News

Searchlight Pictures has brought on Pachinko creator Soo Hugh to write and direct a feature adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s celebrated novel Tender Is The Night.

LuckyChap, Putnam Pictures, Hugh and Margo Klewans’ Moonslinger Productions are serving as producers on the project.

Tender Is The Night was published in 1934 and was Fitzgerald’s fourth and final novel. It follows a glamorous and wealthy couple whose relationship unravels in a web of romantic entanglement, manipulation and deceit when they meet a young actress on holiday.

Searchlight vice president Richard Ruiz will oversee the project for the studio, reporting to heads...

Studiocanal announce an incredible brand-new restoration of Soldier Blue, as part of the Cult Classics Collection, available on 15th July on DVD, Blu-Ray and collectable 4K Uhd SteelBook. We are giving away a Steelbook to celebrate!

A naive cavalry officer (Peter Strauss) and a resourceful young woman (Candice Bergen) survive a Native American attack and have to make their way home through the wilderness. As they face the hardships of the journey, the couple fall in love, only to witness a horrific bloodbath as the U.S. Cavalry takes revenge upon their enemy, in a battle that became notorious for its brutality.

The film, based on actual events, is a quintessentially gritty and bloody 70s revisionist western, starring Candice Bergen (Carnal Knowledge), Peter Strauss, and Donald Pleasence (Wake In Fright). As well as a collectable 4K Uhd SteelBook, the film is released on Blu-ray and DVD with superb new sleeve art by Tony Stella.

Fritz Wepper, a German actor with a prolific TV career in his native country but known to American audiences for his funny and heartfelt performance as a German Jew is Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning 1972 hit musical Cabaret, died Monday at a hospice facility in Munich. He was 82.

His death was announced by wife Susanne Kellermann to German newspaper Bild. Kellerman said Wepper passed away peacefully following a long illness.

A familiar presence in Germany from his role as the crime-solving Detective Sergeant Harry Klein in the long-running series Derrick (1974-98), Wepper made a lasting impression on international audiences with his performance as the charming, if insecure, aspiring gigolo Fritz Wendel of Cabaret.

In the film starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey, Wepper’s Fritz befriended Minnelli’s Sally Bowles and York’s Brian Roberts, while longing for the beautiful and wealthy Jewish heiress Natalia Landauer (Marisa Berenson). Secretly Jewish himself,...

Eleven and Sony Television International are adapting novelist and former politician Jeffrey Archer’s bestselling “Kane and Abel” trilogy for television.

The trilogy, comprising “Kane and Abel,” “The Prodigal Daughter” and “Shall We Tell The President,” were written by Archer between 1977 and 1982. It tells the story of two men, one Polish, an illegitimate son of a Baron, the other rich and privileged from a wealthy Boston banking family. Born on the same day on opposite sides of the world, their paths cross only once in their ruthless pursuit to build a fortune, but what follows is an epic story of revenge that spans 60 years. Linked by an all-consuming hatred after one catastrophic incident, these two patriarchs blindly commit their lives to destroying one another’s empires. It’s only when Abel’s strong-willed daughter, Florentyna, meets Kane’s son Richard, that these two enemies start to understand that their feud...

Considering each of the hundreds of times costars have competed directly against one another at the Primetime Emmys, the very first case involved two men – Lloyd Nolan and Barry Sullivan – who both played lead roles in what would presently be considered a TV movie: the 1956 “Ford Star Jubilee” presentation of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” Over the subsequent seven decades, 20 more pairs and a single quartet of lead male limited series or telefilm cast mates have battled it out, resulting in nine wins. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about every costar clash in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor category.

The most recent entrants on this roster are fellow “Hamilton” (2021) actors Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr., who had previously received opposing Tony nominations for the same production in 2016. Whereas every other TV movie/limited series category’s corresponding list includes repeat appearances from at least four individuals,...

Considering each of the hundreds of times costars have competed directly against one another at the Primetime Emmys, the very first case involved two men – Lloyd Nolan and Barry Sullivan – who both played lead roles in what would presently be considered a TV movie: the 1956 “Ford Star Jubilee” presentation of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” Over the subsequent seven decades, 20 more pairs and a single quartet of lead male limited series or telefilm cast mates have battled it out, resulting in nine wins. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about every costar clash in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor category.

