Mike Nichols Made His Movie Directorial Debut with ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ — and Got Fired
Everyone involved with the film adaptation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” had a lot riding on its success. For star Elizabeth Taylor, this was perhaps her first chance to prove that she could act (certainly the middle-aged Martha was the most demanding role she had ever had). For first-time producer Ernest Lehman, the movie could make or break him as he moved away from writing classics like “North by Northwest” and “Sweet Smell of Success.” And for director Mike Nichols, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” his feature film directorial debut, would either burnish his growing reputation as a boy genius after several smash Broadway hits or prove that he was out of his depth.
The impetus to play things safe must have been strong, and yet none of the film’s major players shied away from choosing the riskier paths. Filming in black-and-white in 1966 was not the indicator of...
The impetus to play things safe must have been strong, and yet none of the film’s major players shied away from choosing the riskier paths. Filming in black-and-white in 1966 was not the indicator of...
- 2/13/2024
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Paul Walker could have been cast as Clark Kent, the Man of Steel. The late actor’s manager, Matt Luber, and stunt double, Oakley Lehman, revealed in the 2018 documentary I Am Paul Walker that the Fast & Furious star walked away from a multi-million dollar deal.
Luber said in the doc, which recently aired on The CW, that Walker “was screen testing for Superman,” adding, “I think it was a $10 million deal, and he was the frontrunner.”
Lehman, who was also Walker’s childhood friend, said the actor “was up for it” and “knew he was thinking about doing it.”
“I knew he did not want to do three or four Superman [films] and be Superman for the rest of his life,” Lehman continued.
According to Luber, Walker was auditioning for the superhero role and donning the Superman costume when the actor decided it was not for him.
“‘I’ve got an ‘S’ on,...
Luber said in the doc, which recently aired on The CW, that Walker “was screen testing for Superman,” adding, “I think it was a $10 million deal, and he was the frontrunner.”
Lehman, who was also Walker’s childhood friend, said the actor “was up for it” and “knew he was thinking about doing it.”
“I knew he did not want to do three or four Superman [films] and be Superman for the rest of his life,” Lehman continued.
According to Luber, Walker was auditioning for the superhero role and donning the Superman costume when the actor decided it was not for him.
“‘I’ve got an ‘S’ on,...
- 1/15/2024
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s not just your imagination — Hollywood tentpoles are getting longer.
Whether it’s awards contenders like the three-and-a-half-hour “Killers of the Flower Moon” (206 minutes) or popcorn flicks like the upcoming nearly three-hour “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (158 minutes), movies in 2023 are testing the bladders of audiences and the patience of theater owners.
While journalists continue to debate the surge of longer-than-expected movies, Hollywood insiders and a majority of paying moviegoers see them as more of an annoyance than a problem, a recent poll shows. Theaters would generally prefer every major movie to come in at under two hours. And many audiences would appreciate an intermission. But if the movie works, the runtime is merely trivia.
Of the 10 longest movies in 2022, eight were more than two-and-a-half hours long, and two were over three hours. In 2023, seven films so far are 150 minutes or more, with two more...
Whether it’s awards contenders like the three-and-a-half-hour “Killers of the Flower Moon” (206 minutes) or popcorn flicks like the upcoming nearly three-hour “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (158 minutes), movies in 2023 are testing the bladders of audiences and the patience of theater owners.
While journalists continue to debate the surge of longer-than-expected movies, Hollywood insiders and a majority of paying moviegoers see them as more of an annoyance than a problem, a recent poll shows. Theaters would generally prefer every major movie to come in at under two hours. And many audiences would appreciate an intermission. But if the movie works, the runtime is merely trivia.
Of the 10 longest movies in 2022, eight were more than two-and-a-half hours long, and two were over three hours. In 2023, seven films so far are 150 minutes or more, with two more...
