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Exclusive: New York-based arthouse distributor KimStim has acquired all North American rights to Wei Shujun’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title, Only The River Flows. Paris-based MK2 Films is handling international sales on the film.

The Chinese noir thriller has recently been a big hit at the Chinese box office, grossing $43M (RMB309.5M), an exceptional number for an independent film in that market.

Following its Cannes premiere, the film has screened in 33 international film festivals, including London (BFI), Busan, Chicago and Vancouver. It received its China premiere at Pingyo International Film Festival, where it won best film in the festival’s Fei Mu Awards.

Based on Yu Hua’s popular short novel Mistakes By The River, the film is set in a small town in 1990s China where the chief of police is heading an investigation after a woman’s body washes up in the local river.

Zhu Yilong,...

Frances Sternhagen, the legendary Broadway actress who won two Tony Awards, was nominated for another five and achieved lasting and widespread recognition for her comedically stern portrayal of Esther Clavin, the demanding mother of insufferable postman Cliff Claven on Cheers, died Nov. 27 of natural causes. She was 93.

Her death was announced by her son, the actor John Carlin, on Instagram.

“Frannie. Mom. Frances Sternhagen. On Monday night, Nov 27, she died peacefully at her home, a month and a half shy of her 94th birthday,” Carlin wrote today, ending the tribute with “Fly on, Frannie. The curtain goes down on a life so richly, passionately, humbly and generously lived.”

See Carlin’s Instagram post below.

Sternhagen, one of the New York stage’s most celebrated and beloved stars, gave indelible performances in productions including the 1972 production of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Equus in 1975, Angel in 1978, On Golden Pond in 1979 and,...

Brian Cox is celebrating the “poetic” dialogue of famed HBO series “Succession” even months after the series finale aired in 2023.

During an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the Emmy-winning actor confirmed that he indeed has a favorite line as Logan Roy. The scene in which Logan tells his children, played by Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Alan Ruck, and Sarah Snook, that they are “unserious people” marks a beloved memory for Cox.

In the series, Logan says, “I love you but you’re not serious people.” Now, Cox is breaking down the line reading.

“Well actually it was my favorite line that I had to say throughout the whole show,” Cox said. “I love that line and I just thought, ‘Why didn’t I say that earlier?’ They were damned unserious most of the time.”

In the aftermath of a shocking final season twist, Logan’s estranged son-in-law Tom...

Brian Cox has shared his favorite all-time Succession line — and it’s one many viewers will hear and nod with in agreement.

“I love you, but you’re not serious people … that really sort of summed it all up, didn’t it?” host Seth Meyers asked while welcoming Cox to his Late Night show.

“Well, actually, it was my favorite line that I had to say throughout the whole show,” said Cox. “I loved that line and I just thought, ‘Why didn’t I say that earlier?’ They were damned unserious most of the time.”

The line came in episode two of the fourth and final season of the Jesse Armstrong-created, Emmy-winning series, which ended its run in May. Cox, who played mogul titan Logan Roy, delivered the line to his children before his untimely death one episode later, and his words haunted his children through the end of the series — and,...

Exclusive: Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris (Westworld), Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick), Miles J. Harvey (American Vandal) and Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island) have joined Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge, Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, and Gabrielle Union (The Inspection) in director Dito Montiel’s crime comedy movie Riff Raff, which has begun filming in New Jersey.

The film centers on a former criminal whose ordinary life is thrown upside down when his family shows up for a long-awaited reckoning.

Signature Films and Canopy Media Partners are behind the production, based on a script by John Pollono.

Canopy Media Partners’ Noah Rothman (Small Engine Repair), Signature Films’ Marc Goldberg and Sarah Gabriel (The Estate), and Adam Paulsen are producing.

Executive producers include David Sullivan, John Pollono, Chris Dennis for Canopy Media Partners, Capstone’s Christian Mercuri, and Patrick Hibler and Patrick Muldoon from Storyboard Media.

In the fall of 2021, Olivia Colman scored her first career Emmy for “The Crown” despite not having succeeded on her Oscar bid for “The Father” that spring. This made her the 16th performer to prevail at the Emmys directly after going home empty-handed at the Oscars and the fourth to do so during the 21st century. Now that the 2023 Emmy nominations ballots have been released, eight of the 16 actors who lost Oscars at the most recent ceremony officially have shots at joining Colman on this list.

