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0Charlie Hunnam is an English actor best known for Sons of Anarchy, playing the complex and broken Jax Teller. Before Hunnam donned his leather Samcro vest, he first gained recognition as the title character in Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickelby, based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Hunnam starred in several other notable projects, like Pacific Rim and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Back in 2001—before his dramatic work—Charlie Hunnam had a regular role in the Judd Apatow comedy series Undeclared. Undeclared followed a group of college first-year students living in the same dorm at a fictional college in Northern California. A fresh-faced, twenty-one-year-old Charlie Hunnam played Lloyd, a theater student and ladies' man.

Undeclared Is Hilariously Awkward

Following Freaks & Geeks, Judd Apatow looked for his next idea for television. He wanted to bring as many as he could of the cult classic's cast...

It was the night before Valentine’s Day in 1995, and Jennifer Tilly was sitting in a hotel room, feeling a strange electrical charge in the air.

The Oscar nominations would be announced the following morning, and Tilly had no reason to be optimistic. The actress had earned glowing reviews from critics for her robust comedic performance in “Bullets Over Broadway,” which opened in theaters 30 years ago this week. But it was her co-star Dianne Wiest who had swept the critics awards and won the Golden Globe and was a lock to receive a nomination.

And though Tilly had eagerly promoted her own work in the film – read on to find all about the unique strategy of her campaign – she had not garnered a single precursor citation anywhere and was considered a long shot, generously speaking. According to the pundits, only one film would net two Best Supporting Actress nominations that year: “Forrest Gump,...

Much like our social media-driven news cycle today which is fixated on cancelation and schadenfreude, there arguably was a judge, jury and executioner style in Truman Capote’s published Esquire pieces, read “La Côte Basque 1965″ about New York City female elites. Ryan Murphy and Jon Robin Baitz’s latest FX limited series Feud: Capote vs. Swans dives into Capote’s deconstruction and takedown of the fancy ladies he supped and partied with.

How in God’s name would Capote operate in a social media world?

We kick around that notion today with the series’ stars Tom Hollander who plays the tender, though nitpicky and sassy Capote, and Naomi Watts who plays the author’s best friend, though a betrayed one.

Hollander acknowledges that there remains today, like decades ago “a ghoulish fascination about the glamor and the compromises” of high society women, “there’s sort of a style porn that...

With "Avengers: Endgame" behind us and Chris Evans having retired from the Marvel Cinematic Universe until further notice, we can all agree that "Captain America: The First Avenger" is the best Steve Rogers solo film, right? From its character work to its action sequences and a rousing score by the legendary Alan Silvestri, director Joe Johnston's WWII adventure is a top-tier MCU movie. While it may lack the visceral melees that the Russo Brothers brought to its sequels, "The First Avenger" delivers more than enough whiz-bang thrills and Brooklyn attitude to make up the difference (that and its politics are much less confused than those of "The Winter Soldier").

Johnston's superhero picture also boasts what is still one of the McU's most distinguished casts, pairing Evans with Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, and Dominic Cooper. Even Natalie Dormer, David Bradley,...

Gwyneth Paltrow recalls Bill Clinton snoring during an awkward White House screening of Emma. Despite Clinton's nap, Emma (1996) was a hit and was praised for staying faithful to Austen's novel. Paltrow's Emma remains a sentimental favorite, even if it couldn't keep the former president awake.

Gwyneth Paltrow recalls an awkward screening of Emma at the White House with Bill Clinton. The 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel follows a precocious Regency-era Englishwoman, her misguided attempts at matchmaking, and the consequences that arise from her meddling in the romantic affairs of others, including nearly missing out on her own chance at love. Gwyneth Paltrow leads the Emma cast alongside Alan Cumming, Toni Collette, Ewan McGregor, and Jeremy Northam.

During a recent appearance on Hot Ones (via First We Feast), Paltrow recalled an awkward screening of Emma at the White House with President Bill Clinton in 1996.

Asked by host Sean Evans...

Gwyneth Paltrow confirmed on “Hot Ones” that a rumor about Bill Clinton sleeping through a screening of “Emma” at the White House is true. The 1996 Jane Austen adaptation was directed by Douglas McGrath and featured Paltrow in the title role. She earned critical acclaim for the performance, which continued her hot streak as one of the most recognizable actors of the 1990s indie film boom.

