Peter Cullen, the voice actor whose regal timbre as the heroic Optimus Prime in the “Transformers” franchise and deep tone as the gloomy Eeyore in “Winnie the Pooh” projects who was beloved by generations, has died. He was 85.
Cullen died Wednesday in his Los Angeles home, his agent Kevin Motley confirmed to The Times on Thursday. A cause of death was not given.
He “passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” his family said in a statement. They ask “that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle.’ ”
A prolific voice actor whose work spanned television shows, movies, video games and even theme park rides, Cullen amassed more than 200 credits over his career. This includes the eponymous giant ape in the 1976 remake of “King Kong,” the villainous vehicle KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot) in the “Knight Rider” TV series and the clicks and trills of the deadly alien hunter in the original “Predator” film.
But Cullen is best known for his work in animation and children’s cartoons in the 1980s and ‘90s.
His signature role was Optimus Prime, the leader of a heroic faction of sentient alien robots known as Autobots who battle the villainous Decepticons in the “Transformers” franchise. Cullen often spoke about how his voice for the leader — who transforms into a truck — was inspired by his older brother, Larry, a Marine who had served in Vietnam.
On the day of his “Transformers” audition, Cullen had mentioned to Larry, his roommate at the time, that he was on his way to try out to be the voice of “a hero truck.”
Larry responded, “Well, if you’re gonna be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be a jerk … Be strong enough to be gentle. Be understanding. Be compassionate, and be able to kick ass — in a good way,” Cullen previously told The Times.
“He said it in a voice that was subdued and calm,” Cullen continued. “He’s 13 months older and 6 inches taller. Made of steel. He was my hero. [His words] weighed heavily on me. So I’m at the audition reading the breakdown of the character and what I have to say in the audition. I can just feel Larry’s words coming out of my mouth. So, I took his sound — my first words were, ‘My name is Optimus Prime.’ ”
“Transformers” voice actors Peter Cullen, left, and Frank Welker at the 2024 Comic-Con Fan Expo in Rosemont, Ill.
(Rob Grabowski / Invision/Associated Press)
Cullen originated the role in the 1980s animated “Transformers” series, referred to by fans as “G1” or “Generation 1.” The era also includes the big-screen “The Transformers: The Movie” (1986), which featured the beloved character’s controversial death, but the character eventually returned after fan outcry.
He told NPR that returning to play Optimus Prime in these films was “like slipping into an old pair of shoes that you hid in the back of your closet.”
Cullen was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his work as Optimus Prime in the TV series “Transformers: Prime” in 2011 and won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in 2023.
Peter Claver Cullen was born on July 28, 1941, in Montreal, to American parents Henry and Muriel Cullen. One of four children, he graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1963. He later did Shakespeare for a summer in Stratford, Ontario, before working for a year at the Crest Theatre in Toronto as a member of the repertory company, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
He told NPR he discovered his talent for doing different voices while working on a farm as a child and imitating animals.
Besides Optimus Prime, one of Cullen’s favorite roles was Eeyore, the endearing but pessimistic donkey from “Winnie the Pooh.” Cullen first voiced the character in “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” series, which aired from 1988–1991. He continued his work as Eeyore through numerous franchise installments, including “The Tigger Movie” (2000), “Piglet’s Big Movie” (2003) and “The Book of Pooh” series.
“I enjoyed doing Eeyore because he was simply charming,” Cullen said to NPR. “And I get an awful lot of reactions from, especially, young kids, when I go up and just say [in Eeyore’s voice], ‘Hello. Thanks for noticing me.’ And to see their faces light up, that to me is one of the great joys.”
Cullen is survived by his four children, Angus, Claire, Pilar and Clay, according to the Associated Press.
Production services vendor Quixote stunned Hollywood in April when it said it was winding down most of its Los Angeles soundstage business, delivering another blow to an industry already buffeted by steep losses in film and TV production.
Now, one of those facilities is attempting to stage a comeback.
Film and TV producer Manny Halley said he has taken over a 125,000-square-foot former Quixote North Valley complex on Montague Street in Pacoima under a 25-year lease with an option to buy, and plans to reopen it this fall under the name Imani Studio. The land is owned by Rexford Industrial Realty, which is not a party to the production business.
Halley’s credits include the “True to the Game” film trilogy that featured Vivica A. Fox, and the BET reality TV series “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is,” which ran on BET from 2006 to 2008.
In an interview, Halley declined to disclose the price he paid, but said the lease is worth more than $25 million and that the cost to build the facility three years ago was about $19 million. The deal was financed with capital from his Imani Media Group.
“Right now is a unique time for independent producers because we don’t have to sit back and wait for a studio,” he said. “And in order for us to build a library and keep going, we have to keep costs down. So having your own stage is going to keep costs down.”
Producer Manny Halley has taken over ownership of one of the former Quixote North Valley studio facilities in Pacoima.
(Dae Howerton and Dallas J. Logan)
Halley said he was also motivated by the ongoing production crisis in L.A. and the continued loss of industry jobs. His company has shot 18 productions in California, 14 of which received a state production incentive.
“Somebody’s got to believe in Hollywood,” Halley said. “It’s a sad industry right now, and I want to change it.”
He is making a long bet on a market a much larger company has struggled with. Former owner Hudson Pacific announced it was shutting down most of its L.A. soundstages as well as operations in Atlanta as part of a cost-reduction move.
The Los Angeles-based real estate company bought Quixote in 2022 for $360 million, saying at the time that the acquisition would address the growing demand for soundstage space. Quixote was originally founded in 1995.
Though L.A. area soundstages had average occupancy rates of about 90% from 2016 to 2022, their business plunged in 2023 amid the work stoppages of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, according to data from the nonprofit FilmLA, which tracks on-location shoot days in the Greater L.A. area. In 2024, the average occupancy rate was 63%.
“Keeping production infrastructure active and investing in California’s capacity to support film and television is essential to our long-term competitiveness,” California Film Commission Executive Director Colleen Bell said in a statement. “Facilities like this help keep productions here, sustain good-paying jobs, and support the thousands of businesses and workers that make up our entertainment economy.”
Halley said he plans to invest $2 million to $6 million into the facility, including additional staff and LED volume walls. He retained three employees to help run operations and hopes to hire others who previously worked there.
He said he plans to use the facility, which has four soundstages, to shoot his own shows and movies, but also intends to rent out space to other productions, including student projects.
“I just want to give everybody their opportunity to shine,” he said. “I want to give them their own playing field to create and make their visions come to life with affordable stages.”
But even if outside productions don’t rent the space, he said the facility could sustain itself on his company’s projects. Imani Media Group has a distribution arm that has worked with Amazon, Tubi and the major theater chains.
By late September, Halley said he intends to start shooting a “True to the Game” TV series at the Pacoima facility, as well as the BET comedy “Lot Patrol,” which the network recently picked up for an additional five episodes.
“Supporting Black ownership and entrepreneurship across the entertainment industry remains deeply important to BET,” Brian Rikuda, BET’s executive vice president of enterprise growth strategy, business operations, and programming strategy, said in a statement. “As Manny Halley expands Imani Studios into a 125,000-square-foot production home, we’re proud to continue our partnership rooted in a shared vision to create culturally impactful entertainment and expand opportunity in our industry.”
After Tim Curry finished playing the flamboyant Dr. Frank-N-Furter — first onstage, then in the 1975 film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — the actor never returned to the role that made him famous. Not once, over decades of “Rocky Horror” revivals from the West End to Broadway, did he ever put those fishnets back on.
For Curry, who died Tuesday at 80 in Los Angeles, there were too many characters to play, and too much fun to be had, for him to spend much time looking back.
“I’ve always moved on,” Curry told me last year, sitting in the Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip, where he’d played Frank to great acclaim in 1974, after originating the role in London. “That was part of the attraction of being an actor. I really didn’t want to come out of the same box every time.”
Last year, as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was being celebrated for its 50th anniversary, he agreed to meet at the Roxy, which he called “another home for me.” The stage show there had been a local sensation, and it was clear he still had pride and great affection for his role in the movie adaptation, which remains the longest continuous theatrical release in film history.
A stroke in 2012 left him partially paralyzed, interrupting a busy acting career. But he was quick to laugh and joke as he remembered playing Frank, including his nightly entrance at the Roxy, marching down a catwalk in heels and Dracula cape. The long life that “Rocky Horror” has enjoyed as a midnight movie, with shadow casts of costumed fans lip-syncing along, was a surprise to everyone.
Frank-N-Furter was a vivid invitation to fans to let their own freak flag fly. Even amid the era’s accelerating glam rock movement, “Rocky Horror” pushed the boundaries of mainstream pop culture as an outré musical about a mad scientist with a theme song called “Sweet Transvestite.”
“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” Curry said of the film and its audience. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”
He was also pleased with other roles that showed off his gifts, including a 1982 film version of “Annie,” directed by John Huston. Curry was the playfully crooked Rooster Hannigan, and had a standout scene singing and dancing in a pencil mustache and slicked back hair to “Easy Street,” alongside Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters.
Tim Curry, left, in the 1985 movie “Clue.”
(American Cinematheque)
In 1996’s “Muppet Treasure Island,” Curry was a duplicitous but layered Long John Silver, a wild-eyed pirate motivated by greed but with a hint of humanity, as he sang songs and grappled with the strange, felt-covered puppet heroes.
“I love the Muppets,” he said last year. “One of the things that used to fascinate me was that the Muppeteers, when they had the Muppet on their hand, would only speak to you as the character. If you said, ‘Hello’ or ‘What’s the weather like outside,’ they would tell you as the character.”
Never humorless, Curry played the ruthlessly villainous Cardinal Richelieu in the 1993 adaptation of “The Three Musketeers.” Conceived as a vehicle for several Brat Pack actors of the time including Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland, the film nonetheless belonged to Curry, who relished every line of villainy. The actor again stole the show with theatrical flair as the Lord of Darkness in Ridley Scott’s bleak 1985 fantasy “Legend,” playing a demonic horned figure opposite Tom Cruise.
Curry brought the same energy to more relatable comedic roles in the beloved ensemble mystery “Clue” as the highly suspect Wadsworth the Butler, and “Home Alone 2,” as a four-star hotel concierge outmatched by a 10-year-old boy hero.
“Rocky Horror” gave him a film career and even led to a music sideline, with the 1979 radio hit “I Do the Rock.”
“When I did ‘Hair’ in London, my first gig, I was not sure whether I wanted to be a singer or an actor,” Curry told me. “And doing that show kind of postponed the decision long enough and I realized that I really wanted to be an actor more than anything, and I took it very seriously. And worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I saw myself having the trajectory of a serious English actor.”
The roles turned out wilder and more varied than he might have expected but his seriousness and sense of fun never faded, pushing boundaries and himself. No one was ever bored watching Tim Curry onscreen.
British actor Tim Curry, who famously commanded attention as the seductive mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter in cult classic oddball musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” has died. He was 80.
The Daytime Emmy-winning actor’s longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz confirmed that Curry died Wednesday at his home in Toluca Lake, in a statement shared with The Times. A cause of death was not revealed. The Cheshire native suffered a stroke in 2013, impairing his ability to walk. Though he remained in a wheelchair until his death, the actor continued working through his final years.
“Though widely known for his inimitable, flamboyant characters and colorful stage performances,” the statement said of Curry, “his greatest legacies to those who knew him were his curious, expansive mind and generous, gentle heart, both of which remained open and filled with anticipation until his final breath.”
