Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian-born filmmaker who directed Laurence Olivier in A Voyage Round My Father, has died. He was 97.
His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his longtime publicist, Nick Pourgourides. He passed away on Oct. 12 surrounded by family at home in Chiswick, a neighborhood in London.
Rakoff as a writer, director and producer of over 100 TV, film and stage productions, as well as novels, directed Olivier and co-stars Alan Bates and Jane Asher in the 1982 TV drama A Voyage Round My Father, a film written by John Mortimer and which earned the director his second Emmy Award.
Alvin and Olivier also worked together on Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson and A Talent for Murder, both shot in 1983. The two-time Emmy Award winner also gave a young Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 film Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Alan Rickman as a young actor was...
His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his longtime publicist, Nick Pourgourides. He passed away on Oct. 12 surrounded by family at home in Chiswick, a neighborhood in London.
Rakoff as a writer, director and producer of over 100 TV, film and stage productions, as well as novels, directed Olivier and co-stars Alan Bates and Jane Asher in the 1982 TV drama A Voyage Round My Father, a film written by John Mortimer and which earned the director his second Emmy Award.
Alvin and Olivier also worked together on Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson and A Talent for Murder, both shot in 1983. The two-time Emmy Award winner also gave a young Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 film Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Alan Rickman as a young actor was...
- 10/17/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Alvin Rakoff, the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, died in Chiswick, London, October 12 surrounded by his family. He was 97.
Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.
Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.
As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.
Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.
Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.
As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.
- 10/17/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
“She always looks so extreme,” a fellow teacher observes of Maggie Smith’s trademark rigidity in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969), putting her finger on the straight-backed, nose-high hauteur audiences enjoyed for more than half a century.
A shrill and tragically short-sighted instructor at a school full of impressionable-aged girls, Jean Brodie proved to be the defining credit of the English stage legend’s screen career, to the extent that her strict-but-caring Harry Potter character, deputy headmistress Minerva McGonagall, could be the selfsame martinet, curdled by several more decades of disappointment. (Kids who grew up on the J.K. Rowling adaptations will surely appreciate “Prime” once they’re older.)
That’s not to say she was never better. In fact, Smith, who died Friday, never gave a bad performance, and just as fine wines improve with age, that also goes for the legendary actor’s biting brand of vinegar, which...
A shrill and tragically short-sighted instructor at a school full of impressionable-aged girls, Jean Brodie proved to be the defining credit of the English stage legend’s screen career, to the extent that her strict-but-caring Harry Potter character, deputy headmistress Minerva McGonagall, could be the selfsame martinet, curdled by several more decades of disappointment. (Kids who grew up on the J.K. Rowling adaptations will surely appreciate “Prime” once they’re older.)
That’s not to say she was never better. In fact, Smith, who died Friday, never gave a bad performance, and just as fine wines improve with age, that also goes for the legendary actor’s biting brand of vinegar, which...
- 9/27/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Millicent Martin and Denholm Elliott also star in Clive Donner’s 1964 satire on class, filled with macabre twists
There is some addictive raffishness and raciness in this 1964 British black-comedy satire for which screenwriter Frederic Raphael adapts a short story by American mystery writer Stanley Ellin; Clive Donner directs with cinematography by Nicolas Roeg. Alan Bates plays a pushy, plausible young fellow called James Brewster, employed in an upmarket “auctioneer” house – ie estate agent’s – in London’s West End, a firm greedily taking advantage of the construction boom.
Brewster is competent and hardworking but deeply ashamed of his lower-class background and his poor old mum and dad, and suspects he would do much better in the company if he had some patrician polish; his boss Mr Horton (Harry Andrews) is at present more enamoured of his airily entitled colleague Hugh (James Villiers) who is dating Horton’s daughter Ann, played...
There is some addictive raffishness and raciness in this 1964 British black-comedy satire for which screenwriter Frederic Raphael adapts a short story by American mystery writer Stanley Ellin; Clive Donner directs with cinematography by Nicolas Roeg. Alan Bates plays a pushy, plausible young fellow called James Brewster, employed in an upmarket “auctioneer” house – ie estate agent’s – in London’s West End, a firm greedily taking advantage of the construction boom.
Brewster is competent and hardworking but deeply ashamed of his lower-class background and his poor old mum and dad, and suspects he would do much better in the company if he had some patrician polish; his boss Mr Horton (Harry Andrews) is at present more enamoured of his airily entitled colleague Hugh (James Villiers) who is dating Horton’s daughter Ann, played...
- 8/21/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The Crown star Imelda Staunton has joined the list of the UK’s celebrated acting dames, after being given the title in the King’s Birthday Honors list.
Staunton, whose six-decade career includes her role of Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and the title role in the movie Vera Drake, will join previous acting recipients of the honor, including Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Harriet Walter, Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith.
The BBC reports Staunton responded to the announcement of her new title: “Theater, film and television are essential to our well-being, stand at the heart of our culture, and are admired throughout the world. I am proud to play my part in this important industry.”
The most heartwarming recognition in this year’s list goes to Alan Bates, the campaigner whose real-life story was told in the hit drama Mr Bates Vs. The Post Office. Bates spent years...
Staunton, whose six-decade career includes her role of Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and the title role in the movie Vera Drake, will join previous acting recipients of the honor, including Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Harriet Walter, Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith.
The BBC reports Staunton responded to the announcement of her new title: “Theater, film and television are essential to our well-being, stand at the heart of our culture, and are admired throughout the world. I am proud to play my part in this important industry.”
The most heartwarming recognition in this year’s list goes to Alan Bates, the campaigner whose real-life story was told in the hit drama Mr Bates Vs. The Post Office. Bates spent years...
- 6/15/2024
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Period dramas have always been hot (repression so often is). Whether it’s Oliver Reed and Alan Bates nude wrestling in front of a roaring fire in “Women in Love” or Keira Knightley and James McCardle in the library with the green dress in “Atonement,” sex has always been there in period dramas. But something has happened in recent years in television: Shows set in ye olden times have gotten much, much hornier.
“Bridgerton” earned a lot of publicity for its frank sex scenes in Season 1, but it was hardly the first. There’s something about peeling back the bedclothes (and clothes) of a lost era that makes it resonate even more with modern audiences. If the stolen glances and hastily scrawled notes are foreplay, then we’re now living in a golden age of ruffled and furbelowed consummation.
With “Bridgerton” Season 3 premiering May 16, IndieWire decided to do the hard...
“Bridgerton” earned a lot of publicity for its frank sex scenes in Season 1, but it was hardly the first. There’s something about peeling back the bedclothes (and clothes) of a lost era that makes it resonate even more with modern audiences. If the stolen glances and hastily scrawled notes are foreplay, then we’re now living in a golden age of ruffled and furbelowed consummation.
With “Bridgerton” Season 3 premiering May 16, IndieWire decided to do the hard...
- 5/14/2024
- by Sarah Shachat and Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
The PBS channel recently aired the British series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, based on a true story. Earlier this year, the project was released in its home country on the ITV channel, sparking a new wave of interest in the old but completely outrageous story.
A bug in Horizon's computer accounting system led to dozens of subpostmasters being accused of massive embezzlement. Taking on a huge civil service is difficult and frightening, but there is one small man with a big heart, Alan Bates, who is willing to take the risk.
To understand the essence of the story, it is first necessary to explain who subpostmasters are. They are the people who contract with the Post Office of Great Britain, get a franchise, and open a post office. In small towns, they are respected citizens who know all the locals – the real pillars of society.