“Is it true that Bill Clinton passed out asleep during a White House screening of ‘Emma’?” host Sean Evans asked Paltrow.

“True!” Paltrow answered. “He was snoring right in front of me. I was like, ‘Wow, I guess this is going to be a real hit movie.’ But it was! So fuck you, Bill Clinton!

“Emma” was a box office success with nearly $40 million worldwide on a production budget under $8 million. The film picked up two Academy Award nominations, one for costume design and another for original score.

In 2006, a movie came out starring Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Bogdanovich, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Toby Jones. That’s a murderer’s row of talent bringing to life writer/director Douglas McGrath’s script — and very few people paid it much mind. But “Infamous” was a victim of bad timing, not bad filmmaking.

One can’t blame audiences for greeting it with a collective shrug. McGrath’s movie tackled the exact same topic as the previous year’s “Capote” (the movie that earned Philip Seymour Hoffman his first and only Oscar): Truman Capote’s time spent researching and writing his true-crime classic “In Cold Blood.” After the buzzy release of “Capote” and months spent in awards season campaigning mode, no one was ready to revisit the subject.

What a shame, because “Infamous” restores much of what was missing from Bennett Miller...

Emma (2020) is a decadent reimagining that balances contemporary sensibilities and progressive themes with Austen's classic tale. Gwyneth Paltrow's Emma (1996) is visually stunning but suffers from lukewarm chemistry and a staid portrayal of Mr. Knightley. Clueless (1995) remains the best and most creative modern adaptation of Austen's Emma, updating the story for a new generation.

Jane Austen's classic novel Emma has been adapted into multiple movies, some greater than others. Every few years, Hollywood dives back into the bodiced world of Regency England to resuscitate one of Jane Austen's spunky, whimsical heroines — with the most recent lavish restoration going to Autumn de Wilde's version, Emma (2020), starring Anya Taylor-Joy as the captivating conductress of romantic ruination. It's the classic tale of pride, privilege, and one irrepressibly likable heroine. Every generation has their favorite version of Austen's story and picking one Emma movie adaptation over another isn't an easy task for fans.

Four-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz will perform for Sunday’s emotional “In Memoriam” segment on the Oscars 2023 ceremony. While only 40-50 people are generally remembered for the television ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC, over 200 people will be recognized on the Academy’s webpage starting that evening.

SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2023?: Full List of Presenters and Performers

Here is a lengthy list of many contributors to film who died since last year’s Academy Awards ceremony:

Mary Alice (actor)

Gil Alkabetz (animator)

Kirstie Alley (actor)

Burt Bacharach (composer)

Angelo Badalamenti (composer)

Simone Bär (casting director)

Joanna Barnes (actor)

Carl A. Bell (animator)

Jeff Berlin (sound)

David Birney (actor)

Bruce Bisenz (sound)

Robert Blake (actor)

Eliot Bliss (sound)

Nick Bosustow (shorts)

Albert Brenner (production designer)

Tom Bronson (costume designer)

James Caan (actor)

Michael Callan (actor)

Donn Cambern (editor)

Irene Cara (songwriter)

Gary W. Carlson (sound)

Marvin Chomsky...

Sunday’s SAG Awards ceremony will be a streaming event for the first time on the Netflix YouTube channel. One of the highlights each year is the special In Memoriam segment. It’s been a particularly rough year with over 100 deaths of prominent actors and actresses who were likely members of SAG/AFTRA. Show producers typically are able to include approximately 40-50 people in a tribute.

Among that group will certainly be Oscar winners Louise Fletcher, William Hurt and Irene Cara, plus nominees Angela Lansbury (a SAG life achievement recipient) and Melinda Dillon. Emmy champs Mary Alice, Kirstie Alley, Leslie Jordan, Ray Liotta, Stuart Margolin, Robert Morse and Barbara Walters.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2023: In Memoriam Gallery

Here is our expansive list of over 100 people who died since last year’s ceremony, several of whom will be honored on Sunday’s event:

Ralph Ahn

J. Grant Albrecht

Mary Alice

Rae Allen...

Douglas McGrath, the Oscar and Tony-nominated writer, actor and director, died Thursday in New York City. He was 64.

McGrath died of a heart attack, according to a report from the New York Times.

McGrath was born and raised in Texas before moving to New Jersery to attend Princeton.

