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Joaquin Phoenix wanted a “Joker” sequel bad — he photoshopped the character into classic movie posters in order to persuade and inspire Todd Phillips to create the follow-up.

Speaking on the “Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso” podcast, Phoenix said he started working on the edits while wrapping up the first film, but then realized he actually did want a sequel.

“I mocked up like 10 different posters of famous movies putting Joker in all of them,” he said. “‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ ‘Yentl,’ ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ ‘The Godfather,’ like every classic film. I worked with this amazing on-set photographer Nico and he took photos of me and then photoshopped them into these posters. They’re like pretty seamless, they look amazing.”

Phoenix continued, “I gave them to Todd and the joke was ‘put Joker in space,’ ‘put Joker on ice skates.’ But the ‘Yentl’ poster, like you see that and you’re like,...

The seed for In & Out, according to screenwriter Paul Rudnick, was planted during the 1994 Academy Awards when Tom Hanks, accepting the best actor Oscar for Philadelphia, thanked his high school drama teacher, who was gay. What if, Rudnick wondered, that teacher lived in a small Indiana town and wasn’t gay—or, more to the point, what if that teacher was gay and just didn’t realize it yet?

The comic tone of Frank Oz’s film recalls the 1993 episode of Seinfeld titled “The Outing,” in which Jerry is falsely labeled as gay in a college newspaper. That episode’s refrain, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that”—offered by the central characters as both a badge of liberal awareness and a declaration of their skittishness concerning the subject of gay sex—works as a comedic complement to the prestige orientation of something like Philadelphia. After all, the subject...

Celebrity divorces have always been a subject of fascination among people, and Steven Spielberg’s 1989 split from his then-wife Amy Irving was no exception. The chatter was loud and clear, especially when it came to the jaw-dropping $100 million Spielberg reportedly lost due to their unconventional prenuptial agreement.

Steven Spielberg | Photo by Elena Ternovaja, licensed under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A supposed mistake by the world-renowned director in legal paperwork turned Spielberg and Irving’s divorce into one of the most costly in Hollywood history, leaving everyone wondering just how their strange terms could lead to such a staggering settlement.

How A Cocktail Napkin Reportedly Lost Steven Spielberg A $100 Million!

Back in 1985, when Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving got married, they reportedly crafted a prenuptial agreement detailing their combined income and assets, including provisions on how much Irving would receive in case of divorce.

Suggested“Everyone just nodded, but my...

Yentl.The publication of My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand's 970-page memoir, has offered fans of the actress-singer-icon a long-awaited glimpse into her life. It’s a lot of book, a maximalist feast of details and anecdotes that paints a lavish portrait of the woman who became a generational star. It’s easy to forget just how much of Streisand's career was besieged by misogyny, whether it was critics' repeated derision of appearance or co-stars like Walter Matthau berating her on set. Streisand certainly never forgot, and her memoir offers frequent reminders of the sexism that hampered her path to success at every turn. Her memoir conveys an achingly detailed portrait of endurance by a wildly ambitious woman. Wherever she went, she was derided for trying to do or be “too much,” and she took pleasure in proving her detractors wrong in her inimitable style. When she chose to get behind the camera and direct,...

Barbra Streisand has released her first song in six years, titled “Love Will Survive” — and it’s her first work for an onscreen project in 12 years, since she herself last appeared in a movie, 2012’s “The Guilt Trip.”

“Love Will Survive,” composed by Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve, will be Streisand’s end title anthem for the credits of Peacock and Sky limited series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” based on the WWII-set novel of the same name. Melanie Lynskey portrays real-life author Heather Morris, who interviewed Holocaust survivor Lali Sokolov (Harvey Keitel) about meeting his future wife Gina (Anna Próchniak) in a concentration camp. The novel is inspired by the real-life love story of Lali and Gita Sokolov, who met while prisoners in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust. He had been ordered to tattoo serial numbers on prisoners’ arms.

This is Streisand’s first recording for a TV series.

Carrie Robbins, whose more than 30 years as a Broadway costume designer saw her involvement in 1972’s Grease, for which she contributed the production’s signature poodle skirts, and the nuns’ habits of 1983’s Agnes of God, died following a brief illness with Covid on Friday, April 12, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She was 81.

Her death was announced by her friend Daniel Neiden.

Robbin’s Broadway career began somewhat inauspiciously with Leda and the Little Swan, a play that closed on Broadway before its scheduled opening at the Cort Theatre in 1968. Written by Amber Gascoigne and dealing with sex between generations of one family, Leda was called by William Goldman in his classic theater book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway “the hardest show of the season to sit through.”

