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Legendary actor Denzel Washington is to take on another Shakespeare role, most likely in Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig’s planned take on Othello.

Just a few years after playing the title role in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy Of Macbeth, it looks like Denzel Washington is set to take on another cinematic interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most noted tragic heroes: Othello. The actor revealed the future role on The Today Show, mentioning the role while chatting about future projects (including a Steve McQueen project) and publicising the release of Gladiator II which opens in UK cinemas this week.

While it’s possible that more than one version of Othello is currently in development at the moment, Washington is probably referring to the project being spearheaded by producers Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig. The former 007 starred in an off-Broadway production of the play several years ago, playing Iago,...

Now that they’ve set the year’s best film for a December 10 debut, the Criterion Channel have unveiled the rest of next month’s selection. John Waters’ films are inseparable from John Waters’ presence, making fitting Criterion’s decision to pair an eight-film retrospective (Multiple Maniacs to Cecil B. Demented) with his own “Adventures in Moviegoing” wherein the director extols virtues of Bergman, Chabrol, Barbara Loden, and Samuel Fuller. His own Polyester will have a Criterion Edition alongside the Bob Dylan doc Don’t Look Back, an iconic film in its own right and, I think, fitting companion to The Unknown with Lon Chaney, also streaming on Criterion. No Country for Old Men and Election receive likewise treatment; the latter appears in “MTV Productions,” a series featuring Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Original Kings of Comedy, and (coming close to Freddy Got Fingered for least-expected 2024 addition) Jackass: the Movie.

Apple and A24 are in early development on a film adaptation of the Michael Lewis book “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon” with Lena Dunham attached to write the script, Variety has learned exclusively.

Apple Studios and A24 are co-developing and co-producing the film. “Going Infinite” delves into the spectacular ascension and equally spectacular implosion of the cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund Ftx as well as its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. The book was originally released in October 2023 and went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

The official description of the book reads:

“When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks,...

Late in filmmaker Gregory Nava’s harrowing 1983 immigration drama El Norte, Guatemalan refugee Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez) lays ailing in a Los Angeles hospital, ravaged by a fatal case of typhus acquired crawling through the rat-infested sewers underneath the Mexican-American border. Sadly resigned to her own death, she turns to her equally ill-fated brother Enrique (David Villalpando) to ask: “When will we find a home, Enrique? Maybe when we die?”–a blunt, heartbreaking moment among many.

But even setting aside the Guatemalan Civil War whose harsh realities provide El Norte its backdrop so too could Rosa’s mournful question could just as easily be asked in relation to the state of independent film in the Americas by the time of El Norte’s world premiere at the 1983 edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

After spending the bulk of the 1970s drinking and producing a series of increasingly unreleasable masterpieces, indie film pioneer John Cassavetes was,...

Once you've conquered Hollywood by becoming one of the most respected and celebrated actors in the industry, what else is there to do but become a celebrated director, too? That's exactly what Denzel Washington did. Having received his first Oscar nomination for playing South African activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's 1987 effort "Cry Freedom", Denzel then went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in what Rotten Tomatoes maintains is Washington's best film, 1989's "Glory."

While "Glory," which currently has a 95% Rt score, was certainly a high point for Denzel, the man still had decades of hits and critically-acclaimed classics ahead of him. After that 1989 triumph, for example, he went on to earn another Oscar for his role as corrupt LAPD detective Alonzo Harris in 2001's "Training Day." But between winning Hollywood's highest honor twice, Washington was also proving his ability to...

John Turturro is an actor who has been at the core of American films for the last forty years, whether working independently or in Hollywood. Turturro has never shied away from trying on roles that bring him challenges. For the past four decades in the industry, Turturro has managed to bring all his characters to life. Apart from intense roles, he has always showcased and proved his acting capabilities, even in comedies.

Turturro’s passion for acting and the depth that he brings to all his roles has earned him global fame and accolades for his work. Let’s take a look at some of the films and TV shows featuring John Turturro!

5 Movies/TV Shows Featuring John Turturro 1. The Big Lebowski (1998)

Written by the Coen brothers and directed by Joel Coen, The Big Lebowski, follows the life of an underachieving Californian jobless man within a few days after he...

Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” has hit theaters nationwide, chronicling the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, releasing on the 49th anniversary of the long-running sketch comedy on October 11. With this movie expected to be a contender at the upcoming 2025 Academy Awards, let’s take a closer look at the filmmaker’s previous four Oscar nominations in three different categories for just two of his films.

