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Every Shane Gillis fan knows that the stand-up star is a history buff, but does he know the historical record of his own jokes?

This past Saturday, Saturday Night Live host and almost-alumnus Gillis devoted nearly half of his opening monologue to roasting the late writer and historian Shelby Foote for taking creative liberties with his historical accounts in Ken Burns’ acclaimed 1990 mini-series The Civil War. Gillis joked that Burns’ nine-part documentary is “kryptonite to women,” saying of The Civil War, “If you put that on, they will fall asleep. … That’s a little Cosby tip for you, actually.” The comic then laid into frequent Civil War interviewee Foote for playing fast and loose with the minutia of the war and its combatants, describing how Foote dramatized the events and details of the Civil War with an almost sexual aplomb.

While Gillis’ ribbing of the liberals in SNL’s audience...

Shane Gillis returned to Saturday Night Live as host, opening the show with a monologue that touched on politics, history documentaries, and self-deprecating humor.

He began by addressing the audience’s political leanings. “Look, I get it, you’re pretty liberal here,” he said before joking that being liberal makes people feel “powerful like a Sith.” When the response was muted, he added, “All right, now I’m going to lose you even more, for my next trick…”

Gillis then moved on to commentary about both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. He called Trump’s leadership “funny” and referenced the former president’s past suggestion about acquiring Greenland. Switching to Biden, he imitated him mid-speech, saying, “My favorite thing about Biden was, anytime he was giving a speech, in between teleprompters his face would go back to being dead.”

He then introduced a bit about “a thing white guys do,...

From joking about date rape drugs to exploring an extended bit about Ken Burns’ The Civil War docuseries, Shane Gillis’ second turn as host — from his previous and shortlived home of Saturday Night Live — featured some ham-fisted, self-deprecating humor poking fun at the audience’s politics and its lack of uproarious laughter.

The comedian began his 7-minute monologue by addressing politics, saying that president Donald Trump’s being in office is “funny” due to his “fifth-grade ideas.”

“Greenland? Ooh. Now I want Greenland. I never even thought about Greenland; now it’s all I think about,” he quipped.

From across the aisle, he joked, “I miss Biden, Biden was fun — also hilarious. My favorite thing about Biden was, anytime he was given a speech, in between teleprompters his face would go back to being dead,” completing the remark with a not-too-uncanny impression that got a couple chuckles.

“Look, I get it,...

Wanting to even deeper into sports stories than TV broadcasts are able? The best sports documentaries have you covered, giving cinematic sweep and depth to athletes and their stories (both in the arena and out). Whether it’s football movies or movies about combat sports or sports movies for those who don’t like sports there’s some inherent alignment between athletic competition and film and TV storytelling. Documentary filmmakers have been able to look beyond the kineticism (or capture it even more dynamically) to present stories that look at the psychology and the struggles of athletes, and the cultural significance of their careers. Here are the 17 best sports documentaries ever made.

With editorial contributions from Brandon Latham.

Ken Burns’ “Baseball” (1994) Ken Burns with Ted Williams when producing ‘Baseball’Courtesy Everett Collection

Ken Burns has a weird tendency to turn over his entire documentary to one particular talking head, whose...

For a writer who spent most of his career outside the limelight, the outpouring of public admiration in the wake of Cormac McCarthy’s death on June 13 at 89 testified to the power of his work. An obscure figure with a cultish following for much of his writing life, McCarthy had long been esteemed by members of the literati. The late literary scholar Harold Bloom placed him on his very short list of American authors in the 20th century who had in their writing achieved the sublime, naming him alone as...

The Knives Out Easter eggs are part of the reason Rian Johnson's mystery is so much fun to revisit. These references not only dare the viewer to test their literary prowess and knowledge of the genre, but use that knowledge against them. Knives Out follows Detective Benoit Blanc, portrayed by Daniel Craig, as he investigates the murder of the popular mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) on the night of his 85th birthday party. Following Agatha Christie’s classic story structure, anyone who was present at Harlan’s party could be a suspect. Johnson's clear love of the genre make for more Knives Out Easter eggs than most viewers are able to spot.

One of the most compelling aspects of Knives Out is its awareness of murder mystery tropes, using them to mislead the audience. Instead of copying tradition, Knives Out cleverly acknowledges it through the use of Easter...

Frank Darabont created a heckuva conundrum for himself when his feature directing debut, "The Shawshank Redemption," wound up becoming one of the most beloved movies of all time. For starters, he joined an elite fraternity of filmmakers who'd hit the bullseye with a difficult-to-adapt Stephen King story. More troublesome, King had just launched into another prison yarn, one that begged to become a motion picture. One that fit Darabont like a bespoke suit.

