Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era and one of the most popular directors and producers in film history. Spielberg started in Hollywood directing television and several minor theatrical releases, he became a household name as the director of Jaws, critically and commercially successful and is considered the first summer blockbuster. His subsequent releases focused on science fiction and adventure films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones series, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park are seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood escapist filmmaking. Spielberg transitioned into addressing serious issues in his work with The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, he has adhered to this practice during the 21st century, with Munich, Bridge of Spies, The Post. He co-founded Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Studios, where he has served as a producer for several successful films, including the Gremlins, Back to the Future, Men in Black, the Transformers series.
He transitioned into producing several games within the video-game industry. Spielberg is one of the American film industry's most critically successful filmmakers, with praise for his directing talent and versatility, he has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice; some of his movies are among the highest-grossing movies of all-time, while his total work makes him the highest-grossing film director in history. His net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion. Spielberg was born on December 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, his mother, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His family was Orthodox Jewish. Spielberg's paternal grandparents were Jewish Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Cincinnati in the 1900s. In 1950, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey, when his father took a job with RCA. Three years the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis.
As a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. "It isn't something I enjoy admitting," he once said, "but when I was seven, nine years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents' Jewish practices. I was never ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times." Spielberg said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice and bullying: "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses, it was horrible." At age 12, he made his first home movie: a train wreck involving his toy Lionel trains. Throughout his early teens, after entering high school, Spielberg continued to make amateur 8 mm "adventure" films. In 1958, he became a Boy Scout and fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. Years Spielberg recalled to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father's movie camera.
He said yes, I got an idea to do a Western. I got my merit badge; that was how it all started." At age 13, while living in Phoenix, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled Escape to Nowhere... using a cast composed of other high school friends. That motivated him to make 15 more amateur 8 mm films; some of the films he cited as early influences that he grew up watching include the Godzilla kaiju film King of the Monsters, which he called "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was happening", as well as titles such as Captains Courageous and Lawrence of Arabia. In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight, which would inspire Close Encounters; the film was made for $500, most of which came from his father, was shown in a local cinema for one evening, which earned back its cost. After attending Arcadia High School in Phoenix for three years, his family next moved to Saratoga, where he graduated from Saratoga High School in 1965.
He attained the rank of Eagle Scout. His parents divorced while he was still in school, soon after he graduated Spielberg moved to Los Angeles, staying with his father, his long-term goal was to become a film director. His three sisters and mother remained in Saratoga. In Los Angeles, he applied to the University of Southern California's film school, but was turned down because of his "C" grade average, he applied and was admitted to California State University, Long Beach, where he became a brother of Theta Chi Fraternity. While still a student, he was offered a small unpaid intern job at Universal Studios with the editing department, he was given the opportunity to make a short film for theatrical release, the 26-minute, 35 mm, Amblin', which he wrote and directed. Studio vice president Sidney Sheinberg was impressed by the film, which had won a number of awards, offered Spielberg a seven-year directing contract, it made him the youngest director to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio.
He subsequently dropped out of college to begin pro
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year in the Academy Awards; the eligibility period for the Golden Globes corresponds to the calendar year. The 76th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television in 2018, were held on January 6, 2019; the 77th Golden Globe Awards will take place on January 5, 2020. In 1943, a group of writers banded together to form the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and, by creating a generously distributed award called the Golden Globe Award, they now play a significant role in film marketing; the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, were held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at various venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish a special honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as an international figure within the entertainment industry, the first award was presented to director and producer, Cecil B. DeMille; the official name of the award thus became the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Beginning in 1963, the trophies commenced to be handed out by one or more persons referred to as "Miss Golden Globe", a title renamed on January 5, 2018 to "Golden Globe Ambassador"; the holders of the position were, the daughters or sometimes the sons of a celebrity, as a point of pride, these continued to be contested among celebrity parents. In 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned; the New York firm Society Awards collaborated for a year with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to produce a statuette that included a unique marble and enhanced the statuette's quality and gold content.
It was unveiled at a press conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. Revenues generated from the annual ceremony have enabled the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to donate millions of dollars to entertainment-related charities, as well as funding scholarships and other programs for future film and television professionals; the most prominent beneficiary is the Young Artist Awards, presented annually by the Young Artist Foundation, established in 1978 by Hollywood Foreign Press member Maureen Dragone, to recognize and award excellence of young Hollywood performers under the age of 21 and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically or financially challenged. The qualifying eligibility period for all nominations is the calendar year from January 1 through December 31. Voice-over performances and cameo appearances in which persons play themselves are disqualified from all of the film and TV acting categories. Films must be at least 70 minutes and released for at least a seven-day run in the Greater Los Angeles area, starting prior to midnight on December 31.
