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Celebrity Big Brother UK did not go well for actor Mickey Rourke.

A new season began on April 7, and that actor was part of the Series 24 cast.

Rourke has had a long career in film, including starring roles in Sin City, The Wrestler, Iron Man 2, 9 1/2 Weeks, and The Expendables.

His stay in the Big Brother house in the UK may put a black mark on his future career aspirations.

Rourke was one of 13 people invited to play on Celebrity Big Brother UK this spring. He joined singer JoJo Siwa, TV and radio presenter Angellica Bell, actress and comedian Donna Preston, and nine other celebrities.

Politician Michael Fabricant was the first person evicted, but Rourke was soon out the door next, lasting only six days after a controversial stay.

Mickey Rourke kicked off Big Brother after dustup with Chris Hughes

Rourke and TV personality and presenter Chris Hughes...

Mickey Rourke was once loved for his looks as much as he was for his acting. A long time ago, in the 1980s, he had it all. From fame, charm to a face that was perfect for Hollywood. However, over time, everything started to change. His face started to look a bit different. A little puffy, a little stretched, and sometimes almost unrecognizable. With this, fans started asking questions. What happened? Why does Mickey Rourke look so different now?

Rumors started to fly. Some said it was bad plastic surgery. Some thought he wanted to look younger. Some said he overdid it. But the real story is much deeper than that. Rourke didn’t just decide to change his face. It was a long, painful journey, both physically and emotionally.

Mickey Rourke in a still from ‘The Pope of Greenwich Village’ ( Credit @MGM)

There’s a reason behind every surgery and every scar.

Kim Basinger has been a part of numerous marvelous projects over the years, all of which have significantly impacted her acting career in making her more and more renowned in Hollywood’s entertainment industry.

But one of these projects really had the actress going through hell, which was also her riskiest movie to date, where she starred opposite Mickey Rourke. This one project was 1986’s erotic-romance flick 9½ Weeks, which was more or less the 1980s version of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Kim Basinger. | Credits: 9½ Weeks / 20th Century Studios.

To say the least, as deciphered from the details shared by director Adrian Lyne, that one risky project really had Basinger, who was in her early thirties at the time it was shot, going through some seriously hell-ish stuff for the sake of it.

Kim Basinger really had to go through hell while shooting 9½ Weeks

Back when 9½ Weeks originally came out,...

Mickey Rourke made a knockout comeback in 2008’s The Wrestler—but while his career stepped back into the ring, his health seemed to tap out. The once-smoldering Hollywood rebel, now 72, has weathered more than just career ups and downs. Over the years, Rourke’s battled a string of health issues, boxing injuries, and a series of plastic surgery misfires that left fans doing a double take.

His chiseled-on-screen look in The Wrestler wasn’t just training and talent—it came with a little pharmaceutical assist, too. Though he long denied juicing up with performance enhancers to land that ripped physique, Rourke eventually came clean. Admitting the truth years later, the Oscar-nominated actor confessed it took him half a decade to shed the bulk from those muscle-packing drugs.

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler | Credits: Searchlight Pictures

And now? With a recent reality TV debut making headlines for all the wrong reasons,...

Just two days into his UK Celebrity Big Brother stint, actor Mickey Rourke is finding himself under fire for homophobic remarks aimed at housemate JoJo Siwa. The incident led to a formal warning from the show's production team. During a conversation with Siwa, who is openly queer and in a relationship with a nonbinary person, Rourke made several offensive comments. He reportedly joked that if he remained in the house for more than four days, Siwa "won't be gay anymore," and later added a disturbing remark about wanting to "tie" her up.

Later, while talking to housemate Chris Hughes (Love Island) within Siwa's earshot, he stated he was "going to vote the lesbian out real quick." When Siwa called him out for the homophobic nature of the comment, Rourke used a derogatory anti-gay slur, directing it in Siwa's direction while claiming he was referring to a cigarette (in the British...

Actor Mickey Rourke appeared unrecognizable to fans on Sunday when he posted a snap of his new hair – or toupee.

Rourke, 71, signed up for the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother. Celebrating his last night before the show started, the actor went out with friends for dinner and posted a snap in which he flaunted fresh chin-length mahogany-colored hair.

Rourke captioned the photo, which featured him and his friends in the capital, “In London at the moment with Liam “Kid” Vaughan and his brother Ryan Vaughan. Liverpool strong.”

The actor has become well known for his multiple plastic surgeries, which have given him an increasingly odd appearance.

Rourke is being paid $5 million to appear on the reality show.

