This post contains spoilers for the first episode of Willow.
No Tolkien-esque fantasy epic is complete without a ragtag group of heroes boasting a menagerie of personalities, and the "Willow" series is no exception. A sequel set 20 years after the 1988 film of the same name, the show's leads include Warwick Davis's titular Nelwyn sorcerer (who's a bit gruffer but otherwise the same plucky hero we met in the original movie), Ruby Cruz's Princess Kit (a capable warrior but one who could stand to check her privilege), and Erin Kellyman as Kit's friend/love interest, the ever patient knight-in-training Jade. Among those joining them on their quest to save the kingdom of Tir Asleen are Tony Revolori's scholarly if inexperienced Prince Graydon and Ellie Bamber as "Dove," a wide-eyed kitchen maid who learns she's really Elora Danan, the future Empress of Tir Asleen and, in essence, the show's Chosen One.
No Tolkien-esque fantasy epic is complete without a ragtag group of heroes boasting a menagerie of personalities, and the "Willow" series is no exception. A sequel set 20 years after the 1988 film of the same name, the show's leads include Warwick Davis's titular Nelwyn sorcerer (who's a bit gruffer but otherwise the same plucky hero we met in the original movie), Ruby Cruz's Princess Kit (a capable warrior but one who could stand to check her privilege), and Erin Kellyman as Kit's friend/love interest, the ever patient knight-in-training Jade. Among those joining them on their quest to save the kingdom of Tir Asleen are Tony Revolori's scholarly if inexperienced Prince Graydon and Ellie Bamber as "Dove," a wide-eyed kitchen maid who learns she's really Elora Danan, the future Empress of Tir Asleen and, in essence, the show's Chosen One.
- 12/22/2022
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Production is underway on Lee Soo Man: The King of K-Pop, a feature documentary from production company This Machine that will land on Prime Video.
Filmmaker Ting Poo, who earned acclaim with her 2021 Prime Video documentary Val about actor Val Kilmer (co-directed with Leo Scott) is helming Lee Soo Man, a “documentary chronicling the enthralling life of a bold visionary whose work put his country on the map, sparked a global movement, and continues to define an era,” as a release put it. “A futurist and visionary on the scale of Steve Jobs, Lee is more than a music impresario. He is a world-builder and a technologist whose original creation has taken over global entertainment, one K-Pop band at a time.”
Lee Soo Man
No target release date has been announced, but once finished the film will reach audiences through Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“We are...
Filmmaker Ting Poo, who earned acclaim with her 2021 Prime Video documentary Val about actor Val Kilmer (co-directed with Leo Scott) is helming Lee Soo Man, a “documentary chronicling the enthralling life of a bold visionary whose work put his country on the map, sparked a global movement, and continues to define an era,” as a release put it. “A futurist and visionary on the scale of Steve Jobs, Lee is more than a music impresario. He is a world-builder and a technologist whose original creation has taken over global entertainment, one K-Pop band at a time.”
Lee Soo Man
No target release date has been announced, but once finished the film will reach audiences through Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“We are...
- 11/28/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Christina Aguilera's life story is getting the documentary treatment. On Nov. 10, Time Studios and Roc Nation announced the new project, which will be helmed by director Ting Poo.
"We are beyond excited to extend our creative partnership with Roc Nation through this film. Christina has been such an enduring talent and inimitable entertainer throughout the years. Hers is truly one of the great voices of our time, and this is the perfect moment for her story to be told," Time Studios Cohead of Documentary Loren Hammonds said in a press release. "We are incredibly honored that she has chosen to work with Time Studios and Roc Nation to finally share her truth with the world."
"Christina is a true icon, a beacon of never-ending authenticity. As a young artist, she broke rules and blazed paths for future voices," Roc Nation's EVP of TV and Film, Lori York, added. "We're...
"We are beyond excited to extend our creative partnership with Roc Nation through this film. Christina has been such an enduring talent and inimitable entertainer throughout the years. Hers is truly one of the great voices of our time, and this is the perfect moment for her story to be told," Time Studios Cohead of Documentary Loren Hammonds said in a press release. "We are incredibly honored that she has chosen to work with Time Studios and Roc Nation to finally share her truth with the world."
"Christina is a true icon, a beacon of never-ending authenticity. As a young artist, she broke rules and blazed paths for future voices," Roc Nation's EVP of TV and Film, Lori York, added. "We're...
- 11/10/2022
- by Monica Sisavat
- Popsugar.com
Christina Aguilera will be the next pop star to be the subject of a documentary.
Deadline reports that “Val” co-director Ting Poo is set to direct a new doc about the “Genie In a Bottle” singer.
Read More: Christina Aguilera Opens Up About Rebelling Against Her Image: ‘There’s Such A Rulebook That’s Handed To Us’
The artist is reported to be involved with the film, providing “unprecedented access” to her life story, including opening up her archive to the filmmaking team.
With all that access, the documentary will chart Aguilera’s life from her early days as a pre-teen Disney star, through her massive mainstream breakthrough, all the way to the present, including never-before-seen footage.
The filmmakers have been in production on the film already for 18 months, following Aguilera around to capture her performances and her daily life.
Read More: Christina Aguilera Reveals Music Execs Tried To Make...
Deadline reports that “Val” co-director Ting Poo is set to direct a new doc about the “Genie In a Bottle” singer.
Read More: Christina Aguilera Opens Up About Rebelling Against Her Image: ‘There’s Such A Rulebook That’s Handed To Us’
The artist is reported to be involved with the film, providing “unprecedented access” to her life story, including opening up her archive to the filmmaking team.
With all that access, the documentary will chart Aguilera’s life from her early days as a pre-teen Disney star, through her massive mainstream breakthrough, all the way to the present, including never-before-seen footage.
The filmmakers have been in production on the film already for 18 months, following Aguilera around to capture her performances and her daily life.
Read More: Christina Aguilera Reveals Music Execs Tried To Make...
- 11/10/2022
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
Lights, camera, action: Christina Aguilera will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary spanning her life story both personally and professionally. Produced by Time Studios and Roc Nation, the film will be helmed by Val director Ting Poo.
Xtina cracked open a vault of archival footage for the documentary in addition to inviting cameras to capture recent performances and life developments over the past 18 months. Molding itself out of behind-the-scenes moments and career-defining public events, the film aims to allow Aguilera to reflect on her transition from a teen star...
Xtina cracked open a vault of archival footage for the documentary in addition to inviting cameras to capture recent performances and life developments over the past 18 months. Molding itself out of behind-the-scenes moments and career-defining public events, the film aims to allow Aguilera to reflect on her transition from a teen star...
