1.
Austin, Texas
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Austin is the capital of the U. S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. It is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. and it is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. As of the U. S. Census Bureaus July 1,2015 estimate and it is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1,2016. In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River, in 1839, the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republics first secretary of state. The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including Amazon. com, cisco, eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market. Dells worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin, residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to an influx of technology. In the late 1800s, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown because of the glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name, Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U. S. for the year 2012, U. S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U. S. in 2017. Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of habitation since at least 9200 BC. When settlers arrived from Europe, the Tonkawa tribe inhabited the area, the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, in 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in area for only about seven months
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Screenwriter
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One famous screenwriter is Jack Rosenthal, who has written for various TV shows over the years, including Londons Burning and Coronation Street. No education is required to become a screenwriter, just good storytelling abilities. Screenwriters are not hired employees, they are contracted freelancers, most, if not all, screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation, meaning they write without being hired or paid for it. If such a script is sold, it is called a spec script, what separates a professional screenwriter from an amateur screenwriter is that professional screenwriters are usually represented by a talent agency. Also, professional screenwriters do not often work for free, whereas amateur screenwriters will often work for free and are considered writers in training, spec scripts are usually penned by unknown professional screenwriters and amateur screenwriters. There are a legion of would-be screenwriters who attempt to enter the industry but it often takes years of trial-and-error, failure. In Writing Screenplays that Sell, Michael Hague writes Screenplays have become, for the last half of century, closet writers who used to dream of the glory of getting into print now dream of seeing their story on the big or small screen. Every screenplay and teleplay begins with a thought or idea, and screenwriters use those ideas to write scripts, with the intention of selling them and having them produced. In some cases, the script is based on a property, such as a book or persons life story. The majority of the time, a film project gets initiated by a screenwriter and because they initiated the project and these are referred to as exclusive assignments or pitched assignments. Screenwriters who often pitch new projects, whether original or an adaptation, when word is put out about a project a film studio, production company, or producer wants done, these are referred to as open assignments. In situations where screenwriters are competing for an assignment, more established writers will usually win these assignments. A screenwriter can also be approached and personally offered a writing assignment, many screenwriters also work as full or part-time script doctors, attempting to better a script to suit the desires of a director or studio. For instance, studio management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak, script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers. David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others. In fact, some writers make very profitable careers out of being the ninth or tenth writer to work on a piece, in many cases, working on projects that never see exposure to an audience of any size. Many up and coming screenwriters also ghost write projects and allow more established screenwriters to take credit for the project to increase the chances of it getting picked up. After a screenwriter finishes a project, he or she pairs with a representative, such as a producer, director, literary agent, entertainment lawyer
3.
Filmmaking
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Filmmaking is the process of making a film. Filmmaking takes place in places around the world in a range of economic, social, and political contexts. Typically, it involves a number of people, and can take from a few months to several years to complete. Film production consists of five stages, Development, The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc. Financing for the project has to be sought and greenlit, pre-production, Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built. Production, The raw elements for the film are recorded during the film shoot, post-production, The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited. Distribution, The finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas and released to home video. In this stage, the project producer selects a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, true story, video game, comic book, graphic novel, or an original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce an outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood and this usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced, next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, however, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script coverage. A film distributor may be contacted at a stage to assess the likely market. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible audience, not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, so film companies take DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights into account. The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch, or treatment and they will also pitch the film to actors and directors in order to attach them to the project. Many projects fail to move beyond this stage and enter so-called development hell, if a pitch succeeds, a film receives a green light, meaning someone offers financial backing, typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a deal and sign contracts, once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-production period
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Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
5.
Ron Howard
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Ronald William Ron Howard is an American actor and filmmaker. Howard is best known for playing two roles in television sitcoms in his youth and directing a number of successful feature films later in his career. Howard first came to prominence playing young Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, in 1980, Howard left Happy Days to focus on directing. His films include, the science-fiction/fantasy film Cocoon, the historical docudrama Apollo 13, the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind, in 2002, Howard narrated the Fox comedy series, Arrested Development, on which he would also serve as producer and play a semi-fictionalized version of himself. In 2003, Howard was awarded the National Medal of Arts, asteroid 12561 Howard is named after him. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2013, Howard has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions in the television and motion pictures industries. Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Jean Speegle Howard, an actress, and Rance Howard, a director, a writer. He has German, English, Scottish, Irish, and Dutch ancestry and his father was born with the surname Beckenholdt, and had taken the stage name Howard by 1948, for his acting career. Rance Howard was serving three years in the United States Air Force at the time of Rons birth, the family moved to Hollywood in 1958, the year before the birth of his younger brother, Clint Howard. They rented a house on the south of the Desilu Studios. They lived in Hollywood for at least three years, before moving to Burbank, Howard was tutored at Desilu Studios in his younger years, and graduated from John Burroughs High School. He later attended the University of Southern Californias School of Cinematic Arts, Howard has said he knew from a young age he might want to go into directing thanks to his early experience as an actor. In 1959, Howard had his first credited role, in The Journey. Howard played Timmy in Counterfeit Gun, Season 4, Episode 2 of the TV series, in 1960, Howard was cast as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show. Credited as Ronny Howard, he portrayed the son of the character for all eight seasons of the show. He and Griffith remained close until Griffiths death nearly 45 years later, in the 1962 film version of The Music Man, Howard played Winthrop Paroo, the child with the lisp, the film starred Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. He also starred in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddies Father and he appeared as Barry Stewart on The Eleventh Hour, in the episode Is Mr. Martian Coming Back. In the 1970s, he appeared in at least one episode of The Bold Ones, Howard appeared on the 1969 Disneyland Records album The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion
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Owen Wilson
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Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor, producer and screenwriter. His older brother Andrew and younger brother Luke are also actors and he starred with Ben Stiller in numerous films, and is known for his roles in Frat Pack comedies. Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas to photographer Laura Wilson and Robert Andrew Wilson and his parents, originally from Massachusetts, are of Irish descent. Wilson attended New Mexico Military Institute and the University of Texas at Austin, Wilson then landed a role in The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. Wilson starred in the 2000 comedy action film Shanghai Noon, with Jackie Chan, the film grossed nearly US$100 million worldwide. His fame continued to rise after starring alongside Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell in the 2001 film Zoolander, gene Hackman reportedly took notice of Wilsons performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended the actor to co-star in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines. Also in 2001, Wilson and Anderson collaborated on their film, The Royal Tenenbaums. The film earned the team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Wilson returned to the genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy. This big-screen remake of the series did not perform well at the box office. He made a appearance in the Girl Skateboards video Yeah Right. He then reunited with Jackie Chan to make Shanghai Knights, due to his busy schedule as an actor and an ongoing sinus condition, Wilson was unavailable to collaborate on the script for Wes Andersons fourth feature film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach, however, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murrays would-be son, Ned Plimpton, a role written specifically for Wilson. In 2004, he and his brother, Luke played the Wright brothers in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days, Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 comedy film Wedding Crashers, which grossed over US$200M in the U. S. alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew. In the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, Wilson voiced Lightning McQueen, starred in You, Me and Dupree with Kate Hudson, Wilson next starred in the Judd Apatow comedy, Drillbit Taylor, released in March 2008. He appeared in an adaptation of John Grogans best-selling memoir, Marley & Me. He also starred in The Darjeeling Limited with Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman and he provided the voice for the Whackbat Coach Skip in Wes Andersons Fantastic Mr. Fox
7.
Wes Anderson
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Wesley Wales Wes Anderson is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, and actor. His films are known for their visual and narrative style. He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014 and he also received the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2015. His films are produced under his American Empirical Pictures banner, Anderson is regarded by many as a modern-day example of the auteur. Wesley Wales Anderson was born on May 1,1969, in Houston, Texas, the son of Texas Ann, a realtor and archaeologist, and Melver Leonard Anderson and he is the second of three boys, his parents divorced when he was eight. His elder brother, Mel, is a physician, and his brother, Eric Chase Anderson, is a writer and artist whose paintings. Anderson is of Swedish and Norwegian ancestry and he graduated from St. Johns School in Houston in 1987, which he later used as a prominent location throughout Rushmore. As a child, Anderson made silent films on his fathers Super 8 camera, starring his brothers and friends, Anderson attended college while working part-time as a cinema projectionist. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in philosophy in 1990, Andersons first film was Bottle Rocket, based on a short film that he made with Luke and Owen Wilson. It was a crime caper about a group of young Texans aspiring to achieve major heists and it was well reviewed but performed poorly at the box office. Andersons next film was Rushmore, a comedy about a high school students crush on an elementary school teacher starring Bill Murray. Murray has since appeared in every Anderson film to date, in 2000, filmmaker Martin Scorsese praised Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. The Royal Tenenbaums was Andersons next comedy-drama film, about a successful artistic New York City family and it represented his greatest success until Moonrise Kingdom in 2012, earning more than $50 million in domestic box office receipts. The Royal Tenenbaums was nominated for an Academy Award and ranked by an Empire poll as the 159th greatest film ever made, Andersons next feature was The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou about a Jacques Cousteau-esque documentary filmmaker played by Bill Murray. It serves as a example of Andersons style, but its critical reception was less favorable than his previous films. They offered Anderson their soundtrack services for his The Darjeeling Limited, the Darjeeling Limited was about three emotionally distant brothers traveling together on a train in India. It reflected the dramatic tone of The Royal Tenenbaums but faced criticisms similar to The Life Aquatic. Anderson has acknowledged that he went to India to film the 2007 movie, the film starred Anderson staples Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson in addition to Adrien Brody, and the script was co-written by Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola
8.
