Jan Haag, who a half-century ago founded the landmark Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute, has died. She was 90.
The remarkable Haag, who also was an actress, painter, poet, novelist, playwright, writer of travel stories and creator of needlepoint canvases, some of which required hundreds of hours to complete, died Monday in Shoreline, Washington, according to the AFI and the Mb Abram agency.
Haag had directed dozens of educational films for the John Tracy Clinic and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare when she became the first woman accepted into the Academy Intern Program at the AFI in 1970, three years after it was founded by George Stevens Jr.
She was assigned to Paramount’s Harold and Maude (1971), directed by Hal Ashby, then joined the AFI staff in 1971, and among her duties was to administer the nonprofit’s film grant program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The remarkable Haag, who also was an actress, painter, poet, novelist, playwright, writer of travel stories and creator of needlepoint canvases, some of which required hundreds of hours to complete, died Monday in Shoreline, Washington, according to the AFI and the Mb Abram agency.
Haag had directed dozens of educational films for the John Tracy Clinic and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare when she became the first woman accepted into the Academy Intern Program at the AFI in 1970, three years after it was founded by George Stevens Jr.
She was assigned to Paramount’s Harold and Maude (1971), directed by Hal Ashby, then joined the AFI staff in 1971, and among her duties was to administer the nonprofit’s film grant program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
- 5/2/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“I think it was Andy Warhol who said, “Make art and let others decide whether it is good or bad. But while they are deciding, make some more”.
That was the line with which Nicole Kidman ended her 15-minute acceptance speech after Meryl Streep had presented her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.
That is something that seems entirely appropriate for Kidman, who doesn’t seem to stop “making art,” taking risks at every turn, telling stories through her power not just as an actor, but also a producer dedicated to bringing those stories to screens big and small. At 56, she is on the younger side of the previous 48 recipients of this very high honor, the first Australian to receive it. And someone very much in the middle of creating those life achievements that led to last night’s honor at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where a large...
That was the line with which Nicole Kidman ended her 15-minute acceptance speech after Meryl Streep had presented her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.
That is something that seems entirely appropriate for Kidman, who doesn’t seem to stop “making art,” taking risks at every turn, telling stories through her power not just as an actor, but also a producer dedicated to bringing those stories to screens big and small. At 56, she is on the younger side of the previous 48 recipients of this very high honor, the first Australian to receive it. And someone very much in the middle of creating those life achievements that led to last night’s honor at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where a large...
- 4/28/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Shane’ celebrates 70th anniversary with Academy Museum screening and Christopher Nolan conversation
There are many films that have quotable last lines such as “After all, tomorrow is another day” from “Gone with the Wind.” And who can forget Humphrey Bogart telling Claude Rains: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” But the beloved 1953 George Stevens’ Western “Shane” perhaps has one of the most endearing and emotional final lines. Young Joey (Brandon De Wilde) wants his idol, the former gunslinger Shane (Alan Ladd), to stay with his family. But the wounded hero continues to ride off.
“Shane………come back,” Joey cries out.
Be prepared to bring you handkerchiefs to the Academy Museum’s 70th anniversary screening Dec 10 at the David Geffen Theatre. Ladd, in his strongest performance, plays a world-weary gunslinger who wants to hang up his six-shooter. He ends up working for an honest, struggling rancher Joe, (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur) and young son...
“Shane………come back,” Joey cries out.
Be prepared to bring you handkerchiefs to the Academy Museum’s 70th anniversary screening Dec 10 at the David Geffen Theatre. Ladd, in his strongest performance, plays a world-weary gunslinger who wants to hang up his six-shooter. He ends up working for an honest, struggling rancher Joe, (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur) and young son...
- 12/7/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Fifteen authors of books that were recently chosen for The Hollywood Reporter’s list of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time” will convene on a panel — which is being advertised as “the greatest gathering of its kind ever” — this Saturday afternoon in Hollywood as part of AFI Fest.
The event, which will take place inside the historic Tcl Chinese Theater and will run from 4 p.m. -5:30p.m., is open to members of the public free of charge provided they reserve their tickets in advance via Fest.AFI.com/GreatestFilmBooks.
Participating in a discussion about the origins and impact of their books will be A. Scott Berg (Goldwyn: A Biography), Cameron Crowe (Conversations with Wilder), Nancy Griffin (Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood), Aljean Harmetz (The Making of The Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power...
The event, which will take place inside the historic Tcl Chinese Theater and will run from 4 p.m. -5:30p.m., is open to members of the public free of charge provided they reserve their tickets in advance via Fest.AFI.com/GreatestFilmBooks.
Participating in a discussion about the origins and impact of their books will be A. Scott Berg (Goldwyn: A Biography), Cameron Crowe (Conversations with Wilder), Nancy Griffin (Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood), Aljean Harmetz (The Making of The Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power...
- 10/27/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose, Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chair and CEO Pamela Abdy and nationally recognized trial lawyer Wylie A. Aitken have joined the American Film Institute’s board of trustees, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
“AFI is the place where artistry and academia meet,” Kathleen Kennedy, the board’s chair, tells THR. “The addition of Pam, Wylie and Ari to the board will further propel our national mandate to inspire, to educate and, ultimately, to drive culture forward.”
The board, which sets AFI’s priorities and guides its national education programs, is already packed with big names. Among them: actors Halle Berry and Michael B. Jordan; filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Ava DuVernay; TV creators Jay Roach and Shonda Rhimes; studio/network chiefs Ted Sarandos and Donna Langley; power-agents Bryan Lourd and Chris Silbermann; the noted academic Jeanine Basinger; MPA chief Charles Rivkin, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher; and Academy of...
“AFI is the place where artistry and academia meet,” Kathleen Kennedy, the board’s chair, tells THR. “The addition of Pam, Wylie and Ari to the board will further propel our national mandate to inspire, to educate and, ultimately, to drive culture forward.”
The board, which sets AFI’s priorities and guides its national education programs, is already packed with big names. Among them: actors Halle Berry and Michael B. Jordan; filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Ava DuVernay; TV creators Jay Roach and Shonda Rhimes; studio/network chiefs Ted Sarandos and Donna Langley; power-agents Bryan Lourd and Chris Silbermann; the noted academic Jeanine Basinger; MPA chief Charles Rivkin, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher; and Academy of...
- 7/26/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NatGeo’s widely acclaimed new limited series “A Small Light” chronicles the heroism of Miep Gies and several other brave Amsterdam residents who hid Anne Frank and her family, as well as four other people from the Nazis in a hidden attic apartment in Otto Frank’s office building. After the eight Jewish residents were arrested and sent to concentration camps in 1944, it was Gies who saved Anne’s diary and kept it in her desk drawer. Otto Frank, who was the only member of the immediate family who survived the camps — Anne died of typhus in March 1945 at Bergen-Belson — returned to Amsterdam, Gies gave him Anne’s diary. And in 1947 “The Diary of a Young Girl” was published in Europe. Five years later, “Diary” made its way to America. It has been translated into over 67 languages.
Anne had received a red checkered autograph book for her 13th birthday on...
Anne had received a red checkered autograph book for her 13th birthday on...
- 5/17/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Hollywood stars and filmmakers joined for a weekend of celebrating film legacies and the impact they have had on cinema at the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival.
To kick off the festival at the Los Angeles’ Tcl Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43, Angie Dickinson chatted with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz on opening night Thursday about Rio Bravo, her role as Feathers and starring opposite John Wayne and Dean Martin.
When talking about what it was like working with director Howard Hawks, Dickinson said, “He was a man of few words,” and while filming, he told her and the crew to “just relax, and he and I sat there, talking about nothing. It was just to relax me and get me to the point that he wanted me to be for the scene.”
Directors Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson also took part in a...
To kick off the festival at the Los Angeles’ Tcl Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43, Angie Dickinson chatted with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz on opening night Thursday about Rio Bravo, her role as Feathers and starring opposite John Wayne and Dean Martin.
When talking about what it was like working with director Howard Hawks, Dickinson said, “He was a man of few words,” and while filming, he told her and the crew to “just relax, and he and I sat there, talking about nothing. It was just to relax me and get me to the point that he wanted me to be for the scene.”
