In this episode of Criminal Minds, titled "Blue Angel," the Bau faces off against a killer who is attacking successful businessmen in Detroit. They're led to an escort agency called Blue Angel International Social Club, but they find out that all may not be as it seems. As they hunt down this killer, more bodies continue to drop, and ultimately the team must rescue two victims before it's too late.
- 10/11/2017
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
Do yourself a favor and don't eat too soon before this week's episode of Criminal Minds. It's going to be a graphic one.
In TV Guide's exclusive clip from the episode, "Blue Angel," the Bau is evaluating their new case. The unsub has an extreme way of treating his victims. He tortures them, leaving
...
Read More >...
In TV Guide's exclusive clip from the episode, "Blue Angel," the Bau is evaluating their new case. The unsub has an extreme way of treating his victims. He tortures them, leaving
...
Read More >...
- 10/11/2017
- by Megan Vick
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Stories of teacher-student sex and sexual harassment on college campuses are not new. Francine Prose wrote her acclaimed novel on the subject, Blue Angel, 17 years ago. But with increasing debates about the issue and explosive sexual harassment charges during the 2016 presidential election, the new movie, Submission, adapted from Prose’s novel, seems especially timely. With a strong cast headed by Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick and young actress Addison Timlin, the film seems likely to find an audience and stir plenty of debate.
Ted Swenson (Tucci) is a professor of creative writing at a small New England college. He’s bored...
Ted Swenson (Tucci) is a professor of creative writing at a small New England college. He’s bored...
- 6/22/2017
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Writer-director Richard Levine’s Submission starring Stanley Tucci, Addison Timlin, Kyra Sedgwick and Janeane Garofolo has its world premiere Monday in the Premieres section at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Based on Francine Prose’s bestselling novel Blue Angel, Tucci plays novelist-professor Ted Swenson, who despite a loving and playful marriage finds his unresolved personal conflicts manifest in unexpected ways when he becomes obsessed with Angela Argo…...
- 6/15/2017
- Deadline
Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur’s company credits include recent Berlinale premiere Final Portrait.
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
- 2/23/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Inspiring generations with their uncanny abilities to bring us closer to the great wonders (and horrors) of this universe, Guillermo del Toro and H.P. Lovecraft are among the group of creators and works being inducted this year into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a new exhibit at the Museum of Pop Culture.
Press Release: Seattle – The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) announced a new exhibition commemorating the 20th anniversary Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and named the new inductees for 2016. The Hall of Fame honors the lives, work, and ongoing legacies of science fiction and fantasy’s greatest creators, and as the program marks its 20th year, it has expanded eligibility to recognize the genre’s most impactful creations. For the 2016 year, the Hall of Fame will induct Star Trek, Blade Runner, and authors Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.
Press Release: Seattle – The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) announced a new exhibition commemorating the 20th anniversary Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and named the new inductees for 2016. The Hall of Fame honors the lives, work, and ongoing legacies of science fiction and fantasy’s greatest creators, and as the program marks its 20th year, it has expanded eligibility to recognize the genre’s most impactful creations. For the 2016 year, the Hall of Fame will induct Star Trek, Blade Runner, and authors Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.
- 1/18/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The Ringer "True confessions of Shark," the star who invented the blockbuster (Ha!)
IndieWire calls The Shallows the best shark movie since Jaws. Wow... but then, on the other hand, are there any good shark movies since Jaws so maybe that's not such high praise?
Buzzfeed has a long gripping read about director Karyn Kusama's tough journey from Girlfight (2000) through two studio disasters and on to her new film The Invitation (2016)
Tfe... which we reviewed in April, icymi
YouTube the new Ghostbusters theme song "Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid)" by Fall Out Boy is basically a cover with some new flourishes including Missy Elliott so it won't be Oscar nominated (or even eligible) like the original tune from 1984
Us Magazine there's a Golden Girls Cafe opening in NYC but "cheesecake" isn't the menu headliner so fire everyone. (If you read the fine print it's actually a restaurant in honor of Rue McClanahan.
IndieWire calls The Shallows the best shark movie since Jaws. Wow... but then, on the other hand, are there any good shark movies since Jaws so maybe that's not such high praise?
Buzzfeed has a long gripping read about director Karyn Kusama's tough journey from Girlfight (2000) through two studio disasters and on to her new film The Invitation (2016)
Tfe... which we reviewed in April, icymi
YouTube the new Ghostbusters theme song "Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid)" by Fall Out Boy is basically a cover with some new flourishes including Missy Elliott so it won't be Oscar nominated (or even eligible) like the original tune from 1984
Us Magazine there's a Golden Girls Cafe opening in NYC but "cheesecake" isn't the menu headliner so fire everyone. (If you read the fine print it's actually a restaurant in honor of Rue McClanahan.
- 6/23/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
A pilot has died in a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet crash Thursday afternoon in Smyrna, Tennessee, People has learned. According to a press release from the Naval Air Forces, the name of the pilot is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification requirements. Country star Hunter Hayes was scheduled to fly in a Us Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet jet on Thursday ahead of the Great Tennessee Air Show at the Smyrna Airport this weekend. Five other Blue Angel jets were not involved in the incident and landed safely moments later. Larry Farley, the Rutherford County fire chief, dispatchers...
- 6/2/2016
- by Deborah Price and Christina Dugan
- PEOPLE.com
Back in 1990, Cyndi Lauper was working with alt-country singer k.d. lang, when lang noticed a little something unexpected in the vocal stylings of the pop icon. "Oooh, there's a little country in you," lang told her at the time. And, says Lauper, "I knew she was right!" Maybe it took an iconoclast like lang to detect the twang in the girl from Queens, New York, but for Lauper it was never far from the surface. Though she became inextricably linked to the flame-haired, pop punk persona on her 1983 debut, She's So Unusual, the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun...
- 5/7/2016
- by Eileen Finan
- PEOPLE.com
"Designed to inspire, and it works!" These were the first words out of my friend Ian's mouth as we exited "The Idol," Hany Abu-Assad's newest film. Three days later I was still feeling its effect and recommending it to people here at the Toronto Film Festival whenever we discussed the films we had been seeing.
This Palestine/ UK/ Qatar/ Netherlands production was inspired by the true story of Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza and whose voice became the voice of the nation when he won the Arab Idol contest in 2013.
International sales by Seville (eOne’s arthouse branch) were made before Tiff to some 20 territories including Benelux (September Films is the former Wild Bunch Benelux), France (TF1), Germany (Koch), Japan (New Select), Hong Kong (Edko), Hungary (Mtva), Australia (Umbrella), Latin America (California Filmes), Portugal (Outsider Films), South Africa (Times Media) Switzerland (Praesens), China (Beijing Xiangjiang YiHua Films), India (PVR), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (Red Pictures), Taiwan (Spring International), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Romania (Independenta), South Korea (Kaon Contents & Media) and Airlines (Captive). eOne will directly release the film in Spain. Mbc will distribute throughout the Middle East, including in Palestine and North Africa. Adopt Films just picked up U.S. rights.
This is a feel-good movie which gives a human voice to the Palestinian dilemma without being political or religious. It’s pure heart.
