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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
50 Years On, Michael Douglas Reflects On His Epic Journey Making ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest': 'The Movie Reflects What's Happening In America'
EXCLUSIVE: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the New Hollywood classic adapted from Ken Kesey's book, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a special screening today [21st] at the Cannes Film Festival and a stateside re-release by Fathom Entertainment in July. Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz served as producers of Miloš Forman's anti-establishment firecracker, which remains one of just three movies ever to win all five major Academy Awards — Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. Thirteen years in the making and knocked back by countless A-list actors and studios, the movie overcame myriad challenges to become 1975's second highest-grossing U.S. film (over $100 million worldwide), beaten only by Jaws. Douglas was only 31 at the time. More from Deadline Scarlett Johansson On Why The Script For Her Directorial Debut 'Eleanor The Great' Made Her Cry: 'It's About Forgiveness' – Cannes Cover Story Dakota Johnson Talks Romantic Experiments In Cannes Comedy 'Splitsville', Upcoming 'Materialists' And 'Juicy' Colleen Hoover Adaptation 'Verity' Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value' Wows Cannes In Premiere, Gets Extraordinary 19-Minute Ovation Jack Nicholson serves as Randle McMurphy, a role that had been played by Douglas' father Kirk in the Broadway play version. Randall is a rebellious new patient at a mental institution who does battle with Louise Fletcher's domineering head nurse Mildred Ratched. Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Sydney Lassick, William Redfield, Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif also star, the latter two making their feature debuts. Screenplay came from Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. Here, Douglas (80) recalls the remarkable journey behind the film, his father's role in bringing it to him, and the ways in which it remains relevant to this day. RELATED: DEADLINE: Michael, how do you view today? MICHAEL DOUGLAS: I think the movie reflects what's happening in America right now, in terms of the Presidency and a struggle that we never anticipated we would see in our country: a struggle for democracy. There is a parallel between Nurse Ratched and the system she operates within and what's happening in America today. We are certainly under attack in in in our country right now. But I also look back on the production as a magical process and with the greatest satisfaction for how much I learned and how important it was for my career as a producer. Saul Zaentz, my fellow producer on the movie, was an amazing man, a three-time Best Picture winner, which perhaps doesn't get the credit it should. RELATED: DEADLINE: How fired up were you by the material when your dad was trying to get it made in the '60s? DOUGLAS: I was taking a freshman course in 20th century American literature at the time. I was a hippie in California and Ken's book just floored me. I saw dad in the play, and years after, I heard by chance that he was in the process of selling the rights to the book after not being able to get it made as a movie. I said, 'I'll make my best effort for you to be in it.' He was very sweet and agreed to give the kid a chance. DEADLINE: Your dad really struggled to let it go, though. He even said the process 'destroyed' him. How challenging was that? DOUGLAS: He was proud of his son producing it, but the aspect he struggled to let go of was not playing the part. It was extremely difficult for him. When you look back as an actor, maybe you get four great parts in your career. R.P. McMurphy was one of those parts. We joked about it later, that it was my responsibility he didn't star in our film, but I reminded him that the director has the final say. I tried, but it wasn't possible. Too much time had passed. When Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando turned it down, I thought there might be more of a chance, but then Miloš really wanted Burt Reynolds. Later on, Hal Ashby showed us some outtakes of Jack Nicholson from The Last Detail and that was that. RELATED: Neon's Palme D'Or Whisperer Tom Quinn Reveals Keys To Cannes And Oscar Success: 'I'm Happy To Share A Playbook' DEADLINE: He wasn't the only Douglas interested in a part, right. You had wanted to play Billy? DOUGLAS: That was a brief moment in time, early on in production, but as soon as we auditioned Brad Dourif that thought disappeared. I soon realized producing was a full-time job, anyway. Both Saul and I were pretty much virgin producers but we soon both learned to go with our instincts and to do things even though people told us not to. For instance, shooting on location in January in Oregon on a film that 90% of took place inside, that could have easily been staged in Los Angeles. It was hard to explain, but having the cooperation of Dr Dean Brooks [the real doctor who stars in the film as Dr. Spivey], the actors being able to spend time with real patients in a real mental institution, these were things we couldn't have done on a set. DEADLINE: And Saul financed the whole thing? DOUGLAS: He did. We started at around $1.4 million and ended up close to $4 million. His partners at his music and production label Fantasy Records [whose success with Creedence Clearwater Revival helped fund the movie] were outraged. They thought I was hustling. But Saul played poker and pool, he had a gambler's instinct…I was working as an actor on The Streets Of San Francisco and was able to go back and forth between San Francisco and Berkeley where Saul was based but come the fifth season of the show I decided not to carry on and dedicated myself to the movie when it finally came together. RELATED: Brazilian Comeback: How The Cannes 2025 Country Of Honor Is Following The Success Of 'I'm Still Here' DEADLINE: It was years and years looking for finance and a director and