Humble Beginnings and Stardom Johnny Depp has always been a misfit even before he was an actor. When he was young, he didn’t plan to graduate high school, and ended up dropping out to become a musician. He was a guitarist for a band called the Kids. He and his band moved to Los Angeles. During his time in the band, he became a struggling musician, but ended up finding steady work as an actor since he was introduced to Nicolas Cage by his then-wife Lori Anne Allison. Nicholas helped Johnny to audition for Wes Craven for the low-budget horror film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street.’ The film achieved international success since it scared its audiences and featured a memorable kill by showing a young Johnny Depp being brutally killed by the boogeyman, Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund). 1980s The following year, Johnny Depp starred in ‘Private Resort...

Timothée Chalamet’s ping pong movie is adding a few more players.

Odessa A’zion has joined the cast of “Marty Supreme,” from A24 and director Josh Safdie. Rounding out the cast are magician Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller), investor and “Shark Tank” personality Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr. Wonderful) and “Bad Lieutenant” filmmaker Abel Ferrara.

Specifics about their roles are kept under wraps, but this motley crew joins previously announced cast members Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler, the Creator in the film, which is said to be about a professional table tennis player. Plot details are unknown, but A24 posted an image of a ping pong ball with the words “coming soon” after Variety broke news of the project in July.

Safdie and Ronald Bronstein wrote the original screenplay for “Marty Supreme” and produce alongside Eli Bush, Anthony Katagas, Chalamet and A24. Production kicks off in the fall.

A’zion’s...

Watching the films of Johnny Depp is a fraught exercise in 2024. Depp has been frequently in trouble with the law throughout his career, having gotten into fights, having threatened paparazzi, and having once trashed a hotel room. A lot of Depp's early temper problems were likely connected to his admitted alcoholism, something he wrestled with for a long span of his life. Depp's highly publicized separation from his wife Amber Heard also caused a media firestorm, leading to mutual accusations of physical abuse, more drug use, and a lot of bad blood. Both Depp and Heard were found guilty of defamation. 

Many have come to refuse Depp's movies altogether, hating the abuse he visited upon Heard. Ever since 2018, Depp has appeared in the public eye less and less frequently. His film "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" wasn't a big hit, and his character was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the follow-up.

Earlier in the year, when it was discovered that 2024 would be the year of not one but two brand new films made by the talented Luca Guadagnino, I made a prediction that Queer would be the real knock out next to the more forgettable Challengers. Now that I've seen both of the films it's time to admit - my prediction was wrong. It turns out its the other way around and Challengers is the winner. Luca Guadagnino's Queer is premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival in the Main Competition, the same festival where most of the Italian filmmaker's previous films Suspiria, Bones and All, I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, as well as his doc Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams premiered. He's back in Venice again with what has been described as his most personal work yet, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' very queer novel of the same name -...

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy by Maxthor Woo

Avatar: The Way of Water by Wolfgang LeBlanc

Batman by Edward Pun

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Taylor Blue

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

For a long time now, the names of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have receded from the public memory. In the aftermath of the 2022 Depp v Heard defamation trial, the respective parties who had been at war since December 2018 finally subsided into their own corners of the Earth, enjoying a life only luxury can buy.

Johnny Depp [Photo by Andy Templeton, licensed under Cc By via Wikimedia Commons]

However, only a couple of years have passed since their Hollywood controversy shook the tinsel town out of its slumber and engaged the entire world in a united mockery of the trial. Although it is hard to imagine the two actors ever being social again, once upon a time, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met, fell in love, and got married before the ugliness settled into their relationship.

Johnny Depp & Amber Heard: The Movie That Started It All

In any other situation, the 83-year-old filmmaker Terry Gilliam would be celebrated for...

For many, watching Johnny Depp movies has become a fraught experience. Once touted as a quirky character actor with matinée idol good looks, Depp became an alt-sweetheart of outsiders and Goths everywhere, frequently taking on "weirdo" roles. He worked with strange filmmakers like John Waters and, most often, Tim Burton, mostly to strip away the pressures of being a Hollywood pretty-boy, determined to prove himself as a performer who prefers the fringe.

He was also seen, for many years, as a Hollywood "bad boy," and he struggled with alcoholism and drug-fueled violent outbursts. In 1989, he was arrested in Vancouver for getting violent with a security guard. In 1994, he was arrested again for trashing a hotel room and had to pay over $9,000 in damages. He was arrested once more in 1999 for fighting with paparazzi. In 2012, Depp's security guards were sued by an Irvine medical professor for roughing her up and handcuffing her.

