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Hollywood writing partnerships dissolve for many reasons. There may be creative disagreements, personality conflicts, workload imbalances. For the celebrated author Dave Eggers and his younger brother Toph, who’d had a run of collaborations, the rupture in their bond could perhaps be attributed to all these things. But, mainly, to far deeper, darker troubles.

“For so many years I was locked in a certain relationship with Dave, and I just couldn’t see fault in him — and then, once I did, it flipped,” says Toph over one of several long meals at diners and delis across L.A.’s Eastside.

Dave emerged as a literary phenomenon a quarter-century ago with A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, his memoir about raising Toph after both of their parents died of cancer within weeks of each other. The book became a generational touchstone for its joking-but-not, manic-expressive style — evidenced in the title itself,...

Exclusive: The Black List won’t be releasing its 20th anniversary tally until later this year, but the Franklin Leonard-founded platform is rolling into the Bay Area with a new collaboration and a deep bench of partners.

Focusing on the talent-rich San Francisco and Oakland region, the brand new Bay List will announce 10 inaugural projects next summer. If you are part of the 415, 510 or 628 area codes, among others, you have until April 8, 2025 to submit an eligible project. Find out more info about Leonard and Blindspotting creator/showrunner Rafael Casal‘s brainchild here.

“I’ve been a longtime admirer of the arts community in the Bay generally so it was a no-brainer to jump in when Rafa reached out about being a part of it directly,” Leonard told Deadline on Tuesday. “Little did I appreciate just how big the Bay does things. It’s a real honor to be partnered up...

Tribeca Festival, which announced its feature film lineup Wednesday, has now also revealed its television lineup for the 2024 festival, which includes brand new docuseries featuring Issa Rae and Dave Eggers and projects from Dakota Fanning, Jake Gyllenhaal and J.J. Abrams.

This year’s program includes 11 premieres, including Hulu’s “Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer,” an in-depth exploration of Dr. Anne Burgess’ career and her journey to closing some of America’s most infamous criminal cases from executive producers Dakota and Elle Fanning; MGM+’s “Hollywood Black,” an examination of the Black experience in Hollywood featuring conversations with Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay from executive producer Justin Simien; and Apple TV+’s “Presumed Innocent,” a legal thriller starring and executive produced by Jake Gyllenhaal from David E. Kelley and executive producer J.J. Abrams. The show also stars Ruth Negga and Peter Sarsgaard.

Returning series getting...

The 2024 Tribeca Festival, which unveiled its film slate Wednesday, is out with its television lineup of world premieres of new and returning programs from networks and streamers.

The 23rd edition, which unspool June 5-16, features 11 series premieres and two first looks at returning classics. World premieres include Hulu’s Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer, executive produced by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, an in-depth exploration of Dr. Anne Burgess’ journey in closing some of America’s most infamous criminal cases; Hollywood Black, executive produced by Justin Simien, an examination of the Black experience in Hollywood featuring conversations with Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Ryan Coogler, and Ava DuVernay; and Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, a legal thriller starring and executive produced by Jake Gyllenhaal, hailing from David E. Kelley and executive producer J.J. Abrams, also with Ruth Negga and Peter Sarsgaard.

The program spotlights ESPN docuseries In the Arena: Serena Williams,...

Exclusive: MSNBC Films has unveiled its spring and summer slate including a Dave Eggers documentary about book-banning.

The news network is launching four feature and short documentaries in its Sunday night slot between April and July.

This includes a number of films for its The Turning Point series, which kicked off in 2022 with a Trevor Noah-produced series.

Eggers’ To Be Destroyed, which will launch on July 21, follows the A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author as he embarks on a journey to Rapid City, South Dakota in the aftermath of his book’s controversial ban by the local school board. As Eggers navigates this landscape of censorship and resistance, viewers will learn how these ideas resonate far beyond the borders of Rapid City.

The film is directed by Arthur Bradford and will be the ninth installment of The Turning Point documentary series.

The seventh installment of the series is...

Michelle Williams is being celebrated for her latest role – narrating the audiobook version of Britney Spears‘ memoir “The Woman In Me“!

The 43-year-old actress voices the audio version of the singer’s book, and while many were hoping she would be nominated for a Grammy, that did not happen.

However, Michelle has become a finalist in the nominations for the upcoming 2024 Audie Awards, put on by the Audio Publishers Association.

