News

In 1956, audiences were treated to one of the biggest films of the year—a swashbuckling biopic portraying the life of the legendary Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan. Starring Hollywood icon John Wayne in the title role, The Conqueror packed theaters thanks to its epic scale and star power. However, beyond the grandeur on screen lurked a tragic story unfolding behind the scenes. Shot near nuclear testing sites in Utah, the production may have exposed cast and crew to radiation, leading to numerous cancer cases in later decades. Through intimate interviews and archival footage, director William Nunez spotlighted the human cost of creating this blockbuster. His documentary The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout not only told of one film’s downfall but revealed how the government kept citizens in the dark about nuclear dangers in their own backyards.

This film traces two intertwined tales. First, it examines the chaotic production plagued by mistakes, from...

One of the most interesting parts of Roland Emmerich’s new Ancient Rome-set series Those About To Die is the Succession-like struggle for power at the center of the Empire. The two main forces in this are Titus (Tom Hughes) and Domitian (Jojo Macari), two brothers who are the sons of Emperor Vespasian (Anthony Hopkins).

We at FandomWire spoke with Hughes and Macari about their characters in Those About To Die, and how they brought to life some of the more complicated arcs in the show. Check out the full interview here:

Those About To Die Interview

FandomWire: Both of your characters in Those About To Die are very morally ambiguous, and we’ve seen a lot of popular shows explore characters that aren’t traditionally “likable.” Why do you think audiences are interested in these morally complex stories like Those About To Die?

Jojo Macari: Wow, good question. I...

Some of the most epic stories in Ancient Rome are those of the gladiators, and in Those About To Die, those roles are played by Moe Hashim (Ted Lasso) and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Vikings: Valhalla).

We at FandomWire spoke with Hashim and Jóhannesson about their roles in Those About To Die, how they prepared for them, and shooting the show’s epic action sequences. Check out the full interview here:

Those About To Die Interview

FandomWire: The two of you give some of the most physical performances in Those About To Die. Did you have to do a robust training regimen to prepare for these roles?

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson: Well, yeah, there was a lot of stunt training and additional weight training and stuff. Moe, you did some weight training as well.

Moe Hashim: Yeah. I mean, the weight training was probably easier than the stunt training.

Jóhannesson: We spent...

George MacKay became one Hollywood’s most sought after young actors after his starring role as a sweet-faced solider in Sam Mendes’ Oscar-winning “1917.”

But he’s looking much different in his latest film, “Femme.” He stars in the queer revenge thriller from directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping as a closeted street thug who begins a sexual relationship with Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a man he doesn’t realize is the drag queen he once brutally gay-bashed.

For the film, MacKay’s body is ripped and covered in tattoos. His hair is shaved and slicked back. He wears tracksuits and garish gold chains and rings, and his working class accent can be hard to decipher.

It took him about eight weeks of “bulking” to get in shape. Even so, MacKay admits he did a lot of push-ups for scenes where he had to be particularly “big and scary.

Jonathan Majors is out of the Marvel Studios kingdom.

The news comes today in the wake of the Emmy-nominated actor being found guilty of reckless assault and harassment in his domestic violence trial by a six-person NYC jury.

A studio rep confirmed the news about their decision to not move forward with Majors in the MCU.

Majors played megavillain He Who Remains aka Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phases 4 through 6. He debuted as the character during Season 1 of Loki in 2021, then continued on in Season 2 this year, as well as the February movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which made more than $476M worldwide. Majors also had back-to-back hit in Amazon MGM’s Creed III in March, which grossed over $275M.

Having stuck with the actor over the months since his arrest on March 25, WME continue to represent Majors. His longtime agent Elan Ruspoli testified briefly...

In “Downwind,” a documentary executive produced by Matthew Modine, directors Mark Shapiro and Douglas Brian Miller chronicle the lethal effects that nuclear testing on American soil has had on U.S. citizens.

The Oscar hopeful reveals that from 1951 to 1992, Mercury, Nevada, was the site for the testing of 928 large scale nuclear weapons. Wind dispersed radioactive fallout from those atmospheric blasts (mushroom clouds) and underground testing (venting) in a seemingly unpredictable manner to people living “downwind.” The United States Department of Justice defines “downwinders,” also known as lab rats, as human beings who live in counties located downwind from Nevada Test Site in the states of Utah, Nevada and Arizona.

