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Who wouldn’t want to live on the fifth floor of Los Angeles’ new Gower Court building, an architectural landmark with one of the best views in town? Looking over a vast swath of the city, with the Hollywood sign in the distance, it has the ideal vista for anyone who would like to be part of showbiz history. There’s just one thing — only the deceased can stake out a premium spot on the Sky Terrace of this mausoleum, where crypt prices start at a cool million.

This real estate, right next door to Paramount Studios, wasn’t always so desirable. Before Tyler Cassity and co-owner Yogu Kanthiah took over in 1998, Hollywood Forever Cemetery — the final resting place of legendary cinematic figures including Rudolph Valentino, Judy Garland and John Huston — had fallen into disrepair.

The new five-story Gower Mausoleum was designed by Lehrer Architects with a nod to the...

Vice TV’s “Dark Side of the Ring” has another unsettling tale from the squared circle. This time, the documentary series focuses its lens on The Sheik, a wrestler as famous for his violent antics as his in-ring skills. On Tuesday, May 13, at 10:00 Pm Et, “Blood, Fire and the Original Sheik” pulls back the […]

Dark Side of the Ring: Blood, Fire and the Original Sheik...

The world of professional wrestling is in mourning following the death of Terry Brunk. Widely known as Sabu, he passed away at the age of 60. Once dubbed “the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac”, he was known for his high-flying, daredevil antics, striving to push the limits in brutal matches filled with tables, ladders, chairs, and barbed wire.

Sabu was a fixture in the Ecw wrestling scene and cemented his legacy as a trailblazer during the 1990s hardcore wrestling boom. The former WWE star was wrestling as recently as last month when he participated in his final match during WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas.

Sabu’s last match with Joey Janela was a glorious trainwreck

Even in his last match, Sabu chose to be an absolute maniac. He decided that he would face Joey Janela in a no-ropes barbed wire match. This was supposed to be his retirement match, and he...

The upcoming episode of “Dark Side of the Ring,” titled “Blood, Fire and the Original Sheik,” promises to be a gripping look into the life and legacy of one of wrestling’s most notorious figures. Set to air at 10:00 Pm on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, on Vice, this episode dives deep into the career of The Sheik, a man known for his hardcore wrestling style and unforgettable bloodbaths.

Viewers can expect to hear from The Sheik’s family and those who witnessed his wild matches firsthand. Their stories will shed light on the impact he had on the wrestling world over his fifty-year career. The episode will explore not just the violence and chaos that defined his matches, but also the personal side of a man who left a lasting mark on the industry.

As the episode unfolds, it will highlight the challenges The Sheik faced, both in and out of the ring.

Vice Sports' hit docueseries Dark Side of the Ring returns with 10 new episodes making up its sixth season. Ahead of the Season 6 premiere on March 26, all 10 episode subjects were confirmed with a pair of official posters.

Shared on X, the posters reveal the order of the subjects that will be covered in Season 6 of Dark Side of the Ring. The season will kick off with Mick Foley's famous Hell in a Cell match with Undertaker, which saw the former risking great bodily harm by getting thrown from the top of a steel cage through a table onto the concrete below. New episodes will be released every Tuesday at 10 p.m. following the premiere on March 26. The posters can be viewed below.

The first poster also highlights the other episodes making up the first half of the season. They include episodes about Ludvig Borga, whose real name was Tony Halme,...

Proudly billed as “the first official feature documentary to explore the remarkable life and career of Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart,” Kathryn Ferguson’s “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” makes terrific use of its access to the actor’s friends, family, and personal archives, but the burden of this film’s estate-approved purpose — its self-imposed obligation to offer the definitive history of a man who millions of movie lovers can see with their eyes closed — has an unfortunate tendency to blunt its steady drumbeat of intimate details. The result is a womb-to-tomb biography that uses Bogart’s own words to cover the most basic facts about his life; it’s an establishing shot that strains for the nuance of a close-up.

If attempting to cover the full span of a person’s life in less than 100 minutes can feel like a fool’s errand regardless of the subject, the inimitable “Casablanca...

“King Khan” ruled the Piazza Grande, the iconic big square in the center of picturesque Swiss town Locarno, on Saturday night. Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan brought his global star power to the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival as he was honored with a lifetime achievement award, the so-called Pardo alla Carriera, or Career Leopard.

