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Witticist-lyricist Lorenz Hart would cringe at the pun, but “Blue Moon” is nothing if not a funny valentine to the tortured songwriter who died in 1943 at age 48, having drunk too much on opening night of his final collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers. Set six months earlier, Richard Linklater’s splendid portrait stars a courageous but egregiously miscast Ethan Hawke, chewing the scenery from a one-foot trench in the floor. Like a backstage pass for Broadway buffs, it’s one hell of a show for those in the know and a sparkling introduction for the uninitiated.

This was not a happy period in Hart’s life, and though he comes off charming and clever — the showman-cum-show queen — what makes him such a deserving subject are the layers of insecurity and self-loathing for which his patter is so clearly overcompensating. “He was the saddest man I ever knew,” the singer Mabel Merced once said,...

Protagonizan el proyecto Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale y Andrew Scott. © Berlinale

Hoy se han dado a conocer las películas que competirán por el Oso de Oro en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Berlín –más conocido como Berlinale– en su 75 edición, que se celebrará del 13 al 23 de febrero.

Entre las películas a concurso, la que más destaca es Blue Moon, la nueva película de Richard Linklater (Hit Man) con un reparto de lujo al frente: Ethan Hawke en su novena colaboración con el director, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale y Andrew Scott.

Escrita por Robert Kaplow, autor de la novela Me and Orson Welles, Blue Moon narra los últimos días de Lorenz Hart, miembro del dúo de compositores Rodgers & Hart. La película se desarrolla principalmente en el restaurante Sardi’s el día 31 de marzo de 1943, mientras su antiguo colaborador Richard Rodgers celebra el estreno de su exitoso musical Oklahoma!.

Dick Pope, a British cinematographer best known for his collaborations with Mike Leigh, has passed away at the age of 77. The British Society of Cinematographers announced the news, but no cause of death was given.

In addition to his work with Leigh, which included “Naked,” “Secrets & Lies,” “Topsy-Turvy” and this year’s “Hard Truths,” Pope had collaborated with Christopher McQuarrie (on “The Way of the Gun”), Barry Levinson (“Man of the Year”), John Sayles (“Honeydripper”) and Richard Linklater.

“Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of cinematography,” the Bsc wrote in remembrance. ”He was keen to embrace new technologies and ideas while also ensuring the skills and crafts of those that came before him weren’t lost. To this end Dick would guest tutor at schools such as the National Film and Television School.”

Pope was nominated for two Oscars in his career,...

Richard Pope, the British cinematographer who collaborated with director Mike Leigh across his career and earned an Oscar nomination for his work lensing Leigh’s 2014 biopic “Mr. Turner,” died Tuesday in London. He was 77 years old.

Pope’s death was confirmed by the British Society of Cinematographers in a statement released Tuesday.

“It is with deepest sadness that we learn of the passing of our friend and colleague Dick Pope Bsc,” the organization wrote. “Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of cinematography. He was keen to embrace new technologies and ideas while also ensuring the skills and crafts of those that came before him weren’t lost.”

Pope’s artistic partnership with Leigh, the most enduring of his career, began with the 1990 drama “Life Is Sweet.” The film marked Leigh’s third feature. Pope has served as cinematographer on...

La película comenzará su rodaje este verano.

De acuerdo con Deadline, Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale y Andrew Scott protagonizarán la nueva película del aclamado director Richard Linklater (“Hit Man”), “Blue Moon”, que comenzará su rodaje este verano en Dublín, Irlanda.

Escrita por Robert Kaplow, autor de la novela “Me and Orson Welles”, “Blue Moon” narra los últimos días de Lorenz Hart, miembro del dúo de compositores Rodgers & Hart. La película se desarrollará principalmente en el restaurante Sardi’s el día 31 de marzo de 1943, que fue la noche del estreno de ¡Oklahoma!, que supuso la primera colaboración de Rodgers con Oscar Hammerstein II como sustituto de Hart.

Linklater ha dicho «Robert, Ethan y yo hemos estado desarrollando esta historia durante más de una década y estamos emocionados y agradecidos de que haya llegado el momento de darle vida.»

Un portavoz de Sony Pictures Classics declaró: «Hace casi un año,...

After making his last two movies for Netflix, Richard Linklater is heading back to movie theaters for his next project, and he’s also reuniting with one of his longtime collaborators for the first time in a decade: Ethan Hawke.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the rights to what will be Linklater’s next film, “Blue Moon,” the distributor announced Tuesday, June 18. Joining the project are Hawke, now working with Linklater for the ninth time, as well as Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and “Ripley” star Andrew Scott.