He began his career at “Saturday Night Live,” which he joined in 1980, working alongside actors including Chevy Chase, Laurie Metcalf and Al Franken.

McGrath garnered credits on shows including “L.A. Law” and “The Steven Banks Show” before turning to feature films. His first feature screenplay credit was for “Born Yesterday,” starring Melanie Griffith, John Goodman and Don Johnson and his second, co-written with Woody Allen, was “Bullets Over Broadway,” which featured John Cusack, Dianne Wiest and Jennifer Tilly. The film earned McGrath and Allen an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

His next project was “Emma,” an adaptation of Jane Austen’s...

The 1984 classic Silent Night, Deadly Night (watch it Here) and the 1974 classic Black Christmas (watch that one Here) are two horror films that many genre fans make sure to watch every holiday season – so the folks at Gutter Garbs have very wisely put imagery promoting both films together for their “Holidays of Horror Double Feature” collection. A T-shirt, a hoodie, and a poster showing Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas double feature artwork can be purchased at This Link – and you can take a look at those items at the bottom of this article.

Directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr. from a screenplay by Michael Hickey (working from a story by Paul Caimi), Silent Night, Deadly Night has the following synopsis:

Bearing the emotional scars of a young boy who has seen his mother and father brutally murdered by a savage killer in a Santa Claus costume, 18-year-old Billy...

Douglas McGrath, the director and writer whose work spanned film, stage and television and earned him a Tony nomination for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and an Oscar nomination for the Bullets Over Broadway screenplay he co-authored with Woody Allen, died suddenly yesterday in New York City. He was 64.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022 Photo Gallery

At the time of his death, McGrath was starring in the Off Broadway solo show he’d written, Everything’s Fine, an autobiographical play directed by John Lithgow at the Daryl Roth Theatre. With McGrath’s death, the show played its final performance on Wednesday, November 2. The show was to have played at least through Jan. 22, 2023.

Details on a cause of death were not immediately available.

His death was announced by the Everything’s Fine producers Daryl Roth, Tom Werner and John Lithgow.

“The company of Everything’s Fine was honored to have presented his solo autobiographical show,...

Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman picked up her Career Achievement Award at Zurich Film Festival on Thursday. She also gave another Golden Eye statuette to Robert IJserinkhuijsen, winner of the 10th International Film Music Competition. Portman was this year’s jury president.

“She is an exceptional composer, a fine storyteller. She paints feelings with sounds. With her, longing can sound mysterious and sadness can sound like hope,” said artistic director Christian Jungen, celebrating an inspiring career in an industry “long-dominated by men.”

“Her compositions are timeless, personal and yet universal,” he added.

“My primary concern is to write music that really, really fits the film. And serves the film. I always wish to write music that has integrity and I will endeavor to continue to do that,” Portman said.

The composer – who won her Oscar for Douglas McGrath’s “Emma” – will now turn her attention to Showtime miniseries “King Shaka,” executive produced by Antoine Fuqua.

Click here to read the full article.

John Lithgow is set to direct the off-Broadway run of Everything’s Fine, the one-man show from Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Douglas McGrath.

The autobiographical play recounts the actor, writer and director’s life, starting at the age of 14 in Midland, Texas, the town made famous by the 1987 well rescue of “Baby Jessica.” The Emma and Nicholas Nickleby screenwriter will detail some of his most significant remembrances, including the courtship of his one-eyed father and his mother — the latter of whom worked at Harper’s Bazaar for Diana Vreeland and became pals with Andy Warhol — and an eighth-grade teacher who changed McGrath’s life in the most unexpected way.

Everything’s Fine will mark McGrath’s first New York stage performance in more than 25 years. The show serves as Lithgow’s return to directing after more than four decades.

The world premiere is set...

Filmmaker Autumn de Wilde is serving up a fresh new take on the Jane Austen novel with the film Emma., which opens in theaters this weekend. Complete with a stylized punctuated period in the title, the new version is a Focus Features co-production with Working Title and Blueprint Productions and joins the ranks of other Hollywood iterations of the classic story. This includes the 1996 iteration starring Gwyneth Paltrow, a modern Indian version titled Aisha in 2010 and, of course, Amy Heckerling’s way existential adaptation Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone. There were also countless TV versions including the 1996 ITV film, starring Kate Beckinsale in the titular role as well as the 2009 four-part BBC miniseries starring Romola Garai. That being said, it seems like the world can’t get enough of this Austen’s comedy of “love and all its surprises”, but based on the trailer alone, de Wilde’s cracks open a...

