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The Academy Awards, or the Oscars, are one of the most prestigious honors in the film industry. While millions tune in each year to watch Hollywood’s biggest stars celebrate cinematic excellence, there are plenty of intriguing behind-the-scenes facts that even die-hard movie lovers might not know. Here are ten surprising pieces of Oscar facts that should blow your mind:

1. The Stolen Oscar Heist

In 2000, just days before the Academy Awards, a shipment of 55 Oscar statuettes was stolen from a loading dock in Los Angeles. The disappearance of the trophies sparked a major investigation involving local law enforcement and the FBI. After an extensive search, 52 of the stolen Oscars were found discarded in a dumpster behind a Koreatown grocery store by a man named Willie Fulgear, who later received a $50,000 reward for his discovery. However, three statuettes remain missing to this day, making them some of the most sought-after lost artifacts in Hollywood history.

Bollywood Mascot: Chris Pratt recently shared an emotional update regarding the Palisades Fire that affected the Los Angeles area. In a video posted on social media, he disclosed that his house miraculously survived the fire, which started on January 7 and has burned over 23,000 acres, with containment still at 70 percent. While his home was spared, he revealed the devastating news that his son Jack’s school and his ex-wife Anna Faris’ house were both destroyed.

Pratt expressed gratitude for the safety of his family and praised the strength and resilience of his community amidst the tragic loss of homes. He also thanked his followers for their prayers and support, highlighting the inspiring unity shown by the affected communities.

Several other celebrities have also shared their experiences related to the wildfire. The devastating wildfires in Southern California have forced 180,000 residents, including numerous celebrities, to evacuate, and in many cases, have resulted in...

The 1970s have certainly been a golden decade in terms of movies. From ingenious comedies to extravagant musicals, the 10-year period boasts a long list of cults. Among these, romances shine particularly brightly, offering narratives filled with passion and drama through unique stories that capture the nuances and complexities of human relationships.

However, not all these movies have happy endings. Many of the most romantic tales of the era embraced a different path from the traditional rom-com's cheerful conclusion, and they opted for more dramatic, often realistic resolutions, that would emphasize not just the beauty of love but also its complications and, sometimes, its fleeting nature. By focusing on the fragile beauty of relationships and the pain of separation or loss, these films portray love's impact on the human soul, even in its impermanence, making these stories profoundly memorable.

Love Story (1970) Directed By Arthur Hiller

Love Story

Love Story, directed by Arthur Hiller,...

Shortly after a starring turn in Arthur Hiller’s 1970 classic Love Story opposite Ryan O’Neal made her a Hollywood phenomenon, Ali MacGraw found her place in Malibu. She mostly loved a small home, something close to the water with its fresh ocean air with easy access to Pacific Coast Highway. MacGraw shared a stunning home on the sand during much of the mid-to-late 1970s while married to screen icon Steve McQueen. But even after they split, MacGraw stayed on the coast and never planned on leaving. That changed when a catastrophic fire ripped through Malibu in 1993, destroying her modest rental in the Rambla Pacifico neighborhood, taking with it all of her belongings, save for two dogs and a cat rescued by a friend of her only son, Josh Evans, from a marriage to producing legend Robert Evans. It proved to be a life-altering disaster that ultimately led her to a forever home in Santa Fe,...

Across its 12-season run, "Bones" had an impressive array of guest stars stop by. Stephen Fry appeared multiple times as psychiatrist Dr. Gordon Wyatt, and Betty White starred in the least-watched "Bones" episode. The show even featured Zz Top's Billy Gibbons as the father of Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin). But one of the most illustrious guests to appear in "Bones" was Ryan O'Neal.

O'Neal, who passed away at the age of 82 in 2023, is best known for a string of successful movies in the 1970s, beginning with "Love Story," for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award. He also delivered standout performances in "Paper Moon," "What's Up, Doc?" and "Barry Lyndon," the latter of which took a huge toll on the cast and crew. But while the 70s arguably represented the peak of the actor's career, O'Neal continued working solidly in the ensuing decades and made his "Bones...

Charles Shyer, the director and Oscar-nominated writer who teamed with then-wife Nancy Meyers on such audience-pleasing, feel-good comedies as Private Benjamin, Irreconcilable Differences, Baby Boom and Father of the Bride, has died. He was 83.

Shyer died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a brief illness, his daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer, writer and director of the 2017 Reese Witherspoon comedy Home Again, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The son of veteran assistant director Melville Shyer, one of the founders of the DGA, Shyer started out writing for sitcoms like The Odd Couple and The Partridge Family with then-partner Alan Mandel before they broke into the movies with the box office smash Smokey and the Bandit (1977), starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field.

Shyer’s career skyrocketed when he joined forces with Meyers and Harvey Miller to pen the screenplay for Private Benjamin (1980), directed by Howard Zieff and featuring Goldie Hawn in her first big-screen starring role.

