News

British actress Vanessa Kirby first caught the public's attention playing Princess Margaret on the Netflix series "The Crown," praised by us on /Film for her "deliciously droll, sometimes even downright wicked performance." She then went toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise in the "Mission Impossible" series, had a passionate affair in the sapphic Western "World to Come," and received an Academy Award nomination for her lacerating performance as a grieving mother in the underappreciated Netflix drama "Pieces of a Woman."

Kirby has a husky voice and a cutting presence, and her roles often have a dynamic tension between vulnerability and strength. The complex emotional interiority she brings to her characters is drawn from her theatre background, where she played some of the great female roles written by Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Tennessee Williams.

If you have enjoyed her past performances or have just come across her as Sue Storm in the new, beamingly optimistic "Fantastic Four: First Steps,...

Art history has its ghosts: figures whose work feels impossibly modern, yet their names are lost to the archives. George Platt Lynes is one such artist. Sam Shahid’s documentary, Hidden Master, positions him as a pivotal, if spectral, force in 20th-century photography.

To the public of his day, Lynes was a successful commercial photographer, his lens defining the look of fashion magazines and capturing portraits of cultural giants like Gertrude Stein. This public career, however, financed a secret, more radical one.

In private, he created a monumental portfolio of male nudes, images of startling beauty and classical form. The film presents itself as an act of reclamation. It seeks to correct a historical record shaped by prejudice and return a forgotten creator to his proper place within the artistic canon.

Forging a Life Against the Grain

The film constructs a portrait of a man who built a world for...

Modern Family has always been one of the most amazingly written shows, whether it’s the quick banter, the dry humor, or those perfectly timed zingers that never miss. But one of the show’s most underrated strengths is the episode titles. They weren’t just random names slapped on each episode, they were clever little nods to pop culture, full of wit and wordplay.

Think Suddenly, Last Summer a fun spin on the Tennessee Williams classic, or Fears. Then there’s Caught in the Act, which sounds like a crime drama but delivers a hilarious parenting nightmare. From movie references to iconic phrases, the writers knew how to have fun even with the smallest details. And for me, there’s one title from a Bradley Cooper led movie that stands above the rest, because not only is it smart, but it’s also inspired by one of the greatest movies.

Exclusive: International Literary Properties’ theatrical division (Ilp) has entered into a strategic partnership with The University of the South for Ilp to assume an active management role and co-stewardship of the works of celebrated A Streetcar Named Desire playwright Tennessee Williams.

The agreement includes not only stage productions, but also future film and television, and other cross-media projects.

The University, sometimes referred to as Sewanee, was gifted the collection by Williams in his will, to honor his grandfather Walter E. Dakin who attended the University’s School of Theology. The University has been responsible for managing the estate since 1996 and in a statement says it “looks forward to this next, exciting phase in expanding the promotion, knowledge, and appreciation of the playwright’s extensive catalog of plays and literature.”

In its new role in managing the Williams copyrights, Ilp will continue to work closely with existing key partners, including the properties’ key representatives and publishers,...

Independent Brit agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, which represents a number of big name writers, directors, literary properties and heads of department, had appointed Jodi Shields to the newly-created role of chairwoman with overall responsibility for the company.

Tracy Brimm, who joined the agency in 2018 as creative affairs executive, will expand her role to include the position of head of film and television.

Casarotto’s longtime head Jenne Casarotto passed away in February 2024 at the age of 77 following a short illness. The agency’s managing director Anna Higgs left the company four months later after only a year.

Shields is a three-time veteran of the London-based company, having previously overseen its film and TV business. As chair, she will serve as the strategic lead, working closely with COO Ian Devlin, head of theatre Mel Kenyon, the board of directors, heads of department and the advisory board. Casarotto said that the...

Stalwart UK lit agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates has appointed leading agent Jodi Shields to the position of Chairwoman with overall responsibility for the company.

Following three decades at the firm, most recently overseeing the film and TV business, Shields now takes on the newly created role.

Tracy Brimm, who joined in 2018 as Creative Affairs Executive will expand her role to include the position of Head of Film and Television.

As Chairwoman, Shields will serve as the strategic lead, working closely with COO Ian Devlin, Head of Theatre Mel Kenyon, the board of directors, heads of department and the advisory board. The role aims to shape the company’s long-term vision and “ensure that the values of the independent agency continue to grow and evolve”. Alongside her tenure as Chairwoman, she will continue her work as a senior agent.

Shields joined the company in 1998, nine years after it was founded...

