More stuff from and about the Sony Hack! Boy, you have to think that some people are probably going to lose their jobs before Christmas when everything from this clusterwhoops comes out, right? And I’m starting to wonder if Amy Pascal is the one who will be out of her job. As we discussed this week, Pascal and Scott Rudin’s emails were published in the hack. They didn’t have anything to say when the emails about Angelina were published. But when the racist emails about President Obama were published yesterday, suddenly they had some apologies. Shock.
Amy Pascal’s Apology: “The content of my emails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am. Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
Scott Rudin’s Apology: “Private emails between friends and colleagues written in haste and without much thought or sensitivity, even when the content of them is meant to be in jest, can result in offense where none was intended,” he told Deadline. “I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny, but in the cold light of day, they are in fact thoughtless and insensitive — and not funny at all. To anybody I’ve offended, I’m profoundly and deeply sorry, and I regret and apologize for any injury they might have caused.”
Both Pascal and Rudin issued their apologies to Deadline and they issued their separate apologies within an hour. Coordinated responses in an attempt to do some half-assed damage control? Of course. Incidentally, Angelina and Pascal ran into each other last night – look at this awkward photo.
Meanwhile, there’s some more stuff from the hack. As we learned during the earlier Jolie story, Sony’s attempt to cast the Steve Jobs movie was complete chaos. At this point, Michael Fassbender is loosely attached, but when his name was first bandied about (earlier THIS year, 2014), no one at the studio knew his work. Seriously. Not even screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
An email exchange between The Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, producer Scott Rudin and Columbia Pictures chairman Amy Pascal is the next piece of confidential data to be leaked from the historic Sony Pictures hack. The first leaked email thread, in which Rudin branded Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat,” was embarrassing enough for Sony, but this next exchange sees Michael Fassbender being humiliated by one of Hollywood’s most famous writers.
The emails between Sorkin, Rudin and Pascal were sent as a result of a suggestion that Michael Fassbender should play the role of Steve Jobs in the ill-fated Sony biopic of the late Apple CEO. Sorkin reportedly wanted Tom Cruise to take the helm of the project, and initially disapproved of suggestions that Fassbender should play Jobs. “This used to be an event,” Sorkin wrote. “I don’t know who Michael Fassbender is and the rest of the world isn’t going to care.”
The Steve Jobs biopic was eventually sold to Universal after the release of Jobs, which starred Ashton Kutcher in the titular role and was poorly received both critically and commercially. It is believed that this film has made it difficult to warrant the release of another Steve Jobs biopic, with the planned movie now languishing in pre-production hell. Despite being initially skeptical of Fassbender’s involvement with the movie, Sorkin was later convinced of his talents, writing: “F*** it. He’s a great actor whose time has come.”
Well, at least Sorkin finally came around? I mean, Fassbender IS an amazing actor. But I still don’t think he should play Steve Jobs, because it’s just not going to work. As for Hollywood’s unfamiliarity with Fassy, I can’t believe these people are so out of touch. I can understand a producer not knowing his name… in 2010. But he was nominated for an Oscar this year for a film that ended up winning Best Picture. He’s young Magneto. He was Carl Jung. He got a ton of press for going full-frontal in Shame. How do people not know him already? And who chooses TOM CRUISE over Michael Fassbender?! (Although I have to say, the idea of Cruise as Steve Jobs is sort of brilliant, praise Xenu.)
And finally, in Hollywood-Is-High-School news, Amy Pascal and her man totally hate Nikki Finke after Finke totally wrote about Pascal in a blog post.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sigh. Everyone’s an arsewipe. Including me, because this stuff and nonsense is bringing out the worst of my rubbernecking tendencies.
I feel in need of an ethical cleansing. I’m going to make it my mission to put out some love and solidarity to someone, somewhere, today. I’ve got to stop focusing on this sort of shiznit. Will report back once I’ve done it.
You’re a better woman than me, Sixer!
I’m just gonna go ahead and say that it’s all fascinating and a worthwhile read.
They are so far up their own asses, buy into brand-name BS advertising way way too much, and have about zero focus on quality, just like many corporations. It’s not about putting a great product out, it’s about the easiest way to sell the same soap to the public who they view as third grade zombie sheeple.
I agree with that, of course. I mean, I think we knew this stuff but now we’ve had it confirmed, right? They’re all, to a (wo)man, a bunch of hyper-aggressive, spoiled, entitled, intellectually-challenged wankstains.
When the Powerpoint describes After Earth, not as a piece of film-making or story-telling, or, even more tellingly, a subliminal propaganda message for CO$ (they’re not even bright enough to manage that!) but as a series of canvases on which to hang adverts and product placements; or extols a film because it’s suitable for salty snacks commercials, then we may as well give up, right?
I’m just a’sayin: ok, I get it. Now I’m going to get on with something productive and nice, like paying it forward, or making a friend, or, or, or. And assign this farrago to the waste-disposal area of my consciousness.
