Netflix is finally opening the doors to the newly restored Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood this week, and in a first-look preview ahead of its November 9 reopening, the streamer and its partner, the nonprofit American Cinematheque, highlighted some of the enhancements and a screening schedule through the end of 2023.
The Egyptian will reopen on Nov. 9 with a sold-out screening of David Fincher’s “The Killer,” followed by a Q&a with the director. Throughout November it will showcase a 70mm series that includes titles like Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights.”
Announced today were December screenings for “Days of Heaven,” “L’amour Fou,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Imitation of Life,” “Lone Star,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and a new Netflix film for good measure: a 70mm screening of Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire.”
The screenings of...
The Egyptian will reopen on Nov. 9 with a sold-out screening of David Fincher’s “The Killer,” followed by a Q&a with the director. Throughout November it will showcase a 70mm series that includes titles like Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights.”
Announced today were December screenings for “Days of Heaven,” “L’amour Fou,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Imitation of Life,” “Lone Star,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and a new Netflix film for good measure: a 70mm screening of Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire.”
The screenings of...
- 11/7/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Several more December screenings from the American Cinematheque and Netflix have joined the initial slate of programming at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
From Dec. 8 to 14, classic film buffs can catch the Los Angeles premiere of brand new restorations of “Days of Heaven” and “L’amour Fou.” Also featured is a 50th anniversary screening of “Don’t Look Now” with a 35mm Ib Tech print. A 35mm presentation of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 “Imitation of Life” will be followed by a Q&a with actor Susan Kohner along with a book signing by Foster Hirsch in connection with “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.”
A new 4k restoration of “Lone Star” will include a Q&a with director John Sayles.
From Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, the theater will feature a 70mm run of Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” ahead of its Netflix premiere. Just in time for Christmas,...
From Dec. 8 to 14, classic film buffs can catch the Los Angeles premiere of brand new restorations of “Days of Heaven” and “L’amour Fou.” Also featured is a 50th anniversary screening of “Don’t Look Now” with a 35mm Ib Tech print. A 35mm presentation of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 “Imitation of Life” will be followed by a Q&a with actor Susan Kohner along with a book signing by Foster Hirsch in connection with “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.”
A new 4k restoration of “Lone Star” will include a Q&a with director John Sayles.
From Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, the theater will feature a 70mm run of Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” ahead of its Netflix premiere. Just in time for Christmas,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay and Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
What’s so inspiring and energizing about Steven Spielberg is that he isn’t just one of the greatest filmmakers ever, he’s an eclectic cinephile who talks about his favorite films with the boyish enthusiasm of a fan.
So he was a natural fit, alongside Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson, for the advisory panel that came together in June to support Turner Classic Movies. As part of that role, he’s recorded his first “Spielberg’s Picks” video, a recommendations list of his personal faves from the September 2023 TCM lineup. Watch the video above, an IndieWire exclusive, for not just his choices, but his incisive comments.
For his debut picks, he chose Vincente Minnelli’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), Douglas Sirk’s “Imitation of Life” (1959), Gordon Douglas’s “Them!” (1954), Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952), and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Wrong Man” (1957). Scorsese and Anderson’s own picks are forthcoming,...
So he was a natural fit, alongside Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson, for the advisory panel that came together in June to support Turner Classic Movies. As part of that role, he’s recorded his first “Spielberg’s Picks” video, a recommendations list of his personal faves from the September 2023 TCM lineup. Watch the video above, an IndieWire exclusive, for not just his choices, but his incisive comments.
For his debut picks, he chose Vincente Minnelli’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), Douglas Sirk’s “Imitation of Life” (1959), Gordon Douglas’s “Them!” (1954), Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952), and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Wrong Man” (1957). Scorsese and Anderson’s own picks are forthcoming,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
A stage musical adaptation of the Fannie Hurst novel Imitation of Life and its film versions is under development at Universal Theatrical Group, with Lynn Nottage writing the book and John Legend handling the music and lyrics. Liesl Tommy is attached to direct.
Following a private industry reading that took place April 24-28 in New York City, Universal Theatrical Group — the live theater division of Universal Pictures — announced the further development of the project today.
Liesl Tommy
Imitation of Life will be produced for the stage by Universal Theatrical Group and Get Lifted Film Co. The musical is being developed for Broadway.
The novel originally was published in 1933, with Universal Pictures producing two film adaptations — the first directed by John Stahl in 1934 and starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers, and the second in 1959, with stars Lana Turner and Juanita Moore directed by Douglas Sirk. The 1934 film was Oscar-nominated, and the...
Following a private industry reading that took place April 24-28 in New York City, Universal Theatrical Group — the live theater division of Universal Pictures — announced the further development of the project today.
Liesl Tommy
Imitation of Life will be produced for the stage by Universal Theatrical Group and Get Lifted Film Co. The musical is being developed for Broadway.
The novel originally was published in 1933, with Universal Pictures producing two film adaptations — the first directed by John Stahl in 1934 and starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers, and the second in 1959, with stars Lana Turner and Juanita Moore directed by Douglas Sirk. The 1934 film was Oscar-nominated, and the...
- 6/26/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: One of the hottest acquisition titles at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, which starts in earnest tonight, happens to star a couple of certifiable show business legends, both now in their 80s, both working all the time (much of it together lately) and both proving age is just a number.
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin wrapped their Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie after seven seasons — the longest ever for any series in the streamer’s history — and within a week were back before the cameras shooting the indie film appropriately titled Moving On since this pair does just that, even in an industry that doesn’t exactly celebrate seniors as a rule. They are working all the time it seems.
I should note I did this Zoom interview last week, right before Fonda would announce via Instagram that she has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and...
