News

Exclusive: Sarah Jane Morris and Alexis Vazquez have joined the cast of Jorge Xolalpa’s immigration thriller Huehxolotl.

Deadline has learned that they will join Maya Zapata, Elyfer Torres, Katherine Castro and Alexander James Rodriguez in the film, which is billed as a “tense, character-driven legal thriller exploring the emotional, cultural, and systemic battles faced by undocumented immigrants in America.” We revealed news of Xolalpa’s pic in March.

Brothers & Sisters star Morris will play Helen, a district attorney who, while passing by, witnesses an illegal Ice detention attempt targeting lead character Xochitl and her sister Nayeli (Torres) outside their family-owned restaurant. Moved by the injustice, she intervenes, risking her career and personal safety to help the sisters evade an unlawful deportation.

Vazquez will portray Agent Perez, a ruthless, cold and conniving Ice officer at the center of the attempted detainment. His calculated pursuit of Xochitl becomes the catalyst...

Exclusive: Strangelove creator Jorge Xolalpa has signed with Posh Talent Agency for commercial and theatrical representation.

The Mexican-American filmmaker is known as the creator of Prime Video queer Latino comedy-drama series Strangelove, which has been dubbed by critics as “The Latinx Sex and the City” thanks to its sharp wit, unapologetic exploration of love and identity, and on-screen representation.

He’ll next be directing Huehxolotl, an intense immigration thriller that unfolds in the heart of Los Angeles, shedding light on illegal deportations happening across the United States. It stars Maya Zapata, Elyfer Torres, Katherine Castro and Alexander James Rodriguez, and follows an undocumented Mexican woman and restaurant owner whose asylum petition is denied, leaving her with just 30 days to self-deport.

Pic is currently in pre-production and slated to begin filming in the summer 2025. Xolalpa and Alfredo Widman at Mighty Aphrodite Pictures are producing with finance from Nyta Film Group, as we revealed in March.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Joe Kim

Barry Lyndon by Alex Rodríguez

A Clockwork Orange by Adam Rabalais

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb by Fabled Creative

Eyes Wide Shut...

Natalie Portman has spoken in detail about the impact of being sexualized as a young performer, describing her early years in the film industry as defined by what she called a “long Lolita phase.” Speaking with Jenna Ortega in a feature for Interview magazine, Portman reflected on the image projected onto her following her debut in Léon: The Professional, filmed when she was just 12.

“There’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am,” Portman said. “I’ve talked about it a little before — about how, as a kid, I was really sexualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen. I felt very scared by it. Obviously sexuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me.”

She described building a persona to protect herself from attention she didn’t want.

Natalie Portman Hollywood Survival (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Natalie Portman has pulled back the curtain on the intense reality of growing up under Hollywood’s spotlight and how she built armor to survive it.

The 43-year-old was already navigating a world where youth and innocence were paradoxically entangled with adult perceptions of sexuality when she first stepped onto a film set at just 12, starring in the R-rated Léon: The Professional. And as she reflects now, decades later and with an Oscar to her name, it wasn’t just acting she had to learn, it was self-preservation.

Jenna Ortega and the Bond Between Former Child Stars

In a recent conversation with Jenna Ortega for Interview magazine, Portman explored that early tension.

“I think there’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am. I’ve talked about it a little before — about how, as a kid, I was really sexualized,...

After making her onscreen debut at 11, Natalie Portman quickly learned to separate herself from her public image.

The Oscar winner recently opened up about being subjected to “a long Lolita phase” when she was “really sexualized” as a child actor, making her debut performance in Luc Besson’s Léon: The Professional.

“I think there’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am,” she told Jenna Ortega for Interview. “I’ve talked about it a little before—about how, as a kid, I was really sexualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen. I felt very scared by it. Obviously sexuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me. And I felt like my way of protecting myself was to be like, ‘I’m so serious. I’m so studious.

Stanley Kubrick has often been accused of being a cold, mannered filmmaker. His celebrated cinematic mastery and notorious perfectionism have resulted in beautifully composed but emotionally distant movies, with protagonists who aren't so much people as puppets in Kubrick's psychological dramas. 

