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Actors transforming into famous figures for biopics isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. In recent years, we’ve seen Marisa Abela’s Amy Winehouse in Back To Black, Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Bob Marley in One Love, Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, and Sebastian Stan’s Donald J. Trump in The Apprentice. But just when the market for such movies may have been running the risk of getting overcrowded, along comes Waltzing With Brando to make us an offer we can’t refuse. That offer? Titanic actor Billy Zane going absolutely all-in to play Marlon Brando in a comedy about The Godfather legend’s efforts to create a sustainable pocket of paradise on a tiny Tahitian island. If it sounds barmy, then that's nothing compared to how it looks — just check out the extraordinary trailer for Bill Fishman’s film below:

If, like us, you started watching this trailer and thought,...

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Saoirse Ronan just put into words what women have to go through on almost a daily basis.

Throughout the years, we have come to terms with the fact that the world is simply not a safe place for women. The thoughts of being attacked or taken advantage of are constantly lurking in the back of our minds. It is this fear that draws women to learn self-defense and come up with ridiculous ideas to save themselves from a potential attacker, even if it means turning something as harmless as a mobile phone into a weapon.

Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird | Credits: Iac Films

Thus, when Paul Mescal joked about the potential use of mobile phones to fend off an attacker, Saoirse Ronan was not impressed. Despite the couch laughing at his joke, it didn’t take the actress long to silence the guests with her nonchalant yet extremely thought-provoking remark.

Grammy-winning singer Jack Jones, the voice behind the iconic theme song for The Love Boat, died Wednesday following a battle with leukemia. He was 86.

Jones was known primarily as a pop singer, with hits that included “Lollipops and Roses,” “Wives and Lovers,” “The Race Is On,” “The Impossible Dream” and “Call Me Irresponsible.”

More from TVLineRon Ely, Star of TV's Tarzan, Dead at 86R.I.P., Liam Payne: Britain's Got Talent Postpones Auditions to Mourn One Direction Band Member's DeathR.I.P., Drake Hogestyn: Stephen Nichols and Others Remember Late Days of Our Lives Star: 'He Exuded Joy'...

“Marcello Mastroianni was known, all around the world, as the Latin lover, the Italian seducer, especially after he starred in La Dolce Vita, Federico Fellini’s masterpiece,” says Fabrizio Corallo, the director of the new documentary Ciao Marcello, Mastroianni l’antidivo. “Mastroianni did not like this image. He didn’t want to be seen as an icon, as a sex symbol. He didn’t care much about his public persona; what did matter to him was his personal life. So, I tried to build an intimate portrait of this unique actor.”

Corallo is a journalist and an expert on the history of Italian cinema. For state broadcaster Rai he has made a number of documentaries about the great personalities of Italian cinema: Dino Risi, Vittorio Gassman, Virna Lisi, Ennio Flaiano and Giuliano Montaldo, among others.

Ciao Marcello, which was co-written with Silvia Scola, the daughter of Italian filmmaker Ettore Scola,...

“What if woody [sic] Allen had brain injury,” remarks the comic Adam Friedland in his rather direct Letterboxd review of Jerry Lewis’ The Ladies Man. Continuing a theme, Will Sloan also hails The Nutty Professor as a “profoundly strange object from a broken brain” in his own piece on the platform. These critical appraisals are in keeping with renewed esteem for Lewis form the past 15 years, with Greta Gerwig paying The Ladies Man’s production design one of its greatest tributes with the Barbieworld homes in her 2023 blockbuster. If comedy famously equals “tragedy + time,” the formula for posthumous acclaim is surely “outright derision + time.”

So it’s a friendlier critical welcoming the premiere of From Darkness to Light, a peculiar but insightful documentary credited to Michael Lurie and Eric Friedler. Its subject is the most untouchable and elusive piece of Lewis-lore, his very own The Other Side of the Wind:...

Hollywood icon James Earl Jones dead at the age of 93. According to Deadline, he passed today, Monday September 9 at his home in Dutchess County, New York.

James Earl Jones’ Career Spanned Over Six Decades

The career of this Mississippi native spanned an impressive six decades-despite being born with a stutter, Jones often attributed his success in acting to helping him conquer this challenge.

He made his Broadway debut in 1957 after pursuing a medical degree in college and serving in the United States Army during the Korean War.

According to IMDb, he portrayed two distinct doctors on the CBS soap operas “Guiding Light” and “As The World Turns” in the 1950s, marking his first notable roles as Dr. Jerry Turner and Dr. Jim Frazier, respectively.