"The Green Mile" was a publishing event in 1996. Between March and August, King released a new, slender volume imparting the tragedy of John Coffey, a gentle giant wrongfully consigned to Death Row for the rape and murder of two girls. Unlike "The Shawshank Redemption," this serialized story contained the kind of mystical elements one expects from a King novel. Coffey is not only the opposite of a killer, he is a saint possessed of healing powers. King...

Iconic filmmaker Frank Darabont isn't happy with the state of the movie business after recently failing to get an unmade Stanley Kubrick off the ground - even with Ridley Scott attached. These days, Darabont is very well known for developing The Walking Dead for television before he was controversially fired during the second season. Cinephiles will know him better as the director of one of the most respected movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, along with other Stephen King adaptations like The Green Mile and The Mist.

On the latest episode of Post Mortem with Mick Garris, Darabont opened up about his latest creative endeavor. Per Dread Central, he reveals how he's spent the past year writing a new script based on an unmade Stanley Kubrick treatment. Darabont, who wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplays for The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, also felt the screenplay was his best creative endeavor yet.

You start with a corpse. A murder has been committed — maybe it’s at a country estate, or on a train, or during a cruise headed to some exotic locale. If the victim is powerful, rich, and possibly hated for a variety of reasons, all the better. You need suspects, each with a motive for wanting said person six feet under. Lastly, and this is important: You’ve gotta have a sleuth. Preferably someone eccentric, with a quirk or a tic; bonus points if you can make the brainiac seem innocent or easily underestimated.

Sharp, current political and social satire lies at the heart of Lionsgate’s “Knives Out,” a darkly comedic whodunnit that often aims to upend Hollywood’s cultural conventions.

One key player in the shift is Ana de Armas, who portrays a caretaker for Christopher Plummer’s character in the film. With a fully formed, fleshed-out character, de Armas sees roles such as hers as uncommon, she told Variety at Thursday’s “Knives Out” premiere in Westwood, Calif.

“These characters don’t exist. They’re rare. It’s just almost impossible to see – or at least the previous Latina, Spanish-speaking parts that I’ve seen before, they’ve really not necessarily had the best qualities or possibilities,” de Armas said. “Or they don’t really reflect our community or our strengths. Definitely in this set of a wealthy family, that’s not a character that you can even imagine succeeding and getting out of the whole situation well.

Marty Stuart’s led a willfully charmed life. As an 11-year-old, he met hit singer Connie Smith at a concert he attended, and told his mom he’d marry Smith some day (he did). He hit his career stride at 13 playing virtuoso mandolin and guitar with bluegrass architect Lester Flatt; he joined Johnny Cash’s band (and married his daughter Cindy) in the Eighties, became a solo hitmaker in the Nineties, and an expansive Americana standard-bearer in the 2000s. Stuart’s also one of the world’s foremost country experts...

The Civil War masterpiece Glory return to theaters today through Fathom to mark the film’s 30th anniversary. Directed by Edward Zwick off a screenplay by Kevin Jarre, the Tristar Pictures release presented in soaring fashion the true story of the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-black volunteer regiment to fight as Union soldiers. A white officer, Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), lead the outsider band that included Pvt. Trip (Denzel Washington), Sgt. Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), Pvt. Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy), and Cpl. Thomas Searles.

The film won three Oscars, including a best supporting actor trophy for Washington that instantly elevated him to a whole new strata in Hollywood. Deadline sat down recently with Zwick to reflect on the cinematic and cultural legacy of the landmark Civil War epic.

David Crow Jul 23, 2019

Cary Elwes shares his fondest memories of making Glory 30 years later, as well as what the movie's legacy has meant to him.

Cary Elwes has always been an eager student of history. He credits that lifelong passion for why he was drawn toward making many a historical epic over the years. But perhaps none of those efforts have shined brighter than Glory, the still haunting cinematic monument built in tribute of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the American Civil War. As the first unit of African American soldiers allowed to fight in the conflict that determined the future of slavery, the 54th had become an obscured detail in the war for America’s soul. Thirty years after Glory’s release, however, the movie is taught in high schools across the U.S. and is getting a special Fathom Events and TCM anniversary screening on July 24. All of...

