News

Fionn Whitehead and Luis Gnecco are set to star in Borges and Me, an adaptation of Jay Parini’s memoir of his 1970s journey through the Scottish Highlands with renowned Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. Parini is best known for his historical novel The Last Station, which was adapted as an Oscar-nominated feature by Michael Hoffman in 2009.

Dunkirk actor Whitehead, fresh off his performance as Pip opposite Olivia Colman’s Miss Havisham in the FX/BBC production of Great Expectations, will play Parini, with Chilean-Italian Gnecco, best known for his roles in Neruda, No, and A Fantastic Woman, as Borges. The cast also includes Alan Cumming, Peter Mullan, and Harriet Sansom Harris.

In Borges and Me, Parini, a 23-year-old shy student who dreams of becoming a writer, finds himself stuck in chauffeuring the brilliant, blind Borges, aged 70, through Scotland. At first, Parini is at a loss to make sense of the wild,...

Froy Gutierrez and Zane Phillips are going strong as a couple!

The 25-year-old Cruel Summer actor and the 29-year-old Glamorous actor were in attendance at the “Evan’s Chaos Dinner” at the home of Crystal Kung Minkoff on Wednesday (November 15) in Los Angeles.

The intimate Friendsgiving dinner was hosted by Threads by Instagram and writer Evan Ross Katz.

Guests also included Sarah Michelle Gellar, Zooey Deschanel, Zachary Quinto, How to Get Away with Murder‘s Jack Falahee, Meta exec Michael Hoffman, and some of your favorite Drag Race stars like Trixie Mattel, Gottmik, and Symone.

Froy and Zane went public with their relationship when they kissed at a New York City pride party in June 2023 and they went Instagram official back in August with some hot shirtless pics.

Browse through the gallery for 25+ photos from the event…...

The new biographical drama “Golda” features Helen Mirren in a transformative role as Golda Meir, the so-called “Iron Lady of Israel” who faced high-stakes responsibilities and decisions during the Yom Kippur War. Written by Nicholas Martin and directed by Guy Nattiv, the Bleecker Street contender is Mirren’s first big play at a potential Academy Award nomination in many years, so let’s look back at her four Oscar races.

With a career in film going back to the 1960s, Mirren saw her first Oscar nomination in 1994 in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in “The Madness of King George.” Directed by Nicholas Hytner, this biographical comedy-drama tells the story of King George III and how his Lieutenants tried to adjust the rules to run the country after he went mad. Mirren played his wife, Queen Charlotte, and she was one of four citations for the movie at the 67th Academy Awards,...

Garth Craven, the British-born sound and film editor and second-unit director whose credits included six Sam Peckinpah features, as well as Turner and Hooch, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Legally Blonde, has died. He was 84.

A resident of Malibu, Craven died May 20 after he suffered a medical emergency while flying back to Los Angeles from a safari in Namibia, his daughter, Willow Kalatchi, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Craven collaborated with the maverick director Peckinpah on Straw Dogs (1971), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975) and Convoy (1978).

He worked with fellow editor Roger Spottiswoode on the first three of those films, and when Spottiswoode graduated to director, they partnered on the features Shoot to Kill (1988), Turner and Hooch (1989) and Air America (1990) and on two HBO telefilms: 1989’s Third Degree Burn and 1993’s And the Band Played On.

Craven also cut Gaby: A True Story...

Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin on Monday paid tribute to Oscar-winning U.S. actor Kevin Spacey, presenting the American Beauty and House of Cards star with its highest honor, the Stella della Mole Award for lifetime achievement. Enzo Ghigo, president of the National Museum, and Vittorio Sgarbi, Undersecretary to the Italian Ministry of Culture, presented Spacey with the prize.

“Tonight we’re witnessing Kevin Spacey’s comeback,” said Sgarbi, adding. “The one living through cinema is an immortal man, and it is precisely him that we are awarding this prize to tonight.”

Spacey thanked the Turin Museum of Cinema for having “the courage, the balls, to invite me.” The public event marked Spacey’s first since facing sexual assault charges.

Spacey also took part in a masterclass at the Temple Hall of the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, where he spoke with museum director Domenico De Gaetano about his life and career.

A half-hour comedy about a Broadway has-been starring Kevin Kline is among MGM+’s new slate of series. “American Classic” is one of several other scripted shows and docuseries to be developed at the premium linear channel and streaming service, including one documenting the rise of underground disco.

