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Over the course of a screen acting career that stretched across fifty years, Charles Cyphers racked up 100 credits, but he’s best known for his collaborations with John Carpenter, having appeared in the director’s Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Someone’s Watching Me!, Elvis, The Fog, and Escape from New York. His most popular character was Sheriff Leigh Brackett from the 1978 Halloween, a role he reprised in 1981’s Halloween II and, after a forty year absence from the Halloween franchise, 2021’s Halloween Kills. Sadly, we’ve lost this great character actor, as Variety reports that Cyphers has passed away “from a brief illness” at the age of 85.

Cyphers’ manager Chris Roe confirmed his passing to Variety and provided the following statement: “Charles was a lovable and sensitive man. He always had the best stories, and you got a full performance while he told you. He was a close friend and...

Filmmaker Andrew Haigh’s follow up to the incredible All Of Us Strangers will reportedly be Belly Of The Beast – a true crime thriller set in 1980s New York.

Despite releasing back in January, there’s every chance that at the end of this year, writer-director Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers (pictured) will still hold the crown for film of 2024. At the very least it will be on lots of shortlists, and as such, interest has been running high over what Haigh would do next. Now that project has been revealed – a period drama-thriller called Belly Of The Beast – we’re very excited indeed.

According to Deadline, the project is headed to Cannes next week with the director and stars already attached. Given the acclaim surrounding Haigh’s last film and the involvement of both Colin Farrell and Ben Stiller, we’d imagine that this will be a popular package deal indeed.

Before the film world descends onto the Croisette the floodgates have opened up for a flurry of film trade news and we have another high-profile project we’ll be keeping tabs on with Andrew Haigh cementing his next project. Deadline confirms that Ben Stiller and Colin Farrell have been tapped for Belly of the Beast – and that mk2 films, UTA Independent Film Group, CAA Media Finance and Village Roadshow Pictures have teamed for sales. The book to film adaptation of Jerome Loving’s nonfiction book, Jack and Norman: A State-Raised Convict and the Legacy of Norman Mailer’s ‘The Executioner’s Song.’ Colin and Claudine Farrell, Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta are producing.…...

Exclusive: Ben Stiller and Oscar nominee Colin Farrell have been confirmed to star in Andrew Haigh’s true crime story Belly of the Beast as mk2 films, UTA Independent Film Group, CAA Media Finance and Village Roadshow Pictures board sales for a Cannes launch.

Rumors of their involvement in the project surfaced at the beginning of the year and now the sales partners have unveiled the full details ahead of rolling out it to buyers in the South of France next week.

Bafta nominee Haigh will direct the film, which he and Alexis Jolly adapted from Jerome Loving’s nonfiction book, Jack and Norman: A State-Raised Convict and the Legacy of Norman Mailer’s ‘The Executioner’s Song.’

Per the official synopsis the feature will tell the timely and true story of the unlikely friendship between notorious literary titan Norman Mailer (Stiller) and his protégé, Jack Henry Abbott (Farrell).

Bolstered by Mailer’s mentorship,...

There was a time, in the ’90s, when indie film noir thought it was being hip by imitating the trappings of ’40s thrillers ­— the dark shadows, Venetian blinds, and “slinky” femme fatales. But a true noir never really looks back; it’s always pushing forward, toward fresh new varieties of desire and dread. “Love Lies Bleeding” is like that. It’s the second feature directed by Rose Glass, the British director of “Saint Maud” (2019), and though it’s made with a powerful sense of style, there’s nothing retro or mannered about it. It’s set in a small desert town in rural grunge New Mexico in 1989, and from the opening moments, which unfold at the warehouse workout gym where Lou (Kristen Stewart) toils away as a manager, the movie lets you taste the scuzzy deadbeat Western sleaze as surely as Mailer’s “The Executioner’s Song” did.

As Lou, Kristen...

