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What is a classic? It's hard to define, and definitely overused. How many new things claim to be a "classic," yet fall from favor once the hype train moves on? Classics take time. Once the initial praise has passed and moved onto something shiny and new, we're left with the movies that people still talk about years or even decades later. Sure, many Academy Award winners are now considered classics, but many more are not (check out the worst Best Picture Oscar Winners here). Meanwhile, some certifiable classics never won Best Picture or were even nominated.

For this list we're defining "classic movie" as a film that was made before 1990. Not to make you feel old, but that gives the movie more than three decades to make its case for being a classic. I'll also only be including one director's best movie, lest this list become exclusively Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford,...

When Shazam: Fury of the Gods‘ reception was not very optimal for star Zachary Levi, the star turned heads when he pleaded directly with viewers on his Instagram Live to give the film a chance. It was an unorthodox method that many saw as part of a meltdown. Since then, the former Chuck star became increasingly controversial as he was outspoken about his personal views and his recent projects, like Harold and the Purple Crayon, didn’t match the kind of success that the first Shazam had put him on the path for. In a recent profile with Variety, Levi addresses his position on politics and his place within (or outside of) Hollywood.

One of the things he was inevitably asked was his interest in returning to the Shazam franchise. While Levi opposed the critical response of the second film, the actor maintains that making both movies was an immensely joyful experience.

At the dawn of 2023, Zachary Levi was riding high.

Following a five-year run as the titular star of the NBC spy caper “Chuck,” the actor positioned himself as a legit leading man in film thanks to the breakout success of “Shazam!” The DC tentpole was a low-risk proposition for Warner Bros. that delivered strong reviews and a $368 million global box office haul against a $90 million budget. But in the run-up to the sequel that year, Levi ignited a furor when he weighed in vaguely on the Covid vaccine debate. In response to a Twitter user who asked, “Do you agree or not that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?” Levi wrote, “Hardcore agree.”

It was the kind of vaccine skepticism that had already dinged the career prospects of fellow superhero stars Letitia Wright and Evangeline Lilly, but Levi doubled down. The following year, he endorsed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr....

If you've ever expressed even a cursory interest in the entertainment industry, you have almost certainly come across the term "Hollywood accounting." This is the shady corporate practice of manipulating numbers to make sure the people responsible for crafting blockbusters, top-rated television shows, and hit singles never receive the full financial compensation they are owed. What kind of monster would do this? The kind of monster that lives to make money instead of art that can enrich and delight people all over the world. Not all Hollywood executives are like this, but the ones who got into this business because they love using their business expertise to enable (and protect) talented people are watching their ranks get thinned by the day.

In movies, there's always been a push-pull between talent and the money folks. When silent film stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford teamed with filmmaker D.W. Griffith...

Four years after launching United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffiths, Charlie Chaplin distributed his first film through the company. It was a dream project that defied expectations. After making over 50 comic shorts, all of which he starred in, Chaplin not only released a straight romantic drama with A Woman of Paris, but—as he only appeared in it in a brief cameo, and under heavy makeup—it was easy to miss him on screen.

This 1923 film delighted critics, and its narrative and visual sophistication and the highly natural performance style of the actors made it a watershed release during Hollywood’s silent era, influencing countless directors, most notably Ernst Lubitsch. But it was a commercial failure, as audiences only wanted more of the Little Tramp. Still, while neither that iconic character nor anyone like him appears in it, A Woman of Paris is distinctly Chaplinesque,...

Fans are excited to see the Oscars ceremony unfold this year. After seeing Jimmy Kimmel for the last two years at the center stage, fans look forward to seeing a new host. Conan O’Brien will be hosting the 97th Academy Awards on March 2nd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Besides its ABC broadcast, this year’s event will stream on Hulu, a first in the history of the Oscars.

From actors to performers to comedy greats, the Oscars have seen several celebrities take over the hosting duties over the years. The first-ever Academy Awards took place as a private dinner, without a formal host. Douglas Fairbanks, Academy President at the time, hosted the dinner alongside Vice-President William C. deMille.

