"Will you do good or will hate fill your heart?" Pathe in France has revealed the main official trailer for The Count of Monte-Cristo, which is premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival next week. It's yet another new Alexandre Dumas adaptation, written & directed by the two writers who made The Three Musketeers movies recently, though this time they're also directing. A new take on the famous novel by Dumas, about a man who gets revenge after being unfairly imprisoned. It has been adapted many times before, most notably in 2002 with Jim Caviezel & Guy Pearce; in 1975 with Richard Chamberlain & Trevor Howard; and the original classic in 1934 with Robert Donat & Elissa Landi. There's also another new Italian-French TV series version of Monte Cristo in the works. Starring Pierre Niney as Edmond, Anaïs Demoustier as Mercédès, Bastien Bouillon, Anamaria Vartolomei, with Laurent Lafitte, & Julien De Saint Jean. After 14 years in the island prison of Château d'If,...
- 5/7/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Since 1940, the record for highest average screen time between same-year lead acting Oscar winners has been held by Robert Donat and Vivien Leigh (“Gone with the Wind”), whose mean of one hour, 54 minutes, and 43 seconds will likely never be surpassed. Nonetheless, there is a brand new pair in second place, as 2024 Best Actor and Actress champs Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) came within 10 minutes of dethroning the long-reigning duo. Indeed, both together and separately, their especially lengthy performances inspired several brushes with Oscars screen time history.
Murphy was specifically awarded for one hour, 53 minutes, and 10 seconds of acting work, while Stone clocked in slightly lower at one hour, 37 minutes, and 19 seconds. Understandably, each far outpaced all of their fellow nominees, respectively landing 27 and 22 minutes above their lineups’ averages. Their own average of one hour, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds makes them only the second pair of lead victors to exceed 100 minutes.
Murphy was specifically awarded for one hour, 53 minutes, and 10 seconds of acting work, while Stone clocked in slightly lower at one hour, 37 minutes, and 19 seconds. Understandably, each far outpaced all of their fellow nominees, respectively landing 27 and 22 minutes above their lineups’ averages. Their own average of one hour, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds makes them only the second pair of lead victors to exceed 100 minutes.
- 3/12/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
"It isn't vengeance, it's justice." Pathe in France has revealed a first look teaser trailer for yet another new Alexandre Dumas adaptation, following the immensely successful The Three Musketeers - Part I & Part II movies recently. Their new take on The Count of Monte-Cristo is written & directed by the two writers who just adapted The Three Musketeers recently, though this time they're also directing. A new adaptation of the famous novel by Dumas, about a man who gets revenge after being unfairly imprisoned. It has been adapted many times before, most notably in 2002 with Jim Caviezel & Guy Pearce; in 1975 with Richard Chamberlain & Trevor Howard; and the original classic in 1934 with Robert Donat & Elissa Landi. There's also another new Italian-French TV series version of Monte Cristo in the works, but it looks like this film will be out before that is. A film by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière,...
- 3/4/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
From Robert Donat’s heart-breaking Mr Chips to the real-life Mr Bachmann, Judi Dench’s venomous schoolmarm to Paul Giamatti’s classics stickler in The Holdovers, cinema loves teachers, whether inspirational or awful
I had a few teachers I adored in my years at school – and one or two, perhaps, who even inspired me in some capacity – but I can’t say a film about my relationship with them would make for particularly thrilling viewing. Teaching is hard graft, and often thankless; even the best in the profession are rarely rewarded with the kind of dewy, triumphant tributes that cap off many a Hollywood classroom drama. Yet the inspirational teacher film remains a mainstay: film-makers never tire of imagining the schooldays they’d like to have had.
Paul Giamatti offers a variation on the type in The Holdovers, out on VOD last week: the curmudgeonly, academically oriented teacher with (surprise!
I had a few teachers I adored in my years at school – and one or two, perhaps, who even inspired me in some capacity – but I can’t say a film about my relationship with them would make for particularly thrilling viewing. Teaching is hard graft, and often thankless; even the best in the profession are rarely rewarded with the kind of dewy, triumphant tributes that cap off many a Hollywood classroom drama. Yet the inspirational teacher film remains a mainstay: film-makers never tire of imagining the schooldays they’d like to have had.
Paul Giamatti offers a variation on the type in The Holdovers, out on VOD last week: the curmudgeonly, academically oriented teacher with (surprise!
- 2/24/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Clark Gable is the Oscar-winning matinee idol who starred in dozens of films before his untimely death in 1960, but how many of those titles are classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of Gable’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film...
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film...
- 1/26/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In the 95-year history of the Academy Awards, 88 films have each received nominations for both Best Actor and Best Actress. Although there have been 19 cases of two or more movies doing so in a single year, there hasn’t been such an occurrence since 1996, when both lead lineups included performers from “Dead Man Walking” and “Leaving Las Vegas.” However, according to Gold Derby’s late-stage 2024 Oscar nominations predictions, that nearly three-decade gap is set to soon be closed by costar pairs from “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Maestro.”
The vast majority of the Oscars prognosticators who’ve been shaping our odds all season agree that Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) will all clinch academy mentions for their lead performances. The last such quartet consisted of eventual winners Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) and Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”) and their respective costars,...
The vast majority of the Oscars prognosticators who’ve been shaping our odds all season agree that Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) will all clinch academy mentions for their lead performances. The last such quartet consisted of eventual winners Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) and Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”) and their respective costars,...
- 1/21/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Alexander Payne (Adapted Screenplay Oscar wins for Sideways with Jim Taylor and The Descendants with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) at JFK airport with Anne-Katrin Titze on the Wc Fields poster in The Holdovers: “I remember that. I had that poster in my room growing up.”
In the second instalment with Alexander Payne, director of the Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson), starring Dominic Sessa and Golden Globe nominees Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, we start out discussing the Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton after my recommendation of Wurzel-Sepp, an apothecary shop in Munich from 1887. From there we move on to the Trapp Family recordings of The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night, plus Cat Stevens in the soundtrack; the influence of Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, Robert Donat in Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and...
In the second instalment with Alexander Payne, director of the Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson), starring Dominic Sessa and Golden Globe nominees Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, we start out discussing the Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton after my recommendation of Wurzel-Sepp, an apothecary shop in Munich from 1887. From there we move on to the Trapp Family recordings of The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night, plus Cat Stevens in the soundtrack; the influence of Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, Robert Donat in Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and...
