Hollywood International Filmmaker Magazine 2020-Summer

好莱坞国际电影人

Editor-in-Chief: Sandro Monetti

Editors: Jimmy Jiang, Xinggang

Wang, Yiming (Eva) Bian

Art Editor: Yiming (Eva) Bian

Editorial Committee: Kimberley

Kates, Jimmy Jiang, Xinggang Wang, Sandro Monetti, Yiming (Eva) Bian,

Facebook: Hollywood International

LEGENDS OF CINEMA: JANE FONDA ICON, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST

One of the strongest, smartest and outspoken leading ladies of all time, Jane Fonda has redefined the role of women in cinema.

Over an extraordinary six-decade career, this gifted actress has not been afraid to use her fame as a platform for political, social and feminist activism.

Now 82, she’s still as versatile and talented as ever while remaining an important and influential crusading voice in the world.

It would have been hard to see any of this coming from her breakthrough role as a sexy space vixen in the 1960’s sci-fi romp Barbarella. But that decade also allowed her to demonstrate she was so much more than a pretty face thanks to winning comedies like Barefoot in the Park and top-notch dramas such as They Shot Horses Don’t They.

Fonda won two Oscars in the 1970’s for playing an imperiled prostitute in Klute and a military wife in Coming Home. But she won enemies then too for stepping up her activism, especially by protesting the Vietnam War and being dubbed Hanoi Jane after posing for a protest photo with a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

In the 1980’s she was reinvented as a fitness queen and the face of the workout craze, selling countless exercise videos. On the big screen her best work came in family drama On Golden Pond, alongside her legendary actor father Henry Fonda, and in the comedy 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin.

The 90’s began with her starring alongside Robert De Niro in Stanley & Iris but that would be her last film for 15 years as she stepped away from Hollywood to focus on married life with her then husband, CNN founder Ted Turner, increased activism and writing her autobiography.

Her glorious return came in 2005 comedy Monster-in-Law alongside Jennifer Lopez and that hit comedy revitalized

her career, leading to a string of further film roles and then a switch to TV in the next decade with roles in Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom and then in the ongoing Netlfix comedy Grace and Frankie, which reunited her with Lily Tomlin.

Recently she’s been conducting a campaign of civil disobedience to demand action on climate change and on her 82nd birthday brought 82 fellow protestors along to get arrested with her.(see cover photo)

What an original, what a talent and what a force. Happily, there’s no stopping Jane Fonda.

—Sandro Monetti

HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL FILM

EXCHANGE, CAPSTONE GROUP

CAPSTONE FILMS UNVEILED AT THE 2020 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

Angelina Jolie heads the cast of new Capstone Group fantasy film COME AWAY.

The Hollywood superstar plays the mother of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland in a tale full of storybook magic and drama.

The film is directed by Brenda Chapman, who previously made Pixar hit Brave, and also stars David Oyelowo and Michael Caine.

Mila Kunis plays a plays a drug addict who has repeatedly dropped out of rehab in the drama FOUR GOOD DAYS.

Glenn Close co-stars as her mother, the addict’s last best hope to get clean and stay alive.

Rodrigo Garcia, who previously directed Glenn Close in the film Albert Nobbs, is behind the camera in this story which is based on a Washington Post article.

HELPING OUT

HELPING OUT

THE ULTIMATE INSIDER

Hollywood International Film Exchange is getting into the book publishing business and, appropriately, launching with a movie related memoir.

Confessions of a Hollywood Insider: My Amusing Encounters with the A-List is the debut release from Hi-Fex.

It sees author Sandro Monetti relating funny stories about more than 100 great superstars he has met over the course of his career as a celebrity interviewer.

“People always ask me what their favorite stars are like in real life and now, thanks to publishers Hi-Fex, I get to tell them,” said Sandro.

From Sylvester Stallone to Samuel L Jackson, Margot Robbie to Robert De Niro, all the big names are featured in the memoir soon to be available as both a paperback book and an e-book from the major retailers.

The cover picture, by top photographer Isaiah Mays, sees Sandro with one of his favorite stars, Pamela Anderson.

Hi-Fex plans to follow up this initial release with more books that have a similar global appeal.