- 11/10/2022
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Ting Poo (Val) has been tapped to direct a new documentary on pop superstar Christina Aguilera for Time Studios and Roc Nation.
The film on Aguilera will offer unprecedented access to her life story, opening up her personal archive for a look into the past and present, from her early days as a pre-teen Disney star to her current recognition as an international icon with one of music’s most celebrated voices. Featuring never-before-seen footage and exclusive behind-closed-door moments, the film will dive deep into the personal and professional life of Christina, offering a portrait of the artist, mother and entertainer as she reflects on her multi-decade career fighting for creative freedom and gender equality.
Production on the Christina Aguilera doc has been quietly taking place over the last 18 months, with the filmmakers following the singer-songwriter through various travels, performances and life events. The project will be the second from Time Studios and Roc Nation,...
The film on Aguilera will offer unprecedented access to her life story, opening up her personal archive for a look into the past and present, from her early days as a pre-teen Disney star to her current recognition as an international icon with one of music’s most celebrated voices. Featuring never-before-seen footage and exclusive behind-closed-door moments, the film will dive deep into the personal and professional life of Christina, offering a portrait of the artist, mother and entertainer as she reflects on her multi-decade career fighting for creative freedom and gender equality.
Production on the Christina Aguilera doc has been quietly taking place over the last 18 months, with the filmmakers following the singer-songwriter through various travels, performances and life events. The project will be the second from Time Studios and Roc Nation,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
“King Richard” got a big boost in its bid for Best Editing at the Oscars with a win at the Ace Golden Eddie Awards on March 6. It prevailed in the drama race at these awards bestowed by American Cinema Editors over two of its Oscar rivals –“Dune” and “The Power of the Dog” — as well as “Belfast” and “No Time to Die.”
Another of the Oscar nominees, “tick, tick…Boom!,” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “Don’t Look Up,” plus “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch” and “Licorice Pizza.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to take home the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in nine of the 13 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture. Last year’s drama winner,...
Another of the Oscar nominees, “tick, tick…Boom!,” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “Don’t Look Up,” plus “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch” and “Licorice Pizza.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to take home the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in nine of the 13 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture. Last year’s drama winner,...
- 3/6/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The nominations for the 2022 Ace Eddie Awards announced on Thursday (Jan. 27) include our Oscar frontrunner for Best Film Editing, “Dune,” along with three of the other four films we’re predicting to reap bids in that race: “Belfast,” “Don’t Look Up” and “The Power of the Dog.” While “West Side Story” was snubbed by the American Cinema Editors we expect it to be the fifth Academy Awards contender.
The Ace Eddie Awards divide their prizes for editing between dramas and comedies/musicals.
“Belfast,” “Dune” and “The Power of the Dog” contend here in the drama race, which is rounded out by “King Richard” and“No Time to Die.”
Facing off against “Don’t Look Up” on the comedy side are “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “tick, tick…Boom!”
In 1992, the Eddies went from three to five nominees (matching that of the Oscars) and in 2000 it split the award in two,...
The Ace Eddie Awards divide their prizes for editing between dramas and comedies/musicals.
“Belfast,” “Dune” and “The Power of the Dog” contend here in the drama race, which is rounded out by “King Richard” and“No Time to Die.”
Facing off against “Don’t Look Up” on the comedy side are “Cruella,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “tick, tick…Boom!”
In 1992, the Eddies went from three to five nominees (matching that of the Oscars) and in 2000 it split the award in two,...
- 1/27/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The American Cinema Editors (Ace) has nominated “Belfast,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “No Time to Die” and “The Power of the Dog” in the category of feature film drama at the 72nd annual Ace Eddie Awards.
In the best edited comedic feature category, “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “Tick, Tick…Boom!” all received nominations.
Among the animated features nominated were “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.” The TV nominees include “Succession” and “The White Lotus.”
The Eddies are considered a precursor for the best picture and best editing categories at the Oscars. Five of the past 11 winners for best edited drama feature went on to win the film editing Oscar.
Since 1961, only 10 women have won in the best edited drama feature category. This year, there are two women who made the cut: Pamela Martin (“King Richard”) and...
In the best edited comedic feature category, “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “Tick, Tick…Boom!” all received nominations.
Among the animated features nominated were “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.” The TV nominees include “Succession” and “The White Lotus.”
The Eddies are considered a precursor for the best picture and best editing categories at the Oscars. Five of the past 11 winners for best edited drama feature went on to win the film editing Oscar.
Since 1961, only 10 women have won in the best edited drama feature category. This year, there are two women who made the cut: Pamela Martin (“King Richard”) and...
- 1/27/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
The American Cinema Editors has spliced together the nominees for its 72nd annual Ace Eddie Awards.
The editors behind Belfast, Dune, King Richard, No Time to Die and The Power of the Dog will compete for Best Edited Dramatic Feature Film. Up for Comedy Feature are Cruella, Don’t Look Up, The French Dispatch, Licorice Pizza and tick, tick…Boom! The Animated Feature race will be among Encanto, Luca, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon
and Sing 2.
Vying in the Documentary Feature competition are Flee, The Rescue, Summer of Soul, Val and The Velvet Underground. See the full list of the Eddie Award nominations below.
Trophies will be presented during the guild’s awards ceremony on March 5 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. The half-capacity show originally was set for February 26.
A highlight on the TV side is Kevin Can F**k Himself,...
The editors behind Belfast, Dune, King Richard, No Time to Die and The Power of the Dog will compete for Best Edited Dramatic Feature Film. Up for Comedy Feature are Cruella, Don’t Look Up, The French Dispatch, Licorice Pizza and tick, tick…Boom! The Animated Feature race will be among Encanto, Luca, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon
and Sing 2.
Vying in the Documentary Feature competition are Flee, The Rescue, Summer of Soul, Val and The Velvet Underground. See the full list of the Eddie Award nominations below.
Trophies will be presented during the guild’s awards ceremony on March 5 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. The half-capacity show originally was set for February 26.
A highlight on the TV side is Kevin Can F**k Himself,...
- 1/27/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“Belfast,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “No Time to Die” and “The Power of the Dog” have been nominated as the best dramatic film editing of 2021 by the American Cinema Editors, which announced the nominees for the 72nd annual Ace Eddie Awards on Thursday.
Those five films will compete in the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) category, while the field in Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) will consist of “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “tick, tick…Boom!”