The fans, including those in the 8,000 seats on the square and more in various spots around it, gave the star of films like Panthaan, Don 2 and Om Shanti Om a rousing ovation and thunderous applause. Even when the big movie screen in the square first showed him arriving on the red carpet around 9:20 p.m. local time and shaking hands with Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, a roar went through the crowd.

Just before 10 p.m., the screen showed a highlight video of many of Khan’s films, which drew...

“I don’t want to sound like a fanboy,” Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival says sheepishly, “but Shah Rukh Khan is the quintessential power of cinema. There is no cynicism, there is no manipulation. Just this basic faith that you can tell a story through your persona and touch on the very profound building blocks of emotions.”

Nazzaro, it is fair to say, is a Khan fanboy. Discussing the Bollywood superstar — winner of Locarno’s 2024 lifetime achievement award, the Pardo alla Carriera Ascona-Locarno Tourism — he compares Khan to the “popular glamor of a hero of the working class, like Marcello Mastroianni” combined with the “elegance, the arrogant elegance, of someone like Alain Delon…. In Shah Ruhk Khan, I can see the trajectory from Rudolph Valentino to Tom Cruise, and it’s all there in one person. And this guy doesn’t even seem to break...

Brad Pitt's character in "Babylon," Jack Conrad, mirrors real 1920s actors like John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, and Rudolph Valentino. Conrad's tragic death in response to Hollywood's transition to sound films reflects the struggles of many silent era stars. "Babylon" features fictional characters inspired by real Hollywood figures, exploring the industry's shift from silent to sound films.

This article contains mention of suicide and substance abuse.

With Babylon's in-depth look into a certain period in Hollywood history, many people wonder if Brad Pitt's Jack Conrad is a real actor. Damien Chazelle's Babylon examines the rise and fall of several stars as 1920s Hollywood transitions from silent movies to talkies. Conrad plays a pivotal part in giving Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva) their big breaks, even as he feels they could replace him. At a time when the industry was in a great phase of transition,...

The brooding and brilliant Japanese actor rivalled Rudolph Valentino but battled orientalist caricature before finding solace in Zen and watercolours

This month, the Cinema Rediscovered festival in Bristol will screen a rarely seen film from 1919 that offers a glimpse of the early career of a Japanese Hollywood star. Sessue Hayakawa, Oscar-nominated for playing the tyrannical Colonel Saito in David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, was a matinee idol back in the silent era. In fact he was one of the film industry’s first sex symbols, with a legion of female fans and a complex star persona that reflected America’s deep-seated prejudices about, and fascination with, Japanese culture. These ideas would make themselves painfully obvious throughout his career, which spanned six decades.

The Dragon Painter, from 1919, was made by Hayakawa’s own production company, and co-stars his wife, Tsuru Aoki. It is unusual among his...

The Iron Claw features real-life wrestlers like Mjf and Ryan Nemeth portraying iconic figures in the Von Erich family story. Pro wrestlers like Chavo Guerrero Jr. bring authenticity to the film as they play key roles in the wrestling world depicted. The movie pays homage to wrestling history by including real wrestlers in memorable scenes, adding depth to the storytelling.

There are several real-life wrestlers that appear in the critically acclaimed new A24 film The Iron Claw. Directed by Sean Durkin, The Iron Claw is the first true biographical drama about the famous Von Erich family of wrestlers, made up of a group of tightly-knit brothers and an overbearing and demanding father who used to be a professional himself. An outstanding Zac Efron leads a star-studded cast as the oldest living Von Erich brother named Kevin alongside Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson), and Mike (Stanley Simons).

While Efron...

Hardcore legend and WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Terry Funk has died. He was 79.

Funk’s mentee and fellow Hall of Famer Mick Foley confirmed his passing Wednesday on X, the app formerly known as Twitter. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

More from TVLineAnother World's Nancy Frangione Dead at 70Dallas and Knots Landing Creator David Jacobs Dead at 84Edge Defeats Sheamus in Farewell Match on Friday Night Smackdown

“Terry Funk is gone. I just talked to Terry’s daughter, Brandee, who gave me the awful news,” Foley wrote. “He was my mentor, my idol, one of the closest friends.

The man born Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri but known to millions of pro wrestling fans as The Iron Sheik has died. He was 81.

His death was announced on his official Twitter page. “It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of The Iron Sheik,” the announcement reads, “but we also take solace unknowing that he departed this world peacefully, leaving behind a legacy that will endure for generations to come.”

A cause of death was not disclosed. Read the entire statement below.