Oscar nominated screenwriter, director, and producer Charles Shyer whose films include Private Benjamin, Baby Boom, and the 1991 remake of Father Of The Bride and its 1995 sequel Father Of The Bride II died Friday. No cause of death was given. He was 83.

The Meyers-Shyer family shared this statement with Deadline: “It’s with an indescribably heavy heart that we share the news of our beloved father, Charles Shyer’s passing. His loss leaves an unfillable hole in our lives, but his legacy lives on through his children and the five decades of wonderful work he’s left behind. We honor the extraordinary life he led and know there will never be another quite like him.”

Shyer’s Oscar nomination, as well as a WGA awards win, came for the original screenplay for 1980’s comedy hit, Private Benjamin starring Goldie Hawn which he co-wrote with Nancy Meyers and Harvey Miller. His next...

Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 dramedy Paper Moon offers a kind of synthesis of his prior two critical and commercial hits. Set during the Great Depression, the film is attuned, like The Last Picture Show, to the economic precarity that impoverished rural communities face, but it filters its story through the screwball sensibilities of What’s Up, Doc?

A comedy with a perilously bleak side, Paper Moon opens on petty criminal Moses “Moze” Pray (Ryan O’Neal), who makes a living by traveling from town to town posing as a Bible salesman, visiting newly widowed women to hawk a marked-up “special edition” of the good book that their late husbands supposedly ordered for them. Moze’s amorality only deepens when he agrees to take an orphan, Addie (Tatum O’Neal), to an aunt across the Kansas-Missouri state line. Moze quickly uses the child as a sympathetic figure to raise cash, only to be blindsided...

What's your favorite romantic movie, the one that moves you to tears, be they of happiness or sorrow? Perhaps it's Leo McCarey's four-hankie 1939 weeper "Love Affair" starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, or maybe it's McCarey's own remake "An Affair to Remember" lead by the insanely photogenic likes of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. And then there's Nora Ephron's rom-com riff on those films, "Sleepless in Seattle" toplined by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Prefer a good ugly cry? Arthur Hiller's "Love Story" and that Francis Lai score will mug it out of you as Ryan O'Neal loses the love of his life in Ali MacGraw. In the mood for a good emotional scalding? Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" will leave you stunned and in the mood for anything but love.

For fans of the "Love Story" flavor, John Crowley's "We Live in Time" did...

The best Ryan O'Neal movies and TV shows have spanned six decades and genres, from Westerns and war movies to dramas, comedies, and television soaps. O'Neal was born the son of an actress (Patricia O'Callaghan) and a novelist/screenwriter (Charles O'Neal). While in high school, he worked on becoming a Golden Gloves boxer, but then he ended up getting a job on television when his mother helped pull some strings as he struggled to get through high school. This led to him entering the industry.

After a period of time where he made guest appearances on TV shows, he got his big break as a regular on the 1960s Western series Empire and then an even bigger role on the nighttime soap opera Peyton's Place. He then enjoyed his mainstream breakout thanks to landing the co-lead in the romantic drama movie Love Story. After that, he worked for everyone from...

Rocky was shot on a shoestring budget. Here’s how it rocked (Photo Credit – Amazon Prime Video)

This is a saga of grit, heart, and a seriously tight budget! Rocky raked in over $1.4B, but its rise from rags to riches is one of Hollywood’s greatest underdog stories.

In the early 70s, Sylvester Stallone was an unknown actor with a pocket full of dreams—literally! Picture this: he was so broke he almost sold his dog just to keep the lights on. “I had to try to sell my dog because it was either that or he wasn’t going to be well-fed,” he quipped. Talk about a canine crisis!

Then came a fateful night when Stallone watched Muhammad Ali duke it out with Chuck Wepner, aka “The Bayonne Bleeder.” Inspired by an underdog holding his own, he thought, “If this isn’t a metaphor for life!” Suddenly, he dashed home,...

Did You Know Sylvester Stallone Was Turned Down Multiple Times for Rocky—Here’s How He Fought Back! ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky story? Straight-up legend status. Picture this: it’s the ‘70s, and Stallone’s broke with just $106 in his pocket, chasing the Hollywood dream like a million other wannabes. But instead of waiting for that big break, he decides to make his own—a script about an underdog boxer named Rocky Balboa.

Hollywood loved the script but had no interest in Stallone for the role. They tossed big names like Burt Reynolds and Ryan O’Neal for Rocky, but Stallone? He wasn’t having it. The guy turned down $300,000 (a million today) for the script because he was dead on playing Rocky himself. That’s some severe self-belief right there.

Stallone wasn’t some hotshot star when he came up with Rocky. The dude was broke—so...

New styles, new technology and new voices changed the film industry throughout the 1960s and left the 1970s a brave new frontier for movies. As on-location shooting and lower-budget film making grew in popularity, it allowed for new kinds of stories to be told. Thriller films as we know them were born in this era, with many of the best coming from it. Smaller cameras and experimentation with editing expanded the realm of what was possible when creating these types of stories.

