Latest news with #BeverlyHillsFilmFestival
Fox News
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Beau Bridges shares dad Lloyd Bridges' golden rule for Hollywood success
Beverly Hills, California - Beau Bridges' late father, Lloyd, gave him priceless advice on how to take on Hollywood early in his career. At the Beverly Hills Film Festival, Beau told Fox News Digital that the advice he received from his famous father was simple: "Just to respect people. That's what his main thing was." At the event, the "Matlock" star was accompanied by his son, Ezekiel Bridges. The father-son duo attended the festival to promote their movie, "Welcome to Klyde's Kitchen." On the red carpet, Ezekiel told Fox News Digital that working with his dad was "amazing." "He was my coach in everything back in the day, from soccer to basketball, so it's no different here," he said. WATCH: Beau Bridges shares his dad Lloyd Bridges' golden rule for fame in Hollywood Beau chimed in, "It's a lot of fun. My dad started working with family a long time ago. We all like to do it." "Just to respect people. That's what his main thing was." Lloyd passed away in 1998 at 85 from natural causes with Beau, his wife Dorothy and his daughter Cindy by his side, per The Washington Post. Beau has three siblings, including the famous Jeff Bridges. Beau has also passed down the advice of "respect" to his own son. "It comes in a lot of different ways. Respect for the ocean, respect for the planet, respect for the work," Ezekiel said. WATCH: Beau Bridges' son talks working with famous dad for new movie "Welcome to Klyde's Kitchen" is a movie "about caring for the forgotten." Along with Beau and Ezekiel, the movie also stars Sana Saeed. A synopsis of the movie reads: "A brash young business executive (Ezekiel), charged with a DUI, is sentenced to performing community service at a homeless center, where he serves indigents against his will and despite his prejudices. A new visitor, a ragged homeless man (Beau), and the homeless center's manager (Saeed,) teach him the value of caring for the forgotten." "Welcome to Klyde's Kitchen" has its world premiere at LA Regal Live on July 17.
Fox News
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Battlestar Galactica' star says show's AI warnings more timely as sci-fi fantasies come to life
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — "Battlestar Galactica" star Tricia Helfer feels the show was a prescient warning about artificial intelligence when it debuted more than 20 years ago. "We did warn against AI while we were shooting it," Helfer told Fox News Digital at the Beverly Hills Film Festival this week. She continued, "It was 20 years ago, and I've recently re-watched it and went, 'Oh my gosh, it's even more relevant now.' So I think we just really need to be careful. It's a slippery slope between using it to our advantage and having it maybe be able to control us a little bit." "I think we're a little bit far off from the humanoid Cylons yet and humanoid robots, but I don't know, they're coming," Helfer added. "Battlestar Galactica" debuted on the SyFy channel in 2004, reimagined from the 1978 original series, and follows the battle between humans and Cylons, the humanoid sentient robots humans created that turned on them and launched a nuclear attack that nearly wiped out the entirety of humanity. Helfer played a Cylon in the series, named Number Six, who played a key role in the story as both antagonist and ally. Regarding AI, the Canadian-born actress said, "It's not going away, so I think it's something that we're going to have to embrace. But I think one of the things 'Battlestar Galactica' did was warn about it. And that's, I think, something that we need to make sure [is] that we have is regulations and an understanding of how quickly and how overwhelming this technology could become." WATCH: 'Battlestar Galactica' star says show's AI warnings more relevant than ever A "Battlestar Galactica" reboot was in the works at Peacock with Sam Esmail, the showrunner behind "Mr. Robot," but it has since been halted and shopped elsewhere, per Variety. In 2023, Esmail spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how the new version's view of AI would be evolving from the original. "The world is changing way too fast for us. I mean, when we started working on it, I obviously was aware of AI, but now, four or five years later, it's in the public consciousness and now that's so influential in how we're going to tell the story," Esmail told the outlet. "The allegory piece is something that is crystallized in a different way, too. The focus is the same, which is the fear of tech and how it might take over, but this idea of just 'the robots are going to be our overlords' is a very facile and overly simplistic way of looking at it. Now that the audience is more sophisticated about the consequences, I think we have to match that with 'Battlestar.'" "It's a slippery slope between using it to our advantage and having it maybe be able to control us a little bit." While Helfer believes humanoid robots are still in the somewhat distant future, there are some attempts to create them in the present day. Suzanne Somers' widower, Alan Hamel, recently worked with an AI company called Hollo to create a "twin" of his late wife. "I am working with Hollo, an AI company to create Suzanne AI. It's very exciting to think about being able to interact with Suzanne's twin," Hamel told Fox News Digital in a statement last month. The robot replica of Somers trained on her film and TV appearances, as well as her books, to bring back the "essence" of the "Three's Company" star, according to CEO Rex Wong. When it came to the Suzanne AI, Wong said, "The robot, which we did in collaboration with Realbotix, is the first of many AI versions of Suzanne, but AI Suzanne can also be accessible via call, chat and text. AI Suzanne highlights how we can extend a person's legacy and bring it to the next generation, and one of the services we will be rolling out will be the ability to preserve one's legacy for future generations or bring back a loved one." Somers died in 2023 after a long battle with breast cancer. Hamel told the New York Post that the idea for the Somers AI-powered bot "absolutely did come from her" and that "She may have known her life was going to be shortened [after a lifelong battle with cancer]."
