William Friedkin: Last News

Following a successful 2024 awards season, Horror films demonstrated their dominance at the box office, marking a significant year for the genre. Notably, the Academy Awards recognized four films within the genre, signaling a growing appreciation for horror’s artistic merit.

was found dead at age 95 inside his Santa Fe home alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog on Wednesday, won Academy Awards in 1972 and 1993. His first win, which was presented to him by Liza Minnelli, was for Best Actor for his role in the action thriller “The French Connection.”“Thank you very much,” Hackman said on stage at the start of his speech.

Ellise Shafer Gene Hackman, who was found dead at 95 alongside his wife at their Santa Fe, N.M. home on Feb.

With gay rights coming back into the crosshairs in almost every country across the globe, Carmen Emmi’s slow-burn drama is sobering reminder of just how far these things have progressed in the past 30 years. Taking place primarily in 1997 — unfolding in flashback from the framing device of a family New Year’s Eve party being held a few years later — it takes a little while to find its feet. Once the main players are established, though, and experimental flashes of harsh analog video become a more recognizable manifestation of its ugly-beautiful aesthetic, Plainclothes builds to a very satisfying conclusion, putting a torrid but meaningful gay love affair at the center of a universal coming-of-age story.

A horror film that reportedly caused fainting, vomiting and even heart attacks among audiences is now available for streaming, despite previously being banned in the UK.

Nearly 45 years ago, Al Pacino knew his controversial 1980 film Cruising wouldn’t age well.

As Deadline told you would happen, tonight at 10 PM is a lock for the US debut of the hot button film The Apprentice, about the formative growth of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as mentored by Roy Cohn. The film has been quietly placed on the Telluride roster, though the theater has not yet been divulged.

EXCLUSIVE: Manager and producer Doreen Wilcox Little has joined Echo Lake Entertainment after more than a decade at Anonymous Content. 

Bud S. Smith, an Oscar-nominated film editor, died last Sunday at his home in Studio City, California, from respiratory failure after a prolonged illness. He was 88.

J. Kim Murphy Bud S. Smith, an Oscar-nominated film editor who was a regular collaborator with William Friedkin and whose other credits include “Putney Swope,” “Flashdance” and “The Karate Kid,” died Sunday at his home in Studio City, Calif.

The Exorcist directed by William Friedkin and written by William Peter Blatty is considered, still, perhaps the greatest horror film of all time, certainly the most popular. The 1973 movie was even nominated for 10 Oscars and won two, unheard of in the genre at that time. It has been endlessly imitated for the past half century right up to now, recently and notably David Gordon Green’s critically reviled 2023 reboot The Exorcist: Believer, which even brought original Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn back into the fold after all these decades. But the OG is impossible to touch, so what was going through Joshua John Miller’s mind when he decided to take on a new film so closely linked to it?

Tony Lo Bianco, who played the key role of Sal Boca in Best Picture Oscar winner The French Connection and appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows during a 60-year screen career, died Tuesday of prostate cancer at his home in Maryland. He was 87.

“The French Connection,” has died. He was 87.His representative confirmed on Wednesday that he died of prostate cancer.“Tony Lo Bianco passed away last night at his horse farm in Maryland after a battle with prostate cancer,” the rep’s statement to Fox News read.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Wang Chung had no idea John Mulaney’s six-episode Netflix talk show “Everybody’s in LA” would use their 1985 song “To Live and Die in L.A.” as its theme song — but they’re thrilled he did. “It’s a total surprise that it’s blown up in the way that it has,” says Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues, who first heard of the usage on “Everybody’s in LA” via “the guy who does our merch.” For guitarist Nick Feldman, the other half of the duo, he was already a big Mulaney fan when he got the news that “To Live and Die in L.A.” was suddenly getting a new breath of life on Netflix. “It’s so nice to see it get used in such a cool way,” he says.