“Emma,” the first straightforward film adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic text since Douglas McGrath’s 1995 take, is arduously faithful to the text in all respects but one: The most romantic scene is interrupted by a nosebleed. This is the perfect distillment of Autumn de Wilde’s prim and winking “Emma,” a film as technicolor-lush as Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” and as subversively fanatic about its source material as Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” With winsome performances, eye-popping art direction, and witty repartee, de Wilde’s adaptation is, like its protagonist, “handsome, clever, and rich.”

Twenty-five years after Gwenyth Paltrow played Emma Woodhouse, Anya Taylor-Joy has taken on the famous meddler’s bonnet.

Continue reading ‘Emma’ Is A Clever, Frothy Take On A Jane Austen Classic [Review] at The Playlist.

dick clark productions announced today that the cast of the film The Big Sick, including Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, will receive the “Hollywood Comedy Ensemble Award”; actor Jamie Bell will receive the “New Hollywood Actor Award” for his recent work in “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”; and musicians Diane Warren, Common and Andra Day will receive the “Hollywood Song Award” for the original song, “Stand Up For Something” with music by Diane Warren, lyrics by Diane Warren and Common and is performed by Andra Day featuring Common from the film Marshall, at the 21st Annual “Hollywood Film Awards.” The 2017 “Hollywood Film Awards,” known as the official launch of the awards season®, will be hosted by actor and comedian James Corden for the third consecutive year and will take place at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sunday, November 5, 2017. The ceremony, which...

The Ogunquit Playhouse takes audience on a hilarious trip back to the Roaring Twenties with their production of the musical adaptation of Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath's madcap film, Bullets Over Broadway on stage from tonight, July 5, through July 29.

By Raymond Benson

“A Dickens Delight”

By Raymond Benson

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby may not immediately come to mind when naming the most well-known of author Charles Dickens’ novels, but it’s arguably one of his best. Besides being a cracking good story in print, the Royal Shakespeare Company famously produced an 8-1/2-hour long Tony Award-winning play (staged in two parts, with a dinner break) in 1980 that was one of this reviewer’s most treasured theatrical experiences.

The motion picture, released in 2002 to positive critical acclaim but little enthusiasm from ticket-buyers, is also a delight. Writer/director Douglas McGrath whittled down Dickens’ massive tome to a mere 132 minutes, and yet one doesn’t miss the extracted bits. The screenplay is an essential lesson in adaptation. Now a gorgeously rendered Blu-ray release from Twilight Time, Nickleby can be re-evaluated and appreciated for the superb achievement it is.

Film critic David Thomson, author of “A Biographical Dictionary of Film” and “How to Watch a Movie,” has a new book coming out this month, “Television: A Biography,” which examines the medium and its six-decade history. In the book, Thomson addresses the medium in two sections: “The Medium,” which explores the social and political climate of the television age, the move from novel craze to complacent habit and more; and “The Messages,” which considers the evolution of TV shows, the relationship between Americans and television and more. “The sacred fixed altar (the set) has given up its central place of worship and is now just one screen among so many, like the dinner table kept for state occasions in a life of snacking,” says Thomson.

Read More: Interview: David Thomson Talks New Edition Of ‘Dictionary Of Film,’ Roger Ebert, Future Of Cinema And Much More

In the excerpt below, read...

Watching “Everything Is Copy” (HBO), on the life of Nora Ephron, it’s clear that the late writer and filmmaker was willing to use, and to massage, the truth. Of the narrator’s hamster-loving first husband, in her 1983 novel “Heartburn,” Ephron’s own ex-, Dan Greenberg, says the strange trait is an invention; of 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally…” the screenwriter admits that Meg Ryan’s cheerful, high-strung co-lead is based “more or less” on herself. As New Yorker editor David Remnick remarks of Ephron’s inimitable essays, “her voice in print really replicated her voice—almost—in life.”

