USC Libraries Announce Finalists for 27th-Annual "Scripter Award"

USC LIBRARIES NAME FINALISTS FOR 27TH-ANNUAL SCRIPTER AWARD

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries have named the authors and screenwriters of Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, The Theory of Everything, and Wild as finalists for the 27th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Scripter honors the screenwriter or screenwriters of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author or authors of the written work upon which the screenplay is based.


The finalists are, in alphabetical order by film title:

--Gillian Flynn, author and screenwriter of Gone Girl

--For The Imitation Game, author Andrew Hodges, who wrote the book Alan Turing: The Enigma, and screenwriter Graham Moore

--Novelist Thomas Pynchon and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice

--Jane Hawking, author of Travelling To Infinity: My Life With Stephen, and screenwriter Anthony McCarten for The Theory of Everything

--Screenwriter Nick Hornby for Wild, adapted from Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail


The Friends of the USC Libraries established Scripter in 1988. Previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of 12 Years a Slave, The Social Network, A Beautiful Mind, and The English Patient.

Chaired by USC professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2015 Scripter selection committee selected the five finalists from a field of 97 eligible adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon, Michael Ondaatje and Mona Simpson; screenwriters John Ridley, Erin Cressida Wilson and Steve Zaillian; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts, Madeline Puzo of the School of Dramatic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and the publishers of the original stories are:

    Gone Girl—Twentieth Century Fox and Crown Publishers
    The Imitation Game—Weinstein Company and Princeton Univ. Press (film tie-in edition)
    Inherent Vice—Warner Bros. and Penguin Books
    The Theory of Everything—Focus Features and Alma Books
    Wild—Fox Searchlight and Vintage Books (film tie-in edition)

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford will serve as honorary dinner chairs.

Celebrated mystery and crime writer Walter Mosley—the author of more than 40 books, including the Easy Rawlins series—will receive the USC Libraries Literary Achievement Award. Mosley is currently working on a Broadway version of his novel Devil in a Blue Dress, a film adaptation of which appeared in 1995, starring Denzel Washington.

Current silent auction donors and other event sponsors include Academy of Magical Arts and Ted Ushirogata, Alexander Denk, Allison Samon, American Eye Institute, Anchor Distilling Company, AOC, At Your Side Private Exercise, Bacara Resort & Spa, Badgley Mischka, Benjamin Salon, Bennett Farms, Bonny Doon Vineyard, Bouchon Bistro, Burton Morris, Carol Muske Dukes, Christine Ofiesh, Cynthia Baseman, Daryle Ann and Mark Giardino, David Lebovitz, David St. John, Faith and Flower, Flathead Lake Lodge, Fred Kayne and Terravant Wine Company, Gearys Beverly Hills, Geffen Playhouse, Glenn Sonnenberg, Gloria Kaplan, Hang Zhang, Hayley Kaplan, Hotel Del Coronado, Hotel Indigo, San Diego Del Mar, Hotel Kabuki, Howard Rodman, Jack Lindquist, Jar, Joel Prell, Jon Summers, KFK Jewelers, Kimber Modern, LACMA, Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa, Laura Kasner, Left Brain Travel, Lisa Barkett, Lisa Dixon, Loews Regency Hotel, Los Angeles Dodgers, M. Kantor & Associates, Mark Danielewski, Mark Goldstein and Actuant Corporation, Mark Koenig, Matthew Kenney Cuisine, Maureen Furniss, Montage Hotels, Motif Seattle, Oheka Castle Hotel and Estate, New York, Oliverio at Avalon Hotel, One of A Kind Glass Designs and Patsy Dewey, Orin Swift Cellars, Osteria Mozza, Piel Skin Care, Porto Via, Pro Sup Shop, Sandra Tsing Loh, Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) San Diego, Seattle Seahawks, Shelley Berman, Silver King, South Beverly Grill, Stephen's Hay and Grain, Steven Travers, T.C. Boyle, Tank Town USA, The Belvedere at the Peninsula Hotel, The Kitchen For Exploring Foods, The LA Chamber Orchestra, The LA Opera, The LA Phil, The Rosenzweig Company, The St. Regis San Francisco Hotel, 20th Century Fox, The Voice, Toni Solorzano, U.S. Senator Dean Heller, USC Athletics, Vindy Lee, and Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