CGI movie technology, it is getting harder and harder to deliver that true spine-chilling internal fear that makes horror films so great.Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids may arrogantly scoff at retro scary movies, but it hasn’t always been this way.There was once a time when picture-goers were so viscerally terrified by what they were seeing on the big screen that it would trigger powerful physical reactions right there in the theater.During Jaws (1975) people fainted and vomited in the cinema during some of the gruesome scenes, while others stopped going swimming in the ocean altogether out of pure fear.Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho (1960) sparked mania during the infamous shower stabbing scene, with reports of people hyperventilating and passing out in their cinema chairs.However, one of the most horrifying movies to ever hit the big screen, causing widespread panic, fear and repulsion, is William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973).Based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, the film follows the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s attempt to rescue her through an exorcism by two Catholic priests.With some wildly disturbing scenes, including some bizarre 360 degree head spinning, eerie spider-walking on the stairs and some disgusting projective lime-green vomit, it shocked those 1970s audiences to their core.One particular vulgar scene involving a crucifix — that is too crude to describe here — shocked and upset many, especially considering the percentage of people who were religious back then.The flick was so scary that even renowned Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert was at a loss for words about how it made him feel.“I am not sure exactly what reasons people will have for seeing this movie; surely

When the late, legendary filmmaker William Friedkin called Kiefer Sutherland to gauge his interest in playing the lead in the Showtime and Paramount+ film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, the actor hung up almost immediately. But not because he wasn’t interested in working with the director he’d long revered, Sutherland explained. “I thought it was one of my friends making a joke.”

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorMovie, TV and music fans are already remembering notable figures who have died since the start of 2024. “An Officer and a Gentleman” Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Richard Lewis, “Starsky and Hutch” star David Soul and “Honeymooners” star Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie, are among celebrities from the world of television who have died. In film, cinephiles are remembering “Moonstruck” director Norman Jewison and “Mary Poppins” actress Glynis Johns.Last year, the entertainment community said goodbye to celebrities including musicians Jimmy Buffett, Shane McGowan, Robbie Robertson and David Crosby, actors Andre Braugher and Matthew Perry, writer-producer Norman Lear and director William Friedkin.David Soul, who starred as Sergeant Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson in the TV series “Starsky & Hutch,” died Jan.

The Independent Iranian Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) has written to AMPAS to protest the omission of murdered director Dariush Mehrjui from the In Memoriam segment of the Academy Award on Sunday night.

Sunday night’s 2024 Oscars, angry viewers at home ripped the R.I.P segment online.The ABC broadcast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, made it challenging to see the names and faces of deceased stars in the emotional In Memoriam, put dancers in front of the screen and frequently showed Italian singers Andrea Bocelli and son Matteo Bocelli instead of the dead.“The direction of this In Memoriam is shocking,” wrote user @LoganKenny1 on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The entire image should be the people who’ve died, not the dancers and the stage.

Andrea Bocelli performed a rendition of the song ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ with his son Matteo Bocelli to accompany the Academy’s annual obituary section. Perhaps mindful of previous years, in which eagle-eyed viewers have jumped on omissions, this year’s “In Memoriam” seemed both comprehensive but at the same time not enough, with a bizarre postscript that lumped together artists as diverse as (in alphabetical order) Kenneth Anger, Terence Davies, Carl Davis, David McCallum, Sinead O’Connor, Paolo Taviani and Treat Williams in a well-meaning but unintentionally backhanded postscript.

Day 2 in Edinburgh saw the European premiere of William Friedkin’s KILLER JOE and the opportunity to talk to both director and one of the stars, Gina Gershon, about their time on the project.EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara spoke on his choice of KILLER JOE as the Festival’s opening film, saying that “there’s nothing wrong with being unconventional,” with his decision to choose Friedkin’s film down to the fact that it is both “accessible to a large audience and a beautiful piece of filmmaking.”While it may be accessible to a large audience, Friedkin made it very clear that his film was “not targeting teenagers,” and that it is “the kind of film that challenges an audience,” while joking that he hoped he hadn’t lowered the level of the Festival set in Edinburgh’s “casual blend of the old and new.”It is clear to see that Gina Gershon doesn’t believe Friedkin should be worried, stating how she wouldn’t “have done this movie with anyone else.” She went on to explain that she was “offered the play of this a long time ago, but doing eight shows a week would have been too brutal. But when I heard he was doing it, I thought that would be a great person to be directed by.”It is a constant point of amazement that KILLER JOE is directed by a seventy-six year old.