Mark Rylance is back in theaters this weekend with “The Phantom of the Open,” a new comedy that sees the Oscar winner play famously bad amateur golfer Maurice Flitcroft. It’s Rylance’s first time portraying a real person since he played lawyer William Kunstler in “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” But the actor appears to be having a lot more fun with this movie than he did with Aaron Sorkin’s 2020 historical drama.
In a new interview with the New York Times, Rylance opened up about the difficult experience of playing Kunstler, and said he received malicious feedback from real people who were involved with the trial. Those comments, and the toll they took on his mental health, have made him more hesitant to take roles based on real people.
“I’m wary of playing very famous people,” Rylance said. “Even William Kunstler is a bit on the...
In a new interview with the New York Times, Rylance opened up about the difficult experience of playing Kunstler, and said he received malicious feedback from real people who were involved with the trial. Those comments, and the toll they took on his mental health, have made him more hesitant to take roles based on real people.
“I’m wary of playing very famous people,” Rylance said. “Even William Kunstler is a bit on the...
- 6/5/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Ahead of its Jan. 14 release, Sony Pictures Classic has released the first trailer for “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.”
The documentary is directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler. Interweaving lectures, personal anecdotes, interviews and shocking revelations, criminal defense and civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
The story is anchored by Robinson’s 2018 presentation at NYC’s historic Town Hall Theater, with the directors capturing Robinson’s meetings with Black change-makers and eyewitnesses to history. From a hanging tree in Charleston, S.C., to a walking tour of the origins of slavery in colonial New York, to the site of a 1947 lynching in rural Alabama, the film brings history to life, exploring the enduring legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it.
The...
The documentary is directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler. Interweaving lectures, personal anecdotes, interviews and shocking revelations, criminal defense and civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
The story is anchored by Robinson’s 2018 presentation at NYC’s historic Town Hall Theater, with the directors capturing Robinson’s meetings with Black change-makers and eyewitnesses to history. From a hanging tree in Charleston, S.C., to a walking tour of the origins of slavery in colonial New York, to the site of a 1947 lynching in rural Alabama, the film brings history to life, exploring the enduring legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it.
The...
- 12/10/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Jeffrey Robinson, the central figure of Sony Pictures Classics’ Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, says that despite a long-held belief across the nation that America has been a post-racial society, only now is the country being forced to reckon with that false narrative.
Joined by filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, Robinson, a former ACLU deputy legal director whose bracing presentation on anti-Black racism and white supremacy forms the core of the film, said during Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event that the reality of America’s racial mythology is only now being examined in a meaningful way.
“The South may have lost the Civil War, but they won the peace,” Robinson said, “by creating this narrative that allows us to think…any disparities that you see in our country are based on Blacks just not working hard enough, whites being more industrious. And those...
Joined by filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, Robinson, a former ACLU deputy legal director whose bracing presentation on anti-Black racism and white supremacy forms the core of the film, said during Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event that the reality of America’s racial mythology is only now being examined in a meaningful way.
“The South may have lost the Civil War, but they won the peace,” Robinson said, “by creating this narrative that allows us to think…any disparities that you see in our country are based on Blacks just not working hard enough, whites being more industrious. And those...
- 11/21/2021
- by Scott Huver
- Deadline Film + TV
“In 2011 my wife and I became the parents of our nephew, who was living in Queens, New York,” explains Jeff Robinson, the writer and subject of the documentary, “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.” “His mother died… so our nephew Matthew moved from Queens, New York to Seattle, Washington and my wife and I did not have children. I was a criminal defense lawyer coming out of law school, so I had been working on racial justice issues for most of my career. Having a young, Black man in my home who was 13 years old and walking out into the world terrified me.” Watch the full video chat with Jeff and the film’s co-directors, Emily and Sarah Kunstler, above.
Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
- 11/10/2021
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
The Attica Prison riot, immortalized by Al Pacino’s rebellious refrain in Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon,” became a rallying cry against overzealous policing. Yet with the death of each participant, the exact events at Attica, the largest prison rebellion in US history, have begun to fade in the unforgiving ether of time. In “Attica,” co-directors Stanley Nelson (“The Murder Of Emmett Till”) and Traci A. Curry interview the remaining survivors: the former inmates and the family of the now-deceased prison guards to recall an incident during which self-respect was demanded but tragedy soon followed.
The uprising occurred September 9, 1971 on the grounds of the inhuman prison practices used by prison officials. 1,200 inmates took over the prison, taking 42 people hostage. The conflict lasted for five days, resulting in 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. It led to murder, created villains and heroes, and uncovered the inequities that existed between races then, and still,...
The uprising occurred September 9, 1971 on the grounds of the inhuman prison practices used by prison officials. 1,200 inmates took over the prison, taking 42 people hostage. The conflict lasted for five days, resulting in 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. It led to murder, created villains and heroes, and uncovered the inequities that existed between races then, and still,...
- 9/10/2021
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
Sarah and Emily Kunstler have spent their lives immersed in the civil rights movement, first as the daughters of “The Trial of the Chicago 7” attorney William Kunstler, and then forging their own careers crafting documentaries on criminal justice.
But when filmmaker and lawyer Sarah Kunstler heard a speech by ACLU attorney Jeffery Robinson at a legal education seminar, she wasn’t prepared for the words to change her life. It was an abbreviated version of the presentation on the history of racism in America that Robinson gives on lecture tours around the country, in which he says the failure of white people to oppose the oppression of Black people is akin to condoning the idea of white supremacy. “I walked out of that conference room and would never see the world the same again,” Sarah Kunstler remembers, adding that her first thought was “How can I help Jeffery get...
But when filmmaker and lawyer Sarah Kunstler heard a speech by ACLU attorney Jeffery Robinson at a legal education seminar, she wasn’t prepared for the words to change her life. It was an abbreviated version of the presentation on the history of racism in America that Robinson gives on lecture tours around the country, in which he says the failure of white people to oppose the oppression of Black people is akin to condoning the idea of white supremacy. “I walked out of that conference room and would never see the world the same again,” Sarah Kunstler remembers, adding that her first thought was “How can I help Jeffery get...
