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Monica Bellucci is an icon in more ways than one. Turning from a model into an actress is not a small feat. However, she managed to do it and took it a step further, even being taken seriously in the field. She has had a great influence on the portrayal of women on screen, having starred in masterpieces like Malèna and Irréversible, which are at times so realistic that it is uncomfortable.

Monica Bellucci in The Passion of The Christ | Credit: Newmarket Films

It would seem that the actress also frequently practices what she preaches, constantly being a role model to more than just her fans. In fact, Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey once confessed that Bellucci had a huge influence on how she approached her professional life and the people she interacted with.

Lena Headey Was Tormented by a Co-star

Lena Headey once gave an interview with Carla Gugino for Interview Magazine,...

Following a recent Los Angeles screening for “Semmelweis,” Hungary’s 2025 Oscars entry for Best International Feature, director Lajos Koltai was greeted by a standing ovation before sitting down for a Q & A hosted by Gold Derby. The Oscar-nominated cinematographer (“Malena”) discussed why he decided to direct his third feature film, which has gone on to become one of Hungary’s biggest hits of the year.

“It was a lucky thing,” he said of the film’s success. “People went to see it and we had record numbers in Hungary. Young people went to see it. Teenagers! They talk to each other and say, ‘I have to see it again tomorrow. I want to learn about it. I want to understand. So they come back the next day and bring their friends. People deeply love it, which is a really good thing.”

“Semmelweis” stars Miklós H. Vecsei as Dr. Semmelweis Ignác...

Monica Bellucci has been an icon for decades now. However, the past few years have seen a surge in her popularity as her films from decades ago become more and more relevant to recent times. The actress has been praised for perfectly encapsulating the female experience in films like Malèna and Irréversible.

Monica Bellucci in The Passion of The Christ | Credit: 20th Century Fox

Looking at her filmography, one can easily see that she has played many extreme roles. During an interview, the actress talked about why she took such an approach in her career, chalking it up to her past as a model and not being taken seriously because of her looks.

Monica Bellucci—A Product of Pretty Privilege

There is a common trend in society to dismiss the intellect of attractive people. Just because they look a certain way, they are not allowed to be more than their physical characteristics.

Films can be entertaining, but sometimes they can be a bit too much, especially when it comes to drama. Irréversible is a French movie from 2002, and it tells a story so intense that even the lead actress still feels uncomfortable talking about one particular scene.

Still from Irréversible (Credits: Studiocanal)

On top of that, a piece of her costume, which she had kept as a souvenir, ended up having the opposite effect of what she expected. For a long time, Monica Bellucci couldn’t even go near her character’s dress from the film, because wearing it brought back traumatic memories.

Monica Bellucci Could No Longer Touch The Costume From The Movie Irréversible Monica Bellucci in Irréversible (Credits: Studiocanal)

Told in reverse chronological order, Irréversible follows the story of a woman who is violently raped and, alongside her fiancé and ex-boyfriend, embarks on a quest for revenge. Directed by Gaspar Noé,...

We Were Kings’ ending hinges on the arrest or death of Javo at the hands of his brother, Mike, for allegedly killing Santos or at the hands of the mob boss, Venegas, for betraying him, respectively. Javo, Mike, and Santos had grown up in the same barrio in Mexico City. Santos’ mother, Malena, was Javo and Mike’s godmother, but when they grew up, they fell in love with her. While Mike buried his feelings, Javo got into a secret relationship with Malena and made plans about living together. Those dreams came to an abrupt end when Santos found out about Javo and Malena’s relationship and he tried to kill Javo. During the scuffle, Santos ended up shooting himself and he died. Javo claimed that he was mugged and killed so that he could avoid getting arrested by Mike, who was the investigating officer of that case. However, Javo...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Hungary has picked Lajos Koltai’s biopic Semmelweis as its contender for the 2025 Oscars in the best international feature category.

The feature traces the life of Hungarian doctor Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures who became known as “the savior of mothers” for his efforts in fighting deadly infections following childbirth. Set in 19th-century Vienna, it shows Semmelweis, played by Miklós H. Vecsei as a passionate, if short-tempered, doctor determined to find the cause of puerperal fever, a mysterious epidemic decimating patients after childbirth. Even after he discovers the cause of the infection and a means to prevent it, his peers and superiors work to discredit him.

