News

Clint Eastwood has technically been one of the most in-demand movie stars of the last 60 years -- "technically" because, throughout that long time span, he slowly ceased working with other directors. Starting in 1980, Eastwood almost exclusively made movies through his Malpaso Company shingle at Warner Bros., and that tendency functioned like a flashing "do not inquire" sign. Obviously, if filmmakers had any sense that Eastwood was on the market as an actor, a considerable number would've at least passed along a screenplay to gauge interest. But he seemed content to generate his own material and direct it himself.

It's intriguing to consider who would've had the best shot at getting Eastwood to take a break from the Malpaso ranch (I bet Tony Scott could've nabbed him in the 1990s), but the better question is who would Eastwood have worked with if he felt like being directed for a change. The...

A few months ago, veteran character actor Louis Gossett Jr, who got his acting start in Broadway productions back in 1950s (including Take a Giant Step and a 1959 production of A Raisin in the Sun where he shared the stage with Sidney Poitier), passed away at 87. While we have to get used to the fact that our favorite actors are all human, and like all of us, eventually pass away, it can’t help but hurt anytime we lose a legend like this. But he leaves behind a rich legacy, so let’s look back at five of his coolest roles.

An Officer and a Gentleman:

Louis Gossett Jr. won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in this, and became the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award in that category in the process. Next to R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket,...

David Korda, a prominent member of the Korda family movie dynasty who served as a producer and important film financier in a show business career that spanned more than 60 years, has died. He was 87.

Korda, chairman of the British company Film Finances Ltd., died Sept. 18 at Cromwell Hospital in London, author, editor and film historian Charles Drazin told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been in poor health after a battle with cancer.

Korda’s parents were Zoltan Korda, director of the Ralph Richardson-starring epic The Four Feathers (1939), and actress Joan Gardner (Dark Journey, The Scarlet Pimpernel).

One of his uncles was Alexander Korda, the founder of London Films, the owner of British Lion Films, a producer of such classics as The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and The Third Man (1949) and the first filmmaker to receive a knighthood. Another uncle, Vincent Korda, was a painter and Oscar-winning art director.

On Sunday, October 27, 2024, Clint Eastwood will premiere his fortieth feature directorial effort, "Juror #2," at the American Film Institute Festival. This feels like a landmark number. It's certainly a landmark achievement, given that Eastwood is 94 years old, an age at which most people are interred. So it's frankly despicable that Warner Bros-Discovery, headed by noted enemy of cinema David Zaslav, has chosen to unceremoniously dump "Juror #2" on 50 screens over its opening weekend, with no plans for expansion or an awards campaign.

While it's possible the film is not, in the eyes of its studio, an awards contender, it has a commercially viable hook (as evidenced by its compelling trailer) and a killer cast headed up by Nicholas Hoult. Moreover, it's a film by Clint Eastwood, a man whose films have earned WB loads of money over the last 50-plus years. He's had an office on the lot for nearly as long,...

In the early 2000s, there was an ambitious plan to bring Batman and Superman together on the big screen in a fresh way. Warner Bros. began developing a film titled Batman vs. Superman, which would have showcased the two superheroes clashing long before the 2016 release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

This project, often referred to as Asylum, generated significant excitement due to its darker and more intense storyline.

Warner Bros. aimed to create something innovative and thrilling, looking to pit two of their most iconic characters against each other.

This wasn’t just a fleeting idea; the project had substantial momentum. Andrew Kevin Walker, known for Se7en, penned the script, and Wolfgang Petersen was set to direct. There were even discussions about casting major stars for these legendary roles.

The plot was intended to be much darker than anything we had seen from either superhero before. It aimed for intensity,...

Back in the early 2000s, there was a plan to bring Batman and Superman together on the big screen in a way we hadn’t seen before. Warner Bros. had started working on a movie called Batman vs. Superman, which would’ve shown the two superheroes clashing long before the 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that we know today.

This project, often referred to as Asylum, generated a lot of excitement and buzz around its darker and more intense storyline.

At the time, Warner Bros. wanted to create something new and exciting. They were looking to take both Batman and Superman, two of their biggest comic book characters, and pit them against each other in a thrilling story.

It wasn’t just a random thought; this project had real momentum behind it. A script was written by Andrew Kevin Walker (famous for Se7en), and Wolfgang Petersen was set to direct.

The "Terrifier" franchise is known for its stomach-churning gore and impressive low-budget effects, but the most surprising aspect of Damien Leone's films isn't the horror –- it's the fantasy. The property, which began in 2016 and continues this month with its third blood-soaked installment, has incorporated elements of the surreal and fantastical since pretty early on. At the end of the first film, Art the killer clown (David Howard Thornton) comes back to life, and in the second movie, a mystical sword, visions of a little girl, and an unholy birth all come into play.

