HFPA

The summer of 2011 is shaping up to be a true ‘sequel’bration’ as such titles as The Hangover, Kung Fu Panda, Transformers, Cars, Harry Potter, The Fast and the Furious, X Men and Pirates of the Caribbean will park their next cinematic installments at theaters. And thus begins the great debate: is this art or economics? Why is this wave of film familiarity sweeping the movie making process? Let’s face it: nothing excites Hollywood more than making money, and creating the franchise has proven to be one of the surest and safest ways to achieve that.

Mel Gibson talks about acting and interacting with a hand puppet in The Beaver.

Jeremy Irons speaks about his role in the new historical series, The Borgias.

By Jorge Camara The winner of the Golden Globe for the Best Comedy/Musical Picture of 1954 was Carmen Jones. The film, an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was an adaptation of Georges Bizet’s famous opera “Carmen,” respected the music, but used a script and new English lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein of Rodgers & Hammerstein musical fame.

Diane Lane reflects on her role in HBO's Cinema Verite, about the making of the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family.

Golden Globe nominee Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher riff about what it means to be Men of a Certain Age.

THOR star Chris Hemsworth tells us about playing a God, albeit one banished to earth.

By Jorge Camara As Paula Alquist, the suffering wife being driven mad by her supposedly devoted husband in Gaslight, an extraordinarily vulnerable Ingrid Bergman won her first Golden Globe as the Best Lead Actress of 1944. She received the statuette in 1945, the second year that the award was given, and at the time there was only one category in acting, as opposed to the division between Drama and Musical and/or Comedy, a tradition that started in 1950.

By Philip Berk Years ago, when Martin Scorsese and I were discussing our all-time favorite movies, the one that immediately popped up was The Red Shoes.   We both marveled at the screenplay which juggles three subplots before the main focus of the story comes into play.

ARTICLE BY PHILIP BERK FROM A 2007 HFPA INTERVIEW “Of all the directors I’ve worked with, the one I enjoyed working with the most was Sidney Lumet. He tells you what to do, where to go, how to go, how far to go.