Eulogizing the 1960s in a haze of marijuana smoke, psychotropic apparitions, ether vapors, and coke sweats, Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s brilliant, notorious 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has aged startlingly well. Picked up by Gilliam when fellow cinematic madman Alex Cox dropped out, the project was long thought to be the most preposterous screen adaptation ever mounted—an impossibly addled switchback ride through the death rattles of the 1960s, compacted and then stretched out like silly putty over a three-day fever dream in the heart of Sin City.

For Gilliam, the sheer outrageousness of the dystopian Freedomland that Thompson had found or hallucinated about out in the desert while covering the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated presented a perfect outlet for his giddy, often disturbing brand of inventiveness, and, indeed, Fear and Loathing stands as the Monty Python alum’s last completely successful work.

In a scene worthy of one of his animated works, Terry Gillam took to a stage covered in crashed paper planes at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Sunday to receive its honorary Cristal award and give a masterclass about his animated works.

Gilliam was last in Annecy, where its audience has a tradition of bombarding the stage with paper planes, in 1975 with Miracle of Flight. The anarchic comedy about mankind’s different attempts to fly debuted in the shorts competition but did not win a prize.

“Do you know how long it’s taken me to get this f**king award… They’ve finally let me in… I think they know I might not be around next year,” joked the director as he received the trophy.

The French lakeside animation festival, running from June 9 to 15, is set to welcome close to 16,000 animation professionals this year, many of them...

Nearly a lifetime ago, in 1975, Terry Gilliam submitted his five-minute short film “Miracle of Flight” to the Annecy Animation Festival in France.

An absurdist gem about homo sapiens’ disastrous desire to take to the skies — using the same cut-out technique made famous by the irreverent interstitials and opening credits Gilliam designed for the British sketch comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” — the film screened, but won no prizes.

Suddenly, half a century later (as “Miracle of Flight” might put it), Annecy corrected the oversight by awarding Gilliam an Honorary Cristal. Turns out, it’s a much nicer trophy — considerably bigger and far easier to dust — awarded in appreciation of lifetime achievement in the field.

“Can you believe how long it has taken me to get this fucking award?” Gilliam joked in mock outrage. “I think they know I might not be around next year.” But the director of “Time Bandits,...

Johnny Depp, Jeff Bridges, Adam Driver, and Jason Momoa are set to star in a new movie directed by Terry Gilliam, titled The Carnival at the End of Days.

The news was confirmed by Gilliam himself in a recent interview with the French publication Premiere, in which he explained the premise of the film. “God decides to destroy humanity, and the only one trying to save us is Satan because he needs people in hell, otherwise he won’t have a job for eternity,” he said. Depp and Bridges are set to play Satan and God, respectively.

“It will be very funny for those who like to be offended,” Gilliam said. Elsewhere, he expanded on what he has in mind for Bridge’s God character. “He will not be the God we are used to,” he said. “In the film, God is nature, but a nature that can talk to you.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.

In this digital-dominated era, the allure of physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays remains robust, transcending mere nostalgia. These formats offer a tangible, personal connection to the artistry of film and television—a curated collection that one can physically handle, showcase, and possess.

As the industry increasingly veers towards streaming as its primary mode of distribution, collecting physical media is becoming a niche yet cherished pastime. It remains the most reliable method to ensure access to a broad spectrum of titles, often in the highest possible quality. A 4K Blu-ray on your shelf guarantees immediate, uninterrupted viewing—free from buffering or service outages—of your favorite films and TV shows in stunning resolution. Moreover, these discs frequently include a wealth of bonus content, ranging from archival gems to freshly...

“In the Streets” is the first edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture.Illustration by Lale Westvind.I started errantly watching live streams at work not long after the Sphere first blinked its enormous electric eye in September 2023. This was a vestige of a pandemic-era habit, lockdown having been a good time to virtually peer into places one could never go. Jellyfish floating in seemingly limitless blue suspension at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, some rural trail in South Dakota, the top of the Eiffel Tower. You could drop in to any of these streams and feel, reassuringly, that nothing consequential was happening. After spending some time letting these feeds unspool in the background, one begins to wonder who set these cameras up; who maintains the connection, checks on the equipment, wipes dirt off the lens; who decided this or that perspective was the best, the most representative,...

Organizers of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world’s oldest and most important animation festival, revealed Thursday that all the big U.S. studio animation players will be in attendance this year to preview some of their most exciting upcoming titles.

