What to expect from Cannes 2024? The global selection offers critics plenty to write about — after all, this is the festival d’auteurs. But this year’s edition may be light on the red carpet glitz that lures celebrities to the Côte d’Azur for eye-popping photo memes and offshore yacht revels. Remember Madonna’s 1991 pointy Gaultier bustier? Elizabeth Taylor holding her white dog as “Cliffhanger” star Sylvester Stallone climbed the steps to meet her at the top? Such viral moments are what Cannes director Thierry Fremaux dreams of.
High-octane stars expected to hit the Palais photo gauntlet include two-time Oscar-winner Emma Stone, who stars in all three stories in competition title “Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight), Yorgos Lanthimos’ edgy follow-up to $100-million grosser “Poor Things.” Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth will add some sizzle for out-of-competition prequel “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros.), George Miller’s rollercoaster return after 2015’s Oscar-winning “Mad Max: Fury Road.
High-octane stars expected to hit the Palais photo gauntlet include two-time Oscar-winner Emma Stone, who stars in all three stories in competition title “Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight), Yorgos Lanthimos’ edgy follow-up to $100-million grosser “Poor Things.” Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth will add some sizzle for out-of-competition prequel “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros.), George Miller’s rollercoaster return after 2015’s Oscar-winning “Mad Max: Fury Road.
- 5/10/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Seldom have actors in the history of Tinseltown left as much of an enduring legacy as Marlon Brando. The late actor’s legacy can still be felt in the film industry, thanks to his iconic roles in flicks like The Godfather and A Streetcar Named Desire. But one of his most elusive and challenging roles was in Francis Coppola’s 1979 epic war movie, Apocalypse Now.
Did we mention that this was the role that paved the way for one of the most enduring villains in recent superhero cinema?
Marlon Brando in The Godfather (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)
Josh Brolin brought Thanos to life in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in a way that had never been seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And according to the actor himself, his inspiration came from Brando’s portrayal in Apocalypse Now.
After all, Brando pushed the envelope with his portrayal of rebellious military officer Colonel Kurtz.
Did we mention that this was the role that paved the way for one of the most enduring villains in recent superhero cinema?
Marlon Brando in The Godfather (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)
Josh Brolin brought Thanos to life in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in a way that had never been seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And according to the actor himself, his inspiration came from Brando’s portrayal in Apocalypse Now.
After all, Brando pushed the envelope with his portrayal of rebellious military officer Colonel Kurtz.
- 5/2/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
We are sad to report that Eleanor Coppola, acclaimed documentary filmmaker and wife of Francis Ford Coppola, passed away on April 12, 2024, at the age of 87. She died in Rutherford, CA, surrounded by family at their home. No official cause of death has been given as of the time of writing. She is survived by her husband, Francis, as well as their three children, Gian-Carlo, Sofia, and Roman.
Eleanor was the matriarch of the Coppola family, and while she was mostly in the background, she had a profound influence on Francis’ filmmaking and was always there to support him, even in the most complex moments of his career. But, aside from that, she was a documentary filmmaker herself, an artist, and a writer.
She was born Eleanor Jessie Neil on May 4, 1936, in Los Angeles, California. Her father was a newspaper cartoonist who died when she was 10, so she and her brothers were raised by their mother,...
Eleanor was the matriarch of the Coppola family, and while she was mostly in the background, she had a profound influence on Francis’ filmmaking and was always there to support him, even in the most complex moments of his career. But, aside from that, she was a documentary filmmaker herself, an artist, and a writer.
She was born Eleanor Jessie Neil on May 4, 1936, in Los Angeles, California. Her father was a newspaper cartoonist who died when she was 10, so she and her brothers were raised by their mother,...
- 4/14/2024
- by Arthur S. Poe
- Fiction Horizon
To outsiders, Eleanor Coppola, who died Friday at age 87, presented as soft spoken and unassuming, yet as someone who always understood exactly what was going on. When I first met her she was playing the role of the perfect ’60s “hippie chick” who hung with young filmmakers, tolerated their ego trips but also had a keen sense of talent.
She herself had a degree in design from UCLA and had landed some good startup jobs when she met an ambitious if socially awkward wannabe director named Francis Coppola. He was struggling through a haphazard horror flick titled Dementia 13 and he clearly needed both a girlfriend and some savvy in navigating the system.
He shortly delivered his first movie and she their first son.
Some two decades later her husband hit an anguished impasse while shooting a pricey war movie, inevitably turning for stability and sanity to Eleanor. She’d...
She herself had a degree in design from UCLA and had landed some good startup jobs when she met an ambitious if socially awkward wannabe director named Francis Coppola. He was struggling through a haphazard horror flick titled Dementia 13 and he clearly needed both a girlfriend and some savvy in navigating the system.
