Judy Balaban, the daughter of a longtime studio mogul who dated Montgomery Clift and Merv Griffin, married Tony Franciosa and served as one of Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids at her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco, has died. She was 91.
Balaban died Thursday night in a hospital in Los Angeles, her friend, author and documentary filmmaker Cari Beauchamp, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Balaban was a champion for civil rights, serving on the board of directors for the ACLU of Southern California for decades.
In a 2010 piece for Vanity Fair that she and Beauchamp co-wrote, Balaban described using LSD (then legal) as a form of therapy in the early 1960s when her good friends Cary Grant and his third wife, Betsy Drake, were using it, too.
“What I had with Cary and Betsy was a kind of soul-baringness that the culture didn’t start to deal with until years later,” she says in the story.
Balaban died Thursday night in a hospital in Los Angeles, her friend, author and documentary filmmaker Cari Beauchamp, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Balaban was a champion for civil rights, serving on the board of directors for the ACLU of Southern California for decades.
In a 2010 piece for Vanity Fair that she and Beauchamp co-wrote, Balaban described using LSD (then legal) as a form of therapy in the early 1960s when her good friends Cary Grant and his third wife, Betsy Drake, were using it, too.
“What I had with Cary and Betsy was a kind of soul-baringness that the culture didn’t start to deal with until years later,” she says in the story.
- 10/20/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar-winning producer and influential motion picture executive Alan Ladd Jr., who ushered in the “Star Wars” era of motion pictures, died Wednesday. He was 84.
“With the heaviest of hearts, we announce that on March 2, 2022, Alan Ladd, Jr. died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Words cannot express how deeply he will be missed. His impact on films and filmmaking will live on in his absence,” his daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones, who directed the documentary “Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies,” wrote on the film’s Facebook page.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox in the late 1970s, Ladd greenlit “Star Wars,” a $10 million sci-fi film that would become the yardstick for blockbuster movies and tentpole film franchises thereafter. He was the son of golden age film star Alan Ladd, best remembered for “Shane,” but in many ways, Ladd Jr. had a more substantial effect on Hollywood than did his famous dad.
“With the heaviest of hearts, we announce that on March 2, 2022, Alan Ladd, Jr. died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Words cannot express how deeply he will be missed. His impact on films and filmmaking will live on in his absence,” his daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones, who directed the documentary “Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies,” wrote on the film’s Facebook page.
During his tenure at 20th Century Fox in the late 1970s, Ladd greenlit “Star Wars,” a $10 million sci-fi film that would become the yardstick for blockbuster movies and tentpole film franchises thereafter. He was the son of golden age film star Alan Ladd, best remembered for “Shane,” but in many ways, Ladd Jr. had a more substantial effect on Hollywood than did his famous dad.
- 3/2/2022
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
"Someone inevitably had a story about my dad." Central City Media has released a new UK trailer for an indie documentary called Laddie: The Man Behind The Movies, which we haven't heard of before even though it originally premiered back in 2017. And it looks entertaining and informative. Laddie is a doc film about Alan Ladd Jr., producer and former 20th Century Fox chairman, directed by his daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones. The untold story of the movie mogul who green lit Star Wars. And Blade Runner. And Alien. And Police Academy. You may not recognize his name at first, but as soon as you watch any of these films (and many others) you'll see his name in the credits right away. Featuring interviews tons of major names: Ben Affleck, Mel Brooks, Richard Donner, Lucy Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Michael Gruskoff, Jay Kanter, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, Sigourney Weaver and many more.
- 3/25/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
This early gore-horror picture has a remarkable emphasis on human values, believe it or not, with a ‘monster’ that nevertheless is a paragon of loving gentleness. Add Donald Pleasance as a surly, posh-hating police inspector, and the shock value makes the Hammer films of the early ’70s taste like weak tea.
Death Line
Blu-ray + DVD
Blue Underground
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 87 min. / aka Raw Meat / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 39.98
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Norman Rossington, David Ladd, Sharon Gurney, Hugh Armstrong, June Turner, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Alex Thomson
Art Direction: Dennis Gordon-Orr
Film Editor: Geoffrey Foot
Original Music: Jeremy Rose, Malone Wil
Written by Ceri Jones from a story by Gary Sherman
Produced by Paul Maslansky
Directed by Gary Sherman
In 1972, making a horror film was a safe way to start a career: almost anything screen-able could get a release, and if your show had enough shock value, it might even get positive critical attention.
Death Line
Blu-ray + DVD
Blue Underground
1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 87 min. / aka Raw Meat / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 39.98
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Norman Rossington, David Ladd, Sharon Gurney, Hugh Armstrong, June Turner, Christopher Lee.
