News

Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson have just made their first film together: One Battle After Another, which hits theaters this fall. However, DiCaprio regrets not starring in one of Anderson's first movies, almost three decades ago. In a recent interview with Anderson, DiCaprio notes that his biggest regret is not starring in the director's adult-film epic Boogie Nights, in the role that would eventually be played by Mark Wahlberg.

Says DiCaprio, "My biggest regret is not doing Boogie Nights. It was a profound movie of my generation. I can’t imagine anyone but Mark in it. When I finally got to see that movie, I just thought it was a masterpiece." Anderson wanted DiCaprio to play porn star Dirk Diggler (who was loosely based on real-life adult film actor John Holmes) in the film after seeing him in the drama The Basketball Diaries. While DiCaprio liked the script,...

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, opens in theaters on September 26. Still, before the dark comedy’s premiere, Leo is opening up about a missed opportunity to partner with PTA that he regrets. Speaking with Variety about his upcoming collaboration with PTA, Leonardo DiCaprio revealed that the biggest regret of his career is turning down the chance to play Eddie Adams in Anderson’s 1997 dramedy Boogie Nights.

DiCaprio was Anderson’s first pick to play Eddie, the high school dropout who becomes John Holmes / Peter North levels of popular in the porn industry as the swingin’ dong with charisma, Dirk Diggler. The decision led to DiCaprio starring alongside Kate Winslet in James Cameron’s Titanic, which turned DiCaprio into a household name.

“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights,'” DiCaprio admitted. “It was a profound movie of my generation.

Sitcoms don’t get much more wholesome than the 1950s comedy, Leave It to Beaver. But its squeaky-clean reputation didn’t stop rumormongers from creating a laundry list of salacious urban legends around the fates of its stars. In particular, Jerry “The Beaver” Mathers and Ken “Eddie Haskell” Osmond suffered disturbing futures, at least according to the whispers on the pre-Snopes streets.

Here are three Leave It to Beaver urban legends that are equally untrue…

1 The Beaver Was Killed in Vietnam

When the stubbornly living Jerry Mathers appeared on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show in the mid-1970s, Snyder noted that viewers hadn’t seen much of Mathers on TV lately. Most people chalked up his absence to the persistent rumor that the Beav was killed “in the war in Southeast Asia.”

The origins of the legend are twofold. First, Mathers did sign up for military service as part of the Air Force Reserves.

When Ken Osmond played kiss-ass Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver, kids used to chase him around the neighborhood. Not because his character was such a rat, as the Beaver might say, but because his young neighbors concluded he must be rich.

“They figured I had money,” Osmond told The Saginaw News, per MeTV. “I had to take off. Trouble was they came in a pack, so I couldn’t take ‘em one at a time.”

Did Osmond even have dough?

Compared to other kids, probably — but he didn’t have a fat deal with Leave It to Beaver. “The amazing thing is, even though I ended up being in 97 of the 235 episodes, I was never considered a season regular,” he wrote in his memoir, Eddie: The Life and Times of America's Preeminent Bad Boy. “And I never, ever had a long-term contract.”

One couldn’t blame Osmond for looking over his shoulder.

Nicole Clemens is joining Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios as vice president and head of international originals. Beginning July 7, she’ll report to Kelly Day, vice president of Prime Video International.

Clemens, the former president of Paramount Television Studios, will oversee the international originals regional and production leaders; she’ll work out of Amazon MGM Studios’ Culver City headquarters for a bit before relocating to her new home in Prime Video’s London office. Clemens previously was president of original scripted series for Paramount+.

Prior to Paramount, Clemens was a producer at Anonymous Content. Her résumé also includes top roles at FX Networks (executive vice president and head of series development) and at ICM Partners (partner, head of the Motion Picture Literary Department).

Paramount TV Studios shut down last year amid greater corporate restructuring; Paramount Global is in the process of merging with Skydance.

