Sandra Oh is a name that resonates throughout the entertainment industry, a testament to her versatile talent and unparalleled dedication. Recognized globally for her exceptional acting skills, Oh has emerged as a trailblazer for Asian actors in Hollywood.
Sandra Oh. Depositphotos
Born on July 20, 1971, in Nepean, Ontario, Canada, Sandra Miju Oh is the proud daughter of middle-class South Korean immigrants. Her parents, Oh Young-nam, a biochemist, and Oh Jun-su, a businessman, migrated to Canada in the early 1960s. Sandra spent her formative years in the culturally diverse environment of Ontario. She has a brother, Ray, and a sister, Grace, and was raised in a Christian household.
At a young age, Sandra developed a passion for performing arts. She began acting and practicing ballet at the age of four to rectify a pigeon-toed stance. Despite facing the challenges of being one of the few youths of Asian descent in Nepean, Sandra’s determination remained steadfast.
Sandra Oh. Depositphotos
Born on July 20, 1971, in Nepean, Ontario, Canada, Sandra Miju Oh is the proud daughter of middle-class South Korean immigrants. Her parents, Oh Young-nam, a biochemist, and Oh Jun-su, a businessman, migrated to Canada in the early 1960s. Sandra spent her formative years in the culturally diverse environment of Ontario. She has a brother, Ray, and a sister, Grace, and was raised in a Christian household.
At a young age, Sandra developed a passion for performing arts. She began acting and practicing ballet at the age of four to rectify a pigeon-toed stance. Despite facing the challenges of being one of the few youths of Asian descent in Nepean, Sandra’s determination remained steadfast.
- 11/11/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Actor Treat Williams died in a motorcycle accident near his southern Vermont home on Monday. As per The New York Times, Williams – who was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident – suffered critical injuries and was pronounced dead at a medical center in Albany, New York, after being airlifted there. The driver of the other vehicle was not hospitalized, and a police investigation is underway. Williams was 71 years old.
The film, television, and theater performer first came to prominence in the original production of “Grease” in the role of Danny Zuko. In 1979, he starred in Milos Forman’s film version of the musical “Hair” and, in 1981, he played the lead role in Sidney Lumet’s epic NYPD film “Prince of the City,” based on an actual investigation into police corruption. (Both roles landed him Golden Globe nominations.) In 1996, he was nominated for an Emmy for the HBO film “The Late Shift,...
The film, television, and theater performer first came to prominence in the original production of “Grease” in the role of Danny Zuko. In 1979, he starred in Milos Forman’s film version of the musical “Hair” and, in 1981, he played the lead role in Sidney Lumet’s epic NYPD film “Prince of the City,” based on an actual investigation into police corruption. (Both roles landed him Golden Globe nominations.) In 1996, he was nominated for an Emmy for the HBO film “The Late Shift,...
- 6/13/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Arguably the best thing about “After Class,” a purposely untidy and exceptionally intelligent dramedy about frayed family ties and academic contretemps, is writer-director Daniel Schechter’s refusal to ever let his protagonist off too easy. To be sure, lead player Justin Long’s graceless-under-pressure Josh Cohn comes across as more clueless than unsympathetic, less chronically selfish than fecklessly self-absorbed, as he muddles through seismic upheavals in his private and professional lives. But those failings are more than enough to keep viewers from remaining firmly and inflexibly affixed in his corner at all times. And that works very much in the movie’s favor.
Josh is introduced as a 38-year-old adjunct professor of creative writing at an unnamed New York City university. It’s gradually revealed that he’s relatively new to the job, and probably accepted it, gratefully, only because his playwriting career is stalled. But when those beans actually are spilled,...
Josh is introduced as a 38-year-old adjunct professor of creative writing at an unnamed New York City university. It’s gradually revealed that he’s relatively new to the job, and probably accepted it, gratefully, only because his playwriting career is stalled. But when those beans actually are spilled,...
- 12/5/2019
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Playwright David Mamet has expressed sympathy for his longtime friend Felicity Huffman and her husband, fellow actor William H. Macy, following her indictment in a widespread college admissions bribery scandal.
In a statement sent to media outlets on Tuesday, Mamet also slammed the “elite universities,” calling their admissions policies “an unfortunate and corrupt joke.”
“I’ve known Felicity Huffman for those 35 years, she was my student, my colleague, worked in many of my films, and created roles on stage in three of my plays,” Mamet said. “I’m crazy about them both. That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon.”
Huffman debuted on Broadway in 1988 in Mamet’s “Speed the Plow” and won an Obie Award in 1995 for her work in Mamet’s “The Cryptogram.
In a statement sent to media outlets on Tuesday, Mamet also slammed the “elite universities,” calling their admissions policies “an unfortunate and corrupt joke.”
“I’ve known Felicity Huffman for those 35 years, she was my student, my colleague, worked in many of my films, and created roles on stage in three of my plays,” Mamet said. “I’m crazy about them both. That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon.”
Huffman debuted on Broadway in 1988 in Mamet’s “Speed the Plow” and won an Obie Award in 1995 for her work in Mamet’s “The Cryptogram.