“The Idol” was coproduced by Image Nation of Abu Dhabi, Enjaaz -- a Dubai Film Market initiative -- Doha Film institute with support from the Netherlands Film Fund. Mbc also coproduced and is handling the film’s release in the Middle East and North Africa. September was the Dutch coproducer and is handling it in Benelux.
Speaking in Toronto with Hany Abu-Assad, he agreed, this film was designed carefully. And at its world premiere here in Toronto, he was so nervous. When the laughter from the audience happened at exactly the right moment, he knew the film worked the way he had envisaged. “They laughed and cried at the same time,” he said. He did not know even though the editing if the emotion will carry it. “You don’t know until you show it. When I knew that people laughed with the kids then I knew I had succeeded. The little laugh when the kids were chased told me it worked.”
“From the small laugh to another point here, and another here, a domino effect starts.”
The original script was written by Sameh Zoabi whose earlier film, "Man Without a Cell Phone" won the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival Award for Sameh as Best Director. Hany gave the finished script to his (and my own) friend, colleague and script consultant, Annemarie Jacir, whose own film, "When I Saw You" premiered in Toronto in 2012 and won many awards including the Audience Prize at L.A. Film Festival in 2013 and at Amiens and the Netpac Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013. “She gave me some notes and worked on some of the dialogue."
I remarked how much I liked the joke about the distance between Gaza and Egypt being the same as the distance between Cuba and Florida and told him about a parallel joke made in the Cuban film “Barrio Cuba” when the Havana people call those coming from the east (Santiago de Cuba) “Palestinians”.
Aside from having a top-notch script, the entire film design was also successful because he worked with the same Dp Ehab Assal, Editor Eyas Salmon who was also editor of Tiff’s “Dégradé”, Production Designer and Art Director Nael Kanj and the Location Manager who all worked on his last film, the Academy Award nominated “Omar”. They have grown with him are now top quality artists and technicians who can work on both local and international productions.
“During ‘Omar’ we talked a lot about how the film would work, the concept, the core, the score, but on this film we spoke less. We knew each other better and it was much easier to shoot knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And it was joyful and almost telepathic. We hoped this approach behind the camera would also inform the on-screen experience,” said Hany who also insisted on shooting on location in both Beirut and Cairo for the exterior scenes set in those cities so that the film would look and feel real.
The key to this film has always been authenticity both in front of and behind the camera. That is why “The Idol” is one of the first, if not the first, international production to shoot on location in Gaza, despite the logistical difficulties to get a film crew in and out safely. Set in the devastated landscapes of a Gaza still reeling from the month-long bombardment in 2014, Abu-Assad and his crew were still able to find great moments of beauty and surprise. The Gaza Parkour Team, for example, supply their amazing acrobatic display in the most surprising way in one moment, proving that art can thrive in even the most challenging of situations.
For more on "The Idol" read the pre Toronto reportage.
That desire for authenticity is also why Hany insisted on finding and employing real kids from Gaza to act in the film. The crew did a Gaza-wide search, holding casting sessions and rehearsals in schools across the area. Ultimately, the production was blessed to find four amazing Gazan children to star in the film, all first time actors, and all incredible natural performers.
The first half of the film takes place in a war-torn Gaza city which for
Mohammed Assaf, his sister Nour and their best friends Ahmad and Omar is a playground where they freely ride their bikes, play music, football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on second hand, beaten up instruments but their ambitions are sky-high. Their ambition is to play at the world famous Cairo Opera Hall.
The world around Mohammed shatters. Through it all, however, he retains the hope that his voice will somehow deliver him from the pain that surrounds him and bring joy to others. He sings at weddings, he drives a taxi to pay for his university studies. Even as the siege around Gaza intensifies, the prison around them ever more forbidding, Mohammed knows he has a rare gift, the ability to make people smile and forget their anxieties about day to day living.
On TV one evening he watches as the auditions for Arab Idol, the most popular show in the Arab world, take place in Cairo. The borders are closed. There is no way out. Somehow, he finds a way and makes it in front of the judges in Egypt. From there, destiny awaits, a chance to change his life and give a voiceless people the greatest feeling of all: the freedom to love, live and feel free.
However success in the weekly competitions bring on anxieties of a new kind, to be the one responsible for being the voice of his people, Palestine takes on more importance than his personal reasons for surviving and succeeding.
This film plays well to children and adults equally. The boy becomes a man, played by Tawfeek Barhom who played in last year's "Dancing Arabs" and switches gears to his escape to Egypt and his competing in the Arab Idol talent contest. At the very end, Tawfeek’s character becomes the real star, Mohammed Assaf. His voice was always used, even when Tawfeek was supposedly singing.
“I always ask myself why I want to make a movie and spend almost two years of my life working very hard to complete that movie. In the case of ‘The Idol’, the answer was clear and simple. The story of this young man, Muhammad Assaf, is such an incredible story that even somebody like me who, just three weeks earlier had won the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, was more excited for Assaf to win Arab Idol than for myself. I was caught on camera between thousands of people gathered in the square in Nazareth to hear the final results for Arab Idol; I was jumping in excitement like a little kid, and I have not had this kind of excitement for a very long time. When Ali Jaafar offered for me to direct Muhammad Assaf’s story, my arms were covered in goosebumps. I knew immediately that I would do everything to make this story a movie.”
“I see ‘The Idol’ as the story of fighting and the will to survive under extreme circumstances. It’s a story of hope and success, where a brother and a sister were able to make from their disadvantages an advantage, and from the impossible possible, who come from nowhere to overcome all odds, beating poverty, oppression, and occupation. They have the ability to convert ugliness to beauty, which, in the end, is the power behind all art and the fuel to nurture hope.”
“The film was designed as a movie with no cultural barriers. You could be Chinese, American or Palestinian and you can appreciate the film. The very old and the very young can all understand the journey. It crosses religious lines. I meant to take a very specific story into a broader context.”
“The story of Mohammed Assaf is a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to put a human face on a people who have all too often been marginalized and misrepresented. “
“At a time of unprecedented upheaval in the Arab world, with revolutions, civil wars, strife and extremism, Mohammed’s journey from humble wedding singer in Gaza, to the region’s hottest young star played out before our eyes weekly. Every Friday and Saturday night, for a few minutes, viewers could release themselves from the daily struggles and remember how to smile again.”
“Mohammed Assaf represents the spirit and symbol of what might be; of dreams coming true; of the impossible becoming, for a precious moment at least, entirely possible.”
“The children in the first audience loved it.”
“The girl is now with her family as refugees. They escaped and are seeking asylum in Europe. The three boys were in Toronto and one wanted to stay.
I’m happy I gave four Gazan kids the chance to see beyond the ghetto. They have special talent and their exposure now allows the world to come to them. Audiences love these children so much that they have offered to pay for their education. There was even an offer to adopt one. With paid-for education their futures are now more hopeful,” Hany said.
“The girl is so talented. She never acted before but she understood and loved the logic of shooting, of decoupage. ‘Is this a wide shot?’ she would ask. She spent three days asking about the lenses. On the second day an actor off camera forgot his lines. She continued to talk as if he were talking, as if he were acting. She came out of war. Two of her uncles were killed in the war. When you loose your fear of death you are enormously naked, exposed and you become more sensitized. She could become a great actress.”
“I’m glad I could do something for these four children”.