These fantasy elements make the "Terrifier" franchise feel more ambitious and mysterious than the average hyper-violent slasher, but they often don't get talked about as much as the movies' headline-grabbing, barf-inducing kills. In an interview ahead of the "Terrifier 3" premiere at Fantastic Fest this year, /Film's Jacob Hall asked writer, director, and producer Leone about his '80s influences,...

We’ve long been in the midst of a reimagining of Greek myth — these can be conscious of the original setting of the stories of Hesiod and Homer, as is from Emily Wilson’s searing translation of “The Iliad,” as well as the somewhat less faithful raft of novels taking marginalized characters in Greek myth as their protagonists and the platforming perfection of “Hades.” But likewise, the jazz funeral that is “Hadestown,” the apotheosis of fanfic and webcomics that is “Lore Olympus,” and now, several different films and TV shows all play with the Greek gods using bits of our own contemporary context.

The latest entry in the pantheon, Charlie Covell’s “Kaos,” has a surface layer of Gen-z hedonism in its look and style — Zeus (Jeff Goldblum) in a tracksuit, throwing tantrums in a golden palace. But the idea of the Greek Gods as disappointing dads in Hawaiian shirts...

Wolfgang Petersen's 1985 sci-fi film "Enemy Mine" was beset with production problems and bogged down by massive marketing costs. The film's original director, Richard Loncraine (1995's "Richard III"), reportedly butted heads with producer Stephen Friedman and walked off the set after only a week of shooting. Petersen stepped in after that, moving the production to Germany and starting over. A film that was supposed to boast a modest budget of only $17 million ended up costing over $29 million.

"Enemy Mine" was then released into the very busy 1985 holiday season, competing with "Out of Africa," "The Color Purple," "Legend," "Clue," and "The Jewel of the Nile." Audiences, it seems, weren't in the mood for a modest sci-fi yarn, and stayed away in droves. "Enemy Mine" also opened alongside Terry Gilliam's dystopian nightmare "Brazil" and Richard Attenborough "A Chorus Line," but those films similarly tanked.

Additionally, the reviews for "Enemy Mine" were only middling at best.

Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 peplum film "Troy" told the age-old tale of the Trojan War but with a realistic sheen. In Homer's worn old rendition of "The Iliad," the gods played a major role in the outcome of the war between Troy and the Achaeans, and they regularly appeared on the battlefield alongside the story's many human warriors. The bulk of "The Iliad," as any 10th grader can tell you, focuses on the wrathful Achilles, the greatest Achaean warrior who refused to fight after his lover, Patroclus, was killed. His participation was key, as the war was drawing to a close, and the Achaeans were close to victory. As we all know, they ultimately infiltrated the walls of Troy using a large wooden horse with soldiers hidden inside.

Achilles was said to be invulnerable after his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the waters of the River Styx when he was an infant.

The NeverEnding Story continues to live on, four decades later.

Warner Bros. released director Wolfgang Petersen’s epic fantasy film on July 20, 1984. Based on author Michael Ende’s German-language novel of the same name, the movie centered on an isolated boy named Bastian Bux (played by Barret Oliver) who is transported to a fantasy world through a mysterious book. Bastian encounters warrior Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) and the Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach) and must help them save their world from the Nothing, with some help from the Luck Dragon Falkor.

A modest box office performer domestically but beloved in Petersen’s native Germany, The NeverEnding Story became a cult hit that spawned two sequels, and a feature reboot is in development. The film’s three child leads remain largely known for this film, but Stronach — who turned to a career in modern dance — has returned to feature acting for the first...

Comedy animation Harold And The Purple Crayon heads the new releases at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, opening in 595 cinemas through Sony.

The live-action/animation fantasy comedy is adapted from Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book of the same name, with the film serving as a sequel to the book.

Harold And The Purple Crayon follows a character in a book who can make anything come to life by drawing it; and who draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world.

Zachary Levi leads the cast, which also includes Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Jemaine Clement,...

A grieving boy is drawn into a magical land in Wolfgang Petersen’s ambitious fantasy adventure, rereleased for its 40th anniversary

This 1984 family fantasy adventure has been rereleased for its 40th anniversary; it is an ambitious German production in English (with the opening scenes shot in Vancouver) from director Wolfgang Petersen, featuring Spielbergian mop-haired kids and an extravaganza of wondrous beasts and princesses – surely an influence on the Harry Potter movies a generation later. It is freely adapted from one section of the popular German children’s story Die Unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende. Oddly, given the title, the film does of course provide us with a resoundingly happy ending (although more franchise episodes were to come).

