Since the establishment of the Academy Awards in 1929, exactly 60 films have achieved lone lead male acting nominations, meaning they were each recognized in the Best Actor category and nowhere else. The last such instance occurred in 2023 and involved “Aftersun” star Paul Mescal, who, at 26, stood out as the youngest member of a lineup consisting only of first-time Oscar contenders. Although his low-budget movie had a strong shot at an original screenplay bid and was viewed as a serious Best Picture candidate, it ended up getting no love outside the acting branch.
Before Mescal was recognized, his category hadn’t seen a lone nominee since Willem Dafoe earned his first lead bid for “At Eternity’s Gate” in 2019. This was the ninth time that four or more years separated consecutive Best Actor loners, with the single largest gap having spread between Cary Grant and Clifton Webb. Such nominations appear to be becoming less common in this category,...
Before Mescal was recognized, his category hadn’t seen a lone nominee since Willem Dafoe earned his first lead bid for “At Eternity’s Gate” in 2019. This was the ninth time that four or more years separated consecutive Best Actor loners, with the single largest gap having spread between Cary Grant and Clifton Webb. Such nominations appear to be becoming less common in this category,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
By 1983, Stephen King had rocketed to the top of the publishing world within a fairly short period of time. His first novel, Carrie, had been published only nine years before but he was already considered the modern master of the horror novel. The adaptations of his work, Brian DePalma’s Carrie (1976), Tobe Hooper’s TV movie Salem’s Lot (1979), and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) had only served to feed the fires of his popularity. King had become a cottage industry by the third year of the new decade and the three films based on his work released that year remain among the best connected to his name while exploring some of the greatest issues he grappled with in the early years of his career.
The current preoccupations of a creator so often seep into their work, consciously or unconsciously. In Cujo, The Dead Zone, and Christine, King explores the creative process,...
The current preoccupations of a creator so often seep into their work, consciously or unconsciously. In Cujo, The Dead Zone, and Christine, King explores the creative process,...
- 7/10/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
“Harry & Meghan” producer Neha Shastry has signed with CAA for representation. She continues to be represented by Ramo Law.
An Indian-American director and producer, Shastry began her career at Vice News, where she produced its critically acclaimed coverage of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the subsequent war in Eastern Ukraine. Her work has been recognized with an Emmy, a Dupont, and a Peabody.
Shastry produced Stacey Abrams’ “All In: The Fight For Democracy,” which detailed the history and legacy of voter suppression in the U.S. The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and was named Best Documentary by the Hollywood Critics Association, African-American Film Critics Association, and Alliance of Women Film Journalists.
She also produced the film “Convergence” for Netflix, which was nominated for an Emmy Award. From 2021-2022, Shastry was chosen to participate in Netflix’s inaugural Nonfiction Director Fellowship, an incubator for up-and-coming directors of color,...
An Indian-American director and producer, Shastry began her career at Vice News, where she produced its critically acclaimed coverage of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the subsequent war in Eastern Ukraine. Her work has been recognized with an Emmy, a Dupont, and a Peabody.
Shastry produced Stacey Abrams’ “All In: The Fight For Democracy,” which detailed the history and legacy of voter suppression in the U.S. The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and was named Best Documentary by the Hollywood Critics Association, African-American Film Critics Association, and Alliance of Women Film Journalists.
She also produced the film “Convergence” for Netflix, which was nominated for an Emmy Award. From 2021-2022, Shastry was chosen to participate in Netflix’s inaugural Nonfiction Director Fellowship, an incubator for up-and-coming directors of color,...
- 5/5/2023
- by BreAnna Bell
- Variety Film + TV
After working together on the combined half billion-plus grossing hits, Split and Glass, James McAvoy and Blumhouse are reteaming for a remake of Danish thriller, Speak No Evil. James Watkins (The Woman in Black) will direct from his script. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024.
In the original 2022 movie, a Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness. Pic is based on the screenplay by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.
Jason Blum will produce the film for Blumhouse, with Paul Ritchie, Christian Tafdrup, Jacob Jarek, and Bea Sequeira serving as EPs.
Watkins made his directorial debut with the cult thriller Eden Lake. He next directed The Woman in Black, the most successful British horror film since box office records began minting $129M WW.
In the original 2022 movie, a Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness. Pic is based on the screenplay by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.
Jason Blum will produce the film for Blumhouse, with Paul Ritchie, Christian Tafdrup, Jacob Jarek, and Bea Sequeira serving as EPs.
Watkins made his directorial debut with the cult thriller Eden Lake. He next directed The Woman in Black, the most successful British horror film since box office records began minting $129M WW.
- 4/17/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
For every actor that wins multiple Oscars, there are others who, no matter how much they put into their roles and how much campaigning they do, just can’t make the conversion into winning their first Academy Award.
More often than not, it’s just a matter of bad timing, like being nominated for an Oscar in the same year as one of the four actors mentioned above. There’s just no way of knowing when you’re taking on a role or shooting a film or even once a movie gets out to the critics, how things might change in the time before Oscar night.
Scroll through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see the 25 actors with the most Oscar nominations and no wins. We include everyone who has been nominated for an acting award at least four times, with Glenn Close and Peter O’Toole...
More often than not, it’s just a matter of bad timing, like being nominated for an Oscar in the same year as one of the four actors mentioned above. There’s just no way of knowing when you’re taking on a role or shooting a film or even once a movie gets out to the critics, how things might change in the time before Oscar night.
Scroll through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see the 25 actors with the most Oscar nominations and no wins. We include everyone who has been nominated for an acting award at least four times, with Glenn Close and Peter O’Toole...
- 2/21/2023
- by Edward Douglas
- Gold Derby
No actor ever looked more at home in front of the camera — or on the stage, according to those fortunate enough to have seen him there — than Peter O'Toole. Blessed with a piercing tenor voice, that tousle of brown hair and those shocking blue eyes, he stirred our souls and, why be coy about it, libidos. Given these advantages, it all seemed absurdly easy for him — but it wasn't. On the contrary, O'Toole often found acting to be something of a struggle.
Despite health troubles that began cropping up in his 40s, O'Toole performed up until the final year of his life in 2013. Two years prior to passing, he graced the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival with his presence for a Q&a with the network's dearly missed host, Robert Osborne. The entire 55-minute chat is currently available to view on YouTube, and it is well worth your time to...