After Reitman’s directorial debut in 2005 for “Thank You For Smoking,” he achieved commercial and critical success for his coming-of-age film “Juno” in 2007, starring Elliot Page as the titular teenage character who deals with her unexpected pregnancy and wants to give it up for adoption. While the comedy was praised for its screenplay by Diablo Cody and lead performance, Reitman’s direction was not recognized at any of the major precursor award ceremonies, which is why it...

With Janus possessing the much-needed restorations, Catherine Breillat is getting her biggest-ever spotlight in November’s Criterion Channel series spanning 1976’s A Real Young Girl to 2004’s Anatomy of Hell––just one of numerous retrospectives arriving next month. They’re also spotlighting Ida Lupino, directorial efforts of John Turturro (who also gets an “Adventures In Moviegoing”), the Coen brothers, and Jacques Audiard.

In a slightly more macroscopic view, Columbia Noir and a new edition of “Queersighting” ring in Noirvember. Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy and Miller’s Crossing get Criterion Editions, while restorations of David Bowie-starrer The Linguini Incident, Med Hondo’s West Indies, and Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue make streaming debuts; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s Tonsler Park arrives just in time for another grim election day.

See the full list of titles arriving in November below:

36 fillette, Catherine Breillat, 1988

Anatomy of Hell, Catherine Breillat,...

Exclusive: Emmy nominated actress, Moses Ingram, has signed with Linden Entertainment.

Ingram was most recently seen starring in AppleTV ’s limited series Lady In The Lake opposite Natalie Portman as well as Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt for A24. Later this year, Ingram will be seen in Joshua Oppenheimer’s feature debut The End opposite Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and George McKay for Neon. Ingram is currently in production on Kathryn Bigelow’s Untitled Netflix film.

Prior roles include Netflix’s Emmy winning limited series The Queen’s Gambit for which she garnered an Emmy nomination for her role; Disney ’s limited series Obi Wan Kenobi; AppleTV’s limited series The Big Cigar; Joel Coen’s The Tragedy Of Macbeth and Peter Hedges’ The Same Storm and Michael Bay’s Ambulance.

Linden Entertainment will rep Ingram alongside Innovative Artists, Fox Rothschild and The Lede Company.

Linden Entertainment...

Berlin, 1998. John Goodman and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen sat down for a press conference to promote The Big Lebowski. Good lord is it awkward.

It’s often difficult to work out who benefits from movie press conferences. Actors and filmmakers sit at a long table and try to look engaged in the barrage of inane questions that will inevitably come at them. Journalists fumble over their words, hold the microphone too close to their mouths and burble indecipherably. At best, they’re awkward.

The press conference for The Big Lebowski, held at the Berlin Film Festival in 1998, meanwhile, is so flat and awkward that it’s actually fascinating. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen shuffle in front of the cameras with star John Goodman to promote what was then their latest movie – a Raymond Chandler-inspired stoner bowling comedy that would quickly become a cult favourite. Not that you’d...

Why are we drawn to stories ‘based on a true story’? This phenomenon enchants audiences by offering a blend of entertainment and authenticity, creating a nifty overlap between reality and imagination. Fiction may seduce our minds, but it’s the non-fiction elements that tether us to the ground.

Consider the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan Coen), masters at transforming the ordinary into cinematic brilliance. They famously claimed that their 1996 crime thriller, Fargo, was ‘based on a true story’.

Fargo (1996) | Credit: Gramercy Pictures

However, this isn’t exactly the case. While the Coen Brothers let us believe the narrative was rooted in real events, they pulled the wool over our eyes with a cheeky twist, blending fact and fiction in a way that was nothing short of genius.

Fargo: ‘True’ Story Behind Coen Brothers’ Masterpiece

Fargo burst onto the scene in 1996 with a statement that packed a punch, informing audiences...

Like many of the fall film festivals, New York Film Festival had to mount its 2023 edition during the actors strike and without major stars like Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore (“May December”) or Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal (“All of Us Strangers”) in attendance to promote their movies.

So, NYFF’s artistic director Dennis Lim is relieved the annual celebration of cinema is returning in 2024 with business as usual. This year’s fest runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 14. “We are very happy to not have to work around those restrictions this year,” he says. “And we have many, many actors attending for some of the bigger films.”

He’s referring to movies like director Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Moore and Tilda Swinton; filmmaker Sean Baker for Palme d’Or-winner “Anora”; Steve McQueen’s historical drama “Blitz,” featuring Saoirse Ronan; Pablo Larraín’s...

