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During his storied career, Francis Ford Coppola forged relationships with some of film’s most renowned cinematographers: Gordon Willis, Vittorio Storaro, Bill Butler, John Toll and Jordan Cronenweth all shot multiple projects for him. But with Megalopolis, Mihai Malaimare Jr. becomes Coppola’s most frequent collaborator behind the camera. They first met when Coppola came to Malaimare’s native Romania to shoot 2007’s Youth Without Youth, the beginning of a low-budget experimental phase for Coppola that included the Malaimare-shot Tetro and Twixt. Even then, Coppola was already dreaming of his quixotic passion project Megalopolis, showing Malaimare concept art and B-roll of New York […]

The post “We Needed Crazier Ideas”: Dp Mihai Malaimare Jr. on Megalopolis first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

During his storied career, Francis Ford Coppola forged relationships with some of film’s most renowned cinematographers: Gordon Willis, Vittorio Storaro, Bill Butler, John Toll and Jordan Cronenweth all shot multiple projects for him. But with Megalopolis, Mihai Malaimare Jr. becomes Coppola’s most frequent collaborator behind the camera. They first met when Coppola came to Malaimare’s native Romania to shoot 2007’s Youth Without Youth, the beginning of a low-budget experimental phase for Coppola that included the Malaimare-shot Tetro and Twixt. Even then, Coppola was already dreaming of his quixotic passion project Megalopolis, showing Malaimare concept art and B-roll of New York […]

The post “We Needed Crazier Ideas”: Dp Mihai Malaimare Jr. on Megalopolis first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Francis Ford Coppola‘s big return with this year’s Megalopolis may not have had the reception that he was hoping for. Then again, the renowned filmmaker says he’s never had a project praised right out of the gate. Coppola never felt blindsided by the criticisms as he’s accustomed to butting heads with the studios as he stays true to his visions. He states, “I was almost fired on all of them.” Coppola, then continues, “The lesson is that the same things that they fire you for are the same things that later they give you lifetime achievement awards for when you’re old.”

The Washington Post catches up with the Godfather and Apocalypse Now director as he gets honored at the Kennedy Center for his career. Although Megalopolis was a gamble that ended up flopping, Coppola still believes the film will eventually find its audience and that it will “play for 40 years.

This article contains mild spoilers for "Megalopolis" and "Joker: Folie à Deux."

The film industry has just experienced what seems to me an unprecedented two week span of outrageous misfortune. If we trust the high end of their estimated budgets, Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" and Todd Phillips' "Joker: Folie à Deux" combined to gross a mere $44 million on exorbitant budgets totaling $344 million.

On the surface, "Megalopolis" would appear to be the bigger disaster; now in its second weekend, the $136 million production has amassed only a paltry $6 million. Granted, Coppola sold his Sonoma Country wineries and borrowed against his new ownership stake in the company that absorbed them to personally finance his physically and intellectually ambitious epic. It's not my money, so I don't care to discuss the wisdom of Coppola's investment; what matters to me is that a massive, star-studded film made without the support of a firmly established...

In 2007, Mihai Malaimare Jr. was a 29-year-old cinematographer working in Romania when he got his filmmaking dream job: shooting “Youth Without Youth” for Francis Ford Coppola as Coppola returned to the director’s chair for the first time in 10 years. Coppola wanted to reinvent himself and was looking for a partner who wouldn’t be afraid of trying new things, and in Malaimare, he found a willing and eager co-conspirator. “Even when he had what I thought was a crazy idea, I thought, ‘Well, it’s Francis Coppola so I better try it,'” Malaimare told IndieWire. “Then you try it and realize how much better the scene looks.”

Malaimare became Coppola’s cinematographer of choice on the movies that followed: “Tetro,” “Twixt,” and now “Megalopolis,” all of them self-financed experiments with which Coppola has attempted to find his own unique style after over 60 years of filmmaking. On “Megalopolis,” Coppola...

October 25 will mark 62 years since the release of the first film directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Come on Out” (later retitled “Tonight for Sure”), a re-edited feature version of three different shorter nudie films he made while a film student at UCLA. It debuted in 1962, right in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.

