Tag Archives: Oscars

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Quentin Tarantino sues for $2million over script leak.

An image of Quentin Tarantino holding an award.
An image of Quentin Tarantino holding an award.

Quentin Tarantino.
Source: Wikipedia

Oscar winning director and screenwriter, Quentin Tarantino is seeking at least $2million in damages down to the leak of his script for his movie The Hateful Eight.

Tarantino is suing the gossip website Gawker for contributory copyright infringement after it posted a link to the leaked screenplay.

Last Monday (20th January), the first draft of Tarantino’s ensemble Western was published to the world after the director trusted it into the hands of only six people.

The lawsuit, filed by Tarantino’s lawyers today, seeks damaged of $1million (£603,000) against Gawker and $1million against the anonymous file-sharing website where the leaked script was hosted.

The director, who last year won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, has since decided to shelve the product which he had previously planned to film in the winter of 2015.

Instead, he said that he will probably publish the script as a book instead, a practice that in the past has seen him rack up some impressive royalties and advances.

With the release of Django Unchained in 2012 and Inglorious Basterds in 2009, the director is certainly not struggling for funds as they were both box-office smashes, accumulating over $740million worldwide.

As well as an impressive box office, the two films achieved 12 nominations and 3 wins at The Academy Awards.

As for what Quentin Tarantino has planned next, he said “I’ve got 10 more where that came from.”

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A tie for Gravity and 12 Years A Slave at the 2014 PGAs

An image of Sandra Bullock at Comic Con 2013
An image of Sandra Bullock at Comic Con 2013

Star of Gravity, Sandra Bullock.

Last night, amid the hustle and bustle of awards season, the less popular, but equally revered among the film industry, Producers Guild Awards (PGAs) took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in California.

While the fashion and A-list celebrity took a back seat this time around, the PGAs takes time out to celebrate the producers and visionaries responsible for bringing films from an idea to the big-screen.

The biggest news from last night was that for the first time in history there was a tie in the ‘Theatrical Motion Picture’ category. Both Gravity and 12 Years A Slave walked home with an award.

While that is great news to these producers, it throws a spanner in the works when it comes to predicting the Oscars which are announced in March.

Normally, around this time in the award season a front-runner has usually established itself, this year is the exception. Gravity has enjoyed huge oscar buzz since September, but has more recently lost out to 12 Years a Slave at the Golden Globes.

In the meantime, the hugely successful, American Hustle, directed by David O Russell was crowned winner at the Golden Globes (this time for Best Motion Picture (Comedy)) and also received the same award more recently at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

All these awards including, The Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Producers Guild Awards and the Critics Choice Awards, are all an indicator to the most revered awards, The Academy Awards.

While in the past it can be seen that one film has dominated awards season all the way to the Oscars. But the big bash that takes place on 1 March this year, is sure the throw up some huge surprises.

What this means is that this year is the most exciting and unpredictable awards season.

To see the full list of winners click here.

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Tis the season: a look at film awards

A black and white image a crowded room holding the guests of the first Academy Awards banquet at Roosevelt hotel
A black and white image a crowded room holding the guests of the first Academy Awards banquet at Roosevelt hotel

The first Academy Awards ceremony
Image via reelfxart.blogspot.co.uk

Christmas is soon to be over and the dull grey hues and cold winter weather still remain outside. Thankfully there is still a lot to celebrate as the film awards season is upon us.

A nude bronze statue holds a mask of comedy and tragedy in each hand

The SAG award. Image via www.sagawards.org

SAG Awards

Firstly the SAG awards, not a celebration of the more mature, SAG actually stands for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The accolade celebrates performances in film and television. Its trophy is a 16” solid bronze nude male statuette titled ‘the actor’ which holds a mask of comedy and tragedy in each hand.

The first SAG awards were held in 1995, celebrating the previous year, broadcast from stage 22 of Universal Studios. The annual lifetime achievement award, which predates the first awards show by thirty years, was given to George Burns. The show was his final television appearance before he died at 100 years old.

This year the 20th annual SAG awards will be presented on January 18th at the Shrine Exposition Centre in Los Angeles. 12 years a slave is nominated for four awards including, the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Supporting Role and Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

BAFTAs

A bronze mask sands on a small marble block.

BAFTA award. Image via en.wikipedia.org

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (formed in 1947) holds several awards each year, split into several different categories of Film, Television, Games and Children’s. From 1968 the Film and Television awards were held together in one ceremony until 1998.

The first awards were designed by English sculptor Henry Moore, and were large, bronze statues of a seated lady. The current BAFTA award which you will probably recognise is the iconic bronze mask, based on a design by Mitzi Cunliffe and has been presented since 1976. The first BAFTA mask was presented to Sir Charles Chaplin, better known as Charlie, who was honoured as an Academy Fellow.

The BAFTA Film Awards have been held in the Royal Opera House since 2008 and this years celebration will be held there on Sunday the 16th of February.

A tall shiny bronze statue on a small round black pedestal.

The Oscar award. Image via www.fxguide.com

Oscars

Finally; the Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars. Arguably the most prestigious, and one of the oldest, the Academy Awards have been held since the first ceremony in 1929. It was a far smaller affair than the huge event it is today, 270 people attended the first ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

The award winners were announced three months before the first ceremony, but from the second awards they have been kept secret. Since 1941 the Academy adopted a strict sealed envelope policy after the Los Angeles Times printed the award winners names in its evening addition before the 1940’s ceremony.

The first awards had 12 categories, since then there have been more and more additions including, awards for Film Editing, Music Scoring, and Song (7th awards), Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (9th awards), Special Effects (12th awards), an Award for Make Up (54th Awards) and The Animated Feature Film Award (54th awards).

The 86th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday March 2nd in the Dolby Theatre where they have been held for the last 12 years.

I will be looking at some more niche and unique awards soon, those which often don’t get such a look in from the average movie goer. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for post updates.