With nine Oscar nominations and two wins, Denzel Washington's legacy as one of the finest actors in Hollywood is well-established. But even without the accolades, the man's talent speaks for itself. Often this is literally the case. Alfred Hitchcock once told Francois Truffaut, "The chief requisite for an actor is the ability to do nothing well" — something that frequent Hitch collaborator James Stewart had down to a tee. Even Stewart's quiet charisma arguably can't quite match Denzel's effortless magnetism, though. The man can make doing nothing look good like no other. But he can also do a lot when required, and has demonstrated his adaptability across one of the most impressive filmographies in Hollywood.

In 2017, Washington spoke to The Inquirer about his approach to acting at the age of 60. "I'm trying to get better," Washington told the outlet, "This ain't dress rehearsal. I really don't know how many...

At this stage, it seems as though Denzel Washington can do no wrong. The man is a Hollywood legend, proving he can take on everything from action blockbuster franchises to thoughtful indie dramas and deliver. If his "Equalizer" movies aren't for you, there's always the expressionist nightmare that is Joel Coen's "The Tragedy Of Macbeth," in which, as /Film's review surmised, Denzel was "ferocious," threatening to "rip that Oscar right out of the throat of the Academy with his bare teeth."

At 69, the veteran star is still going strong, and will soon appear in "Gladiator II," Ridley Scott's follow-up to his 2000 historical action epic. Washington is set to play Macrinus, an arms dealer who supports Lucius Verus II (Paul Mescal) as he takes on the Roman Empire. While many of us are saddened that Scott's supernatural pitch for the "Gladiator" sequel will never get made, and that Nick Cave...

For almost 40 years, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – better known as the Coen Brothers – have created a number of quirky, singular titles spanning a variety of genres. They’ve also become industry and academy favorites, picking up four Oscar wins for writing, directing and producing. Celebrate this dynamic duo by taking a look back at all 18 of their films together, ranked worst to best.

The Coens made their feature debut with the Southwestern neo-noir “Blood Simple” (1984). Shot on a shoestring budget with a then largely unknown cast, the film established the brothers’ talent for visually striking, wholly original stories.

They followed their breakout hit with a series of increasingly ambitious, wildly different features: the wacky Southern farce “Raising Arizona” (1987), the moody gangster saga “Millers Crossing” (1990), the bizarre Hollywood satire “Barton Fink” (1991), and the nostalgic screwball comedy “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994).

It wasn’t until “Fargo” (1996), a comedic thriller about a pregnant...

When finding your angle on a film review, it can be helpful to use dialogue as inspiration. From brothers Max and Sam Eggers, A24’s “The Front Room” is a wildly inappropriate horror effort that offers several good options in this regard.

“Why can’t I Die?!”

“I’m a racist baby, goo-goo, gah-gah.”

“Stop crying for yourself.”

“Just…let me know who wins.”

“Are you Kidding me?”

Take your pick of those lines or combine a couple. Whatever you come up with won’t get close to the sheer ridiculousness in this bonkers co-directorial debut. Starring Brandy as the very pregnant Belinda, the Eggers twins’ first feature is a melodramatic fairytale about end-of-life caregiving, generational racism, and hating the literal shit out of your mother-in-law. This feces-centric film is better off not compared to the work of the filmmakers’ older brother, Robert Eggers; although, there are specks of surreal...

Coming to theaters on September 6th from A24, I had a chance to talk with Sam & Max Eggers about The Front Room, their new horror film that stars Brandy, Andrew Burnap, and Kathryn Hunter. From their personal connection to the source material, to working with the cast, and balancing humor and horror, read on to learn more about their experience making The Front Room:

The Front Room is based on the short story from Susan Hill. What about the story resonated with you two so much that you wanted to write and direct the film?

Max Eggers: We've been fans of Susan Hill forever. The Woman in Black is just incredible. We were brought the story by our producers, and it's a really great short story that was so resonant to us. When we read it, we had taken care of our grandfather and [his health had] declined, so we knew exactly...

Exclusive: Molly Gordon (Theater Camp), Logan Lerman (We Were the Lucky Ones), Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) and John Reynolds (Search Party) are set to star in Oh, Hi!, an indie comedy written and to be directed by Sophie Brooks (The Boy Downstairs), who conceived the story with Gordon.

Entering production in New York this month, the film centers on Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Lerman), whose first weekend away as a couple is going so well — until Isaac mentions he didn’t know they were a couple. Iris is sure he’s just confused….so she decides to hold him captive until they get on the same page.

