Latest in The Contenders Los Angeles

"We have two living Popes for the first time in 500 years, and they don't agree on anything and both are meant to be infallible, and I thought, that's an interesting kind of situation," said screenwriter Anthony McCarten of the inspiration behind The Two Popes, a behind-the-scenes imagined drama about the now resigned…

When it came to discussing the making of one of the year’s biggest sleeper prestige-film hits The Peanut Butter Falcon, writer-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, and star Shia LaBeouf couldn’t help but focus on Zack Gottsagen. The young actor, who has Down syndrome, plays the centerpiece role of Zak, a…

The evocative power of music is considered essential across the breadth of contemporary Hollywood filmmaking, but it may be most vital and potent in animation. The challenges of composing for the medium was front and center during the DreamWorks Animation panel at the recent The Contenders Los Angeles, which…

For anyone who has gone through the pain of a family member who has weathered substance or alcohol abuse, or even the roller-coaster ride of being a child actor, Alma Har’el’s feature take on Shia LaBeouf’s childhood, Honey Boy, is a cathartic experience. LaBeouf was spurred to write the story when he was in…

"I had known about her since I was little," Harriet star Cynthia Erivo said of the iconic Underground Railroad hero Harriet Tubman. "I felt like she was a superhero to me and I wanted to make sure the world saw her as a human being and a woman," added the British-born Tony and Grammy winner. In our discussion about…

Missing Link represents an evolutionary moment for Laika Studios, the stop-motion specialist based in Oregon and the source of meticulous masterpieces such as Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012). Those two previous hits centered on youngsters in supernatural situations, but with Missing Link the studio broke from…

Much has been discussed of the de-aging of characters in The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s mob epic starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci that spans three decades in the life of hitman Frank Sheeran. It seems like the technology has paid off, certainly in critics’ eyes: the Netflix pic has already won Best…

Mihai Malaimare Jr, the cinematographer of Taika Waititi’s World War II movie Jojo Rabbit, said onstage at Deadline’s The Contenders Los Angeles awards-season event that he didn’t see the film as a comedy when he first began the offbeat project. “I think he’s using comedy for a bigger purpose,” said Malaimare, who has…

Director Dexter Fletcher and star Taron Egerton reflected on their hit musical movie Rocketman, their non-biopic biopic of Elton John, in front of a packed room at Deadline’s The Contenders Los Angeles awards-season event. The Paramount movie, which has grossed $195.2 million at the worldwide box office, traces the…

As part of Focus Features’ presentation recently at Deadline’s The Contenders Los Angeles, the DGA Theater crowd packed with Academy and key guild voters felt a collective chill down its spine as the plot of Dark Waters was explained not only by producer and star Mark Ruffalo and director Todd Haynes, but also by the…

Director-writer Lulu Wang and star Awkwafina shared stories of the making of The Farewell, their indie hit for A24, when they participated in Deadline’s ninth annual The Contenders Los Angeles all-day event at the DGA Theater in Hollywood last month. In front of a packed house of Academy and key guild voters, Wang…

In the Polish film Corpus Christi, Bartosz Bielenia plays Daniel, a 20-year-old freshly out of a juvenile detention center who goes to a village and impersonates a priest — and the townspeople buy it. The story may seem far-fetched, but it’s actually inspired by true events: Daniel experiences a spiritual…