The Filmmaker
Hany Abu-Assad is one of the world’s most distinctive filmmakers. The two-time Academy Award-nominated director – “Paradise Now” (2006) and “Omar” (2013)- has won countless other awards including the Berlin International Film Festival’s prestigious Blue Angel award, Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and the Special Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
He was born in Nazareth, Palestine in 1961. After having studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer and produced the feature film “Curfew”, directed by Rashid Masharawi, in 1994.
In 1998 he directed his first film, “The Fourteenth Chick”, from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg, followed by his documentary “Nazareth 2000”, his second feature film “Rana’s Wedding” and his second documentary “Ford Transit”.
In 2006 his film “Paradise Now” about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign language film in 2006.
In 2011 Abu-Assad finished working on “The Courier”, a Hollywood movie starring Jeffery Dean Morgan, Til Schweiger and Mickey Rourke.
Most recently, Abu-Assad’s “Omar”, which featured star-making performances from Adam Bakri and Leem Lubany, garnered the director his second Academy Award nomination for the edge-of-your seat thriller. The film won several worldwide prizes including the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
This Palestine/ UK/ Qatar/ Netherlands production was inspired by the true story of Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza and whose voice became the voice of the nation when he won the Arab Idol contest in 2013.
International sales by Seville (eOne’s arthouse branch) were made before Tiff to some 20 territories including Benelux (September Films is the former Wild Bunch Benelux), France (TF1), Germany (Koch), Japan (New Select), Hong Kong (Edko), Hungary (Mtva), Australia (Umbrella), Latin America (California Filmes), Portugal (Outsider Films), South Africa (Times Media) Switzerland (Praesens), China (Beijing Xiangjiang YiHua Films), India (PVR), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (Red Pictures), Taiwan (Spring International), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Romania (Independenta), South Korea (Kaon Contents & Media) and Airlines (Captive). eOne will directly release the film in Spain. Mbc will distribute throughout the Middle East, including in Palestine and North Africa. Adopt Films just picked up U.S. rights.
This is a feel-good movie which gives a human voice to the Palestinian dilemma without being political or religious. It’s pure heart.
“The Idol” was coproduced by Image Nation of Abu Dhabi, Enjaaz -- a Dubai Film Market initiative -- Doha Film institute with support from the Netherlands Film Fund. Mbc also coproduced and is handling the film’s release in the Middle East and North Africa. September was the Dutch coproducer and is handling it in Benelux.
Speaking in Toronto with Hany Abu-Assad, he agreed, this film was designed carefully. And at its world premiere here in Toronto, he was so nervous. When the laughter from the audience happened at exactly the right moment, he knew the film worked the way he had envisaged. “They laughed and cried at the same time,” he said. He did not know even though the editing if the emotion will carry it. “You don’t know until you show it. When I knew that people laughed with the kids then I knew I had succeeded. The little laugh when the kids were chased told me it worked.”
“From the small laugh to another point here, and another here, a domino effect starts.”
The original script was written by Sameh Zoabi whose earlier film, "Man Without a Cell Phone" won the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival Award for Sameh as Best Director. Hany gave the finished script to his (and my own) friend, colleague and script consultant, Annemarie Jacir, whose own film, "When I Saw You" premiered in Toronto in 2012 and won many awards including the Audience Prize at L.A. Film Festival in 2013 and at Amiens and the Netpac Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013. “She gave me some notes and worked on some of the dialogue."
I remarked how much I liked the joke about the distance between Gaza and Egypt being the same as the distance between Cuba and Florida and told him about a parallel joke made in the Cuban film “Barrio Cuba” when the Havana people call those coming from the east (Santiago de Cuba) “Palestinians”.
Aside from having a top-notch script, the entire film design was also successful because he worked with the same Dp Ehab Assal, Editor Eyas Salmon who was also editor of Tiff’s “Dégradé”, Production Designer and Art Director Nael Kanj and the Location Manager who all worked on his last film, the Academy Award nominated “Omar”. They have grown with him are now top quality artists and technicians who can work on both local and international productions.
“During ‘Omar’ we talked a lot about how the film would work, the concept, the core, the score, but on this film we spoke less. We knew each other better and it was much easier to shoot knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And it was joyful and almost telepathic. We hoped this approach behind the camera would also inform the on-screen experience,” said Hany who also insisted on shooting on location in both Beirut and Cairo for the exterior scenes set in those cities so that the film would look and feel real.
The key to this film has always been authenticity both in front of and behind the camera. That is why “The Idol” is one of the first, if not the first, international production to shoot on location in Gaza, despite the logistical difficulties to get a film crew in and out safely. Set in the devastated landscapes of a Gaza still reeling from the month-long bombardment in 2014, Abu-Assad and his crew were still able to find great moments of beauty and surprise. The Gaza Parkour Team, for example, supply their amazing acrobatic display in the most surprising way in one moment, proving that art can thrive in even the most challenging of situations.
For more on "The Idol" read the pre Toronto reportage.
That desire for authenticity is also why Hany insisted on finding and employing real kids from Gaza to act in the film. The crew did a Gaza-wide search, holding casting sessions and rehearsals in schools across the area. Ultimately, the production was blessed to find four amazing Gazan children to star in the film, all first time actors, and all incredible natural performers.
The first half of the film takes place in a war-torn Gaza city which for
Mohammed Assaf, his sister Nour and their best friends Ahmad and Omar is a playground where they freely ride their bikes, play music, football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on second hand, beaten up instruments but their ambitions are sky-high. Their ambition is to play at the world famous Cairo Opera Hall.
The world around Mohammed shatters. Through it all, however, he retains the hope that his voice will somehow deliver him from the pain that surrounds him and bring joy to others. He sings at weddings, he drives a taxi to pay for his university studies. Even as the siege around Gaza intensifies, the prison around them ever more forbidding, Mohammed knows he has a rare gift, the ability to make people smile and forget their anxieties about day to day living.
On TV one evening he watches as the auditions for Arab Idol, the most popular show in the Arab world, take place in Cairo. The borders are closed. There is no way out. Somehow, he finds a way and makes it in front of the judges in Egypt. From there, destiny awaits, a chance to change his life and give a voiceless people the greatest feeling of all: the freedom to love, live and feel free.
However success in the weekly competitions bring on anxieties of a new kind, to be the one responsible for being the voice of his people, Palestine takes on more importance than his personal reasons for surviving and succeeding.
This film plays well to children and adults equally. The boy becomes a man, played by Tawfeek Barhom who played in last year's "Dancing Arabs" and switches gears to his escape to Egypt and his competing in the Arab Idol talent contest. At the very end, Tawfeek’s character becomes the real star, Mohammed Assaf. His voice was always used, even when Tawfeek was supposedly singing.
“I always ask myself why I want to make a movie and spend almost two years of my life working very hard to complete that movie. In the case of ‘The Idol’, the answer was clear and simple. The story of this young man, Muhammad Assaf, is such an incredible story that even somebody like me who, just three weeks earlier had won the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, was more excited for Assaf to win Arab Idol than for myself. I was caught on camera between thousands of people gathered in the square in Nazareth to hear the final results for Arab Idol; I was jumping in excitement like a little kid, and I have not had this kind of excitement for a very long time. When Ali Jaafar offered for me to direct Muhammad Assaf’s story, my arms were covered in goosebumps. I knew immediately that I would do everything to make this story a movie.”