- 11/8/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
The History® Channel brings history-shaping presidential legacies to life when The Presidential Legacy Collection: Theodore Roosevelt & Fdr arrives on DVD October 17 from Lionsgate. Executive producer and esteemed author Doris Kearns Goodwin brings her astute and thorough knowledge of the lives of two epochal presidents to bear on these acclaimed miniseries, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper. Starring Rufus Jones (TV’s “W1A”) as Theodore Roosevelt in both series, with Christian McKay portraying Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Alice Bounsall (The Lehman Trilogy) as Eleanor Roosevelt in the “Fdr” miniseries, The Presidential Legacy Collection: Theodore Roosevelt & Fdr will be available for the suggested retail prices of $14.98 for DVD.
Official Synopsis
Executive produced by world-renowned historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin along with Leonardo DiCaprio (the Theodore Roosevelt series) and Bradley Cooper (the Franklin Delano Roosevelt series), these acclaimed History® Channel miniseries explore the era-defining, indelible impact of two of America’s most iconic presidents.
Official Synopsis
Executive produced by world-renowned historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin along with Leonardo DiCaprio (the Theodore Roosevelt series) and Bradley Cooper (the Franklin Delano Roosevelt series), these acclaimed History® Channel miniseries explore the era-defining, indelible impact of two of America’s most iconic presidents.
- 9/10/2023
- by Kristyn Clarke
- Age of the Nerd
It took more than half a decade to get Nimona to the screen in all its pink, punk rock glory, but it finally happened in June thanks to a group of creatives who wouldn’t quit and a few mix tapes.
“We love music, so when we were starting this story process, we started making each other mixtapes about what we love,” director Nick Bruno tells The Hollywood Reporter about how he and fellow director Troy Quane geared up for the Netflix film’s soundtrack. “We love the idea that this whole soundtrack is female-led. It’s punk and big energy and stuff that you want to dance to, and you want to ride a rhino to. It’s multi-generational, and a lot of that is because of Kier [Lehman], our music supervisor.”
For Quane, Nimona‘s composer Christophe Beck “is nothing short of genius,” producing a score for them film so stirring,...
“We love music, so when we were starting this story process, we started making each other mixtapes about what we love,” director Nick Bruno tells The Hollywood Reporter about how he and fellow director Troy Quane geared up for the Netflix film’s soundtrack. “We love the idea that this whole soundtrack is female-led. It’s punk and big energy and stuff that you want to dance to, and you want to ride a rhino to. It’s multi-generational, and a lot of that is because of Kier [Lehman], our music supervisor.”
For Quane, Nimona‘s composer Christophe Beck “is nothing short of genius,” producing a score for them film so stirring,...
- 7/9/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An actor doesn't have to like a script to perform it. As detailed by Turner Classic Movies, while shooting "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock used this to the picture's advantage. Both he and screenwriter Ernest Lehman had Cary Grant as their first choice for the film's lead Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad man mistaken for the spy George Kaplan. Roger stumbles his way into heroism, ultimately thwarting a Soviet spy ring run by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). Only someone as simultaneously dashing and comic as Grant could correctly pull off the part.
Hitchcock and Lehman obviously got their wish, but Grant didn't have confidence in the project they did. During production, Grant vented to Hitchcock, "It's a terrible script. We've already done a third of the picture and I still can't make head or tail of it." Per TCM, Hitchcock was "amused" by this comment; Grant was confused by...
Hitchcock and Lehman obviously got their wish, but Grant didn't have confidence in the project they did. During production, Grant vented to Hitchcock, "It's a terrible script. We've already done a third of the picture and I still can't make head or tail of it." Per TCM, Hitchcock was "amused" by this comment; Grant was confused by...
- 2/26/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
GMA 3 hosts T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach caused quite a stir in November when they were spotted looking cozy together in several photos.
Since news of their scandalous months-long affair broke, Holmes filed for divorce from his wife of 13 years, Marilee Feibig.
The estranged couple shares a daughter, Sabine.
On January 4, Feibig finally spoke out about the messy situation via her attorney, Stephanie Lehman.
“During the holiday season and in light of the challenging times, Marilee’s sole focus has remained on the overall best interests of her 9-year-old daughter,” Lehman wrote in a statement. “To that end, T.J.’s attorney and I have been working together to move their divorce forward privately, expeditiously and as amicably as possible.”