Making his on-screen debut in 1979, Rourke starred in several ‘80s movies, including Year of the Dragon, Francesco and 9 1/2 Weeks. In the early ‘90s, Rourke became a professional boxer, fighting as a light heavyweight.

Mickey Rourke began his career as one of the hottest young actors of the 1980s with roles in Body Heat, Diner, The Pope of Greenwich Village and 9 1/2 Weeks. Among the directors he worked with during that period: Stephen Spielberg, Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Roeg, Barry Levinson and Alan Rudolph.

While his near 50-year career has had its ups and downs (and ups and downs again), the actor has continued to do remarkable work. That includes playing Charles Bukowski in Barfly, Marv in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City and his Oscar-nominated turn in Darren Aronfosky’s The Wrestler.

Scroll through the photos below to see a selection of photos from Rourke’s extraordinary life and career.

Hollywood movie scenes involving actors getting naked and intimate with each other have gone through various levels of acceptability, necessity, and level of graphic detail they go into. While the early years of cinema were prudish about including sex scenes, from the 1970s onwards they have almost become an unavoidable presence in many mature movies. In 1997's Lost Highway, Patricia Arquette was required to take part in a nude scene, without the aid of intimacy coordinators, and she recently recalled threatening to punch the film’s crew if they didn’t stop looking at her during filming of the scene.

Lost Highway was a genre-bending David Lynch movie, in which Arquette played the dual roles of Renee Madison and Alice Wakefield. The latter character was required to seduce mechanic Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty), and during the filming of the scene Arquette flew off the handle when the crew would not respect the “closed set” environment.

Is there a kernel of truth to the notion that "popcorn stars" don't win Oscars? It certainly felt that way to fans hoping to see Demi Moore pull off a Best Actress victory at the 2025 Oscars. Her daring performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance had earned her a Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and SAG Award, putting her in frontrunner position as she arrived at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2. But suddenly, those hopes were dashed when Emma Stone read out the winner: Mikey Madison in Anora.

It wasn't unfamiliar to see one of the biggest box-office draws from decades past lose the big one. Perhaps the Academy couldn't see past what Moore had once been told she was — a popcorn actress. She addressed the demeaning title in her Golden Globes acceptance speech nearly two months prior, stating that a producer called her a “popcorn actress” 30 years ago, which...

Hollywood wasn’t always big on boundaries, and one Marvel star took things way too far. Back in the day, Kim Basinger found herself in a scene that went off-script, and not in a good way. The incident left her physically scarred and shook her to the core.

Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential | Credits: Warner Bros.

Had that happened today, the backlash would’ve been nuclear. But back then, it barely made waves.

A role in 9 ½ Weeks that left a mark on Kim Basinger – literally and emotionally Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2 (2010) | Credits: Marvel Studios

Kim Basinger walked away from 9 ½ Weeks with more than just a career boost; she left with a literal scar. The 1986 erotic drama, co-starring Mickey Rourke (who played Whiplash in Iron Man 2), wasn’t just steamy on screen. Behind the scenes, stuff got way too real.

The actress later revealed...

Gold Derby rounds up some of the best stories of the week  from our friends across the web. Maybe you missed these, maybe you were too busy to read them at the time, maybe you bookmarked them and forgot, but hopefully you'll have some over the weekend to check them out. Happy reading!

Remembering Gene Hackman in ads

By now you've probably come across dozens of lists of Gene Hackman's greatest performances and films. But what about his best ads? Brand Innovators remembers the two-time Oscar winner with a compilation of his top voiceover work for companies like United Airlines and Lowe's.

Who makes the red carpet? Steve.

Before you watch stars walk down the red carpet at Sunday's Oscars, read about the man responsible for creating it in The New York Times. Steve Olive, the co-founder of Event Carpet Pros, has been the go-to guy for custom red...

Kim Basinger is sharing her thoughts on intimacy coordinators.

In a new interview, the 71-year-old Oscar-winning actress said that she would not have wanted an intimacy coordinator on set while filming the steamy scenes with co-star Mickey Rourke in their 1986 movie 9 1/2 Weeks.

Keep reading to find out more…“I can’t imagine having somebody come up to me and say, ‘Do you mind if they put their hand here?’” Kim told Variety. “That’s just another person in the room. Either we work it out or we don’t. I don’t see all of this need for supervised visits.”

Kim went on to say that movie from director Adrian Lyne earned her a lot of loyal fans.

“It’s a very hard thing to shoot a beautiful love scene,” Kim explained. “You think it’s just lay down with a bunch of baby oil. It’s not.

Hollywood legend Kim Basinger has played every kind of character during her decade-long career. She's been the love interest of Batman, an unofficial Bond girl, and a Bdsm enthusiast, among many others. And while the actress has appeared as some sensual and provocative roles over her long career, she has a controversial view on the need for intimacy coordinators on movie sets.

