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Provocative French filmmaker Bertrand Blier, who scored hits with transgressive comedies featuring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert such as “Going Places” and “Get Out Your Handkerchiefs,” has died. He was 85.

Blier died on Monday night at his home in Paris surrounded by his wife and children, his son Leonard Blier told French news agency Afp.

“It is with great sadness that I learn of the death of Bertrand Blier. He was a genius of dialogue, in the tradition of Prévert and Audiard,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on X.

Born in 1939 in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, Blier was the son of actor Bernard Blier and grew up was steeped in film and theatre. He made his directing debut with cinema-verité documentary “Hitler—Never Heard of Him” in 1963 which earned critical kudos.

“Going Places,” which came out in 1974 and involved two brutal young men who drift about France in...

“Atlanta Influences Everything” is a popular motto and movement capturing where the Southern city stands today. But Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthplace wasn’t always what it symbolizes now. Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, the Will Packer-produced limited series for Peacock bowing Sept. 6 and starring Kevin Hart with Samuel L. Jackson headlining an all-star cast, explores how a historic Muhammad Ali fight foreshadowed what the city’s impact would eventually become.

It’s an impact the Girls Trip and Oscars 2022 producer, who anchored his career in Atlanta beginning with the film Trois nearly 25 years ago, has personally experienced. Fight Night, which takes place during the time of Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta, is Packer’s 75th project. With that in mind, the promotional campaign for the series — which also stars Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Chloe Bailey, with Shaye Ogbonna as its creator/showrunner...

Starz has announced the movie and TV titles that will be available on the service in September. The Starz September 2024 schedule includes the premiere of Three Women, a limited series based on the New York Times bestselling book that explores female desire through the compellingly raw and honest stories of three women on a crash course to radically change their lives.

Part Two of the final season of Power Book II: Ghost will also premiere. On the film front, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Imaginary, Arthur the King, Knock at the Cabin, The Strangers: Chapter 1, Training Day, Ant-Man, and several other notable titles will join the Starz app this month.

Three Women Starz Highlights

Power Book II: Ghost Season 4 Part 2

The second half of the fourth and final season of “Power Book II: Ghost” premieres on Friday, September 6, at midnight Et on the Starz app. On linear, it will air on Starz at 8:00 p.

Get ready for another dramatic episode of “Love Undercover” airing at 12:54 Pm on Thursday, June 20, 2024, exclusively on Bravo. In Season 1 Episode 4 titled “Menage à trois, No!”, tensions escalate as the ballers face tough decisions with 16 women vying for space in the penthouse but only 10 beds available. As relationships intensify and new connections form, the competition for attention and affection reaches a boiling point.

The episode promises a drama-filled party where Jamie’s risky behavior ignites sparks among the contestants. Meanwhile, Jacklyn and Seb navigate their budding relationship, but one misunderstood word threatens to derail their growing connection. Viewers can expect emotional highs and lows as the contestants navigate the complexities of love, competition, and personal dynamics in their quest for romance and recognition.

Hosted with intrigue and flair, “Love Undercover” continues to captivate audiences with its blend of romance and rivalry. Each episode unfolds with unexpected twists and turns,...

Regina Hall came down with pneumonia while shooting Girls Trip, the irreverent 2017 comedy from Will Packer, a savant who repeatedly has shown an obdurate Hollywood that Black movies can mint money at the box office. Hall recalls Packer’s superpower: persuading anyone, be they filmmakers, studio execs or, in this case, his star, to do what needs to be done. “I came to work, they tested me, and I had a fever. Will said he would rearrange the entire schedule so we could shoot my part first: ‘If you can just get through this scene for me, you won’t have to do anything else,’ ” she says. “I did get through it, and he made sure I had everything I needed to heal.”

Girls Trip — the first movie produced, written, directed by and starring African Americans to cross $100 million at the domestic box office on its way to earning $140.9 million...

This year, the Cannes Film Festival kicked off with a restoration of Jean Eustache’s 1973 ménage à trois scandal “The Mother and the Whore” and concluded with a screening of controversial Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” creating an odd kind of symmetry for the event’s 75th anniversary edition. Made half a century apart, Eustache and Östlund’s rhyming triangles were hardly the only parallels to be found at Cannes — though anyone who’s ever binge-watched movies at a major festival knows the feeling of such connections, often just a fluke of the order in which you see movies whose images and ideas inevitably resonate with one another.

Masked in screening rooms full of Covid-defiant strangers, I somehow managed to screen all 21 films in competition this year, and such similarities were myriad, while the masterpieces were scarce.

Consider this could-be coincidence: Roughly midway through Östlund’s diamond-sharp, influencer-skewering...

With the $28 million opening of Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish comedy “Night School” last weekend, producer Will Packer scored his tenth first-place box office opening. He’s a success story that stands out at a time when issues surrounding inclusivity and diversity are a cause célèbre, as the Hollywood machine faces steadfast criticism for its shortcomings on those fronts. Collectively, Packer’s films have earned a box office lifetime gross of over $1.2 billion, topping even the prolific Tyler Perry — a fellow African American director-producer with a similar ethos with respect to producing and distributing content. So what’s Packer’s secret?

It’s a formula that the seasoned producer honed very early in his career, with indie efforts like the 2000 erotic thriller “Trois”: relatively low- to moderately-budgeted films, targeting specific audiences that have been historically ignored by the studio system. “Trois” was made on a $250,000 budget, and grossed over...

