Michael Constantine, who played Gus, the father of Nia Vardalos’ Toula Portokalos in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” by far the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time, died on Aug. 31. He was 94. Constantine’s agent confirmed the news of his death to Variety. He died of natural causes. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” scored
Movies
There’s never been as much uncertainty around film festivals’ impact on the awards season. With Toronto, Telluride, Venice, New York and other key fests opening amid an overcrowded field of films postponed from 2020, the acclaim, buzz and distinction festivals bestow on award contenders is more important than ever — especially for spectacles such as “Dune,”
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has elected German journalist Helen Hoehne as its new president, the latest step in the org’s move to reform following controversies surrounding its operations. Hoehne, who previously served as vice president, will lead the HFPA’s recently announced expanded Board of Directors. HFPA members voted for Hoehne as its new president
The Mill Valley Film Festival will open with the California premiere of “Cyrano,” directed by Joe Wright and written by Erica Schmidt, adapted from Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical of the same name, which is based on Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Opening night takes place on Oct. 7 at the Sequoia Theatre and
Erik Matti is one of the Philippines’ most celebrated filmmakers, working across genres. “On The Job” bowed at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2013, where it was nominated for the SACD Prize, and went on to global and domestic acclaim. The film was inspired by a real-life scandal in which prison inmates were temporarily released from
Tubi has announced sci-fi action film “Corrective Measures,” based on Grant Chastain’s graphic novel of the same name, which will star Bruce Willis and Michael Rooker and premiere in spring 2022. Sean Patrick O’Reilly of “Howard Lovecraft” and “The Kingdom of Madness” will write, direct and produce the film, which is set in San Tiburon,
This year’s scaled-down Toronto Intl. Film Festival gets underway Sept. 9 with 14 non-fiction films in the lineup – a sizable reduction from the average of 22 in non-COVID outings. Thom Powers, lead TIFF documentary programmer, winnowed down the list from 800 submissions, looking for films that “took him by surprise,” as he always does.
It’s not often that the villain’s theme is transformed into the hero’s music in a comic book movie. But that’s what happens in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and there’s solid reasoning behind it. Composer Joel P West spent two full years thinking about, writing and recording the score for the latest
If Gov. Gavin Newsom is recalled next week, the entertainment industry will lose a valuable ally in Sacramento. The industry’s top concern at the Capitol is the film and TV tax credit, which provides a 20-25% discount on eligible production spending in the state. In July, Newsom signed a two-year expansion of the program, bringing
In 2018, when David Gordon Green was given the hallowed mission of rebooting the “Halloween” series (that the director of “All the Real Girls” would embrace becoming the showrunner of a slasher franchise says a lot about the 21st century, but let’s leave that for another time), his job was to wipe away 40 years
The streaming platforms are gearing up for another attempt to win the Academy’s affections. Though a streamer has yet to win the big best picture prize, Netflix has assembled a strong slate this year, at least judging by the reception at the Telluride Film Festival. Saturday was the streamer’s big day, with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s
Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker and newcomer Lily McInerny are set to star in “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” from director Jamie Dack. Based on Dack’s short of the same name — which debuted as a Cinéfondation selection at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival — “Palm Trees and Power Lines” is a coming-of-age drama about a
Netflix thinks Addison Rae is all that. So much so that the streamer has signed the TikTok star to a multi-picture deal. Rae recently made her acting debut with a starring role in Netflix’s “He’s All That,” a gender-swapped remake of the 1999 high school rom-com “She’s All That.” “Getting the opportunity to work with
Issa Rae wants to make it easier for consumers to find Black-owned businesses. The “Insecure” star is teaming up with American Express and U.S. Black Chambers to promote ByBlack, the first nationwide certification program for Black ownership. “Black businesses are American businesses,” Rae tells me. “I think it’s one thing to support them during a
It’s not every day that costume designers get to create Cinderella’s iconic ballgown, but Ellen Mirojnick has had the honor of doing it twice. Mirojnick was on board the 1997 “Cinderella” starring Brandy, and she got to work her magic again for the 2021 feature version starring Camila Cabello. This time around, the fairy tale
