In the wake of the studio's computer hack, and controversy over "The Interview," the co-chair of Sony Pictures will become a producer; Dick Cavett plays himself in a stage play (pictured) that recounts a famous literary feud; "Wild Tales" director Damián Szifrón's film is Argentina's entry in the Academy Awards foreign language film category.
Dick Cavett portrays himself in new play about two women who 'hated each other's guts'
To understand the new play "Hellman v. McCarthy," you have to go back to 1979, when literary critic Mary McCarthy appeared on a popular TV talk show and inadvertently insulted author Lillian Hellman. What ensued was a legal battle and a nasty feud between the two successful women.
And it all started on "The Dick Cavett Show."
"Let's just say they were two great ladies of literature... rather brilliant in both cases, and hated each other's guts," says Cavett. "I think they had shared certain men... they were jealous of each other's praises."
Venerable talk show Cavett was asked to play himself in a new play that chronicles the beef between the two women. At first, Cavett had his doubts about turning the story into a stage show. "It sounded silly to me and I couldn't imagine how you'd get a play out of it," he says. But the bizarre details of the story weren't lost on Cavett. "Brian Mori, who wrote the play, was probably not the only person who saw there was a drama there. But he's the one who succeeded."
Cavett, the man who sat down with Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Orson Welles among many other greats, says he's a fan of at least a couple of contemporary talk shows.
"It does seem to me that most talk segments are seven minutes long and brilliantly handled if done by Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, who can get wit and information out at the same time," Cavett says. "I wouldn't know how to do that."
Listen to the extra audio below to hear Dick Cavett talk about another great literary feud that played out on his show, with Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal and literary critic Janet Flanner of The New Yorker.
"Hellman v. McCarthy" runs Feb. 6-28 at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills and March 1 at the Saban Theater.
Oscars 2015: Foreign film nominee 'Wild Tales' is six movies in one
"Wild Tales," from Argentinian filmmaker Damián Szifrón, might be one of the most unusual movies to be nominated for an Oscar. Consisting of six short movies, "Wild Tales" creates a world in which the superego doesn't exist — if characters get mad about something, they'll sure as hell do something about it. And, as you might guess, things get pretty explosive pretty fast.
"Wild Tales" has made the festival rounds and been released abroad. It's the most successful movie ever in Argentina, save for "Titanic." On February 20th it will finally be released in U.S. theaters.
When Szifrón joined us on The Frame, we talked about the writing process behind "Wild Tales," the place of humor in his family's history, and what it was like to work with Pedro Almodóvar.
Interview Highlights:
The movie is called "Wild Tales" because this is an anthology of six different stories, most of which have something to do with getting even. Would you say that these stories have a similar narrative idea?
I think there's a theme that runs through all the stories, and for me it's the pleasure of reaction, the pleasure of losing control. It's about revenge, of course, but what these characters really do is that they react to injustice or abuse of power in a way that we all wish we could, but never do; we always repress ourselves. But these characters truly cross the lines.
And the Hollywood version of those stories would be that these characters cross the line and they have some comeuppance, or they face the consequences of some judgment. But you're not very interested in those judgments, are you?
[laughs] No, no, no. I let them free. They're looking for freedom, and some of them find it. Some of these stories end in a very catastrophic way, but the humor is always there.
The first film involves people who are on a plane, and you talk about catastrophe — I'm not going to [divulge] anything that happens, but it sets the tone for the overall experience of the film. When you're figuring out how you're going to put these six stories together, were you inclined to lead with that as your first film because it set the tone? Or were you always tinkering with the sequence?
Actually, the short stories are in the film in the exact order in which I wrote them. The first one is the shortest; it's very powerful, it works as an overture and sets the tone for the rest of the film. And the last one is the longest and presents truly major changes in the main characters. They truly go full-circle.
This is one involving a wedding gone horribly wrong.
It's about a bride who discovers, during her own wedding party, that her husband is cheating on her with another guest at the party. But I won't tell what she does after that.
[laughs] Let's just say that it doesn't end in a small argument. You say that these are the order in which you wrote them. What was your writing process like?
I wrote more, and honestly this film was an accident. I didn't want to make this film. I was trying to make other films. I was writing a science-fiction trilogy, and a Western in English, and a romantic comedy. It was a very creative period of time, and to stop the new ideas from becoming more feature films, I tried to compress them.
As a result, I ended up with these powerful short stories and I didn't know what to do with them. But when I wrote the third or fourth of these, I knew they were all connected and they all came from the same DNA. At that point I said, Okay, perhaps there's a film here.
Was part of that DNA the frustration you were feeling about not getting these other movies made? There's a certain amount of anger and hostility that goes through these films.
