Movie News

Fresh Off Her Grammys Sweep, Billie Eilish Will Perform at the 2020 Oscars. History in the making. 2020 is off to an amazing start for musician Billie Eilish. After sweeping the 2020 Grammys and breaking record, it was just announced that the musician will now take the stage at the 2020 Oscars next month. "Are you ready?" The Academy wrote in a tweet. "@billieeilish will take to the #Oscars stage for a special performance! Watch live on @ABC." The musician posted the same announcement on her account, and simply captioned it with a smiley face. No doubt that Billie is still reveling in all the excitement of winning five Grammys, and one for Best New Artist no less. She has been non-stop posting about the huge achievement and from the sounds of it, she's absolutely shocked at her huge achievements. "FIVE ARE YOU KIDDING," she captioned a sweet photo of her holding all five of her awards. Safe to say, she's having a great time so far. She'll be sharing their stage with a few other familiar faces who are already announced as performers for the evening. Billie is the second person ever and the first female artist to win all four of the major awards -- Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist -- in the same ceremony. Even more impressive, the last person to do it was Christopher Cross in 1981. Cynthia Erivo, Elton John, Idina Menzel, Chrissy Metz and Randy Newman will be performing this year's nominated songs. Cynthia is nominated for Music (Original Song), and also for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as Harriet Tubman in Harriet. The Academy Awards may be all about film, but we have a feeling people are going to be talking about the musical performances a lot this year! Keep on breaking record and making moves, Billie! (Eonline)

There's a Big Lebowski Sequel Rolling Into Theaters This March. John Turturro's long-awaited sequel to The Big Lebowski has finally gotten a release date. The Jesus Rolls will be released this spring! Months after it was first announced that John Turturro's sequel to The Big Lebowski would be coming out in 2020, a release date has finally been announced for the heavily-anticipated film. The new film -- which had its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival last October -- will arrive at select movie theaters on March 20, and will be released on demand just three days later, according to NME. In addition to reprising his role as Jesus Quintana, the film also stars Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Jon Hamm, Susan Sarandon and Pete Davidson. The story revolves a trio of misfits whose dynamic evolves from being sexually charged into a love story, according to Variety. "It feels like a good time to release a transgressive film about the stupidity of men who try and fail and try better to understand and penetrate the mystery of women," Turturro said in a statement to Variety of the film, which was filmed in 2016 and previously titled Going Places. The new film also has the full support of Joel and Ethan Coen, who were behind the 1998 classic. "They're my friends, close friends, and were supportive when I said I wanna explore this character more," Turturro told The Independent last year. "They said, 'You gotta do it cause we're not doing it!'" While audiences were first introduced to Turturro's character in the 1998 original, the character actually pre-dated the Coen brothers film, with the actor first debuting a version of the character at the Public Theater in New York City. "It was a trilogy of one-acts, and the character I did was based on a person I had met through the writer, someone he knew. There was something kind of disarming about the guy. He had a very gentle voice, a high voice," Turturro previously told Variety. "I've always thought that Jesus was a real full character, and I kind of just did the trailer version in The Big Lebowski to serve this wonderful film," he added, noting that the new film would play homage to the cult classic. "I bowl and I dance in the movie. I figured I had to kind of acknowledge those kinds of things." (People)