- 4/15/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Updated with full winners list: The Trial of the Chicago 7 won the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture prize, SAG’s version of Best Picture, at the 27th annual SAG Awards on Sunday night. It was one of 13 awards honoring the year’s best film and TV acting performances.
The late Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis took the best leading male and female actor in a motion picture honors for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In the supporting actor category, Yuh-Jung Youn took the trophy for Minari and Daniel Kaluuya for his role as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.
Among the movie categories, the marquee ensemble prize is often an Oscar bellwether. Last year, Neon’s Parasite surprised with a win and it later repeated the feat by taking the Academy Awards’ Best Picture prize.The Trial of the Chicago 7 faced off against Da 5 Bloods,...
The late Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis took the best leading male and female actor in a motion picture honors for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In the supporting actor category, Yuh-Jung Youn took the trophy for Minari and Daniel Kaluuya for his role as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.
Among the movie categories, the marquee ensemble prize is often an Oscar bellwether. Last year, Neon’s Parasite surprised with a win and it later repeated the feat by taking the Academy Awards’ Best Picture prize.The Trial of the Chicago 7 faced off against Da 5 Bloods,...
- 4/5/2021
- by Denise Petski and Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
While “Nomadland” has been crushing it most of this awards season, it will largely be sitting out of the upcoming SAG Awards. Its only representation is for previous two-time Best Female Actor champion Frances McDormand who isn’t seen as a serious threat to prevail again. (Though the most respected McDormand is always a possibility.)
That leaves the SAG ensemble contest wide open. “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami” all missed Oscar nominations for Best Picture, and not since 1996’s “The Birdcage” has a cast flown away with the SAG prize without a corresponding Oscar nom. That leaves two ducks remaining: “Minari” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” While “Minari” is a sweet film with a wonderful team of actors, don’t expect it to follow in the footsteps of last year’s surprise winner, “Parasite.”
Here are five reasons why “The Trial of the Chicago 7...
That leaves the SAG ensemble contest wide open. “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami” all missed Oscar nominations for Best Picture, and not since 1996’s “The Birdcage” has a cast flown away with the SAG prize without a corresponding Oscar nom. That leaves two ducks remaining: “Minari” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” While “Minari” is a sweet film with a wonderful team of actors, don’t expect it to follow in the footsteps of last year’s surprise winner, “Parasite.”
Here are five reasons why “The Trial of the Chicago 7...
- 4/1/2021
- by Tariq Khan
- Gold Derby
Film editor Alan Baumgarten could embark on a second career as a juggler. Not that he has an interest in bowling pins or the circus, but the longtime cutting craftsman has made a specialty of, well, juggling many characters and non-linear plots into clean, coherent audience experiences. Baumgarten was nominated for an Oscar for 2013’s “American Hustle” and again this year as one of the six nominations (and perhaps the most no-brainer nod of them all) notched for Aaron Sorkin’s vast ensemble drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The film depicts an inflammatory political and cultural period in 1968 and 1969, and contains more than two dozen characters, from lawyers and defendants to judges and government officials. Though the size of the cast was formidable, Baumgarten’s greatest challenge came in a six-minute scene that narrow-focused on two characters and a complex flashback to a riot outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
The film depicts an inflammatory political and cultural period in 1968 and 1969, and contains more than two dozen characters, from lawyers and defendants to judges and government officials. Though the size of the cast was formidable, Baumgarten’s greatest challenge came in a six-minute scene that narrow-focused on two characters and a complex flashback to a riot outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
- 3/31/2021
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
The decision to incorporate actual archival footage from the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago in “The Trial of the Chicago 7” may have been risky but recently Oscar-nominated editor Alan Baumgarten explains that he and writer/director Aaron Sorkin both came to the decision rather easily. “It was quite easy and we both came to it independently. There was archival material written into the prologue that was very effective,” Baumgarten tells us in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above). It was when Sorkin was watching the riot sequence for the second time that he floated the idea of using such footage in the film. “As soon as he mentioned it, I said, ‘Great! I’m all for it. Give me a couple days and let me show you something.’ We quickly locked into the fact that it was going to be used sparingly. It was really...
- 3/31/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
As the awards calendar hurtles toward the delayed Oscars on April 25, we have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s dark drama “Parasite” rode the Palme d’Or from May through to a Best Picture win. But it was, finally, a global blockbuster that appealed to the mainstream.
That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...
That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...
- 3/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
As the awards calendar hurtles toward the delayed Oscars on April 25, we have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s dark drama “Parasite” rode the Palme d’Or from May through to a Best Picture win. But it was, finally, a global blockbuster that appealed to the mainstream.
That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...
That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...
- 3/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Even though Aaron Sorkin has a great love for politics, he admits that he didn’t know who the Chicago 7 were at first. It all started when he met with Steven Spielberg at his house and the director said he wanted to make a movie about the Chicago 7. “I said, ‘The Chicago 7? Count me in! That sounds great.’ I left his house, called my father and asked him who the Chicago 7 were,’ Sorkin reveals to us in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above). He was familiar with several of the figures, but he had to do a lot of research on the subject. “Most critically, I got to spend time with Tom Hayden and that’s what gave me a look into the tension between Tom and Abbie Hoffman.”
SEEWill Aaron Sorkin join an elite group with Oscar wins for writing and directing ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7...
SEEWill Aaron Sorkin join an elite group with Oscar wins for writing and directing ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7...
- 3/5/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
The riot scenes in “The Trial of the Chicago 7” posed the biggest challenges to the re-recording mixer, Julian Slater, and the supervising sound editor, Renee Tondelli, in getting the sounds aspects just right. “The riot scenes and the demonstrations had a certain rhythm to them. You start a slow build and don’t want to reach the end too quickly,” Slater tells Gold Derby in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above). He specifically cites the score composed by Daniel Pemberton as an accelerant but needing to be a counter to that on the mixing end. “You need to balance that with the energy of the crowd yet whilst hearing everything that’s being said.” Tondelli concurs, saying that, “It was a chaotic score and we went against that, we didn’t go for chaos.”
SEEDaniel Pemberton interview: ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ composer
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,...
SEEDaniel Pemberton interview: ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ composer
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,...
