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The 50th anniversary of “SNL” is about to kick off.

Acclaimed Academy and Emmy award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville is honoring the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” which he executive produces. The four-part series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the beloved sketch series, with each episode taking a different perspective on how the show began.

More than 60 SNL alums are interviewed onscreen, including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan, Bob Odenkirk, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, John Mulaney, Larry David, Will Ferrell, Rachel Dratch, and Fred Armisen.

The first installment, “Five Minutes,” is about the audition process. Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander directs the first episode, which includes never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from alums as they reflect on their preparation and journey to the “SNL” stage.

The second episode,...

Wild and crazy guys, the van down by the river, and, of course, more cowbell – just some of the classic sketches shown in the new trailer released today for Peacock‘s four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.

“Anybody can do comedy,” former cast member Tracy Morgan says at the start of the trailer before delivering the punchline – “But are you funny?”

The upcoming docuseries promises lots of funny moments from the history of Saturday Night Live. In the trailer, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey and Amy Poehler are among the famous faces speaking about the venerable NBC late-night series. Andy Samberg reveals he threw up after auditioning.

The docuseries, Peacock says, will offer a behind-the-scenes look “at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.”

The docuseries, executive produced by Morgan Neville, includes four episodes, each taking “a different creative approach...

Peacock has released a first look at SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a new documentary series that offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.

Executive produced by Academy and Emmy Award winner Morgan Neville, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night streams exclusively on Peacock beginning January 16.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night is a four-part docuseries honoring the legacy of SNL, with over 60 contributors, including SNL alumni, and covering decades of SNL history. Spotlighting some of the show’s most iconic elements, each episode delves into the rich history of SNL and pulls back the curtain on the audition process, the writers’ room, the fan favorite “More Cowbell” sketch and the pivotal Season 11.

Each episode of the docuseries takes a different creative approach to the tapestry of Saturday Night Live and embraces the unique vision of their award-winning directors: Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander...

Call it a blue wave. A host of actors, directors, musicians, journalists and other prominent people are dumping X (formerly Twitter) and flocking to social media platform Bluesky.

In the past week, an increasing number of bold-faced names have announced that they plan to post less on X, or leave the platform altogether, citing myriad issues with the social media company, including far right content, hate speech, transphobia, racism, harassment, pornography, crypto scams, bots and the political views of owner Elon Musk, the billionaire oligarch who is a vocal supporter and financial backer of Donald Trump.

Musk’s ownership of X and his updates to content moderation on the platform have been pushing brands and media groups closer and closer to the exit. This week, The Guardian media group announced that it will stop posting on X, describing the site as a “toxic media platform.” On Nov. 4, the Berlin Film...

Thanks to the world’s boundless appreciation for Robin Williams, old clips of the late comedian tend to go viral every so often — whether it’s a depressing deleted scene from Mrs. Doubtfire, or an old outtake of Williams improvising with Sesame Street’s Elmo.

The latest piece of Williams footage to capture the internet’s attention finds him relentlessly riffing while an exasperated commercial director tries to get the actor to perform just one simple line. Williams does an assortment of goofy voices, physical shtick and ultimately concludes the video by proclaiming, “I realized I was a heavy drinker when I woke up nude on the hood of my car with my keys in my ass.”

Meanwhile an off-screen voice bemoans: “Can we get another actor in, please?”

The post is slightly misleading; this isn’t the case of Williams sparring with “a director that had no sense of humor.

Robin Williams, who would have turned 73 over the weekend, loved making “strange films.” Out-of-the-box early choices like The World According to Garp and Moscow on the Hudson let Williams stretch his acting wings. But did their middling box-office success lower his status in the comedy hierarchy?

He was especially freaked out by the success of Trading Places, according to Dave Itzkoff’s biography, Robin. The odd couple/buddy comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy went gangbusters in the summer of 1983, and by Williams’ math, that was a problem. In his eyes, one comedian coming up meant another had to come down.

While Williams had a hard time translating his Mork & Mindy TV success into a film career, at least at first, Murphy was making the SNL-to-the-movies transition look easy. “Eddie is ideal. He knows exactly what he does and how to get it out on film perfectly,” Robin said.

The secondary beneficiaries of Joe Biden‘s exit from the 2024 presidential race? Lorne Michaels, who has had a notoriously difficult time casting someone to impersonate the current Potus on Saturday Night Live, and Maya Rudolph, who has already made herself an Mvp guest star for her portrayal of Kamala Harris, the apparent heir to the DNC nomination. Following Biden’s endorsement of Harris’ campaign — and the tens of millions of dollars in donations and dozens of major endorsements — X (formerly known as Twitter) went ham with the Maya Rudolph memes, with everyone agreeing that the actress is bound to have plenty of work when the show returns for Season 50. Maya Rudolph on that next phone call with Lorne Michaels pic.twitter.com/p6mvDon4EJ — Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 21, 2024 Before the new season ushers in a new nominee’s portrayal, here’s a look back at Rudolph’s prior portrayals of Harris.