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin wrapped their Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie after seven seasons — the longest ever for any series in the streamer’s history — and within a week were back before the cameras shooting the indie film appropriately titled Moving On since this pair does just that, even in an industry that doesn’t exactly celebrate seniors as a rule. They are working all the time it seems.
I should note I did this Zoom interview last week, right before Fonda would announce via Instagram that she has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and...
- 9/8/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Racial passing occurs when a member of one racial group is either believed to be or accepted as a member of another. In the U.S., it generally means someone who is Black or of multi-racial heritage, “passing” as a White person. It’s the subject of Rebecca Hall’s well-received directorial debut “Passing,” currently streaming on Netflix. Hall, who is the daughter of the late director Peter Hall and opera singer Maria Ewing is of Dutch, Native American, African American and Scottish heritage. She adapted Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel about two African American friends: one (Tessa Thompson) is married to a prominent doctor and the other (Ruth Negga) has passed for white for years and is married to a wealthy racist (Alexander Skarsgard). Hall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize dramatic at Sundance; “Passing” currently is nominated for five Gotham Awards including Best Picture and Breakthrough Director.
Racial...
Racial...
- 11/24/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
John Huston plays every narrative card in the deck for the difficult task of expressing the great doctor’s insights into psychoanalysis. His actors personalize the concepts of neurosis, etc., investing us in Sigmund’s search for answers in long-ago Vienna. The fascination has multiple levels: in investigating the nature of ‘hysteria’ Dr. Sigmund Freud finds that he shares to a degree the same mental aberrations, as does his mentor. Actor Montgomery Clift was fighting numerous personal demons at the time, and Huston’s directing methods were described by some as cruel. Superb production values and Jerry Goldsmith’s music score enhance the experience. The scan on view is Huston’s director’s cut, not Universal’s shorter original release version.
Freud
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1962 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date November 20, 2021 / Freud: The Secret Passion / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Susannah York, Larry Parks, Susan Kohner,...
Freud
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1962 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date November 20, 2021 / Freud: The Secret Passion / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Susannah York, Larry Parks, Susan Kohner,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Film Experience will visit a few Lana Turner films this week. Here's Nick Taylor...
Happy 100th birthday, Lana Turner! Here we are on her centennial to talk about her role as Lora Meredith in Douglas Sirk’s 1959 remake of Imitation of Life, one of her most famous films and easily among the most enduring American melodramas ever made. Imitation’s themes of race and womanhood in America, its sumptuous design, and Oscar-nominated turns from Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner have all rightly received their fair share of attention, yet I have to ask... do most folks like Turner in this?
Maybe my perception that she’s disliked comes from a class in undergrad where my professor didn’t like anything about Turner, from her acting style to the era of beauty she represents. Sirk’s own comments on directing her certainly don’t help...
Happy 100th birthday, Lana Turner! Here we are on her centennial to talk about her role as Lora Meredith in Douglas Sirk’s 1959 remake of Imitation of Life, one of her most famous films and easily among the most enduring American melodramas ever made. Imitation’s themes of race and womanhood in America, its sumptuous design, and Oscar-nominated turns from Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner have all rightly received their fair share of attention, yet I have to ask... do most folks like Turner in this?
Maybe my perception that she’s disliked comes from a class in undergrad where my professor didn’t like anything about Turner, from her acting style to the era of beauty she represents. Sirk’s own comments on directing her certainly don’t help...
- 2/8/2021
- by Nick Taylor
- FilmExperience
Linda Cristal, the Argentine-born actress who played Victoria Cannon, wife of Leif Erickson’s stoic, heroic rancher Big John Cannon on NBC’s popular 1967-71 Western The High Chaparral, died in her sleep at her Beverly Hills home Saturday. She was 89.
Her death was reported to The New York Times by son Jordan Wexler.
Cristal had built a career as an actress during the 1950s in Mexico’s film industry when she was cast in an English-speaking role in 1956’s Comanche, directed by George Sherman and starring Dana Andrews.
Film and TV credits throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s included roles in Rawhide, Seven Sins, The Alamo, The Tab Hunter Show and Iron Horse, among others. For her performance in Black Edwards’ 1958 comedy The Perfect Furlough, she shared a New Star of the Year Golden Globe Award with Tina Louise and Susan Kohner.
Her highest profile role arrived in...
Her death was reported to The New York Times by son Jordan Wexler.
Cristal had built a career as an actress during the 1950s in Mexico’s film industry when she was cast in an English-speaking role in 1956’s Comanche, directed by George Sherman and starring Dana Andrews.
Film and TV credits throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s included roles in Rawhide, Seven Sins, The Alamo, The Tab Hunter Show and Iron Horse, among others. For her performance in Black Edwards’ 1958 comedy The Perfect Furlough, she shared a New Star of the Year Golden Globe Award with Tina Louise and Susan Kohner.
Her highest profile role arrived in...
- 6/29/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Though his actual first name was Howard, and he signed his books “James Harvey,” in the 20-plus years of our friendship I always knew him as Jim. In our household, my wife, daughter and I also had a nickname for him, “The Owl,” because of the night hours he kept. I am a morning person, and sometimes the difference created tension between us, if, say, we were having dinner after a film and it was going on 10:30 and I could barely keep my eyes open. I would stand up to signal I was done and ready to leave while he was still nursing his espresso, just getting started, and he would get a wounded look in his eyes and let me know he thought I was being rude. It’s true, I can be abrupt, and he was the opposite, apt to make a more gradual, mannerly leave-taking. We were both great walkers,...