“I see ‘The Idol’ as the story of fighting and the will to survive under extreme circumstances. It’s a story of hope and success, where a brother and a sister were able to make from their disadvantages an advantage, and from the impossible possible, who come from nowhere to overcome all odds, beating poverty, oppression, and occupation. They have the ability to convert ugliness to beauty, which, in the end, is the power behind all art and the fuel to nurture hope.”
“The film was designed as a movie with no cultural barriers. You could be Chinese, American or Palestinian and you can appreciate the film. The very old and the very young can all understand the journey. It crosses religious lines. I meant to take a very specific story into a broader context.”
“The story of Mohammed Assaf is a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to put a human face on a people who have all too often been marginalized and misrepresented. “
“At a time of unprecedented upheaval in the Arab world, with revolutions, civil wars, strife and extremism, Mohammed’s journey from humble wedding singer in Gaza, to the region’s hottest young star played out before our eyes weekly. Every Friday and Saturday night, for a few minutes, viewers could release themselves from the daily struggles and remember how to smile again.”
“Mohammed Assaf represents the spirit and symbol of what might be; of dreams coming true; of the impossible becoming, for a precious moment at least, entirely possible.”
“The children in the first audience loved it.”
“The girl is now with her family as refugees. They escaped and are seeking asylum in Europe. The three boys were in Toronto and one wanted to stay.
I’m happy I gave four Gazan kids the chance to see beyond the ghetto. They have special talent and their exposure now allows the world to come to them. Audiences love these children so much that they have offered to pay for their education. There was even an offer to adopt one. With paid-for education their futures are now more hopeful,” Hany said.
“The girl is so talented. She never acted before but she understood and loved the logic of shooting, of decoupage. ‘Is this a wide shot?’ she would ask. She spent three days asking about the lenses. On the second day an actor off camera forgot his lines. She continued to talk as if he were talking, as if he were acting. She came out of war. Two of her uncles were killed in the war. When you loose your fear of death you are enormously naked, exposed and you become more sensitized. She could become a great actress.”
“I’m glad I could do something for these four children”.
The Filmmaker
Hany Abu-Assad is one of the world’s most distinctive filmmakers. The two-time Academy Award-nominated director – “Paradise Now” (2006) and “Omar” (2013)- has won countless other awards including the Berlin International Film Festival’s prestigious Blue Angel award, Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and the Special Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
He was born in Nazareth, Palestine in 1961. After having studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer and produced the feature film “Curfew”, directed by Rashid Masharawi, in 1994.
In 1998 he directed his first film, “The Fourteenth Chick”, from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg, followed by his documentary “Nazareth 2000”, his second feature film “Rana’s Wedding” and his second documentary “Ford Transit”.
In 2006 his film “Paradise Now” about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign language film in 2006.
In 2011 Abu-Assad finished working on “The Courier”, a Hollywood movie starring Jeffery Dean Morgan, Til Schweiger and Mickey Rourke.
Most recently, Abu-Assad’s “Omar”, which featured star-making performances from Adam Bakri and Leem Lubany, garnered the director his second Academy Award nomination for the edge-of-your seat thriller. The film won several worldwide prizes including the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
- 5/3/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Carol Burnett – comedic trailblazer, actor, singer, dancer, producer and author – has been named the 52nd recipient of SAG-aftra’s highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Burnett will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at 8 p.m. (Et), 7 p.m. (Ct), 6 p.m. (Mt) and 5 p.m. (Pt). Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the SAG Life Achievement Award will join Burnett’s exceptional catalog of preeminent industry and public honors, which includes multiple Emmys, a special Tony, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and both a Kennedy Center Honor and its Mark Twain Prize for Humor.
In making today’s announcement, SAG-aftra President Ken Howard said, “Carol Burnett is a creative dynamo and a comedic genius.
In making today’s announcement, SAG-aftra President Ken Howard said, “Carol Burnett is a creative dynamo and a comedic genius.
- 7/20/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Everyone knows Woody Allen. At least, everyone thinks they know Woody Allen. His plumage is easily identifiable: horn-rimmed glasses, baggy suit, wispy hair, kvetching demeanor, ironic sense of humor, acute fear of death. As is his habitat: New York City, though recently he has flown as far afield as London, Barcelona, and Paris. His likes are well known: Bergman, Dostoevsky, New Orleans jazz. So too his dislikes: spiders, cars, nature, Wagner records, the entire city of Los Angeles. Whether or not these traits represent the true Allen, who’s to say? It is impossible to tell, with Allen, where cinema ends and life begins, an obfuscation he readily encourages. In the late nineteen-seventies, disillusioned with the comedic success he’d found making such films as Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), and Annie Hall (1977), he turned for darker territory with Stardust Memories (1980), a film in which, none too surprisingly, he plays a...
- 1/24/2015
- by Graham Daseler
- The Moving Arts Journal
Take another look @ Nsfw footage and images from writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes award-winning, romantic feature "Blue is the Warmest Color".
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is based on the 2010 award-winning French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said previous Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the brilliance of the performances...
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is based on the 2010 award-winning French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said previous Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the brilliance of the performances...
- 12/28/2014
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Two years ago, on the eve of his eagerly awaited Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, I sat down with Mike Nichols to look back on his remarkable career. During those two-plus hours together at the Mark Hotel in Manhattan, the legendary director, then 80, reminisced about a life of highs and lows that began as a bright-eyed young boy who fled Nazi Germany for America. "I remember everything about getting on the boat in Germany in 1939," Nichols said. "I was 7, my brother was 3, and my father was already in New York setting up his practice as a doctor. German Jews couldn't leave the country,...
- 11/20/2014
- by Chris Nashawaty
- EW - Inside Movies
The recordings Woody Allen made of his comedy routines in the mid-Sixties will once again be available at an affordable price. November 25th will see the release of a comprehensive two-disc set – The Stand-Up Years: 1964 – 1968 – which will contain everything from the three records Allen released in the Sixties, along with a previously unreleased routine and more bonus audio. The additional material comprises 25 minutes of excerpts from the 2012 film Woody Allen: A Documentary, in which he discusses how stand-up comedy changed his life, as well as liner notes by the documentary's producer and director,...
- 9/22/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Ever since she sauntered down that street in the morning light in 1983, Cyndi Lauper has been a part of the pop culture landscape. Did you you know she’s 3/4 to an Egot? With an Emmy for Mad About You, a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1984, and a Tony Award last year for Kinky Boots, all she needs is an Oscar to compete the showbiz Holy Grail.
Here’s one of her crowning moments last year, as she became the first solo woman in Tony history to win for Best Original Score.
Always an ally, she’s one of the gay community’s staunchest supporters, and in another of her crowning moments, was responsible for reuniting a Daytime TV Supercouple. She even got Noah to dance … albeit like Frankenstein swatting at a bee … but is there anything this woman can’t do?
Today is Cyndi’s 61st birthday, so what...
Here’s one of her crowning moments last year, as she became the first solo woman in Tony history to win for Best Original Score.
Always an ally, she’s one of the gay community’s staunchest supporters, and in another of her crowning moments, was responsible for reuniting a Daytime TV Supercouple. She even got Noah to dance … albeit like Frankenstein swatting at a bee … but is there anything this woman can’t do?