Semmelweis was a commercial hit back home, selling more than 350,000 tickets and grossing more than $2 million on its theatrical release, becoming the most successful Hungarian movie of the past five years. Nfi World Sales is handling world sales on the title.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is bringing some beloved characters back to fans, but the sequel is also introducing a few fresh faces — relatively speaking, considering they might be dead.

Once again directed by Tim Burton, the sequel takes place 30 years after the original, bringing the Deetz family back together for Charles’ death. At this point, Lydia (Winona Ryder) is fully grown with a daughter of her own, who discovers the mysterious remnants of Beetlejuice left in the attic.

We won’t spoil anything here, but we will give you a rundown of who’s who in the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” cast and the characters they’re playing, old and new.

Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) Warner Bros.

The juice is loose yet again, and he’s played by Michael Keaton once more. Keaton is, of course, perhaps best known as Beetlejuice and Batman, but you’ll also from “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Spotlight” and “Birdman.”

Lydia Deetz...

Filmmakers James Gray, Andrew Haigh and Agnieszka Holland have joined the main competition jury of the 81st Venice Film Festival (August 28-September 7).

They are joined by Brazilian director and screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho; Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako; Italian director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore; German director and screenwriter Julia von Heinz; and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

As previously announced, the jury will be chaired by Isabelle Huppert, and award the Golden Lion for best film and the other official awards.

Gray’s Ad Astra screened in competition at Venice in 2019, and his directorial debut Little Odessa received the...

Take a look at new images of actress Monica Bellucci in the March 2024 issue of “Vogue” (Czechoslovakia) magazine, photographed by Paolo Roversi:

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the international version of the 2005 animated feature "Robots".

Click the images to enlarge…...

With Leonardo DiCaprio approaching 50 and Monica Bellucci approaching 60, it’ll be almost three decades since dating rumors between the two ignited, thanks to one photo. It remains unconfirmed if they were ever romantically inclined towards each other as nothing apart from that pic suggested that being the case, which has once again gone viral since finding its way to the internet.

1995 was a major year for DiCaprio, as it was only four years since the actor made his debut, which witnessed him garnering major exposure with The Basketball Diaries and The Quick and the Dead. ’95 was also the same year when he would cross paths with the Italian sensation Monica Bellucci.

Leonardo DiCaprio | Titanic

The Viral Photo of Leonardo DiCaprio and Monica Bellucci Together Before Their Ascend to Stardom

Like Leonardo DiCaprio, Bellucci, while 10 years older than him, was also in the early stages of her career and was still...

“Semmelweis,” which Nfi World Sales will be selling at the European Film Market in Berlin, has become the highest grossing Hungarian movie in local theaters in five years.

The film is directed by Lajos Koltai who was Oscar nominated as the cinematographer of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena.” “Semmelweis” marks Koltai’s first return to directing since “Evening” in 2007.

“Semmelweis” is a period biopic about a Hungarian doctor who became known as the “saviour of mothers” for introducing antiseptic procedures at a Vienna maternity clinic.

The film has attracted more than 280,000 moviegoers since its premiere on Nov. 30, and was among the top three movies for nine weeks. It has grossed more than $1.7 million.

Set in 19th century Vienna, the film tells the story of Ignac Semmelweis, the short-tempered but passionate doctor, who delivers babies and also carries out autopsies on a daily basis while looking for the cause of puerperal fever,...

Monica Bellucci auditioned for two previous Bond films, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, but lost the roles to American and French actresses respectively. Bellucci made history as the oldest "Bond Girl" when she was cast as Lucia Sciarra in Spectre at the age of 50, challenging traditional age norms associated with the term. Bellucci's casting in Spectre marked a shift in the Bond series, opening the door for more diverse and age-inclusive roles, emphasizing talent and character depth over fitting a traditional age mold.

Monica Bellucci starred in Spectre, but she was almost a Bond Girl twice long before the 2015 James Bond movie. An Italian actress and model, Belluci has graced the silver screen with her captivating presence for decades. Known for her roles in films like Malèna, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Passion of the Christ, Bellucci has established herself as a versatile and talented actress.

It’s been more than 15 years since Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Lajos Koltai helmed his last film, “Evening” (2007), a poignant meditation on mortality, regret and womanhood that featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close, Eileen Atkins and Meryl Streep, and was released domestically by Focus Features.