Jamie Lee Curtis, who will receive Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on Wednesday evening before the out-of-competition screening of “Halloween Kills,” addressed accusations that the first film in the franchise was “anti-feminist” and “women bashing” at a press conference earlier in the day. Curtis said that she thought “today the women’s movement
With seven titles selected for Venice VR Expanded at this year’s film festival, Taiwan has once again demonstrated its potential as a global leader in virtual reality content production. But this time, the tech hub in Asia has more to offer: it aims higher than just flaunting its technological advancement and the quality of locally
It’s Sunday in North Carolina, as two movie stars sneak into church. Skipping the standard celebrity camouflage of oversize sunglasses and vintage baseball caps, they hide in the back, hoping to avoid attention and the kind of gawking that could distract from the sermon. Only the Starbucks cups they clutch betray them as newbies to
Can a film festival still thrive in the age of COVID-19? Over the weekend, both Venice and Telluride answered that question with a definitive yes. In Italy, starting on Sept. 1, major movie stars descended on the Lido like it was the best of times, as crowds inside the historic Sala Grande theater showered the
Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, as two low-level astronomers, warn civilization about a giant asteroid that looks to take out the Earth in the first trailer for Netflix’s dark comedy “Don’t Look Up.” Unlike Lawrence and DiCaprio as actors, the characters they portray — an astronomy grad student Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence) and her professor Dr.
“I’ve never liked artists who have more fun offstage than onstage,” says Italian comic star Eduardo Scarpetta (played by Toni Servillo) in “The King of Laughter.” If that was indeed Scarpetta’s belief, he would have thoroughly approved of Mario Martone’s big, brash, garishly frosted celebration cake of a biopic, in which everyone involved seems to
Ethics are cheap in “Queenpins,” a cuddly capitalist satire that riffs on the true story of a tiny suburban counterfeiting ring who made millions selling ill-gotten coupons for cereal and dish soap. Kristen Bell stars as Connie, an ex-Olympian quivering with restless energy, who lures her neighbor JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) to join her criminal enterprise.
A24 released a trailer for “C’mon C’mon,” which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and will open in theaters later this year. Helmed by Mike Mills, the Oscar-winning director behind “20th Century Women,” the films stars Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny, a middle-aged radio journalist who, when left to take care of his nephew (Woody Norman),
“Ennio,” the hotly anticipated Ennio Morricone doc by Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore has sold to a slew of territories ahead of its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival Block 2 Distribution, which is the sales arm of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone films, has announced sales of the doc
Movistar Plus, the pay TV/VOD operator of Spanish telco Telefonica, and the San Sebastian Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world, are bowing a multi-year alliance to simulcast select titles bowing at the festival in a Movistar Plus virtual screening room. Imitating the limited access of a festival, the films will only be
Altitude Film Sales are representing the worldwide rights to “The Occupant,” a sci-fi thriller starring “Charlie’s Angel’s” alum Ella Balinska. They plan to introduce the feature to buyers at Toronto. “The Occupant” is based on Hugo Keijzer’s short film of the same name, which was a hit on the festival circuit. Keijzer is co-writing –
VMI Worldwide has closed several major territory sales for western “Old Henry” from Shout! Studios and Hideout Pictures. Sales buzz reached its fever pitch as the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday evening. So far, VMI has closed deals in Italy (Blue Swan), the U.K. and Australia (Signature), France (Ace Entertainment), Germany
Violence — or, rather, the threat of violence — haunts every frame of João Paulo Miranda Maria’s debut feature film, “Memory House.” Set in an Austrian settlement in Southern Brazil, this discomfiting drama tells the story of a man so alienated by the world around him that the stench of death at work and the
Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and Danny DeVito will star in “Sniff,” a stylish reinvention of the film noir. Helmed by Taylor Hackford, the Oscar-winning director behind “Ray,” the film follows detective Joe Mulwray (Freeman) and partner William Keys (DeVito) as they investigate a high-end luxury retirement community after the mysterious deaths of two
Eva Longoria may be stepping down from the board of Time’s Up, but that doesn’t mean she has lost faith in the organization. Time’s Up announced on Saturday that Longoria, Shonda Rhimes and Jurnee Smollett will exit the board to allow interim CEO Monifa Bandele to reenergize the organization following CEO and president Tina Tchen’s