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Why Did Tom Cruise Turnn Down The Role Of Steven Spielberg’s Zorro? (Photo Credit – Koimoi)

Tom Cruise almost became Zorro, but even he knew it wasn’t the right call. Before Antonio Banderas put on the mask in The Mask of Zorro, Cruise was on Steven Spielberg’s radar for the role. And while Hollywood’s ultimate action star has taken on almost every daredevil gig, this one didn’t make the cut – for a surprisingly bold reason.

Cinematographer Mikael Salomon, who was once attached to direct The Legend of Zorro, revealed the surprising casting consideration while speaking in an interview with Slash Film for the 25th anniversary of The Mask of Zorro. According to Salomon, Spielberg, an executive producer on the film, had Cruise in mind for Don Alejandro de la Vega.

But Salomon saw trouble ahead. “He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise,” he said during...

Few films weave historical upheaval, supernatural intrigue, and sprawling family drama as ambitiously as Billie August's 1993 period piece The House of the Spirits. Adapted from a successful novel of the same title by Isabel Allende, the film boasts a cast of superstars: Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close, and Jeremy Irons, among others. It is a movie that attempts to capture 20th-century life in Chile in its entirety, providing multiple perspectives that range from the elite political class, the working class, ordinary people affected by prevailing political factors, and the fantastical world of ghosts. Its themes are just as sweeping, delving into romance, politics, the supernatural, violence, revenge, family sagas, and class differences. The House of the Spirits is a melodrama that somehow works because of its grounded stories shared by solid characters, but it sometimes misses beats, in part because of this sweeping approach.

Building on what is already the largest film-related collection in the world, comprised of more than 52 million items, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed some of their most recent acquisitions today, including the Studio Ghibli animation collection, which contains more than 80 pieces of original art by Hayao Miyazaki and Noboru Yoshida, as well as the studio’s Japanese movie posters and animator’s desk. Another hot ticket item, presented at the Academy Museum Gala on October 19 in Los Angeles, is Quentin Tarantino’s personal, handwritten script for “Pulp Fiction,” which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and celebrated its 30th anniversary this year.

Filmmakers Curtis Hanson, Nicole Holofcener, Barbara Kopple, Oliver Stone, and Paul Verhoeven also donated their personal collections to the Academy, which features production records, photographs, scripts, and more from films such as “L.A. Confidential,” “Harlan County, U.S.A,” “Platoon,” “Showgirls,” and “Enough Said.

Chile’s Fabula and Spain’s Alea Media have unveiled they are allying on development of “A Long Petal of the Sea,” based on a 2019 novel by Isabel Allende.

Alea Media founder Aitor Gabilondo will serve as showrunner on the series which is scheduled to go into production by the end of 2025.

The new title joins two of the biggest powerhouses of premium scripted drama in the Spanish-speaking world and powerful IP in a swing for broad audiences worldwide.

Founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain, Academy Award winners for “A Fantastic Woman,” Fabula’s production credits take in movies “Jackie,” “Spencer” and “Maria,” all directed by Pablo Larraín.

Headed by Aitor Gabilondo, Alea Media is behind HBO Spanish smash hit “Patria” and Mediaset España’s “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” whose latest third season topped Netflix global non-English TV series charts earlier this year.

“A Long Petal of...

by Cláudio Alves

The Buriti Flower is one of Portugal's five finalists.

As the Best International Film Oscar race starts to take shape, the Portuguese Academy has begun the process of choosing the country's official submission. This year's selection committee was composed of nine individuals, all of whom work in the Portuguese film industry. The group ranged from directors to a distributor, encompassing actors, producers, a writer, and even a cinematographer. They include Cristèle Alves Meira, the Listen director who won gold two years ago in Venice; Luís Gaivão Teles, whose documentation of the 1974 Revolution is a precious historical artifact; and Dp José Tiago whose filmography contains the Meryl Streep-led The House of the Spirits and our first-ever Oscar submission, Manhã Submersa.

They have selected five features in hopes of breaking Portugal's unfortunate record, but it's now up to the Portuguese Academy membership to vote on the final choice.

Typecasting is a huge issue in Hollywood, something which has become almost a common phenomenon. This problem affects the actresses more than their male counterparts when they have to look a certain way. But it goes beyond outer appearances, as for most, age becomes the biggest hurdle when looking for movie roles.

Many iconic actresses have felt this once they started aging, their roles dried up. Offers are rare and characters become repetitive and often boring. Meryl Streep is one movie legend who has been vocal about her views on this topic. The Devil Wears Prada actress warned Winona Ryder about the reality of why the industry looks for witches and moms in actresses as they pass a certain age bar.

Witches and moms: The limited options for actresses over 40

Winona Ryder is remembered for several reasons, but Tim Burton fans recognize her as Lydia Deetz from the 1988 comedy, Beetlejuice.

Winona Ryder was blacklisted by now imprisoned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in the ’90s because, she thinks, she offended him by trying to shake hands the first time they met.

“He did not like me,” she recalled in an interview with Esquire, published Thursday.

“The one time I was supposed to have a meeting with [Harvey], I went to the Miramax office and I extended my hand and he shook my hand and I sat on the couch and we had a conversation and I left,” Ryder recalled.

She said that an agent “screamed at” her afterward: “What the f–k did you do?”

“Apparently, I offended him because I extended my hand?,” the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Stranger Things” actress explained.