Legendary directors of the 1970s like Steven Spielberg, Sidney Lumet, and Francis Ford Coppola cut their teeth in this genre and helped establish the language for thrillers yet to come. The decade was amazing for thrillers of all genres and is still hard to stack up against, especially when comparing the quality of stunts and editing.

The Driver (1978) Directed By Walter Hill

The Driver is action legend Walter...

Al Pacino reveals that he was nearly fired from The Godfather one week into filming. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with a script he co-wrote with Mario Puzo based on his novel of the same name, the 1972 film follows the Corleone crime family, led by patriarch Don Vito, focusing on his youngest son, Michael Corleone, from 1945 to 1955 as he evolves from a reluctant outsider to a ruthless mafia boss. The Godfather cast includes Al Pacino as Michael Corleone alongside Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton.

In his new memoir Sonny Boy (via Entertainment Weekly), Al Pacino revealed that he was nearly fired from The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola about one week into filming. The actor recalls that the director told him, about "a week and a half" into shooting, "You know how much you mean to me, how much faith I had in you," Coppola added,...

Hollywood legend Al Pacino has shared the difficulties he faced securing and keeping the role of Michael Corleone in the classic 1972 film “The Godfather.” In his recently released memoir “Sonny Boy,” Pacino describes the hurdles he overcame and unconventional methods used to portray the iconic character.

Despite how synonymous Pacino became with launching his career as Michael Corleone, his casting was uncertain. The studio originally preferred established stars like Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, or Ryan O’Neal. Pacino admits reluctance to screen test and a fear of flying almost cost him the chance. It took convincing from his manager and Dutch courage from whiskey to get Pacino to audition in California. “I did not want to go to California,” Pacino said.

Not long into filming, doubts emerged again from the studio about Pacino fitting the part. According to Pacino, it was director Francis Ford Coppola’s decision to film...

Although Al Pacino will always be synonymous with his breakthrough performance in The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola‘s acclaimed mafia drama nearly replaced him.

In his new memoir Sonny Boy, which is now available, the Academy Award winner recalled Paramount “questioning whether I was the right actor” to play Michael Corleone in the feature adaptation of Mario Puzo’s book and how he was ultimately able to prove himself.

“Paramount didn’t want me to play Michael Corleone,” he wrote in an excerpt shared by The Guardian. “They wanted Jack Nicholson. They wanted Robert Redford. They wanted Warren Beatty or Ryan O’Neal. In the book, Puzo had Michael calling himself ‘the sissy of the Corleone family.’ He was supposed to be small, dark-haired, handsome in a delicate way, no visible threat to anybody. That didn’t sound like the guys that the studio wanted. But that didn’t mean it had to be me.

“The Apprentice,” director Ali Abbasi‘s story of Donald Trump’s rise in the New York real estate world under the tutelage of Machiavellian attorney Roy Cohn, has a visual style that recalls New Hollywood classics like “Midnight Cowboy” and “Taxi Driver.” But as the film becomes more and more about moral disintegration, “The Apprentice” also brings to mind junky broadcast video of the 1980s. Yet for Abbasi, the key reference point was a film with surfaces quite different from those of the gritty, punk rock “Apprentice”: Stanley Kubrick’s stately, elegant 18th-century period piece “Barry Lyndon.”

While the thuggish, urban Trump and Cohn may seem far removed from the genteel European aristocrats of Kubrick’s film, Abbasi said he and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman found many similarities between Trump and the social climber played by Ryan O’Neal.

“There were some really interesting parallels,” Abbasi told IndieWire. “There’s something...

Youthful love (relatively speaking) beset by terminal illness and heartbreak is well-worn cinematic and literary territory. Examples include “The Fault In Our Stars” (Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort), “A Walk To Remember” (Mandy Moore and Shane West), “Sweet November” (Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves), “P.S., I Love You” (Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler), even the classic Oscar-winning “Love Story” (Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal).

Continue reading ‘We Live In Time’ Review: Florence Pugh & Andrew Garfield Elevate A Time-Hopping Romance [TIFF] at The Playlist.

In a world where revivals and reboots are all the rage, the possibility of Bones coming back less than a decade after its series finale is quite high, especially when those involved with the original show are on board. Fox's police procedural drama, created by Hart Hanson, debuted in September 2005 and ran for 12 seasons and 246 episodes before ending in March 2017. Throughout its time on network TV, the series featured the protagonists (Emily Deschanel's Temperance "Bones" Brennan and David Boreanaz's Seeley Booth) hunting down horrific Bones criminals, but the dynamic between the two leads is what made the show so memorable.

