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The Movie Year in Review

A special publication of thewrap.com | DECEMBER 2013 SPONSORED BY THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

2013THE BEST & WORST OF A BOLD, » WEIRD, SEXY, CRAZY YEAR Contents Year in Review // December 2013 It Was the Best of Times…

he past 12 months have been a great year for the movies, and we at TheWrap know how that feels—it’s been a pretty good year for us, too. We launched a revamped website in September, increased our staff so much we

outgrew offices that seemed spacious only a year ago, GETTY IMAGES broke our own records for traffic month after month and ended Tthe year in December with an all-time high of more than 6 million WHAT’S INSIDE unique visitors. But the point of this special issue isn’t to brag about ourselves. 4 // ALONSO DURALDE’S PRIME SELECTION (Well, we do a little of that—see page 12.) Instead, we’re In a year of big cinema, a little indie topped the list here to take a quick look back at the year in movies. Because let’s face it, it’s worth remembering a year 6 // BIG & BOLD, OR WEAK & WUSSY? whose films ranged fromGravity to Frances Ha. Rating the most notable movie-business moves A year that included love stories as astonishing as Blue Is the Warmest Color and Her, with their 10 // THOSE MAGIC MOMENTS girl meets girl and boy-meets-operating-system Remembering the onscreen highlights of 2013 romances. A year that brought the return of Bruce Dern, Robert Redford and and the arrival of Chiwetel 12 // OUR GREATEST HITS Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar Isaac. A year that gave us TheWrap rounds up our best movie stories from a , Paul Greengrass and the at the top landmark year of their game. A year that documented the black experience with films as rich and varied as12 Years a Slave, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, 14 // THEY CAST WHO? and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Jeff Sneider looks at great casting decisions—and not- Naturally, some things went wrong this year, so no look at the so-great ones, too year in movies would be complete without a nod to some bad moves and baffling decisions. But really, there’s more celebration than 15 // BARRY MEYER SAYS GOODBYE admonishment in these pages, because 2013 deserves it. An era comes to an end as a legendary exec retires Our thanks to the Weinstein Co. for supporting this special issue, and thank you for coming along throughout this great year. We’ll see 16 // IT’S ’S WORLD you in 2014 with more issues of OscarWrap and EmmyWrap, and of Here’s how the inexhaustible multi-hyphenate spent his course with our daily coverage at TheWrap.com. time during 2013

Sharon Waxman, Editor-in-Chief December 2013 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, SALES Sharon Waxman Caren Gibbens

CHECK OUT THEWRAP.COM ONLINE EDITOR DIRECTOR OF SALES For more of our award-winning coverage of movies, television, Steve Pond Nicole Winters media and all other facets of the entertainment industry, visit us at TheWrap.com. CREATIVE DIRECTOR For advertising inquiries, contact [email protected] Vincent Rios or call (424) 248-0662