- 2/9/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Updated with full list: The nominations for the 27th SAG Award were announced Thursday in a virtual ceremony featuring Lily Collins and Daveed Diggs reading off nominees in 13 film and TV categories honoring the best acting of the past year.
Much like it did at the Golden Globes the day before, Netflix led the way with 30 total nominations. The Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture ensemble race features three Netflix dramas: Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Trial of the Chicago 7 along with A24’s Minari and Amazon Studios’ One Night In Miami. Outside of Chicago 7 it is a fully new slate of films from the admittedly apples-to-oranges Best Motion Picture lists set by the Golden Globes on Wednesday.
Last year, Parasite won the film ensemble award, pushing it down the road to the eventual Best Picture Oscar.
Other notables o the film...
Much like it did at the Golden Globes the day before, Netflix led the way with 30 total nominations. The Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture ensemble race features three Netflix dramas: Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Trial of the Chicago 7 along with A24’s Minari and Amazon Studios’ One Night In Miami. Outside of Chicago 7 it is a fully new slate of films from the admittedly apples-to-oranges Best Motion Picture lists set by the Golden Globes on Wednesday.
Last year, Parasite won the film ensemble award, pushing it down the road to the eventual Best Picture Oscar.
Other notables o the film...
- 2/4/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Frank Langella does not mince words when it comes to describing his real-life character, Judge Julius Hoffman, in Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” “He’s about as a big a son-of-a-bitch as I’ve ever seen, both on paper and in real life. I was happy to play him.” In our exclusive video interview, he describes Hoffman as “unrelentingly cruel, determined to convict everybody, utterly corrupt and, I think, going a little nuts in the head.” In addition to being happy to play the judge, he found that playing that role gave him a unique perspective on the other cast members that he enjoyed. “I also had, from a perch and when I was off-camera, I had the luxury of watching each of them figure out their characters.”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which is available to stream on Netflix, is written and directed by Emmy and Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin.
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which is available to stream on Netflix, is written and directed by Emmy and Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin.
- 1/26/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
In doing research to prepare for playing Black Panther leader Bobby Seale in “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Yahya Abdul-Mateen II actually found an interview with Seale talking about cooking as an incredible look into the leader’s perseverance. “He had just been out of solitary confinement… but he goes into talking about how to make a stew. He has this smile on his face and he is not in prison when he is talking about this food. He’s in his kitchen at home,” he tells us in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above). It was something that Abdul-Mateen had not read about Seale, even though he grew up in Oakland, California where Seale founded the Panthers. “We hear about the powerful revolutionary acts but it’s also a revolutionary act of survival to…have the humanity and strength to still connect to something that could...
- 1/19/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
“The Trial of the Chicago 7″ has been selected for the inaugural ensemble tribute by the Independent Filmmaker Project at the upcoming Gotham Awards on Jan. 11, 2021.
The film, directed by Aaron Sorkin from his own script, follows the story of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters who were charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film began streaming on Netflix in October.
The ensemble cast includes Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin, Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, Michael Keaton as Ramsey Clark, John Carroll Lynch as defendant David Dellinger, Alex Sharp as defendant Rennie Davis and Frank Langella as presiding judge Julius Hoffman. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Fred Hampton, Caitlin Fitzgerald portrays FBI agent Daphne O’Connor, Alice Kremelberg...
The film, directed by Aaron Sorkin from his own script, follows the story of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters who were charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film began streaming on Netflix in October.
The ensemble cast includes Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin, Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, Michael Keaton as Ramsey Clark, John Carroll Lynch as defendant David Dellinger, Alex Sharp as defendant Rennie Davis and Frank Langella as presiding judge Julius Hoffman. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Fred Hampton, Caitlin Fitzgerald portrays FBI agent Daphne O’Connor, Alice Kremelberg...
- 12/17/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, known for his versatile array of visual styles, from Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” to James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” says he knew going into Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” that he would need to do some reading between the lines.
Sorkin’s Netflix original film, which recounts the notorious political prosecution of eight defendants charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, is an impressive ensemble piece, combining courtroom drama with an almost forensic examination of the events that led to so much bloodshed as police cracked down brutally on protesters.
Papamichael, speaking in a masterclass at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, recalls that Sorkin, intensely focused on crisp dialogue, timing and performances from the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance as legendary civil rights attorney William Kunstler, tends to entrust the visual conception to his cinematographer.
Sorkin...
Sorkin’s Netflix original film, which recounts the notorious political prosecution of eight defendants charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, is an impressive ensemble piece, combining courtroom drama with an almost forensic examination of the events that led to so much bloodshed as police cracked down brutally on protesters.
Papamichael, speaking in a masterclass at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, recalls that Sorkin, intensely focused on crisp dialogue, timing and performances from the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance as legendary civil rights attorney William Kunstler, tends to entrust the visual conception to his cinematographer.
Sorkin...
- 11/20/2020
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
It was recently reported that the entire cast of “The Trial of the Chicago 7” would be campaigned as supporting actors at the Oscars. But with so many male actors filling the ensemble, who as the best chance of breaking through?
As of this writing “Chicago 7” actors make up three out of the top five slots in our official Best Supporting Actor odds, which are based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. To date only “On the Waterfront” (1954), “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather Part II” (1974) have ever racked up three nominations in the category. What’s more, “Chicago 7” accounts for five of our top 11 and six of our top 15, so the field is flooded with actors from the historical drama. Let’s consider those six most likely contenders from the film.
SEE12 best Sacha Baron Cohen movies ranked, including ‘Borat,’ ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7...
As of this writing “Chicago 7” actors make up three out of the top five slots in our official Best Supporting Actor odds, which are based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. To date only “On the Waterfront” (1954), “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather Part II” (1974) have ever racked up three nominations in the category. What’s more, “Chicago 7” accounts for five of our top 11 and six of our top 15, so the field is flooded with actors from the historical drama. Let’s consider those six most likely contenders from the film.
SEE12 best Sacha Baron Cohen movies ranked, including ‘Borat,’ ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7...
- 11/6/2020
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Contenders for the 2021 Oscar categories are starting to settle in. Every year, heated debates rage behind the scenes as distributors, agents, and managers determine which categories their movie stars should pursue. It’s an old game, and one that Oscar strategists play to win. It can mean moving talent out of a leading role and into a supporting one, but when lead actors decide they have an improved shot in supporting, they often steal a slot from a costar — often a character actor with less screen time. That game is rightly called category fraud.