Formerly known as Epix and rebranding to MGM+ on Jan. 15 (coinciding with the “Godfather of Harlem” Season 3 premiere), the platform unveiled a slew of upcoming programming, joining already announced series like limited show “A Spy Among Friends” with Guy Pearce (March 12), the second season of sci-fi “From” (April 23) and true-crime docuseries “Murf the Surf” (Feb. 5). There were also sophomore renewals for “Rogue Heroes” and “Billy the Kid.”

Below is a full lineup of the newly announced slate:

Also Read:

AMC Studios Head Says Network Is ‘Optimally Positioned’ Following Layoffs, Scrapped Shows “The Emperor of Ocean Park” (scripted)

From John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television,...

MGM+, formerly Epix, unveiled its programming lineup and development slate that includes a new John Wells drama based on a Stephen L. Carter novel, a period drama about Harlem crime boss Stephanie St. Clair, based on an MGM movie, and a docuseries about the disco era.

The newly rebranded premium linear channel and streaming service will launch on January 15 in conjunction with the season three premiere of Godfather of Harlem starring and executive produced by Forest Whitaker and created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein.

The development slate includes scripted series The Emperor of Ocean Park, Hoodlum, based on the 1997 movie starring Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth and Andy Garcia, Earth Abides, based on a George R. Stewart book, Ark, based on Stephen Baxter’s books and Kevin Kline comedy American Classic, which was previously announced. See full details below.

These series will join previously greenlit series Hotel Cocaine and San...

Producer Guillaume Benski explains how the hit film came to be made.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this big,” says producer Guillaume Benski of the international box office success of Anthony Fabian’s Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, starring Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert.

The English-language film, produced by Benski’s Paris and London-based Superbe Films, with Xavier Marchand’s MoonRiver, has grossed approximately 30m worldwide since its release in July 2022. It opened first in North America via Focus Features, grossing 10.3m. Universal Pictures then opened Mrs Harris around the world where it has performed particularly well in the...

Whether you’re looking for stocking stuffers for others or a nice little gift for yourself, we’ve got a roundup of some of the best new Blu-rays and DVDs for the holidays.

Christmas Favorites

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment offers up four of their holiday favorites in 4K for the first time this holiday season: “Elf,” “A Christmas Story,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “The Polar Express” all get shined up for your library. Whether you’re giving (or getting) a 4K system this Christmas or already have one ready to go, this quartet of titles represent the apex of holiday classics for a wide audience. (Whether or not the sequel “A Christmas Story Christmas” will eventually merit its own schmancy physical release remains to be seen.)

Also available:

“The Apartment” (Kino Lorber Studio Classics): Billy Wilder’s bittersweet, Oscar-winning holiday tale made its 4K debut earlier this year.

40 years ago, Hugh Grant made his film debut in 1982’s “Privileged,” a little-seen effort about undergraduates at Oxford (where Grant studied English lit), which was funded by the Oxford University Film Foundation. In its July 14, 1982, review, Variety said the film — which also marked the bows of producer Andy Paterson, director Michael Hoffman, actors Imogen Stubbs and James Wilby and composer Rachel Portman — would have “limited interest” for most audiences but that the actor, billed as Hughie Grant, gives a convincing performance as an “aristocratic dropout.”

For the next five years, Grant did sketch comedy, played the classics onstage and worked in TV; his first mention in Variety was for the 1985 miniseries “Jenny’s War,” playing the Raf pilot son of Dyan Cannon.

He boosted his profile with the 1987 Merchant-Ivory film “Maurice,” adapted from E.M. Forster. The film also featuring his “Privileged” costar Wilby and the two shared the best-actor prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Last week Warner Bros. announced that it was shelving the upcoming HBOMax release Batgirl along with an almost finished sequel to their animated film Scoob. All of this, while announcing massive layoffs in various departments across the board and the cancelation of various projects in early development. Kevin Smith even mentioned that a DC Project he had been working on was shut down on the latest episode of Hollywood Babble-On alongside co-host Ralph Garman.

The surprising part of this is the shelving of almost finished projects. The Batgirl film has already cost them 90 Million and was done enough to do some test screenings. Weirdly this is not the first time completed movies have been put up on the shelf, never to see the light of day. We’ve rounded up ten shelved movies from well-known creators or star well know actors.

Conversations With Vincent – dir. Tim Burton

I don’t...

Epix has put four scripted projects into development including a pair of comedies with one starring A Fish Called Wanda star Kevin Kline.

Kline is to star in American Classic, which would mark the actor’s second TV project if it goes to series. He recently signed up to star alongside Cate Blanchett in Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer for Apple.