Directors Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson also took part in a...
- 4/16/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Dead Ringers and a Queen Charlotte celebration.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie special screening
Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Seth Rogen and Sebastian Maniscalco attended a special screening in Los Angeles on Saturday for their Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath, Sebastian Maniscalco, Nintendo’s Takumi Kawagoe, Christ Pratt, Brian Tyler, Charlie Day, Nintendo’s Koji Kondo, Illumination CEO Chris Melendandri, Kevin Michael Richardson (Bottom second L-r) Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Jack Black Chris Pratt and Charlie Day Anya Taylor-Joy
Dead Ringers premiere
On Monday, Prime Video hosted the world premiere of psychological thriller series Dead Ringers in NYC, with star and EP Rachel Weisz along cast members Britne Oldford, Poppy Liu,...
The Super Mario Bros. Movie special screening
Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Seth Rogen and Sebastian Maniscalco attended a special screening in Los Angeles on Saturday for their Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath, Sebastian Maniscalco, Nintendo’s Takumi Kawagoe, Christ Pratt, Brian Tyler, Charlie Day, Nintendo’s Koji Kondo, Illumination CEO Chris Melendandri, Kevin Michael Richardson (Bottom second L-r) Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Jack Black Chris Pratt and Charlie Day Anya Taylor-Joy
Dead Ringers premiere
On Monday, Prime Video hosted the world premiere of psychological thriller series Dead Ringers in NYC, with star and EP Rachel Weisz along cast members Britne Oldford, Poppy Liu,...
- 4/7/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With two days to go until Christmas, I can’t think of a better gift for film lovers or those with an interest in iconic forces in the entertainment industry than the 2022 autobiography My Place in the Sun, which chronicles the life of George Stevens Jr — now 90 and still going strong in a remarkable career that has traversed the highest corridors of Hollywood to Washington, D.C.
Most significantly, however, it is the story of a father and son. The father is legendary two-time Oscar-winning director George Stevens, whose films ranged from Astaire and Rogers musicals, Gunga Din, The More the Merrier and Woman of the Year, to, following World War II, a string of immortal classics including A Place in the Sun, Giant, Shane and The Diary of Anne Frank. George Jr. spent a lot of time on some of those sets right up to 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told,...
Most significantly, however, it is the story of a father and son. The father is legendary two-time Oscar-winning director George Stevens, whose films ranged from Astaire and Rogers musicals, Gunga Din, The More the Merrier and Woman of the Year, to, following World War II, a string of immortal classics including A Place in the Sun, Giant, Shane and The Diary of Anne Frank. George Jr. spent a lot of time on some of those sets right up to 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told,...
- 12/23/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
“Welcome to the 48th, 49th, and 50th AFI Life Achievement Awards,” American Film Institute president and CEO Bob Gazzale said as he began his welcoming remarks for Thursday night’s long-awaited and pandemic-delayed tribute to Julie Andrews, the 2022 honoree at a ceremony originally set to take place in the spring of 2020. It finally took place last night at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, with all style and warmth so familiar to these evenings ever since AFI founder George Stevens Jr. came up with the idea in 1973, when director John Ford was the first honoree.
Since then there has never been a “gap” between ceremonies, but now there is between 2019 honoree Denzel Washington and Andrews, but it was well worth the wait, and congratulations to the AFI, Board Trustees chairs Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Daly, as well as Gazzale for not letting Covid diminish the event, even if it had to come a little later than usual.
Every member of the audience at the Dolby (transformed into a banquet setting for the elegant dinner) had to take a Pcr test at least 48 hours before entering the building. Other than that it was just like old times, and you could tell the industry crowd was thrilled to be there for a genuine show-business legend. The only sad part was that Andrews’ The Sound of Music co-star Christopher Plummer was not there. The Oscar-winning actor had actually been set to appear at the tribute when it was originally to take place before the pandemic had other ideas. He died in February of last year at age 91.
As you might expect, however, that iconic 1965 musical was a big part of these proceedings. The show actually started with the clip of the famous opening where Maria Von Trapp (Andrews of course) gorgeously sings the title song. And after the heartfelt standing ovation when Andrews was introduced (she sat at the dais in the middle of the room right next to family and old “chum” Carol Burnett) was a break for dinner, with the show then resuming with another familiar SoM song, “Do Re Mi,” bringing on the five surviving actors who played the Von Trapp children. They saluted her from the stage before charmingly moving through the audience, leading a sing-a-long while surrounding Andrews at her table. Nicholas Hammond, Debbie Turner, Angela Cartwright, Kym Karath and Duane Chase may all be older now, but next to the ageless Andrews it was just like they were all back in Austria and time hadn’t passed at all.
In fact Chase, who played Kurt, the younger of the two boys, actually went to junior high and high school with me (I remember the day he told me he was leaving our music class to go to Innsbruck to make “a movie”), so we had our own nice reunion. Later at the Sunset Tower after-party, he reminisced about how director Robert Wise would have to keep him from wandering off the set, something he said he often did to go exploring that memorable location.
It was indeed the perfect way to get things rolling as the tribute then highlighted the long career of Andrews, now 86 and still going strong. She talked about much of it herself in a video interview that accompanied the presentation of vintage footage of her childhood through expertly curated clips of her numerous triumphs on stage in classics like My Fair Lady and Camelot, the movies of course, and television, something Burnett charmingly recalled. They worked together every 10 years or so in very special specials like Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall; a hilarious bit involving food smeared over each other gets just as many laughs watching it now as when they actually did it. There was also much attention paid to her Oscar-winning performance in Mary Poppins, which she revealed was actually delayed after she had to tell Walt Disney she was pregnant. The studio waited for her and the rest is history.
AFI had hoped to have her 96-year-old co-star Dick Van Dyke on stage in person last night but instead he delivered some lovely remarks in a pre-taped greeting from his Malibu home. In other taped messages, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana DeBose and more offered their own thoughts on the star.
But on hand at the Dolby was a much more recent co-star, Steve Carell, who tried to claim he had a longer history with Andrews than just the fact she played Gru’s mother in the Despicable Me franchise. “I was actually Kevin Von Trapp, their illegitimate son and cut from the movie,” he said, before also claiming he was originally set as Bert for Poppins and Thoroughly Modern Millie before Andrews got rid of him. More seriously, he summed her up as practically perfect in every way. “She has grace and eloquence. She is kinder, funnier, and more charming than you could ever imagine. She is even better than you could hope she would be,” he said.
Of course, much of the show was made up of clips of so many movies along the way including The Americanization of Emily, Victor Victoria, Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, Hawaii, S.O.B. The Princess Diaries, Darling Lili, Shrek the Third and the other many collaborations with husband Blake Edwards including 1979’s hilarious 10, which made a star out of Bo Derek who returned the favor last night on stage as she saluted both of them. “Blake and Julie made seven films together. And as impressive as that is, it’s nothing compared to their 41 years of marriage…,” Derek said. “And for me and all of us, what they had onscreen and off was a perfect 10.”
Gwen Stefani — a massive fan, as it turns out — practically geeked out in her comments about her idol as she said she couldn’t believe she was finally getting to meet her (Stefani’s song “Wind It Up” features a “Lonely Goatherd” from Sound of Music). A clear highlight of the evening was a stunning rendition of the classic Sound of Music song “Edelweiss” by Cynthia Erivo. Andrews said it was her favorite even though she didn’t sing it in the film (Plummer did). Not a dry eye in the house after that one.
After a little over an hour or so, Burnett appeared again to present the Life Achievement Award to Andrews, who took the long walk to the stage, the applause never slowing down. Andrews in her acceptance speech graciously turned the spotlight on those who work behind the scenes, exhaustively listing every job on a set from camera operators, focus pullers, script supervisors and on and on. “The night reminds me with great clarity how many people are involved with making movies. What a huge collaborative effort it takes to bring film to the screen,” she said. “My husband Blake never liked when people referred to filmmaking as the business or an industry. He insisted that film was an art form and should always be called that. And I know that is exactly the way the AFI feels also.”
