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Once again, Adrien Brody is earning attention from both audiences and critics with a great performance in The Brutalist. The film depicts the journey of a Holocaust survivor who comes to America and has brought much acclaim to Brody, including the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and his second Oscar nomination.

Few actors can match the intensity and the serious commitment to their art that Brody has. From his performance in The Pianist through his recent one in The Brutalist, Brody has always been challenging himself with complex characters that show his amazing range.

Adrien Brody | via Adrien Brody’s Instagram

However, it is not just awards and nominations that have attracted Brody’s admirers. Fans love to know the background and how much such award-winning actors earn. So, let’s take a look at Adrien Brody’s net worth in 2025.

Adrien Brody...

John Leguizamo is the latest star to join the cast of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” He will appear alongside previously announced cast members Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie and Jon Bernthal.

Universal shared last month that the film “is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time.”

Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem “The Odyssey” remains one of the oldest pieces of literature still read by modern audiences. It chronicles the story of Greek hero Odysseus during his tumultuous journey home following the Trojan War.

“The Odyssey” is due in theaters on July 17, 2026. Nolan is set to write and will produce with Emma Thomas under their Syncopy banner.

As Variety exclusively reported this week, the film will be partly filmed in Sicily,...

Adrien Brody has opened up about how deeply his role in The Pianist affected him, both physically and emotionally. To play Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film, the Oscar-winning actor went to extreme lengths to make his performance as real as possible.

Brody followed a strict diet, losing 30 pounds and dropping to just 129 pounds. By the time filming began, he was barely drinking water. Since the movie was shot in reverse, he had to start by portraying Szpilman at his weakest.

The transformation wasn’t just about looking the part. “It was necessary for the story,” he said, explaining how the experience gave him a new perspective on hunger and emptiness.

But the process took a serious toll on his health. Brody struggled with insomnia, panic attacks, and believes the role caused him to develop Ptsd. “I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year,...

Adrien Brody has shared how deeply his role in The Pianist affected him, both physically and emotionally. The Oscar-winning actor transformed himself to portray Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film, adopting extreme methods to bring authenticity to his performance.

To prepare for the role, Brody followed a near-starvation diet, losing 30 pounds and dropping to just 129 pounds. He revealed that by the time filming began, he was consuming very little water. The movie was shot in reverse, meaning Brody had to portray Szpilman at his weakest point first.

He explained that the physical transformation wasn’t just about appearance. “It was necessary for the storytelling,” he said, adding that the experience gave him a new understanding of emptiness and hunger.

However, the impact on his health was severe. Brody experienced insomnia, panic attacks, and even believes he developed Ptsd from the experience. “I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year,...

Adrien Brody, the winner of the Academy Award, has opened up about the profound psychological effects of his dramatic physical transformation for his role in The Pianist. In a recent interview with Vulture from New York Magazine, Brody talked about how playing Holocaust victim Władysław Szpilman gave him Ptsd and an eating disorder that lasted for more than a year.

Brody took a strenuous weight-loss program to play Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film. After going on what he called a “near-starvation diet” that included not drinking much water, he lost 30 pounds and was now only 129 pounds.

“That was a physical transformation necessary for storytelling,” Brody told us. He said, though, that the experience was more than physical. “That kind of opened me up, spiritually, to a depth of understanding of emptiness and hunger in a way that I didn’t know, ever.”

Brody won the Academy Award for Best...

Adrien Brody is opening up about the lengths he went to for his Oscar-winning performance in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist.

Brody portrayed Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in the biographical film. For the role, Brody took on a near-starvation diet and lost 30 lbs., dropping his weight to 129 lbs. The actor was said to be “barely drinking water” when they started filming the movie, which was shot in reverse, showing Szpilman at his most depleted.

“That was a physical transformation that was necessary for storytelling,” Brody told New York Magazine’s Vulture. “But then that kind of opened me up, spiritually, to a depth of understanding of emptiness and hunger in a way that I didn’t know, ever.”

His transformation for the role left lasting effects like insomnia and panic attacks, agreeing that he suffered from Ptsd from the whole experience.

“I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year.

Adrian Brody said in a new interview with New York Magazine that he has Ptsd from starring in Roman Polanski’s 2002 biographical drama “The Pianist,” which won him the Oscar for best actor. Brody stars in the film as Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman. He prepared for the role by putting himself on a near-starvation diet in order to lose 30 pounds and bring his weight to just 129 pounds. Per the magazine, Brody “was barely drinking water by the time they started filming.”

