From Troy to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt’s filmography is filled with one iconic project after the other, making it impossible for us to pick a favorite. However, his Se7en co-star Morgan Freeman has a film picked out that he cannot stop singing praises of and it is a rather underrated one – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Quite a mouthful.
Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in Seven (1995) | Credits: New Line Cinema
The epic revisionist Western film retold the story of American outlaws Jesse James and Robert Ford, the latter of whom killed the former and went on to capitalize on the murder. Morgan Freeman, one of the greatest actors to have blessed the film industry, couldn’t stop watching the film for all the right reasons.
An Underrated Brad Pitt Film Brad Pitt’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward...
Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in Seven (1995) | Credits: New Line Cinema
The epic revisionist Western film retold the story of American outlaws Jesse James and Robert Ford, the latter of whom killed the former and went on to capitalize on the murder. Morgan Freeman, one of the greatest actors to have blessed the film industry, couldn’t stop watching the film for all the right reasons.
An Underrated Brad Pitt Film Brad Pitt’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward...
- 10/9/2024
- by Mishkaat Khan
- FandomWire
Updated with more signatories: Reaction continues to The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech after his film won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film this month.
Some 1,215 Jewish show business professionals now have signed a letter denouncing the filmmaker’s speech, in which he decried the “dehumanization” of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. See the updated full list below.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter states (read it in full in full below).
This list includes among its signatories Eli Roth and Amy Sherman-Palladino, Amy Pascal, Debra Messing, Gail Berman, Hawk Koch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Barber, Lawrence Bender, Tovah Feldshuh and Rod Lurie.
You can watch Glazer’s speech here,...
Some 1,215 Jewish show business professionals now have signed a letter denouncing the filmmaker’s speech, in which he decried the “dehumanization” of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. See the updated full list below.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter states (read it in full in full below).
This list includes among its signatories Eli Roth and Amy Sherman-Palladino, Amy Pascal, Debra Messing, Gail Berman, Hawk Koch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Barber, Lawrence Bender, Tovah Feldshuh and Rod Lurie.
You can watch Glazer’s speech here,...
- 3/20/2024
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Irène Jacob Cuts Deep
By Alex Simon
French-Swiss actress Irène Jacob cemented her status as one of her generation’s greatest talents through her work with legendary Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski: The Double Life of Veronique (1991, for which she was awarded Best Actress at Cannes) and the final chapter of his Three Colors Trilogy, Red (1994).
Jacob comes from an accomplished family: her father Maurice was a renowned French physicist, her mother a successful psychotherapist, and her three brothers are composed of two scientists and a musician. After making her film debut in Louis Malle’s Au Revoir Les Enfants in 1987, Jacob has literally not stopped working. Her latest film, written and directed by her co-star Arnaud Viard, is Paris Love Cut, Viard’s semi-autobiographical tale of a filmmaker trying to balance his personal life, career and sanity in an increasingly shifting landscape. Jacob is delightful as Viard’s very patient (and very pregnant) fiancée.
By Alex Simon
French-Swiss actress Irène Jacob cemented her status as one of her generation’s greatest talents through her work with legendary Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski: The Double Life of Veronique (1991, for which she was awarded Best Actress at Cannes) and the final chapter of his Three Colors Trilogy, Red (1994).
Jacob comes from an accomplished family: her father Maurice was a renowned French physicist, her mother a successful psychotherapist, and her three brothers are composed of two scientists and a musician. After making her film debut in Louis Malle’s Au Revoir Les Enfants in 1987, Jacob has literally not stopped working. Her latest film, written and directed by her co-star Arnaud Viard, is Paris Love Cut, Viard’s semi-autobiographical tale of a filmmaker trying to balance his personal life, career and sanity in an increasingly shifting landscape. Jacob is delightful as Viard’s very patient (and very pregnant) fiancée.
- 12/7/2016
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Curtis Hanson--Confidentially
By
Alex Simon
Curtis Hanson was my first interview with a fellow film buff and film journalist. He was nice enough to sit down with me twice, first at the Rose Cafe in Venice, then at a lunch spot in the Marina, the name of which has been lost to time. He was then kind enough to invite me to the world premiere of "L.A. Confidential" at the Chinese Theater as his guest, my first time on the red carpet at a real-life Hollywood premiere, and called me after this piece ran to thank me personally. A nice man. Hanson, and co-writer Brian Helgeland, would go on to win Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for "L.A. Confidential."
Years later, I ran into Hanson at a book signing party for Pat York that was held in Westwood. I approached him and reminded him of our interview a decade or so earlier.
By
Alex Simon
Curtis Hanson was my first interview with a fellow film buff and film journalist. He was nice enough to sit down with me twice, first at the Rose Cafe in Venice, then at a lunch spot in the Marina, the name of which has been lost to time. He was then kind enough to invite me to the world premiere of "L.A. Confidential" at the Chinese Theater as his guest, my first time on the red carpet at a real-life Hollywood premiere, and called me after this piece ran to thank me personally. A nice man. Hanson, and co-writer Brian Helgeland, would go on to win Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for "L.A. Confidential."
Years later, I ran into Hanson at a book signing party for Pat York that was held in Westwood. I approached him and reminded him of our interview a decade or so earlier.
- 9/21/2016
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Piper Laurie Keeps Her Chin Up
By Alex Simon
Few living actors can claim to have experienced the Hollywood machine in all its iterations more than three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Signed by Universal Pictures at 17, their youngest contract player in years, she was in the last generation that were part of the Hollywood “factory,” pushed into “cheesecake” roles that accented physical attributes, as opposed to talent. It was the beginning of a journey.
She was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932, to immigrant parents of Polish and Russian Jewish descent. When she was still five, the family sent her and her sister to a children’s sanatorium in the mountains to see if her sister’s asthma could be cured. Three years later after being reunited with her family she decided she wanted to become an actress and studied with Benno and Betomi Schneider for several years...
By Alex Simon
Few living actors can claim to have experienced the Hollywood machine in all its iterations more than three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Signed by Universal Pictures at 17, their youngest contract player in years, she was in the last generation that were part of the Hollywood “factory,” pushed into “cheesecake” roles that accented physical attributes, as opposed to talent. It was the beginning of a journey.
She was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932, to immigrant parents of Polish and Russian Jewish descent. When she was still five, the family sent her and her sister to a children’s sanatorium in the mountains to see if her sister’s asthma could be cured. Three years later after being reunited with her family she decided she wanted to become an actress and studied with Benno and Betomi Schneider for several years...
- 6/9/2016
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Hannah Murray Takes a Sabbatical from Winterfell for Bridgend
By Alex Simon
British actress Hannah Murray is on a hot streak. In addition to co-starring in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones as Gilly, the Wilding girl rescued by good-hearted Samwell (John Bradley), the 25 year-old Cambridge graduate recently copped the Best Actress prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival for her starring turn in Bridgend, a powerful drama about a rash of teen suicides in a rural Welsh town.
Hannah stars as Sara, the teenage daughter of a police detective (the always excellent Steven Waddington) sent to a rural village in the county of Bridgend in Wales to investigate the suicides, which have the town’s adults baffled and shattered. Once settled, Sara falls in with a crowd of kids, led by the charismatic and troubled Jamie (Josh O’Connor), with whom Sara develops a dangerous bond. Co-written...
By Alex Simon
British actress Hannah Murray is on a hot streak. In addition to co-starring in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones as Gilly, the Wilding girl rescued by good-hearted Samwell (John Bradley), the 25 year-old Cambridge graduate recently copped the Best Actress prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival for her starring turn in Bridgend, a powerful drama about a rash of teen suicides in a rural Welsh town.
Hannah stars as Sara, the teenage daughter of a police detective (the always excellent Steven Waddington) sent to a rural village in the county of Bridgend in Wales to investigate the suicides, which have the town’s adults baffled and shattered. Once settled, Sara falls in with a crowd of kids, led by the charismatic and troubled Jamie (Josh O’Connor), with whom Sara develops a dangerous bond. Co-written...