Find out more inside…

At the awards show, which recognizes “distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment,” Michelle is up for Best Non-Fiction Narrator.

“The Woman In Me” is also being honored as part of the APA Choice honorees, alongside “Fourth Wing,” “Never Finished,” “Spare” and “The Covenant of Water,” as they are recognized for captivating listeners “but also became cultural phenomenons.”

Other Audie Awards nominees include Ethan Hawke for narrating “The Eyes and the Impossible” by Dave Eggers, Meryl Streep...

This year’s Telluride Film Festival will be missing its beloved co-founder, Tom Luddy, who died this year. Thus, the 2023 festival is dedicated to Luddy (1943-2023), as well as co-founders Bill Pence (1940-2022), James Card (1915-2000), and Stella Pence. Executive Director Julie Huntsinger, whose role expanded in the years since she joined the festival as managing director in 2007, is running the show solo for the first time.

Per usual, the 50th anniversary Tff edition covers a range of over eighty feature films, new features, shorts, and classic programs representing twenty-nine countries, along with filmmaker tributes, conversations, seminars, and student programs. Huntsinger is carrying on the Luddy legacy while at the same time showcasing her own taste. “Tom was a fearless leader until the bitter end,” said Huntsinger on the phone during a recent interview with IndieWire. “I miss him so much. I’m devoted to tradition and continuity, and I...

The Telluride Film Festival turns 50 this year (though it remains to be seen how many of the chief film festivals in North America will go off without a hitch due to the duo actor/writer strikes currently unfolding), but until we know more, you can feast your eyes on this brand-new, eye-poppingly colorful poster promoting the popular Colorado annual event.

The artists chosen to design the poster is Luke Dorman, the principal graphic designer of the Santa Fe-based Meow Wolf, a hugely attended multimedia arts center that now has outposts in Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas, with one on the way in the Houston area in 2024. As an homage to the festival’s history, Dorman reconfigured a single moment from each of the 49 installments to include in this half-century poster.

“Fifty years is a momentous milestone,” Dorman said, returning to artists duty after drawing up the 2021 poster. “It’s...

Plot: Eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every story is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?

Review: Extrapolations is a sprawling, star-studded project that could only come from AppleTV+. Back in the day, a project with a cast this size would only be a big-screen spectacle like Earthquake or The Towering Inferno or possibly a marquee mini-series airing on a major television network. Now, streaming services have deep enough pockets to recruit global movie stars to regularly make projects like Extrapolations a reality.

The end of the world is a pretty lucrative topic when it comes to films and TV shows; It seems everyone is ready to get on board the minute a disaster looms. Recently, the pandemic has ushered in a whole host of shows about society's collapse after an infectious disease overtakes everything, with shows like "Station Eleven" and "The Last of Us" being two of the most recent adaptations to make it to TV. But they are not the first shows to explore what might happen to society when faced with a cataclysmic event, and they most certainly will not be the last. In fact, this March will see the release of a new show, "Extrapolations," which will approach the subject of humanity's existence on earth in a more subdued, but still terrifying kind of way. Here is everything you need to know about this new show from Apple TV...

Adam Rich, the child actor who starred in the late Seventies series Eight Is Enough, has died at the age of 54.

Rich’s rep Danny Deraney confirmed his client’s death Saturday on social media. An official cause of death is pending a scheduled autopsy, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office told NBC News.

“Adam was simply a wonderful guy,” Deraney tweeted. “He was kind, generous and a warrior in the fight against mental illness. Adam did not have an ounce of ego. He was unselfish and always...

Adam Rich, who played the youngest of the octet of children on ABC series Eight Is Enough, has died. He was 54. No official cause of death has been revealed.

Adam Rich gained fame on Eight Is Enough (1977-1981) as Nicholas Bradford, a role he would reprise in two TV movies–Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion (1987) and An Eight Is Enough Wedding (1989)–and for a cameo on the PBS education program 3-2-1- Contact.

Eight Is Enough’s plot, as per Warner Bros.: “This family comedy classic revolves around Sacramento journalist Tom Bradford (Dick Van Patten) and his eight very independent and individual children forced to deal with life’s ups and downs, while living under one roof.” The series ran for five seasons dn 112 episodes. Eight Is Enough

For his turn as Nicholas Bradford, Adam Rich would win two Young Artist Awards: one for Best Juvenile Actor...