The most surprising omission was probably “West Side Story,” while Ace Eddie voters also bypassed “Nightmare Alley,” “Coda” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Nominations for the editing of animated features went to the same five animated films that have also been nominated by the Cinema Audio Society, Motion Picture Sound Editors, Visual Effects Society and Art Directors Guild: “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.
Those five films will compete in the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) category, while the field in Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) will consist of “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “tick, tick…Boom!”
The most surprising omission was probably “West Side Story,” while Ace Eddie voters also bypassed “Nightmare Alley,” “Coda” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Nominations for the editing of animated features went to the same five animated films that have also been nominated by the Cinema Audio Society, Motion Picture Sound Editors, Visual Effects Society and Art Directors Guild: “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.
- 1/27/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Oscars have announced that 276 feature films are eligible for this year’s Academy Awards, with nomination voting set to begin Thursday, Jan. 27 until Tuesday, Feb. 1.
Last year, the Academy extended the eligibility year until Feb. 28, 2021 due to the pandemic, which produced 366 eligible films, the largest number of submissions since 1970. With only 10 months in this period, 2022’s eligibility list is on par with previous submission years.
All of the presumed Oscar contenders are on the list including “Being the Ricardos” (Amazon Studios), “Belfast” (Focus Features), “C’mon C’mon” (A24), “Candyman” (Universal Pictures), “Coda” (Apple Original Films), “Dune” (Warner Bros), “Encanto” (Walt Disney Pictures), “House of Gucci” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), “Nightmare Alley” (Searchlight Pictures), “Parallel Mothers” (Sony Pictures Classics), “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), “A Quiet Place Part II” (Paramount Pictures), “Spencer” (Neon/Topic Studios), “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures) and “West Side Story” (20th Century Studios).
Some of...
Last year, the Academy extended the eligibility year until Feb. 28, 2021 due to the pandemic, which produced 366 eligible films, the largest number of submissions since 1970. With only 10 months in this period, 2022’s eligibility list is on par with previous submission years.
All of the presumed Oscar contenders are on the list including “Being the Ricardos” (Amazon Studios), “Belfast” (Focus Features), “C’mon C’mon” (A24), “Candyman” (Universal Pictures), “Coda” (Apple Original Films), “Dune” (Warner Bros), “Encanto” (Walt Disney Pictures), “House of Gucci” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), “Nightmare Alley” (Searchlight Pictures), “Parallel Mothers” (Sony Pictures Classics), “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), “A Quiet Place Part II” (Paramount Pictures), “Spencer” (Neon/Topic Studios), “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures) and “West Side Story” (20th Century Studios).
Some of...
- 1/20/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Voting has only just begun for select nominees at the 2022 WGA Awards. Drama series, comedy series and new series votes will be taken until Jan. 5, while voting doesn’t even open for original and adapted screenplays until Jan. 12 (with a deadline of Jan. 26). Nominations for the television categories, as well as new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing awards will be announced on Jan. 13, with screenplay nominations announced Jan. 27. Final voting for all takes place between Feb. 2 and Feb. 16, with the winners being announced at the 74th annual ceremony on March 20.
Although it is still very early days for some of these categories, Variety breaks down where select series, scripts and categories stand so far.
Original Screenplay
The contenders in the original screenplay field are dominated by repeat WGA and Academy Award nominees with a few breakthrough tyro scribes in the mix. “King Richard,” penned by Zach Baylin (who...
Although it is still very early days for some of these categories, Variety breaks down where select series, scripts and categories stand so far.
Original Screenplay
The contenders in the original screenplay field are dominated by repeat WGA and Academy Award nominees with a few breakthrough tyro scribes in the mix. “King Richard,” penned by Zach Baylin (who...
- 12/30/2021
- by Danielle Turchiano and Malina Saval
- Variety Film + TV
The affecting intimacy of Val, the sometimes ethereal, often unblinking look at Val Kilmer’s life and career through personal home footage, was a reflection of the actor’s unselfconscious ease, both on camera and in life, according to the filmmakers behind the Amazon Studios film.
Directors Ting Poo and Leo Scott told Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary that, due to his profession and having filmed himself continuously since the dawn of home video cameras in the 1980s, being on camera was second nature to Kilmer.
“One of the lucky things about filming an actor is how comfortable they are in front of the camera, and Val certainly is,” said Poo. “He began filming himself behind the scenes of all these movies, but later on, he just hired people to film them. So he always kind of had a camera following him around and was very used to it.”
Allowing...
Directors Ting Poo and Leo Scott told Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary that, due to his profession and having filmed himself continuously since the dawn of home video cameras in the 1980s, being on camera was second nature to Kilmer.
“One of the lucky things about filming an actor is how comfortable they are in front of the camera, and Val certainly is,” said Poo. “He began filming himself behind the scenes of all these movies, but later on, he just hired people to film them. So he always kind of had a camera following him around and was very used to it.”
Allowing...
- 11/21/2021
- by Scott Huver
- Deadline Film + TV
“Val,” the warmly received and reveal documentary about actor Val Kilmer, began simply with an email. A decade ago, Leo Scott was working as an editor on director Harmony Korine’s half-hour comedy series for Vice Films ‘The Lotus Community Workshop.” Kilmer played a version of himself as a motivational speaker. “It was quite incredible what he did with that character,” said Scott during a recent Film Independent Zoom conversation on “Val.”
“I really, really wanted to tell him how good he was,” Scott noted. So, he sent a carefully crafted e-mail to the actor, who has starred in such films as 1984’s “Top Secret!,” 1996’s “Top Gun,” 1991’s “The Doors,” 1993’s “Tombstone” and 1995’s “Batman Forever.” Much to Scott’s surprise, Kilmer quickly sent him back an email. Soon, Scott found himself working with Kilmer on his one-man theater piece on Mark Twain.
“He was starting to workshop the...
“I really, really wanted to tell him how good he was,” Scott noted. So, he sent a carefully crafted e-mail to the actor, who has starred in such films as 1984’s “Top Secret!,” 1996’s “Top Gun,” 1991’s “The Doors,” 1993’s “Tombstone” and 1995’s “Batman Forever.” Much to Scott’s surprise, Kilmer quickly sent him back an email. Soon, Scott found himself working with Kilmer on his one-man theater piece on Mark Twain.
“He was starting to workshop the...
- 11/18/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Seven top documentarians recently joined Gold Derby’s “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Oscar and guild contenders: Rachel Fleit (“Introducing Selma Blair”), Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine (“Lfg”), Robert Greene (“Procession”), Jimmy Chin (“The Rescue”) and Ting Poo and Leo Scott (“Val”). This group of eclectic filmmakers revealed tricks of the trade, including why they got into this profession and how they know when to end a project, particularly if the story is ongoing.
