March 1, 2010

Getting an Academy Award nomination for best picture is something most filmmakers only dream about. For Jon Landau, producer of the sci-fi fantasy film “Avatar,” that dream has now come true twice.

Joan Rivers loved, loved, loved Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” But not his shlumpy attire at the recent Golden Globe Awards ceremony. “He was wearing this long, black frock coat — he looked like a preacher,” she said in her famous raspy voice over the phone recently. “Of course, his work is so amazing, in a way you don’t want him to be a dandy. But you do wish a good woman would get a hold of him and just dress him like a normal person.”

Two of the Academy Award nominees in the documentary film category deal with whistle- blowing about subjects as basic as what we eat and why we fight.\n

It’s tough to be religious in Hollywood.

How could it be otherwise, since the industry itself demands absolute devotion? Ask anyone how they got their start, and they’ll tell you amusing stories about early bosses who treated them like indentured servants.