cast. Miloš had loved the project but had been detained for years in Czechoslovakia by the Russians so couldn't make it. Multiple studios and major actors turned the movie down. And then when he finally got to the U.S., Miloš had a mental health episode in the Chelsea Hotel… DOUGLAS: Finding Miloš had been so cathartic for us. We had loved his films The Firemen's Ball and Loves Of A Blonde. We had spoken to other filmmakers, but they kept their cards so close to their chests. Miloš was collaborative and open with us, despite his European background where the auteur director is top of the pyramid. When Miloš came up to my house in LA with Saul we swelled up with emotion when we sat down to read the script together. DEADLINE: Did you ever think it wouldn't get made? DOUGLAS: I was probably a little naive. But I knew Saul had the same passion I did. Did I get nervous as we got a little closer and the budget started going up? Yeah, to some degree. But I believed we'd get there. DEADLINE: You must have been so relieved when you finally got to production in Oregon. But there were plenty of ups and downs to come, from illness to actors' mental health crises, and key players not seeing eye to eye… DOUGLAS: There's no question about it. We had to wait for Jack for another six months before shooting due to a prior commitment, and that gave us more time to audition, which was so vital. To give you an idea of how disparate the search was, the casting of Will Sampson came about after he was recommended to me by a used car dealer and rodeo announcer I sat next to one time on a flight. Jack, Saul and I went up to meet Will in Washington where he was working as a forest fire ranger. When he walked through the arrival gate, with cowboy hat and cowboy boots on, all seven feet of him, Jack said, 'That's the Chief.' We flew back down to Oregon in a tiny plane, so Jack basically had to sit on Will's lap. It was an ecstatic moment to have the casting finally complete… RELATED: Ooh-La-La Land: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (*And The Cannes Film Festival) DEADLINE: Danny DeVito, someone you've worked with a few times in your career, was a former roommate of yours, right? DOUGLAS: That's right. We knew each other while I was at college and were roommates after that in New York. He played Martini in the off Broadway version of the book. He was the first person cast. But I first met Danny when I was at the Eugene O'Neill Memorial theater in Waterford, Connecticut, over the summers of college and Danny came up as a member of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts which was presenting a show there. We bonded at that time… But no doubt it was an eventful shoot. We went through three DoPs on the film. Haskell Wexler, our original DoP, was very talented. He had also been a director and had strong thoughts on how things should go, some of which Miloš took on board, some he didn't. But he started to undermine Miloš a little so that didn't end well. There were other challenges. One Friday, a couple of us were having a few drinks when we learnt that Bill Redfield, who played Harding, was diagnosed with leukemia after showing symptoms on set. I met his wife soon after and she told me they had known before Bill started filming but kept it secret because he had wanted to do the part so much. We were terrified. We were told Bill wasn't long for this world. We had a real quandary as to whether to continue with Bill or recast. But he and his wife begged us to continue and that's what we did. Sadly, he passed away not long after we wrapped shoot. The boat scene was another major issue. It was horrendous for a lot of the actors. We were out there for a week and people were dry heaving, nauseous, that was a tough one to get through. There were tears. But this was such a tight group. That was the best thing about it. The ensemble. It was a truly great thing to watch the dailies. RELATED: 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' Review: The Sky's The Limit In Ethan Hunt's 'Last' Adventure – Cannes Film Festival DEADLINE: How difficult was it when Jack and Miloš had their falling out? DOUGLAS: That was largely related to Miloš not letting the actors see the dailies. They patched it up in the end. When Jack arrived on set after his previous commitment, the other actors were really deep into their characters, and some had been living and sleeping in the mental hospital for weeks by that time. Jack was taken aback — these guys didn't even break character during lunchtime — but he quickly realized how serious the production was. Miloš was a disciplinarian. He would say 'And cut! Perfect, perfect… Now let's do it one more time.' We would joke about that. DEADLINE: Did you know at the time that what you had was great? DOUGLAS: We knew what we had was incredible. I could show you a 10-minute reaction scene of Jack's, just his reaction in the group therapy section, and you would watch it mesmerized. DEADLINE: Someone who didn't ever come round was the author Ken Kesey who ultimately disavowed the film. How disappointing was that for you? DOUGLAS: Yeah, that was the one. That was the one real sadness. Ken's script kept a lot of the literary qualities of his novel, so it didn't quite work. The argument began under the auspices that we had screwed him somehow in his deal, but that wasn't the case. We felt we had been very generous in offering him 3%, but he wanted 6%. That was always a claw in the side of the project. It eventually led to a lawsuit. And by the time this came around, a couple of years after the movie was released, Ken's 3% was worth around $3 million. We didn't hear from Ken for a long time so we said 'ok, Ken, we're going to donate your share to the University Of Oregon in your hometown of Eugene. Then he finally go back to us and we finally came to a settlement…I felt bad at the Oscars. I think Miloš was the only person who mentioned Ken. I had worshipped him. He was an important part of my generation and I had spent a lot of time with him. But I'm not sure he ever even saw the movie. DEADLINE: No, apparently he only ever saw it years later