Don Simpson: Last News

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorThe original “Top Gun” is a study in Hollywood moviemaking of a certain era — an era captured in the pages of Variety as the movie was birthed starting in mid-1983 until its triumphant release by Paramount Pictures three years later.The movie came together during the period when Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were at the peak of their powers as red-hot producers of culture-shaking films such as 1983’s “Flashdance” and 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop.” The film that the pair crafted with numerous screenwriters (more on that in the clips), director Tony Scott and veteran producer Bill Badalato launched Tom Cruise to a new level of stardom and created a legacy sturdy enough for Cruise, Bruckheimer and Paramount to leap back to the top of the box office nearly 40 years later with the long-delayed, made-for-movie-screens sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”As demonstrated by the steady pace of news about “Top Gun,” Simpson and Bruckheimer had a ton of clout with Paramount and the industry at the time. They even were able to control the rights to the soundtrack for the film — something they learned from the success of “Flashdance” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” Simpson-Bruckheimer Prods.

Ben Croll Reflecting on his trailblazing career, Canadian icon David Cronenberg felt particular pride for the one project that got away – or, more to the point, that he pushed away with full force: “Flashdance.” “You might be amazed [that producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer] were totally convinced that I was the right one to direct,” Croneberg said at the Marrakech Film Festival on Sunday. “Really, I don’t know why [they] thought I should do it, and finally I had to say no – I said to them, ‘I will destroy your movie if I direct it!’” While “Flashdance” honors eventually went to Adrian Lyne – resulting in 1983’s third top grossing film – Cronenberg instead delivered the one-two punch of “The Dead Zone” and “Videodrome” that same year.

Tom Cruise is in early talks with Paramount Pictures about returning to star in a sequel to his 1990 NASCAR drama Days of Thunder, sources have confirmed to Deadline.

It is hard to believe it has been 40 years since Eddie Murphy first exploded onto the screen as one of his signature characters, Axel Foley, in 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop. But even if that 22 year old is now 63, he is still on the beat and doesn’t miss a beat all these years later in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, almost seeming to have stopped time with this character who is just as funny, sharp and entertaining as ever.

Lary Simpson, who launched a career in entertainment law at Tri-Star Pictures before leaving legal practice to join older brother Don Simpson in motion picture production, died Jan. 25 of cancer at his home in Noank, Connecticut. He was 77.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The last time a movie was marketed with a this-sounds-so-wretchedly-over-the-top-not-to-mention-insane-it-could-almost-be-fun low/high concept, the results, to put it kindly, were mixed. “Snakes on a Plane,” which sounded like a title that Don Simpson scrawled in white powder on a table at 4:00 a.m., was a movie that wore its brain-deadness on both lapels. But 17 years ago, that title inspired mountains of online chatter, to the point that the filmmakers incorporated bits and pieces of the obsessive fan gabble into the movie, most famously the Samuel L. Jackson line, “I have had it with these mothefuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin‘ plane!” The result was that “Snakes on a Plane” felt like the first piece of brazen Hollywood schlock that was crowdsourced. The audience went in thinking: It may be trash, but it’s our trash.   

Top Gun: Maverick’s Cannes Film Festival premiere marks another high point in the movie star career of Tom Cruise. The actor turns 60 on July 3, and unlike most leading men of that age who become quicker to call for the stunt double, Cruise shows little evidence of slowing down after 43 films. If anything, his Mission: Impossible stunts seem to grow more ambitiously dangerous, not to mention the fact that he and director Doug Liman will become the first to actually shoot a space film in space for real—aboard one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX crafts with the cooperation of NASA.

Getting back into his old character was a joy for Val Kilmer.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThe world is not the same place it was in 1986, when “Top Gun” ruled the box office. In Ronald Reagan, America had a movie star for a president, and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson as its honorary ministers of propaganda.

Frank Pesce, a character actor who appeared in both "Beverly Hills Cop" movies, "Top Gun," "Midnight Run" and "Miami Vice," died on Feb. 6 due to dementia complications. He was 75.

Ethan Shanfeld Frank Pesce, a character actor who appeared in both “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, “Top Gun,” “Midnight Run” and “Miami Vice,” died on Feb. 6 due to dementia complications. He was 75.Born in 1946 in New York City, Pesce’s circle of friends included Sylvester Stallone, Tony Danza and Robert Forster, among others.

Frank Pesce, a colorful character actor whose dozens of credits range from Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and Midnight Run to Miami Vice, Matlock and Kojak, has died. He was 75.

The Flashdance series reboot has moved a step closer to the ballroom after Justin Simien boarded the Paramount+ project.