But that wasn’t her last run-in with him. When she was filming the 1993 Miramax movie “The House of the Spirits,” he banged on the door of her trailer and...

Winona Ryder said in a new interview with Esquire magazine that she felt blacklisted by Miramax in “the late 1990s and early 2000s” due to “various reasons,” one of which was a meeting with the company’s co-founder Harvey Weinstein that allegedly angered him. Weinstein ran Miramax until 2005. He is currently in prison for sexual assault.

“The one time I was supposed to have a meeting with [Harvey Weinstein], I went to the Miramax office and I extended my hand and he shook my hand and I sat on the couch and we had a conversation and I left,” Ryder said. “And [afterwards] I got like screamed at [by an agent]. ‘What the fuck did you do?’ I was like, ‘What?’ Apparently, I offended him because I extended my hand?… I guess.”

Ryder had already worked on a Miramax movie at that point in her career, 1993’s “The House of the Spirits,” and remembered Weinstein pounding...

Principal photography is underway in Chile on Prime Video Original ‘The House of the Spirits,’ an 8-part series based on Chilean author Isabel Allende’s career-launching novel. Allende, Eva Longoria and her Hyphenate Media Group are executive producing the show.

The project had been in development at lead producer FilmNation Entertainment, which brought in Chilean filmmaking team Francisca Alegria and Fernanda Urrejola (“The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future”) to write and also showrun the series alongside seasoned local director/producer Andres Wood whose extensive credits include “Machuca” and series “News of a Kidnapping” and “Los 80.” Pablo and Juan de Dios Larrain’s Fabula is providing production services.

With over 70 million copies sold, “The House of the Spirits” is considered one of the most prominent novels of the 20th century. It was brought to the big screen in 1993 by Bille August with Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Antonio Banderas...

Paula Weinstein, the veteran studio executive, two-time Emmy winner and producer on such projects as The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Perfect Storm, Analyze This and Grace and Frankie, died Monday. She was 78.

Weinstein died at her home in New York, her daughter, Hannah Rosenberg, told The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was revealed.

“The world is a lesser place without my mother,” Rosenberg said in a statement. “She was a masterful producer and a force of nature for the things she believed in, including the many projects that spanned her illustrious career, the stories she fought to tell and the social justice causes she championed.”

In September, Weinstein exited Tribeca Enterprises, which she joined as executive vp in 2013, to work on political campaigns. She earlier was a vp at Warner Bros., an executive vp at 20th Century Fox and president of United Artists.

In 1989, she and her late husband,...

Eva Longoria is back in front of the cameras, following a busy award season supporting her feature film directorial debut Flamin’ Hot. Longoria has been cast in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building Season 4 in a recurring role.

Details regarding the new season’s plot and character descriptions remain under wraps. However, we do know the new episodes will focus on unraveling the murder of Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve Martin) mind-bogglingly identical stunt double from his years on the series Brazzos and its 2020 revival.

Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich revealed in a recent Deadline interview that the Only Murders In the Building trio: Charles, Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez), will kick off the new season with a trip to Los Angeles before returning to The Arconia in their search of Sazz’s killer.

Longoria’s character becomes integral to the twists and...

Exclusive: Manager Zac Frognowski, who spent the last 10 years at Grandview, most recently as partner, has joined Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

In his move to Brillstein, Frognowski will be retaining major clients such as Mattson Tomlin (The Batman Pt II), Academy Award nominee Zach Baylin (King Richard), Tony winner Matthew López (Red White & Royal Blue), Jonathan Entwistle (upcoming Karate Kid), Lucy Tcherniak (Station Eleven), Matt Ruskin (Boston Strangler), Leah Rachel (Chambers), Francisca Alegria (upcoming The House of the Spirits) and Randy McKinnon (The Prophecy).

“We are thrilled that Zac has chosen to join us as his career evolves,” said Jon Liebman and Cynthia Pett, Brillstein’s Co-CEO’s. “It’s an understatement to say that Zac is highly intelligent, deeply passionate, and beyond tenacious in his commitment to his clients.”

Frognowski had been at Grandview since the company’s launch in May 2014. Starting as an assistant, he was promoted to manager...

With The Mask of Zorro, Antonio Banderas truly marked himself as a genuine star and sex symbol across the globe. While he earned acclaim for his collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar in Spain and made his presence known in the States with Philadelphia and Interview with the Vampire, The Mask of Zorro was his first leading role to near $100 million at the domestic box office. But the iconic swordsman almost had another man behind the mask: Tom Cruise.

According to The Mask of Zorro‘s original director Mikael Salomon, executive producer Steven Spielberg wanted Tom Cruise to star. “Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done The House of the Spirits with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that,...

Tom Cruise declined the role in The Mask of Zorro because he felt it would be inappropriate for a non-Latino actor to play the character. The film still faced criticism for casting Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who are both White, as Hispanic characters. The incident highlights the ongoing problem of whitewashing in Hollywood and the need for more diversity and accurate casting in films.

A former collaborator explains the unexpected story of how actor Tom Cruise saved The Mask of Zorro from a potential casting disaster. The 1998 action movie tells the story of a thief who, in seeking revenge for his brother’s death, is trained by a man named Zorro, who is simultaneously pursuing his own vengeance. It was directed by Martin Campbell and starred Antonio Banderas as the eponymous Zorro, alongside a supporting cast of Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and José María de Tavira.

Years after The Mask of Zorro hit theaters,...