Last year, the decisionmakers behind “The Two Popes,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” placed veteran stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, respectively, in the Supporting Actor race, yielding nominations for all three and a win for Pitt.
This year’s story is going the opposite way,...
Last year, the decisionmakers behind “The Two Popes,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” placed veteran stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, respectively, in the Supporting Actor race, yielding nominations for all three and a win for Pitt.
This year’s story is going the opposite way,...
- 11/4/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Contenders for the 2021 Oscar categories are starting to settle in. Every year, heated debates rage behind the scenes as distributors, agents, and managers determine which categories their movie stars should pursue. It’s an old game, and one that Oscar strategists play to win. It can mean moving talent out of a leading role and into a supporting one, but when lead actors decide they have an improved shot in supporting, they often steal a slot from a costar — often a character actor with less screen time. That game is rightly called category fraud.
Last year, the decisionmakers behind “The Two Popes,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” placed veteran stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, respectively, in the Supporting Actor race, yielding nominations for all three and a win for Pitt.
This year’s story is going the opposite way,...
Last year, the decisionmakers behind “The Two Popes,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” placed veteran stars Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, respectively, in the Supporting Actor race, yielding nominations for all three and a win for Pitt.
This year’s story is going the opposite way,...
- 11/4/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
You can’t accuse Netflix’s awards team of Oscar category fraud. They’re going to push the entire starry ensemble of writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s well-reviewed ’60s courtroom drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (October 16) for supporting actor, just as “Spotlight” did the year it collected the Best Picture Oscar.
The slew of supporting actor candidates in “Chicago 7” have agreed to compete together, including the cast’s arguable leads, Sacha Baron Cohen as Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, who in the movie tussles with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne’s more moderate anti-war activist Tom Hayden. Now Baron Cohen will likely get the slot that might have otherwise gone to Jeremy Strong (Yippie Jerry Rubin), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Bobby Seale), Mark Rylance (defense lawyer William Kunstler), or Frank Langella (Judge Julius Hoffman).
This means that Baron Cohen now has a shot in the Best Actor race as his returning character in “Borat 2.
The slew of supporting actor candidates in “Chicago 7” have agreed to compete together, including the cast’s arguable leads, Sacha Baron Cohen as Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, who in the movie tussles with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne’s more moderate anti-war activist Tom Hayden. Now Baron Cohen will likely get the slot that might have otherwise gone to Jeremy Strong (Yippie Jerry Rubin), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Bobby Seale), Mark Rylance (defense lawyer William Kunstler), or Frank Langella (Judge Julius Hoffman).
This means that Baron Cohen now has a shot in the Best Actor race as his returning character in “Borat 2.
- 10/26/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
You can’t accuse Netflix’s awards team of Oscar category fraud. They’re going to push the entire starry ensemble of writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s well-reviewed ’60s courtroom drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (October 16) for supporting actor, just as “Spotlight” did the year it collected the Best Picture Oscar.
The slew of supporting actor candidates in “Chicago 7” have agreed to compete together, including the cast’s arguable leads, Sacha Baron Cohen as Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, who in the movie tussles with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne’s more moderate anti-war activist Tom Hayden. Now Baron Cohen will likely get the slot that might have otherwise gone to Jeremy Strong (Yippie Jerry Rubin), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Bobby Seale), Mark Rylance (defense lawyer William Kunstler), or Frank Langella (Judge Julius Hoffman).
This means that Baron Cohen now has a shot in the Best Actor race as his returning character in “Borat 2.
The slew of supporting actor candidates in “Chicago 7” have agreed to compete together, including the cast’s arguable leads, Sacha Baron Cohen as Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, who in the movie tussles with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne’s more moderate anti-war activist Tom Hayden. Now Baron Cohen will likely get the slot that might have otherwise gone to Jeremy Strong (Yippie Jerry Rubin), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Bobby Seale), Mark Rylance (defense lawyer William Kunstler), or Frank Langella (Judge Julius Hoffman).
This means that Baron Cohen now has a shot in the Best Actor race as his returning character in “Borat 2.
- 10/26/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
(Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven’t seen “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”)
In Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong) appeared in court wearing flowing black judge’s robes to taunt the judge. Did this really happen, though?
Yes, it did. During the five-month trial of the Chicago 7, who were charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot regarding anti-Vietnam War protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Hoffman, Rubin, and the other five defendants, as well as their attorney William Kunstler, disregarded all decorum of a courtroom from the very beginning, according to PBS.
Hoffman and Rubin did wear judge’s robes to the trial one day, according to PBS. When Judge Hoffman (no relation to Abbie) ordered them to remove the robes, they complied, revealing Chicago police uniforms underneath. The...
In Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong) appeared in court wearing flowing black judge’s robes to taunt the judge. Did this really happen, though?
Yes, it did. During the five-month trial of the Chicago 7, who were charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot regarding anti-Vietnam War protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Hoffman, Rubin, and the other five defendants, as well as their attorney William Kunstler, disregarded all decorum of a courtroom from the very beginning, according to PBS.
Hoffman and Rubin did wear judge’s robes to the trial one day, according to PBS. When Judge Hoffman (no relation to Abbie) ordered them to remove the robes, they complied, revealing Chicago police uniforms underneath. The...
- 10/16/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
For cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, going from “Ford v Ferrari” to “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was more than merely shifting gears and genres within the period lane of the late 1960s. Shooting the timely conspiracy trial, showing Vietnam War protesters outside the 1968 Democratic Convention that turned horribly violent, required a new mindset and rapport with writer-director Aaron Sorkin, making his second outing behind the camera following “Molly’s Game.”
In fact, on “Chicago 7,” Sorkin’s technical inexperience demanded more visual heavy lifting from the cinematographer. Finally, Papamichael was able to facilitate Sorkin’s vision, just as he’s done all along with his frequent collaborators James Mangold and Alexander Payne (the Oscar-nominated “Nebraska”).
Papamichael realized on day one that “Aaron is all about the rhythm and the language,” he said. “And therefore he doesn’t want any shots that are not just on the person who’s speaking. And, you...