“That was a physical transformation that was necessary for storytelling,” Brody said, looking back. “But then that kind of opened me up, spiritually, to a depth of understanding of emptiness and hunger in a way that I didn’t know, ever.”

When asked if has Ptsd from the experience, Brody answered: “I do, yeah.”

“I definitely had an eating disorder for at least a year,” he added. “And then...

Adrien Brody’s name honestly echoes Hollywood. His road to Oscar glory wasn’t exactly smooth, more like a scenic detour with a few flat tires. Before becoming the youngest-ever Best Actor Academy Award winner at 29, Brody was already grinding hard in Hollywood.

He made his debut as a wide-eyed thirteen-year-old orphan in Home at Last and surprisingly, shared screen time with Tupac Shakur in 1996 crime drama Bullet. By 1998, Brody thought he’d hit the jackpot with Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, only for most of his scenes to be slashed in post-production.

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist (Credits- Universal Pictures)

But he kept hustling through indie flicks like Restaurant and Summer of Sam, even breaking his nose in the name of art, until fate handed him The Pianist in 2002. Roman Polanski’s WWII epic gave Brody the role of a lifetime as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish pianist...

Last month, the directing duo of Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, who worked with the legendary Sam Raimi on episodes of the Raimi-produced anthology series 50 States of Fright and on the thriller Don’t Move, said that they would like to revive Darkman, the superhero action franchise that Raimi started with his 1990 film of the same name. I said at the time that if Schindler and Netto want to make a Darkman movie, they might have to duel Scare Me and Werewolves Within director Josh Ruben over the project, as Ruben is such a Darkman superfan that he even recorded a fan commentary for a Scream Factory 4K and Blu-ray release… and now, Ruben has taken to social media to share his pitch for a Darkman legacy sequel.

Scripted by Sam Raimi with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, and Joshua Goldin, the original Darkman has the following synopsis: When the laboratory of Dr.

Now streaming on Screambox is the festival hit The Wolf Hour, a psychological thriller that takes place during the summer of the Son of Sam murders.

The Ring‘s Naomi Watts stars in the film as June Leigh, “a cultural icon and activist during the 1960s, now fallen from grace and a shell of her former self. An unseen tormentor begins exploiting her weaknesses and she must face her demons at the height of one of the darkest points in New York history: the summer of the Son of Sam murders.”

From writer-director Alistair Banks Griffin, The Wolf Hour actually filmed in New York with the trailer oozing Hitchcock, especially Rear Window, and promises one helluva tense-filled thriller.

Meredith Borders gave the film a positive review out of the Sundance World Premiere, noting that the “Hitchcockian” thriller is “grimy, tense and menacing.”

Check it out on Screambox.

The post ‘The Wolf Hour...

Everybody knows Andy Samberg as a comedy superstar. But Kate Winslet, Sambergs costar in Lee, seems to have proclaimed the Emmy-nominated SNL and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star a serious dramatic actor. Winslet, an Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy winner, stars as acclaimed American war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller, in the new film. Samberg plays David Scherman, who became one of Millers contemporaries at Vogue magazine. The man who shot the famous photograph of Miller in Adolf Hitlers bathtub in his Munich flat.

Yet another gripping scene in Hitlers apartment finds Samberg reacting to the unimaginable Nazi terror and Holocaust surrounding him and his colleague. Suddenly, we see Winslet embrace Samberg as he sobs in his costar's embrace. In a recent interview with MovieWeb, we asked the actor, whose family is Jewish, what was going through his mind when filming that scene.

Lee (2024)

Release Date September 27, 2024Director Ellen KurasCast Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg,...

Kate Winslet has been stoking the creative fires of Lee for some time. Long before the new biopic about acclaimed American war correspondent and photographer Lee Miller was fully realized, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress contacted Tony Penrose, Lee Miller and Roland Penroses son. She wanted to know why nobody had made a film about his famous mother. Penrose informed her that many people had tried and that there was an entire box of screenplays in the attic of potential movies that never went anywhere. Penrose reportedly told Winslet that the writers just didnt quite get her, referencing his mother.

Winslet did. And by the time director Ellen Kuras became involved, it was clear that the film would be in good hands. Kuras is an award-winning cinematographer, who impressed with her work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Summer of Sam, and The Betrayal. She exhibits creative veracity here,...

Quick Links The Role of Katherine in Sound of Freedom Mira Sorvino on Katherine and Child Trafficking

Actress Mira Sorvino has steadily made her mark in the film industry since the early '90s, appearing in over 20 films, including Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Summer of Sam (1999), The Final Cut (2004), and Netflix's After We Fell (2021). Known for her artistic range and authenticity in her performances, Sorvino has continued to take on significant roles in recent years. This includes Sound of Freedom (2023), a film that follows a former CIA agent named Tim Ballard who decides to go on a mission to rescue children from human traffickers in Latin America.

