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Sundance Institute Honors Roger Ebert With Posthumous Award

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday June 6, 2013 @ 5:17pm PDTTags: Chaz Ebert, Fruitvale Station, Robert Redford, Roger Ebert, Ryan Coogler, Sundance Institute
Pete Hammond

The late film critic Roger Ebert and award-winning Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler were the honorees at last night’s third annual Celebrate Sundance Institute event at The Lot in Hollywood. Ebert’s widow Chaz was on hand to accept the Vanguard Leadership Award for her husband, who died April 4 but had hoped to attend in person. The Sundance Institute announced that the Roger Ebert Scholarship For Film Criticism would be established in order to promote ”passionate and articulate aspiring young film critics” in the legendary critic’s memory. Sundance founder Robert Redford presented the award to Chaz Ebert and recounted his own personal connection to Roger. Redford recalled meeting him in 1980, right as the actor-director was starting to formulate plans for the development of the Sundance Lab, even before the Festival was started several years later. Ebert, there as a journalist, was interested in covering the beginnings of the Sundance Lab, which would foster independent film. READ MORE »

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Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond, Episode 21

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday April 11, 2013 @ 3:02pm PDTTags: 42, Deadline Awards Watch, Oblivion, Roger Ebert
Pete Hammond

Listen to (and share) episode 21 of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Our awards columnist and host David Bloom talk about the passing of Roger Ebert, perhaps the most influential film critic ever, and what it means to be a film critic in an era of Rotten Tomatoes, Reddit and Twitter. Pete also looks at what he thinks is a lock for the Cannes Film Festival, a film that will be vying for Emmy rather than Oscar glory, and reports on Tom Cruise’s premiere-night effort to help ensure the name of sci-fi epic Oblivion, opening overseas this weekend, doesn’t become the film’s fate. Pete also talks about this week’s movie debuts as the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 swings for the fences, and platform releases Disconnect and To The Wonder by director Terence Malick try to connect with audiences.

Deadline Awards Watch, Episode 21 (MP3 format)
Deadline Awards Watch, Episode 21 (MP4a format) Read More »

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Roger Ebert Funeral, Memorial Service Set

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday April 6, 2013 @ 5:25pm PDTTags: Roger Ebert

A funeral for late Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert will be held Monday at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral. The service, open to the public, will begin at 10 AM for friends and fans. A memorial tribute has also been set for April 11 for the Pulitzer Prize-winning … Read More »

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Hammond On Roger Ebert – An Appreciation

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday April 4, 2013 @ 3:23pm PDTTags: Life Itself, President Obama, Pulitzer Prize, Roger Ebert, Siskel & Ebert
Pete Hammond

Certainly Roger Ebert will be remembered for many things. Winning an unprecedented Pulitzer Prize in 1975 for film criticism is just one of them. For me, though, beyond that distinction Roger was far more unique in the pantheon of the truly great critics of our time, and all time. Along with Gene Siskel he figured out a way to take film criticism to the masses in a way it never really had been, at least on a national basis. With their patented ’2 Thumbs Up’ and ’2 Thumbs Down’ reviews on their pioneering PBS and later syndicated weekly TV show, this pair not only brought the job of a film critic into the national consciousness, they also made it fun. And accessible. The ‘thumbs’ signature was really the forerunner of a site like Rotten Tomatoes, an instantly recognizable label that moviegoers could use like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval when it appeared in an ad as it did hundreds of times.

Related: Reactions To Roger Ebert’s Death

Unlike so many critics today Roger Ebert loved movies, even when he hated them, an attribute so many of today’s self-absorbed so-called critics greatly lack. In fact one of my favorite personal Ebert memories happened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival at a mid-day screening of Vincent Gallo’s unwatchable The Brown Bunny. Not only did he call it then the worst movie in the festival’s history, he added, “I have not seen every film in the history of the festival, yet I feel my judgement will stand”. At one excruciating point in the film he even started singing “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” out loud, eliciting laughter from what was left of the audience at that point. I wondered at the time “now who has the chutzpah to do that?” only to find it was Roger. Read More »

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Reactions To Roger Ebert’s Death

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday April 4, 2013 @ 3:22pm PDTTags: Roger Ebert