Annecy has long been a launch point for global and indie animation, but over the past several years, it has become an increasingly important platform for big studios as well. This year, that trend continues and, indeed, ramps up.

Illumination will continue a popular tradition by hosting a special screening of “Despicable Me 4” in Annecy. The three previous “Despicable” films and the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” spinoff all screened at Annecy, several of them making their world premieres there.

Disney will host sneak peeks of its 2024 animated feature releases: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Moana 2.” Paramount Pictures and Hasbro...

Johnny Depp was all smiles as he reunited with his old pals at the UK premiere of his French-language movie ‘Jeanne Du Barry.’

The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star even cracked a few jokes along the way and expressed his gratitude to get to star as the “King of France” in Maïwenn’s ‘Jeanne Du Barry.’

Terry Gilliam – Calls Johnny Depp Out On His Lateness Arriving At Curzon Theater

On Monday, Johnny Depp reunited with director Terry Gilliam on the red carpet of his costume movie by French filmmaker Maïwenn. The film will be distributed in the UK starting April 19 via Depp’s London-based film company In.2.

During the premiere event, which took place at the Curzon theater in Mayfair, Gilliam apparently ticked Depp off by grilling him for being ten minutes late.

“Sorry, it’s too late — the film has started 10 minutes ago,” Gilliam, who directed Depp in 1998’s...

Johnny Depp reunited with director Terry Gilliam on the red carpet of the UK premiere of French filmmaker MaÏwenn’s costume drama Jeanne du Barry on Monday evening.

Depp’s London-based film company In.2 is gearing up to release the Court of Versailles-set tale across the UK from this Friday, April 19.

Gilliam, who directed Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), jokingly ticked Depp off for his late arrival.

“Sorry, it’s too late — the film has started 10 minutes ago,” quipped Gilliam as Depp arrived at the Curzon Mayfair cinema.

He then referred to Depp as the “new Jackie Chan” as the actor enveloped him in a bear hug, seemingly in reference to the fact the star has been working out.

(Watch) Johnny Depp is greeted by Terry Gilliam as he arrives at UK premiere of ‘Jeanne du Barry’ pic.twitter.com/UU...

An episode of the “Powerful Truth Angels” podcast from earlier this year has resurfaced in recent days for featuring actor Lola Glaudini recounting a story from the set of the movie “Blow,” where Johnny Depp allegedly berated her for laughing during a take. Glaudini, who was in the background of a scene in which Depp gives a monologue, said that she was instructed by “Blow” director Ted Demme to “burst out laughing” when Depp said one of his lines during the take.

“[Depp] says his monologue. I hear the cue, and I go haha, I do a big laugh or whatever,” Glaudini said, noting she performed the scene this way during a few other takes. “Johnny Depp, when they say cut, walks over to me, comes up to me, sticks his finger in my face and he goes, ‘Who the fuck do you think you are? Who the fuck do you think you are?...

The Criterion Collection has announced its slate of releases for June 2024, which is headlined by 4K restorations of two of the boutique label’s most popular Blu-rays and four new high profile additions to the collection.

David Lynch’s landmark 1986 neo-noir horror film, which marked his first collaboration with Laura Dern alongside her future “Twin Peaks: The Return” co-star Kyle McLachlan, will be re-released by Criterion with a new 4K transfer. It joins Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” “Mulholland Drive,” “Lost Highway,” “Inland Empire,” “The Elephant Man,” and “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” in the Criterion 4K library.

Also getting the 4K treatment is Terry Gilliam’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” which sees Johnny Depp playing Hunter S. Thompson stand-in Raoul Duke in a psychedelic adaptation of the landmark countercultural novel.

New additions to the collection include Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s “Bound,” Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Querelle,” Emilio Fernández’s “Victims of Sin,...

Creo has announced the jury for the 2024 Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.

Director Justin Chadwick serves as chair for the second year in a row. He is joined on the jury by Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, co-founders and co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics; cinematographer Rob Hardy ASC, Bsc; cinematographer Kate Reid Bsc; cinematographer Robert Primes ASC; and Australian filmmaker Unjoo Moon.

Chadwick said, “It is such a pleasure to return as Chair of this new prestigious panel of decorated creatives. Last year, we brought to the forefront 30 exceptionally talented filmmakers from across the world, each of whom had the unique chance to access the inner workings of the industry in Los Angeles, opening doors to career-launching opportunities. From my own experience, the art of the short film is by no means one to be underestimated, and I look forward to discovering more brilliant, talented individuals through this upcoming selection.”

In...