What is...
A bug in Horizon's computer accounting system led to dozens of subpostmasters being accused of massive embezzlement. Taking on a huge civil service is difficult and frightening, but there is one small man with a big heart, Alan Bates, who is willing to take the risk.
To understand the essence of the story, it is first necessary to explain who subpostmasters are. They are the people who contract with the Post Office of Great Britain, get a franchise, and open a post office. In small towns, they are respected citizens who know all the locals – the real pillars of society.
What is...
- 5/7/2024
- by zoe-wallace@startefacts.com (Zoe Wallace)
- STartefacts.com
Get ready for another gripping episode of “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” airing this Monday at 8:00 Pm on PBS. In this installment, the tension escalates as Alan Bates and the Subpostmasters embark on a quest for truth and justice, rallying new allies in Parliament to support their cause.
As the battle against the Post Office intensifies, viewers can expect high-stakes drama and compelling storytelling as Bates and his allies navigate the complexities of the legal system and the corridors of power. With the stakes higher than ever, every move becomes crucial in their fight to uncover the truth and hold the Post Office accountable for its actions.
Filled with intrigue, suspense, and powerful performances, “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” continues to captivate audiences with its riveting portrayal of real-life events. Tune in this Monday at 8:00 Pm on PBS to witness the next chapter in this gripping saga of justice and redemption.
As the battle against the Post Office intensifies, viewers can expect high-stakes drama and compelling storytelling as Bates and his allies navigate the complexities of the legal system and the corridors of power. With the stakes higher than ever, every move becomes crucial in their fight to uncover the truth and hold the Post Office accountable for its actions.
Filled with intrigue, suspense, and powerful performances, “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” continues to captivate audiences with its riveting portrayal of real-life events. Tune in this Monday at 8:00 Pm on PBS to witness the next chapter in this gripping saga of justice and redemption.
- 4/8/2024
- by Jules Byrd
- TV Everyday
Prepare for an engaging and thought-provoking episode of “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office on Masterpiece” airing on PBS at 9:00 Pm on Sunday, April 14, 2024. In Season 1 Episode 2, viewers will witness Alan Bates and the Subpostmasters as they embark on a courageous journey to seek truth and justice, armed with newfound allies in Parliament.
As the battle intensifies, tensions rise, and the stakes are higher than ever before. With the Subpostmasters facing formidable challenges, they must rally together and confront the injustices that have plagued them for far too long. With the support of their allies, they set out to hold the Post Office accountable and demand accountability for their actions.
Join the fight for truth and justice in this riveting episode that sheds light on the power of perseverance and the importance of standing up for what is right. Don’t miss “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office on...
As the battle intensifies, tensions rise, and the stakes are higher than ever before. With the Subpostmasters facing formidable challenges, they must rally together and confront the injustices that have plagued them for far too long. With the support of their allies, they set out to hold the Post Office accountable and demand accountability for their actions.
Join the fight for truth and justice in this riveting episode that sheds light on the power of perseverance and the importance of standing up for what is right. Don’t miss “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office on...
- 4/7/2024
- by Jules Byrd
- TV Everyday
The creators of Mr Bates Vs the Post Office and Dr Death, which are among the most meaningful TV dramas of recent years, have outlined the secrets behind their series.
During a panel session at the Berlinale Series Market chaired by Deadline, Mr Bates Vs the Post Office executive producer Patrick Spence outlined the weight his production team felt during the making of the ITV drama, which laid bare the story of the biggest legal injustice in British history.
He revealed the show’s 12 lead actors, who include Toby Jones as the real life campaigner Alan Bates, worked for “in some cases, a fifth of what they could normally get” because the story had affected them so deeply. “They did it because they were angry. They had to buy in,” he added.
The drama, from ITV Studios and Little Gem, told the story of how more than 800 sub postmasters, who...
During a panel session at the Berlinale Series Market chaired by Deadline, Mr Bates Vs the Post Office executive producer Patrick Spence outlined the weight his production team felt during the making of the ITV drama, which laid bare the story of the biggest legal injustice in British history.
He revealed the show’s 12 lead actors, who include Toby Jones as the real life campaigner Alan Bates, worked for “in some cases, a fifth of what they could normally get” because the story had affected them so deeply. “They did it because they were angry. They had to buy in,” he added.
The drama, from ITV Studios and Little Gem, told the story of how more than 800 sub postmasters, who...
- 2/20/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Norman Jewison, the versatile, acclaimed filmmaker behind movies like Fiddler on the Roof and In the Heat of the Night, died Saturday at home, his publicist announced Monday. He was 97.
Jewison was a seven-time Oscar nominee and earned the Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 1999. He earned both Best Director and Best Picture nods for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1987 rom-com Moonstruck, starring Cher.
He also was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for 1976’s In the Heat of the Night.
Jewison was a seven-time Oscar nominee and earned the Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 1999. He earned both Best Director and Best Picture nods for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1987 rom-com Moonstruck, starring Cher.
He also was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for 1976’s In the Heat of the Night.
- 1/22/2024
- by Tomás Mier
- Rollingstone.com
The Communication Workers Union (Cwu) of the UK has issued a statement, following the huge public reaction to the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired last week.
The four-part drama depicted the injustice suffered by hundreds of innocent British postmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting by their Post Office employers when faulty software caused accounting mistakes to appear in local post offices around the country. With many imprisoned for offences they did not commit, the debacle has been called the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Alan Bates of the title was the postmaster who campaigned for years to have the convictions overturned. He is played in the drama by actor Toby Jones.
In the days since the drama aired, thousands of British viewers have demanded that the Post Office’s former CEO Paula Vennells – the boss who oversaw the...
The four-part drama depicted the injustice suffered by hundreds of innocent British postmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting by their Post Office employers when faulty software caused accounting mistakes to appear in local post offices around the country. With many imprisoned for offences they did not commit, the debacle has been called the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Alan Bates of the title was the postmaster who campaigned for years to have the convictions overturned. He is played in the drama by actor Toby Jones.
In the days since the drama aired, thousands of British viewers have demanded that the Post Office’s former CEO Paula Vennells – the boss who oversaw the...
- 1/6/2024
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Based on a real-life event, the BBC series, Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office, brings to light one of the greatest miscarriages of justice that took place in the British legal history. This four-part miniseries revolves around a subpostmaster named Alan Bates, who was accused of stealing money from his post office accounts, but Alan knew that it was the Horizon computer system that was to blame for these huge monetary discrepancies. Alan later found out that, just like him, many other subpostmasters had suffered the same fate, which ultimately prompted Alan to gather all those subpostmasters who were wrongly accused and demand a public inquiry to find out the truth. Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, is inspired by a real-life person of the same name who fought against the injustice perpetrated against the subpostmasters. Let’s discuss Alan Bates’ character to learn more about him.
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was Alan Bates?...
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was Alan Bates?...
- 1/5/2024
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
The recent passing of Terence Davies and the tributes that followed — tales of a steel will, impassioned budgetary battles and a host of dream projects that never materialized — give this highly personal tribute to Scottish filmmaker Bill Douglas an extra and very poignant relevance as a similar story, now depressingly familiar to the British film industry, of an uncompromising talent who left us with a tantalizing promise of what might have been. Now largely unknown to the wider world but very dear to the heart of Scotland (despite the fact that he left his homeland at the earliest opportunity), Douglas is the closest thing to a Rosetta Stone in recent British independent and social-realist cinema. From his early home movies through to his last three-hour masterwork Comrades (1986), the director left an indelible imprint that still seems shockingly modern today, leaving traces in everything from Derek Jarman’s early Super-8 works...
