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Gene Hackman was an American original: an everyman actor with unremarkable physical features who became exceptional through the sheer force of his authenticity. Actors can drive themselves nuts trying to be believable, to simply inhabit a scene as a human being with sincere purpose, but Hackman was only ever genuine. He was also prolific, which means that his gift was occasionally squandered in some less-than-stellar films, but we watched them anyway because the promise of a new Hackman performance was worth the time. Now that he's left us for good at the age of 95, those hours we spent watching dreck like "Loose Cannons" or "The Replacements" hardly feel like a waste.

Hackman appeared in all kinds of movies, and excelled at so many different types of roles that he was never closely associated with one particular genre. But there was something about Westerns that perfectly suited his unfussy performance style.

I remember going to the movie theater in 1998 to see “The Truman Show” for the first time and being blown away. It was the scariest non-horror film I’d ever seen up to that point (and maybe still), showing us a world of utter consumerism and commodification and its horrific impact on a man who didn’t know he was born to literally be a reality show. It seemed inconceivable that something like what happens to Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) could really occur. This was, after all, the era before we started carrying around smartphones and mini computers in our pocket, before anything called Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and years before even MySpace came into being – and before we were all deputized as amateur filmmakers thanks to the still camera and video we keep with us and use to publish sometimes hourly.

Twenty-five years after its release in the...

One of the most celebrated movies of 1998 was “Saving Private Ryan,” starring Tom Hanks, Jeremy Davies and Matt Damon. Written by Robert Rodat and directed by Steven Spielberg, the war film tells of a group of U.S. soldiers who are ordered to retrieve a man whose three brothers have all been killed in action. Released 25 years ago on July 24, 1998, “Saving Private Ryan” was a massive commercial success, making $217 million in the United States and $482 million worldwide. The first team-up of Spielberg and Hanks went on to win five Oscars, though infamously not Best Picture. Read on as Gold Derby celebrates the “Saving Private Ryan” 25th anniversary.

Most critics loved the film, including Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times, who called it “a powerful and impressive milestone in the realistic depiction of combat.” Wendy Ides in Times (UK) said that the opening 24-minute war sequence “is one of the...

Tom Stoppard and the late Terrence McNally have won the most Tonys for a playwright taking home four each. The 85-year-old Stoppard is a strong contender to pick up his fifth Tony for his latest (and perhaps final) play “Leopoldstadt.” The acclaimed drama revolves around a wealthy Jewish family who had fled the programs in Eastern Europe and settled in Vienna. In an interview, Stoppard noted that the play “took a year to write but the gestation was much longer. Quite a lot of it is personal to me but I made it a Viennese family so that it wouldn’t seem to be about me. “ Stoppard, who was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, lost all four of his grandparents in the Holocaust.

“Leopoldstadt” earned six nominations on May 2 including Best Play and best director for Patrick Marber. It will be vying for the top prize against Jordon E. Cooper’s...

Director Edward Zwick recently explained why Julia Roberts walked away from Shakespeare in Love, costing the film millions of dollars. Released in 1998 from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel director John Madden, the film was both a critical and box office success, winning Best Picture at the 71st Academy Awards. However, the project originally began under Zwick in 1991 with a screenplay from Marc Norman. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead scribe Tom Stoppard rewrote the script, attracting Roberts to the production.

After her work in the 1990 smash hit Pretty Woman, Roberts' interest in Shakespeare in Love encouraged Universal Pictures to invest in the film. Roberts was determined to convince Daniel Day-Lewis to accept the lead role, telling Zwick to cancel all chemistry tests as she was sure he would accept. Lewis declined causing Roberts' attitude to change. In Air Mail (via Variety), Zwick explained how Roberts' eventual departure from the film cost the studio $6 million.

Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar for best actress thanks to her role in “Shakespeare in Love,” but it was Julia Roberts who was originally courted for the role of Viola de Lesseps. Producer Edward Zwick recently published a first-person essay for Air Mail about the the making of “Shakespeare in Love.” The director behind “Glory” and “Legends of the Fall” championed the film from the beginning, coordinating with Marc Norman on the original script and getting famed playwright Tom Stoppard to come onboard to do a re-write. Zwick also bore witness to Julia Roberts joining and abandoning the project in spectacular fashion.

According to Zwick, Universal Pictures only agreed to put down money for the film when Julia Roberts expressed interest in starring in the lead role. As Zwick wrote, “The mere possibility of having the ‘Pretty Woman’ wearing a corseted gown got the studio excited enough to cough up the dough.