The film explains that the radiation led to various diseases, mainly cancer. Shapiro and Miller also highlight how Hollywood star John Wayne and numerous members of the cast and crew of the 1956 movie “The Conqueror” died, arguably, of cancer due to...

We haven’t had a proper Avengers movie since the release of ‘Endgame’ in 2019, and this is the moment that plenty of fans felt the MCU stopped giving us their best. Instead, it’s been a rollercoaster of underperforming Disney+ series and movies with few notable exceptions that have been praised far and wide.

We know that Marvel Studios has two Avengers movies planned for 2026 and 2027, ‘Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Secret Wars.’ But due to the most recent controversies surrounding Jonathan Majors and the poor performance of the movies that were released in the last year or so, the studio might be rethinking its strategy, and it’s been heavily rumored for the past several weeks that ‘Kang Dynasty’ perhaps ain’t happening at all.

‘Quantumania’ was the first movie that was supposed to showcase the new villain for the Avengers, Kang the Conqueror or Council of Kangs in any case.

In the wake of Warner Bros’ pushing the Robert De Niro gangster pic Alto Knights to later in 2024, release date changes are aplenty for Disney due to the actors strike, but also Jonathan Majors’ ongoing legal woes.

To no surprise, Searchlight won’t be opening the actor’s Sundance critically acclaimed drama Magazine Dreams on Dec. 8 as Majors faces a trial date on Nov. 29 for a domestic violence case involving his ex-girlfriend from March this year. No word on what happens next to Magazine Dreams, but if all goes well for Majors, the calendar will indeed require plenty of product in the New Year. Searchlight still has their Venice Film Festival-winning Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos-directed Poor Things going on Dec. 8, a title which is prized for awards season.

In regards to the actors strike’s impact on the Disney schedule: Forget about shifting 2024 movies deeper into next year; they...

Though Marvel still has not commented on it officially, Loki Season 2 executive producer Kevin Wright admitted that the situation surrounding Jonathan Majors' arrest in March is "a complicated [one]."

Despite the arrest due to alleged assault and the allegations which surfaced following it Majors is returning to the MCU in Loki's newest season. The Kang the Conqueror actor is expected to appear in at least three episodes.

Marvel has not made any statement on the matter, but a report suggested that Majors could stay in the franchise through Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Read full article on The Direct.

Warning: the following interview contains spoilers about tonight’s first episode of season 2 of Loki

After Loki’s amiga Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) opted to kill He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) spurring multiple nefarious versions of the newbie villain across several timelines, Loki was sent back to where it all started: the bureaucratic, office grind of the Tva — but a very different one; one where his new best friend Mobius (Owen Wilson) doesn’t recognize him. Out of touch with his soulmate, Loki is trying to find his way back to her. However, like Chicken Little, he’s trying to tell everybody that the sky is falling; that Kang the Conqueror is coming their way. We talk with Marvel executive and Loki season 2 EP Kevin Wright, who is with the series from start to finish, script to post, about the daunting task of living up to what was a spectacular season one.

Clockwise from left: Beyond The Sea (Lionsgate), Blonde (Netflix), The Conqueror (Rko Radio Pictures), Gotti (Vertical Entertainment) Photo: The A.V. Club Ever since Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in a blaze of color-tinted flames in George Méliès 1900 drama Joan Of Arc, biographical films, or biopics, have dramatized the lives of real-life people.

Clockwise from left: Beyond The Sea (Lionsgate), Blonde (Netflix), The Conqueror (Rko Radio Pictures), Gotti (Vertical Entertainment)Photo: The A.V. Club

Ever since Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in a blaze of color-tinted flames in George Méliès 1900 drama Joan Of Arc, biographical films, or biopics, have dramatized the lives of real-life people.

The One Ring to Rule Them All is in my house right now. To be clear, I do not live in Mordor. My home is in Los Angeles, which sometimes feels hot enough to be Mordor. I was not given custody of this ring by a visiting wizard, nor I did find it in the Gladden River. I ran my butt off to get it. I ran 1,815 miles to be exact, over the course of a little more than a year. I ran this challenge through daily training for four marathons, through way more rain and flooding than L.A. usually gets, planning a wedding, and trying to keep myself sane through world events. 

