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If you know anything about Arnold Schwarzenegger, or even if you've just seen "Pumping Iron," you'll know that the man is used to winning. This is a guy who left his small Austrian town to become arguably the greatest bodybuilder in history, before transitioning to Hollywood where he became the biggest star in the world, only to then become governor of California.

Within all those accomplishments, there are countless other achievements that nobody, let alone a kid from the small village of Thal, Austria, could hope to match. Taking just his acting career, he starred in one of two sci-fi movies to be considered "perfect" by Rotten Tomatoes before fronting a sequel that today is revered as perhaps the finest action movie ever made with "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Schwarzenegger also proved he could be just as entertaining in family-friendly fare, from "Kindergarten Cop" to his 1996 Christmas movie "Jingle All The Way,...

Plot: An amateur bodybuilder battles both the limits of his physical body and his own inner demons to gain recognition.

Review: I, like many, thought we’d never see Magazine Dreams ever see a proper theatrical release (our own Chris Bumbray reviewed it over two years ago). After Fox Searchlight dropped it from their schedule after Jonathan Majors’ assault conviction, it seemed like a real possibility that it would never see the light of day. Thankfully, Briarcliff Entertainment stepped in and is now giving the film a proper release. And while there’s assuredly a ton of baggage attached, there’s no denying that Magazine Dreams is a phenomenal film that deserves a fair shot.

Magazine Dreams follows Killian Maddox (Majors) an amateur bodybuilder who is struggling with his inner demons. He wants nothing more than to be at the top of the bodybuilding world and is always looking up to famed bodybuilder,...

Joe Rogan has long expressed his admiration for Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories and has mentioned that none of the adaptations have done a good job translating them to the screen. However, in a recent podcast episode with comedian Felipe Esparza, Rogan mentioned that Jason Momoa did a great job in the 2011 film.

While the film was a box office bomb and generally received negative reviews, Momoa’s performance was appreciated and Rogan seemed to be extremely enamored by the Game of Thrones star’s performance. He also hoped that Momoa’s Conan would be explored better in a film directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Joe Rogan wished Quentin Tarantino directed a Conan the Barbarian movie with Jason Momoa Joe Rogan | Credits: YouTube/The Joe Rogan Experience

Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories have been adapted many times but the most popular one is John Milius’ 1982 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Famed bodybuilder and “The Incredible Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno clearly enjoyed playing a murderous, cannibalistic pig farmer in horror film “The Hermit,” marking his first creature role since the CBS TV series in which he played a raging green monster.

“This guy, he’s kind of possessed,” Ferrigno tells Variety. “So you see the pain. You see the demons in him.”

Los Angeles-based sales company Scatena & Rosner Films is at the European Film Market with the completed cut of horror film “The Hermit,” in which Ferrigno plays a gigantic pig farmer whose mother taught him how to cook humans and make them into jerky. Variety has exclusive access to its marketing trailer (watch above).

“The Hermit” is directed by U.S.-based Italian helmer Salvatore Sclafani and produced by Los Angeles- and New York-based Gerry Pass via his Chrome Entertainment shingle in tandem with Sclafani’s First Child Prods.

The director Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted for his breakout movie, Conan the Barbarian, told the Austrian action legend he should change his signature look. Schwarzenegger first rose to prominence when he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Debut Acting in a Motion Picture for his appearance in 1976's Stay Hungry, before following it with the acclaimed bodybuilding docudrama Pumping Iron. His breakthrough role as an action icon came with 1982's John Milius sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian, but the director could have been very different if things had gone to Schwarzenegger's original plan.

It seems that the Terminator 2 star originally wanted the project to be helmed by American animator and filmmaker Ralph Bakshi, who made the dark fantasy Fire and Ice and the animated 1978 epic The Lord of the Rings. In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Bakshi, now retired, revealed that Schwarzenegger took him to lunch to ask him...

Peacock's series, Those About To Die, has revitalized the sword and sandal genre for the first time in at least a decade. This specific genre, which often blends history, epic legends and war, and fantastical elements, has had a few glorious decades in cinematic history, especially in the '60s, '80s, and 2000s. This show will have a lot to live up to, especially when the trope has been far more successful in film than in TV shows.

In modern pop culture, no sword and sandal movie is quite as well-known as Gladiator, which is praised for its action-packed storyline and Russell Crowe's portrayal as the gladiator Maximus. These films aren't necessarily known for capturing historical legends and events with accuracy and grace. However, there are many outside of this iconic 2000s film that honor the intense, epic narratives and heroes the unique genre is known for. The...

Quick Links Schwarzenegger Was Acting for Many Years Before He Became a Star The Villain Is The Closest Thing Fans Have To A Wile E. Coyote Movie The Villain Is A Flawed But Fun Adventure Movie Hollywood Has Produced A Range Of Looney Tunes-Inspired Films The Villain Is Overlooked And Worth A Watch

To say that Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most iconic action stars in Hollywood history would understate the recognition and fame of the star. Through his success in films like Predator, The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, and Commando, he became synonymous with the action genre. However, like many of the best stars in the film industry, he has some underrated and forgotten films from the start of his career -- including a Looney Tunes-inspired Western.

Although Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie career took off in the 1980s, the actor had a respectable acting career in the late 1970s too.

Undeniably, two of Hollywood's most iconic action heroes and unforgettable leading men are Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, with both illustrious actors being staples on the silver screen for decades. The duo first skyrocketed to prominence in the '70s, with Stallone becoming a household name when he starred as Rocky Balboa in the Oscar-winning sports drama Rocky and Schwarzenegger serving as the focus for the critically acclaimed docudrama Pumping Iron.