- 5/29/2020
- by Phillip Lopate
- Indiewire
The 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival is finally in the books, yet another fabulous, frustrating and altogether marvelous gathering in the heart of Hollywood to designed to revel in the history of movies and encourage the continued appreciation of the value of understanding where the movies have come from, how they’ve come to the place they are, and even a moment or two to consider possible futures, both for the path on which the movies find themselves and for the future of the festival itself. As always, I have filed my report on this year’s activities—movies watched, schedules contemplated, favorite people visited—for Slant magazine’s blog The House Next Door—and if I came off in that report a little crankier than usual, that dissatisfaction is borne from love for what Tcmff does so well every year and concern for some of the more commerce-oriented...
- 4/23/2019
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Ben Kingsley has embodied Jewish heroes as iconic as Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (“Murderers Among Us”), Anne Frank’s father Otto (“Anne Frank: The Whole Story”), and businessman Itzhak Stern (“Schindler’s List”). In “Operation Finale,” he adopts another perspective altogether, portraying the ultimate villain in Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
The innately intense Kingsley isn’t an ideal match for the mild-mannered murderer who inspired philosopher Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase “the banality of evil.” But like the rest of the cast, he holds our attention even when the movie buckles under the burden of earnest intentions.
Once you get past the jarring collection of mismatched accents, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of pros like Oscar Isaac, Mélanie Laurent (“Beginners”), Nick Kroll, and Michael Aronov (“The Americans”). But as Mossad agents, their characters find little pleasure in the task designed by their intimidating boss...
The innately intense Kingsley isn’t an ideal match for the mild-mannered murderer who inspired philosopher Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase “the banality of evil.” But like the rest of the cast, he holds our attention even when the movie buckles under the burden of earnest intentions.
Once you get past the jarring collection of mismatched accents, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of pros like Oscar Isaac, Mélanie Laurent (“Beginners”), Nick Kroll, and Michael Aronov (“The Americans”). But as Mossad agents, their characters find little pleasure in the task designed by their intimidating boss...
- 8/22/2018
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
Douglas Sirk at Universal-International is a two-part overview by Blake Lucas. Part 1 can be found here. Mubi's series, In the Realm of Melodrama: A Douglas Sirk Retrospective, is showing April 2 - June 20, 2018 in the United Kingdom and many other countries.Is a great director like Douglas Sirk apart from the world he is in, a subversive artist in social critique as well as in his engagement with studio aesthetics and intentions? In truth, that argument is both superficial in its view of filmmaking and patronizing toward audiences. The idea that anyone would actually set out to make a complacent film comfortably validating everything about its present world really doesn’t even make sense. Who would be engaged by seeing it, for one thing? I was around in the 1950s, and whatever repressions or suppressions there were, I can assure that people had plenty of tension, melancholy, alienation and even despair living with them,...
- 4/9/2018
- MUBI
The European filmmaker directed a series of deceptively complex melodramas in the 1950s.“This is the dialectic — there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art” — Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was born in Germany in 1900, and began his career in the early 1920s working in theater. In 1922, he directed his first production — an adaptation of Hermann Bossdorf’s Stationmaster Death, and from then on he became one of the most respected theater directors in Weimar Germany. Then, in 1934, he took a job as a film director at Ufa, the biggest studio in Germany at the time.
In 1941, Sirk left Germany and began working as a director in Hollywood. His early films, such as the WWII drama Hitler’s Madman (1942) have largely been forgotten. These early films varied in genre — he directed war films (Mystery Submarine), historical dramas (A Scandal in Paris), film...
Douglas Sirk was born in Germany in 1900, and began his career in the early 1920s working in theater. In 1922, he directed his first production — an adaptation of Hermann Bossdorf’s Stationmaster Death, and from then on he became one of the most respected theater directors in Weimar Germany. Then, in 1934, he took a job as a film director at Ufa, the biggest studio in Germany at the time.
In 1941, Sirk left Germany and began working as a director in Hollywood. His early films, such as the WWII drama Hitler’s Madman (1942) have largely been forgotten. These early films varied in genre — he directed war films (Mystery Submarine), historical dramas (A Scandal in Paris), film...
- 4/5/2017
- by Angela Morrison
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Mexican screen siren Lupita Tovar has died at the age of 106. The actress starred in the 1931 Spanish-language version of “Dracula,” which was filmed simultaneously with the popular English-speaking version with Bela Lugosi. Tovar died in her Los Angeles home on Saturday, according to a Facebook post by actress Lucy Tovar, her niece. Tovar was the mother of Oscar-nominated “Imitation of Life” actress Susan Kohner and the grandmother to Hollywood film writers, brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Both were nominated for an Oscar for writing 2002’s “About a Boy.” More to come…...
- 11/13/2016
- by Meriah Doty
- The Wrap
Lupita Tovar, the Mexican actress who starred in the 1931 Spanish-language version of Dracula that was shot concurrently with the famed Bela Lugosi version, has died. She was 106. Tovar died Saturday, her niece, actress Lucy Tovar, said on Facebook. Several Mexican news outlets reported that she died in Los Angeles. Lupita Tovar’s daughter is Susan Kohner, who earned an Oscar nomination for portraying the young woman who rejects her black mother (Juanita Moore) and tries to pass herself off as white in the 1959 Douglas Sirk melodrama Imitation of Life. Other survivors include her grandchildren Chris Weitz and
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- 12/22/2015
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nooooo. I almost forgot to share the National Film Registries new titles. Each year they add 25 pictures that are deemed historically, culturally or aesthetically important. Each year I suggest that we should watch all the titles together. Well, the ones we can find at least. Perhaps we'll actually do that for 2016 -- you never know! Getting a spot on the National Film Registry is more symbolic than active. It does not guarantee preservation or restorations but it does suggest that these films should all be preserved and/or restored.
The 2015 additions are:
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know Humoresque...
The 2015 additions are:
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know Humoresque...