My metaphorical journey from the Shire to Mordor was a rough one, but like the events of "The Hobbit," which took place before Frodo and Sam's journey to save the world, it started before I set...

Movie star John Wayne was familiar with the type of work that went into being a stuntman. He had a deep appreciation for the folks who made the dangerous stunts come to life on the silver screen. However, Wayne had a favorite stuntman whom he deeply respected and enjoyed working with. In fact, they made a total of 32 movies together, making it clear that they had a long history together.

Who was John Wayne’s favorite stuntman? John Wayne | John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images

Wayne had one stuntman that he valued working with above all the rest – Chuck Roberson. He went from working as a police officer to serving in World War II to stuntwork. It all started thanks to a well-known stuntman named Guy Teague, he got his first job in the field at Republic Pictures.

Roberson starred in small roles as an actor, but he also went on...

Actor John Wayne was one of many Hollywood stars to die from cancer. It certainly slowed him down the first time around, but he refused to go down without a fight. Wayne incorporated his support for others with cancer into his public image, as he dedicated his time to a worthwhile cause. The actor once recalled the “biggest fear” when it came to his fight with cancer.

John Wayne contracted cancer twice John Wayne | American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images

Wayne fought cancer two different times over the course of his lifetime. He first contracted it in 1964 in the form of lung cancer, which resulted in the necessary removal of his left lung and two ribs. The movie star’s team wanted him to stay out of the public eye to maintain his image, but he wasn’t willing to do that. Rather, Wayne announced to the world that he...

Actor John Wayne had strong opinions regarding films, regardless of whether he starred in them or not. He was against the idea of a movie rating system, especially ones that earned ratings meant for mature audiences. Wayne once said that all actors starring in R- or X-rated films should have to show them to their daughter.

John Wayne chose his films carefully John Wayne | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Wayne lived by a strict set of values and morals. His sense of masculinity often informed his stances on many issues. His name often aligned with patriotism for the United States, especially when it came to conservative politics. Any moviegoer paying to see a movie starring Wayne knew exactly what to expect. He refused to to betray the image that he built.

The movie star declined many legendary roles in movies such as High Noon and Blazzing Saddles because he thought they were “un-American” or “dirty.

Movie star John Wayne starred in over 165 films over the course of his career. Unfortunately, they didn’t all necessarily make him proud. He had plenty of bad roles, some of which resulted from his performance and others because of casting. Nevertheless, there was one Wayne movie that was so traumatic that he “visually shuddered” when anybody would mention the title.

John Wayne admitted that he played some bad movie roles John Wayne | ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Wayne had his first chance to make it in the movie business with Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail in 1930. Unfortunately, audiences underappreciated it at the time, and it flopped at the box office. However, that didn’t mark the end. He was thrust into B-movie Westerns for many years, many of which he wasn’t too happy to be a part of. Nevertheless, he was lucky to have consistent work as an actor.

When it comes to the big bad in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," it's been all "Kang this" and "The Conqueror that." True Believers are constantly asking how the upcoming Phase Five kickoff will connect to the events of "Loki" and He Who Remains. And then beyond that, there's all the speculation about "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" down the road and whether or not the titular heroes in this movie will even make it that far. However, while all of that is well and good, we're overlooking a huge threat for the size-shifting superheroes: Modok.

As seen in the latest trailer for filmmaker Peyton Reed's latest adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the fan-favorite Marvel Comics villain will come face to face with Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne as they and their family venture deep into the Quantum Realm. But so little is known about this iteration of...

Dick Powell's 1956 historical epic "The Conqueror" is one of the more notorious duds of the 1950s. It went famously over-budget, and while it did manage to make its money back, it was lambasted by critics at the time, mostly for its grievous miscasting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan. If you ever wanted to hear the Mongol leader Temujin with a Southern drawl, this film is a gift to you and you alone. The New York Times cited its bad script as a source of unintentional comedy, and John McCarten in The New Yorker mentioned that the many, many horses who fall down in the...

The post The Forgotten John Wayne Film That Left A Tragic Legacy appeared first on /Film.