Cinematography: Alex Thomson
Art Direction: Dennis Gordon-Orr
Film Editor: Geoffrey Foot
Original Music: Jeremy Rose, Malone Wil
Written by Ceri Jones from a story by Gary Sherman
Produced by Paul Maslansky
Directed by Gary Sherman
In 1972, making a horror film was a safe way to start a career: almost anything screen-able could get a release, and if your show had enough shock value, it might even get positive critical attention.
- 6/13/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Next stop, cannibalism! The subway tunnels below London are home to flesh-eating horrors in Death Line, aka Raw Meat. With their Collector's Edition Blu-ray of the 1972 movie hitting shelves on June 27th, Blue Underground is taking the cult horror film on the road this summer to screen the 2K restoration in select theaters.
The Death Line 2K restoration is currently scheduled to screen in five locations this summer, with four of the screenings including a live Q&A with director Gary Sherman. We have the official theatrical tour dates that have been announced thus far, and you can get a tease of what to expect from the Collector's Edition Blu-ray / DVD combo pack in the new promo video below.
Scheduled theatrical screenings for the Death Line 2K restoration:
"6/02: Coolidge Corner Theatre w/Director Gary Sherman Q&A (Brookline, Ma)
6/20: Nitehawk Cinema w/Director Gary Sherman Q&A (Brooklyn,...
The Death Line 2K restoration is currently scheduled to screen in five locations this summer, with four of the screenings including a live Q&A with director Gary Sherman. We have the official theatrical tour dates that have been announced thus far, and you can get a tease of what to expect from the Collector's Edition Blu-ray / DVD combo pack in the new promo video below.
Scheduled theatrical screenings for the Death Line 2K restoration:
"6/02: Coolidge Corner Theatre w/Director Gary Sherman Q&A (Brookline, Ma)
6/20: Nitehawk Cinema w/Director Gary Sherman Q&A (Brooklyn,...
- 6/2/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Next stop, cannibalism! The subway tunnels below London are home to flesh-eating horrors in Death Line, aka Raw Meat, and Blue Underground has revealed the release date and special features for their Blu-ray / DVD 2K Collector's Edition restoration of the 1972 horror film starring Donald Pleasence.
Blue Underground will release their Collector's Edition Blu-ray / DVD of Death Line on June 27th with an audio commentary, interviews, and a collectable booklet.
From Blue Underground: "When a prominent politician and a beautiful young woman vanish inside a London subway station, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence of Halloween) investigates and makes a horrifying discovery. Not only did a group of 19th century tunnel workers survive a cave-in, but they lived for years in a secret underground enclave by consuming the flesh of their own dead. Now the lone descendant of this grisly tribe has surfaced, prowling the streets for fresh victims…...
Blue Underground will release their Collector's Edition Blu-ray / DVD of Death Line on June 27th with an audio commentary, interviews, and a collectable booklet.
From Blue Underground: "When a prominent politician and a beautiful young woman vanish inside a London subway station, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence of Halloween) investigates and makes a horrifying discovery. Not only did a group of 19th century tunnel workers survive a cave-in, but they lived for years in a secret underground enclave by consuming the flesh of their own dead. Now the lone descendant of this grisly tribe has surfaced, prowling the streets for fresh victims…...
- 4/18/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
To all cinephiles! This one is for you!
What a surprise was in store for us when we went to see “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” on its opening night of its qualifying run for Oscar submission in the documentary category.
The footage!
It took two and a half years to clear it all! The best scenes of Neorealistic cinema illustrate points on how Neorealism changed the lexicon and language of film in the same way that the Renaissance changed the visual language of art with linear perspective and its humanistic point of view.
The commentary!
Speaking about the influence of the Italian post-war Neorealism upon their filmmaking choices are Bertolucci, the Taviani Brothers, Scorsese, Olmi, Umberto Eco, Gabriel Garcia Marquez… the only reason Antonioni and Fellini did not speak was because they were no longer living when the movie was made. The interviews were not “talking heads”; they were conversations in which the great directors expressed their connections with Neorealism as they spoke to Carlo Lizzani.
Carlo Lizzani, the narrator and host of this documentary is an elegant 91 year old man who worked as scriptwriter, assistant director to every Neorealistic director and director in his own right. He starred in movies 1939-1954.
I loved him dancing in "Bitter Rice" (which he cowrote) with the women workers. That was the first Neorealistic movie I saw, dubbed on TV, when I was about eight. It was so puzzling to me, seeing this woman in a rice field with her skirt hiked up in a very provocative way, calling to someone with her words not matching her lips.
I really did not understand what sort of movie I was seeing… Similar to the first time I saw Chantal Akerman’s "Jane Dielman" which was rather Neorealistic too, though a product of the early ‘70s.
The production value!