- 1/1/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Just two years after Anita of “West Side Story” became the first non-white fictional character to inspire multiple Academy Award nominations, three others are on their way to earning the same distinction. As was the case in 1986, 30% of 2024’s female acting Oscar slots could be filled by stars of “The Color Purple,” the new version of which serves as an adaptation of the similarly titled stage musical rather than Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. If Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, and Taraji P. Henson all reap bids for their fresh takes on the parts for which Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Margaret Avery were previously recognized, the overall list of doubly Oscar-nominated fictional characters will expand to include 20 examples.
In “The Color Purple,” Barrino executes the lead role of Celie Johnson, who she initially played on Broadway as a direct successor to 2006 Tony-winning originator Lachanze. As in the book and first film,...
In “The Color Purple,” Barrino executes the lead role of Celie Johnson, who she initially played on Broadway as a direct successor to 2006 Tony-winning originator Lachanze. As in the book and first film,...
- 11/14/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Austin Sipes, student symposium coordinator for the Telluride Film Festival, checked in this year’s class that had traveled far and wide to participate in what he termed as a “life-changing” immersion into the intricacies of filmmaking.
In 2000, as an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, Sipes hitched up in Telluride as one of the few chosen to engage in the student symposium, now in its 33rd year.
Okay, how life-changing was it? “A thousand million percent life-changing,” came the sparky response.
“I tell the students every year that it’s a life-changing experience,” Sipes told me.
(L-r) Austin Sipes, Graydon Hanson and Jacob Stefiuk
“And invariably they come to me afterwards with cries of, ‘You are not kidding!’”
Sipes now works in reality television. He’s currently associate director of Top Chef, and left the shoot for a few days to run the Telluride symposium.
Over the years, I’ve observed scores of students,...
In 2000, as an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, Sipes hitched up in Telluride as one of the few chosen to engage in the student symposium, now in its 33rd year.
Okay, how life-changing was it? “A thousand million percent life-changing,” came the sparky response.
“I tell the students every year that it’s a life-changing experience,” Sipes told me.
(L-r) Austin Sipes, Graydon Hanson and Jacob Stefiuk
“And invariably they come to me afterwards with cries of, ‘You are not kidding!’”
Sipes now works in reality television. He’s currently associate director of Top Chef, and left the shoot for a few days to run the Telluride symposium.
Over the years, I’ve observed scores of students,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Eight decades ago, the United States was in the second full year of World War II. And there was little escape from the horrors of the global conflict. The war even dominated cinema-seven of the top ten films of the year were war-themed. The second highest grossing film of the year was “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which opened on July 14, 1943, earning $6.3 million-nearly $3 million more than the beloved Oscar-winner “Casablanca,” which placed No 6 that year.
Paramount spared no expense bringing Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel set during the Spanish Civil War about Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer with a Republican guerrilla unit tasked with blowing up an important bridge. Hemingway witnessed the Spanish Civil War firsthand as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940, Paramount shelled out a staggering $150,000 for film rights. The New York Times wrote: “According to contract, Paramount paid Hemingway $100,000 for the property, agreeing to...
Paramount spared no expense bringing Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel set during the Spanish Civil War about Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer with a Republican guerrilla unit tasked with blowing up an important bridge. Hemingway witnessed the Spanish Civil War firsthand as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940, Paramount shelled out a staggering $150,000 for film rights. The New York Times wrote: “According to contract, Paramount paid Hemingway $100,000 for the property, agreeing to...
- 7/15/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers more than 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.
Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.
In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn’s athleticism and charm landed him the lead...
Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.
In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn’s athleticism and charm landed him the lead...
- 6/17/2023
- by Susan Pennington, Misty Holland and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The Philadelphia Story actor Jimmy Stewart was known for his signature voice and his ability to portray the average man on the silver screen. He rightfully went down as one of the greatest performers to ever grace the Hollywood scene. However, the industry itself didn’t always pay him the utmost respect. The Oscar that Stewart won for The Philadelphia Story had a major flaw that was impossible to ignore.
Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for ‘The Philadelphia Story’ L-r: Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart | Getty Images
Stewart played nosy reporter Macaulay Connor in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, a classic romantic comedy. A high-class woman named Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) split from her husband (Cary Grant) as a result of his non-stop drinking and her high-maintenance personality. Next, she’s marrying the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), but she’s also hung up on Macaulay. Tracy must decide which man...
Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for ‘The Philadelphia Story’ L-r: Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart | Getty Images
Stewart played nosy reporter Macaulay Connor in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, a classic romantic comedy. A high-class woman named Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) split from her husband (Cary Grant) as a result of his non-stop drinking and her high-maintenance personality. Next, she’s marrying the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), but she’s also hung up on Macaulay. Tracy must decide which man...
- 3/12/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Oscar-winning actor Clark Gable earned the name of “The King of Hollywood” thanks to his expansive career that spanned more than three decades and several genres. He wasn’t shy when it came to winning an award, but he also had a refreshingly unique take on the meaning behind such an accomplishment. Gable gave away the only Oscar he ever won to a child to teach them a lesson.
Clark Gable won an Oscar for ‘It Happened One Night’ Clark Gable | Getty Images
Gable won his first, and only, Oscar for the romantic comedy called It Happened One Night. The Frank Capra-directed film hit theaters in 1934, which was written by Robert Riskin based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story.
The story follows a spoiled young woman named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who suddenly marries a sketchy King Westley. In response, her father (Walter Connolly) sends her away on his yacht,...
Clark Gable won an Oscar for ‘It Happened One Night’ Clark Gable | Getty Images
Gable won his first, and only, Oscar for the romantic comedy called It Happened One Night. The Frank Capra-directed film hit theaters in 1934, which was written by Robert Riskin based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story.
The story follows a spoiled young woman named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who suddenly marries a sketchy King Westley. In response, her father (Walter Connolly) sends her away on his yacht,...
- 2/27/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Robert Donat snagged an Oscar for this sentimental crowdpleaser, a Best Picture nominee in Hollywood’s ‘Golden Year’ of 1939. The genteel chemistry between Donat’s shy schoolteacher and the charming personality Greer Garson broke hearts, and made Ms. Garson one of MGM’s top names for the next decade. It’s one of the studio’s English productions, filmed in the shadow of the coming war. A glowing new digital restoration redeems 70 years of not-so-good TV prints.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 115 min. / Street Date January 24, 2023 / Available at Amazon.com/ 21.99
Starring: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills, Paul Henreid, Judith Furse.