According to his official bio at the WWE website, Vaziri was an amateur wrestler in his native Iran before becoming a leading star and top villain, or “heel,” of professional wrestling during the World Wrestling Federation’s heyday in the 1980s. He had relocated to the United States in the early 1970s to work for as a wrestling coach and trainer for the U.

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, aka the villainous “Iron Sheik” of old-school World Wrestling Federation fame and its only Iranian champion, has died, according to his official Twitter account. He was 81.

Known for years as “The Sheik” or just “Sheik,” Vaziri later became infamous for his blunt, often vulgar, always all-caps tweets telling various random entities to go f— themselves.

He was still doing just that on Wednesday afternoon:

Fuck The Wildfires

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023

It was an extension of his “heel” wrestling persona, a longtime pillar of the original World Wrestling Federation lineup that included bitter rivals like Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho Man” Savage. The garrulous nature was all an act, of course – privately Sheik was known as a devoted family man, hardworking entertainer and good friend.

As a wrestler, Sheik played up his Iranian upbringing, developing the “Camel Clutch” move and once teaming with Russian...

Prior to becoming an actor, Giancarlo Giannini, who on March 6 will be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, studied electronic engineering, a skill he’s been known to put to good use even on movie sets.

“I was meant to start working on the first artificial satellites, or on the first computers at Ibm,” the Italian film and theater thesp recalls. But then Giannini enrolled in acting school and soon was given major roles, first by Franco Zeffirelli and then by Lina Wertmüller, with whom he went on to make nine movies that brought them both international fame.

“I owe it to Lina that I will be getting the star. The only other Italian actor who has one is Rudolph Valentino,” he notes.

Before traveling to Los Angeles, Giannini spoke to Variety about his career journey and what he learned from Anna Magnani, Marlon Brando and Marcello Mastroianni.

There were numerous superstars during the silent era from the clown princes of comedy Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd to such dramatic and action icons as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish. One was a good boy — the German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin. Not only is Rin Tin Tin, aka Rinty, credited with saving Warner Bros., but Hollywood lore also insists he, not Emil Jannings, was the first Best Actor Oscar winner.

With Warner Brothers celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the Academy Awards just around the corner, it’s time to look at the Rinty phenomenon and its place in Hollywood history.

Rinty wasn’t the first canine star. Blair, the pet collie of British director Cecil Hepworth, headlined his 1905 thriller “Rescued by Rover.” The film was so popular it had to be shot twice because the...

From left: Rudolph Valentino, The Son Of The Sheik (Hulton Archive/Getty Images); Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images); Natalie Wood, Brainstorm (IMDb); Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Graphic: The A.V. Club Making a movie takes years. Over the course of getting a...

All seasons of American Horror Story are part of the same universe, and some of them have a couple of connections between them, and a theory explains there’s a dark one between Murder House and Hotel thanks to James March (Evan Peters). Each season of American Horror Story covers a different horror theme with either supernatural or human villains (and sometimes a combination of both), and with time, it has formed a connected universe that peaked with the crossover season Apocalypse. AHS kicked off with Murder House, which told the stories of the ghosts that inhabited the title haunted house.

After exploring the horrors inside an asylum, among a coven of witches, and in a freak show, American Horror Story took the audience to Hotel Cortez to meet the vampires and ghosts that live in it. Among them was James March, the designer of the Hotel Cortez and a serial killer,...

Terry Moore, the 94-year old Oscar nominated actress will attend the US premiere of her new biopic Silent Life: The Story of the Lady In Black at the Sedona International Film Festival on Feb 19.

Directed by Vladislav Alex Kozlov, and written by Kozlov and Ksenia Jarova, Moore, stars in the film alongside Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet), Franco Nero (Django), Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks), Paul Rodriguez (Clifford) and Monte Markham (Dallas). Dreamer Pictures produces with Kozlov also producing, and Joy Boileau, Tyler Cassity, and Yogu Kanthiah, serving as executive producers.

Shot in Santa Clarita., Silent Life tells the story of Rudolph Valentino, the first Hollywood superstar and male sex symbol, as he ponders the most important philosophical questions of human existence from his deathbed. After Valentino’s unexpected death in 1926, the mysterious Lady in Black (Moore) who claims to be the last love of Rudolph Valentino, visits...

In acting classes, you are often asked to choose an animal that embodies the characteristics you want to bring to the character you're playing. It can help find the right movements, the correct way to react to something like, say, being cornered, or bring an extra layer of depth to a portrayal. Not every actor uses this technique, but it can be very useful in fleshing out a role.