[laughs] I might agree with that, yes. And in a way, at a certain point you feel like a slave to your own projects, because you have to dream the same dream for months, even for years. I was working with all these characters and universes, and I couldn't finish them and they kept on growing and growing.
But suddenly these short films made me feel like a musician or a painter. They just wake up one morning, they're inspired by something, they create something, and that's it. Then they go on to the next song, the next picture.
This film's very definitively a black comedy, and it's a genre that's not very popular in the United States. Is it popular in Argentina?
No, no, no, it's not that popular. It's not that I chose the genre. I think that the humor and the comedy are consequences of the reactions of these characters. At the beginning, all the stories are dramas, but the ability to turn drama into comedy is something that I can do. I don't know why, but it's something that comes naturally.
Sometimes I think it's because of my genes — my grandparents were in the concentration camps, so I think humor might be a way to survive. I don't know, but they were funny and a lot of people in my family are very funny.
They wanted to go to Israel but there was no place in the boat, so they came to South America. At first they tried to go to Brazil but they weren't let in, and Argentina let them in. I have to say that Argentina also received a lot of Nazis. So, lots of Jews, lots of Nazis. Yes.
That's black comedy right there.
We have that contradiction, absolutely.
This is a co-production between Argentina and Spain. It's Argentina's official submission to the Oscars, and yet there's a Spanish filmmaker who's a producer on your film. Can you tell us a little bit about your collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's one of the producers on the film. As you said, it's a co-production between Argentina and Spain — 70% Argentina, 30% Spain — and Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar, his brother and longtime producer, saw one of my previous movies in Spain in 2006.
When they left the theater they called to tell me that they loved the film, and they wanted to know what I was going to do next. Agustín came to Argentina and we went to dinner, talked about the films we love and films we want to make, and as soon as I decided on this project I sent the script to them. Two days after they read it, they were immediately on board.
Had you watched a lot of Pedro's movies growing up?
Yes, of course, yes.
A little bit influenced by "Woman on the Verge?"
[laughs] At a certain point I said that this film could be called, "People on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."
The idea of an anthology — or a movie that's made up of six different stories that don't have the same actors or characters — is kind of foreign to the United States, and I'd suspect it's a little bit foreign to Argentina. Were there any producers or studio people who said, "Try to make this one movie with one story"?
Actually, the producers encouraged me to make this film. I wanted to do the other ones, but as soon as they read this they said, "This is ready to go, it's very fresh, and you're telling a lot of deep stuff in a really entertaining way.
"Wild Tales" opens in theaters on February 20.
Amy Pascal steps down as Sony co-chair 3 months after massive hack
Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal will leave her post as studio head to start her own production company, the studio announced today. Pascal will move into her new venture in May.
The move comes just three months after a massive hack of Sony's email system that revealed embarrassing correspondence between Pascal and other executives, film directors and movie stars.
Pascal will not be leaving Sony, according to the official press release. Instead, a four-year agreement stipulates that Sony Pictures Entertainment will finance Pascal’s company and retain all distribution rights worldwide to films financed. Her new company will focus on movies, television and theater, and will be located on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City.
“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” said Pascal in a statement. “I have always wanted to be a producer."
Pascal is one of the most powerful women in Hollywood and the force behind such critical and commercial hits as "The Social Network" and "American Hustle." Her career with Sony has spanned nearly 20 years.
During the hack, which authorities traced to North Korea, Pascal came under fire for racist remarks about President Obama's presumed choice in movies that surfaced in leaked emails. She apologized for "insensitive and inappropriate" comments in her emails that she called "not an accurate reflection of who I am."
But the hack might have been just the final nail in the coffin. For years, Sony has struggled to match rival studios in creating global franchises, while Pascal has clung to fading stars such as Adam Sandler and Will Smith, who starred in the disastrous “After Earth” for Sony. The studio’s upcoming summer slate also looks anemic compared to the rest of its Hollywood competition.
Pascal also faced criticism for green-lighting the film that may have inspired the hacking to begin with: "The Interview," which starred Seth Rogen and James Franco as bumbling journalists tasked with killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"The studio's legacy is due in large part to Amy's passion for storytelling and love of this industry," said Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton in a statement. "I am delighted that Amy will be continuing her association with SPE through this new venture, which capitalizes on her extraordinary talents. In recent months, SPE faced some unprecedented challenges, and I am grateful forAmy's resilience and grace during this period."
Since Pascal has led the studio, Sony Pictures has amassed more than $46 billion in global theatrical box office revenue and 315 academy award nominations. Some of the films Pascal shepherded include the last three James Bond films, "The Da Vinci Code," ''Adaptation," ''Eat Pray Love," ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," ''Moneyball," and "Zero Dark Thirty."
This story has been updated.