Amazon MGM has been undergoing...

Nicole Clemens is joining Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios as its new vice president and head of international originals.

Clemens, who will start in the role on July 7, will oversee the development and production of original movies and series across more than 20 territories and manage teams across Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa, Canada and Australia.

She will onboard and spend a period of time at Amazon MGM Studios’ headquarters in Culver City before relocating to London, per the internal announcement from Prime Video international vice president Kelly Day.

International originals team leaders Javiera Balmaceda, Tara Erer, Nicole Morganti and John Holmes (Director of International Originals Production & Post) will report directly to Clemens.

Nikhil Madhok, who leads international originals in India, will continue to report to Gaurav Gandhi, Prime video’s vice president of the Apac and Mena regions, while remaining part of Clemens’ leadership team.

Prime Video has named Nicole Clemens as VP and head of international originals for Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, effective July 7.

The appointment was announced by Kelly Day, VP of Prime Video International.

Clemens joins Prime Video from Paramount Television Studios, where she most recently served as president. In that capacity, she oversaw the development and production of several high-profile series that have found homes on Prime Video, including “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” “Reacher,” and “Cross.” Her tenure at Paramount also included a dual role as president of original scripted series for Paramount+, where she helped formulate the programming strategy for the streamer’s launch.

“Nicole is a highly respected and experienced media executive,” Day said in an internal announcement to Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios teams, seen by Variety. “I’m delighted to share that she will be joining us to lead our international original teams,...

Nicole Clemens is heading to Amazon to lead international originals.

Clemens, the former Paramount TV Studios boss, will take up the Vice President and Head of International Originals role at Prime Video and MGM Studios, which comes after her new boss Kelly Day had her role expanded amid a time of change for the juggernaut.

Clemens will lead an international originals team hat last year made 140 shows and movies across more than 20 territories including the likes of Culpa Tuya, Maxton Hall and Clarkson’s Farm. Upcoming projects include Red Queen and Betty La Fea (Colombia); and new projects like Newtopia, Superboys of Malegaon, Graduation Trip: Mallorca and Costiera.

Clemens will spend a period of time at the Amazon MGM Studios’ Culver City HQ, before relocating to London, according to an internal note from Day that has just been sent out, seen by Deadline. She joins international originals bosses including Javiera Balmaceda (Head of International Originals,...

Val Kilmer was one of the most versatile actors of his time. Sadly, the movie world lost him this week at the age of 65. But that gives us no better time than to revisit some of his most defining roles: Nick Rivers, Iceman, Doc Holliday, and one that truly blew the doors off: Jim Morrison. 1991’s The Doors might have the greatest Val Kilmer performance of all, playing the doomed lead singer of the titular band in a way that feels unmatched in the realm of biopics. So how did he pull it off?

Val Kilmer became a full-blown chameleon to play Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, immersing himself in the music, style and vibe of the singer, who died in 1971. Part of this involved spending half a year ensuring he would nail that trademark Lizard King vibe, losing weight to match Morrison’s bony chest. According...

Val Kilmer, the dashing Los Angeles-born actor who became a movie star after soaring with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and later starring in roles as varied as Batman, Jim Morrison, Mark Twain and Doc Holliday, died April 1. Before a battle with throat cancer that would rob his ability to speak, Kilmer starred in a wide swath of movies, from blockbusters like Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever to Westerns like Tombstone, musical biopics like Oliver Stone’s The Doors and later indie hits like Wonderland (playing ’70s porn star John Holmes) and Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, all employing in various capacities his trademark sly wit and always just the right touch of likeability. Related: Val Kilmer Dies: ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Doors’ & ‘Batman Forever’ Star Was 65 It was Top Gun that cemented his fame, though, playing hotshot pilot and Cruise foil Iceman in Tony Scott’s 1986 action blockbuster. Here...

Val Kilmer, who starred in a string of high-profile films such as Batman Forever and The Doors before receding from the silver screen amid health issues, died on Tuesday at the age of 65.