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has been roped in to star in action thriller ‘Fateh’ directed by Abhinandan Gupta. The film, touted to be inspired by real-life incidents, will see the actor pulling off high-octane action sequences in a cinematic universe. Sonu, who was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s cop movie ‘Simmba’, said, “The story piqued […]...

by Nathaniel R

As we've long noted for the rest of the online world that doesn't pay super close attention to this category even if they'll dutifully share press release, Denmark is currently Oscar's favourite country (statistically speaking). In the past 12 years they've been nominated six times, won twice, and also made the finals twice more without actually snagging the nomination. That's the best run of any country in quite a long while in this category. They're the defending champion since the brilliant boozy Another Round took the gold at the 93rd Oscars. It's rare for countries to win this category in consecutive years but Denmark could given their hot streak. They've actually done that once before (1987 & 1988 with Babette's Feast and Pelle the Conqueror). Here are their three finalists for submission this time around...

Jacques Tourneur’s ‘big sky’ western gives us the beauty of Colorado mountains plus stunning color images (originally Technicolor) of his attractive cast: Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman. North-South antagonisms break out in Denver City, before the Civil War begins, and Robert Stack’s loner opportunist must choose a side. The Wac’s disc includes four Jacques Tourneur short subjects, with mystery themes.

Great Day in the Morning

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 1:2 widescreen (Superscope) / 92 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Regis Toomey, Carleton Young, Donald MacDonald, William Phipps, Peter Whitney.

Cinematography: William Snyder

Film Editor: Harry Marker

Original Music: Leith Stevens

Written by Lesser Samuels, from the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews

Produced by Edmund Grainger

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

(Note: none of these images reflect the fine quality of the Blu-ray.)

The...

Welcome to this review of WWE Crown Jewel 2019, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have some celebrities, a tag team mega match and a brand new submariiiiiiiiiiiiiine! Let’s see if this show breaks the curse of bad shows from Saudi Arabia or not/Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! That’s not good…but Seals and Croft is.

Match #1: Winner: Humberto Carrillo – 20-Man Battle Royal For The U.S. Championship Title Shot (Kickoff Match) The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

Exciting Raw newcomer Humberto Carrillo simultaneously won the biggest match of his career and seized his greatest opportunity in the WWE Crown Jewel Kickoff, where he triumphed in a 20-Man Battle Royal to earn a United States Championship bout against Aj Styles at the same event. The action came fast and furious throughout the over-the-top-rope melee, with Luke Harper & Erick Rowan securing the bulk of the eliminations. Following...

Welcome to this week’s Raw review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a lot to get to, so shut up and sit down. Wait, how can I be rude to you people? One word at a time, that’s how. Ah…screw it. You’re all right, goofy-grape. What the hell was I talking about? This is why I need to buy a delete button. Oh, Raw. This one was actually quite good, so here we go.

Match #1: Seth Rollins def. Shelton Benjamin The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

In one sense, Seth Rollins’ victory over Shelton Benjamin didn’t tell the WWE Universe anything they didn’t already know: The Royal Rumble Match winner can, theoretically, beat Brock Lesnar. The question is how he’ll pull it off, and in that case, the first-time-ever bout provided some clues as to what...

Fiery dame Susan Hayward carries this far-flung ‘women’s epic’ to delirious romantic extremes, as her Irish heroine defies nature and exploits admirers to claim the hunky Dutchman of her dreams. Using apartheid-ridden South Africa as a background for a cheerful white conquest wasn’t as touchy an idea in 1955 as it is now, but it should have been. Just the same, Henry King’s film is an impressive production from the early years of CinemaScope.

Untamed

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, John Justin, Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno, Hope Emerson, Brad Dexter, Henry O’Neill, Eleanor Audley, Kevin Corcoran, Philip Van Zandt.

Cinematography: Leo Tover

Film Editor: Barbara McLean

Original Music: Franz Waxman

Visual Effects: Ray Kellogg, Matthew Yuricich

Written by Talbot Jennings, Frank Fenton, Michael Blankfort, William A. Bacher from a novel by Helga Moray.

