Does the story of “Avatar” seem eerily familiar to you? For student Randy Szuch, the answer is a resounding yes. In this genius mashup, Szuch matches the audio of “Avatar” with scenes from a beloved Oscar-winning Disney film from 1995:
“Avatar” is up for nine Oscars on Sunday, including Best Picture. James Cameron, the creative mind behind the record-breaking movie, recently talked with Kurt in Studio 360:
And speaking of animated films: for only the second time in the Academy Award’s 82-year history, an animated film — “Up” — got the nod for Best Picture. (Watch the trailer below.)
A couple weeks ago, Kurt spoke with director James Cameron about his spectacular new movie Avatar. He told Kurt that while the technology he used to craft the movie is important, at heart it’s a love story: it’s just that instead of boy meets girl, it’s boy meets twelve-foot blue humanoid-cat… by posing as a virtual twelve-foot blue humanoid cat, himself.
Pure fantasy?
Well just a couple of months ago a Japanese man married his virtual girlfriend, a character from the Nintendo DS game “Love Plus.” The man Sal9000, and the bride Nene Anegasaki, wed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The ceremony was broadcast live online, and among the human attendees were Sal’s best friend, an emcee, and, of course, a priest. The virtual world was represented by the bride’s girlfriend, who toasted the new couple’s happiness.
2009 has been a banner year for Hollywood – and with yesterday’s announcement of the Golden Globe nominees, it’s officially awards season. Before you watch the nominees work the red carpet (and, perhaps, get tipsy during the broadcast), hear how they got there in the first place.
Check out Kurt’s candid conversations with some of the nominees about being (and staying) creative in Hollywood.
***********************************************
Kathryn Bigelow was nominated for Best Director for “The Hurt Locker” (which is also nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay)
***********************************************
Jason Reitman’s also up for Best Director for “Up in the Air” (which is also nominated for Best Picture and four other awards), based on the book by Walter Kirn.
***********************************************
Marvin Hamlisch was nominated for his killer score for “The Informant!”
***********************************************
Gabourey Sidibe was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her break-out performance in “Precious.”
***********************************************
And coming up…
James Cameron was just in the studio to talk about his new movie “Avatar” – listen for that interview this weekend. And later this month, we’ll talk to David Shore (creator of the nominated TV series “House”) about his hero’s not-so-secret resemblance to Sherlock Holmes.
Studio 360 Blog 