There's a line in "The Dark Knight" from Heath Ledger's Joker: "In their last moments, people show you who they really are." That's likely why a great death scene can be an actor's dream come true. They have a chance to portray their character in a wholly different light than what we've seen previously. They can deliver one last heart-wrenching line of dialogue that'll stick with the protagonist. If nothing else, the audience can get blindsided and react accordingly to some shocking deaths they couldn't have seen coming.

That's assuming, of course, the death is written and performed well. There's nothing worse than having a scene that's supposed to carry dramatic weight, and the audience can't help but laugh at how stupidly someone died. Viewers instantly become aware they're watching a movie and can't reconcile the tonal dissonance of what they've witnessed. There are plenty of death scenes out there,...

An Early Attempt To Depict A Hollywood Icon’s Life Fell Short ( Photo Credit – Facebook )

Marilyn Monroe died on August 4, 1962, after overdosing on prescription pills, and it was that particular event which rewrote everything about her. Soon after her untimely death, Monroe’s life turned into a postscript, and her image was permanently tangled with tragedy.

The Goddess: A Film Echoing Monroe’s Life Before Her Death

In 1958, four years before Monroe’s death, a film quietly echoed her life without knowing how it would end. The Goddess, directed by John Cromwell and written by Paddy Chayefsky, stepped into the ring with a fictional version of Monroe’s story. It followed a Southern girl named Emily Ann Faulkner, who became a Hollywood star called Rita Shawn.

The story of Emily, played by Kim Stanley, looked and unraveled in ways that mirrored Monroe and the comparisons were too direct to dismiss.

Karl E. Held, a longtime arts advocate who was a producer on the Tony Award-nominated 2009 Broadway production of Ragtime and most recently on the Off Broadway hit Kowalski, died of a heart attack June 23 in New York City shortly after attending a performance at Carnegie Hall. He was 63.

His death was announced by a spokesperson for Kowalski. Gregg Ostrin’s comedy, about the first meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, ran in January and February at Off Broadway’s Duke on 42nd Street. Producers recently announced their intentions to move Kowalski to Broadway.

Karl Edward Held was born on June 7, 1962, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1990 he joined Emmy Award-winning producer Roger Englander and Freddie Gershon of Music Theatre International to create an acclaimed video series capturing the conception and creation of Broadway shows with their original creators.

Additional cast members have been revealed for Williamstown Theatre Festival's 71st season. The complete Festival takes place from Thursday, July 17 through Sunday, August 3. The inaugural Creative Collective, a new collaborative leadership model, is led by Tony Award nominee Jeremy O. Harris, with actor, model, and co-founder of the online book club “Library Science,” Kaia Gerber and her co-founder Alyssa Reeder, entrepreneur and producer Alex Stoclet, and dancer and member of American Theatre’s “2023’s 6 to watch,” Christopher Rudd. W71 is a multi-disciplinary theatrical eruption that investigates and celebrates playwright Tennessee Williams, as well as the spaces he inhabited and inspired. This Festival is not nostalgic, and these artists are not simply heralding this canonical icon. They are diving...

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced additional casting, creative team members, and programming for its 71st season (W71), running Thursday, July 17 through Sunday, August 3. Weekend passes and single tickets are available now. The Festival’s new leadership model, the inaugural Creative Collective, includes Tony Award nominee Jeremy O. Harris, actor and model Kaia Gerber, producer Alyssa Reeder, entrepreneur Alex Stoclet, and choreographer Christopher Rudd. W71 explores the legacy of Tennessee Williams, focusing not on nostalgia, but on critical re-examination of his work and influence. New Play Reading Series Formerly known as Fridays@3, the New Play Reading Series is presented in partnership with the Clark Art Institute. White Girls Gang by Rianna Simons, directed by Gus Heagerty, featuring Kaia Gerber (Tuesday, July 29, 7:00 Pm, Clark Art...

He was Oscar-nominated for his unforgettable work alongside Jack Nicholson in one of the greatest films of all time. It was the start of his career as the ultimate character actor. He discusses David Lynch, Ian McKellen and the joy of playing a murderous doll

Brad Dourif knew it was time to retire from acting when he stopped feeling … well, anything about the parts he was being offered. “I got to a place where if somebody offered me something, all I felt was an empty: oh.” It had started in 2013, after a production of Tennessee Williams’s The Two-Character Play. That had been an extraordinary experience, with his co-star Amanda Plummer “by far the best actor I’ve ever worked with”, but left him wondering if there was anything he still wanted to do professionally. Acting no longer got him excited; it just left him tired. “It became clear to...