Martha Pinson’s “Tomorrow” took the narrative feature prize at the Scad Savannah Film Festival on Saturday, while Matthew Testa’s “The Human Element” won the documentary award. Other winners were the short “Geoff” and its directors and “Hold the Night” for editing. Skyler Samuels won the acting Jury Award for “Spare Room,” while “One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure” won the Jury Award for screenwriting. “Facing the Dragon” took the Unheard Voices trophy. The awards were given at a brunch at the Olde Pink House on Saturday.

The 21st edition of the fest kicked off with Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” on Oct. 27 and honored John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Armie Hammer, KiKi Layne and Chloe Grace Moretz, among others. In all, 164 films, including 33 narrative films, 16 documentary films and 115 shorts unspooled at the Savannah fest, which ended Saturday. The festival also screened several awards hopefuls, from...

After two straight years of all-white acting nominees in 2015 and 2016, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences responded to the #OscarsSoWhite issue by inviting a far more diverse and younger field of talent both behind and in front of the camera to join. And though there are miles to go until there is true diversity, the academy’s nominees and winners are beginning to reflect our culture.

Last year, “Moonlight” became the first Best Picture winner with an all-black cast. Its director Barry Jenkins shared the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar with Tarell Alvin McCraney, while Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor. Viola Davis also took home Best Supporting Actress for “Fences.”

This year’s black nominees include Jordan Peele, a triple nominee for producing, directing and writing Best Picture contender “Get Out,” which also scored a Best Actor nomination for Daniel Kaluuya. Two-time winner Denzel Washington is nominated for “Roman J.

After two straight years of all-white acting nominees in 2015 and 2016, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences responded to the #OscarsSoWhite issue by inviting a far more diverse and younger field of talent both behind and in front of the camera to join. And though there are miles to go until there is true diversity, the academy’s nominees and winners are beginning to reflect our culture.

Last year, “Moonlight” became the first Best Picture winner with an all-black cast. Its director Barry Jenkins shared the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar with Tarell Alvin McCraney, while Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor. Viola Davis also took home Best Supporting Actress for “Fences.”

This year’s black nominees include Jordan Peele, a triple nominee for producing, directing and writing Best Picture contender “Get Out,” which also scored a Best Actor nomination for Daniel Kaluuya. Two-time winner Denzel Washington is nominated for “Roman J.

John Wayne plays a German sea captain in a film that goes out of its way to create a favorable image of our former enemy, with hardly a Nazi flag or even a German accent in sight. Wayne and his co-star Lana Turner are as Teutonic as Blondie and Dagwood, yet the film works as a basic adventure – we like the charismatic star, and the sea chase format guarantees extra interest.

The Sea Chase

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Lana Turner, David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, Tab Hunter, James Arness, Richard Davalos, John Qualen, Paul Fix, Alan Hale Jr., Peter Whitney, Claude Akins, John Doucette, Tudor Owen, Adam Williams.

Cinematography: William Clothier

Film Editors: William Ziegler, Owen Marks

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by James Warner Bellah, John Twist from a novel by Andrew Geer

Produced and Directed...

By Doug Oswald

Released as a burn-to-order DVD from the Universal Vault Series, some may be quick to add that they should have kept “The Conqueror” in the vault. The movie is notorious for being one of the worst movies in Hollywood history. Much has been written about how terrible this movie is so I’m going to avoid jumping on that bandwagon. After all, calling this movie bad is like calling out water for being wet.

The movie is also a part of a conspiracy theory of sorts because many of the cast and crew died from cancer and some have connected those cancer deaths to the location filming in St. George Utah which was the stand-in for the Gobi Desert. St. George is downwind from where the above ground nuclear testing occurred in Nevada. Indeed, many involved with this movie did succumb to cancer including lifetime smoker John Wayne...

Andrew Blair Jan 30, 2017

Sometimes, the best of intentions don't always lead to the best movie. Here are 19 films where everything didn't quite go to plan...

As Alan Parker said ‘no one sets out to make a bad film’. Yet in spite of good intentions, sometimes a project doesn't quite go to plan. We're going to look at a bunch of movies here that aren't always well liked, and give a flavour of the problems the beset them.

So, in no particular order, here are twenty of the films that have ever been made, which are considered by at least one sentient being to be bad. That's not the interesting thing about them....

Robin Hood (2010)

Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris had written a spec script with a twist on the Robin Hood legend: the Sheriff of Nottingham was the hero, a sort of medieval forensic investigator, and Robin was the bad guy.

