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There are shades of Legally Blonde and Private Benjamin in Amazon’s lesser, low-rent comedy about a Florida bartender with dreams of being an astronaut

There’s a well-tested, and mostly well-liked, formula being recycled in Amazon’s lightweight Fourth of July comedy Space Cadet. It’s the mildly rousing story of an underestimated blonde excelling in a more serious field, something Goldie Hawn aced in Private Benjamin and Protocol before Melanie Griffith took over with Working Girl and Born Yesterday, followed by Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. It’s an easy, against-all-odds rise for us to get behind and a career-defining every-scene showcase for an actor who may have also found herself unfairly undervalued by the industry.

There’s something for both actor and character to prove, and when it’s done right, we should be able to taste the same hunger, cheering for an inevitable victory. But in...

When Disney purchased the 20th Century Fox library in 2019, it caused some consternation among cineastes. The Fox catalog was vast and impressive, containing tons of indelible classics and even more titles waiting deep inside the studio's archive. 20th Century Fox was formed in 1935 and quickly became one of the "big five" studios that dominated the film industry for decades. Fox hadn't seen a shake-up this dramatic since 1985 when ultra-conservative media mogul Rubert Murdoch bought a controlling share of the company from Marvin Davis.

When Disney made its purchase, many film fans wondered if Fox's old classics would be made more widely available through the about-to-launch Disney+. When the streaming service debuted with a paltry 500 titles, cineastes were aghast. Why buy all those Fox titles if you're not going to distribute them?

That, however, was merely the end of the road for Fox. For its 83-year life, the studio went through many massive,...

Sam Mercer, producer on several M. Night Shyamalan movies and former head of Ilm, died Feb. 12 of younger onset Alzheimer’s in South Pasadena. He was 69.

Raised in Weston, Mass., he attended Occidental College and then started working as a location manager on 1980s classics including “Stripes,” “The Escape Artist,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” “Swing Shift,” “Peggy Sue Got Married” and “The Witches of Eastwick.”

He joined the Walt Disney Company as a production executive, supervising films including “Good Morning Vietnam,” “Three Fugitives” and “Dead Poets Society.” He then became VP of motion picture production at Hollywood Pictures, where he oversaw releases including “Quiz Show,” “The Joy Luck Club,” “Born Yesterday,” “Swing Kids,” “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” and “Arachnophobia.”

Mercer then worked as an independent producer, starting with “Congo,” “The Relic” and “Mission to Mars.” After working with Shyamalan on “The Sixth Sense,” then went on...

Sam Mercer, who produced seven M. Night Shyamalan films including The Sixth Sense, headed Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic and was location manager on several classic 1980s pics, has died. He was 69.

His wife Tegan Jones told Deadline that Mercer died February 12 of younger-onset Alzheimer’s.

“He was the best big brother I could have hoped for,” Shyamalan said in a statement. “He made every movie a family, and I’ve tried to emulate that in every film since.”

Mercer moved to Los Angeles from Weston, Ma, to work in the movie industry. He began his career as a location manager on such 1980s gems as Stripes, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Peggy Sue Got Married and The Witches of Eastwick before moving to Walt Disney Studios.

Paul Reubens in ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ (1985)

There he worked as a production executive, supervising movies including Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society,...

Chita Rivera, the beloved Broadway star of West Side Story, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman, died today in New York following a brief illness. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who said that Rivera died peacefully.

One of America’s foremost Latina artists, Rivera was a groundbreaker, riveting critics and audiences alike with seminal performances of such soon-to-be Broadway standards as “America” and “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story and “All That Jazz” from Chicago. She was among the most nominated performers in Tony Award history – she earned 10 nominations, winning twice (for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman) and receiving the 2018 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

Rivera rocketed to fame in 1953 with Guys and Dolls, then cemented her stature as a Broadway leading lady in 1954 with Can-Can, Mr. Wonderful in 1956 and, in 1957, the role that...

Michael McGrath, the veteran stage actor who received a Tony Award for his performance in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, has died. He was 65.