- 5/6/2016
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Sarah Gavron: Suffragette City
By Alex Simon
A century has passed since the suffrage movement swept the U.S. and the U.K. in a heated, often violent battle waged by women who were fed up with being second-class citizens, symbolized and crystalized by their being refused the right to vote. Director Sarah Gavron, whose acclaimed first feature Brick Lane (2007) also dealt with feminist issues, brings the story to life with her latest film, Suffragette. Set in 1912, the film follows Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), a working class woman employed in a laundry along with her husband (Ben Whishaw). Maud becomes fed up with the way she and the other women in the laundry are treated, and soon finds herself on the front lines of the suffrage movement: picketing, striking and going to greater, more violent extremes, to make their voices heard. The film co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anne-Marie Duff and Meryl Streep,...
By Alex Simon
A century has passed since the suffrage movement swept the U.S. and the U.K. in a heated, often violent battle waged by women who were fed up with being second-class citizens, symbolized and crystalized by their being refused the right to vote. Director Sarah Gavron, whose acclaimed first feature Brick Lane (2007) also dealt with feminist issues, brings the story to life with her latest film, Suffragette. Set in 1912, the film follows Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), a working class woman employed in a laundry along with her husband (Ben Whishaw). Maud becomes fed up with the way she and the other women in the laundry are treated, and soon finds herself on the front lines of the suffrage movement: picketing, striking and going to greater, more violent extremes, to make their voices heard. The film co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anne-Marie Duff and Meryl Streep,...
- 10/23/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
Influenced by legendary names in the movie poster trade such as Amsel, Drew Struzan, John Alvin, the brothers Hildebrandt, and Tom Jung, artist Ciara McAvoy works almost exclusively in oils for her much sought-after movie posters. However, she has built a broad repertoire of skills in other media (acrylic, watercolor, graphite, charcoal, and pastels) as well as storyboarding, animation, character design, and matte painting. She studied at L'École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where she obtained her Diplôme Supérieur d'Art Plastique (D.S.A.P). Later, she expanded her artistic skill set to include costume design and historical fashion, which now play an integral supporting role in her posters and illustrations. She describes her modus operandi as “photorealism applied to movie posters.”
Her most recent work to soon go public is the poster for Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein, set for release in November. The trailer for the film,...
Influenced by legendary names in the movie poster trade such as Amsel, Drew Struzan, John Alvin, the brothers Hildebrandt, and Tom Jung, artist Ciara McAvoy works almost exclusively in oils for her much sought-after movie posters. However, she has built a broad repertoire of skills in other media (acrylic, watercolor, graphite, charcoal, and pastels) as well as storyboarding, animation, character design, and matte painting. She studied at L'École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where she obtained her Diplôme Supérieur d'Art Plastique (D.S.A.P). Later, she expanded her artistic skill set to include costume design and historical fashion, which now play an integral supporting role in her posters and illustrations. She describes her modus operandi as “photorealism applied to movie posters.”
Her most recent work to soon go public is the poster for Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein, set for release in November. The trailer for the film,...
- 8/18/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
"Listen to me, Marlon...This is one part of yourself speaking to another part of yourself. Listen to the sound of my voice and trust me. You know I have your interests at heart. Just relax, relax, relax. I'm going to help you change in a way that will make you feel happier, more useful...I want you to accept what I say as true. What I tell you here and now is true."
- Marlon Brando, self-hypnosis tape, 1996
Stevan Riley Listens to Marlon Brando
By Alex Simon
In addition to being widely regarded as the greatest film actor of all-time, Marlon Brando, who died in 2004, remains one of popular culture's great enigmas. A man who fiercely guarded his privacy and shunned the spotlight whenever he could, Brando purchased an island in the South Pacific, a place so remote and removed from the western world and its media. It was...
- Marlon Brando, self-hypnosis tape, 1996
Stevan Riley Listens to Marlon Brando
By Alex Simon
In addition to being widely regarded as the greatest film actor of all-time, Marlon Brando, who died in 2004, remains one of popular culture's great enigmas. A man who fiercely guarded his privacy and shunned the spotlight whenever he could, Brando purchased an island in the South Pacific, a place so remote and removed from the western world and its media. It was...
- 7/31/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
I sat down with Oscar-winning screenwriter, actor, director and musician Billy Bob Thornton for Venice Magazine in October of 2001. He had a slate of very diverse projects he was promoting: his first solo music album, "Private Radio," as well as the films "Monster's Ball," "Bandits," and "The Man Who Wasn't There." My strongest memory is of Thornton's quiet intensity and an undercurrent of Southern affability, which came out once he decided you were okay. He seemed to feel that way about me after I shared with him my idolatry of legendary filmmaker Fred Zinnemann, something we shared. I also remember his unusual diet, when our lunch was served. Thornton got the biggest plate of sliced papaya I've seen to date, artfully presented. I got a seafood salad. He looked at my plate, smiled, and told me about the horrible shellfish allergy he'd been saddled with all his life, and how...
- 7/25/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
I interviewed actor Christian Slater in November, 2008 for Venice Magazine. Having long had a reputation as an "enfant terrible" in his youth, Slater surprised me somewhat with his calm, measured demeanor and thoughtful outlook. He was promoting his well-reviewed, but ultimately short-lived, TV series "My Own Worst Enemy," which we discussed a bit, but Slater was eager to reflect on his entire career and life, which he did with aplomb. My other memory of the chat is that during our dinner, the power went out in the restaurant or hotel where we met (the location of which has been lost to time) and the halogen streetlights outside casting our talk in a strange, other-worldly glow for a good 30 minutes. All these factors made our meeting a memorable one. Slater can currently be seen on the new USA Network series "Mr. Robot," which is also being lauded critically, and will hopefully...
- 7/15/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
I interviewed James Coburn in late 1998 for the cover story of the February 1999 issue of Venice Magazine. I had grown up watching Coburn on the late show, but also seeing him on the big screen, first-run. Meeting him was a thrill as he entered the living room of his manager, the late Hilly Elkins', home in Beverly Hills. Coburn was elegant, charming and had the grace of a cat. The only thing that revealed the health problems that had nearly done him in were his gnarled hands, the result of severe arthritis. We spoke about his role in Paul Schrader's newest film, "Affliction," which would earn him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Later, as I walked Coburn to his Acura Nsx sport coupe, he bid me a warm farewell.
Several months later, I encountered him again at The Independent Spirit Awards, in Santa Monica. I went up...
Several months later, I encountered him again at The Independent Spirit Awards, in Santa Monica. I went up...
- 7/15/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
I interviewed model/actress Lauren Hutton in late 2007 at her home in Venice, CA. Hutton greeted me wearing a gingham workshirt, battered jeans and no make-up, hair pulled back. She was and is one of the most beautiful humans I've ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. A sharp mind and tough core resided within, which I quickly found out as our conversation flowed and the hours passed. As she bid me good-night, she handed me a manila envelope. I opened it when I arrived home. Inside, the recent issue of Big Magazine that was done as a tribute to her remarkable career. That magazine, and her inscription, remains one of my most treasured mementos.
Lauren Hutton
No Nip/Tuck Required
By
Alex Simon
Lauren Hutton was the face of American fashion in the 1960s and ‘70s. Having appeared on every major magazine cover multiple times (a record 27 times...
Lauren Hutton
No Nip/Tuck Required
By
Alex Simon
Lauren Hutton was the face of American fashion in the 1960s and ‘70s. Having appeared on every major magazine cover multiple times (a record 27 times...
- 7/12/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
Precious jewels have provided fodder for drama practically since drama was invented, with precious stones and trinkets used as plot devices in plays written as far back as 100 B.C. As man-made substitutes such as rhinestones, moissanite, and cubic zirconium started making the market for seemingly-precious stones more, well, precious, so did the real thing become more dramatic to seek out on film. Here are a few of the most sought after, revered and iconic pieces of jewelry dramatized for our viewing pleasure.
Heart of the Ocean—Titanic
James Cameron’s box office champ offered up one eye-popping set piece after the other, not the least of which was Kate Winslet’s greatest asset. Get your mind out of the gutter! We’re talking about the legendary Heart of the Ocean necklace worn by her character, Rose. Lore has it that the diamond was originally owned by...
Precious jewels have provided fodder for drama practically since drama was invented, with precious stones and trinkets used as plot devices in plays written as far back as 100 B.C. As man-made substitutes such as rhinestones, moissanite, and cubic zirconium started making the market for seemingly-precious stones more, well, precious, so did the real thing become more dramatic to seek out on film. Here are a few of the most sought after, revered and iconic pieces of jewelry dramatized for our viewing pleasure.