The actor of films like Batman, 8 Mile, 9½ Weeks and L.A. Confidential, which earned her an Academy Award in 1998, opened up to Variety during a rare interview in which she spoke about her various roles. Basinger spoke about the experience of shooting 9½ Weeks, the steamy 1986 romantic drama co-starring Mickey Rourke where she plays a New York City girl who commits to a Bdsm-style relationship with another New Yorker. Think of an 80s version of Fifty Shades of Grey that didn't evolve from Twilight fan fiction.

RelatedAfter 'Anora,...

Hollywood is an industry where art and reality can often have blurred lines, but there are few films that have been accused of pushing the boundaries too much, and one of them is 9 ½ Weeks. The 1986 erotic drama starred Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke and became one of the most controversial films of its time.

Kim Basinger in 9 ½ Weeks | Galactic Films

There were many rumors about the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the two co-stars, and now, decades later, Basinger has finally opened up. So, let’s dive into the story and look at what the actress has to say

9 ½ Weeks director’s controversial methods that pushed Kim Basinger to the edge Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke in 9 ½ Weeks | Galactic Films

Adrian Lyne is known for creating erotic thrillers, and this time around, he didn’t just intend to direct 9 ½ Weeks like a movie but orchestrate it like an experience.

Kim Basinger, the acclaimed actress with a career spanning decades, recently revealed why she almost rejected the offer for her sole Oscar-winning role in the 1997 crime drama L.A. Confidential. Having her breakout as a bond girl in Never Say Never Again, Basinger would go on to play several seductive, siren-like characters in films such as 9½ Weeks and Batman.

Kim Basinger in Never Say Never Again | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

So when she received the offer to star as Lynn Bracken, a classic femme fatale, alongside Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe in neo-noir L.A. Confidential, she was hesitant, especially due to the fear of being typecast in overly s*xualized roles.

Kim Basinger nearly turned down the offer for L.A. Confidential

Starring alongside an ensemble cast in the 1997 film L.A. Confidential, Kim Basinger played the role of Lynn Bracken, a high-class escort who ends up playing...

Kim Basinger “can’t imagine” what it’s like to work with an intimacy coordinator, despite the practice becoming a new industry norm.

Basinger, whose most recent onscreen role was in the 2017 film “Fifty Shades Darker,” told Variety that she doesn’t understand why intimacy coordinators are used on sets.

“I can’t imagine having somebody come up to me and say, ‘Do you mind if they put their hand here?’” Basinger said. “That’s just another person in the room. Either we work it out or we don’t. I don’t see all of this need for supervised visits.”

She continued, “It’s a very hard thing to shoot a beautiful love scene. You think it’s just lay[ing] down with a bunch of baby oil. It’s not. It can really work your nerves.”

Basinger noted that her own attitude toward sex onscreen is “more European” than “stuffy” American views.

Hollywood is jam-packed with stories of on-set feuds. While some of them are very true (George Clooney still despises David O. Russell), others get exaggerated over time, or simply turn out not to have any basis in reality whatsoever. One famous Hollywood feud that’s turned out to be nothing more than gossip was the rumoured discord between stars Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke on the set of 9 1/2 Weeks, which was directed by Adrian Lyne.

In a recent, lengthy interview about her career with Variety, Basinger set the record straight, with her saying the rumor is likely due to the fact that neither of them spoke on-set outside of filming. As per Basinger, this was at her request, as it was something she needed in order to get into the character. She says the scene where she meets him for the first time in the grocery store is...

In the mid-’90s, Kim Basinger was newly married to actor Alec Baldwin and had just given birth to their daughter, Ireland, when her William Morris agent sent her the script for “L.A. Confidential.” She was tired of playing the siren roles that had defined her — from a Bond girl in “Never Say Never Again” to a New York gallery owner in the erotic classic “9½ Weeks” to a barefoot Vicki Vale running through the streets of Gotham City in Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman.”

“I said, ‘Well, I’m not interested in playing a whore. Not doing it. I’m a mom, so I’m not going to play that,’” she recalls.

But her agent persisted, and she agreed to take a 3 p.m. meeting with the late director Curtis Hanson at the Formosa in West Hollywood. The lot was empty, and she drove around mulling the parking spaces...

