News

Exclusive: Just ahead of the 20th anniversary of Elephant, the Palme d’Or-winning Gus Van Sant pic that marked his breakout role, actor Alex Frost has signed with Brave Artists Management for representation. He’ll be repped by Luna Wise, who came over to Bam at the start of the year.

In Van Sant’s critically acclaimed psychological thriller released in October 2003, Frost portrayed teenage pianist and sketch artist Alex, who with his friend Eric (Eric Deulen), moves to orchestrate a school shooting. He’s otherwise perhaps best known for starring alongside Owen Wilson, Josh Peck and more in the Steven Brill-helmed coming-of-age comedy Drillbit Taylor, which Paramount released in 2008. Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen scripted that title, which hailed from Judd Apatow’s Apatow Productions.

Frost has also been seen over the years in such notable features as Kimberly Peirce’s Iraq War drama Stop-Loss, Lee Toland Krieger...

Vincent Kartheiser was the subject of multiple investigations for his behavior on the set of Season 3 of the HBO Max series “Titans,” Variety has confirmed.

Kartheiser was cast as the villain Jonathan Crane, a.k.a Scarecrow, in the third season of the DC superhero show earlier this year. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Kartheiser was first the subject of a complaint for what was described as making inappropriate comments onset. Wbtv’s Labor Relations department investigated and found that his actions did not warrant being fired from the show but did warrant corrective action.

A second complaint was made some time later, which led Wbtv to assign a representative to keep an eye on activities on the set. Due to Covid protocols, interviews were conducted virtually by the Burbank-based investigators.

Reps for Wbtv declined to comment.

“Vincent Kartheiser vehemently denies the allegations,” a spokesperson for the actor said.

Mad Men and The Social Dilemma actor Vincent Kartheiser has joined the cast of HBO Max’s Titans and is set to take on Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow in season three.

Kartheiser’s Jonathan Crane is an inmate at Arkham Asylum who used to terrorize Gotham City using toxins to exploit his enemies’ phobias. While Kartheiser will make his debut as the DC villain in the series’ upcoming third season, Scarecrow has already appeared in a number of DC titles including The Adventures of Batman, Harley Quinn and even The Lego Batman Movie. Charlie Tahan previously portrayed the villain on Gotham and Cillian Murphy played Crane for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.

Kartheiser joins the Titans cast which stars Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter and Conor Leslie, who teased the big bad’s appearance at DC FanDome 2020. Titans is produced by Weed Road Pictures and Berlanti Productions,...

“Titans” has cast Vincent Kartheiser as Jonathan Crane, a.k.a Scarecrow, for the upcoming Season 3 on HBO Max.

In the show, Crane is an inmate at Arkham Asylum who used to terrorize Gotham City using toxins to exploit his enemies’ phobias. The DC Comics character has appeared a number of times onscreen, including the Fox series “Gotham” and Christopher Nolan’s Batman film trilogy. He was played by David W. Thompson in the former and Cillian Murphy in the latter.

Other new characters set to be introduced in Season 3 include Barbara Gordon and Tim Drake.

Kartheiser is best known for his role as Pete Campbell in the critically-acclaimed AMC series “Mad Men.” His recent TV credits include “Casual” and “The Path” at Hulu, the Nat Geo miniseries “Saints & Sinners,” the Sky TV series “Das Boot, and “The Oa” at Netflix. His feature credits include starring opposite Melissa Leo...

Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Rosie O’Donnell (Smilf), Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later) are set to star alongside Juliette Lewis (Camping) and Kathyrn Hahn (Mrs. Fletcher) opposite Mark Ruffalo in I Know This Much Is True, a six-episode limited drama series based on Wally Lamb’s bestselling book. The project, which has received a production commitment from HBO, hails from Mark Ruffalo, who stars in a dual role and executive produces; Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines); and FilmNation Entertainment.

Written, directed and executive produced by Cianfrance, the family saga follows the parallel lives of identical twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, both played by Ruffalo, in an epic story of betrayal, sacrifice and forgiveness set against the backdrop of 20th century America.

Leo will play Ma (Concettina Ipolita Tempesta Birdsey), mother of Dominick and Thomas.

O’Donnell portrays Lisa Sheffer, a social worker...

“Scientist predicted what would happened, but it was too late,” says a voiceover in the newly released trailer for Io, a Netflix original film with Anthony Mackie (Avengers: Infinity War) and Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers) starring as two inhabitants of a toxic and deserted Earth. Jonathan Helpert directed the film, which will be available to stream January 18.

Co-written by Clay Jeter, Charles Spano, and Will Basanta, the film follows Sam (Qualley), one of the last survivors on a post-cataclysmic Earth who is a young scientist dedicated to finding a way for humans to adapt and survive, rather than abandon their world.

But with the final shuttle scheduled to leave the planet for a distant colony, her determination to stay is rocked by the arrival of another survivor, Micah (Mackie). “I saw dozens of people starve to death because of hope. I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Micah asserts.

