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“It’s a quarter of a century later, and I’m still f*cking being discovered by Sundance,” beamed Christopher Nolan tonight at the Sundance Film Festival Opening Night Gala as he received the inaugural Trailblazer award.

“At what point do I move onto bigger things?” the acclaimed Oppenheimer filmmaker cracked.

The wrap-up remark was made as Nolan told the story about how Comcast Universal boss Brian Roberts shared the filmmaker and his producer wife Emma Thomas post Oppenheimer‘s immediate greenlight how he caught their movie Memento by chance at Sundance during a ski trip back in 2001 with the father and the impact it had on him.

Nolan says that Thomas and he were “caught in a moment of reflection.”

Earlier in the evening, Oppenheimer star and Nolan pal Robert Downey Jr. also had the crowd roaring with a plethora of anecdotes about the filmmaker. The Avengers actor told...

Scott Speedman of The Strangers and Underworld has joined Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey) and Isabel May of the Yellowstone prequel series 1883 in the thriller Sunflower – and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Speedman will be playing the villain in the film!

Sunflower will mark the feature directorial debut of writer Misha Green. She and Smollett previously worked together on the TV shows Underground and Lovecraft Country. Green created Underground with Joe Pokaski and developed Lovecraft Country from the Matt Ruff novel. Her first directing credit was on an episode of Lovecraft Country.

After spending more than a decade in development hell, Sunflower is finally moving forward at Lionsgate. The screenplay Green wrote for the film was so highly regarded that it was on the Black List back in 2008. The story follows two young women who are held hostage in a prison-like farmhouse by a deranged college professor. As they struggle to survive,...

Veteran location scout Beth Tate will be honored by the Location Managers Guild International with this year’s Trailblazer Award at the 10th Annual Lmgi Awards. The ceremony is set for Saturday, August 26 at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Tate is being recognized for her trailblazing work in the inception, formation, and continued support of the Location Managers Guild International, as well as her stellar location scouting career.

“The Lmgi is extremely honored to recognize Beth Tate as one of its founding forces. She has been supporting location professionals over the past two decades and is most deserving to be recognized with this year’s Lmgi Trailblazer Award,” said Lmgi Awards Committee Chairs John Rakich, Lmgi President, and Robin Citrin, Supervising Location Manager, who made the announcement.

The Lmgi Trailblazer Award recognizes an individual whose efforts and innovations elevate the status of location professionals.

Isabel May, whose previous credits include Alexa & Katie, Let’s Scare Julie, Run Hide Fight, I Want You Back, and the Yellowstone prequel series 1883, has signed on to join Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey) in the thriller Sunflower, which is set to mark the feature directorial debut of writer Misha Green.

Green and Smollett previously worked together on the TV shows Underground and Lovecraft Country. Green created Underground with Joe Pokaski and developed Lovecraft Country from the Matt Ruff novel. Her first directing credit was on an episode of Lovecraft Country.

After spending more than a decade in development hell, Sunflower is finally moving forward at Lionsgate. The screenplay Green wrote for the film was so highly regarded that it was on the Black List back in 2008. The story follows two young women who are held hostage in a prison-like farmhouse by a deranged college professor. As they struggle to survive,...

Time to brush up on the 5 D’s of “Dodgeball” — “dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge” — because a sequel to the 2004 hit comedy is officially in the works.

Vince Vaughn is returning to star in the sequel, which is in early development at 20th Century Studios. Plot details are being kept under wraps but Jordan VanDina (“The Binge”) has signed on to pen the script, from an idea by Vaughn.

The original film “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” followed Peter La Fleur (Vaughn), owner of Average Joe’s Gym, a small and shabby, yet cherished, local haunt frequented by a group of misfits. In order to save the gym from being taken over by Globo Gym, a corporate fitness chain run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), Peter and his friends enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament with a $50,000 grand prize.

“Dodgeball” was written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, with...

Exclusive: Vince Vaughn will return to star in (and likely produce) a sequel to his hit 2004 comedy, Dodgeball, scripted by Jordan VanDina (The Binge), which is in early development at 20th Century Studios, Deadline has learned.

While Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote and directed the original film for 20th Century Fox, it’s not yet clear whether he’ll be involved in the sequel, and who, if not Thurber, would direct. Equally uncertain is who will join Vaughn on screen, though there’s certainly a deep bench of talent to pull from in looking back to Dodgeball‘s stacked ensemble, which included Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman and William Shatner, as well as the late Rip Torn.

A raunchy sports comedy that grossed over $168M worldwide against a $20M budget, Thurber’s Dodgeball: A True...

Good Trip Studios has entered production on a sequel to the 2020 documentary “Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics.”

A distribution deal has yet to be finalized, though the first film — directed by Donick Cary and hosted by Adam Scott and Nick Offerman — streamed on Netflix.

