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Exclusive: Goodfellas has boarded sales on Thomas Ngijol’s Cameroon-set police investigation tale Untamable (Indomptables) ahead of its premiere in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May.

The feature marks a change in register for Paris-born, French-Cameroonian actor and director Ngijol, who is best known as a comedian in France, where he is a household name.

Ngijol directs and also stars as Police Chief Billong who is investigating the murder of a police office in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé.

A man of principle and tradition, Billong is facing a personal crisis as he struggles to maintain order in the streets and at home, pushing him to breaking point.

The drama is inspired by Mosco Levi Bouko’s 1998 documentary Un crime à Abidjan about an Ivory Coast police commissioner, which Ngijol has fictionalized and transposed to Cameroon.

Ngijol entered show business as a stand-up, getting his first break on Jamel Debbouze’s...

Film directors are the masterminds behind the magic, the real wizards of the silver screen. While actors may get all the glory, it’s the directors who pull the strings, calling the shots (literally) and shaping the stories we love. From the old-school legends who defined cinema to the fresh talents shaking things up today, the film industry has been home to some of the most iconic filmmakers in history.

Some directors are known for their jaw-dropping action sequences, others for their mind-bending storytelling, and a few for making us cry into our popcorn. Whether it’s Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming adventures, Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked brilliance, or Christopher Nolan’s brain-busting timelines, each director brings something unique to the table. Here are 30 legendary directors from all over the world who spellbind us with their craft.

30. Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather Part III (Credits- Paramount)

Francis...

I’m Still Here, the first Brazilian film to win the international feature film Oscar, added the Platino Award for best Ibero-American film to its trophy cabinet at the Platino Awards in Madrid on Sunday night.

Brazilian master Walter Salles earned best director and Oscar-nominated Golden Globe winner Fernanda Torres was named best actress as the film took top prizes at Ifema Municipal Palace.

The Brazilian and French (MacT Productions) co-production follows a mother’s struggle to support her family after her husband disappears during the Brazilian dictatorship in the 1970s. Goodfellas represents sales and Sony Pictures Classics distributed in the US,...

Mob Cops, directed by Danny A. Abeckaser, has an interesting premise, but it is never able to harness its full potential. The film seems like a collection of snippets from mafia films over the ages. Mob Cops lacks originality, and it just isn’t able to impact you, entertain you, or even keep you hooked the way it wants to.

Spoiler Alert

Is The Film Based on a True story?

Mob Cops takes inspiration from real-life NYPD officers Stephen Caracappa (called Sammy Canzano in the film) and Louis Eppolito (called Leo Benetti in the film), who were arrested back in 2005 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The film had taken some creative liberties, changed the names of characters, and also dramatized the events so as to make the narrative more engaging. That said, the creators have made sure to capture the essence of the events that shook American society and brought...

The Sopranos creator David Chase once questioned whether James Gandolfini had the right presence to portray the troubled mob boss Tony Soprano, according to a new book excerpt. Jason Bailey’s Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend explores the casting process that ultimately led to one of television’s most iconic performances.

Nancy Sanders, one of Gandolfini’s managers, recalled in the excerpt that after reading the pilot script for The Sopranos, she immediately thought of Gandolfini for the role. “I went, ‘Oh my God, I think I have Tony Soprano,’” Sanders said. However, Chase expressed a hesitation after reviewing Gandolfini’s acting reel.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” Chase told Sanders. “I think he’s brilliant. I have one concern, and that is: Is he threatening enough?” Sanders, surprised by the comment, responded with confidence. “David, if your only concern is is he threatening enough… If you said to me,...

It's often hard to nail down just which of Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese's films is his absolute best. Some say it's GoodFellas, whose stars are still keeping busy in Hollywood today. One of the supporting players, the late Louis Eppolito — aka "Fat Andy" — would go on to star in other films after a career in real-life law enforcement. And as it turns out, he was convicted for having actual ties to the mob, making his GoodFellas appearance all the more ironic. His wild story is the inspiration for Mob Cops, out now, and MovieWeb recently caught up with Jeremy Luke, the actor who portrays Eppolito in Lionsgate's new film.

Luke recalled a scene from Mob Cops where he found himself utterly channeling Eppolito's moment of on-screen glory from an entirely separate gangster movie. "I was in the Chinese restaurant, I go, 'How you doing?' And I grabbed the glass — because this character,...

In the recent Time magazine cover story on the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term, a presidential aide explained the president’s revenge strategy: “Look, either we come after you, we shut you down, or you’re going to help me out.”

There’s a famous scene in Goodfellas that explains this mob boss mentality. In voiceover from Ray Liotta’s wiseguy Henry Hill, we learn that the New York Mafia don Paulie tells anyone who owes him fealty, or really anything, “Fuck you, pay me” — or else.