Indeed, in “Everything Is Copy,” as in the other films nominated for Outstanding Documentary/Nonfiction Special at this year’s Emmys, the subject’s work inhabits this space between the dashes, the “almost” and the “more or less.” It’s where the biographical blurs into the fictional, where fact and craft diverge.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Becoming Mike Nichols (Douglas McGrath)

Tracing the early career of the prolific filmmaker, from his early collaborations with Elaine May to his first few adventures in Hollywood, Becoming Mike Nichols may very well become a required text in an introduction to narrative filmmaking course. Generous with his knowledge of the craft, text, performers, and the mistakes he made along the way, he opens up to fellow...

The second documentary by Douglas McGrath (best known for his narrative films Emma and Nicholas Nickleby), Becoming Mike Nichols explores the early career of Nichols through three specific phases: his early life as a German immigrant living in New York, his early collaborations during and after college with Elaine May, and his early directing career on stage and eventually on screen. Playing as a cross between a biography and directing master class, Becoming Mike Nichols is an engaging study of the filmmaker’s early career. We spoke with McGrath at the Sundance Film Festival, where his film had its world premiere, about what would be the director’s final performance, so to speak, as discussed in the interview.

The Film Stage: Can you tell us a little about how you approached these interviews?

Douglas McGrath: I think of the film as a sort of film version of what his...

In the late 1940s, young émigré Mike Nichols — born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky in the waning days of the Weimar Republic — headed to Broadway to catch a new play, starring a then-unknown transplant from Nebraska. "To this day," he tells interlocutor Jack O'Brien in Douglas McGrath's "Becoming Mike Nichols" (HBO), "it was the only thing I've seen that was 100% real and 100% poetic, both at the same time." Though "paralyzed" by its remarkable confluence of writing, acting, and directing, he nonetheless absorbed from the production something like a calling: Nichols aspired to recreate that alchemy of the real and the poetic for the rest of his life. Watch: "The Best of Mike Nichols" The play was "A Streetcar Named Desire," the performer Marlon Brando, and Nichols the filmmaker cleared this extraordinary bar twice: in his dreamy anthem for doomed youth, "The Graduate" (1967), which remains an...

Tracing the early career of the prolific filmmaker, from his early collaborations with Elaine May to his first few adventures in Hollywood, Becoming Mike Nichols may very well become a required text in an introduction to narrative filmmaking course. Generous with his knowledge of the craft, text, performers, and the mistakes he made along the way, he opens up to fellow theatre director and longtime friend Jack O’Brien in a series of two interviews recorded in 2014 at the John Golden Theater — the venue that hosted An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May in 1960. O’Brien interviews Nichols, once with an audience and once without one, allowing some stories to be told twice — sometimes performing for the entire room, others simply opening up to an old friend in a more casual setting.

Director Douglas McGrath permits scenes from The Graduate and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf to play...

People might remember the late Mike Nichols differently for his various achievements, but if there's anything we can collectively agree on, it's that the man was a legend. As a producer, director and improv comedy icon, it's easily more than fair to say that the man accomplished much to be celebrated in his lifetime.  Read More: Here Are Mike Nichols' Best Films, From 'The Graduate' to 'The Birdcage' "Becoming Mike Nichols," a new documentary from HBO, gives us insight into the artist's life like we've never seen him before. Directed by Douglas McGrath, the documentary features Nichols in some of his final interviews, filmed a mere four months before his passing. The documentary takes the audience through Nichols's life, from the beginning of his career, to his celebrated comedy work with Elaine May, his direction of Neil Simon plays "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Odd Couple," to finally,...

Comprising a considerable amount of our top 50 films of last year, Sundance Film Festival has proven to yield the first genuine look at what the year in cinema will bring. Now in its 38th iteration, we’ll be heading back to Park City this week, but before we do, it’s time to highlight the films we’re most looking forward to, including documentaries and narrative features from all around the world.

While much of the joy found in the festival comes from surprises throughout the event, below one will find our 25 most-anticipated titles off the bat, which doesn’t include some of the ones we’ve already seen and admired, notably Cemetery of Splendour, The Lobster and Rams. Check out everything below and for updates straight from the festival, make sure to follow us on Twitter (@TheFilmStage, @jpraup, @djmecca and @DanSchindel), and stay tuned to all of our coverage here.