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Conflicting reports emerge on Val Kilmer's final days. Here's what we know — and what we don't.
In the wake of Val Kilmer's death on April 1 at age 65, there have been touching tributes from costars and career retrospectives sure to inspire new viewings of his most memorable roles, from Top Gun to Tombstone. There have also been conflicting reports about Kilmer's health in his final days. A report from TMZ claims the actor and artist was 'unable to get out of bed for years before his death.' Unidentified family sources told the outlet that Kilmer was 'cancer-free' — after being diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, undergoing chemo, radiation and two tracheotomies — but he had a 'lack of energy' due to the treatments and he was 'bed-bound for a long time.' Kilmer was 'frail near the end of his life' and his 'health seriously declined in the past week,' leading friends and family to hold vigil at his hospital bedside in the days before his death, according to TMZ. He had also been hospitalized earlier this year. Yet Kilmer was also reportedly scheduled to appear at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on the day he died, People reported. On April 2, festival founder Nino Simone told the outlet that 'we had just confirmed Val to attend the West Coast premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective.' Simone said Kilmer's appearance was confirmed 'this past weekend' — just two or three days before his death. There were arrangements for Kilmer to arrive on the red carpet at 7:30 p.m. on April 1, Simone said. The festival's PR team was trying to connect with Kilmer's driver to finalize plans. 'The story and news of his death were reported literally at the same, exact time,' Simone said. 'Unbelievable, and so heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to his family.' Those are two contrasting takes under the circumstances. What we do know is that Kilmer died from pneumonia on Tuesday, his daughter, Mercedes, announced. She said he was surrounded by family and friends. It was also noted that he had recovered from throat cancer. In the 2021 documentary about his life, Val, Kilmer talked about his health struggles after cancer, which affected his voice. He could speak only by pushing a button on an apparatus in his trachea. His son, Jack, narrated the film using his dad's words. 'Now that it's more difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever,' Kilmer said in the documentary. Kilmer also released a 2020 autobiography, I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, detailing his career and health struggles. While Kilmer may have planned to attend the Beverly Hills Film Festival on April 1, he hadn't made a red carpet appearance in years. The last photos of him at a Hollywood event — captured by Getty Images or the Associated Press — are from 2019. He attended several events that year. Kilmer did not attend the Val premieres in 2021, letting the two children he had with his by-then-ex-wife, Joanne Whalley, represent him. In August 2021, his daughter shared a health update with Extra, saying, Kilmer was 'doing well. Still recovering. The recovery process is just as grueling as the actual disease.' As for his absence at the L.A. premiere of his film, she told Entertainment Tonight that he had already seen the film 'probably a thousand times, so we can't control what he does' as far as him attending. Kilmer's son told the same outlet, 'We wish he could be here, but he's here in spirit, and he's just so proud of this and that people get to see a side of him that has never been seen before.' Kilmer famously made a cameo in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick — reuniting "Iceman" and Tom Cruise's "Maverick" after more than three decades — but he didn't attend any of those premieres around the globe either. His Instagram account remained active. His final post, on March 22, was of one of his paintings, which he also sold on his website. On Feb. 23, there was a video posted to his account in which he was playfully putting on a Batman mask with artist and musician David Choe. TMZ reported that the video was actually from 'years ago [and] his appearance in it isn't accurate to how he looked in the last months of his life.' Although Kilmer's romantic status at the end of his life is unclear, the actor — who was linked to Cher, Angelina Jolie, Cindy Crawford and others — wrote in his memoir, 'I haven't had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is I am lonely part of every day.' (Kilmer remained friends with Cher and stayed with her during his cancer battle.) Kilmer's health woes presented challenges in his everyday life. In his 2020 New York Times profile, it noted he used both a tracheostomy tube and a feeding tube. He said had been taken off his trach tube a couple of times, but each time he did, he had a health setback, including coughs, cold and fevers. A lifelong Christian Scientist, Kilmer talked in the same article how he underwent chemotherapy for his cancer despite its being against his religion. He said it was at the behest of his children, who are not Christian Scientists. Kilmer also said that because of his religion, he did not believe in death. He told Men's Health in 2020, 'You have to not see it as a loss.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Val Kilmer Died Hours Before Walking the Red Carpet at Beverly Hills Film Festival
