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Hollywood star Olivia Wilde warns social media and the embrace of fame pose an existential threat to filmmaking as a storytelling art.

“Directors have to decide at a certain point do you want to be a celebrity or an artist. Because of social media, it’s becoming even more combined to something that is quite dangerous for the art form.,” Wilde said while taking part in an informal conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival on Saturday.

“When you conflate filmmaking or acting with large scale acceptance, you immediately cut off every opportunity to do any risky work. So it was important to me to never become overly focused on being accepted or loved,” she added.

To get away from the Hollywood bubble, the actor-turned-director told the Red Sea Film event she remains inspired by film from far-flung countries not dominated by social media and clichés. “I’m so interested...

The WGA West’s political action committee had a strong midterm election night, helping to flip the House of Representatives. Twenty-six of the 31 candidates it endorsed – all Democrats – were elected, including 18 of the 19 House candidates it backed, and nine of its 14 senatorial picks.

Most of the candidates it supported were incumbents, but the union also backed two candidates who defeated incumbent Republicans: Jackie Rosen, who unseated Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, and Harley Rouda, who ousted longtime Southern California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and helped give the Democrats control of the House.

The guild’s Pac, which backed up its endorsements with more than $200,000 in campaign contributions, also supported winning senators Dianne Feinstein, Elizabeth Warren, Jon Tester, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell and Amy Klobuchar along with Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Dems. The losing senatorial candidates it backed were Heidi Heitkamp, Claire McCaskill, Phil Bredesen, Joe Donnelly and Bill Nelson,...

Olivia Wilde’s mom Leslie Cockburn has officially lost the Virginia congressional race.

As the midterm elections came to a close on Tuesday, it was revealed that Cockburn, who was running as a Democrat in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District race, had fallen to Republican candidate Denver Riggleman.

Prior to the results, Wilde, 34, shared a sweet message to her mother on Instagram. Alongside two black-and-white photos of the pair, the actress explained that she was proud of Cockburn regardless of the outcome.

“As we wait for the votes to come in, I just want to say I’m proud of you and I love you,...

Jason Sudeikis must really want to get on his future mother-in-law's good side, 'cause he slightly one-upped his bae, Olivia Wilde, by donating more to her mom's campaign than she did. According to campaign finance records, Jason personally donated $5,400 to Leslie Cockburn's congressional campaign in late 2017. Cockburn's running for Congress in Virginia's 5th district -- in addition to the side gig of being Olivia's mama. Meanwhile, it looks like Olivia only donated $5,000 -- $400 short...

Stephen Colbert touched on how “Bigfoot porn” has entered into the midterm elections on Tuesday’s Late Show.

The host broke down the Virginia’s 5th Congressional District race between Leslie Cockburn and Denver Riggleman, who – despite being months away from an election – posted a photo of Bigfoot porn on his Facebook page.

“This race has been rocked by scandal, and I promise you haven’t heard of this one before, because Bigfoot porn in shaking up the Virginia congressional race,” Colbert said. “It’s the most scandalous campaign since...

It all started when Denver Riggleman, an Air Force veteran and distillery owner-turned Republican Congressional nominee in Virginia, posted two Bigfoot drawings on his Instagram account. A shrugging Bigfoot, with a black censored bar covering the genitals, and Riggleman’s face digitally superimposed on the shoulders of another naked North American mythological creature.

Over the weekend, his political opponent in Democrat Leslie Cockburn tweeted the images and accused Riggleman of being a “devotee of Bigfoot erotica.” Cockburn, a former investigative journalist, echoed other media outlets when she tweeted that Riggleman...

For all the peculiarities of the last several years of United States politics, few could have expected to see Bigfoot pornography at the center of a contentious race for a U.S. House of Representatives seat. Over the weekend, Leslie Cockburn, a Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, accused her Republican opponent, Denver Riggleman, of being “caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist,” a reference to his recent appearance with Isaac Smith, head of the white nationalist group Unity & Security for America, at a Republican campaign office in the state.

