Baz Luhrmann has set his new project, “Jehanne d’Arc,” at Warner Bros.
Warners has confirmed that the filmmaker will next take on the epic tale of France’s national heroine and saint Joan of Arc. The teenaged Joan of Arc became a heroine after leading the French army to victory in Orléans in 1429. She was burned at the stake in 1431.
Earlier this year, Luhrmann dropped out of the long-awaited English-language adaptation of Russian novel “The Master and Margarita,” stepping back from the project entirely following concerns over the book rights.
A casting call for the Joan of Arc character will go out Tuesday.
Luhrmann’s directing debut came in 1992 with “Strictly Ballroom,” which began as a short play at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney. The film’s breakout success led to his subsequent string of hits such as “Romeo + Juliet” (1996), “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), “Australia” (2008), “The Great Gatsby” (2013) and most recently “Elvis.
Warners has confirmed that the filmmaker will next take on the epic tale of France’s national heroine and saint Joan of Arc. The teenaged Joan of Arc became a heroine after leading the French army to victory in Orléans in 1429. She was burned at the stake in 1431.
Earlier this year, Luhrmann dropped out of the long-awaited English-language adaptation of Russian novel “The Master and Margarita,” stepping back from the project entirely following concerns over the book rights.
A casting call for the Joan of Arc character will go out Tuesday.
Luhrmann’s directing debut came in 1992 with “Strictly Ballroom,” which began as a short play at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney. The film’s breakout success led to his subsequent string of hits such as “Romeo + Juliet” (1996), “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), “Australia” (2008), “The Great Gatsby” (2013) and most recently “Elvis.
- 9/17/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Am kommenden Freitag startet Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ bei Netflix. Unterdessen arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
Richard Linklater, hier im Vorfeld der Premiere seiner Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig, hat derzeit einiges in der Pipeline (Credit: Imago / Independent Photo Agency Int.)
Während am kommenden Freitag Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“, die im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig ihre Premiere gefeiert hatte, bei Netflix startet, arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
So arbeitet Linklater aktuell an einem weiteren Langzeitprojekt, nach „Boyhood“, den er in den Jahren 2002 bis 2013 realisierte, der Adaption von Stephen Sondheims Musical „Merrily We Roll Along“, dessen Handlung auf einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren angelegt ist – und für dessen Umsetzung er sich auch exakt 20 Jahre Zeit lassen will.
In einem Interview mit der „New York Times“ darauf angesprochen, dass Linklater, der Ende des Monats seinen 64. Geburtstag feiern wird, ja dann über 80 Jahre...
Richard Linklater, hier im Vorfeld der Premiere seiner Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig, hat derzeit einiges in der Pipeline (Credit: Imago / Independent Photo Agency Int.)
Während am kommenden Freitag Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“, die im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig ihre Premiere gefeiert hatte, bei Netflix startet, arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
So arbeitet Linklater aktuell an einem weiteren Langzeitprojekt, nach „Boyhood“, den er in den Jahren 2002 bis 2013 realisierte, der Adaption von Stephen Sondheims Musical „Merrily We Roll Along“, dessen Handlung auf einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren angelegt ist – und für dessen Umsetzung er sich auch exakt 20 Jahre Zeit lassen will.
In einem Interview mit der „New York Times“ darauf angesprochen, dass Linklater, der Ende des Monats seinen 64. Geburtstag feiern wird, ja dann über 80 Jahre...
- 6/4/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
No animals were harmed in the making of Luc Besson’s new thriller, Dogman, but plenty of people get mauled, bitten, robbed and attacked, and one guy has his junk put into a serious vice grip, by a pack of extremely well-trained canines.
That being said, the director’s first film since his 2019 femme-driven assasin flick, Anna, is actually one of his least violent movies to date when it comes to bullets and bodies depicted on screen. If there’s violence, it’s predominantly of the domestic and psychological kind, in a story that follows a young man whose childhood traumas transform him into a very unusual sort of superhero: a paralyzed vigilante who dresses in drag, performs incredible lip-syncs of classic European ballads, and rules over a small, fierce army of obedient pups, as if the Joker and Ace Ventura were somehow merged into a single character. Also, he lives in New Jersey.
That being said, the director’s first film since his 2019 femme-driven assasin flick, Anna, is actually one of his least violent movies to date when it comes to bullets and bodies depicted on screen. If there’s violence, it’s predominantly of the domestic and psychological kind, in a story that follows a young man whose childhood traumas transform him into a very unusual sort of superhero: a paralyzed vigilante who dresses in drag, performs incredible lip-syncs of classic European ballads, and rules over a small, fierce army of obedient pups, as if the Joker and Ace Ventura were somehow merged into a single character. Also, he lives in New Jersey.
- 8/31/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paramount+ is not just the home of the Taylor Sheridan universe, it has also quietly assembled one of the best film libraries of any of the streaming services. Look no further than the list of what’s new on Paramount+ in March, which includes prestige dramas like “12 Years a Slave” and “Last of the Mohicans,” iconic thrillers like “The Sixth Sense,” “The Rock” and “Crimson Tide,” delightful rom-coms like “Kate & Leopold” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and other classics like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Galaxy Quest.”
And that’s not to mention the new originals premiering in March: Kiefer Sutherland plays a corporate espionage operative framed for murder in “Rabbit Hole,” while “School Spirits” follows a high school teen who suddenly discovers she’s dead and still haunting her school.
Check out the full list of what’s new on Paramount+ in March 2023 below.
Also Read:...
And that’s not to mention the new originals premiering in March: Kiefer Sutherland plays a corporate espionage operative framed for murder in “Rabbit Hole,” while “School Spirits” follows a high school teen who suddenly discovers she’s dead and still haunting her school.
Check out the full list of what’s new on Paramount+ in March 2023 below.
Also Read:...
- 3/4/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
This piece contains major spoilers for "Knock at the Cabin."
"Knock at the Cabin" simultaneously feels like classic M. Night Shyamalan and something completely new for him. While he's certainly tackled difficult and heavy topics in his work before, none have arguably been as explicit about unexplainable acts of God as this one. It will certainly be a divisive piece of filmmaking, but is it really a Shyamalan movie if it isn't divisive?
One thing about the director, however, is that he has a poignant and genuine love for the medium of film. He's gone on record numerous times about his wide range of influences, and he's one of the few filmmakers who can take classic genre tropes and turn them into something uniquely compelling. "Knock at the Cabin" is no different, as it flips the home invasion thriller on its end by making its intruders not only sympathetic, but...
"Knock at the Cabin" simultaneously feels like classic M. Night Shyamalan and something completely new for him. While he's certainly tackled difficult and heavy topics in his work before, none have arguably been as explicit about unexplainable acts of God as this one. It will certainly be a divisive piece of filmmaking, but is it really a Shyamalan movie if it isn't divisive?
