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This story about “The Last Movie Stars” originally appeared in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

As actor-director Ethan Hawke was working on “The Last Movie Stars,” he showed a rough cut of the six-part Max docuseries about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to his mom. She told him, “Well, you managed to make two of the greatest icons of my life completely human. Though I’m not sure if anybody’s gonna like that.” Although “The Last Movie Stars” is chock-full of clips from Newman and Woodward films, the series beautifully folds in themes of family, betrayal, aging, grief and healing. We spoke with Hawke about his labor of love.

Ethan Hawke (Getty Images)

The series is so artful and impressionistic, but it’s also impressive as an act of profile journalism. What was that like for you?

Years ago I wrote a profile of Kris Kristofferson for Rolling Stone,...

When "Easy Rider" was released into theaters in the summer of 1969, popular culture had already shifted significantly to reflect the spirit of rebellion swelling up among teenagers across the country. Signifying a real change, it was time for the box office and Hollywood to catch up with the tides; "Easy Rider" would go on to gross 60 million around the world. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda starred as two free-wheeling bikers from L.A. heading to New Orleans, and "Easy Rider" represented the beginning of counterculture and the death of the sixties, simultaneously. The soundtrack featuring Steppenwolf and The Band was instantly iconic, and the sweeping vistas that Hopper and Fonda rode through helped to define a road trip movie for a new generation. Then, the film's tragic ending served as a reminder that America wasn't really the land of the free, after all. 

The surprise success of "Easy Rider" resulted...

We have a lot to cover in this, our last roundup of new and recent books on film and pop culture before year’s end—high-profile memoirs, the coolest collection of crossword puzzles in history, a dash of Mac & Me. So, let’s get right to it. Happy holidays, and happy reading!

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino (Harper)

Quentin Tarantino wrote one of 2021’s most notable film-related books, a tremendous novelization of his own Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He follows that success with what just might be 2022’s best film-related books, Cinema Speculation. It is a collection of essays built around films seen during his adolescence that impacted him greatly. Some, like Deliverance and Taxi Driver, are canon. Others, like 1973 crime drama The Outfit, are not. The experience of reading Speculation is akin to hearing Tarantino zip through his childhood movie habits—the text mostly focuses on films...

Paul Newman had a storied career -- spanning the '50s-era studio films through New Hollywood and into the modern era. The man even appeared in a Pixar film! Toward the end of his life, Barbara Walters asked Newman what he imagined his epitaph would be. "That I was part of my times," the actor replied. He was that, but he was also a man who could adapt to whatever a film required with Hollywood charm and sparkling eyes. Ethan Hawke, who directed the docuseries "The Last Movie Stars" about Newman and his decades-long relationship with Joanne Woodward, had some thoughts on his marriage of charisma and talent. Hawke told A.Frame, "They weren't movie stars; they were actors!... I realized they're the last people where being an actor was what it took to be a movie star."

His decades-long career debuted some stone-cold classics -- like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,...

Actor/writer/director Ethan Hawke discusses a few of his favorite films with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Explorers (1985) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Verdict (1982)

The Color Of Money (1986) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Three Faces Of Eve (1957)

Mr. And Mrs. Bridge (1990)

North By Northwest (1959)

Torn Curtain (1966)

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Frenzy (1972) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

Topaz (1969)

Boyhood (2014)

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Blue Collar (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

First Reformed (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

The Left Handed Gun (1958)

Hombre (1967)

Hud (1963)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Buffalo Bill And The Indians, Or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Outrage (1964)

Rashomon (1950) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary,...

Now that’s dedication in marriage: Paul Newman’s first directed feature film is a drama showcase for his spouse Joanne Woodward, one likely to garner critical attention. A small-town teacher deals with boredom, isolation, repression, and dwindling hope; the carefully measured conflicts allow good input from actors Kate Harrington, Estelle Parsons, and James Olson as the lover with the right approach at just the right time. It’s a picture of sensitive emotions: is Rachel Cameron really becoming a spinster? Does she have any choice in the matter? Middle age does tend to sneak up on a person . . .

Rachel, Rachel

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Available at Wac-Amazon / Street Date September 6, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington, Estelle Parsons, Donald Moffat, Frank Corsaro, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Bernard Barrow, Nell Potts.

Cinematography: Gayne Rescher

Art Director: Robert Gundlach

Film Editor: Dede Allen

Original Music: Jerome Moross...