Oh. I’m ranting. Sorry, darling. If I eat some chocolate first, I’ll get on with the nice stuff in a better frame of mind, right?!
You are one of the fairest and nicest people I know on the net. Comparatively, your guilt is not warranted. But go do the good deeds and enjoy! I’ll be here doing the devil’s work for a little while, if you come back, lol.
Maybe if we didn’t go to see the stuff aimed at third-grade zombie sheeple we’d have better movies.
chelsea, I’ve been doing my part.
Go forth with the love and solidarity, Sixer! Lost in this mess are numerous legal and ethical issues. Firstly, hacking, no matter who has been hacked, is wrong and people should remember that and not encourage hackers by lapping up what they hack. Secondly, every workplace needs strong email policies and constant reminders to staff that you never put anything in a work email that you don’t want splashed across the front page of a newspaper or handed to a jury. Emails are discoverable in lawsuits.
Ok. Instead of a few lines in a Christmas card to an ex-neighbour who moved away into sheltered housing a few months back, I wrote a nice long letter and enclosed it in the card. And I threw a few quid to a crowdsourced doco.
I’m refreshed. Back to snarking then!
Totally agree. It just makes you feel dirty, like you’ve been looking at autopsy photos without permission or something.
Fassbender is internet famous. His name doesn’t sell movies. That’s all that matters to these people.
>edit: Have to add – I’m LOVING all this bitchy gossip from the hack!
If it were that simple I’d get it, but it sounds like Sorkin didn’t even know his work. That’s fine if he was a corporate lawyer or pilot or something, but he’s in the entertainment industry! It’s his job to know whose new and exciting and crazy talented. The fact that he suggested Cruise shows how out of touch he is! Cruise sells in action these days, that’s about it. How do I know that and Sorkin doesn’t?
This is exactly what I was going to say. I mean, it’s one thing for someone like my mom (who isn’t a huge movie-watcher) to not know Fassbender’s name but heck, even she saw 12 Years a Slave. For someone in the industry to be that unaware is really ridiculous.
Even if they were talking from a branding point of view, I think a lot of people would recognize Fassy just for the fact that he’s young Magneto, if nothing else. He does have a (lovely) unique face, after all.
The Newsroom and all its wretched dreadfulness proof enough that the Aaron Sorkin ship has sailed. Attaching Cruise to a biopic of anyone at this stage in his career is just daffy.
Seriously, do people who work in the movie biz never go to the movies?
I was under the impression that Sorkin is a Big Jerk. I though he had problems with people, that he behaves like he is above everyone else. Or maybe that is someone else.
Even if I am wrong, he is an idiot for not knowing who Michael Fassbender is. Michael has a worldwide fan base. Is it on the level of Bale? No, but it’s getting there. So for anyone in the movie business to not know who Michael, is they must be competed morons.
“And that’s all I have to say about that.” — Forrest Gump
A lot of people don’t know who Fassbender is. I think most of American audiences have no clue who he is. He is an amazing actor and would be awesome in just about any role he plays.
I can actually see the brilliance of putting Tom Cruise in the Jobs role. I actually think Cruise would knock it out of the park.
The studios should maybe call up whoever did the Howard Huges bio-flick (was that Scorcese) or maybe the JFK film director?
Wrong, we do know who Fassie is especially due the X-men prequels and Prometheus. Movies that were international releases so please. Not to mention 12 years. It is not like he was in a string of failed art house movies ONLY.
I’m a fan of Sorkin sans The Newsroom but he was being willfully ignorant and partial. Don’t try to make his actions less that.
At the time of those emails Fassbender was a current Oscar nominee in thr movie that won Best Picture. Movie people not named Aaron Sorkin absolutely would have known who he was.
A lot of people in the general public still haven’t a clue who he is.
He’s a wxcellent actor though.
I agree that Sorkin should know Fassbender – so much so that I actually don’t believe he doesn’t. Maybe in his email, Sorkin wasn’t speaking literally, maybe he phrased himself that way to make a point: MF’s level of fame isn’t something that could secure a commercial hit. Otherwise, no words for that.
Also, did anybody notice that Pascal AGREED with the Cruise suggestion?
You forgot the best part! Sorkin was only convinced AFTER watching Shame. He’s all, I don’t know him, NO ONE CARES ABOUT HIM.
*Watches fassdong*
He’s a great actor, who’s time has come.
Also that exec who wrote he felt embarrassed after watching Shame because his dong is only normal size. Amazing!
I had read Sorkins’ comment as sarcastic.
That email exchange with the Sony people telling the other guys to see every other Fassbender film BUT Shame because it will make them feel inadequate regarding their own penis says so much. These guys couldn’t see past his huge dong in Shame to feel sympathy for the character or to nominate Fassbender for an Oscar. This hacking us revealing many things we suspected about Hollywood big wigs.
Here is the email exchange:
I agree with Mike.
Fassbender is not a star yet, but a really fine actor who is putting together a terrific body of work.