Cinematographer Mikael Salomon says he was at one point hired to direct The Mask of Zorro and had considered having Tom Cruise cast as that film's main protagonist.

In a /Film interview, Salomon reveals that 1998's The Mask of Zorro had several A-list actors considered for the lead role before Antonio Banderas took the part. This insider news was well overdue but revealed in time for the film's 25th anniversary, which marks The Mask of Zorro's theatrical release but doesn't account for its lengthy development and production history. Salomon said he was briefly hired in 1993 to direct the film and discovered that Steven Spielberg wanted Tom Cruise as Zorro, which almost happened if the actor didn't decline the offer.

Related Antonio Banderas Would Do Zorro 3 to Pass the Mask to Someone New Antonio Banderas says he would play the masked vigilante, Zorro, one more time if his character passes the mask to a successor.

Chile’s Francisca Alegria, whose debut feature “The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future” premiered at Sundance 2022, is launching a Latinx production company called Madre, with offices based in Chile, Uruguay and the U.S.

Together with her partners Fernanda Urrejola, Gabriela Rosés and Cristóbal Güell, Alegria said: “We firmly believe that stories have the ability to shape perspectives, challenge norms, and inspire action. With this in mind, we strive to select projects that not only entertain but also provoke thought and spark meaningful conversations.”

Recognizing that “representation matters,” the company intends to showcase Latinx culture “beyond surface-level diversity” stating: “We aim to portray the complexities, nuances, and rich tapestry of our community, shedding light on the multifaceted experiences and identities that often go unseen or are misunderstood.”

The new company is working on a fantasy feature set in Chile with Latinx producers Sergio Lira and Lynette Coll atLuz Films and “The Cow…...

FilmNation Entertainment today announced the launch of Infrared, a new film production label that will look to finance and produce mainstream films with franchise potential, producing three to four mid-to-high level budget films each year across the action, thriller, comedy and sci-fi genres.

The label will be led by President of Production Drew Simon, who reports to FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner. In his role, he will oversee all elements of the label’s films, from development through production, while managing the label’s team.

Simon has hired Sam Speiser as Infrared’s Vice President of Production, with Speiser to support him in overseeing all stages of project development and production. She will be responsible for sourcing and vetting new material, helping to build Infrared’s ongoing slate of films, and managing feature film projects through their complete lifecycles.

“I am thrilled to move forward with this exciting new strategic...

Exclusive: Veteran TV producer Kristen Campo has launched her own production shingle Campout Productions and renewed her first-look deal with Endeavor Content.

Under her Endeavor Content deal, Campo is the executive producer alongside Layne Eskridge, Know Wonder, and Abby Ajayi on the recently announced, eight-episode limited drama The Plot for Disney’s Onyx Collective/Hulu based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel of the same name.

Campo recently expanded her relationship with Hanff Korelitz with the optioning of her newest work, The Latecomer, alongside producer Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories in partnership with Endeavor Content.

Next up through her deal, Campo has The Lazarus Files, based on the Stephanie Lazarus novel by Matthew McGough alongside Anonymous Content, and crime thriller His & Hers based on Alice Feeney’s novel alongside Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films.

Additionally, Campo has high-level development projects set up at Apple, Netflix, Starz, HBO Max, and Amazon.

Los Angeles-based Outsider Pictures has picked up worldwide sales rights to Colombian Nina Marín’s feature debut “Tierra quebrá” (“Broken Land”), inspired by the magical realism literary genre.

Produced by Óscar Alvarado at Marine Films, a company based in the northern Colombian city of Valledupar, “Broken Land” delivers a female story with women carrying the story from beginning to end.

Filmed in Valledupar, the film follows Manuela, a widowed woman who returns with her three children to her mother’s home, located in a rural area of brutal civil conflict.

She seeks to rebuild family ties with her mother Elba and her uncle Darío, but life ruptures again when her eldest son drowns. Elba, superstitious, decides to bury the young man with his feet towards the house, to retain his spirit.

After a year of living together, Manuela lives a love affair with her uncle.

“I was moved by the film,...

Eva Longoria is set to star in the TV adaptation of the Isabel Allende bestselling novel The House of Spirits for FilmNation Entertainment. Longoria will play Blanca Trueba, one of the passionate and courageous women who leads the family’s destiny across generations.

The House of the Spirits is a family saga that follows the extraordinary lives of three generations of women in the Trueba family. Set in a remote South American country, this timeless drama, with tints of Magical Realism, takes us on an epic journey of fortune, intrigue, love, and fate throughout the 20th century.

Francisca Alegría and Fernanda Urrejola are writing the adaptation, the former will direct.

“It’s truly an honor to bring one of Isabel Allende’s iconic works to the screen for audiences worldwide alongside FilmNation, Francisca, and Fernanda,” Longoria said in a statement. “This is a story rich in themes of family, love,...

Fresh off its first Emmy win for “I Know This Much Is True,” FilmNation Entertainment is continuing to drive into the TV space.

The company has acquired Ken Liu’s sci-fi short story “The Hidden Girl,” with the intention of adapting it into a series. Liu is attached to executive produce the project, which sources say is already in discussions with potential directors and showrunners.

News of the acquisition comes less than a month after Liu was announced as a consulting producer on David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo’s buzzy Netflix adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem.”

“The Hidden Girl” blends sci-fi and historical reality into a story set in a never-before-seen fantasy world derived from the cosmopolitan realities of Tang Dynasty China. In the story, a diverse group of women assassins travel through the fourth-dimension traversing space and time to kill their opponents, honor their professional code, and...