For more information about Scripter—including ticket availability, additional sponsorship opportunities, and an up-to-date list of sponsors—please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

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Alfonso Cuarón Wins Directors Guild Top Prize for "Gravity"

by Amos Semien

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2013 were announced Saturday, January 25, 2014 during the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Alfonso Cuarón won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Gravity.  Historically the DGA Awards are a good predictor of the five directors who will receive Oscar nominations.  Four of the five directors who received Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film nominations this year also received best director Oscar nominations, and Cuarón was one of the Oscar nom recipients.

2014 / The 66th Annual DGA Awards (for the year in film 2013):

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film:

ALFONSO CUARÓN
Gravity
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cuarón’s Directorial Team:
•Unit Production Manager: David Siegel (Arizona Unit)
•First Assistant Directors: Josh Robertson, Stephen Hagen (Arizona Unit)
•Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard

This is Mr. Cuarón’s first DGA Award.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary:

JEHANE NOUJAIM
The Square
Netflix, Participant Media, Noujaim Films, Maktube Productions, Worldview Entertainment, Roast Beef Productions

This is Ms. Noujaim’s second DGA Award and third nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for Startup.com in 2001 (together with Chris Hegedus) and was also nominated in this category in 2004 for Control Room.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series:

STEVEN SODERBERGH
Behind the Candelabra
(HBO)

Mr. Soderbergh’s Directorial Team:
•Unit Production Manager: Michael Polaire
•First Assistant Director: Gregory Jacobs
•Second Assistant Director: Jody Spilkoman
•Second Second Assistant Director: Lynn Struiksma

This is Mr. Soderbergh’s first DGA Award and third nomination. He was previously nominated in 2000 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for both Erin Brockovich and Traffic. He is also the recipient of this year’s Robert B. Aldrich Service Award for extraordinary service to the DGA and its membership.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series:

VINCE GILLIGAN
Breaking Bad, “Felina”
(AMC)

Mr. Gilligan’s Directorial Team:
•Unit Production Manager: Stewart A. Lyons
•Assistant Unit Production Manager: James Paul Hapsas
•First Assistant Director: Nina Jack
•Second Assistant Directors: Anna Ramey, Louis Lanni
•Second Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly
•Additional Second Assistant Director: Marcia Woske

This is Mr. Gilligan’s first DGA Award and second nomination. He was previously nominated in the Dramatic Series category for the “Face Off” episode of Breaking Bad in 2011.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series:

BETH McCARTHY-MILLER
30 Rock, “Hogcock!/Last Lunch”
(NBC)

Ms. McCarthy-Miller’s Directorial Team:
•Unit Production Manager: Diana Schmidt
•First Assistant Director: Stephen Lee Davis
•Second Assistant Director: Vanessa Hoffman
•Assistant Unit Production Manager: Bill Sell
•Location Manager: Suk Yi Mar

This is Ms. McCarthy-Miller’s third DGA Award and tenth nomination. She was also nominated this year, together with Rob Ashford, in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category for The Sound of Music Live! She was previously nominated in the Comedy Series category for 30 Rock episodes “Live from Studio 6H” in 2012, “Live Show” in 2010, “The Reunion Episode #304” in 2008 and “Somebody to Love” in 2007. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety twice, in 2001 for America: A Tribute to Heroes (co-directed with Joel Gallen) and in 2000 for the “Val Kilmer/U2” episode of Saturday Night Live. She was also twice nominated in that category for Saturday Night Live episodes “Christopher Walken & The Foo Fighters” in 2003 and the 25th Anniversary episode in 1999.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Series:

DON ROY KING
Saturday Night Live, “Saturday Night Live with Host Justin Timberlake”
(NBC)

Mr. King’s Directorial Team:
•Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Matt Yonks, Bob Caminiti
•Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly

This is Mr. King’s first DGA Award and seventh nomination. He was previously nominated for Saturday Night Live episodes in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials:

GLENN WEISS
The 67th Annual Tony Awards
(CBS)

Mr. Weiss’s Directorial Team:
•Associate Directors: Ken Diego, Robin Abrams, Stefani Cohen, Ricky Kirshner
•Stage Managers: Garry Hood, Phyllis Digilio-Kent, Peter Epstein, Andrew Feigin, Lynn Finkel, Doug Fogel, Jeffry Gitter, Arthur Lewis, Jeffrey M. Markowitz, Joey Meade, Seth Mellman, Tony Mirante, Cyndi Owgang, Jeff Pearl, Elise Reaves, Lauren Class Schneider

This is Mr. Weiss’s fifth DGA Award and tenth nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012 for the 61st, 64th, 65th and 66th Annual Tony Awards. He was previously nominated in the same category in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008 for the 55th, 56th, 59th, 60th, and 62nd Annual Tony Awards.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs:

NEIL P. DeGROOT
72 Hours, “The Lost Coast”
(TNT)

This is Mr. DeGroot’s second DGA Award. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs in 2011 for “Episode 1115” of The Biggest Loser.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs:

AMY SCHATZ
An Apology to Elephants
(HBO)

This is Ms. Schatz’s fifth DGA Award and eighth nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs four times for A Child’s Garden of Poetry in 2011, Classical Baby (I'm Grown Up Now) “The Poetry Show” in 2008, 'Twas the Night in 2001 and Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepy Time Tales in 1999. She was also nominated an additional three times in this category for Don’t Divorce Me! Kids’ Rules for Parents on Divorce in 2012, Hard Times for an American Girl: The Great Depression in 2009 and Through a Child's Eyes: September 11, 2001 in 2002.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials:

MARTIN de THURAH
Epoch Films

“The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down, Hennessy VS – Droga5”
• First Assistant Director: Shawn Thomas

“Human Race, Acura MDX 2014 – Mullen”
•First Assistant Director: Jey Wada
•Second Assistant Director: Dillon Neaman
•Second Second Assistant Director: Erin Stern

This is Mr. de Thurah’s first DGA Award.

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Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Special Awards:

In a surprise announcement, DGA President Paris Barclay called former National Vice President Steven Soderbergh to the stage to accept the Robert B. Aldrich Award in honor of Soderbergh’s extraordinary service to the DGA and its membership. Joined by former DGA President/current Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted and former DGA President Taylor Hackford, Barclay thanked Soderbergh for his devotion to the Guild, especially his work to protect and extend the creative rights of directors. Soderbergh, who was first elected to the National Board in 2001, served for nine years as National Vice President before stepping down last June. Soderbergh was also a founding member of the Guild’s Independent Directors Committee, a chair of the Eastern Directors Council, a member of the Western Directors Council, and he chaired DGA Honors three times. Soderbergh currently serves on the PAC Leadership Council and the DGA Foundation, and he is co-chair of the Guild’s Theatrical Creative Rights Committee, a position he has held since 2002.

The recipients of the Directors Guild of America Service and Achievement Awards for 2014 are:

Robert B. Aldrich Service Award: STEVEN SODERBERGH

Given in in recognition of extraordinary service to the Directors Guild of America and to its membership.

DGA Diversity Award: SHONDA RHIMES & BETSY BEERS

Given in recognition of commitment to diversity hiring and providing jobs and opportunities to women and minorities in DGA-covered categories.

Frank Capra Achievement Award: LEE BLAINE

Given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of their career and service to the industry and the DGA.

Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award: VINCENT DeDARIO

Given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of their service to the industry and DGA.