One special moment during the evening in the filmed interview with Andrews, she demonstrated how she can still say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ backwards. For the record: “Dociousaliexpisticfragicalirupus!”
Just before the dinner break, the 30th Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal Recipient award was presented to Coda writer-director Siân Heder, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar earlier this year. She made her own terrific speech last night at the Dolby in the very same room she won that Academy Award, recalling her class at AFI had just seven women but that what she learned has colored her career ever since.
At the after party I caught up with her to re-live the very long Oscar season. She genuinely did not think she would win, only that she was certain Troy Kotsur would take Supporting Actor (he did). She told me after that early award, Steven Spielberg, sitting directly in front of her, turned to her and said “that’s one, two to go,” referring to the film’s other two nominations for her and Best Picture. It was only at that moment she thought she better come up with something to actually say if he’s right. And he was. Her speech last night reinforced the fact she is the real deal. AFI should be proud.
And also for AFI, this much anticipated evening was indeed not just “practically,” but pretty much perfect in every way.
As another participant, Hector Elizondo said, “In the words of Yogi Berra, ‘Thanks for making this occasion necessary’.”...
Since then there has never been a “gap” between ceremonies, but now there is between 2019 honoree Denzel Washington and Andrews, but it was well worth the wait, and congratulations to the AFI, Board Trustees chairs Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Daly, as well as Gazzale for not letting Covid diminish the event, even if it had to come a little later than usual.
Every member of the audience at the Dolby (transformed into a banquet setting for the elegant dinner) had to take a Pcr test at least 48 hours before entering the building. Other than that it was just like old times, and you could tell the industry crowd was thrilled to be there for a genuine show-business legend. The only sad part was that Andrews’ The Sound of Music co-star Christopher Plummer was not there. The Oscar-winning actor had actually been set to appear at the tribute when it was originally to take place before the pandemic had other ideas. He died in February of last year at age 91.
As you might expect, however, that iconic 1965 musical was a big part of these proceedings. The show actually started with the clip of the famous opening where Maria Von Trapp (Andrews of course) gorgeously sings the title song. And after the heartfelt standing ovation when Andrews was introduced (she sat at the dais in the middle of the room right next to family and old “chum” Carol Burnett) was a break for dinner, with the show then resuming with another familiar SoM song, “Do Re Mi,” bringing on the five surviving actors who played the Von Trapp children. They saluted her from the stage before charmingly moving through the audience, leading a sing-a-long while surrounding Andrews at her table. Nicholas Hammond, Debbie Turner, Angela Cartwright, Kym Karath and Duane Chase may all be older now, but next to the ageless Andrews it was just like they were all back in Austria and time hadn’t passed at all.
In fact Chase, who played Kurt, the younger of the two boys, actually went to junior high and high school with me (I remember the day he told me he was leaving our music class to go to Innsbruck to make “a movie”), so we had our own nice reunion. Later at the Sunset Tower after-party, he reminisced about how director Robert Wise would have to keep him from wandering off the set, something he said he often did to go exploring that memorable location.
It was indeed the perfect way to get things rolling as the tribute then highlighted the long career of Andrews, now 86 and still going strong. She talked about much of it herself in a video interview that accompanied the presentation of vintage footage of her childhood through expertly curated clips of her numerous triumphs on stage in classics like My Fair Lady and Camelot, the movies of course, and television, something Burnett charmingly recalled. They worked together every 10 years or so in very special specials like Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall; a hilarious bit involving food smeared over each other gets just as many laughs watching it now as when they actually did it. There was also much attention paid to her Oscar-winning performance in Mary Poppins, which she revealed was actually delayed after she had to tell Walt Disney she was pregnant. The studio waited for her and the rest is history.
AFI had hoped to have her 96-year-old co-star Dick Van Dyke on stage in person last night but instead he delivered some lovely remarks in a pre-taped greeting from his Malibu home. In other taped messages, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana DeBose and more offered their own thoughts on the star.
But on hand at the Dolby was a much more recent co-star, Steve Carell, who tried to claim he had a longer history with Andrews than just the fact she played Gru’s mother in the Despicable Me franchise. “I was actually Kevin Von Trapp, their illegitimate son and cut from the movie,” he said, before also claiming he was originally set as Bert for Poppins and Thoroughly Modern Millie before Andrews got rid of him. More seriously, he summed her up as practically perfect in every way. “She has grace and eloquence. She is kinder, funnier, and more charming than you could ever imagine. She is even better than you could hope she would be,” he said.
Of course, much of the show was made up of clips of so many movies along the way including The Americanization of Emily, Victor Victoria, Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, Hawaii, S.O.B. The Princess Diaries, Darling Lili, Shrek the Third and the other many collaborations with husband Blake Edwards including 1979’s hilarious 10, which made a star out of Bo Derek who returned the favor last night on stage as she saluted both of them. “Blake and Julie made seven films together. And as impressive as that is, it’s nothing compared to their 41 years of marriage…,” Derek said. “And for me and all of us, what they had onscreen and off was a perfect 10.”
Gwen Stefani — a massive fan, as it turns out — practically geeked out in her comments about her idol as she said she couldn’t believe she was finally getting to meet her (Stefani’s song “Wind It Up” features a “Lonely Goatherd” from Sound of Music). A clear highlight of the evening was a stunning rendition of the classic Sound of Music song “Edelweiss” by Cynthia Erivo. Andrews said it was her favorite even though she didn’t sing it in the film (Plummer did). Not a dry eye in the house after that one.
After a little over an hour or so, Burnett appeared again to present the Life Achievement Award to Andrews, who took the long walk to the stage, the applause never slowing down. Andrews in her acceptance speech graciously turned the spotlight on those who work behind the scenes, exhaustively listing every job on a set from camera operators, focus pullers, script supervisors and on and on. “The night reminds me with great clarity how many people are involved with making movies. What a huge collaborative effort it takes to bring film to the screen,” she said. “My husband Blake never liked when people referred to filmmaking as the business or an industry. He insisted that film was an art form and should always be called that. And I know that is exactly the way the AFI feels also.”
One special moment during the evening in the filmed interview with Andrews, she demonstrated how she can still say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ backwards. For the record: “Dociousaliexpisticfragicalirupus!”
Just before the dinner break, the 30th Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal Recipient award was presented to Coda writer-director Siân Heder, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar earlier this year. She made her own terrific speech last night at the Dolby in the very same room she won that Academy Award, recalling her class at AFI had just seven women but that what she learned has colored her career ever since.
At the after party I caught up with her to re-live the very long Oscar season. She genuinely did not think she would win, only that she was certain Troy Kotsur would take Supporting Actor (he did). She told me after that early award, Steven Spielberg, sitting directly in front of her, turned to her and said “that’s one, two to go,” referring to the film’s other two nominations for her and Best Picture. It was only at that moment she thought she better come up with something to actually say if he’s right. And he was. Her speech last night reinforced the fact she is the real deal. AFI should be proud.
And also for AFI, this much anticipated evening was indeed not just “practically,” but pretty much perfect in every way.
As another participant, Hector Elizondo said, “In the words of Yogi Berra, ‘Thanks for making this occasion necessary’.”...
- 6/10/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
His goal was to become the second-best filmmaker in his house. Well, George Stevens. Jr. accomplished that and much more.
When he was celebrated last week in Washington, D.C. — where Stevens has lived for many years — the joke became: Is there anyone who hasn’t met this man, now 90 and the author of a new autobiography? “I want to be George when I grow up,” three-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tom Friedman said.
Tom Brokaw, another longtime friend who will interview Stevens at New York City’s 92nd Street Y on Sunday, added, “George has written a wonderful book about his showbiz parents, especially his dad, who was a top-tier director in the ’30s and then took his skills to World War II.”
Also Read:
AFI Fest 2022 Announces Dates and Calls for Entries
The elder Stevens enlisted and spent three years away from his wife and son, filming virtually...
When he was celebrated last week in Washington, D.C. — where Stevens has lived for many years — the joke became: Is there anyone who hasn’t met this man, now 90 and the author of a new autobiography? “I want to be George when I grow up,” three-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tom Friedman said.
