Hollywood International Filmmaker Magazine 2021-Summer

LEGEND OF CINEMA: TOM HANKS

FOR MOVIEMAKERS WORLDWIDE

OSCARS RECAP

NFTs & HOLLYWOOD

FILM FASHIONS

NETFLIX SPENDS BIG FIGHTING FILM PIRACY

Hanks

AS ONE OF THE MOST BELOVED ACTORS IN SCREEN HISTORY, TOM HANKS HAS CREATED SO MANY MEMORABLE MOVIE CHARACTERS.

Just some of those unforgettable roles include; a man-child in Big (1988), a baseball manager in A League Of Their Own (1992), a romantic in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), an AIDS patient in Philadelphia (1993), a loveable innocent in Forrest Gump (1994), the voice of a cowboy in Toy Story (1995) and its sequels, an astronaut in Apollo 13 (1995), a war hero in Saving Private Ryan (1998), a survivor in Cast Away (2000), a codebreaker in The Da Vinci Code (2006), entertainment icon Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and a kids’ TV legend in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).

Modest as he is talented, Hanks puts his success down to a simple three-step formula, saying: “You have got to show up on time and you have to know the text and you have to have a head full of ideas.”

Repeatedly voted America’s favorite movie star, Hanks has the acclaim to go with his box office might having won back-toback Best Actor Oscars in 1994 and 1995 for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump and starring in nine movies nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and spearheaded fundraising efforts for the soon to open Academy Museum.

Hanks hit the headlines in 2020 as the first major movie star to test positive for coronavirus but happily recovered and before the year was out had starred in two more well received movies, war film Greyhound and westerns News of the World.

He will next be seen in Disney’s live action version of Pinocchio as kindly woodcarver Geppetto and as Elvis Presley’s manager in an as-yet untitled Elvis drama.

Approaching his 65th birthday, he happily has no plans to retire and continues to love the movie business.

Hanks says, “I love what I do for a living, it’s the greatest job in the world.”

Sandro Monetti

FOR THE MEMORIES

Wallets Out For Knives Out

Netflix has stunned the film industry by spending a whopping $450 million on the rights to two sequels to mystery movie Knives Out.

The streaming giant’s deal is one of the biggest purchases in film history.

Daniel Craig will return in the lead role of master detective Benoit Blanc with Rian Johnson again writing and directing.

The first film, distributed by Lionsgate, grossed $311 million worldwide and was Oscar nominated for best original screenplay.

Filming on Knives Out 2, which features a new whodunnit mystery and a fresh supporting cast, starts June 28 in Greece.

The mega-deal gives Netflix ownership of its own film franchise and indicates determination to stay ahead of challengers like Disney Plus, HBO Max and Apple TV Plus.

Sandro Monetti

IF YOU HAVE A NEWS STORY FOR OUR MAGAZINE, PLEASE EMAIL MAGAZINE.HIFEX@GMAIL.COM

HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL FILM EXCHANGE, CAPSTONE GROUP

ZEROES AND ONES

Ethan Hawke couldn’t resist the chance to star in upcoming movie Zeroes and Ones because it gave him the chance to work with one of his heroes.

This is the 50 th film from writer-director Abel Ferrara, whose previous pictures have included such memorable movies as Bad Lieutenant and King of New York.

“I’ve been a fan of Abel’s since I first fell in love with movies,” said Ethan. “He’s got voice with the camera and depth with his actors and his work is incredibly inspiring to me.”

This new film is a thriller which sees Hawke playing an American soldier stationed in Rome during lockdown who suddenly finds himself battling with terrorists.

“The script speaks to the moment and what we’ve all been going through. I think it’s something very special,” added Hawke.

“He’s got voice with the camera and depth with his actors and his work is incredibly inspiring to me.”

HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL FILM EXCHANGE, CAPSTONE GROUP

Filming stylish acting thriller Vanquish came with one major challenge for actress Ruby Rose – not to wreck the $600,000 McLaren sports car she had to drive in the movie.

“I didn’t want to mess up the car so was sitting up like a grandma at the wheel,” smiled the star of Capstone’s latest release.

Her character must use guns, guts and great vehicles in a battle with gangsters in the film, which proved a joy for Rose for a number of reasons.

She added: “After all the time not working during lockdown it was great to be outside again. Plus I got to work with Morgan Freeman, one of the greatest actors of all time.”

FOUR GOOD DAYS

It's Mila Kunis like we've never seen her before in heartbreaking new drama Four Good Days. She plays a heroin addict desperately trying to get clean with the help of her mother, played by Glenn Close. Together they battle through four desperate days on the path to recovery from an addiction which has ripped their family apart.

