“More stars than there are in heaven” was once the slogan for Hollywood’s largest studio. Larger-than-life celebrities like Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Harlow and Gene Kelly were common fixtures at MGM. Today, MGM is an IP outpost purchased by Amazon for $8.5 billion in 2022, but in its day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had the biggest lot in Hollywood and produced some of the most extravagant films. Located in Culver City, MGM’s famously sprawling lot began as it grew from the 40 acres owned by Samuel Goldwyn. The legendary MGM property was 3 miles long and housed more than 45 buildings and 14 stages, in addition to numerous outdoor sets that would be built over the years.
MGM was home to countless classic films, and in 1939 alone, the studio backed the timeless fantasy The Wizard of Oz and distributed the Oscar-winning Gone With the Wind, the Ernst Lubitsch/Greta Garbo comedy Ninotchka,...
MGM was home to countless classic films, and in 1939 alone, the studio backed the timeless fantasy The Wizard of Oz and distributed the Oscar-winning Gone With the Wind, the Ernst Lubitsch/Greta Garbo comedy Ninotchka,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It had all the elements of a good action movie – jeopardy, revenge, a mega budget – with even some casualties thrown in (albeit corporate).
The Bob Iger vs Nelson Peltz (who?) war is over now and Iger has won. But some filmmakers and ticket buyers might wonder: Did any of it matter? Would a modest change on the Disney board of directors have had any impact on the future of entertainment? (Peltz himself runs a hedge fund called Trian Partners and has no background in entertainment.)
To be sure, it’s been a good show, albeit a throwback to an era when Hollywood was run by Big Personalities, not monoliths like Amazon or Apple. The battles of that era were ego wars, not proxy wars — Redstone vs Diller or Murdoch vs Ted Turner, with bewildered stars and their reps huddled in the middle.
But now Iger has won – again. The onetime...
The Bob Iger vs Nelson Peltz (who?) war is over now and Iger has won. But some filmmakers and ticket buyers might wonder: Did any of it matter? Would a modest change on the Disney board of directors have had any impact on the future of entertainment? (Peltz himself runs a hedge fund called Trian Partners and has no background in entertainment.)
To be sure, it’s been a good show, albeit a throwback to an era when Hollywood was run by Big Personalities, not monoliths like Amazon or Apple. The battles of that era were ego wars, not proxy wars — Redstone vs Diller or Murdoch vs Ted Turner, with bewildered stars and their reps huddled in the middle.
But now Iger has won – again. The onetime...
- 4/4/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“It was a dream job. Except it was the job from hell.”
That was the assessment of Michael Ovitz after he was anointed, then dis-anointed, as president of Disney in 1995. The “dream job” lasted barely over a year.
Some insiders reflect on the Ovitz embarrassment in the context of the present decision at Netflix. Scott Stuber’s dream job as chief of film is vacant. Interviews with successors are underway. Some guess it will be an internal promotion; a few outsiders like Disney’s Sean Bailey are rumored to be candidates.
“Will it be an opportunity or a trap?” asks one Hollywood CEO, who, like other power players, is weighing the post-Stuber challenges. The Stuber gig allegedly pays between $15 million-$20 million a year and empowers green lights for as many as 40 films – less than half of Netflix’ 2021 output but still more than that of prolific MGM in Irving Thalberg’s prime.
That was the assessment of Michael Ovitz after he was anointed, then dis-anointed, as president of Disney in 1995. The “dream job” lasted barely over a year.
Some insiders reflect on the Ovitz embarrassment in the context of the present decision at Netflix. Scott Stuber’s dream job as chief of film is vacant. Interviews with successors are underway. Some guess it will be an internal promotion; a few outsiders like Disney’s Sean Bailey are rumored to be candidates.
“Will it be an opportunity or a trap?” asks one Hollywood CEO, who, like other power players, is weighing the post-Stuber challenges. The Stuber gig allegedly pays between $15 million-$20 million a year and empowers green lights for as many as 40 films – less than half of Netflix’ 2021 output but still more than that of prolific MGM in Irving Thalberg’s prime.
- 2/16/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
If Hollywood truly suffers from a leadership malaise, as some charge, would the return of Monroe Stahr resuscitate the system? Filmmakers respect his judgment, stars his panache and investors his discipline, so Stahr’s return may ignite a new Irving Thalberg-like era.
Whoops — he’s not available.
The manic and manipulative hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon ruled MGM in its ‘30s heyday, but Stahr’s fictional reign was short-lived. So was Fitzgerald’s brilliant but never completed 1939 novel, which modeled Stahr after Thalberg.
Having achieved literary stardom with The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s decision to write a Hollywood novel, while simultaneously working as a script doctor, plunged the novelist into alcoholic paralysis. He never managed to finish his book and even his screenplays were unrealized.
The Last Tycoon briefly flickered back to life as a movie thanks to the great Elia Kazan, who cast Robert De Niro,...
Whoops — he’s not available.
The manic and manipulative hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon ruled MGM in its ‘30s heyday, but Stahr’s fictional reign was short-lived. So was Fitzgerald’s brilliant but never completed 1939 novel, which modeled Stahr after Thalberg.
Having achieved literary stardom with The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s decision to write a Hollywood novel, while simultaneously working as a script doctor, plunged the novelist into alcoholic paralysis. He never managed to finish his book and even his screenplays were unrealized.
The Last Tycoon briefly flickered back to life as a movie thanks to the great Elia Kazan, who cast Robert De Niro,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
As My So-Called Life nears its 30th anniversary, Executive Producer Ed Zwick took a walk down memory lane Saturday to remind folks about working on the before-its-time drama that starred Claire Danes.
In a long X thread, Zwick shared an “origin story” about how he was first drawn to the work of Winnie Holzman before he would end up co-EPing her script with longtime producing partner Marshall Herskovitz. Zwick chronicles his work on My So-Called Life, as well as thirtysomething, The Last Samurai and Glory in his upcoming book “Hits, Flops and Other Illusions,” out in February.
“Kristy McNichol played ‘Buddy,’ an adolescent girl on ABC-tv’s Family,” Zwick began. “I’d write surly teenage dialogue and get network notes on my scripts with the initials N.O.B. meaning “not our Buddy.” I vowed someday I’d get to portray real adolescence.”
“Marshall wrote a provocative pilot for Showtime called “Secret Seventeen” about unruly,...
In a long X thread, Zwick shared an “origin story” about how he was first drawn to the work of Winnie Holzman before he would end up co-EPing her script with longtime producing partner Marshall Herskovitz. Zwick chronicles his work on My So-Called Life, as well as thirtysomething, The Last Samurai and Glory in his upcoming book “Hits, Flops and Other Illusions,” out in February.
“Kristy McNichol played ‘Buddy,’ an adolescent girl on ABC-tv’s Family,” Zwick began. “I’d write surly teenage dialogue and get network notes on my scripts with the initials N.O.B. meaning “not our Buddy.” I vowed someday I’d get to portray real adolescence.”
“Marshall wrote a provocative pilot for Showtime called “Secret Seventeen” about unruly,...
- 12/23/2023
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
Cari Beauchamp, the respected film historian who put readers and viewers in close touch with the early days of Hollywood through her painstaking research as an author, editor and documentary filmmaker, died Thursday. She was 74.
Beauchamp died of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her son Jake Flynn told The Hollywood Reporter.