The 1980s saw the cinema legends take on some of their most beloved action heroes, as Stallone went on to portray lone wolf soldier John Rambo while reprising his role as Balboa and Schwarzenegger dazzling moviegoers all across the world as the Terminator and in hits like Commando and Predator. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before the two legends would join forces on the screen, finally giving audiences what they wanted in the 2013 action thriller Escape Plan...

Quick Links Conan the Barbarian Turned Arnold Schwarzenegger into a Movie Star Conan the Barbarian Defined Arnold Schwarzenegger as an Actor Conan the Barbarian Set a High Bar for Cinematic Fantasies

Anyone who's familiar with the mere concept of movies knows who Arnold Schwarzenegger is. Besides portraying now-legendary characters like the T-800 from The Terminator, he also starred in beloved action movies like Predator, Total Recall and True Lies. Schwarzenegger's name recall were so strong that even his weaker films like the notorious bomb Batman and Robin or the jarring family comedies Jingle All the Way and Kindergarten Cop became hits in their own right. In fact, Schwarzenegger's larger-than-life personality turned him into a household name even when he wasn't acting. Case in point, he's still a beloved figure today, even if his acting career understandably slowed down given his age.

That said, the one movie that Schwarzenegger owes his...

Given that the character is known for his wild rages and tendency to yell the phrase "Hulk smash!," it's curious that Kenneth Johnson's 1970s TV series "The Incredible Hulk" should be as melancholy as it is. Series protagonist David Banner (Bill Bixby) is depicted as a lonely, tragic figure, hating the fact that he, when enraged, turns into a green monster (played by superstar bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno). Indeed, in the TV show -- unlike the original Marvel comic books -- Dr. Banner first started experimenting with strength-giving radiation after he witnessed his wife die in a car crash. He had heard the stories of certain people summoning great strength in emergencies, and wanted to give himself that strength permanently, using it to fight off the trauma and sadness he always carried around.

Then, once he managed to accidentally give himself Hulk strength, it immediately divided Dr. Banner from the rest of society.

During the long career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he has had an unusually varied group of job choices in sports, the entertainment industry and most recently in politics.

He first came to international attention as a bodybuilder winning both the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia contests numerous times. He became the face of the then new sport of bodybuilding and that brought him to the attention of the entertainment industry. His first film was a low budget film called “Hercules in New York” for which he was mostly used for his physique. Due to his heavy accent his dialogue had to be dubbed by another actor. His notoriety increased with the bodybuilding documentary “Pumping Iron” which made him a familiar face to American audiences.

His second foray into films was more successful. For his supporting role in the film “Stay Hungry,” he earned a Golden Globe Award as Best Film Debut for a male actor.

Los Angeles-based Scatena & Rosner Films has acquired worldwide rights to horror film “The Hermit,” starring Lou Ferrigno as a cannibalistic pig farmer in his first role playing a creature since CBS TV series “The Incredible Hulk.”

They will be launching sales on the chiller, which is now in post, at the Cannes Marché du Film.

“The Hermit” is directed by U.S.-based Italian helmer Salvatore Sclafani and produced by Los Angeles- and New York-based Gerry Pass via his Chrome Entertainment shingle in tandem with Sclafani’s First Child Prods.

Dragged on a vacation to the woods, two self-absorbed teens named Lisa and Eric, played by Malina Weissman (“A Series of Unfortunate Events”) and Anthony Turpel (“Bloody Bridget”), venture off trail, stumble across a farm, go in, see animal heads hanging from the wall and “fight for their lives against an unstoppable cannibal pig farmer,” the synopsis says.

In...

Katy O’Brian is a warrior, a fighter, and definitely a survivor. It was not an easy road for her to get her “dream” role in Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding. It was, in actuality, rife with suffering, doubt, and innumerable difficulties. Pushing through the darkness, she came out of it stronger than ever.

It is not easy to work with Crohn’s disease, and O’Brian almost gave up her dream of becoming a successful Hollywood actress. We all know she is already considered to be physically fit, but competing in the 1980s as a bodybuilder (in the 2024 flick) and needing a body like that was a whole different story.

Katy O’Brian as Jackie (Credit: Courtesy of A24)

In a recent interview, O’Brian talked about her battle with Crohn’s disease while preparing for her dream role.

The Unbreakable Spirit of Katy O’Brian: Battling Crohn’s Disease...

From Rocky Balboa fights to cornfield baseball games, virtually every mainstream sport has received a few moments in the Hollywood spotlight. But it’s hard to think of a sport more intrinsically intertwined with cinema than bodybuilding. Football fans might enjoy watching “Remember the Titans” on an offseason afternoon, but cinematic recreations are unlikely to scratch the same itch as live games on an NFL Sunday. Bodybuilding, on the other hand, has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Hollywood ever since a certain Austrian named Arnold Schwarzenegger set foot in California. For the past half century, documentaries about the sport have often drawn more mainstream attention than any live broadcast of an actual competition.

In many fans’ eyes, the sport of bodybuilding first gained mainstream legitimacy with the release of “Pumping Iron,” George Butler and Robert Fiore’s landmark 1977 documentary about Schwarzenegger’s preparations for the Mr. Olympia competition. In addition...

Growing up, Rosy Carrick was fascinated by Schwarzenegger, Lundgren and other shredded 80s screen stars. Now she is exploring what they helped her realise about her sex life

Is there a gap between our private desires and the ones we are brave enough to share? Not for Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, a young Arnie equated weightlifting with ejaculating. “It’s as satisfying to me as coming,” he declares with a grin.

