Exclusive: Some 20 years after it took root in the imagination of Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis screened this morning for the very first time. Held at the Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater, the epic film screened for buyers, and had every distributor in attendance. Also in tow were family friends and filmmakers, a list that included Anjelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, Andy Garcia, Spike Jonze, Al Pacino, Jon Favreau, Colleen Camp, Roger Corman, Darren Aronofsky, Cailee Spaeny and cast members Shia Labeouf and Talia Shire.
I was there also, and what can I say about the movie when I promised Coppola I would be a fly on the wall and not write anything approximating a review? Coppola’s new film is crackling with ideas that fuse the past with the future, with an epic and highly visual fable that plays perfectly on an IMAX screen. He covers complex themes in a remarkably brief two hours and 13 minutes,...
I was there also, and what can I say about the movie when I promised Coppola I would be a fly on the wall and not write anything approximating a review? Coppola’s new film is crackling with ideas that fuse the past with the future, with an epic and highly visual fable that plays perfectly on an IMAX screen. He covers complex themes in a remarkably brief two hours and 13 minutes,...
- 3/29/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Bill Maher had Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his on Club Random podcast to discuss the White House hopeful’s controversial stance on vaccines. The often-unfiltered host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher then post a clip on Twitter with the headline, “Is @RobertFKennedyJr’s position on vaccines that unreasonable?”
Have a look and listen below, and judge for yourself.
In the clip, Democrat Kennedy cites a book he wrote that summarizes “over 450 studies.” Maher then asked about “the question for your campaign” before Kennedy interrupted as said, “I’m not talking about this stuff for my campaign, I’m just talking between you and me.” The host shot back: “That’s a ridiculous assumption. Of course you’re going to have to talk about it. Rfk Jr. interrupted again, saying, “Well, if somebody asks me, I’m going to.”
Maher raised his voice and said, “They’re all...
Have a look and listen below, and judge for yourself.
In the clip, Democrat Kennedy cites a book he wrote that summarizes “over 450 studies.” Maher then asked about “the question for your campaign” before Kennedy interrupted as said, “I’m not talking about this stuff for my campaign, I’m just talking between you and me.” The host shot back: “That’s a ridiculous assumption. Of course you’re going to have to talk about it. Rfk Jr. interrupted again, saying, “Well, if somebody asks me, I’m going to.”
Maher raised his voice and said, “They’re all...
- 6/27/2023
- by Erik Pedersen and Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Studiocanal, Entertainment 360 and The Picture Company have made deals to turn the 2021 documentary film The Lost Leonardo into a limited series. Gillian Weeks will write the script.
Directed by Andreas Koefoed, the docu explores the origin and surreal journey of the now famous painting called the “Salvator Mundi.” Discovered in an estate sale in Louisiana in 2005 by enterprising art dealers and purchased for 1000, the painting took on a life of its own when it was restored and authenticated as a true Leonardo Da Vinci. The authentication came from Dianne Modestini, a renowned art restorer and da Vinci expert.
After several real-life twists and turns that saw the painting travel through the underbelly of the international art world, it eventually sold at Christie’s auction house in New York for 450 million. That was the highest price ever paid for a piece of art, and it was purchased by Mohammed bin Salman,...
Directed by Andreas Koefoed, the docu explores the origin and surreal journey of the now famous painting called the “Salvator Mundi.” Discovered in an estate sale in Louisiana in 2005 by enterprising art dealers and purchased for 1000, the painting took on a life of its own when it was restored and authenticated as a true Leonardo Da Vinci. The authentication came from Dianne Modestini, a renowned art restorer and da Vinci expert.
After several real-life twists and turns that saw the painting travel through the underbelly of the international art world, it eventually sold at Christie’s auction house in New York for 450 million. That was the highest price ever paid for a piece of art, and it was purchased by Mohammed bin Salman,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Adam Wade, the suave singer and actor who registered three Top 10 hits on the Billboard 100 in 1961 and appeared in films including Shaft, Crazy Joe and Claudine before making history as a game show host, has died. He was 87.
Wade died Thursday at his home in Montclair, New Jersey, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, his wife, singer Jeree Wade, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Pittsburgh crooner drew comparisons to Johnny Mathis when he scored hits in 1961 with the romantic ballads “Take Good Care of Her,” which reached No. 7 (the tune was later recorded by Elvis Presley), “The Writing on the Wall” (No. 5) and “As If I Didn’t Know” (No. 10).
