Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Ingmar Bergman: An Appreciation

  Published: July 30, 2007, 11:23 am

  Tags: Movies, Film Directors, Ingmar Bergman, Lutheran, Obituary

  Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, famous for his unique psychological, dreamlike storytelling style, passed away today in Sweden at the age of 89. Though he has not directed a feature film in many years, discussion of his work by film critics and movie buffs has never really stopped, and much of that discussion revolves around the spirituality

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• Bergman: Avenging a Religious Upbringing

  Published: July 30, 2007, 3:28 pm

  Tags: Movies, Film Directors, Ingmar Bergman, Obituary

  Like many artists born to oppressively religious parents, Ingmar Bergman ran away from his upbringing, only to devote his work to questions of faith, eternity, and redemption. The great Swedish film director, who died over the weekend, broke with his Lutheran pastor father in his late teens, but from "The Seventh Seal" to his last major feature,

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• Woody & Ingmar & Marty & Michelangelo

  Published: August 12, 2007, 12:48 pm

  Tags: Ny Times, Hollywood, Media, Movies, Directors

  Kudos to The New York Times for their "gets" of Marty Scorsese writing about Michelangelo Antonioni and Woody Allen opining about Ingmar Bergman. Both essays today are required reading for Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times looks lame.

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• 'Rush Hour 3' Stalls & Can't Top Sequel; 'Bourne 3' Still Big; 'Stardust' Big Bomb

  Published: August 11, 2007, 11:27 am

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Comedy, Marketing, Summer Movies

  SUNDAY AM: New Line Cinema confirmed today that its Rush Hour threequel made only $50.2 million at the box office this weekend. Even using the studio's higher than rivals reported figures of $19.1 million Friday and $17.1 million Saturday from 3,778 theaters, the action buddy comedy clearly disappointed. The poorly reviewed movie, directed

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• Projected $55+M Traffic For 'Rush Hour 3'

  Published: August 10, 2007, 3:52 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Books, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Foreign, Comedy, Finance, Summer Movies, Distribution

  This weekend will see the good, the bad, and the ugly at the box office. My gurus have revised upwards their initial projections for New Line Cinema's Rush Hour 3. They say this action buddy comedy, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, should finish in the mid $50s million "at least" from its wide distribution of

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• Bob Shaye's Mea Culpa Too Little Too Late

  Published: August 9, 2007, 11:07 pm

  Tags: La Times, Hollywood, Media, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Directors, Moguls, Finance, Summer Movies

  case, he'd stop badmouthing directors who make a mint for the studio, and he'd open up the Lord Of the Rings accounting for that run-of-the-mill audit that resulted in a lawsuit, and he'd hire Peter Jackson to direct The Hobbit because it would be a guaranteed hit, and he'd stop setting new salary highs for undeserving actors like Chris

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• CAA Denies Rumors About Bookie & Bart

  Published: August 9, 2007, 6:55 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Books, Directors

  A CAA partner this afternoon vehemently denied to me those rumors sweeping Hollywood about his agency. He says longtime agent Bob Bookman is not leaving to head director Paul Greengrass' company and ex-ICM agent Bart Walker is not exiting as well. I can tell you that Bookie is on vacation in France right now, and that Greengrass's primary CAA

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• What Do Peter Morton & Paramount Have In Common? A Movie That's Gonna Bomb

  Published: August 8, 2007, 9:12 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Moguls, Tracking, Foreign, Marketing, Finance, Blogs, Trailers, Summer Movies, Vegas

  There are two things you may not know about Stardust, opening this weekend. 1) Good thing Brad Grey is vacationing in Europe with his family. Because he'll miss the pic's disastrous domestic opening this weekend. Even budgeted without marketing costs at $70 million (which sounds way low to me because of all the special effects excess), director

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• Limato Wins Over ICM: The Whole Sorry Story

  Published: August 13, 2007, 11:13 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Movies, Law, Actors, Directors

  I'll have a final analysis later tonight. For now, here's everything I've written: Arbitrator Rules For Ed Limato, Not ICM ICM/Limato Update: The Seven Year Itch ICM Makes Motion Picture Talent Changes Finke/LA Weekly: ICM vs Limato Wrap-Up UPDATED: Latest ICM/Limato News Limato/ICM Update: D-Day Is August 1st EXCLUSIVE: ICM & Ed Limato Call

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• EXCLUSIVE: The Worst Talent Deal Ever?

  Published: August 15, 2007, 9:18 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Studios, Movies, Actors, Directors, Writers, Managers, Comedy, Marketing, Finance

  (Refresh for latest): Is Jim Carrey getting his chain yanked? Cuz I have breaking details about the Yes Man deal which the comedian's reps negotiated with Warner Bros, and it's a doozie -- so much so that I almost fell off my office chair when I heard about it. He'll receive NO upfront cash and NO first dollar gross. So Carrey won't get his

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• Toldja! Limato To Morris Is Finally Official

  Published: August 16, 2007, 7:36 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Movies, Actors, Directors

  How fun to come back from my last day on jury duty and find that Ed Limato has phoned me from his new William Morris Agency temporary digs -- which is CEO Jim Wiatt's own office! I see that, during my absence, the trades finally got around to announcing Ed's tenpercentery move. Of course, DHD readers knew all about it back on Tuesday. (See my

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• ...Slashed Bonuses And Other CAA News

  Published: August 22, 2007, 10:37 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Movies, Indie, Directors

  Wow, CAA just keeps cutting back and cutting back. The tenpercentery is buzzing that agent bonuses will be cut by another 10% this year. Actually, the total trim is 20% over two years because the agency slashed bonuses by 10% back in 2006. And all because CAA's partners spent too much money on their pet projects. Here are some of the

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• Old non-news: Kevin Smith Battlestar Galactica episode a no-go

  Published: August 31, 2007, 9:12 am

  Tags: Bsg, Directors, Kevin Smith, Kevinsmith, Science Fiction, Sciencefiction, Syfy Portal, Syfyportal

  Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, CelebritiesI know, I know. It's old news to most of you die hard BSG fans, but in case you haven't heard, Kevin Smith is no longer going to be directing an episode of Battlestar Galactica as we mentioned earlier.The initial news we got was via a message board post left on Sci-Fi's forums by the wife of executive

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• Toldja! Bart Walker Exits CAA For Sloss

  Published: September 6, 2007, 4:41 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Agents, Movies, Indie, Directors

  Back on August 9th, I reported the rumors that Bart Walker had been fired from CAA. And again, on August 22nd, I reported the more specific rumor that the New York agent was leaving CAA to join indie prince John Sloss. Of course, a CAA partner swore up and down to me that none of this was happening. I told him I didn't believe him. Well, I was

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• Creepy Email From A Hollywood Blogger

  Published: September 6, 2007, 5:30 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Scandal, Actors, Directors, Hollyweird, Blogs

  Just when I think I've seen it all... comes this email from Hollywood-Elsewhere.com blogger Jeffrey Wells to 3:10 To Yuma director James Mangold. I've authenticated it, and I've shortened it (because so much of it is incomprehensible filmspeak). But I am truly sickened that Wells spends the 2nd paragraph begging Mangold to, well, see for

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