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As well as being a boon for the small Ruapehu District town, it's also one for the history buffs, as it is thought the Royal is the oldest provincial cinema in New Zealand still in existence.
Girls Gone Hallmark is an award-winning podcast for all things Hallmark Channel! In today's new episode, co-hosts Megan and Wendy, treat listeners to a fan-favorite request. Listen to their review of "Love at First Dance" which first premiered on Hallmark in 2018. This charming movie stars Niall Matter, Becca Tobin, and was written by prolific Hallmark writer Nina Weinman. Plus, grab your BINGO cards because there are a few squares to tick off with this review. Don't miss our reviews of "The Way Home." Girls Gone Hallmark drops a recap/review of the incredible second season every Wednesday. Start here with S2 Ep 1 Feeling Generous? We Need Your 5-STAR Ratings and Reviews Spotify Podcast listeners: Spotify allows listeners to rate podcast episodes. Once you listen to a podcast for at least 30 seconds, you get the option to rate it between one and five stars. Return to the podcast's main page and tap the star icon. Then, tap submit. "Love at First Dance" Hallmark Trailer About "Love at First Dance" "Love at First Dance" first premiered on June 16, 2018. Mark Jean directed "Love at First Dance." Mark as 65 directing credits including, most recently, "Holiday Hotline" from 2023. His directing career dates back to 1985 where his first directorial project was an episode of “Tales from the Darkside” - a horror anthology series. Nina Weinman wrote the script. Everyone knows Nina. She currently has 32 writing credits including "Catch Me If You Claus" from last year's Countdown Christmas. She also wrote another movie starring Niall Matter - “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater” in 2020. Becca Tobin stars as Hope. Becca has just 15 acting credits but also appeared in 49 episodes of the FOX series "Glee" as Kitty Wilde. For Hallmark, she was most recently in "The Wedding Contract" from the summer of 2023. Fan favorite Niall Matter plays Eric. Niall currently has 64 acting credits. We last saw him in “Holiday Hotline” and as DJ Ginger Jeff in “A Santa Summit.” We'd like to see Niall reprise his role as Jackson in the "Family History Mysteries" franchise. Cecilia Deacon plays fiancé Adrianna. Cecilia has 15 acting credits and appeared in “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again” and “A Timeless Christmas” for Hallmark. Also noteworthy, she has appeared in 2 episodes of the CW series “Nancy Drew” - BINGO. Call to add a square to the GGH BINGO card: Laura Soltis. Laura plays Leona. She appears in a lot of Hallmark movies and currently has 61 acting credits. We last saw her in “A Season for Family” during Countdown to Christmas. I'm ready for Laura to have a lead role for Hallmark. There aren't enough roles for women of a certain age and Barbara Niven needs a vacation. Niall Matter told Media Village in 2018 that this movie was filmed in both Victoria, B.C. as well as New York, saying “No green screen, it was real!” Other filming location included the Royal Theatre in Victoria as well as the Empress Hotel. Filming took place from late April to early May 2018. IMDB ratings are kind of low for this movie with 6.5/10. What's Coming to Girls Gone Hallmark in February?
You know him best from his time as a correspondent on the Daily Show and now Roy Wood Jr is touring across Canada with Just For Laughs! Johnny sat down with him and chatted all things Canada before his show this Friday at the Royal Theatre.
We finally complete our mini-series on the 1980s movies released by Miramax Films in 1989, a year that included sex, lies, and videotape, and My Left Foot. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. On this episode, we complete our look back at the 1980s theatrical releases for Miramax Films. And, for the final time, a reminder that we are not celebrating Bob and Harvey Weinstein, but reminiscing about the movies they had no involvement in making. We cannot talk about cinema in the 1980s without talking about Miramax, and I really wanted to get it out of the way, once and for all. As we left Part 4, Miramax was on its way to winning its first Academy Award, Billie August's Pelle the Conquerer, the Scandinavian film that would be second film in a row from Denmark that would win for Best Foreign Language Film. In fact, the first two films Miramax would release in 1989, the Australian film Warm Night on a Slow Moving Train and the Anthony Perkins slasher film Edge of Sanity, would not arrive in theatres until the Friday after the Academy Awards ceremony that year, which was being held on the last Wednesday in March. Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train stars Wendy Hughes, the talented Australian actress who, sadly, is best remembered today as Lt. Commander Nella Daren, one of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's few love interests, on a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Jenny, a prostitute working a weekend train to Sydney, who is seduced by a man on the train, unaware that he plans on tricking her to kill someone for him. Colin Friels, another great Aussie actor who unfortunately is best known for playing the corrupt head of Strack Industries in Sam Raimi's Darkman, plays the unnamed man who will do anything to get what he wants. Director Bob Ellis and his co-screenwriter Denny Lawrence came up with the idea for the film while they themselves were traveling on a weekend train to Sydney, with the idea that each client the call girl met on the train would represent some part of the Australian male. Funding the $2.5m film was really simple… provided they cast Hughes in the lead role. Ellis and Lawrence weren't against Hughes as an actress. Any film would be lucky to have her in the lead. They just felt she she didn't have the right kind of sex appeal for this specific character. Miramax would open the film in six theatres, including the Cineplex Beverly Center in Los Angeles and the Fashion Village 8 in Orlando, on March 31st. There were two versions of the movie prepared, one that ran 130 minutes and the other just 91. Miramax would go with the 91 minute version of the film for the American release, and most of the critics would note how clunky and confusing the film felt, although one critic for the Village Voice would have some kind words for Ms. Hughes' performance. Whether it was because moviegoers were too busy seeing the winners of the just announced Academy Awards, including Best Picture winner Rain Man, or because this weekend was also the opening weekend of the new Major League Baseball season, or just turned off by the reviews, attendance at the theatres playing Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train was as empty as a train dining car at three in the morning. The Beverly Center alone would account for a third of the movie's opening weekend gross of $19,268. After a second weekend at the same six theatres pocketing just $14,382, this train stalled out, never to arrive at another station. Their other March 31st release, Edge of Sanity, is notable for two things and only two things: it would be the first film Miramax would release under their genre specialty label, Millimeter Films, which would eventually evolve into Dimension Films in the next decade, and it would be the final feature film to star Anthony Perkins before his passing in 1992. The film is yet another retelling of the classic 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson story The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, with the bonus story twist that Hyde was actually Jack the Ripper. As Jekyll, Perkins looks exactly as you'd expect a mid-fifties Norman Bates to look. As Hyde, Perkins is made to look like he's a backup keyboardist for the first Nine Inch Nails tour. Head Like a Hole would have been an appropriate song for the end credits, had the song or Pretty Hate Machine been released by that time, with its lyrics about bowing down before the one you serve and getting what you deserve. Edge of Sanity would open in Atlanta and Indianapolis on March 31st. And like so many other Miramax releases in the 1980s, they did not initially announce any grosses for the film. That is, until its fourth weekend of release, when the film's theatre count had fallen to just six, down from the previous week's previously unannounced 35, grossing just $9,832. Miramax would not release grosses for the film again, with a final total of just $102,219. Now when I started this series, I said that none of the films Miramax released in the 1980s were made by Miramax, but this next film would become the closest they would get during the decade. In July 1961, John Profumo was the Secretary of State for War in the conservative government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, when the married Profumo began a sexual relationship with a nineteen-year-old model named Christine Keeler. The affair was very short-lived, either ending, depending on the source, in August 1961 or December 1961. Unbeknownst to Profumo, Keeler was also having an affair with Yevgeny Ivanov, a senior naval attache at the Soviet Embassy at the same time. No one was the wiser on any of this until December 1962, when a shooting incident involving two other men Keeler had been involved with led the press to start looking into Keeler's life. While it was never proven that his affair with Keeler was responsible for any breaches of national security, John Profumo was forced to resign from his position in June 1963, and the scandal would take down most of the Torie government with him. Prime Minister Macmillan would resign due to “health reasons” in October 1963, and the Labour Party would take control of the British government when the next elections were held in October 1964. Scandal was originally planned in the mid-1980s as a three-part, five-hour miniseries by Australian screenwriter Michael Thomas and American music producer turned movie producer Joe Boyd. The BBC would commit to finance a two-part, three-hour miniseries, until someone at the network found an old memo from the time of the Profumo scandal that forbade them from making any productions about it. Channel 4, which had been producing quality shows and movies for several years since their start in 1982, was approached, but rejected the series on the grounds of taste. Palace Pictures, a British production company who had already produced three films for Neil Jordan including Mona Lisa, was willing to finance the script, provided it could be whittled down to a two hour movie. Originally budgeted at 3.2m British pounds, the costs would rise as they started the casting process. John Hurt, twice Oscar-nominated for his roles in Midnight Express and The Elephant Man, would sign on to play Stephen Ward, a British osteopath who acted as Christine Keeler's… well… pimp, for lack of a better word. Ian McKellen, a respected actor on British stages and screens but still years away from finding mainstream global success in the X-Men movies, would sign on to play John Profumo. Joanne Whaley, who had filmed the yet to be released at that time Willow with her soon to be husband Val Kilmer, would get her first starring role as Keeler, and Bridget Fonda, who was quickly making a name for herself in the film world after being featured in Aria, would play Mandy Rice-Davies, the best friend and co-worker of Keeler's. To save money, Palace Pictures would sign thirty-year-old Scottish filmmaker Michael Caton-Jones to direct, after seeing a short film he had made called The Riveter. But even with the neophyte feature filmmaker, Palace still needed about $2.35m to be able to fully finance the film. And they knew exactly who to go to. Stephen Woolley, the co-founder of Palace Pictures and the main producer on the film, would fly from London to New York City to personally pitch Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Woolley felt that of all the independent distributors in America, they would be the ones most attracted to the sexual and controversial nature of the story. A day later, Woolley was back on a plane to London. The Weinsteins had agreed to purchase the American distribution rights to Scandal for $2.35m. The film would spend two months shooting in the London area through the summer of 1988. Christine Keeler had no interest in the film, and refused to meet the now Joanne Whaley-Kilmer to talk about the affair, but Mandy Rice-Davies was more than happy to Bridget Fonda about her life, although the meetings between the two women were so secret, they would not come out until Woolley eulogized Rice-Davies after her 2014 death. Although Harvey and Bob would be given co-executive producers on the film, Miramax was not a production company on the film. This, however, did not stop Harvey from flying to London multiple times, usually when he was made aware of some sexy scene that was going to shoot the following day, and try to insinuate himself into the film's making. At one point, Woolley decided to take a weekend off from the production, and actually did put Harvey in charge. That weekend's shoot would include a skinny-dipping scene featuring the Christine Keeler character, but when Whaley-Kilmer learned Harvey was going to be there, she told the director that she could not do the nudity in the scene. Her new husband was objecting to it, she told them. Harvey, not skipping a beat, found a lookalike for the actress who would be willing to bare all as a body double, and the scene would begin shooting a few hours later. Whaley-Kilmer watched the shoot from just behind the camera, and stopped the shoot a few minutes later. She was not happy that the body double's posterior was notably larger than her own, and didn't want audiences to think she had that much junk in her trunk. The body double was paid for her day, and Whaley-Kilmer finished the rest of the scene herself. Caton-Jones and his editing team worked on shaping the film through the fall, and would screen his first edit of the film for Palace Pictures and the Weinsteins in November 1988. And while Harvey was very happy with the cut, he still asked the production team for a different edit for American audiences, noting that most Americans had no idea who Profumo or Keeler or Rice-Davies were, and that Americans would need to understand the story more right out of the first frame. Caton-Jones didn't want to cut a single frame, but he would work with Harvey to build an American-friendly cut. While he was in London in November 1988, he would meet with the producers of another British film that was in pre-production at the time that would become another important film to the growth of the company, but we're not quite at that part of the story yet. We'll circle around to that film soon. One of the things Harvey was most looking forward to going in to 1989 was the expected battle with the MPAA ratings board over Scandal. Ever since he had seen the brouhaha over Angel Heart's X rating two years earlier, he had been looking for a similar battle. He thought he had it with Aria in 1988, but he knew he definitely had it now. And he'd be right. In early March, just a few weeks before the film's planned April 21st opening day, the MPAA slapped an X rating on Scandal. The MPAA usually does not tell filmmakers or distributors what needs to be cut, in order to avoid accusations of actual censorship, but according to Harvey, they told him exactly what needed to be cut to get an R: a two second shot during an orgy scene, where it appears two background characters are having unsimulated sex. So what did Harvey do? He spent weeks complaining to the press about MPAA censorship, generating millions in free publicity for the film, all the while already having a close-up shot of Joanne Whaley-Kilmer's Christine Keeler watching the orgy but not participating in it, ready to replace the objectionable shot. A few weeks later, Miramax screened the “edited” film to the MPAA and secured the R rating, and the film would open on 94 screens, including 28 each in the New York City and Los Angeles metro regions, on April 28th. And while the reviews for the film were mostly great, audiences were drawn to the film for the Miramax-manufactured controversy as well as the key art for the film, a picture of a potentially naked Joanne Whaley-Kilmer sitting backwards in a chair, a mimic of a very famous photo Christine Keeler herself took to promote a movie about the Profumo affair she appeared in a few years after the events. I'll have a picture of both the Scandal poster and the Christine Keeler photo on this episode's page at The80sMoviePodcast.com Five other movies would open that weekend, including the James Belushi comedy K-9 and the Kevin Bacon drama Criminal Law, and Scandal, with $658k worth of ticket sales, would have the second best per screen average of the five new openers, just a few hundred dollars below the new Holly Hunter movie Miss Firecracker, which only opened on six screens. In its second weekend, Scandal would expand its run to 214 playdates, and make its debut in the national top ten, coming in tenth place with $981k. That would be more than the second week of the Patrick Dempsey rom-com Loverboy, even though Loverboy was playing on 5x as many screens. In weekend number three, Scandal would have its best overall gross and top ten placement, coming in seventh with $1.22m from 346 screens. Scandal would start to slowly fade after that, falling back out of the top ten in its sixth week, but Miramax would wisely keep the screen count under 375, because Scandal wasn't going to play well in all areas of the country. After nearly five months in theatres, Miramax would have its biggest film to date. Scandal would gross $8.8m. The second release from Millimeter Films was The Return of the Swamp Thing. And if you needed a reason why the 1980s was not a good time for comic book movies, here you are. The Return of the Swamp Thing took most of what made the character interesting in his comic series, and most of what was good from the 1982 Wes Craven adaptation, and decided “Hey, you know what would bring the kids in? Camp! Camp unseen in a comic book adaptation since the 1960s Batman series. They loved it then, they'll love it now!” They did not love it now. Heather Locklear, between her stints on T.J. Hooker and Melrose Place, plays the step-daughter of Louis Jourdan's evil Dr. Arcane from the first film, who heads down to the Florida swaps to confront dear old once presumed dead stepdad. He in turns kidnaps his stepdaughter and decides to do some of his genetic experiments on her, until she is rescued by Swamp Thing, one of Dr. Arcane's former co-workers who got turned into the gooey anti-hero in the first movie. The film co-stars Sarah Douglas from Superman 1 and 2 as Dr. Arcane's assistant, Dick Durock reprising his role as Swamp Thing from the first film, and 1980s B-movie goddess Monique Gabrielle as Miss Poinsettia. For director Jim Wynorski, this was his sixth movie as a director, and at $3m, one of the highest budgeted movies he would ever make. He's directed 107 movies since 1984, most of them low budget direct to video movies with titles like The Bare Wench Project and Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade, although he does have one genuine horror classic under his belt, the 1986 sci-fi tinged Chopping Maul with Kelli Maroney and Barbara Crampton. Wynorski suggested in a late 1990s DVD commentary for the film that he didn't particularly enjoy making the film, and had a difficult time directing Louis Jourdan, to the point that outside of calling “action” and “cut,” the two didn't speak to each other by the end of the shoot. The Return of Swamp Thing would open in 123 theatres in the United States on May 12th, including 28 in the New York City metro region, 26 in the Los Angeles area, 15 in Detroit, and a handful of theatres in Phoenix, San Francisco. And, strangely, the newspaper ads would include an actual positive quote from none other than Roger Ebert, who said on Siskel & Ebert that he enjoyed himself, and that it was good to have Swamp Thing back. Siskel would not reciprocate his balcony partner's thumb up. But Siskel was about the only person who was positive on the return of Swamp Thing, and that box office would suffer. In its first three days, the film would gross just $119,200. After a couple more dismal weeks in theatres, The Return of Swamp Thing would be pulled from distribution, with a final gross of just $275k. Fun fact: The Return of Swamp Thing was produced by Michael E. Uslan, whose next production, another adaptation of a DC Comics character, would arrive in theatres not six weeks later and become the biggest film of the summer. In fact, Uslan has been a producer or executive producer on every Batman-related movie and television show since 1989, from Tim Burton to Christopher Nolan to Zack Snyder to Matt Reeves, and from LEGO movies to Joker. He also, because of his ownership of the movie rights to Swamp Thing, got the movie screen rights, but not the television screen rights, to John Constantine. Miramax didn't have too much time to worry about The Return of Swamp Thing's release, as it was happening while the Brothers Weinstein were