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The 67th Annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2015.

http://www.dga.org/awards/annual.aspx

THE END

2014 USC Scripter Award Nominees Revealed

USC Libraries Name Finalists for 26th-Annual Scripter Award

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries have named the authors and screenwriters of Captain Phillips, Philomena, The Spectacular Now, 12 Years a Slave, and What Maisie Knew as finalists for the 26th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Scripter honors the screenwriter or screenwriters of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author or authors of the written work upon which the screenplay is based.

The finalists are, in alphabetical order by film title:

•Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty, authors of A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, and screenwriter Billy Ray, for Captain Phillips

•For Philomena, author Martin Sixsmith, who wrote the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, and screenwriters Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope

•Novelist Tim Tharp and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for The Spectacular Now

•Solomon Northup, author of Twelve Years a Slave, and screenwriter John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave

•Screenwriters Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne for What Maisie Knew, adapted from the novel by Henry James

The Friends of the USC Libraries established Scripter in 1988. Previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of Argo, The Descendants, No Country for Old Men, and The English Patient.

Co-chaired by Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner and USC professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2014 Scripter selection committee selected the five finalists from a field of 86 eligible adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon, Michael Ondaatje and Mona Simpson; screenwriters Geoffrey Fletcher, Callie Khouri and Steve Zaillian; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts, Madeline Puzo of the School of Dramatic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and the publishers of the original stories are:

•Captain Phillips—Columbia Pictures and Hyperion Books
•Philomena—Weinstein Company and Macmillan
•The Spectacular Now—A24 and Alfred A. Knopf
•12 Years a Slave—Fox Searchlight and Derby & Miller
•What Maisie Knew—Millennium Entertainment and Herbert S. Stone

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford will serve as honorary dinner chairs.

Current silent auction donors and other event sponsors include AOC, Arthur Murray Santa Monica, At Your Side Private Exercise, Bouchon Beverly Hills, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, Corvain Wine Access System, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Fess Parker Inn, Flight Deck, Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, French Reflections, The Geffen Playhouse, Daryle Ann and Mark Giardino, The Grammy Museum, The Grill, The Kitchen For Exploring Foods, Knock, Knock, Montage Beverly Hills, The LA Opera, The Los Angeles Clippers, Lee Olvera, OPI, Pebble Beach Concors d' Elegance, Pica Peru, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Plumleigh, Porto Via Beverly Hills, Poseidon Stand Up Paddleboards, Rivera, SBE Restaurant Group, Total Wine and More, USC Athletics, and WEN Chaz Dean.

For more information about Scripter—including ticket availability, additional sponsorship opportunities, and an up-to-date list of sponsors—please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

Actor and NFL Great, Alex Karras, Dies

Professional football player Alex Karras played his entire NFL career with the Detroit Lions. After starring for four years at the University of Iowa, the Lions drafted Karras with the 10th overall pick in 1958. He was a four-time All-Pro defensive tackle, making it to the first team in 1960, 1961 and 1965, and he was also a four-time Pro Bowl selection. After 12 seasons with the Lions (1958 to 1970), he retired in 1971 at the age of 35. Karras was also selected to the 1960s All-Decade NFL team.

Alexander George “Alex” Karras died today (Wednesday, October 10, 2012).  Here's the Yahoo.com obituary.

Karras’ football career was long over by the time I started watching NFL games, so I best remember him as an actor. From 1983 to 1987, he was actor Emmanuel Lewis’ adoptive father, George Papadapolis, in the sitcom, Webster. I’ll never forget the shocking murder of Karras’ character, Hank Sully, in Against All Odds (1984).

To me, however, Karras will always be Mongo, the not-so-bright bruiser in Mel Brooks’ classic spoof of Westerns, Blazing Saddles. I fondly remember the scene in which Mongo slugged a horse and also his classic line, “Mongo only pawn in game of life.” [Another favorite moment is when Cleavon Little’s Sheriff Bart announces, “Telegram for Mongo!” during the scene in which Bart tries to capture Mongo.]