Brooks and Gordon developed the project alongside producers David Brooks and Dan Clifton. Julie Waters will also produce for Watermark Media, which is financing with QWGmire, AmorFortuna, and Bespoke Production Capital. The executive producers are Evan Dyal, Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty,...

Veteran character actor and filmmaker John Turturro delighted an audience at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Wednesday with a masterclass about his extensive and eclectic career spanning film, television and theatre. Speaking to a packed theater at the Bosnian Cultural Center, the Brooklyn native gave insights into his most reputable acting work ranging from Do the Right Thing to The Big Lebowski to Barton Fink to the Transformers franchise as well has his directorial work for films such as Romance and Cigarettes and Mac.

After the iconic Jesus Quintana bowling scene in The Big Lebowski was played to the audience (which was met with rapturous applause), Turturro said that Joel and Ethan Coen had seen him in the play La Puta Vida by Reinaldo Povod, where Turturro plays a homosexual pedophile. It was that role that would inspire them to cast him in The Big Lebowski as Jesus, a bowling...

Sarajevo Film Festival has selected 18 titles for its Kinoscope strand and seven for its In Focus section, including a range of 2024 festival hits from Berlin and Cannes.

The Kinoscope selection consists of 12 Kinoscope films, and six titles in genre strand Kinoscope Surreal.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Titles include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition this year; and Santosh, the debut feature of 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Sandhya Suri, which debuted in Un Certain Regard.

Guan Hu’s Black Dog, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize,...

John Turturro will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23).

US actor and filmmaker Turturro will give a masterclass about his career; and will attend a screening of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s 1991 film Barton Fink, for which Turturro won Best Actor at Cannes.

That was one of several collaborations between Turturro and the Coen brothers, alongside O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski.

Turturro received the Cannes Camera d’Or for best debut feature in 1992 for Mac, which he also starred in. His other directorial work includes 2020 feature The Jesus Rolls,...

The 62nd edition of the New York Film Festival will kick off with RaMell Ross’s “Nickel Boys,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys.”

Film at Lincoln Center made the announcement early Monday and notably didn’t specify a premiere designation for the film, perhaps an indication that “Nickel Boys” will have its world premiere at another festival such as the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, or Venice Film Festival.

“What an absolute honor for ‘Nickel Boys’ to open the 62nd New York Film Festival… a daydream really, for the crew, the cast, and team who’ve committed so wholeheartedly to its vision,” Ross said in a statement. The filmmaker’s debut documentary, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” was previously screened at the 2018 edition of New Directors/New Films at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Ross called his debut feature...

New York Film Festival has set the RaMell Ross-directed historical drama “Nickel Boys” as its opening night movie.

The screening will take place Sept. 27 at Alice Tully Hall. “Nickel Boys” is adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel and stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. The story follows two Black teenagers who become wards of a barbaric juvenile reformatory in Jim Crow-era Florida. Herisse and Wilson play Elwood and Turner, whose close friendship helps sustain their hope even as the horrors mount around them at the Nickel Academy, which becomes a microcosm of American racism in the mid-20th century.

“’Nickel Boys’ signals the emergence of a major filmmaking voice,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival. “RaMell Ross’s fiction debut, like his previous work in photography and documentary, searches for new ways of seeing and,...

“MaXXXine,” the third film in writer/director Ti West and producer/actress Mia Goth’s “X” trilogy, is now in theaters. From the ’70s set “X” to the 1910s of “Pearl” and now the ’80s of “MaXXXine,” one of the defining characteristics of the trilogy is how they adopt the look and filmmaking style of the genre of the films they are emulating. Cinematographer Eliot Rockett, a long-time West collaborator who shot all three films, told IndieWire the roots of this approach pre-dated 2022’s “X.”

“This started back with ‘House of the Devil,’” said Rockett, referencing the 2009 horror film he shot for West. “We were trying to make a movie that felt not just like a period, but the whole thing felt more like an artifact from that time.”

With “X,” West wanted to make his first slasher film in the spirit of 1970s films like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” in...

Orson Welles first rose to fame with revisionist takes on William Shakespeare’s work, among them a 1937 theatrical production of Julius Caesar set in a fascist state and, a year earlier, Voodoo Macbeth, which relocated the plot of Macbeth to Haiti and featured an entirely black cast. His 1948 film adaptation of the play is similarly faithful in its use of the original text, with the actors going as far as to adopt thick highland brogues. The film likewise transposes Welles’s theatrical experimentations into cinematic terms, existing largely as a showcase for the auteur’s arcane, fussy expressionism, as well as the many cultural quirks borne of a peripatetic life. For example, in the opening scene in which Macbeth (Welles) meets the three witches, they make a facsimile of the lord out of clay, a voodoo-like touch that could be a subtle nod to Welles’s vaunted all-black stage production.

