When Midnight Cowboy came out in 1969, Miami Herald critic John Huddy heralded its arrival with a string of superlatives: “Staggering, shattering, heartbreaking, hilarious, tragic, raw and absurd.”
Over the years, the ranks of its admirers has only grown, among them documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski.
“I remember feeling that it was a really radical film,” recalls Buirski, who first saw Midnight Cowboy sometime after its original release. “It felt different from anything I had seen… It was like a gut punch.”
Director Nancy Buirski
Buirski’s documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, now playing in limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Detroit and other cities, digs into the loam that produced such a bleak yet beautiful flower of a film. Midnight Cowboy hit theaters the same year as Hello, Dolly! and Paint Your Wagon but unlike those celluloid larks, John Schlesinger’s film...
Over the years, the ranks of its admirers has only grown, among them documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski.
“I remember feeling that it was a really radical film,” recalls Buirski, who first saw Midnight Cowboy sometime after its original release. “It felt different from anything I had seen… It was like a gut punch.”
Director Nancy Buirski
Buirski’s documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, now playing in limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Detroit and other cities, digs into the loam that produced such a bleak yet beautiful flower of a film. Midnight Cowboy hit theaters the same year as Hello, Dolly! and Paint Your Wagon but unlike those celluloid larks, John Schlesinger’s film...
- 6/30/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
It's common practice for actors to double as producers on their star vehicles. Sometimes a film needs the backing of a star to get made or the actor just wants to make sure their passion project goes right. The downside to this is that if the film fails, then the blowback on the actor is all the worse. Henry Fonda learned this lesson on the sole film he produced, and the experience is why he never did so again. That film was none other than "12 Angry Men."
A classic courtroom drama and the feature debut of director Sidney Lumet, "12 Angry Men" features jurors weighing the fate of a boy accused of killing his father. Fonda, the lone movie star among a sea of character actors, plays Juror #8, the only one unconvinced of the defendant's guilt. The drama of the film comes from him trying to sway 11 other men's minds.
A classic courtroom drama and the feature debut of director Sidney Lumet, "12 Angry Men" features jurors weighing the fate of a boy accused of killing his father. Fonda, the lone movie star among a sea of character actors, plays Juror #8, the only one unconvinced of the defendant's guilt. The drama of the film comes from him trying to sway 11 other men's minds.
- 1/14/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
As with so many other organizations these past couple of years, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation had been unable to meet in person. But on Wednesday, the charity, which provides assistance to theater workers, gathered at the Beverly Hilton to honor producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson as pioneers of the year.
Presenting the award to the producers most famous for the James Bond franchise were Michelle Yeoh (“Tomorrow Never Dies”) and Daniel Craig, who starred as 007 in five of the films since 2006’s “Casino Royale.”
“They just give and give, quietly and generously,” Craig said of Broccoli and Wilson’s philanthropic work. “They are like giving first responders. They see a problem and march right in.”
Talking about their stewardship of the Bond franchise, he said, “They never shy away from taking that risky decision that will lift the film from mediocrity.”
Yeoh said she was...
Presenting the award to the producers most famous for the James Bond franchise were Michelle Yeoh (“Tomorrow Never Dies”) and Daniel Craig, who starred as 007 in five of the films since 2006’s “Casino Royale.”
“They just give and give, quietly and generously,” Craig said of Broccoli and Wilson’s philanthropic work. “They are like giving first responders. They see a problem and march right in.”
Talking about their stewardship of the Bond franchise, he said, “They never shy away from taking that risky decision that will lift the film from mediocrity.”
Yeoh said she was...
- 9/22/2022
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
Many of Sidney Lumet's movies have social themes. "Network" is an eerily prescient satire of corporate media and television as a vehicle for demagoguery. "Serpico" explores police corruption and the real-life assassination attempt on the incorruptible officer Frank Serpico. This political conscience goes right back to Lumet's debut, "12 Angry Men." This story about a hung jury in a murder trial isn't just a great ensemble drama, but a powerful testament to civic duty.
However, Lumet wasn't out to make a statement when directing "12 Angry Men," he was just trying to prove himself. The film's producers took a chance on Lumet, who had only theater and television credits to his name at the time, and he wasn't about to let them down and blow his big break in the process.
Lumet's Big Break
Interviewed by Marc Levin for the Director's Guild of America, Lumet recalled how he got...
However, Lumet wasn't out to make a statement when directing "12 Angry Men," he was just trying to prove himself. The film's producers took a chance on Lumet, who had only theater and television credits to his name at the time, and he wasn't about to let them down and blow his big break in the process.
Lumet's Big Break
Interviewed by Marc Levin for the Director's Guild of America, Lumet recalled how he got...
- 8/20/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
One of the more unlikely stage-and-screen box office smashes in musical history, “Fiddler on the Roof” — based on stories of shtetl life in Tsarist Russia by Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, and turned by writer Joseph Stein, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and composer Jerry Bock into a song-filled saga about a poor milkman with five unmarried daughters and an aversion to change — defied conventional wisdom about whose stories could be universal.
It helps, of course, when your score is a treasure trove: “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “To Life,” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are all-timers.