It’s one of the most memorable scenes in “Babygirl,” a visual, musical big screen moment that has taken on a life of its own on TikTok: A shirtless Samuel (Harris Dickinson) sensually dances to George Michael’s 1987 “Father Figure” for his older lover Romy (Nicole Kidman), the married CEO at the robotics company where he interns. While on a recent episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, writer/director Halina Reijn broke down the numerous decisions and inspirations that went into creating the scene, including her own experience as an actress stripping on camera and her desire to play with gender roles. As to the choice of the song itself, Reijn explained it was tied to the central question she posed to herself when she sat down to write “Babygirl.”

“For this movie my question was if it would be possible to love and accept all the different layers of myself,...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind the year’s most talked-about movies continues with the Venice Film Festival-premiering Babygirl, A24’s erotic thriller from writer-director Halina Reijn that stars Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson. It hit theaters December 20.

In Venice, Kidman won the Best Actress prize for playing Romy, a high-powered CEO whose life is controlled by structure, tight scheduling and an all-too-keen awareness of how she’s perceived at the heights of a male-dominated field. The one thing she cannot control is her sexual urges that haven’t been fulfilled after 19 years of marriage to her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas).

Romy, trapped in her suppressed desires, is quickly undone after she meets Samuel (Dickinson), an intern at her company who transgresses professional boundaries. This dynamic inadvertently fosters a dominant/submissive power play, providing Romy with an unexpected outlet to explore and indulge her kinks.

Through deliciously playful provocations,...

Written and directed by Halina Reijn, Babygirl will explore the complex dynamics of a workplace sexual affair between Romy (Nicole Kidman), a significantly older CEO, and Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a young and handsome intern who works for Romy’s company.

The film will tackle a very controversial topic in, as you probably know, a very direct way, and we have been prepared for a lot of steamy scenes between Kidman and her young co-star.

In light of the film’s upcoming release, Halina Reijn sat down for a talk with the Los Angeles Times, in which she revealed some interesting details about the movie, as well as how her own experience with erotic movies helped her work on Babygirl. The movie is projected to be a hit, so we thought it would be interesting to provide you with some background information about this interesting new erotic thriller!

The interview touched upon several topics,...

I’ve been seeing variations on the question above on comment boards and social media, and the answer is inevitably a resounding “No. Fucking. Way.” But let’s be clear about what the question really is, since it’s actually two questions at once. The fundamental thing that’s being asked is: Could “Babygirl,” an enthralling high-kink corporate drama, in which Nicole Kidman plays a girlboss who secretly yearns to be dominated and debased, and plays this all out with one of her young male interns…could a male director have gotten away with making that movie today? The answer everyone seems to agree on, with an underlying note of look-how-far-we’ve-come cultural pride, is no. I don’t necessarily disagree — though actually, in a way, I sort of do.

“Babygirl,” written and directed by the volcanically talented Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn, is a gripping movie about a woman who...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A24 releases “Babygirl” in theaters December 25.

The worst thing your partner could possibly say to you after sex, after you’ve said “I love you,” is the dreaded “love you.” No “I.” And that’s not the most demoralizing response Romy (Nicole Kidman) has for an amorous confession by her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) in “Babygirl,” writer/director Halina Reijn’s provocative erotic dramedy that begins and ends with an orgasm. One of them is faked, but in between, this perversely funny and absorbing new film explores the pleasure gap between men and women, and how our inability to talk about sex limits our ability to just do it.

And there’s lots of sex here, with Kidman going raw inside and out for one of her top performances in a career built on risk-taking. That’s...

Plot: A high-powered executive (Nicole Kidman) risks her family and career when she begins an affair with a much younger intern (Harris Dickinson).

Review: You’ve got to hand it to director Halina Reijn – she’s not afraid to be controversial. Her last movie, Bodies Bodies Bodies, was a huge surprise, with it being positioned as a slasher movie but ending up as something of a hilarious prank played on horror fans. This one, Babygirl, tackles issues of consent, grooming, and coercion head-on but dares to allow the audience to make up their own mind about what’s appropriate or not.

It offers Nicole Kidman a very controversial part, with her exec, Romy (Nicole Kidman), seemingly having it all. She runs a wildly profitable company with a loving husband (Antonio Banderas) and a supportive family. Yet, right from the first scene, where we see her in bed with her husband,...

Legendary has come out on top of a bidding war for Homewreckers, the erotic thriller with a sci-fi twist that has Glen Powell attached to star and produce.

The package includes an unpublished three-chapter story by Neil M. Paik, who will also write the script.

The deal marks the last major acquisition of the year, occurring just a day or two before Hollywood closes its doors for the holidays. And it’s a doozy, right out of Santa’s workshop. According to sources, the deal involves a seven-figure outright purchase price for the rights to the story as well a seven-figure arrangement for Paik to write the screenplay. He would also serve as a producer.