When Rolling Stone publishes a cover, the world stops and listens. Now, some of the magazine’s most memorable covers have been re-imagined as part of a limited-edition apparel collection. Available to shop right now on shop.rollingstone.com, the collection features 13 unisex T-shirts that feature some of the biggest artists to ever grace this magazine’s pages.

Designed for both fans and collectors alike, the T-shirts celebrate the sartorial and cultural influence of these artists, whose impact is still felt to this day. The tees make a great gift idea for music fans,...

With the possible exception of food purchased in jam band parking lots, nothing pairs better with weed than a good film. It’s a substance that can make bad movies seem good and good movies seem downright incredible. Anyone who has attended a midnight screening of a cult classic knows that the thick haze of marijuana smoke is all part of the experience. And smoking a joint from the comfort of your own home while watching your favorite movie for the umpteenth time remains one of the most elite forms of relaxation known to man.

Certain films have a brilliance to them that can’t be truly understood until you watch them while indulging in your favorite strain of cannabis. Slightly dulling your focus in exchange for heightening your senses (including humor) is often a hell of a bargain. If a film doesn’t require excessive focus on a meticulous plot,...

When Patricia Arquette decided to make her feature film directing debut with “Gonzo Girl,” she made a promise to her cast.

“I told them that I would always edit everything for the acting — even if the camera work wasn’t the best in that take or some thing didn’t match from a continuity perspective,” she says a week before the movie’s big premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. “I don’t think someone has ever edited my performance directly for the acting, so I wanted to do this greedy, delicious thing for my ensemble. I wanted to create a space for great acting.”

It helps, of course, that the star of “Gonzo Girl” is none other than Willem Dafoe, a four-time Oscar nominee, as well as rising talents such as Camila Morrone of “Daisy Jones & the Six.” And that kind of creative freedom, and not big salaries,...

For a writer whose specialty was his mad rush of words — careening, excessive, gloriously offensive and thoroughly “gonzo,” to use a word he may well have coined — Hunter S. Thompson has long been an irresistible image to put on screen. He was played by Johnny Depp in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Bill Murray in “Where the Buffalo Roam” and a few others, and now it’s Willem Dafoe’s turn in Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut, “Gonzo Girl.”

Rather, it’s Dafoe’s turn to play somebody like Hunter S. Thompson. In the movie, which had its world premiere on Thursday night as one of the opening-night attractions of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, Dafoe is “Walker Reade,” a wild-eyed journalist and author who lives in Woody Creek, Colorado and loves guns, drugs, alcohol and messing with people — not necessarily in that order. The fact that all of...

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has written the introduction to a new edition of Hunter S. Thompson’s Screwjack, a collection of short stories originally printed in 1991.

“Beyond psyched to have had the opportunity to write an introduction for the latest edition of Hunter S. Thompson’s ’91 collection of short stories, Screwjack,” wrote Ulrich on Instagram. “Reading these stories remind me what a treasure — and mindfuck — Hunter S. Thompson’s immortal words continue to be.”

The metal legend added, “Thanx to @simonandschuster for encouraging me to put pen to paper for this. Check it out if you like things wild, salacious and unsettling.”

Screwjack was originally independently published in a limited run of 300 numbered and 26 lettered copies, and then republished by Simon & Schuster in 2000. The new edition, featuring Ulrich’s intro, is now available in paperback and Kindle editions via Amazon.

Thompson, best known for founding the gonzo journalism movement and...

Just announced this week, the Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2024 includes horror icon Christina Ricci, who finally gets her well-earned star on the Walk of Fame next year.

Christina Ricci is of course a longtime favorite among horror fans, becoming a household name thanks to her performance as Wednesday Addams in the live action Addams Family movies of the 1990s. She just returned to the world of The Addams Family in the Netflix series “Wednesday,” playing a new character for director Tim Burton.

Ricci also starred in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow back in 1999, with other notable genre roles including Casper, Bless the Child, Wes Craven’s Cursed, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, and Showtime’s hit series “Yellowjackets.” Ricci also appeared in Sam Raimi’s series “50 States of Fright,” and most recently starred in the 2022 horror movie Monstrous.

Nominated twice for Primetime Emmy Awards, Christina Ricci’s enduring body...

Tubi opens June with an intense WWII drama “Inglourious Basterds.” Allied officer Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) assembles a team of five tough Jewish soldiers to spread fear throughout the Third Reich. They have one assignment: assassinate Nazi leaders. Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed the unconventional war drama. Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, and Christopher Walz co-star.