Today is Cyndi’s 61st birthday, so what...
- 6/22/2014
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Sneak Peek more Nsfw restricted footage and images from writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes award-winning, romantic feature "Blue is the Warmest Color".
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the...
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the...
- 3/22/2014
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek a new restricted 'red-band' trailer from writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes award-winning, romantic feature "Blue is the Warmest Color".
"Blue is the Warmest Color"is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the brilliance...
"Blue is the Warmest Color"is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards.
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story," said Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg.
"We were absolutely spellbound by the brilliance...
- 12/31/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek more new images from writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes award-winning, 'lesbian' romantic feature "Blue is the Warmest Color".
"Blue is the Warmest Color", opening in North America October 25, 2013 is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards and will also be released in North America October 2013:
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story,...
"Blue is the Warmest Color", opening in North America October 25, 2013 is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards and will also be released in North America October 2013:
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion..."
"For me the film is a great love story,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek new revealing images of 20-year old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, one of the stars of writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes award-winning, romantic feature "Blue is the Warmest Color", in the November 2013 issue of "GQ" magazine.
"Blue is the Warmest Color", opening in North America October 25, 2013 is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards and will also be released in North America October 2013:
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love,...
"Blue is the Warmest Color", opening in North America October 25, 2013 is based on the 2010 French graphic novel "Blue Angel" by Julie Maroh, which previously won several awards and will also be released in North America October 2013:
"...15-year-old 'Adèle' (Adèle Exarchopoulos), aspires to become a teacher, but her life is turned upside down when she meets 'Emma'...
"Emma is a blue-haired art student at a nearby college, who instigates a romance..."
"This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever seen on screen," said North American distributor, Sundance Selects/IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring about "Blue Is The Warmest Color".
"The film is first and foremost a film about love,...
- 10/28/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
It seems to have become traditional that when a celebrity has a baby, they try to give it the most outlandish and unique name that they can possibly conceive of.
In the past some of the more interesting have included Apple, Blue Angel and Moxie Crimefighter but here are the top 10 stupidest of only this year so far… and there really are some fascinating choices.
10. Mario Armando Lavandeira, III Perez Hilton, Jr.
Perez’s first child, Mario Armando Lavandeira, was born in February 2013 after being conceived with a donor egg carried by a surrogate mother. Perez has often expressed his desire to start a family and as soon as he learnt that the baby would be his, he relocated from his Los Angeles home to New York.
In a recent interview Perez stated that instead of calling the baby by his full title, he calls him Perez Jr. in order...
In the past some of the more interesting have included Apple, Blue Angel and Moxie Crimefighter but here are the top 10 stupidest of only this year so far… and there really are some fascinating choices.
10. Mario Armando Lavandeira, III Perez Hilton, Jr.
Perez’s first child, Mario Armando Lavandeira, was born in February 2013 after being conceived with a donor egg carried by a surrogate mother. Perez has often expressed his desire to start a family and as soon as he learnt that the baby would be his, he relocated from his Los Angeles home to New York.
In a recent interview Perez stated that instead of calling the baby by his full title, he calls him Perez Jr. in order...
- 10/24/2013
- by Rachel Joanne Carney
- Obsessed with Film
Title: Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle, Chapitres 1 et 2) Sundance Selects Director: Abdellatif Kechiche Screenwriter: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalya Lacroix, loosely adapted from the graphic novel “Blue Angel,” or “Le bleu est une couleur chaude” by Julie Maroh Cast: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Jérémie Laheurte, Catherine Salée, Aurélien Recoing, Mona Walravens, Fanny Maurin, Benjámin Siksou, Sandor Funtek Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 10/17/13 Opens: October 25, 2013 Let me take a stab at what you’re going to say as you leave this film. “In my next life, I want to be French.” As we can see by Abdellatif Kechiche’s latest film, the French enjoy the [ Read More ]
The post Blue is the Warmest Color Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Blue is the Warmest Color Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/18/2013
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
The big winner at Cannes this past spring was Blue Is The Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche's screen adaptation of the graphic novel Blue Angel. A coming-of-ager that got quite a bit of initial attention for its graphic sex scenes between its two leading ladies, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, it's also a seemingly very good flick. Our own Ryland Aldrich had this to say from Cannes: There is a stereotype that used to exist in America that European (and especially French) films were all full of gratuitous sex. Back before the internet, VHS tapes, and days of easy access pornography, young boys would sneak into art house cinemas to get a look at those lovely bare bodies from across the Atlantic. Whether any of this...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/19/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Here’s the brand new trailer for Blue Is The Warmest Color – “Adèle: Chapters 1 and 2″ from director Adbellatif Kechiche.
The film is adapted from Julie Maroh’s graphic novel “Le bleu est une couleur chaude” (“Blue Angel”).
Blue Is The Warmest Color centers on a 15-year-old girl named Adèle (Exarchopoulos) who is approaching adulthood and dreams of experiencing her first love.
A handsome male classmate falls hard for her, but an unsettling erotic reverie upsets the romance before it begins. Adèle imagines that the mysterious, blue-haired girl she encountered in the street slips into her bed and possesses her with overwhelming pleasure. That blue-haired girl is a confident older art student named Emma (Seydoux), who will soon enter Adèle’s life for real, making way for an intense and complicated love story that spans a decade and is touchingly universal in its depiction.
Blue Is The Warmest Color was the...
The film is adapted from Julie Maroh’s graphic novel “Le bleu est une couleur chaude” (“Blue Angel”).
Blue Is The Warmest Color centers on a 15-year-old girl named Adèle (Exarchopoulos) who is approaching adulthood and dreams of experiencing her first love.
A handsome male classmate falls hard for her, but an unsettling erotic reverie upsets the romance before it begins. Adèle imagines that the mysterious, blue-haired girl she encountered in the street slips into her bed and possesses her with overwhelming pleasure. That blue-haired girl is a confident older art student named Emma (Seydoux), who will soon enter Adèle’s life for real, making way for an intense and complicated love story that spans a decade and is touchingly universal in its depiction.
Blue Is The Warmest Color was the...
- 9/19/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Telluride, Colo. – Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color -- a 187-minute lesbian love story based on the 2010 French graphic novel Blue Angel and known in France as La Vie d'Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 -- had its North American premiere here on Thursday evening at the Galaxy Theatre. But due to the late hour and a number of competing events, the 2013 Cannes Palme d'Or winner's big unveiling came on Friday afternoon, when it screened for a packed house at the new Werner Herzog Theatre, where it met with considerable applause. Blue Is the Warmest Color is
read more...
read more...
- 8/30/2013
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Normally we don't hear about Nicolas Cage taking on indie films, but here we go. The Wrap reports the National Treasure star is currently in talks to lead Lost Melody, a new film from Bad Santa director Terry Zwigoff who also co-wrote the script with Melissa Axelrod, who actually was once the director's assistant. In the film Cage ventures slightly into Leaving Las Vegas territory as he plays a man trapped in a marriage to a shrew of a wife, and ends up falling in love with a prostitute. But the film isn't all drama, as producer Edward R. Pressman calls it "darkly funny" and in the vein of Blue Angel and Sunset Boulevard. Zwigoff is known for his quirky films like Ghost World and Crumb, and with Cage on board, this one sounds like it could be something interesting. Pressman previously produced American Psycho and Thank You for Smoking,...