The hit Off Broadway production of Gregg Ostrin’s comedy Kowalski is aiming for a Broadway transfer this fall, producers have announced. They’re on the lookout for a venue.

Directed by Colin Hanlon, Kowalski is set in a Provincetown beach house and imagines the real-life 1947 meeting of A Streetcar Named Desire author Tennessee Williams and his future Stanley Kowalski Marlon Brando. The synopsis: “Over one sultry night, artistic ambition, creative friction, and unspoken desire simmer to the surface, revealing the inspiration behind A Streetcar Named Desire and the fire that would ignite Brando’s meteoric rise.”

The play opened to excellent reviews in January at Off Broadway’s Duke on 42nd Street. The limited run ended on February 23. The Off Broadway cast featured Robin Lord Taylor as Williams and Brandon Flynn as Brando. A cast for Broadway has not been set.

The creative team for the Off Broadway Production...

The Off-Broadway production of Kowalski, written by Gregg Ostrin and directed by Colin Hanlon, has its sights set on Broadway for an early Fall 2025 run. Set in a beach house in 1947 Provincetown, Kowalski explores the electric first meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando. Over one sultry night, artistic ambition, creative friction, and unspoken desire simmer to the surface, revealing the inspiration behind A Streetcar Named Desire and the fire that would ignite Brando’s meteoric rise. The Creative Team for the Off-Broadway Production included: Scenic Design by David Gallo, Lighting Design by Jeff Croiter, Costume Design by Lisa Zinni, Sound Design by Bill Toles, Hair Design by Tommy Kurzman, Movement by Nancy Renee Braun, Casting by...

This past April, on a particularly balmy night, I walked down the aisle of the Helen Hayes theater, a storied old playhouse on 44th St. whose backstage I knew intimately but whose orchestra I wasn’t fully acquainted with and took my seat. I held in my hand a Playbill with the title Purpose blazed across it and waited for the lights to go down.

Turns out the experience of being inside a playwright’s world when performing a play on stage and sitting in the dark watching a playwright’s world come to life before you, can feel the same — if the playwright is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Branden is a master of mood and the unspoken. He has the ability to set you on fire by placing you smack in the middle of a family dynamic that you seamlessly recognize and fear. Whether you like it or not, truths will...

The long-running FX sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has dialogue that's unlike anything else on television. It doesn't sound all that scripted, with the characters frequently yelling over one another and all shouting at the same time. It's extremely chaotic but ultimately hilarious, and has led some fans to wonder how much of the series is actually improvised. After all, we know that there are some truly magical moments that were thought up on the spot, like Charlie Day baffling his co-stars with "he doesn't even get us, man" in "The Gang Recycles Their Trash" or Rob McElhenney's character Mac's revelation that he hates women in "Mac and Charlie Write a Movie." But how improv-heavy is "It's Always Sunny," really?

In an interview with Vice where he recounted his favorite episodes, writer and star Glenn Howerton, who plays Dennis, revealed that while there's a lot of improv that...

Exclusive: Marco Calvani, who most recently starred in Netflix’s The Four Seasons, is set to co-write and direct his second feature film, Capitana.

Co-written with ‘The Vagina Monologues’ playwright, V, Capitana is based on a memoir by Pia Klemp, a German biologist who was working with Sea Shepherd on marine conservation efforts. She later directed ships to rescue thousands of migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, but later faced charges for assisting with illegal immigration in 2017 and a potential 20-year prison sentence. After seven years, charges were dropped against Klemp.

Production for Capitana is expected to take place some time in the “late winter or spring” next year, as Calvani will be on set for the second season of Netflix’s The Four Seasons sometime between September to December this year.

Capitana will feature an international cast, with the shoot taking place in multiple countries — Malta, Italy, Serbia...

Concord, considered to be the world’s leading independent music company, has acquired Broadway Licensing Global and its imprints Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, and Stage Rights.

All of the imprints will now become part of Concord Theatricals. The acquisition does not include Stageworks or the Broadway On Demand streaming service.

Concord Theatricals was formed in 2018 and has since become one of the world’s most significant theatrical companies, comprising the catalogs of Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, Tams-Witmark, Samuel French and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, in addition to dozens of new signings each year. The firm provides comprehensive services to creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and producing. In all, the company supports more than 125,000 artists and songwriters whose works are licensed, marketed, and performed globally.

Concord’s catalog includes 1.3 million songs, compositions, sound recordings, films, plays, and musicals.