by accident on TV one time…Like many, I was struck by the film's haunting, spare score, and Jack Nitzsche's unusual use of the saw… DOUGLAS: And crystal glasses. Spinning fingers over glasses filled with different amounts of water… DEADLINE: Right. I didn't know that. Was everyone on the team in favour of that sound? DOUGLAS: We were in favour. We were looking for something unique. It was a mental asylum after all, so we were looking for something haunting, but not too scary. Jack Nitzsche was a very interesting character, and very talented. We took a chance. And I remember he was recording it up at Fantasy Records in Berkeley. That's where we did our post-production. I remember going over there to see him one day and he was sitting there at this table full of crystal glasses, and was dipping his fingers in water, then running them over the rims to create different tones. Then this big bearded trucker brings in a massive saw. I thought what the hell is going on? But it was a phenomenally eerie, effective soundtrack. And again, it was one of those god given moments that worked out. DEADLINE: Who would you say was responsible for the success of the film's marketing? Presumably domestic distributor United Artists were key there because the movie found a vast audience…DOUGLAS: That's a good question. United Artists was largely responsible for the marketing. We went over the poster designs with them. It was Lisa Weinstein's mother, Marsha Weinstein, I believe. She became a confidante with Saul. But a lot of the movie's success was also down to word of mouth. There was such a small drop in box office each week and it just went on and on. Of course that doesn't happen today. It was the same overseas. DEADLINE: Yes, I think it was Sweden where the film played for years straight… DOUGLAS: Yes, this was pre-social media. People would actually talk about movies much more back then. Going to the cinema was more of a unique experience and people did that more often than today where more people consume at home. Releasing late in the year meant we got momentum going into the Oscars. DEADLINE: Did UA shy away from any of the tougher elements of the movie in their campaign? DOUGLAS: No, thank goodness. We'd had that difficulty when trying to get the movie set up with studios, and everyone told me no one wants to see another movie like The Snake Pit and they missed the humour of the movie. I remember the poster with Jack looking up to the sky, but it's kind of a hopeful look, you know. And of course we had a lot of very positive reviews. DEADLINE: The movie was an enormous box office hit, both in the U.S. and overseas. It made more than $100M globally, which is phenomenal for a socio-political drama made on a fraction of that budget. You can't have foreseen that level of success despite knowing what you had was very good? DOUGLAS: We didn't. We hadn't anticipated just how much it would connect all around the world, despite knowing how great Ken's story is and how well the cast did. DEADLINE: Presumably the key players on the movie did very well financially? DOUGLAS: Yes, we did. Me, Saul, Ken Kesey… I teased Jack for a long time that it was the best-performing movie of his career. I shared my back end with my father for giving me the rights. I think he made more money off that than on any movie he had starred in. It was a win all the way round so I'm super proud. DEADLINE: I read online that Jack's pay eclipsed all the other actors, which is probably what you'd expect at that time. I thought I'd seen that Louise Fletcher was a bit frustrated that the pay wasn't slightly more evenly distributed. I don't know if that's true but was that ever an issue? DOUGLAS: I've never heard that complaint. Louise was a relatively unknown actress at that time. She was not a profit particpant in her career, nor were the other actors. The only thing I heard from the actors at the time was that it was the best thing that happened to their careers. I remained good friends with many of the actors for many many years, including Louise. Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas playing pool. DEADLINE: After the film's enormous success, did you hear from any of the well-known actors who had turned down the roles of Murphy or Nurse Ratched? DOUGLAS: I know that Anne Bancroft, who turned the part of Nurse Ratched down, was at a cocktail party with her husband Mel Brooks shortly after the movie's release and she read him the riot act there and then for influencing her to turn it down. I heard that from some people who were there at the party. There were so many that turned the part down. Colleen Dewhurst and Angela Lansbury were others. The movie came shortly after the success of the women's liberation movement and I think there was a perception among some actresses that they didn't want to take on a villainous character at that time. DEADLINE: Did you ever have a conversation with Marlon Brando about the role of R.P. McMurphy? He was among those offered the part… DOUGLAS: No. No discussion. It was sent to him and that was it. DEADLINE: Five years ago you were an exec producer on the Ryan Murphy spin-off series called about Nurse Ratched's character. How often have there been requests for remakes and spinoffs and what did you make of Murphy's series? DOUGLAS: That would be a question for Paul Zaentz who is across the rights. I know he he's had multiple requests in the in the past, but he has been very selective and I think that was the only time they've done one, which is good because so much gets remade these days…as for the series, it was ok, just ok. I wasn't very much involved, to be honest. DEADLINE: Do you have anything coming up this year to celebrate the movie? DOUGLAS: I'm doing something with the Academy. Myself, Danny DeVito, Brad Douriff and Christopher Lloyd. I'll also be at a couple of festivals in coming months and there will be opportunities to discuss the movie there. DEADLINE: The major studios don't often want to get behind movies with social or political consciences today. They're even rare in the independent space. There were so many remarkable U.S. films in