Heart of the Ocean—Titanic
James Cameron’s box office champ offered up one eye-popping set piece after the other, not the least of which was Kate Winslet’s greatest asset. Get your mind out of the gutter! We’re talking about the legendary Heart of the Ocean necklace worn by her character, Rose. Lore has it that the diamond was originally owned by...
- 7/11/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
2015 will most likely go down as the year that the once-taboo became respectable, with both gay marriage and marijuana finding legal and public acceptance nationwide. While the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states, the marijuana initiative is having an appropriately slower, but steady climb into legality. That said, we thought we’d take a look at some of cinema’s greatest proponents of the stoner lifestyle, before it all becomes downright conventional.
10. Jeff Spicoli—Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Sean Penn not only became a star with his turn as surfer/stoner Jeff Spicoli in the 1980s’ most iconic teen movie, he established how the stoners of the ‘80s differed from their predecessors: while the rebels of the ‘60s and ‘70s viewed their use of cannabis as a symbol of rebellion, and preferred it to alcohol and the other symbols of their parents’ generation and its decadence,...
2015 will most likely go down as the year that the once-taboo became respectable, with both gay marriage and marijuana finding legal and public acceptance nationwide. While the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states, the marijuana initiative is having an appropriately slower, but steady climb into legality. That said, we thought we’d take a look at some of cinema’s greatest proponents of the stoner lifestyle, before it all becomes downright conventional.
10. Jeff Spicoli—Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Sean Penn not only became a star with his turn as surfer/stoner Jeff Spicoli in the 1980s’ most iconic teen movie, he established how the stoners of the ‘80s differed from their predecessors: while the rebels of the ‘60s and ‘70s viewed their use of cannabis as a symbol of rebellion, and preferred it to alcohol and the other symbols of their parents’ generation and its decadence,...
- 7/9/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
Cars have been a staple of motion pictures since the earliest Keystone Kops two-reel comedies a century ago, usually providing fodder for chase scenes and general mayhem. Whether they’re breaking land-speed records, flying through the air defying laws of aerodynamics, or driven by intrepid heroes pursuing bad guys, cars and movies go together like…well, like movies and popcorn.Like movies and tickets. Like cars and tickets. Wait…let’s just get on with the list, shall we?
Here are the ten coolest cars in movie history, in no particular order:
1. Rendezvous: 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450Sel 6.9
Director Claude Lelouch mounted a camera on his 1976 Mercedes and tore through the early morning streets of Paris at breakneck speeds, cheating only slightly in post-production by overdubbing the sound of a Ferrari 275 Gtb engine with that of his Benz’s. Three people were in the car, with Lelouch at the wheel,...
Cars have been a staple of motion pictures since the earliest Keystone Kops two-reel comedies a century ago, usually providing fodder for chase scenes and general mayhem. Whether they’re breaking land-speed records, flying through the air defying laws of aerodynamics, or driven by intrepid heroes pursuing bad guys, cars and movies go together like…well, like movies and popcorn.Like movies and tickets. Like cars and tickets. Wait…let’s just get on with the list, shall we?
Here are the ten coolest cars in movie history, in no particular order:
1. Rendezvous: 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450Sel 6.9
Director Claude Lelouch mounted a camera on his 1976 Mercedes and tore through the early morning streets of Paris at breakneck speeds, cheating only slightly in post-production by overdubbing the sound of a Ferrari 275 Gtb engine with that of his Benz’s. Three people were in the car, with Lelouch at the wheel,...
- 7/8/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Director John Frankenheimer.
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
- 7/6/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Producer Robert Evans, circa 1970s, in the documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture.
Robert Evans: The Kid Is Alright
By
Alex Simon
I interviewed legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans in 2002 for Venice Magazine, in conjunction with the release of the documentary "The Kid Stays in the Picture," adapted from his iconic autobiography and audiobook. Our chat took place at Woodland, Evans' storied estate in Beverly Hills, in his equally famous screening room, which mysteriously burned down a couple years later. Evans was still physically frail, having recently survived a series of strokes, but his mind, his wit and his charm were sharp as ever, with near total recall for people, places and stories. Many, many stories. Here are a few of them.
It’s a widely-held belief that the years 1967-76 represent the “golden age” of American cinema. Just look at a few of these titles: Rosemary’s Baby,...
Robert Evans: The Kid Is Alright
By
Alex Simon
I interviewed legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans in 2002 for Venice Magazine, in conjunction with the release of the documentary "The Kid Stays in the Picture," adapted from his iconic autobiography and audiobook. Our chat took place at Woodland, Evans' storied estate in Beverly Hills, in his equally famous screening room, which mysteriously burned down a couple years later. Evans was still physically frail, having recently survived a series of strokes, but his mind, his wit and his charm were sharp as ever, with near total recall for people, places and stories. Many, many stories. Here are a few of them.
It’s a widely-held belief that the years 1967-76 represent the “golden age” of American cinema. Just look at a few of these titles: Rosemary’s Baby,...
- 7/5/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
They say that clothes make the man. They also make the man in the movie and, sometimes, even make the movie itself live on in the annals of classic filmdom. With that in mind, here is a list (in no particular order) of ten gents and the characters they played who changed our sartorial habits forever.
1. Michael Douglas/Gordon Gecko—Wall Street
Arguably the movie that set the style for second half of the 1980s, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street featured Michael Douglas’ Oscar-winning turn as corporate raider Gordon Gecko, whose ruthlessness in the boardroom was only matched by his sense of style. Douglas is all clean lines in his pinstripe suits, suspenders and slicked-back hair, creating an iconic look that screamed “power” and “go fuck yourself” simultaneously.
2. Malcolm McDowell/Alex—A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian sci-fi allegory is one of cinema’s great dark satires,...
They say that clothes make the man. They also make the man in the movie and, sometimes, even make the movie itself live on in the annals of classic filmdom. With that in mind, here is a list (in no particular order) of ten gents and the characters they played who changed our sartorial habits forever.
1. Michael Douglas/Gordon Gecko—Wall Street
Arguably the movie that set the style for second half of the 1980s, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street featured Michael Douglas’ Oscar-winning turn as corporate raider Gordon Gecko, whose ruthlessness in the boardroom was only matched by his sense of style. Douglas is all clean lines in his pinstripe suits, suspenders and slicked-back hair, creating an iconic look that screamed “power” and “go fuck yourself” simultaneously.
2. Malcolm McDowell/Alex—A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian sci-fi allegory is one of cinema’s great dark satires,...
- 7/3/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Mel Gibson, whom I interviewed for Venice Magazine in late 2000, was my first real childhood hero I sat down with. If you were a Gen-x male, Mel Gibson was the closest thing we had to Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Sean Connery: a guy's guy whom guys wanted to emulate and women wanted to copulate. If you were a guy who liked girls, the math in the previous equation was pretty simple: be like Mel. Sadly, Gibson's life has taken a very public turn for the worse in the last decade, since his personal legal and troubles stemming from a 2006 DUI arrest in Malibu were made public, one from which his image has yet to fully recover. It was an unfortunate fall from grace for a guy who literally had Hollywood, and the world, in the palm of his hand after sweeping the 1995 Oscars with his box office smash "Braveheart.
- 6/30/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Cinema’s Hidden Pearls – Part II
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few more of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Massacre at Central High (1976)
Dutch director, and former cameraman for the legendary Russ Meyer, Rene Daalder was hired by producers to direct an exploitation...
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few more of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Massacre at Central High (1976)
Dutch director, and former cameraman for the legendary Russ Meyer, Rene Daalder was hired by producers to direct an exploitation...
- 6/29/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Cinema’s Hidden Pearls – Part I
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Night Moves (1975)
Director Arthur Penn hit three home runs in a row with the trifecta of Bonnie & Clyde, Alice’s Restaurant and Little Big Man,...
By Alex Simon
One of nature’s rarest items, a pearl is produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. Truly flawless pearls are infrequently produced in nature, and as a result, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. Hidden pearls exist in the world of movies, as well: films that, in spite of being brilliantly crafted and executed, never got the audience they deserved beyond a cult following.
Here are a few of our favorite hidden pearls in the world of film:
1. Night Moves (1975)
Director Arthur Penn hit three home runs in a row with the trifecta of Bonnie & Clyde, Alice’s Restaurant and Little Big Man,...