Katherine Ballard, Tim's wife, is played by Sorvino. Based on the true story of Tim's mission, Katherine provides unwavering support to Tim as he embarks on a dangerous journey. The film is controversial and dramatized, with push back against its alleged ties to QAnon and right-wing ideologies.

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering Summer of Sam was Written by Mike Holtz, Narrated by Tyler Nichols, Edited by Victoria Verduzco, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

These days it’s commonplace for True Crime stories to fill the corners of any entertainment outlet. Whether it’s film, TV, or podcasts. Hell, we probably wouldn’t bat an eye were we standing in a McDonald’s at 9 Am on Easter Sunday and heard the grizzly story of a banker sticking his ex-wife and her chihuahua into a wood chipper coming at us from the TV in the corner. We’re pretty desensitized when it comes to using the tragedies of other human beings as entertainment. I’m not judging you, Peter. I’m just as culpable. But in 1999, when Spike Lee set out to direct a film about serial killer David Berkowitz,...

Winsome Sinclair, a veteran casting professional who worked on scores of films and TV shows — many as casting director — including Malcolm D. Lee’s The Best Man, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, the Gabrielle Union series Being Mary Jane and a dozen Spike Lee movies, died August 12 of colon cancer on Long Island. She was 58.

Her rep Clorissa Wright-Thomas confirmed the news to Deadline, saying Sinclair had been in hospice care and that her family was at her bedside. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Winsome Sinclair, a woman of extraordinary faith and a trailblazer in the film industry,” her family said in a statement (read it in full below). “Winsome’s life was a testament to radical faith, and she lived each day with a heart full of love and gratitude.”

Born on October 27, 1965 in Jamaica, she grew up in New York after...

Winsome Sinclair, a prolific casting director best known for her frequent collaborations with Spike Lee, has died at the age of 58 after a battle with colon cancer. News of her passing was confirmed by producer and publicist Cassandra Butcher in a post on Instagram.

“Winsome Sinclair brought light to everyone she encountered, with a unique ability to see more in people than they could see in themselves,” Butcher wrote on Instagram. “A true fan of life and culture, her passion for the arts and her deep love for family and community will continue to inspire those who know her. Winsome’s legacy in the film industry and the lives she touched will live on, reminding us of her vibrant spirit and the stories she helped bring to life.”

Born in 1966, Sinclair began her career in Hollywood as a casting production assistant on Lee’s 1991 film “Jungle Fever” before rising to...

Winsome Sinclair, the casting director who helped bring in actors for Waiting to Exhale, Amistad, Precious, The Best Man and a dozen films directed by Spike Lee, has died. She was 58.

Sinclair died Monday in hospice care on Long Island after a long battle with colon cancer, publicist Clorissa Wright-Thomas told The Hollywood Reporter. Her family was at her bedside.

The New York native launched the global casting agency Winsome Sinclair and Associates in New York in 1996, then relocated the business to Atlanta in 2014 amid that city’s production boom.

Sinclair also cast extras for the John Singleton-directed features Higher Learning (1995), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Abduction (2011), for the Malcolm D. Lee-helmed The Best Man (1999) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016) and for the Dee Rees-directed Pariah (2011) and Bessie (2015).

She handled similar duties on the Hughes brothers’ Dead Presidents (1995), Forest Whitaker’s Waiting to Exhale (1995), Steven Spielberg’s...

Spike Lee's relationship with New York City, while iconic, is a love-hate bond. The writer-director embodies the "Love and Hate" brass knuckles worn by Radio Raheem in his opus, Do The Right Thing. On one hand, New York is a melting pot of character and culture that has inspired some of the finest works of art in history. On the other hand, the city is cramped, everything is expensive, and the summer heat can drive you to near insanity. Throw in a serial killer running loose on the streets, and you've got yourself a city on the brink of self-destruction. Indeed, there was a moment in history when a mass murderer, David Berkowitz, known in the press as the Son of Sam, terrorized the Bronx during one of the hottest summers on record. Lee captures this manic and paranoid time in Summer of Sam, a film illustrating the harrowing...

MaXXXine, directed by Ti West, incorporates real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez to anchor the film in reality and elevate it beyond horror entertainment. Mia Goth and Elizabeth Debicki hint at multiple threads in the movie unraveling in theaters, keeping tight-lipped about Ramirez's role in the film. Ti West compares MaXXXine to Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, emphasizing that Ramirez plays a significant role in the story in an unexpected way.

