Tony Gilroy to Receive “Distinguished Screenwriter” Award at 2018 Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference
“The Writers Festival” Announces “Heart of Film” Award Recipient Daniel Petrie, Jr.
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier festival that champions the writers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today screenwriter Tony Gilroy as the 2018 recipient of the “Distinguished Screenwriter” Award. Previous honorees of this award have included Lawrence Kasdan, Kenneth Lonergan, Nancy Meyers, and Caroline Thompson.
Tony Gilroy’s credits include the 2007 thriller Michael Clayton, which he wrote and directed. The film earned seven Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, Gilroy worked on the first three Bourne films and co-wrote and directed the fourth film in the franchise. Most recently, he co-wrote the screenplay for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and produced and wrote the political thriller Beirut, starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike.
The Festival also announced that Beverly Hills Cop writer, Daniel Petrie, Jr., will receive the Festival’s second “Heart of Film” Award for his many contributions to film and television and his service to the screenwriting community.
Petrie’s screenplay credits include Beverly Hills Cop and The Big Easy. In 2006 he co-founded Enderby Entertainment with producer Rick Dugdale. Petrie has an extensive history of volunteer service to the entertainment industry, including two terms as the president of the Writers Guild of America West. Petrie has been participating as a panelist at Austin Film Festival for over 20 years and serves on the organization’s Board of Advisors.
Gilroy and Petrie join already announced “Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking” recipient Roger Corman.
The 25th annual Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference runs October 25 – November 2, 2018. Confirmed panelists include Megan Amram (writer The Good Place), William Broyles Jr. (co-writer Apollo 13), Lee Eisenberg (writer The Office), and many more. Panelists continue to be confirmed; the list can be found at www.austinfilmfestival.com.
ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. www.austinfilmfestival.com
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Showing posts with label Tony Gilroy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Gilroy. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Review: "Nightcrawler" an L.A. Crime Classic
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
Nightcrawler (2014)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence including graphic images, and for language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Dan Gilroy
PRODUCERS: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, and Michel Litvak
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit
EDITOR: John Gilroy
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee
CRIME/THRILLER/DRAMA
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton, Kevin Rahm, Ann Cusack, Michael Hyatt, and Price Carson
Nightcrawler is a 2014 neo-Noir drama and crime-thriller from writer-director Dan Gilroy. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, the film focuses on a Los Angeles man who enters the world of freelance video journalism and then begins to manipulate events in order to create more lurid stories.
Nightcrawler opens in Los Angeles. It introduces Louis “Lou” Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a thief always looking to convert his stolen merchandise into quick cash. One night, Bloom is driving back to his apartment when he comes across the scene of a car crash. He pulls over to witness the chaos, but most of his attention is taken by the “Stringers,” freelance cameramen who are filming live footage of the crash scene with the intent of selling that video footage to local television news stations.
Fascinated and inspired, Bloom buys his first camcorder and a police radio scanner and begins driving the streets of L.A. at night. He looks for accidents, emergencies, and crime scenes that he can film. He makes his first sale to KWLA, a bottom-rung television station, where he catches the notice of the station's morning news director, Nina Romina (Rene Russo). As he muscles his way into the world of L.A. crime journalism, however, Bloom's dark side quickly emerges.
On the surface, Nightcrawler might seem like it is only a slick crime film, especially because of Robert Elswit's gorgeous cinematography. What writer-director Dan Gilroy also offers, however, is a mean, edgy film that is classic L.A. crime story. This film is high-quality neo-Noir that recaptures the classic, black and white L.A. Film-Noir, without being a prisoner to style and expectations.
Nightcrawler might not be the excellent film it is without Jake Gyllenhaal's marvelous performance as the sociopathic and murderously ambitious Lou Bloom. It is now official; doubting that Gyllenhaal is a supremely talented and skilled actor is no longer okay. I must also throw some cheer Rene Russo's way. Hell, yeah, she's good, but Hollywood industry ageism now keeps her away from audiences. She takes a throwaway character like Nina and makes her crucial to the execution of the narrative. Also, I must not forget Riz Ahmed. As Rick, Bloom's desperate-for-money assistant, Ahmed delivers a star-turn that just comes out of nowhere.