Robert Duvall
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Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and has multiple nominations and one win each of the BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Award and he received the National Medal of Arts in 2005. Duvall began appearing in theatre during the late 1950s, moving into television and film roles during the early 1960s, playing Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird and appearing in Captain Newman and this was followed by a series of critically lauded performances in commercially successful films. Duvall was born January 5,1931, in San Diego, California, the son of Mildred Virginia, an actress, and William Howard Duvall. He has English, and smaller amounts of Belgian, French Huguenot, German, Scottish, Swiss-German, and Welsh ancestry. His mother was a relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, Duvall was raised in the Christian Science religion and has stated that, while it is his belief, he does not attend church. He grew up primarily in Annapolis, Maryland, site of the United States Naval Academy and he recalled, I was a Navy brat. My father started at the Academy when he was 16, made captain at 39 and he attended Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland, and The Principia in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated, in 1953, from Principia College in Elsah, Duvall served in the United States Army for a brief period shortly after the Korean War leaving the Army as private first class. Thats led to confusion in the press, he explained in 1984. Hell, I barely qualified with the M-1 rifle in basic training, while stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia, Duvall acted in an amateur production of the comedy Room Service in nearby Augusta, Georgia. In the winter of 1955, Duvall began studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City, under Sanford Meisner and he was there for two years. Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and James Caan were among his classmates and he was there in 1957 attending Meisners classes. While studying acting, he worked as a Manhattan post office clerk, Duvall remains friends today with fellow California-born actors Hoffman and Hackman, who he knew during their years as struggling actors. In 1955, Duvall roomed with Hoffman in a New York City apartment while they were studying together at the Playhouse. Around this time, he roomed with Hackman, while working odd jobs such as clerking at Macys, sorting mail at the post office. The three roommates have since earned, among themselves,19 Academy Award nominations, with five wins, Duvall began his professional acting career with the Gateway Playhouse, an Equity summer theatre based in Bellport, Long Island, New York. Arguably his stage debut was in its 1952 season when he played the Pilot in Laughter In The Stars, after a years absence when he was with the U. S
9.
Buck Henry
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Henry Zuckerman, credited as Buck Henry, is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director. He has been nominated for an Academy Award twice, in 1968 for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Graduate, Henry attended The Choate School and Dartmouth College, where he met Bob Rafelson, and also worked on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine. Henrys dry humor attracted attention in the entertainment community and he became a cast member on TV programs such as The New Steve Allen Show and That Was The Week That Was. He was a co-creator and writer for Get Smart, with Mel Brooks and he also played Dr. Victor Rudman, a fractile scientist who dated Murphy, on the My Dinner With Einstein episode of Murphy Brown. He appeared on the television show Will and Grace in 2005, in 2007, he made two guest appearances on The Daily Show as a contributor, billed as the shows Senior Senior Correspondent. He has also appeared as Liz Lemons father, Dick Lemon, in the 30 Rock episodes Ludachristmas, in 2011, he appeared in a multi-episode arc of Hot in Cleveland as Elkas groom. Henry hosted NBCs Saturday Night Live 10 times between 1976 and 1980 and it became a tradition in those years for him to host the final show of each season. Henry also hosted the live remote attempted by SNL, broadcast live from Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Henrys frequent host record would be broken when Steve Martin hosted the 14th season finale in 1989, during the October 30,1976 episode, Buck Henry was injured in the forehead by John Belushis katana in the samurai sketch. Henrys head began to bleed and he was forced to wear a bandage on his forehead for the rest of the show. As a gag, the members of the SNL cast each wore a bandage on their foreheads as well, uncle Roy, a single, pedophilic babysitter who disguises his attempts at molesting the children hes watching as games. He co-directed Heaven Can Wait, the 1978 remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan and his many writing credits include Candy, The Owl and the Pussycat, Whats Up, Doc. Catch-22, The Day of the Dolphin, Protocol, and To Die For and he shared an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, The Graduate, a film in which he made a cameo appearance. In 1997, Henry was the recipient of the Austin Film Festivals Distinguished Screenwriter Award and his Broadway credits include the 2002 revival of Mornings at Seven. Off-Broadway in July 2009, he starred opposite Holland Taylor in Mother, the Troublemaker The Graduate Candy Catch-22 The Owl and the Pussycat Is There Sex After Death
10.
Dennis Hopper
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Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and artist. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, in the next ten years he made a name in television, and by the end of the 1960s had appeared in several films. Hopper also began a prolific and acclaimed photography career in the 1960s, Hopper made his directorial film debut with Easy Rider, which he and co-star Peter Fonda wrote with Terry Southern. The film earned Hopper a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best First Work, Film critic Matthew Hays notes that, no other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper. Hopper was unable to capitalize on his Easy Rider success for several years, in 1970 he filmed The Last Movie, cowritten by Stewart Stern and photographed by Laszlo Kovacs in Peru, and completed production in 1971. On viewing the first release print, fresh from the lab, in his room at Universal, MCA founder Jules Stein rose from his chair and said. He worked on small projects until he found new fame for his role as the American photojournalist in Apocalypse Now. He went on to helm his second directorial work Out of the Blue, for which he was honored at Cannes. His third directorial outing came about through Colors, followed by an Emmy-nominated lead performance in Paris Trout, Hopper found even greater fame for portraying the villains of the films Super Mario Bros. Hoppers later work included a role in the short-lived television series Crash. Hopper has an additional credit in the completed, but unreleased Orson Welles drama The Other Side of the Wind. Hopper was born Dennis Lee Hopper on May 17,1936, in Dodge City, Kansas, Hopper had two brothers, Marvin and David. After World War II, the moved to Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 13, Hopper and his moved to San Diego. Hopper was voted most likely to succeed at Helix High School and it was there that he developed an interest in acting, studying at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and the Actors Studio in New York City. Hopper struck up a friendship with actor Vincent Price, whose passion for art influenced Hoppers interest in art and he was especially fond of the plays of William Shakespeare. Hopper was reported to have a role in Johnny Guitar in 1954. Hopper made his debut on film in two roles with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant
11.
Robert Altman
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Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in American cinema and his style of filmmaking was unique among directors, in that his subjects covered most genres, but with a subversive twist that typically relies on satire and humor to express his personal vision. Altman developed a reputation for being anti-Hollywood and non-conformist in both his themes and directing style, however, actors especially enjoyed working under his direction because he encouraged them to improvise, thereby inspiring their own creativity. He preferred large ensemble casts for his films, and developed a recording technique which produced overlapping dialogue from multiple actors. This produced a natural, more dynamic, and more complex experience for the viewer. He also used highly mobile camera work and zoom lenses to enhance the activity taking place on the screen, critic Pauline Kael, writing about his directing style, said that Altman could make film fireworks out of next to nothing. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Altmans body of work with an Academy Honorary Award and he never won a competitive Oscar despite five nominations. His films MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Nashville have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Altman is one of the few filmmakers whose films have won the Golden Bear at Berlin, the Golden Lion at Venice, and the Golden Palm at Cannes. Altmans ancestry was German, English and Irish, his grandfather, Frank Altman. Altman had a Catholic upbringing, but he did not continue to follow or practice the religion as an adult, although he has referred to as a sort of Catholic. He was educated at Jesuit schools, including Rockhurst High School and he graduated from Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri in 1943. In 1943 Altman joined the United States Army Air Forces at the age of 18, during World War II, Altman flew more than 50 bombing missions as a crewman on a B-24 Liberator with the 307th Bomb Group in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. Upon his discharge in 1946, Altman moved to California and he worked in publicity for a company that had invented a tattooing machine to identify dogs. He entered filmmaking on a whim, selling a script to RKO for the 1948 picture Bodyguard, Altmans immediate success encouraged him to move to New York City, where he attempted to forge a career as a writer. Having enjoyed little success, in 1949 he returned to Kansas City, in February 2012, an early Calvin film directed by Altman, Modern Football, was found by filmmaker Gary Huggins. Altman directed some 65 industrial films and documentaries before being hired by a businessman in 1956 to write. The film, titled The Delinquents, made for $60,000, was purchased by United Artists for $150,000, while primitive, this teen exploitation film contained the foundations of Altmans later work in its use of casual, naturalistic dialogue
12.
David Chase
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David Chase is an American writer, director and television producer. Chase has worked in television for 40 years, he has produced and written for such shows as The Rockford Files, Ill Fly Away and he has created two original series, the first, Almost Grown, aired for 10 episodes in 1988 and 1989. Chase is best known for his original series, the influential and critically acclaimed HBO drama The Sopranos. A prominent figure in American television, Chase has won seven Emmy Awards, Chase was born into a working class Italian American family in Mount Vernon, New York. An only child, Chase grew up in a garden apartment in Clifton, New Jersey. Chase has stated that as a child he had problems with his parents. He grew up watching matinée crime films and was known as a creative storyteller during his childhood. One of his characters on the HBO original series The Sopranos, Chase struggled with panic attacks and severe depression as a teenager, something he still deals with today. He graduated from school in 1964 and attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I slept 18 hours a day, Chase later stated and he described his problems as whats come to be known as normal, nagging, clinical depression. He also worked as a drummer during this period, and held aspirations of being a professional musician, after two years, he transferred to New York University, where he chose to pursue a career in film, a decision that was not well received by his parents. He went on to attend Stanford Universitys School of Film and he also worked as a writer of nineteen episodes while on The Rockford Files—a show which he worked on in various capacities for more than four years. He won several Emmy awards, including one for a movie, Off the Minnesota Strip. After The Rockford Files run ended the year, Chase worked in numerous television jobs until he wound up in charge of Northern Exposure in 1993. Chase worked in relative anonymity before The Sopranos debuted, in a recent interview, Chase stated that he experienced frustration for a long period with being unable to break out of the TV genre and into film over this time. In 2000, he was the recipient of the Austin Film Festivals Outstanding Television Writer Award, in 2005, Chase received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his entire body of work. His first original created series was Almost Grown in 1988, with Eve Gordon, although the one-hour series was well received by critics, only 10 episodes aired from November 1988 to February 1989. He also directed the episode and the series finale
13.
James Franco
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James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker known for his work in both comedic and dramatic films and TV shows. For his role in 127 Hours, Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and he also portrayed the title character in the TV biographical film James Dean, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He had recurring roles on the soap opera General Hospital and sitcom Angie Tribeca and he will star in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce in 2017. Franco volunteers for the Art of Elysium charity, and has taught film classes at New York University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Studio 4. Franco was born in Palo Alto, California and his mother, Betsy Lou, is a writer and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene Doug Franco, ran a Silicon Valley business. The two met as students at Stanford University, Francos father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Francos mother is Jewish, from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry and his maternal grandfather, Daniel, had changed the family surname from Verovitz to Verne some time after 1940. Francos paternal grandmother, Marjorie Franco, is an author of young adult books. Francos maternal grandmother, Mitzie Verne, owned the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Francos family upbringing was academic, liberal, and largely secular. He grew up in California with his two brothers, Tom and Dave, a math whiz, Franco interned at Lockheed Martin. He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theatre, in his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to his becoming a ward of the state. Facing the possibility of juvenile hall, Franco was given a chance by the judge. I was uncomfortable in my own skin, I changed my ways just in time to get good grades, he recalled of his troubles with the law. Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always wanted to become an actor. Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West, around this time, Franco took up a late-night job at McDonalds to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian until working there, while working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial
14.