We’ve already gotten one adoring film about the original Broadway show’s legacy, 2019’s “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles,” and now we have a second: Daniel Raim’s warm, engaging “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.” As its title makes clear, the documentary is about the beloved movie version directed by Norman Jewison,...
It helps, of course, when your score is a treasure trove: “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “To Life,” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are all-timers.
We’ve already gotten one adoring film about the original Broadway show’s legacy, 2019’s “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles,” and now we have a second: Daniel Raim’s warm, engaging “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.” As its title makes clear, the documentary is about the beloved movie version directed by Norman Jewison,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
David Zaslav, who is famously gregarious and high-energy, has been oddly quiet lately with an absence of media interviews or social events on his schedule. Even his regular booth at the Polo Lounge has been somnolent.
That’s about to change: Zaslav arrived back in Hollywood yesterday and the industry has been forcefully reminded that “the deal” is real.
As federal regulators and other random bureaucrats remove their barriers, the long-awaited entity called Warner Bros. Discovery becomes a functioning reality in four short weeks.
There are high expectations of imminent moves that will impact the power structures spanning television, movies and news.
For over a year the managements of Warner Bros, CNN, HBO and beyond have labored in a bureaucratic cloud, with executives implementing policies they knew were likely evanescent.
So now starts the guessing game. Who will be anointed to fill the $43 billion power vacuum? Barred from occupying offices...
That’s about to change: Zaslav arrived back in Hollywood yesterday and the industry has been forcefully reminded that “the deal” is real.
As federal regulators and other random bureaucrats remove their barriers, the long-awaited entity called Warner Bros. Discovery becomes a functioning reality in four short weeks.
There are high expectations of imminent moves that will impact the power structures spanning television, movies and news.
For over a year the managements of Warner Bros, CNN, HBO and beyond have labored in a bureaucratic cloud, with executives implementing policies they knew were likely evanescent.
So now starts the guessing game. Who will be anointed to fill the $43 billion power vacuum? Barred from occupying offices...
- 2/17/2022
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Marcia Nasatir, a trailblazing female executive and producer who elbowed her way into a male-dominated Hollywood, shattering conventions and an important glass ceiling in the process, died on Tuesday morning. She was 95.
In a career of firsts, Nasatir worked for United Artists, Orion Pictures and Carson Productions, while producing the likes of “The Big Chill” and “Vertical Limit.” In 1974, she became the first female vice president of production at a major Hollywood studio when she was tapped for the job at U.A. It was a heady time to be at the studio, which had developed a reputation for backing edgy, filmmaker-friendly fare. In her post, Nasatir helped develop such movie classics as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Carrie,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Rocky.”
“It was called ‘having a career’ back then, not ‘going to work,'” Nasatir said in a 2018 interview with the San Antonio Current. “I was fortunate.
In a career of firsts, Nasatir worked for United Artists, Orion Pictures and Carson Productions, while producing the likes of “The Big Chill” and “Vertical Limit.” In 1974, she became the first female vice president of production at a major Hollywood studio when she was tapped for the job at U.A. It was a heady time to be at the studio, which had developed a reputation for backing edgy, filmmaker-friendly fare. In her post, Nasatir helped develop such movie classics as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Carrie,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Rocky.”
“It was called ‘having a career’ back then, not ‘going to work,'” Nasatir said in a 2018 interview with the San Antonio Current. “I was fortunate.
- 8/3/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Cordial yet reserved, the man seated across from me seemed well cast as a CEO. We had just attended a board meeting as “outside” directors, and he was mulling the big question: “How much disruption and cost cutting can you apply to a company, yet still keep it functional?”
With a shrug of resignation, he dug an envelope from his pocket. “The chairman told me this was a great problem-solver,” he said. Opening it, the scent announced weed; robust weed.
More about him later, but his question resonates today, as virtually every Hollywood company seems intent on restructuring itself. A scorecard is needed to understand the new reporting lines at Disney. WarnerMedia has fired respected figures like Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly, along with echelons of marketing mavens. The latter is all in keeping with Jason Kilar’s determination to build a “consumer mind-set,” but a “survival mind-set” seems more in demand.
With a shrug of resignation, he dug an envelope from his pocket. “The chairman told me this was a great problem-solver,” he said. Opening it, the scent announced weed; robust weed.
More about him later, but his question resonates today, as virtually every Hollywood company seems intent on restructuring itself. A scorecard is needed to understand the new reporting lines at Disney. WarnerMedia has fired respected figures like Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly, along with echelons of marketing mavens. The latter is all in keeping with Jason Kilar’s determination to build a “consumer mind-set,” but a “survival mind-set” seems more in demand.
- 11/27/2020
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Hollywood studio executive William Bernstein, a co-founder of Orion Pictures who also worked for United Artists and Paramount Pictures, died Wednesday. He was 87.
Longtime associate Mike Medavoy confirmed Bernstein’s death, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a brilliant guy, just very very smart,” Medavoy said.
Bernstein, Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow departed United Artists and launched Orion in 1978 as a mini-major that was the first significant new player in Hollywood in many decades. Medavoy credited Bernstein with conceiving the name of the studio. Bernstein explained the choice in a 1992 interview with the New York Times
“Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us, and it was the brightest constellation in February, when we were forming the company,” he told the newspaper. “Besides, it was simple to spell.”
Between 1984 and 1991, Orion released four films that won the Academy Award for best picture: “Amadeus,...