Principal photography on “Blue Moon” begins in Dublin, Ireland this summer with financing from Sony Pictures Classics and Renovo Media Group.

“Blue Moon” is about the final days of Lorenz Hart, who was half of the songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart. The film takes place largely in Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943 on the opening night of “Oklahoma!,” the first project Rodgers would...

A lot of movies about old Hollywood celebrate the opulence of the studio system or revel in the caricatures of the cigar-chomping moguls who established its lore. “Mank” chips away at those old chestnuts from the inside. David Fincher’s alluring black-and-white take on “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (an acerbic and funny Gary Oldman) presents .

Though forged in a meticulous 1930s backdrop that merges historical detail with the style and tone of that era, “Mank” is hardly a playful throwback. Fincher has made a cerebral psychodrama that rewards the engaged cinephile audience in its crosshairs, but even when cold to the touch, the movie delivers a complex and insightful look at American power structures and the potential for a creative spark to rankle their foundations.

The premise of “Mank” invites certain assumptions about its argument, so it’s worth dispelling those up top: Fincher, working from a dense...

With “Last Flag Flying” arriving in theaters, we’re taking on the not-so-simple task of ranking the movies of genre-hopping director Richard Linklater. The top titles on this list could rightfully be called modern classics, but every one of his films somehow evokes the heartfelt philosophy of his hypnotic “Waking Life”: human interaction is the highest form of spiritual communion.

20. “Bad News Bears” (2005)

The 1976 original was a true product of its time, with an all-star lineup led by Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal, but this unnecessary remake just felt like it was trying too hard. By 2005, the sight of an aggressively un-pc Little League coach (Billy Bob Thornton) encouraging outrageous behavior in his young team seemed less subversive than sad.

19. “Fast Food Nation” (2006)

When truth is stranger than fiction, why turn it into fiction? Linklater admirably attempted to create a multi-course meal out of Eric Schlosser’s bestselling book,...

“Where’d You Go, Bernadette” makes perfect sense as a Richard Linklater movie. In fact, this half-baked and eccentric tale of a modern woman getting her groove back — adapted from Maria Semple’s decidedly uncinematic novel of the same name — might only make sense as a Richard Linklater movie.

From the maverick likes of “Slacker” and “Boyhood” to the more studio-polished fare of “School of Rock” and “Me and Orson Welles,” Austin’s most inquisitive auteur has always been drawn to shaggy little stories about creative people trying to find their way through a world that doesn’t always spread itself out into a proper canvas. For a restless iconoclast like Linklater, there’s nothing more dangerous or exciting than an artist who doesn’t know what to do with themselves. So while other directors might have balked at the idea (or the commercial prospects) of a bizarre family comedy...

Taking a break from playing Disney sidekicks, Josh Gad will add his interpretation of Truman Capote to the cinematic canon in the upcoming film Party Of The Century, about the author’s famous Black And White Ball. According to a release, the story is not entirely centered on Capote—instead, it focuses on the romance between a fictional starlet played by Chloë Grace Moretz and Jack O’Connell’s elevator operator. So it’s more in the vein of a Me And Orson Welles or My Week With Marilyn-type project about people who have brushes with legends.

The movie comes from Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, who wrote and directed The Nanny Diaries. One presumes they are now tasked with finding celebs to cameo as the other famous faces at the event. Who’s going to play Warhol this time?...

Industry veteran, co-producer of Fox’s upcoming untitled A.A. Milne biopic, died suddenly at home last weekend.

UK producer-financier Steve Christian has died unexpectedly at home aged 53.

Former CinemaNX co-founder and chairman Christian, who previously oversaw the development of the Isle of Man’s film investment programme, most recently served as co-producer on Fox Searchlight’s upcoming Untitled A.A. Milne project starring Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie.

Christian, a former accountant, was intrinsic to the development of the Isle Of Man Film Commission, which invested in projects including Lawless Heart, The Libertine and Revolver as well as TV series The Shadow Line.

He launched production and distribution outfit CinemaNX, which was backed by the Isle of Man government, in 2007 alongside producer Marc Samuelson.

The outfit backed titles including Me And Orson Welles, The Disappearance of Alice Creed and Chico & Rita.

Christian joined Pinewood Pictures in 2012 when the studio took over management of the Isle of Man...

