समाचार

While he may be best remembered for his tough guy roles in classics like The Godfather and (Best Movie You Never Saw fave) Thief, actor James Caan had a soft side. Back in 1976, he did a cameo (as himself) in the underrated Mel Brooks comedy Silent Movie. The role led to an unlikely friendship with the director, helped by the fact that they only lived about a block away from each other. In his fabulous book, All About Me! (Buy it here), Brooks affectionately remembers how, around the time they were shooting Silent Movie, Caan’s dog gave birth to five puppies, and he offered one to Brooks, and his wife, the legendary actress Anne Bancroft.

“Anne and I took him up on that,” Brooks remembered. “We went to his house, and one of the pups left the pack and made his way over to us. So, instead of picking out a pup,...

Jay Kanter, agent to superstar Hollywood clients including Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, died Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 97.

His son, Adam Kanter of Independent Artist Group, remembered his father as someone who conducted his entire career with “integrity and kindness.”

Kanter also inspired Jack Lemmon’s character in Billy Wilder’s classic comedy “The Apartment.”

Jay Kanter served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and started out working at McA, with mentoring help from Lew Wasserman. At just 22 years old, he was sent to pick up Brando at the train station and they became friends, with Brando becoming his longtime client.

He went on to represent stars including Warren Beatty, Gene Kelly and Ronald Reagan.

Kanter relocated to London when McA bought Universal, where he oversaw production for the studio in Europe. When the studio shut down European operations, he founded a production...

Jay Ira Kanter, veteran film producer and agent to a long list of Hollywood luminaries including Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, among others has died. He was 97.

Kanter died peacefully and surrounded by his family in his Beverly Hills home on the morning of August 6.

The agent and executive got his start in the business after his stint in the US Navy, which he joined during World War II. Kanter applied for a job at McA and rose up quickly through the ranks. He was mentored by Lew Wasserman.

At age 22, Kanter sought an offer for a young actor named Marlon Brando. Brando then traveled to Los Angeles via train, and Kanter picked him up at the station. Upon arrival, the two became fast lifelong friends, with Brando becoming Jay’s longtime client.

Kanter went on to represent stars such as Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Kelly, Warren Beatty,...

Mel Brooks’ life and career will be chronicled in a two-part documentary set up at HBO Documentary Films, with Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. The project is already in production.

Per the official logline, the project will offer “an expansive yet intimate look at one of comedy’s most hilarious and influential minds, whose work has had audiences around the world laughing for more than 70 years.”

The documentary will be edited by Joe Beshenkovsky, reuniting him with Apatow and Bonfiglio, as the three were also behind the HBO documentary “George Carlin’s American Dream.” Kevin Salter serves as executive producer.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,” Apatow said in a statement. “This project is the dream of a lifetime.”

Among the best known films Brooks wrote and directed during his 70-year career are “The Twelve Chairs” (1970), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), “Young Frankenstein” (1974), “Silent Movie” (1976), “History of the World...

HBO is working on a two-part documentary about comedy legend Mel Brooks.

Judd Apatow is directing the untitled doc with Michael Bonfiglio after the pair directed George Carlin’s American Dream together. It is now in production.

The docu is an “expansive yet intimate look at one of comedy’s most hilarious and influential minds, whose work has had audiences around the world laughing for more than 70 years”, per HBO.

It comes from HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions with Kevin Salter exec producing and Joe Beshenkovsky editing.

It marks the latest Mel Brooks doc to air on HBO; the network aired Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, originally a BBC production, in 2020.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks. This project is the dream of a lifetime,” said Apatow.

It is the latest documentary for Apatow, who directed Bob and Don: A Love Story and The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.

A two-part documentary about comedy legend Mel Brooks from directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio has been set at HBO.

The HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions project, now in production, will trace Brooks’ journey from Brooklyn to Hollywood and Broadway. Joe Beshenkovsky, who last worked with Apatow and Bonfiglio on HBO’s four-hour documentary George Carlin’s American Dream, will edit the documentary.

Apatow promises a career-spanning film about the comedy legend behind classic movie farces and parodies. “I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks. This project is the dream of a lifetime,” the Hollywood writer-director-producer said in a statement.

Brooks’ career began with Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows where he worked alongside the late Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. That’s after the teenage comedian in the Catskills conquered the entertainment world with his satirical comedy.

Brooks earned an Oscar...