this vein in the '70s, from , to , and . The quality of moviemaking and the longevity of so many of the movies in that decade is remarkable. Why were movies so potent from that time and why do you think we have seen a dip in that type of U.S. moviemaking in recent years? DOUGLAS: Well, Cuckoo's Nest was an entirely independent production. The studios all passed on it. Maybe they didn't like the deal we offered, because we had already financed it. But they were also skeptical about the material. Today, streaming has taken over. It has inhaled Hollywood. It's very lucrative. Silicon Valley made us look like paupers. For Amazon and Apple, movies are a side business. At the same time, many of the great screenwriters went to work in TV and streaming. But you're right, if you compare the five Best Picture nominees from our year [also nominated in 1976 were Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws and Nashville], with some of the recent years… Theatrically it has become very difficult. Look at that Apple movie Wolfs. It was meant to be theatrical, and it turned into a one-week release. I'm working on a small movie right now that I'm going to produce and I'm aware how difficult it's going to be to get it into theaters for any length of time. The issue is whether the movie theater experience can hang in there. It's a tough time for theater owners. DEADLINE: A couple of years ago you acted with your son Cameron in the movie ? When might we see that? DOUGLAS: I don't know. I believe it's looking for distribution. DEADLINE: You were in three of the movies and appeared in . Would you do another Marvel movie? DOUGLAS: I don't think so. I had the experience, and I was excited to do it. I'd never done a green screen picture before. I did the The Kominsky Method because I wanted to work with Chuck Lorre and try some comedy. But I'm enjoying my hiatus and enjoying my life. It was overwhelming running the production company and acting at the same time. DEADLINE: Will you act again? DOUGLAS: Yes, if something good comes up that I really like. But I don't feel a burning desire. I'm still producing. I still love bringing people together. Best of Deadline Every 'The Voice' Winner Since Season 1, Including 9 Team Blake Champions Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Epoch Times
11-05-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
Killed With Kindness: It's Anything but Helpful to Slam RFK Jr. for Wanting to Find a Cure for Autism
Commentary The devouring mother. If you're familiar with this Jungian archetype, it's almost certainly via Jordan Peterson, who has done the most to popularize and apply it to today's social and political scene. In basic terms, the devouring mother is what you get when the maternal instinct to nurture goes haywire. Nurturance is a balancing act: Yes, the mother must offer warmth and protection and love, but she must also give the child space to experience the world for itself and, most of all, to take risks. Risk entails the potential for harm up to and including death, and yet without risk, genuine development simply isn't possible. But instead of taking this balanced approach, the devouring mother coddles the child—and then the teenager and the adult—to death, wrapping them so tightly they can't move and, as a result, they never get to fulfill their inborn potential. It's a kind of malignant but well-meaning concern, a hideously overgrown safetyism, that Peterson has linked to the rise of so-called 'woke' politics and politically correct codes, but we can see it at work elsewhere too. The medical industry and its ever-growing power over society, for example. In Ken Kesey's 1962 novel 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' the novelist embodies the devouring mother in Nurse Ratched, chief nurse at the Salem State Mental Hospital. Ratched destroys the men in her care—lobotomizes them, quite literally, with love. Everything that's done is done for the inmates' 'benefit,' even if it deprives them of what remains of their sanity and ultimately their lives. 'We're living in a matriarchy, man,' says one of the inmates, grimly. Tellingly, perhaps, in the summer of 2020 Nurse Ratched was given a television series of her own in an attempt to rehabilitate her for a new generation—just as the pandemic was swallowing the lives of an entire generation of children. We also see this devouring attitude, or something of it, in the autism debate, where a misplaced sense of kindness threatens to stifle research that could reduce or even cure the suffering of millions of children. Related Stories 3/14/2025 2/13/2025 A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the 'most comprehensive' investigation ever into the condition, which will identify environmental factors driving the massive increase in cases. Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Kennedy said autism 'destroys families,' describing in moving terms the extraordinary hardships faced by sufferers and their families, especially in serious cases where the child is non-verbal and will be unable to live an independent life ever. In the weeks since the announcement, Kennedy has spoken at length about the need for such an investigation and outlined his aims. He told radio host John Catsimatidis that autism 'dwarfs the COVID epidemic' and should be taken more seriously than COVID because it destroys the potential of the young specifically. 