Ken Burns and Co. made a big splash with this historical docu miniseries that in 1990 gripped the imagination of the whole country. Eleven hours of history are a breeze when presented in what was then a new form: authentic photos and paintings accompanied by actorly recitals of letters and documents from the era. It all comes to life. The people enduring the War Between the States seem just like us, as if it all happened yesterday. The Civil War DVD PBS Video 1990 / Color + B&W / 1:33 flat / 11 hours, 20 min. / 25th Anniversary Edition / Street Date October 13, 2015 / 99.99 Starring Shelby Foote, Ed Bearss, Barbara Fields, James Symington, Stephen B. Oates, William Safire, Daisy Turner and the voices of Sam Waterston, Julie Harris, Jason Robards, Morgan Freeman, Paul Roebling, Garrison Keillor, David McCullough (narrator), Arthur Miller, Charles McDowell, Horton Foote, George Plimpton, Philip Bosco, Jody Powell, Studs Terkel, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.,...

As one would expect from the ever audacious, thoughtful filmmaker, there are more than a few projects Stanley Kubrick developed but never brought to the screen. Though efforts have been made in the past to bring his unfinished works to life, namely through Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence or the multiple rumors over the years to satisfy his vision of Napoleon in the form of a film or mini-series, most were put to rest with the filmmaker back in 1999. But apparently one of his earliest unmade screenplays -- 1956's The Downslope -- was dusted off the shelves somewhere in Hollywood recently, and director Marc Forster (World War Z) has decided to take a stab at bringing Kubrick's lost script to the screen. And because it's Hollywood, it'll be not just one film but an entire trilogy. Forster's only attached to direct the first, but plans to produce all three installments,...

One of late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's unproduced screenplays, entitled The Downslope, is now being developed as a movie trilogy, directed by Marc Forster (World War Z). The director will also produce alongside Philip Hobbs (Full Metal Jacket) and Steve Lanning (The Secret Garden), who hold the rights to the script, with the project moving forward with the full support and encouragement of the Kubrick family. Lauren Selig (Black Mass), Barry Levine (Hercules) and Rene&#233 Wolfe (All I See Is You) are also producing and developing the script with Marc Forster.

The Downslope is described by The Wrap as a "cautionary, anti-war tale". The story follows a series of Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley between Union General George Armstrong Custer and Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, known as the Gray Ghost for his stealth and elusiveness. His cavalrymen, Mosby's Rangers, continually outsmarted the much larger enemy forces in a sequence of raids,...

Stanley Kubrick lives on, not only in his classic movies, but also in his unproduced screenplay, The Downslope. The movie is now being developed into a trilogy of “sweeping, period action-dramas based on historical events,” specifically, the Civil War. The movie, which Kubrick wrote between Fear and Desire and Paths of Glory, “focuses on a bitter, strategic series of Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley between Union General George Armstrong Custer and Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, known as the Gray Ghost for his stealth and elusiveness. His cavalrymen, known as Mosby’s Rangers, continually outsmarted the much larger enemy forces in a sequence of raids, which enraged Custer and eventually created a fierce cycle of revenge between the two men.” When paired with Kubrick’s vigorous research, (the movie “was developed with renowned Civil War historian Shelby Foote, Kubrick’s story is based on historical events. Deeply passionate about the time period,...

The Downslope will be the first in a trilogy that producers Lauren Selig, Barry Levine and Reneé Wolfe are planning based on the iconic director’s unproduced original 1956 screenplay.

Forster will direct the first film and will develop and produce all three after Selig negotiated a deal with rights holders Phil Hobbs and Steve Lanning, who will also serve as producers.

The producers said The Downslope has the full support and encouragement of the Kubrick family and is styled as a sweeping anti-war action-drama that Kubrick wrote after the release of Fear And Desire and before he directed Paths Of Glory.

The story focuses on a series of American Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley between Union General George Armstrong Custer and Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, known as the Gray Ghost.

Kubrick initially developed the story with the Civil War historian Shelby Foote. The successive films will expand upon Kubrick’s original story as post-war...

Written in 1956 following the release of Kubrick's allegorical war film “Fear and Desire,” "The Downslope" was a sweeping Civil War action-drama based on historical events. But Kubrick chose to direct instead his Ww I anti-war Oscar-winner “Paths of Glory." "The Downslope" was another cautionary, anti-war tale, that was originally developed with renowned Civil War historian Shelby Foote, who later collaborated with documentarian Ken Burns on his hugely popular PBS series "The Civil War." Forster (“Finding Neverland,” “Monsters Ball") is attached to direct and produce the first in the series and will produce the remaining features. Producers Lauren Selig, Barry Levine and Reneé Wolfe are developing the material with Forster. Selig initiated the project with rights holders Phil Hobbs (“Full Metal Jacket”) and Steve Lanning, who are also producers on the project, which has the full support of the Kubrick...