Johnny Depp
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John Christopher Johnny Depp II is an American actor, producer, and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor and he rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol. He has collaborated on nine films with director, producer, Depp is regarded as one of the worlds biggest film stars. Films featuring Depp have grossed over $3.2 billion at the United States box office, Depp has been nominated for major acting awards, including three nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor. He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness World Records as the highest paid actor, Depp was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2015. Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer, a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, Depp is of mostly English ancestry, with some ancestors from elsewhere in Europe. He is descended from a French Huguenot immigrant, Pierre Deppe or Dieppe, Depp is a 20th cousin of Elizabeth II. Depp moved frequently during his childhood and he and his siblings lived in more than 20 different places, eventually settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970. Depps parents divorced in 1978 when he was 15 and his mother married Robert Palmer, whom Depp has called an inspiration to me. With the gift of a guitar from his mother when he was 12, a year after his parents divorce, he dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. He attempted to go back to two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success, the Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to Six Gun Method, but the group split up before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote their song Mary, on December 20,1983, Depp married Lori Anne Allison, the sister of his bands bass player and singer. During their marriage she worked as a makeup artist while he worked a variety of odd jobs and his wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to pursue an acting career. Depp and his wife divorced in 1985, Depps first film role was in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which he played the boyfriend of heroine Nancy Thompson and one of Freddy Kruegers victims. After a starring role in the comedy Private Resort, Depp was cast in the role of the skating drama Thrashin by the films director. Instead, Depp appeared in a supporting role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stones Vietnam War drama Platoon. He accepted this role to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him, despite his success, Depp felt that the series forced into the role of product
15.
John Landis
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John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his films, his horror films. He directed National Lampoons Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, Michael Jacksons music video Thriller, The Blues Brothers, and Beverly Hills Cop III. Landis was born into a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Shirley Levine and Marshall Landis, Landis and his parents relocated to Los Angeles when he was four months old. Though spending his childhood in California, Landis still refers to Chicago as his hometown, and is a big fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. When Landis was a boy, he watched The 7th Voyage of Sinbad which inspired him to become a director, I had complete suspension of disbelief—really, I was eight years old. I was on that beach running from that dragon, fighting that Cyclops and it just really dazzled me, and I bought it completely. And so, I actually sat through it twice and when I got home, I asked my mom, Landis began his film career working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox. He worked as a go-fer and then as an assistant director during filming MGMs Kellys Heroes in Yugoslavia in 1969, he replaced the original assistant director. During that time Landis became acquainted with actors Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland, following Kellys Heroes, Landis worked on several films that were shot in Europe, including Once Upon a Time in the West, El Condor and A Town Called Bastard. Landis also worked as a stunt double, Landis made his feature debut in 1971 as a director in the US with Schlock. The film, which he wrote and appeared in, is a tribute to monster movies. The gorilla suit for the film was made by Rick Baker—the beginning of a collaboration between Landis and Baker. Schlock was a failure, and Landis was not offered another directing job for some time, in 1977, Landis directed Kentucky Fried Movie. The film was inspired by the sketch comedy of shows like Monty Python, Free the Army, The National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1978 Landis directed his first film for Universal Studios, National Lampoons Animal House, in 1980 he co-wrote and directed The Blues Brothers, a comedy starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. It featured musical numbers by R&B and soul legends James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and it was, at the time, one of the most expensive films ever made, costing almost $30 million. It is speculated that Spielberg and Landis engaged in a rivalry, the rivalry might have been a friendly one, as Spielberg makes a cameo appearance in Blues Brothers and Landis had made a cameo in 1941 as a messenger
16.
Garry Shandling
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Garry Emmanuel Shandling was an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer, best known for his work in Its Garry Shandlings Show and The Larry Sanders Show. Shandling began his writing for sitcoms, such as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back. He made a successful performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Shandling was for a time considered the contender to replace Carson. In 1986, he created Its Garry Shandlings Show for Showtime and it was nominated for four Emmy Awards and lasted until 1990. His second show titled The Larry Sanders Show, which began airing on HBO in 1992, was more successful. In film, he had a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2 and Captain America. He also lent his voice to Verne in DreamWorks Animations Over the Hedge, during his three-decade career, Shandling was nominated for nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, along with many other awards and nominations. He served as host of the Grammy Awards four times and as host of the Emmy Awards two times, Shandling was born Garry Emmanuel Shandling on November 29,1949 in Chicago, Illinois to a Jewish family. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, one of two sons of Irving Shandling, a print shop owner, and Muriel Estelle, a pet store proprietor, the family moved to Tucson so that Garrys older brother Barry could receive treatment for cystic fibrosis. Barry died when Garry was 10, Shandling attended Palo Verde High School. In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles and he worked at an advertising agency for a time, and then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. In addition to Sanford and Son, Shandling wrote scripts for the sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter, in 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that left him in critical condition for two days and hospitalized for 2 weeks with a crushed spleen. The accident inspired him to pursue a career in comedy, Shandling became a stand-up comedian because he was frustrated by situation comedys formulaic writing. In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and this was the same time Jerry Seinfeld began performing at The Comedy Store, where the two developed a legendary friendship. In fact, their careers paralleled one another as time moved on, according to William Knoedelseder, Shandling was the scion of a family with … decidedly antiunion views. He had not shared the struggling comic experience and he was a successful sitcom writer trying to break into stand-up, and prior to the strike, Shore had refused to put him in the regular lineup because she didnt think he was good enough. Of course, that changed the minute he crossed the picket line and his persona was an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man on the verge of losing control
17.
Bryan Singer
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Bryan Jay Singer is an American film director, film producer, writer, and actor. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and he has produced or co-produced almost all of the films he has directed and he wrote and directed his first film in 1988 after graduating from university. His next film, Public Access, was a co-winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, in the mid-1990s, Singer received critical acclaim for directing the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects, which starred Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro and Kevin Spacey. He followed this with another thriller, Apt Pupil, about a boys fascination with a Nazi war criminal. In the 2000s, he known for big budget superhero films such as X-Men, for which Singer won the 2000 Saturn Award for Best Direction, its sequel X2. He has also directed and produced shows, including two episodes of House in 2004. Singer was born in New York City, and was adopted by Grace Sinden, an environmental activist, and Norbert Dave Singer and he grew up in a Jewish household in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, graduating in 1984, for college, Singer studied filmmaking for two years at New Yorks School of Visual Arts and later transferred to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. Actors Lori and Marc Singer are his cousins, after a screening of Lions Den, Singer was approached by someone who knew of a Japanese company that funded low-budget films. Ottman again served as editor but this time composed the score for the film. At the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, the film was named as co-winner of the Grand Jury Prize. In early 2001, Singer was planning to direct Confessions of a Dangerous Mind with Johnny Depp in the lead role, financial troubles delayed production and Singer moved on. The film was directed by George Clooney for Miramax Films with Sam Rockwell in the lead role. Singer has said that he was impressed by Clooneys debut as a director. In late 2001, Singer was planning to help DeSanto produce a new Battlestar Galactica television series for Studios USA, Singer was scheduled to direct the mini-series which would have served as a backdoor pilot for a potential series. Speaking to Variety in February 2001, Singer said he was confident that the Galactica brand is a sleeping giant and it was a show I watched during its initial run, from the pilot to the final episode. The essence and the name is quite potent in a climate where theres a great deficit of sci-fi programming. Despite his enthusiasm, production delays caused by the September 11,2001 attacks meant Singer had to drop out due to his commitment to direct a sequel of X-Men
18.
Oliver Stone
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William Oliver Stone is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of Midnight Express and he also wrote the acclaimed gangster movie Scarface. As a director, Stone achieved prominence as director/writer of the war drama Platoon, for which Stone won the Academy Award for Best Director, Platoon was the first in a trilogy of films based on the Vietnam War, in which Stone served as an infantry soldier. He continued the series with Born on the Fourth of July —for which Stone won his second Best Director Oscar—and Heaven & Earth. Many of Stones films focus on controversial American political issues during the late 20th century and they often combine different camera and film formats within a single scene, as evidenced in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon. Stone was born September 15,1946, in New York City, the son of Jacqueline and Louis Stone and he grew up in Manhattan and Stamford, Connecticut. His parents met during World War II, when his father was fighting as a part of the Allied force in France and his American-born father was a non-practicing Jew, and his French-born mother was a non-practicing Roman Catholic. Stone was raised in the Episcopal Church, and now practices Buddhism, Stone attended Trinity School in New York City before his parents sent him away to The Hill School, a college-preparatory school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His parents were divorced abruptly while he was away at school, Stones mother was often absent and his father made a big impact on his life, father-son relationships were to feature heavily in Stones films. He often spent parts of his vacations with his maternal grandparents in France. Stone also worked at 17 in the Paris mercantile exchange in sugar, Stone graduated from The Hill School in 1964. Stone was admitted into Yale University, but left in June 1965 at age 18 to teach school students English for six months in Saigon at the Free Pacific Institute in South Vietnam. Afterwards, he worked as a wiper on a United States Merchant Marine ship in 1966 and he returned to Yale, where he dropped out a second time. In April 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army, from September 16,1967 to April 1968, he served in Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division and was twice wounded in action. He was then transferred to the First Cavalry Division participating in long range patrols before being transferred again to drive for an infantry unit of the division until November 1968. Stone graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film in 1971, Stone made a short, well received 12-minute film Last Year in Viet Nam. In 1979, Stone won his first Academy Award, after adapting true-life prison story Midnight Express into a hit film for British director Alan Parker. Stones screenplay for Midnight Express was criticized by some for its inaccuracies in portraying the events described in the book, the original author, Billy Hayes, around whom the film is set, spoke out against the film, protesting that he had many Turkish friends while in jail
19.