Mel Brooks will receive this year’s Career Achievement Award at the 84th Peabody Awards, and Quinta will be honored with the Peabody Trailblazer Award. Both received a unanimous vote of the Peabody Board of Jurors and will be recognized at the June 9 awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

“Mel Brooks is not only one of the most beloved comedians of all time, but he literally set the standard for television comedy from its earliest days. Across TV, film, theater, and recordings, Mr. Brooks is in a league of his own. And Quinta Brunson has emerged as a refreshingly creative force in network television comedy,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody. “Peabody is proud to honor Mel and Quinta not only for their extraordinary contributions as storytellers, but particularly for their use of comedy to tell stories that matter, enriching the lives of so many.”

The Career Achievement Award is...

The Peabody Awards will honor actor, comedian, writer, and director Mel Brooks with this year’s Career Achievement Award, while “Abbott Elementary” award-winning writer, producer, actor, and comedian Quinta Brunson will receive the org’s Trailblazer Award. Both Brooks and Brunson were chosen by the Peabody Board of Jurors in a unanimous vote and will be recognized at the 84th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony on June 9 in Los Angeles.

“Mel Brooks is not only one of the most beloved comedians of all time, but he literally set the standard for television comedy from its earliest days. Across TV, film, theater, and recordings, Mr. Brooks is in a league of his own. And Quinta Brunson has emerged as a refreshingly creative force in network television comedy,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody, in a statement. “Peabody is proud to honor Mel and Quinta not only for their extraordinary contributions as storytellers,...

Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson has enjoyed success on the big and small screens throughout his five decades. Take a tour of our photo gallery ranking his 12 greatest feature films from worst to best.

Levinson began his career as a comedy writer on various variety shows in the 1970s ultimately landing a steady job writing for 72 episodes of “The Carol Burnett Show,” for which he won Emmys in 1974 and 1975, competing again in 1976. When that show ended he began writing screenplays and had a remarkably successful run co-writing two Mel Brooks movies — “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety” — as well as two acclaimed dramas “Inside Moves” and “and Justice for All.” He would receive his first Oscar nomination for the screenplay of “And Justice for All.”

That success led Levinson to a feature film directing career. His semi-autobiographical film “Diner,” about a group of young men hanging out in his native Baltimore, became...

Angela Bassett, collecting an honorary Oscar, gave an impassioned speech about the history of Black actresses in Hollywood and Michelle Satter, becoming the 45th recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, paid tribute to her son Michael Latt, who was murdered just weeks ago, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 14th Governors Awards on Tuesday night.

Donning tuxes and dresses, many of Hollywood’s biggest names filled the Hollywood and Highland Center, a ballroom just steps from the Dolby Theatre at which the 96th Academy Awards will take place March 10, to honor Bassett and Satter, as well as legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton, who were also presented with honorary Oscars.

The event was originally scheduled for Nov. 18 but was pushed into 2024 back because the WGA and SAG-AFTRA were still on strike. Despite not being televised, there had been concerns that it might be...

The American film and stage actor, renowned for her roles in the composer’s musicals, on making her West End debut in a celebration of his music

Bernadette Peters is an American singer and actor. Born in 1948 in Queens, New York, where her father worked as a delivery driver, she has appeared in numerous TV shows and films, including The Muppet Show, Ally McBeal, Silent Movie with Mel Brooks, The Jerk with Steve Martin, and Annie. But she is probably best known for her Tony award-winning work on Broadway, where she has starred in, among other musicals, Mack and Mabel, Annie Get Your Gun and Hello, Dolly! One of the foremost interpreters of the work of Stephen Sondheim, her association with the composer began in 1983 when she was cast as Dot in the first production of Sunday in the Park With George. Later this month, Peters will make her West...

The Film Department of the Tokyo University of Arts has a high-profile council consisting of the directors Nobuhiro Suwa and Akihito Shiota, the screenwriters Michiko Oishi and Yuji Sakamoto, and from the production sector Shoji Masui and Shozo Ichiyama. Every year the department presents a body of work from its students. This year, nine students and three alumni from the university created 11 silent films spanning from mysteries, thrillers, monsters, samurai tales, and animation, which were released under the title “Silent Movie”. On the occasion of Japan Society's Japan Cuts Film Festival, the audience gets the opportunity to see the next generation of filmmakers play with cinema's past. Because all films are narrated by a so-called benshi, a storyteller that dubs the moving images. Renowned benshi Ichiro Kataoka picks up the old tradition and mixes modern with forgotten tradition.