I offer my condolences to Mr. Karras’ family. Rest in peace, Alex Karras.

"The Descendants" Wins USC Libraries Scripter Award

The Descendants Ascend with Scripter Win

Authors and screenwriters of the family drama take the 2012 USC Libraries Scripter Award

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Author Kaui Hart Hemmings and screenwriters Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash won the 24th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for their creative contributions to The Descendants. Selection committee co-chair Naomi Foner announced the winners at the black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 18.

“This is such a wonderful honor and to be part of something that celebrates and puts books on a pedestal and none of this would have been possible without Kaui’s wonderful book,” said Rash. “It was such a wonderful journey for us to fall in love with the book and have the opportunity to turn it into the film.”

Hemmings noted that the collaboration has been a positive experience for her.

“An adaptation can sometimes bring so many more readers that I never would have had and to have those readers say that they love both the book and the film and that they work so well together is such a blessing,” she said.

Payne—who was unable to attend—has been a Scripter finalist twice before for his work on the adaptations About Schmidt and Sideways. Payne also directed The Descendants. Faxon acknowledged Payne’s critical decision-making skills in his acceptance speech.

“I am thankful to Alexander Payne for directing such a beautiful film and I think he was right in the end—it was a good call casting George Clooney and not me,” Faxon joked. “That ended up being a benefit.”

The Descendants’ Scripter win adds to its many accolades. The film has been named the American Film Institute’s Movie of the Year and the best film of the year by the Los Angeles, Dallas, Florida, Kansas City, and Southeastern film critics associations, among others. It was named the best drama of the year at the Golden Globes and is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Scripter gala, presented by the Friends of the USC Libraries, honors each year’s best cinematic adaptation of the written word. Scripter is the only award of its kind that honors screenwriters as well as the author of the work upon which the adaptation is based.

With filmmaker and USC alumnus Taylor Hackford (‘67, International Relations) and Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren serving as honorary dinner chairs, USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan welcomed the attendees to USC’s historic Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library.

“The authors and screenwriters of these books, plays, stories, and screenplays embody the stellar, transformative accomplishments our libraries inspire and make possible.” Quinlan added that by supporting the libraries, all who attended were “supporting the academic and artistic excellence of the entire university.”

The other finalists for the 2012 Scripter Award, in alphabetical order by film title, were: screenwriter Christopher Hampton for A Dangerous Method, adapted from the nonfiction book A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein by John Kerr and the 2002 stage play The Talking Cure by Hampton; screenwriter Moira Buffini for Jane Eyre, adapted from the 1847 book by Charlotte Brontë; screenwriters Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin for Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game; and screenwriters Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan and author John le Carré for the thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Co-chaired by Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner and USC screenwriting professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the Scripter selection committee chose The Descendants as the year’s best adaptation from a field of 109 eligible films.

The 32-member selection committee included film critics Kenneth Turan and Leonard Maltin; Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman and chief executive officer Tom Rothman; screenwriters Eric Roth, Geoffrey Fletcher, and Gale Anne Hurd; author Michael Chabon; and USC deans Catherine Quinlan, Elizabeth M. Daley and Madeline Puzo.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis accepted the 5th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Literary Achievement Award. Haggis’ credits include the screenplays for films such as Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and the two James Bond films starring Daniel Craig, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

During his acceptance speech, Haggis spoke about the influence his parents had on his writing career.

“They encouraged me from a young age largely because they saw I wasn’t good at much else,” Haggis joked. “You have to be a little emotionally unstable to be in this kind of profession—it’s a ridiculous profession, writing.”

“I’m very proud to be here with my daughters tonight—all three of whom grew up to choose ridiculous and difficult careers, in writing, in art, and in music,” Haggis explained. “I’m trying to learn the lesson my parents taught me—to encourage your children to be ridiculous to take on ridiculous challenges, choose ridiculous careers. Only by doing that do they really have a chance to be great.”