Films can be released on pay-per-view, or by digital delivery. For the Best Foreign Language Film category, films do not need to be released in the United States. At least 51 percent of the dialogue must be in a language other than English, they must first be released in their country of origin during a 14-month period from November 1 to December 31 prior to the Awards. However, if a film was not released in its country of origin due to censorship, it can still qualify if it had a one-week release in the United States during the qualifying calendar year. There is no limit to the number of submitted films from a given country. A TV program must air in the United States between the prime time hours of 11:00 p.m.. A show can air on basic or premium cable, or by digital delivery. A TV show must either be made in the United States or be a co-production financially and creatively between an American and a foreign production company. Furthermore and non-scripted shows are disqualified. For a television film, it cannot be entered in both the film and TV categories, instead should be entered based on its original release format.
If it was first aired on American television it can be entered into the TV categories. If it was released in theaters or on pay-per-view it should instead to be entered into the film categories. A film festival showing does not count towards disqualifying. Actors in a TV series must appear in at least six episodes during the qualifying calendar year. Actors in a TV film or miniseries must appear in at least five percent of the time in that TV film or miniseries. Active HFPA members need to be invited to an official screening of each eligible film directly by its respective distributor or publicist; the screening must take place in the Greater Los Angeles area, either before the film's release or up to one week afterwards. The screening can be a regular screening in a theater with a press screening; the screening must be cleared with the Motion Picture Association of America so there are not scheduling conflicts with other official screenings. For TV programs, they must be available to be seen by HFPA members in any common format, including the original TV broadcast.
Entry forms for films need to be received by the HFPA within ten days of the
Enchanted (film)
Enchanted is a 2007 American live action/animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Sonnenfeld Productions and Josephson Entertainment. Written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima, the film stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey, Susan Sarandon; the plot focuses on Giselle, an archetypal Disney Princess, forced from her traditional animated world of Andalasia into the live-action world of New York City. Enchanted was the first Disney film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, instead of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution; the film is both a homage to, a self-parody of, Disney's animated features, making numerous references to Disney's past works through the combination of live-action filmmaking, traditional animation, computer-generated imagery. It marks the return of traditional animation to a Disney feature film after the company's decision to move to computer animation in 2004.
Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who had written songs for previous Disney films, produced the songs of Enchanted, with Menken composing its score. The animation sequences were produced at James Baxter Animation in Pasadena. Filming of the live action segments took place around New York City, it premiered on October 20, 2007, at the London Film Festival before its wide release on November 21, 2007, in the United States. Enchanted was well-received critically, established Adams as a leading lady, earned more than $340 million worldwide at the box office, it won three Saturn Awards, including Best Fantasy Best Actress for Adams. Enchanted received two nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards and three Best Original Song nominations at the 80th Academy Awards. A sequel, titled Disenchanted, is in development. In the animated fairy tale kingdom of Andalasia, Queen Narissa, queen of Andalasia and a witch, schemes to protect her claim to the throne, which she will lose once her stepson, Prince Edward, finds his true love and marries her.
She enlists her loyal henchman Nathaniel to keep Edward distracted. Giselle, a young woman, dreams of meeting a prince and experiencing a "happy after." Edward sets off to find her. Nathaniel sets free a captured troll to kill Giselle; when they meet, they fall in love and plan to get married the following day. Disguised as an old hag, Narissa intercepts Giselle on her way to the wedding and pushes her into a well, to New York City, a place where there are no "happily afters", where she is magically transformed into a 3D live-action version of herself and transported to a manhole in New York City's Times Square. Giselle becomes lost. Meanwhile, Robert, a divorce lawyer, prepares to propose to his longtime girlfriend Nancy, much to the dismay of his daughter Morgan. Robert and Morgan encounter Giselle on their way home, Robert begrudgingly allows Giselle to stay the night at their apartment at the insistence of Morgan, who trusts Giselle. Pip, Giselle's best chipmunk friend from Andalasia, had witnessed Giselle's exile and alerted Edward thereafter, both embark on a rescue mission to the city, where they too are turned into 3D live-action versions, but Pip is instead in the form of a real chipmunk – therefore losing the ability to speak.