In a 2014 interview, Wade said he “was trying to imitate Nat King Cole, my boyhood idol, not Johnny Mathis. So I guess that tells you how good my imitating skills were.”
In...
Adam Wade, the suave singer and actor who registered three Top 10 hits on the Billboard 100 in 1961 and appeared in films including Shaft, Crazy Joe and Claudine before making history as a game show host, has died. He was 87.
Wade died Thursday at his home in Montclair, New Jersey, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, his wife, singer Jeree Wade, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Pittsburgh crooner drew comparisons to Johnny Mathis when he scored hits in 1961 with the romantic ballads “Take Good Care of Her,” which reached No. 7 (the tune was later recorded by Elvis Presley), “The Writing on the Wall” (No. 5) and “As If I Didn’t Know” (No. 10).
In a 2014 interview, Wade said he “was trying to imitate Nat King Cole, my boyhood idol, not Johnny Mathis. So I guess that tells you how good my imitating skills were.”
In...
- 7/10/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As Americans race to get their Covid-19 vaccinations, Jeremy Strong will star in a timely film called “Splendid Solution” as Jonas Salk, the man who researched and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines.
Bron Studios and 21 Laps are teaming on the film that’s based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling book, “Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio.” The book was first published in 2006 and tells the true story of Dr. Salk’s quest to create the polio vaccine as the illness ravaged the country. It charts the seven years up until April 1955 when he announced the successful serum and was hailed a miracle-worker by many.
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay for “Splendid Solution,” with Shawn Levy and Dan Levine producing for 21 Laps, with Aaron L. Gilbert producing for Bron. Becca Edelman and Emily Feher are managing the project.
Strong will also...
Bron Studios and 21 Laps are teaming on the film that’s based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling book, “Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio.” The book was first published in 2006 and tells the true story of Dr. Salk’s quest to create the polio vaccine as the illness ravaged the country. It charts the seven years up until April 1955 when he announced the successful serum and was hailed a miracle-worker by many.
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay for “Splendid Solution,” with Shawn Levy and Dan Levine producing for 21 Laps, with Aaron L. Gilbert producing for Bron. Becca Edelman and Emily Feher are managing the project.
Strong will also...
- 3/30/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Succession Emmy winner and The Trial of the Chicago 7 star Jeremy Strong is set to play Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, in the Bron and 21 Laps feature production Splendid Solution.
The project will be adapted by Gillian Weeks from Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times bestseller, which tells the true story of Salk’s triumphant quest to create the vaccine as polio ravaged the U.S.
Salk’s battle against the virus, his perseverance and eventual triumph made him a cultural hero and icon for a generation.
Splendid Solution will be the second film adaptation of Kluger’s work, the author’s Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 having served as the inspiration for Ron Howard’s double-Oscar-winning 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13 ($355.2M WW box office).
Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and Dan Levine (Arrival) will produce on behalf of 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher managing the project.
The project will be adapted by Gillian Weeks from Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times bestseller, which tells the true story of Salk’s triumphant quest to create the vaccine as polio ravaged the U.S.
Salk’s battle against the virus, his perseverance and eventual triumph made him a cultural hero and icon for a generation.
Splendid Solution will be the second film adaptation of Kluger’s work, the author’s Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 having served as the inspiration for Ron Howard’s double-Oscar-winning 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13 ($355.2M WW box office).
Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and Dan Levine (Arrival) will produce on behalf of 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher managing the project.
- 3/30/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Emmy winner Jeremy Strong will star as Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, in the upcoming film “Splendid Solution.”
Produced by Bron Studios and 21 Laps, the feature film adapts Jeffrey Kluger’s 2004 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Dr. Salk on his quest to find a cure for the deadly virus. Kluger’s 1994 book “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13” was also the inspiration for Ron Howard’s Oscar-nominated “Apollo 13.”
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay for the new film, produced by Shawn Levy and Dan Levine for 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher overseeing the project.
“We can’t think of a more timely story to tell — of one man’s journey to save the world from a devastating pandemic while overcoming misinformation from the media…and how he believed so much in the vaccine that he...