Haggis—along with author F. X. Toole—also captured a USC Libraries Scripter Award for Million Dollar Baby in 2005.

This year’s in-kind sponsors included Esquire Bar & Lounge (Pasadena, Calif.); the Wine of the Month Club; John and Dana Agamalian and Blue Ice Vodka; Barry Eggleston II of the Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise; Final Draft Inc., Movie Magic: Screenwriter; Paperblanks; and thinkThin.

For more details on Scripter—including additional images from the ceremony—visit http://scripter.usc.edu/.

Directors Guild Announces 2011 Film Nominees

64th Annual DGA Awards Feature Film Nominees Announced

LOS ANGELES, CA: On January 9, 2012, DGA President Taylor Hackford announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011.

"The directors nominated this year for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award have each demonstrated an inspired command of the medium. The fact that their prodigious talents have been recognized by their peers is the highest honor a director can achieve," said Hackford. "I offer my most sincere congratulations to each of the nominees."

The winner will be named at the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.

The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

WOODY ALLEN
Midnight in Paris
(Sony Pictures Classics)

Mr. Allen’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Matthieu Rubin, Helen Robin
First Assistant Director: Gil Kenny
Second Assistant Director: Delphine Bertrand

This is Mr. Allen’s fifth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Annie Hall (1977), and was previously nominated in that category for Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Mr. Allen was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

DAVID FINCHER
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
(Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)

Mr. Fincher’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Daniel M. Stillman
First Assistant Director: Bob Wagner
Second Assistant Director: Allen Kupetsky
Production Manager (Sweden Unit): Karolina Heimburg
Second Assistant Directors (Sweden Unit): Hanna Nilsson, Pontus Klänge
2nd Second Assistant Director (Sweden Unit): Niklas Sjöström
2nd Second Assistant Director (U.S. Unit): Maileen Williams
Unit Production Manager (Zurich Unit): Christos Dervenis
Unit Production Manager (U.K. Unit): Lara Baldwin
Second Assistant Director (U.K. Unit): Paul Taylor

This is Mr. Fincher’s third DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category last year for The Social Network and for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008. He previously won the DGA Commercial Award for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelibri Phones) in 2003 and was nominated in that category again in 2008.

MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS
The Artist
(The Weinstein Company)

Mr. Hazanavicius’ Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Antoine De Cazotte
Production Manager (FR): Ségoléne Fleury
First Assistant Director (FR): James Canal
First Assistant Director (US): David Cluck
Second Assistant Director: Dave Paige
Second Second Assistant Directors: Karla Strum, Ricky Robinson

This is Mr. Hazanavicius’ first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

ALEXANDER PAYNE
The Descendants
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Mr. Payne’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: George Parra
First Assistant Director: Richard L. Fox
Second Assistant Director: Scott August
Second Second Assistant Director: Amy Wilkins Bronson

This is Mr. Payne’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated in that category for Sideways in 2004.

MARTIN SCORSESE
Hugo
(Paramount Pictures)

Mr. Scorsese’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Charles Newirth, Georgia Kacandes, Angus More Gordon
First Assistant Director: Chris Surgent
Second Assistant Director: Richard Graysmark
Second Assistant Directors: Tom Brewster, Fraser Fennell-Ball
Production Managers (Paris Unit): Michael Sharp, Gilles Castera
First Assistant Director (Paris Unit): Ali Cherkaoui

This is Mr. Scorsese’s ninth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and was previously nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Aviator (2004). Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award last year for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire. In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

USC Libraries Honor Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich

USC Libraries Friend The Social Network

The writers behind the story of social-networking site Facebook take home the 23rd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Author Ben Mezrich and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin were feted with the 23rd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for the film The Social Network and the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal upon which it was based. Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin announced the winners at the black-tie banquet on Friday, Feb. 4.

“When you get that phone call that Aaron Sorkin is interested in adapting your book, it’s like getting hit by lightning,” Mezrich said.

