Here's the Scoop...
If you're a fan of film composer John Williams then make sure that you tune into TNT on Wednesday, June 15. This legend is the recipient of the American Film Institutes' 44th Life Achievement Award. He better get an award, he scored Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, the Indiana Jones movies and so many more.
This much deserved honor will feature tributes from the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford and more...
I'm tuning in. How about you?
Be Well,
Steve
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Film composer John Williams honored at American Film Institute gala
Legendary film composer John Williams was honored Thursday at the American Film Institutes' 44th Life Achievement Award gala.
The event held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, featured some of the biggest names in Hollywood who have worked with or were influenced by Williams including frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Drew Barrymore, Tom Hanks, Kobe Bryant, J.J. Abrams, Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth MacFarlane among others.
Spielberg, who has had Williams score 27 of his films over 43 years including Indiana Jones, Jaws and Schindler's List, explained how Williams elevates his work, presenting a signature scene from E.T. where main character Elliot rides his bicycle into the sky.
"Without John Williams, bikes don't really fly," Spielberg said. "John, you breathe belief into every film."
Lucas meanwhile credited the composer with all the success he enjoyed after the release of Star Wars noting, "You made my life so easy. I had so many ideas for other movies, but I never had to get around to them thanks to Star Wars.
As Ford took the stage to honor Williams, he was greeted by the main, iconic theme of Raiders of the Lost Ark. "They play it every time I walk on the stage. Every time I walk off the stage. It was playing in the operating room when I went in for a colonoscopy," the actor joked.
Williams now 84 and the first composer to be honored by the AFI, paid tribute himself to his predecessors such as Alfred Newman and Bernard Hermann "I am enormously grateful to film for giving [composers] the broadest possible audience worldwide that any composer has ever enjoyed," he said before imagining how classical composers would fare in Hollywood.
"Certainly Beethoven would have shunned [Hollywood], but Wagner would have had his own studio out there in Burbank with a water tower with a big W on it."
The AFI Achievement Award Gala will premiere Wednesday on TNT followed by an encore presentation on TCM Sept. 12.
Mel Gibson working on 'Passion of the Christ' sequel
Mel Gibson is working on a sequel to The Passion of the Christ that will tell the story of the resurrection of Jesus, the film's writer said.
Randall Wallace, an Academy Award nominee for writing Gibson's 1995 film Braveheart, confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter the two began serious work on a sequel to Passion as they finished working on their current film Hacksaw Ridge, due out in November.
"I always wanted to tell this story," said Wallace, who studied religion at Duke University. "The Passion is the beginning and there's a lot more story to tell."
Wallace, who also co-wrote and directed the 2014 faith-based film Heaven Is for Real, wrote Gibson's new movie about World War II Army medic Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Wallace said the sequel doesn't yet have financial backing, but The Passion, Gibson's 2004 story of the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus, was the highest grossing independent film in movie history, earning $612 million. It was also the highest grossing R-rated film until this year's Deadpool.
Gibson's career has struggled since his 2006 DUI arrest when went on a racist and sexist rant to California police officers. He has been working his way back with supporting roles in films like Machete Kills and The Expendables 3. He is only directing Hacksaw Ridge.
LOOSE LIPS:
"There should be more women. I don't know why they didn't give my show to a woman. That would have been fine."
--David Letterman, on his hopes for future late-night talk show hosts, in an NBC special
??? Guess Who ???
Which actor turned down the role of Superman because, 'I just didn't fancy it'?
Jennifer Lawrence to play Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in medical drama
Jennifer Lawrence has reportedly joined a developing Adam McKay drama about troubled medical startup Theranos and its young founder, Elizabeth Holmes.
Lawrence is set to play 32-year-old Holmes, who launched the blood testing company in 2003 and helped its worth soar to $9 billion in a decade. Deadline first reported the news.
The upcoming medical drama, which will follow the rise and fall of the once-esteemed and sought-after startup, will be produced by Gary Sanchez Productions. Film Director Adam McKay, who was behind the Oscar-winning movie The Big Short, presents only one new project of many for Lawrence. She is reportedly set to play Fidel Castro's lover Marita; an unknown role in an untitled film by Darren Aronofsky; and the lead in Moten Tyldum's Passengers opposite Chris Pratt.
Once a shining star of Silicon Valley innovation, Theranos, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is now embattled by investigations and lawsuits prompted by claims of inaccurate blood tests and lab violations.
Earlier this year, big-spender Walgreens suspended its business practice with the company after an investigation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services unearthed several questionable practices. Others, including Safeway and The Cleveland Clinic, have also followed suit in various ways.
The company's executives continue to insist its services are unreliable.
??? Guess Who ???
Which actor turned down the role of Superman because, 'I just didn't fancy it'?
Jude Law detailed why he turned down becoming Superman while appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
"At the time it just didn't float my boat," the actor explained Thursday to Colbert. Law was approached by director Bryan Singer to become the man of steel in his 2006 film, Superman Returns.
"I just didn't really want to go there. I'm an Englishman and it just didn't seem to fit. I was really worried about the outfit and I just didn't fancy it," he continued.
The Sherlock Holmes star revealed that he was talked into trying on the new "revamped" Superman outfit but that once he saw himself in the mirror, he knew the part wasn't for him.
"I stood there and then I have this picture of me in that costume on posters all around the world and I was like 'No way!' and I unzipped it. I was Superman for two minutes. That's enough!" Law said.
The part would eventually go to Brandon Routh who did not reprise his role after Warner Bros. was disappointed with Superman Returns critical reception and box-office take. Henry Cavill has since portrayed the character starting with 2013's Man of Steel and its recently released sequel, Batman v Superman:Dawn of Justice.