- 12/21/2015
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Since 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been accomplishing the important task of preserving films that “represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.” From films way back in 1897 all the way up to 2004, they’ve now reached 675 films that celebrate our heritage and encapsulate our film history.
Today they’ve unveiled their 2015 list, which includes classics such as Douglas Sirk‘s melodrama Imitation of Life, Hal Ashby‘s Being There, and John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds. Perhaps the most popular picks, The Shawshank Redemption, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and L.A. Confidential were also added. Check out the full list below.
Being There (1979)
Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Forced outside his protected environment by the death of his wealthy boss, Chance subsumes his late employer’s persona,...
Today they’ve unveiled their 2015 list, which includes classics such as Douglas Sirk‘s melodrama Imitation of Life, Hal Ashby‘s Being There, and John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds. Perhaps the most popular picks, The Shawshank Redemption, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and L.A. Confidential were also added. Check out the full list below.
Being There (1979)
Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Forced outside his protected environment by the death of his wealthy boss, Chance subsumes his late employer’s persona,...
- 12/16/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Theodore Bikel. Theodore Bikel dead at 91: Oscar-nominated actor and folk singer best known for stage musicals 'The Sound of Music,' 'Fiddler on the Roof' Folk singer, social and union activist, and stage, film, and television actor Theodore Bikel, best remembered for starring in the Broadway musical The Sound of Music and, throughout the U.S., in Fiddler on the Roof, died Monday morning (July 20, '15) of "natural causes" at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The Austrian-born Bikel – as Theodore Meir Bikel on May 2, 1924, in Vienna, to Yiddish-speaking Eastern European parents – was 91. Fled Hitler Thanks to his well-connected Zionist father, six months after the German annexation of Austria in March 1938 ("they were greeted with jubilation by the local populace," he would recall in 2012), the 14-year-old Bikel and his family fled to Palestine, at the time a British protectorate. While there, the teenager began acting on stage,...
- 7/23/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland picture U.S. labor history-making 'Gone with the Wind' star and two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland turns 99 (This Olivia de Havilland article is currently being revised and expanded.) Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving major Gone with the Wind cast member and oldest surviving Oscar winner, is turning 99 years old today, July 1.[1] Also known for her widely publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine and for her eight movies with Errol Flynn, de Havilland should be remembered as well for having made Hollywood labor history. This particular history has nothing to do with de Havilland's films, her two Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Joan Fontaine, or Errol Flynn. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: after winning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the mid-'40s, Olivia de Havilland put an end to treacherous...
- 7/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Imitation of Life
Written by William Hurlbut
Directed by John M. Stahl
USA, 1934
Written by Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott
Directed by Douglas Sirk
USA, 1959
The debate about the necessity and worth of continual remakes rages on every year. Will the new version be as good as the original? Or even better? Should it have even been made to begin with? While we do seem to hear more about this recently, the concept of a remark is, of course, nothing new. Examples go back to the very dawn of cinema. What makes a remake particularly worthwhile, however, is when the films involved are dissimilar in certain aspects yet notably congruent in other areas: just enough to keep the basic premise or theme consistent, but varied enough to keep it up to date and original in one way or another. If both versions have their merits, a considerate comparison and contrast...
Written by William Hurlbut
Directed by John M. Stahl
USA, 1934
Written by Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott
Directed by Douglas Sirk
USA, 1959
The debate about the necessity and worth of continual remakes rages on every year. Will the new version be as good as the original? Or even better? Should it have even been made to begin with? While we do seem to hear more about this recently, the concept of a remark is, of course, nothing new. Examples go back to the very dawn of cinema. What makes a remake particularly worthwhile, however, is when the films involved are dissimilar in certain aspects yet notably congruent in other areas: just enough to keep the basic premise or theme consistent, but varied enough to keep it up to date and original in one way or another. If both versions have their merits, a considerate comparison and contrast...
- 4/15/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
The Los Angeles Times reports that one of the last remaining silent era actors has passed away. The actress in question, Carla Laemmle, had an easy in to the movies: her uncle Carl Laemmle founded Universal Studios and invited her family to live in a bungalow on the lot. Carla only had a small part in the horror classic Dracula (1931) but a key one: she uttered the first line of dialogue. She didn't appear in many pictures in her long life, dying at 104 years of age, but she apparently just recently filmed a role in a new horror film Mansion of Blood (2014) starring Gary Busey.
In happier news - this is not a double Rip - Lupita Tovar, a Mexican beauty who starred in the Spanish language version of Dracula that same year (in those early days of sound they made simultaneous alternative versions for other markets with the same...
In happier news - this is not a double Rip - Lupita Tovar, a Mexican beauty who starred in the Spanish language version of Dracula that same year (in those early days of sound they made simultaneous alternative versions for other markets with the same...
- 6/14/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Joan Lorring, 1945 Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee, dead at 88: One of the earliest surviving Academy Award nominees in the acting categories, Lorring was best known for holding her own against Bette Davis in ‘The Corn Is Green’ (photo: Joan Lorring in ‘Three Strangers’) Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee Joan Lorring, who stole the 1945 film version of The Corn Is Green from none other than Warner Bros. reigning queen Bette Davis, died Friday, May 30, 2014, in the New York City suburb of Sleepy Hollow. So far, online obits haven’t mentioned the cause of death. Lorring, one of the earliest surviving Oscar nominees in the acting categories, was 88. Directed by Irving Rapper, who had also handled one of Bette Davis’ biggest hits, the 1942 sudsy soap opera Now, Voyager, Warners’ The Corn Is Green was a decent if uninspired film version of Emlyn Williams’ semi-autobiographical 1938 hit play about an English schoolteacher,...