Curry is best known for originating the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the self-proclaimed “Sweet Transvestite” and purveyor of pleasure who guides a stranded young couple — and audiences — through an unpredictable evening of sexual exploration and liberation. He debuted the offbeat experimental musical in fishnets and pearls in 1973 on the tiny stage upstairs at the Royal Court Theater in London, where it first became an underground sensation.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” hit the big screen in 1975, with Susan Sarandon as Janet and Barry Bostwick as Brad. A rock ‘n’ roll take on sci-fi and horror B-movies, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” became the original midnight movie that endeared generations of audiences with its flamboyant characters, spawned interactive screenings across the country and secured its spot in the pop culture lexicon.
“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” Curry told The Times in 2025 upon the film’s 50th anniversary. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”
Curry flexed his versatile acting through more than Frank-N-Furter’s showy elevator debut and his vulnerable “I’m Going Home” finale. He was also a sinister Pennywise in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s “It,” a secretive butler named Wadsworth in “Clue,” and the evil Lord of Darkness in “Legend.” A screen chameleon capable of morphing from the supernatural to the pedestrian, Curry was also known for his work as fabled pirate Long John Silver in “Muppet Treasure Island” and as a skeptical hotel concierge in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
He was a prolific voice actor known for the environmental classic “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” and TV series “The Wild Thornberries,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Over the Garden Wall” and “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.”
Timothy James Curry was born April 19, 1946, to father Jim Curry, a Navy chaplain, and mother Maura Curry. After losing his father at age 12, Curry earned a scholarship to the Kingswood School in Bath. Curry’s grandfather took him to music halls, fostering his love for the art.
“I was really taken with the great Technicolor musicals; it’s the form that’s closest to my heart in a way,” Curry told The Times in 1992. “It’s the most comfortable synthesis of all the things I do.”
School productions eventually led Curry to the University of Birmingham, where he studied drama and English from 1965 to 1968, according to his website.
Curry made his professional debut in 1968 in the original London production of “Hair.” He had fibbed about having previous professional experience and an Equity card, but the production team thought Curry’s talents were reason enough to sponsor him. After he starred in several productions including “Titus Andronicus,” “Cinderella” and “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” co-star Richard O’Brien in 1973 invited the actor to audition for a new work — one that would later solidify Curry as a generational screen and stage icon.
With Curry anchoring as Frank-N-Furter, O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show” first came to life at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs. Then larger venues overseas included L.A.’s Roxy Theatre. Eventually, with the support of producer Lou Adler, the show made it to the screen. The same year “Rocky Horror Picture Show” hit cinemas in 1975, its Broadway run at the Belasco Theatre shuttered after 45 showings and negative reviews. Over the years, harsh criticism proved no match for “Rocky Horror Picture Show’s” unexpected staying power.
The musical had been revived numerous times in New York and London, including in 2001 with the Broadway revival earning multiple Tony Award nominations including a nomination for revival of a musical.
The “Rocky Horror Picture Show” film and Curry’s melodramatic Frank-N-Furter have remained cultural touchstones, spawning the popular “anticipation” online meme and inspiring spoofs on “Glee,” “The Simpsons” and a beloved character (with hormone-manipulating abilities) in the popular Japanese manga and anime “One Piece.”
To Curry, Frank-N-Furter was more than just that “sweet transvestite” obsessed with manufacturing the perfect man.
“He’s a fairly complex guy,” he told The Times in 1974. “He just takes anything he can get. He’s not fussy, really. Though I think he’s something of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.”
Through the late 70s to early aughts, Curry balanced stage commitments with screen projects and musical endeavors. His stage resumé includes productions of Tom Stoppard’s “Travesties” for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the title role in playwright Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” (that would earn him a Tony nomination) and Joseph Papp’s take on “Pirates of Penzance.” All the while, he gained fame for roles in “Annie,” “Clue,” “Home Alone 2” and “Addams Family Reunion.” As a recording artist, Curry released three albums between 1978 and 1981: “Read My Lips,” “Fearless” and “Simplicity.”
In 1988 Curry returned stateside for a U.S. tour of “Me & My Girl,” which he followed with a residency at the Pantages. It was then the actor decided to permanently return to Los Angeles as a resident. His move to Southern California coincided with the beginning of his Emmy-winning voice acting career, which started with a role for Hanna Barbera’s animated adaptation of “The Creation.”
Curry won his Daytime Emmy Award in 1991 for voicing Captain Hook in “Peter Pan and the Pirates” and earned a Grammy nomination in 2002 for the audiobook of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.” He performed voice roles for video games including television and film tie-ins “Brutal Legend” and “Dragon Age: Origins.”
The British star primarily worked in voice roles after he suffered a major stroke in 2013. Since then, Curry had been in a wheelchair, with on-screen cameos including as the criminologist in the 2016 TV remake of “Rocky Horror.” Still, the image of Curry’s fierce Frank-N-Furter continues to pervade pop culture — even if that wasn’t his original intention.
“None of it was planned, really. I just knew I had to take risks,” he told The Times in 1974. “Life is like acting in that way. You’ve got to take risks. If you take big risks, it’s then up to you whether or not you pull it off.”
More than 50 years after that interview, Curry told The Times that he had no doubt in what he was doing. Revisiting his home away from home, the Roxy Theatre, in the fall of 2025, Curry said it had become “my stomping ground.”
“I had to appear as though I owned it — and I kind of did.”
A prominent Latino group is raising fresh concerns about Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying the blockbuster deal would crush Latino workers and small businesses that support Hollywood.
In an open letter to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the League of United Latin American Citizens urged the state’s top prosecutor to continue his legal fight to block Paramount’s proposed $111-billion takeover of the media company that owns HBO, CNN, HGTV and the Warner Bros. film and television studios.
“No state has more to lose from this disastrous merger … than California,” LULAC National President Roman Palomares and Chief Executive Juan Proaño wrote in the six-page letter sent to Bonta late Sunday.
Thousands of jobs would be lost, and Latino voices could be squelched should the deal go through as it is drawn, the LULAC leaders said.
“The current form of the consolidation would have a devastating and unacceptable impact on Latinos, including those who reside in the Los Angeles community,” they wrote, noting Latinos make up 40% of the state’s population and nearly half of Los Angeles County, where HBO and the Paramount and Warner Bros. studios are based.
Paramount’s proposed merger has carved deep divisions and become increasingly contentious.
In recent days, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Xavier Becerra publicly pressured Bonta to settle the lawsuit to avoid a drawn-out court fight.
Politicians have been reacting to Paramount’s threat to move its studio, and potentially Warner Bros., from Hollywood to Tennessee or Texas unless Bonta backs down.
Theater owners and two major Hollywood unions — the Directors Guild of America and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — have joined the parade pleading for a settlement. But the Writers Guild of America and Teamsters have steadfastly opposed the merger, warning about its potential impact on working writers and film crews.
Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison was set Monday to meet Bonta and others representing the 12 states that sued to block the transaction. But Bonta abruptly canceled the mediation session, accusing Paramount of “playing games,” leaking details and making misrepresentations about the talks despite agreeing to keep them confidential.
Paramount later denied that it was the source of the leaks.
Paramount didn’t immediately comment on the LULAC letter, but previously has touted the merger as a way to build a stronger competitor amid a pullback in local production. The company said it would “invest $30 billion annually in production and release at least 30 films a year,” a commitment that would lead to “more jobs over time, and ultimately, a stronger, more durable entertainment industry for generations to come.”
“To have it thrown in your face that Paramount will leave Los Angeles if they don’t get what they want is really just tantamount to a threat … one that will be devastating to Latinos,” Proaño said in an interview with The Times.
“There is a significant number of small businesses — Latino small businesses — and Latino residents, employees and workers that support this industry,” Proaño said. “We’ve been invisible, we’ve been silent — but we wanted to make sure that LULAC is not silent in this moment.”
In its letter, LULAC pointed to Hollywood’s most recent mergers, including Discovery’s 2022 acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T, saying such tie-ups underscore how media consolidation tramples over Latino voices, particularly when companies resort to job eliminations and other cost cuts to balance the expense of a corporate takeover.
After Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav took the helm, his company plodded through years of turmoil and massive layoffs. The movie “Batgirl,” which was set to feature a young Afro-Latina as lead actor, was shelved to gain tax benefits. Warner also canceled “Gordita Chronicles,” a TV show about an immigrant Dominican family, despite solid viewership.
Latino families make up “a significant portion of the film and television industry audience,” the letter said, adding that Motion Picture Assn. data show Latinos annually attend more movies per person in theaters than any other demographic group.
“Hollywood returns almost nothing for that loyalty,” the letter said. “Latino characters filled only 5 percent of speaking roles across 1,300 top-grossing films.”
“These and other harms are not collateral to the antitrust case,” LULAC’s letter said. “They are consequences of the diminished competition that will result. Every studio absorbed by a rival is one fewer buyer for a script, one fewer employer for a crew and one fewer distributor willing to bet on a story its franchise slate does not need.”
Warner Bros. Discovery nearly drowned in debt that it took on to finance its $43-billion buyout from AT&T in 2022. Ellison’s proposed Warner Bros. takeover also will be heavily leveraged with nearly twice the debt that resulted from Zaslav’s previous deal.
David Ellison has lined up nearly $80 billion in debt financing to buy out Warner investors. The tech scion is relying on a guarantee from his billionaire father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and $24 billion in equity financing from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, representing the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The deal comes one year after the Ellison family bought Paramount, which had been on the ropes because of significant under-investment over the years.
“Paramount followed the same script: within months of closing its Skydance merger in August 2025, it laid off roughly 2,000 employees, about ten percent of its workforce, just after dismantling its diversity programs earlier that year,” the LULAC letter reads.
“This time, Zaslav’s going to walk away with a billion-dollar parachute and Paramount may end up with these crown jewels assets when it comes to movie-making and television programming,” Proaño said.
It was a television show tailor-made for Los Angeles: a highly anticipated Netflix crime drama about a team of ex-special forces operators who outsource their skills to criminals in the city.
The production was backed by a prominent indie studio and had a critically acclaimed lead actor attached. And with a budget of more than $100 million and a crew of 350, the series seemed like a shoo-in for California’s film tax and TV credit.
But last month, shortly before filming was set to begin, producers were stunned to learn the film didn’t make the cut based on a formula the state uses to rank projects by the number of jobs they produce and their spending levels. After two applications for a tax credit had been rejected, they opted to shoot the series in New Jersey, where it was much easier to qualify for film incentives.
“We were shocked,” said a producer on the project who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. “This is the birthplace of entertainment. It shouldn’t be so hard to shoot here.”
Despite improvements to the state’s tax incentive program, Los Angeles and California continue to struggle to keep movies, television series and even game shows from fleeing elsewhere. Production levels have failed to bounce back since the pandemic and the labor strikes by writers and actors, and they remain at historic lows.
Film activity in the L.A. region plummeted in the second quarter of this year, with shoot days for feature films and TV productions falling 20% and 30%, respectively, compared with already anemic levels from a year ago, according to FilmLA.
The story of how L.A. steadily lost much of its homegrown industry to other locales is a tale of hubris, escalating costs, political inaction and fierce competition from states and countries hungry for a piece of the Hollywood pie. California eventually adopted a very limited film tax credit plan in 2009, but even then production had already gone elsewhere.
Filmmaker Jonathan Nolan, on the set of “Fallout,” has been at the forefront of efforts to keep Hollywood at the center of the entertainment industry.
(Lorenzo Sisti / Prime Video)
This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen producers, studio executives, lawmakers and film industry veterans.
Despite warning signs that runaway production was causing an exodus of talent and jobs, many took for granted that L.A. would remain the epicenter of film and television.
Film activity in Los Angeles has plummeted to historic lows, with devastating consequences for crews and vendors. This series examines how L.A. lost its dominant perch as a film and TV destination and what can be done to bring Hollywood back home.
“I’ve been around long enough … to realize that things kind of die slowly and then they die quickly,” said Jonathan Nolan, a writer, director and producer, whose credits include the HBO series “Westworld” and “Fallout” on Amazon.
