'Selma' director calls Sony emails 'sickening and sad'

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On the same day that she became the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for best director, "Selma" filmmaker Ava DuVernay took a moment to remark on the controversial email exchange that, for some, has highlighted a dispiriting lack of progress in some of the higher echelons of Hollywood.

"I have two words: sickening and sad," DuVernay told Variety at Thursday night's Washington, D.C., premiere of "Selma." "That's really all I have to say."

The director was referring to one of many conversations between producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal that were made public as a result of the massive Sony hack attack by Guardians of Peace, a group protesting the upcoming release of the studio's North Korea-skewering satire "The Interview." In the exchange in question, Pascal and Rudin traded quips about President Obama's movie tastes -- which, the two speculated, might run toward the likes of "Django Unchained," "12 Years a Slave," "The Butler" and the comedies of Kevin Hart.

A later version of that conversation might well have included mention of "Selma," which re-creates the 1965 voting-rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr. in heavily segregated Alabama. On Thursday morning, the much-lauded Paramount release picked up Golden Globe nominations not only for DuVernay's direction but also for picture and best actor for David Oyelowo for his portrayal of King.

During the post-screening Q&A held at the Newseum in D.C., the first question taken from the audience concerned the Sony hacking scandal. While DuVernay was circumspect about the matter onstage, "Selma" producer Dede Gardner spoke at greater length, acknowledging that Pascal and Rudin were being judged on the basis of a private communication.

"It's confusing because it's obviously a private conversation that was exposed and made public to the world, and it's hard, I think, for people who know those people," Gardner said. "You get let into spaces that you're not meant to be in."

"I'd like to think that it can be a very valuable lesson in how powerful the slightest words can be, and how lasting and impactful they are," she added. "It is no joke. There are not grades of racism. There's racism."

Pascal and Rudin both issued apologies for their remarks on Thursday, with Pascal personally reaching out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who had criticized the emails in question. He wasn't alone. Earlier that day, Shonda Rhimes wrote on Twitter: "Calling Sony comments 'racially insensitive remarks' instead of 'racist'? U can put a cherry on a pile of sh*t but it don't make it a sundae."

The "Selma" Q&A, which was well attended by local elected officials and moderated by "NewsHour" co-anchor Gwen Ifill, also included actors Oyelowo and Lorraine Toussaint, producers Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (who are both among the producers of "12 Years a Slave") and cinematographer Bradford Young. But the undisputed star of the panel was congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, a 25-year-old version of whom is portrayed in the film by Stephan James.

"I was deeply moved and touched to see myself played by a young guy, with all of his hair," Lewis said to much laughter, before turning sober and reflective. "You know, when I was growing up in rural Alabama, a few miles from Selma ... when we went to the theater as young black children, we had to go upstairs to the balcony. And all of the white children headed downstairs to the first floor."

"You didn't see anybody who looked like you on that screen," Ifill said.

Lewis replied, "Seeing myself being played is almost too much."

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Jeep’s built to cross the Rubicon

Since the first Jeep was made in 1941, few other vehicles have been able to excel off road quite like it. The Wrangler Rubicon X is no exception to this legacy. It is "trail rated" by the Nevada Automotive Test Center, meaning that it is ready to maneuver off-road, climb rocks, and ford streams.

What makes this vehicle so capable off road is a locking front and rear axle and a disconnecting front sway bar, which allow its driver to keep wheels in contact longer to take on rugged terrain and hop rocks. Other aspects like plenty of ground clearance and hill descent control also bolster the Rubicon's status as king of the mountain.

The Rubicon evokes a sense of its World War II heritage with a red imprint on its 17-inch polished black wheels featuring the icon of the original Jeep. The imprint, along with the fact that the look of the vehicle stays true to its origins, is a symbolic nod to its predecessor.

This Wrangler features a 3.6-liter V-6 engine rated at 285 horsepower. It has plenty of power, but gets only 18 mpg on average. The Rubicon X is equipped with four tow hooks, in case your off-roading goes a little too extreme and you land yourself in the mud.

There's a loud hum from the 7.5-inch wide tires, which the soft top does little to muffle. Highway and traffic noise also make their way through this thin membrane. The soft top is going to be great in the summer, but practice and patience with zippers are needed to secure cargo in the rear Extra time will have to be spent in order to access the trunk.