One thing about the director, however, is that he has a poignant and genuine love for the medium of film. He's gone on record numerous times about his wide range of influences, and he's one of the few filmmakers who can take classic genre tropes and turn them into something uniquely compelling. "Knock at the Cabin" is no different, as it flips the home invasion thriller on its end by making its intruders not only sympathetic, but...
- 2/3/2023
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
Women are a force to be reckoned with both in real-life and in reel-life. Over the decades, strong women have permeated cinema from its infancy — remember Pearl White in the 1914 serial “The Perils of Pauline”? Viola Davis plays the title role in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s hit film “The Woman King.” The Oscar Emmy and Tony winner’s character leads a group of women warriors called the Agojie who protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey from the 17th-19th centuries.
Reviews have been strong for the “The Woman King,” which earned 19 million on its opening weekend, especially for the Davis. Noted Variety: “She plays Nanisca, who in the film’s aggressive prologue, stands firm before a phalanx of well-armed soldiers, her hair fashioned into a kind of Mohawk. Scars visible on her face and shoulders We’ve never seen the actor like this, and not for a second do we...
Reviews have been strong for the “The Woman King,” which earned 19 million on its opening weekend, especially for the Davis. Noted Variety: “She plays Nanisca, who in the film’s aggressive prologue, stands firm before a phalanx of well-armed soldiers, her hair fashioned into a kind of Mohawk. Scars visible on her face and shoulders We’ve never seen the actor like this, and not for a second do we...
- 9/26/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is halfway through season 1, so I'm going to take a moment to praise the incredible costumes of characters like Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), and Disa (Sophia Nomvete and the Mvp of the series).
I'm not alone in this admiration. Tweets and other posts on social media have compared some of the costumes to paintings from the Pre-Raphaelite, Orientalist, and Symbolist movements in art history. Twitter user @LeoPrasidis compared Galadriel's golden leaf crown to the one in Léon François Comerre's "The Girl with the Golden Wreath," Míriel's hair net to Herbert Gustave Schmalz's "Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra," and Galadriel's armor to Joan of Arc paintings from John Everett Millais, and Charles-Amable Lenoir.
Two more beautiful The Rings of Power visual references to 19th century art. This time, it's Galadriel next to Leon Francois Comerre's The Girl with the Golden...
I'm not alone in this admiration. Tweets and other posts on social media have compared some of the costumes to paintings from the Pre-Raphaelite, Orientalist, and Symbolist movements in art history. Twitter user @LeoPrasidis compared Galadriel's golden leaf crown to the one in Léon François Comerre's "The Girl with the Golden Wreath," Míriel's hair net to Herbert Gustave Schmalz's "Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra," and Galadriel's armor to Joan of Arc paintings from John Everett Millais, and Charles-Amable Lenoir.
Two more beautiful The Rings of Power visual references to 19th century art. This time, it's Galadriel next to Leon Francois Comerre's The Girl with the Golden...
- 9/16/2022
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
Dumont describes his ambitious Northern France-set sci-fi extravaganza as a ”space and earth opera”.
Paris-based Memento International has secured sales to Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi drama The Empire and also confirmed its key cast members as Lily-Rose Depp, Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin and Fabrice Luchini.
The €6.1m (6.4m) feature is in pre-production and is due to start shooting this summer for delivery in 2023.
After exploring the Paris media world in last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender France, starring Léa Seydoux, Dumont returns to his native Northern France, which has been the setting for most of his films. The...
Paris-based Memento International has secured sales to Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi drama The Empire and also confirmed its key cast members as Lily-Rose Depp, Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin and Fabrice Luchini.
The €6.1m (6.4m) feature is in pre-production and is due to start shooting this summer for delivery in 2023.
After exploring the Paris media world in last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender France, starring Léa Seydoux, Dumont returns to his native Northern France, which has been the setting for most of his films. The...
- 4/28/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Catherine Breillat doesn’t make porn. Anyone familiar with the 73-year-old French auteur knows her frank portraits of female sexuality are complex, often transcendent explorations of desire through a metaphysical lens. That impulse extends back to Brelliat’s first film in 1976, “A Real Young Girl,” in which she adapted her own controversial novel about a 14-year-old’s sexual awakening. It has stayed with her through the decades in everything from “Fat Girl” to “Sex Is Comedy,” which fictionalizes the discomfort of shooting a sex scene.
Many of those movies are included in a new 11-film Breillat retrospective at New York’s IFC Center, but none epitomize Breillat’s daring aesthetic more than 1999’s “Romance,” the absorbing story of a young woman named Marie who finds catharsis from her sexless relationship with her boyfriend in a series of ambitious trysts. One of these leads to her rape; another inspires her revenge.
Many of those movies are included in a new 11-film Breillat retrospective at New York’s IFC Center, but none epitomize Breillat’s daring aesthetic more than 1999’s “Romance,” the absorbing story of a young woman named Marie who finds catharsis from her sexless relationship with her boyfriend in a series of ambitious trysts. One of these leads to her rape; another inspires her revenge.
- 2/14/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Bruno Dumont is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. Sure, not everything he releases is perfect, but he’s a risk-taker, and his films, such as “Jeanette,” “Joan of Arc,” and “France,” all take big swings and are worth watching just to see how far he’s willing to go. So, with that in mind, we’re really excited to see what he has coming next, which is apparently a star-studded sci-fi feature.
Continue reading ‘L’Empire’: Bruno Dumont’s New Sci-Fi Film Will Star Lily-Rose Depp, Adele Haenel & Virginie Efira at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘L’Empire’: Bruno Dumont’s New Sci-Fi Film Will Star Lily-Rose Depp, Adele Haenel & Virginie Efira at The Playlist.
- 1/24/2022
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Animation and CGI are powerful means of expanding the creative possibilities and global audience reach of documentary shows. French producer Program33 has proven this with its two feature-length animation docudramas – “The Last Stand” (2015), about the defeat of the Gauls by the Romans, and “Building Notre Dame” (2019), set in the Middle Ages.
Both projects enjoyed a strong international response, in particular “Notre Dame,” with high ratings on PBS in the U.S., and good results in Canada, Germany and Belgium. In France it had 4 million viewers on its first showing and a further 10 million viewers from repeat screenings, with a much broader audience demographic than classic documentaries.
Program33 is now developing its next feature-length animation project “The Joan of Arc Case,” with a similar budget, of around €3.5 million ($4 million).
Joan of Arc has inspired multiple film and TV adaptations, including Luc Besson’s 1999 epic drama. Program33 aims to offer a new...
Both projects enjoyed a strong international response, in particular “Notre Dame,” with high ratings on PBS in the U.S., and good results in Canada, Germany and Belgium. In France it had 4 million viewers on its first showing and a further 10 million viewers from repeat screenings, with a much broader audience demographic than classic documentaries.