"World War Z" and "Quantum of Solace" helmer Marc Forster is attached to direct and produce the first film in a proposed film trilogy based on Stanley Kubrick's original 1956 screenplay "The Downslope".

The project is described as a a sweeping, historical anti-war action-drama which Kubrick penned between the release of his early films "Fear and Desire" and "Paths of Glory". Kubrick spent years developing and writing the story, creating detailed notes about how to film it and using the help of renowned Civil War historian Shelby Foote.

The story focuses on the bitter, strategic series of Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley between Union General George Armstrong Custer and Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby.

Mosby's cavalrymen continually outsmarted the much larger enemy forces in a sequence of raids, enraging Custer and setting both on a course for fierce revenge. With the expansion to a trilogy, the films will...

It's tempting to set up Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain as a liberal idol – sadly, the Hollywood version of his battle isn't true

The story goes like this: 150 years ago today, Little Round Top was the key to the Union position at the battle of Gettysburg. If the Confederates had taken the hill, they would have won the battle. If the Confederates had won the battle, they would have won the war.

But the Confederates didn't take the hill, because a professor of languages and rhetoric from Bowdoin College commanded a bunch of Mainers in a heroic defence and, when their ammunition ran out, an even more heroic bayonet charge. Hollywood's version, in Gettysburg – a Ted Turner-funded epic based on The Killer Angels, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Shaara – goes like this:

Would that it were true. Would that the American Civil War was won by a "fighting professor" who looked like Jeff Daniels.

According to TorontoFilm.Net, La/Toronto-based Entertainment One (eOne) has teamed with Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs to develop and produce the television dramas "Downslope" and "God Fearing Man" from scripts by the late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.

Based on a true story by historian Shelby Foote, Kubrick's "Downslope" is a Us Civil War-set drama following Confederate Army 'Colonel John S. Mosby' and his plot to settle the score after Union officer 'George Custer' captures and hangs several of his men.

Kubrick's "God Fearing Man" adapted for TV by Stephen R. Clarke, follows the true story of 'Herbert Emerson Wilson' who became one of the most successful safe-cracker and bank robber in America in the early 20th century.

Both projects will be produced by Entertainment One in association with Philco Films’ Steve Lanning ("The Secret Garden") and Philip Hobbs who worked with Kubrick on a number of projects including "Full Metal Jacket...

We'll be seeing a TV movie and a miniseries based on two never-produced screenplays by famed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Downslope and God Fearing Man. Philip Hobbs’ Philco Films will be one of the producers heading the project. He worked with the director for over 15 years, coproducing his wartime drama Full Metal Jacket. Based on a true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote, Kubrick wrote an incomplete screenplay for Downslope — an epic drama following the activities of Confederate Army Colonel John S. Mosby and his revenge plot against Custer for executing several of his men. (This is that moment your history teacher was talking about when they told you to pay closer attention in school.) Cavalry officer Mosby was like a chameleon when it came to...

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Entertainment One has acquired the rights to two unproduced Stanely Kubrick screenplays, called "Downslope" and "God Fearing Man," and with the help of producers Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs (Full Metal Jacket), the independent studio will develop both projects for television. Downslope: Based on the true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote and revolves around Confederate Army Col. John Mosby and his plot to settle the score after Union Gen. George Custer captures and hangs several of his men. God Fearing Man: The true story of Canadian minister Herbert Emerson Wilson, who went on to become one of the best safe-crackers and most successful American bank robbers in the early 20th century. Kubrick is the man behind such films as "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Eyes Wide Shut." He died in 1999 at the age of 70.

Entertainment One is bringing a pair of unproduced Stanley Kubrick screenplays to life on the small screen. The independent studio has teamed with Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs to develop and produce Downslope and God Fearing Man from the late writer-director-producer. Downslope is based on the true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote and revolves around Confederate Army Col. John Mosby and his plot to settle the score after Union Gen. George Custer captures and hangs several of his men. Story: Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' to Return to U.K. Theaters God Fearing Man, meanwhile, will be

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Stanley Kubrick was a master screenwriter and director. While Kubrick sadly passed away in 1999, his undeveloped screenplays live on. Today, eOne Television International (Hell on Wheels) has announced that producers Steven Lanning and Philip Hobbs will develop two television projects, Downslope and God Fearing Man, based on screenplays by Kubrick. eOne doesn't specify if these projects will be TV movies or if Kubrick's screenplays will be the launching point for a series or mini-series. Hobbs previously served as a co-producer on Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Hit the jump for the press release, which contains more details on Downslope and God Fearing Man. Here's the press release. I've put the descriptions of each project in bold. Stanley Kubrick Projects Downslope and God Fearing Man Headed to TV Los Angeles/Toronto – August 29, 2012 – Leading independent studio Entertainment One (eOne) is pleased to announce it has teamed up with Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs...