2 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013

Critic’s Choice

❹ Upstream Color One of the most The Great Beauties dazzling cinematic high-wire acts of 2013, Upstream Color often feels like the With a year as strong as 2013, a film equivalent of looking at a Seurat painting—lots of narrative blobs come Top 10 is only the beginning flying at you, and you have to patiently process them all until, at the end, a BY ALONSO DURALDE picture emerges. It’s a dazzling feat by Shane Carruth, who co-starred, co- edited, wrote, directed, scored and even ow great a year was 2013 for movies? So great that a Top 10 list can distributed the film. barely cover it, so I’ll start with 15 runners-up. In alphabetical order: 12 Years a Slave, C.O.G., Frozen, Gravity, Her, In the House, Inside ❸ The Great Beauty Comparisons to Llewyn Davis, Kill Your Darlings, Nebraska, Neighboring Sounds, Prince Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Roma may H Avalanche, Something in the Air, The Spectacular Now, The Wind Rises be inevitable, but Paolo Sorrentino’s and The World’s End. celebration of decadent ennui among the glory and the excess of the Eternal City is a dizzying delight that reminds us of ❿ A Touch of Sin Zhangke Jia’s and performers the power of pure, indulgent, unfettered blistering look at modern China and Julie Delpy, the cinema. takes four seemingly random acts of lovers from Before Sunrise and violence and ties them to the nation’s Before Sunset continue to grow ❷ Snappy, smart (and much of the world’s) bleak deeper, more interesting and more and sexy, David O. Russell’s deliriously economic landscape. It’s no wonder cantankerous as their on-screen bonkers portrayal of the late 1970s this powerful movie has been relationship evolves. Abscam entrapment scandal allows him banned in its home country. to elicit extraordinary performances from »»Star and co- ❻ Short Term 12 One of 2013’s his ensemble and to bounce any number writer Greta ❾ Concussion The directorial best-kept secrets was this powerful of genres—from con-game switcheroo to Gerwig lights debut from writer-director Stacie sleeper, starring Brie Larson in a finely-etched character study—against up the year’s Passon joins classics like Belle du career-redefining performance as a each other brilliantly. best movie. Jour and Jeanne Dielman in its woman tending both to a ward full evisceration of the discontents of a of troubled children and to her own suburban housewife while giving damaged past. Equally hilarious this classic tale several 21st century and traumatic, this honest and twists, only one of which is the fact unpredictable indie presented the that our heroine (portrayed with lives of kids in foster care without indelible gusto by Robin Weigert) is condescension or mawkish pity. a lesbian married to another woman. ❺ Gravity deserves ❽ Enough Said Writer-director praise for its envelope-pushing Nicole Holofcener has made just technical achievements, but this

five films in 17 years, but there’s not movie tells a similar one-stranded- PINE DISTRICT, LLC a dud in the bunch. Part farce and person story with even greater part comedy of errors, this sweet depth and human power. Robert ❶ Frances Ha This low-budget charmer and smart romance allowed Julia Redford gives perhaps the finest co-written by leading lady Louis-Dreyfus and the late James performance of his career as a and director Noah Baumbach celebrates Gandolfini to generate real sparks man stranded alone at sea, trying the moment when youthful folly no and show their range outside of their desperately to survive. Writer- longer fits while reminding us that iconic small-screen presences. director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) adulthood doesn’t have to represent the eschews dialogue almost entirely, death of dreams. Subtle and sweet, this ❼ Before Midnight “Never let telling his story instead with the unassuming little black-and-white movie an actor near a pencil,” said some elements, and with Redford’s face never makes a false step. In a year of studio head of yore. But in this third and resilient physicality. grand, sweeping cinematic achievement, collaboration between director it tiptoed its way to the top of my list. w

4 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013 “ IDRIS ELBA’S TOWERING PERFORMANCE LENDS ‘MANDELA’ A SHAKESPEAREAN BREADTH. His Mandela is an intensely emotional man whose body quakes in moments of sorrow and whose face is stricken with a bone-deep anguish.” Stephen Holden, “ IDRIS ELBA IS MAGNIFICENT.”

“ IDRIS ELBA GIVES AN ASTOUNDING PERFORMANCE.” ,

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GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST ACTOR (DRAMA) - IDRIS ELBA BEST ORIGINAL SONG BEST ORIGINAL SCORE LYRICS BY BONO “ORDINARY LOVE” MUSIC BY U2 & BRIAN BURTON ALEX HEFFES

For some intense sequences of violence and disturbing images, sexual content and brief strong language ATTEND A SCREENING GO TO TWCGUILDS.COM OR M.TWCGUILDS.COM Artwork ©2013 The Weinstein Company Big Moves Hollywood’s Boldest and Wussiest Moves of 2013 Fortune favors the bold, the old saying goes, and a handful of Hollywood chieftains and stars took those words to heart in 2013. So we can’t help but raise a virtual glass to some of the boldest moves in Hollywood—and because we wouldn’t know what hot is unless we felt cold, we had to point out the wussiest, too.