James L. Brooks
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James Lawrence Jim Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life, after dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the CBS News broadcasts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to work on David L. Wolpers documentaries, after being laid off he met producer Allan Burns who secured him a job as a writer on the series My Mother the Car. Brooks wrote for several shows before being hired as an editor on My Friend Tony. Grant Tinker hired Brooks and Burns at MTM Productions to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970, the show, one of the first to feature an independent working woman as its lead character, was critically acclaimed and won Brooks several Primetime Emmy Awards. Brooks and Burns then created two successful spin-offs from Mary Tyler Moore in the shape of Rhoda and Lou Grant, Brooks left MTM Productions in 1978 to co-create the sitcom Taxi which, despite winning multiple Emmys, suffered from low ratings and was canceled twice. Brooks moved into film work when he wrote and co-produced the 1979 film Starting Over. His next project was the acclaimed film Terms of Endearment. Basing his next film, Broadcast News, on his journalistic experiences, although his 1994 work Ill Do Anything was hampered by negative press attention due to the cutting of all of its recorded musical numbers, As Good as It Gets earned further praise. It was seven years until his film, 2004s Spanglish. His sixth film, How Do You Know, was released in 2010, Brooks also produced and mentored Cameron Crowe on Say Anything. And Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket, in 1984, Brooks founded the television and film company, Gracie Films. Although he did not intend to do so, Brooks returned to television in 1987 as the producer of The Tracey Ullman Show and he hired cartoonist Matt Groening to create a series of shorts for the show, which eventually led to The Simpsons in 1989. The Simpsons won numerous awards and is still running, Brooks also co-produced and co-wrote the 2007 film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie. In total, Brooks has received 47 Emmy nominations, winning 20 of them, Brooks was born James Lawrence Brooks on May 9,1940 in Brooklyn, New York, United States, and raised in North Bergen, New Jersey. His parents, Dorothy Helen and Edward M. Brooks, were both salespeople, the Brooks family was Jewish, Edward Brooks changed his surname from Bernstein and claimed to be Irish. Brooks father abandoned his mother when he found out she was pregnant with him, during the pregnancy, Brooks father sent his wife a postcard stating that If its a boy, name him Jim. His mother died when he was 22 and he has an older sister, Diane, who helped look after him as a child and to whom he dedicated As Good As It Gets
20.
Harold Ramis
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Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, director, writer, and comedian. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II and Russell Ziskey in Stripes, as a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack, National Lampoons Vacation, Groundhog Day, and Analyze This. Ramis was the head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day. His final film that he wrote, produced, directed and acted in was the critical and commercial failure Year One, Ramis films influenced subsequent generations of comedians and comedy writers. Filmmakers including Jay Roach, Jake Kasdan, Adam Sandler, and Peter and he won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Groundhog Day. Ramis was born on November 21,1944, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ruth and Nathan Ramis, in his adult life, he did not practice any religion. Afterward, Ramis worked in an institution in St. Louis for seven months. He later said of his time working there that it. prepared me well for when I went out to Hollywood to work with actors, people laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training. And not just with actors, it was training for just living in the world. Its knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director, you’re dealing with that constantly with actors, but if I were a businessman, I’d probably be applying those same principles to that line of work. He avoided the Vietnam War military draft by taking methamphetamine to fail his draft physical, following his work in St. Louis, Ramis returned to Chicago, where by 1968, he was a substitute teacher at schools serving the inner-city Robert Taylor Homes. He also became associated with the guerrilla television collective TVTV, headed by his college friend Michael Shamberg, and wrote freelance for the Chicago Daily News. Michael Shamberg, right out of college, had started freelancing for newspapers and got on as a stringer for a local paper, and I thought, Well, if Michael can do that, I can do that. I wrote a piece and submitted it to the Chicago Daily News, the Arts & Leisure section. Additionally, Ramis had begun studying and performing with Chicagos Second City improvisational comedy troupe, Ramis newspaper writing led to his becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine. Just cold and said I had written several pieces freelance and did they have any openings, and they happened to have their entry-level job, party jokes editor, open. He liked my stuff and he gave me a stack of jokes that readers had sent in, I had been in Second City in the workshops already and Michael Shamberg and I had written comedy shows in college
21.
Lawrence Kasdan
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Lawrence Edward Kasdan is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known as co-writer of the films The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kasdan co-wrote the Star Wars sequel trilogy film Star Wars, The Force Awakens, and will co-write the series Han Solo spin-off film. He has been nominated for three Oscars, twice for Best Original Screenplay for The Big Chill and Grand Canyon and once for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Accidental Tourist and he is the father of directors Jake Kasdan and Jon Kasdan, and the father-in-law of musician Inara George. Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah, an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan and his brother is the writer/producer Mark Kasdan. He was raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, where he graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966 and he graduated from the University of Michigan with an MA in Education, originally planning on a career as an English teacher. He won a Hopwood Award for writing during the time of his studies and he was a student of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe. Kasdan made his debut with Body Heat, which he also wrote. Lucas later commissioned Kasdan to write the screenplay for Return of the Jedi, Kasdan is known for both writing and directing his films, which have ranged from Westerns and romantic comedies to thought-provoking dramas. He has received four Academy Award nominations, for screenplays to The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon won the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. The exception was 1995s French Kiss, which grossed $100 million, in 2001, Kasdan was the recipient of the Austin Film Festivals Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2006, Kasdan received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America, Kasdan directed the 2012 dramedy Darling Companion, starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline. In October 2013, it was announced that JJ Abrams had taken over screenwriting duties for Star Wars Episode VII, working alongside Kasdan, lawrence Kasdan at the Internet Movie Database
22.
Claire Danes
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Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Danes gained recognition with her role as Angela Chase in the acclaimed 1994 teen drama series My So-Called Life. The role won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and she made her film debut the same year in Little Women. From 1998 to 2000, Danes attended Yale University before dropping out to return to acting and she appeared in an Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues in 2000, and made her Broadway debut playing Eliza Doolittle in the 2007 revival of Pygmalion. She is married to actor Hugh Dancy, with whom she has one child, Danes was born in Manhattan, New York, the daughter of a sculptor and printmaking artist, Carla Danes, and a photographer, Christopher Danes. She has a brother, Asa, who is a lawyer. Danes parents met when they were studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, during Danes childhood her father worked as a general contractor for 20 years, working on residential buildings in a company he ran called Overall Construction in New York. He also worked as a photographer and computer consultant and he is the son of Gibson Andrew Danes, a former dean of the Yale School of Art and Architecture from 1958 to 1968. Danes is named after her grandmother, Claire Danes, who died in 1953. The family lived in a loft on Crosby Street. 3 and PS11 for elementary school and Professional Performing Arts School for junior high school, Danes attended the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in New York City. She attended The Dalton School for one year of school before moving with her parents to Santa Monica. Danes said they moved two days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Danes graduated from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1997. In 1998, Danes went to Yale University, director Oliver Stone wrote a letter of recommendation. After studying for two years as a major, she dropped out to focus on her film career. Danes started studying dance when she was six years old, Danes took dance classes from Ellen Robbins at Dance Theater Workshop and acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute at the age of ten. She appeared in theater and video productions in New York City, although she continued to dance, Danes said that her focus shifted to acting by the time she was nine years old
23.
Barry Levinson
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Barry Levinson is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor. Levinsons best-known works are comedy-drama and drama such as Diner, The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam, Rain Man, Bugsy. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on Rain Man, Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Violet Vi and Irvin Levinson, who worked in the furniture and appliance business. His family was of Russian Jewish descent, Levinsons first writing work was for variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. Diner was the first of a series of set in the Baltimore of Levinsons youth. The others were Tin Men, a story of aluminum-siding salesmen in the 1960s starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito, the immigrant family saga Avalon and his biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man, a sibling drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director and it also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. Another of his films is the popular period baseball drama The Natural. Redford would later direct Quiz Show and cast Levinson as television personality Dave Garroway, Levinson also directed the classic war comedy Good Morning, Vietnam, starring Robin Williams, with whom he later collaborated on the fantasy Toys and the political comedy Man of the Year. Levinson also directed the critically acclaimed crime drama Bugsy, which starred Warren Beatty and was nominated for ten Academy Awards. He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog, a political comedy co-starring Robert De Niro about a war staged in a film studio, the film won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. Levinson partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the production company Baltimore Pictures. The two parted ways in 1994 and he has a television production company with Tom Fontana and served as executive producer for a number of series, including Homicide, Life on the Street and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson also played a main role as a judge in the short-lived TV series The Jury. Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six, in 2003, like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in the 1960s. He directed two webisodes of the American Express ads The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman, in 2004, Levinson was the recipient of the Austin Film Festivals Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Levinson directed a documentary PoliWood about the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the documentary, produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc, had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Levinson is in production on a film based on Whitey Bulger, in September 2013, Levinson was set to direct the film titled Rock the Kasbah, written by Mitch Glazer
24.
Russell Crowe
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Russell Ira Crowe is an actor, film producer and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia, Crowe appeared as the tobacco firm whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand in the 1999 film The Insider, for which he received five awards as best actor and seven nominations in the same category. Crowe is also the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, an Australian National Rugby League team. Crowe was born on 7 April 1964 in the Wellington suburb of Strathmore Park, Crowes maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer who was named an MBE for filming footage of World War II. Crowes paternal grandfather, John Doubleday Crowe, was from Wrexham, Wales, Crowe also has English, German, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, and Welsh ancestry. He is a cousin of former New Zealand cricket captains Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe, Russell has built a cricket field named for his uncle. When Crowe was four years old, his family moved to Sydney, Australia, the producer of the Australian TV series Spyforce was his mothers godfather, and Crowe was hired for a line of dialogue in one episode, opposite series star Jack Thompson. Crowe also appeared briefly in the serial The Young Doctors, Crowe was educated at Vaucluse Public School but later moved to Sydney Boys High School. When he was 14, his family moved back to New Zealand where, along with his brother Terry, he attended Auckland Grammar School with cousins Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe. He then continued his education at Mount Roskill Grammar School. Crowe began his career as a musician in the early 1980s, under guidance from his good friend Tom Sharplin. He released several New Zealand singles including I Just Want To Be Like Marlon Brando, Pier 13, Shattered Glass and he managed an Auckland music venue called The Venue in 1984. When he was 18, he was featured in A Very Special Person, a promotional video for the theology/ministry course at Avondale College, a Seventh-day Adventist tertiary education provider in New South Wales. Crowe returned to Australia at age 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art, I was working in a theatre show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA, Crowe has recalled. I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA and he told me itd be a waste of time. He said, You already do the things, you go there to learn and youve been doing it for most of life, so theres nothing to teach you. From 1986 to 1988, he was given his first professional role by director Daniel Abineri and he played the role of Eddie/Dr Scott. He repeated this performance in a further Australian production of the show, in 1987, Crowe spent six months busking when he could not find other work
25.
