Vanity Fair have just published their figures for last year’s earnings, but unless I don’t understand them, they might be flawed, somewhat. For example:

13 Denzel Washington
(WME)
Estimated 2009 earnings: $31 million
$15 million: The Book of Eli (fee for starring)
$15 million: Unstoppable (fee for starring in upcoming runaway-train thriller)
$1 million: Royalties from older films, other revenue

That doesn’t appear to include his payment for Invictus. He may have worked for nothing, but I doubt it on this occasion. on the other hand, others who worked on the movie (Client Eastwood and Matt Damon) have Invictus earnings included. This may be the only slip up, it’s the only one I’m aware of.

Vanity Fair say their list is for creative people in Hollywood, but I don’t see any screenplay writers on the list. Surely they’re the most important people because without them there wouldn’t be a movie, or am I slightly biased?

The article amuses further when it states: ‘We have not counted royalties and other revenues when the figure is under $500,000’ Such a shame they forget about amounts of money that most (if not all, but the top 1% earners) of the rest of us would be happy with.

Here’s the list:

Hollywood’s top male earners in 2009:

1. Michael Bay, producer-director ($125 million)
2. Steven Spielberg, producer-director ($85 million)
3. Roland Emmerich, producer-director ($70 million)
4. James Cameron, producer-director ($50 million)
5. Todd Phillips, director ($44 million)
6. Daniel Radcliffe, actor ($41 million)
7. Ben Stiller, actor ($40 million)
8. Tom Hanks, actor ($36 million)
9. J. J. Abrams, producer-director ($36 million)
10. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer ($35.5 million)

Hollywood’s top female earners in 2009:

1. Emma Watson, actress ($30million)
2. Cameron Diaz, actress ($27million)
3. Sarah Jessica Parker, actress ($24million)
4. Katherine Heigl, actress ($24million)
5. Reese Witherspoon, actress ($21million)
6. Angelina Jolie, actress ($21million)
7. Jennifer Aniston, actress ($20million)
8. Sandra Bullock, actress ($20million)
9. Kristen Stewart , actress ($16million)

The full article can be found here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/2010/03/top-hollywood-earners-201003?currentPage=1

Best screenplay:

• Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche – In the Loop

The Best Screenplay is always the most important award as the movies wouldn’t get made without the writer’s contributions. This year’s winner shows us how skillfully dialogue should be written. This screenplay is an excellent example for any newbie writer to see how the experts carry out their work. Comedy is always difficult to write, especially to maintain the laughs all the way through. This screenplay has you rocking in your seat from start to finish.

Best film/movie:

• Invictus

Almost acting like a documentary, this movie takes us through the highs and lows of such an important subject; mixing the end of apartheid with sport. This movie charts the change of a country. It hits all the high notes of acting, directing, story, crew, camerawork, lighting and most of all, audience appreciation. Take note how well South Africa has come on, in world terms, since Nelson Madela took over and spread the word.

Best actor:

• Sharlto Copley – District 9

This actor portrays the change between human and alien, moving from the power of authority to the chase for his own death. That takes a specialist professional and Sharlto Copley masters it completely. His skills in portraying how he thought he was doing the right thing certainly changed beyond recognition finding himself on the other side. South Africa found itself with three great movies last year, including Skin with Sophie Okonedo. Footbal World Cup follows in June.

Best actress:

• Isabelle Fuhrman – Orphan

This actress has to show us both her good side and her bad side and all the extremes in being a child’s friend, to a murderer. A wonder class in acting skills, so believable we don’t doubt her for one moment. She’s a name we should all look out for in the future if this performance is anything to go by. The way she’s able to convince the audience that she’s both a little girl and a grown woman within the same movie is wonderful.

Best musical:

• This Is It – Michael Jackson

This was never going to be a difficult choice. The director made the movie feel like a concert which was an extraordinary achievement. He did, however, have great songs to work with. Michael Jackson music will live on for decades and this movie gives a fine example of his last work and a guide to what his concerts would have been like. The director should be proud of his work here.

Best score/music:

Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes

The music keeps this movie rolling at the fast pace the director requires, mixing both Irish piano bar melody with vast orchestral power. Hans Zimmer makes a perfect match for the mood of the movie and obviously spends quality time organising the score with the director’s thoughts and plans in mind. The role of music in a movie is just as important as all the other aspects. You soon notice when they get it wrong.

