Curtis Hanson, who shared an Adapted Screenplay Oscar for L.A. Confidential and also helmed such films as Eminem-starrer 8 Mile, Wonder Boys, The River Wild, In Her Shoes and HBO’s Too Big To Fail, died in his sleep Tuesday of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 71.
In 2011, Hanson took his directing talents to the small screen for Too Big to Fail, HBO’s telepic about how Washington and Wall Street flailed during the late-2000s financial crisis. The pic, which included William Hurt among its large ensemble, scored 11 Emmy noms, including two for Hanson as director and producer, but came away empty-handed.
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Billy Crudup (R) performs onstage at the Labyrinth Theater Company’s Celebrity Charades Gala 2016 at Capitale on September 19, 2016 in New York City. View // here
Natalie Portman is wondrously good as Jackie Kennedy, says David Sexton. Read More: // here
Fox Searchlight Pictures has snapped up US rights to Pablo Larrain’s well-received Venice and Toronto drama-biopic Jackie, starring Natalie Portman as former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The distributor has set a December 9 date for the in-demand title, which won Best Screenplay on the Lido and garnered raves for Portman. Read More: // here
Writer and director Mike Mills will present his film “20th Century Women,” on Oct. 9. The film, which stars Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup, tells the story of three women who explore love and freedom in Southern California during the late 1970s. The 24th annual Hamptons Intl. Film Festival will runs Oct. 6-10 in East Hampton, N.Y. Individual tickets for the festival go on sale Sept. 26 and can be purchased through hamptonsfilmfest.org. Read More: // here
Next week, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Broadway’s Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
LET ME TRY THAT AGAIN: TAKE 4, SEPTEMBER 16 AT 9:30PM:
In the fourth annual benefit for The Performing Arts Project, Susan Blackwell ([title of show], “Side By Side by Susan Blackwell”) and Rory O’Malley (Hamilton, Book of Mormon) host an evening of fabulous performers sharing their most embarrassing moments onstage, and then redeeming themselves by recreating that moment. At the end of the evening, the audience will vote on the star performer who most redeemed themselves through their efforts that night.
This year’s contestants include Broadway performers Nick Blaemire, Alex Brightman, Billy Crudup, Lesli Margherita, and Ruthie Ann Miles, among others to be announced.
The Performing Arts Project is a not-for-profit organization that provides vibrant theatrical training to a generation of young performers. The Performing Arts Project offers dynamic and constantly evolving annual programming, the cornerstone of which is their summer intensive during the month of July. Funds raised during this benefit will go directly towards scholarships and student programming costs. $50-55 cover charge. $80 VIP seating. $95 premium seating. $25 food and beverage minimum. Read More: // here
Does John Wesley Shipp approve Billy Crudup’s casting as Henry Allen in “The Flash” movie? In response to a fan tweet — saying that Crudup has “big shoes to fill” given Shipp’s amazing portrayal of the same role on The CW’s “The Flash” — Shipp commended Crudup as an actor and said that he thinks the “Almost Famous” star would do great as Barry Allen’s dad in the DC Comics film. “Billy Crudup is AWESOME actor. Love this choice,” Shipp, 61, wrote. “Can’t wait to see their take on it.” Read More: // here
There is a broad, prestige Oscar-bait biopic that “Jackie, Starring Natalie Portman As Tragically Bereaved First Lady Jackie Kennedy!” implies. It has a central performance that will be declared “towering,” and a lot of pathos-laden scenes in which a woman in a bloodstained pink Chanel suit looks small and helpless, swamped in a sea of dark-clad Secret Service men; in which a beautiful First Lady looks prophetically sad in an evening gown at a state function. “Jackie” is not that movie. It may be a portrait of a very famous American, starring a very famous Oscar-winning actress and it may be in English (the Chilean director’s first such), but “Jackie” is a Pablo Larraín film. Let’s all thank our lucky stars. Read More: // here
Not so much a biopic as an essay on history and what happens to people who become part of it, Pablo Larraín’s Jackie is an elegant, highly intelligent attempt to humanise a legend – while showing its subject’s acute awareness of what it means to become a legend. Natalie Portman excels in her most demanding and most complex performance to date as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, shown living through the immediate aftermath of her husband’s assassination in 1963. Jackie is interviewed at home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, shortly after the assassination, by a serious and generally tactful reporter (a fine Billy Crudup), who nevertheless wants the facts of the Dallas shooting from her point of view. Read More: // here
Pablo Larrain has been a constant source of cinematic pleasure from the entertaining Tony Manero via the more intense Post Mortem to his recent oneiric Neruda. Jackie is Larrain’s first foray into English-language film and his first attempt to tackle non-Chilean political issues. The result is supremely accomplished and fascinating. Read More: // here