With “Megalopolis” opening, he likely has the longest feature film directorial career ever, ahead of Manoel de Oliveira (61 years), Jean-Luc Godard (58), Jerzy Skolimowsky (58), and Frederick Wiseman (56). Clint Eastwood, whose latest film “Juror #2” premieres next month, spans a mere 53 as a director.

To sustain a career that long necessitates a lot of success, which Coppola has had, led by “The Godfather.” But it has been a perilous journey, elongated (“Megalopolis” the most extreme) by his willingness to spend money to keep directing. Of note, his last studio-financed film was “The Rainmaker,” 27 years — and nearly half his career — ago.

It goes without saying that Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. His run of The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, and Apocalypse Now was so successful that it ensured him a place in cinematic history forever, regardless of what he chose to do for the rest of his career. While Coppolas subsequent work was impressively no less ambitious, it was far less commercially successful, leading to significant gaps within his filmography. The critically derided 2011 film Twixt brought his career to an abrupt halt, but just before that, Coppola delivered one of his most personal films with the 2009 drama Tetro.

In the ever-expanding Star Wars universe, there are a few actors who have successfully captivated audiences with their heroic as well as villainous characters and their journeys across galaxies far, far away. Yet, among the iconic figures and celebrated performances, there exists an underrated gem, discovered by the acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

Acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg | image: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Alden Ehrenreich, the actor entrusted with the portrayal of the legendary character Han Solo, in the 2018 Solo: A Star Wars Story was miraculously found by Steven Spielberg from his daughter’s friend’s bat mitzvah. However, despite impressing Spielberg and delivering iconic performances in Hollywood, Ehrenreich remained an unsung star among fans.

Alden Ehrenreich’s Anecdote of Getting Discovered by Steven Spielberg

Back in the day, aspiring actors would often stand at Hollywood hotspots, hoping to get noticed by filmmakers and producers for their big breaks. However, with the...

Fred Roos, the longtime producing and casting collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola, has died at age 89.

Roos famously found Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford, launching both actors’ respective careers, and even helped cast Carrie Fisher alongside Ford in “Star Wars.” He is credited for also boosting the careers of Kirsten Dunst, Diane Keaton, Laurence Fishburne, Frederic Forest, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Jennifer Connelly, Billy Bob Thorton, Marshall Bell, and more.

Roos later served as the casting director for Coppola’s “The Godfather,” leading auteur Coppola to deem Roos “one of the great casting talents in the last 40 years of American movies” in a 2004 interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Roos produced follow-up film “The Godfather: Part II,” “Apocalypse Now,” and Coppola’s recent “Megalopolis,” for which he also helped cast the star-studded ensemble. In 1974, both Roos and Coppola earned two Oscar...

Fred Roos, casting director for landmark films such as “American Graffiti” and who went on to have a close relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, including producing best picture winner “Godfather Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” died Saturday in Beverly Hills. He was 89.

Roos was both casting director and executive producer on Coppola’s most recent film “Megalopolis” which premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Coppola posted a photo of Roos with Adam Driver on Instagram and thanked him for his work on the long-gestating epic.

Roos was instrumental in helping stars including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Carrie Fisher and Richard Dreyfuss get their early notable roles.

His long collaboration with Coppola as producer or co-producer included “The Conversation,” “One From the Heart,” “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Godfather Part III,” “Tetro,” “Youth Without Youth” and “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.”

Roos was not credited,...

The tagline for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival should probably be “Back to the Future.” Indeed, four Hollywood legends who first established themselves in the 1970s as part of the “New Hollywood,” and haven’t been back to festival in decades, are front and center on the Croisette this year.

At the fest’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or, 35 years after her only prior visit to the fest. In 1989, she came with Fred Schepisi’s A Cry in the Dark, which had opened in the U.S. in late 1988, landing her a best actress Oscar nom, but bombing at the box office. Streep’s presence at the fest was strategic: She reportedly only came because she wanted to try to boost the film’s profile ahead of its European release, and the fest reportedly only accepted the film...

Adam Driver has played a city-dwelling seducer before — think: “Girls” at the very least — but this time, the actor has transformed into a slick harbinger of chaos for Francis Ford Coppola’s epic “Megalopolis.”

