Director and producer Glenn Weiss has walked across Emmy Awards stage 11 times in his career. But number 12 will undoubtedly be the most memorable. After winning Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for the Oscars , Weiss turned his own acceptance speech into a marriage proposal. “You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend?” Weiss said, looking at his teary-eyed girlfriend Jan Svendsen. “Because I want to call you my wife.” The crowd erupted in applause. Everyone from Benedict Cumberbatch to Leslie Jones was caught on camera wide-eyed and smiling with surprise. “I didn’t ask yet!” Weiss quipped, giving Svendsen time to join him onstage. “This is the ring my dad put on my mom’s finger 67 years ago – and to my sisters and brothers, I didn’t swipe it, Dad knows I have it, okay? – Jan, I want to put this ring that my mom wore on your finger in front of all these people and in front of my mom and your parents watching, from above.” Weiss knelt onstage. “Will you …
Richard Jenkins On His Failing Patriarch In ‘The Humans’, Shooting ‘Nightmare Alley’ & “Literally Going Mad” In Quarantine
Every actor knows where they were when the pandemic hit in 2020. Some were lucky enough to finish up before the hammer came down, some were in the middle of production, but it’s unlikely that many, like Richard Jenkins , were about to shoot their last scene. Jenkins was in Toronto at the time, preparing to wrap his role as Ezra Grindle in Guillermo del Toro’s remake of Nightmare Alley . “We stopped in March,” he recalls. “I had one scene left, and we pulled the plug.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, when he returned in October, he was forced to quarantine in his hotel for two weeks. “By that I mean I couldn’t go out,” he says. “At all. Try that sometime. Somebody said, ‘How are you doing?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m marking the days on the wall in my own feces.’ That’s how I was doing: I was literally going mad. I wore a path in the carpet, walking in circles like those animals in the zoo that just keep going around and around.” That sense of claustrophobia would have …
Watch Michael Che Hand Out ‘Reparations Emmys’ to Overlooked Black Actors
Michael Che tried to right several decades-worth of Hollywood wrongs by handing out “Reparations Emmys” to overlooked black actors and actresses during the 2018 Emmy Awards . The pre-taped bit opened with Che presenting an actual Emmy trophy to T he Jeffersons ‘ Marla Gibbs. “Your role as Florence the maid is the reason I got fired form every service job I had,” Che said, prompting Gibbs to deadpan, “Well thank you – I think.” Other recipients included Jimmie Walker of Good Times , Kadeem Hardison of A Different World , Jaleel White of Family Matters and Tichina Arnold of Martin and Everybody Hates Chris . After Arnold asked Che if the Television Academy just gave him the trophy, Che slyly replied, “Let’s just say I ‘stole it’ from ‘Bill Cosby.'” The bit also featured Che chatting with Superior Donuts star Jermaine Fowler about how no actor from The Wire ever received an Emmy, while Bryan Cranston took home six for Breaking Bad . “If he was black, he’d …
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Anna Chazelle To Write & Direct Horror Film Centered On Greek Legend Of Medusa For Fangoria Studios
EXCLUSIVE : Anna Chazelle has signed on to write, direct and exec produce an untitled horror film based on the Greek legend of Medusa for Fangoria Studios . For the uninitiated, Medusa was one of three Gorgon sisters with venomous snakes for hair, whose gaze could turn those around her to stone. The creature met her end at the hands of the demigod Perseus, who used her head as a weapon before giving it to the goddess Athena for placement on her shield. Tara Ansley, Armen Aghaeian, and Abhi Goel will produce the film for Fangoria Studios, with Phil Wurtzel exec producing through his Friel Films banner, alongside Chazelle. “Medusa is a global icon, yet her story has been overlooked for far too long,” said Aghaeian, who serves as SVP of Fangoria Studios. “Anna’s interpretation of Medusa against the backdrop of Ancient Greece will make for a cinematic journey to remember.” “It’s easy to demonize Medusa, but her story is filled with justifiable feminine rage, both …
David Steinberg And Robyn Todd Board Golf Biopic ‘Moe Norman’ As EPs, Wayne & Janet Gretzky To Co-Produce
EXCLUSIVE : David Steinberg ( Curb Your Enthusiasm , Seinfeld ) and Robyn Todd ( Inside Comedy , Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story ) have signed on to exec produce the sports biopic Moe Norman , with NHL great Wayne Gretzky and actor-entrepreneur Janet Gretzky boarding as co-producers. The film will tell the story of the Canadian pro golfer of the same name, who was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995, and was entered into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame shortly after his passing in 2004. While the best in the game called him the best, the introverted, misfit Moe Norman collided with both the golf establishment and society itself. Despite being bullied out of the major pro tour, Moe became an unknown legend, playing and winning smaller tournaments and setting course records while living hand to mouth and sometimes sleeping in his car, or in sand traps at the courses he played. Todd Korgan, Josh Schorr and Mark Bergen penned the …
Telugu Lyricist Sirivennela Seetharamasastry Passes Away At 66
Renowned Telugu lyricist Sirivennela Seetharamasastry passed away in Hyderabad on Tuesday (November 30). According to reports, he died of lung cancer-related complications and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Secunderabad on November 24. He breathed his last on Tuesday afternoon. He was 66. The hospital has also released an official statement announcing Sastry's death. "Noted Tollywood lyricist Sri Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry garu passed away this afternoon at 4.07 PM. He died of Lung Cancer related Complications. Sri Sirivennela was admitted to KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad, on 24th November with Pneumonia. He was put on ECMO to support his lungs in ICU and was under close observation. On behalf of KIMS Hospitals, we extend our condolences to Sri Sirivennela's family members. -Dr Sambit Sahu, Medical Director- KIMS Hospitals," the statement read. Radhe Shyam's 'Nagumomu Thaarale' Teaser Out: Second Single To Release On …
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Toronto Film Festival Appoints Festival Veteran Cameron Bailey As CEO
Thirty-one year Toronto Film Festival veteran Cameron Bailey has been elevated to the role of CEO. Bailey recently led the festival as Co-Head and Artistic Director with Co-Head Joana Vicente. At the end of September, Vicente departed for the Sundance Institute, where she was named CEO. Planning on Toronto 2022 is already underway as the TIFF Bell Lightbox reopens its doors. The festival’s Board of Directors made the announcement about Bailey on Tuesday in the wake of Jeffrey Remedios, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Canada, being named as the festival’s new Chair of the Board , with Jennifer Tory completing her role in that position. Bailey started at TIFF in 1990 as a seasonal programmer amid a career as a film critic. He’s held several key roles at TIFF: as a programmer with Perspective Canada, founding the Planet Africa section, and working as the fest’s Artistic Director. Bailey has ensured during his leadership that the festival is an essential stop …
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Laurane Sheehan Dies: Longtime Corporate Entertainment Publicist Was 61
Laurane “LaLa” Sheehan, the actor-turned-corporate entertainment publicist and events planner who had worked at Maggie Begley Communications for 30 years, died November 11 of a sudden heart attack. She was 61. Sheehan was a Senior Accounts Supervisor at entertainment marketing and PR firm MBC, working with clients across three decades including Laika and the animation studio’s string of Oscar-nominated films; Locksmith Animation; The Gotham Group ; Cinedigm; and Anheuser-Busch, among others. She worked on movies including Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link and Coraline ; The Invisible War ; Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World ; and Beasts of No Nation . She also had stints as a publicist at entertainment PR firms Mahoney/Wasserman and PMK/HBH. “What a joy it is to work with your best friend,” said Begley. “We laughed with abandon every single day. I thought that kind of laughter was the ticket to a long life…but the universe had other …
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