His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed the actor’s death to The New York Times, adding the cause was pneumonia. She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered.

The actor shot to fame in the Eighties with features in Top Secret!, Real Genius, and the mega blockbuster hit Top Gun playing naval aviator Tom...

Val Kilmer, the charisma-oozing leading man who lost himself portraying such tormented, self-loathing characters as Jim Morrison, gunslinger Doc Holliday and Batman during his all-too-brief career, died Tuesday. He was 65.

Kilmer, who came to fame for playing the competitive naval aviator Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise in Tony Scott’s 1986 mega box-office hit Top Gun, died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, his daughter, actress Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times.

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, and Val, a stirring documentary about his life that premiered at Cannes in July 2021, showed him needing a breathing tube.

His death was announced as the actor was meant to be arriving for a rare red carpet appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on Tuesday night. “It was a shock to find this out. We had just confirmed Val to attend the west coast premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective this past weekend,...

The Boogie Nights ending explained what happened to the career of fictional adult film star Dirk Diggler. The second directorial feature by Paul Thomas Anderson, who has since cemented his place as one of the finest filmmakers working today, the story begins in 1977, introducing Dirk as a high school dropout who runs away from home to join adult filmmaker Jack Horner and his ragtag group crew, including experienced porn actors Amber Waves, “Rollergirl,” Reed Rothchild, and Buck Swope (Don Cheadle).

By the film’s ending, the ensemble has struggled to navigate a dizzying world of amoral excess, including wealth, drug addiction, and prostitution. Dirk’s stardom has faded, leaving him in a dire situation. For all its provocative hedonism, Dirk’s tragic story comes full circle, while only a few of his friends succeed in bettering their lives. At its core, Anderson's Boogie Nights is a story of a...

Mark Wahlberg is begging audiences to put on their dancing shoes and cut up the floor with him for free, as the actors 1997 feature Boogie Nights is now streaming on Pluto TV. Paul Thomas Andersons cult-classic film blends truth with fiction and adds a top-tier roster to star alongside Wahlberg in the movin and groovin drama. Putting its focus on the rise of the adult film industry, the movie also bases its main character - Wahlbergs Dirk Diggler - on notorious adult film star, John Holmes, who was involved with one of the biggest murder cases of the time, now known as the Wonderland Murders.

On July 1, 1981, Hollywood was rocked by one of the most brutal murders in its history — the Wonderland Murders.

With ties to drugs, sex, and infamous names like John Holmes and Eddie Nash, the case has captivated true crime enthusiasts for decades.

Now, best-selling author Michael Connelly and Emmy-winning director Alison Ellwood are bringing this chilling story back to life with The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, a four-part docuseries premiering on MGM+ on September 8.

(© 2024 MGMPlus Entertainment LLC)

We had the pleasure of speaking with Connelly and Ellwood about their collaboration, our fascination with this crime, and how they’ve turned a notorious Hollywood tale into a compelling visual experience.

For anyone who’s followed the Wonderland case — or those discovering it for the first time — this series promises to be both an eye-opener and a deep dive into Hollywood’s shadowy past.

(© 2024 MGMPlus Entertainment LLC) “A Visual Story Begging to Be Told”

Connelly,...

The Locksmith is a 2023 thriller movie directed by Nicolas Harvard starring Ryan Phillippe and Kate Bosworth.

Storyline

An expert locksmith (Ryan Phillippe) is released from prison and pulled back into a world of crooked cops and small-town gangsters, despite the future he hoped to build with his ex-fiancé (Kate Bosworth) a detective, and their daughter.

The Stars Ryan Philippe

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by...

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story features one section that is actually a massive reference to a surprising '90s movie classic: Boogie Nights. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which is about the titular family-friendly parody songwriter, couldn't seem more different from Paul Thomas Anderson's film about a rising porn star, yet sections of the former appear to be directly pulled from Boogie Nights, creating a hilarious juxtaposition for audiences who are in on the joke. However, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story's Boogie Nights reference may have gone over some viewers' heads, so here is everything about this giant homage explained.

