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Mark your calendars, Oscars fans, because the 97th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 2, 2025 on ABC. The annual star-studded ceremony will honor movies released in theaters within the 2024 calendar year of eligibility. AMPAS members will vote on the Oscar winners in 23 categories, including Best Original Screenplay. But who will win? Here at Gold Derby, thousands of users have been making and updating their 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Original Screenplay, so let’s take a look at all of the top contenders in our photo gallery below.

These 25 Best Original Screenplay hopefuls are listed in order of their racetrack odds, which are derived from the combined forecasts of four unique groups: experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round for this website, top 24 users who had the best accuracy scores last year, and the mass of users who make up our biggest predictions bloc.

The...

“Is the sperm still in there?” That’s a question for the ages, but in the case of Luca Guadagnino’s new film, “Queer,” it’s apt in more ways than one. This particular query came (stop it) during a recent interview with Variety where Daniel Craig asked if a shot of sheets stained with semen was kept in the final cut’s establishing scene. In this opening tableaux, Guadagnino’s camera holds on a series of items that evoke the story about to unfold between Craig’s protagonist and the object of his desire, Drew Starkey’s Eugene Allerton. According to Guadagnino, that particular shot Craig’s referring to has since been removed after the actors watched a very early cut, but have no fear, Guadagnino reassures us, because, “Of course, there’s a lot of semen in the movie.”

Early on, Craig’s William Lee takes an unnamed...

Henry Cavill began acting while he was still in school, appearing in a production of "Grease" in between trips to the rugby field. The young performer must have taken to the stage; he began seeking a film acting career as soon as he graduated. Cavill landed his first professional role in 2001 in a film called "Laguna." He was only 18. The following year was busy for the young man, as he appeared in a TV movie adaptation of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," an episode of the British crime drama "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries," and in the somewhat high-profile studio version of "The Count of Monte Cristo." The Alexandre Dumas adaptation also starred Jim Caviezel, Luis Guzman, and Guy Pearce, and it was put out by Spyglass Entertainment, so the 19-year-old Cavill was suddenly in front of millions.

Cavil paid his dues for a few more years (appearing in the eighth "Hellraiser" movie...

Screenwriter, musician and director who won an Oscar, with Woody Allen, for the screenplay of Annie Hall

Marshall Brickman, who has died aged 85, was a successful musician, writer and film director, but will be remembered best for his collaborations with Woody Allen on three of Allen’s best movies: Sleeper (1973), Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979). The pair won an Oscar for the original screenplay of Annie Hall, which also took the awards for best picture, best director for Allen and best actress for Diane Keaton.

Allen skipped the awards ceremony, and when Brickman accepted the best writer statuette, he said: “Half of this little piece of tin, if not much more, belongs to Woody, who is probably the greatest collaborator anyone could ever wish for. He does a lot of brilliant work. He takes our script and makes it into what you saw. He picks up my lunch check for about five months,...

While Lorne Michaels is an occasional bit player on Saturday Night Live, offering $3,000 for a Beatles reunion or singing operatic encouragement to Steve Martin, not many think of Michaels as an out-and-out comedian. But back in the 1960s, he was part of Hart and Lorne, a two-man comedy team that took Canada by storm.

Well, they performed in Canada.

Along with his boisterous comic counterpart, Hart Pomerantz, Michaels struggled to find his way into the comedy business. As a comedy writing team, the duo sold jokes to Woody Allen and Joan Rivers, creating a resume that landed them writing jobs on The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show and Laugh-In. They didn’t last more than a single season on either show, but the credits got them their own Canadian program, The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour. Michaels even anchored a proto version of Weekend Update.

Right around that same time, the...

When actress Jennifer Tilly and Simpsons co-developer Sam Simon divorced in 1991, Tilly received 30 percent of Simon’s future proceeds from his fledgling animated sitcom. But does she get to sleep in a racing car?

An Oscar-nominated actress and a veteran of TV comedy, Tilly is so much more than yet another pampered Hollywood divorcée to grace the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Tilly regularly played smaller parts in film and television throughout the 1980s, and, following her split from Simon, she broke through with a critically acclaimed performance in Woody Allen’s 1994 black comedy Bullets Over Broadway. From there, Tilly’s film and TV career exploded, and she even made a name for herself competing in the high-stakes world of professional poker, winning a coveted World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005.