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
The statement continued, “Notwithstanding, we continue to be disappointed by T.J.’s lack of discretion, respect and sensitivity toward Marilee and the parties’ daughter.
Since news of their scandalous months-long affair broke, Holmes filed for divorce from his wife of 13 years, Marilee Feibig.
The estranged couple shares a daughter, Sabine.
On January 4, Feibig finally spoke out about the messy situation via her attorney, Stephanie Lehman.
“During the holiday season and in light of the challenging times, Marilee’s sole focus has remained on the overall best interests of her 9-year-old daughter,” Lehman wrote in a statement. “To that end, T.J.’s attorney and I have been working together to move their divorce forward privately, expeditiously and as amicably as possible.”
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
The statement continued, “Notwithstanding, we continue to be disappointed by T.J.’s lack of discretion, respect and sensitivity toward Marilee and the parties’ daughter.
- 1/5/2023
- by Ilana Frost
- Uinterview
T.J. Holmes wife is focused on their child.
Speaking with The Daily Mail, the divorce lawyer of the “GMA3” host’s estranged wife Marilee Fiebig addressed the ongoing scandal surrounding Holmes and his affair with co-host Amy Robach.
Read More: Sources Allege T.J. Holmes Had Multiple Affairs With ‘GMA’ Staffers
“During the holiday season and in light of the challenging times, Marilee’s sole focus has remained on the overall best interest of her 9-year-old daughter,” attorney Stephanie Lehman said.
“To that end T.J.’s lawyer and I have been working together to move their divorce forward privately, expeditiously and as amicably as possible,” she added.
Both Holmes and Robach are currently suspended from the show while producers and the studio decide on next steps.
“Notwithstanding, we continue to be disappointed by T.J’s lack of discretion, respect and sensitivity toward Marilee and the party’s daughter,...
Speaking with The Daily Mail, the divorce lawyer of the “GMA3” host’s estranged wife Marilee Fiebig addressed the ongoing scandal surrounding Holmes and his affair with co-host Amy Robach.
Read More: Sources Allege T.J. Holmes Had Multiple Affairs With ‘GMA’ Staffers
“During the holiday season and in light of the challenging times, Marilee’s sole focus has remained on the overall best interest of her 9-year-old daughter,” attorney Stephanie Lehman said.
“To that end T.J.’s lawyer and I have been working together to move their divorce forward privately, expeditiously and as amicably as possible,” she added.
Both Holmes and Robach are currently suspended from the show while producers and the studio decide on next steps.
“Notwithstanding, we continue to be disappointed by T.J’s lack of discretion, respect and sensitivity toward Marilee and the party’s daughter,...
- 1/4/2023
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
Italy in 2022 made several landmark strides in the international entertainment arena: an Italian play, Stefano Massini’s “The Lehman Trilogy,” garnered five Tony Awards, a prize the country had never conquered; Roman rock band Måneskin scored a Grammy nomination; and even as domestic box office plunged this year, Italian film exports mushroomed.
Massini’s five-hour play, which follows the three Lehman brothers from their arrival from Germany in New York in 1844 up to the 2008 bankruptcy of their global financial services company, prompted Sam Mendes to stage an English-language adaptation, which ultimately triumphed at the Tonys. Now a high-end TV series based on his play is being developed by producers Domenico Procacci and Lorenzo Mieli with Florian Zeller attached to direct. Procacci, speaking to Variety, praised Massini for managing “to tell so effectively a story that doesn’t have any Italian elements, since most of it takes place in the U.
Massini’s five-hour play, which follows the three Lehman brothers from their arrival from Germany in New York in 1844 up to the 2008 bankruptcy of their global financial services company, prompted Sam Mendes to stage an English-language adaptation, which ultimately triumphed at the Tonys. Now a high-end TV series based on his play is being developed by producers Domenico Procacci and Lorenzo Mieli with Florian Zeller attached to direct. Procacci, speaking to Variety, praised Massini for managing “to tell so effectively a story that doesn’t have any Italian elements, since most of it takes place in the U.