The third film in director Ti Wests epic X saga, MaXXXine, is almost upon us, and the cast and crew recently gathered to discuss how and why the film incorporates real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker. Hitting theaters on July 5, 2024, MaXXXine is set in Los Angeles circa 1985 and follows the titular character of Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) as she pursues her dreams of becoming a famous Hollywood star, all while evading the maniacal killer while...

MaXXXine, the sequel to director Ti West‘s films Pearl and X, is swiftly approaching its July 5th theatrical release date, and the marketing materials have revealed the story of the ’80s-set film involves, to some degree, a real-life serial killer: Richard Ramirez, a.k.a. the Night Stalker. The decision to include the Night Stalker in the film hasn’t gone over well with some who have watched the trailers and West – along with cast members Mia Goth and Elizabeth Debicki – addressed the involvement of the Night Stalker in a new interview with Total Film.

Goth said the Night Stalker element anchors the story and “sets out a breadcrumb trail back to reality. It’s not just some big sweeping horror movie that’s purely for entertainment value. It’s rooted in something.”

When asked which characters might cross paths with the Night Stalker, Debicki said, “I won’t give anything away.

Actor John Leguizamo is known for playing Aurelio, the chopshop owner in Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. The actor has a legacy of over thirty years in the industry and has featured in films such as Super Mario Bros., Die Hard 2, Summer of Sam, Ice Age, and more. The actor has also had a prolific career on stage.

Leguizamo recently took out a front-page ad in The New York Times and wrote an open letter to the TV Academy, urging them to consider more non-white actors to be nominated for the Primetime Emmys this year. The awards show honoring the talent in television has been known for its diversity but has recently been accused of whitewashing.

John Wick Star Urges TV Academy To Stop Whitewashing Award Shows A still from John Wick | Credits: Thunder Road Pictures/87Eleven Productions/Mjw Films/DefyNite Films

Tony-award nominated actor John Leguizamo recently took...

Last year, John Leguizamo revealed that he was in talks with Marvel Studios to play the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Though Michael Keaton ultimately signed on to play the character, the Batman actor was reportedly hesitant to commit at first, and Marvel had Leguizamo lined up in case negotiations fell through.

Apparently, Leguizamo was told that the role was his prior to Keaton agreeing to play the part.

“I was supposed to be the Vulture,” Leguizamo said at the time. “We had negotiated and I was about to play him, and they said that Michael Keaton wanted it back and they asked me if I would give it up. I said, ‘Well, okay I guess.’ They said, ‘No, we’ll work with you again, we’re gonna…’ That’s what happened there.”

In a new interview with Business Insider, Leguizamo goes into a little more detail on what went down,...

Mookie and Buggin’-Out back together again. We love to see it. Filmmaker, artist, tastemaker, and thespian Spike Lee has reunited with “School Daze” and “Do The Right Thing” brethren Giancarlo Esposito in a recent spot for Fiat’s new all-electric Fiat 500e. The commercial is entitled “Italy in America” and sees Esposito, whose father hails from Naples, introducing Lee to “la dolce vita”. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter marking the reunion, Lee and Esposito reflected on their friendship and collaborations, their shared appreciation for Italian culture, and various film projects on approach.

“This is a natural fit,” Lee said of working with Esposito on the project after years apart. “When you’re close, especially in this industry, there might be Spike the love, but there are schedules and delays that prevent working together again. But we have a bond. It’s been announced that I’m...

The trailer for Kate Winslet’s biopic about World War II correspondent photographer Lee Miller, Lee, shows Winslet struggling to hold a camera as bombs explode around her. Wearing a soldier’s helmet, she looks shaken and scared as she questions her life choices in voiceover: “Why does it matter? They’re just pictures.” But the emotion on her face and the trauma she subjects herself to for the pictures suggests the film, which opens in theaters on Sept. 27, will present a nuanced portrait of the photographer.

“You think I...

If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.

Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...

John Leguizamo has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple TV+ drama series “Firebug,” Variety has learned. In addition, Kari Skogland has boarded the series as director and executive producer.

Leguizamo joins previously announced cast members Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett in the series. It was originally greenlit in December 2022.

The series is loosely based on true events and also draws from events documented in truth.media’s “Firebug” podcast. The official logline states that the show “will follow a troubled detective and an enigmatic arson investigator (Egerton) as they pursue the trails of two serial arsonists.”

Leguizamo with play Esposito, described as “a former policeman with a lot of bad habits and a lot of good instincts.”