Narissa sends Nathaniel to impede Edward. In a restaurant, Narissa appears to Nathaniel in a soup pot and gives him three poisoned apples to murder Giselle. Pip eavesdrops but is unable to communicate with Edward, as animals cannot speak outside of Andalasia. Nathaniel keeps Pip silenced by detaining him in various containers. Meanwhile, after Giselle summons vermin to clean Robert's apartment, Nancy arrives to take Morgan to school, she leaves assuming Robert was unfaithful. Robert is upset but spends the day with Giselle, knowing she is vulnerable in the city. Giselle questions Robert about his relationship with Nancy and helps the pair reconcile by sending Nancy an invitation to the "King and Queen's Costume Ball" at the Woolworth Building. Edward locates Giselle at Robert's apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home to Andalasia and marry, she suggests that they should first go on a date to get to know each other better, still conflicted about her feelings. Giselle promises to return to Andalasia after ending their date at the ball, which Robert and Nancy attend.
Narissa, spying from Andalasia, decides to follow and kill Giselle herself after Nathaniel failed to poison her twice. Robert and Giselle look into each other's eyes, romantically. Giselle and Edward prepare to leave, but Giselle feels sorrow at leaving Robert behind. Narissa appears as the old hag and offers the last poisoned apple to Giselle, promising "sweet dreams and happy endings." Giselle is rendered unconscious. Narissa is stopped by Edward. Nathaniel, realizing Narissa never loved him, reveals her plot. Robert realizes. Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle, Edward prompts Robert to do so instead; when Robert kisses her just as the clock strikes twelve, Giselle awakens and the whole crowd cheers. Narissa furiously takes Robert hostage. Giselle pursues Narissa to the top of the building. Pip, freed by Edward, helps Giselle send Narissa falling to her death. A happy new life unfolds for everyone, showing Nancy marrying in Andalasia.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film studio in the world, the second oldest in the United States, the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios still located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 22 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only; the company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, California, United States. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company, Universal Studios, it is the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company. Hungarian-born founder Adolph Zukor, an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, Zukor was on his way to success, its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish known as Samuel Goldwyn; the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a suitable site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film, The Squaw Man. Starting in 1914, both Lasky and Famous Players released their films through a start-up company, Paramount Pictures Corporation, organized early that year by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson, who had bought and merged several smaller firms.
Hodkinson and actor, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies. Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor. Famous Players and Lasky were owned while Paramount was a corporation. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, merged the three companies into one; the new company Lasky and Zukor founded, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn and DeMille running the production side, Hiram Abrams in charge of distribution, Zukor making great plans. With only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business; because Zukor believed in stars, he signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including Mary Pickford, Marguerite Clark, Pauline Frederick, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Reid. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block booking", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions.
It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust grounds for more than twenty years. The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. Through the teens and twenties, he built the Publix Theatres Corporation, a chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios, became an early investor in radio, taking a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast operations, they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. Three years because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios in New York City.
The Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957. Paramount was one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as "talkies", in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris. Richard A. Whiting and Leo Robin composed the score for the film. By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, Zukor gained the services of Barney Balaban, his brother A. J. Balaban, their partner Sam Katz (who would run the Paramount-Publix theatre chain in New York City from the thirty-five-stor
New York City
The City of New York called either New York City or New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles, New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural and media capital of the world, exerts a significant impact upon commerce, research, education, tourism, art and sports; the city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of, a separate county of the State of New York. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898; the city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. New York City is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the United States, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. In 2017, the New York metropolitan area produced a gross metropolitan product of US$1.73 trillion. If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world. New York is home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world. New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan.
The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, it has been the country's largest city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U. S. by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is an international symbol of the U. S. and its ideals of liberty and peace. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, environmental sustainability, as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. Many districts and landmarks in New York City are well known, with the city having three of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013 and receiving a record 62.8 million tourists in 2017. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world. Times Square, iconic as the world's "heart" and its "Crossroads", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, a major center of the world's entertainment industry.
The names of many of the city's landmarks and parks are known around the world. Manhattan's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. New York is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system worldwide, with 472 rail stations. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top universities in the world. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, the city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. In 1664, the city was named in honor of the Duke of York.
James's older brother, King Charles II, had appointed the Duke proprietor of the former territory of New Netherland, including the city of New Amsterdam, which England had seized from the Dutch. During the Wisconsinan glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth; the erosive forward movement of the ice contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. In the precolonial era, the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquian Native Americans, including the Lenape, whose homeland, known as Lenapehoking, included Staten Island; the first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown. He named it Nouvelle Angoulême. A Spanish expedition led by captain Estêvão Gomes, a Portuguese sailing for Emperor Charles V, arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of the Hudson River, which he named Río de San Antonio.
