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Despite his success as the head of a mob family in one of the greatest shows ever made, throughout his career, James Gandolfini avoided the celebrity lifestyle and often referred to himself as a working-class actor. As a result, he rarely entertained the media spotlight and let his acting do the talking.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano | Credit: HBO

But in 2004, the actor finally let his guard down and opened up for a detailed interview, revealing some of his fondest memories in showbiz, which involved the critically penned Terminal Velocity, starring Charlie Sheen.

Terminal Velocity turned out to be a memorable experience for James Gandolfini Terminal Velocity | Credit: Walt Disney Motion Pictures

In 1994, the year Charlie Sheen received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Platoon star headlined one of his biggest bombs, Terminal Velocity. Apart from some enthralling skydiving sequences and James Gandolfini‘s impeccable performance as Mr. Pinkwater,...

Saoirse Ronan has earned hundreds of award nominations throughout her career. She began acting in 2003 at just 9 years old and had her first breakthrough role with the premiere of "Atonement" in 2007. The critically acclaimed film earned Ronan her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. The movie's success established the young star as one to watch in the coming years. Since then, Ronan has become a household name with roles in "Brooklyn," "Lady Bird," and "Little Women," all of which earned her Oscar nominations for best actress.

Ronan is always pushing herself creatively in every project. In her latest film, "Foe," she teams up with "Aftersun" star Paul Mescal for a psychological thriller centering on a young married couple. The movie premiered at the 2023 New York Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 30, but officially hits theaters on Friday, Oct. 6.

To celebrate the film's release, we've rounded up Ronan's best movies over the years.

Verve has signed Academy Award winner Geoffrey Fletcher for representation, sources tell Variety.

Fletcher is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for “Precious” based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire. The drama — directed by Lee Daniels and starring Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe — was nominated for five other Oscars, including best picture. Fletcher made history as the first African American to win an Academy Award for adapted screenplay.

The movie won a handful of other awards, including the audience award and grand jury prize for best drama at Sundance in 2009. It also screened at Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.

Most recently, Fletcher wrote the Ed Zwick-directed drama “Trial by Fire,” starring Laura Dern and Jack O’Connell. His forthcoming projects include the “Untitled Althea Gibson Project,” which is being produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Feuer of Big Boy Films and “I Am A Man,...

James Gandolfini will co-star in Geoffrey Fletcher’s indie drama Violet & Daisy. Per Variety, the story “centers on a pair of teenage assassins (played by Saoirse Ronan and Carey Mulligan) who are lured into what is supposed to be just another quick and easy job, only to find complications as the man they’re supposed to kill is not what they expected.” Fletcher, who won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious, will make his directorial debut on the picture. Last month, we reported that Bruce Willis and Danny Trejo were in talks to co-star.

As we previously reported, Gandolfini is also attached to star in the HBO movie Cinema Verite and he’s also producing an adaptation of French Canadian sitcom Taxi 0-22 for the network. He’ll next be seen in theater in the indie drama Welcome to the Rileys.

Slow news day, so how about a survey?

Here’s a conversation I had in the past with a frustrated black filmmaker friend, which surfaced again today – specifically its subject matter – in another conversation; I’m paraphrasing here…

Him: “I’m done! My next project, I’m casting white folks.”

Silence. Not sure if he’s just messing around, only to realize that he’s dead serious.

Me: “Why?”

Him: “They’re more… … umm … accessible.”

Followed by a devilish grin.

Him: “For real; it’s hard out here for a black filmmaker. Gotta do what we gotta do to make it.”

I asked him to explain what he meant by “accessible,” knowing what he likely did mean, but needed clarification; in a nutshell, revealing what I think most of us already know… films with white casts generally have a better shot at success, than films with actors of any other...

Having just reported that Carey Mulligan is in talks to star in Geoffrey Fletcher's upcoming Thelma and Louise-esque film Violet And Daisy, we hear from THR that she's gone and got herself into negotiations for something else! Drive is Nicolas Winding Refn's adaptation of the book by James Sellis.

The story follows a struggling Hollywood stuntman (who will be played by The Notebook's Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway car driver during bank robberies. But when one of his jobs goes awry, he ends up on the run with an ex-con's girlfriend (Mulligan's potential role) riding in the passenger seat.

Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is also set to join the cast, while the producing team includes Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Michel Litvak and Adam Siegel. David Lancaster, Gary Michael Walters, Bill Lischak and Linda McDonough will serve as executive producers.

We do hope that Mulligan is adept at multi-tasking,...

Talk about post-Oscar buzz.

Coming off of his shocking Oscar win for his screenplay for last year’s hit film, Precious, scribe Geoffrey Fletcher has not only found a film to get behind for a directorial debut, but one hell of a cast to join him on his first outing.

Read more on Bruce Willis and Danny Trejo interested in Geoffrey Fletcher’s Violet And Daisy…...

With an Oscar already under his belt for the screenplay of Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher is doing pretty well in Hollywood. What's more, if the rumours are to believed (and we so hope they are), his new movie offering has already attracted a fair amount of A-list interest.

Working with one of his original scripts, Fletcher will be occupying the director's chair this time to create Violet And Daisy, a film about two feisty young girls on the road - we have been instructed to think Thelma and Louise meets Superbad meets Pulp Fiction (sounds like a winning combo to us).

Nothing has been confirmed thus far, but the most recent output from the rumour mill is that Bruce Willis will be signing on, fresh from his run as Mr. Church in Sylvester Stallone's all-action beefcake flick The Expendables. He joins Danny Trejo, Carey Mulligan and Saoirse Ronan who are...