Lady Gaga cemented her status as one of music’s biggest voices and Hollywood’s brightest stars with her role in 2018′s A Star is Born.
05.04.2024 - 14:35 / variety.com
Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events When Michael Douglas was invited to play Benjamin Franklin in Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” he immediately took out a $100 bill. “I looked at Ben and thought, ‘I’ve got a long ways to go,’” the two-time Oscar winner tells Variety. Douglas didn’t just worry that he’d have to spend hours in the makeup chair — the series took more than 160 days to shoot.
He was also nervous that heavy prosthetics would hurt his performance. “Your persona has gotta come through,” he says. But Douglas’ fears were groundless.
Director Tim Van Patten and producer Richard Plepler had no intention of hiding his face under a rubbery nose and jowls. “They looked at me like, ‘You schmuck. We’re not going to do that to you,’” Douglas recalls.
Based on Stacy Schiff ’s “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America,” the show follows Franklin’s 1776 trip to Paris, where he hopes to persuade the king to fund America’s fight for independence. Noah Jupe co-stars as his grandson and traveling companion Temple. “If we didn’t get France’s support, who knows what would have happened,” Douglas says.
You didn’t use face prosthetics, but your hair is very long. Was it a wig? I was a hippie in another life. When I was in college I had very long hair, so I grew it out.
And once I got over the angst about the prosthetics and then got dressed like Benjamin Franklin, it was all much easier than I thought. I realized I’m a celebrity, and Ben Franklin was a celebrity. Ben Franklin was playing a role, and he did a spectacular job.
It was his first time out in diplomacy. He had a great sense of humor but was also a bit promiscuous. I would never have wanted to have been his wife.
Lady Gaga cemented her status as one of music’s biggest voices and Hollywood’s brightest stars with her role in 2018′s A Star is Born.
Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events The last time I spoke to Noah Jupe was four years ago when he was just 15 years old. It was over Zoom, and he was promoting HBO’s “The Undoing” from a Detroit hotel room, where he was under mandatory quarantine waiting to be cleared to start work on Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move.” At the time, Jupe’s list of credits already included “The Night Manager,” “Suburbicon,” the first two “A Quiet Place” films and “Ford v Ferrari.” He had earned a Spirit Award nomination for his work starring role in “Honey Boy,” director Alma Har’el’s drama loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s childhood.
the Telegraph, admitting that the ordeal was “rough.”“This is not grandfather’s day, this is parents’ day. I say ‘I am a parent!’,” he told the outlet.
Well, this is awkward…
Michael Douglas is opening up about his experience as an older dad!
Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams, stars of the seminal horror film “The Blair Witch Project,” released a public letter to Lionsgate on Saturday asking for more robust compensation for their work on the 1999 blockbuster, as well as “meaningful consultation” on any future “Blair Witch” projects that use their names or likenesses.
EXCLUSIVE: Comedy Dynamics has locked in plans to release Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan‘s latest special, Tomfoolery, on platforms worldwide on April 30.
Michael Douglas wanted to have a “serious” death scene in 2023’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and requested his character be killed off.
Michael Douglas had a very specific plan in mind for his Marvel character Hank Pym in 2023′s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – he wanted to die.
Michael Douglas has a death wish. Or at least he does when it comes to his character Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man in the Marvel Studios “Ant-Man” films.
Carla Renata Fans lined up in the rain recently at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood eager to screen “Franklin,” the new Apple TV+ limited series about Benjamin Franklin’s trip to France in 1776 to try and convince the king to fund America’s fight for independence. Based on Stacy Schiff’s book, “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America,” the show also spotlights the relationship between Franklin (Michael Douglas) and his grandson Temple (Noah Jupe) Temple, who accompanies his grandfather to France.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While MipTV is relocating to London with a revamped format, Canneseries Festival is sticking to its guns and will remain as a standalone event in the spring on the Croisette. Benoit Louvet, the managing director of Canneseries, told Variety in an exclusive interview that the festival will return in 2025 on April 22-27 with its major partners, the city of Cannes, the region PACA and the Vivendi-owned pay TV group Canal+.
Carla Renata Fans lined up in the rain recently at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood eager to screen “Franklin,” the new Apple TV+ limited series about Benjamin Franklin’s trip to France in 1776 to try and convince the king to fund America’s fight for independence. Based on Stacy Schiff’s book, “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America,” the show also spotlights the relationship between Franklin (Michael Douglas) and his grandson Temple (Noah Jupe) Temple, who accompanies his grandfather to France.
Daniel Mays remembers Michael Douglas and Timothy Van Patten, the respectively star and director of new Apple TV drama Franklin, bursting into song whenever he appeared on set.
“Franklin,” an eight-part series premiering April 12 on Apple TV+.“Franklin” tells the story of 70-year-old Ben Franklin’s secret diplomatic mission to France in 1776 to gain French support (money, arms) for America’s fight against the British in the Revolutionary War. There are a lot of moving parts here, so viewers would be apprised to pay attention as Franklin navigates French high society — and politics — in an effort to achieve his goal.The series is based on the book “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff.As the series opens, Franklin — commissioned by Congress to undertake his clandestine journey across the Atlantic — has no diplomatic experience.
Aramide Tinubu When pondering the Revolutionary War, specific inflection points come to mind. The Boston Massacre of 1770, Paul Revere’s midnight warning in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 are often the main topics of conversation. However, much more went on during the nearly two-decade-long battle that led to the 13 colonies’ independence from England.
Noah Jupe, who is starring opposite Michael Douglas in the Apple TV+ Benjamin Franklin biopic, is leading a TV drama adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ cult classic Engleby.
Michael Douglas and the cast of Franklin touched down in Cannes today with a message. Speaking to press ahead of the world premiere screening of the series at Canneseries on Wednesday evening, the actor said the Apple TV+ period drama is a great reminder of “how fragile democracy is and how generous France was.”
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” which stars Michael Douglas, has its world premiere at series festival Canneseries on April 10 in Cannes, France. The show is produced by ITV Studios America and Apple Studios.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Franklin” director Tim Van Patten, who won Emmys for “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Pacific,” says that although he loves history and is a history buff “this was a slice of history I was not aware of.” Van Patten, who was also Emmy nominated for “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and “Game of Thrones,” adds: “For me, at this point in my career, I like to take myself to a world I don’t know, and also to do the same with the audience.” “Franklin,” which stars Michael Douglas, has its world premiere at series festival Canneseries on April 10 in Cannes, France, in the presence of cast and crew. The show, which is a co-production between ITV Studios America and Apple Studios, makes its global streaming debut April 12 on Apple TV+.