Olivia Wilde has a future actor on her hands.

The Tron: Legacy actress shared a photo on Instagram Wednesday of her 3-year-old son Otis Alexander playing with her Emmy statue, which had recently arrived in the mail.

As her son played with the golden statue, Wilde reflected on a similar moment that happened decades ago, in which she played with her mother’s own Emmy award as a young girl.

“This lady showed up in the mail today. Otis approves,” Wilde wrote in the caption. “When I was a little older than he is now, my mom won an Emmy for excellence in news journalism,...

Save for Donald Trump, the response to yesterday’s violence at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia has been nearly unanimous in its condemnation of racism, neo-Nazis, and other forces of intolerance. Everyone from Republicans who are usually supportive of Trump to Hollywood celebrities have spoken out, with one voice bridging the divide between politics and entertainment: Olivia Wilde, whose mother Leslie Cockburn hopes to join the House of Representatives next year.

Read More:Charlottesville: Dave Chappelle Condemns Donald Trump For White Supremacist Rally

“My mother is running for Congress in Va,” tweeted Wilde. “This is her message to the people of Charlottesville regarding this hideous display of hatred.” Here’s the statement:

“Let’s stand up for the targets of the hate groups who have descended on Charlottesville. This weekend, spend money at a minority-owned business. Give generously to a charity that supports immigrants or African-Americans. Encourage law enforcement to...

Leslie Cockburn is hoping to pick up a traditionally Republican seat in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District.

Simon Brew Jun 14, 2017

DreamWorks launched in a blaze of publicity – but its first film, The Peacemaker, was beset by problems…

Not since United Artists had launched in the 1930s had Hollywood seen anything quite like it. Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg – a trio with a lot of money and a big contacts book between them – came together to launch the first new studio in a generation. It was called DreamWorks Skg, and it was not short on ambition.

Katzenberg would be heading up its animation arm, and soon got to work, with the likes of Antz and The Prince Of Egypt getting things going. But on the live action side, the assumption that Spielberg would exclusively make his films for the studio quickly proved false. Post-the formation of DreamWorks, his first movie as director would instead be The Lost World: Jurassic Park for Universal. Only then would he...

Olivia Wilde learned the hard way that you should always be nice to your guests.

The actress revealed that as a child, she tried to boss around Mick Jagger when her parents invited the rocker over for a party – now decades later, The Rolling Stones' frontman is her boss as an executive producer of HBO's Vinyl.

In an exclusive First Look at Wilde's emmy magazine cover story, the actress remembers how her parents, well-known journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, once hosted get-togethers with luminaries including Jagger.

"I was probably 10, maybe a little younger, and he was sitting in my seat at the dinner table,...

Olivia Wilde cohosted a night honoring some of the world's bravest - and most embattled - female reporters and editors on Tuesday at the International Women's Media Foundation's annual Courage in Journalism Awards in Beverly Hills, CA. She was joined by presenters Kate Hudson and Rashida Jones and guests including journalist Lisa Ling and New Girl actress Hannah Simone. Olivia has a very personal connection to the organization's cause: her mother, Leslie Cockburn, is an investigative journalist. "She taught me the importance of speaking truth to power, of being unintimidated by people telling you to give up, and to stop chasing the impossible," Olivia told us. "I've been so inspired by her example of blasting through the glass ceiling." Olivia welcomed her first son, Otis, in April and reflected on how becoming a mother herself has changed her approach to life and work. "The amazing thing about becoming a parent...

After impressing on TV and in films such as Alpha Dog and Rush, the actor's improvised turn in her new film Drinking Buddies has truly hit a nerve

If travelling really does have the edge over arriving, Olivia Wilde must be enjoying the time of her life. It is no slight on this poised, intuitive performer to say that she has been on her way for most of her career. Each year has brought with it another handful of movies that might give her the success and recognition she deserves – or might not. But here she comes again anyway. The question being: when is she finally going to get there?