- 3/12/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Debra Eisenstadt, the writer, co-producer, co-editor and director of Imaginary Order, the drama that just premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, has signed with Gersh. Wendi McLendon-Covey, Christine Woods and Max Burkholder star in the pic, which bowed Saturday at the Library Center Theatre.
Imaginary Order centers on Cathy (McLendon-Covey), who struggles to maintain control and significance amidst fears her husband’s having an affair and her 13-year-old daughter is becoming estranged. She retreats to her sister’s home where she cat-sits, compulsively cleans and spies on a neighboring family. When Cathy eventually becomes the object of the teenage neighbor’s obsession, he threatens to unravel everything, from her precarious marriage to her daughter’s innocence to her own wavering sanity.
Eisenstadt’s credits include the 2016 SXSW film Before the Sun Explodes; 2006’s The Limbo Room starring Melissa Leo and Peter Dinklege; and Daydream Believer,...
Imaginary Order centers on Cathy (McLendon-Covey), who struggles to maintain control and significance amidst fears her husband’s having an affair and her 13-year-old daughter is becoming estranged. She retreats to her sister’s home where she cat-sits, compulsively cleans and spies on a neighboring family. When Cathy eventually becomes the object of the teenage neighbor’s obsession, he threatens to unravel everything, from her precarious marriage to her daughter’s innocence to her own wavering sanity.
Eisenstadt’s credits include the 2016 SXSW film Before the Sun Explodes; 2006’s The Limbo Room starring Melissa Leo and Peter Dinklege; and Daydream Believer,...
- 1/29/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
David Mamet, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” has written a play about Harvey Weinstein. The play, Mamet said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune (via Variety), is called “Bitter Wheat.” The subject was suggested to Mamet by an unnamed theater producer. “I was talking with my Broadway producer and he said, ‘Why don’t you write a play about Harvey Weinstein?’ And so I did,” Mamet said.
According to The Tribune, “a Chicago stage legend who is now a movie star” has expressed interest in the lead role (presumably the Weinstein character), which could be “Lady Bird” star Tracy Letts. No timeline has been set for production, nor did Mamet say how much the play would address #MeToo.
“Every society has to confront the ungovernable genie of sexuality and tries various ways to deal with it and none of them work very well. There is great...
According to The Tribune, “a Chicago stage legend who is now a movie star” has expressed interest in the lead role (presumably the Weinstein character), which could be “Lady Bird” star Tracy Letts. No timeline has been set for production, nor did Mamet say how much the play would address #MeToo.
“Every society has to confront the ungovernable genie of sexuality and tries various ways to deal with it and none of them work very well. There is great...
- 2/23/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Philip Laverty Nov 10, 2016
From The Edge and The Untouchables, to the mighty Glengarry Glen Ross: a salute to the movie writing of David Mamet.
Spoilers ahead for The Untouchables, The Spanish Prisoner, and House Of Games
There's a moment in 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross when Alec Baldwin, sent from head office on what he calls a “mission of mercy”, opens his motivational speech to an office of real estate salesmen by turning on Jack Lemmon’s Shelley 'The Machine' Levene.
“Put that coffee down,” he demands as Lemmon pours himself what he, probably reasonably, considers to be a well-earned cup of Joe.
“Coffee’s for closers only,” Baldwin points out, using the term for someone who can make a successful sale. The person who can close it.
“Your name’s Levene?” he asks a few moments later. “You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?”
The callous disdain of this moment,...
From The Edge and The Untouchables, to the mighty Glengarry Glen Ross: a salute to the movie writing of David Mamet.
Spoilers ahead for The Untouchables, The Spanish Prisoner, and House Of Games
There's a moment in 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross when Alec Baldwin, sent from head office on what he calls a “mission of mercy”, opens his motivational speech to an office of real estate salesmen by turning on Jack Lemmon’s Shelley 'The Machine' Levene.
“Put that coffee down,” he demands as Lemmon pours himself what he, probably reasonably, considers to be a well-earned cup of Joe.
“Coffee’s for closers only,” Baldwin points out, using the term for someone who can make a successful sale. The person who can close it.
“Your name’s Levene?” he asks a few moments later. “You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?”
The callous disdain of this moment,...
- 10/31/2016
- Den of Geek
Cate Blanchett will receive the Aacta Longford Lyell Award at the 5th Aacta Awards on Wednesday night in Sydney.
First presented in 1968, the Longford Lyell Award is the highest honour that the Australian Academy can bestow upon an individual in recognition of a person who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia.s screen environment and culture.
It was originally known as the AFI/Aacta Raymond Longford Award, in honour of the great Australian film pioneer, Raymond Longford.
But the name of the Award was changed earlier in 2015 to recognise Raymond Longford.s partner in filmmaking and in life, Lottie Lyell.
Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving will present the award to Blanchett.
The presentation will also include a tribute from Gillian Armstrong, and filmed tributes from Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Ridley Scott and Ron Howard, to name a few.
After graduating from Nida in 1992, Blanchett started...
First presented in 1968, the Longford Lyell Award is the highest honour that the Australian Academy can bestow upon an individual in recognition of a person who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia.s screen environment and culture.
