Latest news with #SentimentalValue
Toronto Star
13 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Star-studded TIFF lineup includes Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein'
TORONTO - Scarlett Johansson's feature directorial debut 'Eleanor the Great,' Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' and Benny Safdie's 'The Smashing Machine,' are among the marquee titles headed to the Toronto International Film Festival. The 50th edition of 11-day movie marathon will feature galas and special presentations from star directors including Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value,' Gus Van Sant's 'Dead Man's Wire,' Aziz Ansari's 'Good Fortune,' and Baz Luhrmann's 'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.'
News18
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Israel-Born Actor Gal Gadot, Who Praised Netanyahu, Calls For Gaza Ceasefire
Last Updated: Gadot, long known for her public support of the Israeli military and Netanyahu, appeared to shift tone by expressing hope for peace Israeli actor Gal Gadot on Thursday called for an end to the war in Gaza during her appearance at the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival, where she received a special award. The 'Wonder Woman" star, long known for her public support of the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to shift tone by expressing hope for peace. 'I'm praying for this (Gaza) war to end and for everyone here to finally have calm and security," Gadot said during her speech. 'That will not be possible until the hostages come home." The 40-year-old actor, born in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv, has faced heavy criticism from pro-Palestinian groups for backing the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), which have been accused of committing atrocities during their military operation in Gaza. At the same time, right-wing Israeli media have attacked her more recently for urging a ceasefire, which runs counter to the government's stated goal of continuing the war until Hamas is fully defeated. Despite the regional tensions, organisers pushed ahead with the 42nd edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival, which had been under threat due to Israel's brief war with Iran in June. Festival director Roni Mahadav-Levin said, 'We spent two weeks in bomb shelters trying to decide if we could keep the date of the festival," as many international guests cancelled or delayed travel. The ongoing Gaza war has cast a shadow over the event. 'It's taking place under a cloud," said film student Ayal Sgerski, 29, who noted the festival is struggling to attract global films this year due to widespread opposition to Israel's military campaign. The event opened with a screening of Sentimental Value by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who won an award at Cannes this year. The Gaza war began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,219 people, mostly civilians. Israel's military response has since killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry — the majority of them civilians. The Israeli military maintains that it does not intentionally target non-combatants. (With inputs from AFP) view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
NDTV
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Gal Gadot, Criticized For Comments On Gaza War, Opens Jerusalem Film Festival With Call To End War
Organisers pushed ahead with the Jerusalem film festival on Thursday despite regional conflicts, with a special appearance by Israeli Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, who has been criticised for comments on the Gaza war. Pro-Palestinian activists have attacked Gadot on social media for voicing support for the Israeli military, which has been accused of atrocities during its campaign in Gaza to crush the militant group Hamas and free Israeli hostages. She has also been criticised by right-wing media in Israel for urging an end to the war, which the government has vowed to continue until it destroys Hamas, despite international calls for a ceasefire. Israel's 12-day war with Iran last month had meanwhile threatened to derail the 42nd edition of the festival. It got under way on Thursday evening in an auditorium near Jerusalem's Old City, with Gadot -- also a star of "Fast and Furious" -- receiving a special award, to applause from thousands of spectators. The 40-year-old star, who was born near Tel Aviv, said in her acceptance speech that she was "praying for this (Gaza) war to end and for everyone here to finally have calm and security". "That will not be possible until the hostages come home." The Israeli military regularly denies intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza. The event's director Roni Mahadav-Levin told AFP meanwhile that during the June 12-24 war with Iran, organisers "spent two weeks in bomb shelters, trying to decide if we could keep the date of the festival" with flights cancelled and guests hesitating to come. One festival-goer, film student Ayal Sgerski, 29, said that the event was taking place under a "cloud" of conflict, with few international directors attending. "It is very difficult for the festival to draw films from around the world at the moment" due to opposition to the Gaza war, he complained. Mahadav-Levin said that organisers could not "expect to receive the same number of international guests as in a normal year". The event opened with a screening of "Sentimental Value" by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who won an award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The Jerusalem festival runs until July 26.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Was Ingmar Bergman Really a Nazi? Stellan Skarsgård Saying the Director ‘Cried When Hitler Died' Reopens the Issue