Driver stars as artist and city planner Cesar Catilina, once again adjacent to faux Italian-ness for the screen. Cesar’s biggest opponent is Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare per the official synopsis. Yet when Cesar begins an affair with Franklyn’s socialite daughter Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), Cesar’s determined path to forge a new city begins to falter.

Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman also star.

Coppola writes, directs, and produces the epic feature which had an estimated budget of $120 million-plus.

When most cinephiles think of Francis Ford Coppola, they think of his miracle run in the 1970s. During that decade, he directed four films, all of them five-star masterpieces: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather, Part II, and Apocalypse Now. Or they think of embarrassments from his for-hire period, including the Robin Williams weepy Jack. Yet those five films hardly encapsulate the entire career of Francis Ford Coppola, which will likely end with the upcoming Megalopolis. Instead the best indication of Coppola as an artist and filmmaker might be found in the most recent movies he’s made, with Coppola having released three self-produced and self-financed pictures every two years between 2007 and 2011: Youth Without Youth, Twixt, and Tetro.

Although they vary in quality, and none top his work from the ’70s, this independent trio captures the experimental and romantic heart that lies at the center of Coppola’s overall oeuvre.

“Megalopolis” is finally here.

Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million self-funded “Roman epic” debuted its first look featuring “Megalopolis” stars Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel who play a couple caught up in the revolutionary destruction of a utopian society.

Driver plays an idealistic architect and artist who is planning to rebuild a city that has fallen in part due to a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito). “Game of Thrones” alum Emmanuel stars as the mayor’s socialite daughter. The ensemble cast includes Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, D.B. Sweeney, Jason Schwartzman, Baily Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.

“Megalopolis” is debuting in competition at Cannes. Coppola told Vanity Fair that the long-gestating project was rewritten more than “300 times” across decades.

“I wasn’t really working on this screenplay for 40 years as I often see written, but rather I was collecting notes and clippings...

Acclaimed auteurs Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino and Andrea Arnold are among the filmmakers set to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

A total of 19 features were revealed today (April 11) that will play in Competition at the festival, set to run May 14-25.

Rarely a festival to veer far from familiar names, the Competition line-up is dominated by directors who have been selected multiple times for Cannes.

They include US filmmaker Coppola with sci-fi epic Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver and is set in a future version of New York City following a disaster.

The Cannes Film Festival officially announced the selection of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis in Competition at its press conference in Paris on Thursday, confirming Deadline’s scoop from Mike Fleming earlier this week.

Talking with journalists after the press conference, a visibly happy Frémaux expressed his content at having Megalopolis in the festival’s 77th edition.

“Francis Ford Coppola is part of the Cannes family, not only because he got two Palme d’Or, but also he was always quite close to us,” he said in a response to a question from Deadline.

Thierry Frémaux on 'Megalopolis' selection for the Cannes Film Festival: "Francis Ford Coppola is part of the Cannes family" pic.twitter.com/qOtaawHKDi

— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) April 11, 2024 Cannes head Thierry Frémaux talks Megalopolis selection

The Cannes delegate general said he had been gently checking in with Coppola over the past year on his progress with Megalopolis.

This year’s 77th Cannes Film Festival will mark a meeting of the New Hollywood minds in France. Not only is George Lucas receiving the festival’s Honorary Palme d’Or, but filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Schrader are in the official Competition for the first time in decades.

While Schrader has gone the route of Venice for his “lonely man in a room” trilogy — “First Reformed,” “The Card Counter,” and “Master Gardener” all premiered in Italy — he’s at Cannes this year with “Oh, Canada.” The lineup was confirmed this morning by Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux. The contemplative drama about a tortured writer looking back on his years as a leftist who fled to Canada to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War stars Jacob Elordi, Richard Gere, and Uma Thurman. Cue the flashbulbs for a buzzy Elordi red carpet moment. The “Euphoria” breakout was last seen...

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited “Megalopolis” will have its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, IndieWire has confirmed.

While the full festival lineup will be announced April 10, Deadline first reported that the epic has received the gala premiere slot at Cannes for a May 17 debut and that it will play in competition.

