Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience. Indie Wire noted in July 2011 that the magazine is "the right combo of sizzling entertainment and hard breaking news." The multi-platform brand currently consists of an oversized weekly magazine, seasonal special reports, glossies, a high-traffic website, a mobile-optimized site, a digital daily, iPad app and events.

Its current mission statement reads as follows:

The Hollywood Reporter is the definitive interpretive voice of the entertainment industry. Informing, engaging and empowering content is delivered across a multimedia platform that includes: a weekly magazine, bi-monthly special reports, quarterly glossies, a Website, a daily news PDF, iPad app and events. The Hollywood Reporter is read by the most powerful people in the entertainment industry and the most influential consumers who follow it – those who shape desire, set trends and ultimately drive culture – providing an unmatched level of access and influence.

During the last century, it was one of the two major publications focused on Hollywood—the other being Variety. Today, both publications cover what is more broadly called the entertainment industry.

History[link]

The Hollywood Reporter was Hollywood's first daily entertainment industry trade paper. It began as a daily film publication, then added television coverage in the 1950s and began in the late 1980s to cover intellectual property industries.

Founder[link]

William R. Wilkerson published the first issue of The Hollywood Reporter on September 3, 1930. This daily magazine reported on movies, studios and personalities in an outrageously candid style. Through its outspoken pages, Wilkerson became one of the town's most colorful and controversial figures. He began each issue with a self-penned editorial entitled "Tradeviews", which exposed corrupt studio practices. "Tradeviews" went on to become one of the most widely read daily columns in the industry. The upstart publisher also employed hard-ball tactics to solicit advertising. Studios were literally blackmailed into giving their support. If they refused, he ordered a complete editorial blackout on all their material—from press releases to film reviews. The corporate moguls eventually banded together to deal with The Reporter. They refused Wilkerson all advertising support and deprived him of news from their studios. They even hired extra employees to burn The Hollywood Reporter when it was delivered every morning at their front gates. At the height of the battle, his reporters were barred from every lot in town. Wilkerson told them to climb over the studio walls and sift through executives' garbage. These tactics produced a flood of incriminating news, which Wilkerson cheerfully printed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the paper airmailed daily to his desk at the White House. By 1936, The Hollywood Reporter had become something even the most prescient studio heads never anticipated—a power that rivaled their own.^[1]

The Hollywood blacklist[link]

Wilkerson believed that the Screen Writers Guild was one of the prime Communist strongholds in all of Hollywood. He used his TradeView column to publicize the "Communist Takeover" of the guild dating as early as 1938. Throughout the thirteen year Screen Writers Guild ban of its members advertising their services in trade papers, Wilkerson would not allow screenwriter credits in The Reporter's film reviews.^[2]

On Monday, July 29, 1946, Wilkerson published his TradeView entitled "A Vote For Joe Stalin". It contained the first industry names on what later became the infamous Hollywood Blacklist—Dalton Trumbo, Maurice Rapf, Lester Cole, Howard Koch, Harold Buchman, John Wexley, Ring Lardner Jr., Harold Salemson, Henry Meyers, Theodore Strauss and John Howard Lawson.^[3]

Wilkerson soon went after Cole, who was the first Vice President of the Screen Writers Guild. Here, Wilkerson would be the first to ask the two questions that would ring throughout the nation for the next decade: "Are you a member of the Writers Guild?" and "Are you a member of the Communist Party of the United States?" On Monday, August 19, 1946, Wilkerson wrote:

FOR THE PURPOSE of trying to tag the activity of the Screen-Writers Guild generally, and particularly its action proposing to our State Department that the U.S.-French film agreement be renegotiated to give "greater benefit" to the French film writers, we would like to ask Mr. Lester Cole, who authored the motion for SWG passage:

"Are you a Communist? Do you hold card number 46805 in what is known as the Northwest Section of the Communist party, a division of the party made up mostly of West Coast Commies?"^[4]

In an editorial entitled "RED BEACH-HEAD!" on Tuesday, August 20, 1946, Wilkerson took aim at Hollywood writer John Howard Lawson. On Wednesday, August 21, 1946, in an editorial entitled "Hywd's Red Commissars!", Wilkerson skewered John Leech, Emmet Lavery, Oliver H. P. Garrett, Harold Buchman, Maurice Rapf, and William Pomerance. On September 12, 1946, Wilkerson printed "the list" of names that would be plucked by The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) for their 1947 hearings. Wilkerson used two different colors to identify two different levels of participation in Communism. "Red" indicated that the individual was a card-carrying communist. "Pink" meant that an individual simply had communist sympathies. The list included:

• Edward Dmytryk
• John Howard Lawson
• Guy Endore
• Lester Cole
• Dalton Trumbo
• Albert Maltz
• Henry Myers
• Marian Spitzer
• Ring Lardner Jr.
• Jay Gorney
• E. Y. Harburg
• Boris Ingster
• Harold Buchman
• Gordon Kahn
• Howard Koch
• Alvah Bessie
• John Bright
• Howard Dimsdale
• Paul Jarrico
• Francis E. Faragoh
• Frank Tuttle
• Alvin Wilder
• Martin Berkeley

Known in the beginning as "Billy's List", it quickly became "Billy's Blacklist", referring to the color of the publisher’s magazine ink. Wilkerson's list would eventually evolve into the infamous "Blacklist" that became the backbone of the May 8, October 20 and October 27 hearings. These hearings led to citations for contempt being issued by the United States on November 24, 1947. Wilkerson would do what no other publisher in America had dared to do prior to August 1946—publish the identities of card-carrying communists, their party member numbers and pseudonyms on his front page.