His significant breakthrough in film came with Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic, Dr. Strangelove, which launched his career on the big screen, later returning to the stage.

Look up any list of all-time funniest I Love Lucy scenes and there alongside Vitameatavegamin and the chocolate factory conveyor belt, you’ll find the bit where Lucy stomps grapes into wine on the Ricardos’ European vacation. “Now don’t you worry about it, Ricky,” says Ethel when the wacky redhead goes missing. “She just probably picked a few grapes, and she’s on her way home right now.”

Fat chance. Instead, Lucy got into an all-out brawl with a professional grape stomper. It’s a physical comedy tour de force, full of fruit-flinging and body slams in a precursor to today’s WWE cage matches. It’s a fight that also nearly killed Lucille Ball.

When she appeared on The Dick Cavett Show nearly 20 years later, the host asked about her favorite bits of all time. She simply said the word “grapes,” and the crowd burst into applause.

In the bit,...

More than 50 years later, Glenn Close is recalling the piece of wisdom from a screen legend that got her interested in acting.

The Academy Award nominee recently described her “huge respect” for Katharine Hepburn and revealed how the late actress inspired her to take up the profession while she was attending Virginia’s College of William & Mary.

“The thing I’ve always loved about Hepburn is she seemed to really know who she was,” Close recently told People.

She recalled seeing Hepburn appear on an The Dick Cavett Show in 1973 while painting scenery for her school’s theater.

“I remember she said, ‘No regrets, no regrets.’ Fabulous,” she recounted. “She was so phenomenal, so herself. So the next day I went to the head of the [theater] department and I said, ‘Please nominate me for a series of auditions.’ And from that, I got my first job that fall.

Katharine Hepburn...

Although somewhat tame by today’s standards, when Monty Python’s Life of Brian was released in 1979, it was considered to be among the most offensive — and blasphemous — films ever made. While no strangers to controversy, Monty Python faced a backlash like never before with their third film, in which they relentlessly mocked organized religion via a biblical epic parody about a man named Brian who is mistaken for the messiah just because he’s Jesus’ neighbor.

Forty-five years after its initial release, Life of Brian is still regarded as a classic, and many consider it to be the best, most sophisticated work the Pythons ever did. Here’s how it all came about, how angry it made everybody and why it’s stood the test of time…

45 Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory

Life of Brian was first conceived when the Pythons were on the publicity tour for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

When Tom Hollander took on the role of Truman Capote in Season 2 of Ryan Murphy’s Anthology Series, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, it wasn’t the first time he’d contemplated playing the famously acerbic New York writer—some years ago he had auditioned for a different version of the role. Now, in portraying Capote’s complex and self-destructive spiral into alcoholism and isolation, written by Jon Robin Baitz, Hollander describes an experience so profoundly immersive that he himself has not yet been able to watch it. Speaking from Rome where he is currently shooting Iris—the upcoming drama series from Luther creator Neil Cross—Hollander explains his process for Feud and the impact of embodying a gay man with the courage to live out and proud in an unaccepting society.

Deadline: You’re in the middle of a shoot right now. What can you tell me about it?...

The only person who believed in David Bowie’s vision of “Young Americans” more than Bowie himself was David Sanborn. The saxophonist, who was trained in jazz, had broken into the pop world as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and by guesting on Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book. Sanborn, who died Sunday, was in his late 20s when he linked up with Bowie for the Diamond Dogs Tour — he’s featured on the David Live double-album — and joined him in the studio for the recording of Bowie...

Four decades after his death, the infamous Truman Capote continues to dominate pop culture through the second season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series Feud, titled Capote vs. The Swans. The show chronicles Capote’s falling-out with his socialite inner circle as well as his self-destructive spiral.

A pivotal moment of that spiral occurred during an intoxicated interview on the July 18, 1978 episode of The Stanley Siegel Show, which the series recreates in its penultimate episode. That single appearance eclipsed nearly a decade in which Capote was one of the most in-demand guests on talk shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Dick Cavett Show, and Firing Line. During this time, Capote and the talk show format that erupted in the 1960s and 1970s had a symbiotic relationship fed by one’s ability to tell stories and the other’s ability to reach a vast audience.

Hank Bradford, the clever stand-up comic who performed a half-dozen times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before serving a five-year stint as head writer on the program, has died. He was 88.

Bradford died Jan. 18 in Los Angeles, his family announced.