Leguizamo is a highly-versatile performer with a career spanning four decades. He is known for his roles in films like “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” (which earned him a Golden Globe nomination), “Romeo + Juliet,...

Roadside Attractions and Vertical have acquired US rights to the biopic Lee starring Kate Winslet as the celebrated model turned war photographer Lee Miller.

Lee premiered at TIFF 2023 and will open theatrically on September 20.

Ellen Kuras’ feature directorial debut charts the life of the trailblazing former model who went to Paris to become a photographer and eventually made it to the front line in the Second World War to document atrocities, launching her career as a war photographer.

Alexander Skarsgård, Andrea Riseborough, Josh O’Connor, Andy Samberg, and Marion Cotillard round out the key cast.

Kuras served as cinematographer on Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind...

Exclusive: Quiver Distribution announced today that they have acquired North American rights for the family crime drama Fresh Kills written and directed by Jennifer Esposito in her feature film debut. The film stars Esposito, Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Annabella Sciorra. Quiver will release the film in theaters on May 17th.

Fresh Kills brings late 1980s Staten Island to vivid life through the lens of Rose Larusso (Bader), an inquisitive young girl who discovers her father (Lombardozzi) is an emerging mafia kingpin. Rose’s growing desire to break free from the path set before her soon threatens her existence and alienates her from her closest allies: her mother Francine (Esposito), her sister Connie (A’zion), and her aunt Christine (Sciorra).

“Fresh Kills is a brand new take on the classic mob movie” said Quiver Distribution Co-Presidents Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman, who...

The American Society of Cinematographers has done the right thing.

The group said today that Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee will receive its Board of Governors Award next month.

“Spike Lee is one of the most brilliant filmmakers of our time, and the social impact of his work is immeasurable,” ASC President Shelly Johnson said. “This award celebrates his respect for the partnership between director and cinematographer and how two people unite to tell a visual story in a way that can only be recognized as that of collaboration.”

The Brooklyn-raised Lee began his storied career in the 1980s as a writer-director of such films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze and Do the Right Thing, for which he earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination. Many more celebrated films would follow, including Malcolm X, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Clockers, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Girl 6,...

Spike Lee's movies feature many memorable performances from their cast, but some underrated actors often go unnoticed. Lee's films employ New York's finest talent, and his actors completely disappear into their roles. Underrated performances in Lee's work often get overshadowed by the film's lead actors, but they deserve recognition for their exceptional work.

Each of Spike Lee's movies features memorable performances from its cast, yet some underrated actors fail to receive the same level of praise as others. Known primarily for their thought-provoking themes regarding race, class, socio-economics, and Black love, Lee's joints tend to employ a reliable stable of actors to help him realize his vision on the screen. This has resulted in some of the best performances in Spike Lee movies. However, a handful of excellent performances in Lee's work have gone unnoticed throughout the years, often because they were overshadowed by the film's lead actor.

Lee's...

Hello, and welcome to the Scene to Seen Podcast!

I am Valerie Complex Associate editor and film writer at Deadline. On today’s episode, we’re talking to director, writer, producers, and actress Jennifer Esposito, where we talk about her career and her directorial debut Fresh Kills.

With a career spanning over 25 years, Jennifer Esposito is a Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice and Hollywood Foreign Press award recipient. She has appeared in over 60 films and television productions. She’s appeared in Crash by Paul Haggis, Summer of Sam by Spike Lee and Welcome To Collinwood, directed by The Russo Brothers. Her television work includes Spin City, Samantha Who, Blue Bloods, The Affair, The Boys, and Nora From Queens.

Jennifer makes her writing and directing debut with Fresh Kills, in which she also produced and plays a supporting role. She was also the first to incorporate NFTs as a fundraising tool for independent films.

Indie and art film producer Jon Kilik, unlike many, remains hopeful for the personal, mid-budget movie for grown-ups. “Those are the films directors love to make and audiences still love,” says Kilik, being feted this week at Poland’s Camerimage cinematography festival for work of special visual sensitivity.

Having flown in from a shoot in Rome, Kilik confesses he still loves being on set after a career spanning four decades, including work with Spike Lee, Julian Schnabel, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Jim Jarmusch and Oliver Stone.

His latest project filming in Europe, “In the Hand of Dante,” starring Gal Gadot and Oscar Isaac in a metaphorical journey through hell to paradise, is characteristic of Kilik’s lifelong passion for bringing challenging works of literature and art to the screen.

And he’s proven time and again that such films have an audience and are economically viable, he points out, if handled...