Produced by Bron Studios and 21 Laps, the feature film adapts Jeffrey Kluger’s 2004 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Dr. Salk on his quest to find a cure for the deadly virus. Kluger’s 1994 book “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13” was also the inspiration for Ron Howard’s Oscar-nominated “Apollo 13.”
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay for the new film, produced by Shawn Levy and Dan Levine for 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher overseeing the project.
“We can’t think of a more timely story to tell — of one man’s journey to save the world from a devastating pandemic while overcoming misinformation from the media…and how he believed so much in the vaccine that he...
- 3/30/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Gillian Weeks to adapt screenplay based on Jeffrey Kluger’s novel. No director attached.
Bron and 21 Laps have set Jeremy Strong to star in their adaptation of polio vaccine drama Splendid Solution.
The feature is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s novel of the same name about Jonas Salk’s quest to discover a vaccine as polio ravaged the United States in the early 1950s.
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay. The producers did not announce a director on Tuesday (March 30).
Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and Dan Levine (Arrival) will produce on behalf of 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher managing the project.
Bron and 21 Laps have set Jeremy Strong to star in their adaptation of polio vaccine drama Splendid Solution.
The feature is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s novel of the same name about Jonas Salk’s quest to discover a vaccine as polio ravaged the United States in the early 1950s.
Gillian Weeks will write the screenplay. The producers did not announce a director on Tuesday (March 30).
Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and Dan Levine (Arrival) will produce on behalf of 21 Laps Entertainment, with Becca Edelman and Emily Feher managing the project.
- 3/30/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Jeremy Strong has found his next role in Jonas Salk, the famed virologist that developed the widely-used polio vaccine.
Strong will play the famed researcher in the feature Splendid Solution from Bron Studios and 21 Laps.
The project is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Salk as he begins his polio research and his eventual discovery of a vaccine that he purposefully did not patent and was then used for decades to innoculate against the virus. Gillian Weeks will pen the screenplay.
Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce on behalf of 21 ...
Strong will play the famed researcher in the feature Splendid Solution from Bron Studios and 21 Laps.
The project is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Salk as he begins his polio research and his eventual discovery of a vaccine that he purposefully did not patent and was then used for decades to innoculate against the virus. Gillian Weeks will pen the screenplay.
Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce on behalf of 21 ...
- 3/30/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Jeremy Strong has found his next role in Jonas Salk, the famed virologist that developed the widely-used polio vaccine.
Strong will play the famed researcher in the feature Splendid Solution from Bron Studios and 21 Laps.
The project is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Salk as he begins his polio research and his eventual discovery of a vaccine that he purposefully did not patent and was then used for decades to innoculate against the virus. Gillian Weeks will pen the screenplay.
Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce on behalf of 21 ...
Strong will play the famed researcher in the feature Splendid Solution from Bron Studios and 21 Laps.
The project is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Salk as he begins his polio research and his eventual discovery of a vaccine that he purposefully did not patent and was then used for decades to innoculate against the virus. Gillian Weeks will pen the screenplay.
Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce on behalf of 21 ...
- 3/30/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Almost inevitably, Hollywood will help shape the cultural memory of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But how?
Several quarantine films have already come out, but they haven’t quite hit the mark. They emphasize social isolation, while foregrounding their production constraints, or delve into disaster tropes, like the much-panned “Songbird.”
It will take some time — and the pandemic will have to recede — before anyone can see it clearly.
Joshua Loomis, author of “Epidemics: The Impact of Germs and Their Power over Humanity,” argues the pandemic will be memorialized much the way the polio outbreaks of the 1930s through the 1950s are remembered.
“If you look at artistic production, it was really centered around the heroes of the story,” Loomis says. “It focused on how we moved on and overcame. There were books and movies about Jonas Salk and Fdr. Celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra supported the March of Dimes.
But how?
Several quarantine films have already come out, but they haven’t quite hit the mark. They emphasize social isolation, while foregrounding their production constraints, or delve into disaster tropes, like the much-panned “Songbird.”
It will take some time — and the pandemic will have to recede — before anyone can see it clearly.
Joshua Loomis, author of “Epidemics: The Impact of Germs and Their Power over Humanity,” argues the pandemic will be memorialized much the way the polio outbreaks of the 1930s through the 1950s are remembered.
“If you look at artistic production, it was really centered around the heroes of the story,” Loomis says. “It focused on how we moved on and overcame. There were books and movies about Jonas Salk and Fdr. Celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra supported the March of Dimes.