Bradford did uncredited dialogue rewrites on the Burt Reynolds-starring Smokey and the Bandit (1977) — when he got the script, “it wasn’t a comedy,” he revealed to host Mark Malkoff on a 2017 episode of The Carson Podcast — and wrote for such TV shows as M*A*S*H, Private Benjamin and Three’s Company.

The Brooklyn native made his first appearance on the Tonight Show in September 1966 when it was based in New York. He got a spot inside the writers room in 1969, succeeded Marshall Brickman as head writer in 1970 and moved with the show to Burbank in 1972.

Bradford’s role on the fabled NBC late-night program was...

Attorney Leon Wildes, who stood next to John Lennon and Yoko Ono in court, in public and on TV during the early 1970s as the famous couple successfully fought unrelenting deportation attempts by the Nixon Administration, died Monday, January 8, at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital. He was 90.

His death was announced by his son Michael Wildes, the Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.

Wildes himself would share at least a fraction of the Lennons’ massive fame for a while in the early ’70s, appearing with the couple on various high-profile TV talk shows during the three-year litigation.

After Lennon and Ono, both outspoken critics of the war in Vietnam, moved to New York City following the break-up of the Beatles, they soon became targeted by the Nixon Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Lennon had been convicted in London in 1968 on a marijuana possession charge, and a waiver he...

How To Come Alive With Norman Mailer director Jeff Zimbalist: “I lament that in some ways the film is a nostalgia piece for that bygone era. But never saying that Mailer himself is a role model.”

In the second instalment with Jeff Zimbalist on How To Come Alive With Norman Mailer (co-written with Victoria Marquette and a highlight of the 14th edition of Doc NYC) we discuss a bygone era where opposite sides were coming together in debates, such as the infamous 1971 Town Hall event in New York City: A Dialogue on Women’s Liberation with Germaine Greer, Betty Friedan, Susan Sontag, Jill Johnston, Diana Trilling, Cynthia Ozick, Elizabeth Hardwick, and Jacqueline Ceballos, where Mailer was taught a lesson or two (seen from Chris Hegedus and Da Pennebaker’s Town Bloody Hall documentary), and the Gore Vidal Norman Mailer showdown on The Dick Cavett Show.

Jeff Zimbalist on Norman Mailer: “He’s incredibly prophetic.

Lucille Ball of "I Love Lucy" fame was a groundbreaking comedy genius, paved the way for "Star Trek" to become a cultural phenomenon with her production company, and has been the subject of numerous documentaries and biopics over the years. Some of the most iconic moments in "I Love Lucy" history have been parodied across film and television, and her presence has permeated the culture with such vigor that even younger generations who have yet to watch a single episode of the show are at least tangentially familiar with moments in episodes like "Lucy and the Chocolate Factory" or her hilarious whine. One of Ball's most influential moments came in the now-classic 1956 episode "Lucy's Italian Movie," which features a simulated fight in a vat of grapes (to make wine) with Italian actress, Teresa Tirelli ... or was it?

Ball finally confessed the truth during a 1974 interview on "The Dick Cavett Show,...

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" remains the best Indiana Jones film partly due to its very real sense of danger. According to John Rhys-Davies, who played Indy's sidekick Sallah, director Steven Spielberg "was making it up as he goes along. The script was endless pages of action description. A lot of the dialogue was (improvised) by Steven; Steven and Harrison [Ford]; or Steven, Harrison and myself." Indeed, one of the most famous scenes in "Raiders" was improvised by Ford, wherein he shoots stuntman Terry Richards' swordsman during the Cairo marketplace scene.

But while the spontaneous nature of filming "Raiders" lent the film an air of excitement and danger, it also made for a literally dangerous shoot, to the extent that Spielberg was amazed Ford's stunt team made it through the production alive. The director has written about his remorse over allowing Ford to perform many of the stunts himself and...

Tl;Dr:

The Beatles’ John Lennon said his band’s popularity ebbed and flowed after their early years. He said the band’s breakup was a huge part of their myth. He discussed the music the members of the Fab Four made after the split.

The Beatles‘ breakup might be the most famous breakup in all of rock history. John Lennon took a minute to imagine what might have happened if the Fab Four had stayed together. Subsequently, he explored the upsides and downsides of leaving the group.

The Beatles’ John Lennon said it’s ‘best to go out when you’re flying high’

During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John discussed what could have happened if The Beatles kept going. “I don’t know, it would have probably gone down the tubes and then been resurrected like everything else,” he opined. “I always thought it was best...