These are fair criticisms, but one should immediately note that they are usually only applied to Kubrick's later movies. Kubrick's signature "coldness" -- marked by long shots, long takes, and slower editing -- didn't really begin until he made "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 1968, and that film wasn't so much about a single character as it was about the whole of humanity. Others familiar with his work on "The Shining" have noted how strangely inhuman all the characters feel. Prior to 1968, however, Kubrick was a wholly personable (if not a cynical) filmmaker, and his early films -- including "Fear and Desire," "Killer's Kiss," "The Killing," "Paths of Glory,...

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London’s Metropolitan Police have charged comedian Russell Brand with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault.

The charges come on the heels of an investigation that began in 2023, when five women accused Brand of varying acts of sexual misconduct.

Brand is scheduled to appear in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 2.

Russell Brand poses for photographs as he arrives to deliver The Reading Agency Lecture at The Institute of Education on November 25, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images) Charges against Brand follow 18-month investigation

News of the charges comes courtesy of a statement from Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy.

“The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers,” Furphy said in a statement issued on Friday.

“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information,...

Clive Revill, the New Zealand native who after being recruited to be an actor by Laurence Olivier starred on Broadway, appeared in two films for Billy Wilder and provided the original voice of the evil Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back, has died. He was 94.

Revill died March 11 at a care facility in Sherman Oaks after a battle with dementia, his daughter, Kate Revill, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The extremely versatile Revill played cops in Otto Preminger’s Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), starring Olivier, and Jack Smight’s Kaleidoscope (1966), starring Warren Beatty; not one but two characters (a Scotsman and an Arab) in Joseph Losey’s Modesty Blaise (1966); and a physicist investigating strange goings-on at a haunted mansion in John Hough’s The Legend of Hell House (1973), starring Roddy McDowall.

A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Revill also appeared seven times on Broadway and received Tony nominations for...

Quick LinksWhat is The Last of Sheila About?Sondheim and Perkins' Script Adds Layers to the Typical WhodunitThe Last of Sheila is An Absolute Must-Watch For Whodunit Fans

Whodunits have been a popular mystery subgenre for decades. From Clue to Knives Out, audiences love to follow the clues and find a killer for themselves. The Last of Sheila, produced and directed by Herbert Ross, is a '70s-era gem that unfortunately has been sorely underrated. The movie has all the makings of a classic whodunit, but one of the most interesting parts of the film is that it was co-written by one of cinema's greatest killers.

The Last of Sheila features Sheila (Yvonne Romain) and her husband, Clinton Greene (James Coburn) who are causing a scene at a party. Sheila leaves and a car pulls out of nowhere, ripping down the road. Sheila is killed, and the driver takes a...

By the time Stanley Kubrick came to make "The Shining" in the late '70s, he was firmly ensconced in England. The Bronx native had moved to Britain in the early '60s to shoot "Lolita" at the famed Elstree studios. After that, he stayed. Not only did he stay, but in order to make all the cinematic classics for which we now know him, he made everyone else come to him. Before he designed the industrial nightmare Gotham for Tim Burton's "Batman," for example, production designer Anton Furst was tasked with creating Vietnam in North London for Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." This continued right up until the director's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," which took Kubrick's exhausting methods to new extremes by requiring entire New York City blocks to be recreated on the backlot of England's Pinewood Studios — all because Kubrick refused to actually shoot on location.

This Day That Year: Subhash K Jha revisits Nishabd 18 years later and shares a throwback interview with Mr Amitabh Bachchan about the film.

Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd, with its pulsating but humane play of light and shade within the sprawling, gorgeous greenery of a tea estate, is the closest you’re going to come to the passion of a Renaissance painting in Hindi cinema.

Varma’s mastery over visuals, which tells a tale of reclamation and retribution, has never been in doubt. The qualities that have always made his cinema look unique have been applied to a theme that has so far remained forbidden to Varma’s range of vision.

In narrating a 60-year-old ‘happily’ married man’s sudden passion for his daughter’s 18-year-old friend, Ramu goes for the jugular. The luminous language of Nishabd makes you grope for new words to describe the experience of watching a...

The tragic death of Jiah Khan ended her promising career even before it began. I remember Jiah’s excitement on working with the mighty Amitabh Bachchan in Nishabd Ram Gopal Version take on the Lolita theme.

She called up to tell me Mr Bachchan “smelled so nice” , the perfume he wore apparently made her swoon. “Every man should smell as nice as Mr Bachchan especially if you intend to get intimate with a woman, on or off camera,” she declared to my embarrassment, with all the wisdom of an 18-year old. We laugh about her comments on how good Mr Bachchan smells.