In fact, on “Chicago 7,” Sorkin’s technical inexperience demanded more visual heavy lifting from the cinematographer. Finally, Papamichael was able to facilitate Sorkin’s vision, just as he’s done all along with his frequent collaborators James Mangold and Alexander Payne (the Oscar-nominated “Nebraska”).
Papamichael realized on day one that “Aaron is all about the rhythm and the language,” he said. “And therefore he doesn’t want any shots that are not just on the person who’s speaking. And, you...
- 10/16/2020
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Over half a century has passed since the events portrayed in the outstanding courtroom drama from Netflix, The Trial of the Chicago 7, took place and, given the current politically charged times, our relationship with authority and authoritarian rule hasn’t gotten any less prickly.
When first envisioned, the protest accompanying the Democratic National Convention in 1968, was intended to be a peaceful protest of the war in Vietnam. But, as most protests of the period went, this one quickly turned violent as police and members of the National Guard used force and violence to quell a supposed riot. The accused organizers of the alleged riot—who included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Les Weiner, and Bobby Seale—were subsequently charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot, resulting in one of the most infamous trials in American history.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin,...
When first envisioned, the protest accompanying the Democratic National Convention in 1968, was intended to be a peaceful protest of the war in Vietnam. But, as most protests of the period went, this one quickly turned violent as police and members of the National Guard used force and violence to quell a supposed riot. The accused organizers of the alleged riot—who included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Les Weiner, and Bobby Seale—were subsequently charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot, resulting in one of the most infamous trials in American history.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin,...
- 10/16/2020
- by Mike Tyrkus
- CinemaNerdz
Image Source: Netflix
Director Aaron Sorkin is hopping back on the political drama train with Netflix's The Trial of the Chicago 7. Based on a true story, the period film follows the infamous case of the seven men - really eight - who were indicted for inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The demonstrations drew an estimate of
10,000 participants
, many of who faced police brutality at the frontlines. Sorkin's movie spotlights the notoriously chaotic and controversial trial that followed. Its cast is stacked - the powerhouse team includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, and more. Before you add The Trial of the Chicago 7 to your queue, here's the backstory that you should know from this turbulent year in American history.
To understand how the situation unfolded, we need to look at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, which followed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr.
Director Aaron Sorkin is hopping back on the political drama train with Netflix's The Trial of the Chicago 7. Based on a true story, the period film follows the infamous case of the seven men - really eight - who were indicted for inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The demonstrations drew an estimate of
10,000 participants
, many of who faced police brutality at the frontlines. Sorkin's movie spotlights the notoriously chaotic and controversial trial that followed. Its cast is stacked - the powerhouse team includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, and more. Before you add The Trial of the Chicago 7 to your queue, here's the backstory that you should know from this turbulent year in American history.
To understand how the situation unfolded, we need to look at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, which followed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr.
- 10/14/2020
- by Stacey Nguyen
- Popsugar.com
Tie-dye? Check. Fringed leather? Check. Headbands, puka shell necklaces, corduroy and denim? Check, check, check. No facet of late 1960s fashion goes untouched in “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin’s Netflix docudrama based on the 1969 trial of a group of radicals charged with conspiracy, among other things, for the uprisings surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“You don’t always get a really cool 1960s movie, with clothes that I happened to be incredibly partial to, with a cast of really great men,” says costume designer Susan Lyall of the film, which features a star-studded ensemble including Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin and Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman.
“It was a moment when men and women really moved out of their looks from the previous couple of decades,” says Lyall, who worked with Sorkin...
“You don’t always get a really cool 1960s movie, with clothes that I happened to be incredibly partial to, with a cast of really great men,” says costume designer Susan Lyall of the film, which features a star-studded ensemble including Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin and Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman.
“It was a moment when men and women really moved out of their looks from the previous couple of decades,” says Lyall, who worked with Sorkin...
- 10/14/2020
- by Lesley McKenzie
- Variety Film + TV
People stand gathered around a federal building, outraged at the violent treatment of fellow peaceful demonstrators; counter-protestors are also standing by, waving signs which bemoan the lack of focus on all civil rights; and an exceedingly politicized Justice Department gathers trumped up charges intended to demonize those they deemed “radical,” “subversive,” and “the far left.” No this isn’t the nightly news, it’s the opening moments of Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, a movie about a grotesque miscarriage of justice from 50 years ago.
Premiering on Netflix just before the U.S. presidential election, but months after a summer of civil unrest, The Trial of the Chicago 7 feels both tailored for our moment and almost transported from another universe. The irony of the timeliness is not lost on Sorkin, who filmed Chicago 7 a year before the death of George Floyd ignited a new wave of protests across...
Premiering on Netflix just before the U.S. presidential election, but months after a summer of civil unrest, The Trial of the Chicago 7 feels both tailored for our moment and almost transported from another universe. The irony of the timeliness is not lost on Sorkin, who filmed Chicago 7 a year before the death of George Floyd ignited a new wave of protests across...
- 10/14/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Aaron Sorkin has assembled one of the best casts of the year for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a follow-up to his directorial debut, “Molly’s Game.” The film is based on the true story of a group of anti-Vietnam War activists and protestors who were charged with conspiracy in 1969. It is now available in select theaters and will drop on Netflix on Oct. 16. Critics have now screened “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which has a solid score of 75 on Metacritic as of this writing. Will the film become a major awards player this season?
Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, which is more binary than Metacritic, the film has an even more impressive 92% approval rating from critics. With 34 fresh reviews and only three rotten as of Friday, Sorkin’s film is shaping up to be a strong contender heading into the Oscar season. Critics rave that the courtroom drama is “inherently compelling,...
Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, which is more binary than Metacritic, the film has an even more impressive 92% approval rating from critics. With 34 fresh reviews and only three rotten as of Friday, Sorkin’s film is shaping up to be a strong contender heading into the Oscar season. Critics rave that the courtroom drama is “inherently compelling,...
- 9/25/2020
- by Kevin Jacobsen
- Gold Derby
Nothing epitomized late ’60s iconoclasm like the trial of the Chicago Seven, a high-profile courtroom showdown between vindictive government forces and the righteous men who opposed its corruption. The nearly five-month proceedings were so loaded with histrionic grandstanding they practically anticipated the movie Aaron Sorkin would make five decades later. “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is exactly as advertised — , that overall makes a passionate case for the resilience of its formula more than using it as an excuse.