WUSSY: Universal closes Focus agency takes guts. Most mid-sized Features agencies are struggling to keep up Focus Features remains with the likes of CAA and WME, operational in name only. Universal and this wily sexagenarian still merged it with FilmDistrict and decided to start from scratch and placed FilmDistrict executives focus on the old-fashioned craft in charge, deciding there was no of representing talent. Berg was profitable strategy for the beloved plotting Resolution while still at specialty division. (Several other the agency he used to run, ICM studios have shuttered their “indie” Partners, so he got shown the door. divisions, which is even worse.) The gall. —LS Focus may still make movies like , but it will mostly WUSSY: Sony makes nice with be releasing sequels to Insidious and Dan Loeb . Talk about Sony may have rejected activist »»He was in, then he was out— sullying a brand. —LUCAS SHAW investor Dan Loeb’s proposals to apparently, grey is not Charlie spin off its entertainment business Hunnam’s color. BOLD: Jeff Berg launches into a separate company, but the Resolution response to his very public campaign BOLD: Charlie Hunnam bails on Resolution has yet to make much against the conglomerate wasn’t Fifty Shades of Grey of an impact, but launching a new exactly a profile in courage. Sony If Fifty Shades of Grey fans were CEO Kazuo Hirai publicly said surprised when Sons of Anarchy that Loeb’s criticism of the studio’s star Charlie Hunnam was tapped to »»While leadership was “a good thing,” and play kink-happy business magnate ensconsed the studio set about cutting $100 Christian Grey, they were doubly in his office million in staff and overhead as a surprised when the actor abruptly at ICM, the sign of belt-tightening. Yes, Sony dropped out of the mommy-porn wily Jeff Berg gave Loeb a convenient cudgel in adaptation. Universal and Focus plotted to the form of its summer of costly blamed Hunnam’s “immersive jump ship film flops likeWhite House Down TV schedule.” Hunnam himself and start his and After Earth, but every studio suggested that family issues played a own agency, has hits and misses. Because every part in his decision. Resolution. Wall Street scuffle needs a sacrificial It took nerve for Hunnam to walk lamb, Sony’s brass pushed out PR away from the highly anticipated veteran Steve Elzer and marketing project—but arguably, it was a wise chief Marc Weinstock, two men who career move to bail on the movie. had little to do with the decision After all, fans didn’t exactly embrace to greenlight Will Smith’s passion the casting choice en masse when it project. So much for owning up to was announced. —TIM KENNEALLY mistakes. —BRENT LANG GETTY IMAGES

6 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013 BOLD: Maria Bello challenges every notion of the traditional “partner” in a relationship, romantic or otherwise Admitting you’re in relationship with a person of the same sex can be hard—and possibly even harder to tell it to your 12-year-old son. Prisoners star Maria Bello told her family, friends, her son, and then the world in style at the end of November by writing, in an incredibly moving essay for titled “Coming Out as a Modern Family,” that she had fallen in love with her best friend, Clare. After a lifetime of romantic partnerships with men, the experience led her to reconsider what a “primary partner” actually AMPAS means. Her logic is hard to ignore, and her son welcomed the news »»Who cares BOLD: Academy of Motion WUSSY: Rex Reed criticizes because at the end of the day, “love is about the Pictures Arts and Sciences Melissa McCarthy’s weight while love.” —GG critics? The president Hawk Koch re-hires the reviewing producers producers of 2013’s widely-panned When Observer critic Rex Reed responsible Oscar ceremony reviewed the Jason Bateman and for Seth Hiring Craig Zadan and Neil Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity MacFarlane’s Meron to produce next year’s Thief, he decided to use his platform turn as Oscar less than two to make fun of McCarthy’s weight. host got a months after they’d done the job After faulting the Oscar-nominated quick ticket on this year’s show was certainly actress for being “tractor-sized” back to the Big a bold move by AMPAS president and resembling “a hippo,” he called Show. Hawk Koch. He not only brought her a “gimmick comedian who has back producers whose show was devoted her short career to being widely criticized for an occasionally obese and obnoxious with equal tacky tone (remember “We Saw success.” Hey, we get it—he didn’t Your Boobs?”), but he did so three like the movie. What we don’t get months before the end of his term is why he resorted to schoolyard as president, depriving successor bullying tactics to explain why. Cheryl Boone Isaacs of what is Some might argue Reed made a bold normally the first job of an incoming move by speaking his mind and not president. For the record, the backing down after considerable GETTY IMAGES AMPAS Board of Governors heartily backlash, but there’s nothing brave endorsed the move, and the Zadan/ about bullying. Being bothered by »»“I love our modern family,” Meron Oscars got strong ratings (as an actress’ weight is his problem. It’s wrote Maria Bello in an essay did the producers’ recent live version a wussy move to try to make it hers, explaining how she told her son of The Sound of Music and their too. —GREG GILMAN she was romantically involved Bonnie and Clyde miniseries). So the with a woman. “Maybe, in the numbers, if not the critics, are on end, a modern family is just a Koch’s side. —STEVE POND more honest family.”