The room, a fascinating “study” filled with objects of Neorealistic movies where the Lizzani seemed to belong was actually a room built from scratch by production designer Maurizio di Clemente within the walls of the oldest film school in Italy, Centro Sperimentale de Cine. When Lizzani opened windows, they looked out upon landscapes of these great Neorealistic movies. The technology of today was used in service of high art. Opening windows itself was a Neorealistic device.
The book!
You will want to read it all and show it off on your coffee table. Interviews, philosophic discussions, pictures and detailed listings of all the Neorealistic movies are splendidly displayed.
The education!
My view of cinema — both post war Italian cinema and today’s cinema shifted into an informed appreciation of how much Neorealism changed our vision of what a film could be.
Neorealism came to fruition with the rebirth of Italy after the war and lasted to 1954. Actually as Carlo Lizzani explains, it began in 1939 “with the first rumblings of an anti-fascist rebellion… as well as among many intellectuals and cineastes, increasingly unanimous in their refusal of so-called “White Telephone” cinema.”
“Before Neorealism, films were called ‘Bianchi Telefono’ after the white telephones that Hollywood movies showed in the so-called ‘White Telephone’ cinema for the way they featured Hollywood-style living rooms where that status symbol was invariably set center stage. It may have been a typical object in certain Hollywood mansions or Middle-European villa, but hardly in the average Italian home,” says Lizzani.
The interview!
Gianni Bozzacchi, the film’s director, writer and producer is a Renaissance man and his stories are funny, deeply moving and extremely interesting! This is someone you want to talk to for hours.
Watching this labor of love was an experience I will always treasure.
Rarely do we see a film about the art of film…Todd McCarthy’s "Visions of Light" comes to mind but others fade into PBS TV memories. This is a cinematic, highly technological and artistic feat. The Dp was Fabio Olmi the son of Ermanno Olmi.
After the screening, Bozzacchi stayed for a Q+A and the next day I continued to question him in the home of producer Jay Kanter where he was staying. After two and a half hours, I still wanted more. But the issue of condensing it all to a blog was weighing on me.
“Everything was planned and laid out in great detail, scripted and planned to the second so that filming 91 year old Lizanni for two hours a day took exactly 8 days to complete.”
Bozzacchi had previously made movies and in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He worked in Los Angeles with Greg Bautzer, who, for nearly 50 years, was one of the premier entertainment attorneys in Hollywood and with Kirk Kerkorian who needs no introduction. He wrote, directed and produced “I Love N.Y.” which was sold internationally by Walter Manley. It presold widely including to Australia where it played six weeks. But for the U.S. release, Manley edited it, and Bozzacchi moved away from it and took the DGA pseudonym, the credited name Alan Smithee.
Why did you leave filmmaking for so long?
I still remember that film, starring Christopher Plummer, Virna Lisi, Scott Baio, Jennifer O’Neill, but that was my last until “Neorealism”.
In 1986 I saw the industry was changing and I chose to step out in order to watch it as an outsider. What was ‘Show Business” was becoming a 'Business Show’. Marketing led to creating a show which led to creating a sales industry. “
“I decided to change direction and do only what I really wanted to do. I took ten years developing a big project ‘Oh Brave New World: The Renaissance’ for TV. It is now in pre-production. I thought of the Neorealism project and of The Enzo Ferrari story for which I now have a deal with Tribeca and Robert De Niro.
What did you do before you were a filmmaker?
I quit school at 13. From 1966 to 1974, at 20 I entered the jet set and became a photographer.
Elizabeth Taylor was shooting ‘The Comedians’ in Africa by Graham Greene. In Dahomy (today it’s Benin) they rebuilt part of Haiti. In the photo agency I worked no one wanted to go there, so I went. I knew Elizabeth Taylor’s face very well so I photographed her with light; no retouching was needed. After seeing a photo I took of her, Richard Burton said to me, ‘You want to join our family? Elizabeth needs you.’ I only spoke Roman, no English. I worked with her for 14 years and her two kids were my assistants. I also worked on 162 films as a special photographer, reading the scripts and shooting scenes for magazine layouts, working with “the making of the film” format.
It was when I stopped as a photographer in ‘75 that I began to think of producing films like the cult film “ China 9, Liberty 37” directed by Monte Hellman and starring Sam Peckinpah, Warren Oates and Fabio Testi and I wrote a book ExpoXed Memory about my life.
There is a relationship of all my projects to Neorealism, and of Neorealism to the Renaissance. All our projects are ready to go.
What are you doing in L.A.?
We have formed a new company with producer Jay Kanter and other partners who love film rather than the business of film. “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves: Neorealismo” is the first to come out of the gate.
“The Listener” is the next project I will direct. It is based on the semi-autobiographical book, Operation Appia Way, by the Italian politician Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti served as Prime Minister of Italy seven terms since the restoration of democracy in 1946.