McGrath died unexpectedly in his sleep Thursday at his home in Bloomfield, New Jersey, his publicist told The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death has been determined.

A regular in Broadway and off-Broadway musicals and musical comedy productions, McGrath had starring turns in Plaza Suite, Tootsie, Memphis, Born Yesterday and Wonderful Town. He was also the first actor to play Patsy, King Arthur’s long-suffering sidekick, in Spamalot, which earned him his first Tony nomination.

“Very saddened to hear that Michael McGrath, our first and most beloved Patsy in Spamalot, has passed away,” Idle wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Warm hugs to all the Spamalot family and very happy memories of a lovely man.”

McGrath was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Sept.

Frank James Michael Grande Marchione, better known as Frankie Grande, is an American dancer, singer, actor, producer, television host and YouTube personality. He is the half-brother of pop singer Ariana Grande.

Frankie Grande Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education

Frankie Grande was born on January 24, 1983 (Frankie Grande’s age: 40) in New York City to Victor Marchione and Joan Grande. His father has been employed as a physician while his mother is chief executive officer of the telephone and alarm system company Hose-McCann Communications.

Although born in New York, Grande was raised in Englewood, New Jersey up until the age of ten, when he moved with his mother to Boca Raton, Florida. Along with Ariana Grande, Grande has a half-brother, James Marchione. Grande graduated from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania in 2005, where he triple-majored in biology, dance and theatre. He had considered medical school before deciding to take a year off in order to pursue theatre.

(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we take a look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)

In any given year, you're lucky to have even one performance by an actor that is genuinely considered to be iconic. I know that is a word that gets thrown around enough nowadays that it means almost nothing, but every so often, that is really the only word you can use. These are the performances that you would show to an alien as the benchmarks of cinema. I'm talking about Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" or Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz"-level stuff. Well, 1950 produced three. All of them are women, all three played actors, and they all competed against each other in the Best Actress category at the Academy Awards. You have Bette Davis and Anne Baxter...

In the midseason finale of "Better Call Saul" season six, just before Lalo Salamanca paints their living room with doomed lawyer Howard Hamlin's blood, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) watch a movie. This isn't unusual for them. Throughout the series' seven-year run, the pair have proven themselves cinephiles, often referencing classic movies in passing and sometimes settling down for a quiet movie night.

On this night, the pair are watching "Born Yesterday," a 1950 comedic drama about the exploits of a possessive crook named Harry (Broderick Crawford), his unrefined girlfriend, Billie (Judy Holliday), and a journalist, Paul (William...

The post What All the Old Movie References in Better Call Saul Say About the Characters appeared first on /Film.

Sensing a potential trend in the possible nominations of three major Oscars categories — best director, actor and actress — we could see a first-time occurrence for the Academy Awards on Tuesday. However, if you read the tea leaves put forth by the nominations for the DGA and SAG, there’s a strong possibility that all three of those categories may not include a first-time nominee — a first in Oscar history.

For best actor, the SAG lineup recognized all former nominees and winners — Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”), Andrew Garfield, Will Smith (“King Richard”) and Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”). Even the ones on the bubble are once-nominated or crowned, including Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song”), Bradley Cooper (“Nightmare Alley”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Don’t Look Up”). The closest first-timers in the running seem to be Golden Globe nominees Peter Dinklage (“Cyrano”) and Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza...

Pencils down, pass your ballots to the front because the Oscar nomination voting is now closed.

Speaking to voters over the past week, it’s been relatively clear about what voters like and who they’re supporting in a strong year for film.

Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 8, and we have the 10 burning questions we want to be answered.

Which movie will lead the nomination tally?

There have been three films that have been nominated for 14 Oscars in history — “All About Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016). We likely won’t see any film get near tying or beating that record. The three most likely candidates to lead the charge are “Belfast” from Focus Features, “Dune” from Warner Bros. and “The Power of the Dog” from Netflix. You could also add “West Side Story” from 20th Century Studios as a dark horse possibility, especially since its tally seems...

The writing and directing races are being dominated by familiar faces, which can break some records in Oscar’s history.