Conan O’Brien is the host for the upcoming Oscars ceremony | Credits: Conan/TBS

Bob Hope holds the record for hosting the most number of ceremonies. He hosted the Oscars...

A few fun facts about Oscar statuettes: 

The award is 13-and-a-half inches tall, and the award, overall, weighs about eight-and-a-half pounds. The statues are made of solid bronze and are plated in real gold. During metal shortages during World War II, the Oscars were made out of painted plaster, although winners were permitted to swap them for bronze ones once the materials were plentiful again. 

It's been said that handing an Oscar too much can make the gold tarnish, so Oscar winners have to be careful with them. The statuettes are made by an art foundry in Chicago called Polich Tallix, the same firm that handled the work of Roy Lichtenstein, and the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

The statuettes also, technically, don't belong to the voters or to the people who win them. Indeed, starting in 1951, the Motion Picture Academy introduced a new rule forbidding recipients from...

Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

The Motion Picture Television Fund telethon Lights, Camera, Take Action! returns for its third edition Sunday, airing live in Los Angeles on Ktla-Channel 5 from 7-9 p.m. Pt.

Yvette Nicole Brown and Tom Bergeron return to co-host the event, overseeing an evening of stories, songs and celebrity appearances to help raise funds for Hollywood crew workers in need. Also returning this year are producers Phil Rosenthal (Somebody Feed Phil) and writer-critic-producer David Wild.

In addition to Ktla, you can watch the telethon livestream on Deadline above.

The MPTF telethon’s first year raised more than $850,000 and scored an L.A. Area Emmy nomination. Last year, the show raised $750,000 at a time when workers were impacted by the summer-long WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Organizers have set a $750,000 goal for tonight’s event, which will feature Ktla’s Dayna Devon as host of the live Celebrity Lounge, and Tiffany Smith hosting the tote board.

MPTF's fundraising telethon for crew members in need will return for its third year. Lights, Camera, Take Action! will air live on Ktla (Channel 5 in Los Angeles) on December 8 from 7-9 pm Pt.

Yvette Nicole Brown and Tom Bergeron return as hosts and serve as two of the producers for this uplifting, entertaining evening of stories, songs, and celebrities – all to raise relief funds for workers in need. MPTF’s first telethon received an LA Area Emmy nomination and raised over $850K to provide for the entertainment industry’s most vulnerable community members, and last year’s telethon raised over $750K to meet the needs of tens of thousands of industry workers impacted by the two strikes in 2023. A goal of $750K has been set for this year’s two-hour broadcast.

Ktla’s Dayna Devon returns to host the live Celebrity Lounge, and Tiffany Smith hosts the Tote Board through the evening.

Tom Bergeron and Yvette Nicole Brown are ready to say Lights, Camera, Take Action!

The two are back on board to host and produce MPTF’s fundraising telethon as it returns for a third straight year to help Hollywood crew members in need of assistance. The two-hour telecast — set to air live on Ktla in Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. on Dec. 8 — will feature stories, songs and celebrity guests in a quest to raise emergency funds for entertainment workers.

The inaugural telecast garnered more than $850,000, while last year’s raised more than $750,000. The MPTF team has set a goal of $750,000 for the December outing.

“I can truly say the industry is in a unique and challenging position right now as we find our footing for the future, and it’s up to all of us to band together and help those who might be hurting along the way,” Brown said in a statement,...

Actor, Musician and Philanthropist Jeremy Renner to serve as Grand Marshal for the 92nd Anniversary of The Hollywood Christmas Parade Supporting Marine Toys for Tots.

The live parade presented in association with The City of Los Angeles will take place on the streets of Hollywood, CA on Sunday, December 1, 2024 starting at 6:00 p.m. at Hollywood landmark Tcl Chinese Theatre.

Jeremy Renner is an award-winning actor and dedicated philanthropist whose commitment to giving back is as integral to his identity as his celebrated film roles. In 2023, he founded the RennerVation Foundation, a youth-focused nonprofit dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for children in foster care and at-risk youth. The foundation’s mission is to foster joy, growth, and a strong sense of belonging, offering these young individuals experiences and resources that allow them to embrace the fullness of childhood. With memorable performances in films including The Hurt Locker and the Avengers series,...

