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The papal drama “Conclave” has been named the best film of 2024 at the Ee BAFTA Film Awards, which took place on Sunday in London.

Voters from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts spread the wealth, giving “Conclave” and “The Brutalist” four awards each and giving two to “Dune: Part Two,” “Wicked,” “Emilia Perez,” “A Real Pain,” “Anora” and “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.”

The win for “Conclave” is the most significant for the film in a season in which “Anora” has been winning most of the major awards. It also gave director Edward Berger two BAFTA Best Film wins in the last three years, following his first for “All Quiet on the Western Front” two years ago.

The only other directors to have two films win the top BAFTA award in a span of three years are Mike Nichols (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “The Graduate...

Sally Field's 1996 psychological thriller has become a global Netflix hit nearly three decades after its release. Field is a highly decorated actress whose career has spanned over six decades, starting during the 1960s with the sitcoms Gidget and The Flying Nun before transitioning to acclaimed dramatic roles. Field won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1980 for Norma Rae, her second for Places in the Heart in 1985, and earned an additional nomination for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln in 2013.

Though she's best known for starring in acclaimed dramas, Field has shown some versatility and also ventured into darker territory with roles in thrillers. This includes suspenseful projects such as Sydney Pollack's Absence of Malice in 1981, in which she played a journalist entangled in an ethical dilemma. At the height of the genre's popularity in 1996, Field starred in the psychological thriller, Eye for an Eye, delivering a gripping performance...

With a title that translates as Neighbourhood of Ill Repute, and featuring a bisexual love triangle, the 1971 film wowed festivals – before disappearing without trace. Now it’s been rediscovered – by accident

Nobody used the phrase “having a moment” back in 1971. Had they done, it could have been applied without contradiction to developments in queer cinema. It was four years after the Sexual Offences Act 1967 had partially decriminalised sex between consenting men over 21 in England and Wales, and two years after the Stonewall uprising in New York City. Queer desire was everywhere: in Sunday Bloody Sunday, Death in Venice, Pink Narcissus, the trans classic Women in Revolt, the lesbian horror Daughters of Darkness, the gay porn landmark Boys in the Sand and Rosa von Praunheim’s droll and provocative It Is Not the Homosexual Who is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives. Fassbinder, who could cough out movies in his sleep,...

10 Celebrities Who Started as Background Actors - Main Image

The journey to stardom is not an easy one. While some celebrities are fortunate enough to be born into the business, others must work tirelessly to climb the ladder of success.

In fact, many of today's most famous stars began their careers as extras in television shows or movies, often just passing by as vague silhouettes in the background—so unrecognizable that you might be surprised to learn they were ever there.

Every actor has a story to tell, many of which come from humble beginnings that can be truly inspiring.

After all, nobody starts at the top, and becoming a great actor doesn’t happen overnight. With that in mind, here are ten celebrities who started as background actors, and their journeys might just surprise you.

1. Brad Pitt

Many may know Brad Pitt as Hollywood royalty, but his journey to stardom began much more modestly.

Warning! Spoilers for That '90s Show part 3 ahead.

Kitty's character in That '70s Show changed in season 4 but reverted in That '90s Show, where she is shown secretly smoking again. Debra Jo Rupp's personal decision to quit smoking influenced Kitty's character development on the show. That '90s Show maintains the imperfect yet lovable character of Kitty, reminding audiences of their moms or grandmas' quirks.

That '70s Show season 4 made a major change to Kitty Forman's character, but That '90s Show has changed her back. Kitty is among the most beloved characters of the nostalgia-based franchise, and this comes down largely to her various quirks. She is a loving wife, mother, and grandmothersweet to her corebut this isn't to say that she's without sour spots. Some of Kitty's best moments in That '70s Show were when she was under high stress. However, how she goes about handling this has changed over the years.

With nearly 1,700 titles in their catalog, it’s hard to discern where exactly to start when exploring the Criterion Collection. To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the company has now made it a bit easier as they’ve unveiled CC40, a 40-film, 49-disc collection retailing for around $640 that is now the new go-to gift for that budding cinephile in your life.

