Geena Davis on the Bentonville Film Festival and a Thelma & Louise what-if; Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit may inspire more; James Gunn tries to defuse that whole hullabaloo with Martin Scorsese. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Netflix and No Fever or Chills: Netflix is requiring that all employees who come into its offices — and all visitors to its offices — be vaccinated for COVID-19. Variety first broke the news.
Cocaine Cowboys: Funny story. The main characters in the first installment of Netflix’s new Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami, have never been convicted of selling cocaine, despite the title.
Geena Davis: We talked to the Bentonville Film Festival founder about how other festivals have followed Bentonville’s lead on diversity, the goal of 50/50 gender parity among directors — and whether Thelma & Louise should have been directed by a woman, rather than Ridley Scott. Her answer (at 7:20) is spectacular.
Asian and Pacific Islander Representation: The Geena Davis institute on Gender in Media, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment and Gold House have a new study on API representation, with the title, “I Am Not a Fetish or Model Minority.” One key finding: 93.3% of API people surveyed for the study “agree that API representation on screen is inadequate, and 95.1% agree that API representation behind the scenes is inadequate.”
I Like Both James Gunn and Martin Scorsese: After some comments by James Gunn about Martin Scorsese on the Happy Sad Confused podcast elicited the usual Twitter hyperbolic silliness, Gunn clarified: “Martin Scorsese is probably the world’s greatest living American filmmaker. I love & study his films & will continue to love & study his films. I disagree with him solely on one point: That films based on comic books are innately not cinema, that’s all.”
What Did Gunn Say on the Podcast? You can watch here:
Millionaires Fightin’: Hey, because we didn’t do a Rundown on Friday, we missed all the hullabaloo about Scarlett Johansson suing Disney for cutting into her potential Black Widow profits by releasing it simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+. The Hollywood Reporter has this thought-provoking story on why her lawsuit may be the first of “a ton of lawsuits” over streaming revenues.
Speaking of Streaming Payments: How much do I get paid for watching the new Jean-Claude Van Damme film The Last Mercenary on Netflix?
How Many Times Are You Gonna Use the Word ‘Hullabaloo’? Until everyone starts saying it again.
Impeachment: American Crime Story Trailer: Did you know that President Bill Clinton once had an affair with a 22-year-old intern? You did? Because that’s the only thing that everyone on earth knows about Bill Clinton? For whatever reason, this teaser trailer presents that information as if it’s a bold and startling new premise.
Main image: Martin Scorsese, probably the world’s greatest living American filmmaker.
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