The most recent entrants on this roster are fellow “Hamilton” (2021) actors Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr., who had previously received opposing Tony nominations for the same production in 2016. Whereas every other TV movie/limited series category’s corresponding list includes repeat appearances from at least four individuals,...

Saturday evening at last weekend’s Terror Con in Marlborough, Ma, was capped off by a highlight of the event: a panel with Robert Englund. No one can work a room quite like the loquacious horror icon, and he regaled the standing-room-only crowd with 45 minutes of tales from his storied career.

Although it was advertised as Englund interviewing the audience — which could have been an entertaining way to avoid any potential issues with the SAG-AFTRA strike — the crowd was perfectly happy to learn that it would be a standard question-and-answer session instead. Englund began by explaining that the strike prohibits promotion of his work and any discussions about upcoming projects before quipping, “And if anybody asks how long the Freddy makeup takes, I’ll castrate you.” The audience erupted in laughter and cheers.

“I am, to this day, the luckiest son of a bitch in Hollywood,” he said of stumbling...

As Kenneth Branagh brings his third Hercule Poirot film to theaters with “A Haunting in Venice,” fans of the Agatha Christie character might debate: Who is the best actor to ever play the mustachioed Belgian detective? And which versions simply didn’t work?

We’ve compiled a list of the most notable actors to portray the famously fussy sleuth —from Tony Randall to PBS favorite David Suchet — and ranked them with both how true they are to Christie’s vision and how enjoyable their portrayal is to audience.

MGM

7. Tony Randall (1965)

The “Odd Couple” actor’s one outing as the detective in the Frank Tashlin-directed film “The Alphabet Murders” leans very hard into comedy. The result: Despite the mustache and bald cap and an occasionally passable accent, we get very little of “the little grey cells” character we expect and far more sight gigs and slapstick.

Prime Video

6. John Malkovich...

Arthur Schmidt, the two-time Oscar-winning film editor who collaborated with director Robert Zemeckis on 10 films, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump and the Back to the Future trilogy, has died. He was 86.

Schmidt died Saturday of an unknown cause at his home in Santa Barbara, his brother Ron Schmidt told The Hollywood Reporter.

The second-generation film editor also cut three Mike Nichols features — The Fortune (1975), The Birdcage (1996) and Primary Colors (1998) — and two helmed by Michael Apted — Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), for which he received his first Oscar nom, and Firstborn (1984).

His résumé over four decades included work on Marathon Man (1976), Jaws 2 (1978), Ruthless People (1986), Beaches (1988), The Rocketeer (1991), The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Congo (1995), and he was brought in for three months to help tidy up the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie in 2003.

Schmidt received his Academy Awards in 1989 for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and in 1995 for Forrest Gump,...

The first Stranger Things theatrical production has been announced, with a new play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, set to open in London by the end of this year.

The new play will offer some deep Hawkins, Indiana lore, going all the way back to 1959, and featuring younger versions of several prominent characters in the series: “Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town,” reads a description.

Click here to read the full article.

Bo Brundin, the Swedish actor best known for his turn as a demoralized German World War I pilot opposite Robert Redford in the aerial adventure film The Great Waldo Pepper, has died. He was 85.

Brundin died Sunday in his hometown of Uppsala in Sweden, a spokesperson for Paar Productions told The Hollywood Reporter. The company worked with the actor on one of his last projects, the 2011 short film Starlight, in which he played God.

Brundin appeared in an early stage production of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal — his role would be taken by Max Von Sydow in the classic 1957 feature — and he had a small role as a political prisoner in The Day the Clown Cried (1972), the infamous never-released film from Jerry Lewis.

Brundin, who played lots of Germans and Russians during his career, also appeared on the big screen in the...

Exclusive: British playwright and screenwriter Nina Raine has been tapped to write the limited series adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is The Night novel for Hulu. The project, from Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment, has been in development at Hulu since 2018.

Tender Is The Night, which was published in 1934, was Fitzgerald’s fourth and final completed novel. It tells the story of promising young psychiatrist Dick Diver. He meets 16-year old Nicole Warren, who suffers from schizophrenia, before marrying her and moving to the French Riviera, where they start a glamorous life of partying with friends.

