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Dame Maggie Smith, the British actress who starred in Harry Potter films, the wildly popular Downton Abbey series and scores of other movies, TV shows, West End and Broadway productions in a career that brought two Oscars, five BAFTAs, four Emmys and a Tony Award, died today. She was 89.

Smith’s death was confirmed by her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin. In a statement shared with UK media, they said: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”

Smith was one of the finest British screen and stage stars of her generation and will be remembered for her performances in iconic films and TV shows, including Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Her...

Although Welcome To Plathville star, Micah Plath has been getting serious with his new girlfriend, Veronica Peters, she hasn’t wanted to be seen. Specifically, she hasn’t been open to being on camera other than in passing. Likewise, she has particularly made it her mission to dodge social media and the TLC scenes.

Micah Plath And His Girlfriend Value Privacy

While Welcome To Plathville star, Micah Plath’s girlfriend has diligently tried to avoid public exposure with the show, she has allowed cameras to have a glimpse of her in passing. The back of her dress or the lower part of her face, but not fully engaging. After seeing how Olivia and Ethan Plath’s relationship was scrutinized, it is understandable they want to live off-camera. However, in the new episode, she is finally giving up on hiding from the cameras. Undeniably, Micah has respected her wishes but seemingly...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled its streaming lineup for August 2024, which features an eclectic mix of independent films showcasing the work of auteurs from around the world.

The boutique service will become the exclusive streaming home of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 comedy “Licorice Pizza,” and will celebrate the occasion by adding four more of his films to the channel: “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” and “Magnolia.” Anderson’s frequent collaborator Philip Seymour Hoffman will additionally be celebrated on the streaming service as part of a larger retrospective. Many of the late actor’s most iconic roles, including “Capote” and “Synecdoche, New York,” will be included, along with his sole directorial outing “Jack Goes Boating.”

The channel will also highlight several other prominent filmmakers including Preston Sturges, who helped pioneer the modern rom-com through films like “The Lady Eve” and “The Palm Beach Story,” and prolific Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine.

The Criterion Channel’s August lineup pays tribute to auteurs of all kinds: directors, actors, and photographers, fictional or otherwise. In a notable act of preservation and advocacy, they’ll stream 20 titles by the Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, here introduced by the great Richard Peña. More known (but fun all the same) is a five-title Paul Thomas Anderson series including the exclusive stream of Licorice Pizza, as well as a Philip Seymour Hoffman series that overlaps with Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love (a Criterion Edition this month), and The Master, plus 25th Hour, Love Liza, and his own directing effort Jack Goes Boating. Preston Sturges gets five movies, with Sullivan’s Travels arriving in October.

Theme-wise, a photographer series includes Rear Window, Peeping Tom, Blow-up, Close-Up, and Clouzot’s La prisonnière; “Vacation Noir” features The Lady from Shanghai, Brighton Rock, Kansas City Confidential, Purple Noon, and La piscine. Alongside the aforementioned PTA and Antonioni pictures,...

Chaim Topol, the renowned star of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Flash Gordon," has died. The world renowned actor of both the stage and screen was 87 years old. According to The Times of Israel, Topol passed away in Tel Aviv after dealing with Alzheimer's disease for many years.

In large part thanks to his decades-long run as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof," both on stage and on screen, Topol earned a reputation as being the first Israeli actor to truly find fame and recognition around the world. His profile was bolstered greatly following the smash success of 1971's Oscar-winning adaptation of "Fiddler," for which Topol was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Topol "one of the most outstanding Israeli stage artists," as well as a "giant of Israeli culture and will be greatly missed." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also had the following to say in a statement:

"Sadly,...

Chaim Topol, the spirited Israeli actor and singer who, one season following another, portrayed Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof on stages all around the world and in an Oscar-nominated turn in Norman Jewison’s 1971 film adaptation, has died. He was 87.

Topol died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a long illness, his rep, Jean Diamond, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Israel’s first international movie star, Topol also played famed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in Galileo (1975); an American scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov, in the cult sci-fi classic Flash Gordon (1980); and Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler and ally of Roger Moore’s James Bond, in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

As Polish family man Berel Jastrow, he was central to the plot of two acclaimed 1980s ABC miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, both based on Herman Wouk novels.

In a pairing that a matchmaker would surely appreciate,...

Chaim Topol, who became professionally known solely by his last name in a career that included starring in “Fiddler on the Roof” on stage and screen and co-starring in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” and the sci-fi film “Flash Gordon,” died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87 years old.

Topol’s death was confirmed by Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, who described him as a “gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and overseas, filled the cinema screens with his presence and especially entered deep into our hearts.”

Topol began his long association with the starring role of Tevye the milkman in the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1967, appearing in the West End production, which ran for 2,030 performances. He starred in Norman Jewison’s 1971 film version, which carried a budget estimated at $9 million and garnered a domestic gross of $80 million.