Yes he was the subject of Paolo Sorrentino’s film “Il Divo”. The book is about phone tapping, abuse of power and violations of personal privacy as is so often employed in politic, spying, etc. Andreotti had studied to be a priest but became a politician and this is about the birth of wire tapping which took place in the Roman catacombs and tapped the phones of Pope Pius Xii in conversations with Churchill, Churchill and the King of Italy, Mussolini and Hitler, Roosevelt and the Pope. The scenarios alternate between New York and Rome today and flashbacks to past times.
The production coordinator of “Neorealismo”, Julia Eleanora Rei, also has a project on Eleanora Duse and Gabriel D’Annunzio. Known as ‘Duse’, this Italian actress is known for her words of wit and wisdom, ‘The weaker partner in a marriage is the one who loves the most’ and ‘When we grow old, there can only be one regret – not to have given enough of ourselves’. She is also known for her long romantic involvement with the poet and writer, the controversial Gabriele D’Annunzio. They are now targeting a star for the film, although, says Bozzacchi, ‘Today the script is the star’.
What films are most important to you?
Those shown in this documentary, especially "Open City" where the scene of shooting down Anna Magnani still makes me feel angry.
Every week the Neorealistic filmmakers met in a café or restaurant. They did not have lots of money, had only one camera and not much film. But they created a way to tell a story very realistically, hiding the camera and shooting the people as they are.
Cary Grant pleaded De Sica to star in ‘The Bicycle Thief’, but he would have disrupted the Neorealist aspect; he was too recognizable. In the scene where three men stop the thief , other citizens joined in thinking it was real. If they saw it was Cary Grant, the scene never could have happened. The little boy in the film, played by Enzo Staiola, was scared the mob would turn on him.”
It was surprising to see Enzo Staiola in conversation during the movie. He said that ‘De Sica invented this whole story about how he made me cry. When I looked at him in surprise, he said: ‘Don’t worry, it’s just cinema…you’ll understand later’.
They also changed the way to shoot in sequence, called ‘piano sequenza’. Before a film was done in steps, with a storyboard, with cuts, three camera povs. Actors and the camera depended on the director. Now the camera follows the actor as he or she moves. This went from Rossellini to Fellini who always used the system; but Fellini, who shows a new reborn Italy, did not want direct sound. Fellini directs saying, ‘pick up drink’ or ‘turn right’ or ‘look left’ and then afterward he would add the sound. He showed Italy out of war time in ‘La Dolce Vita’.
What happened after ‘Neorealism’?
Pontecorvo was born in the time of Neorealism and he brought it to Algiers (‘Battle of Algiers’). He was going to make a doc there but then decided on fiction. He wrote notes on his hand.
Who were the French, German and U.S. adherents to Neorealism?
Truffaut and Melville, Wim Wenders with ‘American Friend’ and ‘Paris, Texas’, Coppola with ‘Apocalypse Now’. Cassavetes was a producer of Neorealism; he took it to his era. Scorsese did with ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Mean Streets’.
What do we see about Neorealism today?
If you really love movies, with all of today’s technology, you must bring in realism. With the new technology there will be a new wave of new realism. New filmmakers are very straight. Honesty and realism on the screen will come out. We’re at the sea floor now, coming back. Tell me a story that I can feel and see emotion…that is the legacy of Neorealism.
The final scene was great ...
There was a great sense of collaboration on this film.
What made that so related to Neorealism?
Neorealism also had the full participation of everyone. Directors heard and listened to the community. Clint Eastwood does this too. He would be great directing the Ferrari movie…depending on the script of course.
I love you story about the dog being an actor who allowed for transitions and covered discontinuities in film.
What about catering Italian style?
Take a look at the film's trailer Here.
What a surprise was in store for us when we went to see “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” on its opening night of its qualifying run for Oscar submission in the documentary category.
The footage!
It took two and a half years to clear it all! The best scenes of Neorealistic cinema illustrate points on how Neorealism changed the lexicon and language of film in the same way that the Renaissance changed the visual language of art with linear perspective and its humanistic point of view.
The commentary!
Speaking about the influence of the Italian post-war Neorealism upon their filmmaking choices are Bertolucci, the Taviani Brothers, Scorsese, Olmi, Umberto Eco, Gabriel Garcia Marquez… the only reason Antonioni and Fellini did not speak was because they were no longer living when the movie was made. The interviews were not “talking heads”; they were conversations in which the great directors expressed their connections with Neorealism as they spoke to Carlo Lizzani.
Carlo Lizzani, the narrator and host of this documentary is an elegant 91 year old man who worked as scriptwriter, assistant director to every Neorealistic director and director in his own right. He starred in movies 1939-1954.