For his return to the director’s chair, the Hungarian-born filmmaker also returns closer to home with “Semmelweis,” a period biopic drama about a Hungarian doctor who turns the medical establishment on its head in 19th-century Vienna. The film opens the 21st Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.

“Semmelweis” is set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic is raging in a maternity clinic in Vienna. The film follows the Hungarian-born doctor Ignác Semmelweis, played by rising Hungarian actor Miklos H. Vecsei, in a race against the clock to solve the mystery...

As a young boy growing up in Budapest, a town that would come to be known as “Hollywood on the Danube,” Béla Bunyik dreamed of being in the pictures. “I fell in love with movies in Hungary back in the ’50s,” Bunyik tells Variety. “When I was 12 years old, I started to work as an extra in a few movies…. In 1953, I spent a whole summer with a bunch of kids and some of the best Hungarian actors at the time.”

He recalls being picked up after school by talent scouts and cutting his teeth on the sets of films like Viktor Gertler’s 1954 adventure-comedy “Me and My Grandfather.” “Seeing how a movie was done was very exciting for me and I was sad when the summer ended, and the film was shut,” he says. But those formative years sparked a lifelong obsession. “I got hooked.”

Bunyik would later emigrate to the U.

Actress Jennifer Aniston after being caught in the whole controversy regarding Jamie Foxx’s allegedly anti-Semitic social media post has now come out to call out cancel culture as an obnoxious trend, wondering if there is any end to it all.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 54-year old actress said: “I’m so over cancel culture. I probably just got canceled by saying that. I just don’t understand what it means … Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”

“He’s not a guy, you’re like, ‘God, I can’t wait to hang out with Harvey,’” she said. “Never. You were actually like, ‘Oh, God, Ok, suck it up.’ I remember actually, he came to visit me on a movie to pitch me a movie. And I do remember consciously having a person stay in my trailer.

The Italian actress is in talks to join the Tim Burton directed Beetlejuice 2, we hear, which starts rolling cameras this month.

Monica Bellucci joins returning castmembers Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and newcomers Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux. Word is Bellucci will play Keaton’s wife in the follow-up while Ryder is playing the mother to Ortega’s character. Storyline is under wraps. Al Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of Netflix’s Wednesday series, penned the screenplay.

Warners announced yesterday that Beetlejuice 2 will open in the hot post Labor Day genre corridor of Sept 6, 2024. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the sequel to the 1988 cult hit which grossed $75M WW.

Bellucci recently starred in Mafia Mamma. Her feature credits include Malena, The Passion of the Christ, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. On TV her credits are L’amour flou...

Monica Bellucci, currently on screens in the comedy Mafia Mamma, is in negotiations to join the cast of bold-faced names in Beetlejuice 2.

Warner Bros. is in full-on casting mode as the feature goes before cameras this month, with Tim Burton, who directed the original movie that was released in 1988, back in the director’s chair.

Jenna Ortega is leading the cast with Michael Keaton reprising his role as the obnoxious ghost. Winona Ryder is also back, playing Ortega’s mother. Catherine O’Hara is also among the returnees, while Justin Theroux is a newcomer to the proceedings.

While plot details are being kept in the coffin, it is known that Bellucci will play Beetlejuice’s wife.

Warners announced Tuesday that the feature will be released Sept. 6, 2024, taking over the date from Marvel’s Blade, which last week shut down preproduction due to the writers strike.

Producing Beetlejuice 2 are Burton...

Mafia Mamma is a film directed by Catherine Hardwicke starring the “almost” always great Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci, and this time, as great and wonderful as they are, they don’t manage to save a comedy with jokes that don’t end up being funny.

Bad start for a comedy, don’t you think?

Mafia Mamma Movie Review

Mafia Mamma is a parody crime thriller that without wanting to go anywhere and aware of this circumstance, limits itself to overflow with clichés (it was obvious), to drop more or less funny jokes and that relies on the two stars’ performances (especially Toni Collette’s) to save the movie from sinking.

And no matter how great he or she could be, no actor can save a bad script nor, dare we say, a bad editing at the level of rhythm. Thus, Mafia Mamma is sometimes placed in almost separate scenes without a common nexus that,...

Take a look at new images of actress Monica Bellucci ("Spectre") in the March 2023 'Black & White" issue of "Vogue" (Greece) magazine, wearing Chanel, photographed by Ellen von Unwerth:

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the international version of the 2005 animated...