THE YEAR IN REVIEW // THEWRAP.COM / 7 (COMEDY OR MUSICAL) (COMEDY OR MUSICAL) On the Screen

THE WOW FACTOR Here are the moments—large or small, thrilling or amusing or heartbreaking— that made going to the movies worthwhile for us in 2013.

THE FIRST SEX SCENE IN BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR The movie is filled with carnal moments that fluctuate between delicious and harrowing, from the way director Abdellatif Kechiche lasciviously watches lead actress Exarchopoulos eat on many occasions to the searing fights between Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. Yet if forced to single out anything from one of the year’s best movies, it’s the near-10-minute sex scene that had everyone at Cannes talking—and that later sparked disputes between the director and his stars. — LUCAS SHAW à à

»» is THE FINAL SCENE IN CAPTAIN PHILLIPS brutalized by Somali Even those who were mixed on the movie sung pirates, above; Adele the praises of Tom Hanks for his performance in the Exarchopoulos and last 10 minutes of Paul Greengrass’ film, when the Lea Seydoux in the title character is in shock after being rescued from afterglow, right; an ordeal with armed Somali pirates. His wide-eyed, and Chiwetel Ejiofor largely wordless reaction spoke volumes about the spends 12 Years a trauma he survived, and the woman who treated him Slave, below. was the perfect counterpart. (That makes sense, since she’s actually in the Navy.) A harrowing ending to a CHANNING TATUM’S CAMEO IN THIS IS gripping film.— JEFF SNEIDER THE END There were too many hilarious moments to count SOLOMON NORTHUP IS NEARLY HUNG in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s directorial IN 12 YEARS A SLAVE debut, a raunchy send-up of the Rapture. But one of Steve McQueen left the camera rolling to capture the most memorable featured the funniest cameo one of the most excruciating moments of the year of the year: People magazine’s Sexiest Man of 2012, when Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejijofor) is left Channing Tatum, pulling off a mask to reveal he has hanging for hours with a noose around his neck, become Danny McBride’s sex-slave gimp in order to and just one foot barely touching the ground. The survive in the post-apocalyptic wasteland that Los moment captured so much about the era that the Angeles has become. — GG film depicts: the brutality of plantation life, the necessary indifference of other slaves and Northup’s WOODY GRANT SHOWS HIS FAMILY extraordinary will to live for the day he gets to see THE HOME WHERE HE GREW UP IN his family again. Above all, the painfully long take NEBRASKA forces audiences to hang there with him. When Bruce Dern’s Woody Grant returns to — GREG GILMAN the home where he grew up, now abandoned and dilapidated, he barely says a word—but his gaze tells you everything about what he endured within those walls. Dern’s performance in the scene is

10 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013 heartbreaking, whether he’s wandering through CHRIS COOPER SAYS GRACE IN his parents’ bedroom whispering how he would AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY have been whipped if he’d been caught in there as a The movie may be dominated by the women— child, or responding to a question about whether he screaming, yelling, cursing, hysterically over- remembers his brother’s death by quietly offering, “I the-top women—but the first moment that drew was there.” — STEVE POND spontaneous applause at the film’s Toronto premiere came from the laconic Chris Cooper. He never raises THE DRUNKEN BAR SCENE IN THE HEAT his voice during his rambling, stumbling, seemingly and Melissa McCarthy’s drunken endless blessing, but he brings the house down dancing and inebriated bonding in a Boston dive bar nonetheless. —SP marks the comic high-point of the buddy cop film. The two stars are completely without vanity, whether they’re hitting on barflys or having fun with scotch tape. They take the material to the edge and beyond, where comedy should go. — BRENT LANG à

JOAQUIN PHOENIX MEETS HIS “SIRI”