In the half-hour American Classic, Kline plays Broadway star and notorious narcissist Richard Bean, who suffers a spectacular public meltdown and returns to his tiny hometown and the family-run theater where he first became aware of his own brilliance.

When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that his father, the former artistic director, has slipped into a puppet-filled dementia, and that the once-respected theater run by his brother, played by The Closer’s Jon Tenney, and his wife, who is now the town’s mayor, has become, by necessity,...

A year after NAACP’s production partnership with CBS Studios formally launched with the hire of Sheila Ducksworth as President, the venture has sold its first projects. The five shows — spanning platforms (broadcast and streaming) and genres, include a reboot of cult 1991 movie Soapdish for Paramount+, with original co-star Whoopi Goldberg reprising her role and Jane the Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman co-writing the dramedy adaptation.

Goldberg is one of three top comedians attached to star in NAACP-cbs Studios projects, with D.L. Hughley and Earthquake set to headline autobiographical comedy series in the works at Fox and CBS, respectively.

Real people and events are the inspiration behind two dramatic projects, a limited series at Apple TV+ with Kapital Entertainment, which tells the story of the courageous Little Rock 9 Black students who helped end school segregation in the South, and drama Construction at Paramount+, inspired by...

All products and services featured by IndieWire are independently selected by IndieWire editors. However, IndieWire may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

There’s no denying that William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known and widely respected literary figures in history: a fountainhead for so much of storytelling to follow. His works from the late 1500s are still relevant today, and several of his plays have been adapted into films. The latest of which, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” will arrive in theaters on Christmas Day, and on Apple TV+ on January 14, 2022.

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand star in the spare, Dreyer-esque black-and-white film directed by Joel Coen. If you’re not familiar with the story, Macbeth is met by three witches who reveal great fortunes for his future. Once these fortunes begin to come true,...

Over the course of her legendary career, Alice Lee “Boaty” Boatwright has cast iconic movies, served as a studio exec and repped starry talent including Joan Didion, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Reflecting on it today, she says her career really took off after a pivotal encounter at Sardi’s restaurant more than 60 years ago. Sitting with her friend Sue Mengers, not yet the legendary agent she would become, Boatwright jumped out of her seat and grabbed Alan Pakula, whom she had never met.

“I have to find you Scout,” Boatwright, then a young publicist at Universal, informed Pakula. She knew that he and Robert Mulligan had recently secured the film rights to Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” for the studio.

The following day, after a conversation with her boss, Boatwright had lunch with Pakula and Mulligan. Her Southern background and charm won the producing-directing duo over, and...

It's a testimony to how dear this is to many fan's hearts that Studiocanal have gone the extra mile to include fresh and interesting extras on this Blu-ray and DVD release.

Alongside a handful of stills from the film the meat of the extras come in two featurettes - A Restless Retrospective: Creating A Caledonian Classic feature and Soundtrack For A Not-so-big-country: The Music of Restless Natives feature. They both feature extensive contributions from director Michael Hoffman, writer Ninian Dunnett, executive producer Andy Patterson, star Vincent Friell (who plays Will) and Big Country guitarist Bruce Watson. There's plenty of the what fans will want here - anecdotes about how Ned Beatty was hired, about the locations and about the development of the score. Watson's recollections about their move into score writing also provide an insight into the physicality of the process as it was back then. The only disappointment is that.

Made in a sweet spot of Scottish filmmaking that had seen Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl achieve fame five years earlier and his Local Hero win fans the year before, this tale of a pair of hapless buddies-turned-tourist-coach highwaymen has a rough-edged comic charm, even if it isn't quite in the same league.

At the heart of Michael Hoffman's film - written by Ninian Dunnett for a Lloyds Bank screenwriting competition, which he won - are Vincent Friell and Joe Mullaney,  who offer a winning chemistry and affable appeal. They play Will and Ronnie likely lads from an Edinburgh scheme housing estate who are stuck in the dead end jobs of park sweeper and joke shop clerk - Thatcher's Britain is in evidence here, with Ninnian literally giving her the boot at one point, although the politics are kept in the background. Will still lives at home, a crowded space he shares with.

To mark the release of Restless Natives, out now, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Fans of Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero would do well to add Restless Natives to their collection. First released in 1985 this spirited, establishment-mocking caper movie remains a much-loved and thoroughly enjoyable comedy gem featuring a soundtrack by Big Country. It’s the story of two under-employed Scots who achieve wealth and notoriety as modern-day highwayman holding up coachloads of tourists wearing a wolf and a clown mask and armed only with a puffer gun! Their exploits make them a bigger tourist attraction than the Loch Ness Monster, much to the annoyance of the inept local police.