It is a pretty common notion that books are better than films. This is usually true because a film has constraints on length and time, while a book doesn’t have these issues and can flesh out a story properly. However, there have been instances where a film adaptation of a novel turned out to be way better than the book.

Some of these films went on to win accolades, like the Academy Awards, while others became cult classics. From The Godfather to Misery, these are our favorite picks for the movies that are way better than the book they were based on.

10. The Godfather (1972) Based on: The Godfather by Mario Puzo (1969)

Mario Puzo’s crime novel was a brilliantly imagined work, quickly becoming a bestseller worldwide. When Puzo discussed a film adaptation of The Godfather with Francis Ford Coppola, fans never expected it to outperform the novel. Coppola ran...

In May, the British Film Institute will hand long-overdue UK premieres to two landmark features of American cinema, Jessie Maple’s Will, the first feature-length independent film produced by a Black American woman, and Zeinabu irene Davis’s Compensation, a time-hopping fable often described by critics as among the greatest independent films in U.S. history.

Both titles will arrive in London in newly minted 4K form. They will screen as part of an intriguing repertory season at the BFI titled Black Debutantes: A Collection of Early Works by Black Women Directors, curated by independent writer, critic, and programmer Rógan Graham.

The season will also include rare UK screenings of titles like Cauleen Smith’s seminal, indie favorite Drylongso (1998), Kathleen Collins’s Losing Ground (1982), and Naked Acts by Bridgett M. Davis (1996).

In her curatorial notes, Graham cites a broad frustration with the absence of Black women directors with filmographies robust...

“If we mess up, just keep going!” Seth Rogen, wearing a tuxedo with a rust-colored jacket, is giving a pep talk to a group of actors about to sweep into a ballroom at Los Angeles’ Wilshire Ebell Theatre on the set of his Apple TV+ show The Studio. It is June 2024 and the actors are playing doctors walking into a fundraising gala beside Rogen’s studio mogul, Matt Remick, in a dialogue-driven scene shot in one long, continuous take, also known as a “oner.” “It’s good to just finish the first few [takes], for morale,” Rogen tells his castmates.

The high-stakes cinematic device of the oner, memorably deployed in movies like Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman, recurs throughout The Studio, most impressively in episode two, “The Oner,” all 25 minutes of which were shot in one take. That episode centers on a disastrous visit that Matt,...

Stars: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Rispoli, Robert Uricola, Frank Piccirillo, Matt Servitto | Written by Nicholas Pileggi | Directed by Barry Levinson

The Alto Knights, directed by Barry Levinson, brings together a talented cast, with Robert De Niro in the spotlight, portraying dual roles. The film sets out to explore the complex world of 1950s New York mobsters, but while it has all the right ingredients for a gripping crime drama, it ultimately falls short of becoming a memorable entry in the genre.

De Niro’s dual performance as Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, two real-life mob bosses, is certainly an ambitious choice. On paper, the idea of him playing both characters sounds intriguing. However, the execution feels a bit lacklustre. The portrayal of Costello as the calm and calculating “gentleman gangster” and Genovese as the paranoid, impulsive hothead does not carry the emotional weight that...

Exclusive: Christopher Lowell (Promising Young Woman), Jeanine Mason (Upload), and Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride) have wrapped on the Colorado production of The Man Who Changed the World, a drama spanning generations that’s inspired by the story of visionary entrepreneur Lawrence “Bud” Stoecker.

In the film directed by Greg Pritikin (The Last Laugh), Lowell and Mason play a young couple navigating the trials of marriage, parenthood, and personal legacy. Shawn co-stars as legendary futurist and systems theorist Buckminster Fuller, the architect of the geodesic dome, whose philosophies echo through the picture. The story spans the 1940s, 1960s, and present day, with Illeana Douglas (Goodfellas), Fred Stoller (Everybody Loves Raymond), Ted Lange (The Love Boat), and Matt Wood (Saturday Night) rounding out the cast.

“This is a story about how one family’s spirit of invention, resilience, and love rippled through generations,” Pritikin told us. “We’re thrilled to bring...

If you’re looking for good movies streaming this month, you’re going to find a treasure chest on Hulu. The streaming service regularly has a healthy selection of new releases, classics and hidden gems, but April is positively jam-packed with all of the above. From one of the best horror movies of last year to a Scorsese classic that’s only become more relevant with time — and a pair of 2024 thrillers that slipped under the radar, here’s a hand-picked selection of the best new movies on Hulu in April.

