STATIC MEDIA - Key Persons
A veteran of stage and screen for seven decades, Alan Arkin appeared in numerous films, among them "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," "Edward Scissorhands," "Argo," and "Little Miss Sunshine," for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor. He also won a Tony for his performance in "Enter Laughing" in 1963, just three years after dropping out of college and joining the Second City comedy group in Chicago, a move that reportedly "saved his life" (via BBC). Arkin grew up in Brooklyn until age 11, when his family moved to Los Angeles in 1945, shortly before the Red Scare tore through the city's institutions, including the Los Angeles Board of Education, which fired Arkin's father, David, a schoolteacher, when he refused to state his political thoughts and affiliations (via San Diego Reader). "It was a tough time," Arkin remembered, "He got stigmatized mightily for it." Comedy may have been the actor's forte, but Arkin displayed an uncommon seriousness on set. "Alan does not meet you halfway as an actor," said Marshall Brickman, who directed Arkin in "Simon" (1980). "The way he photographs has a kind of austerity that's a little hard for an audience to take. You either like Alan or you don't" (via Guardian). Alan Arkin died on June 29 at the age of 89.
Alden Ehrenreich has one of the most deceptively simple roles in "Oppenheimer." He plays an unnamed Senate aide who shepherds Lewis Strauss through his cabinet confirmation hearing, despite growing increasingly disgusted with his Machiavellian tactics. In a film filled with strong performances, Ehrenreich carves out special moments for himself to win over the audience, turning what could be a fairly invisible role into a fan favorite.
While Ehrenreich remains best known for his performance as Han Solo in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and his scene-stealing turn as Hobie Doyle in "Hail, Caesar!" he's been in the game since long before those roles. He made his on-screen debut in the second-ever episode of "Supernatural" at the age of 16, after being discovered by none other than Steven Spielberg. He had appeared in a brief comedy video shot for a friend's bat mitzvah, acting alongside Spielberg's daughter. Spielberg said of Ehrenreich in an interview with ET Online, "He was so funny in this video, I thought, 'I have found the next really funny comedian.' But most of his choices have been in drama and people don't know how really funny he is."
Just how many former Nickelodeon and Disney stars can we have employed as staff scientists on the Manhattan Project, anyway? Alex Wolff plays Luis Alvarez in "Oppenheimer," a physicist who worked with Ernest Lawrence in the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, eventually moving to the Los Alamos site later in the development effort. Although the role is small, Alvarez's footprint is certainly huge: He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968. Wolff got his big break at just 10 years old, starring in Nickelodeon's "The Naked Brothers Band" with his older brother Nat. The show was based on a film directed by his mother ("Thirtysomething" actress Polly Draper) and released a few years earlier and then optioned as a series. The show ran for three seasons, and Wolff continued to act after it ended, appearing in "Monk," "In Treatment," and "The Sitter" (amongst several other projects) all before his 18th birthday. Nowadays, he's best known for his turns in the horror films "Hereditary" and "Old," as well as "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" and "Jumanji: The Next Level."
Alfred Hitchcock can hardly be considered an underrated director. However, even the "master of suspense" has at least one overlooked gem, and it came very late in his career. Hitchcock was in his early '70s when he arrived in London to film "Frenzy," a thriller about a serial killer and an RAF veteran framed for his murders. The aging director may have been in his twilight years, but he had lost none of his edges. In fact, Hitchcock embraced the shifting standards of New Hollywood and depicted some of the strongest violence and nudity of his career.
The infamous suspense was back, too, especially in a desperate scene involving the killer, a corpse, and a moving lorry which ranks among Hitchcock's best sequences. "Frenzy" also serves as a time capsule for a bygone London in its depiction of Covent Garden as a functioning market, a purpose that has long been replaced by tourism and hospitality.
Job Titles:
- Director
- the Fugitive Director
To celebrate The Fugitive's 30th anniversary and new 4K release, we spoke with director Andrew Davis about making one of the most rewatchable films of the '90s.
Watto actor Andrew Secombe made a mistake (thanks to George Lucas) on the Phantom Menace set that nearly cost the movie its star, Liam Neeson.
Watto actor Andrew Secombe walked off the Phantom Menace with a pretty impressive haul in hand, something not all Star Wars actors can boast about.
In 2013, the actor received opioids after falling and breaking his skull. "The drug use most likely had something to do with his need to relieve his pain," his mother told People. Cloud's mental health took a downward turn following his father's death in May 2023. Two months later, on July 31, the 25-year-old actor was found dead at his family's home in Oakland. The cause of death was determined to be a lethal combination of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
In 2001, Annie Wersching arrived in Los Angeles with a BFA in musical theater from Millikin University. After a slew of early roles and an 80-episode run as Amelia Joffe on "General Hospital," Wersching became a series regular on TV shows such as "Bosch," "24," and "Runaways." She also had a memorable role in "The Last of Us" - the hit 2013 post-apocalyptic video game - and a raft of supporting turns on everything from "Frasier" and "Angel" to "Charmed," "Boston Legal," "Cold Case," and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Following a cancer diagnosis in 2020, Wersching died on January 29, aged 45. Her husband Stephen said (via The Hollywood Reporter), "There is a cavernous hole in the soul of this family today. But she left us the tools to fill it ... She taught us not to wait for adventure to find you." Stephen survives his wife with their three sons Freddie, Ozzie, and Archie.
Director Ari Aster takes us on a surreal cinematic journey in "Beau is Afraid." These are the film's most unexpected twists and turns.
Audrey Hepburn is a Hollywood legend, thanks to her iconic style and unforgettable performances - as seen in these 16 must-watch movies.
On December 13, 1955, Barry Humphries was touring with an arts council through Melbourne, Australia. Improv was part of the show, so the 21-year-old performer took to the stage as a character he'd been working on, Mrs. Norman Everage (the precursor to Dame Edna). The audience was lukewarm, but Humphries was emboldened. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, Humphries took Edna from small town revues to sold out theaters. Humphries tried to crack London during this period but success eluded him. After rehab and sobriety in 1970, Humphries continued his successful run in Australia and added a new character, the lecherous cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson. Humphries' big British break finally came in a 1976 West End show that attracted some 500,000 patrons over four months. From there, Humphries, Edna, and Sir Les became a fixture first of British theater and then British television. By the 2000s, his acts had made it stateside with shows such as "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour," which fared much better than a 1977 show on West 55th Street, which critics described as "abysmal ... pointless ... like the litter on 42nd Street, something worth missing" (via The Guardian). Humphries died on April 22, aged 89, prompting an outpouring of grief and respect across film, theater, TV and politics. "A world in which I don't have the friendship of Barry Humphries is really painful," Joan Bakewell told The BBC. "[There's] a great absence in my life now."
Brenda Song has been acting since a young age and spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s appearing in TV shows. Some of her standout credits include "MADtv," "7th Heaven," "ER," and "The Bernie Mac Show." However, it was Song's role in the critically acclaimed 2010 film "The Social Network," directed by David Fincher, that brought her to a wider audience. She was soon seen in bigger television series, including numerous episodes of "Scandal," "New Girl," and "Dollface." Song has also lent her voice to animated projects such as "Lilo & Stitch: The Series," "Phineas and Ferb," "Robot Chicken," and "Bobbleheads: The Movie."
