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“The romantic comedies remained my only consistent box office hits, which made them my only consistent incoming offers,” McConaughey writes. “For me personally, I enjoyed being able to give people a nitty-minute breezy romantic getaway from the stress of their lives where they didn’t have to think about anything, just watch the boy chase the girl, fall down, then get up and finally get her. I had taken the baton from Hugh Grant, and I ran with it....

The similar approach between the legendary filmmakers, Modine told Hollywood Reporter, is in the intimacy of the set despite the massiveness of the project. “Sometimes on ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ there weren’t more than 10 or 15 people on the set,” he said. “And as big as ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ was, with all of the people that were working on it and the tremendous size of the cast and crew, it got smaller and smaller and smaller as you got closer and closer to the set where you were going to be filming....

But that’s only a small fraction of the lineup, which also includes a lot of smaller highlights that have yet to secure U.S. distribution. As usual, we’ve combed through the program and urge buyers to consider these gems as they look for new work to round out their slates. Carlos Aguilar, Robert Daniels, David Ehrlich, and Kate Erbland contributed to this story. “Chee$e” Fresh from directing a few episodes of HBO’s “Winning Time,” Trinidadian filmmaker Damian Marcano’s first feature is a rascally and unpredictable stoner comedy about the efforts of a disillusioned weed dealer who tries to hawk his product by burying it in the cheese he makes at a dairy factory....

Like most other NYC theaters, the Metrograph closed its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now readying for a September re-opening. The two-screen theater, located on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side, has yet to announce its full release plans as other NYC-area theaters continue to reopen, but today’s launch of the app makes it clear that a digital component will be part of its plans moving forward....

Bay, the arguable auteur behind “Armageddon” and the “Transformers” films, told Empire Magazine that it’s “bullshit” that “Spectre” holds the Guinness World Record for largest movie explosion. “James Bond tried to take the ‘largest explosion in the world,’” Bay said. “Bullshit. Ours is.” Bay explained there’s a “special sauce” for filming explosions. “It’s like a recipe. I see some directors do it, and they look cheesy, or it won’t have a shockwave,” Bay said....

The boxer took to Twitter this weekend to complain about Hulu producing the unauthorized show without his consent. “Hulu stole my story,” Tyson tweeted. “They’re Goliath and I’m David. Heads will roll for this.” He later added that “Hulu’s model of stealing life rights of celebrities is egregiously greedy.” This isn’t the first time that Tyson has complained about the Hulu series. In a previously-deleted Instagram post, he wrote that: “Hulu’s announcement to do an unauthorized mini-series of the Tyson story without compensation, although unfortunate, isn’t surprising....

A few weeks ago, this column addressed the way the job of the programmer has been marginalized by the industry, and at Cannes last month, many people told me they were clamoring for a follow-up. For the sliver of the film community that doesn’t work with multimillion marketing budgets, festivals are a critical launchpad. The international festival calendar is roaring back to action, as Cannes made clear. The cocktail events teased everything from upcoming editions of Locarno in August to TIFF in the fall, with the latter bringing the majority of its robust new programming team to the south of France....

When starting out in Hollywood, the “Saturday Night Live” alum used a fake name (Liz Stockwell) and pretended to work for playwright David Mamet. Shannon’s pal Eugene Pack co-ran the “Mamet Scam,” which ultimately led to Shannon appearing on David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks.” “We were trying to figure out how we were going to get in the door as actors,” Shannon wrote in her memoir, “Hello Molly!,” available from HarperCollins on April 12....

Norman was born in London on April 4, 1928. The son of Latvian immigrants, he was forced to evacuate the city during World War II but later returned during The Blitz. After serving in the Royal Air Force, he began pursuing a career in music. Norman first worked as a performer, singing with many prominent big band music acts and eventually sharing the stage with other top comedians and musicians of his time....

The pandemic has no regard for politics or location, but theaters define their safety terms differently in every state; sometimes, they vary by city. In Alaska, no walk-ins are allowed. In Alabama, theater capacity is capped at 50 percent; in Arkansas, it’s 66 percent; and in Colorado it’s a maximum of 100 per auditorium. Idaho requires utilizing alternate rows, in addition to six-foot social distancing; Iowa allows 100 percent capacity within the context of six-foot distancing....

