David Sirota: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: Writer, director, and award-winning journalist Julian Rubinstein’s highly anticipated anti-gang war documentary, The Holly  has tapped Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Hyperobject Industries founder, Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up) and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Todd Schulman (Borat) as executive producers ahead of its world premiere at Telluride’s this Memorial Day weekend.

After an iconic career spanning more than 40 years, Kenneth Branagh is finally an Oscar winner, taking home his first gold statuette for Best Original Screenplay for Belfast.The 61-year-old actor-writer-director won the Oscar overDon’t Look Up (Adam McKay & David Sirota),Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson),King Richard (Zach Baylin) andThe Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt).The film was based on his own experiences growing up in Belfast, with the filmmaker delivering a heartfelt speech after his first Oscar win. Oscar win:After an iconic career spanning more than 40 years, Kenneth Branagh is finally an Oscar winner, taking home his first gold statuette for Best Original Screenplay for BelfastBranagh had been nominated for an Oscar five times before this year, for Best Director and Best Actor for Henry V in 1990, Best Live Action Short Film for Swan Song in 1992, Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet in 1996 andBest Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for My Week With Marilyn in 2011.Branagh is also nominated this year for Best Director and Best Picture for Belfast, setting a record for being nominated in seven categories.

Clayton Davis This past weekend proved to be a wild ride on the awards circuit.The Producers Guild of America Awards bestowed their top honors upon Apple Original Film’s “CODA” on Saturday night while the Cinema Audio Society went with Warner Bros’ “Dune.”At the Writers Guild of America Awards, several of the Oscar nominees for screenplay – “Belfast” (Kenneth Branagh), “Drive My Car” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe), “The Lost Daughter” (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and “The Power of the Dog” (Jane Campion) – were not eligible for recognition. So instead, the group went with “Don’t Look Up” from Adam McKay and David Sirota in original, with “CODA” tacking another trophy for adapted following BAFTA.And the final shoe to drop was the American Society of Cinematographers delivering Greig Fraser (“Dune”) the statuette, his second win following “Lion” (2016).

Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesAfter another politically and socially turbulent year, the Writers Guild of America is ready to celebrate the best that its members have to offer, while reflecting on the ever-changing social and entertainment landscape.The WGA’s annual awards event, a joint venture between WGAW and WGAWE, will be held on Sunday, March 20th, and similar to last year, will be handled as a virtual event. With COVID still firmly lingering in the space of the populace, the guild’s priorities have naturally shifted in ways that couldn’t have been anticipated, while still staying true to its collective core values.This year’s WGA film award nominees represent a roster of high-caliber talent.

Adam McKay is known for, among other things, his blistering satires, Vice and The Big Short among them. His latest, the four-time Oscar-nominated Don’t Look Up, takes aim at our ignorance of climate change, our politics and our obsession with tech.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“Don’t Look Up” has hit a nerve in a way that’s rare for films to do. That’s partly because it addresses an urgent, hot-button topic — climate change — with a film that’s partly a cry for help, partly a black comedy. The movie, written and directed by Adam McKay, with a story by David Sirota, boasts a starry cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett.

If you’ve got negative things to say about “Don’t Look Up”, maybe avoid saying them around Ron Perlman.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s Audible has ordered a documentary podcast series about the 2008 financial crisis that is exec produced by Alex Gibney.