It was originally known as the AFI/Aacta Raymond Longford Award, in honour of the great Australian film pioneer, Raymond Longford.
But the name of the Award was changed earlier in 2015 to recognise Raymond Longford.s partner in filmmaking and in life, Lottie Lyell.
Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving will present the award to Blanchett.
The presentation will also include a tribute from Gillian Armstrong, and filmed tributes from Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Ridley Scott and Ron Howard, to name a few.
After graduating from Nida in 1992, Blanchett started...
- 12/7/2015
- by Inside Film Correspondent
- IF.com.au
This year, Lindsay Lohan is thankful for her role in theater.
Lohan, 28, has been performing in David Mamet's play Speed the Plow on London's legendary West End, but now her role as Karen has come to an end.
The Mean Girls star tweeted out messages of gratitude today to David Mamet, the playwright, Lindsay Posner, the theater director, fellow actors Nigel Lindsay and Richard Schiff and the entire staff and crew.
Thank you #speedtheplow #ThePlayhouseTheatre crew and staff thank you #davidmamet #lindsayposner and @lavishalice @speedtheplow @nigellindsay1 @richard_schiff
Une photo publiée par Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) le Nov. 11, 2014 at 2:17 Pst
News: Lindsay Lohan's Idea for a Mean Girls' Sequel
She also thanked Oprah again, as the media mogul paid the show a visit with Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o in October.
And so it is. One Mamet Down!!! Next stop. 1 year #Oleanna #lindsayposner #davidmamet thank you all for your support...
Lohan, 28, has been performing in David Mamet's play Speed the Plow on London's legendary West End, but now her role as Karen has come to an end.
The Mean Girls star tweeted out messages of gratitude today to David Mamet, the playwright, Lindsay Posner, the theater director, fellow actors Nigel Lindsay and Richard Schiff and the entire staff and crew.
Thank you #speedtheplow #ThePlayhouseTheatre crew and staff thank you #davidmamet #lindsayposner and @lavishalice @speedtheplow @nigellindsay1 @richard_schiff
Une photo publiée par Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) le Nov. 11, 2014 at 2:17 Pst
News: Lindsay Lohan's Idea for a Mean Girls' Sequel
She also thanked Oprah again, as the media mogul paid the show a visit with Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o in October.
And so it is. One Mamet Down!!! Next stop. 1 year #Oleanna #lindsayposner #davidmamet thank you all for your support...
- 11/30/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Just last week, controversy erupted when Tuts Underground got caught presenting Hands On A Hardbody, but with significant and unapproved changes to the show. The Huston-based Theatre was forced by theatrical licenser Samuel French, Inc. to cancel the rest of its run. Just days later, Milwaukee's Alchemist Theatre was forced to cancel its production of David Mamet's Oleanna after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Mamet's representatives because they cast a male actor in the play's lead female role.
- 6/23/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The weekend of the Tonys has finally arrived, and EW will be your shepherd through the entire night, with reports from the red carpet and Radio City Music Hall, and senior editor Thom Geier and myself hosting a live blog of the entire ceremony, beginning at 8 p.m. Et when it airs on CBS. Host Hugh Jackman must already have his eyes on a prize for next season when he returns for Jerusalem playwright Jez Butterworth’s three-person drama The River, and other starry productions are slowly finding homes for next season. Glenn Close, John Lithgow, and Martha Plimpton will...
- 6/6/2014
- by Jason Clark
- EW.com - PopWatch
Chicago – With the larger-than-life acting tics that have invaded most of Al Pacino’s performances in the last twenty years, it seemed inevitable that the actor was the only person who could possibly play a notable loon like Phil Spector. In tonight’s HBO movie named after the legendary producer, Pacino chews the scenery as one would expect but it’s Helen Mirren who steals the piece from the Oscar winner. Both actors are great and Mamet’s gift with dialogue remains intact but the plotting and choice of storytelling in “Phil Spector” makes for a final product that doesn’t make enough of a statement or tell us much about its title subject.
Television Rating: 3.0/5.0
The first scene of “Phil Spector” is the best. Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) joins the defense team of the volatile producer in his first trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson. As she...
Television Rating: 3.0/5.0
The first scene of “Phil Spector” is the best. Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) joins the defense team of the volatile producer in his first trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson. As she...
- 3/24/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
How to follow the success of Little Miss Sunshine? Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton finally settled on a film that elides life and art: just the thing for a husband-and-wife team
As directing partners who happen also to be married, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are doubly anomalous. Their comedy-dramas – Little Miss Sunshine, which inspired a Sundance bidding war and won two Oscars, and the new Ruby Sparks, a bizarre psychological love story – are searching, compassionate and zesty. Judging by the hour I spend with them, their relationship is no less stimulating. They welcome me into their hotel room with a merry babble of overlapping greetings. They don't so much finish each other's sentences as nip in and out of them, supplying any just-out-of-reach words or asides as though passing the condiments across the dinner table.
In his straw Panama hat, striped shirt and navy tank-top, Dayton, who is 55, looks like a bearded,...