Program33 is now developing its next feature-length animation project “The Joan of Arc Case,” with a similar budget, of around €3.5 million ($4 million).
Joan of Arc has inspired multiple film and TV adaptations, including Luc Besson’s 1999 epic drama. Program33 aims to offer a new...
- 1/12/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Throughout 2021, we have been updating our “In Memoriam” photo gallery (view above). Scroll through to remember 33 entertainers from film, television, theater and music. Many were winners at the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and/or Tonys. Here is a closer look at just a few of those we celebrate in our gallery:
Legendary composer Stephen Sondheim died on November 26 at age 91. He was a seven-time Tony Award winner for “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods” and “Passion.” He received a lifetime achievement Tony in 2008. He was an Oscar winner for “Dick Tracy” and a seven-time Grammy winner. Other well-known shows were “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Pacific Overtures,” Merrily We Roll Along,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Assassins” plus “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” as a lyricist. He was also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Kennedy Center Honors.
Legendary composer Stephen Sondheim died on November 26 at age 91. He was a seven-time Tony Award winner for “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods” and “Passion.” He received a lifetime achievement Tony in 2008. He was an Oscar winner for “Dick Tracy” and a seven-time Grammy winner. Other well-known shows were “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Pacific Overtures,” Merrily We Roll Along,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Assassins” plus “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” as a lyricist. He was also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Kennedy Center Honors.
- 12/29/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Even in the grittier, more dourly ascetic, first films that he made in the 90s, Bruno Dumont has always wrestled with Big Picture questions about human nature, spirituality, and the conditions of reality within the context of French history and nationhood. In La vie de Jésus (1997), Dumont’s debut, an unemployed and mentally-ill teenager is a Christ figure whose corruption assumes sexual and violent extremes, and over a decade later, in 2009’s Hadewijch, a freakishly devout young Catholic woman, an avatar for the eponymous 13th century mystic and poet, becomes involved with Islamic fundamentalists. These mystical aggrandizements of the French working class, the everyday bourgeoisie, and the immigrant communities that to this day remain a point of political contention in France, go hand in hand with Dumont’s later portraits of martyrous historical figures who loom large in the French imaginary—think Camille Claudel and Joan of Arc (Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc...
- 12/13/2021
- MUBI
Eric Zemmour, the French far-right pundit and TV journalist who has been called “France’s Trump,” sparked a scandal in French media earlier this week when he announced his presidential bid with a video that incited nationalist fervor and included unauthorized footage from classic movies, TV shows, newscasts and soccer games.
The controversy echoes musicians such as Neil Young and the Rolling Stones threatening lawsuits over Donald Trump’s campaign using their songs..
French production powerhouse Gaumont and the producers of the popular primetime show “Quotidien” are among those who have threatened to sue Zemmour over the use of their materials in the video.
The 10-minute clip — the first of its kind posted by a French presidential candidate to social media — is set to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and shows Zemmour sitting at a desk with imagery reminiscent of French General Charles de Gaulle’s 1940 filmed appeal to resist the Nazi occupation.
The controversy echoes musicians such as Neil Young and the Rolling Stones threatening lawsuits over Donald Trump’s campaign using their songs..
French production powerhouse Gaumont and the producers of the popular primetime show “Quotidien” are among those who have threatened to sue Zemmour over the use of their materials in the video.
The 10-minute clip — the first of its kind posted by a French presidential candidate to social media — is set to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and shows Zemmour sitting at a desk with imagery reminiscent of French General Charles de Gaulle’s 1940 filmed appeal to resist the Nazi occupation.
- 12/3/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Populist candidate Eric Zemmour’s campaign is under fire over the use of extracts from French film classics.
French film and TV company Gaumont is threatening legal action after extracts of films in its library were used in a video launching far-right politician Eric Zemmour as a candidate in France’s 2022 presidential elections without authorisation.
The 10-minute video, posted on YouTube on Tuesday (November 30), intercuts Zemmour’s candidacy speech with a montage of news footage and extracts from French film and TV shows. These included Gaumont titles Luc Besson’s Joan Of Arc and Henri Verneuil’s A Monkey In Winter...
French film and TV company Gaumont is threatening legal action after extracts of films in its library were used in a video launching far-right politician Eric Zemmour as a candidate in France’s 2022 presidential elections without authorisation.
The 10-minute video, posted on YouTube on Tuesday (November 30), intercuts Zemmour’s candidacy speech with a montage of news footage and extracts from French film and TV shows. These included Gaumont titles Luc Besson’s Joan Of Arc and Henri Verneuil’s A Monkey In Winter...
- 12/1/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused the motion picture academy to cancel the Governors Awards, which has been a stand-alone event since 2009. Instead, it presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to both Tyler Perry and the Motion Picture & Television Fund during the Oscars. This morale booster was a bright spot in the ceremony.
The Governors Awards are set to return on January 15, 2022. Honorary Oscars will be presented to multi-hyphenate Elaine May as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Liv Ullmann. Another actor, Danny Glover, will be feted with the Hersholt for his work on behalf of Unicef.
There have been four honorees at the Governors Awards every year but two since 2009. As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are represented among the roster of 138 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host...
The Governors Awards are set to return on January 15, 2022. Honorary Oscars will be presented to multi-hyphenate Elaine May as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Liv Ullmann. Another actor, Danny Glover, will be feted with the Hersholt for his work on behalf of Unicef.
There have been four honorees at the Governors Awards every year but two since 2009. As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are represented among the roster of 138 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host...
- 11/29/2021
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
After a 15 months delay, the 74th annual Tony Awards honoring the best of Broadway will be held September 26 on CBS and Paramount +. And there a lot of familiar faces expected at the ceremony at the Winter Garden Theatre including six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who is nominated for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”; Jane Alexander, who won her first Tony Award 52 years ago for “The Great White Hope” and contends for “Grand Horizons”; and 90-year-old Lois Smith, who made her Broadway debut nearly 70 years ago, is up for “The Inheritance.”
The Tony Awards first ceremony, held April 6 1947 at the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, was a vastly different affair. Awards were handed out in only eight categories. Producer, director and Tony founder Brock Pemberton was the host of the evening which was broadcast on Wor and Mutual Network radio stations.
The Tony Awards first ceremony, held April 6 1947 at the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, was a vastly different affair. Awards were handed out in only eight categories. Producer, director and Tony founder Brock Pemberton was the host of the evening which was broadcast on Wor and Mutual Network radio stations.
- 8/28/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Bruno Dumont’s peculiar blend of the transcendental with a clumsy kind of realism was a natural fit to “Jeannette” and “Joan of Arc,” both films dealing with the same presumed miracle — an ordinary little girl claiming to be guided by Saints. That mix takes on a more ambiguous aura in “France,” which premiered in Competition at this year’s Festival de Cannes and centers on a news host going through a different but not entirely dissimilar sort of spiritual/existential crisis about what she does for a living and who she is.