Since leaving General Hospital, Nicholas Alexander Chavez’s world has opened up to being part of high-profile projects, walking the red carpet at fancy premieres, and starring in TikTok videos that go viral. He has appeared in TV shows and miniseries and will make a splash on the big screen this summer in the reboot of the iconic horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer. In just a few months, he’ll add another challenge to his quickly growing acting resume: he is set to hit the stage in a Tennessee Williams play.

Read This: Gh alum Chavez dishes on life in the limelight.

Tennessee Williams Revival

People reports that Chavez will star with Baywatch and 2025 Golden Globe nominee Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) in a revival of Tennessee Williams’s play Camino Real. The cast includes another soap alum, Florencia Lozano, and Frankie J. Alvarez of HBO’s Looking.

General Hospital (Gh) spoilers imply it’s been a hot minute since Spencer Cassadine has been seen in Port Charles.

The character’s portrayer, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, exited the soap in early 2024 and has been a busy bee since, diving into multiple projects.

Now it looks like Chavez is at it again, slated to participate in a prestigious theatre project this summer, and Cts has all the details.

Chavez Set to Star In Theatre Production

Chavez will play Kilroy at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer, in Massachusetts’ Berkshire Mountains. He’s set to star opposite Pamela Anderson, who’s playing Marguerite, as they dive into a revival of ‘Camino Real’.

Written by playwright Tennessee Williams, the production will be directed by Dustin Wills, and Whitney Peak, star of Hocus Pocus 2, rounds out the cast, playing Esmerelda.

In addition, there are some daytime drama connections to the play as...

When Cate Blanchett spoke with Radio Times for their latest issue, the veteran and two-time-winning Academy Award actress made fans and film lovers across the globe do a double take when she revealed her quite serious intentions to step away from the silver screen.

“My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting,” said the 55-year old icon, adding, there are “a lot of things I want to do with my life”.

For those having trouble pinning their...

There is, for devotees of a specific type of movie arcana, a glorious moment in Jason Statham’s new movie, “A Working Man.” About midway through, his character, searching for a trafficked young woman, poses as a drug dealer looking to score a connection with a local kingpin holding court in the backroom of a biker bar. The kingpin suspects he’s a cop, but after Jason handily dispatches his goons, the kingpin, regarding his fists, says, “Look at those bricks. You ain’t a cop, you’re a working man.”

The title drop, when a line of dialogue references the film’s title, is a delicate art with a distinct cult following. When they’re good, they’re very good. When they’re bad, they’re terrific.

Director John Waters is a title drop enthusiast. He rattled off some favorites in a phone call with IndieWire: “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,...

Just about a year ago, New York audiences breathlessly anticipated the arrival of a heartily hyped West End production of an American classic, Rebecca Frecknall’s pseudo-immersive revival of Cabaret. It was, if not a total disappointment, a letdown, as there was nothing particularly revelatory about Frecknall’s ever-rotating vision of Berlin’s pre-war decadence in a staging that aggressively underlined the material’s self-evident grimness.

And here we are again, anxiously receiving another of Frecknall’s London-lauded takes on an American classic into our prestige-starved harbors. This time it’s Tennessee Williams’s psychological kaleidoscope A Streetcar Named Desire, with Irish A-lister Paul Mescal as the brutish Stanley Kowalski. Is this the underwhelming Kit Kat Club all over again?

Well, yes and no. Frecknall’s production is marked by eyebrow-raising staging choices—a near-constant live drumkit, a heavy reverb on the mics, a series of interpretive dance sequences—that...

Peter Wolf, has always been one of the great rock & roll raconteurs, ever since his days as the loudmouth singer of the J. Geils Band. But the Boston blues madman has finally written the book everyone always hoped he would write, with Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses. It’s a music memoir like no other — instead of chronicling his rock-star career, Wolf tells stories about the characters he met along the way, from Muddy Waters to Andy Warhol, from Alfred Hitchcock to Bob Dylan. “I...

Athol Fugard, the South African playwright of works including ” ‘Master Harold’…and the Boys,” ”The Road to Mecca,” “Boesman and Lena,” ”A Lesson From Aloes,” died on Saturday. He was 92.

While a cause of death was not disclosed, the South African government confirmed Fugard’s death and said South Africa “has lost one of its greatest literary and theatrical icons, whose work shaped the cultural and social landscape of our nation,” according to AP.

Fugard brought critical, wrenching portrayals of South African society under apartheid to international stages, including Broadway, helping to generate the wave of worldwide criticism that eventually led to the end of that policy in the country, in the process gaining wider access for South African dramaturgy outside that nation. He was also an actor and director, and a number of his works were adapted into films.

In a 2014 profile of Fugard, NPR dubbed the playwright South...