He shortly delivered his first movie and she their first son.
Some two decades later her husband hit an anguished impasse while shooting a pricey war movie, inevitably turning for stability and sanity to Eleanor. She’d...
- 4/13/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
The Official Selection for the 77th Cannes Film Festival was revealed Thursday, with 19 movies in Competition (see full lists below).
Familiar names who will launch new works in the Competition include Ali Abbasi, who brings The Apprentice, a feature pic about the early life of Donald Trump. Andrea Arnold returns with Bird, starring Barry Keoghan, and Jacques Audiard’s latest, Emilia Perez, a musical with Selena Gomez will also debut in competition.
Elsewhere, American filmmaker Sean Baker brings Anora to the Croisette. Poor Things filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos will launch Kinds of Kindness, his latest collab with Emma Stone. David Cronenberg returns with The Shrouds, and Paul Schrader will debut Oh Canada starring Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman and Richard Gere.
Related: ‘The Apprentice’: First Look At Sebastian Stan As Donald Trump & Jeremy Strong As Roy Cohn In Cannes Competition Film
There’s a strong English-language and American presence in the...
Familiar names who will launch new works in the Competition include Ali Abbasi, who brings The Apprentice, a feature pic about the early life of Donald Trump. Andrea Arnold returns with Bird, starring Barry Keoghan, and Jacques Audiard’s latest, Emilia Perez, a musical with Selena Gomez will also debut in competition.
Elsewhere, American filmmaker Sean Baker brings Anora to the Croisette. Poor Things filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos will launch Kinds of Kindness, his latest collab with Emma Stone. David Cronenberg returns with The Shrouds, and Paul Schrader will debut Oh Canada starring Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman and Richard Gere.
Related: ‘The Apprentice’: First Look At Sebastian Stan As Donald Trump & Jeremy Strong As Roy Cohn In Cannes Competition Film
There’s a strong English-language and American presence in the...
- 4/11/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: After a feverish courtship of Francis Coppola between the organizers of the Cannes, Venice and Toronto film festivals, Megalopolis has been locked into a gala premiere slot on the Palais on Friday evening May 17, I’m told. The film will premiere in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux wins the day on this one, on the eve of a full festival slate announcement Thursday. It comes shortly after a movie concept that had been eating at Coppola for 20 years was shown to buyers for the first time at the Universal CityWalk Imax Theater on March 28. Coppola’s longtime attorney Barry Hirsch is still in talks to secure a distribution partner for a film that will reach audiences in the fall, with an emphasis on Imax theaters.
While the safest bet would have been to premiere the film in Venice, Telluride or Toronto, Coppola has...
Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux wins the day on this one, on the eve of a full festival slate announcement Thursday. It comes shortly after a movie concept that had been eating at Coppola for 20 years was shown to buyers for the first time at the Universal CityWalk Imax Theater on March 28. Coppola’s longtime attorney Barry Hirsch is still in talks to secure a distribution partner for a film that will reach audiences in the fall, with an emphasis on Imax theaters.
While the safest bet would have been to premiere the film in Venice, Telluride or Toronto, Coppola has...
- 4/9/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Some 20 years after it took root in the imagination of Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis screened this morning for the very first time. Held at the Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater, the epic film screened for buyers, and had every distributor in attendance. Also in tow were family friends and filmmakers, a list that included Anjelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, Andy Garcia, Spike Jonze, Al Pacino, Jon Favreau, Colleen Camp, Roger Corman, Darren Aronofsky, Cailee Spaeny and cast members Shia Labeouf and Talia Shire.
I was there also, and what can I say about the movie when I promised Coppola I would be a fly on the wall and not write anything approximating a review? Coppola’s new film is crackling with ideas that fuse the past with the future, with an epic and highly visual fable that plays perfectly on an IMAX screen. He covers complex themes in a remarkably brief two hours and 13 minutes,...
I was there also, and what can I say about the movie when I promised Coppola I would be a fly on the wall and not write anything approximating a review? Coppola’s new film is crackling with ideas that fuse the past with the future, with an epic and highly visual fable that plays perfectly on an IMAX screen. He covers complex themes in a remarkably brief two hours and 13 minutes,...