The Padrón Rea
Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk western action comedy film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from a story by brothers Jim and John Thomas. Loosely adapted from The Wild Wild West 1960s TV series created by Michael Garrison, it is the first production featuring the characters from the original television series in nearly 19 years, following the television film More Wild Wild West. Set in an alternate history of the American Old West in 1869 featuring a large amount of steam-powered gadgetry, the film stars Will Smith and Kevin Kline as two rival U. S. Secret Service agents who put their differences aside in order to protect U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States, with Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, Ted Levine and M. Emmet Walsh in supporting roles. Wild Wild West premiered on June 28, 1999 at Westwood, Los Angeles, followed by its general theatrical release in the United States on June 30, 1999 by Warner Bros.
Upon release, the film was predominantly panned by critics. Sweeping the 20th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1999, Wild Wild West received three Razzie nominations and won in the categories of Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple and Worst Original Song. Produced on a $170 million budget, it went on to gross $113.8 million domestically and $108.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $222.1 million, making it a major box office flop. In recent years however, it has since become a cult film in the "so-bad-it's-good" vein. In 1869, four years after the end of the American Civil War, U. S. Army Captain James T. “Jim” West and U. S. Marshal Artemus Gordon hunt for ex-Confederate General "Bloodbath" McGrath throughout the United States due to being responsible for a massacre in a settlement called New Liberty where many of the freed slaves were murdered, including West's parents. U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant informs the duo about the disappearance of America's key scientists and a treasonous plot by McGrath.
On board their train The Wanderer, Gordon examines the severed head of a murdered scientist named Thaddeus Morton using a projector to reveal the last thing he saw. Finding McGrath and a clue in the image, he and West head to New Orleans while pursuing a lead about Dr. Arliss Loveless, an ex-Confederate and legless mad scientist confined in a steam-powered wheelchair, hosting a party for the elite of Southern society. During the party, Gordon roams the mansion where he comes across and rescues a caged woman named Rita Escobar. Once West and Rita flee to The Wanderer, Rita asks for their help in rescuing her father Professor Escobar, one of the kidnapped scientists. Loveless hosts a reception to demonstrate his newest weapon, a steam-powered tank that uses McGrath's soldiers as target practice. Angered by this, McGrath threatens to shoot Loveless, but the latter instead shoots before he could do so after accusing him of "betrayal" for surrendering at Appomattox; as Loveless and his posse head to Utah, West and Rita find McGrath who, before he dies, reveals that he was framed by Loveless for the New Liberty massacre and that Loveless used his tank to kill his people there.
The trio pursue Loveless on The Wanderer, but having expected their arrival and using steam-powered hydraulics, Loveless maneuvers his train behind The Wanderer. West manages to disable Loveless's train, but not before Loveless uses a cannon-launched grappling hook to stop The Wanderer. Afraid of being recaptured by Loveless, Rita grabs one of Gordon's explosive rigged pool balls as protection but accidentally releases sleeping gas that knocks out West and herself. West and Gordon wake up as Loveless and his posse pull away in The Wanderer while taking Rita hostage and announcing his intentions to capture President Grant at the golden spike ceremony in Promontory Point, that West and Gordon will be killed should they step outside of the trap they are in. Escaping the trap and Gordon stumble across Loveless's private railroad that leads to his industrial complex hidden in Spider Canyon. There, the two witness Loveless's ultimate weapon, an 80 ft. mechanical spider with a nitroglycerin cannon that Loveless uses to capture Grant and Gordon at the ceremony while West gets shot by one of Loveless's bodyguards after sneaking inside.