A lonely, bullied boy called Bastian (Barret Oliver) is devastated by the recent death of his mother; his emotionally cold father brusquely tells him not to dwell on his feelings and just get on with things.

The drama and intrigue of an attempt on a president’s life gripped moviegoers when In the Line of Fire debuted 31 years ago.

The thriller from director Wolfgang Petersen (Air Force One) stars Clint Eastwood as Frank Horrigan, an aging Secret Service agent tormented over his inability to stop President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Frank finds himself in a battle of wits with a former CIA agent (John Malkovich) intent on killing the current president.

Producer Jeff Apple was drawn to the idea of a Secret Service film based on a high school memory of seeing President Lyndon B. Johnson in person in Miami in 1965. “These guys jump out of the car with dark glasses and dark suits, and I was so amazed,” Apple tells The Hollywood Reporter.

During the early 1980s, he reached out to Robert Snow, then-deputy director of the Secret Service, who offered guidance and later...

The highly-anticipated standalone sequel to the 1996 disaster thriller film Twister is finally here. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, Twisters is a disaster action thriller film and it follows the story of Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser who gets roped into chasing storms once again by her friend Javi to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. Kate soon meets the daredevil storm wrangler Tyler Owens and all of them team up to fight for their survival. Twisters stars Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane. So, if you loved the surviving thriller, disaster, and a bit of romantic element in Twisters here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Twister (Max & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Warner Bros.

Twister is a disaster thriller film directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay co-written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin.

Breaking out in the 1960s for Rawhide, Clint Eastwood has since gone on to become one of the most successful and acclaimed faces in Hollywood. Boasting an illustrious career spanning the roles of actor, director, producer, and composer, the Million Dollar Baby star has enough experience when it comes to the art of making movies and appraising the ones rightfully deserving.

In terms of the latter, he has earmarked a note of fame for a classic 1981 movie, terming it as a fine example of quality film-making.

Clint Eastwood as Manco and Antoñito Ruiz as Fernando in For a Few Dollars More (1965) | Produzioni Europee Associati for Wikimedia Commons

Rather, the German action and war thriller had such an impact on him that he collaborated with its director, Wolfgang Petersen, in the times ahead. The acclaim for the latter director came largely because of his genius techniques that perfectly captured the tension...

The 1985 cult sci-fi movie Enemy Mine is getting a modern update for 20th Century Studios. While no director has been set yet, THR reports that “Star Trek: Picard” showrunner Terry Matalas will write the remake.

The 1985 film was set in an ongoing interstellar war between humans and a reptilian alien race and starred Dennis Quaid as a human pilot and Louis Gossett Jr. as an alien. The enemies crash land on a desolate planet, where they’re forced to overcome their prejudices and extreme hatred of one another to survive. Then, a baby enters the equation. It’s a tearjerker.

Enemy Mine was based on a novella by the sci-fi author Barry B. Longyear. The novella was originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine in 1979. It was followed by two sequels and eventually collected as a trilogy published under The Enemy Papers.

The film marked the English-language debut of German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen,...

THR reports that Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas is set to write a remake of Enemy Mine for 20th Century Studios.

The cult sci-fi movie, released in 1985, takes place during an intergalactic war between humans and Dracs, a reptilian species. Dennis Quaid stars as a human pilot who crash lands on an unforgiving world alongside a Drac pilot played by Louis Gossett Jr. The two sworn enemies must put aside their deep-seated hatred and work together if they have any hope of survival. The film was based on a novella by Barry B. Longyear and was the English-language debut of director Wolfgang Peterson. While Enemy Mine was a box office failure upon release, the film has developed a cult following over the years.

Related Wolfgang Petersen, director of Air Force One and Neverending Story, has died at 81

The Enemy Mine remake has no director or producer attached at this time,...

Terry Matalas, the showrunner who steered the final season of Star Trek: Picard to new ratings and critical heights, has been tapped to write an update of the 1985 cult sci-fi movie Enemy Mine for 20th Century Studios.

Set in a future where mankind is warring with a reptilian alien species, Mine starred Dennis Quaid has a human pilot and Louis Gossett Jr. as an alien who crash land on a desolate planet. Both have deep-seated hatred for one another, but are forced to overcome their prejudices to survive. Things are taken up a notch when the human pilot must take care of the alien’s baby when the reptilian is no longer able.