at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. They had two primary goals at Cannes that year: To buy American distribution rights to any movie that would increase their standing in the cinematic worldview, which they would achieve by picking up an Italian dramedy called, at the time, New Paradise Cinema, which was competing for the Palme D'Or with a Miramax pickup from Sundance back in January. Promote that very film, which did end up winning the Palme D'Or. Ever since he was a kid, Steven Soderbergh wanted to be a filmmaker. Growing up in Baton Rouge, LA in the late 1970s, he would enroll in the LSU film animation class, even though he was only 15 and not yet a high school graduate. After graduating high school, he decided to move to Hollywood to break into the film industry, renting an above-garage room from Stephen Gyllenhaal, the filmmaker best known as the father of Jake and Maggie, but after a few freelance editing jobs, Soderbergh packed up his things and headed home to Baton Rouge. Someone at Atco Records saw one of Soderbergh's short films, and hired him to direct a concert movie for one of their biggest bands at the time, Yes, who was enjoying a major comeback thanks to their 1983 triple platinum selling album, 90125. The concert film, called 9012Live, would premiere on MTV in late 1985, and it would be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Soderbergh would use the money he earned from that project, $7,500, to make Winston, a 12 minute black and white short about sexual deception that he would, over the course of an eight day driving trip from Baton Rouge to Los Angeles, expand to a full length screen that he would call sex, lies and videotape. In later years, Soderbergh would admit that part of the story is autobiographical, but not the part you might think. Instead of the lead, Graham, an impotent but still sexually perverse late twentysomething who likes to tape women talking about their sexual fantasies for his own pleasure later, Soderbergh based the husband John, the unsophisticated lawyer who cheats on his wife with her sister, on himself, although there would be a bit of Graham that borrows from the filmmaker. Like his lead character, Soderbergh did sell off most of his possessions and hit the road to live a different life. When he finished the script, he sent it out into the wilds of Hollywood. Morgan Mason, the son of actor James Mason and husband of Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle, would read it and sign on as an executive producer. Soderbergh had wanted to shoot the film in black and white, like he had with the Winston short that lead to the creation of this screenplay, but he and Mason had trouble getting anyone to commit to the project, even with only a projected budget of $200,000. For a hot moment, it looked like Universal might sign on to make the film, but they would eventually pass. Robert Newmyer, who had left his job as a vice president of production and acquisitions at Columbia Pictures to start his own production company, signed on as a producer, and helped to convince Soderbergh to shoot the film in color, and cast some name actors in the leading roles. Once he acquiesced, Richard Branson's Virgin Vision agreed to put up $540k of the newly budgeted $1.2m film, while RCA/Columbia Home Video would put up the remaining $660k. Soderbergh and his casting director, Deborah Aquila, would begin their casting search in New York, where they would meet with, amongst others, Andie MacDowell, who had already starred in two major Hollywood pictures, 1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and 1985's St. Elmo's Fire, but was still considered more of a top model than an actress, and Laura San Giacomo, who had recently graduated from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh and would be making her feature debut. Moving on to Los Angeles, Soderbergh and Aquila would cast James Spader, who had made a name for himself as a mostly bad guy in 80s teen movies like Pretty in Pink and Less Than Zero, but had never been the lead in a drama like this. At Spader's suggestion, the pair met with Peter Gallagher, who was supposed to become a star nearly a decade earlier from his starring role in Taylor Hackford's The Idolmaker, but had mostly been playing supporting roles in television shows and movies for most of the decade. In order to keep the budget down, Soderbergh, the producers, cinematographer Walt Lloyd and the four main cast members agreed to get paid their guild minimums in exchange for a 50/50 profit participation split with RCA/Columbia once the film recouped its costs. The production would spend a week in rehearsals in Baton Rouge, before the thirty day shoot began on August 1st, 1988. On most days, the shoot was unbearable for many, as temperatures would reach as high as 110 degrees outside, but there were a couple days lost to what cinematographer Lloyd said was “biblical rains.” But the shoot completed as scheduled, and Soderbergh got to the task of editing right away. He knew he only had about eight weeks to get a cut ready if the film was going to be submitted to the 1989 U.S. Film Festival, now better known as Sundance. He did get a temporary cut of the film ready for submission, with a not quite final sound mix, and the film was accepted to the festival. It would make its world premiere on January 25th, 1989, in Park City UT, and as soon as the first screening was completed, the bids from distributors came rolling in. Larry Estes, the head of RCA/Columbia Home Video, would field more than a dozen submissions before the end of the night, but only one distributor was ready to make a deal right then and there. Bob Weinstein wasn't totally sold on the film, but he loved the ending, and he loved that the word “sex” not only was in the title but lead the title. He knew that title alone would sell the movie. Harvey, who was still in New York the next morning, called Estes to make an appointment to meet in 24 hours. When he and Estes met, he brought with him three poster mockups the marketing department had prepared, and told Estes he wasn't going to go back to New York until he had a contract signed, and vowed to beat any other deal offered by $100,000. Island Pictures, who had made their name releasing movies like Stop Making Sense, Kiss of the Spider-Woman, The Trip to Bountiful and She's Gotta Have It, offered $1m for the distribution rights, plus a 30% distribution fee and a guaranteed $1m prints and advertising budget. Estes called Harvey up and told him what it would take to make the deal. $1.1m for the distribution rights, which needed to paid up front, a $1m P&A budget, to be put in escrow upon the signing of the contract until the film was released, a 30% distribution fee, no cutting of the film whatsoever once Soderbergh turns in his final cut, they would need to provide financial information for the films costs and returns once a month because of the profit participation contracts, and the Weinsteins would have to hire Ira Deutchman, who had spent nearly 15 years in the independent film world, doing marketing for Cinema 5, co-founding United Artists Classics, and co-founding Cinecom Pictures before opening his own company to act as a producers rep and marketer. And the Weinsteins would not only have to do exactly what Deutchman wanted, they'd have to pay for his services too. The contract was signed a few weeks later. The first move Miramax would make was to get Soderbergh's final cut of the film entered into the Cannes Film Festival, where it would be accepted to compete in the main competition. Which you kind of already know what happened, because that's what I lead with. The film would win the Palme D'Or, and Spader would be awarded the festival's award for Best Actor. It was very rare at the time, and really still is, for any film to be awarded more than one prize, so winning two was really a coup for the film and for Miramax, especially when many critics attending the festival felt Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing was the better film. In March, Miramax expected the film to make around $5-10m, which would net the company a small profit on the film. After Cannes, they were hopeful for a $15m gross. They never expected what would happen next. On August 4th, sex, lies, and videotape would open on four screens, at the Cinema Studio in New York City, and at the AMC Century 14, the Cineplex Beverly Center 13 and the Mann Westwood 4 in Los Angeles. Three prime theatres and the best they could do in one of the then most competitive zones in all America. Remember, it's still the Summer 1989 movie season, filled with hits like Batman, Dead Poets Society, Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Lethal Weapon 2, Parenthood, Turner & Hooch, and When Harry Met Sally. An independent distributor even getting one screen at the least attractive theatre in Westwood was a major get. And despite the fact that this movie wasn't really a summertime movie per se, the film would gross an incredible $156k in its first weekend from just these four theatres. Its nearly $40k per screen average would be 5x higher than the next closest film, Parenthood. In its second weekend, the film would expand to 28 theatres, and would bring in over $600k in ticket sales, its per screen average of $21,527 nearly triple its closest competitor, Parenthood again. The company would keep spending small, as it slowly expanded the film each successive week. Forty theatres in its third week, and 101 in its fourth. The numbers held strong, and in its fifth week, Labor Day weekend, the film would have its first big expansion, playing in 347 theatres. The film would enter the top ten for the first time, despite playing in 500 to 1500 fewer theatres than the other films in the top ten. In its ninth weekend, the film would expand to its biggest screen count, 534, before slowly drawing down as the other major Oscar contenders started their theatrical runs. The film would continue to play through the Oscar season of 1989, and when it finally left theatres in May 1989, its final gross would be an astounding $24.7m. Now, remember a few moments ago when I said that Miramax needed to provide financial statements every month for the profit participation contracts of Soderbergh, the producers, the cinematographer and the four lead actors? The film was so profitable for everyone so quickly that RCA/Columbia made its first profit participation payouts on October 17th, barely ten weeks after the film's opening. That same week, Soderbergh also made what was at the time the largest deal with a book publisher for the writer/director's annotated version of the screenplay, which would also include his notes created during the creation of the film. That $75,000 deal would be more than he got paid to make the movie as the writer and the director and the editor, not counting the profit participation checks. During the awards season, sex, lies, and videotape was considered to be one of the Oscars front runners for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and at least two acting nominations. The film would be nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress by the Golden Globes, and it would win the Spirit Awards for Best Picture, Soderbergh for Best Director, McDowell for Best Actress, and San Giacomo for Best Supporting Actress. But when the Academy Award nominations were announced, the film would only receive one nomination, for Best Original Screenplay. The same total and category as Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which many people also felt had a chance for a Best Picture and Best Director nomination. Both films would lose out to Tom Shulman's screenplay for Dead Poet's Society. The success of sex, lies, and videotape would launch Steven Soderbergh into one of the quirkiest Hollywood careers ever seen, including becoming the first and only director ever to be nominated twice for Best Director in the same year by the Motion Picture Academy, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America, in 2001 for directing Erin Brockovich and Traffic. He would win the Oscar for directing Traffic. Lost in the excitement of sex, lies, and videotape was The Little Thief, a French movie that had an unfortunate start as the screenplay François Truffaut was working on when he passed away in 1984 at the age of just 52. Directed by Claude Miller, whose principal mentor was Truffaut, The Little Thief starred seventeen year old Charlotte Gainsbourg as Janine, a young woman in post-World War II France who commits a series of larcenies to support her dreams of becoming wealthy. The film was a modest success in France when it opened in December 1988, but its American release date of August 25th, 1989, was set months in advance. So when it was obvious sex, lies, and videotape was going to be a bigger hit than they originally anticipated, it was too late for Miramax to pause the release of The Little Thief. Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City, and buoyed by favorable reviews from every major critic in town, The Little Thief would see $39,931 worth of ticket sales in its first seven days, setting a new house record at the theatre for the year. In its second week, the gross would only drop $47. For the entire week. And when it opened at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, its opening week gross of $30,654 would also set a new house record for the year. The film would expand slowly but surely over the next several weeks, often in single screen playdates in major markets, but it would never play on more than twenty-four screens in any given week. And after four months in theatres, The Little Thief, the last movie created one of the greatest film writers the world had ever seen, would only gross $1.056m in the United States. The next three releases from Miramax were all sent out under the Millimeter Films banner. The first, a supernatural erotic drama called The Girl in a Swing, was about an English antiques dealer who travels to Copenhagen where he meets and falls in love with a mysterious German-born secretary, whom he marries, only to discover a darker side to his new bride. Rupert Frazer, who played Christian Bale's dad in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, plays the antique dealer, while Meg Tilly the mysterious new bride. Filmed over a five week schedule in London and Copenhagen during May and June 1988, some online sources say the film first opened somewhere in California in December 1988, but I cannot find a single theatre not only in California but anywhere in the United States that played the film before its September 29th, 1989 opening date. Roger Ebert didn't like the film, and wished Meg Tilly's “genuinely original performance” was in a better movie. Opening in 26 theatres, including six theatres each in New York City and Los Angeles, and spurred on by an intriguing key art for the film that featured a presumed naked Tilly on a swing looking seductively at the camera while a notice underneath her warns that No One Under 18 Will Be Admitted To The Theatre, The Girl in a Swing would gross $102k, good enough for 35th place nationally that week. And that's about the best it would do. The film would limp along, moving from market to market over the course of the next three months, and when its theatrical run was complete, it could only manage about $747k in ticket sales. We'll quickly burn through the next two Millimeter Films releases, which came out a week apart from each other and didn't amount to much. Animal Behavior was a rather unfunny comedy featuring some very good actors who probably signed on for a very different movie than the one that came to be. Karen Allen, Miss Marion Ravenwood herself, stars as Alex, a biologist who, like Dr. Jane Goodall, develops a “new” way to communicate with chimpanzees via sign language. Armand Assante plays a cellist who pursues the good doctor, and Holly Hunter plays the cellist's neighbor, who Alex mistakes for his wife. Animal Behavior was filmed in 1984, and 1985, and 1987, and 1988. The initial production was directed by Jenny Bowen with the assistance of Robert Redford and The Sundance Institute, thanks to her debut film, 1981's Street Music featuring Elizabeth Daily. It's unknown why Bowen and her cinematographer husband Richard Bowen left the project, but when filming resumed again and again and again, those scenes were directed by the film's producer, Kjehl Rasmussen. Because Bowen was not a member of the DGA at the time, she was not able to petition the guild for the use of the Alan Smithee pseudonym, a process that is automatically triggered whenever a director is let go of a project and filming continues with its producer taking the reigns as director. But she was able to get the production to use a pseudonym anyway for the director's credit, H. Anne Riley, while also giving Richard Bowen a pseudonym of his own for his work on the film, David Spellvin. Opening on 24 screens on October 27th, Animal Behavior would come in 50th place in its opening weekend, grossing just $20,361. The New York film critics ripped the film apart, and there wouldn't be a second weekend for the film. The following Friday, November 3rd, saw the release of The Stepfather II, a rushed together sequel to 1987's The Stepfather, which itself wasn't a big hit in theatres but found a very quick and receptive audience on cable. Despite dying at the end of the first film, Terry O'Quinn's Jerry is somehow still alive, and institutionalized in Northern Washington state. He escapes and heads down to Los Angeles, where he assumes the identity of a recently deceased publisher, Gene Clifford, but instead passes himself off as a psychiatrist. Jerry, now Gene, begins to court his neighbor Carol, and the whole crazy story plays out again. Meg Foster plays the neighbor Carol, and Jonathan Brandis is her son. Director Jeff Burr had made a name for himself with his 1987 horror anthology film From a Whisper to a Scream, featuring Vincent Price, Clu Gulager and Terry Kiser, and from all accounts, had a very smooth shooting process with this film. The trouble began when he turned in his cut to the producers. The producers were happy with the film, but when they sent it to Miramax, the American distributors, they were rather unhappy with the almost bloodless slasher film. They demanded reshoots, which Burr and O'Quinn refused to participate in. They brought in a new director, Doug Campbell, to handle the reshoots, which are easy to spot in the final film because they look and feel completely different from the scenes they're spliced into. When it opened, The Stepfather II actually grossed slightly more than the first film did, earning $279k from 100 screens, compared to $260k for The Stepfather from 105 screens. But unlike the first film, which had some decent reviews when it opened, the sequel was a complete mess. To this day, it's still one of the few films to have a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Stepfather II would limp its way through theatres during the Christmas holiday season, ending its run with a $1.5m gross. But it would be their final film of the decade that would dictate their course for at least the first part of the 1990s. Remember when I said earlier in the episode that Harvey Weinstein meant with the producers of another British film while in London for Scandal? We're at that film now, a film you probably know. My Left Foot. By November 1988, actor Daniel Day-Lewis had starred in several movies including James Ivory's A Room With a View and Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He had even been the lead in a major Hollywood studio film, Pat O'Connor's Stars and Bars, a very good film that unfortunately got caught up in the brouhaha over the exit of the studio head who greenlit the film, David Puttnam. The film's director, Jim Sheridan, had never directed a movie before. He had become involved in stage production during his time at the University College in Dublin in the late 1960s, where he worked with future filmmaker Neil Jordan, and had spent nearly a decade after graduation doing stage work in Ireland and Canada, before settling in New York City in the early 1980s. Sheridan would go to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where one of his classmates was Spike Lee, and return to Ireland after graduating. He was nearly forty, married with two pre-teen daughters, and he needed to make a statement with his first film. He would find that story in the autobiography of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown, whose spirit and creativity could not be contained by his severe cerebral palsy. Along with Irish actor and writer Shane Connaughton, Sheridan wrote a screenplay that could be a powerhouse film made on a very tight budget of less than a million dollars. Daniel Day-Lewis was sent a copy of the script, in the hopes he would be intrigued enough to take almost no money to play a physically demanding role. He read the opening pages, which had the adult Christy Brown putting a record on a record player and dropping the needle on to the record with his left foot, and thought to himself it would be impossible to film. That intrigued him, and he signed on. But during filming in January and February of 1989, most of the scenes were shot using mirrors, as Day-Lewis couldn't do the scenes with his left foot. He could do them with his right foot, hence the mirrors. As a method actor, Day-Lewis remained in character as Christy Brown for the entire two month shoot. From costume fittings and makeup in the morning, to getting the actor on set, to moving him around between shots, there were crew members assigned to assist the actor as if they were Christy Brown's caretakers themselves, including feeding him during breaks in shooting. A rumor debunked by the actor years later said Day-Lewis had broken two ribs during production because of how hunched down he needed to be in his crude prop wheelchair to properly play the character. The actor had done a lot of prep work to play the role, including spending time at the Sandymount School Clinic where the young Christy Brown got his education, and much of his performance was molded on those young people. While Miramax had acquired the American distribution rights to the film before it went into production, and those funds went into the production of the film, the film was not produced by Miramax, nor were the Weinsteins given any kind of executive producer credit, as they were able to get themselves on Scandal. My Left Foot would make its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 4th, 1989, followed soon thereafter by screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13th and the New York Film Festival on September 23rd. Across the board, critics and audiences were in love with the movie, and with Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. Jim Sheridan would receive a special prize at the Montreal World Film Festival for his direction, and Day-Lewis would win the festival's award for Best Actor. However, as the film played the festival circuit, another name would start to pop up. Brenda Fricker, a little known Irish actress who played Christy Brown's supportive but long-suffering mother Bridget, would pile up as many positive notices and awards as Day-Lewis. Although there was no Best Supporting Actress Award at the Montreal Film Festival, the judges felt her performance was deserving of some kind of attention, so they would create a Special Mention of the Jury Award to honor her. Now, some sources online will tell you the film made its world premiere in Dublin on February 24th, 1989, based on a passage in a biography about Daniel Day-Lewis, but that would be impossible as the film would still be in production for two more days, and wasn't fully edited or scored by then. I'm not sure when it first opened in the United Kingdom other than sometime in early 1990, but My Left Foot would have its commercial theatre debut in America on November 10th, when opened at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City and the Century City 14 in Los Angeles. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times would, in the very opening paragraph of her review, note that one shouldn't see My Left Foot for some kind of moral uplift or spiritual merit badge, but because of your pure love of great moviemaking. Vincent Canby's review in the New York Times spends most of his words praising Day-Lewis and Sheridan for making a film that is polite and non-judgmental. Interestingly, Miramax went with an ad campaign that completely excluded any explanation of who Christy Brown was or why the film is titled the way it is. 70% of the ad space is taken from pull quotes from many of the top critics of the day, 20% with the title of the film, and 10% with a picture of Daniel Day-Lewis, clean shaven and full tooth smile, which I don't recall happening once in the movie, next to an obviously added-in picture of one of his co-stars that is more camera-friendly than Brenda Fricker or Fiona Shaw. Whatever reasons people went to see the film, they flocked to the two theatres playing the film that weekend. It's $20,582 per screen average would be second only to Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, which had opened two days earlier, earning slightly more than $1,000 per screen than My Left Foot. In week two, My Left Foot would gross another $35,133 from those two theatres, and it would overtake Henry V for the highest per screen average. In week three, Thanksgiving weekend, both Henry V and My Left Foot saw a a double digit increase in grosses despite not adding any theatres, and the latter film would hold on to the highest per screen average again, although the difference would only be $302. And this would continue for weeks. In the film's sixth week of release, it would get a boost in attention by being awarded Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle. Daniel Day-Lewis would be named Best Actor that week by both the New York critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, while Fricker would win the Best Supporting Actress award from the latter group. But even then, Miramax refused to budge on expanding the film until its seventh week of release, Christmas weekend, when My Left Foot finally moved into cities like Chicago and San Francisco. Its $135k gross that weekend was good, but it was starting to lose ground to other Oscar hopefuls like Born on the Fourth of July, Driving Miss Daisy, Enemies: A Love Story, and Glory. And even though the film continued to rack up award win after award win, nomination after nomination, from the Golden Globes and the Writers Guild and the National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review, Miramax still held firm on not expanding the film into more than 100 theatres nationwide until its 16th week in theatres, February 16th, 1990, two days after the announcement of the nominees for the 62nd Annual Academy Awards. While Daniel Day-Lewis's nomination for Best Actor was virtually assured and Brenda Fricker was practically a given, the film would pick up three other nominations, including surprise nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Jim Sheridan and co-writer Shane Connaughton would also get picked for Best Adapted Screenplay. Miramax also picked up a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for sex, lies, and videotape, and a Best Foreign Language Film nod for the Italian movie Cinema Paradiso, which, thanks to the specific rules for that category, a film could get a nomination before actually opening in theatres in America, which Miramax would rush to do with Paradiso the week after its nomination was announced. The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony would be best remembered today as being the first Oscar show to be hosted by Billy Crystal, and for being considerably better than the previous year's ceremony, a mess of a show best remembered as being the one with a 12 minute opening musical segment that included Rob Lowe singing Proud Mary to an actress playing Snow White and another nine minute musical segment featuring a slew of expected future Oscar winners that, to date, feature exact zero Oscar nominees, both which rank as amongst the worst things to ever happen to the Oscars awards show. The ceremony, held on March 26th, would see My Left Foot win two awards, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, as well as Cinema Paradiso for Best Foreign Film. The following weekend, March 30th, would see Miramax expand My Left Foot to 510 theatres, its widest point of release, and see the film made the national top ten and earn more than a million dollars for its one and only time during its eight month run. The film would lose steam pretty quickly after its post-win bump, but it would eek out a modest run that ended with $14.75m in ticket sales just in the United States. Not bad for a little Irish movie with no major stars that cost less than a million dollars to make. Of course, the early 90s would see Miramax fly to unimagined heights. In all of the 80s, Miramax would release 39 movies. They would release 30 films alone in 1991. They would release the first movies from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. They'd release some of the best films from some of the best filmmakers in the world, including Woody Allen, Pedro Almadovar, Robert Altman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Atom Egoyan, Steven Frears, Peter Greenaway, Peter Jackson, Neil Jordan, Chen Kaige, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Lars von Trier, and Zhang Yimou. In 1993, the Mexican dramedy Like Water for Chocolate would become the highest grossing foreign language film ever released in America, and it would play in some theatres, including my theatre, the NuWilshire in Santa Monica, continuously for more than a year. If you've listened to the whole series on the 1980s movies of Miramax Films, there are two things I hope you take away. First, I hope you discovered at least one film you hadn't heard of before and you might be interested in searching out. The second is the reminder that neither Bob nor Harvey Weinstein will profit in any way if you give any of the movies talked about in this series a chance. They sold Miramax to Disney in June 1993. They left Miramax in September 2005. Many of the contracts for the movies the company released in the 80s and 90s expired decades ago, with the rights reverting back to their original producers, none of whom made any deals with the Weinsteins once they got their rights back. Harvey Weinstein is currently serving a 23 year prison sentence in upstate New York after being found guilty in 2020 of two sexual assaults. Once he completes that sentence, he'll be spending another 16 years in prison in California, after he was convicted of three sexual assaults that happened in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. And if the 71 year old makes it to 107 years old, he may have to serve time in England for two sexual assaults that happened in August 1996. That case is still working its way through the British legal system. Bob Weinstein has kept a low profile since his brother's proclivities first became public knowledge in October 2017, although he would also be accused of sexual harassment by a show runner for the brothers' Spike TV-aired adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Mist, several days after the bombshell articles came out about his brother. However, Bob's lawyer, the powerful attorney to the stars Bert Fields, deny the allegations, and it appears nothing has occurred legally since the accusations were made. A few weeks after the start of the MeToo movement that sparked up in the aftermath of the accusations of his brother's actions, Bob Weinstein denied having any knowledge of the nearly thirty years of documented sexual abuse at the hands of his brother, but did allow to an interviewer for The Hollywood Reporter that he had barely spoken to Harvey over the previous five years, saying he could no longer take Harvey's cheating, lying and general attitude towards everyone. And with that, we conclude our journey with Miramax Films. While I am sure Bob and Harvey will likely pop up again in future episodes, they'll be minor characters at best, and we'll never have to focus on anything they did ever again. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 119 is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
We finally complete our mini-series on the 1980s movies released by Miramax Films in 1989, a year that included sex, lies, and videotape, and My Left Foot. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. On this episode, we complete our look back at the 1980s theatrical releases for Miramax Films. And, for the final time, a reminder that we are not celebrating Bob and Harvey Weinstein, but reminiscing about the movies they had no involvement in making. We cannot talk about cinema in the 1980s without talking about Miramax, and I really wanted to get it out of the way, once and for all. As we left Part 4, Miramax was on its way to winning its first Academy Award, Billie August's Pelle the Conquerer, the Scandinavian film that would be second film in a row from Denmark that would win for Best Foreign Language Film. In fact, the first two films Miramax would release in 1989, the Australian film Warm Night on a Slow Moving Train and the Anthony Perkins slasher film Edge of Sanity, would not arrive in theatres until the Friday after the Academy Awards ceremony that year, which was being held on the last Wednesday in March. Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train stars Wendy Hughes, the talented Australian actress who, sadly, is best remembered today as Lt. Commander Nella Daren, one of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's few love interests, on a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Jenny, a prostitute working a weekend train to Sydney, who is seduced by a man on the train, unaware that he plans on tricking her to kill someone for him. Colin Friels, another great Aussie actor who unfortunately is best known for playing the corrupt head of Strack Industries in Sam Raimi's Darkman, plays the unnamed man who will do anything to get what he wants. Director Bob Ellis and his co-screenwriter Denny Lawrence came up with the idea for the film while they themselves were traveling on a weekend train to Sydney, with the idea that each client the call girl met on the train would represent some part of the Australian male. Funding the $2.5m film was really simple… provided they cast Hughes in the lead role. Ellis and Lawrence weren't against Hughes as an actress. Any film would be lucky to have her in the lead. They just felt she she didn't have the right kind of sex appeal for this specific character. Miramax would open the film in six theatres, including the Cineplex Beverly Center in Los Angeles and the Fashion Village 8 in Orlando, on March 31st. There were two versions of the movie prepared, one that ran 130 minutes and the other just 91. Miramax would go with the 91 minute version of the film for the American release, and most of the critics would note how clunky and confusing the film felt, although one critic for the Village Voice would have some kind words for Ms. Hughes' performance. Whether it was because moviegoers were too busy seeing the winners of the just announced Academy Awards, including Best Picture winner Rain Man, or because this weekend was also the opening weekend of the new Major League Baseball season, or just turned off by the reviews, attendance at the theatres playing Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train was as empty as a train dining car at three in the morning. The Beverly Center alone would account for a third of the movie's opening weekend gross of $19,268. After a second weekend at the same six theatres pocketing just $14,382, this train stalled out, never to arrive at another station. Their other March 31st release, Edge of Sanity, is notable for two things and only two things: it would be the first film Miramax would release under their genre specialty label, Millimeter Films, which would eventually evolve into Dimension Films in the next decade, and it would be the final feature film to star Anthony Perkins before his passing in 1992. The film is yet another retelling of the classic 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson story The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, with the bonus story twist that Hyde was actually Jack the Ripper. As Jekyll, Perkins looks exactly as you'd expect a mid-fifties Norman Bates to look. As Hyde, Perkins is made to look like he's a backup keyboardist for the first Nine Inch Nails tour. Head Like a Hole would have been an appropriate song for the end credits, had the song or Pretty Hate Machine been released by that time, with its lyrics about bowing down before the one you serve and getting what you deserve. Edge of Sanity would open in Atlanta and Indianapolis on March 31st. And like so many other Miramax releases in the 1980s, they did not initially announce any grosses for the film. That is, until its fourth weekend of release, when the film's theatre count had fallen to just six, down from the previous week's previously unannounced 35, grossing just $9,832. Miramax would not release grosses for the film again, with a final total of just $102,219. Now when I started this series, I said that none of the films Miramax released in the 1980s were made by Miramax, but this next film would become the closest they would get during the decade. In July 1961, John Profumo was the Secretary of State for War in the conservative government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, when the married Profumo began a sexual relationship with a nineteen-year-old model named Christine Keeler. The affair was very short-lived, either ending, depending on the source, in August 1961 or December 1961. Unbeknownst to Profumo, Keeler was also having an affair with Yevgeny Ivanov, a senior naval attache at the Soviet Embassy at the same time. No one was the wiser on any of this until December 1962, when a shooting incident involving two other men Keeler had been involved with led the press to start looking into Keeler's life. While it was never proven that his affair with Keeler was responsible for any breaches of national security, John Profumo was forced to resign from his position in June 1963, and the scandal would take down most of the Torie government with him. Prime Minister Macmillan would resign due to “health reasons” in October 1963, and the Labour Party would take control of the British government when the next elections were held in October 1964. Scandal was originally planned in the mid-1980s as a three-part, five-hour miniseries by Australian screenwriter Michael Thomas and American music producer turned movie producer Joe Boyd. The BBC would commit to finance a two-part, three-hour miniseries, until someone at the network found an old memo from the time of the Profumo scandal that forbade them from making any productions about it. Channel 4, which had been producing quality shows and movies for several years since their start in 1982, was approached, but rejected the series on the grounds of taste. Palace Pictures, a British production company who had already produced three films for Neil Jordan including Mona Lisa, was willing to finance the script, provided it could be whittled down to a two hour movie. Originally budgeted at 3.2m British pounds, the costs would rise as they started the casting process. John Hurt, twice Oscar-nominated for his roles in Midnight Express and The Elephant Man, would sign on to play Stephen Ward, a British osteopath who acted as Christine Keeler's… well… pimp, for lack of a better word. Ian McKellen, a respected actor on British stages and screens but still years away from finding mainstream global success in the X-Men movies, would sign on to play John Profumo. Joanne Whaley, who had filmed the yet to be released at that time Willow with her soon to be husband Val Kilmer, would get her first starring role as Keeler, and Bridget Fonda, who was quickly making a name for herself in the film world after being featured in Aria, would play Mandy Rice-Davies, the best friend and co-worker of Keeler's. To save money, Palace Pictures would sign thirty-year-old Scottish filmmaker Michael Caton-Jones to direct, after seeing a short film he had made called The Riveter. But even with the neophyte feature filmmaker, Palace still needed about $2.35m to be able to fully finance the film. And they knew exactly who to go to. Stephen Woolley, the co-founder of Palace Pictures and the main producer on the film, would fly from London to New York City to personally pitch Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Woolley felt that of all the independent distributors in America, they would be the ones most attracted to the sexual and controversial nature of the story. A day later, Woolley was back on a plane to London. The Weinsteins had agreed to purchase the American distribution rights to Scandal for $2.35m. The film would spend two months shooting in the London area through the summer of 1988. Christine Keeler had no interest in the film, and refused to meet the now Joanne Whaley-Kilmer to talk about the affair, but Mandy Rice-Davies was more than happy to Bridget Fonda about her life, although the meetings between the two women were so secret, they would not come out until Woolley eulogized Rice-Davies after her 2014 death. Although Harvey and Bob would be given co-executive producers on the film, Miramax was not a production company on the film. This, however, did not stop Harvey from flying to London multiple times, usually when he was made aware of some sexy scene that was going to shoot the following day, and try to insinuate himself into the film's making. At one point, Woolley decided to take a weekend off from the production, and actually did put Harvey in charge. That weekend's shoot would include a skinny-dipping scene featuring the Christine Keeler character, but when Whaley-Kilmer learned Harvey was going to be there, she told the director that she could not do the nudity in the scene. Her new husband was objecting to it, she told them. Harvey, not skipping a beat, found a lookalike for the actress who would be willing to bare all as a body double, and the scene would begin shooting a few hours later. Whaley-Kilmer watched the shoot from just behind the camera, and stopped the shoot a few minutes later. She was not happy that the body