Legendary, known for its Godzilla x Kong movies as well as the Enola Holmes franchise, beat out Lionsgate, New Regency, Sony and Warner Bros. in chasing Homewreckers. The package hit the town last week, with...

Glen Powell is one hot commodity.

The 36-year-old actor is attached to star and produce Homewreckers, an erotic thriller with a sci-fi twist, and several studios and companies are in a bidding war for the rights, via THR.

Legendary, Lionsgate, New Regency, Sony and Warner Bros. are among the companies making offers for the project, according to the report.

Keep reading to find out more…

The unpublished three-chapter story is by Neil M. Paik, who will also write the script.

Details are being kept under wraps, but sources say that the source material recalls Adrian Lyne, who made 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction, and Alex Garland, of Ex Machina and Civil War.

Glen had a big year with Anyone But You, Hit Man, and Twisters, among his latest projects. Find out where he landed on IMDb’s 2024 list!

It’s shaping up to be the last big bidding war of 2024. And it features Glen Powell.

The actor is attached to star and produce Homewreckers, an erotic thriller with a sci-fi twist. It’s a short story package that has several studios and companies hot and bothered.

Legendary, Lionsgate, New Regency, Sony and Warner Bros. are among the companies making offers and in the mix for the project, which was unveiled to the town early in the week.

The unpublished three-chapter story is by Neil M. Paik, who will also write the script. Details are being kept between the sheets, but sources say that the tones are Adrian Lyne, who made steamy thriller 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction, and Alex Garland, whose movies such as Ex Machina and Civil War tap into modern anxieties.

This year, hot new projects hitting the Hollywood market in the post-Thanksgiving period has been on the bare side,...

Nicole Kidman was going about her morning routine, focusing on getting her daughter off to school on Monday, when another, surprisingly, routine moment happened — she learned, for the 17th time, that she’d been nominated for a Golden Globe for acting.

This year, the nod is for her performance in Babygirl, the A24 sexual thriller that has Kidman as a high-powered CEO who risks her career and family when she begins an affair with a much younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Her vulnerable performance has already been awarded at this year’s Venice Film Festival and by the National Board of Review.

“To be still relevant in this world and this industry, working on the films that I love, feels wonderful,” Kidman told The Hollywood Reporter just after the Globes nomination was announced. “And to be in such an unusual film that still hasn’t been released [Babygirl is...

Nicole Kidman is gearing up for just how viral “Babygirl” will be.

The Oscar-winning actress told The Hollywood Reporter that she is bracing for the memes of the buzzy feature that centers on a CEO (Kidman) starting a Bdsm affair with an intern (Harris Dickinson). The erotic thriller has been critically acclaimed since its Venice Film Festival premiere. Writer/director Halina Reijn even described Kidman’s performance as like watching “an exorcism” onscreen. But how will theater-going audiences react?

Kidman, who has been a social media fixture with memes ranging from her alleged post-divorce walk of glory (she has since said the viral image was from a film set) to her 2021 AMC ad campaign, has said that she has no regrets about the meme-ification of her work. And so in turn, Kidman is getting ready for “Babygirl” to follow suit.

When asked by THR if she considers it a compliment to be memed,...

Nicole Kidman’s new film, Babygirl, opens with a scene moviegoers may think they have seen many times before — an actress having a very pretty orgasm. For a global movie star with five Oscar nominations and two Emmys, you might even consider the opening risqué. But it’s what follows that reveals Kidman to be in fresh cinematic territory and why she calls this role “a calling.” In subsequent scenes, director Halina Reijn divulges that the intended audience for the opening breathy performance had been the character’s handsome, loving husband (Antonio Banderas) — and Kidman delivers other, much more feral climaxes without him. In the A24 movie, a gender-flipped love letter to erotic thrillers like 9½ Weeks and Basic Instinct, Kidman plays a powerful CEO, wife and mother whose attraction to a brazen young male intern (Harris Dickinson) threatens to blow up her Instagram-perfect life.

It’s a bracingly vulnerable performance,...

Kim Basinger is the blonde bombshell has certainly proved her bonafides as an actress, quickly going from sex symbol to respected Oscar winner. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1953 in Athens, Georgia, Basinger got her start as a model before turning to acting, catching the attentions of movie audiences as a Bond girl in the Sean Connery-starring “Never Say Never Again” (1983). She earned her first Golden Globe nomination soon thereafter for a supporting performance as Robert Redford‘s love interest in “The Natural” (1984).

She courted controversy with her sexually explicit turn in Adrien Lyne‘s “9 1/2 Weeks” (1986) and became a box office draw with Tim Burton‘s superhero smash “Batman” (1989). She even proved she could poke fun at herself with a cameo appearance in “Wayne’s World 2” (1992) as the aptly-named Honey Horneé.