Take a look at new images of actress Monica Bellucci ("Spectre") in the March 2023 'Black & White" issue of "Vogue" (Greece) magazine, wearing Chanel, photographed by Ellen von Unwerth:

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the international version of the 2005 animated...

Editors Note: In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial for rape, another woman has stepped forward alleging the media mogul sexually assaulted her 22 years ago.

A ballerina and a model, Lisa Pekar moved to Los Angeles from Milwaukee in September 2000 to pursue her Hollywood dreams as a writer and possibly an actress.

Pekar wrote a piece about her experience and also was interviewed for TheWrap by Kelly Hartog. Pekar’s allegations were corroborated by a witness who spoke to TheWrap on condition of anonymity. Asked to respond to these allegations, a spokesperson for Weinstein said: “Harvey… believes that this sequence of events did not happen as suggested here and that the accusation just isn’t true. The fact is that this narrative is so similar to others, it is therefore easy enough to suggest to some that it is a valid recollection, yet it is also possibly being repurposed for other reasons.

“I am a product of my dream. Even as a child, I wanted to be an actress and enter this world, even though it was very far from my reality,” said Monica Bellucci at the Torino Film Festival, where she accepted the Stella Della Mole Award for Artistic Innovation.

Bellucci also held a masterclass at the National Cinema Museum of Turin, discussing her career alongside Antongiulio Panizzi, who directed her recently in “The Girl in the Fountain.” In the film, which screened for the first time at the festival, Bellucci plays Anita Ekberg, the Swedish star famous for her role in “La Dolce Vita.”

“Back then, Italian women would exist mostly within the domestic world. When Ekberg, already so different physically, arrived and allowed herself to be so free, also economically, it was as if a bomb exploded in that society,” said Bellucci, discussing Ekberg’s rapid ascent and then her descent,...

“Ennio,” the hotly anticipated Ennio Morricone doc by Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore has sold to a slew of territories ahead of its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival

Block 2 Distribution, which is the sales arm of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s Jet Tone films, has announced sales of the doc to Germany and Austria (Koch Media), Benelux (Periscope), France (Le Pacte), Scandinavia and Baltics (Non Stop Entertainment), Italy (Lucky Red), Japan (Gaga) and China (Blossoms Island Pictures).

“Ennio” will also go out across the Middle East via (Front Row) and has been additionally sold to Poland (Best Film), Spain (Karma Films) and Turkey (Filmarti).

Negotiations for sales to other territories are underway on the Lido.

Morricone who is among the most prolific and admired composers in film history –– and who died last year at 91 –– had a very close rapport with Tornatore, having composed the...

Giusepe Tornatore’s “Malena” was a rather influential film, whose impact still sends ripples across movie industries all over the world. Sushrut Jain, twenty years later, presents the same two concepts, of a young kid growing up and the place of (particularly single) women in society in the modern, but still rather conservative, setting of a Mumbai suburb.

“The Tenant” is screening at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

13-year-old Bharat is struggling with adolescence in a patriarchal Mumbai suburb. His parents’ marriage is in crisis; the building bully constantly torments him for being too girly and for attending a high-class, English-speaking school; and his only friend is a childish 11-year-old, who gets even more bullied than he does. Meera, a beautiful cosmopolitan woman from the big city, moves in next door and immediately causes a stir. Bharat is drawn to her and they pursue an unlikely friendship. When Meera introduces him to soul music,...

In just the past few days alone, the entertainment industry has lost some icons and favorites from film, television and Broadway. Our newly updated photo gallery above now features 29 people who have died in the first half of 2020, included the recent losses of TV legend Carl Reiner, Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, veteran newsman Hugh Downs, theatre star Nick Cordero and Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels.

Here are some of the bios included in our special photo gallery tribute:

NBA superstar Kobe Bryant died on January 26 in a helicopter crash at age 41. After he retired from playing, he won an Oscar for his animated short “Dear Basketball” in 2018.

Broadway star Nick Cordero died on July 5 age age 41 after complications from Covid-19. He was a Tony nominee for “Bullets Over Broadway” and also starred in “Rock of Ages,” “Waitress” and “A Bronx Tale.”

Singer, songwriter and fiddler Charlie Daniels died...

“Music is an experience, not a science.” — Ennio Morricone

Hollywood is reeling at the death of composer Ennio Morricone, who died unexpectedly on July 6 at age 91. In the global film community, he’s as revered as any screen composer from Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann to John Williams and Hans Zimmer, who credits “Once Upon a Time in the West” for inspiring him to become a film composer. “Ennio taught me that the simplest, purest and honest melody is the hardest,” tweeted Zimmer.