The director of films from Slacker to Everybody Wants Some!! is all enigmatic affability, concealing what is clearly an obsessive dedication to his art form

A long overdue documentary study of Richard Linklater, a film-maker whose lo-fi 90s debut Slacker pretty well reinvented “indie” as a genre, who created one of the great love stories with his Before Sunrise trilogy and whose real-time masterpiece Boyhood dominates the skyline of modern American cinema. Like Gus van Sant, Linklater has an auteur signature that he can set aside for a regular studio paycheck – and this film tactfully hints that his mainstream movies of the noughties like Bad News Bears, Fast Food Nation and Me and Orson Welles were forgivably disappointing because he had his mind on Boyhood the whole time. However, this was the time he also made very interesting movies A Scanner Darkly (2006) – and of course Before Midnight (2013).

Related: Richard Linklater...

Exclusive: Me And Orson Welles star to co-direct with Ben Hecking.

British actor Christian McKay, perhaps best known for his eponymous role in Me And Orson Welles, is to co-direct intense relationship drama Provenance with cinematographer Ben Hecking.

The independent British feature, which is in pre-production, marks the directorial debut for both McKay and Hecking and is based on an original story developed by the duo.

McKay, also known for roles in Rush, The Theory Of Everything and the upcoming Florence Foster Jenkins, will also star alongside Spanish actress Charlotte Vega (Another Me, The Refugees, El club de los incomprendidos) in her first leading English-language role and Harry Macqueen.

Macqueen is the writer, director and star of British drama Hinterland, on which Hecking served as cinematographer. He also had a small role in Me And Orson Welles.

Provenance is produced by White Horse Films and is fully funded. Shooting will begin in the south of France in April...

Mark and Aaron are joined by Cole & Ericca from the Magic Lantern Podcast. They are Austin, TX residents and shed a lot of insight into this landmark independent film, Richard Linklater and his involvement in the Austin Film Society. They also talk about how the film reflects the city of Austin, and how much the place has changed in the years since.

About the film:

Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer-producer-director Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.

Riveting, terrifying, and unafraid to confront its own quiet horror. One of the most important movies ever about nuclear weapons and modern governance. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Over the weekend of the 70th anniversary of the first — and so far only — use of atomic bombs in anger, cinemagoers in and around London will have an opportunity to see one of the most extraordinary movies about nuclear warfare ever made. (And then it will air on the BBC next week.) There are no mushroom clouds in War Book. There are no screams of fear or pain. There are no ticking countdowns that may or may not be defused in the nick of time. There is no disaster porn. No stock footage of test blasts from the 1950s is deployed. There are just civil servants...

It looks lovely and Ian McKellen is amazing, of course, but it’s not very Holmesian. I suspect Holmes himself would snort in derision at its sentimentality. I’m “biast” (pro): big fan of Sherlock Holmes and Ian McKellen

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I love Sherlock Holmes in all his many incarnations, and when I heard that director Bill Condon was making a movie about an elderly Holmes played by Ian McKellan, I cheered. The two had previously collaborated on the wonderful Gods and Monsters — about the classic Frankenstein filmmaker James Whale in his later years — so this new film was bound to be great, wasn’t it? I was a tad sorry to learn that Mr. Holmes, though based on a novel, was not based on the fabulous Mary Russell...

Chuck Workman’s documentary offers an excellent primer on the maestro’s career

“A magician is just an actor playing the part of a magician.” Released alongside a Welles retrospective at BFI Southbank (Touch of Evil returns to selected cinemas on 10 July), this watchable documentary provides an excellent primer on the maestro’s brilliantly chaotic career. Divided into biographical segments (The Boy Wonder, The Outsider, The Gypsy etc), Chuck Workman’s film intercuts archive interviews with clips of Welles’s work from stage, screen and radio. It’s a heady ride; from the national panic which greeted the War of the Worlds broadcast, through the “confidence of ignorance” of Citizen Kane (“I didn’t know what you couldn’t do”), to the butchering of The Magnificent Ambersons, and Welles’s subsequent status as an accidentally path-breaking indie film-maker. Clips from films in which he appears as a character (Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles,...

Suffer the First Vision: Goddard’s Debut Anchored in Episode of Literary Distress

Doomed Welsh poet Dylan Thomas gets a contemporary biopic treatment in Set Fire to the Stars, taking its name from the last line of his poem “Love in the Asylum.” The film marks the feature debut of British television alum Andy Goddard (“Torchwood,” “Downton Abbey”) and is presented in striking black and white, giving the visual attributes a dramatic edge over the familiar succession of beats often evidenced in these portraits of mad artists. Told through the perspective of poet and literary critic John Brinnin, the man responsible for bringing Thomas to the Us for the first time, the treatment is based partially on his highly criticized account, Dylan Thomas in America. Goddard and co-writer Celyn Jones (who stars as Thomas) don’t appear to take many liberties and/or risks, despite some slight implications concerning Brinnin’s latent desires.