It's not that she has wanted for work or variety. She has acquitted herself well in delicate indies (Conversations with Other Women), intense, macho-method drama (Alpha Dog) and blockbusters festooned with CGI (Cowboys and Aliens, Tron: Legacy). She had a...

Olivia Wilde made her first public appearance since announcing that she is expecting her first child with Jason Sudeikis. The actress attended the International Women's Media Foundation's annual Courage in Journalism Awards in Beverly Hills last night. It's fitting that Olivia would attend the media-focused event as her parents, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, are both journalists. Olivia has also dipped her toe into the writing world as she recently wrote an article for Glamour about growing older in the acting world. While last night's event marked Olivia's first red carpet appearance since announcing her pregnancy, she and Jason did get in a bit of prebaby fun over the weekend when they attended a Kanye West concert in La. Apparently one fellow male concertgoer did not get the news about Olivia's baby (or her engagement to Jason) as she got hit on by a man who thought he had been romancing the actress on Tinder,...

"Russia, what a f*cking mess! God, I miss the cold war."

The year was 1997 and actor George Clooney's star was on the rise in a big way. The former TV star had made the jump to the big screen the year before as the charismatic criminal Seth Gecko in Robert Rodriguez's vampire splatterfest, From Dusk till Dawn, and now he was People's Sexiest Man Alive, the new Batman in Batman & Robin and the headliner in DreamWorks' first feature, The Peacemaker. Clooney would take a drubbing for the schlockfest of a superhero movie that's biggest contribution to the franchise was bat-nipples, but The Peacemaker's success proved that he was leading man quality.

An action-thriller based on the book One Point Safe by Andrew Cockburn and Leslie Redlich Cockburn, the plot of The Peacemaker revolves around the theft of ten SS-18 Icbm nuclear warheads from a facility in Russia.

A formidable lineup of writers, editors, actors, scientists, and assorted intellectuals gathered at Cooper Union's Great Hall, at 7 East 7th Street, to revive for one last occasion the voice of Christopher Hitchens, which was silenced by esophageal cancer on December 15, 2011.

The novelist Martin Amis delivered a heartfelt but unsentimental eulogy, praising his late friend's good looks ("More handsome than a man has a right to be, he liked to say") and voice ("He had none of the poncey affectations that I can't seem to eradicate") but gently mocking his self-mythologizing tendencies. Noting that Hitchens' habit of referring to himself in the third person was in no way a sign of mental illness -- "Hitch was penetratingly sane; he knew who he was" -- Amis nevertheless observed that Hitchens, who hated to go unrecognized, once endured 15 painful minutes of not being stopped by admirers, causing him to conclude that everyone in the vicinity was hopelessly uncultured.

Olivia Wilde's mother taught her how to be sexy. The Tron: Legacy actress - whose mum, Leslie Cockburn, is a producer on CBS news show '60 Minutes'- explained her mother was instrumental in teaching her the art of being 'sexy and attractive' but also 'the smartest person in the room'. She said: 'My mum taught me a lot. Especially about how, as a woman, you can be sexy and attractive and yet still be the smartest person in the room.' However, Olivia's mother is not the only person to have an impact on her life. The 27-year-old beauty admitted House co-star Hugh Laurie taught...

London, Aug 8: Actress Olivia Wilde says her mother was instrumental in teaching her the art of being 'sexy and attractive' but also 'the smartest person in the room'.

Olivia's mother, Leslie Cockburn, is a producer on CBS news show '60 Minutes'.

'My mum taught me a lot. Especially about how, as a woman, you can be sexy and attractive and yet still be the smartest person in the room,' contactmusic.com quoted the 27-year-old as saying.

Ians...

HollywoodNews.com: 27-year-old actress, Olivia Wilde is appearing in ‘Cowboys and Aliens’, which opens this Friday. The ‘House’ star also has roles in ‘The Change-Up’ (August 5) and ‘In-Time’ with Justin Timberlake, which will reportedly hit theaters this fall.