Schwarzenegger and fellow shredded action star Dolph Lundgren are central to actor, playwright and poet Rosy Carrick’s latest show, Musclebound. She was captivated by them as an adolescent and, a while ago, revisited Masters of the Universe, starring Lundgren as He-Man. During a torture scene where Lundgren is stripped almost naked, and has his oiled-up, hairless body whipped by his enemies, something struck her.

You might say Chris Pratt has been preparing for his next role for months.

On Sunday, Pratt debuts as “Mr. P,” the ubiquitous and mustachioed mascot who has long appeared on behalf of Pringles, the potato-chips-in-a-can that are made by Kellanova. The key? A thick mustache the actor says he grew during the recent Hollywood work stoppage that got him noticed by the executives behind Pringles.

“I grew it out and shaved down the sides, and it curled up,” Pratt tells Variety in an interview. His spouse, Katharine Schwarzenegger, told him the mustache just might have legs. “That’s actually a good look for a character. Have you ever played a character with that type of mustache?” he says she asked him. “I kept it. I must have posted something on social media,” he says, which is how a broader set of observers noticed the look. Pringles soon came calling.

Schwarzenegger and Stallone were intense rivals in the '80s, competing to have the best body, kill the most people in their films, and have the biggest guns. Despite their rivalry, Schwarzenegger and Stallone eventually became close friends and even worked together in multiple movies, including The Expendables franchise and Escape Plan. In terms of box office success, Schwarzenegger slightly outgrossed Stallone with fewer films as a leading man, but Stallone had more success as a supporting actor and in ensemble movies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were the two biggest action movie stars of the ‘80s, but which of these two is the best musclebound Hollywood icon? Schwarzenegger first rose to prominence as a bodybuilder before transitioning into an acting career. His appearance in the hit documentary Pumping Iron led to leading roles in blockbuster action movies like Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. Stallone, frustrated with his limited options as a struggling actor,...

The year was 1979 and a young Austrian muscle hunk named Arnold Schwarzenegger, who just two years earlier had made a splash in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron, was looking to make a name for himself as a Hollywood actor. A former stunt person named Hal Needham had recently scored a smash hit with his directorial debut, Smokey and the Bandit, an adrenaline-fueled road romp about two renegades (Burt Reynolds and Sally Field) involved in a high-speed chase from the law.

Lou Ferrigno, star of the 1970s TV show The Incredible Hulk, accused his daughter of elder abuse by his wife and her mother, Carla Ferrigno.

Ferrigno, 71, has been married to Carla, 74, for 43 years.

Last month, it was confirmed that Carla has advanced dementia. In the announcement, Ferrigno’s spokesperson said, “She has severe memory impairment and psychosis and is no longer the same person who Lou knew for decades.”

Ferrigno claims that last month his daughter, Shanna Ferrigno, 42, and Carla’s sister, Pam Vog, drove Carla to the bank and tried to withdraw $500,000 in cash. When the bank withdrew the money, Ferrigno was alerted.

Lou claimed that Shanna, a fitness trainer, and Vog wanted to access Carla’s assets illegally and accused the two of financially exploiting his wife.

Ferrigno said that his daughter turned off the cameras in the rooms where Carla was and continually overruled Ferrigno with the caretakers.

Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger was recently seen lifting weights at the gym in Los Angeles just weeks before he celebrates his 76th birthday.

However, it’s clear to see he is still exercising like he’s training for Mr. Universe. He even got his exercise on his way to work riding his bike, reports mirror.co.uk.

The former governor of California was working out his arms as he sat on a workout bench using a workout machine. He paid no attention to other gym goers as he wore all black –a black t-shirt, black shorts, black slip-on trainers, and black calf-length socks.

In typical Terminator fashion, he also wore tinted sunglasses the entire time.

While biking, Arnold wore a blue zip-up jacket with an orange, red, and white emblem. He also seems to be keeping his hair a brunette colour while his beard and moustache seem to be naturally white.

From the Terminator to Conan the Barbarian, Arnold Schwarzenegger has played some unbelievably strong characters in action movies, but some of his characters are stronger than others. After making his film debut in Hercules in New York and appearing in the documentary Pumping Iron, Schwarzenegger became a world-renowned movie star with the back-to-back successes of the Conan and Terminator franchises. In the decades since, Schwarzenegger has appeared in all kinds of different action movies, from lighthearted “buddy cop” comedies to grisly crime thrillers.

Since Schwarzenegger is a former bodybuilder and one of the most muscular actors in Hollywood, almost all of his characters are strong. But some of his characters, like the formidable warrior from Conan the Barbarian or the unstoppable killing machine from The Terminator, are more powerful than others, like the goofy ice-based villain Mr. Freeze from Batman & Robin. Schwarzenegger has played tough-as-nails cops, indestructible cyborgs, and...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including the exclusive streaming premiere of Lars von Trier’s The Idiots in a new 4K restoration, Céline Devaux’s anti-romcom Everybody Loves Jeanne, and Tyler Taormina’s Happer’s Comet.

Additional selections include three films by Wong Kar Wai, a Robert Altman double feature, four works by Jacques Rivette, plus shorts by Mia Hansen-Løve and Yorgos Lanthimos.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

July 1 – Synecdoche, New York, directed by Charlie Kaufman

July 2 – 2046, directed by Wong Kar Wai | As Time Goes By: Three by Wong Kar Wai

July 3 – The Exiles, directed by Kent MacKenzie

July 4 – Ivansxtc, directed by Bernard Rose

July 5 – Un Pur Esprit, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve | Short Films Big Names

July 6 – Contemporary Color, directed by Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross | Turn It Up: Music on Film

July 7 – The Idiots, directed by Lars von Trier...