- 7/2/2013
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Publication of graphic novel's English version brought forward in wake of film version's film festival triumph
Small Canadian publisher Arsenal Pulp Press is pushing forward publication of its English translation of French graphic novel Le bleu est une couleur chaude following the triumph of the film version of the story at Cannes this weekend – the first adaptation of a comic ever to take the top prize at the film festival.
The story of a passionate lesbian romance, Julie Maroh's graphic novel was published by the Belgian graphic novel press Glénat in 2010. An English language version, titled Blue Angel, was originally due out in November, but after the film adaptation Blue is the Warmest Colour won the Palme d'Or in Cannes on Sunday, Arsenal Pulp is now readying the translation for publication in September.
"[We] are indeed expecting lots of interest," said publisher Brian Lam. "We were first approached by the...
Small Canadian publisher Arsenal Pulp Press is pushing forward publication of its English translation of French graphic novel Le bleu est une couleur chaude following the triumph of the film version of the story at Cannes this weekend – the first adaptation of a comic ever to take the top prize at the film festival.
The story of a passionate lesbian romance, Julie Maroh's graphic novel was published by the Belgian graphic novel press Glénat in 2010. An English language version, titled Blue Angel, was originally due out in November, but after the film adaptation Blue is the Warmest Colour won the Palme d'Or in Cannes on Sunday, Arsenal Pulp is now readying the translation for publication in September.
"[We] are indeed expecting lots of interest," said publisher Brian Lam. "We were first approached by the...
- 5/30/2013
- by Alison Flood
- The Guardian - Film News
The creator of the Blue Is the Warmest Colour graphic novel has commented on the Cannes honour for the film adaptation.
The movie based on Julie Maroh's Le Bleu est Une Couleur Chaude received the 2013 Palme d'Or award at the film festival this week.
Maroh thanked her fans for their support in a post on her website.
"Make comic books. It's cool," she wrote.
Marjane Satrapi's adaptation of her autobiographical novel Persepolis received the Cannes Jury Prize in 2007.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour tells the tale of a 15-year-old girl who falls for a blue-haired art student.
An English translation of the book will be published as Blue Angel in October.
Watch a clip from the film below:...
The movie based on Julie Maroh's Le Bleu est Une Couleur Chaude received the 2013 Palme d'Or award at the film festival this week.
Maroh thanked her fans for their support in a post on her website.
"Make comic books. It's cool," she wrote.
Marjane Satrapi's adaptation of her autobiographical novel Persepolis received the Cannes Jury Prize in 2007.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour tells the tale of a 15-year-old girl who falls for a blue-haired art student.
An English translation of the book will be published as Blue Angel in October.
Watch a clip from the film below:...
- 5/28/2013
- Digital Spy
1.) Word is Beasts of the Southern Wild star and Oscar nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis, is up for the lead role in Sony's upcoming remake of Annie with Will Gluck (Easy A) set to direct. The film will serve as a remake of the Broadway musical based upon the popular comic strip and featuring songs with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan. The show originally penned on April 21, 1977, and immediately became a hit, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In 1982, Columbia Pictures released a film adaptation directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tim Curry, and Aileen Quinn as Annie. Wallis would replace the once attached Willow Smith, daughter of producer Will Smith. EW 2.) Ryan Gosling is busy putting together his directorial debut, How To Catch a Monster. He's already cast Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes, Matt Smith...
- 2/11/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
K5 International has picked up Richard Levine's psychological thriller "Blue Angel" which Clive Owen is attached to headline.
Based on the Francine Prose’s novel, the story follows a once successful novelist turned disillusioned college professor who is brought back to life by a gifted young female writing student who brings new energy to his class of no-hopers.
Sounds fairly chaste, but the story also deals in sex, seduction and emotional manipulation. Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy will produce.
Source: THR...
Based on the Francine Prose’s novel, the story follows a once successful novelist turned disillusioned college professor who is brought back to life by a gifted young female writing student who brings new energy to his class of no-hopers.
Sounds fairly chaste, but the story also deals in sex, seduction and emotional manipulation. Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy will produce.
Source: THR...
- 2/11/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Clive Owen has joined Blue Angel.
He will take the lead role in the adaptation of Francine Prose's novel, according to Variety.
Nip/Tuck showrunner Richard Levine is writing and directing the "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation".
Blue Angel centres around Swenson, a washed up professor in a New England creative writing programme.
When a new student joins his class, he finds the inspiration he has been lacking for years until their relationship takes a sinister turn.
Owen was most recently seen as Ernest Hemingway in the television miniseries Hemingway & Gellhorn.
He will take the lead role in the adaptation of Francine Prose's novel, according to Variety.
Nip/Tuck showrunner Richard Levine is writing and directing the "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation".
Blue Angel centres around Swenson, a washed up professor in a New England creative writing programme.
When a new student joins his class, he finds the inspiration he has been lacking for years until their relationship takes a sinister turn.
Owen was most recently seen as Ernest Hemingway in the television miniseries Hemingway & Gellhorn.
- 2/11/2013
- Digital Spy
Clive Owen is set to headline writer/director Richard Levine's Blue Angel , Variety reports. The film is adapted from Francine Prose's novel of the same name, officially described as follows: It has been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions... Owen, best known for films like Closer and Children of Men , recently starred opposite Nichole Kidman in the television miniseries "Hemingway & Gellhorn." Lars...
- 2/10/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Brit thesp Clive Owen has signed on to star in director Richard Levine‘s Blue Angel, a film based on the novel by Francine Prose, the president of Pen American Center. Owen will play a college professor Ted Swenson whose career is not going well. Swenson’s also a blocked novelist and family man whose ‘life has been passing in tenured tranquillity while inwardly he seethes with discontent. Swenson is disappointed with his students until he meets a talented writing student, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ The film is described as a ‘psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation.’...
- 2/10/2013
- by Nick Martin
- Filmofilia
London, Feb 9: Actor Clive Owen has been signed on to star in Richard Levine's "Blue Angel".
The British actor will play a disillusioned college professor and former novelist whose life is re-energised by a gifted young writing student, reports variety.com
The film is the big screen adaptation of a novel by Francine Prose. It is described as a "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation."
Ians...
The British actor will play a disillusioned college professor and former novelist whose life is re-energised by a gifted young writing student, reports variety.com
The film is the big screen adaptation of a novel by Francine Prose. It is described as a "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation."
Ians...
- 2/9/2013
- by Anita Agarwal
- RealBollywood.com
Despite the fact that our country has been drooping all over in the education department, cinema rarely offers a scathing, true-to-life look at how twisted schooling systems can be. Perhaps it.s still a taboo area to throw criticism, since it reveals something about everyone from the student to the government funding it. One of Hollywood.s next novel adaptations will be a good step in the scandalous direction. According to Variety, international sales are going on for Richard Levine.s Blue Angel adapted from Francine Prose.s wicked novel of the same name, which stars Clive Owen in the leading role. Owen.s career has been steady, with the action Killer Elite and the creepy Spanish horror Intruders as two of his more recent efforts. He.ll soon be seen in the brotherly Brooklyn crime drama Blood Ties. None of that sounds anything like what his Blue Angel character...