Despite health troubles that began cropping up in his 40s, O'Toole performed up until the final year of his life in 2013. Two years prior to passing, he graced the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival with his presence for a Q&a with the network's dearly missed host, Robert Osborne. The entire 55-minute chat is currently available to view on YouTube, and it is well worth your time to...
- 9/13/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Peter O'Toole's acting career spanned seven decades and involved hundreds of roles, a million sardonic smirks, and no small amount of liquor. On screen, O'Toole could be heroic, villainous, affable, and off-putting, sometimes all at once. In interviews, O'Toole was frank and unguarded, quick with a jibe, and unwilling to suffer fools. O'Toole and his frequent collaborator, the actor Richard Harris, have both appeared on many talk shows toward the ends of their lives to tell many, many stories of getting drunk together.
Somewhere along the way, O'Toole garnered enough fame and clout to more or less select any project he wanted. By the time he starred in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" in 1972, O'Toole had already appeared in 18 feature films, including a James Bond movie. That same year, O'Toole would appear in "Under Milk Wood" and a film adaptation of "Man of La Mancha." One might say...
Somewhere along the way, O'Toole garnered enough fame and clout to more or less select any project he wanted. By the time he starred in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" in 1972, O'Toole had already appeared in 18 feature films, including a James Bond movie. That same year, O'Toole would appear in "Under Milk Wood" and a film adaptation of "Man of La Mancha." One might say...
- 9/9/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The September release slate from Severin Films has been announced and detailed today, this latest batch of new releases headlined by 1980 classic The Changeling on 4K Ultra HD.
Severin Films will be haunting disc players across the continent with a new 4K edition of Peter Medak’s beloved ghost story The Changeling, along with landmark Spanish television series Tales to Keep You Awake, My Grandpa Is a Vampire via the Severin Kids imprint, and the entire Plaga Zombie Trilogy through sublabel Intervision Picture Corp.
As if that isn’t enough, Severin will also be putting out a Blu-ray double feature of Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood as a standalone release.
Read on for everything you need to know about Severin’s September slate…
The Changeling: It has been called “remarkable” (Paste Magazine), “utterly terrifying” (Mondo Digital) and “a ghost story guaranteed to freeze the...
Severin Films will be haunting disc players across the continent with a new 4K edition of Peter Medak’s beloved ghost story The Changeling, along with landmark Spanish television series Tales to Keep You Awake, My Grandpa Is a Vampire via the Severin Kids imprint, and the entire Plaga Zombie Trilogy through sublabel Intervision Picture Corp.
As if that isn’t enough, Severin will also be putting out a Blu-ray double feature of Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood as a standalone release.
Read on for everything you need to know about Severin’s September slate…
The Changeling: It has been called “remarkable” (Paste Magazine), “utterly terrifying” (Mondo Digital) and “a ghost story guaranteed to freeze the...
- 8/15/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Bradley Cooper is a triple threat at the Academy Awards, being nominated a total of nine times in the acting, producing and writing categories. However, he has yet to take home the golden statuette. His most recent bid was for producing the Best Picture nominee “Nightmare Alley,” which lost to “Coda” at the 2022 Oscars ceremony. At nine career losses, that means Cooper has quietly now surpassed legendary performers Glenn Close and Peter O’Toole, both of whom failed to win any of their eight bids (all for acting).
Cooper’s three Oscar nominations in the Best Actor race came for “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “American Sniper” (2014) and “A Star Is Born” (2018), plus he earned one notice in Best Supporting Actor for “American Hustle” (2013). The multi-hyphenate was recognized four times for producing Best Picture contenders “American Sniper,” “A Star Is Born,” “Joker” (2019) and “Nightmare Alley” (2021). And he has a Best Adapted Screenplay mention...
Cooper’s three Oscar nominations in the Best Actor race came for “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “American Sniper” (2014) and “A Star Is Born” (2018), plus he earned one notice in Best Supporting Actor for “American Hustle” (2013). The multi-hyphenate was recognized four times for producing Best Picture contenders “American Sniper,” “A Star Is Born,” “Joker” (2019) and “Nightmare Alley” (2021). And he has a Best Adapted Screenplay mention...
- 3/30/2022
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Actor James McAvoy will finally reprise his performance in the title role of director Jamie Lloyd’s Olivier Award-winning revival of Cyrano de Bergerac, with the pandemic-delayed staging at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York now set for April 5 to May 22, 2022.
The production, which won the Olivier for Best Play Revival for a 2019 staging at London’s Playhouse Theatre, was originally scheduled to play Bam in spring 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid shutdown.
In addition to Bam, the production’s 2022 engagements also include dates at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre (February 3-March 12) and the Theatre Royal Glasgow (March 18-26).
The new version of the Edmond Rostand classic was adapted by Martin Crimp and co-stars Evelyn Miller as Roxane.
“We’re so thrilled to welcome Jamie Lloyd, James McAvoy and this incredible company to Bam for a Cyrano like no other,” Bam Artistic Director David Binder said.
The production, which won the Olivier for Best Play Revival for a 2019 staging at London’s Playhouse Theatre, was originally scheduled to play Bam in spring 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid shutdown.
In addition to Bam, the production’s 2022 engagements also include dates at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre (February 3-March 12) and the Theatre Royal Glasgow (March 18-26).
The new version of the Edmond Rostand classic was adapted by Martin Crimp and co-stars Evelyn Miller as Roxane.
“We’re so thrilled to welcome Jamie Lloyd, James McAvoy and this incredible company to Bam for a Cyrano like no other,” Bam Artistic Director David Binder said.
