EXCLUSIVE: Dan Futterman has co-written two scripts on complex, fact-based tales, and both got Oscar nominations. Now, he has found his third. The scribe behind Capote and Foxcatcher has optioned Robert Young Pelton’s Vice News article “The All-American Life and Death of Eric Harroun.” Futterman will write the script…

Controversy.  It seems any Oscar campaign worth its salt has one, at least this year. Best Picture contenders Selma, American Sniper, The Imitation Game and Whiplash all have been tainted with the kind of accusations usually perceived as negative to a campaign. At least three of the five foreign-language film nominees…

This morning's Producers Guild Nominees Awards breakfast at the Saban Theatre was more about congratulations than controversy. But panelist Clint Eastwood said his film American Sniper and other war films —  including his other favorite, Letters from Iwo Jima —  make “the strongest anti-war statement”  in…

For all the sour headlines about comedy never getting the respect it deserves from the Academy, whenever a comedic actor gets serious on screen, and pulls it off with the greatest degree of nuance – voters love it. Seriously, they do. Typically, you'll see a comedian type slipping their way into the best actor Oscar…

Sony Pictures Classics hit an all-time company record this morning, collecting 18 Oscar nominations, outstripping their 2010 high when the label counted 13 nods.  Unlike some other arthouse distributors that have either fallen in love with day-and-date VOD strategies or took their niche titles too wide (only to watch…

The annotated list of Oscar nominations by movie (rankings for 2 or more noms): Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — 9 The Grand Budapest Hotel — 9 The Imitation Game — 8 American Sniper — 6 Boyhood — 6 Foxcatcher — 5 Interstellar — 5 The Theory of Everything — 5 Whiplash — 5 Mr. Turner — 4 Into the Woods…

Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business.  BART: Before we plunge into 2015, it's worth revisiting the Sony Saga one more time to acknowledge that some things will never be…

2ND UPDATE: Last night, Deadline broke news that a Tweet generated under the Warner Bros Digital banner slammed rival Oscar pic Foxcatcher. Initially, Warner Bros disavowed the Tweet as an imposter, which seemed a bit hard to swallow. Now, the studio has gone the extra mile and gotten to the truth. The Twitter thread…

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…

Oscar season is in full swing, but what about offering awards to the unbelievable decades of persistence, ingenuity and overall struggle that went into many of these year-end films? We've come up with our own superlatives to recognize some of our favorite genesis stories. Just don't dress for an actual event. Some of…

Producer Jon Kilik says his association with Foxcatcher began casually, in director Bennett Miller's New York kitchen. The two friends started talking about the tragic real-life story of John DuPont, heir to the DuPont family fortune, who died in prison in 2010 for killing Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. Miller wanted…

In the video clip above, producer-director Bennett Miller talks with Deadline’s Pete Hammond about what attracted him to casting Steve Carell, known for his comic performances in The Office and a number of films, in the dramatic lead role in Foxcatcher as a wealthy eccentric who bankrolls an Olympic wrestling…