double's posterior was notably larger than her own, and didn't want audiences to think she had that much junk in her trunk. The body double was paid for her day, and Whaley-Kilmer finished the rest of the scene herself. Caton-Jones and his editing team worked on shaping the film through the fall, and would screen his first edit of the film for Palace Pictures and the Weinsteins in November 1988. And while Harvey was very happy with the cut, he still asked the production team for a different edit for American audiences, noting that most Americans had no idea who Profumo or Keeler or Rice-Davies were, and that Americans would need to understand the story more right out of the first frame. Caton-Jones didn't want to cut a single frame, but he would work with Harvey to build an American-friendly cut. While he was in London in November 1988, he would meet with the producers of another British film that was in pre-production at the time that would become another important film to the growth of the company, but we're not quite at that part of the story yet. We'll circle around to that film soon. One of the things Harvey was most looking forward to going in to 1989 was the expected battle with the MPAA ratings board over Scandal. Ever since he had seen the brouhaha over Angel Heart's X rating two years earlier, he had been looking for a similar battle. He thought he had it with Aria in 1988, but he knew he definitely had it now. And he'd be right. In early March, just a few weeks before the film's planned April 21st opening day, the MPAA slapped an X rating on Scandal. The MPAA usually does not tell filmmakers or distributors what needs to be cut, in order to avoid accusations of actual censorship, but according to Harvey, they told him exactly what needed to be cut to get an R: a two second shot during an orgy scene, where it appears two background characters are having unsimulated sex. So what did Harvey do? He spent weeks complaining to the press about MPAA censorship, generating millions in free publicity for the film, all the while already having a close-up shot of Joanne Whaley-Kilmer's Christine Keeler watching the orgy but not participating in it, ready to replace the objectionable shot. A few weeks later, Miramax screened the “edited” film to the MPAA and secured the R rating, and the film would open on 94 screens, including 28 each in the New York City and Los Angeles metro regions, on April 28th. And while the reviews for the film were mostly great, audiences were drawn to the film for the Miramax-manufactured controversy as well as the key art for the film, a picture of a potentially naked Joanne Whaley-Kilmer sitting backwards in a chair, a mimic of a very famous photo Christine Keeler herself took to promote a movie about the Profumo affair she appeared in a few years after the events. I'll have a picture of both the Scandal poster and the Christine Keeler photo on this episode's page at The80sMoviePodcast.com Five other movies would open that weekend, including the James Belushi comedy K-9 and the Kevin Bacon drama Criminal Law, and Scandal, with $658k worth of ticket sales, would have the second best per screen average of the five new openers, just a few hundred dollars below the new Holly Hunter movie Miss Firecracker, which only opened on six screens. In its second weekend, Scandal would expand its run to 214 playdates, and make its debut in the national top ten, coming in tenth place with $981k. That would be more than the second week of the Patrick Dempsey rom-com Loverboy, even though Loverboy was playing on 5x as many screens. In weekend number three, Scandal would have its best overall gross and top ten placement, coming in seventh with $1.22m from 346 screens. Scandal would start to slowly fade after that, falling back out of the top ten in its sixth week, but Miramax would wisely keep the screen count under 375, because Scandal wasn't going to play well in all areas of the country. After nearly five months in theatres, Miramax would have its biggest film to date. Scandal would gross $8.8m. The second release from Millimeter Films was The Return of the Swamp Thing. And if you needed a reason why the 1980s was not a good time for comic book movies, here you are. The Return of the Swamp Thing took most of what made the character interesting in his comic series, and most of what was good from the 1982 Wes Craven adaptation, and decided “Hey, you know what would bring the kids in? Camp! Camp unseen in a comic book adaptation since the 1960s Batman series. They loved it then, they'll love it now!” They did not love it now. Heather Locklear, between her stints on T.J. Hooker and Melrose Place, plays the step-daughter of Louis Jourdan's evil Dr. Arcane from the first film, who heads down to the Florida swaps to confront dear old once presumed dead stepdad. He in turns kidnaps his stepdaughter and decides to do some of his genetic experiments on her, until she is rescued by Swamp Thing, one of Dr. Arcane's former co-workers who got turned into the gooey anti-hero in the first movie. The film co-stars Sarah Douglas from Superman 1 and 2 as Dr. Arcane's assistant, Dick Durock reprising his role as Swamp Thing from the first film, and 1980s B-movie goddess Monique Gabrielle as Miss Poinsettia. For director Jim Wynorski, this was his sixth movie as a director, and at $3m, one of the highest budgeted movies he would ever make. He's directed 107 movies since 1984, most of them low budget direct to video movies with titles like The Bare Wench Project and Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade, although he does have one genuine horror classic under his belt, the 1986 sci-fi tinged Chopping Maul with Kelli Maroney and Barbara Crampton. Wynorski suggested in a late 1990s DVD commentary for the film that he didn't particularly enjoy making the film, and had a difficult time directing Louis Jourdan, to the point that outside of calling “action” and “cut,” the two didn't speak to each other by the end of the shoot. The Return of Swamp Thing would open in 123 theatres in the United States on May 12th, including 28 in the New York City metro region, 26 in the Los Angeles area, 15 in Detroit, and a handful of theatres in Phoenix, San Francisco. And, strangely, the newspaper ads would include an actual positive quote from none other than Roger Ebert, who said on Siskel & Ebert that he enjoyed himself, and that it was good to have Swamp Thing back. Siskel would not reciprocate his balcony partner's thumb up. But Siskel was about the only person who was positive on the return of Swamp Thing, and that box office would suffer. In its first three days, the film would gross just $119,200. After a couple more dismal weeks in theatres, The Return of Swamp Thing would be pulled from distribution, with a final gross of just $275k. Fun fact: The Return of Swamp Thing was produced by Michael E. Uslan, whose next production, another adaptation of a DC Comics character, would arrive in theatres not six weeks later and become the biggest film of the summer. In fact, Uslan has been a producer or executive producer on every Batman-related movie and television show since 1989, from Tim Burton to Christopher Nolan to Zack Snyder to Matt Reeves, and from LEGO movies to Joker. He also, because of his ownership of the movie rights to Swamp Thing, got the movie screen rights, but not the television screen rights, to John Constantine. Miramax didn't have too much time to worry about The Return of Swamp Thing's release, as it was happening while the Brothers Weinstein were at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. They had two primary goals at Cannes that year: To buy American distribution rights to any movie that would increase their standing in the cinematic worldview, which they would achieve by picking up an Italian dramedy called, at the time, New Paradise Cinema, which was competing for the Palme D'Or with a Miramax pickup from Sundance back in January. Promote that very film, which did end up winning the Palme D'Or. Ever since he was a kid, Steven Soderbergh wanted to be a filmmaker. Growing up in Baton Rouge, LA in the late 1970s, he would enroll in the LSU film animation class, even though he was only 15 and not yet a high school graduate. After graduating high school, he decided to move to Hollywood to break into the film industry, renting an above-garage room from Stephen Gyllenhaal, the filmmaker best known as the father of Jake and Maggie, but after a few freelance editing jobs, Soderbergh packed up his things and headed home to Baton Rouge. Someone at Atco Records saw one of Soderbergh's short films, and hired him to direct a concert movie for one of their biggest bands at the time, Yes, who was enjoying a major comeback thanks to their 1983 triple platinum selling album, 90125. The concert film, called 9012Live, would premiere on MTV in late 1985, and it would be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Soderbergh would use the money he earned from that project, $7,500, to make Winston, a 12 minute black and white short about sexual deception that he would, over the course of an eight day driving trip from Baton Rouge to Los Angeles, expand to a full length screen that he would call sex, lies and videotape. In later years, Soderbergh would admit that part of the story is autobiographical, but not the part you might think. Instead of the lead, Graham, an impotent but still sexually perverse late twentysomething who likes to tape women talking about their sexual fantasies for his own pleasure later, Soderbergh based the husband John, the unsophisticated lawyer who cheats on his wife with her sister, on himself, although there would be a bit of Graham that borrows from the filmmaker. Like his lead character, Soderbergh did sell off most of his possessions and hit the road to live a different life. When he finished the script, he sent it out into the wilds of Hollywood. Morgan Mason, the son of actor James Mason and husband of Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle, would read it and sign on as an executive producer. Soderbergh had wanted to shoot the film in black and white, like he had with the Winston short that lead to the creation of this screenplay, but he and Mason had trouble getting anyone to commit to the project, even with only a projected budget of $200,000. For a hot moment, it looked like Universal might sign on to make the film, but they would eventually pass. Robert Newmyer, who had left his job as a vice president of production and acquisitions at Columbia Pictures to start his own production company, signed on as a producer, and helped to convince Soderbergh to shoot the film in color, and cast some name actors in the leading roles. Once he acquiesced, Richard Branson's Virgin Vision agreed to put up $540k of the newly budgeted $1.2m film, while RCA/Columbia Home Video would put up the remaining $660k. Soderbergh and his casting director, Deborah Aquila, would begin their casting search in New York, where they would meet with, amongst others, Andie MacDowell, who had already starred in two major Hollywood pictures, 1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and 1985's St. Elmo's Fire, but was still considered more of a top model than an actress, and Laura San Giacomo, who had recently graduated from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh and would be making her feature debut. Moving on to Los Angeles, Soderbergh and Aquila would cast James Spader, who had made a name for himself as a mostly bad guy in 80s teen movies like Pretty in Pink and Less Than Zero, but had never been the lead in a drama like this. At Spader's suggestion, the pair met with Peter Gallagher, who was supposed to become a star nearly a decade earlier from his starring role in Taylor Hackford's The Idolmaker, but had mostly been playing supporting roles in television shows and movies for most of the decade. In order to keep the budget down, Soderbergh, the producers, cinematographer Walt Lloyd and the four main cast members agreed to get paid their guild minimums in exchange for a 50/50 profit participation split with RCA/Columbia once the film recouped its costs. The production would spend a week in rehearsals in Baton Rouge, before the thirty day shoot began on August 1st, 1988. On most days, the shoot was unbearable for many, as temperatures would reach as high as 110 degrees outside, but there were a couple days lost to what cinematographer Lloyd said was “biblical rains.” But the shoot completed as scheduled, and Soderbergh got to the task of editing right away. He knew he only had about eight weeks to get a cut ready if the film was going to be submitted to the 1989 U.S. Film Festival, now better known as Sundance. He did get a temporary cut of the film ready for submission, with a not quite final sound mix, and the film was accepted to the festival. It would make its world premiere on January 25th, 1989, in Park City UT, and as soon as the first screening was completed, the bids from distributors came rolling in. Larry Estes, the head of RCA/Columbia Home Video, would field more than a dozen submissions before the end of the night, but only one distributor was ready to make a deal right then and there. Bob Weinstein wasn't totally sold on the film, but he loved the ending, and he loved that the word “sex” not only was in the title but lead the title. He knew that title alone would sell the movie. Harvey, who was still in New York the next morning, called Estes to make an appointment to meet in 24 hours. When he and Estes met, he brought with him three poster mockups the marketing department had prepared, and told Estes he wasn't going to go back to New York until he had a contract signed, and vowed to beat any other deal offered by $100,000. Island Pictures, who had made their name releasing movies like Stop Making Sense, Kiss of the Spider-Woman, The Trip to Bountiful and She's Gotta Have It, offered $1m for the distribution rights, plus a 30% distribution fee and a guaranteed $1m prints and advertising budget. Estes called Harvey up and told him what it would take to make the deal. $1.1m for the distribution rights, which needed to paid up front, a $1m P&A budget, to be put in escrow upon the signing of the contract until the film was released, a 30% distribution fee, no cutting of the film whatsoever once Soderbergh turns in his final cut, they would need to provide financial information for the films costs and returns once a month because of the profit participation contracts, and the Weinsteins would have to hire Ira Deutchman, who had spent nearly 15 years in the independent film world, doing marketing for Cinema 5, co-founding United Artists Classics, and co-founding Cinecom Pictures before opening his own company to act as a producers rep and marketer. And the Weinsteins would not only have to do exactly what Deutchman wanted, they'd have to pay for his services too. The contract was signed a few weeks later. The first move Miramax would make was to get Soderbergh's final cut of the film entered into the Cannes Film Festival, where it would be accepted to compete in the main competition. Which you kind of already know what happened, because that's what I lead with. The film would win the Palme D'Or, and Spader would be awarded the festival's award for Best Actor. It was very rare at the time, and really still is, for any film to be awarded more than one prize, so winning two was really a coup for the film and for Miramax, especially when many critics attending the festival felt Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing was the better film. In March, Miramax expected the film to make around $5-10m, which would net the company a small profit on the film. After Cannes, they were hopeful for a $15m gross. They never expected what would happen next. On August 4th, sex, lies, and videotape would open on four screens, at the Cinema Studio in New York City, and at the AMC Century 14, the Cineplex Beverly Center 13 and the Mann Westwood 4 in Los Angeles. Three prime theatres and the best they could do in one of the then most competitive zones in all America. Remember, it's still the Summer 1989 movie season, filled with hits like Batman, Dead Poets Society, Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Lethal Weapon 2, Parenthood, Turner & Hooch, and When Harry Met Sally. An independent distributor even getting one screen at the least attractive theatre in Westwood was a major get. And despite the fact that this movie wasn't really a summertime movie per se, the film would gross an incredible $156k in its first weekend from just these four theatres. Its nearly $40k per screen average would be 5x higher than the next closest film, Parenthood. In its second weekend, the film would expand to 28 theatres, and would bring in over $600k in ticket sales, its per screen average of $21,527 nearly triple its closest competitor, Parenthood again. The company would keep spending small, as it slowly expanded the film each successive week. Forty theatres in its third week, and 101 in its fourth. The numbers held strong, and in its fifth week, Labor Day weekend, the film would have its first big expansion, playing in 347 theatres. The film would enter the top ten for the first time, despite playing in 500 to 1500 fewer theatres than the other films in the top ten. In its ninth weekend, the film would expand to its biggest screen count, 534, before slowly drawing down as the other major Oscar contenders started their theatrical runs. The film would continue to play through the Oscar season of 1989, and when it finally left theatres in May 1989, its final gross would be an astounding $24.7m. Now, remember a few moments ago when I said that Miramax needed to provide financial statements every month for the profit participation contracts of Soderbergh, the producers, the cinematographer and the four lead actors? The film was so profitable for everyone so quickly that RCA/Columbia made its first profit participation payouts on October 17th, barely ten weeks after the film's opening. That same week, Soderbergh also made what was at the time the largest deal with a book publisher for the writer/director's annotated version of the screenplay, which would also include his notes created during the creation of the film. That $75,000 deal would be more than he got paid to make the movie as the writer and the director and the editor, not counting the profit participation checks. During the awards season, sex, lies, and videotape was considered to be one of the Oscars front runners for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and at least two acting nominations. The film would be nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress by the Golden Globes, and it would win the Spirit Awards for Best Picture, Soderbergh for Best Director, McDowell for Best Actress, and San Giacomo for Best Supporting Actress. But when the Academy Award nominations were announced, the film would only receive one nomination, for Best Original Screenplay. The same total and category as Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which many people also felt had a chance for a Best Picture and Best Director nomination. Both films would lose out to Tom Shulman's screenplay for Dead Poet's Society. The success of sex, lies, and videotape would launch Steven Soderbergh into one of the quirkiest Hollywood careers ever seen, including becoming the first and only director ever to be nominated twice for Best Director in the same year by the Motion Picture Academy, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America, in 2001 for directing Erin Brockovich and Traffic. He would win the Oscar for directing Traffic. Lost in the excitement of sex, lies, and videotape was The Little Thief, a French movie that had an unfortunate start as the screenplay François Truffaut was working on when he passed away in 1984 at the age of just 52. Directed by Claude Miller, whose principal mentor was Truffaut, The Little Thief starred seventeen year old Charlotte Gainsbourg as Janine, a young woman in post-World War II France who commits a series of larcenies to support her dreams of becoming wealthy. The film was a modest success in France when it opened in December 1988, but its American release date of August 25th, 1989, was set months in advance. So when it was obvious sex, lies, and videotape was going to be a bigger hit than they originally anticipated, it was too late for Miramax to pause the release of The Little Thief. Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City, and buoyed by favorable reviews from every major critic in town, The Little Thief would see $39,931 worth of ticket sales in its first seven days, setting a new house record at the theatre for the year. In its second week, the gross would only drop $47. For the entire week. And when it opened at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, its opening week gross of $30,654 would also set a new house record for the year. The film would expand slowly but surely over the next several weeks, often in single screen playdates in major markets, but it would never play on more than twenty-four screens in any given week. And after four months in theatres, The Little Thief, the last movie created one of the greatest film writers the world had ever seen, would only gross $1.056m in the United States. The next three releases from Miramax were all sent out under the Millimeter Films banner. The first, a supernatural erotic drama called The Girl in a Swing, was about an English antiques dealer who travels to Copenhagen where he meets and falls in love with a mysterious German-born secretary, whom he marries, only to discover a darker side to his new bride. Rupert Frazer, who played Christian Bale's dad in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, plays the antique dealer, while Meg Tilly the mysterious new bride. Filmed over a five week schedule in London and Copenhagen during May and June 1988, some online sources say the film first opened somewhere in California in December 1988, but I cannot find a single theatre not only in California but anywhere in the United States that played the film before its September 29th, 1989 opening date. Roger Ebert didn't like the film, and wished Meg Tilly's “genuinely original performance” was in a better movie. Opening in 26 theatres, including six theatres each in New York City and Los Angeles, and spurred on by an intriguing key art for the film that featured a presumed naked Tilly on a swing looking seductively at the camera while a notice underneath her warns that No One Under 18 Will Be Admitted To The Theatre, The Girl in a Swing would gross $102k, good enough for 35th place nationally that week. And that's about the best it would do. The film would limp along, moving from market to market over the course of the next three months, and when its theatrical run was complete, it could only manage about $747k in ticket sales. We'll quickly burn through the next two Millimeter Films releases, which came out a week apart from each other and didn't amount to much. Animal Behavior was a rather unfunny comedy featuring some very good actors who probably signed on for a very different movie than the one that came to be. Karen Allen, Miss Marion Ravenwood herself, stars as Alex, a biologist who, like Dr. Jane Goodall, develops a “new” way to communicate with chimpanzees via sign language. Armand Assante plays a cellist who pursues the good doctor, and Holly Hunter plays the cellist's neighbor, who Alex mistakes for his wife. Animal Behavior was filmed in 1984, and 1985, and 1987, and 1988. The initial production was directed by Jenny Bowen with the assistance of Robert Redford and The Sundance Institute, thanks to her debut film, 1981's Street Music featuring Elizabeth Daily. It's unknown why Bowen and her cinematographer husband Richard Bowen left the project, but when filming resumed again and again and again, those scenes were directed by the film's producer, Kjehl Rasmussen. Because Bowen was not a member of the DGA at the time, she was not able to petition the guild for the use of the Alan Smithee pseudonym, a process that is automatically triggered whenever a director is let go of a project and filming continues with its producer taking the reigns as director. But she was able to get the production to use a pseudonym anyway for the director's credit, H. Anne Riley, while also giving Richard Bowen a pseudonym of his own for his work on the film, David Spellvin. Opening on 24 screens on October 27th, Animal Behavior would come in 50th place in its opening weekend, grossing just $20,361. The New York film critics ripped the film apart, and there wouldn't be a second weekend for the film. The following Friday, November 3rd, saw the release of The Stepfather II, a rushed together sequel to 1987's The Stepfather, which itself wasn't a big hit in theatres but found a very quick and receptive audience on cable. Despite dying at the end of the first film, Terry O'Quinn's Jerry is somehow still alive, and institutionalized in Northern Washington state. He escapes and heads down to Los Angeles, where he assumes the identity of a recently deceased publisher, Gene Clifford, but instead passes himself off as a psychiatrist. Jerry, now Gene, begins to court his neighbor Carol, and the whole crazy story plays out again. Meg Foster plays the neighbor Carol, and Jonathan Brandis is her son. Director Jeff Burr had made a name for himself with his 1987 horror anthology film From a Whisper to a Scream, featuring Vincent Price, Clu Gulager and Terry Kiser, and from all accounts, had a very smooth shooting process with this film. The trouble began when he turned in his cut to the producers. The producers were happy with the film, but when they sent it to Miramax, the American distributors, they were rather unhappy with the almost bloodless slasher film. They demanded reshoots, which Burr and O'Quinn refused to participate in. They brought in a new director, Doug Campbell, to handle the reshoots, which are easy to spot in the final film because they look and feel completely different from the scenes they're spliced into. When it opened, The Stepfather II actually grossed slightly more than the first film did, earning $279k from 100 screens, compared to $260k for The Stepfather from 105 screens. But unlike the first film, which had some decent reviews when it opened, the sequel was a complete mess. To this day, it's still one of the few films to have a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Stepfather II would limp its way through theatres during the Christmas holiday season, ending its run with a $1.5m gross. But it would be their final film of the decade that would dictate their course for at least the first part of the 1990s. Remember when I said earlier in the episode that Harvey Weinstein meant with the producers of another British film while in London for Scandal? We're at that film now, a film you probably know. My Left Foot. By November 1988, actor Daniel Day-Lewis had starred in several movies including James Ivory's A Room With a View and Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He had even been the lead in a major Hollywood studio film, Pat O'Connor's Stars and Bars, a very good film that unfortunately got caught up in the brouhaha over the exit of the studio head who greenlit the film, David Puttnam. The film's director, Jim Sheridan, had never directed a movie before. He had become involved in stage production during his time at the University College in Dublin in the late 1960s, where he worked with future filmmaker Neil Jordan, and had spent nearly a decade after graduation doing stage work in Ireland and Canada, before settling in New York City in the early 1980s. Sheridan would go to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where one of his classmates was Spike Lee, and return to Ireland after graduating. He was nearly forty, married with two pre-teen daughters, and he needed to make a statement with his first film. He would find that story in the autobiography of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown, whose spirit and creativity could not be contained by his severe cerebral palsy. Along with Irish actor and writer Shane Connaughton, Sheridan wrote a screenplay that could be a powerhouse film made on a very tight budget of less than a million dollars. Daniel Day-Lewis was sent a copy of the script, in the hopes he would be intrigued enough to take almost no money to play a physically demanding role. He read the opening pages, which had the adult Christy Brown putting a record on a record player and dropping the needle on to the record with his left foot, and thought to himself it would be impossible to film. That intrigued him, and he signed on. But during filming in January and February of 1989, most of the scenes were shot using mirrors, as Day-Lewis couldn't do the scenes with his left foot. He could do them with his right foot, hence the mirrors. As a method actor, Day-Lewis remained in character as Christy Brown for the entire two month shoot. From costume fittings and makeup in the morning, to getting the actor on set, to moving him around between shots, there were crew members assigned to assist the actor as if they were Christy Brown's caretakers themselves, including feeding him during breaks in shooting. A rumor debunked by the actor years later said Day-Lewis had broken two ribs during production because of how hunched down he needed to be in his crude prop wheelchair to properly play the character. The actor had done a lot of prep work to play the role, including spending time at the Sandymount School Clinic where the young Christy Brown got his education, and much of his performance was molded on those young people. While Miramax had acquired the American distribution rights to the film before it went into production, and those funds went into the production of the film, the film was not produced by Miramax, nor were the Weinsteins given any kind of executive producer credit, as they were able to get themselves on Scandal. My Left Foot would make its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 4th, 1989, followed soon thereafter by screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13th and the New York Film Festival on September 23rd. Across the board, critics and audiences were in love with the movie, and with Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. Jim Sheridan would receive a special prize at the Montreal World Film Festival for his direction, and Day-Lewis would win the festival's award for Best Actor. However, as the film played the festival circuit, another name would start to pop up. Brenda Fricker, a little known Irish actress who played Christy Brown's supportive but long-suffering mother Bridget, would pile up as many positive notices and awards as Day-Lewis. Although there was no Best Supporting Actress Award at the Montreal Film Festival, the judges felt her performance was deserving of some kind of attention, so they would create a Special Mention of the Jury Award to honor her. Now, some sources online will tell you the film made its world premiere in Dublin on February 24th, 1989, based on a passage in a biography about Daniel Day-Lewis, but that would be impossible as the film would still be in production for two more days, and wasn't fully edited or scored by then. I'm not sure when it first opened in the United Kingdom other than sometime in early 1990, but My Left Foot would have its commercial theatre debut in America on November 10th, when opened at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City and the Century City 14 in Los Angeles. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times would, in the very opening paragraph of her review, note that one shouldn't see My Left Foot for some kind of moral uplift or spiritual merit badge, but because of your pure love of great moviemaking. Vincent Canby's review in the New York Times spends most of his words praising Day-Lewis and Sheridan for making a film that is polite and non-judgmental. Interestingly, Miramax went with an ad campaign that completely excluded any explanation of who Christy Brown was or why the film is titled the way it is. 70% of the ad space is taken from pull quotes from many of the top critics of the day, 20% with the title of the film, and 10% with a picture of Daniel Day-Lewis, clean shaven and full tooth smile, which I don't recall happening once in the movie, next to an obviously added-in picture of one of his co-stars that is more camera-friendly than Brenda Fricker or Fiona Shaw. Whatever reasons people went to see the film, they flocked to the two theatres playing the film that weekend. It's $20,582 per screen average would be second only to Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, which had opened two days earlier, earning slightly more than $1,000 per screen than My Left Foot. In week two, My Left Foot would gross another $35,133 from those two theatres, and it would overtake Henry V for the highest per screen average. In week three, Thanksgiving weekend, both Henry V and My Left Foot saw a a double digit increase in grosses despite not adding any theatres, and the latter film would hold on to the highest per screen average again, although the difference would only be $302. And this would continue for weeks. In the film's sixth week of release, it would get a boost in attention by being awarded Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle. Daniel Day-Lewis would be named Best Actor that week by both the New York critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, while Fricker would win the Best Supporting Actress award from the latter group. But even then, Miramax refused to budge on expanding the film until its seventh week of release, Christmas weekend, when My Left Foot finally moved into cities like Chicago and San Francisco. Its $135k gross that weekend was good, but it was starting to lose ground to other Oscar hopefuls like Born on the Fourth of July, Driving Miss Daisy, Enemies: A Love Story, and Glory. And even though the film continued to rack up award win after award win, nomination after nomination, from the Golden Globes and the Writers Guild and the National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review, Miramax still held firm on not expanding the film into more than 100 theatres nationwide until its 16th week in theatres, February 16th, 1990, two days after the announcement of the nominees for the 62nd Annual Academy Awards. While Daniel Day-Lewis's nomination for Best Actor was virtually assured and Brenda Fricker was practically a given, the film would pick up three other nominations, including surprise nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Jim Sheridan and co-writer Shane Connaughton would also get picked for Best Adapted Screenplay. Miramax also picked up a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for sex, lies, and videotape, and a Best Foreign Language Film nod for the Italian movie Cinema Paradiso, which, thanks to the specific rules for that category, a film could get a nomination before actually opening in theatres in America, which Miramax would rush to do with Paradiso the week after its nomination was announced. The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony would be best remembered today as being the first Oscar show to be hosted by Billy Crystal, and for being considerably better than the previous year's ceremony, a mess of a show best remembered as being the one with a 12 minute opening musical segment that included Rob Lowe singing Proud Mary to an actress playing Snow White and another nine minute musical segment featuring a slew of expected future Oscar winners that, to date, feature exact zero Oscar nominees, both which rank as amongst the worst things to ever happen to the Oscars awards show. The ceremony, held on March 26th, would see My Left Foot win two awards, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, as well as Cinema Paradiso for Best Foreign Film. The following weekend, March 30th, would see Miramax expand My Left Foot to 510 theatres, its widest point of release, and see the film made the national top ten and earn more than a million dollars for its one and only time during its eight month run. The film would lose steam pretty quickly after its post-win bump, but it would eek out a modest run that ended with $14.75m in ticket sales just in the United States. Not bad for a little Irish movie with no major stars that cost less than a million dollars to make. Of course, the early 90s would see Miramax fly to unimagined heights. In all of the 80s, Miramax would release 39 movies. They would release 30 films alone in 1991. They would release the first movies from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. They'd release some of the best films from some of the best filmmakers in the world, including Woody Allen, Pedro Almadovar, Robert Altman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Atom Egoyan, Steven Frears, Peter Greenaway, Peter Jackson, Neil Jordan, Chen Kaige, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Lars von Trier, and Zhang Yimou. In 1993, the Mexican dramedy Like Water for Chocolate would become the highest grossing foreign language film ever released in America, and it would play in some theatres, including my theatre, the NuWilshire in Santa Monica, continuously for more than a year. If you've listened to the whole series on the 1980s movies of Miramax Films, there are two things I hope you take away. First, I hope you discovered at least one film you hadn't heard of before and you might be interested in searching out. The second is the reminder that neither Bob nor Harvey Weinstein will profit in any way if you give any of the movies talked about in this series a chance. They sold Miramax to Disney in June 1993. They left Miramax in September 2005. Many of the contracts for the movies the company released in the 80s and 90s expired decades ago, with the rights reverting back to their original producers, none of whom made any deals with the Weinsteins once they got their rights back. Harvey Weinstein is currently serving a 23 year prison sentence in upstate New York after being found guilty in 2020 of two sexual assaults. Once he completes that sentence, he'll be spending another 16 years in prison in California, after he was convicted of three sexual assaults that happened in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. And if the 71 year old makes it to 107 years old, he may have to serve time in England for two sexual assaults that happened in August 1996. That case is still working its way through the British legal system. Bob Weinstein has kept a low profile since his brother's proclivities first became public knowledge in October 2017, although he would also be accused of sexual harassment by a show runner for the brothers' Spike TV-aired adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Mist, several days after the bombshell articles came out about his brother. However, Bob's lawyer, the powerful attorney to the stars Bert Fields, deny the allegations, and it appears nothing has occurred legally since the accusations were made. A few weeks after the start of the MeToo movement that sparked up in the aftermath of the accusations of his brother's actions, Bob Weinstein denied having any knowledge of the nearly thirty years of documented sexual abuse at the hands of his brother, but did allow to an interviewer for The Hollywood Reporter that he had barely spoken to Harvey over the previous five years, saying he could no longer take Harvey's cheating, lying and general attitude towards everyone. And with that, we conclude our journey with Miramax Films. While I am sure Bob and Harvey will likely pop up again in future episodes, they'll be minor characters at best, and we'll never have to focus on anything they did ever again. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 119 is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
Today we have another solo podcast. I talk about my recent shows, upcoming shows, an update on Sweaty September and how i'm gettin' better. UPCOMING SHOWS 15 Sept 2023 Chicago, IL The Den 16 Sept 2023 Chicago, IL The Den 21 Sept Toronto, ON, Canada Royal Theatre 22 Sept Toronto, ON, Canada Royal Theatre 4 Oct Brea,CA. Brea Improv 8 Oct San Francisco, CA. Cobb's Comedy Club 3 Nov Las Vegas, NV Wiseguys Town Square 4 Nov Las Vegas, NV Wiseguys Town Square 24 Nov San Diego, CA American Comedy Co. 25 Nov San Diego, CA American Comedy Co. Follow me on my Twitch channel for comedy nights, video games with friends, and more! https://www.twitch.tv/ron_funches Become a Patron at http://www.patreon.com/gettinbetterwithron and get perks like personal affirmations, shoutouts, hand written letters, tickets to my shows, and much more! We have an Instagram! Give us a follow for classic clips and positive affirmations at @gettinbetterpodcast For all tour dates and merch go to http://www.ronfunches.com Don't forget to hit subscribe for weekly podcasts! Ron Funches, Ron Funches Podcast, Gettin' Better, Gettin' Better with Ron Funches, Podcast, Comedy Podcast This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Go to Shopify.com/funches for a 1$ per month trail period.
Recorded live at the Royal Theatre, Toronto, ON, Canada, 10.27.22 On this week's episode, it's the gang's raucous live show from their Canadian debut where they talked a blue streak all about the abysmal horror sequel, Saw IV! Is John Kramer the single person keeping the mini tape recorder business going? Why did they cast so many dull, brown-haired dudes to play all these faceless, monosyllabically-named characters? And did Tobin Bell swipe his autopsy puppet from the prop department? PLUS: A live version of the VHS Trailer Game! Saw IV stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Lyriq Bent, Louis Ferreira, Donnie Wahlberg, and Angus Macfadyen as Jeff; directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Looking for more WHM-related content? Check out the hours and hours of exclusive bonus content on our Patreon! Check out the WHM Merch Store featuring new KONG, DILF Den, Grab-Ass & Cancer & SW Crispy Critters designs! Advertise on We Hate Movies via Gumball.fmUnlock Exclusive Content!: http://www.patreon.com/wehatemoviesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Gerry Dee (Mr. D, Family Feud Canada) is coming to the Royal Theatre on Wednesday April 26th. Johnny got to chat with him briefly and this podcast has a keyword that could see you win a pair of tickets to that show!