Tom Brokaw, another longtime friend who will interview Stevens at New York City’s 92nd Street Y on Sunday, added, “George has written a wonderful book about his showbiz parents, especially his dad, who was a top-tier director in the ’30s and then took his skills to World War II.”
Also Read:
AFI Fest 2022 Announces Dates and Calls for Entries
The elder Stevens enlisted and spent three years away from his wife and son, filming virtually...
- 5/31/2022
- by Michele Willens
- The Wrap
“Bick, you shoulda shot that fella a long time ago. Now he’s too rich to kill.”
Giant, the 1956 classic film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean in his final role, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on June 21, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
George Stevens, Sr. won his second Oscar for directing the sweeping family saga set in Texas during the days of the oil boom. Based on Edna Ferber’s controversial novel, the movie’s release in 1956 was a massive box office hit and garnered 10 Academy Award nominations.
Considered by critics as ahead of its time, Giant is admired today for the breadth of its humanity more than its epic scale with its grand themes of generational conflict, racial tolerance, and social change. It exposed the marginalization and segregation of Mexican Americans for the first time on the big screen.
Giant, the 1956 classic film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean in his final role, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on June 21, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
George Stevens, Sr. won his second Oscar for directing the sweeping family saga set in Texas during the days of the oil boom. Based on Edna Ferber’s controversial novel, the movie’s release in 1956 was a massive box office hit and garnered 10 Academy Award nominations.
Considered by critics as ahead of its time, Giant is admired today for the breadth of its humanity more than its epic scale with its grand themes of generational conflict, racial tolerance, and social change. It exposed the marginalization and segregation of Mexican Americans for the first time on the big screen.
- 5/9/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be expanding its partnership with The Film Foundation with a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and restoration of classic movies. As part of this partnership, the world premiere of the newly restored George Stevens production Giant from Warner Bros. will be featured at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Prior to the screening at the Tcl Chinese Theatre, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will host a conversation with The Film Foundation board member Steven Spielberg, executive director Margaret Bodde, and George Stevens Jr.
“Working with The Film Foundation allows us to preserve these important films for future generations to experience across multiple platforms,” said Pola Changnon, general manager of TCM. “There is so much to learn from classic movies and we are honored to host the world premiere screening of the 4K restoration of Giant.”
Since its founding by...
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be expanding its partnership with The Film Foundation with a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and restoration of classic movies. As part of this partnership, the world premiere of the newly restored George Stevens production Giant from Warner Bros. will be featured at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Prior to the screening at the Tcl Chinese Theatre, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will host a conversation with The Film Foundation board member Steven Spielberg, executive director Margaret Bodde, and George Stevens Jr.
“Working with The Film Foundation allows us to preserve these important films for future generations to experience across multiple platforms,” said Pola Changnon, general manager of TCM. “There is so much to learn from classic movies and we are honored to host the world premiere screening of the 4K restoration of Giant.”
Since its founding by...
- 4/16/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
"Giant," the 1956 classic starring James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor, is getting a 4K restoration as a part of the expanding partnership between Turner Classic Movies and The Film Foundation (via The Hollywood Reporter). The partnership has been augmented with a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and the restoration of classic films in general.
The 4K restored version of "Giant" will be screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival, with Steven Spielberg and George Stevens Jr. in attendance at the screening. Based on Edna Ferber's eponymous, sprawling novel, "Giant" is an ambitious undertaking in film history, given how its narrative spans three decades of Texas history,...
The post The James Dean Classic Giant is Getting a 4K Restoration appeared first on /Film.
The 4K restored version of "Giant" will be screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival, with Steven Spielberg and George Stevens Jr. in attendance at the screening. Based on Edna Ferber's eponymous, sprawling novel, "Giant" is an ambitious undertaking in film history, given how its narrative spans three decades of Texas history,...
The post The James Dean Classic Giant is Getting a 4K Restoration appeared first on /Film.
- 4/15/2022
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) announced an expanded partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation as part of a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and restoration of classic films.
To mark the partnership, George Stevens’ newly restored 1956 epic “Giant” will premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival April 22 at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg, legendary filmmaker and Film Foundation board member, is set to join executive director Margaret Bodde and George Stevens Jr. prior to the screening as part of a discussion about the legacy of “Giant,” moderated by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.
“Anything that presumes to call itself ‘Giant’ better have the goods to keep such a lofty promise,” Spielberg said in a press statement. “Both [author] Edna Ferber and [director] George Stevens far exceeded the title to bring such an epic American story to the big screen and I’m proud to have been a...
To mark the partnership, George Stevens’ newly restored 1956 epic “Giant” will premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival April 22 at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg, legendary filmmaker and Film Foundation board member, is set to join executive director Margaret Bodde and George Stevens Jr. prior to the screening as part of a discussion about the legacy of “Giant,” moderated by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.
“Anything that presumes to call itself ‘Giant’ better have the goods to keep such a lofty promise,” Spielberg said in a press statement. “Both [author] Edna Ferber and [director] George Stevens far exceeded the title to bring such an epic American story to the big screen and I’m proud to have been a...
- 4/15/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Turner Classic Movies is expanding its partnership with The Film Foundation with a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and restoration of classic movies.
As a result of the expanded relationship announced Friday, a 4K restoration of Warner Bros.’ Giant will world premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Prior to the screening at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz will host a conversation with Film Foundation board member Steven Spielberg, executive director Margaret Bodde, and George Stevens Jr., whose father George Stevens directed the film, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
Since its founding by Martin Scorsese more than 30 years ago, The Film Foundation has restored more than 900 classic movies. Scorsese and Spielberg hand-picked Giant as one of the group’s latest restoration projects, working with the Warner Bros. archives team for a year to complete the process.
“Anything that presumes to call...
As a result of the expanded relationship announced Friday, a 4K restoration of Warner Bros.’ Giant will world premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Prior to the screening at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz will host a conversation with Film Foundation board member Steven Spielberg, executive director Margaret Bodde, and George Stevens Jr., whose father George Stevens directed the film, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
Since its founding by Martin Scorsese more than 30 years ago, The Film Foundation has restored more than 900 classic movies. Scorsese and Spielberg hand-picked Giant as one of the group’s latest restoration projects, working with the Warner Bros. archives team for a year to complete the process.
“Anything that presumes to call...
- 4/15/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Washington, D.C. — To the delight of a standing-room-only audience that included the First Family, the Kennedy Center Honors paid hearty tribute on Sunday night to actor-singer Bette Midler, opera bass-baritone Justino Diaz, Motown founder Berry Gordy, “Saturday Night Live” honcho Lorne Michaels and singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.
The event, last staged before a live audience in pre-covid 2020, had been conspicuously ignored by former President Donald Trump following criticism from two honorees in 2017. By contrast, President Joe Biden happily reinstated the tradition of hosting honorees at the White House before attending the production. He and First Lady Jill Biden were joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Douglas Emhoff.
The wait by audiences was fully rewarded as the 44-year-old Honors program delivered a seemingly nonstop parade of A-list participants offering heartfelt tributes and rousing entertainment for the honorees gazing down from the president’s box. The show will air Dec.
The event, last staged before a live audience in pre-covid 2020, had been conspicuously ignored by former President Donald Trump following criticism from two honorees in 2017. By contrast, President Joe Biden happily reinstated the tradition of hosting honorees at the White House before attending the production. He and First Lady Jill Biden were joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Douglas Emhoff.
The wait by audiences was fully rewarded as the 44-year-old Honors program delivered a seemingly nonstop parade of A-list participants offering heartfelt tributes and rousing entertainment for the honorees gazing down from the president’s box. The show will air Dec.
- 12/6/2021
- by Paul Harris
- Variety Film + TV
Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Lorne Michaels, Berry Gordy and Justino Díaz are the latest crop of honorees at the Kennedy Center Honors, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Wednesday.