Faye Dunaway is back in the spotlight and taking on another major Hollywood icon: herself. In frank candor, the singular Dunaway sits down for the first feature-length documentary about her life and career, speaking honestly about all the highs and lows, from Oscar wins to reputation blows and struggles with alcoholism, throughout her six-decade career. Along with insight from friends and colleagues, the three-time Oscar nominee “contextualizes her life and filmography, laying bare her struggles with mental health while confronting the double standards she was subjected to as a woman in Hollywood.”

Following its premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the HBO Original Documentary “Faye” will premiere on Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. You can watch with Subscription to Max.

How to Watch “Faye”: When: Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt Where: HBO, Max Stream: Watch with a Subscription to Max.

Sure, Faye Dunaway might be best known to millennials for flubbing the Oscars Best Picture announcement alongside her “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) co-star Warren Beatty. Or perhaps it’s Bowen Yang’s “Saturday Night Live” quips about the famed actress that has made Dunaway go viral more than a half-century since her iconic films were released.

Now, Dunaway is reclaiming her 21st-century legacy by way of an eponymous HBO documentary, “Faye.”

Dunaway revisits her tumultuous history, controversial reputation, and Hollywood iconography in the feature film directed by Laurent Bouzereau, who also directed HBO’s “Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind” doc.

“Faye” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, with Dunaway traveling back in time to “contextualize her life and filmography, laying bare her struggles with mental health while confronting the double standards she was subjected to as a woman in Hollywood,” as the synopsis goes.

Née Dorothy Faye Dunaway,...

A new live-action Popeye movie is now in development. Popeye, known for his spinach-fueled superhuman strength, first appeared in 1929 and has become a cartoon icon over the years. A previous live-action adaptation with Robin Williams faced mixed reviews.

A new live-action Popeye movie is now in the works courtesy of Chernin Entertainment and King Features. According to a report by Variety, the new Popeye outing “is currently in development as a big-budget feature,” and has tapped writer Michael Caleo, who is best known for the likes of Sexy Beast, The Family, and the iconic HBO series The Sopranos to pen the screenplay.

Wider details regarding the live-action adaptation are unknown at this time, but considering that Popeye celebrated his 95th anniversary just this year, the timing could not be better to bring the ‘Sailor Man’ back to the big screen.

Created by Elzie Crisler Segar, Popeye first appeared way, way...

Chris Licht officially exited his position of CEO at CNN on Wednesday morning and, for many online, it was no big surprise. A fairly large swath of folks on Twitter actually dubbed it “karma” for Licht’s firing of CNN anchor Don Lemon.

Licht’s one-year tenure as CEO and Chairman of CNN Worldwide was turbulent from start to finish, with a disastrous Donald Trump town hall and an unflattering profile in The Atlantic finally breaking staff morale. Upon learning that Licht’s exit is effective immediately, Twitter users suspected that Lemon might be off somewhere celebrating the ouster of the man who ousted him in April.

“Somewhere Don Lemon is laughing his ass off about Chris Licht,” one person wrote. “Karma does work.”

Don Lemon waking up to the Chris Licht news:

pic.twitter.com/77QXKTqFOy

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 7, 2023

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon reacts to CNN...

It is a miracle that Dan Harmon's groundbreaking sitcom "Community" lasted more than a half-season on NBC. The series about seven misfits who form a study group at the fictional Greendale Community College was aggressively dense in its world-building and proudly esoteric in its references. How esoteric? In only its second season, the show turned what was set up as a "Pulp Fiction" homage into an invigoratingly cerebral riff on "My Dinner with Andre" provoked by a character's extra work on Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel's "Cougar Town." Not so shockingly, "Community" ranked a dire 138 in the Nielsen ratings that year.

Harmon and a crack staff of writers that included Megan Ganz, Dino Stamatopoulos, Liz Cackowski, Chris McKenna, and Andy Bobrow shredded the outside of the envelope of what was acceptable on a network sitcom. It made "Seinfeld" look like "Full House." Critics and a cult following kept...

Kanye “Ye” West declared late Friday night, “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again,” reversing his recent antisemitic statements that led to him being dropped by several brands, including longtime collaborator Adidas.

“Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again. No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people. No Christian can be labeled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew,” West wrote in an Instagram post.

“Thank you Jonah Hill I love you,” he added.

Chris Miller, who co-directed the movie with Phil Lord, responded on Instagram with the hesitant message, “Um… thanks for watching?”

Also Read:

Kanye ‘Ye’ West Has Inspired at Least 30 Antisemitic Incidents in 4 Months, Anti-Defamation League Report Finds

In February, the Anti-Defamation League found that Ye had inspired at least 30 antisemitic incidents in the previous four months,...

To those of us that love it, the 1993 dramedy "Mrs. Doubtfire" is a touchstone and a classic. It's pure nostalgia fuel, and it certainly reminds me of a simpler time in my own childhood. In the same breath, the film's perfect balance of comedy and drama was the perfect vehicle through which to tell a really heart-wrenching story, and made everything about the movie—from the characters to the punchlines to the incredible makeup work—that much more memorable. Before any of us got to see the film, the late Robin Williams knew there was more there than your average comedy.

In the 2018 biography "Robin" by Dave Itzkoff, Williams revealed that the best part of getting to become "this sweet, blue-mouthed old woman" named Euphegenia was playing "someone totally unlike myself." The actor added, "It isn't just drag. It's the fact that it was like, to be, to have this...

Update, with McNally response: The Late Late Show host James Corden says he will “probably” talk about his recent restaurant brouhaha on Monday’s show, though he finds the topic “such a silly thing” to discuss.

Calling the controversy “insane” in a New York Times interview, Corden spoke for the first time about being banned – and unbanned – from a ritzy New York eatery after famous restaurateur Keith McNally called out the comic on Instagram for rudely and repeatedly berating waitstaff.

Corden had agreed to the interview with the Times‘ Dave Itzkoff earlier this month to discuss his new Amazon Prime Video miniseries Mammals and his planned departure next year from late night TV. When the subject of this week’s social media frenzy over his allegedly bad restaurant behavior inevitably came up, Corden seemed alternately perturbed and amenable to addressing.

“I feel so Zen about the whole thing,” Corden said.

Stand-up comedians are some of the neediest people on the planet. Their livelihood hinges on their laugh-provoking expertise, and every single performance can feel like a make-or-break referendum on their funniness. Even the greats feel this pressure. In the 2002 documentary "Comedian," Jerry Seinfeld observes that an established, widely beloved comic only gets a slim grace period between taking the stage and delivering the goods. People are paying a two-drink minimum — they expect to laugh.

Every comedian has an off-night, but I have a hard time envisioning what that looked like for Robin Williams. Ditto, Eddie Murphy. With Williams, you knew he was going to remove the restraining bolt from his brain and access that deep reservoir of jokes and references and spot-on impersonations with dizzying speed. Murphy was different. He exuded confidence, deftly gliding from bit to bit, secure in the knowledge that he could only kill. Maybe that's why...

Director Joe Johnston's "Jumanji" came along at just the right time for Robin Williams. Having settled into his groove as an actor, Williams was not quite at the point where he could fully shed his hurricane of a comedic persona on-screen. That would happen a little later in his career when he starred in films like "One Hour Photo" and "Insomnia."

If anything, though, this worked in Williams' favor on "Jumanji." His character in the film, Alan Parrish, is just a boy when he's trapped in the titular magic board game in 1969, only to emerge a fully grown adult — with an untamed beard and a mane of hair to rival that of the lion he squares off with — when he escapes the game 26 years later. Having survived in the jungles of Jumanji alone all this time, Alan the adult is emotionally stunted. As such, in the scenes where Williams indulges his zanier side,...

Heading into the mid-1990s, Robin Williams was one of the most bankable stars going, but he was far from infallible. "Awakenings," "The Fisher King," "Aladdin" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" were bona-fide hits, but they were interspersed with massive flops like "Toys" and "Being Human." So while people flocked to Williams when cast in a compelling role, they didn't turn up just because his name and face were on the poster.

So when Barry Levinson reached out to his "Good Morning, Vietnam" star to provide the filmmaker's critically acclaimed, yet low-rated NBC drama "Homicide: Life on the Streets" a bit of must-see sizzle, there was no guarantee that his guest appearance alone would bolster the series' Nielsen profile -- particularly since he was cast as a tourist/father coping with the murder of his wife. Nevertheless, the episode in question, titled "Bop Gun," was slated as the show's heavily promoted season premiere.

When it comes to kooky sitcoms you have to see to believe, "Mork & Mindy" is near the top of the list. To describe the late-'70s comedy to a young audience today feels a bit like trying to have a conversation in Orkan. 