“This monumental forty-film box set celebrates forty years of the Criterion Collection by gathering an electrifying mix of classic and contemporary films, and presenting them with all their special features and essays in a deluxe clothbound, slipcased edition,” they note. “CC40’s eclectic selection includes the releases most frequently chosen by the hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, and other movie-loving luminaries who have visited Criterion over the years, as documented in our popular Closet Picks video series. Neither a historical survey nor a top-forty compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology...

Kitty's absence from her school nurse job adds depth to her character in That '90s Show. The show misses out on potential comedy by not showing Kitty working at the high school. Future seasons of That '90s Show could explore Kitty's interesting storyline by changing the setting.

Kitty Forman is one of the best characters in That '90s Show so I'm disappointed we didn't get to see one particular Kitty storyline in That '90s Show part 2. Debra Jo Rupp's Kitty Forman has been a popular character ever since she first appeared as Eric Forman's mother in That '70s Show. That '90s Show shows Kitty shining in her role as Leia's grandmother, but there is still something missing with her newer role.

Kitty is not only a loving wife and grandmother, but she is also an ambitious homemaker who works hard every day to help her family. Her scenes with her husband Red,...

TCM’s talk show ‘Two for One’ is set to air an episode featuring acclaimed director Todd Haynes on June 22, 2024, at 8 p.m. Haynes has curated a double feature for the show, selecting two films that will be presented back-to-back: ‘The Go-Between’ (1971) and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ (1971). ‘Two for One’ is a unique […]

Two for One: Todd Haynes – The Go-Between & Sunday Bloody Sunday...

In September 2021, Olivia Colman bagged her first career Emmy for “The Crown” despite having failed on her Oscar bid for “The Father” five months earlier. This made her the 16th performer to triumph at the Emmys after going home empty-handed at the same year’s Oscars and the fourth to do so during the 21st century. The release of the 2024 Emmy nominations ballots confirmed that nine of the 16 actors who lost at the latest Oscars ceremony are capable of joining Colman on said list.

Gold Derby’s current Emmy odds indicate that the man and woman with the best hopes of following in Colman’s footsteps are Ryan Gosling and Jodie Foster, who just earned their respective third and fifth Academy Award notices for their supporting turns in “Barbie” and “Nyad.” They are now generally expected to share in the experience of being first-time acting Emmy nominees thanks to his...

“I felt ashamed of myself for watching. No one should have a chance to see so much desire, so much need for a prize. And so much pain when [it] was not given … I felt disgusted with myself. As though I were attending a public hanging.”

Those were the words of the late Glenda Jackson, as she described to The New York Times her recent experience watching the Academy Awards on television in 1979.

Ironically, it was well after she had already been gifted with two Best Actress Oscars herself. She was not present to accept those honors — for 1970’s “Women in Love” and 1973’s “A Touch of Class.” She was also absent when she was Best Actress-nominated for 1971’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and 1975’s “Hedda.”

See Watch our lively chats with dozens of 2024 Emmy contenders

I have to wonder if Miss Jackson ever watched the now-infamous clip of her winning her...

A movie marathon with our favorite auteurs? Where do we sign up?

Turner Classic Movies’ latest limited series “Two for One” features curated double features coupled with commentary from select guest programmers like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and more. The upcoming TCM series is hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, who will interview each director about why they chose to highlight their two chosen films.

“Two for One” will feature 12 nights of double features, beginning April 6. With the logline “two films, one filmmaker, countless perspectives,” the series is set to span all of cinematic history. Directors will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.

Martin Scorsese kicks off the show with a conversation comparing “Blood on the Moon” and “One Touch of Venus.” The following week, actress/director Olivia Wilde picks “Auntie Mame” and 1976 documentary “Grey Gardens.