Like the first film, “Have a Good Trip 2: Adventures in Psychedelics” explores the current state of psychedelic drugs in society as well as their scientific potential to treat mental health issues including Ptsd, depression and addiction. Comedians and celebrities are featured in re-tellings and re-enactments of true experiences with psychedelics, while leading experts share facts and harm reduction methods.

Guests interviewed in the first film include Carrie Fisher, Ben Stiller, Sting, Natasha Lyonne, A$AP Rocky, Rosie Perez, Sarah Silverman, Anthony Bourdain, Will Forte, Adam “Ad Rock” Horovitz, Reggie Watts, Brett Gelman, Maya Erskine, Nick Kroll, David Cross, Rob Corddry, Paul Scheer, Bill Kreutzmann,...

Misha Green has been wanting to make a thriller called Sunflower for a long time… and after spending more than a decade in development hell, the project is finally moving forward at Lionsgate! Green had been attached to make her feature directorial debut on a Tomb Raider film starring Alicia Vikander, but that fell apart when MGM lost the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise. So Green has now shifted over to making her feature directorial debut on Sunflower – and she has cast Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey) in the lead role.

Green and Smollett previously worked together on the TV shows Underground and Lovecraft Country. Green created Underground with Joe Pokaski and developed Lovecraft Country from the Matt Ruff novel. Her first directing credit was on an episode of Lovecraft Country.

The screenplay Green wrote for Sunflower was so highly regarded that it was on the Black List back...

Emmy- and DGA Award-winning actor, director, writer and producer Ben Stiller, and his production company Red Hour have inked with UTA in all areas. Stiller was previously with WME. This marks a return for Stiller to UTA, the firm having repped him earlier in his career.

The actor and filmmaker counts $3 billion at the WW box office. His credits include major feature franchises such as Meet the Parents and Night at the Museum, the animated Madagascar films, the cult comedy Zoolander, and critically acclaimed arthouse hits such as The Royal Tenenbaums and Flirting With Disaster, and Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, While We’re Young and Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories, in addition to the hit comedies There’s Something About Mary and the Oscar nominated Tropic Thunder, which he starred in, directed, co-wrote, and produced under his production company, Red Hour.

Stiller is currently in post on the Apple+ workplace thriller, Severance,...

“Learn it. Know it. Live it!” The best-remembered teen comedy of the ’80s is also an insightful and unabashed look at real attitudes, behaviors and motivations of young people learning to deal with adult issues. Beyond the hilarious Sean Penn and the luscious Phoebe Cates lies a talent squad of notables and stars-to-be like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold and Robert Romanus, with appearances by Amanda Wyss, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Nicolas Coppola and Anthony Edwards. The stunning feature directing debut of Amy Heckerling, from Cameron Crowe’s undercover high school exposé, should be acknowledged as a modern classic.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1075

1982 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 11, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus, Brian Backer, Phoebe Cates, Ray Walston, Scott Thomson, Vincent Schiavelli, Amanda Wyss, Forest Whitaker, Kelli Maroney, Eric Stoltz, James Russo,...

Every year Hollywood looks to the Producers Guild Awards winner to forecast the Best Picture Oscar. That’s because in the 12 years since both groups expanded their top award list and adopted the preferential ballot, only three times have the winners not aligned — PGA winners “1917,” “La La Land” and “The Big Short” did not land Best Picture.

Those differences made sense, as in each case a smaller, lower-budget movie took home the Oscar over a movie of scale and scope. And as expected, this year’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture went to Chloé Zhao’s magic-hour road trip “Nomadland,” as voted on by the guild’s 8,000 members. Searchlight’s frontrunner looms large in a field of small movies, as it keeps racking up wins on its way to multiple Oscars come April 25.

“We’re proud to have produced a film about community and what connects us,...

Every year Hollywood looks to the Producers Guild Awards winner to forecast the Best Picture Oscar. That’s because in the 12 years since both groups expanded their top award list and adopted the preferential ballot, only three times have the winners not aligned — PGA winners “1917,” “La La Land” and “The Big Short” did not land Best Picture.

Those differences made sense, as in each case a smaller, lower-budget movie took home the Oscar over a movie of scale and scope. And as expected, this year’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture went to Chloé Zhao’s magic-hour road trip “Nomadland,” as voted on by the guild’s 8,000 members. Searchlight’s frontrunner looms large in a field of small movies, as it keeps racking up wins on its way to multiple Oscars come April 25.

“We’re proud to have produced a film about community and what connects us,...

The Producers Guild of America Awards awarded Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” with their top prize, one of the key indicators for the Academy Awards, particularly the best picture category. Edging out its closest competitors including Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” this might just end any questions about whether or not the moving drama is running away with the Oscars’ big prize.

All the acceptance speeches were pre-recorded with “Nomadland” giving a more produced, glitzier presentation than what we’ve seen at other award shows.

