Oscars up in the air
March 6 — Hello everybody, and Happy Friday! Or, should I say, happy almost-Oscars weekend! We are officially a week away from the 98th Academy Awards, and for what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting races in years. I’m going to have my predictions to you next week – and to be honest, I’m incredibly thankful I still have a week to decide, because I have ZERO clue who’s going to win for so many of these categories. But – also for the first time in years – I feel like there are very few outcomes that would truly disappoint me. Hey, Academy! You did all right with nominations this year. Good job!
In other news, I’ll also be throwing an Oscars party next week with themed cocktails. If you have any great Oscar party ideas, I would love to hear about them – right now, I’m most excited about the “A Few Small Beers after a French 75” cocktail idea I got from Reddit. Thank you, random Redditor!
Without further ado … Action!
🧛 The Actor Awards were last weekend, with “Sinners” taking home Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (the Screen Actors Guild’s version of Best Picture). In maybe the biggest surprise of the night, Michael B. Jordan took home the Best Actor prize, and made me cry in the process.
🏅 Over 200 alumni, students, and professors from the Savannah College of Art and Design worked on 21 different films that are nominated at the 98th Academy Awards.
📽️ The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival has announced the winners of its 2026 Jury Awards, including the film “Proud Jewish Boy” and director Shai Carmeli-Pollack for his film “The Sea.”
🏆 The Annual BronzeLens Women SuperStar Honors are tomorrow at the Rialto Center for the Arts, honoring actress Tamara Tunie, actress Jasmine Burke, and costume designer Jeresa Featherstone-Winfield.
🤝 Artists Equity, the production company led by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, just signed a multi-year streaming first-look deal with Netflix. The company signed a similar deal with Sony, but for theatrical releases, last year.
📺 The expected net debt from the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery deal is about $79 billion. The companies also announced they plan to fold their streaming services, including Paramount+ and HBO Max, into one. For a little more on how I feel about this whole mess, here’s a clip of Matt Belloni on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”
👖 And finally, in the scariest news of the week (and that’s saying something), Ted Sarandos wore a tuxedo jacket and jeans to the Actor Awards. Money can’t account for taste, I guess!
This week’s newsletter has an interview with (pinch me) Roger and James Deakins, as well as a behind the scenes look at filming for “Scream 7,” some of which took place at SCAD Film Studios. Plus, we’ve got review of the new Pixar film “Hoppers” and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” Last but not least, we’ve got a new edition of Spotlight, what’s playing at theaters this week, and some listening and reading recommendations for your lunch break.
🏝️ One last thing. Atlanta’s own Savannah Louie was voted off of “Survivor 50” this week. I’d like to offer her an apology – Savannah, I looked you right in the eyes during our interview and said the words, “Cirie is a killer!” I could not have known how well you knew the truth of that statement at the time.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
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Roger and James Deakins return to Atlanta for new book, ‘Reflections on Cinematography’
🎞️ If you would have asked me two years ago if I would get to interview cinematographer Roger and his wife and collaborator James Deakins, I would have said, “You’re crazy!” Well, today we’re publishing my second interview with the two of them. So take that, past me!
The duo is back in Atlanta this March for another round of screenings and conversations about Roger’s new book, “Reflections on Cinematography.”
In addition to their achievements in the world of cinema, Roger and James Deakins run a podcast called Team Deakins, where they interview various industry professionals about their specific journeys into the world of filmmaking. Roger’s book feels like a response to the first question usually asked of a guest on any Team Deakins episode: How did you get to where you are today?
📖 Check out my conversation with Roger and James here.
Don’t miss THE event of the spring – Move For Grady!
SPONSORED BY GRADY HEALTH FOUNDATION
🏃 It’s time to register for Move For Grady on April 25, Atlanta’s best ride/run/walk event supporting Grady! Choose one of three fully supported cycling routes or 5K or 10K run/walk courses that will show you Atlanta from a new point of view. Then stay to celebrate with great food, drinks and music at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.
❤️ Move For Grady raises funds to support Grady’s mission to build a healthier Atlanta. Register today, start training and join the party on April 25!
SCAD students receive credit on new ‘Scream’ movie
😱 Savannah College of Art and Design students received credits on “Scream 7,” which was filmed in part at SCAD Film Studios.
According to Karl Rouse, the associate dean of the School of Film and Acting, 13 SCAD students received credits on “Scream 7,” which hit theaters on Feb. 27. The movie, directed by Kevin Williamson, filmed a scene that takes place during a talk show at SCAD Film Studios on Peachtree Street.
A location scout for the film reached out because they were interested in the retro look of the film studios’ building. Rouse said while they were eager to have a Hollywood production film at SCAD, they didn’t want to displace students in the process. The school said yes, but with the stipulation that students would be somehow involved.
🎥 Learn more about the shoot here.
‘The Bride!’ is a convoluted, hollow exploration of violence against women
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
👰 There are moments in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” that feel like they’re trying to get at something revelatory about the female condition. For the most part, unfortunately, the film is much like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster – haphazardly stitched together.