In 1977, Lewis Arquette (41) and his daughter, Rosanna Arquette (18), both made their TV acting debuts, with him appearing on an episode of “Alice” and her playing a role in the movie “Having Babies II.” Six years later, she became the first member of her family to earn Emmy recognition with her lead performance in the NBC film “The Executioner’s Song,” which told the true story of Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones) and his demands to be executed for committing double murder. Arquette played Nicole Baker, a young single mother who dated Gilmore shortly before the killings.

Arquette received her nomination five days before her 24th birthday, making her the fifth youngest woman to compete for the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress award at the time. In the nearly four decades since, she has dropped to 10th place on the list. Of the nine younger actresses who rank higher than her,...

In 1977, Lewis Arquette (41) and his daughter, Rosanna Arquette (18), both made their TV acting debuts, with him appearing on an episode of “Alice” and her playing a role in the movie “Having Babies II.” Six years later, she became the first member of her family to earn Emmy recognition with her lead performance in the NBC film “The Executioner’s Song,” which told the true story of Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones) and his demands to be executed for committing double murder. Arquette played Nicole Baker, a young single mother who dated Gilmore shortly before the killings.

Arquette received her nomination five days before her 24th birthday, making her the fifth youngest woman to compete for the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress award at the time. In the nearly four decades since, she has dropped to 10th place on the list. Of the nine younger actresses who rank higher than her,...

Filmmaker James Gray (“The Lost City of Z”), who was most recently behind the Brad Pitt-led sci-fi film “Ad Astra,” is turning his sights toward a more grounded dramatic series for his next effort. Gray will be writing and directing a show based on the life of famed writer Norman Mailer, the celebrated and controversial author of such books as “The Executioner’s Song” and “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections On The Hipster.”

Deadline reports that Gray’s series will be called “Mailer,” adding that the new project is based on the author J.

Continue reading ‘Mailer’: James Gray To Write/Direct Series Based On Life Of Writer Norman Mailer at The Playlist.

“Ad Astra” director James Gray is giving his take on controversial author Norman Mailer for a new series.

Gray, whose own biographical “Armageddon Time” is a hopeful entry for this year’s Cannes, is set to helm a new TV series about Mailer’s life.

John Buffalo Mailer, the son of the writer (who died in 2007), will produce the project, currently titled “Mailer,” through his Mailer Tuchman Media production company.

Mailer was the author of “The Naked and the Dead,” “The Executioner’s Song,” and “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster,” among other novels that proved to be cultural touchstones or controversy-stoking tomes — often in the same text. His work reflected on the evolution of Americana, from World War II to the advent of the internet. Mailer’s relationships with fellow literary icons Truman Capote and Gore Vidal will be fodder for the series, as will Mailer’s six wives and numerous mistresses,...

Exclusive: Norman Mailer, the celebrated and controversial author behind books such as The Executioner’s Song, made headlines earlier this year as part of a publishing brouhaha related to a new collection of the late author’s work.

The author of The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster is now back in the news with a television series about his life.

John Buffalo Mailer, the son of the writer who died in 2007, created Mailer and has now teamed up with Ad Astra writer/director James Gray on the project.

Gray is also behind feature films including Charlie Hunnam-fronted The Lost City of Z and The Immigrant. In 2014, he directed an episode of SundanceTV’s The Red Road, but Mailer marks his first full television series.

Mailer will tell the story of the rebel-intellectual, who documented the journey America took from World War II to WiFi and engaged in one...

The documentary as true-life suspense mystery came to the fore, and might have been invented, by Errol Morris, when he released “The Thin Blue Line” in 1988. It was the rare nonfiction film that had a demonstrable real-world impact. Beyond that, the movie forged a uniquely gripping experience by presenting itself as a kind of documentary film noir. You could say that Capote and Mailer, in “In Cold Blood” and “The Executioner’s Song,” got there first, but in the world of nonfiction film we hadn’t seen this sort of elevated tabloid page-turner before. This was still an age when documentaries were viewed, by too many, as medicine, and Morris’s techniques were revolutionary, as well as controversial. (His then-novel use of dramatic reenactments was thought to have contributed to the film’s failure to snag an Oscar nomination.)

You could feel the influence of “The Thin Blue Line” on a...

Town Bloody Hall

Blu ray

Criterion

1979 / 85 min.