Among the legendary actors slated to walk the red carpet on opening night of the Beverly Hills Film Festival Tuesday was Val Kilmer, who had planned to attend the West Coast Premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective, a biopic about his longtime friend. But before the limo could pick him up, the actor who played Batman, Jim Morrison, and a slew of other sexy bad boy characters on the big screen, was dead at age 65 from pneumonia. The iconic actor had been dealing with the lingering health issues that followed a throat cancer diagnosis over a decade ago, his daughter confirmed in a statement. 'It was a shock to find this out," said Nino Simone, Founder & President of the Beverly Hills Film Festival in a statement Wednesday. 'He was thrilled to come out in support of his friend [Madsen]. know PR was on the phone, trying to get a hold of the driver, bringing Val for his 7:30pm red carpet arrival. The story and news of his death were reported, literally at the same, exact time. Unbelievable, and so heart-breaking. Our hearts go out to his family.' Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, and died in the city he loved surrounded by loved ones, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press. Aside from Mercedes, 33, he is also survived by son Jack Kilmer, 29. Val was married to their mother, fellow actress Joanne Whalley, from 1988 until outpouring of grief was shared by the people who worked with and loved Kilmer, among them his one-time girlfriend Cher, who mused on social media about his brilliance and bravery. After his 2015 cancer diagnosis, Kilmer largely vanished from the Hollywood industry and leaned into painting. In the weeks before he died he posted a photo of his work depicting a peaceful campfire writing: "It's got that late-night glow. Cool tones with a low burn, like when the camp fire cools down but you're still wide awake."On his website, he talked about stepping back from acting because of the damage done to his voice by radiation and chemotherapy. "I've lived a magical life. For more than half a century, I have been honing my art, no matter the medium. Be it literature, movies, poetry, painting, music, or tracking exotic and beautiful wildlife in the most remote African bush, to capture ephemeral moments with a camera, I yearn to express my creative spirit," he wrote, adding: "It isn't easy to talk and be understood. I am improving all the time, but am not able to be out in the world the same way I had become accustomed. When one thing is taken, though, another is given."Right before the pandemic, Kilmer found HelMel, a community space in Hollywood, and rented what he called "a large studio. There, he wrote, "With little voice, my creative juices were boiling over and pouring out of me. I started creating again, painting, writing anything I could. I felt the art healing me."Kilmer was also a poet, and received a Grammy nomination in 2012 for Best Spoken Word, and wrote an autobiography about his prolific life in Hollywood called "I'm Your Huckleberry," which was a famous line he uttered in Tombstone.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Val Kilmer Died Before Planned Beverly Hills Film Fest Red Carpet Appearance
Val Kilmer died on Tuesday just before the Top Gun actor was set to walk the red carpet at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. 'It was a shock to find this out. We had just confirmed Val to attend the west coast premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective this past weekend,' Nino Simone, founder and president of the Beverly Hills Film Festival, said Wednesday in a statement. More from The Hollywood Reporter Val Kilmer Death: Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppola, Josh Brolin Pay Tribute to Actor Val Kilmer, Actor Revered for Playing Batman and Jim Morrison, Dies at 65 Jim Abrahams, 'Airplane!,' 'Naked Gun' and 'Hot Shots!' Master of Mirth, Dies at 80 Kilmer died in Los Angeles on Tuesday at age 65 of pneumonia, his daughter, actress Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times. 'He [Kilmer] was thrilled to come out in support of his friend [Madsen]. I know PR was on the phone, trying to get a hold of the driver, bringing Val for his 7:30 p.m. red carpet arrival. The story and news of his death were reported, literally at the same, exact time. Unbelievable, and so heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to his family,' Simone added. The Beverly Hills fest opened with a world premiere for Hello Beautiful, which stars Tricia Helfer in a drama about a successful model who is diagnosed with breast cancer. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, and Val, a stirring documentary about his life that premiered at Cannes in July 2021, showed him needing a breathing tube. His illness followed a Hollywood career where Kilmer played Batman and Jim Morrison, and had memorable roles as Iceman in Top Gun and Doc Holliday in Tombstone. His other performances included as Robert De Niro's nasty henchman in Michael Mann's Heat (1995); as Marlon Brando's insane assistant in John Frankenheimer's The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and as the suave crook Simon Templar in Phillip Noyce's The Saint (1997). Mann was among the tributes to Kilmer that poured in on Wednesday, saying in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, 'While working with Val on Heat I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val's possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.' The 25th Beverly Hills Film Festival is set to run through April 6. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
