News

Robert Benton has died at the age of 92.The Oscar-winning director - who was best known for writing and directing the 1979 drama movie 'Kramer vs. Kramer' - has passed away, with Marisa Forzano, his longtime assistant, confirming the news to the New York Times newspaper.Benton was the art director at Esquire magazine in the early 60s, before he became part of the film industry with the help of acclaimed screenwriter David Newman.Benton once explained in an interview: "I had been working as an art director at Esquire and I got fired."I decided to write a screenplay. I am dyslexic. I cannot spell or punctuate. I knew a young editor at Esquire, a wonderful writer, David Newman. I sold him on the glamorous life of the Hollywood screenwriter."Benton wrote his first screenplay with Newman for 'Bonnie and Clyde', the 1967 biographical crime film that...

Robert Benton, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter turned director who co-wrote Bonnie and Clyde and directed Kramer vs. Kramer, has passed away at 92. His longtime assistant and manager, Marisa Forzano, told The New York Times that Benton died on Sunday in his Manhattan home. Benton’s influence in Hollywood is vast, with writing credits for such classics as the 1984 Period Drama Places in the Heart and Richard Donner’s Superman (with Mario Puzo and Leslie Newman), starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and Gene Hackman.

With Places in the Heart, a coming-of-age drama Robert Benton wrote and directed, the filmmaker shared an autobiographical epic based on his grandmother’s arduous experiences during the Depression in Texas. Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, and Danny Glover lead the 1930s-set film, which focuses on a widow with two small children who tries to save her small 40-acre farm with the...

After wrapping production on the seventh and final season of ABC’s The Conners, on which she played Harris, daughter of Sara Gilbert’s equally acerbic Darlene, Emma Kenney was tapped to play yet another sitcom legend’s progeny. On Friday, she’ll guest-star as Grace, daughter of Reba McEntire’s Bobbie, on NBC’s Happy’s Place.

As TVLine was first to report, Kenney plays Gracie, who’s on leave from the military and returning home from overseas to visit her mother in Knoxville, Tenn. It’s the first time she’s been back since Bobbie found out she has a half-sister,...

Writer-producer Chris Morgan was on the set of Hobbs & Shaw when Dwayne Johnson’s right-hand man, Hiram Garcia, started sharing his idea for Red One. They were shooting the Fast & Furious spinoff’s complicated car and helicopter chase near a cliff in ​​Kauai and, with red dirt flying everywhere, Morgan admits he could only pay so much attention to the premise at the time. But that evening, Garcia, who’s the president of Johnson’s Seven Bucks production company, persisted, opting to pitch the action-comedy’s overall plot involving Santa’s (J.K. Simmons) abduction and his head of security (Johnson) having to team up with a complicit rogue (Chris Evans) to recover him.

“I was prepared not to, but I really, really loved it. I was like, ‘I actually think you have a hopeful message that’s really cool and that the world could use.’ So we agreed to...

While Norman Lear produced many of the most successful sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Sanford and Son, the behind-the-scenes squabbling rivaled the fights between Archie Bunker and his meathead son-in-law. Tripp Whetsall, author of the new biography Norman Lear: His Life and Times, recently talked to me about the comedy stars who got into it with Lear.

Comedy stars such as…

Carroll O’Connor

The All in the Family lead and Lear “had a very difficult, contemptuous relationship,” says Whetsell. “It was much more Carroll than Norman. Carroll was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders with Archie Bunker.”

Lear’s “idea of comedy, I think, is at variance with mine,” O’Connor once said. “We’ve disagreed over material from the very beginning of the show over what made naturalistic comedy. I had one idea, and he had another.

Alan Rachins, who spent 13 seasons on television portraying the boorish law partner Douglas Brackman Jr. on L.A. Law and the hippie father of Jenna Elfman’s character on Dharma & Greg, died Saturday. He was 82.

Rachins died in his sleep of heart failure in the early morning hours at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, actress Joanna Frank, told The Hollywood Reporter.

He and Frank married in 1978 after they met in an acting class. She recurred as Sheila Brackman, his feuding spouse, on L.A. Law, and they played a married couple in Always (1985), written and directed by indie auteur Henry Jaglom.