Cinematography: Freddie Young
Art Director: Alfred Junge
Film Editor: Charles Frend
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by R.C. Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz from the novel by James Hilton
Produced by Victor Saville
Directed by Sam Wood
No, it’s not about the terrible Chips Ahoy!
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 115 min. / Street Date January 24, 2023 / Available at Amazon.com/ 21.99
Starring: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills, Paul Henreid, Judith Furse.
Cinematography: Freddie Young
Art Director: Alfred Junge
Film Editor: Charles Frend
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by R.C. Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz from the novel by James Hilton
Produced by Victor Saville
Directed by Sam Wood
No, it’s not about the terrible Chips Ahoy!
- 2/11/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A quarter century after winning her third film acting Golden Globe, Ingrid Bergman was honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association one last time for her performance in the TV movie “A Woman Called Golda.” This victory was historic in that it occurred five months after her death, thus making her the only actress to ever win a Golden Globe posthumously. She also remains one of only two deceased female performers ever nominated by the HFPA, but the group could soon grow by one if the recently departed Charlbi Dean (“Triangle of Sadness”) lands in the 2023 Best Film Comedy/Musical Actress lineup.
Dean passed away at the age of 32 on August 29, 2022, which happened to be the 40th anniversary of Bergman’s death. Her performance as social media influencer Yaya in “Triangle of Sadness” has been heavily praised since the film premiered in Cannes this spring, and she now ranks eighth...
Dean passed away at the age of 32 on August 29, 2022, which happened to be the 40th anniversary of Bergman’s death. Her performance as social media influencer Yaya in “Triangle of Sadness” has been heavily praised since the film premiered in Cannes this spring, and she now ranks eighth...
- 12/8/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The Apple TV Plus limited series “Black Bird,” which streamed this summer over a period of four weeks, is the first of several projects starring Ray Liotta to be released after his May 2022 death. The late actor’s portrayal of James Keene Sr., the father of convicted drug dealer James Keene Jr. (Taron Egerton), could now net him a slew of industry awards, beginning with a Golden Globe for Best TV Movie/Limited Supporting Actor. If he is honored with this prize, he will make history as the first performer to win a posthumous Golden Globe in any supporting TV category.
This year’s Golden Globes ceremony will be the first during which four supporting TV awards will be handed out instead of the usual two. Featured players will now not only be divided by gender, but also by program type, with performances in TV movies and limited series on...
This year’s Golden Globes ceremony will be the first during which four supporting TV awards will be handed out instead of the usual two. Featured players will now not only be divided by gender, but also by program type, with performances in TV movies and limited series on...
- 11/9/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
An important, if perhaps apocryphal, moment in the history of cinema was the afternoon little Alfie Hitchcock spent in the care of His Majesty. So terrified was little Hitch of the momentary incarceration (on his father’s orders no less) that his subsequent filmography maypoles artfully around fear in all its forms. Known by cinephiles the world over as the ‘Master of Suspense’, Hitchcock’s films are rightfully celebrated as some of the best the artform has produced. Not for nothing, but ten years ago Hitchcock’s 1958 exploration of obssession and grief Vertigo was voted the best film of all time.
Many of our favourite moments from Hitch’s filmography are easily recalled as scenes perfect in their own right. Today we’re taking a look at some of the scenes that, while not as instantly recognisable, are quiet miracles of cinemas. They show that Hitchcock was a director entirely...
Many of our favourite moments from Hitch’s filmography are easily recalled as scenes perfect in their own right. Today we’re taking a look at some of the scenes that, while not as instantly recognisable, are quiet miracles of cinemas. They show that Hitchcock was a director entirely...
- 4/7/2022
- by Michael Walsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
In the 125 years since the first play based on the life of 17th century author Cyrano de Bergerac premiered, the classic underdog tale’s eternal relevance has been proven time and time again. Its simple love triangle premise has served as the basis for many stage and screen adaptations, two of which captured the attention of Oscar voters. José Ferrer and Gérard Depardieu both earned academy recognition for their portrayals of de Bergerac, and now Peter Dinklage is gunning for a Best Actor bid for starring in the new film “Cyrano.” If he succeeds, the character will become one of only a handful in Oscars history to have inspired three nominations.
Dinklage, who bagged four Emmys during his eight-season tenure on “Game of Thrones,” first played de Bergerac during the Off-Broadway run of the stage musical from which his film derives. His potential Oscar nomination would come 71 years after Ferrer’s,...
Dinklage, who bagged four Emmys during his eight-season tenure on “Game of Thrones,” first played de Bergerac during the Off-Broadway run of the stage musical from which his film derives. His potential Oscar nomination would come 71 years after Ferrer’s,...
- 1/21/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
As the director and producer of both “House of Gucci” and “The Last Duel,” Ridley Scott is poised to score big when the 2022 Oscar nominations are announced three months from now. Reaping double Best Picture or Best Director bids would make the 83-year-old the first to pull off either feat since Steven Soderbergh did so in 2001. Even if he ends up being left out of both lineups, he could still make history if academy voters decide to recognize the work of his two leading ladies. If Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel”) and Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) are both chosen to compete for Best Actress, Scott will become the fifth person to direct female leads from different films to nominations in a single year.
The first of these rare occurrences dates back to the third Oscars ceremony in 1930 when Nancy Carroll (“The Devil’s Holiday”) and Gloria Swanson (“The Trespasser...
The first of these rare occurrences dates back to the third Oscars ceremony in 1930 when Nancy Carroll (“The Devil’s Holiday”) and Gloria Swanson (“The Trespasser...
- 11/9/2021
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Netflix has ordered “The 39 Steps,” a limited series based on the 1915 John Buchan novel that will star Benedict Cumberbatch, with Edward Berger at the helm and Mark L. Smith writing.
The series will reunite Cumberbatch and Berger, who last worked together on Showtime’s 2018 mini-series “Patrick Melrose.” The at least six-hour series will be produced by Anonymous Content, Chapter One Pictures and SunnyMarch, the U.K.-based film and TV production company founded by Cumberbatch, Adam Ackland and Adam Selves.