Robbins rebounded quickly on Broadway with a revival of You Can’t Take It With You the following year, and,...

An enduring popularity that culminates from an outstanding combination of exceptional talent, versatility, and charisma made Barbra Streisand a beloved music icon. The iconic singer has captivated her audience for over six decades, captivating them with her distinctive voice and the ability to convey emotions through her nuanced performances. Streisand’s son, Jason Gould, recently opened up about the trauma that has affected his life for the worse and the challenges that he has faced.

Barbra Streisand in A Star is Born

The son of the Woman in Love singer and actor Elliot Gould opened up about his take on the nepo baby conversation. The 57-year-old actor has given a much thoughtful and meaningful insight and how everyone has their struggles by sharing his obstacles with the world.

Barbra Streisand’s Son Opens Up About Generational Trauma and His Struggles

Nepotism is a serious problem in Hollywood, as it limits...

From the enchanting halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the thrilling battles against the dark forces of Voldemort, J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece Harry Potter series has been alluring people irrespective of age limit. While children discover the wizard world on their first touch, adults love to revisit the characters and become nostalgic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Meanwhile, Miriam Margolyes, who starred as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt 2 has recently upset the adult fans.

Suggested“We didn’t need her anyway”: Fans Slam Harry Potter Actress for Humiliating $9.5B Franchise, Saying It’s No ‘Charles Dickens’

Margolyes said in two interviews that she is worried about Harry Potter fans. She reaffirmed that it is for children only.

Miriam Margolyes Worries about Adult Harry Potter Fans

Miriam Margolyes, the 82-year-old actress,...

Exclusive: Tovah Feldshuh, the multiple Emmy and Tony Award nominee who recently co-starred on Broadway with Lea Michele in the hit musical revival Funny Girl, has signed with Stewart Talent for representation.

Feldshuh earned the first of four Tony nominations in 1976 for her performance in Yentl, with subsequent nominations coming in 1979 (Saravá), 1989 (Lend Me a Tenor) and 2004 (Golda’s Balcony). She’s twice been Emmy-nominated.

Her extensive film and television credits include Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Crazy Ex Girlfriend and The Walking Dead. She is currently filming the Untitled Erin Foster series for Netflix opposite Kristen Bell and Adam Brody.

Other accolades include three honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters and, for her theater work, four Drama Desks, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, three Dramalogues, the Obie, the Theatre World, and the Helen Hayes and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Actress. She...

Australian actress Miriam Margolyes who portrayed Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series (2002-2011) decided to annihilate the adult fans of the franchise. In one of her recent interviews, Margolyes claimed that Harry Potter is “for children” and adult fans should get over it, now. For a lot of people between the ages of 25 and 35, the franchise played a key role in shaping their childhood. So obviously, the Harry Potter films are still comfort films for a large part of the generation.

Miriam Margolyes as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise

The Harry Potter film series is undoubtedly one of the most popular film franchises of all time and Margolyes has admitted that getting a role in the franchise was a golden opportunity that she is grateful for. The 82-year-old actress has won several prestigious awards, including a British Academy Film Award for her work in The Age of Innocence...

The songs in the running for the 2024 Best Original Song Oscar are “It Never Went Away” (“American Symphony”), “I’m Just Ken” (“Barbie”), “What Was I Made For?” (“Barbie”), “The Fire Inside” (“Flamin’ Hot”), and “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). Our current odds show that “What Was I Made For?” (31/10)) is favored to win, followed in order by “I’m Just Ken” (37/10), “It Never Went Away” (9/2), “The Fire Inside” (9/2), and “Wahzhazhe” (9/2).

This year’s roster of eight individual songwriters includes two pairs of former winners, each of which is associated with a “Barbie” song. Those who prevailed most recently are sibling duo Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, whose bid for “What Was I Made For?” comes two years after they took the gold for the title tune from the “James Bond” movie “No Time to Die” (2022). They are now set to battle “I’m...

The films in the running for the 2024 Best Original Score Oscar are “American Fiction,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things.” Our current odds indicate that “Oppenheimer” (3/1) will take the prize, followed in order of likelihood by “Killers of the Flower Moon” (4/1), “Poor Things” (9/2), “Indiana Jones” (9/2), and “American Fiction” (9/2).

Just two of the five musicians on this roster are returning contenders, with the first-timer subgroup consisting of Jerskin Fendrix (“Poor Things”), Laura Karpman (“American Fiction”), and Robbie Robertson (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). Robertson, who died last August at age 80, is this category’s eighth posthumous nominee and first since 1977, when Bernard Herrmann earned dual bids for “Obsession” and “Taxi Driver” nearly 14 months after his death. He would be the fourth deceased composer to win an Academy Award, following Victor Young and “Limelight” (1973) duo Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell.

