Final Draft, Inc., the screenwriting software company, named Birdman best original screenplay and Gone Girl, best adapted screenplay in its 10th Annual Final Draft Awards tonight on the Paramount Studios lot.  Birdman’s win tonight arrives after key wins at the SAG (best ensemble), DGA and PGA awards. While Birdman is…

EXCLUSIVE: First, a short video featuring Big Eyes painter Margaret Keane, and Amy Adams, who plays her in the Tim Burton-directed film scripted by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Below that is an op-ed penned by Margaret, who at 87 is getting her due for all that artwork for which her late ex-husband Walter…

When Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski came across the bizarre story of Walter and Margaret Keane, they thought they’d found a seamless vehicle on which to make their directorial debut. It was cheap, and had all the requisite characteristics of their best known scripts, Ed Wood, Man On The Moon and People Vs. Larry…

Oscar voting opened Monday, and like clockwork, the haters have come calling. As Deadline's Pete Hammond wrote on Monday, ’tis the season for controversy over fact-based awards contenders: Now, Bennett Miller's real-life Olympian tragedy Foxcatcher and Tim Burton's art exposé Big Eyes have joined MLK Jr. drama Selma…

3RD UPDATE, MONDAY, 5:28 PM: Most of the major studios have not reported their Monday actuals, as is customary due to the holidays. Warner Bros, Sony and Relativity are still off this week, which means Rentrak won’t issue a final report until January 5. What we do know, though, is that Disney’s Into The Woods beat…

2ND UPDATE, 10:08 AM: Universal-Legendary's Unbroken is still on track to take No. 1 over the Christmas frame with nearly $15.6M in Thursday grosses, according to the latest studio estimates this morning. But the biggest shift comes from Disney’s Into The Woods. After it had been tops in noon estimates yesterday it…

Director Tim Burton’s latest movie, Big Eyes, is about Walter and Margaret Keane, a story so crazy that it has to be true, and it is. As I say in my video review above, it features terrific turns by Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams, who both <a title="Golden Globes Nominations: 'Birdman', 'Imitation Game' & 'Boyhood'…

EXCLUSIVE: My colleague Mike Fleming Jr has been chronicling in recent days the ongoing flap between the Today show and actress Amy Adams, who was unceremoniously bumped from the show Monday as she was about to do a short interview during the show’s 9 AM hour to promote her new film, Big Eyes. During a special…

With the last-minute brouhaha over The Interview’s play in an estimated 300+ indie engagements,  it would seem that the Christmas Day box office is all about the Sony political comedy and nothing less. While rival studios expressed alarm last week about The Interview’s presence in the market, they’re rather apathetic…

Big Eyes is the story of a husband and a wife, and a defining moment in history where art and commercialism intersected for the first time. Before there was Warhol, there was Margaret and Walter Keane. Walter, a con artist, took credit for the true artist, Margaret’s work for years. As a maniacal salesman, he twisted…

Screenwriting software co. Final Draft will award Big Eyes duo Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski with its 2015 Hall of Fame honors at its annual Final Draft Awards, to be held February 12 on the Paramount lot. Alexander and Karaszewski join a list of previous Hall of Famers including Nancy Meyers, Lawrence Kasdan…

While Tim Burton usually relies on a fictional premise to create the highly visual worlds that backdrop his distinctive movies, he made the fact-based story behind Big Eyes the rare exception. While he’s created a vivid image of Americana and populated the film with actresses bearing the biggest eyes you’ve ever seen…