- 11/2/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
To celebrate the release of Mark Cousins’ new documentary The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, a portrait of the Oscar-winning producer responsible for bringing to life films by David Cronenberg, Jonathan Glazer, Jim Jarmusch, Bernardo Bertolucci, Nagisa Ôshima, Jerzy Skolimowski, and many more, NYC’s Quad Cinema is fittingly paying tribute to his career with a fantastic retrospective.
“Jeremy Thomas Presents” kicks off today and runs through September 28 at Quad Cinema, with The Storms of Jeremy Thomas opening this Friday, September 22. As the retrospective commences, we’re pleased to exclusively share the trailer along with comments directly from Thomas looking back at the making of these iconic films.
Sexy Beast
I was sent a script with a Jonathan Glazer attached, called “Sexy Beast”. It was on a Friday night, and I read it over the weekend. The screenplay was brilliant, and on the Monday I bought it before anyone else could.
“Jeremy Thomas Presents” kicks off today and runs through September 28 at Quad Cinema, with The Storms of Jeremy Thomas opening this Friday, September 22. As the retrospective commences, we’re pleased to exclusively share the trailer along with comments directly from Thomas looking back at the making of these iconic films.
Sexy Beast
I was sent a script with a Jonathan Glazer attached, called “Sexy Beast”. It was on a Friday night, and I read it over the weekend. The screenplay was brilliant, and on the Monday I bought it before anyone else could.
- 9/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
For writer-director Naqqash Khalid, questions are more important than answers and this premise is something the academic-turned-filmmaker explores heavily in his debut film In Camera, which recently premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The bold film, which opened to positive reviews after it screened in the fest’s Proxima section last week, is the first feature to come out of the 2019 iFeatures slate, the low-budget Creative UK scheme from the UK’s BFI Film Fund and BBC Film.
In Camera is a satirical drama that follows Aden (played by Nabhaan Rizwan), an actor who is hoping to break into the UK film industry but faces a series of challenges that make him question his desire to be accepted by a system that wasn’t built to include him. After a cycle of nightmarish auditions and multiple rejections, he finally lands a job role-playing as the dead son of...
In Camera is a satirical drama that follows Aden (played by Nabhaan Rizwan), an actor who is hoping to break into the UK film industry but faces a series of challenges that make him question his desire to be accepted by a system that wasn’t built to include him. After a cycle of nightmarish auditions and multiple rejections, he finally lands a job role-playing as the dead son of...
- 7/7/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Glenda Jackson, the British actress who hit the snooze bar on her acting career for a 23-year career in politics, died on Thursday, as per her representatives. During her peak years in the 1970s and 80s, she won two Oscars (and was nominated for two more) and two Emmy Awards. She was nominated for four Tony Awards, finally winning one in 2018 after a late-in-life career resurgence. She was 87 years old.
Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.
This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.
Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.
This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.
- 6/15/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
The British actor was the epitome of countercultural chic in key 1970s films. It is just a shame she couldn’t be persuaded to do more of them when her political career ended
Glenda Jackson, fearless actor and politician, dies aged 87
For a brief, intense period in the 70s, Glenda Jackson was the very epitome of bohemian Brit chic in the movies: gamine in a worldly English way, intellectual, liberated and frank but with a capacity for demure naivety. This was a period that gloriously co-existed with her recurring appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Jackson revered Eric and Ernie to the end of her life, because apart from their own value, her guest-spots on their programme led to her being cast in the 1973 Hollywood comedy A Touch of Class, which in turn gave Jackson her second Oscar, the title tacitly describing what this Rada-trained English actor was giving the movie.
Glenda Jackson, fearless actor and politician, dies aged 87
For a brief, intense period in the 70s, Glenda Jackson was the very epitome of bohemian Brit chic in the movies: gamine in a worldly English way, intellectual, liberated and frank but with a capacity for demure naivety. This was a period that gloriously co-existed with her recurring appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Jackson revered Eric and Ernie to the end of her life, because apart from their own value, her guest-spots on their programme led to her being cast in the 1973 Hollywood comedy A Touch of Class, which in turn gave Jackson her second Oscar, the title tacitly describing what this Rada-trained English actor was giving the movie.
- 6/15/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar winner who walked away from a hugely successful acting career to spend nearly a quarter-century in the U.K. parliament, only to make a comeback on the stage, died Thursday. She was 87.
Jackson died peacefully after a brief illness at her home in Blackheath, London, and her family was at her side, her agent Lionel Larner said in a statement. “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses, and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.
She recently completed filming The Great Escaper opposite Michael Caine, Larner noted.
The British actress collected a slew of honors that included best actress Academy Awards for Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973); two Emmys for her performance as Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R (a role she also played in the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots); and a...
Jackson died peacefully after a brief illness at her home in Blackheath, London, and her family was at her side, her agent Lionel Larner said in a statement. “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses, and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.
She recently completed filming The Great Escaper opposite Michael Caine, Larner noted.
The British actress collected a slew of honors that included best actress Academy Awards for Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973); two Emmys for her performance as Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R (a role she also played in the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots); and a...
- 6/15/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning British actress and former Labour MP, has died. She was 87.
In a statement, her agent Lionel Larner said she died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, following a “brief illness.”
Larner’s statement read: “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress, and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.”
Statement continued: “She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”
Jackson was perhaps best known for her two Oscar-winning performances in Ken Russell’s 1970’s pic Women in Love, a D. H. Lawrence adaptation, where she starred alongside Alan Bates and Oliver Reed and 1973’s A Touch of Class. Jackson also won a BAFTA Best Actress gong for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971).
Jackson was born in 1936 in North West England. She studied at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
In a statement, her agent Lionel Larner said she died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, following a “brief illness.”
Larner’s statement read: “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress, and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.”
Statement continued: “She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”
Jackson was perhaps best known for her two Oscar-winning performances in Ken Russell’s 1970’s pic Women in Love, a D. H. Lawrence adaptation, where she starred alongside Alan Bates and Oliver Reed and 1973’s A Touch of Class. Jackson also won a BAFTA Best Actress gong for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971).
Jackson was born in 1936 in North West England. She studied at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
- 6/15/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Ben Whishaw Unveils First Project Since BAFTA TV Win
Exclusive: Ben Whishaw has unveiled his first project since being awarded his latest BAFTA TV Award. The This Is Going to Hurt star is leading short film Good Boy, the directorial debut from Mainstream co-writer Tom Stuart, which filmed on the Glastonbury Festival site in April. In Good Boy, Whishaw stars with Marion Bailey (The Crown) as a son and mother whose attempt to rob a bank is scuppered by bizarre manifestations from their past. Inspired by the writer-director’s own experience of bereavement, the personal film explores the insidious malleability of grief and the unexpected ways it asserts itself in daily life. “The pandemic has brought us an unprecedented amount of death and behind it a dark wave of grief,” said Stuart. “I’ve learnt that it’s only by talking about my grief that I’m able to loosen...