“The Bride!” begins with Mary Shelley herself (Jessie Buckley) – dead, bathed in black and white, and shrouded in shadow, telling the audience she has another story yet inside of her. And this time, it’s a love story. Shelley’s spirit then shoots over to 1930s Chicago and possesses the body of Ida (also played by Buckley), a gangster’s moll type who quickly dies by way of tumbling down a staircase. Meanwhile, Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) – or Frank, as he calls himself – has found a new mad scientist in Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) and wants her to help him create a companion.
“The Bride!,” which is inspired by the 1935 film “Bride of Frankenstein” and, by extension, Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein,” feels a bit like 2019’s “Joker” – but this time, for girls! Not only does the world Gyllenhaal has built feel like Gotham, but the film also makes similar thematic choices and mistakes – namely, throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall without sticking any of them.
New Pixar film ‘Hoppers’ is endearingly quirky
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🦫 “Hoppers” begins with perhaps the lowliest of tamed animals – a class pet.
We meet a tiny turtle (his name is Crush, according to the sign by his cage). All is quiet, but then – quite suddenly – he is descended upon by children. They pull at him, grab him, hit him, leaving little Crush helpless in their onslaught. Finally, the school bell rings, and the children leave. All except one. A little girl scurries up to the cage. “I’m Mabel,” she says with conviction. “And I’m gonna get you out!”
Mabel’s unwavering need to right the wrongs of the world makes her one of the most endearing protagonists of an original Pixar film to come along in quite some time. “Hoppers,” directed by Daniel Chong and with a screenplay from Jesse Andrews, is also the wackiest movie to come out of Pixar lately – and that strangeness is all to its credit. While its environmental bent can be a little simplistic at times, at the end of the day “Hoppers” is all about drawing the audience into the relationships at its center – and when so many of those relationships are between cute, fuzzy animals, it’s hard to go wrong.
At the Movies!
If you’re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
💒 “The Bride!”
🐛 “Hoppers”
🇷🇺 “Idiotka”
💰 “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” (pictured)
📽️ “Holding Liat”
Special Events:
🎳 “The Big Lebowski” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday)
🧟 Silver Scream Spookshow: “House of Frankenstein” @ The Plaza (Saturday)
🇨🇿 “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders” @ The Plaza (Saturday-Wednesday)
🎞️ 2026 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary @ The Tara (Friday-Thursday)
🐕 “Best in Show” @ The Tara (Saturday-Thursday)
🌃 “First Wives Club” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Saturday-Sunday)
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Spotlight: Nia DaCosta, ‘Hedda’
🎭 One of my favorite movies last year – and, I think, one of the most under-viewed by the general population – was Nia DaCosta’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” I waxed poetic about Tessa Thompson’s performance in an earlier edition of Spotlight, but today, I want to focus on DaCosta’s remarkable work of adaptation.
“Hedda Gabler” traditionally takes place in the late 19th century in Norway. But DaCosta moves the setting to 1950s England and makes Hedda the illegitimate Black daughter of a high-powered general. Hedda has left behind a far more free, Bohemian life in favor of marrying George Tesman (Tom Bateman), a boring academic who represents stability and power in a world where Hedda has none. During what essentially amounts to Hedda and George’s wedding party, Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss) – George’s academic rival and Hedda’s onetime lover – shows up and turns the evening on its head.
By moving the setting to the 1950s and introducing race and sexuality into the equation, DaCosta further emphasizes one of the work’s central themes: power. In the play, Hedda has a similar longing for power and freedom. But in DaCosta’s interpretation, freedom and power exist on two different ends of the spectrum. In one scene, Judge Brack (Nicholas Pinnock) tells Hedda that in marrying George, she made the best choice – the only choice, really – for someone like her. Hedda has positioned herself in a seat of power, in a world of pomp and circumstance that is her own personal playground. Yet, there is a gilded cage quality to that power – a sense that she will never truly be happy. But what is happiness compared to control?
I think “Hedda” is a really wonderful example of finding ideas that already exist within a classic work and making changes that allow you to dig into a deeper exploration of those ideas. DaCosta doesn’t change what “Hedda Gabler” is about – she’s just able to lock into those themes in a distinct way, to further what Ibsen started all those years ago, all with a new energy and perspective.
Lights, Camera, Action!
🏆 One of my favorite annual episodes of the “Blank Check” podcast dropped last weekend – the Blank Check Awards! Griffin and David, along with guest Joe Reid, discuss their favorite movies and performances of the year. Check it out here.
🏓 If you told young Ronald and Mary Bronstein during the making of their first feature together – the little-seen “Frownland” – that they would both one day be part of Oscar-nominated projects, they probably would have laughed in your face. But, that has come true – her for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” and him for “Marty Supreme.” For Vulture, Allison Willmore talks with two of the most unlikely, confrontational Oscar contenders we’ve had in years.
🎤 Hosting any awards show is a tricky tightrope to walk, but hosting the Oscars is another game entirely. On a recent episode of “Critics at Large” from The New Yorker, the hosts discuss the highs and lows of Oscar hosting history, and what qualities make a good Oscar host.
🖊️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.