Ownership changes[link]

Wilkerson ran The Hollywood Reporter until his death in 1962, when his wife, Tichi Wilkerson, took over as publisher and editor-in-chief. She sold the paper on April 11, 1988 to trade publishers BPI for $26.7 million.^[5] Teri Ritzer was the last editor under Wilkerson. She began the paper's modernization by bringing newspaper editors into what was essentially a Hollywood wannabe newsroom.

BPI's publisher, Robert J. Dowling, brought in Alex Ben Block in 1990 and editorial quality of both news and specials was steadily improved. Ritzer and Block dampened much of the rah-rah coverage and cronyism that had infected the paper under Wilkerson. After Ben Block left, former film editor at Variety, Anita Busch, was brought in as editor between 1999 and 2001. Busch was credited with making the paper competitive with Variety. Dowling helmed the paper until he was forced to retire during corporate changes in late 2005.^{[citation needed]} Tony Uphoff assumed the publisher position in November 2005. The Reporter was acquired, along with the rest of the assets of VNU, in spring 2006 by a private equity consortium led by Blackstone and KKR, both with ties to the conservative movement in the United States. Uphoff was replaced in October 2006 by John Kilcullen, who was the publisher of Billboard. Kilcullen was a defendant in Billboard's infamous "dildo" lawsuit, in which he was accused of race discrimination and sexual harassment.^[6] VNU settled the suit on the courthouse steps.^[7] Kilcullen "exited" Nielsen in February 2008 "to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur."^[8] Matthew King, vice president for content and audience, editorial director Howard Burns, and executive editor Peter Pryor left the paper in a wave of layoffs in December 2006; editor Cynthia Littleton, widely respected throughout the industry, reported directly to Kilcullen. The Reporter absorbed another blow when Littleton left her position for an editorial job at Variety in March, 2007. Web editor Glenn Abel also left after 16 years with the paper.

In January 2007, VNU was purchased by a private equity consortium and renamed The Nielsen Company, whose properties include Billboard, AdWeek and A.C. Nielsen. Under its new leadership, Nielsen is reported to have made a $5 million investment in The Reporter.^[9]

In December 2009, Prometheus Global Media, a newly formed company formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners and chaired by Jimmy Finkelstein, CEO of News Communications, parent of Congressional Journal the Hill, acquired The Hollywood Reporter from Nielsen Business Media. It pledged to invest in the brand and grow the company.

Richard Beckman, formerly of Condé Nast, was appointed the new company's CEO.

Editors and publishers[link]

In April 2007, industry veteran Eric Mika was named to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Publishing Director of The Reporter. Having previously served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Nielsen Business Media's Film and Performing Arts Group and, before that, as Vice President and Managing Director for Variety, Mika assumed responsibility for the general management of sales, marketing and editorial for The Hollywood Reporter, as well as the brand's ancillary products, events, licensing business and partnerships.^[10]

In June 2007, Rose Einstein, former Vice President, Advertising Sales for Netflix and 25-year veteran of Reed Business Media, was named to the newly created role of Vice President, Associate Publisher to oversee all sales and business development for The Reporter.^[11] Mika left The Hollywood Reporter in early 2010.

In July 2007, The Reporter named Elizabeth Guider as its new editor. An 18-year veteran of Variety, where she served as Executive Editor, Guider assumed responsibility for the editorial vision and strategic direction of The Hollywood Reporter’s daily and weekly editions, digital content offerings and executive conferences.^[12] Guider left The Hollywood Reporter in early 2010.

In April 2010, Lori Burgess was named publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. Burgess had been publisher of OK! magazine since October 2008. Michaela Apruzzese was named associate publisher, entertainment, of The Hollywood Reporter in May 2010. Apruzzese served as the director of movie advertising for Los Angeles Times Media Group.

In May 2010, Janice Min was named Editorial Director. Min previously served as the editor-in-chief of Us Weekly magazine from 2003 until 2009. Richard Beckman, CEO of Prometheus Global Media, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, said of her hire: "Janice dramatically transformed the landscape of entertainment journalism, and she is perfectly suited to lead The Hollywood Reporter's business-to-influencer coverage of the global entertainment industry."