She was unable to attend an Oct. 28 event at the Tcl Chinese Theatre that celebrated authors represented on THR’s recent unveiling of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.”
Beauchamp is on the exclusive list thanks to Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. First published in 1997, it centers on Marion, who became the highest-paid screenwriter, man or woman, in Hollywood by 1917 before receiving Oscars for The Big House (1930) and The Champ (1931).
Beauchamp then wrote and produced for TCM a 2001 documentary based on the book, earning a WGA nomination along the way.
Beauchamp died of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her son Jake Flynn told The Hollywood Reporter.
She was unable to attend an Oct. 28 event at the Tcl Chinese Theatre that celebrated authors represented on THR’s recent unveiling of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.”
Beauchamp is on the exclusive list thanks to Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. First published in 1997, it centers on Marion, who became the highest-paid screenwriter, man or woman, in Hollywood by 1917 before receiving Oscars for The Big House (1930) and The Champ (1931).
Beauchamp then wrote and produced for TCM a 2001 documentary based on the book, earning a WGA nomination along the way.
- 12/15/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Writers Guild of America strike continued Thursday with a demonstration at Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles that featured appearances by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, as well as a slew of Dolly Parton drag queens on the picket lines.
The event, put on by the WGA’s LGBTQ+ writers committee, was titled “Striking 9-5 Picket — A Dolly Drag Event.” Fonda, Tomlin and the real-life Parton starred in the 1980 comedy that scored an Oscar nomination for Parton’s chart-topping title song. The picket was organized by the film’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick, who also attended and spoke to the crowd that swelled to more than 400.
On the scene at the Striking 9-5 Picket – A Dolly Drag Event outside of Netflix in LA today #WritersStrike...
The event, put on by the WGA’s LGBTQ+ writers committee, was titled “Striking 9-5 Picket — A Dolly Drag Event.” Fonda, Tomlin and the real-life Parton starred in the 1980 comedy that scored an Oscar nomination for Parton’s chart-topping title song. The picket was organized by the film’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick, who also attended and spoke to the crowd that swelled to more than 400.
On the scene at the Striking 9-5 Picket – A Dolly Drag Event outside of Netflix in LA today #WritersStrike...
- 6/29/2023
- by Rosy Cordero and Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Gofer and quick-witted fixer Manny Torres (Diego Calva) effortlessly determines how to haul an overstuffed elephant up a steep hill to a Bel Air party, sneak a dead body out of said packed bacchanal and satisfy his producer boss’ black-tie dress code with minimal financial means.
“It’s actually not even a tuxedo. It’s cobbled together,” says Babylon costume designer Mary Zophres, who received her fourth Oscar nomination for her work on the sprawling ode to Hollywood. It’s her second nom for collaborating with director Damien Chazelle, after 2016’s La La Land.
Zophres imagined Manny taking precious care of his only white, but now-yellowed, dress shirt, modeled after an original late-1920s button-down with gathers on the sleeves and shoulder yoke. “He hand-washes it. He line-dries it, and he has a way to press it,” she says.
Manny likely resourcefully borrowed the mismatched jacket and bow tie from the producer’s suited henchmen.
“It’s actually not even a tuxedo. It’s cobbled together,” says Babylon costume designer Mary Zophres, who received her fourth Oscar nomination for her work on the sprawling ode to Hollywood. It’s her second nom for collaborating with director Damien Chazelle, after 2016’s La La Land.
Zophres imagined Manny taking precious care of his only white, but now-yellowed, dress shirt, modeled after an original late-1920s button-down with gathers on the sleeves and shoulder yoke. “He hand-washes it. He line-dries it, and he has a way to press it,” she says.
Manny likely resourcefully borrowed the mismatched jacket and bow tie from the producer’s suited henchmen.
- 3/7/2023
- by Fawnia Soo Hoo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ (Photo Credit: Allyson Riggs / A24)
Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan became the first Asian actress and actor to win Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role/Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once also scored wins in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture categories.
SAG members spread out the wins in the television categories, with The White Lotus the only nominee to earn multiple awards. Additional 29th Annual SAG Awards television winners included Abbott Elementary, 1883, The Bear, Hacks, George & Tammy, and Ozark.
This year’s SAG Awards took place in Los Angeles and streamed live on YouTube on February...
Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan became the first Asian actress and actor to win Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role/Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once also scored wins in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture categories.
SAG members spread out the wins in the television categories, with The White Lotus the only nominee to earn multiple awards. Additional 29th Annual SAG Awards television winners included Abbott Elementary, 1883, The Bear, Hacks, George & Tammy, and Ozark.
This year’s SAG Awards took place in Los Angeles and streamed live on YouTube on February...
- 2/27/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Peter Safran and James Gunn have finally unveiled the first chapter in their multiyear plan for DC Studios and the DC Universe, and it is mostly filled with great news for fans. They announced new movies and shows based on some rather niche and weird characters, showing their commitment to the huge gallery of characters that makes DC so special. There's also the fact that the slate doesn't seem to be following the exact same structure as Marvel or the Snyderverse, while also making sure to allow different looks and tones rather than following a uniform vision.
Then there are the actual projects, which range from interesting to actual jumping-with-glee exciting, including a Superman movie that actually understands how well-meaning the character is and finally giving fans the Swamp Thing movie we deserve.
Arguably the most exciting part of the slate announcement, however, was the new Batman movie: "The Brave and the Bold.
Then there are the actual projects, which range from interesting to actual jumping-with-glee exciting, including a Superman movie that actually understands how well-meaning the character is and finally giving fans the Swamp Thing movie we deserve.
Arguably the most exciting part of the slate announcement, however, was the new Batman movie: "The Brave and the Bold.
- 2/1/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle is back on the awards circuit with his ode to Old Hollywood, “Babylon.”
The star-studded ensemble film charts the chaos, glory, and mayhem of the City of Angels during the transition between silent films and talkies. Set in the 1920s, “Babylon” immortalizes the A-listers of today by placing them in the context of yesterday’s golden era. Brad Pitt stars as world-weary aging film icon Jack Conrad, who crosses paths with rising starlet Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie) as she does whatever it takes to reach stardom. The foray into fictionalized film history is told through the eyes of both “Babylon” and real-life Hollywood newcomer Diego Calva, who plays aspiring filmmaker Manny Torres. Outsider Manny’s true love is cinema, and he flirts with the elusive art form as the entire industry is turned on its head.
As an IndieWire exclusive, you can now read the...
The star-studded ensemble film charts the chaos, glory, and mayhem of the City of Angels during the transition between silent films and talkies. Set in the 1920s, “Babylon” immortalizes the A-listers of today by placing them in the context of yesterday’s golden era. Brad Pitt stars as world-weary aging film icon Jack Conrad, who crosses paths with rising starlet Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie) as she does whatever it takes to reach stardom. The foray into fictionalized film history is told through the eyes of both “Babylon” and real-life Hollywood newcomer Diego Calva, who plays aspiring filmmaker Manny Torres. Outsider Manny’s true love is cinema, and he flirts with the elusive art form as the entire industry is turned on its head.
As an IndieWire exclusive, you can now read the...
- 1/12/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
This article contains Babylon spoilers.
Despite the lurid imagery associated with Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s three-hour bacchanal of a movie about Golden Age Hollywood, it wasn’t wretched excess or decadence which first caught Chazelle’s imagination. Nor was it the glamor and gaudiness associated with a new (read: low) art form in those heady days when the silent era gave way to the earliest sound films.