- 6/28/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hutcherson Find Paradise Lost in Escobar
By Alex Simon
Most people know Paradise Lost as the title of John Milton’s epic poem, first published in 1667, concerning the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men.” With this metaphor in mind, writer/director Andrea De Stefano has fashioned a new piece of historical fiction, Escobar: Paradise Lost, putting a wide-eyed Canadian tourist named Nick (Josh Hutcherson) who has traveled to 1988-era Colombia looking for surf, sand and fun with his brother (Brady Corbet) at the story's center. After falling hard for a local beauty (Claudia Traisac), Nick is introduced to her favorite uncle, one Pablo Escobar (Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro), who takes...
By Alex Simon
Most people know Paradise Lost as the title of John Milton’s epic poem, first published in 1667, concerning the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men.” With this metaphor in mind, writer/director Andrea De Stefano has fashioned a new piece of historical fiction, Escobar: Paradise Lost, putting a wide-eyed Canadian tourist named Nick (Josh Hutcherson) who has traveled to 1988-era Colombia looking for surf, sand and fun with his brother (Brady Corbet) at the story's center. After falling hard for a local beauty (Claudia Traisac), Nick is introduced to her favorite uncle, one Pablo Escobar (Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro), who takes...
- 6/26/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
I interviewed Pierce Brosnan in conjunction with his third outing as James Bond, in Michael Apted's The World Is Not Enough, in 1999. Brosnan was alternately charming, erudite, thoughtful and intense during our two hour chat. His native intelligence shone through it all, as did a sense of decency which many people seem to acquire after enduring and surviving hardship in their formative years.
Bonding With Brosnan
By
Alex Simon
There are several dangers in becoming a cultural icon, not the least of which is the stigma that your public will forever keep you imprisoned in the mold of your iconography, allowing the recipient a privileged, if imprisoned, existence, particularly if that person is an artist. Sean Connery faced just such a dilemma during the height of James Bond-mania in the mid-60's. A serious actor, Connery desperately wanted to break out of the action hero mold that was British Superspy James Bond,...
Bonding With Brosnan
By
Alex Simon
There are several dangers in becoming a cultural icon, not the least of which is the stigma that your public will forever keep you imprisoned in the mold of your iconography, allowing the recipient a privileged, if imprisoned, existence, particularly if that person is an artist. Sean Connery faced just such a dilemma during the height of James Bond-mania in the mid-60's. A serious actor, Connery desperately wanted to break out of the action hero mold that was British Superspy James Bond,...
- 6/24/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Awaiting Interreflections…
Peter Joseph’s highly anticipated new film series inches towards its 2016 release.
By Alex Simon
In a time of great social strife and growing inequality and public outcry, it’s no wonder Peter Joseph's work has gained more and more prominence in the counter-culture each year. Love him or hate him, Joseph continues to challenge the “zeitgeist”, leading the charge towards a new society. Art is his weapon… and the thousands of dedicated fans don’t hurt either.
Peter Joseph is a producer who created the Zeitgeist Film Trilogy, a series of films critical of society and culture. These works exploded online starting in 2007 with millions of views and can now be found in major media outlets such as Netflix. His third film, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, had the largest grassroots, non-profit theatrical release in history, with almost 350 screenings in 60 countries in 25 languages. While I may not agree with everything in his films,...
Peter Joseph’s highly anticipated new film series inches towards its 2016 release.
By Alex Simon
In a time of great social strife and growing inequality and public outcry, it’s no wonder Peter Joseph's work has gained more and more prominence in the counter-culture each year. Love him or hate him, Joseph continues to challenge the “zeitgeist”, leading the charge towards a new society. Art is his weapon… and the thousands of dedicated fans don’t hurt either.
Peter Joseph is a producer who created the Zeitgeist Film Trilogy, a series of films critical of society and culture. These works exploded online starting in 2007 with millions of views and can now be found in major media outlets such as Netflix. His third film, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, had the largest grassroots, non-profit theatrical release in history, with almost 350 screenings in 60 countries in 25 languages. While I may not agree with everything in his films,...
- 6/21/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Reda Kateb Takes an Oath in Hippocrates
By Alex Simon
French actor Reda Kateb always knew he was a born actor. The son of an Algerian actor father and French mother (and grandnephew of celebrated Algerian writer Kateb Yacine), Reda grew up watching his father perform on stages across Europe. After deciding himself to “enter the family business” as a child, honing his skills reciting his great uncle’s texts, Reda stayed busy on the stage as well, making his film debut in the internationally-lauded A Prophet in 2009.
Reda’s latest film, Hippocrates: Diary of a French Doctor, traces the relationship between two young physicians (Kateb and Vincent Lacoste) doing their internships in a Parisian hospital. Reda’s work captured him a 2014 César Award as Best Supporting Actor. The film opens in the U.S. today, June 19.
Reda spoke to us by phone from his home in France. Here’s...
By Alex Simon
French actor Reda Kateb always knew he was a born actor. The son of an Algerian actor father and French mother (and grandnephew of celebrated Algerian writer Kateb Yacine), Reda grew up watching his father perform on stages across Europe. After deciding himself to “enter the family business” as a child, honing his skills reciting his great uncle’s texts, Reda stayed busy on the stage as well, making his film debut in the internationally-lauded A Prophet in 2009.
Reda’s latest film, Hippocrates: Diary of a French Doctor, traces the relationship between two young physicians (Kateb and Vincent Lacoste) doing their internships in a Parisian hospital. Reda’s work captured him a 2014 César Award as Best Supporting Actor. The film opens in the U.S. today, June 19.
Reda spoke to us by phone from his home in France. Here’s...
- 6/19/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
CineCoup Media, a Canada-based new studio model for independent content creators to develop and market their original film and TV projects, has announced the Final 5 genre projects that are moving forward for the chance at $1,000,000 in production financing and an ‘event style’ theatrical release with Cineplex Entertainment.
The Final 5 projects are:
"A Western" – Vancouver, BC
Team : Alex Simon, Alex Parra, Noah Dennis
"Across All Galaxies" – Toronto, On
Team : Elvis Deane, Andrew Hopps, Sara Miller
"Hellmington" – Toronto, On
Team : Alex Lee Williams, Michelle Aseltine, Justin Hewitt-Drakulic
"High School Brawl" – Edmonton, Ab
Team : Aaron Kurmey, Ryan Hatt, Kevin Johnson
"Black Land" – Vancouver, BC
Team : Adam Dent, Shaine Jones, Nick Marley
The Final 5 teams will travel to Banff World Media Festival for the “CineCoup $1,000,000 Big Dirty Drink-up” event on June 8th, where they’ll pitch before a packed room and a panel of industry professionals, including: Michael Kennedy, Evp Filmed Entertainment, Cineplex Entertainment;producer Dan Goldberg (Meatballs, Hangover series); Susan Curran, Director of Marketing at Starz Home Entertainment, CineCoup executives and the top CineCoup fan!
One project will be greenlit for the CineCoup Big Deal that afternoon.
The Final 5 projects are:
"A Western" – Vancouver, BC
Team : Alex Simon, Alex Parra, Noah Dennis
"Across All Galaxies" – Toronto, On
Team : Elvis Deane, Andrew Hopps, Sara Miller
"Hellmington" – Toronto, On
Team : Alex Lee Williams, Michelle Aseltine, Justin Hewitt-Drakulic
"High School Brawl" – Edmonton, Ab
Team : Aaron Kurmey, Ryan Hatt, Kevin Johnson
"Black Land" – Vancouver, BC
Team : Adam Dent, Shaine Jones, Nick Marley
The Final 5 teams will travel to Banff World Media Festival for the “CineCoup $1,000,000 Big Dirty Drink-up” event on June 8th, where they’ll pitch before a packed room and a panel of industry professionals, including: Michael Kennedy, Evp Filmed Entertainment, Cineplex Entertainment;producer Dan Goldberg (Meatballs, Hangover series); Susan Curran, Director of Marketing at Starz Home Entertainment, CineCoup executives and the top CineCoup fan!
One project will be greenlit for the CineCoup Big Deal that afternoon.