However, “Megalopolis” still has not secured distribution, IndieWire understands. Coppola’s attorney Barry Hirsch is working on selling the film, and he previously told IndieWire the film was unlikely to debut at a festival until it landed distribution.

The feature will be Coppola’s return to Cannes following his respective Palme d’Or wins for “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now.” His other Cannes film was “Tetro,” which screened in Directors Fortnight.

“Megalopolis” centers on the destruction of a utopian society that struggles with adapting to the future. Cesar, an architectural idealist played by Adam Driver, clashes with...

Francis Ford Coppola screened his long-awaited, self-funded $120m epic Megalopolis to buyers in Los Angeles on Thursday (March 28) after years of speculation and a lengthy production schedule.

Universal’s Donna Langley and Sony’s Tom Rothman were among studio heads who according to reports mingled with the likes of Darren Aronofsky, Roger Corman, Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage and Andy Garcia in a crowd said to number more than 300 at Universal CityWalk’s Imax theatre.

The epic story stars Adam Driver as Caesar, a driven architect striving to rebuild a massive city who falls in love with Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the...

A Deadly Invitation is a Mexican mystery thriller movie directed by José Manuel Cravioto. It stars Maribel Verdú, Stephanie Cayo, and Manolo Cardona. The film is based on the novel “Invitación a un Asesinato” by best-selling author Carmen Posadas.

The film follows Agatha, a true crime podcast host who is invited to a gathering at her sister’s, Olivia’s, luxurious yacht for a weekend getaway together with a group of her closest friends. The reason for the gathering is unknown to all. As the guests arrive on the yacht, tensions begin to rise culminating in… a murder.

A Deadly Invitation A Quick Review

If you are into Agatha Christie, and however many film and series adaptations of her novels have been produced over time, I recommend this movie.

It follows close to the exact same patterns, and production style as A Knives Out Mystery (2019); a contemporary multi-character murder mystery...

Fair Play is a 2023 thriller film written and directed by Chloe Domont. The film stars Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan, and Rich Sommer.

“Fair Play” is a movie about ambition and how a professional relationship can affect a romantic relationship. In every place, there is an expression for this that ultimately recommends the same thing: not mixing love and work.

It’s difficult not to do so when, as in this case, both protagonists work ten hours a day and have no time for anything else but the company.

Plot

Emily and Luke are engaged, attractive, and have a promising future. There’s only one problem: they work at the same company, and company protocol doesn’t accept it. The problem arises when she gets promoted and he slowly starts losing his position in the complex corporate organization.

Fair Play Review of “Fair Play”

“Fair Play” is a more or less classic thriller that,...

Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?

One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.

The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.

His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.

Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.

Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives...

Could a premiere be in the offing at New York or AFI Fest?

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has secured a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement months after it wrapped production in Atlanta in March, prompting speculation as to whether Coppola needs to do reshoots or might be angling for a festival slot.

The first film directed by Coppola in seven years stars Adam Driver – who was in Venice on Thursday for the world premiere of Ferrari, which has an interim agreement – as well as Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Forest Whitaker, and Shia Labeouf.

Sources told Screen earlier this year...

Alden Ehrenreich has inhabited the role of Han Solo and, earlier this year, survived an encounter with the “Cocaine Bear.” But now he is venturing into even more uncharted territory, by writing, directing and starring in his very own short film, “Shadow Brother Sunday.”

The short concerns a down-on-his-luck brother (Ehrenreich) who, while attending a family celebration for his younger, successful actor brother (Nick Robinson), contemplates the ultimate betrayal – stealing his brother’s computer to sell to the paparazzi. From this scenario, Ehrenreich builds a rich world of uneasy family dynamics and long-simmering emotions. And it turns out he’s just as talented behind the camera as he is in front of it.

TheWrap spoke to Ehrenreich on the eve of the short film’s world premiere as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York; it’ll play throughout the week and is very much worth checking out.

Epic tale of politics, power and love filmed in Atlanta.

Production has wrapped in Atlanta on Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s first directorial outing in seven years which boasts a starry cast including Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Forest Whitaker, and Shia Labeouf.

Post-production is underway and according to sources the film is unlikely to be ready this year, which ends speculation that it might premiere in Cannes, Venice, New York or any other 2023 festival as a completed film.