BIG SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

A movie backed by Big Screen was the big winner at a prestigious film festival.

Song of Love took Best International Film at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema in California.

With entries from over 60 countries, there was strong competition for the historical and heartwarming Chinese drama. But audiences and judges were united in their love for the film which is based on true stories about how the people of Inner Mongolia pulled together to help children orphaned by the 1959 famine.

Song of Love also took the best cinematography award for the stunning work of its director of photography, Geritu.

Big Screen Entertainment Group is representing and helping to market the film in the United States and internationally.

With the film’s producers at the Grasslands Foundation unable to travel from Inner Mongolia due to the Covid-19 travel restrictions, Big Screen’s Kimberley Kates and Sandro Monetti attended the festival and accepted the trophies on their behalf

Big Screen Entertainment Group is a publicly traded company located in Los Angeles, California, which has a dynamic and diverse slate of projects. Kimberley Kates and Sandro Monetti insert the word: (below)

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

While many film organizations shut up shop during the pandemic, BAFTA kept going in the virtual world and even transferred one its award shows online complete with ‘red carpet’ interviews and acceptance speeches.

Instead of canceling, the creative minds at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts found a way to make the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards go ahead in a different form by connecting presenters, nominees and winners via their home computers.

But that’s not the only way BAFTA kept members engaged, educated and entertained while social distancing rules meant they could not meet up in person.

Screenings went online, Q&As with stars were held on Zoom as were masterclasses and mentoring sessions.

The idea was to retain the community’s sense of togetherness in a time of social distancing and raise spirits at the same time.

Oscar winning actor Matthew McConaughey has begun a new chapter in his life by leaving Hollywood and becoming a teacher.

He has moved back home to Texas and started teaching a film class at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.

It’s part of a new life plan for the star who recently turned 50 and began thinking of ways he could give back to the community which raised him.

One way is with his Script to Screen course in which students study the making of various films from his career and learn the full process in the making of a movie.

Another is through his Just Keep Livin’ foundation which helps failing students in more than 50 schools get back on track with all manners of assistance programs in exercise, nutrition, accountability, discipline and community service.

McConaughey has by no means given up his acting career but has taken on extra responsibilities in the hope of inspiring the next generation to be on the path to their own big achievements.

Matthew's classes were interrupted by the coronavirus crisis. However he is looking forward to resuming them as soon as possible and maybe doing more teaching as part of his new life plan.

—Sandro Monetti

MEET AMERICA’S NEWEST TEACHER

KILMER’S COMEBACK

Val Kilmer is excited for his film career to be taking off again with the hotly anticipated Top Gun sequel, Maverick. He returns as hotshot pilot Iceman and is the only member of the original cast other than star Tom Cruise to be back in the high-flying follow up.

It’s a comeback in more ways than one for the 60-yearold actor who paused his screen career during a long battle against throat cancer but is now happily recovered and returning to work.

He also has a new book out, titled I’m Your Huckelberry after a line he said in the movie Tombstone, and in that memoir reflects on the highlights of his film career.

Playing bad boy Iceman in 1986 mega-hit Top Gun was a breakout role for Kilmer that put him on the path to a string of other major roles including Batman, Doc Holliday and Jim Morrison.

Tom Cruise called their reunion in the Top Gun sequel “special” and Val says the pair of them “took up where we left off.”

The film, which had its release pushed back from the summer of 2020 to Christmas due to the coronavirus crisis, sees Cruise’s character working as an instructor to a new class of pilots when Iceman comes back into his life.

Moviemakers are not giving many details about that part of the story but Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, said, “The rivalry and relationship between Maverick and Iceman is important to the Top Gun franchise and as a fan I would want to see how it’s evolved.”

Top Gun: Maverick is now due to be released on December 23 2020.

—Sandro Monetti

Classic movie Jaws has been made into a stage musical.

Bruce – about the troubled making of the 1975 shark film – will debut in 2021.

The show takes its title from the nickname given to the constantly malfunctioning mechanical shark used in the movie, which director Steven Spielberg named after his lawyer. Spielberg’s triumph over the troubles to create a smash hit movie forms the basis of the musical’s story.

Bruce launches in New Jersey next year and producers hope to eventually bring the show to Broadway.