It should be noted that last year’s “1917” from Sam Mendes lost the Oscar after wins from PGA and DGA to “Parasite,” which only had the coveted SAG cast ensemble prize under its belt. Coincidentally, “Nomadland” is not nominated at SAG in their top category, leaving an opening for...

Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group President Emma Watts has hired former 20th Century Studios executive Jeremy Kramer as president of Paramount Players.

Variety reported on Oct. 2 that Kramer was circling the post. Paramount Players was created as a genre label by Brian Robbins, the founder and former CEO of AwesomenessTV. Robbins left the studio to run Nickelodeon in 2018.

The hiring of Kramer, who will report to Watts, was announced Tuesday. He will oversee the films made under the Paramount Players label, which has the task of creating genre films from “unique, contemporary” voices and properties. Ashley Brucks, who previously served as executive vice president of production for Paramount Pictures, will be moving to Paramount Players as senior executive vice president of production.

“Jeremy has a proven track record of nurturing talent, both established and new, supporting their vision and helping them execute at the highest level — from ‘Let’s Be Cops’ to ‘Kingsman’ to ‘Deadpool,...

Following the news Deadline broke that he was the front-runner for the role, 20th Century Studios executive Jeremy Kramer has officially been appointed president of Paramount Players. Kramer, who will report to his former Fox colleague and now Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group President Emma Watts, begins his new position effective immediately.

Paramount confirmed the scoop Tuesday. In his new role, Kramer will oversee the films made under the Paramount Players label, which is committed to creating hit genre films from unique, contemporary voices and properties.

In addition to Kramer, Ashley Brucks, who previously served as EVP Production at Paramount Pictures, will be moving to Paramount Players where she will be Senior EVP Production.

“Jeremy has a proven track record of nurturing talent, both established and new, supporting their vision and helping them execute at the highest level — from Let’s Be Cops to Kingsman to Deadpool,” Watts said. “There...

Paramount Pictures is looking to revive Paramount Players, a sleepy label it launched to back properties with a contemporary feel in 2017. Jeremy Kramer, a 20th Century Fox executive, is at the top of a shortlist to lead the shingle, but there’s no deal in place.

If Kramer gets tapped, it will mark a reunion with Emma Watts, the motion picture group president who joined Paramount in June after a long run at Fox. Watts had soured on the direction that Fox was taking after it was purchased by The Walt Disney Company and was convinced to make the leap by Paramount chairman Jim Gianopulos, the former Fox studios chief. Other Fox veterans to follow Gianopulos to Paramount include distribution head Chris Aronson and global communications head Chris Petrikin.

Paramount Players was created by Brian Robbins, the founder and former CEO of AwesomenessTV. But when Robbins left the studio to...

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“Peachy Keen”

By Raymond Benson

David Lynch is one America’s national treasures as an artist. He is mostly known as a filmmaker, of course, but he is also a painter and sculptor, a musician, and an author. At the time of writing, Lynch is 74 years old. His filmmaking output has slowed down considerably and these days he concentrates mostly on the fine arts. Nevertheless, he is arguably the heir apparent to Luis Buñuel as the foremost surrealist of our time.

And to think… Lynch owes it all to Mel Brooks.

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Lynch’s talent likely would have broken through the barriers of Hollywood for him to become David Lynch in perhaps other ways, but there is no question that Mel Brooks gave Lynch his first big break in cinema.

Lynch had made one feature film, Eraserhead (1977), a low-budget,...

Longtime producer Stuart Cornfeld, 67, died June 26 of cancer, but left a mark on Hollywood with collaborations with iconic directors and a run of hit movies dating back to 1980.

As a film student at the AFI Conservatory in the 1970s he worked with Anne Bancroft, who went on to introduce him to Mel Brooks. Cornfeld was an assistant on Brooks’ 1977 comedy “High Anxiety,” and the two men teamed as executive producers on David Lynch’s 1980 “The Elephant Man.”

Cornfeld went on to produce David Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” which put the Canadian body-horror master on the map. Cornfeld also produced Steven Soderbergh’s “Kafka,” the young filmmaker’s first movie after the 1989 indie sensation “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Mimic,” and the Vince Gilligan-scripted “Wilder Napalm.”

But Cornfeld’s closest collaboration was with filmmaker and actor Ben Stiller, with whom he launched Red Hour Productions and turned...

Stuart Cornfeld, the producing partner with Ben Stiller on Zoolander, Dodgeball and Tropic Thunder, died Friday of cancer. He was 67.

His friend, actress Liliana Greenfield-Sanders confirmed the news on Twitter.