Rather the inciting idea for Babylon is borne from a simple yet disturbing bit of trivia on the mortality rate in Los Angeles—and how the number of deaths seemingly caused by suicide rose precipitously during the late 1920s and early ‘30s. When looked at from afar, it would appear that the advent of The Jazz Singer (1927) and talkies invited not only musicals to Hollywood, but Death itself.
“It was actors, directors, people both in front of the camera and behind the camera,...
Despite the lurid imagery associated with Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s three-hour bacchanal of a movie about Golden Age Hollywood, it wasn’t wretched excess or decadence which first caught Chazelle’s imagination. Nor was it the glamor and gaudiness associated with a new (read: low) art form in those heady days when the silent era gave way to the earliest sound films.
Rather the inciting idea for Babylon is borne from a simple yet disturbing bit of trivia on the mortality rate in Los Angeles—and how the number of deaths seemingly caused by suicide rose precipitously during the late 1920s and early ‘30s. When looked at from afar, it would appear that the advent of The Jazz Singer (1927) and talkies invited not only musicals to Hollywood, but Death itself.
“It was actors, directors, people both in front of the camera and behind the camera,...
- 1/12/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ (Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures © 2022 20th Century Studios)
The love for The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once has spread to the Screen Actors Guild. Nominations for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced and Banshees and Everything Everywhere topped the list on the film side, earning five SAG Awards nominations each.
The final season of Ozark led the TV nominations, picking up four nominations.
Winners will be announced on Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 5pm Pt/8pm Et. This year marks the first time the SAG Awards will be broadcast live on Netflix’s YouTube channel. Beginning in 2024, the awards show will stream live on Netflix.
The 2023 SAG Awards recognize the best performances of 2022 in television and movies.
SAG Awards Motion Picture Nominees:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler...
The love for The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once has spread to the Screen Actors Guild. Nominations for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced and Banshees and Everything Everywhere topped the list on the film side, earning five SAG Awards nominations each.
The final season of Ozark led the TV nominations, picking up four nominations.
Winners will be announced on Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 5pm Pt/8pm Et. This year marks the first time the SAG Awards will be broadcast live on Netflix’s YouTube channel. Beginning in 2024, the awards show will stream live on Netflix.
The 2023 SAG Awards recognize the best performances of 2022 in television and movies.
SAG Awards Motion Picture Nominees:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler...
- 1/11/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The Screen Actors Guild unveiled nominations Wednesday for its 29th annual SAG Awards as the movie awards season arrives full-steam, coming the same week as last night’s Golden Globes and Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards.
Related Story SAG Awards Find A New Home On Netflix in 2024; This Year's Show Will Stream On YouTube Related Story How To Watch 2023 SAG Awards Nominations: Ashley Park & Haley Lu Richardson Set To Announce Related Story SAG Awards 2023: No TV Home Yet For The Annual Fete
The marquee ensemble film award category this year features Paramount’s Babylon, Searchlight’s The Banshees of Inisherin, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, Universal’s The Fabelmans and United Artists’ Women Talking. Banshees and Fabelmans are having a good week, having taken the top film prizes at last night’s Globes.
Banshees and Everything Everywhere led all films with five nominations apiece in today’s noms announcement.
Related Story SAG Awards Find A New Home On Netflix in 2024; This Year's Show Will Stream On YouTube Related Story How To Watch 2023 SAG Awards Nominations: Ashley Park & Haley Lu Richardson Set To Announce Related Story SAG Awards 2023: No TV Home Yet For The Annual Fete
The marquee ensemble film award category this year features Paramount’s Babylon, Searchlight’s The Banshees of Inisherin, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, Universal’s The Fabelmans and United Artists’ Women Talking. Banshees and Fabelmans are having a good week, having taken the top film prizes at last night’s Globes.
Banshees and Everything Everywhere led all films with five nominations apiece in today’s noms announcement.
- 1/11/2023
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
When Blanche Sweet sang “there’s a tear for every smile in Hollywood” in Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), she wasn’t wrong. Movie people have long been warning starry eyed wannabes to tread carefully if there were coming to Tinseltown full of hopes and dreams. In The Truth About the Movies by the Stars (1924), screenwriter Frank Butler wrote that “From every corner of the earth they come and across the Seven Seas – borne on the tireless wings of youthful optimism. Pathetic pilgrims these, struggling on to ultimate disillusion.”
A large part of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) explores the dark side of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenties roared in Hollywood, but there was also something larger at stake for characters in Babylon. Like any audience in front of a film, they were chasing that magic on the screen. They were chasing an idea.
When Blanche Sweet sang “there’s a tear for every smile in Hollywood” in Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), she wasn’t wrong. Movie people have long been warning starry eyed wannabes to tread carefully if there were coming to Tinseltown full of hopes and dreams. In The Truth About the Movies by the Stars (1924), screenwriter Frank Butler wrote that “From every corner of the earth they come and across the Seven Seas – borne on the tireless wings of youthful optimism. Pathetic pilgrims these, struggling on to ultimate disillusion.”
A large part of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) explores the dark side of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenties roared in Hollywood, but there was also something larger at stake for characters in Babylon. Like any audience in front of a film, they were chasing that magic on the screen. They were chasing an idea.
- 12/23/2022
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Spike Jonze plays Otto Von Strassberger, Lukas Haas plays George Munn and Robert Clendenin (back) plays Otto’s Assistant Director in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.
LA LA Land director Damien Chazelle gives a different take on the movie industry with ‘s Babylon, focused on Hollywood pre- and post- the transition from silent films to sound, but as if that took place in an alternate reality partly in the 1920s and partly in the late 1970s, eras that share reputations for excess, partying and drugs, although the 1920s had much better clothes.
This tale of a wild silent-era Hollywood opens in 1926, according a title card, at the height of the Hollywood’s Babylon of partying excess and creative freedom and shortly before the debut of talking films brought the party to a halt. The opening sequence features an elephant as studio employee Manny Torres (Diego Calva) negotiating with someone hired to...
LA LA Land director Damien Chazelle gives a different take on the movie industry with ‘s Babylon, focused on Hollywood pre- and post- the transition from silent films to sound, but as if that took place in an alternate reality partly in the 1920s and partly in the late 1970s, eras that share reputations for excess, partying and drugs, although the 1920s had much better clothes.
This tale of a wild silent-era Hollywood opens in 1926, according a title card, at the height of the Hollywood’s Babylon of partying excess and creative freedom and shortly before the debut of talking films brought the party to a halt. The opening sequence features an elephant as studio employee Manny Torres (Diego Calva) negotiating with someone hired to...
- 12/23/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In the late 1920s, silent era filmmaking was at the height of its artistry, and Hollywood was one big, debaucherous party. This was the roaring twenties, after all. In fact, it was the depravity — on screen and off — of this era that led to the creation of the Production Code that would handicap studio films for decades to come.
Although many films have paid tribute to these wild, early days like James Ivory’s “The Wild Party” or Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist,” few have boasted as impressive a grasp the magic and darkness of its history and mythology as Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” This era is a perfect collision of all the Oscar winner’s interests.
In his three-hour epic “Babylon,” the romantic cinephilia of “La La Land” meets the obsessive jazz rhythms of “Whiplash” meets the detailed history of “First Man.” Inspired in part by the racier (though often...
