Joaquin Phoenix at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles in October 2024.TAYLOR HILL (FILMMAGIC/GETTY)

From a cult to Hollywood royalty: Joaquin Phoenix, the star who has overcome it all

One of the most brilliant and unconventional actors of his generation turns 50 at an interesting juncture in his career. Although his last two major projects have flopped, he has a knack for coming back when least expected

EVA GÜIMIL

OCT 28, 2024 - 09:32 COT

Joaquin Phoenix’s life has always been unconventional. Born in Puerto Rico, the 50-year-old actor was raised by parents, Arlyn and John Lee Bottom, who shared a strong countercultural spirit. The couple met while hitchhiking, married soon after, and, disillusioned with American politics, left California to explore South America. There, they raised their five children — River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer — leading an itinerant lifestyle with little concern for material possessions. Their quest for purpose led them to join The Children of God, a religious group in which they spent years preaching while living in extreme poverty. They eventually broke ties with the group after receiving a letter from its leader, David Berg, urging members to engage in sexual relations with as many people as possible to recruit followers.

Diane Keaton at a Ralph Lauren fashion show in San Marino, California, in 2022.AMY SUSSMAN

How Diane Keaton outwitted ageism and bad reviews to still reign supreme in Hollywood at 77

With an unmistakable style and a freedom unheard of in the industry — she is one of the few stars who support Woody Allen — the actress is racking up projects and is about to release a film about falling in love after retirement

EVA GÜIMIL
MAY 16, 2023 - 10:55 COT



Diane Keaton claims she got the role of Kay Adams in The Godfather because she was a “nutcase.” More than fifty years later she is still Hollywood’s favorite eccentric — a rarity in the industry. While other stars follow fashion, she is fashion. Ever since she appeared in Annie Hall (1977) with a bowler hat, tie and baggy pants, her style has been imitated every season by some celebrity or other. She speaks openly about her disdain for plastic surgery and her problems with bulimia. And of her relationships with stars such as Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, and Al Pacino, and her reluctance to marry: “I think I am the only woman of my generation who has not married.” She is not, but she is one of the actresses with the most entries in the prestigious American Film Institute’s best film list, although for years she has more often been seen in TV movies that are not up to her talent.

 

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Kathy Bates attends the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)AMY SUSSMAN 

‘It was cruel, unnecessarily cruel’: How Kathy Bates became an unlikely star

She was over 40 and had a physique that was not normative for Hollywood, but her Oscar for ‘Misery’ led her to become one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood

EVA GÜIMIL

JUN 29, 2024 - 23:05 COT

When Daniel Day-Lewis read the name of Kathy Bates, rhere was some surprise in the Shrine Civic Auditorium. In the 1990 race to win the Oscar for Best Actress, she was up against Hollywood royalty (Anjelica Huston and Joanne Woodward), Academy favorite (Meryl Streep), and America’s new sweetheart (Julia Roberts). The press were not counting on her winning. At age 40, Bates was a virtual unknown. What’s more, she was nominated for playing a villain in a horror movie. Four decades later, her performance Annie Wilkes in Misery has become iconic, and there are no doubts that it was deserving of an Oscar.

 

Kevin Costner in Cannes en 2024.STEPHANE CARDINALE - 

‘The high point of my life was not a movie’: Kevin Costner, a classic heartthrob in search of his last chance

The big star of the 1980s and 1990s hit rock bottom with ‘Waterworld’ and has been trying to climb back up for the past 30 years. His latest effort is called ‘Horizon: An American Saga’

EVA GÜIMIL
11 June 2024

In The Big Chill (1983), he was meant to rub shoulders with Glenn Close and Kevin Kline, but ended up being a corpse that only appears on screen for a few seconds. Just six years later,Kevin Costner was Hollywood’s biggest star and his name made any movie a success. The Bodyguard, A Perfect World, JFK and Dances with Wolves were back-to-back hits. But this period ended with Waterworld (1995), when the public decided they did not want to see him drinking his own urine or breathing with gills. That monumental failure pushed him off the throne, and he has never regained the spot.

 

Shelley Duvall

Shelley Duvall: The disappearance and return of a star pushed to her limits by the film industry

The actress, known for her role in ‘The Shining’ and as the visionary producer of a 1980s children’s series, returns to the big screen after two decades out of the public eye

Eva Gümil

16 November 2022

Had her 2016 appearance on the controversial Dr. Phil show not been so alarming, Shelley Duvall, 73, could have just announced that she was returning to the big screen like any other talented actress coming back to Hollywood after a hiatus. It would have been similar to Cameron Diaz, who spent time away for a few years to focus on her family, and Debra Winger, who was fed up with a system that discards women after a certain age. But Duvall’s case is different. The last time we saw her on screen, she appeared haggard and was spouting disjointed ideas; she claimed that Robin Williams was still alive and “shape-shifting,” and that the sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood was threatening her.