A product of the Disney princess machine. Its highest ambition is to move a new line of toys. Or to evoke despair in the fairy-tale-ization of girls’ lives. I’m “biast” (pro): I’ve enjoyed director Kenneth Branagh’s movies

I’m “biast” (con): I’m so done with princess crap

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

This is how it begins, the fairy-tale-ization of little girls’ lives. Make sure to get ’em while they’re young, and tell ’em: You don’t need any discernible personality or interest in the world to be successful as a lady. Just “be kind,” even to the point of being a doormat; for god’s sake, don’t make waves or complain, just endure whatever abuse the world throws at you even if you could easily walk away from it. As a reward, eventually, luck and magic will...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Nothing could stop ‘Dick Poop’ from becoming a Twitter ‘Trending Topic’. The site exploded with clever responses to the Academy Award nominations Jan. 15 — from surprises to snubs to the unfortunate pronunciation of one cinematographer.

This flub occurred when Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, announced Dick Pope as a nominee for achievement in cinematography.

So who exactly is Dick Pope?

Pope received his second Oscar nomination this year for his work on Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, about the obsessive British landscape artist J.M.W. Turner (portrayed by Timothy Spall). The film also received nominations for production design, costume design and original score. For his work on the film, Pope has earned BAFTA Award and Critics’ Choice Award nominations. Pope won the Vulcan Prize for Technical Artist at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered. He...

When you make movies about people, an eye for casting becomes an auteurist stamp. Richard Linklater knows his characters so well — their personalities, their movements, their sounds — that by the time he inserts actors into each part, the choices feel like absolutes. Take the "Before" series. It’s a war crime to fantasy cast alternatives for Celine and Jesse. Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke are too perfect. Just try. Nope. Not the same movie. Can’t do it. Impossible. In a testament to Linklater’s knack for spotting talent, the Casting Society of America will present two-time Academy Award-nominee with their Career Achievement Award at the 30th Annual Artios Awards. “Richard is a filmmaker whose work is both current and timeless. With Boyhood, he worked with casting director Beth Sepko to make casting choices, which sustained the film’s emotional truth over the 12 years it took to shoot. It demonstrates...

A wonderful trailer has been released for a documentary called Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. Welles is a legendary filmmaker who is best known for his film Citizen Kane and his famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. He was an incredible artist and visionary, and the doc focuses on his Hollywood career as a star and troubled director. According to IndieWire,

Magician digs into Welles' oeuvre on the eve of his centenary. Workman covers the midwestern childhood demons that fueled Citizen Kane, young Welles' prodigious theatrical accomplishments, love of Shakespeare, and move toward radio and cinema with "Citizen Kane," which was demolished by the film's fictionalized subject, William Randolph Hearst, as well as how Welles was his own worst enemy in terms of protecting his work. There is rarely seen footage of such masterpieces as Chimes at  Midnight (he plays Falstaff) and Macbeth, The Trial and Mr. Arkadin.

Veteran distributor Susan Jackson, who co-founded indie film distribution label Freestyle Releasing in 2004, died Tuesday morning in Los Angeles after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 54. The UK-born Jackson dove into the distribution game after serving in exec positions in sales, acquisitions and marketing at the Samuel Goldwyn Co, Vestron, Goodtimes, BMG/Bertelsmann, Sony and the BBC. She headed BMG Independents, snagging rights to indie titles for BMG’s North American Video and DVD collection.

In 1999, she founded independent sales company Turtles Crossing in Los Angeles. Three years later, she became more directly involved in filmmaking as executive producer of Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever, which she helped finance and sold to Lionsgate out of the Toronto Film Festival. Similarly, she helped finance, co-produce and sold the Juno Temple starrer Dirty Girl in 2010 out of Tiff.

Jackson co-founded Freestyle Releasing in 2004 with partner Mark Borde, and the company...

It’s nice to see director Richard Linklater getting his due. A few years ago circa “Me and Orson Welles," the filmmaker was having a rough time: he wasn't able to finance a picture and the aforementioned indie film barely received a release (and its box-office gross was one of his lowest ever). His comeback started quietly with “Bernie” in 2011, but by the time “Before Midnight” arrived in 2013, Linklater was back in a big way. And now, his “Boyhood” is seen by many as one of the best movies of the year. So if it seems like it’s time to tip our collective hats to the filmmaker, a new documentary has arrived like clockwork. Featuring folks like Ethan Hawke, Jack Black, Keanu Reeves, Billy Bob Thornton, Matthew McConaughey, Jason Reitman, Julie Delpy, Zac Efron, Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Duplass, Kevin Smith, Parker Posey among others, “21 Years: Richard Linklater” is...