Roughly a month after a chaotic Academy Awards ceremony ended, the full speeches from this year’s telecast were finally made available on the Oscars YouTube page over the past week. But until about 2 p.m. Tuesday, there was one dramatic exception. Will Smith’s best actor speech for his performance in “King Richard” was conspicuously absent from the uploads posted earlier.

Variety reached out to ABC and the Academy for comment on this story. Just before this story was published, the Academy uploaded Smith’s video clip, after the organization uploaded the final category of the evening, best picture, which went to Apple Original Films’ “Coda.”

Did it have something to do with the slap heard around the world and Smith’s controversial, tear-streaked speech that he delivered later that same night? All of the clips of the winners had been released over the last seven days, in the order of their presentation.

Gwyneth Paltrow never felt the same after making “Shakespeare in Love.” The movie that earned her the best actress Oscar 20 years ago transformed her into a global star. “It just changed my life,” Paltrow says on a recent afternoon in Los Angeles, reflecting on the impact of the 1998 romantic comedy that grossed nearly $300 million worldwide — a staggering achievement for an independent movie. “I don’t think it ever went back to normal.”

Though Paltrow had carried other films, including crowd-pleasers such as “Emma” and “Sliding Doors” — and she’d been a fixture in the tabloids for dating Brad Pitt — “Shakespeare in Love” cemented her status as a one-name brand. Her teary Academy Awards victory speech became an instant classic on the Oscars reel of memorable waterworks. Some 46 million viewers tuned in to see her in a pink Ralph Lauren ballgown, guaranteeing that she’d never be able to anonymously slip into a restaurant again.

Each year the day after the Oscars, there is a water cooler debate about which movie should have won. Usually these debates are quickly forgotten and lost in awards history except to the most ardent movie lovers. However, there is occasionally an Oscar upset so great that people don’t forget. This year marks the 20th anniversary of such an upset: “Shakespeare in Love” winning Best Picture by beating “Saving Private Ryan” (watch the flashback video of that stunner above announced by Harrison Ford).

I was one of the many who was stunned by this win on March 21, 1999. Everyone thought Spr would win, despite the fact that Shakespeare had the lead in nominations that year. How could a flighty fictional love story win over a fact-based WWII drama? The heavily-financed Miramax campaign led by the now-disgraced Harvey Weinstein caused some to feel Shakespeare stole the win from Ryan. This year...

It’s the 20th anniversary of “Shakespeare in Love,” which premiered in New York on Dec. 3, 1998, defying expectations and making Oscar history. On Oct. 23, 1992, Variety reported that Universal and Savoy Pictures had “indefinitely shelved” the $20 million production with Julia Roberts and director Ed Zwick when Daniel Day-Lewis dropped out. It went into turnaround, then froze until Miramax finally revived it in 1998.

The film was a hit, earning $289 million worldwide and winning seven Oscars. When it was named best picture, five producers trooped onstage to accept, an all-time high. Academy honchos soon set a maximum of three. The AMPAS move was partly made to combat Hollywood’s proliferation of producer credits, and partly to rebuke Miramax execs. Still, the “Shakespeare” quintet pales compared with the 50-plus individuals who went onstage at this year’s Tonys when “The Band’s Visit” won the award for best musical.

“Shakespeare in Love” writer Marc Norman...

Virginia Repertory Theatre opens the Signature Season with Shakespeare in Love, based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and adapted by Lee Hall.

Virginia Repertory Theatre opens the Signature Season with Shakespeare in Love, based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and adapted by Lee Hall.

Charlie Bronson cashed in big with this lightweight action thriller co-starring Jill Ireland and Robert Duvall. Did Duvall get involved because the original concept was a serious look at political scandals between big business, the CIA and Chile? The clues from the real source story are still there.

Breakout

Region B + A Blu-ray

Koch Media / Explosive Media (De)

1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date January 17, 2017 / Der Mann ohne Nerven / Available from Amazon.de Eur 15,99

Starring: Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Sheree North, John Huston, Jorge Moreno, Paul Mantee, Emilio Fernandez, Alan Vint, Roy Jenson, John Huston.

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard

Editor: Bud Isaacs

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by: Howard B. Kreitsek, Marc Norman, Elliott Baker suggested by the book Ten Second Jailbreak by Warren Hinckle, William Turner, Eliot Asinof.

Produced by: Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler

Directed by: Tom Gries

Charles Bronson seems to have been an unhappy...