Starring Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, Ned Beatty, Bernard Hill, Mel Smith and directed by Michael Hoffman from a script by Ninian Dunnett, the new Blu-ray and DVD release comes with additional features including a new...

A gleeful sense of humour powers Michael Hoffman’s 1985 crime caper, part of Scotland’s cinematic response to Thatcherism

“Guns are for Lassies! Nobody seems to put the Boot in any more!” This rousing manifesto for muscular non-armed crime of the traditional sort comes from one of the hardened villains that surreally pop up in this intensely likable Scottish caper from 1985, with a soundtrack from Big Country. It was part of a boom in Britmovie comedy of the era when Scotland was becoming caustically alienated from Thatcherite England, and which gave us Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl, Comfort and Joy and Local Hero. The script from Ninian Dunnett was originally the winning entry of a screenwriting competition and it was directed by the anglophile and caledonophile American Michael Hoffman.

Related: The 50 best films of 2020 in the UK: the full list...

Michael Hoffman, who directed Plummer and Helen Mirren in Tolstoy biopic The Last Station, recalls the actors’ joyful connection and how Plummer turned the script into gold

Christopher Plummer: a fierce yet tender talent who flourished when he was let off the leash

I had been warned not to mention The Sound of Music. This was not going to be easy since, when I was aged six, during a Sunday matinee at the Pinney theatre in Boise, Idaho, I had learned, as Captain von Trapp led his family across the Alps to safety, that you could cry simply because you were happy.

Now, headed toward our agreed-upon Mayfair location, I was about to meet the man who referred to the film that had made him a household name as “S&m” and “The Sound of Mucus”. I should, I thought, keep my memories to myself.

Christopher Plummer, the Canadian-born Shakespearean actor, died peacefully at his home in Connecticut Friday morning. The Oscar winner was best known for his roles in “The Sound of Music,” “Beginners” and Rian Johnson’s recent film “Knives Out.” He was 91.

Following the news of Plummer’s death, the actor’s co-stars and other prominent entertainment figures shared tributes and reflected on his long career in Hollywood.

In a statement to Variety, filmmaker Ridley Scott and his wife, Giannina, paid tribute to the actor. They worked together on “All the Money in the World” in 2017.

“What a guy. What a talent. What a life. And I was fortunate enough to work with him less than 2 years ago and had a wonderful experience. My heartfelt condolences go to [Plummer’s wife] Elaine. He will be really missed.”

Helen Mirren also gave a statement to Variety about the death of Plummer, reminiscing on their time working...

by Cláudio Alves

In 1995, Michael Hoffman's Restoration adapted the best-selling novel of Rose Tremain into a sumptuous dramatization of 17th century England. Despite some dumbfounding feats of miscasting and a disjointed structure upended by the advent of the Black Plague, the picture's quite beautiful to look at and features some of the best Baroque designs in film history. The scenography leans into the theatricality of Charles II's court, creating an airless world gilded in gold. The costumes, in turn, indulge in the absurdities of 1660s fashion, conjuring a world of radical contrasts between royal splendor and the austere rigor of Puritan charity.

Both achievements won trophies at the 68th Academy Awards. As usual, I'm more interested in the work of Oscar-winning costume design by the great James Acheson. Let's explore the man's genius, his filmography, and the Baroque stylings of the 25-year-old Restoration…...

The U.K.’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) has successfully returned to production with some 60 films of varying lengths and genres, including graduation films, being shot since courses resumed in June.

The first test project to shoot trialling the U.K.’s Covid-19 production guidelines was the short “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” which looks at the practicalities of production in the time of coronavirus, and gets across its safety-first message in a light-hearted manner. It was shot on Stage One at the Nfts facilities in Beaconsfield.

Richard Lingard, course leader for assistant directing and floor managing at the Nfts, said there was some initial nervousness about going back into production. “The more we thought about it from the faculty level, the more we realized that it would be unfair to put students through something we haven’t done ourselves,” Lingard told Variety.

To instil confidence, the faculty,...

Camerimage, the festival in Toruń, Poland dedicated to the art of cinematography, handed out its prestigious Frog prizes this evening. The big winner was “Joker” cinematographer Lawrence Sher, who won the top prize, the Golden Frog, in addition to the Audience Prize. The Bronze Frog was awarded to “The Painted Bird” Dp Vladimír Smutný, while “The Two Popes” Dp César Charlone won the Silver Frog. A full list of winners at the end of this article.