Turner Classic Movies have announced a new limited series, Two for One, that will feature 12 nights of double features curated by some of the most celebrated filmmakers in Hollywood beginning April 6. TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz will be joined by each director, including Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Spike Lee, Nicole Holofcener, and Rian Johnson, to introduce the two films they chose. They will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.

“This was such an eclectic group of filmmakers to sit down with, which was invigorating, from Martin Scorsese talking about a Robert Mitchum western, to Spike Lee discussing Elia Kazan, to Olivia Wilde’s breakdown of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame,” said Ben Mankiewicz. “In these double features, these 12 directors lead us on an insider’s journey through cinematic history.”

See...

Throughout 2023, we have been updating our “In Memoriam” photo gallery (view above). Scroll through to remember 36 entertainers from film, television, theater and music. Many were winners at the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and/or Tonys. Here is a closer look at just a few of those we celebrate in our gallery:

Veteran actor Alan Arkin died on June 29 at age 89. He was an Oscar winner for “Little Miss Sunshine” and was also nominated for “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” and “Argo.” He was a six-time Emmy nominee and won a Tony Award for “Enter Laughing.”

Composer Burt Bacharach died on February 8 at age 94. He was a six-time Grammy winner and also won at the Oscars and Emmys. Some of hit songs included “Walk on By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Alfie,” “What the World...

The dynamics of the Forman family are a highlight of both That '70s Show and That '90s Show, providing numerous jokes throughout the shows' nine combined seasons. Red Forman is the patriarch of the family, known for his straight-faced humor and beloved by fans of both shows. Kitty Forman, his wife, is cheerful but can be easily overwhelmed. Eric Forman is the main protagonist of That '70s Show, but his absence in the later seasons led to a decline in the series' quality. His relationship with Donna, his long-term girlfriend and later wife, is a central storyline. Leia, their daughter, is a main character in That '90s Show on Netflix.

That '70s Show and its spinoff, That '90s Show, mainly revolve around the Forman family, which consists of Red, Kitty, Eric, Leia, and a handful of other members who are seen over the course of both television shows. The popular...

U2 has announced the initial dates for their upcoming residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The set of performances will begin on September 29.

These dates are the band’s first series of live shows in four years.

Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. will not be playing with the band to undergo and recover from surgery. Bram van den Berg will take over in his place.

The Sphere is a new $1.8 billion, 20,000-seat venue. It houses 580,000 square feet of LED paneling, 170,000 directional speakers and a haptic floor system. You can see the band take a tour of the facility below.

>Get U2 Vegas Residency Concert Tickets Now!

U2 Las Vegas Residency Setlist

U2 has not performed live in four years. The below setlist comes from their The Joshua Tree Tour in a performance on December 15, 2019, in Mumbai, India.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I Will Follow

New Year’s Day

Bad

Pride (In the Name of Love...

In the fall of 2021, Olivia Colman scored her first career Emmy for “The Crown” despite not having succeeded on her Oscar bid for “The Father” that spring. This made her the 16th performer to prevail at the Emmys directly after going home empty-handed at the Oscars and the fourth to do so during the 21st century. Now that the 2023 Emmy nominations ballots have been released, eight of the 16 actors who lost Oscars at the most recent ceremony officially have shots at joining Colman on this list.

Gold Derby’s Emmy odds currently indicate that the man and woman with the best hopes of following in Colman’s footsteps are Brian Tyree Henry and Hong Chau, who just received their first career Academy Award nominations for their respective supporting turns in “Causeway” and “The Whale.” Henry is seeking his second comedy supporting Emmy notice for “Atlanta,” while Chau could pull double...

Throughout 2023, our In Memoriam photo gallery above has been honoring entertainment legends who have died. Click through the gallery at the halfway mark of this year to see more about Oscar winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, television favorites and more.

Some of the 17 celebrities included:

Veteran actor Alan Arkin died on June 29 at age 89. He was an Oscar winner for “Little Miss Sunshine” and was also nominated for “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” and “Argo.” He was a six-time Emmy nominee and won a Tony Award for “Enter Laughing.”