Hang around in Fantasy Faire and then enjoy the storytelling of Tangled at the Royal Theatre.Audio recorded on 1/2/23 around 10:30am --------------------Interact:Email - podcast@offharborandmain.comTwitter - @Park_SensoryInstagram - @offharborYouTube - Off Harbor & MainFacebook - Off Harbor & MainWebsite - OffHarborAndMain.com
On Wednesday's Morning Focus, Alan Morrissey was joined by newly crowned Miss Ireland, Ivanna McMahon. 27 Year Old Ivanna is a native of Barefield in County Clare and is currently plying her trade as a Doctor. Ivanna was crowned Miss Ireland at a Diamond Jubilee Ceremony at The Royal Theatre in Castlebar over the weekend while treating the capacity crowd to a stunning musical rendition of Florence and the Machine on the Harp along the way. Ivanna will now represent Ireland in the upcoming Miss World 2022 Competition later this year.
On August 4, 1875, theDanish writer Hans Christian Andersen diedThe name Hans Christian Andersen is definitely not unfamiliar to you.The stories of "The Ugly Duckling", "The Daughter of theSea" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" that we heard when we werechildren were all written by Hans Christian Andersen.Andersen's life as a child was very difficult. His father was ashoemaker and his mother was a maid. As a child, Andersen studied at a freecharity school and worked as an apprentice. Influenced by his father and folkoral literature, he loved literature since childhood. When he was 11, hisfather died and his mother remarried. In pursuit of art, he came to Copenhagen,the capital of Denmark, alone at the age of 14. At the age of 17, he publishedthe poetic drama "Alfsoll" and made his debut. It is also this"Alfsoll" that made Andersen sent to Slugelsee Grammar School andHelsingo School for free by the Royal Theatre of Arts. Lasted 5 years. In 1828,he entered the University of Copenhagen. After graduation, he had no job andmainly rely on manuscript fees to maintain my living.Andersen never married. He devoted his life to fairy tales. He isreluctant to contact outsiders, mainly because of his poor and down-to-earthexperience in his youth, which made him feel very inferior, thinking that he isnot only ugly but also poor. He said many times in his diaries and letters,"Because I am ugly and will always be poor, no one will want to marryme" "If I am beautiful, or rich, and have a decent office, then I'llget married and have a family" and so on. Just like the ugly duckling inhis own work "The Ugly Duckling", how much Andersen wanted to be thebig white goose that could soar in the sky and show his valiant and heroicappearance! Some Andersen researchers believe that, in addition to the abovetwo reasons, "his character's deep-seated inferiority complex makes it impossiblefor him to have a romantic relationship with the opposite sex, whether legal orillegal."Andersen's fairy tales have different characteristics in the threeperiods of his creation. Most of the early fairy tales are full of beautifulfantasy and optimistic spirit, reflecting the combination of realism andromanticism. His representative works include "The Tinderbox","Little Ida's Flower", "Thumbelina", "The Daughter ofthe Sea", "The Wild Swan", "The Ugly Duckling" and"The Emperor's New Clothes". In the middle-term fairy tale, thefantasy component is weakened, and the reality component is relativelystrengthened. In whipping the ugly and praising the good, it shows thepersistent pursuit of a better life, and also reveals the melancholy lack of confidence.His representative works include "The Little Match Girl", "TheSnow Queen", "Shadow", "A Drop of Water","Mother's Story" and "The Puppeteer". The later fairy talesare more realistic than the middle ones, focusing on describing the miserable fateof the people at the bottom and exposing the gloom and darkness of social lifeand the injustice in the world. The tone of the work is low. Representativeworks include "Dream Under the Willow", "She's a Waste","Bachelor's Nightcap" and "Lucky Belle".Because Andersen was born in poverty, he felt deeply about thephenomenon of inequality between the rich and the poor and the strong prey tothe weak in society. Therefore, on the one hand, he enthusiastically praisedthe working people, sympathized with the unfortunate poor, and praised theirkindness, purity and other noble qualities; The party angrily whipped thebrutal, greedy, weak, and stupid reactionary ruling class and exploiters,exposed the scandalous behavior of church monks and people's bad habits, andspared no effort to criticize social evils.Shortly before his death, Andersen once said to a young writer: "Ipaid a huge, even immeasurable price for my fairy tales. For the fairy tales, Irejected my own happiness and missed such a wonderful time. For a while, then,for all the power and brilliance of imagination, it should give way toreality."At 11 a.m. on August 4, 1875, Andersen passed away peacefully due to anincurable disease. Although Andersen is dead, his immortal spirit will bepassed on to generations of human descendants.
A beautiful structure meant to guide sailors home safely. A benevolent keeper who gladly hosted soldiers for a drink. But that kindness may have gotten him killed, and left him forever tending the island's light. Is this just a spooky old building or the eternal home to a restless soul? Tonight's episode is The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. Recorded live at the Royal Theatre in Toronto, CA Click here for info on our tour and to purchase tickets Please consider supporting the companies that support us! -Go to prose.com/CREEPY for your FREE in-depth hair consultation and 15% off your order -Get 15% off both Just Thrive Probiotic and Just Calm or any of their other scientifically proven products, when you go to justthrivehealth.com and use code: CREEPY at checkout -Visit Audible.com/thebiglie to listen to The Big lie with Jon Hamm, created by John Mankiewicz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A beautiful structure meant to guide sailors home safely. A benevolent keeper who gladly hosted soldiers for a drink. But that kindness may have gotten him killed, and left him forever tending the island's light. Is this just a spooky old building or the eternal home to a restless soul? Tonight's episode is The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. Recorded live at the Royal Theatre in Toronto, CA Click here for info on our tour and to purchase tickets Please consider supporting the companies that support us! -Go to prose.com/CREEPY for your FREE in-depth hair consultation and 15% off your order -Get 15% off both Just Thrive Probiotic and Just Calm or any of their other scientifically proven products, when you go to justthrivehealth.com and use code: CREEPY at checkout -Visit Audible.com/thebiglie to listen to The Big lie with Jon Hamm, created by John Mankiewicz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Ken Potrock talks about all the new things happening at the resort, more Halfway to Halloween announcements, more entertainment has returned, Fantasmic! has showtimes, Producers Vern and James talk about Star Wars for May the 4th, and more! Please support the show if you can by going to https://www.dlweekly.net/support/. If you want some DLWeekly Swag, you can pick some up at https://www.dlweekly.net/store/. Book your travel through ConciEARS at no extra cost to you! Be sure to mention that you heard about ConciEARS from DLWeekly at booking! DISCOUNTS! If you want some awesome headwear or one of a kind items, be sure to visit our friends over at All Enchanting Ears! You can use the promo code DLWEEKLY10 to get 10% off your order! We have partnered with the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel & Water Playground to get great deals for our listeners! Book your stay at the Howard Johnson Anaheim and get 15% off your stay (code 1000022077)! Magic Key Holders get 20% off their stay (code 1000025935) as well! Book now! Need the perfect bag for your days in the parks? Look no further than Designer Park Co.! Purchase the Rope Drop Bag as featured on Episode 222 and get 10% off your purchase! Use coupon code DLWEEKLY to get the discount. News: An update is coming to the least themed Disney hotels on property soon. The Paradise Pier Hotel will be re-themed to Pixar! Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock met with community leaders recently talking about exciting changes coming to the resort, and this was one of the previously unannounced updates. The Pixar theme will change over time as new Disney-Pixar movies come out to keep the hotel fresh for guests. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/04/news-from-the-disneyland-resort-upcoming-pixar-plans-big-foodie-news-and-more/ The updated hotel theme wasn't the only thing Ken talked about! He revealed more details of what is to come at Downtown Disney. In an interview on the D23 Insider podcast, he said that they are looking at Downtown Disney through the lens of Disney Springs out in Florida and how successful that has been. More diverse options are coming with the addition of Din Tai Fung, a Chinese cuisine restaurant, along with Catal and Uva Bar transforming into a hub of Mexican Cuisine with Michelin-starred Chef Carlos Gaytan. Finally, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen will be getting a complete overhaul into a more “vibrant California energy” theme. Oh, and Earl of Sandwich will be returning as a pop-up location later this year. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/04/news-from-the-disneyland-resort-upcoming-pixar-plans-big-foodie-news-and-more/ Last week, we talked about the Halfway to Halloween celebration. Disneyland announced some information on what the spooky holiday will look like this year. The Oogie Boogie Bash will be returning on select nights this Fall, with no firm dates announced yet. Mickey and Minnie will be sporting new outfits this year, showing off their trick or treating attire. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/04/halfway-to-halloween-announcements-from-disneyland-resort/ Even more entertainment is back at Disneyland! Last week, Disneyland's Royal Theatre in Fantasyland resumed story telling of Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. Currently, there are 6 total showtimes, with 3 shows each for Tangled and Beauty and the Beast. As of the writing of this story, the times are not in the Disneyland app since it is in a soft reopening. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/04/30/news-storytelling-at-royal-theatre-is-back-in-disneyland/ We have been eagerly awaiting the return of Fantasmic! since the parks closed, but we finally have showtimes! On May 28th, the nighttime spectacular will run at 9pm and 10:30pm and should run nightly through the summer season. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/04/27/news-showtimes-announced-for-fantasmic-in-disneyland/ Another dining package has returned to Disneyland with the return of the Disneyland Forever fireworks show. The Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge experience is coming back soon. Guests get a choice of entree with side, dessert selection, unlimited soft drinks, bottled water, or hot chocolate and a good view to see the fireworks from the second floor of the Star Wars Launch Bay. The dining package is $60 and non-refundable if fireworks are cancelled. – https://www.micechat.com/320733-disneyland-news-more-entertainment-more-construction-more-reservations/ We have been lamenting the loss of the trees from the Pirates of the Caribbean queue that were taken out a few weeks ago. Good news! Two new trees, which look to be at least somewhat mature have been replanted in the space! – https://www.micechat.com/320733-disneyland-news-more-entertainment-more-construction-more-reservations/ Last weekend, the Disney Junior Fun Fest took place at Disney California Adventure. It was a one-day event on Friday, which started with a parade from Pixar Pier to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. A stage was setup in the World of Color viewing area where different Disney Junior characters performed for guests and invited media and influencers. – https://www.micechat.com/320733-disneyland-news-more-entertainment-more-construction-more-reservations/ Banana fans rejoice! A new Mickey-shaped beignet has come to the Mint Julep bar for guests to enjoy. This time, the beignet is being rolled in a banana flavored powdered sugar. A 3-pack is $5.49, and a 6-pack is $8.99. Guests can purchase a side of Caramel Creme Anglaise dipping sauce to go along with it for 99 cents. The Disney Food Blog reports that they taste like Banana Laffy Taffy. Along with the beignet, a Passion Fruit Mint julep is also available for $5.49. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/05/01/review-disneylands-new-treat-reminds-us-of-banana-laffy-taffy-in-the-best-way/ The day this episode posts is May the the 4th, an annual celebration for Star Wars fans, playing off the date as May the Force. Disneyland will have a some special food items to celebrate. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/05/foodie-guide-may-the-4th-and-beyond-explore-galactic-goodies-at-disney-parks/ Discussion Topic: Producers Vern and James talk Star Wars!
Chris West and his assistant winemaker, Kayla at West Winery and Bridget Grace Sheaff at the Royal Theatre share insights about wine and live theater in downtown Macon, Missouri.