Continue reading ‘France’: Léa Seydoux Faces A Different Kind Of Spiritual Crisis In Bruno Dumont’s Media Critique [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘France’: Léa Seydoux Faces A Different Kind Of Spiritual Crisis In Bruno Dumont’s Media Critique [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
- 7/16/2021
- by Elena Lazic
- The Playlist
Many of the best qualities of early and late Verhoeven combine in Benedetta, a tale of sex, blood, and sacrilege in 17th-century Italy. Based on the American historian Judith C. Brown’s 1986 non-fiction book Immoral Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (quite the title), its story focuses on the life of Benedetta Carlini, a nun in Precia who entered a sexual relationship with another woman in her convent. Paul Verhoeven originally adapted the book with his longtime collaborator Gerard Soeteman, but the screenwriter stepped down when it became too “sexualized.” In the opening act there are not one, but two fart jokes. We are also, in many instances, offered evidence of the director’s well-founded appreciation for mommy’s milkies.
Originally titled Blessed Virgin and pegged for release way back in 2019, it marks an ever-welcome return for the great director, his first outing since 2016 when Elle...
Originally titled Blessed Virgin and pegged for release way back in 2019, it marks an ever-welcome return for the great director, his first outing since 2016 when Elle...
- 7/10/2021
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
After last year’s Cannes Film Festival was reduced to a press conference announcing the works they would’ve screened, they’re back in full swing for 2021. Forgoing the virtual aspects embraced by many festivals, Cannes kicks off this Tuesday and we’ll be on the ground to cover.
Ahead of the festivities we’ve rounded up what we’re most looking forward to—and while we’re sure many surprises await, per every year, one will find twenty films that should already be on your radar. Check out our picks below and be sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest updates from the festival.
20. The Year of the Everlasting Storm (Various)
It’s only fitting to kick off with a film that looks to encapsulate our tumultuous year. Featuring contributions from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who appears a bit later down as well), David Lowery, Jafar Panahi, Laura Poitras,...
Ahead of the festivities we’ve rounded up what we’re most looking forward to—and while we’re sure many surprises await, per every year, one will find twenty films that should already be on your radar. Check out our picks below and be sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest updates from the festival.
20. The Year of the Everlasting Storm (Various)
It’s only fitting to kick off with a film that looks to encapsulate our tumultuous year. Featuring contributions from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who appears a bit later down as well), David Lowery, Jafar Panahi, Laura Poitras,...
- 7/4/2021
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Stage and screen actress Olympia Dukakis, who won an Oscar for her turn in 1988’s Moonstruck, has passed away. She was 89.
Dukakis died Saturday morning, with news of her passing shared by her brother, Apollo Dukakis, on Facebook. “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City,” he wrote. “After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis.”
More from TVLineSex and the City: HBO Max Revival Poised to Add 3 New Series Regulars -- All of Them Women of ColorTV Ratings: NCIS: Los Angeles Rises, CW Slips With Sunday...
Dukakis died Saturday morning, with news of her passing shared by her brother, Apollo Dukakis, on Facebook. “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City,” he wrote. “After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis.”
More from TVLineSex and the City: HBO Max Revival Poised to Add 3 New Series Regulars -- All of Them Women of ColorTV Ratings: NCIS: Los Angeles Rises, CW Slips With Sunday...
- 5/1/2021
- by Nick Caruso
- TVLine.com
Olympia Dukakis, a character actress best known for her Oscar-winning supporting turn in Norman Jewison’s “Moonstruck” and for her role as the wealthy widow in “Steel Magnolias,” has died. She was 89.
Dukakis’ brother, Apollo Dukakis, confirmed her death to Variety. Apollo Dukakis announced her death in a Facebook post, writing: “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City. After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis.”
The actress was 56 when she came to prominence overnight thanks to her Oscar-winning turn in “Moonstruck,” the 1987 film in which she played, with an extraordinary comic ethnic gusto characteristic of the movie as a whole, the mother of Cher’s character. The Washington Post singled out Dukakis for praise: Cher and Nicolas Cage are “backed by an equally quirky cast of marvelous supporting players — especially Olympia Dukakis, whose role as Loretta...
Dukakis’ brother, Apollo Dukakis, confirmed her death to Variety. Apollo Dukakis announced her death in a Facebook post, writing: “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City. After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis.”
The actress was 56 when she came to prominence overnight thanks to her Oscar-winning turn in “Moonstruck,” the 1987 film in which she played, with an extraordinary comic ethnic gusto characteristic of the movie as a whole, the mother of Cher’s character. The Washington Post singled out Dukakis for praise: Cher and Nicolas Cage are “backed by an equally quirky cast of marvelous supporting players — especially Olympia Dukakis, whose role as Loretta...
- 5/1/2021
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Beloved screen and stage actress Olympia Dukakis died May 1 at the age of 89. The news of the Oscar winner’s passing was shared by her brother, Apollo Dukakis, on Facebook. “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City. After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis,” Apollo wrote. Her husband, actor Louis Zorich, died in 2018 at the age of 93.
Olympia Dukakis starred in more than 130 stage productions, as well as more than 60 films and 50 television series. She won her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her role in “Moonstruck” as Rose Castorini. She won a Golden Globe for the film as well, and received Emmy Award nominations for “Lucky Day” (1991), “More Tales of the City” (1998), and “Joan of Arc” (1999). She released an autobiography, “Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress,” in 2003. Last year, a feature-length documentary about her life,...
Olympia Dukakis starred in more than 130 stage productions, as well as more than 60 films and 50 television series. She won her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her role in “Moonstruck” as Rose Castorini. She won a Golden Globe for the film as well, and received Emmy Award nominations for “Lucky Day” (1991), “More Tales of the City” (1998), and “Joan of Arc” (1999). She released an autobiography, “Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress,” in 2003. Last year, a feature-length documentary about her life,...
- 5/1/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky)
The gears of oppressive government bureaucracy are designed to crush homegrown opposition before it becomes too threatening. In that sense, institutions and policies put in place by Hitler’s Third Reich and Trump’s Maga cult have a lot in common with those of 20th century Communist Russia, an ideological rope-a-dope that publically posited figureheads like Stalin and later Khrushchev as warriors of the people while privately undermining any citizen-led resistance with brutal force. Andrei Konchalovsky’s great new film Dear Comrades! depicts such a response with the sobering understanding that historical events of any magnitude can be easily manipulated to match the motivations of those in power.
Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky)
The gears of oppressive government bureaucracy are designed to crush homegrown opposition before it becomes too threatening. In that sense, institutions and policies put in place by Hitler’s Third Reich and Trump’s Maga cult have a lot in common with those of 20th century Communist Russia, an ideological rope-a-dope that publically posited figureheads like Stalin and later Khrushchev as warriors of the people while privately undermining any citizen-led resistance with brutal force. Andrei Konchalovsky’s great new film Dear Comrades! depicts such a response with the sobering understanding that historical events of any magnitude can be easily manipulated to match the motivations of those in power.
- 2/5/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: As the mystery at the center of Big Sky unfolds, so do the stories of the various characters living in David E. Kelley’s world. Set to join the ABC crime drama’s family are Camille Sullivan, Chad Willett and Patrick Gallagher in recurring roles.
Starring Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury and Ryan Phillippe, Big Sky centers on private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt, who team with ex-cop Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters mysteriously kidnapped by a truck driver in Montana. Upon learning that the kidnapping isn’t an isolated incident, the law officials must race against the clock to prevent any more abductions.
Sullivan and Chad Willet will play Joanie Sullivan and Robert Sullivan, the parents of two kidnapped sisters played by Jade Pettyjohn and Natalie Alyn Lind. The parents, arriving in Helena from out of town, are pushed to their limits as they search for their missing daughters.
Starring Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury and Ryan Phillippe, Big Sky centers on private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt, who team with ex-cop Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters mysteriously kidnapped by a truck driver in Montana. Upon learning that the kidnapping isn’t an isolated incident, the law officials must race against the clock to prevent any more abductions.
Sullivan and Chad Willet will play Joanie Sullivan and Robert Sullivan, the parents of two kidnapped sisters played by Jade Pettyjohn and Natalie Alyn Lind. The parents, arriving in Helena from out of town, are pushed to their limits as they search for their missing daughters.
- 12/1/2020
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
After years spent on the shelf gathering dust, The New Mutants was finally released into theaters in August, a full 28 months after it was initially scheduled to hit the big screen. And given the X-Men spinoff’s tortured production that involved extensive reshoots and countless delays, it was almost fitting that it was sent out in the middle of a pandemic when most people were keeping a wide berth from their local multiplex.
Reviews weren’t particularly kind, with some labeling it the worst entry in the entire mutant franchise, and it finished up with a box office haul of just over $45 million. However, because of the year we’re having, that’s still good enough to make The New Mutants the fifteenth highest-grossing title of 2020 so far. To put things into perspective, the fifteenth biggest hit of 2019 was Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which raked in $491 million.
Of course, fans...
Reviews weren’t particularly kind, with some labeling it the worst entry in the entire mutant franchise, and it finished up with a box office haul of just over $45 million. However, because of the year we’re having, that’s still good enough to make The New Mutants the fifteenth highest-grossing title of 2020 so far. To put things into perspective, the fifteenth biggest hit of 2019 was Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which raked in $491 million.
Of course, fans...
- 11/21/2020
- by Scott Campbell
- We Got This Covered
Virginie Besson Silla has been named CEO of EuropaCorp USA, with Edouard Boccon-Gibod being named chief of staff.
The moves were announced Wednesday by Axel Duroux, who was named chief executive of EuropaCorp back in August. Besson Silla will be responsible for developing and producing television, film and streaming content while overseeing the company’s United States operations. She will report to Duroux while continuing to collaborate with EuropaCorp artistic director Luc Besson and producing partner Steve Rabineau.
“I am very pleased to accept these new responsibilities and to continue at EuropaCorp, which has been my creative home for over 20 years,” Besson Silla said. “I am also excited to continue working with Luc and Steve on the diverse projects we have in our pipeline. Our goal is to present different points of view globally across every platform based upon the Company’s DNA.”
She is best known for her work...
The moves were announced Wednesday by Axel Duroux, who was named chief executive of EuropaCorp back in August. Besson Silla will be responsible for developing and producing television, film and streaming content while overseeing the company’s United States operations. She will report to Duroux while continuing to collaborate with EuropaCorp artistic director Luc Besson and producing partner Steve Rabineau.
“I am very pleased to accept these new responsibilities and to continue at EuropaCorp, which has been my creative home for over 20 years,” Besson Silla said. “I am also excited to continue working with Luc and Steve on the diverse projects we have in our pipeline. Our goal is to present different points of view globally across every platform based upon the Company’s DNA.”
She is best known for her work...
- 11/4/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) today announces a series of special in-theatre screenings to mark the reopening of cinemas in Hong Kong.
The CineFest series will feature films from the previously cancelled 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF44) and Cine Fan programmes, including this year’s Firebird Award winners.
Supported by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund, all screenings will take place daily for five weeks from 30 September at K11 Art House in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Hkiffs Executive Director Albert Lee said Hkiffs would announce weekly line-ups and screening schedules starting today.
“Despite this year’s cancellations and disruptions, we have not stopped anticipating ways to re-engage Hong Kong’s film-lovers and to share our choices and discoveries with them once the situation returns to normal,” Mr Lee said.
To ensure public safety, Hkiffs will continue to comply with every in-theatre health measure mandated...
The CineFest series will feature films from the previously cancelled 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF44) and Cine Fan programmes, including this year’s Firebird Award winners.
Supported by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund, all screenings will take place daily for five weeks from 30 September at K11 Art House in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Hkiffs Executive Director Albert Lee said Hkiffs would announce weekly line-ups and screening schedules starting today.
“Despite this year’s cancellations and disruptions, we have not stopped anticipating ways to re-engage Hong Kong’s film-lovers and to share our choices and discoveries with them once the situation returns to normal,” Mr Lee said.
To ensure public safety, Hkiffs will continue to comply with every in-theatre health measure mandated...
- 9/27/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Lise Leplat Prudhomme as Joan of Arc. Bruno Dumont: 'It may seem anachronistic to choose a young girl but it makes the audience confront their own preconceptions and to go deeper' Photo: Unifrance As a director and as a person Bruno Dumont - whose film Joan Of Arc reaches UK streaming services this week - has lightened up considerably since the austere days of Humanity and Flanders, which both scooped the Cannes Film Festival’s grand prix awards in 1999 and 2006 respectively. Although he has been invited more than eight times to take part in the Festival’s various sections frequently he receives a rough ride from the critics and the public while his admirers will defend him to the hilt.
He directed his first feature film at the age of 38: The Life Of Jesus (1996), which was shot in his home town of Bailleul, near Lille. It was much acclaimed in the Director's Fortnight,...
He directed his first feature film at the age of 38: The Life Of Jesus (1996), which was shot in his home town of Bailleul, near Lille. It was much acclaimed in the Director's Fortnight,...