- 5/28/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Sweet Painting Lady: Ciara McAvoy Resurrects the Art of the Movie Poster
By Alex Simon
“Art is not just a part of my life. It Is my life. It gives me breath. We are eternally entwined.” This is the mantra of Scottish artist Ciara McAvoy, a painter renowned for her stunning oil work, which the Glasgow-born artist has used to create some of the most iconic movie posters in modern times. Inspired by her French grandfather, a pre-ww II portraitist who gained fame at Montmartre, McAvoy’s interest in drawing and painting film-related subjects began after her first viewing of Star Wars as a child.
“I started drawing at eight and painted and sold my first oil, entitled Cops, when I was only twelve years old, so I guess I can say that I was born to be an artist," McAvoy recalled in a 2014 interview with David Bateman of Stv Glasgow.
By Alex Simon
“Art is not just a part of my life. It Is my life. It gives me breath. We are eternally entwined.” This is the mantra of Scottish artist Ciara McAvoy, a painter renowned for her stunning oil work, which the Glasgow-born artist has used to create some of the most iconic movie posters in modern times. Inspired by her French grandfather, a pre-ww II portraitist who gained fame at Montmartre, McAvoy’s interest in drawing and painting film-related subjects began after her first viewing of Star Wars as a child.
“I started drawing at eight and painted and sold my first oil, entitled Cops, when I was only twelve years old, so I guess I can say that I was born to be an artist," McAvoy recalled in a 2014 interview with David Bateman of Stv Glasgow.
- 5/27/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Sweet Painting Lady: Ciara McAvoy Resurrects the Art of the Movie Poster
By Alex Simon
“Art is not just a part of my life. It Is my life. It gives me breath. We are eternally entwined.” This is the mantra of Scottish artist Ciara McAvoy, a painter renowned for her stunning oil work, which the Glasgow-born artist has used to create some of the most iconic movie posters in modern times. Inspired by her French grandfather, a pre-ww II portraitist who gained fame at Montmartre, McAvoy’s interest in drawing and painting film-related subjects began after her first viewing of Star Wars as a child.
“I started drawing at eight and painted and sold my first oil, entitled Cops, when I was only twelve years old, so I guess I can say that I was born to be an artist," McAvoy recalled in a 2014 interview with David Bateman of Stv Glasgow.
By Alex Simon
“Art is not just a part of my life. It Is my life. It gives me breath. We are eternally entwined.” This is the mantra of Scottish artist Ciara McAvoy, a painter renowned for her stunning oil work, which the Glasgow-born artist has used to create some of the most iconic movie posters in modern times. Inspired by her French grandfather, a pre-ww II portraitist who gained fame at Montmartre, McAvoy’s interest in drawing and painting film-related subjects began after her first viewing of Star Wars as a child.
“I started drawing at eight and painted and sold my first oil, entitled Cops, when I was only twelve years old, so I guess I can say that I was born to be an artist," McAvoy recalled in a 2014 interview with David Bateman of Stv Glasgow.
- 5/24/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
Stress kills, goes the old saying, and can cause a host of maladies before it does. Hypertension, heart disease and even Bruxism, otherwise known as grinding of the teeth, can be its unfortunate products. In that spirit, here are ten examples of stress in on-screen, and its most masterful portraits.
1. Jack Lemmon—Save the Tiger (1973)
Jack Lemmon took home a Best Actor Academy Award for his incendiary turn as Harry Stoner, a once-prosperous businessman who finds his carefully-tailored life crashing down around him. His garment business in downtown La is going bust, his marriage is dead in the water, and the crazy hippies who hitchhike on the Sunset Strip just don’t match his Ww II era sensibilities. When Harry decides to have his business “torched” for the insurance money, he goes on a self-destructive odyssey through early ‘70s La. His word association game with a cute...
Stress kills, goes the old saying, and can cause a host of maladies before it does. Hypertension, heart disease and even Bruxism, otherwise known as grinding of the teeth, can be its unfortunate products. In that spirit, here are ten examples of stress in on-screen, and its most masterful portraits.
1. Jack Lemmon—Save the Tiger (1973)
Jack Lemmon took home a Best Actor Academy Award for his incendiary turn as Harry Stoner, a once-prosperous businessman who finds his carefully-tailored life crashing down around him. His garment business in downtown La is going bust, his marriage is dead in the water, and the crazy hippies who hitchhike on the Sunset Strip just don’t match his Ww II era sensibilities. When Harry decides to have his business “torched” for the insurance money, he goes on a self-destructive odyssey through early ‘70s La. His word association game with a cute...
- 5/19/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
There are few rituals in life more chaotic, confounding and magical than the wedding. Appropriately, marriages have provided the backdrop for many a story spun through the ages. Whether it’s sending out multitudes of wedding invitations, choosing the right dress, or whether to seat Aunt Mabel next to her second or fifth ex-husband at the reception, weddings both in life and on film are almost always guaranteed to bring forth a surge of emotions. Below are a few of our favorite cinematic nuptials:
1. The Searchers (1956)
John Ford’s western masterpiece is full of many iconic moments, not the least of which is one of the screen’s greatest knock-down, drag-out fights between Jeffrey Hunter and Ken Curtis for the hand of comely Vera Miles. Martin Scorsese loved this scene so much, he paid homage by having his characters watch it in Mean Streets (1973).
2. Rachel Getting Married...
There are few rituals in life more chaotic, confounding and magical than the wedding. Appropriately, marriages have provided the backdrop for many a story spun through the ages. Whether it’s sending out multitudes of wedding invitations, choosing the right dress, or whether to seat Aunt Mabel next to her second or fifth ex-husband at the reception, weddings both in life and on film are almost always guaranteed to bring forth a surge of emotions. Below are a few of our favorite cinematic nuptials:
1. The Searchers (1956)
John Ford’s western masterpiece is full of many iconic moments, not the least of which is one of the screen’s greatest knock-down, drag-out fights between Jeffrey Hunter and Ken Curtis for the hand of comely Vera Miles. Martin Scorsese loved this scene so much, he paid homage by having his characters watch it in Mean Streets (1973).
2. Rachel Getting Married...
- 5/19/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
It was August, 2005. I knocked on the double door at the Four Seasons. It opened almost immediately. "Hi, I'm Nic," he said, hand outstretched. Nicolas Cage wasn't who I expected him to be. Like all actors, he was smaller and trimmer in person than he appeared on-screen. Neatly dressed in an Armani suit, Cage also displayed none of the manic fervor in real life as had become his signature on-screen. He was thoughtful, well-spoken and incredibly literate in all seven arts. It's an infrequent experience that you leave an interview feeling you've just met someone that you could hang out with regularly, but I got that with Nic Cage, in spades. He was endlessly fascinating, but also kind of a regular guy. Another of my favorite chats I count myself lucky to have been part of.
Nicolas Cage: Lord Of The Nerds
By
Alex Simon
It’s an inevitable...
Nicolas Cage: Lord Of The Nerds
By
Alex Simon
It’s an inevitable...
- 5/6/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
“Trumpet in a herd of elephants; / Crow in the company of cocks; / Bleat in a flock of goats.”—Mayan proverb.
“Frank, let's face it: who can trust a cop that won't take money?” –A fellow cop to Frank Serpico (Al Pacino)
In 1973, between the first two Godfather films, Al Pacino hung his hat on another iconic film and character of ‘70s cinema. Based on the true story of New York City Police Detective Frank Serpico, who in 1971 broke the code of silence unofficially understood by every cop to be sacrosanct and testified before the Knapp Commission, a government inquiry into NYPD police corruption. Serpico’s story quickly become big news, and a best-selling non-fiction book by Peter Maas. Sidney Lumet’s film of Serpico, written by celebrated screenwriters Norman Wexler and Waldo Salt, took the policier further into gritty new territory that had been forged two years...
“Trumpet in a herd of elephants; / Crow in the company of cocks; / Bleat in a flock of goats.”—Mayan proverb.
“Frank, let's face it: who can trust a cop that won't take money?” –A fellow cop to Frank Serpico (Al Pacino)
In 1973, between the first two Godfather films, Al Pacino hung his hat on another iconic film and character of ‘70s cinema. Based on the true story of New York City Police Detective Frank Serpico, who in 1971 broke the code of silence unofficially understood by every cop to be sacrosanct and testified before the Knapp Commission, a government inquiry into NYPD police corruption. Serpico’s story quickly become big news, and a best-selling non-fiction book by Peter Maas. Sidney Lumet’s film of Serpico, written by celebrated screenwriters Norman Wexler and Waldo Salt, took the policier further into gritty new territory that had been forged two years...