I loved him dancing in "Bitter Rice" (which he cowrote) with the women workers. That was the first Neorealistic movie I saw, dubbed on TV, when I was about eight. It was so puzzling to me, seeing this woman in a rice field with her skirt hiked up in a very provocative way, calling to someone with her words not matching her lips.
I really did not understand what sort of movie I was seeing… Similar to the first time I saw Chantal Akerman’s "Jane Dielman" which was rather Neorealistic too, though a product of the early ‘70s.
The production value!
The room, a fascinating “study” filled with objects of Neorealistic movies where the Lizzani seemed to belong was actually a room built from scratch by production designer Maurizio di Clemente within the walls of the oldest film school in Italy, Centro Sperimentale de Cine. When Lizzani opened windows, they looked out upon landscapes of these great Neorealistic movies. The technology of today was used in service of high art. Opening windows itself was a Neorealistic device.
The book!
You will want to read it all and show it off on your coffee table. Interviews, philosophic discussions, pictures and detailed listings of all the Neorealistic movies are splendidly displayed.
The education!
My view of cinema — both post war Italian cinema and today’s cinema shifted into an informed appreciation of how much Neorealism changed our vision of what a film could be.
Neorealism came to fruition with the rebirth of Italy after the war and lasted to 1954. Actually as Carlo Lizzani explains, it began in 1939 “with the first rumblings of an anti-fascist rebellion… as well as among many intellectuals and cineastes, increasingly unanimous in their refusal of so-called “White Telephone” cinema.”
“Before Neorealism, films were called ‘Bianchi Telefono’ after the white telephones that Hollywood movies showed in the so-called ‘White Telephone’ cinema for the way they featured Hollywood-style living rooms where that status symbol was invariably set center stage. It may have been a typical object in certain Hollywood mansions or Middle-European villa, but hardly in the average Italian home,” says Lizzani.
The interview!
Gianni Bozzacchi, the film’s director, writer and producer is a Renaissance man and his stories are funny, deeply moving and extremely interesting! This is someone you want to talk to for hours.
Watching this labor of love was an experience I will always treasure.
Rarely do we see a film about the art of film…Todd McCarthy’s "Visions of Light" comes to mind but others fade into PBS TV memories. This is a cinematic, highly technological and artistic feat. The Dp was Fabio Olmi the son of Ermanno Olmi.
After the screening, Bozzacchi stayed for a Q+A and the next day I continued to question him in the home of producer Jay Kanter where he was staying. After two and a half hours, I still wanted more. But the issue of condensing it all to a blog was weighing on me.
“Everything was planned and laid out in great detail, scripted and planned to the second so that filming 91 year old Lizanni for two hours a day took exactly 8 days to complete.”
Bozzacchi had previously made movies and in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He worked in Los Angeles with Greg Bautzer, who, for nearly 50 years, was one of the premier entertainment attorneys in Hollywood and with Kirk Kerkorian who needs no introduction. He wrote, directed and produced “I Love N.Y.” which was sold internationally by Walter Manley. It presold widely including to Australia where it played six weeks. But for the U.S. release, Manley edited it, and Bozzacchi moved away from it and took the DGA pseudonym, the credited name Alan Smithee.
Why did you leave filmmaking for so long?
I still remember that film, starring Christopher Plummer, Virna Lisi, Scott Baio, Jennifer O’Neill, but that was my last until “Neorealism”.
In 1986 I saw the industry was changing and I chose to step out in order to watch it as an outsider. What was ‘Show Business” was becoming a 'Business Show’. Marketing led to creating a show which led to creating a sales industry. “
“I decided to change direction and do only what I really wanted to do. I took ten years developing a big project ‘Oh Brave New World: The Renaissance’ for TV. It is now in pre-production. I thought of the Neorealism project and of The Enzo Ferrari story for which I now have a deal with Tribeca and Robert De Niro.
What did you do before you were a filmmaker?
I quit school at 13. From 1966 to 1974, at 20 I entered the jet set and became a photographer.
Elizabeth Taylor was shooting ‘The Comedians’ in Africa by Graham Greene. In Dahomy (today it’s Benin) they rebuilt part of Haiti. In the photo agency I worked no one wanted to go there, so I went. I knew Elizabeth Taylor’s face very well so I photographed her with light; no retouching was needed. After seeing a photo I took of her, Richard Burton said to me, ‘You want to join our family? Elizabeth needs you.’ I only spoke Roman, no English. I worked with her for 14 years and her two kids were my assistants. I also worked on 162 films as a special photographer, reading the scripts and shooting scenes for magazine layouts, working with “the making of the film” format.