- 12/21/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Sam Mendes, the Oscar and Tony award-winning director, has chosen three London theater stars — Michael Balogun (National Theatre Live: Death of England-Delroy), Hadley Fraser (Donmar Theatre’s Coriolanus), and Nigel Lindsay (Chichester Festival Theatre’s Woman In Mind) — to bring his much-garlanded production of The Lehman Trilogy back into the West End. That’s following triumphant runs at the UK’s National Theatre, the Park Avenue Armory and Broadway, and a phenomenal 16-week, sold-out run at London’s Piccadilly Theatre in 2019.
The actors will portray the Bavarian-born Lehman brothers, Emanuel, Mayer, and Henry, who settled in Alabama as cotton merchants, a springboard to what was to become what Balogun termed “a giant machine” on Wall Street. Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley, and Ben Miles originally performed the multiple roles of the Lehman brothers and their descendants — male and female, old and young — in London and New York.
Written by...
The actors will portray the Bavarian-born Lehman brothers, Emanuel, Mayer, and Henry, who settled in Alabama as cotton merchants, a springboard to what was to become what Balogun termed “a giant machine” on Wall Street. Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley, and Ben Miles originally performed the multiple roles of the Lehman brothers and their descendants — male and female, old and young — in London and New York.
Written by...
- 11/14/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
As Time notes, the title of Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller, "North by Northwest," seems to be a reference to flying north on Northwest Airlines, which we see Cary Grant's protagonist and mistaken identity victim, Roger Thornhill, do as he leaves Chicago for South Dakota's Mount Rushmore National Memorial toward the end of the movie. There's a much more famous scene involving Grant and a plane in "North by Northwest," of course, but while Hitchcock and screenwriter Ernest Lehman were brainstorming for that scene, the movie itself almost flew right off course.
In a 2000 interview with the journal Creative Screenwriting, Lehman explained how the classic scene of Grant's character running across an open field in the middle of nowhere with a plane chasing him from behind first came together. Hitchcock spoke elsewhere about how he wanted to upend cliches by putting his protagonist in peril in "the loneliest, emptiest...
In a 2000 interview with the journal Creative Screenwriting, Lehman explained how the classic scene of Grant's character running across an open field in the middle of nowhere with a plane chasing him from behind first came together. Hitchcock spoke elsewhere about how he wanted to upend cliches by putting his protagonist in peril in "the loneliest, emptiest...
- 10/16/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson Repeatedly Meet Cute in Time Travel Rom-Com — Get Peacock Release Date
As the title says, Emmy nominee Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson Meet Cute, lotsa times, in their Peacock movie rom-com — which now has a premiere date and an unforeseen sci-fi element.
Written by Noga Pnueli, directed by Alex Lehmann and filmed here in New York, Meet Cute tells the story of Sheila and Gary (played by The Flight Attendant‘s Cuoco and SNL vet Davidson), who when they meet, it’s love at first sight.
More from TVLineVampire Academy Trailer: 'Rebellion Rules the Night' in Peacock Adaptation of Richelle Mead's Book SeriesMatthew Fox Returns to TV in Last Light...
Written by Noga Pnueli, directed by Alex Lehmann and filmed here in New York, Meet Cute tells the story of Sheila and Gary (played by The Flight Attendant‘s Cuoco and SNL vet Davidson), who when they meet, it’s love at first sight.
More from TVLineVampire Academy Trailer: 'Rebellion Rules the Night' in Peacock Adaptation of Richelle Mead's Book SeriesMatthew Fox Returns to TV in Last Light...
- 8/16/2022
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
The latest season of “Mayans M.C.” opens with 47 minutes of essentially non-stop action, as members of the title motorcycle club find their clubhouse under siege. In an episode that could accurately be called “Saving Private Mayan,” tensions begin at a boiling point and only get worse as the bikers of the Santo Padre charter are surrounded by rivals and forced to defend themselves against an unceasing barrage of bullets and Molotov cocktails. The violence is constant, brutal, and immersive in a way that rewards repeat viewings; revisiting the episode, it’s surprising how short some of the bursts of intensity are — like the shower scene in “Psycho,” they play longer and more graphic in our memory because the emotional immediacy and filmmaking craft are so exact.
