Many in Hollywood were deeply saddened over the news of Peter Bogdanovich’s death on Thursday and took to social media to pay tribute to the late director.
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon died shortly after midnight Thursday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, his daughter Antonia Bogdanovich told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 82.
Bogdanovich’s film, The Last Picture Show (1971), earned eight Academy Awards nominations — including directing and adapted screenplay (shared with Larry McMurtry) for him — and supporting acting awards for Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson.
Tatum O’Neal, who won an Academy Award when she was 10-years-old for her work in Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon, paid tribute on Instagram and described the late director as a “father figure” and “friend” to her. “Peter was my heaven & earth. A father figure. A friend. From ‘Paper Moon’ to ‘Nickelodeon’ he always made me feel safe. I love you, Peter.”
Fellow directors Guillermo del Toro and Paul Feig also took to Twitter to remember Bogdanovich as a “Champion of Cinema.” “Peter Bogdanovich passed away. He was a dear friend and a champion of cinema. He birthed masterpieces as a director and was a most genial human. He single-handedly interviewed and enshrined the lives and work of more classic filmmakers than almost anyone else in his generation,” del Toro tweeted, also encouraging everyone to “honor him” by viewing the late director’s work.
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Meanwhile, Feig shared that Bogdanovich’s What’s Up Doc? was “one of my favorite comedies of all time and the movie that made me want to make people laugh when I was a kid.”
Of Bogdanovich, Cary Elwes said the late director was “one of my oldest friends.” “Besides being extraordinarily talented, he was a gentle soul with an enormous heart. I am forever grateful to have worked with him. RIP Peter,” he said.
Writer-director Rod Lurie credited Bogdanovich for being “the North Star” of his career.
After news broke of Bogdanovich’s death, Hollywood stars took to social media to express their condolences.
Peter Bogdanovich passed away. He was a dear friend and a champion of Cinema. He birthed masterpieces as a director and was a most genial human. He single-handedly interviewed and enshrined the lives and work of more classic filmmakers than almost anyone else in his generation. pic.twitter.com/hL08ORCilN
Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of my oldest friends, legendary director & film historian, Peter Bogdanovich. Besides being extraordinarily talented, he was a gentle soul with an enormous heart. I am forever grateful to have worked with him. RIP Peter 😢🎬 pic.twitter.com/BrBBL2oXqM
#PeterBogdanovich has passed away at the age of 82. He was a brilliant director (SAINT JACK is the masterwork you may not know) and also a marvelous film critic and author. In many ways, he was the North Star of my career. RIP. https://t.co/RbBFcDjYJm
Peter Bogdanovich, who I got to know through Cybill Shepherd, passed away today. A good man and a great filmmaker. Watch his films, read his books or listen to the podcast about his life on “The Plot Thickens”…all will be time well spent. #PeterBogdanovich#CybillShepherd
Peter Bogdanovich loved the movies. Making them, watching them, analyzing them, talking all night long about them. “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up Doc?” are two of the most entertaining films of all time. Put on an ascot and watch them tonight. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/ZRD53i7FY6
We are saddened to hear about the passing of prolific director and a dear friend of ours, Peter Bogdanovich. A leading voice of ’70s Hollywood and a champion of Classic Hollywood, his passion inspired generations of filmmakers.@THR remembers him here: https://t.co/gKBTKfD9TZ pic.twitter.com/M5QXkUImXc
RIP Peter Bogdanovich. He made some amazing films, including one the greatest comedies of all time, “What’s Up, Doc?” I had the pleasure to direct him for his brief cameo in my episode “Yokel Chords” and he did not disappoint. pic.twitter.com/1ps0poGBxm
One of the GREAT directors of the 1970s has died. Peter Bogdanovich’s films include THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, PAPER MOON, WHAT’S UP DOC, & the brilliant little known SAINT JACK (below). PB was also a great Hollywood historian (read his books), and a fine actor (THE SOPRANOS). RIP pic.twitter.com/uzLBABOCWF
I will never forget this night. The picture played so well (it’s underrated!) and the audience would’ve stayed all night to hear more of Peter Bogdanovich’s incredible stories. What a life and career. https://t.co/G3AyPuiQxJ
Hitting the three-quarter-century mark usually means a retirement home, a nursing facility, or if you’re lucky to be blessed with relatively good health and savings to match, living in a gated community in Arizona or Florida.
For Sylvester Stallone, however, it means something else entirely: starring in the first superhero-centered film of his decades-long career in the much-delayed Samaritan. Unfortunately for Stallone and the audience on the other side of the screen, the derivative, turgid, forgettable results won’t get mentioned in a career retrospective, let alone among the ever-expanding list of must-see entries in a genre already well past its peak.
For Stallone, however, it’s better late than never when it involves the superhero genre. Maybe in getting a taste of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) with his walk-on role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel several years ago, Stallone thought anything Marvel can do, I can do even better (or just as good in the nebulous definition of the word).
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The property Stallone and his team found for him, Samaritan, a little-known graphic novel released by a small, almost negligible, publisher, certainly takes advantage of Stallone’s brute-force physicality and his often underrated talent for near-monosyllabic brooding (e.g., the Rambo series), but too often gives him to little do or say as the lone super-powered survivor, the so-called “Samaritan” of the title, of a lifelong rivalry with his brother, “Nemesis.” Two brothers entered a fire-ravaged building and while both were presumed dead, one brother did survive (Stallone’s Joe Smith, a garbageman by day, an appliance repairman by night).