It was when I stopped as a photographer in ‘75 that I began to think of producing films like the cult film “ China 9, Liberty 37” directed by Monte Hellman and starring Sam Peckinpah, Warren Oates and Fabio Testi and I wrote a book ExpoXed Memory about my life.
There is a relationship of all my projects to Neorealism, and of Neorealism to the Renaissance. All our projects are ready to go.
What are you doing in L.A.?
We have formed a new company with producer Jay Kanter and other partners who love film rather than the business of film. “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves: Neorealismo” is the first to come out of the gate.
“The Listener” is the next project I will direct. It is based on the semi-autobiographical book, Operation Appia Way, by the Italian politician Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti served as Prime Minister of Italy seven terms since the restoration of democracy in 1946.
Yes he was the subject of Paolo Sorrentino’s film “Il Divo”. The book is about phone tapping, abuse of power and violations of personal privacy as is so often employed in politic, spying, etc. Andreotti had studied to be a priest but became a politician and this is about the birth of wire tapping which took place in the Roman catacombs and tapped the phones of Pope Pius Xii in conversations with Churchill, Churchill and the King of Italy, Mussolini and Hitler, Roosevelt and the Pope. The scenarios alternate between New York and Rome today and flashbacks to past times.
The production coordinator of “Neorealismo”, Julia Eleanora Rei, also has a project on Eleanora Duse and Gabriel D’Annunzio. Known as ‘Duse’, this Italian actress is known for her words of wit and wisdom, ‘The weaker partner in a marriage is the one who loves the most’ and ‘When we grow old, there can only be one regret – not to have given enough of ourselves’. She is also known for her long romantic involvement with the poet and writer, the controversial Gabriele D’Annunzio. They are now targeting a star for the film, although, says Bozzacchi, ‘Today the script is the star’.
What films are most important to you?
Those shown in this documentary, especially "Open City" where the scene of shooting down Anna Magnani still makes me feel angry.
Every week the Neorealistic filmmakers met in a café or restaurant. They did not have lots of money, had only one camera and not much film. But they created a way to tell a story very realistically, hiding the camera and shooting the people as they are.
Cary Grant pleaded De Sica to star in ‘The Bicycle Thief’, but he would have disrupted the Neorealist aspect; he was too recognizable. In the scene where three men stop the thief , other citizens joined in thinking it was real. If they saw it was Cary Grant, the scene never could have happened. The little boy in the film, played by Enzo Staiola, was scared the mob would turn on him.”
It was surprising to see Enzo Staiola in conversation during the movie. He said that ‘De Sica invented this whole story about how he made me cry. When I looked at him in surprise, he said: ‘Don’t worry, it’s just cinema…you’ll understand later’.
They also changed the way to shoot in sequence, called ‘piano sequenza’. Before a film was done in steps, with a storyboard, with cuts, three camera povs. Actors and the camera depended on the director. Now the camera follows the actor as he or she moves. This went from Rossellini to Fellini who always used the system; but Fellini, who shows a new reborn Italy, did not want direct sound. Fellini directs saying, ‘pick up drink’ or ‘turn right’ or ‘look left’ and then afterward he would add the sound. He showed Italy out of war time in ‘La Dolce Vita’.
What happened after ‘Neorealism’?
Pontecorvo was born in the time of Neorealism and he brought it to Algiers (‘Battle of Algiers’). He was going to make a doc there but then decided on fiction. He wrote notes on his hand.
Who were the French, German and U.S. adherents to Neorealism?
Truffaut and Melville, Wim Wenders with ‘American Friend’ and ‘Paris, Texas’, Coppola with ‘Apocalypse Now’. Cassavetes was a producer of Neorealism; he took it to his era. Scorsese did with ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Mean Streets’.
What do we see about Neorealism today?
If you really love movies, with all of today’s technology, you must bring in realism. With the new technology there will be a new wave of new realism. New filmmakers are very straight. Honesty and realism on the screen will come out. We’re at the sea floor now, coming back. Tell me a story that I can feel and see emotion…that is the legacy of Neorealism.
The final scene was great ...
There was a great sense of collaboration on this film.
What made that so related to Neorealism?
Neorealism also had the full participation of everyone. Directors heard and listened to the community. Clint Eastwood does this too. He would be great directing the Ferrari movie…depending on the script of course.
I love you story about the dog being an actor who allowed for transitions and covered discontinuities in film.
What about catering Italian style?
Take a look at the film's trailer Here.