“I sat down in the movie there and the movie opens. There is that line, ‘dating you is like dating a stairmaster.’ At that moment, I thought, this is the best movie I’ve ever seen,” added Mezrich.

Sorkin, who won multiple Emmy Awards for his work on the NBC program “The West Wing” and is nominated for an Academy Award for his Social Network screenplay, related an incident from early in his career that put entertainment award in perspective.

“Early one morning a few years ago, my father came over to my apartment in New York City where I was living at the time because the Academy Award nominations were being announced and there was some hope that a movie that I wrote that year would be nominated” explained Sorkin. “When it wasn’t, my father turned to me and said ‘Aaron, how many people in the world do you think woke up this morning with even reasonable expectation that something like this might happen.’ That’s when I discovered that for most, people it’s an honor just to be nominated…in my family, it’s an honor just to be overlooked.”

“You can imagine how they and I feel about getting recognition like this, from a group of people like this,” said Sorkin.

The Social Network’s Scripter win adds to its slew of accolades. The film has been named best film by the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto film critics associations, among others, as well as by the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review. The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards and six BAFTA awards.

The Scripter awards gala, presented by the Friends of the USC Libraries, honors the year’s best cinematic adaptation of the printed word. During the ceremony, one Twitter follower described the Scripter Award as “the most civilized awards show of all.”

With filmmaker and USC alumnus Taylor Hackford (‘67, International Relations) and Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren serving as honorary dinner chairs, master of ceremonies Nancy Sinatra welcomed the capacity crowd gathered in Los Angeles Times Reference Room of USC’s historic Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library.

“We know that a great story might transport us, but it’s about more than escapism,” explained Sinatra about the importance of the writing creatively and the unique significance of the Scripter Award. “We know that history comes to us through stories and that storytelling helps us understand ourselves as much as it helps deepen our understanding of the world.”

“The great stories yet to be written will depend on all those that came before...and that’s why a great library is important to the past, present, and future of the creative arts and why we’re here to honor accomplished storytellers,” said Sinatra.

The other finalists for the 2011 Scripter, in alphabetical order by film title, were: screenwriters Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for 127 Hours, adapted from Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place; screenwriters Robert Harris and Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer, adapted from Harris’ novel The Ghost; screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit, based on Charles Portis’ classic Western novel; and screenwriters Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini and author Daniel Woodrell for Winter’s Bone.

Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner chaired the Scripter selection committee for the fourth consecutive year.

Author Dennis Lehane was named the 4th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Literary Achievement Award recipient for his body of work. Lehane is the author of such books as Gone, Baby, Gone; Moonlight Mile; Shutter Island; The Given Day; and Mystic River for which he received a Scripter Award in 2004.

“[Dennis Lehane] has said that, were it not for a specific place, he never would have become a writer. He grew up in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston,” noted USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan in announcing the award. “He has demonstrated again and again his talent for carving convincing, creative landscapes out of words and populating them with intriguing characters and gripping mysteries.”

Lehane, who was unable to attend the ceremony, said in a statement that “It’s an honor to receive this award. My profound gratitude to the Friends of the USC Libraries.”

“It would be disingenuous of me not to note the depth of gratitude I owe the exceptional screenwriters who have adapted my novels for film: Brian Helgeland, Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard, and most recently, Laeta Kalogridis, whose superb craftsmanship enabled her to take a near-unfilmable novel and turn it into pure cinema,” added Lehane.

Dr. David and Gracie Fermelia were the Premiere Sponsors and Dr. Verna B. Dauterive was the Gold Sponsor of this year’s event.

The USC Libraries welcomed Audi of America as the transportation sponsor for Scripter 2011. A fleet of Audi A8 sedans chauffeured nominees and special guests to the black-tie event.

Final Draft Inc. also has supported Scripter 2011 by providing copies of Final Draft 8 to USC students. The libraries will make the scriptwriting software available through the USC Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library Multimedia Commons. Final Draft will complement the suite of authoring software the Multimedia Commons offers students and will provide a tool for storytelling and completing coursework while drawing on the riches of the libraries’ collections.