Who says 1994 was a classic year for cinema? Netflix begins today to make that argument, curating a release of 17 films that turned 30 this year. The streamer has its list below. I have mine, and with the exception of the seminal Farrelly Brothers-directed Dumb & Dumber with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, and Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional, the film that stars Jean Reno and a sinister Gary Oldman and introduced the world to the outsized talent Natalie Portman, and maybe Ron Howard’s The Paper, there’s a lot missing. How about Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Clear and Present Danger, Sicario, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Interview With the Vampire, Speed, Ed Wood, and the other two films in a starmaking year for Jim Carrey, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. Speed, Once Were Warriors, and Ang Lee...

It’s a whodunit with a whole lot of drama. Jennifer Lawrence will get to feud, day-drink and access oodles of disposable income, at least until a body turns up, in “The Wives,” a murder mystery that is in the vein of “The Real Housewives.”

Apple Original Films acquired the project in what it is describing as a “highly competitive situation.” Lawrence will produce the film alongside Justine Ciarrocchi for her company, Excellent Cadaver. Tony and Independent Spirit Award nominee Jeremy O. Harris and Josh Godfrey will also produce the picture under their bb2 banner. It is currently in development, so no word on the final plot or when it might shoot.

“The Wives” will be written by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, the writers of the play “Circle Jerk,” which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The film is co-produced by Apple Studios and A24, which previously worked together on “Causeway,...

With production underway in Belfast, Ireland on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO has announced five new additions to the cast, along with a new director.

New cast members include Finn Bennett (True Detective: Night Country), Bertie Carvel (The Crown), Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things), Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen) and Sam Spruell (Fargo). Bennett plays Aerion Targaryen, with Carvel as Baelor Targaryen, Crawford as Tanselle, Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon, and Spruell as Maekar Targaryen.

Also new to the production is Sarah Adina Smith (Lessons in Chemistry), who has joined to direct three of the six episodes. As previously announced, Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell will also star. Check out a first look still from the series below.

A drama series based on the novella The Hedge Knight from George R. R. Martin, the visionary whose A Song of Ice and Fire inspired Game of Thrones, A Knight...

Forty years old this year, the neo-noir Blood Simple marked the debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, and remains a captivating example of low-budget filmmaking.

To date, Joel and Ethan Coen haven’t made a pure horror film (though they’ve talked about it). Blood Simple, their 1984 debut, undoubtedly comes close. A neo-noir shot on a low budget, it shows that the writer-director brothers had their style down right from the beginning of their careers. Its script is witty and terse; its photography is fluid and stylish; its characters and tone are somehow both mundane and off-beat. Like so many of their later film, Blood Simple also defies easy categorisation; it’s a neo-noir, it’s a black comedy, and in several visceral scenes, dips gleefully into horror.

Much like Fargo or The Big Lebowski or any other thriller-infused Coen brothers film you could name, there are no criminal masterminds in Blood Simple – just ordinary,...

Free-spirited mom. Strict mother. Abused wife. Boozing adulteress. Mousy governess. Strong-willed nomad. With her talent for deadpan delivery and with one of the most expressive faces in the industry, Frances McDormand has created a treasure trove of complex and diverse characters over the past 40 years, earning numerous accolades along the way.

McDormand was born Cynthia Ann Smith on June 23, 1957, and was adopted when she was a year-and-a-half old and renamed Frances Louise McDormand. After studying theater, including receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale School of Drama, she quickly made a name for herself on stage, as well as in film and television.

In 1984, McDormand made her film debut in “Blood Simple,” the first film made by her new husband Joel Coen and his brother Ethan Coen. She has collaborated with the brothers in seven other films, including her first Oscar-winning performance in “Fargo” (1996). In addition to her film work,...

How now, what news: the Criterion Channel’s July lineup is here. Eight pop renditions of Shakespeare are on the docket: from movies you forgot were inspired by the Bard (Abel Ferrara’s China Girl) to ones you’d wish to forget altogether (Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), with maybe my single favorite interpretation (Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet) alongside Paul Mazursky, Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Derek Jarman, and (of course) Kenneth Branagh. A neonoir collection arrives four months ahead of Noirvember: two Ellroy adaptations, two from De Palma that are not his neonoir Ellroy adaptation, two from the Coen brothers (i.e. the chance to see a DVD-stranded The Man Who Wasn’t There in HD), and––finally––a Michael Winner picture given Criterion’s seal of approval.

Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...

A prominent Hollywood marketing and branding guru has raised eyebrows by telling staffers that they should refrain from working with anyone who is “posting against Israel.”

Ashlee Margolis, founder of the Beverly Hills firm The A List, wrote an email to her staff about a new mandate to hit “pause on working with any celebrity or influencer or tastemaker posting against Israel.” The company, which is a fixture on red carpets and is at the forefront of brand integration with celebrities, works with such companies as CAA, UTA, Lede Company and Wolf Kasteler Public Relations.

In the email, Margolis stressed that there was a distinction between what she deemed acceptable and unacceptable social media posts about the country and its current military operations in Gaza. “Anyone saying Israel is committing a ‘genocide’ is someone we will pause on working with, as that is simply not true,” the veteran marketing executive wrote.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday, May 25 following two weeks packed with screenings, stars, press and parties. With the prizes having been handed out for the festival’s 77th anniversary, we can now start looking at what contenders might be in the best spot to get into the upcoming Oscar race. Let’s examine the winners from this year’s festival and see the history that each category has when it comes to the Oscars.

In recent years, we’ve seen the festival serve as a huge springboard for major players in the Oscar derby. Three of the last four winners of the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, have nabbed Best Picture nominations: “Parasite” (2019), “Triangle of Sadness” (2022) and “Anatomy of a Fall” (2023). Other big winners at recent festivals that became big Oscar players include “Drive My Car,” “The Zone of Interest” and “BlacKkKlansman.” This year’s...

Charles Portis' novel "True Grit" has been brought to life on the big screen several times, but Henry Hathaway's 1969 John Wayne-starring adaptation is perhaps the most popular. Wayne's rendition of Rooster Cogburn is one of his most-recognized late-period roles, and it also earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor — an accolade that feels thoroughly deserving due to the actor's ability to seamlessly inhabit the plucky, one-eyed U.S. Marshal. Portis' "True Grit" is told from the perspective of the adolescent Mattie Ross, whose deadpan, no-nonsense demeanor is our portal to the treacherous grown-ups around her, and her bond with the tough-as-nails marshal soon emerges as the heart of the drama. Wayne expertly balances Rooster's more vicious sensibilities with the hidden vulnerabilities that emerge when he helps Mattie exact revenge and looks endlessly cool while charging toward armed dudes with dual guns on horseback.

Although no one can...

Ethan Coen has assembled a stellar cast for “Honey Don’t!,” his follow-up to this year’s “Drive-Away Dolls.”

Thirteen new actors have joined the cast of “Honey Don’t!” that already includes stars Chris Evans, Margaret Qualley, and Aubrey Plaza. Rounding out the ensemble are “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Charlie Day, “Bros” star and comedian Billy Eichner, and “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” actress Talia Ryder, IndieWire has learned. Also joining the cast are Lera Abova, Jacnier, Gabby Beans, Kristin Connolly, Lena Hall, Don Swayze, Josh Pafchek, Kale Brown, Alexander Carstoiu, and Christin Antidormi.

“Honey Don’t!” is filming now in New Mexico and will be released by Focus Features, which also released “Drive-Away Dolls,” Ethan Coen’s first feature as a solo director separate from his brother Joel Coen. The new film is reportedly set in Bakersfield, California, with Evans playing a cult leader, Qualley portraying a private investigator, and Plaza as a mystery woman.

A hitman finds himself in the middle of an odd murder mystery in Shane Atkinson’s Laroy, Texas. Set against the beautiful Texas backdrop, the cinematography instantly reminds me of Ethan and Joel Coen’s No Country for Old Men. Atkinson does pay a little homage to the 2007 classic in his movie, as he brings sheer entertainment to the screen.

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens In The Movie?

Harry is a hitman who looks like a kind old fellow, and I’m sure if he has grandchildren, they will most probably love him. In the opening scenes, Harry kills a guy, yet his mannerisms seems like he’s the one whose life is in danger. Cracking halfwit jokes nervously and giving people a lift before killing them is actually a great persona for a killer. We skip to Ray, who’s clearly losing in life running his hardware store with his brother.

The phrase, “a change of heart,” would forever alter the course of Freddy Macdonald’s life.