But despite Tilly’s good fortune, no gamble ever paid off better for the actress, poker...

Over 50 years ago, Sidney Lumet released "Serpico," a powerful indictment of NYPD police corruption that was based on a true story. Decades later, New York's "boys in blue" are still being consistently called out for corruption, but at the time of the film's release in 1973, "Serpico" felt like it might just cause a sea change in the way America — or at least Hollywood — saw its law enforcement systems. "Sidney Lumet's 'Serpico,' the first in what threatens to be an avalanche of movies about policemen, picks up the old cop film and brings it with lights flashing and sirens blaring into the middle of the Watergate era," Vincent Canby wrote in his original review for the New York Times.

"Serpico" may not have ended up changing the world, but the movie based on the book of the same name by Peter Maas was a box office and critical hit,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.News The Scarlet Drop.John Ford’s The Scarlet Drop (1918), presumed to be lost for over 100 years, has been found in a warehouse in Santiago, Chile, that was slated to be demolished. “I think there are some films that decide to live,” says Jaime Cordova, who rescued and digitized the film, which stars Harry Carey as a defector from the Union Army who joins a gang of marauders.The Berlin government’s decision to slash its cultural funding budget by 13 percent (€130 million) has prompted widespread backlash from the city’s arts community. Roughly 450 institutions rely upon state subsidies and Berlin cultural workers predict closures and mass layoffs will be the inevitable result of this budget reduction. Sinema Transtopia...

For movie fans, December means warding off the Wet Bandits, being seduced by a leg lamp and, to some, defending Nakatomi Plaza from terrorists. It’s just in our nature to clutter the month with our favorite holiday movies, creating a sort of advent calendar of Christmas joy and even misery (that scene in Gremlins is dark!).

Now, The Guardian is getting into the holiday spirit with their own advent calendar, recruiting a stable of notable filmmakers and stars to give their picks, all designated for certain days. While not all are Christmas movies per-se, the directors did support their opinions. Let’s run through some of the calendar, shall we?

By and large, it has to be pointed out that most of the movies on this advent calendar did center around the holiday season. After all, who wouldn’t include Love Actually (day 3), a Home Alone (Leila Farzad – director...

Go past the hut at the entrance to an apartment complex off a busy street in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. Turn left at the Aloha Room and go past the little nook with a red waterfall and a sign that reads “Volcano Mauna Loa Falls.” Don’t worry about the black panther statue. Cross a little stream that signs call the Kauai River, look for the door on the left and you’ll find the modest kitchen table that served as Ground Zero for the movie “Thelma.”

First, though, June Squibb will have to invite you in, because the table is at the entrance to her kitchen, next to a formidable glassed-in bookcase that sports an impressive collection of carefully placed volumes dominated by mysteries and thrillers written by Scandinavian authors. It’s here, in this pleasantly kitschy midcentury complex, that Squibb first met with “Thelma...

Kate Winslet didn’t have a glamorous life before she became a Hollywood A-lister. Her breakthrough came following her iconic portrayal of Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron’s 1997 romance film Titanic, but before this, she remained a relatively unknown actress.

Credits: Kate Winslet in Titanic / 20th Century Studios

The star has been vocal about her humble beginnings in the industry. As someone who grew up as the second of four children in a working-class town just outside of London, Winslet learned that she needed to find a job to support her own acting career.

Kate Winslet Shares The Moment She Got Her First Acting Gig

In her interview with 60 Minutes via CBS News, Kate Winslet recalled how her father would try to make ends meet by hopping from one job to another while juggling life as a struggling actor. As an aspiring actress herself, Winslet earned money through...

Screenwriter co-wrote Annie Hall and Manhattan, penned the Jersey Boys musical, and wrote for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and The Muppet Show

Marshall Brickman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who wrote some of Woody Allen ’s best films, the Broadway musical Jersey Boys and a number of Johnny Carson’s most beloved sketches, has died aged 85.

Brickman died Friday in Manhattan, his daughter Sophie Brickman told the New York Times. No cause of death was given.

Few actresses capture the essence of the “girl next door” ingenue quite like Kirsten Dunst. However, Dunst’s talent extends far beyond this classic film trope, as she has consistently demonstrated her remarkable acting abilities throughout her career.

