Showbiz History: Rasputin, Kiss Me Kate, and Way of the Dragon

7 random things that happened on this day, December 30th, in history 

Veidt, Lee, and Rickman as "Rasputin" in various projects

1916 Russian mystic Raputin, who had great influence with the Romanov family, is assassinated in his sleep. He's been portrayed dozens of times onscreen. Some famous actors who have played him include Conradt Veidt (Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen), Lionel Barrymore (Rasputin and the Empress), Christopher Lee (Rasputin the Mad Monk), Alan Rickman (Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny - Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe wins for Best Actor in TV Movie or Miniseries), and the voice of Christopher Lloyd (Anastasia). The next actors to play him will be Rhys Ifans (The King's Man, 2021), and maybe Leonardo DiCaprio in a biopic though Leo doesn't even make a fifth of the projects he's attached to. He's currently attached to 45 titles (!!!) according to IMDb Pro... though most are only "optioned" or in some unknown stage of development.

Miley Cyrus, Daniel Sunjata, Kiss Me Kate, Way of the Dragon, "My Way" and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Monty @ 100: Stardom's Peak in "From Here To Eternity"

by Nathaniel R

Calling your picture From Here To Eternity, even if that's the name of the book its based on, is a major flex and a tempting of fate. How to live up to the title? 1950s and 1960s movies did this frequently, of course, in their battle against the looming threat of television. Screens got bigger and wider and the studio system was, if already mortally wounded, still working hard at making their movie stars iconic. Titles like Giant, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Greatest Show on Earth, frequently dared to proclaim their epic-ness, and if the titles weren't size-conscious, why not add an exclamation point a la Oliver!, Hello, Dolly!, Viva Zapata! or I Want To Live!  In this lust for enormous movies, From Here To Eternity stands out, not just for living up to its promise and being eminently swoon-worthy but for its relative modesty -- capturing something grandiose merely by inhabiting the sealed world and social lives of soldiers and their women on the brink of cataclysmic change. It might have been mere soap opera without the skillful direction of Fred Zinneman and the simple fact that the stars themselves were monumental.

Chief among them was Montgomery Clift, scoring his third Best Actor nomination with his eighth film...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: "Shame"

by Chris Feil

There is reinvention of a golden standard and then there is what Shame does with “New York, New York”. Carey Mulligan’s Sissy interrupts the life her sex addict brother Brandon, played by Michael Fassbender, initiating his decent into rock bottom. But when he goes to see her perform in some anonymously upscale bar, her rendition of Frank Sinatra’s musical calling card similarly halts the film’s syncopated rhythms. Sparsely orchestrated, Sissy goes off-melody and off-tradition, singing an unexpectedly fragile version that McQueen uses to link the emotional brokenness between siblings. Decidedly not the triumph we are used to hearing in a Sinatra horn section...

Click to read more ...

26 Days Until Oscar. Sing-along with Sammy Cahn

On this 26th day before Oscar, why not sing along to classic tunes co-written by Sam Cahn who received an incredible 26 Oscar nominations. He was so popular in his time that he even posed for pictures like this! Hee.

Yes, dear reader, there are people with more Oscar nominations than Meryl Streep.  Not many of them, mind you, and the bulk of them seem to be from the sound or music branches...

Click to read more ...

On This Day: Marie Curie, Steve McQueen, Bush v Gore

On this day in showbiz history... 

15 Agrippina the Younger, the sister of the infamous Caligula and wife of Claudius is born. She's been played in movies for film and television by actresses like Barbara Young (I Claudius), Lori Wagner (Caligula), and Ava Gardner (A.D.) among others
1867 Pioneering physicist Marie Curie is born in Poland. 76 years later her biopic Madame Curie is nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress (Greer Garson). It's worth noting that there's a new Polish biopic about her life opening next month in Europe starring Karolina Gruszka 
1874 Political cartoonist Thomas Nast first uses the elephant to symbolize the Republican party in an illustration...

Click to read more ...