—Sandro Monetti

Disney is to continue its policy of remaking the studio’s animated films in new live action versions - but the latest one to get the green light represents something of a risk.

A HERCULEAN TASK

Hercules underperformed at the box office when released in 1997 – especially in comparison to its predecessors Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas. But the studio hopes things will be better this time round and has mitigated the risk by handing producing duties to the brothers behind mega-hit Avengers: Endame, Anthony and Joe Russo.

Hercules tells the story of the eponymous strongman, who was the son of Zeus in Greek mythology.

The new film is expected to feature much of the music from the original, including Oscar nominated song Go the Distance. No casting has been announced yet but that hasn’t stopped speculation with the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Armie Hammer and Dwayne Johnson all being linked to the title role.

—Sandro Monetti

Things Will Never Be The Same

No section of the film business has been spared from the pain of the coronavirus crisis and its impact will continue to be felt long beyond 2020.

While it’s impossible to predict in what form the industry will rebuild, the one thing that is for sure is that nothing is ever going to be the same again.

As the economic problems mount and budgets sink, acquisition and investment will be slow to recover and the turmoil is sure to take a terrible toll on countless events, festivals, exhibitors and companies.

The strong usually survive any kind of crisis but even the giants of the industry have been felled by COVID-19. Nearly half of Disney’s balance sheet is made up of its theme parks, cruises and consumer products businesses – income wiped

out by the catastrophe. Theater chain AMC is facing possible bankruptcy.

Bigger films like Fast and Furious 9, Mulan and No Time to Die have had their release dates put back many months but less high profile titles have been repositioned to go straight to streaming video and bypassing theatrical release in that way might well become the new normal in post-virus Hollywood.

A more optimistic way to look at things is that once environments are safe again there will be a big return to movie theaters by a public craving collective experiences once more as people remember just what they have been missing.

Entertaining the audience has always been essentially what filmmaking is about and this enduring, resilient, magnificent industry will still be there to provide. But in precisely what form remains to be seen.

—Sandro Monetti

WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING!

Pandemic movies predicted the current global crisis - although at the time their tales of deserted cities and a fast spreading virus seemed like pure fantasy. The following ten films have been among the most streamed movies during the COVID-19 outbreak as isolated viewers turn to them to help deal with their anxieties.

All of these movies are being seen through a very different lens now much of their grim storylines have come true.

An Ebola-like virus which stems from monkeys strikes humanity as scientists battle to contain the spread. Meanwhile an Army general wants the disease as a bioweapon.

The deadly virus at the center of this film has a similar impact to COVID-19 and that’s made it a hit all over again.

Gwyneth Paltrow stars.

A mysterious virus empties the United Kingdom and reveals some of the worst aspects of humanity.

Chris Pine stars as a group of friends look for a place free of plague but run into an infected family.

Bruce Willis is a time traveler sent back to the 1990s to identify and eradicate the source of a global pandemic in the future.

A plague wipes out most of humanity but Will Smith plays a virologist fighting for survival, and a cure, in a deserted New York.

Brad Pitt battles through an infected landscape to try and find a cure for a pandemic that’s turning people into zombies.

A virus has killed most of the planet and forced survivors into small enclaves where heroes battle an evil conglomerate.

When a deadly pathogen kills billions of humans, the Earth is taken over by apes.

A young Eddie Redmayne plays a monk in this drama set around the Bubonic plague which killed millions in the 1300s.

Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow role in Marvel’s Avengers franchise has cemented her status as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But did you know she was not first choice for the part?

Emily Blunt was originally cast in the part but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

Scarlett is one of many second-choice selections who have stepped in to iconic roles originally intended for someone else.

Here we present some of the other big movies which may have looked very different indeed…

THE TERMINATOR (T-800)

Arnold Schwarzenegger only stepped into his signature role after producers changed their mind about first choice O.J. Simpson – ironically because they thought audiences would never believe him as a killer!

GHOST (Sam Wheat)

Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan was all set for the lead until he picked another afterlife project, the far less successful Almost an Angel, paving the way for Patrick Swayze.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ( Clarice Starling )

Romantic comedy star Meg Ryan was wooed for the role of the FBI agent mixed up with a cannibalistic serial killer but felt the script was too dark and even offensive. Jodie Foster had no such objections and won an Oscar for the part.