Jiah explains, “If a man smells good he’s a good man. Mr Bachchan thought I was stalking him. He was progressively uncomfortable with the fact that I could identify his perfumes each time. You see when I was 16 I worked at a perfume counter. I think I...

Ben Affleck’s Hollywood career is a fascinating case study in terms of its erratic rise and fall over nearly 3 decades. Since his Oscar-winning debut in Good Will Hunting, Affleck has been a golden property for the industry despite his intermittent stretches of bad moviemaking choices mingling with the good.

Ben Affleck in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) [Credit: Warner Bros.]

The success of Good Will Hunting and Chasing Amy was followed by a drastic downfall due to Gigli and Daredevil. This, in turn, was once again turned into a success with Gone Baby Gone, Argo, The Town, and Gone Girl before Affleck’s career fell into a rut with Batman v Superman and Live by Night.

However, the 2010 film, The Town almost turned one of Affleck’s stretches of success into a bad call for all the actors involved.

Ben Affleck’s The Town was almost an erotic thriller...

Brides producer Marica Stocchi and Samantha Taylor of the UK’s Film & Music Entertainment are among 17 independent producers selected for the sixth edition of Ace Animation Special, the animation business programme of European network Ace Producers.

The 17 producers will take part in the workshop from March 18-23 in Dingle, Ireland, in collaboration with the Animation Dingle festival.

Scroll down for the full list of producers

Producers will participate with animated features and series projects in early development, with the workshop designed to provide knowledge of how to diversify business for an international audience.

Sessions in the workshop will include animatic story development,...

Brides producer Marica Stocchi and Samantha Taylor of the UK’s Film & Music Entertainment are among 18 independent producers selected for the sixth edition of Ace Animation Special, the animation business programme of European network Ace Producers.

The 18 producers will take part in the workshop from March 18-23 in Dingle, Ireland, in collaboration with the Animation Dingle festival.

Scroll down for the full list of producers

Producers will participate with animated features and series projects in early development, with the workshop designed to provide knowledge of how to diversify business for an international audience.

Sessions in the workshop will include animatic story development,...

In “Sorry, Baby,” the defining moment of Agnes’ adult life happens off-camera, but it haunts nearly every other scene in the movie. A standout of the U.S. dramatic competition at Sundance, Eva Victor’s disarmingly funny, slow-to-unfold debut is less a film about sexual assault than it is a serious look at the process of rebuilding after such an experience. Sympathy merges with satire, and acceptance leads to questions (rather than the other way around), as Victor herself embodies a bright young woman who probably thought of herself as a dozen things — witty, independent, a sure-to-inspire future professor — but now must add “survivor” to that list.

A tall, willowy 20-something, Agnes is a brilliant literary mind who must rewrite everything, including her understanding of the word “brilliant,” after the professor (Louis Cancelmi) who’d freely offered such compliments makes a pass at her. “Do you think that’s why...

Everyone in the anime community hails Hayao Miyazaki as the one director who writes women well. The female protagonists of Studio Ghibli films are role models for anime fans who are longing for great representation without any s*xualization.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was one of Miyazaki’s earliest films directed and written by him. Even the original manga was all his brilliant mind. The titular protagonist of the film is one of his most beloved too.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. [Credit: Toei Company]

The portrayal of Nausicaä isn’t black and white, she’s incredibly complex and seeks understanding rather than violence, despite living in a dangerous world. She values all living beings and her sense of adventure attracts the audience.

On the subject of Nausicaä’s appearance, Hayao Miyazaki talked about the distaste he has for the way Japanese...

By the end of his career, Stanley Kubrick was firmly ensconced in his Hertfordshire home, to the extent that he refused to leave England for anything — even shooting a movie. The director had moved to England back in 1961 to shoot "Lolita" at Elstree studios, and basically stayed put thereafter, eventually buying the now famous Childickbury Manor in 1978 and remaining there until his death in 1999.

The legendary filmmaker's decision to remain in England was at least partly motivated by his distaste for Hollywood studios, and his desire to create without interference. Which is all well and good, and the films that came out during the director's post-u.S. era speak for themselves. But it sometimes made for some frankly absurd scenarios, such as when his final movie, "Eyes Wide Shut," took Kubrick's exhausting methods to a new level. To be specific, Kubrick set out to make a movie that saw...