Exclusive: FilmNation Entertainment, producer of the Emmy-nominated HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True, is signaling a further push into television, signing a multi-year TV development fund deal with Wishmore (The Personal History of David Copperfield), the company owned and run by Greek film financier and producer Christos V. Konstantakopoulos. Wishmore is the sister company of Konstantakopoulos’s Faliro House, with whom FilmNation has had a successful film-focused development partnership for several years.

The multi-million dollar development investment will allow FilmNation Entertainment’s U.S. television division, led by President of Production Ben Browning, to expand its slate of high-profile television development properties, while simultaneously broadening Wishmore’s TV slate with series for the international marketplace. All funded projects, on which FilmNation will serve as a studio, are intended to be financed under the company’s existing credit facility. The studio’s focus remains on developing, producing and...

Exclusive: FilmNation Entertainment continues to ramp up its television business, hiring former Marvel Television executive Courtney Saladino Gurney as its new Vice President, Television. In her new role, Gurney will source and develop material for the company, reporting to FilmNation’s Evp, Television Stefanie Berk.

“We are thrilled to welcome Courtney to FilmNation. With her vast knowledge and experience across multiple television brands, she is an exciting addition to the television team,” said Berk.

Saladino Gurney previously served as the Director of Original Programming for Marvel Television where she oversaw Marvel’s Helstrom for Hulu; Marvel’s Jessica Jones for Netflix; and Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger for Freeform. Prior to joining Marvel, she ran Film & Television development at Junction Entertainment for director Jon Turteltaub.

FilmNation’s growing television slate includes Derek Cianfrance’s upcoming limited series I Know This Much Is True, starring Mark Ruffalo for HBO; an adaption...

British actor Jeremy Irons, who plays Ozymandias in the HBO series “Watchmen” and won an Oscar in 1991 for “Reversal of Fortune,” will serve as president of the International Jury at the 70th Berlin Intl. Film Festival, the event revealed Thursday.

Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian said: “With his distinctive style Jeremy Irons has embodied some iconic characters that have accompanied me throughout my journey in cinema, making me aware of the complexity of human beings. His talent and the choices he has taken both as an artist and as a citizen make me feel proud to welcome him as president of the jury for the 70th edition of the Berlinale.”

Irons said: “It is with feelings of great pleasure and not inconsiderable honor that I take on the role of president of the International Jury for the Berlinale 2020, a festival that I have admired for so long and that I have always enjoyed attending.

Exclusive: FilmNation Entertainment is expanding its television slate with the acquisition of Susan Choi’s 2019 National Book Award winner Trust Exercise for development as a limited TV series, with Choi attached to pen the adaptation.

Based on the book, Trust Exercise the series is set in an American suburb in the early 1980s, where a group of students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble. When they eventually reconnect as adults, their world is upended and we realize that what we believe happened to them is not entirely true―though it’s not false, either.

FilmNation’s Hannah Getts brought Choi’s book in to the company. Getts will oversee the series with Stefanie Berk, FilmNation Entertainment Evp, Television. FilmNation Entertainment will produce.

Published April 9 by Macmillan, Trust Exercise has been listed on The New York Times Critics...

Glen Basner lives to make deals.

Be it Toronto or Cannes, Sundance or Afm, you’ll find the FilmNation founder in the throes of negotiations over pricing and marketing plans, schmoozing and working every angle to nail the best pact. Director Armando Iannucci, who worked with FilmNation on the upcoming “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” recalls seeing Basner in action after he presented the Charles Dickens adaptation to potential buyers at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival.

“He was running from booth to booth, having all these conversations, and he just kind of lit up with this infectious smile,” says Iannucci. “Fundamentally, all of the things he’s doing on the business side are borne out of a love of film. That what makes him so good at what he does.”

Basner will be on hand at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival for the world premiere of “David Copperfield,” with Dev Patel in the title role,...

Creative team currently being assembled.

FilmNation Entertainment and Sweden-based Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group) are forming a television joint venture based in the UK.

The entity will operate under the FilmNation brand and will develop, produce and finance scripted content aimed at the global market.

In a statement, the partners said they will “leverage their established talent relationships and build a dedicated television content pipeline while expanding their global footprints.” A creative team for the new venture is currently being assembled.

The joint venture plans to work with a variety of UK studios and co-financiers. Nent will have first option...

Glen Basner’s FilmNation Entertainment and Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group) are joining forces to launch a new U.K.-based TV company which will develop, produce and finance premium scripted TV content for global audiences.

The joint venture will operate under the FilmNation brand and is currently assembling its creative team. As both companies boast a deep knowledge of the global content marketplace and have successful track records, the new banner will work with a wide variety of U.K. studios, talents and co-financiers.

An independent film powerhouse founded by Basner 10 years ago, FilmNation has recently started focusing more on content creation, with B.O. hits such as “Arrival” and “The Big Sick,” and has a flurry of high-profile TV projects in the pipeline, notably “I Know This Much Is True” (currently in pre-production) starring Mark Ruffalo for HBO, and “Feminist Fight Club” and “The House of the Spirits” for Hulu.

John and Matthew watched every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.