Howard Franklin’s absorbing tale of the New York underworld is told from the point of view of a night-prowling shutterbug who documents life on the streets, from the swanky nightclubs to gangland killings on the cold sidewalks. Joe Pesci has his most endearing role in a part suggested by the famous photographer Weegee, a small man with artistic ambitions for his ‘found photos’ of party revelers and bloody corpses. Is Barbara Hershey’s club owner using him for selfish purposes? What happens if the hoods suddenly regard him as a hindrance, instead of a boost to their egos? The colorful production elicits a richly atmospheric image of New York in wartime. The biggest surprise: Pesci’s dialogue is all PG-rated! (The movie itself is an ‘R’.) With David Gianapoulos, Jared Harris, Stanley Tucci and Jerry Adler.

The Public Eye

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1992 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date...

Quentin Tarantino and his wife Daniella Pick have welcomed a baby into their life, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

"Daniella and Quentin Tarantino are happy to announce the birth of their first child," Tarantino's rep said in a statement. "A baby boy born February 22, 2020."

According to The Jerusalem Post, the couple's son was born at the Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel. This is the first child for both Tarantino, who is 56, as well as Pick, who is 20 years his junior.

Tarantino met the Israeli singer while he was in Tel Aviv ...

Quentin Tarantino and his wife Daniella Pick have welcomed a baby into their life, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

"Daniella and Quentin Tarantino are happy to announce the birth of their first child," Tarantino's rep said in a statement. "A baby boy born February 22, 2020."

According to The Jerusalem Post, the couple's son was born at the Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel. This is the first child for both Tarantino, who is 56, as well as Pick, who is 20 years his junior.

Tarantino met the Israeli singer while he was in Tel Aviv ...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director Martin McDonagh has set up his next movie with Searchlight, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The relationship drama, to be written and directed by McDonagh, portrays two lifelong friends on a remote Irish isle suddenly finding themselves at an impasse when one ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for the both of them.

Three Billboards, which earned stars Frances McDormand a best actress Oscar and Sam Rockwell the best supporting actor Oscar, had financing from Film4 and Fox Searchlight, which will handle worldwide distribution on McDonagh's next project.

McDonagh will produce the untitled ...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director Martin McDonagh has set up his next movie with Searchlight, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The relationship drama, to be written and directed by McDonagh, portrays two lifelong friends on a remote Irish isle suddenly finding themselves at an impasse when one ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for the both of them.

Three Billboards, which earned stars Frances McDormand a best actress Oscar and Sam Rockwell the best supporting actor Oscar, had financing from Film4 and Fox Searchlight, which will handle worldwide distribution on McDonagh's next project.

McDonagh will produce the untitled ...

Julia Reichert, 2020 winner of the Oscar for best documentary (American Factory), Alex Gibney, Lauren Greenfield, Asif Kapadia, Todd Douglas Miller and Nanfu Wang sound off on their transformed business, how to secure skeptical subjects and their attempt to counter the encroaching threat of propaganda.

Beginning Sunday, Jan. 5, viewers have been able to watch the roundtable discussions, on SundanceTV as part of the cable channel's original nonfiction series, Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter, produced in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter. Come back to TheHollywoodReporter.com on Mondays after the shows air for the full, uncensored discussion online.

The sixth of ...

Pinewood, the iconic U.K. studio behind numerous major studio titles, is set to close its sound department.

"Following a review of our Creative Audio business, we are proposing to close the Creative Audio department. We have started a consultation process with colleagues who are affected” a Pinewood representative told The Hollywood Reporter.

About 18 jobs are believed to be affected by the move, most in the main Pinewood Studio based outside of London but some also at its Shepperton Studios facility.

The department — which had been headed up by Glen Gathard — provides such services as sound mixing,...

Pinewood, the iconic U.K. studio behind numerous major studio titles, is set to close its sound department.

"Following a review of our Creative Audio business, we are proposing to close the Creative Audio department. We have started a consultation process with colleagues who are affected” a Pinewood representative told The Hollywood Reporter.

About 18 jobs are believed to be affected by the move, most in the main Pinewood Studio based outside of London but some also at its Shepperton Studios facility.

The department — which had been headed up by Glen Gathard — provides such services as sound mixing,...

The "Night Before," one of the most exclusive events of Hollywood’s awards season, is returning for its 18th year.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lopez are among the A-listers who have signed on as host committee members for this year's event, which benefits the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

The 2020 host committee for the party features a slew of current and past Oscar nominees and winners. Also on the committee are Amy Adams & Darren Le Gallo, Antonio Banderas, Tanya Haden Black & Jack Black, Kate Capshaw & Steven Spielberg, Laura Dern,...