Proceeds from the Scripter gala support the USC Libraries’ Endowed Collections program. For more information about Scripter—including additional images from the ceremony and information on sponsorship opportunities for Scripter 24—visit http://scripter.usc.edu/.

Review: "Ray" is Still an Incredible Bio Film (Happy B'day, Jamie Foxx)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 222 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ray (2004)
Running time: 152 minutes (2 hours, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality, and some thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Taylor Hackford
WRITERS: James L. White; from a story by Taylor Hackford and James L. White
PRODUCERS: Howard Baldwin, Karen Elise Baldwin, Stuart Benjamin, and Taylor Hackford
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pawel Edelman
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC/BIOPIC

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Kurt Fuller, and Chris Thomas King

Biographical films, or biopics, as they are often called, often disappoint, not because they are so often historically inaccurate to varying degrees, but because they generally desperately try to fit a long life into about two hours and change of movie running time. Ray, director Taylor Hackford’s film about the life of the seminal blues, jazz, rock, and country recording artist, the late Ray Charles, doesn’t suffer from that malady.

Hackford and his co-writer, James L. White, smartly tackle the first two decades or so of Ray Charles’ (Jamie Foxx) career. They treat the story of his tragic childhood, his relationship with his mother Aretha Robinson (Sharon Warren), and the onset of his blindness in childhood as a short fable. In it, a mother teaches her son who is losing his sight to stand on his own feet because the world won’t pity him, and she also teaches him to learn to use his remaining senses after his sight is gone. When the time comes, the mother sends the son on his way to a special school where he can grow his immense musical talents and his gift of superb hearing. The rest of the movie focuses on Ray’s public career, which saw him crossing musical genres and styles with shocking ease to tremendous acclaim and success, and his tumultuous personal life that included infidelity and drug addiction.

Hackford and White understood that Ray Charles was a great man, and their film shows it. Hackford makes excellent use of Charles’ music and gives much time to his creative process and to his explosive live shows, be they in small clubs or large public auditoriums. The writers smartly distill Charles’ life into a few subplots (with his music being the main plot) that they extend throughout the film narrative.

Whereas many biopics seem to hop around a famous person’s life, Ray, with it’s focus on subplots that run the length of the film seems like one stable narrative with a definite beginning, middle, and end. The fact that his infidelity, drug use, creative process, and financial acumen are the focus for the length of the film gives the film the sense of being about one coherent and intact story. Ray’s music is the film, and the subplots follow his musical career giving it character, color, and drama.

As much as Hackford and White deserve all the credit for making a great biopic (one of the few great films about a famous black person), they needed an actor to play Ray Charles without the performance seeming like an imitation or something from a comic skit. Surprisingly, it’s a comedian and comic actor, Jamie Foxx, who takes the role and delivers a work of art. One of the great screen performances of the last two decades, Foxx could have easily and simply done a Ray Charles impersonation (which he may have done before for “In Living Colour,” the early 90’s Fox Network comedy sketch show). Instead, Foxx seems to channel the spirit of the classic Ray Charles and creates a separate, idealized, and fully realized character from whole cloth. Foxx’s performance is so credible that you may never once think that you’re watching an actor play Ray Charles.

For from being downbeat or arty, Ray is indeed a work of art, but most of all, it is an inspiring film that celebrates the life of a great musician by being a celebration of his great music and how he created it all. Awash, in the vibrant life of a performer and filled to the brim with great songs, Ray is a special movie meant for you to enjoy.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, and Steve Cantamessa); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Sharen Davis), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Taylor Hackford), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Paul Hirsch), and “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, and Howard Baldwin)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Sound” (Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg, Steve Cantamessa, Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, and Bob Beemer); 2 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Craig Armstrong) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (James L. White)

2005 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jamie Foxx); 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy”

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