Presence on the web[link]

The Reporter published a primitive "satellite" digital edition in the late 1980s. It became the first daily entertainment trade paper to start a web site in 1995. Initially, the site offered free news briefs with complete coverage firewalled as a premium (paid) service. In later years, the web site became mostly free as it became more reliant on ad sales and less on subscribers. The web site had already gone through a redesign by the time competitor Daily Variety took to the web. In 2002, The Reporter’s web site won the Jesse H. Neal Award for business journalism.

Later, other The Reporter electronic products include U.S. and European daily e-mail editions, a daily East Coast digital edition, a business podcast and a number of blogs, and a weekly Korean-language newsletter that reached nearly 4,000 subscribers in Korea each day. In June 2007, The Reporter introduced The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Edition, an online electronic replica of the daily magazine, available in 12 languages, that also features text-to-voice conversion into six languages.^[13] In October 2007, the publication launched THR Direct, a free application that provides subscribers with immediate delivery of customized news, alerts and video from The Hollywood Reporter to their desktop.^[14]

The Reporter itself was slow to modernize. The paper still used vintage IBM-styled selectric typewriters in several departments into the early 1990s and was sluggish in upgrading operations by adding common business equipment such as computers, scanners and color printers to all departments. Archival materials were routinely microfilmed as late as 1998 rather than digitized, even though the system to view it was in storage or broken. Many staff members did not have email several years after its use became relatively common in business.

In late summer 2010, thr.com was completely redesigned and re-launched under Janice Min to become a cutting-edge, one-stop entertainment destination, covering movies, television, music, style, theatre, personal tech, and the business side of the entertainment industry (some content lives behind a pay wall). With breaking news and much more exclusive industry scoop, web traffic for the site has increased over 800% since late 2009.^{[citation needed]} The site now features HD movie and television trailers, photo and video galleries, and much more social connectivity - with buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Digg and a comment section on nearly every posting.

THR also has feeds on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in addition to a respected series of blogs that live on thr.com.

Editors and reporters today[link]

The Hollywood Reporter has a staff of roughly 150. Today, editors and reporters number more than 65, with another 50 staffers scattered in key bureaus around the world. It is interesting to note that during the "golden age" of Hollywood film and television, The Reporter was seldom staffed with more than 20 people. It was chiefly in the media boom of the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that the employee roster increased.

In addition to hiring Eric Mika, Rose Eintstein and Elizabeth Guider, The Reporter hired the following staff in 2007:

• Todd Cunningham, former assistant managing editor of the LA Business Journal, as National Editor for The Hollywood Reporter: Premier Edition
• Steven Zeitchik as Senior Writer, based in New York, where he provide news analysis and features for the Premiere Edition
• Melissa Grego, former managing editor of TV Week, as Editor of HollywoodReporter.com
• Jonathan Landreth as the new Asian bureau chief, in addition to 13 new writers across Asia

However, staffing levels began to drop again in 2008. In April, Nielsen Business Media eliminated between 40 and 50 editorial staff positions at The Hollywood Reporter and its sister publications: Adweek, Brandweek, Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek.^[15] In December, another 12 editorial positions were cut at the trade paper.^[16] In addition, 2008 saw substantial turnover in the online department: THR.com Editor Melissa Grego left her position in July to become executive editor of Broadcasting & Cable,^[17] and Managing Editor Scott McKim left to become a new media manager at Knox College. With the entertainment industry as a whole shrinking, "Hollywood studios have cut more than $20 million from the Motion Picture Association of America budget this year. The resulting staff and program reductions are expected to permanently shrink the scope and size of the six-studio trade and advocacy group."^[18] Staffing at THR in 2008 saw even further cutbacks with "names from today's tragic bloodletting of The Hollywood Reporter's staff" adding up quickly in the hard economic times at the end of 2008.^[19] "The trade has not only been thin, but only publishing digital version 19 days this holiday season. Film writers Leslie Simmons, Carolyn Giardina, Gregg Goldstein, plus lead TV critic Barry Garron and TV reporter Kimberly Nordyke, also special issues editor Randee Dawn Cohen out of New York and managing editor Harley Lond and international department editor Hy Hollinger, plus Dan Evans, Lesley Goldberg, Michelle Belaski, James Gonzalez were among those chopped from the masthead."^[19]

When Janice Min and Lori Burgess came on board in 2010, the editorial and sales staff have increased nearly 50%, respectively. Janice hired some of the most recognized journalists in the entertainment industry, most notably scooping up veteran Variety film critic Todd McCarthy after his firing from Variety in March 2010.

Beckman and Burgess created a dedicated sales staff in New York to sell non-endemic advertising into the post re-launch print weekly, and beefed up the LA-based staff to better cover the endemic business.

Current status and legacy[link]

The Hollywood Reporter has been called^{[by whom?]} an institution, publishing out of the same offices on Sunset Boulevard for more than a half century, although by the 1970s the aging offices had become a time capsule more akin to the 1950s and the paper had clearly outgrown them.^{[citation needed]} Today, the offices are in L.A.'s Mid-Wilshire district.