Stanley Kubrick was a prolific director over the course of his career. He made his directorial debut in 1952 with the war drama Fear and Desire. This film was just over one hour, but eight years later, the scale of Kubrick's productions increased significantly when he helmed Spartacus, an over-three-hour historical epic. From there, the '60s saw a stream of iconic films from Kubrick, including Lolita, Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The rate at which Kubrick made films slowed down over time, but he kept making movies until his death. His last project was Eyes Wide Shut, an erotic thriller in 1999. Like many of his works, the film had a long runtime, spanning over 2.5 hours. The movie was notoriously divisive, in part due to its graphic sexual nature. Now, one of Kubrick's films has been made...

The director, Eran Riklis, adapts Azar Nafisi’s biography for Reading Lolita in Tehran, illuminating her experiences as a literature professor in Iran after the revolution. As the narrative progresses, teaching Western classics becomes a quiet act of rebellion in a society struggling with authoritarian rules. Golshifteh Farahani’s Nafisi invites female students to engage with texts questioning their oppressive reality by turning her living room into a secret classroom.

The political background is very important. Women’s rights were seriously limited after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, making Nafisi’s struggle to teach books like “The Great Gatsby” a question of survival—an exploration of identity in a repressive regime.

The film’s release still has a lot of meaning today, especially after the sad death of Mahsa Amini, which has brought up issues of women’s rights in Iran again. Nafisi taking off her headscarf in front of the...

In the literary and movie worlds, the protagonist is usually an inherently heroic character. The story revolves around them as they save the day, make things better for others, or generally do the right thing. But, sometimes, the main character does the opposite, making them unequivocally villainous. That said, villain protagonists may have redeeming features and even win the audience’s sympathy. Even when they’re the main characters, villains are simply not good people and their character arcs exist to serve the popular Hero’s Journey archetype.

Blending the two character types is perhaps antithetical to the Hero’s Journey. But, the trope is widespread and has existed forever, with notable examples like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Humber Humbert in Nabokov’s Lolita. They’re characters who aren’t meant to be empathized with or idolized. But, not all villainous protagonists are the same, and a few have gone down in cinematic history.

Exclusive: The Palm Springs Film Festival has booked its 2025 “Books to Screen” schedule.

The event will host January Q&As with Conclave director Edward Berger, Nickel Boys helmer RaMell Ross, Queer screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes and Reading Lolita in Tehran director Eran Riklis, author Azar Naifisi and screenwriter Marjorie David.

The 36th annual festival runs January 2-13 in the desert city east of Los Angeles.

Here are details on the fest’s “Books to Screen” lineup, with Deadline writers moderating the panels:

Conclave with director Edward Berger

10 a.m. Saturday, January 4

Following the death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with overseeing the election of a new one. As the Catholic Church’s most powerful men gather on his watch, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets that could shake the foundations of the Church.

Related: ‘Wicked’s Ariana Grande Set For...

As Spanish film festivals go, few have demonstrated the mainstream clout and drawing power of this year’s Seville European Film Festival (Seff), which boasts one of its most audience-friendly lineups of stars and films to date.

Sevilla aims to bring the best in European cinematographic culture to the south of Spain for dialogues between new artists and recognized figures from the industry while also dedicating space to new media for cinematographic expression. Always a haven for independent and arthouse fare, the festival has broadened its program in recent years to include more mainstream titles and A-list guests. It’s an intentional trend that the festival’s team hopes to continue nurturing in future editions.

This year’s Official Selection jury features two European cinema legends, producer David Puttnam and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons.

Irons is the more recognizable of the two, given his on-screen work in films such as...

Bound In Heaven, the feature debut of director Huo Xin, won the top prize at the 2024 Rome Film Festival, with the awards unveiled at the Auditorium Parco della Musica on October 26.

The domestic abuse drama won best film in the Progressive Cinema Competition, the festival’s competitive strand, and also shared the best first feature award ex aequo with Edgardo Pistone’s Ciao Bambino.

Bound In Heaven premiered at Toronto, and features a starry cast including Ni Ni, Zhou You and Liao Fan. Director Huo is a veteran scriptwriter whose credits include Shower, Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower and The Monkey King.