- 10/29/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The director of Palmer helps us kick off our new season by walking us through some of his favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Bloodhounds Of Broadway (1989)
Salvador (1986)
True Believer (1989)
Palmer (2021)
Wonder Wheel (2017)
A Face In The Crowd (1957)
On The Waterfront (1954)
No Time For Sergeants (1958)
The Confidence Man (2018)
Lolita (1962)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Ghost Of Peter Sellers (2018)
The Marrying Man (1991)
The Ruling Class (1972)
The Krays (1990)
Let Him Have It (1991)
The Changeling (1980)
On The Border (1998)
Murder By Decree (1979)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Fat City (1972)
Angel (1984)
Animal House (1978)
My Science Project (1985)
Lucía (1968)
Paper Moon (1973)
Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
The Great McGinty (1940)
I Married A Witch (1942)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Raging Bull (1980)
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
The Rider (2017)
The Mustang (2019)
Nomadland (2020)
Murmur of the Heart (1971)
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Conversation (1974)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
The Magnificent Ambersons...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Bloodhounds Of Broadway (1989)
Salvador (1986)
True Believer (1989)
Palmer (2021)
Wonder Wheel (2017)
A Face In The Crowd (1957)
On The Waterfront (1954)
No Time For Sergeants (1958)
The Confidence Man (2018)
Lolita (1962)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Ghost Of Peter Sellers (2018)
The Marrying Man (1991)
The Ruling Class (1972)
The Krays (1990)
Let Him Have It (1991)
The Changeling (1980)
On The Border (1998)
Murder By Decree (1979)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Fat City (1972)
Angel (1984)
Animal House (1978)
My Science Project (1985)
Lucía (1968)
Paper Moon (1973)
Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
The Great McGinty (1940)
I Married A Witch (1942)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Raging Bull (1980)
Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
The Rider (2017)
The Mustang (2019)
Nomadland (2020)
Murmur of the Heart (1971)
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Conversation (1974)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
The Magnificent Ambersons...
- 2/2/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Call me a heretic, but I’m someone who never gloried all that much in the comedic awesomeness of Peter Sellers. Well, okay, I did in “Dr. Strangelove” — who would deny the delectable punch of that virtuoso hat trick of performances? But the “Pink Panther” films were always a hit-or-miss mélange of the funny and the slapdash corny, and there’s an underlying zaniness to the Sellers mystique that to me, at least, doesn’t age that well. I make a point of this because there’s a kind of cult for the idea that Peter Sellers was a mad genius: the guy who had no self and only came into being when he played a character, the Swinging Sixties devil who stole movies right out from under their creators. That cult is at the center of “The Ghost of Peter Sellers,” a documentary about the making of one of...
- 6/27/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Most stories of tortured film productions turn on the tragedy of missed opportunities: We’ll never know if Alejandro Jodoworsky’s “Dune” or the original version of Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” would have delivered on their directors’ audacious visions. “Ghost in the Noonday Sun” is a different situation. The 1974 pirate comedy, which starred Peter Sellers as a 17th century troublemaker named Dick Scratcher, actually got made — and it sucked. In fact, everyone involved felt that the movie was a mistake. Sellers, at the height of his commercial and creative powers, clashed with director Peter Medak on a nightmarish shoot riddled with practical challenges and indecision; Columbia shelved the project, dumping it on home video a decade later, Medak’s career was forever tarnished, and Sellers died by the end of the decade.
In the grand tradition of “Jodoworsky’s Dune” and “Lost in La Mancha,...
In the grand tradition of “Jodoworsky’s Dune” and “Lost in La Mancha,...
- 6/23/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Thompson on Hollywood
Most stories of tortured film productions turn on the tragedy of missed opportunities: We’ll never know if Alejandro Jodoworsky’s “Dune” or the original version of Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” would have delivered on their directors’ audacious visions. “Ghost in the Noonday Sun” is a different situation. The 1974 pirate comedy, which starred Peter Sellers as a 17th century troublemaker named Dick Scratcher, actually got made — and it sucked. In fact, everyone involved felt that the movie was a mistake. Sellers, at the height of his commercial and creative powers, clashed with director Peter Medak on a nightmarish shoot riddled with practical challenges and indecision; Columbia shelved the project, dumping it on home video a decade later, Medak’s career was forever tarnished, and Sellers died by the end of the decade.
In the grand tradition of “Jodoworsky’s Dune” and “Lost in La Mancha,...
In the grand tradition of “Jodoworsky’s Dune” and “Lost in La Mancha,...
- 6/23/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Movie junkies, rejoice. Director Peter Medak has made an instructive and nightmarishly funny documentary about how actor Peter Sellers drove him crazy and nearly trashed his career. The Ghost of Peter Sellers (now available on demand) recounts the filming of Ghost in the Noonday Sun, a 1973 pirate-epic folly so riven by fits, fights and clashing egos that its producers decided never to release it. “We all just wanted to kill ourselves,” said Medak after the film’s first screening.
On Cyrus, where this 17th-century adventure was shot, disaster was in the air from Day One,...
On Cyrus, where this 17th-century adventure was shot, disaster was in the air from Day One,...
- 6/23/2020
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
The life of accomplished film actor Peter Sellers has been one of the most infamous in Hollywood history. Known most for his creation of Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther movies, Sellers was also the star of classic films such as Being There, Dr. Strangelove, and Lolita. The Oscar-nominated actor struggled with depression and addiction throughout his career and often clashed with fellow actors and directors. One such director is Peter Medak, who outlines his tumultuous working relationship with Sellers in his new documentary The Ghost of Peter Sellers.
In 1973, Medak enlisted Sellers to star in his pirate comedy movie Ghost in the Noonday Sun, where the two had a disastrous working experience that Medak is still reeling from to this day. The trailer for the documentary shows Medak emotional over the experience, detailing Sellers using drugs and faking a heart attack during the filming. The final product stayed...
In 1973, Medak enlisted Sellers to star in his pirate comedy movie Ghost in the Noonday Sun, where the two had a disastrous working experience that Medak is still reeling from to this day. The trailer for the documentary shows Medak emotional over the experience, detailing Sellers using drugs and faking a heart attack during the filming. The final product stayed...
- 6/19/2020
- by Stephen Hladik
- The Film Stage
Tfe will be periodically looking back at the 1972 film year before we hit the Supporting Actress Smackdown at month's end. Here's Anna from Defiant Success
Adapted from the play of the same name by Peter Barnes (who also serves the film’s writer), Peter Medak’s The Ruling Class establishes its bizarre nature early on. The plot kicks off after Ralph Gurney, the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews) accidentally hangs himself while performing autoerotic asphyxiation. Upon his death, his only surviving son Jack (Peter O’Toole) becomes the 14th Earl of Gurney. One problem with this new arrangement: Jack firmly believes that he’s Jesus Christ...