Very sad to let you know that our dear friend Stuart Cornfeld died today from cancer. He was the funniest person on the planet. I will miss him terribly. Do yourself a favor and watch one of the many amazing films he produced. He was truly one of the greats. pic.twitter.com/ONcuOl56Hk

— Greenfield-Sanders (@Liliana) June 26, 2020

Cornfeld was born in Tarzana in 1952, and graduated from the American Film Institute in 1975. While working with Anne Bancroft on two Directing Workshop for Women projects, she introduced him to husband Mel Brooks. That led to Cornfeld becoming the assistant on 1977’s High Anxiety.

He worked on several other Bancroft and Brooks projects, becoming the executive producer on the Brooks-produced The Elephant Man.

Stuart Cornfeld, who worked with Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films to produce movies including “Tropic Thunder,” “Dodgeball” and “Zoolander,” has died of cancer.

Several of his friends posted about his death on social media.

At Red Hour, which he founded with Stiller in 1999, he also produced “Duplex” starring Stiller and Drew Barrymore, “Starsky & Hutch,” “Blades of Glory” and “The Ruins.” One of the last films he produced was “The Polka King,” starring Jack Black. Stiller said on Twitter, “Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets.”

A really great person left the planet today. Stuart Cornfeld was as funny, smart, talented & cool as a person gets. He was my friend, producing partner, and creative confidant. He knew movies, made movies and loved movies. World=less better without him. IMDb him. He was the best. pic.twitter.com/sOx85UvxC4

— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) June 27, 2020

Earlier in his career,...

Stuart Cornfeld, the longtime producing partner of Ben Stiller who guided such comedies as Zoolander, Dodgeball and Tropic Thunder, has died. He was 67.

Cornfeld died of cancer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. No other details of his death were immediately available.

While his earlier career saw him produce such fare as the David Cronenberg remake of The Fly in 1986 and the 1991 Steven Soderbergh movie Kafka, it was with his nearly two-decade association with Stiller where he made his mark.

Born in Tarzana in 1952, Cornfeld was part of the American Film Institute class of 1975. He worked with Anne Bancroft on two Directing ...

Stuart Cornfeld, the longtime producing partner of Ben Stiller who guided such comedies as Zoolander, Dodgeball and Tropic Thunder, has died. He was 67.

Cornfeld died of cancer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. No other details of his death were immediately available.

While his earlier career saw him produce such fare as the David Cronenberg remake of The Fly in 1986 and the 1991 Steven Soderbergh movie Kafka, it was with his nearly two-decade association with Stiller where he made his mark.

Born in Tarzana in 1952, Cornfeld was part of the American Film Institute class of 1975. He worked with Anne Bancroft on two Directing ...

Adding to their tradition of releasing box sets of beloved horror franchises, Scream Factory's five-disc The Fly Collection comes out on December 10th, and ahead of its holiday season release, we've been provided with the massive list of full special features.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA -- Get ready for hours of skin-crawling terror as you witness a transformation like no other – from man to fly. On December 10, 2019, Scream Factory proudly presents the insect-morphing horror set The Fly Collection in a definitive Blu-ray™ release. This massive 5-disc set consists of the chilling original trilogy, the eye-popping 80s remake and its terrifying sequel, and is packed with hours of fascinating special features.

The complete list of bonus features includes a bevy of new interviews and audio commentaries with cast and crew, including with producers Mel Brooks and Stuart Cornfeld, screenwriter Mick Garris and composer Howard Shore. The Curse of the Fly...

“Another Period” has been canceled by Comedy Central after a three-season run, an individual with knowledge of the decision tells TheWrap.

The third — and now final — season of Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome’s satirical series ended March 20.

Set in 1902, “Another Period” centered around the wealthy, fame-hungry Bellacourt sisters, Lillian and Beatrice (played by Leggero and Lindhome).

Also Read: Awkwafina's Scripted Series Picked Up by Comedy Central

Per the official description: The series followed the insanely decadent and outrageous life of the Bellacourt coterie which, before others claimed their own fame, were the one American family who epitomized all that was spoiled, shameless and stupid – with more servants than relatives and days filled with money, sex, drugs…and more money.

The series supporting stars included Michael Ian Black, Paget Brewster, Jason Ritter, and Christina Hendricks among others.

“Another Period” was co-created by Leggero and Lindhome, who also served as writers,...

ReFrame, the coalition formed by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute, and IMDbPro have added 22 more titles to the list of movies earning the ReFrame Stamp, which recognize standout, gender-balanced films. The program launched June 8 with 12 films on the list from a group comprising the top 100 domestic-grossing films of 2017, with Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman, Universal’s Girls Trip, A24’s Lady Bird and Fox’s The Post among them.

The stamp progam has since been expanded to studio and independent films that have U.S. domestic theatrical or streaming distribution. Newcomers unveiled today include Warners’ recent hit Crazy Rich Asians, IFC’s Mary Shelley and Spc’s Glenn Close starrer The Wife among 2018 releases, and Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and Justin Baldoni’s Five Feet Apart among 2019 pics. (See the full list of new films below.)

The stamp is intended as a mark of distinction for projects that have...