It's surprising that a talented Asian actress like Song would be refused a shot at starring in the lauded 2018 film "Crazy Rich Asians," but it happened. Worse yet was the reason why she wasn't given an audition; Song told Teen Vogue, "What they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words ... I said, 'This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian-American, and I can't even audition for it? I've auditioned for Caucasian roles my entire career, but this specific role, you're not going to let me do it?'" The film's director, Jon M. Chu, took to Twitter - twice - to refute this and apologize for the impression he gave Song about missing out on the part.
Bryan Young works across many different media. He's an award-winning novelist and screenwriter. He's published comic books with Slave Labor Graphics and Image Comics. He's been a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider magazine, SYFY, /Film, and was the founder and editor-in-chief of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot! He's also written professionally in the Star Wars universe, as well as Doctor Who, BattleTech, Robotech, and Shadowrun.
Education
Bryan Young has been teaching for years about screenwriting, creative writing, and Star Wars at conferences across the country and at the University of Utah.
Job Titles:
- Night Swim 's Co - Writer / Director
Burt Young knew how to play tough, street-smart characters because he'd lived it. Before his acting career took off in the 1970s, Young had been a soldier, a boxer, a truck driver. He also found work at a printing business and a cleaning company. In the late 1960s, Young took his New York City grit to Lee Strasberg, who said, "You have huge tension about you. I feel you're an emotional library" (per The Guardian).
In 1976, "Rocky" brought Young's turn as boxing trainer Paulie Pennino, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor and typified the popular image of a boxing trainer - an old, stocky New Yorker who's coarse but caring. Pennino drew on his own boxing career, which saw him train under Cus D'Amato - the legendary trainer of Floyd Patterson and later Mike Tyson - and win 17 fights against only one loss.
Young knew the streets and he knew the ring, so mere film sets did not intimidate him. That was even true when working with Sam Peckinpah, the notoriously hard headed filmmaker who directed Young in "The Killer Elite" and "Convoy." As he recalled later (via The Guardian), "Everybody was scared of [Peckinpah]. And so they would go through me, because I had no fear of nobody."
Young died on October 8, aged 83. He is survived by his daughter, Anne.
Chad Collins has been writing professionally about film, especially horror films, since 2020. He started as a contributor for Dread Central and later branched out with pieces for Gayly Dreadful, Rue Morgue, Certified Forgotten, Anatomy of a Scream, and several others. In 2021, Chad was welcomed on as both a staff writer at Dread Central and a features writer at /Film. Since then, he has been fortunate enough to better enmesh himself into the genre, attending the Sundance Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, South by Southwest, and several others. For /Film, he has even assembled a lengthy list on the 95 best horror movies ever made.
Education
Chad Collins received his B.A. in Media Studies from Flagler College and his M.A. in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Central Florida. He is especially interested in the way media shapes the way people connect and share with others.
Chris Evangelista lives in Philadelphia - well, technically New Jersey, but let's keep that quiet. Chris has contributed to Fangoria, Mashable, The Guardian, The Playlist, Nerdist, and more. He is the Chief Film Critic of /Film as well as an editor. He writes the daily /Film newsletter.
Chris Pine doesn't quite get the recognition he deserves. He excels at action, comedy, drama, and he can sing too. These are Pine's 12 best movies, ranked.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Met His Harshest Critic: His Peloton Instructor
- Visionary Director
Director Christopher Nolan doesn't read reviews of his movies, but they're hard to avoid when your Peloton instructor starts firing them at you mid-workout.
Oppenheimer made a billion dollars at the box office. That's something that Christopher Nolan says AI couldn't have predicted.
Christopher Nolan has crafted "Oppenheimer" with his usual attention to detail, but like all biopics, some things have to be compressed, overlooked, or altered.
Cillian Murphy has made a name for himself over the past 25-plus years, starring in blockbusters and indie productions. Here, we rank 21 of his movies.
Over the next 30 years, Williams maintained a steady acting schedule in film and especially TV. She also co-produced "Father of the Bride" in 1991 and, four years later, "Father of the Bride, Part II." She also raised two children with her husband Bill Hudson, whom she divorced in 2000.
There's a lot to unpack in Coraline, Henry Selick's macabre coming-of-age story, especially when it comes to its more-or-less happy ending.
Dale Gribble is set to return for Hulu's revival of "King of the Hill," and Hardwick had recently recorded dialogue for some episodes. In August of 2023, Hardwick died in his Austin, Texas home. He was 64.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Terrifier 2 Director
Director Damien Leone incorporated aspects of his real life into his horror hit, Terrifier 2.
Terrifier 2 director Damien Leone tells us the reason Terrifier 3 will be able to arrive quicker than the previous films in the franchise.
Ron Cephas Jones had some 30 years' experience across TV and film. The actor was best known for his performance as William Hill in the NBC drama "This Is Us," which earned Jones a Screen Actors Guild award and two Emmys for outstanding guest actor. Jones was also active on stage and earned a Tony nomination in 2022 for his work in the ex-con drama "Clyde's."
"My whole life has been the stage," Jones told The New York Times. "The idea of not performing again seemed worse to me than death."
Jones died on August 19, aged 66. The actor's manager Dan Spilo announced that Jones had been suffering from a "long-standing pulmonary issue" (via People). Sterling K. Brown, who played Randall Pearson, the son of Jones' character, on "This Is Us," wrote on Instagram, "One of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen is no longer with us ... the world is a little less bright."
Job Titles:
- Writer With Bylines at the Washington Post
Danielle is an experienced writer with bylines at The Washington Post, Fandom, Bustle, CNN, Paste Magazine, and more. She started her journey as a published writer on CHUD.com reviewing straight-to-DVD horror movies before starting her first column, examining controversial cinema and our reactions to it. She has a passion for shocking entertainment, discussions about mental health, and practical gore effects.
Danny DeVito has a certain ritual he performs whenever he needs to play Frank on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Danny DeVito has been on board for almost everything on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but he struggled when it came to a nipple-rubbing gag.
Danny Elfman was originally supposed to voice Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas, but when that changed, he wasn't very happy.
Job Titles:
- Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer
The season 1 finale of Ahsoka sets the stage for more Star Wars stories and seems to explore creator Dave Filoni's relationship with Star Wars.
Ahsoka season 2 is officially in the works, with newly-minted Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni once again overseeing things.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Hellraiser Director
Prolific horror director David Bruckner is set to tackle a classic movie monster - The Blob.
David Krumholtz, stalwart of the screen and stage, plays Isidor Rabi in "Oppenheimer," one of the famed physicist's closest friends and moral compass. He provides a contrast with Oppenheimer, both in terms of how each scientist connects to his Jewish identity, and what they consider to be the ethical responsibilities of scientists in the midst of war. Krumholtz can claim quite an acting career, even if he isn't necessarily a household name. He starred in the long-running CBS procedural "Numbers" before appearing in the Coen Brothers' "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and headlining a Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's "Leopoldstadt." But although most people recognize him for his adult performances, he's been acting in Hollywood for decades, appearing as oddball camper Joel Glicker in "Addams Family Values" and as the beleaguered elf Bernard in "The Santa Clause" (and a couple of its follow-ups). He transitioned into work as a teen actor with a supporting role in "10 Things I Hate About You," and went on to perform consistently into adulthood before being cast in Nolan's "Oppenheimer."