- 6/1/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Oscar-nominated actor who brought sensitivity and warmth to her most famous role in Imitation of Life
From its earliest days, Hollywood, which has always lagged behind wider social advances, limited the roles of black actors to stock, wide-eyed cowards, simpletons or servants, often referred to as "uncles" and "mammies". Juanita Moore, who has died aged 99, suffered from this limitation by having to play maids throughout most of her long career. However, Moore could have echoed what Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award, once said: "Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week being one."
Where McDaniel as Mammy, Scarlett O'Hara's lovable, sassy servant in Gone With the Wind (1939) was the apotheosis of the black maid, Moore's Oscar-nominated portrayal of Annie Johnson, housekeeper to the glamorous Broadway star Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) in Douglas Sirk...
From its earliest days, Hollywood, which has always lagged behind wider social advances, limited the roles of black actors to stock, wide-eyed cowards, simpletons or servants, often referred to as "uncles" and "mammies". Juanita Moore, who has died aged 99, suffered from this limitation by having to play maids throughout most of her long career. However, Moore could have echoed what Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award, once said: "Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week being one."
Where McDaniel as Mammy, Scarlett O'Hara's lovable, sassy servant in Gone With the Wind (1939) was the apotheosis of the black maid, Moore's Oscar-nominated portrayal of Annie Johnson, housekeeper to the glamorous Broadway star Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) in Douglas Sirk...
- 1/3/2014
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
The actor who was Oscar-nominated for her role alongside Lana Turner in Douglas Sirk's 1959 melodrama has died at home
Juanita Moore, the Oscar-nominated star of Imitation of Life, has died at the age of 99. The actor, who played alongside Lana Turner in Douglas Sirk's 1959 race drama, died at home, according to her grandson, actor Kirk Kelleykahn.
In Imitation of Life, Moore played a black single mother who befriends Turner's character, a widow whose dreams of becoming a Broadway star are complicated by her responsibility for her own young child. Susan Kohner, who played Moore's daughter Sarah Jane as a teenager in the film, told The Hollywood Reporter that Moore was "a lovely human being with a wonderful sense of humour".
Both Kohner and Moore were nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar in 1959. Moore was only the fifth black woman to be nominated for the award. She lost out to Shelley Winters,...
Juanita Moore, the Oscar-nominated star of Imitation of Life, has died at the age of 99. The actor, who played alongside Lana Turner in Douglas Sirk's 1959 race drama, died at home, according to her grandson, actor Kirk Kelleykahn.
In Imitation of Life, Moore played a black single mother who befriends Turner's character, a widow whose dreams of becoming a Broadway star are complicated by her responsibility for her own young child. Susan Kohner, who played Moore's daughter Sarah Jane as a teenager in the film, told The Hollywood Reporter that Moore was "a lovely human being with a wonderful sense of humour".
Both Kohner and Moore were nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar in 1959. Moore was only the fifth black woman to be nominated for the award. She lost out to Shelley Winters,...
- 1/2/2014
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Oscar-nominated ‘Imitation of Life’ actress Juanita Moore has died Juanita Moore, Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee for the 1959 blockbuster Imitation of Life, died on New Year’s Day 2014 at her home in Los Angeles. According to various online sources, Juanita Moore (born on October 19, 1922) was 91; her step-grandson, actor Kirk Kahn, said she was 99. (Photo: Juanita Moore in the late ’50s. See also: Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner photos at the 50th anniversary screening of Imitation of Life at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.) Juanita Moore movies The Los Angeles-born Juanita Moore began her show business career as a chorus girl at New York City’s Cotton Club. According to the IMDb, Moore was an extra/bit player in a trio of films of the ’40s, including Vincente Minnelli’s all-black musical Cabin in the Sky (1942) and Elia Kazan’s socially conscious melodrama Pinky (1949), in which Jeanne Crain plays a (very,...
- 1/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Juanita Moore, a groundbreaking actress and an Academy Award nominee for her role as Lana Turner’s black friend in the classic weeper Imitation of Life, has died.
Actor Kirk Kelleykahn, her grandson, said that Moore collapsed and died Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99, according to Kelleykahn. Accounts of her age have differed over the years.
Moore was only the fifth black performer to be nominated for an Oscar, receiving the nod for the glossy Douglas Sirk film that became a big hit and later gained a cult following. The 1959 tearjerker, based on a Fannie Hurst...
Actor Kirk Kelleykahn, her grandson, said that Moore collapsed and died Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99, according to Kelleykahn. Accounts of her age have differed over the years.
Moore was only the fifth black performer to be nominated for an Oscar, receiving the nod for the glossy Douglas Sirk film that became a big hit and later gained a cult following. The 1959 tearjerker, based on a Fannie Hurst...
- 1/1/2014
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Juanita Moore, an Oscar nominee for her role in the 1959 big-screen melodrama Imitation of Life, died at her Los Angeles home on Wednesday, reports Variety. She was 99. Moore, who made more than 30 films, was the fifth African-American to receive an Academy Award nomination - a Best Supporting Actress nod for playing Annie Johnson, a housekeeper (to Lana Turner) whose light-skinned daughter (Susan Kohner) passes for white. "Annie was a good role for me," Moore said in a 2005 interview. "I have been in a lot of pictures. However, most of them consisted of my opening doors for white people." Although Moore...
- 1/1/2014
- by K.C. Blumm
- PEOPLE.com
Jeanne Crain: From Pinky to Margie Jeanne Crain, one of the most charming Hollywood actresses of the ’40s and ’50s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured player on Monday, August 26, 2013. Since Jeanne Crain was a top 20th Century Fox star for about a decade — a favorite of Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck — TCM will be showing quite a few films from the Fox library. And that’s great news. (Photo: Jeanne Crain ca. 1950.) (See also: “Jeanne Crain Movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Schedule.”) Now, my first recommendation is actually an MGM release. That’s Russell Rouse’s 1956 psychological Western The Fastest Gun Alive, an unusual movie in that the hero turns out to be a "coward" at heart: quick-on-the-trigger gunslinger Glenn Ford is reluctant to face an evil challenger (Broderick Crawford) in a small Western town. But why? Jeanne Crain is his serious-minded wife...
