelight causing gossip writers to search even harder for dirt.  It is a vicious cycle but one I don't want to step into again.

So, I apologize to Michael, even though he'll never know it, and I apologize to his fan - Anonymous.  I'll try and do better.

Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender's 'Genius' Sells Around the World (Exclusive) (THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

The film recounts the real-life relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe and renowned editor Max Perkins.

BERLIN -- Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender's Genius -- based on A. Scott Berg's National Book Award-winning biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius -- is sparking avid interest among independent distributors.


FilmNation has sold the film in a raft of key foreign territories, including to The Weinstein Co. in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

There's no word on whether TWC will buy U.S. rights, but Harvey Weinstein's shop would be a natural fit for Genius, having released the Oscar best picture The King's Speech, for which Firth won the Oscar for best actor. TWC is one of the most aggressive players in the awards space, and Genius could well be a contender considering its pedigree.


READ MORE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/berlin-2013-colin-firth-michael-419160

Maggie Smith: Weinstein Co. Picks up U.S. Rights to Dustin Hoffman's 'Quartet' 3:57 AM PDT 5/4/2012 by Stuart Kemp (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

The film, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins, marks Hoffman's directorial debut.

LONDON -- Harvey Weinstein said about the acquisition of U.S. rights to Quartet, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins, that he “decided to give an up-and-coming first-timer a chance.”

With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Weinstein’s comment referred to Dustin Hoffman, who makes his directorial debut with the comedy set in a home for retired opera singers. It also stars Tom Courtenay.
“We’re excited to be working with Dustin on his directorial debut," Weinstein added.


READ MORE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-dustin-hoffman-quartet-movie-debut-320350

Colin Firth: At long last, Intouchables has arrived By T’Cha Dunlevy, GAZETTE FILM CRITIC April 12, 2012 5:02 PM (MONTREAL GAZETTE)

MONTREAL - There comes a point where a hit movie takes on a life of its own. When Canadian distributor Alliance announced last week that the French dramatic comedy Intouchables' $281-million box office made it the most successful non-anglophone film of all time last week (beating Spirited Away), that point seemed well past. And yet, the film is just now opening in North America; so it may have more lives yet.

 Based on a true story, it’s the feel-good tale of an unlikely friendship between a rich, paraplegic man, Philippe (veteran French actor François Cluzet), and Driss (breakout star Omar Sy), a young black man from the ghetto who is hired to take care of him. The movie has had audiences rolling in the aisles since Day One.

When we held the first screening on Aug. 24, something happened,” Olivier Nakache said while in Montreal last month for the premiere. He co-wrote and co-directed the film with long-time creative partner Éric Toledano.

“We said, ‘Merde, what happened?’ We said that a lot (over the next two months), because there were many more screenings before the release. We knew we had something, but not to this extent.” Intouchables has raked in more than $280 million at the box office since it hit theatres in November.

Maverick producer Harvey Weinstein is pushing the film in North America, and has acquired rights for an English-language remake. Coming on the heels of Weinstein’s Oscar-winning triumph with another French film, The Artist, it is confirmation that Intouchables’s adventure is far from over. “We’ve talked a lot about a remake,” Nakache said. “We’re not opposed to the idea. But it’s a true story that has been entrusted to us, so we’d like to at least see the script and be consulted. The details are still fuzzy.

Colin Firth saw the film and said he wants to play the role of Philippe. Weinstein is very powerful. We met him and it went well.”


READ MORE:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/long+last+Intouchables+arrived/6448948/story.html