Bruce Willis is best known as a macho action movie icon from films like Die Hard, so it’s sometimes hard to remember that his first big break was on the television drama-comedy Moonlighting, which he starred in opposite Cybill Shepherd for five seasons.
The new crime comedy Seven Psychopaths, directed by Martin McDonagh, has gotten some excellent pre-release buzz, with much of it focused on star Christopher Walken. Long a favorite of audiences, Walken reveals in an interview his thoughts on his character, what he finds fascinating about the film, and also assesses
I recently got to see Smashed, a film about a recovering alcoholic, and I was impressed that the film didn’t adhere to the same old cliches that we’ve seen in countless television movies about alcoholism. Much of that credit goes to star Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It’s a brave role for Winstead, who allows herself to be shown in a very ugly light in order to portray a young elementary school teacher who is struggling with her sobriety.
With the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s “unfilmable” novel On the Road about to be released, it’s not a surprise that new interest is being drummed up in the counterculture author’s work. Perhaps most notable is the University of Massachusetts Lowell is holding a Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, and the festival, which is celebrated in Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, is centered around the premiere of the only play Kerouac ever wrote, Beat Generation, which was written in 1957 (the same year Kerouac published On the Road).
It’s funny how people who often claim that they have “street smarts” actually possess none, but that’s not something you can accuse actor/writer Chazz Palminteri of misrepresenting. Born in the Bronx, Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale is viewed as a classic coming-of-age story that dispenses as much wisdom as it does violence. In that vein, Palminteri has started his own website, www.AskChazz.com, to dispense advice for both the movie industry and for life in general. The site has been such a success that Palminteri will be hosting four “Ask Chazz” shows on SiriusXM radio.
The cast of the classic fairytale film The Princess Bride reunited at the New York Film Festival earlier this month for the film’s twenty-fifth anniversary, and though one of the film’s stars, Mandy Patinkin, has other projects to promote — he currently stars on Showtime’s Homeland — Patinkin spoke to NPR about his experience staring in the film as Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya and whether or not that line of dialogue — you’re probably saying it now — ever gets tiresome to him.
Musicals based on films can sometimes be wonderful (Once and The Producers come to mind), but often risk being blasted for unoriginality. One that falls in the latter category is the infamous 1966 musical adaption of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which only ran four previews (!) before being canceled by the producer despite starring Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlin and having a score by Bob Merrill (Funny Girl) and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee.
Every media outlet wants to talk to Ben Affleck about Argo, his new film based on the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, and Affleck is happy to talk about his dual roles as a director and an actor (along with also being one of the film’s producers!) Though many of these interviews has focused on Affleck’s second-career success as a director, in others he has spoken about his acting approach to the film and how he worked with the cast as actors.
The acting in Grace is extraordinary, with all four actors being seasoned professionals with the ability to portray the array of emotions required of the material.
In major news that proves that television programming is more diversified than ever, gay rights group GLAAD is reporting that the current television season has a record number of gay, bisexual and transgender characters among its shows.
So there’s good news and bad news for fans of the Emmy-winning comedy Louie, which comedian Louis C.K. not only writes but stars in. The good news? There will be a season 4. The bad news? It won’t begin airing until spring 2014 at the earliest. Louis C.K. revealed this news to reporters several days after the third season finale aired and while he is on a lengthy national standup tour.
Talk about being (unfortunately) timely: Ben Affleck’s latest film Argo, which he directed and also stars, focuses on a real-life story about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, and currently the U.S. is facing similar tensions in the Middle East. It is also perhaps Affleck’s most acclaimed film, which is a tremendous accomplishment considering his two prior films, Gone Baby Gone and The Town, were also well received.
I’m not sure what’s more entertaining — the comedy of the show Community or the backstage drama that has surrounded the series over the past year. Star Joel McHale is the latest member of the cast to step forward and talk about the departure of creator and show runner Dan Harmon and co-star Chevy Chase’s numerous comments to the media about how much he dislikes working on the show.
It’s been some time since we have had an update on the lawsuit filed by actress Huang “Junie” Hoang against IMDb for posting her actual date of birth on the internet’s most popular movie website.
While the Oscars are generally considered the most prestigious awards in film, for actors the Screen Actors Guild Award also have special significance. Unfortunately for the actors in Fox Searchlight’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, because the low-budget film was not produced by the guidelines of SAG-AFTRA’s Low Budget Feature Agreement its actors will not be eligible for the SAG Awards.
Good news for Good People, the 2011 play by David Lindsay-Abaire that Frances McDormand won a Tony Award for: it will be the most-produced play in America in the 2012-2013 season.
Daniel Craig may only be part of Her Majesty’s Secret Service when he appears in James Bond films, but in an interview with Vanity Fair he has some good advice about fame that Prince Harry and his sister-in-law Princess Kate should think about adhering to.
It should be a no-brainer, but there were no laws on the books in California that prevented convicted child molesters from working with children in the entertainment industry.
In Looper, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is only pretending to play the younger version of Bruce Willis, with Willis traveling back in time to confront his “younger self.” But if Willis could really go back in time, would he do anything differently?