“The 39 Steps” has already been adapted several times, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. Buchan’s original spy thriller takes place just before the outset of World War I, centering on Richard Hannay, a man who comes into possession of a key to a global conspiracy and goes on the run.
Cumberbatch was most recently seen in “The Mauritanian,” and remains in the thick of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,...
The series will reunite Cumberbatch and Berger, who last worked together on Showtime’s 2018 mini-series “Patrick Melrose.” The at least six-hour series will be produced by Anonymous Content, Chapter One Pictures and SunnyMarch, the U.K.-based film and TV production company founded by Cumberbatch, Adam Ackland and Adam Selves.
“The 39 Steps” has already been adapted several times, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. Buchan’s original spy thriller takes place just before the outset of World War I, centering on Richard Hannay, a man who comes into possession of a key to a global conspiracy and goes on the run.
Cumberbatch was most recently seen in “The Mauritanian,” and remains in the thick of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,...
- 4/9/2021
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
Six Minutes To Midnight director Andy Goddard with Anne-Katrin Titze on Eddie Izzard and Bexhill-on-Sea: “Eddie used to go there as a child. I think it was a nice close to the circle to film there.”
Earlier in our conversation, Andy Goddard mentioned John Boulting’s Brighton Rock (starring Richard Attenborough), Alberto Cavalcanti’s Went The Day Well?, and Robert Donat’s performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps as references for his historical thriller Six Minutes To Midnight (co-written with Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones). He also pointed out the innocence reflected in Lionel Jeffries’ The Railway Children and Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society. Here the director notes the impact of the countryside of England, with its sunshine and long shadows, shot by Chris Seager, and the production design by Candida Otton.
Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench), headmistress of the Augusta-Victoria College Photo: courtesy of IFC Films
The plot...
Earlier in our conversation, Andy Goddard mentioned John Boulting’s Brighton Rock (starring Richard Attenborough), Alberto Cavalcanti’s Went The Day Well?, and Robert Donat’s performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps as references for his historical thriller Six Minutes To Midnight (co-written with Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones). He also pointed out the innocence reflected in Lionel Jeffries’ The Railway Children and Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society. Here the director notes the impact of the countryside of England, with its sunshine and long shadows, shot by Chris Seager, and the production design by Candida Otton.
Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench), headmistress of the Augusta-Victoria College Photo: courtesy of IFC Films
The plot...
- 3/25/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
With a nod to Robert Donat’s Richard Hannay in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and an unintended wink to a bus trip in Torn Curtain with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, Andy Goddard’s Six Minutes To Midnight (co-written with Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones) conjures up moments from cinema history. Leontine Sagan’s Mädchen in Uniform from 1931 may come to mind and when the German girls at the Augusta-Victoria College are singing in the staircase, The Sound Of Music is in the air.
The tautly wound historical thriller stars Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench with Carla Juri (of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld), Jim Broadbent, Celyn Jones, Maria Dragus (of Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon and Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation), James D’Arcy, David Schofield, and Tijan Marei. Shot crisply by Chris Seager (Goddard’s Set Fire To The Stars,...
The tautly wound historical thriller stars Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench with Carla Juri (of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld), Jim Broadbent, Celyn Jones, Maria Dragus (of Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon and Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation), James D’Arcy, David Schofield, and Tijan Marei. Shot crisply by Chris Seager (Goddard’s Set Fire To The Stars,...
- 3/24/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Andy Goddard on Eddie Izzard’s Thomas Miller, who “is like Robert Donat, being a wrong man being chased.”
The tautly wound historical thriller Six Minutes To Midnight stars Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench with Carla Juri (of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld), Jim Broadbent, Celyn Jones, Maria Dragus, James D’Arcy, David Schofield, and Tijan Marei. Shot crisply by Chris Seager with impeccable costumes by Lucinda Wright, Andy Goddard’s second feature film (co-written with Izzard and Jones) is set ominously at a finishing school in an English seaside town during the summer of 1939, where high-ranking German officials had sent their daughters to learn English.
Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) with Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench) Photo: courtesy of IFC Films
With a nod to Robert Donat’s Richard Hannay in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and an unintended wink to a bus trip in Torn Curtain...
The tautly wound historical thriller Six Minutes To Midnight stars Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench with Carla Juri (of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld), Jim Broadbent, Celyn Jones, Maria Dragus, James D’Arcy, David Schofield, and Tijan Marei. Shot crisply by Chris Seager with impeccable costumes by Lucinda Wright, Andy Goddard’s second feature film (co-written with Izzard and Jones) is set ominously at a finishing school in an English seaside town during the summer of 1939, where high-ranking German officials had sent their daughters to learn English.
Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) with Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench) Photo: courtesy of IFC Films
With a nod to Robert Donat’s Richard Hannay in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and an unintended wink to a bus trip in Torn Curtain...
- 3/21/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Today is a good day because Benedict Cumberbatch has secured another paycheck. The Sherlock actor is slated to star in a limited series, The 39 Steps, inspired by John Buchan’s novel of the same name, our sister site Deadline reports. Alfred Hitchcock previously adapted the book into a 1935 film.
The updated series, which doesn’t have a network attached yet, is described as a “provocative, action-packed conspiracy thriller” that “updates the classic novel for our times,” per the official description. It will center on Richard Hannay, an ordinary man who unwittingly becomes a pawn in a far-reaching global conspiracy to...
The updated series, which doesn’t have a network attached yet, is described as a “provocative, action-packed conspiracy thriller” that “updates the classic novel for our times,” per the official description. It will center on Richard Hannay, an ordinary man who unwittingly becomes a pawn in a far-reaching global conspiracy to...
- 2/19/2021
- by Keisha Hatchett
- TVLine.com
When Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for “Joker” in 2020, his became the fifth longest to ever win Best Actor and third longest in terms of percentage. However, 28 even longer performances had been nominated in the category over the preceding nine decades, with several coming close to or passing two hours of screen time. Here is a look at the 10 nominees with the highest screen times (and here are the 10 shortest nominated performances):
10. Peter O’Toole
1 hour, 51 minutes, 40 seconds (72.26% of the film)
Since 2007, O’Toole has been the sole record-holder for most acting Oscar nominations without a win. His fourth of eight unsuccessful Best Actor bids came in 1970 for playing benevolent schoolteacher Arthur Chipping. 30 years earlier, Robert Donat won the award for playing the same character in an adaptation of the story that is more dramatic compared to this 40-minute-longer musical version. O’Toole lost to John Wayne, whose screen time...