There was this show called "Happy Days," you see, with Henry Winkler as leather jacket-clad Fonzie and Ron Howard as the aw-shucks protagonist Richie. That otherwise non-fantasy show, for reasons that had to do with "Star Wars," had a surreal episode about aliens. This led to the alien-human roommates spinoff "Mork & Mindy," which is how legendary comedian Robin Williams got his big break, playing a rainbow-suspender-wearing being who liked to declare stuff like "Shazbot!"

Williams Saved His Wildest Stunts For The Pre-Show

"Mork & Mindy" is already a pretty wild show on the surface, but when you take into account the fact that it was...

It's no secret that great comedy often comes from pain, and as much as his fans would have liked it to be otherwise, Robin Williams' comedic genius seems to be no exception. The late comedian and Academy Award-winning actor lit up the screen in the '90s in iconic films like "Mrs. Doubtfire" before moving on to more serious movies like "Good Will Hunting" and "What Dreams May Come."

Williams was one of those rare comedians who could slip in and out of funny man characters effortlessly and make audiences feel real, true, and deep emotions in dramatic roles. After entering the public consciousness as a stand-up comedian, he spent decades in the film industry, proving himself to be as talented as any other A-list thespian in Hollywood. Unfortunately, along with accolades and pats on the back, Williams also had to deal with the isolation that comes with fame. Predictably,...

Terry Gilliam has almost never had an easy time making a movie. The former Monty Python member has a filmography that stretches nearly five decades, and nearly every film he has made has been a butting of heads between a director with an unbridled imagination you can't really reign in and people who would very much like to make their money back on their investment (who rarely do). Most famously, there was the saga of trying to get "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" made that took nearly 30 years. The documentary "Lost in La Mancha" chronicles the crumbling production in the year 2000, and it would still take over 15 years after that film's release for "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" to be a completed picture. Gilliam makes films like no one else, and while we can marvel at their visual ingenuity, they rarely make for sturdy commercial prospects.

This is...

There was every reason to expect "Club Paradise" would be the comedy smash of Summer 1986. Harold Ramis was two-for-two as a director thanks to "Caddyshack" and "National Lampon's Vacation," and scorching hot off the blockbuster success of "Ghostbusters." Ramis had reunited with his "National Lampoon's Animal House" collaborator Chris Miller to hammer out the story, and hooked up once again with his "Caddyshack" co-writer Brian Doyle-Murray for the screenplay. And then there was the cast: Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, Robin Duke, and Mary Gross. How could a film stuffed with this much comedic talent possibly miss?

Aside from Ramis and Levy playing a couple of hapless, horn-dog tourists who inadvertently score a trash bag full of marijuana, just about nothing works in "Club Paradise." The notion of a retired Chicago firefighter (Williams) starting up a ramshackle Caribbean resort with his disability money sounds promising,...

Thanks to the one-two punch of 1987's "Good Morning, Vietnam" and 1989's "Dead Poets Society," Robin Williams had proven he was not just a skilled character actor but could tackle roles far removed from the bouncing-off-the-walls persona he embodied in his stand-up comedy. Yet, each film came with an asterisk. After all, "Good Morning, Vietnam" was written specifically for Williams, while there were still glimpses of his zestful comedic mannerisms ill-suited to the rest of his performance in "Dead Poets Society."

Enter "Awakenings," the film that served as the next logical step in Williams' evolution as an actor. The movie was loosely based on the 1973 non-fiction book of the same name, in which renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks details how, in the late 1960s, he was able to treat patients who had survived an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica (aka "sleeping sickness") from 1917 to 1928. Williams stars in the film as Sacks' fictitious surrogate Malcolm Sayer,...

If you cast your mind back to the 1980s, you may recall a time when movies based on characters from comic books and comic strips weren't as popular as they are now. There were notable exceptions like "Superman," but for the most part, the genre was still a bit on the sidelines. When "Popeye" came out in 1980, the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was almost three decades away, and Tim Burton's "Batman" was still nine years out.

"Popeye" starred the late Robin Williams as the titular character based on the comic strip and cartoon character created by E.C. Segar. It was directed by five-time Academy Award-nominee Robert Altman, who was responsible for films like "M*A*S*H" and "The Long Goodbye." For a young actor like Williams, that was a big deal. His work on the TV series "Mork and Mindy" was getting him noticed, but he'd only done a...