Starring Norman Mailer, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston

Cinematography by D.A. Pennebaker

Directed by D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus

No matter the subject, Norman Mailer was the star of whatever he produced—in Advertisements for Myself, a mix of self-criticism and self-congratulation—he could have been talking to himself. He took to using the third person in The Armies of the Night. He sometimes adopted a new name—in Of a Fire on the Moon he was “Aquarius.” He directed and acted in a handful of independently made films and plastered his mug on campaign posters that papered New York when he ran for mayor in 1969. His career was one big selfie. But what an ambitious self portrait it was—Hemingway, Faulkner, Dos Passos—he tried to top them all.

He worked hard to be a new kind of empathetic writer, sinking into the psyche of all creatures bright,...

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Mr Robot, Cucumber, Inside No. 9...Here are Den Of Geek writers' top 15 TV episodes of 2015. Did your favourites make the cut?

The votes are in.

Earlier this month, over thirty of Den Of Geek's writers nominated up to five of their favourite television episodes of the year, ranked in order of preference. Points were allocated. Favourites emerged. And the sanity of the site's TV editor was offered once again as a festive sacrifice to the God of Microsoft Excel worksheets.

Over eighty individual episodes were nominated in total, and below are the fifteen that placed highest overall...

15. Rick & Morty – Total Rickall

What our writer said:

“Clip shows are traditionally seen as ways to save money, building a flimsy narrative framework of nostalgia-fuelled new footage around flashbacks to previous episodes. Somehow, Dan Harmon's shows usually manage to put more effort into spoofing this type of episode than any other episode.

Supernatural Season 10 Episode 14 titled, "The Executioner's Song," brings the return of Cain and Dean is forced to deal with the Mark of Cain. Cain's arrival stirs up trouble in the relationship between Crowley and Rowena too. 

BuddyTV spoke with Mark Sheppard about Crowley's relationship with Rowena, whether Crowley's aware of her manipulation, and the return of Cain. Read on for edited excerpts from the conversation. ...

Official photos from the 14th episode of Supernatural season 10, "The Executioner's Song," airing Tuesday, February 17 at 9pm on the CW.

Official Synopsis from the CW: "Dean (Jensen Ackles), Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Castiel (Misha Collins) deal with Cain?s (guest star Timothy Omundson) return. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Rowena (guest star Ruth Connell) continue to grow closer but when Crowley bails on plans with his mother to help the Winchesters, Rowena lets him have it."...

Recently, CW delivered the new, official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Supernatural" episode 14 of season 10. The episode is entitled, "The Executioner's Song," and it turns out that we're going to see some intriguing and intense stuff as Crowley gets into deep trouble by ditching Rowena. Cain shows back up on the scene, and more! In the new, 14th episode press release: "Dean (Jensen Ackles), Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Castiel (Misha Collins) are going to deal with Cain's (guest star Timothy Omundson) return. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Rowena (guest star Ruth Connell) will continue to grow closer ,but when Crowley bails on plans with his mother to help the Winchesters, Rowena will let him have it." Phil Sgriccia directed this episode, and it was written by Robert Berens. Episode 14 is set to air on Tuesday night, February 17th at 8pm central time on The CW.

He played cotton-gin owners, military officers, monsignors, rabbis, truck drivers, Shakespearean heroes — even a Batman villain. But Eli Wallach, who passed away at age 98 due to causes unknown, is best known to a generation of moviegoers as the ultimate bandolero-wearing bandito, thanks to two iconic roles: Calvera, the leader of the frontier thugs who terrorize a Mexican village in The Magnificent Seven (1960); and Tuco, the "ugly" of Sergio Leone's epic Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). When you think of a stubbled outlaw villain, the kind...

He's only in six scenes, but his turn as General MacArthur in Emperor steals the show - again

• Interview: Matthew Fox on Emperor

With a face that belongs either on Mount Rushmore or one of the higher-denomination Us Treasury banknotes, Tommy Lee Jones has for 40 years been the saviour of more movies than I can count. That includes this week's listless, though occasionally diverting, historical drama Emperor, in which he essays the role of General Douglas MacArthur with far greater conviction and aplomb than pretty-boy Gregory Peck managed for Us TV back in 1977, or Henry Fonda the year before, or Lawrence Olivier in the Moonie-backed megaflop Inchon in 1981.