Longtime associate Mike Medavoy confirmed Bernstein’s death, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a brilliant guy, just very very smart,” Medavoy said.
Bernstein, Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow departed United Artists and launched Orion in 1978 as a mini-major that was the first significant new player in Hollywood in many decades. Medavoy credited Bernstein with conceiving the name of the studio. Bernstein explained the choice in a 1992 interview with the New York Times
“Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us, and it was the brightest constellation in February, when we were forming the company,” he told the newspaper. “Besides, it was simple to spell.”
Between 1984 and 1991, Orion released four films that won the Academy Award for best picture: “Amadeus,...
- 10/8/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
William “Bill” Bernstein, who spent six decades in the motion picture business, died today at age 87, according to his longtime friend, Jeff Frankel.
In 1978, Bernstein, along with four other executives from United Artists, including Arthur Krim, Eric Pleskow, Mike Medavoy and Robert Benjamin, departed United Artists to found Orion Pictures. Mr. Bernstein conceived of the name of the studio. In an interview with the New York Times in 1992, Mr. Bernstein was quoted as follows: “Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us…..”
Bernstein was an executive vice president during the time the company distributed such pictures as Amadeus”, “Platoon”, “Dances with Wolves” and “The Silence of the Lambs”, all of which won Academy Awards for Best Picture. Dances with Wolves won seven Academy Awards, and The Silence of the Lambs won all five major Academy Awards (a feat that has only occurred three times in history).
Born in the Bronx,...
In 1978, Bernstein, along with four other executives from United Artists, including Arthur Krim, Eric Pleskow, Mike Medavoy and Robert Benjamin, departed United Artists to found Orion Pictures. Mr. Bernstein conceived of the name of the studio. In an interview with the New York Times in 1992, Mr. Bernstein was quoted as follows: “Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us…..”
Bernstein was an executive vice president during the time the company distributed such pictures as Amadeus”, “Platoon”, “Dances with Wolves” and “The Silence of the Lambs”, all of which won Academy Awards for Best Picture. Dances with Wolves won seven Academy Awards, and The Silence of the Lambs won all five major Academy Awards (a feat that has only occurred three times in history).
Born in the Bronx,...
- 10/8/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
William Bernstein, the longtime studio executive who exited United Artists with four others to launch Orion Pictures in 1978, then spent a decade at Paramount Pictures, died Thursday at his Bel Air home of Parkinson’s disease, a family spokesman said. He was 87.
Along with Mike Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow, Bernstein departed UA, which had been sold to Transamerica in 1967, to form Orion, the first new major player in Hollywood since the 1930s.
It was Bernstein who came up with the name of the studio; he once told The New York Times, “Orion is the ...
Along with Mike Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow, Bernstein departed UA, which had been sold to Transamerica in 1967, to form Orion, the first new major player in Hollywood since the 1930s.
It was Bernstein who came up with the name of the studio; he once told The New York Times, “Orion is the ...
- 10/8/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
William Bernstein, the longtime studio executive who exited United Artists with four others to launch Orion Pictures in 1978, then spent a decade at Paramount Pictures, died Thursday, a family spokesman said. He was 87.
Along with Mike Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow, Bernstein departed UA, which had been sold to Transamerica in 1967, to form Orion, the first new major player in Hollywood since the 1930s.
It was Bernstein who came up with the name of the studio; he once told The New York Times, “Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us....
Along with Mike Medavoy, Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin and Eric Pleskow, Bernstein departed UA, which had been sold to Transamerica in 1967, to form Orion, the first new major player in Hollywood since the 1930s.
It was Bernstein who came up with the name of the studio; he once told The New York Times, “Orion is the largest constellation; it has five stars, just like us....
- 10/8/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MGM is re-launching its Orion Pictures as a mean to amplify underserved voices and has hired veteran executive Alana Mayo as president of the label.
The studio announced Thursday that Orion will concentrate exclusively on underrepresented voices and authentic storytelling in film with a focus on developing, producing and acquiring feature films that amplify underserved voices, both in front of and behind the camera.
Current Orion president John Hegeman will be stepping down along with his team in early October, after the release of “Bill and Ted Face the Music.” The announcement was made jointly by Michael De Luca, MGM’s Film Group Chairman and Pam Abdy, MGM’s Film Group President.
“We are at an exciting and critical tipping point in our industry. For years many filmmakers and creators who have been considered and treated as outsiders have nonetheless persisted in creating visionary films that drew audiences across the globe and defined culture,...
The studio announced Thursday that Orion will concentrate exclusively on underrepresented voices and authentic storytelling in film with a focus on developing, producing and acquiring feature films that amplify underserved voices, both in front of and behind the camera.
Current Orion president John Hegeman will be stepping down along with his team in early October, after the release of “Bill and Ted Face the Music.” The announcement was made jointly by Michael De Luca, MGM’s Film Group Chairman and Pam Abdy, MGM’s Film Group President.
“We are at an exciting and critical tipping point in our industry. For years many filmmakers and creators who have been considered and treated as outsiders have nonetheless persisted in creating visionary films that drew audiences across the globe and defined culture,...
- 8/20/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Director Mike Nichols, late husband of Diane Sawyer, was never too far from celebrities — including, according to a new book, once watching Marilyn Monroe in dishabille during a particularly memorable moment with President John F. Kennedy.
