Friday is almost upon us so to ease into the reverie, here are some new Natalie Portman tidbits.
– The LA Online Film Critics Society handed out their mid-year awards. Natalie was nominated for Best Actress and Annihilation also got several other nominations, but in the end the only success was runner-up for Best Adapted Screenplay.
– Somewhat related, The Playlist has an early look at next year’s Academy Award potentials for Best Actress and Natalie’s Annihilation is mentioned… as a long-shot.
– The Genesis “Jewish Nobel” Prize, which Natalie chose to not accept, was finally given to Ruth Bader Ginsburg who, at one stage, Natalie was set to play in a biopic. It turns out Ginsburg was the original choice for the award, so perhaps fitting that she received it.
It’s time for a new weekly batch of tidbits:
-Usually, film critics associations announce their nominations and awards at the end of the year, but Los Angeles Online Film Critic Society has broken the rule, announcing their “mid-season” film awards nominees. Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther received the most love with seven nominations, but Annihilation has also achieved four mentions, including one for Natalie in the category of best actress. The winners will be known next week.
More after the jump:
It’s time for a summary of the latest news in Natland during the last week…
–Eating Animals will be released in North America in selected cinemas on June 15. Because of that, Natalie will be promoting the documentary in a couple of TV shows. She will attend the Late Show with Stephen Colbert next Thursday, and CBS This Morning, along with book author Jonathan Safran Foer, on Friday. She will be in various Q&As after screenings in NYC those days as well.
Pale Blue Dot, the first feature film by Noah Hawley, will start filming in five weeks, and we have a new addition to the cast. According to The Hollywood Reporter, legendary actress Ellen Burstyn (The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Requiem for a Dream) will play the grandmother of Natalie’s character in the movie.
–Variety reports that Annihilation is getting a new life during its release on Blu-Ray and DVD. After an ephemeral passage through the American box office, the film by Alex Garland was placed second in sales in physical formats last week, after Black Panther.
Speaking of Annihilation, the talented Angelina has found a new photo of Natalie and Gina Rodriguez, taken during the promotion of the film in February. Enjoy:
Annihilation arrives today on physical formats after debuting on digital last week. Because of it, Alex Garland spoke to IndieWire about being moved and overwhelmed by the response to his science-fiction thriller. In the interview he also makes it clear that he is not interested in making sequels to any of his films.
We also have some great photos of Natalie, Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez taken during the film promotion:
American viewers can finally see and enjoy Annihilation in their homes since Tuesday. We have already seen several promotional pictures, but here we have a new batch of “behind the cameras” photos:
Annihilation arrives on digital today in the USA, and we have a new still and a couple of clips of the special features that we can find in the digital copy and Blu-ray to celebrate it:
Watch the visually spectacular #Annihilation in 4K HDR on your Apple TV 4K.
Plus, go BTS with Natalie Portman and director Alex Garland in the #Extras!https://t.co/SvoUTVfG56 pic.twitter.com/QpB3xQlZpv— iTunes (@iTunes) May 22, 2018
What better to start the week than a few tidbits:
-Natalie is one of the 140 signatories (including Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Lena Dunham or Chadwick Boseman), of an open letter for Charity One, calling for action against gender inequality. The signatories call for a commitment to help every girl get an education and for leaders to use their power to deliver “historic changes for women.
–Annihilation opens on digital platforms in the US tomorrow, and Ultra HD, Blu-Ray & DVD next week. Slashfilm has a detailed explanation of the special features of the BD edition, and Collider has an exclusive clip.
-Finally, after the jump we have some images of Natalie this weekend:
Since a month ago, Annihilation can be seen on Netflix overseas, but today the release on Blu-ray, DVD and UltraHD was announced for USA. It will be May 29 (digital May 22). the official website has the details, and these are the covers:
As is well known, China will be the third (and the last) country in which Alex Garland’s film will be released in cinemas. It will be next Friday, April 13, and this is the local poster for the movie:
It’s been a quiet week in Natland. No great news or photos. even so, we have a few tidbits that are worth it:
-Natalie was about to appear the Boston Calling Festival last year, but she could not attend to it due to other commitments. This year, however, it seems that we can see a series of events curated by her. We will soon know what it is about. At the moment, Natalie herself confirms it in her Instagram account:
-According to The Playlist, Xavier Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan will not enter into the official section of the next Cannes Festival. Everything seems to indicate that the movie delays its release until the fall festivals.