Suppose the Variety awards circuit Oscar predictions charts are to be believed. In that case, eight of the top 12 candidates for director are former nominees and winners, leaving little room for first-timers, such as Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”), Siân Heder (“Coda”) and Reinaldo Marcus Green (“King Richard”). If the Oscar nominees consisted of all former hopefuls, it would be the first time in 71 years that this would occur in the category. The 1950 lineup included George Cukor (“Born Yesterday”), John Huston (“The Asphalt Jungle”), winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“All About Eve”), Carol Reed (“The Third Man”) and Billy Wilder (“Sunset Boulevard”).

The hurdles ahead of the potential rookie nominees are significant. Except for Green, all the filmmakers also serve as writers for their movies, and...

“Matt Dillon comes across like a young Brando or James Dean.” —Houston Post

Coolness Personified As Matt Dillon Stars In Mvd Rewind Collection’S ‘Liar’S Moon’ Making Its Long-awaited Debut On Blu-ray Through Mvd Entertainment Group. –The 1982 Teen Drama On Blu-ray Coming February 2022.

Here’s a trailer for the restoration:

Matt Dillon (The Outsiders) stars in this tender tale of love’s first promise… and its enduring strength. Dillon plays Jack Duncan, an athletic, hardworking boy from the small town of Noble, Texas. Jack is happy just enjoying himself with the local boys, until he meets Ginny Peterson (Cindy Fisher), the town’s wealthiest young lady. Despite their obviously different backgrounds, Jack and Ginny fall desperately in love. Even though their parents have forbidden them to meet, Jack and Ginny sneak out, and finally elope, hoping to find happiness far from their hometown. But theirs is a love that falls...

Cara Williams, one of the last remaining actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age and an Oscar nominee for her performance in 1958’s “The Defiant Ones,” died on Thursday. She was 96 years old.

Williams’ death was confirmed to Variety by her daughter Justine Jagoda and her great-nephew Richard Potter.

“Not only was she a sparkling actress with impeccable comedic timing, she was also funny, over-the-top, warm-hearted and loving,” Jagoda told Variety in a statement. “She could make anyone laugh and smile if they had a bad day. She was everything that you could wish for in a mother and more. It’s a sad loss to lose a woman from this incredible era.”

Born as Bernice Kamiat in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 29, 1925, Williams began working as an actress when she was a child. After her parents divorced, she relocated to Hollywood with her mother and began to attend the Hollywood Professional School,...

Since the first ceremony in 1929, the Academy has nominated over 400 performances for Best Actress, with 77 actresses claiming victory. Inevitably, the debates of who “should have” won follow, some of which have lasted decades. There’s no doubt that campaigning and popularity often play roles in who wins, but in many cases there’s more than one deserving winner.

For instance, the 23rd ceremony in 1951 included five memorable performances, two of which were highlights of the veteran actresses’ careers. How could voters pick between Bette Davis‘ aging star in “All About Eve” and Gloria Swanson‘s faded actress in “Sunset Boulevard?” Also in contention were Davis’ co-star Anne Baxter as an ingenue trying to steal the spotlight, and Eleanor Parker, who gave a memorable performance as a naive young woman turned hardened criminal in “Caged!” Any of these performances in a weaker year would have won, but it’s widely believed...

Since the first ceremony in 1929, the Academy has nominated over 400 performances for Best Actress, with 77 actresses claiming victory. Inevitably, the debates of who “should have” won follow, some of which have lasted decades. There’s no doubt that campaigning and popularity often play roles in who wins, but in many cases there’s more than one deserving winner.

For instance, the 23rd ceremony in 1951 included five memorable performances, two of which were highlights of the veteran actresses’ careers. How could voters pick between Bette Davis‘ aging star in “All About Eve” and Gloria Swanson‘s faded actress in “Sunset Boulevard?” Also in contention were Davis’ co-star Anne Baxter as an ingenue trying to steal the spotlight, and Eleanor Parker, who gave a memorable performance as a naive young woman turned hardened criminal in “Caged!” Any of these performances in a weaker year would have won, but it’s widely believed...