Gold Derby’s Emmy odds currently indicate that the man and woman with the best hopes of following in Colman’s footsteps are Brian Tyree Henry and Hong Chau, who just received their first career Academy Award nominations for their respective supporting turns in “Causeway” and “The Whale.” Henry is seeking his second comedy supporting Emmy notice for “Atlanta,” while Chau could pull double...

The love is mutual between Patricia Clarkson and the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary.

In 2019, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival honored the actress with its Crystal Globe lifetime achievement award. After a warm reception from the fest and local film fans, Clarkson is back this year as a member of the main competition jury.

When she introduced a screening of Monica, the drama starring transgender actress Trace Lysette and her, at the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theatre on Sunday, she again was welcomed with a wave of applause and appreciation. “I’m thinking of moving to Karlovy Vary so we can all hang out here together,” Clarkson then told the audience.

The festival underlined the special relationship with Clarkson, saying: “The Karlovy Vary Festival has traditionally fostered a cordial relationship with its stars, yet it is a rare and special occurrence when a celebrity also cherishes the bonds with...

Were you one of the first ones predicting big Oscar wins for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” last summer? Now is your first chance to make early nomination and winner predictions for the 2024 Academy Awards. Our predictions center event is now open with the eight categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Our event is open 7 months early, so offer your picks today and help set the odds and rankings!

See‘Air’: What are the Oscar prospects for Ben Affleck’s latest?

A few previous Oscar-contending directors back again this year include:

Ben Affleck with “Air”

Wes Anderson with “Asteroid City”

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi with “Nyad”

George Clooney with “The Boys in the Boat”

Ethan Coen with “Drive-Away Dolls”

Bradley Cooper with “Maestro”

Sofia Coppola with “Priscilla”

Emerald Fennell with...

The 104-year-old theater formerly known as the Selwyn – and soon to be formerly known as the American Airlines – will be renamed to honor the late Todd Haimes, the artistic director and guiding force behind the Roundabout Theatre Company who died in April.

The naming of the Todd Haimes Theatre was announced last night as members of the Broadway community honored Haimes by dimming the marquees of all 41 Broadway theaters. The new name is designed to recognize Haimes’ “extraordinary dedication to the institution he called home, and his enormous contributions to Roundabout and the entire theatre community.”

“Last year, when the thought of naming the theater after Todd arose, our instinct was to honor a visionary producer who had led Roundabout from a basement under a supermarket in Chelsea to an indelible force in the American theatre,” said Roundabout Vice Chair Lawrence Kaplen in a statement. “I am proud to be...

Exclusive: Ed Harris (Westworld), Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) and Natalie Morales (No Hard Feelings) have closed deals to lead My Dead Friend Zoe, a dark dramedy about two generations of veterans, family and friendship, which Kyle Hausmann-Stokes will direct in his feature debut.

The film written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez tells the story of a female veteran (Martin-Green) engaged in a mysterious but comfortable friendship with her wise-cracking (and dead) best friend from the Army (Morales). When the vet is summoned to the remote lake house of her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather (Harris), she is tasked with providing the one thing he refuses…help.

Pic is based on Merit x Zoe, a short that Hausmann-Stokes co-wrote and directed last year, and both films draw inspiration from his real-life experiences during and after the military. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hausmann-Stokes served five years in...

Zia Mohyeddin, the British-Pakistani actor known for his parts in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Immaculate Conception’, and the stage version of ‘A Passage to India’, died on Monday in a Karachi hospital, ‘Variety’ reports. Mohyeddin, who was 91, was ill and on life support, his family said. His death was condoled by top members of Pakistan’s political establishment, including President Arif Ali, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and his predecessor, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan.

Mohyeddin was born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s.

After theatre roles in ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’ and ‘Julius Caesar’, Mohyeddin in 1960 made his West End debut in ‘A Passage to India’, where he originated the role of Dr Aziz.

The actor featured in David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in...

Zia Mohyeddin, a British-Pakistani actor known for films “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Immaculate Conception” and the stage version of “A Passage to India,” died on Monday in Karachi. He was 91.

Mohyeddin was ill and was on life support in a Karachi hospital, his family said.

Mohyeddin was born in Lylallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s. After theater roles in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “Julius Caesar,” Mohyeddin made his West End debut in “A Passage to India” in 1960, where he originated the role of Dr. Aziz.