Meryl has been a superstar for 40 years now

Matthew: You never forget the performers who first reach out to you from an illuminated screen and lay claim to your gaze, mind, and devotion. Before I knew anything about the art of screen acting, I knew about the miraculous and almost mythic marvel that is Meryl Streep. Months of Meryl was an undertaking that exhausted and aggravated me without end: for every unparalleled Silkwood in Streep’s filmography, there are at least two The House of the Spirits; for every forgotten or underrecognized gem like The Seduction of Joe Tynan, One True Thing, or A Prairie Home Companion, there are at least three Still of the Nights, Primes, or Dark Matters. But, more importantly, this project illuminated a great deal about a veteran artist whose empathetic interest in the lives...

Six-episode series centres on parallel lives of identical twin brothers in story of betrayal, sacrifice and forgiveness.

HBO has given a green light to I Know This Much Is True, a limited series from writer/director Derek Cianfrance with Mark Ruffalo starring as twin brothers.

Cianfrance and Ruffalo will serve as executive producer on the six-episode series with Ben Browning and Glen Basner for FilmNation Entertainment, Wally Lamb, Gregg Fienberg and Anya Epstein.

The project is adapted from Lamb’s novel of the same name, a family saga following the parallel lives of identical twin brothers in a story of betrayal,...

Executive most recently brought in American Gods to FremantleMedia North America.

In a move to expand its television division, FilmNation Entertainment has hired veteran producer Stefanie Berk as executive vice-president of television.

Berk most recently served as executive vice-president of scripted programming for FremantleMedia North America (Fmna), to whom she brought the American Gods series. She also served as one of Fmna’s executive producers on The Returned, and previously worked as senior vice-president and head of development at Playtone.

FilmNation TV projects include an adaptation of Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much Is True with Mark Ruffalo starring for HBO,...

Shout! Studios, the distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory, has picked up the North American rights to In Harm’s Way (a.k.a. The Chinese Widow), a World War II period drama starring Emile Hirsch and Crystal Yifei Liu, star of Disney’s upcoming live-action Mulan film. Directed by Bille August (The House of the Spirits), In Harm’s Way will get a day-and-date release sometime this fall.

Written by Greg Latte, the pic is set after the attack on Pearl Harbor when a unit of the U.S. Air Force is forced to make an emergency landing in Zhejiang Province, China. Its commander Jack Turner (Hirsch) barely survives but gets rescued by Ying (Liu), a young Chinese widow who will stop at nothing to hide him from the Japanese military occupants and the atrocities committed during World War II. The two eventually develop a heart-wrenching relationship that transcends cultural and language barriers.

Oscar-winning Danish director Bille August will preside over the jury of the Cairo Film Festival, which is being revamped by Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy.

August, who has accomplished the rare feat of winning two Cannes Palme d’Or awards, is best known for “Pelle the Conqueror” – which scored the foreign-language Oscar, the Palme d’Or and a Golden Globe – and for “The House of the Spirits,” “Smilla’s Sense Of Snow,” and “Les Miserables.” He is currently in pre-production on Gianni Versace biopic “The Emperor of Dreams.”

August will be returning to Cairo after attending the fest with “Les Miserables” in 1998.

Hefzy, who was appointed president of the Cairo festival in March, praised August in a statement as “one of the eminent names in world cinema,” adding that he was honored to have the director serve as jury president in what he called a “historic 40th edition” of the event.

Call it the Ryderssance. Winona Ryder, beloved It Girl of the ’80s and ’90s, has spent the past three years churning out some of her best work yet, including small screen offerings like “Show Me a Hero” and the Netflix breakout “Stranger Things.” Soon, she’ll return to the big screen with her frequent co-star Keanu Reeves, thanks to the upcoming rom-com “Destination Wedding.” But before that, Ryder will be the subject of a decades-spanning career retrospective at New York’s Quad Cinema, featuring over a dozen of her films, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

When it comes to putting together his retrospectives, Quad Cinema programmer C. Mason Wells told IndieWire that he tends to look for “someone who hasn’t been highlighted before in this way, and also someone who doesn’t conventionally get that sort of feting. Unfortunately, those type of people who fall...

From the turkeys to the triumphs, Ryder’s 30-year career has taken her from the too-bad-to-be-missed depths of The House of the Spirits to some much more intriguing choices

In any career spanning three decades, there are bound to be turkeys, and Ryder has had her share. But the gloopy Autumn in New York (2000) is beaten in the too-bad-to-be-missed stakes by this laughable magical-realist clunker. Highlights include Ryder’s witless voiceover and Meryl Streep levitating a table.

Hulu is in early stages of development on a TV series adaptation of Isabel Allende’s critically praised novel The House of the Spirits. FilmNation Entertainment (Arrival), which had landed rights to the book in a competitive situation, will serve as the studio on the project, with Allende on board as executive producer. A search is underway for a writer to pen the adaptation and a director.

The House of the Spirits brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family.

Allende’s debut novel The House of the Spirits was originally published in 1982 to instant critical acclaim. It became a worldwide commercial success, printed in over 35 languages with other 70 million copies sold. The book was adapted as a feature in 1993 by Danish director Bille August with a star-studded cast that included Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Winona Ryder, Glenn Close and Antonio Banderas.

Over the past year or so,...

As the Ffa, also known as the German Federal Film Board, turns 50 this year, Germany is celebrating the contribution of a funding organization that has not only created a thriving local movie sector, but also put the country on the map as a prime location for international productions.

With an annual budget of €76 million ($94 million) — financed by the country’s film levy, which is paid by exhibitors, video distributors and broadcasters — the Ffa oversees diverse funding vehicles that support all stages of film production and exploitation, from script development and production to distribution and sales. The Ffa’s core operations also include financing for cinemas, film preservation and the promotion of German cinema abroad, as well as the publication of market data on Germany’s film, exhibition and video sectors.