Bones is very loosely based on forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs' life and novels, with Temperance Brennan being named after the protagonist in Reichs' book series. Meanwhile, Emily Deschanel's Brennan is also a successful crime novel writer in Bones, with her books featuring a forensic anthropologist character named Kathy Reichs.

There really hasn’t been a filmmaker quite like Blake Edwards. He could go from the silly-billy comedy of his “Pink Panther” comedies starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau to “Days of Wine and Roses,” a devastating drama dealing with alcoholism to the gender-bender musical comedy “Victor/Victoria” starring his wife Julie Andrews to the underrated Western “The Wild Rovers” with William Holden and Ryan O’Neal. Edwards even turned the diminutive British comedian Dudley Moore into a leading man thanks to his 1979 romantic comedy “10.” And let’s not forget the extraordinary collaboration he had with composer Henry Mancini who earned four Oscars including best song “Moon River” from 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the title tune from 1962’s “Days of Wine and Roses.”

Still, there was no love lost between Edwards and Hollywood.

In my 2003 Los Angeles Times interview with Edwards, who had personality to spare, said “I have been a...

Michael Corleone in The Godfather, played by Al Pacino, is hailed as one of the finest performances in world cinema. His memorable character transition in the Francis Ford Coppola film is still discussed among worldwide fans. But interestingly, Al Pacino was never the original choice for the role. They had their eyes on another legendary performer, Robert Redford for the role.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather | Credits: Paramount Pictures

The Godfather presented a beautiful amalgamation of popular and lesser-known stars who looked straight out of Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel. However, the 1972 masterpiece had a very problematic production schedule due to an intense conflict between Paramount and Francis Ford Coppola. Paramount wanted it to be a more star-studded affair with better-known stars.

Al Pacino almost lost his historical role in The Godfather because of Paramount

A still featuring Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone in The Godfather | Credits:...

The Criterion Collection, known for releasing classic and influential films in high quality formats, has revealed several new movie titles coming in November 2024. The lineup showcases a diverse range of films from different eras and genres. Notable releases include upgraded versions of two iconic Japanese films from the 1950s as well as Oscar-winning American movies. Art house releases sitting lesser-known but important works are also part of the fall slate.

Leading the list are new 4K transfers of Akira Kurosawa’s epic “Seven Samurai” from 1954 and Ishirō Honda’s original “Godzilla” movie. These films helped establish their genres and are considered highly influential internationally. For the first time, “Godzilla” will be a stand-alone release rather than part of a box set.

Also debuting is Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 film “Paper Moon” starring 10-year old Tatum O’Neal. Her performance opposite her father Ryan O’Neal won her an Academy Award for best supporting actress,...

Blu-ray collectors, rejoice. The Criterion Collection unveiled its November 2024 slate of releases this week, and the month looks like an embarrassment of riches for cinephiles looking to expand their physical media collections. The boutique distributor will be rolling out six new titles, several of which have long been coveted by Criterion fans: “Funny Girl,” “Paper Moon,” “Demon Pond,” and “Scarface,” along with new 4K editions of “Godzilla” and “Seven Samurai.”

William Wyler’s 1968 film adaptation of the musical “Funny Girl” marked Barbara Streisand’s big screen debut, turning the actress into one of Hollywood’s biggest stars overnight and earning her an Oscar for Best Actress on her first nomination. The film quickly became a cultural phenomenon and has remained one of the most popular (and quoted) movie musicals of all time.

Peter Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon” is widely regarded as one of the greatest showcases for a child actor in film history.

Every month, the boutique cinephile DVD/Blu-Ray Label the Criterion Collection adds many new cineaste gems to its ever-growing closet, and November 2024 is no different. Four new titles were announced this week, and two classic releases received 4 K upgrades.

New Criterion titles include director William Wyler’s acclaimed 1968 musical “Funny Girl” starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif, Peter Bogdanovich’s classic black and white road comedy-drama starring Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal (the latter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and became the youngest competitive winner in the history of the Academy Awards at that time), Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar Best-Picture winning “The Shape of Water,” with Sally Hawkins and Michael Shannon, and Howard Hawks’ classic 1932 gangster picture “Scarface,” featuring Paul Muni.

Continue reading Criterion’s November Titles Include ‘The Shape Of Water,’ ‘Paper Moon’ & More at The Playlist.

A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 war movie directed by Richard Attenborough, featuring a star-studded cast. The film is based on the real-life WWII Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied operation in the Netherlands. Despite the impressive cast and true story, A Bridge Too Far received mixed reviews and had a modest box office success.

The epic 3-hour 1977 war movie A Bridge Too Far features a remarkably star-studded cast. Directed by Richard Attenborough, who is arguably best known for playing John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), A Bridge Too Far chronicles the real-life WWII Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied operation in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The film takes place late in 1944 when the Allied forces, particularly a group of American and British paratroopers, appear to have the upper hand but are met with unexpected resistance. The film was released in theaters on June 15, 1977.

The war...