Although his is a supporting role – the lead is whey-faced, pasteurised Matthew Fox as his protege, General Bonner Fellers – and Jones is only in about six scenes, it's his work that sticks with the viewer. The movie, which is about the process...

HBO is developing a movie about Norman Mailer's relationship with imprisoned murderer Jack Abbott, who assisted the author with the 1980 Pulitzer-winning nonfiction work The Executioner's Song. Abbott in turn received Mailer's support for his own book, In the Belly of the Beast, as well as an ill-fated parole that resulted in another murder. Stephen Schiff (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) will script the film and Tina Brown will executive produce — a first for the Daily Beast/Newsweek editor.

'"You're going to make me famous," I said. "Photographers can be replaced," replied Marilyn'

I first photographed Marilyn Monroe in 1960. I was 23 and not yet a very good photographer. By 1962, when Paris Match magazine asked me to shoot her again, I had won awards and was better – but I had a bigger ego, too.

She was filming what would be her last movie, Something's Got to Give. I read the screenplay in advance, and discovered that in one scene she would jump into a swimming pool and then pretend to have no clothes on. I saw Marilyn before the shoot and she was upset that she was getting $100,000 for the movie while Elizabeth Taylor was getting more from the same studio. She said something like: "What would happen if I jumped in with a bathing suit on, and actually came out with nothing on?" Her press agent said: "You're kidding.

At any given moment in our work, no matter how mundane the task, our personal lives will almost always affect the outcome. Sleep, sex, substance (or lack of substance) dictate how we operate, and within those daily complications, we find The Adderall Diaries. Chest deep into an addiction to the title pill, Stephen Elliott struggles to write and struggles to maintain a fulfilling relationship.

His focus changes when the computer programmer Hans Reiser stands trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Nina. Nina once had an affair with Hans' best friend, Sean Sturgeon, who has just confessed to eight undocumented murders. Stephen knows of Sean through San Francisco's S&M scene, though they've never met. Are the trial and the confessions related? he wonders. With something new to strive toward, he contacts Sean and begins sitting in on the Reiser court proceedings.

If Sean committed eight murders it's a huge story,...

I have yet to see Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, The Informant! (it opens next week), but I can hardly wait to see it -- and that's how I feel, more or less, every time his name is on the credits. Whatever you end up thinking of a Soderbergh film, you can always bet that he's bending himself in a new direction, trying for something fresh and bold and zingy and different. Okay, okay: He did make three Ocean's films in seven years. But the first of them, Ocean's Eleven, is one of his most nimble, lit-from-within creations -- a perfect toy of a movie, a vision of men-at-work-as-devious-high-play that rivaled, in the cool casualness of its bonding, the films of Howard Hawks. Soderbergh himself would admit that the Ocean's franchise is something he bought into, in part, to cement his power, to win himself the right to do what...

The Executioner's Song aired over two nights on NBC in 1982, earning an Emmy nomination for Norman Mailer (for scripting the adaptation of his own non-fiction book), and an Emmy win for star Tommy Lee Jones, who played convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. The real Gilmore robbed and shot two people in July of 1976, the same month that the Supreme Court made the death penalty viable again. Gilmore demanded to be executed, and his case became a media sensation, inspiring Saturday Night Live sketches, punk songs, and, of course, the Mailer book and TV movie. The film The Executioner's Song covers that frenzy in brief, but it's primarily a naturalistic character sketch, divided into two parts: the story of the days leading up to Gilmore's crime spree, and the story of the days leading up to the firing squad. In addition to the TV version, director Lawrence Schiller—a noted...

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer is recovering after surgery to remove scar tissue around his lung. The 84-year-old literary giant was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York last week, and the operation took place earlier this week. Mailer won Pulitzer Prizes for his books The Armies Of The Night and The Executioner's Song.