At his industrial complex, Loveless reveals his intentions to destroy the United States with his mechanized forces unless Grant agrees to divide the states among Great Britain, Spain, the Native American people and himself. When Grant refuses to surrender, Loveless orders Gordon to be shot, but West – who had survived thanks to a chain mail vest Gordon gave him earlier – disguises himself as a belly dancer to distract Loveless, allowing Gordon to set free the scientists. Loveless escapes on his spider in the ensuing battle, taking Grant with him. To save Grant and West crash onto the spider via a flying machine as Loveless destroys a small town in an attempt to force Grant to sign the surrender. After West defeats Loveless' henchmen below, a fight ensues between him and Loveless, now on mechanical legs. Using a small gun, Gordon shoots at one of Loveless's mechanical legs, allowing West to gain the upper hand and for Gordon and Grant to defeat Loveless's guards. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair as the spider approac
Men in Black (1997 film)
Men in Black is a 1997 American science-fiction action/comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, written by Ed Solomon. Loosely adapted from The Men in Black comic book series created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers, the film stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as two agents of a secret organization called the Men in Black, who supervise extraterrestrial lifeforms who live on Earth and hide their existence from ordinary humans; the film featured the creature effects and makeup of Rick Baker and visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic. The film was released on July 2, 1997 by Columbia Pictures and grossed over $589.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget, becoming the year's third highest-grossing film, with an estimated 54,616,700 tickets sold in the US. It received worldwide acclaim, with critics praising its witty, sophisticated humor, thematic profundity, action scenes and Smith's performances, special effects and Danny Elfman's musical score.
The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Makeup, winning the latter award. The film spawned two sequels, Men in Black II and Men in Black 3, a spin-off film Men in Black: International and an 1997-2001 animated series. After a government agency makes first contact with aliens in 1961, alien refugees live in secret on Earth by disguising themselves as humans in the New York metropolitan area. Men in Black is a secret agency that polices these aliens, protects Earth from intergalactic threats and uses memory-erasing neuralyzers to keep alien activity a secret. Men in Black agents have their former identities erased and retired agents are neuralyzed and given new identities. After an operation to arrest an alien criminal near the Mexican border by agents K and D, D decides that he is too old for his job to which K neuralyzes him and begins looking for a new partner. New York Police Department officer James Darrell Edwards III pursues a supernaturally fast and agile suspect into the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Men in Black agent K interviews James about his encounter neuralyzes him and leaves him a business card with an address. Edwards undergoes a series of tests, for which he finds unusual solutions. While the other candidates are neuralyzed, K offers Edwards a position with the Men in Black. Edwards accepts and his identity is erased, becoming Agent J, the newest Men in Black recruit. In upstate New York, an alien illegally crash-lands on Earth and kills a farmer named Edgar to use his skin as a disguise; the alien kills two aliens disguised as humans. He finds only diamonds inside. After learning about the incident in a tabloid magazine, K investigates the crash landing and concludes that Edgar's skin was taken by a "bug", a species of aggressive cockroach-like aliens, he and J head to a morgue to examine the bodies. Inside one body they discover a dying Arquillian alien, who says that "to prevent war, the galaxy is on Orion's belt"; the alien, who used the name Rosenberg, was a member of the Arquillian royal family.
Men in Black informant Frank the Pug, an alien disguised as a pug, explains that the missing galaxy is a massive energy source housed in a small jewel. J deduces that the galaxy is hanging on the collar of Rosenberg's cat Orion, which refuses to leave the body at the morgue. J and K arrive just as the bug kidnaps the coroner, Laurel Weaver. An Arquillian battleship fires a warning shot in the Arctic and delivers an ultimatum to Men in Black: return the galaxy within a "galactic standard week", or an hour of Earth time, or they will destroy Earth; the bug arrives at the observation towers of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows, which disguise two flying saucers, where Laurel escapes its clutches. It escapes on one saucer; the bug swallows J and K's guns. K provokes it; the bug tries to escape on the other ship, but J slows it down by taunting it and crushing cockroaches, angering it. K blows the bug apart from the inside. J and K recover the galaxy and relax, thinking the whole ordeal over, only for the still living bug to prepare to pounce on them from behind but Laurel blows it up with J's gun.
At Men in Black headquarters, K tells J that he has not been training him as a partner but a replacement. K bids J farewell. Clint Eastwood turned down the part, while Jones only accepted the role after Steven Spielberg promised the script would improve, based on his respect for Spielberg's track record, he had been disappointed with the first draft, which he said "stank". Will Smith as James Darrell Edwards III/Agent J: A former NYPD member, newly recruited to the MIB. Smith was cast because Barry Sonnenfeld's wife was a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Sonnenfeld liked his performance in Six Degrees of Separation. Chris O'Donnell turned down the role because he found the role of a new recruit too similar to Dick Grayson, whom he played in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. David Schwimmer turned down the part. Like Jones, Smith said he accepted the role after meeting with Spielberg and cited his success as a producer. Linda Fiorentino as Dr. Laurel Weaver/Agent L: A deputy medical examiner who has had a few run-