Joseph Baena is a chip off the old block. The son of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Baena has an uncanny resemblance to his father right down to the biceps, even sharing the same passion for bodybuilding. Baena has also been getting into show business, dabbling in acting and appearing in the last season as a performer on Dancing with the Stars. Now, he's going to have something else in common with his famous father, as he's currently filming his first action movie.

Per TMZ, Baena is on the set of the action film Called to Duty, a movie that looks similar to Top Gun but with a female-led cast. The TMZ article includes images of Baena on the set filming a scene with his character lifting weights in a gym. Looking totally shredded, Baena is practically a spitting image of his dad in the pictures. Other photos show Baena in a U.S. Air Force...

Netflix's Arnold sees Schwarzenegger recall his experience watching the movie that changed his life and inspired his bodybuilding journey. Arnold's three episodes explore Arnold Schwarzenegger's journey from bodybuilding champion to unlikely movie stardom and even more unlikely political career. Arnie first got into bodybuilding as a young man, using it to transform his body and pursue his dreams of heading to America. Arnold displays his single-minded focus on becoming the "best," and how he helped bring the sport into the mainstream.

Of course, it also helped Schwarzenegger make the move into movies too. The charisma Arnold displayed in the documentary Pumping Iron helped him land roles like Conan The Barbarian, and from there he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Netflix's Arnold docuseries focuses on several key turning points in his life, but arguably one of the most important is when he went to...

Netflix's Arnold sees Arnold Schwarzenegger reflecting on his bodybuilding career, but how many competitions did he actually win? Arnold's first episode finds Schwarzenegger recounting his childhood growing up in the town of Thal in Austria, and how seeing the fantasy epic Hercules And The Captive Women (Aka Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis) as a teenager would change his life. This starred bodybuilder Reg Park, winner of several Mr. Universe titles, and the young Arnie would later find an American muscle magazine that revealed Park's fitness program.

Schwarzenegger then used Park as his "blueprint" for where he wanted to go in life and quickly began training to become a bodybuilder. Arnold is now considered one of the most important figures in the history of the sport and helped bring it mainstream acceptance during the '70s. Bodybuilding also helped Arnold's movie career, and he officially retired from bodybuilding following a 1980 Mr.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's conquering of America truly is an unbelievable story. As comedian Bill Burr surmised in his 2012 standup special "​​You People Are All the Same," Arnie should be "unloading trucks in Transylvania [...] but because he's a great man, he had the balls to move to America and became famous for lifting weights." Schwarzenegger did indeed go from driving tanks in the Austrian army to becoming arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time, winning the Mr. Olympia title seven times. But he also became one of the biggest actors in Hollywood, and arguably the most popular action star in history, all while simultaneously carrying family-friendly comedy fare such as "Kindergarten Cop" and "Jingle All The Way" — one of the best Christmas movies of all time. Oh, and he also found time to marry into the Kennedy family and become the governor of California.

The Governator didn't get where he is without being highly competitive.

"Batman & Robin" has been derided enough at this point. We all know it's not a fondly-remembered Batman movie, let alone a comic book adaptation. Which is why it's strange to think that before director Joel Schumacher unveiled his infamously disappointing follow-up to 1995's "Batman Forever," there couldn't have been more excitement surrounding the project.

Once "Batman Forever" proved a huge hit, everyone wanted in on Schumacher's sequel — from actors angling for parts to company CEOs demanding their products be featured. As the director explained in a making-of-featurette:

"It was the opposite from 'Batman Forever' when we had to go around and convince everybody to come along with us, we were going to make a Batman movie. This was, 'How can we stop everybody?' It was everybody and their mother wanted to have their franchise in the movie and be part of it."

Schumacher went on to say that whereas,...

The Incredible Hulk, created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in 1962, is a character born more from universal monster movies and 1950s sci-fi than more modern notions of complex, interlaced comic book lore. In the original comic books, a spindly physicist named Bruce Banner was exposed to a strange type of radiation while saving a soldier from a nuclear bomb test. Rather than killing him, the radiation mutated his body into that of a bulky, over-muscled brute. He eventually shrunk back to his normal size, but Bruce eventually found that whenever he got angry, he would transform back into an unstoppable radioactive ogre. Indeed, he was so angry, he couldn't speak or think clearly.

The Hulk became one of the more popular characters in a new wave of Marvel Comics that debuted in the 1960s. He was popular enough to be included in the Avengers, a mash-up superhero team comic...

U.S. Dramatic Competition

This unexpected film, which if anything might be a contemporary version of ‘Pumping Iron’ in which bodybuilding and celebrity-to-be meets Travis Bickle of ‘Taxi Driver’, shows a restraint and rechanneling of psychopathological leanings which redeem the film and its hero, a sweet but uncontrollable and, in the end, an invincible dreamer.