- 10/21/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Veteran motion picture agents Adam Kanter and Martin Spencer – who represent some very prominent directors, writers and producers – are joining Jeff Berg‘s new Resolution as senior agents after 25 years with CAA. Berg made the announcement today. Of course, it isn’t yet known how many of Kanter’s and Spencer’s clients will join Resolution from CAA. “But they’ve had long-term relationships with many of them,” Berg tells me. “We’re betting a lot of them.” CAA, on the other hand, is confident it’ll keep a goodly portion. Nevertheless, Berg is demonstrating that Resolution can shake loose established major agents with prestigious client bases who want quicker advancement. “Adam and Martin will play a key role in the development of our new agency,” Berg said in a statement. Kanter is the son of longtime agent, producer and studio executive Jay Kanter who was Marlon Brando’s...
- 3/4/2013
- by NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: Veteran motion picture agents Adam Kanter and Martin Spencer – who represent some very prominent directors, writers and producers – are joining Jeff Berg‘s new Resolution as senior agents after 25 years with CAA. Berg made the announcement today. Of course, it isn’t yet known how many of Kanter’s and Spencer’s clients will join Resolution from CAA. “But they’ve had long-term relationships with many of them,” Berg tells me. “We’re betting a lot of them.” CAA, on the other hand, is confident it’ll keep a goodly portion. Nevertheless, Berg is demonstrating that Resolution can shake loose established major agents with prestigious client bases who want quicker advancement. “Adam and Martin will play a key role in the development of our new agency,” Berg said in a statement. Kanter is the son of longtime agent, producer and studio executive Jay Kanter who was Marlon Brando’s...
- 3/4/2013
- by NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
- Deadline Hollywood
Alan Ladd, Jr. and Warner Bros. have settled their legal dispute after years in court, TheWrap has confirmed. Ladd, a former studio executive, won a $3.2 million jury verdict against Warner Bros. in 2007, but until now, the case hasn't been fully resolved. Also read: Ladd's the Victor in $3.2M 'Blade Runner' Suit Terms of the settlement are confidential, and neither Warner Bros. nor Ladd's lawyer would comment. The wrangling stretches back to 2003, when Ladd and Jay Kanter's The Ladd Co., sued the studio, saying it was owed millions of dollars from 12 movies,...
- 4/21/2011
- by Joshua L. Weinstein
- The Wrap
Claude Chabrol, who died Sunday, Sept. 12 at 80, was a founder of the New Wave and a giant of French cinema. This interview, which took place during the 1970 New York Film Festival, shows him at midpoint in his life, just as he had emerged from a period of neglect and was making some of his best films.
Claude Chabrol's "This Man Must Die" is advertised as a thriller, but I found it more of a macabre study of human behavior. There's no doubt as to the villain's identity, and little doubt that he will die (although how he dies is left deliciously ambiguous).
Unlike previous masters of thrillers like Hitchcock, Chabrol goes for mood and tone more than for plot. You get the notion that his killings and revenges are choreographed for a terribly observant camera and an ear that hears the slightest change in human speech.
For this reason,...
Claude Chabrol's "This Man Must Die" is advertised as a thriller, but I found it more of a macabre study of human behavior. There's no doubt as to the villain's identity, and little doubt that he will die (although how he dies is left deliciously ambiguous).
Unlike previous masters of thrillers like Hitchcock, Chabrol goes for mood and tone more than for plot. You get the notion that his killings and revenges are choreographed for a terribly observant camera and an ear that hears the slightest change in human speech.
For this reason,...
- 9/12/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Gareth Wigan, widely considered a rare gentleman among studio executives, died at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by his family on Saturday morning after a brief illness. He was 78.
During the course of his career, the London-born Wigan, lean and courtly, was involved with such movies as "Star Wars," "All that Jazz," "Chariots of Fire" and "Sense and Sensibility," while working at Fox, the Ladd Company and Sony, where most recently he oversaw local-language productions, such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for the studio.
"Gareth was an inspirational and passionate leader. His love of movies and filmmakers was as rare and unique as the brilliant films he championed over the last four decades," Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman said. "He led by example and while he can never be replicated, his influence on our company and our industry will last forever."
Born December 2, 1931, after graduating from Oxord, Wigan began...
During the course of his career, the London-born Wigan, lean and courtly, was involved with such movies as "Star Wars," "All that Jazz," "Chariots of Fire" and "Sense and Sensibility," while working at Fox, the Ladd Company and Sony, where most recently he oversaw local-language productions, such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for the studio.
"Gareth was an inspirational and passionate leader. His love of movies and filmmakers was as rare and unique as the brilliant films he championed over the last four decades," Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman said. "He led by example and while he can never be replicated, his influence on our company and our industry will last forever."
Born December 2, 1931, after graduating from Oxord, Wigan began...
- 2/13/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After a civil trial closely watched in Hollywood, a jury Thursday ordered Warner Bros. to pay producers Alan Ladd Jr. and Jay Kanter $3.2 million in revenue from a series of movies licensed in packages to TV and cable stations.