In Life isn't everything: Mike Nichols, as remembered by 150 of his closest friends, a new oral history of the filmmaker behind The Graduate, Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl and other hits, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd remembers when Nichols saw Monroe croon “happy birthday” to Kennedy … while she wasn’t wearing underwear.
“When Marilyn sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jack Kennedy in the famous dress...
In Life isn't everything: Mike Nichols, as remembered by 150 of his closest friends, a new oral history of the filmmaker behind The Graduate, Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl and other hits, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd remembers when Nichols saw Monroe croon “happy birthday” to Kennedy … while she wasn’t wearing underwear.
“When Marilyn sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jack Kennedy in the famous dress...
- 11/13/2019
- by Sam Gillette
- PEOPLE.com
In the century since its founding in 1919, United Artists has made and distributed hundreds of films and pioneered business models — such as UA Classics — that continue to resonate in the entertainment industry.
From the founders to the period between the early ’50s through the late ’60s when Arthur Krim and Bob Benjamin ran the company, to the ’70s when David Picker called the shots, there was a simple focus and philosophy.
“Movies that were successful were guided by very successful producers that worked with the top directors,” says Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics and
a former executive at UA Classics and Orion Classics. “It’s really the philosophy and mission
of United Artists.”
That philosophy led to films such as “High Noon,” “West Side Story,” “Some Like It Hot,”
“Carrie,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Rocky,” “Raging Bull” and “The Birdcage,” and the indie film biz
of today can...
From the founders to the period between the early ’50s through the late ’60s when Arthur Krim and Bob Benjamin ran the company, to the ’70s when David Picker called the shots, there was a simple focus and philosophy.
“Movies that were successful were guided by very successful producers that worked with the top directors,” says Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics and
a former executive at UA Classics and Orion Classics. “It’s really the philosophy and mission
of United Artists.”
That philosophy led to films such as “High Noon,” “West Side Story,” “Some Like It Hot,”
“Carrie,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Rocky,” “Raging Bull” and “The Birdcage,” and the indie film biz
of today can...
- 10/4/2019
- by Paul Plunkett
- Variety Film + TV
Eric Pleskow, who was a key management player in United Artists and Orion Pictures over a 30-year period and was involved in the production of 14 Oscar best-picture winners, including “West Side Story,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Platoon” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” died on Tuesday. He was 95.
The Vienna International Film Festival annouced his death.
“His death is a great loss for all of us,” the festival said in a statement. “Eric had a fulfilled and long life and we appreciated him as a longtime friend and companion of our festival. As president and patron of the Viennale, he has always carried us with his humor and foresight.”
The Viennese-born executive rose through the ranks at UA under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin and eventually became president and CEO at Orion Pictures, a motion picture company formed by Pleskow, Krim,...
The Vienna International Film Festival annouced his death.
“His death is a great loss for all of us,” the festival said in a statement. “Eric had a fulfilled and long life and we appreciated him as a longtime friend and companion of our festival. As president and patron of the Viennale, he has always carried us with his humor and foresight.”
The Viennese-born executive rose through the ranks at UA under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin and eventually became president and CEO at Orion Pictures, a motion picture company formed by Pleskow, Krim,...
- 10/1/2019
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
In January 2013, Martin Scorsese assembled the cast of his projected next movie, titled The Irishman, for a read-through of the shooting script. Their names — De Niro, Pacino and Pesci – did not resonate as “Irish.” Moreover, the actors, all in their 70s, would play ages 30 to 80 with the help of newly developed technology. The movie would likely be the most expensive non-superhero movie of the year — that is, if it found financing.
And that, the cast knew, was largely in the hands of producer Irwin Winkler, whose recent adventures in funding pictures had been more suspenseful than the plots of his films. Since Winkler has been defying the odds for some 50 years, it’s no surprise that The Irishman will finally get its release this fall, albeit seven years after the reading. The final cost is rumored to approach $140 million, due to its multiple locations set in different periods – a total...
And that, the cast knew, was largely in the hands of producer Irwin Winkler, whose recent adventures in funding pictures had been more suspenseful than the plots of his films. Since Winkler has been defying the odds for some 50 years, it’s no surprise that The Irishman will finally get its release this fall, albeit seven years after the reading. The final cost is rumored to approach $140 million, due to its multiple locations set in different periods – a total...
- 4/25/2019
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
David Picker and his wife Sandy at a book party for release of his memoirs in Beverly Hills, 2013.
By Lee Pfeiffer
David V. Picker, whose tenure at major film studios and as an independent producer, made him a legend in the film industry, has died from colon cancer in New York at age 87. The Picker family lived and breathed movies and in the 1950s they ran United Artists under the leadership of Arthur Krim. Under Krim and the Pickers, UA entered a "Golden Age" of achievements. David, who was named head of production at an early age, showed an uncanny ability to attract top talent and produce films that were popular and critical successes. He was ultimately named President and COO of the company. During his tenure, UA brought to the screen films that were diverse in content including "West Side Story", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Great Escape", "In the Heat of the Night...