Until quite late in the process of crafting “The Last Movie Stars” — a six-hour deep dive into the on- and off-screen lives of Hollywood golden couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, now streaming on HBO Max — director Ethan Hawke resisted the notion that he was making a TV series.

“I don’t like episodic. I don’t like the nature of false cliffhangers. My brain is allergic to that,” admits Hawke, who unveiled an hour of the project at the South by Southwest film festival in March, then two more segments at the Cannes Film Festival in May. “When I started, I really wanted it to be short enough that you could watch it in one sitting. I wanted to lasso it into the size of ‘No Direction Home’ or something like that.”

But the more he dug, the bigger it grew, expanding beyond the couple’s career successes — which...

At 51, Ethan Hawke has lived many creative lives. “Dead Poet’s Society” made him a star at 18; at 24 he became a Gen X icon with “Reality Bites.” He was 25 when “Before Sunrise” kicked off the iconic romantic trilogy that would follow him for the next 18 years and make him a screenwriter with “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.”

He became a director a long time ago — he made “Chelsea Walls” in 2001 — and two decades later, his identity lies in being a creator as much as an actor. Showtime series “The Good Lord Bird” made Hawke a showrunner in 2020 and in his new HBO Max docuseries, “The Last Movie Stars,” Hawke turns his focus to the elusive careers and romance of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward — although the subject may as well be himself.

“I’ve definitely made the turn from being an old young person to being a young old person,...

They were two actors, who happened to briefly meet in the New York office of their mutual manager; the beautiful blonde from Georgia said she initially “hated him,” what with this blue-eyed Greek god looking so damned gorgeous in his seersucker suit. But let’s not kid anybody — it was lust at first sight. When the two of them were cast as understudies in the original Broadway production of William Inge’s Picnic, they’d watch the play together in the wings. During a scene in which the lead characters...

The official trailer for season 4 of “Virgin River,” the Netflix romantic drama based on the novels of Robyn Carr, has been released.

“Virgin River” stars Alexandra Breckenridge as Melinda Monroe, a nurse practitioner who accepts a job offer to move from Los Angeles to the titular North Carolina small town. The show follows Melinda as she adjusts to small town life and gets involved with romantic drama, particularly involving local restaurant owner Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson).

The Season 4 trailer picks off where Season 3 left off, with Melinda pregnant and unsure whether or not the baby is Jack’s or if the father is her late husband Mark (Daniel Gillies). The question causes strain in the two’s relationship, especially with Melinda eager to find out who the father is, while Jack tries to dissuade her from taking a paternity test.

In addition to Breckenridge and Henderson, the series also stars Colin Lawrence,...

HBO Max will premiere its six-part original documentary from CNN Films, “The Last Movie Stars,” on July 21. The docuseries centers on Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, and explores their personas, talent and love story. Four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (“Seymour: An Introduction”) directs, with Academy Award-winning director, writer and producer Martin Scorsese as executive producer.

The docuseries incorporates an abandoned project that Newman commissioned from friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern, who interviewed close friends, family, and artistic collaborators including Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Karl Malden, Sidney Pollack, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Witte and Joanne Woodward for a planned memoir. Newman was also interviewed by Stern, and discussed his childhood, his first marriage with Witte, his romance and life with Woodward and more.

Actors Karen Allen, George Clooney, Oscar Isaac, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Zoe Kazan, Laura Linney, Sam Rockwell and others voice parts of the original transcribed interviews. Hawke also interviewed some of Newman’s daughters,...

HBO Max will debut all six-parts of Ethan Hawke’s documentary “The Last Movie Stars,” which premiered at SXSW and the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, on July 21. The series explores the personal lives and careers of actors Joanna Woodward and Paul Newman. Hawke, who previously helmed the documentary “Seymour: An Introduction,” directs all six entries in the CNN Films docuseries while Martin Scorsese serves as executive producer.

Central to “The Last Movie Stars” is a long-abandoned project that Newman commissioned from friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern. At Newman’s request, Stern interviewed close friends, family and artistic collaborators like Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Karl Malden, Sydney Pollack, Gore Vidal, Jackie Witte, Woodward for a planned memoir. Newman was also interviewed by Stern to discuss his youth, his first marriage with Witte, his romance and life with Woodward, his personal demons, and the loss of his son, Scott.

“It...

