By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Jane Campion's sabbatical from moviemaking left the respect and admiration of her peers undiminished.
Campion, whose last feature film was 2009's "Bright Star," was honored as best director at Sunday's Academy Awards for the unconventional Western "The Power of the Dog."
The 67-year-old filmmaker's victory marks the first time the directing award has gone to women in back-to-back years, with Chloé Zhao winning last year for "Nomadland." Campion is the third woman to win in the category.
"Big love to my fellow nominees….You're all so extraordinary, and it could have been any of you," the New Zealand native said, calling the award a "lifetime honor."
"I love directing because it's a deep dive into story, yet the task of manifesting a world can be overwhelming. The sweet thing is I'm not alone," Campion said, thanking the film's stars, its producers and Netflix.
"The Power of the Dog," starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, is based on Thomas Savage's 1967 novel about wealthy rancher brothers and is set in Montana in 1925. All received acting bids.
Campion, the first woman to be nominated twice for directing, triumphed over a field that included Steven Spielberg for the remake of "West Side Story." When Campion received her first directing nod, in 1994 for "The Piano," Spielberg won the trophy for "Schindler's List."
Her 1994 nomination made her only the second woman to compete in the category, following Lina Wertmuller's groundbreaking bid in 1977 for "Seven Beauties." Campion won the Oscar for best original screenplay for "The Piano," with Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin receiving acting trophies.
Campion's victory Sunday makes her the first woman to win both directing and writing awards.
Since the awards began in 1927, a total of seven women have competed in the best director category. Kathryn Bigelow was the first to win, for "The Hurt Locker" in 2009, with Zhao's victory coming more than a decade later.
Campion wasn't idle during her break from filmmaking. She co-created the TV series "Top of the Lake," which in 2013 received eight Emmy nominations and one award for its first season. Campion shared writing and directing nods.
She was drawn back to film by Savage's novel, which she called an "amazing piece of literature," and the realization that, while she enjoyed making the TV series, she was ready to again embrace the framework of moviemaking.
"The discipline and the rigor of those two hours was something I was excited to go back to," Campion told the AP last year.
Others nominated in the directing category this year were Paul Thomas Anderson for "Licorice Pizza," Kenneth Branagh, "Belfast," and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, "Drive My Car."
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More