Tim Gray-Senior: Last News

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAt the Media Access Awards on Wednesday, honoree Marlee Matlin summed up the mood by saying that when she came to Los Angeles in 1985, “words like equality and access were so far outside the mainstream of Hollywood, I had to make noise.” Receiving the MAA’s lifetime achievement award “pushes me to be even louder.”The annual awards have long honored film and TV shows that offer positive portrayals of disabled people.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“CODA” may be the most radical Oscar contender this year.Writer-director Sian Heder tells Variety, “We told a simple story about family dynamics. I was trying to portray a complicated family that felt real.”She’s right: The structure is straightforward and the story is indeed simple, about a hearing daughter from a deaf family who wants to pursue her own career.But the film is revolutionary because it centers on a deaf family.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThis month marks the 40th anniversary of my joining Variety, which sets off a number of thoughts.The first is a realization: 40 years? I’m old! (This is startling, because for many years I wasn’t.)The second reaction is how much things have changed. Occasionally, people will say, “Wow, 40 years at one place!” And I think, well, yes, but that requires a few footnotes.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWinners of the 93rd Academy Awards were unveiled April 25, a day that included another notable announcement: The creation of 1in4, an advocacy group to help disabled workers starting out in entertainment. The coalition was formed when 10 vets began exchanging tales of navigating the industry.“We are the only organization in Hollywood made up of working disabled professionals, helping the next group of disabled filmmakers to come up the ranks,” Kaitlyn Yang, one of the founders, tells Variety.In just six months, they have succeeded in getting entry-level jobs such as production assistants for disabled people who wanted to get their foot in the door, but didn’t know how.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentBleecker Street’s “Mass” takes place almost entirely in one room, with four characters. When writer-director Fran Kranz was hunting for funding, he resisted suggestions to “open up” the film.“I always believed it had to be this,” he tells Variety, because he didn’t want to “undermine” the characters.The film concerns an emotional meeting between two sets of parents whose sons have died in a school shooting.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentEvery year, the Oscar race is about questions: Who will be nominated, who will win? This year, there’s an added one: What’s the future of moviegoing?COVID has changed everything big and small— including awards eligibility, meaning a theatrical window was not necessary to qualify for awards. As cinemas closed in 2020, many studios’ opted for simultaneous streaming/theatrical releases.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentLongtime NBC press-publicity exec Gene Walsh died Sept. 1 at his home in Burbank.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentIt’s fun to make awards predictions in October, which is kinda/sorta the start of Oscar season.But here’s some perspective: In October 2018, audiences greeted Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” so rapturously that many were predicting an Oscar sweep. It ended up with one win (original song), out of eight nominations.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe Intl. Emerging Film Talent Assn.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWhen Daniel Craig signed on as James Bond in 2005, he found himself under attack by snipers more vicious than any 007 had ever faced: the media.The naysayers immediately lamented the “blond Bond” and criticized his blue eyes. The London Daily Mirror on Oct.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentShowbiz careers have no logic because there are too many unpredictable factors: audiences’ fickle tastes, industry perceptions and, of course, luck. But even given the elusive nature of career success, Keanu Reeves is unique.For one thing, he is stronger than ever after a 35-year career, showing a longevity that might have surprised even his ardent supporters in the 1980s.Most actors would be thrilled to have one successful film franchise, but Reeves — who celebrates his 57th birthday on Sept.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentL.A.’s Rich and Successful Film Festival launches Sept. 4, starting at 1 p.m., at the Lumiere Music Hall in Beverly Hills.The festival spotlights work by independent filmmakers who live in Los Angeles County.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThere weren’t many other figures of old Hollywood like Mae West, a bold comic performer who was at least 50 years head of her time in terms of her material and command of her career.She was born August 17, probably in 1893, though accounts differ. Variety covered her vaudeville appearances starting in 1911, describing her as a “cyclonic young singer” in shows like “Big Gaiety Review.” In 1912, Variety tried to discreetly describe her specialty act in Philadelphia, which was called “A Muscle Dance in a Sitting Position.” The PR stated: “It is all in the way she does it, and her way is all her own.”That doesn’t provide a lot of clues, but the phrase “her way is all her own” sums up her style and her work.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentMonaco-based International Emerging Film Talent Association will showcase 32 in-progress documentaries at this month’s Cannes Marché du Film-Festival and will present a cash award of to one of them.The Marché runs July 6-15, concurrent with the broader Cannes film festival, which wraps July 17. This is the third year year IEFTA is offering its presentations.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe documentary “Beyond the Raging Sea” will make its European premiere July 4 as the centerpiece presentation of the Monaco Streaming Film Festival. The screening will take place in Monte Carlo’s Grimaldi Forum prior to the Festival’s Gala Awards evening.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAt the start of “The One and Only Dick Gregory,” Chris Rock hails the standup/activist as “one of the greatest political comedians who ever lived” and the following two hours prove the point. The first-rate doc, written and directed by Andre Gaines, is a reminder to anyone familiar with Gregory of the breadth and prescience of his work; to the uninitiated, it will be an eye-opener.A title card identifies Gregory as “Public citizen #1, comedian, activist, health pioneer.” Aside from looking at his varied career, Gaines’ doc offers a time capsule of the tumultuous years in which he lived (1932-2017), offering a few shocks at how much of the national anguish has remained unchanged.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentActor Robert Sacchi, known for his close resemblance to Humphrey Bogart, died June 23 at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 89.Sacchi played the title role in the 1980 feature “The Man With Bogart’s Face.” He also appeared in many films, TV shows and commercials playing Bogart or a Bogart look-alike.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentA column of random thoughts:Whatever you think about the year’s movies, you have to admit the titles were confusing. For example, we had “Pieces of a Woman,”  “Promising Young Woman,” “I’m Your Woman,” “I Am Woman” and “Wonder Woman 1984.”That last title could also confuse future film historians.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentMonte Hellman, the maverick director of such films as “Two-Lane Blacktop,” “The Shooting” and “Road to Nowhere,” died April 20 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, Calif., following a fall in his home on April 19. He was 91.Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired within the industry, earning such fans as Quentin Tarantino; they liked his down-and-dirty storytelling, which featured poetic flourishes amid his genre films.After working as an editor’s apprentice at ABC, he made his directing debut with the 1959 “Beast From Haunted Cave,” produced by Roger Corman.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentFor the first time, there are two Asian Americans in Oscar’s director race: Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) and Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”). That’s notable, but it’s even more extraordinary considering only four Asians were ever nominated as director before this.The four predecessors were spread over the decades: Hiroshi Teshigahara (“Woman in the Dunes,” 1965); Akira Kurosawa (“Ran,” 1985; he also won a special Oscar in 1989); M.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentIn the COVID era, we have been forced to rethink everything. And with home viewing becoming even more dominant as cinemas closed, the question has arisen: What exactly is a movie?Pundits and industryites focused this debate on streaming vs.