The one, the only Lucille Ball. Groundbreaking, fearless, timeless, supremely talented… and magical. We salute her today in honor of her birthday, Aug. 6 1911, with a bevy of facts you probably didn’t know about the beloved “I Love Lucy” star. From real-life antics on the set of her iconic sitcom (that grape stomping scene turned into a wrestling match) to superstitions (keep away all pictures of birds!) to a long-kept secret (Lucy had no eyebrows — really!), we go through it all. So sit back and celebrate the icon known as Lucille Ball with this deep-dive into her life.

Photo credit: YouTube

• The grape stomping scene turned into a real wrestling match

“I got into the vat with one, and she had been told that we would have a fight,” Lucy said on “The Dick Cavett Show.” She continued, “I slipped and, in slipping, I hit her accidentally and she took offense,...

John Lennon’s first son, Julian, had more of an impact on The Beatles than many might expect. For instance, Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” to give Julian Lennon words of comfort as his parents went through a divorce. Another famous song by The Beatles was based on a drawing he made. However, Julian doesn’t why or how he came up with the idea behind it.

Julian Lennon doesn’t remember the inspiration for the drawing that John Lennon used for ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ John Lennon | Keystone Features/Getty Images

Many still believe that “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” references hallucinogenic drugs. The title clearly spells out the acronym for LSD, and the supposed drug connection led to it being banned by the BBC. However, John Lennon claimed the track had no connection to drugs and was based on a drawing created by his son.

One of the grand paradoxes of Jean-Luc Godard is that he was a radical, an outlier, a filmmaker who guarded his purity and always looked askance at “the system,” yet because the nature of filmmaking is that it requires a lot of money, and is connected to fame, and produces images that can spread with iconic power, Godard was an outsider who was also an insider; a poet of cinema who made himself a celebrity; an artist who bridged the larger-than-life, old-school ethos of movies with the forbidding imperatives of the avant-garde.

All of that contradiction is on full display, with a luscious kind of resonance, in “Godard par Godard,” an hour-long documentary, written by Frédéric Bonnaud and directed by Florence Platarets, that was presented at the Cannes Film Festival today as a tribute to Godard, eight months after his death on September 13, 2022. The documentary was shown along with Godard’s final film,...

The classic TV series I Love Lucy aired 180 episodes. The series premiered in 1951 and aired its final episode in 1957. Despite ending more than 60 years ago, I Love Lucy remains a beloved show, amassing new fans even today. While most episodes are considered classic and iconic, a few scenes are more treasured than all the others. Not all of them were scripted. In fact, the show’s iconic grape stomping scene was completely unscripted, and the fight was the real deal.

Lucille Ball and Teresa Tirelli | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images The famed grape stomping scene in ‘I Love Lucy’ was unscripted

Fans of the classic sitcom often cite the chocolate factory scene, with Lucy and Ethel shoveling chocolates into their mouths and blouses, as comedy gold. Some viewers insist Lucy’s drunken “Vitameatavegamin” commercial is the most iconic scene of the series, while others point to Lucy’s grape stomping...

Tl;Dr:

In Forrest Gump, the title character goes on The Dick Cavett Show and inspires John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The scene makes it so that “Imagine” is inspired by Forrest’s experiences in Red China. John said the song was inspired by Yoko Ono and his feelings about religion. John Lennon | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

John Lennon‘s “Imagine” has a big place in popular culture. For example, the song appears in the movie Forrest Gump. The song’s appearance in the film simply isn’t funny and undermines Yoko Ono’s place in history.

The John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ joke in ‘Forrest Gump’ explained

In a famous sequence from the film Forrest Gump, Forrest makes an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. During his appearance, Forrest tells John about China, He remarks that the people have very few possessions and don’t go to church. John says that...

After the release of his 1960 masterpiece “Psycho,” Alfred Hitchcock received an irate letter from someone saying his daughter refused to take a bath after seeing Henri Clouzot’s 1955 thriller “Les Diaboliques,” which features a horrifying murder in a bathtub. And now she wouldn’t take a shower because of “Psycho.” What was he to do? Hitchcock wrote back the fuming father in his typical succinct and macabre style telling him to “send her to the dry cleaners.”

Undoubtedly, he received a lot of angry missives who saw his next film, “The Birds,” which celebrates the 60th anniversary of its release on March 28. In what is considered the Master of Suspense’s only horror film, “The Birds” finds feathered friends on the attack for no apparent reason. Let’s face it, six decades later if you see a large flock of birds gathering on a school’s jungle gym or malevolently peering down from trees,...