Watts, who starred in David Lynch’s iconic “Mulholland Drive” at age 33, was told by industry insiders that her career would end by 40, or until she was no longer “sexy.” “I was told, ‘You better get a lot done because it’s all over at 40 when you become unfuckable,’” Watts told Entertainment Weekly. “And I’m like, ‘What? What does that mean exactly?’ Then you think about it, and you go, ‘Oh, right....

But the fact remains: Even with the plan — which includes mask requirements, social distancing rules, reduced auditorium capacity, and other measures — movie-going during the pandemic still comes with risk. “I think it’s important to understand that going to the movies is not risk-free,” said Dr. Joyce L. Sanchez, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, one of two doctors who spoke during Thursday’s press conference....

One day ahead of Netflix’s blog post, the analysts at MoffettNathanson published in an analysis that the streaming giant already has “about half” of the world’s potential subscribers — households that have broadband access and disposable income. That explains some of the company’s recent subscriber slowdown as well as the current effort to speed things back up. In fourth quarter 2021, Netflix added 8.3 million subscribers and missed its own forecast by about 200,000 subs....

“Before Season 1 even started, we just developed each character’s own style of Martial Arts,” Koda explained in an interview with IndieWire. “The complexity is where their progression was going — how much they were supposed to have improved and learned along those seasons.” According to Curfman, the cast’s willingness to train hard with the stunt coordinators has led to tremendous growth, with each performer blossoming at different points of the three season run....

Oklahoma is rolling out the welcome mat to Hollywood. Early next month, it is set to launch a new film incentive program that’s nearly quadruple the size of its current program. It’s part of a concerted vision by lawmakers and local industry leaders to turn the Sooner State into a production powerhouse through the incentive, workforce development, and infrastructure investment like soundstages. The new program offers film and TV productions up to a 38 percent rebate on money they spend in Oklahoma, with a cap of $30 million annually....

While “Grease” remained her most notable role, Newton-John continued to parlay her strong musical stage presence into a variety of other film parts. She notably starred in the Electric Light Orchestra musical “Xanadu,” which gave her two more radio hits with “Magic” and the title track. She also re-teamed with Travolta on John Herzfeld’s 1983 film “Two of a Kind,” which also led to her recording the hit song “Heart Attack....

Ever since he broke out in 2013 with his first lead role as a sensitive finger-picking folk singer in the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” (after supporting parts in “Sucker Punch” and “Drive”), he’s shown a remarkable range. From a dancing AI scientist in “Ex Machina” and Vegas loner in “The Card Counter” to heroic Poe Dameron in “Star Wars” and Duke Leto Atreides in “Dune,” he can seemingly do anything, as hero, villain, lover, gangster, or artist....

That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020....

Signaling possible weakness for David Fincher’s “Mank,” Oscar newbie Amanda Seyfried did not land a SAG spot for her role as Marion Davies opposite Charles Dance as partner William Randolph Hearst in David Fincher’s “Mank” (Netflix), but she could win here. Long overdue Glenn Close (eight nominations) could finally score as Mawmaw, an Appalachian living in Ohio in Ron Howard’s controversial “Hillbilly Elegy.” Close will vie against past rival, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) as a daughter tangling with octogenarian Anthony Hopkins in Sundance drama “The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics), who landed Globes, Critics Choice, and SAG nominations....

Last Updated February 10: The costume design Oscar nominees — “Cruella” (Disney), “Cyrano” (MGM/UA), “Dune” (Warner Bros.), “Nightmare Alley” (Searchlight/Disney), and “West Side Story” (20th Century/Disney) — are all distinguished and eclectic, delving into a range of period styles that inform the characters and their worlds. It’s a race that boasts three Oscar winners — “Cruella’s” Jenny Beaven (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “A Room With a View”), “Cyrano’s” Jacqueline Durran (“Little Women,” “Anna Karenina”), and “Nightmare Alley’s” Luis Sequeira (“The Shape of Water”) — two previous nominees — “Cyrano’s” co-designer Massimo Cantini Parrini (“Pinocchio”) and “Dune’s” Jacqueline West (“The Revenant,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) — and “West Side Story’s” acclaimed newcomer — Paul Tazewell (the Tony-winning “Hamilton”)....