Bette Midler, Kirstie Alley, Albert Brooks, Ron Howard and more also remember the late writer/director. By Kara Warner Nora Ephron Photo: Nora Ephron’s untimely death Tuesday continues to dominate entertainment news via countless tributes and love letters posted online. There has also been an emotionally charged outpouring of love and respect from celebrities whose lives were influenced and affected by the late Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, director and playwright. “She was the one you wanted to read, to listen to, to be in the company of. Nora Ephron. Incomparable wit; delightful friend. Sadness reigns,” tweeted Steve Martin, who worked with Ephron on “Mixed Nuts.” “R.I.P. Nora Ephron… Funny, charming, witty, full of heart, and one of the greatest who put it all down in timeless, quotable classics,” singer/actor Justin Timberlake added . Timberlake’s fianc
Bad news, Charlie Kaufman fans: While some cast members had been hopeful in recent months that Frank or Francis would move ahead, Elizabeth Banks (doing the press rounds for People Like Us ) spilled news to the contrary. “I honestly don’t know where that film is at,” she told AICN. “We were supposed to make it sooner, but it’s been pushed. I think they’re waiting for everybody’s lives to come back together…I don’t really know anything about it.” Speaking with Moviefone, she elaborated that things “fell apart” before the Hollywood satire/musical could move forward into production: “We didn’t get to shoot that movie. It was ready to go, and, as many movies do, it fell apart at the last minute.” UPDATE: Over at The Playlist , the filmmaker’s reps say that the project’s not completely dead — it has just been “postponed.” [ AICN , Moviefone ]
While official confirmation has yet to be reported, columnist Liz Smith eulogizes friend and filmmaker Nora Ephron , writer and director of films including Sleepless in Seattle , You’ve Got Mail , and 2009’s Julie & Julia . “People who never dreamed she was ill, are crestfallen. Amazed. Stunned,” Smith writes. “I won’t say, “Rest in peace, Nora” – I will just ask “What the hell will we do without you?” UPDATE: Sources clarify that Ephron is alive, but “gravely ill.” Meanwhile, advice columnist Margo Howard, who also writes for the online publication The Women on the Web , where Smith’s remembrance appeared today, Tweeted the news citing Smith as her source: Well, to those of you who can't find the news of Nora Ephron's death, the funeral is Thursday – and maybe that's the way she wanted it.— Margo Howard (@Margoandhow) June 26, 2012 Contradicting the odd announcements, the New York Times contacted Ephron’s publisher, Knopf, who said she has not died : Nora Ephron's publisher, Knopf, tells the NYT that she is still alive.— Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) June 26, 2012 UPDATE: Newsweek/Daily Beast reporter MariaElena Fernandez chimed in through the confusion, adding that Ephron, who is battling cancer, is alive but near death. Nora Ephron news is not a hoax but she has not passed away. She is not expected to make it through tonight. This is the truth.— MariaElena Fernandez (@writerchica) June 26, 2012 UPDATE: TMZ cites family members who say Ephron is “gravely ill,” while Roger Friedman has been told that she’s in a New York hospital suffering from “a rare form of leukemia.” Developing… [ WOW ]
…and, um, there’s just one of him. Bear with me here: A slimmed-down Kevin James , who’s actually looking kind of handsome here (or am I crazy?), plays a high school teacher who enters the octagon to raise cash as a mixed martial arts fighter. He’s basically Joel Edgerton in last year’s MMA pic Warrior , only — lucky for us — he’s still Kevin James, so it’s a broad comedy and not a gut-wrenching drama and instead of Tom Hardy he’s got Salma Hayek to wrestle with. Sigh . The other depressing Here Comes the Boom – Warrior point of comparison: This is going to make so much more money than the under-seen and under-appreciated Warrior . At least there are no talking gorillas (that we know of). Here Comes the Boom (seriously, do people really use that phrase?) rolls into theaters on October 12 and is directed by Frank Coraci ( The Wedding Singer , Waterboy , Zookeeper ). [via Fandango ]
A flurry of online reports today revealed that filmmaker Nora Ephron was battling illness in a New York hospital and not expected to survive the night. The Washington Post now reports that Ephron has died six years after being diagnosed with the blood disorder myelodysplasia. Ephron was nominated for an Oscar three times for writing Silkwood , When Harry Met Sally… , and Sleepless in Seattle . As a director she helmed eight features, including popular romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail . Ephron had also earned acclaim as a journalist, essayist, and blogger, and most recently directed the foodie biographical drama Julie & Julia . Remember Ephron with a spirited clip from the 2007 documentary Dreams on Spec , in which she vividly compares screenwriting and filmmaking to making a pizza. [ Washington Post ]
Nora Ephron, the acclaimed screenwriter behind such iconic romantic comedies as Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally , has passed away. She was 71. The three-time Academy Award nominee reportedly had been suffering from leukemia, although she kept her illness a secret from the public until today’s tragic news. Ephron was once married to famous Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein. She now is survived by her third husband, Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi, and two sons she shared with Bernstein.
