Latest news with #CloseEncountersoftheThirdKind
Eater
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Iconic Chinese Restaurant Closes on the Las Vegas Strip
With its Champagne lounge, tableside-prepared Mr. Chow noodles, and 3,800-pound kinetic sculpture based on the moon, Mr. Chow at Caesars Palace was the kind of dining experience one could only find in Las Vegas. After a nine-year run as one of the best Chinese restaurants in Las Vegas, Mr. Chow closed permanently on Saturday, May 17, as Caesars Entertainment confirmed to Eater Vegas. Mr. Chow Las Vegas debuted in 2016, bringing high-end Beijing-style cuisine to a dramatic two-story space above the casino floor. Guests arrived via private elevators to a sleek white dining room overlooking the Garden of the Gods pool, anchored by The Moon — a massive kinetic sculpture designed by Michael Chow himself. Michael Chow, the restaurateur, designer, and artist behind Mr. Chow has personally overseen the design of every restaurant location since launching the original in London in 1968, including outposts in New York, Beverly Hills, Miami, and Saudi Arabia. 'Each space tells me what to do, and the Las Vegas one offered me a 60-foot-diameter, 35-foot-high dome,' Chow told Architectural Digest of the Caesars Palace outpost in 2016. He designed a giant 3,800-pound, 26-foot-diameter kinetic sculpture that loomed over the dining room and sprang to life every 35 minutes. 'It's basically this romantic idea of dining under the moon, but with a Close Encounters of the Third Kind twist,' Chow told AD . Dishes in the glossy white restaurant were served family-style, with the Beijing duck as the signature offering — its dramatic tableside carving verging on performance art, even without the lunar theatrics overhead. The hand-pulled Mr. Chow noodles provided a similar spectacle, with chefs expertly stretching and spinning dough into long, delicate ribbons before diners' eyes. Other standouts included glazed prawns with walnuts, delicately seasoned green prawns, and a house-specialty Dungeness crab — rich crabmeat folded into pillowy egg whites and served in the shell. Caesars Entertainment did not offer a reason for the closure or comment on future plans for the space. Meanwhile, another celebrity chef has made a recent debut at the resort: José Andrés opened a Las Vegas outpost of Zaytinya in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace on May 13. Sign up for our newsletter.
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Quint's ghost: Robert Shaw resurrected in The Shark Is Broken
There's a common misconception that the credit and blame for blockbuster cinema rests with Star Wars. That the classic movie age died on May 4th 1977, with the release of George Lucas' space opera upon an unsuspecting public. As far as the Hollywood studios were concerned it didn't happen until the following November, with the release of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Only then did they realise Star Wars wasn't an anomaly: it was a trend. The greenlighting of big-budget bombastic spectacle cinema began in earnest, and arguably has never ceased. In retrospect, it's clear the die was cast two years earlier, when a cloud appeared on the horizon of the beautiful resort community of Amity ('Amity' means 'friendship, you know). A cloud in the shape of a killer shark. The term 'blockbuster' had been around long before the release of Jaws; but it became cemented in the public lexicon forever after the summer of 1975, when people queued around the clock and around the block several times to watch - Steven Spielberg's cinematic rollercoaster scarefest. Watch the original trailer for Jaws Honestly, I don't think it's possible to understate how popular Jaws remains to this day. Arguably, more than Star Wars, there is an all-inclusive, multi-generational love for this film. That's some achievement for one picture (the numbered sequels don't count). No TV shows, billion-dollar mini-series, prequel trilogies: just one two-hour movie. Despite their tidal wave of popularity, none of those franchises have inspired a play about their production. But Jaws has: The Shark Is Broken by Ian Shaw & Joseph Nixon opens at The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin on May 13th. If, as they say, 'success has many fathers but failure is an orphan', the grandfather of Jaws' impact was Robert Shaw and his iconic performance as the gruff shark-hunter, Quint. A world war two veteran with a back-story as thick as his jaw. Shaw himself, a veteran British stage actor, was also the defining James Bond henchman in From Russia With Love, an Oscar-nominated king in A Man For All Seasons, and gave Newman and Redford a run for their money in The Sting. The man had been an intellectual and physical nemesis to some serious players. Now, out in Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod, he would face his greatest challenge: boredom. For like the title says, the shark is broken - again. It was much of the time, going by the legend of the movie's production. Watch: Ian Shaw on his play The Shark Is Broken One man who heard these tales directly from the, well, shark's mouth: Robert's son, Ian Shaw, co-author of the play and starring on stage as his father, alongside Dan Fredenburgh as Roy Scheider and Ashly Margolis as Richard Dreyfuss. The elder Shaw was cast as Quint during a fallow period in his film career. Though never out of work, he took the stage more seriously, along with his writing (Shaw authored several best-selling novels during his life). Movies were a means to support his ten children (mostly from two marriages). During the movie's production, the broken shark's now minimal screen time worked in the film and Shaw's favour, with Quint's dark portents and foreboding monologues on land and sea, bringing a tangible primal fear to the now more often than not, invisible threat. Watch: Richard Dreyfuss breaks down after meeting Robert Shaw's granddaughter on The Late Late Show, circa 2010 Shaw's personal nemesis had been alcohol. Being a writer, he kept drinking diaries. One of which, kept during the picture's production in 1974 and re-discovered a few years ago, inspired his son Ian to write the play and inhabited his father, whom he closely resembles. The worldwide success of Jaws made Shaw a wanted man in Hollywood. Some of his post-shark films were pretty good, such as Black Sunday and Robin & Marion. The Deep and The Buccaneers, not so great. But his pay cheques were. This allowed him to take care of his extended family on his farm in Tourmakeady. Co. Mayo. Rober Shaw was barely fifty-one when he died from a heart attack driving home from the shops one afternoon in August of 1978. Spending much of his filmography playing intense, stoic, veteran men of war, sea, politics and whiskey, he was truly a man of all seasons. But in Jaws, a movie for the ages, I venture it's his grizzing Shark-hunting moustachioed Quint, who will be tying sheep-shanks in the audience's collective consciousness for as long as there is cinema. Singing "Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies… Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain… For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston… And so never more shall we see you again."