Adapted from the play of the same name by Peter Barnes (who also serves the film’s writer), Peter Medak’s The Ruling Class establishes its bizarre nature early on. The plot kicks off after Ralph Gurney, the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews) accidentally hangs himself while performing autoerotic asphyxiation. Upon his death, his only surviving son Jack (Peter O’Toole) becomes the 14th Earl of Gurney. One problem with this new arrangement: Jack firmly believes that he’s Jesus Christ...
- 4/8/2019
- by Anna
- FilmExperience
Glenn Close just set a new Oscar record, and not in a good way. With Close’s loss at the 91st Academy Awards for “The Wife,” she now has seven nominations and no wins, more than any other actress in film history. Amy Adams, Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter all have six Oscar misfires, with Adams joining that list during Sunday’s ceremony. As for male actors with the most at-bats without a home run, Close now ties Richard Burton at seven while Peter O’Toole is still in the record books at eight. Click through our photo gallery above for a closer look at Close’s seven Oscar nominations.
See 2019 Oscars: Full list of winners (and losers) at the 91st Academy Awards [Updating Live]
For her role as Joan Castleman, the repressed wife of a Nobel Prize-winning author (Jonathan Pryce), Close earned her fourth bid for Best Actress. Her co-nominees this...
See 2019 Oscars: Full list of winners (and losers) at the 91st Academy Awards [Updating Live]
For her role as Joan Castleman, the repressed wife of a Nobel Prize-winning author (Jonathan Pryce), Close earned her fourth bid for Best Actress. Her co-nominees this...
- 2/25/2019
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
The Changeling
Blu ray
Severin Films
1980/ 1.85:1 / Street Date August 7, 2018
Starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas
Cinematography by John Coquillion
Directed by Peter Medak
The success of 70’s shockers like The Devils, The Exorcist and Alien – grindhouse films in big budget drag – opened the door to increasingly explicit studio fare – moviemakers were happy to accommodate and upped the ante in the bargain.
1980 alone saw the release of Sean Cunningham’s seminal slasher Friday the 13th, Ken Russell’s evolutionary freak out Altered States and, infamously, the unvarnished (and x-rated) depredations of Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust.
But it was The Shining, with its rotting ghosts, blood-soaked hallways and promise of never-ending horror that personified Reagan era fright films.
Into this heavy atmosphere ambled Peter Medak’s The Changeling, an unassuming murder mystery disguised as a ghost story. Compared to its over the top contemporaries, Medak’s film seemed...
Blu ray
Severin Films
1980/ 1.85:1 / Street Date August 7, 2018
Starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas
Cinematography by John Coquillion
Directed by Peter Medak
The success of 70’s shockers like The Devils, The Exorcist and Alien – grindhouse films in big budget drag – opened the door to increasingly explicit studio fare – moviemakers were happy to accommodate and upped the ante in the bargain.
1980 alone saw the release of Sean Cunningham’s seminal slasher Friday the 13th, Ken Russell’s evolutionary freak out Altered States and, infamously, the unvarnished (and x-rated) depredations of Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust.
But it was The Shining, with its rotting ghosts, blood-soaked hallways and promise of never-ending horror that personified Reagan era fright films.
Into this heavy atmosphere ambled Peter Medak’s The Changeling, an unassuming murder mystery disguised as a ghost story. Compared to its over the top contemporaries, Medak’s film seemed...
- 9/22/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Peter Medak’s new documentary “The Ghost of Peter Sellers,” about the catastrophic production of the actor’s failed 1973 pirate comedy “Ghost in the Noonday Sun,” begins with a little back-patting.
Medak, who also directed the classic films “The Ruling Class” and “The Changeling,” says he’s fairly certain that no filmmaker has ever made a movie about the making of his own movie before. “It’s incredible,” he remarks. And also “completely insane.”
That statement isn’t strictly true. Richard Rush made a documentary about his Oscar-nominated drama “The Stunt Man” called “The Sinister Saga of Making ‘The Stunt Man,'” and Richard Stanley catalogued his catastrophic production of “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (which was eventually finished by John Frankenheimer) in “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s ‘Island of Dr. Moreau.'” But it’s always intriguing, regardless, to look back at what was, what could have been,...
Medak, who also directed the classic films “The Ruling Class” and “The Changeling,” says he’s fairly certain that no filmmaker has ever made a movie about the making of his own movie before. “It’s incredible,” he remarks. And also “completely insane.”
That statement isn’t strictly true. Richard Rush made a documentary about his Oscar-nominated drama “The Stunt Man” called “The Sinister Saga of Making ‘The Stunt Man,'” and Richard Stanley catalogued his catastrophic production of “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (which was eventually finished by John Frankenheimer) in “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s ‘Island of Dr. Moreau.'” But it’s always intriguing, regardless, to look back at what was, what could have been,...
- 9/8/2018
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Peter Sellers is regarded by many as one of the greatest comedians of all time. But behind the charismatic performer, and his three Oscar nominations (two of which were for acting) is a story of reflection and forgiveness that has been years in the making.
Directed by Peter Medak, “The Ghost of Peter Sellers” finds the filmmaker revisiting one of his early credits, “Ghost In The Noonday Sun,” and the antics of its star, the aforementioned Peter Sellers.
Continue reading ‘Ghost Of Peter Sellers’ Trailer: Director Peter Medak Discusses Unique Relationship With The Comedy Great at The Playlist.
Directed by Peter Medak, “The Ghost of Peter Sellers” finds the filmmaker revisiting one of his early credits, “Ghost In The Noonday Sun,” and the antics of its star, the aforementioned Peter Sellers.
Continue reading ‘Ghost Of Peter Sellers’ Trailer: Director Peter Medak Discusses Unique Relationship With The Comedy Great at The Playlist.
- 8/31/2018
- by Julia Teti
- The Playlist
August’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are off to a great start, as we have numerous titles arriving this Tuesday that fans are going to want to add to their collections. Severin Films has put together a stellar limited edition release of The Changeling, and Scream Factory is resurrecting John Carpenter's Someone’s Watching Me! on Blu-ray as well. Scream Factory has also teamed up with IFC Midnight for a trio of releases—Pyewacket, Lowlife, and Wildling—and Marrowbone arrives on both formats, too.
Other notable releases for August 7th include Predator and the Predator 3-Movie Collection in 4K, Desecration, The Keeping Hours, and Dead Shack.
The Changeling Limited Edition
It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls, "One of the scariest movies ever made,...