Last month, the 23-year-old wunderkind’s feature directorial debut, Sew Torn, premiered at South by Southwest to glowing reviews, capping an extraordinary five-plus years for the young filmmaker. As a high school senior, Macdonald — whose American family had relocated to Switzerland a handful of years earlier — started applying to film schools, and he decided to take a lofty crack at the American Film Institute’s (AFI) graduate program. As part of the application process, Macdonald had to make a short film that told a story involving the aforementioned idiom, “a change of heart,” and so he started trading ideas with his father, Fred Macdonald.

The father-son duo soon found themselves in the oeuvre of the Coen brothers, specifically No Country for Old Men. The inciting incident of the Coens’ best picturing-winning neo-Western involves Josh Brolin...

Nearly a month after Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech reverberated across Hollywood and caused a wave of controversy, 455 Jewish creatives (and counting) have signed a letter in a show of support.

“We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks. Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation,” reads the letter, published amid the continued conflict in the Middle East. “We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1200 Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.”

The letter is signed by a mix of actors, writers, producers, filmmakers and other creatives. Among those backing Glazer are Joker star Joaquin Phoenix; Killer Films vet Pamela Koffler...

Update: More than 300 Jewish creatives — including eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, “SNL” star Sarah Sherman, actor and documentarian Alex Winter and “Seinfeld” writer Larry Charles — have added their names to the list of signatories of an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech.

The number of signees now sits at 492, having more than tripled since Variety first published the April 5 letter, which criticized the attacks on Glazer for being a “dangerous distraction” from the mounting death toll in Gaza while also contributing to the “suppression of free speech and dissent.”

New additions also include Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” co-writer Arthur Harari, veteran U.K. producer and Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas, “Girls” co-showrunner and co-writer Jenni Konner and “The Hunger Games” writer and director and four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross. Many members of the Israeli film community have also signed the open letter, including Oren Moverman, Nadav Lapid,...

Miriam Margolyes has called on all Jews “to shout, beg, scream for a ceasefire” in Gaza as the Palestinian territory continues to deal with rising death tolls and, according to aid agency Unrwa USA, is facing a “man-made famine.”

The veteran British-Australian actress and activist, who is best known for starring as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film franchise, released a video on Saturday via the Jewish Council of Australia, in which she said Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza has left her “so ashamed of Israel.”

She added, “To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and do unto others as you would have them do unto you into this vicious, genocidal nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”

Margolyes said that she condemned Hamas’ actions. On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a terrorist...

Actors Paul Mescal, Olivia Colman and Susan Sarandon, and filmmakers Spike Lee, Lukas Dhont and Shane Meadows are among the latest film professionals to join Cinema For Gaza, the UK-based fundraiser to send medical support to Palestinians in the Gaza region.

Mescal, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2020, is donating a signed poster of 2022 feature Aftersun, while Colman is donating a personalised video message.

US actress Tessa Thompson will have a drink on Zoom and donate signed Sorry To Bother You and The Marvels items to a highest bidder; while Sarandon is donating a Zoom chat plus signed The Rocky Horror Picture Show t-shirt.

In the weeks since the 2024 Academy Awards, figures throughout Hollywood have continued to declare their support for director Jonathan Glazer. While accepting the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, a film that centers on the Holocaust, the Jewish director criticized the dehumanization of “victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.”

The most recent show of support comes from an open letter signed by more than 150 Jewish creatives, including Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Ilana Glazer, Chloe Fineman, Todd Haynes,...

Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, Debra Winger and Elliot Gould are among the 151 Jewish creatives who have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech.

Further signatories include directors Mike Leigh, Todd Haynes, Lenny Abrahamson, Sarah Gavron, Ira Sachs and Emma Seligman as well as actors David Cross, Chloe Fineman, Kate Berlant and Fred Hechinger.

The letter has been put together by a group of Jewish artists and filmmakers, who shared it directly with their friends and colleagues to gather support. Signatories are continuing to add names by getting in contact with a person they know on...

More than 150 Jewish industry professionals, including Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, and Todd Haynes, have lent their names to a new open letter penned in support of Jonathan Glazer’s much-debated Oscars acceptance speech. Scroll down to read the full letter and list of names.

The full list of signatories first reported on by Variety features 151 names from across the film and TV world like Sorry to Bother You filmmaker Boots Riley, veteran indie director Nicole Holofcener, British auteur Mike Leigh, Passages filmmaker Ira Sachs, and Gossip Girl actor and writer Tavi Gevinson. Deadline was handed a copy of the letter and its signatories. We have also contacted reps for several names listed to confirm their involvement.