Mine was the English-language debut of German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen, who took over the project after 20th Century Fox fired original director Richard Loncraine during production. The imbroglio, which necessitated reshooting the film, ballooned the budget, with...

Jon Bon Jovi is a snowbird — the nickname given to people of a certain age who flee their northern homes during the winter months to areas with warmer climates.

It’s late April and the famous New Jersey native is in Palm Beach, Fla.

“My license still says the great state of New Jersey,” the Bon Jovi frontman tells me on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “I’m there when it’s not cold. But when it’s cold, these old bones are on the beach.”

The rocker, 62, is talking and thinking a lot about his age lately. While his Hulu docuseries, “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” chronicles the iconic rock band’s rise to the top, the through line of the four episodes is the singer’s struggle to overcome vocal problems in time for the group’s 40th anniversary tour.

As of today, Bon...

Diane Kruger and Jo Joyner will lead Paramount+ UK & Ireland’s latest drama series, Little Disasters.

The pair will play friends Jess and Liz in the “tense and compelling” six-part psychological thriller, which also stars Shelley Conn and Emily Taaffe. It is adapted from Anatomy of a Scandal writer Sarah Vaughan’s novel of the same name and billed as an exploration of female friendships and motherhood.

The four actresses play four friends who were thrown together while expectant mothers with little in common apart from their due dates. When Jess takes her baby daughter to hospital with a head injury she can’t explain, close friend and on-duty A&e doctor Liz is forced to make the excruciating decision as to whether to call social services on her friend. The decision sets...

Zack Snyder's 2006 film "300," based on the comic book by Frank Miller, tells a hyper-stylized and not-the-least-bit-historically-accurate version of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) wherein 300 Spartan soldiers managed to fend off anywhere from 120,000 to 300,000 soldiers of the Persian Empire for three full days. Both Miller's book and Snyder's film present the Spartans as teeth-gashing, testosterone-spitting, Spam-scented beefcake slabs comprised of nothing but pectoral muscles, testicles, and homophobia. They speak in "Join the Marines" recruiting slogans and disparage anything that's not at least 4000% more masculine than a two-ton bag of Tom Jones' chest hair.

Speaking of chest hair, none of the Spartans have any, happy to parade around their cartoonishly cut physiques as if they all possess a severe shirt allergy. Leading the charge is King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), a man who cannot help but add multiple exclamation marks after every sentence he speaks.

"300" was a massive hit,...

Hey, do you remember "Poseidon"? The 2006 action pic from director Wolfgang Petersen is a remake of the 1972 disaster epic "The Poseidon Adventure," as well as an adaptation of Paul Gallico's 1969 "The Poseidon Adventure" novel. The story focuses on a cruise ship that gets hit by a tidal wave and flips upside down. The survivors have to then claw their way to the bottom of the ship, which is now the top. Lots of characters die horribly along the way. It's fun for the whole family!

The star-studded remake cast includes Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, and the late, great Andre Braugher. Russell is probably the biggest name of the bunch, and the actor plays Robert Ramsey, a character who is both an ex-firefighter and the former Mayor of New York City. His history allows him to sort of take command of the situation, although he's really mostly concerned...

The NeverEnding Story gets the documentary treatment to celebrate its 40th anniversary. More below…

Wolfgang Petersen’s The NeverEnding Story is one of those films that’s taken on a life of its own since its release. The most expensive film produced outside of the US or the Ussr back in 1984, the decidedly odd story of a young boy and his puppet-filled quest to stop an indescribable evil has developed something of a cult following despite – or perhaps because of – its occasionally hallucinogenic tale of flying goblins and drowning horses.

Perfect fodder, then, for the Life After treatment. Hot on the tail of Life After Flash and Life After The Navigator, director Lisa Downs and Life After Movies’ latest documentary takes a look at the legacy of one of the most beloved fantasy films of the 1980s, exploring the life of its child star, Noah Hathaway in the years since.

Strange but true: after 15 years as an international movie star, propelled to fame in 2004 by Wolfgang Petersen’s historical epic Troy, German-born Diane Kruger won the Best Actress award in Cannes for her first-ever performance in her native language. Fatih Akin’s provocative 2017 drama In the Fade, in which she played a widow consumed by revenge after a terror attack, revealed an unexpectedly tough new side of her glamorous persona.

This year she returns to Cannes starring alongside Vincent Cassel in David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, a very different, and for its director highly personal film about the very same subject, love and loss, following his own wife’s death in 2017. This typically Cronenbergian plot centers on Karsh (Cassel), a businessman and grieving widower who creates a device to connect with the dead, using a high-tech burial shroud. This burial tool — installed at his own state-of-the-art but controversial cemetery — allows...