Other notable releases for August 7th include Predator and the Predator 3-Movie Collection in 4K, Desecration, The Keeping Hours, and Dead Shack.
The Changeling Limited Edition
It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls, "One of the scariest movies ever made,...
- 8/7/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
On August 2, the legendary Peter O’Toole would have turned 86. One of the most esteemed actors of his generation, he also holds the dubious record of earning the most Best Actor Oscar nominations (eight) without a win. O’Toole’s trophy case isn’t exactly bare — he won three Golden Globe Awards from eight nominations and received an honorary Academy Award for his lengthy career.
And as younger generations begin to discover his work, his reputation has only grown over the years, particularly for his big splash on the world’s film stage for his performance in “Lawrence of Arabia,” work that is astonishing in its complexity.
In honor of this great actor’s birthday, let’s take a photo gallery tour of his career and rank his 12 greatest film performances from worst to best.
SEEHonorary Oscars: Full gallery of acting recipients includes Charlie Chaplin, Peter O’Toole, Angela Lansbury...
And as younger generations begin to discover his work, his reputation has only grown over the years, particularly for his big splash on the world’s film stage for his performance in “Lawrence of Arabia,” work that is astonishing in its complexity.
In honor of this great actor’s birthday, let’s take a photo gallery tour of his career and rank his 12 greatest film performances from worst to best.
SEEHonorary Oscars: Full gallery of acting recipients includes Charlie Chaplin, Peter O’Toole, Angela Lansbury...
- 8/2/2018
- by Tom O'Brien and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
We've known that Severin Films has been working on a new Blu-ray edition of 1980's The Changeling, but today they officially announced their special features and limited edition bundle offerings, which include a poster, enamel pin, soundtrack CD, and replica ball:
"It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls “one of the scariest movies ever made” finally comes to Blu-ray: Academy Award® winner Scott delivers “one of his greatest performances ever” (BloodyGoodHorror.com) as a Manhattan composer consumed by grief after his wife and daughter are killed in a shocking accident. But when he moves to a secluded Victorian mansion, he will find himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret. Trish Van Devere (The Hearse), two-time Oscar® winner Melvyn Douglas...
"It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls “one of the scariest movies ever made” finally comes to Blu-ray: Academy Award® winner Scott delivers “one of his greatest performances ever” (BloodyGoodHorror.com) as a Manhattan composer consumed by grief after his wife and daughter are killed in a shocking accident. But when he moves to a secluded Victorian mansion, he will find himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret. Trish Van Devere (The Hearse), two-time Oscar® winner Melvyn Douglas...
- 6/6/2018
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
By Todd Garbarini
The Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary DVD screening of Peter Medak’s 1972 film The Ruling Class. The 154-minute film, which stars Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Caroline Seymour, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, and Peter O'Toole, will be screened on DVD on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 7:00 pm.
Please Note: At press time, director Peter Medak is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film following the screening.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Ruling Class (1972)
45th Anniversary Screening
Tuesday, April 25, at 7 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Followed by Q & A with Director Peter Medak
Presented on DVD
This biting black comedy, in the tradition of such British classics as Kind Hearts and Coronets, focuses on a fierce battle for succession within an aristocratic family. Peter O’Toole plays a...
The Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary DVD screening of Peter Medak’s 1972 film The Ruling Class. The 154-minute film, which stars Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Caroline Seymour, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, and Peter O'Toole, will be screened on DVD on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 7:00 pm.
Please Note: At press time, director Peter Medak is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film following the screening.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Ruling Class (1972)
45th Anniversary Screening
Tuesday, April 25, at 7 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Followed by Q & A with Director Peter Medak
Presented on DVD
This biting black comedy, in the tradition of such British classics as Kind Hearts and Coronets, focuses on a fierce battle for succession within an aristocratic family. Peter O’Toole plays a...
- 4/23/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
by Peter BelsitoTwo years after his documentary on the Black Panthers, filmmaker Stanley Nelson chronicles the evolution of the United States’ historically black colleges and universities.Group of graduated students, men and women at Atlanta University 1900s (Credit: Atlanta University Center)
The story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (aka HBCUs) began before the Civil War and influenced the course of our nation yet remains one of America’s most important untold stories. Until now.
Veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson’s latest work traces the century-and-a-half story of HBCUs in the documentary film “Tell Them We Are Rising” revealing the crucial role of HBCUs not only in the identity of black Americans but in the nation as a whole.
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries — and path of promise toward the American dream — Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field.
The story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (aka HBCUs) began before the Civil War and influenced the course of our nation yet remains one of America’s most important untold stories. Until now.
Veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson’s latest work traces the century-and-a-half story of HBCUs in the documentary film “Tell Them We Are Rising” revealing the crucial role of HBCUs not only in the identity of black Americans but in the nation as a whole.
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries — and path of promise toward the American dream — Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field.
- 1/27/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Todd Garbarini
I first became acquainted with director Peter Medak’s work in 1983 when I saw his 1980 masterwork The Changeling, one of the most frightening ghost stories shot in color. Also known for 1972’s The Ruling Class and 1990’s The Krays, Mr. Medak made the film noir Romeo is Bleeding, shot in 1992 and released on Friday, February 4, 1994. The film is told in an elliptical narrative fashion, starting with the end and going back in time to show us how the protagonist got to where he is. We first see Jack Grimaldi in a dilapidated diner, his voiceover indicative of a man full of regrets who is probably in the Witness Protection Program and forced to lead a life bereft of any true purpose or feeling. Once upon a time, he was a police officer in New York City and his partners are comprised of actors we know well today:...
I first became acquainted with director Peter Medak’s work in 1983 when I saw his 1980 masterwork The Changeling, one of the most frightening ghost stories shot in color. Also known for 1972’s The Ruling Class and 1990’s The Krays, Mr. Medak made the film noir Romeo is Bleeding, shot in 1992 and released on Friday, February 4, 1994. The film is told in an elliptical narrative fashion, starting with the end and going back in time to show us how the protagonist got to where he is. We first see Jack Grimaldi in a dilapidated diner, his voiceover indicative of a man full of regrets who is probably in the Witness Protection Program and forced to lead a life bereft of any true purpose or feeling. Once upon a time, he was a police officer in New York City and his partners are comprised of actors we know well today:...