In what some might call a kinky coincidence, Rachins was one of the disrobing castmembers in the original stage production of Oh! Calcutta and appeared as Tony Moss, the cruel, toupeed director of the topless dance revue at the Stardust Casino, in Paul Verhoeven’s...

It may not be easy to stream these days, but whether you've seen it or not, "Maude" remains an important cornerstone of the sitcom house Norman Lear built. Premiering in 1972, "Maude" was originally conceived as a spinoff to the ever-in-the-zeitgeist sitcom "All in the Family," but it soon took on a life of its own. The show starred a pre-"Golden Girls" Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, well-to-do liberal feminist with a knack for telling everyone around her what's what.

Maude was also a middle-aged woman, a reality that was never more apparent than in the show's most famous, controversial episode. The 1972 two-parter "Maude's Dilemma" saw Maude contemplate –- and ultimately choose –- abortion after finding herself pregnant in her late '40s. Released before the establishment of Roe vs. Wade, "Maude's Dilemma" was a lightning rod for heated conversations about reproductive rights, and remains an enduring part of the show's legacy today.

Exclusive: The Into the Wild actor is starring in the indie horror movie Woozy which starts shooting this month in New Jersey. Emile Hirsch will star in the Joey Bicicchi directed and written feature, which reps the filmmaker’s feature directorial debut.

Woozy is billed as a movie that tells of unhealthy coping mechanisms and the battle against fears, depression, phobias, and delusions. Hirsch plays Dusty, who has deliberately structured his life, through meditation, yoga, boxing, nutrition, and hygiene, to create a clean and safe environment. What happens when Dusty’s flawless system fails? Woozy appears – a horrifying apparition who torments Dusty.

Keith Kjarval is producing through his Unified Pictures label. Lalit Bhatnagar (One Amazing Thing) through his Imagination Infinite production company and Gary Michael Schultz are also set as producers on the...

Creator Noah Hawley is obsessed with the Coen brothers. You’d have to be, to keep the FX “Fargo” series flame burning. He keeps going back to their oeuvre, not just the Oscar-winning original, but other touchstones as well, and quotes scenes and dialogue with abandon. That said, his Minnesota and Dakota stories are drawn from the real world, even if they’re infused with the Coens’ sensibility, their dark humor, their tone.

What is that Coens DNA exactly? Hawley has always been a prolific novelist and screenwriter. “It’s still a huge part of my storytelling identity,” he said over mint tea in Beverly Hills. “But Joel and Ethan write a lot of movies they don’t direct and those movies are never Coen Brothers movies, right? There must be something in the translation from the page to the screen. That is what makes it a Coen Brothers movie.

Norman Lear was a man of modest physical stature, standing a trim 5’7″ on a good day. In terms of his impact on television — comedy primarily, but the medium as a whole — he was a giant, who belongs on any Mt. Rushmore of showrunners. He dominated an entire decade of TV like no one before or since, with hit after hit that expanded the boundaries of what could be done with the old-fashioned multi-camera sitcom format (shot on a stage in front of a studio audience), and what kinds of stories and characters audiences would accept.

Jon Hamm is answering the questions that really matter.

The Mad Men star is opening up about his Fargo season five hot tub scene, which had the actor show his bare butt while his villainous character seemingly exposed himself when trying to intimidate a pair of FBI agents.

In the new season of FX’s acclaimed crime anthology drama, which premiered Nov. 21, Hamm plays Roy Tillman, a crooked preacher and rancher serving as a rural county sherif who dishes out justices as he sees fit (“I am the law of the land”).

Discussing the second episode’s hot tub scene on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Hamm first talked about the freezing temperatures while shooting in Calgary.

“I thought I had a rider in my contract [that said] naked’s fine, cold naked is not great,” he said. “I’m more of a warm naked [guy].”

Kimmel asked Hamm what the actors in...

For the past 15 years or so, Noah Hawley has called Austin, Texas, home. Sure, he’s spent long stretches elsewhere — Calgary for FX’s Fargo, Bangkok for his forthcoming series Alien — but home, where his wife and two children (ages 16 and 11) reside, is 1,400 miles from Hollywood. And, as Hawley sees it, it’s served him well. “I always say I want to tell stories for everybody, and it helps not to be in a coastal bubble if you want to do that,” he says in early November. “And sure, Austin is its own bubble, but I do like the remove.”