Twenty years ago, Troy and its cast made its mark on epic filmmaking. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s take on Homer’s Iliad featured an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt and created a wildly entertaining, if not entirely accurate, movie.

Working from a script by future Games of Thrones showrunner David Benioff, the Troy cast brought to life legends like Achilles, Helen of Troy, and Hector. Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Diane Kruger were among those who joined Pitt in the impressive cast. While many of the actors haven’t made another film on Troy‘s scale, they continue to perform in blockbuster movies 20 years later.

Brad Pitt Brad Pitt | Toni Anne Barson/WireImage (L); Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images (R)

Brad Pitt starred as the de facto lead of the Troy cast as the hero Achilles. However, as Pitt admitted in 2019, he didn’t want any part of Troy.

“I...

Mark Damon, who starred in the Vincent Price horror classic House of Usher and spaghetti Westerns before revolutionizing the foreign sales and distribution film business and producing features including 9 1/2 Weeks, Monster and Lone Survivor, has died. He was 91.

Damon died Sunday of natural causes in Los Angeles, his daughter, Alexis Damon Ribaut, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Damon spent the first 20 years of his career as an actor, including about a dozen as a leading man in Italian action movies, before he transitioned to the business side.

He had early success as an executive producer with two movies written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen: the German-language World War II drama Das Boot (1981), which received six Oscar nominations, and The NeverEnding Story (1984), a big-budget fantasy film that featured a Damon-commissioned score by Giorgio Moroder for non-German audiences.

He shared an Independent Spirit Award with director Patty Jenkins and others...

How do you like that? Orlando Bloom and I have something in common: we’ve both tried to erase Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy from our memories. Well, not exactly. While participating in Variety‘s “Know Their Lines” video series, Bloom drew a blank when asked about a line by his Troy character, Paris. Bloom thought the dialogue came from his Kingdom of Heaven character, Balian de Ibelin, or Legolas Greenleaf, his elven archer from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. To his surprise, the line came from Troy, a movie he’s tried to wipe from memory.

“Oh my god, ‘Troy.’ Wow. I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain by the way,” Bloom explained. “So many people love that movie, but for me playing that character was just like [slits throat]. Am I allowed to say all of these things? I didn’t want to do the movie.

Orlando Bloom is willing his memory of starring in “Troy” to wilt.

Bloom, who portrayed Paris, the Prince of Troy, whose affair with Queen Helen (Diane Kruger) ignited the Trojan War, revealed that he “didn’t want to do the movie” at all, despite the 2004 historical feature being a box office success.

During a career retrospective interview with Variety, Bloom admitted he “blanked out” the film from his own career and mind.

“Oh my god, ‘Troy.’ Wow. I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain by the way,” Bloom said. “So many people love that movie, but for me playing that character was just like [slits throat]. Am I allowed to say all of these things? I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to play this character.”

“Troy” was directed by the late “Das Boot” filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen and co-starred Brad Pitt, Eric Bana,...

Many audiences were first introduced to British actor Orlando Bloom thanks to Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of The Rings” trilogy playing the charismatic and cocky Elf archer, Legolas. One of Bloom’s first major follow-up roles was in the Greek epic “Troy,” directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Brad Pitt. However, Bloom says he wasn’t all that thrilled about the less-than-heroic character in the movie, which focuses on the epic war between the armies of Greece.

Continue reading ‘Troy’: Orlando Bloom Says His Agent Talked Him Into Role: “I Didn’t Want To Play This Character” at The Playlist.

Famously known for appearing in franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom has acquired a fanbase out of his iconic characters. But not always did the actor appreciate the projects he appeared in. Take, for example, Bloom admitted blocking out Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 historical epic Troy, from his mind.

Orlando Bloom in The Lord of The Rings

Appearing for Variety’s Know Their Lines video series, as Orlando Bloom failed to recall one of the lines said by his Troy character Paris, the actor admitted absolutely loathing the film. So it seems Brad Pitt isn’t the only one who expressed his dissatisfaction towards the 2004 movie, there’s also Bloom who despised it.

Orlando Bloom Despised Troy Over One Humiliating Scene

Claiming to have fond memories of filming most of his projects, Orlando Bloom recently appeared in Variety’s Know Their Lines video series,...

Orlando Bloom has fond memories of making movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings,” but Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 historical epic “Troy” is a different story. During an interview for Variety’s “Know Their Lines” video series, Bloom blanked on one of the lines said by his “Troy” character Paris (he thought it must be from “Kingdom of Heaven” or “Lord of the Rings”) and admitted that he has mostly blocked the movie out of his mind.