The Kennedy Center Honors will honor the five individuals as part of its 44th edition, which will be the second event this year after the previous crop of honorees was recognized in a hybrid live and virtual tribute in May. The 44th Kennedy Center Honors will take place in a gala event at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Dec. 5.
The ceremony will be broadcast in a two-hour prime-time special on CBS at a date to still be determined. The event will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
Midler is a two-time Oscar nominee, and her career as a beloved entertainer, actress and singer has spread across six decades.
Mitchell is one of the most influential...
The Kennedy Center Honors will honor the five individuals as part of its 44th edition, which will be the second event this year after the previous crop of honorees was recognized in a hybrid live and virtual tribute in May. The 44th Kennedy Center Honors will take place in a gala event at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Dec. 5.
The ceremony will be broadcast in a two-hour prime-time special on CBS at a date to still be determined. The event will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
Midler is a two-time Oscar nominee, and her career as a beloved entertainer, actress and singer has spread across six decades.
Mitchell is one of the most influential...
- 7/21/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
It might seem hard to imagine at this juncture, but eventually 2020 will end. The election will be over, the fires in California will be extinguished, the pandemic will recede, and Los Angeles will go back to ignoring sports. Time, as is its nature, will pass.
Which is why, in these closing days before the next presidential election, we need to think about which candidate serves as the best option to further the country’s interests and investment in both arts creation and education, the better to stoke the fires of American creativity that have historically burned so brightly.
And listen, if this is the first thought you’ve given to the cultural implications of the upcoming election, I can’t blame you. It hasn’t served as a plank of either candidates’ platform, likely because in the garbage cyclone of the last 10 months, talking about funding for the arts might...
Which is why, in these closing days before the next presidential election, we need to think about which candidate serves as the best option to further the country’s interests and investment in both arts creation and education, the better to stoke the fires of American creativity that have historically burned so brightly.
And listen, if this is the first thought you’ve given to the cultural implications of the upcoming election, I can’t blame you. It hasn’t served as a plank of either candidates’ platform, likely because in the garbage cyclone of the last 10 months, talking about funding for the arts might...
- 10/28/2020
- by Libby Hill
- Indiewire
The TV Academy has stripped George Stevens Jr. of three Emmy nominations and two Emmy wins and Catherine Shields of one Emmy nomination and one Emmy win that had been accorded 26 years ago for an informational special that was misrepresented to the TV Academy as an original work, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
"Recently, the Television Academy became aware of a 1985 BBC documentary, D-Day to Berlin, which shared some production elements with the similarly-titled 1994 program George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, a documentary entered into the Emmy competition," a TV Academy spokesperson tells THR. "Based on a review ...
"Recently, the Television Academy became aware of a 1985 BBC documentary, D-Day to Berlin, which shared some production elements with the similarly-titled 1994 program George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, a documentary entered into the Emmy competition," a TV Academy spokesperson tells THR. "Based on a review ...
- 3/12/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The TV Academy has stripped George Stevens Jr. of three Emmy nominations and two Emmy wins and Catherine Shields of one Emmy nomination and one Emmy win that had been accorded 26 years ago for an informational special that was misrepresented to the TV Academy as an original work, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
"Recently, the Television Academy became aware of a 1985 BBC documentary, D-Day to Berlin, which shared some production elements with the similarly-titled 1994 program George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, a documentary entered into the Emmy competition," a TV Academy spokesperson tells THR. "Based on a review ...
"Recently, the Television Academy became aware of a 1985 BBC documentary, D-Day to Berlin, which shared some production elements with the similarly-titled 1994 program George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin, a documentary entered into the Emmy competition," a TV Academy spokesperson tells THR. "Based on a review ...
- 3/12/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The AFI Conservatory, one of the crown jewels of the American Film Institute, celebrated its 50th anniversary in style Thursday night at the place where it all started, the fabled Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. One of the first “colleges” for filmmakers (there were only four at the time), it opened at Greystone in 1969 and stayed there until 1981 ,when it moved to Griffith Park, where it still stands at the former Immaculate Heart campus.
The students — or fellows, as they are called for that first class — included future Oscar- nominated legends like Terrence Malick, Paul Schrader, and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, the latter among many alumni who returned to the original campus for a class-reunion-of-all-class-reunions Thursday. Others attending included three-time Oscar nominee and 2019 Honorary Academy Award winner David Lynch from the class of 1970, Pieter Jan Brugge (Class of 1979), Jay Cassidy (1976), Susannah Grant (1991), Liz Hannah (2009), Marshall Herskovitz (1975), Mel Jones (2010), Matthew Libatique (1992), Melina...
The students — or fellows, as they are called for that first class — included future Oscar- nominated legends like Terrence Malick, Paul Schrader, and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, the latter among many alumni who returned to the original campus for a class-reunion-of-all-class-reunions Thursday. Others attending included three-time Oscar nominee and 2019 Honorary Academy Award winner David Lynch from the class of 1970, Pieter Jan Brugge (Class of 1979), Jay Cassidy (1976), Susannah Grant (1991), Liz Hannah (2009), Marshall Herskovitz (1975), Mel Jones (2010), Matthew Libatique (1992), Melina...
- 9/21/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore | Written by Howard Lindsay, Allan Scott | Directed by George Stevens
Dazzling dancer “Lucky” (Fred Astaire) steps off stage and straight into his wedding outfit. But his colleagues don’t want to lose their star player to some dame, so they find ways to stop him. Lucky’s lateness triggers a fit of rage in the father of the would-be bride, and he issues an ultimatum: Lucky must go to New York, build a fortune, and return only when he earns the status (i.e. money) to marry his daughter.
Moments later, Lucky is in the Big Apple, where he falls in love with literally the first girl he meets. In classic rom-com stalker style, Lucky pursues Penny (Ginger Rogers) against her wishes. He chases her into a dance studio, where he masquerades as an amateur in order to humiliate...
Dazzling dancer “Lucky” (Fred Astaire) steps off stage and straight into his wedding outfit. But his colleagues don’t want to lose their star player to some dame, so they find ways to stop him. Lucky’s lateness triggers a fit of rage in the father of the would-be bride, and he issues an ultimatum: Lucky must go to New York, build a fortune, and return only when he earns the status (i.e. money) to marry his daughter.
Moments later, Lucky is in the Big Apple, where he falls in love with literally the first girl he meets. In classic rom-com stalker style, Lucky pursues Penny (Ginger Rogers) against her wishes. He chases her into a dance studio, where he masquerades as an amateur in order to humiliate...
- 7/8/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
The college censorship debate has reached Hollywood. More than 50 prominent artists, writers, and film scholars are supporting the restoration of the names of the Gish sisters, Dorothy and Lillian, to a film theater at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The letter accuses the university of making “a scapegoat in a broader political debate.” Among those signing their names are James Earl Jones, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, George Stevens Jr., Bertrand Tavernier, Malcolm McDowell, Lauren Hutton, Joe Dante, and Taylor Hackford. The letter is a response to Bowling Green’s May 3 decision to change the name of the Gish Theater because of Lillian Gish’s acting role in D. W. Griffith’s incendiary 1915 silent film “The Birth of a Nation.”
“The Birth of a Nation” has been called one of the most racist films ever made, and it’s credited with leading to the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in America.
The letter accuses the university of making “a scapegoat in a broader political debate.” Among those signing their names are James Earl Jones, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, George Stevens Jr., Bertrand Tavernier, Malcolm McDowell, Lauren Hutton, Joe Dante, and Taylor Hackford. The letter is a response to Bowling Green’s May 3 decision to change the name of the Gish Theater because of Lillian Gish’s acting role in D. W. Griffith’s incendiary 1915 silent film “The Birth of a Nation.”
“The Birth of a Nation” has been called one of the most racist films ever made, and it’s credited with leading to the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in America.
- 6/19/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Swing Time
Blu ray
Criterion
1936 / 1.33 : 1 / 103 Min.
Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
Cinematography by David Abel
Directed by George Stevens
The image of a tuxedo clad Fred Astaire hopping an empty boxcar sums up the double-edged appeal of Swing Time, a transcendent musical-comedy in which Fred and Ginger meet the depression head-on – Runyonesque sentimentality is avoided thanks to George Stevens’ no-nonsense direction and the clear-eyed love songs of Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern.