In the Granite City of screenwriter Bragi F. Schut (Escape Room, Season of the Witch), the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, teeters on economic and political collapse, with a recession spiraling into a depression, steady gigs difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, and the city’s neighborhoods rocked by crime and violence. No one’s safe, not even 13-year-old Sam (Javon Walker), Joe’s neighbor.
When he’s not dodging bullies connected to a gang, he’s falling under the undue influence of Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), a low-rent gang leader with an outsized ego and the conviction that he and only he can take on Nemesis’s mantle and along with that mantle, a hammer “forged in hate,” to orchestrate a Bane-like plan to plunge the city into chaos and become a wealthy power-broker in the process.
Schut’s woefully underwritten script takes a clumsy, haphazard approach to world-building, relying on a two-minute animated sequence to open Samaritan while a naive, worshipful Sam narrates Samaritan and Nemesis’s supposedly tragic, Cain and Abel-inspired backstory. Schut and director Julius Avery (Overlord) clumsily attempt to contrast Sam’s childish belief in messiah-like, superheroic saviors stepping in to save humanity from itself and its own worst excesses, but following that path leads to authoritarianism and fascism (ideas better, more thoroughly explored in Watchmen and TheBoys).
While Sam continues to think otherwise, Stallone’s superhero, 25 years past his last, fatal encounter with his presumably deceased brother, obviously believes superheroes are the problem and not the solution (a somewhat reasonable position), but as Samaritan tracks Joe and Sam’s friendship, Sam giving Joe the son he never had, Joe giving Sam the father he lost to street violence well before the film’s opening scene, it gets closer and closer to embracing, if not outright endorsing Sam’s power fantasies, right through a literally and figuratively explosive ending. Might, as always, wins regardless of how righteous or justified the underlying action.
It’s what superhero audiences want, apparently, and what Samaritan uncritically delivers via a woefully under-rendered finale involving not just unconvincing CGI fire effects, but a videogame cut-scene quality Stallone in a late-film flashback sequence that’s meant to be subversively revelatory, but will instead lead to unintentional laughter for anyone who’s managed to sit the entirety of Samaritan’s one-hour and 40-minute running time.
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Samaritan is now streaming worldwide on Prime Video.
According to a new report, Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct the upcoming MCU project, Fantastic Four. Marvel Studios has been very hush-hush regarding Fantastic Four to the point where no official announcements have been made other than the film’s release date. No casting news or literally anything other than rumors has been released regarding the project. We know that Fantastic Four is slated for release on November 8th, 2024, and will be a part of Marvel’s Phase 6. There are also rumors that the cast of the new Fantastic Four will be announced at the D23 Expo on September 9th.
Fantastic Four is still over two years from release, and we assume we will hear more news about the project in the coming months. However, the idea of the Fantastic Four has already been introduced into the MCU. John Krasinski played Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The cameo was a huge deal for fans who have been waiting a long time for the Fantastic Four to enter the MCU. When Disney acquired Twenty Century Fox in 2019 we assumed that the Fox Marvel characters would eventually make their way into the MCU. It’s been 3 years and we already have had an X-Men and Fantastic Four cameo – even if they were from another universe.
Deadline is reporting that Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct Fantastic Four. Shakman served as the director for Wandavision and has had an extensive career. He directed two episodes of Game of Thrones and an episode of The Boys, and he had a long stint on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There is nothing official yet, but Deadline’s sources say that Shakman is currently in talks for the job and things are headed in the right direction.
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To be honest, I was a bit more excited when Jon Watts was set to direct. I’m sure Shakman is a good director, but Watts proved he could handle a tentpole superhero film with Spider-Man: Homecoming. Wandavision was good, but Watts’ style would have been perfect for Fantastic Four. The film is probably one of the most anticipated films in Marvel’s upcoming slate films and they need to find the best person they can to direct. Is that Matt Shakman? It could be, but whoever takes the job must realize that Marvel has a lot riding on this movie. The other Fantastic Four films were awful and fans deserve better. Hopefully, Marvel knocks it out of the park as they usually do. You can see for yourself when Fantastic Four hits theaters on November 8th, 2024.
Film Synopsis: One of Marvel’s most iconic families makes it to the big screen: the Fantastic Four.
Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase have entered Zombie Town, a mystery teen romancer based on author R.L. Stine’s book of the same name.
The indie, now shooting in Ontario, also stars Henry Czerny and co-teen leads Marlon Kazadi and Madi Monroe. The ensemble cast includes Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch of the Canadian comedy show Kids in the Hall.
Canadian animator Peter Lepeniotis will direct Zombie Town. Stine’s kid’s book sees a quiet town upended when 12-year-old Mike and his friend, Karen, see a horror movie called Zombie Town and unexpectedly see the title characters leap off the screen and chase them through the theater.
Zombie Town will premiere in U.S. theaters before streaming on Hulu and then ABC Australia in 2023.
“We are delighted to bring the pages of R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town to the screen and equally thrilled to be working with such an exceptional cast and crew on this production. A three-time Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award winner with book sales of over $500 million, R.L. Stine has a phenomenal track record of crafting stories that engage and entertain audiences,” John Gillespie, Trimuse Entertainment founder and executive producer, said in a statement.
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Executive producers are Trimuse Entertainment, Toonz Media Group, Lookout Entertainment, Viva Pictures and Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates.
Paco Alvarez and Mark Holdom of Trimuse negotiated the deal to acquire the rights to Stine’s Zombie Town book.