- 3/18/2021
- by Gene Maddaus
- Variety Film + TV
Larry Kudlow’s debut on Fox Business Network on Tuesday has generated a lot of attention, and most of it not good due to his expletive-filled big mouth.
“Earlier on Fox News Channel, I made some comments about that clip, you might have read about it, if not you could Google it,” the ex-director of Donald Trump’s National Economic Council said this afternoon early in his new show. Those comments, to put it mildly, arose from a hot-mic reaction by the former financial analyst to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claims in an Axios interview that the new administration was “starting from scratch” on the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Appearing on Fnc’s America Reports to promote his new self-titled show, which will air weekdays at 4 p.m. Et, Kudlow was heard chanting “Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t!” as the clip of Harris played. The show co-hosted by Sandra Smith...
“Earlier on Fox News Channel, I made some comments about that clip, you might have read about it, if not you could Google it,” the ex-director of Donald Trump’s National Economic Council said this afternoon early in his new show. Those comments, to put it mildly, arose from a hot-mic reaction by the former financial analyst to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claims in an Axios interview that the new administration was “starting from scratch” on the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Appearing on Fnc’s America Reports to promote his new self-titled show, which will air weekdays at 4 p.m. Et, Kudlow was heard chanting “Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t!” as the clip of Harris played. The show co-hosted by Sandra Smith...
- 2/16/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright chatted over video with Rolling Stone for an at-home installment of “The First Time.”
In addition to reminiscing about getting to meet his childhood heroes and working his first summer job, Wright, who released his most recent film All Day and a Night last week, also discusses some of the highlights of his career, including the moment he got to experience Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work for the first time while preparing for the role in artist-director Julian Schnabel 1996 biopic Basquiat.
“I would go to [director] Julian Schnabel...
In addition to reminiscing about getting to meet his childhood heroes and working his first summer job, Wright, who released his most recent film All Day and a Night last week, also discusses some of the highlights of his career, including the moment he got to experience Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work for the first time while preparing for the role in artist-director Julian Schnabel 1996 biopic Basquiat.
“I would go to [director] Julian Schnabel...
- 5/4/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Ahsoka Tano voice actress Ashley Eckstein gives her thoughts on the live action casting of her character.
“The casting of Rosario Dawson as fan-favorite Star Wars character, Ahsoka Tano, has gotten a mixed response for a number of important reasons. One reason that has gotten people upset on the less problematic side of the issue is that they feel as if Ahsoka’s longtime voice actress, Ashley Eckstein, was overlooked for the role. Especially when Eckstein has portrayed the character consistently for over a decade, including in The Rise of Skywalker.”
Read more at The Mary Sue.
Your home isn’t the only thing that needs a thorough cleaning this spring. Here’s how you can tidy up your online accounts now that we’re all stuck indoors.
“Being isolated at home means you have more time to set up your Animal Crossing island and binge on Disney+, but it...
“The casting of Rosario Dawson as fan-favorite Star Wars character, Ahsoka Tano, has gotten a mixed response for a number of important reasons. One reason that has gotten people upset on the less problematic side of the issue is that they feel as if Ahsoka’s longtime voice actress, Ashley Eckstein, was overlooked for the role. Especially when Eckstein has portrayed the character consistently for over a decade, including in The Rise of Skywalker.”
Read more at The Mary Sue.
Your home isn’t the only thing that needs a thorough cleaning this spring. Here’s how you can tidy up your online accounts now that we’re all stuck indoors.
“Being isolated at home means you have more time to set up your Animal Crossing island and binge on Disney+, but it...
- 3/26/2020
- by Ivan Huang
- Den of Geek
The title of the new documentary “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life” bounces off the title of the essay that Sacks published in The New York Times on Feb. 19, 2015 (“My Own Life”), days after he’d received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. It‘s a deceptively plain title. For Sacks, in his impish way, was suggesting that his own life, if you looked at it closely enough, might bear more than a passing resemblance to the idiosyncratic and richly freakish lives he chronicled in his case-study portraits that were really a form of wide-eyed literary biography.
Sacks wrote about people in extreme states — of sensory and neurological damage, of awareness and sheer being. And “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,” directed by the redoubtable Ric Burns (“Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”), is a portrait at once tender and thrilling, a movie that presents us with a man who led an eccentrically defiant,...
