Category Archives: Film

Robert De Niro says anti-Trump speech censored at Gotham awards ceremony

Posted on by

Actor said that his address had been edited to remove polemic against falsifying history

Robert De Niro said that his speech at the Gotham awards in New York was censored without his knowledge due to his anti-Trump comments.

De Niro came to the stage as part of the Gotham historical icon and creator tribute for the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon, and after reading out some remarks about the film, said that the first part of his speech had been removed from the prompter.

Continue reading...

Critics of Napoleon epic have fallen for emperor’s fibs, says film’s military expert

Posted on by

The ex-para who advised Ridley Scott on the new movie’s battle scenes claims historians who attacked it have fallen for Bonaparte’s own hype

Critics of the “damaging” and “inaccurate” portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor’s enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film’s vast battle scenes.

Paul Biddiss claims that “Old Boney”, as he was known to the Duke of Wellington’s British troops, was promoted largely because he elaborated on his own successes. Bonaparte’s fibs impressed all France and intimidated his enemies – until, that is, he met his Waterloo in 1815.

Continue reading...

Jamie Foxx denies sexually assaulting woman in New York bar

Posted on by

Lawsuit alleges the Hollywood star assaulted a woman while at Catch NYC & Roof, a restaurant and rooftop bar, in summer 2015

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has denied accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman while at a New York rooftop bar eight years ago.

The lawsuit alleges in summer 2015, Foxx made comments such as, “Wow, you have that supermodel body,” while at Catch NYC & Roof, a restaurant and rooftop bar, before grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her to the “secluded” back of the rooftop.

Continue reading...

New Karate Kid movie with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in the works

Posted on by

A global casting call from the two actors – looking for a new teenage star – suggests the separate strands of the series will be brought together

Following the success of the TV series Cobra Kai, a new Karate Kid movie featuring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan has been announced, along with a global casting call to find a teenage star for the film.

Macchio, who starred in the first three Karate Kid movies between 1984 and 1989 before returning to anchor Cobra Kai which first aired in 2018, and Chan, who appeared in the 2010 reboot starring Jaden Smith, appeared together in a short video to make the announcement. The casting notice suggested the film will also feature a new character called Li Fong, who is “Chinese or mixed-race Chinese [aged] between 15-17 years old [and] speaks fluent English”. The website added: “Conversational Mandarin is a strong plus. He’s smart, scrappy and a skilled martial artist.”

Continue reading...

Joss Ackland, star of White Mischief, dies aged 95

Posted on by

British veteran actor also starred in the Hunt for Red October and the TV version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Joss Ackland: a life in pictures

British actor Joss Ackland has died at the age of 95, his family have said in a statement.

He appeared in films such as White Mischief, on TV playing CS Lewis in Shadowlands and in many stage productions including as Juan Perón in Evita.

Continue reading...

Emperor’s new clothes: why the French are ready to embrace Napoleon again

Posted on by

With Ridley Scott’s epic set to launch, there has been renewed discussion about the military leader’s legacy – and film fans can’t wait

A Hollywood war epic about the world’s most famous Frenchman – directed by an Englishman – was bound to contain its share of historical inaccuracies. So Ridley Scott’s big-budget battle extravaganza, Napoleon, which opens worldwide next week, has inevitably seen every aspect of its trailers scrutinised in France.

From the age of the actors (Joaquin Phoenix is older than the military leader he plays and Vanessa Kirby is younger than his wife, Joséphine), to a scene in which Napoleon’s cannons fire at the Egyptian pyramids when in reality his troops were kilometres away, nothing has escaped.

Continue reading...

Jimmy Kimmel to host Oscars for fourth time

Posted on by

‘I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,’ said the late-night show, who hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2023

Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host of the Academy Awards for the second straight year and fourth time overall, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

Broadcaster ABC is turning again to its late-night host a year after bringing Kimmel back for a 2023 ceremony that drew 18.7 million viewers, the most since 2020’s pre-pandemic broadcast but still the third worst ever recorded. In the wake of Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, Kimmel led a cautious ceremony that helped stabilize the Academy Awards after years of turmoil.

Continue reading...

Édith Piaf’s voice re-created using AI so she can narrate own biopic

Posted on by

In-development film comes after controversy around the re-creation of late stars’ voices, such as Anthony Bourdain

Sixty years after her death, Édith Piaf’s voice will be re-created using AI to narrate her biopic.

As reported by Variety, Warner Music Group (WMG) has partnered with the Piaf estate to produce the feature-length film Edith. Artificial intelligence has been trained to replicate Piaf’s voice by feeding it hundreds of voice clips, with WMG promising the resultant re-creation will “further enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story”.

Continue reading...

Michel Ciment, veteran French film critic, dies aged 85

Posted on by

The longtime chief of Positif film magazine started working there in 1968, and was a passionate advocate of cinema until his death

Michel Ciment, the celebrated French film critic and longtime editor of Positif magazine, has died aged 85. The magazine reported the news on social media, describing him as Positif’s “master architect” after a 60-year career.

Born in Paris in 1938, Ciment fell in love with cinema as a student, and joined Positif in 1968, becoming editorial director in 1973; he said he admired Positif over Cahiers du Cinéma because the magazine was “left wing” and influenced by surrealism. Ciment published a string of books about prominent film directors, including Kazan by Kazan (1973), Conversations with Losey (1979) and Stanley Kubrick (1980).

Continue reading...

Netflix’s movie Hurricane Season stirs debate over violent depiction of Mexico

Posted on by

Based on the prize-winning book by Fernanda Melchor, film depicts brutality stemming from ‘war on drugs’ that began in 2006

A group of children find a body in the river: the village witch, her throat slit, writhing with snakes.

