Latest in Contenders Los Angeles

Deadline has launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: Los Angeles, featuring the full panels from all 31 buzzy awards-season movies that made up Sunday’s all-day showcase at the DGA Theater. Jennifer Hudson, Kristen Stewart, Javier Bardem, Adam McKay, Lady Gaga, Mahershala Ali, Nicole Kidman, Ben Affleck…

Leave No Traces director Jan P. Matuszynski said that although the Polish population might know about the murder of Grzegorz Przemyk, most didn’t understand the full scope of the operation. Matuszynski and lead actor Tomasz Zietek joined film critic Todd McCarthy to talk about the political drama during Deadline's…

On The Good Boss, Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem reteamed with filmmaker Fernando León de Aranoa to examine “the abuse of power that some people have in their relationships with others,” from the perspective of an abuser. In the Spanish-language dark comedy distributed by Cohen Media Group, Bardem stars as Blanco…

For Elaine Bogan's animated feature film directorial debut, DreamWorks Animation's Spirit Untamed, it seemed like there was a constant bit of kismet at play. "When I was first called and contacted to become part of the Spirit franchise, I jumped out of my car," Bogan told Deadline's Contenders Film: Los Angeles on…

When developing a sequel to the animated hit and Oscar-nominated The Boss Baby, director Tom McGrath drew on his own relationship with his brother, a dynamic that came up as McGrath and producer Jeff Hermann discussed The Boss Baby: Family Business on Sunday at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles awards-season…

Benjamin Cleary said his upcoming film Swan Song originated from his experience of losing three friends and his own existential questions about grief. “When something like that happens, you see the grief emanate out and affect everyone else around you,” Cleary said Sunday during Deadline's Contenders Film: Los Angeles…

CODA writer-director Siân Heder was joined by stars Marlee Matlin and Emilia Jones at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles to discuss the drama, which set a record when Apple paid $25 million-plus to acquire the film after its opening-night premiere at Sundance, “When I watched the original film,” said Heder of the…

Production designer Stefan Dechant and costume designer Mary Zophres said director Joel Coen instructed them to make his film The Tragedy of Macbeth more abstract than a literal adaptation. Zophres and Dechant spoke with Deadline's Justin Kroll at The Contenders Film: Los Angeles event Sunday. "One of the first things…

As with his past features Beginners and 20th Century Women, writer-director Mike Mills focused his latest effort, C'mon C'mon, on family—this time honing in not on his relationship with his father or mother, but instead on that between an adult and a child. “The story, the heart of it came from me having a kid, and…

Red Rocket director and co-screenwriter Sean Baker revealed that Mikey Saber, the always-hustling washed-up porn actor who returns to the Texas hometown that wasn't exactly sorry to see him go, was inspired by real-life adult-film actors he encountered and that he always envisioned as a role for Simon Rex. "My…

Dan Stevens tapped into Cary Grant’s performance in The Philadelphia Story to inform his role as a romance-driven robot in Bleecker Street’s I’m Your Man, Germany’s official entry in the International Feature Oscar race. “That specific movie was a great touchstone for us, [director Maria Schrader] and I loved the idea…

Writer-director Fran Kranz and cast members Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton promised nervous audiences that their school-shooting drama Mass is a hopeful one. They spoke with Deadline's Antonia Blyth at The Contenders Film: Los Angeles event Sunday. "It's about finding a path forward," Kraz…