As directing partners who happen also to be married, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are doubly anomalous. Their comedy-dramas – Little Miss Sunshine, which inspired a Sundance bidding war and won two Oscars, and the new Ruby Sparks, a bizarre psychological love story – are searching, compassionate and zesty. Judging by the hour I spend with them, their relationship is no less stimulating. They welcome me into their hotel room with a merry babble of overlapping greetings. They don't so much finish each other's sentences as nip in and out of them, supplying any just-out-of-reach words or asides as though passing the condiments across the dinner table.
In his straw Panama hat, striped shirt and navy tank-top, Dayton, who is 55, looks like a bearded,...
- 9/27/2012
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Today we are talking to a terrifically talented stage and screen performer who has appeared in dozens of film, TV and stage projects over the course of his forty-year career, the thoughtful and charming Treat Williams. In this all-encompassing conversation, Williams and I discuss the many stages of his career thus far, from his early roots co-starring alongside the likes of John Travolta and Marilu Henner in Grease and Over Here on Broadway in the 1970s, to leading the film adaptation of Terrence McNallys The Ritz to headlining Milos Foremans stirring film version of Hair to starring in handful of other iconic films from his heydey at the top of the Hollywood heap - Steven Spielbergs 1941, Sergio Leones Once Upon A Time In America and Sidney Lumets Prince Of The City included - and even working with Woody Allen on the caustic Hollywood Ending. In addition to sharing candid and...
- 9/11/2012
- by Pat Cerasaro
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tired of hearing about a famous, controversial director who made some wacky, off-color and right-wing remarks? Well, Lars Von Trier has been banned from Cannes, so let’s move on to David Mamet. The Playlist brings us a breakdown of two recent articles which confirm that Mamet is no longer a “Brain Dead Liberal” and that he’s working on a script that argues against affirmative action.
The long, detailed article in The Weekly Standard chronicles a talk Mamet gave at Stanford a couple of years ago. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross, Lakeboat and Speed-The-Plow - who wrote the screenplays for The Verdict, The Untouchables, Hoffa and Wag The Dog – gave a stumbling, bewildering assault on higher education, a red-blooded defense of capitalism, and attacked affirmative action. The article noted that left-wingers will get to be properly appalled when his book of essays, The Secret Knowledge: On...
The long, detailed article in The Weekly Standard chronicles a talk Mamet gave at Stanford a couple of years ago. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross, Lakeboat and Speed-The-Plow - who wrote the screenplays for The Verdict, The Untouchables, Hoffa and Wag The Dog – gave a stumbling, bewildering assault on higher education, a red-blooded defense of capitalism, and attacked affirmative action. The article noted that left-wingers will get to be properly appalled when his book of essays, The Secret Knowledge: On...
- 5/21/2011
- by Anthony Vieira
- The Film Stage
Dear Jackie:i appreciated your comments about networking in the Oct. 28 issue. Here are some other ideas.For the New York actor, my method of networking (and I've been in every area of the business since 1964) is to get on the websites of the A-list theaters and start going to their readings of new plays. Participate in talk-backs; volunteer to read stage directions. You'll meet really serious actors, many of whom have agents. You'll also meet directors, writers, artistic directors, etc.Here's another "trick" of mine. As you know, most plays that get a reading won't end up getting done on the main stage of the important theater where they got that reading, but that does not mean the play won't have a life elsewhere. So I say to the actor who has been to a good reading, create a Google Alert for the play's title and author, and when information...
- 11/26/2010
- backstage.com
Sometimes, Hollywood feels like high school: impenetrable cliques, appearance angst, and of course the sobering sting of rejection. Julia Stiles, who first garnered notice in high school–set flicks, knows this all too well. "There was a chunk of time right before '10 Things I Hate About You' that I got rejected so much," she recalls, wincing a little at the memory. "And I remember just sobbing on the floor. I was devastated. It was like one role after another where I would get really close and it'd be down to me and somebody else and I wouldn't get the part."Of course, she finally got the part—the one she was supposed to get all along. As whip-smart teen Kat Stratford in the 1990s classic "10 Things I Hate About You," Stiles emerged as a force to be reckoned with, an actor who could zing us with tart-tongued bons mots...
- 11/10/2010
- backstage.com
When one thinks comedy chances are they don't think David Mamet. Mamet, better known as a playwright and director of movies like "Oleanna", "The Spanish Prisoner", "Glengarry Glen Ross", and others is mostly known for his sharp, staccato like dialogue. Well, Mamet, Danny DeVito, and the website funnyordie.com have joined forces to bring together a comedy short with Danny DeVito playing Gandhi on the set of "Gandhi 2".It's a funny short and will seem very familiar in concept to 'Weird Al' Yankovic fans who will remember the "...
- 9/19/2010
- by mlofferosky
- Examiner Movies Channel
You know you are in David Mamet's world when the expletives fly rapid fire, one distasteful zinger after another, breaking every taboo. You laugh, and hearing the rhythms, you call it poetry. The title Romance may suggest a candlelit evening, but here that candle may be a stick of dynamite up our cultural ass. Four tight scenes performed in an hour and a half, Romance features a fine ensemble: Richard Kind, Darrell Hammond, Chris Bauer, Matt McGrath, Reg Rogers, Joey Slotnick and Joe Pallister, expertly directed by Lisa Peterson. Like the language, time zings by. Mamet's writing has never been this funny, or have I missed something in recent productions? Race seems more an acted out essay on that subject, Oleanna too, on the subject of sexual harassment to the point of who is manipulating whom. Romance adds slapstick and shtick...