The case is one of the first to reach a verdict in challenging studio allocations of lucrative package fees collected for film licenses. Ladd and Kanter sued the studio in 2003, claiming that Warners improperly directed revenue away from packaged films on which the duo were owed profit participations.
"I'm thrilled," Ladd said of the verdict. "I hope it makes a difference in the accounting process in this business. The studios should stop being corrupt. When they start being honest, this business will change."
Said a Warners spokesperson: "While we are disappointed by the jury's verdict, we understand their confusion over damages. We will now look at this entire proceeding and hope to rectify this erroneous decision at this level or on appeal."
The Superior Court jury delivered a unanimous verdict in finding that the studio breached its duties to the producers. The 12-juror panel then ruled 10-2 to adopt the plaintiffs' suggested damage calculations for 12 films produced by the Ladd Co., including Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire and the Police Academy movies.
The case is one of the first to reach a verdict in challenging studio allocations of lucrative package fees collected for film licenses. Ladd and Kanter sued the studio in 2003, claiming that Warners improperly directed revenue away from packaged films on which the duo were owed profit participations.
"I'm thrilled," Ladd said of the verdict. "I hope it makes a difference in the accounting process in this business. The studios should stop being corrupt. When they start being honest, this business will change."
Said a Warners spokesperson: "While we are disappointed by the jury's verdict, we understand their confusion over damages. We will now look at this entire proceeding and hope to rectify this erroneous decision at this level or on appeal."
The Superior Court jury delivered a unanimous verdict in finding that the studio breached its duties to the producers. The 12-juror panel then ruled 10-2 to adopt the plaintiffs' suggested damage calculations for 12 films produced by the Ladd Co., including Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire and the Police Academy movies.
Closing arguments began Monday in Alan Ladd Jr. and Jay Kanter's trial challenging Warner Bros.' accounting for film package license fees, with the plaintiffs' attorney telling jurors that the studio has a practice of holding back revenue due profit participants until it is forced to pay.
"They want to keep a bigger share of it," attorney John Gatti said. "End of story".
Warner Bros. attorney Michael Bergman later told jurors that it is not a studio practice to act in bad faith or to apply different accounting standards from one picture to another. "The business of Warner Bros. in licensing films is to get the most money you can for each film," Bergman told the jury.
Bergman was set to continue closing arguments today.
The Los Angeles case is one of the first to reach a trial over the common studio practice of accounting for lump-sum license fees for film packages. Ladd and Kanter claim that Warner Bros. directs revenue away from films for which it owes a portion to third-party profit participants.
The duo also allege that they were damaged when the studio omitted the Ladd Co.
"They want to keep a bigger share of it," attorney John Gatti said. "End of story".
Warner Bros. attorney Michael Bergman later told jurors that it is not a studio practice to act in bad faith or to apply different accounting standards from one picture to another. "The business of Warner Bros. in licensing films is to get the most money you can for each film," Bergman told the jury.
Bergman was set to continue closing arguments today.
The Los Angeles case is one of the first to reach a trial over the common studio practice of accounting for lump-sum license fees for film packages. Ladd and Kanter claim that Warner Bros. directs revenue away from films for which it owes a portion to third-party profit participants.
The duo also allege that they were damaged when the studio omitted the Ladd Co.
- 7/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Alan Ladd Jr. had another shot Tuesday morning at rehashing his claims that the removal of his Ladd Co. logo and credits from several DVDs cost him millions of dollars.
But after testifying a second time, Judge Ricardo Torres stuck with the ruling he made Monday that the damages were too speculative, a courtroom observer said.
Torres made the initial ruling Monday after hearing Warner Bros. attorney Michael Bergman's arguments Friday on a dismissal motion for non-suit.
On Monday, Torres also dismissed Ladd's profit participation claims for the cult classic "Blade Runner" because the claims breached a prior settlement with the studio over the film.
The judge, however, refused to dismiss claims by Ladd and producing partner Jay Kanter the studio owes them millions for failing to allocate the appropriate share of package license fees from TV broadcasters to films for which the studio owes a profit participation. Those claims include breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation based on the studio's licensing activities.
But after testifying a second time, Judge Ricardo Torres stuck with the ruling he made Monday that the damages were too speculative, a courtroom observer said.
Torres made the initial ruling Monday after hearing Warner Bros. attorney Michael Bergman's arguments Friday on a dismissal motion for non-suit.
On Monday, Torres also dismissed Ladd's profit participation claims for the cult classic "Blade Runner" because the claims breached a prior settlement with the studio over the film.
The judge, however, refused to dismiss claims by Ladd and producing partner Jay Kanter the studio owes them millions for failing to allocate the appropriate share of package license fees from TV broadcasters to films for which the studio owes a profit participation. Those claims include breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation based on the studio's licensing activities.
- 7/25/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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