“Oh my god, ‘Troy.’ Wow. I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain by the way,” Bloom said. “So many people love that movie, but for me playing that character was just like [slits throat]. Am I allowed to say all of these things? I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to play this character.”

“The movie was great. It was Brad [Pitt]. It was Eric [Bana] and Peter O’Toole,...

It appears that Harrison Ford built his career upon roles that were passed on by other famous actors. Be it his breakout role as Han Solo or his adventurous hero role in Indiana Jones, Ford was not the first choice for these roles. Interestingly, he was also not the first choice for another action role that the audiences loved him for. Ford’s role as President Marshall in Air Force One was initially offered to Kevin Costner.

Harrison Ford as President James Marshall in Air Force One

Costner asked the producers to specifically give the role to the Star Wars actor when he dropped out due to his other commitments. Ford and Costner weren’t exactly best friends which made the Yellowstone actor’s move a very generous one.

Harrison Ford Got Air Force One Role All Thanks To Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner passed on the Air Force One role...

"What magical spell does it cast on all who read it? What is the secret of The NeverEnding Story?" This unforgettably fantasy adventure movie originally opened in theaters in West German in April 1984 - a full 40 years ago this month. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, and for a look back at a classic trailer that has re-appeared online, enjoy these previews for Wolfgang Petersen's classic The NeverEnding Story. In this big screen adventure, a troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a book. He ends up journeying through strange lands, encountering all kinds of creatures both kind & evil, making some friends & enemies along the way. Barret Oliver stars as Bastian, with Noah Hathaway as Atreyu, Tami Stronach as the "Moon Child", plus Patricia Hayes, Sydney Bromley, Gerald McRaney, and Moses Gunn. If you grew up in the 80s or 90s like me, you...

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s collaboration has always turned out to be a spectacular deal as both personalities bring out their best charm on the projects. While the former makes sure to come up with a unique narrative for audiences to get hooked on, the latter showcases his skills, which is one reason why he’s reigning in fans’ hearts.

Martin Scorsese | Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Harald Krichel

The duo reunited for the 2010 psychological thriller project, Shutter Island which garnered widespread acclaim from critics and viewers. Although it faced a major Oscar snub, one would be surprised to know how the legendary filmmaker ended up helming that project.

Martin Scorsese Was Instantly Hooked With Leonardo DiCaprio’s Shutter Island Script

The 2010 era was surely Leonardo DiCaprio‘s as he garnered global acclaim for his portrayal of Dom Cobb in Christopher Nolan‘s Inception movie. It went on to nab four...

This article contains spoilers for both "Shōgun" the 2024 TV show and the 1975 novel.

When I first finished James Clavell's novel "Shōgun," the comparison that immediately came to mind was Homer's "Iliad." The epic Greek poem is famous for recounting the events of the Trojan War, a war that is still famous thousands of years later. I was hardly an expert at Greek mythology before reading "The Iliad," but going in I already knew two big events: that the fierce warrior Achilles (who was portrayed by Brad Pitt in Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy") died near the end of the Trojan War, and that the Greek soldiers won by hiding inside a giant wooden horse and tricking the Trojans into letting them behind their city walls.

The latter was the big moment I was looking forward to. The Trojan horse is such an iconic image; it's still referenced constantly in...

“An Officer and a Gentleman” star Louis Gossett Jr.’s cause of death was Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Copd), per Friday’s report from the coroner.

The report, which was first obtained by TMZ, lists Copd as his main cause of death, with heart failure and atrial fibrillation as contributing conditions. The actor, who made Hollywood history as the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar, died on March 29 in Santa Monica, Calif.

Gossett Jr. got his start on the stage with roles in plays in the 1950s and ’60s before breaking big with his Emmy-winning role as Fiddler in the 1977 miniseries “Roots.”

In 2022, on the 45th anniversary of the landmark miniseries, Gossett Jr. told TheWrap he never expected that “Roots” would be made.

“The story about [slavery] was we knew it, we heard it from our parents and our aunts and uncles and stuff, but we knew it...

Famously known for playing the Roy family patriarch in Succession, Brian Cox walked Vanity Fair through his trajectory of filmography and remarkable career, in 2022. Therein, the actor spoke fondly of his role as Agamemnon in Wolfgang Peterson’s 2004 historical epic Troy, alongside Brad Pitt’s Achilles.

Brian Cox in a still from Troy

Admitting that the role of Agamemnon was the only one that he has ever pursued in his career, Brian Cox mentioned how he lets his career fall into pieces, on its own. Meanwhile, speaking about the film and the stellar cast, Cox recalled Brad Pitt’s grandeur on set. According to Cox, watching Pitt’s performance made him believe that no other actor could ever beat his screen presence.