- 3/29/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
In his book “The Films in My Life,” director and enthusiast François Truffaut wrote, “I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema.” Juan Pablo Reinoso’s new documentary “Mad Props” satisfies Truffaut’s criteria beautifully, expressing not only the joy of making cinema but also the joy of watching cinema, exploring both through the eyes of Tom Biolchini, an Oklahoma banker who obsessively collects movie props. Reinoso follows Biolchini as he travels the world meeting other collectors who lovingly display their acquisitions, everything from Indiana Jones’ whip to various title characters from Joe Dante‘s “Gremlins” to an entire house from “The Outsiders” purchased by House of Pain’s Danny Boy O’Connor and filled with artifacts from that Francis Coppola classic. As the film progresses, Reinoso broadens his scope to include interviews with actors and various prop and creature makers...
- 2/23/2024
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
In a stylised, almost dreamlike Vegas, a jaded couple’s escapist infidelities can’t deny their essential love’s gravitational pull in this tender throwback to a golden age romantic drama
Actually, it was from the head as much as anything: a movie that arose from Francis Coppola’s shrewd, professional calculation that he could create and control an entire old-fashioned Hollywood romantic drama from his own studio, Zoetrope. The result was a lavish production which was very ambitious, hubristically or perhaps even ruinously so. But at the same time it looks oddly small scale, emotionally parochial and essentially monogamous – certainly a downshift from the colossal sweep of Apocalypse Now or The Godfather.
With its re-release now after more than 40 years, with six minutes added, One From the Heart reveals itself as a minor Coppola, but it is certainly a heartfelt romance-fantasia with charm and often a kind of goofy...
Actually, it was from the head as much as anything: a movie that arose from Francis Coppola’s shrewd, professional calculation that he could create and control an entire old-fashioned Hollywood romantic drama from his own studio, Zoetrope. The result was a lavish production which was very ambitious, hubristically or perhaps even ruinously so. But at the same time it looks oddly small scale, emotionally parochial and essentially monogamous – certainly a downshift from the colossal sweep of Apocalypse Now or The Godfather.
With its re-release now after more than 40 years, with six minutes added, One From the Heart reveals itself as a minor Coppola, but it is certainly a heartfelt romance-fantasia with charm and often a kind of goofy...
- 2/14/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Once the hottest writer in town, Truman Capote also was a master at self destruction.
Cut to The Bistro, Beverly Hills circa 1973. Cradling his cocktail, Capote was at once amiable and petulant. I was sitting across from him at the elegant café to discuss his new screenplay, but the discussion soon became an argument.
Capote, always theatrical, finally turned to strangers at the next table. “I wrote a brilliant screenplay and this man from Paramount is telling me that I didn’t write it, I simply typed it,” Capote complained, an edge to his high-pitched voice. “What should I do to him?”
The strangers smiled. “Order another martini,” said one. “Better make it a double.”
A superstar writer and raconteur, the late Capote needed more than a drink at this point in his life, and our meeting was not helping him. I thought of him this week as his “character...
Cut to The Bistro, Beverly Hills circa 1973. Cradling his cocktail, Capote was at once amiable and petulant. I was sitting across from him at the elegant café to discuss his new screenplay, but the discussion soon became an argument.
Capote, always theatrical, finally turned to strangers at the next table. “I wrote a brilliant screenplay and this man from Paramount is telling me that I didn’t write it, I simply typed it,” Capote complained, an edge to his high-pitched voice. “What should I do to him?”
The strangers smiled. “Order another martini,” said one. “Better make it a double.”
A superstar writer and raconteur, the late Capote needed more than a drink at this point in his life, and our meeting was not helping him. I thought of him this week as his “character...
- 2/8/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Peter Bart: A Biden-Trump Rematch Dims Cable News Prospects And A Print Media Biz Already In Trouble
“Sequels suck, whether you’re making them or watching them.” So said one storied filmmaker in rejecting a rich movie deal (details below), and he’d likely react the same if offered Biden vs. Trump.
The New Hampshire primary results this week reinforced media alarm over a projected 2024 rerun that could fracture ratings and reduce print coverage to “meaningless dribble,” in the words of one publisher.
Can there be a fix? Mark Thompson, the new CNN chief who has seen half his linear audience disappear, optimistically promises a digital upheaval not only in election coverage but beyond.
On the print side, however, chaos prevails: The Los Angeles Times has lost its top editors and roughly half of its news staff and sold off the San Diego Union-Tribune. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Sun, once also owned by the Times, has been acquired by Sinclair, a TV station behemoth whose leader, David Smith,...
The New Hampshire primary results this week reinforced media alarm over a projected 2024 rerun that could fracture ratings and reduce print coverage to “meaningless dribble,” in the words of one publisher.
Can there be a fix? Mark Thompson, the new CNN chief who has seen half his linear audience disappear, optimistically promises a digital upheaval not only in election coverage but beyond.