- 6/16/2020
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Bruno Dumont’s movies linger somewhere between deadpan comedy and bleak existential yearning, an uneasy combo that often makes them hard to classify. From the nomadic supernatural traveler who haunts the French countryside in “Outside Satan,” to the bumbling cops investigating a seaside community in the miniseries “Li’l Quinquin,” Dumont excels at absurdist storytelling that wanders down strange pathways that either end in oddball punchlines or take a sharp turn into profundity. Not every curveball lands, but Dumont’s eerie, dreamlike storytelling has made him one of France’s most endearing and unpredictable filmmakers of the past 20-odd years.
All of which means that “Joan of Arc,” the filmmaker’s , benefits from a working familiarity of the vision behind the camera. Technically, it’s as much a part of a growing Dumont franchise as “Li’l Quinquin,” as “Joan of Arc” follows his 2017 “Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc,...
All of which means that “Joan of Arc,” the filmmaker’s , benefits from a working familiarity of the vision behind the camera. Technically, it’s as much a part of a growing Dumont franchise as “Li’l Quinquin,” as “Joan of Arc” follows his 2017 “Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc,...
- 5/20/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile) featuring Mina Farid, Zahia Dehar, Benoît Magimel, Nuno Lopes, Clotilde Courau and Lakdhar Dridi, is a Rendez-Vous with French Cinema highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Early Bird highlights in the UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center 25th edition include Nicolas Pariser’s Alice And The Mayor (Alice Et Le maire), starring Anaïs Demoustier and Fabrice Luchini with Antoine Reinartz and Nora Hamzawi; Alice Winocour’s Proxima with Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Sandra Hüller, and Lars Eidinger, score by Ryuichi Sakamoto; Bruno Dumont's Joan Of Arc (Jeanne), his sequel to Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan of Arc, starring Lise Leplat Prudhomme, and Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile).
Opening the festival is Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth (La Vérité), starring Catherine Deneuve (also in Cédric Kahn’s Happy Birthday - Fête De Famille), Juliette.
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Early Bird highlights in the UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center 25th edition include Nicolas Pariser’s Alice And The Mayor (Alice Et Le maire), starring Anaïs Demoustier and Fabrice Luchini with Antoine Reinartz and Nora Hamzawi; Alice Winocour’s Proxima with Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Sandra Hüller, and Lars Eidinger, score by Ryuichi Sakamoto; Bruno Dumont's Joan Of Arc (Jeanne), his sequel to Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan of Arc, starring Lise Leplat Prudhomme, and Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile).
Opening the festival is Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth (La Vérité), starring Catherine Deneuve (also in Cédric Kahn’s Happy Birthday - Fête De Famille), Juliette.
- 2/24/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center have set the lineup for the 25th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema (March 5–15), the annual New York mini-festival dedicated to French filmmaking. The event will open with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s drama The Truth, starring Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke.
For the first time, the festival is introducing an Audience Award. Additionally, the festival is expanding its industry-facing events with a day-long networking event to bring together French sales agents, French producers, and American industry on Friday, March 6.
Highlights of the 22-film lineup include Christophe Honoré’s On a Magical Night, for which Chiara Mastroianni won an award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; Quentin Dupieux’s satire Deerskin, starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and Adèle Haenel; Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc, which received a Cannes Special Jury Mention; Mounia Meddour’s Papicha, the story of young women’s resistance...
For the first time, the festival is introducing an Audience Award. Additionally, the festival is expanding its industry-facing events with a day-long networking event to bring together French sales agents, French producers, and American industry on Friday, March 6.
Highlights of the 22-film lineup include Christophe Honoré’s On a Magical Night, for which Chiara Mastroianni won an award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; Quentin Dupieux’s satire Deerskin, starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and Adèle Haenel; Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc, which received a Cannes Special Jury Mention; Mounia Meddour’s Papicha, the story of young women’s resistance...
- 1/23/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmaker Luc Besson is one of cinema’s most talented action directors, and most of his work also carries a strong female actress to pave the way. La Femme Nikita, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, and Lucy are all propelled by first rate work from the lead actress.
With his latest film Anna, Besson [...]
The post Sasha Luss Delves Into The Humanity Of Luc Besson Adventure ‘Anna’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
With his latest film Anna, Besson [...]
The post Sasha Luss Delves Into The Humanity Of Luc Besson Adventure ‘Anna’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
- 7/2/2019
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
Luc Besson’s “Anna” wrapped photography in December 2017. Less than three months later, Fox released “Red Sparrow,” an extra-icy Cold War thriller about a Russian ballerina (played by Jennifer Lawrence) recruited by Soviet foreign intelligence to become an assassin and spy, trained to use her sex appeal as a weapon while leveraging her intelligence to outwit her handlers.
The day “Red Sparrow” opened must have been a very bad one for Besson, since that movie is basically the smarter, more sophisticated version of the story he’d imagined for “Anna,” which stars model-turned-actress Sasha Luss as a Russian assassin turned model who dispatches Kgb targets between fashion shoots. You get the picture. Except that even “Red Sparrow” was a rehash of sorts.
A year earlier, Charlize Theron had appeared in “Atomic Blonde,” an intense triple-crossing, Iron Curtain action movie, which gave the Oscar-winning glamour queen the opportunity to demonstrate that...
The day “Red Sparrow” opened must have been a very bad one for Besson, since that movie is basically the smarter, more sophisticated version of the story he’d imagined for “Anna,” which stars model-turned-actress Sasha Luss as a Russian assassin turned model who dispatches Kgb targets between fashion shoots. You get the picture. Except that even “Red Sparrow” was a rehash of sorts.
A year earlier, Charlize Theron had appeared in “Atomic Blonde,” an intense triple-crossing, Iron Curtain action movie, which gave the Oscar-winning glamour queen the opportunity to demonstrate that...
- 6/21/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Jacques Audiard’s dark comedy western won best film and best director.
Jacques Audiard’s dark comedy western The Sisters Brothers, co-starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, won best film and best director at the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards on Monday evening.
In a third prize for Audiard’s English-language debut, Benoît Debie, who was also nominated for his work on Gaspar Noé’s Climax, won best cinematography.
The Sisters Brothers was a front-runner at the nomination stage alongside comedy of manners Mademoiselle de Joncquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning divorce drama Custody although there were no stand-out favourites this year.
Jacques Audiard’s dark comedy western The Sisters Brothers, co-starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, won best film and best director at the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards on Monday evening.
In a third prize for Audiard’s English-language debut, Benoît Debie, who was also nominated for his work on Gaspar Noé’s Climax, won best cinematography.
The Sisters Brothers was a front-runner at the nomination stage alongside comedy of manners Mademoiselle de Joncquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning divorce drama Custody although there were no stand-out favourites this year.
- 2/5/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
New Year’s resolutions are a time to work towards a transformation of your body and/or your life. To honor these goals, this month we’re going to look at transformative roles in film. This week we look at some prominent examples of actors playing characters that are much younger than the actors’ actual age.