Mega

AT ONE OF THE FIRST ELEGANT EVENTS HELD AFTER LOS ANGELES RELAXED ITS LOCKDOWN RULES, OUR MAGAZINE GRACED THE GIFT BAGS.

Each of the VIPs attending an honors ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel went home with a copy of Hollywood International Filmmaker.

Our magazine’s editor, Sandro Monetti (pictured), was among the speakers at the event held by England’s leading patriotic organization, the Royal Society of St George.

The ceremony was to celebrate the 127-year-old society welcoming as an honorary member the internationally renowned artist Jiannan Huang.

MEET OUR NEW PHOTOGRAPHER

The newest recruit to Hollywood International Filmmaker is photographer Edward Yinghan Tang, some of whose work can be found here, surrounding his picture.

Born in Beijing but now living in Los Angeles, he studied film and philosophy at UCLA but has discovered photography is his greatest passion.

“Photography is a craft. But more than that, it is a way to live,” says Edward.

“Much like life, the only way to improve in photography is to keep on trying. To be curious about the things around me, to see the thing I’ve never seen and experience life I have yet to live.”

Welcome to the team, Edward, we’re excited and looking forward to your future photography.

A GOLDEN COMEBACK

ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET AND POLISH UP THE TROPHIES…THE GOLDEN FILM AWARDS ARE BACK AS A LIVE EVENT IN DECEMBER 2021.

After switching to a virtual format last year during the pandemic, plans are underway for the global film competition to revert back to a more traditional ceremony in Los Angeles, like the previous ones shown on this page.

Hundreds of independent films from around the world compete for the GFAs which were designed to great greater cultural communication through cinema.

The search is on for the next global supermodels at the 2021 version of popular contest IFSM, supported by Hi-Fex.

Entries are being taken at www. ifsmmodels.com from those who dream of stylishly strutting along the leading international catwalks.

One of the foremost events celebrating cultural exchange and supporting the next generation of international talent is coming back to Los Angeles this summer. The 4th Legacy Cup International Arts Festival showcases excellent Chinese musicians together with other performance artists and fashion models, it’s backed by Hi-Fex and the City of Los Angeles, and televised around the world.

THE (TOP) PRICE IS RIGHT

The reopening of movie theaters post pandemic has seen a surge in business for IMAX and other premium priced screens.

After over a year indoors, it’s clear that filmgoers are now prepared to pay more for an enhanced experience with the best digital projection and sound enjoyed from plush seats.

Typical of the trend was the box office for spring 2021’s only blockbuster, Godzilla vs. Kong, which drew 27 percent of its US audience on large or luxury screens – a sector which normally accounts for 15 percent of business.

China, Japan and other international markets have seen a similar boom in the more upscale screenings for a range of movies.

Exhibitors are encouraged by the development which, given the higher pricing in such screens, should help hasten the financial recovery of an industry hard-hit by Covid-19 and facing strong competition from streamers.

“As we approach a new normal, venturing outside the house needs to be special, perfect, and amazing,” said Tim League, co-founder of upscale American chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, explaining the luxury boom.

CINEMATIC CINEMATIC

ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST-LOVED MOVIE THEATERS IS CLOSING FOR GOOD, PROMPTING AN OUTPOURING OF GRIEF FROM FILMS FANS.

The historic Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is one of 300 screens across California shuttered forever by the economic impact of Covid-19.

Also gone from the state are all ArcLight Theaters –previously one of the highest earning chains in the country – and all Pacific Theaters, including their flagship cinema at upscale LA shopping mall, The Grove.

But it’s the shocking loss of the 70-foot-high Cinerama Dome which has led to the most dismay on social media and prompted a petition to save it which drew 10,000 signatures in just the first three days since the closure announcement.

That landmark has become a symbol of Hollywood’s motion picture history since opening in 1963 with the premiere of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and been featured itself in a string of films including, most recently, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Will anyone step in to save it? Maybe even Tarantino himself? Not so far. At the time of writing, it really looks like this icon – like so many other theaters where fans first fell in love with movies – will not return.

Without them it’s a sad, sad, sad, sad world.