Of course, Sorkin practically rejuvenated that formula by writing the fiery confrontations of “A Few Good Men” almost 30 years ago, and here directs his own blunt, energetic screenplay with the convictions of a storyteller fully committed to the tropes at hand. It works well enough in part because the trial lends itself to such artifice: When the government charged an eclectic blend of stoned rebels and non-violent anti-war protesters with inciting...
Of course, Sorkin practically rejuvenated that formula by writing the fiery confrontations of “A Few Good Men” almost 30 years ago, and here directs his own blunt, energetic screenplay with the convictions of a storyteller fully committed to the tropes at hand. It works well enough in part because the trial lends itself to such artifice: When the government charged an eclectic blend of stoned rebels and non-violent anti-war protesters with inciting...
- 9/25/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
On paper, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” feels like it could be a bit of Aaron Sorkin’s greatest hits. The drama, which hits select theaters on Friday before heading to Netflix on Oct. 16, has lots of the qualities you can find in previous works that he’s written: politics, legal scenes and, most of all, smart people talking fast (pretty much everything Sorkin has done).
But if “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is indeed full of the verbal pyrotechnics that can make Sorkin such an invigorating storyteller, the film is most notable for the way it goes in directions we haven’t seen from the writer and director. With its intricate editing and full-scale action sequences re-creating the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” moves beyond Sorkin the writer of dialogue, or Sorkin the supplier of scripts to the likes of Rob Reiner,...
But if “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is indeed full of the verbal pyrotechnics that can make Sorkin such an invigorating storyteller, the film is most notable for the way it goes in directions we haven’t seen from the writer and director. With its intricate editing and full-scale action sequences re-creating the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” moves beyond Sorkin the writer of dialogue, or Sorkin the supplier of scripts to the likes of Rob Reiner,...
- 9/25/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
It’s a curious thing that in the movie culture of the last 50 years, you can count on one hand (or maybe one middle finger) the good dramas that have been made about the political counterculture of the 1960s. The turbulence of that era has never stopped casting a shadow over our own. Yet there’s something about it that resists being captured with any real onscreen authenticity. When you gather up a bunch of actors and dress them like hippies and have them carry protest signs, it tends to look like what it is: a staged insurrection. And the ’60s were such an amped orgy of media signifiers — the flower-power fashion, the groovys and hey, mans, the rock psychedelia, the jabbering on about revolution — that the era, viewed in hindsight, has a way of devolving into a compost heap of clichés.
Yet Aaron Sorkin’s Sorkin doesn’t just re-stage the infamous trial,...
Yet Aaron Sorkin’s Sorkin doesn’t just re-stage the infamous trial,...
- 9/25/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix skipped the fall festivals, but the streamer will launch its robust award season lineup with Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which hits select theaters September 25, three weeks before its October 16 streaming date. The Oscar-winning screenwriter (“The Social Network”) returns to the director’s chair with this long-in-the-works courtroom drama, initially developed by DreamWorks for Steven Spielberg to direct.
Sorkin delivers a powerful Oscar contender as a great cast runs with his brilliant dialogue that serves witty real-life characters and high-pitched drama. While Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay nods are in the bag, Netflix hasn’t yet decided how to play out the Oscar categories for this wide-ranging cast.
It’s likely the awards team will push the most established stars for Best Actor: Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) as Tom Hayden and Original Screenplay Oscar nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) as Abbie Hoffman.
Sorkin delivers a powerful Oscar contender as a great cast runs with his brilliant dialogue that serves witty real-life characters and high-pitched drama. While Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay nods are in the bag, Netflix hasn’t yet decided how to play out the Oscar categories for this wide-ranging cast.
It’s likely the awards team will push the most established stars for Best Actor: Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) as Tom Hayden and Original Screenplay Oscar nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) as Abbie Hoffman.
- 9/23/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Netflix skipped the fall festivals, but the streamer will launch its robust award season lineup with Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which hits select theaters September 25, three weeks before its October 16 streaming date. The Oscar-winning screenwriter (“The Social Network”) returns to the director’s chair with this long-in-the-works courtroom drama, initially developed by DreamWorks for Steven Spielberg to direct.
Sorkin delivers a powerful Oscar contender as a great cast runs with his brilliant dialogue that serves witty real-life characters and high-pitched drama. While Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay nods are in the bag, Netflix hasn’t yet decided how to play out the Oscar categories for this wide-ranging cast.
It’s likely the awards team will push the most established stars for Best Actor: Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) as Tom Hayden and Original Screenplay Oscar nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) as Abbie Hoffman.
Sorkin delivers a powerful Oscar contender as a great cast runs with his brilliant dialogue that serves witty real-life characters and high-pitched drama. While Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay nods are in the bag, Netflix hasn’t yet decided how to play out the Oscar categories for this wide-ranging cast.
It’s likely the awards team will push the most established stars for Best Actor: Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) as Tom Hayden and Original Screenplay Oscar nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) as Abbie Hoffman.
- 9/23/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” from writer and director Aaron Sorkin, a project that has circled Hollywood for more than a decade, has landed in the awards race. The film screened virtually on Tuesday evening before a group of critics, journalists and bloggers.
Featuring a hardy ensemble with some of the industry’s most gifted actors — Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Frank Langella, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Keaton and Kelvin Harrison, Jr. — the historical drama has been at the top of minds of Oscar prospects for months. With an upcoming presidential election and an impending Scotus battle on the horizon, it could be one of the rare cases in which a film’s awards chances could tie closely to the mood of the country.
Distributed by Netflix, the film tells the story of the “Chicago 7,” a group of seven individuals...
Featuring a hardy ensemble with some of the industry’s most gifted actors — Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Frank Langella, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Keaton and Kelvin Harrison, Jr. — the historical drama has been at the top of minds of Oscar prospects for months. With an upcoming presidential election and an impending Scotus battle on the horizon, it could be one of the rare cases in which a film’s awards chances could tie closely to the mood of the country.
Distributed by Netflix, the film tells the story of the “Chicago 7,” a group of seven individuals...