However, Diver’s life soon takes a turn after investing in a clinic in Switzerland, being accused of seducing the 15-year daughter of one of his patients and driving his wife to jealousy (and a car accident). He moves to Berlin, when he finds out his father dies, and on his way back from America,...

Last year, Darren Criss became the second youngest Emmy winner in the Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor category when the then-31-year-old took home the award for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” But he may get knocked back to third youngest this year. “When They See Us” star Jharrel Jerome is 21 and would be the first twentysomething to win that category.

First awarded in 1955, Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor, which has underdone various name changes over the years, has long favored middle-aged men and seasoned thespians. Anthony Murphy holds the record as the category’s youngest winner, just 17 when he prevailed for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1973, which was also his first and only acting role. Actors in their 20s have completely struck out here and only 12 men in their 30s have won.

Three of those thirtysomething champs triumphed in the last five years: Criss,...

Firefighters say more than 90% of Woolsey fire contained.

Authorities in coastal Californian cities affected by the Woolsey Fire have suspended filming activity until further notice.

In Malibu, where two people are known to have perished, city authorities have suspended all filming activity within city limits until further notice, and told Screendaily no new permits will be issued until further notice.

FilmLA, the official film office for the Greater Los Angeles region that does not cover the cities of Malibu, Calabasas, and Agoura Hills, where one person is known to have died, confirmed there were no permitted film shoots in fire evacuation areas.

Firefighters say 82% of Woolsey fire contained.

Authorities in coastal Californian cities affected by the Woolsey Fire have suspended filming activity until further notice.

In Malibu, where two people are known to have perished, city authorities have suspended all filming activity within city limits until further notice, and told Screendaily no new permits will be issued until further notice.

FilmLA, the official film office for the Greater Los Angeles region that does not cover the cities of Malibu, Calabasas, and Agoura Hills, where one person is known to have died, confirmed there were no permitted film shoots in fire evacuation areas.

Hulu has landed Tender Is The Night, a limited series adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, sources said. The project, from Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment, which had optioned the rights earlier this year, is in early stages in development.

Tender Is The Night, which was published in 1934, was Fitzgerald’s fourth and final completed novel. It tells the story of promising young psychiatrist Dick Diver. He meets 16-year old Nicole Warren, who suffers from schizophrenia, before marrying her and moving to the French Riviera, where they start a glamorous life of partying with friends.

However, Diver’s life soon takes a turn after investing in a clinic in Switzerland, being accused of seducing the 15-year daughter of one of his patients and driving his wife to jealousy (and a car accident). He moves to Berlin, when he finds out his father dies, and on his way back from America,...

Stars: Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Mélanie Laurent, Lior Raz, Nick Kroll, Michael Aronov, Ohad Knoller, Greg Hill, Torben Liebrecht, Michael Benjamin Hernandez, Joe Alwyn, Greta Scacchi, Peter Strauss, Haley Lu Richardson | Written by Matthew Orton | Directed by Chris Weitz

In 1960 a team of secret agents, led by Mossad agent Peter Malkin, set out to track down Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who masterminded the transportation logistics that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps during the Holocaust…

Director Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale follows the haunting and terrifying true story of a team of Israeli secret service agents and their tense mission to identify and extract Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust who escaped justice and fled to Argentina. Weitz film while almost perfectly evokes such a perfect 1960′s cinematic aesthetic and utilises a terrific cast, does little to showcase the haunting and intense thriller...

Once upon a time, Ben Kingsley gave his career best performance in Schindler’s List. Fast forward to 2018, and he’s actually playing a member of the Nazi high command. That’s a total 180, but if any actor can pull that off, it’s Kingsley. The Academy Award winning thespian has not had the best roles to play of late, but this week, he has a solid one to sink his teeth into. It’s Operation Finale, a dramatic retelling of a true life spy operation in the 1960’s. If it won’t be another Oscar player for Kingsley, it at least gives him one of his best roles in some time, and that’s worth something. The movie is an historical thriller, as you might have guessed. This is the plot summary available for it: “Fifteen years after the end of World War II, a team of top-secret Israeli...