Venice — "Pasolini is me." So sang erstwhile Smiths frontman Morrissey on single "You Have Killed Me" from "Ringleader of the Tormentors," an album recorded in Italy. The very next track on the album opens with a sample of a very distinctive sound: the siren of an Italian ambulance. At the Venice festival, it's impossible to go for more than a day without hearing this dolorous yet urgent wail on the Lido; it's an unofficial soundtrack. These congruences were very much slushing around my head as I sat down for Abel Ferrara's "Pasolini." Prior to the festival, Maestro Ferrara, the man who brought "The Driller Killer," "King of New York," and the original "Bad Lieutenant" into the world gave various interviews about the project. Like Morrissey, he is an inveterate quote machine, an expert in controversy, and the words that drew the most attention were electrifying: "I know who killed him.

You can always count on a few cinephile documentaries to show at the Telluride Film Festival. This year Chuck Workman will debut his newest film "Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles."  Workman digs into Welles' oeuvre on the eve of his centenary, from his career as a Hollywood star and troubled director to his true identity as an independent filmmaker. "Magician" includes clips from almost every existing Welles film, from "Hearts of Age," which he shot in one day at age 18 to rare unfinished films "The Other Side of the Dream," "The Deep," and "Don Quixote" as well as some appearances on television and commercials. Also in the film are interviews with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater ("Me and Orson Welles"), and of course, critic and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. ...

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

streaming now, while it’s still in cinemas

Lilting: heartbreakingly lovely film about the seemingly insurmountable distances between us when sharing grief is too painful [my review] [Curzon Home Cinema]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

Locke: we say things like, “Oh, I’d watch that guy read the phone book,” and this is almost that, except it really is absolutely riveting, and that’s no joke; a tour de force for Tom Hardy [my review] [iTunes UK]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

Locke: we say things like, “Oh, I’d watch that guy read the phone book,” and this is almost that, except it really is absolutely riveting, and that’s no joke; a tour de force for Tom Hardy [my review] [Amazon UK Instant Video]

new to stream

The Unknown Known: documentary interview with Bush-era insider Donald Rumsfeld is like a...

Chicago – Director Richard Linklater is a great American storyteller. In 2002, he embarked on a filmmaking journey that would be twelve years long, and conceived a fictional tale of a boy as he ages from age six to 18. Using the same actors over all those years, the result is the epic and philosophical “Boyhood.”

The power of “Boyhood” is embraced by the boy’s life cycle – portrayed by Ellar Coltrane through the ages. The ups and downs of his short but eventful existence is experienced as he grows during the 12 years. The basis for his perspective is forged through the difficulties of his estranged parents, two stepfathers and his mother’s dogged determination to keep everything together for him and his sister (portrayed by Richard Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei). Patricia Arquette (Mom) and the venerable Linklater collaborator Ethan Hawke (Dad) are around for the whole ride, and there is a poignancy...

An audacious coming-of-age tale unique in the history of cinema; deeply moving and beautifully authentic. I’m “biast” (pro): I’m a fan of Richard Linklater

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

We’ve seen children grow up onscreen before. Ron Howard. Jodie Foster. All the Harry Potter kids. But not like this. Not in a single film. Richard Linklater had the audacious idea to shoot a story about almost the entire span of one boy’s childhood using the same actors over the course of a dozen years. Audacious because such a long production time — probably the longest ever in the history of cinema — comes with unique challenges. (The most dramatic one might be: What if one of your actors dies midway? Recasting would have ruined the beautiful authenticity the film aims for, and achieves.) Audacious because in retrospect,...

Richard Linklater could be defined as cinema’s very own time lord. Through out his career he has manipulated time to enhance his story telling techniques, whether it be an 18 year romance spanning three movies or the last day of high school told through the eyes of its pupils, Linklater has always been one of the most innovative directors in Hollywood. His latest movie, Boyhood, is perhaps his most ambitious yet. In fact it is perhaps one of the most ambitious movies ever made.

The movie, which Linklater started filming in 2002 spans 12 years in the life of a young man and was shot over the same time period, an astonishing feat. Like many of Linklater’s has been met with critical acclaim with some critics describing it as one of the best films of the decade so far, and so to celebrate the release of Boyhood today we are going...

The last time comedy superstars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis joined forces for 2012's The Campaign, critics were decidedly mixed. Now they have an acclaimed filmmaker on their side. According to TheWrap, Richard Linklater will direct the pair in Larry's Kidney, an upcoming adaptation of Daniel Asa Rosa's 2009 memoir, which focuses on the writer's various adventures in the Chinese black market. 