By Lee Pfeiffer
David V. Picker, whose tenure at major film studios and as an independent producer, made him a legend in the film industry, has died from colon cancer in New York at age 87. The Picker family lived and breathed movies and in the 1950s they ran United Artists under the leadership of Arthur Krim. Under Krim and the Pickers, UA entered a "Golden Age" of achievements. David, who was named head of production at an early age, showed an uncanny ability to attract top talent and produce films that were popular and critical successes. He was ultimately named President and COO of the company. During his tenure, UA brought to the screen films that were diverse in content including "West Side Story", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Great Escape", "In the Heat of the Night...
- 4/23/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Image Source: Getty / Baron
Marilyn Monroe was one of the most glamorous and sought-after stars of her time. John F. Kennedy was, well, the president of the United States. After Marilyn performed a steamy rendition of "Happy Birthday" at the commander-in-chief's 45th birthday party in May 1962, rumors of an affair were propelled - and those rumors have persisted throughout history, even though details of an ongoing relationship between the two are actually pretty scarce.
Related: Marilyn Monroe Was Linked to Lots of Men, but These Are the Lucky Few Who Won Her Heart
The first time Marilyn and JFK were confirmed to have been at the same place at the same time was at the April in Paris Ball on April 11, 1957, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC; Marilyn was there with her then-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, while John attended with his wife, Jackie, and his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Both...
Marilyn Monroe was one of the most glamorous and sought-after stars of her time. John F. Kennedy was, well, the president of the United States. After Marilyn performed a steamy rendition of "Happy Birthday" at the commander-in-chief's 45th birthday party in May 1962, rumors of an affair were propelled - and those rumors have persisted throughout history, even though details of an ongoing relationship between the two are actually pretty scarce.
Related: Marilyn Monroe Was Linked to Lots of Men, but These Are the Lucky Few Who Won Her Heart
The first time Marilyn and JFK were confirmed to have been at the same place at the same time was at the April in Paris Ball on April 11, 1957, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC; Marilyn was there with her then-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, while John attended with his wife, Jackie, and his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Both...
- 8/29/2018
- by Britt Stephens
- Popsugar.com
<!--[Cdata[
In 1974, less than a decade into the institute's existence, Mathilde Krim, the wife of United Artists head Arthur Krim and future co-founder of amfAR, wrote a letter to AFI founding director George Stevens Jr. asking a simple question: "Why are there no women directors?"
"Not only did she have the idea [for the Directing Workshop for Women], she got the money for it [from the Rockefeller Foundation]," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, who served as AFI's CEO and director from 1980 to 2007. The inaugural class launched with a student body made up of mostly famous actresses who wanted...
In 1974, less than a decade into the institute's existence, Mathilde Krim, the wife of United Artists head Arthur Krim and future co-founder of amfAR, wrote a letter to AFI founding director George Stevens Jr. asking a simple question: "Why are there no women directors?"
"Not only did she have the idea [for the Directing Workshop for Women], she got the money for it [from the Rockefeller Foundation]," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, who served as AFI's CEO and director from 1980 to 2007. The inaugural class launched with a student body made up of mostly famous actresses who wanted...
- 10/6/2017
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nobody owns Oliver Stone. I’ve talked with this filmmaker for decades, and he’s consistent to a fault. The Oscar-winning writer-director (“Platoon,” “JFK,” “Wall Street”) has always gone his own way. If there’s an impediment, he’ll find a way around it. Hell, he’ll even con the El Salvador government to give him army soldiers for a movie critical of El Salvador.
Which is one reason why Stone met with Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow, not once, or twice, but nine times. Stone will tell you: You can’t trust the United States government. You can’t trust the Nsa, CIA, or FBI. You can’t trust the Hollywood studios, because those are corporations run by lawyers. And you certainly can’t trust the media.
Related‘Snowden’ Trailer: Oliver Stone And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Take Down The Nsa
So who does he trust? His wife and kids.
Which is one reason why Stone met with Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow, not once, or twice, but nine times. Stone will tell you: You can’t trust the United States government. You can’t trust the Nsa, CIA, or FBI. You can’t trust the Hollywood studios, because those are corporations run by lawyers. And you certainly can’t trust the media.
Related‘Snowden’ Trailer: Oliver Stone And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Take Down The Nsa
So who does he trust? His wife and kids.
- 9/9/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Nobody owns Oliver Stone. I’ve talked with this filmmaker for decades, and he’s consistent to a fault. The Oscar-winning writer-director (“Platoon,” “JFK,” “Wall Street”) has always gone his own way. If there’s an impediment, he’ll find a way around it. Hell, he’ll even con the El Salvador government to give him army soldiers for a movie critical of El Salvador.
Which is one reason why Stone met with Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow, not once, or twice, but nine times. Stone will tell you: You can’t trust the United States government. You can’t trust the Nsa, CIA, or FBI. You can’t trust the Hollywood studios, because those are corporations run by lawyers. And you certainly can’t trust the media.
Related‘Snowden’ Trailer: Oliver Stone And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Take Down The Nsa
So who does he trust? His wife and kids.
Which is one reason why Stone met with Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow, not once, or twice, but nine times. Stone will tell you: You can’t trust the United States government. You can’t trust the Nsa, CIA, or FBI. You can’t trust the Hollywood studios, because those are corporations run by lawyers. And you certainly can’t trust the media.