Exclusive: Ben Whishaw has unveiled his first project since being awarded his latest BAFTA TV Award. The This Is Going to Hurt star is leading short film Good Boy, the directorial debut from Mainstream co-writer Tom Stuart, which filmed on the Glastonbury Festival site in April. In Good Boy, Whishaw stars with Marion Bailey (The Crown) as a son and mother whose attempt to rob a bank is scuppered by bizarre manifestations from their past. Inspired by the writer-director’s own experience of bereavement, the personal film explores the insidious malleability of grief and the unexpected ways it asserts itself in daily life. “The pandemic has brought us an unprecedented amount of death and behind it a dark wave of grief,” said Stuart. “I’ve learnt that it’s only by talking about my grief that I’m able to loosen...
- 5/19/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Charlotte Rampling self-identifies as a “prickly” person. “Like a hedgehog or porcupine, you don’t necessarily get too close,” she told IndieWire.
You’d know that from any number of her roles. The 77-year-old, English-born, Paris-living actress has worked in the European arthouse for more than half a century, turning out kinky roles in divisive, sensuous period pieces like Liliana Cavani’s S&m concentration camp psychodrama “The Night Porter” and Luchino Visconti’s depraved Weimar tableau “The Damned.” But she’s also brought hard-shelled wit to character studies like François Ozon’s “Under the Sand” and “Swimming Pool,” Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years,” and Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”
In that film, Rampling played one of her prickliest characters, a callous and ambivalent mother who prefers to blithely take a bath during her daughter’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding reception rather than make small talk or give toasts with the guests downstairs.
You’d know that from any number of her roles. The 77-year-old, English-born, Paris-living actress has worked in the European arthouse for more than half a century, turning out kinky roles in divisive, sensuous period pieces like Liliana Cavani’s S&m concentration camp psychodrama “The Night Porter” and Luchino Visconti’s depraved Weimar tableau “The Damned.” But she’s also brought hard-shelled wit to character studies like François Ozon’s “Under the Sand” and “Swimming Pool,” Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years,” and Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”
In that film, Rampling played one of her prickliest characters, a callous and ambivalent mother who prefers to blithely take a bath during her daughter’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding reception rather than make small talk or give toasts with the guests downstairs.
- 2/23/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Edyth “Edie” Landau, producer of The David Susskind Show and Long Day’s Journey Into Night as well an executive at National Telefilm Associates, died in her home on December 24, 2022. She was 95.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Jo Mersa Marley Dies: Reggae Artist & Bob Marley's Grandson Was 31 Related Story Marcus Coloma Did Not Film Final 'General Hospital' Scenes "Due To Health Issues"
The producer was born on July 15, 1927, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. After graduating college she moved to New York City to pursue a career in entertainment where she became an executive at National Telefilm Associates, a company run by Ely Landau, who Edie ended up marrying.
Edie became Executive Vice President of the company, overseeing the station’s original programming including the anthology drama series The Play of the Week, The Mike Wallace Show, The David Susskind Sho, and Open End.
She and...
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Jo Mersa Marley Dies: Reggae Artist & Bob Marley's Grandson Was 31 Related Story Marcus Coloma Did Not Film Final 'General Hospital' Scenes "Due To Health Issues"
The producer was born on July 15, 1927, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. After graduating college she moved to New York City to pursue a career in entertainment where she became an executive at National Telefilm Associates, a company run by Ely Landau, who Edie ended up marrying.
Edie became Executive Vice President of the company, overseeing the station’s original programming including the anthology drama series The Play of the Week, The Mike Wallace Show, The David Susskind Sho, and Open End.
She and...
- 12/28/2022
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Derek Granger, the British producer and screenwriter who served as the driving force behind the acclaimed 1981 miniseries Brideshead Revisited, died Tuesday at his London home, screenwriter Tim Sullivan told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 101.
Granger teamed with Sullivan and Brideshead writer-director Charles Sturridge on the grand period films A Handful of Dust (1988), starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench, James Wilby, Anjelica Huston and Rupert Graves, and Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991), featuring Graves, Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis.
A onetime journalist and frequent Laurence Olivier collaborator, Granger in 1958 joined Granada Television, where he was head of drama and produced the famed soap opera Coronation Street; the epic 1972-73 series Country Matters, starring Ian McKellen; a 1976 adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Olivier, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; and, of course, Brideshead Revisited.
Based on Evelyn Waugh’s sprawling pre-World...
Derek Granger, the British producer and screenwriter who served as the driving force behind the acclaimed 1981 miniseries Brideshead Revisited, died Tuesday at his London home, screenwriter Tim Sullivan told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 101.
Granger teamed with Sullivan and Brideshead writer-director Charles Sturridge on the grand period films A Handful of Dust (1988), starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench, James Wilby, Anjelica Huston and Rupert Graves, and Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991), featuring Graves, Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis.
A onetime journalist and frequent Laurence Olivier collaborator, Granger in 1958 joined Granada Television, where he was head of drama and produced the famed soap opera Coronation Street; the epic 1972-73 series Country Matters, starring Ian McKellen; a 1976 adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Olivier, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; and, of course, Brideshead Revisited.
Based on Evelyn Waugh’s sprawling pre-World...
- 11/29/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Irene Papas, the Greek actress known for such films as “Zorba the Greek,” “Z” and “The Guns of Navarone,” has died. She was 93.
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports confirmed the news Wednesday in a statement.
Papas starred in over 70 films and stage productions throughout her career spanning nearly six decades, from Hollywood features to French and Italian cinema. She also appeared in dozens of Greek tragedies, including the title role in the 1961 film adaptation of “Antigone.”
Born on Sept. 3, 1929, in the village of Chiliomodi near Corinth, Papas began her acting studies as a teenager and later worked on multiple film and TV projects in the ’40’s and ’50s, including “The Man from Cairo,” “The Unfaithfuls,” “Bouboulina” and “Attila,” among others.
In 1961, she played a supporting role in “The Guns of Navarone” starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn. Papas then starred opposite Quinn and Alan Bates in...
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports confirmed the news Wednesday in a statement.
Papas starred in over 70 films and stage productions throughout her career spanning nearly six decades, from Hollywood features to French and Italian cinema. She also appeared in dozens of Greek tragedies, including the title role in the 1961 film adaptation of “Antigone.”
Born on Sept. 3, 1929, in the village of Chiliomodi near Corinth, Papas began her acting studies as a teenager and later worked on multiple film and TV projects in the ’40’s and ’50s, including “The Man from Cairo,” “The Unfaithfuls,” “Bouboulina” and “Attila,” among others.
In 1961, she played a supporting role in “The Guns of Navarone” starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn. Papas then starred opposite Quinn and Alan Bates in...
- 9/14/2022
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Irene Papas, the Greek actress who starred in such films as The Guns of Navarone, Z, Zorba the Greek and dozens of other films, playing opposite many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, died Wednesday in her hometown of Chilimodion. She was 93.
No cause of death was given, but Papas was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-2010s.
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports confirmed the news. “Magnificent, majestic, dynamic, Irene Papas was the personification of Greek beauty on the cinema screen and on the theater stage, an international leading lady who radiated Greekness,” Minister Lina G. Mendoni said in a statement.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Papas was a veteran of French and Italian cinema as well as Hollywood. During her nearly six-decade screen career, she starred with such screen legends as Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Burton, James Cagney, Maximilian Schell, David Niven,...
No cause of death was given, but Papas was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-2010s.
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports confirmed the news. “Magnificent, majestic, dynamic, Irene Papas was the personification of Greek beauty on the cinema screen and on the theater stage, an international leading lady who radiated Greekness,” Minister Lina G. Mendoni said in a statement.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Papas was a veteran of French and Italian cinema as well as Hollywood. During her nearly six-decade screen career, she starred with such screen legends as Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Burton, James Cagney, Maximilian Schell, David Niven,...