No US distributor was attached at time of writing.

Megalopolis weaves together politics, power and love in the story of...

The cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-in-the-works sci-fi epic Megalopolis just got quite a bit more interesting. With Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne all onboard, a new addition has arrived.

Deadline reports Aubrey Plaza, coming off fine work in Emily the Criminal, has joined the epic of architecture, class struggle, and freedom conveyed on a massive metropolitan scale. With Coppola fronting the near-100 million budget, production is now confirmed to kick off this fall with distribution rights up for grabs.

Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. has also confirmed he will reteam with Coppola on the project, following Youth Without Youth, Tetro, Twixt, and the live cinema experiment Distant Vision. Along with his Coppola collaborations, he also shot The Master and The Harder They Fall.

Coppola recently called it “a love story,” adding, “A woman is divided between loyalties to two men. But not only two men.

Acclaimed writer/director David Lowery joins Josh and Joe to discuss the films that inspired The Green Knight.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Green Knight (2021)

Peter Pan & Wendy (2022)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Old Man And The Gun (2018)

A Ghost Story (2017)

Pete’s Dragon (1977)

Pete’s Dragon (2016) – Glenn Erickson’s review

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013)

Ghost Story (1974)

Sword of the Valiant (1984)

Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

Masters of the Universe (1987) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Andrei Rublev (1966) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards blurb

War And Peace (1966) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Heaven’s Gate (1980)

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (1928) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Devils (1971)

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Conjuring (2013)

Jubilee (1978)

Benedetta (2021)

Dune (1984)

Dune (2021)

Hard To Be A God (2013)

Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013)

Moby Dick (1956) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary,...

Joseph Baxter Apr 4, 2019

Megalopolis, the long-planned sci-fi dream project of Francis Ford Coppola, is finally moving forward.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is a mooted movie that’s almost as mythical as the sci-fi-utopia New York City in which it was to be set. While the project – the planned pièce de résistance of his storied career – managed to shoot 30 minutes of second unit footage, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks made an unwelcome atmosphere for his planned vision. However, the Megalopolis myth never died, and now, nearly two decades after its false start, Coppola appears to be moving forward with the project!

Coppola, the legendary director/screenwriter of The Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders and The Cotton Club, is reportedly making preparations to make his Megalopolis dream movie into a reality this year, reports Deadline. Just a few days short of his 80th birthday, Coppola has dusted off his script and...

Sofia Coppola is the promotional circuit with “The Beguiled” (June 23, Focus Features). So is her 81-year-old mother, Eleanor, who wrote and directed her first narrative feature, the romantic road movie “Paris Can Wait;” Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it around the country to strong reviews and box office. Mother and daughter will meet, with their films, at this week’s Munich International Film Festival, where they’ll be joined by the man who began the family film dynasty, Francis Ford Coppola.

Sofia and her older brother, director and screenwriter Roman Coppola, also own San Francisco production company American Zoetrope, which their father launched in 1979; Roman runs it day to day. “They seek each other’s help when it’s needed,” said long-time family producer and casting guru Fred Roos.

Roos has been Francis Ford’s producer and casting director since “The Godfather.” And from the beginning of Sofia’s career,...

Sofia Coppola is the promotional circuit with “The Beguiled” (June 23, Focus Features). So is her 81-year-old mother, Eleanor, who wrote and directed her first narrative feature, the romantic road movie “Paris Can Wait;” Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it around the country to strong reviews and box office. Mother and daughter will meet, with their films, at this week’s Munich International Film Festival, where they’ll be joined by the man who began the family film dynasty, Francis Ford Coppola.

Sofia and her older brother, director and screenwriter Roman Coppola, also own San Francisco production company American Zoetrope, which their father launched in 1979; Roman runs it day to day. “They seek each other’s help when it’s needed,” said long-time family producer and casting guru Fred Roos.

Roos has been Francis Ford’s producer and casting director since “The Godfather.” And from the beginning of Sofia’s career,...

Four new movies are coming to the Criterion Collection this April: Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish,” Wim Wenders’ “Buena Vista Social Club” and George Stevens’ “Woman of the Year.” In addition, two musicals directed by Jacques Demy already in the Collection are receiving new standalone editions: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort.” More information below.