Nolan, who championed efforts to get the state to expand its tax incentives, lamented that L.A. once “stood in for everywhere. Now L.A. doesn’t even stand in for itself.”
‘The X-Files’ and the birth of Hollywood North
Like the fall of Rome and the decline of Detroit, Hollywood’s spiral did not happen in a single day, but rather unfolded over decades.
Before World War II, Los Angeles’ production hegemony was uncontested. An abundance of sunny weather and a range of landscapes, along with highly skilled artisans, from set designers to scenic painters, re-created the entire world on Hollywood soundstages and backlots.
That began to change during the late 1940s and early 1950s when studios broke with tradition and filmed abroad, attracted by Europe’s cheap labor and the desire among directors for more realism in movies.
William Wyler’s 1953 classic “Roman Holiday,” starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, was one of the first, shot entirely overseas on the streets of the Italian capital and at Cinecittà studios.
Still, as productions went on location, often for creative reasons, Hollywood remained the center of entertainment gravity.
“Roman Holiday,” starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, was one of the first big American studio films to be shot entirely overseas.
(Paramount Pictures)
In 1993, when there were four broadcast networks, cable TV relied on set-top boxes and streamers were, well, party decorations, a relatively unknown television writer named Chris Carter began pre-production on a new supernatural drama series that he had created.
For the pilot’s opening scenes, he needed a forest, one that was dark and moody. There, a terrified teenage girl would be filmed fleeing before she was consumed by a blinding flash of light and then found dead, bearing unexplained marks on her body.
“It became clear that not only were there not great forests in the ‘zone,’” said Carter, referring to the 30-mile-zone (TMZ) around L.A. that producers try to shoot within to avoid mandatory union surcharges. “But there were better forests in Vancouver.”
As it happened, during the 14-day shoot, Carter, who was working with a tight budget, discovered that Vancouver supplied numerous benefits.
The grim weather naturally provided a spooky atmospheric backdrop while the city “beautifully doubled for almost any place in the U.S. without having to pretend too much,” he said.
Carter’s pilot became “The X-Files,” the wildly popular and groundbreaking 1990s TV series that ran for nine seasons (plus two revival seasons), redefined the science fiction genre and spawned two feature films.
The success of “The X-Files” propelled Vancouver’s reputation as “Hollywood North.”
(Associated Press)
“As David Duchovny said, ‘two weeks became five years,’” quipped Carter.
While other productions such as “Wiseguy” had filmed in British Columbia years earlier, “The X-Files” unintentionally cemented Vancouver’s reputation as “Hollywood North,” fueled by Canada’s favorable exchange rates, skilled crews, lower labor costs and, eventually, tax credits.
The show’s colossal success helped create the model still in play 33 years later for outsourcing movie and television production to regions where tax incentives are higher and production costs are lower.
“It was simply a choice I made for the location, not for the financial benefit,” said Carter. “It wasn’t part of my calculus, but it ended up being a fact of life.”
Throughout the 1990s a steady stream of TV shows and movies shot in Canada. The 1994 adaptation of “Little Women” starring Winona Ryder was largely filmed in Vancouver, with a stand-in for Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s home in Concord, Mass., built in a local forest.
But, at the time, few saw what was happening as an existential crisis in the making.
For one thing, L.A. was in the midst of a production boom, prompting the development of the$77-million Manhattan Beach Studios, a 22-acre production facility in 1996. (The studio is now fielding offers by its bank lenders after its owner, the real estate investment firm Hackman Capital Partners, defaulted on over $2 billion in mortgages on several studio facilities it had acquired in recent years.)
Losing the ‘golden goose’
Canada’s booming film business inspired other U.S. states to get in on the action. Louisiana became the first to pass a film tax incentive, enhancing it in 2002; New Mexico and Georgia followed with their own programs.
Helping to fuel the film tax credit frenzy was none other than the Motion Picture Assn. The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for the major film studios and streamers for years aggressively lobbied lawmakers and even governors in other states to adopt their own film programs.
Eventually, nearly 40 states and some 80 countries and territories were offering film incentives in the form of transferable tax credits, grants or rebates.
“Everybody thought, ‘We are Hollywood. Why do we have to do anything?,’” said Lori Balton, a top location manager, whose list of credits spans nearly 40 years and includes such films as “Heat” and “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood.”
“They always thought that they had the golden goose. And it was going to keep laying eggs and instead, it packed up its bags and moved.”
Earlier this year, while speaking at Burbank City Hall chambers, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) dropped some sobering data: 45% of all U.S. films and scripted television shows were shot abroad in 2025, up from 33% in 2022.
Like most filmmakers, Miles Millar would prefer to work in Los Angeles, where he lives, but he hasn’t done so for 25 years, since he was a co-producer and writer on the CBS action series “Martial Law.”
“It is not financially viable to shoot the kinds of shows we do here,” said Millar, whose work includes “Smallville” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
It was too expensive to film in Los Angeles, so the Netflix hit “Wednesday” shot its first season in Romania before relocating the show to Ireland.
(Netflix)
When Millar and his “Wednesday” co-creator and co-showrunner Alfred Gough began pre-production on the first season of the Netflix hit series about five years ago, L.A. as a location wasn’t even discussed.
They settled on Romania. Tim Burton, “Wednesday’s” executive producer and primary director, “loved the idea,” said Millar, noting that the director was predisposed to its gloomy and gothic wonders, having once visited Dracula’s castle in a Transylvanian mountain village with rocker Alice Cooper.
“We built the whole town of Jericho and six standing sets at a huge scale. There was no way you could even begin to construct the level and scale of sets that we did, in L.A.,” he said. “We’re talking about the difference of tens of millions of dollars.”
Still, the former Eastern Bloc country had its challenges. The crew didn’t speak English and its promised tax rebates never materialized.
When “Wednesday” was picked up for a second season (it is now filming its third), the show moved to Ireland, where it received more than $23 million in tax credits last year, according to the country’s Tax and Customs office.
“The last thing I want to do is shoot thousands of miles away from my family for nine months, year after year,” Millar said. But it has come down to “where do we get the most bang for the buck?”
Outsourcing scores and VFX
Other critical components of filmmaking, including visual effects and musical scoring, have also been outsourced over several years.
L.A. was once home to 18 film scoring stages that could accommodate full symphony orchestras. Today only three remain, driven away partly by high labor costs and cheaper overseas competition.
Similarly, many visual effects studios have moved elsewhere. Vancouver alone has dozens of visual effects studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks and a major branch of Industrial Light & Magic.
“We’ve allowed that piece of the market to leave,” said Marielle Abaunza, president of the California Post Alliance, an advocacy group backing a state bill offering post-production firms their own tax breaks, similar to what New York offers.
“For 16 years, places like New York have slowly been building up their talent, their facilities, their relationships with filmmakers and their relationships with studios,” Abaunza said.
Even as other states and foreign governments invested in their own film industries and began luring away productions from California, lawmakers in Sacramento were initially skeptical of giving tax breaks to producers. Some critics saw them as little more than a handout that diverted resources from more pressing needs such as healthcare and education.
“If you’re on the outside looking in, there is this false sense that everyone who works in Hollywood has to be rich whether you’re crew or not,” said Amy Baer, a producer and former Sony executive who now runs Artists Equity, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company.
As production losses mounted in L.A., a coalition of labor and industry groups lobbied then governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to take action.
Schwarzenegger, a longtime champion of tax credits, was able to get a program passed as part of an economic stimulus provision of the state’s 2009 budget. It was dubbed “The Ugly Betty” bill, named after the ABC show that had relocated from L.A. to New York.
Though hailed as a significant step, the new film sweeteners had some key limitations. The pool of money was small — capped at $100 million annually over five years. And it couldn’t be applied to offset the cost of actors’ salaries, a key driver of budgets.
In reality, the program was too small and restrictive to compete with a growing crop of rivals that had larger tax breaks and fewer restrictions.
Chief among them was the United Kingdom, which soon began to attract a number of big-budget movies thanks to a hugely popular 25% cash rebate on production expenses, including money spent on actors’ salaries and other above-the-line costs.
In a paradigm-shifting move, Warner Bros. purchased Leavesden Studios outside of London in 2010, investing more than $160 million into the facility. Much of the blockbusters “Wonder Woman” and “Barbie” were filmed there.
Although the California program was tripled to $330 million annually starting in 2014, it did little to halt the continued exodus of film work. Marvel Studios began moving its production operations to Georgia, enticed by the state’s uncapped tax credits that could be used for actors’ salaries. Both “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” were filmed largely at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Ga. Another historic town east of Atlanta attracted so many movies and TV shows it became known as “Hollywood of the South.” (Last year, Marvel shifted most of its operations to the U.K. in search of even bigger cost savings.)
Marvel Studios, which filmed blockbusters such as “Black Panther” in Georgia, has since shifted operations to the U.K.
(Film Frame / Marvel Studios)
While numerous studio facilities lay empty here, streamers and studios have built major production hubs outside of L.A. Though it still shoots dozens of productions in L.A., Netflix has spent billions to operate production hubs abroad while constructing massive facilities in places like New Jersey and New Mexico.
“Everyone kept saying, if we have more tax credits, then at least we’ll be able to bring production back,” said Monica Levinson, a veteran producer who has worked on FX’s “Love Story” and the movie “Zoolander.” “Well, that didn’t happen. And the crews got better and better out of the country.”
Rising costs
As the rest of the world courted Hollywood, L.A. did little to help itself.
Despite recent improvements to streamline and reduce costs, the city’s film approval system remains a maze of multi-layered permitting, fees and complex logistics, location managers say. The Greater L.A. area has more than 100 jurisdictions, many of which have their own rules, regulations and permitting fees for filming.
Filming in L.A. also has become more expensive compared with other film hubs due in part to higher labor costs and mandatory staffing requirements, such as paid on-set fire safety monitors, and traffic and parking controls.
What’s more, unlike New York, the city doesn’t have its own film commissioner who could advocate for the industry.
An L.A. commissioner would be “somebody that is beating the drum 365 days a year that is not aligned with a special interest other than creating more production in California, which makes our state and our people prosperous,” said Scott Budnick, a producer on the wildly successful “The Hangover” franchise who lobbied for the state’s enhanced film tax credits.
For a time, the loss of market share was masked by a surge in local TV shoots as studios spent heavily to supply content to their new streaming platforms.
But the pandemic and back-to-back strikes by actors and writers roiled the industry. Studios laid off thousands, cut back on films slates and slashed TV spending and it never rebounded. Film incentives became even more critical for those deciding where to shoot.
By the time Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan in October 2024 to more than double funding for the film and TV tax credit program, to $750 million annually (closer to New York’s annual allocation of $800 million, although it retained annual caps and doesn’t count actors’ salaries), the industry outlook was bleak.
“I think there was a tipping point between COVID and the strikes that shone a very bright light on the fact that the majority of production had fled the state,” said Baer, the producer.
There are a few bright spots, however.
The critically acclaimed HBO hit medical drama “The Pitt” is filmed almost entirely on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, and has injected tens of millions into the local economy while sustaining nearly 1,000 jobs. Two other Emmy-award winning series, Apple TV’s “The Studio” and HBO’s “Hacks,” which just ended, also shot locally.
At Jonathan Nolan‘s urging, Amazon agreed to relocate his post-apocalyptic series “Fallout” to Los Angeles in 2024 after filming its first season in New York, Utah and Namibia. The show received $67 million in California tax credits for its second and third seasons.
Walton Goggins plays the dual role of Cooper Howard and The Ghoul in Amazon’s post-apocalyptic series “Fallout.”
(Courtesy of Prime Video)
“We want to keep shooting here,” Nolan said. “I don’t want to pack my kids off to the back end of beyond just for the privilege of being able to continue doing what I’m doing.”