The distance certainly hasn’t impacted his output, which is prolific, nor his success. In fact, Fargo, which returns for a fifth season starring Jon Hamm, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh on Nov. 21, has been nominated for 55 Emmys and won six. In recent years, Hawley, a third-generation writer whose twin brother,...

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy will star in a Theatre Aspen stage production of Anne Nelson’s The Guys this September.

The production, which will play on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, is part of the theater’s Solo Flights festival, for shows in development, and will serve as a fundraiser for Theatre Aspen Education programming and the first responders in the surrounding Roaring Fork Valley.

This is the first project Huffman and Macy, who are married, have done together since the 2017 film Krystal, which Macy directed and the pair starred in. Huffman previously appeared on stage at Theatre Aspen in 1984.

“I came to Aspen, in the usual way, following a girl. I fell in love with this valley, that girl and later married her in Woody Creek. I’m honored to be a part of Aspen’s community, and it’s a thrill to be performing at Theatre Aspen, where...

The little-seen 2003 movie "The Cooler" tells the story of a man so unlucky that he can make a living in casinos by bumming out a player's winning streak just by standing next to them. Who else in the modern history of cinema could play that part better than William H. Macy?

He has had a career spanning over 40 years and in that time he has played cops, lawyers, principals, army men, doctors, former quiz champions, and devoted fathers and husbands. But few actors can do squirmy desperation better, and his screen persona is defined by playing the pathetic, browbeaten, hapless losers of the world. Those roles may only make up a small proportion of his extensive filmography but they're the ones that really stick, most notably scheming car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo" and the publicly cuckolded Little Bill in "Boogie Nights."

Those roles brought him to international attention, making...

If you love the “Jurassic Park” franchise, chances are a lot of that has to do with Sam Neill and his portrayal of paleontologist Alan Grant.

In the first film, Grant is a somewhat grumpy scientist who is convinced by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to assess his newly designed theme park. Of course, all goes to hell, and Grant must help the survivors escape the dinosaur-overrun island. Neill returned for the third film, “Jurassic Park III,” this time getting conned by an estranged couple (played by William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) into looking for their missing son on the second island. Since then he’s been absent. Until now.

With “Jurassic World: Dominion,” Neill returns to the franchise as Grant, who along with his old pals Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) investigate a mystery connected to the dinosaurs from Jurassic World and team up with...

John Clarke, a longtime star of the NBC soap “Days of Our Lives” who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement daytime Emmy in 2005, died Oct. 16 from complications stemming from pneumonia, his family announced in a statement Monday night. He was 88, and had been in declining health for the last several years.

Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1931 and raised across the country due to his father’s career as an Army officer, Clarke attended UCLA, receiving a BA in theater, where among his accolades he received the Sigma Rho award. He studied with Dorothy Foulger at UCLA, Michael Ferrall of the University of Washington, and Stephen Book in Hollywood.

Clarke also served as an Air Force sergeant during the Korean war, performing as part of a troupe that entertained soldiers throughout the United States.

Also Read: Bill Macy, Actor Who Played Bea Arthur's Husband Walter on 'Maude,' Dies...

Bill Macy, the actor who made an indelible imprint on 1970s sitcoms with his portrayal on Norman Lear’s Maude of the loving if always up-for-an-argument Walter Findlay, died last night in Los Angeles. He was 97.

Macy’s death was announced by his producer and manager Matt Beckoff, writing on Facebook “My buddy Bill Macy passed away at 7:13pm tonight. He was a spitfire right up to the end…My condolences to his beautiful wife Samantha Harper Macy.” (See the post below.)

Macy costarred in the 1972-78 All in the Family spin-off series opposite Bea Arthur, who played the outspoken liberal Maude Findlay, a cousin of Family‘s Edith Bunker.

Macy’s post-Maude credits include 1979’s Steve Martin vehicle The Jerk, 1982’s My Favorite Year, Movers & Shakers (1985), Tales from the Darkside (1986), Me, Myself and I (1992), Analyze This (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), The Holiday (2006), and Mr. Woodcock (2007), among many others.

Numerous TV...

Bill Macy, who played the frustrated husband Walter Findlay opposite Bea Arthur on the hit 1970s sitcom Maude, has died. He was 97.