Read More: The Criterion Collection’s 2017 Lineup: What Movies Are Being Added This Year?

“Tampopo”

“The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café...

After discussing the year’s breakthrough directors, it’s time to traverse to the other side of the camera. Whether it’s their very first performances or a talent who’s been seen in a variety of features, yet, for whatever reason, hadn’t been allowed to command the screen, this year’s breakthrough actors are an eclectic group. Ranging from Hollywood offerings to minuscule independent dramas, check out our rundown.

Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz (Little Men)

Taking the concept of “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and conveying it through the economic realities of gentrification, Ira Sachs‘ Little Men is an affecting look at what happens when a friendship can fracture due to external pressures. Playing the two friends at the center, Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz honestly communicate the experience of an innocent relationship as they both explore what they want out of their teenage life. Barbieri, in particular,...

When a Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor accidentally revealed that one of the main characters may not make it out of their mission alive, fans weren't so angry at the big reveal as they were unfazed. The movie does take place just mere days before Star Wars: A New Hope, and none of these new Rebel characters have been mentioned anywhere else in the original, prequel or new trilogies. It was just assumed that they all died. And no one has really been questioning whether or not Rogue One is getting a sequel. In fact, most fans thought the standalone adventures would all be one-offs. Well, as we're learning, that may not necessarily be the case. But it's not Rogue One that is getting a follow-up. It will be the second movie to follow, Han Solo: A Star Wars Story.

In fact, if this new report from NY Daily News pans out,...

Alden Ehrenreich to play young Han Solo in Star Wars prequelAlden Ehrenreich to play young Han Solo in Star Wars prequelJason Gorber7/18/2016 11:44:00 Am

In what even co-directors Phillip Lord and Chris Miller referred to as the “worst kept secret in Hollywood”, the Disney certified, official reveal of the actor to play the young Han Solo in the upcoming standalone Star Wars film occurred on the final day of the Star Wars Celebration fan event in London, England.

Dubbed “future filmmakers”, the event saw the directors of The Lego Movie (Lord and Miller) flanked by Episode 8 helmer Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) as they brought Alden Enrenreich on stage to rapturous applause!

Ehrenreich was discovered by Francis Ford Coppola for 2009’s Tetro and has since made appearances in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and Park Chan-wook’s Stoker but is most recognized for his last role as the bumbling Hobie...

Alden Ehrenreich is officially the new Han Solo! News spread that the 26-year-old actor would be portraying Harrison Ford's legendary role in May, but the news was officially announced in London on Sunday during the Future Filmmaker Panel at the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016.Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and John Boyega also attended the panel. "I've never screen-tested with a Wookiee," Ehrenreich said about the audition process during the panel. "It was amazing." The news was also announced on the film franchise's official Facebook page. Earlier in the three-day festival, Lucas Film President Kathleen Kennedy and Rogue One director...

Alden Ehrenreich is officially the new Han Solo! News spread that the 26-year-old actor would be portraying Harrison Ford's legendary role in May, but the news was officially announced in London on Sunday during the Future Filmmaker Panel during Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016. "I've never screen-tested with a Wookiee," Ehrenreich said about the audition process during the panel. "It was amazing." The news was also announced on the film franchise's official Facebook page. The upcoming Star Wars is still untitled. Ehrenreich is no stranger to working with legends. He was first discovered by Steven Spielberg at a Bat Mitzvah...

Meet the new Han Solo: Alden Ehrenreich. The Hail Casear star, 26, has been tapped to play the young Millennium Falcon pilot in an upcoming Star Wars spin-off, Entertainment Weekly reports. Disney has yet to comment on the casting news. The currently untitled movie, due May 25, 2018, will focus on Han Solo's early years and will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie). This will be the first time that the role hasn't been played by Harrison Ford, who originated the character in the original 1977 Star Wars film. Although the Los Angeles native has worked with Woody Allen,...