It might be easy to focus on Louis Bloom's sociopathic tendencies; one might call him an outright sociopath. However, I think Nightcrawler speaks to the world that creates the Lou Blooms. The world of L.A. local television news is little better than rogue capitalism. The movie is rife with characters that are me-first and win-at-all-costs, to say nothing of the anal obsession with acknowledging achievement that comes from literally walking over dead bodies.
Nightcrawler is not perfect; some of it seems a bit far-fetched. Louis Bloom gets away with things that stretch credulity, although I won't be specific in order to avoid spoilers. Still, I was destined to like Nightcrawler because I like neo-Noir set in Los Angeles. I think that what makes Nightcrawler so fascinating to watch are the things that sometimes make it hard to watch. Dan Gilroy's gem is blunt about a morally bankrupt society in which class status is everything and in which society treats actual people as nothing more than commodities.
8 of 10
A
Saturday, February 6, 2016
NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Dan Gilroy)
2015 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Leading Actor” (Jake Gyllenhaal), “Best Supporting Actress” (Rene Russo), “Best Editing” (John Gilroy), and “Best Original Screenplay” (Dan Gilroy)
2015 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jake Gyllenhaal)
The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Friday, July 6, 2012
Jeremy Renner and Tony Gilroy Go Livestream for "The Bourne Legacy"
Members of AMC Theatres’ Rewards Program – AMC Stubs – Are Invited to See an Exclusive First Look at THE BOURNE LEGACY in Person and Participate in a Q&A with the Director and Star at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles on July 9
KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMC Theatres® and Universal Pictures announced today that fans eagerly anticipating the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise – THE BOURNE LEGACY – will have an opportunity to see a Livestream Q&A featuring director Tony Gilroy and star Jeremy Renner on Monday, July 9. Prior to the Q&A, fans will be treated to an exclusive first look at THE BOURNE LEGACY. The event begins at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT).
Additionally, AMC Stubs members in the Los Angeles area have the exclusive opportunity to join Gilroy and Renner in person for their Q&A session, which will take place at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles on Monday, July 9 at 7 p.m. PDT.
“Tony Gilroy, Jeremy Renner and the entire Universal team have taken the Bourne story in an exciting new direction, and we can’t wait to offer AMC Stubs members in the Los Angeles area this unique opportunity,” said Sun Dee Larson, vice president of Film Marketing at AMC Theatres.
THE BOURNE LEGACY debuts in theaters everywhere August 10.
Those unable to attend in person to view the Q&A with Gilroy and Renner and see the exclusive first look at THE BOURNE LEGACY, may still see it live by visiting go.amctheatres.com/bourne at 7 p.m. PDT on July 9. Fans may also pre-submit questions for the Q&A on Twitter using the hashtag #amcbourne or on AMC’s Facebook page at facebook.com/amctheatres.
To take advantage of opportunities like this by becoming an AMC Stubs member, visit amcstubs.com.
About AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres delivers distinctive and affordable movie-going experiences in 346 theatres with 5,034 screens across the United States and Canada. AMC has propelled industry innovation and continues today by delivering premium sight and sound, enhanced food and beverage and diverse content. AMCTheatres.com.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Review: "Michael Clayton" is a Powerful Social Drama (Happy B'day to Goddess, Tilda Swinton)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for language including some sexual dialogue
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tony Gilroy
PRODUCERS: Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent, Sydney Pollack, and Steve Samuels
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit
EDITOR: John Gilroy
2008 Academy Award winner
DRAMA/THRILLER
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O’Keefe, Austin Williams, Ken Howard, Robert Prescott, Terry Serpico, Sean Cullen, and David Lansbury
In screenwriter Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, his debut as a film director, a burned out corporate lawyer who has built a career on cleaning up his clients’ messes faces his biggest mess when a guilt-ridden colleague threatens the settlement of a multi-million-dollar case. Gilroy is best known for writing the three Jason Bourne films, including most recently, The Bourne Ultimatum.
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house “fixer” or “bagman” at Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton is burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, but his divorce, a failed business venture, and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. The firm is defending U/North (United Northfield) a giant corporation in a multimillion dollar class action lawsuit, but Kenner, Bach & Ledeen’s brilliant litigator, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has a meltdown that threatens to upend a potential settlement entirely in favor of the plaintiffs against U/North.
Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and life to reign in Edens. Meanwhile, U/North’s general counsel, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), who operates on a hair-trigger, knows that her career rests on the multi-million dollar settlement that once seemed to be heading to a successful conclusion for U/North. Edens’ rogue status means that Crowder may have to take matters into her own ruthless hands.
At one point in Michael Clayton, Sydney Pollack’s Marty Bach says, “People are fucking incomprehensible,” and that seems to be one of the dominant themes of Gilroy’s absolutely gripping legal thriller. Sure, Michael Clayton is an exposé of what evil corporations can do (poison their customers) and the way corporate law firms help them get away with it. The greed, the lies, and the under-the-table murder-for-hire deals are in evidence here, and while we’ve seen this in other muckraking dramas, what sets Michael Clayton apart is that we’re watching a film about people and not just characters.
It is in these people we see both the beauty and ugliness of humanity. We can admire how George Clooney’s Michael Clayton chases his ideals even if no one else believes in them or even if those ideals are the antithesis of others’ beliefs. The manner in which Gilroy tackles such mature themes through his star Clooney makes this an accomplished movie for adults. It’s a crackling delight full of standout performances including Tom Wilkinson’s Oscar-nominated turn as Arthur Edens and Tilda Swinton’s Oscar-winning performance as the neurotic viper Karen Crowder.
And Clooney: what can I say? He’s a movie star in the Old Hollywood tradition and also an exceptional actor that modern American filmmaking would be lost without.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 win for “Best Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role” (Tilda Swinton); 6 nominations: “Best Achievement in Directing,” “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (James Newton Howard), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, and Kerry Orent), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (George Clooney), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tom Wilkinson), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen”
2008 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actress” (Tilda Swinton); 4 nominations: “Best Editing” (John Gilroy), “Best Leading Actor” (George Clooney), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Tony Gilroy), and “Best Supporting Actor” (Tom Wilkinson)
2008 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (George Clooney), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Tom Wilkinson), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Tilda Swinton)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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Thursday, July 22, 2010
Review: "The Bourne Ultimaturm" is Ultimate
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITERS: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi; from a screen story by Tony Gilroy (based upon the novel by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Frank Marshall and Paul Sandberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Chris Cooper, and Corey Johnson
In The Bourne Identity, he fought to answer the question, “Who am I?” In The Bourne Supremacy, he wanted to know, “Who killed my girlfriend,” and he killed for what was done to him. In The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) remembers everything, and his journey takes him from Europe and North Africa to a trip home to New York City where all the answers will be found.
After he got his revenge for the killing of Marie, Bourne planned to disappear and forget the life that was stolen from him, but a front-page story in a London newspaper speculates about his existence. Bourne sets up a meeting with Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), the journalist who wrote the story, but that meeting makes Bourne a target again. The journalist does give him a lead on two top-secret black operations or black-ops programs, Treadstone and its successor Blackbriar, which may hold the key to Bourne’s past. Bourne’s reemergence also gets him marked for death by Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), the head of a new covert wing of the CIA and the director of Blackbriar. Bourne gains the trust of conflicted agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and CIA operative/internal investigator and spy hunter Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), and with their help, he will have his day of reckoning.
Like his previous effort in the Jason Bourne series, The Bourne Supremacy, Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass (United 93) delivers mind blowing action, whiplash-paced fighting, and thoughtful plotting. Greengrass does this picture with equal parts humor and brutality, and makes it is as smart as it is stylish.
Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, and he leaves no doubt that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to take his place. His acting chops and screen charisma combined with his physical training for the role invents Bourne as a supernatural covert operative who can kick any ass, go anywhere, break into the most secure locations, and be invisible in a crowd.
The supporting cast may not be A-list actors in terms of star power, but they are A+ list in terms of screen acting. Added to Damon’s work here, they put The Bourne Ultimatum over the top. It’s not just a great espionage thriller; it’s the best thriller of the year and a great film. Whether you’re a Bourne fan, or just a friend, mother, father, etc. going along with a fan, you’ll go home impressed and happy.