Kirsten Dunst has had an active acting career since 1989, and moviegoers may know her from many different roles — depending on their generation — such as Mary Jane Watson in the early 2000s Spider-Man franchise or as the forever young Claudia in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire.

Director Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst on the set of the 1999 American psychological drama film The Virgin Suicides (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

Dunst was born in 1982 and grew up in Brick Township, New Jersey, a far cry from the glitz of Hollywood, with most of its residents from middle and lower-middle-class backgrounds.

Dunst’s family was no different, though they likely fared better than some of Brick Township’s inhabitants.

There are actors who define a period of time in the eyes of audiences, who star in groundbreaking, hugely influential projects that are beloved years after they are released, and whose screen presence makes them unforgettable.

One of those actors is Rick Moranis. For many '80s and '90s kids, Moranis was a face greatly familiar to them, a source of comfort in family friendly movies like "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" or their guide into the world of more risqué movies with adult themes and humor like "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Spaceballs." It didn't matter the tone or the genre, Moranis was consistently funny, endearing, and charming -- whether as an innocent floral shop worker who discovers a talking, singing carnivorous plant, or a Darth Vader spoof with plans for world domination (and a penchant for silly ties).

Despite working in so many big hits and franchise-starters,...

Marshall Brickman, the writer and director known for co-writing some of Woody Allen‘s earlier works, died November 29 in Manhattan. He was 85.

The Oscar winner’s daughter Sophie Brickman announced that her father died Friday in Manhattan, following more than 50 years of writing, directing and producing for the stage and screen.

A cause of death was not provided, according to The New York Times.

After teaming up with Allen on the 1973 sci-fi comedy Sleeper, they co-wrote the hit satirical romantic-comedy Annie Hall together, earning both men an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The duo also collaborated on Allen’s 1979 followup Manhattan, which earned them another screenplay nomination. They teamed again on the 1993 dark comedy Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Born Aug. 25, 1939 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Brickman studied science and music with plans to become a doctor. After joining folk band The Tarriers in 1962, recording a banjo album that would later become...

Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote hit films with Woody Allen including Annie Hall, and the musical Jersey Boys, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 85. His daughter Sophie Brickman confirmed the news to The New York Times.

Born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Brooklyn, Brickman originally wanted to be a musician and graduated from University of Wisconsin with degrees in science and music. He was in the folk group the Tarriers, playing alongside Eric Weissberg and they scored the hit single, “Dueling Banjos.” Several of their songs from their...

Marshall Brickman, who won an Oscar for writing “Annie Hall” alongside Woody Allen and also collaborated with him on “Sleeper,” “Manhattan” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” died Friday in Manhattan. He was 85.

His daughter Sophie confirmed his death to the New York Times.

Brickman co-wrote Broadway musicals “Jersey Boys” and “The Addams Family” and started out writing for “Candid Camera” and “The Tonight Show,” where he developed the famous Johnny Carson character, Carnac the Magnificent. He also worked on the pilot for “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence,” which later became “The Muppet Show.”

Brickman and Allen’s script for “Annie Hall” became one of the most frequently quoted and well-remembered screenplays ever, winning numerous other awards in addition to the original screenplay Oscar. “‘Annie Hall’ contains more intellectual wit and cultural references than any other movie ever to win the Oscar for best picture,” wrote Roger Ebert in a 2002 appreciation.

Marshall Brickman, the banjo-playing writer and director who shared an Academy Award with his frequent collaborator Woody Allen for their Annie Hall screenplay, has died. He was 85.

Brickman died Friday in Manhattan, his daughter Sophie Brickman told The New York Times.

On his own, Brickman wrote and directed Simon (1980), a quirky comedy about a psychology professor (Alan Arkin) brainwashed into believing he’s from outer space; Lovesick (1983), featuring Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud who offers relationship advice to a psychiatrist (Dudley Moore); and The Manhattan Project (1986), about a high school student (Christopher Collet) who builds a nuclear weapon for a science fair project.

And in 2001, he helmed an adaptation of Christopher Durang’s play Sister Mary Explains It All, starring Annie Hall herself, Diane Keaton, for Showtime.

Brickman also teamed with Rick Elice to pen the Tony-nominated book for the Broadway musical Jersey Boys, and they wrote...

