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Fri/Sat/Sun June 23~25, 2017

‘Avatar’ sequels add ‘Game of

Thrones’ actress Oona Chaplin

Crowe to Lead Jury for Australian Academy’s Best Asian Film Award

RUSSELL CROWE will head up the jury for the inaugural best Asian fi lm award that will be handed out by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Televi-sion Arts (AACTA) at its annual awards ceremony in Sydney this December.

The new award, unveiled at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Wednesday and recognizing “excellence in fi lm-making throughout the Asian region,” will be the cornerstone of AACTA’s new Asia Interna-tional Engagement program that “aims to foster the bur-geoning relationship between the fi lm industries of Australia and its closest Asian neighbors,” AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella said.

Crowe will be joined by a panel of eight jurors, including Chinese director, screenwriter and producer Lu Chuan, South Korean writer, director and producer Kim Ki-duk, Indian actor Anupam Kher, fi ve-time National Film Award of India best actress winner Shabana Azmi, Golden Rooster award-winning Chinese actor Liu Ye,

producer Gary Kurtz, British producer and distributor of Japanese and South Korean fi lms and managing director of Third Window Films Adam Torel and Australian fi lm critic Margaret Pomeranz.

Films from 19 countries across the region, including China, India, South Korea and Japan, will be eligible to compete.

“As the Asian screen indus-try continues to grow and the traditional borders to content distribution are breaking down, audiences across the world are discovering what other regions have to offer,” Trewhella said. “There is strong audience demand for Asian cinema in Australia and an increase in co-productions between West-ern and Asian fi lmmakers. We want to continue to make more cultural and fi lm industry connections between fi lmmak-ers and audiences in those 19 countries.”

“This is a moment to build that cultural process and pro-vide a bridge. Students that are entering fi lm schools now are much more diverse and want

to tell different stories to those who were at fi lm school in the 1990s. Building relationships is critical,” added Rachel Griffi ths who launched the program alongside actor Sam Neill in Shanghai.

A series of forums in Aus-tralia and across Asia will aim to “champion the skills and achievements of Asian fi lm-makers to audiences and the industry in Australia, but will also promote Australia’s highly skilled screen practitioners to the booming industries of Asia,” Trewhella added.

Australia currently has offi -cial co-production treaties with China and South Korea and is negotiating treaties with India and Malaysia. “Guardians of the Tomb,” starring Li Bing-bing, Kellan Lutz and Kelsey Grammar, is the latest offi cial Australian-Chinese co-produc-tion to be made.

Brisbane hosts the Asia Pacifi c Screen Awards in November each year. AACTA will continue with its international fi lm awards in Los Angeles each January. (SD-Agencies)

OONA CHAPLIN, the “Game of Thrones” actress, is heading to Pandora.

The actress will star in James Cameron and 20th Century Fox’s four “Avatar” sequels, it was announced during Cin-eEurope in Spain.

Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington are returning for the follow-ups, which are set to begin hitting theaters in 2020.

Though the plots are being kept under wraps, Chaplin will play Varang, a strong and

vibrant central character who spans the entire length of the installments. Cameron said that each of the four sequels will be able to stand alone, but will together create a saga.

“Avatar 2” is set to open Dec. 18, 2020; “Avatar 3” on Dec. 17, 2021; “Avatar 4” on Dec. 20, 2024; and “Avatar 5” on Dec. 19, 2025.

Chaplin, who is the grand-daughter of Charlie Chaplin, also starred in the Tom Hardy series “Taboo.”

(SD-Agencies)

IAN MCKELLEN and “Vicious” producer Gary Reich launched a call for brands and broadcasters to back a planned series of short-form fi lms aimed at LGBT youth. The pair, along with The Brook-lyn Brothers agency founder Jackie Stevenson, are set to create a series of four fi lms built around and by people in the LGBT community.

Facebook is on board to be the broadcast partner for the fi rst fi lm, with the premiere streamed live on the platform. The social network is also set to support the fi lm with targeted outreach and community sup-port.

“I’ve been impressed with gay rights all over the world how much commerce wants

to be involved,” said McKellen. “Hollywood, to crudely sum it up, has tended to deal with fantasy, tended to deal with escape. Branding has to be up to date otherwise. Brands come up with a response to the world as it really is. It’s a much different approach to anything that Hollywood would do.”

McKellen, who has thus far resisted working with brand partners throughout his career, cited the attempt by Coca Cola’s Dasani water to recruit him in the mid-2000s for its U.K. launch. “I thought, ‘I can’t. I feel I’m selling my soul and my soul is worth more than this’,” he said. He says he’s now willing to work with brands to back these fi lms because of their

response to human rights around the world.

“In Hollywood to get some-thing done takes such a long time, whereas brands move quickly and we feel they can tell these great and true sto-ries,” added Stevenson.

“We can align very quickly and then in terms of the talent that is waiting in the wings – there are lots of key really big pieces of talent,” added Reich.

They said they are already in talks with “A-list directors” including the Wachowskis and Tom Ford to direct corre-sponding fi lms for the project called LGBT Heroes. McKellen is onboard, as is other acting talent, Reich said.

(SD-Agencies)

McKellen launches fi lm project for LGBT stories

JASON CLARKE is in talks to join the growing cast of “First Man,” the Neil Armstrong biopic that will reteam “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling.

The movie is casting up ahead of a fall start, with Kyle Chandler closing a deal and Corey Stoll in talks to join the crew as well.

Written by Josh Singer, the drama is described by Univer-sal as a visceral, fi rst-person account of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focus-ing on the years 1961-1969 and Armstrong, the astronaut who became the fi rst man to set foot

on the moon. Based on the book by James R. Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifi ces and the cost — on Armstrong and on the nation — of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

Gosling is playing Armstrong, Chandler will portray test pilot Deke Slayton and Stoll will play astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

If a deal is made, Clarke will play Ed White, the fi rst Ameri-can to walk in space, who later died in an Apollo mission testing accident.

DreamWorks Pictures is co-fi nancing the fi lm. (SD-Agencies)

Clarke in talks to join ‘First Man’

Russell CroweRussell Crowe

Oona ChaplinOona Chaplin