Metro
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
E.T. star made Steven Spielberg tone down 'uncomfortable' bedroom scene
An E.T. star has revealed how she made Steven Spielberg tone down a racy scene. The 1982 beloved family film follows the story of E.T., an alien, who is left behind on earth. After a young boy called Elliott discovers him, he decides to keep him hidden before he fights to return him home. The film has gone on to rank as one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time, when adjusted for inflation. By the time of its release, legendary director Spielberg had already made classics such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, for Dee Wallace, who played the divorced mother-of-three in E.T., acting in the filming did not prove to be plain sailing. Speaking on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, Dee revealed how she thought differently to the 78-year-old director. She said: '[Originally, there was] a whole B-story in E.T. about E.T. having a love affair with Mary — a love 'crush' on Mary. 'There's little bits of it left in there. There was a scene where he came in to put Reese's Pieces down on my bedside table as I'm asleep. 'Well, Mr. Spielberg wanted the sheet a little lower than I was comfortable with.' She added: 'I argued my point that this was a family film. 'This film was very pure to me. And it was about love. And so we ended up calling in [producer] Kathleen Kennedy and [writer] Melissa [Mathison], our beautiful, amazing writer, and they said, 'We kind of agree with her, Steven.' 'So we compromised and pulled the sheet up almost to my shoulder blades, which I was okay with.' Earlier this year, it was revealed that Spielberg fought hard to stop a sequel being created. Speaking at the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up x 92NY event, Spielberg explained it was 'a real hard-fought victory' because he didn't have any rights. 'Before E.T., I had some rights, but I didn't have a lot of rights. I kind of didn't have what we call 'the freeze,' where you can stop the studio from making a sequel because you control the freeze on sequels, remakes and other ancillary uses of the IP [intellectual property],' he explained. More Trending 'I didn't have that. I got it after E.T. because of its success.' He added of a potential sequel: 'I just did not want to make a sequel. I flirted with it for a little bit – just a little bit to see if I [could] think of a story – and the only thing I could think about was a book that was written by somebody that wrote the book for it called The Green Planet, which was all going to take place at E.T.'s home. 'We were all going to be able to go to E.T.'s home and see how E.T. lived. But it was better as a novel than I think it would have been as a film.' He continued: 'I have no intention ever of seeing E.T. anywhere outside of this proscenium.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Steven Spielberg pays tribute after 'deeply loyal' publicist Marvin Levy dies aged 96
Los Angeles Times
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Steven Spielberg honors the late Marvin Levy, his longtime Oscar-winning publicist and advisor
Steven Spielberg is paying tribute to his longtime publicist and advisor Marvin Levy, the only marketing professional to earn an Oscar for his work. Levy died Monday at age 96. 'Marvin's passing is a huge loss for me and our industry writ large,' Spielberg said in a statement obtained by The Times. 'There are many talented PR executives, but Marvin was one of a kind.' The 'Munich' director said Levy was 'a deeply loyal and exceptional collaborator' who was enthusiastic about his work and respected and appreciated by all who worked with him. The two started working together on the 1977 movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' Levy was vice president of advertising, publicity and promotions at Columbia Pictures but soon left Columbia for Amblin Entertainment and, later, Dreamworks. 'When it came to handling the press, he had no peer. To the media - and the world of exhibition, Marvin was the face of Amblin,' Spielberg said. 'We were opposite ends of the movie-making process. Every time I reached the end of production on a film, Marvin's work had only begun. 'Through countless films, TV series, Amblin events, awards campaigns and our public relations strategy — this is where Marvin came alive.' Levy was born Nov. 6, 1928, in New York City, where he later attended NYU. After participating in the ROTC program, he spent two years in the Air Force, where he started his work in communications. At Michigan's Selfridge Air Force Base — renamed the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in 1971 — he handled public relations and advertising. He married his wife, Carol, in his early 20s and was still married to the woman he called 'the love of my life' 73 years later. The couple would have two sons, Don and Doug, and later two grandsons, Daniel and Brian. Levy got into entertainment in New York in the 1940s, working on game shows and pioneering talk shows, then at MGM's New York publicity office and at film PR agency Blowitz Thomas and Canton. His next gig was at Cinema Releasing, a job that brought him to the West Coast. Eventually, he wound up at Columbia Pictures, and soon enough the rest was history. Levy would finish out his career working with Spielberg et al., retiring in 2024. 