Watch the trailer of “Inglourious Basterds”:

The network is also streaming the original documentary “Mystery Unsolved: The Adnan Syed Story” on June 7. The murder of teenager Hae Min Lee was the focal point of a “Serial” podcast, which questioned if boyfriend Syed was her killer. After serving 22 years in prison, Syed was released, still proclaiming his innocence. Now, he may return.

Another streamer original, “Magic Carpet Rides,” arrives June 14. It centers on a social influencer torn between sharing her budding romance or honoring her boyfriend’s request to keep their life private.

Check...

Johnny Depp has played Cannes many times, with four of his films in Competition: “Dead Man” and “Ed Wood” (both 1995), “The Brave,” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998), but he’s never had this much at stake on the Croisette. As the randy King Louis Xv, powdered and wigged in the opening-night Out of Competition selection “Jeanne du Barry,” Depp will begin his latest effort at career rehab.

Depp, who will be 60 in a few weeks, is well past his movie-star prime and remains in recovery from a string of court cases. Depp lost his “wife-beater” U.K. libel case against ex-wife Amber Heard in 2020, but last June he won $10 million in compensatory damages in a U.S. court. Warner Bros. paid his $16 million fee for the third “Fantastic Beasts” film, but asked him to resign from playing the role of Grindelwald in the Harry Potter franchise. (Mads Mikkelsen replaced him.

They say “sex sells” in Hollywood, right? But what about drugs? After all, once the production code was lifted, successful counterculture drug movies like Easy Rider gave way to the indie auteur movement in American cinema in the 1960s and 70s, where Hollywood renegades like Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese picked up the mantle and went on to make all-time classics like Scarface and Goodfellas decades later. In the interim, there has been no shortage of critical and commercial drug movie successes, be they Blow, Sicario, Traffic, The Wolf of Wall Street, you name it.

So then, Wtf Happened to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Seriously. How does such an authentic movie from the altered mindstate of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, one directed by the venerated filmmaker Terry Gilliam and featuring unforgettable performances by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro… how does a movie like that stumble...

Every month brings a new slate of entertainment to streaming services everywhere, but each turn of the calendar also brings the tragic removal of a list of movies and television shows. While Netflix is debuting a bevy of releases in May 2023, the streaming service is losing some treasured titles. Good thing you have this guide to make sure you catch everything that may have been sitting in your Netflix queue before they mysteriously disappear.

Unfortunately, juggling distribution rights in the ongoing proliferation of streaming services makes it a headache to keep up with who owns what. HBO Max is the biggest offender of losing its own original content, as the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery and the induction of CEO David Zaslav has wiped a chunk of HBO Max exclusives from the platform. Netflix has a better grasp on its properties, but even the longest-running streaming service has lost some of its licensing,...

In 2023, many of Terry Gilliam's old fans have been forced to face some of the director's questionable behavior, dark opinions, and irresponsible filming style. Briefly: in 2020, Gilliam said in public that the #MeToo movement was a witch hunt, downplaying the widespread sexual abuse the movement sought to highlight. Gilliam followed those statements with a defense of Harvey Weinstein, a defense that fell in line with a notorious petition he signed a decade previous seeking to exonerate Roman Polanski. Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wong Kar-Wai, and David Lynch also signed the petition. So did Harvey Weinstein, who asked many for support.

Famously, Gilliam's films have almost all had troubled shoots, and each one comes prepackaged with a chaotic story about its making. "Brazil" was infamously recut several times, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" briefly didn't know which script it was supposed to use,...

February is the shortest month of the year but Prime Video is paying that no mind with its jam-packed list of new releases for February 2023.

This really is an uncommonly stuffed month on the Amazon streamer and it all starts with a handful of Amazon Originals. Amazon’s original offerings kick off with the release of Dave Franco-directed romcom Somebody I Used to Know on Feb. 10. That is followed by Carnival Row season 2 – a gritty fantasy crime drama is set in a world of steampunky fairies. The show stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne and this batch of episodes will be its swan song. Meanwhile The Consultant on Feb. 24 is a dark comedy workplace thriller starring Christoph Waltz.

The biggest hits this month, however, might just be some recent cinema faves. If February is for lovers, Amazon didn’t get the memo as there are quite a few horror movies of note here.

Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Breathing Happy"

Where You Can Stream It: Fandor

The Pitch: There are a lot, and I mean a lot of films about people dealing with addiction. Some instances, like "Requiem for a Dream," border on exploitation, while others, like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," highlight the shift in drug culture from feeling free and flying high to becoming broken and completely under the spell of illicit substances. Recovery is often portrayed through Oscar-bait dramas with weepy supporting casts, and seldom told through the perspective of the person actually pursuing sobriety. Rustic Films, the folks that gave us the films "Resolution," "Spring," "The Endless," "Something in the Dirt," "She Dies Tomorrow," and plenty of other independent favorites, have...

Watching Terry Gilliam's 1998 film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson is, in 2022, a fraught experience. 

For one, a viewer must contend with their views of star Johnny Depp, recently exposed in a high-profile domestic abuse case. Additionally, director Terry Gilliam has, in recent years, said some notorious things in the press. In 2020, he called #MeToo a "witch-hunt," he once downplayed the crimes of Harvey Weinstein, and, all the way back in 2009, signed a petition pleading to exonerate Roman Polanski. This was all in addition to reports of Gilliam terrifying a young Sarah Polley on the set of "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." Polley, however, has since given her blessing to enjoy the movie. 

Additionally, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is -- by design -- incredibly difficult to watch. It's a noisy, chaotic film with two protagonists who are constantly zonked...

Hunter S. Thompson was my favorite writer when I was in my early 20s, and I really bought into the idea of gonzo journalism. Thanks to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," I interpreted it as this: Take a trip somewhere, get wasted, indulge in some wild and crazy s***, then write about it. I was pretty good at the wild and crazy part back then, but the problem was that I forgot to actually write anything. When I did occasionally get around to putting pen to paper, I found myself aping Thompson's style way too much. 

I was over my Hunter Thompson obsession by the time Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" hit our screens in 1998, but I still couldn't see how it played out. For me, Ralph Steadman's aggressive illustrations were as inseparable from the text...

The Weeknd is joining the likes of Michael Myers and Dracula at Halloween Horror Nights, where “Blinding Lights”, “Heartless” and other chart-toppers drown out the screams from park guests in “The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare”.

To get all the behind-the-scenes details, Et spoke with John Murdy, executive producer of Hhn at Universal Studios Hollywood, who worked closely with The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, to create a “surreal living nightmare filled with grotesque characters and themes” inspired by his music and short films.

“Abel had a very specific idea. He wanted to focus on what he would refer to as ‘the universe of After Hours,’” Murdy explains. “He wanted to take that album and turn it into a haunted house experience.”

Murdy’s team soon realized just how suited The Weeknd was to brush shoulders with Hhn’s other scary mazes, like the “Horrors of Blumhouse” and “La...

There aren't very many major American animated features that weren't made by Disney, and some of the best were created by animation master Don Bluth. Bluth was a Disney animator who left the company citing "creative differences," and he went on to create classics like "The Secret of Nimh," "An American Tale," and "The Land Before Time." In 1994, Bluth teamed with 20th Century Fox and longtime collaborator Gary Goldman to create Fox Animation Studios. Their first feature was "Anastasia," a historical adventure story about Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of the last Russian Tsar and possibly the only survivor of the mass assassination of her family. The film earned two Academy Award nominations -- for the original song "Journey to the Past" and the movie's score -- and is remembered by many '90s kids for being a weird and wonderful alternative to the movies from the House of Mouse.

But...

Before Cameron Diaz was “Back in Action,” the actress got her start transporting drugs across international borders. And no, this is not the plot of her next action film.

Diaz revealed during the “Second Life” podcast (via Yahoo! Entertainment) that she “didn’t work a day” as a model in Paris but, rather, found an alternative profession.

“I was there a full year, and I didn’t work one day. I couldn’t book a job to save my life,” Diaz explained. “I got like one job, but really I think I was like a mule carrying drugs to Morocco — I swear to God.”

The “Knight and Day” and “Charlie’s Angels” action star continued, “It was before Tsa or anything like that. It was like early ’90s. They gave me a suitcase that was locked that had my ‘costumes’ in it — quote, unquote.”

Diaz flew from France to Morocco with a suspicious suitcase,...

Go ahead, we dare you to make a “Sudden Move” against Benicio Del Toro.

The Oscar winner doesn’t shy away from doing the extreme onscreen, with Del Toro seeming to weigh in on the recent method acting debate. During an interview with Variety, the “French Dispatch” star revealed there is nothing he wouldn’t do for a role, albeit with one exception: “I will not kill you,” Del Toro joked. “I promise.”

The actor previously burned himself with cigarettes and put on weight for 1998’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” opposite Johnny Depp. Del Toro explained he felt the need to research and endure those experiences to fully embody the character based on Hunter S. Thompson’s famed novel.