Today in 1879, the world premiere of Henrik Ibsen's play “A Doll's House” took place at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The premiere film at the 2021 edition of Canada's Blood in the Snow film festival which played in Toronto at The Royal Theatre. Mallory takes a look at Vicious Fun, a horror/comedy about a horror film critic, Joel, who accidentally falls in with a serial killer self-help group. Directed by Cody Calahan. Winner of the 2021 Bloodies for Best Film and Best Director! Blood in the Snow --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/maycontainviolence/message
Cork singer-songwriter Jack O'Rourke returns to the TPOE podcast ahead of the release of his second album, Wild Place, on November 5. It's a more stripped back affair than his 2016 debut Dreamcatcher and 2019 EP Ivory Towers, O'Rourke's songwriting standing front and centre, with a little orchestration behind. It was all done at the old piano at Cork's Triskel Christchurch over the past year and a bit. "Wild Place has songs of love and loss, beautiful misfits, nature and wilderness," says Jack in the press release. "There's freedom and rage in there too, alongside questions on race, friendship, a still-Covid world, my dreams and sea swimming. The piano and vocal are centre, but there are elements of folk, roots, blues, Americana and chamber music." There's also a song, 'Strange Bird' written about the last year and a half - a drone recording a town during lockdown and all we've lost and gained. It's influenced hugely by John Prine - "When John Prine died during Covid, it was a Bowie or Cohen or Prince moment - I was heartbroken without knowing him personally - his lyrics and his style meant so much, and his songwriting always floored me. There's a Steinbeck or Mark Twain quality - he says so much without being flowery." Jack O'Rourke tour dates: October 16 - Spirit Store - Dundalk October 28 - The Royal Theatre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo November 5 - Glengarra Mountain Lodge, Co. Tipperary November 12 - Dolans Limerick November 13 - The Courthouse Arts Theatre, Co Wicklow November 27 - Triskel Christchurch, Cork Outro music: Jack O'Rouke - 'Sea Swimming'
Patdro Harris (Director/Broadway Choreographer/Writer) is nationally and internationally recognized and respected by colleagues, critics, and fans. The Washington Post hails him as a "superb choreographer". The New York Times applauds his artistry as "praiseworthy". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution enthusiastically commends his work as "dynamic … brilliant…solid season after season". And the Houston Chronicle says “...excellent and energizing direction and stunning choreography makes the show an absolute joy to experience”. He has directed at distinguished theaters such as The Alliance Theater, Sacramento Theatre Company, Round House Theater, Liberty Theater Cultural Center, San Diego Repertory Theater Company, Penumbra Theater, Tuskegee Repertory Theater, Ensemble Theater, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theater Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Theatrical Outfit, Connecticut Repertory Theater, The Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Howard University, Syracuse University, Florida A&M University & the University of Northern Colorado. He also served as choreographer, artistic consultant, and movement director with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre D.C, City Theatre of Pittsburgh, Minneapolis Mixed Blood Theatre, Jomandi Productions, The National Black Theatre Festival, Guthrie Theater, The National Black Arts Festival, Portland Center Stage, and Broadway's Royal Theatre. Patdro has traveled the world as choreographer and lead dancer for the incomparable Stevie Wonder. He has worked with such artists as The SOS Band, TC Carson, Daryl Coley, Yolanda Adams, and India Arie. His talents were also showcased as Choreographer and Movement Specialist in Toni Morrison's world premiere opera, “Margaret Garner”. He choreographed the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit “A Raisin in the Sun” starring Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad. Mr. Harris attended Alabama State University. In his current home of Atlanta, Georgia he has served on many arts committees including the Georgia Council for the Arts, and the Advisory Dance Panel for the Bureau of Cultural Affairs. He holds to his credit the 1996 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Choreography and has been honored with a nomination for the same award for Best Supporting Actor. He has received a 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2016 Giorgee Award for best director & best show of the Year. Mr. Harris served as the first choreographer on the popular reboot TV show Dynasty season 3 episode 4. In 2019 & 2013 he received Atlanta's top theatre award, The Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Director of a Play Support the show: https://theanswersandiego.com/radioshow/8349 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, Avenger’s Campus has an opening date, ticket information is online for the parks reopening, how to get your reservation, Cast Members get a sneak peek, all types of attractions updates, we talk to former Cast Member Andy, and more! Please support the show if you can by going to https://www.dlweekly.net/support/. If you want some DLWeekly Swag, you can pick some up at https://www.dlweekly.net/store/. Book your travel through ConciEARS at no extra cost to you! Be sure to mention that you heard about ConciEARS from DLWeekly at booking! If you want some awesome headwear or one of a kind items, be sure to visit our friends over at All Enchanting Ears! You can use the promo code DLWEEKLY10 to get 10% off your order! News: We have an opening date for Avenger’s Campus! The new area in Disney California Adventure is landing on June 4th. This is just over a month after the parks reopen to the general public. A video has been posted showing off the main elements of the campus, including Web Slingers, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, Pym’s Test Kitchen, and Doctor Strange’s ancient sanctum. The WEB Suppliers Store will also be open on the 4th. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/avengers-campus-at-disneyland-resort-set-to-open-and-recruit-super-heroes-june-4/ Disneyland posted the ticket prices and availability calendars online this week. As of the recording of this episode, all days on the calendar are still open from April 30th to June 28th. This is expected to change once new ticket sales open the morning of April 15th, so this could change. The pricing for the tickets has not changed since the parks closed ticket sales last year. To check the current availability and to get tickets to the parks, check out the link in our show notes. – https://disneyland.disney.go.com/experience-updates/park-reservations/#drawer-card-new-tickets Step by step guide to making reservations {walk through this} – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/04/12/your-step-by-step-guide-to-making-a-disneyland-park-pass-reservation/ Cast Members get the greatest perk of all: visiting the parks before the general public! Cast Members are able to attend to a soft opening of Disneyland and DCA before they open to the public on April 30th. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/04/10/the-disneyland-resort-parks-will-host-a-soft-opening-for-cast-members/ A small thing that guests may notice when the parks reopen is the new nametags that the resort is rolling out. The saying at the bottom of the nametag is being changed to “Bringing Back the Magic” in place of “Where Dreams Come True” that is on the current nametags. – https://www.micechat.com/287392-disneyland-update-you-snooze-you-lose/ When hinges creak in doorless chambers, when strange and frightening sounds echo though the halls, that is when new news from the Haunted Mansion is present! What a great week for news of the changes that have happened since some of these attractions were last open to guests. New curtains, wallpaper, decor inside and out, and a few more surprises have been added and refreshed in the stately manor. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/haunted-mansion-home-improvements-at-disneyland-park/ and https://www.micechat.com/287447-disneylands-haunted-mansion-gets-spirited-updates/ Kim Irvine got the pleasure of showing off the completed King Arthur Carrousel on a video posted by Disney today. The newly refurbished attraction has had all of the horses touched up, the paint scheme updated to a more classic look with parchment white with purple, magenta, and other colors. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/even-more-beautiful-king-arthur-carrousel-at-disneyland-park/ Even though the parks will be open like they were in the “before times”, it hasn’t stopped changes from happening during the Touch of Disney event. Of course attractions have been cycling, preparing for guests in just a couple of weeks! In addition to this, the Incredibles have been seen on Pixar Pier. – https://www.micechat.com/287392-disneyland-update-you-snooze-you-lose/ With the reopening of Disneyland, there have been questions on how Rise of the Resistance is going to operate, since it was only open for a limited time before the parks closed. Just like in Walt Disney World, it will be on a virtual queue system through the Disneyland mobile app. Boarding groups will be opened in the morning, and once in the afternoon. Guests that have Disneyland reservations can request a boarding group in the morning. For the afternoon group, you have to have entered one of the parks prior to requesting a boarding group. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/attractions-and-entertainment-reopening-details-for-disneyland-resort-theme-parks/ Head of the Disney Parks, Josh D’Amaro showed off some impressive technology this past week during the press event to announce the opening of Avenger’s Campus. The awe inspiring things that he showed off were a Groot walking animatronic, and – the real show stopper – what appeared to be a real lightsaber! There was a patent filed a couple of years ago for the technology that is assumed to be running the device. What makes this version different from the ones that guests can construct themselves is that the blade seemingly extends from nowhere! No word on when or where these will appear in the parks, but it is expected to debut with the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Hotel in Disney World. – https://www.ocregister.com/2021/04/09/disney-teases-groot-walking-animatronic-and-real-star-wars-lightsaber/ and https://wdwnt.com/2021/04/how-disneys-real-star-wars-lightsaber-works/ With the return of the parks, some of your favorite Disney characters will be hanging around the parks. Characters will be available for socially distant photos with guests at a number of locations, including Main Street, Mickey’s Toon Town, the Royal Theatre in Fantasyland, Carthay Circle, the Pixar Pier Bandshell, and more. For a complete list of locations, check out the link in the show notes. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/attractions-and-entertainment-reopening-details-for-disneyland-resort-theme-parks/ and https://wdwnt.com/2021/04/disneyland-announces-character-interactions-for-april-30th-reopening/ One dining location that we were sad to see closed in California Adventure has reopened for guests! Flo’s V8 Cafe is open once again for the remainder of the Touch of Disney event. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/04/09/there-was-a-surprise-restaurant-reopening-in-disney-california-adventure-today/ Much like the TV show itself, the Wandavision photo op has ended at Touch of Disney. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/04/09/whats-new-in-disneyland-resort-black-widow-merchandise-character-encounters-and-more/ Josh D’Amaro posted an update heralding in the new 5th key into the 4 keys of Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. As we spoke of previously on the podcast, the 5th key is Inclusion. This is being rolled out across the company to new and updated shows and attractions, how teams work, and even park policies like the dress code. Now, gender-inclusive hairstyles, jewelry, nail styles, and costume choices; and appropriate visible tattoos are allowed. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/a-place-where-everyone-is-welcome/ Discussion Topic: Andy Mack – https://andymackvoice.com/
MAIDEN UNITED Joey Bruers was the guest of ZanZanA Live Stream Interview hosted by Karim Benamor on friday March 26th. He spoked about Maiden uniteD weekend (March 26/27/28) with the start the sales of the following product: * 3 Vinyl box with the first 3 Maiden uniteD albums: Mind The Acoustic Pieces + Across The Seventh Sea + Remembrance * ‘Under The Curfew Lights’ DVD * ‘Sailors of the Sky’ Bootleg of the final show of the 2019 tour featuring all parts of Empire of the Clouds * Pre Sale ‘The Number of the Beast’ 10” Maxi Single Blood Red Transparant Vinyl. *1980 Mailinglist is opened and everyone is free to add their contacts to the mailinglist ▬ About MAIDEN UNITED▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ When the Dutch Iron Maiden fan club asked Joey Bruers to do a different show; something other than the regular tribute or cover band. Steve Harris was attending the convention, so he had to think of something special. With musicians from several bands he performed a set of rearranged acoustic Maiden songs. The reactions from the crowd were overwhelming. The idea that became a show then became a project. A project to bring all kinds of musicians and fans together to celebrate the music. Maiden uniteD presents classic Iron Maiden songs in a new and exciting light. Acoustic re-arrangements that transform the songs into something that Iron Maiden fans would have never imagined hearing. Maiden uniteD has released 3 albums and an EP'. "Mind The Acoustic Pieces" is an all-acoustic reinterpretation of the classic 1983 album 'Piece of Mind' with new arrangements. This release was accompanied by a European club tour and also brought them to the Download festival and Wacken Open Air. 'Across The Seventh Sea' features some well-known and some less well-knowsntracks by Iron Maiden. The guest musicians are Perttu Kivilaakso (Apocalyptica) on the album and Lee Morris (ex-Paradise Lost), Stef Broks (Textures) and Luke Appleton (Iced Earth) as tour guests. The album 'Remembrance' even featured Maiden veterans Bayley and Di'Anno and was toured extensively with several tour guests as well. They closed off this chapter with a show at the Royal Theatre in Amsterdam with guests Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) and Perttu Kivilaakso. Here they played their Empire of the Clouds suite, which was released as an EP on June 8th 2018. The latest album 'The Barrel House Tapes' took Maiden uniteD in yet another new direction. ► Streaming links on various audio and video platforms : http://lnkfi.re/MaidenUnited ▬About ZanZanA ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ZanZanA is the official YouTube channel of the show METAL, hosted by Karim BENAMOR. After years spent on RTCI (International Chanel of Radio Tunis ), this show has turned into a Live Stream Interview broadcasted at 8:30 pm. On this channel you will discover the new talk show format, with impromptu live performances, interviews of artists, debates, as well as various video playlists selected for you. ZanZanA, the METAL's show, since 2000 ▬ ZanZanA Live Stream Interview ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Subscribe to our channels and don't forget to click on the notifications button to be notified whenever we go live! ► Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: lnkfi.re/ZanZanA-subscribe ► To be notified about upcoming streamings, subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkfi.re/zanzana-mail ► You can find all past episodes of the ZanZanA Live Stream Interview here (videos or audio podcasts): https://lnkfi.re/zanzana ▬ Social Media ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZanZanA.tunisie ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zanzana.interviews/ ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/zanzana ► Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zanzanametal ► Website: https://www.zanzana.net #ZanZanA #MaidenUnited #Metal #HeavyMetal
MAIDEN UNITED Joey Bruers was the guest of ZanZanA Live Stream Interview hosted by Karim Benamor on friday March 26th. He spoked about Maiden uniteD weekend (March 26/27/28) with the start the sales of the following product: * 3 Vinyl box with the first 3 Maiden uniteD albums: Mind The Acoustic Pieces + Across The Seventh Sea + Remembrance * ‘Under The Curfew Lights’ DVD * ‘Sailors of the Sky’ Bootleg of the final show of the 2019 tour featuring all parts of Empire of the Clouds * Pre Sale ‘The Number of the Beast’ 10” Maxi Single Blood Red Transparant Vinyl. *1980 Mailinglist is opened and everyone is free to add their contacts to the mailinglist ▬ About MAIDEN UNITED▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ When the Dutch Iron Maiden fan club asked Joey Bruers to do a different show; something other than the regular tribute or cover band. Steve Harris was attending the convention, so he had to think of something special. With musicians from several bands he performed a set of rearranged acoustic Maiden songs. The reactions from the crowd were overwhelming. The idea that became a show then became a project. A project to bring all kinds of musicians and fans together to celebrate the music. Maiden uniteD presents classic Iron Maiden songs in a new and exciting light. Acoustic re-arrangements that transform the songs into something that Iron Maiden fans would have never imagined hearing. Maiden uniteD has released 3 albums and an EP'. "Mind The Acoustic Pieces" is an all-acoustic reinterpretation of the classic 1983 album 'Piece of Mind' with new arrangements. This release was accompanied by a European club tour and also brought them to the Download festival and Wacken Open Air. 'Across The Seventh Sea' features some well-known and some less well-knowsntracks by Iron Maiden. The guest musicians are Perttu Kivilaakso (Apocalyptica) on the album and Lee Morris (ex-Paradise Lost), Stef Broks (Textures) and Luke Appleton (Iced Earth) as tour guests. The album 'Remembrance' even featured Maiden veterans Bayley and Di'Anno and was toured extensively with several tour guests as well. They closed off this chapter with a show at the Royal Theatre in Amsterdam with guests Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) and Perttu Kivilaakso. Here they played their Empire of the Clouds suite, which was released as an EP on June 8th 2018. The latest album 'The Barrel House Tapes' took Maiden uniteD in yet another new direction. ► Streaming links on various audio and video platforms : http://lnkfi.re/MaidenUnited ▬About ZanZanA ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ZanZanA is the official YouTube channel of the show METAL, hosted by Karim BENAMOR. After years spent on RTCI (International Chanel of Radio Tunis ), this show has turned into a Live Stream Interview broadcasted at 8:30 pm. On this channel you will discover the new talk show format, with impromptu live performances, interviews of artists, debates, as well as various video playlists selected for you. ZanZanA, the METAL's show, since 2000 ▬ ZanZanA Live Stream Interview ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Subscribe to our channels and don't forget to click on the notifications button to be notified whenever we go live! ► Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: lnkfi.re/ZanZanA-subscribe ► To be notified about upcoming streamings, subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkfi.re/zanzana-mail ► You can find all past episodes of the ZanZanA Live Stream Interview here (videos or audio podcasts): https://lnkfi.re/zanzana ▬ Social Media ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZanZanA.tunisie ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zanzana.interviews/ ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/zanzana ► Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zanzanametal ► Website: https://www.zanzana.net #ZanZanA #MaidenUnited #Metal #HeavyMetal
Newstalk ZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast.This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about.Today, our road trip takes us to the top of the South Island, where you can find the Nelson Theatre Royal. It is the oldest purpose-built performance theatre in New Zealand, painstakingly restored and with all the modern theatre needs.Manager Eliane Polack joined Tim Dower to discuss why the theatre is so special.LISTEN ABOVE
Handel composed the work over the period of 19 January to 4 February 1740, and the work was premiered on 27 February 1740 at the Royal Theatre of Lincoln's Inn Fields. At the urging of one of Handel's librettists, Charles Jennens, Milton's two poems, L'Allegro and il Penseroso, were arranged by James Harris, interleaving them to create dramatic tension between the personified characters of Milton's poems (L'Allegro or the "Joyful man" and il Penseroso or the "Contemplative man"). The first two movements consist of this dramatic dialog between Milton's poems. In an attempt to unite the two poems into a singular "moral design", at Handel's request, Jennens added a new poem, "il Moderato", to create a third movement. The popular concluding aria and chorus, "As Steals the Morn" is adapted from Shakespeare's Tempest, V.i.65–68. Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock #ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive #LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans #CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain #ClassicalMusicLivesOn #Uber Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4186107 staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com
MULTI AWARD-WINNING SINGER-SONGWRITER DELTA GOODREM UNVEILS BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS TOUR FOR APRIL-MAY 2021 TEG Live proudly presents superstar singer songwriter Delta Goodrem on her BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS TOUR, set to tour Australia in April and May 2021. Pre-sale tickets will be available via Telstra Plus™ from 10am (local) Wednesday 15 July 2020, before the general public on sale at 12.00pm (local) Friday 17 July 2020 from Ticketek and Ticketmaster. The BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS TOUR will commence on 8 April 2021 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre, moving to Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 9, followed by Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on April 10, Canberra’s Royal Theatre on April 13, WIN Entertainment Centre Wollongong on April 15, Adelaide Entertainment Centre – Theatre on April 16, RAC Arena in Perth on April 17, Townsville Entertainment Centre on April 29, Newcastle Entertainment Centre on May 1, before concluding on 2 May 2021 at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena. Delta said today, “There’s nothing like being on tour and being with people face to face and to share in the magic of live music. Nothing gets me more excited than creating a world for everyone to come to. Visually, I love to make sure a tour represents the energy of what this new album embodies. There are going to be incredible musical moments in bringing to life the surprise elements of this new album and all of the favorites from my previous records. Anyone who has been to my shows knows that I like to have a lot of fun and this record and tour is no different. I know many people are going through challenging times right now; come next year I want to invigorate and empower everybody in the room to have the best night of their lives and we’ll sing and dance through it all.” In exciting news for fans, Delta’s BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS TOUR will also be the first time Australian event goers can take advantage of Ticketek’s world-leading partnership with Afterpay. Available via the Ticketek app or website, Afterpay is the world’s largest buy-now-pay-later service, offering fans greater flexibility to pay for tickets in four equal instalments and secure seats with the first payment. Delta has been busier than ever, recently undertaking highly acclaimed performances for global event ‘One World: Together At Home’ and ‘Music From The Home Front’, where she shone as one of four hosts and delivered a show-stopping duet performance of the Men At Work classic Down Under with Colin Hay. Keen to connect with her fans from all over the world, Delta also launched The Bunkerdown Sessions via her social media platforms, performing live deep cuts from her extensive catalogue and some new pieces she had been working on, including recent single, Keep Climbing. She also launched Delta Goodrem Foundation, in partnership with St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, to help fund medical research into blood cancers and auto-immune disease and $1+ GST from every ticket purchased to the BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS TOUR will be donated to the Foundation – visit deltagoodremfoundation.org DELTA GOODREM BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED DREAMS AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES 2021 Thursday 8 April 2021 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Friday 9 April 2021 Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast Saturday 10 April 2021 Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Tuesday 13 April 2021 Royal Theatre, Canberra Thursday 15 April 2021 WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong Friday 16 April 2021 Adelaide Entertainment Centre – Theatre, Adelaide Saturday 17 April 2021 RAC Arena, Perth Thursday 29 April 2021 Townsville Entertainment Centre, Townsville Saturday 1 May 2021 Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle Sunday 2 May 2021 Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne DELTA GOODREM FAN CLUB PRE-SALE 8.30pm Sunday 12 July – 9.59am Wednesday 15 July 2020 (local) TELSTRA PLUS™ PRE-SALE 10.00am Wednesday 15 July – 9.59am Friday 17 July 2020 (local) GENERAL PUBLIC ONSALE 12.00PM FRIDAY 17 JULY (local time) www.ticketek.com.au All tickets are available from Ticketek with the exception of Wollongong, with tickets available from Ticketmaster.