Director Elijah Bynum. Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Surely the producer Jennifer Fox felt an affinity to this project. Much of Fox’s work deals with understanding trauma. The emotional depth of the filmic concerns her in both her docs and fiction features. Jennifer Fox and In 2018, Jennifer Fox directed the film The Tale (2018), inspired by her own experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse. Unlike her previous works, the film is not a documentary but a narrative film. That film featured Academy Award-winning actress Laura Dern and premiered at the Sundance film Festival in 2018 and was picked up there by HBO. The plot of the film directly references Fox’s own experience of recognizing and grappling with her own abuse history. While writing the script, Fox developed the idea of “issue-based fiction,” in which she is able to use storytelling to “dive into issues that people could learn from and experience.” Borrowing from her documentary filmmaking, Fox collaborated extensively on the production of the film, outreaching to mental health advocates, lawyers, sexual abuse survivors, and women’s lived experiences to transform narrative into a tool for change. Along with HBO, Fox was able to develop a resource website and viewing guides to accompany the film to be used in educating and opening up the conversation about childhood sexual abuse, the effects of trauma, and memory.[*] In films like The Tale and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, trauma is examined in relation to memory and womanhood. In both films Fox is interested in how past trauma is able to shape one’s life and memory. In this film, this same element of a trauma-based life and memory is crucial to understandng the character of Killian Maddox, an obsessive bodybuilder who strives to win the Mr. Olympia contest and to be featured on the cover of body-building magazines.

Jonathan Majors in ‘Magazine Dreams’. Courtesy of Sundance Institute, photo by Glen WilsonJennifer Fox. Photo by George Pimentel — © 2019 George Pimentel — Image courtesy gettyimages.com

Surely the producer Jennifer Fox felt an affinity to this project. Much of Fox’s work deals with understanding trauma. The emotional depth of the filmic concerns her in both her docs and fiction features. Jennifer Fox and In 2018, Jennifer Fox directed the film The Tale (2018), inspired by her own experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse. Unlike her previous works, the film is not a documentary but a narrative film. That film featured Academy Award-winning actress Laura Dern and premiered at the Sundance film Festival in 2018 and was picked up there by HBO. The plot of the film directly references Fox’s own experience of recognizing and grappling with her own abuse history. While writing the script, Fox developed the idea of “issue-based fiction,” in which she is able to use storytelling to “dive into issues that people could learn from and experience.” Borrowing from her documentary filmmaking, Fox collaborated extensively on the production of the film, outreaching to mental health advocates, lawyers, sexual abuse survivors, and women’s lived experiences to transform narrative into a tool for change. Along with HBO, Fox was able to develop a resource website and viewing guides to accompany the film to be used in educating and opening up the conversation about childhood sexual abuse, the effects of trauma, and memory.[*] In films like The Tale and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, trauma is examined in relation to memory and womanhood. In both films Fox is interested in how past trauma is able to shape one’s life and memory. In this film, this same element of a trauma-based life and memory is crucial to understandng the character of Killian Maddox, an obsessive bodybuilder who strives to win the Mr. Olympia contest and to be featured on the cover of body-building magazines.

“On every street in every city in this country, there’s a nobody who dreams of being a somebody.” So says the tagline for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Killian Maddox is such a nobody. Occupying a small space in the film, it is revealed that his uncontrollable temper stems from past abuse and trauma which includes the murder of his mother by his father and his father’s suicide in front of his own childish eyes. That shapes his chaotic and antisocial vision of the world and at the film’s climax is re-experienced.

Killian Maddox lives with his ailing veteran grandfather, obsessively working out between court-mandated therapy sessions and part-time shifts at a grocery store where he has developed a crush on a friendly cashier. Killian struggles to read social cues and to maintain control of his volatile temper. He senses his disconnection in a hostile world, but pours his passion into a dream of bodybuilding superstardom.

The film has you squirming in your seat as he veers toward destruction but, just as you wonder, what good can come out of his journey. As Killian’s behavior becomes more obsessive and erratic, he still looks after his unconditionally loving grandfather. And as his delusions of destruction escalate, he faces his own trauma and breaks down into tears as he embraces his grandfather. This is the turning point for him. Killian sees success in bodybuilding as the link to acceptance and emotional connection. As our pathetic though physically stunning hero googles answers to “How do you make people like you?” and “How do you make a mark upon the world?” (or something like that) he finds the answer he needs in order to keep living.

Jonathan Majors

Jonathan Majors’ has created an alarmingly single-minded body building character with a soft-spoken shyness alternating with indomitable fury, a multisided black man living in perpetual mental chaos. Majors’ eclectic collection of roles show his huge dramatic range. For his role as Montgomery Allen in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Majors was nominated for a Gotham Award in the category of “Breakthrough Actor” and an Independent Spirit Award for “Best Supporting Male.” From The Last Black Man to a fighter pilot in the recent Devotion, to the western The Harder They Fall and soon a villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, his choices reveal a huge dramatic range which will reap fans for a long time to come. Born September 7, 1989 in Lompoc, California, Majors is a graduate from the Yale School of Drama and is a recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters (Nsal), National Drama Competition. He made his screen debut starring in the ABC miniseries When We Rise and has since landed strong roles, cementing him as a Hollywood actor to watch.

For more insight into Jonathan Majors and his work, read the interview with The Hollywood Reporter November 30, 2022 on the subject of Devotion.

Majors is executive producing under his Tall Street production banner along with Nightcrawler producers Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy and Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman. CAA Media Finance arranged financing through the Los Angeles Media Fund and is repping the film for both domestic and international distribution. Los Angeles Media Fund (Jeffrey Soros, Luke Rogers III, Simon Horsman and Andrew Blau) fully financed the film. They are currently working on The Color of Cola, a documentary based on a book by Stephanie Capparell, The Real Pepsi Challenge: How One Pioneering Company Broke Color Barriers in 1940s American Business, which shares the experience of the all-Black sales team at Pepsi, directed by Stanley Nelson and Jacqueline Olive.

Sundance 2023: ‘Magazine Dreams’ Directed by Elijah Bynum

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The producer-savvy and emotional depth of Jennifer Fox and her previous filmic concerns contribute to this unexpected film which if anything might be a contemporary version of ‘Pumping Iron’ in which bodybuilding and celebrity-to-be meets Travis Bickle of ‘Taxi Driver’. The restraint and rechanneling of psychopathological leanings redeem the film and its hero, a sweet but uncontrollable and, in the end, an invincible dreamer.