‘When Harry Met Sally … ‘ and ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ writer is not expected to survive the night, TMZ reports. By Josh Wigler Nora Ephron Photo: Nora Ephron, the writer of iconic romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally … ” and “Sleepless in Seattle” among other hit films, is reportedly “gravely ill” and “not expected to make it through the night.” TMZ reports that family members are currently telling close friends of the writer/director “there is little hope that [Ephron] will recover from her current condition.” The nature of her illness is not currently known, though it’s been reported that Ephron is suffering from leukemia . Word of Ephron’s condition first hit the Internet on Tuesday (June 26) by way of an article published by journalist Liz Smith, a close friend of the legendary Hollywood screenwriter. In the column, Smith writes about Ephron as though she has already passed away, praising her friend’s “grave” and “unexpected” humor. “She never gave the answer I expected to anything. She was grave in her humor, which made it deadly, unexpected, truly funny and dauntingly intelligent,” wrote Smith. “She seemed never to want or expect anything, while always demanding the best from the rest of us. She was — always — right and somehow left the smartest, most ambitious and silliest of us in the dust at her feet.” Shortly after publication of Smith’s column, Ephron’s former close friend Margo Howard wrote on Twitter : “A very accomplished writer died. Nora Ephron, from cancer.” Ephron’s publisher Knopf later told The New York Times that Ephron is “still alive,” according to a tweet from Times writer Julie Bosman . Knopf rep Elizabeth Lindsay said as much in a statement to the Atlantic Wire : “It’s pretty critical. She’s not doing well, but she’s certainly alive … The report she has passed away is not correct.” Stay tuned to MTV News for further updates on Ephron’s condition.
In this week’s Hobnobbing, we wonder if the new format is really worth the five extra bucks. By Amy Wilkinson Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” Photo: We interrupt your regularly scheduled Finnick speculation to bring you this special announcement: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will light up IMAX theaters come November 2013! (OK, the news broke Wednesday, but I don’t write my column until Thursday.) Anyway, this is big (as in 70 feet tall) news … if you like that sort of thing. While “The Hunger Games” was re-mastered for IMAX screens, director Francis Lawrence intends to shoot entire “Catching Fire” sequences in the larger-than-life format. As my colleague Kevin P. Sullivan noted , this will be only the sixth major studio film to be partially shot in IMAX — news to which my reaction was roughly, “Okie doke…” See, I’ve never really understood the appeal of IMAX. Isn’t it just for people with poor eyesight who need to see things really large? And why should I pay roughly five extra bucks for the privilege? I have good vision! To wit, I’ve never purposely sought out an IMAX screening. One time on vacation in Seattle my friend insisted we see “The Lion King” (nearly a decade after its initial release) in IMAX, and since I didn’t want to be a chump, I went along. I’ve probably been to one IMAX movie since (it wasn’t “Avatar,” by the way, my hometown theater is lame), but I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing something. According to conventional wisdom and my previously mentioned colleague Kevin (who graciously humored my IMAX questions and concerns), the format is considered the height of immersive movie-going technology. (So much more worth the price than 3-D, he says.) Everything’s huge! Everything’s so detailed! Everything else in the theater just disappears! It’s like that guy in the front row wearing the bowler hat festooned with Christmas lights doesn’t exist! Fine, fine. I get it. And I’m willing to give it another try because Katniss and Peeta deserve as much. (It will also give me another ready-made column idea come next Thanksgiving!) And with speculation swirling that the IMAX-friendly filming will likely focus on the nifty new Quarter Quell arena, I’m simultaneously thrilled and sick to my stomach over the idea of being completely immersed in the bloody battle. Nonetheless, let the IMAX Games begin! “Catching Fire” hits theaters November 22, 2013. Are you excited to see “Catching Fire” in IMAX? Or is it much ado about nothing? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me @amymwilk with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns! Earlier “Hunger Games” columns: » “Hunger Games”: Five Things We Learned At Movie Awards » How “Catching Fire” Could Set Taylor Kitsch’s Career Ablaze » “Hunger Games” At The Movie Awards: Dos And Don’ts » “Catching Fire” Countdown: What to Watch While You Wait » Francis Lawrence’s “Catching Fire” To-Do List Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Hunger Games’ Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ World Premiere Red Carpet The Hunger Games