Brian Cox Recalled His Role in the 2004 Epic Troy

Reminiscing his career timeline with Vanity Fair in 2022, Brian Cox recalled his work in Wolfgang Peterson’s 2004 film Troy.

We are sad to report that legendary African-American actor Louis Gossett Jr. passed away on March 28, 2024 in Santa Monica, CA. He was 87 years old at the time of death, and was on his way to celebrate his 88th birthday in May this year. No official cause of death has been given, but Gosset has had health issues in the recent decade, being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010 and being hospitalized for Covid-19 during the pandemic. The news was confirmed by Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett.

A true acting legend, Louis Gossett Jr. was born in New York on May 27, 1936. His mother was a nurse, and his father was a porter. Although he was proficient in sports as well, after his stage debut at the age of 17, his teacher encouraged him to pursue an acting career. Although he obtained a sports scholarship at the NYU and was offered to play basketball,...

Apologies in advance if any eighties kids who watched the original The NeverEnding Story are triggered by the reference to "slow horses" in the headline above (justice for Artax!) But it's all in service of news that See-Saw Films, the company behind The King's Speech and, yes Slow Horses, has the rights to make a new adaptation of Michael Ende's 1979 tome.

For those who didn't grow up traumatised by the tragic interaction of a faithful steed and the Swamp of Sadness in the 1984 fantasy film, here's the basic (NeverEnding) storyline… Ende's tale focuses on shy, young, bookish Bastian who gets threatened a lot by bullies. Retreating into the relatively safety of an attic and a fictional world, he settles in to read the mysterious, titular fantasy book.

It, in turn, follows the heroic Atréyu and his mission to save the magical realm of Fantastica — chock full of dragons,...

The Neverending Story is living up to its name. As first reported by Variety, late German author Michael Ende’s fantasy novel is once again being adapted for a new live-action film series.

The movies will be a joint effort from Michael Ende Productions (overseen by his estate) and See-Saw Films, with Iain Canning and Emile Sherman producing for See-Saw and Roman Hocke and Ralph Gassmann for Michael Ende Productions.

Published in 1979, The Neverending Story was a bestseller in Germany and became a global success after being translated into 45 languages. The novel revolves around a lonely boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who discovers the titular book at an antique bookstore. As he begins reading about a young warrior named Atreyu tasked with saving the Empress of Fantastica, Bastian eventually finds himself as a character in the story.

There isn’t a creative team attached to the project as of yet,...

Whether you have happy memories of Falkor flying through the skies or life-changingly-devastating memories of that horse dying in the mud, you probably remember The Neverending Story, director Wolfgang Petersen’s movie from 1984. You probably don’t remember the movie’s two sequels from the ’90s, but we’re not here to talk about those today.

Petersen’s movie was of course based on the same-titled 1979 novel from Michael Ende, and multiple brand new adaptations of that source material are now in the works.

Variety reports this morning that Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw Films are joining forces to bring The Neverending Story back to the big screen with “multiple live-action films.”

The website notes, “Variety hears that Ende’s estate had been fielding interest from across the globe over the last few years, including from studios and streamers.”

In the classic tale, “A troubled boy dives into a wondrous...

The 1979 children’s fantasy classic will be getting new life as a rebooted series of films. The new franchise will be coming from Michael Ende Productions and will be based on his source material. The novel saw a live-action adaptation in 1984 with Wolfgang Petersen co-writing and directing the film. Then, in 1990, George Miller (not Furiosa‘s George Miller) would direct a sequel that starred Jonathan Brandis. And finally, a third movie starring Free Willy‘s Jason James Richter would follow in 1994.

According to Deadline, the series of films are set to be produced by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman for their production company See-Saw. Meanwhile, Roman Hocke and Ralph Gassmann will also be on board for Michael Ende Productions. Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw are set to collaborate with Lorenzo De Maio, who will serve as an executive producer on all the films. Wolf-Dieter Von Gronau, See-Saw’s Simon Gillis...

A new series of films based on The Neverending Story is in the works, which will seek to tackle the fantasy tale in “a fresh way”.

Forty years after Wolfgang Petersen’s 1984 fantasy film The Neverending Story traumatised a generation of young movie-goers with its image of a depressed, sinking horse, a new adaptation of the original book has been announced.

See-Saw Films, the production company behind Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning The Power Of The Dog, is partnering with the estate of late German author Michael Ende to make a potential series of films based on the successful book, first published in 1979.