- 9/14/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
One of many good things to be said about “Eo,” surely the wackiest movie in competition at Cannes this year, is that you would have no idea it was made by an 84-year-old filmmaker in only his fourth movie since the fall of the Soviet Union. A master of the aesthetically liberated New Polish Cinema — fellow alum include Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, and Krzysztof Zanussi — Jerzy Skolimowski last won plaudits on the Croisette in the late ’70s and early ’80s for a string of British-made dramas starring the likes of John Hurt and Jeremy Irons. Horror film “The Shout,” with Alan Bates, took the Grand Prix jury prize in 1978. “Moonlighting,” in 1982, won best screenplay here. New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it “one of the best films ever made about exile.”
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
- 5/20/2022
- by Adam Solomons
- Indiewire
Elizabeth Harris Aitken, who was married four times, including to two film superstars and a pair of cousins, died aged 85 on Friday April 15.
The socialite, author and family matriarch was most recently the wife of Jonathan Aitken, formerly disgraced politician who served in John Major’s Conservative government cabinet, turned devoted Christian and prison chaplain.
When Elizabeth Aitken wrote her memoirs aged 40, she titled them Love, Honour and Dismay, and dedicated them to “Rh” – which could have been either her first husband, Richard Harris, or her second, Rex Harrison.
Born Elizabeth Rees-Williams in 1936 in Wales, Aitken was the child of a Labour MP. She attended London’s Royal Academy for Dramatic Art herself, where she was in the company of future stars Peter O’Toole, Alan Bates and Albert Finney, but she became best known as the partner of Irish actor Richard Harris. The couple married in 1957. They stayed together for 11 years and had three sons,...
The socialite, author and family matriarch was most recently the wife of Jonathan Aitken, formerly disgraced politician who served in John Major’s Conservative government cabinet, turned devoted Christian and prison chaplain.
When Elizabeth Aitken wrote her memoirs aged 40, she titled them Love, Honour and Dismay, and dedicated them to “Rh” – which could have been either her first husband, Richard Harris, or her second, Rex Harrison.
Born Elizabeth Rees-Williams in 1936 in Wales, Aitken was the child of a Labour MP. She attended London’s Royal Academy for Dramatic Art herself, where she was in the company of future stars Peter O’Toole, Alan Bates and Albert Finney, but she became best known as the partner of Irish actor Richard Harris. The couple married in 1957. They stayed together for 11 years and had three sons,...
- 4/18/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
This feature contains spoilers for The Mothman Prophecies
Twenty years ago, on Jan 25, 2002, The Mothman Prophecies opened in movie theaters. Starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney and directed by Mark Pellington, the movie was a critical and commercial nonstarter, but in recent years it has developed a cult following as a truly creepy psychological horror flick.
Adapted from the book by John A. Keel, the film follows Gere’s reporter character John Klein, whose wife witnesses a flying moth-like creature with red eyes shortly before dying of a brain tumor. Two years later, he finds himself lost in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where strange sightings of a similar figure are on the rise. As he becomes a part of this mystery he’s likewise grappling with his lingering grief, and his sanity begins to unravel.
Atmospheric and unsettling, the movie also features one of the weirdest product placements in cinema...
Twenty years ago, on Jan 25, 2002, The Mothman Prophecies opened in movie theaters. Starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney and directed by Mark Pellington, the movie was a critical and commercial nonstarter, but in recent years it has developed a cult following as a truly creepy psychological horror flick.
Adapted from the book by John A. Keel, the film follows Gere’s reporter character John Klein, whose wife witnesses a flying moth-like creature with red eyes shortly before dying of a brain tumor. Two years later, he finds himself lost in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where strange sightings of a similar figure are on the rise. As he becomes a part of this mystery he’s likewise grappling with his lingering grief, and his sanity begins to unravel.
Atmospheric and unsettling, the movie also features one of the weirdest product placements in cinema...
- 1/28/2022
- by Aaron Sagers
- Den of Geek
Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which played an important role in his 1997 breakthrough film “Boogie Nights,” which looked at Valley’s porn industry during the ‘70s and 80s. In his new United Artists release “Licorice Pizza,” Anderson returns to the Sfv for a nostalgia-tinged comedy-of-age story set in 1973 starring Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim. Both young performers received strong notices with the L.A. Times’ Justin Chang declaring Haim as the true star of “this boisterous, bighearted movie and its raison d’être.” And Bradley Cooper has earned positive notices for his funny turn as hairdresser turned film producer Jon Peters, who ironically was a producer on Cooper’s 2018 “A Star is Born.”
So, what was the world like in 1973? It was the year of Watergate, Roe Vs. Wade and “The Exorcist” hitting the big screen. Let’s travel back almost half a century to look at the top films,...
So, what was the world like in 1973? It was the year of Watergate, Roe Vs. Wade and “The Exorcist” hitting the big screen. Let’s travel back almost half a century to look at the top films,...
- 12/2/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Mikis Theodorakis, the Greek composer of acclaimed scores for such films as Zorba the Greek, Z and Serpico, died today at his home in Athens of cardiac arrest. He was 96.
His death was announced on his website. A longtime and outspoken advocate for leftist causes whose opposition to the 1967–1974 Greek junta landed him in prison and then exile in Paris during the late 1960s and early ’70s, Theodorakis saw his considerable body of musical work both banned and celebrated in his home country.
In the wake of his death today, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared three days of national mourning. Theodorakis’ body will lie in state, according to a statement read on Greek state television today.
Though his musical compositions spanned the worlds of ballet, opera, symphonies and the theater, Theodorakis might best be remembered for 1964’s Zorba the Greek, directed by Michael Cacoyiannis and starring Anthony Quinn. In particular,...
His death was announced on his website. A longtime and outspoken advocate for leftist causes whose opposition to the 1967–1974 Greek junta landed him in prison and then exile in Paris during the late 1960s and early ’70s, Theodorakis saw his considerable body of musical work both banned and celebrated in his home country.
In the wake of his death today, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared three days of national mourning. Theodorakis’ body will lie in state, according to a statement read on Greek state television today.
Though his musical compositions spanned the worlds of ballet, opera, symphonies and the theater, Theodorakis might best be remembered for 1964’s Zorba the Greek, directed by Michael Cacoyiannis and starring Anthony Quinn. In particular,...
- 9/2/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Cynthia Erivo has set up a remake of the Bette Midler-starring film “The Rose,” signing on to produce and star in the new movie for Searchlight.
The Grammy, Tony, and Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee will take on the title role in the musical romantic drama, which follows a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those who surround her. But while the new production will pay homage to the classic film, Erivo’s take on the story is said to “put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.”
Erivo will produce the project with Solome Williams under her newly launched production banner Edith’s Daughter. Williams serves as vice president of development at the label, which has a first-look deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media.
Richard Ruiz, Searchlight’s director of development,...
The Grammy, Tony, and Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee will take on the title role in the musical romantic drama, which follows a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those who surround her. But while the new production will pay homage to the classic film, Erivo’s take on the story is said to “put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.”
Erivo will produce the project with Solome Williams under her newly launched production banner Edith’s Daughter. Williams serves as vice president of development at the label, which has a first-look deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media.
Richard Ruiz, Searchlight’s director of development,...