Mike Rosenstein, former senior executive at Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films, has lined up the first projects under his own production company, Sunset Rose Pictures, including Bad Trip, a comedic documentary about psychedelics, and TV series with Erica Oyama and one Armen Weitzman.

A half-hour special, Portraits with Yung Jake, premieres tonight at 11:30 Pm on Viceland. It follows rapper-artist Yung Jake as he takes “high art” to the next level creating an emoji portrait of guest Kate Upton in this post-modern instructional art and interview show. Rosenstein executive produces alongside Jake and Vice’s Spike Jonze. Kitao Sakurai is director/co-executive producer.

Sunset Rose’s first project was the 2016 Reggie Watts’ Spatial one-hour comedy special produced with A24 that is available on Netflix.

Rosenstein recently sold comedy projects to FX and Comedy Central. Additionally, he continues as an executive producer on Red Hour’s Comedy Central series Another Period,...

Author: Zehra Phelan

Netflix has released a trailer for The Polka King, which stars Jack Black as Jan Lewan, the Pennsylvania entertainer who “inadvertently” pulled a Ponzi scheme on his fans.

After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Netflix picked up The Polka King to bring to the streaming service in January.

Based on a real-life story of Jan Lewan who moves from Poland to America Jan Lewan, he fast becomes the “King of Pennsylvania Polka,” as he becomes more popular, along with his beauty queen wife (Jenny Slate), he starts accepting donations from his fans who want to invest in his company, which has no way of making them money as Jan promises.

Jason Schwartzman, Jb Smoove, Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver and Willie Garson join Black, who will next be seen in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle this week, and Slate on the cast. Black also produced the film alongside David Permut,...

Netflix has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the Jack Black-starrer The Polka King, which first debuted at Sundance.

The feature is based on the documentary The Man Who Would Be Polka King from directors Joshua Brown and John Mikulak, which follows Grammy-nominated polka sensation Jan Lewan, who ended up running a Soviet souvenir-based Ponzi scheme that landed him in jail.

Black stars as Lewan and also acted as a producer under his Electric Dynamite banner. David Permut, Stuart Cornfeld, Shivani Rawat, Monica Levinson, Wally Wolodarsky and Priyanka Mattoo also produced.

Infinitely Polar Bear helmer Maya Forbes and former Simpsons writer...

Don't have a meltdown, but The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail TV show is ending after its upcoming third season on Comedy Central. Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani announced they are ending their live show on their website, leaving The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail effectively cancelled.Comedy Central says the third and final season of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail premieres on Comedy Central, "Tuesday, September 27, at midnight." Technically, that is Wednesday, September 28 at 12:01 am. The show is executive produced by Ray, Nanjiani, live show producer Emily V. Gordon, and Red Hour’s Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld, Debbie Liebling and Mike Rosenstein.Read More…...

Tina Fey and Chris Rock will both appear as featured speakers at the Producers Guild of America’s Produced By: New York 2016 conference, which will be held for the third consecutive year at Time Warner Center in New York on Oct. 29. The conference will present a pair of in-depth discussions, "Triple Threat: Conversation With Tina Fey" and "Dying Is Easy. Comedy Is Hard" with Rock and Red Hour Films’ Stuart Cornfeld. “Tina Fey and Chris Rock are each living proof that you can be an excellent producer while being the funniest person in the room,” PGA presidents

read more...

Don Kaye Aug 15, 2019

How Stephen King may have helped David Cronenberg make a masterpiece with The Fly.

The Fly arguably remains David Cronenberg’s masterpiece, over 30 years after its release. Loosely based on a 1957 short story by French writer George Langelaan, the movie transcends the story’s pulpy origins and the well-known images of a man with a fly’s head (and vice versa) from the 1958 film version starring Vincent Price to become a somber meditation on disease and aging and a tragic love story, not to mention one of the most effective horror/sci-fi films of its time. It also marked a summation and endpoint to the first phase of Cronenberg’s career, while investing his work with a new emotional maturity and thematic resonance.

Producer Kip Ohman first had the idea of remaking The Fly in the early 1980s, recruiting screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue to write the script.

How do you make money being funny? Last weekend, the Greenwich International Film Festival’s Comedy Of Business Panel featured a selection of industry luminaries to talk about that exact topic. Actor Will Arnett (“Flaked”) joined producers Richard Brener (“Wedding Crashers”), Stuart Cornfeld (“Tropic Thunder”) and Chris Bender (“American Pie”) to talk about the process behind making a truly great comedy.

Between jokes about Twitter “correctness” and losing the script for “The Hangover” (which would go on to gross around $50 million), the seasoned assembly got down to the heart of what comedic films are today. Here are the three of their most interesting insights they had to offer.

Let the Douche Be the Fall Guy

“All of us are constantly being painted further and further into a corner,” said Arnett on the topic of political correctness in feature comedies.