Although many films have paid tribute to these wild, early days like James Ivory’s “The Wild Party” or Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist,” few have boasted as impressive a grasp the magic and darkness of its history and mythology as Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” This era is a perfect collision of all the Oscar winner’s interests.
In his three-hour epic “Babylon,” the romantic cinephilia of “La La Land” meets the obsessive jazz rhythms of “Whiplash” meets the detailed history of “First Man.” Inspired in part by the racier (though often...
- 12/21/2022
- by Marya E. Gates
- Indiewire
After enormous success and Oscars for films ranging from Whiplash to La La Land to First Man, writer-director Damien Chazelle returned to an early dream project first envisioned 15 years ago — a no-holds-barred look at early Hollywood, a time when not only movies were transitioning from silent to sound but Los Angeles itself was booming from desert to bulging metropolis. People were caught up in a turbulent time of change, and it didn’t always work out for some. As witnessed in the resulting film and years of meticulous research, Babylon is a sight to behold, a decadent, freewheeling, at times even poignant look at a series of dreamers, stars, fringe players and all who wanted a piece of a world that felt out of control, uninhibited and full of promise — and downfall.
With more than 100 speaking roles and a widescreen full of extras, Chazelle has created a vision of Hollywood...
With more than 100 speaking roles and a widescreen full of extras, Chazelle has created a vision of Hollywood...
- 12/16/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Margot Robbie gets unhinged in Damien Chazelle’s epic “Babylon.”
The Oscar nominee plays self-proclaimed wild child and up-and-coming actress Nellie Laroy in the 1920s-set period piece, which just released a new trailer. Laroy is an amalgam of ’20s stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, Joan Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging icon Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), inspired by John Gilbert, Clark Gable, and Douglas Fairbanks.
Per the official “Babylon” synopsis, Chazelle’s film is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Pitt, Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”
The ensemble includes Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde,...
The Oscar nominee plays self-proclaimed wild child and up-and-coming actress Nellie Laroy in the 1920s-set period piece, which just released a new trailer. Laroy is an amalgam of ’20s stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, Joan Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging icon Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), inspired by John Gilbert, Clark Gable, and Douglas Fairbanks.
Per the official “Babylon” synopsis, Chazelle’s film is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Pitt, Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”
The ensemble includes Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde,...
- 11/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” was just the warm up for “Babylon,” his epic comedy-drama about Hollywood during the seismic shift from silents to talkies in the late 1920s — think “La Dolce Vita” meets “Nashville” by way of “The Wolf of Wall Street.” This allowed the Oscar-winning director to step out of his comfort zone with a wild, orgiastic ride through hedonistic excess and extreme living before the sound revolution transformed the movies into a cultural phenomenon.
Judging from the mixed response to Monday’s Academy screening, however, “Babylon” might have a bumpier Best Picture ride than its singing and dancing predecessor. It should be a major crafts player, though. That means likely nominations for some or all of Chazelle’s collaborators: cinematographer Linus Sandgren (Oscar winner for “La La Land”); production designer Florencia Martin; costume designer Mary Zophres; composer Justin Hurwitz (Oscar winner for “La La Land” score...
Judging from the mixed response to Monday’s Academy screening, however, “Babylon” might have a bumpier Best Picture ride than its singing and dancing predecessor. It should be a major crafts player, though. That means likely nominations for some or all of Chazelle’s collaborators: cinematographer Linus Sandgren (Oscar winner for “La La Land”); production designer Florencia Martin; costume designer Mary Zophres; composer Justin Hurwitz (Oscar winner for “La La Land” score...
- 11/16/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Margot Robbie is everywhere — and we mean, everywhere.
The founder of critically acclaimed production company LuckyChap Entertainment has starred in some of the biggest auteur films of the decade and produced independent feminist films “I, Tonya” and “Promising Young Woman,” all while making at least one movie per year since 2013.
Robbie landed Oscar nominations for her respective turns in 2017’s Olympic biopic “I, Tonya” and 2019’s “Bombshell,” inspired by the true story of the sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox News exec Roger Ailes. And don’t forget Robbie’s scene-stealing turn as Harley Quinn that transcended two “Suicide Squad” iterations plus lead spinoff “Birds of Prey,” which Robbie’s LuckyChap produced.
The first look at Robbie as a Mattel doll come to life for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” almost broke the Internet. But that’s not the only star-studded epic Robbie leads this year.
Below, find out everything Robbie...
The founder of critically acclaimed production company LuckyChap Entertainment has starred in some of the biggest auteur films of the decade and produced independent feminist films “I, Tonya” and “Promising Young Woman,” all while making at least one movie per year since 2013.
Robbie landed Oscar nominations for her respective turns in 2017’s Olympic biopic “I, Tonya” and 2019’s “Bombshell,” inspired by the true story of the sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox News exec Roger Ailes. And don’t forget Robbie’s scene-stealing turn as Harley Quinn that transcended two “Suicide Squad” iterations plus lead spinoff “Birds of Prey,” which Robbie’s LuckyChap produced.
The first look at Robbie as a Mattel doll come to life for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” almost broke the Internet. But that’s not the only star-studded epic Robbie leads this year.
Below, find out everything Robbie...
- 11/14/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Seventy-five years ago, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (Huac for purposes of pronunciation) launched the first of its series of postwar investigations into alleged communist subversion in Hollywood.
The show trial was staged from Oct. 20 to 30, 1947, and you can probably rewind the newsreel images in your mind’s eye: the unhinged committee chairman, J. Parnell Thomas (D-n.J.), yelling over witnesses and furiously pounding his gavel; the compliant straight men accusing former colleagues of the most unpatriotic heresies in Cold War America; and the backtalking recalcitrants being hauled away from the witness table mid-harangue.
In countless documentaries and fictional reenactments, the confrontations are cast as a morality play pitting the craven Friendlies (as those who named names and sucked up to the committee are called) against the defiant Unfriendlies, who refused to cower before their inquisitors and would soon to be immortalized...
Seventy-five years ago, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (Huac for purposes of pronunciation) launched the first of its series of postwar investigations into alleged communist subversion in Hollywood.
The show trial was staged from Oct. 20 to 30, 1947, and you can probably rewind the newsreel images in your mind’s eye: the unhinged committee chairman, J. Parnell Thomas (D-n.J.), yelling over witnesses and furiously pounding his gavel; the compliant straight men accusing former colleagues of the most unpatriotic heresies in Cold War America; and the backtalking recalcitrants being hauled away from the witness table mid-harangue.
In countless documentaries and fictional reenactments, the confrontations are cast as a morality play pitting the craven Friendlies (as those who named names and sucked up to the committee are called) against the defiant Unfriendlies, who refused to cower before their inquisitors and would soon to be immortalized...
- 10/20/2022
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You will now be able to see Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt wreak havoc in “Babylon” even earlier this holiday season.
Damien Chazelle’s old Hollywood epic “Babylon” has officially ditched its previously limited release rollout for a wide release now on December 23.
Originally, “Babylon” was slated for a December 25 limited release, followed by a January 6, 2023 wide release. Instead, the film will open in more than 3,000 theaters nationwide on December 23.
Former “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” co-stars Robbie and Pitt reunite for Chazelle’s star-studded take on the pitfalls of fame and the slow-moving tide of change in the film industry. Set during the transitional period in Hollywood when silent movies gave way to talkies, Robbie stars as aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging...