You can watch the documentary group roundtable panel above with these seven creative helmers. Click on each person’s name above to be taken to their individual interview.
See Gold Derby interviews with 2022 Oscar contenders
As for why Fleit loves working in the nonfiction field, she reveals, “I think for me it’s the way that you are able to see a person, to see yourself in that person. I’m totally a...
You can watch the documentary group roundtable panel above with these seven creative helmers. Click on each person’s name above to be taken to their individual interview.
See Gold Derby interviews with 2022 Oscar contenders
As for why Fleit loves working in the nonfiction field, she reveals, “I think for me it’s the way that you are able to see a person, to see yourself in that person. I’m totally a...
- 11/11/2021
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
For the past 40 years, Val Kilmer has been recording all aspects of his life — everything from his childhood to his acting career to his struggles with throat cancer. Now, Kilmer’s “mountain of tapes” have been made into an Amazon documentary from directors Ting Poo and Leo Scott, titled “Val.” After Kilmer’s cancer went into remission, they approached him with a “bigger idea about making a story about his entire life and career, told through his lens,” the filmmakers tell Gold Derby in our Meet the Experts: Documentary panel (watch the exclusive video interview above).
Scott reveals about Kilmer’s thousands of hours of footage, “He was having it stored properly, but it was a source of stress in a way,” because “some of these formats were probably decaying, becoming obsolete.” Kilmer started recording his life from an early age, with Scott explaining, “He and his brothers were making...
Scott reveals about Kilmer’s thousands of hours of footage, “He was having it stored properly, but it was a source of stress in a way,” because “some of these formats were probably decaying, becoming obsolete.” Kilmer started recording his life from an early age, with Scott explaining, “He and his brothers were making...
- 11/11/2021
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Award voters are overwhelmed this year by a vast bounty of critically acclaimed documentaries, making this one of the most competitive derbies in recent years. There are so many top contenders that Gold Derby decided to launch our celebrated “Meet the Experts” video series by chatting with the talent behind five major docs.
Watch our senior editor Marcus James Dixon conduct intriguing one-on-one chats with the creators of each doc, then gathers them together for a group discussion about what inspired them to make their films and what were the greatest challenges they faced.
The five documentaries:
“Introducing, Selma Blair” (Rachel Fleit) – A deeply intimate and raw portrait of Selma Blair after she is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and tries to slow the progression of her disease.
“Lfg” ( – Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine) – It is a no-holds-barred, inside account of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s...
Watch our senior editor Marcus James Dixon conduct intriguing one-on-one chats with the creators of each doc, then gathers them together for a group discussion about what inspired them to make their films and what were the greatest challenges they faced.
The five documentaries:
“Introducing, Selma Blair” (Rachel Fleit) – A deeply intimate and raw portrait of Selma Blair after she is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and tries to slow the progression of her disease.
“Lfg” ( – Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine) – It is a no-holds-barred, inside account of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s...
- 11/9/2021
- by Tom O'Neil
- Gold Derby
Seven top documentarians will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Oscar and guild contenders. Each person from the documentaries will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Monday, November 8, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Marcus James Dixon and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“Introducing Selma Blair”: Rachel Fleit
Synopsis: A deeply intimate and raw portrait of Selma Blair after she is diagnosed with...
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“Introducing Selma Blair”: Rachel Fleit
Synopsis: A deeply intimate and raw portrait of Selma Blair after she is diagnosed with...
- 11/3/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Photo: ‘Val’ What do you know about Val Kilmer? That he was Batman in Joel Schumacher’s campy ‘Batman Forever’? That he was notoriously hard to work with during the disastrous production of ‘the Island of Dr. Moreau’? Or that he had a two-year battle with throat cancer? You may be familiar with the works of Val Kilmer, an actor who has always considered themselves a “serious actor” despite some silly roles such as in ‘Top Gun’, but you may not be familiar with the life of Val Kilmer. Leo Scott and Ting Poo’s ‘Val’ is a documentary composed of narration and home footage that Val Kilmer shot himself, creating a self-reflective portrait of not only Val Kilmer but for any audience member who identifies as an artist. Related article: ‘In the Heights’ – Behind the Scenes and Full Commentary/Reactions from Cast & Crew Related article: The Hollywood Insider’s...
- 8/21/2021
- by Brianna Benozich
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Photo: 'Val' Many dream of “making it” in Hollywood, and as countless failed stories come across, few others have flourished. Val Kilmer's career is one that thrived enviably. During his time, he was one of the highest-paid actors in the industry. Now, the audience gets to see a genuine behind-the-scenes of a Hollywood movie star. Directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott, 'Val' is a heartwarming and vulnerable story. ‘Val’ follows the life of 90s movie star Val Kilmer and shows the struggle of an actor past his prime. It feels as if 'Val' has been years in the making, as the documentary opens with real home footage of Val Kilmer's childhood. In the beginning scenes, the film showcases the Californian ranch Val grew up in, the relationship he had with his parents, and the tragic circumstances that lead to his brother's death. The story develops into...
- 8/19/2021
- by Ana Cobo
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Bill Graham, and Robyn Bahr are joined by Sheri Linden to discuss the new Val Kilmer documentary Val, directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott, and now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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The Film Stage Show is supported by Mubi, a curated streaming service showcasing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, Mubi premieres a new film. Whether it’s a timeless classic, a cult favorite, or an acclaimed masterpiece — it’s guaranteed to be either a...
- 8/16/2021
- by Brian Roan
- The Film Stage
Now playing on Amazon Prime, “Val” is a documentary that reveals an insider’s perspective of what it’s like to be a Hollywood actor. Like Oscar-winner “Amy,” archival footage is the secret sauce — in this case, shot by subject Val Kilmer himself and saved over the decades in a cavernous vault. Kilmer brought in editor Leo Scott a decade ago to digitize that footage. Several years later, Scott and another editor-director, Ting Poo, pitched Kilmer on turning his trove of material into a first-person documentary narrative about his so-called Hollywood life.
With any non-fiction film like this, getting access and keeping it is key to success. And yet the question when it comes to this sort of celebrity profile is always: How honest and authentic is the story? What has been left out? And, in the case of a film like “Val,” if the filmmakers work for the subject,...
With any non-fiction film like this, getting access and keeping it is key to success. And yet the question when it comes to this sort of celebrity profile is always: How honest and authentic is the story? What has been left out? And, in the case of a film like “Val,” if the filmmakers work for the subject,...