- 8/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...
- 8/11/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Douglas Sirk movies: ‘Imitation of Life,’ ‘Written on the Wind’ (photo: Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Karin Dicker in ‘Imitation of Life’) Douglas Sirk is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening. The German-born (April 26, 1897, in Hamburg) filmmaker has developed a cult following in recent decades after his "women’s pictures" were reappraised by some critics as works of profound social criticism filled with auteuristic touches. Why it would take years (or decades) for people to realize the obvious is a little mind-boggling, until you remember that movies about women and their issues have been, for the most part, relegated to the sidelines. A stupid prejudice that continues to this very day. My statement, by the way, has nothing to do with yikesy political correctness; if you don’t believe me, just check out the Best Picture Academy Award winners or Palme d’Or winners or Golden Lion winners or Golden...
- 8/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lupita Tovar turns 103: Actress starred in Spanish-language ‘Dracula’ and in the first Mexican talkie, ‘Santa’ (photo: Lupita Tovar in ‘Santa’) Mexican actress Lupita Tovar, best remembered for the Spanish-language version of Dracula and for starring in the first Mexican talkie, Santa, turned 103 years old on Sunday, July 27, 2013. Tovar was born in 1910 in the city of Oaxaca, the capital of the Mexican state of the same name. In an interview with author Michael G. Ankerich (Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips) published on Ankerich’s site Close-ups and Long Shots, Tovar recalled her brief foray as a silent film actress at Fox (several years before it became 20th Century Fox): "Silent films were wonderful because you didn’t have to worry about your dialogue. You could say whatever you felt. We had music on the set all the time. It was absolutely wonderful." Unfortunately for Tovar, whose English was quite poor,...
- 7/29/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Above: Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa.
Cinephilia & Revolution
A familiar practice in Persian film literature is that of the “cinematic memoir”—personal reminiscences of the film culture of pre-Revolutionary Iran.
Bolstered by a nostalgic tone, these autobiographical texts deal with the themes of childhood, adolescence and encounters with cinema in a Westernized Iran. The authors of such memoirs frequently depict Iran as a haven for cinephiles. Considering the number of films that were shown in pre-Revolutionary Iran and the diversity of their origins, this may be taken as an accurate characterization.
Such melancholic documentations of the past echo the feelings of a generation lost, misplaced and confused after the Revolution; people who are utterly unable tore-situate themselves in the new post-Revolutionary nation and after the trauma of an eight year war. However, this longing for a paradise lost can function as a kind of subjective history of film culture in Iran; while by...
Cinephilia & Revolution
A familiar practice in Persian film literature is that of the “cinematic memoir”—personal reminiscences of the film culture of pre-Revolutionary Iran.
Bolstered by a nostalgic tone, these autobiographical texts deal with the themes of childhood, adolescence and encounters with cinema in a Westernized Iran. The authors of such memoirs frequently depict Iran as a haven for cinephiles. Considering the number of films that were shown in pre-Revolutionary Iran and the diversity of their origins, this may be taken as an accurate characterization.
Such melancholic documentations of the past echo the feelings of a generation lost, misplaced and confused after the Revolution; people who are utterly unable tore-situate themselves in the new post-Revolutionary nation and after the trauma of an eight year war. However, this longing for a paradise lost can function as a kind of subjective history of film culture in Iran; while by...
- 6/10/2013
- by Ehsan Khoshbakht
- MUBI
Oscar winners Olivia de Havilland and Luise Rainer among movie stars of the 1930s still alive With the passing of Deanna Durbin this past April, only a handful of movie stars of the 1930s remain on Planet Earth. Below is a (I believe) full list of surviving Hollywood "movie stars of the 1930s," in addition to a handful of secondary players, chiefly those who achieved stardom in the ensuing decade. Note: There’s only one male performer on the list — and curiously, four of the five child actresses listed below were born in April. (Please scroll down to check out the list of Oscar winners at the 75th Academy Awards, held on March 23, 2003, as seen in the picture above. Click on the photo to enlarge it. © A.M.P.A.S.) Two-time Oscar winner and London resident Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth, The Great Waltz), 103 last January...
- 5/7/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Oscar-winning success of last year's "The Help" was a throwback in many ways, principally to the socially-conscious melodramas of Stanley Kramer, like "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Another comparison point that came up frequently in reviews of Tate Taylor's film was "Imitation Of Life," the 1959 film by director Douglas Sirk, but it's scarcely fair: over fifty years on, Sirk's picture stands head and shoulders above virtually every other melodrama.
The story follows widow and aspiring actress Lora (Lana Turner), whose daughter Susie goes missing at the beach, and is found by an African-American divorcee, Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), there with her own light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane. The two become friends, Lora taking Annie in as a housekeeper, and Annie's care helping Lora achieve her dream of becoming a Broadway star. Eleven years later, however, their children have grown up, and Susie (Sandra Dee) develops a crush on her mother's boyfriend Steve,...
The story follows widow and aspiring actress Lora (Lana Turner), whose daughter Susie goes missing at the beach, and is found by an African-American divorcee, Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), there with her own light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane. The two become friends, Lora taking Annie in as a housekeeper, and Annie's care helping Lora achieve her dream of becoming a Broadway star. Eleven years later, however, their children have grown up, and Susie (Sandra Dee) develops a crush on her mother's boyfriend Steve,...