Ho-ho-Hawkeye. MCU and Mayor of Kingstown star Jeremy Renner will take the reindeer reins as grand marshal of the 92nd Hollywood Christmas Parade next month.

The two-time Oscar-nominated actor, who was badly injured in a snowplow accident nearly two years ago, will preside over the festivities starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, December 1. Launched in 1928, the parade is a longstanding Los Angeles tradition and serves as an official kickoff to the holiday season. It also collects and donations charities including the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots program.

“I’m honored to serve as the grand marshal for this year’s Hollywood Christmas Parade and excited to partner with Toys for Tots to bring joy to children in need,” Renner said in a statement. “Their mission aligns closely with the work we do at the RennerVation Foundation, creating meaningful experiences for at-risk youth. This season of giving is about spreading hope,...

What if Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets occasionally turned their scathing, condescending wit on one another? I imagine the resulting bickering would look a lot like the incredible cat fights left on the cutting room floor of Siskel & Ebert.

Nearly 50 years ago, the fruitful and antagonistic working relationship between late and legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert began, forming the foundation of the single greatest movie review television series of all time. Siskel and Ebert were similarly smarmy, headstrong and entirely convinced that theirs was the expert opinion on any topic related to the medium of film, and given their positions as the senior film critics of the rivaling newspapers the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times respectively, the local Chicago PBS affiliate Wttw’s decision to cram both Siskel and Ebert into the same monthly TV show in 1975 with what was originally titled Opening Soon at a Theater Near You...

Media talent discovery app Husslup has launched a new “Greenlight Studio,” which uses “ethical gen-ai” to help freelancers create and sell content. The first tool in that studio, “Full Script Assessment,” launches this week.

The platform is also utlizing AI to launch a smart content marketplace that it says will “make it easier for producers, financiers, execs and reps to efficiently and quickly discover new projects.”

Husslup founder H Schuster compares Greenlight Studio to the formation of the performer-led United Artists studio a century ago. That’s because as part of the launch, Husslup members will be given the opportunity to invest in a new round and help turn it into a community-owned studio. This round of funding opens with Vitalize Venture Capital’s Vitalize Angels, an investment group led by founder/managing Partner Gale Wilkinson.

Husslup, which moved from invite-only beta phase to a public launch of its service earlier this year,...

The news of the moment keeps veering between cutbacks and comebacks. Keep your shrink on hold.

Paramount is laying off thousands and closing its TV studio, but Skydance’s David Ellison, its new owner, promises that an important new slate is on its way. Disney is shedding employees as park attendance sags, but also is investing billions in new theme park attractions and even a solid entertainment slate (Bob Iger calls it a “turbocharge”).

Even battle-scarred United Artists with Scott Stuber as its new savior promises yet another comeback after alternate decades of brilliance and disaster.

Given all this, the ongoing drama surrounding Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav seems downright comforting.

I take more than an academic interest in all this since I’ve personally been enmeshed in both ups and downs (the “ups” at ’70s Paramount were more memorable).

And it was Tom Cruise who, having just become chief of UA,...

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival continues to catch some major stars. Today, festival head Cameron Bailey has announced the addition of more more honorees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s festival. Those honorees include Academy Award–nominated and renowned British filmmaker Mike Leigh, who will be honored with the TIFF Ebert Director Award.

Leigh will premiere his twenty-third film “Hard Truths,” at the festival, which will screen as part of the Special Presentations program and reunites him with Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies”). Named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert, the award has gone to celebrated visionaries such as Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Wim Wenders, and the late Agnès Varda. Past recipients who received the TIFF Ebert Director Award since the TIFF Tribute Awards were introduced include Spike Lee in 2023; Sam Mendes in 2022; Denis Villeneuve in 2021; Chloé Zhao...

Former Netflix film head Scott Stuber has closed a deal with Amazon MGM Studios to relaunch the United Artists label and finance and release features from his new production company.