He is a TV news star: His views are populist, his subtext racist. His advocacy is passionate and his TV audience is vast, despite suspicion that he pursues an agenda above and beyond his own.

Some may rush to identify this character – images of Fox News flash before us – but the TV anchor was, in fact, a creation of Paul Newman, a star of a previous generation whose presence seems pervasive in the present.

At a moment when political expression, personal or corporate, seems instantly suffocated, Newman was a courageous free spirit who vented his opinions and put his career at risk in support of them. The superstar is the subject of a riveting new documentary directed by Ethan Hawke prompting praise this week at SXSW. He also is the subject of a revealing, long-suppressed memoir being published this fall by Alfred A. Knopf.

Though he passed in 2008, Newman occupies...

Ethan Hawke is to direct and Martin Scorsese exec produce a celebration of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman’s lives for CNN+ and HBO Max.

Featuring transcribed readings of interviews read by the likes of George Clooney, Oscar Isaac, Laura Linney and Zoe Kazan, The Last Movie Stars will celebrate the enigmatic personas, incandescent talent and love story of the two actors, who occupy a unique space in the Hollywood pantheon.

The project emerged from Woodward and Newman’s daughters’ approaching Hawke during the early days of the pandemic, at which point they asked him to direct a doc about their parents from Nook House Productions.

Central to the film is a long-abandoned project that Newman, who died in 2008, commissioned from friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern. At Newman’s request, Stern interviewed the likes of Woodward, Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Karl Malden, Sidney Pollack, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Witte and others for a planned memoir.

They were a Hollywood power couple who chose to live and raise their family in Connecticut, far removed from the center of moviemaking. They were box office draws who remained true to their art, using their celebrity to finance smaller dramas and passion projects. They epitomized glamour and romance for legions of fans, but remained more devoted to social justice and philanthropy than red carpet premieres.

Now, a new six-part documentary will examine the lives and legacies of the enigmatic and incandescent Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. The series, “The Last Movie Stars,” is directed by Ethan Hawke and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. CNN Films and HBO Max are backing the series, which will premiere exclusively on CNN Plus, the news network’s subscription streaming service which will debut later this year. The film will also be available later via HBO Max.

There’s certainly a lot of rich material to dig into.

For all of us big Paul Newman fans, it came as thrilling news last week that Knopf will be publishing the Hollywood icon’s unfinished memoir next fall, largely based on his own oral history along with interviews with his friends and family, actors like Tom Cruise and directors including George Roy Hill of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” fame.

I’ve been obsessed with Newman my entire life, having grown up watching all his movies and going gaga every time he appeared on-screen. I met him once years ago when he and Joanne Woodward visited an acting class that I was in with one of Newman’s daughters. Meeting and conversing with that dreamy blue-eyed wonder was, well, you can just imagine.

I spoke with Knopf editor-at-large Peter Gethers, who will be editing the yet-to-be-titled memoir, and we agreed that Newman, Steve McQueen and Sidney Poitier are the...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Dean Stockwell in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986)The actor Dean Stockwell, remembered for his performances in films like The Boy with the Green Hair (1948), Paris, Texas (1984), Blue Velvet (1986), and many more, has died at the age of 85. As Sheila O'Malley mentions in her tribute, Stockwell's career was marked by numerous disappearances. He didn't always love acting, but "he lived long enough to be able to not just appreciate but feel the love that people had for him, the way audiences fell in love with him for 70 years." A newly discovered memoir by Paul Newman will be published next year by Knopf. Based on Newman's conversations with screenwriter Stewart Stern, the book aims to tell the legendary actor's story in his own words. Following the exit of Robert Pattinson and Taron Egerton, Joe Alwyn...

A memoir written by actor Paul Newman but left unfinished in his lifetime will be published by Alfred A. Knopf next fall, the publishing house announced today.

Newman started writing the book in the 1980s with screenwriter Stewart Stern, but the memoir remained unfinished and unpublished when the Cool Hand Luke actor died in 2008. The manuscript, according to Knopf, was recently discovered in the Connecticut home where Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward still lives.

The publisher said in a statement that the memoir addresses such topics as “acting, directing, boyhood, family, fame, Hollywood, Broadway, love, his first marriage, his 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward, drinking, politics, racing, his ultimate ride to stardom, and aging gracefully.”

Said Knopf, “Through Newman’s voice, and the voices of others, the book captures the paradoxical and unstoppable rise of a star who wrestled with doubts, believing he was inferior to Marlon Brando and James Dean,...