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:   Movie Characters in Real Life: Deadpool exists on the edges of the movie world and the real world, and he (via actor Ryan Reynolds) offered up a Nsfw response to a petition to get the character to host Saturday Night Live:   Filmmaker Parody of the Day: J.J. Abrams has already repaired the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. Now he's on to The Matrix, Indiana Jones, Saw and more:   Vintage Image of the Day: John Wayne looks upon a geiger counter on the set of The Conqueror, which opened 60 years ago today. The film was shot on a nuclear test site, which is said to be the blame for the deaths of Wayne and much of the rest of the cast and...

Read More...

The Us turned swathes of desert radioactive during the cold war and denied it, bequeathing a medical mystery that still haunts Hollywood and rural Mormon communities and raises the question: how much do you trust the government?

The photograph shows John Wayne with his two sons during a break in filming on the set of The Conqueror, a big budget blockbuster about Genghis Khan shot in the Utah desert in 1954. It was one of Hollywood’s most famous mis-castings. The duke could do many things but playing a 13th century Mongol warlord was not one of them. Film geeks consider it one of the great turkeys of Hollywood’s golden age.

There is another, darker reason it endures in film lore. The photograph hints at it. Wayne clutches a black metal box while another man appears to adjust the controls. Wayne’s two teenage sons, Patrick and Michael, gaze at it,...

Miscasting in films has always been a problem. A producer hires an actor thinking that he or she is perfect for a movie role only to find the opposite is true. Other times a star is hired for his box office draw but ruins an otherwise good movie because he looks completely out of place.

There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.

In rare cases,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has received a gift of costume design drawings and related production materials documenting the career of costume designer Michael Woulfe. Woulfe's career highlights include work on such films as Clash by Night (1952), The French Line (1953), Son of Sinbad (1955) and The Conqueror (1956). He was known for styling actresses such as Judy Garland, Jane Russell and Jean Simmons, and for designing the employee uniforms for four Las Vegas hotels and casinos owned by Howard Hughes, as well as the costumes for the Las Vegas nightclub shows of Debbie Reynolds, Lena

read more...

From John Travolta to Bob Dylan, from Ed Wood to Orson Welles: ‘The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time’ (photo: John Travolta in the Scientology-inspired movie ‘Battlefield Earth’) Phil Hall’s The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time, tagged as a "new celebration of cinematic inanity," was published by Bear Manor on August 12, 2013. According to the book’s press release, the Greatest Bad Movies "are the films that inspire wonder" — of a unique variety: "You are left wondering how seemingly intelligent people could gather together and spend money to create such bizarre productions." According to Phil Hall, among the most wonder-inspiring movies ever made are John Travolta’s Roger Christian-directed Scientology-inspired megabomb Battlefield Earth; John Huston’s sort of The Maltese Falcon send up Beat the Devil, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, and Gina Lollobrigida; Robert Altman’s Health, featuring a classy cast that includes Glenda Jackson, James Garner,...

When it was first announced that this week's "The Lone Ranger" was going to star Johnny Depp as the Native American warrior Tonto, fans around the country scratched their heads ... and not just because they were wondering what he would look like with a giant dead bird for a hat. Depp as Tonto? Really?

Depp, as it turns out, does have some Native American ancestry and was recently adopted by the Comanche nation. But his role as Tonto and the subsequent casting of William Fichtner as the Japanese villain Shredder in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" did get us thinking about one of the most insidious aspects of Hollywood's moviemaking machine: namely, their ongoing insensitivity and downright obliviousness when it comes to casting ethnic characters.

So with that in mind, here's a look at some of the most egregious examples. Because the only color that seems to matter in Hollywood is green.

As if the film's dodgy dialogue and Dr Seuss suits weren't insult enough – casting John Wayne in the lead role really put the cowboy boot in the Mongol warrior's legacy

The Conqueror (1956)

Director: Dick Powell

Entertainment grade: D–

History grade: D+

Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire in the 12th century.

Casting

The Conqueror was written for Marlon Brando, but he dodged it thanks to his contract with another studio. Meanwhile, John Wayne was at the peak of his career – he made The Searchers soon afterwards – and producer Howard Hughes was inclined to give him whatever he wanted. What he wanted, apparently, was to be a 12th-century Mongolian warlord. Well, who doesn't? This is how one of the worst casting decisions of all time was made, and John Wayne became Genghis Khan.

