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For BAFTA-nominated costume designer Jennifer Johnson (I, Tonya), working on Blonde was all about authenticity. Armed with a directive from writer-director Andrew Dominik — who would not approve a creation unless it was a perfect match — everything from the shades of Marilyn Monroe’s pink opera gloves to the placement of a pocket needed to be exact. Archival photos and films proved invaluable for the design of 100-plus costumes for Monroe along with those for 1,800 extras and supporting characters (including Joe Dimaggio, John F. Kennedy and Arthur Miller), which were a mixture of vintage and made-from-scratch items.

For an offscreen Monroe look, Jennifer Johnson remade capri pants found at L.A.’s Palace Costume.

Taking her cues from Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name and Dominik’s script, Johnson’s goal was to convey the inner workings of the iconic screen siren...

Busby Berkeley’s musical comedy extravaganza not only gets away with a social message, it makes one of the best cultural statements ever about the Great Depression. Social upheaval suddenly being a real thing these days, we understand. The story is a romantic backstage musical but The Wolf at the Door is present in the dialogue, the lyrics, everywhere. This might be the sexiest of Berkeley’s musicals, with even star Joan Blondell teasing the nudity; but audiences were floored when the gala curtain number ‘Remember My Forgotten Man’ shouted out a cry for social justice. Warren William, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell & Guy Kibbee star; and this is Ned Sparks’ best role, with additional gold-digging by pert ‘n’ perky Ginger Rogers.

Gold Diggers of 1933

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1933 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date February 8, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell,...

A new documentary examines Mia Farrow’s father, a prolific film-maker from Marrickville with a backstory stranger than fiction

History has largely ignored John Farrow. Despite the Marrickville-born film-maker carving out a staggering body of work – directing about 50 features for major US studios and working with stars including John Wayne and Bette Davis – it’s as though he barely even existed, beyond his name appearing in credits.

The story of cinema is punctuated by those who rise to fame while countless others are relegated to the ash heap of history. John Farrow: Hollywood’s Man in the Shadows is a new documentary that shines a light on the Australian artist who was once a mover and shaker in Tinseltown, but whose legacy went the way of the dodo – similar to Gillian Armstrong’s 2015 film Women He’s Undressed, which examines the life of Australian-born costume designer Orry-Kelly.

Ann Roth on her backstory for dressing Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf in Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley: “I knew where he went to prep school and I knew that his father, who was an international guy, had assorted New York Saville Row clothes.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the third part of my series of conversations with Ann Roth, we discuss one of her first jobs in the “movie business”, which was working with costume designer Irene Sharaff on Vincente Minnelli’s Brigadoon, starring Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse. Sharaff, a five-time Oscar winner had wanted Ann Roth to come to California.

Gene Kelly and Van Johnson in Vincente Minnelli’s Brigadoon - costumes by Irene Sharaff

The Civil War era costumes by Plunkett in Victor Fleming’s Gone With The Wind under David O Selznick and Ann Roth’s (BAFTA...

Okay, cheesy title but it is kind of true. The Maltese Falcon (1941) provides a wonderful snapshot of men’s shirt collar styles of the time. From Wing to Pin, they are all there and, most interestingly, all on display during the film’s virtuoso twenty minute climax. It is a sight to see.

The Maltese Falcon was costumed by Orry-Kelly, though Humphrey Bogart provided his own clothing as hardboiled P.I. Sam Spade, as is likely for most of the male cast (typical during this era).

Check out the video below and enjoy a tour of men’s shirt collar styles during the early 1940s:

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© 2019, Lord Christopher Laverty.

Wow … pre-Code pictures frequently offended conservative values, but this saucy ‘n’ sinful big business exposé is guaranteed to bring #MeToo advocates to their feet, demanding that the negative be burned. Loretta Young stars as a rather inconsistent modern maid, trapped between three less-than-scrupulous men. No, make that three total pigs.

She Had to Say Yes

DVD

The Warner Archive Collection

1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 66 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Lyle Talbot, Regis Toomey, Hugh Herbert, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Suzanne Kilborn, Helen Ware, Harold Waldridge, George Chandler, Barbara Rogers, Renee Whitney, Pat Wing, Toby Wing.

Cinematography: Arthur Todd

Film Editor: George Amy

Costumes: Orry-Kelly

Written by Rian James, Don Mullaly, from a story by John Francis Larkin

Supervised by Henry Blanke

Directed by Busby Berkeley, George Amy

Loretta Young rules the pre-Code roost! There are plenty of good reasons to amble over to the website Greenbriar Picture Shows,...

The curtain is falling on the MGM musical, and Gene Kelly’s final song and dance at the studio is for a Paris-set show biz tale about a dancing star and his trio of showgirls. Actually, the comedy and the actresses get more attention than does Kelly. The gimmick is a Rashomon– like clash of conflicting testimony, but we prefer to concentrate on the sexy dancing and Kay Kendall’s hilarious drunk act. Who thought a boozy beauty wailing opera songs would be funny?

Les Girls

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Cole Porter’s Les Girls / Street Date April 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.9

Starring: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, Patrick Macnee.