- 8/18/2010
- by Regina Weinreich
- Huffington Post
So goes the comeback of Julia Stiles, the once young “Save the Last Dance” star-cum-late 20s burn out starring in schlock like The Omen and The Cry of the Owl. Sure, she had the reoccurring Bourne role, but that didn’t require too much from someone who should have done so much more.
Well, that’s exactly what she’s doing it seems. Not long ago it was announced she’d have a large role on the next season of the Showtime show Dexter. She also turned in a Broadway performance as the vicious Carol in David Mamet’s Oleanna, starring alongside Bill Pullman, last year.
Now the (still) young actress wants to produce and star in an adaptation of The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. [Gordon and the Whale]
The short, visceral novel recounts much of Plath’s own tortured life as a young woman suffering from depression in the mid-1900s. Unable to “cure” the girl,...
Well, that’s exactly what she’s doing it seems. Not long ago it was announced she’d have a large role on the next season of the Showtime show Dexter. She also turned in a Broadway performance as the vicious Carol in David Mamet’s Oleanna, starring alongside Bill Pullman, last year.
Now the (still) young actress wants to produce and star in an adaptation of The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. [Gordon and the Whale]
The short, visceral novel recounts much of Plath’s own tortured life as a young woman suffering from depression in the mid-1900s. Unable to “cure” the girl,...
- 7/20/2010
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
- Julia Stiles is alive and well. In fact, she's a busy girl. Her last big-screen role in The Bourne Ultimatum was much like her recent career: quiet and timid. So what has she been doing? Stiles earned a degree in English Literature from Columbia University, starred in David Mamet's Oleanna on the Broadway stage and in Los Angeles, and is shooting ten episodes of Dexter (among other things). Now she is producing and developing her passion project The Bell Jar, based on poet Sylvia Plath's autobiographical novel, for herself to star. Stiles selected New York playwright Tristine Skyler to write the script, Nicole Kassell (The Woodsman) to direct and Virginia Madsen to play a therapist. - On September 2nd, The Venice Film Festival's Horizons selection ...
- 7/19/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
Playwright David Mamet is renown for his profane, lightning-fast dialogue, tough characters and elaborate plot twists. Vintage Mamet leaves audiences stunned by his verbal dexterity and cynical sensibilities. His ability to confront searing issues (sexual harassment, Oleanna, greed and desperation, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Hollywood's artistic depravity, Speed-the-Plow) is legendary. Never one to shy from provocative themes, his latest play, Race at the Ethel Barrymore, sounds incendiary, but fails to deliver a knockout punch. This four-character drama stars Jack (James Spader) and Henry (David Alan Grier) as legal partners -- one white, one black -- asked to defend Strickland, a white billionaire (Richard Thomas), accused of raping a black woman. Strickland insists he's innocent; Jack worries the case isn't winnable. As the smart, savvy defense team, Spader and Grier deliver the goods. Their snappy exchanges, which address the nature of...
- 12/28/2009
- by Fern Siegel
- Huffington Post
Stage fans, we find ourselves on a weekend where lots of the star-driven shows on the boards -- ranging from Oleanna and After Miss Julie to A Steady Rain and Hamlet -- are set to close. Single tear. But, never fear! A handful of great new shows have opened in the last week, too, so you're covered. Reviews of five new shows went up on EW.com this week: our critics' takes on the touring production of The 101 Dalmatians Musical (B-); and off-Broadway entries The Brother/Sister Plays (A), This (B+), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (C+), and A Streetcar Named Desire...
- 12/5/2009
- by Tanner Stransky
- EW.com - PopWatch
It was a busy week on the boards. Sunday saw the opening of a Broadway revival of the musical Ragtime (pictured right), which EW's Melissa Rose Bernardo calls "dazzling" and gives an A. Also on Broadway, Sarah Ruhl's provocatively titled comic play In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play opened to a decidedly lukewarm review from yours truly: "Ruhl's play could have benefited from a broader, farcical touch." Elsewhere on Broadway, the Julia Stiles-Bill Pullman revival of David Mamet's Oleanna announced plans to close on Jan. 3. Off Broadway, we raved about both Alan Ayckbourn's My...
- 11/21/2009
- by Thom Geier
- EW.com - PopWatch
New York – The abrupt closing Sunday of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" after only nine performances has cast a brief, uneasy shadow over Broadway's fall season, ironically one of the busiest in years.And the revival's collapse has had a ripple effect, forcing the cancellation of a second Simon production, "Broadway Bound," which was to have opened at the same theater (the Nederlander) in December and then run in repertory with "Brighton Beach.""A lot of nice people on stage and off will be out of work and a lot of good partners and investors will have lost a great deal of money," producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman said in a statement. "They all deserve better. It makes us sad."Yet its failure — the shortest run ever for a Simon play on Broadway — stands in contrast to the healthy box-office activity of several star-driven productions such as "A Steady Rain,...