Douglas Knapp, a longtime camera operator and cinematographer with credits including Murphy Brown, two Star Trek series and films from John Carpenter and Tim Burton, has died. He was 70.

Knapp died Monday at his home in Burbank after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, his daughter, Allyson Cook, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Knapp attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts with Carpenter, and he served as the cinematographer on the writer-director's feature debut, the sci-fi comedy Dark Star (1974), and then on his follow-up, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). He also was camera operator on Carpenter's Escape From ...

Douglas Knapp, a longtime camera operator and cinematographer with credits including Murphy Brown, two Star Trek series and films from John Carpenter and Tim Burton, has died. He was 70.

Knapp died Monday at his home in Burbank after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, his daughter, Allyson Cook, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Knapp attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts with Carpenter, and he served as the cinematographer on the writer-director's feature debut, the sci-fi comedy Dark Star (1974), and then on his follow-up, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). He also was camera operator on Carpenter's Escape From ...

In 2015, at the beginning of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, I wrote a column for The Hollywood Reporter called "Hollywood Diversity Is a Special Effect." Yet, here we are again, five years later, singing the same sorry song. But rather than wring my hands over the frustration, irony and inevitability of it all, I'm going to look at another aspect of the Oscar nominations for best picture that isn't about inclusivity but is almost equally culturally devastating: the disturbing familiarity of some of the films and timidity of the filmmakers. All the nominated movies are good, all are ...

In 2015, at the beginning of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, I wrote a column for The Hollywood Reporter called "Hollywood Diversity Is a Special Effect." Yet, here we are again, five years later, singing the same sorry song. But rather than wring my hands over the frustration, irony and inevitability of it all, I'm going to look at another aspect of the Oscar nominations for best picture that isn't about inclusivity but is almost equally culturally devastating: the disturbing familiarity of some of the films and timidity of the filmmakers. All the nominated movies are good, all are ...

Amazon Studios has picked-up Sundance love story Sylvie's Love, starring Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha, sources familiar with the deal tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Eugene Ashe wrote and directed the movie, which follows a saxophone player (Asomugha) and aspiring tv producer (Thompson) as they fall in love and continually cross paths in late 50s/early 60s New York.

Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King, Wendi Mclendon-Covey and Jemima Kirke also star.

The movie premiered in the U.S. dramatic competition section. The Hollywood Reporter review called the movie "an unabashed throwback to the women's pictures of Hollywood's Golden Age....

Chapman University has hired Stephen Galloway, executive editor at The Hollywood Reporter, as its new Twyla Reed Martin dean of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

Galloway, who has spent nearly three decades at THR in writing, editing and leadership roles, will begin his position at Chapman on March 30.

At THR he created the Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program, which pairs high school juniors from schools in South Central Los Angeles with top-level women in film and TV. Galloway spearheaded and hosted the publication’s popular Roundtable series, which airs on SundanceTV and Hulu as Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter.

In 2019, Galloway ...

Chapman University has hired Stephen Galloway, executive editor at The Hollywood Reporter, as its new Twyla Reed Martin dean of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

Galloway, who has spent nearly three decades at THR in writing, editing and leadership roles, will begin his position at Chapman on March 30.

At THR he created the Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program, which pairs high school juniors from schools in South Central Los Angeles with top-level women in film and TV. Galloway spearheaded and hosted the publication’s popular Roundtable series, which airs on SundanceTV and Hulu as Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter.

In 2019, Galloway ...

Charlize Theron, Peter Chernin, David Heyman, Dan Lin, Debra Martin Chase and Emma Tillinger Koskoff opened up about the threat of lawsuits, how they deal with eleventh-hour scrambles and why controversy isn't necessarily a bad thing: "To encourage a conversation is really healthy."

Beginning Sunday, Jan. 5, viewers have been able to watch the roundtable discussions, on SundanceTV as part of the cable channel's original nonfiction series, Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter, produced in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter. Come back to TheHollywoodReporter.com on Mondays after the shows air for the full, uncensored discussion online.

The fourth ...

As spy films need gadgets and Swiss bank accounts, and Irish mob movies require bad Boston accents and crooked cops, the genre of films about freelance news videographers share a unifying concept: “If it bleeds, it leads.”

That was the finding of a federal judge Monday when he decided to throw out a four-year-old lawsuit brought against Universal, Bold Films, and Open Road Films, the producers and distributors of “Nightcrawler” starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It received an Oscar-nomination for its screenplay.

From the 1992’s “The Public Eye,” to 2014’s “Nightcrawler,” there’s a collection of movies focused on so-called stringers, the people paid to record late-night police chases, freeway wrecks, and fires for the gawking eyes of TV-news viewers the next morning — and the films, as a necessity, share certain un-copyrightable elements, a legal doctrine known as scènes à faire.

The suit was filed by Richard Dutcher, the director, writer, and...