Thursday’s episode of Paramount+’s “Frasier” revival saw the return of Dr. Lilith Sternin – the ex-wife of Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and mother of Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) – as the two parents compete for their son’s affection during his birthday.

Showrunner Joe Cristalli (“Life In Pieces”) told TheWrap that “nothing was more enjoyable as a fan to watch” than seeing Grammer and Neuwirth’s characters go toe-to-toe zinging each other again.

“There’s a version of this show where ‘Oh, Lilith and Frasier are a little softer now, they found a nice balance and they’re starting to come around’ and no, that’s not the case,” Cristalli told TheWrap. “They’re still going at each other hard and it’s so fun to write for that. It’s so fun for such a specific voice to come up with these insults and jokes that nobody else can perform except for Kelsey and Bebe.

Jennifer Esposito, who accumulated around 70 credits as an actress in movies and series before making her debut as writer and director of Fresh Kills, has signed with Echo Lake Entertainment. The management company is tasked with helping her forge a new career path. When you have mortgaged your house to make her first film as Esposito did, it stands to reason you would not be happy thinking you got that out of your system, and go back to waiting for the phone to ring with acting jobs.

Echo Lake will work with WME, which reps her for writing and directing, and attorney Chris Tricarico, while Authentic continues to rep her for acting.

When most of us think of the wives of mobsters in the movies, we visualize those frumps who raised the kids and kept up those gaudy homes in Goodfellas. Esposito, who grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island...

Gritty drama premiered at Tribeca Festival.

The Exchange has boarded international sales to Jennifer Esposito’s debut feature Fresh Kills and will launch sales at AFM on the female-driven family story set in the world of organised crime.

The gritty drama, also written by, starring and co-produced by Esposito, premiered at 2023 Tribeca Festival and has had a strong run on the US festival circuit since.

It won the audience award for best narrative feature and an honorary prize for Excellence in Directing a Narrative Film from NY Women in Film & Television at Hamptons International Festival, in addition to the Best...

Before Jane Campion, Kathryn Bigelow, Greta Gerwig, Ava DuVernay or Chloe Zhao, Jennifer Esposito thought about being a director. “I wanted to go to NYU film school. I couldn’t afford it but also back then there were no role models,” the actress-turned-first-time director told me. “No brilliant female directors or filmmakers, or so few it’s embarrassing,” she continued. “So I became an actress.” That decision didn’t hurt her. After debuting on a “Law and Order” she went on to a regular role on “Spin City” and then films like Spike Lee‘s “Summer of Sam” and Oscar-winning Best Picture “Crash.”

SEEExperts slugfest: Is ‘Maestro’ Bradley Cooper’s ticket to Oscar gold?

But a nagging story about growing up around gangster families in Staten Island kept haunting her. So she wrote and directed the mob drama “Fresh Kills” and is bringing it to the 31st Hamptons International Film Festival,...

Celebration of the legendary New York hotel and haven for actors, artists and musicians that spills secrets of squalor, celebrity and death

Earlier this year saw the release of Dreaming Walls, an interesting if meanderingly vague film about New York’s legendary Hotel Chelsea; the place which is actually an apartment building and artist colony, famous for residents and habitués including Andy Warhol, Sid Vicious, Isadora Duncan, Dylan Thomas and Arthur Miller. That rather downbeat film emphasised the efforts of longterm residents to stay in the building after it was bought by new owners who allegedly wanted to sanitise and gentrify it. Here is a second documentary which is far more celebratory, with far more interviewees, far more sexy name-dropping and more uproarious anecdotes, especially about the friendly ghosts who allegedly roam its corridors.

Again, this film pays tribute to the building’s manager Stanley Bard, who cultivated its reputation...

In 1995, brothers Albert and Allen Hughes followed their electrifying directorial debut “Menace II Society” with “Dead Presidents,” an ambitious crime film set in 1970s New York filled with specific political references to illustrate the shameful treatment of Black veterans returning to the U.S. after the Vietnam War. Albert returns to that era as the director of the first and final episodes of Peacock’s “The Continental: From the World of John Wick,” a three-part prequel to the “John Wick” universe set in the titular hotel during the 1970s in New York City. The episodes exhibit Hughes’ usual strengths, from a balletic interaction between blocking, music, and camera movement to a bold, expressive color palette, but “The Continental” is a vastly different take on ’70s NYC than what Hughes learned on “Dead Presidents” — and that’s just the way Hughes likes it.

“The wonderful thing about the ‘John Wick’ films...