"Good Will Hunting" marked a turning point in Robin Williams' acting career. Besides snagging him his first and only Oscar win, it was perhaps the first time Williams had completely shed his energetic comedic persona on-screen. Indeed, there's nary a moment in director Gus Van Sant's 1997 drama where the actor bursts into some hyper-active form of pantomime. Even when his character in the film — a reticent therapist and psychology teacher — cracks a joke about sleeping with his patients or how his late wife would fart in her sleep, Williams delivers the punch-line in a fittingly dry, awkward manner.

In a way, "Good Will Hunting" was a prelude to what Williams would refer to in Dave Itzkoff's written 2018 biography "Robin" as his "triptych of evil." This was in referral to a period in the early aughts where the actor tackled three dark roles in a row, each of them...

With 1987's "Good Morning, Vietnam," Robin Williams had effectively conquered the long-held belief by many critics that his stream-of-consciousness brand of comedy was ill-suited to movies. In doing so, he'd also proven that he was capable of contrasting his dizzying flights of improvisation with moments of genuine gravitas. The question now was could he pull off a major dramatic role that wasn't tailored specifically for him?

This challenge arrived in 1989 with Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society." Tom Schulman's tale of John Keating, a private school English teacher who encourages his teenage pupils to engage in verse-fueled non-conformity left no room for Williams's hyper-referential talents. He couldn't suddenly dip into a Jack Nicholson impersonation or goof on Michael Jackson. Even if he stuck to references within the era as he did on "Good Morning, Vietnam," it'd still be jarring. He'd cease to be Keating. This turned out to be quite the challenge for Williams.

Back in the ancient times before the advent of pop culture websites, us film and TV nerds had to scrounge for our movie news in some really weird places. I vividly remember stumbling across a bit of rumor mill gossip in the family's copy of TV Guide, of all places, that concerned Robin Williams and "Batman," and it always stuck with me. 

We knew that Tim Burton was working a sequel to the 1989 box office smash, but didn't know what it was about at that time and the TV Guide writer was absolutely positive that the villain for "Batman 2" (as they called it) was going to be The Riddler played by none other than Robin Williams. My mind raced at this possibility, picturing the manic energy of Williams going up against the dark, brooding Michael Keaton Batman. 

So, when Danny DeVito was announced as playing The Penguin I remember being disappointed.

The arc of Robin Williams' career has always been a fun trajectory to follow. Right out of the gate, Williams had his mainstream movie career briefly stymied by the financial disappointment and critical failure of Robert Altman's "Popeye" in 1980, only his second film. He clawed back through the 1980s, appearing in modestly successful comedy films before exploding back onto the scene in 1987 with Barry Levinson's "Good Morning, Vietnam," a biopic of American wartime DJ Adrian Cronauer. Williams played Cronauer as a very Robin Williams-like comedian who took to the Armed Forced Radio Service airwaves in 1965 Saigon to read news reports to the troops and to spin music. He took the opportunity to tell raunchy jokes, play raucous rock records, and generally be irreverent; his stuffed-shirt military superiors popped their monocles at his somewhat blue humor.

"Good Morning, Vietnam" was a huge hit and a critical success, and...

By the early 1980s, Hollywood thought it had Robin Williams pegged. Based on four mostly successful seasons of "Mork & Mindy" and two explosively funny HBO specials ("Off the Wall" and "An Evening with Robin Williams), he was a whirling dervish of hilarity who existed to light up your living room. He was easily one of the best, most agile-minded comedians on the planet, but his talent was specialized. If you wanted to hear Elmer Fudd sing Bruce Springsteen's "Fire," Robin Williams was your man. No one wanted to see him straitjacketed in a dramatic role.

Paul Mazursky believed otherwise. Though the writer-director of comedic character studies originally conceived of "Moscow on the Hudson" as a star vehicle for ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was to play a Russian ballet dancer who defects during a stop in New York City, he quickly adjusted the screenplay for Williams when Misha passed.

The premiere of House of the Dragon brought in 9.99 million viewers, making it HBO’s biggest premiere ever. While some were expecting that the ratings for episode 2 of House of the Dragon would drop, they’ve actually shown a 2 increase.

House of the Dragon episode 2, which aired on HBO on Sunday, brought in 10.2 million viewers across all platforms. HBO also added that the series premiere has grown to nearly 25 million viewers over the past week. HBO has also renewed the series for a second season. It would seem that audiences are still hungry for the world of Westeros despite the divisive series finale of Game of Thrones.

Related House of the Dragon “The Rogue Prince” TV Review

Speaking of Game of Thrones, fans have been a little confused that House of the Dragon has simply reused the theme music from the original series for their own opening credits. Although the...