Now in its 27th year, Camerimage has become homecoming week for cinematographers from around the globe, with a vast number of the best DPs, past and present, in attendance. From an awards perspective — considering cinematographers nominate their colleagues — it’s hard to overestimate the value of DPs presenting their work and discussing their craft with their tight-knit community during the week-long celebration.

Sher — whose “Joker” screened early in the fest, and has been in...

Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman wrote the super-smart script for this meta-comedy about the soap opera drama behind a soap opera drama. Directed by Michael Hoffman, the cast features Sally Field as a fading afternoon star and Cathy Moriarty as her unscrupulous rival – their character’s names, “Celeste Talbert” and “Montana Moorehead” are just more evidence of the screenwriters’ precision edge satire.

The post Soapdish appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Playback is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday.

Oscar-winning actors Christian Bale and Sam Rockwell first met 20 years ago on the Italy-set production of Michael Hoffman’s Shakespeare adaptation “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” With the business in their blood, they separately began their careers on stage at a young age. All these years later they appear together once again in Adam McKay’s “Vice,” a sort of Shakespearean epic in its own right centered on former chief executives Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.

Listen to this week’s episode of “Playback” below. New episodes air every Thursday.

Click here for more episodes of “Playback.”

Bale, famously by now, packed on the pounds to play Cheney. It became another in a line of trademark transformations for the actor, but he admits he’s...

When Netflix severed ties with Kevin Spacey after he was accused of sexual misconduct, one of the projects that got dropped was the actor’s Gore Vidal biographical drama, entitled “Gore.” The film, directed and co-written by Michael Hoffman (“The Best of Me”) from Jay Parini’s book “Empire of Self, A Life of Gore Vidal,” wrapped production in Italy just a few weeks before the first allegation was made against Spacey. Some have wondered if anyone would release the Spacey-fronted feature, but newly released script details make it clear that seems unlikely to ever happen.

According to an in-depth report from Buzzfeed, “Gore” includes “several scenes that would almost certainly strike audiences as difficult to absorb given Spacey’s involvement. Some scenes explore Gore’s complicated and unorthodox attitudes toward transactional sex and sex with very young men, for example, and a graphic scene involves two transgender sex workers.

The enduring charm of William Shakespeare’s classic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has translated to innumerable adaptations over the years, including big screen outings like the popular 1999 Michael Hoffman feature and even, oddly enough, the 2015 animated film “Strange Magic.” More than four centuries since its original creation, the story of befuddled and betwixt friends and lovers who are literally bewitched during a wild night in the forest is as fun (and funny) as ever. Now, it’s getting another update, this one from first-time filmmaker Casey Wilder Mott, who has translated the tale into a delirious-looking Hollywood farce.

The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook as Hermia and Lily Rabe as her best friend Helena, along with Finn Wittrock as Demetrius and Hamish Linklater as Lysander, both of whom are consumed with love for Hermia. Mott’s cast also includes Paz De La Huerta as Hippolyta, Avan Jogia as Puck,...

Ten years after he first donned Iron Man’s suit of armor, Robert Downey Jr. has reprised his role as the billionaire superhero in the Marvel epic “Avengers: Infinity War.” The film finds the universe’s greatest heroes teaming up to stop the deadly Thanos (Josh Brolin) from gathering the infinity stones with the intention of wiping out half of the universe’s population. Downey Jr. first played the role in 2008’s “Iron Man,” and has appeared in eight subsequent Marvel movies. Of course, his career hasn’t been limited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So in honor of his latest big screen achievement, let’s take a look back on some of his best performances. Tour through our photo gallery above of Downey Jr.’s 20 greatest films, ranked from worst to best.

The son of underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and actress Elsie Downey, Robert Downey Jr. made his...

During Netflix’s January 22 earnings report, the company’s CFO, David Wells, mentioned a $39 million loss. Turns out, that loss came from the streaming service saying goodbye to star actor and alleged sexual predator, Kevin Spacey.

Wells called the $39 million a result of projects the streaming giant “decided not to move forward with.” Today, multiple reports confirmed that those projects involved Spacey.

One of those projects was House of Cards, Netflix’s original original series. Production of the popular show paused shortly after actor Anthony Rapp (of Rent and Dazed and Confused) came forward with claims of Spacey’s sexual misconduct, aimed at Rapp when he was just 14 years old. House of Cards production will continue, this time without Spacey. Instead, the sixth and last season will focus on Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright.