He was sooo good in Prometheus and X-Men.
Remember Ridley told us he thinks he’s the best actor there is. Loved him.
Making Jobs great is not about casting a movie star, it’s about turning in a stunning performance.
The script and the take is the star in this one.
On Nov 3, 2014, at 10:52 PM, DeLuca, Michael wrote:
Shame just makes you feel bad to have normal sized male genitalia, unless Aaron is Johnny Wad Holmes he’s in for a bummer of an evening. I’d steer mark to fassbenders roles in inglorious bastards where he’s basically Cary Grant, Prometheus where he’s basically Peter o toole, and x men first class where he’s just very very good. His role in 12 Years and his performance of it rivals Ralph Fiennes’ iconic depiction of twisted, racial sadistic violence as Amon Goeth for making horror watchable. Also very good as Rochester in Cary Fukunagas Jane Eyre. I’ll tell him.
I totally liked what Fassbender did with Magneto too.
They weren’t literally saying they don’t know who he is, they were saying that’s where his branding is at. The majority of film-going people don’t know him or his work. Even if they’ve seen him in something they don’t place the face because they didn’t know who he was when they were watching him. Same as Tom Hardy. These guys have been in big films but they haven’t broken out as mainstream movie stars/household names.
Agreed. I don’t know why people are reading this so literally – especially when you look at who he preferred instead of Fassbender – they’re talking about who has name recognition both nationally and internationally. With many movies making their money back in overseas markets, particularly Asia, it is pretty important to see who is a well-known actor all over the world as opposed to just famous in the US.
Exactly!
I agree. They wanted to sell this as a NAME movie, so for that reasoning I understand the Tom Cruise mention. His movies are Tom Cruise Movies.
Fassbender isn’t really that famous. I was reading an article about last year’s Oscar nominations and he had one of the lowest Q scores. People on the Internet ovestimate the famousness of him, Cumberbatch, and Hiddleston.
I don’t think Kaiser is saying he’s like, super famous or something … Just that someone in the industry ought to know who he is.
Shoot- other sites are mentioning someone being “insecure”?? as a result of MF’s role in Shame! See you took the high road here-LOL!
No doubt Amy P is out- she’s the only big name who’s also an employee, at least so far. You would think that this would teach folks not to treat emails, etc as some sort of secret speech, but that won’t happen!
The fact that Sorkin’s first choice was Cruise speaks volumes about the movie they want to make. I mean, Tom is a movie star but he’s not even close to Fassbender’s acting skills.
And this is not supposed to be an action movie.
Cruise’s idea became after Bale’s drop but i think they ( the producers,Sony or Sorkin) had no idea about what they wanted after Fincher’s drop.Fincher knew what he wanted ($ 50 million, total control and Bale)
I may be in the minority, but I actualy think Tom Cruise would be a good pick for the role. I think he’d knock it out of the park.
Honestly, I feel Fassbender is totally wrong for Jobs. Totally wrong. No doubt, he is a good actor and Sorkin sounds completely out of touch not knowing who he is, but I think Cruise would actually be better at that role and at least has a passing resemblance to Jobs.
After this Sony leak though, don’t be surprised if Fassbender and Cruise are not playing this role.
Fassbender is still linked to this movie with Danny Boyle directing and Scott Rudin producing at Universal. I don’t think either Fassy nor Cruise nor Bale nor DiCaprio are right for this role but I can’t think of any one who is. Maybe Brad Pitt in a wig? It needs to be someone who can come across a hippie, vegan asshole. I don’t see the hippie part in any of the men mentioned and Cruise (and my Pitt suggestion) is way too old.
Sorkin is clueless if he wants Cruise. I still have to check his resume/IMDB to see what he has done. The one good thing is that the others did not seem to be into Cruise, that shows some sense.
I still think out of the mentions, Bale & Tom Cruise are the best choices so far.
….and as far as hippy dippy I can see Tom doing it, he showed glimpses of it when he transformed from gung ho soldier to war protestor in Born on The Fourth of July.
The Jolie-Pascal picture is ah-mazing! If looks could kill…
JLo,
Girl, this christmas… Santa heard my secret prayers.
Angie done DROPPED the earth mom schtick, and Angelina circa 90s is B.A.C.K!!!
Angelina is giving her b.^tch looks, and I ….. LOVE IT!!!
Because it proves that a) she personally went to gawker, and read those e-mails, one by one, and dissected content from gawker.com!!
b) She got caught in the biggest bitch picture taken this year, that may even outshadow sophia loren’s infamous cat photo!! This is a vengeful look!!
I love that pic so hard!
I love it too–she has a bug eyed bitch face!
Ut-oh… Angie’s wearing her bitch-get-out-of-my-face look. If I was Pascal I’d run for cover.
I want to print out that picture and use it as my “bitch please” to people at work trying to bullsh-t me.