Carolyn Bracken as Darcy in “Oddity” (Credit: IFC Films) “Oddity” (2024)

Hulu is getting a trio of 2024 IFC Films/Shudder movies in April (“Azrael” and “In a Violent Nature” are the other two), and “Oddity” is easily the crown jewel of the batch — and of Shudder’s 2024 lineup. Carolyn Bracken stars as Dani, a blind psychic medium and owner of a curio shop,...

The Sopranos blew the doors off what TV could be. It set the standard for prestige drama, something that, in all honesty, has been quite hard to beat, or even match. Before The Sopranos, networks enjoyed their safety, comfort, and the tried and tested formula for success. Why fix what’s not broke? Things could have very well remained the same – a good ol’ mix of happy endings, clean-cut heroes, and nobody rocking the boat.

The medium would eventually get its breakout anti-hero, with a fair bit of agita. Tony Soprano kicked the door open for every great show that followed: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, all of it. The Peabody Awards took notice early, awarding its first two seasons back-to-back – an honor shared only by Northern Exposure and The West Wing.

It’s been almost two decades since The Sopranos infamously cut to black in its finale,...

David Arquette and Jeremy Luke are a pair of cops on the take in the new crime thriller Mob Cops. They're on the hunt to make a deal with a mobster in a new Collider-exclusive sneak peek. from the film. Mob Cops will be released in theaters, on digital, and on video on demand on April 25, 2025. In the clip, NYPD officers Sammy Canzano and Leo Benetti are having a sit-down with the mob boss who paid them off to get an address for some nefarious purpose.

Despite the mobster's bluster, Sammy and Leo are defiant: they want more than he's prepared to give them. Unsurprisingly, he's not happy. He's even more incensed when they demand to be put on the payroll. They want $4000 a month for what he's asking from them...and anything more will cost extra. Will they get what they're asking for, or are they about to take...

One of our first introductions to Trevor Lefkowitz (Asher Grodman) on Ghosts sees him frustratedly attempting to explain what a movie is to his dead companions in the pilot. Jump to the most recent episode of Season 4, and now Trevor is trying hard to get his hands on some choice movie memorabilia — the ice skates worn by Moira Kelly in his all-time favorite movie,The Cutting Edge, an early ‘90s figure skating rom-com. When Flower (Sheila Carrasco) rightfully calls him out on being a little creepy about the skates, Trevor defends himself by claiming that he’s not like those other foot fetish freaks; he’s a cinephile.

I recently sat down with Asher Grodman to discuss Trevor’s big upcoming episode, in which he finds out that he’s been a dad all this time. During our conversation, I had to ask what he thought Trevor’s Letterboxd top four might be,...

Samuel L Jackson Box Office ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Samuel L. Jackson knew how to guarantee box office numbers, even if it meant personally fronting the first thousand bucks. During a hilarious appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Jackson cracked the secret: “I know when I have a movie that’s opening, I know it’s going to make at least $1,000 that weekend because I buy $1,000 worth of tickets. I give them to the church, or I give them to somebody, and their kids go.” That’s not just confidence. That’s commitment.

The moment had the audience in stitches, but he wasn’t joking. Jackson backed his films, literally. And while $1,000 wouldn’t dent today’s box office reports, the gesture summed up Jackson’s larger-than-life energy. Whether it was Pulp Fiction or Snakes on a Plane, he showed up for his work.

Before becoming the legend everyone quoted, Jackson...

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese’s duo shaped the cinematic landscape of America, and amongst their many collaborations, Raging Bull is an unforgettable gem. However, many might not know that Scorsese approached the movie with the recklessness of a man who had nothing to lose.

It features De Niro as Jake Lamotta, a volatile boxer, and the director pushes this character’s arc to his creative and emotional limits. To the point that he was almost uncertain about his future in filmmaking.

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese | Still Watching Netflix / YouTube

So how did the Scorsese directorial become a massive success and is remembered decades after its release? The answer lies in the raw and unfiltered journey behind its creation.

Martin Scorsese’s desperate gamble on Raging Bull Robert De Niro in Raging Bull | Chartoff-Winkler Productions, In.

In 2021, during the Tribeca Festival, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro...

Exclusive: Richard Linklater’s Cannes Competition-bound Nouvelle Vague, his homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s 1959 New Wave classic A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), has been boarded for international sales by Vincent Maraval’s Goodfellas.

The anticipated French-language film reconstructs the story behind Godard’s cinema classic and is a fitting addition this morning to the Cannes lineup.

Characters in the film are understood to include cinema legends Godard, Jean Cocteau, Robert Bresson, Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Pierre Melville, Eric Rohmer, Agnes Varda and Jacques Rivette.

French actor Guillaume Marbeck is portraying Jean-Luc Godard, Zoey Deutch plays Breathless star Jean Seberg and newcomer Aubry Dullin portrays Jean Paul Belmondo.