On December 5, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2024 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toastingIn the days leading up to the event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

Ahead, “Emilia Perez” director Jacques Audiard tells IndieWire about the many qualities that set our Spotlight Award winner, Selena Gomez, apart from the crowd.

“She Spent So Many Hours in the Spotlight”* or, Selena the Oxymoron.

First, I must confess that before I knew Selena, I did not know her. What I mean by this is that before I really got to know her, i.e. face to face, I was completely unaware of her fame. I had no idea how many “followers” she had.

Marshall Brickman, the Oscar-winning co-writer of Annie Hall, has died. Per The New York Times, Brickman’s daughter, Sophie, confirmed his death but did not report a cause. He was 85.

Best known as the co-screenwriter of Woody Allen’s most revered work, Sleeper, Annie Hall, Manhattan, and, later, Manhattan Murder Mystery,...

Writer and director who was part of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team behind the classic film spoofs Airplane! and The Naked Gun

The 1980 disaster movie spoof Airplane! was a flyaway success. Made for $3.5m, it grossed over $170m and forged a new style of film comedy. It was written and directed by the trio known as Zaz: the brothers Jerry and David Zucker, and their childhood friend Jim Abrahams, who has died aged 80 of leukaemia.

There had been movie send-ups before, notably from Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and the Monty Python team. One of the innovations of Airplane!, though, was to multiply the gags without lingering on them. The audience had to be quick to keep up: this was one instance where the phrase “laugh-a-minute” represented a serious understatement.

Melissa Barrera broke her silence on what it was like for her in Hollywood after she was fired from the Scream franchise.

The 34-year-old actress was dropped by the horror series after voicing support on social media for Palestine.

In a new interview, Melissa described the aftermath as “the darkest and hardest year of [her] life” and said that she had to “reevaluate everything” in the aftermath.

Keep reading to find out more…

“There were times where I felt like my life was over,” she told The Independent.

Melissa said that job offers dried up for her in the aftermath.

“It was quiet for, like, 10 months. I was still getting offers for small things here and there – I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing – but [the message] was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything,’” she recalled.

Thankfully, she added that offers...

Melissa Barrera recalls how she felt after being fired from Scream VII over her comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In a new interview, the Your Monster star said she had a difficult time during that period and said big acting offers diminished due to the backlash.

“It was quiet for like 10 months,” Barrera told The Independent about her acting jobs. “I was still getting offers for small things here and there – I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing – but [the message] was, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything.'”

On how she felt during that period, the singer and actress said, “It was the darkest and hardest year of my life, and I had to reevaluate everything. There were times when I felt like my life was over.”

Barrera was slashed from reprising her role of Sam Carpenter in a third...

Melissa Barrera is looking back at what she describes the “darkest” year of her life.

In an interview with U.K.’s The Independent, the actress reflected on being fired from the Scream franchise over social media posts she’d shared to Instagram Stories after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.

“It was the darkest and hardest year of my life, and I had to reevaluate everything. There were times where I felt like my life was over,” she said.

After being dropped from the franchise — the actress was set to star in Scream 7 — she admits that job offers were scarce. “It was quiet for, like, 10 months. I was still getting offers for small things here and there — I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing — but [the message] was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything.

The controversy within the family of Woody Allen and his former partner Mia Farrow created a lot of buzz on social media, but nothing was more intriguing and disturbing than the case of Soon-Yi Previn, the actress’ adopted daughter.

Credits: Woody Allen in CBS Sunday Morning

Previn is married to the veteran filmmaker, and they share two children. They weren’t on good terms during their first meeting when her mother was still with Allen, and she was only 10 years old. Things took a different turn when they got to know each other.

Soon-Yi Previn Never Liked Woody Allen When They Met For the First Time

In her interview with Vulture, Soon-Yi Previn shared how she first met renowned director Woody Allen and her first impression of him. She was only a child and recalled not liking the man at first sight. He was not enthusiastic about meeting the kids,...

The Sopranos creator David Chase had a clear vision of what he wanted his characters to be. He was very strict about his storylines and the dialogue of the characters. However, he admitted that he once had to concede to the demand of an actor on the show. The demand came from Tony Sirico, who played Paul Gualtieri aka Paulie Walnuts, and Chase believed that Sirico’s demand was fair.