The open letter states that the signees “support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars,” adding they have been “alarmed” to see their industry colleagues “mischaracterize and denounce his remarks.”

“Their attacks on Glazer...

Over 150 Jewish Hollywood professionals express support for director after he faced backlash for speech

More than 150 Jewish Hollywood professionals, including Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen and Ilana Glazer, have expressed their support for Jonathan Glazer after the Zone of Interest director faced intense backlash for his acceptance speech at this year’s Oscars.

In an open letter published on Friday, the signatories wrote they were “alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks”.

Image created by Shutterstock Generate. When the solution to a recent Wordle puzzle was “Abide,” it reminded plenty of players of The Big Lebowski and one of the film’s most memorable phrases: “The Dude abides.” The Big Lebowski, of course, was the brainchild of the Coen Brothers, who wrote the film together as a team, while Joel Coen directed and Ethan Coen produced. Jeff Bridges, who starred as the film’s iconic Dude, told us at the time of the film’s release that working with the Coens was one of the easiest things he’d ever done in Hollywood. (Click on the media bar below to hear Jeff Bridges) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Jeff-Bridges_working_with-the_Coen_Brothers_The-Big-Lebowski_.mp3

The Big Lebowski Clip via Bo Stern on YouTube.

The post Coen Brothers Vibe Was A Major Plus For ‘Lebowski’s’ Jeff Bridges appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Exclusive: Paramount Pictures has rounded out the cast of Vicious, its horror film starring Dakota Fanning. New additions include Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things), Tony Award nominee Mary McCormack (The West Wing), Rachel Blanchard (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Devyn Nekoda (Scream VI), Klea Scott (Millennium), and Emily Mitchell (Ordinary Angels).

An Atlas Independent production, the film follows a young woman who, after being left with a strange present from a late-night visitor, must spend the night fighting for her existence as she slips down a disturbing rabbit hole contained inside the gift.

Bryan Bertino (The Strangers) is directing from his own script, with Richard Suckle producing. Melinda Whitaker serves as executive producer. Pic is slated for release in theaters on August 8, 2025.

Recently, Hunter has been seen in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, as well as Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, also appearing on shows like Andor and Landscapers.

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Mar 15-17) Total gross to date Week 1. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros) £4m £26.2m 3 2. Wicked Little Letters (Studiocanal) £588,034 £7.3m 4 3. Migration (Universal) £573,719 £19m 7 4. Bob Marley: One Love (Paramount) £509,000 £16m 5 5. Imaginary (Lionsgate) £406,382 £1.4m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27.

Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two remains on top of the UK and Ireland box office while Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls opens just outside of the top five for Universal.

The Dune sequel raked in £4m on its third weekend - dropping just 31% and bringing its total to £26.2m.

In second place is Wicked Little Letters which dipped just...

It’s hard to put into words the kind of the disappointment that comes with realising that one of your favourite filmmakers has made a truly terrible movie. That realisation hit me approximately 10 minutes into Drive-Away Dolls, the new film by one half of acclaimed filmmaking duo The Coen Brothers.

Alongside his brother Joel, Ethan Coen has given us more than 4 decades of brilliant films ranging from quirky black comedies – A Serious Man, Hail, Caesar!, Inside Llewyn Davis – to beautifully devised crime capers – Blood Simple, No Country for Old Men and True Grit being just a few – but recently the prolific brothers took a break from working together. This resulted in Joel Coen’s multi-awarded nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021, and the soon to be released chaotic lesbian sexploitation comedy Drive-Away Dolls from his brother Ethan.

Written by Coen and Tricia Cooke, Drive-Away Dolls follows the antics of Jamie...

Exclusive: The Mothership writer-director Matt Charman has landed his first Netflix project since the Halle Berry movie was axed by the streamer, Deadline understands.

We are told that Charman is writing a UK-set TV series thriller set in the upper echelons of the British political sphere titled The Choice, with filming set to start in London imminently and the show due to be unveiled tomorrow at a Netflix event in the English capital.

The Choice is the first Netflix role for BAFTA-winning British star Suranne Jones, who will also be an executive producer.

During a 25-year-long career, Jones has appeared in hits including Doctor Foster, Vigil and Gentleman Jack, all of which sold to the U.S. Other credits include Channel 4’s I Am Victoria and Sky’s Save Me, while she is also working on a drama based on the life of five-time female world boxing champion Jane Couch.