After receiving a record nine nominations this year at the 2024 Southern California Journalism Awards, it was announced last night at an awards dinner gala at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles that IndieWire’s Senior Social Media Manager, Veronica Flores, and Senior Social and Cultural Editor, Vincent Perella, had won Best Use of Social Media to Enhance and/or Cover a Story by a Group for their work on “How Barbie Became Real.” Judges for the category commented, “Well put together, clean editing, snappy and just right for social media. Great job!”

In addition to this win, IndieWire’s Deputy TV Editor and TV Critic Ben Travers, who won an award last year for Criticism of TV, received third place in the same category for a number of his reviews, including his piece, “‘I Think You Should Leave’ Season 3 Is the Song of the Summer.”

IndieWire’s Features Writer,...

Diane von Furstenberg climbs atop the bathroom counter, plants her bare feet in the washbasin and assesses herself in the mirror. She runs her hands through her tangle of curls, then uncaps some foundation and applies it to her face. Her uniform: a simple white nightshirt. The 77-year-old von Furstenberg exudes a regal air, even as she completes the most mundane of morning rituals. This is a woman, after all, who sparked fashion crazes, conquered the business world, married a prince and then a mogul, and did it all on her terms. And that includes allowing the filmmakers behind “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” a new documentary from Hulu about her life and career, to roll camera as she puts on her makeup, an intimate scene that kicks off the film.

“How many celebrities or icons would allow you to see them in that state?” marvels Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who...

Inventor of the wrap dress, sexual adventurer and a legendary celebrity – this amusing, affectionate doc is a tribute to someone with lots to say

So many fashion documentaries are frigid and vapid; this one, though, from film-makers Trish Dalton and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, has a story to tell about someone with something to say. Diane von Fürstenberg is the designer, entrepreneur, former Olympic-level hedonist and Studio 54 habitué, who once (separately) got it on with Warren Beatty and Ryan O’Neal over the same weekend but airily turned down a threesome with Mick Jagger and David Bowie. She was also the daughter of a Belgian Jewish Holocaust survivor, Lily Halfin, to whom she was very close throughout her life and was devastated when Lily suffered a delayed trauma decades after the war; her mother had a breakdown while on a business trip to Germany, triggered by loud German voices. Von Fürstenberg herself had to contend with antisemitism,...

An ever-upholding vanity project portrait of a dyed-in-the-annals sartorial icon, “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge” is an engaging enough documentary for the small screen but not big enough to merit anything more. That’s appropriate, as the movie heads to Hulu two and a half weeks after its Tribeca Festival premiere in a New York theater. Directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton’s film is a hagiographic survey of the life and career of the Jewish girl born in Belgium who married into German royalty, became a princess, and started a fashion empire that included the invention of the now-ubiquitous wrap dress. With talking heads including Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, the documentary emerges more as agitprop for feminist galvanizing in the months up toward an election in which women’s rights are on the slab.

Though certainly spikier and with a zero-fucks-given, indecorous lack of platitudes is talking head Fran Lebowitz,...

Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon" is a rip-roaring road movie with a lot of hijinks and heart, anchored by the incredible performances from real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. They play Moses Pray, a two-bit con artist who hoodwinks widows into purchasing Bibles, and Addie Loggins, a precocious nine-year-old with a permanent scowl who claims to be his daughter. With their streetwise charm, they unite to drive across the dusty Midwest, gradually increasing the stakes of their swindles. The sharp, black-and-white cinematography by László Kovács perfectly captures the sparse, unsentimental Depression-era America. But there's also a sweetness to "Paper Moon," especially in the development of Moses and Addie's complex and tenuous father-daughter bond. The film has a certain magic that can only come from the O'Neals' actual relationship, and it's something that makes "Paper Moon" such a joy to watch. Here are the main cast members still with us.

The engaging Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge begins with a clip from David Letterman’s late-night show, where he introduces the designer with, “Welcome the woman who reinvented the dress.” He laughs and says, “Really? Reinvented the dress?” But that big claim isn’t entirely wrong. In the 1970s, von Furstenberg’s wrap dress was more than a trendsetter. Like the person who emerges in this largely first-person documentary, the dress became emblematic of a professional but sexy independent woman.

That much is history, retold by von Furstenberg in the film with wit and flair. The documentary’s strength, though, is its intimate look at her entire whirlwind life. The child of a Holocaust survivor, she became a jet-setter, a business tycoon and a philanthropist. She married a prince and then a mogul without ever losing her own identity.

Much of what von Furstenberg says here she has said before,...

It was the year 1989 when veteran actor Robert Downey Jr. portrayed the role of Alex Finch in a forgotten movie titled Chances Are. Chances are, you probably haven’t heard of this film but for Rdj, the role of Finch was the most accessible role that he had ever portrayed, until Iron Man came along.