Macy, who also portrayed Sy Benson, the head writer of a 1950s sketch comedy show, in the classic My Favorite Year (1982), died Thursday night in Los Angeles at 7:13 p.m. local time, producer and manager Matt Beckoff told The Hollywood Reporter.

Macy also stood out as the weaselly Charlie Hatter, an old pal of Art Carney's aging detective character, in Robert Benton's The Late Show (1977), and his Stan Fox helped Steve Martin's Navin R. Johnson ...

Bill Macy, who played the frustrated husband Walter Findlay opposite Bea Arthur on the hit 1970s sitcom Maude, has died. He was 97.

Macy, who also portrayed Sy Benson, the head writer of a 1950s sketch comedy show, in the classic My Favorite Year (1982), died Thursday night in Los Angeles, producer and manager Matt Beckoff told The Hollywood Reporter.

Macy also stood out as the weaselly Charlie Hatter, an old pal of Art Carney's aging detective character, in Robert Benton's The Late Show (1977), and his Stan Fox helped Steve Martin's Navin R. Johnson bring the (ultimately flawed) eyeglass invention ...

David Mamet is defending longtime friend Felicity Huffman and her husband, Shameless actor William H. Macy, following the actress’ indictment Tuesday in a wide-reaching college admissions bribery scandal.

In an open letter, the Oscar-nominated writer of Wag the Dog and The Verdict wrote that he’s known Huffman for 35 years and is “crazy” about the former Desperate Housewives star and her husband, with whom he started the Off Broadway Atlantic Theatre Company.

Huffman and Full House actress Lori Loughlin and 48 other high-profile individuals were indicted in connection with a federal college admissions cheating investigation. They allegedly participated in a nationwide conspiracy to get students admitted to top colleges including Georgetown, Stanford, USC and Yale, according to a federal indictment.

Mamet blamed Huffman’s alleged role in the admissions scheme on “a parent’s zeal for her children’s future” and called the situation “unfortunate.” He added that he’s worked...

Playwright David Mamet has expressed sympathy for his longtime friend Felicity Huffman and her husband, fellow actor William H. Macy, following her indictment in a widespread college admissions bribery scandal.

In a statement sent to media outlets on Tuesday, Mamet also slammed the “elite universities,” calling their admissions policies “an unfortunate and corrupt joke.”

“I’ve known Felicity Huffman for those 35 years, she was my student, my colleague, worked in many of my films, and created roles on stage in three of my plays,” Mamet said. “I’m crazy about them both. That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon.”

Huffman debuted on Broadway in 1988 in Mamet’s “Speed the Plow” and won an Obie Award in 1995 for her work in Mamet’s “The Cryptogram.

William Hurt, Christine Lahti and Elizabeth Perkins do excellent work in this superior drama which delivers an important, unforced life lesson. An emotionless hotshot surgeon gets a dose of his own medicine when he’s hit by a cancerous tumor, and is put through the same wringer that so humiliates his patients. What might be a cynical critique becomes a curiously uplifting drama about the need to include some humanity in one’s profession. Asserting the importance of kindness and empathy to people in need, director Randa Haines’ show is more uplifting than a faith-based film.

The Doctor

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1991 / Color / widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date March 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95

Starring: William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins, Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, Charlie Korsmo, Wendy Crewson, Bill Macy, J.E. Freeman, Ed Rosenbaum.

Cinematography: John Seale

Film Editor: Lisa Fruchtman, Bruce Green

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Original Music: Michael Convertino...

ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox recently sealed a new deal with the TV Academy to keep rotating who telecasts the Emmys every year. And yet, the broadcasters are mostly shut out of the major scripted categories. Some pundits argue that it doesn’t make sense to serve as a marketing tool for streaming and premium cable for three hours on their own air, but the networks are bound by tradition — and the hope that enough people will still watch that it’s worth airing on the eve of the new fall season as a marketing tool.

Nonetheless, it’s been pointed out quite a bit over the years that the broadcast networks are at a disadvantage, as their top shows often run 24, or more, episodes per season. To pit that kind of output up against a show with an 8- or 10-episode order seems a bit unfair. CBS and “The Good Wife...

Shameless is heading into its expanded ninth season as the longest-running drama on premium cable and one of the most watched.

With 8 million viewers a week, the most recent eighth season of Shameless was most watched in Showtime’s history and ranked as the No.1 premium cable series in 2018.