There are rumours the film is shot in black and white and in 4:3 ratio. Arp Selection produces and distributes in France. Screenwriters include Holly Gent, Vince Palmo, Michèle Halberstadt and Laetitia Masson.

Related: Cannes Competition: Aster, Trier, Dardennes, Reichardt, Ducournau & Wes Anderson Among Lineup...

Netflix is serving up a new trailer for their culinary comedy Nonnas. Vince Vaughn stars as an aspiring restauranteur who recruits the neighborhood nonnas (grandmothers) to staff his kitchen. The film, which is based on the real-life story of Joe Scaravella, will premiere on the streamer on May 9, 2025.

In the trailer, Vaughn plays Scaravella, an Mta employee grieving the loss of his mother. While looking through her recipes, he comes up with the idea of honoring her memory by opening his own Italian restaurant, and hiring elderly women with decades of home-cooking experience to staff it. Bruno (Joe Manganiello) thinks he's crazy, but is he? To the strains of Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant," we see him struggling with kitchen fires, staff disputes, and some internecine conflict from the titular nonnas, including Susan Sarandon(Bull Durham), Lorraine Bracco(Goodfellas), Talia Shire (Rocky), and Brenda Vaccaro (Midnight Cowboy...

Bollywood Mascot: Veteran actor Robert De Niro is set to be honored with the coveted Honorary Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, scheduled to begin on May 13, 2025. This recognition is a celebration of his extraordinary career that has not only shaped Hollywood but also left a lasting mark on international cinema.

The award will be presented during the festival’s grand opening ceremony, where the world’s leading filmmakers, actors, and cinema enthusiasts will gather to honor a man whose legacy transcends generations. Known for his transformative performances and iconic roles in films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, and Goodfellas, De Niro remains one of the most influential actors of all time.

Cannes holds a special place in De Niro’s journey. His film Taxi Driver won the Palme d’Or in 1976, marking one of the most significant milestones in his early career.

The Cannes Film Festival is set to dazzle with an unforgettable opening night, highlighting none other than Hollywood legend Robert De Niro. This year, the festival has revealed that De Niro will be honored with the prestigious honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony of its 78th edition on May 13, 2025.

Robert De Niro and Kathrine Narducci in The Alto Knights (2025) | Image via Warner Bros. Discovery

This accolade celebrates his remarkable contributions to the world of cinema. But the excitement doesn’t stop there. On May 14, De Niro will take the stage at the Debussy Theatre for an exclusive masterclass, giving festival-goers a rare opportunity to delve into the creative mind of one of the industry’s most celebrated icons. It’s a chance to gain insights from a true legend, an event not to be missed.

Robert De Niro’s 78th Cannes appearance will be special Robert De Niro...

Robert De Niro will be honored at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement. He will receive this award at the opening ceremony of the 78th festival 14 years after he presided over the jury in 2011. The ceremony will be held on May 13, 2025. The next day, he will hold a masterclass at the Debussy Theatre.

“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes…” De Niro said in a Monday statement. “Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans and friends. It’s like coming home.”

De Niro started his career with a young Brian De Palma on early gems “Greetings,” “The Wedding Party” and “Hi, Mom!” (He would reunite with De Palma years later on “The Untouchables”). In 1973, he would star in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets,” which would start...

A film telling the origin story of the first Rocky movie is pressing ahead at Amazon MGM. Green Book’s Peter Farrelly will be directing.

Prequel and origin stories, eh? There was a period of time where it looked as though we were going to get a sixth Die Hard movie. The idea was to set half of it in the past, so we could learn the origin story of John McClane, arguably Bruce Willis’ most iconic screen role.

We didn’t need to know the origin of John McClane of course. Every piece of information we needed is in the script to the original Die Hard. We’re given what we need for the story to be told and for us to understand the story. What we didn’t need was an exploration of why John McClane became a cop, how he met his wife, and other such details.

I imagine that, for Martin Scorsese, it’s an honor just to be nominated in the same category as The Simpsons, SNL50 and Brian Cox’s Uber Eats commercial.

On May 12th, Broad City star Ilana Glazer will host The Webby Awards, a wide-ranging ceremony presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences every year as they reward the work of content creators great and small with a springy statuette and enough screen time for a five-word acceptance speech. The Webby Awards features over 100 award categories across numerous mediums with a loose focus on online content, although the recipients aren’t just limited to internet celebrities — or even human beings, for that matter. Apps, companies, brands and consumer goods are all listed among this year’s nominees alongside A-listers like Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey and, of course, cinema legend Bart Simpson.

As O.G. Simpsons writer...