– Sandro Monetti

IF YOU HAVE A NEWS STORY FOR OUR MAGAZINE, PLEASE EMAIL

BIG SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

The talented team at Big Screen (OTC: BSEG) come from all around the world and bring a wide range of skills and industry experience. This creative group complement each other so well and combine to make our company one of the best in the business. Meet them here…

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS

KIMBERLEY KATES

MICHAEL MANASSERI

SANDRO MONETTI

THE DEKA BROTHERS

BOARD MEMBER

BOARD MEMBER

DEVELOPMENT

WRITER • DIRECTOR

BRUCE LEE

STEPHEN ECKELBERRY

LORRAINE CHI

DAVE TAPPAN

CATHERINE TAYLOR

MADDY LEBEL

The Duke & Duchess of

MEGHAN AND HARRY HAVE BEEN GETTING BUSY IN THE FILM BUSINESS SINCE STEPPING BACK FROM ROYAL DUTIES.

The couple, now based in California, are developing projects under their lucrative deal with Netflix.

Reportedly worth more than $100 million, the multi-year pact will see them creating content including feature films and documentaries for the streaming giant.

“Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said in a statement.

Although Meghan was an actress before marrying Harry, she plans to stay behind the camera for now.

To run their production company, Archewell, she and Harry have hired Ben Browning, whose producing credits include recent awards darling Promising Young Woman.

The famous couple talked about their plans in an explosive TV interview with Oprah Winfrey which made global headlines.

At the time, this magazine’s editor, Sandro Monetti, gave a string of TV interviews to CNN, Fox and other major broadcasters about the couple’s media impact and future.

The newest name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is Ruth E. Carter who has earned a star on the famous boulevard thanks to the many memorable costumes she has designed for movies.

An Oscar winner for her designs on Black Panther, Carter has worked on more than 60 films including Coming 2 America, Cobb, Malcolm X, Amistad and What’s Love Got To Do With It?

She becomes only the second costume designer in history to be awarded her own Hollywood star, after the legendary Edith Head whose work included classics from Sunset Boulevard to Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Check out some of Ruth’s creations on these pages for insight into why her work is so very special.

THE BEST EDUCATED STARS IN HOLLYWOOD

You don’t need a university education to become famous in Hollywood. But that hasn’t stopped some of the biggest names in movies from devoting themselves to studying as well as stardom.

The most prestigious colleges in the world have welcomed top Tinseltown talents. For example, Matt Damon, who reportedly has an exceptional IQ of 160, wrote an early draft of Oscar winning film Good Will Hunting while studying at Harvard.

Listed on these pages are several elite educational institutions and the stars who studied there.

MATT DAMON

EDWARD NORTON

NATALIE PORTMAN

JODIE FOSTER

ASHLEY JUDD

LUPITA NYONG’O

STEVE MARTIN

LAURA LINNEY

KATIE HOLMES

KAL PENN

HUGH GRANT

RACHEL WEISZ

JACK BLACK JOHN KRASINSKI

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT

REESE WITHERSPOON

ROWAN ATKINSON

SACHA BARON COHEN

BEN STILLER

EMMA WATSON

JAKE GYLLENHAAL

SIGOURNEY WEAVER

KATE BECKINSALE TOM HIDDLESTON

OSCAR NOMINATED THIS YEAR FOR BEST MAKEUP, THE LATEST FILM VERSION OF CHILDREN’S CLASSIC PINOCCHIO USED A PAINSTAKING PROCESS TO TRANSFORM A CHILD ACTOR INTO A WOODEN BOY.

Prosthetics expert Mark Coulier – twice an Oscar winner in the past for The Iron Lady and The Grand Budapest Hotel – called on all his experience for this assignment.

First he and his team took a computer scan of the actor playing the puppet, i, and used that to create a sculpture of him.

Then they built silicon pieces painted to look like wood and applied them in various pieces – including six to his face and one for each finger.

Just applying the prosthetics took three hours each day – requiring extraordinary patience from the young actor.

But the results are there for all to see and the Italian film became a surprise Hollywood awards contender having earlier scooped five trophies at Italy’s top film awards.

Pinocchio also stars Roberto Benigni, the best actor Oscar winner in 1999 for Life is Beautiful, as woodcarver Geppetto who creates the special puppet.

Tom Hanks will soon take on the same role in a live action version of the Disney animated hit and it will be quite an achievement if that one matches the make up magic of this film.

Sandro Monetti

It was the ultimate clash of the titans –Godzilla Vs Kong – and the bombastic blockbuster became the first monster hit of 2021.

But behind all the incredibly impressive special effects was some very basic technology that allowed the human actors to react to the movement of the CGI creatures.

Laser pointers – like the kind pet owners use with their cats – directed cast members like Millie Bobby Brown and Alexander Skarsgard where to look when imagining the monsters around them in footage which would be added later.

For close ups it was something even more basic - tennis balls held up on sticks that the actors had to gaze up at in wonder and fear.