- 2/9/2013
- cinemablend.com
Our daily countdown continues, with part nine out of 30 in our list of the 300 Greatest Films Ever Made. These are numbers 220-211.
.
220) Cinema Paradiso (1988) Giuseppe Tornatore France/ Italy
219) Blue Angel (1930) Josef Von Sternberg Germany
218) A Raisin In The Sun (1961) Daniel Petrie USA
217) Dances With Wolves (1990) Kevin Costner USA
216) The 10 Commandments (1956) Cecil B. DeMille USA
215) Rebecca (1940) Alfred Hitchcock USA
214) The Miracle Of Morgan Creek (1944) Preston Sturges USA
213) Easy Rider (1969) Dennis Hopper USA
212) Ran (1985) Akira Kurasawa Japan
211) Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) Sergio Leone USA
Numbers 210-200 coming next.
film cultureClassicslist300...
.
220) Cinema Paradiso (1988) Giuseppe Tornatore France/ Italy
219) Blue Angel (1930) Josef Von Sternberg Germany
218) A Raisin In The Sun (1961) Daniel Petrie USA
217) Dances With Wolves (1990) Kevin Costner USA
216) The 10 Commandments (1956) Cecil B. DeMille USA
215) Rebecca (1940) Alfred Hitchcock USA
214) The Miracle Of Morgan Creek (1944) Preston Sturges USA
213) Easy Rider (1969) Dennis Hopper USA
212) Ran (1985) Akira Kurasawa Japan
211) Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) Sergio Leone USA
Numbers 210-200 coming next.
film cultureClassicslist300...
- 1/10/2013
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
“The Blue Angel,” a crowning achievement of Weimar cinema and the most famous of the seven collaborations between director Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, is newly on Blu-ray from Kino. The finely restored transfer, with sharp picture quality and crisp sound highlighting Von Sternberg’s early-talkie innovations, is the original German-language version. (Two versions were shot simultaneously in 1930 -- the lesser known English-language version was long considered a lost film until its discovery in the early 2000s.) Silent star Emil Jannings plays Immanuel Rath, a cantankerous professor at the local mens’ college. Upon learning that his students are frequenting the Blue Angel, a racy showgirl joint headlined by the excessively named Lola Lola (Dietrich), the professor pays a visit to the bar of ill repute to cow the young men. Instead, he too becomes obsessed with Lola, eventually asking for her hand in marriage. But as the honeymoon bliss wears.
- 12/19/2012
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Five writers give their personal takes on the appeal that makes Anna Karenina a literary masterpiece
Francine Prose, author of Blue Angel and My New American Life
Anna Karenina is probably my favourite novel. More than any other book, it persuades me that there is such a thing as human nature, and that some part of that nature remains fundamentally unaffected by history and culture. I try to re-read it every few years. Each time, perhaps because I'm older and have experienced more, I find things I never noticed before. Not only is it a great source of pleasure, but I inevitably feel as if I'm getting a sort of pep talk from Tolstoy: Go deeper. Try harder. Aim higher. Pay closer attention to the world. It's orchestral, symphonic, full of distinctive melodies, parallels and variations that keep reappearing, some of which we notice, none of which we need to...
Francine Prose, author of Blue Angel and My New American Life
Anna Karenina is probably my favourite novel. More than any other book, it persuades me that there is such a thing as human nature, and that some part of that nature remains fundamentally unaffected by history and culture. I try to re-read it every few years. Each time, perhaps because I'm older and have experienced more, I find things I never noticed before. Not only is it a great source of pleasure, but I inevitably feel as if I'm getting a sort of pep talk from Tolstoy: Go deeper. Try harder. Aim higher. Pay closer attention to the world. It's orchestral, symphonic, full of distinctive melodies, parallels and variations that keep reappearing, some of which we notice, none of which we need to...
- 9/3/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
When Beyonce gave birth on Saturday night the Internet exploded with joy as fans welcomed Blue Ivy Carter to the world.
With parents named Beyonce and Jay-z (nee Shawn Carter), we knew we could expect something different when the couple named their baby.
Blue Ivy is a fairly unique name, but Bey and Jay's baby joins the ranks of other celebs' kids like Alicia Silverstone's Bear Blue, U2 guitarist The Edge's daughter Blue Angel and Cher's son Elijah Blue, who have the hue for a moniker.
We all know celebrities love to push the envelop when it comes to baby names -- Pilot Inspektor, Audio Science, Moxie Crimefighter for example -- but we can't help wonder why the new parents picked Blue Ivy for their bundle of joy.
Of course there are some theories. Us Weekly reports that fans of Jay-z say the rapper has made it clear that...
With parents named Beyonce and Jay-z (nee Shawn Carter), we knew we could expect something different when the couple named their baby.
Blue Ivy is a fairly unique name, but Bey and Jay's baby joins the ranks of other celebs' kids like Alicia Silverstone's Bear Blue, U2 guitarist The Edge's daughter Blue Angel and Cher's son Elijah Blue, who have the hue for a moniker.
We all know celebrities love to push the envelop when it comes to baby names -- Pilot Inspektor, Audio Science, Moxie Crimefighter for example -- but we can't help wonder why the new parents picked Blue Ivy for their bundle of joy.
Of course there are some theories. Us Weekly reports that fans of Jay-z say the rapper has made it clear that...
- 1/9/2012
- by Stephanie Marcus
- Huffington Post
Wanna meet Cerina Vincent (Cabin Fever), Ashlynn Yennie (The Human Centipede films), Gabby West (Chillerama), Sarah Butler (I Spit on Your Grave), Allison Kyler (Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2), Carlee Baker (The Woman), Brooke Lewis (Slime City Massacre), FX artist Jacky Belle, and Dread Central's Sean Decker this Sunday, October 23rd and support women battling breast cancer in the process? You can, as they'll be bowling as part of the Bowling for Boobies event at Jillian’s Hi-Life at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles, California, in support of the non-profit charity the Busted Foundation.
The event will commence at 5:00 pm, and with an admission ticket you’ll be able to meet The Horror Starlets; bowl your own game prior to the tournament; and enjoy raffles, complimentary appetizers, Blue Angel vodka cocktails, Estrella Creek Wines, and Speakeasy Beer. VIP bowling tickets are also available, which, in addition to the preceding,...
The event will commence at 5:00 pm, and with an admission ticket you’ll be able to meet The Horror Starlets; bowl your own game prior to the tournament; and enjoy raffles, complimentary appetizers, Blue Angel vodka cocktails, Estrella Creek Wines, and Speakeasy Beer. VIP bowling tickets are also available, which, in addition to the preceding,...
- 10/18/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
In case Twitter didn't give you your fill of insightful commentary on the death of Osama Bin Laden, at least two films focusing on the hunt for the Al Qaeda leader are already in development. This, of course, doesn't even take into account that awesome YouTube video of Blue Angel footage set to "America, Fu*k Yeah!" that you and your pals were working on until 2am last night. Nice work, by the way.
The two Obl films that were already choogling along are Kathryn Bigelow's Kill Bin Laden and an adaptation of the non-fiction book Jawbreaker. The former is far more along than the latter, however, which has apparently stalled out at Paramount, so barring the surprise success of an Asylum-produced mockbuster, Bigelow will likely be the one to cash in on all our patriotism.
