On a recent afternoon, producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were finishing up a meeting with “The Muppets” filmmakers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller in the maze of production trailers between stages 27 and 28 at Universal, where the highly anticipated children’s movie had been filming several weeks ago.
As the PGA Northern Trust Open gets under way at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, golfer Wade Morris finds himself on the sideline, a victim of what he says is religious discrimination.
I had this fantasy about Aaron Sorkin. It’s probably only natural that I should want to know him, because he is, after all, the most intelligent and sharp-witted writer working in Hollywood today. His prestige began with “A Few Good Men” (1992), surged with the “The West Wing,” which he created in 1999 and for which he wrote until 2003, and was cemented with “The Social Network,” which deftly showcases his extraordinary writing talent — although he’s also had a few flops — and his uncanny gift for cultural relevance.
Writer-director Debra Granik is Jewish, upper middle class and a New Yorker. So it is all the more remarkable that her thriller, “Winter’s Bone,” is so accurate in its depiction of life in the Ozarks that, in the words of one critic, “You can almost taste the fried squirrel.” The film has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture and best adapted screenplay.
Jennifer Lawrence, nominated in the best actress category for her searing portrayal of an Ozarks teenager in “Winter’s Bone,” was indispensable to writer-director Debra Granik — and not just for her acting prowess. Lawrence, 20, who was raised in Kentucky, played an important role in helping the New York Jewish director bridge the culture gap to bring the gritty Bible Belt tale to the screen.
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