The actor featured in David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in Alexander Mackendrick’s “Sammy Going South” (1963), Fred Zinnemann’s “Behold a Pale Horse” (1964), Basil Dearden’s “Khartoum” (1966), Ralph Thomas’ “Deadlier Than the Male” (1966), Tony Richardson’s “The Sailor from...

Long Story Short

Chinese filmmaker, Bi Gan, best-known for his single-take feature “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” has seen his “A Short Story” picked up by Kino Lorber for distribution in North America. A fairy tale that follows the relationship between man and cat, the film had its world premiere in competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and now has its North American premiere in the Currents section of the New York Film Festival. Kino Lorber plans to qualify “A Short Story” for the 96th Academy Awards, showing it theatrically nationwide in early 2023 in tandem with a theatrical re-release of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” “Kino Lorber rarely acquires short films, but Bi Gan has packed more cinematic delight into the fifteen minutes of ‘A Short Story’ than many feature length films deliver in two hours,” said Kino Lorber SVP Wendy Lidell. The deal was brokered by Les Films du Losange.

Actor Gabriel Byrne will bring his solo show Walking with Ghosts to Broadway this Fall, with a limited engagement of the production, directed by Lonny Price, beginning performances on Oct. 18 at the Music Box Theatre.

The show officially opens on Thursday, Oct. 27 and runs for 75 performances only.

The production, adapted from Byrne’s memoir of the same name, was announced today by producers Anne Clarke, Mara Isaacs, and Neal Street.

“What an honor to be on Broadway again, especially in a glorious venue like the Music Box,” Byrne said in a statement. “It was a real joy to hear laughter in a theatre during the premiere run of Walking with Ghosts in Dublin. I’ve chosen to be honest and unflinching in the recounting of a life from working class Dublin to Hollywood. Although rooted in the local, I hope the play has a universal resonance.”

Byrne, a two-time Tony nominee,...

In a lot of ways, "Mad Men" unfolds as just one prolonged downward spiral for many of its central characters. And the epicenter of it all is undoubtedly prodigy adman Don Draper. For all his suave talents and enigmatic presence, the man also has more skeletons in the closet than a haunted house. Then there's his tendency to uproot and destroy lives — including his own — while trying to frantically run from said skeletons.

By the time you're introduced to him in season 1 of "Mad Men," it's not exactly a habit he's kicked either. Even as an intense fan of the show, Don's depressive episodes and reckless routines become a little wearisome at times. Like the casual racism and fierce misogyny, the show doesn't hesitate to remind you how flawed the people that occupy this world are. For Jon Hamm, navigating his character's worst bits took its own toll on him.

Winners of the 88th Annual Drama League Awards were announced on Friday, May 20 2022 at a ceremony hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Frank Dilella at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. The Drama League Awards honor both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions from the 2021-2022 theater season.

Tony Awards frontrunners mostly dominated the production categories. Best Musical went to “A Strange Loop,” Best Play went to “The Lehman Trilogy,” and Best Revival of a Musical was handed to “Company.” The Second Stage Theater production of “Take Me Out” prevailed in the hotly competitive Best Revival of a Play category.

The winners of the Drama League’s inaugural categories for direction of a musical and play went to Marianne Elliott (“Company”) and Kate Whoriskey (“Clyde’s”), respectively. Elliott sits far out front in the corresponding Tony race, though Whoriskey’s triumph comes as a surprise. This frequent collaborator of Lynn Nottage failed to earn a Tony nomination,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) (Arie and Chuko Esiri)

Home is profoundly where the heartache is in Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), a finely wrought, wistful but mildly unsatisfying debut feature by Nigerian-raised, New York-educated twins Arie and Chuko Esiri. Tracking two resilient Lagos residents, in sequential order, united by one goal––to illegally migrate in search of a better life––the film occasionally feels akin to an immaculately put-together class assignment, over-mindful of the reaction of an end user or assessor, rather than a risky, personality-infused piece of art. – David K. (full review)

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

The Innocents (Eskil Vogt)

The Innocents, the assured sophomore feature from Eskil Vogt, is a prickly film about childhood morality designed to...

Winners of the 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced in a ceremony on May 1, 2022, at NYU Skirball. New musicals “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Oratorio for Living Things” tied for the most wins, with three trophies each. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.

