Movies, movies, movies

It's been a great time for movies. While I haven't seen all of the winter offerings, I really enjoyed both Benjamin Buttons and Slumdog Millionaire. The casting in Slumdog Millionaire is remarkable, in fact, so much so, that the director Danny Boyle gave the Indian casting director, Loveleen Tandan a "co-director" credit! This is an extraordinary display of collaboration, certainly never before seen in an American film. In fact, the DGA keeps the Casting Director to be listed in the credits as Casting Director. In American films, you will only see "Casting by" or "Casting" in the credits, but never "Casting Director".

The other issue this brings up is the lack of an Academy Award for Casting Directors. We've been advocating for one for a long time. The success of any film is, of course, dependent on having a stellar cast, who elevate the material. And while directors can and should certainly take credit for many areas on a film, they are assisted in every department by experts. There is an Oscar for costume design and set design and makeup design, so why not one for "cast design". The old school academy hasn't yet been willing to open up to this idea, but the Casting Director members of the Academy are working on it diligently.

Anyone else looking forward to tomorrow's season opener of "American Idol"? I saw David Cook in the Apple store in Sherman Oaks a few days ago and I got all excited about the show starting. It will be interesting to see what the new judge adds to the panel.

Actress of the week: Frieda Pinto - this breathtakingly beautiful Indian actress radiates from the screen in Slumdog Millionaire, and is sure to become a huge star. Watch for her to take Hollywood by storm.