Compared to A. Jolie Fassbender is an extraordinary actor, but for doing major films he is not the first choice, unfortunately. Talent usually is not the gift which counts in Hollywood. I mean reckoning Channing Tatum or Chris Hemsworth, I do remember both for their muscles and grinning faces, but Fassy IS an actor. A very good one.
As a Brangeloony- this makes me feel so happy to read about the other horrible stuff Amy and Scott said about other famous people. The more emails are exposed the more power and support Angelina is getting.
People were rejoicing about Angelina being attacked and said Scott only spoke what all of Hollywood thinks about her.
Now here we have the very same Scott and Amy being racist and talking about other celebs like Fassbender, Di Caprio, Cruise and many more. Are the very same people going to claim that this is what whole of Hollywood thinks about the mentioned celebs?
And also – am I the only one who felt very uncomfortable reading about Andy Sorkin talking about Fassbender’s penis?
PS: I would like to point out that I feel disgusted about the whole think. I know that Hollywood is racist, male chauvinist etc but I never thought it could be at this level.
As much as you love Fassbender, he really isn’t a player. Or a known quantity at the studios. Or a name star.
The people in these emails primarily deal with A list star names. Can we truly call Fassy A List star name? Is he recognisable in Asia, Europe? Considering Brad Pitt’s face had to be used on 12YAS in Europe and Asia, rather than Fassy’s tells you exactly how much of a commodity he is.
The fact that he doesn’t do much promotion for his films or Oscar nominations also doesn’t bring him to the attention of people at this level at the studio unless a director is willing to fight for him.
We laugh at Jen Aniston’s CAKE hustle, but Fassy needs to do the same level of hustle to get onto the studio list. Cumberbatch is saturating media right now for an oscar nom, but it’s also helping him work his way onto the studio list.
Doing small films will never get Fassy onto an Aaron Sorkin list unless he hustles. And after SHAME, he isn’t willing to hustle anymore.
That’s my impression, too. He doesn’t really want to put a lot of engergy into these activities: hustle / schmooze / make useful friends. Though he doesn’t really avoid it either: when there is a film festival etc. you often see him talking to the movers and shakers.
Maybe that is why he puts so much effort into his own production company: to escape the networking a bit.
It is kind of sad that schmoozing gets you farther and faster than real talent.
I think there are “movie stars” (Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Clooney, Sandra Bullock) who sell based on their name, and then there are top level actors (Fassbender, Amy Adams, the late PSH) who are in demand to work but not expected to carry a huge film based on their popularity.
In general I find the “actors” to be more interesting and talented than the “movie stars” but the studios are always going to want the movie star first.
Indeed, Fassy is A list in terms of talent but not so much in terms of recognition.
No matter how crappy the movie, his performance WILL deliver. I kinda love that he’s not an ass kisser to be honest, I still remember his three actors he wanted to model in terms of filmography: Rockwell, Ruffulo, and Seymour Hoffma–THAT tells me he really his about the craft.
There’s nothing wrong with being a movie star, conversely, there’s nothing wrong with wanting your talent to be the defining factor.
These Sony leaks have been glorious but also very sad: the egos of TPTB really are gross, they have no respect truly for actors, it’s all about the money and THEIR accolades.
He needs to become a “whore” like that short dude Kevin what’s it that Pascal also called out. I may not know Kevin’s last name but 1. I am not his target audience and 2. I know who he is and what he is in so his method is working.
I actually applaud Kevin Hart for wanting to get paid for his time and work as a black comedianne doing movies now, he may not have a long window of popularity and making movies, so more power to him, even if she called him a whore. Getting paid for his hustle is smart. IMO
Also good for Jennifer Anniston her hustle is working, more power to her.
These emails make me almost feel the need to take a shower, these studio people are so two faced, racist, sleezy behind the scenes talking amongst themselves. Ms. Pascal just seems so two faced , Sorkin sleezy. Yuck
Here is the comment about the Fassdong that some posters mentioned upthread (think the “Aaron” refers to “Aaron Sorkin”, who said he was gonna watch Shame cos he didn’t know who Fassbender was)
“On Nov 3, 2014, at 10:52 PM, DeLuca, Michael wrote:
Shame just makes you feel bad to have normal sized male genitalia, unless Aaron is Johnny Wad Holmes he’s in for a bummer of an evening.”
As much as I’m an admirer of the Fassdong, I do feel a bit sad for Fassy that his member has kinda overshadowed his wonderfully poignant acting in Shame. He was so, so excellent in it and was robbed of an Oscar nomination (if not a win).
Agreed. I thought those e-mails, while recognizing that Fassbender has talent also showed that the studio folks within Sony don’t take him as seriously as they should.
I don’t think Oscar voters (conservative bunch) would have given it to him for Shame, based on the content of the film. He’s a powerful actor, but the “oscar nomination” rumors that came up around Shame were just wishful hype. IMO.
The photobomber in that pic with Angie and Amy Pascal is priceless. 😀
all around the interwebs that carry this story, i see several similar comments repeated again and again:
(a) yes both Pascal and Rudin are rude
(b) Rudin is rude but what’s new, that’s who he is. everyone knows that. you gotta be rude to get all the achievements he has. you think he got where he is and has that longetivity by being meek as a lamb?