Parker Posey is explaining how she came up with the already much-talked-about southern drawl she uses as Violet Ratliff in the third season of “The White Lotus.”

Violet is the pill-popping matriarch of a wealthy North Carolina family vacationing at the posh resort’s Thailand location with her husband (Jason Isaac) and three children.

Posey says her exaggerated accent was inspired by her own southern roots – she grew up in Mississippi — as well as “The Official Preppy Handbook.” “Do you know who James Spader is, the snob? I wanted to bring like a snotty affect,” Posey told me at the series’ Season 3 premiere in Los Angeles, adding, “I’ve met some really wealthy people and southerners that are almost affected so that’s what I did.”

She continued, “It was so fun to play. It’s the theatricality of Southerners. I’m from the South so I was so happy...

Brandon Flynn starred as Justin Foley on 13 Reasons Why for the show’s entire run. Justin is one of the series’ most dynamic and complex characters. Initially introduced as a popular high school athlete, he is Hannah Baker’s first crush and plays a pivotal role in her decision to create the tapes. His actions—specifically sharing an intimate photo of Hannah paired with a false narrative—set off the chain of events leading to her downfall.

13 Reasons Why is a gripping teen drama that explores the devastating effects of bullying, mental health struggles, and trauma through the lens of high school life. The story begins with Clay Jensen discovering a series of tapes recorded by his friend Hannah Baker, detailing the reasons she took her own life. As secrets unravel, the show delves into issues like sexual assault, substance abuse, and suicide, sparking important conversations about empathy and accountability.

More than 50 years after he died at age 39 from an assassin’s bullet, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. endures as one of the most influential and recognizable figures in American history. His rise from the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to his groundbreaking work as a founder and leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference made him the driving force of the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century.

King was not yet 30 when he first made his mark on the national stage. His forceful use of non-violent protest, boycotts and civil disobedience to address the deplorable racism, legal and economic discriminations that Black Americans faced made him a compelling personality at a time when local and national TV news was strengthening as a cultural force. King’s message and mission was embraced by prominent Hollywood liberals who helped bring more attention to the...

2025 marks the 25th anniversary of director Mary Harron’s Bret Easton Ellis adaptation American Psycho (watch it Here), which has come to be known as a cult classic – and for a while, news reports made it seem that, as an anniversary gift, we’d be getting an American Psycho remake from director Luca Guadagnino, whose credits include Challengers, Call Me By Your Name, Bones and All, Queer, and the Suspiria remake. Guadagnino reportedly signed on to direct the film from a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) back in October, and in December we heard that Austin Butler (Elvis) and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) were being considered for the lead role of Patrick Bateman, the character who was played by Christian Bale in Harron’s film. But then, Ellis said on his podcast that he thought the remake talk was “fake news” and that deals hadn’t even been secured with Guadagnino or Burns yet.

Nicole Kidman has seen the height of fame and success. She has worked with some of the best and become one of the best, spending years to create the reputation she enjoys today. With this in mind, one would assume that she has done it all and regrets very few. However, what about the opportunities she let pass her by?

Nicole Kidman in Babygirl | Credit: A24

It would seem that when Kidman was a kid herself, she ended up letting go of a role. This would end up being one of the biggest regrets of her career because of who was directing the project.

Nicole Kidman was a very big theater buff

With the release of her recent film, Babygirl, Nicole Kidman gave an interview with W Magazine. Here, she was asked when she decided to become an actress and if she ever went into theater as a child. The actress revealed that she was,...

Tennessee Williams sets Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, his 1955 play about sexual repression, at a cotton plantation on the Mississippi Delta. You can feel the heat in director Rebecca Frecknall’s production at the Almeida Theatre starring a scorching Daisy Edgar-Jones as Maggie, the cat in question, who does all in her power to jolt her inattentive husband, Brick — played superbly by Kingsley Ben-Adir — out of his self-inflicted stupor.

The play opened just a few days ago and there’s already chatter about it transferring into the West End, most appropriately, next summer, and Edgar-Jones must be persuaded to move with it, along with Ben-Adir, Lennie James’ powerful Big Daddy and Clare Burt’s cotton-headed Big Mama.

Edgar-Jones’ Maggie the cat is a study in the art of allure, and calculation; she prowls the Almeida stage like a hungry feline wanting to play with her prey before gobbling it up,...

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir are celebrating their new play!

The co-stars posed for photos together at the after-party for the press night of their play Cat On A Hot Tin Roof on Tuesday night (December 17) held at The Almeida Theatre in London, England.