The cast of Ars Nova’s “Oratorio For Living Things” took home the inaugural award for Outstanding Ensemble, while the Broadway-bound “Kimberly Akimbo” nabbed the two individual musical acting categories, with Lead Performance going to Victoria Clark and Featured Performance going to Bonnie Milligan.

Special honorees this year included Deirdre O’Connell (“Dana H.”), who was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Heidi Schreck; and David Henry Hwang, who was inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk by Jeanine Tesori.

Find the nominees and recipients of the 2022 Lucille Lortal Awards below.

SEEAlfie Allen (‘Hangmen...

The Drama Leauge announced the nominations for the 2022 Drama League Awards on Monday morning. Deneé Benton and André DeShields announced the nominees at this morning’s official event at The New York Library for the Performing Arts. The Drama League honors both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in their annual celebration. Winners will be announced at the 88th Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Friday, May 20.

While the League doles out four production prizes, what makes them unique is their “Distinguished Performance” award. Up to fifty performers are nominated for the honor each year in a category that combines roles of all genders and sizes. An actor can only win this prize once in their career, and once they have prevailed they can not be nominated again. This year, forty three performers contend in the category.

SEE2022 Tony Awards nominations announcement moving to May 9

This year,...

She rose from poverty to become the first Black person to win acting’s triple crown. Now she is playing Michelle Obama and opening up about her tough path to the top

Many of us had existential thoughts during lockdown, and assuaged them with new hobbies. We did thousand-piece puzzles. We crocheted and knitted. We learned new songs on our guitars, baked overzealously, and connected with our plantlife. For Viola Davis, knocking around in her 5m mansion in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, it was writing, though the nature of it was less assuagement than staring into the coalface of an existential crisis. Who am I? What is my life supposed to mean? If this isn’t it – the Oscar winning, the formidable trail of accolades, the palatial bathrooms and saltwater pool – then what is?

“I lost my mind during the pandemic,” she tells me from her bedroom, dressed pre-photoshoot in...

Elizabeth Marvel has joined the star-studded cast of Blitz Bazawule’s adaptation of “The Color Purple”.

The forthcoming Warner Bros. musical movie is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s iconic American novel, as well as the Oscar-nominated 1985 film and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that it inspired.

Production is currently underway for the project in Georgia, where the story is set. Directed by Bazawule, from a screenplay by Marcus Gardley (“The Chi”), the story spotlights Celie, a Black woman whose personal awakening in the American South of the early 20th century is at the center of this epic story.

Told through a lens of magical realism, dance and an uplifting musical score infused with African American jazz, gospel and blues, the movie aims to astonish lovers of earlier adaptations and introduce these beloved characters to a new generation.

Marvel will assume the role of Miss Millie — the unpleasant and overbearing mayor...

Nominations for the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced April 7, 2022 by Lilli Cooper and Lea DeLaria, stars of Broadway’s “Potus.” The Lortel Awards were created in 1985 to honor outstanding achievement Off-Broadway. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 1, at NYU Skirball.

Tony Award hopeful Deirdre O’Connell is the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She won a Lortel Award for her riveting solo performance in “Dana H.” at the Vineyard Theatre last year. That production transferred to Broadway in the fall.

Acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang is this year’s Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee. His name will be added to a star on the sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street, a permanent monument to Off-Broadway playwrights.

New musicals...

Though we continue waiting for Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night follow-up—about which we know production begins this year, and about which that’s basically enough—here’s something to satiate. One of world cinema’s better recent discoveries has directed a 15-minute short The Broken Heart of the Sun, a short produced by the Chinese cat company pidan. Loosely described as “a fairy tale about love” and said to follow “the relationship between man and cat,” it suggests Bi’s style (however influenced by others) could hardly be suppressed: in clear sight are his interests in camera distance, production design, and emphasizing landscape. The return of his (I guess mainstay) star Chen Yongzhong doesn’t hurt.

Update: At the request of Bi Gan’s producers, we have removed the short. As we await the official release, with English subtitles, check out his previous short Secret Goldfish below.

Kimberly Akimbo, Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady were among the Off Broadway productions receiving multiple nominations for this year’s Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off Broadway, announced today.