In November 2007, The Reporter launched its Premier Edition, a new day-and-date edition of the publication with daily morning delivery to subscribers in New York and key cities across the East Coast. As a result of the move to regional printing, the Premier Edition is also available on newsstands throughout Manhattan each morning from Monday through Friday.

The Hollywood Reporter's conferences and award shows include the Key Art Awards, which aim to recognize the best in movie marketing and advertising. Its annual Power Women in Entertainment issue and event is a somewhat controversial if not subjective ranking of female entertainment executives. Its annual "Next Gen" special issue and event honors 35 up-and-coming executives in entertainment that are 35 years or younger. Throughout the year, THR publishes a 'roundtable' series in conjunction with many of the tent-pole award shows, including the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmy's. The paper's influential^{[citation needed]} celebrity marketability rating system, Star Power, has ceased publication.

Today, The Hollywood Reporter is working to become the leading entertainment news source. With an impressive^{[says who?]} suite of products - from a daily PDF edition, to its oversized weekly glossy magazine, an iPad app, and a slew of international newsletters and festival dailies – and a robust new editorial staff, they have set out to redefine the flailing trade industry.

This section appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (May 2011)

[edit] Competition with Variety

In March 2007, The Hollywood Reporter surpassed Variety to achieve the largest total distribution of any entertainment daily.^[20]

Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both are located on Wilshire Boulevard along the well-trafficked "Miracle Mile". Staffers often migrate between the papers. There is a history of bad blood between the rivals bordering on the obsessive,^{[citation needed]} sometimes petty and occasionally myopic. Variety was long established as an entertainment trade paper in vaudeville circles, Tin Pan Alley and in the theatre district of New York City, but it was The Hollywood Reporter that began covering the developing film business in Hollywood in 1930. Variety did not start its Hollywood edition until 1933.

The Hollywood Reporter maintains a business association with the home entertainment trade publication Home Media Magazine, which is owned by Questex Media Group. The alliance includes an exchange of stories when the need arises, and gives The Reporter access into the home entertainment trade, which Variety enjoys with its sister publication, the Reed-owned Video Business.

See also[link]

• Variety
• Nielsen Business Media
• Tubefilter

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Global Network Hot News

Hollywood
—  District of Los Angeles  —
The world-famous Hollywood Sign
Nickname(s): Tinseltown, The Entertainment Capital of the World
Hollywood Location within Central Los Angeles
Hollywood Location within Western Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34°6′0″N 118°20′0″W / 34.1°N 118.333333°W / 34.1; -118.333333
Country	United States
State	California
County	County of Los Angeles
City	City of Los Angeles
Incorporated	1903
Government
• City Council	Eric Garcetti, Tom LaBonge
• State Assembly	Mike Feuer (D), Vacant
• State Senate	Curren Price (D), Gilbert Cedillo (D)
• U.S. House	Xavier Becerra (D), Diane Watson (D), Henry Waxman (D)
Area[1]
• Total	24.96 sq mi (64.6 km2)
Population (2000)[1]
• Total	123,435
• Density	4,945/sq mi (1,909/km2)
ZIP Code	90027, 90028, 90029, 90038, 90046, 90068
Area code(s)	323

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles.^[2] Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood,^[3] and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.

On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos.^[4] The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.^[1]

As a district within the Los Angeles city limits, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government. There was an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who served as an honorary "Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position from 1980 until his death on January 9, 2008.^[5] However, no replacement has ever been named after Grant's death.

History[link]

In 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops of many common and exotic varieties. The area was known to these residents as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. Soon thereafter, land speculation led to subdivision of the large plots and an influx of homeowners.

In spite of the area's short history, it has been filled with events driven by optimistic progress. The name Hollywood was coined by H. J. Whitley, the "Father of Hollywood".^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]} Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre (2.0 km²) E.C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date. Before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Mr Hurd's wife, Mrs. Daeida Wilcox, and numerous others through the mill of gossip and land speculation.

Daeida learned of the name Hollywood from her neighbor in Holly Canyon (now Lake Hollywood), Ivar Weid, a prominent investor and friend of Whitley's.^[12][13] She recommended the same name to her husband, H. H. Wilcox. On February 1, 1887, Harvey filed a deed and map of property he sold with the Los Angeles County Recorder's office. Harvey wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that same year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth.

By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, and two markets. Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479^[14] lay 10 miles (16 km) east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent and the trip took two hours. The old citrus fruit-packing house would be converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood.

Glen-Holly Hotel, first hotel in Hollywood, at the corner of what is now Yucca Street. It was built by Joakim Berg, a famous artist back in the 1890s.