The arrangement includes a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios and will see Stuber based on the Culver City lot, producing several films a year under the UA label for release theatrically and on Prime Video.

Stuber will be involved in all projects released by the new UA including those that do not originate from his company. UA was launched in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks...

If you know anything about Hollywood history, you are probably aware of the many, many incarnations of United Artists studios. Founded in  1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, it has been a distributor and, since 1981, a division of MGM Studios (then named MGM/UA Studios). Today, Amazon MGM Studios revealed that United Artists will live once more under a new deal with producer Scott Stuber and his yet-to-be-named financing company.

Continue reading United Artists Lives Yet Again Powered By Producer Scott Stuber at The Playlist.

Scott Stuber wasn’t out of the game for long, and he’s bringing back with him a venerated classic film brand. The former Netflix film chief is teaming with Amazon MGM Studios to relaunch the United Artists label and help produce movies for both theatrical and streaming.

Stuber left Netflix this spring, and under his new production company about to launch, he’ll already have a first-look, multiyear film deal with Amazon MGM Studios and will be involved in anything released by the new United Artists.

“With his proven track record of delivering global hits and an eye towards theatrical fare, Scott’s expertise and vision align perfectly with our film strategy,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios. “We are so proud to welcome him to our lot and partner with him on the relaunch of the legendary UA brand, as we work to leverage existing and new IP into big,...

Scott Stuber has found his post-Netlfix gig, re-launching the storied United Artists studio label under Amazon MGM.

The multi-year partnership will see Stuber finance and produce films via his soon-to-be-launched production company that will be released through United Artists, both theatrically and on streaming for Prime. Stuber will be involved in all UA releases, even those his company does not produce.

Stuber and his new shingle will also have a first-look deal with Amazon MGM and will be based out of the company’s Culver City offices.

Stuber joins Amazon MGM after announcing his departure as the film head of competing tech giant, Netflix, at the top of the year. Under Stuber’s direction, Netflix’s feature business aggressively entered the blockbuster space, courting filmmakers such as Zack Snyder and the Russo brothers, as well as award-winning auteurs like Martin Scorsese. To join Netflix in 2017, Stuber, who established himself as an executive at Universal,...

Women like Mary Pickford walked so that stars like Margot Robbie could run.

The lamentable pitfall of pay disparity remains perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of Hollywood even today. Admittedly, the film industry has made giant leaps by shedding its old, orthodox ways and transforming into a more rejuvenated version of itself. But there’s still much ground to cover when it comes to gender pay parity and sundry other such important issues.

Margot Robbie | Photo by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Despite the tide of change yet to wash over showbiz, it’s thanks to pioneers like Pickford and Alice Guy-Blaché (the first woman to take over the director’s chair), that the industry has come this close in bridging the gap between the unjust treatment of male and female actors and filmmakers.

How Mary Pickford Transfigured the Blueprint of Hollywood

When films...

Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film score comes into being.

My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the development of film music as an art. So—where did this all start?

The Silent Era (1890s-1929) Silent film star Mary Pickford. Somewhere, a pianist is inspired.

During the silent era, films music is provided by each individual theater, either by phonograph or as performed live by flesh-and-blood musicians.

The highest-paid actors in Hollywood — Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., Keanu Reeves, and others — could easily command millions of dollars in upfront salary. For Avengers: Endgame, Downey Jr. earned a $20 million upfront salary and a $75 million total income. The precedent for these humongous salaries was Elizabeth Taylor’s upfront salary of $1 million for Cleopatra.

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame | Marvel Studios

The British-American actress worked in the industry for nearly seven decades. She was cast in Cleopatra after she completed her contract at MGM Studios. 20th Century Fox, who produced the film, recognized her incredible talent and offered her a massive guaranteed salary along with a percentage of the gross profits.

Elizabeth Taylor Became The First Movie Star To Be Paid $1 Million Salary Elizabeth Taylor in a still from Cleopatra | 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox set aside a sum of $2 million for the production of their project Cleopatra.