Director Elijah Bynum. Courtesy of Sundance Institute

In 2018, Jennifer Fox directed the film The Tale (2018), inspired by her own experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse. Unlike her previous works, the film is not a documentary but a narrative film. That, with the script film featured Academy Award-winning actress Laura Dern, and premiered at the Sundance film Festival in 2018 and on HBO in May 2018. The plot of the film directly references Fox’s own experience of recognizing and grappling with her own abuse history. While writing the script, Fox developed the idea of “issue-based fiction,” in which she is able to use storytelling to “dive into issues that people could learn from and experience.” Borrowing from her documentary filmmaking, Fox collaborated extensively on the production of the film, outreaching to mental health advocates, lawyers, sexual abuse survivors, and women’s lived experiences to transform narrative into a tool for change. Along with HBO, Fox was able to develop a resource website and viewing guides to accompany the film to be used in educating and opening up the conversation about childhood sexual abuse, the effects of trauma, and memory.[*] Surely she felt an affinity to this project. Much of Fox’s work deals with understanding trauma. In films like The Tale and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, trauma is examined in relation to memory and womanhood. In both films Fox is interested in how past trauma is able to shape one’s life and memory. In this film, this same element of a trauma-based life and memory is crucial to understandng the character of Killian Maddox, an obsessive bodybuilder who strives to win the Mr. Olympia contest and to be featured on the cover of body-building magazines.

Jennifer Fox. Photo by George Pimentel — © 2019 George Pimentel — Image courtesy gettyimages.com

“On every street in every city in this country, there’s a nobody who dreams of being a somebody.” So says the tagline for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Killian Maddox is such a nobody. Occupying a small space in the film, it is revealed that his uncontrollable temper stems from past abuse and trauma which includes the murder of his mother by his father and his father’s suicide in front of his own childish eyes. That shapes his chaotic and antisocial vision of the world and at the film’s climax is re-experienced.

Killian Maddox lives with his ailing veteran grandfather, obsessively working out between court-mandated therapy sessions and part-time shifts at a grocery store where he has developed a crush on a friendly cashier. Killian struggles to read social cues and to maintain control of his volatile temper. He senses his disconnection in a hostile world, but pours his passion into a dream of bodybuilding superstardom.

The film has you squirming in your seat as he veers toward destruction but, just as you wonder, what good can come out of his journey. As Killian’s behavior becomes more obsessive and erratic, he still looks after his unconditionally loving grandfather. And as his delusions of destruction escalate, he faces his own trauma and breaks down into tears as he embraces his grandfather. This is the turning point for him. Killian sees success in bodybuilding as the link to acceptance and emotional connection. As our pathetic though physically stunning hero googles answers to “How do you make people like you?” and “How do you make a mark upon the world?” (or something like that) he finds the answer he needs in order to keep living.

Jonathan Majors’ has created an alarmingly single-minded body building character with a soft-spoken shyness alternating with indomitable fury, a multisided black man living in perpetual mental chaos. Majors’ eclectic collection of roles show his huge dramatic range. For his role as Montgomery Allen in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Majors was nominated for a Gotham Award in the category of “Breakthrough Actor” and an Independent Spirit Award for “Best Supporting Male.” From The Last Black Man to a fighter pilot in the recent Devotion, and soon a villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, his choices reveal a huge dramatic range which will reap fans for a long time to come. Born September 7, 1989 in Lompoc, California, Majors is a graduate from the Yale School of Drama and is a recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters (Nsal), National Drama Competition. He made his screen debut starring in the ABC miniseries When We Rise and has since landed strong roles, cementing him as a Hollywood actor to watch.

For more insight into Jonathan Majors and his work, read the interview with The Hollywood Reporter November 30, 2022 on the subject of Devotion.

Majors is executive producing under his Tall Street production banner along with Nightcrawler producers Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy and Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman. CAA Media Finance arranged financing through the Los Angeles Media Fund and is repping the film for both domestic and international distribution. Los Angeles Media Fund (Jeffrey Soros, Luke Rogers III, Simon Horsman and Andrew Blau) fully financed the film. They are currently working on The Color of Cola, a documentary based on a book by Stephanie Capparell, The Real Pepsi Challenge: How One Pioneering Company Broke Color Barriers in 1940s American Business, which shares the experience of the all-Black sales team at Pepsi, directed by Stanley Nelson and Jacqueline Olive.

Jonathan Majors in ‘Magazine Dreams’. Courtesy of Sundance Institute, photo by Glen WilsonBlackMoviesFilm FestivalsBodybuilding...

Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.

Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.

September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...

Lou Ferrigno is set to play a murderous, cannibalistic pig farmer known as “The Hermit” in U.S.-based Italian director Salvatore Sclafani’s chiller of the same title that will mark Ferrigno’s first role playing a creature since CBS TV series “The Incredible Hulk.”

Shooting is set to start in August in Syracuse, N.Y., on the horror film with an undercurrent of fun and quirky irony that will see Ferrigno making and selling jerky made of human flesh.

“Most people are surprised that I’ve never really entered the horror space before now,” Ferrigno said in a statement for Variety. “When I was a kid I was fascinated with the monsters of the time like Dracula and Frankenstein.

“So I am really excited and honored to be working with such a great team on something that will for sure excite fans. The character I am playing is...

