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France 24
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: report
Benton was also known for the 1984 film "Places in the Heart" and had extensive writing and directing credits for influential movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The Times reported Benton died on Sunday and his death was confirmed by his longtime assistant and manager, Marisa Forzano. Benton co-wrote Arthur Penn's groundbreaking crime thriller "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) -- starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty -- with David Newman. But he is probably best known for his script and direction on "Kramer vs. Kramer," the 1979 film that offered an unflinching look at divorce and became one of the most awarded films of its time. It picked up nine Oscar nominations, and brought home five -- Benton's Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman, Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep and the year's grand prize of Best Picture. He and Newman co-wrote Peter Bogdanovich's "What's Up, Doc?," which was released in 1972, the same year that Benton made his directorial debut with "Bad Company." In 1978, Benton teamed up again with Newman and Newman's wife Leslie to write the screenplay for "Superman" (1978) starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando and Margot Kidder. Despite coaxing Oscar-winning performances out of a host of 20th century legends of the silver screen, Benton was known in Hollywood as a self-effacing director. "There are directors who can get great performances out of actors. I am not one of them," the filmmaker once said. Appearing at a fan event in Hollywood in 2018, he remained modest about his stellar career. "I have found actors -- through luck, through the judgment of casting directors or through my own instinct -- that are extraordinarily good," he told the crowd. "There's a thing you've just got to gamble with, and when you see it and it works, it's brilliant." Asked how he got some of Tinseltown's biggest stars to perform for him, he deadpanned: "I tried not to get in their way... that's not so easy." The Times reported Benton is survived by his son, John. His wife of six decades, Sallie, died in 2023.
USA Today
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
‘Poker Face': Natasha Lyonne teases existential Season 2, Cynthia Erivo's myriad roles
'Poker Face': Natasha Lyonne teases existential Season 2, Cynthia Erivo's myriad roles Show Caption Hide Caption 'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo arrives at SAG Awards 2025 red carpet "Wicked" star Cynthia Erivo said this moment is "everything and more" as she arrived at the SAG Awards red carpet. Entertain This! Cynthia Erivo is seeing green. In Peacock dramedy 'Poker Face,' which returns for Season 2 this spring, the 'Wicked' star plays a bevy of estranged sisters as they tussle over their spiteful late mother's will. Natasha Lyonne, who's back as shaggy amateur detective Charlie Cale, was floored watching Erivo dip in and out of so many roles, which include a DJ, a professor, an artist, and an apple-picker. 'Every time she'd appear with a new character, it was just so funny,' Lyonne recalls. 'She's completely dialed in and brilliant. There's a buoyancy and lightness to her, but also a perfectionism and precision. All the sisters are so clearly delineated, it's absurd.' Erivo's comedic high-wire act is the pièce de résistance of the Season 2 premiere, which finds Charlie drawn into the siblings' lethal double dealing. The twisty episode is the brainchild of writer Laura Deeley, who was inspired by the door-slamming screwball comedy of 1972's 'What's Up, Doc?' 'I just loved the audaciousness and pure showmanship of it,' says Tony Tost, who takes over as showrunner, replacing Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (they continue as executive producers). 'It felt like a really strong way to reannounce, 'The show is back, and we're going to take some swings.'' 'Poker Face' Season 2 is an 'existential road trip' for Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale Co-created by Lyonne and Rian Johnson ('Star Wars: The Last Jedi'), 'Poker Face' is less a 'whodunnit' than it is a 'how to catch 'em.' Viewers meet the killer in the first act of each hourlong episode; then it's up to Charlie to track them down. The show is heavily influenced by case-of-the-week network TV classics 'Murder, She Wrote,' 'Columbo' and 'Magnum P.I.,' but also draws from NBC's 'Quantum Leap' and 'Highway to Heaven' in Season 2. (There's even a cheeky homage to 'Baywatch Nights' in the first episode.) 'Each one of these episodes are really their own little movies,' says Johnson, who also directed the Season 2 premiere. 'The goal was to just keep having fun and surprising audiences. This season was unique because it directly overlapped with me making 'Wake Up Dead Man,'' the third of his 'Knives Out' murder-mystery movies, with Daniel Craig. 'It kind of felt like doing double sets at the gym. Even though it's a different muscle, it's in the same family.' Charlie bounces from town to town and job to job, and audiences know very little about where she comes from, save for the introduction of her long-lost sister, Emily (Clea DuVall), in the Season 1 finale. But the second season shies away from revealing much more about the savvy ex-cocktail waitress, who has a gift for sniffing out lies. 'What's fun is finding little ways to learn more about Charlie through how she engages with each of these crimes,' Johnson says. 'There are some glimpses into what her life was like before, but I'm very conscious of wanting to avoid it being about some kind of backstory or mythology. Being light on its feet is one of the benefits of the format.' Tost compares the new season to a three-part play, teasing that Charlie goes on an 'existential road trip' midway through: 'It's very much that question of, 'What is my place in the world? What's it like to put down roots? Is this actually the life I want to lead?'' Lyonne describes Charlie as a 'grittier lone wolf' in Season 2, having spent so much time on the run from ruthless casino mobsters and traversing the country in her sky-blue 1969 Plymouth Barracuda. 'It's a long time to not have any real contact with anyone,' Lyonne says. 'This season has such an extraordinary back half. She's on the hunt to try and settle down, but keeps getting waylaid.' John Mulaney, Katie Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani top a 'dizzying' list of Season 2 guest stars Like Season 1, which premiered in early 2023, the new installments are packed with guest stars including Giancarlo Esposito, Haley Joel Osment, Melanie Lynskey, Carol Kane, Justin Theroux, Method Man, Alia Shawkat, Patti Harrison, John Cho, Gaby Hoffmann, Shiloh Fernandez, and Ego Nwodim. John Mulaney, one of Lyonne's longtime friends, pops in as an FBI agent ('I'm so grateful that he showed up on his birthday – he was supposed to go to Hawaii!' she recalls). Katie Holmes is featured in an episode directed by Lyonne, who 'gave her permission to try something strange and not typical for her as an actress,' Tost says. 'They really enjoyed working together.' Johnson's favorite episodes include a 'hilarious' story involving Simon Rex and a minor-league baseball team and another 'totally gonzo' outing featuring Kumail Nanjiani and an alligator. "I look over the cast names, and it's dizzying to me," Johnson says. 'There's a bunch of new things we introduce this season, but empathy is still at the heart of it. That's what drives the character of Charlie, and what ultimately makes this show work: her central relationship in each episode between the victim, or the killer ― or the alligator.'
