The Screen Life

It’s Friday once again, and that means it’s time for another GrabBag! – our weekly mishmash of links and videos to get you through the weekend.

• There’s a new clip from Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. Reviews have just started coming out from its premier in Berlin, and needless to say, I’m even more excited.

• Dallas Buyers Club’s Jared Leto got heckled for being a straight man playing a transgender woman. His initial response was perfect enough, but then he proceeded to invite the heckler backstage for a “heart-to-heart” conversation about the subject.

• The 12 Years a Slave team is in full campaign mode. Here’s Steve McQueen on Nightline. Also, Lupita Nyong’o talks to Vogue about how she got into film…

… and screenwriter John Ridley talks to Bill Maher.

• Gender inequality in the film industry summed up in this fantastic infographic. (New York Film Academy actually published this several months ago, but it’s still and always relevant.)

• Michael Fassbender will be the new Macbeth.

• This week’s biggest and most shocking entertainment news story by far was the passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman on Sunday.
  • Director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) wrote an excellent remembrance on his blog.
  • Meanwhile tweets poured in from other actors and industry insider.
  • The team behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – which he was still filming when he died – released an offical statement. His performance as Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire was fantastic. I hope they shot enough new footage to shoot around him, because I don’t know how anybody will be able to fill his shoes.
  • Finally, here is by far the best compilation/tribute video I’ve seen yet…

That’s all for this week’s GrabBag. Enjoy your weekend and try to stay warm!