Samuel L. Jackson Wig Clash(Photo Credit –Facebook)

Samuel L. Jackson never backed down from making bold choices, especially when it came to his look. In Pulp Fiction, his character, Jules Winnfield, became instantly recognizable with his jheri curl wig. But getting that hairstyle on screen wasn’t easy. Jackson had to fight Quentin Tarantino for it.

Jackson always saw his appearance as part of his craft. Early in his career, he made a conscious effort to change up his look for every role. For Pulp Fiction, he had a vision for Jules’ hair – one that Tarantino didn’t share at first.

“It was my deliberate choice to be as different as I possibly could in as many films as I could,” Jackson told Gentleman’s Journal. “So I made my face and my hair and my beard my canvas. It was my idea for the wig in Pulp Fiction.

Gangster films have dominated the silver screen for almost as long as movies have existed. Stemming from the crime film genre, gangster films typically focus on organized crime while following the rise and fall of criminals. The criminal's actions are heavily explored, and the film often expresses the effects that their actions have on society. Gritty violence goes hand in hand with the theme of "crime doesn't pay" and with justice prevalently taking over the theme. Martin Scorsese is no stranger to the genre, creating numerous gangster films throughout different periods of history. After creating such great gangster films as Goodfellas and Gangs of New York, Scorsese went on to remake a successful Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs.

The remake of Infernal Affairs took the core cat-and-mouse story but relocated the setting to Boston. Scorsese wanted to ground the story into some realism, so it was loosely inspired by the infamous mobster Whitey Bulger.

What a wickedly awesome premiere.

Why am I so fascinated by mob dramas when I overtly hate crime in general? Ask me to watch Breaking Bad, and I’ll turn you down. Ask me to watch Goodfellas, and I’ll jump on the couch.

There’s something within the cultural zeitgeist that even for me makes it Ok to enjoy a good mob drama. MobLand is more than just a mob drama, though.

(Luke Varley/Paramount+)

First, the cast is impeccable. Tom Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a fixer for the Harrigan family, which is led by Conrad and Maeve Harrigan, played by Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren. I’d sign up to watch this trio do pretty much anything.

Thankfully, I don’t have to put that to the test. MobLand Season 1 Episode 1 grabbed my attention immediately. It started fast and furious, and ended a little less fast, but no less furious.

Imagine pitching a movie so absurd that even Hollywood’s wildest execs would raise an eyebrow. Now, imagine trying to rope in Martin Scorsese, yes, that Martin Scorsese, to make an appearance in a comedy about making that movie. Sounds impossible, right?

Well, welcome to Seth Rogen’s world, where the unexpected is just another Tuesday. Apple TV+’s latest comedy, The Studio, throws audiences into the chaotic world of Hollywood filmmaking, where bad ideas sometimes lead to billion-dollar blockbusters. And who better to navigate this madness than Seth Rogen, a man whose entire career is built on turning ridiculous premises into gold?

A still from The Studio | Credits: Apple TV+

But while Rogen has played plenty of over-the-top characters, his latest role as Matt Remick, a studio executive trying to fast-track a Kool-Aid movie, might just be his most outrageous yet. But the real magic trick? Convincing Martin Scorsese to play along.

Netflix’s latest miniseries, Adolescence, has taken the internet by storm, and for all the right reasons. With its gripping plot, powerhouse performances, and bone-chilling moments, it’s no surprise that viewers are hooked. But beyond the intense storytelling and emotional turmoil that the show throws its audiences into, there’s one technical aspect that has film lovers raving, the show’s masterful use of the “oner“.

So what exactly is a oner? And how does it connect to Seth Rogen’s The Studio Episode 2? Let’s break it down!

Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence | Credits: Netflix What is the “oner” every Adolescence-watcher keeps talking about?

Adolescence is a spine-chilling story about a young boy who tragically kills his classmates with no remorse in sight. The show delves into the incel culture, how the same parenting tactics can yield drastically different results and the idea that it...

Martin Scorsese is making his next film, starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, for 20th Century Studios. More here.

A veteran director of mob movies he may be, but Martin Scorsese isn’t yet done making films about charasmatic criminals. Set to add to a body of work that already includes Goodfellas, Gangs Of New York, Casino, The Departed and The Irishman, the filmmaker’s next project will be a Hawaii-set crime thriller that stars Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Naturally, interest is high for the film, with Netflix said to be the frontrunner at one stage. But it looks like the Silicon Valley streamer has once again been trumped by a traditional movie studio when it comes to securing a major project. If we were to speculate, we’d be wondering just how important the guarantee of a proper theatrical run for the project was in making...