- 5/5/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
By the mid-1960s, the notorious Hayes Code, the censorship standards begun in the 1930s, had begun to fall away. Films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate and In the Heat of the Night started pushing the envelope in terms of “adult” content portrayed on-screen. With the advent of the MPAA rating system in November, 1968 a new era of freedom was ushered in. Filmmakers could frankly portray sex, violence, profanity and formerly taboo subject matters. While the aforementioned films are all iconic in stature, one of the key films that pushed the rating system into being is now largely forgotten.
Roderick Thorp’s 1966 novel The Detective became an instant best-seller, a mammoth (600 pages), unflinching look at Joe Leland, a weary veteran cop who finds his legal and personal mettle tested while investigating the brutal murder of a wealthy, gay department store heir.
By the mid-1960s, the notorious Hayes Code, the censorship standards begun in the 1930s, had begun to fall away. Films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate and In the Heat of the Night started pushing the envelope in terms of “adult” content portrayed on-screen. With the advent of the MPAA rating system in November, 1968 a new era of freedom was ushered in. Filmmakers could frankly portray sex, violence, profanity and formerly taboo subject matters. While the aforementioned films are all iconic in stature, one of the key films that pushed the rating system into being is now largely forgotten.
Roderick Thorp’s 1966 novel The Detective became an instant best-seller, a mammoth (600 pages), unflinching look at Joe Leland, a weary veteran cop who finds his legal and personal mettle tested while investigating the brutal murder of a wealthy, gay department store heir.
- 4/20/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By
Alex Simon
Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) is a man who has given up. A once-promising honors graduate of Boston College Law School, partner in one of the city’s most prestigious firms (not to mention married to the daughter of the firm’s founder), Galvin discovered too late that he had the biggest Achilles Heel an attorney can be cursed with: a conscience. Upon learning that another partner in his firm tried to bribe a juror from a case Frank was trying, thinking he’d be helping Frank out, Frank threatened to report him to have him disbarred and prosecuted. So of course, the firm backed Frank, fired the crooked lawyer and made sure he spent many years making license plates at the state pen, while giving Frank a raise and a key to the city. Right?
Sidney Lumet’s 1982 film The Verdict is one of the great cinematic redemption stories.
Alex Simon
Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) is a man who has given up. A once-promising honors graduate of Boston College Law School, partner in one of the city’s most prestigious firms (not to mention married to the daughter of the firm’s founder), Galvin discovered too late that he had the biggest Achilles Heel an attorney can be cursed with: a conscience. Upon learning that another partner in his firm tried to bribe a juror from a case Frank was trying, thinking he’d be helping Frank out, Frank threatened to report him to have him disbarred and prosecuted. So of course, the firm backed Frank, fired the crooked lawyer and made sure he spent many years making license plates at the state pen, while giving Frank a raise and a key to the city. Right?
Sidney Lumet’s 1982 film The Verdict is one of the great cinematic redemption stories.
- 4/18/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
The Tennessee state House voted Wednesday to adopt the Holy Bible as the official state book. The chamber approved the measure 55-38. It is sponsored by Republican Rep. Jerry Sexton, a former pastor, who argued that his proposal reflects the Bible's historical, cultural and economic impact in Tennessee. In addition to the measure ignoring serious constitutional issues, it brings to mind a legendary legal case held in Tennessee nearly a century ago.
The Scopes “Monkey Trial” was held in the small town of Dayton, Tn. in 1925. A substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The trial drew intense international publicity, as two of the nation’s most high-profile attorneys, William Jennings Bryan (prosecution) and Clarence Darrow (defense), argued the case, one of the earliest examples of Fundamentalist vs. Modernist...
The Tennessee state House voted Wednesday to adopt the Holy Bible as the official state book. The chamber approved the measure 55-38. It is sponsored by Republican Rep. Jerry Sexton, a former pastor, who argued that his proposal reflects the Bible's historical, cultural and economic impact in Tennessee. In addition to the measure ignoring serious constitutional issues, it brings to mind a legendary legal case held in Tennessee nearly a century ago.
The Scopes “Monkey Trial” was held in the small town of Dayton, Tn. in 1925. A substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The trial drew intense international publicity, as two of the nation’s most high-profile attorneys, William Jennings Bryan (prosecution) and Clarence Darrow (defense), argued the case, one of the earliest examples of Fundamentalist vs. Modernist...
- 4/16/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
For the one person on the planet who's never see the Godfather films--spoilers Ahead.
Few characters in film history have displayed the cunning, charm and utter moral ambiguity as that of Tom Hagen, the Corleone family lawyer in Francis Coppola’s first two Godfather films. In Mario Puzo’s novel, as well as the film adaptation, it’s revealed that Hagen (played by Robert Duvall) was found living on the street as an 11 year-old by pre-teen Sonny Corleone (played in the film as an adult by James Caan) and unofficially adopted by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) as one of their own. Puzo’s novel reveals that Don Vito never formally adopted Tom, as he felt it would have been disrespectful to the boy’s real family, who were torn apart by their father’s alcoholism.
Throughout both films, Hagen remains the voice of reason and rational thinking,...
For the one person on the planet who's never see the Godfather films--spoilers Ahead.
Few characters in film history have displayed the cunning, charm and utter moral ambiguity as that of Tom Hagen, the Corleone family lawyer in Francis Coppola’s first two Godfather films. In Mario Puzo’s novel, as well as the film adaptation, it’s revealed that Hagen (played by Robert Duvall) was found living on the street as an 11 year-old by pre-teen Sonny Corleone (played in the film as an adult by James Caan) and unofficially adopted by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) as one of their own. Puzo’s novel reveals that Don Vito never formally adopted Tom, as he felt it would have been disrespectful to the boy’s real family, who were torn apart by their father’s alcoholism.
Throughout both films, Hagen remains the voice of reason and rational thinking,...
- 4/15/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
Lawyers in motion pictures have been portrayed as one of two extremes, devils or angels, almost since celluloid was invented. The first film dealing specifically with a law firm and attorneys, 1933’s Counsellor at Law, starring John Barrymore, portrayed its J.D.s as upstanding citizens, as did the early Perry Mason films of the same period. This quickly changed, however, with many attorneys portrayed as being capable of the same brand of skullduggery as their shifty clients. With that in mind, we bring you a list of the good, the bad and the ugly of lawyers in movies.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch became the boilerplate for the Noble Movie Lawyer in this iconic, 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s award-winning novel. Atticus Finch, a small town attorney in the Depression-era South, must defend a black man (Brock Peters) falsely accused of raping a white woman,...
Lawyers in motion pictures have been portrayed as one of two extremes, devils or angels, almost since celluloid was invented. The first film dealing specifically with a law firm and attorneys, 1933’s Counsellor at Law, starring John Barrymore, portrayed its J.D.s as upstanding citizens, as did the early Perry Mason films of the same period. This quickly changed, however, with many attorneys portrayed as being capable of the same brand of skullduggery as their shifty clients. With that in mind, we bring you a list of the good, the bad and the ugly of lawyers in movies.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch became the boilerplate for the Noble Movie Lawyer in this iconic, 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s award-winning novel. Atticus Finch, a small town attorney in the Depression-era South, must defend a black man (Brock Peters) falsely accused of raping a white woman,...
- 4/13/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
My First R-rated Movie Or…
How I Became The 007 Of Covert Forbidden Film Viewing
By Alex Simon
For those of us who grew up in the suburbs in the pre-home video, pre-cable TV and pre-Netflix coupons 1970s and early ‘80s, there were few dangerous pleasures as heady as sneaking into an R-rated movie at the local multiplex. The multiplex cinema was a ‘70s phenomenon that made regulating children’s viewing habits infinitely more difficult than the old days of stand-alone, single screen theaters. Ironically, the new freedom that filmmakers enjoyed with the advent of the MPAA rating system in late 1968 was almost in perfect synch with the rise of multi-screen cinemas. Some things do happen for a reason.
You never forget your first...
My first R-rated film was during Thanksgiving of 1976. We were visiting my dad’s family in Birmingham, Alabama and the men adjourned after dinner to go see Two Minute Warning,...