Rip. Morricone. An artist who changed everything. Yes, appropriating elements of jazz & rock & electronica in film scores but at the same time, asserting a level of romantic expression & assertiveness that had almost entirely vanished from soundtracks when he burst on scene. https://t.co/ybdKKuT34R

— Mangold (@mang0ld) July 6, 2020

Arguably Morricone’s greatest scores were for director Sergio Leone, with whom he went to elementary school.

“Music is an experience, not a science.” — Ennio Morricone

Hollywood is reeling at the death of composer Ennio Morricone, who died unexpectedly on July 6 at age 91. In the global film community, he’s as revered as any screen composer from Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann to John Williams and Hans Zimmer, who credits “Once Upon a Time in the West” for inspiring him to become a film composer. “Ennio taught me that the simplest, purest and honest melody is the hardest,” tweeted Zimmer.

Rip. Morricone. An artist who changed everything. Yes, appropriating elements of jazz & rock & electronica in film scores but at the same time, asserting a level of romantic expression & assertiveness that had almost entirely vanished from soundtracks when he burst on scene. https://t.co/ybdKKuT34R

— Mangold (@mang0ld) July 6, 2020

Arguably Morricone’s greatest scores were for director Sergio Leone, with whom he went to elementary school.

by Nathaniel R

Confession, dear reader. Two decades of writing about movies later I still feel ill-equipped to write about one of the largest tools in the filmmaking arsenal: scoring. Ennio Morricone once described music as "energy, space, and time" which is a broad and huge and cosmic enough description to explain away how overwhelming a task it is to write about... especially to those of us who are more visually attuned. As you've undoubtedly heard, Morricone, by all accounts of the all time great composers, has passed away at the age of 91 after a fall which hospitalized him. In the course of his spectacular career, which stretches across six decades of cinema, he helped defined an entire genre (the spaghetti western), and composed the scores for over three hundred movies as well as an alarming number of TV shows on the side.

His six Oscar nominations and two Oscars...

Oscar-winning film composer Ennio Morricone, who died Monday at 91, scored more than 400 movies and TV shows, as well as more than 100 classical pieces. The legendary orchestrator’s score for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), one of his successful collaborations with director Sergio Leone, is considered one of film’s most influential soundtracks.

In 2016 he won an Oscar for his score for Quentin Tarantino’s film The Hateful Eight, becoming the oldest person ever to win a competitive Oscar. He received an Honorary Oscar in 2007 and was nominated for six Original Score Academy Awards including Days of Heaven (1979), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), Malena (2000) and Hateful Eight.

Click the link above to see some of the maestro’s most notable movie scores, including two for film starring a young Clint Eastwood.

Notable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo Gallery

Below is a list of some of Morricone’s most memorable composition,...

Versatile film, avant-garde classical, jazz and pop composer Ennio Morricone died in a Rome hospital after falling and breaking his leg, his lawyer Giorgio Assumma announced, according to Variety. He was 91.

Known as “the Maestro,” Morricone is best known as the composer of the scores and themes of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and his Academy Award winning soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. He also toured frequently, and expanded his sonic visions to reflect contemporary sounds. Besides his collaborations on the spaghetti Western films of Sergio Leone, Morricone composed for Bernardo Bertolucci, Dario Argento, Don Siegel, Brian De Palma, and John Carpenter. He composed for such diverse artists as Andrea Bocelli, Sting, k.d. lang, and Pet Shop Boys. Morricone never became fluent in English. When he won his 2007 honorary Oscar, his speech was translated by Clint Eastwood.

Morricone...

Ennio Morricone, who died Monday at the age of 91, wrote more than 400 original film scores, many of which have entered the classic movie-music pantheon. While trying to narrow them down to the 10 best is an impossible task, here, in chronological order, are an essential 10:

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

This was the most popular of the maestro’s Western scores, for the last of Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name” trilogy. With an indelible, coyote-inspired main theme and now-famous “Ecstasy of Gold” cue, a cover version went to No. 2 on the U.S. pop charts.

“Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968)

An off-key harmonica is not only central to the score but also to the plot of Sergio Leone’s operatic masterpiece, about the coming of the railroad to a tiny Western town. It’s especially notable for his use of wordless soprano in the...

Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning composer of Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” and several high profile Spaghetti Westerns, has passed away at the age of 91. According to the Italian news agency Ansa (via Variety), Morricone died early in the morning on Monday, July 6 in Rome after suffering a fall that caused a hip fracture.

Over his six decades as a film composer, Morricone is best remembered for shaping the sound of the Spaghetti Western genre thanks to his legendary work on the films in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy,” which include “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965), and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966). Morricone and Leone would continue to work together on films such as “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968). Throughout his esteemed career, Morricone collaborated with the likes of Terence Malick (“Days of Heaven”), John Carpenter (“The Thing”), Roman Polanski (“Frantic”), William Friedkin...

Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone died Monday at age 91, his lawyer told the New York Times.

Morricone became famous for his melodic scores for 1960s Westerns like “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” and “Once Upon a Time in the West.” He drew on his work in so-called spaghetti Westerns for Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 Western “The Hateful Eight,” which earned the composer his first Academy Award after five previous nominations and an honorary award in 2007.

In addition, Morricone picked up three Golden Globes and two Grammy Awards during his long and celebrated career.

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020 (Photos)

The Rome-born composer wrote the scores for more than 500 films in a wide range of genres and styles — but often drawing on his desire to place music and sound effects like ticking watches and buzzing flies at the foreground of the filmgoer’s consciousness.

He earned Oscar nominations for...

Oscar winner Ennio Morricone, composer of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “The Mission” and among the most prolific and admired composers in film history, has died. He was 91.

Morricone died early Monday in a Rome clinic, where he was taken shortly after suffering a fall that caused a hip fracture, his lawyer Giorgio Asumma told Italian news agency Ansa.

Shortly after Morricone’s death was confirmed, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted: “We will always remember, with infinite gratitude, the artistic genius of the Maestro #EnnioMorricone. It made us dream, feel excited, reflect, writing memorable notes that will remain indelible in the history of music and cinema.”

The Italian maestro’s estimated 500 scores for films and television, composed over more than 50 years, are believed to constitute a record in Western cinema for sheer quantity of music.

At least a dozen of them became film-score classics, from the...

Take a look at new images of actress Monica Bellucci ("Spectre") in the August 2018 issue of "Esquire" (Spain), wearing Emporio Armani, Stella McCartney and a whole lot more, photographed by Ricardo Abrahao:

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the French version of the...

Giuseppe Tornatore’s ode to the Italian love of movies was a major hit here in 1990, despite being severely cut by Miramax. In 2002 the director reworked his long version into an almost three-hour sentimental epic that enlarges the film’s scope and deepens its sentiments.

Cinema Paradiso

Region B Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / Special Edition / 174, 155, 124 min. /

Nuovo cinema Paradiso / Street Date March 21, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Philippe Noiret, Antonella Attili, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Agnese Nano, Brigitte Fossey, Pupella Maggio, Leopoldo Trieste

Cinematography: Blasco Giurato

Production Designer: Andrea Crisanti

Film Editor: Mario Morra

Original Music: Ennio and Andrea Morricone

Produced by Mino Barbera, Franco Cristaldi, Giovanna Romagnoli

Written and Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

Your average foreign import movie, it seems, makes a brief splash around Oscar time and then disappears as if down a rabbit hole. A few years back I saw a fantastic Argentine movie called The Secret in Their Eyes.

A major addition to the Golden Globe-winning series, Mozart in the Jungle, is Monica Bellucci, who plays Italian diva Alessandra in season three.

With the New York orchestra still in a labor dispute, Maestro Rodrigo De Souza (Gael Garcia Bernal) accepts an offer in Venice to conduct a comeback performance for the aging diva, also known as “La Fiamma.” At an age where she has to make a decision about her voice and repertory, Alessandra is caged by her own limitations, setting off an emotional roller coaster ride for both the conductor and opera singer.

“We’re not trying to be so realistic, but we like to be authentic,” says Roman Coppola, who serves as executive producer, writer and director of the Amazon series. While the show considered the age at which an opera singer’s voice might change, they thought that Bellucci, 52, was a perfect fit regardless. “She felt authentic.”

More: From '...