To build support for the expanded credits, Nolan last year allowed state lawmakers to visit the sets of “Fallout,” including at the Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita.
“I think they were struck by just how big an endeavor this is,” said Nolan, whose brother Christopher is director of “The Odyssey,” (The epic film was shot across Greece, Sicily and several other countries.) “These are hundreds or thousands of jobs on one production alone, hundreds of millions of dollars being put in the local economy.”
Nolan and others in the industry admit the California program is imperfect.
Mayor Karen Bass, who backed the tax credit program in 2009 when she was speaker of the California Assembly, has touted the success of the expanded incentives, saying they’ve created “thousands of good-paying union jobs … right here in Los Angeles, bringing direct investment to our community.”
Since the expanded program went into effect last July, 179 projects have generated $7.2 billion in direct production spending, bringing nearly 38,000 cast and crew jobs to the state, according to the California Film Commission.
“We remain committed to supporting the entertainment industry here and feel optimistic and energized by the response from the community to the program’s modernization and enhancements,” Colleen Bell, the commission’s executive director, said in a statement.
Bass, who is up for reelection, said she would redouble efforts to remove tax credit caps and further reduce film permitting fees “because this industry is core to the history, culture and economic power of Los Angeles.”
The question, however, is whether L.A. is still core to the film industry.
Earlier this year, writer and director Ryan Coogler, who won an Oscar for his “Sinners” screenplay, began filming the pilot for a reboot of “The X-Files.”
During the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Coogler called the drama “one of the most beautiful American television shows ever made” and assured fans that while he planned to put his own stamp on the seminal series, his version would pay homage to the original.
“We intend on having both monsters of the week and also the overarching conspiracy,” he said.
And like the original series, it was shot in Vancouver.
The Emmys’ writing and directing categories sometimes offer a window into the eventual winners, as when “The Studio” swept through the ceremony last year. Other times, voters decide to go their own way. “Slow Horses” has never won the drama series Emmy, but it has won awards for writing and directing the past two years. Noodles for everyone!
The episode submissions this year are a little baffling, often not reflecting the series’ best work. But what do I know? Maybe those “Pitt” submissions primed the waterworks. Perhaps it’s politics.
What I do know are my own personal preferences. So here are my rankings of the writing and directing nominees for drama, comedy and limited series, ordered from least to best.
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Comedy series directing
6. “The Ms. Pat Show,” “Give It Arrest” Directed by Mary Lou Belli
If you haven’t watched Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams’ unfiltered show, it’s been on BET+ for five seasons and this is Belli’s third nomination for directing. The fan base is nothing if not loyal.
5. “The Chair Company,” “Life Goes By Too F— Fast, It Really Does” Directed by Andrew DeYoung
Cathartic cringe comedy for people who thought “Severance” was too lighthearted.
4. “Abbott Elementary,” “Ballgame” Directed by Randall Einhorn
No small feat to shoot during a live baseball game, and the episode is so good (Kyle Schwarber blasts four home runs!) that, even as a Dodgers fan, I can’t say boo about the Philly-ness of it.
3. “Widow’s Bay,” “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!” Directed by Hiro Murai
As the episode title suggests, it’s the table-setter. There were better episodes, but the last three aired past the eligibility deadline, so this will do.
2. “The Bear,” “Bears” Directed by Christopher Storer
Tiff and Frank’s wedding, proof that Season 4 of “The Bear” had more than its share of high points. Another showcase for Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s acting and contains a powerful scene between Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) that sets the stage for the show’s final season.
1. “Hacks,” “Hacks (Finale)” Directed by Lucia Aniello
Who doesn’t like a fairy-tale ending?
Drama series directing
6. “The Gilded Age,” “My Mind Is Made Up” Directed by Salli Richardson–Whitfield
Soapy, opulently costumed piffle with a beating heart.
5. “Paradise,” “Exodus” Directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper
In which the show either jumps the shark or executes an intriguing reset.
4. “The Pitt,” “12 P.M.” Directed by Noah Wyle
RIP Louie.
3. “Task,” “Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing, There Is a River” Directed by Salli Richardson–Whitfield
Shootouts don’t come more chaotic — or devastating — than the 20-minute melee that opens this hour.
2. “Slow Horses,” “Scars” Directed by Saul Metzstein
Could repeat the Emmy in this category just for that last shot of Lamb’s feet.
1. “Pluribus,” “We Is Us” Directed by Vince Gilligan
The strange, unsettling series premiere was the best hour of television this year.
Limited series directing
4. “Black Rabbit,” “The Black Rabbits” Directed by Jason Bateman
Do you even remember what happened in this series?
3. “Beef,” “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey” Directed by Jake Schreier
Is it OK to become our parents if it’s the only way to pay the mortgage?
2. “Beef,” “Oh, the Comfort, the Inexpressible Comfort” Directed by Lee Sung Jin
Basically “The Pitt,” but with an ethical dilemma involving Gatorade.
1. “DTF St. Louis” Directed by Steven Conrad
Immaculately composed wide shots and an imaginative use of shallow depth of field are used to highlight the suburban weirdness hiding in plain sight.
Comedy series writing
6. “Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat,” “Mergers and Acquisitions” Written by Anthony King
In which Anthony (Norman, not King, the episode’s writer) becomes the hero of the television season.
5. “The Chair Company,”“Life Goes By Too F— Fast, It Really Does” Written by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin
Season premiere goes straight into goblin mode.
4. “Abbott Elementary,” “Team Building” Written by Quinta Brunson
The only instance where the words “team building” don’t make me shudder.
3. “Hacks,” “Hacks (Finale)” Written by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky
Too melodramatic with the whole Deborah death scare? Have you been watching “Hacks” for the last five seasons?
2. “Widow’s Bay,” “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!” Written by Katie Dippold
A fine introduction to the cursed New England island as well as the show’s juxtaposition of comedy and horror.
1. “The Comeback,” “Valerie Does It All” Written by Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow
Can we laugh about AI being the death of us? For one brilliant episode, yes!
Drama series writing
6. “The Diplomat,” “Amagansett” Written by Peter Ackerman and Debora Cahn
Come for the “West Wing” vibes, stay for the blindside reveal.
5. “The Pitt,” 12 P.M.” Written by Valerie Chu
You can’t fault a show that hauls in 25 nominations, including two for writing. These are solid episodes, but they pale in comparison with the last four of the season, which offered an intense, emotionally charged run that culminated hours of careful, patient storytelling.
4. “Task,” “A Still Small Voice” Written by Brad Ingelsby
Forgiveness brings relief.
3. “The Pitt,” “1 P.M.” Written by Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill
Mel Brooks has been watching movies for about as long as anyone alive. The comedy icon, who turned 100 in June, was born in the silent era and grew up in Brooklyn devouring double bills at his neighborhood theater in the 1930s. That movie-mad kid would go on to become one of the giants of filmmaking, directing classics like “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” and giving us a song-and-dance Frankenstein’s monster, cowboys farting around a campfire and the mystical power of the Schwartz.
So when the American Cinematheque recently invited Brooks to program a series of his favorite films — something he had never done before — there was no telling where his tastes might lead.
Beginning Sept. 3, the Cinematheque will bring Brooks’ 20 selections to the big screen in “Programmed by Mel Brooks: 100 Years at the Movies,” running through Nov. 12 at the Aero, Egyptian and Los Feliz 3 theaters. The lineup spans nearly nine decades of Brooks’ own lifetime: The oldest film he chose was released when he was 4; the newest came out when he was 93.
What made the cut? Some choices make perfect sense for Brooks: comedy classics like Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” (1931) and the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera” (1935). Others are more surprising, from Kevin Costner communing with the Sioux in “Dances With Wolves” (1990) to Eddie Murphy resurrecting a blaxploitation legend in “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019). The list is overwhelmingly American with just one foreign-language film, Federico Fellini’s bittersweet 1953 comedy “I Vitelloni.”
For Brooks, the exercise offered a chance to reconnect with what drew him to movies in the first place.
“It was wonderful compiling a list of all these marvelous movies for American Cinematheque,” Brooks said in a statement to The Times. “It reminded me about why I first fell in love with the art of film.”
Earlier this year, with Brooks’ centennial approaching, the Cinematheque began thinking about how to mark the milestone. The organization has screened his films regularly for decades and Brooks has appeared at its theaters a dozen or so times to discuss his work and collaborators. Simply putting “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” back on the marquee wasn’t going to cut it.
“The question was: How do we do something different and interesting?” says Chris LeMaire, the Cinematheque’s director of programming, in a phone interview. “Then it became: What if we reached out to Mel and asked if he wanted to put his programmer hat on and take over our calendar and see what he would come up with?”
The Cinematheque already invites filmmakers and other guests to choose individual films for its weekly Sunday Print Edition series, but handing someone an entire series to program was another matter.
“We didn’t even say how many films it could be,” LeMaire recalls. “We kind of said, ‘How many do you want to show?’ ”
Brooks conveyed his selections through his assistant, who would speak with him by phone and relay the titles to the Cinematheque by email. Rather than arriving all at once, the list grew over several days as Brooks kept thinking of movies he wanted to add.
“It was really neat to see it unfold because he sent an initial list and we were like, ‘Wow, this is great,’ ” LeMaire says. “Then a few hours later, he thought, ‘Well, we can’t forget John Ford. We’ve got to throw in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ Fast-forward a few more of these cycles where he was thinking about it and that’s how it got up to 20.”
Brooks is letting the selections speak for themselves, offering up the movies he loved without feeling the need to make a case for them.
“He didn’t provide much explanation, didn’t say why he was picking all these films,” LeMaire says. “I think that’s really beautiful in that sense.”
To LeMaire, the breadth of the list reflects both Brooks’ long view of movie history and the eclecticism of his own work.
“He was born before the sound era, so you get the sense that he’s put this list together based on actual experience, watching firsthand as cinema evolved over the decades,” LeMaire says. “There’s such a mix of genres on this list, and that mirrors how his films work — the love of cinema history and the lovingly satirizing ways of dealing with genre.”
Some connections to Brooks’ own career are particularly direct. He produced David Lynch’s 1980 drama “The Elephant Man,” while Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic “Psycho” inevitably calls to mind Brooks’ 1977 Hitchcock spoof “High Anxiety.” Brooks also included one of his own films, “The Twelve Chairs,” his 1970 comedy based on the Russian novel.
Hardly one of his best-known films, “The Twelve Chairs” has proved one of the trickier titles for the Cinematheque to screen. LeMaire says it and Paul Mazursky’s 1986 comedy “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” another Brooks selection, lack readily available digital restorations, making suitable screening materials harder to track down.
Brooks left the screening order up to the Cinematheque. LeMaire chose “City Lights” to kick off the series. “When Mel Brooks says he wants to show a Charlie Chaplin film, it just seemed like: Well, that’s the way we’ve got to open,” LeMaire says.
Brooks is not currently expected to appear at any of the screenings. Could he nevertheless turn up as a surprise? LeMaire isn’t making any promises.
“I wouldn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up,” he says. “I’ll be there with everybody else, wishing and hoping.”
Asked to name his own favorite Brooks film, LeMaire doesn’t hesitate: “Young Frankenstein.”
“I might have seen that more than any other film ever, honestly,” he says. “So it really is such a dream come true that he responded with enthusiasm and put this together for us. It’s a dream come true for me personally.”
