Robert Downey, Jr. to Receive Maltin Modern Master Award at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo are reflecting on their shared history!

For all the people that love working with David Fincher (and just looking at the caliber of actors he puts in his films proves the filmmaker is beloved), there’s still this underlying thing when they discuss the production of the film where they seemingly are walking a bit on eggshells. It doesn’t feel as if they’re concerned about upsetting Fincher, but instead, they can’t help but discuss just how difficult it is to work within his framework.

Whether it’s true or not, 2023 will largely go down as a bad year for Marvel Studios. A couple of the films greatly underperformed (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels”) and one of the TV shows was just a big turd (“Secret Wars”).

Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo first met 28 years ago, through their girlfriends at the time, before hunting a serial killer in David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” and well before battling Thanos in Marvel’s “Avengers” movies. The milage on their friendship shows in their shared enthusiasm for their electrifying performances this year: Downey in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” as the calculating U.S. Atomic Energy Commission official Lewis Strauss, and Ruffalo in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” as Duncan Wedderburn, an unscrupulous libertine. Both actors stretched far beyond their well-established movie star personas, and they were eager to ask each other about how they’d done it. Robert Downey Jr.: We really met when Fincher cast us in “Zodiac.” Mark Ruffalo: What a wild ride that was.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has shut down rumours that Robert Downey Jr. will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).Speaking to Vanity Fair for a new profile piece on Downey, Feige has revealed that Marvel Studios will not be bringing back the Iron Man actor after the character was killed off in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.Feige said, citing Downey Jr.’s final performance as Iron Man: “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again.

Robert Downey Jr. has completed his run as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kevin Feige says the character will not be coming back.

Michaela Zee Robert Downey Jr. will not be returning as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Kevin Feige. In a recent Vanity Fair cover story about Downey Jr., the president of Marvel Studios addressed whether or not they would resurrect Iron Man/Tony Stark after his death in “Avengers: Endgame.” “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said of Stark’s final moments in the 2019 film.

Robert Downey Jr.‘s closest friends and collaborators are speaking out about his life and legacy.

Will Smith has revealed that the development of I Am Legend 2 is moving at pace, with both him and Michael B. Jordan on board and a first script delivered.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival launched its third edition on Thursday with a characteristically starry red carpet featuring the likes of Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone and Will Smith.

With his role as musical icon Leonard Bernstein in Netflix’s Maestro racking up strong critical acclaim since the film’s premiere at Venice in September, Bradley Cooper adds another laurel with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival naming him the honoree of its Outstanding Performer Of The Year Award. It will be presented to the star at a tribute at the Arlington Theatre on February 8, 2024.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Though the Red Sea Film Festival will feature a slew of films from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – including 11 feature films from Saudi Arabia – there is a rich roster of international fare set to launch locally from Jeddah. Kaleem Aftab, the festival’s director of international programming, says they received lots more submissions for this year’s third edition.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

Stuart Ford’s AGC International has picked up world rights to two Arab-produced titles, HWJN by Yasir Al-Yasiri and To My Son byDhafer L’abidine, ahead of their debuts at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. 

Adam Levine is kicking off his day with a workout.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk coming-of-age comedy “Head South” will open the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Jan. 25, with the festival running until Feb. 4.

Paul Ridd, a long-term acquisitions exec at Picturehouse Cinemas, has been named director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

With the SAG strike behind us, the all-important film festivals that occur right in the heart of awards season are starting to take shape. A key stop is always the Palm Springs International Film Festival gala, which has just announced its first award, the Vanguard, which goes to a film’s director as well as its ensemble cast. It is probably no surprise that Apple Original Films and Paramount’s epic western drama, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Michaela Zee Tom Hiddleston has weighed in on the possibility of Robert Downey Jr. returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron Man. During an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” on Friday, Hiddleston spoke to the late-night host about the “Loki” Season 2 finale, along with several fan theories about how the recent ending would affect the MCU moving forward.

Christopher Vourlias Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” won the Golden Alexander at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, marking the first time in 30 years that a Greek film took home the top honors at the country’s longest-running film event. Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.