Hollywood Hotel 1905

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland 1907

The famous Hollywood Hotel, the first major hotel in Hollywood, was opened in 1902, by H. J. Whitley, then President of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company, of which he was a major shareholder. Having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers, and was eager to sell these residential lots among the lemon ranches lining the foothills. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, which, still a dusty, unpaved road, was regularly graded and graveled. The Hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years.^[15] His company was developing and selling one of the early residential areas, the Ocean View Tract.^[16][17][18] Whitley did much to promote the area. He paid many thousands of dollars for electric lighting, including bringing electricity and building a bank, as well as a road into the Cahuenga Pass. The lighting ran for several blocks down Prospect Avenue. Whitley's land was centered on Highland Avenue.^[19][20][21]

Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality on November 14, 1903. The vote was 88 for incorporation and 77 against. On January 30, 1904, the voters in Hollywood decided, by a vote of 113 to 96, for the banishment of liquor in the city, except when it was being sold for medicinal purposes. Neither hotels nor restaurants were allowed to serve wine or liquor before or after meals.

By 1910, because of an ongoing struggle to secure an adequate water supply, town officials voted for Hollywood to be annexed into the City of Los Angeles, as the water system of the growing city had opened the Los Angeles Aqueduct and was piping water down from the Owens River in the Owens Valley. Another reason for the vote was that Hollywood could have access to drainage through Los Angeles' sewer system. With annexation, the name of Prospect Avenue was changed to Hollywood Boulevard and all the street numbers in the new district changed.^[22] For example, 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, became 6400 Hollywood Boulevard; and 100 Cahuenga Boulevard, at Hollywood Boulevard, changed to 1700 Cahuenga Boulevard.

Motion picture industry[link]

Nestor Studio, Hollywood's first movie studio, 1912

The film patent wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U.S. Many worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights, and thus filming in New York could be dangerous; it was close to Edison's Company headquarters, and to agents the company set out to seize cameras. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities in Southern California near or in Los Angeles because of the location's proximity to Mexico, as well as the region's favorable year-round weather.^[23]

The Biograph Company filmed the short film A Daring Hold-Up in Southern California in Los Angeles in 1906.^[24] The first studio in the Los Angeles area was established by the Selig Polyscope Company in Edendale, with construction beginning in August 1909.^[25]

Prolific director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in Hollywood. His 17-minute short film In Old California, which was released on March 10, 1910, was filmed entirely in the village of Hollywood for the Biograph Company.^[26][27][28] Although Hollywood banned movie theaters—of which it had none—before annexation that year, Los Angeles had no such restriction.^[29] The first film by a Hollywood Studio, Nestor Motion Picture Company, was shot on October 26, 1911.^[7] The Whitley home was used as its set, and the unnamed movie was filmed in the middle of their groves on the corner of Whitley Ave and Hollywood Boulevard by directors Al Christie and David and William Horsley.^[30]

Various producers and filmmakers moved bases from the east coast to escape punitive licensing from the Motion Picture Patents Company.^{[citation needed]}

The first studio in Hollywood was established by the New Jersey–based Centaur Co., which wanted to make westerns in California. They rented an unused roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Gower, and converted it into a movie studio in October 1911, calling it Nestor Studio after the name of the western branch of their company.^[31] The first feature film made specifically in a Hollywood studio, in 1914, was The Squaw Man, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel,^[32] and was filmed at the Lasky-DeMille Barn among other area locations.

By 1911, Los Angeles was second only to New York in motion picture production,^[33] and by 1915, the majority of American films were being produced in the Los Angeles area.^[34]

Hollywood movie studios, 1922

Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. Hollywood had begun its dramatic transformation from sleepy suburb to movie production capital. The residential and agrarian Hollywood Boulevard of 1910 was virtually unrecognizable by 1920 as the new commercial and retail sector replaced it. The sleepy town was no more, and, to the chagrin of many original residents, the boom town could not be stopped.

1920s–1940s[link]

By 1920, Hollywood had become world-famous as the center of the United States film industry. In 1918, HJ Whitley commissioned architect A.S. Barnes to design Whitley Heights as a Mediterranean-style village on the steep hillsides above Hollywood Boulevard, and it became the first celebrity community.^[35][36] The neighborhood is roughly bordered on the north and east by Cahuenga Boulevard, on the west by Highland Avenue, and on the south by Franklin Avenue. Among Whitley Heights' many famous residents have been Rudolph Valentino, Barbara Stanwyck, W.C. Fields, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, William Powell. Tyrone Power, Gloria Swanson, Rosalind Russell, Judy Garland, and Marlene Dietrich.^{[37][38][39][40][40][41][42][43][44][45]}

From the 1920s to the 1940s, a large percentage of transportation to and from Hollywood was by means of the red cars of the Pacific Electric Railway.

Modern Hollywood[link]

Hollywood Boulevard, taken from the Dolby Theatre

On January 22, 1947, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, began operating in Hollywood. In December of that year, The Public Prosecutor became the first network television series to be filmed in Hollywood. In the 1950s, music recording studios and offices began moving into Hollywood. Other businesses, however, continued to migrate to different parts of the Los Angeles area, primarily to Burbank. Much of the movie industry remained in Hollywood, although the district's outward appearance changed.

In 1952, CBS built CBS Television City on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, on the former site of Gilmore Stadium. CBS's expansion into the Fairfax District pushed the unofficial boundary of Hollywood farther south than it had been. CBS's slogan for the shows taped there was "From Television City in Hollywood..."