Netflix also canceled a biopic about Gore Vidal, called Gore. The movie, which had already reached post-production,...

Michael Stuhlbarg, Freya Mavor and Nikolai Kinski have joined the cast of Netflix's Gore Vidal biopic starring Kevin Spacey.

Michael Hoffman is directing the film from a screenplay co-written with Jay Parini, based on Parini's 2015 biography Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal. The film focuses on the period in 1982 following Gore’s loss in the California Senate primary election. He retreats to his Italian home La Rondinaia in a Bacchanalian attempt to circumvent his writer’s block and sense of ennui. Douglas Booth and Griffin Dunne are also featured in the cast.

Stuhlbarg will play Gore’s longtime companion Howard;...

Exclusive: British actor Douglas Booth has joined Netflix’s Gore, starring opposite Kevin Spacey who plays the eponymous Gore Vidal. The Last Station helmer Michael Hoffman is directing Gore, which is filming in Italy and also stars Griffin Dunne in the story of the legendary writer. Douglas plays Jamie, a young British writer whose work catches Vidal’s eye. The titular character spent large periods of time in Rome in the early 1960s and later between the Italian capital…...

Exclusive: British actor Douglas Booth has joined Netflix’s Gore, starring opposite Kevin Spacey who plays the eponymous Gore Vidal. The Last Station helmer Michael Hoffman is directing Gore, which is filming in Italy and also stars Griffin Dunne in the story of the legendary writer. Douglas plays Jamie, a young British writer whose work catches Vidal’s eye. The titular character spent large periods of time in Rome in the early 1960s and later between the Italian capital…...

Exclusive: Griffin Dunne has come aboard the Netflix biopic Gore opposite Kevin Spacey, who is playing the title character Gore Vidal. The Last Station helmer Michael Hoffman is directing Gore, which is filming in Italy. Vidal spent large periods of time in Rome in the early 1960s and later between the Italian capital and a grand villa called La Rondinaia in the Amalfi Coast village of Ravello, where he hosted an array famous faces including Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and…...

Variety recently announced that Kevin Spacey is to bring Gore Vidal to our screens in a Netflix original film. Directed by Michael Hoffman (dir. The Last Station), Spacey might be the most perfect casting, and judging by some coded, jovial remarks at the Tony Awards this year, may relish a role like this.

Vidal's life has previously been on screen in documentaries: Gore Vidal: United States of Amnesia and Best of Enemies, about his combative relationship with William F. Buckley.

Vidal: Writer, bon vivant, public intellectual and unapologetic homosexual has a rich, albeit chequered history in cinema. Screenwriter for the frenzied Suddenly, Last Summer, debauched bloodbath Caligula and his own notorious novel Myra Breckinridge was adapted into X-rated 1970 film.

And as uncredited writer of Ben-Hur, he was responsible for those lingering glances between Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston - not that Heston ever knew that...

Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey is next slated to play Gore Vidal in a new Netflix film about the writer's life. 

Michael Hoffman (One Fine Day, The Last Station) is directing the film for Netflix. The project is currently in pre-production in Rome. Andy Paterson is producing. 

Shooting will begin at the end of August in Rome, according to sources, and then move to the Amalfi Coast, where most of the film will take place. 

Vidal purchased his infamous cliffside mansion in Ravello, La Rondinaia in 1972 and moved there permanently in 1993. 

The writer hosted numerous international celebrities in the seven-bedroom...

Kevin Spacey is set to play celebrated American writer Gore Vidal in an upcoming Netflix original biopic titled Gore. Michael Hoffman, who directed 2009's The Last Station starring Helen Mirren and James McAvoy, will direct the 1980s-set film with UK producer Andy Paterson (The Railway Man, Girl With A Pearl Earring) producing. The film is shooting in Italy. Vidal had a love affair with Italy, spending large periods of time in Rome in the early 1960s and later between the…...

Belgian film group Umedia has signed a development and first-look deal with Berlin-based production company Egoli Tossell Pictures, whose slate includes Michael Hoffman’s Oscar-nominated The Last Station, Olivier Assayas’ Golden Globe-winning miniseries Carlos and Jon S. Baird’s Filth, featuring Split star James McAvoy.

Under the terms of the deal, Umedia will co-finance Egoli Tossell’s film development slate and have first-look rights to co-produce any projects developed.

“This is a key part of our group’s growth strategy, and an important step forward as we continue to expand our catalog and production capability,” said Umedia CEO Adrian Politowski. “Umedia and Egoli Tossell...