10. Peter O’Toole
1 hour, 51 minutes, 40 seconds (72.26% of the film)
Since 2007, O’Toole has been the sole record-holder for most acting Oscar nominations without a win. His fourth of eight unsuccessful Best Actor bids came in 1970 for playing benevolent schoolteacher Arthur Chipping. 30 years earlier, Robert Donat won the award for playing the same character in an adaptation of the story that is more dramatic compared to this 40-minute-longer musical version. O’Toole lost to John Wayne, whose screen time...
- 1/30/2021
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Guy Maddin on Stump The Guesser: “Kharms had so many ideas and we wanted them all …”
A standout decision by the Currents programming team for the 58th New York Film Festival, is to show Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s mysterious fairground short, Stump The Guesser, starring Adam Brooks, with There Are Not Thirty-Six Ways Of Showing A Man Getting On A Horse, Nicolás Zukerfeld’s tribute to Raoul Walsh. On the afternoon of the Autumnal Equinox, Guy Maddin joined me for a lively and in-depth e-mail exchange conversation, which touched on the costumes by Greg Blagoev (”Winnipeg's Mayakovsky!”), Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Robert Donat questioning Mr. Memory, and John Buchan (1st Baron Tweedsmuir), Ludwig Tieck, Thomas Mann's The Holy Sinner, Bertrand Tavernier and Pursued, Soviet absurdist Daniil Kharms, and the evolution of Stump The Guesser, starting with the Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne.
The Guesser...
A standout decision by the Currents programming team for the 58th New York Film Festival, is to show Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s mysterious fairground short, Stump The Guesser, starring Adam Brooks, with There Are Not Thirty-Six Ways Of Showing A Man Getting On A Horse, Nicolás Zukerfeld’s tribute to Raoul Walsh. On the afternoon of the Autumnal Equinox, Guy Maddin joined me for a lively and in-depth e-mail exchange conversation, which touched on the costumes by Greg Blagoev (”Winnipeg's Mayakovsky!”), Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Robert Donat questioning Mr. Memory, and John Buchan (1st Baron Tweedsmuir), Ludwig Tieck, Thomas Mann's The Holy Sinner, Bertrand Tavernier and Pursued, Soviet absurdist Daniil Kharms, and the evolution of Stump The Guesser, starting with the Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne.
The Guesser...
- 9/23/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Helping you stay sane while staying safe… featuring Leonard Maltin, Dave Anthony, Miguel Arteta, John Landis, and Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Plague (1979)
Target Earth (1954)
The Left Hand of God (1955)
A Lost Lady (1934)
Enough Said (2013)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Down to Earth (2001)
Down To Earth (1947)
The Commitments (1991)
Once (2007)
Election (1999)
About Schmidt (2002)
Sideways (2004)
Nebraska (2013)
The Man in the Moon (1991)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Casablanca (1942)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Night Walker (1964)
Chuck and Buck (2000)
Cedar Rapids (2011)
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
Duck Butter (2018)
The Good Girl (2002)
The Big Heat (1953)
Human Desire (1954)
Slightly French (1949)
Week-End with Father (1951)
Experiment In Terror (1962)
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (1969)
Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987)
Airport (1970)
Earthquake (1974)
Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
Pushover (1954)
Waves (2019)
Krisha (2015)
The Oblong Box (1969)
80,000 Suspects (1963)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
It Comes At Night (2017)
Children of Men (2006)
The Road (2009)
You Were Never Really Here...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Plague (1979)
Target Earth (1954)
The Left Hand of God (1955)
A Lost Lady (1934)
Enough Said (2013)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Down to Earth (2001)
Down To Earth (1947)
The Commitments (1991)
Once (2007)
Election (1999)
About Schmidt (2002)
Sideways (2004)
Nebraska (2013)
The Man in the Moon (1991)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Casablanca (1942)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Night Walker (1964)
Chuck and Buck (2000)
Cedar Rapids (2011)
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
Duck Butter (2018)
The Good Girl (2002)
The Big Heat (1953)
Human Desire (1954)
Slightly French (1949)
Week-End with Father (1951)
Experiment In Terror (1962)
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (1969)
Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987)
Airport (1970)
Earthquake (1974)
Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
Pushover (1954)
Waves (2019)
Krisha (2015)
The Oblong Box (1969)
80,000 Suspects (1963)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
It Comes At Night (2017)
Children of Men (2006)
The Road (2009)
You Were Never Really Here...
- 5/1/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
” There are 20 million women in this island and I’ve got to be chained to you.”
Classics on the Loop at The Tivoli happens Mondays at 4 pm and 7 pm This week, March 2nd is Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935)!.Admission is just $7.The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, Mo 63130
In The 30 Steps, Robert Donat plays Richard Hannay, a Canadian visitor to London. At the end of “Mr Memory”‘s show in a music hall, he meets Annabella Smith, who is running away from secret agents. He agrees to hide her in his flat, but she is murdered during the night. Fearing that he could be accused of the murder, Hannay goes on the run to break the spy ring.
Here’s the rest of the Classics in the Loop lineup:
March 9 Strangers On A Train
March 16 Vertigo 4K digital restoration
March 23 The Wizard Of Oz
March...
Classics on the Loop at The Tivoli happens Mondays at 4 pm and 7 pm This week, March 2nd is Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935)!.Admission is just $7.The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, Mo 63130
In The 30 Steps, Robert Donat plays Richard Hannay, a Canadian visitor to London. At the end of “Mr Memory”‘s show in a music hall, he meets Annabella Smith, who is running away from secret agents. He agrees to hide her in his flat, but she is murdered during the night. Fearing that he could be accused of the murder, Hannay goes on the run to break the spy ring.
Here’s the rest of the Classics in the Loop lineup:
March 9 Strangers On A Train
March 16 Vertigo 4K digital restoration
March 23 The Wizard Of Oz
March...