In a time when Twitter backlash can ruin a career over an off color joke, the industry leaders had quite a bit to say about finding where to draw the line. When asked about Ben Stiller’s infamous “Tropic Thunder,” Cornfeld admitted it would be difficult to produce today, especially when it comes to the movie’s “full retard” sequence, of which Cornfeld said, “I can’t believe you would tell a joke like that now.” Richard Brener added, “or then.”

He later added, “Don’t aim low and miss. If there’s no joke behind the joke and it’s just mean spirited you’re going to fall on your face.” The panel revealed that it was this very reason that so many comedies feature an unlikable character saying horrendous things, like ‘American Pie’s douche extraordinaire Stiffler. If the audience knows the joke is coming from a bad person, they are less likely to take offense.

“I play a lot of dumb characters on purpose so I can say a lot of shitty things,” Arnett joked.

Read More: Greenwich International Film Festival Hires New Executive Director Colin Stanfield

R-Rated Movies Have More Fun

With difficulty to create comedy that would be inoffensive to anyone, the speakers agreed that R-rated comedy was the place to find freedom. Nearly everyone on the panel had taken part in making a movie that was acclaimed as bringing R-ratings back into style. From box office successes like the “Wedding Crashers” and “Zoolander” to the more recent giant “The Hangover,” the popularity of R is cyclical every few years.

Speaking from his own experience with “American Pie,” Chris Bender noted that, “R is so much more freeing, both in, like, being more truthful and real in language.” PG-13 may be more attractive to studios that want as many people to see a movie as possible, but language constraints can often stunt comedy. Brener, who works for the studio New Line Cinema confirmed, “You only get one non-sexual ‘fuck.’”

Read More: ‘Arrested Development’ Season 5 to be a ‘Serialized Murder Mystery,’ Could Premiere By November 2016

Make A Comedy For the Joy and the Pain

When you boil it down, comedies are perhaps the most difficult (and wonderful) movies to make.

For Arnett, “it’s always about the experience of it. I know that for me, as a performer, if you’re going to have a good experience and feel like you’re a part of something you are really into, the other person is going to raise their game. So, you want to do that because that’s kind of the recipe for success.” The panel agreed, if it looks like the audience was having fun making it, they probably were.

However, as a producer, that is not always the case. For Cornfeld, the Tenacious D movie was the best experience, but never yielded returns like he thought. Whereas on the set of “Zoolander,” his money problems with the studio went as far as debt collectors leaving him threatening messages at his home.

But it does feel good to look back and laugh. Brenner and Bender certainly do when they remember how they almost made “The Hangover.” After workshopping the script, and even providing the key plot point of the groom disappearing (something that really happened to a friend), the script went to another studio. They both admitted it would not be the same wonderful movie if they had made it.

In fact, it’s Brenner’s dad’s favorite movie. “He brings it up every time I see him,” he laughed at the lowest point of his career.

Watch the full panel below:

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The Greenwich Film Festival unveiled its lineup of events that includes Lol: The Big Business Of Comedy, a panel discussion June 11 to be moderated by Deadline co-Editor-in-Chief Mike Fleming Jr. Panelists include New Line production president Richard Brener, producer Chris Bender, manager-producer Peter Principato, Red Hour principal Stuart Cornfeld and Will Arnett. Also on the docket is a Children's Acting Workshop panel and a Spotlight On conversation with fest honoree…...

Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz and Kristen Wiig strike a pose in the latest poster for Paramount Pictures’ Zoolander 2.

Watch the trailer below.

Zoolander 2 is directed by Ben Stiller and features an all star cast of Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Milla Jovovich, Christine Taylor, Justin Theroux and Kyle Mooney. The film is written by Justin Theroux & Ben Stiller and Nick Stoller and John Hamburg. Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld, Scott Rudin and Clayton Townsend are producing. Jeff Mann is executive producing.

Zoolander 2 hits theaters February 12, 2016.

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The post Check Out The New Zoolander 2 Poster appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

The new trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Zoolander 2 has broken the record to become the most successful comedy trailer launch of all time.

The trailer, which debuted online on November 18 and offers fans a sneak peek at the highly anticipated sequel to 2001’s Zoolander, reached 52.2 million views in its first week of release.

Zoolander 2 is directed by Ben Stiller and features an all star cast of Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Milla Jovovich, Christine Taylor, Justin Theroux and Kyle Mooney. The film is written by Justin Theroux & Ben Stiller and Nick Stoller and John Hamburg. Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld, Scott Rudin and Clayton Townsend are producing. Jeff Mann is executive producing.

Zoolander 2 opens nationwide on February 12, 2016.