Of the...

Even before convicted s*x offender and disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s criminal, predatory behavior sparked the global phenomenon of the #MeToo movement in 2017 that questioned and examined the ubiquity of harassment and assault that women from all walks of life, unfortunately, undergo, the Miramax co-founder earned a reputation of notoriety for being ‘exasperating’ and just overall difficult.

Harvey Weinstein. Credit: The Graham Norton Show/BBC One

Many who worked alongside him (including those who later admitted to not being privy to the deplorable acts of the producer) mentioned his crass, ill-mannered disposition and unforgiving temper. There were also those subject to one-off occurrences, which revealed to them the despotic, sinister ways of Weinstein prior to the shared collective that rose against him.

Among those who saw this side of him was Egot winner Barbra Streisand.

While she admitted to not knowing of Harvey Weinstein’s despicable conduct, she...

As a teenager, Barbra Streisand dreamt of being an actress while sitting on her bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine. During those days, after school she would make a break for New York’s Astor Theatre, which showed black-and-white international movies. Another time, she ducked into a showing of Guys and Dolls at the Loew’s Kings Theatre in her neighborhood.

“Everything was so beautiful up on that screen,” Streisand said in opening her acceptance speech upon receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award during Saturday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. “That make-believe world was much more pleasant than anything I was experiencing. I didn’t like reality. I wanted to be in the movies, even though I knew I didn’t look like the other women on the screen. My mother said, ‘you better learn to type,’ but I didn’t listen.

The Oscar heavyweight, Grammy-winning great and all-around icon, Barbra Streisand was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

“This is such a wonderful award to get because you know in advance you’re going to get it. You don’t have to sit there in squirm… And if you don’t have to put on such a happy face, ‘I’m so happy to lose!’ Anyway, you all know what I mean,” the legend joked.

Pivoting to more serious matters, Streisand revealed that she was proud to be a SAG-AFTRA member for over 60 years, “I can’t believe it. I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager, sitting in my bed in Brooklyn with a pint of coffee ice cream and a movie magazine.”

But in the end, Streisand dedicated her lifetime achievement speech to the actors among her in the auditorium.

“There’s 15 million Jews in the world, and there’s about 15 million ways to be Jewish,” Aleeza Ben Shalom says at the start of Jewish Matchmaking. The expert matchmaker and dating coach will meet all sort of singles across the United States and Israel seeking their bashert,or soulmate, over Season 1 of the new series. The one thing they have in common? They’re all relying on shidduch — a centuries-old system of matchmaking for the purpose of marriage — to find lasting love in today’s swipe-happy world.

And there’s no one better to guide them from first date all the way to the chuppah than Aleeza, who’s helped over 200 couples with her no-nonsense, modern approach to the traditional practice.

“I knew that matchmaking existed, but I thought it was an old thing that bubbies would do in Yentl or Fiddler on the Roof,” Aleeza tells Tudum. “But the...

Brian De Palma's "Carrie" was the film that defined a generation. Its blend of coming-of-age themes, fantastical magic, and slasher-style bloodshed makes it a genre-bending film that time just can't seem to forget.

The 1976 horror tells the story of a sheltered girl who lives under her obsessively religious mother's tyrannical rule, a dictatorship made all the worse by the onset of Carrie's period. Her mother's frenzy combined with a cruel prank at the prom pushes the shy young girl to a mental break, complete with telekinetic powers. The Stephen King adaptation launched some incredibly notable careers, including John Travolta, who plays high school bully Billy Nolan. Sadly, not all of the cast has lived to see the end of 2023, including Piper Laurie, whose performance as Carrie's mother earned her one of three Oscar nominations in her lifetime.

Laurie passed away in October of 2023, but many of the other main cast members are alive,...

Barbra Streisand has been chosen as the 59th recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest tribute, the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. The honor will be presented to her at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will stream live on Netflix on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt. The event will take place at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles.

The SAG Life Achievement Award is bestowed upon an actor who upholds the “finest ideals of the acting profession.” The iconic singer and actress has won two Academy Awards, ten Grammys, five Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, and a Tony Award, among other honors. Streisand has also directed several films including “Yentl,” “The Prince of Tides” and “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” all of which were nominated for Academy Awards.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said, “Barbra Streisand is an icon and unparalleled talent,...

In advance of the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards the union has announced icon Barbra Streisand as its 59th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award. As SAG-AFTRA’s highest tribute, the honor is meant to highlight the Egot-winning actor, singer, producer, writer, director and recent memorist’s career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments, and will be presented to Streisand at the 2024 SAG Awards taking place at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Saturday, February 24.