Ben Kingsley has embodied Jewish heroes as iconic as Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (“Murderers Among Us”), Anne Frank’s father Otto (“Anne Frank: The Whole Story”), and businessman Itzhak Stern (“Schindler’s List”). In “Operation Finale,” he adopts another perspective altogether, portraying the ultimate villain in Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

The innately intense Kingsley isn’t an ideal match for the mild-mannered murderer who inspired philosopher Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase “the banality of evil.” But like the rest of the cast, he holds our attention even when the movie buckles under the burden of earnest intentions.

Once you get past the jarring collection of mismatched accents, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of pros like Oscar Isaac, Mélanie Laurent (“Beginners”), Nick Kroll, and Michael Aronov (“The Americans”). But as Mossad agents, their characters find little pleasure in the task designed by their intimidating boss...

Darren Criss (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”) and Jesse Plemons (“USS Callister: Black Mirror”) could break the curve in the big way at the Emmys. Both are nominated for Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor and if either wins, he’d be the second youngest champ in the category.

At 31 and 30, respectively, Criss and Plemons are competing in a category that has long favored middle-aged and older stars. The category’s youngest winner is Anthony Murphy, who was 17 when he prevailed for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1973, which was also his first and only acting role. That record looks to stand for a long time, considering that no one in their 20s has ever won.

See 2018 Emmy nominations complete list: All the nominees for the 70th Emmy Awards

Eleven people have won in their 30s, including last year’s champ Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”), who was...

Darren Criss barely looks like he’s aged a day since “Glee,” but the “Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” star is 31 years old — definitely not old, but not a whippersnapper either. But if he takes home the Emmy for Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor, he’d be the second youngest to prevail in the category.

Criss wouldn’t come close to dethroning the youngest winner, Anthony Murphy, who was 17 when he won for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1973. It was Murphy’s first and only acting role; he’s now a painter. No one has won the category in their 20s. Eleven people have won in their 30s, including reigning champ Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”), who was 34. Criss would bump down Peter Strauss (“The Jericho Mile”) and Powers Boothe (“Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones”), who were both 32 when they won in 1979 and 1980, respectively.

See Watch out,...

Exclusive: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is The Night is heading to the small screen after Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment optioned the rights.

The deal is the latest literary adaptation for the Wolf Hall producer, following the launch of Little Women earlier this year, The White Princess on Starz and BBC and Amazon’s King Lear. It also marks the latest Fitzgerald novel to head to the small screen following the launch of The Last Tycoon, based on Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel The Love of the Last Tycoon on Amazon.

I understand that Callender’s firm struck the deal with Don Laventhall at Harold Ober and Associates, who brokered the deal on behalf of Fitzgerald’s estate. Playground will produce a TV series in association with David A. Stern at Sleeping Giant Films. Stern was previously Head of Scripted Programming at Sofia Vergara’s Raze and recently exec produced...

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) Director: Lamont Johnson          Cast: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson So as we prepare to be buzzed for Ron Howard.s upcoming Star Wars prequel Solo, we here at Awfully Good Movies are piloting our Millennium FAILcon right into the galaxy of Spacehunter: Adventures Of The Forbidden Zone, starring Peter Strauss and Molly Ringwald! Out of the many... Read More...

Shanghai-based investment firm launches film company, invests in Us production and distribution venture.

Shanghai-based investment firm Puji Capital has launched a film company, Puji Films, which is backing Mandalay Endurance Media Ventures (Memv), a joint venture headed by Peter Guber (pictured) and Steve Richards.

Memv is described as a film production, financing and international distribution platform with a focus on producing and distributing star-driven action, thriller and comedy films for a global audience.

The company’s shareholders also include Jeff Vinik, owner of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning; Paul Schaeffer, vice chairman and COO of Mandalay Entertainment Group; and Peter Strauss, former chairman of Lionsgate Entertainment.

Guber was formerly chairman and CEO of Columbia Pictures Entertainment; chairman of Dick Clark Productions; and owner or co-owner of sports teams including the 2017 NBA Champions and Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We are at an interesting inflection with China’s film industry – we have China becoming the most important market globally coupled...

Industry veterans Peter Guber and Steve Richards have partnered to launch Mandalay Endurance Media Ventures, a new film production, financing, and distribution platform with a focus on star-driven projects for the worldwide market.

