John Sayles Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Bill Cobbs, a prolific film and TV actor with memorable performances in Night At The Museum, Brother From Another Planet, Oz The Great And Powerful, The Sopranos and dozens of others, died Tuesday, June 25, at his home in Riverside, California. He was 90.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Jim Henson Company‘s live-action monster tale “Grendel” has rounded out its cast with Jeff Bridges in the role of Grendel, as well as Dave Bautista as Beowulf and Bryan Cranston as King Hrothgar. Also joining the cast are Thomasin McKenzie as Queen Wealhtheow, Aidan Turner as Unferth and, as the Shaper, T Bone Burnett, who will also provide original songs for the film. Robert D.

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) will play the title role in Grendel, a live-action monster flick from The Jim Henson Company, for which Palisades Park Pictures is launching international sales ahead of Cannes.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed filmmaker John Sayles has revealed exactly what he thinks of former U.S. President Donald Trump‘s wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Sayles wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated 1996 film “Lone Star,” a Western set in a Texas border town where Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) unearths long-buried secrets amid racial strife.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Aquarius Releasing founder Terence “Terry” Levene, who released dozens of B-movies in grindhouse theaters in the 1970s and ’80s and beyond, died Jan. 13 in Englewood, NJ.

EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn-based filmmaker Ged Dickersin (CODA) is launching True Indy, a production company intent on making films that can and should be made independently, with filmmakers telling acutely relevant stories for the world market.

EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn-based filmmaker Ged Dickersin (CODA) is now launching TRUE INDY, a production company intent on making films that can and should be made independently, with filmmakers telling acutely relevant stories for the world market.True Indy sees the opportunity to attract financing for films that can be made in the one to five million dollar range, reducing the financial risk to investors, and increasing the chances for a return on the investment. The company is introducing its slate of original U.S.-born indies, at the European Film Market during the Berlinale this year, as well as looking to partner with filmmakers from around the world in international co-productions. 

American Cinematheque and Netflix have joined the initial slate of programming at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. From Dec. 8 to 14, classic film buffs can catch the Los Angeles premiere of brand new restorations of “Days of Heaven” and “L’amour Fou.” Also featured is a 50th anniversary screening of “Don’t Look Now” with a 35mm IB Tech print.

The Criterion Collection always kicks off its releases for a new calendar year with a couple of big titles. And 2024 starts off very strong for the boutique DVD series, with Danny Boyle‘s “Trainspotting” leading the way.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Charles (Chuck) Martin Flood Jr., business managers to some of country music’s top luminaries and co-founder/owner of high-profile Nashville business management firm FBMM, died at 78 on July 21. Flood was a prominent figure in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years. He founded Chuck Flood & Associates in 1986 at his dining room table with the help of John Sayles and Betty Sanders.

The Gray House, a Civil War spy drama series that is being produced by Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, is the latest high-profile project to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA.

Jordan Moreau Ray Price, an indie film producer and marketing veteran, died on July 16 of heart failure after battling cancer, his longterm partner Meg Madison confirmed. He was 75. During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The scene where Robert Shaw gets eaten in “Jaws” is one of the most thrilling moments in movie history. After all of Steven Spielberg’s virtuoso framing and cool ’70s Hitchcock scare tactics, the shark’s big-mouthed consumption of a man who fully deserves to be eaten had a shockingly raw “Look, there it is!” exploitation-film brazenness. (One not inaccurate way to describe “Jaws” would be as the greatest B-movie ever made.) “The Flood,” an alligator-attack movie that’s also a violent prison-break thriller, takes its cue from that scene. Set in a backwater Louisiana police station during a hurricane, the film isn’t shy about serving up its big, nasty human-torso-meets-jaws moments. It’s basically a slasher movie with teeth.

EXCLUSIVE: John Cusack has signed with APA for representation after less than half a year with Gersh. 

Spike Lee will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement.

EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe, SAG, WGA and BAFTA Award nominee John Cusack (Utopia) has signed with Gersh for representation in all areas.

“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” turns 40. But the iconic alien doesn’t look a day over 10 million — his approximate age in a novelization of the 1982 film.

After 25 years, Toronto International Film Festival Senior Programmer Steve Gravestock has decided to retire at the end of 2022.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

Prince of Bel-Air”) is 72. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 71. Guitarist George Lynch (Dokken) is 67.