“Getting to know the book that Hunter S. Thompson wrote, it makes a comment on America at the time,” Del Toro continued. He also traveled to Cuba to understand...

Gregory Itzin, a character actor who played a Nixonian president on “24,” died Friday due to complications during an emergency surgery. He was 74.

His death was announced on social media by Jon Cassar, a director and producer on the show. A spokesperson for the actor later confirmed the news.

“He was one of the most talented actors I had the honor to work with, but more than that he was an all around great guy,” Cassar tweeted. “He’ll be missed by his ’24’ family who had nothing but love & respect for him. You made your mark, now Rest In Peace friend.”

Itzin was nominated for two Emmys for his work as the treacherous President Charles Logan on “24,” one for supporting actor in a drama and another for guest actor in a drama. The role, Itzin says, transformed his career.

“[It was] a sea change,” he said in a 2013 interview. “I was...

Gregory Itzin, who played the U.S. president in Fox’s hit series 24, died today due to complications during an emergency surgery. He was 74.

His death was announced by his son, the actor Wilke Itzin.

According to a family statement, Itzin suffered a major heart attack while onstage performing Shakespeare, as Falstaff, in 2015, and “came back only to continue to thrive in theatre, film and tv.”

“It is with an incredibly heavy heart to announce that my father Gregory Martin Itzin has passed on,” Wilke Itzin wrote on Instagram. (See the full post below).

“My friend Greg Itzin passed away today,” Cassar wrote on Twitter. “He was one of the most talented actors I had the honor to work with but more than that he was an all around great guy. He’ll be missed by his 24 family who had nothing but love & respect for him. You made your mark,...

With the death this week of Ralph “Sonny” Barger, national president of famed motorcycle club the Hells Angels, a piece of vibrant American pop culture history recedes farther into the past.

It’s hard to appreciate today, but when Barger founded the Oakland chapter in 1957, the mythology of the outlaw biker had already been emblazoned on the national consciousness through the Hells Angels’ impact on fashion, movies and music, as a symbol of rebellion. Barger’s death on June 29 at the age of 83 made international headlines because of that reach.

Barger was the face of the Hells Angels for decades, but the origin story of the Hells Angels began nearly a decade before when the club was founded in Fontana, Calif., in 1948. The mythos of the rebel clad in black leather astride their prized “hogs,” as their often-chopped Harley-Davidson motorcycles are known, is now entrenched in the public’s imagination.

In this edition of Career Watch, IndieWire’s occasional vocational checkup of actors and directors and those who hope to get there, we take on Johnny Depp.

As a maligned victim of slander, the 58-year-old’s most recent performance played well with the trial jury as well as the court of public opinion. He won 10 million in compensatory damages and 350,000 in punitive damages against his ex-wife Amber Heard, who wrote in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed a year after their divorce that she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The jury ruled that she failed to prove that he physically abused her.

Since then, Depp has discovered TikTok and gratefully calls his fans his “employers,” but of course they don’t write the checks. Those who do are less likely to be swayed by viral social memes — or at least, as Sony recently learned through the spectacular failure of its “Morbius” re-release,...

At the Hollywood Film Awards in Hollywood. Johnny Depp to try to stage a Hollywood comeback after winning defamation suit against Amber Heard. Johnny Depp is an American actor, producer and musician. He has appeared in films, television series and video games. He made his film debut in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984.[1] In the two following years, Depp appeared in the comedy Private Resort (1985), the war film Platoon (1986), and Slow Burn (1986). A year later, he started playing his recurring role as Officer Tom Hanson in the police procedural television series 21 Jump Street (1987–1990) which he played until the middle of season 4, and during this time, he experienced a rapid rise as a professional actor.] In 1990, he starred as the title characters in the films Cry-Baby and Edward Scissorhands. Throughout the rest of the decade, Depp portrayed lead roles in Arizona Dream (1993), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape...

Johnny Depp has won his lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, who was found culpable for libel by a Fairfax County, Virginia jury June 1. It awarded him 10 million compensatory damages and 5 million in punitive damages, which Heard will have to pay.

The jury did find Depp liable for defaming Heard on one count, however, for which the jury ordered him to pay her 2 million in compensatory damages and a zero-dollar punitive damages payout.

Heard wrote a 2018 Washington Post op-ed implying that she endured physical, psychological, verbal, and sexual domestic abuse at the hands of Depp, whom she did not actually name. The Oscar-nominated actor sued Heard in 2019 for 50 million over the loss of big-budget film roles, alleging that he himself was the victim of abuse by Heard. The “Aquaman” actress later countersued for 100 million.