THE MATRIX (Neo)

Will Smith was wanted for the blockbuster but turned it down in favor of the biggest bomb of his career, Wild Wild West. His loss was a big gain for Keanu Reeves.

BEVERLY HILLS COP (Axel Foley)

Sylvester Stallone dropped out of the fast-talking cop role in the action comedy paving the way for Eddie Murphy’s most iconic part.

TOP GUN (Maverick)

Tom Cruise is forever associated with the role of the cocky fighter pilot but he only landed it after Matthew Modine passed.

X-MEN (Wolverine)

Unknown Hugh Jackman got the career making role as the clawed mutant only when original choice Dougray Scott had to give it up when filming ran over schedule on his previous movie, Mission: Impossible 2.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS (Gandalf)

Sean Connery was even offered a share of the profits to play the wise wizard but turned it down and moviemakers turned to fellow Brit Sir Ian McKellen.

HARRY POTTER (Hagrid)

Robin Williams was all set to play Hagrid until author JK Rowling insisted on all British cast, enabling Robbie Coltrane to take over the part.

FORREST GUMP (Forrest Gump)

John Travolta was offered the part at the same time as Pulp Fiction. He opted for the Quentin Tarantino film and Tom Hanks benefited from the decision, winning an Oscar.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (Indiana Jones)

TV star Tom Selleck was cast as the action man archeologist but contractual obligations to his detective series Magnum P.I. meant he had to drop out and hand Star Wars actor Harrison Ford another hit franchise.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN…

—Sandro Monetti

MOVIES ON MOBILES: IS QUIBI THE FUTURE?

Moviemakers have a whole new, and very different, hi-tech outlet for their work in Quibi.

A recently launched streaming platform designed entirely for phones, all films and shows are delivered in chapters of seven to ten minutes.

These chunks of content are called “quick bites,” or Quibi for short.

Launched by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and tech executive Meg Whitman, the app quickly attracted more than $1 billion from investors.

It has also attracted big-name filmmakers with Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Soderbergh among those signing deals to create content for the platform.

The first bite-sized movies on Quibi include Most Dangerous Game starring Christopher Waltz and Liam Hemsworth and a Queen Latifah film called When The Streetlights Go On.

Quibi’s signature and revolutionary technology is called Turnstyle and allows viewers to switch between portrait and landscape video instantly just by rotating their phone.

Jeffrey Katzenberg said he does not consider the subscription service a competitor to other paid for platforms like Netflix or Disney Plus but more of a rival to free tech platforms like Instagram and You Tube which he claims cannot compete with Quibi’s creativity and star power.

“They don’t know how to do what we do, with all respect,” said Katzenberg. “We offer something that is meaningfully, measurably, quantifiably, creatively different.”

Will the plan to make Hollywood go tech pay off with big profits. As with all entertainment, the audience will decide.

—Sandro Monetti

SEND IN THE DRONES

New innovations in drone technology are set to push the film industry forward in spectacular ways.

Autonomous aerial drones are a particular example of how certain shots could be captured better than ever before.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a new software which allows self-flying drones to frame and maintain shots while making all kinds of maneuvers and not to crash into obstacles.

Camera operators and drone pilots would not be needed as the intelligent drones could recognize the best shot size and viewing angle.

While those are still a work in progress, other exciting developments in aerial photography are already on the market.

The newest one is the release of drone goggles which enable users to control drone cameras with head movements. In other words, you just need to tilt your head to change the view of the shot.

Such innovations push back the boundaries of what’s possible in filming and show a thrilling filmmaking future is ready for take-off.

CHANGEMAKER

Actress Geena Davis is using her fame and brain to increase representation of women on screen.

Tired of there continuing to be three times more male characters than female ones in movies, the Thelma and Louise star is campaigning for times to change.

She even won an honorary Oscar last year for her activism with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender which not only researches gender depictions on screen but also asks creators to consider before they cast and shoot if any characters in the script can be changed from male to female or have any kind of diversity.

Davis speaks around the world about her work on the topic, always stressing the enormous impact a fictional character can have on changing the world.