Silent Movie is screening at Japan Cuts

Connected by the reoccurring theme of relationships,...

When I was a little kid in the 1960s and a teen in the 1970s, there was simply no one cooler than Mel Brooks. He was the guy (along with Buck Henry) who created and wrote the comedy masterpiece “Get Smart,” and even as a child I could recognize the genius behind it. While I was a little too young to appreciate the greatness of his 1967 directorial debut, “The Producers”, once the ’70s rolled around I was in comedy heaven thanks to “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” Those two classics of big screen comedy came out the same year: 1974.

As a result, I spent much of that year as a high school sophomore and junior laughing my proverbial butt off in movie theaters (those things we used to frequent prior to the advent of streaming technology). The campfire farting scene in “Bs” was my generation’s comedic colossus.

I lost...

Angela Bassett (Photo Credit: D’Andre Michael)

Two-time Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett is finally getting her much-deserved Oscar. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be honoring Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, and editor Carol Littleton with the Academy’s Honorary Awards during the Governors Awards taking place in November 2023.

Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter will be recognized with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” stated Academy President Janet Yang. “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting. Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has made a lasting impact on every facet of entertainment. Carol Littleton’s career in film editing serves as a model for those who come after her.

The Academy Board of Governors voted to present Academy Honorary Awards to Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and editor Carol Littleton and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter. They will accept the four Oscars at the Academy’s 14th Governors Awards event on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” said Academy President Janet Yang in a statement. “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting. Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has made a lasting impact on every facet of entertainment. Carol Littleton’s career in film editing serves as a model for those who come after her. A...

Actress Angela Bassett, writer-director-actor-songwriter Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton have been tapped to receive honorary Oscars, while former Sundance Institute chief Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2023 Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.

The 14th annual honors will be presented at a ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Nov. 18.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” Academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting. Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has made a lasting impact on every facet of entertainment. Carol Littleton’s career in film editing serves as a...

The newest Academy Award winners have been announced.

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, and veteran film editor Carol Littleton have been voted Honorary Oscars, and the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. All will be presented on Saturday, November 18, during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 14th annual Governors Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The three Honorary winners have all danced with Oscar before. Brooks won for his Original Screenplay for The Producers in 1968. Littleton received her sole previous nomination for editing E.T. The Extra Terrestrial in 1982. Bassett, coming off a Best Supporting Actress nomination this year for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, also was a Best Actress nominee 30 years ago for her portrayal of Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It.

Satter’s Hersholt award represents the second Sundance-related special Academy Award after creator and founder...

North America's largest Japanese film festival presents two weeks of contemporary movies from Japan, including opening film The First Slam Dunk directed by Takehiko Inoue, centerpiece film Under The Turquoise Sky directed by Kentaro, closing film The Three Sisters Of Tenmasou Inn directed by Ryuhei Kitamura

Japan Society announces the full lineup of the 16th annual Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film, the largest festival of its kind in North America, set for July 26–August 6. This year's edition will present 29 films and mark the first fully in-person Japan Cuts since 2019. This year's festival spans 12 days and features 24 feature-length films and five short films across Feature Slate, Next Generation, and Short Film Spotlight sections, as well as a special tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto. Among the festival's lineup are five International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, seven U.S. Premieres, three East Coast Premieres and three New York Premieres. Additionally, Japan Cuts...

Chicago – One of the peculiar secrets … since revealed … in the new Apple TV+ series “High Desert” is that the icon Bernadette Peters portrays two characters. One is the mother (Rosalyn) of main character Peggy, and the other is mysterious actor Ginger who somehow ended up in California desert country. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

“High Desert” features Peggy Newman (Patricia Arquette), an ex-heroin addict who lives in arid California and needs a life change. That is difficult, for besides her visits to a local methadone clinic she is just barely holding on as a performer in Pioneer Town, a rundown tourist attraction. The only thing she desperately wants to cling to is the house of her deceased mother (Bernadette Peters), but her sister Dianne (Christine Taylor) is intent on selling it. Peggy needs to raise some extra cash, so she comes up with a plan to become a private investigator,...