Paul McCartney claims he almost got his bandmate John Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono, to meet before they met at the Indica Gallery. He knew the avant-garde artist before John.

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono | Cummings Archives/Getty Images Paul McCartney nearly got John Lennon and Yoko Ono to meet before their first meeting

In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul said he’d known Yoko since she’d arrived in London in the mid-1960s. Paul met her before John.

One day, Yoko knocked on Paul’s door and said, “We’re collecting manuscripts for John Cage’s birthday. Do you have a manuscript we can have?” Paul said, “We don’t really have manuscripts. We have sort of words on paper, a piece of paper with lyrics on it.” She said, “Yeah, well, that’d be good.”

Paul told Yoko that he...

Paul McCartney claims he’s the reason his bandmate John Lennon met his second wife, Yoko Ono. He met the avant-garde artist before John.

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono | Cummings Archives/Getty Images Paul McCartney is the reason John Lennon and Yoko Ono met

In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul said he’d known Yoko since she’d arrived in London in the mid-1960s. Paul met her before John.

One day, Yoko knocked on Paul’s door and said, “We’re collecting manuscripts for John Cage’s birthday. Do you have a manuscript we can have?” Paul said, “We don’t really have manuscripts. We have sort of words on paper, a piece of paper with lyrics on it.” She said, “Yeah, well, that’d be good.”

Paul told Yoko that he didn’t have anything like that with him but added that John might.

It wasn’t hard to choose five of George Harrison‘s most awkward interviews because he had many throughout his career. The top five will make even some of the former Beatle’s casual fans cringe.

George Harrison | Bernd Mueller/Getty Images 1. ‘Today Show,’ 1986

George’s 1986 appearance on the Today Show is one of his most awkward interviews for many reasons. At the beginning of the interview, the reporter asks about his involvement with Monty Python. She says “Monty Python” slowly, as if she is not saying it correctly. George picks up on it and imitates her in a slow American accent. You can watch it at the 2:30 mark in this video.

Her mention of Monty Python leads to a seemingly deep but confusing question about George’s philosophy of making films with his production company, HandMade Films. She says laughter is the biggest release and asks him if...

Steven Spielberg is recalling the first time he saw Michelle Williams and Paul Dano dressed up together as his parents while on set for The Fabelmans.

During a sit-down with Colbert in a rare television interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which aired Thursday, the Oscar-winning filmmaker explained how a “routine” first day of filming his personal and now-Oscar-nominated movie turned into an emotional one.

“Mark Bridges (costume designer) came over to me and said, ‘I’ve got Paul and Michelle here in their hair and makeup and costumes,'” he recalled, adding that he had seen them in their costumes separately but not together. “I turned around and there was my father and mother, and I just burst into tears. Just like that, I didn’t even think about it, it just happened.”

The interview was Spielberg’s first-ever on a late-night show, and first on an...

The Beatles had many songs that referenced drugs, often stirring up controversy with the BBC and radio censorship. The BBC didn’t catch every reference and often misinterpreted lyrics for being about drugs when they weren’t. A few of the band’s songs were banned for other reasons, but these songs got in trouble for supposedly alluding to drugs.

The Beatles | Fiona Adams/Redferns Here are 3 Beatles songs banned for allegedly referencing drugs ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’

Even today, many associate “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” with psychedelic drugs. The title appears to be an acronym for LSD. The song doesn’t directly reference drugs, but the BBC believed the title was enough evidence to ban it from the radio. In an interview on The Dick Cavett Show, John Lennon explained that the song wasn’t about drugs and was based on a drawing by his son,...

Fred Astaire once said The Beatles were “tremendous artists.” The Fab Four thought the same of the singer and dancer. They even pretended to be Astaire in a couple of songs.

Fred Astaire and Dick Cavett | ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images Fred Astaire thought The Beatles were ‘tremendous artists’

During an interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Astaire talked about the contemporary music his grandchildren listened to. His grandson, who was 10 at the time, listened to hard rock.

Cavett asked if Astaire had any Beatles records in his own collection. “Oh, sure,” Astaire said. “I love The Beatles. Tremendous artists.” He said their music alone was great.

He also liked that their music had a distinct sound. For instance, if Astaire heard a song, he would have recognized that it was The Beatles.

Astaire inspired a couple of Beatles songs

In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney wrote that...