“That show defies gravity,” Showtime president of programming Gary Levine said during the Showtime TCA executive session when asked about how many seasons they envision the family drama-comedy will run.

“Our feeling is that the Gallaghers can live on…, I don’t mind having them on the air for years to come.

Showtime CEO David Nevins credited the setup of the show, a “family group of characters who change over time” as helping to drive its longevity.

Ultimately, “it will be up to (executive producers) John Wells and Nancy Pimental behind the camera and Emmy Rossum and Bill Macy in front...

I’ve had a weird feeling about television lately, at least going into this year’s Emmy nominations. Not sure entirely why, but I’ve had this growing sense that it’s mostly been an overall, odd year. It’s almost like it’s an off-year election, it’s critically important and major we’re not quite betting on the biggest players or names so it doesn’t seem like it’s major. That said, it is actually a big year, there’s a lot of shows that are off, but a lot that came back. And it’s not that clear whether the biggest show around or the newest show is the one that’s still as big as they used to be. I’ve watched more television at this point than I normally have, so I’m more interested than I have been in the past, but I...

1960: Eileen Fulton debuted on As the World Turns. 1979: Pat

struggled to get past his religious differences with Nancy on

Ryan's Hope. 1990: The final episode of Falcon Crest.

1994: General Hospital's Maxie received B.J.'s heart."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1960: Eileen Fulton debuted in the role of Lisa Miller on As The World Turns. She would play the iconic role for most of...

It's hard to believe that decades ago, actress Felicity Huffman was a commitment phobe, rejecting proposals from then-boyfriend William H. Macy, given that today, they're one of the most inspiring power couples in Hollywood. The duo first met at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City when she was one of his acting students in the early 1980s, and it was "love at first sight." Felicity and William started dating shortly after, and they carried on an on-again, off-again relationship for 15 years. However, it finally took a breakup for Felicity to realize that William was the one.

"I was so scared of marriage that I thought I would've preferred to step in front of a bus," she told the Tribune News in 2015, explaining that her parents' divorce jarred her idea of marriage. "Bill Macy asked me to marry him several times over several years. And I was finally smart...

6:55 Am Pt -- Law enforcement says officers smelled marijuana in the car during the stop, and our sources say Ethan admitted he'd been smoking weed that night. We're told police drew Ethan's blood for toxicology testing, which is pending. The guy who plays one of the troubled Gallagher kids on "Shameless" ran into some real life trouble off set -- 'cause "Carl" got busted for a DUI ... TMZ has learned. 18-year-old actor Ethan Cutkosky...

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy are celebrating a milestone.

The actress, 54, took to Instagram Wednesday to post a loving tribute to her husband of 20 years alongside black and white snapshots of the pair from their youth.

“You took me home in 1985. You married me in 1997. You give me a thrill every time you walk through the door,” Huffman wrote in the caption. “Thank you for marrying me 20 years ago today. @williamhmacy.”

Her husband posted his own message, writing on Twitter on Wednesday, “Twenty years ago today I did the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I married Felicity Huffman.

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy have celebrated a lot of birthdays together, but they still seem to make each an every one special. The actress wished her husband of almost 20 years (they dated for 15 years before tying the knot) a happy birthday with a sweet photo on Instagram on Monday. In the snap, William, who turned 67 on March 13, is seen eating while wearing short-shorts and a t-shirt that says, "Wtf?" "Happy Birthday Bill Macy. To many more after-running bowls of homemade granola with you. @williamhmacy," Felicity wrote. Aside from social media, the couple frequently shows off their romance on the red carpet. Most recently, the two looked like teenagers in love when they attended the SAG Awards in January and a theater gala in early March. A post shared by Felicity Huffman (@felicityhuffman) on Mar 13, 2017 at 11:40am Pdt...

See what your favorite TV stars are wearing as they arrive at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles for the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards. “Extra” host Mario Lopez at the Emmys. “Modern Family” star Nolan Gould. Randall Park from “Veep” and “Fresh off the Boat.” “Scream Queens” star Niecy Nash. “Superstore” star America Ferrera. “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton. “American Idol” star Tori Kelly. “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman with husband, “Shameless” star, William Macy. “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton. “American Idol” star Tori Kelly. Kathryn Hahn of “Transparent.” “Modern Family” star Ariel Winter.