Chicago – How has actor/singer/Broadway icon Bernadette Peters ended up in the arid lands of California? She is featured in the new Apple TV+ series “High Desert.” It has an ensemble cast led by Patricia Arquette as Peggy Newman, a recovering human being in an odd and spiritual place. The series begins streaming on May 17th.

Newman is an ex-heroin addict who realizes her life needs to begin again. That is difficult, for besides her visits to a local methadone clinic, she is just barely holding on as a performer in Pioneertown, a rundown tourist attraction. The only thing she desperately wants to cling to is the house of her deceased mother (Bernadette Peters), but her sister Dianne (Christine Taylor) is intent on selling it. Peggy needs to raise some extra cash, so she comes up with a plan to become a private investigator, in the office of Bruce...

Exclusive: Malcolm McDowell is saddling up with James Paxton, Bernadette Peters and Laura Marano for Adam Rifkin’s Western Last Train to Fortune.

Last Train to Fortune also reteams McDowell with his former wife, Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen, the duo previously starring together in the 1979 sci-fi drama Time After Time and the 1983 Martin Ritt drama Cross Creek.

In the pic, McDowell plays Cecil Peachtree, a stuffed-shirt schoolmaster who misses the last train to Fortune and meets an outlaw named Dooley (Paxton), at which point they strike a deal: The gunslinger will ride the book-loving Cecil to Fortune in exchange for his teacher’s stipend awaiting him. Along the way there are gunfights, jailbreaks and saloon gals, and our mismatched heroes form an unlikely bond. The pic, which is produced by Michael P.J. Gerstein, Paxton, Matt Williams, Rifkin and Brad Wyman (the Oscar-winning Charlize Theron drama Monster) is said to be...

Paradise Square makes quite the reach. A musical about the build-up to New York’s horrific Draft Riots of 1863 reaches to the past to tell us about the present. It reaches across cultures to tell us about assimilation and appropriation. It reaches across styles of music and dance to celebrate diversity and commonality. It reaches to contain both epic realism and mythical nostalgia. And somewhere along the line it reaches a point of no return, when all that reaching just wears itself out.

The musical, opening tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, is big in a way that calls back to the Cameron Mackintosh productions of the 1980s and their ’90s Broadway offspring like Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman – those latter two courtesy of Garth Drabinsky, the producer attempting a comeback with Paradise Square after some financial flim-flam landed him in a Canadian prison; he was paroled in 2013 after serving 17 months.

Oscar-winning producer and influential motion picture executive Alan Ladd Jr., who ushered in the “Star Wars” era of motion pictures, died Wednesday. He was 84.

“With the heaviest of hearts, we announce that on March 2, 2022, Alan Ladd, Jr. died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Words cannot express how deeply he will be missed. His impact on films and filmmaking will live on in his absence,” his daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones, who directed the documentary “Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies,” wrote on the film’s Facebook page.

During his tenure at 20th Century Fox in the late 1970s, Ladd greenlit “Star Wars,” a $10 million sci-fi film that would become the yardstick for blockbuster movies and tentpole film franchises thereafter. He was the son of golden age film star Alan Ladd, best remembered for “Shane,” but in many ways, Ladd Jr. had a more substantial effect on Hollywood than did his famous dad.

Kenneth Wannberg, composer and Emmy-winning music editor who worked on nearly half of all John Williams’ films dating back to the late 1960s, died Jan. 27 at his home in Florence, Oregon. He was 91.

Wannberg was best known as Williams’ music editor, working closely with the composer on more than 50 of his films. He assisted Williams throughout the scoring process, from providing detailed descriptions of sequences to be scored to more technical aspects such as trimming or modifying music during the last stages of post-production.

He music-edited the first six “Star Wars” films, the first three “Indiana Jones” films and such other landmark Williams scores as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

During his 50-year career in films, Wannberg worked with many other composers including Bernard Herrmann (“Journey to the Center of the Earth”), Jerry Goldsmith (“The Mephisto Waltz”), Michael Convertino...

Tim Roth is a director’s actor. The London native began his on-screen career under the helm of Alan Clarke with a volatile role in his 1982 television play “Made In Britain,” exploding in front of the camera and immediately putting himself on the map. One director after another was lining up to work with him, leading to plum subsequent parts in the years to follow with Mike Leigh (“Meantime”), Stephen Frears (“The Hit”), Peter Greenaway, and Robert Altman (“Vincent & Theo”) by the time he had reached his first full decade in films.