Boutique Shanghai-based investment firm Puji Capital has come on board as an investor in the venture, while other major shareholders are said to include Jeff Vinik, owner of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning; Peter Strauss, former chairman of Lionsgate Entertainment; and Paul Schaeffer, vice chairman of Guber's Mandalay Entertainment Group.

Late last year, Puji Capital made a strategic investment in Guber and Ted Leonsis' eSports ownership and...

Exhumed Films is resurrecting some beloved horror favorites from the 1970s and ’80s and projecting them onto the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers, including Friday the 13th Part III, starring my original horror crush and maybe yours, too, Jason Voorhees! And also, we have release details for Escape Room, Paperbacks From Hell, Ghastlies, and Mountain Fever, as well as information on the new book Godzilla Faq.

Exhumed Films' Guilty Pleasures IV Marathon: Press Release: "Exhumed Films Presents: Guilty Pleasures IV--in 3-D!

Exhumed Films is pleased to return to the Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers to present the fourth edition of The Guilty Pleasures Marathon, our annual assault of cinematic insanity. For this year’s marathon, we present some of the greatest 3-D films of all time, projected from original 35mm prints using state of the art technology! The 1970’s and 1980’s saw a resurgence of three-dimensional movies, particularly in the realm of genre cinema.

Drawing Home screens Thursday, Nov. 10 at 6:30pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Ticket information can be found Here. Lead actors Juan Riedinger and Julie Lynn Mortenson will be in attendance as well as producers Allan Neuwirth and Margarethe Baillou.

In 1920s Boston, East Coast debutante Catharine Robb (newcomer Julie Lynn Mortensen) is dating the most eligible bachelor in the world, John D. Rockefeller III. Her future seems set: a dream life in the upper echelons of society. But Catherine finds her careful plans upended when she meets a young painter, Peter Whyte (Juan Riedinger), from one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Although their worlds are polar opposites, a mutual love of art draws them together. They soon face a universal question: Can you find “home” in another person? Inspired by the true story of the central couple,...

Drawing Home screens Thursday, Nov. 10 at 6:30pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Lead actors Juan Riedinger and Julie Lynn Mortenson will be in attendance as well as producers Allan Neuwirth and Margarethe Baillou.

You can win a pair of tickets to the screening Thursday night! We Are Movie Geeks has 5 pairs of tickets to give away. Just leave you first and last name in the comments section below. I’ll notify you Tuesday afternoon if your name will be on the list at the door to get in free. Good luck!

Read my interview with Drawing Home producers Allan Neuwirth and Margarethe Baillou Here

In 1920s Boston, East Coast debutante Catharine Robb (newcomer Julie Lynn Mortensen) is dating the most eligible bachelor in the world, John D. Rockefeller III. Her future seems set: a dream life in the upper echelons of society.

Drawing Home screens Thursday, Nov. 10 at 6:30pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Ticket information can be found Here. Lead actors Juan Riedinger and Julie Lynn Mortenson will be in attendance as well as producers Allan Neuwirth and Margarethe Baillou.

In 1920s Boston, East Coast debutante Catharine Robb (newcomer Julie Lynn Mortensen) is dating the most eligible bachelor in the world, John D. Rockefeller III. Her future seems set: a dream life in the upper echelons of society. But Catherine finds her careful plans upended when she meets a young painter, Peter Whyte (Juan Riedinger), from one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Although their worlds are polar opposites, a mutual love of art draws them together. They soon face a universal question: Can you find “home” in another person? Inspired by the true story of the central couple,...

The schedule for the 25th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) has been announced and once again film goers will be offered the best in cutting edge features and shorts from around the globe. The festival takes place November 3-13, 2016.

Sliff kicks off on November 3 with the opening-night selection St. Louis Brews, the latest home-brewed documentary by local filmmaker Bill Streeter, director of Brick By Chance And Fortune: A St. Louis Story (read my interview with Bill Here)

According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: Actress Karen Allen (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Animal House), director Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), winner of the Cinema St. Louis Lifetime Achievement Award; and director Steve James (Hoop Dreams).

Full information on Sliff films, including synopses, dates/time, and links for purchase of advance tickets is available on the Cinema St.

Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...