The 50 Funniest People Now: Will Ferrell

Ferrell has signed on to play Rose, who ventures to China in order to help his cousin Larry (played by Galifianakis) obtain a kidney transplant.

High School Musical star says reunion movie is a possibility: 'we're all thinking about it'

Zac Efron would be keen on a High School Musical reunion, despite having forged a career in rather more grown up fare in recent years, the actor has said.

Speaking to E! Online at the SXSW festival, Efron said he met up regularly with other alumni of the teen-friendly film trilogy, which began with two feature-length Disney Channel TV movies in 2006 and 2007 before eventually transferring to the big screen with 2008's High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

"We're all thinking about it," said Efron, who is promoting the comedy Neighbors at SXSW. "I continue to see all the guys from High School. Every time we do … there's just this look between us. It's so cool because we never forget a single moment of that experience."

Efron has starred in independent fare such as 2009's Me and Orson Welles...

After about 20 years of trying, Warren Beatty is finally getting his gestating biopic about Howard Hughes off the ground. The last we heard about the project had Beatty rounding up a cast that included Felicity Jones (Like Crazy) signed on for the film along with names like Alec Baldwin, Shia Labeouf, Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield, Jack Nicholson, Evan Rachel Wood and Annette Bening circling the film. Now with the help of billionaire duo Ron Burkle and Steve Bing, with Terry Semel of Windsor Media and Arnon Milchan of New Regency, Beatty will direct and star, but who else has a role? Deadline says Beatty will play Hughes, but the film will focus on the historical icon's assistant (Alden Ehrenreich of Beautiful Creatures) and his love story with a young girl (Lily Collins of Mirror Mirror). This sounds like it could be similar to Me and Orson Welles where Zac Efron's story took the focus,...

Los Angeles, Feb 8: Actor Zac Efron says he doesn't have any limitations when it comes to being in a relationship.

The actor added that he is not a person who can govern a relationship with "deal breakers", reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I don't think that there are any. I'm not a person that lives with deal breakers in my life," he told Ok! magazine.

The actor has been seen in films like "17 Again", "Me and Orson Welles", "Charlie St. Cloud", "New Year's Eve" and "The Lucky One".

Ians...

Multi-talented star Zac Efron has been lighting up our living rooms and the silver screen ever since breaking out in 2006's "High School Musical."

Proving he can do more than just sing and be really, really good-looking, the California native has taken on several dramatic roles in the past several years, from "Me and Orson Welles" to "The Paperboy," to positive reviews. This Friday, however, Efron shows off his comedic chops in the raunchy rom-com "That Awkward Moment," opposite pals Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan.

Whether or not you've had a chance to see Efron of late, there's still much to know about the fast-rising star. From his unexpected hobby to his run-in with Hayden Panettiere, here are 17 things you probably don't know about Zac Efron.

1. Efron's father encouraged him to start acting when he was 11, which led him to high school plays and, later, singing lessons.

2. He was...

Award season is just hitting its stride, and ReelzChannel's programming is among the most recent recipients of recognition, including the epic miniseries World Without End. The Canadian Screen Awards have announced their nominations and World Without End received a total of 5 nominations, including Best Make-Up, Best Costume Design, Best Sound and Best International Drama. Composer Mychael Danna, who won a Primetime Emmy for his World Without End score last year, was also nominated for Best Original Score.

Based on author Ken Follett's novel, World Without End is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, which also aired on Reelz. Set 157 years later, World Without End focused on the citizens of Kingsbridge during the start of the Hundred Year War and outbreak of the Black Plague. Charlotte Riley (The Duchess, Wuthering Heights), Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Young Victoria), and Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line,...

One of several blunt instruments we can use to pound out a sense of what’s percolating up to the top tier of the year in film. If you need...

"If you're single, we're staying single with you, man." It's a group of bros, who all try to enjoy the single life, but real romance is waiting around the corner. But what makes That Awkward Moment a bit more promising than your average romantic comedy is the R-rating. And here in the red band trailer, Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan get a little raunchy. There's a great technique for peeing with an erection and not making a mess, which the guys will appreciate, and plenty of shirtless Zac Efron for the ladies as well. This looks like it could be a fun little flick to make the dull January window tolerable. Watch! Here's the red band trailer for Tom Gormican's That Awkward Moment, originally from Yahoo: That Awkward Moment (formerly known as Are We Officially Dating?) is written and directed by Tom Gormican, with a script that made the Black List.

Check out the official trailer for Amma Asante’s Belle starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Reid, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Tom Felton, Miranda Richardson and Matthew Goode.

Scheduled for a May 2014 release, the film was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews.