The full cast of “Dancing With the Stars” Season 32 was revealed on Wednesday, with Mira Sorvino and Tyson Beckford among those competing for the Mirrorball trophy. They join previously announced celebrity contestants Jamie Lynn Spears and reality TV stars Charity Lawson of “The Bachelorette” and Ariana Madix of “Vanderpump Rules.”

Read on for the entire cast and which professional dancer they’ve been assigned, from Marvel star Xochitl Gomez and dancer Val Chmerkovskiy to Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino and dancer Gleb Savchenko.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Paramount+

Jamie Lynn Spears

The “Zoey 101” star — and younger sister of Britney Spears — will be paired with professional dancer Alan Bersten. She plans to donate her weekly pay to strike relief funds. “While everybody else in my community is on strike, I have this unique opportunity where I was offered a chance to work when my community cannot work,” Spears said on Good Morning America.

There are few actors who command the screen like Kate Winslet, and with Ellen Kuras’ Lee, the thespian has one of her sturdiest roles in years. As tenacious, groundbreaking American war photographer Lee Miller, Winslet appears in nearly every scene, dominates nearly every conversation, and says more with an arched eyebrow than many actors can say across pages upon pages of dialogue. Winslet’s work here is every bit as strong as the performances she gave in films like Sense and Sensibility, Revolutionary Road, Little Children, and The Reader. There’s argument to be made that Lee features her finest turn.

What of the film itself? The photography of Lee Miller may have been bold and brilliant, but Ellen Kuras’ Lee isn’t. It’s a fine film, an involving one, and Kuras is best-known as cinematographer for a stellar list of films––Swoon, I Shot Andy Warhol, Summer of Sam,...

Michael Imperioli met a witch to get the film 'Summer of Sam' made.'The Sopranos' star was living at the notoriously haunted Chelsea Hotel in New York City and explained how he took supernatural steps to get the 1999 crime thriller – which he co-wrote with director Spike Lee and Victor Colicchio – through development.Speaking in the documentary 'Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel', Michael said: "I had just begun writing 'Summer of Sam' with Victor Colicchio – we wrote that script together."I really wanted to get it made. So I met somebody who was living here who was a witch, who said he could help me get it made, but it wasn't going to happen the way I thought it would. I was very ambitious at the time and wanted to get that made, so (I) resorted to tapping into otherworldly means to get it through the studio system.

Michael Imperioli enlisted a little supernatural help a la “Bewitched” to get “Summer of Sam” greenlit.

The “Sopranos” star co-wrote the script for the film based on real-life serial killer David Berkowitz Aka the Son of Sam, who terrorized New York in 1977. “Summer of Sam” was co-written and directed by Spike Lee, with both Imperioli and Lee having cameos in the film, which was released in 1999. Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito, and John Leguizamo also starred.

In a clip from upcoming documentary “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel (and Other Rock & Roll Stories),” directed by Danny Garcia, Imperioli recalled asking a “witch” for assistance to get the film made while living at the hotel. Imperioli moved in at age 29.

“The Chelsea is a very mythical place,” Imperioli says in the clip (via Variety). “Especially if you’re an artist in New York, it looms very large, and the idea of...

Michael Imperioli may be best known for playing Christopher Moltisanti on the TV series The Sopranos, but he has over 100 other screen acting credits and several writing credits (including multiple episodes of The Sopranos). His first writing credit came on 1999 crime drama Summer of Sam (watch it Here), which was directed by Spike Lee… and during an interview for the documentary Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel (and Other Rock & Roll Stories), Imperioli revealed that he visited a witch and used otherworldly means in an effort to get Summer of Sam into production!

Scripted by Imperioli, Lee, and Victor Colicchio, Summer of Sam has the following synopsis: During the summer of 1977, a killer known as the Son of Sam keeps all of New York City on edge with a series of brutal murders. The philandering Vinny unwittingly almost becomes a victim of the psychopath, and soon he and numerous people in his orbit — including his wife,...

Michael Imperioli says he took supernatural steps to help him materialize his 1999 movie “Summer of Sam.”

The “Sopranos” and “White Lotus” actor was living at the Chelsea Hotel at the time and, in a new documentary about the notoriously haunted locale, recalls meeting with a witch in order to push the crime thriller “through the studio system” in Hollywood.

“I had just begun writing ‘Summer of Sam’ with Victor Colicchio — we wrote that script together,” Imperioli says in an exclusive clip from “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel.” “I really wanted to get it made. So I met somebody who was living here who was a witch, who said she could help me get it made, but it wasn’t going to happen the way I thought it would. I was very ambitious at the time and wanted to get that made, so resorted to tapping into otherworldly means to get it through the studio system....