Horror as a cinematic and literary genre continues to change, but much of today's horror fiction can trace its spiritual roots to the Master of Horror himself, Stephen King. After nearly 30 years as "America's schlockmeister," (a term King used to describe how his critics felt about him for years), by the first decade of the 21st century, his literary standing rose as the generation of writers who claimed him as an inspiration proudly expounded on his influence.

The 2022 Sffilm Awards will fete the creators behind this year’s biggest films, ranging from “Babylon” to “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

The annual fundraiser supporting Sffilm’s mission-driven initiatives will honor “Wakanda Forever” writer-director Ryan Coogler with the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction and “Women Talking” filmmaker Sarah Polley with the Sffilm Award for Storytelling. “Babylon” and “Amsterdam” star Margot Robbie is awarded the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting.

“Each of these phenomenal artists brings the highest levels of skill to their latest work, creating the year’s most indelible films,” Sffilm’s executive director Anne Lai said. “This evening of celebration not only honors their unique contributions, but also fuels our ability to achieve our year-round initiatives nurturing filmmakers, supporting students, and bringing audiences together through the transformative power of cinematic storytelling. The impact of Awards Night is felt in every corner of our mission, and we’re grateful for that.

Click here to read the full article.

Director Ryan Coogler, director Sarah Polley and producer and actor Margot Robbie will be honored at the annual Sffilm Awards Night on Dec. 5 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The event honors achievement in film and its fundraising proceeds support the organization’s mission to “discover, nurture and showcase the next generation of film artists.”

Coogler will receive the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction, which is given in the memory of the founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957. Past recipients include Jane Campion Chloé Zhao, Steve McQueen, Kathryn Bigelow, Kenneth Branagh, Francis Ford Coppola and Werner Herzog, among others.

Coogler is known for his feature film debut Fruitvale Station, as well as Creed and Creed II, Black Panther and most recently, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Danai Gurira will present the award.

Robbie will be...

James Ponsoldt is expecting this question. Why did the guy who made films like “Smashed,” “The Spectacular Now,” and “The End of the Tour” — dark, knowing dramas about messed-up adults, typically with substance abuse problems and a host of neuroses — turn his attention to “Summering,” a film about four tween girls in the waning days of their favorite season?

He’s got the answer in hand: He’s a parent of three kids, his wife Megan works in the public-school system, and this is the stuff he wants to share with his family.

But the real answer? It’s still a James Ponsoldt film. It’s not as dark as its predecessors, but the filmmaker is still using his craft to ask some very deep questions. “Summering” is, after all, about a group of girls who discover a very dead body and must grapple with what to do next.

“Those...

HBO has landed the rights to Dave Eggers’ 2021 dystopian novel The Every and has tapped Veep alum Rachel Axler to executive produce the series adaptation. The series revolves around the merger of the world’s largest tech company and an e-commerce giant, creating the richest and most dangerous monopoly ever known. The story follows Delaney Wells, a former forest ranger from Idaho, who interviews at the company with a plan to destroy it from within. “In this equally terrifying and hilarious cautionary tale, Dave Eggers shows us the increasing cost of the frictionless life that technology enables,” said HBO programming executive VP Amy Gravitt (via The Hollywood Reporter). “As he writes, ‘Nothing described herein actually happened, though much of it likely will,’ and what better starting point for an HBO comedy script?” The Every was published in October 2021 as a sequel to Eggers’ 2013 novel The Circle, which centered on a...

HBO is developing a half-hour comedy series based on the Dave Eggers novel “The Every,” Variety has learned.

In the show, world’s largest tech company merges with the planet’s dominant e-commerce site, creating the richest and most dangerous – and, oddly enough, the most beloved – monopoly ever known: The Every.

Eggers will serve as an executive producer on the project. Rachel Axler will adapt the book for the small screen and executive produce, with David Miner of 3 Arts also set to executive produce.

“In this equally terrifying and hilarious cautionary tale, Dave Eggers shows us the increasing cost of the frictionless life that technology enables,” said Amy Gravitt, executive vice president of HBO Programming. “As he writes, ‘Nothing described herein actually happened, though much of it likely will,’ and what better starting point for an HBO comedy script?”