“Barbra Streisand is an icon and unparalleled talent, a force of nature who has seamlessly woven her brilliance through the fabric of our industry. From her earliest days captivating audiences on Broadway to her unforgettable roles in cinematic classics like ‘Funny Girl,’ ‘The Way We Were,’ and ‘A Star Is Born,’ Barbra’s ability to inhabit her characters with authenticity is nothing short of extraordinary,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher via statement. “Her enduring career...

When Barbra Streisand delivered her 992-page memoir to her editor at Viking earlier this year, did anyone urge her to cut? Even gently?

Not that it would have done any good, for Streisand has a lot to say and her opus was termed “exhausting, ecstatic and undeniably moving” by the New Yorker this week.

Streisand hasn’t changed. On her first day of shooting On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), when her director Vincente Minnelli shouted “cut,” she shook her head, saying she intended to keep going.

Minnelli had made great movies like An American In Paris and Gigi and had even survived working with (and being married to) Judy Garland. “One doesn’t say ‘no’ to Minnelli,” Streisand was warned by legendary writer Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady).

Neither had as yet learned their Barbra lesson. Nor had her agent, Sue Mengers, who later tried to...

Barbra Streisand has revealed that she has no plans to return to the big screen anytime soon.

The Egot winner, who hasn’t starred in a movie in more than a decade, recently told People Magazine that the movie-making process can be tiring.

“I mean, it was 2009 that I was fighting for the rights to play Gypsy,” she said. “In other words, it gets exhausting, trying to come up with the structure of the movie and then have it not happen.”

But Streisand admitted that if she could have made her movies, she “never would’ve written a book. I had such good movies to make, meaning they were about things I cared about, very interesting subjects.”

The actress-singer has tried to get several projects made over the years, including The Normal Heart, Gypsy and a sequel to The Way We Were. She recently said on The Howard Stern Show...

When Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” opened on Nov. 18, 1983, directing was very much a man’s world. In the 1970s, there had been a few inroads for women. Italian director Lina Wertmuller was nominated for best director for 1976’s “Seven Beauties” Stateside, actress Barbara Loden, who was married to Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan, wrote, directed and starred in the acclaimed 1970 indie drama “Wanda,” which won best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival. She never followed up with another movie and died of breast cancer in 1980.

There was also Joan Micklin Silver (“Hester Street”), Claudia Weill (“Girlfriends”), Martha Coolidge (“Not a Pretty Picture”), Joan Tewkesbury (“Old Boyfriends”) and Joan Darling (“First Love”). But those filmmakers ran into brick walls when they tried to set up projects with the major studios. The late Silver told Vanity Fair in 2021 that a studio executive didn’t mince his word: “Feature films are expensive to make and expensive to market,...

On Tuesday, iconic singer and actress Barbra Streisand released her nearly 1,000-page memoir, My Name is Barbra. She dedicated her work to “the father I never knew and the mother I did.”

In her book, Streisand speaks of her childhood. She lost her father at only 15 months old. Her mother was always cold and unsupportive. Growing up, she wasn’t sure if her mother loved her.

This caused Streisand to become unhappy with herself. She described her father’s absence as a void in her life. In school, she was the “girl with no father and a good voice.”

She recalls harmonizing with the other students at 5 years old and knowing she was good. A couple of years later, at 13, Streisand’s mother paid for her to make her record.

She then started playing at nightclubs, where she met her longtime manager, Marty Erlichman, at 19. He got her a contract with Columbia Records.

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Barbra Streisand’s behemoth memoir, “My Name Is Barbra,” officially comes out today. Clocking in at nearly 1,000 pages (997 to be exact), many will likely opt for the audio version, read by Streisand herself, to expedite the reading process. But be warned: the audiobook is still 48 hours and 14 minutes long on Audible.

Buy Now On Amazon $31.50

It only makes sense that Streisand’s memoir, 10 years in the making, is enormous. Through the pages, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career for the first time — from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in “Funny Girl” and later winning the Oscar for the film adaptation. Of course, she also recounts lesser known stories about her early struggles in becoming an actor,...

After days of teasing an upcoming interview with a major public figure, on Thursday Stephen Colbert revealed he’s been talking about the one and only Barbra Streisand. You can watch the announcement at the top of the page now.

“I hope I’m sitting down when I tell you this, because I recently flew to Malibu to spend the day with living legend, Barbra Streisand. That’s right, Babs,” Colbert said during Thursday’s episode of “The Late Show.”

The interview will air during “The Late Show” on Monday, Nov. 13.

“Barbra Streisand generously invited me to visit her at her California home where she granted me an extended interview covering everything from her famous romances to her famous close dogs,” Colbert added.