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Who wouldn't risk it all for Estelle Parsons in those Edna Mode glasses?

We’re continuing our retro streak of the Gay Best Friend series this week, though we’re moving a bit forward in time (and to the subject of a Smackdown). In our Rebel Without a Cause entry, we discussed how director Nicholas Ray, actor Sal Mineo and writer Stewart Stern all coded Plato as gay, even though the Hays Code wouldn’t let homosexuality be openly discussed on film. This week, we’re looking at another Stewart Stern script, Rachel, Rachel. That film premiered thirteen years later (1968) and with the dissolution of the code we see less of a need to rely on coding. Estelle Parsons’ gregarious teacher Calla Mackie is established as a lesbian within the film. However, it reinforces tropes in gay representation...

John Cassavetes springs forth as a major 1950s talent in these two ‘Primetime Special’ dramatic plays broadcast live on ABC and CBS. Crime in the Streets is the Reginald Rose classic directed by Sidney Lumet; No Right to Kill is a ‘culture for the masses’ adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Cassavetes’ co-stars are Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Terry Moore and Robert H. Harris.

Television’s Lost Classics

Volume One John Cassavetes

Crime in the Streets; No Right to Kill

Blu-ray

Vci

1955-’56 / B&W / 1:33 Kinescope / 2 x 60 min. / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 18.99 (Amazon)

Starring: John Cassavetes, Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Mark Rydell, Terry Moore, Robert H. Harris.

Directed by Sidney Lumet and Buzz Kulik

Remember the movie Network, when William Holden’s character says he’s going to write a glowing memoir about his ‘good old days’ in the Golden Era of Live TV in New York? That was in 1975, just...

Dennis Hopper’s audacious 1971 movie about the ritualistic voodoo of cinema is a brilliant, exhilarating experiment

This year’s posthumous release of Orson Welles’s The Other Side of the Wind may reignite interest in another misunderstood film of that period that Welles’ work very much resembles, and which may well have inspired it: Dennis Hopper’s fascinating, flawed, experimental The Last Movie from 1971, about the ritualistic voodoo of cinema, now on rerelease - featuring cameos by Samuel Fuller and Kris Kristofferson. After the smash-hit success of Easy Rider in 1969, awestruck Universal studio bosses agreed to give Hopper and his co-writer Stewart Stern (screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause) a million-dollar budget and an undertaking not to interfere with what they were doing. Hopper took their money, went to Peru and over a year filmed this audacious experimental picture about a movie shoot. Universal didn’t know what to do...

Dennis Hopper’s legendary follow-up to Easy Rider ended his Hollywood directing career for at least fifteen years. Barely seen again after brief premiere bookings, it hasn’t built up a reputation as a suppressed masterpiece. So what is it exactly? A new spotless restoration gives a dazzling rebirth to Hopper’s Perú- filmed deconstruction of Hollywood. The astonishing number of notables in the cast list may in itself demand a viewing.

The Last Movie

Blu-ray

Arbelos

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / 39.99

Starring: Dennis Hopper, Stella García, Tomas Milian, Don Gordon, Julie Adams, Donna Baccala, Sylvia Miles, Rod Cameron, Severn Darden, Sam Fuller, Peter Fonda, Henry Jaglom, Michelle Phillips, Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn, Clint Kimbrough, John Phillip Law, James Mitchum, Richard Rust, Toni Basil, Michael Anderson Jr.

Cinematography: László Kovács

Production design: Leon Ericksen

Film Editors: David Berlatsky, Antranig Mahakian, Dennis Hopper, [Alejandro Jodorowsky]

Original Music: Severn Darden,...

In 1971, Dennis Hopper directed his passion project, The Last Movie, on the back of the massive success of his first feature, Easy Rider. Arbelos, the new film restoration and distribution company started by Dennis Bartok, Ei Toshinari, David Marriott, and Craig Rogers has unveiled the new key art for this, their first official release.  The film, co-written by Stewart Stern (Rebel Without a Cause), won an award at the Venice Film Festival, but was a massive critical and financial failure when it released in the Us shortly thereafter. The production of the film and Hopper's descent into drug and alcohol abuse were chronicled in Lm Kit Carson's The American Dreamer, and The Last Movie's collapse led to a long period of exile for Hopper,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Exclusive: Arbelos Films has constructed a trailer for The Last Movie, the now cult Dennis Hopper experimental indie that has divided film aficionados since its 1971 release. Arbelos has completed its 4K film restoration of the pic that now becomes a notable distribution kickoff for the company, which acquired Cinelicious after it dissolved more than a year ago.