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in the MCU | Marvel Studios

From being a person in jail to an Oscar-winning actor in 2024, Downey Jr.’s life has been incredible over all these years. Taking a look back at what he has achieved over the years, Downey Jr. revealed that his forgotten film Chances Are stands right near the top!

Robert Downey Jr. And A Forgotten Film From 1989

Well, no offense to Mr. Downey Jr., but back in 1989, he wasn’t as famous compared to the present. Hence, starring alongside Cybill Shephard and Ryan O’Neal, the...

The Captain (Hoa Xuande) is our guide through both Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel and the HBO limited series version of “The Sympathizer,” but he is also a mystery — most especially to himself. A communist spy who is pulled irresistibly towards the height of Western decadence (Los Angeles in the late ’70s) and depravity (a film set in the late ’70s), the goal of the show is to mirror Nguyen’s prose and give the viewer a visceral sense of The Captain’s alienation.

While the flashiest choice “The Sympathizer” makes is Robert Downey Jr. playing all the significant Western figures who attempt to influence The Captain, there are also smaller, subtler tortures within the show’s imagery itself. The cinematography (by “Decision To Leave” maestro Kim Ji-yong and “The Hurt Locker” veteran Barry Ackroyd) continually puts pressure on The Captain through a sense of heat, sickly light, and eyes just beyond the frame.

Francis Ford Coppola had quite the tussle with Paramount to cast Al Pacino in the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Pacino was Coppola’s favorite, while the studio was against his casting due to his height. When Coppola finally convinced the studio to cast him, the Scarface actor was skeptical of the film after his first day of filming. He revealed in a 2023 interview that he and co-star Diane Keaton feared for their careers on that day.

Al Pacino was skeptical of The Godfather after the first day of shooting

However, Al Pacino’s assumptions about the film were proven wrong when it went on to become an industry hit. It also launched the career of the actor who became one of the greatest living actors of our time.

Al Pacino and Diane Keaton Thought Their Careers Were Over After 1 Day Of Filming The Godfather

Diane Keaton and...

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Al Pacino in the role of Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s epic crime drama The Godfather. However, Coppola went out of his way to cast the actor after Paramount wanted a Marvel star in the role of Michael. Interestingly, Al Pacino, a newcomer at the time, had a different role in mind. He eyed the role of the hot-headed Sonny Corleone, which later went to James Caan.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in a still from The Godfather

The studio was also against Coppola’s choice of Marlon Brando for the role of Vito Corleone. They initially considered Laurence Olivier for the role but once he became unavailable, Coppola and Paramount entered a months-long debate on casting Brando.

Al Pacino Wanted To Play A Different Character In The Godfather

Al Pacino initially wanted to play the role of Sonny Corleone...

This year’s nominees for the 66th Southern California Journalism Awards were released today by the Los Angeles Press Club and IndieWire received a site-record nine nominations. Coming on the heels of our wins last year for Criticism of TV and Entertainment Reporting and following our 2022 win for Best Website, Traditional News Organization, the entire IndieWire staff has been nominated for Best Website, News Organization Exclusive to the Internet. IndieWire writers also earned nominations for individual accolades in eight categories.

“The nominated work illustrates the scope, insight, and unparalleled quality of our team,” said Dana Harris-Bridson, Senior VP and Editor-in-Chief at IndieWire. “We are thrilled and sincerely appreciate the Los Angeles Press Club for the Southern California Journalism Award nods.”

After winning the award for Best Criticism of TV last year, IndieWire’s Deputy TV Editor and TV Critic Ben Travers is a finalist in the category again for a number of his reviews,...

I recently wrote about the surprise Best Supporting Actress Oscar win by Anna Paquin for 1993’s “The Piano.” At 11 years of age, she became the second youngest competitive Academy Award recipient in history. She remains the last child Oscar champ, though several have since been nominated.

The record for the youngest competitive Oscar victory by a child (someone age 17 or younger) was actually set two decades before the practically hyperventilating Paquin accepted her statuette. And it was in the same category — Best Supporting Actress. Ten-year-old Tatum O’Neal, daughter of the late Ryan O’Neal (a Best Actor nominee for 1970’s “Love Story”), delivered a performance in “Paper Moon” that was loved enough by the academy to bring her the coveted award. The younger O’Neal played Addie Loggins, a child turned con artist who teams up with a man posing as her father during The Great Depression. She was nominated alongside...

Longtime character actor M. Emmet Walsh has died at the age of 88. The actor, known for his roles in films like Knives Out, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Blade Runner, The Jerk, Romeo + Juliet, Ordinary People, and more, died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday, March 19. Walsh’s longtime manager, Sandy Joseph, said the actor died at Kerbs Memorial Hospital in St. Albans, Vermont, per Entertainment Tonight. Walsh had been a working actor in Hollywood since his first role in 1969’s Alice’s Restaurant. He racked up over 200 onscreen credits throughout his long career. He acted with some of the biggest names in the business, like Harrison Ford in Blade Runner (Walsh played Ford’s boss at the LAPD), Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (as the Apothecary who sold Romeo the poison), Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal (who died in December 2023) in What’s Up Doc?, Julia Roberts and...