Here is the complete lineup for “Programmed by Mel Brooks: 100 Years at the Movies”:
Sept. 3 — “City Lights” (1931), Aero Theatre Sept. 4 — “When Harry Met Sally…” (1989), Aero Theatre Sept. 5 — “I Vitelloni” (1953), Aero Theatre Sept. 6 — “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), Aero Theatre Sept. 9 — “The Elephant Man” (1980), Aero Theatre Sept. 19 — “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984), Los Feliz 3 Sept. 20 — “Shane” (1953), Los Feliz 3 Sept. 23 — “The Miracle Worker” (1962), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 6 — “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 10 — “Top Hat” (1935), Aero Theatre Oct. 11 — “Dances With Wolves” (1990), Egyptian Theatre Oct. 16 — “Jojo Rabbit” (2019), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 17 — “Double Indemnity” (1944), Egyptian Theatre Oct. 18 — “Schindler’s List” (1993), Egyptian Theatre Oct. 20 — “A Night at the Opera” (1935), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 22 — “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 24 — “Broadway Melody of 1940” (1940), Los Feliz 3 Oct. 25 — “Ed Wood” (1994), Egyptian Theatre Oct. 31 — “Psycho” (1960), Egyptian Theatre Nov. 12 — “The Twelve Chairs” (1970), Egyptian Theatre
BIG screen star Jacob Elordi booked a hotel’s £60,000-a-night penthouse to impress girlfriend Kendall Jenner.
The Wuthering Heights Heathcliff actor splashed out on the Claridge’s suite so she could “see the stars” sources said.
Jacob Elordi and Kendall Jenner seen at posh Italian restaurant Cipriani in LondonCredit: GoffThe actor secured the penthouse suite at Claridge’s, which is billed as the most expensive in LondonCredit: Claridges
Reality TV star Kendall, 30, joined Jacob, 29, for his whistlestop London visit as he promotes Ridley Scott’s new post apocalyptic thriller, The Dog Stars.
The pair were pictured out with his dad John at posh Italian restaurant Cipriani in London on Wednesday night.
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Insiders said Australian Jacob secured the Mayfair suite, billed as the most expensive in London, for Kendall while he worked.
A source said: “Jacob is a proper romantic and he wanted Kendall to have that amazing view over London where you can see the stars.
Jacob splashed out on the suite at the posh London hotel to impress his new girlfriendCredit: AlamyKendall Jenner has been dating the actor since FebruaryCredit: Getty
“It costs £60,000 a night to stay there.
“But upgrading was worth the money.”
The couple arrived yesterday ahead of last night’s premiere in Leicester Square.
The first time that artist and filmmaker James Spooner heard Patti Smith’s song “Rock n Roll N—,” he cringed and reflected on the years of racism, microaggressions and abuse he dealt with as a young Black punk rocker in California’s high desert and later, New York.
According to Spooner’s new book, “It Starts With Anger,” this moment of reflection is a catalyst that prompts him to pursue a closer examination of the experiences and challenges Black people face in punk rock and alternative music scenes that are predominantly white.
“If there was such a thing as a ‘Rock n Roll N—’ Patti Smith wasn’t going to be the one to define it. Right then, I decided I was going to make a movie,” Spooner writes in his book.
In 2003, Spooner started working on a documentary called “Afro-Punk,” which took him across the country as he interviewed Black artists, musicians and fans to talk about their experiences in punk rock. “Afro-Punk” starts by calling out Smith’s controversial song before diving into what it means to be Black in a music scene intended to welcome outsiders, but which nonetheless alienates and projects harmful values toward people who are not white.
“I don’t think she’s a bad person, I think she’s a white person who was trying to be edgy and then just like doubled down her whole career,” Spooner told The Times. “I’m all for and have always been understanding of people who make mistakes, people should have an opportunity to correct themselves.”
The punk rock documentary is being rereleased this month after Spooner launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to remaster the film. The rerelease coincides with the publication of Spooner’s new book, “It Starts With Anger,” which covers the author’s personal history, the creation of the documentary, the larger Afropunk brand (it does not use a hyphen like the film), and the eventual demise of his brainchild at the hands of corporate ventures. “Afro-Punk” will premiere in Los Angeles and New York, with a special screening and book talk on Sunday at the Skirball Cultural Center with former S.O.A. and Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins.
“Young people at the time needed it,” Spooner says about his documentary “Afropunk.” They needed that connection to see that there were other young Black punk rockers, they needed to hear from them and know that they had common experiences.”
(Lisa Nola )
“Before there was anything negative attached to it and before there was any corporate interest attached to it, people saw the movie and were like, ‘Oh, that’s my story, I guess I’m an Afropunk and didn’t even know it,’ and then they started calling themselves that,” Spooner said. “I helped define an experience for a group of people in the underground, I inadvertently helped to define an experience for a lot of people who feel othered and ostracized.”
Spooner, who upheld punk’s DIY ethos by shooting, producing, directing and editing the entire project himself, recently regained the rights to his film after a contentious years-long legal battle against his former business partner, Matthew Morgan, and Essence Ventures, the current owners of the Afropunk brand.
“The way that it all turned out in the end, it’s like, not everybody gets to see the long arc of justice in their lifetime, but to be so hurt and slighted and then watch karma do its thing is like, why waste time with being pissed off anymore? There are still things that I wished wouldn’t have happened, but I’m lucky in the end,” the Afropunk founder said.
After Spooner made his documentary, he realized how much the film resonated with Black punks who yearned for community and acceptance. Damon Locks, a visual artist and musician who was featured in the documentary and later worked as a publicist for the Afropunk festival, said he was “really impressed” with the film when it first came out, and that “James’ instincts were correct” when it came to the vision and execution.
“Young people at the time needed it, they needed that connection to see that there were other young Black punk rockers, they needed to hear from them and know that they had common experiences,” he said.
Eager to extend the reach of “Afro-Punk” beyond the documentary, Spooner began organizing a series of DIY underground punk shows known as “The Liberation Sessions,” with the goal of developing this concept into a major festival. He also decided to enter a business relationship with Morgan, who offered to manage Spooner’s creative affairs and help him take “Afro-Punk” to the next level.
According to Spooner, Morgan wanted to bring in corporate sponsors and feature music genres outside of punk to generate more interest and maximize profits. Spooner said he reluctantly compromised, yet after several years of working with Morgan, Spooner grew disillusioned with what Afropunk the festival became.
Maurice “Moe” Mitchell, vocalist for hardcore band Cipher and national director of the Working Families Party, was featured in the documentary and performed at several Afropunk shows and festivals. He said what happened with Afropunk is “a tale as old as time” and Morgan being outside of the movement led to “moneyed interests” altering what Spooner had created.
“At some point, those interests figure out how to co-opt, how to monetize, how to profit, how to take over this thing and it becomes a shell of itself, no longer owned or operated by the original originators, just a product or a marketing scheme for some company,” Mitchell said. “And that is rinse and repeat what happens to really good art and really good movements, and it’s what happened with Afropunk.”
By 2008, Spooner decided he wanted to walk away. He moved to Los Angeles and signed over the Afropunk rights and trademark to Morgan.
“My priority was to the kids … and I didn’t want for them to not have Afropunk just because I was over it, just because I moved on to the other side of the country, I could have just been like, ‘F— you, everything’s in my name, if you want it, sue me,’ I could have done that and I probably would have won because everything is in my name,” the punk filmmaker said. “I also was incredibly broke, I was not only broke when I moved to L.A., I was like $20,000 in debt on credit cards, so it was not like I was in a good place to continue this thing.”
As “Afro-Punk” returns to screens in Los Angeles and New York, Spooner leans into punk’s rebellious ethos, reclaiming his work and spotlighting Black liberation in loud, uncompromising ways.
(Lisa Nola )
In 2020, Spooner sued Morgan for failing to make contractual annual payments and failing to observe a clause in their 2010 agreement that mandated that if more than 50% of the company was sold, Spooner was entitled to a share of the profit. In 2020, Essence Ventures acquired the Afropunk LLC, but Spooner was not made aware of the sale. After a complicated legal battle against both Morgan and Essence Ventures, Spooner settled, successfully recovering the rights to the film in 2025, which he says was more important to him than financial compensation.
Representatives for Essence Ventures did not immediately return requests for comment.
“I didn’t start ‘Afro-Punk’ with money in mind, I wanted people to see my film,” Spooner said. “I wanted people to see my film, and then people saw the film, and then I wanted those people to stay in the room together and become friends, and all of that happened.”
Mitchell, who ended up becoming friends with Spooner after participating in the documentary, said he is “very happy” that Spooner “came out vindicated” in the legal struggle. The Cipher frontman believes “Afro-Punk” is an important documentary that shows “what it means to be a person of color in America,” and which makes visible the identity issues Black people experience beyond the punk rock community.
“That’s also the story of Black people when we lean into our liberation, right?” Mitchell said. “Like we are expressing ourselves in very loud and uncompromising ways that challenge the status quo and so I’m really happy that this film is coming out because this is a moment where we need as many people, as many Black people, to lean into who we are in loud and uncompromising ways, because we have a whole political structure that is demanding our compromise.”
As Spooner celebrates the release of his new book and the premiere of his remastered film — which he says still needs distribution — he hopes that he can continue shedding light on the Black experience and sharing the legacy of what he created as a young Black punk rocker.
“It’s wild to me that I made something when I was 25 that people still care about, and I hope that it keeps reaching another generation and proves itself to be valuable in some kind of way,” he said.
Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.
The ‘masterpiece’ film has a near-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes(Image: Entertainment One)
Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.
Eye in the Sky is a 2016 war drama starring British acting royalty — and it’s currently available to stream for free on BBCiPlayer. The modern warfare thriller stars the late great British icon and acting legend Alan Rickman, and is considered his last live-action feature film — having released posthumously on April 15, 2016, just months after Rickman died on January 14 that same year. His last film overall though, is Alice Through the Looking Glass, which features him in a voice acting role only.
Eye in the Sky has been dedicated to the Harry Potter star, and while Rickman is definitely one of the highlights of the war drama, he’s far from being the only scene-stealer.
Directed by Gavin Hood with a screenplay penned by Guy Hibbert, Eye in the Sky stars the legendary Helen Mirren in the lead alongside Rickman. The pair are joined by Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Michael O’Keefe, Phoebe Fox and Iain Glen in supporting roles to round out a talented cast.
Speaking to Collider about her co-star Rickman, Mirren shared: “I think that Alan would have been incredibly proud that this was his last movie. It is what I love about it, which is that the Alan you see up on screen is much closer to the real Alan Rickman that we all knew and loved. You see his intelligence, you see his wit, and you see his authority. I think that that was very much the Alan that we knew.”
With an almost perfect 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Eye in the Sky seems to be loved by one and all.
One viewer was clear the film belonged to Rickman as they wrote on IMDB: “This is Alan Rickman’s movie. He is the star, the cast person who carries the movie. The movie itself is excellent. It tells a compelling story and succeeds in building dramatic tension without becoming contrived.
“The conflict is presented plainly. Every character plays an important role. Yet, Rickman drives this movie. His performance as the general in charge of the operation should earn him at least consideration for the highest official accolades.”
While another fan of the film said: “Excellent movie all around! I rarely give very high ratings, so take this 10 as solid approval. This is a very well-made movie. It’s dramatic (fitting the occasion), compelling, exciting, interesting, intriguing, well-paced, informative, insightful, well scripted, well acted, evocative, relevant, just, intuitive, comprehensive, and so on.
“All of these. I found it very enjoyable to watch, and I followed along and fully understood the situation presented and all of its challenges. It’s difficult to imagine any ways it could be improved.”
An audience review on Rotten Tomatoes states: “Genuinely one of the best films I have ever seen – could be a fantastic debating resource for schools, colleges and universities. Brilliantly communicated from every angle.”
While one viewer said in a glowing review: “I have to say: This film blows my mind. The combination of the suspense, the back-and-forth, and the frustration exceeds any out-of-the-world action sequences; not to mention Mirren and Rickman being superb as always.”
Critics were left equally impressed, with one writing: “It’s a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer.”