Sydney Pollack
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Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, some of his other best known works include Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor and Absence of Malice. His subsequent films included Havana, The Firm, The Interpreter, Sydney Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, the son of Rebecca and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist. The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young and his mother, an alcoholic with emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student. Despite earlier plans to attend college and then school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17. Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1952–54, after two years army service, ending in 1958, he returned to the Playhouse at Meisner’s invitation to become his assistant. In 1960, John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack, asked him to come to Los Angeles in order to work as a coach for the child actors on Frankenheimers first big picture. It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster who encouraged the actor to try directing. Pollack played a director in The Twilight Zone episode The Trouble with Templeton in 1961, but he found his real success in television in the 1960s by directing episodes of series, such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After doing TV he made the jump into film with a string of movies that drew public attention and his film-directing debut was The Slender Thread. Over time, Pollacks films received a total of 48 Academy Award nominations and his first Oscar nomination was for his 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Dont They. and his second in 1982 for Tootsie. For his 1985 film Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, only Young and Lange won Oscars for their performances in one of Pollacks films. His disputes with Hoffman during the filming of Tootsie became well known, eventually Hoffman began pushing the idea that Pollack play the role of his agent, and Pollack reluctantly agreed despite not having had any film roles in 20 years. Their off-screen relationship added authenticity to their scenes in the movie, Pollack subsequently took on more acting roles in addition to producing and directing. He appeared as himself in the documentary One Six Right, describing his joy in owning and piloting his Cessna Citation X jet aircraft. As a character actor, Pollack appeared in such as A Civil Action. He also appeared in Woody Allens Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis and his last role was as Patrick Dempseys father in the 2008 romantic comedy Made of Honor, which was playing in theaters at the time of his death. He was a recurring guest star on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, playing Will Trumans unfaithful but loving father, George Truman
26.
Mike Judge
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Michael Craig Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. Judge is the creator of the television series Beavis and Butt-Head, co-creator of the television series King of the Hill, The Goode Family and he also wrote and directed the films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Office Space, Idiocracy and Extract. Judge graduated from University of California, San Diego, where he studied physics, after becoming uninterested in his career in science, Judge began to experiment with animation and started to create his own short films. Finding success in his shorts, Judge began to develop one of his most popular shorts which would later become Beavis. The show was acclaimed by both audiences and critics, and launched the spin-off series Daria and the feature film Beavis. In 1995, Judge and former Simpsons writer Greg Daniels developed King of the Hill, during the run of the show, Judge took some time off to write and direct Office Space, Idiocracy, and Extract. As King of the Hill was coming to an end, Judge created his third show titled The Goode Family, after a four-year hiatus, Judge created his fourth show Silicon Valley, which has received critical acclaim since its premiere. Judge has won a Primetime Emmy Award and two Annie Awards for King of the Hill and two Critics Choice Television Awards and Satellite Awards for Silicon Valley. On January 12,2017, Deadline confirmed that Cinemax ordered 8 episodes of Judges new animated series, Mike Judge Presents and it is set to premiere in 2017. Michael Craig Judge is the second of three born to archaeologist Jim Judge and librarian Margaret Blue. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his father worked for an organization promoting agricultural development. Judge was raised from age 7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Judge attended St. Pius X High School before graduating with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1986 from the University of California, San Diego. After graduating in 1986 from UCSD with a bachelor of science in physics, Judges first job was as a programmer for the F-18 fighter at Support Systems Associates, Inc. In 1987 he moved to Silicon Valley to join Parallax Graphics, disliking the companys culture and his colleagues, Judge quit after less than three months and became a bass player with a touring blues band. He was a part of Anson Funderburghs band for two years, playing on their 1990 Black Top Records release Rack Em Up, while taking graduate classes at the University of Texas at Dallas. In 1989, after seeing animation cels on display in a theater, Judge purchased a Bolex 16 mm film camera. In 1991, his short film Office Space was acquired by Comedy Central, in the early 1990s, he was playing blues bass with Doyle Bramhall. In 1992, he developed Frog Baseball, a film featuring the characters Beavis and Butt-Head, to be featured on Liquid Television
27.
John Lasseter
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He is also the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering. Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney Company, after being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation, he joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on the then-groundbreaking use of CGI animation. The Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs, Lasseter oversees all of Pixars films and associated projects as executive producer. In addition, he directed Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Cars and he is currently directing Toy Story 4, scheduled for a 2019 release. Since 2007, Lasseter also oversees all of Walt Disney Animation Studios films and he has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film, as well as a Special Achievement Award. Lasseter was born in Hollywood, California and his mother, Jewell Mae, was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School, and his father, Paul Eual Lasseter, was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. Lasseter is a twin, his sister Johanna Lasseter-Curtis, who became a baker based in the Lake Tahoe area, is six minutes older. Lasseter grew up in Whittier, California and his mothers profession contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation. He often drew cartoons during church services at the Church of Christ his family attended, as a child, Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television. While in high school, he read The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas, the book covered the history of Disney animation and explored the making of Disneys 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, which made Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself. When he saw Disneys 1963 film The Sword in the Stone, Lasseters higher education began at Pepperdine University, which was the alma mater of his parents and his siblings. However, he heard of a new animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. During his time there, he produced two animated shorts — Lady and the Lamp and Nitemare — which both won the student Academy Award for Animation. Upon graduating in 1979, Lasseter immediately obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation mostly due to his success with Lady and the Lamp. In the fall of 1979, Disney animator Mel Shaw told the Los Angeles Times that Johns got a feel for character and movement. In time, hell make a fine contribution, up to that time, the studio had used a multiplane camera to add depth to its animation. He knew adding dimension to animation had been a dream of animators. Lasseter and his colleagues unknowingly stepped on some of their direct superiors toes by circumventing them in their enthusiasm to get the project into motion, a few minutes after the meeting, Lasseter was summoned by Hansen to his office
28.
Robert Rodriguez
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Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in Mexico and his home state, Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico and he directed From Dusk till Dawn in 1996 and developed its television adaptation series. Rodriguez co-directed the 2005 neo-noir crime thriller anthology Sin City and the 2014 sequel, Sin City, Rodriguez also directed the Spy Kids films, The Faculty, as well as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, Planet Terror, and Machete. He is a friend and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who founded the production company A Band Apart, in December 2013, Rodriguez launched his own cable television channel, El Rey. Rodríguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Mexican-American parents Rebecca, a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez and he began his interest in film at age eleven, when his father bought one of the first VCRs, which came with a camera. While attending St. Anthony High School Seminary in San Antonio, in high school, he met Carlos Gallardo, they both shot films on video throughout high school and college. Rodriguez went to the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, not having grades high enough to be accepted into the schools film program, he created a daily comic strip entitled Los Hooligans. Many of the characters were based on his siblings – in particular, one of his sisters, the comic ran for three years in the student newspaper The Daily Texan, while Rodríguez continued to make short films. Rodríguez shot action and horror films on video and edited on two VCRs. In late 1990, his entry in a film contest earned him a spot in the universitys film program. There he made the award-winning 16 mm short Bedhead, the film chronicles the amusing misadventures of a young girl whose older brother sports an incredibly tangled mess of hair which she detests. Even at this stage, Rodríguezs trademark style began to emerge, quick cuts, intense zooms. Bedhead was recognized for excellence in the Black Maria Film Festival and it was selected by Film/Video Curator Sally Berger, for the Black Maria 20th-anniversary retrospective at MoMA in 2006. The short film Bedhead attracted enough attention to him to seriously attempt a career as a filmmaker. Rodriquez won the Audience Award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993 and its promotion still advertised it as the movie made for $7,000. Rodríguez described his experiences making the film in his book Rebel Without a Crew, Desperado, was a sequel to El Mariachi that starred Antonio Banderas and introduced Salma Hayek to American audiences. Rodriguez has also worked with Kevin Williamson, on the horror film The Faculty, in 2001, Rodríguez enjoyed his first Hollywood hit with Spy Kids, which went on to become a movie franchise
29.
David Simon
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David Judah Simon is an American author, journalist, writer, and producer. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years and wrote Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner, A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns. The former book was the basis for the NBC series Homicide, Life on the Street, Simon adapted the latter book into the HBO mini-series The Corner. He was the creator, executive producer, head writer, and he adapted the non-fiction book Generation Kill into a television mini-series, and served as the show runner for the project. He was selected as one of the 2010 MacArthur Fellows and named an Utne Reader visionary in 2011, Simon also created the HBO series Treme with Eric Overmyer, which aired for four seasons. Following Treme, Simon wrote the HBO mini-series Show Me a Hero with journalist William F. Zorzi, a colleague at The Baltimore Sun, in August 2015, HBO commissioned two pilots from Simons company Blown Deadline Productions. The first drama, The Deuce, about the New York porn industry in the 1970s and 1980s, would star Maggie Gyllenhaal, the second drama is an untitled program exploring a detailed examination of partisanship and money in Washington politics, to be co-produced with Carl Bernstein. Simon was born in Washington, D. C. the son of Dorothy Simon, a homemaker, and Bernard Simon, Simon was raised in a Jewish family with roots that originated in Eastern Europe and Hungary. He has a brother, Gary Simon, and a sister, Linda Evans, Simon graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland, and wrote for the school newspaper, The Tattler. In 1983, he graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, while at college he wrote for The Diamondback and became friends with contemporary David Mills. Upon leaving college, Simon worked as a reporter at The Baltimore Sun from 1982 to 1995. He spent most of his career covering the crime beat, a colleague has said that Simon loved journalism and felt it was Gods work. Simon says that he was initially altruistic and was inspired to enter journalism by the Washington Posts coverage of Watergate, later in his career he aimed to tell the best possible story without cheating it. Simon was a captain when the writing staff went on strike in 1987 over benefit cuts. He remained angry after the strike ended and began to feel uncomfortable in the writing room and he searched for a reason to justify a leave of absence and settled on the idea of writing a novel. I got out of journalism because some sons of bitches bought my newspaper and it stopped being fun, in an interview in Reason in 2004, Simon said that since leaving the newspaper business he has become more cynical about the power of journalism. One of the sad things about contemporary journalism is that it actually very little. The world now is almost inured to the power of journalism, the best journalism would manage to outrage people
30.