'He was creative, innovative and respected for his knowledge and honesty,' Spielberg said. 'He was excited to figure new and better ways to present films to audiences. As a result, he was the first and only publicist to receive an Academy Award.' That honor came in November 2018 at the film academy's Governors Awards. 'This Oscar has been the most surprising and exciting award I can imagine,' Levy said in his acceptance speech. 'We've had three presidents at the academy ... from our own public relations branch, but this is the first time the academy has considered one of us for this award. So that makes it the most humbling honor too.' He also mentioned Spielberg in that speech, saying, 'He's always treated me like a storyteller, and we are all storytellers in the public relations branch. Because the universe we build around our films and our TV isn't just about the story being told, but it's about making sure the story lasts.' Levy led promotional and awards campaigns for movies directed by Spielberg — who credited the publicist for much of their success — including 'E.T.,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan,' to name a few. He also worked on the 'Back to the Future' franchise, 'Ben-Hur,' 'Taxi Driver,' 'Kramer vs. Kramer,' 'Sophie's Choice,' 'Men in Black,' 'Shrek,' 'Gladiator' and many more influential films. Levy served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 23 years and was chairman of the academy's PR branch for much of that time. He supported the USC Shoah Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation and Starlight Children's Foundation. 'I am grateful for all our years together,' Spielberg said. 'Marvin never failed to make me laugh, he never stopped smiling. We will miss you Marvin. You will always be in our hearts and your memory will always make us smile.' Levy is survived by his wife, sons and grandsons. A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Marvin Levy, Steven Spielberg's longtime publicist and an Oscar-recipient, dies at 96
Marvin Levy, Steven Spielberg's publicist for over four decades and the only person in his field to be recognized with an Oscar, has died. He was 96. Levy died Monday in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones, representatives for Amblin Entertainment said Wednesday. No cause was given. 'Marvin's passing is a huge loss for me and our industry writ large. There are many talented PR executives, but Marvin was one of a kind,' Spielberg said in a statement. 'I am grateful for all our years together. Marvin never failed to make me laugh, he never stopped smiling. We will miss you Marvin. You will always be in our hearts and your memory will always make us smile.' Levy's long-standing partnership with Spielberg made him one of the most renowned and respected publicists in Hollywood. Over his 70-year career, he worked on campaigns for film classics like 'Taxi Driver,' 'Kramer vs. Kramer,' 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' 'Back to the Future,' 'Schindler's List," 'Jurassic Park" and "Gladiator." In 2018, Levy, a long-standing member of the film academy's public relations branch, became the first and only publicist to receive an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. No publicist's name had even been put forth for the award before Levy's. 'It was way out of left field for me. I couldn't have imagined it,' Levy told The Associated Press in 2018. 'It's not like I could say 'Gee, I'd love to get that one day.' It was not on my to-do list.' Born in Manhattan on Nov. 16, 1928, Levy was raised on the east side and attended New York University. Though he never set out to be a publicist specifically, he knew he had a way with words. One of his first jobs was writing questions for a TV quiz show. But he was fired when his 'big ticket' question was answered too early in the season. His first publicity job was at MGM in New York, where he was so far down on the ladder that he never got to travel to Los Angeles, but where he worked on campaigns for films like 'Gigi' and 'Ben-Hur.' By the time the company was remaking 'Mutiny on the Bounty," he knew it was time to move on. Levy soon found his way to legendary publicists Arthur Canton and Bill Blowitz, and then Columbia Pictures which took him to California. It was during that time that he first started working with Spielberg who was fresh off 'Jaws.' He was told he was only to concentrate on 'Close Encounters." By 1982, he went full time with Spielberg and wouldn't look back. While he had many highs in the industry, Levy also recalled a big heartbreak when 'Saving Private Ryan' lost the best picture trophy to 'Shakespeare in Love' at the 71st Academy Awards. 'That was the toughest night of my life in terms of the business,' Levy said. But he put on a brave face at the Governor's Ball following the ceremony. Tom Hanks presented the honorary Oscar to Levy in 2018, noting that it takes, 'Something of a storyteller to get an audience hooked on the story without giving away the story.' Levy remained devoted to Spielberg, and Amblin Entertainment, up to his full retirement in 2024. For him, it never got old. 'How lucky can you be? I mean it,' he said in 2018. 'We work for the best filmmaker around.' Levy is survived by his wife of 73 years, Carol, their two sons, Don and Doug, and two grandsons, Brian and Daniel.