Astaire plays a down-on-his-luck hoofer named Lucky who catches sight of a beautiful dance instructor named Penny and naturally falls in love (those too-perfect names will hang over the movie like a curse). The smitten hoofer trails her to the studio where she coaches would-be romantics in the art of… being Fred Astaire. Penny does her best with the supposedly flat-footed interloper but only succeeds in getting fired by her bad-tempered boss played by Eric Blore.
Lucky...
Blu ray
Criterion
1936 / 1.33 : 1 / 103 Min.
Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
Cinematography by David Abel
Directed by George Stevens
The image of a tuxedo clad Fred Astaire hopping an empty boxcar sums up the double-edged appeal of Swing Time, a transcendent musical-comedy in which Fred and Ginger meet the depression head-on – Runyonesque sentimentality is avoided thanks to George Stevens’ no-nonsense direction and the clear-eyed love songs of Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern.
Astaire plays a down-on-his-luck hoofer named Lucky who catches sight of a beautiful dance instructor named Penny and naturally falls in love (those too-perfect names will hang over the movie like a curse). The smitten hoofer trails her to the studio where she coaches would-be romantics in the art of… being Fred Astaire. Penny does her best with the supposedly flat-footed interloper but only succeeds in getting fired by her bad-tempered boss played by Eric Blore.
Lucky...
- 6/18/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Washington, D.C. — It was a celebration of a broad spectrum of American music — from country and jazz to musical theater and modern minimalism — at the 41 annual Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday.
That’s when the nation’s capital paused from its political concerns to toast eight showbiz titans for excellence: Superstar multi-hyphenates Cher and Reba McEntire, along with composer/pianist Philip Glass, and jazz saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter. Tapped for a special honor was the creative quartet behind the musical “Hamilton” – writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and music director Alex Lacamoire.
President Donald Trump declined to attend the event for the second straight year or host the traditional pre-gala reception for honorees at the White House. The decision, while breaking with longstanding tradition, was announced earlier and was met without visible dissent since Trump’s presence would have overshadowed the event, if not impacted it directly.
That’s when the nation’s capital paused from its political concerns to toast eight showbiz titans for excellence: Superstar multi-hyphenates Cher and Reba McEntire, along with composer/pianist Philip Glass, and jazz saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter. Tapped for a special honor was the creative quartet behind the musical “Hamilton” – writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and music director Alex Lacamoire.
President Donald Trump declined to attend the event for the second straight year or host the traditional pre-gala reception for honorees at the White House. The decision, while breaking with longstanding tradition, was announced earlier and was met without visible dissent since Trump’s presence would have overshadowed the event, if not impacted it directly.
- 12/3/2018
- by Paul Harris
- Variety Film + TV
Rowland Perkins, who launched Creative Artists Agency with Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer, Bill Haber, and Michael Rosenfeld, died Wednesday of pneumonia in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 84.
Perkins died at the Village retirement community, his daughter Kamala James told Variety.
“Our hearts are heavy today. All of us at CAA send our heartfelt condolences to Rowland’s cherished family,” CAA said in a statement. “We hope they find some measure of comfort in knowing the depth of our gratitude for his friendship and leadership, and that Rowland’s legacy lives on in the hallways of every CAA office around the world.”
Perkins was a native of Los Angeles. He served for two years in the U.S. Navy, graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, then broke into show business at the William Morris Agency in 1959. He started in the Wma mailroom, initiated its TV talent division...
Perkins died at the Village retirement community, his daughter Kamala James told Variety.
“Our hearts are heavy today. All of us at CAA send our heartfelt condolences to Rowland’s cherished family,” CAA said in a statement. “We hope they find some measure of comfort in knowing the depth of our gratitude for his friendship and leadership, and that Rowland’s legacy lives on in the hallways of every CAA office around the world.”
Perkins was a native of Los Angeles. He served for two years in the U.S. Navy, graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, then broke into show business at the William Morris Agency in 1959. He started in the Wma mailroom, initiated its TV talent division...
- 8/10/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Kennedy Center Honors said that Cher, composer Philip Glass, Reba McEntire and jazz great Wayne Shorter will be the recipients of this year’s annual awards, which recognize artists who have made enduring and indelible marks on the culture. The organization also revealed that it will honor the creators of Hamilton with a special Kennedy Center Honors award.
The honorees will receive tributes at the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors that will tape December 2 in Washington, DC, to be broadcast Wednesday, December 26 on CBS.
Hamilton writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and music director Alex Lacamoire will receive the unique Kennedy honor, for being “trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.”
“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes exceptional artists who have made enduring and indelible marks on our culture,” Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein said. “Cher is the consummate star, wowing generations...
The honorees will receive tributes at the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors that will tape December 2 in Washington, DC, to be broadcast Wednesday, December 26 on CBS.
Hamilton writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and music director Alex Lacamoire will receive the unique Kennedy honor, for being “trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.”
“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes exceptional artists who have made enduring and indelible marks on our culture,” Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein said. “Cher is the consummate star, wowing generations...
- 7/25/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
George Stevens Jr., the founding director of the American Film Institute and creator of the Kennedy Center Honors, has donated a major collection of documents and films chronicling his career to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archive.
The collection will become part of the Stevens Family collection, which spans five generations, including that of Stevens Jr.’s father, Oscar-winning director George Stevens.
Stevens Jr., who received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in 2012, began his career working as an assistant to his father on films like Shane and Giant; served ...
The collection will become part of the Stevens Family collection, which spans five generations, including that of Stevens Jr.’s father, Oscar-winning director George Stevens.
Stevens Jr., who received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in 2012, began his career working as an assistant to his father on films like Shane and Giant; served ...
- 5/21/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
George Stevens Jr., the founding director of the American Film Institute and creator of the Kennedy Center Honors, has donated a major collection of documents and films chronicling his career to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archive.
The collection will become part of the Stevens Family collection, which spans five generations, including that of Stevens Jr.’s father, Oscar-winning director George Stevens.
Stevens Jr., who received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in 2012, began his career working as an assistant to his father on films like Shane and Giant; served ...
The collection will become part of the Stevens Family collection, which spans five generations, including that of Stevens Jr.’s father, Oscar-winning director George Stevens.
Stevens Jr., who received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in 2012, began his career working as an assistant to his father on films like Shane and Giant; served ...
- 5/21/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended Viewinga stunning trailer for the 4k restoration and re-release of Legend of the Mountain (1979), an under-seen, contemplative action masterpiece by Come Drink with Me and A Touch of Zen director King Hu.Hong Sang-soo's On the Beach at Night Alone gets a wry and incisive new trailer for its imminent U.S. release. We wrote on the film in February, and later interviewed the director about it.For De Filmkrant, Notebook contributors Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin investigate in a new video essay the virtuous modulation to be found in Howard Hawks' and Barbara Stanwyck's talents in Ball of Fire.Commissioned by Renzo, Le CiNéMa Club has premiered three inspired short films from Mati Diop, Eduardo Williams, and Baptist Penetticobra all loosely interpreting the theme "Inhabit the earth".Recommended READINGIn...
- 11/8/2017
- MUBI
I tell you it’s rough out there on Frisco Bay, especially when you say the word ‘Frisco’ within earshot of a proud San Francisco native. This Alan Ladd racketeering tale could have been written twenty years earlier, but it has Warner Color and the early, extra-wide iteration of the new movie attraction CinemaScope.
Hell on Frisco Bay
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen Academy / 98 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, William Demarest, Paul Stewart, Perry Lopez, Fay Wray, Nestor Paiva, Willis Bouchey, Anthony Caruso, Tina Carver, Rod(ney) Taylor, Jayne Mansfield, Mae Marsh, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Stunts: Paul Baxley
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by Martin Rackin, Sydney Boehm from a book by William P. McGivern
Produced by George C. Berttholon, Alan Ladd
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Alan Ladd had always been...