Actor David Soul, best known for playing Detective Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson in the 1970s cop show Starsky & Hutch, has died at the age of 80
When looking for someone to play highly respected American physicist Seth Neddermeyer in "Oppenheimer," it's hard to imagine that Christopher Nolan's immediate thought was to recruit Rodrick from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." But that's exactly what happened. Neddermeyer helps fill out the large ensemble cast at Los Alamos, and only eagle-eyed viewers will realize that he's played by former child actor Devon Bostick. Born into a Canadian family entrenched in the entertainment industry - his mother is a casting director, while his father acts - Bostick landed his first credit at the age of seven in "Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science." He worked continuously throughout his teen years, and went on to star in "Saw VI" and the first three films in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" franchise, where he played the main character's older brother. Since then, he's successfully transitioned into a career as an adult actor, appearing in "Okja," "The 100," "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and "FUBAR."
Job Titles:
- Maya Erskine Lead Prime Video 's Mr. and Mrs. Smith Show, Which Makes a Smart Conceptual Change from the 2005 Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie Film
Kristoffer Borgli isn't online, but somehow, Dream Scenario is the best movie yet about the perils of internet fame.
Drew Tinnin grew up in Austin, Texas and eventually moved to New York City where he pursued a career in radio and entertainment journalism. With nearly 15 years of experience, Drew has contributed to numerous print and digital publications, including Fangoria magazine, Dazed, and Dread Central. He has covered multiple film festivals including SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Fest, Sundance, Fantastic Fest and Chattanooga Film Festival. He has conducted interviews with some of the industry's leading talent, including Jane Fonda, Julianne Moore, James Marsden, Bruce Campbell, Robert Rodriguez, and John Waters. Drew Tinnin has been a horror fan his entire life and has become a staple in the horror community at large. His favorite films include Dario Argento's Phenomena, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, and B-movie classics like Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama.
Education
After attending North Texas University to pursue music, Drew graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Texas State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Double Minor in Art History and Religion.
Dwayne Johnson made a decision this week that could completely alter the trajectory of his career. Will Tom Cruise ever make a similar decision? (He should!)
Job Titles:
- Director
- Thanksgiving Director
Thanksgiving director Eli Roth talks to us about creating memorable, and 'slightly ridiculous' kill scenes for his new slasher movie.
/Film spoke with director Eli Roth, who adapted his Thanksgiving short into a full-length feature, about casting, the mixture of comedy and horror, and more.
Eli Roth is back, and the latest Thanksgiving trailer teases his holiday-themed slasher movie based on the fake trailer he made years ago.
Emerald Fennell wrote a 'reasonably demented' script for a Zatanna movie, but regime changes at Warner Bros. led to it being scrapped.
We spoke with Saltburn director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) about her provocative new film, including its audacious ending.
Since her teen years, Emma Dumont has enjoyed success not just as an actress, but also as a model and a dancer. These talents helped her land one of the biggest roles of her career, starring in the short-lived but generally well-liked ABC Family drama "Bunheads," about a group of young ballet students and their teacher (played by Broadway stalwart Sutton Foster). In "Oppenheimer," she shows up briefly as Jackie Oppenheimer, the girlfriend and later wife of Frank Oppenheimer (Robert's younger brother), whose links to the Communist Party only add to the troubles faced by Oppie in his government security hearing. Dumont made her Hollywood debut in 2009, when she was just 15 years old. She landed roles in two films that year: "True Adolescents," an indie dramedy starring Mark Duplass, and "Dear Lemon Lima," about a group of teenage girls attending a prep school in Alaska. Since then, she has steadily taken on higher-profile projects in both films and on television, including key roles in "Aquarius" and "The Gifted," as well as smaller turns in "Inherent Vice" and "Licorice Pizza."
Ethan Anderton (aka Bradford Oman) has been an entertainment reporter for nearly 15 years. An obsession with movies, TV, pop culture and toys prepared him for this job his entire life, and it has allowed him to provide insightful and informative commentary on everything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Saturday Night Live. Starting out as a freelance writer at FirstShowing.net led to a leadership role as the managing editor for several years. During his tenure writing about cinema, from massive blockbusters to little indies, Ethan also dabbled in TV coverage at ScreenRant, Collider, and GeekNation. In 2015, Ethan came aboard /Film and eventually became one of the Senior Editors after the site joined the Static Media family. You can hear Ethan appearing regularly on The /Film Daily Podcast, as well as hosting his own podcasts Go Flix Yourself and The Ten To One Podcast.
Education
Ethan earned a bachelor's degree in film and video studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and he also completed a teaching program for high school English education.
Job Titles:
- Director
- the Hunger Games Director
The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence is the latest filmmaker to circle Stephen King's The Long Walk, but could it actually happen?
A film adaptation of Stephen King's The Long Walk has been kicking around for a few years, and now Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence is attached to helm.
You may not know Frederic Forrest's name, but you'll know his face if you've seen anything in Francis Ford Coppola's oeuvre beyond "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II." Forrest's first collaboration with the great New Hollywood director was "The Conversation," in which he played Mark, a nondescript but ultimately vital character. Five years later, after a role in "The Missouri Breaks" with Marlon Brando and a slew of TV work, Forrest gave perhaps the most famous turn of his career as "Chef" in "Apocalypse Now." Tattooed and mustachioed, Forrest gave a loud, brash performance, especially in contrast to Michael Sheen's cynical Captain Willard. "We were creating a surreal, dreamlike war," Forrest told The New York Times. "Sometimes we would think we were losing our minds." Forrest's other credits include "The Rose," "One From The Heart," "Valley Girl," and the original series of "21 Jump Street." Frederic Forrest died on June 23. He was 86.
Director George Clooney and star Joel Edgerton tell us about their sports drama The Boys in the Boat, as well as Steven Soderbergh and Obi-Wan season 2.
Everyone who was anyone wanted to visit the set of M*A*S*H, including former president Gerald Ford.
Glenda Jackson had quite the résumé. The actress won two Academy Awards and two Emmy Awards in such films and TV shows as "Women in Love" and "Elizabeth R" before leaving the stage for the UK Parliament during the 1992 election. A Labour MP, Jackson represented the constituents of Hampstead and Kilburn for 15 years and proved herself a vocal critic of those on both sides of the political aisle. She cited Thatcher's legacy of "greed" and called Tony Blair's invasion of Iraq the "worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime" (via Guardian/Ham&High).
Jackson left office in 2015 and returned to acting on stage and screen, including a production of "Three Tall Women," for which she won a Tony Award that joined her Oscars and Emmys. In doing so, she achieved the rare Triple Crown of Acting. Jackson spent her last years with her son and family in Blackheath, where she died on June 15, aged 87.
Gregory Peck's filmography could go toe-to-toe against any other actor from the classic Hollywood era. Here are the 15 best Gregory Peck movies, ranked.
As the second son of famed Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, drama has always been in Gustaf Skarsgård's blood. Alongside several of his brothers (you may be familiar with Alexander and Bill), he has stepped out from his father's shadow and established himself as a talented performer in his own right. In "Oppenheimer," he assumes the role of Hans Bethe, a German-born physicist who toiled alongside Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, running the theoretical division of the program. Skarsgård began his acting career at the age of nine, making an appearance in a 1989 Swedish film called "Codename Coq Rouge," which starred his father as a Swedish secret agent trying to prevent a terrorist attack. He acted sporadically in films throughout the 1990s, although his career began in earnest in the 2000s, when he was in his early 20s. After working in his native Sweden for many years, he made the jump to Hollywood, earning key roles in "Vikings," "Westworld," and "Cursed."