The interview is of course timed to the release of Streisand’s upcoming memoir, “My Name is Barbra,” which hits stores 4 days earlier, on Nov. 7. You might...

There aren’t a lot of precedents in pop music for the pairing of Billie Eilish and Finneas, when it comes to brother-and-sister performing or songwriting duos. But in the world of music for films, it might not be too soon to start considering a comparison with a very famous married duo: Alan and Marilyn Bergman, the long-reigning king and queen of movie theme songs. The Bergmans weren’t a fully self-contained songwriting unit; they primarily worked as lyricists, joining up with outside composers like Michel Legrand or Marvin Hamlisch on Oscar-winning material like “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were” and the song score of “Yentl.” But it’s their names that are synonymous with film songs like few others’. Could it be that the O’Connells are following in their footsteps?

It’s much too soon to tell, with only a handful of movie songs to...

This article appears in the new issue of Den Of Geek magazine. Get your copy here.

If you want to see a musical adapted from stage to screen and adapted well, Rob Marshall is your dream director. For Chicago, he went high-concept, recontextualizing the Broadway songs as vaudeville numbers from the imagination of Roxie Hart. With Into the Woods, every prince, witch, and baker’s wife got a show-stopping number that justified why movie audiences should care about them. Marshall is keenly aware that, while theater is a heightened space in which it’s completely natural for characters to belt out their “I want” and torch songs, onscreen, it’s a tougher sell.

“You have to earn a song, especially in a movie,” he tells Den of Geek magazine. “It has to feel seamless coming from story and character.” For his live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, that...

One of the most high-profile releases in the spring of 1983 was “Flashdance,” starring Jennifer Beals, directed by Adrian Lyne, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. It marked Beals’ feature film debut, as well as Lyne’s second major feature following 1980’s “Foxes.” It was also one of Bruckheimer’s and Simpson’s earliest projects, coming soon after “American Gigolo.” Released 40 years ago on April 15, 1983, “Flashdance” took second place at the box office its opening weekend with four million dollars, but then it became the sensation of the spring movies, jumping up to first place the next weekend and staying there well into early May. By the end of its run, “Flashdance,” about a woman who works as both a welder and an exotic dancer and wants to get into ballet school, made more than $90 million in the United States and more than $200 million worldwide. Read on for our...

Even with only four movies under his belt, Zach Braff has directed more than his fair share of screen legends. His zeitgeist-y indie breakout success, 2004's "Garden State," saw him work with the late Ian Holm, who played Braff's father in the film. Braff's sophomore feature, "Wish I Was Here," then saw Inigo Montoya himself, "Yentl" and "The Princess Bride" actor Mandy Patinkin, step in to portray the "Scrubs" alum's onscreen patriarch.

Braff would remain off-screen for his third outing as a director with "Going in Style," a heist comedy remake that saw him direct no less than Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, and Christopher Lloyd. That's not to overlook the many seasoned character actors Braff has also guided from behind the camera over his career, starting with Jean Smart, Ann Dowd, and Jackie Hoffman in "Garden State." More recently, Braff's reunion with "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence on "Shrinking...

With Michael B. Jordan making his directorial debut with Creed III this weekend, we wanted to know what film by a first time Actor turned Director has been your favorite? Some came out of the gates with Oscar Glory (Kevin Costner/ Robert Redford) while others found a passion they haven’t looked back from (Ron Howard/ Sofia Coppola). If you don’t see your favorite listed, please let us know what (and who) it is in the comments section.

Update: I have rightly been called out for listing Braveheart as Mel Gibson’s first film when he actually directed a film prior to that called The Man Without a Face in 1993. So I guess the results are slightly skewed, but really, wasn’t Braveheart the first Mel Gibson directed film we all saw?!

Favorite Film by a First Time Actor Turned DirectorThat Thing You Do! (1996) (Tom Hanks)Ordinary People (1980) (Robert Redford)In a World…...

From The Video Archives Podcast, writer/director Roger Avary and writer/producer Gala Avary discuss a few of their favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Taxi Driver (1976)

Star Wars (1977)

Matinee (1993)

Dune (1984)

Terror On A Train a.k.a. Time Bomb (1953)

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Batman (1989)

Yentl (1983)

Nuts (1987)

Spaceballs (1987)

Die Hard (1988)

Top Gun (1986)

Cocksucker Blues (1972)

Mijn nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975)

Straw Dogs (1971)

The Godfather (1972)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Day Of The Dolphin (1973)

Babylon (2022)

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)

Carrie (1976)

Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)

Blow Out (1981)

The Matrix (1999)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Killing Zoe (1993)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Tenant (1976)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Bugsy Malone (1976)

Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)

The Muppet Movie (1979)

The Rules Of Attraction (2002)

The Sound Of Music (1965)

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

Giant (1956)

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

Babe (1995)

Time Bandits...