- 6/16/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Cynthia Erivo is set to star in and produce a remake of the 1979 film “The Rose,” a musical romance that starred Bette Midler and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
Erivo’s “The Rose” remake is set up at Searchlight Pictures and is the story of a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those around her.
While the new film will pay homage to the original, “The Rose” aims to put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.
No director or writer is attached at this stage.
Erivo is producing with Solome Williams. “The Rose” will be overseen by Searchlight’s director of development Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh.
The original “The Rose” was released by Twentieth Century Fox and starred Midler alongside Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest and Harry Dean Stanton. Mark Rydell...
Erivo’s “The Rose” remake is set up at Searchlight Pictures and is the story of a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those around her.
While the new film will pay homage to the original, “The Rose” aims to put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.
No director or writer is attached at this stage.
Erivo is producing with Solome Williams. “The Rose” will be overseen by Searchlight’s director of development Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh.
The original “The Rose” was released by Twentieth Century Fox and starred Midler alongside Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest and Harry Dean Stanton. Mark Rydell...
- 6/16/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
John Schlesinger decided not to attend the Academy Awards in 1970, even though his film “Midnight Cowboy” had been nominated for Best Picture and he was up for Best Director. On the evening of April 7, 1970, otherwise known as Oscar night, the British director remained in London with his American boyfriend, the photographer Michael Childers. Schlesinger didn’t want to make the brutal 24-hour roundtrip flight to Hollywood and back, and besides, he was well into production on his follow-up film, “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” For him, it was a very personal project, and, in some ways, an even more controversial film than “Midnight Cowboy.”
As Schlesinger explained it, the genesis of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” went back to the early 1960s when he was directing his first play for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “At the time, I had a very intense affair with one of the actors, a man who was bisexual,” Schlesinger recalled.
As Schlesinger explained it, the genesis of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” went back to the early 1960s when he was directing his first play for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “At the time, I had a very intense affair with one of the actors, a man who was bisexual,” Schlesinger recalled.
- 6/2/2021
- by Robert Hofler
- The Wrap
The star from Sid & Nancy, Terminator 2, Candyman, Gattaca, Leaving Las Vegas and the new chiller The Dark And The Wicked takes us on a journey through some of his favorite foreign films.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Candyman (1992)
Frankenstein (1931)
Sid and Nancy (1986)
The Dark And The Wicked (2020)
The Wall of Mexico (2019)
La Dolce Vita (1961)
Il Bidone (1955)
Day For Night (1973)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1967)
8 ½ (1963)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)
Rififi (1955)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Z (1969)
The Sleeping Car Murders (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Burn! (1969)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Italian Job (1969)
The Italian Job (2003)
The Magician (1958)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Persona (1966)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Last House On The Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
Paperhouse (1988)
The Strangers (2008)
The Monster (2016)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Nostalghia (1983)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Zorba The Greek (1964)
Pollyanna (1960)
Other Notable Items
Lon...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Candyman (1992)
Frankenstein (1931)
Sid and Nancy (1986)
The Dark And The Wicked (2020)
The Wall of Mexico (2019)
La Dolce Vita (1961)
Il Bidone (1955)
Day For Night (1973)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1967)
8 ½ (1963)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)
Rififi (1955)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Z (1969)
The Sleeping Car Murders (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Burn! (1969)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Italian Job (1969)
The Italian Job (2003)
The Magician (1958)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Persona (1966)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Last House On The Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
Paperhouse (1988)
The Strangers (2008)
The Monster (2016)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Nostalghia (1983)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Zorba The Greek (1964)
Pollyanna (1960)
Other Notable Items
Lon...
- 12/15/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Even those who consider themselves experts in the subject will find a provocative treasure trove of images and anecdotes in “Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies.” Danny Wolf’s documentary is a breezy, open-eyed, and often encyclopedic compendium of all the ways the cinema has celebrated, exploited, and negotiated the power of the naked body. The film opens with a montage of actors and directors recalling the first movie they ever saw that had nudity in it, and that allows the film, in its early moments, to leap through some of Nudity’s Greatest Hits.
As it moves back in time, one of the documentary’s fascinations is the way it’s constantly juxtaposing big Hollywood movies and European art movies and softcore exploitation films and everything in between. That, of course, is just as it should be. Aesthetically, there’s a world of difference between “Vixen” and “The Virgin Spring,...
As it moves back in time, one of the documentary’s fascinations is the way it’s constantly juxtaposing big Hollywood movies and European art movies and softcore exploitation films and everything in between. That, of course, is just as it should be. Aesthetically, there’s a world of difference between “Vixen” and “The Virgin Spring,...
- 8/19/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Talk about a film whose time has come … Paul Mazursky’s ode to womanly liberation takes a sensible, gentle approach. Yes, the husband was a total jerk, and so is the first man Jill Clayburgh’s Erica turns to in need. What’s more important is the feeling of empowerment on the personal intimate level: it’s okay for a woman to have personal priorities; it’s okay to decline commitment to the whims and wishes of a male companion. Forty-two years later, the premise holds — especially the film’s emphasis on social support from one’s friends.
An Unmarried Woman
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1032
1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 9, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, Cliff Gorman, Pat Quinn, Kelly Bishop, Lisa Lucas, Linda Miller.
Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz
Film Editor: Stuart H. Pappé
Original Music: Bill Conti
Produced by Paul Mazursky,...
An Unmarried Woman
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1032
1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 9, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, Cliff Gorman, Pat Quinn, Kelly Bishop, Lisa Lucas, Linda Miller.
Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz
Film Editor: Stuart H. Pappé
Original Music: Bill Conti
Produced by Paul Mazursky,...
- 6/9/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who died Wednesday at age 84, got his start in the film business — including director Ken Russell’s Oscar-winning 1969 film “Women in Love,” an adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel that broke barriers with its depiction of frontal male nudity. In an excerpt from his 2014 book “Sexplosion,” TheWrap theater critic Robert Hofler looks back at Kramer’s work on the project.
Long before he became the world’s most famous AIDS activist, Larry Kramer made movies. Thinking back to his days as a production chief at Columbia in the 1960s, Kramer claimed, “Because of me, Columbia Pictures released ‘Darling.’ I told Columbia that this was a fantastic movie, and they took my advice and picked it up.”
He and the film’s director, John Schlesinger, were more than friends. “I met him. We went to bed a bunch of times. He was more serious than I was,...
Long before he became the world’s most famous AIDS activist, Larry Kramer made movies. Thinking back to his days as a production chief at Columbia in the 1960s, Kramer claimed, “Because of me, Columbia Pictures released ‘Darling.’ I told Columbia that this was a fantastic movie, and they took my advice and picked it up.”
He and the film’s director, John Schlesinger, were more than friends. “I met him. We went to bed a bunch of times. He was more serious than I was,...
- 5/27/2020
- by Robert Hofler
- The Wrap
Larry Kramer, the writer and influential gay activist who pressed the U.S. government and the medical establishment to respond to the AIDS epidemic, has died. He was 84.
Kramer died Wednesday from pneumonia, his husband David Webster told the New York Times.
Earlier in his life, Kramer was a screenwriter with credits including “Women in Love” and the 1973 musical “Lost Horizon.”
Spurred by the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, Kramer became a fierce activist and an impassioned writer, and one of the earliest and most vocal advocates for AIDS research, treatment access and institutional recognition of the gay community so hard-hit by the disease. He is best known not only as one of the founders of both Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Act Up, but also as the writer of novels and plays including his 1985 work “The Normal Heart,” his urgent, agitprop depiction of the early days of the AIDS crisis.