Harry Belafonte made a generational impression as a singer, actor, and activist. Born in New York City on March 1, 1927, Belafonte spent much of his childhood in the Caribbean before returning to Harlem in 1940. He lived there in poverty with his mother Melvine and was exposed to the reality of race, segregation, and social justice (via CNN).
By the end of the decade, Belafonte owned Tony and an Emmy, and was the so-called "King of Calypso." He used this fame and wealth to affect change during the civil rights movement, risking both his career and even his life. In 1964, Belafonte and Sidney Poitier traveled through Mississippi on a fundraising mission when Ku Klux Klan members shot at them (via CNN).
Hugh Jackman is indelible as Wolverine in the X-Men films, but he almost lost the role to an equally famous A-lister peer.
Jack Black is joining Jason Momoa in the upcoming Minecraft movie, and he's taking a key role that fans of the video game will be very familiar with.
Job Titles:
- Film 's Senior News Editor
James Gunn casts his younger brother Sean Gunn as smarmy businessman Maxwell Lord in the new DCU, the role Pedro Pascal played in Wonder Woman 1984.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Aquaman Director
- Lost Kingdom Director
With several horror franchises under his belt, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director James Wan knows a thing or two about successful cinematic universes.
We spoke with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director James Wan about upping the ante with the new superhero sequel.
The first Aquaman movie was a massive hit, and that gave director James Wan free reign to go absolutely bonkers with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Read More
Jane Birkin remains known to a generation for the erotic song "Je t'aime ... moi non plus" with Serge Gainsbourg, her partner of 12 years. Radio stations across the world and even the Vatican banned the song, causing Gainsbourg to brand the Pope "our greatest PR man" (via Telegraph).
Birkin and Gainsbourg met during the production of "Slogan," a French satire released in 1969. Birkin had already made a countercultural impression in "Blowup" and "Kaleidoscope" - both directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni - and she maintained a busy career through the rest of her life in French and English-language productions such as "Catherine & Co.," "Death on the Nile," and "Evil Under the Sun."
Birkin had three daughters: Kate Barry, a photographer who died in 2013; Charlotte Gainsbourg, an actress; and Lou Doillon, a musician. Charlotte took her mother's acting baton, performing in a variety of films and TV, including several films by Lars Von Trier. Charlotte also directed the 2022 documentary, "Jane by Charlotte."
Jane Birkin died on July 16. She was 76.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Critics Choice Association
Jenna is a member of the Critics Choice Association for both film and television. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.
/Film spoke with Oppenheimer editor Jennifer Lame about her second collaboration with Christopher Nolan, building the film's relentless pacing, and much more.
Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch might have played one of the coolest-looking dudes in Star Wars, but the character's armor was anything but comfortable to wear.
Jeremy Smith is an entertainment writer with over two decades of experience that stretches back to the infancy of online journalism. He found his love for film criticism on Usenet forums in the mid-1990s, and quarreled his way into a staff position at Ain't It Cool News under the nom de plume "Mr. Beaks." Jeremy has previously written for film and pop culture websites like Collider, Yardbarker and Ain't It Cool News, and legacy media publications like Variety, New York and Cahiers du Cinéma. Additional credits include Vice, Fangoria, Thrillist, Polygon, Backstory Magazine, Birth.Movies.Death, CHUD, Creative Screenwriting, Endcrawl and DVD Journal.
Education
Jeremy earned a BFA in Theatre Arts & Drama from Ohio University. His scholastic achievements earned him an internship at the legendary Circle Repertory Theatre, where he continued his theatrical education under the supervision of Austin Pendleton and Milan Stitt.
In 1969, Jim Brown starred opposite Raquel Welch in "100 Rifles," a film notable for depicting the first interracial love scene in a major Hollywood production. The film served as a touchstone of Brown's new career as Hollywood's first African American action hero and he followed it with "Tick, Tick, Tick" and several other blaxploitation films, such as "Black Gunn" and "Slaughter." Before that, Brown gained fame as one of the greatest football players in the NFL for his eight-year run with the Cleveland Browns, setting numerous records, winning the 1964 NFL championship, and becoming a four-time NFL MVP (via USA Today). He retired from the sport at just 30 years old and, in 1967, as his Hollywood prospects shifted gear, organized and agitated for the civil rights movement, namely Muhammad Ali's opposition to the Vietnam War (via BBC). Brown went on to appear in some 30 films and lead numerous social causes, such as the Amer-I-Can program in the 1980s, which tackled gang violence and child poverty. However, Brown was also arrested six times for domestic violence and, in 1999, received a six-month jail term for misdemeanor vandalism. "Brown was not a good dude," wrote biographer Mike Freeman, "but he was a great man. Both of those things can be true." Jim Brown died at his Los Angeles home on May 18 at the age of 87.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Legendary Action Director
John Woo is known for his unique aesthetic, often consisting of an operatic style and guys shooting two guns. Here's what Silent Night does differently.
/Film spoke with Joel Kinnaman about being absolutely locked in for every take of the new action film Silent Night and working with action maestro John Woo.
We spoke with legendary action director John Woo about Silent Night, which marks his return to Hollywood and puts him back in action mode once again.
John Woo's Hollywood Films, Ranked (Including Silent Night)
John Woo came to Hollywood in the '90s, and now he's back again with Silent Night. But how would you rank his American films? Here's our ranking.
Johnny Hardwick voiced Dale Gribble in some 250 episodes of "King of the Hill" from 1997 to 2010. Animators based Gribble on Hardwick's appearance and they lent him the actor's fondness for smoking, too. "I ended up kind of basing his attitude on if he thought he was Jack Nicholson but he wasn't," Hardwick told the Austin Chronicle, "or if he just thought he was the coolest guy around, like Matthew McConaughey's character in 'Dazed and Confused.'"
Hardwick also served as writer, producer, and story editor on the show. In 1999, he shared the Emmy Award for outstanding animated program. In a 2019 interview, Hardwick said he loved the role because he didn't have to wear make-up, memorize lines, or deal with fame. "I did it the whole time and I was completely anonymous walking around and still am," he said. "That's meant so much to me."
Jon Favreau was game to join Marvel's What If...? so long as season 2 drew from a lesser-known comics storyline involving his character, Happy Hogan.
Job Titles:
- Chief Design Officer at Apple, Looked to the Stormtroopers from Star Wars While Designing Apple 's AirPods
Of all the actors who may have been a surprise to see turn up in "Oppenheimer," Josh Peck must top the list. He plays Kenneth Bainbridge, another physicist working on the Manhattan Project, and the person tasked with manning the big red button during the Trinity Test, prepared to abort the launch of the atomic bomb in the event of any potentially catastrophic issues. Peck's appearance in the film comes as a shock because, although he has continued to act into adulthood (most recently in the reboot of "iCarly," "How I Met Your Father," and a 2021 remake of "Turner & Hooch"), he is best known not for these projects, but for his work as a child comedian on Nickelodeon. He appeared on "The Amanda Show" with Amanda Bynes and Drake Bell, before he and Drake earned their own popular Nickelodeon sitcom, the imaginatively titled "Drake & Josh," which saw the two as a pair of comically mismatched stepbrothers. The show ran for four seasons and spun off two movies.