The Rubicon X is equipped with very comfortable accent-stitched leather-trimmed seats, but access to the rear seats in this two-door is hampered by clumsy mechanics for the folding seats.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel has audio controls for the Alpine audio system, which features a built-in hard drive, CD, DVD, MP3 and a very good GPS. The system has a 6.5-inch touch screen, but lacks variable volume, which would increase with speed. This feature would be helpful given the amount of road noise while driving.

The Rubicon X is incredibly easy to park. There's no need for a back-up camera as you can see everything that's behind you by merely looking over your shoulder.

The test vehicle was equipped with slush mats, which are nice, but a step below ones offered by Weathertech.

It takes a while to get used to driving the Rubicon on the highway. It goes without saying that it will be more at home off road than on paved roads. At highway speeds, this two-door machine wants to swerve.

The power window controls are hard to find until you remember that the doors are removable. With winter-like weather, removing the doors wasn't tested, but the process seems easy enough.

The lighting inside the Rubicon X is not good. Lose your wallet inside this Jeep at night and get ready to use your smartphone flashlight to find it. Another feature the Rubicon X is missing is a 2-inch receiver hitch, which can always be added later, but seems like an oversight.

Its lack of space means you'll have to choose between passengers and cargo. If you are considering the purchase of a Wrangler Rubicon, the four-door seems to be a better choice than the two-door. It's most likely a trade off of some off-road capabilities by going this route, but better highway stability and increased cargo capacity are going to make it worth it.

The bottom line is that the Rubicon X is an awesome off-road specimen with predictable shortcomings.

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White House: public likely 'cringed' when reading Sony e-mails

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Friday said he thinks "a lot of people cringed a bit" when reading Amy Pascal's hacked Sony emails in which she jokes with producer Scott Rudin about President Obama's tastes in movies.

Pascal apologized for the racially tinged emails, which she called "insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am."

Speaking at the White House press briefing, Earnest noted that "at least one of the Sony executives whose emails were made public has apologized for the contents of those emails, and I think that was appropriate."

"I think a lot of people who read those emails, maybe not everybody, but I think a lot of people cringed a bit when they were reading them," Earnest said.

CBS News' Major Garrett pressed Earnest on what he meant, saying, "Because [the emails] were what?"

Earnest joked, "Garrett may think it is my first day here."

Earnest said that he had not spoken to Obama about the stolen emails.

Pascal and Rudin apologized for the emails on Thursday after Buzzfeed published the leaked exchange.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Sony emails reveal failed efforts to recruit 'Lego' directors to run animation unit

Stolen emails from Sony Pictures reveal the studio tried and failed last summer to recruit Phil Lord and Chris Miller to take over its animation division.

The emails from the hacked documents, obtained by Variety, show studio toppers Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton looking to animation "to turn the studio around." They hoped to install a Pixar-style "brain trust" of filmmakers at the top of Sony Pictures Animation. Lord and Miller were being courted to head that group; other names being floated included Brad Bird.

Lord and Miller, who directed "The Lego Movie" as well as SPA's "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and the studio's "Jump Street" live-action comedy hits, met with Pascal last summer to discuss what such a brain trust might look like. Lord and Miller even suggested they would approach Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to join that team. "Can you imagine that world -- the projects, the talent we'd attract, the money we'd make," Pascal wrote to Lynton.

Pascal acknowledged in the email that Lord and Miller were tied up making four "Lego" pictures at Warner Bros. through 2015. But when the pair were asked to detail any concerns they might have about coming to Sony, Lord wrote an email to Hannah Minghella, the former Sony Pictures Animation chief who now works for Pascal exclusively on the live-action side. He cited the bad reputation of Sony Pictures Animation and the studio's visual effects unit Sony Pictures Imageworks, a reputation that developed from the loss of key talent from both divisions and Imageworks' move to Vancouver.

"It's too hard to do great work there," wrote Lord to Minghella, in answer to Sony's query.

Their assessment was only slightly harsher than an internal assessment that Minghella had sent to Pascal a day earlier. On July 31, she emailed Pascal, with subject line "Confidential" (ellipses in original):

"Objective: We want the creative direction of the company, and the projects, to be run by creatives… either an individual or a brain trust: Lord & Miller, Brad Bird, Will Gluck… (Lindsay Doran)."

Minghella outlined how such a brain trust might work, then turned to:

"Current Problems:
- low morale negatively impacts talent retention.