The rest was up to the technical wizards led by John “DJ” DesJardin, the visual effects supervisor whose previous credits include Batman v Superman, Watchmen, Justice League and The Matrix Revolutions.

The major battles in the film, like the climactic clash of the creatures amid the neon signs and bright lights of Hong Kong, were entirely CG created by his team.

With the well-received “wow” factor of those effects and the big global box office takings, it’s clear this state of the art meets old school basics approach was a winning one.

As star Millie Bobby Brown said of the ultimate look of the film: “It’s so beautiful and so magical, and takes you out of the real world and puts you into that world.”

Sandro Monetti

HOLLYWOOD EMBRACES NFT

You’ve probably heard by now about the excitement surrounding NFTs – profit hungry Hollywood certainly has.

Independent filmmaking is one of the early adopters of the technology trend, which first came to global attention in the art world.

It was the sale of a piece of digital art (see below) for $69.3 million early in 2021 that made the movie world think that if a JPEG could fetch such a price, what possibilities could there be in movies.

Among the first off the blocks was filmmaker Trevor Hawkins who sold non-fungible tokens – or NFTs – at $1,000 each to represent ownership shares that give profit participation in his independent film Lotawana.

Meanwhile film finance firm The Forest Road Company have closed a $20 million fund that will make pre-production investments in films in return for the right to sell collectibles associated with their movies using NFTs.

An NFT is a unique digital certificate of authenticity for digital or physical objects and the tokens are stored and transactions recorded on a blockchain, the same kind of network which powers cryptocurrencies.

It’s all very new but the appeal to Hollywood is that is gives filmmakers the opportunity for more capital on the front end and greater profits on the back end so creators can better monetize their projects.

Is the technology here to stay?

We shall see…

– Sandro Monetti

Film piracy has surged to unprecedented levels since coronavirus lockdown measures were introduced and now the industry wants greater protections.

Data shows that illegal streaming and downloading of films has risen by more than 40 percent since March 2020.

When a movie is released in theaters it’s hard for thieves to obtain a top-quality recording of it and they often have to resort to filming it with a hidden camcorder. But when theaters closed for the pandemic, studios sold off many of their big budget movies to streaming services and pirates found it much easier to replicate digital releases perfectly.

That has led to a huge number of unlicensed downloads of films like Mulan and Trolls World Tour which caused such movies to fall short of their digital buys targets.

With government efforts to prevent viewers from accessing pirated content proving largely unsuccessful, the movie industry is seeing profits disappear and urging lawmakers to get tough with the thieves.

Congress is examining closing loopholes in copyright laws and updating criminal penalties more appropriate to the modern digital world.

For an industry losing fortunes to the pirates, new policies and regulations can’t come soon enough.

Sandro Monetti

Battle of the Legends

Hollywood International Filmmaker has featured some true legends of cinema on its covers – but who is the best?

Email us to say which of these cover stars you think is the most talented and one lucky entrant drawn at random will win an exciting prize.

Just email magazine.hifexc@gmail.com and tell us if your choice is MERYL STREEP, CHARLIE CHAPLIN, TOM CRUISE, TOM HANKS, SOPHIA LOREN, AL PACINO, JANE FONDA OR ROBERT DE NIRO –and why.

It’s a tough decision and we’re excited to hear your thoughts.

TRAIN WRECK OR TRIUMPH?

The 93rd Academy Awards was like none ever seen before – in both good ways and bad.

The positives saw the 2021 edition as the most diverse Oscars ever, full of historic firsts for women and people of color.

The negatives included the lowest ratings in history with only ten million American viewers watching the ceremony.

One big change, enforced by the pandemic, was the venue with the Academy largely abandoning its usual home of Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre to stage most of the event at LA’s Union Station.

And although the first Oscars held in a train station threatened to go off the rails at times, no one could fault the setting with its handsome Art Deco design features and natural light.

Opinion was divided about this scaled down, low key ceremony. But with vaccines circulating, theaters reopening and restrictions easing, there’s real hope the next Oscars will be a more traditional affair – with a much bigger audience both at the ceremony and watching around the world.

Sandro Monetti

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

BEST PICTURE: NOMADLAND

BEST ACTOR:

ANTHONY HOPKINS (THE FATHER)

BEST ACTRESS: FRANCES MCDORMAND (NOMADLAND)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

DANIEL KALUUYA (JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

YUH-JUNG YOUN (MINARI)

BEST DIRECTOR:

CHLOE ZHAO (NOMADLAND)

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

BEST ANIMATED FILM: SOUL

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM:

ANOTHER ROUND (DENMARK)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

EMERALD FENNELL (PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON & FLORIAN ZELLER (THE FATHER)