On the print side, however, chaos prevails: The Los Angeles Times has lost its top editors and roughly half of its news staff and sold off the San Diego Union-Tribune. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Sun, once also owned by the Times, has been acquired by Sinclair, a TV station behemoth whose leader, David Smith,...
- 1/25/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
In movie history, there are a rare few directors whose style has coined an adjective: Felliniesque, Hitchcockian, Chaplinesque. The modern filmmaker most likely to join that class is Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek auteur famed for “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” whose newest, wildest project, “Poor Things,” is his most colorful and phantasmagorical to date.
The look of the film – set in a fairy tale 19th century world unlike any you’ve ever seen – is singular, even if the moniker Lanthimosian doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
“That’s a really hard word to say,” said cinematographer Robbie Ryan with a laugh. The Irish camera maestro earned an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” his previous collaboration with Lanthimos.
“Maybe Lanthimosesque is better – or is it even worse? I do totally agree, though: His filmmaking is signature, for sure. It’s inventive in a way that’s undefinable. I can describe...
The look of the film – set in a fairy tale 19th century world unlike any you’ve ever seen – is singular, even if the moniker Lanthimosian doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
“That’s a really hard word to say,” said cinematographer Robbie Ryan with a laugh. The Irish camera maestro earned an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” his previous collaboration with Lanthimos.
“Maybe Lanthimosesque is better – or is it even worse? I do totally agree, though: His filmmaking is signature, for sure. It’s inventive in a way that’s undefinable. I can describe...
- 12/19/2023
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
While Francis Coppola plans to set cinema alight in 2024 with his final epic Megalopolis, the Oscar-winner will begin the year with a revisit of one his most misunderstood efforts, One From The Heart. That’s the 1981 picture that Coppola threw himself into so hard, creatively and financially, that his American Zoetrope had to declare bankruptcy when it failed to draw audiences. It took Coppola years to build back his fortune with film hits and a win empire, to the current situation where he was able to self finance the $100 million+ Megalopolis.
Specialty distributor Rialto Pictures is bringing a brand-new 4K restoration of One From The Heart: Reprise to theaters on January 19. Coppola supervised the reprise cut, which will be released in New York and Los Angeles before rolling out to additional cities across the U.S. StudioCanal and Park Circus will be releasing the film in cinemas and home entertainment...
Specialty distributor Rialto Pictures is bringing a brand-new 4K restoration of One From The Heart: Reprise to theaters on January 19. Coppola supervised the reprise cut, which will be released in New York and Los Angeles before rolling out to additional cities across the U.S. StudioCanal and Park Circus will be releasing the film in cinemas and home entertainment...
- 12/15/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
“Why is this like a dark secret? It’s just a movie.”
Ryan O’Neal, who died this week at 82, was a smart, good-natured man who was bemused by the contradictions of Hollywood. As he nervously awaited the release of Love Story five decades ago, he respected its shroud of silence but also was perplexed by it.
“Love Story is on its own blacklist, but I don’t get why,” he observed.
The movie, of course, was the surprise hit of its year, but even the bestseller on which it was based had suddenly appeared on the “don’t talk” list.
Why the mystery?
Related: Remembering Ryan O’Neal: A Film & TV Career In Photos
Hollywood circa 1970 was a small town compared with the Amazon-and-Apple world of this moment, and Love Story had been preordained as an embarrassment. Every studio had rejected the screenplay, and seemingly every “money” actor had turned down the lead.
Ryan O’Neal, who died this week at 82, was a smart, good-natured man who was bemused by the contradictions of Hollywood. As he nervously awaited the release of Love Story five decades ago, he respected its shroud of silence but also was perplexed by it.
“Love Story is on its own blacklist, but I don’t get why,” he observed.
The movie, of course, was the surprise hit of its year, but even the bestseller on which it was based had suddenly appeared on the “don’t talk” list.
Why the mystery?
Related: Remembering Ryan O’Neal: A Film & TV Career In Photos
Hollywood circa 1970 was a small town compared with the Amazon-and-Apple world of this moment, and Love Story had been preordained as an embarrassment. Every studio had rejected the screenplay, and seemingly every “money” actor had turned down the lead.
- 12/11/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Melita Toscan du Plantier has been the driving force behind the Marrakech Film Festival ever since her late husband, revered French producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, wrote to Morocco’s king two decades ago expressing “his ambition for a big international festival in Morocco,” as she recounts.
The festival’s 20th edition is currently underway in the ancient Moroccan city, despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September. Significantly, a slew of stars have turned up to support the event such as Tilda Swinton, Jessica Chastain (who is presiding over the main jury) and Isabelle Huppert.