It was with Curtis Hanson‘s neo-noir masterpiece “L.

In Susannah Grant’s “Lonely Planet,” Laura Dern plays an important writer. You can tell because everyone says she’s an important writer. Also she’s usually writing something, not that we ever hear a word of it. Writers, you see, get all-expense paid trips to gorgeous retreats in Morocco, surrounded by other sexy writers, because all writers are sexy. They’re certainly not barely making ends meet and spending half their time chasing down late invoices.

“Lonely Planet” is a fantasy film. Not the kind with dragons and elves in it, but the implausible kind where everything is sexy and perfect. Even the problems in “Lonely Planet” are fabulous. Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere in Morocco, so you get free lunch with a nearby family with a fellow sexy traveler. Your sexy relationship is on the rocks but you’ve instantly made a deep, meaningful,...

Nicole Kidman stars as an uptight CEO who is sexually liberated by her intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Here’s the Babygirl trailer.

Director Halina Reijn is swapping horror satires for erotic thrillers with her new film Babygirl, which made quite the splash at Cannes Film Festival in May. The film follows Nicole Kidman’s CEO who begins an intense affair with Harris Dickinson’s intern.

Take a look at the first Babygirl trailer below.

Babygirl is certainly miles away from Reijn’s breakthrough film, the sharp and brutal horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies. The film was warmly received at Cannes and currently holds a 93% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nicole Kidman picked up the Best Actress trophy at the Venice film festival as well.

Kidman and Harrison are joined by Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde in the film, while Reijn has also written the script. As you can tell from the trailer,...

Venice has got its sexy back. Erotica of all varieties — gay, straight, kinky and theoretical — is on glorious display at this year’s Venice Film Festival, with plenty of sizzling action onscreen and little of it gratuitous.

Two of the, em, hottest festival titles this year — Halina Reijn’s Babygirl and the TV series Disclaimer from Alfonso Cuarón — open with orgasms. Babygirl also climaxes to a close, with star Nicole Kidman, playing a tech manager who discovers a taste for Bdsm, in a state of near or total undress throughout much of the movie.

Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ autobiographical novel, and the latest from Challengers and Call Me by Your Name filmmaker Luca Guadagnino — a director apparently on a one-man mission to bring back sexy cinema — stars Daniel Craig as a drug-addicted American expat in Mexico, circa 1950, who begins to obsess over, and pursue, a younger, bi-curious navy sailor,...

The Venice Film Festival finally got to meet Halina Reijn’s Babygirl.

The erotic thriller from A24 had its world premiere inside Palazzo del Cinema on Friday evening on the Lido. The capacity crowd seated inside Sala Grande responded with a wild standing ovation for star Nicole Kidman and her cast of collaborators Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde. The audience jumped to their feet as the credits rolled with warm, enthusiastic applause and whoops and hollers for the cast, especially Kidman. The standing ovation continued for a solid seven minutes with waves of clapping and cheering greeting Kidman as she rose, waved to the crowd and walked out of the theater. “You nailed it!” yelled one audience member. “Slayed it! Erotic thriller slay!”

The love started early when Kidman and crew arrived to the scene. Fans lining the barricade erupted with cheers as she made her entrance in...

Boosted by Locarno-awarded debut Instinct, Dutch actor-director Halina Reijn fit nicely in the A24 canon with her satirical thriller Bodies Bodies Bodies. Yet the latter elicited rather lukewarm critical responses and it almost seemed Reijn might have been a one-hit European wonder fallen prey to the American dream. Then came Babygirl. As one of the first competition titles to grace the Lido, it promises a lot: not only does its title roll off the tongue with a delightful ring, it leaves one feeling a bit giddy (and a little naughty) for having uttered it aloud. Let’s not forget this is a film about a tech CEO / star mom / perfect wife (played by none other than ice queen Nicole Kidman) submitting to a much-younger intern (Harris Dickinson) to the point of literally eating from his hand.

It’s not too early in the festival to say Reijn wrote and directed...

Nicole Kidman goes to the far side of psychosexual debasement in Halina Reijn’s Venice premiere “Babygirl.” Kidman plays Romy, the high-powered executive atop a New York shipping company whose carefully controlled life and secret desires are ripped open by a newly arrived intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), whom she first meets when he saves her from a near-dog attack.

In one of Kidman’s most exposing roles, the Oscar winner starts a what-else-but-lurid affair built around domination and private humiliation with the younger Samuel. Dickinson’s character exploits Romy’s position of power to manipulate her into being the sub in their relationship — as thrilled as she is to go along with it, especially given unsatisfying (but very regular) sex with a husband played by Antonio Banderas. Guttural onscreen orgasms, bare skin, on-all-fours sex, finger-fucking, and kink abound in a movie destined to stir conversation all year.