Best director:

• Clint Eastwood – Invictus

Yet another great directed movie from this legend. He brings a connection between audience and those on the screen that makes contact in both the heart and the soul. The audience gets to really ‘feel’ the movie. Perhaps Clint Eastwood brings such talent to this side of the camera because he was such an expert on the other side or maybe he just has the eye for knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Best animation:

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

My seven year old daughter was in charge of this section. This movie made her laugh more than any animation this past year, she enjoyed the story and didn’t get bored. She was more delighted after seeing this motion picture than any other in the year and she sees a lot of movies.Personally I thought that Ice Age 3 edged it, but she has the last word and it’s final.

Special FAMM mention 2008:

• Hush 2 – The Movie

The special mention award goes to a movie that should be seen by all teenagers and their parents/guardians. It brings home the many problems that exist for today’s teenagers (drink, drugs, rape, abuse) and can give parents/guardians a motive to make sure they know their children/ward better. Made on a small budget with the cast and crew working for free to bring home this very special message, the producers and directors should take note that their actions have already brought many extra calls from children to the family abuse telephone lines. It was a great initiative to give out contact information to worried teenagers and to show the film specifically to teenage school children.

5 stars*****

It’s wonderful to see a combination in a movie where it is both moving and uplifting at the same time. This movie fulfills both criteria with abundance with the end it seems, leaving many of the audience with smiles galore.

I got to the news late; Clint Eastwood is a brilliant director. He takes this real-life movie to great heights without needing to add the usual poor touches that often cloud emotions with faulty dialogue and meager endings just to send the audience out with a smile. He showed us his skills with Million Dollar Baby and more recently with both the Changeling and Gran Torino. Invictus completes an incredible set of four superbly directed movies.

You can tell that Clint Eastwood likes a level of control, he often takes over production as well and invites his son to write the music. Together, the outside influences are greatly reduced and the director is able to complete the vision as he sees it.

John Carlin’s book led Anthony Peckham to write a masterful screenplay. His use of combining the main players, president and rugby player, interlaced with the action of the presidents security team and then latterly with a local township boy gaining the friendship of a white policeman, shows rather than tells how president Nelson Mandela tried to bring together black-and-white sites of a previous rule and worker relationship into a new joint life for South Africa. Of course, we all now know a lot of the arguing and fighting has been between various black groups and tribes of the nation and the world genuinely believes South Africa has made great strides forward from its previous ridiculous state of affairs. Security and crime remain substantial evils.

Morgan Freeman becomes Pres. Mandela and you spend two hours believing you are watching the president not the actor. No doubt South Africans will be able to fault the accents used, but to outsiders, he is the president. In similar fashion Matt Damon uses his considerable skills to come across as a talented rugby player, which is a situation far removed from any American actor.

This is the first movie that uses acting sportspeople (probably many actual rugby players) mixed in with live-action where players are actually playing the game and moving the ball as if a real match is in place. The use of green screens and CGI technology means we don’t have to watch players running and not actually see them kick or pass the ball.

Brenda Mazibuko, played by Adjoa Andoh, gives us an insight as to the advice given to the president at that time in history when he decided to mix politics and sports remembering that most people are not that interested in politics, but most are interested in sports. His advisor, seen recently as Martha’s mother in Dr. Who, convinced us of her officialdom, even when her advice was overwritten by the president.

No doubt, the screenplay left out any of the information which showed the president and the rugby World Cup of 1995 using any tactics that didn’t fit the feel good movie. We weren’t shown any of the horrors inflicted upon the poor South Africans by supporters of the president, instead we were taken through a dream that became reality.

The writer hit just the right targets and the director knew exactly how to present them to us. Usually it’s a lead actor that will grab our attention to make us go and see a movie. While we have that with the lead actors here I’m now in a groove that means I’ll go see any movie that Clint Eastwood directs.

Be warned that this movie plays heavily with your emotions, but you’ll see and feel and share how the world dealt with South African discourse and how a great man in Nelson Mandela, despite the way he’d been previously treated in prison, moved forward his nation. You’ll know you’ve seen a great movie when you share 133 minutes with Invictus.