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Shakespeare in Love, staged to great acclaim in the West End, will have its North American premiere as a part of the 2016 season at the Stratford Festival, directed by Declan Donnellan. Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, the play is adapted for the stage by Lee Hall and will be presented by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Group and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The stage adaptation of Oscar winner Shakespeare In Love has opened at London’s Noel Coward Theatre to raves from many of the UK critics but a big ho-hum from the New York Times‘s Ben Brantley, which could throw a wet blanket over plans for a Broadway transfer by co-producers Disney and Sonia Friedman. “I’ve often attacked our modern mania for turning movies into plays. But, in the case of Shakespeare In Love, the transformation is fully justified,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian. “Even more than the original screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Lee Hall’s new version is a […]...

The 1998 film Shakespeare in Love has its passionate defenders. Nevertheless, it’s perhaps remembered now less for its merits than for being the movie that somehow beat strong, arguably more enduring contenders — such as Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line — to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. (In a way, the real winner was Harvey Weinstein, who ran a very shrewd marketing campaign.) Marc Norman's and Tom Stoppard’s Oscar-winning script was always the film’s secret weapon, which is lucky for the new stage adaptation of Shakespeare in Love. Like restoration architects who strip what seems

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The Oscar-winning film has been adapted for the stage by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. A co-production of Disney and Sonia Friedman Productions, the show is currently previewing at London’s Noel Coward Theatre and opening on July 23. The cast of 28 and a dog is directed by Declan Donnellan and the romantic comedy has been designed by Nick Ormerod. Look for a Broadway transfer in the not-too-distant future.

Produced by Disney and Sonia Friedman Productions and based on the Academy Award-winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love has been adapted for the stage by Lee Hall Billy Elliot. Featuring a company of 28 actors and musicians, one of the largest companies ever assembled for a play in the West End, and a dog, this new play will be directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, the driving force behind the world-renowned theatre company, Cheek by Jowl. The new play, which opens on July 23, is currently playing at the Noel Coward Theatre.BroadwayWorld brings you highlights of the cast in action below...

The first pictures have been released from the stage adaptation of Shakespeare in Love.

The adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1998 movie is currently in previews at London's Noël Coward Theatre.

It has been adapted for the stage by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) and features a company of 28 actors and musicians.

It is directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, and tickets are on sale now.

Tom Bateman plays William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps is played by Lucy Briggs-Owen.

Anna Carteret plays Queen Elizabeth and Tony Bell takes on the role of Ralph.

"Everyone who loves the theatre loves what Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman created with the miracle that is Shakespeare in Love," said Thomas Schumacher, President and Producer of Disney Theatrical Productions.

"It is a Valentine to the Theatre and what better way to celebrate that than to turn to consummate theatre artists; Declan, Nick, Lee and...

From the world's tallest building to Adele's 'modern jazz'-inspired third album, the big events of 2014 are lining up

Television

True Detective

Crime drama is always looking for new ways of dramatising a murder investigation: one killing investigated over 10 episodes; alternating viewpoints of cops, killer, victims and so on. However, in this ambitious series from HBO, multiple seasons will follow the search for a serial killer in Louisiana over 17 years, with each year introducing a new cast. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are in the first group. Either magnificent or mad. Mark Lawson HBO.

Penny Dreadful

This has a remarkable lineage: it is produced by film and stage director Sam Mendes and John Logan, who wrote Skyfall for Mendes as well as Hugo, The Aviator and Gladiator. Its disadvantage may be the daring concept, in which a number of fictional horror story characters – Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and Dorian Gray – are living in Victorian London.

“You see – comedy. Love, and a bit with a dog. That’s what they want”, was said famously by Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love, the Academy Award winning Best Picture victor for 1998, and now you may get to see all those things live (perhaps the little dog, too!). Producers announced today that the Bard-inspired romance-about a debt-ridden upstart playwright named Will (Joseph Fiennes) and his unlikely muse (Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow) who helps him craft a masterwork-will debut as a play next summer in London, which will be directed and designed by Cheek by Jowl cofounders Declan Donellan and Nick Omerod,...

Opening in summer 2014, the play was adapted by Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot") from Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's screenplay for the 1998 Oscar-winning Gwyneth Paltrow movie.

New York -- Viola de Lesseps will serve as muse to struggling playwright Will Shakespeare once more when the stage version of Shakespeare in Love opens next summer in London.

Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions will team on the long-gestating project. The new play has been adapted by Lee Hall, the Tony-winning book writer of Billy Elliot, who also penned the screenplay for the original film on which that hit musical was based.

Photos: Broadway Musicals That Have Sung Their Way to the Big Screen

Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, known for bold reinterpretations of Shakespeare's texts through their theater company Cheek by Jowl, will stage Shakespeare in Love, with direction by Donnellan and design by Ormerod.