M. Emmet Walsh, a veteran character actor who appeared in more than 150 films including “Blade Runner,” “Blood Simple” and “Knives Out” and played Dermot Mulroney’s dad in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” has died.

His manager Sandy Joseph confirmed that he died Tuesday in Vermont. He was 88.

In Ridley Scott’s 1982 “Blade Runner,” Walsh was Harrison Ford’s LAPD boss, while he played the vicious private detective Loren Visser in the Coen brothers’ directing debut “Blood Simple.” Wearing a sickly yellow suit, Pauline Kael said he was the film’s “only colorful performer. He lays on the loathsomeness, but he gives it a little twirl — a sportiness.”

His other roles included the corrupt sheriff in the 1986 horror film “Critters” and a small role as a security guard in “Knives Out.”

Walsh appeared in a string of memorable 1970s films, including “Little Big Man” with Dustin Hoffman, “What’s Up, Doc?” with Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand,...

The In Memoriam segment of the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday night paid a moving tribute to several stars and movie industry folk who have died over the last year — but, as ever, social media was quick to point out the more glaring omissions.

During the telecast, the In Memoriam segment featured Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo performing a moving rendition of “Con te partirò” as pictures of talent who have died flashed on the stage behind them. The segment opened with a tribute to the late Russian political activist Alexei Navalny, who died last month in prison in controversial circumstances.

“You’re not allowed to give up,” Navalny says in a clip from the film Navalny, which won best documentary feature at the 2023 Academy Awards. “If they decide to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong.”

The segment also featured brief photo tributes to the likes of Matthew Perry,...

Andrea Bocelli performed a rendition of the song “Time to Say Goodbye” with his son Matteo Bocelli to accompany the Academy’s annual obituary section. Perhaps mindful of previous years, in which eagle-eyed viewers have jumped on omissions, this year’s “In Memoriam” — which began with footage of the recently deceased Russian opposition leader and subject of last year’s winning documentary Navalny — seemed comprehensive but at the same time not enough.

Related: ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Best Picture Oscar & Six Others; Emma Stone & Cillian Murphy Take Lead Acting Prizes – Full List

Beloved actors Lance Reddick, Treat Williams, Apocalypse Now’s Frederic Forrest, Rocky’s Burt Young all relegated to a fine print reference at the end, along with such writers as Norman Lear and No Country for Old Men’s Cormac McCarthy. Also given afterthought treatment were Kenneth Anger, Terence Davies, Carl Davis, David McCallum, Sinead O’Connor and Paolo Taviani in...

Part of every awards show is the In Memoriam segment, which honors those who have died in the past year. And that also means that part of every awards show is taking note of who didn’t make the cut (as happens every time). The 2024 Oscars are no exception. Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo performed “Time to Say Goodbye” for the 2024 Oscars In Memoriam segment. Among the names part of the segment—at the end, the broadcast directed viewers to a website for the “many other legends we lost”—were: Michael Gambon, Harry Belafonte, Alan Arkin, Julian Sands, Andre Braugher, Chita Rivera, Tom Wilkinson, Glynis Johns, Jane Birkin, Paul Reubens, Piper Laurie, Richard Roundtree, Ryan O’Neal, Matthew Perry, Richard Lewis, Lee Sun-Kyun, Carl Weathers, William Friedkin, Glenda Jackson, and Tina Turner. The In Memoriam segment, which you can watch above, did end with a long list of names on...

The In Memoriam section of the Academy Awards is always one of the most emotional moments of the show. This year was no exception, as the 96th Oscars celebrate the performers, filmmakers and artisan talents who died in the past year. The In Memoriam segment kicked off with a remembrance of Alexei Navalny, the political prisoner who died Feb. 16 and was profiled in last year’s documentary feature winner “Navalny.”

The names unfurled onscreen was Andrea Boccelli and his son, Matteo, sang “Time to Say Goodbye.”

Every year, the Academy leaves a few beloved names out of the montage, causing anger among some viewers. Though a much longer list is presented on the Oscars.org website, outrage over who makes it onscreen is part of the Oscar-watching tradition.

Read more: All the 2024 Oscar winners

This year several beloved late performers and filmmakers didn’t make the main segment, including Treat Williams,...

Oppenheimer won the marquee Cast in a Motion Picture prize as the 30th annual SAG Awards were presented Saturday, and its star Cillian Murphy might have wrestled Oscar front-runner status away from Paul Giamatti by taking the trophy for Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Lily Gladstone was cemented as the favorite for the Best Actress Oscar, winning Female Actor in a Leading Role for Killers of the Flower Moon at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in a ceremony streaming live on Netflix for the first time.