- 8/31/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Director Peter Medak fled Hungary during the 1956 revolution and his best work, like The Ruling Class and Let Him Have It, usually expressed a strong socio-political bent. The Changeling, his 1979 ghost story is no different, mixing supernatural thrills and political intrigue. An eerie and elegant film with haunting overtones of 1944’s The Uninvited, it stars George C. Scott and Melvyn Douglas who bring welcome gravitas to the proceedings.
- 6/15/2016
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
It was 1973 and Peter Medak was a hot director on the rise. Following the success of The Ruling Class, which had earned Peter O’Toole an Academy Award nomination the previous year, United Artists offered him Death Wish. But when the studio insisted on casting Charles Bronson instead of Medak’s pick, Henry Fonda, Medak passed on the project. Back in London, Medak ran into his friend Peter Sellers, who asked him to direct his next film, Ghost in The Noonday Sun, which was set to be filmed on the island of Cyprus. Somehow the idea of filming a 17th-century pirate comedy aboard real ships on […]...
- 3/21/2016
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Jose here. Nicole Kidman won another award! Nathaniel recently praised her work in Photograph 51 in London, and the voters at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards agreed with him, for they gave her a Best Actress award to go with her Oscar, Globes and other statuettes.
Nicole wasn't the only movie-related winner: James McAvoy and Imelda Staunton, also won awards for their work in The Ruling Class and Gypsy, respectively. At the event Nicole was simply majestic in an Alexander McQueen design.
...and before you all whine about how Cate wore it better (she did wear a similar McQueen to the Robin Hood premiere at Cannes in 2010), be reminded that...
a) McQueen should be worn by all screen queens
b) Nicole is flawless!
c) Cate was in Robin Hood...
d) most importantly, Cate and Nicole love each other as proved by this image to your left.
Before I lose you to...
Nicole wasn't the only movie-related winner: James McAvoy and Imelda Staunton, also won awards for their work in The Ruling Class and Gypsy, respectively. At the event Nicole was simply majestic in an Alexander McQueen design.
...and before you all whine about how Cate wore it better (she did wear a similar McQueen to the Robin Hood premiere at Cannes in 2010), be reminded that...
a) McQueen should be worn by all screen queens
b) Nicole is flawless!
c) Cate was in Robin Hood...
d) most importantly, Cate and Nicole love each other as proved by this image to your left.
Before I lose you to...
- 11/25/2015
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
New York City theater won big across the pond at the Old Vic Theatre, which was home to the 61st annual London Evening Standard Theater Awards on Nov. 22. New York transfers “The Motherf**ker with the Hat” from Stephen Adly Guirgis, about a former drug-dealing jailbird trying to go straight, was awarded best play, and “Kinky Boots” won the Radio 2 Audience Award for best musical. Imelda Staunton, who performed “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” at the ceremony, won for her musical performance as Mama Rose in “Gypsy,” beating out Katie Brayben for Broadway’s transfer of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” Killian Donnelly for “Kinky Boots,” and Rosalie Craig for “City of Angels.” Also recognized were Nicole Kidman and James McAvoy in the best actress and best actor categories for their work in “Photograph 51” and “The Ruling Class,” respectively. Vanessa Redgrave was presented with the Editor’s Award and Stephen Sondheim with the Lebedev Award.
- 11/23/2015
- backstage.com
Actors known more for their Hollywood work than for the stage took best performance honors Sunday at London’s Evening Standard Theater Awards with Nicole Kidman and James McAvoy taking the top prizes. Kidman won best actress for her critically praised turn as under-appreciated DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin in Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51, and McAvoy was named best actor for his role as the delusional English earl in a revival of Peter Barnes' 1968 satire The Ruling Class…...
- 11/23/2015
- Deadline
By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
- 5/26/2015
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
James McAvoy and Gillian Anderson are among the big-name actors this year vying for an Olivier Award, the U.K.’s most prestigious theater accolade. In an event held Monday in London, the 2015 nominations for the British equivalent of the Tony Awards were revealed, with McAvoy and previous winner Lesley Manville on hand to announce the contenders. Read More Kevin Spacey to Receive Special Olivier Award McAvoy, who previously was nominated in 2013 for playing Macbeth, received his third nomination for best actor, this time for The Ruling Class at Trafalgar Studios; he will go up against Mark
read more...
read more...
- 3/9/2015
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ron Cook Mr Selfridge, Henry V, King Lear, Hot Fuzz as Sir Charles Gurney, Kathryn Drysdale Suspects, Love's Labour's Lost, Tripping Over, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps as Grace Shelley, Joshua McGuire Privacy, Posh, About Time, Mr Turner as Dinsdale Gurney and Anthony O'Donnell The Captain of Kopenick, Skyfall, Matchpoint as Daniel Tucker, join BAFTA winning James McAvoy, as Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney, in the first West End revival of Peter Barnes' satirical comedy, The Ruling Class, directed by Jamie Lloyd, Artistic Director of Trafalgar Transformed. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from opening night below...
- 1/29/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Ron Cook Mr Selfridge, Henry V, King Lear, Hot Fuzz as Sir Charles Gurney, Kathryn Drysdale Suspects, Love's Labour's Lost, Tripping Over, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps as Grace Shelley, Joshua McGuire Privacy, Posh, About Time, Mr Turner as Dinsdale Gurney and Anthony O'Donnell The Captain of Kopenick, Skyfall, Matchpoint as Daniel Tucker, join BAFTA winning James McAvoy, as Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney, in the first West End revival of Peter Barnes' satirical comedy, The Ruling Class, directed by Jamie Lloyd, Artistic Director of Trafalgar Transformed.
- 1/16/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Hulk and Professor Xavier, you have impressed the queen! In a joint appearance on the BBC's The Graham Norton Show that aired on Friday, Meryl Streep, aka the luckiest woman ever, got to not only share a sofa with Mark Ruffalo, who plays the green superhero in The Avengers series, and X-Men actor James McAvoy, but also watch them from a prime seat as they entertained her, and the world, by riding unicycles. The Oscar-winning actress appeared astonished, and maybe a little, well, freaked out...especially when the latter star took a spill onstage. McAvoy is set to star in a revival of the British comedy play The Ruling Class in London's West End, starting on Jan. 16. The Scottish star...