Damien Chazelle’s old Hollywood epic “Babylon” has officially ditched its previously limited release rollout for a wide release now on December 23.
Originally, “Babylon” was slated for a December 25 limited release, followed by a January 6, 2023 wide release. Instead, the film will open in more than 3,000 theaters nationwide on December 23.
Former “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” co-stars Robbie and Pitt reunite for Chazelle’s star-studded take on the pitfalls of fame and the slow-moving tide of change in the film industry. Set during the transitional period in Hollywood when silent movies gave way to talkies, Robbie stars as aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging...
- 10/18/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Mark of the Vampire
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / 1.33: 1 / 60 Min.
Starring Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi
Written by Guy Endore, Bernard Schubert
Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning died in 1962, living long enough to see his work enjoy a resurgence on late night’s Shock Theater, a syndicated TV package featuring Universal’s classic horror films. Browning’s Dracula was one of the crown jewels of that series but if you wanted to see more of the director’s work it probably wouldn’t be on television—his most infamous films were too lurid even for the midnight hour: potboilers populated by deformed and deranged circus performers, bloodthirsty magicians, and cross-dressing ventriloquists.
1932’s Freaks was the ne plus ultra of the Browning shockers, a sawdust soap opera pitting a beautiful prima donna against unorthodox carny performers—”unorthodox” because these folks were, on the surface, strange figures whose physical abberations made them outcasts everywhere except the circus.
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / 1.33: 1 / 60 Min.
Starring Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi
Written by Guy Endore, Bernard Schubert
Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning died in 1962, living long enough to see his work enjoy a resurgence on late night’s Shock Theater, a syndicated TV package featuring Universal’s classic horror films. Browning’s Dracula was one of the crown jewels of that series but if you wanted to see more of the director’s work it probably wouldn’t be on television—his most infamous films were too lurid even for the midnight hour: potboilers populated by deformed and deranged circus performers, bloodthirsty magicians, and cross-dressing ventriloquists.
1932’s Freaks was the ne plus ultra of the Browning shockers, a sawdust soap opera pitting a beautiful prima donna against unorthodox carny performers—”unorthodox” because these folks were, on the surface, strange figures whose physical abberations made them outcasts everywhere except the circus.
- 10/11/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
For a brief, glorious moment in the comics, Damian Wayne and Jon Kent were the next big thing in the DC Universe. Then Jon got aged up and sent to space, and Damian went off to Kumite Island to fight his grandma and they got split up. Oh well, that’s comics for you! In case you can’t tell, some folks are a little broken up about Super-Sons, the comic that followed young teen Superboy and Robin and was utterly delightful, ending.
But fortunately for those people, there’s a new chance to see Jon and Damian goof off: Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, the new animated feature film coming to digital, Blu-ray and other home media formats on Oct. 18. And with its premiere coming at New York Comic Con at a main stage panel moderated by Den of Geek’s own Mike Cecchini, we’re...
But fortunately for those people, there’s a new chance to see Jon and Damian goof off: Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, the new animated feature film coming to digital, Blu-ray and other home media formats on Oct. 18. And with its premiere coming at New York Comic Con at a main stage panel moderated by Den of Geek’s own Mike Cecchini, we’re...
- 10/6/2022
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Six years after winning an Oscar for “La La Land,” writer-director Damien Chazelle is gearing up for a return to Tinseltown with his next feature film “Babylon.” This time, he’s taking it back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when silent films transitioned to talkies.
In a recent interview, Chazelle said he first came up with the idea for “a big, epic, multicharacter movie, set in these early days of Los Angeles and Hollywood, when both of these things were coming into what we now think of them as,” about 15 years ago. It was only after completing 2018’s “First Man” that he got to work on the script for the “massive” movie.
Like any Hollywood movie about Hollywood, the cast of “Babylon” is as star-studded as they come, playing a mixture of fictional and historical characters. Among them: Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt; Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Tobey Maguire,...
In a recent interview, Chazelle said he first came up with the idea for “a big, epic, multicharacter movie, set in these early days of Los Angeles and Hollywood, when both of these things were coming into what we now think of them as,” about 15 years ago. It was only after completing 2018’s “First Man” that he got to work on the script for the “massive” movie.
Like any Hollywood movie about Hollywood, the cast of “Babylon” is as star-studded as they come, playing a mixture of fictional and historical characters. Among them: Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt; Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Tobey Maguire,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
There is another fairytale afoot in Hollywood, thanks to Oscar winner Damien Chazelle’s sweeping ode to the rise of talkies.
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” co-stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt reunite onscreen for “Babylon,” Chazelle’s star-studded take on the pitfalls of fame and the slow-moving tide of change in the film industry. Set during the transitional period in Hollywood when silent movies gave way to talkies, Robbie stars as aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging icon Jack Conrad (Pitt), inspired by John Gilbert, Clark Gable, and Douglas Fairbanks.
“Babylon” premieres December 25 with a limited release, followed by a wide release January 6, 2023, making the feature a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
The official synopsis reads: “From Damien Chazelle, ‘Babylon’ is an original epic set...
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” co-stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt reunite onscreen for “Babylon,” Chazelle’s star-studded take on the pitfalls of fame and the slow-moving tide of change in the film industry. Set during the transitional period in Hollywood when silent movies gave way to talkies, Robbie stars as aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. With dreams of reaching stardom, Nellie crosses paths with aging icon Jack Conrad (Pitt), inspired by John Gilbert, Clark Gable, and Douglas Fairbanks.
“Babylon” premieres December 25 with a limited release, followed by a wide release January 6, 2023, making the feature a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
The official synopsis reads: “From Damien Chazelle, ‘Babylon’ is an original epic set...
- 9/13/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The lush land of 1920s Hollywood is now getting a modern A-lister take thanks to Oscar winner Damien Chazelle.
The “La La Land” director helms highly-anticipated epic “Babylon” starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt as two movie stars at the opposite ends of fame. The film is set for a December 25 limited release and a wide release January 6, 2023, making the feature a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
The period piece focuses on the transitional period in the film industry when silent movies gave way to talkies. While the specific plot details remain under wraps, IndieWire can confirm that Robbie plays aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. Nellie has a “bold, hungry kind of edge to her,” as Chazelle revealed to Vanity Fair.
Meanwhile, Robbie’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” Oscar-winning co-star Pitt plays Jack Conrad,...
The “La La Land” director helms highly-anticipated epic “Babylon” starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt as two movie stars at the opposite ends of fame. The film is set for a December 25 limited release and a wide release January 6, 2023, making the feature a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
The period piece focuses on the transitional period in the film industry when silent movies gave way to talkies. While the specific plot details remain under wraps, IndieWire can confirm that Robbie plays aspiring actress Nellie Laroy, who is an amalgam of early “talkies” stars Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, John Crawford, and Alma Rubens. Nellie has a “bold, hungry kind of edge to her,” as Chazelle revealed to Vanity Fair.
Meanwhile, Robbie’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” Oscar-winning co-star Pitt plays Jack Conrad,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
"Freaks" is one of the most impactful films ever made about humanity's cruelty and the power of solidarity. It tells the story of a beautiful but conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra who plans to seduce and murder Hans, a circus sideshow performer and a person of short stature, for his inheritance. Director Tod Browning's dark film was a critical and box office failure during its 1932 release because of its unflinching depiction of persons with disabilities, causing it to fade into obscurity for many years.