It’s one thing to mentally prepare to play a character in a movie or a play. It’s another thing to physically transform yourself in order to better identify with the role. Some transformations are only skin deep; extensive makeup or prosthetics may be sufficient to pull of the necessary look. Other transformations are more involved; many actors may take part in weeks, if not months, of preparations for a role. This can include intense training, specialized diets, and exhaustive exercise routines. The end result of an actor going through such a transformation...
It’s one thing to mentally prepare to play a character in a movie or a play. It’s another thing to physically transform yourself in order to better identify with the role. Some transformations are only skin deep; extensive makeup or prosthetics may be sufficient to pull of the necessary look. Other transformations are more involved; many actors may take part in weeks, if not months, of preparations for a role. This can include intense training, specialized diets, and exhaustive exercise routines. The end result of an actor going through such a transformation...
- 1/17/2018
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
Sneak Peek images of "Resident Evil" actress Milla Jovovich in "Vogue" (Ukraine) magazine, photographed by An Le:
Jovovich began modeling at the age of 12 when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine "Lei". Photogapher Richard Avedon then featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements.
In 1988, Jovovich had her first acting role in the television film "The Night Train to Kathmandu", followed by the feature film, "Two Moon Junction".
When she was fifteen, she starred in the 1991 feature "Return to the Blue Lagoon, then appeared in the 1997 feature "The Fifth Element" written/directed by Luc Besson. She also starred in Besson's "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999).
In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror feature "Resident Evil", adapted from the video game series of the same name, reprising her role in five sequels to date, including the upcoming "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter...
Jovovich began modeling at the age of 12 when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine "Lei". Photogapher Richard Avedon then featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements.
In 1988, Jovovich had her first acting role in the television film "The Night Train to Kathmandu", followed by the feature film, "Two Moon Junction".
When she was fifteen, she starred in the 1991 feature "Return to the Blue Lagoon, then appeared in the 1997 feature "The Fifth Element" written/directed by Luc Besson. She also starred in Besson's "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999).
In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror feature "Resident Evil", adapted from the video game series of the same name, reprising her role in five sequels to date, including the upcoming "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter...
- 12/28/2017
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
From TheGoodTheBadandTheUgly.Ca, take a look @ 'the good, the bad and the ugly' in director Patty Jenkins' comic book adaptation "Wonder Woman", starring Gal Gadot as 'Diana Of Themyscira':
Michael Stevens For The Good:
"'Merciful Minerva', it is true that many of us were rooting for dimpled Audrey Hepburn look-alike Gal Gadot, to give us a decent portrayal, in her first stand-alone 'Wonder Woman' feature...
"...after her exciting tease in 'Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice'.
"And Gadot does not disappoint, delivering the goods as a sweet and sexy, smirking action star...
"...in a 'girl power' film about 'love and compassion'...
"...despite piles of fresh-killed, lantern-jawed Ww I 'enemy' corpses, dying in a cold blue 'No Man's Land'...
...looking more like 'Saving Private Ryan', than the world of Lynda Carter.
"But Gadot makes the most of what she's got, with great leaps and bounds.
Michael Stevens For The Good:
"'Merciful Minerva', it is true that many of us were rooting for dimpled Audrey Hepburn look-alike Gal Gadot, to give us a decent portrayal, in her first stand-alone 'Wonder Woman' feature...
"...after her exciting tease in 'Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice'.
"And Gadot does not disappoint, delivering the goods as a sweet and sexy, smirking action star...
"...in a 'girl power' film about 'love and compassion'...
"...despite piles of fresh-killed, lantern-jawed Ww I 'enemy' corpses, dying in a cold blue 'No Man's Land'...
...looking more like 'Saving Private Ryan', than the world of Lynda Carter.
"But Gadot makes the most of what she's got, with great leaps and bounds.
- 9/22/2017
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Luc Besson‘s filmography is fairly impressive for a director that’s never really received support from critics. He directed “Nikita,” “Leon,” and “The Fifth Element” back to back to back from 1990-1997. Fine. Those three films alone have allowed him enough creative freedom to direct whatever he’s wanted to since. The problem is the ensuing films weren’t very good (“The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc,” “Angel-a,” “Arthur and the Invisibles,” “The Family“).
Continue reading Luc Besson Hates On Superhero Movies & Calls ‘Captain America’ “Propaganda” at The Playlist.
Continue reading Luc Besson Hates On Superhero Movies & Calls ‘Captain America’ “Propaganda” at The Playlist.
- 8/12/2017
- by Jordan Ruimy
- The Playlist
(Aotn) Ever wonder what happened to several high profile projects that various well-known directors were said to be helming, but somehow have never seen the light of day? Many of these films were either “pet projects” for the directors or they ended up getting tied up in so many legal battles that eventually they were just scrapped or the director ended up simply walking away.
The wonderful folks over at IndieWire have complied a fantastic list compiling several of these films that have yet to see the light of day from directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bigelow, Christopher Nolan and more!
First up is director Christopher Nolan’s rumored Howard Hughes biopic. In several interviews Nolan called the script for the film “the best he had ever written”, in fact, the film was even picked by Castle Rock in 2002 and actor Jim Carrey was attached to star. So, just where did things go wrong?...
The wonderful folks over at IndieWire have complied a fantastic list compiling several of these films that have yet to see the light of day from directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bigelow, Christopher Nolan and more!
First up is director Christopher Nolan’s rumored Howard Hughes biopic. In several interviews Nolan called the script for the film “the best he had ever written”, in fact, the film was even picked by Castle Rock in 2002 and actor Jim Carrey was attached to star. So, just where did things go wrong?...
- 8/1/2017
- by Kristyn Clarke
- Age of the Nerd
Just because you’re a well-established director with award-winning hits and/or commercial successes doesn’t mean you can make any movie you want. Just ask Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, Darren Aronofsky, and more. All these auteurs have had passion projects over the years they’ve had to kill or put on indefinite hiatus for a variety of reasons, which is a shame given how incredible all of them sound on paper.
Read More30 Essential Directing Tips From 30 Master Filmmakers
Christopher Nolan taking on Howard Hughes. Spike Lee making a boxing epic around Joe Louis. Kathryn Bigelow resurrecting Joan of Arc for a female warrior saga unlike any the big screen had ever really seen in the 1990s. We’d buy a ticket for all them years in advance if we knew they were definitely happening.
With many of our favorite auteurs currently in production on new movies,...
Read More30 Essential Directing Tips From 30 Master Filmmakers
Christopher Nolan taking on Howard Hughes. Spike Lee making a boxing epic around Joe Louis. Kathryn Bigelow resurrecting Joan of Arc for a female warrior saga unlike any the big screen had ever really seen in the 1990s. We’d buy a ticket for all them years in advance if we knew they were definitely happening.