Across “Lemon Tree,” “The Syrian Bride” and “Shelter,” Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis has built a sturdy body of work, telling defiant stories of Middle Eastern women from different walks of life. With “Reading Lolita in Tehran” — a moving adaptation of Iranian-American author and professor Azar Nafisi’s memoir — he adds an understated, yet generally absorbing and similarly minded entry to his oeuvre, warmly transposing Nafisi’s experience in the post-revolution Iran onto the screen with sensitivity.

Unfolding in episodic segments and significant jumps in time that sometimes feel too abrupt, the screenplay by Marjorie David follows Nafisi (an expressive Golshifteh Farahani) across a 24-year period, after the young academic holding a fresh American degree settles in Tehran with her husband Bijan (Arash Marandi) in 1979, on the heels of the country’s Islamic Revolution. A title card at the start contextualizes the couple’s return to their homeland. Historically, it was...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected 10 world premieres for its Critics’ Picks section, including titles from Italy, Bhutan and Kazakhstan.

Three of the features hail from Italy, including Vincenzo Alfieri’s crime thriller The Body, in which an inspector begins to question whether the businesswoman whose death he is investigating is really dead.

Scroll down for the full list of Tallinn Critics’ Picks titles

Starring Claudia Gerini and Giuseppe Battiston, it is produced by Roberto Proia with Columbia Pictures Industries handling world sales.

The section will open with Paolo Marinou-Blanco’s Dreaming Of Lions, which was previously presented...

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) has unveiled the documentary and international film longlists for its 2024 ceremony, with films including in-videogame title Grand Theft Hamlet and Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora.

Grand Theft Hamlet is on the 12-strong best feature documentary list. The film is the debut feature from directorial duo Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane; it premiered at SXSW this year and was recently acquired for a UK-Ireland theatrical release. It follows two struggling actors who find solace from lockdown isolation by staging William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the online Grand Theft Auto game.

Scroll down...

Protestors from animal rights group PETA disrupted the closing night of the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff) causing a brief delay to the European premiere of Morgan Neville’s Pharrell Williams film Piece By Piece.

Prior to the screening, while festival director Kristy Matheson was asking questions to Neville and Williams, two men draped a barrier over the balcony at the Royal Festival Hall and began shouting about animal rights, including directly towards Williams. The full video of the protest, with responses from Matheson and Williams, is available below.

Watch: Protests disrupted the @BFI London Film Festival closing night...

Nicole Kidman is known for taking on different roles throughout her decorated career but her ability to portray characters in drama films has been otherworldly. Back in 1999, Kidman starred in a movie called Eyes Wide Shut, a project that is considered bold in the era it was released.

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut | Credits: Warner Bros.

This project was unfortunately the last of Stanley Kubrick’s work in the movie industry as he tragically died months before its release. However, Eyes Wide Shut could be considered one of Stanley’s best creations. And as a director, the legend paid great attention to detail which also contributed to the success of his films.

This attitude that Kubrick carried was probably what led him to cast Kidman alongside her ex-husband, Tom Cruise. It turns out Kubrick not only paid close attention to his stories but also to the...

Paola Malanga is the artistic director of the Rome Film Festival which kicks off tomorrow (October 16) with the world premiere of Andrea Segre’s political drama The Great Ambition.

It is Malanga’s third edition at the helm of the festival, having joined in 2022 from Rai Cinema where she was deputy director of its product division spanning production and acquisition. She has also been a journalist, film critic and author throughout her career.

Among the world premieres in Rome’s main Progressive Cinema competition are dark comedy The Trainer by American History X director Tony Kaye and Eran Ricklis’ Reading Lolita In Tehran.

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Museum of Modern Art

As the career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective continues, a Samuel L. Jackson series includes Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Jungle Fever on 35mm.

Bam

A Duras-Akerman double bill plays Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

NYFF Revivals continues with films by Robert Bresson, Raymond Depardon, and Clive Barker, Compensation, and more.

Film Forum

A George Stevens retrospective begins; restorations of The Devil, Probably and Lancelot du lac continue; Shane screens on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

“Kill Yr Landlords” includes work by John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, and Nikos Papatakis; films by Dovzhenko and Dreyer play in “Essential Cinema.”

Roxy Cinema

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut plays Friday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A Frank Oz retrospective begins; Burden of Dreams and Fitzcarraldo both screen.

