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‘Hollywood is a Hellish Landscape’

Produced by Miramax and Outerbanks Entertainment, ‘The Exorcism’ will be released in India by PVR Pictures…reports Akshay Acharya

Actor-director-writer Joshua John Miller has described Hollywood as a “hellish landscape.”

Reflecting on his past experiences, he recalled working with a studio head many years ago who would “torture” him and his co-writer daily.

Joshua, who is gearing up for his upcoming horror film ‘The Exorcism’, spoke with IANS and shared that such toxicity can really harm an artist and their creative process. He emphasised on teaming up with people who elevate the creative process instead of making it a living hell.

The director told: “Making a film in Hollywood is an incredibly hellish landscape. I have had a very bad experience with the studio system of Hollywood prior to making this film (‘The Exorcism’). My co-writer and I from the prior project toiled through the experience, and there was this very demonic person, the head of the studio, who really tortured us.”

He said that each day, the studio head would send them threatening letters, calls, and intimidating acts.

“I really thought I was living in a horror movie. I would say, I saw the devil in that person, as it happened many years ago. As a creative person, you have a vision, and you have to surround yourself with people who share that vision and enhance your creative process,” he continued.

Joshua also said that a movie has “many lives” during the course of its making.

The director told: “What I mean by that is that a movie goes through a different set of eyes and perspectives during the course of its making. It starts with the writer and how they envision the story, then comes the director, who streamlines the narrative with their casting choices and their directorial choices.”

He added, “The creative experts decide on the look and feel of the movie, the editor views the story through a different lens and stitches it together, a music composer shapes the film musically. Every person involved in the movie-making process views the film differently each time because a new edit always comes with a new context.”

Produced by Miramax and Outerbanks Entertainment, ‘The Exorcism’ will be released in India by PVR Pictures.

ALSO READ-Hollywood snubbed in Saudi Arabia as local films dominate

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-Top News Arab News Saudi Arabia

Hollywood snubbed in Saudi Arabia as local films dominate

‘Sattar’ indicates a somewhat concerning trend in Hollywood that, for a considerable period, had been dominating the cinemas in the Middle East…reports Asian Lite News

In a surprising turn of events for Hollywood, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now begun snubbing the industry as local language movies begin to dominate the market in Riyadh.

‘Avatar 2: The Way of Water’ which is one of the biggest films ever made, earning over $2.4 billion at the global box office, and did quite well in KSA was knocked off quite unexpectedly by a local Saudi Arabian film called ‘Sattar’.

The movie is a family comedy drama movie which follows the life of a depressed man who follows his dreams of becoming a freestyle wrestling champion.

Avatar

According to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, The film — which had bowed at the Red Sea Film Festival just a month earlier (and where, ironically, the subject of Saudi films not performing had been a talking point) — smashed box office records, earning $2.2 million over its first 12 days, instantly making it the highest-grossing Saudi movie of all time. Granted, the local film industry literally didn’t exist just a few years ago and cinemas only opened in early 2018, but still — history was made.”

Made by the Kuwait based director Abdullah Al Arak, the movie was led by the popular Saudi Arabian comedian Ibrahim Al Hajjaj, and managed to knock off ‘Avatar 2’ off the Saudi Arabian box office by more than 40% in terms of admissions. Gaining a lot of traction through word of mouth alone, as well as being promoted by local producers, the movie slipped just 11% in its second week.

‘Sattar’ marks a somewhat worrisome trend in Hollywood which for several years was dominating the cinemas in the Middle East ranging from countries such as UAE, Kuwait, KSA, Oman, Bahrain and Israel.

‘Oppenheimer’ performed well in Saudi Arabia though the censors did cut out a few scenes in KSA theatres, and another worrisome trend for Hollywood is that much of its recent content concerns LGBTQ+ themes, which KSA among other countries has banned, leading to massive loss in revenue for Hollywood in the country.

Surprisingly Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ wasn’t banned in the country and will hit KSA theatres on August 31, 2023 after the country’s censor board makes its few changes.

ALSO READ: Saudi all set to become a global biotech hub

ALSO READ: Hollywood faces historic industrywide strike

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-Top News USA

Hollywood faces historic industrywide strike

The union said it has instructed “all SAG-AFTRA members to cease rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts.”…reports Asian Lite News

Hollywood’s largest union representing about 160,000 actors and workers in television and film announced a strike on Thursday, leading to the first industry-wide shutdown of the U.S. entertainment industry in more than six decades.