IN HER à ’s odd tale of the relationship between a man and his operating system is filled with »»Three moments lovely moments, the most significant of which may SPOCK GETS ANGRY AND BEATS KAHN’S of repose, left to come when ’s character, Theodore BUTT IN STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS right: Theodore Twombly, boots up his new, intuitive OS. A robotic At the height of the most satisfying character arcs Twombly waits to male voice asks Theodore a few questions (“Are you of the year—in a tentpole studio movie, at least— meet Samantha, social or anti-social?” “How would you describe Spock (Zachary Quinto) finally takes Captain Kirk’s Spock considers your relationship with your mother?”), an onscreen advice and expresses his emotions just in time to Kirk’s advice, and icon spins briefly, and then ’s teach Kahn (Bennedict Cumberbatch) that the arch- the August: Osage voice emerges: “Hi, I’m Samantha.” And with that, villain isn’t as invincible as he thinks. — GG County dinner table is the weirdest, most inventive and most touching love uncharacteristically story of the year begins. — SP MICK JAGGER AND MERRY CLAYTON quiet. REMEMBER “GIMME SHELTER” IN 20 THE SUNRISE AT THE BEGINNING FEET FROM STARDOM OF GRAVITY In a documentary about background singers, no The calm before the storm that sets Alfonso moment is as indelible and thrilling as the scene in Cuarón’s space thriller into motion is a magnificent which Mick Jagger and Merry Clayton, his galvanic display of how far VFX have come since Stanley duet partner on the 1969 song “Gimme Shelter,” sit Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey wowed audiences in separate studios and listen to the original tapes in 1968. George Clooney’s dialogue isn’t an of that scorching performance. Clayton remembers exaggeration in the slightest when he watches in getting a late-night phone call and coming to the awe as the sun begins illuminating planet Earth. studio in curlers to blast out lines like “rape, murder, “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Clooney says. “Terrific.”— GG it’s just a shot away”—and when the playback ends 40-odd years later, Jagger can only smile and say, “bloody hell, that’s good.” — SP

THE YEAR IN REVIEW // THEWRAP.COM / 11 From the Web

STEVE POND: THE BEST OF HOW THE PRODUCERS GUILD CONVINCED HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS TO LET IT THEWRAP OVERHAUL MOVIE CREDITS

As the year came to a close, we asked our An exclusive look inside the decade-long process by movie writers to list the 2013 stories they’re the PGA to tame proliferating producer credits, and get the industry to accept a mark that designates proudest to have done. Here are a few of who actually produced a film. their choices, with brief excerpts. …The major studios were understandably reluctant to embrace anything that might add an extra layer of bureaucracy, diminish their control over credits or lead to accusations of anti-trust action. And early in the discussions, a lawyer for one studio dropped a bombshell. “He said, ‘You know, what would really make this easier is if you get the Department of Justice to publish a business-review letter saying that this process of yours is pro-competitive,’” said [PGA executive director Vance] Van Petten. “It’s like the government saying, ‘We’re going to agree never to sue you,’ and I thought, you’ve got to be kidding.” But he went to the justice department anyway—and a few months later, the PGA received a letter stating unequivocally that the department “will not challenge” the mark, which it found “may benefit the film industry and the public by providing a way to discern who performed the full range of producer functions on a film.” “We were shocked,” said Van Petten…

GREG GILMAN: HOLLYWOOD’S ZOMBIE OVERLOAD: WHY FLESH-EATER PITCHES ARE A TOUGH SELL

Why the entertainment industry, on the heels of the $180 million zombie movie World War Z, has had enough of the undead.

…With zombie projects replicating almost as fast as zombies themselves, film studios say no more flesh-eaters need apply. That doesn’t mean they’re done with zombie projects—given the $66 million weekend take for ’s World War Z, they plan many more. But Hollywood now has so many features about the living dead that any new zombie pitches are a hard sell, insiders tell TheWrap. “I was just at an event two weeks ago where I was on a panel,” said Magnet Management’s Mitch Solomon, who sold Larry Brenner’s vampires-and- zombies screenplay Bethlehem to Universal. “The first thing I said was, ‘No more zombie scripts.’” He said that “it would be extraordinarily difficult without some underlying property to do a zombie project” for film or TV…

12 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013 LUCAS SHAW: HOW FOX SEARCHLIGHT MADE THE BIGGEST DEAL AT SUNDANCE: $9.75M ON AN EGG SANDWICH

A blow-by-blow breakdown of the deal that brought The Way Way Back to Fox Searchlight after a night of frenzied negotiations at the Sundance Film Festival.