Raquel Welch died Thursday at 82 and leaves a legacy of a career that spanned more than 50 years. The actor who is known for starring in Fantastic Voyage, One Million Years B.C. and American Family, among many others, appeared in 30 films, 50 TV series and multiple appearances on late-night shows. Scroll through the videos posted below and remember some of Welch’s most notable performances.

Related Story Raquel Welch Dies: ‘Fantastic Voyage’, ‘One Million Years B.C.’ & ‘Myra Breckinridge’ Star Was 82 Related Story Pulitzer Prize Finalist Kristina Wong Signs With CAA; Solo Show 'Sweatshop Overlord' Playing Kirk Douglas Theatre Related Story 'Flip The Strip': Thunder From Down Under Performers Score HGTV Series

Welch made an appearance alongside Janis Joplin on The Dick Cavett Show in June 1970 where the host points out that people get surprised at how bright she is adding, “Because everyone that is a sex symbol automatically has to be dumb...

Reese Witherspoon led tributes for Hollywood icon Raquel Welch after news of her death broke on 15 February.

The star was 82.

“The legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness,” Welch’s representative said in a statement.

“Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs.”

“Raquel leaves behind her two children, son Damon Welch and her daughter, Tahnee Welch,” her representative added to Kabc.

Welch shot to fame with her role as a bikini-clad cavewoman in 1966’s One Million Years BC. Her career. which spanned half a century, included high-profile roles in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968) and 100 Rifles (1969).

In 1968, she starred opposite Frank Sinatra in the detective film Lady in Cement.

Tributes from the entertainment industry have since poured in for the actor.

There’s a fungus among us — and it’s taking over.

HBO’s “The Last of Us,” like the video game it’s based on, takes place in a world ravaged by a fungus that kills whoever it infects — but not before turning them into apparently mindless, zombie-like monsters driven to attack anyone who remains uninfected. 20 years after the outbreak, at least in America the only remnants of civilization are brutally oppressive “Quarantine Zones” run by Fedra, a fictional organization that appears to be all that’s left of the U.S. government, and scattered survivor settlements.

What is the fungus and what are its effects? Where did the outbreak start? How did it spread so fast that the world was overwhelmed? Is there a cure? After each episode of “The Last of Us,” we’ll add what we know. Warning, there are spoilers ahead.

What Is it? via Wikipedia

The fungus,...

The Last of Us features a chilling opening scene. The series, adapted from Naughty Dog’s video game by the same name, opens with two epidemiologists appearing on a talk show in 1968. In the scene, one of the scientists issues a chilling warning about the threat fungus could pose to humans. However, the series’ creative minds considered introducing the show in a very different way.

Craig Mazin, Bella Ramsey, Neil Druckmann, Pedro Pascal, Chairman/CEO of HBO & HBO Max Casey Bloys, and EVP, and Head of Drama, HBO Programming Francesca Orsi | Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO ‘The Last of Us’ opening scene features a chilling warning from Dr. Neuman

HBO’s The Last of Us tells its story in a non-linear fashion. The series opens in 1968, with a talk show host interviewing epidemiologists Dr. Neuman and Dr. Schoenheiss. Neuman surprises the audience by stating that there is a bigger potential...

One of the reasons "Forrest Gump" is a cherished movie is because of the way it lightheartedly traverses decades of key moments in U.S. history and popular culture through the eyes of an altruistic titular protagonist, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) -- inspired by a couple of real-life blokes. In the eyes of the film, even one simple person can make a big impact on the world around them. The film cleverly blends these events with a fictional narrative to show the significance of Forrest's actions.

In "Forrest Gump," during Alabama Governor George Wallace's 1963 "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" event where he protested the de-segregation of schools, Forrest curiously watches from the crowd and then helps African-American student Vivian Malone when she drops her books on her way into the school.

Later, during an appearance alongside John Lennon on "The Dick Cavett Show," Forrest inspires the lyrics to Lennon's best-selling single "Imagine.

David Bowie in Brett Morgen’s documentary Moonage Daydream. Photo: Neon Moonage Daydream is a documentary about David Bowie that does all it can to avoid being a typical documentary—and it succeeds. It isn’t a cradle-to-grave investigation of the performer’s life, even though most of it follows chronological order.

Here’s a film documentary that feels like a time-travel machine. But we’re not escaping into the past — the past is coming to us.

In “My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock,” film-besotted documentarian Mark Cousins hopscotches through the Master of Suspense’s body of work based on ideas and images, not your typical film-by-film chronological approach. He’s made hyperlinked connections throughout Hitchcock’s whole filmography (clips from almost every one of his films appear) to show that these works are not of the past: They remain eternally present tense.