(c) Pascal is rude. that’s gross and unbecoming. we know you need feistyness to climb up the ladder but keep it private. once out in the open, countdown to that woman’s career being flushed down the toilet.
basically: men out-and-proud horrible boss, par for the course. women out-and-proud horrible boss, tick tock tick tock.
why is one thing bad for one gender? if it’s a crime, then it’s supposed to apply to everyone.
In this case because Rudin works for himself while Pascal answers to a board of directors and a CEO in Japan.
In terms of who gets fired, Sony can fire Pascal. The most that they can do to Rudin is choose not to work with him in the future, which has a lot less fallout.
However, to the larger point about how they are being received, when they have both shown equal amounts of rudeness/unprofessionalism/racism: it’s definitely because Pascal is a woman. Tales of Rudin’s behavior are legendary: apparently his assistants have to keep a basket of cell phones in the office because he throws them so often he is in constant need of a new one. He’s a very well known jerk. What this hack has exposed is that being a tremendous jerk, sending racist and sexist emails, threatening and cussing at colleagues, disparaging other professionals by referring to them as a “brat” or a “whore”- absolutely none of it is an impediment to success in Hollywood. This sort of behavior that would be completely unacceptable in most any other industry seems to be required in Hollywood. It’s such a gross environment.
All right, I’m probably the only one that thinks this, but….aside from the Obama remarks (which were horribly racist), the rest of the emails I actually found refreshing. They were all being pretty honest instead of doing that passive aggressive ass kissing that most people do with co-workers.
I found it refreshing too (albeit hilarious and appalling at the same time as well) but what shocks me most about this scandal is the sheer stupidity of writing all of this in email. Digital records are always kept. And that they had a file named “Passwords” which included “139 Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, zip files, and PDFs containing thousands of passwords to Sony Pictures’ internal computers, social media accounts and web service accounts.”
It is mind-blowing.
What you wrote can also apply on the actresses’s hacked nude pics
I think it’s all hilarious. Every last one of them including the Obama ones. I know better than to put anything like this in email. That is what the phone, texting and doing lunch are for.
These are business emails that contain private opinions / private gossip language. I wouldn’t hang anybody for writing such emails. It is a mistake to use such language in business emails but seriously that is just a minor offense.
Btw. I have written emails with such content as well. I bet most people have written such emails and most likely the will continue to do so. The difference between the leaked emails and my emails? I used my private email account.
+1
Have to respectfully disagree- depending on where you work and it’s HR policies, emails such as these can be a firing offense.
As I mentioned up thread, P is an employee of Sony- Rubin isn’t. It will be interesting to see if the IT security team gets the boot.
If it’s a business email its not really your property. It can be looked over by HR, it can be supeonaed in cases of lawsuits. If you actually do anything like what Rudin & Pascal do in business emails you are endangering your job the consequences can be serious if not this public.
Perhaps it was a mistake to expose male genitalia in a movie about sex addiction, particularly for a US audience. European films regularly do full frontal nudity and it’s not a talking point. Fassbender did full frontal nudity in Hunger but it didn’t feel gratuitous or titillating at all. In fit the context whereas it did seem gratuitous in Shame.
Fassbender also mentioned that Steve McQueen wanted full frontal nudity from him in 12 years as well and now I feel a bit uncomfortable about the fact that Steve McQueen wants to show the Fassdong in every movie he makes with Fassbender. It just feels a tiny bit exploitative. That’s just my personal opinion though and I’m not a fan of female nudity either just for the sake of if and that happens all too frequently unfortunately.
Also, fassbender doesn’t have the name recognition that Tom Cruise has unfortunately, so I can understand why they wanted Tom Cruise even though it’s so ridiculous. I don’t think it’s down to the fact that he doesn’t do promo etc, he does – check out x-men promos, it’s because he hadn’t had a full on hit as a solo leading man yet, not of the type which smashes all sorts of records.
All these emails have done is show me how the movies are just a product that is being sold to us, not a way to tell interesting stories or to express oneself and communicate to an audience. It has totally put me off cinema and it’s unlikely that I’ll be shelling out for any movies anytime soon and I was a massive cinema goer. I’ll just wait for them to come on Nerflix. That way I won’t feel like I’ve given money to people why are just cynically selling product placement. Perhaps there’ll be a few exceptions, ie Wes Anderson movies, he always seems to genuinely have a story that he wants to tell and I like the way he tells it.
Also, Fassbender is a decent actor but I do think he doesn’t have a great range and his American accent really needs work.
I hope he doesn’t start doing Pap strolls etc now to gain some recognition. Just be true to yourself and tell good stories
“Perhaps it was a mistake to expose male genitalia in a movie about sex addiction, particularly for a US audience.”
Look what happened with Affleck’s penis in Gone Girl.