Hell on Frisco Bay
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen Academy / 98 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, William Demarest, Paul Stewart, Perry Lopez, Fay Wray, Nestor Paiva, Willis Bouchey, Anthony Caruso, Tina Carver, Rod(ney) Taylor, Jayne Mansfield, Mae Marsh, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Stunts: Paul Baxley
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by Martin Rackin, Sydney Boehm from a book by William P. McGivern
Produced by George C. Berttholon, Alan Ladd
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Alan Ladd had always been...
- 10/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
<!--[Cdata[
In 1974, less than a decade into the institute's existence, Mathilde Krim, the wife of United Artists head Arthur Krim and future co-founder of amfAR, wrote a letter to AFI founding director George Stevens Jr. asking a simple question: "Why are there no women directors?"
"Not only did she have the idea [for the Directing Workshop for Women], she got the money for it [from the Rockefeller Foundation]," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, who served as AFI's CEO and director from 1980 to 2007. The inaugural class launched with a student body made up of mostly famous actresses who wanted...
In 1974, less than a decade into the institute's existence, Mathilde Krim, the wife of United Artists head Arthur Krim and future co-founder of amfAR, wrote a letter to AFI founding director George Stevens Jr. asking a simple question: "Why are there no women directors?"
"Not only did she have the idea [for the Directing Workshop for Women], she got the money for it [from the Rockefeller Foundation]," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, who served as AFI's CEO and director from 1980 to 2007. The inaugural class launched with a student body made up of mostly famous actresses who wanted...
- 10/6/2017
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Witness the ‘fifties transformation of the femme fatale, from scheming murderess to self-deluding social climber. Barbara Stanwyck redefines herself once again in Gerd Oswald’s best-directed picture, a searing portrayal of needs and anxieties in the nervous decade. With fine support from Raymond Burr, Virginia Grey and Royal Dano.
Crime of Passion
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 /
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Direction: Leslie Thomas
Original Music: Paul Dunlap
Original Story and Screenplay by Jo Eisinger
Produced by Herman Cohen, Robert Goldstein
Directed by Gerd Oswald
A key title in the development of the Film Noir, 1957’s Crime of Passion shows how much the style had departed from the dark romanticism and expressive visuals of the previous decade. The best mid-’50s noirs strike a marvelously cynical and existentially bleak attitude regarding crime and society.
Crime of Passion
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 /
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Direction: Leslie Thomas
Original Music: Paul Dunlap
Original Story and Screenplay by Jo Eisinger
Produced by Herman Cohen, Robert Goldstein
Directed by Gerd Oswald
A key title in the development of the Film Noir, 1957’s Crime of Passion shows how much the style had departed from the dark romanticism and expressive visuals of the previous decade. The best mid-’50s noirs strike a marvelously cynical and existentially bleak attitude regarding crime and society.
- 9/16/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: Wme has signed Laurent Bouzereau, the author and filmmaker who most recently co-produced and directed Netflix’s Five Came Back. The three-part, three-hour documentary series intriguingly chronicled the not-so-well-known efforts of five iconic Hollywood directors — William Wyler, John Huston, George Stevens, Frank Capra and John Ford — who put their careers on hold to help create propaganda films during World War II. The series hails from Amblin Television based…...
- 8/23/2017
- Deadline
There was more than enough narrative complexity for editors to tackle in Emmy contenders “The Crown,” “American Gods,” “This Is Us,” “Fargo,” and “Five Came Back.” But through skill and finesse, they helped make these shows compelling and relevant by cutting through the multiple strands of history, mythology, melodrama, and black comedy.
“The Crown” focused on the public and private personas of Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) in post-war England; “American Gods” explored how Old and New Gods fight for attention in modern society; “This Is Us” chose a non-linear structure to show the influence of the past on millennial siblings; “Fargo” dealt with twin brothers (Ewan McGregor) in a third season of absurd crime shenanigans; and “Five Came Back” revealed how the World War II propaganda campaign changed the lives of directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler.
“The Crown”
In “Hyde Park Corner,...
“The Crown” focused on the public and private personas of Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) in post-war England; “American Gods” explored how Old and New Gods fight for attention in modern society; “This Is Us” chose a non-linear structure to show the influence of the past on millennial siblings; “Fargo” dealt with twin brothers (Ewan McGregor) in a third season of absurd crime shenanigans; and “Five Came Back” revealed how the World War II propaganda campaign changed the lives of directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler.
“The Crown”
In “Hyde Park Corner,...
- 6/16/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Edmund Goulding, W. Somerset Maughan, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Raymond Burr, Charles Walters, DeWitt Bodeen, and Harriet Parsons. (One assumes that it's a mere coincidence that gay rumor subjects Cary Grant and Tyrone Power are also featured.) Night and Day (1946), which could also be considered part of TCM's homage to birthday girl Alexis Smith, who would have turned 96 today, is a Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant as a posh, heterosexualized version of Porter. As the warning goes, any similaries to real-life people and/or events found in Night and Day are a mere coincidence. The same goes for Words and Music (1948), a highly fictionalized version of the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical partnership.
- 6/9/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
“I love AFI!,” David Lynch said in a video that opened up the film conservatory’s 2017 commencement ceremony, which also acted as the kickoff to the American Film Institute’s larger 50th anniversary celebration.
“Today, we have a double feature,” said AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale as graduates filled into the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Monday morning for the graduation ceremony/anniversary celebration.
The American Film Institute began in 1967 with the help of President Lyndon Johnson, who signed the organization into existence at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Founding chairman Gregory Peck was in attendance that day in Washington, along with George Stevens, Jr., AFI’s founding director, who took the podium at...
“Today, we have a double feature,” said AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale as graduates filled into the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Monday morning for the graduation ceremony/anniversary celebration.
The American Film Institute began in 1967 with the help of President Lyndon Johnson, who signed the organization into existence at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Founding chairman Gregory Peck was in attendance that day in Washington, along with George Stevens, Jr., AFI’s founding director, who took the podium at...
- 6/6/2017
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It takes a lot to stand out when you’re standing between Robert Mitchum and John Wayne. And it surely isn’t easy when you’re also standing in front of the venerable Howard Hawks. But this was the position 25-year-old James Caan found himself in when he took on the role of Alan Bourdillon Traherne, otherwise known as Mississippi, in Hawks’ 1967 Western, El Dorado. Though Hawks was nearing the end of his filmmaking career (this would be his penultimate movie) and Caan was just at the start of his (following two features and about five years of extensive television work), they were each entering the project under similar circumstances. Indeed, it was their shared experience on the disappointing Red Line 7000 (1965) that left them both wanting. It may have been a personal letdown for Caan, but that film’s poor reception wasn’t a deal-breaker as far as his prospects were likely to continue.
- 5/15/2017
- MUBI
This time on the podcast, David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett discuss George Stevens’s Woman of the Year.
George Stevens’s Woman of the Year, conceived to build on the smashing comeback Katharine Hepburn had made in The Philadelphia Story, marked the beginning of the personal and professional union between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who would go on to make eight more films together. This tale of two newspaper reporters who wed and then discover that their careers aren’t so compatible forges a fresh and realistic vision of what marriage can be. The freewheeling but pinpoint-sharp screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin won an Academy Award, and Hepburn received a nomination for her performance. Woman of the Year is a dazzling, funny, and rueful observation of what it takes for men and women to get along—both in the workplace and outside of it.
Subscribe to the...
George Stevens’s Woman of the Year, conceived to build on the smashing comeback Katharine Hepburn had made in The Philadelphia Story, marked the beginning of the personal and professional union between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who would go on to make eight more films together. This tale of two newspaper reporters who wed and then discover that their careers aren’t so compatible forges a fresh and realistic vision of what marriage can be. The freewheeling but pinpoint-sharp screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin won an Academy Award, and Hepburn received a nomination for her performance. Woman of the Year is a dazzling, funny, and rueful observation of what it takes for men and women to get along—both in the workplace and outside of it.