BRENT LANG AND LUCAS SHAW: …Around 7 p.m., the dealmakers retired to the WME house, WHO HAS GREENLIGHT POWER IN HOLLYWOOD? A where the discussions began. “We had some in-person STUDIO-BY-STUDIO GUIDE meetings, some phone calls and a lot of the offers were apples and oranges,” Tom Rice of Sycamore Pictures, which produced An exhaustive look at where the power lies within each studio, and co-financed the movie with OddLot Entertainment, told who can greenlight a movie and how the process has changed in TheWrap. “There were some new companies with big offers recent years. and some big companies with low offers.” For its part, Searchlight offered to buy the movie for …Based on conversations with more than a dozen past and every unsold territory, putting its marketing muscle behind present executives, representatives from marketing, production, the movie in disparate countries around the world. Others international, distribution and other divisions huddle with studio wanted only domestic. Still others offered to throw in only chiefs to decide which movies have the best shot of connecting specific countries. with audiences. Then Searchlight made the first bid, offering somewhere Executives pore over business plans with projections for home north of $4.5 million—but nowhere near the number the entertainment and international markets. Some studios even filmmakers were looking for, especially after the successful monitor which executives have the best track record with those premiere. projections. Relationships and story matter, but numbers trump all. Still, the filmmakers were predisposed to side with “You can’t greenlight based on relationships and promises,” the Searchlight for the same reason Searchlight aggressively executive said. “It rarely happens anymore.” pursued the film: It was a known and trusted commodity and That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t a select club of top an ongoing partner. film executives who wield disproportionate influence over what The financiers, though, had no such loyalty. They wanted pitches make their way to the screen and which ones end up on the best deal possible — and they weren’t entirely sure why the dust heap… the deal had to be done that first night…

BRENT LANG: THE GREAT AMERICAN FILM ERA IS BACK: HERE’S WHAT’S DRIVING THE BOOM

An examination of the new financial and creative models driving quality moviemaking, from “benevolent billionaires” to indie-style deals on major-studio films.

…The advent of video-on-demand and digital sales haven’t replaced the financial windfall from DVDs, but they’ve helped offset the losses. Take movies likeArbitrage , which have generated more than $10 million on VOD. Ironically, in many cases, cable boxes, the symbol of TV’s golden age, are partly responsible for kicking off this new era of big-screen excellence. “Premium TV drama has unquestionably become a more original and buzzworthy entertainment platform than the multiplex in recent years,” Stuart Ford, CEO of the indie film financier and foreign sales company IM Global, said. “What a lot of industry outsiders don’t realize is that it’s the upwards spike in domestic VOD values that’s also fueling much of the indie feature film financing.” And theatrical releases have remained viable thanks to the adult audience…