The national board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted unanimously to go on strike, said the union at a news conference.

The strike is set to go into effect at Thursday midnight and picketing will start on Friday morning, according to the union.

“It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads, but we have no choice,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, noting that members of the union “are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”

The union said it has instructed “all SAG-AFTRA members to cease rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts.”

“After more than four weeks of negotiations, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the entity that represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros Discovery, remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on the key issues that you told us are important to you,” said Drescher and the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland earlier Thursday morning.

“Though we’ve engaged in negotiations in good faith and remained eager to reach a deal that sufficiently addressed performer concerns, the AMPTP’s responses to our proposals have not been adequate,” they noted.

In a press release, the AMPTP said, “A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life.”

“Member companies entered the negotiations with SAG-AFTRA with the goal of forging a new, mutually beneficial contract,” said the AMPTP, adding that it “presented a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger, one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood, told CNBC ahead of SAG-AFTRA’s announcement on Thursday morning that the unions are not being “realistic” in their demands.

“It will have a very, very damaging effect on the whole business,” Iger was quoted as saying.

“And unfortunately there’s huge collateral damage to the industry…It will affect the economy of different regions, even, because of the sheer size of the business,” he noted.

It’s the first time that Hollywood witnessed two industry-wide strikes at the same time since 1960 and is also the first actors’ strike since 1980. The SAG-AFTRA strike came two months after the start of an ongoing strike of the Writers Guild of America and its 11,500 members in May, which has brought Hollywood production on many new projects to a halt.

The strike made headline news in the country.

The Los Angeles Times, the biggest newspaper on U.S. West Coast, reported that the strike will widen “the scope of labor unrest in an entertainment industry that is already facing numerous headwinds.”

Another major U.S. newspaper, The New York Times, noted that the move will bring “the 134-billion-U.S. dollar American movie and television business to a halt over anger about pay and fears of a tech-dominated future.”

It marks the first time in 63 years that both writers and actors have been on strike to fight for better pay and working conditions.

“See you on the picket lines until fair contracts are reached,” the Writers Guild of America tweeted on Thursday. “We’re making history while fighting for the future.” 

ALSO READ-RMT announces strikes on Underground later this month

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Crime Hollywood

Amber Heard breaks down in tears during testimony

Heard is defending herself in a $50 million defamation trial. Depp has accused her of fabricating her domestic violence allegations to advance her career….reports Asian Lite News

Hollywood actress Amber Heard broke down as she told a jury that her former husband and actor Johnny Depp had sexually assaulted her with a bottle during a fight in Australia.

According to ‘Variety’, Heard took the stand for the second day on Thursday, as she continued to recount a series of violent incidents that marked their relationship.

She said the fight in Australia during filming of the fifth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film in March 2015 was prompted by Depp’s jealousy and her concern about his drug use.

She said Depp had repeatedly hit her, threw bottles at her and choked her against a refrigerator, before finally getting her on top of a countertop and penetrating her with a bottle.

“I remember just not wanting to move,” ‘Variety’ quoted the actress as saying.

She said she remembered thinking: “Please, God, I hope it’s not broken.”

She said Depp repeatedly said: “I’ll f***ing kill you.”

Heard is defending herself in a $50 million defamation trial. Depp has accused her of fabricating her domestic violence allegations to advance her career.

His lawsuit alleges that he lost out on the sixth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film and other movie roles after Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in a December 2018 op-ed.

Heard began her testimony on Wednesday afternoon, recounting how she first met Depp and fell in love with him.

But she said she also discovered that Depp could become extremely jealous, especially when drunk or high, and fly into rages.

On Thursday, she told the jury about a flight on a private jet in May 2014, when she claimed that Depp slapped her and then kicked her to the floor.

She also told the jury of other violent episodes, in Tokyo, and on Depp’s private island in the Bahamas. She said Depp could be verbally cruel, calling her a “wh***”, a “s**t” and a “fat a**”.

Depp has denied ever assaulting Heard. He already told the jury his own version of events surrounding the Australia fight, alleging that she severed his fingertip when she threw a bottle at him.