The veteran publicist whose clients included Anthony Hopkins, Dick Van Dyke and Faye Dunaway, died September 15 at his Pacific Palisades home after a brief illness. Bob Palmer was 85. Through his Bob Palmer Public Relations, he also repped actors including Peter Strauss, David Soul, Sada Thompson and Michele Lee.

The Alaska-born, L.A.-raised Palmer became Director of Publicity and Advertising for United Paramount at age 22 and helped create campaigns for the Bay Area premieres of films such as Sunset Boulevard, Shane and The Greatest Show On Earth and promoted stage shows starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Patti Page, and many others. After serving in the Korean War, Palmer moved to ABC Television as a Senior Publicist, working on such TV shows as Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. He left ABC in 1960 to produce a syndicated series and then joined Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters...

Bob Palmer, a Hollywood publicist for six decades who created the Oscar campaign for The Silence of the Lambs’ best actor winner Anthony Hopkins, has died. He was 85. Palmer, who worked for ABC, Screen Gems, MGM and Universal Studios and had his own firm during his long, fruitful career, died peacefully in his Pacific Palisades home on Monday after a brief illness, his family announced. Most recently, Palmer had been representing longtime friend and client Dick Van Dyke. Bob Palmer Public Relations also represented such actors as Faye Dunaway, Sada Thompson, David Soul, Peter Strauss and Michele Lee. Palmer

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Bob Palmer, beteran publicist and founder of Bob Palmer Public Relations, died on Monday, Sept. 15, after a brief illness. He was 85 years old. Through his own firm, Bob Palmer Public Relations, he represented many celebrities including Faye Dunaway, Sada Thompson, David Soul, Peter Strauss and Michele Lee. Most recently he had been representing his long-time friend and client Dick Van Dyke. Just this past March, Palmer was talking about the 86-year-old Van Dyke's marriage to 40-year-old Arlene Silver. “”It's a really nice relationship, most people like her a lot,” Palmer told ABC News of Silver. “Despite their obvious age...

From Marathon Man to Forrest Gump, we complete a circuit of the best running-themed films. What's your favourite? Let us know below

Since the moment Eadweard Muybridge captured a man sprinting in 1887 runners have worn a path across the cinematic landscape. Whether on the pristine oval of an Olympic running track, a dusty patch in a prison rec yard or the damp tarmac of a rural country road, film has documented the sweat and solitude of running in all its pain and glory.

Here are 10 of the best.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the video

Opening with the sound of Tom Courtenay's feet thudding against a bleak rural lane, Tony Richardson and Alan Sillitoe's 1962 British New Wave classic is one of the most poetic running films in cinematic history. As Colin Smith, a petty delinquent, Courtenay gives a...

Special From Next Avenue

By John Stark

The golden era of the TV miniseries lasted from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. They couldn’t go on much longer. They required attention spans (you remember those).

Even "Downton Abbey," which is kind of like a miniseries, moves faster than the winner of the Ascot Derby. You’re constantly being yanked from one plot line to another. Blink and you’ve missed a death, birth, murder, marriage, poisoning, bankruptcy, bombing, jilting at the altar, you name it. A lot goes on in that castle in an hour.

In contrast, a miniseries took its time. Stories unfolded slowly. There was real character development. Most miniseries were adapted from sprawling novels. They were huge in scope. Multigenerational. Thanks to advances in makeup, you saw actors realistically age in their parts, from young to middle age to old.

The miniseries required serious viewer commitment.

Today, we're featuring Peter Strauss in 1981. Notably, he plays Abel Roznovski in Kane and Abel, the TV miniseries from Jeffrey Archer's book of the same title. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile, and he starred in a television remake of the classic 1946 film Angel on My Shoulder in 1980. His other noted television miniseries credits include starring roles in Rich Man, Poor Man, its sequel Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, and Masada. Strauss plays Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. in the 1977 TV movie Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy.

Nearly a year ago I wrote about Stephen King’s plans to release a sequel to his classic 1977 novel The Shining, and my mixed feelings about this news. At the time King was still in the process of writing the book, having confirmed its existence and reading an extract from it on 23rd September last year while accepting an award at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, but as of this week we finally have a release date of 24th September 2013 to look forward to, as confirmed by the author's website.

[This article contains possible spoilers as to the general plot of the novel Doctor Sleep.]