Few actors today can toggle between massive blockbusters, like 'Dune,' and small-scale auteurist works, such as Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value,' with the ease of Stellan Skarsgård. And few are quite as candid when they open up. As reported by Variety from the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where the actor was promoting 'Sentimental Value' and on hand for a tribute, Skarsgård made some startling comments about Ingmar Bergman, whom the Swedish actor worked for on a 1986 stage production of August Strindberg's 'A Dream Play.' More from IndieWire Neon and The Future of Film Is Female Announce Winners of Spring Short Film Fund Competition Harris Dickinson's Directing Debut 'Urchin' Acquired by 1-2 Special - It's One of Cannes 2025's Very Best Films The actor talked about his personal dislike of Bergman, whom he found to be tyrannical and manipulative. Skarsgård links Bergman's attitude as a director to the fact that Bergman was a Nazi supporter during World War II. This may be new information to more casual cinephiles now, but Bergman's Nazi sympathies are widely known. Bergman never hid this, and admitted his affinity for Nazism was not just a teenage infatuation — it was only when the Holocaust's atrocities were revealed at World War II's end that he completely disavowed Hitler and Nazism. 'Bergman was manipulative,' Skarsgård said. 'He was a Nazi during the war and the only person I know who cried when Hitler died. We kept excusing him, but I have a feeling he had a very weird outlook on other people. [He thought] some people were not worthy. You felt it, when he was manipulating others. He wasn't nice.' Most admirers of Bergman have accepted the director's disavowal of Nazism following the war. But Bergman was 26 when Hitler took his own life in 1945, and Bergman had already been a prolific stage director and had even written his first movie, 'Torment,' for the director Alf Sjöberg, by that point. Sweden had been officially neutral during the war, though various figures in its government were sympathetic to Hitler and the Nazi regime. Bergman himself went to great lengths not to excuse, ignore, or explain away his Nazi sympathies. Bergman acknowledged seeing Hitler in person on a family trip to Weimar, Germany, in 1934 when he was 16. 'Hitler was unbelievably charismatic. He electrified the crowd,' Bergman told author Maria Pia-Boethius (as reported by the BBC), who wrote a book about what Sweden's neutrality really meant during the war. And he noted that his family put a photo of Hitler by the future director's bed afterward. 'The Nazism I had seen seemed fun and youthful.' The director also acknowledged his support for Nazism in his own 1987 memoir, 'The Magic Lantern,' where he wrote, 'For many years, I was on Hitler's side, delighted by his success and saddened by his defeats.' And he admitted to Pia-Boethius that 'when the doors to the concentration camps were thrown open … I was suddenly ripped of my innocence.' This is not a portrait of an unrepentant Nazi. And any cinephile can see Bergman's anguish over the horrors of war in 'Winter Light,' 'The Silence,' and 'Shame.' Much of Skarsgård's distaste for Bergman seems to be personal. At Karlovy Vary, he also said, 'My complicated relationship with Bergman has to do with him not being a very nice guy. He was a nice director, but you can still denounce a person as an asshole. Caravaggio was probably an asshole as well, but he did great paintings.' This follows comments he made in 2012 to The Guardian's Xan Brooks, where Skarsgård spoke similarly, including of Bergman that 'I didn't want him near my life.' To his credit, Skarsgård is almost certainly not saying that Bergman's body of work should be dismissed the way that Cannes tried to dismiss his own longtime collaborator Lars von Trier — in 2011, Cannes officially declared von Trier 'persona non grata' for calling himself a Nazi in an instantly infamous press conference promoting his film 'Melancholia.' Skarsgård expressed an aversion to language-policing in his talk. 'Everyone in that room knew he was not a Nazi, that he was the opposite, and yet they all used it as a headline. And then people who only read headlines thought he was a Nazi. He just told a bad joke. Lars grew up with a Jewish father, and when his mother was dying, she told him he wasn't his real father. It was her boss, who was a German,' the Swedish actor said in defense of von Trier. 'When I meet people, especially in the U.S., they still [ask about von Trier's Nazi comment at Cannes]. You have so many banned words over there. My kids can say any words they want – it depends on what their intention is.' However, that Skarsgård's comments about Bergman came up in the context of von Trier, it almost seems like the actor is saying, 'Why is one director persona non grata and another not?' And it's also important to recognize the full context that Bergman's Nazi sympathies in his youth are something he strongly turned against. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See Solve the daily Crossword
Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Stellan Skarsgård Took Pay Cut For Crew To Get Lunch
Stellan Skarsgård is opening up about accepting a lower salary on the set of his new movie, Sentimental Value. As well as taking a pay cut, Stellan said he became an executive producer because he wanted to ensure that the crew received good lunches on set. 'I wasn't supposed to be [an executive producer] at first, but I said I'd never film in Norway without having a special contract,' he explained at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, per Variety. Stellan then claimed that after a negative experience shooting Erik Skjoldbjærg's Insomnia (1997), he vowed never to film in Norway again unless good lunches were provided. 'I lost eight kilos on Insomnia. We would usually get a loaf of bread, that's pre-sliced, and a plastic salami. That's it!' Stellan claimed. 'I've made other films in Norway since then, but it has always said in my contract that everybody should get lunches of the highest European standard. And that's expensive. Norway, they're the richest country, but they don't want to spend money on food.' 'I went down, I think, half a million kroner in my salary to pay for this, for the food for everybody,' he continued. 'And the producer said, 'You'll get credit for that.' Also, the food has to be served on real china – no plastic, paper bags or whatever. And you're not standing in line, you sit down and eat. It makes everybody happier and makes the film much better. I haven't made one bad film in Norway since.' Stellan isn't the only actor who has accepted a pay cut for the benefit of others. Will Smith, for example, paid the King Richard cast bonuses out of his own pocket in 2021 after WarnerMedia chose to release the film on streaming services and in theaters simultaneously, resulting in a loss of theatrical returns. Keanu Reeves once reportedly gave the visual effects crew of The Matrix a 'very hefty bonus' to ensure that they were fairly compensated for their hard work. Back in 2017, it was reported that the original five stars of The Big Bang Theory — Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg — all agreed to $100,000 per episode pay cuts to allow their costars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch to receive higher salaries. Meanwhile, the screenwriters behind Deadpool (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) once claimed that Ryan Reynolds paid for them to be on set during filming because the studio refused to. Stories like these absolutely restore my faith in Hollywood. If you can think of more examples, let me know in the comments.