The Last Movie opens August 3 at the Metrograph in New York, the city that marked the site of the original’s unsuccessful critical and commercial 1971 bow, which came on the heels of Hopper’s enormous success with Easy Rider in his directing debut. The restoration will later screen at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles and 19 other locations nationwide.

The plan is for Los Angeles-based Arbelos to mine the Cinelicious library it now reps to release both older and newer films. Also on its upcoming slate and Béla Tarr’s 1994 film Sátántangó.

“The Last Movie...

Benedict Cumberbatch, Edie Falco, Hugh Dancy and Tony-nominee Tom Hollander were among the famous faces reading famous – or should-be-famous – correspondence from the past at Friday night’s New York City debut of the two-night, Cumberbatch-produced Letters Live event, but it was an unbilled Rose McGowan reading her own incendiary and far-reaching “Dear Hollywood” missive from 2016 that gave an extra jolt to the show.

McGowan’s appearance at Manhattan’s Town Hall had been kept mostly under wraps – she tweeted a plug for the show a couple hours prior to the 8 pm start, but with no details – until the very moment the offstage announcer began the introductory remarks that preceded all of the performances, first describing the letter about to be read and then the actor who would read it.

“In October 2016,” the announcer said, “shortly after revealing she’d been assaulted by the head of a Hollywood studio, activist and...

In this edition of Canon Of Film, we look at the James Dean classic, ‘Rebel Without a Cause‘. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Director: Nicholas Ray

Screenplay: Stewart Stern; adapted by Irving Shulman, from a story by Nicholas Ray

When I was 12-years old, I don’t know exactly what it was that possessed me to do so, but I sat down one night and watched ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ I was into old-time 50s nostalgia, such as ‘Grease,’ and ‘Happy Days,’ and decided to see this movie and the James Dean persona/image that influenced many of that decade. Yet, what I found was something else that day. the realization that a film could reveal hidden messages, meanings, and metaphors that aren’t just what the film is about. I remember it distinctly, Jim Backus, who you...

James Napier Robertson’s acclaimed New Zealand drama picked up a couple of honours as the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival came to a close.

The 25-day festival kicked off on May 14 and featured 450 films representing 92 countries and featured 49 world premieres.

Siff 2015 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Film

The Dark Horse by James Napier Robertson

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Documentary

Romeo Is Bleeding by Jason Zeldes

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Director

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Actor

Cliff Curtis, The Dark Horse

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Actress

Nina Hoss, Phoenix

Golden Space Needle Award - Best Short Film

Even The Walls, directed by Sarah Kuck, Saman Maydáni

Lena Sharpe Award For Persistence Of Vision

Frame By Frame by Mo Scarpelli, Alexandria Bombach

Siff 2015 Competition Awards

Siff 2015 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize

Liza, The Fox-Fairy...

In terms of support, they got a taste for what the Sundance Institute had to offer in concretizing aspects of their respective screenplays and in terms of scenery, they’ll need to pack significantly less heavier suitcases. Nia DaCosta (Little Woods), Olivia Newman (First Match), Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (pictured above) (Mustang) & Yung Chang (Eggplant), Christopher Makoto Yogi (I Was A Simple Man), Mark Kindred (Rogue) and trio Brent Green, Michael McGinley and Thyra Heder‘s untitled project are technically moving onto the next round working on the directing portion of their projects at the June Directors and Screenwriters Labs. they’ll be joined by The Imposter helmer Bart Layton‘s narrative debut, American Animals. The Screenwriters Lab attendees are Dan Krauss‘ docu-to-feature adaptation of The Kill Team, Boots Riley‘s Sorry to Bother You, Frances Bodomo, Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani and Irakli Solomanashvili‘s Afronauts, and finally Fernando Coimbra‘s The...

The Sundance Institute has announced the 13 projects selected for the 2015 June Directors and Screenwriters Labs.

The event, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 25-June 25, runs annually in order to discover and enhance the up-and-coming independent film artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.

Each filmmaker will also work with a group of Creative Advisors, professional actors and production crews, including Robert Redford, Catherine Hardwicke, Ed Harris, Caleb Deschanel and Scott Z Burns.