Martin Scorsese, renowned for his crime cinema, is taking his signature gritty storytelling to a surprising new setting: the lush and turbulent underworld of the Hawaiian Islands. In a significant announcement reported on March 27, 2025, Disney and 20th Century Studios have acquired the rights to Scorsese’s latest untitled crime thriller, which he has long considered a passion project.

The film combines an impressive trio: Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock,” Leonardo DiCaprio, and Emily Blunt. Set in the Hawaiian criminal landscape during the 1960s and 1970s, it is expected to showcase Martin Scorsese’s expertise in mob dynamics with a unique island flavor.

Martin Scorsese in Hugo | Credits: Gk Films/Infinitum Nihil

This ambitious project, with its stellar cast, is already screaming for future Oscar nominations, and fans could not have asked for more from the crime maestro.

Martin Scorsese unites a stellar cast for his upcoming Hawaiian mob saga Emily Blunt...

Is today Leonardo DiCaprio Day? I ask because DiCaprio is at the center of another massive Hollywood headline after returning to YouTube to share the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, One Battle After Another. According to reports, Disney is close to sealing a deal for Martin Scorsese‘s latest drama, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Blunt, and Dwayne Johnson leading the cast. The untitled project, set in Hawaii, has the following description: Imagine Robert De Niro’s Goodfellas’ Jimmy the Gent character, but as a ruthless Hawaiian crime boss, also based on a real figure, who battled encroaching rivals for control of organized crime in Hawaii.

In Deadline‘s exclusive report, the outlet describes Scorsese’s latest project in vivid detail. The pitch, written by Nick Bilton, includes crime of all kinds, with shady characters operating a syndicate from outlandish places. It “focuses on a turbulent time on...

Surf’s up for 20th Century Studios.

The Disney division has picked up the Hawaii-set crime thriller package that has Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt attached to star, and Martin Scorsese attached to direct.

Lei-ed with a script by journalist and author Nick Bilton, the fact-based untitled movie is said to be in the mold of Scorsese’s Goodfellas and The Departed and center on a mob boss vying for control of the Hawaiian islands in the 1960s and 1970s.

All the players will also be producers on the project: Scorsese is producing via his Sikelia Productions banner, Johnson via Seven Bucks Productions, DiCaprio via his Appian Way Productions, and Blunt through her Ledbury Productions company. Bilton is producing through his banner, True Story Productions, as well.

The project’s origins come from the ‘ohana-like bond between Blunt and Johnson. The concept and film idea originated from Blunt.

Exclusive: One of the biggest pic packages is about to land at Disney, Deadline hears.

This is the pitch for a Martin Scorsese-directed drama that would star Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. The thumbnail description: Imagine Robert De Niro’s Jimmy the Gent character from Goodfellas but as a ruthless Hawaiian crime boss, also based on a real figure, who battled encroaching rivals for control of organized crime on the islands.

Deadline broke the project in February. It is a pricey package given the local and above-the-line star power, and numerous distributors were bidding. This being a decidedly adult film, it fits nicely under the 20th Century banner, home to upcoming films including Deliver Me From Nowhere, the Scott Cooper-directed drama about the existential crisis that led Bruce Springsteen to hole up in a room and generate his seminal Nebraska album. The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White plays The Boss,...

Released on March 21, 2025, Robert De Niro's latest gangster flick, The Alto Knights, failed to make a dent at the box office. Earning just $3.2 million its opening weekend, the Barry Levinson-directed movie was panned by critics, despite De Niro pulling double duty as both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two 1950s Mafia bosses embroiled in a bitter turf war. Critics be damned, though, as The Alto Knights has defied their expectations to become a big hit with audiences.

Per Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rotten rating of just 38% from all critics on the review website, but when you take a look at just the reviews from what they consider Top Critics, that number falls even further to just 29%. However, The Alto Knights' Popcornmeter – which is the number given to movies by the general public – sits much higher at 71%, proving once more that critics don’t know everything. "Just...

The veteran mind of Barry Levinson rejoined the theatrical circuit this past weekend, with his latest effort, The Alto Knights, struggling to make the impact the Academy Award winner would've liked, despite starring the iconic Robert De Niro in not one but two roles. Beyond a difficult start to box office life, The Alto Knights also struggled to impress critics, earning a terrible opening critical score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film's 38% critical rating is juxtaposed by its audience response, with The Alto Knights officially earning an impressive 70% audience score on the site.

Although still Levinson's worst-rated movie of this current decade, the 70% audience score of The Alto Knights is still much better than many of his other efforts, only bettered by three other projects since 2012. These three projects are 2015's The Natural: The Best There Ever Was, 2021's TheSurvivor, and another 2021 title, Ennio. Only one of these three,...