The 1998 Miramax release was directed...

“Shakespeare in Love,” an Oscar-winning movie about the world’s greatest playwright, will make it’s way to the stage in a new production scheduled to premiere in London’s West End. The film followed the Bard as he unexpectedly meets his muse and is inspired to write “Romeo & Juliet.” Also read: Alanis Morissette ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Musical Eyes Broadway Run The stage version will open at London’s Noel Coward Theatre in the summer of 2014, and will be adapted by Lee Hall from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Hall previously adapted “Billy Elliot” into a Tony Award winning musical.

The stage premiere of Shakespeare in Love will open at London's Noel Coward Theatre in the summer of 2014. This new play will be adapted for the stage by Lee Hall from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Declan Donnellan will direct and the production will be designed by Nick Ormerod. Shakespeare in Love will be produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Shakespeare in Love will launch in the West End in summer 2014, it has been announced.

Lee Hall has adapted the 1998 movie for the stage, from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard.

Declan Donnellan will direct the new production, with designs by Nick Ormerod. It will be produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The box office will be open to the public in February 2014, with preview performances starting in early July.

Based on the multiple Oscar-winning film, the stage show will run at London's Noel Coward Theatre.

A cast of over 26 actors and musicians will be involved, with further details to be announced in the coming months.

Lee Hall previously won a Tony Award for his adaptation of Billy Elliot, while he also wrote the screenplay for War Horse.

"Everyone who loves the theatre loves what Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman created with the miracle that is Shakespeare in Love,...

At a Zurich Film Festival masterclass, the mogul also confirms plans to direct Mila 18 “sooner rather than later.”

Harvey Weinstein, speaking at a Masterclass at the Zurich Film Festival, said that this year’s Oscars race is “the most competitive season I’ve ever seen.”

He was responding to a question from the audience about Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco starring Nicole Kidman being moved back from November 2013 to spring 2014. Weinstein said this was simply a case of the film not being ready. “The only reason is because it just wasn’t ready…The score wasn’t ready, a lot of things weren’t ready…Also we’ve played no festivals on that movie, so it’s hard to get into an Oscar race without at least some festival exposure. The movie is going to be fantastic, and very glamorous. I think this could be bigger than My Week With Marilyn and in the same category...

At a Zurich Film Festival masterclass, the mogul also confirms plans to direct Mila 18 “sooner rather than later.”

Harvey Weinstein, speaking at a Masterclass at the Zurich Film Festival, said that this year’s Oscars race is “the most competitive season I’ve ever seen.”

He was responding to a question from the audience about Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco starring Nicole Kidman being moved back from November 2013 to spring 2014. Weinstein said this was simply a case of the film not being ready. “The only reason is because it just wasn’t ready…The score wasn’t ready, a lot of things weren’t ready…Also we’ve played no festivals on that movie, so it’s hard to get into an Oscar race without at least some festival exposure. The movie is going to be fantastic, and very glamorous. I think this could be bigger than My Week With Marilyn and in the same category...

To have one giant money-losing tentpole is unfortunate. To have two starts to look careless, and that's what's happened to Taylor Kitsch. The actor, who broke out on TV's "Friday Night Lights," was seen as Hollywood's next great hope, picked out to star in two great big blockbusters with a combined cost of half-a-billion dollars. But when "John Carter" arrived in March, the film wildly underperformed, with Disney taking a hit of at least $100 million on the project. And after this weekend, it looks that his other film, "Battleship," is going to lose similar amounts.

The film, Universal & Hasbro's adaptation of the board game, directed by "Hancock" helmer Peter Berg, had taken the unusual step of opening everywhere else in the world six weeks ahead of the U.S, in the hope of bagging lucrative foreign coin and building buzz for the U.S. release. But while the film did ok abroad,...

London, Oct 23: British playwright Tom Stoppard has teamed up with Disney studio bosses to adapt his Oscar-winning 1998 romantic comedy 'Shakespeare in Love' script into a play.

Stoppard, who shared the best screenplay Oscar award with Marc Norman for 'Shakespeare In Love', will revamp the screenplay for the stage, reports Variety magazine.

No dates and casting details have been announced.

Ians...

HollywoodNews.com: “A Double Life” (1947), the psychological drama from director George Cukor and writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Oscar Noir: 1940s Writing Nominees from Hollywood’s Dark Side” on Monday, August 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The film will be introduced by Oscar®-winning screenwriter Marc Norman (“Shakespeare in Love”).