OMG. I saw that movie twice and I DID NOT NOTICE a full frontal scene. I keep reading about it and I’m like, wait . . . what? My guess is it was in the shower scene, yeah?
@Florence It’s mostly the small independent movies that are telling the audience stories. The movies with big budgets have one objective and it’s to get butts in the seats and make money. There are still good movies being made.
I saw a couple of blurbs on Affleck’s penis, nothing major. Fassbender’s penis is a thing because of the size of it. Men are jealous. I remember the naked Brad and Goop pics way back in the 90s. no one talked about Brad Pitt’s penis because it was nothing to write home about. His abs on the other hand… 🙂
I agree with you about the movie industry,even if we didn’t need all this to know that movies,mainstream movies, ARE products . I strongly disagree about Fassbender not having a great range.. it’s probably the first time that I see someone saying this.I respect your opinion,of course,but his work in Hunger,Shame,12YAS,Jane Eyre,Prometheus,Fish Tank and Frank (all very different roles) is a testament to his range.. If he doesn’t have range,then let’s redefine the meaning of the word “range”..
In Shame his nudity wasn’t gratuitous,or titillating.. Shame was not a titillating movie. Hunger is another type of movie and his nudity was shot in a different way.
He was a bit joking about 12YAS,but he didn’t say that McQueen wanted another full frontal nudity like that in Shame. Probably he was referring to the rape scene and I’m sure that it was a reasoned choice from McQueen.
Yeah, I think Fassbender’s exposure in Shame is turning out to be a distraction for people. It takes them out of the movie and it KEEPS COMING UP in press. That’s not what you want. Steve McQueen has his own vision and there is merit in that obviously, but it doesn’t fit US mainstream.
I loved your comments, btw.
Amy Pascal might be getting more stink eye from The Leg of Doom because of her remarks about the President, who knows? I don’t think racial insensitivity would score high on Angie’s hit parade. But if AJ is pissed about being called a spoiled brat, then she should A) be pissed at Scott Rudin, for he’s the one who said it, and B) stop acting like one. She held up another project for a year and a half because she wanted to play in Liz Taylor’s shoes. Ego and vanity at its best. Maybe Rudin was an arse for how he spoke of Angie, but I do think he actually called it right on that one particular issue.
I don’t see how AJ should bear responsibility to what happens to a project she is not in. The only project an actor needs to hustle for is the project they’re actually in. She did that. Other people who do have the responsibility for multiple projects can say no to the actor, but please, let’s not get confused here about what AJ can and can’t do.
Actually, if Angelina Jolie kept trying to block a director from working on a project by dangling another project, when that other project was nowhere near ready to go, for 18 months, which is what appears to have happened, then yes, AJ does have some skin in that game. She wanted Cleopatra, even though the script was only half-baked and not close to ready (and is a BAD IDEA regardless), and she wanted David Fincher, so there were constant delays in him taking other projects because she kept pushing for that, so Sony ended up losing the project and the director. Her game of carrot and stick went on for 18 months. That’s an ego exercise if I’ve ever heard one.
However, none of that comes close to how Rudin AND Pascal behaved in those emails. I don’t give a crap if they thought those emails were “private” because A) they’re not, they’re the property of SONY, and B) private or not, it’s still unbecoming. Angelina Jolie might have been catering to her own ego with the Cleopatra project, but even if Scott Rudin wanted to point out what he felt was her bad behavior, he could have done so in a much more professional manner.
But she does not actually have the executive power. There were people to say no.
I’m no fan of AJ and I totally agree with Rudin’s assessment of her, but I am really questioning how Amy Pascal got to where she is because she comes off as a total wuss. She wants to keep both AJ and Rudin happy. They have two separate projects that may conflict with each other in terms of timing and both want Fincher (assuming HE wants either project). The Rudin project is ready to go while AJ’s is not. Yet she does not have the ovaries to tell AJ, no. Does she have the ovaries to tell AJ that she shares Rudin’s opinion that Cleopatra is a turkey and she will not green light it? It’s her job to do this, not Rudin’s not Fincher’s not Sworkin’s not Bale’s, not Cruise’s, not DiCaprios and not Fassbender’s. Rudin did his job by taking the property to another studio who he felt was taking it more seriously.
Executives exist to make the hard decisions which help the company’s bottom line. I don’t care if they are making movies or vending machines. That is what executives do.
RandomSpirit, that’s what I’ve taken away from it too – Pascal seems rather ineffective at her job, at least in this instance. If she wanted Fincher for Jobs, it was her responsibility to make that happen, including putting her foot down and telling Jolie no.
RandomSpirit, also agree. Putting aside how horrible Rudin is (and he IS), he wasn’t wrong about his assessment of how Pascal was treating his Jobs film. He put together a script (Sorkin), director (Fincher), and actor (Bale). Then when everything was starting to unravel (with Fincher disclosing that he felt trapped in the middle of two different projects, and Bale unable to find his way into the character), he seemed to request that Pascal, as the head of Sony Pictures, step in and try to save the film. Which she really didn’t do; I expected her to be decisive, and she came across as completely wishy-washy and unable to make any decision for fear of upsetting anyone. Then when Rudin took the project elsewhere, she had a pretty embarrassing string of emails that to me seemed like begging.