To do that, Cousins presents us with a magnificent trick: making it seem as if Hitchcock is narrating the documentary and guiding you through his work and through the themes you might not otherwise notice. Impressionist Alistair McGowan portrays Hitch in the voiceover and has him down completely, from the sharp intake of breath to the almost-snort that precedes him...

Ray Scott, dubbed the “Father of Modern Bass Fishing” for helping turn a regional leisure sport into an industry with an economic impact of 125 billion per year and related media including magazines, web sites and an iconic TV Show, died in his sleep Sunday night at his home in Alabama, according to an announcement on Bassmaster.com. He was 88.

A child of the Great Depression, Scott worked for a decade as an insurance salesman before his lightbulb moment came.

Rained out on a fishing trip, with basketball the only sports on TV, he thought to himself, “Why doesn’t someone cover fishing on TV? There’s more folks fishing than playing basketball.”

So in 1967, leveraging a great idea and a flair for promotion, Scott launched the first national professional bass-fishing tournament. A year later, he founded what has become the world’s largest fishing organization, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society — or B.

I’d never join a film that would have a guy like me for a lead character.

That’s something Groucho Marx might have said about “Raised Eyebrows,” a film about the legendary comic’s later years, which is solidifying its financing ahead of the Cannes Film Market.

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winner Geoffrey Rush will play Groucho (born Julius) Marx toward the end of his life, in the 1970s, when he staged something of a comeback as a cranky octogenarian. Powerhouse indie producer Owen Moverman will direct the film, and has co-written it with Steve Stoliar, upon whose memoir the book is based.

Stoliar, a writer-producer (credits include episodes of “Wkrp in Cincinnati”!) came into Groucho’s orbit as a young man, and will be played by Charlie Plummer. Sienna Miller has been cast as Groucho’s young personal manager Erin Fleming who brought the increasingly frail Vaudeville and Hollywood legend back into the spotlight,...

The world got a little less funny and significantly quieter on Tuesday following the death of Gilbert Gottfried at 67. The self-deprecating stand-up comic, known for squinting, shrieking, cackling, and hammering a joke to death until it was so unfunny it became funny again, got his start on “Saturday Night Live” in 1980, had a slew of comedy specials over the years, made legendary frequent appearances on “The Howard Stern Show,” and appeared in small roles in films like “Beverly Hills Cop II,” “Problem Child,” and “Meet Wally Sparks.”

It was in 1992, however, when he voiced the role of an evil parrot in “Aladdin” that he became mainstream. (“Aladdin on Broadway” took a moment to honor him on Tuesday.) Much to the delight of comics who liked to razz him, Gottfried found his niche voicing animals for kiddie films like “Dr. Doolittle” and in ubiquitous, annoying commercials for secondary health insurance. He...

At Sunday’s WGA Awards, late-night host, comedian and writer Dick Cavett received the Evelyn F. Burkey Award, speaking in his acceptance speech about what writing means to him.

“Writing is one of the great bastions of civilizations. It’s a branch of the art that needs preserving,” he said in the pre-taped segment, “and I thought I’d try to get through this without using the word ‘honor,’ but this is an honor.”

The honoree, who hosted multiple iterations of The Dick Cavett Show over the course of almost two decades, also fondly recalled time spent with the innumerable literary icons that graced his show. “I have been lucky to spend time with some of the most colorful, wonderful people in this county and the world, and they were writers. Ms. Burkey, whose name is on this award, was a real character. She’s done millions of good things for writers,...

Season 5 of the popular Spanish teen drama “Élite” will debut April 8, Netflix announced Monday.

Set in the private, elite secondary school Las Encinas, “Élite” follows an ensemble cast of students that constantly find themselves involved with various murder and police investigations. When they’re not running into trouble with the law, the mixed group of working class and wealthy teenagers navigate intense relationship dramas and the heavy workload of their demanding institution.

Season 5 of “Élite” follows the students as they recover from the Season 4 finale, which saw Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau) murder a man named Armando (Andrés Velencoso) and go on the run after his friends help cover it up. Season 4 cast members Itzan Escamilla, Omar Ayuso, Claudia Salas, Georgina Amorós, Carla Díaz, Martina Cariddi, Manu Ríos, Pol Granch and Diego Martín return for the new season, joined by new cast members Valentina Zenere, André Lamoglia and Adam Nourou.

“Élite” is...