Kramer died Wednesday from pneumonia, his husband David Webster told the New York Times.
Earlier in his life, Kramer was a screenwriter with credits including “Women in Love” and the 1973 musical “Lost Horizon.”
Spurred by the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, Kramer became a fierce activist and an impassioned writer, and one of the earliest and most vocal advocates for AIDS research, treatment access and institutional recognition of the gay community so hard-hit by the disease. He is best known not only as one of the founders of both Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Act Up, but also as the writer of novels and plays including his 1985 work “The Normal Heart,” his urgent, agitprop depiction of the early days of the AIDS crisis.
- 5/27/2020
- by Gordon Cox
- Variety Film + TV
The director of Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Pearl Jam’s Jeremy and many more reflects on his career and some of the movies that made him.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Arlington Road (1999)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Firewall (2006)
The Orphanage (2007)
Nostalgia (2018)
Avatar (2009)
Titanic (1997)
Chef (2014)
The Laundromat (2019)
Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)
Demonlover (2003)
Under The Sand (2000)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Under The Skin (2013)
The Great Beauty (2013)
Slap Shot (1977)
Network (1976)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Star Wars (1977)
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws (1975)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
All The President’s Men (1976)
Liquid Sky (1982)
The Brother From Another Planet (1984)
City Of Hope (1991)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Snowpiercer (2013)
The Flintstones (1994)
Matinee (1993)
Batman (1989)
Transformers (2007)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Mandy (2018)
Phantom Thread (2017)
Magnolia (1999)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Master (2012)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Mustang (2019)
Inherent Vice (2014)
The New World (2005)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
The Last Word (2017)
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
The Burglar (1957)
What Lies Beneath...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Arlington Road (1999)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Firewall (2006)
The Orphanage (2007)
Nostalgia (2018)
Avatar (2009)
Titanic (1997)
Chef (2014)
The Laundromat (2019)
Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)
Demonlover (2003)
Under The Sand (2000)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Under The Skin (2013)
The Great Beauty (2013)
Slap Shot (1977)
Network (1976)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Star Wars (1977)
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws (1975)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
All The President’s Men (1976)
Liquid Sky (1982)
The Brother From Another Planet (1984)
City Of Hope (1991)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Snowpiercer (2013)
The Flintstones (1994)
Matinee (1993)
Batman (1989)
Transformers (2007)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Mandy (2018)
Phantom Thread (2017)
Magnolia (1999)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Master (2012)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Mustang (2019)
Inherent Vice (2014)
The New World (2005)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
The Last Word (2017)
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
The Burglar (1957)
What Lies Beneath...
- 4/21/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Elizabeth Sellars, the Glasgow-born actress who appeared in films that starred Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart and Peter O’Toole, on TV with Laurence Olivier and onstage opposite Alec Guinness, died at her home in France on Dec. 30. She was 98.
Her death was announced by her family.
Trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sellars made the first of many stage appearances in 1946’s The Brothers Karamazov, starring Guinness.
By 1949 she’d embarked on a long film career, making her debut in the British film Floodtide, and, in Hollywood, she appeared in 1954’s The Barefoot Contessa with Bogart and Ava Gardner. Also that year, she performed in the Brando film Désirée.
Other film highlights include Prince of Players, starring Richard Burton, in 1955; 1957’s The Shiralee, starring Peter Finch; 1960’s The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, with O’Toole; and, reteaming with Gardner in 1963, 55 Days in Peking. In 1967 she...
Her death was announced by her family.
Trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sellars made the first of many stage appearances in 1946’s The Brothers Karamazov, starring Guinness.
By 1949 she’d embarked on a long film career, making her debut in the British film Floodtide, and, in Hollywood, she appeared in 1954’s The Barefoot Contessa with Bogart and Ava Gardner. Also that year, she performed in the Brando film Désirée.
Other film highlights include Prince of Players, starring Richard Burton, in 1955; 1957’s The Shiralee, starring Peter Finch; 1960’s The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, with O’Toole; and, reteaming with Gardner in 1963, 55 Days in Peking. In 1967 she...
- 1/2/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Get out of here Anthony, or I’ll shout your bloody ears off!”
Director Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout (1978) starring Alan Bates, Susannah York, and John Hurt screens Saturday, November 2nd at Webster University’s Moor Auditorium (470 E Lockwood Ave) at 7:30pm. A Facebook invite for the film can be found Here
Esteemed film critic Dave Kehr once described The Shout as “a trance thriller that beats Peter Weir on his own turf.” This surrealist horror film, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes upon its 1978 premiere, is told in flashback over the course of a cricket match taking place at a mental hospital. The narrator of these flashbacks is Charles Crossley (Alan Bates), previously a resident among Australian aborigines, who, alongside other skills, managed to pick up the ability to cut loose with a shout so extreme that it kills all who hear it. Co-starring Tim Curry, just...
Director Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout (1978) starring Alan Bates, Susannah York, and John Hurt screens Saturday, November 2nd at Webster University’s Moor Auditorium (470 E Lockwood Ave) at 7:30pm. A Facebook invite for the film can be found Here
Esteemed film critic Dave Kehr once described The Shout as “a trance thriller that beats Peter Weir on his own turf.” This surrealist horror film, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes upon its 1978 premiere, is told in flashback over the course of a cricket match taking place at a mental hospital. The narrator of these flashbacks is Charles Crossley (Alan Bates), previously a resident among Australian aborigines, who, alongside other skills, managed to pick up the ability to cut loose with a shout so extreme that it kills all who hear it. Co-starring Tim Curry, just...
- 10/28/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Lyon, France – Since its launch in 2015, Talking Pictures TV has become the fastest-growing independent channel in the U.K. with a growing library of British film and TV titles that span five decades, according to founder Noel Cronin.
Noel Cronin attended the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon, France, where he took part in a roundtable discussion on distribution of heritage cinema.
His 24-hour channel offers feature films and TV series from the 1930s to the 1980s, reaching some 850,000 viewers a day and 2.6 million a week. Talking Pictures TV is available in the U.K. on the Sky digital satellite platform, Freeview and other satellite outlets.
Talking Pictures TV grew out of Cronin’s DVD distribution company, Renown Pictures.
“We acquired several old libraries – mostly B-features, but good ones,” Cronin explains. “We started to release them on DVD and they sold quite well. … We felt there...
Noel Cronin attended the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon, France, where he took part in a roundtable discussion on distribution of heritage cinema.
His 24-hour channel offers feature films and TV series from the 1930s to the 1980s, reaching some 850,000 viewers a day and 2.6 million a week. Talking Pictures TV is available in the U.K. on the Sky digital satellite platform, Freeview and other satellite outlets.
Talking Pictures TV grew out of Cronin’s DVD distribution company, Renown Pictures.
“We acquired several old libraries – mostly B-features, but good ones,” Cronin explains. “We started to release them on DVD and they sold quite well. … We felt there...
- 10/19/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Nothing But the Best (1964) signifies a turning point in the British new wave: a sudden flip from grim northern drama to swinging London archness, here under the controls of three masters of that tone.1. Frederic Raphael is best known for writing Two For the Road (impossibly arch) and Eyes Wide Shut (strange... very strange), and this film does have some kind of commonality with those: glamorous young people, sporty cars, hard-to-get-into parties in sprawling country houses... but in essence it's more like a glib black comedy version of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Raphael had previously adapted the source story (by American crime writer Stanley Ellin) as a TV play, and in expanding it for cinema he threw out the ironic twist of fate that dooms the murderous, social-climber anti-hero, perhaps seeing it as an old-fashioned harking-back to Kind Hearts and Coronets (whose ironic twist was imposed by the censor). Now...