Among the innovations in this year’s 37th Annual Lortel Awards are the first non-gendered performance categories, and the first-ever Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble. In the new Ensemble category, the inaugural nominees are the casts of English, Oratorio For Living Things, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.

Kimberly Akimbo and Oratorio For Living Things scored the most nominations, with six each, while Black No More and On Sugarland received five. Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady each have four nominations.

The awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 1, at NYU Skirball in Manhattan. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.

With his astounding debut Kaili Blues (2015) and the equally impressive 3D odyssey Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018), Chinese director Bi Gan emerged as one of the most promising new voices in cinema this last decade. Now he’s finally returning behind the camera for two new projects.

Bi Gan has completed shooting a new short titled Le cœur du soleil brisé (which is translated to The Broken Heart of the Sun), Hang Lu reports (via Ioncinema), and one can see some snaps from the set below. Following financing news last spring, they also report that the director’s third feature will finally go into production this year.

While no details have been unveiled yet, Bi Gan did discuss his future in filmmaking, following the surprise box office of his previous film, which took in over $40 million in China courtesy a marketing campaign that led people to believe it was a romance.

As of late Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan has been keeping busy with one finger on the shutter button, and one eye in the viewfinder. We are just learning that he just completed a short film titled Le cœur du soleil brisé (translates into The Broken Heart of the Sun) and that he is poised to return behind the camera for his third feature film — and as early as 2022. Announced back in April as part of prod company Huace Pictures’ future slate, Gan’s untitled third film is still without a title, synopsis and cast but if we were the betting type we’d wager that we’ll be returning to some pocket of Guizhou and there’ll likely be some name players involved — especially after wowing Un Certain Regard auds with his Long Day’s Journey Into Night (the unique viewing experience came with instructions to put on 3D glasses for...

Broadway is back and BroadwayWorld is bringing you all of the interviews you crave with your favorite Broadway stars Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews weekly. Below, watch as he catches up with two of the stars of Audible Theater's Long Day's Journey Into Night,Ato Blankson-Wood andJason Bowen.

Broadway is back and BroadwayWorld is bringing you all of the interviews you crave with your favorite Broadway stars Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews weekly. Below, watch as he catches up with two of the stars of Audible Theater's Long Day's Journey Into Night,Ato Blankson-Wood andJason Bowen.

The Tyrones are back this season at theMinetta Lane Theatre. Audible Theater's new production of Eugene O'Neill epic Long Day's Journey Into Night is currently in performances off Broadway, playing through February 20, 2022. At the helm is Tony Award nominee Robert O'Hara, who directsEmmy Award nominee Bill Camp, four-time Obie Award winner Elizabeth Marvel, Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood, and Jason Bowenin a contemporary reimagining of the classic play.

Chicago – In my one encounter with Dean Stockwell back in 2013, he was properly off-kilter and amazing, as you expect from Frank in “Blue Velvet.” But Stockwell was so much more, starting as a child actor in Hollywood’s Golden Age, morphing to the hippie era and getting a major comeback with David Lynch and TV’s Quantum Leap.” He died in New York City on November 7th, 2021, at age 85.

Robert Dean Stockwell was born in North Los Angeles, and because he was a child actor he worked in the Golden Age of the 1940s Hollywood studio system. His first major role came when he was 11 years old, playing opposite Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in “Anchors Aweigh” (1945). He became the go-to child star in classics such as “The Boy with the Green Hair’ (1946), “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), “Song of the Thin Man” (1947) and “The Secret Garden” (1949), often with another child co-star (and...

Dean Stockwell in Long Day's Journey Into Night

Dean Stockwell, who was Oscar-nominated for his work in Married To The Mob, died on Tuesday 7 November, his family revealed today. In a career which lasted for 70 years, the actor won two Best Actor awards at Cannes (for Compulsion and Long Day's Journey Into Night) and played Doctor Yueh in David Lynch's version of Dune before going on to roles in Blue Velvet and Paris, Texas, but he was probably most widely loved for his appearances as Al in long-running TV series Quantum Leap.

It was Compulsion, based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case, which revived Stockwell's career after he struggled to transition from the brief stardom he enjoyed as a teenager (in which he won a special Golden Globe for his work in Gentleman's Agreement). He played a huge variety of roles over the course of his career but was particularly fond of science.