This year’s selections feature works from six different countries, including the Us, Brazil, China, France, Georgia and the UK and vary from documentary, theatre, music, animation, new media and visual art categories.

The selections are:

Bart Layton / American Animals (UK);

Yung Chang / Eggplant (China-Canada):

Olivia Newman / First Match (USA);

Christopher Makoto Yogi / I Was A Simple Man (USA);

Nia DaCosta / Little Woods (USA);

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre / Mustang (France);

Mark Kindred / Rogue (USA); and

Brent Green, Michael McGinley and [link...

All the winners from Sunday’s 87th Academy Awards.

Show host Harris signs off with a chirpy, “Buenos noches!”

Sean Penn walks on. It’s time for the big one. Best film. Will it be Birdman or Boyhood? It’s Birdman! The movie ends the night tied with The Grand Budapest Hotel on four Oscars. Inarritu, referring to his pal Alfonso Cuaron who enjoyed success with Gravity at last year’s show, says, “Two Mexicans in a row. That’s suspicious, I guess.” Slightly more seriously, Agi also calls on his fellow Mexicans to help build a strong future for his beloved country. Wow, a good night for Birdman and a surprisingly barren one for Boyhood. Pirates indeed, Ethan Hawke, but glorious pirates.

And now Matthew McConaughey saunters on stage to announce best actress. Julianne Moore, five times a nominee at the Oscars is the favourite. Will she get it this time for Still Alice? Yes she’s got...

"Louis Jourdan, a handsome, sad-eyed French actor who worked steadily in films and on television in Europe and the United States for better than five decades, as a romantic hero in movies like Gigi and later as a suave villain in movies like Octopussy, died on Friday at his home in Beverly Hills," reports Terrence Rafferty in the New York Times. We also remember Lizabeth Scott, star of films noir in the 1940s and 1950s; screenwriter Stewart Stern (Rebel Without a Cause, Rachel, Rachel and Sybil); media journalist David Carr; actor Bryant Crenshaw (Gummo); and writer and producer Robert Blees (Magnificent Obsession). » - David Hudson...

"Louis Jourdan, a handsome, sad-eyed French actor who worked steadily in films and on television in Europe and the United States for better than five decades, as a romantic hero in movies like Gigi and later as a suave villain in movies like Octopussy, died on Friday at his home in Beverly Hills," reports Terrence Rafferty in the New York Times. We also remember Lizabeth Scott, star of films noir in the 1940s and 1950s; screenwriter Stewart Stern (Rebel Without a Cause, Rachel, Rachel and Sybil); media journalist David Carr; actor Bryant Crenshaw (Gummo); and writer and producer Robert Blees (Magnificent Obsession). » - David Hudson...

The legacy of screenwriters usually boils down to a life’s list of screen credits. Sometimes it goes beyond that, to the impact one makes on others. Latter is the case with Stewart Stern, the Rebel Without A Cause scribe who died last week. Stephen Chbosky, the writer-director of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, and Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning scribe of The Usual Suspects who is now directing Mission: Impossible 5, asked if they could convey what Stewart meant in launching them as writers.

Stephen Chbosky: Stewart Stern was my hero and mentor since I was 17 years old. He was the best teacher I ever had. He was the kindest soul I ever met. I would have never written The Perks Of Being A Wallflower had I not known him. He changed my life and heart forever.

With his seminal work, Rebel Without A Cause, he gave voice...

Rebel Without a Cause writer Stewart Stern has died, aged 92.

Following a lengthy battle with cancer, the screenwriter passed away in Washington on February 2.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Stern was nominated for two Oscars for his work on Teresa and Rachel, Rachel.

He also won an Emmy award for the made-for-television miniseries Sybil, starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward.

Stern's other credits include The Ugly American, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and The Last Movie.

The World War II veteran, who is the subject of an upcoming documentary, is survived by his wife.

Lizabeth Scott, one of the original femme fatales of cinema, is dead at 92. With star-making turns in the film-noir classics of the 1940s and ’50s, Scott suffered heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center on January 31, according to media reports. In 1947, Scott starred in “I Walk Alone” with Burt Lancaster, and opposite Charlton Heston in 1950’s “Dark City.” Also Read: Stewart Stern, ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ Screenwriter, Dead at 92 Scott often drew comparisons to Lauren Bacall, thanks to her smoky voice, film fans note. Her last credited role was in 1972’s “Pulp,” a sort of parody of the noir genre,...