Composer Burt Bacharach died on February 8 at age 94. He was a six-time Grammy winner and also won at the Oscars and Emmys. Some of hit songs included “Walk on By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Alfie,” “What the World Needs Now” and “The Look of Love.

by Eric Blume

Marcello Mastroianni’s 1977 Best Actor Oscar nomination for Ettore Scola’s film A Special Day was one of the first examples of a straight actors being recognized for playing a gay role. Prior to that, we’d only had Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday and Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, and neither of those actors had such an entrenched persona of the “macho lover” as did Mastroianni.

A Special Day gives us not just one Italian cinema icon playing against type, but two...

“She’s 100% a professional, and this is a great night for professionals,” said the actor Juliet Mills as she accepted Glenda Jackson’s first Best Actress Oscar on the absent winner’s behalf at the 1970 Academy Awards. On the face of it, it sounds an oddly impersonal thing to say in the circumstances — almost as if Mills knew nothing of Jackson, and opted for the vaguest praise possible.

It proved, however, a rather apt way for Jackson, then 34, to be welcomed into Hollywood’s inner circle. A proudly working-class Brit who didn’t look or act (on screen or off) like the blushing English roses typically imported from across the pond, Jackson had markedly more interest in being a professional actor than in being a movie star. That spared her, even as she racked up assignments and awards, much of the fuss and frippery associated with A-list status — going to the Oscars included.

Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning performer who had a second career in politics as a British lawmaker before an acclaimed late-life return to stage and screen, has died at age 87.

Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner said she died Thursday at her home in London after a short illness. He said she had recently completed filming “’The Great Escaper”, in which she co-starred with 90-year-old Michael Caine.

Caine said Jackson was “one of our greatest movie actresses. I shall miss her.”

Born into a working-class family in Birkhenhead, northwest England, in 1936 Jackson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company — where she starred in the cutting-edge drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook — and became one of the biggest British stars of the 1960s and 70s, winning two Academy Awards, for the brooding D.H. Lawrence adaptation “Women in Love” in 1971 and the...

Glenda Jackson, whose illustrious career spanned from classic feature films like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Women in Love and A Touch of Class to a political career at the British Parliament, passed peacefully this morning at her home in London. She was 87 years old. Jackson has been said to have been battling an illness recently. Although she had transitioned from movies to civil service, the actress will appear in one last film project as she just wrapped her scenes opposite Sir Michael Caine in a movie titled The Great Escaper.

Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner released an official statement according to Variety. In the statement, Larner declares, ”Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”

In addition to films,...

Glenda Jackson, the British actress who hit the snooze bar on her acting career for a 23-year career in politics, died on Thursday, as per her representatives. During her peak years in the 1970s and 80s, she won two Oscars (and was nominated for two more) and two Emmy Awards. She was nominated for four Tony Awards, finally winning one in 2018 after a late-in-life career resurgence. She was 87 years old.

Jackson, whose father was a bricklayer and whose mother was a barmaid and domestic, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was told by the academy’s principal that, due to her looks, she would likely only find work as a character actress, and she shouldn’t depend on getting jobs after 40.

This proved to be the opposite of true. Her big break came when experimental theater director Peter Brook cast her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s groundbreaking adaptation of “Marat/Sade.

Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar- and Emmy Award-winning actress who later made the transition to politics, has died. She was 87 years old.

In a statement, Jackson’s agent Lionel Lerner told our sister site Deadline that she “died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London… after a brief illness with her family at her side.” A specific cause of death was not disclosed.

More from TVLineAnother World's Nancy Frangione Dead at 70Young and the Restless' Sharon Farrell Dead at 82Tony Bennett Dead at 96 TV Stars We Lost in 2023 View Gallery56 Images

Jackson’s career spanned seven decades, during which she...