In addition to the flood of Twitter posts on the passing of film critic Roger Ebert today — Ebert was a huge presence on the social media site with more than 800,000 followers — condolences are coming in from all corners, including from fellow Chicagoan President Obama. We’ll post more as we get them:

Related: Roger Ebert – An Appreciation

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President Barack Obama:
Michelle and I are saddened to hear about the passing of Roger Ebert. For a generation of Americans — and especially Chicagoans — Roger was the movies. When he didn’t like a film, he was honest; when he did, he was effusive — capturing the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical. Even amidst his own battles with cancer, Roger was as productive as he was resilient — continuing to share his passion and perspective with the world. The movies won’t be the same without Roger, and our thoughts and prayers are with Chaz and the rest of the Ebert family.

AFI President Bob Gazzale
Roger Ebert championed the art of the moving image and by the courage of his personal example demonstrated how much movies matter. On behalf of all of us who love the movies – thumbs up, Roger – for a life well lived and our heart-felt thanks for all the gifts you will continue to give us as time goes by.

Randolph Kret, Indican Pictures
We at Indican Pictures are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Roger Ebert. For a generation of filmgoers Roger was the voice they could trust — like a family member who would tell you if he didn’t like a film or praise it when he did. For us, he was an early supporter who critiqued our small films which helped us gain a national voice, a gift we will always be grateful for. The two words that sum up our experiences with Roger Ebert — were grace and passion. He was a passionate man about films and their impact on our lives and he so loved to share that passion with all of us. Having battled cancer myself I have some understanding of the battles he survived, but I could never match the grace, poise and good humor that he exhibited during such trying times. The movies won’t be the same without Roger, our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Chaz and the rest of the Ebert family. In closing we leave you with a line from one of Roger’s guilty pleasures: A line from The Mummy – “Death is only the beginning”. Roger – we look forward to your next act.

DGA president Taylor Hackford:
“From the mightiest blockbuster to the smallest independent film, Roger Ebert devoted his career to sharing his love of film with generations of moviegoers. The role of critics is to call them as they see them and Roger did so with integrity. In more than four decades of honest review of our films, Roger demanded excellence — but recognized directorial achievements. For his dedication and service to the craft, in 2009, the DGA awarded him our Honorary Life Member Award. He will be deeply missed.” Read More »

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R.I.P. Roger Ebert

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday April 4, 2013 @ 12:44pm PDTTags: Roger Ebert

Legendary movie critic Roger Ebert died today. He was 70. He announced in a blog post Tuesday night that he was fighting another bout with cancer and “must slow down” his work, which included a new website launching next week to archive all of his reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as his annual movie festival. He also was considering a new book as a follow-up to his 2011 memoir Life Itself which Martin Scorsese and Steve Zaillian are teaming to produce as a documentary with Steve James (Hoop Dreams) helming. Ebert was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002 and suffered many health complications since then. But he worked right up until the end. This week, Ebert announced that he was stepping down as lead film critic for the Sun-Times, where his column has appeared since 1967 and later online. “It is with a heavy heart we report that legendary film critic Roger Ebert has passed away,” the newspaper tweeted to Ebert’s 700,000 Twitter followers. But Ebert became best-known for his TV film review shows partnered with Gene Siskel over a 23-year span for PBS and then syndication. Their “thumbs-up” and “thumbs-down” critiques were some of the most feared or cheered in Hollywood - and trusted by the public. After Siskel’s death in 1999, Ebert teamed with film critic Richard Roeper for another TV series beginning in 2000. During Ebert’s illness, however, he did not appear on the show after mid-2006 although his name remained in the title through 2008.

From then on, Ebert would appear on TV in fits and starts, courageously refusing to let his health complications interfere with his chosen profession and lifelong obsession. He wrote more than 15 books including an annual movie yearbook. In 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. His TV programs were nominated for Emmys. In 1995, a section of Chicago’s Erie Street was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way. Since 1999, he hosted the annual Roger Eberts’ Film Festival in Champaign, IL. In 2005, Ebert was the first film critic to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As of 2010, Ebert’s movie reviews appeared in more than 200 newspapers in the United States and worldwide via Universal Press Syndicate. Read More »

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