Monika Grütters, Germany’s commissioner for culture and the media, says the Ffa has been instrumental in establishing cinema as...

This article marks Part 10 of the 21-part Gold Derby series Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her at the Academy Awards, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

After steamrolling through the 1980s, racking up half a dozen Best Actress Oscar nominations, Meryl Streep experienced a more subdued reception in the early 1990s.

The decade started off on just the right note, with a ninth Oscar nomination for “Postcards from the Edge” (1990). Streep also garnered praise for her turn opposite Albert Brooks in “Defending Your Life” (1991). The picture, however, was not a box office success, drawing roughly the same interest in theaters as “She-Devil” (1989), which was deemed a bomb upon its release.

Streep’s next project was among her most ambitious to date – a big-budget horror-comedy from filmmaker Robert Zemeckis,...

This article marks Part 8 of the 21-part Gold Derby series analyzing Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

When Meryl Streep first collaborated with filmmaker Fred Schepisi, reaction to their work was decidedly muted. “Plenty” (1985) came and went from theaters in no time, spending all of one week in the box office top 10. In 1987, both Streep and Schepisi had better luck, the former contending at the Academy Award for her turn in “Ironweed” and the latter directing the popular Steve Martin comedy “Roxanne.”

In 1988, Streep and Schepisi gave collaboration another shot. While “A Cry in the Dark,” adapted from John Bryson‘s book “Evil Angels” (1985), was hardly a crowd-pleaser, the picture and Streep’s performance garnered abundant critical acclaim. The film would mark...

New works from Chilean writer Isabel Allende and French author and playwright Veronique Olmi are among the selections for this year's Books at Berlinale, the industry event where new literary works are offered up to producers for film or TV adaptations.

Allende, whose debut novel The House of the Spirits was turned into a 1993 feature starring Meryl Streep, Winona Ryder and Jeremy Irons, moves across time and space with her latest, In the Midst of Winter. The new novel follows three very different people brought together in a mesmerizing journey that stretches from present-day Brooklyn back to 1970s Chile...

As we go through the terrific lineup for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, we’re continually being pleasantly surprised by the smaller movies making an appearance — ones that don’t necessarily land in the headlines. One such picture that’s caught our attention is “55 Steps.”

Directed by Bille August (“Night Train To Lisbon,” “The House Of The Spirits,” “Smilla’s Sense Of Snow“) and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Hilary Swank, and Jeffrey Tambor, the film tells the true story of Eleanor Riese, who fought for the rights of mentally ill patients to weigh in on their treatment.

Continue reading First Look & Clip: ’55 Steps’ Starring Helena Bonham Carter & Hilary Swank at The Playlist.

Author: Jon Lyus

Antonio Banderas is one of the more recognisable faces (and certainly one of the most recognisable voices) in Hollywood. His presence in front of the camera is tangible, and the variety of roles he enjoys now is testament to a versatility few could have expected of the man who came to Tinsel Town barely speaking a word of English.

He has been a masked legend (twice, one furry – the other not so), played with another kind of mask (horrifcally so – see the final note), appeared opposite the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Spongebob Squarepants. He’s done it all, and now a new film of his arrives on DVD this week.

Security sees the actor as an ex-Special Forces vet taking a job as a security guard. On his first night he rescues a young girl fleeing from a hijacked convey,...

I recently sat down with director Isabel Coixet, and actors Patricia Clarkson and Sarita Choudhury at the Crosby Hotel in New York City, to discuss their new film "Learning to Drive." The film, written by Sarah Kernochan, is based on the autobiographical New Yorker short story by Katha Pollit, a long-time political columnist for the Nation.

Wendy is a fiery Manhattan author whose husband has just left her for a younger woman; Darwan is a soft-spoken taxi driver from India on the verge of an arranged marriage. As Wendy sets out to reclaim her independence, she runs into a barrier common to many lifelong New Yorkers: she’s never learned to drive. When Wendy hires Darwan to teach her, her unraveling life and his calm restraint seem like an awkward fit. But as he shows her how to take control of the wheel, and she coaches him on how to impress a woman, their unlikely friendship awakens them to the joy, humor, and love in starting life anew.

My conversation began with Isabel Coixet and Sarita Choudhury

Isabel Coixet’s award-winning film credits include "Demaisiado viejo para morir joven," "Things I Never Told You,""My Life Without Me," "The Secret Life of Words," "Paris, je t’aime," "Elegy," "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," "Yesterday Never Ends," "Another Me," "Nobody Wants the Night," as well as documentaries, including "Invisibles."

Currently, Sarita Choudhury can be seen on Showtime’s "Homeland." Her film credits include "Admission," "Gayby," "Midnight’s Children," "Generation Um…," "Entre Nos," "The Accidental Husband," "Lady in the Water," "The War Within," "Mississippi Masala," "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love," "She Hate Me," "Just a Kiss," "Wild West," "High Art," "The House of the Spirits," "Gloria," and "A Perfect Murder."

Susan Kouguell: Tell me about the process of how "Learning to Drive" came about.