For those who were not cognizant throughout the 1980s, it's probably difficult to believe there was a time when Robin Williams was considered a risky box office bet. Though his first time out as a leading man, in Robert Altman's "Popeye," was a hit, that film's success was largely ascribed to the popularity of the cartoon character. He enjoyed two moderate successes after the cancellation of "Mork & Mindy" ("The World According to Garp" and "Moscow on the Hudson"), but neither film fully showcased his head-spinning comedic stream-of-consciousness. In 1986, he was strangely miscast in the Ron Shelton-scripted underdog yarn "The Best of Times," and undermined by a relentlessly unfunny screenplay in Harold Ramis' "Club Paradise."

The back-to-back failure of those two films left studios weary of Williams' big-screen appeal. The industry's conventional wisdom held that his genius was limited to the stand-up stage and guest appearances on late-night talk shows.

If there was anything that separated Robin Williams from the rest of his comic peers, it was energy. When that man was on stage, he had a boundless mania that was like the human embodiment of the Tasmanian Devil from "Looney Tunes." His mind and mouth would run a mile a minute, and a lot of the time, he was making up whatever he was doing on the spot. When he maneuvered over to television, he found the perfect outlet for that in Mork, the alien on Earth who started off on "Happy Days" and eventually his own sitcom "Mork & Mindy." Not only did him being an alien allow Williams to completely let loose, he was playing to a live studio audience. For a comic, laughter is currency, and Robin Williams knew how to rake it in under those conditions.

On film, things are a little bit different. You...

"Aladdin" rode the crest of a powerful creative wave for Walt Disney Animation Studios upon its release in 1992. The musical fantasy was the studio's 31st motion picture and emerged within a renaissance of highly acclaimed animated tales like "Beauty and the Beast," following a decade of poorly-performing animated features. Its story is ostensibly about a street kid who finds a magic lamp, but it's the wild magic-man in the lamp, voiced by the late comedian Robin Williams, who remains the most recognizable character of the whole thing, serving up quick-fire zingers and impersonations of everyone from Peter Lorre to Jack Nicholson.

Dave Itzkoff shares insights on the "Awakenings" star in his 2018 biography "Robin," detailing the creative process behind the role of the genie when Williams joined the "Aladdin" team. While Jeffrey Katzenberg envisioned a swashbuckling historical fantasy like "The Thief of Baghdad," co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker (with encouragement...

After Bonnie Parker and Joan Crawford, Faye Dunaway's most famous role is arguably sociopathic TV producer Diana Christensen in "Network." The youngest of the film's leads, Diana personifies the generation "raised on TV." Her ambition to bump up the ratings of the Ubs network sees her put the mentally ill Howard Beale (Peter Finch) on TV, then arrange to have him assassinated once his ratings falter. She ruins her relationship with fellow producer Max Schumacher (William Holden) along the way.

"Network" is famous for its verbose dialogue, scripted by screenwriter/satirist seer Paddy Chayefsky. From Beale's "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!" or the towering Arthur Jensen's (Ned Beatty) "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!," many of the film's monologues have become deservedly famous. However, Dunaway apparently had the hardest time of the film's leads wrapping her brain around Chayefsky's words.

An unknowable void remains between Robin Williams the man and Robin Williams the myth. Various deep dives have pieced some of the puzzle together, including Dave Itzkoff's definitive 2018 biography Robin and the HBO documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind. In April 2020, his estate launched a YouTube channel featuring clips of Williams performing, as well as interviews with fellow actors and comedians sharing their insight about the late entertainer. And just a few months ago his status as one of the all-time great stand-ups was re-cemented when he was inducted into "The Hall" in a Netflix special of the same name, John Mulaney—who has...

Richard C. Wald, a former president at NBC News and a senior vice president at ABC News who worked behind the scenes with Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Ted Koppel and Roone Arledge, died May 13 after suffering a stroke earlier in the month. He was 92.

Wald was involved with the creation of “Nightline,” the signature ABC News late-night program that grew out of special coverage in 1979 on the taking of U.S. embassy staff in Tehran by Iranian militants. Wald gave the show, which devoted itself to a single topic each night under the aegis of Koppel and remains on the air at ABC in modernized form, its name, trying to create an analogue to the “morning line” at a race track. He also put Brokaw on NBC’s “Today,” and hired Pauley, while working to modernize the format of “NBC Nightly News.”

His time in TV news, however, was preceded...

Matt Damon made the questionable decision last fall to become the face of Crypto.com.

Along with that came a flashy commercial starring Damon and directed by former Christopher Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister, in which Damon walks around what appears to be a spaceship, greeted by holographic adventurers, before encouraging crypto investment and reminding viewers that “Fortune favors the brave.”

Well, with crypto currency reaching 16-month lows this week, those who have lost money are coming after one person – Matt Damon.