In some of the most satisfying (and potentially wondrous) news of the last little while, Entrainment One has announced that in partnership with Stanley Kubrick’s son-in-law Phillip Hobbs and the producers of television series including Saving Hope and Hung, it will bring two undeveloped Kubrick properties to the small screen.

It’s been a long 13 years since the acclaimed auteur of unmatched masterpieces such as Dr. Strangelove, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket suffered a heart attack at age 75 shortly after wrapping work on the twisted thriller Eyes Wide Shut.

Stanley Kubrick had a number of unfinished projects to his name at the time of his death including (among others) the eventually-adapted A.I. Artificial Intelligence and his Napoleon epic, which was the subject of the novel Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made.

Now, two more of the Manhattan native’s works will come to fruition, the...

"Downslope" and "God Fearing Man," two never-produced screenplays by the late Stanley Kubrick, are slated to be filmed for television, according to Deadline. Entertainment One has partnered with producers Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs’ Philco Films to complete the projects, one of which will become a TV movie and the other a miniseries. "Downslope," the movie, is based on a true story by historian and novelist Shelby Foote, and is an epic Civil War drama about Confederate Army Colonel John S. Mosby and his attempts to settle the score after General Custer captured and hanged some of his men. "God Fearing Man" will be adapted to a miniseries from Kubrick's script by Stephen R. Clarke, and is inspired by the true story of Herbert Emerson Wilson, a Baptist pastor who became one of early 20th century America's most adept safe-crackers and bank robbers. Wilson wrote about his experiences in his memoir "I Stole.

Entertainment One has partnered with producers Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs’ Philco Films to produce a TV Movie and a mini-series based on two never produced screenplays by late Oscar-winning filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Downslope and God Fearing Man. Written by Stanley Kubrick and based on a true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote, TV movie Downslope is an epic Civil War drama following the activities of Confederate Army Colonel John S. Mosby and his plot to settle the score after Custer captures and hangs several of his men. Adapted for television by Brit screenwriter Stephen R. Clarke based on a screenplay by Kubrick, mini God Fearing Man tells the true story of Canadian minister Herbert Emerson Wilson who became one of the best safe-crackers and most successful bank robbers in America in the early 20thcentury. “This is real event television,” said Michael Rosenberg, eOne’s Evp, Us Scripted Television.

According to author and historian Shelby Foote, any understanding of America has to be based in the Civil War, nearly the entirety of “the American character” was defined by it. For his part, Ken Burns agreed. When he began the nine part series, he had already made six films on American history – topics as diverse as the Statue of Liberty and Huey P. Long, the Shakers, and the Brooklyn Bridge. In all, he felt “the dark cloud” of America’s greatest conflict hanging over them. Continued after the jump. When the war ended, Walt Whitman, a nurse in a Union hospital, summed it up. “Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background, the countless minor scenes and interiors of the secession war; and it is best they should not.” “The real war,” he wrote, “will never get in the books.” In 1990, both Ken Burns and PBS rose to that challenge.

The Civil War, Ken Burns' classic 1990 documentary mini-series will be re-released on DVD on March 29. Click on the video player below to watch this excerpt from the show, which deals with Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Click to watch Exclusive: Assassination!

The Emmy Award-winning nine-part series, Ken Burns: The Civil War, is now available in the 150th Anniversary Edition, featuring enhanced packaging, a sixth disc with new-to-dvd bonus footage and a collector's book. Hailed as a film masterpiece and landmark in historical storytelling, Ken Burns's epic documentary brings to life America's most destructive and defining conflict. With digitally enhanced images and new stereo sound, here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one.

Special Features:

From the Archive: Shelby Foote InterviewsRemembering the Civil War: An Interview with...

The late Oscar-winning director Stanley Kubrick held high esteem for years while he was still alive, and now that he has since passed, Hollywood isn’t ready to let his genius slip away. Philco Films is prepping three properties based on scripts by Kubrick, according to Screen Daily, and they seem to reflect the late film-maker’s varied career. The first will be a large-scale Civil War film entitled Downslope. The second, Lunatic At Large, will star Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell, and the third is a TV series called God Fearing Man that revolves around a famous bank robber in the early 20th century.

Philco Films isn’t aiming low with any of these properties either, as they are targeting A-list casts and crew to bring these three pieces to life. For a more detailed look at each project and the plans behind them, hit the jump.

The staple...