- studio reputation negatively impacts talent recruitment
- only one (proven) director in-house: Genndy.
- SPA no longer has the competitive edge it had before Fox, Universal, and Paramount started their animation divisions.

- ImageWorks moving to Vancouver also impacts the competitive edge that came from being LA based
- limited financial success compared with other animated titles - what are the drivers of this: Quality? Originality? Marketing? Dating?
- limited number of active projects/franchises - Cloudy, Hotel T, Smurfs, Popeye
- does the relationship with ImageWorks help or hinder SPA?"

(Genndy is "Hotel Transylvania" director Genndy Tartakovsky.)

The ensuing emails suggest that until they attempted to recruit Lord and Miller, Sony's top brass was generally uninformed about the decline of Imageworks and the ill will that the studio's personnel practices had generated in the vfx and animation community.

After receiving Minghella's honest assessment, Pascal had an email exchange with Lynton about their efforts to make Lord & Miller "our john lassiter" (sic). Pascal wrote to Lynton that Lord & Miller were excited about taking such a leadership role, but:

"... they say we have lost every good person we had there and it's a travesty"

She also added that Lord & Miller had floated the idea of approaching Rogen and Goldberg, among others, to join that brain trust. "i'm having lunch with brad bird today to talk about it with him as well…this is our shot," wrote Pascal.

Lynton responded: "why have all the good people left our place????"

Later that morning Lord emailed Minghella a list of key talent that had left Imageworks; according to Lord and Miller's reps, they sent that message in response to a request from Sony for feedback on why they were reluctant to return. Lord wrote that he and Miller felt that at Sony "artists have been treated like paper, and it's too hard to do great work there," adding, "What's not measured by who left is who never came because the reputation was so bad." Minghella forwarded the message to Pascal.

Lynton wrote to Pascal and pointed a finger at Sony Pictures Digital president Bob Osher, who oversees Sony Animation and Imageworks. Lynton implied that Osher would have to be fired. Pascal responded that Osher's "cost savings stuff" at Imageworks was "amazing."

"I am only sorry that left bob to his own devices and let it get to this point. And we just renewed Bob which is also a problem given what we will probably have to do. That being said we should do it," Lynton said in his email to Pascal.

Pascal wrote back to Lynton about the brain drain at SPA and Imageworks. She repeated some of the names Lord had provided and added: "we gotta hold on to these folks."

"we know this is an impossible situation… a much tooo great an asset to waste not to mention a real way to turn the studio around…..we have lost the competitive advantages we had when we were th eonly option for people who wanted to leave disney dreamworks or pixar as well as the advantages we had to get local talent when imageworks was one of the few remaining la based options. more than ever we have to rely on our reputation as a place for creative innovation and excellence and we don't have that reputation or reality anymore."

In the early years of this century, Imageworks was known for driving up wages for vfx pros, to the dismay of management at its competitors. One of the "big four" vfx studios, along with Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues Studios, it was a regular Oscar contender and would work on several tentpoles each year, in addition to supplying the animation for SPA. Imageworks planned to support the low-margin vfx business with profits from animation, which has been successful for every other studio.

But SPA's pictures have underperformed relative to the competition. One of the studio's biggest hits was Lord and Miller's "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

Over the years Imageworks shifted away from permanent jobs to a crew model, where artists are hired only for the duration of a show, which slashed personnel costs. Imageworks shifted more and more work from Los Angeles to Vancouver, and employees have complained that they were pressured to move to Vancouver, only to find that there was no job waiting for them, just an opportunity to be hired onto the next Imageworks project. In May, the division moved its HQ and all production to Vancouver.

During the summer of 2013, Imageworks did not work on a single summer tentpole. This year it had Sony's own "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and contributed to Marvel's releases.

All this has larger implications. First, Lord and Miller's complaints about the move to Vancouver bolster arguments that runaway production -- and the unchecked pursuit of short-term profit -- will ultimately do these companies more harm than good.

Second, it suggests that Sony's top leaders were somehow unaware of the issues afflicting not just Imageworks, but the entire vfx industry, despite numerous news reports, public protests, and even the grievances raised by the Imageworks unionization org SPI Union.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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House intelligence chairman: evidence points to North Korea in Sony hack attack

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that evidence seems to be pointing to North Korea's involvement in the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

According to the Hill, Rogers said on Friday that even though the North Korean government has denied responsibility, they praised the action.