- 8/12/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Now playing on Amazon Prime, “Val” is a documentary that reveals an insider’s perspective of what it’s like to be a Hollywood actor. Like Oscar-winner “Amy,” archival footage is the secret sauce — in this case, shot by subject Val Kilmer himself and saved over the decades in a cavernous vault. Kilmer brought in editor Leo Scott a decade ago to digitize that footage. Several years later, Scott and another editor-director, Ting Poo, pitched Kilmer on turning his trove of material into a first-person documentary narrative about his so-called Hollywood life.
With any non-fiction film like this, getting access and keeping it is key to success. And yet the question when it comes to this sort of celebrity profile is always: How honest and authentic is the story? What has been left out? And, in the case of a film like “Val,” if the filmmakers work for the subject,...
With any non-fiction film like this, getting access and keeping it is key to success. And yet the question when it comes to this sort of celebrity profile is always: How honest and authentic is the story? What has been left out? And, in the case of a film like “Val,” if the filmmakers work for the subject,...
- 8/12/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“Val,” the new Amazon doc about the life of actor Val Kilmer, premiered on Wednesday night at the DGA in West Hollywood.
Co-directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo assembled the film from footage that Kilmer shot over several decades. “This is over 50 years in the making,” Val’s son Jack told Variety. Daughter Mercedes said she loved seeing footage of her parents’ wedding: “I’ve seen photos but never video.”
Jack added, “I love seeing him the age that I am rolling up to the premiere of ‘Top Gun’ with Cher on his arm and he has a mullet!”
Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years ago, skipped the premiere. “His health is good,” Mercedes said. “He’s doing really well.”
Michael Mann was on hand to toast Kilmer, who starred in the filmmaker’s “Heat” (1995) opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. “He’s one of...
Co-directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo assembled the film from footage that Kilmer shot over several decades. “This is over 50 years in the making,” Val’s son Jack told Variety. Daughter Mercedes said she loved seeing footage of her parents’ wedding: “I’ve seen photos but never video.”
Jack added, “I love seeing him the age that I am rolling up to the premiere of ‘Top Gun’ with Cher on his arm and he has a mullet!”
Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years ago, skipped the premiere. “His health is good,” Mercedes said. “He’s doing really well.”
Michael Mann was on hand to toast Kilmer, who starred in the filmmaker’s “Heat” (1995) opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. “He’s one of...
- 8/7/2021
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
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From Batman to Iceman to Jim Morrison, Val Kilmer has demonstrated a consistent knack for transformation throughout his career. The mercurial and sometimes misunderstood actor is letting fans deep into his personal and professional life via the new documentary “Val,” debuting on Amazon Prime on Friday.
Kilmer, who has been recovering from throat cancer, first revealed the health diagnosis in 2017. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments have left Kilmer unable to speak clearly, but he hasn’t lost his creative voice. “Val” compiles footage dating back to his childhood, along with personal recordings from the early days in his career — including his 1983 Broadway debut. Kilmer’s son Jack, an actor himself, narrates the film.
If...
From Batman to Iceman to Jim Morrison, Val Kilmer has demonstrated a consistent knack for transformation throughout his career. The mercurial and sometimes misunderstood actor is letting fans deep into his personal and professional life via the new documentary “Val,” debuting on Amazon Prime on Friday.
Kilmer, who has been recovering from throat cancer, first revealed the health diagnosis in 2017. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments have left Kilmer unable to speak clearly, but he hasn’t lost his creative voice. “Val” compiles footage dating back to his childhood, along with personal recordings from the early days in his career — including his 1983 Broadway debut. Kilmer’s son Jack, an actor himself, narrates the film.
If...
- 8/7/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Val Kilmer achieved every actor's dream but tragedy struck in the third act of his life. Kilmer reflects on his life in the new documentary Val (now streaming Amazon Prime) which features thousands of hours of home videos shot by Kilmer starting from a very young age. Val features footage from the actor's childhood, from on the sets of his most memorable movies, his personal life, and struggles with throat cancer. His adult children Mercedes and Jack Kilmer talk about working with their father on this project, and directors Ting Poo and Leo Scott discuss what they wanted to portray in the documentary.
- 8/6/2021
- by luperhaas@cinemovie.tv (Lupe R Haas)
- CineMovie
Actor Val Kilmer is currently unable to speak due to throat cancer and is currently undergoing treatment. A new Amazon Prime documentary about Kilmer’s life will premiere tonight. The documentary was directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo and premiered in Los Angeles on August 3 at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood. […]
The post Val Kilmer’s Kids, Mercedes & Jack Kilmer, Support Documentary On Dad’s Throat Cancer Struggle appeared first on uInterview.
The post Val Kilmer’s Kids, Mercedes & Jack Kilmer, Support Documentary On Dad’s Throat Cancer Struggle appeared first on uInterview.
- 8/6/2021
- by Alexandra Llorca
- Uinterview
Leo Scott and Ting Poo’s new documentary feature, Val, is not a mortality play. It is a rehearsal for an upcoming act. During a tour of his one-man stage show, Citizen Twain, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. The actor underwent two tracheostomies, and now can only speak while covering a tube. The narration of the new film is thus done by his son Jack Kilmer, allowing the pair to share a non-verbal connection throughout the journey, and through time and expression itself. While there are flourishes of humor, the documentary is a serious study of an artist who has always struggled to be understood, told through the selective memory of Kilmer’s Pov.
“I’ve wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time,” Kilmer says toward the beginning of the documentary. “And now that it’s difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever.
“I’ve wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time,” Kilmer says toward the beginning of the documentary. “And now that it’s difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever.
- 8/6/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
This review of “Val” was first published on July 23, 2021 after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
When a documentary is full of home movies of a little kid who grew up to become famous, the operative word is usually cute. And “Val,” which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, certainly has lots of cute moments of Val Kilmer and his siblings growing up in Southern California.
But those are the tip of the amateur-video iceberg in this film from directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo. The filmmakers were given access to thousands of hours of Kilmer’s footage, which also includes video of Val horsing around with Tom Cruise on the “Top Gun” set, Val’s unsolicited audition tapes for Stanley Kubrick for “Full Metal Jacket” and Martin Scorsese for “GoodFellas,” and even Val arguing with director John Frankenheimer during the rocky shooting of “The Island of Dr. Moreau.
When a documentary is full of home movies of a little kid who grew up to become famous, the operative word is usually cute. And “Val,” which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, certainly has lots of cute moments of Val Kilmer and his siblings growing up in Southern California.