'The Lion King' Wins Top Honor at Visual Effects Society Awards. Jon Favreau's movie earned three trophies including the top category for outstanding VFX. Jon Favreau's The Lion King won the Visual Effects Society Awards' top category for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The photoreal retelling of the Disney animated classic -- made using newly-developed virtual production techniques -- bested a field of nominees that also included Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Endgame, Gemini Man and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.. The award went to Robert Legato, Tom Peitzman, Adam Valdez and Andrew R. Jones, and the work was created at VFX house MPC. The Lion King won two additional trophies, for outstanding creating environment and virtual production. The team that won the virtual production trophy included the film's six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Accepting the top prize, Legato saluted the 1600 artists that worked on the movie. Also Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, The Irishman --which this year grabbed attention for its de-aging work and was led by Industrial Light & Magic VFX supervisor Pablo Helman--won trophies for supporting VFX and compositing. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker claimed the award for effects simulations; and Alita: Battle Angel was honored for animated character. Industrial Light & Magic completed the work on The Rise of Skywalker. Weta was behind Alita. The Lion King, The Irishman and The Rise of Skywalker are nominated for the Oscar in visual effects, alongside 1917 and Avengers: Endgame. In five of the last 10 years, the winner of the VES' top category for outstanding VFX went on to win the Oscar in VFX. In 2011, the Oscar went to the winner of VES' supporting VFX category (Hugo). Advances in virtual production were a big topic in VFX this year, largely driven by the techniques used to make The Lion King and Favreau's Star Wars-inspired series The Mandalorian, which also tapped into some of these new techniques, won two trophies during the ceremony including outstanding VFX in a photoreal episode and outstanding model. In the animated feature categories, awards went to Missing Link for outstanding VFX and outstanding character (for Mr. Link); Toy Story 4 won for created environment (antique mall) and Frozen 2 for effects simulations. Along with The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones and Stranger Things won two trophies apiece for short-form work. The award in the new category of special (practical) effects was presented to The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance received the VES trophy for VFX in a special venue project. During the evening Martin Scorsese accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award via video from New York; visual effects supervisor Sheena Duggal received the VES award for creative excellence, which was introduced by Andy Serkis in a videotaped presentation; and Roland Emmerich accepted the VES Visionary Award, presented by Joey King. The Irishman's VFX supervisor Helman presented Scorsese's award. Accepting her award, Duggal--the first woman to receive the creative excellence award--encouraged diversity and said "I feel a duty to hold the door ajar for the next generation of artists coming through." Additional presenters included J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau and Rian Johnson. (Hollywood Reporter)

Roman Polanski Under Fire After He Sweeps 'French Oscar' Nominations: 'Have We Learned Nothing?' Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977 and has been living in exile in France after not finishing his sentencing. The French version of the Oscars is sparking backlash for nominating disgraced director Roman Polanski's latest for a whopping 12 awards. The Cesars announced its nominees, with 86-year-old Polanski's An Officer and a Spy leading the list, including best film and best director. His nominations come 43 years after the director fled the U.S. for France and has lived in exile ever since. Polanski pleaded guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977 after 13-year-old Samantha Geimer accused him of getting her drunk and giving her part of a quaalude. He served 42 days in jail due to a plea bargain, however, he fled to France when ordered to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence. Attempts by the U.S. to extradite him from Europe have been unsuccessful. The case is still ongoing, despite Geimer's requests to have it dismissed. After the nominations were announced, a group dubbed Osez Le Feminisme, which aims to speak up for women's rights in France, tweeted their disappointment. "Have we learned nothing from the #MeToo movement? While in the U.S., [Harvey] Weinstein is facing life in prison, in France, Adele Haenel breaks the code of silence on the impunity of rapists in society, the Cesars acclaim a child abuser and rapist on the run?" the group tweeted. The group is referring to Portrait of a Lady on Fire actress Haenel, who is nominated for best actress at the ceremony. In November, Haenel claimed she suffered "permanent sexual harassment" by Christophe Ruggia from the age of 12 to 15, when she making and promoting her first film The Devils, according to The Guardian. Ruggia was placed under arrest earlier this month by French police as he was being investigated for alleged "sexual aggression against a minor by a person of authority and sexual harassment," Variety reported. The director was later officially charged with "sexual assaults on a 15-year-old minor by a person having authority," according to multiple reports. The director previously denied the allegations, saying in a statement to Mediapart that he and Haenel had enjoyed a "professional and affectionate" relationship. According to The Guardian, Alain Terzian, the head of the academy, dismissed criticism as he felt the awards "should not take moral positions." (People)

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