Nicolas Cage’s Face/Off freak-out: how a deranged action film sent him over the edge
A piece of serendipity eventually came in 1995, when Werb and Colleary watched John Woo’s 1989 classic Hong Kong action thriller The Killer. Its themes of duality,…
‘A despicable pig’: What About Bob?, the film that revealed the truth about Bill Murray
The film was shot in 1990 in Moneta, Virginia. According to Frank Oz, production was “incredibly difficult, incredibly full of tension”. The director said: “I was really…
Why The Vikings drove Kirk Douglas berserk
A day before the 1958 premiere of The Vikings, Kirk Douglas steered the longship of good publicity. He was hoisted almost 100ft above Times Square in a…
Comrade Dad, the chilling BBC sitcom that gave us ‘Londongrad’ – and enraged the Soviets
Watched with almost 40 years’ hindsight, Comrade Dad sometimes feels like serious-minded satire. There were other WW3-themed sitcoms from the time: Only Fools and Horses building a…
The Beatles, the Stones and me: super-producer Glyn Johns on his adventures in rock
“We went to Paris for some reason, and he asked me to go to his hotel room. This parcel was delivered from some French clothes manufacturer. The…
Del Boy and Rodders face the end: inside Only Fools’ darkest hour
After finally settling on a safe place to build their shelter, Del, Rodney, and Grandad do a weekend’s trial. Huddled together, they ponder the complexities and realities…
Jennifer Aniston’s St Patrick’s Day purgatory: the horrors of Leprechaun
“I don’t think for a minute we, as filmmakers, pretend they’re anything else other than entertaining popcorn movies,” Davis would say in 2014. “I get tweets daily…
To The Manor Born made Peter Bowles a superstar – just not at the BBC
I only met the late Peter Bowles once, but it was a memorable evening. I was a young freelance diary journalist for the Evening Standard, routinely sent…
William Hurt’s bad trip: the mind-bending power of Altered States
What he did not mention was that Chayefsky’s full creative control meant that he would have rejected any established performer whose persona would have caused audiences to…
Julie Newmar, the original Catwoman: ‘MeToo? Men are men and women are women’
When it comes to assessing the other actresses who have played Catwoman, the role that she pioneered in the 1960s Batman TV series, Julie Newmar keeps to…
What real-life mobsters really thought of The Godfather
The FBI saw mobsters emulating the movie – kissing rings, carrying themselves like the characters, and using the term Godfather (which was invented by Puzo – possibly…
Clash of the captains: Kirk, Picard and the battle behind Star Trek Generations
Star Trek writers Ronald D Moore and Brannon Braga slouched into their boss’s office on the Paramount Studio lot in the summer of 1992 expecting to be…
How the ‘nightmarish’ classic Nosferatu was almost destroyed – by one furious widow
The original screen Dracula – Nosferatu – was supposed to be destroyed. Not by sunlight, a stake through the heart or a generous helping of garlic, but…
The lost Hitchcock film that contains the seeds of Vertigo and North by Northwest
The director Alfred Hitchcock is one of the rare filmmakers whose surname has become an adjective. If something is dubbed “Hitchcockian”, it usually means it will be…
Bloodthirsty gods and gracious men: the brutal truth about Vikings
Somewhere in the Wicklow Mountains, actor Travis Fimmel was hung in a cage – suspended high above a pit of venomous snakes. These were the final moments…
The Fury Road feud: why Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy hated each other
This was a challenge for Hardy in particular. On set, the film-making was broken down to an intricate series of set-pieces. He felt Miller was getting lost…
How The Godfather saved Brando’s career – and enraged Sinatra
This year, Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal film The Godfather celebrates its 50th anniversary. It is regularly hailed as the greatest picture ever made, and is deeply imbued…
How Warren Beatty almost killed Dave – Ivan Reitman’s finest film
The death of Ivan Reitman, at the age of 75, on 12 February, has not only robbed contemporary cinema of one of its kindest practitioners, but it…
Barack Obama has good taste – why Dave is Ivan Reitman’s finest film
The death of Ivan Reitman, at the age of 75, on 12 February, has not only robbed contemporary cinema of one of its kindest practitioners, but it…
Why everyone was wrong about Ghostbusters II
Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and, erm, Slimer all reprised their roles. Murray poked fun at Weaver on set by calling her “double Academy Award…
Buster Keaton by James Curtis review: brilliant, myth-busting biography of the king of deadpan
In 1917, Keaton teamed up with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle to launch his film career, creating short “two-reeler” comedies for a New York studio. His ingenuity as actor…
‘An excessive amount of slaughter’: what The Longest Day got right – and wrong – about Normandy
The battle on Omaha – multiple efforts along four-and-a-half miles of beach, further mythologised by Saving Private Ryan – now seems amusingly simplified by The Longest Day….
Pam & Tommy’s wildest moments: what really happened?
Based on all evidence of Tommy Lee, and the words of the real Rand Gauthier, this seems pretty accurate. After all, Lee approved the show. He did…
Shotguns, fake dogs and avenging Hells Angels: fact-checking Pam & Tommy’s wildest moments
Based on all evidence of Tommy Lee, and the words of the real Rand Gauthier, this seems pretty accurate. After all, Lee approved the show. He did…
The silliest, sexiest spy movie ever made: Monica Vitti and the folly of Modesty Blaise
The actress Monica Vitti, who has died at the age of 90, was one of the shining stars of post-war Italian cinema, not least for her professional…