A Band Apart Commercials, Los Angeles, has filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court against director Nico Beyer, alleging breach of contract. As earlier reported, Beyer’s U.S. representation had been the subject of a dispute between A Band Apart and New York-based Compass Films (SHOOT, 10/1/99, p. 1)….Word is that director Geoff McGann is headed to bicoastal M-80….Joe Sicurella of Sicurella & Associates, New York, and Adam Joseph of ear to the ave., New York, have merged to form music and sound design company Face the Music. The bicoastal shop opens with composer Paul Robb and executive producer Birgit Roberts….Michael Elliot, editor/owner of bicoastal Mad River Post, is relocating from the West Coast to the New York office of the company….Milk & Honey Films, which provides spot production services through its offices in Los Angeles, Prague, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal, Moscow and London, has garnered its first TV movie and miniseries. The former, Operation Sandman, was completed by Milk & Honey’s Mexico City operation for Paramount Network Television and Singer White Productions. It is slated to air on UPN. And Milk & Honey’s Prague division has begun production services on a miniseries for the Sci-Fi Channel, Frank Herbert’s Dune…. Congrats to Jim Evans, executive producer at Gas. Food & Lodging, Culver City, Calif., whose wife gave birth on Nov. 19 to James Christian Evans….
“Emilia Pérez” Wins Big At Césars, With Under-Fire Karla Sofia Gascón In Attendance
Oscar contender "Emilia Pérez" was named the best French film of the year at the Césars awards — France's equivalent of the Oscars — and under-fire Karla Sofia Gascón, the star of Jacques Audiard's Mexico-set melodrama, made a rare public appearance.
The musical is one of the most celebrated films of the year but has also been criticized for its depiction of Mexican culture and engulfed in controversy because of Gascón's previous social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
Although Gascón, who was nominated in the best actress category along with her co-star Zoe Saldaña, did not win a César, the night in Paris was triumphal for "Emilia Pérez," which swept seven trophies.
Audiard, who previously condemned Gascón's comments, thanked his "marvelous team" and his female actors.
"When I say my team it's not in the sense of ownership, but a declaration of love," he said. "The same goes for the actresses. My darling Zoe, my darling Karla, Adriana (Paz) who is not here, Selena (Gomez) who is not here. I loved working with you, I love you."
Old posts from Gascon's X account resurfaced in January, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims' dress, language and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned. And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Gascón offered her assessment of Floyd — whose death prompted widespread reckoning with police brutality and racism — as a drug addict who "very few people ever cared" for.
Gascón, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in "Emilia Pérez," has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations.... Read More