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

1916 Disaster epic super producer Irwin Allen is born. (More on him this afternoon)

1919 Stage legend Uta Hagen is born. Though she only ever makes three movies, she originates Tony winning roles on stage that later win Oscars for movie stars (The Country Girl and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). Also the co-author of "Respect for Acting" and a reknowned acting teacher with 70s legends Pacino & De Niro as students

1928 Oscar winning composer Richard M Sherman (of Sherman Brothers fame) is born. Jason Schwartzman plays him in Saving Mr Banks (2013) about the making of Mary Poppins (1964)

1942 Anne Frank receives a diary for her 13th birthday. She does not live much longer during the horrific events of The Holocaust but The Diary of Anne Frank becomes a key text of the 20th century. The George Stevens film adaptation (of the Pulitzer winning play of the same name by the screenwriters) released in 1959 receives 8 nominations including Best Picture and takes home three Oscars

1946 Oscar-nominated costume designer Maurizio Millenotti is born in Italy. Credits include: Otello, Hamlet (1990 version), Malèna, The Passion of the Christ and Federico Fellini's And the Ship Sails On.

1962 Three bank robbers escape from Alcatraz. The story becomes the Clint Eastwood picture Escape From Alcatraz (1979)

← 1967 The Supreme Court strikes down anti-miscenegation laws banning interracial marriage in the Loving v Virginia case. This year's Oscar hopeful Loving (2016), starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton tells the Loving story. There's also a movement to make June 12th, "Loving Day," an official Us holiday for celebrating multiracial families. Sadly the movie isn't opening today for this anniversary so we'll have to wait months to see it. Perhaps the 50th anniversary next year, after the story is more widely known with the movie, will help add momentum.

1985 Dave Franco is born

1992 Housesitter with Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn and Dana Delany hits theaters

2010 Slow burning hit "Bulletproof" peaks on the Us charts nearly a year after its release. Two years later Beca deploys it to fuck up Aubrey's stale act in Pitch Perfect (2012)...

While one might think a new movie from the director behind "Cinema Paradiso" and "Malèna" might garner more attention, or at least some kind of film-festival appearance, "The Correspondence," the latest from Giuseppe Tornatore, has already quietly been released in a handful of overseas territories. It's continuing to roll out, and a new international trailer for it has landed. Read More: Review: Giuseppe Tornatore's Campy & Overcooked 'The Best Offer' Starring Geoffrey Rush & Jim Sturgess Jeremy Irons and Olga Kurylenko star in the movie, which boasts a pretty high-wire premise. The story follows a university student/stuntwoman who is reeling from the death of her stunt double, and finds solace in the arms of her astrophysics lecturer. Well, it's definitely original, and not only that, the movie has a score from Ennio Morricone. There's no U.S. distributor yet for "The Correspondence," so no word on when it will land.

Take another look @ Italian actress Monica Bellucci  ("Brotherhood of the Wolf") in a recent issue of "Harper's Bazaar" magazine (Ukraine).

Bellucci wears dresses from a past spring/summer collection from Dolce & Gabbana.

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the French version of...

Kicking off our coverage of the 25th anniversary of the perennially popular Italian classic, we catch up with Salvatore Cascio, who played the saucer-eyed Totò as a child

• Cinema Paradiso: watch the trailer for the 25th anniversary edition

• Hats off! The Observer's 2000 interview with Philippe Noiret

In 1988, during the first round of auditions to cast the lead boy in his next film, the director Giuseppe Tornatore asked eight-year-old Salvatore Cascio what cinema meant to him. The young Cascio thought for a moment. "For me," he said, "cinema is like an enormous television."

"He looked a bit taken aback, and then he laughed," says Cascio, now 34, and speaking from his home near the Sicilian town of Palazzo Adriano, where Tornatore shot much of Cinema Paradiso. "I'd never even been to the cinema before – I didn't really know what it was. So I think my answer amused him. Perhaps it's what got me the part.

Clint Eastwood Western persona co-creator dead at 87: Luciano Vincenzoni (photo: Clint Eastwood in ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’) Screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, whose nearly five-decade career included collaborations with Mario Monicelli, Pietro Germi, and Sergio Leone, died of cancer on Sunday, September 22, 2013, in Rome. Vincenzoni (born on March 7, 1926, in Treviso, near Venice) was 87. In the late ’50s, Luciano Vincenzoni co-wrote Mario Monicelli’s The Great War / La Grande guerra (1959), a humorous (if overlong) World War I comedy-drama starring Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi as reluctant conscripts that earned a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nomination and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (tied with Roberto Rossellini’s Il Generale della Rovere). Vincenzoni was also partly responsible for the screenplay of two well-regarded Pietro Germi movies: the omnibus comedy of manners The Birds, the Bees and the Italians / Signore & signori (1966), featuring Virna Lisi and Franco Fabrizi,...