As Christopher Nolan cast Josh Zuckerman in "Oppenheimer," he was likely unaware of the fact that a small but very real segment of the audience knew him best for playing Young Dr. Evil in "Austin Powers in Goldmember." In Nolan's film, he has the role of Rossi Lomanitz, a promising young scientist who was removed from the Manhattan Project and drafted into the Army as a result of his ties to the Communist Party. Zuckerman launched his Hollywood career in 2000, at the age of 15, when he appeared in a film version of "Return to the Secret Garden." Throughout the 2000s, he starred in a made-for-TV film called "I Was a Teenage Faust," which takes the famous morality tale and sets it in a typical American high school, as well as "Feast," "Lions for Lambs," "Kyle XY," "Desperate Housewives," and "90210." More recently, he's been seen on the small screen, appearing on shows like "Fatal Attraction," "Exeter," and "School Spirits."
Job Titles:
- S Sadistic Rule When Writing for Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy
Samuel L. Jackson did not want to run when he played Nick Fury in The Avengers, but writer-director Joss Whedon had other plans.
Joss Whedon pulled on a ton of different sources of inspiration to create Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but B movies played a prominent role.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's whole premise was based on the lead character suffering - a fact that certainly wasn't lost on Joss Whedon himself.
Judy Garland was so much more than Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," and proved herself adept at comedy and drama, too. Here, we rank her 15 best movies.
It wasn't the first time Sands got in trouble. Years prior, in the 1990s, a storm battered the actor while hiking the Andes "We were all in a very bad way," he remembered. "Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky," Alas, Sands would not be so lucky on the trails of the Baldy Bowl, where his remains were found on June 25, more than five months since his disappearance. He was 65 (via BBC).
Kaitlyn Dever has officially been cast as Abby in The Last of Us season 2. She'll play arguably the most significant character in the entire season.
Job Titles:
- S Ideal Vision for Frasier 's Future Is Quite Ambitious
Frasier is one of the greatest TV series of all time, but execs were worried early on that Kelsey Grammer might not be able to carry a series.
The original post-Cheers plan for Kelsey Grammer didn't include Frasier Crane, but we're so glad that all changed.
Kelsey Grammer worked with an impressive cast on Fraiser. On of his co-stars, however, got on his nerves sometimes.
How much longer can the Frasier revival last? According to Kelsey Grammer, the answer is a pretty long time.
Kristoffer Borgli isn't online, but somehow, Dream Scenario is the best movie yet about the perils of internet fame.
Tall, clean-cut, and authoritative, Lance Reddick was best known for his performances as Cedric Daniels in "The Wire," Phillip Broyles in "Fringe," and Chief Irvin Irving in "Bosch." He also lent charisma to the character of Charon, the wry Kenyan concierge in the "John Wick" franchise. During a press tour for "John Wick: Chapter 4," Reddick chose not to attend the New York premiere. He died later that week, on March 17, at age 60. A Guardian report attributed his death to "natural causes," although TMZ obtained a death certificate citing ischemic heart disease and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. However, family representative James E. Hornstein disputed these claims as "not corroborated and is inconsistent with the facts known to the family" (via Los Angeles Times). Despite Reddick's often stern and aloof characters, Keanu Reeves remembered him as a "very beautiful person, a special artist ... his grace and dignity, his shining light of character was just something really special." Numerous others shared Reeves' assessment, including "The Wire" showrunner David Simon, who described Reddick as, "A consummate professional, a devoted collaborator, a lovely soul and a friend ... This is just gutting and way, way, way too soon."
Liam Hemsworth has appeared in everything from blockbuster franchises to indie dramas. Here are some of his best movies and TV shows to date.
Lucille Ball was a fan of Cheers pretty early on and even came close to playing Diane's mom on the classic sitcom.
Lucille Désirée Ball was firmly cognizant of just how strongly the masses identified her with her incorrigible onscreen counterpart, Lucille Esmeralda "Lucy" McGillicuddy Ricardo, from "I Love Lucy," having played the iconic trouble-maker across the series' 180 episodes in the 1950s. This was also the main factor that led to her passing on another classic sitcom, "Cheers," decades later.
Despite the show garnering near-catastrophic ratings when its first season premiered on NBC in September 1982 (by early 1980s standards, that is), those who caught "Cheers" right out the gate immediately recognized it was something special. Ball, it turns out, was among those who tuned in for that initial batch of episodes, which led to a conversation. As co-creator Les Charles recounted to The Hollywood Reporter in an article to mark the series finale's 25th anniversary in 2018:
"Lucille Ball had seen the show the first season and got in touch with us indirectly that she liked it and would consider coming on. We had the idea of Diane's mother. We met with Lucy at her house and had a long chat with her. She very wisely decided against it because she felt that 'Lucy' fans wouldn't want to see her as another character. There's something to that."
Job Titles:
- the Toxic Avenger Director
Mark Margolis enjoyed a career resurgence in recent years. Before his Emmy-nominated turn as Hector Salamanca, the notorious but aged drug baron in "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," Margolis made dozens of characterful appearances in everything from "Scarface" and "The Equalizer" to "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Requiem for a Dream," and "The Wrestler."
Born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1939, Margolis learned his trade in New York City and performed on and off-Broadway before his lengthy screen career started in the mid-1970s. Film and TV credits came steadily, but Margolis struggled to make ends meet. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor had to get a job in real estate six months after his memorable role in "Scarface."
Hector Salamanca gave Margolis a huge late-career opportunity and, even better, he said, the character was unable to speak. "I was delighted not to have to learn any lines," Margolis told Time, "I mean, I had to know what was going on, I had my cues, but the fact that I didn't have to master lines was great.
On October 28, Perry was found dead in a hot tub in his Pacific Palisades home, aged 54. The cause of death remains under investigation. In his memoir released just 11 months prior, Perry wrote, "It is very odd to live in a world where if you died, it would shock people but surprise no one."
Director Matthew Vaughn says that a studio executive prepared a fake X-Men: The Last Stand script to lure Halle Berry into signing on for the movie.
Job Titles:
- Progress Film - Verleih / Tristar Media / Getty
The character of Werner Heisenberg only pops up in one short scene in "Oppenheimer," but his presence looms large over the film as he's Oppenheimer's German counterpart, the scientist tasked with running Nazi Germany's atomic program. In this role is Matthias Schweighöfer, a popular actor who has appeared in a number of Hollywood projects ("The Swimmers," "Valkyrie," and "Army of the Dead," amongst others), alongside work in his native Germany. Born into a family of stage actors, Schweighöfer naturally took to performing, making his first appearance in a 1997 German film called "Changing Skins" when he was 16. This led to several other projects: He acted on television and in film throughout the rest of his teen years and into adulthood, and went on to win a handful of acting awards in Germany during his late teens and early 20s. In addition to acting, he has tried his hand at directing, beginning with "What a Man" in 2011, which he also wrote and produced.
Mia Goth plays her part to pitch perfection in both X and Pearl, but Ti West had to be sure the rest of the cast was on board with one provocative question.
While some of the other actors on this list are best known for their work as adults, Michael Angarano is probably equally well-remembered for his childhood performances. Angarano plays Robert Serber in "Oppenheimer," J. Robert Oppenheimer's colleague and close family friend. His role is not particularly large, but he features prominently in the sequences set during the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Many audiences will likely recognize the adult version of Angarano - he has appeared in several high-profile projects, including "Minx," "Dollface," and an Emmy-nominated turn as Nick Pearson in "This Is Us." But the work he did as a child actor is also impressive. He was featured as the younger version of William in "Almost Famous," the surprise son of Jack in "Will & Grace," and a superhero-in-training in "Sky High." Millennials especially will remember his face from many of the most popular films and television shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Michael Gambon had a long career in film and especially on stage, performing in works by William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, and Arthur Miller. The actor won three Olivier Awards before leaving the stage in 2015 because of poor memory. "It's a horrible thing to admit but I can't do it. It breaks my heart," Gambon told the Sunday Times Magazine.