The plot of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story chronicles the rise of "Weird Al" Yankovic, though most of the movie's version of events isn't true. One early scene features a novice "Weird Al" going to a backyard party at the house of Dr. Demento, the radio host who...

When Michael Stein, an actor, stand-up and friend of filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, visited the set of Anderson’s pornography opus Boogie Nights in 1997, he noticed a cast member was missing. “I said,” recalls Stein, “‘Hey where’s Burt?’” Burt Reynolds was playing Jack Horner, a classy porno director and mentor to Mark Wahlberg’s up-and-coming porn stud, Dirk Diggler. The former Hollywood alpha would ultimately be Oscar-nominated for the role, but on the set, he was peeved. Anderson, chain-smoking American Spirit cigarettes with irritation, turned to Stein: “He’s in the trailer, man… He doesn’t want to hang out with us.’”

Refusing to come out of his trailer was one thing; elsewhere on the shoot, it almost came to blows – Reynolds took a swing at the 26-year-old Anderson. “I wasn’t there for that,” says Stein. “I heard about it though!”

Like the Goodfellas of porn, Boogie Nights...

When Michael Stein, an actor, stand-up and friend of filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, visited the set of Anderson’s pornography opus Boogie Nights in 1997, he noticed a cast member was missing. “I said,” recalls Stein, “‘Hey where’s Burt?’” Burt Reynolds was playing Jack Horner, a classy porno director and mentor to Mark Wahlberg’s up-and-coming porn stud, Dirk Diggler. The former Hollywood alpha would ultimately be Oscar-nominated for the role, but on the set, he was peeved. Anderson, chain-smoking American Spirit cigarettes with irritation, turned to Stein: “He’s in the trailer, man… He doesn’t want to hang out with us.’”

Refusing to come out of his trailer was one thing; elsewhere on the shoot, it almost came to blows – Reynolds took a swing at the 26-year-old Anderson. “I wasn’t there for that,” says Stein. “I heard about it though!”

Like the Goodfellas of porn, Boogie Nights...

The dark history of Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee and Dennis Hopper is the focus of a new ten-part podcast series from Disgraceland creator Jake Brennan.

The podcast creator and host is launching Badlands, with the first season titled Hollywoodland, on May 5.

The show, which will premiere on Amazon Music as part of a deal signed by Brennan and the tech giant, will explore questions such as who really killed Marilyn Monroe and dive into the stories of the likes of River Phoenix, Fatty Arbuckle, George Reeves, Natalie Wood, Lana Turner and John Holmes.

It will be followed later this year by Sportsland, a series looking at the true-crime stories behind famous athletes such as Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson and Tonya Harding.

Both shows are produced by Jake Brennan Productions.

“Disgraceland has allowed me to dig deep into the most insane stories in music history, but the...

Jake Brennan Productions has released the Season 1 trailer for Badlands, a spinoff from their true crime podcast series Disgraceland.

The first season of the new show, titled Hollywoodland, will premiere May 5th on Amazon Music and will explore some of the most infamous true-crime stories within Los Angeles’ celebrity culture, with the debut episode focusing on the circumstances of Marilyn Monroe’s death. Later episodes will center on River Phoenix, Bruce Lee, Dennis Hopper, Fatty Arbuckle, John Holmes, George Reeves, Natalie Wood, Lana Turner, and other well-known, troubled figures of Hollywood.

It’s December 31st, and I’m sure you know what that means, dear reader… that’s right, it’s Val Kilmer’s birthday! Today we celebrate by examining the John Holmes crime pic Wonderland (2003), starring Kilmer as the fallen star.