With many of our favorite auteurs currently in production on new movies,...
- 7/28/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Too Hollywood for art houses and too art house for Hollywood, iconoclastic French filmmaker Luc Besson has always had to blaze his own trail. Unwilling — or unable — to compromise from the very start (his debut feature was a dialogue-free post-apocalyptic drama about a waterless future where it occasionally rains fish), Besson continues to offset his pigheadedness with his passion. He eventually got so sick of looking for support that he launched his own production company, EuropaCorp, which has become one of the most profitable in all of Europe by churning out the kind of carnivalesque shlock that made its founder so famous in the first place. Besson may not have directed the likes of “Taken,” “Lock-Out,” and “Colombiana,” but his fingerprints are all over them.
Read More Review: ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ Is Like ‘Star Wars’ on Crystal Meth, and It’s Almost Crazy Enough to...
Read More Review: ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ Is Like ‘Star Wars’ on Crystal Meth, and It’s Almost Crazy Enough to...
- 7/20/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Confession: There are times when I've been loyally in Luc Besson's corner – the visual splendor of Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988) and La Femme Nikita (1990) established him as a master of what the French call Cinéma du Look. And 1994's The Professional – with Jean Reno teaching the assassin's game to a very young Natalie Portman – went deeper, blending style with a nurturing sense of humanity. Plus, there's a lot to be said in favor of both his sci-fi extravaganza The Fifth Element (1997) and last year's next-level ScarJo-evolution whatsit Lucy.
- 7/19/2017
- Rollingstone.com
It’s unfortunate that Luc Besson’s latest multi-million dollar action spectacle is called “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” because the film is as much about its male hero (the eponymous Valerian, played by Dane DeHaan) as it is about his female partner, Laureline (Cara Delevingne). A long-time passion project of the filmmaker, Besson’s newest feature is based on the French sci-fi comics series “Valérian and Laureline,” written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, a childhood favorite of Besson. Like the series that inspired it, the film follows a pair of “spatio-temporal agents” who are charged with keeping the peace across the universe.
Valerian may get title billing, but both DeHaan and Delevingne’s characters exist on very equal footing. Most of the time, it’s actually Laureline who saves the day when the notoriously hot-headed Valerian goes off the rails and biffs yet another important mission.
Valerian may get title billing, but both DeHaan and Delevingne’s characters exist on very equal footing. Most of the time, it’s actually Laureline who saves the day when the notoriously hot-headed Valerian goes off the rails and biffs yet another important mission.
- 7/18/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Cannes Film Festival generates more attention and excitement than any other film festival in the world, but each year is an unpredictable journey. The Official Selection, alongside the sidebars of Directors Fortnight and Critics Week, offer up a tightly-curated into a range of international cinema from both familiar sources and surprising newcomers. This year’s edition is a reliable combination of top-tier directors whose work will be shown at Cannes until the end of time, notable filmmakers who usually deliver something worthwhile, and unproven quantities with a lot of potential.
Read More: 17 Shocks and Surprises from the 2017 Cannes Lineup, From ‘Twin Peaks’ to Netflix and Vr
In order to work through all of these different possibilities, we’ve broken down our list of anticipated Cannes titles into three categories: A-list auteurs, Discoveries and Safe Bets. Every day of Cannes will bring new updates on the latest films, some of...
Read More: 17 Shocks and Surprises from the 2017 Cannes Lineup, From ‘Twin Peaks’ to Netflix and Vr
In order to work through all of these different possibilities, we’ve broken down our list of anticipated Cannes titles into three categories: A-list auteurs, Discoveries and Safe Bets. Every day of Cannes will bring new updates on the latest films, some of...
- 5/10/2017
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
The lineup for Cannes 2017 has finally been announced, and it’s a doozy. From the inevitable return of Michael Haneke to the shocking inclusion of television (albeit television from celebrated Cannes alumni David Lynch and Jane Campion), the 70th edition of the world’s most prestigious film festival promises to have something for everyone.
We asked our panel of critics to name the Cannes premiere they’re most excited to see, and their answers were unsurprisingly all over the map.
April Wolfe (@awolfeful), La Weekly
Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here.”
My stomach knots are finally unraveling knowing that Ramsay’s about to unleash another...
The lineup for Cannes 2017 has finally been announced, and it’s a doozy. From the inevitable return of Michael Haneke to the shocking inclusion of television (albeit television from celebrated Cannes alumni David Lynch and Jane Campion), the 70th edition of the world’s most prestigious film festival promises to have something for everyone.
We asked our panel of critics to name the Cannes premiere they’re most excited to see, and their answers were unsurprisingly all over the map.
April Wolfe (@awolfeful), La Weekly
Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here.”
My stomach knots are finally unraveling knowing that Ramsay’s about to unleash another...
- 4/17/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Way back in 1979, Ridley Scott’s “Alien” brought us our first genuine female action hero in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Despite the three sequels that followed, Ripley proved to be something of an outlier. Until fairly recently, a woman could kill someone in a movie only if she faced brutal punishment afterward, as in Scott’s “Thelma and Louise,” or in the inevitable fates of Bond girls: They could dole out lethal action, but rarely survived.
Today, ass-kicking women are no longer an anomaly or subject to automatic retribution. This weekend, we watched Scarlett Johansson lay waste to her enemies (although not the box office) in “Ghost in the Shell,” following a path blazed by the likes of Linda Hamilton (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), and Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). These roles may strike a blow for equality and diversity, but what these women — and...
Today, ass-kicking women are no longer an anomaly or subject to automatic retribution. This weekend, we watched Scarlett Johansson lay waste to her enemies (although not the box office) in “Ghost in the Shell,” following a path blazed by the likes of Linda Hamilton (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), and Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). These roles may strike a blow for equality and diversity, but what these women — and...
- 4/4/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Way back in 1979, Ridley Scott’s “Alien” brought us our first genuine female action hero in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Despite the three sequels that followed, Ripley proved to be something of an outlier. Until fairly recently, a woman could kill someone in a movie only if she faced brutal punishment afterward, as in Scott’s “Thelma and Louise,” or in the inevitable fates of Bond girls: They could dole out lethal action, but rarely survived.
Today, ass-kicking women are no longer an anomaly or subject to automatic retribution. This weekend, we watched Scarlett Johansson lay waste to her enemies (although not the box office) in “Ghost in the Shell,” following a path blazed by the likes of Linda Hamilton (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), and Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). These roles may strike a blow for equality and diversity, but what these women — and...
Today, ass-kicking women are no longer an anomaly or subject to automatic retribution. This weekend, we watched Scarlett Johansson lay waste to her enemies (although not the box office) in “Ghost in the Shell,” following a path blazed by the likes of Linda Hamilton (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), and Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). These roles may strike a blow for equality and diversity, but what these women — and...
- 4/4/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.