Fellow cast members in attendance included Derek Hagen, Guy Burgess, Clare Burt, Pearl Chanda, Ukweli Roach, Lennie James, and Seb Carrington along with director Rebecca Frecknall.

Here’s the play’s synopsis from The Almeida Theatre: “The Pollitt family gathers to celebrate a birthday, but behind the smiles is a family in crisis. With Brick and Maggie’s marriage plagued by secrets and deceit, the question of legacy lingers. As the family confront the impending death of their patriarch, a war of truth and lies is waged.”

The play was written originally written by Tennessee Williams in 1955.

The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof runs...

Mikey Madison, who got her start on the FX series “Better Things,” is among the discoveries of Oscar season with Sean Baker’s “Anora.” As the title character — a Russian American stripper in Brooklyn who allows herself to fall for a client — she is alternately hard-edged and sentimental. Who better to pair her with than a star who worked similar magic this year? Pamela Anderson, in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” plays a Vegas stage performer who, like Anora, dreams of human connection. Anderson, like Madison, began her career on television, with “Baywatch.” In recent years, with the release of a memoir and a documentary about her life, Anderson has been having a renaissance, and Madison, who showed up with a notebook full of questions, was understandably awed.

Mikey Madison: How do you feel right now? I felt a little nervous when they called “action.”

Pamela Anderson:...

Get the latest scoop on everything you need to know about today’s Jeopardy! episode airing on Tuesday, 17 December 2024 including the Final Jeopardy, contestants and today’s winner!

Today’s Final Jeopardy 12/17/2024 (Fictional Characters) – Tuesday, 17 December 2024

Jebel Musa in Morocco & Mount Hacho near Ceuta are candidates for this southern half of this pair

Today’s Final Jeopardy Answer – Tuesday, 17 December 2024

The Final Jeopardy Answer is: Blanche DuBois

Final Jeopardy Explanation – Tuesday, 17 December 2024

The character is Blanche DuBois from the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. Blanche, who is dressed in white in her first scene, symbolizing purity and fragility, explains that her name means “white woods.” This name aligns with her outward persona, which contrasts sharply with her troubled past and the psychological turmoil she faces throughout the play. Her name, Blanche, is French for “white,” further emphasizing themes of purity and innocence, which are integral to her...

Actor Joe Manganiello is known for his role in the Magic Mike franchise. However, before Manganiello gained commercial success in films, his breakthrough performance came on the fantasy horror drama series True Blood. The series ran for seven seasons and gained critical acclaim before experiencing a steep decline.

Joe Manganiello played Alcide Herveaux in True Blood (Credit: HBO).

During a podcast appearance, Manganiello opened up about his time on the series and expressed a very sharp opinion about the show’s cast. However, Manganiello’s comments have some merit, especially taking into consideration the lackluster conclusion to the series which had seriously untapped potential.

Joe Manganiello Feels True Blood Cast Was Overqualified For the Series

Joe Manganiello appeared in a small role in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man before getting his breakthrough on the HBO television series True Blood. Manganiello first appeared as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in the show’s third season,...

Paul Mescal will make his American stage debut this coming spring.

Following his starring role in Gladiator II, Mescal will reprise his role in Rebecca Frecknall’s stage revival of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. The revival will run Off-Broadway at Bam, or the Brooklyn Academy of Music, from Feb. 28 through April 6.

Before coming to New York, the production will play London’s West End again, at the Noël Coward Theater, from Feb. 3 through Feb. 22. Frecknall’s production of the play was first staged at London’s Almeida Theater in 2022, before transferring to the West End in 2023. The director is currently represented on Broadway by the revival of Cabaret.

The play follows Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who has experienced a series of personal misfortunes, as she moves to New Orleans in the apartment rented by her younger sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley.

Mescal, who is playing Stanley Kowalski,...

The acclaimed London revival of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire starring Paul Mescal, Patsy Ferran and Anjana Vasan will transfer to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a limited run beginning February 28, 2025, with the Off Broadway run continuing through April 6.

Directed by Rebecca Frecknall, Streetcar will play Bam’s Harvey Theater following a return London engagement that begins February 3.

As Stanley Kowalski – the role made famous both on stage and screen by Marlon Brando – Mescal will be making his New York stage debut.

The Streetcar London cast won multiple awards, including Olivier Awards for Best Actor (Mescal), Supporting Actress and the Olivier for Best Revival. Ferran, who plays Blanche, won London’s Critics Circle Award for her performance.

The creative team includes: Scenic design by Madeleine Girling; Lighting design by Lee Curran; Sound design by...