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- 5/9/2017
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
One of cinema's early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were 'Salvation Sue,' 'Naughty Mary Brown' and 'Saving Sister Susie,' all with frequent partner Earle Rodney. 'Comediennes of the Silent Era' & film historian Anthony Slide at the American Cinematheque Film historian and author Anthony Slide, once described by Lillian Gish as “our preeminent historian of the silent film,” will attend the American Cinematheque's 2017 Retroformat program “Comediennes of the Silent Era” on Sat., May 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the Spielberg Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Slide will be signing copies of his book She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell (University Press of Mississippi), about the largely forgotten pioneering comedy actress of the 1910s and early 1920s. The book signing will take place at 6:30 p.
- 5/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I was 12 years old in 1968. One of my favorite places was the library, in those days the closest library to us was the Tesson Ferry Branch in South St. Louis County. My most prized possession was my library card.
My Mother used to drop me off there on a Saturday or a summer weekday and I would spend the whole day reading. One of those days I pulled a book off the shelf called Hitchcock/Truffaut and sat down to read it. I knew who Alfred Hitchcock was from his television show, and from his monthly Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies that I was reading avidly, Tales That Frightened Even Me, More Tales for the Nervous and, my favorite, Stories to be Read After Dark.
I was aware that Alfred Hitchcock was most renowned for directing movies. I had seen a few on television, Saboteur was a mainstay on Kplr TV,...
My Mother used to drop me off there on a Saturday or a summer weekday and I would spend the whole day reading. One of those days I pulled a book off the shelf called Hitchcock/Truffaut and sat down to read it. I knew who Alfred Hitchcock was from his television show, and from his monthly Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies that I was reading avidly, Tales That Frightened Even Me, More Tales for the Nervous and, my favorite, Stories to be Read After Dark.
I was aware that Alfred Hitchcock was most renowned for directing movies. I had seen a few on television, Saboteur was a mainstay on Kplr TV,...
- 5/1/2017
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One of the best international thrillers ever has almost become an obscurity, for reasons unknown – this Blu-ray comes from Australia. Edward Fox’s wily assassin for hire goes up against the combined police and security establishments of three nations as he sets up the killing of a head of state – France’s president Charles de Gaulle. The terrific cast features Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig and Cyril Cusack; director Fred Zinnemann’s excellent direction reaches a high pitch of tension – even though the outcome is known from the start.
The Day of the Jackal
Region B+A Blu-ray
Shock Entertainment / Universal
1973 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date ? / Available from Amazon UK / Pounds 19.99
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion,...
The Day of the Jackal
Region B+A Blu-ray
Shock Entertainment / Universal
1973 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date ? / Available from Amazon UK / Pounds 19.99
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion,...
- 4/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Bogart and Bacall. Powell and Loy. Cinema history is chock full of iconic on-screen dynamic duos. However, few pairs have fostered more great films and a more historic legacy off screen than Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
Two of classic Hollywood’s most legendary actors, the pair would share the screen for nine feature films that played part in a decades-spanning love affair as public as their films were instantly beloved. Working together for roughly 25 years, Tracy and Hepburn were the focus of beloved comedies like Adam’s Rib and ultimately the figureheads for a generation in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. But where did it all begin?
That would be George Stevens’ seminal gender politics comedy Woman of the Year, which is now out in a delightfully rich Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray. With a screenplay from Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (an Oscar winning one, at...
Two of classic Hollywood’s most legendary actors, the pair would share the screen for nine feature films that played part in a decades-spanning love affair as public as their films were instantly beloved. Working together for roughly 25 years, Tracy and Hepburn were the focus of beloved comedies like Adam’s Rib and ultimately the figureheads for a generation in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. But where did it all begin?
That would be George Stevens’ seminal gender politics comedy Woman of the Year, which is now out in a delightfully rich Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray. With a screenplay from Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (an Oscar winning one, at...
- 4/21/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
See previous post: “Comedy Actress Rediscovered: 'She Could Be Chaplin!' Q&A with Film Historian Anthony Slide.” Could forgotten comedy actress really have been Chaplin? The title of your Alice Howell book is She Could Be Chaplin! Could she really have been that big and influential? If so, why didn't that happen? Perhaps I am guilty of a certain amount of hyperbole. The publisher and I were trying to come up with a good title for the book. We selected that title in part out of a belief that Chaplin's name on the cover would sell the book. But equally because throughout her career Alice Howell was described as a female Chaplin. Consistently film reviewers and writers compared her work to that of Chaplin. Personally I don't believe she was in any way influenced by Chaplin, but there is definitely a similarity during the early years of both their...
- 4/20/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide's latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer 'could have been Chaplin' – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda. Rediscovering comedy actress Alice Howell: Female performer in movie field dominated by men Early comedy actress Alice Howell is an obscure entity even for silent film aficionados. With luck, only a handful of them will be able to name one of her more than 100 movies, mostly shorts – among them Sin on the Sabbath, A Busted Honeymoon, How Stars Are Made – released between 1914 and 1920. Yet Alice Howell holds (what should be) an important – or at the very least an interesting – place in film history. After all, she was one of the American cinema's relatively few pioneering “funny actresses,” along with the likes of the better-known Flora Finch, Louise Fazenda, and, a top star in her day, Mabel Normand.[1] Also of note,...
- 4/20/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
An effective film can be used as a weapon and during World War II, America utilized every weapon in its arsenal. As Hollywood directors turned propagandists, John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, George Stevens, and John Huston understood better than most the incredible power of film. But did they wield it responsibly? Netflix’s three-part documentary […]
The post What to Watch After You’ve Finished Netflix’s ‘Five Came Back’ appeared first on /Film.
The post What to Watch After You’ve Finished Netflix’s ‘Five Came Back’ appeared first on /Film.
- 4/6/2017
- by Kristin Hunt
- Slash Film
Netflix’s documentary series “Five Came Back” profiles the wartime experience of five Old Hollywood directors who all served in World War II: John Ford, Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler and George Stevens. The films they made documenting the war for decades have been rare or completely unavailable to the public. But they’re now all available for streaming. Here’s the story on each: “The Battle of Midway” – dir. John Ford (1942) “At that moment, reality comes to him, and he moves to meet it.” That’s how in “Five Came Back” Paul Greengrass described John Ford’s filmmaking in “The Battle of.
- 4/6/2017
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
by Glenn Dunks
It can sometimes feel like we’ve seen WWII from so many perspectives that there can’t possibly be new ways to convey the weight of its tragedy. That Five Came Back, a new three-part mini-docu-series on Netflix, manages to succeed at doing this is just one of its many virtues. Adapted from Mark Harris’ book of the same name by Harris himself and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, this is a three-hour documentary about the work of five of Hollywood’s biggest directorial names of the 1930s who enlisted to support the American war effort the only way that they knew how: through film, and the personal battles they fought in order to do so.
They were Frank Capra, John Huston, George Stevens, William Wyler and John Ford – the latter of whom gets the biggest laugh labelling documentaries in the 1930s as “silly things that rich kooks...
It can sometimes feel like we’ve seen WWII from so many perspectives that there can’t possibly be new ways to convey the weight of its tragedy. That Five Came Back, a new three-part mini-docu-series on Netflix, manages to succeed at doing this is just one of its many virtues. Adapted from Mark Harris’ book of the same name by Harris himself and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, this is a three-hour documentary about the work of five of Hollywood’s biggest directorial names of the 1930s who enlisted to support the American war effort the only way that they knew how: through film, and the personal battles they fought in order to do so.
They were Frank Capra, John Huston, George Stevens, William Wyler and John Ford – the latter of whom gets the biggest laugh labelling documentaries in the 1930s as “silly things that rich kooks...
- 4/4/2017
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series
Entertainment journalist Mark Harris followed up his well-reviewed 2009 “Pictures at a Revolution” with an even better and more accessible book, the dramatic story of five top Hollywood directors and their roles in producing WWII propaganda films, told over 500 pages: “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The first book was doomed not to become a movie due to prohibitive clip costs. But the urge to open up Harris’s exhaustive research on “Five Came Back” via dramatic documentary shorts shot in the global arena was irresistible — and they were free.
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
- 4/3/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
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