"I would argue as a former FBI guy, that when a nation state says that this group who doesn't know who we are but did this on behalf of the North Korean people ... and we appreciate it...As we would say in the FBI, 'That is a clue.'"

He declined to say what what he has been told in intelligence briefings, but said that public information is pointing toward North Korean responsibility.

He also said that the hack attack on Sony was a"game changer" when it came to cybersecurity, although legislation he has been championing has stalled in the Senate.

North Korea has condemned Sony's release of the movie "The Interview," a comedy in which Seth Rogen and James Franco play entertainment journalists recruited to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jung-un.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Stocks rebound on Nov. retail sales, despite oil dip

Renewed optimism, thanks to increased retail sales, caused U.S. stocks to begin to rebound yesterday from a three-session loss streak, but waned as oil fell to a new, five-year low and efforts to block a spending bill in the House renewed worries of a government shutdown.

At one point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 225 points on news that retail sales rose 0.7 percent in November, the largest increase in eight months.

The Labor Department also reported fewer people filed unemployment claims last week.

"There's no question the numbers were encouraging," said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

"The key is whether they'll be sustained next month because, on average, November and December combined make up about 20 percent of the year's total sales."

Just hours before the House of Representatives passed a spending bill and the Senate passed a temporary bill to avert a U.S. government shutdown, the Dow ended at 17,596.34, up 63.19 points, or
0.4 percent, after crude oil dropped below $60 per barrel.

The latter is good news for the economy, for now, because the less people need to spend on gas, the more they can spend on other things, said Alan Clayton-Matthews, associate professor of economics and public policy at Northeastern University.

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Golden age for Netflix, Amazon

The 72nd Golden Globe Awards may be a month away, but the winners and losers have already been selected.

Winners: Amazon and Netflix. Losers: Cable companies.

The fact that two online streaming services have received such resounding acclaim should put an end to any argument that the networks and cable have the market cornered on the art of acting, writing and directing.

Once just a way to access network shows on-demand, streaming services can now produce award-winning content themselves. An unintended consequence: television sales could dip in favor of tablets and smartphones because, let's face it, you no longer need a TV to watch good TV.

Though Netflix has competed at the Emmys and Golden Globes before, the nod for Amazon's breakout hit "Transparent" as best comedy TV series means that the creative success of Netflix — with seven nominations this year — isn't a fluke. It paves the way for the Hollywood elite to look toward Sony's new PlayStation TV, Microsoft Xbox, Roku and more as legitimate and promising places to lend their talents. Web series — like the Boston-set drama "Beacon Hill" — could also see a rise in interest both with viewers and Hollywood itself.

Such a scenario would act as a shot across the bow of overpriced and customer service-challenged cable providers. I wouldn't be surprised if, by this time next year, some top television shows are shopping themselves to those services as opposed to the networks that cable companies are currently holding hostage.

Of course, the awards also set up a serious faceoff between the two streaming titans-turned-TV-newbies. The seven nominations for Netflix original series shows "House of Cards," "Orange is the New Black" and "Derek" did not come as a surprise.

Amazon's nod for the hilarious show "Transparent," starring best actor in a comedy nominee Jeffrey Tambor, was more of a surprise. But to its huge credit, Amazon aggressively pursued the honor.

There's no doubt that Amazon's roster of 50 million subscribers to its Prime service will rise as a result, more so if Tambor wins. But there's plenty of room for streaming service competition and plenty of untapped market share to be had.

Rather than a monthly cable subscription, increasing numbers of consumers are paying for an a la carte menu of streaming services that allows them to view their own shows and still pay less than a monthly cable bill would cost.

One thing's for sure: Networks and cable companies will care about the 2015 Golden Globes for the first time in a long time.

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Merger of Staples, Office Depot predicted

Activist investor Starboard Value's disclosure that it bought a 5.1 percent stake in Framingham's Staples Inc. and upped its Office Depot Inc. holding to 9.9 percent indicates the New York hedge fund will push for a merger of the two office supplies chains, according to analysts.

And while that would leave a single dominant U.S. office supplies retailer, Starboard is confident the Federal Trade Commission would approve it, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The FTC signed off on Office Depot's $1.2 billion merger with OfficeMax last year without imposing conditions.

Starboard did not return calls for comment. Its regulatory filings stated that Staples' and Office Depot's shares were "undervalued and represented an attractive investment opportunity" and outlined possible future actions including "making recommendations or proposals … concerning changes to the ... ownership structure ... industry consolidation or potential business combinations."