Sacks wrote about people in extreme states — of sensory and neurological damage, of awareness and sheer being. And “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,” directed by the redoubtable Ric Burns (“Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”), is a portrait at once tender and thrilling, a movie that presents us with a man who led an eccentrically defiant,...
- 10/2/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Fox has given a script commitment plus penalty to Saturday Night Special, a police drama from Black List writer Robert Specland (Nyad), producer Marc Platt and 20th Century Fox TV, where Platt’s Marc Platt Productions has a deal.
Written by Specland, Saturday Night Special is a grounded police soap exploring a tight-knit group of Washington D.C. cops with focus on the wildest, most dangerous shift of the week, giving us an in-depth look at the police force from the top down, Lieutenant to rookies, and how a job like this affects each of their lives, and their lives affect the job.
Specland executive produces with Platt and Adam Siegel via Platt’s Marc Platt Productions. 20th Century Fox TV co-produces with Marc Platt Productions.
Specland penned the 2015 Black List script Nyad about the famed swimmer Diana Nyad, and also The Impossible War,...
Written by Specland, Saturday Night Special is a grounded police soap exploring a tight-knit group of Washington D.C. cops with focus on the wildest, most dangerous shift of the week, giving us an in-depth look at the police force from the top down, Lieutenant to rookies, and how a job like this affects each of their lives, and their lives affect the job.
Specland executive produces with Platt and Adam Siegel via Platt’s Marc Platt Productions. 20th Century Fox TV co-produces with Marc Platt Productions.
Specland penned the 2015 Black List script Nyad about the famed swimmer Diana Nyad, and also The Impossible War,...
- 10/11/2018
- by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Robert Specland, the Black List scribe who has just come aboard to pen the Ufc origin film Gracie, has been hired to write Reincarnation Type, a thriller in the works from Bad Robot and Bristol Automotive. The logline is under wraps, but the producers’ research on reincarnation inspired a character-based thriller in the vein of The Sixth Sense. Specland’s take on the material sparked the deal.
Specland penned the 2015 Black List script Nyad about the famed swimmer Diana Nyad, and then The Impossible War, about Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin’s race against the clock and each other to find a polio cure. The latter pic is in the works with Black Bear Pictures financing and producing with Pacific View Management & Production.
Gracie, a drama that will tell the story of how the Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rorion Gracie co-founded the Ufc as a way to give traction to a new martial arts form,...
Specland penned the 2015 Black List script Nyad about the famed swimmer Diana Nyad, and then The Impossible War, about Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin’s race against the clock and each other to find a polio cure. The latter pic is in the works with Black Bear Pictures financing and producing with Pacific View Management & Production.
Gracie, a drama that will tell the story of how the Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rorion Gracie co-founded the Ufc as a way to give traction to a new martial arts form,...
- 7/13/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Mandalay Sports Media through its Img joint venture has set a feature film about the formation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Robert Specland will write Gracie, a drama that will tell the story of how the Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rorion Gracie co-founded the Ufc as a way to give traction to a new martial arts form. The film will be produced by Msm’s Mike Tollin and Mason Gordon, and Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray.
The film has funding through Msm’s co-fi deal with Img, which comes under the Endeavor umbrella that owns Ufc. Taught jiu-jitsu in Brazil by his father Helio — who pioneered the Brazilian style — Rorion Gracie came to the U.S. hoping to elevate the popularity of a self-defense system designed so that smaller men and women could use leverage to defend themselves and prevail over much larger opponents. Rorion became one of the martial...
The film has funding through Msm’s co-fi deal with Img, which comes under the Endeavor umbrella that owns Ufc. Taught jiu-jitsu in Brazil by his father Helio — who pioneered the Brazilian style — Rorion Gracie came to the U.S. hoping to elevate the popularity of a self-defense system designed so that smaller men and women could use leverage to defend themselves and prevail over much larger opponents. Rorion became one of the martial...
- 6/18/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: After getting a Best Picture nomination for a movie about the race to crack the Enigma Code, The Imitation Game producer Black Bear Pictures will now make a film about the race to cure the polio epidemic in the ’50s. Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear won an auction and will pay mid-six figures to team with Pacific View Management & Production to produce and fully finance The Impossible War, a spec script by Robert Specland. It’s the true story of Jonas Salk and Albe…...