“Flaming Nipples” may sound like the name of an all-girl punk band or a drink you would order on a singles’ cruise, but that’s what we’ve taken to calling the deleted scenes from David Lynch ‘s surreal neo-noir Blue Velvet (1986) here at Skin Central. The scenes were taken from a work print presumed to be lost but recently unearthed at a Seattle movie theater, and while there are over 50 minutes of footage included on the Blu-ray disc (and now conveniently uploaded to YouTube ), this video comes conveniently front-loaded with the breast part- a scene where a topless stripper smokes and two more sway in quintessentially Lynch fashion while another lights her nipples on fire in the background. You know, the usual. How exactly did they get that effect? As the director says in his book Lynch on Lynch : “They take these paper matches and split ‘em apart and then lick them and put them on their nipples, so the match-head is sitting right there and you really can’t see the little bit of cardboard. It’s sitting right there, very close. It may come out a quarter inch, but it burns for a while and then you put them out. It just burns long enough for the cut. And so it moved pretty nicely, you know.” Looks like we’ve got a new trick for the Mr. Skin company Christmas party next year. And once you’ve checked out the re-discovered rackage in the first three minutes of this video, check out our Blue Velvet page here at MrSkin.com for lots more from star Isabella Rosselini …including her poon velvet.
Movieline caught up with the charismatic William Friedkin last weekend at the Seattle Film Festival, where the Exorcist / French Connection director received a Lifetime Achievement award and screened his brutal Southern-fried potboiler Killer Joe . Before he held court keeping a packed audience rapt with tales from his nearly five-decade career in film (highlights below), Friedkin stopped to discuss two of the topics he’s wrestling with these days: His legal battle to win back the rights to his 1977 pic Sorcerer , and the absurdity of the MPAA, which anointed Killer Joe with an NC-17 rating. Friedkin is active on Twitter , which has allowed film fans unprecedented access to the Oscar-winner and given him the chance to discuss his battle for the rights to Sorcerer , his Roy Scheider-starring remake of The Wages of Fear . “I’m suing Universal and Paramount to get control of Sorcerer ,” he explained to Movieline. “It evidently means a lot to people, and I want people to be able to see it.” As with many older films, rights to Sorcerer lie out of the filmmaker’s hands – and studios, according to Friedkin, are allowing precious 35mm prints to deteriorate right under their own noses. “What’s happened to the legacy of almost all the studios is that the people who run them now don’t care,” he said. “They don’t give a damn. I know the guy from Lincoln Center, he tried to get a print of Blade Runner and Warner Bros. told him they didn’t know who owned it.” Even in the care of studios, library titles threaten to become damaged beyond repair. Friedkin doesn’t want what happened to another ‘70s classic to happen to his film. “Paramount put out a beautiful Blu-ray of The Godfather almost two years ago,” he said. “They went to get it out of their vaults and it had deteriorated, and they had to spend over a million dollars to restore it. It’s probably the gem of their library, and they just let it go. So they don’t care about the legacy of the work that they do. I hope I win my lawsuit, and I’m going to expose what they’re doing nevertheless.” As for his current film, Killer Joe – an assuredly brutal film whose tagline boasts “a totally twisted deep-fried Texas redneck trailer park murder story” – Friedkin has battled an old adversary: The ratings board. “The ratings board, to me, is a joke,” he said. “I never thought we’d get an NC-17, but I don’t mind the fact that we did. I had a film called Cruising that I took back there 50 times, 5-0, before they gave it an R.” Still, Friedkin will gladly accept his NC-17. “If we had done that with Killer Joe , it wouldn’t be here tonight; it would be playing in a shorts festival on YouTube.” NEXT: enjoy a Movieline 9 of highlights, anecdotes, and assorted moments from Friedkin’s appareance at SIFF ’12.
Breaking Sports Video