Metrograph

Pulp Fiction, There Will Be Blood, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Lolita, and...

In 1967, The Dirty Dozen fought their way into the hearts and minds of moviegoers in the classic war movie of the same name. Directed by Robert Aldrich, "The Dirty Dozen" told the (partly true) story of a dozen convicts ordered to fight for the U.S. in a secret, super-dangerous World War II mission. Among them: mobster Victor Franko (John Cassavettes), former coal miner Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson), and Vernon Pinkley, played by Donald Sutherland in the role that landed him the "M*A*S*H" movie.

Character actor Lee Marvin played the general who put the ragtag team together, while Ernest Borgnine played his boss, who asked him to assemble the suicide mission that made the movie famous. All of these great actors are gone now, along with 10 of the 12 castmates who played the original "dozen." The two actors who are still with us, Stuart Cooper and Colin Maitland,...

My World Of Flops is Nathan Rabin’s survey of books, television shows, musical releases, or other forms of entertainment that were financial flops, critical failures, or lack a substantial cult following.In a 2022 interview with Vulture, Golden Raspberries co-founder Maureen Murphy addressed one of the odious organization’s most...

Quick Links Plot and Cast of Winchester '73 Winchester '73 Saw Jimmy Stewart In a Surprising Role Critical Praise for Anthony Mann's Winchester '73 Should You Watch Winchester '73?

Anthony Mann would cement himself in the annals of film history by helping to reinvent the Western genre with Winchester '73. However, for audiences at the time, the landmark movie also had another surprise that many did not see coming, with the beloved actor, James Stewart, known for his wholesome comedic and dramatic roles, stepping into the boots of skilled marksmen in a mature Western.

We will examine Winchester '73's legacy, including how it helped revitalize the career of one of America's most beloved actors. We will also outline how the Western film noir remains notable decades after its release and why you should watch it.

Plot and Cast of Winchester '73

Lin McAdam and Frankie Wilson end up in Dodge City,...

Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of “The Morning Show.”

In the Apple TV+ drama’s upcoming fourth season, he will play Martin Levy, the father of Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston).

Irons first rose to prominence in 1981, when he starred opposite Meryl Streep in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” in the roles of Charles Henry Smithson and Mike. Also among his long list of credits is “Moonlighting” (1982), “The Mission,” “Dead Ringers” (1988), “Reversal of Fortune” (1990), “Lolita” (1997), “Margin Call” (2011), “The Borgias” (2011-2013) and “Watchmen” (2019). In 1994, he voiced Scar in “The Lion King,” and from 2016 to 2023, he played Alfred Pennyworth in four DC Extended Universe films.

Throughout his career, Irons has won an Oscar, two Golden Globes, three Emmys, a SAG Award and a Tony. He is repped by CAA.

“The Morning Show” follows the major players of a morning news show and the network that airs it during major political, financial and personnel scandals.

Plenty of big-name actors were considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No. Sean Connery was ultimately chosen for the role, and the franchise became a global phenomenon. The actors who were considered for the role could have brought unique interpretations to the iconic character, but various factors led to their exclusion or refusal to participate.

Sean Connery is still considered by many fans to be the ultimate James Bond, but producers considered plenty of other candidates for Dr. No. Connery struck the perfect chord as 007, bringing Ian Fleming's secret agent to life with charm, wit and a hint of danger. He was a tough act to follow, and he was coerced into returning to the franchise for one last ride after George Lazenby failed to live up to his portrayal in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Connery was key to establishing one of cinema's longest-running franchises,...

The legendary Jeremy Irons recently took the stage at the Hollywood Bowl to perform the beloved "Be Prepared" song from The Lion King to mark the iconic Disney animated movie's 30th Anniversary. The now 75-year-old veteran actor voiced the film's primary antagonist, Scar.

DiscussingFilm shared a clip of Irons singing the iconic song on its X (formerly known as Twitter) account. The Lion King actor heartily belts out the song on the colorful stage with all the energy of a world-class singer in his prime. "Be Prepared" is performed as a musical number in The Lion King by Irons' Scar, who desires to be the king of the Pride Lands by killing his brother Mufasa and his nephew Simba. The lion motivates an army of nefarious hyenas with the classic song to enlist their help in achieving his treacherous end. Elton John and Tim Rice wrote the song Irons performed alongside Jim Cummings,...

