BY STAFF
Film director Tim Burton has been inducted into France’s cultural honor roll by being giving the honor of an officer in France’s National Order of Arts and Letters. The ceremony took place in Paris and was led by Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand. Burton says has always loved France and has always felt a special [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
South By Southwest got the better of me.
Horror stories about long lines at film festival venues circulated through the masses on Sunday. Organizers were doing their best to accommodate, though. A second screening of the anticipated “The People vs. George Lucas” reportedly was added to so that all of the people who [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
“I still don’t think I’m that comedic in this film,” Chloe Sevigny said with a laugh.
That’s not exactly what you want to hear from the star of a comedy. But Sevigny, in all honesty, might be the sixth or seventh funniest person in the all-star “Barry Munday” ensemble, which includes Judy Greer, [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
Jonah Hill thinks he’s typecast.
Talking to a handful of film writers at South By Southwest on Sunday, Hill said casual moviegoers probably only know him from his boisterous, foul-mouthed role in the teen comedy “Superbad.” And he’s OK with that, but it’s a thin slice of the career he’d like to have. [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
You could spend an entire day walking Austin’s riverside. Wide hammocks are set up at regular intervals, inviting you to plop down and snooze in the sunlight. More motivated people are pushing kayaks into the water for a row, or renting bicycles that look just like the one Pee Wee Herman rode in [...]

Joy Behar, Cynthia Nixon and the ABC drama series “Brothers & Sisters” are among this year’s recipients of media awards from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Presented Saturday in New York, winners of the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards also include the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the [...]

BY TODD GILCHRIST
On Friday night, while the streets of Austin teemed with carousing co-eds and festival attendees, Robert Rodriguez hosted an exclusive screening of footage from his upcoming production of Predators, a reimagining-cum-sequel to the 1987 action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The director, who was enlisted by Fox 2000 to produce a new film to [...]

BY TODD GILCHRIST
Matt Reeves talks about find the right way to ‘Let Me In.’ At a panel entitled Directing the Dead: Horror Directors Spill Their Guts, Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) offered a few insights about the process of making “Let Me In,” his remake of the acclaimed Norwegian horror film Let the Right One In. He [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
Edward Norton stars alongside Keri Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon and … well, Edward Norton in Tim Blake Nelson’s “Leaves of Grass,” a twisty concoction of drug comedy and true-crime dramatics that blows the lid off of the drug-trading practices of Oklahoma’s Jewish community. As if you expected anything streamlined from Nelson, director [...]

BY TODD GILCHRIST
During a South By Southwest panel about the future of horror filmmaking, Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer confessed that he would have loved for his acclaimed 2009 debut to have been in 3-D. “When I look at Zombieland and I think about some of the cool shots that I’m proud of in the movie, [...]

BY TODD GILCHRIST
Saturday morning during a press conference for Predators in Austin, TX, multi-hyphenate moviemaker Robert Rodriguez announced that he has plans for a new installment in his acclaimed, commercially successful family film series Spy Kids. “I’m actually doing another Spy Kids for The Weinsteins,” he said to members of the press. “That is a [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
First, the bad news. My 30 minute layover between flight connections yesterday turned into a 9 hour endurance test, which ensured that my South By Southwest experience stalled in Atlanta instead of Austin. Many of you know this. Thanks for the sympathy tweets.
I missed “Kick-Ass.” I missed “Leaves of Grass.” I missed [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
Somebody is trying to tell me something.
As you read, my laptop fried yesterday. But I trudged on, with the annual South By Southwest Film Festival in my sights.
I’m still waiting to get there. [follow Sean’s travel odyssey on TWITTER.COM/HOLLYWOODNEWS minute by minute.
Because Delta arrived in ATL nearly 30 minutes after we [...]

BY SEAN O’CONNELL
We all have computer horror stories, where laptops die at the worst possible time. Here’s my latest.
Roughly 24 hours before I’m due to board a plane for Austin to cover my first South By Southwest Film Festival, an annual Mecca for lovers of film, music and interactive technologies, when my own modest [...]

It is no longer news that Mauro Fiore, ASC took home an Oscar for his artful rendering of live-action images in Avatar. But, the reality is that cinematography tends to fly under the radar at the Academy Awards. Maybe it’s because none of the nominees was wearing a posh evening gown adorned with [...]