Former Quantum Leap star Dean Stockwell, an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor whose career on stage, in film and TV spanned more than 70 years, died in the early morning of November 7. He died peacefully at home of natural causes, a rep for the family confirmed to Deadline. He was 85.

Stockwell was born in 1936 in North Hollywood. By the time he was 7, he was on Broadway, launching a career as a child actor. He appeared in Anchors Aweigh with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly; Kim with Errol Flynn; Gentleman’s Agreement, which landed him a Golden Globe Award; and, most notably, in the controversial 1948 movie The Boy with the Green Hair.

As a young adult, Stockwell returned to the Broadway stage in Compulsion with Roddy McDowall, who became a lifelong friend. Stockwell reprised his role in the film version and won his first of two Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

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There are plenty of juicy biographies and autobiographies about Hollywood’s biggest personalities in front of the camera, but just as dramatic — and sometimes even more so — are the ones that focus on the figures behind the scenes.

For those who enjoy delving deeper into filmmaking from the viewpoint of directors and screenwriters, we rounded up a list of memoirs to add to your reading list (or holiday gift list). This selection of memoirs from some of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, from pioneering Oscar winners to unsung figures and plenty in between, follows the making of specific films, explores the courses of entire careers, and even includes some instructional advice along the way.

Exclusive: New Line’s feature adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 bestseller Salem’s Lot is expanding its cast with The Assistant actress Makenzie Leigh, Primetime Emmy nominee Bill Camp and Spencer Treat Clark who’ll star opposite of previously announced Lewis Pullman.

In Salem’s Lot, author Ben Mears (Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire. Leigh will play Susan Norton, Camp is Matthew Burke and Clark is Mike Ryerson.

In the book, Susan Norton is a resident of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. Ben and her eventually fall in love, and she has a knowledge of the vampires in town. Matt Burke is a former high school English teacher who knows about the Marten’s House evil past and helps out Ben. Mike Ryerson is one of the...

After a 15 months delay, the 74th annual Tony Awards honoring the best of Broadway will be held September 26 on CBS and Paramount +. And there a lot of familiar faces expected at the ceremony at the Winter Garden Theatre including six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who is nominated for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”; Jane Alexander, who won her first Tony Award 52 years ago for “The Great White Hope” and contends for “Grand Horizons”; and 90-year-old Lois Smith, who made her Broadway debut nearly 70 years ago, is up for “The Inheritance.”

The Tony Awards first ceremony, held April 6 1947 at the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, was a vastly different affair. Awards were handed out in only eight categories. Producer, director and Tony founder Brock Pemberton was the host of the evening which was broadcast on Wor and Mutual Network radio stations.

Exclusive: Principal photography has started in Tunisia on contemporary drama Contra, set in the aftermath of the powerful anti-government protests that provoked a wave of change in the region, known as the Arab spring.

The film (previously known as Before Spring) is being directed by Egyptian-British filmmaker Lotfy Nathan and will star French Tunisian actor Adam Bessa, known for his performances in recent action movies Mosul and Extraction.

A modern day parable about resistance, the film centers on the story of Ali, a young Tunisian who dreams of a better life, making a precarious living selling contraband gas at the local black market. When his father suddenly dies, he’s forced to take charge of his two younger sisters and their impending eviction. The movie will feature a combination of local actors and non-professionals.

Nathan’s narrative debut, shot on 35mm film, is being produced by Julie Viez (Long Day’s Journey Into Night...

Olympia Dukakis, who died on May 1 at 89, had a face like no one else’s. Stern but perpetually amused, with a warm leer of a grin that could light up a scene, she looked like the comedy and tragedy masks fused together. That’s a fitting reference, since Dukakis was of Greek heritage and, in a stage career that stretched back to 1961, appeared in classics from “Electra” to “Titus Andronicus” to “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Yet even when she was carving out her place in movies and TV, often cast as the Grande Dame Who’s Smarter Than Anyone in the Room, the Dukakis face, part cherub and part statue, made it seem that whatever reality she was confronting, she saw the absurdity of it, and the heartbreak as well. She hopscotched from one ethnicity to the next: Italian in “Moonstruck,” Southern aristocrat in “Steel Magnolias,” Jewish in films like “The Cemetery Club.

China’s Huace Pictures this week unveiled its upcoming film lineup, which includes a new project from young arthouse filmmaker Bi Gan (“Kaili Blues”) and sequels to its Chinese New Year hit “A Writer’s Odyssey.”