Showrunner and director Elgin James wrote the episode with confidence that he would be able to stage the action in the visceral, realistic manner the material required,...
Showrunner and director Elgin James wrote the episode with confidence that he would be able to stage the action in the visceral, realistic manner the material required,...
- 6/15/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
“The Lehman Trilogy” proved to be unbeatable in the Tony race for Best Play, as many pundits predicted all season long. Written by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, this epic drama takes audiences through the rise of the Lehman brothers, the collapse of their company, and the ensuing financial crisis which rocked the world. While the trio of hardworking actors were incredible and director Sam Mendes’ massive production was eye popping, “Lehman’s” Tony win is even more impressive because the show has been closed for months.
“The Lehman Trilogy” was set to premiere in the spring of the scuttled 2019-2020 Broadway season before the global pandemic ground the industry to a halt. Once audiences could congregate again in 2021, the production wound up with a limited run in the fall. It officially opened at the Nederlander Theatre on October 14, 2021 and ended its engagement on January 2nd, 2022.
At the...
“The Lehman Trilogy” was set to premiere in the spring of the scuttled 2019-2020 Broadway season before the global pandemic ground the industry to a halt. Once audiences could congregate again in 2021, the production wound up with a limited run in the fall. It officially opened at the Nederlander Theatre on October 14, 2021 and ended its engagement on January 2nd, 2022.
At the...
- 6/13/2022
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
For a Broadway season that will go down in the record books for its abbreviated 42-week length, Covid cancelations and stark decline in attendance attributable at least in part to New York City’s pandemic-era dearth of tourists, the 2021-22 theatrical season was surprisingly healthy in one very significant way: As this year’s Tony Awards nomination roster makes clear, Broadway venues were well-stocked with the talent and quality that can make trophy-voting an endless cycle of on-the-other-hand second guessing and nitpicking.
In a Broadway season that made noticeable (if never enough) strides in presenting new creative voices – Black artists, Queer artists, artists who brought downtown avant-garde sensibilities uptown – so much of the work represented in this year’s Tony nominations roster is bold in ways that would have been unthinkable just a couple seasons ago before the disaster of Covid and the miracle of Black Lives Matter arrived to shake things up.
In a Broadway season that made noticeable (if never enough) strides in presenting new creative voices – Black artists, Queer artists, artists who brought downtown avant-garde sensibilities uptown – so much of the work represented in this year’s Tony nominations roster is bold in ways that would have been unthinkable just a couple seasons ago before the disaster of Covid and the miracle of Black Lives Matter arrived to shake things up.
- 6/10/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In this Deadline exclusive, Es Devlin, whose magnificent set for director Sam Mendes’ The Lehman Trilogy is nominated for a Tony Award, presents a series of sketches and photographs that provide insight into the development of what would become one of the Broadway season’s most stunning experiences. From Mendes’ simple handwritten list of guiding principles to early sketches and subsequent photos, the gallery offers insight into a singular vision.
For each image, Devlin provides a caption that offers background — including an early idea, later discarded, that would have featured a tightrope walker high above the audience. “We are all walkers on the precarious tightrope of ever more complex human systems,” she writes.
In a neat summing-up of the visual power in Devlin’s set, the design magazine Wallpaper, writing shortly after the play opened on the West End in 2018, said,
Few theatre sets deliver the modernist doctrine – form...
For each image, Devlin provides a caption that offers background — including an early idea, later discarded, that would have featured a tightrope walker high above the audience. “We are all walkers on the precarious tightrope of ever more complex human systems,” she writes.
In a neat summing-up of the visual power in Devlin’s set, the design magazine Wallpaper, writing shortly after the play opened on the West End in 2018, said,
Few theatre sets deliver the modernist doctrine – form...
- 6/9/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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