Exclusive: Brandon Mychal Smith, who just signed on for a lead role in Hulu’s series adaptation of Four Weddings and a Funeral, has signed with ICM Partners. Smith also plays Sam Dresden on You’re the Worst, which kicks off its fifth and final season on Fxx in January. It just wrapped shooting.

On the big screen, his credits include playing Little Richard opposite Chadwick Boseman in the James Brown biopic Get On Up, in addition to the Melissa Leo starrer The Most Hated Woman in America and Dirty Grandpa.

The romantic comedy series Four Weddings and a Funeral is heading into production now for a 2019 debut, with Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton writing and executive producing. From MGM Television and Universal TV, with MGM serving as the lead studio, the series revolves around four American friends — Maya (Nathalie Emmanuel), Craig (Smith), Ainsley (Rebecca Rittenhouse) and Duffy (John Reynolds...

Melissa Leo has acquired a lot of acting wisdom. On this episode, she graciously shares some. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her incredible performance in Frozen River, and won one for playing Alice Ward in The Fighter. Recent notable performances can be found in Francine, The Most Hated Woman In America, and her latest, Unlovable, where she plays opposite Charlene deGuzman, who co-wrote the script based on her real-life experiences in a program for sex and love addiction. Leo talks lovingly about that production, and about how she sometimes gleans more substantial info from a dolly grip […]...

Melissa Leo has acquired a lot of acting wisdom. On this episode, she graciously shares some. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her incredible performance in Frozen River, and won one for playing Alice Ward in The Fighter. Recent notable performances can be found in Francine, The Most Hated Woman In America, and her latest, Unlovable, where she plays opposite Charlene deGuzman, who co-wrote the script based on her real-life experiences in a program for sex and love addiction. Leo talks lovingly about that production, and about how she sometimes gleans more substantial info from a dolly grip […]...

In today’s film news roundup, Poppy Drayton’s “The Little Mermaid” gets a theatrical release, Melissa Leo gets a film festival honor, and the script for holiday adventure “Escape From the North Pole” is bought.

Release Date

A live-action independent version of “The Little Mermaid,” starring British actress Poppy Drayton, has been set for release nationwide exclusively in AMC Theatres beginning Aug. 17.

The movie is inspired by the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale rather than the Disney animated movie and follows a young girl who discovers an enchanting woman she believes to be the real “Little Mermaid” of lore.

William Moseley stars as a reporter following a story about a mermaid and a magic healing water. Together with his sick niece, played by Loreto Peralta, they travel to a small town in Mississippi to uncover a legend.

Shirley MacLaine, Gina Gershon, and Armando Gutierrez also star. Production companies are...

Melissa Leo doesn’t let go of her characters easily. Nearly a year after finishing production on Maggie Betts’ “Novitiate,” and the Oscar winner is still quick to slip back into the mindset and motivations of her Reverend Mother. As the head of a seemingly thriving convent, Leo is at her fearsome best, tasked with playing a woman who revels in her position, lording over the many young nuns (and those seeking to become nuns) with a steely reserve and a very sharp eye for discipline. A decade after she defied expectations and earned her first Oscar nomination for “Frozen River,” she delivers another powerful performance that could bring her to the podium again, this time in the supporting category.

But the Reverend Mother’s ability to wield absolute power is challenged during the course of Betts’ film, which is set in the mid-’60s, just before and after the...

Shooting has started in Los Angeles on the independent thriller When it Rings, Variety reports, with a plot that reminds me of the “Walking Dead” arc in which Rick is speaking to his dead wife on the telephone. Sally Kirkland (pictured above in “The Most Hated Woman in America”, Valley of the Dolls, JFK) and […]...

Netflix’s new film about atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair is called “The Most Hated Woman in America” — which might sound like an exaggeration. Until you read the kind of responses she still elicits, 21 years after she was murdered. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, continues to not like O’Hair, as a statement he released on Monday makes plain. Sounding a little like Dana Carvey’s Church Lady, but less forgiving, he refers to O’Hair as “maniacal,” “pathological,” and “not too bright.” Donahue, who issues a great many statements about things he perceives as offensive to Catholicism,...

Netflix has been producing original films for a couple of years now, including the Oscar-winning short documentary The White Helmets and, more recently, The Most Hated Woman In America. Now Deadline reports the streaming platform’s built up enough confidence to make its first foray into animated features, with a movie about our nation’s history. Archer executive producer Matt Thompson will direct America: A Motion Picture, which is described as “an R-rated revisionist history tale.” Channing Tatum has just signed on to voice George Washington, who will probably be a better dancer in this movie than in previous portrayals.

America: A Motion Picture is being written by Expendables scribe David Callaham, and has an animation dream team behind it: Thompson is producing the film with Adam Reed in conjunction with Tatum’s Free Association company, as well as Phil Lord and Chris Miller. There’s no start date for...

The new Netflix film The Most Hated Woman In America deals with some weighty and, at times, existential subject matter. It tells the story of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an atheist activist who lobbied against the reading of the Bible in public schools and, in 1995, was kidnapped and murdered. At SXSW, we caught up with the team behind the film—Melissa Leo, Josh Lucas, Michael Chernus, and writer-director Tommy O’Haver—to see if they could answer some of life’s biggest questions.