But those are the tip of the amateur-video iceberg in this film from directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo. The filmmakers were given access to thousands of hours of Kilmer’s footage, which also includes video of Val horsing around with Tom Cruise on the “Top Gun” set, Val’s unsolicited audition tapes for Stanley Kubrick for “Full Metal Jacket” and Martin Scorsese for “GoodFellas,” and even Val arguing with director John Frankenheimer during the rocky shooting of “The Island of Dr. Moreau.
- 8/5/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The actor’s voice, perhaps more than any other tool in their kit—more than face and physicality—provides their critical means of expression. The surprisingly high-pitched voix aigue of Marlon Brando, for instance, or the rich low-ish register of Julia Roberts’ tone that can burst into shaking laughter. Bacall’s husky hum. Bogart’s lisp.
What, then, of an actor who can no longer speak, or at least in the voice we have come to know? Such is the fate of Val Kilmer, whose treatment for cancer now requires that he cap a throat tube each time he speaks. It has deprived him of the texture he could achieve in his speaking and singing voices, but not his soul of an artist.
The sense of Kilmer as very much the playful and searching spirit he has always been comes through in the new documentary Val, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo.
What, then, of an actor who can no longer speak, or at least in the voice we have come to know? Such is the fate of Val Kilmer, whose treatment for cancer now requires that he cap a throat tube each time he speaks. It has deprived him of the texture he could achieve in his speaking and singing voices, but not his soul of an artist.
The sense of Kilmer as very much the playful and searching spirit he has always been comes through in the new documentary Val, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo.
- 8/4/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Being known as one of Hollywood’s most mercurial actors can often leave a dampening effect on both the person’s career and private life. Satellite Award-winning actor, Val Kilmer is proving that while his decades-long career has led him to live his life to the extreme at times, his overall raw journey has ultimately made his […]
The post Interview: Ting Poo and Leo Scott Talk Val (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Interview: Ting Poo and Leo Scott Talk Val (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/4/2021
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Even Val Kilmer doesn’t consider the movie he produced about his life to be a documentary.
“Val,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this month and begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video Aug. 6, traces his career from his “Top Gun” breakthrough to recent health struggles, incorporating footage from Kilmer’s vast personal archive into the film. His son, Jack, also an actor, supplements his father’s narration, the elder Kilmer’s voice virtually unrecognizable from his heyday as a performer due to treatment for throat cancer.
“Val would say in relation to this film that we are not making a documentary; we’re making a Val Kilmer movie where he’s playing himself as Val Kilmer,” co-director Leo Scott says.
However you classify “Val” — Cannes labeled it a documentary — it is the latest in a series of films self-produced by their star subjects that, to some, raise questions...
“Val,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this month and begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video Aug. 6, traces his career from his “Top Gun” breakthrough to recent health struggles, incorporating footage from Kilmer’s vast personal archive into the film. His son, Jack, also an actor, supplements his father’s narration, the elder Kilmer’s voice virtually unrecognizable from his heyday as a performer due to treatment for throat cancer.
“Val would say in relation to this film that we are not making a documentary; we’re making a Val Kilmer movie where he’s playing himself as Val Kilmer,” co-director Leo Scott says.
However you classify “Val” — Cannes labeled it a documentary — it is the latest in a series of films self-produced by their star subjects that, to some, raise questions...
- 7/30/2021
- by Addie Morfoot and Diane Garrett
- Variety Film + TV
“Top Gun” actor Val Kilmer surprised everyone when he revealed that for the past 40 years, he’s been capturing his life and career on video, ending up with more than 800 hours of footage.
A feature documentary was the natural conclusion of his faithful chronicling, and when Kilmer mentioned that he was digitizing the footage to filmmaker Leo Scott, the idea for “Val” was hatched.
Scott had been editing “The Lotus Community Workshop,” a segment starring the actor within the 2012 omnibus “The Fourth Dimension,” and ended up helping with the digitization. He also brought in collaborator and fellow editor Ting Poo (“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405”) to make the documentary happen. It begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 6.
Scott and Poo served as both co-directors and co-editors, organizing the tapes, digitizing them and helping tell Kilmer’s story as well as shaping it into the sharp film that has generated awards buzz.
A feature documentary was the natural conclusion of his faithful chronicling, and when Kilmer mentioned that he was digitizing the footage to filmmaker Leo Scott, the idea for “Val” was hatched.
Scott had been editing “The Lotus Community Workshop,” a segment starring the actor within the 2012 omnibus “The Fourth Dimension,” and ended up helping with the digitization. He also brought in collaborator and fellow editor Ting Poo (“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405”) to make the documentary happen. It begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 6.
Scott and Poo served as both co-directors and co-editors, organizing the tapes, digitizing them and helping tell Kilmer’s story as well as shaping it into the sharp film that has generated awards buzz.
- 7/28/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
“It is difficult to talk and be understood,” actor and artist Val Kilmer sighs in the opening minutes of the documentary that Leo Scott and Ting Poo have made from and about his life, which is largely cobbled together from thousands of hours of home video footage that Kilmer has shot over the last six decades. So difficult, in fact, that his son Jack actually does the talking for him. Kilmer has undergone two tracheotomies in the process of treating his throat cancer, and now speaks with a death rattle that makes him sound much worse than he feels.
And yet, the . And he was so beautiful. Beautiful in the way that only a handful of actors can hope to be each generation; beautiful in the way that Montgomery Clift was beautiful, but softer around the edges and harder to hold onto; beautiful in the way that can inspire Hollywood...
And yet, the . And he was so beautiful. Beautiful in the way that only a handful of actors can hope to be each generation; beautiful in the way that Montgomery Clift was beautiful, but softer around the edges and harder to hold onto; beautiful in the way that can inspire Hollywood...
- 7/23/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
We have missed you, Val Kilmer.
Oh, we still go back to his old movies, where he continues to fly ice-cold (no mistakes) in an F-14, keep all his Pacific Tech University dorm room’s filth in alphabetical order, trade machine-gun fire with the LAPD while rocking a trim gray suit, say he’s our huckleberry. Kilmer’s just been slightly out of the picture(s) for a while, sidelined screen-career–wise by a throat cancer diagnosis in 2017 that’s left him speaking through an electronic voice box. He’s written a memoir,...
Oh, we still go back to his old movies, where he continues to fly ice-cold (no mistakes) in an F-14, keep all his Pacific Tech University dorm room’s filth in alphabetical order, trade machine-gun fire with the LAPD while rocking a trim gray suit, say he’s our huckleberry. Kilmer’s just been slightly out of the picture(s) for a while, sidelined screen-career–wise by a throat cancer diagnosis in 2017 that’s left him speaking through an electronic voice box. He’s written a memoir,...