Variety spoke to Melita Toscan du Plantier about navigating this year’s many challenges, including the increasingly crowded end-of-year Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region festival season.
You are the key figure behind this festival since its inception 20 years ago.
The festival’s 20th edition is currently underway in the ancient Moroccan city, despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September. Significantly, a slew of stars have turned up to support the event such as Tilda Swinton, Jessica Chastain (who is presiding over the main jury) and Isabelle Huppert.
Variety spoke to Melita Toscan du Plantier about navigating this year’s many challenges, including the increasingly crowded end-of-year Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region festival season.
You are the key figure behind this festival since its inception 20 years ago.
- 11/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The angriest filmmaking fights that I’ve witnessed over the years have not been about cost or cast; they were about length. The movies were too long but so were the fights.
I re-lived some of them this week when I saw Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s is a big success with audiences at 3 hours and 26 minutes. That’s about an hour longer than Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s epic that opens next month, and half an hour longer than Oppenheimer.
My confession: I start getting twitchy when movies lunge pass the two-hour mark — an attention deficit problem that supposedly affects Gen Z more than geriatrics. I’ve been influenced by filmmakers like Hal Ashby, who started as an editor and believed that “films should tell their story and move on” (I worked with him on Harold & Maude and Being There).
Given my twitchiness, I suspected...
I re-lived some of them this week when I saw Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s is a big success with audiences at 3 hours and 26 minutes. That’s about an hour longer than Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s epic that opens next month, and half an hour longer than Oppenheimer.
My confession: I start getting twitchy when movies lunge pass the two-hour mark — an attention deficit problem that supposedly affects Gen Z more than geriatrics. I’ve been influenced by filmmakers like Hal Ashby, who started as an editor and believed that “films should tell their story and move on” (I worked with him on Harold & Maude and Being There).
Given my twitchiness, I suspected...
- 10/26/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Priscilla Presley’s iconic updo is hitting the screens in a fresh trailer for Sofia Coppola’s upcoming flick “Priscilla”.
The film, produced by A24, is a biopic starring Cailee Spaeny as the titular woman who stole Elvis’ heart as a teenager. The King of Rock is played by “Euphoria” star Jacob Elordi.
An official synopsis for the film reads: “Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy and fame.”
Read More: ‘Priscilla’ Director Sofia Coppola Says She Found Priscilla Presley’s Life ‘Strangely Relatable’
‘Priscilla’ poster — Photo: A24
Coppola, the daughter of director Francis Coppola, based the film on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me.
Read More: Dolly Parton Reveals...
The film, produced by A24, is a biopic starring Cailee Spaeny as the titular woman who stole Elvis’ heart as a teenager. The King of Rock is played by “Euphoria” star Jacob Elordi.
An official synopsis for the film reads: “Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy and fame.”
Read More: ‘Priscilla’ Director Sofia Coppola Says She Found Priscilla Presley’s Life ‘Strangely Relatable’
‘Priscilla’ poster — Photo: A24
Coppola, the daughter of director Francis Coppola, based the film on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me.
Read More: Dolly Parton Reveals...
- 10/3/2023
- by Emerson Pearson
- ET Canada
With guild agreements being signed and production ramping up, Hollywood hopefully awaits a moment of youthful innovation.
Oops: The most newsworthy films set for imminent release are directed by filmmakers in their 80s – grizzled veterans who understand their muscle but, like the neophytes, are perplexed by the chaotic landscape.
Will this become a Back to the Future moment?
Ageism debates about Biden (80) and Trump (77) may prompt political headlines, but it’s not intruding on either The Golden Bachelor (Gerry Turner is 72) or the movie release date calendar.
Still, talk to Michael Mann (Ferrari), Ridley Scott (Napoleon) or Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and you won’t encounter the sort of “we own the system” bluster held by the old-time studio directors. Behind them is an even older lineup of vintage filmmakers: Woody Allen (87) and Roman Polanski (90), whose movies await release dates, and Francis Coppola (84), who would welcome distribution...
Oops: The most newsworthy films set for imminent release are directed by filmmakers in their 80s – grizzled veterans who understand their muscle but, like the neophytes, are perplexed by the chaotic landscape.
Will this become a Back to the Future moment?
Ageism debates about Biden (80) and Trump (77) may prompt political headlines, but it’s not intruding on either The Golden Bachelor (Gerry Turner is 72) or the movie release date calendar.
Still, talk to Michael Mann (Ferrari), Ridley Scott (Napoleon) or Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and you won’t encounter the sort of “we own the system” bluster held by the old-time studio directors. Behind them is an even older lineup of vintage filmmakers: Woody Allen (87) and Roman Polanski (90), whose movies await release dates, and Francis Coppola (84), who would welcome distribution...