Sneak Peek Italian actress Monica Bellucci in the March 2013 issue of fashion magazine, "Harper's Bazaar Ukraine".

Bellucci wears dresses from the 2013 spring/summer collection from Dolce & Gabbana.

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990's, playing roles in "La Riffa" (1991) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

In 1996 she was nominated for a 'César Award' for best supporting actress for her portrayal of 'Lisa' in "L'Appartement".

This was followed by roles in "Malèna" (2000), "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irréversible" (2002).

She has since played in numerous films including "Tears of the Sun" (2003), "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), "Le Deuxième souffle" (2007), "Don't Look Back" (2009), and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010).

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film "Shoot 'Em Up" (2007), also voicing 'Kaileena' in the video game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" and the French voice of 'Cappy' for the French version of the 2005 animated feature "Robots".

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• Taylor Lautner is aiming to sign onto Grown Ups 2, in which he will reportedly go “toe-to-toe” with Adam Sandler. Probably better than going ab-to-ab. Kevin James, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Salma Hayek, David Spade, and director Dennis Dugan are all returning. [THR]

• Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde are set for Third Person, an ensemble drama spanning New York, Paris, and Rome, from Crash writer-director Paul Haggis — who certainly knows from sprawling, intersecting storylines. [Vulture]

• Looks like Alexander Skarsgard won’t have much time to work on his tan during his True Blood hiatus. The actor is in talks to headline the horror flick Hidden,...

★★★★★ Italian director Nanni Moretti has been making films since 1973 and is often labelled as the 'Italian Woody Allen' by lazy critics with a passion for tenuous comparisons. Yet Allen, even on his best day, couldn't match the skill, humour and ambition Moretti displays in his latest effort We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam, 2011). It's almost a masterpiece, and arguably the best film to come out of Italy since Giuseppe Tornatore's Malèna (2000).

Read more »...

In Malèna (2000, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore), set during WW2 in a rural Italian town, Monica Bellucci plays an impossible vision of beauty; a woman so striking she is immediately sexualised by all who lay eyes on her. Malèna’s reaction to the leering male gaze and subsequent scorn of jealous women is expressed through her hair, make-up and clothing.

Our introduction to the character occurs with Malèna wearing a just-below-the-knee white dress, lightly padded shoulders, deep neckline incorporating dotted bow detail (this fabric is later reused for another outfit – she is a seamstress) to match black and white edging on the revers. Its tubular fit is reminiscent of the form-fitting 1930s; Bellucci’s figure is emphasised within the story world, aligning our viewpoint with young protagonist Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) and not his leering friends. Renato sees Malèna as the perfect – the only – embodiment of woman. To cope with his infatuation,...

Short hair on female characters is usually a humiliating punishment – and a small step to alien, monster or homicidal maniac

All the way through Scream 4, I was itching for a freeze-frame of Hayden Panettiere's hairdo, so that I could give it an in-depth examination. What the hell was it? Some kind of demi-pompadour with the curlicues glued flat? I suspect that if you were to poke at it, it would be rock-solid, like a Ken doll coiffure. I think it's great they gave her short hair. But did it have to be so weird?

Then again, short hair invariably seems weird in a Hollywood where flowing locks are the norm. Even Demi Moore, who rocked the pixie cut in Ghost, now sports a poker-straight curtain. Hilary Swank goes long between androgyny trims for Boys Don't Cry or Amelia. Who is known for their short hair nowadays? Halle Berry?...

'Song for a Raggy Boy' co-writer and co-producer, Kevin Byron Murphy is currently working on two upcoming projects. Through his production company, Titian Red Pictures, the filmmaker is to shoot two films next year, 'Reconstruction of Warriors' with Oscar nominated director, Lajos Koltai (Malèna) and actors Topher Grace and Ashley Judd, and a new Northern Irish drama, 'Paperboy'. Iftn spoke to him about the upcoming films, the use of beer for holistic purposes and giving Northern Irish drama a positive spin... Cameras will roll next April of the set of 'Reconstruction of Warriors', a feature film from Irish screenwriter Kevin Byron Murphy which will look at the work of New Zealand plastic surgeon, Archibald McIndoe.