Justin Chang (Variety): “The pleasures of Jane Austen and the horrors of the British slave trade make a surprisingly elegant fit in Amma Asante’s handsome period piece.” John Oursler (Sound on Sight): “Amma Asante’s Belle, a new entrant in the genre, strikes all the right notes.” John DeFore (The Hollywood Reporter): “Moviegoers should respond well when Fox Searchlight brings it to theaters next spring.”

I can’t wait to see this. Being a fan of period-piece dramas, Belle looks to be the perfect blend of courage, love and history.

Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw...

Not to be confused with Tobe Hooper's Djinn, word has come this morning that another horrific genie is being let out of the proverbial bottle, and will be wreaking havoc at a theatre near you.

From the Press Release

Detroit-based Exxodus Pictures and Freestyle Releasing announce North American wide theatrical release date of April 4, 2014 for Jinn, a tension filled supernatural thriller. The film, written and directed by Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad was produced by Ahmad, Benjamin Dresser, Alan Noel Vega and stars Dominic Rains (“Flight 93”), Serinda Swan (USA’s “Graceland”), Ray Park (“Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace”), Faran Tahir (“Elysium”) and William Atherton (“Die Hard”). Richard Mandell, Najam Syed and Shahid Syed executive produced the film for Exxodus.

The amazing story of Jinn involves ancient mythological beings that have rarely been explored in Us cinemas. The premise of the jinn concept, known to over 1 billion people around the world,...

Exxodus Pictures and Freestyle Releasing have announced that Jinn will receive a North American wide theatrical release in early 2014:

“Los Angeles, CA (October 15, 2013) – Detroit-based Exxodus Pictures and Freestyle Releasing announce North American wide theatrical release date of April 4, 2014 for Jinn, a tension filled supernatural thriller. The film, written and directed by Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad was produced by Ahmad, Benjamin Dresser, Alan Noel Vega and stars Dominic Rains (“Flight 93”), Serinda Swan (USA’s “Graceland”), Ray Park (“Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace”), Faran Tahir (“Elysium”) and William Atherton (“Die Hard”). Richard Mandell, Najam Syed and Shahid Syed executive produced the film for Exxodus.

The amazing story of Jinn involves ancient mythological beings that have rarely been explored in Us cinemas. The premise of the jinn concept, known to over 1 billion people around the world, involves ghost-like entities and revolves around creation mythology.

Synopsis: In the beginning, three were created.

Update: Filming began today on Disney's live-action Cinderella at London's Pinewood Studios (best known for being the home of all the James Bond movies). Director Kenneth Branaugh (Thor) said in a statement, "It is impossible to think of Cinderella without thinking of Disney and the timeless images we've all grown up watching. And those classic moments are irresistible to a filmmaker. With Lily James we have found our perfect Cinderella. She combines knockout beauty with intelligence, wit, fun and physical grace. Her Prince is being played by Richard Madden, a young actor with incredible power and charisma. He is funny, smart and sexy and a great match for Cinderella."

Disney gives this description of the movie, which sticks pretty close to the 1697 fairy tale and the 1950 Disney animated movie (but don't be surprised if the ending is more female empowered rather than Ella being "rescued" by the prince who whisks...

Today we have the first photo from indie comedy That Awkward Moment, showcasing its well-dressed stars: Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller. The film, previously titled Are We Officially Dating?, is directed by Tom Gormican (based on his screenplay) and tells the story of Efron, Jordan, and Teller’s characters, who make a pact to remain single, and consequently I assume, almost surely fall in love.

Though the plot sounds hackneyed, the screenplay for That Awkward Moment actually made its way onto the coveted Black List in 2010. Additionally, the film is set to a receive an R-rating, so it definitely won’t be some sort of generic romantic comedy. A quick look into Gormican’s filmography doesn’t provide much encouraging insight though, as his only other film credit is a producing role on Movie 43.

The leading actors in this film are keeping me interested in it,...

After seeing Zac Efron acting like a douchebag in the R-rated comedy Neighbors, now he's venturing into romantic comedy territory. But the good news is That Awkward Moment (formerly known as Are We Officially Dating?) also features rising stars Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Fruitvale Station) and Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now, 21 & Over) in the story of three friends in Manhattan who make a pact to stay single just as each of them is falling in love. Sounds generic, but this is an R-rated romantic comedy written by Tom Gormican (he's also directing) that made the Black List. And now we have a first look photo below! Here's the first photo from Tom Gormican's That Awkward Moment from Film District: That Awkward Moment (formerly known as Are We Officially Dating?) is written and directed by Tom Gormican, with a script that made the Black List. Zac Efron (Me and Orson Welles,...

