Anthony Hickox Dies: Director Of Horror Films ‘Waxwork’ & ‘Hellraiser III’ Was 64

On the heels of the wonderful 2019 The Two Popes, in which Anthony Hopkins starred as Pope Benedict XVI in an imagined conversation with Jonathan Pryce’s future Pope Francis, Hopkins is once again involved in the same kind of cinematic historical fictional meeting as founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, who is engaged in a private debate with The Chronicles of Narnia author and theologian C.S. Lewis (played by Matthew Goode) on the existence of God. As with The Two Popes, there is no proof whatsoever that any meeting ever took place, but it clearly provides lots of material to wrap your head around. That is exactly what Mark St. Germain did in creating his 2009 play Freud’s Last Session, which was built on the 1967 Harvard lectures of Dr. Armond M. Nicholi Jr in his presentation “The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.”

Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank are reportedly planning a return to the UK following her revitalised role within the Royal Family. It comes after Eugenie "felt she had to get away" after feeling "abandoned" by the Royal Family due to the negative press surrounding her parents.

Anthony Holden, whose chronicles of the Royal Family’s troubles caused him to be referred to once as “The Most Reviled Man in Britain,” died on Oct. 7 at his home in London. He was 76 and had a brain tumor, his son Ben said.

Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung passed through the Tokyo Film Festival this afternoon, where he led a masterclass session following a screening of 2046, his sixth collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The immediate family of leading Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien said on Wednesday that he had retired from filmmaking due to illness and is now living peacefully in retirement. They said that their family-run company remains active and in business. The statement (see below) was issued in response to news articles earlier this week that followed an introductory speech given in London by critic and curator Tony Rayns before a screening of 1985 title “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” one of Hou’s best-known features. Rayns was reported to have said that Hou has dementia, will not direct again and that members of Hou’s company had lost their jobs. The family statement – signed by Cao Baofeng, Hou’s wife, son Isaac Hou and daughter Bess Hou – explained that Hou had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease before the COVID pandemic and that COVID had, to their surprise, worsened the problems. They continued by saying that Hou has recovered from the COVID-related complications and is now resting quietly at home with his family.

Deontay Wilder has told Anthony Joshua it will be a “disaster” if the two heavyweights fail to meet in a boxing ring.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Rodrigo Sorogoyen, director of ‘The Beasts,’ the Best Foreign Film winner at France’s 2023 Cesar Awards, has gone into production on a new series, “The New Year’s Eves.” Following on Sorogoyen’s acclaimed “Riot Police,” and his episode in “Offworld,” chosen by Variety as one the best international series of 2022, “The Beasts” is produced by Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish pay TV/OTT operator, in collaboration with Madrid-based independent production house Caballo Films (“Riot Police,” “The Route”), co-founded by Sorogoyen. Movistar Plus+ International will handle distribution outside Spain.

UK media regulator Ofcom has revealed that it received nearly 2,400 complaints after Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley asked a British lawmaker with family in Gaza if there was “any word on the street” before Hamas launched its attack on Israel.

EXCLUSIVE: Boutique distributor Juno Films has acquired North American and UK rights to Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Traveled, a portrait of the iconic Norwegian actress and filmmaker from director Dheeraj Akolkar (Liv & Ingmar). World premiering in the Classics section of the 76th Festival de Cannes, the doc will make its North American debut at DOC NYC ahead of a spring 2024 launch in theaters.

British heavyweight Anthony Joshua says he could fight Deontay Wilder on the same card as Tyson Fury laces up his gloves with Oleksandr Usyk in their impending title showdown.

“Incredibly weird — but delightful” was one audience member’s indelible comment after the UK premiere of Lee Won-suk’s insane comedy Killing Romance on Friday. Starring Lee Hanee, a former Miss Universe recently seen in the sci-fi romp Alienoid, it tells the story of Hwa Yeo-rae, a viral internet star who becomes trapped in a controlling marriage to the evil Jonathan Na (Lee Sun-kyun, who played the head of Parasite’s rich Park family). To escape from Na, Yeo-rae teams up with her new neighbor Beom-woo (Gong Myung), a young superfan who dreams up a series of increasingly bizarre murder plots.

Over the weekend at the New York Comic-Con, filmmaker Matthew Vaughn (“X-Men: First Class”) was doing a panel chat to help promote his upcoming Apple/Universal spy comedy “Argylle” and gave some insight into the casting process for “Kingsman: The Secret Service” as Taron Egerton wasn’t the only up-and-coming talent considered for the lead role. READ MORE: Matthew Vaughn: ‘Kingsman 3’ & ‘Kick-Ass’ Reboot Are Still In The Works & ‘King’s Man 2’ Explores The “Rise Of Hitler” Vaughn has now stated during a chat with Collider at that panel that other young British actors were considered for the lead role of Gary “Eggsy” Unwin, a London hooligan who becomes a reformed gentleman secret agent taking a bit of a cue from the Roger Moore era of the James Bond franchise meets “My Fair Lady.

Lise Pedersen Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne shared his passion for film and his thoughts on contemporary American cinema with the audience at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon where he is premiering his eighth feature film, “The Holdovers,” under the French title “Winter Break,” on October 15th. In a conversation skilfully led and translated by Los Angeles-based French film journalist Didier Allouch, Payne drew laughs from the Lumière crowd when he explained that the secret to making good films was “keeping your budgets low.” “John Huston approached Luis Buñuel one day and asked him, ‘How is it that you make these wonderful films, like “Viridiana” and “The Exterminating Angel”?’ And Buñuel replied, ‘How much money do you make and how much money do you think I make?’” said Payne with a smile.

Ellise Shafer Daniel Kaluuya world premiered his feature directorial debut, “The Kitchen,” at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday night, calling it “one of the best days of my life.” Kaluuya was on hand alongside his co-director Kibwe Tavares, producer Daniel Emmerson and several of the film’s actors, including “Top Boy” star Kane Robinson and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman. Set in a dystopian London where all social housing has been banned, the film follows the residents of a community called the Kitchen who must fight to save their home. Speaking before the premiere, Kaluuya and Tavares explained that it’s taken nearly a decade to bring the Netflix film to the screen.

Bleecker Street announced it has acquired U.S. rights to “One Life,” starring Anthony Hopkins. The film is planned for a 2024 theatrical release.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Gillian Anderson paid tribute to Terence Davies, the British filmmaker who directed one of her most acclaimed performances for “The House of Mirth,” crediting him with giving her “my first ‘proper’ film job.” Davies died on Oct. 7 at the age of 77 following a short illness.

EXCLUSIVE: Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to TIFF standout One Life, the James Hawes-directed drama that stars Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, with Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. Scripted by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the film is a production of See-Saw Films, which developed it alongside BBC Film. Bleecker Street is planning a 2024 theatrical release.

Michaela Zee Terence Davies, the British filmmaker known for “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” “The Deep Blue Sea” and “The Long Day Closes,” has died. He was 77. The news of Davies’ death was shared on his official Instagram page: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Terence Davies, who died peacefully at home after a short illness, today on 7th October 2023.” Davies was admired for his period films as well as his early autobiographical trilogy about growing up in Liverpool.

Terence Davies, the director of The Long Day Closes and Distant Voices, Still Lives, has died at 77 according to his official social media pages.

UPDATED, 11:34 a.m.: Sony Pictures Classics has firmed up release plans for its drama Freud’s Last Session, starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode, which charts the relationship between psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and author C.S. Lewis. Based on the stage play by Mark St. Germain, who wrote the script, the film opens in theaters in New York and L.A. December 22nd, with an expansion to follow in January.