9 of 10
A+
Sunday, August 12, 2007
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Achievement in Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Karen M. Baker and Per Hallberg)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Christopher Rouse) and “Best Sound” (Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, David Parker, Karen M. Baker, and Per Hallberg); 4 nominations: “Best British Film” (Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, Paul Sandberg, Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi), “Best Cinematography” (Oliver Wood), “Best Director” (Paul Greengrass), and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, Mattias Lindahl, and Joss Williams)
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
Review: "The Bourne Supremacy" Was the First Greengrass-Damon Joint
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 131 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense action, and for brief language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Tony Gilroy (based upon the book by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITORS: Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse
ACTION/DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen, Marton Csokas, and Tom Gallop
Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) has been hiding in India with the love of his life Marie (Franka Potente) since the incidents of the film The Bourne Identity. However, the ghosts and remnants of one of his long-forgotten missions come back to haunt him, and tragedy strikes. So Jason takes the war back to the Americans who are hunting him for two murders they believe he committed during a botched CIA operation in Berlin, Germany. Once again, Jason has to take up his former life as a highly trained super assassin to survive and find out who is framing him.
The Bourne Supremacy is not quite as good as The Bourne Identity, but it’s the probably going to be the best adult-oriented action thriller for mature minds to come along in for a while. Paul Greengrass’ direction in Supremacy is as good as Doug Liman’s in The Bourne Identity, but Liman worked with a better script. The screenplay for Supremacy is high on action, but light on drama and character. The characters are good enough for the standard action thriller. The Bourne Supremacy
Matt Damon really makes this film. He’s a good actor and has a wonderful and endearing screen persona, and has an engaging personality – even when he’s popping caps in someone. He’s adept at playing the victim and the victimizer – the hunted and the hunter. He sells you on Bourne’s perils, but makes you anticipate that Bourne will survive anything and find his way out of any trap. It’s the modern day black ops stud as Indiana Jones. If you liked the first film or movies like Ronin (1998), you’ll be down with this.
7 of 10
A-
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Review: "The Bourne Identity" is Classic Secret Agent
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and some language
DIRECTOR: Doug Liman
WRITERS: Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron (from the novel by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Doug Liman, Patrick Crowley, and Richard N. Gladstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Saar Klein
ACTION/THRILLER/MYSTERY
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Julia Stiles
There really aren’t any bad Matt Damon movies, just bad movies in which Matt Damon is an actor or a star. He has boyishly good looks, but there’s also something in his character that suggests a solid stand up guy upon which one can rely – probably the two big things needed to make a great male star of the screen. Doug Liman is a rising star as a director. I haven’t seen his film Swingers, but I did see his rave scene version of Pulp Fiction, Go
, which is an utterly fantastic fun ride of good music and loopy violence. If you put Damon and Liman together and give them a Robert Ludlum novel to make into a film, you might get the fantastic thriller, The Bourne Identity.A French fishing vessel finds a man (Matt Damon) floating in the middle of the stormy Mediterranean Sea, whom the crew promptly rescues. He has two bullets in his back, and when he awakes, he doesn’t remember his name. Documents reveal his identity as Jason Bourne, but Jason doesn’t remember any special significance attached to his alleged name. As he follows the few clues he has in hopes of recovering from his amnesia, he must escape a web of international intrigue and a cadre of assassins bent of killing him.
I think a lot of people were surprised that this film became a fairly big hit, and many more were surprised that it was actually so good. The key players in this film are, of course, Damon and Liman. Damon’s Bourne is for all practical purposes, almost the only important character in the film. The rest of the characters are decent, but there is nothing to them beyond their role in a paper-thin shadowy conspiracy. The presence of veteran characters like Chris Cooper and Brian Cox are delightful, but I assume that their characters would have been richer characters if Ludlum’s novel from which this is film is adapted had been made into a television mini-series. A slight supporting cast could have been a liability, but Liman has this deft touch of making his film move briskly and with such vibrancy and life. The viewer hardly has time to focus his attention on story holes. Like a good book, you can’t walk away from The Bourne Identity
. You don’t want to walk away, and there are many times when the only reason I finish a boring movie is because I think that I might as well finish what I started.In Damon, Liman has star with screen presence, and he takes full advantage of it. Although we know only a little more about Bourne that the character himself, as the camera follows Damon, the actor makes us interested in Bourne. With so many run-of-the-mill action flicks, it’s good to see the occasional action/thriller (a genre primarily aimed at older audiences) like Ronin
or The Negotiator
that engages the thinking and the feeling. The Bourne Identity is a bravura performance by a director and his star that’s worth seeing. It’s a moment in film history when two people come together with utter determination to take what is meant to be slight entertainment and make it into something that goes to the top of the heap. It’ll leave you wanting more.8 of 10
A
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