Founded in 2014, Huace Pictures is the newer outgrowth of Shenzhen-listed, Hangzhou-headquartered Zhejiang Huace Film and TV, founded in 2005. The latter has historically been a strong player in China’s TV drama production, but the group hopes to boost its footprint in film.

To that end, it unveiled on Tuesday a new logo for Huace Pictures, and announced the goal of producing 30 films over the next three years that can collectively bring in $1.5 billion (RMB10 billion) or more at the box office. It also released a list of 16 upcoming films that it plans to produce or distribute this year.

Fu Binxing, Huace Pictures chairman and VP of Huace Film and TV Group, said the company seeks...

NYU Tisch School of the Arts has established a scholarship in honor of alumnus Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The $50,000 grant will support Tisch drama students who demonstrate financial need, academic merit and artistic talent. Initial funding was provided by James Declan Tobin, an Irish producer who was inspired by spending time with the Hoffman family.

“Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the greatest actors of our generation,” Tobin said. “This scholarship will inspire Tisch Drama students to follow his enchanted ways on both the screen and the stage, embodying those moments that are so truthfully evocative of the human experience, and give them the opportunity to thrive. Phil was beloved by his peers and his fans and he often expressed gratitude and love to those around him. With this scholarship, I hope to continue Phil’s legacy of warmth and generosity by creating pathways for Tisch Drama students to reach similar heights.

(February 9th, 2021, New York, NY) New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng releases new US poster and trailer for A First Farewell by Wang Lina. The winner of the Best Film award at Berlinale’s Generation Kplus will start playing in virtual cinemas in select cities on February 19th and roll to more locations in the following weeks. The filmmaker Wnag Lina spent four years documenting the protagonist’s life in her hometown Xinjiang, delivering an awe-inspiring debut about the joys of growing up as Uyghurs on the picturesque land and the emotional costs of assimilating into the prosperous mainstream.

Aside from newcomer Wang Lina’s true-to-life writing and direction, top-notch technical works from cinematographer Li Yong, editor Matthieu Laclau (A Touch of Sin), and sound designer Li Danfeng (Long Day’s Journey into Night) solidify the gem praised by press as “another sign of independent cinema revival in China”. Since premiering at Berlinale,...

It’s that time of year again. While some directors annually share their favorite films of the year, Steven Soderbergh lists everything he consumed, media-wise. For 2020––a year in which he not only Let Them All Talk Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Most Emotionally Resonant Film in Years”>released a new film, but No Sudden Move and Confirms The Knick Return”>shot another––he still got plenty of watching in.

His list includes months-early screenings of Mank (x4!), I’m Your Woman, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Cherry, and The Woman in the Window, as well no shortage of classics and recent favorites, including Time, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Assistant, two films in the Small Axe anthology, and more. After beginning production on No Sudden Move on September 28, he also screened the first cut on November 14.

Check out the list below via his official site.

01/01 Les Miserables (’19)

01/02 Cassandra at the Wedding,...

When Brian Dennehy died this past April at the age of 81, the “Everyman” character actor of extraordinary complexity left behind memorable performances in such films as 1979’s “10,” 1982’s “First Blood,” 1985’s “Cocoon” and “Silverado” and 1990 “Presumed Innocent,” countless TV appearances and gut wrenching, Tony Award-winning turns as Willy Loman in the 1999 revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and as James Tyrone in the 2000 revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

“He was a towering, fearless actor taking on the greatest dramatic roles of the 20th century,” Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, told the New York Times. “There were mountains that had to be climbed, and he no problem throwing himself into climbing them.”

Dennehy was nominated for six Emmys including for his terrifying performance as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1992 miniseries “To Catch a Killer” and won...

The Taiwanese Lgtb love drama “Your Name Engraved Herein” opens with the popular quotation from The Song of Solomon 8:7 about the power of love that can neither be quenched by water, nor drowned by the floods: “If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, his offer would be viewed with utter contempt.” And the religious reference is in its right place as an introduction to the interesting chapter of the Taiwanese (relatively recent) history marked by political changes, which was at the same time stuck in stubborn conservatism.