- 9/28/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?
One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.
The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.
His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.
Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.
Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives...
One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.
The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.
His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.
Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.
Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives...
- 9/14/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
James Caan, renowned for roles often showcasing rugged masculinity, has been open about the overlap between his on-screen personas and real-life reputation.
For instance, the actor has shed light on how the character of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather has influenced the public’s perception of him. And he even admitted there’s some truth to the macho image.
James Caan opens up about his bad public image
Over his extensive career, Caan has embodied various roles, some appearing to have bled into his existence.
During a conversation with Rolling Stone in 1981, Caan candidly discussed his public perception challenges. He conceded that his life hasn’t been without its complications, especially given the level of success he’s achieved.
Caan attributed the origins of his public persona to his compelling role as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. His unforgettable portrayal of Sonny Corleone has made a lasting impact.
It’s...
For instance, the actor has shed light on how the character of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather has influenced the public’s perception of him. And he even admitted there’s some truth to the macho image.
James Caan opens up about his bad public image
Over his extensive career, Caan has embodied various roles, some appearing to have bled into his existence.
During a conversation with Rolling Stone in 1981, Caan candidly discussed his public perception challenges. He conceded that his life hasn’t been without its complications, especially given the level of success he’s achieved.
Caan attributed the origins of his public persona to his compelling role as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. His unforgettable portrayal of Sonny Corleone has made a lasting impact.
It’s...
- 9/7/2023
- by Perry Carpenter
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
With festivals beckoning and box office wobbling, this obnoxious question looms ever larger: What’s next?
The strikes will end and a new season will begin but where’s that next cycle of movies and streaming content that represent groundbreaking ideas? Where will they come from?
A quick survey of past groundbreakers poses some answers, all of them disturbing.
Breakthrough movies of years past have represented the unpredictable product of corporate guile (The Avengers), artistic monomania (Avatar) or accidents of history (Barbie).
Some hits invaded the zeitgeist because they were relentlessly defiant (Midnight Cowboy) or simply inevitable (Harry Potter). Ironically, some of Hollywood’s most culturally ambitious movies were distributed at moments when films were being largely ignored by the filmgoing public – Doctor Zhivago (1965) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Cinema, as with every form of pop culture, has gone through cycles of bold innovation as well as pervasive failure. Hollywood, circa the early 1960s,...
The strikes will end and a new season will begin but where’s that next cycle of movies and streaming content that represent groundbreaking ideas? Where will they come from?
A quick survey of past groundbreakers poses some answers, all of them disturbing.
Breakthrough movies of years past have represented the unpredictable product of corporate guile (The Avengers), artistic monomania (Avatar) or accidents of history (Barbie).
Some hits invaded the zeitgeist because they were relentlessly defiant (Midnight Cowboy) or simply inevitable (Harry Potter). Ironically, some of Hollywood’s most culturally ambitious movies were distributed at moments when films were being largely ignored by the filmgoing public – Doctor Zhivago (1965) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Cinema, as with every form of pop culture, has gone through cycles of bold innovation as well as pervasive failure. Hollywood, circa the early 1960s,...
- 8/24/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Movie stars no longer “own” Hollywood, we are told, but two hallowed brand names owned much of the media space this week.
At age 80, Harrison Ford is soldiering through the interview circuit to energize his balky Indy numbers. And an HBO doc about Rock Hudson this week reminded viewers of an era when stardom was as much manufactured as earned.
Both Ford and Hudson coveted their celebrity, which now borders on the mythic. But early in their careers, both struggled through identity crises, trying to define a persona they could comfortably live with.
The young Hudson was so gawky and naïve that he required emergency coaching on both his speech and sexuality from his ambitious manager, Henry Willson. Neither Willson nor his protégé imagined that Hudson would become a superstar both in cult movies, like Pillow Talk, and in classics, like Giant. Who else could hold his own opposite both Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor?...
At age 80, Harrison Ford is soldiering through the interview circuit to energize his balky Indy numbers. And an HBO doc about Rock Hudson this week reminded viewers of an era when stardom was as much manufactured as earned.
Both Ford and Hudson coveted their celebrity, which now borders on the mythic. But early in their careers, both struggled through identity crises, trying to define a persona they could comfortably live with.
The young Hudson was so gawky and naïve that he required emergency coaching on both his speech and sexuality from his ambitious manager, Henry Willson. Neither Willson nor his protégé imagined that Hudson would become a superstar both in cult movies, like Pillow Talk, and in classics, like Giant. Who else could hold his own opposite both Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor?...