As Oscar rituals become ever more calcified, the biggest news when the annual nominations are announced is not necessarily who’s made the cut but rather who’s been snubbed. While a nom is worth a momentary celebration, a snub can turn into weeks, if not years, of outraged commentary. Nominations, and even wins, are often soon forgotten. But a snub can be eternal. For example, die-hard Barbra Streisand fans haven’t forgiven the Academy for denying her directing noms for either 1983’s Yentl (for which she won a Golden Globe) or 1991’s The Prince of Tides (a best picture nominee) even as it showered gold on male stars like Robert Redford (Ordinary People) and Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves) for their directorial debuts.

But not all so-called “snubs” are so obvious. In fact, the very word now suffers from overuse since it implies Academy members somehow get together and...

Oscar-nominated actress Amy Irving is ready to release her first album.

The performer tells The Hollywood Reporter that Born In a Trunk, featuring 10 cover songs pulled from her life and career, will be released digitally on April 7. “Why Don’t You Do Right?” — the first single which Irving sang as Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit — will be available on digital platforms on March 3.

Irving, 69, made her film debut in Brian De Palma’s Carrie in 1976 and two years later was in supernatural thriller The Fury. Her role in Yentl earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress and she scored best actress Golden Globes nominations for Crossing Delancey and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. She also has a number of stage credits, earning an Obie Award for her off-Broadway performance in a production of The Road to Mecca.

Born In a Trunk also features Irving covering songs...

The legendary RZA joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man With The Iron Fists (2012)

Cut Throat City (2020)

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

Cooley High (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Car Wash (1976) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Grease (1978)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) – Dennis Cozzalio’s best of 2020

The Devil You Know (2022)

The Last American Virgin (1982)

The Beastmaster (1982)

Porky’s (1981)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Carmen Jones (1954)

An American In Paris (1951)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

Is That Black Enough for You?!?...

In a first-time first-person account of her life and career, legendary singer, actress, director and producer Barbra Streisand will publish her memoir, My Name is Barbra, on November 7, 2023 via Penguin Random House imprint Viking. The Penguin Group made it official on Tuesday, calling the tome “engrossing and delightful.” There have been dozens of books written about the now 80-year-old artist, but this will be the first to tell her story in her own words.

And by account, it’s a lot of words. Pre-order listings have it clocking in at 1,040 pages. Fitting for a woman whose groundbreaking career has spanned six decades and included two Oscars, five Emmys, 10 Grammys, 11 Golden Globes and a Tony as well as countless other awards.

Streisand is among the handful of Egot winners and has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times.

Barbra Streisand’s memoir, which was first announced in 2015, is finally coming out from Viking, a Penguin Random House imprint, on Nov. 7, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

“My Name Is Barbra,” which is also is the title of a 1965 Streisand album and television special, is 1,040 pages and covers her personal and professional life.

“The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming,” according to the publisher’s statement.

“She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making ‘Yentl’; her direction of ‘The Prince of Tides’; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to [former Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.”

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Streisand and...

In Hit Me With Your Best Shot we choose a favourite images from selected films. Click on the images herein to be taken to the corresponding article from the participants.

Bronze - a star very much in control of her own image and its various crescendos into iconography

by Nathaniel R

Is there any generation that was so deprived of the movie musical as Generation X? The eighties and nineties were so bereft of live action musicals that whenever one did arrive it felt like both an anachronism and an event. Yentl (1983), as it turns out, still feels like both...

The multiverse fever of May breaks very soon and in its place, whatever June brings. But what will that be... beside birthday gifts for me (haha) But let's look back quickly at May in case you missed these highlights. You've been quiet as mice in the comments but we hope you're still enjoying. We do take requests if you have any. (May was very light outside of Cannes coverage we're aware but June will be jam-packed. Gird your loins)

A Dozen May Highlights

• FYC Honorary Oscars - 20 suggestions

• Anthony Hopkins full casting circle - from Cs Lewis to Sigmund Freud

• Best Shot: Happy Together - what a ravishment to revisit

• Nostalgia via The Breakfast Club - Baby Clyde revisited from a British kid-at-the-time perspective

• On Alexander Skarsgård - Matt says he's a character actor in hunk body

• Multiverse of Madness - Raves for The Scarlet Witch, otherwise... eh

• Returning Show...