It can be difficult sometimes to fully appreciate the fact that we still have a legend like Robert De Niro still with us. Part of it is that De Niro has been a constant for decades now, almost as long as our Modern Hollywood has existed: breaking out as the chief collaborator and muse of Martin Scorsese in the early ’70s with performances in “Mean Streets” and “Taxi Driver,” the two-time Oscar winner personified the grit and edge of the New Hollywood revolution, and remained a vibrant force on film through the ’80s and ’90s.

That said, not every film that De Niro stars in is a hit, and not every performance he gives is up to the standards he’s often set for himself. Especially in his later years, De Niro has a reputation for sometimes coasting, particularly in films that don’t exactly measure up to the classics...

It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Dr. Jennifer Melfi other than the brilliant Lorraine Bracco. Creator David Chase initially sought Bracco for the lead role, something she easily fit into with her Italian-American descent and her accent. Interestingly, she had played the wife of a mob boss in Goodfellas and didn’t want to play the same role again in The Sopranos.

Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

The female lead, Carmela Soprano, went to Edie Falco who was phenomenal in the role. However, she later admitted that if it were up to her she would’ve cast herself in the role of Dr. Melfi. While it is easy to see Falco’s reasoning for such a casting decision, the switched roles wouldn’t have worked for me.

The Sopranos star Edie Falco would’ve cast herself as Dr. Jennifer...

“The Alto Knights,” a crime thriller starring dueling Robert De Niros, made moviegoers an offer they easily refused.

The Warner Bros. film was D.O.A. over the weekend with $3.2 million at the domestic box office, one of the worst-ever starts for a major studio release. “The Alto Knights” also cratered overseas, earning $1.8 million for a bleak worldwide tally of $5.1 million. With a price tag above $45 million before marketing is taken into account, “The Alto Knights” is already one of the year’s biggest misfires.

Box office watchers, however, aren’t exactly scratching their heads to figure out what went wrong. They believe “The Alto Knights” hails from a genre — mobster movies — that’s been sleeping with the fishes for decades. Then critics rebuked the film, which landed a poor 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, at least the few people who checked the film out, were kinder, giving it a “B” grade on CinemaScore exit polls.

As Ike Barinholtz approaches the register at Farm Boy Produce, the cashier regards the 48-year-old comic-actor-writer-director with a gimlet-eyed skepticism, as if he’s a shoplifter or worse. “Are you famous?” For a moment, Barinholtz can only smile, revealing the trademark gap in his teeth. The live wire is at a rare loss for words. Finally, he musters, “Do you think I am?”

The question hangs over grocery shopping with Barinholtz. The Chicago native is on a mission to make me, a Brooklyn boy, a chopped cheese — the classic bodega...

Warner Brothers is seemingly on a never-ending quest of cancelations and removals. After being completed, WB shelved Batgirl. The same goes for Coyote vs. Acme, an animated live-action combining Looney Tuneswith the real world (even though Ketchup Entertainment is now in talks to release it). The entirety of the available Looney Tunes cartoons was recently removed from Max as well. It's clear that the world-renowned film studio is changing gears, now prioritizing movies that can potentially surge at the box office.

There are some big hitters coming up to bat. First, there's F1 starring Brad Pitt and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Then, One Battle After Another with Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. Finally, the Oceans' prequel, which brings in Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as parents to Danny Ocean. Then there's also The Alto Knights, a mob movie where the timeless Robert De Niro plays two characters. Directed by Barry Levinson...

For over five phenomenal decades, Robert De Niro has remained a beloved presence on the silver screen, dazzling audiences all across the world with one unparalleled performance after another. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, the two-time Academy Award-winner is no stranger to starring in critically acclaimed hits, and in 1984, he partnered up with cinema pioneer Sergio Leone for his epic crime masterpiece Once Upon a Time in America, an adaptation of Harry Grey's The Hoods.

With a stacked ensemble cast including James Woods, Joe Pesci, and Elizabeth McGovern, the powerful picture chronicled the friendship between two close friends as they fought to get themselves out of poverty and become some of New York City's most feared and respected gangsters during the '20s and '30s. De Niro has undeniably made the gangster genre his bread and butter as a performer, with the Hollywood...

Robert De Niro‘s latest movie, “The Alto Knights,” gives the Oscar winner twice as many roles as usual. Directed by Barry Levinson and written by “Goodfellas” writer Nicholas Pileggi, the film charts the real-life power struggle between 1950s Mafia bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello as it spirals into an all-out, blood-on-the-streets conflict. De Niro plays both Genovese and Costello in the drama, which also stars Debra Messing and “Shōgun” breakout Cosmo Jarvis.