Both the novel and the film told the tale of a shy young boy, Bastian, who retreats into the fantasy world of the titular Neverending Story book.

“The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an opportunity to be told in a fresh way,” producer Iain Canning told Variety.

After several attempts to reboot one of the great fantasy classics of world literature, See-Saw Films, producer of Oscar winners The King’s Speech and The Power of the Dog, has signed a deal to adapt The Neverending Story as a series of live-action feature films.

Michael Ende’s novel, published in German in 1979 and in English in 1983, follows the story of a young boy, Bastian Balthazar Bux, who falls into the world of the titular fantasy book The Neverending Story, entering the magical land of Fantastica. He becomes the hero of the story, tasked with saving Fantastica from destruction.

A global bestseller —it has been translated into 45 languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide — The Neverending Story was adapted as a trilogy of films in the 1980s and early 90s, most famously by Wolfgang Petersen in The Neverending Story in 1984. The two sequels, The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter...

Zack Snyder is a prolific screenwriter, director, and producer who made his directorial debut with the 2004 movie, Dawn of the Dead. He came into the limelight with movies like 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009), and then went on to establish the Dceu with movies like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the directorial cut of the 2017 release, Justice League. Recently, he sat with Joe Rogan for the latter’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, where Snyder shared many stories about his career.

Zack Snyder with Joe Rogan in The Joe Rogan Experience podcast

During the podcast, he talked about how if he got to make The Dark Knight Returns, that would be it for him – his legacy. He won’t need or want to make any more comic book movies if he gets to make Tdkr. He also said that though Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had...

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Rejected Brad Pitt’s Movie ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Before Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, it was Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who won hearts with her talent in the Hollywood film industry. She appeared on several talk shows and impressed people with her wit and charm. The blue-eyed diva has worked in international movies like Bride and Prejudice, Mistress of Spices, Provoked, The Pink Panther 2 and The Last Legion. With her fantastic acting and bewitching beauty, Aishwarya made a place for herself in the West. Hence, even today, many top stars sometimes mention her name in their interviews.

There was a time when the Ponniyin Selvan actress was getting multiple offers to work on Hollywood projects. However, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was quite selective and slowly distanced herself from working in English or international movies due to scheduling issues. One such film the actress was offered, which she rejected,...

Wolfgang Petersen's appealingly preposterous "Air Force One" required a specific type of leading man to work. The 1997 action-thriller is basically "'Die Hard' on a plane," so you couldn't cast an unstoppable hunk like Arnold Schwarzenegger as a U.S. president forced to save the day when his personal ride is hijacked. (Not that filmgoers would have necessarily bought Arnie as a politician at the time -- we were kind of naive that way.) What you needed was someone who specialized in playing John McClane-types, ergo the sort of action star whose characters were charming and handsome yet far from invulnerable. The film's creatives had the right idea when they tried to recruit Kevin Costner, but the Oscar-winner himself had an even better idea when he passed the script on to Harrison Ford.

We don't love Ford because he's unstoppable. In fact, his characters are imminently stoppable...

Host Ken Jennings said this year’s Tournament of Champions games “promise some of the best Jeopardy! ever played,” and Friday’s quarterfinals opener lived up to that lofty expectation. When it came time for the Final Jeopardy! round, Season 39 six-time champ Suresh Krishnan had a score of $0 and was eliminated from the competition, Season 39 four-time champ Matthew Marcus had a score of $7,400, and Season 37 three-time champ Emily Sands had a runaway score of $21,800. No matter what Matthew wagered, he couldn’t catch up to Emily, who had earned her spot in the ToC with her Champions Wildcard win last year. Earlier in Friday’s game, Emily bet big during a Daily Double, adding $7,000 to her score by identifying the Capuchins as the order of friars with 3,500 skulls housed in a Roman church. Suresh, on the other hand, missed two all-or-nothing Daily Double attempts — one involving a “witty city ditty...

Exclusive: Fathom Events has acquired the fantasy throwback film Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps, set to be released nationwide in theaters sometime this summer.

The project marks the return to the big screen for The NeverEnding Story star Tami Stronach, who played the Childlike Empress in that 1984 fantasy film. In Man and Witch she portrays the titular witch alongside her husband Greg Steinbruner, who stars as the titular man.

A passion project for the couple, Man and Witch—inspired by their own love story— was produced under their Paper Canoe Company banner, with Steinbruner also serving as screenwriter. And to make it a complete family affair, the couple’s daughter Maya also stars in a role that’s described as a “powerful being who is not of this world.”

A throwback to the films that captured the imagination of a generation, Man and Witch: The Dance...