- 11/2/2009
- backstage.com
This week saw the opening of two new Broadway productions, both revivals: The Neil Simon Plays: Brighton Beach Memoirs, a comedy-drama starring former Roseanne star Laurie Metcalf (left), which I described as "a fine revival, easily the best show of a young Broadway season," and the musical Finian's Rainbow, which Tanner Stransky called "an odd, farcical muscial" that is "well cast and smartly performed." Still hunting for something to see on stage? Check out the EW.com Stage hub for up-to-date news and reviews; or consult this handy guide below, which includes links to all of our stage reviews of current shows.
- 10/30/2009
- by Thom Geier
- EW.com - PopWatch
In her Broadway debut as Carol in David Mamet's "Oleanna," Julia Stiles welcomes the transition to stage work. "I do like to change it up," says Stiles, reclining back in her chair to pause in thought. After twelve years of acting in Hollywood films, the actress sought to reconnect with live theater, which was what sparked her childhood love of acting. "I like sort of dipping my toes in a bunch of different mediums." For Stiles, theater provides a sense of continuity. It also relieves her of the self-consciousness that creeps up when she has, say, an entire camera crew in her face. "I love the process of filmmaking," says Stiles, "But as an actor, you're a part of the bigger picture. So if you're working under a director whose vision you really respect and like, then helping them fulfill that vision is really exciting. But ... it's just much...
- 10/23/2009
- backstage.com
This week saw the opening of two new Broadway productions: Memphis, an original musical from the creators of The Toxic Avenger Musical, and After Miss Julie, an adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie starring Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller (left). EW's Clark Collis calls Memphis "a mixed bag" and gives it a C+, while Jeff Labrecque gives After Miss Julie a C and remarks that "the actors' chemistry is surprisingly stagnant." Still hunting for something to see on stage? Check out the EW.com Stage hub for up-to-date news and reviews; or consult this handy guide below, which...
- 10/23/2009
- by Thom Geier
- EW.com - PopWatch
The revival of David Mamet's 1992 Oleanna in current production at the Golden Theater stars one of my favorite actors, Bill Pullman, whose elastic face and frenetic movements are on full display in this theatrical pas de deux with the patrician, cool Julia Stiles. They play John, a professor on the verge of tenure and closing on a new house, and Carol, a student who is failing his class. As with all Mamet's plays--most recently seen in last year's superb production of "Speed the Plow"--the subject is language, the rapid fire staccato of one liners, half completed words, thoughtful and thoughtless arguments that make up contemporary conversation, confrontation, and conflict. Oleanna became topical in its day as it coincided with the Clarence Thomas/ Anita Hill contretemps, which was its good fortune and bad. Something is lost when Mamet is used...
- 10/17/2009
- by Regina Weinreich
- Huffington Post
Previews began on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 for the first ever Broadway production of Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet. Starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt), the play is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students. The Broadway production celebrated Opening Night on Sunday, October 11 at at The Golden Theatre and Broadway Beat and BroadwayWorld.com were there to interview both stars and director to bring you this sneak peak complete with gripping highlights!
- 10/15/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Pullman And Stiles Struggle To Win Over Broadway
Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles have earned mixed reviews from Broadway theatre critics with their revival of David Mamet's play Oleanna.
The show, about the power struggle between a university professor and his female student, opened in New York on Sunday night to a lukewarm response, with Stiles being criticised for her lack of emotion.
The New York Post writes, "Stiles - raw and intense, her mouth compressed into a grim line - barely reins in what you suspect are pools of anger," while Daily Variety says of her performance: "Stiles has a tendency toward sulkiness that doesn't do much to soften her impossible character."
Pullman fairs better with theatre experts, who have hailed his portrayal of lecturer John.
Bloomberg.com says, "The revival does profit here from good performances and apt direction. Pullman is an expert at good-natured masculinity turning ugly when sorely beleaguered..."
Daily Variety adds, "Pullman is a far more emotionally available actor... (His) body language is transfixing."
However, the Associated Press notes the complexity of Mamet's work and credits the actors for their efforts: "Oleanna is a fiendishly difficult play to pull off, but Pullman and Stiles, under the precise, careful direction of Doug Hughes, make the most of Mamet's seemingly imprecise language."
Oleanna is not the only big-name Broadway production to face criticism this autumn - Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig's turn in A Steady Rain has been largely panned by theatre reviewers, while Jude Law's Hamlet split critics in their opinion.
The show, about the power struggle between a university professor and his female student, opened in New York on Sunday night to a lukewarm response, with Stiles being criticised for her lack of emotion.
The New York Post writes, "Stiles - raw and intense, her mouth compressed into a grim line - barely reins in what you suspect are pools of anger," while Daily Variety says of her performance: "Stiles has a tendency toward sulkiness that doesn't do much to soften her impossible character."
Pullman fairs better with theatre experts, who have hailed his portrayal of lecturer John.
Bloomberg.com says, "The revival does profit here from good performances and apt direction. Pullman is an expert at good-natured masculinity turning ugly when sorely beleaguered..."
Daily Variety adds, "Pullman is a far more emotionally available actor... (His) body language is transfixing."