Few producers have had the sort of impact in Hollywood than Will Packer has had, while remaining based in Atlanta, Georgia. From his early days producing independent films like Trois and The Gospel to producing the hit dance movie Stomp the Yard, taking him all the way through enormous hits like Think Like a Man and Ride Along and their respective sequels. In all his ventures, Packer has found a way to produce material that connected with African-American audiences in the country while finding and cultivating talent like Columbus Short, Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy and many more.

Packer’s latest film Almost Christmas teams him with writer/director David E. Talpert (Baggage Claim) to create an amazing ensemble comedy, starring Danny Glover as Walter, a widower and head of the Meyers family: feuding sisters Rachel and Cheryl (Gabrielle Union, Kimberly Elise), Christian (Romany Malco) who is in the...

“Think Like a Man Too” producers Will Packer and Rob Hardy are being sued by a former business partner who owned approximately 33% of their company Rainforest Films, according to court documents obtained by TheWrap. Bronner Brothers president/CEO Bernard Bronner invested more than $500,000 to help Packer and Hardy launch Rainforest, in addition to helping them raise more than $250,000 for the company. It was Bronner's initial investment in Rainforest's “Trois” that led to the company's continued success with box office hits such as “Stomp the Yard,” “Obsessed” and “Takers.” Also read: Evan Rachel Wood Sued for $30 Million for Leaving '10...

Director and actor Carl Franklin will be 62 today. As an actor, he’s appeared in Five On The Black Hand Side, Good Times, The Fantastic Journey tv series, Lou Grant, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, Steel Magnolias and more. His directing creations include One False Move, Devil In A Blue Dress, One True Thing and Last Of The Ninth. Upcoming productions include Bless Me, Ultima and El Chico Blanco.

Actor Vicellous Reon Shannon welcomes 40. The Tennessee native’s credits include MacGyver, Sister To Sister, Roc, Deep Cover, Chicago Hope, Touched By An Angel, The Hurricane, 24, Dancing In September, House M.D., Jag and Sons Of Anarchy.

Producer Will Packer has a birthday today. The Florida native has produced a slew of hits. Trois, The Gospel, This Christmas, Stomp The Yard, Takers and Obsessed are just a few.

Rainforest Films' "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming" has begun principal photography in Atlanta.

"Fame" lead Collins Pennie stars as Chance Harris, a student juggling school, girls, job, debt and a looming nationally televised step competition during a stressful homecoming weekend at Truth University.

Pooch Hall ("The Game"), Terrence J ("106 & Park"), Lil Duval ("Comedian"), Tika Sumpter ("One Life To Live"), Kiely Alexis Williams ("The Cheetah Girls"), Keith David ("Gamer"), rapper David Banner and music artist Teyena Taylor join "So You Think You Can Dance" runner-up Stephen "tWitch" Boss in the cast.

Rob Hardy ("Trois," CBS's "Criminal Minds") is directing a script written by Albert Leon ("Feel the Noise"). Rainforest's Will Packer ("Obsessed") is producing the follow-up to the 2007 Screen Gems release "Stomp the Yard," which grossed $74 million worldwide.

Pennie, repped by Icm and Untitled, has appeared in "Half Nelson," "Fired Up!" and "Prom Night."

Rainforest, which Hardy and Packer founded in 1994, recently produced "This Christmas,...

Stephen "tWitch" Boss has joined Ranforest Films' "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming." Rob Hardy ("Trois") helms from the screenplay written by Albert Leon ("Feel the Noise"). Will Packer, producer of "Obsessed" starring Idris Elba and Beyonce Knowles, produces and the film stars shooting in Atlanta next week. Boss will play an antagonist called Taz. The first film aired in 2007 and managed to accumulated over $74 million worldwide.

In a story from The Hollywood Reporter, Stephen "tWitch" Boss has been cast in Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming for Rainforest Films. Boss is best known for being a runner up in the fourth season of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance.

Rob Hardy Trois will be directing this project. The script was written by Albert Leon (Feel the Noise). The film will begin shooting in Atlanta next week.

Boss will play the film's antagonist, Taz.

Stephen "tWitch" Boss has stomped his way from the stage to the yard.

The footloose runner-up of the fourth season of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" has been cast in Rainforest Films' "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming." Rob Hardy ("Trois") is directing a script written by Albert Leon ("Feel the Noise").

Rainforest's Will Packer ("Obsessed") is producing the project, which starts shooting in Atlanta next week.

Boss is slated to star as the antagonist, Taz.

The original "Stomp the Yard," which Screen Gems released in 2007, kicked up $74 million worldwide.

Boss, repped by Msa and Diaz Management Group, displayed his dance skills in the features "Blades of Glory" and "Hairspray." He next appears in Disney's "Step Up 3-D," in August.

Writer-director Rob Hardy has signed on to helm the sequel "Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming" for Rainforest Films.

Columbus Short, who starred in the original Sony Screen Gems release, is in negotiations to reprise his role as DJ, a master street dancer. Other casting is under way. The sequel is set to shoot early next month in Atlanta.

Will Packer ("Obsessed") will produce through his Rainforest banner, along with Short. Hardy was an executive producer on the original "Stomp the Yard," which unspooled in 2007 and rang up $74 million worldwide.

Repped by Gersh and manager Adam Robinson, Hardy is a partner in Rainforest ("Obsessed," "This Christmas") and an exec producer on the comedies "Act Like a Lady Think Like a Man" and "The Black Phantom," both at Screen Gems. He wrote and directed the features "The Gospel" and "Trois" and has directed episodes of "Criminal Minds" and "ER."

Short -- repped...