Today, many critics debate whether or not "Freaks" is an exploitative product of its time or actually sympathetic towards the sideshow characters. It spotlights persons with all sorts of disabilities such as dwarfism (the siblings Harry and Daisy Earles), sacral agenesis (Johnny Eck), conjoined twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), microcephaly (Schlitzie), and more. Yet at the same time, the film contains terrifying scenes where the...
Today, many critics debate whether or not "Freaks" is an exploitative product of its time or actually sympathetic towards the sideshow characters. It spotlights persons with all sorts of disabilities such as dwarfism (the siblings Harry and Daisy Earles), sacral agenesis (Johnny Eck), conjoined twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), microcephaly (Schlitzie), and more. Yet at the same time, the film contains terrifying scenes where the...
- 9/6/2022
- by Caroline Madden
- Slash Film
Finally, finally, finally we are one step closer to the epic Hollywood empire that is “Babylon.”
The upcoming feature from Oscar-winning writer-director Damien Chazelle stars “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood” co-stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie for “Babylon” in a period piece about the transitional period in the film industry when silent movies gave way to talkies. The film is set to premiere wide January 6, 2023, and already is a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
While Chazelle has stayed mum about plot specifics, drama “Babylon” reportedly focuses on real-life industry titans Clara Bow (Robbie), Elinor Glyn, and studio exec Irving Thalberg, played by Max Minghella. The ensemble cast also includes Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Jean Smart, Lukas Haas, and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Tobey Maguire, who also serves as an executive producer, is portraying Charlie Chaplin.
During Paramount’s showcase at 2022 CinemaCon, audiences...
The upcoming feature from Oscar-winning writer-director Damien Chazelle stars “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood” co-stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie for “Babylon” in a period piece about the transitional period in the film industry when silent movies gave way to talkies. The film is set to premiere wide January 6, 2023, and already is a buzzed-about Oscars contender.
While Chazelle has stayed mum about plot specifics, drama “Babylon” reportedly focuses on real-life industry titans Clara Bow (Robbie), Elinor Glyn, and studio exec Irving Thalberg, played by Max Minghella. The ensemble cast also includes Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Jean Smart, Lukas Haas, and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Tobey Maguire, who also serves as an executive producer, is portraying Charlie Chaplin.
During Paramount’s showcase at 2022 CinemaCon, audiences...
- 4/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Director Damien Chazelle brought the ol’ razzle dazzle to CinemaCon, showcasing the first look at his next film “Babylon,” a star-studded homage to Hollywood’s golden era.
Attendees of CinemaCon, the annual gathering of movie theater owners that’s currently unfolding at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, were treated to never-before-seen footage of “Babylon,” which puts the spotlight on Brad Pitt as silent film star John Gilbert and Margot Robbie as Roaring Twenties icon Clara Bow.
Prior to Paramount’s presentation at CinemaCon, little had been revealed about “Babylon,” which is set in the late 1920s during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies.
Based on the first-look footage of glamorous parties against a backdrop of an entertainment business in flux, “Babylon” looks like a mix between Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
“You know what we have to do…...
Attendees of CinemaCon, the annual gathering of movie theater owners that’s currently unfolding at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, were treated to never-before-seen footage of “Babylon,” which puts the spotlight on Brad Pitt as silent film star John Gilbert and Margot Robbie as Roaring Twenties icon Clara Bow.
Prior to Paramount’s presentation at CinemaCon, little had been revealed about “Babylon,” which is set in the late 1920s during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies.
Based on the first-look footage of glamorous parties against a backdrop of an entertainment business in flux, “Babylon” looks like a mix between Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
“You know what we have to do…...
- 4/28/2022
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Our first episode back in the studio! Robert Weide discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Mother Night (1996)
Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989)
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)
Marx Brothers in a Nutshell (1982)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Mary Poppins (1964)
The French Connection (1971) – Dennis Lehane’s trailer commentary, Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Godfather (1972) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Patton (1970) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
Mash (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Lenny...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Mother Night (1996)
Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989)
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)
Marx Brothers in a Nutshell (1982)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Mary Poppins (1964)
The French Connection (1971) – Dennis Lehane’s trailer commentary, Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Godfather (1972) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Patton (1970) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
Mash (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Lenny...
- 11/30/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
It was an imposing opening, and Hollywood loves openings that are grand in concept, star-studded and famously over budget. The new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures finally is complete, and key industry players have paid homage and faithfully scrutinized its exhibits.
But they’ve also pondered the key question that has hovered over the museum from its inception: What story should it tell?
Up front, the museum’s auteurs let it be known they did not want to present a chronological history of the movie industry, with its fables and foibles. The museum would not be a re-creation of, say, Neal Gabler’s An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.
The upshot: The industry’s assessments seem to be playing out on two levels. Official Hollywood is grateful that diverse and creative voices such as Spike Lee and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki are awarded important billing. But...
But they’ve also pondered the key question that has hovered over the museum from its inception: What story should it tell?
Up front, the museum’s auteurs let it be known they did not want to present a chronological history of the movie industry, with its fables and foibles. The museum would not be a re-creation of, say, Neal Gabler’s An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.
The upshot: The industry’s assessments seem to be playing out on two levels. Official Hollywood is grateful that diverse and creative voices such as Spike Lee and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki are awarded important billing. But...
- 11/12/2021
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
A Night at the Opera
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1935/ 1.33:1
Starring The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Kitty Carlisle
Directed by Sam Wood
When the Marx Brothers bolted the scrappy but frugal Paramount for the gilded halls of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, fans of the comedians feared the worst—would the anarchic trio maintain their punk rock cred or had they sold out for the Top 40? The answer was revealed in their first go-round with the studio, 1935’s A Night at the Opera. And it was a standoff—though the Brothers remained world class provocateurs, MGM survived with its reputation intact and a big hit on their hands.
Opera‘s basic plot stays close to the Marxian blueprint; three agents of chaos, a fast-talking con man, a pun-happy piano player, and a tongue-tied hedonist, infiltrate a revered if musty institution, upend said institution, and go on their merry way. Though that premise...
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1935/ 1.33:1
Starring The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Kitty Carlisle
Directed by Sam Wood
When the Marx Brothers bolted the scrappy but frugal Paramount for the gilded halls of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, fans of the comedians feared the worst—would the anarchic trio maintain their punk rock cred or had they sold out for the Top 40? The answer was revealed in their first go-round with the studio, 1935’s A Night at the Opera. And it was a standoff—though the Brothers remained world class provocateurs, MGM survived with its reputation intact and a big hit on their hands.
Opera‘s basic plot stays close to the Marxian blueprint; three agents of chaos, a fast-talking con man, a pun-happy piano player, and a tongue-tied hedonist, infiltrate a revered if musty institution, upend said institution, and go on their merry way. Though that premise...
- 10/12/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Mark Cousins joins iconic producer on annual road trip to Cannes.
Visit Films has boarded worldwide rights on Mark Cousins’ Cannes Classics documentary The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas.
Cousins joins Thomas on the producer’s annual road trip from London to the Cannes Film Festival as he recalls some of his most iconic films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s multiple Oscar winner The Last Emperor, David Cronenberg’s Crash, and Nic Roeg’s Bad Timing.
Thomas discusses Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and David Bowie, and the journey is interspersed with commentary from Tilda Swinton and Debra Winger, and features a range of film clips.