Olivia Wilde (born Olivia Jane Cockburn; March 10, 1984) is an American actress and model. She began acting in the early 2000s, and has since appeared in a number of film and television parts, including roles in the serial-drama The O.C. and The Black Donnellys. She portrays Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley in the TV drama House, and in 2010 starred as Quorra in Tron: Legacy.

Olivia Wilde ◄ Back Next ►Picture 1 of 10

06/02/2011 - Fresh Air Fund Salute to American Heroes

◄ Back Next ►Picture 1 of 10

06/02/2011 - Fresh Air Fund Salute to American Heroes

Wilde was born in New York City on March 10, 1984. Her mother, Leslie Cockburn (née Redlich), is a 60 Minutes producer and journalist. Her father, Andrew Cockburn,...

See Photos - Olivia Wilde Photo Gallery The daughter of Irish journalist, Andrew Cockburn and documentary film-maker Leslie Cockburn, the stunning, “House MD” actress, Olivia Wilde feels that her life has been greatly influenced by the time she spent in Ireland growing up. The 26-year-old actress best know for her role as Dr Remy “13” Hadley in, Hugh Laurie’s, hugely successful, “House MD” told the Sunday Times about her deep connections with Ireland, her family, her rise to fame and of course her latest projects. Wilde was born in New York and grew up in Washington DC but hers was far from a normal upbringing. In her home Mick Jagger could be expected as dinner guest and Christopher Hitchens babysat but she insists that she never felt any pressure from her family be become a famous actress. “It could have been intimidating coming from a family like mine,” she told the Times.

Olivia Wilde in Tron: Legacy

Photo: Walt Disney Pictures I recently attended the Tron: Legacy junket here in Beverly Hills. It was my first junket for RopeofSilicon and quite an eye-opener if I may say. I did a couple of one on ones that I will be delivering soon, but it was one of the round table sessions that floored me the most.

Olivia Wilde walked into a room filled with ten film journalists last Friday and, as my pals Curt and Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets used to say, "charmed the pants right off of us". And it wasn't the first time. We had all watched the film the night before. Believe me she did the same thing in the film as well. There's a three-week moratorium on me giving a review of Tron: Legacy but I don't think Disney minds me saying that Olivia has big screen talent.

I'll admit that I haven't understood the housing crisis as well as I could have. Maybe that's because the media and politicians kept talking about how crazily complex the "financial instruments" (or whatever you call them) were that caused the housing meltdown which continues to reverberate across the world economy. Not only are we the victims of the meltdown, but we were often told that we had no business trying to understand why it happened. Talk about a sense of helplessness. But after watching American Casino -- Leslie Cockburn's excellent, comprehensive documentary about what caused the housing crisis and its effects on communities and the rest of the economy -- I was left feeling pretty pissed. That's because American Casino proves that understanding what caused the housing crisis and its effects on individuals, communities, and the economy isn't nearly as difficult...

Editor’S Note: This interview was originally published as part of indieWIRE’s coverage of the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. “American Casino” opens in theaters this Wednesday, September 2. Leslie Cockburn’s “American Casino” takes on the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which in 2000 was passed to call for less regulation on Wall Street and, according to a former director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, “freed Wall Street to essentially shoot itself in …...

If Labor Day's coming up, that must mean there's a new Mike Judge movie on the way. It's also that time of year when a few distributors dust off some well-traveled festival films as the summer winds down and the start of the school year is underway.

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"American Casino"

A disaster for ordinary citizens, the financial crisis has naturally become catnip for politically minded documentary filmmakers. With "the most feared filmmaker in America" preparing to offer his take a few weeks from now, we can bide our time with Leslie Cockburn's no-frills exploration of the nuts and bolts of subprime mortgages and the greed of predatory lenders that contributed to the tanking American economy. Probing everyone from buck-passing politicians to financial analysts, lawyers, and lenders, journalist-turned-director Cockburn exposes the shady side of the...