During the early 1950s the famous Hollywood Freeway was constructed from Four Level Interchange interchange in downtown Los Angeles, past the Hollywood Bowl, up through Cahuenga Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. In the early days, streetcars ran up through the pass, on rails running along the central median.

The famous Capitol Records Building on Vine St. just north of Hollywood Boulevard was built in 1956. The building houses offices and recording studios, which are not open to the public, but its circular design looks like a stack of 7-inch (180 mm) vinyl records.

The now derelict lot at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Serrano Avenue was once the site of the illustrious Hollywood Professional School (1935-1984), whose alumni reads like a Hollywood Who's Who of household "names". Many of these former child stars attended a "farewell" party at the commemorative sealing of a time capsule buried on the lot.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 as a tribute to artists and other significant contributors within the entertainment industry. Official groundbreaking occurred on February 8, 1960, and the first star to be permanently installed was that of director Stanley Kramer (not Joanne Woodward, as commonly related).^[46][47] A detailed history of the Walk can be found in the Walk of Fame main article. Honorees receive a star based on their achievements in motion pictures, live theatre, radio, television, and/or music, as well as their charitable and civic contributions.

During the 1980s, Hollywood was the heart of a new Hard rock movement known as Glam metal. The most known Hollywood glam metal and hard rock bands include Mötley Crüe, Poison, RATT, W.A.S.P, Quiet Riot, Guns N' Roses and Van Halen. These bands were notorious for their debauched and promiscuous lifestyle of late-night parties, drug and alcohol abuse, casual sex and backstage groupie antics. A haven for the pulsating music scene of the time, Hollywood also saw a number of popular bands from different genres emerge, such as Jane's Addiction, Metallica and various others.

In 1985, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places protecting important buildings and ensuring that the significance of Hollywood's past would always be a part of its future.

In June 1999, the Hollywood extension of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Red Line subway opened, running from Downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley, with stops along Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue, Vine Street and Highland Avenue.

The Dolby Theatre (known as the Kodak Theatre up until 2012)

The Dolby Theatre, which opened in 2001 on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood, has become the new home of the Oscars.

While motion picture production still occurs within the Hollywood district, most major studios are actually located elsewhere in the Los Angeles region. Paramount Pictures is the only major studio still physically located within Hollywood. Other studios in the district include the aforementioned Jim Henson (formerly Chaplin) Studios, Sunset Gower Studios, and Raleigh Studios.

While Hollywood and the adjacent neighborhood of Los Feliz served as the initial homes for all of the early television stations in the Los Angeles market, most have now relocated to other locations within the metropolitan area. KNBC began this exodus in 1962, when it moved from the former NBC Radio City Studios located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street to NBC Studios in Burbank. KTTV (purchased by FOX) pulled up stakes in 1996 from its former home at Metromedia Square on Sunset Boulevard to relocate to the FOX Studio lot in West Los Angeles. KABC-TV moved from its original location at ABC Television Center (now branded The Prospect Studios) just east of Hollywood to Glendale in 2000, though the Los Angeles bureau of ABC News still resides at Prospect and still serves as an ABC Network studios facility. After being purchased by 20th Century Fox in 2001, KCOP left its former home on La Brea Avenue to join KTTV on the Fox lot. The CBS Corporation-owned duopoly of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from its longtime home at CBS Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard to a new facility at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. KTLA and KCET, both located on Sunset Boulevard, are the last broadcasters (television or radio) with Hollywood addresses. However, KCET has since sold its studios on Sunset and plans to move to another location.

In addition, Hollywood once served as the home of nearly every radio station in Los Angeles, all of which have now moved into other communities, especially Burbank, but a fair number also relocated to Wilshire Center and Miracle Mile district with the latter being home to many TV production companies including Mark Goodson and the E! network. KNX was the last station to broadcast from Hollywood, when it left CBS Columbia Square for a studio in the Miracle Mile in 2005. While Hollywood was home to several foreign-language radio stations, they too moved to many of the same areas as their English language counter-parts. In fact, today, not a single L.A. market radio station has operations in Hollywood.

In 2002, a number of Hollywood citizens began a campaign for the district to secede from Los Angeles and become, as it had been a century earlier, its own incorporated municipality. Secession supporters argued that the needs of their community were being ignored by the leaders of Los Angeles. In June of that year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors placed secession referendums for both Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley on the ballots for a "citywide election." To pass, they required the approval of a majority of voters in the proposed new municipality as well as a majority of voters in all of Los Angeles. In the November election, both referendums failed by wide margins in the citywide vote.

Hollywood is served by several neighborhood councils, including the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council (HUNC)^[48] and the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council.^[49] These two groups are part of the network of neighborhood councils certified by the City of Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.^[50] Neighborhood Councils cast advisory votes on such issues as zoning, planning, and other community issues. The council members are voted in by stakeholders, generally defined as anyone living, working, owning property, or belonging to an organization within the boundaries of the council.^[51]

The Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, with mural by Richard Wyatt titled Hollywood Jazz featuring prominent jazz artists Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington.