“You look like Clara Bow in this light,” Taylor Swift sings on the final track of “The Tortured Poets Department,” titled after the 1920s sex symbol. She goes on to name-check two more immediately recognizable women — Stevie Nicks and one Taylor Swift — but what attracted Swift to reference a silent movie star on an album that also includes a throwaway Charlie Puth reference?

A movie star by the age of 20, Bow’s career was over at 28. Now Swift might have positioned her to win over a new generation of fans.

Known as the “It Girl” for both her starring role in the silent comedy “It” and her place as one of the pre-eminent sex symbols of ’20s Hollywood, Bow wasn’t washed up because her box office slipped. She was washed up because her scandal-plagued life made her a liability, both for the studios and for her own mental health.

The preview opening of the new exhibit Meet the Stars: 100 Years of MGM Studios and the Golden Age of Hollywood on Thursday night was a crowded, buzzing affair. Held at the Hollywood Heritage Museum in the historic Lasky DeMille Barn across from the Hollywood Bowl, the event showcased the items of over 20 movie collectors. Memorabilia hunters, dressed in fedoras and flirty ’40s dresses, gabbed about their latest finds with others who have a similar passion.

The highlight of the night was when the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to former MGM child star Cora Sue Collins (who played a little Greta Garbo in 1933’s Queen Christina), the last surviving MGM contract player from the 1930s. Sitting at a tableau that recreated a party thrown for her by MGM in 1935, Collins elegantly thanked everyone for their well wishes. Actor George Chakiris was also in attendance, and he posed next to a costume...

Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.

The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...

“I’ve seen Paris, France, and Paris, Paramount Pictures,” Ernst Lubitsch said, or so they say, “and on the whole I prefer Paris, Paramount Pictures.”

The great director’s preference for the Hollywood city of lights over the French one expresses a common enough affinity for illusion over reality, but the studio in question was not chosen for alliteration alone. If gritty Warner Bros. specialized in mean streets and threadbare apartments and glitzy MGM spent big on grand hotels and emerald cities, Paramount transported moviegoers into realms of dreamy exoticism, allegedly set in Vienna, Budapest or St. Petersburg, but conjured with better-than-the-original costuming, set design, lighting and dialogue. In an age before jumbo jets, who was to quibble over verisimilitude?

A new version of Paramount looks to be a-borning: Controlling stakeholder Shari Redstone may put her company on the auction block. Whatever conglomerate or mogul buys the assets, it’ll...

In the US and Europe, a combination of figurehead film-makers allied with community partners really seems to work

One of LA’s loveliest cinemas – the huge, sentinel Village Theater in Westwood - has been bought by Jason Reitman, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Lulu Wang, Chloé Zhao, Guillermo del Toro, Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuarón, Ryan Coogler, Bradley Cooper, Gina Prince-Bythewood and lots of other film-makers.

The news has a hint of early Hollywood about it when, in 1919, four very different film-makers – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Dw Griffith – threw their hats into the industrial ring to found the United Artists Corporation movie studio.

Of the 272 films that have earned lone acting Oscar nominations – meaning they were each recognized in one performance category and nowhere else – a whopping 101 (or 37.1%) accomplished the feat thanks to lead actresses. Whereas just 60 examples have occurred in the Best Actor category, the corresponding female one reached that benchmark in 1991 and is on track to double it less than two decades from now. Its triple digit total has now been intact for one full year, having directly resulted from the simultaneous nominations of Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) and Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”).

Although an Oscar bid was generally expected to follow de Armas’s 2023 BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nominations, Riseborough very memorably came out of nowhere, having defied precedent by benefiting from an enthusiastic grassroots campaign. While most of the earlier lone Best Actress contenders belong in de Armas’s camp, many align with Riseborough in having pulled off major surprises.

Cari Beauchamp, the widely respected historian and author of several books on Hollywood who often appeared on Turner Classics Movies programming and at the network’s annual TCM Classic Film Festival, has died. She was 74.

TCM posted a tribute to Beauchamp on its Twitter/X page Friday.

“We are saddened to hear of the loss of one of our TCM family, trailblazing historian Cari Beauchamp,” the network wrote today. Without her invaluable work, many female creatives would be lost to history. We are grateful for her many contributions to our network over the years.”