- 9/23/2020
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
“The whole world is watching,” we hear chanted repeatedly in the first The Trial of the Chicago 7 trailer. After riots, which may have begun due to the excessive force by the police, overtook the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the federal government tried to charge a group of counterculture activists with conspiracy in one of the most infamous trials in American history. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, and featuring an all-star cast headlined by Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Rylance, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the Netflix film merits global consideration. Subscribers will have access to the film starting on Oct. 16
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was originally going to be released by Paramount Pictures, but the studio sold the distribution rights to Netflix due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trial of The Chicago 7 was initially set to be released in September, but the deal between Paramount and Netflix pushed it back a few weeks.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was originally going to be released by Paramount Pictures, but the studio sold the distribution rights to Netflix due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trial of The Chicago 7 was initially set to be released in September, but the deal between Paramount and Netflix pushed it back a few weeks.
- 9/14/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
For screenplay Oscars, auteurs have the advantage. Academy voters give creators extra points for controlling their visions. That’s why “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight) — written by three-time screenplay nominee Wes Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman — is a strong contender in this race.
Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.
After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...
Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.
After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...
- 8/5/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
For screenplay Oscars, auteurs have the advantage. Academy voters give creators extra points for controlling their visions. That’s why “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight) — written by three-time screenplay nominee Wes Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman — is a strong contender in this race.
Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.
After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...
Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.
After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...
- 8/5/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
While Netflix had the foresight to see that this year’s awards race was not (as they usually are) going to be launched by the fall film festivals, that does not mean that the streamer is going to back off from awards campaigning. Instead, the streaming giant is already crafting a robust awards slate with both original features and earlier festival pickups, and plans to use New York’s Paris Theatre and Los Angeles’ The Egyptian as their promo and release hubs. And Netflix just added a sharp arrow to their awards quiver, plucking the worldwide rights to Aaron Sorkin’s all-star ensemble “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” originally to be released in September by Paramount and overseas distributors, for a reported $56 million.
Over at Netflix, that’s chump change. Paramount, on the other hand, could use the money, as the studio can’t show movies in theaters during the pandemic.
Over at Netflix, that’s chump change. Paramount, on the other hand, could use the money, as the studio can’t show movies in theaters during the pandemic.
- 7/1/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
While Netflix had the foresight to see that this year’s awards race was not (as they usually are) going to be launched by the fall film festivals, that does not mean that the streamer is going to back off from awards campaigning. Instead, the streaming giant is already crafting a robust awards slate with both original features and earlier festival pickups, and plans to use New York’s Paris Theatre and Los Angeles’ The Egyptian as their promo and release hubs. And Netflix just added a sharp arrow to their awards quiver, plucking the worldwide rights to Aaron Sorkin’s all-star ensemble “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” originally to be released in September by Paramount and overseas distributors, for a reported $56 million.
Over at Netflix, that’s chump change. Paramount, on the other hand, could use the money, as the studio can’t show movies in theaters during the pandemic.
Over at Netflix, that’s chump change. Paramount, on the other hand, could use the money, as the studio can’t show movies in theaters during the pandemic.
- 7/1/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have signed up to join the cast of Aaron Sorkin’s historical drama ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’.
The story focuses on the infamous 1969 trial of a group of counterculture protesters charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot following the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Also in the news – Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ renewed for season 2
Rogen and Gordon-Levitt will join a cast of Eddie Redmayne who plays play, anti-war activist, Tom Hayden, Sascha Baron Cohen as Youth International Party co-founder Abbie Hoffman, Jonathan Majors as Bobby Seale, Alex Sharp as activist, Rennie Davis. Rogan will play the role of fellow founding Yip member, Jerry Rubin while Gordon-Levitt will play prosecuting attorney, Richard Schultz. It’s also reported that Michael Keaton is wanted for the role of William Kunstler.
Sorkin has penned the script and will take the director chair, so expect a serving of meaty and clever dialogue.
The story focuses on the infamous 1969 trial of a group of counterculture protesters charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot following the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Also in the news – Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ renewed for season 2
Rogen and Gordon-Levitt will join a cast of Eddie Redmayne who plays play, anti-war activist, Tom Hayden, Sascha Baron Cohen as Youth International Party co-founder Abbie Hoffman, Jonathan Majors as Bobby Seale, Alex Sharp as activist, Rennie Davis. Rogan will play the role of fellow founding Yip member, Jerry Rubin while Gordon-Levitt will play prosecuting attorney, Richard Schultz. It’s also reported that Michael Keaton is wanted for the role of William Kunstler.
Sorkin has penned the script and will take the director chair, so expect a serving of meaty and clever dialogue.
- 2/4/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: After pre-production was put on pause in December, we can reveal that Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is now heading to market with an all star cast including Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonathan Majors and Alex Sharp.
Rocket Science has boarded international sales and CAA will handle U.S. with shoot now slated for late summer. The anticipated project instantly becomes a red-hot prospect at the Efm next week and its revival in the open market should be a major boon for buyers.
Based on Oscar-winner Sorkin’s screenplay, The Social Network and West Wing scribe will also direct the film which is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The story is set in 1968 and 1969, but speaks...
Rocket Science has boarded international sales and CAA will handle U.S. with shoot now slated for late summer. The anticipated project instantly becomes a red-hot prospect at the Efm next week and its revival in the open market should be a major boon for buyers.
Based on Oscar-winner Sorkin’s screenplay, The Social Network and West Wing scribe will also direct the film which is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The story is set in 1968 and 1969, but speaks...
- 2/1/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Aaron Sorkin’s Trial Of Chicago 7 is not moving forward with its February 2019 production start.
There are reports that it was due to budgetary concerns, but Amblin says it’s more about scheduling with Sorkin focusing on To Kill a Mockingbird which opens on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre tomorrow night. The studio released the following statement:
“Aaron just adapted To Kill A Mockingbird which is premiering on Broadway this Thursday. He is currently evaluating his schedule and commitments to determine the best time and way to make The Trial of the Chicago 7. Amblin remains involved as a producer.”
The Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network recently adapted Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage after a legal battle with Lee’s estate and the play is generating strong buzz. The cast is signed for a year’s run.
The cast in Trial of the Chicago...