Martin Freeman defends controversial film scenes, believing critics are missing the point of the nuanced tale. The intimacy coordinator ensured comfort during racy scenes between Freeman and Jenna Ortega on the set of Miller's Girl. Despite mixed reviews, Miller's Girl finds new life on the Netflix chart.

Martin Freeman has addressed online unease over his intimate scenes with Jenna Ortega in the erotic thriller Millers Girl, as the movie leaps up the Netflix chart. The film caused a lot of noise when it was released in theaters in January, mainly over the storys focus on the relationship between Freemans teacher and his much younger student. Now the film is finding a second wind on Netflix, the grumbles have started again, but Freeman believes those complaining are not getting the point.

In real-life, Freeman is over three decades older than 21-year-old Wednesday star Ortega. This has been enough to cause a...

DC’s animated shows have garnered widespread acclaim, captivating audiences with their diverse narratives and exceptional performances from the cast. Much of the credit for assembling such an outstanding ensemble, including luminaries like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, goes to Andrea Romano the legendary voice director renowned for her uncanny ability to match actors with their animated counterparts.

Batman: The Animated Series | Warner Bros.

When asked about her ability to consistently select the ideal actors for each role, Romano revealed her preference for actors with stage experience when casting for animation projects, asserting that they possess a unique potential to excel in voice acting.

Andrea Romano Revealed Her Casting Secrets For Dcau

In a conversation with Bleeding Cool, Andrea Romano opened up about the casting process for the animated shows, sharing that she looked for actors with genuine talent and the ones who were willing to take risks to push boundaries.

Ever since his high school golf teammates realized he couldn’t hit a straight tee shot, Carter (David Krumholtz) has been saddled with a nickname that doesn’t allow much room for charitable interpretations. His days of athletic mediocrity are now far behind him, but the “Lousy Carter” moniker has followed him throughout his adult life — and frankly, it’s hard to argue he doesn’t deserve it. The question of whether his high school bullies were abnormally clairvoyant or he simply lived down to their insults is a chicken-and-egg dilemma, but the middle-aged iteration of Carter that we meet in Bob Byington’s latest film is an undeniably lousy man.

The literature professor has spent the bulk of his adult life coasting on the glimmer of promise that he showed as an animator when he released his first film 13 years ago. He parlayed those 15 seconds of fame into a...

Initially inspired by an all too common misreading of the classic novel Lolita in her younger years, filmmaker Victoria Singh-Thompson – last featured on Directors Notes with her caught between cultures coming-of-age drama Don’t Forget To Go Home – wanted to depict the complex layers of trauma and how it affects the way we see the world. The resulting film 14 in February is a fragmented and haunting look at the world through the eyes of a young hard-of-hearing schoolgirl who isn’t yet able to process the experiences she has undergone and dissociates from her memories. The immersive and quietly shocking short is as visually still as it is emotionally frantic, with a focused lens pulling us into its young protagonist’s point of view, accented with purposeful jarring sounds which as a package, disturb and succeed in creating the unease that Singh-Thompson wanted. Making a welcome return to Dn’s pages,...

Eric Roberts Joins ‘Lolita’

Exclusive: Oscar nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train) has joined Johnny Ortiz (Peppermint) and Alexis Vazquez in feature drama Lolita from director Jorge Xolalpa. Filming is currently underway on the Mighty Aphrodite Pictures movie. The plot centers on Jesus (Vazquez), a man who after being released from jail tries to get custody of his daughter. Roberts will portray jaded police officer Jones who grows to care for Jesus’ wellbeing. Pic is being produced by Xolalpa at Mighty Aphrodite Pictures and Alfredo Widman. Roberts, whose recent credits include Damien Chazelle’s Babylon for Paramount Pictures, is repped by Sovereign Talent Group and Scott Carlson Entertainment.

Banijay Benelux Bolsters Nl Film Management Team

Banijay Benelux has promoted Dennis Cornelisse to the role of Managing Director and appointed Wynand Chocolaad as Head of Productions at Nl Film with immediate effect. Cornelisse, who previously served as producer at Nl Film, is replacing Alex Doff,...