- 10/10/2019
- MUBI
Julian Fellowes was all wrong for his time — at first. When he graduated from drama school in 1973, working-class dramas onstage were all the rage, and the aspiring actor struggled to get an agent. He eventually snagged a supporting role in “A Touch of Spring,” a West End comedy that required him to fall down a set of stairs nightly and brought him his first mention in Variety, a May 21, 1975, review that dubbed him “effective as a feckless young American diplomat.” Roles in film and TV shows followed, but Fellowes found his greatest success at a keyboard: In 2002, he won an Oscar for writing “Gosford Park” and gave up acting for good. He created TV series “Downton Abbey” in 2010, with the show racking up 15 Emmys, including a pair for Fellowes. Now he’s back with more adventures of the Crawley clan and its servants — this time on the big screen in a film opening Sept.
- 9/20/2019
- by Diane Garrett
- Variety Film + TV
“Try to love me a little more and want me a little less. “
Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 features 6 classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This second edition focuses on 1969 and features a half-dozen films, all screening for free at the St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) over 3 weekends in late summer. (This series kicked off August 31st at 1:30pm with Midnight Cowboy). On Sunday September 15th at 1:30pm the final ’69 film will be Women In Love directed by Ken Russell and starring Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed, and Alan Bates. There will be an intro and post-film Q&a with Vincent Casaregola, professor of English and head of Film Studies at Saint Louis University. Admission is Free. A Facebook invite can be found Here
The battle of the sexes and relationships among the elite of Britain’s industrial Midlands in the 1920s. Gerald Crich and Rupert Berkin...
Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 features 6 classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This second edition focuses on 1969 and features a half-dozen films, all screening for free at the St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) over 3 weekends in late summer. (This series kicked off August 31st at 1:30pm with Midnight Cowboy). On Sunday September 15th at 1:30pm the final ’69 film will be Women In Love directed by Ken Russell and starring Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed, and Alan Bates. There will be an intro and post-film Q&a with Vincent Casaregola, professor of English and head of Film Studies at Saint Louis University. Admission is Free. A Facebook invite can be found Here
The battle of the sexes and relationships among the elite of Britain’s industrial Midlands in the 1920s. Gerald Crich and Rupert Berkin...
- 9/10/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Peter Nichols, the British playwright whose play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg provided Albert Finney with his 1968 Broadway debut and did the same in 2003 for Eddie Izzard, died Sept. 7 in Oxford, England. He was 92.
His death was announced on Twitter by agent Alan Brodie Representation. A cause of death was not given.
In addition to Joe Egg, his most familiar play, Nichols’ credits include the 1972 film version starring Alan Bates and 1966’s Swinging London touchstone Georgy Girl starring Lynne Redgrave, Bates, Charlotte Rampling and James Mason.
Based on his own difficult experience as the father of a daughter born with severe disabilities, Nichols’ A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg – Joe was short for Josephine – used broad, music-hall style comedy to tell the story of a married couple struggling to care for their daughter with cerebral palsy. With the jarring use of dark comedy to avoid sentimentality,...
His death was announced on Twitter by agent Alan Brodie Representation. A cause of death was not given.
In addition to Joe Egg, his most familiar play, Nichols’ credits include the 1972 film version starring Alan Bates and 1966’s Swinging London touchstone Georgy Girl starring Lynne Redgrave, Bates, Charlotte Rampling and James Mason.
Based on his own difficult experience as the father of a daughter born with severe disabilities, Nichols’ A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg – Joe was short for Josephine – used broad, music-hall style comedy to tell the story of a married couple struggling to care for their daughter with cerebral palsy. With the jarring use of dark comedy to avoid sentimentality,...
- 9/9/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Film and television producer Robert Bradford, novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford’s husband who shepherded adaptations of many of her books, died early Tuesday morning in New York’s Presbyterian Hospital following a stroke. He was 94.
Badford played a large role in his wife’s work, producing nine of her books as miniseries and movies-of-the-week for NBC and CBS, including “A Woman of Substance” starring Liam Neeson and Jenny Seagrove, and “Voice of the Heart” starring James Brolin and Lindsey Wagner. In addition to his love for film, he also had a significant appreciation for books and was the first person to buy a full-page ad on the back page of the the New York Times Arts section to promote his wife’s book, which he continued to do for many of her novels over the years. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last December.
Badford was born in Germany...
Badford played a large role in his wife’s work, producing nine of her books as miniseries and movies-of-the-week for NBC and CBS, including “A Woman of Substance” starring Liam Neeson and Jenny Seagrove, and “Voice of the Heart” starring James Brolin and Lindsey Wagner. In addition to his love for film, he also had a significant appreciation for books and was the first person to buy a full-page ad on the back page of the the New York Times Arts section to promote his wife’s book, which he continued to do for many of her novels over the years. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last December.
Badford was born in Germany...
- 7/5/2019
- by Anna Tingley
- Variety Film + TV
Robert E. Bradford, a film and television producer, and the husband of novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, died July 2 in New York’s Weill Cornell Hospital after suffering a stroke at the couple’s Manhattan home the week prior. A spokesperson for the family confirmed his death. Bradford was 92.
The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this year.
Bradford produced nine of his wife’s books as mini-series and movies of the week for NBC and CBS, including 1989’s Voice of the Heart starring Lindsay Wagner and James Brolin; 1992’s To Be The Best, again with Wagner; and 1993’s Remember starring Donna Mills and Stephen Collins.
According to information provided by the family, the German-born and French-educated Bradford left Europe for New York after World War II, landing a job in public relations. After moving to Hollywood, he met the men who would become his mentors: attorney Louis Blau of Loeb and Loeb,...
The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this year.
Bradford produced nine of his wife’s books as mini-series and movies of the week for NBC and CBS, including 1989’s Voice of the Heart starring Lindsay Wagner and James Brolin; 1992’s To Be The Best, again with Wagner; and 1993’s Remember starring Donna Mills and Stephen Collins.
According to information provided by the family, the German-born and French-educated Bradford left Europe for New York after World War II, landing a job in public relations. After moving to Hollywood, he met the men who would become his mentors: attorney Louis Blau of Loeb and Loeb,...
- 7/5/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Sir Carol Reed takes on a movie about insurance fraud in sunny Spain — with a great trio of actors for 1963. Laurence Harvey scams an insurance company and looks forward to continuing to beat the system in a happy life of chicanery; Lee Remick finds her affections turning to Alan Bates, an insurance man who might also be on vacation, or might have come to uncover Harvey’s crime. How does Harvey hide out while waiting for the big payoff in Málaga? He buys a huge white convertible too big to fit through the streets!
The Running Man
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 18, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates, Felix Aylmer, Allan Cuthbertson, Noel Purcell, Ramsay Ames, Fernando Rey, Eddie Byrne, John Meillon, Roger Delgado.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Original Music: William Alwyn
Continuity: Angela Allen
Written by John Mortimer from the...
The Running Man
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 18, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates, Felix Aylmer, Allan Cuthbertson, Noel Purcell, Ramsay Ames, Fernando Rey, Eddie Byrne, John Meillon, Roger Delgado.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Original Music: William Alwyn
Continuity: Angela Allen
Written by John Mortimer from the...
- 6/11/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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