Revitalization[link]

After many years of serious decline, when many Hollywood landmarks were threatened with demolition,^[52] Hollywood is now undergoing rapid gentrification and revitalization with the goal of urban density in mind.^{[citation needed]} Many developments have been completed, typically centered on Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood and Highland complex (site of the Kodak Theater) has been a major catalyst for the redevelopment of the area. In addition, numerous fashionable bars, clubs, and retail businesses have opened on or surrounding the boulevard, returning Hollywood to a center of nightlife in Los Angeles. Many older buildings have also been converted to lofts and condominiums. The W Hollywood Hotel is now open at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.

Hollywood neighborhoods and communities[link]

The Hotel Roosevelt has long sat on Hollywood Boulevard near Hollywood High School and Grauman's Chinese Theater.

• Cahuenga Pass
• Hollywood Hills
  • Beachwood Canyon
  • Hollywood Heights
  • Laurel Canyon
  • Mount Olympus
  • Nichols Canyon
  • Outpost Estates
  • Sunset Hills
  • Whitley Heights
• East Hollywood
  • Little Armenia
  • Thai Town
  • Virgil Village
• Melrose District
• Melrose Hill
• Sierra Vista
• Spaulding Square
• Yucca Corridor.

Government[link]

Fire services[link]

Los Angeles Fire Department operates four fire stations – Station 27, 41, 52, and 82 – in the area.

Fire Station 27

County representation[link]

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Hollywood-Wilshire Health Center in Hollywood.^[53]

Federal representation[link]

The United States Postal Service operates the Hollywood Post Office,^[54] the Hollywood Pavilion Post Office,^[55] and the Sunset Post Office.^[56]

Demographics[link]

As of the 2000 census, there were 210,777 people residing in the Community Plan Area of Hollywood. The population density was 8,443 people per square mile (3,261/km²). The racial makeup of the community was 59.84% White (47.27% White Non-Hispanic), 9.44% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 4.28% Black, 0.62% Native American, 19.10% from other races, and 6.59% from two or more races. 34.51% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 49.63% of the population was foreign born; of this, 46.24% came from Latin America, 32.73% from Asia, 17.80% from Europe and 3.23% from other parts of the world.^[57]

Education[link]

Hollywood High School

Students who live in Hollywood are zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The area is within Board District 4.^[58] As of 2008 Marlene Canter represents the district.^[59] Canter announced that she will not seek re-election after her term expires in June 2009.^[60]

Elementary schools:

• Cheremoya Elementary School
• Vineyard Street Elementary School
• Ramona Elementary School
• Gardner Elementary School
• Valley View Elementary School
• Grant Elementary School
• Selma Ave. Elementary School

Middle schools:

• Le Conte Middle School
• Bancroft Middle School

Hollywood High School and Helen Bernstein High School are public high schools in the Hollywood area.

Christ the King Elementary School is a private school in the area.

For many years, the motion picture Industry had its own private Industry-run institution for child actors, the Hollywood Professional School (1935-1984).

Public libraries[link]

The Will and Ariel Durant Branch and the Frances Howard Goldwyn – Hollywood Regional Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library are in Hollywood.

Landmarks[link]

The Hollywood Bowl, on opening night in 2005

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium

• Barnsdall Art Park
• Capitol Records Tower
• CBS Columbia Square
• Charlie Chaplin Studios
• Cinerama Dome
• Crossroads of the World
• Dolby Theatre
• Earl Carroll Theatre (currently Nickelodeon on Sunset)
• El Capitan Theatre
• Frederick's of Hollywood
• Gibson Amphitheatre
• Gower Gulch
• Grauman's Chinese Theatre
• Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
• Guitar Center
• Hollywood & Western Building
• Hollywood and Highland Center
• Hollywood and Vine
• Hollywood Bowl
• Hollywood Forever Cemetery
• Hollywood Heritage Museum
• Hollywood High School
• Hollywood Palladium
• Hollywood Masonic Temple
• Hollywood Sign
• Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Hollywood Wax Museum
• KCBS-TV
• KCET
• Knickerbocker Hotel
• KTLA
• Pantages Theatre
• Paramount Pictures
• Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium
• Rock 'n' Roll Ralphs
• Roosevelt Hotel
• Runyon Canyon Park
• Sunset Gower Studios
• Sunset Strip
• The Laugh Factory
• The Magic Castle
• The Prospect Studios
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
• Whitley Heights

Special events[link]

Crossroads of the World

• The Academy Awards are held in late February/early March (since 2004) of each year, honoring the preceding year in film. Prior to 2004, they were held in late March/early April. Since 2002, the Oscars have been held at their new home at the Kodak Theater at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
• CINECON Classic Film Festival & Exposition (Annual timing is five days—connected to Labor Day weekend) Classic film memorabilia, expert presentations, author signings, and movie screenings with celebrity guests.
• The annual Hollywood Christmas Parade: The 2006 parade on Nov. 26 was the 75th edition of the Christmas Parade. The parade goes down Hollywood Boulevard and is broadcast in the LA area on KTLA, and around the United States on Tribune-owned stations and the WGN superstation.^[61]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also[link]