Dick Cavett has been named as the recipient of Writers Guild of America, East’s Evelyn F. Burkey Award for 2022. Late Night’s Seth Meyers will present the late night host, comedian and writer with the honor at the virtual WGA Awards ceremony taking place on March 20.

The award, recognizing someone who has brought honor and dignity to writers, was established in 1978 to honor Burkey, who dedicated her professional life to supporting writers, helping to create the Writers Guild of America, East in 1954, and serving as its executive director until her retirement in 1972. Past recipients include James Schamus, Edward Albee, Walter Bernstein, Joan Didion, Claire Labine, Walter Cronkite, Arthur Miller, Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese.

“Thank you to the Writers Guild of America, East for honoring me with the Evelyn F. Burkey Award,” said Cavett. “I am very grateful to receive this distinguished award from my union and want to thank all the people,...

Few filmmakers can claim the level of influence held by Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Talking about Hitchcock, Brian DePalma claimed, "if you wanna learn about cinematic storytelling, he's it" on an episode of "The Dick Cavett Show." DePalma owed his visual perfectionism and lurid narrative sensibilities to the director's work, but he also notes that Hitchcock crafted and perfected some of the fundamental grammar of filmmaking, especially in the art of cutting. His primary focus with editing, the very thing that led to his mastery of suspense, was in emphasizing one thing: the act of seeing. He used editing to show what characters see, how they see,...

The post Alfred Hitchcock Explains the Power of Film Editing appeared first on /Film.

Alfred Hitchcock wrote the book on making suspense come alive on-screen. During his decades-long career, the filmmaker directed over 50 features. Though he dabbled in many genres, his best films are regarded as cinema's most chilling classics. "Rebecca," the Master of Suspense's 1940 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Gothic novel, is one of his best.

In his early films, Hitchcock popularized filmmaking methods that would go on to become industry norms. Small but clever formal choices emphasized his characters' states of mind or revealed key information about the setting. In a 1972 interview for The Dick Cavett Show, the director explained a few of the...

The post How Alfred Hitchcock Subtly Makes You Feel Uneasy in Rebecca appeared first on /Film.

Arthur Forrest, the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning director whose 70-year career in television included work on The Honeymooners, The Dick Cavett Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has died. He was 95.

Forrest died Oct. 25 of natural causes at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Marcy Forrest, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A live-event specialist, Forrest helmed NBC’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade telecast from Pasadena from 1977-2017, when he retired from show business at age 90. “I like starting the new year with marching bands!” he said.

For more than four decades, from New York to Las Vegas, Forrest also ...

Arthur Forrest, the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning director whose 70-year career in television included work on The Honeymooners, The Dick Cavett Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has died. He was 95.

Forrest died Oct. 25 of natural causes at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Marcy Forrest, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A live-event specialist, Forrest helmed NBC’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade telecast from Pasadena from 1977-2017, when he retired from show business at age 90. “I like starting the new year with marching bands!” he said.

For more than four decades, from New York to Las Vegas, Forrest also ...

Exclusive: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is the subject of the latest season of podcast series Power.

Sony Music Entertainment and Somethin’ Else, the British production company the former acquired in June, are launching the series today, November 1. It tells the complex story behind Hefner’s rise and legacy told through the eyes of the women who knew him best.

It comes after the first season of Power, which profiled Robert Maxwell, launched earlier this year, and ahead of A&e’s documentary Secrets of Playboy, which launches in 2022.

Hosted by journalist and author Amy Rose Spiegel, the series will delve into Hefner’s rise to power and the origins of Playboy and investigate questions around the dark side of the brand, including notorious Mansion parties and Hefner’s manipulation and control of his girlfriends and other associates.

It will feature conversations with a number of women involved with Playboy including Holly Madison,...

Arthur Forrest, a television legend with a 75-year career that covered long-running hits such as “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and “That’s Incredible!,” died on Oct. 25. He was 95.

Marcy Forrest, Arthur’s wife, confirmed the death to Variety.

Born in 1926 in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx as a first-generation American, Forrest completed his education at NYU and landed a job at DuMont Network’s studio as a janitor. After learning the business, Forrest went from janitor to page, from page to studio assistant, all the way up to the cameraman on “The Honeymooners” and “Captain Video.”

After leaving DuMont and working for New York’s Channel 5, Forrest directed the popular children’s show, “Wonderama,” and stayed at the station until 1973, when he left to direct the late night “Dick Cavett Show.”

Moving to Los Angeles in 1975, Forrest established himself in the world of live television, finding success with...