The film received four Academy Award® nominations, including Directing (Cukor) and Writing – Original Screenplay (Gordon and Kanin). Ronald Colman won a Best Actor Oscar for his change-of-pace role as an actor whose performance as Othello starts to affect his personal life, and Miklos Rozsa took home an Oscar for Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

At 7 p.m., the MGM Tex Avery cartoon short “Bad Luck Blackie” (1949) and “Captain Marvel’s Secret,” the final...

The biggest night in Hollywood is here and over the next few hours they’ll be tears, cheers and (hopefully) a few surprises as the 82nd Academy Awards are handed out.

The sordid trudge up the red carpet has finished and I’m going to be blogging live as the winners are announced, you can have a look at our Oscars predictions here and follow us on as the Twitter storm rages, or get all interactive with FilmXtra Tom who is video blogging the Oscars here.

My hopes are with Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan and I’m secretly hoping that Tarantino walks off with Best Picture for Inglourious Basterds and Coraline bests Up for Best Animated Feature.

Ok… the time is upon us. I’ll be updating the blog with the winners as I go, as well as providing as coherent a commentary as possible.

Remember to keep hitting...

Good Will writing ... and loving ... and running ... but, look sharp, the sun and moon are outshone by his fair lady!

Miramax has hit the jackpot again with the crowd-pleasing romp -- sex, sacrifice and sonnets -- that is "Shakespeare in Love".

A project long in the making, originally developed by Universal with Edward Zwick in line to direct, this wonderfully entertaining film should break out of the pack and enjoy mainstream success. A strong run for the Oscar by lead Gwyneth Paltrow will help extend its deserved longevity in theaters and its robust prospects in ancillary and international markets.

In a little more than two hours, director John Madden ("Mrs. Brown"), screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and a terrific cast and crew accomplish the miraculous. They faithfully re-create Elizabethan times and stagecraft, imagine a soaring romance for the most famous author in the English language (if not the universe), show the genesis and evolution of that most immortal tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" and revel equally in the story's heady/sweaty mixture of classic literature and free love.

It sounds simple, but it could have gone awry so easily. With those much-pondered-upon holes in William Shakespeare's biography, the freedom to invent heroines and villains in his life might have resulted in a charming lark and nothing more.

Madden and company dive straight into the vibrant milieu after a classy opening showing the open-air, intimate theatrical settings of London circa 1593. A dashing lover with a secret or two, desperate to meet success playwriting in a highly competitive environment, our man Will (Joseph Fiennes) is not above promising both major theater companies his newest work -- whenever he manages to finish it.

Theater owner Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) is convinced that only broad comedy sells, so his friend, the Bard-to-be, sketches out a play to be titled "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate". Will doesn't have his heart in it, though, and goes on the prowl for a muse.

After a false start, he's gloomily auditioning actors when a passionate young thesp impresses him but flees to the confines of a tony residence. The pursuit is on, with the youth turning out to be Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), an heiress on the marriage block with an adventurous soul, poetic heart and overwhelming desire to act on stage (which women were not allowed to).

Indeed, the audience is way ahead of Will in getting to know and grow fond of Viola -- Paltrow wondrously delivers Elizabethan-era dialogue throughout -- after daydreamy scenes with her stoic Nurse (Imelda Staunton). In a "real-life" plot that more and more resembles "Romeo and Juliet" as it progresses, she is promised to the pompous, dangerous Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) by no less a personage than Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench in a scene-stealing performance).

Will risks injury and even death to make love and poesy with Viola as -- with much help from her, an ill-fated rival playwright and many others, including young hotshot actor Ned Alleyn (Ben Affleck) -- he refashions his work-in-progress into a tragedy, mirroring his unfortunate situation, which is presented admirably as insoluble given the social constraints of the age.

In all technical aspects, the film is a winner, particularly the production design, costumes and Lisa Westcott's makeup and hair design.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

Miramax Films

Miramax Films, Universal Pictures

The Bedford Falls Co.

Director: John Madden

Screenwriters: Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard

Producers: David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman

Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Julie Goldstein

Director of photography: Richard Greatrex

Production designer: Martin Childs

Editor: David Gamble

Costume designer: Sandy Powell

Music: Stephen Warbeck

Casting: Michelle Guish

Color/stereo

Cast:

Viola De Lesseps: Gwyneth Paltrow

Will Shakespeare: Joseph Fiennes

Philip Henslowe: Geoffrey Rush

Nurse: Imelda Staunton

Lord Wessex: Colin Firth

Queen Elizabeth: Judi Dench

Ned Alleyn: Ben Affleck

Running time -- 122 minutes

MPAA rating: R...