Blue Bloods alum Jennifer Esposito has signed with WME.

The veteran Hollywood actor made her writing and directing debut this year with her 1980s-set mafia drama Fresh Kills, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Esposito wrote, produced and stars in the film, which features Annabella Sciorra and Domenick Lombardozzi.

Esposito, who played detective Jackie Curatola and Donnie Wahlberg’s partner for three seasons of CBS’ cop drama Blue Bloods, arrives at WME as she focused more on the writing and directing space by developing a slate of film and TV projects.

On NCIS, she played NCIS special agent Alexandra “Alex” Quinn, an experienced agent who left field work and became an instructor at the Law Enforcement Training Center before being lured back into the field as a federal agent.

As an actor, Jennifer is a SAG, Critics Choice, and Hollywood Foreign Press award winner. She has appeared in over 60 film and TV series,...

The upcoming John Wick event series, a three-part movie from director and executive producer Albert Hughes, finally has an air date.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick will premiere on Sept. 22. That will follow with night two airing Sept. 29 and night three airing Oct. 6.

The announcement was made during Peacock’s panel for the series at San Diego Comic-Con.

Hughes was on stage along with executive producer Marshall Persinger and the creative team, including action director Larnell Stovall, production designer Drew Boughton and editor Ron Rosen.

A prequel to the massively popular action movie franchise will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins at the center of the John Wick universe and seen through the eyes and actions of a young man named Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hellscape of 1970s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.

Scott...

The Wes Anderson aesthetic, tone, and style are unmistakable. When this particular writer commented that you can recognize an Anderson film “within 10 seconds,” the subject of this interview interjected, “even less!” — and he’s not wrong. But there’s also the inherent charm of his often recurring cast of stars. Now appearing in his fifth Anderson feature, no one is a bigger fan of Anderson’s work and process than Oscar winner Adrien Brody.

So once you hear that Brody, who talks with obvious joy and understanding about everything from Anderson’s ability to cast incredible young talent and the way he uses animatics to plot his films, is playing a director in “Asteroid City” — a theatrical director, but a director nonetheless — the question seems obvious: is he playing Anderson?

No. Not really. Ok, maybe a little, but certainly not more than his primary inspiration: Elia Kazan.

“I’ve spent a lifetime with filmmakers,...

During an appearance on the Little Gold Men by Vanity Fair podcast Agatha: Coven of Chaos star Patti LuPone shared some previously unconfirmed information about the upcoming Disney+ series. A previous report claimed that Agatha:Coven of Chaos would run nine episodes, which LuPone confirmed during her podcast appearance. With nine episodes, Agatha: Coven of Chaos joins What If...? and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law for the highest episode count for a Marvel series on Disney+. How long each episode will run remains to be seen.

Last month, LuPone revealed some other details about the upcoming series. During an appearance on The View, she informed the show's hosts that she would portray Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch "whose power is divination, and whose trial is tarot." She also shared that Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, and Ali Ahn would all portray witches in Agatha Harkness' coven, with Joe Locke serving as the witches' "familiar.

John Leguizamo is one of the most versatile and beloved actors of our time. Whether it’s on the big screen, the small screen, or on stage, John Leguizamo has captivated audiences everywhere with his unique ability to take on roles that are so different from one another.

John Leguizamo. Depostiphotos

His film credits include hits like “Carlito’s Way”, “Summer of Sam” and “Romeo + Juliet”, as well as roles in Broadway productions such as “Freak” and “Ghetto Klown”. His television credits include the Emmy-nominated Netflix comedy “Latin History for Morons”, which he wrote and starred in, as well as a recurring role on “Fear the Walking Dead”.

John Leguizamo is also known for speaking his mind and, when it comes to diversity, he’s never been afraid to challenge the status quo. He is vocal about representation on-screen and in Hollywood and has spoken out about the importance of Latinx representation in the media.

Indie filmmaker Onur Tukel has a lot to say in his latest, Poundcake, a horror satire that mixes slasher with political discourse.

Fans of Tukel know that his films have always been heavy on commentary, and this one is sure to get a rise out of people.

In the slasher satire, a hulking beast preys on straight, white men in New York City.

“No one seems too concerned about the victims, because, you know, they’re straight, white men. But if everyone can drop the hate and embrace their differences, they might find a way to ‘kill the beast!'”

Tukel stars alongside Ron Brice, Eva Dorrepaal, Pia Paez, Zarius LeGrand, and others.

Poundcake is inspired by slashers of the 80s and icons like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, Tukel previously told us. “In a slasher movie, the villain murders someone every eight or nine minutes and there’s...