Deadline Contenders: Los Angeles 2024 kicked off Saturday, November 16 with cinema creatives & talent taking center stage.
From Lupita Nyong’o to Kevin Costner, Brian Tyree Henry, Mikey Madison, Luca Guadagnino, Jon Batiste and more descended upon the DGA (Directors Guild of America) Theater in Hollywood for this illustrious and informative event hosted by Deadline. The event featured 21 movies from various film studios, with actors, directors and more attending panels.
As invited guest, Scenes in Color had the opportunity to experience the story of acclaimed films up close and personal, highlighting what has brought the stars and creatives and their movies to this moment. The all-day event featured stellar and immensely talented panels of actors, writers, directors, costume designers, composers and more who serve both in front of the camera and behind the lens. This event celebrated the spirit of what we here at Scenes In Color are all about. We pride ourselves in showcasing talent, gaining insight, understanding the process, and highlighting creatives who serve in multiples areas of the cinematic industry both in front of and behind the scenes.
The Wild Robot Panel
DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot is the heartfelt concept of creating your own found family. Deadline Contender panelist for the film were: Lupita Nyong’o (Actor), Mark Hamill (Actor), Chris Saunders (writer/director) and Kris Bowers (Composer).
The sci-fi animated adventure film written and directed by Chris Sanders based on the 2016 Peter Brown bestseller — follows Rozzum (Nyong’o), a robot that gets shipwrecked during a typhoon on an island populated with animals but no humans. While there, Roz discovers an unhatched egg of a gosling (Kit Conner) whose family she inadvertently killed. After Roz defends the egg from a hungry fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal), the egg hatches, and the gosling imprints on her and breaks her long-range transponder. She then takes on the role of protector, with the help of Fink.
This film has exceeded its box office expectations and more. The Wild Robot first landed at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024, and was released in the United States on September 27. The film received universal acclaim and was a commercial success, grossing $308.5 million worldwide on a production budget of $78 million and becoming the fourth-grossing animated film of 2024.
“I think one of the reasons why it’s been so well received and it’s resonating is because we can all relate to being either a parent or child,” “And the film does so with an earnestness that is beautiful. Oftentimes in art when it’s advanced, we get kind of highbrow and we don’t want to be earnest, but the book was earnest, and this film is earnest and it appeals to a pure part of ourselves that just seeks belonging and love.”
-Lupita Nyong’o (Deadline Contenders: LA 2024)
Other notable panelist included Kevin Costner who serves at creator, star and director of four part movie, Horizon: An American Saga. This Territory pictures saga has seen several bumps in the road from funding deficits, studio production changes, release date derailments and more. Including falling extremely short at the box office and seeing the next installment be halted for theatrical release…for now at least. However, according to Costner, he said on Saturday at Deadline Contenders Los Angeles that he’s not giving up on his sprawling four-part Western film series.
Costner’s “Horizon project” begin development a long time ago in the 1980’s and it marks Costner’s return to the Western genre on the big screen after recently exiting the role as high profile patriarch and wealthy ranch cowboy John Dutton in Paramount’s his TV series Yellowstone.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 had a disappointing box office performance, grossing just over $32 million worldwide against a budget of over $100 million
“I’m don’t know how I’m going to do it,” he added, “but I’m going to make it and then I’m going to make the fourth one. And if you want to say ’the end’ at that point, then that’s the end.” -Kevin Costner (Deadline Contenders: LA 2024)
Although various obstacles and setbacks have delayed the saga in its entirety, Costner remains hopeful about this ambitious project. “It’s my own private UFO,” he said. “I’ve seen it, and I will never forget it, and I chase it as long as I can. … I will figure out a way to bring you 3 and 4, because you’ve gone to 1 and you’re gonna go to 2, and we’re all gonna go west together.”
Check out pages from the Guide below for a full lineup of panels and panelist who were present at the Deadline Contenders: Los Angeles 2024 event (the complete guide can be found here).
This cinematic event had a panel for Magnolia Pictures’ Thelma, with the remarkable 95-year-old star June Squibb on hand to discuss the film. The event also brought Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry along with director Rachel Morrison to the stage to discuss Amazon MGM’s highly anticipated boxing centric movie The Fire Inside which is set to release on Christmas day in theatres.
To find out more and watch video clips from the panels visit Deadline here.