THE YEAR IN REVIEW // THEWRAP.COM / 13 Deal Central

THE WORST Jack Reynor, Transformers: Age YEAR IN of Extinction—Any unknown actor would be stupid to turn down a CASTING: role in a blockbuster like the fourth Transformers movie. But Reynor had tremendous buzz coming off the BEST & little-seen indie What Richard Did, and should’ve waited for a better role WORST than this. Luke Evans, The Crow—Evans has BY JEFF SNEIDER yet to prove he has what it takes to step into Brandon Lee’s considerable he year 2013 shoes. Eric Draven has a soft, soulful, was a busy sensitive side as well as a wicked one for casting sense of humor, and Evans is a little directors who too bland for my taste. T The haters scrambled to fill Lawyer, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, Mud »» Tyler Perry, Gone Girl—Director came out in high-profile roles and Dallas Buyers Club. deserves the benefit Michael B. Jordan, Fantastic full force when of the doubt, but there’s a lot of and film reporters who Four—I’ve been lobbying for more doubt here. I’m fairly certain that raced to report those decisions. black superheroes for years, and won the part while Perry may be a draw for While these decisions can’t really be Jordan has the physique and the of Batman, but black audiences, he’ll be a major judged until the movies hit theaters wise-cracking sense of humor that it’s a smart distraction on screen. and we see the performances, we’re the role requires. move. Harrison Ford, The Expendables going to try. , The Hunger 3—Ford is Han Solo, Indiana Jones Games: Mockingjay—You can never and Blade Runner, for crying out BEST have enough strong women in one loud! He’s so much better than this Chris Pratt, Guardians of the movie, and Moore is the perfect fit to material that there’s only one word Galaxy—TheParks and Recreation add even more gravitas to the star- for it: slumming. star is a leading man-in-the-making studded cast. Joel Edgerton, Exodus—A who has just needed an opportunity Ben Affleck, Batman Vs. lily-white Australian playing the to prove himself. Superman—I defended Affleck Egyptian pharaoh Ramses? Edgerton Quvenzhane Wallis, Annie—With through his darkest years and felt is a great actor but I have a feeling he’s attitude to spare, the precocious vindicated after he rebounded as a setting himself up for failure here. w nine-year-old who scored an director, though he still hasn’t gotten Oscar nomination for Beasts of the respect he deserves as an actor. the Southern Wild was the natural In time, Affleck’s casting will be seen »»Even choice for Sony’s hip-hop flavored as an inspired decision. Harrison reboot of the classic musical. Christoph Waltz, Horrible Bosses Ford knows Shailene Woodley, The Fault In 2—This casting was a bingo! We’ve that taking Our Stars—While Divergent may end seen the two-time Oscar winner play a role in The up being a misstep for the budding humorous villains before, but he’s Expendables Descendants star, this cancer-driven always had to dial it back a notch due 3 is a head- drama is the sort of tearjerker that to the “serious” nature of his films. scratcher. will expand her fan base and could Now he’ll be able to embrace his even put her back in the awards inner clown and go for broke. conversation. Ben Foster, Warcraft—Foster isn’t Matthew McConaughey, typical leading man material, but he’s Interstellar—Leave it to Christopher one of the most interesting actors in Nolan to nab the hottest actor on the Hollywood and has been for years. planet, who has totally turned his I’m glad Legendary believes in him career around thanks to The Lincoln enough to take the gamble. GETTY IMAGES

14 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013 Executive Suite The Modest Mogul Barry Meyer Ends 42-Year Tenure at Warner Bros.

BY BRENT LANG AND LUCAS SHAW

“He never looked for recognition. He never looked to have his name out there.” Les Moonves, chairman and CEO of CBS Corp., on Meyer facing the challenge of digital change: “Barry saw what was happening in the world. And he encouraged his executives to experiment and figure things out.” Hal Vogel, CEO of Vogel Capital Management, on Meyer’s management style during major shifts to the entertainment industry’s business model: “He was a source of stability in a choppy sea.”

GETTY IMAGES Bob Daly, Meyer’s predecessor as chairman and CEO of Warner ne of the most low-key moguls Chris Dodd, the former U.S. »»Barry Meyer, Bros: “He was a terrific executive in Hollywood, Barry Meyer senator from Connecticut, who has and a good negotiator, but he wasn’t will slip from the stage in remembered being encouraged by retired after a movie guy. What he did do was January when he relinquishes Meyer to take the job as the movie more than hire great people and put them in a O his title as chairman of industry’s top lobbyist: four decades position to succeed.” Warner Bros. But Meyer’s 42-year “He said ‘Be a leader,’ and that at Warner Charles Roven, producer of Man tenure at the studio—a remarkable sounds like a simple enough thing Bros.: “He was of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises: record in its own right, including to say—that’s what he was at a source of “The biggest part of his management 14 years at the helm—is notable for Warner Bros.,” Dodd told TheWrap. stability in a style was in his selection of people he being one of the most effective in the “He was not a grandstander at all choppy sea.” would have run his divisions. He had studio’s history. and he was not worried if his name the ability to pick excellent people Under Meyer’s stewardship, was in the press.” and to trust that they were doing a Warner Bros. consistently ranked Dodd also recalled that at an Argo good job.” among the industry leaders in screening at the MPAA, Meyer waved Warren Lieberfarb, former chief box office, syndication sales and off Dodd’s attempts to get him to take of Warner home entertainment, television ratings, launching the stage and share in the adulation on Meyer’s calming influence after franchises like Harry Potter, driving with director Ben Affleck. “That was Time-Warner’s merger with AOL: the international success of shows a quintessential moment and that’s “There was a lot of discontent and like Two and a Half Men, managing why he got listened to every time he agitation in the organization. Barry through a corporate merger with talked,” Dodd said. “People knew he brought stability to the company AOL, the rise of digital piracy never had a private agenda.” and boosted morale at a critical and the steep decline of home Ron Meyer, Vice-Chairman of juncture in the post-AOL period and entertainment. NBCUniversal, on collaborating throughout the decade.” w Here are some of the reflections with Barry Meyer on deals like his colleagues made to TheWrap on bringing Harry Potter to Universal the eve of Meyer’s departure: theme parks:

THE YEAR IN REVIEW // THEWRAP.COM / 15 Wrapping Up

» JANUARY » JULY The Year in Began teaching a production course at Filmed Good People in London with USC...Dressed up like Justin Bieber to Kate Hudson and Sienna Miller...Held lip-sync “Boyfriend” in a video...Premiered a book launch for Moving Pictures / James Franco Interior. Leather Bar at Sundance... Moving Sculptures: the Films of James Premiered Franco-produced fetish Franco at the Pace Gallery in London... What did you do in 2013? documentary Kink at Sundance...Wrote Directed a short film for Gucci and a poem for Barack Obama’s second became the face of its Made to Measure BY GREG GILMAN presidential inauguration. fragrance campaign.

» FEBRUARY » AUGUST Served as Grand Marshall at Nascar’s Played Hugh Hefner in Lovelace...Got Daytona 500...Caused controversy by roasted on Comedy Central by friends singling out driver Danica Patrick by like Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Bill Hader... yelling, “Gentleman—and Danica—start Premiered Child of God at the Venice Film your engines!”...Held an art exhibit in Festival. Berlin called “Gay Town.” » SEPTEMBER » MARCH Starred in ensemble romance Third Appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Person, which made its world premiere Leno to explain why he singled out Danica in Toronto...Guest starred on two Patrick...Announced plans to star in an Of episodes of the Fox comedy The Mindy Mice and Men Broadway revival...Returned Project. to the big screen with Oz the Great and Powerful...Got a star on Hollywood’s Walk » OCTOBER of Fame...Went to SXSW with Harmony Launched his first novel,Actors Anonymous, Korine’s Spring Breakers...Began filming at the Strand Bookstore in the drama True Story. and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Calif....Started filming the comedy The » APRIL Interview, directed by Seth Rogen and Reviewed The Place Beyond the Pines for Evan Goldberg...Appeared in Jared Leto’s Huffington Post...Turned 35 and published short film and music video City“ of Angels.” a birthday poem on Huffington Post... Produced fashion documentary The » NOVEMBER Director, which premiered at Tribeca... Reviewed his movie Spring Breakers for Received the Ally Award at the 15th annual VICE: “There will never be a movie or a

GETTY IMAGES Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. character that is more important for this age than Spring Breakers and its Franco’s 2013: From a tux at Cannes to » MAY protagonist Alien”...Hit theaters with his cornrows for Spring Breakers. Directed a music video for his band latest directorial effort, Sal...Reviewed 12 Daddy...Began writing movie reviews for Years a Slave for VICE...Played a crystal VICE...Went to Cannes to premiere As I meth maker opposite Jason Statham Lay Dying, which he wrote, directed and in Homefront...Parodied Kanye West’s starred in. “Bound 2″ music video with shot-for-shot recreation “Bound 3.” » JUNE Starred in hit comedy This Is the End... » DECEMBER Used crowdfunding to finance three Tweeted that he’d just written a play feature films based on his 2010 bookPalo called Kill James Franco...Directed a Alto...Wrote a VICE review in which he new spot for Gucci...Was named Best said that Man of Steel star Henry Cavill Supporting Actor by LA Film Critics for probably does not like him because they Spring Breakers...Joined the cast of indie worked together when Franco was “a drama Fixer...Wrote a story for the New difficult young actor who took himself York Times on “the meanings of the too seriously.” selfie.” w

16 / THEWRAP.COM // DECEMBER 2013

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