Anne Hathaway: Oscar Host's Red Dress outshone Oscars' Red Carpet. Anne Hathaway Oscar host: Red dress one of countless outfits Blast from the Past: Pictured above is Oscar host Anne Hathaway sporting a blindingly bright white smile while on the 2011 Academy Awards' Red Carpet just outside the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. But wait. In the photo, Hathaway is wearing a blindingly bright red gown. Wasn't her dress of a metallic blue hue? Actually, no. It was beige (with patterns). Wait. Come to think of it, she actually wore a tux, not a dress. Or maybe it was all of the above. And more. How could that be? Well, the color, texture, format, and type of Anne Hathaway's outfits varied according to which 15 minutes of the Oscar telecast you watched on Sunday night, Feb. 27. Hathaway, a Best Actress nominee for Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married in early...

HBO said today that the documentary Becoming Mike Nichols will debut on the premium cabler on February 22. But if you're attending the Sundance Film Festival next month. you might be able to see the intimate Douglas McGrath-directed interview with the Oscar winner a little earlier. The world premiere of the portrait of The Graduate director was among several additions the Robert Redford-founded fest made to its already announced lineup today. Nichols died in November 2014…...

HBO said today that the documentary Becoming Mike Nichols will debut on the premium cabler on February 22. But if you're attending the Sundance Film Festival next month. you might be able to see the intimate Douglas McGrath-directed interview with the Oscar winner a little earlier. The world premiere of the portrait of The Graduate director was among several additions the Robert Redford-founded fest made to its already announced lineup today. Nichols died in November 2014…...

With just a little more than a month to go until The Sundance Film Festival, the festival has announced additions to the lineup, including the premiere of Douglas McGrath’s documentary Becoming Mike Nichols and three “From the Collection” archival screenings. Becoming Mike Nichols is slated to air on HBO on Feb. 22. Also on the program is a new Special Event featuring Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused along with live commentary from the filmmaker and his pal Jason Reitman. The archival screenings include John Sayles’ City of Hope, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass and Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking. The festival runs January 21-31, 2016. Below are the […]...

With just a little more than a month to go until The Sundance Film Festival, the festival has announced additions to the lineup, including the premiere of Douglas McGrath’s documentary Becoming Mike Nichols and three “From the Collection” archival screenings. Becoming Mike Nichols is slated to air on HBO on Feb. 22. Also on the program is a new Special Event featuring Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused along with live commentary from the filmmaker and his pal Jason Reitman. The archival screenings include John Sayles’ City of Hope, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass and Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking. The festival runs January 21-31, 2016. Below are the […]...

There are always a few late-breaking additions to the Sundance slate—in some cases due to jockeying for position with the Berlinale, which follows only a few weeks later—but this year's are particularly compelling. Only one competition title, New Zealand doc "Tickled," is new to the mix, while the world premiere of Douglas McGrath's "Becoming Mike Nichols" (airing on HBO February 22) is a welcome sight, a little more than a year after the beloved director's death. Read More: "Sundance Programmers Unveil, Discuss 2016 Competition, Next Lineups (Exclusive)" In addition, the final seven films and special events added to the 2016 lineup include a screening of "Dazed and Confused" with live commentary by director Richard Linklater and Jason Reitman and John Sayles' 1991 premiere "City of Hope." Read the full list of newly announced programming below. Read More: "Sundance Adds New Films by Werner Herzog, Kenneth...

Organisers at the Park City jamboree have added a documentary from New Zealand, a profile of Mike Nichols and a presentation of Dazed And Confused with live commentary by Richard Linklater and Jason Reitman.

New additions include three archive films from The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a film preservation programme established in 1997.

The late arrivals mean the 2016 festival will present 123 features representing 37 countries and 49 first-time filmmakers, including 30 in competition.

These films were selected from 12,793 submissions, including 4,081 features and 8,712 shorts. Of the feature submissions, 1,972 were from the Us and 2,109 were international. A total of 103 features at the festival will be world premieres.

The 2016 Sundance Film Festival is scheduled to run from January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The synopses below were provided by the festival.

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Tickled (New Zealand)

Dirs: David Farrier, Dylan Reeve

A journalist stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition. As he delves...