Glenda Jackson in Ken Russell's Women In Love

Glenda Jackson, who made her name in films like Women In Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday and A Touch Of Class before going on to spend 23 years as Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (later Hampstead and Kilburn), has died at the age of 87, it was announced today. The Birkenhead-born star, who won two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony over the course of her career, made a late life return to acting and her final film, The Great Escaper, is expected to be released early next year.

A forthright woman who always put politics front and centre in her life and once described herself as an antisocial socialist, Jackson chose films which gave her the chance to address issues she felt passionate about, such as Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, which broke onscreen taboos about homosexuality and female sexual expression. Offscreen,...

Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar winner who walked away from a hugely successful acting career to spend nearly a quarter-century in the U.K. parliament, only to make a comeback on the stage, died Thursday. She was 87.

Jackson died peacefully after a brief illness at her home in Blackheath, London, and her family was at her side, her agent Lionel Larner said in a statement. “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses, and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.

She recently completed filming The Great Escaper opposite Michael Caine, Larner noted.

The British actress collected a slew of honors that included best actress Academy Awards for Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973); two Emmys for her performance as Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R (a role she also played in the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots); and a...

Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning British actress and former Labour MP, has died. She was 87.

In a statement, her agent Lionel Larner said she died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, following a “brief illness.”

Larner’s statement read: “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress, and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.”

Statement continued: “She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”

Jackson was perhaps best known for her two Oscar-winning performances in Ken Russell’s 1970’s pic Women in Love, a D. H. Lawrence adaptation, where she starred alongside Alan Bates and Oliver Reed and 1973’s A Touch of Class. Jackson also won a BAFTA Best Actress gong for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971).

Jackson was born in 1936 in North West England. She studied at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...

Jackson won Academy Awards for ’Women In Love’ and ’A Touch Of Class’.

UK actress Glenda Jackson, known for her Oscar-winning performances in Women In Love and A Touch Of Class, has died aged 87.

Jackson, who was also a former Labour MP, ”died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side,” according to her agent Lionel Larner.

Born in Birkenhead, UK, Jackson’s acting career began in theatre in the late 1950’s before she made her big screen debut with an uncredited role in Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life...

Glenda Jackson, who segued from a successful actress — Oscars for “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class” and two Emmys for “Elizabeth R” — into a 23-year career as member of the U.K.’s House of Commons, has died. She was 87.

Jackson died after a brief illness at her home in London, her agent Lionel Larner said. “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” Larner said in a statement.

Aside from her prize-winning roles, Jackson gave terrific performances in such films as 1967’s “Marat/Sade” (as Charlotte Corday), “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and on TV in “The Patricia Neal Story,” a 1981 work about that actress’s stroke and recovery with husband Roald Dahl. A defining role in...

Todd Haynes will be spending the better part of his May in France. Between a career retrospective at Paris’ Centre Pompidou and the premiere of his latest film, May December, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscar nominee will be jetting all over the country. The back-to-back events have meant Haynes has been working on his latest release while reliving the entirety of his film career, which has included Far From Heaven, Carol and Wonderstruck. Says Haynes of the retrospective, which will include a screening of May December, “It’ll be a trip.”

His latest film stars Natalie Portman as a Hollywood actress who travels to Georgia to research the life of Gracie (Julianne Moore, teaming with Haynes for the fourth time), who became tabloid fodder after she started a May-December relationship with Joe (Charles Melton), a man 23 years her junior. While preparing for the film about the couple’s past,...

That '70s Show ran for eight seasons but many of the episodes were broadcast out of order. The correct order can be determined by perceptive fans. The beloved period sitcom debuted in 1998 on Fox and aired 200 episodes in total. That '70s Show focused on six teenagers living in Point Place, Wisconsin. When the crew wasn't hanging out in Eric Forman's (Topher Grace) basement, they were usually getting into trouble due to their extreme boredom. They also spent a lot of time learning about relationships, society, and life in general while growing up in the '70s. The series received a sequel following their children, set about 15 years after the original series finale, called That '90s Show.

It's not uncommon for sitcoms to air their episodes out of production order, especially for shows that were broadcast in the '90s and earlier. As it wasn't required to watch every episode...