- 7/23/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Mark Wahlberg strides into theaters this weekend with Joe Bell as the Reinaldo Marcus Green film debuts on 1,093 screens supported by robust advertising and a star-driven social media campaign.
Roadside Attractions is distributing, having snapped up the film from Solstice Studios which acquired it off of a 2020 Toronto Film Festival premiere but was particularly hard hit by the pandemic and let it go. The drama scripted by the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain team of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is the true story of a rough-edged dad who walks across America to speak to heartland adults and students about the evils of bullying as experienced firsthand by his gay teenage son.
Wahlberg and co-stars Connie Britton and Reid Miller (who plays son Jadin Bell) have all supported it with a robust PR schedule backed by cable and online advertising., “We are seeing gradual improvement with...
Roadside Attractions is distributing, having snapped up the film from Solstice Studios which acquired it off of a 2020 Toronto Film Festival premiere but was particularly hard hit by the pandemic and let it go. The drama scripted by the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain team of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is the true story of a rough-edged dad who walks across America to speak to heartland adults and students about the evils of bullying as experienced firsthand by his gay teenage son.
Wahlberg and co-stars Connie Britton and Reid Miller (who plays son Jadin Bell) have all supported it with a robust PR schedule backed by cable and online advertising., “We are seeing gradual improvement with...
- 7/23/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"I've wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time... About the place where you end, and the character begins. About truth... and illusion." How do you put together an entire life into one film? How do you tell that story and make it meaningful? Val is a documentary about the actor Val Kilmer, made by Val and his son Jack Kilmer, and co-directed by Ting Poo & Leo Scott. After an extensive acting career, Val went quiet. Now we know that has spent the last few years fighting and then recovering from throat cancer, but is now left with a hole in his throat and a completely different voice due to the chemotherapy. So, as he says in the film, "now that it's more difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever. A story about my life." And that's exactly what we get.
- 7/11/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Judging by the roles which made him one of America’s most famous movie stars, you’d be forgiven for not knowing Val Kilmer was also the youngest actor ever accepted into prestige New York drama school Juilliard. A budding playwright and Shakespearean actor when young, Kilmer’s loftier ideas about the world never quite became clear in the generally schlocky parts he became famous for. He knows this.
Val is in large part an attempt by Kilmer to correct the record, even if he’s now too frail to fully explore the side of acting which first enticed him. He handed over hundreds of hours of home movie footage to directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo, insisting the finished product play at the Cannes Film Festival.
Well, he got that wish. Val has been met with a positive reception and has become an unlikely hot ticket, a bit like...
Val is in large part an attempt by Kilmer to correct the record, even if he’s now too frail to fully explore the side of acting which first enticed him. He handed over hundreds of hours of home movie footage to directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo, insisting the finished product play at the Cannes Film Festival.
Well, he got that wish. Val has been met with a positive reception and has become an unlikely hot ticket, a bit like...
- 7/9/2021
- by Adam Solomons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Bertrand Mandico's After Blue (Paradis sale).The lineup for the 2021 Locarno International Film Festival includes Piazza Grande screenings of Michael Mann's Heat and Gaspar Noé's Vortex, and the latest by by Bertrand Mandico, Axelle Ropert, Abel Ferrara, Salomé Lamas and more.The great filmmaker and actor Robert Downey Sr. has passed on at age 85. His incredible filmography includes Babo 73 (1964), Sweet Smell of Sex (1965), Chafed Elbows (1966), No More Excuses (1968), Putney Swope (1969), Pound (1970), and Greaser's Palace (1972).In an interview on the Armchair Expert podcast, Quentin Tarantino announced that he has purchased Los Angeles' Vista Theatre, emphasizing that though the theatre will screen both new and old movies, it will be "only film [...] the best prints." Screenwriter and filmmaker Clare Peploe has died. Though best known for her screenplays for Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged and La Luna,...
- 7/7/2021
- MUBI
While Leos Carax’s “Annette” set the tone for the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, it was Jodie Foster who stole the show early on Wednesday.
Foster was presented with an honorary Palme D’Or at the opening night ceremony, in which Pedro Almodóvar, Foster, “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho and jury president Spike Lee each declared (in their own languages) the Cannes Film Festival “open.” But if you needed more of a reminder that Foster can really do it all, she conducted her press conference interview on Wednesday almost entirely in French.
In an interview with Bfmtv, Foster explained that being at Cannes as a young girl for “Taxi Driver” in 1976 brought back some memories of how she used her ability to speak French as a way of making a connection.
“They were afraid because everyone said that the film was too violent, there were criticisms, so they...
Foster was presented with an honorary Palme D’Or at the opening night ceremony, in which Pedro Almodóvar, Foster, “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho and jury president Spike Lee each declared (in their own languages) the Cannes Film Festival “open.” But if you needed more of a reminder that Foster can really do it all, she conducted her press conference interview on Wednesday almost entirely in French.
In an interview with Bfmtv, Foster explained that being at Cannes as a young girl for “Taxi Driver” in 1976 brought back some memories of how she used her ability to speak French as a way of making a connection.
“They were afraid because everyone said that the film was too violent, there were criticisms, so they...
- 7/7/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
In “Val,” the actor Val Kilmer, now in his early 60s, appears before us as a broken-down relic of himself. His face, once beaming and chiseled, with that smile that resembled a bite, now looks soggy and morose, with dark eyebrows that give him an oddly Nixonian cast. More dramatically, he speaks in a thin robotic rasp, the result of a procedure performed on his trachea to heal the throat cancer that was diagnosed in 2015. Kilmer beat the cancer but was left with that scratchy voice-box drone, which takes a bit of getting used to. Yet once you do get used to it, you realize he’s very much the same fellow — or, at least, the older, wiser, more melancholy version. Kilmer used to talk quite fast; that was part of his comic sauvity in films like “Real Genius” — that this dude who looked like a sun god spoke like a geek in overdrive.
- 7/7/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
As its title suggests, Val is a first-person chronicle, and one that doesn’t stand on ceremony. That’s not merely because directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo capture the musings of their subject, Val Kilmer, with a sense of unguarded intimacy, but because much of the material they’ve gathered was shot by Kilmer himself. The documentary embraces his many facets: movie star, character actor, cancer survivor, visual artist, writer, spiritual warrior, jokester, proud parent. To that list it adds another crucial accomplishment, the very reason the film exists: cinematographer.