De Niro is not the first major actor in Hollywood history to take on the sizable challenge of playing more than one role in a film. Some have even dared to take on more than two In honor of De Niro’s dual turns in “The Alto Knights,” though, here are five other great films that also star actors in two roles.

Jake Gyllenhaal in “Enemy.” (Entertainment One) Jake Gyllenhaal in “Enemy”

“Enemy” is director Denis Villeneuve’s surreal,...

Robert De Niro’s returns to the mob movie genre with “The Alto Knights,” and it’s hitting theaters on Friday.

De Niro pulls double duty in the biographical drama, as he stars two of New York’s most notorious crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. The film serves as a 360 moment for De Niro, as Costello was the inspiration behind “The Godfather” character Don Vito Corleone. De Niro starred as the young Vito in “The Godfather Part II.”

The film was written by Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”) and directed by Barry Levinson. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch below.

When does “The Alto Knights” come out?

“The Alto Knights” comes out Friday, March 21.

Is “The Alto Knights” in theaters?

Yes, “The Alto Knights” will premiere in theaters on Friday, March 21. Check the listings below for showtimes.

AMC Theaters Regal Theaters Cinemark Theaters Landmark Theaters...

Digital babies. Altered vocals. Deceased actors back from the grave. A list of major films that have used AI in their making:

Nb: The following contains an unavoidable spoiler for Alien: Romulus. Do skip that entry if you haven’t seen the film yet.

As the past few months have proven, AI is becoming an increasingly controversial topic both inside the film industry and without. As companies like OpenAI talk excitedly about the next generation of Artificial Intelligence replacing millions of jobs over the coming years, Oscar hopeful The Brutalist has sparked a backlash over its use of AI to adjust its actors’ performances.

The consternation has been such that the Academy is reportedly thinking about making it mandatory for filmmakers to disclose their use of AI when submitting their movies. The film industry, in essence, is racing to keep up with an area of technology that has only risen...

Robert De Niro stars opposite himself in Barry Levinson’s period mob drama – but has the unusual casting undermined a solid gangster movie?

The week The Alto Knights – Barry Levinson’s zeitgeist-defying gangster drama – hits cinemas, the only media anyone is talking about is Netflix’s Adolescence. That, or how much they hate Snow White. Inside of us are two wolves, et cetera, et cetera.

But while Disney’s latest live-action remake looks like exactly the kind of risk-averse, straight-down-the-middle offering guaranteed to put family bums on cinema seats, Adolescence and The Alto Knights both promise something a little quirkier from a filmmaking point of view. The former shot each of its four hour-long episodes in a single take; Levinson’s film copy-pastes Robert De Niro to play both leads. If I were being ungenerous, I’d describe both as ‘stunt filmmaking’ – the kind of technical wizardry designed to help...

[Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2022 and has been updated multiple times since.]

Movies might seem like magic, but Hollywood’s favorite actors, directors, producers, stunt performers, props masters, costumers, script coordinators, and cinematographers are still only human. Since before that child extra prematurely covered his ears for Eva Marie Saint shooting Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” audiences have delighted in finding the little moments that make their favorite films imperfect.

Like freckles on a human face, mistakes can make movies infinitely more special to the audiences that love them. Consider the clumsy stormtrooper of “A New Hope,” whose hilariously audible collision with an Imperial spaceship doorframe turned the extra’s true identity into an ongoing mystery for the Star Wars ages. Or, for “The Lord of the Rings” fans among us, there’s the anachronistic automobile appearing in “Fellowship of the Ring” right alongside Sam and Frodo. As for the Wizarding World, how about that bike seat on Harry’s broomstick?...

Robert De Niro is an actor who is synonymous with the crime/gangster genre in some fans’ minds. He’s been a part of films like The Untouchables, The Irishman, Goodfellas, The Godfather 2, and many more which showcase his range and prowess. So to have a movie where De Niro is in a dual role of warring gangsters seems like a crowd puller but that’s not the case. De Niro’s latest gangster drama The Alto Knights has garnered a 38 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

In director Barry Levinson's The Alto Knights, Robert De Niro plays not one, but two mob bosses. You'd think that with double the screen time, the mafia drama would be a big hit with fans and critics who have been following De Niro's career since the days of Mean Streets, but unfortunately that isn't the case here. The Alto Knights has landed with an echoing thud on Rotten Tomatoes, signaling that the two-hour movie is probably worth skipping this weekend in theaters.

Holding a rotten rating of just 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, noted Canadian critic Richard Crouse says, "The Alto Knights is a slick movie, with nice period details, but the shallow look at the relationships of the protagonists and a repetitive, drawn-out script blunts the power of the story." Odie Henderson from The Boston Globe adds:

"When we're not being fed warmed-over narration and editing tricks that remind...