Chicago – Carole King, from modest roots and beginnings, went on to become the most successful female songwriter of the last forty years of the 20th Century. So this “natural woman” was perfect for a musical overview of her life and great songs, in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

The structure and songs are the highlight of King’s life story, starting in the late 1950s on Tin Pan Alley (the songwriting strip of Broadway in New York City) to a triumphant Carnegie Hall Concert as a 1970s solo act. Along the way there are the social changes of the 1960s and a legendary songwriting partnership, in addition to the sorrow of the breakup and the evolution of starting over. It is the American Dream and the American songbook rolled into one breezy evening, and the truth of Carole King within the musical is evident from beginning to end.

Chicago – While a musical stage play is known for its songs rather than dialogue or story, all has to be created. And the playwright for the opening-in-Chicago “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is veteran actor, director and scribe Douglas McGrath. ‘Beautiful’ opens December 1st, 2015, at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.

“Beautiful” is a so-called jukebox musical with a twist. It takes the tunes of singer/songwriter Carole King, but integrates them within the story of Ms. King, who rose from a teenage song creator to a pop artist in her own right (“Tapestry” was her million seller album). The poignancy, in both the good and not-so-good times, are all told in the musical, which was crafted by Douglas McGrath.

Scene From ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,’ book by Douglas McGrath

Photo credit: Broadway in Chicago

McGrath is a hybrid, having written screenplays, acted in films and directed. He began his...

“A Study Of Darkness”

By Raymond Benson

One of the more controversial motion pictures to emerge out of what film historians call “New Hollywood” was In Cold Blood, which was released to theaters “for mature audiences only.” The New Hollywood movement began around 1966, when the Production Code finally started to collapse (and before the movie ratings were instituted) and studios commenced allowing auteur filmmakers to do whatever the hell they wanted. The year 1967 was especially a groundbreaking one with the release of such “adult” fare as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, and In Cold Blood.

In Cold Blood is based on the “non-fiction novel” by Truman Capote about the true crime of 1959 in which an innocent family of four in Kansas were murdered by two ex-cons who believed there was $10,000 hidden in a safe in the house (there wasn’t). Capote spent several years writing the book,...

Hollywood is mourning one of its own today, following news of legendary producer Jerry Weintraub's passing on Monday (July 6), aged 77.

Stars from his Ocean's movies including George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle have shared their condolences, as well as The Way producer Gabe Polsky and director Douglas McGrath.

"In the coming days there will be tributes, about our friend Jerry Weintraub," Clooney said in a statement. "We'll laugh at his great stories, and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it.

"But not today. Today our friend died. To his family and friends, Amal and I send our love. And to those who didn't know him we send our deepest sympathy. You would have loved him."

Pitt said: "He was an absolute original. I loved him and will genuinely miss him,...

"Oceans Eleven" producer and one-time United Artists chairman Jerry Weintraub died on Monday at his home in Palm Springs. He was 77. His film credits include “The Karate Kid,” “Nashville” and “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation.” He won Emmys for 2014 climate change documentary “Years of Living Dangerously” and Steven Soderbergh's HBO Liberace biopic, “Behind The Candelabra.” Weintraub was one of those larger-than-life Hollywood figures who helped to define the image of what a movie producer is. Well into his 70s he was enjoying a resurgence that began with Steven Soderbergh's "Oceans Eleven" series and continued with his bestselling autobiography "When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead" and the entertaining 2011 Doug McGrath HBO doc "His Way." "I'm an event guy," Weintraub told me on the phone from his desert hideaway. "Billy Friedkin used to call me 'Presents.' I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and...

Goin’ Down the Road

Written by William Fruet and Donald Shebib

Directed by Donald Shebib

Canada, 1970

Donald Shebib’s landmark 1970 drama Goin’ Down the Road was a watershed moment in Canadian national cinema, in part because it proved that there could be one. The very notion of a Canadian national cinema was relatively new when the film was released. Though the National Film Board (Nfb) was establish in the late 1930s, it was only in the 1950s that its focus shifted from war-effort propaganda to a very specific form of national soul-searching, wondering aloud who we were and what our place in the world was. The collective attempt at pinpointing Canada’s national identity would reach a fever pitch with the Centennial just around the corner, but ended up yielding precious few concrete answers (though it wasn’t for lack of trying, as Nfb-produced works like Helicopter Canada, commissioned specifically for Canada’s 100th birthday,...