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Paramount Pictures released the first full-length trailer for the Ben Stiller comedy sequel “Zoolander 2” on Wednesday. In the trailer, Derek Zoolander (Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) are recruited by InterPol to stop a worldwide conspiracy that is targeting the most beautiful people in the world. There are numerous celebrity cameos in the trailer, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Penelope Cruz, and Justin Bieber. Will Ferrell will also reprise his role as the villain Mugatu. Also Read: Justin Bieber, Ben Stiller Tease Pop Star's Cameo in 'Zoolander 2' (Photo) “Zoolander 2” was directed by Stiller, with Justin Theroux writing the screenplay.

Days after Amazon Studios picked up Us rights to The Neon Demon, Bold Films’ Michel Litvak and Gary Michael Walters have landed another coup and signed a partnership with Ben Stiller’s company on comedic and dramatic film, television and digital projects.

As part of the deal Red Hour will relocate its offices within Bold Film in both New York and Los Angeles.

Bold Films will provide the overhead, as well as development and production financing on the independent projects.

In addition Red Hour announced that producer and executive Nicky Weinstock has joined Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld at the company.

Red Hour recently completed its overall deal with 20th Century Fox and is currently in post on Zoolander 2, which Paramount will distribute.

Weinstock is the former creative head of Apatow Productions and svp of Chernin Entertainment. He launched Invention Studios in 2011.

Red Hour is teaming with Bold Films to produce a slate of film, TV and digital projects, with producer/executive Nicky Weinstock joining Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld’s now-indie company, which previously had a deal at 20th Century Fox. As part of the deal, Red Hour’s offices will fold into Bold Films’ L.A. and N.Y. outposts, and Bold will provide the overhead, development and production financing on the…...

Red Hour is teaming with Bold Films to produce a slate of film, TV and digital projects, with producer/executive Nicky Weinstock joining Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld’s now-indie company, which previously had a deal at 20th Century Fox. As part of the deal, Red Hour’s offices will fold into Bold Films’ L.A. and N.Y. outposts, and Bold will provide the overhead, development and production financing on the…...

Ben Stiller‘s production company, Red Hour, is partnering with Bold Films to produce a new slate of both comedic and dramatic film, television and digital projects, TheWrap has learned. Veteran producer and executive Nicky Weinstock has joined Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld at Red Hour, which will be relocating its offices within Bold Films in both New York and Los Angeles as part of the new creative partnership. Bold Films will provide Red Hour’s overhead, as well as development and production financing on independent projects. The agreement enables the company to be fully independent and capable of supplying studios,...

IFC is developing comedy “Start Making Sense” (working title) from creator and writer Jake Fogelnest (“Billy on the Street”), beginning the relationship with a multiple script order. The series, which is in contention for the comedy network’s 2016 lineup, is produced by Legendary Television and executive produced by Ben Stiller, Debbie Liebling, Stuart Cornfeld and Mike Rosenstein through Red Hour. “Start Making Sense” follows Jack desperately clinging to his fading relevance as a best-selling author, and his son Shane basking in popularity by expressing his teen angst in 140 characters or less. As these generational voices collide they must navigate new waters of texts,...

• Penelope Cruz will star opposite Ben Stiller in Zoolander 2. Stiller is directing from a script by Justin Theroux, and will produce alongside Stuart Cornfeld for Red Hour. Will Ferrell and Owen Wilson are rumored to be reprising their roles as Mugatu and Hansel, respectively. [Deadline] • Mel Gibson and Andrew Garfield are in talks for the World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge. Gibson would direct the film with Garfield in the role of Private First Class Desmond T. Doss, a war hero who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts. Doss saved 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa,...

James Gunn used to be the beloved cult filmmaker behind low-budget genre flicks like Slither and Super. Then August happened, and James Gunn became the beloved filmmaker behind the decidedly-not-low-budget space-(rock-)opera Guardians of the Galaxy, currently the highest grossing movie of 2014 at the domestic box office. Guardians arrives on Blu-Ray on December 9. At a special screening of the Blu-Ray extras on Wednesday morning, Gunn looked like a man midway between the victory lap and the next race. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is already in the works for 2017, and word spread across the Internet that he was already thinking...

The Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its jurors for the 2014 summer festival, its 20th, which runs from Wednesday, June 11 to Thursday, June 19 in downtown Los Angeles. The narrative jury:Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton, whose "Short Term 12" won the Laff Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature in 2013Veteran producer Stuart Cornfeld ("Zoolander," "The Fly") Film critic Ella Taylor (NPR, Elle) The documentary jury:Editor Lynzee Klingman ("Hearts and Minds") Director Margaret Brown ("The Great Invisible," "The Order Of Myths")Film critic and author Justin Chang (Variety) The La Muse jury:Composer-singer-songwriter Kathryn Bostic ("Middle of Nowhere," "Dear White People")Writer-director,-producer Maryam Keshavarz ("Circumstance") Nicole Bernard, Executive Vice President at Laff sponsor Fox Audience Strategy Director Kevin Bray ("Walking Tall") The shorts jury:Writer-actor-director Todd Berger ("It’s a Disaster,"...

