Addie Morfoot: Last News

Addie Morfoot ContributorBack in the mid-1980’s, Oliver Stone met with famed financier Carl Icahn about a movie he was writing called “Wall Street.” The meeting provided the director with much of the inspiration for the film’s villain Gordon Gekko. Stone speaks about the meeting in HBO’s documentary “Icahn: The Restless Billionaire,” debuting on Feb.

Addie Morfoot ContributorIn the past decade, the inclusion of streaming services in the documentary market has made it increasingly harder for smaller docus struggling with funding to break into the nonfiction feature Oscar race. But in spite of the deep pockets they are up against, a number of cash-strapped docs inevitably make it onto the shortlist every year. This year was no exception.Jessica Beshir’s “Faya Dayi” (Janus Films, pictured above), Camilla Nielsson’s “President” (Greenwich Entertainment) and Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas’ “Writing with Fire” (Music Box Films) are three films on this year’s feature doc shortlist that are up against competitors with multi-million-dollar campaign budgets being paid by media and tech conglomerates including Apple, Netflix, ViacomCBS, the Walt Disney Co.

Addie Morfoot ContributorDiane Weyermann, chief content officer at Participant and former director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program died Thursday of cancer in New York. She was 66.For the last three decades, Weyermann played a seminal role in supporting the documentary community and shaping the nonfiction landscape during stints at Participant and the Sundance Institute.

Addie Morfoot ContributorNational Geographic first approached Liz Garbus at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival about directing a documentary focused on French sea explorer Jacques Cousteau. Garbus, who grew up watching David Wolper’s ABC series “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,” was intrigued.

Addie Morfoot ContributorIn Showtime’s new docuseries “Gossip” a recording of Donald Trump pretending to be his own publicist is played; a story about Tom Cruise’s front teeth falling out during a dinner with former New York Post editor-in-chief Col Allen is told; and 91-year-old Cindy Adams defends her past and present friendships with Roy Cohn, Imelda Marcos, John Gotti, Gen.

Addie Morfoot ContributorErika Dilday, who earlier this year became the first Black executive director of American Documentary Inc., oversees various ventures for the nonprofit, including management of the long-running “POV” series on PBS and “America ReFramed,” a showcase of independent documentaries on the World Channel. Formerly executive director of the Maysles Documentary Center, where she produced Albert Maysles’ final film, “In Transit,” she joined AmDoc from Futuro Media Group, a nonprofit that produces programming including “Latino USA,” where she had been CEO since 2017.

Addie Morfoot ContributorOver the course of her legendary career, Alice Lee “Boaty” Boatwright has cast iconic movies, served as a studio exec and repped starry talent including Joan Didion, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Reflecting on it today, she says her career really took off after a pivotal encounter at Sardi’s restaurant more than 60 years ago.