Arca has announced that kick iiii, her fourth and final album in the Kick series, will drop on Dec. 3 via Xl Recordings, the same day as the previously announced albums Kick ii and KicK iii.

Arca shared “Queer,” a song from kick iiii that features Planningtorock; the other collaborators on the album include Oliver Coates, No Bra, and Shirley Manson.

Planningtorock called their collaboration a “gorgeous epic universe of a track, a queer dream come true.” It’ll be the fourth cut on the project, which Arca describes as “an...

Connie Britton is rarely at a loss for words. But when she learned she’d be receiving the fourth Variety Icon Award at the opening ceremony of Canneseries on Oct. 8, the four-time Emmy nominee wasn’t sure how to process it.

“I thought, ‘I’m not old enough to be an icon!’” Britton says of her initial reaction. But she soon realized, “an icon is someone who has a very distinct voice, or who can embody a look or a talent or whatever. It’s about unique individuality.”

And Britton has that locked up.

Over the past 25 years, Britton has dazzled in long-running TV roles including “Spin City,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Nashville.” She also made a splash in shorter stints, such as on “American Horror Story” and “The White Lotus.” Yet, she started off just as many other actors did in humble circumstances — doing “mystery theater [in] church basements.” Fortunately,...

The July lineup at The Criterion Channel has been revealed, most notably featuring the new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the recent box set release, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand.

Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.

With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...

by Brent Calderwood

I’m just going to say it. I’m glad Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar for the 1950 comedy Born Yesterday. I’m not saying she should have won—I’m not even saying I would have voted for her if I’d been a member of the Academy. But if I could have been there when the winner was announced on March 29, 1951, I would have been cheering the loudest.

Today—100 years after Holliday’s birth and 56 years and two weeks after her untimely death—Holliday’s Sea Biscuit victory over frontrunners Bette Davis for All About Eve and Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard is still a topic of discussion and debate...

There’s a good chance that “Mank,” David Fincher’s stylish black-and-white chronicle of veteran Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz’ struggle to write the screenplay for Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece “Citizen Kane,” will dominate the Oscar nominations on March 15. Our Oscar experts are predicting the Netflix release could garner has many has 13 nominations including picture, director, screenplay for Fincher’s latest father Jack Fincher, actor for Gary Oldman and supporting actress for Amanda Seyfried.

Exactly 70 years ago Mank’s brother, writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, dominated the Academy Awards. His “All About Eve,” a sophisticated and sharp drama starring Bette Davis as aging theater actress Margo Channing who mistakenly befriends and mentors an ambitious young actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), earned 14 Oscar nominations. “All About Eve” actually broke all records for Oscar nominations besting 1939’s “Gone with the Wind” lucky 13 bids.

The younger Mank’s masterpiece went on to win six...

For this Oscar flashback, we’re throwing it back 70 years to the night of March 29, 1951. The affable Fred Astaire hosted for his first and only time, helming one of the most memorable ceremonies in Academy history. Two now-iconic films battled in a number of categories, with one setting Academy records that hold today. There were surprising wins in the acting categories, with Broadway being well-represented on the night that honors film. It was an especially great year for women, with two grande dames of film facing off for their now-legendary portrayals of aging actresses, and the Best Actress category being one of the best in the history of the Academy. One can almost hear Bette Davis saying, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

On a night in which three of the four acting winners triumphed for roles they had also played on Broadway, it’s...

Exclusive: Oscar winner J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda have been tapped to play William Frawley and Vivian Vance in Amazon and Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, the film about I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Sources add that Arianda’s deal has not yet closed.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are in final negotiations to play Ball and Arnaz, with Sorkin writing and directing.

Simmons’ character, Frawley, played neighbor Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy. Vance played Fred’s wife and Lucy’s best friend, Ethel Mertz.

The film is set during one production week of I Love Lucy — Monday table read through Friday audience filming — when Lucy and Desi face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.

Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch will produce. Executive producers are Jenna Block, David Bloomfield of Escape Artists,...