- 1/9/2015
- E! Online
BAFTA Scotland's annual awards ceremony on Sunday saw James McAvoy take home the best actor gong for his turn as a corrupt, drug-taking and alcoholic cop in Filth, adapted from Irvine Welsh’s novel. The best actress award went to relative newcomer Sophie Kennedy Clark for her performance in Philomena, in which she played the younger version of Judi Dench's titular character. Read more James McAvoy Heads Back to London Stage in 'The Ruling Class' Broadchurch star David Tennant won the TV actor award for BBC drama The Escape Artist, while Shirley Henderson, also one of McAvoy’s co-stars in Filth,
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- 11/16/2014
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Das Gespenst (1982)
“I always have a simple story, but I tell it so fanatically and wildly and tenderly and cursingly and on fire and in need of being loved that you’ll find a slice of life in front of you.”
The first time I saw Herbert Achternbusch he was hypnotizing a chicken in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Anybody who has seen the film might recall the chicken, but who is Herbert Achternbusch? It is a question that cannot be simply answered. Achternbusch captions his entire artistic output with a paradox: ‘You don't have a chance, but use it’. Trying to make sense of his work, this epigram sounds appropriate.
Matters are not helped by the unavailability of most of his films on DVD. In Germany, a boxset devoted to Achternbusch is now out of print, although two key works—Heilt Hitler (1986) and Das Gespenst (1982)—remain in circulation.
“I always have a simple story, but I tell it so fanatically and wildly and tenderly and cursingly and on fire and in need of being loved that you’ll find a slice of life in front of you.”
The first time I saw Herbert Achternbusch he was hypnotizing a chicken in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Anybody who has seen the film might recall the chicken, but who is Herbert Achternbusch? It is a question that cannot be simply answered. Achternbusch captions his entire artistic output with a paradox: ‘You don't have a chance, but use it’. Trying to make sense of his work, this epigram sounds appropriate.
Matters are not helped by the unavailability of most of his films on DVD. In Germany, a boxset devoted to Achternbusch is now out of print, although two key works—Heilt Hitler (1986) and Das Gespenst (1982)—remain in circulation.
- 11/10/2014
- by Yusef Sayed
- MUBI
Having played the tyrannical monarch in a postapocalyptic Scotland in Macbeth, James McAvoy will reteam with director Jamie Lloyd early next year to tackle another kind of delusional nobleman in a revival of the cult satire The Ruling Class. Written by Peter Barnes, the play was first performed in 1968 and was adapted for the screen in 1972, earning a best actor Oscar nomination for Peter O'Toole as Jack, a paranoid schizophrenic who believes he is the Messiah. When his father, a member of the House of Lords, dies in a bizarre accident, Jack becomes the 14th Earl of Gurney, landing him at the
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- 10/31/2014
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This year’s 14th Hungarian Film Festival Of Los Angeles (Hffla) presented by Bunyik Entertainment marks the centenary of Hungarian animation and the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust.
Hungarian-born film and television director Peter Medak, whose credits include his 1972 comedy The Ruling Class starring Peter O’Toole (pictured), will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Among the animation screenings will be Son Of The White Mare by Marcell Jankovics, Rabbit And Deer and Symphony #42.
The Holocaust remembrance will feature Swiss documentary Carl Lutz – Forgotten Hero, as well as The Last Mentsch from Germany, The Hungarian Cube from Israel and Regina from Hungary.
Scheduled attendees include director Denes Orosz and actor Sandor Csanyi with Coming Out, writer-director Mark Bodzsar with Heavenly Shift and Spymaster writer-director Agota Varga.
The festival is set to run in North Hollywood from November 14-20. For further details click here.
Hungarian-born film and television director Peter Medak, whose credits include his 1972 comedy The Ruling Class starring Peter O’Toole (pictured), will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Among the animation screenings will be Son Of The White Mare by Marcell Jankovics, Rabbit And Deer and Symphony #42.
The Holocaust remembrance will feature Swiss documentary Carl Lutz – Forgotten Hero, as well as The Last Mentsch from Germany, The Hungarian Cube from Israel and Regina from Hungary.
Scheduled attendees include director Denes Orosz and actor Sandor Csanyi with Coming Out, writer-director Mark Bodzsar with Heavenly Shift and Spymaster writer-director Agota Varga.
The festival is set to run in North Hollywood from November 14-20. For further details click here.
- 10/27/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Director Peter Medak fled Hungary during the 1956 revolution and his best work, like "The Ruling Class" and "Let Him Have It," usually expressed a strong socio-political bent. "The Changeling," his 1979 ghost story is no different, mixing supernatural thrills and political intrigue. An eerie and elegant film with haunting overtones of 1944’s "The Uninvited," it stars George C. Scott and Melvyn Douglas who bring welcome gravitas to the proceedings.
- 9/29/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
This September, the legendary George Romero’s undead epic begins anew in Empire of the Dead: Act Two #1. Written by the horror master himself along with acclaimed artist Dalibor Talajic, prepare for an undead onslaught as zombies and vampires wage war on the walled in streets of New York City! Undead forces are laying waste to the last surviving humans of New York City – but now outside forces seek entry to the once safe haven. An invading militia seeks to take over the Big Apple…
“Act Two opens just a short time after the conclusion of Act One, but in that time all of our major players are advancing their interests,” editor Bill Rosemann explained to Marvel.com. “Zombie wrangler Paul Barnum has added fresh performers to his Circus Maximus, the zombies fighting there may be much more capable than even he imagined, Mayor Chandrake continues his seduction of medical scientist Penny Jones,...
“Act Two opens just a short time after the conclusion of Act One, but in that time all of our major players are advancing their interests,” editor Bill Rosemann explained to Marvel.com. “Zombie wrangler Paul Barnum has added fresh performers to his Circus Maximus, the zombies fighting there may be much more capable than even he imagined, Mayor Chandrake continues his seduction of medical scientist Penny Jones,...
- 8/18/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Eight time Oscar nominee, best known for David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, remembered at Oscar ceremony
• Xan Brooks liveblogs the ceremony
• Full list of winners as they're announced
The Oscars paid tribute to Peter O'Toole, the celebrated star of Lawrence of Arabia who died last year – devoting part of its traditional In Memoriam section to the actor.