Peter Sellers was a comedic genius who could steal scenes and make audiences laugh in both minor and leading roles. He had an impressive range as an actor, being able to play both the straight man and the funny man in comedies, and his versatility was showcased in movies like "The Mouse That Roared" and "Lolita." While some of his movies have aged poorly and faced controversies, Sellers' comedic talent and his best movies, like "The Pink Panther" and "Dr. Strangelove," continue to be just as funny now as they were decades ago.

Peter Sellers is one of the greatest comedic actors in the history of cinema, and his legacy includes some unforgettably hilarious movies. His most famous character is the clueless French detective Jacques Clouseau, who appeared in the Pink Panther series of movies, but he had plenty of other great roles in his career. Sellers had the ability to steal scenes in minor,...

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), V For Vendetta (Warner Bros. Pictures), Jackie (Fox Searchlight), May December (Netflix)Graphic: The A.V. Club

From indie comedies to sci-fi box office juggernauts and seemingly every genre in between, Natalie Portman’s career is staggeringly expansive. With more than 30-plus years in the industry (and...

Suzanne Shepherd, an actress known for playing mothers to key characters in Goodfellas and The Sopranos, has died. She was 89.

Shepherd died peacefully in her home in New York City early Friday morning, her agent told The Hollywood Reporter.

Shepherd appeared in 20 episodes of The Sopranos as Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Edie Falco’s Carmela Soprano, and played the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s Karen Hill in Goodfellas.

Sopranos actor Ray Abruzzo remembered Shepherd on Instagram, calling her “a force of nature.”

Her other credits include roles in movies like Mystic Pizza, Uncle Buck, Lolita, Requiem for a Dream, Living Out Loud and Working Girl and guest appearances in TV shows like Ed, Blue Bloods, Law & Order and Third Watch.

Shepherd’s last onscreen role was in 2023’s The Performance as Tess.

Born Oct. 31, 1934, Shepherd graduated from Bennington College and studied with Larry Arrick, Herbert Berghoff and Sanford Meisner...

Suzanne Shepherd, best known for her roles in The Sopranos and Goodfellas, has died. She was 89.

The actress passed away Friday morning in her New York City home, her agent confirmed to our sister site Variety.

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Shepherd played Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Edie Falco’s Carmela Soprano, on the HBO crime drama The Sopranos between 2000 and 2007. Ray Abruzzo,...

Suzanne Shepherd, an actor known for her roles in “The Sopranos” and “Goodfellas,” died Friday morning in her home in New York City, her agent confirmed to Variety. She was 89.

Shepherd portrayed Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), in HBO’s crime drama series “The Sopranos,” as well as the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s character Karen Hill in 1990’s “Goodfellas.” She also had roles in “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990), “Trees Lounge” (1996), “Lolita” (1997), “American Cuisine” (1998), “Living Out Loud” (1998), “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “A Dirty Shame” (2004), “Harold” (2008), “The Week Of” (2018) and “The Performance” (2023), among other films.

Shepherd was born on Oct. 31, 1934. She made her acting debut in the 1988 romcom “Mystic Pizza,” starring Julia Roberts, and appeared in such films as “Working Girl,” “Uncle Buck” and “Second Sight” before working on Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

On the television side, she guest-starred in “Law & Order,” “Third Watch,” “Ed,” “Blue Bloods,” “Deadline,...

Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic "The Birds" is a staple of Hollywood cinema, and it had to age a bit to earn its spot in the canon. The film only earned one Oscar nomination for special effects, but it is easily one of the most well-remembered works in the accomplished director's oeuvre. Almost half a century has passed since the film's release and many of its main actors are no longer with us. Most of them went on to have storied careers, some of them were already established figures of the entertainment industry, but unfortunately only two of them are still alive today.

Her character Melanie barely survives "The Birds," but Tippi Hedren is one of two stars in the film that has lived to see the 2020s. Hedren worked with Hitchcock again on his thriller "Marnie," but did not have much of a career afterwards. She did go on to...

When 24-year-old Zoe Jackson scrolls her for-you-page, there are books all the way down. As a BookTok creator, Jackson spends much of her time on TikTok watching videos and recommendations surrounding the best books out there, from newly published novels to classic tomes. But while the average reader might stop scrolling when they recognize a book cover from high school English or a college course — like Catcher In The Rye, The Brothers Karamazov, or Infinite Jest, Jackson usually keeps it moving in an effort to avoid one of BookTok’s biggest icks: bro-lit.