Inside Llewyn Davis
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Inside Llewyn Davis /ˈluː. ɪn deɪvɪs/ is a 2013 American black comedy drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1961, the film one week in the life of Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac. It co-stars Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, although Davis is a fictional character, the story was partly inspired by the autobiography of folk singer Dave Van Ronk. Most of the songs performed in the film are sung in full. T Bone Burnett was the music producer. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a limited release in the United States on December 6,2013, and was given a wide release on January 10,2014. Inside Llewyn Davis has been acclaimed, and was voted the 11th best film of the 21st century by 177 critics in a 2016 BBC Culture poll. In February 1961, Llewyn Davis is a folk singer in New York Citys Greenwich Village. His musical partner, Mike Timlin, has died by suicide, his recent solo album Inside Llewyn Davis is not selling, he has no money and is sleeping on the couches of friends and acquaintances. Llewyn wakes up in the apartment of two of his older and wealthier friends, the Gorfeins, when he leaves, the Gorfeins cat escapes and Llewyn is locked out. Llewyn takes the cat to the apartment of Jim and Jean Berkey, Jean reluctantly agrees to let Llewyn stay that night. Jean tells Llewyn she is pregnant, the next morning, the Gorfeins cat escapes again. Later Jean, fearing that Llewyn may be the father, asks him to pay for an abortion, Llewyn visits his sister in the hope of borrowing money but realizes it wont be possible. Their conversation makes it clear that they are living in different worlds and she mentions that he should look into going back to the Merchant Marine if the music business isnt working out. On Jims invitation, Llewyn, as part of the John Glenn Singers, records a novelty song with Jim, needing money immediately, Llewyn agrees to $200 with no royalties. While talking to Jean at a café, Llewyn spots what he believes to be the Gorfeins cat, asked to play after dinner, he reluctantly performs Fare Thee Well, a song he had recorded with Mike. When Mrs. Gorfein starts to sing Mikes harmony, Llewyn becomes angry, Mrs. Gorfein leaves the table crying, then returns with the cat, having realized that it is not theirs. Llewyn rides with two musicians driving to Chicago, the beat poet Johnny Five and the odious jazz musician Roland Turner
31.
Silver Linings Playbook
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Silver Linings Playbook is a 2012 American romantic comedy drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. It was adapted from the novel The Silver Linings Playbook, by Matthew Quick, the film stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher, and Julia Stiles in supporting roles. Cooper plays Patrick Pat Solitano, Jr. a man with bipolar disorder who is released from a hospital and moves back in with his parents, played by Robert De Niro. The two become closer as they train and Pat, his father, and Tiffany examine their relationships with other as they cope with their problems. Silver Linings Playbook premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8,2012, the film opened to major critical success and earned numerous accolades. It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, the film was a success at the box office, grossing over $236 million worldwide, more than eleven times its budget. After eight months of treatment in a health facility for bipolar disorder, Patrick Pat Solitano is released into the care of his father Patrizio. His main focus is to reconcile with his wife, Nikki. She has moved away and obtained an order against him after Pat had found her in the shower with another man. During his time in the clinic Pat befriends Danny McDaniels, an man who is embroiled in a legal dispute with the clinic on whether or not he is eligible to leave. Pats therapist, Dr. Patel, does his best to him to keep taking his medication. But Pat tells him that he has a new outlook on life, he attempts to see the good, or silver linings, at dinner with his friend Ronnie and his wife Veronica, Pat meets Veronicas sister Tiffany Maxwell, a young widow with depression and relationship problems. Sparks fly between Pat and Tiffany and she tries to connect by offering sex, but Pat keeps focusing on getting Nikki back. Tiffany tries to get closer to Pat and even offers to deliver a letter to Nikki—if, in return, he will practice dancing with her and he reluctantly agrees and the two begin a rigorous practice regimen over the following weeks. Pat believes the competition will be a way to show Nikki that he has changed. Patrizio hopes to open his own restaurant and has resorted to illegal bookmaking, having put virtually all of his money on the outcome of a Philadelphia Eagles game, he asks Pat to attend as a good-luck charm. Danny is eventually released from the clinic, and teaches Pat, Pat asks Tiffany for time off from practice to attend the game. She gives him a reply from Nikki, in which she cautiously hints there may be a chance for reconciliation between them
32.
The Artist (film)
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The Artist received highly positive reviews from critics and won many accolades. Dujardin won the Best Actor Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and it was also the first French film to win Best Picture, and the first mainly silent film to win since 1927s Wings won at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929. It was also the first film presented in the 4,3 aspect ratio to win since 1953s From Here to Eternity, in France it was nominated for ten César Awards, winning six, including Best Film, Best Director for Hazanavicius and Best Actress for Bejo. The Artist has received more awards than any other French film, in 1927, silent film star George Valentin is posing for pictures outside the premiere of his latest hit film when a young woman, Peppy Miller, accidentally bumps into him. Valentin reacts with humor to the accident and shows off with Peppy for the cameras, the next day, Peppy finds herself on the front page of Variety with the headline Whos That Girl. Later, Peppy auditions as a dancer and is spotted by Valentin, while performing a scene in which they dance together, Valentin and Peppy show great chemistry, despite her being merely an extra. With a little guidance from Valentin, Peppy slowly rises through the industry, two years later, Zimmer announces the end of production of silent films at Kinograph Studios, but Valentin is dismissive, insisting that sound is just a fad. In a dream, Valentin begins hearing sounds from his environment and he decides to produce and direct his own silent film, financing it himself. The film opens on the day as Peppys new sound film as well as the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Now Valentins only chance of avoiding bankruptcy is for his film to be a hit, unfortunately audiences flock to Peppys film instead and Valentin is ruined. His wife, Doris, kicks him out, and he moves into an apartment with his valet/chauffeur, Clifton, Peppy goes on to become a major Hollywood star. Depressed and drunk, Valentin angrily sets a match to his collection of his earlier films. As the nitrate film quickly blazes out of control he is overwhelmed by the smoke and passes out inside the burning house, however, Valentins dog attracts the help of a nearby policeman, and after being rescued Valentin is hospitalized for injuries suffered in the fire. Peppy visits the hospital and discovers that the film he rescued is the one with them dancing together and she asks for him to be moved to her house to recuperate. Valentin awakens in a bed at her house, to find that Clifton is now working for Peppy, Valentin seems to remain dismissive of Peppy having taken him in, prompting Clifton to sternly remind Valentin of his changing luck. Peppy insists to Zimmer that Valentin co-star in her next film, after Valentin learns to his dismay that it had been Peppy who had purchased all his auctioned effects, he returns in despair to his burnt-out apartment. Peppy arrives, panicked, and finds that Valentin is about to attempt suicide with a handgun, Peppy tells him she only wanted to help him. They embrace and Valentin tells her its no use, no one wants to him speak
33.
The Descendants
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The Descendants is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne. The screenplay by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash is based on the novel of the name by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Matthew Matt King is a Honolulu-based attorney and the trustee of a family trust of 25,000 pristine acres on Kauai. The land has great value, but is also a family legacy. While Matt has always managed his own finances, most of his cousins have squandered their inheritances. With the trust expiring in seven years due to the rule against perpetuities, amidst these discussions, a boating accident has rendered Matts wife, Elizabeth, comatose. Doctors determine that Elizabeths coma is irreversible and her living will directs all life support to be discontinued, when Matt tells Alex, she reveals that she caught Elizabeth having an affair before the accident, causing a major rift between mother and daughter. Two close family friends tell Matt that Elizabeth was unhappy and wanted to him for her lover, Brian Speer. After Matt arranges for friends to bid Elizabeth goodbye, he decides Speer should also have an opportunity and he and the girls, and also Alexs slacker boyfriend Sid, travel to Kauai to find Brian. While there, Matts cousin, Hugh mentions that Brian is brother-in-law to Don Hollitzer, Brian stands to make a small fortune from the sales commission. Matt confronts Brian and informs him Elizabeth is dying and offers him an opportunity to see her one last time. Brian declines, admitting that although Elizabeth was in love him, it was only a fling to him, he loves his wife, Julie. When Elizabeth is disconnected from life support, her father, Scott admonishes Matt for not being a more generous, choosing not to disclose the details of her affair to Scott, Matt agrees, but Sid and Alex both unexpectedly defend Matt. At the King family meeting, Matt overrules the majority of his cousins who favor selling to Hollitzer, Matt decides to keep the land and look for a different solution to the problem posed by the rule against perpetuities. Shocked, Hugh tells Matt that he and the other cousins will take action if Matt refuses to sell. After learning of Brians affair with Elizabeth and realizing that he will not visit, Julie comes to the hospital and she tearfully admits to Elizabeth that she wants to hate her for trying to destroy her family, but that she forgives her. Matt finally comes to terms with his wifes betrayal and her impending death and he tenderly kisses her goodbye, followed by Alex and Scottie, and later, scatter Elizabeths ashes in the ocean off Waikiki. The film concludes with the three at home sitting together sharing ice cream and watching television, all wrapped in the Hawaiian quilt Elizabeth had been lying in, the film began its on-location shoot in Hawaii on March 15,2010
34.
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
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Jeff, Who Lives at Home is an American comedy-drama film starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms, written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass and co-starring Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon. The film received reviews from critics. Jeff is a 30-year-old unemployed stoner living in his mother Sharons basement in Baton Rouge and he looks for his destiny in seemingly random occurrences. He finds inspiration in the feature film Signs, which reinforces his belief in this outlook, one day, he answers the telephone, its a wrong number, from somebody asking for Kevin, and Jeff contemplates the meaning of this, deciding its a sign. He follows Kevin to a court, where he joins a pick-up game. Jeff agrees to smoke weed with Kevin, but discovers he has been tricked when he is beaten and he happens upon a Hooters restaurant where he crosses paths with his older brother Pat, a successful yuppie struggling with a failing marriage. Pats wife Linda is spotted at a gas station across the street with another man. Jeff and Pat spend several hours following them, first to a restaurant and later to a hotel, with Pats new Porsche being ticketed, crashed, the brothers also visit their fathers gravesite and fight over their conflicting life philosophies. Jeff sees a truck reading Kevin Kandy and runs off to hitch a ride, Jeff offers to break down the door. The man is a co-worker of hers named Steve, Linda quickly ushers Steve out and then confronts Pat about his role in their problems. Frustrated, she leaves, saying she will move in with her mother, Jeff explains how he is struggling to find his destiny in life, while Pat admits he wants to fall in love with Linda again and for her to do the same with him. Jeff encourages his brother to tell her that, and they hail a taxi to pursue her, interspersed within the main story is the story of Sharon, who is at work, frustrated with her unfulfilled life and dissatisfaction with her sons. The doldrum is interrupted when an airplane with a beautiful drawing of a flower lands in her cubicle. Sharon spends the day trying to deduce the identity of her admirer and she confides her frustrations to colleague and friend Carol, revealing that she has not dated since her husbands death. Carol encourages her to warm up to the attention she is receiving, at that moment, a fire alarm goes off and ceiling sprinklers activate, this is an enlightening moment for Sharon who sets off with Carol on a spur of the moment trip to New Orleans. Jeff, Pat, Linda, Sharon, and Carol all converge on a bridge, Pat exits the taxi and runs through the traffic to tell Linda how he feels, passing Carols car, Sharon sees her son and runs after him, followed by Carol. Jeff continues onward to discover that the cause of the traffic is an accident in one car plummeted over the side of the bridge. He dives into the water and rescues two children and their father, when Jeff then fails to resurface Pat dives in and rescues him, the group reconciles after the ordeal, and the audience sees Sharon celebrating her birthday and Pat and Linda apparently faring better in their marriage
35.