- 2/7/2017
- Deadline
There’s a whole world of science stories just waiting to be told.
Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures is a wonderful victory tale, both in the true story it depicts and in how it has, as a film about Black women in Stem, been so warmly received by audiences. A lot of attention has been given to the first half (that is, it being a film centered around three Black women), and rightly so. As a Black woman, I left the film with a proud smile only somewhat tempered by the wistful thought that I wished such a film had been around when I was a little girl. But today I want to shine a light on the second part — the part where Hidden Figures demonstrates that fact-based films revolving around Stem (short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) history can have mass appeal. More importantly, how Hidden Figures serves as a sort of blueprint as to...
Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures is a wonderful victory tale, both in the true story it depicts and in how it has, as a film about Black women in Stem, been so warmly received by audiences. A lot of attention has been given to the first half (that is, it being a film centered around three Black women), and rightly so. As a Black woman, I left the film with a proud smile only somewhat tempered by the wistful thought that I wished such a film had been around when I was a little girl. But today I want to shine a light on the second part — the part where Hidden Figures demonstrates that fact-based films revolving around Stem (short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) history can have mass appeal. More importantly, how Hidden Figures serves as a sort of blueprint as to...
- 1/17/2017
- by Ciara Wardlow
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Well, this is sure a lot more fun than getting socks on the first day of Hanukkah again (though far less practical). Off Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' recently released album, It’s a Holiday Soul Party, “8 Days (of Hanukkah)” and its new video are a freaking blast. It has some heavy Schoolhouse Rock (Jew-lhouse Rock) vibes. You know there's dancing dreidels! Look, Adam Sandler's song will always be seminal, as long as Jewish kids try to seem cool by telling people that Rod Carew and Jonas Salk were actually Jewish (poor kid, you probably should've picked Sammy Davis Jr. and a Gyllenhaal), but with this song, Jones might've started a new Hanukkah tradition. Traditiooooooooon! Tradition.
- 12/7/2015
- by Jesse David Fox
- Vulture
Et has the real Wolf of Wall Street! We're first with Jordan Belfort, the true-life stockbroker portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the controversial late '80s/early '90s-set film, who sits down with Et's Nancy O'Dell. Reacting to Leo's Oscar nomination as well as the inaccuracies of the Oscar-nominated film, Belfort says, "...it's a bittersweet situation."
Pics: 'Wolf of Wall Street' & The Must-See Movies of the 2013 Holiday Season
On Leo's nomination, Belfort tells Nancy, "You know it's hard to wrap my head around it a little bit. Obviously, I’m proud…I wish he played me [as if] I was Jonas Salk and had done wonderful things, so it’s sort of bittersweet a little bit because many of the things that the character did -- and I always say the character because it wasn’t all me -- some of it was fictionalized, but a lot of the actions that are real, what I did do...
Pics: 'Wolf of Wall Street' & The Must-See Movies of the 2013 Holiday Season
On Leo's nomination, Belfort tells Nancy, "You know it's hard to wrap my head around it a little bit. Obviously, I’m proud…I wish he played me [as if] I was Jonas Salk and had done wonderful things, so it’s sort of bittersweet a little bit because many of the things that the character did -- and I always say the character because it wasn’t all me -- some of it was fictionalized, but a lot of the actions that are real, what I did do...
- 1/21/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Washington (AP) — John Palmer, the longtime correspondent for NBC News who died Saturday after a brief illness, was remembered by former colleagues as a hardworking, gracious reporter who moved easily from war zones to the White House and who brought a reassuring voice to news broadcasts.
Palmer, 77, died Saturday at George Washington University Hospital of pulmonary fibrosis, according to his wife, Nancy.
"God bless John Palmer, tireless reporter, always a gentleman, loving husband and doting father," former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw wrote on Twitter. He said the death of his friend of nearly 50 years was "heartbreaking."
Palmer worked for NBC from 1962 to 1990, and then returned to the network from 1994 until 2002. He became a familiar face to viewers of the "Today" show during much of the 1980s, delivering the news in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner at a time when the program often led in the ratings.
NBC News praised Palmer...
Palmer, 77, died Saturday at George Washington University Hospital of pulmonary fibrosis, according to his wife, Nancy.
"God bless John Palmer, tireless reporter, always a gentleman, loving husband and doting father," former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw wrote on Twitter. He said the death of his friend of nearly 50 years was "heartbreaking."