Stewart Stern, the screenwriter of James Dean’s “Rebel Without a Cause” and camp classic, Sally Field personality disorder made-for-tv-movie “Sybil,” is dead at 92. The writer, who has been credited with work as recently as 2012, died at his home according to media reports. Stern was known for major accolades like an Oscar nomination for 1968’s “Rachel, Rachel” as well as close ties to industry glitterati like Gene Kelly, Paul Newman and Tony Curtis. Also Read: ‘Star Wars’ Actor Richard Bonehill Dead at 67 Other notable Stern credits include several projects about the life of James Dean, and a TV version of “The Glass Menagerie” starring Katharine.

Rebel Without A Cause

Written by Stewart Stern and Irving Shulman

Directed by Nicholas Ray

USA, 1955

That Rebel Without a Cause was such a success upon its initial 1955 release, and that it still stands as a hugely influential classic of American cinema, is not just a result of James Dean’s most iconic performance, nor is it simply the outcome of director Nicholas Ray’s talents. Why this film is truly a triumph has more to do with how superbly it encapsulates the artistic inclinations of these two particular artists. This is the film Dean and Ray were destined to make. And this was the time to make it.

Ray had been focusing on the outcasts, the rebels, and the loners since his first feature, They Live By Night. This emphasis would continue through In a Lonely Place and Johnny Guitar, before Rebel Without a Cause, and Bigger Than Life,...

Chicago – Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” based on his own book, is one of the pleasant surprises of 2012, a smart, clever, moving teen drama that brings to mind the work of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe. We’ll get into that more at the end of the week when our rave review posts but Mr. Chbosky was kind enough to sit down with us recently and talk about his debut film, one that is sure to be adored by the many fans who fell in love with his book.

Hollywoodchicago.Com: How personal is this? How much of it is Your story?

Stephen Chbosky: It’s really personal. It is semi-autobiographical. There is invention. Not everything that happens to Charlie happened to me but his response to the world is very much my response. It’s personal to me.

Hollywoodchicago.Com: How different is the film from the book?...

Veteran actress Joan Collins spent two months in therapy after movie legends Paul Newman, James Dean and Marlon Brando were astonished to discover she did not see a shrink.

The British star snubbed the Hollywood tradition of undergoing sessions with a psychiatrist when she first became big in Tinseltown in the 1950s.

After revealing her secret to her movie star pals, Collins felt pressured to agree to a bout of therapy but abandoned finding herself after realising she was completely sane.

She tells Ok! magazine, "I don't have to drop names, but I will. Paul Newman, James Dean, Marlon Brando - all friends I was hanging out with, couldn't believe I wasn't in therapy. Stewart Stern, who wrote Rebel Without A Cause, said to me, 'Joan, you must go to therapy. It's very important to find yourself.'

"So I went for two months. And I discovered that I am completely, inherently sane and non-neurotic."...

This is part of Fred Zinnemann Week, hosted at Shadowplay.

I've found that, for some people, the classic-status ubiquity of certain scenes in From Here to Eternity or High Noon, plus the damned aura of taste and quality which surrounds an AFI-favored filmmaker like Fred Zinnemann, can be intensely off-putting. I've also found that I prefer some of the director's less celebrated works. In other words, I think he deserves his high reputation, but perhaps for reasons and films that aren't so well-trodden.

One of Fred Z.'s undoubted attributes was an eye for acting talent. If he had only introduced Brando, Clift and Steiger to the screen, he would deserve to be remembered, but in fact he directed the first films of Julie Harris, Brandon De Wilde, Tony Franciosa, William Hickey, Don Murray, Claude Akins, Shirley Jones and Meryl Streep. And he directed early film appearances of Jessica Tandy,...

Dennis Hopper: actor, artist, filmmaker, Hollywood survivor.

Just days after remembering the loss of Sydney Pollack two years ago, we awaken to mourn the loss of another Hollywood icon, Dennis Hopper, less than two weeks after his 74th birthday. Hopper had been on my short list of "dream interviews" during my tenure at Venice Magazine. When I was lucky enough to finally sit down with him in November of 2008, I was thrilled, and didn't know quite what to expect.