There are reports that it was due to budgetary concerns, but Amblin says it’s more about scheduling with Sorkin focusing on To Kill a Mockingbird which opens on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre tomorrow night. The studio released the following statement:
“Aaron just adapted To Kill A Mockingbird which is premiering on Broadway this Thursday. He is currently evaluating his schedule and commitments to determine the best time and way to make The Trial of the Chicago 7. Amblin remains involved as a producer.”
The Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network recently adapted Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage after a legal battle with Lee’s estate and the play is generating strong buzz. The cast is signed for a year’s run.
The cast in Trial of the Chicago...
- 12/12/2018
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Tony Sokol Oct 28, 2018
Aaron Sorkin will walk and talk with the Chicago 7 defendants in upcoming drama.
Bobby Seale, who co-founded the Black Panther Party with Huey P. Newton, was one of eight people charged with violating the Rap Brown law for the Vietnam War protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Seale called Judge Julius Hoffman a racist for denying his request for a separate trial. The judge responded by having Seale bound and gagged in court before separating his trial and sentencing him to 48 months in prison. The remaining defendants became known as the Chicago 7. Aaron Sorkin is set to direct the upcoming political drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Sacha Baron Cohen is in the running to star, according to Deadline.
Sorkin, best known for the television series The West Wing and HBO's Newsroom, wrote the screenplay more than 10 years ago, with an eye...
Aaron Sorkin will walk and talk with the Chicago 7 defendants in upcoming drama.
Bobby Seale, who co-founded the Black Panther Party with Huey P. Newton, was one of eight people charged with violating the Rap Brown law for the Vietnam War protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Seale called Judge Julius Hoffman a racist for denying his request for a separate trial. The judge responded by having Seale bound and gagged in court before separating his trial and sentencing him to 48 months in prison. The remaining defendants became known as the Chicago 7. Aaron Sorkin is set to direct the upcoming political drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Sacha Baron Cohen is in the running to star, according to Deadline.
Sorkin, best known for the television series The West Wing and HBO's Newsroom, wrote the screenplay more than 10 years ago, with an eye...
- 10/28/2018
- Den of Geek
Aaron Sorkin is attached to direct and Sacha Baron Cohen is in early talks to star in The Trial of the Chicago 7, a long-in-the-works feature film from Amblin Entertainment, Deadline has confirmed. The movie is based on the 1969 federal conspiracy trial stemming from the cops-vs-protesters riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that captivated an already divided nation.
Sorkin, who created the political drama series The West Wing, had penned the original screenplay more than a decade ago, and at one point Steven Spielberg was planning to direct until the writers strike hit. Later, Paul Greengrass was attached to helm, but he fell out in 2013 (he directed Captain Phillips instead).
Baron Cohen was in the mix to play Abbie Hoffman as far back as when Spielberg planned to direct, Deadline reported at the time (Scott Rudin was attached to produce originally; Marc Platt is aboard now). Others involved...
Sorkin, who created the political drama series The West Wing, had penned the original screenplay more than a decade ago, and at one point Steven Spielberg was planning to direct until the writers strike hit. Later, Paul Greengrass was attached to helm, but he fell out in 2013 (he directed Captain Phillips instead).
Baron Cohen was in the mix to play Abbie Hoffman as far back as when Spielberg planned to direct, Deadline reported at the time (Scott Rudin was attached to produce originally; Marc Platt is aboard now). Others involved...
- 10/26/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The flyers on the seats at Barrington Stage Company's St Germain Stage were from a 1995 college appearance by William Kunstler, They said in bold letters 'Boycott - Kunstler is a sellout and a hypocrite His defense of Traiters Terrorists and Rapists is an insult to the causes for what which he once stood.' Well, these flyers were correct about Jeff McCarthy in Kunstler being a 'sell out' audience-wise at Barrington Stage with his brilliant portrayal of the famed defense lawyer.
- 5/26/2017
- by Stephen Sorokoff
- BroadwayWorld.com
DreamWorks is moving forward on their production of the Aaron Sorkin-scripted film The Trial of the Chicago 7. Steven Spielberg has been looking to direct it since 2008, but according to an inside source, no movement has been made. The source explains that “every two months it’s been revisited. The title would come up in conversation at production meetings. But it’s just been hanging.”
Not anymore. The studio is pushing it forward, and according to Deadline, they are looking to hire Paul Greengrass (Bourne franchise) to direct it. Greengrass was also looking to direct it back in 2008 when Spielberg's plate started to fill up with other projects. It's funny to see this news pop up again five years later.
The movie is "based on the infamous 1969 federal conspiracy trial arising out of the protesters vs police violent rioting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that transfixed the nation...
Not anymore. The studio is pushing it forward, and according to Deadline, they are looking to hire Paul Greengrass (Bourne franchise) to direct it. Greengrass was also looking to direct it back in 2008 when Spielberg's plate started to fill up with other projects. It's funny to see this news pop up again five years later.
The movie is "based on the infamous 1969 federal conspiracy trial arising out of the protesters vs police violent rioting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that transfixed the nation...
- 7/24/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Is 2013 the year of lost Steven Spielberg projects finding new life? On the heels of Christopher Nolan picking up the mantle for Spielberg on "Interstellar," a film Spielberg first started developing back in 2006, comes this Deadline.com report about Paul Greengrass taking over for the director on "The Trial of The Chicago 7," a feature Spielberg started game-planning back in 2007.
Written by Aaron Sorkin, the film will focus on the famous conspiracy trial of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines and Lee Weiner, all of whom were charged with inciting riots after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Spielberg was first attached to the film in 2007, and worked with Sorkin on the project through 2008. The director also had a cast in mind, as noted by Vanity Fair in a piece on the director in February of 2008.
My glance strays to a side table, where headshots...
Written by Aaron Sorkin, the film will focus on the famous conspiracy trial of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines and Lee Weiner, all of whom were charged with inciting riots after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Spielberg was first attached to the film in 2007, and worked with Sorkin on the project through 2008. The director also had a cast in mind, as noted by Vanity Fair in a piece on the director in February of 2008.
My glance strays to a side table, where headshots...
- 7/24/2013
- by Christopher Rosen
- Huffington Post
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