Isabel Coixet: We started talking about making this film with Patricia and Ben Kingsley when we were making "Elegy" (directed by Coixet, starring Clarkson and Kingsley) and we got along very well and we wanted to make another film together. Patricia discovered the short story by Katha Pollit, and she gave it to me and I thought it was wonderful. And then we got the screenwriter Sarah Kernocha involved. The film is a comedy but not a classical comedy. It was a very difficult film to pitch because you know financiers and producers want something they can put in one box and you can’t with this film. It was a long process. It took nine years.

Some Words Unspoken and the Intimacy of the Camera

Isabel Coixet: There is always this romantic feeling underneath [subtext], I think there is that possibility. You have to be true to your words. If they are true, you will have to stick to your words.

Sarita Choudhury: That’s what happens with people you meet. No you were my inspiration don’t make me your inspiration.

Isabel Coixet: I love Henry James. There is a possibility of romance in the air. My romantic side is always excited when I see something like this.

Sarita Choudhury: I had so few words in the film. In a way, I kept the words because I had to know not to say them. For us the script -- the situational was also in the script; the languidness. It was because Isabel holds the camera. There was a pace created to it. When you’re acting you can feel where the camera is, but when the camera is at the end of Isabel’s hand and she’s moving it, it almost creates an intimacy between you and the camera, and you and the actor. There’s a pace you normally don’t get in film. You didn’t know when she was on your face; you had to keep acting like acting in the theatre.

On The Lack of Women Directors

Isabel Coixet: There are so many articles about it. I’m always afraid to play the victim, to complain too much. I know there is an inequity with men and women directors. This is an issue in the world. I always say, (Coixet smiles) we have to ask for more salary to make up for all these years and maybe if we ask for more they’ll give us the same as a man.

I want to put my words where my mouth is by producing female directors; they are amazing talented people. I’m producing three short films and a feature documentary. That’s what I do.

Sarita Choudhury: I just did a young woman’s short film; there is something about her that’s brilliant. I’ve done two short films. I can’t change the caste system and I can’t do the voluntary work I need to be doing. Film is no different from the world, like Isabel said. That’s our work, to get every woman involved. And if a man is brilliant, let him in too.

I then asked Patricia Clarkson about her involvement with "Learning to Drive."

Academy Award® nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, Patricia Clarkson, has worked extensively in independent films. The National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics named her Best Supporting Actress of the Year for "Pieces of April" and "The Station Agent." Her many film credits include "The Maze Runner," "Last Weekend," "Friends With Benefits," "One Day," "Easy A," "Shutter Island," "Vicky Christina Barcelona," "Elegy," "No Reservations," "All the Kings’ Men," "Lars and the Real Girl, and "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Susan Kouguell: What attracted you to the project?

Patricia Clarkson: I loved the Katha Pollit story in The New Yorker; it serendipitously came to me. I love Wendy, I love this character. I was nine years younger at the time, but I still felt I knew her. I was relentless trying to get this film made with producer Dana Friedman. I found it an equal dose of funny and tragic. I liked the almost commedia dell'arte aspect; this absurd situation and finding the tragic comedy. A woman who is brilliant who lives a great life -- she has everything, but “forgets to look up,” and then meets a man who has experienced tragic loss. They have disparate worlds. I found it a quintessential New York story, but it’s also universal. It’s an independent film, but it’s not independently-minded.

Some Final Words

The disparate worlds about which Clarkson refers to in regard to her character, Wendy’s relationship with Darwan [Ben Kingsley] -- the life of a financially successful New Yorker compared to the immigrant’s struggle, was a thematic element that I further discussed with Coixet and Choudhury. As Choudhury said to me, Coixet’s visual choices of her character, such as the moment when she watches feet walk by her basement apartment window, feeling trapped, underscore the poignancy of this fish-out-of-water situation. Coixet captures these elements with a delicate balance of both drama and comedy.

It was an inspiring morning to speak with these three powerful and talented women, who are committed to sharing their knowledge with the next generation of female filmmakers.

Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting at Purchase College Suny, and presents international seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...

Directed by Max Bartoli and Fabiola Lopez Batoli, "The Secret of Joy" is a $500K short project created to support the cause of pediatric cancer. Their noble endeavor inspired a great number of talented industry people to get on board as part of the production, and after lots of passionate work they are finally ready to share with audiences in hopes that it will not only raise awareness, but also tangible funds to be donated to the Kids’ Cancer Research Foundation.

Director Max Bartoli talks more in depth about this project below:

Cancer has unfortunately already touched my family too many times, and more recently two couple of friends lost their 4 y.o and 5 y.o. children to neuroblastoma a few months apart, thus motivating me to do something to raise awareness and funds to support the battle against this terrible disease. It is with this in mind that my wife and I decided to invest all our savings to produce "The Secret of Joy," a project made of a 12-minute short, a book and a song, three products which will be donated non-exclusively to the Kids’ Cancer Research Foundation (www.endkidscancer.org) and to three European hospitals as extra tools to raise the awareness over this topic and fundraise during their future campaigns.

When we talked about this project to our friends in Hollywood we received enthusiastic reactions. A 35-people-cast, led by 4 times Emmy winner Doris Roberts ("Everybody Loves Raymond," "Remington Steele," "Christmas Vacation"), Maria Conchita Alonso ("The Running Man," "Saints & Sinners," "The House of the Spirits") and Sofia Milos ("CSI Miami"), and a 65-people-crew from 3 continents led by super talented Production Designer Giles Masters ("Angels and Demons," "The Mummy," "The Da Vinci Code") accepted to bring our story to life for free.