“The Every” was published by McSweeney’s in 2021. Eggers other novels...

Dave Eggers’ book The Every – a dystopian story about an Amazon-esque company – is set for a TV adaptation with HBO.

The book, which is a follow up to the A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author’s 2013 book The Circle, which was turned into a Tom Hanks and Emma Watson-fronted film, is being adapted as a half-hour comedy series by Veep co-exec producer Rachel Axler.

The series follows the world’s largest tech company when merges with the planet’s dominant e-commerce site, creating the richest and most dangerous – and, oddly enough, the most beloved – monopoly ever known: The Every.

The book was published last year by Eggers’ McSweeney’s. It follows Delaney Wells, an unlikely new hire at the Every. A former forest ranger and unwavering tech skeptic, she charms her way into an entry-level job with one goal in mind: to take down the company from within.

HBO is developing half-hour series “The Every,” with writer Rachel Axler. The project is based on the Dave Eggers book of the same name.

Here’s the logline: “When the world’s largest tech company merges with the planet’s dominant e-commerce site, it creates the richest and most dangerous – and, oddly enough, the most beloved – monopoly ever known: The Every.”

“In this equally terrifying and hilarious cautionary tale, Dave Eggers shows us the increasing cost of the frictionless life that technology enables,” Amy Gravitt, EVP, HBO programming, said in a statement. “As he writes, ‘Nothing described herein actually happened, though much of it likely will,’ and what better starting point for an HBO comedy script?”

The series will be written and executive produced by Axler (pictured above). Eggers will also executive produce alongside David Miner.

Eggers has written 12 books, including “A Hologram for the King” for which he was...

Playing himself, Cage serves the acting fans love him for – but has this strained action comedy spoiled the joke?

Nicolas Cage has officially revealed he’s in on the joke … if “joke” is precisely what it is. But has that spoiled the joke – if that is the correct word? This is a self-aware action comedy whose title is possibly the funniest bit, riffing on Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being as well as possibly Dave Eggers’s memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Producer-star Cage plays “Nick Cage”: Hollywood ledge and national treasure (to quote a relevant movie title) now in a midlife crisis, haunted by CGI-doppelganger visions of his angry younger self, no longer booking the big roles and facing a grim future in which, as his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) puts it, he plays the cool gay uncle in a Duplass brothers film.

Cage is living in a hotel,...

Exclusive: Blu Hunt (The New Mutants) and Reno Wilson (Good Girls) are set as leads and Maximiliano Hernandez (Avengers: Endgame), Dawnn Lewis (Veronica Mars reboot), Derek Phillips (Blood of Zeus), Courtney Dietz (Beast Beast) and Troy Kotsur (The Mandalorian) also have been cast as series regulars in Fox pilot The Last Police, an adaptation of Ben Winters’ sci-fi mystery novel The Last Policeman.

Written and directed by Killen, in The Last Police, as an asteroid races toward an apocalyptic collision with Earth, a small-town police detective (Hunt) believes she’s been chosen to save humanity, while her cynical partner (Wilson) can’t decide what he’ll enjoy more: her delusional failure, or the end of the world itself.

Hunt plays Detective MacKenzie Ward. She’s a sharp young police detective who as our story begins has decided to end her life on her own terms rather than wait for the...

Since its inception McSweeney’s — the small, non-profit San Francisco-based publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 — has had a reputation for publishing ambitious fiction and non-fiction and crafting unusual ways to package their literary journal for its ardent subscribers and supporters. Now McSweeney’s has announced that they will release their first audio-visual issue of “bizarre, surreal, heartfelt, personal, informative, and interactive” stories.

As they explain, McSweeney’s 64 is an “immersive, riotous exploration of audio-visual storytelling” co-produced with Radiotopia from Prx (The Stoop, Song Exploder, Criminal, Ear Hustle, etc.

This article contains spoilers for Bo Burnham: Inside.

Back in the year 2000, writer Dave Eggers struggled to find the right title for his first memoir. What collection of words could possibly communicate the emotional enormity of losing both of one’s parents to cancer and then having to perform as a sudden surrogate to one’s younger brother?

Eggers eventually stumbled upon the appropriately melodramatic moniker. The name he chose, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, was equal parts sarcastic and sincere. It also felt grandiose enough to describe Eggers’ own slice of the confusing, oft exhilarating human experience.