Meet the new Han Solo: Alden Ehrenreich. The Hail Casear star, 26, has been tapped to play the young Millennium Falcon pilot in an upcoming Star Wars spin-off, Entertainment Weekly reports. Disney has yet to comment on the casting news. The currently untitled movie, due May 25, 2018, will focus on Han Solo's early years and will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie). This will be the first time that the role hasn't been played by Harrison Ford, who originated the character in the original 1977 Star Wars film. Although the Los Angeles native has worked with Woody Allen,...

It's official! As previously rumored, it has now been confirmed that Alden Ehrenreich is the new pilot of the Millennium Falcon in 2018's Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. The actor was chosen out of literally thousands to take over the role of the iconic space pirate previously inhabited by Harrison Ford. This latest Star Wars spinoff arrives Christmas 2018. And it is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

Disney and LucasFilm have not yet sent out an official confirmation for this casting, as final negotiations are now in place for Alden Ehrenreich to don that legendary vest and grab Han Solo's blaster. This news comes after an exhausting casting search for Disney and LucasFilm, which had over 2,500 young actors auditioning of the role. Alden Ehrenreich is just one of three actors who made it into the semi-finals.

The other two actors who were close to landing the gig are...

Alden Ehrenreich, who broke out as a dopey singing cowboy in the Coen Brothers' 2016 comedy, Hail Caesar!, has landed a much more iconic role: Han Solo. The actor will play a younger version of the Harrison Ford Star Wars smuggler in Disney-LucasFilm's upcoming Solo prequel spinoff, set to hit theaters on May 25th, 2018, Variety reports.

Variety reports that production will begin in January 2017; earlier this year, sources indicated that the delay could be to accommodate filming a Han Solo cameo for Rogue One.

While Hail Caesar! has earned Ehrenreich a new level of notoriety,...

While word has yet to come down from Disney and Lucasfilm, it looks like everything is a done deal for the role of Han Solo in the “Star Wars” spinoff, and the name won’t be a surprise. Read More: 13 Films To See In May Alden Ehrenreich (“Hail, Caesar!,” “Tetro“) is inking the deal to […]

The post Alden Ehrenreich Locks Han Solo Role In ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff appeared first on The Playlist.

There's no official annoucement yet, but is has been confirmed by Deadline that the rumors are true - Alden Ehrenreich has now signed on to play the young Han Solo in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Han Solo "A Star Wars Story" film due out in 2018.

Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan are penning the script which will focus on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley.

It has also been confirmed that Chewbacca will also be a featured character in the film and, though unconfirmed, Joonas Suotamo will likey reprise the role he played for much of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

Ehrenreich stole the show in this year's "Hail, Caesar!" nad has had key roles in "Stoker," "Beautiful Creatures," "Tetro," and "Blue Jasmine".

It seems Hollywood has been waiting for Alden Ehrenreich to have his moment, and it looks like it's finally going to arrive. After impressing everyone with his turn in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro," he was a hot ticket in the industry, but he didn't catch fire right away. However, the actor has quietly built up a resumé working with some top shelf auteurs — Woody Allen ("Blue Jasmine"), Park Chan-Wook ("Stoker"), Warren Beatty (his Howard Hughes project), and the Coens ("Hail, Caesar!" — easily the bright spot of that disappointing picture) — and now it looks like he's going to step into the big time. Read More: The Original 'Star Wars' Trilogy To Return To Theaters This Summer Ehrenreich is now being reported as the frontrunner for the young Han Solo "Star Wars" spinoff movie. The casting process has been quite drawn out, and last we heard, the actor was...

At 26, Alden Ehrenreich is in an enviable, though peculiar position. A young actor who's worked with Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen and Warren Beatty, he's already built up an impressive résumé — although too often, he's done fine work in movies nobody saw (Coppola's sibling drama Tetro, the supernatural Ya romance Beautiful Creatures) or been relegated to the margins of good movies (Blue Jasmine). So perhaps it's fitting that, at last, his coming-out occurs in a movie filled with much bigger stars that requires this charming, nuanced performer to play the...