- 3/1/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Though the cinematic landscape has changed over the past five decades, one thing has remained the same: the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, New York Film Critics Circle and National Society Film Critics have agreed to disagree on many of their choices of the best of the year. So, let’s travel back to awards season 50 years ago and see what these groups selected as the finest in filmmaker in 1969.
Best Picture
Academy Awards: The year of 1969 was truly a watershed for cinema and the Oscars reflected the numerous changes taking place in Hollywood and internationally. The Academy had one foot in tradition and one foot in contemporary cinema. But in terms of best film, “X” marked the spot as “Midnight Cowboy,” the then-x-rated gritty and poignant drama took home the best picture honor. It was the only time in Oscar history, the Academy...
Best Picture
Academy Awards: The year of 1969 was truly a watershed for cinema and the Oscars reflected the numerous changes taking place in Hollywood and internationally. The Academy had one foot in tradition and one foot in contemporary cinema. But in terms of best film, “X” marked the spot as “Midnight Cowboy,” the then-x-rated gritty and poignant drama took home the best picture honor. It was the only time in Oscar history, the Academy...
- 1/16/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
“Hitchcock And Humor: Modes Of Comedy In Twelve Defining Films” by Wes D. Gehring
(McFarland; Isbn 978-1-4766-7356-1 print; 978-1-4766-3621-4 e-book; $39.95 retail)
“The Master Of Dark Comedy”
By Raymond Benson
Just about anything with film historian and media writer Wes D. Gehring’s name on it will be of quality. A professor of telecommunications at Ball State University in Indiana and author of the regular column “The Reel World” in USA Today magazine, Gehring has distinguished himself as an expert on comedy—especially as it has been utilized in the cinema.
Among Gehring’s several books that explore humor in film are tomes on Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Leo McCarey, Laurel and Hardy, Carole Lombard, W. C. Fields, and Frank Capra, as well as topical studies on dark comedy and screwball comedy.
Now comes Hitchcock and Humor, which evaluates the notion that the filmmaker who...
(McFarland; Isbn 978-1-4766-7356-1 print; 978-1-4766-3621-4 e-book; $39.95 retail)
“The Master Of Dark Comedy”
By Raymond Benson
Just about anything with film historian and media writer Wes D. Gehring’s name on it will be of quality. A professor of telecommunications at Ball State University in Indiana and author of the regular column “The Reel World” in USA Today magazine, Gehring has distinguished himself as an expert on comedy—especially as it has been utilized in the cinema.
Among Gehring’s several books that explore humor in film are tomes on Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Leo McCarey, Laurel and Hardy, Carole Lombard, W. C. Fields, and Frank Capra, as well as topical studies on dark comedy and screwball comedy.
Now comes Hitchcock and Humor, which evaluates the notion that the filmmaker who...
- 12/27/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.
Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20,1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.
SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn...
Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20,1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.
SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn...
- 6/20/2019
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
I was recently challenged to list my top 10 favorite movies of all time, which proved an impossible task; however, I can easily name my favorite Decade for filmmaking: the 1930s. Movies truly evolved during this decade, with the final one of 1939 becoming the greatest year ever for films: “Gone with the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Stagecoach,” “Ninotchka,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Wuthering Heights” and so many more! Since that special year is celebrating its 80th anniversary, let’s take a look back.
SEEOscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The film industry was still in its youth as the decade rolled in with “talking pictures” becoming the new standard. Besides mastering the technical aspects of that, they were still learning how to develop a story, how to act for the camera as opposed to stage acting, and how to engineer special effects. At the same time,...
SEEOscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The film industry was still in its youth as the decade rolled in with “talking pictures” becoming the new standard. Besides mastering the technical aspects of that, they were still learning how to develop a story, how to act for the camera as opposed to stage acting, and how to engineer special effects. At the same time,...
- 3/19/2019
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Clark Gable would’ve celebrated his 118th birthday on February 1, 2019. The Oscar-winning matinee idol starred in dozens of films before his untimely death in 1960, but how many of those titles are classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of Gable’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball...
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball...
- 2/1/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This article marks Part 5 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following four films that scored a quartet of trophies among the top races.
At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony, this was no stopping Victor Fleming’s blockbuster epic “Gone with the Wind” (1939). With a total of 13 nominations, the most of any film that year, it was the overwhelming favorite for Oscar glory and indeed, on the big night, the picture took home eight prizes, including Best Picture. Fleming, in his lone career Oscar bid, prevailed in Best Director,...
At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony, this was no stopping Victor Fleming’s blockbuster epic “Gone with the Wind” (1939). With a total of 13 nominations, the most of any film that year, it was the overwhelming favorite for Oscar glory and indeed, on the big night, the picture took home eight prizes, including Best Picture. Fleming, in his lone career Oscar bid, prevailed in Best Director,...
- 10/25/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
This article marks Part 2 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following 11 films that scored a single prize among the top races.
More than eight decades prior to Bradley Cooper’s take on the timeless tale, the first “A Star Is Born” (1937), headlined by Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, became the third motion picture, following “Cimarron” (1931) and “It Happened One Night” (1934), to earn nominations in the Big Five Oscar categories.
At the 10th Academy Awards ceremony, however, neither March nor Gaynor emerged triumphant, losing in their...
More than eight decades prior to Bradley Cooper’s take on the timeless tale, the first “A Star Is Born” (1937), headlined by Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, became the third motion picture, following “Cimarron” (1931) and “It Happened One Night” (1934), to earn nominations in the Big Five Oscar categories.
At the 10th Academy Awards ceremony, however, neither March nor Gaynor emerged triumphant, losing in their...
- 10/7/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
Peter Donat, whose long career spanned roles on Broadway, television and in films, has died. He passed on Monday at home in Point Reyes Station, Calif. from complications of diabetes, according to his wife.
The Canadian-born character actor was best known for his role in six episodes of TV’s The X Files, where he recurred as Agent Fox Mulder’s father.
While that role was memorable, it was just a piece of the actor’s broad creative career. He performed frequently with respected companies like the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Stratford Festival in Canada, playing Cyrano de Bergerac, Prospero, Shylock, King Lear and Hadrian VII.
In between the stage roles, Donat was a frequent presence as a guest-starr on such shows as The F.B.I., Hawaii Five-o, Mannix, McMillan & Wife, Hill Street Blues and Murder, She Wrote.