'This is an epidemic. It dwarfs the COVID epidemic and the impacts on our country because COVID killed old people. Autism affects children and affects them at the beginning of their lives, the beginning of their productivity,' he said. Kennedy has also been quite clear about the economic costs of this autism epidemic. He told Catsimatidis that the 'pure economic cost' of autism will be $1 trillion a year by 2035. Kennedy's announcement has been welcomed as long overdue, but in some quarters the response has been furious. Some have said that Kennedy's comments were 'disrespectful' and that his aim of identifying environmental causes of the condition is 'unrealistic and misleading.' Many seem to believe that, by saying he wants to cure autism, Kennedy really means autistic people have no value as autistic people at all. They must be normal or nothing. Let's be clear: Autism is a hugely emotive issue. Any issue involving the welfare and the suffering of children is bound to be. Autistic people and their families can certainly be forgiven a bit of emotion, since they're the principal sufferers. And it is true that autistic and disabled people have been marginalized, deprived, and dehumanized in the past. Their rights and moral recognition have been hard won and must be guarded forcefully to ensure they're not infringed or eliminated. But emotion, as we know, often clouds judgment. You can love and cherish a disabled child and still wish for the disability they suffer not to be visited on anyone else's child. Man does not have to hand on misery to man, to paraphrase the poet Philip Larkin. And the issue is made rather more straightforward if, as Kennedy is suggesting, the difference may be eliminating environmental toxins, rather than engaging in practices like embryo selection or IVF, which would draw inevitable moral concerns about 'eugenics' in particular. Kennedy is right to draw attention to the mind-boggling scale of the problem. On the day of the conference at the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention There's every reason to believe that, even if autism has a genetic component, which I think it does, many cases are also driven by environmental influences. Kennedy has already named five he believes must be considered in the course of his new investigation: mold, food additives, pesticides, vaccines, and ultrasound. In each case, there is credible scientific evidence, including epidemiological studies and case studies, that supports Kennedy's claim. Consider mold and fungus. It's been established that children diagnosed with autism Kennedy's five toxins are unlikely to exhaust the environmental causes of autism—gluten is another candidate, for example; it's Clearly, this is a complex problem, and it may be that only some, not all, cases of autism have an environmental cause or causes at their root. But if there are environmental causes of autism, there's no reason to believe we can't identify them and do something about them, alleviating the suffering of many, many people. To not even try, out of some belief that doing so would be a disservice or disrespect to those with autism, would be to kill the possibility of a better world with misplaced kindness. What a risk to take. Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito Have 'Twins' Reunion with Surprise Guest: 'Love Bringing Old Friends Together'
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito had another reunion, with a special guest joining them for the photo op: Tony Blair "I love bringing old friends together!" the actor and former California governor captioned the snap of himself, DeVito and the former U.K. prime minister Schwarzenegger recently honored DeVito with a theater award in New York City Two worlds are colliding for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The actor and former California governor shared a photo on Sunday, May 4, of himself posing alongside his Twins costar and longtime friend Danny DeVito, plus former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who stood between the two actors. Schwarzenegger, 77, DeVito, 80, and Blair, 71, were all dressed dapperly for the photo op, smiling at the camera as they were snapped in front of an outdoor pool. "I love bringing old friends together!" the Terminator star wrote in his caption. "It was fantastic to see my dear friend Tony Blair and introduce him to my brother, @dannydevito. I can't wait to talk about terminating pollution together in Vienna at the @schwarzeneggerclimate summit!" Twins is a buddy comedy that centers on Schwarzenegger and DeVito as genetically engineered fraternal twins separated at birth. The movie grossed $111 million at the domestic box office upon its release and was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1988, per Box Office Mojo. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger Thinks He Would Have Been a Great President: 'I Have the Energy' And while a previously planned follow-up movie called Triplets has not come to fruition, DeVito and Schwarzenegger are collaborating on something else. 'We're working on something, a project that we're going to do together, another movie,' DeVito told CNN in March 2024. Of his friendship with the bodybuilder-actor-politician, DeVito noted that their bond predated their 1988 comedy about an unlikely pair of brothers. 'Arnold and I are good buddies. We met way before Twins, years ago,' he said. DeVito also joked, 'We missed Twins 2, because he became governor — which, he should have done Twins 2 instead of becoming governor." Schwarzenegger put his acting career on hold when he ran for the California governorship. The actor served in office from 2003 to 2011. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Related: Danny DeVito's Most Memorable Roles: From 'Batman Returns' to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' The longtime friends have reunited several times over the years, and were event among the presenters at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony in March 2024. This past March, Schwarzenegger presented DeVito with the Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. "Last night, I had the opportunity to surprise my brother, @dannydevito, and be there to help present him with the Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre at @roundaboutnyc," Schwarzenegger captioned a photo carousel of himself and DeVito onstage at the ceremony. "It didn't matter that I filmed all day and had to throw on a jacket and hustle on stage. I had to be there, because he deserves to be celebrated," added the Kindergarten Cop actor in his post, concluding, "Be there for your friends and family." Read the original article on People
Los Angeles Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Nashville' and the movie year 1975, plus the week's best films in L.A.