Years prior, in 2010 and 2011, Gambon made his final appearances as Professor Albus Dumbledore in both parts of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Gambon inherited the character from the late Richard Harris, who originated the role in "The Sorcerer's Stone" and "Chamber of Secrets" before his death in October 2002. Dumbledore may have been Gambon's defining role for millions of Harry Potter fans, but the actor's screen career was teeming with fascinating characters, especially the tyrannical mob boss Albert Spica in "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover."
Gambon was also known for his dry, playful humor. He told Jeremy Clarkson of "Top Gear" that he hated interviews and explained how he would invent outlandish stories to test journalists' credulity, such as a past ballet career that ended after he fell off a stage and crashed through a kettle drum. Gambon seemed to enjoy his time on "Top Gear," though, and Clarkson even gave Gambon's name to a race track corner after the actor clipped it in spectacular fashion.
Gambon died on September 28, aged 82. He is survived by his wife Anne and three sons.
Michael Jackson needs little introduction. Widely hailed as the King of Pop, Jackson started in show business at a young age as a member of the Jackson 5, before becoming a solo artist. He achieved some success in the 1970s, but it was the 1980s that really turned him into a superstar; "Thriller" and "Bad" are two of the highest-selling albums of all time, packed with colossal hits. Jackson is most known for his work in music, but he also had a bit of an acting career. His first role was as the Scarecrow in the 1978 musical "The Wiz." He made a memorable cameo in "The Simpsons" as Leon Kompowsky, a mental patient who claimed he was Michael Jackson, and played Agent M in "Men in Black II."
Jackson's list of acting credits may be small compared to the others featured here, but he came close to getting a huge role back in the 1990s. During an interview on Popcorned Planet, Jackson's nephew Taj Jackson confirmed a rumor that the singer was a big fan of comic books and came close to purchasing Marvel Comics. But the story gets crazier: Jackson was particularly fond of Spider-Man, and even wanted to play him in a movie. The reasons why the deal failed are unclear, but it's still fun to imagine a film with a moonwalking, high-note-hitting web-slinger.
"You've seen him countless times," wrote film critic Philip French wrote for The Guardian about the actor Michael Lerner, "but what's his name again?" It was a problem that Lerner shared with many character actors - always appreciated but often forgotten. The Brooklynite lent his roguish charm to "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "The Road to Wellville," and "Elf." Perhaps his best known roles were gangster Arnold Rothstein in "Eight Men Out" and golden era movie mogul Jack Lipnick in "Barton Fink," which earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. To his credit, Lerner was unafraid to play deeply unflattering characters, even when it went against his managers' advice. This was especially true of his role as John Pressman in the violent Spanish horror film "Anguish," which Lerner recognized as a "repulsive character" but a "great role" (per The Hollywood Reporter). Lerner died on April 8, aged 81. His nephew Sam wrote in an Instagram post, "It's hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me ... He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy."
Let's put on our bicorne spoiler hats and look at the ending of Ridley Scott's historical epic Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby.
Oprah Winfrey is a veritable modern-day Renaissance woman. This cultural icon has conquered multiple industries, so it's no wonder she's referred to as the "Queen of All Media." She's most famous for her program "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which ran for 25 years. The extremely popular talk show covered a wide range of topics in interviews with many celebrities and high-profile figures, and featured segments like "Oprah's Book Club" and "Oprah's Favorite Things." Outside of running her enormous television empire, she's also an accomplished actress; she garnered an Oscar nomination for her performance as Sofia in Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple," and was seen in "Native Son," "Beloved," "The Butler," and "A Wrinkle in Time."
Considering how much Oprah has accomplished throughout her career and how much of a force she's become, it's hard to imagine anyone turning her down for a movie role. However, "Doubt" writer and director John Patrick Shanley appears to be one of the few people in history to reject her. In a video from street journalist Adam Glyn, Oprah is asked if there's a film she wished she could've been in, and she said, "I wanted to be in 'Doubt.' I mean, it's fantastic because Viola [Davis] got it - it's wonderful. But the director told me 'no' because it wasn't long enough to lose 'the Oprah factor.'"
Known for his fiery Italian-American shtick, comedian Pat Cooper was called the "Comedian of Outrage" over his 60-year career on stage and on camera. He was best known as a fixture of the standup and late night talk show circuits, as well as notable appearances on shows like "Seinfeld" and in movies like "Analyze This" and "Analyze That." Cooper was acquainted with some of the biggest stars of his time - and he fell out with more than a few of them, too. For instance, Frank Sinatra cut ties with him over a joke about an upside-down St. Anthony statue, and in the early 1970s, Cooper swore never to return to "The Tonight Show" after Johnny Carson accidentally urinated on him in a nightclub bathroom. Cooper was also too proud to accept Martin Scorsese's cameo offer in "Casino." Sadly, the comedian's combative personality extended to his family. "He hated us with every fiber of his being," his son Michael wrote in his book "Dear Pat Cooper," published in 2009. "What did any of us do to make my father keep away from the whole family and go find himself a new one?" In summarizing his place in the culture, Cooper told the New York Observer, "I'm a semi name ... I am not a Rodney Dangerfield. I am not a Bob Hope. I am a consistent performer. I'm packing rooms. But I'm happier than Rodney will ever be." Pat Cooper died on June 6 in Las Vegas. He was 93.
After making two universally celebrated Paddington movies, director Paul King decided it was time to set his sights on a different classic character with Wonka.
Paul Reubens was 70 when he succumbed to cancer on July 30.
Yeah. Well, Penny Benjamin is a character that we re-introduced in this film. Obviously, she was mentioned in the first film, but now we get to finally meet her. She's the [daughter] of a Navy Admiral. And we like the idea that she brings Maverick into her world for a scene and shows him what she can do. So I love that scene. The idea that kind of came from one of the Naval advisors that I talked to early on.
This image kickstarted a career that lasted decades but Welch felt uneasy about her international sex appeal. "I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one ...," she said. "The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous and fortunate misunderstanding" (via BBC).
Rian Johnson had many influences when he wrote and directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi. One of them was Hideo Gosha's Three Outlaw Samurai.
Richard Roundtree will always be synonymous with John Shaft, the cool cat private investigator in "Shaft," perhaps the best known entry in the blaxploitation genre of the early 1970s. Roundtree's career did not end there, though. After "Shaft's Big Score!" in 1972 and "Shaft in Africa" in 1973, Roundtree performed in dozens of films and TV shows, including "Man Friday," "Inchon," "Roots," "Desperate Housewives," and "Being Mary Jane."
Roundtree died in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer on October 24, aged 81. He is survived by his son James and four daughters Nicole, Tayler, Morgan and Kelli. Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in two "Shaft" reboots in 2000 and 2019, wrote on Instagram, "Richard Roundtree, The Prototype, The Best To Ever Do It!! SHAFT, as we know it is & will always be His Creation!! ... His passing leaves a deep hole not only in my heart, but I'm sure a lotta y'all's, too."
Producer Rick McCallum recalled George Lucas wasn't interested in re-releasing Star Wars in theaters, but a literal truck full of letters changed his mind
Job Titles:
- Director of the Boogeyman and Host
- the Boogeyman Director
We sat down with Rob Savage, director of The Boogeyman and Host, to talk about making horror movies and when it's right to not go for the scare.