Last year we watched as Renee Zellweger followed the yellow brick road all the way to the Wizard of Oscar as Judy Garland in “Judy.” Can lightning (or a tornado) strike two years in a row? That’s surely the hope of Andra Day, looking like a strong Best Actress Oscar contender for her title role in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Like Garland, Holiday rose to stardom in the late 1930s. She also had multiple marriages, faced financial woes and struggled with drugs and alcohol. The question is: can the role in this Hulu release deliver the Oscar to Day?

Before making a decision, keep in mind that the academy has a long history of recognizing actresses for portraying other actresses or entertainers. And the more drama, trauma and tragedy the better. Even raging and hysterical divas are welcome. Let’s look back at some prime and primadonna examples from Oscar’s history.

A big stumbling block when remaking a Hollywood screen classic is often the indelible ownership of an original star. Is there anyone alive who would choose Julia Ormond over Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina? Or Melanie Griffith over Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday? The problem with Netflix’s toothless redo of Rebecca is less about casting — although none of the principals is an ideal fit — than lack of a firm directorial imprint. Earlier films like Sightseers and Free Fire suggested Ben Wheatley might have the mordant wit to tackle a work forever associated with sardonic genre maestro Alfred Hitchcock. But in place ...

A big stumbling block when remaking a Hollywood screen classic is often the indelible ownership of an original star. Is there anyone alive who would choose Julia Ormond over Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina? Or Melanie Griffith over Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday? The problem with Netflix’s toothless redo of Rebecca is less about casting — although none of the principals is an ideal fit — than lack of a firm directorial imprint. Earlier films like Sightseers and Free Fire suggested Ben Wheatley might have the mordant wit to tackle a work forever associated with sardonic genre maestro Alfred Hitchcock. But in place ...

The Telluride Horror Show's "Shelter-in-Place Edition" kicks off on October 15th, and it's packed with new horror features and shorts, along with special events you won't want to miss, including a live conversation with Max Brooks & Daniel Kraus:

"Telluride Horror Show has announced the complete lineup of films, guests, and events for its 2020 "Shelter-in-Place" Edition, scheduled for October 15-18.

The festival welcomes actor Ted Raimi, who will host "Deathly Spirits", a virtual cocktail hour offering viewers an opportunity to mix Ted's drink recipes and engage with the genre favorite after the screening of his new short film Red Light. In addition, Telluride Horror Show alum and Colorado filmmakers Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei will return to the festival with Red Rum (starring Christina Ricci) and a conversation about their Colorado episode for Sam Raimi's 50 States of Fright.

The 2020 "Shelter-in-Place" Edition will also feature Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor Uncut,...

Allen Garfield, the filmmaker-favorite character actor who played small but significant roles in Seventies classics like The Conversation and Nashville, has died at the age of 80.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger, where Garfield worked as a sportswriter in the Fifties, first reported the Newark-born actor’s death following complications from Covid-19. Garfield’s sister confirmed his death to the Hollywood Reporter.

A one-time Golden Gloves boxer who studied acting at the Actors Studio, Garfield threw his small but imposing physique into the role of tough-talking, surly heavies on both sides of the laws.

Exclusive: Dorothy Toran, who spent six years working on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey including as exec producer, has launched her own production company.

Toran, who worked with ITV America-backed Sirens Media on the reality series, has launched Lauren Grace Media. The company will focus on development and production of non-fiction and scripted series and will also incorporate a small talent management division.

More from Deadline'Real Housewives Of New Jersey' Renewed; Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga & Jacqueline Laurita To Return'Real Housewives' Teresa Giudice Slaps $15M Suit Against Her Ex-Lawyer'Real Housewives Of Atlanta' Ratings: New Season Debut Hits High For Bravo

Toran, who is President and Executive Producer at the firm, is joined by Leslie Farrell, who was previously a VP, production at NBC Universal. Farrell joins as Senior Vice President, Development and Executive Producer.

The company’s development slate includes Amplified, a series about an ensemble of...

Wings actor David Schramm who is best known for playing Roy Biggs in the series Wings died in New York. No details about the cause of death have been released. He was 73.