The ad had already been widely ridiculed – it was even sent up on an episode of “South Park” – and makes very little sense if you watch it again.

But now the ad has returned to life and Matt Damon was even trending on Twitter, so many folks are angry about it.

And while most of it seems to be in jest, considering Damon could have just as easily been...

Daniel Craig may have portrayed cunning international spy James Bond, but when it comes to Internet memes and social media, the actor is blissfully oblivious.

In an interview published on Thursday in The New York Times, Dave Itzkoff spoke with the actor in a story that began more than a year-and-a-half ago to coincide with Craig’s final stint as Bond in the franchise’s No Time to Die. The movie’s release was repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic and it’s now slated to hit theaters on Oct.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo on the set of Pierrot Le Fou (1965). Jean-Paul Belmondo has died, leaving behind six decades of films that started with his breakout role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960). In his tribute to the iconic actor, critic Richard Brody describes Belmondo as the "height of cool [...] an icon of a cinema to which he didn't belong." The world has also been shocked by the death of the singular actor Michael K. Williams. Known to many as Omar Little from The Wire, Williams also worked with auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson, Ava Duvernay, Martin Scorsese, and Steve McQueen. As his The Wire co-star Wendall Pierce says, Williams gave "voice to the human condition."Mondo is kicking off its Mondo x Death Waltz 10th Anniversary celebration with a deluxe reissue of...

Fox News announced its plans to launch Fox Weather, a 24-hour streaming channel, last year and on Tuesday, the New York Times went deep on the weather TV business, which was the first time a lot of people had heard of the upcoming channel.

Unfortunately, online commentators seems to think any weather reports from Fox will be credible, or even objective. Many are joking the network will use the forecasts as a way to launch into other talking points, conspiracy theories, attacks on Democrats — or all three.

Author Chuck Wendig imagined how the broadcasts might go: “Next up, on Fox Weather: why are hurricanes teaching kids about Critical Race Theory? Then: climate change is just another example of cancel culture gone woke! Finally, a new report: The Storm Is Coming. I’m Ben Carson with the Weather.”

A rep for Fox News had no comment.

Why is fox launching a weather channel?...

As the entertainment world mourns the passing of Oscar nominee Ned Beatty, many stars are recalling arguably his most famous and ominous performance as TV executive Arthur Jansen in the Paddy Chayefsky satire “Network.”

In his tweet commemorating Beatty, “Karate Kid” star Ralph Macchio called “Network” one of the “greatest screenplays and films of all time” and commended Beatty’s monologue towards the end of the film as “ahead of its time.” In it, Beatty as Jansen gives a booming sermon to news anchor turned raging talking head Howard Beale for using his TV show to get his viewers to shut down his network’s merger with a Saudi conglomerate, putting the network in danger. You can watch the speech in the clip below.

Ned Beatty. Superb character actor – my fave being his brilliantness in Network (one of the greatest screenplays and films of all time) So ahead of its time.

Ned Beatty, the Oscar-nominated character actor known for his scene-stealing roles in Deliverance, Network, Superman, and Nashville, has died at the age of 83.

TMZ first reported that Beatty died Sunday morning in his sleep surrounded by family, with the actor’s manager later confirming to Variety that Beatty died from natural causes.

A veteran of over 150 films and television roles, Beatty made his first big-screen appearance in 1972’s Deliverance about four men whose canoeing trip goes tragically awry. (In perhaps the movie’s most culturally enduring and infamous scene, Beatty...

Leonardo DiCaprio definitely looks like Leonardo DiCaprio in his latest film

The New York Post is getting a vocabulary lesson from the honorary teachers of social media this week, after saying Leonardo DiCaprio looks nothing like himself in his latest film.

In reality, DiCaprio looks, well, exactly the same as he always does, albeit with his hair styled for the period of Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated Western, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” But on Monday the Post claimed in a tweet: “Leonardo DiCaprio unrecognizable in first photos of new Scorsese film.”

Leonardo DiCaprio unrecognizable in first photos of new Scorsese film https://t.co/IZ08MWqbT8 pic.twitter.com/N7TFJyrsSs

— New York Post (@nypost) May 10, 2021

And with that, the mockery floodgates were opened. Most people simply pointed out the insanity of saying DiCaprio doesn’t look exactly as he always does, while others joked that the only way...

Kamala Harris has been selected as the running mate alongside Joe Biden, who is expected to be the Democratic nominee in the election this November. Should Biden win, Harris will become the new vice president. Now, Maya Rudolph, who played the politician on Saturday Night Live, has responded to the news.