She cites the example of Gillian Anderson’s X-Files character Dana Scully who was named as an inspiration by 63 per cent of women working or studying in science and technology.

Geena’s 1992 women in baseball movie A League of Their Own prompted a generation of girls and young women to take up sports. But there have been relatively few female-led sports movies since.

Policy and regulation on the topic would be a help but a change in perception would aid more than anything.

With that goal, Geena and actress friends like Meg Ryan have been holding public script reads of scenes from all-male films like Reservoir Dogs and City Slickers. The aim is to show that projects can be just as entertaining, exciting and funny with women playing all the parts.

Davis has enjoyed a brilliant career with a string of hits but changing the industry could yet be her biggest achievement of all.

—Sandro Monetti

SAFE SETS

New safety policies are being developed so that movies can resume filming while mitigating the risk of coronavirus. Contagion director Steven Soderbergh has been selected by the Directors Guild of America to lead a task force to establish fresh industry standards and find a way forward.

Among the safeguards being considered are:

*Temperature checks before entering a studio lot.

*Testing for cast and crew to see if anyone has been infected.

*Masks and gloves for crew members.

*Cast and crew staying in a hotel during filming and isolating from friends and family.

*Makeup artists disposing of brushes once they have used them on a cast member.

Many movies have been delayed by the global pandemic – including Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 which had been due to shoot in Italy – and the industry wants to get back to work while keeping employees safe.

A set of social-distances regulations will not only help that goal but also help films get insured at such an uncertain time.

Epidemiologists, insurers, studios, unions and guilds are all being consulted as moviemaking looks to find a way back.

—Sandro Monetti

RISE OF A STREAMING GIANT: THE STORY OF NETFLIX

Netflix has risen from humble beginnings to become one of the most dominant and influential forces in the entertainment world.

During lockdown, a surge in viewership saw the streamer's market value surpass that of even fellow showbiz giant Disney.

But how did the company get from there to here? This is the timeline of a remarkable triumph…

Netflix was founded in 1997 in California by computer scientist and software company chief Reed Hastings and his colleague Marc Randolph, a mail order company founder.

Its initial business was rental by mail of DVDs, the discs having only just been launched earlier that year as a rival to VHS tapes. Netflix started with 925 films available for rent.

In 2000 the company established a competitive advantage with its new business model of unlimited rentals without due dates for a flat fee.

That same year, Ted Sarandos joined the company and remains Chief Content Officer today overseeing the streamer’s output of shows and films.

When DVD players became much more affordable in 2002, business took off. By 2005, the company had 35,000 films available and was shipping out 1 million DVDs every day.

By this time, Randolph had retired from the company leaving Hastings in sole charge as chairman and chief executive.

In 2007 the company delivered its one billionth DVD. But it already had its eye on the future and was researching and developing new opportunities.

The introduction and rapid expansion of streaming media in 2010 was the game changer which caused Netflix to greatly increase its business internationally.

By 2011 Netflix had 23 million customers in the United States and even more, 26 million, internationally.

Netflix went into content creation for the first time in 2012 by launching its debut series Lilyhammer.

Former Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt played an ex-New York gangster trying to forge a new life in Norway under the witness relocation program. The series ran for three seasons. Van Zandt also has a music career as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Springsteen made a guest appearance in the last ever episode.

Netflix started producing and distributing more original shows and the big breakout hit was political drama House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, was launched in 2013 and won the company’s first Emmy award that year.

The soaring streamer vastly expanded its library and was operating in more than 190 countries by 2016. In that year it released 126 original series and films, more than any other network or cable channel.

In recent years, the company has made a huge splash in the film business – receiving 15 Oscar nominations at the 2019 ceremony, 10 of them for best picture contender Roma.

At the 2020 ceremony, Netflix received 24 Oscar nominations, more than any other company, thanks to contenders like The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Two Popes and Klaus.

For the fiscal year 2019, Netflix reported earnings of $1.86 billion with an annual revenue of $20 billion.

By the start of 2020 Netflix offered 3,000 films for streaming on its US service and was launching more than one new TV series each day.

Netflix now uses 15 percent of all internet bandwidth in the world, more than any other application.

It’s a story of growth and domination but the media landscape is changing fast.

Having got to the top, can Netflix stay there?

—Sandro Monetti