Fast & Furious:  A Fast & Furious attraction will open at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 25. "Fast & Furious - Supercharged" will serve as the finale to the studio tour, allowing visitors to enjoy a (safe) high-speed car chase with the movie's stars, including Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, and Tyrese Gibson. A behind-the-scenes video reveals how the theme ride was made. [The Hollywood Reporter]   Beautiful: The Carole King Musical: The Broadway production Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is heading to the big screen. Douglas McGrath, who wrote the book for the musical, will also write the movie adaptation; Tom Hanks will serve as one of the producers. The Broadway show opened in January 2014 and is still...

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If you caught Carole King performing with Sara Bareilles at the 2014 Grammys, you’d know just how timeless an artist King and her work are. Her Diamond graded pop-album Tapestry from 1971 is a masterpiece, and one of the best selling albums of all time. And though today King maybe doesn’t get the indie cred as some of her ’70s, singer/songwriter female contemporaries like say, Joni Mitchell, that may be about to change.

Broadway World was the first to report that Sony has just secured the rights to adapt the Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, along with King’s life rights, her songwriting collaborators’ life rights, and the rights to many of her hit songs including “The Locomotion,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “So Far Away,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”

Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman,...

Tom Hanks' Playtone production company is teaming with Sony Pictures for film adaptation of the Broadway hit "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical".

Douglas McGrath, who also penned the musical's book, will adapt the script which deals with the pop singer-songwriter’s rise to fame and her off-stage triumphs and tragedies.

Sony has also obtained the rights to use King's songs, as well as life rights from King and others featured in the show.

Source: Variety...

Sony Pictures Entertainment on Sunday announced it's going to make a movie version of Broadway's Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, the New York Times reports. The cast hasn't been announced yet, but Tom Hanks will be involved as a producer, along with Gary Goetzman and Paul Blake. Douglas McGrath, the scribe who penned the book for the stage production, will reportedly flesh out King's life story for the big screen. Sony's obtained the rights to King's songs and life, so the jukebox musical will feature such hits as "The Locomotion," "So Far Away," and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." In other words, get ready to shell out some dough for this inevitable gem of a soundtrack.

Hit musical will be adapted by Douglas McGrath, who also wrote the musical’s book.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will adapt the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical into a feature film.

The musical will be adapted by Douglas McGrath, who also wrote the musical’s book, and the film will be produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who will produce through their Playtone banner, and Paul Blake who also produced the stage show.

Sherry Kondor and Christine Russell will executive produce.

Michael De Luca, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group president of production, commented: “Theatrical audiences both on Broadway and in the West End have responded to Beautiful not only to relive Carole King’s timeless classics, but to experience the ways they illustrate her triumphant and joyful life story. We’re thrilled to be bringing this inspiring and powerful musical to movie audiences everywhere.”

Sony Pictures has obtained the rights to use...

Sony Pictures is turning the Tony Award-winning Beautiful: The Carole King Musical into a feature film, the studio announced today. Douglas McGrath, who wrote the book for the hit production, will be adapting it, with original stage producer Paul Blake sharing production credit with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone. "Theatrical audiences both on Broadway and in the West End have responded to Beautiful not only to relive Carole King's timeless classics, but to…...

Sony Pictures Entertainment has closed a deal to adapt the Tony Award-winning Broadway smash “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” into a feature film, the studio said Sunday. The hit show will be adapted by Douglas McGrath, who is also the writer of the musical’s book. The film will be produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who will produce through their Playtone banner, and Paul Blake, who also produced the stage show. Sherry Kondor and Christine Russell will executive produce. Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group president Doug Belgrad and Michael De Luca, who serves as the studio’s president of production with Hannah.

As scooped first by BroadwayWorld.com earlier this week here, the hit Broadway musical Beautiful is headed to the big screen. Sony pictures confirmed today that 'The film version of 'Beautiful' will be produced by Tom Hanks Gary Goetzman, a producer whose movie credits include 'Mamma Mia' in 2008 and Paul Blake, the lead producer of 'Beautiful' on Broadway. Douglas McGrath, who wrote the book for the stage production, will work on the screenplay.'...

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Bullets Over Broadway, which played 156 performances on Broadway at the St. James Theatre last year, will soon launch a national tour. Written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath for the 1994 film, the musical is set to hold open call auditions in New York City for ensemble March 31 and principal roles April 1 for the non-equity tour.Auditions will take place at Pearl Studios 519 8th Ave., Holding Room C.