My Future Business Interview with TEDDY HAYES #author #six2one #teddyhayes Hi, and welcome to the show! On today's My Future Business Show I have the pleasure of spending time with producer, director, playwright, scriptwriter, filmmaker, novelist, author, and media consultant, TEDDY HAYES. Born in Cleveland Ohio, Teddy attended Cleveland State University, where he gained his BA in film and television media studies. Teddy is also the recipient of a “lifetime Achievement Award” which he received from the Equal Arts Foundation in the U.K. Teddy, has worked with the likes of Quincy Jones, Roberta, and also with producer and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, along with many other amazing talents across the globe. When Teddy moved to London U.K., he began writing a series of detective novels, whilst producing his own plays and feature films. Teddy's feature films include Her Name Was Amy Tillman, That Samba Thing, and An Inflammatory Approach. Plays that Teddy has personally produced have appeared in major venues including London's Royal Theatre. Teddy has experienced wide acclaim when touring across the U.K with his play Remember Marvin, which was based on the life of famous soul singer Marvin Gaye. Books Teddy has written include his first called Blood Red Blues, to his latest The Guerrilla Guide to Being A Theatrical Producer. Earlier works include Devil Barnett, followed by Dead by Popular Demand. With more in the series now being written. Teddy is also working on a Country Musical called Sumpthin Kinda Country which will premier in Ireland and The New Zealand Country Music Festival in 2021. During this call, Teddy opens up on many of his wonderful experiences, and how they helped shape the life he lives today, and how each experience continues to influence his amazing work. Thank you, Teddy! So much great content on this call, so be sure to get comfortable and enjoy the show. To get Teddy's books, including his latest release Six2One, or to contact him directly, click the link below. Thanks again Teddy, for being my guest on The My Future Business Show! Rick Nuske PS: To get in front of your best audience and stay there, click the book your interview button below. Thanks for joining us on the show today, and if you liked this call, support the show by clicking on our big red YouTube subscribe button below, and share us with your friends.
Today is the Winter Solstice. It is also the 140th anniversary of the world premiere of Henrik Ibsen's play “A Doll's House” at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hi guys! We are back with our new episode. We cover 2 ghost stories. the ghost of The Royal Theatre and Robert the doll. Tune in for us. We are still waiting for you haunted, funny, scary, everyday stories. We would love a featured episode from these. You can find us on youtube, facebook, Instagram and twitter as Unusual Ledger Thank you for listenening!
Sponsored by Audible. Get your FREE AUDIOBOOK at www.audibletrial.com/MusicalswithCheese This is a very special episode we've got here. This week Jess & Andrew are joined by Tony Goldmark of Some Jerk with a Camera, as they discuss four live musical performances currently at Disneyland: Frozen at the Hyperion, Beauty & the Beast/Tangled at the Royal Theatre, and Mickey & The Magical Map. Topics included in this episode include whether or not Gaston is an incel, the history of the Royal Theatre, the upcoming Frozen sequel, how remarkable Disneyland really is, and much much more. It's an episode not to be missed! Links: Check out Tony Goldmark's incredible work HERE Donate to our Patreon Musicals with Cheese on Twitter Musicals w/ Cheese on Instagram Jess on Twitter Jess on Instagram Andrew on Twitter Andrew on Instagram Email us at musicaltheatrelives@gmail.com
Coming up on the FORTY SECOND ep of Fni Wrapchat is the Amazing O'Flanagan Sisters. Mary-Kate and Rachel. Rachel is a story consultant who works across the business and arts industries. She works with teams and individuals in Ireland, the UK and Germany to develop visual storytelling and audience engagement. She has worked on a wide range of television and film productions ensuring that scripts communicate the writer's vision, connect with audiences and achieve commercial, as well as artistic, success. Rachel works with her sister and colleague Mary Kate as A Dramatic Improvement and they have designed and delivered training workshops in visual storytelling for the Irish Writers Centre; Film Base; Screen Training Ireland and the advertising industry via IAPI. In 2014/2015 they were lead tutors and writing mentors at Y Labordy an initiative funded by S4C, Film Wales Literature Wales and the Royal Theatre of Wales Rachel and Mary Kate design and deliver workshops exploring the applications of storytelling in business. They are particularly interested in the role of storytelling in leadership, branding, change management, team building and knowledge transfer. They are uniquely positioned to build bridges between the skills of storytelling and the needs of businesses to connect with their audiences. Mary Kate O'Flanagan Mary Kate trained in the craft of screenwriting with the professors of screenwriting at The University of Southern California. She has worked as a tutor alongside her former professors for the last ten years. She has continued to be mentored by them, in particular David Howard, author of The Tools of Screenwriting. She is a guest tutor at the Czech Film School FAMU and The National Film School in Ireland as well as a lead tutor on pan-European programmes. In the last year she has given intensive workshops and lectures on screenwriting in Prague, London, Cologne, Pilzen, Valletta as well as Dublin, Cork and Galway. She has also given workshops in Africa. She specialises in giving in-depth training to aspiring screenwriters from diverse backgrounds. Mary Kate is a working writer who has written six feature-length screenplays, all of which have been funded by The Irish Film Board and subsequently optioned, currently in development. She holds an MA in Screenwriting, has won pan-European awards for her screenwriting, is a published short story writer and Ireland's Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Moth. Mary Kate is also a Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at THe Moth in LA. You can hear her story here: themoth.org/stories/carry-him-shoulder-high Mary Kate and Rachel have lived in several European countries and are particularly interested in screen stories that transcend borders. This Wednesday the 19th we have our annual Christmas Get-together http://wearefni.com/beard-runner Space is limited and prizes are awesome Be sure to Check out our previous podcast's and don't forget to subscribe and review. We LOOOOVE your feedback. #WeareFni #MakeANameForYourself If you want to support FNI in our non Subsidised work head on over to www.buymeacoffee.com/fni Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Coming up on the FORTY SECOND ep of Fni Wrapchat is the Amazing O'Flanagan Sisters. Mary-Kate and Rachel. Rachel is a story consultant who works across the business and arts industries. She works with teams and individuals in Ireland, the UK and Germany to develop visual storytelling and audience engagement. She has worked on a wide range of television and film productions ensuring that scripts communicate the writer’s vision, connect with audiences and achieve commercial, as well as artistic, success. Rachel works with her sister and colleague Mary Kate as A Dramatic Improvement and they have designed and delivered training workshops in visual storytelling for the Irish Writers Centre; Film Base; Screen Training Ireland and the advertising industry via IAPI. In 2014/2015 they were lead tutors and writing mentors at Y Labordy an initiative funded by S4C, Film Wales Literature Wales and the Royal Theatre of Wales Rachel and Mary Kate design and deliver workshops exploring the applications of storytelling in business. They are particularly interested in the role of storytelling in leadership, branding, change management, team building and knowledge transfer. They are uniquely positioned to build bridges between the skills of storytelling and the needs of businesses to connect with their audiences. Mary Kate O’Flanagan Mary Kate trained in the craft of screenwriting with the professors of screenwriting at The University of Southern California. She has worked as a tutor alongside her former professors for the last ten years. She has continued to be mentored by them, in particular David Howard, author of The Tools of Screenwriting. She is a guest tutor at the Czech Film School FAMU and The National Film School in Ireland as well as a lead tutor on pan-European programmes. In the last year she has given intensive workshops and lectures on screenwriting in Prague, London, Cologne, Pilzen, Valletta as well as Dublin, Cork and Galway. She has also given workshops in Africa. She specialises in giving in-depth training to aspiring screenwriters from diverse backgrounds. Mary Kate is a working writer who has written six feature-length screenplays, all of which have been funded by The Irish Film Board and subsequently optioned, currently in development. She holds an MA in Screenwriting, has won pan-European awards for her screenwriting, is a published short story writer and Ireland’s Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Moth. Mary Kate is also a Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at THe Moth in LA. You can hear her story here: themoth.org/stories/carry-him-shoulder-high Mary Kate and Rachel have lived in several European countries and are particularly interested in screen stories that transcend borders. This Wednesday the 19th we have our annual Christmas Get-together http://wearefni.com/beard-runner Space is limited and prizes are awesome Be sure to Check out our previous podcast's and don’t forget to subscribe and review. We LOOOOVE your feedback. #WeareFni #MakeANameForYourself If you want to support FNI in our non Subsidised work head on over to www.buymeacoffee.com/fni
Keith Barry is a magician, hypnotist, mentalist, escapologist and biometric hacker. He worked as a magic consultant behind the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Now You See Me’ and 'Now You See Me 2' Which are two of my favourite movies in recent years. He has appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show, the Jimmy Kimmel Show and The Conan O Brien Show and has showcased in over forty international television shows. His awards include ‘Best Magician In Las Vegas’, and the prestigious ‘Merlin Award’ joining the ranks of past recipients including Paul Daniels and David Copperfield. He is currently getting ready for his Deception Tour which is starting in The Royal Theatre in Castlebar in Mayo on December 28th and will be all over Ireland throughout January, February and March. All the ticket information and available in the show notes. Some of the things we talked about: Going from working in McDonald's to becoming one of the worlds leading magicians Brain hacking Morgan Freeman on the set of a movie Working alongside Woody Harlesden in Hollywood blockbuster Now You See Me and helping write the script, for Now You See Me 2 Keith’s creative process for creating new tricks How he trains, eats and sleep to keep mentally sharp when working in high-pressure environments . Shownotes: Deception Tour: https://www.keithbarry.com/tours/deception Website: https://www.keithbarry.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keithbarryofficial/ Check out Brians best selling book THE FITNESS MINDSET on AUDIO BOOK and PAPERBACK Brians Blog can be found he
Ann Crosset on acknowledgment and The Royal Theatre
Comedian Greg Proops on what he talks about on his podcast. See him at JFL42 in Toronto this weekend! Tonight at 7 pm at the Royal Theatre, Friday night at midnight at Second City, Saturday at 8:45 pm at the Royal and Sunday at 8 at Yuk Yuks!
Comedian Greg Proops on what made him laugh as a youngster. See him at JFL42 in Toronto this weekend! Tonight at 7 pm at the Royal Theatre, Friday night at midnight at Second City, Saturday at 8:45 pm at the Royal and Sunday at 8 at Yuk Yuks!
Comedian Greg Proops on why he loves podcasting. See him at JFL42 in Toronto this weekend! Tonight at 7 pm at the Royal Theatre, Friday night at midnight at Second City, Saturday at 8:45 pm at the Royal and Sunday at 8 at Yuk Yuks!
The first Toronto True Crime Film Festival was held on June 8 and 9, 2018, at the Royal Theatre. On the morning of June 9, a series of panel discussions took place at the Monarch Tavern, just a couple of short blocks south of the Royal. We are delighted to share with you an edited and truncated version of that talk. The panelists are Keila Woodward, Catherine Legge, Karen Herland, and Remy Bennet. The panel is moderated by Anne T. Donahue.
The Royal Theatre A Christmas Story http://oldtimeradiodvd.com
Live from the Royal Theatre in Toronto, Doug welcomes Scott Thompson, Mark Forward and Sean Cullen to the show. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A Doll's House is a three-act play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Its first performance was at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, in Denmark, on 21 December 1879. It is often considered to be a feminist play as Nora, the heroine, leaves her husband and children intent on self-discovery. Ibsen, on the other hand, denied any conscious attempt to provide propaganda for the women's rights movement and claimed that his concern was for the description of humanity. If the play is about the need to find the self and to live true to that self, then what is the nature of individualism that the play promotes?The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/theatre-and-individualism-henrik-ibsen-a-dolls-houseGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege
In this podcast, Tommy Marren talks live to David McGowan in The Royal Theatre in Castlebar at an event where teenagers from all over the region gathered to be shown the true impact of not being totally responsible when on the road. This is a very moving interview in which David describes in detail from his perspective just how difficult the tragedy of losing a young person is to not just their family, but the whole community in which they lived.
CONTACT US TODAY! Email: podcast@windowtothemagic.com Voicemail: 1-307-438-9886 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/wttm Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jeremiahgood Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/magicjoe1 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brynane Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wttmpodcast ********************************* This week, new WTTM co-host (and super sweetie) Bryn MacKinnon takes you into the Royal Theatre inside the still new Princess Fantasy Faire at Disneyland to enjoy a vaudeville-style performance by Mr Smythe & Mr Jones and a very special guest. Enjoy! ********************************* WindowtotheMagic is now a member of the Micechat.com Podcast Network. Visit Micechat for all the latest Disney news, along with a healthy dose of commentary! Thanks to Micechat for sharing the WTTM magic with their readers! ********************************* THE WTTM PODCAST APPLICATIONS for iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch & now for Android & Kindle Fire Mobile access to the shows, and MUCH more! The WindowtotheMagic Podcast App: Apple: http://tinyurl.com/wttmapp Android: http://tinyurl.com/wttmapp3 Get the App, and inside is a coupon good for $15.00 off a Multi-DVD order from the WTTM DVD Store... exclusive for wttm app users only. ********************************* This podcast is brought to you by: The recurring supporters of WindowtotheMagic! Please visit www.windowtothemagic.com and sign up for a small recurring donation. Supporters receive weekly bonus shows and other exclusive content. Thank you for supporting the Magic! ********************************* OTHER EXCITING WAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR WTTM EXPERIENCE ********************************* The WindowtotheMagic Family of Podcasts & HD Videocast The Original WindowtotheMagic Audio Podcast http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=77245374 The WindowtotheMagic Videocast (HIGH Definition) http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=300127061 ********************************* Email: podcast@windowtothemagic.com Voicemail: 1-307-438-9886 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/wttm Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jeremiahgood Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/magicjoe1 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brynane Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wttmpodcast ********************************* 62 Mins ))HD BRYNAURAL((
The DisGeek Crew is joined by Chris Wakefield of the Wakefield Report. We talked to Chris who is a WDW fan to find out what he thought and how it compared to his home parks in Orlando. We also visit the Main Street Newsstand and give out our Tip of the Week. It's a HUGE show! Please enjoy and review in iTunes. News Tony Baxter Retires Mouseplanet posted his announcement email to his colleagues today: Fantasy Faire opens March 12thThe former Carnation Plaza Gardens stage and dance floor will now be called The Royal Theatre with shows featuring characters from Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. At The Royal Hall, there will be three princess meet and greet areas.Food items include new cheddar garlic twists, boysen apple freeze and a yogurt parfait from Maurice's Treats. During the Q&A, swing dancing was brought up MousePlanet tweeted out their response saying “The stage is flexible, but the decision will be made later. For now, full-time Fantasy Faire.” Nescafe Coffee is leaving Disneyland Disney has entered into a long-term agreement with Joffrey's Coffee and Tea Co to provide the standard coffee at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Vacation Club properties. In addition, Joffrey's will develop special blends exclusive to Disney and resort hotel rooms will all have a catalog where guests can purchase Joffrey's products to take home. These changes will be complete within the next few months. Just to give you an idea how quickly Limited time magic goes, we have had two events go since our last recording. And two more events come and go. What has ended is Golden Horseshoe Review Tribute and the New Orleans Bayou Bash. What has COME and go meaning the event happened and is now gone Lunar New Year at DCA and True Love Week Extended hours at DCA on Thursdays. 2 extra hours to enjoy. Finally it seems that they will now start enforcing fastpass return times as they recently did in Florida. Of course this draws outrage from the fan community which frankly I don't understand. Signs has gone up although I understand the enforcement is not actually in place yet. Signs are up merely to start getting passholders used to the idea. Feature - Talk with Chris Wakefield of the Wakefield Report. Tip of the Week - Visit World of Disney and check out Thomas Kinkade hidden images. Thanks to Richard for the tip! Twitter Daniel @disgeekpodcast Tommy @tommypixChris @dizchrisEmail us at- podcast@disgeek.comCall us at 661 450-8290. If you enjoy the show take a minute and Review us in itunes. Download Sticher Radio. Use Promo Code: DISGEEK Check Out Touring Plans.com! Visit our friends at:
35 years ago today…Monty Python’s concert at the The Royal Theatre in Drury Lane (best known at the home of the muffin man) was recorded for their 1974 Live at Drury Lane album. To celebrate this moment in Monty Python history, we feature nothing from this recording in the first episode of the Gazillionth (or […]