Palmer worked for NBC from 1962 to 1990, and then returned to the network from 1994 until 2002. He became a familiar face to viewers of the "Today" show during much of the 1980s, delivering the news in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner at a time when the program often led in the ratings.
NBC News praised Palmer...
- 8/4/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
"Do they still have iron lungs?" someone asked the other day after seeing the moving film, "The Sessions." I was surprised by the question. Years ago, Dr. Jonas Salk, who invented the polio vaccine, was to be my father-in-law. I was engaged to Claude Picasso, who is the son of Francoise Gilot. After Francoise walked out on Picasso, she married Jonas. We were all told to refer to Dr. Salk as Jonas. Also read: 'The Sessions' Review: Sex-Surrogate Story Works Better in Bed Than in Church Before Pablo died, Claude, in order to...
- 11/7/2012
- by Carole Mallory
- The Wrap
The nomination ceremony has just adjourned, where Daniele nominated Brendon and Rachel. We get to experience a (painful) teary-eyed and passionate embrace between Brenchel, as a dramatic background score quickly turns the whole moment into a trashy telenovela. Then Brendon talks about his plans to cure cancer. He's like the Jonas Salk of the 21st century, amirite?
The power of veto...
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The power of veto...
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- 8/4/2011
- by Lindsay Silberman
- TVGuide - Breaking News
This is a week all about friends on a mission. One group is trying to find a new tail for a melancholy donkey. The other group needs to stop the most evil wizard in history from taking over the world. Which one do you think I'm more excited about? Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Here is a list of the greatest human accomplishments since the dawn of the 20th century. (In no particular order). Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. Jonas Salk cures polio. Henry Ford invents the assembly line. Al Gore conceptualizes the internet. J.K. Rowling writes the Harry Potter series. That's it. Everything else is secondary. And while the previous list is somewhat tongue-in-cheek (Al ...
- 7/10/2011
- cinemablend.com
The timepiece has been a prototype for the last decade and a half. It's now ready to be placed in a cave and turned on, to tick for the next 10 millennia and teach us lessons about our perceptions of the future--and the past.
Although a mere blink in the geologic timescales on which his imagination operates, it's been 15 long years since inventor and computer scientist Danny Hillis founded the Long Now Foundation with a group of entrepreneurs, artists, and visionaries that included electronic music pioneer Brian Eno, digital-age savant Esther Dyson, and Whole-Earth impresario Stewart Brand. And now the group's work has taken a big tick forward with the breaking of ground for a "monument-scale" version of its central project, the 10,000 Year Clock--a timekeeping device, an engineering masterpiece, and a kind of shrine--on a remote piece of mountaintop property owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in western Texas.
If it fulfills its promise,...
Although a mere blink in the geologic timescales on which his imagination operates, it's been 15 long years since inventor and computer scientist Danny Hillis founded the Long Now Foundation with a group of entrepreneurs, artists, and visionaries that included electronic music pioneer Brian Eno, digital-age savant Esther Dyson, and Whole-Earth impresario Stewart Brand. And now the group's work has taken a big tick forward with the breaking of ground for a "monument-scale" version of its central project, the 10,000 Year Clock--a timekeeping device, an engineering masterpiece, and a kind of shrine--on a remote piece of mountaintop property owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in western Texas.
If it fulfills its promise,...
- 6/22/2011
- by Matthew Battles
- Fast Company
Warning: the following contains spoilers for tonight’s episode of Fringe, and there was a pretty big reveal. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should probably wait to read this!
As William Bell – and T.S. Elliot – used to say, “only those that risk going too far can possibly know how far they will go”. Well, it seems as though tonight we discovered what line Walternate refuses to cross: he will not experiment on children. What I found most fascinating about this is that we’ve seen the lengths to which he will go to save his world, so it absolutely shocked me to find where he draws his moral line in the sand. This also says a fair bit about Walter, and how he and Walternate do actually have some fundamental differences, beyond the obvious superficial ones. In a comparison between the two, on this matter, Walternate actually comes out far superior,...