Tony Sirico as Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

David Chase revealed that Sirico wanted to remove the word ‘bully’ from another actor’s line about his character. Chase revealed this rather sensitive side of Sirico in the wake of his passing in 2022. Sirico also had major roles in Goodfellas and several Woody Allen films including Mighty Aphrodite.

The Sopranos Actor Tony Sirico Wanted David Chase To Remove One Description of Him Tony Sirico in a still from The Sopranos...

Acclaimed actor-filmmaker Anupam Kher has announced his next directorial venture “The Return,” a co-production between Australia and India, at the International Film Festival of India (Iffi), Goa.

The project emerges as Anupam Kher Studio wraps production on “Tanvi The Great,” directed by Kher, slated for international release in late 2025.

“The Return” will be produced in partnership with Australian film company Temple, based at Disney Studios Sydney. The production plans to shoot more than 90% of the film in Australia and will cast an Australian actor in a leading role, utilizing Australian talent across multiple departments. Plot details are under wraps at the moment.

Kher, whose career spans over 540 films and 100 plays across 35 years, has worked with directors including Ang Lee, David O. Russell, and Woody Allen. His international credits include “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Hotel Mumbai,” and the series “New Amsterdam.” He is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor,...

Woody Allen is a four-time Academy Award winner who has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for over 50 years. But how many of those are classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).

The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to a string of critically acclaimed absurdist comedies, including “Bananas” (1971) and “Sleeper” (1973).

He established himself as an important filmmaker with the romantic...

At 86, Ridley Scott is on the cusp of releasing one of the biggest films of his career — “Gladiator II” — and already has at least two additional projects lined up for 2025, a reteam with Paul Mescal and a Bee Gees biopic. With no signs of slowing down.

He’s not the only Hollywood veteran who’s still making movies: Martin Scorsese, who turned 82 this year, made one of the best films of his career with “Killers of the Flower Moon” while Clint Eastwood (94) has what might be his final film, “Juror #2” in theaters now.

Here are 15 directors over 80 who are still busy making movies.

Photo credit: Getty Images Martin Scorsese, 82

The prolific director of “Goodfellas,” and “The Departed” was Oscar-nominated again for his 2023 historic epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and is now developing two films: “The Life of Jesus” and a movie about Frank Sinatra. He also returned to documentaries...

Actress and producer Viola Davis is set to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2025 Golden Globes. This film life achievement award is yet another honor for the Egot champion. Davis won an Oscar and Globe for “Fences” (2016), an Emmy for “How to Get Away with Murder” (2015), Tonys for “King Hedley II (2001) and “Fences” (2010), and a Grammy for “Finding Me” (2023).

She will accept the award on Sunday, Jan. 5, on the live CBS ceremony which will also stream on Paramount+. The event will be hosted by Nikki Glaser. Nominations for movie and television categories will be announced on Dec. 9. The Golden Globes will likely reveal the recipient of the Carol Burnett Award for TV life achievement soon.

Viola Davis movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best

Helen Hoehne, President of the Golden Globes, said, “Viola Davis is a luminary whose profound talent has continuously shifted the lens through which we see and understand film.

Rebecca Hall is taking back her past comments about working with Woody Allen.

The 42-year-old actress has worked with the 88-year-old filmmaker twice – first in 2008 on Vicky Cristina Barcelona then again in 2019 for A Rainy Day in New York.

Back in 2018, Rebecca issued a statement apologizing for working with Woody amid his controversies and the Time’s Up movement.

Now in a new interview, Rebecca admitted that she “struggle(s)” with her past comments about Woody.

Keep reading to find out more…“I kind of regret making that statement, because I don’t think it’s the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation,” Rebecca told The Guardian.

She went on to say that “it’s very unlike” her “to make a public statement about anything.”

“I make the stuff; that’s how I am political,” Rebecca continued. “I don’t think of myself as an ‘actor-vist’; I’m not that person.

Scarlett Johansson wasn’t one to play it safe or please the crowd. Whether it was stepping up for Harvey Weinstein’s ex-wife or backing Woody Allen, she stood by her choices without flinching. Hollywood might have thrived on apologies and PR-friendly pivots, but Johansson? She doubled down and owned her narrative.