Related: Lily Gladstone Calls For Compassion In Emotional Speech After Historic SAG Awards Win

Robert Downey Jr won the Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Oppenheimer in a mini-upset. But the evening’s first film award wasn’t much of a surprise as Da’vine Joy Randolph continued her awards-season dominance with a Supporting win for The Holdovers.

Related: “Your Solidarity Ignited Workers Around The World,...

Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr has reflected on an impactful conversation with actor Ryan O’Neal from “the first day of rehearsals” for their 1989 film ‘Chances Are’. The Oscar nominee revealed that he and the late O’Neal – who died in December at age 82 – had an eye-opening conversation while making ‘Chances Are’, reports People magazine.

After having shown what he called “the dark side of Hollywood” in 1987’s ‘Less Than Zero’, Robert detailed one specific memory from ‘Chances Are’ two years later.

Speaking with Maltin Modern Master Award namesake Leonard Maltin at the 2024 Santa Barbara Film Festival on Friday, the actor said, “We were in Washington, D.C. I met some friends, went out back at the hotel, and we ordered some champagne.”

He continued: “One thing led to another, and then the read-through was at 11:00 a.m. and it was about 2:45 p.m. and I was just sleeping...

If you thought George R.R. Martin had a monopoly on shocking character deaths, guess again. 

In reality, killing off your faves is a tried-and-true tradition in TV. At worst, it's the result of a cynical ratings grab or behind-the-scene turmoil. But even when that's not the case, it can still be a controversial practice. Death is a part of everyday life and deserves to be treated as such, yet certain shows are better equipped to handle the topic than others. For example, medical dramedies like "M*A*S*H" and "Scrubs" were particularly well-suited to the task, seeing as their characters had to deal with people dying on their watch weekly. Likewise, the heroes in Fox's long-running crime procedural "Bones" spent their days, in a figurative sense, speaking to and trying to better understand the dead.

Still, as difficult as it can be for those watching at home to say...

Quentin Tarantino is doubling down on his film criticism, as he not only has his 10th and final feature, The Movie Critic, on the horizon but also has a follow-up to his book Cinema Speculation in the works.

As he revealed on the Pure Cinema Podcast – which frequently promotes goings-on at the Qt-owned New Beverly Cinema – the Cinema Speculation sequel will be his next book. While Tarantino didn’t provide any details as far as when Cinema Speculation II: Electric Boogaloo will hit shelves, he did mention one title he would be covering: Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc? On that movie and its cast dynamics, Tarantino said, “I am a big fan of everybody in this movie, but I’m a particularly big fan of Ryan O’Neal’s job as Howard Bannister. I think it’s one of the great straight-man comedy roles. I think he’s really,...

As he's said frequently over the last few years, Quentin Tarantino is retiring from filmmaking. He has one more movie in the works — "The Film Critic" — and then he's apparently hanging it up. But that doesn't mean the acclaimed filmmaker is going to stop working entirely. For one thing, Tarantino has recently gotten into the book-writing game. He wrote a novelization of his most recent flick, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," and then followed that up with "Cinema Speculation," a collection of essays about several notable American films from the 1970s. The book was full of nerdy insights, and while I didn't agree with everything said — at one point, Tarantino calls Peter Yates' masterful "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" "overrated" — I loved pouring over Tarantino's thoughts on classic (and not-so-classic) films.

If you, like me, enjoyed the book, here's some good news: Tarantino is working on a sequel! The...

While we expect to soon hear some casting news on Quentin Tarantino’s final feature The Movie Critic ahead of a shoot later this year, the small details being doled-out will have to suffice. In the meantime, he joined the latest episode of the Pure Cinema Podcast to promote a forthcoming all-film Ib Technicolor Fest taking place at his newly acquired Vista Theatre in LA. As part of this discussion, he shared the notable update that he plans to write Cinema Speculation Vol. Two, a sequel to his 2022 book of film analysis. He confirmed the book will feature his insights on Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 comedy classic What’s Up, Doc?, and shared a tease. The director also shared quite an interesting take on Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

Speaking about Bogdanovich’s hilarious comedy, which he says “was made for I.B. Technicolor” and is “as close to [Frank] Tashlin as you are going to get,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

“Never Look Away: Serge Daney’s Radical 1970s” brings films by Kurosawa, Bresson, Tati, Godard and more.

IFC Center

As Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, continues, Bertrand Bonello’s masterpiece Coma gets a New York premiere; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome also have late showings.

Roxy Cinema

A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings The Driver on 35mm and Partners, while Cronenberg’s Crash shows on a print; City Dudes returns on Saturday and Sunday brings a puppet program and the Iranian feature Downpour plays on Sunday.

Film Forum

A 4K restoration of The Pianist begins a run while I Heard It Through the Grapevine and The Third Man continue; The Sunshine Boys plays on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of snubbed performances brings films by Howard Hawks,...