It’s a project that has been rumoured for the best part of a decade, but it seems that the pieces are finally falling into place for Suburbicon – an as-yet unproduced script by Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen. This time, however, it will not be the celebrated siblings calling the shots – it will be their now regular collaborator, George Clooney.

Suburbicon has remained a mystery – an almost mythical concept, the existence of which has only ever been confirmed by fleeting whispers on the Hollywood breeze. It has always generated interest, though, because it promises to be a return to the tone of the very first feature film directed by the Coen Brothers – Blood Simple. In conversation, it has always been characterized as a 1950s noirish crime drama, so the question becomes, will handing it over to another filmmaker be a help or a hindrance to this long awaited project?...

The 31st Powerhouse season continues its support of early-career artists with the launch of its inaugural Filmmakers’ Workshop July 7. A partnership between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the eight-day residency gives participants one-on-one sessions with a list of professional mentors that includes writer-actor Jennifer Westfeldt, actor-director Ken Olin, director Michael Hoffman, and award-winning writer John Patrick Shanley, among others. Six up-and-coming filmmakers were selected for the residency: Maria Agui Carter (“The Secret Life of Mariposa”); Adam Curley (“Alter”); Mozhan Marno (“Yalda”); Tyler Nilson (“Peanut Butter Falcon”); Maya Perez (“Bring Back Our Girls”); and Shawn Wines (“I Hope You’re Happy”). One of only a few programs of its kind in the country, the workshop includes screenings, panel discussions, and developmental readings geared toward bringing participants’ film projects closer to completion. The focus of this first annual workshop is on screenwriting; future summers will expand to directors as well.

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai at the Oscars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai on the Academy Awards' Red Carpet Pictured above are Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Two years ago, an Anglo-Indian-American co-production, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire became not only one of the season's biggest sleeper hits, but also the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner. Dev Patel and Freida Pinto starred. Curiously, some have complained that Slumdog Millionaire was just a less interesting rehash of higher-quality Bollywood musicals and dramas that have received relatively little play outside South Asian communities around the globe. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai movies The son of Indian cinema legend Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan has been featured in nearly 50 films. Among them are: Dhoom (2004). Director: Sanjay Gadhvi. Cast: Abhishek Bachchan. Uday Chopra. John Abraham. Esha Deol.

Harrison Ford injured in plane accident (image: Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff in 'Ender's Game') Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark actor Harrison Ford was supposed to be in critical condition – later reports have upgraded that to "fair" or "stable" condition – following an accident with a small airplane on Los Angeles' Westside. Earlier this afternoon (March 5, 2015), a vintage, one-engine two-seater crash landed at the Penmar Golf Course, located in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, not far from the Pacific Ocean and just west of Santa Monica Airport. Its pilot, 72-year-old Harrison Ford, was found "seriously" injured. He was alone on the plane. There were no injuries on the ground. As explained in the Los Angeles Times, "fire officials would not identify the victim of the crash but said he was conscious and breathing when paramedics arrived." Ford was later transported to an unidentified hospital. Eleven...

Santa Monica — It's been really easy for the media to talk about "Birdman" and Michael Keaton's award-winning performance in terms of being a "comeback," and of course, the meta angle of playing an actor who formerly starred as a superhero is just begging for attention. On one hand it's a fortunate hook to help sell the movie, but on the other, it's been a pretty simplistic reduction, not necessarily one that Keaton has had a big problem with, but one that could certainly be discussed with a little more nuance. You might have to go back to the late '90s for examples of the actor's work that really landed culturally, but in the time since, while he's certainly taken a few breathers, he's worked very consistently. He's done TV spots on popular shows. He's starred in acclaimed TV movies like "Live from Baghdad" and the TNT miniseries "The Company.

Johnny Depp channels Leslie Phillips in his latest outing, Mortdecai. But is he successful? Not really...

Your enjoyment of Mortdecai is likely going to be based on one thing: how much you can stand late period Johnny Depp. If you still find his faux-British sauntering thing endearing and enjoyable, you’ll probably have a good time. If however, like me, you’ve been growing tired of it since the second Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, you might find it a bit of a chore.

Based on author Kyril Bonfiglioli’s series of cult novels, Depp plays Charlie Mortdecai, an cartoonish upper crust art dealer-slash-conman, with a mansion in Oxford and staring bankruptcy down the barrel. When a rare Goya painting is stolen, old acquaintance and MI5 agent Alistair Martland (Ewan McGregor) throws Mortdecai a bone – retrieve the painting and he’ll clear his tax debt. What follows is a half Bond,...