Margot Robbie, who stars as aspiring actress Nellie Laroy in the Damien Chazelle-directed film "Babylon" recently visited "The Kelly Clarkson Show" where she told Clarkson that she uses this exercise herself. However, her choice of animals for the character might surprise you.

In the film, Robbie's Nellie is a young woman who knows she was born to be a star. She's a party girl with no inhibitions, a pretty terrible cocaine problem, a need to show off, and a no holds barred approach to life.

Damien Chazelle's new film, "Babylon," is set to hit theaters this December. It's a wild tale of the early days of Hollywood as the industry moved from the silent era to talkies. The story follows several characters. One is Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a Hollywood assistant entranced with cinema, and another is Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie), a cocaine-addled starlet about to break in. And then there's Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an aging Rudolph Valentino type who is beloved by everyone (except his numerous ex-wives) in the silent film era. He has a string of broken hearts, a noticeable drinking problem, and very few people willing to tell him the truth.

Early on in "Babylon," there is a wild scene where we see a silent film set in the middle of the desert. Several movies are filming simultaneously, and it's absolute chaos. (Noise didn't matter because none of it ended up on film.

Jovan Adepo (center) in Babylon Image: Scott Garfield / Courtesy of Paramount Pictures It’s the late 1920s at the start of writer-director Damien Chazelle’s shimmering and breathtaking old Hollywood odyssey Babylon, and the desert-like soils on the screen look nothing like today’s pricey L.A. enclave Bel Air.

Shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo in Luca Guadagnino’s documentary Salvatore: Shoemaker Of Dreams. Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Through several beautifully costumed movies—including A Bigger Splash and I Am Love—Luca Guadagnino has always been a filmmaker of lusciously chic images. So it was about time that he signed his...

Do you know when the first movie premiere in Hollywood history was held?

On Oct. 18. 1922 Sid Grauman opened his movie palace the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. with superstar Douglas Fairbank’s latest swashbuckler “Robin Hood.” The red carpet was rolled out for Fairbanks, his wife Mary Pickford and their good friend (and partner in United Artists) Charlie Chaplin. It cost 5 to attend the premiere. And the movie, which was the top box office draw, played there exclusively for several months. The Egyptian cost 800,000 to build and took 18 months to complete for Grauman and real estate developer Charles E. Toberman. It is currently being renovated by Netflix in cooperation with the American Cinematheque.

“Robin Hood,” directed by Allan Dwan, was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era, costing just under 1 million. The castle was the biggest set ever made for a silent movie. Some scenes feature over 1,200 extras.

Bloody Disgusting has learned that the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is returning for its 23rd installment of their Day of the Dead Celebration on Saturday, October 29th with two events – “Día de los Muertos” & “Noche de los Muertos” – that will feature cultural performances, live DJ sets from DJ Que Madre and DJ Hamvre, an exhibition from Artist of the Year, Sabino Guisu’s “Zapotec Death Poems”, delicious food & drinks, and more.

This year’s theme is focused on Mayahuel, the Aztec Goddess of Fertility, the Maguey (Agave), and the ruler of the 8th day and the 8th year. She brings us Love, Magic, and Transformation.

Here’s everything you need to know about the two special events…

Día de los Muertos (9:00am – 3:00pm Pst) – a daytime event featuring a children’s plaza and cultural performances, as well as altars, art exhibitions, Aztecs, folkorico dance, traditional dance, children’s plaza,...

Click here to read the full article.

Long before Netflix’s Blonde landed a controversial Nc-17 rating, the Motion Picture Association gave films like Baby Doll (1956) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) “adults only” designations as a way to placate concerned parents and reformers.

Now, when news surfaces of Hollywood allegedly kowtowing to everything from domestic social crusaders to foreign governments, debate lights up headlines and social media conversations. But, historically speaking, industry moguls have most often erred on the side of not ruffling feathers, home or abroad, in order to court consumers — as evidenced in the birth of the MPA 100 years ago.

The lobbying group, which is marking its centennial in 2022, was born as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association in 1922. Mppda counsel C.C. Pettijohn once told a 1929 Public Relations Conference that the film industry was first understood as a three-legged stool that included production, distribution, and exhibition.

Anne Heche has been interred at Hollywood Forever cemetery, the final resting place for scores of Hollywood legends that still serves as a public gathering place and cultural center.