In January 2008, when we began shooting American Casino, there were already alarming signs that the subprime crisis could lead to financial collapse. Still, the notion that the country was heading for a crash was not the received wisdom at the time, and the decision to go ahead with the project posed a considerable risk. We basically just closed our eyes and jumped. (Steven Spielberg once advised me that when you want to make a movie, 'Leap before you look.') Looking back, the fact that we were filming as the crisis unfolded meant that we did not have to rely on stock footage. This gives American Casino a very intimate feel. We were at Bear Stearns before it closed. We were there watching as Lehman imploded. We were there at the auctions. We were with people as they packed up their houses and went into bankruptcy. We were with the...

• The Film Forum (209 W Houston St, New York, NY) have released their Fall schedule packed with foreign film and documentary film which includes offerings from the master filmmaker core of Claire Denis (35 Shots of Rum), Alexander Sokurov (The Sun) and Peter Greenaway (Rembrandt's J'accuse). The September to December slate also includes documentary films that preemed at Sundance (The Yes Men Fix the World) and Tribeca (American Casino). Film Forum Premieres: September – December 2009 September 2 -- 15 American Casino Directed by Leslie Cockburn Produced by Leslie Cockburn & Andrew Cockburn USA 2009 89 Mins. Investigative reporters Leslie and Andrew Cockburn have spent nearly 30 years uncovering major stories (for PBS, CBS Reports, 60 Minutes, et alia), but with American Casino they take on the biggest economic crisis of our lifetime: the subprime mortgage meltdown that has caused more than a million Americans to lose their homes. The Cockburns interview Wall Street wizards who are as nervous about

...

Tribeca Senior Programmer Genna Terranova had the chance to ask some of our very talented documentary filmmakers (Alexis Manya Spraic, director of Shadow Billionaire, Nicole Opper, director of Off and Running, Laura Bari, director of Antoine, and Leslie Cockburn, director of American Casino) a few quick questions about making their first feature length documentary. Below is a great slice of their extensive conversations. Shadow Billionaire Genna Terranova: What made you want to take the leap and make a feature documentary about this specific subject matter? Alexis Manya Spraic (Shadow Billionaire): I first learned about the story behind my film, Shadow Billionaire, when I was in high school. I held onto the article, but it was years later when I decided to make it my first feature. I loved the idea of starting with this story. I thought it would be an opportunity to make a film dealing with...

Editor’s Note: This is one of dozens of interviews, conducted via email, with directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “American Casino” Feature Documentary, 2009, 89 min., U.S. (Discovery section) Director: Leslie Cockburn Producer: Andrew Cockburn, Leslie Cockburn Editor: Peter Eliscu Associate Producer: Tao Ruspoli Music …...

Editor’s Note: This is one of dozens of interviews, conducted via email, with directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “American Casino” Feature Documentary, 2009, 89 min., U.S. (Discovery section) Director: Leslie Cockburn Producer: Andrew Cockburn, Leslie Cockburn Editor: Peter Eliscu Associate Producer: Tao Ruspoli Music …...

The wait has been worth it. DreamWorks Pictures has finally launched its first movie, and it's a smartly calibrated, mainstream entertainment.

Starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman as a perfectly mismatched duo fighting world terrorism, "The Peacemaker" will certainly be a big moneymaker this fall on the domestic front, and down the line it should score winning international numbers and counter this country's sorry trade deficits.

Wired around the current, post-Cold War hot plot -- renegade terrorists hijack nuclear missiles within a dysfunctional Russia -- "The Peacemaker" is the cineplex equivalent of the airport paperback novel, Robert Ludlum's side of the rack. It's a crafty pasting of front-page reality, including the horrors in Bosnia, on top of well-proven story formulas. And it's torqued by the battling banter between Clooney and Kidman.

In screenwriter Michael Schiffer's complex but tightly compacted scenario, Clooney and Kidman step out in a variation of the battling-buddy movie. Except for the fact that they aren't exactly buddies: she's Dr. Julia Kelly, a straight-laced nuclear scientist and acting head of the White House Nuclear Smuggling Group, and he's Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe, an Army Special Intelligence officer. When a trainload of nuclear warheads is hijacked by terrorists in the Russian boonies, they're paired up to track down the terrorists before they can, say, deliver the nukes to Iran or, for instance, blow up the U.N. building. And, the clock is not just ticking, it's going fast-forward.