Schramm was born in August 14, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky and attended Julliard. In addition to playing the rival airline owner for eight seasons on the popular NBC series from the ’90s, Schramm was a member of John Houseman and Margot Harley’s The Acting Company in New York. The professional theater company includes a roster of legendary alumni including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stier.

Schramm made his first Broadway appearance in 1973 with Three Sisters and...

Lawrence G. Paull, a production designer and art director whose work on the science fiction classic Blade Runner earned him an Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA Award, died Sunday in La Jolla, Calif. He was 81. No cause of death was given.

Paull had a long history in Hollywood, designing for such films as Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984) and Ron Underwood’s City Slickers (1991).

Blade Runner was a groundbreaking visual effort, winning Paull an Academy Award nomination for production design in 1982. The Oscar went to the creators of Gandhi, but Paull later won a BAFTA together with futurist Syd Mead and VFX inventor Douglas Trumbull. Three years later, Paull again was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on Back to the Future.

Born in Chicago in 1938, Paull graduated from the University of Arizona. He soon discovered that architecture was too conservative for him,...

The “Sunset Boulevard” musical is months away from staring production, but 42 percent of our readers believe that this film adaptation will finally bring Glenn Close her elusive Oscar, and her name ought to be engraved now.

“This performance could very well be a career topper for her! And if the movie is really excellent, that could finally do the trick for her,” user Jack Mahanes wrote. “And I hope it does the trick for her, because she’s an amazing actress who should have an Oscar!”

In development limbo for decades, “Sunset Boulevard” finally made some movement last week when Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford was tapped to direct the film, which is set to start filming in the fall. It surely isn’t a coincidence that this happened days after seven-time nominee Close lost the Best Actress Oscar for “The Wife” to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”). Close won a Tony...

At this year’s Oscars, Glenn Close (“The Wife”) ended up losing Best Actress to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite“) in what was the biggest shocker in the Best Actress category since 2011 when Viola Davis (“The Help”) lost to Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”). But Davis got her revenge a few years later when she reprised her Tony-winning performance as Rose Maxson in the film version of “Fences,” for which she won Best Supporting Actress. With the recent announcement that Close is officially reprising her own Tony-winning role as Norma Desmond in a “Sunset Boulevard” movie musical, can she follow in Davis’s footsteps?

Leading up to the 2011 Oscars, Viola Davis won Critics’ Choice and SAG Awards for “The Help,” in which she played Aibileen Clark, a black maid in Mississippi during the civil rights movement in 1963. But Meryl Streep beat her at the Golden Globes (in Best Film Drama Actress...

Glenn Close is ready for her Oscar Close-up. The long-gestating film adaptation of the Broadway musical version of “Sunset Boulevard” has found its Mr. DeMille to Close’s Norma Desmond: Tony winner Rob Ashford will direct the film, which is set to start production in the fall. That means Close would ideally be back in the Oscar conversation for the ceremony in 2021. So close, yet so far again. But will this finally bring Close the statuette that has eluded her seven times already?

After her shocking Best Actress loss for “The Wife” to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) on Sunday, the overdue narrative will be even more fierce in two years’ time. If successful, “Sunset” would mark Close’s eighth nomination — she has no projects scheduled for release this year, which is just as well because you’d hate for “Sunset” to be her potential ninth bid — and surely the academy wouldn’t deny her again,...

One of the oddities of this year’s Golden Globes nominees? That Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Warner’s “A Star Is Born” requested to compete in the drama categories and not as a musical or comedy selection.

After all, the 1976 version of the much-told showbiz saga starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson was labeled as a musical and went on to grab Globes for both leads as well as the film itself. But those prizes did not translate into Oscar attention, with only the movie’s signature song, “Evergreen,” earning a statuette.

However, their winning dramatic counterparts that year – Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway in “Network” — would not only make the Oscar ballot cut, but would go on to win Academy Awards as well. Same thing happened to the year’s drama champ, “Rocky,” which won the Best Picture Oscar.

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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...

Patrick James ClarkeFormer Ryan's Hope and Search for Tomorrow actor Patrick James Clarke died on July 31 in Sarasota, Florida, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 64.