Continue reading Tim Roth On Making ‘Sundown’ Like a Silent Movie, The Directors Who Shaped Him & Rejoining The MCU In ‘She-Hulk’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

Yvonne Wilder, the actor known for her work in “West Side Story,” “Seems Like Old Times” and numerous TV shows, died Nov. 24 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 84.

Wilder played the role of Consuelo in Robert Wise’s landmark 1961 film adaptation of the Broadway musical “West Side Story.” She also appeared in the role of Anita in a West End production of “West Side Story” and in the first international touring production of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical.

Wilder was remembered by friends for her love of dancing and her fiery sense of humor. “West Side Story” co-star George Chakiris recently hailed her contributions to the stage production and the movie.

“Yvonne Wilder had an extraordinary, unique sense of humor. I did the play in London with Yvonne so I knew her before the movie,” George Chakiris told TCM in May. “But Yvonne’s humor was adopted by all of us.

Mel Brooks Awarded With the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement Award

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca) has announced that legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks will receive the Lafca Career Achievement Award.

Brooks began as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety show, “Your Show of Shows” and went on to create the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner. Brooks also wrote TV comedy series “Get Smart” with Buck Henry.

“Mel Brooks is a national treasure and a comedy filmmaking legend,” said Lafca president Claudia Puig. “Most of our members could probably quote whole swathes of his screenplays.” She added, “He not only has made us laugh uproariously, he has broken comic barriers and paved the way for and influenced generations of filmmakers after him.”

Brooks’ filmography includes “The Producers,” “Twelve Chairs,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety.” Brooks is also an Egot winner,...

Mel Brooks has been set as the 2021 recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award.

He’s the latest in a distinguished line of artists to receive the honor, joining the likes of John Huston, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy, Robert Preston, Roger Corman, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and composer Ennio Morricone.

Lafca’s members will decide on other honorees December 12. They will be honored alongside Brooks early next year.

Brooks is a prolific writer, director, producer and actor with a career spanning more than seven decades, whose iconic films include The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

Brooks began his career as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety series Your Show of Shows. Later, with Carl Reiner, he...

Carol Arthur, an actress best known for her several collaborations with Mel Brooks including “Blazing Saddles,” has died, Variety has confirmed. She was 85.

Arthur died on Sunday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund’s Mary Pickford House in Woodland Hills, Calif.

She appeared in the 1974 comedy “Blazing Saddles,” directed by Brooks, as the schoolmistress Harriett Johnson. Arthur also held roles in three more films helmed by Brooks: 1976’s “Silent Movie,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” in 1993 and 1995’s “Dracula: Dead and Loving It.”

Born on Aug. 4, 1935 in in Hackensack, N.J., Arthur first met her husband-to-be, actor Dom DeLuise, in 1964 while working on theater productions. The two married a year later and shared three sons: Peter, Michael and David, who all pursued careers in acting as well.

Arthur’s first acting appearances were as herself on 10 episodes of “The Dom DeLuise Show” in 1968 and five episodes of “It Takes Two...

Carol Arthur, an actress known for appearing in Hot Stuff, Intrepid and Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and the widow of Dom DeLuise has died. She was 85.

The actress died Sunday at the Mary Pickford House at the Motion Picture & Television Fund senior home in Woodland Hills, the retirement center confirmed.

Born in Hackensack, N.J., in 1935, Arthur kicked off her acting career in 1971 as Christina in David Swift’s television series Arnie. After Making It and Emergency!, came her time as Harriett Johnson in Brooks’ Oscar-nominated comedy Blazing Saddles. In the film, starring Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little, Arthur’s Harriett expresses “extreme displeasure” towards Little’s Sheriff Bart in a strongly worded letter.

“The fact that you have sent him here just goes to prove that you are the leading asshole in the state,” Harriett reads to an approving crowd. She also has a famous line when Little was...

Stephen Myles Berger, known for his work on films such as Sunshine Boys, Basic Instinct and Robin Hood: Men in Tights and for his designs of theme parks around the world, has been selected to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild. The honor will be presented February 1 during the guild’s 24th annual Adg Awards ceremony at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. This is the third of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by Art Directors Guild.

Berger’s television credits include Scandal, Malcolm in the Middle, Desperate Housewives, Wonder Woman, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-o, Spiderman and Serpico. His numerous film credits include The Way We Were, The Adventures of Pipi Longstocking, Silent Movie, The Sunshine Boys and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Berger also is known for his award-winning designs of theme parks around the globe including Universal Studios Theme Parks in Los Angeles, Orlando...