Redmayne lauded for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

Belgian director Gust van den Berghe’s Lucifer was presented with the Grand Prix – including a €10,000 grant from the City of Tallinn - at the 18th edition of the Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 14-30) at the weekend.

This is the first year that Tallinn’s International Competition was held with Black Nights now operating as a Fiapf-designated non-specialised competitive festival.

Van den Berghe’s third feature had its world premiere in Rome’s Cinema d’Oggi competition at the Rome Film Festival in October and is being handled internationally by the Paris/Mexico-based sales company Ndm.

The International Jury including Finnish actress Kati Outinen and film-makers Andrei Proshkin (Russia) and Tomasz Wasilewski (Poland) awarded the prize for Best Cinematographer to Erik Põllumaa for his work on Estonian film-maker Martti Helde’s In The Crosswind and for Best Director to Kyrgyzstan’s Marat Sarulu for Move...

Other prizes included a Best Actor prize for Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

Belgian director Gust van den Berghe’s Lucifer was presented with the Grand Prix – including a €10,000 grant from the City of Tallinn - at the 18th edition of the Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 14-30) at the weekend.

This is the first year that Tallinn’s International Competition was held with Black Nights now operating as a Fiapf-designated non-specialised competitive festival.

Van den Berghe’s third feature had its world premiere in Rome’s Cinema d’Oggi competition at the Rome Film Festival in October and is being handled internationally by the Paris/Mexico-based sales company Ndm.

The International Jury including Finnish actress Kati Outinen and film-makers Andrei Proshkin (Russia) and Tomasz Wasilewski (Poland) awarded the prize for Best Cinematographer to Erik Põllumaa for his work on Estonian film-maker Martti Helde’s In The Crosswind and for...

Relativity Media's latest release, romantic drama The Best of Me, will be remade as a Bollywood movie. At the Cannes film festival this year, Relativity announced an India joint venture with Bollywood film and TV company B4U. The venture has earmarked a $100 million investment to create and distribute entertainment and sports content in India across various platforms, including film, TV and digital. The remake of The Best of Me is the first of a three-picture deal between the Relativity-B4U venture and leading Indian banner Balaji Telefilms. Directed by Michael Hoffman, the film is based on Nicholas Sparks'

read more...

As with any genre, melodrama has its own artistry. Creating an emotional response in the viewer enough to cause tears, or at least for a strong connection to the main characters, is an art in itself. Done properly, melodrama can be as exhilarating as an action film, and as intense as a horror movie. Done poorly, it can make you feel at best cheated, and at worst manipulated and ashamed of wasting two hours on such a pedantic series of misadventures.

With that in mind, I must consider how to review the latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel: The Best of Me. I must choose my words carefully, for you, the reader, shall make the heartfelt decision whether to spend your money on a tale of love and redemption in the Louisiana Bayou. So allow me to put this as gently as I know how: The Best of Me is bad.

Chicago – What do you see in the compilation image below?

Yes, it’s nine films based on books by romance novelist Nicholas Sparks. But look more closely.

“Message in a Bottle” opened his can of worms in 1999 and 2002’s “A Walk to Remember” could only say it was based on a best-selling novel. Then, after averaging one film every 1.6 years, they’ve all been riding on the breakout hit of 2004’s “The Notebook” with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.

The nine films based on Nicholas Sparks novels with the most recent in the upper left on the oldest in the lower right.

Image credit: Nicholas Sparks

Rating: 1.0/5.0

In fact, every single movie poster after “The Notebook” had to say it’s from the author of “The Notebook” or else it would have never seen the light of day. The blessing of having a hit later becomes your burden of trying to repeat it.

The Nicholas Sparks idea well is running dry — also, hey, how come the guy hasn’t tried to kill anyone by tossing them down a well yet? surely, that has to be coming soon — and the prolific author has started cribbing from his own material to slap together lackluster storylines that only approximate genuine feelings, emotional ether floating on the breeze. The latest film to be adapted from Sparks’ written works, Michael Hoffman‘s The Best of Me is rife with plotlines pulled from other Sparks features — kid cancer, car accidents, using an interest in astronomy to prove that someone is smart, disapproving parents, a small Southern town (always a small Southern town, someone introduce Sparks to the North for chrissakes), trademark shocking deaths — but everything is so loosely cobbled together that the film feels closer to a cinematic adaptation of Nicholas Sparks-branded Mad Libs than it does an actual feature. There...