News

A giant of American theater and cinema passed away today. Mike Nichols put his name to such classics as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate as well as beloved works like Catch 22, Working Girl and True Colors.

Golden Globe-winning director Mike Nichols has died at the age of 83. Nichols was nominated for six Golden Globes, winning in 1968 for The Graduate and in 1997 for The Birdcage.

Dumb and Dumber To beat Big Hero 6 to the punch and finished light-years ahead of Interstellar on the domestic market to come in first place with $38. 1 million in its opening weekend.

The HFPA tradition of giving to worthy cases did not stop with the grants dinner at which almost $2 million was given away. Since then the donations have continued to a variety of charitable organizations, and although the emphasis remains on entertainment-related causes, many others have benefited, too.

A great friend to the HFPA, powerhouse PR consultant and awards strategist Nadia Bronson has left us all too soon. Her long time friend Harvey Weinstein says it best in this touching tribute published in Deadline: Acerbic.

For almost four decades she was one of the most respected and trusted brokers between Hollywood’s studios and the journalists of the HFPA. Now, at age 67, Nadia Bronson died following a long battle with cancer.

On November 9, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mikhail Gorbachev was proclaimed "Man of the Century". The Berlin-based Cinema for Peace foundation organized a "Heroes" gala in the ballroom of the Hotel Adlon where the 83 year old winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was celebrated with eulogies and repeated standing ovations.

Faced with tough competition in its ailing home market, Interstellar was forced to venture to distant multiplexes to find the top spot in this weekend’s global box office. Christopher Nolan’s ambitious galactic odyssey, starring Mathew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine, had a cumulative opening of $132.

It might not be surprising to learn that Deborah Nadoolman Landis is the costume designer responsible for the clothes seen in such classics as The Blues Brothers, Animal House and Trading Places; those films are after all directed by her husband John Landis. But the Academy Award nominated designer is also responsible for such iconic items as Harrison Ford’s fedora in Indiana Jones and the red leather jacket that Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video and she was twice president of the Costume Designers Guild.

A Friday Halloween is a godsend for anyone looking to enjoy the yearly night of frightful revelry, so long as they aren’t a studio executive. This weekend’s plethora of activities, from trick or treating to haunted houses to the intrinsic excitement of one of America’s favorite traditions, the rowdy costume party, left audiences with a number of more enticing choices than the movies for their evening entertainment.