B. Riley & Co. analyst R. Scott Tilghman sees far more reluctance on the part of struggling Staples' to pursue an acquisition or merger than Office Depot. "Staples historically has had the belief that as the frontrunner of the industry, they understood how to operate and, over time, would continue to gain share over their rivals," he said. "Unfortunately, in recent years, especially after the Office Depot-OfficeMax merger announcement, that hasn't been the case."

Starboard's stakes in both retailers hint at a possible merger in the works given its involvement in the Office Depot/OfficeMax merger, Citi analyst Kate McShane said "If they cannot achieve this, due most likely to FTC concerns, we think they will push to have one or both of these companies sold," she said.

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Hot Property: Penthouses become highly desirable

Penthouses have always had a cachet, but it's only in the last 10 years that Boston has gone vertical enough to create a lot of them.

Buildings like the Ritz- Carlton Residences, the W, 45 Province St., the Mandarin Oriental and The Clarendon put the high-style urban penthouse on the Hub map. Upcoming buildings will raise the ante. The Millennium Tower is offering a 13,000-square-foot penthouse atop the 60th floor for $37.5 million, the city's most expensive listing ever. And projects like One Dalton Street in the Back Bay and Twenty Two Liberty on Fan Pier are also building spectacular pent­houses.

"Big building penthouses are like bespoke suits — custom made" says Wayne Lopez, who sold six at 45 Province St. and is now working for Millennium Partners. "These are people who don't buy cars off lots or suits off the tracks."

Lopez says new penthouses are often sold as raw space, letting buyers customize floor plans and finishes, noting a family with young children bought a 45 Province St. penthouse because they could alter the layout to fit their needs.

For those buyers who want a penthouse, but can't wait two to three years for a build-out, there are usually several on the market.

Gibson Sotheby's Beth Dickerson is listing a 16th-floor two-bedroom corner penthouse at One Charles for $3,195,000 that features both a wraparound terrace off the living areas and a private one off the master bedroom, with panoramic views of the city on two sides.

"Having outdoor space is huge and increases the value of a penthouse by 20 percent," said Dickerson, who sold one for $13 million at the Mandarin Oriental. "And corner pent­houses are very hard to find."

Dickerson says penthouses are high on the bachelor pad wish list and those of people who like to entertain. There are the much-touted wealthy foreign buyers looking for a trophy penthouse, but also local empty nesters. Coldwell Banker agent Albert Lynch is a buyer's broker for a suburban Boston couple with two grown children.

"Some buyers want to be in flag buildings, those that mix condos with a hotel offering amenities such as room service." Lynch said. "Others, like my client, are looking for a full-service building that's quieter."

Lynch said tall building penthouses are a different animal than penthouses in other neighborhoods. In penthouse units he recently sold on Beacon Hill and in the Leather District, exclusive rights to roof decks were a top amenity

Penthouses along the Water­front or in Charlestown aren't as high up but offer spectacular views. Penthouse 230 for sale at Flagship Wharf for $2,149,000 has 2,434 square feet of space, floor-to-­ceiling windows and two private terraces that look out over Boston Harbor.

"Whether you want water or city views, if you're looking for a condo with more than 2,000 square feet or three bedrooms in the city, these will generally be penthouse units," Dickerson said.

Why pay more, when the views a few floors below are nearly as good?

"It's the cachet of living in a one-of-a-kind space where you live at the top" Lynch said. "Some people want to be able to say they live in a penthouse and will pay extra for the privilege."

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Fox News reporter dies of apparent suicide

Veteran Fox News correspondent Dominic Di-Natale, who recently reported on the riots in Ferguson, Mo., has been found dead of an apparent suicide.

He was 43.

Officials discovered Di-Natale's body Wednesday in Jefferson County, Co., where the international reporter owned property. The coroner said that he took his own life.

According to Fox News, the U.K. born journalist had been dealing with undisclosed health issues.

"We were extremely saddened to learn of Dominic's passing and send our deepest condolences to his family and friends," said a statement from a Fox News spokesperson. "He was an esteemed journalist and an integral part of our news coverage throughout the Middle East."

Di-Natale, who began as a contributor to BBC World, covered international stories for Fox News and worked out of the network's Los Angeles bureau.

He also reported on the 2011 raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Fox News' Megyn Kelly expressed her condolences on Twitter.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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