Robert Blake got his start as a child actor in MGM comedies of the late 1930s, but it took until 1967 for Blake, then 33, to land one of his most enduring roles. He starred as Perry Smith in "In Cold Blood," which adapted Truman Capote's nonfiction novel to critical acclaim and four Oscar nominations. Blake's relative anonymity proved vital to embodying Smith, a drifter criminal sentenced to death for the Clutter family murders (the role almost went to Paul Newman, per Roger Ebert).
In 2001, Blake's second wife Bonny Lee Bakley was shot dead in a car outside Vitello's, an Italian restaurant in Studio City. Bakley was waiting for Blake, who had returned to fetch a handgun he'd left at their table. Police confirmed that this weapon had not been used in the killing, but charged Blake with his wife's murder the following year, based in part on a former stuntman's testimony that Blake had approached him to kill his wife. A jury acquitted Blake in 2005 (via Deadline).
One of the most famous cast members of "Oppenheimer," Robert Downey Jr. plays incredibly against type as Lewis Strauss, shedding his affable Marvel stardom to portray a vindictive politician determined to bring down J. Robert Oppenheimer for a litany of perceived offenses. His performance ranks among the film's most acclaimed, and is seemingly poised to garner significant attention come awards season. And while the majority of audience members are familiar with Downey Jr.'s past output, few are likely aware that his roots in Hollywood stretch all the way back to his childhood.
Although Downey Jr. made a name for himself as a young adult actor in the mid-to-late 1980s, with performances in films like "Less Than Zero" and "Johnny Be Good," his career began when he was just a little boy making sporadic appearances in films directed by his father, Robert Downey Sr. His on-screen debut came in 1970 when, at just five years old, he essayed the role of Puppy in a quirky, experimental movie called "Pound."
Margia Dean was born Marguerite Louise Skliris on April 7, 1922, and she took to performing at an early age. After scaling the beauty pageant system in the late 1930s (she placed second at the 1939 Miss America), Dean became a fixture of mid-century B-movies, appearing in dozens of westerns, dramas, and science fiction films through the '40s, '50s, and '60s (via Hollywood Reporter).
She'd often pack in at least half a dozen film credits in a single year, many of them for producer Robert L. Lippert, causing her to be known as "The Queen of Lippert." Some of her best-known films include "The Quatermass Xperiment" and "Ambush at Cimarron Pass," in which Dean received billing above co-star Clint Eastwood.
Her last film, "Moro Witch Doctor," opened in 1964. The following year, she married Felipe Alvarez, a Spanish architect and singer, and channeled her efforts into real estate and small businesses, including a dress store and a coffee shop. On June 23, Dean died at home in Rancho Cucamonga, California. She was 101.
Robert Redford is a bonafide Hollywood legend, both in front of the camera and behind it. He started his career in the early 1960s, appearing in the TV shows "Maverick," "Perry Mason," "The Twilight Zone," and others. Redford's breakout role was the co-lead in 1969's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," starring alongside Paul Newman. From then on, his place in cinema history was secure with major roles in the beloved films "The Sting," "The Way We Were," "Three Days of the Condor," and "All the President's Men." The actor starred in many other acclaimed films throughout the rest of his career, but 1980 saw him establish himself as a helmsman with the film "Ordinary People," which won four Oscars, including one for Redford's directing.
Redford has always been known for his leading-man charm, which has undoubtedly helped him score various top roles. However, his charisma did prevent him from getting one iconic part, that of Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate." Director Mike Nichols told Vanity Fair that the up-and-coming actor was interested in the movie and even met with him to discuss it. But Nichols thought that he was too much of a stud to play a dud: "I said, 'You can't play it. You can never play a loser.' And Redford said, 'What do you mean? Of course I can play a loser.' And I said, 'Okay, have you ever struck out with a girl?' and he said, 'What do you mean?' And he wasn't joking."
Russell Crowe had stunt doubles on Gladiator, but one scene had him up close and personal with danger.
Actor Ryan O'Neal, best known for his roles in Love Story, Paper Moon, and Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, has died at the age of 82.
Job Titles:
- Director of Drive My Car, Returns With Evil Does Not Exist, a Modern Eco - Cautionary Tale. Read Our NYFF Review Right Here.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the director of Drive My Car, returns with Evil Does Not Exist, a modern eco-cautionary tale. Read our NYFF review right here.
Salma Hayek has starred in over eighty film projects. Here, we rank her 12 best roles from worst to best.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget director Sam Fell is 'in awe' of the original film, but he didn't want to just tell the same story again. Read More
Scarlett Johansson was quite worried about fitting into Black Widow's wardrobe, especially based on her appearance in comics, but she just did the work.
Scott Grimes might not be the biggest star in "Oppenheimer," but he's put together a prolific career as one of those character actors whose face you recognize but whose name you can never seem to remember. His role in the film is fairly small; he turns up as a council member during the Oppenheimer security hearing. It's difficult to guess where fans might know Grimes from, and that's because he's appeared in so many different popular films and television series. He voices Steve Smith on "American Dad," for one. He also starred in Seth MacFarlane's "The Orville," enjoyed a 112-episode run on "ER," and featured prominently in the popular teen drama "Party of Five." His career began in 1984, when at the age of 13, he was cast in "A Doctor's Story." Just two years later, he landed a lead role in the horror comedy "Critters," which has since developed a cult following and spawned four sequels, although Grimes only returned for the first.
The actress has had her share of roles in big movies, but one that she missed out on was 1989's "Batman." Young confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that she had landed the role of Vicky Vale in the film, but she broke her arm during pre-production and was replaced by Kim Basinger. Of course, she still tried to claw her way into a future "Batman" film. When it was announced that Tim Burton was looking for an actress to play Catwoman in "Batman Returns," Young pounced on the opportunity by dressing up as the feline femme fatale and arrived at the Warner Bros. lot unannounced. A bold move, but it didn't leave a good impression on anyone, and she was never approached about the part.
Seth MacFarlane is bringing his raunchy teddy bear Ted to Peacock with a prequel series focusing on his experiences with his buddy John in high school.
Job Titles:
- Superstar Television Producer
Superstar television producer Shonda Rhimes is the mind behind the political thriller series "Scandal," which Oh was eager to join. More specifically, she wanted to play Olivia Pope, a part that went to Kerry Washington. In a Variety "Actors on Actors" video, Oh told Washington, "I remember going to Shonda, and it's like, 'How could I do this? 'What is this script? Could I do this too?' She goes, 'No, you've got to play Cristina Yang!'" Still, Oh doesn't have any misgivings about missing the role, and even told Washington she was glad it went to her.
Job Titles:
- Did Some Dark Research to Prepare for His Star Trek
Patrick Stewart did some intense research for one of The Next Generation's most memorable episodes. His work made it one of Star Trek: TNG's best.
Sir Patrick Stewart is so much more than Captain Jean-Luc Picard. We rank 12 of the actor's best roles outside of the "Star Trek" universe.
Suzanne Somers had cameos in "Bullitt," "American Graffiti," and "Magnum Force" before winning the role of Christmas "Chrissy" Snow on the ABC sitcom "Three's Company." Somers' blonde bombshell shtick was a hit with audiences, but ABC axed her part after the fifth season following a pay dispute, which likely damaged her industry reputation.