“This is a song of surrender,” Bono ad-libs on a low-key, acoustic version of U2’s 1984 epic “Bad,” one of many highlights from their fascinating new album, Songs of Surrender. Instead of the massive, impossibly moving showstopper about young heroin deaths that floored Live Aid nearly 40 years ago, “Bad” here becomes an acoustic ballad, complete with delicate cello and wildly different lyrics that transform the song into a meditation about giving in to the passage of time and the loss and resignation that comes with that process.

That sense of...

The jokes were zipping as David Letterman got together on stage in Los Angeles Wednesday night with two of his favorite musicians – U2’s Bono and The Edge – for the world premiere of the Disney+ documentary Bono and The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman. But it was The Edge who landed the first barb.

At the Q&a for the film, which revolves around Bono and Edge working on reimagined versions of U2’s canon in Dublin, with Letterman as their white-bearded interlocutor, Edge was asked why he and his bandmate thought to bring Letterman along on their cinematic journey.

“Well, being honest, the first idea was Jay Leno,” he cracked. More earnestly, he added, “We’re huge fans, have been for a long time. We’ve known Dave for many years and he was foolish enough once to invite us to play for an entire week on The Late Show.

Disney+ reveals the official trailer and key art for the highly anticipated docu-special, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman,” is set to premiere globally on Disney+ on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, coinciding with U2’s highly anticipated album “Songs Of Surrender” ― a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band’s catalog, re-recorded and reimagined. In the docu-special, from Disney Branded Television, Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville captures Dave Letterman on his first visit to Dublin to hang out with Bono and The Edge in their hometown, experience Dublin, and join the two U2 musicians for a concert performance unlike any they’ve done before. From Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, Neville’s Tremolo Productions, and Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman” is part concert movie, part travel adventure plus...

Today Disney+ has released a new trailer for the upcoming docu-special "Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman." Not only are we getting a chance to watch U2's Bono and The Edge head back to Dublin, but they're also taking the talk show host with them for his first-ever visit to Ireland. The band members have been friends with Letterman for 25 years, but they've never been off U.S. soil together.

The whole thing is set to coincide with the release of U2's new album "Songs of Surrender," which is "a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band's catalog, re-recorded and reimagined." The use of "reimagined" is interesting here because, in the trailer, Letterman mentions the changing of lyrics to some of the songs as things have changed in their lives. He introduces the band members to a crowd at a concert, which...

For almost four years of siege in the 1990s, the city of Sarajevo concussed from shelling, the rumblings of armored vehicles and the repeated pop of sniper fire.

But in stolen moments, other more hopeful sounds broke through: music coming from underground clubs and through TV sets whenever electricity wasn’t interrupted. Songs like U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “One.” The human need for the joy and release of music underpins the documentary Kiss the Future, which recounts how Bono and band took up the cause of Sarajevo. The documentary produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Anthony, and Drew Vinton and directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain made its world premiere tonight at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film (a sales title at the Berlinale) takes us back to 1992 when Serbia, under the barbaric leadership of President Slobodan Milošević, embarked on a campaign of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing in...

The 76th BAFTAs take place on Sunday, February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall with Richard E. Grant hosting. Germany’s ‘”All Quiet on the Western Front” leads with 14 nominations, followed by 10 for “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and nine for “Elvis.”

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in April 1947 as the British Film Academy by luminaries including David Lean, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Lean was named chairman of the awards that would “recognize those which had contributed outstanding creative work towards the advancement of British film.” Eleven years later, the British Film Academy merged with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors.

The first awards were handed out on May 29, 1949 at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square to honor films released in Britain in 1947-48. Best Picture went to William Wyler’s 1946 release “The Best Years of Our Lives,...

Late last week, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a scripted series about U2 is coming to Netflix via J.J. Abrams and Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten. “Details of U2’s involvement are being kept under wraps,” reads the report, “though sources say the band behind hits including ‘With or Without You’ and ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ is expected to be involved and sanction the project.”