Now, some 21 years later comedian, musician, writer, director, and all-around tortured entertainer Bo Burnham has stumbled upon a heartbreaking work of staggering genius of his own. Bo Burnham: Inside is much more humbly named than Eggers’ classic work but it’s every bit as heartbreaking and yes, staggering. Inside is...

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has a new memoir coming out on April 6th.

The book, titled Beautiful Things, will center on Biden’s ongoing struggles with substance abuse, according to its publisher Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Although acquired in late 2019, the memoir was reportedly kept under wraps due to then-President Donald Trump and other conservatives’ ongoing scrutiny of Joe Biden’s business dealings –—and Hunter Biden’s involvement — during the election.

Hunter Biden, who turned 51 on Thursday, is the only surviving child of the president,...

Pearl Jam, David Byrne and Jenny Lewis are among the many artists featured on Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy: Volume Two. The collection will be available on Friday for 24 hours only as part of the Bandcamp Fridays series.

The tracklist is nearly twice the size of the first edition, with 77 previously unreleased recordings. Pearl Jam — who recently announced a massive voting initiative themselves — contributed the new song “Get It Back.” Byrne’s “People Tell Me” is a demo from the Joan of Arc: Into the Fire musical,...

R.E.M., Phoebe Bridgers, Hayley Williams and more appear on the new compilation Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, available on Friday for 24 hours only as part of the Bandcamp Fridays series.

The star-studded, 40-track comp boasts previously unreleased songs, demos, covers and remixes. It includes a live version of R.E.M.’s “Begin the Begin” from 1989, Williams’ Broadcast cover of “Colour Me In” and Bridgers’ voice memo of “Chinese Satellite” from her new album, Punisher.

Weyes Blood recorded a rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “River,...

Two films released, another film shot, and Steven Soderbergh managed to still watch and read a decent amount in 2019. (Note to self: barely using his Twitter account probably helps.) So a favorite tradition continues with today’s release of his annual viewing and reading log on Extension 765, which has a surprise, oddity, or some-such at nearly every turn.

Favorites include: making it through all 181 hours of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Too Old to Die Young in seven days but taking nearly four months to finish Sergei Bondarchuk’s War and Peace; Chinatown and Richard Lester movies appearing on yet another list; he, too, watching Fleabag; seeing a version of his next movie, Let Them All Talk, just under a month after principal photography commenced. And so on and so forth.

All caps, bold: Movie

All caps, bold, asterisk: Short*

All caps: TV Series

Italics: Book

Quotation marks: “Play”

Italics, quotation...

So, How Was Your Decade is a series in which many of the 2010s’ most innovative musicians answer our questionnaire about the people, places and things that shaped their last 10 years. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December.

“What the hell happened in the last 10 years?” Brann Dailor asks Rolling Stone over the phone from Atlanta. In the past 10 years, the drummer released three records with Mastodon — The Hunter (2011), Once More ‘Round the Sun (2014) and Emperor of Sand (2017). The Atlanta metal outfit would be nominated for a Grammy each time,...

Nick Hornby has never owned a setlist, but his latest charity endeavor, Setlists For Young Voices, may change that. The project, conceived by Hornby alongside authors Dave Eggers and Michael Chabon, has collected over 100 setlists from artists like R.E.M., Patti Smith, Nine Inch Nails, Death Cab for Cutie and the Who and is auctioning them to benefit Hornby’s London-based literacy non-profit Ministry of Stories.

“I just suddenly thought of it because it’s something that fans value that actually costs nothing,” Hornby tells Rolling Stone. “Having done...

A setlist is one of the rarest items you can take home from a concert, usually going to VIPs or the lucky fan who gets a guitar tech’s attention. But starting today, getting one is easier – you can bid on more than 100 of them as part of Setlists for Young Voices, a charity benefiting international youth writing and activism centers. The project was launched by Nick Hornby and supported by fellow authors Dave Eggers and Michael Chabon.

There are setlists from R.E.M.’s first big tour in 1989, including Wembley Arena,...

For their new book released this week, “Congo Stories”, NY Times bestselling author John Prendergast, Congolese activist Fidel Bafilemba, and Ryan Gosling traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to document by turns shocking, enthralling, inspiring stories of individual heroism.