One well-received television role came on the original Dallas as the doctor treating J.
The Canadian-born character actor was best known for his role in six episodes of TV’s The X Files, where he recurred as Agent Fox Mulder’s father.
While that role was memorable, it was just a piece of the actor’s broad creative career. He performed frequently with respected companies like the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Stratford Festival in Canada, playing Cyrano de Bergerac, Prospero, Shylock, King Lear and Hadrian VII.
In between the stage roles, Donat was a frequent presence as a guest-starr on such shows as The F.B.I., Hawaii Five-o, Mannix, McMillan & Wife, Hill Street Blues and Murder, She Wrote.
One well-received television role came on the original Dallas as the doctor treating J.
- 9/15/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Peter Donat, who played Agent Fox Mulder’s father on “The X-Files” and acted in two Francis Ford Coppola films, died Monday at his home in Point Reyes, Calif. He was 90.
His wife, Maria, told the New York Times the cause was complications of diabetes.
Donat, perhaps most recognizable for his recurring “X-Files” role, was also a frequent stage actor, playing Cyrano de Bergerac, Prospero, Shylock, King Lear and Hadrian VII over the years.
He also guest starred on TV series like “The F.B.I.,” “Hawaii Five-o,” “Mannix,” McMillan & Wife,” “Hill Street Blues” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
Francis Ford Coppola cast Donat as a lawyer in “The Godfather Part II” after he was considered for the role of Tom Hagen in “The Godather,” a part that eventually went to Robert Duvall. Donat also played Otto Kerner in Coppola’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” in 1980.
The Canadian-born actor originated from Kentville,...
His wife, Maria, told the New York Times the cause was complications of diabetes.
Donat, perhaps most recognizable for his recurring “X-Files” role, was also a frequent stage actor, playing Cyrano de Bergerac, Prospero, Shylock, King Lear and Hadrian VII over the years.
He also guest starred on TV series like “The F.B.I.,” “Hawaii Five-o,” “Mannix,” McMillan & Wife,” “Hill Street Blues” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
Francis Ford Coppola cast Donat as a lawyer in “The Godfather Part II” after he was considered for the role of Tom Hagen in “The Godather,” a part that eventually went to Robert Duvall. Donat also played Otto Kerner in Coppola’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” in 1980.
The Canadian-born actor originated from Kentville,...
- 9/15/2018
- by Erin Nyren
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Donat, the prolific character actor of the stage and screen who appeared in two films for Francis Ford Coppola and portrayed the father of Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files, has died. He was 90.
Donat died Monday of diabetes complications at his home in Point Reyes Station, California, his wife, Maria, told The New York Times.
The Canadian-born Donat was inspired to become an actor by his uncle, British star Robert Donat, who was known for his performances in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and, in an Oscar-winning role, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).
Peter Donat was married to ...
Donat died Monday of diabetes complications at his home in Point Reyes Station, California, his wife, Maria, told The New York Times.
The Canadian-born Donat was inspired to become an actor by his uncle, British star Robert Donat, who was known for his performances in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and, in an Oscar-winning role, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).
Peter Donat was married to ...
- 9/15/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Updated: Following a couple of Julie London Westerns*, Turner Classic Movies will return to its July 2017 Star of the Month presentations. On July 27, Ronald Colman can be seen in five films from his later years: A Double Life, Random Harvest (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Late George Apley (1947), and The Story of Mankind (1957). The first three titles are among the most important in Colman's long film career. George Cukor's A Double Life earned him his one and only Best Actor Oscar; Mervyn LeRoy's Random Harvest earned him his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; George Stevens' The Talk of the Town was shortlisted for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. All three feature Ronald Colman at his very best. The early 21st century motto of international trendsetters, from Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Turkey's Recep Erdogan to Russia's Vladimir Putin and the United States' Donald Trump, seems to be, The world is reality TV and reality TV...
- 7/28/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Ben-Hur' 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM's '31 Days of Oscar.' '31 Days of Oscar': 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben-Hur' are in, Paramount stars are out Today, Feb. 1, '16, Turner Classic Movies is kicking off the 21st edition of its “31 Days of Oscar.” While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being vociferously reviled for its “lack of diversity” – more on that appallingly myopic, self-serving, and double-standard-embracing furore in an upcoming post – TCM is celebrating nearly nine decades of the Academy Awards. That's the good news. The disappointing news is that if you're expecting to find rare Paramount, Universal, or Fox/20th Century Fox entries in the mix, you're out of luck. So, missing from the TCM schedule are, among others: Best Actress nominees Ruth Chatterton in Sarah and Son, Nancy Carroll in The Devil's Holiday, Claudette Colbert in Private Worlds. Unofficial Best Actor...
- 2/2/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Saint Joan': Constance Cummings as the George Bernard Shaw heroine. Constance Cummings on stage: From sex-change farce and Emma Bovary to Juliet and 'Saint Joan' (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Frank Capra, Mae West and Columbia Lawsuit.”) In the mid-1930s, Constance Cummings landed the title roles in two of husband Benn W. Levy's stage adaptations: Levy and Hubert Griffith's Young Madame Conti (1936), starring Cummings as a demimondaine who falls in love with a villainous character. She ends up killing him – or does she? Adapted from Bruno Frank's German-language original, Young Madame Conti was presented on both sides of the Atlantic; on Broadway, it had a brief run in spring 1937 at the Music Box Theatre. Based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, the Theatre Guild-produced Madame Bovary (1937) was staged in late fall at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre. Referring to the London production of Young Madame Conti, The...
- 11/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Patrick Shanley
Managing Editor
At the 87th Academy Awards earlier this year, Michael Keaton was many prognosticator’s best actor front-runner for his performance in director Alejandro Iñárritu‘s Birdman. The legendary actor had a career resurgence in the role of Riggan Thomson (much needed after nearly a decade between major film roles) and the film’s subject matter of artistry and stage production/film making, both of which have been recipes for Oscar success for past performers. However, the award that night went to 33-year old British actor Eddie Redmayne for his role as physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
This year, Keaton again finds himself in a film surrounded by Oscar buzz, Spotlight, which centers on the investigation by Boston Globe journalists into the Catholic Church child molestation scandal. Keaton’s performance has garnered much positive attention and may likely lead to a second nomination for the 64-year old actor.