“Your name engraved herein” is screening at Slovak Queer Film Festival

One of the titular characters – Chang A-Han (Edward Chen), a young student with a despotic father and a strict Catholic upbringing, is faced with many challenges. It’s 1987, shortly after the Martial Law in Taiwan was being lifted, and the wind of change is still...

Chinese romance film “Love You Forever” earned a stunning $38.3 million on Tuesday, its opening day in mainland China cinemas. That figure is the highest single day score achieved by any film worldwide in 2020.

The film tells the story of a man who is able to go back in time to save the tragically-shortened life of his young lover, but his ability comes with a heavy price. It features rising Taiwan star Lee Hongchi and Li Yitong (TV’s “Legend of the Condor”).

“Love You Forever” was released to coincide with Chinese Valentine’s Day, otherwise known as Qixi Festival, a moveable feast that takes place on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

For most of the past seven months, Chinese cinemas were closed due to the coronavirus that broke out at Chinese New Year, and the disease control measures that followed. Theaters re-opened on...

Santiago Segura’s Father There Is Only One sequel is a major new opener in Spain.

South Korea, opening Wednesday July 29

In South Korea, where theatrical releases open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the new films in cinemas this weekend with top ticket reservation rates, according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic), are led by Lotte Cultureworks’ Jung Woo-sung-starrer Steel Rain 2: Summit - director Yang Woo-suk’s sequel to his North-South Korea political action thriller.

The film opened Wednesday, July 29 and as of Thursday has clocked up $1.2m atop the box office chart.

Further new titles include Chinese shark...

With the Emmy Awards nominations set for Tuesday, it is a good time to back at a few of the greatest Emmy-winning and Emmy-nominated performances from some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)

The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won...

Exclusive: Lesley Manville’s secret is out. She’s had to keep quiet about playing Princess Margaret in The Crown for nearly a year, not even telling some of her closest friends. But after Netflix announced the news on Thursday, Manville is positively bubbling with pent-up excitement.

“It’s mind-blowing television,” she tells Deadline in her only interview after being unveiled as next in line to play Queen Elizabeth II’s sister. The Oscar-nominated actress binge-watched The Crown on her free days while filming in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a couple of years ago, and considered the show “my treat.” But the thought of starring in the Left Bank Pictures series, or playing Princess Margaret, did not cross her mind until last year.

The Oscar-nominated actress was approached by The Crown showrunner Peter Morgan and, during a meeting at the writer’s home, she was offered the role in the room.

This year, the motion picture academy achieved its five-year goal of doubling the number of women among its membership. In all, 819 film professionals were invited to become part of the organization that hands out the Oscars. Compare this intake to the totals of the previous five years: 842 in 2019; a record 928 in 2018; 774 in 2017; 683 in 2016; 322 in 2015; and 271 in 2014.

While Academy Awards nominees are automatically eligible for consideration, the rest of the candidates must go through a fairly cumbersome process. A candidate must meet certain branch specific requirements before even being eligible.

For example, actors must “have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy.” For writers, directors and producers they need have just two of these credits.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 819 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

The 2020 class is 45% women, 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 49% international from 68 countries. There are 75 Oscar® nominees, including 15 winners, and five recipients of Scientific and Technical Awards. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2020.

“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy President David Rubin.

In 2016, the Academy set specific inclusion goals as part of its A2020 initiative to double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities by 2020. Through dedicated and intentional work by the Board of...

Awkwafina, Kaitlyn Dever, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Brian Tyree Henry, Niecy Nash, Florence Pugh, Lakeith Stanfield, Olivia Wilde and John David Washington are among the 819 film professionals who have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced on Tuesday.

Additional invitations went to directors Ari Aster, Mati Diop, Robert Eggers, Ladj Ly and Lulu Wang; to documentary filmmakers David France and Jeff Reichert; to executives Jennifer Salke and Teddy Schwarzman; to musicians and composers Larry Mullen Jr., Max Richter, Arturo Sandoval and Bernie Taupin; to producers Ryan Murphy and Rosalie Swedlin; and to writers Lucy Alibar, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth.

A dozen different people from the Best Picture winner “Parasite” were invited to join: actors Choi Woo-Shik, Jang Hye-Jin, Jo Yeo-Jeong. Lee Jung-Eun and Park So-Dam, costume designer Choi Seyeon, editor Yang Jinmo, composer Jung Jae-Il, producer Kwak Sin-Ae, production designer Lee Ha Jun,...