As William Bell – and T.S. Elliot – used to say, “only those that risk going too far can possibly know how far they will go”. Well, it seems as though tonight we discovered what line Walternate refuses to cross: he will not experiment on children. What I found most fascinating about this is that we’ve seen the lengths to which he will go to save his world, so it absolutely shocked me to find where he draws his moral line in the sand. This also says a fair bit about Walter, and how he and Walternate do actually have some fundamental differences, beyond the obvious superficial ones. In a comparison between the two, on this matter, Walternate actually comes out far superior,...
- 2/12/2011
- by Nadine Ramsden
- TVovermind.com
In Ancient Egypt, the scarab beetle was a sacred insect. The daily behaviors of the Scarabaeus sacer were viewed as symbolic of greater issues of immortality; among them, rebirth, resurrection, and renewal. They were believed to be created out of death itself, given that the parasitic insects would lay their eggs in the bodies of hosts. Keep that in mind when watching tonight's stellar episode of Fringe("Immortality"), written by David Wilcox and Ethan Gross and directed by Brad Anderson, which is set entirely "Over There," as we learn that fallout that has occurred in the life of their Olivia Dunham after her escape from "our" world. Revolving around a deranged scientist's quest for glory and the use of those beetles, here just as sacred to him as they were to the Egyptians, the episode raises questions of immortality. How, as humans, we're ever aware of the fragility of the mortal coil,...
- 2/11/2011
- by Jace
- Televisionary
There are few historical images more poignant than that of a child lying in an iron lung, and Ken Mandel's compelling documentary about the epidemic of polio that gripped America in the 20th century contains more than a few such sights. Filled with dramat ically potent visuals accompanying its clear, concise history of the disease, "A Fight to the Finish: Stories of Polio," while not a strong contender for extensive theatrical release, is a rewarding documentary that will find a steady berth on cable and public television. It is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theatre.
As the film relates, polio did not surge in this country until 1916, when a major outbreak took place in New York. The cause, ironically enough, was the better sanitary conditions that apparently helped to destroy the natural immunity that had developed in people. By the middle of the century, there were 50,000 new cases a year in the United States.
The film delivers strong doses of emotion along with its information, thanks to several interviews with polio survivors and their caregivers, including families, doctors and nurses. Among the more notable interviewees are former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and writer Geoffrey C. Ward; the latter wrote a biography of the disease's most notable sufferer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seen here in extensive archival clips.
Although the subject is necessarily tragic -- one nurse's account of manipulating an iron lung by hand during a power failure is particularly harrowing -- it does, fortunately, have a happy ending, thanks to the March of Dimes, the fund-raising campaign spearheaded by lawyer Basil O'Connor, and the vaccines developed by Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk. The accounts of their rivalry and the politics involved in the process form one of the film's most interesting segments.
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH: STORIES OF POLIO
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children/Ken Mandel Prods.
Credits: Director: Ken Mandel; Screenwriter: Ralph Meyers; Producers: Tony Herring, Ken Mandel; Executive producer: J.C. Montgomery Jr.; Music: John Bryant, Frank Hames; Editors: Ken Mandel, Ralph Meyers. No MPAA rating. Color/black and white. Running time -- 83 minutes...
As the film relates, polio did not surge in this country until 1916, when a major outbreak took place in New York. The cause, ironically enough, was the better sanitary conditions that apparently helped to destroy the natural immunity that had developed in people. By the middle of the century, there were 50,000 new cases a year in the United States.
The film delivers strong doses of emotion along with its information, thanks to several interviews with polio survivors and their caregivers, including families, doctors and nurses. Among the more notable interviewees are former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and writer Geoffrey C. Ward; the latter wrote a biography of the disease's most notable sufferer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seen here in extensive archival clips.
Although the subject is necessarily tragic -- one nurse's account of manipulating an iron lung by hand during a power failure is particularly harrowing -- it does, fortunately, have a happy ending, thanks to the March of Dimes, the fund-raising campaign spearheaded by lawyer Basil O'Connor, and the vaccines developed by Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk. The accounts of their rivalry and the politics involved in the process form one of the film's most interesting segments.
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH: STORIES OF POLIO
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children/Ken Mandel Prods.
Credits: Director: Ken Mandel; Screenwriter: Ralph Meyers; Producers: Tony Herring, Ken Mandel; Executive producer: J.C. Montgomery Jr.; Music: John Bryant, Frank Hames; Editors: Ken Mandel, Ralph Meyers. No MPAA rating. Color/black and white. Running time -- 83 minutes...
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