Although it may not beat out "L.A. Confidential" for the most subplots in a movie award, "The Peacemaker" is crammed with a heavy story-load, from geopolitics to the psychology of blue-collar women who have risen to the top of a male-dominated profession. Fortunately, Schiffer and director Mimi Leder don't allow the story to jam up, or for that matter, even slow down. Unfortunately, this full-throttle surge is somewhat akin to the traveler who doesn't stop to smell the roses along the way.

The best stuff is off the beaten plot: It's the human stuff, not the braininess of the narrative or the gadgetry of the effects, that's the highlight. In short, the movie's most refreshing and memorable moments involve the interplay between the loosey-goosey intelligence officer and the by-the-book nuclear scientist.

To be sure, even a movie as professionally scoped and intricately blueprinted as this one would fall flat if the chemistry between the leads wasn't there. And, Clooney, with his salt-and-pepper flair and seat-of-his-pants daring, is a believable and wonderfully appealing action hero.

Studio executives who are familiar with films before 1985 might recall a chap named Cary Grant who outwitted and outscrambled the bad guys in such winners as "North by Northwest" and didn't need a membership at Gold's Gym to do it.

Although his constant head tilting has become somewhat of a distraction, Clooney's suave edginess brings a welcome verve to a genre in need of tone rather than bulk. Similarly, Kidman's intelligent and appealing performance as, essentially, Clooney's brainy straightwoman, is refreshingly strong-spirited. She has the presence and confidence that makes one recall the best of strong-woman performers -- Rosalind Russell types who could dish it out and take it, no punches pulled.

Overall, Clooney and Kidman make an excellent pairing and could generate a franchise for DreamWorks, particularly if their battling banter is not shackled by overly busy plotting. Think William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Supporting players are well-selected and generally personalize some standard-issue roles. Armin Mueller-Stahl is particularly outstanding as an old-school Cold Warrior, and Marcel Iures remarkably manages to convey his terrorist character's psychology not in simplistic black-and-white tones but rather in the cracks of credible human frailties.

Technically, the film's Byzantine plotting is complemented by an appropriately murky look; credit cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann for the threatening tones. Editor David Rosenbloom's kinetic cuts bring thrust to the loaded story, while Hans Zimmer's stentorian music is a terrific blast in the great full-horned tradition of "The Guns of Navarone".

THE PEACEMAKER

DreamWorks Pictures

A Mimi Leder film

Producers:Walter Parkes, Branko Lustig

Director:Mimi Leder

Screenwriter:Michael Schiffer

Executive producers:Michael Grillo, Laurie MacDonald

Director of photography:Dietrich Lohmann

Production designer:Leslie Dilley

Editor:David Rosenbloom

Co-executive producer:John Wells

Costume designer:Shelley Komarov

Music:Hans Zimmer

Co-producers :Pat Kehoe, Leslie Cockburn, Andrew Cockburn

Casting:Risa Bramon Garcia, Randi Hiller

Visual effects supervisor:Michael Backes

Second unit director:Conrad E. Palmisano

Color/stereo

Cast:

Thomas Devoe:George Clooney

Julia Kelly:Nicole Kidman

Dusan Gavrich:Marcel Iures

Alexander Kodoroff:Alexander Baluev

Vlado Mirich:Rene Medvesek

Hamilton:Gary Werntz

Ken:Randall Batinkoff

General Garnett:Jim Haynie

Shummaker:Alexander Strobele

Appleton:Holt McCallany

CPN Beach:Michael Boatman

Senator Bevens:Joan Copeland

Santiago:Carlos Gomez

Dimitri Vertikoff:Armin Mueller-Stahl

Running time -- 122 minutes

MPAA rating: R...