While another reviewer said: “Eye in the Sky is a disturbing, intelligent and very well crafted contemporary thriller with a solid screenplay by Guy Hibbert and seamless direction.”
A third critic added: “This is the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking mainstream film that’s in danger of becoming extinct. Eye in the Sky is miles above the average multiplex flick.”
Eye in the Sky is available to watch free of cost on BBC iPlayer.
The head of one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies warned state leaders that a new budget bill threatens job gains from California’s film and TV credit program.
Legislators earlier this year passed a provision in the state budget that extends limitations on corporate tax credits, including a $5-million state tax credit cap each year.
But film industry advocates say the corporate tax credit cap will hurt film producers and undercut the effectiveness of the state’s expanded film and TV tax credits.
Lawmakers more than doubled annual funding for the program last year to $750 million in an effort to boost jobs and stem the exodus of film work from California.
CAA Chief Executive Bryan Lourd called for state leaders to create an exemption for tax credits earned under the expanded film and TV program.
“Without this fix, we risk destabilizing a program that is critical to keeping film and television production in California and the thousands of jobs it supports,” Lourd wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara).
“California must make itself competitive with the rest of the country and the world if it hopes to have a thriving entertainment ecosystem,” Lourd wrote. “Honoring commitments that have already been made to the entertainment industry is an essential step in achieving that goal.”
Film industry advocates expected producers would be exempted from the tax credit cap.
“It’s a reversal of California economic policy as it relates to the entertainment industry in an unhelpful and uncompetitive direction,” said Hilary Krane, CAA’s chief legal officer, in an interview. . “It undermines people’s ability to plan for the economics of the program because they all counted on a certain amount coming in under the previous rules that they were entitled to and had, but now can’t use.”
“The result of the changes is that production companies will lose the full value of credits already earned in exchange for creating middle-class entertainment industry jobs and other economic benefits to the State,” the Entertainment Union Coalition said last month.
Nick Miller, Rivas’ spokesperson, said the state Assembly is taking a hard look at the issue.
“Our lawmakers strengthened California’s film and TV jobs program last year and will keep fighting for creative industry workers,” Miller said in an email.
Newsom’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Time is running out for a fix to happen this session, which ends in less than two weeks.
State Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) said state leaders are working on introducing legislation soon to address the issue.
Already, tens of thousands of jobs have come back to Southern California due to the modernization of the film and TV tax credit program, he said.
“We just saw the beginning of that resurgence and we don’t want to nip that in the bud,” Zbur said in an interview.
Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery could result in 4,500 jobs eliminated in Los Angeles over a three-year period, according to a new report.
Los Angeles County supervisors earlier this year wanted to explore the potential economic impact of David Ellison’s proposed union of two historic Hollywood studios. The report, completed this week by CVL Economics, paints a sobering picture of the potential aftermath of the debt-laden deal, including the prospect of an estimated $1.26 billion in lost wages.
“Los Angeles County’s film and television economy is already undergoing a significant structural contraction,” the report said. “The proposed merger of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance introduces an additional source of risk into that already changing market.”
California Atty. General Rob Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 states attempting to block the merger on antitrust grounds. A trial has been set for March. Paramount and other groups, including cinema chain owners and some Hollywood unions, have agitated for a settlement to curtail months of uncertainty over whether the deal will go through.
The goal of the county’s report was to provide “a comprehensive assessment of the merger’s production workforce implications,” amid the ongoing decline of L.A. based film and television production work. Los Angeles has witnessed the elimination of more than 50,000 entertainment jobs since 2022.
The 120-page report, from the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity and Film Office and requested by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, found that more than 15,000 corporate roles would be at risk, including an estimated 2,495 jobs based in Los Angeles County.
The two companies would have an overlapping workforce within its linear cable channel divisions, film and television studios, streaming operations and corporate functions, including marketing, technology and advertising sales.
“Effects on crews, crafts, post-production personnel, vendors, and production-serving small businesses,” could also be substantial, the report said.
“LA County’s own economic report underscores what we have been saying all along: our industry is in decline, production is down and jobs are being lost — and lost for good if we don’t act,” Paramount said. “Our plan to invest $30 billion annually in production and release at least 30 films a year.”
That commitment, Paramount said, would lead to “more jobs over time, and ultimately, a stronger, more durable entertainment industry for generations to come.”
Paramount has received clearances from the U.S. Justice Department and 65 other regulators around the globe to complete the merger.
Paramount has promised investors the deal would lead to at least $6 billion in cost savings through the consolidation of operations. The company has said the merger would ultimately be good for consumers and workers because a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would have greater resources to compete with tech giants that are investing heavily in entertainment.
But the report pointed to the high level of debt that Paramount would have to take on — nearly $82 billion — to buy the stock of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to finalize the takeover.
The two companies already are carrying substantial interest costs due to their existing debt structures. “In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, the two companies reported a combined $712 million in operating income and $737 million in net interest expense,” the report said, meaning that the companies were producing less profit than what was needed to support their debt obligations.
Despite Paramount predicting cost savings and reduction in debt over time, “those savings will take several years to fully realize,” the report said.
David Ellison was hoping to wrap up his $111-billion merger with Warner Bros. by September.
(PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Television production in Los Angeles could be especially vulnerable, in large part, because Paramount and Warner Bros. already have moved most of their feature film projects outside of L.A. High levels of TV production continues at Warner Bros. complex in Burbank and Paramount’s and CBS’ soundstages in Hollywood and Santa Clarita.
“The economic impact extends well beyond employment,” with an expected elimination of $547 million in tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes, the report said.
It noted that Warner Bros. and Paramount films were “particularly employment-intensive.”
“Their theatrical releases carry 2.74 times as many screen credits as the average theatrical release, while their streaming films carry twice as many,” the report found.
The document also highlighted a pre-existing pull-back in production at the two studios in recent years — something that Ellison plans to correct.
Paramount was struggling to remain solvent prior to the Ellison family’s purchase of the media company last year. Warner Bros. had scaled back offerings following Discovery’s $43-billion takeover of WarnerMedia in 2022 as it struggled to contain the debt from that deal.
“Between 2019 and 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount accounted for a net reduction of approximately 195 major U.S. releases,” the report said. At the same time, other major distributors combined “added about 67 projects.”
Ellison is looking to finalize his massive Hollywood deal — folding CNN, HBO, TBS, Food Network and the Warner Bros. film and television studios under Paramount — as quickly as possible. He must hold together Paramount’s coalition of financiers and manage rising expenses, primarily legal fees and escalating obligations to Warner shareholders.
The state attorneys general, including from Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and New York have argued that the blockbuster merger — the largest in Hollywood in decades — would violate the century-old Clayton Antitrust Act.
Paramount hoped the trial over Bonta’s lawsuit would begin in November but U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín set the trial for March 2.
If the deal goes forward, just four studios — a post-merger Paramount-Warner, Disney, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures — would control 86% of movies that are widely released (in more than 3,000 movie theaters), according to the attorneys general lawsuit. Paramount has argued that projects from Amazon MGM, Netflix and Apple should be included because they compete with the traditional companies for talent and audiences.
Paramount-Warner Bros. would also own more than 50 cable channels, including HGTV, Animal Planet, BET, MTV and Comedy Central.
Hayden Panettiere spent much of her life in front of a camera, beginning her acting career before she was even a year old, starring in commercials. At the tender age of 4, she landed her big break with a recurring role on the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live,” which led to a role on another soap opera, CBS’ “Guiding Light.” Over the years, she performed in a number of films and TV series, landing notable roles that made her a staple of network television. In addition to her onscreen work, she did voice acting for animated films like “A Bug’s Life” and “Dinosaur,” as well as the video game franchises “Kingdom Hearts” and “Until Dawn.”
The actor, who died Sunday at 36, was a versatile performer whose no-nonsense attitude and vocal range added depth to roles. Here is a guide to some of her notable work.
‘Remember the Titans’
Disney’s 2000 sports drama was based on the real story of Herman Boone, a Black football coach who was installed as head coach at the desegregated T.C. Williams High School in Arlington, Va., and led the team to a perfect season and state championship. In the film, Panettiere plays Sheryl Yoast, the young daughter of coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), whose job Boone is given by the school district to placate Black community members as racial tensions rise. Panettiere’s Sheryl makes an impression right away, with a fiery speech directed at an official who comes to tell Yoast that Boone will now be head football coach of T.C. Williams. “You can’t just walk in here and take my daddy’s job away,” she cries as she stomps away, but not before kicking said official in the back of the leg. Later, she understands the implications of the decision, even if it comes at the cost of her father’s selection into the high school football hall of fame, preferring to put the team and their teamwork first: “Bunch of old rednecks … Let’s knock ‘em dead at state, coach.” (Watch on Hulu and Disney+.) — Maira Garcia
‘Ice Princess’
In Disney’s 2005 film, Panettiere was a little too good at playing the popular mean girl. She was even better at playing the popular mean girl who lets her icy walls melt away to welcome in the new girl. As talented figure skater Gennifer Harwood, Panettiere faithfully portrayed the evolution of friendships — especially for young women — in highly competitive sports and the tension between young athletes and their well-intended, but overbearing parents. While Panettiere could stand on her own talents, her performance was even more memorable for the dynamic she shared with screen partner Michelle Trachtenberg. The latter played Casey, a student with Ivy League ambitions whose interest in physics brings her to the figure skating world. Trachtenberg died in 2025 at 39. (Watch on Disney+.) — Alexandra Del Rosario
‘Heroes’
Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) with her father Noah (Jack Coleman), also known as H.R.G., in NBC’s “Heroes.”
(Chris Haston / NBC)
This superhero series was a hit from the moment it debuted in 2006. An international cast fueled a show that featured people gifted with superpowers around the world that had a mysteriously ominous connection. At its heart was Panettiere’s Claire Bennet. An unbreakable high school cheerleader, she embraced the role of hero, facing pushback from a shadowy government group, serial killers and a twisted family dynamic. Panettiere became the face of NBC’s freshman ensemble success story, and despite an industry work stoppage and dwindling fan support afterward, the show’s viral campaign — “Save the cheerleader, save the world” — centered her, and her character’s courage, on a bona fide fandom-generating ride that ended way too soon in 2010, after four seasons. (Watch on Netflix and Tubi.) — Jevon Phillips
‘Scream’ franchise
Hayden Panettiere at the premiere of “Scream VI” in New York City in 2023.
(Nina Westervelt / Variety via Getty Images)
The actor joined the hit horror franchise in 2011’s “Scream 4” as Kirby Reed, a Woodsboro High student who is a horror film buff. One of that film’s memorable scenes featured Kirby in a tense trivia telephone showdown with the Ghostface killer, rushing through the titles of several slasher films while attempting to save one of her friends.
Although Kirby was seemingly killed off, she returned as an FBI agent in 2023‘s “Scream VI” when the franchise continued with younger characters and moved its setting to New York. “Scream” fans cheered during an early screening when Panettiere’s character appeared — she and Courtney Cox were one of the few “Scream” veterans to return for the new film.
Panettiere’s hair was longer and her role was expanded in the new “Scream.” Kirby explained that she had survived the Ghostface attack: “I was technically dead for four minutes. When I was revived, I got mad … I wanted the monsters to be afraid of me.”
Kirby also engaged in another trivia back-and-forth with Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) where they agreed on the best “Nightmare on Elm Street” (“the original”) and that “Psycho 2” was “underrated,” but disagreed on the best “Friday the 13th” sequel. Although she is investigating a new set of Ghostface killings, Kirby later becomes a prime suspect. (Watch all on Paramount+.) — Greg Braxton
‘Nashville’
In ABC’s “Nashville,” Juliette Barnes’ storyline was infused with personal struggles similar to Panettiere’s.