“We are living...

Filmmaker Halina Reijn’s sex-positive erotic thriller Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman in a characteristically bold performance, may have just changed the, errr…mood…at the Venice Film Festival.

Babygirl‘s first press screenings in Italy received rapturous applause Friday morning, and the movie’s many sexual moments and thematically subtle message could be overheard sparking animated discussions among festivalgoers up and down the Lido. The awards chatter around Kidman’s performance has officially begun, and the commercial winning streak for A24, which produced the film and is releasing it in the U.S. on Dec. 25, appears fully secure.

Babygirl stars Kidman as a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Iron Claw). Without revealing spoilers, the playful and propulsive film’s real themes are power dynamics, female gratification...

Halina Reijn wants to bridge Hollywood’s “orgasm gap.”

“It’s huge! Huge!” the Dutch actress-turned-director exclaims, gesticulating wildly over our Zoom call to discuss her new film, Babygirl. “In Hollywood movies, we still see women having orgasms that are physically just not possible, at least for 99 percent of women!”

The orgasms in Babygirl, which premieres at the Venice Film Festival, it’s safe to say, will be more realistic. And there will be plenty of them. After her U.S. debut, the Gen Z slasher satire Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), Reijn returns to the more erotic tones of her first feature, the 2019 Dutch drama Instinct, which chronicled an illicit relationship between a prison therapist and an incarcerated sex offender.

Babygirl stars Nicole Kidman as a high-powered CEO married to the age-appropriate and undeniably sexy Jakob (Antonio Banderas) who embarks on a forbidden romance with a much younger intern, played by...

Cannes market attendees have been paying tribute to Mark Damon, the veteran sales agent credited with inventing the independent film financing model who died on the eve of Cannes aged 91.

Chicago-born Damon entered the world of independent sales and production in the 1970’s while living and working in Italy where he had pursued a successful career as a leading man in spaghetti westerns.

He returned to the United States in 1977 and founded Producer Sales Organization (Pso) and grew his business licencing international rights on commercial independent films. Damon also established Vision International, Mdp Worldwide, Media 8, and most recently Foresight Unlimited.

The Wonder Years is a beloved series chronicling life in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Wonder Years ended after six seasons with a controversial and rushed finale in 1993. The show returned for a reboot in 2021, earning critical acclaim but facing setbacks that eventually led to its cancellation.

ABC's The Wonder Years was one of the most notable sitcoms of the 1980s, well known for its theme song and generally saccharine tone. Going on for five years and six seasons, the show accumulated over 100 episodes and is a seminal series in the history of American television. Sadly for fans of the beloved TV series, The Wonder Years came to a close in 1993, and it did so in a way that not many appreciated. Featuring a hastily done voice-over and a future that was not what people expected, the surprising but realistic ending for the show is still a sore...

Mark Damon, a film producer, sales executive, and spaghetti Western actor, died at 91, representatives for the executive told Deadline on Sunday night.

Damon, born Alan Harris in Chicago, started his career in Hollywood in 1956 after signing a contract with 20th Century Fox. After starring in House of Usher, Damon won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer. The film was directed by Roger Corman, who died on Thursday.

Damon would move to Italy and star in films like The Reluctant Saint (1962), The Young Racers (1963), The Shortest Day (1963), Black Sabbath (1963), 100 Horseman (1964), Secret Agent 777 (1965), Dio, Come Ti Amo! (1966) and Johnny Oro (1966).

he first entered the world of independent sales and production in the 1970s while living and working in Italy where he saw a large market of independent international distributors eager for top American movies. He evolved from acting to film production and, in 1977, founded the Producers Sales Organization to sell American films to international distributors.

Mark Damon, who starred in the Vincent Price horror classic House of Usher and spaghetti Westerns before revolutionizing the foreign sales and distribution film business and producing features including 9 1/2 Weeks, Monster and Lone Survivor, has died. He was 91.

Damon died Sunday of natural causes in Los Angeles, his daughter, Alexis Damon Ribaut, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Damon spent the first 20 years of his career as an actor, including about a dozen as a leading man in Italian action movies, before he transitioned to the business side.

He had early success as an executive producer with two movies written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen: the German-language World War II drama Das Boot (1981), which received six Oscar nominations, and The NeverEnding Story (1984), a big-budget fantasy film that featured a Damon-commissioned score by Giorgio Moroder for non-German audiences.

He shared an Independent Spirit Award with director Patty Jenkins and others...