Hello! I'm Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. Tim Grierson paid a visit to the Criterion Mobile Closet last weekend, as the cinephile totem made its first ever stop in Los Angeles, parked in front of Vidiots. Fans began lining up at 5 a.m. and the line was cut off at 9:30 a.m., before things had even opened. Folks waited in the rain for hours, with the closet staying open an extra hour to accommodate everyone. What were they all waiting for? A chance to spend three minutes surrounded by every available title from the venerable home video label, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. (Attendees could choose three discs to purchase at a discount.) Videos of celebrities stopping by the supply closet of the company's New York offices — Ben Affleck recently dropped in — have become an online phenomenon. The Mobile Closet extends that enthusiasm to everyday fans. 'For the 40th anniversary, we've been talking about, 'What could we do that truly engages all the people that love film?'' Nur El Shami, Criterion's chief marketing officer, explained about the Mobile Closet's origins. 'Somebody said, almost as a joke, 'What if we put the Closet in a truck?' We were like, 'You know what? Maybe that's exactly what we should do.'' The truck will be at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica on May 6 and 7. Plan to arrive early. The Egyptian Theatre is launching a series celebrating the movies of 1975. And it was quite a year. On Monday there will be a 35mm screening of Sidney Lumet's 'Dog Day Afternoon,' which won the first Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. award for best picture (shared with 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' a tie). The screening will be introduced by LAFCA member Peter Rainer. Werner Herzog will be present for a screening of 'The Enigma of Kasper Hauser,' which won the grand jury prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. A screening of 'Cooley High' will welcome director Michael Schultz and actors Glynn Turman and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. A Tuesday screening of Robert Altman's 'Nashville' will be introduced by Ronee Blakley, who plays country music queen Barbara Jean and wrote several songs for the film. Keith Carradine, who won an Oscar for his original song 'I'm Easy' from the film, will be there for a Q&A after the film moderated by critic and programmer David Ansen. In true Altmanesque fashion, 'Nashville' features 24 main characters woven together over five days leading up to a benefit concert for an outsider presidential candidate, all intersecting off one another across the city. The cast includes Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Timothy Brown, Gwen Welles, Shelly Duvall, Michael Murphy, Geraldine Chaplin, Keenan Wynn, Scott Glenn and Henry Gibson. In many ways the crown jewel of Altman's sprawling, prodigious filmography, 'Nashville' is a biting satire, by turns rollicking and disturbing, with a still-relevant perspective on the intersection of politics, celebrity and entertainment. From the moment the film first came out, there has been a debate as to whether it is a cynical put-down of Nashville as an institution and a place, or a celebration of all its gaudy glory. Either way, the film is clearly intended as a broader metaphor for America at a moment when the country was racked by turmoil and transition. 'I think it could be all those things, depending on your viewpoint,' said Blakley in a phone interview this week. 'But at the time, I stuck with what I considered it to be — a tribute. I didn't consider it sarcasm. I thought it was profound and in some ways very deeply respectful of Nashville.' As for what made the film so special and why its legacy has lasted for 50 years, Blakley said, 'I think it's the concurrence of a bunch of gifted people at that time and place. Nixon was resigning. Altman, I think might be called a genius. It was just a bunch of talent put together by a bunch of great people. And I don't think you could put your finger on any one thing. You would have to say [cinematographer] Paul Lohmann did beautiful photography. The editing was superb. The performances were just beyond. And the political message, such as it was, is resonant even today.' Other films in the series include Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather Part II,' Roman Polanski's 'Chinatown,' Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon,' Hal Ashby's 'Shampoo,' Joan Micklin Silver's 'Hester Street,' Mel Brooks' 'Young Frankenstein' and Chantal Akerman's 'Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.' The Academy Museum will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Judd Apatow's 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin' with a 35mm screening tonight with Apatow and star and co-writer