The Queen biopic not only won Rami Malek a Best Actor Academy Award, but it introduced the band to a whole new generation of fans.

U2 have shared an emotional, acoustic rendition of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” to mark the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” massacre that inspired the 1983 hit.

30 January 2022 – With love, Bono & Edge pic.twitter.com/7hOVk1w3fa

— U2 (@U2) January 30, 2022

On January 30, 1972, 26 people were shot — and 14 killed — when British soldiers opened fire on a protest march in the Northern Ireland city of Derry. All of the protestors killed in the “Bloody Sunday” massacre were unarmed, and the soldiers involved largely escaped justice for their role in what became one of the...

If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.

Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...

This week marks the 30th anniversary of U2’s Achtung Baby, though the Edge is having some trouble processing the fact that it’s truly been that long. “When you get into the quantum physics of time and the expanding universe and black-hole theory, there is a theory that time is speeding up,” he tells Rolling Stone on a Zoom call from Dublin. “So within a lifetime, you might actually start to notice the difference. I genuinely feel like time is flying past now in a way that it didn’t years ago.

Though there were vestiges of traditional Hollywood in 1971 with the releases of big musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and an extravagant, albeit old-fashioned, historical epic “Nicholas & Alexander,” it was the untraditional fare that dominated the year with such films as Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange,” Alan J. Pakula’s “Klute,” Gordon Parks’ “Shaft” and John Schlesinger’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

Two of the most lauded and influential films of the 1970s made their debuts 50 years ago and earned places in Oscars history: Peter Bogdanovich’s black-and-white study of a dying Texas town “The Last Picture Show” and William Friedkin’s pulsating crime thriller “The French Connection.”

Both directors had made movies before, but these productions made them critics darlings and each film changed the careers of their stars. “The French Connection’ won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, director, and actor for Gene Hackman. “The Last Picture Show...

John Schlesinger decided not to attend the Academy Awards in 1970, even though his film “Midnight Cowboy” had been nominated for Best Picture and he was up for Best Director. On the evening of April 7, 1970, otherwise known as Oscar night, the British director remained in London with his American boyfriend, the photographer Michael Childers. Schlesinger didn’t want to make the brutal 24-hour roundtrip flight to Hollywood and back, and besides, he was well into production on his follow-up film, “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” For him, it was a very personal project, and, in some ways, an even more controversial film than “Midnight Cowboy.”

As Schlesinger explained it, the genesis of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” went back to the early 1960s when he was directing his first play for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “At the time, I had a very intense affair with one of the actors, a man who was bisexual,” Schlesinger recalled.

Jackson returned to acting in 2016 following a 25-year hiatus.

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) has made UK actress Glenda Jackson the latest recipient of its honorary Richard Harris award.

She was presented the award in a private ceremony on May 11 by Josh O’Connor, her co-star in Eva Husson’s upcoming Mothering Sunday.

The award is given to an actor or actress who has contributed significantly to British films throughout their career. Previous recipients include Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Day-Lewis and most recently Kristin Scott Thomas in 2019.

Jackson won the 1971 Oscar for best actress for her leading...

Veteran British thespian Glenda Jackson has been recognized as the latest recipient of the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).

The award is conferred for outstanding contribution by an actor to the British film industry. The award was presented to her by her co-star in the upcoming film “Mothering Sunday,” Josh O’Connor.

Previous winners include Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent.

Jackson won leading actress at the BAFTA TV awards 2020 for her role in “Elizabeth is Missing” (pictured).

Jackson won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating she was soon discovered by the legendary Peter Brook for his “Theatre of Cruelty” revue, and went on to appear in plays across the West End and Broadway. In 1970, she starred as artist Gudrun Brangwen...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Charles Grodin in Beethoven's 2nd (1993)Beloved actor Charles Grodin, known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, as well as the Beethoven films and The Great Muppet Caper, has died. Paul Schrader's The Card Counter has been slated for a release by Focus Features on September 10, after an extended delay during the early months of the pandemic. Written and directed by Schrader, the film follows a gambler who assists a young man in his revenge against a military colonel. Robert Eggers has also managed to complete his Viking epic The Northman after a long pause in 2020 due to the pandemic. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, and Björk, the film will be released on April 8, 2022. Meanwhile, Wes Anderson, whose film The French Dispatch will be premiering at Cannes this July,...