The latter-era career of Francis Ford Coppola has been marked by experimentation. He went black-and-white for "Tetro;" played with digital, 3D and on-the-fly editing in festival screenings with "Twixt;" and during his address at the Marrakech International Film Festival, called out the creative gatekeepers of the industry who put profit over progress. It may be why the director is now saying he's going to hang it all up, though he's going to go out by once again trying to push the boundaries of storytelling. Last year, the director revealed he was in the midst of writing what he described as "a multi-generational saga about an Italian-American family not unlike his own." Now, in an interview with Screen Daily, he reveals a few more details about the project, titled "Distant Vision," and the approach he wants to take. “I may only make one film more in my life, but it may be very long,...

I’ve spoken to many people in my time, but few (if any) have the same credentials as Walter Murch, whose résumé would be amazing if it was only for the collaborations with Francis Ford Coppola: editing and / or audio work on all three Godfather films and The Conversation, truly groundbreaking sound design on Apocalypse Now, editing the terribly ignored Youth Without Youth and Tetro — even being around for the early days of The Rain People and lesser-seen oddities such as Captain Eo. But that’s not the half of it, really, since he’s also been instrumental in proving how consumer-grade editing software can be as effective as high-end systems. And then there’s the work that helped George Lucas getting his career started. And the cult sensation that is his only directorial effort, Return to Oz. Or his book, In the Blink of an Eye, which is...

Special Mention: Battle Royale

Written and directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Japan, 2000

The concept of The Hunger Games owes much to Koushun Takami’s cult novel Battle Royale, adapted for the cinema in 2000 by Kinji Fukasaku. The film is set in a dystopian alternate-universe, in Japan, with the nation utterly collapsed, leaving 15 percent unemployed and 800,000 students boycotting school. The government passes something called the Millennium Educational Reform Act, which apparently provides for a class of ninth-graders to be chosen each year and pitted against one another on a remote island for 3 days. Each student is given a bag with a randomly selected weapon and a few rations of food and water, and sent off to kill each other in a no-holds-barred fight to the death. With 48 contestants, only one will go home alive. Yes, this has been often cited as the original Hunger Games; whether or not Suzanne Collins borrowed heavily...

Christopher Nolan recently announced a new project entitled Quay, a documentary short about two British stop-motion animators. Set to premiere next week, it’s a far cry from Nolan’s blockbusters in both scope and subject matter. Yet it’s clearly a personal project, with Nolan using his clout and money to promote two obscure filmmakers.

Every artist – director, star, screenwriter – has some project that they want to make above all. A deeply personal, original idea; an autobiographical story; a favored story or hero they wish to celebrate. If a filmmaker is successful or lucky enough, they get a chance to produce them. Yet sometimes the reaction isn’t what they expect.

Francis Ford Coppola started his career directing exploitation films for Roger Corman, notably the horror film Dementia 13 (1963). Then he toiled as screenwriter and occasional director, helming the musical Finian’s Rainbow (1968) and the more personal The Rain People...

For cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., "A Walk Among the Tombstones," now in theaters, represents his first atmospheric thriller as well as his first experience shooting in New York City. Of course, in discussing the visual style with writer-director Scott Frank, they decided to go for a '70s gritty, de-saturated look, recalling "The French Connection" and "The Parallax View." But adding to the paranoia is the fact that it takes place during the Y2K craze in 1999. In fact, one of the serial killers even points out the irony of people being afraid of the wrong things, which is how he and his partner are able to take their victims totally by surprise. What interested the Romanian cinematographer, who learned his craft collaborating with Francis Ford Coppola ("Tetro," "Youth Without Youth") and Paul Thomas Anderson ("The Master"), was trying to capture New York (Brooklyn, Hell’s Kitchen, Red Hook,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 19, 2014

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Gael García Bernal (l.) and Diego Luna hit the road in Y tu mamá también.

The smash 2001 road comedy Y tu mamá también from the Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) is that rare movie to combine raunchy subject matter and emotional warmth.

Gael García Bernal (Casa de mi Padre) and Diego Luna (Contraband) shot to international stardom as a pair of horny Mexico City teenagers from different classes who, after their girlfriends jet off to Italy for the summer, are bewitched by a gorgeous older Spanish woman (Tetro’s Maribel Verdú) they meet at a wedding. When she agrees to accompany them on a trip to a faraway beach, the three form an increasingly intense and sensual alliance that ultimately strips them both physically and emotionally bare.

Shot with elegance and dexterity by the great Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life...