The opening scene of Hurricane Season, a new Netflix movie based on Mexican novelist Fernanda Melchor’s book, plunges the viewer straight into a tropical, lawless, superstitious version of rural Veracruz, Melchor’s home state.

Continue reading...

Tributes paid to ‘wonderful’ drama teacher Anna Scher, who has died at 78

Posted on by

Kathy Burke and Daniel Kaluuya among alumni of her London school, credited with making stars of often working-class students

Tributes have been paid to Anna Scher, an influential drama teacher who taught actors including Kathy Burke, Daniel Kaluuya and Adam Deacon, after the announcement of her death on Sunday, aged 78.

Scher, who had taught children in north London to act for more than 50 years, has been credited with creating numerous stars, and was known for championing people from a working-class background. The Anna Scher Theatre (AST), which started as a drama club in January 1968, has a long list of well-known alumni, including Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson, Martin Kemp, Natalie Cassidy, Patsy Palmer, Sid Owen, Jake Wood, Reggie Yates and Brooke Kinsella.

Continue reading...

Contract for Hollywood actors includes $40m yearly in streaming bonuses

Posted on by

Union leaders on Friday shared details of three-year contract, on AI, wage increases and end to racist hair and makeup practices

Streaming services like Netflix will pay actors bonuses amounting to roughly $40m per year as part of the tentative labor agreement reached between the SAG-AFTRA actors union and major Hollywood studios, union leaders said on Friday after their board backed the deal.

The proposed three-year contract, which the union said was valued at more than $1bn over three years, was endorsed by 86% of SAG-AFTRA’s national board.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian film-makers ‘looking for right angle’ as military drone operators

Posted on by

Cinematographer Yaroslav Pilunskiy and film editor Ivan Bannikov are part of drone unit fighting Russians in Donetsk

Sometimes, if the situation allows on Ukraine’s brutal eastern frontline, Yaroslav Pilunskiy will fly his drone to “a place I know where the Russians are constantly shelling over a lake, against a beautiful sunset.”

Moscow’s expenditure on the munitions represents a movie budget that Pilunskiy, 51, could only dream about in his former life as one of Ukraine’s most respected cinematographers. “When the command staff ask what I’m doing, I say: ‘When else will I be able to film these pyrotechnics?’”

Continue reading...

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson: I was asked to run for US president by multiple political parties

Posted on by

Actor and former wrestler says unnamed parties approached him ‘one after the other’ in 2022 after a poll revealed 46% of Americans would support his presidential run

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has revealed that multiple political parties approached him last year to see if he would run for US president, after a poll revealed 46% of Americans would support his campaign.

Appearing as the first guest on Trevor Noah’s new Spotify podcast What Now?, the actor and former WWE wrestler said a 2021 poll of 30,000 American adults led to “the parties” contacting him to ask if he was interested in running at the end of 2022.

Continue reading...

Robert De Niro’s production company ordered to pay $1.3m to ex-assistant

Posted on by

Canal Productions liable in gender discrimination suit filed by Graham Chase Robinson, while De Niro found not personally liable

Robert De Niro’s production company was found liable on Thursday by a jury for gender discrimination and retaliation, and ordered to pay $1.3m to the Hollywood star’s former assistant.

The 80-year-old actor and director was not found personally liable by the jury in New York after a two-week trial.

Continue reading...

Hollywood actors’ union reaches tentative deal with studios to end strike

Posted on by

Sag-Aftra union hails agreement of ‘extraordinary scope’ with Hollywood producers, bringing to a close historic work stoppage

Hollywood actors are set to end their nearly four-month strike, the Sag-Aftra union announced on Wednesday, bringing to a close a historic work stoppage that had brought the film and television industry to a standstill for months.

Sag-Aftra and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday, ending film and television actors’ longest strike roughly a month after writers signed their new contract. The deal came after parties had resumed talks last week following stalled negotiations in early October.

Continue reading...

Cary Grant biopic boosts interest in star’s harsh early life in Bristol

Posted on by

New series, Archie, screened in English hometown of Hollywood legend many think of as being wholly American

He is better known as a debonaire habitué of sun-splashed Californian beauty spots and glamorous New York nightclubs, but a flurry of screenings and special events this month will focus attention on a sometimes overlooked aspect of Cary Grant’s life – his very modest roots in Bristol, England.

A preview of a biopic of Grant called Archie – with Jason Isaacs taking on the tough task of playing one of the most famous of all film stars – is being screened in Bristol ahead of its showing on ITVX, and a new guided walk through Grant’s former haunts in the West Country city is being launched.

Continue reading...

Scarlett Johansson takes legal action against use of image for AI

Posted on by

The actor’s likeness was used in an online advertisement without her permission

Scarlett Johansson has taken legal action against an AI app that used her name and likeness in an AI-generated advertisement without her permission.

The 22-second ad, posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by an image generating app called Lisa AI: 90’s Yearbook & Avatar, used real footage of Johansson to generate a fake image and dialogue for her.

Continue reading...

Tributes pour in for ‘comedic genius’ Matthew Perry, dead at 54

Posted on by

Justin Trudeau and Adele among public figures to speak fondly of actor best known as Chandler Bing in Friends

World leaders and Hollywood stars have hailed the “comedic genius” of Friends star Matthew Perry after the actor’s death at 54.

The American-Canadian star, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the sitcom Friends, was found dead in an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home on Saturday.

Continue reading...

UK cinemagoers hail return of intermissions as films hit three-hour mark

Posted on by

Vue cinemas add an interval to Scorsese’s bladderbusting 206-minute Killers of the Flower Moon

We have all felt it: that numbness in the back and legs, a full bladder, or desperately avoiding checking your watch to see how long is left of the film.

But the experience seems to be happening more and more for cinemagoers, who say the growing trend for long movies is putting them off going altogether.

Continue reading...