Heche’s remains were cremated, and were placed in a vault near the cemetery’s lake at the Garden of Legends, multiple sources tell TheWrap. Nearby are the final resting places of Mickey Rooney, Burt Reynolds and Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed when Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a live round on the set of “Rust.”

Hollywood Forever was founded in 1899 and is one of the oldest cemeteries in the Los Angeles area. Stars of old, like Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks, are buried near more modern figures, like “Star Trek” Anton Yelchin.

The cemetery is home to a popular summer movie-screening series and other cultural events throughout the year.

Also Read:

Anne Heche Crash: Neighbors Tried to Rescue Actress...

Anne Heche has found her final resting place among Hollywood’s brightest stars.

According to the actress’ death certificate, obtained by Et, Heche’s body was cremated on Aug. 18 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, where she will also be buried. Details on a burial or a memorial service have not been shared.

Heche was taken off life support on Aug. 14 after getting into a serious car accident a week prior in Los Angeles. She was 53.

Founded in 1899, the Hollywood Forever cemetery is known as an iconic place of showbiz history where hundreds of screen legends have found their final resting place. Among them: Judy Garland, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Mickey Rooney, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, Valerie Harper, Anton Yelchin, Chris Cornell and more, alongside thousands more Los Angeles community residents and individuals from around the world.

In addition to serving as a cemetery and funeral home,...

They made us laugh, and sometimes made us cry. Some were our first celebrity crushes, while others were a favorite TV dad or movie uncle. Some stayed with us a little longer, with a legacy firmly intact. Others were just getting started, often leaving a legacy of controversy and wild speculations. Although there are differences, sadly the one thing they have in common is a shocking death at a time when they were still actively working, and we’ve mourned them as treasured parts of our lives.

SEE30 music legends tragic deaths

So many on this list died way too young, and were caught up in the pressures of skyrocketing careers and the excesses that come with fame and money. River Phoenix and Heath Ledger were each among the most promising young actors of his generation, but each lost it all to drugs. “Speedballs,” commonly a mix of heroin and cocaine,...

They made us laugh, and sometimes made us cry. Some were our first celebrity crushes, while others were a favorite TV dad or movie uncle. Some stayed with us a little longer, with a legacy firmly intact. Others were just getting started, often leaving a legacy of controversy and wild speculations. Although there are differences, sadly the one thing they have in common is a shocking death at a time when they were still actively working, and we’ve mourned them as treasured parts of our lives.

SEE30 music legends tragic deaths

So many on this list died way too young, and were caught up in the pressures of skyrocketing careers and the excesses that come with fame and money. River Phoenix and Heath Ledger were each among the most promising young actors of his generation, but each lost it all to drugs. “Speedballs,” commonly a mix of heroin and cocaine,...

It took forever — well, 122 years — but Hollywood Forever Cemetery was designated a historic-cultural monument by the Los Angeles City Council today following a unanimous recommendation from the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission.

The cemetery, which was founded in 1899, was included in the National Register of Historic Places on its 100th anniversary, but equivalent local recognition took another quarter century or so.

On June 25, 2021, Councilman Mitch O’Farrell began the city’s effort to include the cemetery on its own list of historic-cultural monuments. Following O’Farrell’s actions, the Cultural Heritage Commission considered the property on Oct. 21 and recommended the City Council add it to the list.

“I was surprised that this wasn’t already on our list,” Commissioner Richard Barron said during the meeting. “It’s always interesting when something comes before us that you think, ‘That’s not a monument yet?’ ”

Among the boldfaced names buried at Hollywood Forever are Judy Garland,...

Sophie Rundle’s favourite line from any role in her career so far came in Peaky Blinders’ first season. Playing Ada, the younger sister of 1920s gangster-bookmakers Tommy, Arthur and John Shelby, she had a scene sitting in the Penny Crush cinema, watching a Rudolph Valentino film. Cillian Murphy as Tommy entered, cleared the place, and demanded to know the name of the man who’d made her pregnant. After he left, Ada sat alone in the theatre and yelled at the projectionist “Oy! I’m a Shelby too, you know. Put my fucking film back on!”

It’s Ada’s iconic line, says Rundle – outrageous and funny and the first in a series of excellent threats she issues in Peaky Blinders. Another comes in season four when she terrifies a pub landlord who initially mistakes her for just another unaccompanied woman, and who fails to provide ice for her whiskey.

