All posts tagged: Director

Jim Carrey leads tributes to The Mask director Chuck Russell after his ‘unexpected’ death

Jim Carrey leads tributes to The Mask director Chuck Russell after his ‘unexpected’ death

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jim Carrey has spoken out following the death of The Mask director Chuck Russell, aged 74. Russell died unexpectedly at his home in the San Diego area on Wednesday (22 July), his family told TMZ. The outlet reported that the local fire department had been called to his home amid reports of an unconscious male. His death was confirmed by his attorney to Variety; a cause of death is yet to be disclosed. Carrey played the wacky trickster at the heart of Russell’s hit 1994 film, which also starred Cameron Diaz in her film debut. In a statement given to People magazine, Carrey called it a “privilege to have worked” with Russell, “who during the shooting of The Mask, created an ebullient, childlike atmosphere of wonder and camaraderie on his set”. “The entire cast and crew were touched and inspired by …

Blue Bloods, Once Upon a Time Director Was 65

Blue Bloods, Once Upon a Time Director Was 65

Published by Daniella Wilson

Veteran TV director, writer, producer and showrunner Ralph W. Hemecker has died. He was 65. Hemecker, whose work spanned three decades and included directing 31 episodes of Blue Bloods and 28 episodes of Once Upon a Time, died July 10 at his home in Glendale. He also directed episodes of The X-Files, Millennium, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, V, Legends of Tomorrow, Quantico, Body of Proof, The Flash and Pacific Blue as well as the 2000 TNT TV movie Witchblade, going on to serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the Witchblade TV series across its two-season run from 2001 to 2002. And he directed the pilot for Roar, starring a then little-known Heath Ledger, as well as the pilots for Lawless and Dead at 21. Born on June 12, 1961, Ralph William Hemecker graduated from Bucknell University where he studied English, made short films and developed a passion for visual storytelling. He went on to take filmmaking courses at New York University and began his career in production and post-production. Some …

Inside The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan’s 29-year marriage to famous wife Emma Thomas

Inside The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan’s 29-year marriage to famous wife Emma Thomas

Published by Daniella Wilson

Christopher Nolan has returned to cinemas with his most ambitious spectacle yet – but, as with every feature film he has directed, his wife, Emma Thomas, has been instrumental in bringing it to the screen. The director’s new movie, The Odyssey, is an epic adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek poem, following Odysseus on his perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Shot entirely using IMAX film cameras, it stars Matt Damon in the central role alongside Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron. The British-American filmmaker met Emma while they were both students at University College London, with the pair marrying in 1997. © Deadline via Getty ImagesThe couple at “The Odyssey” New York Premiere Now celebrating almost three decades of marriage, the notoriously private pair have become one of the movie industry’s most enduring and powerful couples – collaborating on projects while largely keeping their home life away from the spotlight. Emma produced Nolan’s early short film Doodlebug and his low-budget debut feature, Following, which was released in 1998. …

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Director Talks Peter Parker’s Emotional Growth

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Director Talks Peter Parker’s Emotional Growth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Last Thursday, I stepped through the doors of an unassuming sushi joint in Midtown Manhattan and found myself in Asian American Avengers HQ. At the far end of the bar, Celine Song and her husband Justin Kuritzkes were catching up with Dìdi director Sean Wang. By a booth across the way, Ronny Chieng held court with Olympic medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani, while Tan France milled about with Pretty Lethal’s Avantika and The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Minnie Mills. Michelle Yeoh swooped in to deliver a few warm hugs and then vanished again so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined her. And then there was the actual Avenger in our midst: Tom Holland, who made time with Zendaya to join their Spider-Man: Brand New Day compadres—castmates Jacob Batalon, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Tramell Tillman, as well as Marvel boss Kevin Feige and powerhouse producer Amy Pascal—at the head table. All of us had gathered to toast Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton, at a dinner hosted by the AAPI non-profit Gold House. Glancing around the …

David Tennant joins Colin Firth in all-new romcom The Joys of Sex from Bridget Jones director

David Tennant joins Colin Firth in all-new romcom The Joys of Sex from Bridget Jones director

Published by Daniella Wilson

David Tennant has joined the cast of love triangle comedy The Joys of Sex. The movie, which will tell the story of how the scandalous sex manual published by Alex Comfort in 1972 came to be written, is being led by Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Julianne Moore (May December), and Laura Linney (Ozark). Tennant, who’s best known for appearing in Doctor Who, will also feature in the cast alongside Jason Watkins (The Crown) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread). The Joys of Sex, which was the first popular book in the English language to explain and celebrate the art of love making, became a huge international bestseller when it was published in 1972. The book broke new ground with its graphic images and focus on mutual fulfilment. The film, which has been written by Sharon Maguire and Lise Mayer, will focus on the love triangle between Comfort (Firth), his wife, Ruth (Linney), and her best friend from university, Jane (Moore), a librarian who became Comfort’s lover, and chart the story of how the sex manual …