Beauchamp’s work focused on the role of women in Hollywood, including in her books Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood and Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s. She also wrote Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years, edited Anita Loos...

Fans of legendary actor Donald Sutherland will soon have the opportunity to lick his backside, as the 88-year-old will be honored with a stamp from Canada Post.

Speaking with The Canadian Press (via CTV News), Donald Sutherland was undoubtedly humbled and showed that, despite being on the cusp of his 90s, he still has a sense of humor. “It’s the biggest thing to me…I kept saying: ‘I’m a Canadian and now I’m a Canadian stamp…This is really something. I think just now when I said it, all the hair stood up on my arms. But it is cold in here.”

The stamp, which you can see below, shows a profile of Donald Sutherland behind with a list of some of his notable films – Klute, M*A*S*H, Klute, Fellini’s Casanova, Ordinary People, The Italian Job, and The Hunger Games – along with French translations.

On their decision to honor Donald Sutherland,...

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Olivia Rodrigo has announced a surprise show in Los Angeles tomorrow night as part of a new partnership with American Express. The card member-only concert takes place tomorrow, October 9 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel, located in downtown LA. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Pt and show time is at 8 p.m.

Olivia Rodrigo Tickets $25

Tickets are only $25 and will be available exclusively for American Express cardholders.

Fest runs September 7-17.

TIFF has announced additional TIFF Tribute Award recipients, with Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz, Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal, and Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau joining the roster.

Markowicz will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM Studios. The award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists.

Markowicz will present the world premiere of her second feature Toll on September 9. The film centres on a Brazilian mother who falls in with a gang of thieves in an attempt to keep her family afloat. Her first film...

On Tuesday, TIFF announced additional honorees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s Festival. Recipients include award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz who will be honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM. This award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today. Two-time Academy Award–nominated Polish cinematographer Łukasz Żal will receive the TIFF Variety Artisan Award, which recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Both Markowicz and Żal will be honoured on Sept. 10 at the fifth annual TIFF Tribute Awards gala fundraiser at Fairmont Royal York Hotel, presented by Bulgari.

On Sept. 15, TIFF will be honouring Andy Lau, the multi-hyphenate Hong Kong artist with a Special Tribute Award at the World Premiere Gala presentation of Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor,...

Bob Beitcher, president and CEO of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, sent out an open letter to the entertainment industry pleading for more support for his organization’s efforts to give financial aid to Hollywood’s working class as the industry’s double strike continues.

“Members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been very generous in stepping up to support their own members, but as a community we are not doing enough to support the tens of thousands of crew members and others who live paycheck to paycheck and depend on this industry for their livelihood,” Beitcher wrote.

Founded by Mary Pickford in 1921, the Motion Picture and Television Fund was created to provide financial and medical support to struggling workers in the entertainment industry. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the org saw requests for emergency relief grants surge as the industry was forced to shut down for several months in 2020.

Now,...

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Winning Time season 2, episode 2!

A frequent location in Winning Time season 2 is Jerry Buss' Pickfair mansion, a historically significant estate in Hollywood known for extravagant parties in the 1920s. The mansion was originally owned by actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who entertained famous guests like Charlie Chaplin and F. Scott Fitzgerald. After Jerry Buss purchased the estate in 1980, he continued the tradition of hosting parties with NBA stars and Hollywood celebrities until selling it in 1988 to singer Pia Zadora.

Winning Time season 2 sees Jerry Buss host an event at his Pickfair mansion, a lavish estate with a wild history from its notoriety in 1920s Hollywood. The HBO series follows the true story of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, kicking off after Jerry Buss buys the team. With Winning Time season 1’s ending seeing the Lakers...

The Season 2 premiere of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” has officially dropped, and some of the events that took place might have viewers wondering if they actually happened or not.

In the second season of “Winning Time,” greater risks are taken, big games are played and Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) rocks a new hairstyle. But did the show change up some of the real-life events they depicted in the show? These types of shows always take some creative liberties. But don’t worry, we made sure to lay out all the facts so you don’t have to. Don’t even think about opening up a Google search, it’s all here.