'Fargo' producers talk Season 2 pressure and challenges Calgary, Alberta. Success has not bred comfort for the creative team behind FX's "Fargo." It's early April at one of the vast stages housing props and interior sets for "Fargo." Just one day earlier, it was announced that "Fargo" was receiving a prestigious Peabody Award, an honor that capped off a Season 1 haul that included a Golden Globe, several Emmys and perhaps the best reviews for any 2014 television series. Not bad for a show that met with many raised eyebrows when FX announced it was bringing the Coen Brothers' Oscar-winning favorite to TV, only without any of the same actors or characters and with only the tacit blessing of its original creators. Noah Hawley, creator of FX's "Fargo," was initially cagey regarding what a second "Fargo" installment might even look like, only to reveal later that the 1979 Sioux Falls...

There was a time when Felicity Huffman was so petrified of marriage that almost anything seemed preferable. Luckily for her husband, William H. Macy, she eventually became more scared of not getting married. "I was so scared of marriage that I thought I would've preferred to step in front of a bus," the actress, 52, tells the Tribune News Service. "I thought I'd disappear. Men's stock when they get married goes up. Women's stock goes down. Another thing, 60 percent of first marriages fail, 80 percent of second marriages fail." Huffman, who plays the ex-wife of Timothy Hutton on ABC's new drama American Crime,...

There was a time when Felicity Huffman was so petrified of marriage that almost anything seemed preferable. Luckily for her husband, William H. Macy, she eventually became more scared of not getting married. "I was so scared of marriage that I thought I would've preferred to step in front of a bus," the actress, 52, tells the Tribune News Service. "I thought I'd disappear. Men's stock when they get married goes up. Women's stock goes down. Another thing, 60 percent of first marriages fail, 80 percent of second marriages fail." Huffman, who plays the ex-wife of Timothy Hutton on ABC's new drama American Crime,...

The 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are going down tonight live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I plead ignorance on a lot of the TV stuff (sorry Dan and Alan), but on the movies side, there is a lot of intrigue. After last night's Producers Guild victory for "Birdman," and with the film being a favorite to take the ensemble and lead actor prizes tonight, everyone is wondering if Alejandro González Iñárritu's film will come out of this weekend looking Boss. We'll know in due time. For now, if you have the stomach for me, follow along with our live blog of the ceremony below. We'll obviously note winners along the way, but we're keeping track of them here as well. On to the show! *** 4:15 - (P.S.: I'm totally watching the Royal Rumble on my laptop at the same time, so if I...

The Party Report’s early picks of the prestigious, unique and special gatherings at the festival. Look for these intimate invites in your inbox

Despite causing agita throughout the industry for threatening not to circulate his annual “Sundance Party List” for talent, publicists and media — Chris Ryan’s encyclopedic tome is forthcoming and will be likely forwarded several times by the time you’re reading this post.

This is not that list.

Instead of a comprehensive treatise, I’ve picked the intimate, special and the unique gatherings of the creative community and people who make Sundance scene special and so broadly popular,...

This party preview will be continually updating between now and the big weekend. The Golden Globes air on Jan. 11 on NBC at 5 p.m. Pt/ 8 p.m. Et.

It’s the Hanukkah of award shows: one twinkly night that lasts for over a week.

See photos: Golden Globes 2015: The Nominees (Photos)

While the Golden Globes’ swell in popularity despite an increasingly savvy audience is something of a miracle, the industry’s persistent wholesale buy-in simultaneously reinforces the gap they enjoy over awards show wannabes, such as November’s first televised Hollywood Film Awards.

Prepare for week of parties with buyer’s,...

The nominees for this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced with many of the usual suspects in this year's race so far popping up, along with some wild card additions. Here's the breakdown by category in films and television:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Steve Carell ("Foxcatcher"), Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game"), Jake Gyllenhaal ("Ngihtcrawler"), Michael Keaton ("Birman"), and Eddie Redmayne ("The Theory of Everything").

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jennifer Aniston ("Cake"), Felicity Jones ("The Theory of Everything"), Julianne Moore ("Still Alice"), Rosamund Pike ("Gone Girl"), Reese Witherspoon ("Wild").

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Duvall ("The Judge"), Ethan Hawke ("Boyhood"), Edward Norton ("Birdman"), Mark Ruffalo ("Foxcatcher"), J.K. Simmons ("Whiplash").