Ron Howard's populist take on James Hunt and Niki Lauda's 70s rivalry is a thrilling hymn to male pride and motor sport

A true story of chalk-and-cheese Formula One drivers – one hot-headed, the other coolly calculating – locked together in a life-and-death rivalry may well seem familiar to UK filmgoers. Yet Asif Kapadia's brilliantly dramatic documentary Senna remains largely unseen by mainstream audiences in America, where it was also scandalously overlooked at the Oscars (here, it won two prestigious Baftas).

To fill that gap, we now have Rush, Ron Howard's multiplex-friendly account of the friction-filled relationship between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, which eerily echoes the tensions teased out between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Kapadia's groundbreaking work. Well oiled, excitingly noisy and machine-tooled for maximum popcorn appeal, Howard's roaring drama depicts men risking life and limb in insanely dangerous circumstances, although the film itself prefers...

Update: The mean stepsisters of Cinderella are usually depicted as ugly, but the makeup people will just have to get to work this time. Sophie McShera ("Downton Abbey") and Holliday Grainger (Anna Karenina, pictured left) will play Drizella and Noemie. It's a reunion for Grainger and Helena Bonham Carter, they worked together in last year's Great Expectations. It's also going to be a lot of fun for McShera and Lily James, who plays Cinderella. In their show "Downton Abbey," James plays nobility and McShera plays a kitchen maid - it will be fun for them to switch roles!

June 21, 2013 - Disney is definitely going against type for its live-action Cinderella. Helena Bonham Carter, who is known for playing wacky and often evil characters, will play  Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. Bonham Carter played The Red Queen in Disney's live-action Alice in Wonderland and Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter movies.

On the other hand,...

The superb third film in Richard Linklater's series captures the melancholy of long-term romance

For those of us of a certain age, the screen love story that has slowly played out between Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke over the course of two decades – and now three movies – is part of the fabric of our cinematic lives.

In Before Sunrise, the actors (whose improvisations and revisions added much to an original script by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan) played two sparky young travellers whose lives cross during a talk-filled night in Vienna. Nine years later, Delpy and Hawke were sharing screenwriting credits (and an Oscar nomination) for Before Sunset, wherein the couple meet for only the second time, their respective lives having moved on, but the brief encounter spark between them still clearly very much alive. That film ended on an ambiguous note – a teasing spine-tingler that left the audience...

Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater was among the most successful talents to emerge from the new wave of independent American filmmakers in the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour time period – and with non-formulaic narratives about seemingly random occurrences – Linklater’s work explored what he dubbed “the youth rebellion continuum.” In the early 1990s, his debut feature Slacker was hailed as something of a manifesto for Generation X, and ever since, the filmmaker has earned a loyal fan-base world wide with such hits as Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise. As big fans of the filmmaker, the Sound On Sight staff decided to vote on our ten favourite films from the director.

Note: There was two ties.

****

10: Suburbia

Originally a play by performance-artist Eric Bogosian (who also wrote the script), Suburbia is a character driven mood piece, which delves into the hearts and minds of a group of young adults.

As the third in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy opens this week, John Patterson falls in love with its tale of the heart all over again

When Before Sunset was released in 2004, its co-writer and co-star Julie Delpy mused on the popularity of the two sublimely romantic movies she and Ethan Hawke had made with director Richard Linklater: "It's not like Star Wars, but in that small group of people, it really means something to them." Which is to say that, for that small group of people, among whom I loudly and proudly count myself, awaiting a new instalment of the Before trilogy (as it stands, for now) is in fact exactly like Star Wars, just without the lightsabers.

As one who made sure he knew exactly nothing about Before Midnight until the lights went down, I shall refrain from too much spoilerism. Suffice to say, the title presages...

Update: Prince Charming is already sitting on a throne, at least a "Game of Thrones." Richard Madden, who stars on the HBO series, will play the persistent prince determined to find the mysterious girl he falls for at the ball. 

April 30, 2013 - Emma Watson is not playing Cinderella in Disney's live action rags to riches movie. Instead, Lily James will be playing the role of the downtrodden Ella. She's currently on the BBC show "Downton Abbey" and also played Korrina in Wrath of the Titans.

March 1, 2013 -  Emma Watson is in early talks to play the ultimate rags-to-riches character Cinderella in Disney's live-action version. Disney is seeing if the shoe fits with the Harry Potter actress after things didn't work out with lesser known actresses Imogen Poots (Me and Orson Welles), Alicia Vikander (Anna Kanenina) and Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers). Cate Blanchett (The Hobbit, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...