Exclusive: As they globally barnstorm their Paramount epic Gladiator II, director Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal will jump right back in the ring together. Scott has set as his next directorial outing The Dog Stars at 20th Century, with Paul Mescal in advance negotiations to star.

Mark L. Smith adapted the Peter Heller novel. Scott and Michael Pruss will produce for Scott Free alongside Smith and Cliff Roberts.

Scott has been weighing a handful of films for his next project including Paramount’s Bee Gees movie. Sources said that they found a sweet spot for the busy Mescal to re-team with Scott, and that is why they’ve set this as their next collaboration, with the aim to shoot next spring after Mescal stars on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire. Mescal is reprising his turn as Stanley Kowalski from the lauded London production of the Tennessee Williams play.

The...

Quincy Jones is dead at 91. There has simply never been an American artist better in touch with the pulse of popular culture than this producer, arranger, and composer whose work spanned nearly 70 years, every genre imaginable, and crossed all media as well. Jones is best known for his work producing Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, or his lifelong friendship with Ray Charles, but his film scores, bouncing with energy and groove, helped inspire a rethink of what was possible with movie music. (Associated Press first reported his death.)

Multiracial but the very definition of a 20th-century Black artist, Jones was born on the South Side of Chicago on March 14, 1933. His paternal grandmother was an ex-slave; his paternal grandfather, from Wales. His maternal grandmother was born a slave on a Kentucky plantation, as well — through the institutionalized rape of slavery, she was a distant relation of Tennessee Williams and the poet Sidney Lanier,...

Vivien Leigh was the two-time Oscar winner who made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.

She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...

Seven Cemeteries is a classic Western, a tale of vengeance, redemption and zombies. When Santana Bravo (Danny Trejo) is finally released from prison on parole, he's called upon by a young widow, Dolores (Emma Ramos) to protect her ranch from Abuelo (Sal Lopez), the remorseless and violent drug lord responsible for her husband's death and Bravo's imprisonment decades prior. The problem is, Bravo's loyal squad of friends, criminals and ne'er-do-wells died years ago. However, the local bruja or, witch portrayed by Maria Canals-Barrera, has the perfect solution. He should just bring them back from the dead. Granting him a magical ritual knife and her living-impaired husband, Miguel (Efren Ramirez), la Bruja sends Bravo back on his quest for redemption, with a little help from friends from the other side.

In this exclusive interview with Cbr, actress Maria Canals-Barrera discusses her grimy and unconventional role as a witch, her gnarly makeup,...

French actress Christine Boisson, who got her big-screen break as a 17-year-old in Emmanuelle, has died at the age of 68 in Paris.

Boisson had just left school and was still a minor when Just Jaeckin cast her in his 1974 erotic classic as the sexually adventurous teenager Marie-Ange, who introduces Emmanuelle (Sylvia Kristel) to the shady libertine figure of Mario.

After being cast in a handful of smaller roles purely on the basis of her physique, Boisson decided to go back to school and studied acting at France’s prestigious Conservatoire.

On completing the three-year course, she refused to take on roles where the principal consideration for the casting was her physique.

Deadline Related Video:

Over the course of her 40-year career, Boisson ratcheted up more than 50 film credits including Michelangelo Antonioni’s Identification of a Woman (1984), Daniel Schmid’s Jenatsch (1987), Jacques Bral’s Exterior, Night, Yves Boisset’s Radio Rave...

Ethan Hawke’s presidential endorsement couldn’t be more direct. “Kamala Harris is driving the bus I want to get on”.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter Roma during the Lucca Film Festival, the actor and filmmaker says his mother gave him some particularly insightful advice about this election season: “I was talking with my mother about the upcoming elections, and she told me, ‘Voting is like taking public transit. It doesn’t drop you off exactly at your house, but it gets you close. So, you take the train, or the bus, and it brings you near home.’ In my mind, there’s no question: I want to be on the bus that Kamala is driving.”

While in Lucca, Hawke started his day running along the ancient city walls and cycling through the historic streets. In addition to a lifetime achievement honor he’ll be receiving at the fest, Hawke...

We lost an icon of stage and screen with the passing of Maggie Smith, and tributes from her co-stars and Hollywood admirers are pouring in.

The Oscar and Emmy winner died Friday at the age of 89, leaving behind a legacy that spanned decades, including a key turn as the sharp-tongued Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham on the PBS period drama Downton Abbey. Hugh Bonneville, who played Violet’s son Lord Grantham, offered his memories of Smith in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye,...