Maya Rudolph was in the middle of a virtual roundtable interview with several other Emmy nominees when the news broke. Rudolph scored an Emmy nod for her work as Kamala Harris on SNL. When the news broke, Rudolph responded with "Oh s***." Once things cooled off, Rudolph had a more thorough response, suggesting she's willing to reprise the role, assuming it can be worked out safely.

"I love going to the show. Any excuse I can get, I love. I just didn't really anticipate traveling during... but if there's anyone that can work it out I'm sure Lorne [Michaels] has...

Maya Rudolph, who was nominated for an Emmy earlier this month for her impersonations of Senator Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live, will likely be reprising that role more often following the announcement that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has named Harris as his running mate.

Rudolph, an SNL alumni who has frequently returned as a guest following her departure as a full-time cast member in 2007, was serving on a panel for Entertainment Weekly when the news broke on Tuesday. “Oh shit,” she exclaimed upon being informed of the news.

Hollywood is mourning the loss of a genre breaking filmmaker. Joel Schumacher died peacefully at home this morning at the age of 80 after a year-long battle with cancer. He has left behind a number of Hollywood blockbusters and cult favorites, including The Lost Boys, St. Elmo's Fire, The Client, A Time to Kill, Flatliners, Falling Down, 8mm, and many more. He also helmed Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, which were huge at the box office upon their releases in 1995 and 1997, respectfully.

Joel Schumacher was also very honest about his work and his private life. He came out as gay and influenced many others to do the same. He spoke about how Hollywood treats its actors and vowed not to work that way. When asked about advice for young directors, he said, "Be bold, take risks, follow your own instincts, listen to other people only when you really believe in your gut that they're right.

Mort Drucker, whose instantly recognizable TV and movie caricatures were a beloved 55-year Mad magazine staple that included parodies such as “Botch Casually and the Somedunce Kid,” “Rosemia’s Boo-Boo,” “The Odd Father,” “The Way We Bore,” “Star Blecch” and “How Lame Is Earl,” died Wednesday at his home in Woodbury, Long Island, N.Y. He was 91.

His death was announced by his friend, the cartoonist John Reiner, and the National Cartoonists Society. No cause of death was given, but Covid-19 is not suspected.

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“The incomparable Mort Drucker passed away last night,” the Society said in a tweeted statement. “The World has lost a not just an extraordinary talent but a shining example of kindness,...

High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens has found herself in hot water following a series of videos posted to Instagram. The actress, like many others around the world, is currently practicing social distancing as a means to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Hudgens, however, downplayed the severity of the situation, suggesting that people dying is inevitable.

Vanessa Hudgens has posted several videos during her period of isolation. One, in particular, has garnered a great deal of negative attention on social media. In the video, Hudgens appears a bit out of it and is rambling about the possibility of this lockdown lasting until July. Hudgens said the following, which has resulted in widespread slamming of the actress on social media.

"Um, yeah, 'til July sounds like a bunch of bulls***. I'm sorry, but like, it's a virus, I get it, like, I respect it, but at the same time I'm like,...

Actor Hank Azaria has expanded on his reasons for no longer voicing the character of Kwik-e-Mart proprietor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on the animated series The Simpsons.

In a long New York Times interview with culture writer Dave Itzkoff, Azaria said that voicing the character “just didn’t feel right” after criticisms of its stereotyping emerged. Azaria first disclosed his decision in an interview at the Television Critics Assn. winter gathering.

The Simpsons producers said in a statement that “We respect Hank’s journey in regard to Apu. We have granted his wish to no longer voice the character.” However, they refused to rule out another actor voicing the character or continuing with Apu on the show. “Apu is beloved worldwide. We love him too. Stay tuned.”

Azaria has done many voices on the show in addition to Apu (introduced in 1990), including bartender Mo, Chief Wiggum, and Professor Frink. But Apu and his catchphrase,...

Hank Azaria announced in January he would be stepping away from voicing Apu on “The Simpsons” following years of controversy over his stereotypical portrayal, and the actor says in a new interview with The New York Times that he was unaware one of the major inspirations for Apu was racist to begin with. Azaria tells The Times writer Dave Itzkoff that he based Apu not only on Indian and Pakistani clerks he heard in New York City but also on Peter Sellers’ character in Blake Edwards’ 1968 comedy “The Party.” The movie stars Sellers as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an unknown Indian film actor who mistakenly finds himself invited to an exclusive Hollywood party. Sellers dons brownface in the film. The character inspired such prolific characters as Azaria’s Apu and Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean.

“That represents a real blind spot I had,” Azaria told The Times “with some disappointment” about...