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“Bob The Barber”

By Raymond Benson

One of actor/comedian Bob Hope’s most cherished films is Monsieur Beaucaire, a 1946 remake of a Rudolph Valentino silent picture from 1924, both of which are based on a 1900 novel by Booth Tarkington. Hope’s version, directed by George Marshall, is certainly a loose adaptation because it turned what was a historical romantic drama into a flat-out comedy.

Woody Allen has been known to cite early Bob Hope movies as an inspiration for his onscreen persona in the director’s early “zany” comedies like Bananas and Sleeper. When one views something like Monsieur Beaucaire or My Favorite Blonde (1942), the comparison is strikingly apt. Hope creates a persona of nervous mannerisms, lack of self confidence masked by bravado, clumsy but endearing interaction with the opposite sex, and witty one-liners. Beaucaire exhibits Hope in fine form, producing a good...

“Holy Beasts” doesn’t work on every level, but it hits the bullseye where it matters most: as a cinematic reclamation project in honor of the late Dominican director Jean-Louis Jorge. Murdered in 2000 at age 53, Jorge only completed three feature films, but his predilection for kitsch and blurring the line between dreams and reality could have eventually made him the homegrown answer to Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Jodorowsky.

In “Holy Beasts,” a commanding Geraldine Chaplin plays Jorge’s fictional friend, Vera, who has arrived in Santo Domingo to helm the late director’s never-filmed screenplay. To its detriment, the resulting tribute-within-a-tribute often plays like a private, alienating conversation between the filmmakers and anyone who knows more about Jorge’s work than you do. But this languid yet engrossing homage is alive with tasty characters and tantalizing, if underdeveloped, ideas and its polished production values bode well for future crossover arthouse...

Actor Giancarlo Giannini’s collaboration with writer-director Lina Wertmüller, who died Dec. 9 at age 93, spans nine films, including raucous sex comedy and social satire “The Seduction of Mimì” — his first leading role in a Wertmüller movie — which brought them both their first taste of international fame. Giannini spoke to Variety by phone from Rome about their symbiotic relationship and unique rapport.

How did you and Lina first intersect?

I was studying acting at the National Academy in Rome. She came to see two plays I was in — one was by Molière — and offered me parts in two musical movies with the great pop singer Rita Pavone. Then when Lina had the idea for “The Seduction of Mimì” [1972], no other Italian actor wanted to play the lead. She had offered it to Marcello Mastroianni, among others, but he turned it down. So, she offered it to me, and I leaped at it.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Paramount has commemorated the 100th anniversary of the landmark Rudolph Valentino film, "The Sheik"", with a newly-restored special edition Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents line. In viewing the film today, I was impressed how well it has held up over time. The movie packs a great deal into its modest 66-minute running time. Set in contemporary times, Valentino plays the title character, Ahmed Ben Hassan, a French-educated, highly sophisticated young man who is the benevolent ruler over his nomadic tribe. Through a rather intriguing series of events, he meets Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres), an adventurous woman who is visiting the Sahara with her brother to see the wondrous sites. When she embarks on an ill-fated multi-day tour, she is captured by Ahmed, who is obsessed with having a European lover as a trophy. Although he allows her to live in the lap of luxury-...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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Originally released in 1921 at the height of the nation’s appetite for motion pictures, the epic romantic drama The Sheik became a massive sensation, breaking box office records and earning over $1 million during its first year of release. 100 years later, Paramount Pictures celebrates this towering classic of the silent film era with a brand-new Blu-ray release, arriving as part of the Paramount Presents line on October 19, 2021.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, The Sheik was directed by George Melford and stars the legendary Rudolph Valentino as the title character. The role helped propel Valentino into stardom and sealed his status as a Hollywood heartthrob—and the original “Latin Lover”—at the age of 26.

The Sheik restoration employed modern technology so viewers can experience the original beauty of this monumental silent film. Since...

Actor-producer Daniel Dae Kim urged those of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to work hard at “allyship” with other underrepresented communities in order to focus on the roots of systemic racism. Kim spoke on May 20 at a half-day virtual seminar hosted by Amazon Studios to examine Api representation in film and media as part of Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month.

The rising tide of anti-Asian hate crimes underscores the urgency to act. But Asian Americans in general represent about 6% of the U.S. population, which means that Aapi advocates need to build bridges with Black and brown communities, Kim said during Amazon’s “Voices: Api Representation in Film & Media.”

“It’s going to take more than just us,” said Kim, the actor known for “Lost,” “Hawaii 5-0” and, most recently, NBC’s “New Amsterdam.” “It’s important that we find allies in every other demographic. And part of accepting allyship is being an ally.