O'Toole was nominated eight times for the best actor Oscar, but was unsuccessful in winning any, though he was partly compensated by being given an honorary Academy award in 2003. His Oscar-night losses included some of his best-known roles, among them Te Lawrence in 1962, the title role in Becket in 1964, and mentally ill aristocrat Jack Gurney in The Ruling Class in 1972, when he was defeated by Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird), Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) and Marlon Brando (The Godfather) respectively. His final nomination came in 2006 for Venus, when he lost...
• Xan Brooks liveblogs the ceremony
• Full list of winners as they're announced
The Oscars paid tribute to Peter O'Toole, the celebrated star of Lawrence of Arabia who died last year – devoting part of its traditional In Memoriam section to the actor.
O'Toole was nominated eight times for the best actor Oscar, but was unsuccessful in winning any, though he was partly compensated by being given an honorary Academy award in 2003. His Oscar-night losses included some of his best-known roles, among them Te Lawrence in 1962, the title role in Becket in 1964, and mentally ill aristocrat Jack Gurney in The Ruling Class in 1972, when he was defeated by Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird), Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) and Marlon Brando (The Godfather) respectively. His final nomination came in 2006 for Venus, when he lost...
- 3/3/2014
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Shirley Temple dead at 85: Was one of the biggest domestic box office draws of the ’30s (photo: Shirley Temple in the late ’40s) Shirley Temple, one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s in the United States, died Monday night, February 10, 2014, at her home in Woodside, near San Francisco. The cause of death wasn’t made public. Shirley Temple (born in Santa Monica on April 23, 1928) was 85. Shirley Temple became a star in 1934, following the release of Paramount’s Alexander Hall-directed comedy-tearjerker Little Miss Marker, in which Temple had the title role as a little girl who, left in the care of bookies, almost loses her childlike ways before coming around to regenerate Adolphe Menjou and his gang. That same year, Temple became a Fox contract player, and is credited with saving the studio — 20th Century Fox from 1935 on — from bankruptcy. Whether or not that’s true is a different story,...
- 2/11/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Following the troubled production and surprising success of World War Z, Marc Forster has found his next directing gig. He'll be behind the camera for an adaptation of Pierce Brown's recent novel Red Rising. Brown wrote the screenplay himself, and Joe Roth (Alice In Wonderland, Oz The Great And Powerful) is among the producers.The novel is a sci-fi action film set on Mars, at a time when it's been colonised by humans, apparently due to the impending death of Earth. Sixteen-year-old Darrow is a "Helldiver", one of the miners - the "Red" caste - who live a bleak existence below the surface, doing the desperately hard work required for the terraforming project. The ruling class on the surface are "Golds", but the social order is destined for a shake-up when Darrow discovers his life is premised on a lie. Disguised as a Gold, Darrow sets out to infiltrate Mars'...
- 2/6/2014
- EmpireOnline
Maximilian Schell movie director (photo: Maximilian Schell and Maria Schell) (See previous post: “Maximilian Schell Dies: Best Actor Oscar Winner for ‘Judgment at Nuremberg.’”) Maximilian Schell’s first film as a director was the 1970 (dubbed) German-language release First Love / Erste Liebe, adapted from Igor Turgenev’s novella, and starring Englishman John Moulder-Brown, Frenchwoman Dominique Sanda, and Schell in this tale about a doomed love affair in Czarist Russia. Italian Valentina Cortese and British Marius Goring provided support. Directed by a former Best Actor Oscar winner, First Love, a movie that could just as easily have been dubbed into Swedish or Swahili (or English), ended up nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Three years later, nominated in that same category was Schell’s second feature film as a director, The Pedestrian / Der Fußgänger, in which a car accident forces a German businessman to delve deep into his past.
- 2/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
‘Gone with the Wind’ actress Alicia Rhett dead at 98; was oldest surviving credited Gwtw cast member Gone with the Wind actress Alicia Rhett, the oldest surviving credited cast member of the 1939 Oscar-winning blockbuster, died on January 3, 2014, at the Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community in Charleston, South Carolina, where Rhett had been living since August 2002. Alicia Rhett, born on February 1, 1915, in Savannah, Georgia, was 98. (Photo: Alicia Rhett as India Wilkes in Gone with the Wind.) In Gone with the Wind, the David O. Selznick production made in conjunction with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM head Louis B. Mayer was Selznick’s father-in-law), the stage-trained Alicia Rhett played India Wilkes, the embittered sister of Ashley Wilkes, whom Scarlett O’Hara loves — though Ashley eventually marries Melanie Hamilton (Rhett had auditioned for the role), while Scarlett ends up with Rhett Butler. Based on Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller, Gone with the Wind was (mostly) directed by Victor Fleming...
- 1/5/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Oscar-nominated ‘Imitation of Life’ actress Juanita Moore has died Juanita Moore, Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee for the 1959 blockbuster Imitation of Life, died on New Year’s Day 2014 at her home in Los Angeles. According to various online sources, Juanita Moore (born on October 19, 1922) was 91; her step-grandson, actor Kirk Kahn, said she was 99. (Photo: Juanita Moore in the late ’50s. See also: Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner photos at the 50th anniversary screening of Imitation of Life at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.) Juanita Moore movies The Los Angeles-born Juanita Moore began her show business career as a chorus girl at New York City’s Cotton Club. According to the IMDb, Moore was an extra/bit player in a trio of films of the ’40s, including Vincente Minnelli’s all-black musical Cabin in the Sky (1942) and Elia Kazan’s socially conscious melodrama Pinky (1949), in which Jeanne Crain plays a (very,...
- 1/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marta Eggerth: Operetta and film star — a sort of Jeanette MacDonald of Central European cinema — dead at 101 Marta Eggerth, an international star in film and stage operettas who frequently performed opposite husband Jan Kiepura, died on December 26, 2013, at her home in Rye, New York. The Budapest-born Eggerth had turned 101 last April 17. (Photo: Marta Eggerth ca. 1935.) Although best known for her roles in stage musicals such as the Max Reinhardt-directed 1927 Hamburg production of Die Fledermaus, and various incarnations of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Marta Eggerth was featured in nearly 40 films. The vast majority of those were produced in Austria and Germany in the 1930s, as the Nazis ascended to power. Marta Eggerth films Marta Eggerth films, which frequently made use of her coloratura soprano voice, include Max Neufeld’s drama Eine Nacht im Grandhotel ("A Night at the Grand Hotel," 1931); the Victor Janson-directed musicals Once There Was a Waltz...
- 12/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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