Show business thrives on risk — even existential risk. Take this Broadway moment when new shows are opening at a pace that shocks even grizzled veterans – 15 in April alone. Of course, some will quickly be shuttering due to Broadway’s two dire enemies: critics and Covid. Ticket buyers must navigate a complex landscape.

It seems appropriate that Barbra Streisand may now re-appear as a star of the maelstrom. The revival of Funny Girl on April 24 will help her celebrate her 80th birthday — 60 years since her coronation on the hit show.

Given their layers of narcissistic impenetrability, superstars resist honest analysis, and that applies to the great Streisand as well. She is arguably the most famous, the wealthiest and the most trouble-prone. I’ve been a witness to “Barbra-trouble” over the years, but her high-temper detonations have only added to my admiration for her.

As the Streisand presence still looms large on Broadway,...

Nehemiah Persoff, who appeared as Barbra Streisand’s rabbi father in “Yentl” and had roles in hundreds of films and TV series including “Some Like It Hot” and “Twins,” died Tuesday in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He was 102.

His death was confirmed by his daughter, Dahlia Reano. Beyond prolific, Persoff racked up almost 200 credits in film and TV in a career that began in the very earliest days of television.

Persoff broke through in the 1959 movie “Some Like It Hot,” in which he played mobster boss Little Bonaparte. (The actor had been the last surviving member of the cast.) Early in his career, he was known for playing villainous tough guys, such as in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Wrong Man,” starring Henry Fonda, and “Al Capone,” starring Rod Steiger, in which he had a substantial role as Johnny Torrio, the mobster who mentored Capone only to be replaced by him.

Nehemiah Persoff, an actor who went from the uncredited role of a cab driver in On The Waterfront‘s iconic “coulda been a contender” scene to become one of the busiest character actors in television and film for five decades, died Tuesday at a rehabilitation facility in San Luis Obispo, California. He was 102.

Persoff had retired from acting in recent decades after suffering a stroke and other health issues. His death was reported to Deadline by a family friend.

Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, Persoff and his family moved to the United States in 1929, and after serving in the U.S. Army in World War II he relocated to New York to pursue a career in theater. He became a member of the famed Actors Studio in the late 1940s, studying with Elia Kazan, who would pay him a reported 75 to play the silent cab driver in Waterfront.

Persoff was also performing...

The films in the running for the 2022 Best Original Score Oscar are “Don’t Look Up,” “Dune,” “Encanto,” “Parallel Mothers,” and “The Power of the Dog.” Our current odds indicate that “Dune” (16/5) will take the prize, followed in order of likelihood by “The Power of the Dog” (19/5), “Encanto” (9/2), “Don’t Look Up” (9/2), and “Parallel Mothers” (9/2).

Four of this year’s five composers are previous nominees, with Hans Zimmer standing out from the rest with a dozen bids to his name, the first of which was for “Rain Man” (1989). He triumphed on his second outing for “The Lion King” (1995) and has since earned notices for “The Preacher’s Wife” (1997), “As Good as It Gets” (1998), “The Prince of Egypt” (1999), “The Thin Red Line” (1999), “Gladiator” (2001), “Sherlock Holmes” (2010), “Inception” (2011), “Interstellar” (2015), and “Dunkirk” (2018).

Alberto Iglesias’s bid for “Parallel Mothers” is his fourth in this category. He was first recognized for “The Constant Gardener” (2006) and then for “The Kite Runner...

Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning songwriter whose lyrics written with her husband, Alan Bergman, graced such hits as “The Way We Were,” “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “In the Heat of the Night” and the songs from “Yentl,” has died. She was 93 years old.

Bergman was the first woman president and chairman of the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a post she held from 1994 to 2009. She and her husband and lifelong writing partner Alan Bergman wrote the words to some of the most popular film and TV songs of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, and continued to write together well into the 2000s.

They were Oscar nominated 16 times, and won three. The Bergmans were frequent collaborators with composers Michel Legrand and Marvin Hamlisch (“The Way We Were”).

The Bergmans were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and received its Johnny...

Marilyn Bergman, winner of multiple Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and more for her song lyrics, has died at 93. She passed at home in Los Angeles at 1:15 Am Pt Saturday morning with husband Alan Bergman and daughter Julie Bergman at her side. The cause of death was respiratory failure (non-covid related).

Bergman was a multi-award-winning lyricist with three Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and one Cable Ace Award, among others.

In collaboration with her husband, Alan, Marilyn won Oscars for the songs “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were” and for the score for Yentl. Since their first Oscar nomination in 1968, the Bergmans have been nominated 16 times- for such songs as “It Might Be You” from Tootsie, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?” from Best Friends, “Papa Can You Hear Me?” and “The Way He Makes Me Feel” from Yentl, and...