Scarlett Johansson in Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Credits: Mediapro/Wild Bunch

Her support for Allen sparked plenty of debates, but she made it clear—she wasn’t about to apologize for what she believed in. Love her or not, Johansson kept it unapologetically real. Bold? Risky? Absolutely. But would anyone have expected less from her? Probably not.

Scarlett Johansson Stands Firm on Woody Allen as Hollywood Reflects and Regrets Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen in Scoop (2006) | Credits: Jelly Roll Productions

“I would work with him anytime.” Scarlett Johansson didn’t mince words when asked about her stance on Woody Allen.

Tom Cruise is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, with the actor working with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers, especially during the earlier stages of his career. As a result, Cruise appeared in some truly unique films. One of these was helmed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick and emerged as the most explicit movie in Cruise’s career.

Tom Cruise starred in 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut (Credit: Paramount Pictures).

However, Cruise wasn’t the first choice for the lead role in Kubrick’s 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut. Instead, Woody Allen and Tom Hanks were the favored choices among Kubrick’s wishlist of potential leading men for what turned out to be his final film as a director. Here is everything you need to know about the original choice for Eyes Wide Shut.

Woody Allen Almost Cast Instead of Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut was...

In a candid interview with The Guardian, actress Rebecca Hall openly revealed her changing views on working with controversial filmmaker Woody Allen, questioning conventional notions about artist accountability.

Hall, who acted in Allen’s films “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008) and “A Rainy Day in New York” (2018), provided a nuanced perspective on how performers negotiate industry controversies. She explained that her earlier public statement about Allen was misunderstood and does not reflect her current position.

“This is a difficult one for me. It’s quite unusual for me to publicly state anything,” Hall told the newspaper. She made it clear that she regards her primary position as an artist, not an activist. “I make the stuff, that’s how I am political,” she explained.

The actress recalls a critical event during filming “A Rainy Day in New York”: the Harvey Weinstein crisis broke. She remembered filming a street scene with Jude Law...

Nearly 17 years later, Rebecca Hall has more complex feelings about her professional association with Woody Allen than she previously stated.

After donating her pay from Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York to Time’s Up in 2018 and stating she was “profoundly sorry” for working with him, the Golden Globe nominee says she wouldn’t have responded the same way today.

“I struggle with this one. It’s very unlike me to make a public statement about anything,” Hall told The Guardian. “I make the stuff, that’s how I am political. I don’t think of myself as an ‘actor-vist,’ I’m not that person. And, I kind of regret making that statement, because I don’t think it’s the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation.”

She recalled being “in a tangle” working on the set of Allen’s movie, when allegations broke against the film’s producer Harvey Weinstein.

Hollywood has always been a place where talent shines, but it’s also where controversies bubble up like a pot of water on the stove. This was never more apparent than when several prominent stars, including Kate Winslet and Timothée Chalamet, openly expressed regret over their collaborations with the once-celebrated yet now-controversial director, who faced serious accusations from his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, about s*xual abuse dating back to 1992.

Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson in Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Winslet, who starred in Wonder Wheel (2017), and Chalamet, who worked with Allen on A Rainy Day in New York (2019), have publicly acknowledged the discomfort of their past decisions. Meanwhile, Rebecca Hall is doing a little soul-searching.

In 2018, Hall said she was “profoundly sorry” for her involvement with Allen in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and A Rainy Day in New York. But now, she’s reconsidering that apology.

Rebecca...

Rebecca Hall is looking back on speaking out about regretting working on Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York.

In 2018, Hall had a small role in Allen’s film A Rainy Day in New York, which also starred Timothée Chalamet, Jude Law and Elle Fanning. After Allen’s daughter Dylan Farrow, accused him of sexually abusing her as a child and women came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Hall said at the time that she regretted the decision to star in the film. “I see, not only how complicated this matter is, but that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and dismissed,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I regret this decision and wouldn’t make the same one today.”

In an interview with the Guardian published on Sunday, the actress was asked how she now feels about those comments.

“I struggle with this one.

Rebecca Hall said in an interview with The Observer that she does not regret working with Woody Allen despite apologizing once for starring in “A Rainy Day in New York.” Hall has made two movies with Allen: “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Rainy Day,” the latter of which she only filmed on for one day.