However, the Associated Press notes the complexity of Mamet's work and credits the actors for their efforts: "Oleanna is a fiendishly difficult play to pull off, but Pullman and Stiles, under the precise, careful direction of Doug Hughes, make the most of Mamet's seemingly imprecise language."
Oleanna is not the only big-name Broadway production to face criticism this autumn - Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig's turn in A Steady Rain has been largely panned by theatre reviewers, while Jude Law's Hamlet split critics in their opinion.
- 10/12/2009
- WENN
David Mamet likes to provoke audiences so he should be pleased with the divided critical response to the Broadway revival of "Oleanna." This battle of the sexes was a huge hit off Broadway in 1992 but this production marks its first Broadway staging. The stars of this version of "Oleanna" are Bill Pullman -- who earned a Drama Desk nod for his only other Broadway appearance in 2002's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" -- and rialto newcomer Julia Stiles. Stiles starred in an acclaimed 2004 London production of "Oleanna" opposite Aaron Eckhart and she and Pullman appeared in this same staging earlier this year in Los Angeles. Mamet is a prolific writer with half a dozen works having premiered on Broadway and another -- "Race" -- opening this December. Just two of these -- "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Speed-the-Plow" -- contended for best play at the Tony Awards. Though "Glengarry Glen Ross...
- 10/12/2009
- by tomoneil
- Gold Derby
As announced by Producer Jeffrey Finn, previews began onTuesday, September 29, 2009 for the first ever Broadway production of Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet. Starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt), the play is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students. The Broadway production has an Opening Night set for tonight Sunday, October 11 at 6:30 Pm at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street).
- 10/11/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
In perhaps the most oddly juxtaposed match of artist and material since David Lynch gave us The Straight Story, acclaimed playwright and screenwriter David Mamet has signed on to write and direct his own version of the story of Anne Frank.
You read that right -- the man behind Oleanna is taking on the tale of the Jewish teenager who hid in an Amsterdam attic during the Holocaust before dying at 15, and on behalf of Disney no less. According to Variety, Mamet's interpretation will combine elements of Frank's renown diary, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett's Tony Award-winning stage adaptation, and whatever Mamet brings to the table that, in the trade's words, "could reframe the story as a young girl's right of passage."
I'm really not sure what to make of this myself. The man has certainly proven a gift with dialogue and direction on both screen and stage, but...
You read that right -- the man behind Oleanna is taking on the tale of the Jewish teenager who hid in an Amsterdam attic during the Holocaust before dying at 15, and on behalf of Disney no less. According to Variety, Mamet's interpretation will combine elements of Frank's renown diary, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett's Tony Award-winning stage adaptation, and whatever Mamet brings to the table that, in the trade's words, "could reframe the story as a young girl's right of passage."
I'm really not sure what to make of this myself. The man has certainly proven a gift with dialogue and direction on both screen and stage, but...
- 8/12/2009
- by William Goss
- Cinematical
Tickets will go on sale this Sunday, July 19, 2009 for the first-ever Broadway production of Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet. Direct from a smash hit engagement in Los Angeles, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes, Oleanna is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students.
- 7/19/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tickets will go on sale this Sunday, July 19, 2009 for the first-ever Broadway production of Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet. Direct from a smash hit engagement in Los Angeles, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes, Oleanna is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students.
- 7/17/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Producer Jeffrey Finn announced today that Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet, will have its first-ever Broadway production as part of the 2009-2010 Broadway Season. Starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes, the play is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students.
- 6/30/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Variety is reporting that Broadway looks to be set to get a double dose of David Mamet this fall, with a transfer of his Oleanna. Variety reveals that the production is likely to join a fall slate that also includes the playwright's new play "Race." The Doug Hughes-helmed staging of Oleanna, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, opened Sunday at L.A. Center Theater Group's Mark Taper Forum to enthusiastic reviews.
- 6/12/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Los Angeles theater scene? It, too, has been buffeted by the economic downturn. The phrase "ticket sales are off 10%" rolls easily off the lips of playhouse administrators. But spirits and resolve remain determinedly high, and there is no talk of converting to dinner theater.
Bigger venues have responded by focusing more precisely on target audiences, stretching budgets as far and creatively as possible, tinkering with pricing strategies and compelling season-ticket campaigns, and using the Internet not only for sales but also for creating buzz on such social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter.
There's also luck of the draw.
The Pantages began selling season tickets to Broadway/L.A. in spring 2008, before the brunt of the financial collapse. Using a "Welcome Home to the Pantages!" theme, inviting back existing subscribers after two years of "Wicked," Broadway/L.A.'s parade of mainstream moneymakers through November lists "Rain," "Mamma Mia!
Bigger venues have responded by focusing more precisely on target audiences, stretching budgets as far and creatively as possible, tinkering with pricing strategies and compelling season-ticket campaigns, and using the Internet not only for sales but also for creating buzz on such social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter.
There's also luck of the draw.
The Pantages began selling season tickets to Broadway/L.A. in spring 2008, before the brunt of the financial collapse. Using a "Welcome Home to the Pantages!" theme, inviting back existing subscribers after two years of "Wicked," Broadway/L.A.'s parade of mainstream moneymakers through November lists "Rain," "Mamma Mia!