A devoted early adopter in an era of fast-changing technology, Kilmer has been chronicling ...
A devoted early adopter in an era of fast-changing technology, Kilmer has been chronicling ...
As its title suggests, Val is a first-person chronicle, and one that doesn’t stand on ceremony. That’s not merely because directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo capture the musings of their subject, Val Kilmer, with a sense of unguarded intimacy, but because much of the material they’ve gathered was shot by Kilmer himself. The documentary embraces his many facets: movie star, character actor, cancer survivor, visual artist, writer, spiritual warrior, jokester, proud parent. To that list it adds another crucial accomplishment, the very reason the film exists: cinematographer.
A devoted early adopter in an era of fast-changing technology, Kilmer has been chronicling ...
A devoted early adopter in an era of fast-changing technology, Kilmer has been chronicling ...
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Amazon Studios will release Val in theaters July 23rd, 2021 and on Prime Video August 6th, 2021.
Directed by Leo Scott & Ting Poo, watch the brand new trailer.
While the actor has been in Top Gun, Wonderland and gave audiences the amazing performance of Doc Holliday in Tombstone, one of my favorite roles of Kilmer’s will forever be in Martha Coolidge’s 1985 comedy,...
Amazon Studios will release Val in theaters July 23rd, 2021 and on Prime Video August 6th, 2021.
Directed by Leo Scott & Ting Poo, watch the brand new trailer.
While the actor has been in Top Gun, Wonderland and gave audiences the amazing performance of Doc Holliday in Tombstone, one of my favorite roles of Kilmer’s will forever be in Martha Coolidge’s 1985 comedy,...
- 7/6/2021
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Val" is the new Amazon Studios original documentary feature directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo, following the life and career of actor Val Kilmer, screening in a limited release July 23, 2021, followed by streaming on Prime Video, August 6, 2021:
"...the new film includes footage of Kilmer...
"...shot by himself throughout his career, childhood and home movies..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...the new film includes footage of Kilmer...
"...shot by himself throughout his career, childhood and home movies..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 7/6/2021
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Val Kilmer reflects on his career and cancer diagnosis in the new trailer for the upcoming documentary, Val, arriving in theaters July 23rd and on Prime Video August 6th.
Directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo, Val features a trove of video Kilmer shot throughout his life, from home movies made with his brothers to footage he amassed while making blockbusters like Top Gun, The Doors, and Batman Forever. While this footage offers unique insights into one of Hollywood’s most misunderstood stars, it also serves as a kind of voice for Kilmer,...
Directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo, Val features a trove of video Kilmer shot throughout his life, from home movies made with his brothers to footage he amassed while making blockbusters like Top Gun, The Doors, and Batman Forever. While this footage offers unique insights into one of Hollywood’s most misunderstood stars, it also serves as a kind of voice for Kilmer,...
- 7/6/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
The day before its Cannes Film Festival premiere, Amazon Studios released the trailer for “Val,” a documentary about the life and career of actor Val Kilmer.
“My name is Val Kilmer; I’m an actor,” a narrator says in the trailer. “I’ve lived a magical life and captured quite a bit of it. I was the first guy I knew to own a video camera.”
Through Kilmer’s own documentation, audiences will get a first-hand account of the actor’s journey from making 16 mm home movies with his brother to performing in iconic roles for blockbusters like “Top Gun,” “Batman Forever,” “Tombstone” and “The Doors.” Perhaps more revelatory will be a behind-the-scenes look at Kilmer’s life between films, as seen in moments in the trailer when he’s paling around with Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. Pulling from thousands of hours of footage, the film spans four decades.
“My name is Val Kilmer; I’m an actor,” a narrator says in the trailer. “I’ve lived a magical life and captured quite a bit of it. I was the first guy I knew to own a video camera.”
Through Kilmer’s own documentation, audiences will get a first-hand account of the actor’s journey from making 16 mm home movies with his brother to performing in iconic roles for blockbusters like “Top Gun,” “Batman Forever,” “Tombstone” and “The Doors.” Perhaps more revelatory will be a behind-the-scenes look at Kilmer’s life between films, as seen in moments in the trailer when he’s paling around with Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. Pulling from thousands of hours of footage, the film spans four decades.
- 7/6/2021
- by Haley Bosselman
- Variety Film + TV
In the trailer for his feature documentary “Val,” “Top Gun” and “Batman” actor Val Kilmer talks candidly about his slow recovery from treatment for throat cancer. But with his ability to speak hindered, he uses hundreds of hours of home movie footage that he’s shot across decades in order to tell his full story.
“I’m still recovering and it is difficult to talk and to be understood,” Kilmer says in the trailer, including at one point speaking through a voice box. “But I want to tell my story more than ever.”
“Val” is a feature documentary from A24 that will be released by Amazon, and the film shows how throughout his career he turned his home movie camera on at all times and catalogued all his material across years, saying that he was one of the first people he knew to own a home video camera. He even...
“I’m still recovering and it is difficult to talk and to be understood,” Kilmer says in the trailer, including at one point speaking through a voice box. “But I want to tell my story more than ever.”
“Val” is a feature documentary from A24 that will be released by Amazon, and the film shows how throughout his career he turned his home movie camera on at all times and catalogued all his material across years, saying that he was one of the first people he knew to own a home video camera. He even...
- 7/6/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
If, initially, I am not quite sure what to do with the knowledge that Val Kilmer has “amassed thousands of hours of footage” shot over 40 years, my being nonplussed is part and parcel of his oddball status—this is a guy whose latter-day passion project is a self-penned one-man show on Mark Twain. Though we mix and match iconic roles with a sad awareness of his time in the VOD trenches, Kilmer remains all the more sui generis for that combination.
Needless to say a documentary has emerged from it: Val, which premieres at the new, auteur-focused Cannes Premiere sidebar. Kilmer is, I suppose, the auteur in question, though said documentary is finally credited to Leo Scott and Ting Poo, whose work editing the decades of material with Tyler Pharo is on display in a first trailer. All looks fascinating and a worthwhile summation of this inscrutable career; better yet...
Needless to say a documentary has emerged from it: Val, which premieres at the new, auteur-focused Cannes Premiere sidebar. Kilmer is, I suppose, the auteur in question, though said documentary is finally credited to Leo Scott and Ting Poo, whose work editing the decades of material with Tyler Pharo is on display in a first trailer. All looks fascinating and a worthwhile summation of this inscrutable career; better yet...
- 7/6/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
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