The livestreamed six week-long Depp v. Heard trial, taking place in Virginia, went to jury deliberation on Friday,...

Johnny Depp’s lawyer traced the actor’s thoughts and disturbing texts presented in his defamation trial against Amber Heard to the late novelist Hunter S. Thompson and other “literary giants” in her closing arguments Friday before the case was sent to jury.

Camille Vasquez asserted that the Depp texts that have been presented by Heard’s team during the six-week trial should not be taken at face value.

“Ms. Heard has shown you a lot of text messages from Mr. Depp with some very vivid language,” Vasquez said. “As I told you at the start of this trial, Mr. Depp has a unique style of writing. He uses words I don’t use and you probably don’t use either.

Also Read:

Amber Heard Lawyer Interrupted in Court by a Chorus of Storm Alerts

“But as you also heard during this trial, Mr. Depp writes that way, in part,...

Eva Green is betting on Johnny Depp.

The “Casino Royale” alum took to social media to share support for her former “Dark Shadows” co-star Depp amid his ongoing defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.

“I have no doubt Johnny will emerge with his good name and wonderful heart revealed to the world,” Green wrote on Instagram. “Life will be better than it ever was for him and his family.”

The ongoing Depp v. Heard case began after Heard penned a 2018 Washington Post op-ed alleging an abusive spouse. Depp’s former girlfriends Ellen Barkin and Jennifer Grey have recently spoken out over the course of the trial, with Barkin testifying that Depp was “jealous” and “controlling” during their 1998 relationship while filming “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and that the actor threw a wine bottle at her.

Depp’s former partners Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis defended Depp in witness statements...

Amber Heard’s lawyers depicted actor Johnny Depp on Thursday as a fallen idol undone by his substance abuse, profligate spending, and unchecked anger — and not by the 2018 op-ed his ex-wife wrote about being a victim of domestic violence.

Witnesses called by Heard, the defendant in Depp’s 50 million defamation case, said the Pirates of the Caribbean star went from the top of Hollywood’s A-list to someone struggling to find work and pay his bills despite having earned more than 600 million. “He was the biggest star in the world,...

It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth time that the attorney questioning Ellen Barkin about her 1990s fling with Johnny Depp called it a “romantic relationship” that she finally had heard enough.

“Can we call it sexual?” Barkin, well … barked at the lawyer.

From that moment forward, all references were to a “sexual relationship.”

Whatever was missing between Barkin and Depp – who met in 1990 and began “getting physical” on the 1994 “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” set – that would have made it “romantic,” she wouldn’t say. But testifying Thursday via videotaped deposition, it was clear that experiences with Depp as a jealous, controlling, and constantly intoxicated beau were not unique to Amber Heard.

Also Read:

Former Johnny Depp Lawyer Says He’s ‘Seen Evidence’ of Amber Heard ‘Abuse Hoax’

Barkin said she and Depp became friends first, and that he “flipped the switch” to a physical relationship when...

Sneak Peek the 2011 feature "The Rum Diary", starring actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard:

Based on the novel of the same name by author Hunter S. Thompson, "The Rum Diary" is directed by Bruce Robinson.

"...'Paul Kemp' (Depp) is an itinerant journalist who tires of New York and America under the Eisenhower administration and travels to Puerto Rico to write for 'The San Juan Star'.

"Kemp begins the habit of drinking rum and becomes obsessed with the woman' Chenault' (Heard)..."

Also appearing in the film are Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Jenkins, Bill Smitrovich, Michael Rispoli, Julian Holloway, Amaury Nolasco, Marshall Bell, Karen Austin and Jason Smith.

'Gonzo' journalist Thompson wrote "The Rum Diary" in 1961, but the novel was not published until 1998.

In 2007, producer Graham King acquired rights to the property and sought to film the adaptation under Warner Independent Pictures, with Depp, who previously starred in...

Tfl has also unveiled the 10 writers picked for the inaugural edition of its SeriesLab – Talents scheme.

The TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has unveiled the 20 new projects selected for its 2022 ScriptLab, and the 10 writers picked for the inaugural edition of its SeriesLab – Talents scheme.

The ScriptLab is a nine-month scriptwriting programme involving feature films at an early stage of development. This year’s iteration focused on comedies, with eight of the 20 projects written by women.

Composed of two week-long residential workshops, one in Turin and one in Finland, as well as three online modules, the ScriptLab also feeds in to TorinoFilmLab annual industry event the Tfl Meeting.