What defines bodybuilding, rather than a general fitness regime or the physical conditioning required for contact sports, is how it sees strength as an end to itself. In terms of how competitions are usually conducted, the measure of time for participants to pose for judges is over imminently: as shown in films such as Pumping Iron, and now the somber Hungarian drama Gentle, it can resemble fashion catwalk more than gladiatorial arena. Also relevant is the post-human aspect: what is bodybuilding if not a way to augment what we know as human features, kneading muscle and physical posture into a heightened form of themselves. David Cronenberg would’ve surely concocted an interesting film set in this milieu, at least in his Dead Ringers or Crash mode.

Anna Nemes (one half of the director team responsible for Gentle) and László Csuja made a straight documentary in tandem with this feature, using...

The journalist and podcaster talks about some of her favorite cinematic grifters and losers with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

All About Eve (1950)

The Hot Rock (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Die Hard (1988)

Sunset Boulevard (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Music Man (1962)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review

The Band Wagon (1953) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

A Night At The Opera (1935) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Animal Crackers (1930) – Robert Weide...

George Butler, the British documentarian best known for Pumping Iron, his 1977 body-building feature starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, has died. He was 78.

Butler died on Oct. 21 of pneumonia at his home in Holderness, N.H., his son Desmond Butler — an investigative reporter for The Washington Post — confirmed to the outlet.

The filmmaker was born in 1942 in Chester, England, and started his career as a stills photographer. He was educated at the University of North Carolina.

Together with Robert Fiore, Butler co-directed and produced Pumping Iron, which saw Schwarzenegger face off against Lou Ferrigno in a competition for the title of ...

George Butler, the British documentarian best known for Pumping Iron, his 1977 body-building feature starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, has died. He was 78.

Butler died on Oct. 21 of pneumonia at his home in Holderness, N.H., his son Desmond Butler — an investigative reporter for The Washington Post — confirmed to the outlet.

The filmmaker was born in 1942 in Chester, England, and started his career as a stills photographer. He was educated at the University of North Carolina.

Together with Robert Fiore, Butler co-directed and produced Pumping Iron, which saw Schwarzenegger face off against Lou Ferrigno in a competition for the title of ...

George Tyssen Butler, a documentary filmmaker best known for co-directing the 1977 feature “Pumping Iron,” died on Oct. 21 of pneumonia at his home in New Hampshire. He was 78 years old.

Butler’s death was confirmed to Variety by his longtime companion Caroline Alexander.

Butler was born in England in 1943 and grew up in Somalia and Jamaica. He graduated from the Groton School in Massachusetts before earning a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of North Carolina and a master’s in creative writing from Hollins College. Butler became involved in the world of bodybuilding in the early 1970s by photographing competitions for Life magazine and The Village Voice.

Collaborating with author Charles Gaines, the pair penned a book about the culture of bodybuilding. The success of “Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding” led to the making of the documentary “Pumping Iron,” for which Butler and Gaines wrote the script.

Documentary filmmaker George Butler, best known for his 1977 film Pumping Iron that raised Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger to Hollywood prominence, died of pneumonia Oct. 21 at home in New Hampshire. He was 78 and his death was confirmed by his son, Desmond Butler, a Washington Post reporter.

Butler directed more than 10 films during his four-decade career. He co-directed Pumping Iron with Robert Fiore.

The son of a British Army officer, he spent his childhood in Somalia and Jamaica.

His final project, Tiger Tiger, is scheduled for next year. The film follows a big cat conservationist into the wilds of India and Bangladesh.

Butler had covered bodybuilding as a journalist in the 1970s, collaborating on a book on the subject before raising funds for the film. The film exponentially raised the profile of Schwarzenegger, who had scored just a few small TV and film roles at the time. The film depicted his training at Gold’s Gym in Venice,...

Publicist to the stars Bobby Zarem died at his home in Savannah, Georgia at the age of 84 from complications of lung cancer, according to the NY Times.

Throughout his career, Zarem represented Alan Alda, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Caine, Cher, Jack Nicholson, Diana Ross, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. He’s also known for his role in the promotion of the “I Love New York” tourism campaign although how his participation in the creation of the slogan is unknown.

He promoted major titles both on Broadway and the big screen including Tommy, Saturday Night Fever, Dances With Wolves, Scarface, and Rambo for his client Sylvester Stallone.

It was his promotion of Schwarzenegger’s bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron that helped catapult the Austrian-born actor to the next level.

Al Pacino played a character inspired by Zarem in 2002’s People I Know.

“I loved meeting stars. I think that’s what initiated me...

Bruce Springsteen has officially been added to the Light of Day Foundation’s Winter Love Fest 2021 lineup, a virtual concert taking place between February 12th and February 14th. He will play with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers on February 13th.

Steve Van Zandt and the Disciples of Soul have also been added to the bill. They will play on February 14th, marking their first Light of Day appearance in the two-decade history of the event.

Springsteen and Van Zandt join a lineup that includes Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Willie Nile,...

Exclusive: Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions have set a feature documentary focusing on the attempt by seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath to return after a two year hiatus to reclaim his status as arguably the greatest Mr. Olympia champion to walk the earth. Johnson and Garcia are the executive producers and writing and directing the untitled film is Canadian filmmaker Brett Harvey.

The film will cover Heath’s rise to the top of the bodybuilding mountain — he won the title every year from 2011-2017 — and the adversity of trying to come all the way back from the two year layoff, overcome injuries that come with 18 years of physical and mental sacrifice, and the beefcake that filled the gap while he was away and will be onstage against him. Adding to the challenge of his comeback...