Visit Films has boarded worldwide rights on Mark Cousins’ Cannes Classics documentary The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas.
Cousins joins Thomas on the producer’s annual road trip from London to the Cannes Film Festival as he recalls some of his most iconic films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s multiple Oscar winner The Last Emperor, David Cronenberg’s Crash, and Nic Roeg’s Bad Timing.
Thomas discusses Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and David Bowie, and the journey is interspersed with commentary from Tilda Swinton and Debra Winger, and features a range of film clips.
- 6/23/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Samara Weaving, Max Minghella, Lukas Haas Flea, Rory Scovel, Eric Roberts, P.J. Byrne and Damon Gupton have all been added to Damien Chazelle’s movie industry homage movie ‘Babylon’.
The newly announced cast members will join the already announced cast of Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Katherine Waterston.
Described as “The Great Gatsby on steroids” the project is set in the late 1920s during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies, it will explore the rise and fall of multiple characters and will feature both fictional and historical characters.
Also in news – First look images drop for BBC One mini-series ‘Ridley Road’
Roles are currently being kept under wraps but it is assumed that Minghella MGM’s head of production in the 1920s and 1930s, Irving Thalberg.
Written and directed by Chazelle, Olivia Hamilton, Matt Plouffe and Marc Platt are producing.
The newly announced cast members will join the already announced cast of Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Katherine Waterston.
Described as “The Great Gatsby on steroids” the project is set in the late 1920s during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies, it will explore the rise and fall of multiple characters and will feature both fictional and historical characters.
Also in news – First look images drop for BBC One mini-series ‘Ridley Road’
Roles are currently being kept under wraps but it is assumed that Minghella MGM’s head of production in the 1920s and 1930s, Irving Thalberg.
Written and directed by Chazelle, Olivia Hamilton, Matt Plouffe and Marc Platt are producing.
- 6/3/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
On May 31, 1934, The Hollywood Reporter published a special issue devoted to directing. The edition kicked off with prolific MGM producer Irving Thalberg’s essay “The Future of the Director.” Months earlier, Thalberg had written an article for THR noting of his output: “Since 1920, I have made an average of thirty-six pictures a year — some years I have made as high as sixty pictures.” For this column, the studio exec spoke favorably of helmers who could “stylize” features and how work with actors changed during the transition from silent films to talkies....
- 5/31/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On May 31, 1934, The Hollywood Reporter published a special issue devoted to directing. The edition kicked off with prolific MGM producer Irving Thalberg’s essay “The Future of the Director.” Months earlier, Thalberg had written an article for THR noting of his output: “Since 1920, I have made an average of thirty-six pictures a year — some years I have made as high as sixty pictures.” For this column, the studio exec spoke favorably of helmers who could “stylize” features and how work with actors changed during the transition from silent films to talkies....
- 5/31/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Sometime during the rickety, rollicking production of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind in 1974, the 1942 Oscar statuette for Best Original Screenplay (which Welles had won for Citizen Kane) disappeared. Only three decades later did cinematographer Gary Graver reveal that he’d placed the Oscar, blasphemously used as a prop for The Other Side of the Wind, in his storage. “Here, keep this,” Welles had told him. And so he did. The filmmaker’s daughter, Beatrice Welles, then sued Graver, and sold the statue herself. Because her father had “loathed everything that [the Citizen Kane] Oscar represented,” she argued, “To sell the one thing that had no value to him, but was of great value to others, perhaps was not so bad after all.”This award, however, held immense value for the other winner, the screenwriter and producer Herman J. Mankiewicz (nicknamed “Mank”), who threatened Orson Welles—with rumors and...
- 12/14/2020
- MUBI
Brought to life by a stellar cast of A-listers, David Fincher's Golden Era-styled Netflix drama, Mank, hops back and forth in time to develop a rounded picture of its troubled genius subject, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman). A love letter to the early days of Hollywood showbiz, the black-and-white film mostly follows the development of Citizen Kane. But how much of Mank is based on a true story, and how much of it is proverbial movie magic? While there's the occasional Hollywood flourish here and there, much of Mank is rooted in reality.
Did Mankiewicz Write Citizen Kane at a Ranch?
Early in the film, Mankiewicz, an established critic-turned-screenwriter, emerges from a car accident. He ends up at a quiet ranch in Victorville, CA, with a secretary named Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), who helps him type up the script for Citizen Kane. Filmmaker Orson Welles (Tom Burke) occasionally phones...
Did Mankiewicz Write Citizen Kane at a Ranch?
Early in the film, Mankiewicz, an established critic-turned-screenwriter, emerges from a car accident. He ends up at a quiet ranch in Victorville, CA, with a secretary named Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), who helps him type up the script for Citizen Kane. Filmmaker Orson Welles (Tom Burke) occasionally phones...
- 12/4/2020
- by Stacey Nguyen
- Popsugar.com
As we enter the throes of awards season more and more films are starting to make their qualifying runs in what is expected to be a very different kind of season. For starters, Searchlight Pictures is set to release Chloe Zhao’s buzzy pic of existential wanderlust Nomadland starring Frances McDormand for its virtual qualifying run starting today before expanding in 2021.
The film, which is set to run virtually at the Film Lincoln Center through December 11, follows Fern in the midst of the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada. We take a journey alongside Fern as she packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. This marks the third feature for Zhao and features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration...
The film, which is set to run virtually at the Film Lincoln Center through December 11, follows Fern in the midst of the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada. We take a journey alongside Fern as she packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. This marks the third feature for Zhao and features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration...
- 12/4/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
David Fincher’s “Mank” isn’t a work of history. It’s a film first and foremost.
“If you’re talking about the truth, you have to circumnavigate some of the fact,” Fincher tells Variety in this week’s cover story.
And yet, “Mank” sticks much closer to the truth than most fact-based films, if the Variety Archives are any indication.
Variety in the 1930s and ’40s was like a community bulletin board: Aside from covering the business, reporters wrote about daily life in a company town. Reading the archives is like a “Mank Study Guide,” with support for virtually every plot point and detail in the new movie.
For example, the Netflix film features a circus-themed party thrown by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, who in fact threw a similar event for 400 guests:
“W.R. Hearst in gold cloth bolero, and big red bow tie, cut a gigantic birthday cake … Bette Davis,...
“If you’re talking about the truth, you have to circumnavigate some of the fact,” Fincher tells Variety in this week’s cover story.
And yet, “Mank” sticks much closer to the truth than most fact-based films, if the Variety Archives are any indication.
Variety in the 1930s and ’40s was like a community bulletin board: Aside from covering the business, reporters wrote about daily life in a company town. Reading the archives is like a “Mank Study Guide,” with support for virtually every plot point and detail in the new movie.
For example, the Netflix film features a circus-themed party thrown by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, who in fact threw a similar event for 400 guests:
“W.R. Hearst in gold cloth bolero, and big red bow tie, cut a gigantic birthday cake … Bette Davis,...
- 11/18/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
A lot of movies about old Hollywood celebrate the opulence of the studio system or revel in the caricatures of the cigar-chomping moguls who established its lore. “Mank” chips away at those old chestnuts from the inside. David Fincher’s alluring black-and-white take on “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (an acerbic and funny Gary Oldman) presents .
Though forged in a meticulous 1930s backdrop that merges historical detail with the style and tone of that era, “Mank” is hardly a playful throwback. Fincher has made a cerebral psychodrama that rewards the engaged cinephile audience in its crosshairs, but even when cold to the touch, the movie delivers a complex and insightful look at American power structures and the potential for a creative spark to rankle their foundations.
