Tag Archives: The Hollywood Reporter

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How ‘Invasion’ Showrunner Created Fact-Based Science-Fiction – TV | The Hollywood Reporter

Simon Kinberg, co-creator and showrunner of Apple TV+’s alien drama, sought experts on extraterrestrial life for his sci-fi drama series: “Some facts come out that are as strange as your fiction.”

By Mia Galluppo, June 20, 2022 1:30pm

From left: Golshifteh Farahani, Tara Moayedi and Azhy Robertson in Invasion. COURTESY OF APPLE TV+

“I’m somebody who went to college and didn’t take a single science or math class when I was there,” explains Simon Kinberg. “Unlike someone like a James Cameron, for whom that is their vocation, science is not something that comes naturally to me.”

In other words, he surmises, “I need Astrophysics for Dummies.”A lifelong fan of sci-fi, from Isaac Asimov to Aliens, the prolific writer-producer has put his stamp on the genre with entries like The Martian and his latest, Apple TV+’s drama Invasion.

The series, co-created with David Weil, tells the story of an alien invasion through the eyes of five ordinary people. When creating his science fiction, Kinberg wants it to feel as grounded as possible, so he sought out experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as the SETI Institute, a research organization devoted to investigating life beyond Earth. (In a testament to this commitment to realism, The Martian had some audiences believing it was based on a true story to such a degree that the filmmakers had to release a statement to the effect of “No, we haven’t actually sent a mission of human beings to Mars yet,” remembers Kinberg.)

Source: How ‘Invasion’ Showrunner Created Fact-Based Science-Fiction – The Hollywood Reporter

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Web & Technology

Idina Menzel, John Lithgow Talk Kids Books for National Library Week – The Hollywood Reporter

Idina Menzel, John Lithgow, R.L. Stine, Becky Albertalli and more celebrity authors and writers spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the role libraries have played in their lives and why children should always have access to the books that line their shelves.

By Lexy Perez, Abbey White, April 8, 2022 9:30am

Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; HarperCollins Publishers; Scholastic; Alison Klapthor

Libraries and the connection they offer through their vast print and multimedia collections, technological services, and programming and classes exist far outside the bounds of National Library Week.

But the American Library Association’s 2022 event, taking place April 3-9, is a particularly timely celebration of these spaces as centers of culture, community, information and imagination — especially for children.

For actor John Lithgow, who has written numerous children’s titles, libraries have remained important places to him as a person and an author. “I really love old libraries,” he told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the 2022 weeklong event.

“They just draw you in and you go into another era, another space.”

All the Bright Places author Jennifer Niven also told THR that for her, libraries were a gateway to the world — and beyond. “In libraries, I discovered that the world was possible,” she told THR. “Books were doors to magic worlds.”

Source: Idina Menzel, John Lithgow Talk Kids Books for National Library Week – The Hollywood Reporter

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Pleasures

The Godfather at 50: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire Reminisce – The Hollywood Reporter

James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire and John Martino talk Marlon Brando, including his acting trick that screwed the rest of them up; bitterness over a cut scene; nailing a dangerous moment in one take; and a loathing for cannolis; among much more.

By Ryan Parker, March 21, 2022

‘The Godfather’ has been ranked several times as among the greatest motion pictures ever made. Everettl Collection

James Caan was so mad that Francis Ford Coppola cut one of his beefier scenes from The Godfather, he walked out of a screening.

Fifty years later, he’s still irked.Based on the best-selling book by the late Mario Puzo, The Godfather debuted in theaters on March 24, 1972.

Immediately receiving universal acclaim, the Paramount Pictures film was, for a period, the highest-grossing movie of all time, hauling in $243.8 million worldwide, which adjusted for inflation equals $1.6 billion.

Novice Italian American director Coppola, then 32, helmed the Mafia picture for producer Albert S. Ruddy; tales of its uphill production, fraught with one issue after another — such as casting the brilliant, but notoriously difficult Marlon Brando — are so epic, they’re getting a limited series treatment on Paramount+ titled The Offer.

Source: The Godfather at 50: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire Reminisce – The Hollywood Reporter

Current Affairs, Games, Memories & History, Television

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Significance of ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mike Richards Resignation – The Hollywood Reporter

The columnist (and former ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant) argues that the media focus on Mike Richards’ insensitive comments misses a deeper issue with the host search that “suggests the problem may not be just a bad branch, but a rotten root.”

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, August 25, 2021 7:30am

THR Photo Illustration / Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions (3), Inc.; Sony Pictures Television/Everett Collection; Kris Connor/Getty Images

The focus on the sudden stepping down of newly selected Jeopardy! host Mike Richards over insensitive and out-of-touch sexist comments misses the deeper reason the show’s search for a new host has become such a dramatic public debacle.

The way the show’s producers handled the transition from the Golden Age of Trebek is just as insensitive and out-of-touch as Richards’ smarmy comments.

Even though producers recently announced the delightful Mayim Bialik — an acclaimed actor and Ph.D. in neuroscience — as the temporary host, their tone-deaf misstep suggests the problem may not be just a bad branch, but a rotten root.

Source: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Significance of ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mike Richards Resignation – The Hollywood Reporter