Dialogue

The film opens with Temujin, as Genghis was originally known, intercepting a wedding procession of Merkits. No,...

 

Would you buy a used camel from this man?

Brian Hannan, author of the new book The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, has unveiled a startling fact: an early production of David Lean's masterpiece was announced in January 1953- a decade before Lean's version was released. It was to be filmed in Cinerama and star John Wayne! Now, there are no bigger fans of the Duke than us, but what were they thinking? Fortunately, plans fell apart for this particular film. Hannan relates how Marlon Brando was Lean's first choice for the role, so even in saner hands the emphasis was in casting an American actor as the iconic Brit. By the way, Duke Wayne may have dodged a bullet with Lawrence, but a few years later he went one worse by playing Genghis Khan in The Conqueror! For more click here ...

Tehran's Hoax of Hollywood conference sets a precedent that other countries could follow. Let's start with Braveheart

Following the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance's Hoax of Hollywood conference in Tehran this week, it has been reported that Iran may "sue Hollywood" over what it considers to be unrealistic portrayals of the country in several films. The most recent offender is Ben Affleck's Argo, based on the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981 and winner of this year's best picture Oscar. Others named include 300, The Wrestler and Not Without My Daughter.

The representation of Iran in Argo is certainly questionable but, as when the Kazakhstan foreign ministry threatened to sue over Borat, the prospect of a lawsuit doesn't seem entirely realistic. Do nations or governments have a right to accurate representation in fiction? In what jurisdiction could such a case be brought? Wouldn't there be some sort of statute of limitation on suing over,...

All filmmakers have their magnum opus – a production that’s deeply personal to them, and one that they’re immensely proud of. Francis Ford Coppola had The Godfather, George Lucas had Star Wars, Martin Scorsese had Taxi Driver. The list goes on and on.

But how good that magnum opus may turn out to be depends on various factors, one of which is the person behind it not being a self-indulgent jackass who puts their ego ahead of everything else. These films are examples of when that didn’t happen…

5. The Conqueror (1956, Dir. Dick Powell)

Actors playing characters of different races to themselves can have varying degrees of success. It can be amazing like Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List, it can be pretty unconvincing like Anne Hathaway in One Day, or in the case of John Wayne in The Conqueror, it can be astoundingly bad and monumentally stupid. Why?...

The Conqueror

Written by Oscar Millard

Directed by Dick Powell

USA, 1956

How bad a film is Howard Hughes notorious disaster, well it only managed to kill John Wayne is all. No not Wayne’s career, Wayne himself. The film was shot on location near St. George, Utah (obviously for its uncanny resemblance to that of northeast Asia), 137 miles from above-ground nuclear weapons testing. The filmmakers knew about the testing but were assured by the federal government that they caused no hazard. 91 out of the 220 cast and crew were diagnosed with some form of cancer within 15 years of filming and the death toll included the film’s director Dick Powell as well as the leads Pedro Armendáriz, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and of course The Duke himself. Producer Hughes so regretted his decision to film near a hazard site that he bought every copy of the film for $12 million and locked...

Halloween is here, witches! On Monday we examined The 13 Bewitching Qualities of Elizabeth Montgomery and today we're taking a look at the top six reasons we love her Bewitched co-star, Agnes Moorehead.

6. Orson Welles was her boo.

He's widely thought of as the greatest moviemaker of all time and he believed Agnes was the best actress in America. They worked together on the radio first with Agnes becoming an early member of Welles's Mercury Theatre. Her break into film was as Charles Foster Kane's mother in Citizen Kane and under his direction Agnes was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in his damaged masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons.

5. She could paralyze you with her voice.

With a face like hers she was perfect for the radio. Agnes was a staple of the airwaves for decades, including a stint as Margo Lane on The Shadow (with friend Orson as the...

