Tonight on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION’s “Night Talk” host Mike Schneider sits down with Hollywood Producer Donna Gigliotti about her films The Reader and Two Lovers starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin Pheonix.
She talks about why no names were listed at the Oscar nominations for The Reader, “The Academy has a rule that only three producers can be nominated for an academy award, and as soon as they see more than three producers listed they automatically say ‘To Be Determined’ because they need to go and look at who did what in the production. There is the executive branch committee and they decide. It’s a hot button issue, believe me!” Read the rest of this entry »
Set in the insular world of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Two Lovers is a classic romantic drama, with Joaquin Phoenix giving a raw and vulnerable performance as Leonard, a charismatic but troubled young man who moves back into his childhood home following a recent heartbreak. While recovering under the watchful eye of his parents (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Monoshov), Leonard meets two women in quick succession: Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a mysterious and beautiful neighbor who is exotic and out-of-place in Leonard’s staid world, and Sandra, the lovely and caring daughter of a businessman who is buying out his family’s dry-cleaning business.
Leonard becomes deeply infatuated by Michelle, who seems poised to fall for him, but is having a self-destructive affair with a married man. At the same time, mounting pressure from his family pushes him towards committing to Sandra. Leonard is forced to make an impossible decision – between the impetuousness of desire and the comfort of love – or risk falling back into the darkness that nearly killed him.
A few months back there were plenty of doubts about Iron Man. The comic book character, a rich industrialist who designed a supersuit to fight crime, is not one of Marvel’s most defining characters. And many doubted the talents of director Jon Favreau, who has only directed kid-oriented fluff such as Elf and Zathura, and lead actor Robert Downey Jnr, who has had more relapses than hit movies. Yet slowly but surely, the film began to pick up momentum, and this weekend, its first, has seen it earning $200 million worldwide. Reviews have been kind, so is Iron Man a worthy first blockbuster of 2008?
The film traces the origins of Iron Man. Tony Stark, designer of advanced weapons of mass destruction, is kidnapped in Afghanistan by terrorists, and forced to build weapons for them. Instead, he invents a clunky suit to escape, after a fellow prisoner, Yinsen, manages to show him the consequences of his missile designs. After escaping, Stark decides to work for peace instead, but faces resistance by his business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who has plans to steal Downey’s iron man design.
A few months back there were plenty of doubts about