What I found while smoking cigars with Hopper in his Venice home-studio, was a thoughtful man with a gentle demeanor, who spoke in measured tones and loved telling stories. Gone was the wild-eyed "enfant terrible" that Hopper had made his name playing, and sometimes living. What I saw instead was a man who seemed to be at peace with himself and his life, who loved his children, art, film and new ideas.

Today's Sundance Institute announcement on the make-up of this Summer's Directors and Screenwriters Labs offers some insight on the projects we should be seeing in future editions of the festival but also updates us on the progression of some projects we've already got our eyes on -- as is the case with Sean Durkin's upcoming first feature film and Ondi Timoner's (see pic) fictional debut. - Today's Sundance Institute announcement on the make-up of this Summer's Directors and Screenwriters Labs offers some insight on the projects we should be seeing in future editions of the festival but also updates us on the progression of some projects we've already got our eyes on -- as is the case with Sean Durkin's upcoming first feature film and Ondi Timoner's (see pic) fictional debut. Almost all projects that were are included in the Director's Lab were a part of the Screenwriter's...

Today's Sundance Institute announcement on the make-up of this Summer's Directors and Screenwriters Labs offers some insight on the projects we should be seeing in future editions of the festival but also updates us on the progression of some projects we've already got our eyes on -- as is the case with Sean Durkin's upcoming first feature film and Ondi Timoner's (see pic) fictional debut. Almost all projects that were are included in the Director's Lab were a part of the Screenwriter's January Lab earlier this year, so among the newly mentioned projects in the screenwriting portion of the camp we find indie filmmaker starlets Ry Russo-Young (You Wont Miss Me) and Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture - freshly picked up by IFC) are co-writing a project called Nobody Walks with Russo-Young directing the project. Here's the complete press release below -- look for Ioncinema.com to keep tabs on several of these projects.

I also made popcorn up at the Directors and Screenwriters Labs. This was probably the best job any aspiring filmmaker could have - it was like auditing the most progressive and exclusive grad school. I was able to sit in on every advisor meeting, I was right there observing the development of some incredible filmmakers. - In One Too Many Mornings, director Michael Mohan intelligently explores the nuances of friendship and responsibility and keeps it charming. The hilarious film perfectly illustrates the complex problem of wanting to be loved while refusing to make yourself attractive. The acting is great, the characters are real, and the story’s challenge asks you personally—this is your life; what are you gonna do about it? - Sundance Festival Guide Eric Lavallee: Can you discuss the lead up to One Too Many Mornings (your background as a filmmaker, your previous three shorts...

Please welcome guest contributor Linda Ball, who caught a special Austin Film Festival screening of the 1963 film The Ugly American, which included a discussion with the film's screenwriter, Stewart Stern.

I was curious to see the The Ugly American because when it was released (1963) and when the book was published (1959) I was quite young. However, I remember the phrase "the ugly American" being synonymous with new ideas about the face of colonialism and of the Cold War anti-Communist era. I may have even read the book in college. Certainly, this material was the part of the underpinning of the protests and new ways of looking at our place in the world that came along when I was in college and made me start to question the certainty of the 1950s culture of my childhood, basking in victory from what was considered a right and just war.

I was not prepared...

• Summer is a time for picnics, days at the beach, and Sundance's Director's and Screenwriter's Labs. Out of the eight announced projects attending the Director's lab, seven of them were part of the Screenwriter's lab back in January. The new name added to the lab process is a project from artist/filmmaker Tala Hadid and The Narrow Frame of Midnight. Among the four projects invited to the Screenwriter's Lab we find a familiar name in director (see pic) Todd Louiso (Love Liza, The Marc Pease Experience) and his latest project Hello, I Must Be Going. Following in a natural progression on the Sundance Institute's part to develop young filmmakers and help develop their projects, here are the lucky dozen participants who will have a chance to workshop their films before they go into production - and here is a list of the people who will be there to coach them.

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Beloved actor and humanitarian Paul Newman has died of cancer in his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

Six surviving cast-members of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) are celebrating the film's 45th anniversary by getting together to discuss the experience in public. Dennis Hopper, who was just 18 when he played a gang member in the 1955 classic will be joined by cast members Corey Allen, Steffi Sidney, Jack Grinnage, Beverly Long, Frank Mazzola and screenwriter Stewart Stern. The six will watch a screening at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, before leading a discussion on the making of the movie and their experiences of working with James Dean, who was killed in a car crash a month before the movie opened.