Hall came forward in 2018 amid the #MeToo movement to apologize for working with Allen. At the time, Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow was criticizing Hollywood for continuing to work with Allen despite her allegation that he molested her as a child. Hall admitted that Farrow’s new statements on the matter made her rethink her decision to work with Allen again, a choice she had “quickly said yes” to when it was offered because Allen “gave me one of my first significant roles” in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “I have always been grateful.”

“It was...

Rebecca Hall is reflecting on her public statement denouncing director Woody Allen six years after the abuse allegations resurfaced.

After Allen’s ex-wife Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow wrote an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times calling out actors who still collaborate with the alleged molester, Hall shared on Instagram in 2018 that she had second thoughts about starring in Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York.” Hall had previously led Allen’s 2008 film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

“After reading and re-reading Dylan Farrow’s statements of a few days ago and going back and reading the older ones – I see, not only how complicated this matter is, but that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and dismissed,” Hall wrote at the time. “That is not something that sits easily with me in the current or indeed any moment, and I am profoundly sorry. I regret...

In 2018, Rebecca Hall made a statement saying she was "profoundly sorry" for working with Woody Allen on A Rainy Day In New York, saying, "I regret this decision and wouldn’t make the same one today." In 2024, she now says she regrets her decision to make the statement, and wouldn't make the same one today.

“It’s the Oscar for people who never made a movie good enough to win an Oscar.”

That’s how Governors Award recipient writer/director Richard Curtis jokingly described the Governors Awards — or at least, how he overheard his son describing it to son’s girlfriend.

In truth, the awards are bestowed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on a select group of industry standouts, whose career achievements merit singular recognition. Along with Curtis, who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (given to someone who has brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare), this year’s honorees, as voted on by AMPAS’s Board of Governors, were Quincy Jones, Juliet Taylor, and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

Held annually in mid-November, the Governors Awards ceremony has become the unofficial first stop on the Oscars campaign circuit, and given the current wide-open race, this year...

On Sunday night, per annual tradition, dozens of the current crop of top Oscar contenders — among them Maria lead actress Angelina Jolie, Gladiator II lead actor Paul Mescal, The Substance lead actress Demi Moore, The Brutalist lead actor Adrien Brody and Emilia Pérez supporting actress Selena Gomez — turned up at Ovation Hollywood for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards ceremony, a black-tie dinner at which the organization presents special awards to industry legends.

The 15th Governors Awards’ highest profile honoree, composer-producer Quincy Jones, was celebrated posthumously, having died Nov. 3 at the age of 91. The most moving part of the evening came toward the end, when Jones’ honorary Oscar statuette was accepted by his daughter, actress-writer Rashida Jones, who, flanked by some of her siblings, tearfully paid tribute to her father and read the speech that he had planned to give at the ceremony.

An honorary Oscar...

Quentin Tarantino famously does not lack for chutzpah. He's not shy about singing his praises, and wrote a whole book loaded with contrarian opinions in 2022's "Cinema Speculation." He doesn't mince words and brooks no trash talk, as evidenced by the time he went upside a rival producer's head in a chichi Los Angeles power lunch spot.

Has Tarantino earned the right to be so unvarnished? It's a free country, so he can say whatever he wants, but he's got a little more backing up his opinion than that. His writing-directing debut, "Reservoir Dogs," is easily one of the most shockingly assured first films ever made, while his second feature, "Pulp Fiction," laughed in the face of the sophomore slump by becoming one of the most influential films of all time. "Pulp Fiction" was so outlandishly great that people underestimated the cool mastery of his third film, "Jackie Brown." Since then,...

Actor and director Rebecca Hall has always had to fight to define herself. Now, more comfortable than ever with where she is, she opens up about painting, working with Woody Allen, her Byo wedding – and her greatest indulgence

We all thought that we knew Rebecca Hall – English rose, on stage since childhood, daughter of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s founder Sir Peter Hall, regularly described in Hollywood as one of the best actors of her generation. But in 2021 she took what she calls now “a big swing” and suddenly the whole story cracked in half.

The big swing was her directorial debut, Passing, a film about two women of colour, one of whom is “passing” for white; Hall had been working on the story for 15 years, but thinking about it for far longer. Her maternal grandfather, a doorman from Detroit, passed as white, as did Hall’s mother the opera singer Maria Ewing,...