Up until late Saturday afternoon, the odds of Bruce Springsteen showing up at the annual Asbury Park charity concert Light of Day seemed pretty miniscule. He was a regular (unannounced) guest at the show – which raises money to fight Parkinson’s Disease – most every year from its inception in 2000 through 2015, but he missed the past four consecutive shows. This year, he was booked to host an equestrian event in Wellington, Florida 24 hours before the start of the Light of Day festivities. Making matters worse, a winter storm just happened to...

The history of movie culture is full of colorful characters committed to elevating the experience. Donald Rugoff’s exhibition and distribution company Cinema 5 paved the way for a second generation of companies enhancing cinematic culture like the studio (sm)art-house divisions and Landmark Theaters, and then a third wave of companies like the Alamo Drafthouse and A24, turning movie-going into an event. In Searching for Mr. Rugoff, film distribution veteran and producer Ira Deutchman goes back to an early mentor, inspired by a speech given by the great exhibitor Dan Talbot (proprietor of Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and New Yorker Films) at the Ifp Gotham Awards several years ago. In the speech as told by Talbot, Rugoff moved to Marthas Vineyard after having lost his company and started showing films in an old church.

Searching for Mr. Rugoff paints a vibrant picture of a specific era of moviegoing in New York City,...

The first footage from psychological thriller “Muscle” has dropped ahead of its world premiere Friday at the London Film Festival.

Gerard Johnson’s feature, which is filmed entirely in black and white, is set in a testosterone-fueled world of hardcore gyms. It follows Simon (Cavan Clerkin), a directionless and unhappy office worker whose life is gradually taken over by domineering personal trainer Terry (Craig Fairbrass).

“Apart from the documentary ‘Pumping Iron,’ real gym culture has never been tackled in film before,” Johnson said. “I want to change that with this original character study. This is a dark psychological thriller, dripping with a true reflection of manhood – what makes you a man – in the eyes of other men, in the eyes of women, in the eyes of the world? How do you protect that? What happens when you find yourself emasculated?”

London-based sales outfit WestEnd Films boarded the project in 2018 and...

The 50th anniversary of the American Film Institute Conservatory drew a storied array of graduates from its inaugural Class of 1969 back to the film school’s original campus, Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion.

Nearly all of the first class — nine of the original 18 AFI Fellows — reconvened for the celebration at the estate-turned-city park, including acclaimed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Natural, The Lion King), screenwriter Matthew Robbins (MacArthur, Crimson Peak), writer-producer Paul Davids (Roswell), director academic Jeremy Kagan (The Journey of Natty Gan, Chicago Hope), producer David Wyles (Pumping Iron), screenwriter Jack Weinstein, director/playwright/lyricist Ken Luber and filmmakers ...

The 50th anniversary of the American Film Institute Conservatory drew a storied array of graduates from its inaugural Class of 1969 back to the film school’s original campus, Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion.

Nearly all of the first class — nine of the original 18 AFI Fellows — reconvened for the celebration at the estate turned city park, including acclaimed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Natural, The Lion King), screenwriter Matthew Robbins (MacArthur, Crimson Peak), writer-producer Paul Davids (Roswell), director academic Jeremy Kagan (The Journey of Natty Gan, Chicago Hope), producer David Wyles (Pumping Iron), screenwriter Jack Weinstein, director/playwright/lyricist Ken Luber ...

On July 30, 2019 Arnold Schwarzenegger will celebrate his 72nd birthday. Over his long career, he has had an unusually varied career in sports, the entertainment industry and most recently in politics.

He first came to international attention as a bodybuilder winning both the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia contests numerous times. He became the face of the then new sport of bodybuilding and that brought him to the attention of the entertainment industry. His first film was a low budget film called “Hercules in New York” for which he was mostly used for his physique. Due to his heavy accent his dialogue had to be dubbed by another actor. His notoriety increased with the bodybuilding documentary “Pumping Iron” which made him a familiar face to American audiences.

SEEWho’s your favorite Best Director Oscar winner of the 1990s: Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme … ? [Poll]

His second foray into films was more successful.

Former wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista and comedian Kumail Nanjiani make for an unlikely pair in the new Uber-themed action movie, Stuber. In the latest episode of Rolling Stone‘s the first time, the co-stars say they met for the first time at a chemistry test for the film, but quickly hit it off and by the end of shooting they were the undisputed Stuber ping-pong champions. Bautista also jokes, “Now we finish each other’s…” prompting Nanjiani to deadpan, “Sandwiches.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Bautista talks about competing in dance...

Arnold Schwarzenegger is passing his healthy living tips on to son Patrick Schwarzenegger.

The Midnight Sun actor, 25, said Sunday that a 2015 Easter chat with his famous dad inspired him to quit smoking marijuana, and instead focus on getting “high on life.”

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Fun Story: Few years ago (4 exactly) showed up lil high to Easter brunch... classic. My old man asked why... said “I dunno makes thing more fun”. He replied how much more fun do you need to have, life is so good. I’m high on life. I never want anything that would take me out of my current life.

Matt Edwards Dec 14, 2017

As action comedy thriller Jean-Claude Van Johnson arrives on Amazon Prime Video, Matt looks at the history of action movie star satire...

In the new Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson, action star Jean-Claude Van Damme attempts to relaunch his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. In the show, Jean-Claude goes to Bulgaria to star in a movie which has been set-up to allow him to undertake covert missions for the agency as his alter-ego name Jean-Claude Van Johnson.

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This might all seem a bit familiar, for a couple of reasons. Of course, it’s not the first time that hyper-flexible jaw-punter Van Damme has relaunched his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. 2008's excellent Jcvd, where he plays a down-on-his-luck version of himself who...