William Wyler: Last News

Alan K. Rode The death of actress-activist Marsha Hunt this week is a historical watershed and a personal loss. Marsha was one of the last living actors who began her movie career during the Great Depression in 1935. She became part of a now vanished Hollywood, initially at Paramount then at MGM, that bound contracted talent to studios with artists having little to no say over their choice of roles and careers. Nevertheless, she thrived in the studio system by becoming somewhat less than a genuine movie star and more of a consummate professional actress.   Marsha’s career was derailed by the Blacklist, a perfidious period of American history that has been endlessly chronicled and misunderstood. Never a Communist or radical, she was a forthright liberal who refused to accept her voice being marginalized by the endemic sexism and politics of the period. Marsha was the final survivor of the Committee of the First Amendment, an action group of film actors, directors and writers founded by screenwriter Philip Dunne, actress Myrna Loy, and directors John Huston and William Wyler. Members of the group flew to Washington D.C. on October 27, 1947 to protest the HUAC hearings investigating so-called subversive Communist influence in the motion picture industry. From a public relations perspective, the group’s involvement backfired and many people in the group subsequently had to seek political cover. After the pamphlet “Red Channels” was published in June 1950, naming Marsha and 150 other artists, journalists and writers by falsely portraying them as subversives who were manipulating the entertainment system, she had a great deal of trouble finding work in Hollywood.

Killers of the Flower Moon confirmed today, Martin Scorsese has become the living director with the most Oscar nominations.The Academy included the 81-year-old on their Best Director shortlist, giving him his tenth nomination in total, and overtaking Steven Spielberg’s nine.Scorsese’s nominations go back to 1980’s Raging Bull, but he has only won the prize once, for 2006’s The Departed. His other recent nominations include The Irishman, The Wolf of Wall Street and Hugo.

Steven Gaydos Executive VP of Content They say failureis an orphan, but success has many fathers; however, that rule may not apply when your child is a bomb that has the potential to end all life on Earth. That is one of the many gut-wrenching and provocative points raised in Christopher Nolan’s awards contender “Oppenheimer,” a bracing and cinematically bold look at the titular scientist who many credit as the father of the atomic bomb.

It’s not every day that a filmmaker will rise up during an interview and recite Old Testament tales and sing out their favorite hymn. Well, hallelujah, brother Jeymes Samuel for spreading the gospel’s good news.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “There’s no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.” – Martin Scorsese   Legend. Master.

Katie Reul editor Winning best picture at the Academy Awards, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” capped off a ground-breaking awards season and became the most-awarded best picture winner since 2008’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” “Everything Everywhere” took home seven Oscars on Sunday night, including best picture, director, original screenplay, lead actress, supporting actress, supporting actor and editing. At the 2009 Oscars, Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” scored eight awards, including best picture, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, score, original song and sound mixing. Before “Everything Everywhere,” the closest a best picture winner has gotten to topping that number was the 2010 ceremony, when “The Hurt Locker” won six Oscars.

As a producer, Mirisch aggressively recruited top filmmakers such as Billy Wilder and Norman Jewison, then gave them freedom to craft the movies as they saw fit.“We offered these filmmakers what they needed,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1983. “Billy could call me up and say, `I’d next like to do a picture about so-and-so’ — and that’s all we’d need to know.

Veronica Cartwright is set to guest star in The CW‘s upcoming series Gotham Knights.

Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios on Monday afternoon (Aug. 1) and was extinguished by three teams of firefighters. The fire broke out in the area where a set depicting renaissance Florence was housed and which was being decommissioned, destroying parts of it.

Wilson Chapman editorBeanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch will depart the current Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” this fall, the production announced Wednesday.The news was announced by the production, which confirmed that both stars will depart the production on Sept. 25. The male leads, Ramin Karimloo and Jared Grimes, will remain with the show.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s iconic Cinecittà Studios turn 85 this year and it’s never looked so young.The famed facilities, which in their Hollywood-on-the-Tiber heyday hosted sword-and-sandals epics such as William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” and were later home to Federico Fellini, are undergoing a major overhaul that now sees Europe’s largest LED wall situated on the lot near Fellini’s huge Studio 5.Known as Cinecittà’s T18 Virtual Production Stage, the 412-square-meter (4,434-sq.-ft.) semicircular screen made up of hundreds of high-def displays that serve as interactive backdrops for actors on a smart set, is one of more than a dozen state-of-the art soundstages being built there thanks to a multimillion-euro cash injection provided by the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund. The revamp is being spearheaded by Nicola Maccanico, managing director of Italy’s Istituto Luce-Cinecittà, the state film entity that operates Rome’s expanding Cinecittà Studios.

With his 8th Oscar nomination for directing today, Steven Spielberg joins a very select group of four filmmakers who have received 8-plus Best Director nominations. They include Billy Wilder, who also has 8, his contemporary Martin Scorsese, who has 9, and the great William Wyler, who earned 11 total directing nominations.

Haya Harareet, the Israeli actress who played Esther opposite Charlton Heston’s titular character in the 1959 religious epic Ben-Hur, has died at the age of 89 at her home in Buckinghamshire, UK. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz broke the news, citing Harareet’s niece.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorParamount Pictures senior VP of archives Andrea Kalas and her team have been bringing the studio’s vast back catalog into the digital age. Titles such as “King Creole” (1958), starring Elvis Presley; Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly; and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, were among the films restored and released.Sept.

Claude Heater, the famed opera singer who appeared with his face unseen as Jesus Christ in William Wyler's epic 1959 production ofBen-Hur, has died. He was 92.

Claude Heater, the famed opera singer who appeared with his face unseen as Jesus Christ in William Wyler's epic 1959 production of Ben-Hur, has died. He was 92. A noted Wagnerian tenor, Heater died May 28 at St. Mary's Medical Center in San F