Mel Brooks celebrates his 93rd birthday on June 28, 2019. One of only 15 people to win the Egot, the legendary funnyman has excelled on the big screen, the stage and television. But it’s his movies that have made him a household name. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

SEEWhich 15 People Have the Egot?

Born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, Brooks got his start as a writer for Sid Caesar on “Your Show of Shows,” working alongside Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Danny Simon and Mel Tolkin. He then moved onto “Caesar’s Hour,” which added Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart to the writing team. The show brought Brooks three consecutive Emmy nominations (1956-1958), and he won his first prize for co-writing the 1967 reunion special. In 1965, he co-created the spy comedy “Get Smart” with Buck Henry, which brought him...

Mel Brooks celebrates his 93rd birthday on June 28, 2019. One of only 15 people to win the Egot, the legendary funnyman has excelled on the big screen, the stage and television. But it’s his movies that have made him a household name. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, Brooks got his start as a writer for Sid Caesar on “Your Show of Shows,” working alongside Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Danny Simon and Mel Tolkin. He then moved onto “Caesar’s Hour,” which added Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart to the writing team. The show brought Brooks three consecutive Emmy nominations (1956-1958), and he won his first prize for co-writing the 1967 reunion special. In 1965, he co-created the spy comedy “Get Smart” with Buck Henry, which brought him another Emmy bid for writing...

Late actress Anne Bancroft had a stellar career in cinema, and some of her best known films include The Miracle Worker (for which she won an Oscar) and The Graduate. Her work with husband Mel Brooks included the films To Be Or Not To Be (a remake of the Ernst Lubitsch classic) and Silent Movie. [...]

The post Anne Bancroft Directing Feature ‘Fatso’ Hits Blu-ray Via Shout Select In June appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Live Nation, The Araca Group and Ebg (Entertainment Benefits Group) are pleased to announce that iconic Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner Mel Brooks will take the stage on June 17 and 18 as part of the recently announced In Residence on Broadway series at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street).

Blazing Saddles. Young Frankenstein. The Producers. Mel Brooks has created some of the most iconic comedies in film history, and he is returning to the New York stage for an exclusive two-night engagement. The actor, writer, director, and producer stars in a hilarious unscripted show combining off-the-cuff comedy, unbelievable personal stories, and film clips from some of his most memorable work in Mel Brooks On Broadway. Mel Brooks On Broadway will be a very special evening of unforgettable tales and non-stop laughter.

Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer and actor, is in an elite group as one of the few entertainers...

Anne Bancroft would’ve celebrated her 87th birthday on September 17. Born in 1931, the actress had a celebrated career on both the stage and screen, becoming one of the few people to win the trifecta of performance awards. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Bancroft made her Broadway debut in William Gibson‘s “Two for the Seesaw,” directed by Arthur Penn. The role brought her a Tony as Best Featured Actress in a play (1958). The very next year, she re-teamed with Gibson and Penn for “The Miracle Worker,” for which she won a second Tony (Best Actress in a Play in 1959).

Following the stage success, Bancroft, Penn and Gibson adapted “The Miracle Worker” to the big screen in 1962. Recreating the role of Annie Sullivan, a teacher struggling to help the deaf and blind Helen Keller (Patty Duke) learn to communicate,...

Anne Bancroft would’ve celebrated her 87th birthday on September 17. Born in 1931, the actress had a celebrated career on both the stage and screen, becoming one of the few people to win the trifecta of performance awards. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Bancroft made her Broadway debut in William Gibson‘s “Two for the Seesaw,” directed by Arthur Penn. The role brought her a Tony as Best Featured Actress in a play (1958). The very next year, she re-teamed with Gibson and Penn for “The Miracle Worker,” for which she won a second Tony (Best Actress in a Play in 1959).

Following the stage success, Bancroft, Penn and Gibson adapted “The Miracle Worker” to the big screen in 1962. Recreating the role of Annie Sullivan, a teacher struggling to help the deaf and blind Helen Keller (Patty Duke) learn to communicate,...