Congo Stories: Battling Five Centuries of Exploitation and Greed

Through Bafilemba’s profiles of heroic Congolese activists, Gosling’s photographs of Congolese daily life, and Prendergast’s narratives of the extraordinary history of exploitation and evolving social movements that directly link Congo with the United States and Europe, “Congo Stories” provides windows into the history, the people, the challenges, the possibilities, and the movements that are impacting the course of Congo’s destiny. The book features a foreword by Soraya Aziz Souleymane, afterword by Chouchou Namegabe, postscript by Dave Eggers, and illustrations by Sam Ilus.

“We were told many personal stories by many people, but a central theme emerged. It...

The musician turned director discusses how firsthand experience, and having Dave Eggers as a fan, shaped his hit debut movie, Sorry to Bother You

By the time I meet him, Boots Riley has been promoting his movie Sorry to Bother You for the best part of nine months. It dropped with a splash at the Sundance film festival in January – but the veteran rapper and political organiser, now 47, is clearly still delighted to discuss his gleefully disruptive entrance into the world of film-making. “It’s all related to things I care about,” he says.

Tracking the moral dilemmas of penniless Cassius Green as he rises through the ranks of a shady telemarketing firm, Sorry to Bother You reflects on the challenges of being black in America and gives Riley space to argue – in freakishly satirical terms – why it’s worth taking a stand against the predations of capitalism.

Continue reading.

Sally Willcox, the longtime CAA literary agent who most recently oversaw acquisition and development at Tobey Maguire’s Material, has landed at Paradigm, the agency said Tuesday. She will oversee media rights and be based at the agency’s Beverly Hills headquarters.

“Sally excels at discovering and developing intellectual property and it is her passion to find inspiring opportunities for her clients, making her the perfect person to drive and expand our media rights division,” said Adam Kanter, co-head of Motion Picture Literary, and Andy Patman, co-head of Television Literary, in a release announcing the news.

Willcox spent 27 years at CAA, repping authors, journalists, publishers and publications along with screenwriters and writer-directors including Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, Laura Hillenbrand, William Nicholson and Steven Knight. She made deals on projects that became major films, like The Hurt Locker, Waiting to Exhale, Adaptation, The Joy Luck Club, Seabiscuit, Where the Wild Things Are,...

The Hammer Museum announced today that Grammy Award-nominated recording artist Leon Bridges will perform at its annual Gala in the Garden, which will take place on Sunday, October 14.

Solange Ferguson, Elizabeth Segerstrom, and Darren Star will serve as co-chairs for the event honoring award-winning author Margaret Atwood and acclaimed artist Glenn Ligon. Also participating in this year’s program are Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson, who will deliver the tribute speeches for Atwood and Ligon, respectively. The annual celebration recognizes artists and innovators who have made profound contributions to society through their work.

International shopping destination South Coast Plaza will partner with the Hammer Museum to present this year’s Gala in the Garden. The highly anticipated event attracts cultural and civic leaders in Los Angeles, as well as artists, collectors, and patrons of the arts. Last year’s event raised $2.4 million for the museum.

Last month, the author Dave Eggers spoke at a special naturalization ceremony for 34 minors in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. He was instructed in a letter from the Department of Homeland Security not to make it political. The letter also contained a few lines about how immigrants make up “the fabric of our nation,” which Eggers found curious considering the people currently governing the United States. “The Trump administration is trying to cleanse everything of any mention of immigration being a good idea and that we are a country of immigrants,...

Boots Riley was on his way to MTV’s “Total Request Live” when he said, “I don’t care if people know about the music.” It was a stunning admission after spending more than 25 years as frontman for socially conscious hip-hop band The Coup, but its last album, “Sorry To Bother You,” is also the name of Riley’s filmmaking debut. And now, it’s the only thing that matters.

Wearing a shiny black robe (he’d favored a tie-dye variation at the New York premiere the night before), Riley’s bushy afro consumed about a quarter of the backseat. He waved his hands in steady half circles, as if composing his words in real time. “I’ve never been on a nostalgia trip about what I used to do,” he said, peering out at the midtown Manhattan crowds. “It’s always been about right now. Is this working?”

Riley...