- 4/5/2009
- by By Laurence Vittes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Center Theatre Group has announced that Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles will appear in David Mamet's "Oleanna", the third production of the Mark Taper season, replacing the previously announced "Uncle Vanya." That production was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Tony-winning Broadway director Doug Hughes will stage "Oleanna," which is scheduled to run May 28th through July 12th. Opening night is scheduled June 5th.
- 2/9/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tony Award Nominated actor Alan Campbell will star as Father Flynn, the priest whose actions are being called into question. Campbell received his nomination for originating the role of Joe Gillis, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" opposite Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige. Naples audiences will remember Alan from his star turn in Gulfshore Playhouse's production of "Oleanna" by David Mamet.
- 1/21/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
William H. Macy has a long association with playwright David Mamet, having starred in New York in productions including Oleanna and American Buffalo. He received an Academy Award nomination for his work in the film Fargo. He also appeared in Benny & Joon, Mr. Holland's Opus, Seabiscuit, Magnolia, Pleasantville, Boogie Nights and Air Force One. In 2002, he won Emmy Awards for both Lead Actor in a Miniseries and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries with the TV film "Door to Door".
- 1/18/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Even after Katie Holmes in "All My Sons," Hollywood's march to Broadway continues. Next up in movie actresses tasting life upon the wicked stage will be Julia Stiles of all those Bourne jobs - "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy," The Bourne Whatever.
"I'm coming to Broadway," she told me. "I'm so excited."
And what's this pretty young blonde with deep-set eyes really know from legit thittir?
"Please. It's where I started. I did shows off-Broadway.
"I'm coming to Broadway," she told me. "I'm so excited."
And what's this pretty young blonde with deep-set eyes really know from legit thittir?
"Please. It's where I started. I did shows off-Broadway.
- 9/19/2008
- by By CINDY ADAMS
- NYPost.com
Film Review: Redbelt
May 09, 2008
Review by Brian Tallerico
At first, Redbelt might seem like a departure for David Mamet. “A martial arts movie from the man who gave the world Glengarry Glen Ross? What is this? Never Back the F**k Down?” Mamet has always written about people who use words as weapons (all those f-bombs in Ggr, American Buffalo, Speed the Plow, or Oleanna might as well be well-timed punches or kicks in an Mma match), but Redbelt actually ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
Review by Brian Tallerico
At first, Redbelt might seem like a departure for David Mamet. “A martial arts movie from the man who gave the world Glengarry Glen Ross? What is this? Never Back the F**k Down?” Mamet has always written about people who use words as weapons (all those f-bombs in Ggr, American Buffalo, Speed the Plow, or Oleanna might as well be well-timed punches or kicks in an Mma match), but Redbelt actually ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
- 5/9/2008
- CinemaNerdz
Like so many ambitious writers, David Mamet has many faces. There's the street-smart thriller craftsman behind Homicide, Heist, and Spartan. The sly, stagey twist-meister behind House Of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, and Glengarry Glen Ross. The sentimental softie of Things Change and State And Main. (There's also the work-for-hire hack that signed onto the screenplay for Hannibal, and the clumsy, self-satisfied provocateur who wrote Oleanna, but the less said about them, the better.) But no previous project has so thoroughly fused his filmmaking facets as Redbelt, a superior, sophisticated, and unusually gentle character study where the point isn't the twists, so much as watching how one man's belief system holds up through them. Further cementing his well-earned reputation for sensitivity and depth, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things, Children Of Men) stars as a small-time jujitsu instructor with an unyielding sense of honor that comes into play when jittery...
- 5/1/2008
- by Tasha Robinson
- avclub.com
Luke, Macy join Mamet's 'Spartan'
Derek Luke and William H. Macy will star in Franchise Pictures' political thriller Spartan for writer-director David Mamet and producer Art Linson. Production is scheduled to begin April 15 in Los Angeles. Spartan follows Scott (Val Kilmer), who is asked to investigate the kidnapping of the president's daughter. Luke will star as Anton, a would-be Secret Service agent, while Macy plays Stoddard, the right-hand man to Burch, the man who is leading the investigation of the kidnapped girl. The Burch character has yet to be cast. Luke, repped by CAA, stars onscreen in Antwone Fisher and Biker Boyz. He next stars in United Artists' Pieces of April. Macy, repped by Writers & Artists, next stars in Lions Gate Films' The Cooler, Artisan Entertainment's U-Boat, Universal Pictures/Spyglass Entertainment's Seabiscuit and Showtime Networks' Out of Order. Spartan reunites Macy with Mamet as the duo have collaborated on projects for more than 15 years, including the features State and Main, Oleanna, Homicide, Things Change and House of Games.
- 3/6/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Previews began on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 for the first ever Broadway production of Oleanna, the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet. Starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt), the play is a gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students. The Broadway production celebrated Opening Night on Sunday, October 11 at at The Golden Theatre and Broadway Beat and BroadwayWorld.com were there to interview both stars and director to bring you this sneak peak complete with gripping highlights!
- 1/1/2000
- BroadwayWorld.com
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