Two unknown actors in an early screen test for Kill Bin Laden.
Bigelow,...
The two Obl films that were already choogling along are Kathryn Bigelow's Kill Bin Laden and an adaptation of the non-fiction book Jawbreaker. The former is far more along than the latter, however, which has apparently stalled out at Paramount, so barring the surprise success of an Asylum-produced mockbuster, Bigelow will likely be the one to cash in on all our patriotism.
Two unknown actors in an early screen test for Kill Bin Laden.
Bigelow,...
- 5/2/2011
- UGO Movies
She may be gone ... but gay men are still worshiping Elizabeth Taylor . The staff at Liz's Favorite West Hollywood gay bar -- The Abbey -- erected a candle-lit memorial to the actress yesterday in the V.I.P. room where Liz would often hang out ... but that's only the beginning. We're told the bar's offering a special drink in Liz's memory this weekend ... and they're donating All the proceeds to Elizabeth's AIDS foundation . It's called...
- 3/24/2011
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Elizabeth Taylor -- The Gay Bar Shrine She may be gone ... but gay men are still worshiping Elizabeth Taylor. The staff at Liz's Favorite West Hollywood gay bar -- The Abbey -- erected a candle-lit memorial to the actress yesterday in the V.I.P. room where Liz would often hang out ... but that's only the beginning. We're told the bar's offering a special drink in Liz's memory this weekend ... and they're donating All the proceeds to Elizabeth's AIDS foundation. It's called the "Blue Velvet Martini" -- which they picked in honor of her role in the 1944 hit "National Velvet" -- and if you wanna try out their recipe ... it's made with Blue Angel vodka and blueberry schnapps. Sources at the bar tell TMZ, regulars have been adding to the shrine non-stop since Elizabeth passed -- sending flowers and gifts since yesterday morning. News Source: TMZ...
- 3/24/2011
- by tmz
- Gossipvita
She's so unusual.
It's not just that she has colorful hair and crazy wardrobe. It's not just the four octave range. It's not just the tireless fight for other people's civil rights. It's the combination of all the unusual and wonderful things. Since this is a movie site, enjoy Cyndi Lauper's movie themed numbers on her birthday today. And please note: Cyndi's new record "Memphis Blues" also debuts today.
She's now writing the music for the Broadway adaptation of the drag comedy Kinky Boots (2005). I wasn't crazy about that movie but it seems like a natural fit for a stage musical transfer. If anything it'll be way better given that Cyndi Lauper and Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein are involved.
Cyndi's Movie/TV songs
"Another Brick in the Wall" from a 1990 concert version of Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
"Pee Wee's Playhouse" Theme Song (1986)... the greatest tv theme song of all time,...
It's not just that she has colorful hair and crazy wardrobe. It's not just the four octave range. It's not just the tireless fight for other people's civil rights. It's the combination of all the unusual and wonderful things. Since this is a movie site, enjoy Cyndi Lauper's movie themed numbers on her birthday today. And please note: Cyndi's new record "Memphis Blues" also debuts today.
She's now writing the music for the Broadway adaptation of the drag comedy Kinky Boots (2005). I wasn't crazy about that movie but it seems like a natural fit for a stage musical transfer. If anything it'll be way better given that Cyndi Lauper and Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein are involved.
Cyndi's Movie/TV songs
"Another Brick in the Wall" from a 1990 concert version of Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
"Pee Wee's Playhouse" Theme Song (1986)... the greatest tv theme song of all time,...
- 6/22/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
M
It is somewhat customary in the review of a classic to point out the age of the opus in question before insisting that it still feels “as fresh as ever.” It’s a lazy shorthand that can be used for Wagner’s Ring cycle, Joyce’s Ulysses and Citizen Kane in the same breath, a write-off that attempts to reassure the reader that hallmarks of art do not have to sit in a museum, not even collecting dust because of protective cases. The statement is usually presented on its own, a Qed “proof” without demonstration, allowing the writer to move on quickly out of fear that he or she has nothing to add on an already thoroughly analyzed work (”What can I say about ____ that hasn’t already been said?” is also a trite shortcut that we have all used at some point no matter how much everyone hates to read the sentence). But,...
It is somewhat customary in the review of a classic to point out the age of the opus in question before insisting that it still feels “as fresh as ever.” It’s a lazy shorthand that can be used for Wagner’s Ring cycle, Joyce’s Ulysses and Citizen Kane in the same breath, a write-off that attempts to reassure the reader that hallmarks of art do not have to sit in a museum, not even collecting dust because of protective cases. The statement is usually presented on its own, a Qed “proof” without demonstration, allowing the writer to move on quickly out of fear that he or she has nothing to add on an already thoroughly analyzed work (”What can I say about ____ that hasn’t already been said?” is also a trite shortcut that we have all used at some point no matter how much everyone hates to read the sentence). But,...
- 5/17/2010
- by Aaron
Cologne, Germany – Olivia Thirlby will play the lead in "The No Game," the new feature from "Desert Flower" director Sherry Hormann, which Doris Kirch's Blue Angel shingle is producing.
Thirlby will star alongside Marcia Gay Harden and Shohreh Aghdashloo in the story of an adopted Upper West Side Jewish girl who travels to Israel only to discover that her birth parents were Palestinian. Hormann will direct from a script by Elisabeth Fein and David Abramowitz.
Shooting is set to start in March in New York and Israel. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
Thirlby will star alongside Marcia Gay Harden and Shohreh Aghdashloo in the story of an adopted Upper West Side Jewish girl who travels to Israel only to discover that her birth parents were Palestinian. Hormann will direct from a script by Elisabeth Fein and David Abramowitz.
Shooting is set to start in March in New York and Israel. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
- 11/25/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tracy Coogan (Zombie Honeymoon, Dark Woods) has been invited by this scribe to join the 'Horror Starlets' who are "Bowling for Boobies" to raise money for women fighting Breast Cancer. To support the Busted Foundation, Ms. Coogan, along with Nom De Plum Films, Dread Central, and Tcb Public Relations, will give away two exclusive tickets for this Thursday's Dark Woods screening in Los Angeles.
This Exclusive Dark Woods screening will be held on the 22nd of October at 7:30 at Laemmle's Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046. The film will be followed by a reception at the Bar Marmont, where the winners have the chance to meet up and mingle with Tracy, James (Public Enemies) Russo, Dark Woods director Michael Escobedo, writer/producer John Muscarnero, Dread Central's Sean Decker, and Wicked Lake's Carlee Baker.
To enhance this offer, in addition the winners will win an exclusive lunch at Wolfgang Puck...
This Exclusive Dark Woods screening will be held on the 22nd of October at 7:30 at Laemmle's Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046. The film will be followed by a reception at the Bar Marmont, where the winners have the chance to meet up and mingle with Tracy, James (Public Enemies) Russo, Dark Woods director Michael Escobedo, writer/producer John Muscarnero, Dread Central's Sean Decker, and Wicked Lake's Carlee Baker.
To enhance this offer, in addition the winners will win an exclusive lunch at Wolfgang Puck...
- 10/21/2009
- by SeanD.
- DreadCentral.com
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