Some Proposals For Governors Awards

(MENAFN- Arab Times) Aug 25 will be a big night for Academy board members: That's when they select 2015 recipients of the Governors Awards.

According to the website, AMPAS encourages members of the Academy to weigh in. They didn't say anything about non-members, but why not? Movie fans have strong ideas too.

So here are some proposals: Michael Apted, whose range includes the "Seven Up!" docus to "Coal Miner's Daughter"; Tsui Hark, a key figure in Asia's action films; Richard Lester, the influential director; documaker extraordinaire Frederick Wiseman; and actress-director Jeanne Moreau. Incredibly, none has ever been nominated for an Oscar. And how about activist Rob Reiner for the Hersholt?

Variety exec editor Steven Gaydos also offers some stellar names for consideration: Gilles Jacob, who led the Cannes Fest for decades; producer-casting pro Fred Roos, whose groundbreaking credits include "The Godfather" and "American Graffiti"; Brit filmmaker Ken Loach; American actress Gena Rowlands; Brit thesp Albert Finney; James Bond film producers Barbara Broccoli & Michael Wilson; Robert Redford; oft-Oscar-nommed cinematographer Roger Deakins; and French "New Wave" film pioneer Jacques Rivette.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences can honor up to six people: four honorary Oscars, and one apiece for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Thalberg Award, which goes to a producer for their body of work. In the past six years, they haven't had that many honorees, usually keeping it to about four.

According to the Academy, the Governors Awards cannot be voted posthumously, and no current Academy governor is eligible to receive an award. The Acad doesn't say anything about previous winners, and in in fact has voted a Governors Award to recipients of earlier awards, such as last year's Hiyao Miyazaki.

Roos' name raises another question, since he began as a casting director. What about honoring a casting director, such as Lynn Stalmaster, Ellen Chenoweth or Ellen Lewis?

The Acad will announce the honorees as soon as possible after the vote - which could be the following day, or several days later. They first have to notify the honorees, and in some cases that has taken a while.

The awards will be handed out Nov 14, marking the seventh time the ceremony is held as a separate event. It's been a success - there's more time for honorees without worrying about broadcast TV time constraints. It's hard to summarize a long career in two minutes. And the non-televised event means the governors don't have to worry about which potential honorees are ratings-friendly. The board generally goes for people who are well-known in the industry but unfamiliar to the public.

Also:

LOS ANGELES: Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Kai Barry's spy thriller "Newcomer," which has been selected to open the UK's Raindance Film Festival.

The film, which stars James Floyd ("My Brother the Devil"), Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace") and Noemie Merlant, centers on Alex, the newest member of a special ops team working for the US government. When his first mission goes disastrously wrong, his bosses think he has betrayed them. He is forced to go on the run, and try to find out what really happened.

The producer is Srdjan Stakic and the executive producer is Brian Kavanaugh-Jones. The cinematographer is Erol Zubcevic. Content Media is handling international sales rights on the movie. Raindance runs from Sept 23-Oct 4.

LOS ANGELES: Action comedy, "Veteran" remained on top of the Korean box office. With a week-on-week drop of 40 percent, it earned $9.12 million from 1.35 million admissions between Friday and Sunday and accounted for 44 percent of the total weekend revenue.

The CJ Entertainment release has amassed $59.5 million from 9.04 million admissions after three weekends on release.High-concept romantic comedy, "The Beauty Inside" debuted in second place. The NEW release made $4.22 million between Thursday and Sunday. "Beauty" is a based on 2012's short film of the same title about a man who wakes every day in a different body.

Showbox's "Assassination" slipped to third place in its fifth weekend in cinemas, earning $3.23 million between Friday and Sunday. It has made $75.4 from 11.6 million admissions since its July 22 release.

"Fantastic 4" landed in fourth, with a disappointing $1.93 million from 300,000 admissions over the opening four days.

Fifth spot belonged to "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" which earned $925,000 between Friday and Sunday. The Paramount franchise has made $39.3 million since Jul 30. "Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol," made $48 million in 2011.

In sixth place, Uhm Jung-hwa-starring fantasy drama "Wonderful Nightmare" now stands on a cumulative haul of $4 million after two weekends. Korean shamanist horror "The Chosen: Forbidden Cave" debuted in eighth, making $602,000 between Thursday and Sunday.

Lotte Entertainment's big project "Memories of the Sword" finished outside the top ten in only its second week of release. It dropped 94 percent in the second frame and has amassed only $2.71 million from 415,000 admissions.