So have we seen everything yet?

AFI Fest, which just wrapped in Los Angeles, is the final prominent film festival to unveil a handful of awards hopefuls.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut, “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” from Netflix, premiered to strong reviews and plenty of Oscar buzz. As part of a banner year for Miranda that includes involvement in three other projects — “Encanto,” “In the Heights” and “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” — Miranda successfully stages a movie adaptation of a lesser-known, autobiographical musical from “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson. The film will most likely earn a second lead actor Oscar nomination for Andrew Garfield (after “Hacksaw Ridge”) for playing Larson, in a role that requires quite a bit of singing.

In fact, Garfield may emerge as a formidable challenger to Will Smith for “King Richard,” where he plays Richard Williams, the father of tennis champs Venus and Serena.

Halle Berry, the sole Black woman to win the best actress Oscar in 93 years, has unveiled her directorial debut film “Bruised” at the AFI Film Festival, showcasing a commitment and skill that only the very best actors in the world can harness.

Written by debut screenwriter Michelle Rosenfarb, “Bruised” tells the story of Jackie Justice, a disgraced Mma fighter that seeks redemption once the son that she abandoned reenters her life.

In probably her most challenging and authoritative work as an actress since “Monster’s Ball” (2001), Berry shows that at 55 years old, she still harnesses the talent and enthusiasm to take on any role or story she’s excited about. Fearless as she dives into a character, Berry explores Jackie’s physicality and the profession of Mma fighting itself. This is something the actors’ branch tends to appreciate. No female director has ever directed themselves to an Oscar nomination for acting.

Joan Washington, a veteran dialect and voice coach and the wife of Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant, died Wednesday. Grant posted the news on social media Friday morning but did not provide details.

“Only You Joan – Love of my Life & Giver of Life to our daughter Olivia,” Grant wrote in a tweet that includes a video of the couple dancing and smiling (see it below). “Our hearts are broken with the loss of your life last night. 35 years married and 38 together. To be truly known and seen by you is your immeasurable gift. Do not forget us, sweet Monkee-mine.”

Washington began her career working as a dialect coach on Barbra Streisand’s 1983 movie Yentl. She had worked steadily in film and TV since then, contribution voice and/or dialect instruction on such titles as The Dressmaker, Highlander, Brassed Off, 101 Dalmatians and its sequel, Elizabeth, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,...

Steven Spielberg has added a new generation to the fictional family at the center of his semi-autobiographical film, which has the working title of “The Fabelmans.”

Oscar nominees Judd Hirsch and Jeannie Berlin, and veteran stage and screen actors Robin Bartlett and Jonathan Hadary will play the older relatives of a young, aspiring filmmaker — played by Gabriel Labelle (“The Predator”) — who is loosely based on Spielberg’s experiences as a kid in Arizona.

Hirsch, Berlin, Bartlett and Hadary are joining a high-powered ensemble cast led by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano, who are playing versions of Spielberg’s late mother and father; Seth Rogen, who is based on Spielberg’s favorite uncle; Julia Butters, playing the stand-in for Spielberg’s sister; and Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Chloe East and Isabelle Kusman, who are playing high school classmates.

Spielberg co-wrote the screenplay with regular collaborator Tony Kushner, and both men are...

On Monday morning, the day after making history with her two Oscar wins, Chloé Zhao is beaming. Her happiness is detectable even over Zoom. “It was just so, so beautiful to be in the room with people, and to be able to actually talk to them and to celebrate with my peers,” she says.

Not everything went as planned at the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night; witness the show not ending with the usual best picture category, instead unexpectedly honoring an actor, Anthony Hopkins, who wasn’t even there, as its climax. But at least one thing went very right: Zhao landed the trophy for best director for “Nomadland,” and also received the top prize for picture. She’s only the second woman to win an Oscar for director — after Kathryn Bigelow (for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker”) — and Zhao, who was born in Beijing, is the first woman of color to receive the prize.

Video Version of this Article Photo/Video: Female Winners/Hollywood Insider YouTube Channel We are now in the time of year where there’s a different awards show every Sunday for a month and a half. During these shows, spanning from the Emmy Awards to the Academy Awards, there is a grand total of 151 different awards given out. Considering the fact that these shows have been going on for as long as they have, you would think we’d be out of opportunities for historic winners, but so many firsts have come in recent years, especially for women. Related article: 8 Glass-Ceiling Breaking Female Pioneers in Cinema from Old Hollywood to Now Related article: The Verified Complete List of Every Female Best Director Oscar Winner: Fact-Checked Series These are 10 of those female winners who were the first and record holders at awards shows. Barbra Streisand Barbara Streisand is best known for...