- 4/17/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
The Fountainhead with Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper Photo: Courtesy of TCM
Liza Minnelli, Kim Novak, Robert Wagner, Tippi Hedren and Debbie Reynolds in person. Black Narcissus, Vertigo, Cabaret, and The Fountainhead projected on gigantic screens at Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian Theatres. Could any classic film fan wish for more? You could. And, at this year's annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which takes place from April 12th through the 15th, you'd get more: Kirk Douglas, Stanley Donen, Angie Dickenson, Norman Lloyd, Rhonda Fleming, and Norman Jewison appearing at special events and screenings of Two for the Road, Chinatown, Casablanca, The Longest Day, and The Thomas Crown Affair. But before going on about this year's festival, a look back is essential.
Chinatown's Faye Dunaway and Jack NicholsonPhoto: Courtesy of TCM
TCM 2010 & 2011
TCM's 2010 festival featured an opening night restoration of George Cukor's A Star Is Born (1954) starring Judy Garland and...
Liza Minnelli, Kim Novak, Robert Wagner, Tippi Hedren and Debbie Reynolds in person. Black Narcissus, Vertigo, Cabaret, and The Fountainhead projected on gigantic screens at Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian Theatres. Could any classic film fan wish for more? You could. And, at this year's annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which takes place from April 12th through the 15th, you'd get more: Kirk Douglas, Stanley Donen, Angie Dickenson, Norman Lloyd, Rhonda Fleming, and Norman Jewison appearing at special events and screenings of Two for the Road, Chinatown, Casablanca, The Longest Day, and The Thomas Crown Affair. But before going on about this year's festival, a look back is essential.
Chinatown's Faye Dunaway and Jack NicholsonPhoto: Courtesy of TCM
TCM 2010 & 2011
TCM's 2010 festival featured an opening night restoration of George Cukor's A Star Is Born (1954) starring Judy Garland and...
- 4/12/2012
- by Penelope Andrew
- Aol TV.
The folks behind the St. Louis Black Film Festival Presents a Classic Black Film Double Feature for Black History Month at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in St. Louis’ Loop) each Thursday in February. Last year the St. Louis Black Film Festival presented a series of new films by black filmmakers, but this year are going back into the vaults and digging out some vintage cinema for audiences with an interest in black history to enjoy on the big screen.
The offerings for this Thursday, February 16th are Imitation Of Life (1959), at 5pm and Cooley High at 7pm.
Get out your handkerchiefs for Imitation Of Life (1959), the second filming of the Fannie Hurst book previously filmed in 1934. It’s a gloss-heavy production which takes actress Lana Turner from penniless single mom to lavishly-coiffed and gowned movie star. Sandra Dee plays her bitter, neglected daughter and John Gavin is Lana’s eternal best friend.
The offerings for this Thursday, February 16th are Imitation Of Life (1959), at 5pm and Cooley High at 7pm.
Get out your handkerchiefs for Imitation Of Life (1959), the second filming of the Fannie Hurst book previously filmed in 1934. It’s a gloss-heavy production which takes actress Lana Turner from penniless single mom to lavishly-coiffed and gowned movie star. Sandra Dee plays her bitter, neglected daughter and John Gavin is Lana’s eternal best friend.
- 2/14/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Living a White Life -- for a While
By Ellen Holly
New York Times
August 10, 1969
In September of last year I was approached to try out for a part on a brand new ABC soap opera called One Life To Live; the part was a black girl who passes for white. I didn't give it much thought. If you're black you don't get white parts either. But what most people don't realize is that even when there's a part for a "black who looks white," it never goes to a black person but to a white one. Follow? I know . . . I know . . . it's hard for me, too.
Some years ago I was interviewed for the film I Passed For White and the part went to the white Sandra Wilde. Some years later I was seen about the remake of Imitation of Life. Ross Hunter cooed over me, told me I looked like Loretta Young,...
By Ellen Holly
New York Times
August 10, 1969
In September of last year I was approached to try out for a part on a brand new ABC soap opera called One Life To Live; the part was a black girl who passes for white. I didn't give it much thought. If you're black you don't get white parts either. But what most people don't realize is that even when there's a part for a "black who looks white," it never goes to a black person but to a white one. Follow? I know . . . I know . . . it's hard for me, too.
Some years ago I was interviewed for the film I Passed For White and the part went to the white Sandra Wilde. Some years later I was seen about the remake of Imitation of Life. Ross Hunter cooed over me, told me I looked like Loretta Young,...
- 7/15/2011
- by We Love Soaps TV
- We Love Soaps
"Cars 2, directed (like several great Pixar films of the last two decades) by John Lasseter, finds itself in the unlucky position of the not-so-bright kid in a brilliant family," finds Slate's Dana Stevens. "No matter if his performance in school is comfortably average; he'll always be seen as a disappointment compared to his stellar siblings. There's nothing really objectionable about Cars 2, although parents of young children should be warned that a few evil vehicles meet violently inauspicious ends. It's sweet-spirited, visually delightful (if aurally cacophonous), and it will make for a pleasant enough family afternoon at the movies. But we've come to expect so much more than mere pleasantness from Pixar that Cars 2 feels almost like a betrayal."
Nick Schager for the Voice: "Pixar's Cars franchise takes a sharp turn from Nascar mayhem and rural red-state-targeted 50s nostalgia to 007 espionage with this upgraded sequel, though in its...
Nick Schager for the Voice: "Pixar's Cars franchise takes a sharp turn from Nascar mayhem and rural red-state-targeted 50s nostalgia to 007 espionage with this upgraded sequel, though in its...