This new novel, called Doctor Sleep, is set three decades after The Shining and picks up the story of a now forty-year-old Danny Torrance who is working as a hospital orderly in a hospice for the terminally ill in upstate New York. Inevitably, given that five hundred pages or so of changing bed pans and giving bed baths would...

Last year up-and-coming filmmaker Keith Hodder made quite a splash in the indie genre community with the faux Grindhouse-style trailer Van Gore he co-directed with Peter Strauss and Jerrad Pulham that was selected to be a part of the Hobo with a Shotgun home release.

Now Hodder is back with his latest project called Shift, a short thriller about recent university graduate Ryan Stewart (Nick Stojanovic), who travels to Toronto with dreams of big success but instead comes face to face with harsher realities.

When he's jobless and out of money, Ryan has to make peace with his own personal defeat and make the long drive back home to eastern Canada. But things take a different turn when he picks up a clever and manipulative hitchhiker (Christian McKenna), who begins to test Ryan's emotional and psychological limits along the way.

Recently Dread Central caught up with Hodder to hear more about his latest project,...

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently streaming on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to This Means War, The Secret World of Arrietty and Undefeated.

Tomorrow in theaters it’s spy versus spy when two secret agents become romantic rivals, a scrappy underdog team fights their way to football glory and a teeny teen discovers a grand new world. But if you want more action-romance-comedies, more heartwarming sports tales, and more spirited adventures with pint-sized protagonists , we’ve got you covered with the best titles Now Streaming.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play a brawny pair of debonair spies who turn into prank-prone rivals when they uncover they’re dating the same woman. Reese Witherspoon co-stars, McG directs.

Do you desire more love, action and laughs?

Charade (1963) In this cheeky classic, Audrey Hepburn stars as a...

Exclusive: Gold Circle Films is out to cast on The Brotherhood of the Rose, an adaptation of the David Morrell novel that will be the next film directed by Ross Katz. Katz will shoot it early next year. After getting Oscar nominations for producing In the Bedroom and Lost in Translation, Katz made his directing debut on the 2009 HBO film Taking Chance. The film starred Kevin Bacon as a soldier escorting home to Wyoming the body of a 19- year old marine soldier who was killed in action. Katz, who wrote the script, won DGA and WGA Awards, and Bacon won a Golden Globe for his performance. Katz and his producing partner Fred Berger adapted The Brotherhood of the Rose from the 1984 novel by Morrell, who also wrote First Blood, the novel that hatched the Rambo series with Sly Stallone. The Brotherhood of the Rose was turned into a 1989 NBC...

Intrada Records has announced a new soundtrack release for the 1981 adventure mini-series Masada. The album includes the complete original score from all four parts of the series composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Stevens. Goldsmith scored the first two parts and Stevens wrote the music for Parts 3 & 4. The album comes in a 2-cd set and is limited to 5000 copies. To listen to audio clips from the soundtrack and order the CD, visit Intrada’s online store. Masada directed by Boris Sagal (The Omega Man) and starring Peter O’Toole and Peter Strauss tells the story of the historical siege of the Masada citadel in Israel by legions of the Roman Empire in Ad 73. The mini-series was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and 3 Golden Globes and Jerry Goldsmith has won an Emmy Award for his score for the second part.

The label has also released Jerry Goldsmith’s score for the 1959 black-and-white...

Hodder's twisted take on the world's first ever post-mortem artist won the Hobo With a Shotgun fake trailer contest and will not only play in front of Hobo in theaters this May 13th & 19th at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, but will be included on it's DVD/Blu-Ray. When the fake trailer contest was announced on a Friday, Hodder with his crew Peter Strauss (co-director/writer/editor) and Jerrad Pulham (writer/cinematographer/producer) had completed a treatment the following Sunday and began shooting immediately the next day. Hodder is currently in his final year of film school but it hasn't stopped him from pursuing a blossoming career as a director already. Van Gore could very well be the boost that will help launch him towards glory. After Van Gore exploded onto the internet, horror...

A little while back we told you about a Hobo With a Shotgun contest in which aspiring filmmakers were asked to create their own "grindhouse" trailer. The winner would get their trailer shown on the forthcoming Hobo DVD. Well, Keith Hodder, Peter Strauss and Jerrad Pulham made the cut with their preview for Van Gore . What do you think? Worth the cut?...