“Nomadland” Oscar-winning producer Peter Spears is winning 2024 with two films: Daniel Minahan’s “On Swift Horses” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer.” For Guadagnino, Spears has also produced “Call Me By Your Name,” and made a cameo in it, as well as “Bones and All.”

“Well, I think that the more you work with someone, the more you just get a sort of muscle memory with somebody,” Spears tells IndieWire about his creative partnership with Guadagnino at the TIFF premiere of “On Swift Horses,” which he also produced. “The trust in each other goes deeper. “One of my favorite things I’ve done in my professional career is getting to work with [Guadagnino]. I say we’re brothers, we’re sisters. I feel really fortunate to have had the experience.”

Spears revealed that he is currently working on two new projects with Guadagnino. He confirmed that one of the projects, which was previously announced,...

Sir Edmund Hillary is reported to have said that the reason he and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest was “because it’s there.” Acting is not mountaineering (except maybe when someone’s making a movie about Everest), but longtime acting teacher Terry Knickerbocker has likened Daniel Craig’s post-James Bond career to tackling challenges not because he needs to but because they’re there. Knickerbocker founded his own studio to coach actors and has worked with Craig on multiple “Knives Out” films and on Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3.

The idea of acting coaching can conjure all sorts of wild ideas, from warm-up tongue twisters and diction coaching cliches from “Singin’ in the Rain” to physical and improv exercises done in an NYU black box theater. But whatever the method, the goal is always about finding a way to...

Since childhood, Jesse Eisenberg has been a prodigy in the arts. At age seven, he appeared in his first play, and by age 12, he was an understudy on Broadway in a Tennessee Williams drama. At age 16, he began writing screenplays, several of which were optioned by major studios, and by the time he was a high school senior, Eisenberg had landed his first co-starring role in a feature film — 2002’s “Roger Dodger.”

From there, his film career took off, leading to starring roles with filmmakers as diverse as Woody Allen and David Fincher. Eisenberg became a favorite with moviegoers with his comedic skill in such films as “Zombieland,” “Café Society” and “Adventureland.” And then came the critical acclaim with his dramatic performances in 2005’s “The Squid and the Whale,” 2015’s “The End of the Tour,” and particularly Fincher’s 2010 modern classic “The Social Network,” for which Eisenberg received Best Actor nominations from the Oscars,...

Marlon Brando is a name that resonates deeply in the world of cinema. Often heralded as one of the greatest actors of all time, his influence and performances have shaped the landscape of Hollywood. From his explosive breakout role in “A Streetcar Named Desire” to his iconic portrayal of Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” Brando’s career spanned decades and left an indelible mark on the film industry. This blog post will explore the pivotal moments and transformations in Marlon Brando’s life, showcasing how he became a legendary figure in acting.

Early Life and Acting Training at The Actors Studio

Marlon Brando’s upbringing in Omaha, Nebraska, was marked by a complex family dynamic. His father, a commercial artist with a penchant for alcohol, and his mother, an actress, created an environment filled with both inspiration and instability. This early exposure to the arts, coupled with personal hardships, played...

Jeff Lieberman’s Squirm cheekily suggests what Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds might’ve been like had it been scripted by Tennessee Williams. The film’s deft blend of animal-attack horror and Southern Gothic strangeness yields an experience that’s likely somewhat different than what you might expect when you hear the high-concept pitch: “Killer earthworms run amok in a tiny Georgia town.” Distributor Aip made a few trims to some grisly early FX work from Rick Baker, and a few flashes of frontal nudity, making sure that Squirm would squeak by with a PG rating, thereby allowing an entire generation of underage viewers to be exposed to its gruesome spectacle.

Lieberman takes his time with the buildup, carefully sketching in the dynamics of the Sanders family, whose household serves as the film’s central location. Matriarch Naomi (Jean Sullivan) seems lost in reveries about her dead husband. Hip teen...

Gena Rowlands, the wife and muse of John Cassavetes whose unvarnished abilities found in such films as Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night and Gloria put her in the pantheon of acting legends, died Wednesday. She was 94.

Rowlands died surrounded by family members at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to TMZ. A spokesperson for WME, where her son, writer-director Nick Cassavetes, has representation, confirmed her death. She had battled Alzheimer’s since 2019.

Rowlands received Oscar nominations for her performances in A Woman Under the Influence (1974), where she played an isolated, emotionally vulnerable housewife who lapses into madness, and Gloria (1980), where she sparkled as a pissed-off child protector who rails against the Mob.

She lost out to Ellen Burstyn of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Sissy Spacek of Coal Miner’s Daughter in those Academy Award races. Her greatness wasn’t formally acknowledged by the Academy...