Nobody comes out of this looking well, but to me, she’s the one who also looks incompetent.
Fassy’s ego must’ve took a real hit, but if you think about it, his Q rating must be super low. Do people in Iowa know him? Hell, do people in small towns in Russia know him? Probably not… They’ve seen him, but I doubt it’s like Bradley Cooper.
Wide recognition: The X-Men franchise might give him wide recognition as each X-men movie seems to become a blockbuster and many many people watch them. ???
Those X men roles could be played by any soap opera actor. They are hardly taxing and the actors hardly put an original spin on them
I thought about that… but the role in X-Men is bigger than him. Most people just see the character.
Tyler Perry didn’t know David Fincher’s movies before to work with him so why not
I can’t imagine not knowing who Fassbender is.. I saw him first in Inglourious Basterds and fell in love immediately :). Then Prometheus, Jane Eyre, Dangerous Method, 12 years, Shame, most recently I saw him in The Counselor (heartbreaking) – and I’m from central Europe, not US. Can’t imagine someone like Sorkin doesn’t know him. I consider him to be an A-list star, not a superstar like Pitt or Cruise but more like Firth or Owen.
Definitely the xmen roles can be played by anyone and Fassbender hasn’t consistently been good in everything, he wasn’t very good in Jane Eyre whereas Mia Wasikowska really did pull it out of the bag in every way.
I have a horrible feeling that Fassbender will start doing pap strolls – in fact he seems to have started with the pap strolls already and will probably start the schmoozing and ass kissing as well now 😥
Are there any actors out there keeping their integrity?
I fell in love with him in Jane Eyre.
And in answer to your question, I think Fassbender is keeping his integrity.
Agreed with Florence about Jane Eyre. I thought he was a dreadful Rochester. Timothy Dalton was an excellent Rochester, almost as good as Orson Welles.
Did you see Fassbender in The Counselor? He was great in that movie.
Agree about The Counselor, a very underrated movie!
Hemm,sorry.. Xmen roles can’t be played by everyone like Fassbender and McAvoy did .. Absolutely not. And fassbender’s body of work can be reduced to XMen..
Nobody can be consistently good in EVERYTHING,in teh same way,and actually he has been able to give very good performance even in terrible things (tv roles included).He was the only (very) great thing in Prometheus,e.g. I don’t know what you have seen,but his performance in The Counselor (his role was very dull IMO),for example, can be compared to his work in Hunger,Fish Tank,Frank,Shame,Prometheus or 12YAS. Different scripts,different directors,different roles.
I’ve read many times how Mia was bland in Jane Eyre and Fassbender was engaging.. everyone can have a different opinion,not everyone has read the novel,many can prefer other adaptations.. What is sure is that Mia was the principal character,the movie was built around her and it’s very difficult to reduce a novel for a movie. Rochester wasn’t a central character in this version and I think Fassbender made the best of the material he was given. I’m among those who like Mia too.
can’t be reduced
Perhaps Aaron Sorkin was too high or too drunk to notice Fassy before…
+1
I think Sorkin knew who he was but he said it in a shady “I don’t know her” way like Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilera would. I wish he’d quit this project. Bad omens from every angle.
I also wish Fassbender would get out of this project. However, Boyle fought for him, and that may make it hard to leave. If it’s not successful–and given what I’ve read of it, I think it’s unlikely to be a major success, merely an interesting film–we know who will get blamed. Snarky critical reviews can practically write themselves.
He is too terrific an actor to put up with this garbage.
I would think that even if Boyle fought for him (and I know they want to work together) the fact that he was kinda publicly humiliated AND it’s apparent that the studio heads think of him as little more than a walking giant appendage would be enough for him to bounce. But maybe it isn’t. He did just make Light Between Oceans so….. his taste hasn’t been great lately.
By the way what happened to Nikki Finke? It’s like she completely vanished. Her Fall was amazing. She founded Deadline, then other journalists joined her site. Deadline become big. Finke was acting like Superstar of journalism. Then was fired from Deadline for being b***h. Then was like: “Whatever. Your loss. I’m such a big star that I will open another site and everyone will leave Deadline to read me. Because I.m such a Star and readers adore me and every person in Hollywood is afraid of me”.
And then she opened her site and… nothing happened. She just vanished. No one quotes her anymore. Movie sites don’t take news from her site. It failed and is basically closed now. And Deadline is still major movie site. Everyone is replaceable.
No one knows, she’s been on radio silence since August. Unless she’s been tweeting, I always for get to check Twitter. http://nikkifinke.com/
Well her site failed. Who knows why. Maybe she lost her connections and no one wants to talk to her and give her inside info. And she has nothing juicy to report. So she just closed it and went on never ending vacation.