Related‘Snowden’ Trailer: Oliver Stone And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Take Down The Nsa
So who does he trust? His wife and kids.
- 9/9/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Orion, the precursor to Sony Pictures Classics, has taken on new life. When MGM bought the label in 1996 after its declared bankruptcy in 1991 was over, it waited until 2013 when it once again used the name Orion as a tv brand for “Paternity Court”, the syndicated court show. Now, as reported by Variety, September 11, 2014, “MGM intends to use the venerable indie name Orion as a brand for smaller releases, both domestically and internationally, on VOD and limited theatrical.”
See Orion Pictures Label Returns for First Time in 15 Years
Variety recalls Orion as the distributor of ‘80s and ‘90s independent hits such as “RoboCop,” “The Terminator” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”
I remember Orion Classic’s Donna Gigliotti, my counterpart when I was at Lorimar and her two colleagues, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, now of Sony Pictures Classics. Together we bought Working Title and Channel Four’s “My Beautiful Laundrette” in 1985 and “End of the Line” together and briefly thought we would do Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of Spaulding Grey’s “Swimming to Cambodia” together with producer and now-professor of film at Nyu, Peter Newman. Some drama with Donna pouring her white wine over Peter as the film went to Cinecom where now-Columbia Film School’s Chairman, Ira Deutchman, exec produced it at while at Cinecom. It was Ira who gave me a pirated version of Q&A, the first database which I turned into FilmFinders, my company of 25 years until bought and buried by IMDb in 2008.
But most of all I remember Orion’s principals and founders Arthur Krim, Orion's board chairman; Eric Pleskow, president and chief executive officer; William Bernstein and Mike Medavoy who were the most wonderful men in the business. Smart and well educated men with a respect that touched me deeply and led me gently into the business.
In 1982 they acquired the almost equally well-loved Filmways after investment banking firms of Wertheim and Company and Bear, Stearns and Company chose them as the top contenders for the troubled Filmways. At that time, in 1982, Orion’s own movies were not doing so well either.
Orion had been formed in the spring of 1978 by the former top management team at United Artists, which had left in a dispute with Transamerica, the insurance company parent of United Artists. Orion had been releasing its films through Warner Brothers but was eager to acquire a distribution network of its own. Filmways had the nation's seventh-largest film distribution network, with 16 branch offices in the United States. (The other six were the major studios.) New York Times reported extensively about this in 1982 and as I was getting my sea legs on this ship of fools we call the film business, this was the most important news of the day.
And now Orion is making its first theatrical appearance in 15 years with
“The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” a horror movie from “American Horror Story” director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. A recently released trailer of the film features the Orion label, its first appearance since 1999’s “One Man’s Hero.” “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” is the second recent production to carry the Orion label, following Brazilian film “Vestido Pra Casar” which is to go out theatrically later this year. “Town” will also be released under the Bh Tilt label, a recently-created multiplatform expansion from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Blumhouse’s international sales are handled by Stuart Ford’s Im Global.
MGM’s Orion Releasing is also releasing Mark Platt’s production, “ We’ll Never Have Paris”, which is being represented internationally by K5 (“The Visitor”) and distributed in Benelux by Cdc United Network, in the Middle East by Falcon, and in the U.K. by Metrodome Distribution.
As a postscript, I want to say that I still love this crazy business. Plus ça change, plus c’est la mĕme chose.
.
See Orion Pictures Label Returns for First Time in 15 Years
Variety recalls Orion as the distributor of ‘80s and ‘90s independent hits such as “RoboCop,” “The Terminator” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”
I remember Orion Classic’s Donna Gigliotti, my counterpart when I was at Lorimar and her two colleagues, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, now of Sony Pictures Classics. Together we bought Working Title and Channel Four’s “My Beautiful Laundrette” in 1985 and “End of the Line” together and briefly thought we would do Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of Spaulding Grey’s “Swimming to Cambodia” together with producer and now-professor of film at Nyu, Peter Newman. Some drama with Donna pouring her white wine over Peter as the film went to Cinecom where now-Columbia Film School’s Chairman, Ira Deutchman, exec produced it at while at Cinecom. It was Ira who gave me a pirated version of Q&A, the first database which I turned into FilmFinders, my company of 25 years until bought and buried by IMDb in 2008.
But most of all I remember Orion’s principals and founders Arthur Krim, Orion's board chairman; Eric Pleskow, president and chief executive officer; William Bernstein and Mike Medavoy who were the most wonderful men in the business. Smart and well educated men with a respect that touched me deeply and led me gently into the business.
In 1982 they acquired the almost equally well-loved Filmways after investment banking firms of Wertheim and Company and Bear, Stearns and Company chose them as the top contenders for the troubled Filmways. At that time, in 1982, Orion’s own movies were not doing so well either.
Orion had been formed in the spring of 1978 by the former top management team at United Artists, which had left in a dispute with Transamerica, the insurance company parent of United Artists. Orion had been releasing its films through Warner Brothers but was eager to acquire a distribution network of its own. Filmways had the nation's seventh-largest film distribution network, with 16 branch offices in the United States. (The other six were the major studios.) New York Times reported extensively about this in 1982 and as I was getting my sea legs on this ship of fools we call the film business, this was the most important news of the day.