(Katherine Bomboy-Thornton / ABC)
Panettiere was noticeably more mature when she became a co-lead role in ABC’s “Nashville” as Juliette Barnes, a crossover singer with more than a few similarities to Taylor Swift. The music-flavored drama, which premiered in 2012, starred Connie Britton as country star Rayna Jaymes, whose career was on the downturn at the same time Barnes was climbing the charts.
The actor injects her “Nashville” character with a mix of sexiness, snark and edge as Barnes becomes rivals with Jaymes. When the two first meet in a dressing room during the pilot, Jaymes is gracious while Barnes is condescending.
Panettiere said in an interview that she was tense during that scene. particularly since it was the first time the two actors had met. She said she apologized to Britton repeatedly saying, “‘I am so sorry!’ Because it was our first experience together, and I didn’t want to step on toes. Sometimes it gets real, very real, you know?”
While filming the series, Panetierre gave birth to her daughter in 2014. She detailed her struggles with postpartum depression in interviews, saying the condition was “scary and needed to be talked about.” In the series, Barnes also suffered from postpartum depression during the show’s third and fourth seasons. (Watch on Pluto TV and Netflix.) — G.B.
‘Kingdom Hearts’
Square Enix’s beloved video game series was my personal introduction to Panettiere and her acting abilities. In the first two installments, Panettiere voiced the kind island kid turned princess Kairi for the games’ English dub. Before protagonist Sora’s (voiced by a young Haley Joel Osment) world descends into darkness, Panettiere’s Kairi is playful and tender early in “Kingdom Hearts 1.” In the slightly more complicated “Kingdom Hearts 2” Panettiere’s older Kairi is contemplative, defiant and desperate to help all her friends. Kairi’s scenes are often accompanied by the powerful score from composer Yoko Shimomura, amplifying the emotion that has driven the games’ fanbase for more than two decades.
“Don’t ever forget. Wherever you go, I’m always with you,” Panettiere’s Kairi says in a memorable cut scene. — A.D.R.
I’m confident that I’ll make my way through The Times’ best breakfast burrito list and devour another couple dozen worthy candidates before I’ll ever have the chance to ride on that chronically delayed LAX people mover.
“Ninety-nine percent done”? Sounds like the answer my kids would give me the night before a big homework assignment was due.
Maybe our next breakfast burrito list can be “Best breakfast burritos near John Wayne Airport.” Or Hollywood Burbank. Or Long Beach. The possibilities are endless. No doubt we have got time until that “one percent” gets checked off.
I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of the Envelope newsletter, and the guy pondering a “DTF Los Angeles” where the characters inch along the LAX horseshoe, kindling all manner of sinister thoughts.
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Cover story: ‘DTF St. Louis’
(Erik Carter / For The Times)
Are TV viewers a little more judgmental when it comes to complicated women?
Linda Cardellini would always know where someone was on their “DTF St. Louis” viewing journey based on their vibe when they approached her.
“If they were halfway through the show, they usually weren’t warming up to Carol and you could feel that energy,” Cardellini says, talking with me for a recent Envelope cover story on the limited series. “But if they were through with the show, that energy changed. Sometimes you could tell they felt bad that they didn’t like her in the first place.”
Carol, as you know if you’ve watched “DTF,” the season’s best limited series, is an overworked suburban mother forced to umpire Little League games because her job at Purina doesn’t pay enough to cover the bills. She’s married to gentle giant Floyd (David Harbour), an ASL interpreter and a sensitive stepfather to her son. But it’s a sexless marriage, so she turns to local weatherman Clark (Jason Bateman), who possesses a vitality long absent in her husband.
“DTF St. Louis” is ostensibly a murder mystery. Floyd dies in the first episode. Writer-director Steven Conrad employs a fair bit of misdirection, pointing our suspicions first to Clark and then to Carol. Since money is tight and Floyd had an insurance policy, Carol is a logical enough person of interest. We learn that she has a criminal record. And she was cheating.
“When I was reading the episodes, I thought, ‘Oh, OK. It’s going to be Carol, even though there’s so many clues telling you that it’s not her,” Cardellini says. “But we’re conditioned to think that. Like, ‘She had to be after the money,’ even though she never accepts any gifts as she’s struggling financially. Everyone just believed the worst in her.”
Granted, Carol could be a little brusque with service workers, and her passive-aggressive approach to police questioning (“Can you speak up?”) was a master class in control and manipulation that I plan to use if I’m ever interrogated for some crime I’m sure I did not do. (Unless it’s somehow related to picking someone up at LAX. Then all bets are off.)
Reviews for “DTF” too often would note how it’s a poignant look at male loneliness in the suburbs when, in fact, Carol is the most isolated character on the show.
“Carol is immensely lonely, but she’s so burdened by the heavy demand of keeping this household afloat that she doesn’t have the luxury to notice that she doesn’t have a friend,” says Conrad. “The job of bailing water is hers alone.”
In that respect, Carol brings to mind Skyler White on “Breaking Bad” and Carmela Soprano from “The Sopranos,” forlorn women dealing with the man-child they married and getting flak from viewers for being a killjoy.
By the end of “DTF,” we find we should have been on Carol’s side all along.
“It’s a beautiful magic trick,” says co-star Bateman.
Just the latest feat of illusion from the talented Cardellini, one that could result in her first Emmy win next month.
This “true hidden gem” quietly stars singing icon David Bowie.
Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter
07:35, 15 Aug 2026
Period drama fans are hailing this other “mindblowing” period drama as Christopher Nolan’s “best film”. (Image: UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
Christopher Nolan fans should be tuning into this “mindblowing” period drama based on a top-selling book.
Movie fanatics are queuing up to see Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Odyssey starring the likes of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.
Having already grossed a whopping $1.1 billion worldwide, smashing box office records, The Odyssey is director Nolan’s latest triumph following from The Dark Knight franchise, Inception and, of course, Oppenheimer.
But it’s another of his “underrated” creations that has been causing excitement since its release on Netflix with many labelling it his “best film”.
Adapted from Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel of the same name, The Prestige is a 2006 period drama thriller that also boasts an enviable cast.
The Prestige is led by two Hollywood heavyweights in The Greatest Showman star Hugh Jackman and The Dark Knight Rises’ Christian Bale who reunites with Nolan once again for this “mindblowing” film.
They are joined by other major stars like The Avengers’ Scarlett Johansson, Alfie legend Michael Caine and none other than singing legend David Bowie who is truly unrecognisable as real-life scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla.
The Prestige revolves two 19th Century London stage musicians Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale).
The pair have a lifelong bond until their friendship descends into a bitter rivalry following the accidental death of Angier’s wife, leaving both men dangerously consumed by their desire to outside one another.
The once-close bond between Robert Angier and Alfred Borden descends into a bitter, lifelong rivalry following a tragic accident that claimed Angier’s wife, leaving both men dangerously consumed by the need to outshine one another.
Twenty years may have passed since its release but fans cannot help but praise the period drama thriller on IMdB.
“What I found with The Prestige is perhaps one of the best films of this century and perhaps one of Nolan’s most underrated”, someone said.
“Because this film, this real film, is simply astonishing.”
A second agreed: “This movie was truly a masterpiece and kept me guessing the whole time” as a third stated: “I must say…one of the best films I’ve seen! 10/10.”
Another declared The Prestige to be “Nolan’s best film” as a fellow enthusiast hailed it “one of the best films of all time”.
The Prestige is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Mark Rydell, the Oscar-nominated director of the sentimental blockbuster “On Golden Pond” who worked with such Hollywood heavyweights as Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Steve McQueen and John Wayne, has died. He was 97.
His daughter, Amy Rydell, told the Hollywood Reporter that her father died Thursday of natural causes at a retirement community for the entertainment industry in Woodland Hills.
“Hard to put into words how much I loved my dad,” she posted Friday on her Instagram account. “He was truly one of a kind. Funniest and most talented person I’ve ever known.”
10 Oscar nominations
“On Golden Pond,” his 1981 film that teamed Fonda with Hepburn and his daughter, Jane Fonda, was nominated for 10 Oscars. Henry Fonda and Hepburn won leading acting honors, and the film won for screenplay, which Ernest Thompson adapted from his play of the same name. Rydell was nominated for directing but lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds.”
It earned more than $119 million at the box office, making it the second-highest-grossing film that year behind “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
“On Golden Pond” was Henry Fonda’s final movie role. He starred as Norman Thayer, an emotionally brittle and distant father who becomes more accessible at the end of his life after his teenage grandson spends the summer with him and his wife, Ethel (played by Hepburn), at their cottage in New England. The film’s story resembled Fonda’s real-life relationship with daughter Jane, who said working on the movie together helped resolve some of their issues. The elder Fonda, at 77, died months after winning his only Oscar.
Rydell’s other Oscar-nominated films were “The Fox” in 1967, “The Reivers” with McQueen in 1969, “Cinderella Liberty” with James Caan and Marsha Mason in 1973, “The Rose” with Bette Midler in 1979 and “The River” with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek in 1984.
Born Mortimer Harold Rydell on March 23, 1929 in New York City, he studied with legendary jazz pianist Teddy Wilson at the Julliard School of Music. During a stint in the Army, he spent two years in Japan developing entertainment for military personnel. He majored in English and philosophy at New York University.
Early acting career
He turned to acting when he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Among his early roles were parts on the CBS soap operas “The Edge of Night” and “As the World Turns.”
Rydell made his Broadway debut in “Seagulls Over Sorrento” with Rod Steiger. In 1956, he made his movie acting debut opposite John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Don Siegel’s “Crime in the Streets.”
Among his film acting credits were Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” in 1973 and Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending” in 2002.
Rydell moved into directing television, including episodes of “Mr. Novak,” “Ben Casey,” “I Spy,” “The Wild Wild West,” “The Long, Hot Summer,” “The Fugitive” and “Gunsmoke.”
He made his feature film directorial debut with 1967’s “The Fox” starring Sandy Dennis, and it was a hit.
Two years later, Rydell directed McQueen in the comedy-drama “The Reivers.”
Teaming with Sydney Pollack
Rydell and Sydney Pollack, who became friends during their acting days, formed Sanford Productions in 1971. Among their efforts were the films “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford and “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or.
Rydell directed Wayne in 1972’s “The Cowboys.” He reunited with Caan for the 1976 flop “Harry and Walter Go to New York.”
Rydell scored a major hit with 1979’s “The Rose,” with Midler in her Oscar-nominated role as a self-destructive rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin.
Rydell reteamed with Caan and Midler in “For the Boys” in 1991, but it wasn’t successful.
“He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on ‘The Rose’ and later on ‘For The Boys,’” Midler posted on Instagram. “Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.”
TV movies and series among his credits
Rydell directed the pilot of the hit ABC drama “Family” in 1976.
Among his TV movie directing credits were “McBride and Groom,” “Crime of the Century” with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea, and “James Dean,” which earned actor James Franco a Golden Globe award and in which Rydell also appeared, as Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner.
He directed the movies “Intersection” in 1994 and “Even Money” in 2006.
In 2009, Rydell, Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau and screenwriter Lyle Kessler taught a film workshop at UCLA. Rydell and Landau were co-artistic directors of the Actors Studio West, teaching and coaching actors, writers and directors.
“All great art rests on telling the truth,” Rydell told UCLA’s student newspaper the Daily Bruin. “The real pursuit of an artist is to tell the truth.”
Besides his daughter, he is survived by son Christopher. The siblings who went into acting were from his first marriage to actor Joanne Linville. He had another son, Alexander, from his second marriage to producer Esther Rydell.
For every actor, musician, writer and artist who has become a wealthy and enduring celebrity, exponentially more of them have enjoyed a brief, shining moment, never to be heard of again. What separates those who last from those who fade away? Is it luck, talent, drive, destiny? All of the above?