Chances are, if you follow the news here at Dread Central, then you most likely are aware of the amazing story behind how writer/director Jason Eisener’s faux trailer Hobo With a Shotgun was picked as the winner of the 2007 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse fan trailer competition. After Eisener was awarded the top prize, Hobo continued to gain a huge amount of fan support which ultimately fueled the demand for a feature-film version of the tale of a street urchin dishing out justice, one shell at a time.

Eisener, who still remains humble about his success to this day, decided he and his other Hobo collaborators wanted to give back to the community that got them to where they are today and held their ownfan trailer competition. The trailer that slayed the competition, Van Gore, the twisted tale of an artist that uses human blood to create his masterpieces,...

Greetings, horror geeks! Today, I have a special interview with the winning director of the “The Hobo With A Shotgun Trailer Contest,” Keith Hodder. His entry Van Gore, took home the bloody prize and has many people wondering whether or not the serial-killing artist will expand onto the big screen. Check out what Hodder has to say about that as well as his thoughts on exploitation films and the future of some of his other projects.

Where did the idea for Van Gore come from?

When we heard about the trailer, I sat down a bit. Usually when I sit down and think, I get pretty lucky and ideas tend to come up that night or the next day. The idea of Van Gore just popped into my mind. It originally started as an artist that drained people’s blood. I started thinking about what kinds of weapons he would...

Read our exclusive interview with director and writer Keith Hodder, who along with Peter Strauss and Jerrad Pulham, won the ‘Bobo With A Shotgun’ trailer contest for their fake trailer ‘Van Gore.’ The trailer, which is currently playing on youtube.com, follows the title character, an artist, as he kills people and uses them as part of his artwork. Hodder discusses with us, among other things, how he felt when he found out he won the contest and where he got the inspiration for the trailer. ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’ is currently available via Magnolia On-Demand, and hits select theaters May 6, 2011. Shockya (Sy): You won the ‘Hobo With A...

The fine folks behind grindhouse throwback Hobo with a Shotgun (currently on VOD; in theaters starting May 6th) recently held a faux Grindhouse Trailer contest, which makes sense since Hobo started as a faux grindhouse trailer itself. Many entered and 5 finalists were chosen: Van Gore, Daddy Cross, Earwigs, Charlene She Wolf of My Heart and Care Center Slaughterhouse. The public voted and Van Gore, a Color Me Blood Red inspired splatter fest about a demented artist who lures his fans into becoming more a part of his art than they ever imagined emerged victorious. The other day I had the chance to chat with Van Gore writing/directing team Keith Hodder & Peter Strauss to talk about all of the ingredients that make a...

Back in 2007 Robert Rodriguez and SXSW teamed up to put on a fake trailer contest for the release of Tarantino and Roriguez’s double-bill Grindhouse. The contest encouraged fans to make their own exploitation/grindhouse inspired film trailers. Jason Eisener, an unknown at the time, unveiled his trailer about a homeless vigilante in Hobo With A Shotgun. Since winning the competition and subsequently expanding it to a feature film, Eisner wanted to extend the contest once again with the release of Hobo. With over 100 submissions, the panel of judges (which included genre vet Joe Dante) awarded a trailer by Keith Hodder, Peter Strauss and Jerrad Pulham. Feast your eyes on the art of Van Gore.

Clearly referencing the Corman classic Bucket of Blood (which also features an artist making art from the dead), Van Gore is a fun, little, one-note trailer that will surely bring a smirk to your face.

Every Tuesday James publishes his Tuesday Movie Poster Roundup, but once in a while I also submit an additional post featuring mostly fanmade posters I’ve discovered on the web. Here are just a few of the great posters I’ve come across this week online. Enjoy.

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Alan Forbes created this demonic poster for a screening of Suspiria at the Alamo Drafthouse

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Adam Juresko created this insanely beautiful poster for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

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Adam Juresko created this very cool poster for Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

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Here is yet another fantastic poster by Adam Juresko for Singin’ in the Rain

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Andrew Barr of Notchordamnatchoz put together this desktop wallpaper for the characters of The Plague seen in Hobo With A Shotgun.

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This poster comes courtesy of Andrew Klass, you can check his website out here.