The British film star issued a statement after accusations were made against the director but now says ‘I don’t think it’s the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation’

‘I’ve had a wild, chaotic, beautiful life’: Rebecca Hall on race, regrets and learning to be herself

The leading British actor and director Rebecca Hall regrets making a public apology for having worked with Woody Allen, she has revealed. Actors, she now believes, should not feel pressured into taking positions on contentious issues.

The film star, who starred to great acclaim in Allen’s 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, made her high-profile statement six years ago in the initial wake of the Harvey Weinstein abuse story when she was due to appear on screen in Allen’s 2019 romantic comedy A Rainy Day in New York, alongside Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez and Jude Law. Her comments were...

June Squibb’s star turn as a ninetysomething gran, scammed and out for justice, joins a club of indomitable seniors in the movies, from Anne Reid to Jack Nicholson

June Squibb’s career has run on a different timeline to that of most movie stars: she made her film debut, in Woody Allen’s Alice, at the age of 60, and it was another 23 years before she landed her breakthrough role in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Her performance as an embittered pensioner who saltily badmouths past acquaintances and flashes the gravestone of an ex got her an Oscar nomination. It also got her a run of progressively less amusing naughty-granny roles. In Hollywood, older people can be blandly comforting support or quirky joke fodder but not much more.

In Thelma, however, the now 95-year-old Squibb gets her first leading role, as a phone-scam victim tracking down those who robbed her, and...

In 2011, French thesps Omar Sy and Anne Le Ny co-starred in the comedy hit “Untouchable.” Now, the two are reunited in the domestic thriller “Out of Control,” with “Lupin” star Sy in one of the leading roles next to Elodie Bouchez, José Garcia and Vanessa Paradis, while Le Ny serves as director and Axella Cachman’s co-writer.

“There was a real bond and warmth between us then, which was easy to revive 13 years later,” says Le Ny, who shared the screen time with Matt Damon in “Stillwater” and earned her first writing/helming kudos for her breakthrough movie “Those Who Remain” (2008).

Her seventh pic as helmer, “Out of Control (“Dis moi juste que tu m’aimes”) world premieres at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival official competition on Nov. 16, is being produced by Move Movie’s Bruno Levy, in co-production with Sy’s production company Korokoro, France 2 Cinéma and La Compagnie Cinématographique & Panache Productions,...

From Martin Scorsese to Woody Allen, filmmakers have been fascinated by New York for a plethora of reasons. The city has such an undeniable charm that someone like me living thousands and thousands of miles away from it is pulled towards its magnetic current. However, while most filmmakers have often romanticized the city, filmmaker Alex Andre whose debut feature “Pratfall” is set almost entirely on the city’s many conjoining streets has different plans altogether. While he does romanticize the city to an extent, he also carefully administers the darkness that the isolation of being in the maximum city brings to its many lonely citizens.

When we first meet Eli (Joshua Burge) he feels like a self-talking, deeply troubled middle-aged man who has developed an entirely distinct personality from his own; someone who is constantly bringing him down and pushing him towards a kind of hopelessness about simply living in this world.

For over two decades, Adrien Brody has held one of the most coveted titles in Oscar lore, as the youngest man ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Only age 29 when he won his Oscar for “The Pianist,” Brody has since gone on to an acclaimed career in both drama and comedy and has had the opportunity to work with some of the medium’s best directors — some beloved, others not — but delivers great performances with them all.

Along the way, Brody’s work has been celebrated by both critics and the industry alike. In addition to his Oscar victory, he has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as earning nominations at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. With the upcoming release of his latest film, A24’s 215-minute epic “The Brutalist,” that list may increase very soon. It will...

For over two decades, Adrien Brody has held one of the most coveted titles in Oscar lore, as the youngest man ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Only age 29 when he won his Oscar for “The Pianist,” Brody has since gone on to an acclaimed career in both drama and comedy and has had the opportunity to work with some of the medium’s best directors — some beloved, others not — but delivers great performances with them all.

Along the way, Brody’s work has been celebrated by both critics and the industry alike. In addition to his Oscar victory, he has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as earning nominations at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. With the upcoming release of his latest film, A24’s 215-minute epic “The Brutalist,” that list may increase very soon. It will...