I went into the proceedings expecting a more sweeping Boogie Nights-esque tale of an ill-fated career in the porn industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Boogie Nights, after all, was inspired by Holmes’s life. Instead, Wonderland is more focused on the days, weeks and months immediately on either side of the gruesome 8763 Wonderland Avenue murders in Laurel Canyon on July 1st, 1981. It is more of a microcosmic crime study than a sweeping cautionary tale. The “Four on the Floor Murders” quickly joined the ranks of the Manson family killings and the Black Dahlia murder as some of the most infamous crimes in 20th century Hollywood lore.

Welcome to this week’s Monday Night Raw review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the big prize fight between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton for the WWE World Title. Also, did you see my tush? I lost my tush. I gotta have my tush! How’s I’mma s’post to sita down ifiya ain’t gotta no tush?! This issa buncha bull-s—t! Hey! Can I borrow yo tush? Give me yo tush! I gotta sit down and needa tush to sit down. You sunuvabich! Give me that tush! I’ll taka dat tush no matta what! Reada yo dumb review, you stupida putz…while I taka dat tush! Den, slutsas will grabba my tush and I’lla be da sexy machine! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!

Match #1: Asuka, Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose def. Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler and Lana – Six-Woman Tag Team Match The following...

Val Kilmer is having a moment, thanks to Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s whatever-happened-to…? portrait of him in The New York Times Magazine, which was pegged to the release of his memoir “I’m Your Huckleberry.” It’s one of those buzzy voyeuristic profiles that takes the measure of a movie star who slipped between the cracks and became a gonzo ghost/parody of himself, propelled at times by an engine of self-destructive behavior. Yet the Kilmer saga is singular. In his heyday, he looked like a brainy sun god and was a hard-to-cast, flaked-out talent who fell away from Hollywood without ever having entirely fit into it. The Times profile captures Kilmer the high-flying eccentric and the Christian Scientist. The acting prima donna and the has-been. The throat-cancer victim who lost his voice and now speaks in a whisper. The cockeyed optimist and the survivor. And the legend?

The weirdest thing...

By Todd Garbarini

When I was asked to review a film from 1975 called Supercock, I immediately thought that it sounded like a film that may have starred the late adult film performer John Holmes who was known the world over for being extraordinarily, if not freakishly, well-endowed. An Internet Google search turned up Supercock – the film I was reviewing and another one that starred John Holmes, a film I only joked about even existing! The latter didn’t surprise me in the slightest and I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t being asked to review that film.

Supercock is a comedic outing concerning the sport of cockfighting with a humorous script that makes as many sexual inuendoes as you can imagine, to the point of it being a one-note joke that occasionally draws guffaws, smiles, and even a few rolling eyes. It was usually double-billed with the...

Feature Jason D'Allison 17 May 2013 - 07:08

Grange Hill. The only school kids ever seemed to be interested in. Us included…

At your school, did anyone die in the swimming pool? Did you have to contend with vicious bullies (and we’re talking about the teachers!)? Did everyone have London accents coarse enough to strip the paint off the classroom doors? Yes? Flippin’ ’eck, you must have gone to Grange Hill!

If you grew up in the 1980s but don’t have a fondness for Grange Hill, there’s probably only one explanation: you were banned from watching it. Yep, for those of us who could get away with it, this rites-of-passage drama series about the pupils of a north-London comprehensive was must-see television, but by parents and teachers it was generally despised. It all started in 1978, and continues to this day (just about), but its golden age was undoubtedly the 1980s.

This story was originally published in the Oct. 16, 2003 issue of Rolling Stone.

On The Door Of A Hotel Room In Hollywood, someone has taped a note: “Do not disturb until eleven.” When I knock, precisely at eleven, Val Kilmer answers wearing a pair of orange shorts and a full beard. At forty-three, he is still taut in the belly. “I’ll be down in a minute,” he says with a grin. Minutes later, Kilmer appears in the lobby, having filled out his outfit with a T-shirt and sandals. Before we...