Paramount Pictures has released their new Super Bowl TV spot for the upcoming thriller A Quiet Place. While most of the movies being promoted during the big game are massive blockbusters with huge budgets, A Quiet Place is quite the opposite, a low-budget thriller with a minimalistic cast, marking the second directorial effort of star John Krasinski. Not only does the former star of The Office get to make his first movie, he gets to do so while directing and starring alongside his real wife, Emily Blunt.

If you look at the full lineup of Super Bowl ads, A Quiet Place is most certainly the odd movie out, since it's possible that the production budget isn't even as big as the $5 million-plus it reportedly costs to pay for a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year. Still, following the terrifying first trailer that was released in November, A Quiet Place managed...

Based on the international best-seller by Dave Eggers, The Circle arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital HD) and DVD August 1 from Lionsgate; with Digital HD on July 18 and On Demand on August 1 from EuropaCorp. Capturing the phenomenon of today’s social media and the consequences of being permanently checked in, the gripping modern thriller is directed and co-written for the screen by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) and Dave Eggers (A Hologram for the King), and features an all-star cast, including Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast), Oscar® winner Tom Hanks (Best Actor, Forrest Gump, 1994), John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood), Emmy® winner Patton Oswalt (Writing for Variety Special, “Talking for Clapping,” 2016), Glenne Headly (“The Night Of”), and Golden Globe® nominee Bill Paxton (Best Actor, Television – Drama, “Big Love,” 2010) in his final role.

Now you can...

Based on the international best-seller by Dave Eggers, The Circle arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital HD) and DVD August 1 from Lionsgate; with Digital HD on July 18 and On Demand on August 1 from EuropaCorp. Capturing the phenomenon of today’s social media and the consequences of being permanently checked in, the gripping modern thriller is directed and co-written for the screen by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) and Dave Eggers (A Hologram for the King), and features an all-star cast, including Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast), Oscar® winner Tom Hanks (Best Actor, Forrest Gump, 1994), John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood), Emmy® winner Patton Oswalt (Writing for Variety Special, “Talking for Clapping,” 2016), Glenne Headly (“The Night Of”), and Golden Globe® nominee Bill Paxton (Best Actor, Television – Drama, “Big Love,” 2010) in his final role.

When Mae (Watson...

Ingrid Goes West and social media in filmIngrid Goes West and social media in filmAdriana Floridia7/20/2017 12:55:00 Pm

We're living in the age of social media, so it only makes sense that our movies would reflect that too.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more are new factors to consider when writing a screenplay. These new methods of communication and connection are changing how characters in films interact. No longer does it really make sense to have the same "meet-cutes" in romantic comedies when the majority of people are meeting through online dating, and characters now might communicate via text message as opposed to calling each other on the phone. These are all new things to consider in film, as movies should be a reflection of our present day reality, unless they're set in another time period.

Then there are films that use social media as their entire premise,...

Emmy-nominated actress and founding member of the Steppenwolf Theater Company Glenne Headly has passed away at the age of 63. The cause of death is unknown at this time. “It is with deep sorrow that we confirm the passing of Glenne Headly,” said Headly’s reps in a statement. “We ask that her family’s privacy be respected in this difficult time.”

Read More: ‘The Night Of’ Season 2: Riz Ahmed, John Turturro and Steven Zaillian Explain What It Would Take to Make More Seasons

A renowned film, television, and theater actress, Headly starred opposite Warren Beatty in “Dick Tracy” (1990), and earned an Emmy nomination for her work in the television miniseries of Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.” She played Iris Holland opposite Richard Dreyfuss in “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” and flexed strong comedic chops in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” opposite Steve Martin and Michael Caine.

More recently, she starred as the...

I have to assume the novel that The Circle is based on delivers its story in a way that leaves the film adaptation nearly unrecognizable. That, or I have to believe that author Dave Eggers (Away We Go, Promised Land, A Hologram for the King) has completely lost his way. That may seem like a strange statement if you know that Eggers has co-writing credit on the film, along with director James Ponsoldt, but there’s a wide gulf between writing credit and responsibility for the writing.

I make this odd claim because Eggers’ writing has been sharp in the past, and The Circle is a boring, belabored, and insulting spin on a premise that might easily have been one of the year’s best films.

We don’t really need another run at privacy issues, or tech company domination (though that’s what people are scared of these days,...