Here are all the facts and the fiction from Episode 1 of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” Season 2.

Boston Celtics fans actually rocked the Lakers bus?

Yes, but it wasn’t after Game one.

Damien Chazelle's Babylon filmed in multiple Old Hollywood locations, drawing audiences into the debaucherous world of 1920s Los Angeles. The dark period comedy shows the glamour and dangers of the silent film era in Hollywood. Babylon follows the lives of an extensive group of characters including newbies in Hollywood like Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva), as well as established performers like Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), Sidney Palmer (Jovan Apedo), and Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt).

While many movies choose to use a studio lot for filming, Babylon took a different approach by using real buildings from Old Hollywood. This allowed Babylon to draw viewers into the time period represented, rather than requiring a suspension of disbelief. Though the scope of these sets became challenging to manage, according to director Damien Chazelle (via People), it made for a magical movie-going experience.

Blue Sky Movie Ranch...

Anyone who loved Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as the thoroughly modern career woman Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as the brittle, distant Beth in her Oscar-nominated turn in 1980’s ‘Ordinary People,” will love the new Max documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore.” Moore, who died in 2017 at the age of 80, narrates the story of her life which had incredible triumphs but also great tragedy. But one aspect of her storied career it doesn’t really delve in as her work in telefilms, miniseries and even an “PBS Hollywood Presents” that reunited her with Dick Van Dyke.

Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...

Critics can debate just how diverse the 2023 Oscars really were. Alongside a record number of winners of ethnically Chinese and Indian decent — including Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, director-screenwriter Daniel Kwan and producer Jonathan Wang for Everything Everywhere All At Once, and a best song trophy for “Naatu Naatu” composer M.M. Keeravaani and lyricist Chandrabose — the 95th Academy Awards includes just a single Black winner, costume designer Ruth Carter, who picked up her second Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and just one Oscar for a Latino filmmaker, going to Mexican director Guillermo del Toro for his animated feature Pinocchio.

On one measure, however, the 2023 Oscars get top marks. This year’s event was one of the most globally diverse in the event’s history.

Winners in 13 of 24 Oscar categories hailed from outside the U.S. — 15 if you include Ke Huy Quan, (who was born in Vietnam and immigrated...

There were numerous superstars during the silent era from the clown princes of comedy Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd to such dramatic and action icons as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish. One was a good boy — the German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin. Not only is Rin Tin Tin, aka Rinty, credited with saving Warner Bros., but Hollywood lore also insists he, not Emil Jannings, was the first Best Actor Oscar winner.

With Warner Brothers celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the Academy Awards just around the corner, it’s time to look at the Rinty phenomenon and its place in Hollywood history.

Rinty wasn’t the first canine star. Blair, the pet collie of British director Cecil Hepworth, headlined his 1905 thriller “Rescued by Rover.” The film was so popular it had to be shot twice because the...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Friday that it is “conducting a review” of this season’s Oscar campaigns, with the grassroots effort that resulted in a surprising best actress Oscar nomination for Andrea Riseborough’s performance in the independent film To Leslie almost certainly the main focus of their inquiry.

The nom for Riseborough, a 41-year-old British actors’ actor, evoked audible gasps when it was announced last Tuesday because few people except members of the Academy’s actors branch, which solely determines the acting Oscar nominees, had ever even heard of the film it came for, which cost — and grossed — virtually nothing. But given the tremendous critical response to Riseborough’s portrayal of a spiraling alcoholic following the film’s premiere at last year’s SXSW film festival, and the lack of financial resources possessed by the film’s U.S. distributor Momentum Pictures, the film’s director,...

Betty Sturm, who played a follower of Timothy Carey’s cult leader in the infamous Frank Zappa-scored The World’s Greatest Sinner, died Sunday of Alzheimer’s disease at her home in Clinton, New Jersey, her son, William Winckler, announced. She was 89.

Carey wrote, directed, produced and starred as an insurance salesman who transforms himself into the dictatorial God Hilliard in The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962). The film has rarely been seen in theaters and is perhaps best known for its Zappa connection. Martin Scorsese is said to be a fan.