- 7/6/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
During a recent Gold Derby video interview, senior editor Matt Noble spoke in-depth with Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) about Season 1 of his FX action drama, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmys. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
The actor plays former CIA agent and fugitive Dan Chase, who after going Awol for the past several decades is now on the run from the FBI and an old friend, Harold Harper (John Lithgow). Earlier this year, Bridges was nominated at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG Awards for his role on “The Old Man.”
Bridges admitted in our webchat that his father, legendary actor Lloyd Bridges, encouraged his children to get into the same business as him, which was unusual with “a lot of showbiz folks” at the time. As he explained, “He really encouraged all his kids to go into acting. He...
The actor plays former CIA agent and fugitive Dan Chase, who after going Awol for the past several decades is now on the run from the FBI and an old friend, Harold Harper (John Lithgow). Earlier this year, Bridges was nominated at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG Awards for his role on “The Old Man.”
Bridges admitted in our webchat that his father, legendary actor Lloyd Bridges, encouraged his children to get into the same business as him, which was unusual with “a lot of showbiz folks” at the time. As he explained, “He really encouraged all his kids to go into acting. He...
- 7/6/2023
- by Latasha Ford and Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Paul Schrader might not have seen the memes, but the Oscar winner is calling “Asteroid City” the most Wes Anderson film ever.
The “Master Gardener” director took to Facebook to praise Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” comparing it to Alain Resnais’ surreal 1961 French New Wave classic “Last Year at Marienbad.”
“The most Wes Anderson film Wes Anderson has made. And for that reason, the best,” Schrader wrote of “Asteroid City,” now in theaters. “He has distilled his design-driven anti-empathy film style to its essence. It’s hard to find a comparable film. The one that comes to mind is ‘Last Year at Marienbad.'”
Schrader added, “I’m heartened that it opened so well, though not quite sure why.”
Fellow auteur Guillermo del Toro similarly took to Twitter to express his admiration for Anderson’s vision.
“Unique signature – What started as an Ashby-esque rhythm and a Demy-esque image design mix, has evolved,...
The “Master Gardener” director took to Facebook to praise Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” comparing it to Alain Resnais’ surreal 1961 French New Wave classic “Last Year at Marienbad.”
“The most Wes Anderson film Wes Anderson has made. And for that reason, the best,” Schrader wrote of “Asteroid City,” now in theaters. “He has distilled his design-driven anti-empathy film style to its essence. It’s hard to find a comparable film. The one that comes to mind is ‘Last Year at Marienbad.'”
Schrader added, “I’m heartened that it opened so well, though not quite sure why.”
Fellow auteur Guillermo del Toro similarly took to Twitter to express his admiration for Anderson’s vision.
“Unique signature – What started as an Ashby-esque rhythm and a Demy-esque image design mix, has evolved,...
- 6/20/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
For those who treasure a sense of place in movies, the new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a film set for release by Paramount in October, brings a flicker of hope. (Pete Hammond’s Cannes review is here.)
True, it looks a little stagey, like Gangs of New York but out on the prairie. Still, for a few fleeting seconds—wedged among a scowling De Niro, a maundering DiCaprio and all those mortified Native people–tantalizing traces of the real Oklahoma peep through. Acres and acres of buffalo grass. Old brick facades. The kind of sky that hangs over Pawhuska and Bartlesville, where a 1982 tornado marched right up Frank Phillips Blvd. to the doorstep of Phillips Petroleum.
Maybe, just maybe, this film will find it: That wondrous, increasingly rare, cinematic sensation of actually being there.
In the current era, our blockbusters have taken a markedly...
True, it looks a little stagey, like Gangs of New York but out on the prairie. Still, for a few fleeting seconds—wedged among a scowling De Niro, a maundering DiCaprio and all those mortified Native people–tantalizing traces of the real Oklahoma peep through. Acres and acres of buffalo grass. Old brick facades. The kind of sky that hangs over Pawhuska and Bartlesville, where a 1982 tornado marched right up Frank Phillips Blvd. to the doorstep of Phillips Petroleum.
Maybe, just maybe, this film will find it: That wondrous, increasingly rare, cinematic sensation of actually being there.
In the current era, our blockbusters have taken a markedly...
- 5/21/2023
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Mark Hamill, Gary Kurtz, and Billy D. Williams in 1980.Photo: Fairfax Media Archives (Getty Images)
Imagine Star Wars without merch. Or Ewoks. Or another Death Star, just two movies after the first. Imagine if Leia and Luke weren’t related, and might have become lovers. Imagine Han Solo dying in...
Imagine Star Wars without merch. Or Ewoks. Or another Death Star, just two movies after the first. Imagine if Leia and Luke weren’t related, and might have become lovers. Imagine Han Solo dying in...