How I Became The 007 Of Covert Forbidden Film Viewing
By Alex Simon
For those of us who grew up in the suburbs in the pre-home video, pre-cable TV and pre-Netflix coupons 1970s and early ‘80s, there were few dangerous pleasures as heady as sneaking into an R-rated movie at the local multiplex. The multiplex cinema was a ‘70s phenomenon that made regulating children’s viewing habits infinitely more difficult than the old days of stand-alone, single screen theaters. Ironically, the new freedom that filmmakers enjoyed with the advent of the MPAA rating system in late 1968 was almost in perfect synch with the rise of multi-screen cinemas. Some things do happen for a reason.
You never forget your first...
My first R-rated film was during Thanksgiving of 1976. We were visiting my dad’s family in Birmingham, Alabama and the men adjourned after dinner to go see Two Minute Warning,...
- 3/24/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
How Cell Phones Would Have Ruined Most Of Our Favorite Movies
By
Alex Simon
If you’re a pop culture maven, most likely it can be agreed that the modern cell phone can be traced back to two classic TV series of the 1960s: Star Trek and Get Smart. Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his USS Enterprise crew were always armed with their “communicators” when traveling abroad on a distant planet. They were palm-sized devices with covers the flipped open, providing instant connection with the orbiting space ship. This design was aped, no doubt, by former Trekkies for the classic “flip phone” design that ruled the high-tech roost in the late 90s and early millennium.
Secret Agent 86 Maxwell Smart had his shoe phone, surely the most creative (and ridiculous) example of technology ever invented by someone who was most likely thought to be a creative and scientific genius. However, it...
By
Alex Simon
If you’re a pop culture maven, most likely it can be agreed that the modern cell phone can be traced back to two classic TV series of the 1960s: Star Trek and Get Smart. Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his USS Enterprise crew were always armed with their “communicators” when traveling abroad on a distant planet. They were palm-sized devices with covers the flipped open, providing instant connection with the orbiting space ship. This design was aped, no doubt, by former Trekkies for the classic “flip phone” design that ruled the high-tech roost in the late 90s and early millennium.
Secret Agent 86 Maxwell Smart had his shoe phone, surely the most creative (and ridiculous) example of technology ever invented by someone who was most likely thought to be a creative and scientific genius. However, it...
- 3/18/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By
Alex Simon
Hollywood, like any place that is more about its lore than the actual sum of its parts, is full of unsung heroes who have given audiences some of their most cherished cinematic moments. Odds are if you’re a movie buff, you’ll remember the car chases in iconic films like Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. Stuntman, stunt driver and later, stunt coordinator Bill Hickman was one of those people who remained virtually anonymous during his lifetime, but is responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic, and hair-raising moments.
The Los Angeles native was born in 1921 and had been working in Hollywood for ten years before landing his first (visible) role in Stanley Kramer’s legendary The Wild One, the 1953 film that cemented star Marlon Brando’s status as an icon of post-war teen rebellion. Hickman can be seen as one of Brando’s...
Alex Simon
Hollywood, like any place that is more about its lore than the actual sum of its parts, is full of unsung heroes who have given audiences some of their most cherished cinematic moments. Odds are if you’re a movie buff, you’ll remember the car chases in iconic films like Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. Stuntman, stunt driver and later, stunt coordinator Bill Hickman was one of those people who remained virtually anonymous during his lifetime, but is responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic, and hair-raising moments.
The Los Angeles native was born in 1921 and had been working in Hollywood for ten years before landing his first (visible) role in Stanley Kramer’s legendary The Wild One, the 1953 film that cemented star Marlon Brando’s status as an icon of post-war teen rebellion. Hickman can be seen as one of Brando’s...
- 3/17/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Target The Hunting Ground
By
Alex Simon
Director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering's 2012 documentary The Invisible War took a look at the epidemic of rape within the American military and won 2014 Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Journalism, Long Form; a 2013 Peabody Award; and the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. They now shift the focus to sexual assault on the American college campus with their new film, The Hunting Ground, a Radius TWC release which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theatrical release February 27.
Among the sobering statistics documented in the film are the following:
1. One in five college women will be sexually assaulted.
2. One in 33 college men will be sexually assaulted.
3. Only five percent of campus assaults are reported.
4. Experts say false reports account for...
By
Alex Simon
Director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering's 2012 documentary The Invisible War took a look at the epidemic of rape within the American military and won 2014 Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Journalism, Long Form; a 2013 Peabody Award; and the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. They now shift the focus to sexual assault on the American college campus with their new film, The Hunting Ground, a Radius TWC release which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theatrical release February 27.
Among the sobering statistics documented in the film are the following:
1. One in five college women will be sexually assaulted.
2. One in 33 college men will be sexually assaulted.
3. Only five percent of campus assaults are reported.
4. Experts say false reports account for...
- 3/3/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
John Boorman: Memories of Queen and Country
By Alex Simon
John Boorman first made his name as a filmmaker to be reckoned with upon the release of 1967’s Point Blank, one of the seminal films of that decade. Classics such as Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and The Emerald Forest (1985) followed, with 1987’s Hope and Glory, Boorman’s personal memoir of growing up in Ww II London during the Blitz, being one of his career high points, garnering five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, as well as winning a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (comedy) and sweeping that year’s BAFTAs in every major category.
2015 finds John Boorman, now 82, releasing what he says might be his swan song as a filmmaker, Queen and Country, the long-awaited sequel to Hope and Glory. The film finds Boorman’s alter ego Bill Rohan (Callum Turner) serving in the British army during the Korean War,...
By Alex Simon
John Boorman first made his name as a filmmaker to be reckoned with upon the release of 1967’s Point Blank, one of the seminal films of that decade. Classics such as Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and The Emerald Forest (1985) followed, with 1987’s Hope and Glory, Boorman’s personal memoir of growing up in Ww II London during the Blitz, being one of his career high points, garnering five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, as well as winning a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (comedy) and sweeping that year’s BAFTAs in every major category.
2015 finds John Boorman, now 82, releasing what he says might be his swan song as a filmmaker, Queen and Country, the long-awaited sequel to Hope and Glory. The film finds Boorman’s alter ego Bill Rohan (Callum Turner) serving in the British army during the Korean War,...
- 2/27/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Alex Simon
1. Terrific film, period.
2. Eastwood, like all great filmmakers, takes no specific side in the telling of his story. He simply presents it, and then lets the audience draw their own conclusion.
3. It’s a litmus test movie. This means, if you’re basically an anti-war, peace-loving dove type (my camp), you’ll see it as anti-war. If you’re a bumper sticker thinking simpleton on either extreme of the sociopolitical fence, you’ll view it as “a jingoistic, pro-war, anti-Iraqi, neo-Fascist propaganda film that Leni Riefenstahl would have been proud to call her own,” or…”Yee-ha! Just like playin’ fuckin’ Call Of Duty: Mission Iraq, bubba! Let’s get our .306s together and go kill some ragheads for reals! Oh yeah, and that Lanny Reefenbacher chick woulda had a kitten over this shit. It’s awesome!”
4. Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career, truly inhabiting the...
1. Terrific film, period.
2. Eastwood, like all great filmmakers, takes no specific side in the telling of his story. He simply presents it, and then lets the audience draw their own conclusion.
3. It’s a litmus test movie. This means, if you’re basically an anti-war, peace-loving dove type (my camp), you’ll see it as anti-war. If you’re a bumper sticker thinking simpleton on either extreme of the sociopolitical fence, you’ll view it as “a jingoistic, pro-war, anti-Iraqi, neo-Fascist propaganda film that Leni Riefenstahl would have been proud to call her own,” or…”Yee-ha! Just like playin’ fuckin’ Call Of Duty: Mission Iraq, bubba! Let’s get our .306s together and go kill some ragheads for reals! Oh yeah, and that Lanny Reefenbacher chick woulda had a kitten over this shit. It’s awesome!”
4. Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career, truly inhabiting the...
- 1/23/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Giuseppe Tornatore Remembers as Cinema Paradiso Turns 25
By Alex Simon
Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso won the 1990 Best Foreign Film Oscar after setting box office records the previous year all over the world. Paradiso had a rough journey on its road to glory, however, with the then-32 year-old writer/director being forced to cut nearly 30 minutes from its original running time and facing critical excoriation and box office indifference upon its original release in Italy. It’s a fitting metaphor for a film that has become a classic tale about fate, perseverance, and destiny.