Managing Editor
At the 87th Academy Awards earlier this year, Michael Keaton was many prognosticator’s best actor front-runner for his performance in director Alejandro Iñárritu‘s Birdman. The legendary actor had a career resurgence in the role of Riggan Thomson (much needed after nearly a decade between major film roles) and the film’s subject matter of artistry and stage production/film making, both of which have been recipes for Oscar success for past performers. However, the award that night went to 33-year old British actor Eddie Redmayne for his role as physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
This year, Keaton again finds himself in a film surrounded by Oscar buzz, Spotlight, which centers on the investigation by Boston Globe journalists into the Catholic Church child molestation scandal. Keaton’s performance has garnered much positive attention and may likely lead to a second nomination for the 64-year old actor.
- 10/22/2015
- by Patrick Shanley
- Scott Feinberg
Dakota Blue Richards has joined the cast of ITV's Endeavour as a regular character.
The former Skins and Golden Compass star will play Wpc Shirley Trewlove in the Inspector Morse prequel series opposite Shaun Evans as the title character.
Trewlove is described as a "thorough, determined and forthright" officer, who becomes a valuable member of the force and attracts the admiration of Endeavour.
Creator Russell Lewis said of the character: "Bright, capable and brave, Wpc Shirley Trewlove is a very welcome addition to the ranks of Oxford's Finest. While very much a young woman of the 1960s, Trewlove also evokes a very particular kind of timeless British heroine.
"The sort of clear-eyed, resourceful young woman one wouldn't be surprised to find behind the wheel of the ambulance in Ice Cold in Alex or keeping Robert Donat company across the moors in The 39 Steps. In Dakota we have found our perfect Trewlove.
The former Skins and Golden Compass star will play Wpc Shirley Trewlove in the Inspector Morse prequel series opposite Shaun Evans as the title character.
Trewlove is described as a "thorough, determined and forthright" officer, who becomes a valuable member of the force and attracts the admiration of Endeavour.
Creator Russell Lewis said of the character: "Bright, capable and brave, Wpc Shirley Trewlove is a very welcome addition to the ranks of Oxford's Finest. While very much a young woman of the 1960s, Trewlove also evokes a very particular kind of timeless British heroine.
"The sort of clear-eyed, resourceful young woman one wouldn't be surprised to find behind the wheel of the ambulance in Ice Cold in Alex or keeping Robert Donat company across the moors in The 39 Steps. In Dakota we have found our perfect Trewlove.
- 5/20/2015
- Digital Spy
Seventy-five years after the premiere of "Gone With the Wind" (on December 15, 1939), it seems that nothing -- not the passage of time, not the movie's controversial racial politics, not the film's daunting length, and not even the release of certain James Cameron global blockbusters -- can diminish the romantic Civil War drama's stature as the most popular movie of all time.
The film is certainly a formidable artistic achievement, a cornerstone of movie history, and a highlight of a year so full of landmark films that 1939 has often been called the greatest year in the history of Hollywood filmmaking. Each viewing of the four-hour epic seems to reveal new details. Still, even longtime "Gwtw" fans may not know the behind-the-scenes story of the film, one as lengthy and tumultuous as the on-screen romance between Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Producer David O. Selznick spent fortunes, hired...
The film is certainly a formidable artistic achievement, a cornerstone of movie history, and a highlight of a year so full of landmark films that 1939 has often been called the greatest year in the history of Hollywood filmmaking. Each viewing of the four-hour epic seems to reveal new details. Still, even longtime "Gwtw" fans may not know the behind-the-scenes story of the film, one as lengthy and tumultuous as the on-screen romance between Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Producer David O. Selznick spent fortunes, hired...
- 12/16/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...
- 11/5/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mickey Rooney was earliest surviving Best Actor Oscar nominee (photo: Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy in ‘Boys Town’) (See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Dead at 93: MGM’s Andy Hardy Series’ Hero and Judy Garland Frequent Co-Star Had Longest Film Career Ever?”) Mickey Rooney was the earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award nominee — Babes in Arms, 1939; The Human Comedy, 1943 — and the last surviving male acting Oscar nominee of the 1930s. Rooney lost the Best Actor Oscar to two considerably more “prestigious” — albeit less popular — stars: Robert Donat for Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Paul Lukas for Herman Shumlin’s Watch on the Rhine (1943). Following Mickey Rooney’s death, there are only two acting Academy Award nominees from the ’30s still alive: two-time Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, 104 (for Robert Z. Leonard’s The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and Sidney Franklin’s The Good Earth, 1937), and Best Supporting Actress nominee Olivia de Havilland,...
- 4/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
This year’s Best Actor race is shaping up to be one of the greatest of all time. And by greatest, I mean both the most competitive and also the most outstanding, in the sense that each nominee is excellent — hypothetical winners in almost any other year. They also reflect the depth of superb male performances in 2013. Consider: Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Robert Redford (All Is Lost), Joaquin Phoneix (Her), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), and Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) all missed the cut.
EW’s Owen Gleiberman recently analyzed this year’s Best Actor race, calling it the most “fiercely,...
EW’s Owen Gleiberman recently analyzed this year’s Best Actor race, calling it the most “fiercely,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
Miscasting in films has always been a problem. A producer hires an actor thinking that he or she is perfect for a movie role only to find the opposite is true. Other times a star is hired for his box office draw but ruins an otherwise good movie because he looks completely out of place.
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
- 1/24/2014
- Shadowlocked
Peter O’Toole movies and Best Actor Oscar nominations (photo: young Peter O’Toole in the early ’60s) (See previous post: "Peter O’Toole ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Actor: Eight-Time Oscar Nominee Dead at 81.") At the 2003 Academy Awards ceremony, Meryl Streep handed Peter O’Toole an Honorary Oscar. That remained O’Toole’s sole Academy Award "victory." In fact, with eight Best Actor Oscar nominations to his credit, Peter O’Toole held — or rather, holds — the Oscars’ record for the most nods in any of the acting categories without a single (competitive) win. He was shortlisted for the following films: ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ "I can’t imagine anyone whom I’m less like than T.E. Lawrence," Peter O’Toole himself admitted, but his characterization in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was widely admired all the same. The movie itself, however historically inaccurate, also received enthusiastic praise, and was perceived as...
- 12/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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