This past week Burt Reynolds, perhaps the most self-deprecating movie star to ever cruise to box-office domination, died during a hospital stay in Jupiter, Florida, at the age of 82. “I’m pretty passionate about my work,” he once said, “even though I sometimes have this realization on the second day of shooting that I’m doing a piece of shit. So, I can do one of two things: I can just take the money, or I can try to be passionate. But the name of the boat is still the Titanic.” Yes, on top of being effortlessly likable and undeniably sexy, Reynolds was naturally funny too. And yes, there are a lot of confirmed pieces of shit floating around out there in which he received top billing. But even if the bad ones in his oeuvre outnumber the good ones (and I would argue that this is indeed the case...

Burt Reynolds, a top Hollywood star of the 1970s whose hits ranged from such classic, easy-going drive-in fare as Smokey and the Bandit to the intense, hunted-men drama Deliverance, died today at the Jupiter Medical Center in Florida. He was 82.

“It is with a broken heart that I said goodbye to my uncle today,” Reynolds’ niece Nancy Lee Hess said in a statement (read it in full below).

With a sly, knowing grin, signature moustache and a unique blend of charm and machismo, Reynolds was a bona fide cultural phenomenon. He became a frequent guest of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, was the first major celebrity nude male centerfold and off-screen romantic partner of such stars as frequent co-star Sally Field and Dinah Shore. Reyrolds would achieve a newfound respect among critics and fans alike for the late-career peak in 1997’s Boogie Nights, for which he earned his only Oscar nomination.

Burt Reynolds, one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men during the ’70s and early ’80s in such films as “Deliverance,” “Smokey and the Bandit, “The Longest Yard” and “Semi-Tough,” has died. His rep confirmed that he died Thursday in Jupiter, Fla. He was 82.

He later earned an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to skin flicks, “Boogie Nights.” He had been set to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Hollywood.”

Reynolds’ appeal lay in his post-modern macho posture undercut by a wry self-awareness, which he used to good effect in comedies as well as action films. For a period during the ’70s he was the nation’s top box office draw. But after one too many bad movies, his popularity waned. He returned to television, where he’d gotten his start, mostly in Westerns, and produced his own sitcom, “Evening Shade,” which brought him an Emmy.

Barry Levinson just received his 10th and 11th Emmy nominations for producing and directing the HBO drama “Paterno” which was the true story of how the Penn State football coach handled child abuse allegations against one of his employees. Levinson has picked up Emmy nominations for producing, writing and directing in the past, winning four times in his career.

Levinson began his career as a comedy writer on various variety shows in the 1970s ultimately landing a steady job writing for 72 episodes of “The Carol Burnett Show.” When that show ended he began writing screenplays and had a remarkably successful run co-writing two Mel Brooks movies — “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety” — as well as two acclaimed dramas “Inside Moves” and “and Justice for All.” He would receive his first Oscar nomination for the screenplay of “And Justice for All.”

That success led Levinson to a feature film directing career. His semi-autobiographical film “Diner,...

This weekend, Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson (“Rain Man”) will be honored with the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. Levinson’s feature filmmaking career has been long and varied, having started with writing for Mel Brooks before directing movies that ranged from the personal (“Diner”) to Robin Williams comedies to Oscar-nominated dramas to prescient political satires and Al Pacino-starring biopics (“Paterno” “You Don’t Know Jack”).

Hollywood no longer makes the type of mid-budget, theatrically released feature films Levinson became known for, but he doesn’t share many of his contemporaries’ dismay about the industry’s significant shift toward TV and streaming. A decade before “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” helped usher in the current “Peak TV” wave, Levinson and his Baltimore Pictures was responsible for introducing then-reporter David Simon to TV with “Homicide: Life on the Street...

"When you're famous, everybody wants to screw ya." So sayeth Vic Edwards, the faded screen idol portrayed by Burt Reynolds in Adam Rifkin's The Last Movie Star. This former sex symbol has long since passed the "everybody wants to screw ya" stage, his body forever wracked by too many film stunts and eyebrows perpetually levitated from too many facelifts. He spends much of his time bemoaning the wreckage of his life and career, both of which went off the rails decades ago due to a series of poor decisions.

The Cinefamily shut down is now permanent. The Los Angeles independent film venue is shuttering its doors for good following various sexual misconduct allegations. Cinefamily had temporarily suspended operations in August in the wake of sexual harassment reports. Now, the Cinefamily board will dissolve and Silent Movie Theater, Cinefamily’s longtime home, will be renovated. Cinefamily […]

The post Cinefamily Will Permanently Shut Down In Wake of Allegations of Sexual Misconduct appeared first on /Film.