BY LINELLE SCHULTZ
The suspense is finally over as we come to a close to the awards season. Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” has taken home the coveted Best Picture prize beating out rival “Avatar.” Bigelow also took home the Best Director award, beating out ex-husband James Cameron to become the first female in Oscar history [...]

BY TODD GILCHRIST
As the minutes tick away until Sunday evening when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its awards, credentialed reporters and armchair experts alike continue to prognosticate and pick what films and filmmakers will come away as winners. While this is commonplace every year, 2010 is unique in that it’s [...]

By ROBERT W. WELKOS
“The Hurt Locker” vs. “Avatar.”
Bullock vs. Streep.
Cameron vs. Bigelow.
If this sounds like matchups at a sporting event, well, the Academy Awards is all that and then some. Who was it who said the Oscars are women’s Super Bowl?
Well, a lot of men will be watching, too, on Sunday night when [...]

BY STAFF
Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, handed out top honors to Precious and Crazy Heart at this evening’s 25th Spirit Awards. (500) Days of Summer, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, An Education, Humpday, The Messenger, and A Serious Man also received awards at [...]

It has come to the attention that many of the top celebrities are not Oscar voters. Those included are Taylor Lautner, Woody Allen, George Lucas, Rupert Murdoch, Pedro Almodovar, and Sascha Baron Cohen among others. Even top heads of studios are missing from the list such as NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker. Invitations to join [...]

Oprah has admitted that her dream date would be to take Gabourey Sidibe to the Oscars. Sidibe will be bringing her mom along her side to the big awards show but Oprah would love to be in her spot. Sidibe stated, “Oprah called me and was like, ‘Hey girl, do you want to ride together?’ [...]

Wolfgang Puck is going to be providing the food for 1,600 guests who will attend the post-Oscar Governors Ball for the 16th year. The Governors Ball is where all the nominees where will be including George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Quentin Tarantino, and Meryl Streep. Puck has employed nearly 1,000 people including 300 chefs to work [...]

When the Academy Awards are handed out Sunday night in Hollywood, Bob Yari will be watching the star-studded show like millions of other movie buffs around the world.
“I love watching great films get their due,” Yari said.
But so much has changed for Yari since 2006, when “Crash,” a film about race relations in Los Angeles [...]

In this week’s installment of “The Feinberg Feed,” Scott revisits the debate about the expansion of the best picture category from five nominees to ten nominees. He says that time has proven that there are not only more than five films worthy of a best picture nomination this year (many contended there would not be), [...]

Current Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon, Anna Kendrick, Carey Mulligan and Quentin Tarantino will present on the 82nd Academy Awards, telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman announced today.
Bridges received his fifth Oscar nomination for his lead performance in “Crazy Heart.” He previously earned a nomination for his leading role in “Starman” [...]

Past Oscar winners Kathy Bates, Barbara Streisand and Charlize Theron will join former Oscar nominees Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah and John Travolta as presenters at the 82nd Academy Awards®, telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today. Collectively the group has earned 16 nominations and won four Academy Awards.
Bates won [...]

Jess Cagle, Kathy Ireland and Sherri Shepherd will serve as hosts for the 82nd Academy Awards® pre-show “Oscars Red Carpet… 2010,” telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today. This will be Ireland’s and Shepherd’s first time hosting the Oscar® pre-show and Cagle’s second consecutive year as a host.
Cagle became the managing editor of [...]

In this week’s installment of “The Feinberg Feed,” Scott locks in and explains his final Oscar projections for all six major categories: best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress.
Does he side with “Avatar” or “The Hurt Locker”? Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) or Meryl Streep (“Julie & [...]

“Avatar” dominated the Visual Effect Society Awards last night taking home 6 awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture, Best Single Visual Effect of the Year, and Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture among others. James Cameron was honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award [...]

Christian Berger, AAC, Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC and Eagle Egilsson claimed top honors in the three competitive categories at the 24th Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration here tonight at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.
Berger won the feature film competition for The White Ribbon. Egilsson earned top accolades in the [...]