Chicago – In this new golden age of animation, the ability to create mood and setting is more accessible than ever. For creator and writer Ron Falzone (with director Julian Grant), a notable death in the 1920s and the movie business associated with it is in their film “Coriander and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome.”

Now available on most major streaming platforms, “Coriander and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome” is an animated film with a unique artistic design that evokes both the era and the narrative. The story is about a seminal event in movie and American history … the death of silent film era matinee idol Rudolph Valentino in 1926. A woman named Coriander becomes involved in the circumstance of Valentino’s passing, and brings along her past and present situations to the funeral.

Available on Most Major Streaming Services

Photo credit: Grant Guignol & Squeakin’ Yojimbo Pictures

Creator and writer...

8 random things that happened on this day (October 30th) in showbiz history

Rudolph Valentino cheekily decides you can't watch him undress in behind the scenes footage

1921 The Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino premieres, inventing the male movie star sex symbol. The world swoons. Women faint.

1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast of Hg Wells "The War of the Worlds" causes mass panic when people are convinced it's real.

1943 Federico Fellini (23) and Giulietta Masina (22) marry in Italy. A scriptwriter and a radio actress at the time, they will become legends.

American History X, Baby Boom, Harry Hamlin, and more after the jump...

The half-life of radium-226, the toxic isotope touted as a miracle cure-all in the early 20th century and used in phosphorescent paint, is around 1,600 years. That of “Radium Girls,” the David-and Goliath story of a handful of young women taking Big Radium to court in the 1920s, is presumably much shorter.

In the two-and-a-half years since it premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, co-directors Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler’s dramatization seems to have lost quite a bit of whatever luster it might have once had. Scrupulously sincere in its approach and well-meaning to a fault in intention, the film aims for inspirational true story, but is sadly uninspired, and its relationship to real history is obscured by the schematic way it is fictionalized.

Playing characters who are an amalgam of the real heroines of the radium scandal, the film stars Joey King and Abby Quinn as sisters Bessie and Josephine Cavallo,...

As the director of the best-dressed films in contemporary Italian cinema, it’s not surprising that Luca Guadagnino was the man approved by the Salvatore Ferragamo luxury goods brand to make a devoted documentary ode to its long-deceased founder. Anyone expecting Guadagnino’s usual extravagant stylistic flourishes applied to the subject, however, may be surprised to find that “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams” is a rather conventional affair, detailing the celebrated shoe designer’s journey from humble village origins to early Hollywood success to fashion-world royalty in straightforward strokes, crammed with talking heads and flickering archival footage. More a sensible pump of a doc than a flashy stiletto, the film nonetheless offers plenty to delight fashionistas, with particularly welcome detail on the practical craftsmanship of Guadagnino’s fancy (and often fanciful) footwear.

At a full two hours, however, the film is undeniably overlong, and far more engaging in its first half,...

Ever since Universal-DreamWorks’ “1917” debuted, reporters have seemed fascinated with the fact that women played key creative roles in the film. The list included Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who co-wrote it with director Sam Mendes, and producers Pippa Harris and Jayne-Ann Tenggren.

The surprise is surprising.

Neal Street Prods., which Harris, Mendes and Caro Newling formed in 2003, has always maintained a 50-50 gender balance. “It’s in our company’s DNA. Plus, Sam didn’t want production of ‘1917’ to be a macho environment,” says Harris.

Further confounding stereotypes, the film’s strong emotions were not a “feminine touch” but came from both writers, Wilson-Cairns and Mendes, while she was the expert on all things dealing with World War I.

This shouldn’t be a shock because Hollywood history is filled with women who helped create some of the greatest “male-driven” films ever. In 1921, June Mathis scripted “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,...

Well, it looks like Mr. Jingles's son Bobby is all grown up in American Horror Story: 1984, and he's played by none other than mainstay Ahs hunk Finn Wittrock. Anyone who's watched the anthology series knows that like Jessica Lange and Lily Rabe, Wittrock is a recurring player in Ryan Murphy's showcase of actors. He first appeared as Twisty the Clown's spoiled apprentice Dandy Mott on Freak Show, then pulled double duty as Rudolph Valentino and model Tristan Duffy in Hotel. Cult's Jether Polk marked his latest appearance on American Horror Story, where he was unrecognizable with shaggy hair and messed up teeth. Like John Carroll Lynch, his onscreen father this season, Wittrock is back, even if only in the finale.