Chadwick Boseman’s Best Actor Oscar nomination this morning for Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom reps the seventh time that an actor has received such a posthumous honor in either the Best Actor or Supporting Actor category from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Boseman’s turn as ambitious cornet player Levee, who raises tensions with the white record label management and spars with his fellow jazz band members in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom reps his first Oscar nomination. Boseman’s nom today was one of five received by the George C. Wolfe directed feature.

Boseman, who made a huge splash as T’Challa in Disney/Marvel’s three-time Oscar winning $1.34 billion grossing feature Black Panther in 2018, died at 43 on Aug. 28, 2020, after a long, quiet battle with colon cancer. His death left the industry shocked and in despair. Not only did the actor play notable Black...

Paul Greengrass may no longer be a journalist, but he has successfully brought a journalistic style to both action films and historical dramas over his career. The filmmaker is best known for his hand-held, cinéma vérité style where the camera moves like a cameraman embedded in the scene, struggling to capture real events. His style is often imitated, though few are able to match the subtly precise way that Greengrass constructs his sequences through quick cutting and frenetic camerawork. Despite being famous for a specific filmmaking technique, Greengrass’ filmography is still quite diverse, which should be apparent in the gallery below.

SEEMark Bridges interview: ‘News of the World’ costume designer

He began his career working for the audacious British current affairs program “World in Action.” He transitioned to fiction filmmaking with a series of TV movies based on historical events. His breakout hit was the historical drama “Bloody Sunday,” chronicling the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings.

The official Twitter page for Netflix’s supernatural teen drama Chilling Adventures of Sabrina came under fire this past weekend after posting what many judged to be a wholly insensitive tweet. On Sunday, January 10th, the Caos social media account shared a batch of behind-the-scenes pics of the show’s stars – namely, Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina Spellman), Jaz Sinclair (Roz Walker), Gavin Leatherwood (Nick Scratch), Miranda Otto (Zelda) and Lucy Davis (Hilda) – splattered with fake blood. The caption read: “Sunday bloody Sunday.”

That might seem innocent at first glance, but the tweet soon incurred backlash from users who felt the pun was in poor taste. You see, it was likely referencing classic U2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” which was written about the atrocious Bloody Sunday massacre that took place in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1972, at the height of the civil unrest in the country during that period. Understandably, many didn’t...

Updated, 6Am Pst: The offending tweet has now been updated and Netflix has apologized.

“Our tweet was unacceptable and has since been removed. We are very sorry for the hurt and distress it caused,” said a spokesperson.

Previously, 4.20Am Pst: The official Twitter account for Netflix’s supernatural series The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina caused outrage on Sunday, January 10, with a tweet that made reference to “Bloody Sunday” and featured a series of pics of cast members including star Kiernan Shipka splattered in fake blood. See below.

The presumably inadvertent reference – Netflix has been asked for comment – to the tragic 1972 massacre in Derry, Northern Ireland, prompted fans of the show to reply pointing out that the caption would likely be taken as offensive and that the streamer might want to re-think it.

“Please take a minute to read your caption, then put it into google. Then apologise to your Irish...

Singer and activist Deon Jones was taking part in a peaceful protest in Los Angeles after the killing of George Floyd when a police officer fired a rubber bullet at his face from close range. Had the projectile hit him an inch lower, it could’ve blinded him — an inch higher, he could have died.

As Jones recovered, his long-time collaborator, the artist Glenn Kaino, enlisted several artists, including jazz pianist/Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste and producer Butch Vig, for a new musical project — a reimagining of U2’s classic 1983 protest song,...