Following the resignations of executive director Hadrian Belove and board member and Shadie Elnashai, Cinefamily has closed, temporarily suspending “all Cinefamily activities in order to allow for the investigation and necessary restructure of management and the board.”

The Cinefamily board asked for the resignations last week after an anonymous email circulated claiming that Belove “has been accused of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse by former employees and volunteers” and accused Elnashai of “raping multiple women, all verbally threatened and scared into silence after the assaults.”

Read More:Hadrian Belove Resigns From Cinefamily After Anonymous Email Alleges Sexual Harassment

The Cinefamily announcement, which is posted prominently on its site and social media, also said it has “engaged an independent third party, Giles Miller at Lynx Insights & Investigations, to conduct a thorough investigation into any alleged impropriety.”

The letter, which is signed by “The Board of The Cinefamily,“ added: “We want to...

As stories of sexual abuse and assault by well-known men grow more commonplace, a refrain has emerged, one that might sound like a plea: Listen to women. Believe women. Even when they speak out against someone that might be considered a genius or hero, don’t ignore their stories.

This week, “listen to women” became a roar. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole wrote frankly from her perspective about Whedon being a “fake feminist” and the years he allegedly spent cheating on her. Tig Notaro, in promoting the new season of her Amazon series “One Mississippi,” spoke out regarding sexual harrassment allegations made against Louis C.K.,who also serves as the show’s executive producer.

And after an anonymous letter went to hundreds of people in the indie film industry, accusing those who run Los Angeles-based nonprofit film society Cinefamily of enabling an atmosphere of...

Hadrian Belove has resigned as executive director of Cinefamily, the independent Los Angeles-based theater he co-founded in 2007, after an anonymous email circulated this week detailing sexual harassment allegations against him and the Cinefamily board.

The anonymous email, which went to hundreds of members of the independent film community and the media, said Belove “has been accused of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse by former employees and volunteers. It is a deep seated behavior pattern that many in the community are already aware of.”

The email included excerpts from a 2014 lawsuit filed against Belove and Cinefamily by a former employee that cited sexual harassment as well as work-rule violations. That case was settled out of court.

In addition to Belove, the Cinefamily board accepted the resignation of board vice president Shadie Elnashai, whom the email accused of “raping multiple women, all verbally threatened and scared into silence after the assaults.”

Cinefamily...

Once upon a time, Mel Brooks was a mighty force in comic cinema. Beginning with The Producers in 1967, he directed a string of very funny movies, reaching an early crescendo with Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, both released in 1974. The movies that followed -- Silent Movie, High Anxiety and History of the World: Part 1, may have been a step down in consistency and popularity, even though they were still hilarious. In 1987, he faced his toughest challenge yet, making fun of popular sci-fi movies (mostly the original Star Wars trilogy) in Spaceballs. The intentionally low-budget look and feel of the movie was, of course, part of the joke (watch the clip above), and Brooks was spot-on with much of the humor, which ridiculed the costumes, the portentous dialogue, silly...

Read More...

While the pilot of the Amazon series “I Love Dick,” created by Jill Soloway and Sarah Gubbins, has been available to screen since last summer, the streaming service isn’t the only way to watch the show — at least, if you happened to be in Los Angeles recently for a full-day binge of the upcoming series.

Read More: Jill Soloway on the Audacity of ‘I Love Dick,’ and How It Might Create ‘Radical Feminist Sleeper Cells’

“I Love Dick,” based on the book by Chris Kraus, is an intense examination of what it means to be both a woman and a creator, seen through the lens of a female filmmaker named Chris (played by Kathryn Hahn) as she falls under the thrall of a stoic artist named Dick (Kevin Bacon). How this disrupts her marriage and her work is only one strand of the series, which features an eclectic ensemble...

This week on Ghost Adventures, Zak Bagans and the team head to Los Angeles where they investigate a haunted silent movie theater — where the owner was murdered by a hitman. Los Angeles might be the City of Angels but the Ghost Adventures team are seeking the somewhat darker side of the movie-star town. The team investigate the murder of Lawrence Austin, the man who ‘saved silent movies’. He ran the Silent Movie Showcase on Fairfax Avenue, which was one of the few theaters in the world to screen purely silent films. However, in 1997, 74-year-old Austin was shot three times in the face...read more...