- 6/25/2011
- MUBI
Imitation of Life
Directed by Douglas Sirk
1959, USA
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Sirk’s legacy of aesthetic influence has become increasingly apparent in the last few years as being chief influences for films like Far From Heaven and television series like Mad Men. The popularity of the latter series in particular has inspired a revival in fashion from the early 1960s. Choosing just one Sirk film to represent fashion is a struggle and his affinity for symbolic scene dressing often means that costumes are not just functional but carry implications and ideas relating to character personality or ideology in his films.
Imitation of Life is probably the most interesting film in this regard, and the diversity in ages, social backgrounds and class status makes for an extremely diverse fashion landscape. Though for most of the film, Lana Turner’s excessive and posh style seems unattainable, her paired down outfit in...
Directed by Douglas Sirk
1959, USA
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
Sirk’s legacy of aesthetic influence has become increasingly apparent in the last few years as being chief influences for films like Far From Heaven and television series like Mad Men. The popularity of the latter series in particular has inspired a revival in fashion from the early 1960s. Choosing just one Sirk film to represent fashion is a struggle and his affinity for symbolic scene dressing often means that costumes are not just functional but carry implications and ideas relating to character personality or ideology in his films.
Imitation of Life is probably the most interesting film in this regard, and the diversity in ages, social backgrounds and class status makes for an extremely diverse fashion landscape. Though for most of the film, Lana Turner’s excessive and posh style seems unattainable, her paired down outfit in...
- 6/16/2011
- by Justine
- SoundOnSight
For all classic film fans, there was no hotter ticket than TCM’s first-ever Classic Film Festival (April 22 – 25). The mood on Hollywood Boulevard was nostalgia mixed with excitement as Tinseltown’s most iconic images were strewn across its equally iconic buildings. The whole boulevard seemed to recapture its old-town charm. It was a treat to see the massive turnout of people of all ages truly appreciating cinema as an art form.
Living legends Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, Susan Kohner, Tony Curtis, Esther Williams and Peter Bogdanovich attended, to name just a few. French cinema icon Jean-Paul Belmondo made a rare appearance at the “Breathless” screening, and host Robert Osborne presented a quick montage showcasing Belmondo’s history and influence on the world screen before the man of the hour stepped forward, looking jubilant, humbled and nicely tanned. With the help of his interpreter, 77-year-old Belmondo discussed working with elusive auteur Jean-Luc Godard on “Breathless,...
Living legends Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, Susan Kohner, Tony Curtis, Esther Williams and Peter Bogdanovich attended, to name just a few. French cinema icon Jean-Paul Belmondo made a rare appearance at the “Breathless” screening, and host Robert Osborne presented a quick montage showcasing Belmondo’s history and influence on the world screen before the man of the hour stepped forward, looking jubilant, humbled and nicely tanned. With the help of his interpreter, 77-year-old Belmondo discussed working with elusive auteur Jean-Luc Godard on “Breathless,...
- 5/4/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
The Twilight Saga: New Moon director Chris Weitz explains why certain scenes featuring Robert Pattinson as Edward, Kristen Stewart as Bella, and one sequence with Taylor Lautner as Jacob had to be shortened for the film’s final release print. One of the reasons is that a scene at times must be shortened "in order for it to lead properly into the next scene." Among Chris Weitz’s other directorial film credits are the 2002 comedy About a Boy, with brother Paul Weitz, and the 2007 fantasy The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman. Note from the editor: Chris and Paul Weitz’ mother is Susan Kohner, who received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination back in 1959 for Imitation of Life. Kohner is [...]...
- 3/27/2010
- by Joan Lister
- Alt Film Guide
MoviesOnline sat down recently with director Chris Weitz, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, and producer Wyck Godfrey to talk about their new movie, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Director Chris Weitz’s success at adapting books for the screen, including “About A Boy” and “The Golden Compass,” made him an obvious choice for this project, says Wyck Godfrey, who produced both “Twilight” and “New Moon.” “Chris has a history of helming fantasy films with complex effects as well as intimate character studies, and he works well with young actors. But it is his appreciation of Stephenie Meyer’s books and characters that made him the perfect director for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Melissa Rosenberg is proving to be one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after writers, seamlessly transitioning from television to the silver screen. She wrote the screenplay for the vampire romance phenomenon “Twilight” directed by Catherine Hardwicke based on...
Director Chris Weitz’s success at adapting books for the screen, including “About A Boy” and “The Golden Compass,” made him an obvious choice for this project, says Wyck Godfrey, who produced both “Twilight” and “New Moon.” “Chris has a history of helming fantasy films with complex effects as well as intimate character studies, and he works well with young actors. But it is his appreciation of Stephenie Meyer’s books and characters that made him the perfect director for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Melissa Rosenberg is proving to be one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after writers, seamlessly transitioning from television to the silver screen. She wrote the screenplay for the vampire romance phenomenon “Twilight” directed by Catherine Hardwicke based on...
- 11/9/2009
- MoviesOnline.ca
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life" with the screening of a recently struck print of the film, hosted by critic Stephen Farber, on Aug. 21 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The evening will feature a discussion with actresses Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore, who both received supporting actress nominations for the film, conducted by Kohner's sons, filmmakers Paul and Chris Weitz. The print, which is part of the Academy Film Archive collection, was made from the Universal Pictures restoration.
"Imitation," starring Lana Turner, follows two single mothers -- a white actress (Turner) and her black housekeeper (Moore) -- and their relationships with their respective daughters, played by Sandra Dee and Kohner.
The evening will feature a discussion with actresses Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore, who both received supporting actress nominations for the film, conducted by Kohner's sons, filmmakers Paul and Chris Weitz. The print, which is part of the Academy Film Archive collection, was made from the Universal Pictures restoration.
"Imitation," starring Lana Turner, follows two single mothers -- a white actress (Turner) and her black housekeeper (Moore) -- and their relationships with their respective daughters, played by Sandra Dee and Kohner.
- 7/30/2009
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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