Comedy Central has picked up to series Another Period, a spoof of a Keeping Up With The Kardashians-like reality show set in Victorian times, and Idiotsitter, a TV version of the digital series. The network also has renewed the well-received original series Inside Amy Schumer for a third season as well as freshmen Review and TripTank for a second season. In addition, Comedy Central has ordered five original digital series: 300 Sunnyside, New Timers, Pie Guys, Roustabout With Kurt Braunohler and Team Tiger Awesome to premiere later this year. Here are details about Comedy Central’s newly picked up and renewed series: Series Orders Another Period - set at the turn of the century, “Another Period” follows the misadventures of the Bellacourts, Newport, Ri’s first family, who have absolutely nothing to offer to the world, but who have so much money it doesn’t matter. The series focuses on...

Next Time On Lonny, the satirical online video series executive produced by Ben Stiller‘s Red Hour Digital and Disney-owned Maker Studios, debuts the first three episodes of its second season today on Maker.TV with a raft of guest appearances by Hollywood notables including Adam Scott, Patton Oswalt, Kal Penn, Jerry O’Connell, Kathy Baker and Paul Scheer. The entire season is being sponsored by Verizon, with more episodes rolling out twice a week on Maker.TV and Maker’s comedy hub, Nacho Punch. The show is a satire of reality TV, blending sketch comedy and imaginary film preview segments. It was created by Alex Anfanger, who also stars, and Dan Schimpf, who directs. Besides Stiller, Anfanger and Schimpf, executive producers of the show include Stuart Cornfeld, Mike Rosenstein and Debbie Liebling. Brillstein Entertainment Partners represent Anfanger and Schimpf. Yesterday, reports surfaced that about 10% of the company’s 380 employees had been laid off,...

Comedy Central has greenlighted 10 episodes of “Big Time In Hollywood, Fl,” a comedy about two haphazard brothers trying to make it as filmmakers after being kicked out of their parent’s house. The show is produced by Ben Stiller’s Red Hour and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and penned by Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf. The show’s pilot is being directed and produced by Schimpf, and Anfanger is executive producing with Stiller, Debbie Liebling, Stuart Cornfeld, Mike Rosenstein, Lee Kernis and Brian Stern. “‘Big Time’ combines the directorial style of Hitchcock, the acting prowess of Streep, the budget of ‘House of Payne,’ and the nutritional value of Velveeta,” said Stiller. “I think people’s minds will be blown wide open. For real.” The brothers’ father is played by Backstage’s own Working Actor columnist Stephen Tobolowsky; the family’s matriarch is played by Kathy Baker (“Saving Mr. Banks”). Anfanger—who...

Comedy Central has picked up to series pilot Big Time In Hollywood, Fl with a 10-episode order. The project, produced by Ben Stiller‘s Red Hour and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, is written by Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf. It follows two delusional brothers and self-proclaimed filmmakers, played by Anfanger and Lenny Jacobson, who are kicked out of their parents’ house and forced to fend for themselves for the first time in their lives, leading them on an epic journey in pursuit of their American dream. Kathy Baker and Stephen Tobolowsky play the brothers’ parents, and Jon Bass co-stars in the series, whose pilot was directed by Schimpf. “Ben, Alex and Dan have fulfilled my career-long dream of having a show based in Hollywood, Fl,” said Comedy Central president of original programming Kent Alterman. Added Stiller, “Big Time combines the directorial style of Hitchcock, the acting prowess of Streep, the budget of House Of Payne,...

Comedy Central announced today that it has greenlit 10 episodes of the weekly, half-hour scripted series, "Big Time in Hollywood, Fl." Produced by Red Hour and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, the new series is executive produced and written by Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf, along with Red Hour's Ben Stiller, Debbie Liebling, Stuart Cornfeld and Mike Rosenstein, and Brillstein Entertainment Partners' Lee Kernis and Brian Stern. Anfanger will also star in the series, along with Lenny Jacobson, Kathy Baker, Stephen Tobolowsky and Jon Bass. Schimpf directed the pilot. "Ben, Alex and Dan have fulfilled my career-long dream of having a show based in Hollywood, Fl," said Alterman. "'Big Time' combines the directorial style of Hitchcock, the acting prowess of...

Legendary Televison has teamed up with Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld’s Red Hour Films to develop and co-produce content for both TV and digital platforms. An important move for recently launched Legendary TV, the deal was announced by its Television and Digital president, Bruce Rosenblum, and Red Hour Television president, Debbie Liebling on Friday. “All of us at Legendary are thrilled to be working with Ben, Stuart and their Red Hour team,” Rosenblum said. “Their comedic programming is broadly appealing, yet fulfills the edginess and irreverence that is so on brand for Legendary. Red Hour is an ideal addition to our.