The Most Hated Woman in America is a Netflix original movie that will premiere on March 24th. The film had it's premiere at SXSW just this past week and Cinelinx's Kelly McInerney had the chance to talk to Tommy O'Haver the writer and director of the film.

The Most Hated Woman in America is a true crime film based off of the actual story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Mrs. O'Hair founded the American Atheists in the 1960's, heavily assisted with keeping religion out of school and was one of the forerunners of the culture wars and separating church and state. The film is a biopic of her and how she and her family were kidnapped in the 1990's.

Tommy O'Haver has a well versed writing and directing career, having directed such films like 2004's Ella Enchanted and 2007's An American Crime. He doesn't really pay attention a specific genre when...

A militant defender of the 1st Amendment, Madalyn Murray O’Hair founded the American Atheists organization in 1963 after using her young son William as an opportunity to sue the Baltimore City Public School System, an effort that eventually reached the Supreme Court and effectively led to the end of mandatory Bible prayers in the nation’s education system. William, who now goes by the name Bill Murray, would grow up to become a Baptist minister — today, he serves as the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, his life devoted to reversing the kind of secular progressivism that thrust his mother into the national spotlight.

Pulled taut between the disparate forces of fame and freedom, this is a uniquely American story that’s rich with relevant detail, tantalizingly sordid even before you get to the part where Madalyn is kidnapped from her Austin home in 1995, abducted alongside her underachieving son and Bill’s estranged daughter.

"Don't you know who I am?!" Netflix has debuted a trailer for a film titled The Most Hated Woman in America, which is also premiering at the SXSW Film Festival this month (like many other Netflix films). This tells the true story of the much debated rise and demise of a woman, named Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who was the founder of the "American Atheists" organization. She quickly became the "most hated woman in America", hence the title. Melissa Leo plays O'Hair, and the cast includes Juno Temple, Adam Scott, Josh Lucas, Vincent Kartheiser, Peter Fonda, Michael Chernus & Rory Cochrane. As interesting as this story seems, I'll watch it purely for Melissa Leo. She looks totally unrecognizable, always cool to see. Here's the first trailer for Tommy O'Haver's The Most Hated Woman in America, from YouTube: A true-crime biopic about the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of the "American...

The history of America’s transgression tied to the separation of church and state has never occurred without strong opposition. The Most Hated Woman in America, an upcoming crime biopic directed by Tommy O’Haver (An American Crime), centers around the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who founded American Atheists, and was a key figure in the political culture war. After winning the Supreme Court lawsuit in Murray v. Curlett, which ended official Bible readings in American public schools in 1963, she would become a target among many people and go down in history as… well, the title says it all.

Featuring Melissa Leo in the lead role, as well as a cast including Josh Lucas, Adam Scott, Vincent Kartheiser and Juno Temple, the first trailer has now landed ahead of a Netflix debut and SXSW premiere. Produced by Elizabeth Banks, it looks to be a complex, intense character study on a controversial figure.

Following the success of its “Making A Murderer” series, Netflix is doubling down on the American true crime genre with a film about prominent atheist activist who was kidnapped in 1995, Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Co-produced by Elizabeth Banks, the film tells the story of O’Hair’s career as the founder of the group American Atheists, her landmark 1963 Supreme Court case that ended Bible-reading in public schools, and her shocking kidnapping in 1995.

Read More: Shirley MacLaine Vows to Help Films With Older Actors Succeed Commercially

When she learned that her son was being forced to recite the Lord’s Prayer in school, O’Hair filed a lawsuit against the Baltimore Public School System. Murray v. Curlett eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, and quickly made O’Hair “The Most Hated Woman In America.” O’Hair was president of American Atheists from 1963-1986, after which her son took over the position.

Though the title seems like it was designed just to inspire as many hateful YouTube comments as possible (seriously, check them out), Netflix’s The Most Hated Woman In America is actually about Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the founder of the American Atheists organization and a woman who successfully fought for the Supreme Court to ban compulsory Bible reading in public schools. As indicated by the title, her work angered a lot of people, which eventually lead to a kidnapping that nobody seemed particularly interested in solving.

Netflix’s version of the story was directed by Tommy O’Haver, and it stars Melissa Leo, Josh Lucas, Adam Scott, Vincent Kartheiser, and Juno Temple. It’ll be available for streaming on March 24.

As Donald Trump has shown, it takes a particular brand of awfulness to really galvanize an entire nation (and citizens around the globe) against you. And while Madalyn Murray O’Hair didn’t quite attract the same level of vitriol, she definitely earned the title “The Most Hated Woman In America.”

Starring Melissa Leo, Josh Lucas, Adam Scott, Vincent Kartheiser and Juno Temple, and directed by Tommy O’Haver (“Ella Enchanted,” “An American Crime“), the film follows O’Hair who’s atheist activist put her right in the middle of the cultural conversation during the ’60s.

Continue reading Melissa Leo Is ‘The Most Hated Woman In America’ In New Trailer For True Crime Biopic at The Playlist.