- 5/4/2023
- by Ray Greene
- avclub.com
Los Angeles, April 22 (Ians) Hollywood legend Al Pacino opened up about turning down the role of Han Solo in ‘Star Wars’ because he “didn’t understand the script” and said that he “gave Harrison Ford a career.”
The 82-year-old opened up about being a “new kid on the block” at the time of inception for the now-cultural phenomenon and explained that although they “offered him so much money” he just “didn’t understand” the storyline.
“Well, I turned down Star Wars,” he told David Rubenstein as part of the 92nd Street Y, New York’s People Who Inspire Us series, reports mirror.co.uk.
“When I first came up, I was the new kid on the block, you know what happens when you first become famous.
“It’s like, ‘Give it to Al,’ they’d give me Queen Elizabeth to play,” Al recalled. “They gave me a script called Star Wars.
The 82-year-old opened up about being a “new kid on the block” at the time of inception for the now-cultural phenomenon and explained that although they “offered him so much money” he just “didn’t understand” the storyline.
“Well, I turned down Star Wars,” he told David Rubenstein as part of the 92nd Street Y, New York’s People Who Inspire Us series, reports mirror.co.uk.
“When I first came up, I was the new kid on the block, you know what happens when you first become famous.
“It’s like, ‘Give it to Al,’ they’d give me Queen Elizabeth to play,” Al recalled. “They gave me a script called Star Wars.
- 4/22/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
In “Renfield,” the title character, played by Nicholas Hoult, is desperate to end his centuries’ long codependent relationship with his master, the legendary vampire Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Director Chris McKay and writers Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley knew they needed to quickly establish the long history of Renfield and Dracula from the outset, and their method to do so led to one of the most delightfully entertaining and technically impressive openings in horror movie history — and they reached back into horror movie history to achieve it.
The prologue that begins “Renfield” takes us through the film’s core relationship by placing the actors in scenes from Tod Browning’s 1931 “Dracula,” the first of the classic Universal monster movies that inspired and influenced McKay.
The montage of classic moments in which Cage and Hoult take the place of Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye is both an affectionate tribute and an effective means of exposition,...
The prologue that begins “Renfield” takes us through the film’s core relationship by placing the actors in scenes from Tod Browning’s 1931 “Dracula,” the first of the classic Universal monster movies that inspired and influenced McKay.
The montage of classic moments in which Cage and Hoult take the place of Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye is both an affectionate tribute and an effective means of exposition,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
There have been so many variations and film versions of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula, from 1926’s Nosferatu to Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula to Francis Coppola’s well-regarded take with Gary Oldman to even comedic satires like Love at First Bite with George Hamilton taking on the role. Now in Universal’s latest effort to rescue its horror classics and make them new again, we have the perfectly cast Nicolas Cage as the Prince of Darkness. Even he has done an offshoot before, in 1988’s Vampire’s Kiss. However this time around the film is not centered on Dracula himself, but rather his beleaguered servant, henchman, whatever you choose to call him, Renfield, and it is another Nicholas, as in Hoult, who has the title role this time in Renfield. Cage’s part, though meaty, is actually supporting as the emphasis turns to the long-suffering assistant who was tasked with bringing...
- 4/12/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
One was fiercely focused, the other accident-prone. They both made it.
The careers of Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise first collided exactly 40 years ago when the two very young but ambitious actors showed up at an Oklahoma location to assume their roles in The Outsiders, directed by Francis Coppola.
Although thrilled by the opportunity, they didn’t exactly click: Asked to share hotel rooms, Cruise had his agent demand a single because the actor wanted to study his script each night. Lowe found another roommate for camaraderie.
On opening night, Lowe angrily discovered most of his scenes had been cut while Cruise’s had survived. It was an ominous portent because Cruise soon moved on to hits like Risky Business and Top Gun. Lowe struggled with early disappointments like Class and Masquerade.
(L-r) Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise in ‘The Outsiders’
Now circling...
The careers of Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise first collided exactly 40 years ago when the two very young but ambitious actors showed up at an Oklahoma location to assume their roles in The Outsiders, directed by Francis Coppola.
Although thrilled by the opportunity, they didn’t exactly click: Asked to share hotel rooms, Cruise had his agent demand a single because the actor wanted to study his script each night. Lowe found another roommate for camaraderie.
On opening night, Lowe angrily discovered most of his scenes had been cut while Cruise’s had survived. It was an ominous portent because Cruise soon moved on to hits like Risky Business and Top Gun. Lowe struggled with early disappointments like Class and Masquerade.
(L-r) Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise in ‘The Outsiders’
Now circling...
- 4/6/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
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