Heard has previously testified about these incidents during a trial in the UK, but the details of the alleged sexual assault were kept confidential in that proceeding.

In her testimony on Thursday, Heard also said she ended up with cuts on her arms and feet from the broken glass.

She said, at one point, Depp had held a broken bottle to her jaw, and threatened to “carve up my face”.

She said the next morning she found a series of messages that Depp had written on the walls in his own blood and in paint.

Heard also told the jury about a fight in December 2015, when she said that Depp dragged her by the hair up the stairs. He said the two got into a shoving match, and that Depp head-butted her squarely in the nose.

She said she instantly felt searing pain in her nose.

Depp previously testified that he was trying to restrain Heard from hitting him by putting her in a bear hug, and the contact was incidental.

Later that night, Heard said that she told Depp that she was going to leave him.

She said that Depp dragged her into another room, threw her on a bed, and kneeled on her back.

She said he repeatedly punched her, and screamed in her ear: “I fucking hate you!a She said she could not breathe.

“I thought, ‘This is how I die’,” she said.

“He’s going to kill me now. He’s going to kill me, and he won’t even have realised it.”

The trial will take a one-week break before testimony resumes on May 16, when Heard will return to the stand. She is yet to complete her direct testimony, and Depp’s lawyers will then have the opportunity to cross-examine her.

Judge Penney Azcarate told the jury that closing arguments are set for May 27.

ALSO READ: Biden names Indian American to body that monitors spies

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Celebrity Events Hollywood

Ariana DeBose wins Best Actress in a Supporting role

American actress-singer Ariana DeBose won the Oscars for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in the remake of the musical “West Side Story” directed by Steven Spielberg…reports Asian Lite News

She played the role of Anita, the girlfriend of Sharks gang leader Bernardo, and sings the famous number “America”.

In the original film Anita was played by Rita Moreno, who also won an Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress for the role in 1962. With this Ariana became the only openly queer woman to win an Oscar and the second Latina actor to bag the coveted statuette.

DeBose joined Jennifer Lawrence as the only actors born in the 90s to have won an Oscar to their credit.

ALSO READ: CODA scripts history at Oscars

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Events Films Hollywood

Oscars 2022: Will Smith slaps Jade Rock for joke on Jada

Hollywood star Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped comic artiste Chris Rock over his humorous remark on Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith…reports Asian Lite News

Everyone at the Dolby Theater was in for a shock when Hollywood star Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped comic artiste Chris Rock over his humorous remark on Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

The incident took place when Chris was on the stage to present the Oscars for the Best Documentary category.

Chris started his gig with a few jokes about the audience members, including Pinkett Smith, referring to her as “G.I. Jane” due to her closely cropped hair, Pinkett Smith has spoken in the past about her battle with alopecia.

Moments after the joke, Smith walked to the stage and smacked Rock across the face; however, it was not sure if he connected well. It was unclear if the assault was a planned bit.

The uncensored footage of the show had Rock saying, “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me,” as Smith was on his way to his chair. “Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke.”

ALSO READ: Will Smith reveals his ‘terrifying’ moment

Will got back to his seat and shouted at Rock saying, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth”.

Sean “Diddya Combs, who came on stage a few moments later, said, “I did not know that this year would be the most exciting Oscar ever. Will and Chris, we’re gonna solve that like family at the goal party right now we’re moving on with love.”

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Bollywood Lite Blogs

Black Adam to be released in July 29

Rock is the intimate name for Dwayne Johnson by which he widely known to us. Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson has announced the release date of his highly anticipated film “Black Adam” on Instagram.

The 48-year-old actor posted a video of the film on Monday (according to India time) to make the announcement from Times Square in the city.

“Disruptive and unstoppable global force of a message from the man in black himself BLACK ADAM is coming July 29, 2022. The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change,” he captioned the video.

Also Read-John Abraham’s ‘Attack’ to release in Aug

Hours prior to the announcement, Johnson had shared a brief video about Black Adam’s origin story as a part of the DC comics, and will now be a part of the DC cinematic universe as well.

“Word on the street is that Black Adam, himself is making an announcement today. Let’s see what he has in store as the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change. Stay tuned,” he had captioned the video.

Production on “Black Adam” is scheduled to kick off in April in Atlanta, Georgia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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