Again – her fall from grace was amazing. She thought she was the most powerful person in business. But then one day people in industry and gossip sites stopped caring.
LOL! I don’t think a lot of people know his name. I work behind-behind-behind-behind the scenes at a rival company and I am infinitely thankful Sony did not hire me. My friends are in similar fields and no one knows his name but if you say “young Magneto” and/or “the German/English dude in Inglourious Basterds” they know. Sorkin is a writer, is he not? Maybe a TV producer? Maybe? I know the name. I also don’t think he gets much say in a film’s casting given he is not a film producer.
Oh snap! I checked my company directory and he and I are coworkers. Blush. I always get him confused with some other guy. Now I have to look at his IMDB to see what the H he does for us. The only showrunner who I am familiar with is JJ Abrams because I loved LOST and Chuck Lorre because he got in a fight with Charlie Sheen and kind of won. I’m guessing Sorkin is a showrunner. I thought he was a writer.
Oh the casting – I do have an opinion. I agree with Kaiser that this is not the best casting choice. I like Fassbender but the reasons I like him are the reasons he is a bad choice. He is exotic to me, he’s neither American nor wholly British. He seems more sophisticated than either one of those. He’s different yet he looks like us more or less.
Jobs is very “all American” he is not sophisticated nor exotic. He was a California hippie boy who happened to be a genius. I knew a lot of guys like that when I was a little girl – my older cousin’s friends from college. They weren’t geniuses but they were otherwise like that. He is a very common archetype out here. Obviously, I was not thrilled with Bale either. 🙂
I disagree with Sorkin on it mattering if people know who Michael Fassbender is. Jobs is the star of this picture. The actor will likely win accolades but him being well known is not important, people will come out to see it regardless. At least it wasn’t Tom Cruise. Wasn’t it Sorkin who was trying to sell them on Tom Cruise?
oh man I totally agree with you re: Fassbender’s more exotic look. Fantastically put.
Am I the only one who thinks Amy Pascal needs to “Lean In” more? She seems to want to appease both Rudin and The Leg of Doom (love that) in her emails. If she could cut Fincher in pieces and hand them over to both she would have. It makes me wonder how she got where she is if she is so indecisive.
it just surprises me that Sorkin, who’s like a top screenwriter or whatever he is in hollywood, wasn’t aware of Fassbender?or maybe he’s just a hater, cuz he could’ve said more nicely like “I don’t think he’s right for it”
For those of you saying you don’t understand why Cruise was first suggested or saying it is a bad idea clearly do not know the man apart from the gossip surrounding his religion (“religion”?) & Katie Holmes/whoever he is dating. If you haven’t seen Magnolia, then I suggest you take some time and go watch it. He has a very good body of dramatic work but unfortunately it is shadowed by his action movies and like I said, the gossip.
I wish Michael Fassbender should have the guts to leave this movie while he can. There will be more great films that will win oscars one day in his whole career, if he even cared?
And I will like to make this final point, this is what happens when if the cap fits, let them where it ( Thank you Bob Marley), Aaron Sorkin, definitely knows who Michael Fassbender is, and Scott Rudin is just Jealous because he doesn’t have or use Big u know whats, big their heads are so far up their a**es, that they will try to hurt amd humiliatie most people. Anywa, if Michael Fassbender has my brain, I wouldn’t give them my piece of my mind, but I would love to tell these a**holes, thank you, for making my german manhood (pun intended) the center of attention.
This just shows to tell you, that to never trust the people in Hollywood, I’m this case Hollyweird.
Sorkin knew perfectly who Fassbender was.. he was being sarcastic and he was bitching at Boyle who didn’t want Cruise. I’m sure he saw him in something,but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even know what kind of movie is 12YAS.. He’s an AMPAs voter but yes,I wouldn’t be surprised.. people like Sorkin live in their small world,with theit giant egos. Even if he said “F*ck it,he ‘s great,bla,bla..”,the bit “he will be nominated for everything” shows how these people are out of touch..Sorkin. are you serious?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Michael_Fassbender
I like his apology a hell of a lot more than hers… haha, I wonder if Sony hired them ghostwriters for their apologies but the powers that be sabotaged her to save him by comparison.
How is it that these people who are supposedly Hollywood bigwigs who work in the FILM INDUSTRY are not even aware of a talented actor that’s been starring in both indie amd big budget movies? Isn’t it a part of their job to be in the know and updated? Such a weird way to go to pretend not to know about Fassbender, wouldn’t that make Sorkin’s bosses doubt his credibility for being so “out-of-touch”? Sheesh, im embarrassed for Sorkin. What a strange route to go.
the problem with these emails between collegues and friends is that we don´t know when they´re sarcastic, joking, serious or whatever.
If some outsider would read the stuff i write with my “buddy-colleagues” they would think the worst of us. We´re very jokey with each other. Thank god we use our own email adresses and no one controlls them… except the NSA