In the 2012 making-of documentary Making Sinner, Sturm was interviewed by Romeo Carey, Timothy Carey’s son. She explained that because of The World’s Greatest Sinner‘s yearlong shooting schedule and a financial dispute, she did not return for one last scene, so an extra stepped in for her to play a saxophone.

Raised in Spain and Germany,...

What was the movie Steven Spielberg saw as a child that inspired him to become one of the most successful, influential, and acclaimed filmmakers? According to his semi-autobiographical new film “The Fabelmans,” his cinematic alter-ego Sammy becomes obsessed with movies after his parents take him to the see Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 circus epic “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

“The Greatest Show on Earth,” which not only won the Oscar for Best Picture and story, was the box office champ of the year earning 14 million domestically and 36 million worldwide. Critics were not so kind to his cotton-candy colored melodrama set under the big top at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Films in Review declared “Mr. DeMille is so accomplished a showman that one is astonished he did not just photograph a circus performance without the synthetic story he injected here. After all, the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus is a wonder in itself.

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When Blanche Sweet sang “there’s a tear for every smile in Hollywood” in Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), she wasn’t wrong. Movie people have long been warning starry eyed wannabes to tread carefully if there were coming to Tinseltown full of hopes and dreams. In The Truth About the Movies by the Stars (1924), screenwriter Frank Butler wrote that “From every corner of the earth they come and across the Seven Seas – borne on the tireless wings of youthful optimism. Pathetic pilgrims these, struggling on to ultimate disillusion.”

A large part of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) explores the dark side of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenties roared in Hollywood, but there was also something larger at stake for characters in Babylon. Like any audience in front of a film, they were chasing that magic on the screen. They were chasing an idea.

When it came time to recreate 1920s Los Angeles for Damien Chazelle’s sprawling Hollywood epic “Babylon,” production designer Florencia Martin wanted audiences to really feel the history of the central city.

“Damian and I met over Zoom for the first time actually, because we were in the pandemic, and started immediately sharing images of these depravity-stricken characters mixed in with a barren Los Angeles,” Martin tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “It’s unbelievable to look at these images of early Los Angeles and see how it was really a city in formation – which is how Damian wrote and wanted to kick off the film and the story. So we spoke about creating a world that was really visceral, that allowed the audience to step into all these amazing circumstances that our characters find themselves in. So you really wanted to create a world that was like...

The MPTF “Lights, Camera, Take Action!” telethon raised 867,986 on Saturday night to benefit the 100-year old charity’s support of entertainment industry members in need.

Cast and Crew of MPTF Telethon

The telethon aired live on Ktla 5, with presenting sponsors City National Bank and UCLA Health leading the philanthropic charge. Acclaimed Emmy-nominated actress and writer Yvette Nicole Brown, currently seen in Disenchanted, and beloved game show host and Emmy winner Tom Bergeron co-hosted the show on-air, with Ktla’s Sam Rubin hosting the in-studio phone bank. Writer-producer Phil Rosenthal, who also appeared during the program, and David Wild produced the show. The telethon celebrated MPTF’s significant safety net support to the entertainment community and offered viewers a night of unforgettable musical performances and appearances by special guests. Industry celebrities including Spencer Garrett, Clark Gregg, Annette O’Toole, Michael McKean, Rob Morrow, Jessica Rothe, and Adrienne Visnic took donations on a phone bank throughout the event.

The Boston boys are getting the team back together, as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have announced they are launching a production company, Artists Equity, with the goal of ensuring filmmakers can get more profit from their works. This comes at a time when streaming services have taken a strong command over the entertainment industry.

In a statement to The New York Times, Affleck–who will serve as chief executive–said, “As streamers have proliferated, they have really ended back-end participation, and so this is partly an effort to try to recapture some of that value and share it in a way that’s more equitable.” He also said profits wouldn’t just be going towards marquee names or high-profile directors, but behind-the-scenes figures, like “cinematographers, editors, costume designers and other crucial artists who, in my view, are very underpaid.”

In an additional statement, Matt Damon–who will be chief...