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood"), Keira Knightley ("The Imitation Game"), Emma Stone ("Birdman"), Meryl Streep...

Nominations for the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 25 on TNT/TBS, were announced this Wednesday morning, and Modern Family led the TV pack with four total nominations.

Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, Homeland and Game of Thrones followed with three nods each. Mad Men was shut out for a second year in a row, while first-time nominees include Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, Orange Is the New Black‘s Uzo Aduba and ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder (for series lead Viola Davis).

Check out this complete list of TV nominees, then...

If William Macy has been taking it easy on the silver screen these past few years, that's only because he's devoted himself entirely to playing Frank Gallagher on Showtime's Shameless. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, Shameless revolves around an alcoholic (Macy) who lives in a perpetual stupor while his six children (including the lovely Emmy Rossum) cope as best they can. Season 5 starts up early next year and a trailer has dropped just to show...

Even the name “Hollows Grove” doesn’t sound like a pleasant place to visit.

In a found footage-style horror film, it follows a group of paranormal activity investigators into a haunted children’s hospital.

Here’s the full synopsis:

A young filmmaker, Harold Maxwell is filming a behind-the-scenes documentary about his friends - the Spirit and Paranormal Investigation Team, (S.P.I.T) and their ghost hunting reality show. Harold joins the S.P.I.T crew as they head out to their next assignment, to film an old, abandoned and supposedly haunted orphanage, Hollows Grove. Soon after arriving at the orphanage the team begins to realize that what they thought would be a routine investigation is turning in to a nightmare from which they can’t escape.

The cast includes Lance Henriksen, Matt Doherty, Sunkrish Bala, Mikelti Williamson, Val Morrison, Matthew Carey and Bresha Webb. It is the feature...

Perched at the top of this week’s flock of specialty film debuts is Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), a possible Oscar contender starring Michael Keaton. Though it’s a limited release, Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s complex film about a fading action-hero trying to reclaim his mojo on Broadway nevertheless combines elements of a superhero franchise that could tap fans well beyond the art house.

It’s part of yet another big flock of specialty film debuts coming this weekend, including the controversy-minded Sundance award-winner Dear White People, William H. Macy‘s directorial debut Rudderless, Kristen Stewart‘s Camp X-Ray, Jason Schwartzman‘s Listen Up Philip, The Golden Era, Summer Of Blood, and one great revival, Alain Resnais’ 1959 landmark Hiroshima Mon Amour.

To get a sense of Fox Searchlight’s ambitions for Birdman, the film closed the New York Film Festival last weekend to strong reviews, but then...

Up next in the never-ending series of TCA press tour live-blogs?  Showtime President David Nevins. Showtime hasn't had an especially controversial or drama-filled year, but we're sure to have lots to discuss including the new season of "Homeland," series development and more. Follow along... 1:45 p.m. David Nevins starts with pre-question updates. Eight of Showtime's nine shows got Emmy nominations. Showtime has 10 shows, but "Penny Dreadful" won't be eligible until next year. He notes that "Penny Dreadful" was the network's most-watched new show on OnDemand and ShowtimeAnytime. As was announced earlier, "Homeland" is back for 12 episodes on October 5. In case you've forgotten, "Homeland" hit ratings highs.  1:48 p.m. October 19 is the premiere date for "The Affair." That'll be paneling later today. It's not quite what I was expecting, which I mean in a good way. On November 1, Showtime will premiere the original doc "Lost Songs: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes Continues" 1:49 p.

Rapturously received by critics at the time and the recipient of many awards – including two Oscars – the Coen brothers' 1996 picture Fargo is now widely regarded as a modern classic.

So the news that Us cable channel FX had commissioned a new television series inspired by the movie was met with skepticism in some quarters – even the show's star Martin Freeman admits he had reservations.

"I think my initial reaction was probably the same as most people's initial reaction, which is – oh, how's that going to work?"

But Fargo the series is a different beast than the film, Freeman insists, using the Coens' work as "a jumping-off point" to explore new characters – including his own downtrodden insurance salesman Lester Nygaard.

"There was never a moment in five months of shooting where I thought about the film," the actor claims. "I'm hoping that people who like the film will be able to let us into their lives,...