127 Hours
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127 Hours is a 2010 British-American biographical survival drama film directed, co-written, and produced by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as Aron Ralston, in 127 Hours, canyoneer Aron Ralston becomes trapped by a boulder in an isolated slot canyon in Blue John Canyon, southeastern Utah, in April 2003. It is a British and American venture produced by Everest Entertainment, Film4 Productions, HandMade Films and Cloud Eight Films. The film, based on Ralstons memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place, was written by Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, produced by Christian Colson and John Smithson, Beaufoy, Colson, and Rahman had all previously worked with Boyle on Slumdog Millionaire. 127 Hours was well received by critics and audiences, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Franco, mountaineer and adventurer Aron Ralston begins hiking at Utahs Canyonlands National Park. On foot, he befriends hikers Kristi and Megan, and shows them an underground pool, after swimming, Aron parts ways with the hikers, and continues through a slot canyon in Blue John Canyon. While climbing down, he slips and falls, knocking a boulder which smashes his right hand, stuck, he tries calling for help but realizes that he is alone. He begins recording a video diary to maintain morale, chipping away parts of the boulder in order to free himself and he rations his food and water, in order to survive the ordeal. He sets up a pulley using his rope in a futile attempt to lift the boulder. Days after being trapped, Ralston considers using his knife to cut himself free. With no water, he is forced to drink his urine and his videos become desperate and depressed and he hallucinates about escape, relationships, and past experiences including a former lover, family, and Kristi and Megan. During one of the hallucinations, he realizes that his mistake was that he didnt tell anyone where he was going and he thinks that it was destiny that the boulder trapped him. Using his knowledge of applying torque, Ralston fashions a crude tourniquet out of CamelBak tube insulation and he then slowly amputates his arm successfully. He wraps the stump of his arm to prevent exsanguination and takes a picture of the boulder and he then rappels down a 65-foot rockface using his other arm and drinks rainwater from a small pond. He meets a family on a day hike, who alert the authorities to Ralstons presence, and a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter, already dispatched, arrives to bring him to a hospital. The epilogue sequence reveals that he got married and started a family, he continues to be a climber and a canyoneer, and he now leaves a note saying where he has gone. The scenes early in the film of Ralstons encounter with the two hikers were altered to portray Ralston showing them a pool, when in reality he just showed them some basic climbing moves. Despite these changes, with which he was uncomfortable, Ralston says the rest of the film is so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get
36.
Black Swan (film)
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The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovskys Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of pressure when she finds herself competing for the part, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality. Aronofsky cites Fyodor Dostoyevskys The Double as another inspiration for the film, the director also considered Black Swan a companion piece to his 2008 film The Wrestler, with both films involving demanding performances for different kinds of art. He and Portman first discussed the project in 2000, and after an attachment to Universal Studios. Portman and Kunis trained in ballet for several months prior to filming, the film premiered as the opening film for the 67th Venice International Film Festival on September 1,2010. It had a release in the United States starting December 3,2010. Black Swan received critical praise upon its release, particularly for Portmans performance and Aronofskys direction, the film received five Academy Award nominations and Portman won Best Actress for the film, as well as many other Best Actress awards in several guilds and festivals. In addition, Aronofsky was nominated for Best Director and the film was nominated for Best Picture. It is the horror film to be nominated in the Best Picture category, following The Exorcist in 1973, Jaws in 1975, The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. Nina Sayers is a dancer in a New York ballet company. Nina lives in New York City with her mother, Erica. The company is preparing to open the season with Swan Lake, the director, Thomas Leroy, is looking for a new principal dancer after forcing Beth Macintyre into retirement. Thomas wants the ballerina to portray the innocent, fragile White Swan as well as her mysterious, sensual twin. Nina auditions for the part, performing flawlessly as the White Swan, upset, Nina approaches Thomas and asks him to reconsider her as the lead role. Thomas forcibly kisses Nina, and she displays a change of character and bites him, Nina begins to witness strange happenings, and her mother finds scratches on Ninas back. An intoxicated Beth angrily confronts Thomas and Nina, Nina is worried that Beths fate will eventually befall her, too, but she stays quiet. Thomas tells Nina she needs to give herself to the sensuality of the Black Swan and he tells her to go home and masturbate, which she does. The next day, Nina finds out that Beth was seriously injured in a car accident, Nina realizes Beth will never dance again, and tearfully unpacks her belongings in Beths former dressing room
37.
Up in the Air (2009 film)
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Up in the Air is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on the 2001 novel of the same name, written by Walter Kirn. The story is centered on corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham and his travels, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick and Danny McBride also star. Filming was primarily in St. Louis, Missouri, which substituted for a number of other cities, several scenes were filmed in Detroit, Omaha, Las Vegas and Miami. Reitman promoted Up in the Air with personal appearances at festivals and other showings. The Los Angeles premiere was at the Mann Village Theater on November 30,2009, Paramount scheduled a limited North American release on December 4,2009, broadening the release on December 11,2009, with a wide release on December 23,2009. The National Board of Review and the Washington D. C, area Film Critics Association named Up in the Air the Best Picture of 2009. It received six Academy Award nominations, but did not win in any category and he also gives motivational speeches, using the analogy Whats in Your Backpack. to extol the virtues of a life free of burdensome relationships with people as well as things. A frequent flyer, Ryan relishes his travels, and desires to become the seventh, during his travels, he meets another frequent flyer named Alex, and they begin a casual relationship. Ryan is called back to his companys offices in Omaha, Nebraska, Natalie Keener, a young and ambitious new hire, promotes a program designed to cut costs by conducting layoffs via videoconferencing. Ryan raises concerns that the program could be seen as detached and apathetic and he then plays the role of a fired employee to demonstrate her inexperience. Ryans boss assigns him to bring Natalie on his round of terminations to show her the ropes. As they travel together, Natalie questions Ryans philosophies on life, particularly on relationships and love, during the trip, Natalie is shattered when her boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her by text message, and Ryan and Alex try to comfort her. On the test run, the earlier concerns Ryan raised prove valid, one laid-off person breaks down in tears before the camera, instead of returning immediately to Omaha, Ryan convinces Alex to accompany him to his younger sisters wedding. He learns that the reason the couple had him take photos of a picture of them in various places was because they cannot afford a honeymoon. When the groom gets cold feet, Ryans older sister talks Ryan into using his skills to persuade the groom to go through with the wedding. Although this runs counter to Ryans personal philosophy, he argues that the important moments in life are rarely unshared. The wedding goes off without any further hitches, Ryan begins having second thoughts about his life and philosophies. As he starts delivering his Whats in Your Backpack, speech at a convention in Las Vegas, he realizes he no longer believes it, and walks off the stage
38.
Precious (film)
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Precious, Base on Nol by Saf, or simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, the film stars Gabourey Sidibe, MoNique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. This film marked the debut of Sidibe. The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its title of Push. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, Precious won the Peoples Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The films title was changed from Push to Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Lionsgate gave the film a release in North America on November 6,2009. Precious received largely positive reviews critics, the acting, the story. In the films opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, as of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no.65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success. Precious received six Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture, Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay. MoNique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, for which she received an ovation at the ceremony. In 1987, 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones lives in the New York City ghetto of Harlem with her mother, Mary. Precious has been raped by her father, Carl, resulting in two pregnancies, the family resides in a Section 8 tenement and survives on welfare. When Precious second pregnancy is discovered, her school principal arranges for her to attend an alternative school. Precious finds a way out of her daily life by escaping into daydreams in which she is loved and appreciated. Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain, Precious finally learns to read and she meets sporadically with social worker Ms. Weiss, who learns about incest in the household when Precious reveals who fathered her children. While Precious is in the giving birth to her second child, Abdul, she meets John McFadden. Upon returning home, her mother carelessly drops 3-day-old Abdul and hits her, Precious fights back and runs away from her home with Abdul
39.
Shotgun Stories
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Shotgun Stories is a 2007 drama film about a feud between two sets of half-brothers following the death of their father in rural Arkansas. The film was written and directed by Jeff Nichols, and stars Michael Shannon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr. Son Hayes wakes up and gets dressed, revealing that he has scars from a shotgun blast on his back. He meets his brothers, Boy and Kid, who live in a van. Son and Kid earn meager livings at a farm, where workers take bets on how Son received his scars. One night, while Son is researching his gambling system, the estranged mother arrives to announce that their estranged father has just died. The brothers crash the funeral, where their fathers family is mourning. In the process, Son nearly starts a brawl with his four half-brothers, the eldest half-brother, Mark, vows revenge and starts a chain of violent confrontations. Meanwhile, Annie returns and tries to salvage her relationship with Son, Kid plans on marrying his girlfriend, Cheryl, should he get an expected raise, but worries about providing for her and staying faithful. After Mark kills Boys dog by leaving a poisonous snake in its bowl, Kid attacks and kills Mark. Son and Boy are unaware that Marks brothers Stephen and John were involved in the fight until after Kids funeral, Son and Boy invade their half-brothers farm and attack Stephen, but are interrupted and hospitalized by the remaining family and other farm workers. Annie and Cheryl are left grieving and bewildered by the continued fighting, Boy purchases a shotgun and holds Cleaman at gunpoint, but hesitates after seeing the mans sons, and leaves. Boy expresses worry that Son will kill himself trying to protect him from the half-brothers and he recalls how Son received his scars while protecting him and Kid. The second family arms themselves with shotguns on their farm, bracing for a shootout, Boy arrives at the farm unarmed and states that he is done fighting, offering a truce. The less combative half-brothers force Stephen to accept the truce, afterwards, Son awakens from his coma. Boy returns to Son, who recuperates from his injuries, the movie ends with the beginning of fall, with Cleaman seeing his youngest brother John off to college, Boy coaching again, and Son living at home with Annie and their son, Carter. The final scene of the movie shows Son and Boy enjoying an afternoon on the porch with Carter. It appeared on several top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Shotgun Stories at the Internet Movie Database Shotgun Stories at Metacritic
40.