And now Orion is making its first theatrical appearance in 15 years with
“The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” a horror movie from “American Horror Story” director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. A recently released trailer of the film features the Orion label, its first appearance since 1999’s “One Man’s Hero.” “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” is the second recent production to carry the Orion label, following Brazilian film “Vestido Pra Casar” which is to go out theatrically later this year. “Town” will also be released under the Bh Tilt label, a recently-created multiplatform expansion from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Blumhouse’s international sales are handled by Stuart Ford’s Im Global.
MGM’s Orion Releasing is also releasing Mark Platt’s production, “ We’ll Never Have Paris”, which is being represented internationally by K5 (“The Visitor”) and distributed in Benelux by Cdc United Network, in the Middle East by Falcon, and in the U.K. by Metrodome Distribution.
As a postscript, I want to say that I still love this crazy business. Plus ça change, plus c’est la mĕme chose.
.
- 10/21/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this occasional column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business.
Fleming: I found it interesting that audiences turned up their noses at A Walk Among The Tombstones, a thriller that had what should have been all you need for a hit — Liam Neeson on a one-sheet, holding a gun. The filmmaker Scott Frank made a throwback to the ’70s films he grew up loving. The title didn’t help: didn’t it evoke memories of being dragged to the cemetery to pay posthumous respects to Grandpa? In my view, it got maligned unfairly by critic squeamishness over grisly scenes that weren’t there. Kenny Turan called it Eli Roth torture porn, though Roth told me last week the critic told him he’d never actually watched a Roth film.
Fleming: I found it interesting that audiences turned up their noses at A Walk Among The Tombstones, a thriller that had what should have been all you need for a hit — Liam Neeson on a one-sheet, holding a gun. The filmmaker Scott Frank made a throwback to the ’70s films he grew up loving. The title didn’t help: didn’t it evoke memories of being dragged to the cemetery to pay posthumous respects to Grandpa? In my view, it got maligned unfairly by critic squeamishness over grisly scenes that weren’t there. Kenny Turan called it Eli Roth torture porn, though Roth told me last week the critic told him he’d never actually watched a Roth film.
- 9/28/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
Thirty years ago, a killing machine from 2029—assuming the form of an Austrian bodybuilder—arrived with a lethal directive to alter the future. That he certainly did. The Terminator, made for $6.4 million by a couple of young disciples of B-movie king Roger Corman, became one of the defining sci-fi touchstones of all time. Its $38 million gross placed it outside of the top-20 box-office releases for 1984, yet the film grew into a phenomenon, spawning a five-picture franchise that’s taken in $1.4 billion to date and securing a place on the National Film Registry, which dubbed it “among the finest science-fiction films in many decades.
- 7/17/2014
- by Joe McGovern
- EW - Inside Movies
Giving an address at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina, filmmaker John Landis ("Coming to America," "Trading Places") talked at length about the modern movie business.
In a transcript up at THR, he let loose a huge amount of frustration and anger about how the business has changed. It's a lengthy speech, but it makes for an interesting read:
"Some of us were very lucky. I started to make movies for the studios in the '70s. They were dying, but at least they were still studios.
There are no original ideas. What there is -- and this is something no one understands -- is that it is never about the idea, it is about the execution of the idea. The film studios are all now subdivisions of huge multinational corporations.
Time Warner, British Petroleum, Sony -- these aren't companies, they are f*cking nations. They are these...
In a transcript up at THR, he let loose a huge amount of frustration and anger about how the business has changed. It's a lengthy speech, but it makes for an interesting read:
"Some of us were very lucky. I started to make movies for the studios in the '70s. They were dying, but at least they were still studios.
There are no original ideas. What there is -- and this is something no one understands -- is that it is never about the idea, it is about the execution of the idea. The film studios are all now subdivisions of huge multinational corporations.
Time Warner, British Petroleum, Sony -- these aren't companies, they are f*cking nations. They are these...
- 11/23/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
While speaking at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, director John Landis (Coming to America, Trading Places) spoke about the current state of the movie business, pointing out everything that he believes is wrong. "The studios are not in the movie business anymore," he said. "There are no original ideas. It's never about the idea, it is about the execution of the idea. The film studios are all now subdivisions of huge multinational corporations. Time Warner, British Petroleum, Sony -- these aren't companies, they are f*cking nations. They are these giant international things that don't pay taxes. It's ridiculous. They're like pirates. It really has to do with desperation, because they don't know how to get people into the theaters, so they bring back 3D and make all this kind of shit." He continued: "It's very common now to spend more money selling a movie than making a movie.
- 11/23/2013
- WorstPreviews.com
When given the opportunity to interview John Landis, I had to take it. After all, this is a man whose films I’ve grown up on (The Blues Brothers may very well be my most-watched movie of all time), so the idea of talking to him was pretty thrilling. Thankfully, it turns out that he’s a great conversationalist.
While we started off with his latest project, Burke and Hare, the discussion soon veered toward the creative state of Hollywood, as well as what he has planned next. There are many other places we could have gone, but I think that the ensuing talk was both informative and enlightening.
Without further ado:
How did this material get into your hands?
John Landis: I was visiting my friend, Gurinder Chadha, who is an English director. Do you know Gurinder?
I don’t know if I do.
You know a movie called Bend It Like Beckham?...
While we started off with his latest project, Burke and Hare, the discussion soon veered toward the creative state of Hollywood, as well as what he has planned next. There are many other places we could have gone, but I think that the ensuing talk was both informative and enlightening.
Without further ado:
How did this material get into your hands?
John Landis: I was visiting my friend, Gurinder Chadha, who is an English director. Do you know Gurinder?
I don’t know if I do.
You know a movie called Bend It Like Beckham?...
- 9/7/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
WASHINGTON -- Jack Valenti, the eloquent, high-level power broker who reigned as head of the MPAA for almost four decades and was responsible for the institution of the movie ratings system, has died. He was 85.
Valenti died Thursday evening at his home in Washington surrounded by family and friends. He had a stroke in late March, and had checked out of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday after about month there.
A diminutive Texan who used big words and wielded even bigger clout in the corridors of Hollywood and Washington, Valenti became one of the most powerful and respected men in Washington even as he defined a trade -- lobbyist -- that often has lacked respect. He joined the MPAA in 1966 and retired in 2004.
Upon learning of his death, the outpouring of respect for Valenti was tremendous.
Said Warner Bros. chairman & CEO Barry Meyer, a friend who served as the family spokesman when Valenti had his stroke: "Today, my heart is truly heavy. I have lost a dear friend and mentor -- someone who not only made a mark in history, but also had a profound impact on my life."
Meyer described Valenti as "a true leader and gentleman whose wit, fire and passion for our business inspired everyone regardless of politics or opinion, background or belief."
A private mass celebrating Valenti will be held in Washington, with the family to announce details in the coming days.
Valenti was a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson and living in the White House when he lured to Hollywood in 1966 by movie moguls Lew Wasserman and Arthur Krim. He was immediately embroiled in battles over the racy content in what was then a new way of making more realistic movies.
In an interview with the The Hollywood Reporter in 1998 to mark the 30th anniversary of the MPAA ratings system, Valenti recalled finding himself arguing with three of the most powerful men in Hollywood about Mike Nichols' 1966 movie, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
They weren't arguing the merits of the dramatic portrayal of the destructive, sadomasochistic relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They were arguing about "humps" and "screws."
Warner Bros. chairman Jack Warner, his right-hand man Ben Kalmenson, attorney Louis Nizer and the newly appointed MPAA chief were locked in battle over the "hump the hostess" line that Burton recites in the Edward Albee classic. Another point of contention: the word "screw."
Those bits of dialogue, violations of the Hays Production Code that had been in place since the 1930s, prevented the MPAA from affixing its seal of approval on the film, meaning the film could not be released.
Valenti died Thursday evening at his home in Washington surrounded by family and friends. He had a stroke in late March, and had checked out of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday after about month there.
A diminutive Texan who used big words and wielded even bigger clout in the corridors of Hollywood and Washington, Valenti became one of the most powerful and respected men in Washington even as he defined a trade -- lobbyist -- that often has lacked respect. He joined the MPAA in 1966 and retired in 2004.
Upon learning of his death, the outpouring of respect for Valenti was tremendous.
Said Warner Bros. chairman & CEO Barry Meyer, a friend who served as the family spokesman when Valenti had his stroke: "Today, my heart is truly heavy. I have lost a dear friend and mentor -- someone who not only made a mark in history, but also had a profound impact on my life."
Meyer described Valenti as "a true leader and gentleman whose wit, fire and passion for our business inspired everyone regardless of politics or opinion, background or belief."
A private mass celebrating Valenti will be held in Washington, with the family to announce details in the coming days.
Valenti was a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson and living in the White House when he lured to Hollywood in 1966 by movie moguls Lew Wasserman and Arthur Krim. He was immediately embroiled in battles over the racy content in what was then a new way of making more realistic movies.
In an interview with the The Hollywood Reporter in 1998 to mark the 30th anniversary of the MPAA ratings system, Valenti recalled finding himself arguing with three of the most powerful men in Hollywood about Mike Nichols' 1966 movie, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
They weren't arguing the merits of the dramatic portrayal of the destructive, sadomasochistic relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They were arguing about "humps" and "screws."
Warner Bros. chairman Jack Warner, his right-hand man Ben Kalmenson, attorney Louis Nizer and the newly appointed MPAA chief were locked in battle over the "hump the hostess" line that Burton recites in the Edward Albee classic. Another point of contention: the word "screw."
Those bits of dialogue, violations of the Hays Production Code that had been in place since the 1930s, prevented the MPAA from affixing its seal of approval on the film, meaning the film could not be released.
- 4/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film lobbyist Jack Valenti has died. He was 85. The former US presidential advisor passed away at his home in Washington, D.C., yesterday after suffering complications from a stroke last month. Valenti, who has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is widely credited as introducing the modern day film ratings system to the industry, and guiding Hollywood into the digital age. His close friend, director Steven Spielberg, paid tribute to the star for his contribution to the film industry, praising him as a "giant voice of reason" and hailing him as "the greatest ambassador Hollywood has ever known." Valenti served as an aide to former US president Lyndon B. Johnson for three years from 1963, before beginning a career as a film industry chief with the help of movie moguls Lew Wasserman and Arthur Krim. He is survived by his wife Mary, and their three children, Courtenay, John and Alexandra.
- 4/27/2007
- WENN
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.