On October 30th, Brazil made the right choice, the best choice for the country. Thank God. And this week I just voted here in California for Governor and the Mayor of Los Angeles. Certainly, here the Democrats will have a majority.
Hollywood is also getting ready to elect its favorites for 2022. This time
of the year, the crazy race for awards begins – Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics
Choice Awards, etc.
Every day, we journalists receive invitations to premieres, cocktails, and
the most varied number of events, as well as receiving access to screeners via
the Internet and even DVDs with movies and TV series. It's a real avalanche. A
delight...
Over the weekend, while the American Film Market took place, on the
seafront in the Santa Monica neighborhood, when producers and distributors of
all types of audiovisuals gather to buy, sell and make new projects viable, an
extensive delegation of Brazilians from SPCINE, the São Paulo filmmakers, took
the city by storm. Among them was my dear friend and companion from TV Globo
(now belonging to O2 production company), Gustavo Gontijo.
Guto, as we call him, is a fan of Steven Spielberg and, luckily, I was
invited by my American friend Steve Goldman, a member of the Writer's Guild of
America to watch the great director's new film at WGA theater. THE FABELMANS is
an autobiographical project about Spielberg's youth on his way to Hollywood. I
took Guto with me because at the end of the screening the director himself
would be present to talk to those in the audience.
Spielberg came in cheered by those presents. As he approached our row, Guto
extended the palm of his hand to him. Spielberg did not hesitate and spread his
hand in the traditional American “high five”. I believe Guto will never wash
his hands again... The joy on his face was indescribable.
The next night our program was dinner at a cozy Filipino Hollywood
restaurant called La Rose Café. The dinner was to welcome actress Dolly De Leon
from the film TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, a macabre comedy by director Ruben Östlunde,
which won the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The food was great
and so was the conversation. And Dolly is a nice lady, besides being the best
thing about the movie.
And, closing the weekend marathon, Monday night Netflix invited the press,
artists, and collaborators to enjoy the PLAYLIST of its new productions in the
process of being released. We are talking about the soundtrack of projects like
BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS by Alejandro González Iñárritu;
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY; LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER; WHITE NOISE and
GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO.
The event took place in this new Netflix place -- Lighthouse ArtSpace -- on
Sunset Boulevard (where the well-known record store Amoeba Hollywood used to
be). In a huge hall, we watched a debate between Netflix music supervisors
about their work on these projects, followed by the presentation of unreleased
videos on the four walls of the hall of series such as THE CROWN (season 5),
Tim Burton's WEDNESDAY and the musical film MATILDA. The song “Paper Airplanes”
music video from the movie JAZZMAN'S BLUES, with singer Ruth B. present at the
event. And a full orchestra performing live excerpts from the soundtracks of
the films mentioned above. With the special bonus of having PINOCCHIO’s music conducted
by the author himself, maestro Alexandre Desplat. Finally, the musical “New
Body Rhumba” from the movie WHITE NOISE was presented on video and with dancers
around us in the event hall.
After the presentation, we were invited to participate in a
dinner/reception with drinks and varied foods. A Hollywood night as it should
be. I took the opportunity to take a “selfie” with WHITE NOISE and WEDNESDAY
soundtracks composer Danny Elfman.
After all this snobbery, I can only end this conversation like any celebrity columnist of the 1960s would do, in French, saying - A demain!