Shot last December in Los Angeles, "The Secret of Joy" has become in 6 months the Act Of Love of over 150 entertainment professionals and several companies (Technicolor, Red, Cameras, Hammerhead Productions., Tirelli Costumes and many others) whose contribution amounted to over $450,000 (four hundred and fifty thousand dollars), all united by the desire to support a cause which involves our children, our future and still seems to have been forgotten by the media and the audience.

This to demonstrate, if it was needed, that Hollywood often gives more than what it takes. My wife and I embarked in this project hoping to bring hope and a smile into the lives of the children battling cancer and of their families. Having two of them, Casey and Chloe, on set and seeing the joy on their faces as we were filming would be already enough to repay us of our endeavors. But we want more. We want to reach out and touch many more.

That’s why from August 28th until September 3rd "The Secret of Joy" will be screened at the Laemmle 7 theater in North Hollywood and the whole Box Office will be donated to the Kids’ Cancer Research Foundation. It’ll be an important first step to achieve our goal.

We would love for it to be successful. We know we can make the difference, touching one person’s heart at the time.

Further information can be found online at:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4152748/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://www.facebook.com/TheSecretofJoy

www.thesecretofjoy.org...

There is only one correct way to prepare for the Oscars: resentfully watching every bad, dubious, or weird movie starring this year's honorees and feeling smug about it. StreamFix is here to help. Here are five weird choices streaming on Netflix to get you caught up on some of the 2014 nominees. "Chalet Girl" with Felicity Jones Felicity Jones would have more of a chance at an Oscar if she just called herself "the other Carey Mulligan" and dealt with it. Anyway, remember "Chalet Girl"? It was about Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick enjoying wonderful times on the slopes. Let us consult The New York Times' review for some insight into this cinematic journey: "'Chalet Girl' may not be particularly creative or genre busting or even a great example of a romantic comedy. But its premise might make you smile." I know I always go to the movies for...

Last week's Heathers oral history in Entertainment Weekly revealed that not only were there plans for a Heathers sequel, but that Winona Ryder actually went so far as to proposition Meryl Streep on the set of The House of the Spirits to co-star in it. Just imagine that bright red bow in Streep's hair: "It’s Veronica, years later, she’s in Washington. She’s somehow erased her past. And she’s being blackmailed, there’s like men in suits who know about the Westerberg murders ... And I remember the First Lady was Meryl Streep."But when Vulture caught up with her at last night's Cinema Society premiere of the PBS Masterpiece drama Turks & Caicos and mentioned that Meryl was supposed to be there that evening (she didn't show), Ryder immediately knew where our line of questioning was going. "Oh, don't bring up the Heathers sequel! That was one of those jokes,...

“Do you think there’s ever been another movie like Heathers?” Winona Ryder asks in her tiny, forever-a-kid voice, and then listens quietly. She’s genuinely curious. Your brain races through the obvious choices. Mean Girls, Clueless, Jawbreaker—teen-girl comedies with a drop of caustic in their lip gloss. But in 25 years, no high school movie has ever come close to the bloodthirsty wit and sweet-faced nihilism of Heathers, the 1989 satire about an Ohio high school where suicide becomes a scrunchie-level fad. “I looove this movie—to the point where I talk about it like I’m not even in it,...

Bille August ("The House of the Spirits," "Smilla's Feeling for Snow") is attached to direct an adaptation of Stefan Zweig's 1938 novel "Beware of Pity" at Senator Films.

August and scribe Greg Latter, who previously worked together on "Goodbye Bafana" and "Night Train to Lisbon," are re-teaming on the English language project which will sport a German and international cast.

The story follows a young lieutenant invited to dine at at a Hungarian aristocrat’s castle. There he meets a parylysed young woman who falls in love with him.

Lars Sylvest and Helge Sasse will produce. Filming takes place next year in Bavaria, Austria and Hungary ahead of a 2015 release.

Source: Screen Daily...

Meryl Streep, J. Roy Helland Meryl Streep and J. Roy Helland toast their respective Oscar wins at the Governors Ball following the 84th Academy Awards held at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood on Sunday, February 26, 2012. After thanking husband Don Gummer in her acceptance speech, Streep expressed her joy that her "other partner," makeup artist Helland, had finally won an Academy Award (shared with Mark Coulier). Both Streep and Helland were honored for their work on Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady. (Photo: Darren Decker / © A.M.P.A.S.) Helland has been working Streep since Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice, the movie that earned the veteran actress her first Best Actress Oscar back in early 1983. Among his other movies with Streep are Robert Benton's Still of the Night, Mike Nichols' Silkwood, Ulu Grosbard's Falling in Love, Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, Nichols' Heartburn,...

Pedro Almodóvar made him a star. But then Hollywood beckoned and actor abandoned mentor. Twenty years on, they're back together – and boy does it feel good...

Three decades ago, an impoverished young actor named Antonio Banderas was sitting with friends outside Madrid's National theatre when a curious figure happened by. The new arrival sported a backcombed goth bouffant and brandished a bright red briefcase that could only contain documents of national importance. He ordered a drink, cracked some jokes then turned abruptly towards Banderas. "You have a very romantic face," he said. "You should do movies. Bye-bye!" And with that he was off, swinging his briefcase through the crowds on the Calle del Principe.

Nonplussed, Banderas turned to his friends. "Oh, that's Pedro Almodóvar," they told him. "He made a movie once. But he won't make any more."

Banderas and Almodóvar went on to make five films together. These were wild,...