-Finally, Annihilation will be released in Chinese theaters next week, and the forecast at the box office are quite good: $ 10 million in pre-sale tickets, with forecasts of about $ 20 million the first weekend. To compare with other similar films, Arrival got 15 million and Blade Runner 2049, 11 million. It would be really ironic if Alex Garland’s film collected more money in the Asian country than in the USA.
The Set Decorators Society of America website has a great illustrated article on Annihilation, in which we can see a few new stills of the film:
It’s been a while since I saw so much creativity with a movie starring Natalie. Leon, V for Vendetta, Black Swan and the Star Wars prequels were the most loved by the fans so far, but I think Annihilation is next on this short list. Here we have a new batch of fan art seen on instagram and Tumblr in recent days:
Definitely, Annihilation is a movie that doesn’t leave anyone indifferent, and is generating a lot of creativity and amazing fan art images in social media. These are just a few examples of this:
One of the most praised aspects of the film by Alex Garland is its imaginative visual effects, made by Double Negative Company. VFX supervisor Andrew Whitehurst has been interviewed for Art of VFX about his work in the movie, and the article shows us interesting photos (before and after) of the great work done:
Quiet is the tonic in Natland these last days, but that doesn´t mean that there aren´t a few tidbits…
-The release of Annihilation on Netflix last week has been a rebound in popularity of the film overseas. Alex Garland’s movie is the second most popular film in IMDB right now, just behind “Avengers: Infinite Wars”. China is the only country where it has not yet been released, but today it has been known that the film will be on April 13th there.
–IndieWire has an article that speculates about the films that will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival next May, and The Death and Life of John F. Donovan is one of the rumored ones:
Some rumors suggest the movie is in contention for an opening night slot, and it certainly would seem to fit in there, although it would also come as no surprise if it’s the sole Canadian feature in Competition
-Finally, here we can see a compilation video that makes a fairly complete summary of all the appearances of Natalie in film and TV. It is really curious to see her evolution as an actress for almost 25 years, summarized in a few minutes. Enjoy:
Annihilation has been almost a week released on Netflix, and many of you will have occasion to see it. Natalie makes a powerful perfomance in it.
It is, without any doubt, a beautiful film, perhaps irregular and imperfect, but ambitious and with a powerful subtext, which has all the elements to become a cult film. The first step is usually the imagination of the fans, who gives free rein to their creativity in the form of a fan art. Here we have a few posters that show us:
Before I give my brief thoughts on Annihilation, if you’ve seen the film please check out this fascinating and fantastic deep dive into the themes of the film.
In comparison, mine is going to be surface level impressions at best and with only minor spoilers). So, let’s begin…
To start with, I am a big Alex Garland fan. I’ve always loved his writing and his first film Ex Machina was my favourite film of the year it was released. I haven’t read the novel, but I was definitely primed for something special.
Today is the day: Annihilation debuts on Netflix in all countries except North America and China. As a veteran cinephile who has seen thousands of films in cinemas over the past decades, it´s a real shame to have to see and discover a great movie like this on a television instead of a theater, but, in return, surely a large part of the audience will be able to enjoy it in a short space of time. It´s a sad precedent that can affect future medium budget films, that are risky, or try something different. Guy Lodge reflects on this in an article for The Guardian.
Anyway, here is the film, finally, and it is undoubtedly an artistic and critical triumph. A new step in Natalie’s successful and eclectic career.
We have a few photos to celebrate it:
It’s been a quiet week in Natland, but here we have a few tidbits…
-It seems that there was a test screening of “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” on Wednesday in USA, and some first reactions have appeared on Letterboxd. It’s likely that we can finally see the film by Xavier Dolan in the coming months (Cannes maybe?).
-Earlier in the week we were able to see Natalie on the set of Vox Lux. Here we have a Instagram video and a couple of new photos from that day:
