Born in Houston, Texas, on August 18, 1952, Patrick Wayne Swayze was the son of Patsy Swayze, a choreographer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze, a draftsman at a chemical plant. Patrick honed his dancing skills at his mother’s dance school in their hometown of Houston.
Renowned for his captivating performances, Patrick Wayne Swayze was a multifaceted talent. As an actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter, Swayze left an indelible imprint on Hollywood with his unique ability to embody romantic, rugged, and comedic roles. His charm was so irresistible that he was deemed the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine in 1991.
Related: 25 Sexiest Men of 2022 (on TV and Movies)
Beyond his acting prowess, he penned and performed the famous song “She’s Like the Wind,” further solidifying his place in the annals of entertainment.
From the passionate intensity of “Dirty Dancing“ to the adrenaline-fueled action of “Point Break,” Swayze’s diverse roles showcased his wide-ranging talent.
Renowned for his captivating performances, Patrick Wayne Swayze was a multifaceted talent. As an actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter, Swayze left an indelible imprint on Hollywood with his unique ability to embody romantic, rugged, and comedic roles. His charm was so irresistible that he was deemed the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine in 1991.
Related: 25 Sexiest Men of 2022 (on TV and Movies)
Beyond his acting prowess, he penned and performed the famous song “She’s Like the Wind,” further solidifying his place in the annals of entertainment.
From the passionate intensity of “Dirty Dancing“ to the adrenaline-fueled action of “Point Break,” Swayze’s diverse roles showcased his wide-ranging talent.
- 8/24/2023
- by Israr Ahmed
- buddytv.com
Inga Swenson, who was nominated for three Emmys for her role as German cook Gretchen Kraus on the 1980s ABC sitcom “Benson,” has died at age 90.
The character Gretchen originated on the ’70s series “Soap,” as did Benson, the character played by Robert Guillaume, who headlined the eponymous spin-off.
Swenson died Sunday night of natural causes in Los Angeles at a board and care facility. Her son, Mark, told TMZ on Friday that her husband, Lowell Harris, was with her when she died.
Swenson was also a trained lyric soprano, who was nominated for two Tony Awards for her roles in the musicals “110 in the Shade” and “Baker Street.” Her other Broadway credits included serving as a stand-in for Julie Andrews’ in the 1960 production of “Camelot” and “The First Gentleman” in 1957, for which she won a Theatre World Award.
She had supporting roles in the 1962 films “The Miracle Worker” and...
The character Gretchen originated on the ’70s series “Soap,” as did Benson, the character played by Robert Guillaume, who headlined the eponymous spin-off.
Swenson died Sunday night of natural causes in Los Angeles at a board and care facility. Her son, Mark, told TMZ on Friday that her husband, Lowell Harris, was with her when she died.
Swenson was also a trained lyric soprano, who was nominated for two Tony Awards for her roles in the musicals “110 in the Shade” and “Baker Street.” Her other Broadway credits included serving as a stand-in for Julie Andrews’ in the 1960 production of “Camelot” and “The First Gentleman” in 1957, for which she won a Theatre World Award.
She had supporting roles in the 1962 films “The Miracle Worker” and...
- 7/28/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Inga Swenson, the versatile actress best known for memorable portrayals of combative women on the TV hits Soap and Benson, has died. Her son confirmed the news to TMZ. Swenson was 90.
Swenson’s involvement on the shows began with a multi-episode arc on Soap in 1978 as the conniving revenge-seeking Ingrid Svenson, the Swedish birth mother of Corinne Tate (Diana Canova). That led to a new role on the show’s spinoff, Benson, as Gretchen Kraus, an autocratic and combative German cook.
Over the course of the latter Swenson’s character was frequently at odds with Benson (Robert Guillaume) himself, often trading insults with him as he sought to run household affairs for Governor Eugene X. Gatling (James Noble). Despite their rivalry, Benson and Kraus later became close friends on the show. Swenson was Emmy nominated three times for the role, in 1980, 1982 and 1985.
A year before her first TV credit – an...
Swenson’s involvement on the shows began with a multi-episode arc on Soap in 1978 as the conniving revenge-seeking Ingrid Svenson, the Swedish birth mother of Corinne Tate (Diana Canova). That led to a new role on the show’s spinoff, Benson, as Gretchen Kraus, an autocratic and combative German cook.
Over the course of the latter Swenson’s character was frequently at odds with Benson (Robert Guillaume) himself, often trading insults with him as he sought to run household affairs for Governor Eugene X. Gatling (James Noble). Despite their rivalry, Benson and Kraus later became close friends on the show. Swenson was Emmy nominated three times for the role, in 1980, 1982 and 1985.
A year before her first TV credit – an...
- 7/28/2023
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Refresh for updates... The Wire actors Wendell Pierce and Isiah Whitlock Jr. and creator-ep David Simon are among the Hollywood colleagues, friends and fans paying tribute to John Wick and The Wire star Lance Reddick, who died today at 60.
Related Story ‘John Wick’s Keanu Reeves, Chad Stahelski & Lionsgate Mourn “Consummate Professional” Lance Reddick: “A Joy To Work With” Related Story Lance Reddick Dies: 'John Wick', 'The Wire', 'Fringe' & 'Bosch' Actor Was 60 Related Story John Jakes Dies: 'North And South', 'The Bastard' Author Was 90
“A man of great strength and grace,” writes The Wire co-star Wendell Pierce. “As talented a musician as he was an actor. The epitome of class. A sudden unexpected sharp painful grief for our artistic family. An unimaginable suffering for his personal family and loved ones. Godspeed my friend. You made your mark here. Rip”
Related:...
Related Story ‘John Wick’s Keanu Reeves, Chad Stahelski & Lionsgate Mourn “Consummate Professional” Lance Reddick: “A Joy To Work With” Related Story Lance Reddick Dies: 'John Wick', 'The Wire', 'Fringe' & 'Bosch' Actor Was 60 Related Story John Jakes Dies: 'North And South', 'The Bastard' Author Was 90
“A man of great strength and grace,” writes The Wire co-star Wendell Pierce. “As talented a musician as he was an actor. The epitome of class. A sudden unexpected sharp painful grief for our artistic family. An unimaginable suffering for his personal family and loved ones. Godspeed my friend. You made your mark here. Rip”
Related:...
- 3/17/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
John Jakes, the celebrated author known for his historical North and South trilogy that sold 10 million copies and became three ABC miniseries in the 1980s and ’90s, has died. He was 90.
Jakes died Saturday in Sarasota, Florida, his lawyer and literary agent Frank R. Curtis announced.
Jakes, who during his career wrote more than 80 books, which sold more than 120 million copies worldwide, earned $25 when his first short story was published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when he was 18.
He spent 17 years as an advertising copywriter and creative director before he broke through at age 42 with the 1974 publication of The Bastard, the first of eight paperbacks under the umbrella known as The Kent Family Chronicles. Those books, which depicted American history through the lives of a fictional clan, were written to capitalize on the U.S. bicentennial celebrations that peaked in 1976.
In 1975, with the publication of Vols. II,...
Jakes died Saturday in Sarasota, Florida, his lawyer and literary agent Frank R. Curtis announced.
Jakes, who during his career wrote more than 80 books, which sold more than 120 million copies worldwide, earned $25 when his first short story was published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when he was 18.
He spent 17 years as an advertising copywriter and creative director before he broke through at age 42 with the 1974 publication of The Bastard, the first of eight paperbacks under the umbrella known as The Kent Family Chronicles. Those books, which depicted American history through the lives of a fictional clan, were written to capitalize on the U.S. bicentennial celebrations that peaked in 1976.
In 1975, with the publication of Vols. II,...
- 3/14/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Jakes, the bestselling author of historical novels whose books The Bastard and North And South were adapted into highly rated TV movies and miniseries in the 1970s and ’80s, died Saturday at a hospice facility in Sarasota, Florida. He was 90.
His death was announced by his lawyer and literary agent Frank R. Curtis.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Rolly Crump Dies: Legendary Disneyland Designer Was 93 Related Story Bud Grant Dies: Hall Of Fame Minnesota Vikings Coach Led Team To Four Super Bowls, Was 95
Born on March 31, 1932, in Chicago, Jakes published his first short story at 18, earning $25, and would go on to author more than 80 books in his lifetime that sold more than 120 million copies worldwide.
His breakthrough came in 1974 with the publication of The Bastard, the first in what would become an eight-volume series known as The Kent Family Chronicles. Roughly coinciding with America’s Bicentennial,...
His death was announced by his lawyer and literary agent Frank R. Curtis.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Rolly Crump Dies: Legendary Disneyland Designer Was 93 Related Story Bud Grant Dies: Hall Of Fame Minnesota Vikings Coach Led Team To Four Super Bowls, Was 95
Born on March 31, 1932, in Chicago, Jakes published his first short story at 18, earning $25, and would go on to author more than 80 books in his lifetime that sold more than 120 million copies worldwide.
His breakthrough came in 1974 with the publication of The Bastard, the first in what would become an eight-volume series known as The Kent Family Chronicles. Roughly coinciding with America’s Bicentennial,...
- 3/14/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Bridgerton season one arrived on December the 25th 2020 like a highly decorated Christmas gift. Unwrapped, it was a perfect confection of untaxing indulgence, romance and escapism. It told the story of Daphne and Simon, a debutante beauty and an emotionally repressed Duke who teamed up to get everybody off their backs, and who ended up getting on their own backs, and fronts, and sides, and – if I remember this correctly – halfway up the stairs and possibly at one point, a ladder? It was all a marvellous distraction from the real world, with excellent casting that threw open the fusty, cobwebbed door of racially homogeneous period drama to revitalise an over-familiar world.
Now it’s back for season two, with a new romantic plot-line and a bunch of new characters. Here’s who we’ll be meeting across the eight episodes, plus the major returning cast being welcomed back.
Simone Ashley...
Now it’s back for season two, with a new romantic plot-line and a bunch of new characters. Here’s who we’ll be meeting across the eight episodes, plus the major returning cast being welcomed back.
Simone Ashley...
- 3/23/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Rtl Deutschland has inked an exclusive multi-year content deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment, adding films and series — including HBO Max originals — to streaming service Rtl Plus.
Warner Bros.’ extensive output, which includes IP such as Batman, Harry Potter and Wonder Woman, is intended to complement Rtl Plus’s growing number of German originals.
As part of the deal — which is effective from March 2022 — Rtl Deutschland will also receive exclusive free-tv rights to the Warner Bros. library of films and series.
Warner Bros. series that will be available on Rtl Plus include “Sex and the City: And Just Like That,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “North and South.”
Rtl says the deal “contributes significantly” to achieving its streaming targets for Rtl Plus in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands. By 2026, the company aims to grow its annual content spend to around €600 million ($682 million), increase the...
Warner Bros.’ extensive output, which includes IP such as Batman, Harry Potter and Wonder Woman, is intended to complement Rtl Plus’s growing number of German originals.
As part of the deal — which is effective from March 2022 — Rtl Deutschland will also receive exclusive free-tv rights to the Warner Bros. library of films and series.
Warner Bros. series that will be available on Rtl Plus include “Sex and the City: And Just Like That,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “North and South.”
Rtl says the deal “contributes significantly” to achieving its streaming targets for Rtl Plus in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands. By 2026, the company aims to grow its annual content spend to around €600 million ($682 million), increase the...
- 2/16/2022
- by K.J. Yossman and Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s Global Bulletin, Entertainment One picks up the rights to Australian drama “The Newsreader,” Banijay reorganizes in Iberia, “Downton Abbey” lands on BritBox, Sony Pictures Television hires Jo Porter and Warner Bros. International will distribute Hungry Bear Media’s new game show.
Series
Entertainment One (eOne) has acquired international distribution rights to “The Newsreader,” a new drama series coming to ABC TV in Australia, produced by Werner Film Productions.
Set in the 1980s, the series unspools in a high energy newsroom, turning on the relationship between a young TV reporter and the show’s star female anchor. The cast features several high-profile actors including Anna Torv (“Mindhunter”), Sam Reid (“Lambs of God”), Robert Taylor (“Longmire”), Stephen Peacocke (“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”), Chai Hansen (“The New Legends of Monkey”) and Marg Downey (“Fast Forward”).
“The Newsreader” is backed by major investments from Screen Australia and the ABC and financed with support from Film Victoria.
Series
Entertainment One (eOne) has acquired international distribution rights to “The Newsreader,” a new drama series coming to ABC TV in Australia, produced by Werner Film Productions.
Set in the 1980s, the series unspools in a high energy newsroom, turning on the relationship between a young TV reporter and the show’s star female anchor. The cast features several high-profile actors including Anna Torv (“Mindhunter”), Sam Reid (“Lambs of God”), Robert Taylor (“Longmire”), Stephen Peacocke (“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”), Chai Hansen (“The New Legends of Monkey”) and Marg Downey (“Fast Forward”).
“The Newsreader” is backed by major investments from Screen Australia and the ABC and financed with support from Film Victoria.
- 11/25/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Sandy Dvore, the Emmy-winning graphic artist whose whose opening credit designs for such programs as The Young and the Restless, The Partridge Family and The Waltons are among TV’s most recognizable images, died Nov. 20 after a recent diagnosis of bone cancer. He was 86.
His death was announced by a family representative on Dvore’s official Instagram page. “He was at home where he wanted to be with [his dog] Kid and family,” according to the statement. “Someone was with him and holding his hand as he passed.”
Dvore, who studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, won an Emmy Award in 1987 for his main title design for the Carol Burnett special Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1984 for the opening title credits of The Young and the Restless featuring his now-iconic brush stroke “Y&r” logo, but later said he was told that...
His death was announced by a family representative on Dvore’s official Instagram page. “He was at home where he wanted to be with [his dog] Kid and family,” according to the statement. “Someone was with him and holding his hand as he passed.”
Dvore, who studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, won an Emmy Award in 1987 for his main title design for the Carol Burnett special Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1984 for the opening title credits of The Young and the Restless featuring his now-iconic brush stroke “Y&r” logo, but later said he was told that...
- 11/23/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Sandy Dvore, an Emmy-winning American graphic artist and title designer who created the walking partridges in The Partridge Family and the brush-stroke logo for The Young and the Restless, has died. He was 86.
A rep for Dvore confirmed he died on Friday evening.
Born in Chicago in 1934, Dvore studied at the American Academy of Art from 1953-1954 before moving to Hollywood.
Dvore’s artistry can be seen in some of the most iconic title sequences in television including The McMasters, Getting Together, Two on a Bench, The Man, Nakia, The Waltons, Knots Landing, Eischied, Spenser: For Hire, North and South, Sable, A Hobo’s Christmas, and Wolf. He also created the main titles for North and South – Books ...
A rep for Dvore confirmed he died on Friday evening.
Born in Chicago in 1934, Dvore studied at the American Academy of Art from 1953-1954 before moving to Hollywood.
Dvore’s artistry can be seen in some of the most iconic title sequences in television including The McMasters, Getting Together, Two on a Bench, The Man, Nakia, The Waltons, Knots Landing, Eischied, Spenser: For Hire, North and South, Sable, A Hobo’s Christmas, and Wolf. He also created the main titles for North and South – Books ...
- 11/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Sandy Dvore, an Emmy-winning American graphic artist and title designer who created the walking partridges in The Partridge Family and the brush-stroke logo for The Young and the Restless, has died. He was 86.
A rep for Dvore confirmed he died on Friday evening.
Born in Chicago in 1934, Dvore studied at the American Academy of Art from 1953-1954 before moving to Hollywood.
Dvore’s artistry can be seen in some of the most iconic title sequences in television including The McMasters, Getting Together, Two on a Bench, The Man, Nakia, The Waltons, Knots Landing, Eischied, Spenser: For Hire, North and South, Sable, A Hobo’s Christmas, and Wolf. He also created the main titles for North and South – Books ...
A rep for Dvore confirmed he died on Friday evening.
Born in Chicago in 1934, Dvore studied at the American Academy of Art from 1953-1954 before moving to Hollywood.
Dvore’s artistry can be seen in some of the most iconic title sequences in television including The McMasters, Getting Together, Two on a Bench, The Man, Nakia, The Waltons, Knots Landing, Eischied, Spenser: For Hire, North and South, Sable, A Hobo’s Christmas, and Wolf. He also created the main titles for North and South – Books ...
- 11/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Production back up in Oklahoma after two-week Covid shutdown.
Voltage Pictures’ AFM sales title Reagan has found its Margaret Thatcher, with Lesley-Anne Down joining Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller to play the former British prime minister.
Quaid plays former US president Ronald Reagan and Miller portrays Nancy Reagan in the biopic, which has resumed production in Oklahoma after being shut down for two weeks when several members of the production tested positive for Covid-19.
The US leader and his British counterpart Thatcher forged a strong alliance in the 1980s, a time when the Cold War was never far from...
Voltage Pictures’ AFM sales title Reagan has found its Margaret Thatcher, with Lesley-Anne Down joining Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller to play the former British prime minister.
Quaid plays former US president Ronald Reagan and Miller portrays Nancy Reagan in the biopic, which has resumed production in Oklahoma after being shut down for two weeks when several members of the production tested positive for Covid-19.
The US leader and his British counterpart Thatcher forged a strong alliance in the 1980s, a time when the Cold War was never far from...
- 11/11/2020
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Richard Fielder, an Emmy-nominated writer who penned episodes of such shows as Gunsmoke, The Waltons and Marcus Welby, M.D., died July 22 of natural causes at a Dallas-area hospital, his family announced. He was 95.
In the 1980s, Fielder wrote and produced a CBS miniseries and telefilm based on the life of George Washington, both starring Barry Bostwick as the first president and Patty Duke as the first first lady, and wrote all six parts of the ABC miniseries North and South; Book II.
He also worked on shows including Rawhide, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, ...
In the 1980s, Fielder wrote and produced a CBS miniseries and telefilm based on the life of George Washington, both starring Barry Bostwick as the first president and Patty Duke as the first first lady, and wrote all six parts of the ABC miniseries North and South; Book II.
He also worked on shows including Rawhide, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, ...
Richard Fielder, an Emmy-nominated writer who penned episodes of such shows as Gunsmoke, The Waltons and Marcus Welby, M.D., died July 22 of natural causes at a Dallas-area hospital, his family announced. He was 95.
In the 1980s, Fielder wrote and produced a CBS miniseries and telefilm based on the life of George Washington, both starring Barry Bostwick as the first president and Patty Duke as the first first lady, and wrote all six parts of the ABC miniseries North and South; Book II.
He also worked on shows including Rawhide, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, ...
In the 1980s, Fielder wrote and produced a CBS miniseries and telefilm based on the life of George Washington, both starring Barry Bostwick as the first president and Patty Duke as the first first lady, and wrote all six parts of the ABC miniseries North and South; Book II.
He also worked on shows including Rawhide, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, ...
What a confession! While appearing on the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother UK, Kirstie Alley candidly opened up about her longtime friendship with John Travolta — and revealed she once "ran off and married" him! "I think I kissed Travolta. I almost ran off and married John. I did love him, I still love him. If I hadn’t been married I would’ve gone and married him and I would’ve been in an airplane because he has his own plane," the 67-year-old actress said. Kirstie and John, 64, have been close for years, mostly due to their shared involvement with Scientology. They've also co-starred in three movies together: 1989's Look Who's Talking, 1990's Look Who's Talking Too, and 1993's Look Who's Talking Now. (Photo Credit: Getty Images) During a 2013 interview with Howard Stern, Kirstie also spoke out about her relationship with John and said he also had romantic feelings...
- 8/24/2018
- by Julia Birkinbine
- Closer Weekly
Kirstie Alley is opening up about her past love with John Travolta.
The actress, 67, revealed the depth of her friendship with Travolta, 64, as she regaled her fellow Celebrity Big Brother U.K. housemates with stories of her past romances.
“I think I kissed Travolta,” Alley said. “I almost ran off and married John. I did love him, I still love him. If I hadn’t been married I would’ve gone and married him and I would’ve been in an airplane because he has his own plane.”
The two are both Scientologists and starred together in the 1989 film Look...
The actress, 67, revealed the depth of her friendship with Travolta, 64, as she regaled her fellow Celebrity Big Brother U.K. housemates with stories of her past romances.
“I think I kissed Travolta,” Alley said. “I almost ran off and married John. I did love him, I still love him. If I hadn’t been married I would’ve gone and married him and I would’ve been in an airplane because he has his own plane.”
The two are both Scientologists and starred together in the 1989 film Look...
- 8/24/2018
- by Alexia Fernandez
- PEOPLE.com
Kirstie Alley opened up about her love life ... and she's got some big-name celebrities in her fantasies. Kirstie revealed on "Celebrity Big Brother" over in the UK she wanted to run off and marry John Travolta ... And have an affair with Patrick Swayze!!! Get it, girl!!! The actress was asked by another housemate if she ever had an affair with a celebrity ... she says she never consummated one, but cops to kissing Swayze and then...
- 8/23/2018
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Kirstie Alley dished about her love life on Wednesday's episode of Celebrity Big Brother UK. It all started when one of the housemates asked Alley if she ever had an affair with a celebrity while she was married. While Alley said she never had a "consummated affair" with another star, she admitted she did kiss two people, including Patrick Swayze. "I would loved to have had an affair with Patrick Swayze, but we were both married," she said. Alley and Swayze starred on the drama series North and South in 1985. At the time, she was married to Parker Stevenson and Swayze was married to Lisa Niemi. So while the actress "wished" she could have had an affair with the...
- 8/23/2018
- E! Online
Forest Whitaker is about to get mobbed.
The Empire star will headline and executive-produce Godfather of Harlem, a crime drama that Epix ordered straight to series on Wednesday.
Per the official announcement, Whitaker will play crime boss Bumpy Johnson in the 10-episode series, which is based on real-life events. After spending a decade in prison, Johnson was released in the early 1960s to find that the Italian mob had taken over his neighborhood. He then allied with Malcolm X to fight the Genovese crime family to regain control of the streets.
In a statement, Whitaker said Godfather of Harlem is...
The Empire star will headline and executive-produce Godfather of Harlem, a crime drama that Epix ordered straight to series on Wednesday.
Per the official announcement, Whitaker will play crime boss Bumpy Johnson in the 10-episode series, which is based on real-life events. After spending a decade in prison, Johnson was released in the early 1960s to find that the Italian mob had taken over his neighborhood. He then allied with Malcolm X to fight the Genovese crime family to regain control of the streets.
In a statement, Whitaker said Godfather of Harlem is...
- 4/25/2018
- TVLine.com
By Adrian Smith
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James Bawden was a TV columnist for the Toronto Star, and Ron Miller was TV editor at the San Jose Mercury News and is a former president of the Television Critics Association. During their respective careers stretching back some fifty years the list of stars they have interviewed reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood. These two volumes bring together an incredible assortment of interviews from almost the birth of cinema itself, with Buster Keaton, Jackie Coogan and Gloria Swanson representing the silent era. The great leading men are all here, including James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Kirk Douglas, Victor Mature and Cary Grant, and of course classic leading ladies like Bette Davis, Janet Leigh, Fay Wray and Joan Fontaine. Along the way they also met character actors and horror stars like Ernest Borgnine, Victor Buono, John Carradine, and Lon Chaney Jr.,...
Normal 0 false false false En-gb X-none X-none
James Bawden was a TV columnist for the Toronto Star, and Ron Miller was TV editor at the San Jose Mercury News and is a former president of the Television Critics Association. During their respective careers stretching back some fifty years the list of stars they have interviewed reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood. These two volumes bring together an incredible assortment of interviews from almost the birth of cinema itself, with Buster Keaton, Jackie Coogan and Gloria Swanson representing the silent era. The great leading men are all here, including James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Kirk Douglas, Victor Mature and Cary Grant, and of course classic leading ladies like Bette Davis, Janet Leigh, Fay Wray and Joan Fontaine. Along the way they also met character actors and horror stars like Ernest Borgnine, Victor Buono, John Carradine, and Lon Chaney Jr.,...
- 4/6/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Need to catch up? Check out the previous This Is Us recap here.
There are some Friday nights under the lights that even Coach Taylor wouldn’t be able to save.
Kevin has one of ’em in this week’s This Is Us, which chronicles two fraught nights in the Pearson sibling’s life: one where he first busts his knee, thus ending his dreams of collegiate and professional football glory, and one where he returns to his high school, literally high, and makes a chain of very poor choices.
And that’s all before the episode’s worst development comes to light.
There are some Friday nights under the lights that even Coach Taylor wouldn’t be able to save.
Kevin has one of ’em in this week’s This Is Us, which chronicles two fraught nights in the Pearson sibling’s life: one where he first busts his knee, thus ending his dreams of collegiate and professional football glory, and one where he returns to his high school, literally high, and makes a chain of very poor choices.
And that’s all before the episode’s worst development comes to light.
- 11/15/2017
- TVLine.com
Patrick Swayze, a three-time Golden Globe nominated actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter is best-known as the romantic lead in 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Ghost', and for the 'North and South' TV-series. His first professional job was as a dancer for Disney on Parade. In the 70's, the Texas native moved to New York to further his formal dance training. He studied with the Harkness Ballet Company, and then the Joffrey, before joining the Eliot Feld Ballet as a principal dancer.
- 9/14/2017
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Hal Holbrook, the veteran actor who became known for portraying Abraham Lincoln in a number of television events, came to the defense of Nate Parker and his film “The Birth of a Nation” in a letter to the editor of The New York Times on Friday. The conversation surrounding Parker’s 1999 rape allegations stirred public opinion and, apparently, has affected box office sales. Holbrook, the 91-year-old actor who played Lincoln in the miniseries “North and South” (books I and II) and “Lincoln,” a miniseries that ran 1974-1976, told The New York Times that people, basically, need to get over it and.
- 10/15/2016
- by Rosemary Rossi
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Following the release of his latest feature, the true story marijuana trafficking pic Kid Cannabis, multi-hyphenate John Stockwell has signed with Paradigm. The actor, writer, director and producer started his career acting in films like Losin’ It and Top Gun, both opposite Tom Cruise, starred in miniseries North and South, and battled a killer car in Stephen King’s Christine. Stockwell’s screenwriting credits include Blue Crush, Rock Star, Under Cover, Dangerously Close, and Kid Cannabis. He also wrote the Emmy-nominated telefilm Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, episodes of Showtime’s The L Word, and Cheaters. The latter earned Stockwell an Emmy nod for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Movie. He broke through as a director with 2001′s Crazy/Beautiful and 2002′s surfing pic Blue Crush, following with a run of features behind the camera including Into the Blue, Turistas, Cat Run, and Dark Tide.
- 6/7/2014
- by JEN YAMATO
- Deadline TV
Actor who played FBI agents, cops and traditional fathers
Anyone looking for an actor to play an unyielding martinet could hardly have done better over the last few decades than to cast James Rebhorn, who has died aged 65 after suffering from skin cancer. Poker-thin and poker-faced, this white-haired, crinkle-eyed performer excelled at bringing a glint of bureaucratic bloody-mindedness to small parts that might otherwise have slipped past unnoticed. He could be sympathetic too, even slightly buffoonish, as proved by his turn as the father of the gadabout Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), but he could also turn on a dime from charm to vindictiveness.
His speciality was playing officialdom in all its manifestations: cops, FBI agents, doctors, politicians. Asked in 2012 about his repeated appearances in legal dramas (he starred on television in Boston Legal, Law & Order, The Practice and The Good Wife, among others), he drew...
Anyone looking for an actor to play an unyielding martinet could hardly have done better over the last few decades than to cast James Rebhorn, who has died aged 65 after suffering from skin cancer. Poker-thin and poker-faced, this white-haired, crinkle-eyed performer excelled at bringing a glint of bureaucratic bloody-mindedness to small parts that might otherwise have slipped past unnoticed. He could be sympathetic too, even slightly buffoonish, as proved by his turn as the father of the gadabout Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), but he could also turn on a dime from charm to vindictiveness.
His speciality was playing officialdom in all its manifestations: cops, FBI agents, doctors, politicians. Asked in 2012 about his repeated appearances in legal dramas (he starred on television in Boston Legal, Law & Order, The Practice and The Good Wife, among others), he drew...
- 3/24/2014
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The ill-fated 1924 attempt to reach the peak of Mount Everest was an incredibly politically charged undertaking, with British authorities desperate to reaffirm the country's superiority as a world force after recent attempts to be the first nation to reach both the North and South Poles had failed. An earlier attempt to reach the highest point on Earth two years previously had also ended without success, but mountaineer George Mallory was determined to try again. As with the previous attempts, the 1924 expedition was financed by the Royal Geographic Society and the Alpine Club, together with a sizeable contribution from Captain John Noel, in return for securing all photographic rights to the expedition. During his years with the British army in India, Noel had spent time...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/10/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Lawyer Herald's Jared Feldschreiber interviewed me. This is an interview I am proud of. Hope you like it too:
It may be easy to dismiss the film industry as a glitzy and glamor show of millionaires living on an island all to themselves. The international scope of the film business world, however, should not be so easily overlooked. There, one can find a kinetic industry with savvy and passionate wheelers-and-dealers who are very well-versed in areas like acquisition, distribution and producing.
Take for instance the annual American Film Market, which is held every November in Santa Monica. Over 8,000 industry leaders from over 70 countries converge to discuss the "art of the deal," providing the necessary business steps to get films financed and distributed. Those who attend Afm include executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers and film commissioners.
Sydney Levine is a seasoned business professional of the screen trade. Carrying nearly 40 years of film business acumen, Ms. Levine has also shown a generosity of spirit, in that she routinely encourages filmmakers and national organizations to achieve their goals of financing, making and selling their films worldwide. She also continues to provide various services to distributors, international sales agents and festival programmers. She also leads seminars and workshops worldwide.
In 1975, Ms. Levine became the first woman to work with international film distribution which she did at 20th Century Fox International. She later became an Acquisitions Executive for Lorimar during the early days of the video industry, and later was Vice President of Acquisitions for Republic Pictures.
In 1988, Ms. Levine founded FilmFinders, the industry's premier database, which tracked worldwide films for acquisition executives. Twenty years later, FilmFinders and its sister company Withoutabox were acquired by International Movie Database (IMDb).
Ms. Levine continues to steadfastly work as an exemplar of film business. Her blog SydneysBuzz, featured on IndieWire, is "the perfect mesh of the film industry where festival, markets and data meet and merge."
Here, in an Exclusive Interview with Lawyer Herald by Jared Feldschreiber, Sydney Levine has provided her insights, which speak to the multifaceted dynamism of the film business world.
Lawyer Herald : Describe your ascent within film business, with particular emphasis of the acquisition, distribution, producing and the selling. What were your primary responsibilities in the beginning of your career?
Sydney Levine : After my early years in the film business in L.A., I was hired to acquire films - first shorts, then great international art-house features for Lorimar Home Video, the largest independent video company when video was at its height working with such theatrical distributors as Orion Pictures Classics (now Sony Pictures Classics). Responsibilities at Lorimar and later Republic Pictures included tracking all new films, screening those most likely to fit my company's profile, working within the company to create sales projections, negotiating within and with the outside rights owner, creating the deal memo, and then working with our company's attorney to be sure key points were included in the contract.
Lh: Fast forward twenty years when you created FilmFinders, the industry's premier database for acquisition executives. What did that venture entail?
Sl: When video reached its maturity - or rather hit a wall - I created the first database in the business which tracked every new film, info on story, director, writer, producer, cast and contacts, international rights availabilities for all 60 territories. Most international sales agents and distributors around the world subscribed to it and it kept my company thriving from 1988 to 2006 for 20 years until we merged with Withoutabox and sold the new entity to IMDb, an Amazon company.
Lh : What are the financial 'risks' associated with film distribution? Give the breakdown of 'all things considered' when turning a piece of art, such as film, into a viable financial product?
Sl : This is a lecture or a consulting question I answer all the time. When national economies have problems, which they invariably do, money that was seen as "normal" suddenly disappears. Film, when it is an art (sometimes it is purely entertainment), is still a "popular" art or a "commercial" art. It must be seen, people must pay for seeing it so that the rights owner can recoup the cost of the "product", make a profit, which gives the producer, director or the writer the reputation to continue to make more movies.
Lh : How does an aspiring film artist bridge the gap between his vision and the realities of commercialism?
Sl : The gap is between creativity and commerce. Distribution is commerce. "If it doesn't spread it's dead," to quote my favorite transmedia guru, Henry Jenkins. The artist must keep in mind the end user/ audience from the moment she or he conceives of the idea through completion and must find the middlemen/ women who understand the end-user mentality and so want to be a part of the commercial side of the movie.
:
Lh: Give a breakdown to the legal ramifications of international film.
Sl : All I can say is that all rights - from music, synchronization, scripts, even a poster or piece of art in the film must have legal clearance Before the film is seen by the public.
Lh: What legal hurdles do you face constantly as a film distributor?
Sl: Collecting money.
Lh: Film icon Francis Coppola said in a 2009 interview that "in the early days... they didn't know how to make movies. They had an image and it moved and the audience loved it... The cinema language happened by experimentation by people not knowing what to do. But unfortunately, after 15-20 years, it became a commercial industry. People made money in the cinema, and then they began to say to the pioneers, 'Don't experiment. We want to make money. We don't want to take chances.'
In light of these remarks, what are the inherent differences and perhaps mistrust between a film's financier/ distributor and the film artist?
Sl: The business is an art in itself which outside business people cannot understand. It is very volatile when artists and business people mix. Coppola is full of it because true filmmakers are still artists today and they are still working at creating the world through moving pictures. The major studios are running another sort of "business" where their bottom line is rarely the film itself but all the accoutrements, ancillary merchandising, games, amusement parks, real estate business which uses a big vehicle called a Motion Picture as the locomotive to pull the rest. The studios are not in the business of making art, though occasionally a work of art does get made, but rarely. Art does not make enough money for them.
Lh : What kinds of things do you perform with buyers and sellers abroad?
Sl: I still work with buyers, sellers and more importantly the market during Cannes and Berlin, where I work with them on their database (Cinando, which I gave to Jerome Paillard, the director of the Cannes Marche, when he started that job) and I make sure buyers from North and South America and now Asia (except for China) are updating their acquisitions and qualifying for the markets in Cannes and Berlin.
Lh: How important is legal representation for those working in film business?
Sl: A producer, however experienced in deal making, should never undertake to negotiate a deal without a lawyer speaking for her or him, and every lawyer, no matter how experienced, needs to know the particular desires of his or her client in order to translate the wishes into legal terms.
Lh: What are you planning on doing leading up to the Oscars?
Sl: Go to the German pre-Oscar party at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, going to Spirit Awards of Film Independent and the IFC after-party in Santa Monica California.
Lh: On the subject of the Oscars, what does it mean when people speak of its 'politics?' How does this cliche apply during awards season? What sort of cajoling, persuading or influence do studios or publicists have in shaping who will win?
Sl : Politics is the art of persuading people, manipulating the right one at the right time. It helps if you are "one of the guys" of course, but that is not the point of politics. Knowing what critics to approach before the Academy Awards for instance, is an issue because it feeds into the perception of the Academy members when they look at films.
Some like particular kinds of films and even particular critics, and others do not like those, so you need to know which publicist to choose, and the publicist must know which critics to invite to which screenings and why that is the case, which of course, depends on which films one is handling.
Lh: Can the voting be deduced into a kind of 'cronyism,' to borrow another term in politics?
Sl: Knowing what sort of "inducements" are legal, knowing what Academy members to invite (when in theory you don't have any real list of members), this is politics. Lots of stuff called politics goes into an Academy Awards' campaign and it is not "cronyism" which wins. Sometimes people think politics is cronyism and it is to a degree, but there are lots of members of the Academy. Some vote early on, some vote later. (To readers, this interview was done before the Oscars. Looking back at the Oscars, I wonder if The Wolf Of Wall Street was shut out because the company behind it - Red Granite - was such an outsider. But that does not answer why American Hustle also failed to reap any recognition.)
Lh: What are you working on right now and where are you?
Sl: I am writing a book with the backing of El Patronato de Guadalajara on Iberoamerican Film Financing. I am teaching International Film Marketing, Sales and Distribution at Woodbury University in Burbank, California. I am also blogging for IndieWire and ImdbPro, working with the Cannes and European Film Markets. I am currently in Berlin. My partner, Peter Belsito is consulting with film producers, festivals and countries on strategies for entering the market.
Lh: What adjectives (or expletives) would you use to describe the marriage of film and business?
Sl: Volatile, risky, sometimes impossible, sometimes very difficult.
*This interview was originally published in LawyerHerald.com...
It may be easy to dismiss the film industry as a glitzy and glamor show of millionaires living on an island all to themselves. The international scope of the film business world, however, should not be so easily overlooked. There, one can find a kinetic industry with savvy and passionate wheelers-and-dealers who are very well-versed in areas like acquisition, distribution and producing.
Take for instance the annual American Film Market, which is held every November in Santa Monica. Over 8,000 industry leaders from over 70 countries converge to discuss the "art of the deal," providing the necessary business steps to get films financed and distributed. Those who attend Afm include executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers and film commissioners.
Sydney Levine is a seasoned business professional of the screen trade. Carrying nearly 40 years of film business acumen, Ms. Levine has also shown a generosity of spirit, in that she routinely encourages filmmakers and national organizations to achieve their goals of financing, making and selling their films worldwide. She also continues to provide various services to distributors, international sales agents and festival programmers. She also leads seminars and workshops worldwide.
In 1975, Ms. Levine became the first woman to work with international film distribution which she did at 20th Century Fox International. She later became an Acquisitions Executive for Lorimar during the early days of the video industry, and later was Vice President of Acquisitions for Republic Pictures.
In 1988, Ms. Levine founded FilmFinders, the industry's premier database, which tracked worldwide films for acquisition executives. Twenty years later, FilmFinders and its sister company Withoutabox were acquired by International Movie Database (IMDb).
Ms. Levine continues to steadfastly work as an exemplar of film business. Her blog SydneysBuzz, featured on IndieWire, is "the perfect mesh of the film industry where festival, markets and data meet and merge."
Here, in an Exclusive Interview with Lawyer Herald by Jared Feldschreiber, Sydney Levine has provided her insights, which speak to the multifaceted dynamism of the film business world.
Lawyer Herald : Describe your ascent within film business, with particular emphasis of the acquisition, distribution, producing and the selling. What were your primary responsibilities in the beginning of your career?
Sydney Levine : After my early years in the film business in L.A., I was hired to acquire films - first shorts, then great international art-house features for Lorimar Home Video, the largest independent video company when video was at its height working with such theatrical distributors as Orion Pictures Classics (now Sony Pictures Classics). Responsibilities at Lorimar and later Republic Pictures included tracking all new films, screening those most likely to fit my company's profile, working within the company to create sales projections, negotiating within and with the outside rights owner, creating the deal memo, and then working with our company's attorney to be sure key points were included in the contract.
Lh: Fast forward twenty years when you created FilmFinders, the industry's premier database for acquisition executives. What did that venture entail?
Sl: When video reached its maturity - or rather hit a wall - I created the first database in the business which tracked every new film, info on story, director, writer, producer, cast and contacts, international rights availabilities for all 60 territories. Most international sales agents and distributors around the world subscribed to it and it kept my company thriving from 1988 to 2006 for 20 years until we merged with Withoutabox and sold the new entity to IMDb, an Amazon company.
Lh : What are the financial 'risks' associated with film distribution? Give the breakdown of 'all things considered' when turning a piece of art, such as film, into a viable financial product?
Sl : This is a lecture or a consulting question I answer all the time. When national economies have problems, which they invariably do, money that was seen as "normal" suddenly disappears. Film, when it is an art (sometimes it is purely entertainment), is still a "popular" art or a "commercial" art. It must be seen, people must pay for seeing it so that the rights owner can recoup the cost of the "product", make a profit, which gives the producer, director or the writer the reputation to continue to make more movies.
Lh : How does an aspiring film artist bridge the gap between his vision and the realities of commercialism?
Sl : The gap is between creativity and commerce. Distribution is commerce. "If it doesn't spread it's dead," to quote my favorite transmedia guru, Henry Jenkins. The artist must keep in mind the end user/ audience from the moment she or he conceives of the idea through completion and must find the middlemen/ women who understand the end-user mentality and so want to be a part of the commercial side of the movie.
:
Lh: Give a breakdown to the legal ramifications of international film.
Sl : All I can say is that all rights - from music, synchronization, scripts, even a poster or piece of art in the film must have legal clearance Before the film is seen by the public.
Lh: What legal hurdles do you face constantly as a film distributor?
Sl: Collecting money.
Lh: Film icon Francis Coppola said in a 2009 interview that "in the early days... they didn't know how to make movies. They had an image and it moved and the audience loved it... The cinema language happened by experimentation by people not knowing what to do. But unfortunately, after 15-20 years, it became a commercial industry. People made money in the cinema, and then they began to say to the pioneers, 'Don't experiment. We want to make money. We don't want to take chances.'
In light of these remarks, what are the inherent differences and perhaps mistrust between a film's financier/ distributor and the film artist?
Sl: The business is an art in itself which outside business people cannot understand. It is very volatile when artists and business people mix. Coppola is full of it because true filmmakers are still artists today and they are still working at creating the world through moving pictures. The major studios are running another sort of "business" where their bottom line is rarely the film itself but all the accoutrements, ancillary merchandising, games, amusement parks, real estate business which uses a big vehicle called a Motion Picture as the locomotive to pull the rest. The studios are not in the business of making art, though occasionally a work of art does get made, but rarely. Art does not make enough money for them.
Lh : What kinds of things do you perform with buyers and sellers abroad?
Sl: I still work with buyers, sellers and more importantly the market during Cannes and Berlin, where I work with them on their database (Cinando, which I gave to Jerome Paillard, the director of the Cannes Marche, when he started that job) and I make sure buyers from North and South America and now Asia (except for China) are updating their acquisitions and qualifying for the markets in Cannes and Berlin.
Lh: How important is legal representation for those working in film business?
Sl: A producer, however experienced in deal making, should never undertake to negotiate a deal without a lawyer speaking for her or him, and every lawyer, no matter how experienced, needs to know the particular desires of his or her client in order to translate the wishes into legal terms.
Lh: What are you planning on doing leading up to the Oscars?
Sl: Go to the German pre-Oscar party at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, going to Spirit Awards of Film Independent and the IFC after-party in Santa Monica California.
Lh: On the subject of the Oscars, what does it mean when people speak of its 'politics?' How does this cliche apply during awards season? What sort of cajoling, persuading or influence do studios or publicists have in shaping who will win?
Sl : Politics is the art of persuading people, manipulating the right one at the right time. It helps if you are "one of the guys" of course, but that is not the point of politics. Knowing what critics to approach before the Academy Awards for instance, is an issue because it feeds into the perception of the Academy members when they look at films.
Some like particular kinds of films and even particular critics, and others do not like those, so you need to know which publicist to choose, and the publicist must know which critics to invite to which screenings and why that is the case, which of course, depends on which films one is handling.
Lh: Can the voting be deduced into a kind of 'cronyism,' to borrow another term in politics?
Sl: Knowing what sort of "inducements" are legal, knowing what Academy members to invite (when in theory you don't have any real list of members), this is politics. Lots of stuff called politics goes into an Academy Awards' campaign and it is not "cronyism" which wins. Sometimes people think politics is cronyism and it is to a degree, but there are lots of members of the Academy. Some vote early on, some vote later. (To readers, this interview was done before the Oscars. Looking back at the Oscars, I wonder if The Wolf Of Wall Street was shut out because the company behind it - Red Granite - was such an outsider. But that does not answer why American Hustle also failed to reap any recognition.)
Lh: What are you working on right now and where are you?
Sl: I am writing a book with the backing of El Patronato de Guadalajara on Iberoamerican Film Financing. I am teaching International Film Marketing, Sales and Distribution at Woodbury University in Burbank, California. I am also blogging for IndieWire and ImdbPro, working with the Cannes and European Film Markets. I am currently in Berlin. My partner, Peter Belsito is consulting with film producers, festivals and countries on strategies for entering the market.
Lh: What adjectives (or expletives) would you use to describe the marriage of film and business?
Sl: Volatile, risky, sometimes impossible, sometimes very difficult.
*This interview was originally published in LawyerHerald.com...
- 3/4/2014
- by Jared Feldschreiber
- Sydney's Buzz
Here we are again after the Golden Globes, Mike Fleming and Anita Busch taking on the task of play by play during the most wide-open Oscar race we can remember. Even on the party circuit, industry insiders who usually have a grasp of who’ll walk away with Oscars were evenly torn between Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D masterpiece Gravity and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave. Then again, there were so many terrific films that got Best Picture nominations, and all of them have at least a puncher’s chance at an upset. Related: Oscars: Pete Hammond’s Absolute Final Predictions That includes American Hustle, where David O Russell co-wrote the Best Original Script nominee with Eric Warren Singer and got tour de force performances and nominations for Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Perfs so strong there was no room on the nomination roster for perennial Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner.
- 3/3/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
In the lead-up to the 86th annual Academy Awards on March 2, HitFix will be bringing you the lowdown on all 24 Oscar categories with multiple entries each day. Take a few notes and bone up on the competition as we give you the edge in your office Oscar pool! As in Best Costume Design -- the category with which its outcome so frequently goes hand-in-hand -- ornamental period pieces and extravagant fantasies tend to dominate the Best Production Design category. So it's nice that the Academy gave us a fairly varied field this year: period pieces may still make up the majority of the field, but one is of a recent vintage, while the others could hardly be more opposed in their approach to days of year. Meanwhile, neither the futuristic fantasy nor the hi-tech outer-space adventure are as excessively designed as you might expect from nominees in this race. Moreover,...
- 2/26/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Ready for a taste of Dracula’s imminent return? If so, you'll be happy to hear that Konami has released a playable demo of its eagerly awaited Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 in North and South America.
The full game is scheduled to be released on February 25th for Playstation®3, PlayStation®Network, Xbox 360, Xbox Live® Games on Demand, and Steam® for PC; and demos for all formats are now available digitally.
The demo allows users to become familiar with the game's many new advances, including an all-new controllable camera, vast locations, and intuitive combat elements.
The specially-tailored demo gives players control over Dracula as his castle comes under siege from the Brotherhood of Light and their armies. It acts as a prelude to the full game, allowing players to wield an assortment of weapons such as the energy-replenishing Void Sword (see the video below for more info) and the armor-destroying Chaos Claws.
The full game is scheduled to be released on February 25th for Playstation®3, PlayStation®Network, Xbox 360, Xbox Live® Games on Demand, and Steam® for PC; and demos for all formats are now available digitally.
The demo allows users to become familiar with the game's many new advances, including an all-new controllable camera, vast locations, and intuitive combat elements.
The specially-tailored demo gives players control over Dracula as his castle comes under siege from the Brotherhood of Light and their armies. It acts as a prelude to the full game, allowing players to wield an assortment of weapons such as the energy-replenishing Void Sword (see the video below for more info) and the armor-destroying Chaos Claws.
- 2/13/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
What:
Special Screening of award winners @ Miff’2014
When:
15th February, 2014- Through the day.
Entry:
Free.
Venue:
Rr Theatre, 10th floor,
Films Division
24, Pedder Road,
Mumbai-400026
About the event:
10 am
Have You Seen The Arana ? by Sunanda Bhatt
Best Documentary Film, National (Above 40 mins.)
Best Cinematographer — Saumyananda Sahi
Best Sound Recordist — Chistopher Burchell
11.30 am
In Between : Isang Yun in North and South Korea by Maria Stodtmeier
Best Documentary Film, International (Above 60 mins.)
12.45 pm
Seven Hundred Zero Zero Seven by Altaf Mazid
Best Documentary Film, National (Upto 40 mins.)
Tamaash (The Puppet ) by Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh
Best Short Fiction Film National (Upto 45 Mins.)
Best Cinematographer — Sahir Raza
Best Sound Recordist — Yatin Dabhi, Manoj Sikka, Abhishek Bhattathiri
Black Rock by Vikrant Janardan Pawar
Best Short Fiction Film International (Upto 45 Mins.)
Best Sound Recordist — Dilip Kumar Ahirwar
2.45pm
True Love Story by Gitanjali Rao
Best Animation Film
Screening followed by discussion...
Special Screening of award winners @ Miff’2014
When:
15th February, 2014- Through the day.
Entry:
Free.
Venue:
Rr Theatre, 10th floor,
Films Division
24, Pedder Road,
Mumbai-400026
About the event:
10 am
Have You Seen The Arana ? by Sunanda Bhatt
Best Documentary Film, National (Above 40 mins.)
Best Cinematographer — Saumyananda Sahi
Best Sound Recordist — Chistopher Burchell
11.30 am
In Between : Isang Yun in North and South Korea by Maria Stodtmeier
Best Documentary Film, International (Above 60 mins.)
12.45 pm
Seven Hundred Zero Zero Seven by Altaf Mazid
Best Documentary Film, National (Upto 40 mins.)
Tamaash (The Puppet ) by Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh
Best Short Fiction Film National (Upto 45 Mins.)
Best Cinematographer — Sahir Raza
Best Sound Recordist — Yatin Dabhi, Manoj Sikka, Abhishek Bhattathiri
Black Rock by Vikrant Janardan Pawar
Best Short Fiction Film International (Upto 45 Mins.)
Best Sound Recordist — Dilip Kumar Ahirwar
2.45pm
True Love Story by Gitanjali Rao
Best Animation Film
Screening followed by discussion...
- 2/11/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Gitanjai Rao’s “True Love Story” won Golden Conch for Best Animation Film at Miff 2014
Nishtha Jain’s documentary ‘Gulabi Gang’, won her the Best Director Award in the International Competition section of Mumbai International Film Festival (Miff). The film is releasing on February 21 under PVR Director’s Rare banner.
The seven day festival dedicated to documentary, Shorts and Animation films concluded in Mumbai today.
‘Gulabi Gang’ tells the story of Sampat Pal and her group of women vigilantes and activists from Bundelkhand, who fight for womens’ rights and their empowerment. Armed with a lathi (stick) the Gulabis visit abusive husbands and beat them up unless they stop abusing their wives. The film has won several other award.
Read Nishtha Jain’S Interview Here
Golden Conch Best Animation Film award to ‘True Love Story’ by Gitanjali Rao
The Golden Conch Best Animation Film award went to ‘True Love Story’ by Gitanjali Rao.
Nishtha Jain’s documentary ‘Gulabi Gang’, won her the Best Director Award in the International Competition section of Mumbai International Film Festival (Miff). The film is releasing on February 21 under PVR Director’s Rare banner.
The seven day festival dedicated to documentary, Shorts and Animation films concluded in Mumbai today.
‘Gulabi Gang’ tells the story of Sampat Pal and her group of women vigilantes and activists from Bundelkhand, who fight for womens’ rights and their empowerment. Armed with a lathi (stick) the Gulabis visit abusive husbands and beat them up unless they stop abusing their wives. The film has won several other award.
Read Nishtha Jain’S Interview Here
Golden Conch Best Animation Film award to ‘True Love Story’ by Gitanjali Rao
The Golden Conch Best Animation Film award went to ‘True Love Story’ by Gitanjali Rao.
- 2/9/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
As we told you last summer, the BBC and Idw were bringing their distribution license for Doctor Who comics to a close, and that Titan Comics had apparently won the prize to be the next distribution companion for the comic book series.
Today, BBC Worldwide has released the official announcement, and promises adventures featuring the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, to be joined by adventures of the Twelfth Doctor once the new season premieres later this year.
Here’s that announcement:
Doctor Who Regenerates With Titan Comics BBC Worldwide and Titan Comics team up for all-new Doctor Who comic book adventures
New York, NY – January 21, 2014 – In the universe of Doctor Who regenerations bring not only a new Doctor but often a fresh look and feel to the series and BBC Worldwide is bringing that same approach to Doctor Who comics as it signs a new deal with Titan Comics. The deal...
Today, BBC Worldwide has released the official announcement, and promises adventures featuring the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, to be joined by adventures of the Twelfth Doctor once the new season premieres later this year.
Here’s that announcement:
Doctor Who Regenerates With Titan Comics BBC Worldwide and Titan Comics team up for all-new Doctor Who comic book adventures
New York, NY – January 21, 2014 – In the universe of Doctor Who regenerations bring not only a new Doctor but often a fresh look and feel to the series and BBC Worldwide is bringing that same approach to Doctor Who comics as it signs a new deal with Titan Comics. The deal...
- 1/21/2014
- by Erin Willard
- ScifiMafia
If you have a fondness -- or even a fleeting, distant nostalgia -- for those epic, dramatic miniseries events of the 1970s and '80s, such as North and South, The Thorn Birds or The Winds of War, then IFC's star-laden miniseries spoof will tickle your overwrought, melodramatic fancy. The elements are all here in this Funny or Die production, created, directed and written by Saturday Night Live veteran Matt Piedmont: a stern but benevolent patriarch; a wanton, scheming daughter in love with her adopted brother; the rise and fall of a family's fortunes, rife with secrets, betrayal and perhaps even …
read more...
read more...
- 1/9/2014
- by Allison Keene
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What now? The off-air Duck Dynasty saga this week has been far more fascinating than any episode of the hit cable series. Unbridled offensive comments. A bold network rebuke. A family pushing back. America’s oldest culture divide, the North and South, inflamed once again, taking to cable news networks and Twitter to argue rather than grabbing muskets. How will it all end? Here’s the four most likely possibilities.
1. Duck Dynasty continues without Phil: What seemed like the obvious outcome just a few days ago given A&E’s announcement that Phil Robertson is suspended “indefinitely” now seems the...
1. Duck Dynasty continues without Phil: What seemed like the obvious outcome just a few days ago given A&E’s announcement that Phil Robertson is suspended “indefinitely” now seems the...
- 12/21/2013
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
Korean director O Muel tackles a dark period in his country’s history with “Jiseul”, which focuses on an incident during the Jeju Uprising in which the inhabitants of a small village on the island were massacred. A Jeju native himself, O Muel crowd-funded the indie film’s Us$190,000 budget, which went on to win great critical acclaim, being the first Korean production to win the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. As well as picking up awards at several other festivals, the film also proved popular at the domestic box office, emerging as the biggest indie hit in years. The film takes place in March 1947, when the Us government in Korea issued an order stating that all civilians living within five kilometres of the coastline on Jeju Island were to be considered communists and shot on sight. Seen as a part of the Us...
- 12/16/2013
- by James Mudge
- Beyond Hollywood
Not to be confused with Dark Sky Films' Army of Frankenstein, a new trailer for the indie feature Army of Frankensteins has been assembled, stitched up, and set free in the wild.
Army of Frankensteins is directed by Ryan Bellgardt and written by Bellgardt, Andrew Swanson, and Josh McKamie. The film stars John Ferguson, Jordan Farris, Christian Bellgardt, Lucas Ross, Rett Terrell, and Raychelle McDonald.
Synopsis
Lincoln did not free the slaves alone.
A young man travels back to the time of the Civil War with an Army of Frankensteins.
After a failed attempt to propose to his girlfriend, Alan Jones is beaten to within an inch of his life by a street gang and taken to a mysterious lab where Dr. Tanner Finski and his kid genius assistant perform horrible experiments on him hoping to re-animate a Frankenstein. The experiments lead to a hole being ripped in space and time,...
Army of Frankensteins is directed by Ryan Bellgardt and written by Bellgardt, Andrew Swanson, and Josh McKamie. The film stars John Ferguson, Jordan Farris, Christian Bellgardt, Lucas Ross, Rett Terrell, and Raychelle McDonald.
Synopsis
Lincoln did not free the slaves alone.
A young man travels back to the time of the Civil War with an Army of Frankensteins.
After a failed attempt to propose to his girlfriend, Alan Jones is beaten to within an inch of his life by a street gang and taken to a mysterious lab where Dr. Tanner Finski and his kid genius assistant perform horrible experiments on him hoping to re-animate a Frankenstein. The experiments lead to a hole being ripped in space and time,...
- 11/15/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Prabhu Deva is back in the game with his second release of the year, R Rajkumar, which teams him with Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, and his much sought after music director Pritam. Deva had been trying to book the busy Pritam to compose for his other films, but it hadn’t worked until this album. Pritam and Shahid also teamed for his last release Phata Poster Nikla Hero, which raises expectations for this album to deliver. As expected, the songs are energetic, catchy, and fulfill that masala quota. However, it feels slightly perfunctory in producing the kuthu song, the romantic song, the item song,
Gandi Baat has been making waves on social media ever since its debut, with good reason, as it’s a catchy and slickly produced track. The song does resemble “Dhating Naach” with its chorus section of the dhols, and horns, but this one fares better with Mika Singh and Kalpana Patowary.
Gandi Baat has been making waves on social media ever since its debut, with good reason, as it’s a catchy and slickly produced track. The song does resemble “Dhating Naach” with its chorus section of the dhols, and horns, but this one fares better with Mika Singh and Kalpana Patowary.
- 11/13/2013
- by Rumnique Nannar
- Bollyspice
Following a series of server issues, the Dark Souls II beta for Playstation 3 has been rescheduled by Namco Bandai. The testing window, which was originally set to open for eager fans on October 29th, will now go live two weeks later on November 9th. The announcement was made through the developer’s Facebook page, which reaffirmed that the network test will begin at 11 p.m. Pdt/ 2 a.m. Et on November 9th and run through 2 a.m. Pdt/ 5 a.m. Et on November 10th.
Namco Bandai also apologised to yearning adventurers over on its Twitter account:
“We thoroughly apologize for all of the confusion and issues. We will be rescheduling the Network Test for another date. Everyone who was in this test will be allowed in for the next Dark Souls II PS3 Network Test. Your spot is secure.”
Problems began over the weekend when users reported that they were...
Namco Bandai also apologised to yearning adventurers over on its Twitter account:
“We thoroughly apologize for all of the confusion and issues. We will be rescheduling the Network Test for another date. Everyone who was in this test will be allowed in for the next Dark Souls II PS3 Network Test. Your spot is secure.”
Problems began over the weekend when users reported that they were...
- 10/30/2013
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
The Korean American Film Festival New York (Kaffny) always includes an impressively eclectic collection of features and shorts, and this year's 7th edition is no exception. However, for the first time, the festival is organized around one specific subject: the Korean War and its impact on Koreans both in Korea and the U.S. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the armistice between North and South Korea, which never officially ended the war but only established a cease-fire. With North Korea in the news very often these days, the features and shorts playing Kaffny this year provide valuable background in understanding the origins and the lasting effects of this conflict. One need not imagine some alternate history in which the Cold War never ended;...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/24/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Paris-based film finance consultancy Olffi has launched the first version of its new online film financing database and application Offli Explore.
The business-to-business application is a platform to centralize key information about audiovisual financing and production across Europe. It includes data on public funding and tax initiatives, film commissions, co-production treaties and more.
Olffi lets users look at how a project might be eligible for a range of public support programmes, simulating the best funding strategies for each project.
In January 2014, the company will introduce the Olffi Explore Premium service, which will also include information from non-European territories including North and South America, Asia, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East.
Olffi, which was founded by Joelle Levie, Francois Farrugia and Ilan Girard, has support from Media, Eurimages and Cannes Marche du Film. Partners include the European Audiovisual Observatory, Cineuropa, European Film Commission Network (Eufcn), European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (Eave) and the EP2C.
The company...
The business-to-business application is a platform to centralize key information about audiovisual financing and production across Europe. It includes data on public funding and tax initiatives, film commissions, co-production treaties and more.
Olffi lets users look at how a project might be eligible for a range of public support programmes, simulating the best funding strategies for each project.
In January 2014, the company will introduce the Olffi Explore Premium service, which will also include information from non-European territories including North and South America, Asia, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East.
Olffi, which was founded by Joelle Levie, Francois Farrugia and Ilan Girard, has support from Media, Eurimages and Cannes Marche du Film. Partners include the European Audiovisual Observatory, Cineuropa, European Film Commission Network (Eufcn), European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (Eave) and the EP2C.
The company...
- 10/23/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The magnum opus feature film Kochadaiiyaan – The Legend starring the emperor of Indian cinema Rajinikanth and the reigning Queen of Indian Cinema Deepika Padukone, is set to blaze a trail globally in cutting-edge Motion Capturing with Photorealistic Technology, as it rivals and transcends the technological capabilities of Hollywood masterpieces Avatar, Tin Tin and Beowulf.
Referred to as India’s answer to Avatar, Kochadaiiyaan is the first Indian film to use full performance capture in its production process, a workflow that was pioneered and optimized on James Cameron’s Avatar. The film is also the first film of its kind to be produced in its allocated budget and completed within the timescales set.
Director Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin has explored the use of full performance capture in Kochadaiiyaan in its full magnitude. The film’s uniqueness also stems from the fact this project combines many modern-era technologies to aid in visual storytelling...
Referred to as India’s answer to Avatar, Kochadaiiyaan is the first Indian film to use full performance capture in its production process, a workflow that was pioneered and optimized on James Cameron’s Avatar. The film is also the first film of its kind to be produced in its allocated budget and completed within the timescales set.
Director Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin has explored the use of full performance capture in Kochadaiiyaan in its full magnitude. The film’s uniqueness also stems from the fact this project combines many modern-era technologies to aid in visual storytelling...
- 10/20/2013
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
Nintendo is reporting phenomenal worldwide sales for Pokemon X & Y, which were released with great fanfare this past weekend for the company’s 3Ds.
The first global Pokemon launch saw the video giant sell more than four million units to eager gamers throughout Europe, Japan, and North and South America. As an interesting aside, Nintendo insiders proclaim that sales of X and Y are outpacing the previous entry in the Pokemon video franchise, Black and White 2, by more than 70 percent.
The release is without a doubt the fastest-selling 3Ds title of all-time (not including regional launches) and solidifies that Pikachu and friends are still a global video force to be reckoned with. The blockbuster Pokemon series can proudly claim total-global-sales in excess of 245 million units, which includes several sets that have moved over 10 million units each (Diamond/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire and Black White).
With a franchise this lucrative (and with...
The first global Pokemon launch saw the video giant sell more than four million units to eager gamers throughout Europe, Japan, and North and South America. As an interesting aside, Nintendo insiders proclaim that sales of X and Y are outpacing the previous entry in the Pokemon video franchise, Black and White 2, by more than 70 percent.
The release is without a doubt the fastest-selling 3Ds title of all-time (not including regional launches) and solidifies that Pikachu and friends are still a global video force to be reckoned with. The blockbuster Pokemon series can proudly claim total-global-sales in excess of 245 million units, which includes several sets that have moved over 10 million units each (Diamond/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire and Black White).
With a franchise this lucrative (and with...
- 10/15/2013
- by Ronnie Jimenez
- We Got This Covered
New deals between 21st Century Fox and the Deutsche Fussball Liga will bring the German league’s soccer games to hundreds of millions of fans across North and South America, Europe and Asia. The agreements are for five years in Asia and the Americas, and two years in Europe. Financial details were not disclosed. Also read: 21st Century Fox Buys Stake in Vice Valuing Company at $1.4B The deals cover 80 countries or territories on four continents and will span Fox International Channels, Fox Sports and Sky Italia. Under the terms, 21st Century Fox will be granted exclusive rights, subject to certain reserved.
- 10/14/2013
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
With the popularity of global soccer increasing in the States, and as next summer’s World Cup in Brazil approaches, 21st Century Fox is adding to its international rights portfolio. The group has partnered with the Deutsche Fussball Liga to deliver soccer to millions of fans in 80 territories on four continents, including North America. In North and South America and Asia, the new agreements are for five years; in Europe, they’ll last two years. Financial terms were not disclosed. Matches will be shown across Fox International Channels, Fox Sports and Sky Italia. The deals kick off with the 2015-16 season for all 306 Bundesliga matches per year. The Bundesliga is one of the premiere soccer leagues in the world with one of the best known teams in Bayern Munich, whose players include France’s Frank Ribéry and Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger. Fox is deep into soccer around the world with...
- 10/14/2013
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
DramaFever, one of the biggest online providers of international TV, has partnered with Hwa & Dam Pictures to produce “Heirs,” its first in-house production, the company will announce on Monday. More than 6 million viewers flock to DramaFever, which has a library of more than 13,000 episodes from 70 different broadcastsers and studios around the globe. It offers both a free and subscription service, and though most of its shows hail from Asia most of its viewers reside in North and South America. “Heirs” is not only its first in-house production, but also the first co-production between a Korean company and...
- 10/6/2013
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
So, it looks like we're not getting a Hillary Clinton miniseries after all. That's a shame. But fear not, miniseries fans, because there are so, so many miniseries in the works right now. So many. Here's but a sampling of what's to come.I would like to watch something about history. You're in luck: Discovery Channel has green-lit a Braveheart-era miniseries about the Scottish fight for independence in the thirteenth century. No, older! The megapopular Bible miniseries is getting a sequel (another testament, if you will), covering the parts that occur after Jesus' crucifixion. Older! Lifetime is working on a Cleopatra four-parter. Ack! Too old! Something about America. There's the remake of North and South that covers pre–Civil War through the Reconstruction. Set a little earlier than that is The Hour of Peril, the true story of how two detectives foiled a plan to assassinate Lincoln before his inauguration.
- 10/2/2013
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Featuring Oh-Dae Su himself, Choi Min-Sik of Oldboy, this Korean gangster flick stars Lee Jung-Jae of The Thieves, which, according to the trailer on this disc, looks like a sleek, Korean take on the Soderbergh Ocean's movies. A story of gangland betrayal and loyalty, New World is a shining example of Korean superiority in the Asian film marketplace.
That might be a bold statement, but I stand by it. Korean cinema eclipses Japanese and Chinese at just about every turn. I think there's something to be said about the conflict between the North and South clearly having an effect on the gutsy filmmakers working in South Korea. Director Park Hoon-Jung crafts a tense and beautiful portrayal of the Korean gangland. Often riveting and consistently intense, New World is an unflinching portrayal of cops and criminals.
Read more...
That might be a bold statement, but I stand by it. Korean cinema eclipses Japanese and Chinese at just about every turn. I think there's something to be said about the conflict between the North and South clearly having an effect on the gutsy filmmakers working in South Korea. Director Park Hoon-Jung crafts a tense and beautiful portrayal of the Korean gangland. Often riveting and consistently intense, New World is an unflinching portrayal of cops and criminals.
Read more...
- 9/25/2013
- by Robert Ottone
- JustPressPlay.net
Discovery Channel has “Gold Fever.” TheWrap has learned that Discovery is in business with Stephen David, who executive produced last year’s Emmy-winning four-part documentary series, “The Men Who Built America,” for its own historical docu-miniseries titled “Gold Fever.” The four part docu-miniseries will air Friday, Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 at 9/8c on Discovery Channel. Also read: Civil War Miniseries ‘North and South’ Brewing at Discovery and Lionsgate It will primarily focus on the period after gold was discovered and the Boston Company, a group of 40 men who pursue riches in the West from January 1848 to October 1850. Viewers will learn just how.
- 9/19/2013
- by Jethro Nededog
- The Wrap
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