The premise of “Mank” invites certain assumptions about its argument, so it’s worth dispelling those up top: Fincher, working from a dense...
Though forged in a meticulous 1930s backdrop that merges historical detail with the style and tone of that era, “Mank” is hardly a playful throwback. Fincher has made a cerebral psychodrama that rewards the engaged cinephile audience in its crosshairs, but even when cold to the touch, the movie delivers a complex and insightful look at American power structures and the potential for a creative spark to rankle their foundations.
The premise of “Mank” invites certain assumptions about its argument, so it’s worth dispelling those up top: Fincher, working from a dense...
- 11/6/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.” That’s a valuable piece of screenwriting advice offered up by legendary movie writer Herman J. Mankiewicz in “Mank,” but it’s also the film lowering the bar for itself – impressions of people and incidents are all that this immaculately produced and beautifully acted film ultimately has to offer.
In telling the story of the creation of the original screenplay for what would become “Citizen Kane,” one of the true masterpieces of American cinema, director David Fincher (working from a screenplay by his late father Jack Fincher) frames the film as the story of a career-dead, alcoholic Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) drumming out one final script partially to fulfill a contract with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre but mainly to settle an old grudge against former benefactor William Randolph Hearst.
In telling the story of the creation of the original screenplay for what would become “Citizen Kane,” one of the true masterpieces of American cinema, director David Fincher (working from a screenplay by his late father Jack Fincher) frames the film as the story of a career-dead, alcoholic Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) drumming out one final script partially to fulfill a contract with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre but mainly to settle an old grudge against former benefactor William Randolph Hearst.
- 11/6/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
When you watch a biographical movie about an artist, the drama of creativity — the writing of “In Cold Blood,” the invention of funk — tends to be front and center. But in “Mank,” David Fincher’s raptly intricate and enticing movie about Herman J. Mankiewicz, the fabled screenwriter of ’30s and ’40s Hollywood, and how he wrote the script for “Citizen Kane,” the act of creation is just one of many things that flow by. That’s part of what gives the movie its uniquely atmospheric, at times tumultuous tone of you-are-there authenticity. , and the effect is to lend it a dizzying time-machine splendor.
In the opening sequence, 1930s cars tool along a California country roadway, kicking up dust in a way that’s captured with supreme luster by Eric Messerschmidt’s exquisitely retro deep-focus black-and-white cinematography. The cars arrive at North Verde Ranch in Victorville, about 90 miles from Los Angeles,...
In the opening sequence, 1930s cars tool along a California country roadway, kicking up dust in a way that’s captured with supreme luster by Eric Messerschmidt’s exquisitely retro deep-focus black-and-white cinematography. The cars arrive at North Verde Ranch in Victorville, about 90 miles from Los Angeles,...
- 11/6/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The setting of David Fincher’s Mank largely resides in the confines of Herman J. Mankiewicz’s bedroom and its surrounding desert vistas. The man who is about to pen what many consider the bible for the greatest film ever made was sent there—banished, really—by Orson Welles in order to keep a low-profile from the Hollywood press, and to keep “Mank” out of boozy trouble. Thus his North Verde ranch is a location of moody interiors and desolate skies, and it’s framed by Fincher with the kind of reverence one might expect for an actual bible.
It’s not hard to guess why Fincher feels this way. This is the site, in Mank’s telling, of Citizen Kane’s genesis: the birthplace of a movie which has been declared twice by the American Film Institute to be the greatest film ever made, and which in 1941 was revolutionary.
It’s not hard to guess why Fincher feels this way. This is the site, in Mank’s telling, of Citizen Kane’s genesis: the birthplace of a movie which has been declared twice by the American Film Institute to be the greatest film ever made, and which in 1941 was revolutionary.
- 11/6/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
When Gary Oldman staggers onto an MGM film set as hungover screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank and Louis B. Mayer asks who he is, Irving Thalberg replies dismissively, “Just a writer.” David Fincher’s forensic probe into the turbulent weeks Mankiewicz spent finishing his Citizen Kane script for Orson Welles aims to correct that slight and restore the reputation of an often overlooked architect of that 1941 classic, casting a jaundiced eye over 1930s Hollywood just as the Screen Writers Guild was in its infancy. Steeped in the inspirations behind Welles’ debut film and the bold stylistic tropes that ...
- 11/6/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
When Gary Oldman staggers onto an MGM film set as hungover screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank and Louis B. Mayer asks who he is, Irving Thalberg replies dismissively, “Just a writer.” David Fincher’s forensic probe into the turbulent weeks Mankiewicz spent finishing his Citizen Kane script for Orson Welles aims to correct that slight and restore the reputation of an often overlooked architect of that 1941 classic, casting a jaundiced eye over 1930s Hollywood just as the Screen Writers Guild was in its infancy. Steeped in the inspirations behind Welles’ debut film and the bold stylistic tropes that ...
- 11/6/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Gary Oldman stars as Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in the new trailer for Mank, the latest film from director David Fincher (The Social Network, Gone Girl, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). The film will premiere in select theaters this November, followed by a global release on Netflix on December 4th.
Set in Thirties Hollywood, Mank portrays Mankiewicz as an alcoholic and a scathing social critic, re-evaluating the social and political ties in his industry as he races to finish the screenplay for Orson Welles’ magnum opus on time.
Set in Thirties Hollywood, Mank portrays Mankiewicz as an alcoholic and a scathing social critic, re-evaluating the social and political ties in his industry as he races to finish the screenplay for Orson Welles’ magnum opus on time.
- 10/21/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
The creators of HBO Max’s Search Party join Josh and Joe to talk about their favorite films.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Tenet (2020)
Piranha (1978)
Piranha 3D (2010)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jaws (1975)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Looker (1981)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Waiting For Guffman (1996)
True Stories (1986)
Another Year (2010)
Abigail’s Party (1977)
Brazil (1985)
The Pink Panther (1963)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Network (1976)
Idiocracy (2006)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
About Schmidt (2002)
Please Give (2010)
Duck Soup (1933)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Love Potion No. 9 (1992) – Sarah
The Birdcage (1996) – Charles
Mandy (2018)
Other Notable Items
Search Party TV series (2016- )
The Coen Brothers
The DGA
Jon Favreau
Garry Marshall
Christopher Nolan
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV series (2000-2015)
Jurassic Park series
Laura Dern
Jeff Goldblum
Sam Neill
Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Tenet (2020)
Piranha (1978)
Piranha 3D (2010)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jaws (1975)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Looker (1981)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Waiting For Guffman (1996)
True Stories (1986)
Another Year (2010)
Abigail’s Party (1977)
Brazil (1985)
The Pink Panther (1963)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Network (1976)
Idiocracy (2006)
A League Of Their Own (1992)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
About Schmidt (2002)
Please Give (2010)
Duck Soup (1933)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Love Potion No. 9 (1992) – Sarah
The Birdcage (1996) – Charles
Mandy (2018)
Other Notable Items
Search Party TV series (2016- )
The Coen Brothers
The DGA
Jon Favreau
Garry Marshall
Christopher Nolan
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV series (2000-2015)
Jurassic Park series
Laura Dern
Jeff Goldblum
Sam Neill
Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton...
- 10/13/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
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