Mark Damon, an actor-turned-independent sales executive who was a force in the foreign sales world and at film markets for many decades, died Sunday in Los Angeles, according to his wife. He was 91.

Damon won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for his starring role in 1960’s “House of Usher” for director Roger Corman, who died Thursday, then went on to appear in numerous Spaghetti Westerns and other B-movies shot in Europe, from “Johnny Yuma” to Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath.”

Born Alan Harris in Chicago, Damon earned an Mba at UCLA, then moved to Rome where he established a busy acting career. When he returned to the U.S., he founded Producers Sales Organization to bring American independent films to international distributors, helping launch the American Film Market and Independent Film & Television Alliance.

He explained how his business started in a 2013 Variety profile: “Back in 1975, it was very tough.

Mark Damon, the former spaghetti western leading man who turned to a pioneering career in independent sales and financing and was a fixture at the film markets, has died on the eve of Cannes. He was 91.

Damon’s representatives confirmed he died in Los Angeles on Sunday (May 12).

Damon produced, packaged and sold numerous films and led Producer Sales Organization (Pso), Vision International, Mdp Worldwide, Media 8, and most recently Foresight Unlimited.

He attended Cannes dozens of times and produced or served as executive producer on more than 70 films.

One of his most illustrious producer credits came at Media 8 with Patty Jenkins’ Monster.

Mea Culpa is a great title because the story revolves around Mea Harper, a defense attorney whose life changes after she decides to represent the artist Zyair Malloy. Director Tyler Perry is no stranger to this kind of filmmaking. He wears the writer’s hat on this one as he cooks up another one of those steamy thriller plots that culminate in a violent finale. Perry, who is an actor too, is not known for his nuanced writing. His films have been criticized for not looking cinematic enough and being on the wavelength of a soap opera rather than a movie. Mea Culpa is clearly suffering from the fact that it cannot surpass movies like Basic Instinct, or 9½ Weeks, which is what it felt like it was riffing off of, and when that happens, one starts to wonder if it had anything new to say or if it was...

E.L. James' original "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy is undoubtedly the most successful piece of fanfiction ever published. James turned the teen-friendly romance between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen in Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular "Twilight" franchise into an erotic reverie explored by the mysterious (and quite wealthy) entrepreneur Christian Grey and college journalist Kate Kavanaugh. It was a Bdsm gateway drug that opened up a healthy portal for kink-curious young adults. You didn't have to feel like a freak for wanting to do what conservative society deemed freaky.

Was it good literature? Does it matter? James' novels have sold hundreds of millions of copies and been translated into 52 different languages. They are adored by people who never knew they wanted to see Bella and Edward engage in consensual sadomasochism. I am happy they have these stories in their lives. What matters, at least when it comes to my bailiwick,...

Roger Corman's 1960 feature films "House of Usher" was the first film in a long series of Edgar Allan Poe-based movies at American International Pictures. From 1960 to 1964, Corman directed eight Poe films, with all but one of them starring Vincent Price. After "House of Usher," Corman made "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Premature Burial," the anthology film "Tales of Terror," "The Raven," "The Haunted Palace," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Tomb of Ligeia." Technically, 1963's "The Haunted Palace" isn't a Poe movie. It was named after Poe's 1893 poem but was in fact based on the 1927 short novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft. Poe, it seems, was a bigger marquee name than Lovecraft, so the latter author's story was merely folded into Corman's short-lived but well-remembered Poe subgenre. 

Fans of gothic horror would do well to marathon all eight movies. They're all...

Clockwise from left: The Departed (Warner Bros.), True Lies (20th Century Studios), Some Like It Hot (United Artists), 12 Monkeys (Universal)Graphic: The A.V. Club

Of all the challenges in the moviemaking universe, redoing a beloved foreign film for an American audience would seem pretty low on the list. You already...

Gazelle's first performance on The Masked Singer season 10 has fans guessing that she might be American Idol winner Carrie Underwood The performance of Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" by Gazelle wows the panelists with her stunning vocals and emotional delivery. Fans have different theories on who Gazelle might be, ranging from Carrie Underwood to Idina Menzel, but the clue about Mickey Rourke adds another layer of speculation.

The Masked Singer season 10 released a sneak peek of Gazelle's first performance, which has fans thinking that she might be an American Idol winner. During The Masked Singer season 10 kick-off episode, Gazelle's costume was revealed. She shared a clue about herself, stating, "Are you ready to guess who I am? If you can remember the A-list celebrity that donned this mask in season 4, that's your first clue to my identity." The mask she was referring to was Mickey Rourke's Gremlin.

In an Instagram post,...