Wu-Tang Clan leader turned actor to helm film about life of Mongol emperor, based on a script by John Milius

RZA is to follow his directing debut The Man with the Iron Fists with a biopic of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The rapper, producer and actor will be working from a screenplay by John Milius, the writer and director of 1982 fantasy epic Conan the Barbarian (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), who is also known for his work on Apocalypse Now and Dirty Harry. Milius, a colourful Hollywood character who was the inspiration for John Goodman's unhinged Vietnam veteran Walter Sobchak in the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski, has been trying to get the project off the ground for several years and was at one point lined up to direct.

Khan's empire lasted a century and a half and eventually covered nearly a quarter of the Earth.

One Day could very well turn out to be the most distracting movie of 2011. Either you couldn’t get attached because you’d read the book and knew the shocking, twist ending that was coming or you didn’t know and were so blindsided you had a hard time enjoying the rest of the film. But, there’s been an even bigger diversion that’s kept people for falling for the weepy, big-screen adaptation of David Nicholls’ best-selling novel: Anne Hathaway’s shaky British accent.

The folks over at Life would have to agree. In their list of “The Worst...

This post will self-destruct in two weeks...well, not exactly, but the videos below will be since Google unceremoniously announced the end of Google Video over the weekend that they are putting a kibosh on the video service as of April 29th that unlike the one they eventually bought, YouTube, allowed users to upload video longer than 10 minutes. This development won't be mourned by many, as the video quality was never that great and since 2009, users lost the ability to upload videos, so it became something of a barren wasteland in terms of content.

However, unrestricted by time and largely ungoverned, the site also became the place on the Internet where cinema's orphans could be widely seen, either because they now belong to the public domain or because issues legal or otherwise have prevented their release through traditional means. Naturally, this meant there was plenty of piracy on the site of more recent films,...

With the road to the Academy Awards well and truly underway, the next few weeks of Top 10 Tuesdays will have a suitable Oscar theme, kicking off this week with the 10 Greatest Oscar winning Performances!

The past 83 years have unquestionably provided some exceptional performances – as well as some that have definitely been overlooked by the Academy – and below are the five best Oscar winning performances by an actor and the five best from an actress…in my opinion!

10. Susan Hayward – I Want To Live! (1958)

Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward) is a woman with a questionable moral fibre. Often found in seedy bars soliciting, she has previously been sentenced for a number of small, petty crimes. When two of Barbara’s sleazy male acquaintances murder an older woman it isn’t long before the police catch them. Falsely believing that Barbara has assisted the police in arresting them they claim that is in...

The Film:

It’s the one that The Duke won the Oscar for. After slumming it in a few films like The Conqueror where the great American cowboy played Genghis Khan of all people, and after losing nearly two lungs, The Duke’s American icon status was returned in 1969′s True Grit, a film that played up to his persona of the decades, yet offered him a chance to twist it, with his drunken Rooster Cogburn, one of his best characters. “If I’d have known that, I would have put that patch on thirty-five years earlier,” joked John Wayne during his Oscar speech, a clever spin on a long deserved award, but also in tune with the character of Rooster Cogburn.

The great thing about True Grit, is the to whom the title describes. We obviously associate it Wayne’s Cogburn. The character is vintage Wayne: rough, tough, gun-toting,...

By Desson Thomson

Talk about lost in translation.

When American movies try to remake European ones, why do they fail so frequently?

Latest case in point: “Brothers,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire and, in the worst bit of casting since John Wayne played Genghis Khan in 1950’s “The Conqueror,” Natalie Portman as a military wife.

Is it because English -- or Hollywood -- is the cultural equivalent of an X-ray machine that reduces all other languages and cultures to a sort of dorky banality? Is it because American scriptwriters can’t help thems...

By the time that Zorro had completed its first season, the Disney company had virtually cornered its television demographic through various programs, not the least of which were Zorro, Walt Disney Presents, and the Mickey Mouse Club. Uncle Walt having the dedication to perfection that he did, he set the bar pretty high for the second season, wanting to maintain everything that had made the show so popular (granted, most shows face such a challenge, but many producers are content to allow their product to suck as much as it did the first time around). Back again to kick around some more bad guys are Diego de la Vega (Guy Williams) the young, rich son of a don whose alter ego should be painfully obvious to anyone in the immediate area, his faithful manservant Bernardo (Gene Sheldon), who speaks only through pantomime, and Sergeant Garcia (Henry Calvin), the obese, villainous comic relief.