Clarke grew up in the Bronx and Long Island, New York. He was a pre-law student at the University of Arizona when he began taking acting classes.

In the 1970s, Clarke studied at the Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota.

He returned to New York City and began appearing in soap operas. For two years in the early 1980s, he played Dr. Patrick Ryan on Ryan's Hope during the height of ABC's soap opera popularity.

In a 2012 interview with the Herald-Tribune, Clarke described being spotted by soap opera fans in a bar.

"I felt like a prosciutto in the window of an Italian deli and somebody wanted to eat me," he remembered. "I couldn"t believe that television has that power over people.

Irish-born stage, film and TV actor’s credits included Brazil, The Sweeney.

Derrick O’Connor, the Irish character actor who played the villain Pieter Vorstedt in Lethal Weapon 2, has died in Santa Barbara, California, from pneumonia. He was 77.

O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1941 and grew up in London. He had lived in the United States since 1990 and most recently lived in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara, with his wife Mimi.

O’Connor was perhaps best known in the UK and Australia for starring roles in TV shows Stringer, Fox, The Sweeney, and Knockback, and...

Irish character actor Derrick O’Connor, who portrayed the villain in Lethal Weapon 2 and appeared in three of Terry Gilliam’s films among numerous other credits, has died. O’Connor died Friday of pneumonia in Santa Barbara, his publicist Jane Ayer announced. He was 77.

O’Connor’s decades-long career included memorable film performances in Lethal Weapon 2, roles in Gilliam’s films Time Bandits, Brazil and Jabberwocky, as Thomas Aquinas opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in End of Days, as an aspiring buccaneer in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and in John Boorman’s Hope and Glory.

Widely regarded as a superb actor, O’Connor was noted for often paring down – or fully eliminating – his lines in a scene in order to emphasize the physical aspects of his role – a skill that earned him the admiration of many who directed him, especially Terry Gilliam. In Gilliam’s Time Bandits,...

Versatile Irish character actor Derrick O’Connor died from pneumonia on June 29 in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 77.

O’Connor was born in Dublin and raised in London. He had lived in the U.S. since 1990 and was most recently living in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara with his wife, Mimi.

The actor starred in three of director Terry Gilliam’s films: “Time Bandits,” “Brazil,” and “Jabberwocky.” He played the villain Pieter Vorstedt in “Lethal Weapon 2” and worked opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in “End of Days.”

He also appeared in John Boorman’s “Hope and Glory and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” One of his first movie roles came in the 1973 British science-fiction film “The Final Programme.”

His notable U.S. television appearances include “Alias,” “Carnivale,” “Tracey Takes On,” “Monk,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Ghost.” In the U.K. and Australia, he was best...

What would you do if the gorgeous blonde you discovered ended up being a lot smarter than you gave her credit for That's the hilarious question at hand in the brazen American screwball comedy Born Yesterday, onstage now through November 12 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast - featuring Andrea Burns - in action below...

It’s a wonder movie from the 1930s, a political fantasy that imagines a Utopia of peace and kindness hidden away in a distant mountain range — or in our daydreams. Sony’s new restoration is indeed impressive. Ronald Colman is seduced by a vision of a non-sectarian Heaven on Earth, while Savant indulges his anti-Frank Capra grumblings in his admiring but hesitant review essay.

Lost Horizon (1937)

80th Anniversary Blu-ray + HD Digital

Sony

1937 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / Street Date October 3, 2017 / 19.99

Starring: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Noble Johnson, Richard Loo.

Cinematography: Joseph Walker

Film Editors: Gene Havelick, Gene Milford

Art Direction: Stephen Goosson

Musical director: Max Steiner

Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin

Written by Robert Riskin from the novel by James Hilton

Produced and Directed by Frank Capra

Frank Capra had a way with actors and comedy...

After polling critics from around the world for the greatest American films of all-time, BBC has now forged ahead in the attempt to get a consensus on the best comedies of all-time. After polling 253 film critics, including 118 women and 135 men, from 52 countries and six continents a simple, the list of the 100 greatest is now here.

Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.

Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.

100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...

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...

“It’s the most wonderful time/Of the year…” – Andy Williams

Well, yes and no. There is, after all, still about a week and a half to go before we can put the long national, annual nightmare of the tax season behind us. But it’s also film festival season, which for me specifically means the onset of the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival, the eighth iteration of what has become a perennial moviegoing event. More and more people flock to Hollywood Boulevard each year from all reaches of the country, and from other countries, to revel in the history of Hollywood and international filmmaking, celebrate their favorite stars (including, this year, beloved TCM host Robert Osborne, who died earlier this year and whose presence has been missed at the festival for the past two sessions) and enjoy a long-weekend-sized bout of nostalgia for the movie culture being referred to when...

Months after Taylor Swift wished her pal Blake Lively a happy birthday with an adorable post on Instagram (the cute koala didn’t hurt its cuteness factor), Lively is returning the gesture.

Although the 29-year-old actress was a day late in sending her birthday messages, Lively made up for the tardiness with sweetness.

“People Who I Not Only Really Love, But Also Really Like, That Were Born Yesterday: Part 1 of 2,” Lively captioned a selfie of herself smiling with the newly 27-year-old singer peering at the camera from under her blonde bangs. “You know how I feel.”

Swift wasn’t...

Hollywood tackles the big issues! This adapted play about an unwanted teen pregnancy is actually quite good, thanks to fine performances by Carol Lynley and Brandon De Wilde, who convince as cherubic high schoolers 'too young to know the score.' And hey, the teen trauma is set to an intense music score by Bernard Herrmann. Blue Denim 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives 1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date March 16, 2016 / available through Amazon / 19.98 Starring Carol Lynley, Brandon De Wilde, Macdonald Carey, Marsha Hunt, Warren Berlinger, Vaughn Taylor, Roberta Shore, Malcolm Atterbury, Anthony J. Corso, Gregg Martell, William Schallert. Cinematography Leo Tover Film Editor William Reynolds, George Leggewie Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by Edith Sommer, Philip Dunne from the play by James Leo Herlihy and William Noble Produced by Charles Brackett Directed by Philip Dunne

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Sex education today is erratic, with no established standard, but...

In the history of Best Actress at the Oscars, eight previous champs have never received another nomination: Mary Pickford ("Coquette," 1929), Ginger Rogers ("Kitty Foyle," 1940), Judy Holliday ("Born Yesterday," 1950), Shirley Booth ("Come Back Little Sheba," 1952), Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975), Marlee Matlin ("Children of a Lesser God," 1986), Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shakespeare in Love," 1998) and Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball," 2001). Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions Brie Larson ("Room") is the ninth, but her Best Actress victory is just a couple of weeks old, so there's every possibility she'll earn another Oscar bid in the near future. For that matter, you can't rule out a future bid for any of the living champs: Berry, Paltrow and Matlin all work regularly. Even 81-year-ol...'...

Cafe Carlyle will welcome Broadway legend Chita Rivera for a two-week engagement, January 12-23. An accomplished and versatile actresssingerdancer, Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and has received eight additional Tony nominations for an exceptional 10 Tony nominations. Her career is highlighted by starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, The Rink Tony Award, Chicago, Jerry's Girls, Kiss of the Spider Woman Tony Award, The Visit and the original Broadway casts of Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Seventh Heaven and Mr. Wonderful. Additionally, she has toured in Born Yesterday, The Rose Tattoo, Call Me Madam, Threepenny Opera, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me Kate, Zorba and Can-Can with The Rockettes.

Holed up in a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert, two former lovers unpack the deep secrets and dark desires of their tangled relationship, passionately tearing each other apart. Led by director DanielAukin Back Back Back at Mtc, 4,000 Miles, Tony winner Nina Arianda Venus in Fur at Mtc, Born Yesterday and Sam Rockwell A Behanding in Spokane, The Way Way Back bring an explosive intensity to Sam Shepard's Buried Child, True West landmark myth of the new Wild West.