It’s an intriguing question that may have no definitive answer, but one that director Kent Jones (2018’s acclaimed “Diane”) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Samy Burch (“May December”) lovingly and lyrically consider in the often first-rate “Late Fame.” The film is based on an 1895 novella by Arthur Schnitzler (also author of the book that became “Eyes Wide Shut”), which went unpublished until 2014.
A quietly captivating Willem Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, a New York post office veteran of 37 years in a seemingly satisfying if decidedly low-key existence. For him, it’s work, then maybe a game of pool with his blue-collar buddies at a local bar (though he’s six years sober) and a solo return to his Greenwich Village walk-up.
That is, until one night, he’s approached outside his apartment building by a somewhat affected but seemingly earnest young man who goes by his last name, Meyers (Edmund Donovan). With his elevated speech, tony air and throwback attire, he’s like someone from another era; you could see him as one of Jay Gatsby’s pals or a bon vivant who drops by on “Downton Abbey.”
Meyers proceeds to tell an astonished Ed that he’s a huge fan of his long-forgotten 1979 poetry collection entitled “Way Past Go,” the postal worker’s fleeting brush with literary success. “They just slap you across the face with their style and with their relevancy,” extols Meyers of the poems. “They’re timeless.”
Really, what writer, no matter how detached from their past, could resist that kind of sweet talk?
A meet-up with Meyers’ “artistic community,” a circle of so-called intellectuals known as the Enthusiasm Society, leads Ed to humbly dip a toe back into his vanished creative side. He’s not unaware that Meyers’ mostly 20-something male friends have — like many — romanticized the gritty abandon of lower Manhattan’s bygone literary scene and perhaps Ed’s tenuous place in it. They might be poseurs tossing around references to Ginsberg and Bukowski, but the welcome mat the group offers Ed is enticing and inspiring.
Still, a visit to Meyers’ sleek apartment, admittedly paid for by his parents, confirms for Ed the kind of youthful privilege at play here, so unlike the scrappier downtown bohemia of his own artistic heyday.
The wild card in the Society is Gloria (Greta Lee, dazzlingly good), an impish sprite who’s hard to pin down. Is she really a working stage actor? Ed gets swept up in her performative antics and elusive, larger-than-life allure. (She’s older than her fellow Society members but decades younger than Ed.) When they develop a teasing flirtation, it’s one of the less credible turns here, given how authentic Ed is — and how dubious she appears (though some truth on that front will later unfold).
This tilt toward Gloria causes the film to lose its way a bit, pulling focus from the more potentially vital mentor-disciple dynamic between Ed and the anxious, navel-gazing Meyers. Plus, Donovan is excellent here, so less of him is, well, less.
That said, there’s a bravura second-act scene that finds Gloria performing an impassioned version of the 1929 Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill torch song “Surabaya Johnny” for an appreciative cabaret audience, one that includes a rapt Ed. It verifies Gloria’s singing talent and proves a perfect match for her showy, cagey persona: the love child of Marlene Dietrich and Sally Bowles.
If the story has a through line, it concerns the planning and execution of an evening of live readings from the Society’s works, with a new poem from Ed as its centerpiece. A few of the obstacles layered in — Ed’s struggle to write and some show-night personality conflicts — feel a tad obligatory. But the event itself has its high points, including the piece Ed finally reads.
In addition, an awkward meeting between Ed and a smooth literary agent (Jake Lacy), along with a mini-subplot involving phone calls from Ed’s frustrated sister about their dying brother, come off slightly wedged in. Not much payoff there.
No matter. There’s wisdom and depth to the film’s themes of growing old, dashed dreams and the magic of rediscovery, plus a deliciously ironic final twist. Jones manages his superb cast with aplomb and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield evocatively captures lower Manhattan’s wintry, burnished glow.
The Platt family find themselves in a parallel universe in End of Oak StreetCredit: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved
SINCE the explosive success of Stranger Things, the style of Spielberg’s Eighties sci-fi films is trendy – and this film leans into that nostalgia.
You know — the American small town where kids play out on the street and strange goings-on happen while the parents are too busy to notice.
That is certainly the feel of this action-horror movie, which combines ET with Jurassic Park.
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It follows the Platt family, who are living in American suburbia in the Eighties — a more innocent time when neighbours had street barbecues and teens spent hours on their Walkmans.
Dad Greg (Ewan McGregor) and mum Denise (Anne Hathaway) appear to be a perfect union, but behind closed doors they are discussing divorce.
Their kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery) are concerned, but the foursome paper over the cracks by eating pizza and chatting about their naughty dog, Starbuck.
Soon though, their home life is thrown into disarray when a mysterious cosmic event rips through the neighbourhood and surrounds it with time before the Big Bang.
This brings tropical temperatures, terrifying water levels and lashings of really hungry dinosaurs that couldn’t care less if you own a gun.
The family have to stick together to work out how they can transport themselves out of this seemingly broken time machine — while avoiding being chomped on by a T-Rex.
There are a few jumpy moments early on and, like many “mysterious goings-on” films, it’s scarier when you don’t see the enemy.
But the build-up is intriguing and there are some nice, nostalgic Eighties moments thrown in for the millennials to enjoy.
Sadly, it’s a lacklustre performance from McGregor in a bad wig, who looks like he would rather become dino-feed than be in this film, as he has zero chemistry with the rest of the family.
While Hathaway is more watchable, she appears so distractingly young, she could swap roles with the actress playing her daughter.
Director David Robert Mitchell does a decent job showing his commitment to the genre and gives a few nods to Spielberg’s camera techniques for film geeks.
But, while perfectly entertaining, the story gets a little overcomplicated and the characters are not engaging enough for it to join the ranks of a truly great monster movie.
LADY
(15) 95mins
★★★★☆
Lady Isabella (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford) stars in a bizarre and brilliant mockumentary
KOOKY characters in film can quickly become tiresome, but not so in this bizarre and brilliant mockumentary about a flamboyant lady of the manor.
Lady Isabella (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford) rattles around with her housekeeper in the vast Ravenhyde Hall, until she becomes the subject of a documentary, allegedly for Netflix, calling herself “aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians”.
Going at high octane all the time, she is in truth achingly lonely – one companion is a raven called Ricky.
This changes with the arrival of a camera crew led by director Sam (Laurie Kynaston), a trendy filmmaker.
But he is soon put in his place by the hilarious Isabella, who ignores his directions, calls “cut” regularly and even tries to seduce him with some milk when he is lactose intolerant.
The madcap satire soon turns into a study filled with empathy and intriguing, unconventional relationships.
Clifford gives a cracking performance, never pushing into caricature, and Kynaston is the perfect juxtaposition as the seemingly sane but hugely insecure director.
Surreal, sweet and seriously funny.
TONY
(15) 106mins
★★☆☆☆
Tony fails to give a true insight into how celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain became a culinary iconCredit: A24 All Rights Reserved
IT’S not easy to make movies about real-life figures who have a cult following, which puts pressure on this story of how celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain became a culinary icon.
So instead of getting into the film about Bourdain becoming the great man the world knew, it’s more of a coming-of-age story that could be about anyone.
Tony (Dominic Sessa) has flunked school and travels to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to chase Nancy (Emilia Jones), a crush he barely knows.
Skint and with nowhere to live, he soon finds himself washing dishes in the restaurant of a local chef (Antonio Banderas) and sleeping in his hammock.
Working alongside him is drug-loving ladies’ man Sal (Leo Woodall), who regularly vomits in a bin on shift. Tony apparently becomes inspired.
Tony spends a really long time staring at things in a daze and not saying much.
When he does speak, it’s pretty infuriating.
With no real direction, this becomes more of a buddy movie than an insight into how the now sadly deceased great man became such a hit around the world.
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The importance of parental support goes meta in Julia Hart’s “Don’t Say Good Luck.” The YA musical drama, which premieres Friday, pays homage to musical theater, unconditional maternal love and the family-hour TV, er, Netflix movie. In a landscape littered with teenage dysfunction, “Don’t Say Good Luck” is a moving argument for aspirational television.
And with a star whose famous father serves as producer, it‘s an admonition to the term “nepo baby.”
We meet normal kid Sophie Birenbaum (Sunny Sandler) as she anxiously prepares for a day that will include auditioning for her high school’s production of “Waitress.” While her father, Ted (Max Greenfield, marvelously transformed by a beard), wrangles her rambunctious younger twin brothers, her mother, Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey), assures her that she is talented and beautiful and will do just great. These sentiments are echoed by Sophie’s best friend, Carolyn (Scarlett Estevez), who joins her at the audition where the director is the super-cool Ms. Parker (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” Stephanie Beatriz) and even theater department queen bee Mallory (Elyse Bell), who everyone knows is going to get the lead, is pretty nice.
It’s a high school experience that’s about as far from “Euphoria” or even “Glee” as one can get while still being situated on Earth. Still, all is not perfect in Sophie’s world. When Elizabeth learns that her cancer has returned, Sophie overhears her parents’ subsequent conversation via a butt-dial from her father’s phone. Her first impulse is to flee the audition; instead her emotional turmoil fuels a powerful performance that (spoiler alert?) lands her the lead role.
Determined to downplay the seriousness of her illness, Elizabeth insists that life continue on as normal — she and Ted own a local deli, which offers some nice bagel versus wrap shade and a Jon Lovitz cameo. Though Sophie is worried, she believes her mother who says she will beat cancer again. So she throws herself into the stomach-churning rigor of being the star of the show, which includes a painful separation from her bestie, a crush on her co-star and a struggle to find the confidence to let her obvious talent shine.
“Don’t Say Good Luck” is, obviously, a showcase for Sandler, whose parents, Adam and Jackie Sandler, serve as producers (which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi as Elizabeth’s parents). Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions have a long and lucrative partnership with Netflix, which recently debuted “Happy Gilmore 2” and announced “Grown Ups 3” as part of their deal. One could see this as yet another case of nepo-baby triumph — streaming is currently littered with the progeny of famous parents — or simply a living example of the film’s theme. Like the Birenbaum parents, the Sandlers want to help their daughter shine in her chosen career and that she certainly does.
Adam Sandler serves as a producer, which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Steve Buscemi as Sophie’s grandfather.
(Netflix)
Though Sophie is the only older daughter ever to escape the task of caring for her younger brothers (or doing any chores at all), Sandler makes her completely believable as a nice, self-conscious kid who just needs a push to trust her talent. If the tone of the film is 1970s-family-comedy aspirational (particularly in the mother-daughter scenes), that shouldn’t be construed as a low level of difficulty.
Indeed, it is almost revolutionary to see emotionally resonant teenage characters who aren’t mired in abuse, addiction or some kind of horror; leveraging dysfunction has become shorthand for “drama.” “Don’t Say Good Luck” is based on the real-life experience of co-writer Laura Hankin (collaborating here with Hart and Jordan Horowitz), and though the stakes are emotionally high, portraying a loving family doing their best to get through a devastating situation with minimal meltdowns is its own act of bravery.
It certainly helps that this family is firmly anchored by Lynskey, who proves, yet again, that she can do anything. Her Elizabeth is neither martyr nor saint, just a woman who wants to live as she’s always lived for as long as she can. Lynskey lifts what could have been a sappy (or even worse, guilt-inducing) cancer-mom tale into a quietly transcendent contemplation of motherhood. (A scene in which she flips through the calendar trying to figure out when to let the kids know what’s really going on drove the breath from this mother’s body.)
Does “Don’t Say Good Luck” skirt around the grim realities of cancer as cavalierly as it paints a Pinterest mood-board vision of high school? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean the message and the feelings (yes, you absolutely will cry) are not just as authentic. Love is the root of much pain, but it’s also what conquers it in the end.
Melanie Lynskey as Elizabeth, Max Greenfield as Ted and Jon Lovitz as Lenny in “Don’t Say Good Luck.”