FBI Director Patel Returns Looted Cultural Artifacts to Indonesian President Prabowo

FBI Director Patel Returns Looted Cultural Artifacts to Indonesian President Prabowo

Published by Sam Flores

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto received a collection of cultural artifacts from the country’s Papua region that had been illegally taken to the United States, officials said Thursday. The exchange underscored growing cooperation between Indonesia and the U.S. in recovering stolen cultural heritage and returning the items to the country of origin, Indonesia Culture Minister Fadli Zon said. The artifacts from Papua are part of the cultural heritage of the Dani and Asmat tribes and Lake Sentani communities. They were repatriated through cooperation between Indonesia’s Culture Ministry and the FBI after provenance research established the objects had been smuggled out of Indonesia, Zon said. “These are very valuable objects because this repatriation process is part of our effort to restore our cultural sovereignty,” Zon said, adding that the artifacts will be displayed at Indonesia’s National Museum. Images from Indonesia’s Presidential Secretariat show several polished stone ax heads and ceremonial objects traditionally associated with Papuan societies. Traditional Papuan stone axes were more than utilitarian tools. Among highland communities such as the Dani, they …

Pousette-Dart Foundation Announces Search for Next Director

Pousette-Dart Foundation Announces Search for Next Director

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation has announced a bequest of work by the artist from his late widow, Evelyn Pousette-Dart.   The gift will consist of all works by the artist that Evelyn owned at the time of her death in 2025. The foundation characterized the gift as “very substantial” and is still in the process of inventorying the extent of the planned donation, which includes paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs, and notebooks.   “This bequest will enable the Foundation to share our father’s work more broadly, advance public understanding of his important contribution to twentieth-century art, and carry forward his philosophy and commitment to giving back to the arts community,” Joanna Pousette-Dart, the artist’s daughter and foundation board chair, said in a statement.  Related Articles Pousette-Dart was a member of the first generation of Abstract Expressionists and is considered a founding member of the New York School. He was memorably included in the now iconic Life magazine photograph, The Irascibles, which took its name from a letter sent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York protesting its exhibition “American Painting Today—1950.” His paintings and sculptures are known for their use of biomorphic forms, with …

Watch live: NMAH director testifies before House DOGE panel on accusations of rewriting history

Watch live: NMAH director testifies before House DOGE panel on accusations of rewriting history

Published by Sam Flores

Historian Anthea Hartig, who currently serves as the director of the National Museum of American History (NMAH), will testify Tuesday morning before the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on allegations of rewriting history. The hearing comes just weeks after the White House released a 162-page report calling out the NMAH for failing “the… Source link

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off director initially wanted completely different actor in Matthew Broderick role

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off director initially wanted completely different actor in Matthew Broderick role

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter It’s hard to imagine Ferris Bueller’s Day Off without star Matthew Broderick, whose career fully took off after playing the titular teenage slacker – however, it turns out that director John Hughes originally had two other actors in mind for the role. The 1986 comedy, which follows rebellious Ferris as he bunks off school with friends while avoiding his teachers, parents and sister, became one of the highest-grossing films of the year after grossing over $70m (the equivalent of £47.6m at the time). Forty years on, star Alan Ruck – who plays Ferris’s friend Cameron in the film – has revealed that the film could have looked very different, with Hughes initially picturing two actors from The Breakfast Club in the part. “John Hughes originally thought of Anthony Michael Hall or Emilio Estevez for Ferris, but they wanted to move on …

FIFA World Cup Halftime Director on Creating First Show

FIFA World Cup Halftime Director on Creating First Show

Published by Daniella Wilson

Hamish Hamilton has directed over a dozen Super Bowls, the opening ceremony to the 2012 Summer Olympics, six Emmy Awards ceremonies, four Oscars and three Grammy nights, among many more marquee events. None of those, he says, were quite as challenging as the first-ever FIFA World Cup Finals Halftime Show he directed on Sunday. “A lot of that is because it was the first,” Hamilton, co-founder of the production company Done + Dusted, tells The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom from his New Jersey hotel room the morning after the World Cup, calling the show “challenging beyond challenging.” “Along with the Olympics, this was right up there,” he says. “I’m sure the first Super Bowl Halftime show was incredibly difficult, but when I came in they’d already done over 40 of them. By the time you get to Super Bowl 47, the NFL’s got everything super well drilled. But in this kind of scenario, there are so many unanswered questions. There’s all the people who haven’t done it before, a huge amount of nervousness, we’re doing …