Steve Carell in-person. Apatow's debut feature as a director, the film was a key title in the 2000s comedy boom. Carell stars as a grown man who is, indeed, still a virgin and is desperate to find someone not only to be physically intimate with, but also to forge a romantic and emotional connection with. The cast, which features Jane Lynch, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Nancy Walls, Jonah Hill, Mindy Kaling, Leslie Mann, Catherine Keener and others, is truly stacked, and the film's finale is so riotously joyful and unexpected that it alone is worth the price of admission. I actually spent two days on the set of the film, seeing the shooting of a nightclub scene and the now famous poker scene. (I nearly ruined a take by laughing out loud.) 'The Office' had only just started to air and Carell's star was obviously ascendant. As Carell described the film at the time, 'The name is misleading to a degree. … Just based on the title, you think it's going to be this extremely bawdy, over-the-top summer comedy. There are elements of that — really funny set pieces and craziness — but we really wanted something that was grounded in a sense of reality.' Carell added, 'I've certainly played a few characters that have been rather broad. With this, I didn't want to do that. We'll see. I hope it plays.' In a review of the film, Carina Chocano confirmed Carell's hopes, writing, 'Not to scare away the kids or anything, but what's best about 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin' isn't the business with a plastic medical model of a vagina, the projectile vomit or even the onanistic interlude set to the strains of an old Lionel Richie hit (though that constitutes one of the movie's most enjoyable moments). What's best about it — aside from the fact that it's very funny — is that, for a movie in which the most sophisticated jokes are variations on 'you're so gay,' it's refreshingly grounded in reality and (dare I suggest?) emotionally mature.' 'Kingdom of Heaven' director's cut in 4K Tonight the Egyptian Theatre will host the world-premiere screening of a new 4K restoration of the director's cut of Ridley Scott's 2005 adventure epic 'Kingdom of Heaven,' co-presented by the American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest. As with the extended cut of Scott's 'The Counselor,' the director's cut of 'Kingdom of Heaven' brings a clarity of focus to the film and is vastly preferred to the theatrical version. Set in the 1100s, the story follows a French blacksmith, Balian (Orlando Bloom), as he joins up with the Crusades and travels to Jerusalem. The cast includes Liam Neeson, Edward Norton, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson and Marton Csokas. In his 2005 review of the original theatrical cut, Kenneth Turan wrote, ''Kingdom of Heaven' is not one of those cheerful combat movies that believe bloodletting is the answer to everything. It is a violent movie that laments a peace that didn't last, a downbeat but compelling epic that looks to have lost faith in the value of cinematic savagery for its own sake. If you combine this film with Scott's [2001] 'Black Hawk Down,' you find the director in a place where he is no longer exulting in his ability simply to put violence on screen; he wants you to feel its searing effects as well.' 'Kingdom' screenwriter William Monahan also wrote the script for Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed,' which happens to be playing at the New Beverly on Saturday and Sunday. 'M. Butterfly' in 35mm On Sunday there will be a 35mm showing of David Cronenberg's 1993 adaptation of ' — presented by Hollywood Entertainment and Skylight Books — to celebrate the release of Violet Lucca's book 'David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials.' Lucca will be there to introduce the film and sign books. Screenwriter David Henry Hwang will send in a video introduction. This is said to be the film's first L.A. showing since 2022. Hwang, who also wrote the libretto for the opera 'Ainadamar' currently at the L.A. Opera, adapted his own play. In the film Jeremy Irons plays a French diplomat in 1960s China who begins an ongoing affair with an opera performer (John Lone) who he believes to be a woman and, it turns out, is also a spy for the Chinese government. In her book, Luca describes the film as 'frequently overlooked in Cronenberg's filmography' while adding, 'it also stands out as the director's most overtly political work.' Lucca continues, 'This tension is perfectly suited to the inexplicable nature of love and sex, the messiness that exists between the spark of desire and its carnal expression. It shatters the illusion that we really do know a partner, or even ourselves — a difficult lesson learned every every day, quietly and loudly, by all sorts of people under far more quotidian circumstances.'