Consequently, Somers moved to Las Vegas and held two residencies over some five years. The actress returned to TV in the late 1980s with "She's the Sheriff" and then "Step by Step" in 1991, which ran for seven seasons and became the second big success of Somers' acting career. She also joined the mid-'90s infomercial boom, promoting an exercise gadget called the "ThighMaster," which sold so incredibly well that it netted Somers around $300 million.
Somers' ThighMaster campaigns segued into a wider career in health and fitness that included over a dozen books and outspoken support for bioidentical hormones, alternative medicine, and other controversial issues, causing the Los Angeles Times to describe Somers as a pioneer of "celebrity medical misinformation."
On October 15, just one day before her 77th birthday, Somers died from "breast cancer with metastasis to the brain," according to her death certificate. (via Blast). The actress had skin cancer in her 30s and breast cancer in her 50s. "Every time that little f***** pops up, I continue to bat it back," Somers told Entertainment Tonight. "I do my best not to let this insidious disease control me."
Unable to film at the real Trinity test site, Hayslip searched tirelessly to find a nearby piece of land where a 100-foot steel tower could be built, where the bomb would drop from, and somewhere that could accommodate building a military base camp from the ground up. Viewing stations where the scientists could watch their awesome creation from a safe distance would also have to be constructed. Additionally, they had to make sure that there would be enough space to set off a number of large explosions without causing concern.
Finally, Hayslip and his scouting team came across 70 acres of private land at El Paisano Ranch, about 10 miles from a town called Belen, New Mexico. After acquiescing to the demands of the owner - a cattle rancher concerned about stressing out his herd during calving season - Hayslip and Nolan had found their Trinity.
Oppenheimer dreamed that the use of the atomic bomb would end all war. He hoped that the destruction would become a deterrent for humanity's future. The irony that the original Trinity test site is still being used today for missile testing by the U.S. military should not go unnoticed.
Ti West is a film director who has made several different films. While some of West's movies don't make much of an impression, others are truly remarkable.
Tina Belcher is the ultimate awkward pre-teen. Despite her foibles, her big heart and her love for her family always shine through. These are her best moments.
In the 1990s, Tom Sizemore collaborated with big filmmakers on such hot films as Tony Scott's "True Romance," Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers," Michael Mann's "Heat," and Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan." This exposure landed the actor his first leading role in "The Relic," a horror-thriller from 1997, and further roles in "Bringing Out the Dead," "Black Hawk Down," and other notable releases. Sizemore's career destabilized through the 2000s, the result of a publicized string of legal cases, namely a 2003 conviction for domestic violence and criminal threats against his former partner, Heidi Fleiss, the so-called "Hollywood Madam" (via Guardian/Observer). Drugs afflicted Sizemore too, leading to numerous arrests and convictions, including a 16-month jail sentence for methamphetamine possession. On February 18, Sizemore collapsed in his Los Angeles home and was taken to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. Sadly, doctors recommended an "end-of-life decision," and on March 3, Sizemore died with his brother Paul and twin sons Jagger and Jayden by his side. He was 61.
Job Titles:
- Actor Known for the Full Monty and Batman Begins, Is Dead at 75
Oscar-nominated British actor Tom Wilkinson, who recently reprised his role as Gerald Cooper for The Full Monty TV series, has died at 75.
On June 12, Williams rode his motorcycle along Route 30 in Vermont and crashed when a motorist drove into his path. A witness described the actor as "verbal," but Williams was pronounced dead upon arrival at Albany Medical Center (via NBC New York). He was 71.
Director Trần Anh Hùn's fantastic French drama The Taste of Things has instantly catapulted into the pantheon of the all-time best food movies.
"Two-Lane Blacktop" has earned some high praise over the last 50 years. Richard Linklater labeled it the "purest American road movie," adding that it had "the most purely cinematic ending in film history." Seven critics named it among their 10 favorite films in the 2012 Sight and Sound poll. However, with just 13,000 user votes on IMDb, it seems that "Two-Lane Blacktop" remains somewhat on the periphery of 1970s cinema. It also stars Warren Oates, which is reason enough to consider it an underrated '70s cult film. Monte Hellman's film was a product of "Easy Rider," the iconic road movie that shook up Hollywood in 1969. Far from being a rip-off, "Two-Lane Blacktop" is a classic of the existential road movie genre. In fact, it may be the best. It has both the ethereal landscapes of "Zabriskie Point" and the roaring car-play of "Vanishing Point," but what sets it apart is the meaningful characters who represent what it feels like to be adrift in search of something.
There is barely a flaw of note in "10 Rillington Place," a darkly brilliant account of British serial killer John Christie, who killed at least six women before his apprehension in 1953. Christie is played by Richard Attenborough, the Oscar-winning director of "Gandhi" and brother of naturalist David Attenborough. Christie was a disturbed, conniving man and Attenborough embodies the killer's wily creepiness, delivering a performance that's truly skin-crawling.
Wes Craven is responsible for some of the most iconic horror movies of all time. Here, we're ranking 8 of his best movies.
One of 2023's very best films is Eileen, a period drama starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie. /Film spoke with that movie's director, William Oldroyd.
Adapted from the novel "Ripley's Game" by director Wim Wenders, "The American Friend" concerns the dark, nihilistic freedom that may come with a terminal disease. Set in Hamburg, Germany, it is a film rich in ambiance and intrigue, both in its slow-burn energy and the captivating performances from Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz. Jonathan Zimmermann (Ganz) is a German picture framer who believes that his leukemia is catching up with him, so what does he have to lose? This is Zimmermann's reasoning when he accepts a lucrative offer to shoot a French gangster, the enemy of Raoul Minot (Gérard Blain) and his associate Tom Ripley (Hopper), an American art forger.
Initially, relations between Ripley and Zimmerman are frosty, but the latter's health anxiety loosens his dim judgment of the American (whose hand he once refused to shake) owing to the forger's corrupt reputation. Soon, the men earn each other's respect as they break laws and break bones, descending ever further into serious criminality across France and Germany. Yet there is a crucial dramatic irony here, as Zimmerman is not aware of Ripley's knowledge of his "leukemia." "The American Friend" stays firmly within "great film" territory for some 90 minutes of its two-hour running time. The camerawork is artful, the performances are charismatic, and there are some terrific set pieces, especially a daring mission on a cross-country train. It compromises its force in the messy final act, but "The American Friend" remains an underrated gem.
Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos loves a weird dance sequence, so we're looking at some of his most memorable.
Zoë Kravitz may have been born to famous parents - rock star Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet - but she's made a name for herself in numerous fields. Like her father, she's an established singer with two albums, two EPs, and multiple singles to her credit. As a model, Kravitz has appeared in advertising campaigns for such prominent brands as Tiffany & Co., Balenciaga, Coach New York, and Calvin Klein, among others. However, she's become even more famous for her film career. Since her silver screen debut in the 2007 romantic comedy "No Reservations," Kravitz was seen in various TV and film projects like "Californication," "X-Men: First Class," the "Divergent" series, and "Mad Max: Fury Road." Her biggest role was Selina Kyle aka Catwoman in 2022's "The Batman."
While Kravitz knocked it out of the park as the famous DC Comics antiheroine, she actually tried to play the character years earlier in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises." Unfortunately, the actress was denied a chance to try out for the part because she was considered too "urban." Kravitz elaborated on this frustrating reason in The Guardian, saying, "Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn't able to read because of the color of my skin, and the word 'urban' being thrown around like that, that was what was really hard about that moment." Luckily, Kravitz has since proven her doubters wrong.