Los Angeles portal

• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
• 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike
• Cinema of the United States
• Hollywood cerise
• Hollywood Pictures
• Hollywood Principle
• Hollywood Subway
• Hollywood Walk of Fame
• History of cinema
• List of Hollywood novels
• List of movie-related topics
• List of movies set in Los Angeles
• List of television shows set in Los Angeles
• West Hollywood, California

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hollywood

• Hollywood at the Open Directory Project
• AboutHollywood.com – Top Hollywood Area Resource

Coordinates: 34°06′N 118°20′W / 34.1°N 118.333°W / 34.1; -118.333

	Laurel Canyon	Cahuenga Pass - Hollywood Hills - Hollywood Sign	Los Feliz	v t e
	West Hollywood	Hollywood [1]	East Hollywood & Virgil Village - Silver Lake
	Melrose	Hancock Park	Wilshire, Los Angeles

v t e Greater Hollywood Districts and neighborhoods Beachwood Canyon Cahuenga Pass East Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Dell Hollywood Heights Hollywood Hills Laurel Canyon Little Armenia Melrose District Melrose Hill Nichols Canyon Outpost Estates Spaulding Square Sunset Hills Thai Town Virgil Village Whitley Heights Yucca Corridor Points of interest Dolby Theatre Griffith Park Grauman's Chinese Theatre Hollywood and Highland Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Sign Walk of Fame See also Beverly Hills Los Feliz West Hollywood Downtown Eastside/Northeast Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Northwest of Downtown San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys South Los Angeles Westside Wilshire

v t e City of Los Angeles Topics History Transportation Culture Landmarks Historic sites Skyscrapers Demographics Crime Sports Media Music Notable people Lists Government Flag Mayors City Council Other elected officials Airport DWP Fire Department Police Public schools Libraries Port Transportation Regions Downtown Eastside/Northeast Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Areas north and west of downtown San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys South Los Angeles Westside Wilshire

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009
Born	Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 49) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active	1988–present
Notable work(s)	Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds
Influenced by	Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, Elmore Leonard, Samuel Fuller, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Sam Peckinpah, Jack Hill, Douglas Sirk, Jean-Pierre Melville, Enzo G. Castellari, Sergio Corbucci[1]

Quentin Jerome Tarantino^[2] (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

Early life[link]

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse.^[3] Tarantino's father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry.^[4][5][6] He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth.^[7] When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes.^[7] He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.^[8] Quentin grew bored with the James Best Acting School and quit after two years, although he made a point of keeping in touch with all his acting friends. Then he landed a job which threatened to interfere with his long-term acting ambitions. ^[9]

As an employee of the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach, he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career.^[10] Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"^[4]

Film career[link]

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.^[11]

Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well.^[12] Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Although Kill Bill was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films,^[13] but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Tarantino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.)^[14] and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds is the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008.^[15] The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews^[16] and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide.^[17] It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.^[18]

In 2011, production began on Django Unchained, about the revenge of a slave on his former master. The film stemmed from Tarantino's desire to produce a spaghetti western set in America's Deep South; Tarantino has called the proposed style "a southern",^[19] stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".^[19] Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.^[20] Agency William Morris Endeavor reported Christoph Waltz was cast to play a German bounty hunter,^[21] with Stacey Sher, Pilar Savone, and Reginald Hudlin producing. Although Will Smith and Idris Elba were heavily rumored to be up for the title role, Jamie Foxx has since been confirmed to play Django.^[22] Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, a house slave. Leonardo DiCaprio has also been officially cast in the role of Calvin Candie, the primary antagonist in the film. Kevin Costner had been cast as Ace Woody, a "vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner (DiCaprio)" before he later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and has been replaced by Kurt Russell.^[23] Kerry Washington has been cast as Broomhilda, the "long-suffering slave wife of Django."^[24] Other cast members include Dennis Christopher as Candie family lawyer Leonide 'Leo' Moguy, Laura Cayouette as Candie's sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, M.C. Gainey and Tom Savini as Big John and Ellis Brittle, two of the slave owners who separate Django and Broomhilda, Anthony LaPaglia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Australian brothers, Jano and an unnamed character, respectively,^[25] who encounter Django while escorting slaves to a fight.^[26][27] However, Gordon-Levitt has not fully committed to the film, due to possible scheduling issues,^{[28][29][30][31]} and Gerald McRaney and Michael K. Williams in unknown roles. Tarantino-collaborator RZA was cast as a slave named Thadeus. According to ReservoirWatchDogs.com, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the role as gambler Scotty Harmony who wishes to purchase Django's wife from Calvin Candie.^[32] Reportedly, Tarantino is also interested in including Lady Gaga in the film to some degree.^[33] The film is said to be inspired by the 1966 film Django, directed by Sergio Corbucci. James Remar is also involved in the film. The film is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2012.