For AhkeemEstablished in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival has had a bit of trouble defining itself during the course of its 15-year run. It lacks the grit and quirk of SXSW or the finesse of Sundance, but like the latter, it serves a springboard with its own lab for first time directors. Tribeca's ambitious programming has evolved to encompass much more than movies. A Virtual Reality sidebar is innovative and conveniently forward-looking, the television slate, chock full of hotly anticipated premieres, is opportunely adaptive, and the Talks section is fascinating in its pairings, both expected (Noah Baumbach and Dustin Hoffman, whose work together will be showcased at Cannes) and funkily improbable (Barbra Streisand and Robert Rodriguez). There's even a curation of interactive media in the Games section.While the festival is often unfairly maligned, there are many decent offerings, including spillover from the international film festival circuit and a premieres of some more well-known titles,...

Based on the international best-seller by Dave Eggers, The Circle is a thrilling modern morality tale starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, and John Boyega.

As she rises through the ranks of the world’s largest tech and social media company, The Circle, Mae (Watson) is encouraged by company founder Eamon Bailey (Hanks) to live her life with complete transparency. But no one is really safe when everyone is watching.

The Circle is playing in theaters now.

You can win Run of Engagement passes to see The Circle in the St. Louis area.

Just leave a comment below and we’ll send our lucky readers passes good for two people. Good Luck!

No purchase necessary.

Visit the official site: http://thecircle.movie/

John Boyega and Emma Watson star in The Circle Motion Picture Artwork © 2017 Stx Financing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The post Win Run-Of-Engagement Passes To The Circle In St. Louis...

by Eric Blume

Director James Ponsoldt’s film version of the Dave Eggers novel The Circle features big ideas, a pulsating relevance, and ideal casting in its leading actress: so why doesn’t it work?

Eggers’ tale of a typical young American girl (Emma Watson) who gets a job at a Google-like tech company called The Circle, and promotes herself into living a life that’s “transparent” on-camera 24/7, has its finger on the pulse of our current concerns on social media, connectivity, and privacy...

Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. So why did cautionary tech thriller “The Circle” — adapted by lauded writer-director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) and beloved novelist Dave Eggers from his own 2013 bestseller — earn such negative reviews (43 on Metacritic, 17 on Rotten Tomatoes) and bomb at the box office ($9.3 million in 3,163 theaters)?

The movie went wrong in five significant ways.

1. The movie was foreign financed.

“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.

In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...

Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. So why did cautionary tech thriller “The Circle” — adapted by lauded writer-director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) and beloved novelist Dave Eggers from his own 2013 bestseller — earn such negative reviews (43 on Metacritic, 17 on Rotten Tomatoes) and bomb at the box office ($9.3 million in 3,163 theaters)?

The movie went wrong in five significant ways.

1. The movie was foreign financed.

“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.

In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...

This is a big week for the Cinemaholics, as they take to the podcast to review The Circle, directed by James Ponsoldt and based on the book by Dave Eggers. How do Emma Watson and Tom Hanks fare in their first film together? Jon, Will, and Maveryke discuss.

The show kicks off with some talk surrounding the first trailer for Kingsman: The Golden Circle, as well as some movie “newsbites” segmented throughout the episode for your listening pleasure. Finally, we finish up with a few mini reviews for Big Little Lies Season 1, Fargo Season 3, Great News Season 1, Girlboss Season 1, and the Girls series finale.

For more, here are the links to what was discussed this week (your Cinemahomework):

David Fincher Signs On For World War Z 2 With Brad Pitt M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable Sequel Has A Release Date Jeff Goldblum Joins Jurassic World 2 Review of The Circle...

This weekend was the nadir of what has become a bipolar year at the box office, but it comes with an extraordinary, if unsettling sidelight: Mass audience fare is no longer guaranteed, even with top stars and well-known IP.

“How to Be a Latin Lover” (Lionsgate) and “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” (from previously unheralded Great India) ranked second and third, both over $10 million. Those are grosses better than not only Stx’s “The Circle” (which had the benefit of Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, and is based on Dave Eggers’ novel), but are also better than any new release on the same weekend last year. Studios concede the weekend before the new Marvel release in early April, but that’s also an opportunity that two smart distributors recognized.

That left “The Fate of the Furious” (Universal) as the default #1 again. $19 million for a third weekend, and $192 million total, is strong...