Latest in The Irishman

EXCLUSIVE: Bleed For This producer Chad A. Verdi is lining up movie biopics of Muhammad Ali Jr. and Lennox Lewis’s former manager Kellie Maloney. Verdi is already in production on two documentaries about the subjects and next year is planning to make the two feature dramas. Verdi, an executive-producer on Martin…

After roaring into the 2020 Oscar show with a company record of 24 nominations, Netflix wound up walking away tonight with only two wins: Laura Dern with Best Supporting Actress for Marriage Story and Best Feature Documentary American Factory. Call it a bad case of deja vu: Netflix charged into this year’s Golden…

UPDATE, writethru: Sam Mendes’ war drama 1917 was the big winner here at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night, scoring Best Film, Outstanding British Film and Director among its seven prizes. BAFTA is the last major body to hand out trophies before next Sunday’s Oscars and the Universal/Amblin/DreamWorks pic found a…

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar conversations around town bring differing opinions about what might win in an exceptional year for auteur cinema. It was surprising how many people add: boy would it be nice to see Martin Scorsese get an Oscar for his final mob epic, The Irishman. Sure he won for The Departed, but he got robbed on Taxi…

Disney’s The Lion King ruled the 18th annual VES Awards, winning a pack-leading three trophies including the marquee Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature during Wednesday night’s ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. The Jon Favreau-directed “live action” remake of the toon classic also took the hardware for…

One surprising thing about The Irishman is director Martin Scorsese's unusual push to use CGI to transform his cast of illustrious actors –  gentlemen of a certain age – into younger-looking versions of themselves, rejecting calls from Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci to take an easier path and just add some…

EXCLUSIVE: Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating adaptation of Charles Brandt’s 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses, later retitled The Irishman for the film, has been a fixture this awards season, and now you can watch the first table read for the project from nearly seven years ago. Check it out above. It is fascinating…

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said Tuesday that the streamer's army of nominations and awards — flowing freely this season — is a magnet for top talent and an insurance policy of sorts to attract A-listers in a cycle of prestige content to keep and attract viewers. Every nod and statuette furthers the…

On Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, VFX Supervisor Pablo Helman faced the "astronomical" challenge of de-aging Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for a gangster epic that jumped back and forth in time, developing groundbreaking software and a three-part camera rig through which the team at ILM could pull the job…

Oscar nominations continue to make a difference at the box office, and the box office continues to be important to Oscar contenders. At a time when prestigious, financially risky award bets are often destined to Netflix, nothing beats having that extra exhilaration from great ticket sales, as studios vie to raise the…

As one Oscar strategist who definitely has a dog in this hunt emailed me Sunday night after the SAG Awards show, “Now we’re having us some fun.” Indeed. What an interesting weekend as far as the Oscar race goes. With three key guilds weighing in, the verdict on momentum is mixed, but it is clear two films — 1917 and Pa…

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit. With Monday’s Oscar nominations in the rear view mirror now, and the nominees lunch just a week away, this shortened season is getting shorter and shorter. In fact, it feels like it is moving like a freight train now with one guild show after another…