Newsweek
30-04-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Is Making America Dumber—On Purpose
Not that long ago, if someone was suffering from anxiety, depression, even moodiness, doctors thought it was a great idea to cut out a piece of their brain. The cure might be staggeringly worse than the disease—it could leave the patient confused, unable to think clearly, or even catatonic (memorably depicted in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest")—but at least the patient wouldn't have that pesky anxiety anymore. Of course, eventually, the medical field began to see this approach as an embarrassing mistake. President Donald Trump has made it the cornerstone of his second term. Trump is lobotomizing America. He is directly and intentionally attacking the functioning of our collective brain in order to achieve his own quixotic ends. Under cover of fighting a range of real or imagined afflictions— illegal immigration, America's manufacturing decline; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs; and government inefficiency—Trump's administration has launched a multi-front war on America's intelligence. This campaign is not only winning, it's creating what might be a permanent rout, a generational degrading of our intellectual capacity. President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on April 26. President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on April 26. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images The tactics boil down to a one-two punch: jabs aimed at eroding the smarts of any opposition, haymakers of dumbed-down blather that overwhelm nuanced thought. The jabs fell first inside the government, as the experts, nerds, and people who know how to do math and operate technology were hounded out (or "traumatized" into quitting, as Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vaught would have it). A very shortened list of examples: the specialists in the Pentagon's Defense Digital Service responsible for rapid tech development resigned en masse; key personnel at the National Nuclear Security Administration overseeing our nuclear weapons and scientists at the Agriculture Department fighting bird flu were fired; experts across U.S. health agencies focused on cutting-edge biomedical research were axed (by DOGE staffers with no scientific background); and the professionals who collect data on issues from drug use to education to maternal mortality have been laid off and their offices shuttered (apparently it's not enough to sever our neurons, we must also disconnect our eyes from our frontal lobes). Outside government, it's hard to find a discipline that requires an advanced degree—medicine, law, sciences, and all manner of advanced study—that has not come under withering MAGA attack. American institutions of science have been shattered, research that is the vein of economic prosperity and well-being for our kids' generation severed. We may have literally discovered alien life last week (really) and yet remain unable to confirm it due to DOGE cuts. Evidence-based medicine is verboten: a doctor overseeing vaccines and public health tapped out under a flood of lies from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while a vaccine skeptic previously punished for practicing medicine without a license was tapped in. The front lines of our legal edifice have been divided and conquered, with premier law firms knuckling under and meekly promising to shut up and work for Trump, while the Supreme Court carefully pulls its punches to avoid a showdown. And the administration is attacking education at all levels: defunding, harassing, and bullying top universities, while removing the grants, loans, and data that keep elementary schools operating. By attempting to crash all these fields while trying to pump up the most old-fashioned forms of manufacturing through his tariff sledgehammer, Trump seems literally to want to drive Americans from sectors requiring thought and invention to screwing in widgets on assembly lines. This isn't exactly the Cultural Revolution, where Mao Zedong—distrustful of intellectuals and scientists—forced the country's best minds into menial labor. But there's an echo. And while the jabs systematically pick apart our intellectual defenses, the haymakers of gray goo erupting from MAGA mouthpieces are boring into our heads and leaving us woozy. Trump's absurd tariff plan has been the subject of not one but three truthy arguments from his administration that directly and obviously contradict one another (note: you can't raise more money from tariffs, lower global tariffs, and nurture domestic manufacturing at the same time). But they seem confident that they can skate by on the "Dopeler effect"—where stupid ideas sound smarter when they come at you really fast. They're also big on using "four legs good, two legs bad"-style repetition of simplistic ideas. In responding to their admitted error and clear loss in the Supreme Court in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case—where the administration erroneously shipped a man to a foreign gulag despite a court order to let him remain—the White House press secretary held a briefing featuring a grieving mother whose daughter was murdered by a different undocumented migrant. No real connection between the cases? No matter, just keep repeating: you're either with migrants, or you ain't. "It's really quite that simple," White House counterterror czar Sebastian Gorka said. "We have people who love America, like the president, like his cabinet, like the directors of his agencies, who want to protect Americans. And then there is the other side, that is on the side of the cartel members, on the side of the illegal aliens." Trump's team not only releases these insipid logic lemons, it also brings in willing shills to disseminate them, and assails media outlets that dare try to point out any finer print. So while the mainstream media has been deftly defanged—ABC News settled Trump's dubious defamation lawsuit and the longtime producer of 60 Minutes stepped down as CBS has started scurrying under a similar legal threat—right-wing operatives have been given prime access to gleefully amplify even the dimmest Trumpisms. Why is Trump doing all this? The simple version is, well, simple: getting rid of government data makes it harder to see the disastrous impact of his policies, getting rid of government experts makes it harder to stop his ideological agenda, and drowning the world in dumb rhetoric evokes the Carl Sandburg line: "If the facts are against you, argue the law; if the law is against you, argue the facts; if the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell." But then there's the sinister version. In "Examination Day," an episode from the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone, a 12 year-old boy is required to undergo a government-mandated intelligence test. The dystopian twist is that the test is intended to find not a floor, but a ceiling. When the boy exceeds the legal IQ limit, he's executed. Trump may not be planning anything so explicit in his great American dumb-down. But he surely does want to make his own assertion of reality the basis for every political question and not compete with objective reality. Kellyanne Conway's infamous assertion that there are such things as "alternative facts" was merely the tip of the iceberg. As Winston Smith realized in 1984, "freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four." Trump's goal is to make the proposition that two plus two makes five at least open to debate. If the intellectual opposition is out of the way, he can supply all the answers. To be sure, we're a long way from that kind of explicit tyranny. But even if we escape becoming a Trumpian autocracy, we may still be sliding toward an American idiocracy. Matt Robison is a writer, podcast host, and former congressional staffer. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