Wittrock pops up as adult Bobby Richter, the son of Mr. Jingles and a former prostitute in Alaska. When we last see Bobby, Mr. Jingles had left him with his aunt.

Every era has its Norman Fucking Rockwell, and in the middle of the Seventies, that record was Gene Clark’s No Other. With its country-rockified version of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, the lush, self-consciously poetic album from the former singer and songwriter in the Byrds occupied its own patch of land in 1974. It was a cohesive body of work with a sustained, melancholic mood. Like Del Rey’s equally L.A.-centric record of four-plus decades later, No Other was an LP you could put on and lose...

Chicago – A special public screening of a new animated film “Coriander and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome” will take place on Monday, October 14th, 2019 (7pm), at the Film Row Cinema at Columbia College in Chicago, 1104 South Wabash Avenue, 8th Floor. Writer Ron Falzone and director Julian Grant will appear on behalf of the film and participate in a post-screeing Q&a, moderated by Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com. A printed flyer will be necessary for entry, you can download a Pdf by clicking here. Once you access the Internet Archive link, just Click on Pdf under Download Options to print or download.

Monday, October 14th, 2019 (7pm), at Film Row Cinema

Photo credit: Grant Guignol & Squeakin’ Yojimbo Pictures

“Coriander” is the brainchild of writer Falzone and director Grant, which Falzone called, “… the culmination of a 42 year project.” It was back then that the germ of the idea was conceived, and...

October has arrived faster than we could say “trick or treat,” and with that comes the spooky holiday Halloween — and thankfully, Los Angeles has got you covered with plenty of events that will give you the chills.

From watching a movie among graves at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, to partying it up on the streets of West Hollywood, there’s a lot going on this year.

Check out TheWrap’s list of L.A. events happening this October.

Also Read: New 'Halloween' Movies Dated for 2020, 2021

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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Cinespia has partnered with Amazon Studios this year to screen Hollywood classics and all-time favorite films among the graves of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which includes the resting places of Judy Garland, Rudolph Valentino and gangster Bugsy Siegel. John Wyatt founded Cinespia in 2002 because he wanted to get people together to watch classic films in a fun experience.

“At the...

They called themselves United Artists, but the trades called it a “rebellion against established producing and distributing arrangements.” Paramount Pictures founder Adolph Zukor reportedly said, “The inmates have taken over the asylum.” But when Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith went before the cameras on Feb. 5, 1919, to announce the creation of a corporation to distribute their own films, they claimed it was necessary to protect their own interests as well as to “protect the exhibitor and the industry from itself.”

It wasn’t any great prescient vision that had brought Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers to this point. Rather, they were reacting — and quickly — to what they saw as a threat to limit their salaries and the quality of their films.

A little backstory: During the 1910s, as the demand for films skyrocketed, production companies, theaters and distribution mechanisms multiplied and, in retrospect, reaction was often the catalyst for change.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Courtesy of PhotofestAntonio Banderas is one of those screen presences who just seems to know. Preternaturally wised-up, his large liquid eyes are his gift, ever watchful and secretive. It’s like he was born knowing; he’s never not been on the make or aware of his own charms. In his decades-long collaboration with Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, he has been an infatuated stalker, a vengeance-driven plastic surgeon, and an escaped convict. His characters are often driven in equal measure by obsessive love and violent impulse; even as a young man, he rarely portrayed an innocent. With his inky, slicked hair, olive skin, and nobly handsome profile, the young Banderas sometimes looked like a sketch of a 1930s gigolo; you could easily imagine him as a homicidal pool boy or sexually fluid manipulator in a film noir. His good looks were not just fulsome...

Cinespia announced the list of titles screening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in September.

First up is the Sunday, Sept. 1 screening of the 1989 rom-com “When Harry Met Sally” starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Then director Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-noir mashup “Blade Runner” will come to the cemetery on Saturday, Sept. 7. The 1950 rising starlet versus established diva drama “All About Eve” will play on Sep. 14. Closing out the season is the 2001 Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman led musical “Moulin Rouge!” with a post viewing fireworks show.

This year’s season, sponsored by Amazon Studios, is the 18th anniversary of the iconic Los Angeles outdoor cinematic experience. Fans often dress up as characters and shout out famous lines as they come on screen.

The 1991 surfer/heist flick “Point Break” will kick off the month of August on Saturday. The late John Singleton’s 1991 “Boyz N The Hood” will screen on Saturday,...