Apollo 13 (film)
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Apollo 13 is a 1995 American docudrama space adventure film directed by Ron Howard. It stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, the film depicts astronauts Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise aboard Apollo 13 for Americas third Moon landing mission. Released to cinemas in the United States on June 30,1995, Apollo 13 was nominated for nine Academy Awards, in total, the film grossed over $355 million worldwide during its theatrical releases. The film was positively received by critics. Astronaut Jim Lovell hosts a party where guests watch Neil Armstrongs televised first human steps on the Moon. Afterwards Lovell, who had orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, three months later, as Lovell conducts a VIP tour of NASAs Vertical Assembly Building, his boss Deke Slayton informs him that his crew will fly Apollo 13 instead of 14. Lovell, Ken Mattingly, and Fred Haise train for their new mission, a few days before launch, Mattingly is exposed to the measles, and the flight surgeon demands his replacement with Mattinglys backup, Jack Swigert. Lovell resists breaking up his team, but relents when Slayton threatens to bump his crew to a later mission, as the launch date approaches, Marilyn has a nightmare about her husbands safety, but goes to the Kennedy Space Center the night before launch to see him off. On April 11,1970, Flight Director Gene Kranz gives the go-ahead from Houstons Mission Control Center for the Apollo 13 launch, as the Saturn V rocket climbs through the atmosphere, a second stage engine cuts off prematurely, but the craft reaches its Earth parking orbit. Three days into the mission, the crew makes a television transmission, after Swigert turns on the liquid oxygen tank stirring fans as requested, one of the tanks explodes, emptying its contents into space and sending the craft tumbling. The other tank is found to be leaking. In Houston, Kranz rallies his team to come up with a plan to bring the astronauts home safely, controller John Aaron recruits Mattingly to help him invent a procedure to restart Odyssey for the landing on Earth. As Swigert and Haise watch the Moon pass beneath them, Lovell laments his lost chance of walking on its surface, with Aquarius running on minimal electrical power, the crew suffers freezing conditions, and Haise contracts a urinary infection and a fever. Swigert suspects Mission Control is withholding their inability to get home, Haise angrily blames Swigerts inexperience for the accident. When carbon dioxide approaches dangerous levels, ground control must quickly invent a way to make the Command Modules square filters work in the Lunar Modules round receptacles. With the guidance systems on Aquarius shut down, the crew must make a difficult, when the crew jettisons the Service Module, they are surprised to see the extent of the damage. As they release Aquarius and re-enter the Earths atmosphere, no one is sure that Odysseys heat shield is intact, the tense period of radio silence due to ionization blackout is longer than normal, but the astronauts report all is well and splash down in the Pacific Ocean. He wonders if and when mankind will return to the Moon, however, by the time Howard acquired the directors position, Costners name never came up in serious discussion, and Hanks had already been interested in doing a film based on Apollo 13
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Tender Mercies
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Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. Robert Duvall plays the role of Mac, the supporting cast includes Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin, financed by EMI Films, Tender Mercies was shot largely in Waxahachie, Texas. The script was rejected by several American directors before the Australian Beresford accepted it, Duvall, who sang his own songs in the film, drove more than 600 miles throughout the state, tape recording local accents and playing in country music bands to prepare for the role. He and Beresford repeatedly clashed during production, at one point prompting the director to walk off the set, following poor test screening results, distributor Universal Pictures made little effort to publicize Tender Mercies, which Duvall attributed to the studios lack of understanding of country music. The film was released on March 4,1983, in a number of theaters. Although unsuccessful at the box office, it was acclaimed and earned five Academy Award nominations. Tender Mercies won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay for Foote and Best Actor for Duvall, Mac Sledge, a washed up, alcoholic country singer, awakens at a run-down Texas roadside motel and gas station after a night of heavy drinking. He meets the owner, a widow named Rosa Lee. Rosa Lee, whose husband was killed in the Vietnam War, is raising her son, Sonny. She agrees to let Mac stay under the condition that he not drink while working. The two begin to develop feelings for one another, mostly during quiet evenings sitting alone and sharing bits of their life stories, Mac resolves to give up alcohol and start his life anew. After some time passes, he and Rosa Lee wed and they start attending a Baptist church on a regular basis. One day, a reporter visits the motel and asks Mac whether he has stopped recording music. When Mac refuses to answer, the reporter explains he is writing a story about Mac and has interviewed his ex-wife, Dixie Scott, after the story is printed, the neighborhood learns of Macs past, and members of a local country–western band visit him to show their respect. Although he greets them politely, Mac remains reluctant to open up about his past, later, he secretly attends Dixies concert. She passionately sings several songs that Mac wrote years earlier, backstage, he talks to Dixies manager, his old friend Harry. Mac gives him a copy of a new song he has written, Mac tries to talk to Dixie, but she becomes angry upon seeing him and warns him to stay away from their 18-year-old daughter, Sue Anne. Upon his return home, Mac assures Rosa Lee he no longer has feelings for Dixie, later, Harry visits Mac to tell him, seemingly at Dixies urging, that the country music business has changed and his new song is no good
42.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 American neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Shane Black, and starring Robert Downey, Jr. Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan and Corbin Bernsen. The script is based on the Brett Halliday novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them. The film was produced by Joel Silver, with Susan Downey, shot in Los Angeles between February 24 and May 3,2004, the film debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and received a limited release in cinemas on October 21,2005. At a Los Angeles party, Harry Lockhart recounts recent events, fleeing a botched burglary, Harrys friend is shot, forcing Harry to evade police by ducking into an audition. Harry unintentionally impresses the producers with an outburst of remorse they mistake for method acting and he also encounters his childhood crush Harmony Lane but wakes up in bed with her hostile friend. He runs over to Harmonys place at 6 a. m. to apologize, Perry and Harry witness a vehicle being dumped in a lake and are spotted by the apparent killers. Perry shoots the lock in a rescue attempt but accidentally hits the female corpse inside as well. They cannot report the body because it appears Perry killed her, Harmony contacts Harry, explaining that her sister Jenna came to Los Angeles, stole Harmonys credit cards, and later killed herself. Believing Harry is a detective, Harmony asks him to investigate Jennas death as a murder, after she leaves, Harry discovers the lake corpse in his bathroom and a planted pistol. Harry and Perry dump the corpse, later identified as Veronica Dexter by police, Harry discovers it was Harmonys credit card that was used to hire Perry to come to the lake, tying Jenna to their case. He goes to see Harmony, who slams the door on his finger, cutting it off and they go to a party, but Harry is abducted, beaten, threatened, and ordered to cease the investigation by the killers from the lake and then let go. While taking Harry back to the hospital, Harmony sees the killers heading to Perrys stakeout. Realizing that Perry is heading into a trap, she leaves Harry in her car and rushes off to the stakeout, where she saves Perry, a pink-haired girl, affiliated with the killers, steals Harmonys car and unwittingly drives an unconscious Harry to her safe house. The remaining lake killer arrives and shoots her, Harry recovers the pistol and his finger has fallen off again, so he puts it on ice, but a dog jumps up and eats it. Harmony meets Harry at his hotel where she reveals she had told Jenna that Harlan Dexter was her real father. They quarrel in bed, when Harmony reveals she had slept with Harrys best friend. After Harmony disappears following a lead, Harry and Perry investigate a private clinic owned by Harlan Dexter. Perry realizes Veronica Dexter was incarcerated there by Harlan so an impostor could drop her court case, the pair capture a guard to question him but accidentally kill him and then are captured by Dexter
43.
Blood Simple
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Blood Simple is a 1984 American neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The films title derives from the Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest, in which the term blood simple describes the addled, in 2001, a Directors cut was released. It ranked #98 on AFIs 100 Years.100 Thrills, the film also placed #73 on Bravos 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film opens with a short voice-over monologue voiced by M. Emmet Walsh as various images of the Texas landscape are shown, the film then shifts to a conversation between Abby and Ray in a car as it drives through a heavy downpour at night. They seem to be discussing Abbys bad marriage and Ray indicates that hes driving her to Houston, but instead of driving Abby to Houston, Ray drives to a motel and they have sex. We later find out that Julian Marty, who owns a Texas bar, has suspected Abbys affair with Ray, one of his bartenders, when Visser reports back to Marty, he teases him about being cuckolded. The morning after their tryst, Marty makes a silent phone call to Ray, the following day Ray goes to the bar to collect his earnings, two weeks worth of work, but instead confronts Marty and quits his job. Marty threatens Rays life and advises him not to trust Abby, Marty then hires Visser to kill the couple. Visser suggests he take a trip to Corpus Christi to establish an alibi. He then breaks into Rays home, steals Abbys gun, Visser presents an edited photo of their fake corpses to Marty, who dumps four dead fish on his desk. Marty goes to the bathroom to vomit, then opens the safe to give Visser his $10,000 fee, Visser then shoots Marty with Abbys gun in a double cross, leaving her gun at the scene as evidence that she killed Marty. But he accidentally leaves his lighter and does not realize that Marty has stolen one of the incriminating photographs. Ray returns to the bar to get his last paycheck and accidentally kicks Abbys gun and he finds a motionless Marty and decides to cover up the murder, which he assumes Abby has committed. He cleans up the blood and disposes of evidence in a backyard incinerator, while Ray is driving down a lonely country road at night to dispose of the body he sees that Marty is still alive and stops the car and runs into a field. When he catches his breath and returns to the car, Marty is out of the car slowly crawling down the road, Ray struggles to get him back into the car as a truck approaches. The scene jumps to Ray digging a grave in a plowed field. As he throws dirt onto Martys body, Marty pulls the gun out and tries twice to shoot Ray, Ray takes the gun and buries Marty alive. Ray calls Abby from a booth and tells her he loves her