Calgary - As pages go, Warren Littlefield is slightly overqualified. The Brandon Tartikoff protege spent 20 years as an executive at NBC, cultivating in a '90s run as NBC Entertainment President a gig that was, at times, rather wildly successful. On this March day in Calgary, though, Littlefield is serving as a tour-guide for a group of reporters visiting the set of his FX limited series "Fargo." Just a 10 minute drive from downtown Calgary, we've left the urban center behind and we're at a facility that is doubling for the Bemidji Police Department, as well as several other rural Minnesota hubs. Depending on which way you wander, there are interrogation rooms, a main squad area, portions of a local hospital and a middle school cafeteria, in which we're conducting most of our interviews next to a fine piece of juvenile art that has nothing to do with "Fargo," but I'm including it anyway.

It’s fitting that Emmy Rossum was in New York the week her beloved Knicks had a major front-office makeover. Her favorite team recently announced their new president, a NBA legend you might know: Phil Jackson. In addition to promoting Shameless, the lifelong Knickerbocker fan made time to catch a game at Madison Square Garden, and chatted with us about her thoughts on the team’s future as well as her day job: Showtime‘s Shameless, where she’s played the mature yet consistently self-sabotaging Fiona Gallagher, for four seasons.

As we near the end of the show’s much bleaker fourth season, Emmy revealed what it’s like to swear around a room full of children and whether or not her character will ever truly feel happy. Read on for the New York spots the actress can’t get enough of and who she’s rooting for in the Fiona/Mike/Robbie love triangle.

Michael C. here. On the Boogie Nights DVD commentary track, Paul Thomas Anderson tells the story of how the audience cheered at the film’s first screening during the scene where William H. Macy’s Little Bill snaps and shoots his adulterous wife. PTA recalls sinking in his seat, wondering how he stepped so wrong that the moment he intended to be a nauseating gut punch was being received as a crowd pleaser. He was relieved moments later when, as he tells it:

William H Macy's gut punch as "Little Bill" in Boogie Nights

Bill Macy walked out and he shot himself in the face and they shut the fuck up real quick. And they weren’t laughing, and they weren’t cheering, and it was dead silence. And I thought, “Good.” I’ve done my job okay. It’s them that’s fucked up. It’s really the moment...

Get ready to see a different side of Sam Rockwell. Well known for his goofy charm in movies such as this summer's "The Way Way Back" and as a suave bad guy in "Charlie's Angels" and "Iron Man 2," Rockwell's role in this weekend's indie "A Single Shot" could come as a shock. He plays John Moon, a West Virginian man who finds himself in a spot of trouble after he accidentally murders a young woman while hunting in the woods. Soon, he's the one being hunted.

We caught up with Rockwell prior to the movie's release, chatting on his trademark dance moves, the thick West Virginia accent he adopted for the role and the power of a good beard.

Talk to me a little bit about "A Single Shot." You're known for playing a very different kind of role than the very countrified, rough character in John Moon.

I think that I just wanted,...

The fourth season of Shameless will return on Jan. 12 to Showtime — the same night the pay cabler will debut another season of Episodes starring Matt LeBlanc and House of Lies with Don Cheadle.

Shameless featuring Emmy Rossum and Bill Macy will air at 9 p.m., followed by Lies at 10 and Episodes at 10:30 p.m.

In other Showtime news, announced today at the net’s Television Critics Association press tour session:

*Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger, Luther) has been cast as the female lead in The Affair, a drama pilot in the works about a young married woman, working in a pancake house,...

Little-known fact: Ever since the anti-Commie masterpiece "Red Dawn" debuted in 1984 with the first-ever PG-13 rating, the MPAA has rationed out F-bombs to PG-13 movies like a master offering up gruel to orphans in a Dickens novel — one per.

Of course, the MPAA being the shady, Illuminati-like organization that it is, the rule is subject to their strange, nonsensical whims, and occasionally more than one is allowed in, or none at all. But for the most part, it stands that PG-13 writers and directors have to reserve their "f**ks" for the best moment possible.

With that in mind, we've assembled a list of movies that put their F-bombs-in-hole to the best use.

20. 'The Wedding Singer' (1998)

"But it all was bulls***! It was a goddamn joke! And when I think of you, Linda, I hope you f**king choke!" — Robbie Hart

This was crooned by a heartbroken Adam Sandler...