Set in Sicily beginning in the years just after Ww II to the late 1950s, and framed by modern-day flashbacks of a renowned film director (French actor/director Jacques Perrin) returning to his Sicilian town for the first time in 30 years, Tornatore’s hero (and alter-ego) is pint-sized Toto, who finds himself obsessed with the movies,...
By Alex Simon
Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso won the 1990 Best Foreign Film Oscar after setting box office records the previous year all over the world. Paradiso had a rough journey on its road to glory, however, with the then-32 year-old writer/director being forced to cut nearly 30 minutes from its original running time and facing critical excoriation and box office indifference upon its original release in Italy. It’s a fitting metaphor for a film that has become a classic tale about fate, perseverance, and destiny.
Set in Sicily beginning in the years just after Ww II to the late 1950s, and framed by modern-day flashbacks of a renowned film director (French actor/director Jacques Perrin) returning to his Sicilian town for the first time in 30 years, Tornatore’s hero (and alter-ego) is pint-sized Toto, who finds himself obsessed with the movies,...
- 11/11/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Bats 1,000
By Alex Simon
A veteran actor with more than forty film and TV roles to his credit, Denmark native Nikolaj Coster-Waldau finally hit paydirt as the nefarious, yet complicated, Jamie Lannister on HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. However, far from resting the laurels of his hard-earned fame, Coster-Waldau has kept busy before the cameras. His latest effort, 1,000 Times Goodnight, stars Juliette Binoche as Rebecca, one of the world’s top war photojournalists, but she’s also a wife and mother, leaving behind a husband and two young daughters every time she travels to a new combat zone. After a near-death experience chronicling the ritual of a female suicide bomber, husband Marcus (Coster-Waldau) levels an ultimatum: give up the dangerous profession or lose the family she counts on being there when she returns from each assignment. With an offer to photograph a refugee camp in Kenya,...
By Alex Simon
A veteran actor with more than forty film and TV roles to his credit, Denmark native Nikolaj Coster-Waldau finally hit paydirt as the nefarious, yet complicated, Jamie Lannister on HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. However, far from resting the laurels of his hard-earned fame, Coster-Waldau has kept busy before the cameras. His latest effort, 1,000 Times Goodnight, stars Juliette Binoche as Rebecca, one of the world’s top war photojournalists, but she’s also a wife and mother, leaving behind a husband and two young daughters every time she travels to a new combat zone. After a near-death experience chronicling the ritual of a female suicide bomber, husband Marcus (Coster-Waldau) levels an ultimatum: give up the dangerous profession or lose the family she counts on being there when she returns from each assignment. With an offer to photograph a refugee camp in Kenya,...
- 10/24/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Quincy Jones Talks Keepin’ On And Other Pearls Of Wisdom
By
Alex Simon
Quincy Jones is to music what Steven Spielberg is to film. In a career that has spanned over 60 years, Jones has been a musician, composer, producer, mentor, philanthropist and guiding force that has helped shape the music business, popular culture, and much of society’s manners, mores and events ( as we know them today.) In fact, Jones has led an almost Forrest Gump-like charmed life, utilizing his (undeniable) instinct for spotting raw talent in young performers, ( as well as his own) and his technical innovations in musical composition and production, which has led him to collaborations and long-time friendships with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, (and many more).
Now 81 years young, Jones’ latest endeavor, both as participant and producer, is the documentary Keep On Keepin’ On. Shot over five years by first-time filmmaker, Al Hicks,...
By
Alex Simon
Quincy Jones is to music what Steven Spielberg is to film. In a career that has spanned over 60 years, Jones has been a musician, composer, producer, mentor, philanthropist and guiding force that has helped shape the music business, popular culture, and much of society’s manners, mores and events ( as we know them today.) In fact, Jones has led an almost Forrest Gump-like charmed life, utilizing his (undeniable) instinct for spotting raw talent in young performers, ( as well as his own) and his technical innovations in musical composition and production, which has led him to collaborations and long-time friendships with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, (and many more).
Now 81 years young, Jones’ latest endeavor, both as participant and producer, is the documentary Keep On Keepin’ On. Shot over five years by first-time filmmaker, Al Hicks,...
- 9/19/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Christina Hendricks Finds A Good Fit In God’S Pocket
By
Alex Simon
Since evolving from featured player to cultural icon on AMC’s landmark series Mad Men, Christina Hendricks has become not only a major star, but an indelible part of the New Golden Age of Television, with her turn as ladder-climbing corporate sex bomb Joan Holloway. Over the past seven seasons, Hendricks took what could have been another cheesecake turn and made it very much her own, evolving Joan into a thinking man’s sex symbol, never missing an opportunity to show that there’s a serious engine that purrs underneath Joan’s enviable chassis.
With Mad Men winding down its final season, Christina Hendricks joins forces with series co-star John Slattery (who plays her boss, and former love interest, Roger Sterling) in his feature directing debut, God’s Pocket, adapted from the novel by Pete Dexter. Set...
By
Alex Simon
Since evolving from featured player to cultural icon on AMC’s landmark series Mad Men, Christina Hendricks has become not only a major star, but an indelible part of the New Golden Age of Television, with her turn as ladder-climbing corporate sex bomb Joan Holloway. Over the past seven seasons, Hendricks took what could have been another cheesecake turn and made it very much her own, evolving Joan into a thinking man’s sex symbol, never missing an opportunity to show that there’s a serious engine that purrs underneath Joan’s enviable chassis.
With Mad Men winding down its final season, Christina Hendricks joins forces with series co-star John Slattery (who plays her boss, and former love interest, Roger Sterling) in his feature directing debut, God’s Pocket, adapted from the novel by Pete Dexter. Set...
- 5/9/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
William Friedkin: Why Sorcerer’s Spell Refuses to Die
By
Alex Simon
In the mid-1970s, there were few American filmmakers riding as high as William Friedkin. The French Connection swept the 1971 Academy Awards, nabbing Friedkin a Best Director statuette. The Exorcist, released two years later, broke box office records to become one of the top grossing films of all time. Boasting creative power and freedom that most directors could only dream about, Friedkin opted to film an updated version of French auteur Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic The Wages of Fear (1953).
The result, 1977’s Sorcerer, became one of the most notorious box office bombs of the decade. Its dark, unrelenting tale of four desperate, disparate men (Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amidou) who undertake a suicide mission by driving truckloads of nitroglycerine across the rugged South American jungle wasn’t what the changing tide of audience tastes were buying then,...
By
Alex Simon
In the mid-1970s, there were few American filmmakers riding as high as William Friedkin. The French Connection swept the 1971 Academy Awards, nabbing Friedkin a Best Director statuette. The Exorcist, released two years later, broke box office records to become one of the top grossing films of all time. Boasting creative power and freedom that most directors could only dream about, Friedkin opted to film an updated version of French auteur Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic The Wages of Fear (1953).
The result, 1977’s Sorcerer, became one of the most notorious box office bombs of the decade. Its dark, unrelenting tale of four desperate, disparate men (Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amidou) who undertake a suicide mission by driving truckloads of nitroglycerine across the rugged South American jungle wasn’t what the changing tide of audience tastes were buying then,...
- 4/13/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Albert Maysles: Gimme Some Truth
By
Alex Simon
I'm sick and tired of hearing things/From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth/I've had enough of reading things/By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth. – John Lennon
Albert and David Maysles are generally regarded as the fathers of the modern American documentary film. Beginning in the early 1960s, their pioneering work with contemporaries such as Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker helped launch the “Direct Cinema” movement, devoted to capturing real life as closely as possible, in all its unscripted reality. Today, filmmakers like Michael Moore, reality TV and every news magazine on the air and on the web can trace their linage back to the Maysles brothers.
Their three defining features: Salesman (1968), a sobering and often hilarious look at the lives...
By
Alex Simon
I'm sick and tired of hearing things/From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth/I've had enough of reading things/By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth. – John Lennon
Albert and David Maysles are generally regarded as the fathers of the modern American documentary film. Beginning in the early 1960s, their pioneering work with contemporaries such as Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker helped launch the “Direct Cinema” movement, devoted to capturing real life as closely as possible, in all its unscripted reality. Today, filmmakers like Michael Moore, reality TV and every news magazine on the air and on the web can trace their linage back to the Maysles brothers.
Their three defining features: Salesman (1968), a sobering and often hilarious look at the lives...
- 4/10/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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