Cinematography: Robert Surtees

Film Editor: Ferris Webster

Costumes: Orry-Kelly

Choreography: Jack Cole

Original Music: Cole Porter, arranged and orchestrated by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Skip Martin

Written...

For this week's episode of our cinematography series Hit Me With Your Best Shot we wanted a slight curveball as a way to celebrate the release of the Costume Design documentary Women He's Undressed. It's now available to rent on iTunes or purchase on other digital platforms. (Jose's interview with the director here). The film is about the legendary Orry-Kelly, who designed a truckload of classic Hollywood features and stars, and won three Oscars in the 1950s for An American in Paris, Les Girls  and Some Like It Hot.  So those playing "Best Shot" this week could choose any of those three. I watched Les Girls since it gets the least attention and they even use its image for the documentary's poster (left).

Les Girls  (George Cukor, 1957) is not well remembered today but curiously it reminds us yet again that mainstream Hollywood in the 50s and 60s paid a lot...

How I Feel / How I Wish I Felt as demonstrated by DeliveranceI seem to have done something to my shoulder* so typing has become painful. People are performing superhuman feats at the Olympics whilst looking sexy and I'm watching like a mangled corpse in my living room. Fun times. Alas, that means this week's Best Shot Special Edition focusing on both cinematography and a Best Costume choice (as tribute to Orry-Kelly with the release of the documentary "Women He Undressed") might be very late. I'm taking frequent long stretching breaks.

Best Shot Articles Elsewhere

• Jason Choi *first time participant* looks at the final sequence in An American in Paris (1951)

• I Want to Believe relates to Sugar Kane in Some Like it Hot (1959)

• Dancin' Dan on Marilyn's curves and despair in Some Like It Hot (1959)

• Allison Tooey looks at the musical Les Girls (1957)

• Timothy Brayton has a lot to say about...

“Women He’s Undressed” is a lively and revealing documentary — but not in the way the salacious title might suggest. A lot more than clothing is probed, fingered and illuminated in this stylish look at the brilliant career of three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Orry George Kelly, known professionally as Orry-Kelly. Director Gillian Armstrong (“My Brilliant Career,” “Charlotte Grey”) smartly trains her focus on several key areas of intriguing Hollywood history: the restrictive Hayes Code, closeted homosexuality among Hollywood icons, and the overbearing studio system. Of course, it also spotlights the sartorial artistry of Orry-Kelly, through the knowing commentary of renowned.

Though actors, writers, and directors often receive the lion’s share of the credit for the success of a film, there are plenty of people behind the scenes that do marvelous, unsung work. Take legendary Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly for instance, who put his signature on such films like “Casablanca,” “42nd Street,” “An American in Paris,” and more. The new documentary “Women He’s Undressed” explores the life and career of Orry-Kelly by mixing recreations of his life with testimonies from intimates and admirers in order to better understand one of the godfathers of glamour. Some of the interviewees include Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury, Leonard Maltin, and more. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring a discussion about Orry-Kelly’s work on Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot.”

Read More: Coronado Island Film Festival to Launch Inaugural Event With ‘Some Like it Hot,’ Leonard Maltin and More...

Glenn here. Each Tuesday we bring you reviews and features on documentaries from theatres, festivals, and on demand.

Gillian Armstrong is nearly as prolific as a documentarian as she is a dramatic filmmaker. While the likes of her “Seven Years On” series (an Australian 7 Up), her Bob Dylan concert doc Hard to Handle, or the true crime murder mystery of an interior design queen in Unfolding Florence aren’t as well-known as her collaborations with Judy Davis, Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson, and Winona Ryder, they are eclectic and passionate works nonetheless. As she said in her interview with Jose last year at Toronto, “there’s a different art to making documentaries” and unlike many other directors who split their time between mediums, her documentaries do feel distinctly unique from her other work and yet equally essential.

Her latest non-fiction work is Women He’s Undressed, a peek behind the velvet curtain at Orry-Kelly,...

The Little Black Dress—From Mourning to Night is a free exhibit currently at The Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The exhibit runs through September 5th.

The Little Black Dress – a simple, short cocktail dress—is a sartorial staple for most contemporary women. Prior to the early 20th century, simple, unadorned black garments were limited to mourning, and strict social rules regarding mourning dress were rigidly observed.Featuring over 60 dresses from the Missouri History Museum’s world-renowned textile collection, this fun yet thought-provoking exhibit explores the subject of mourning, as well as the transition of black from a symbol of grief to a symbol of high fashion. You’ll also see fascinating artifacts—from hair jewelry to tear catchers—that were once a regular part of the mourning process. Plus, you’ll have the chance to share your own memories of your favorite...

Exclusive: Hollywood Classics inks deal with Wolfe Releasing.

Hollywood Classics has inked a deal with Us distributor Wolfe Releasing for Gillian Armstrong’s (Little Women) docu-feature Women He’s Undressed, about legendary Australian costume designer and three-time Oscar winner Orry-Kelly.

After arriving in the Us from a small Australian coastal fishing village, Orry-Kelly would go on to costume-design on some of the biggest films of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’ including Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and Some Like It Hot.

Armstrong’s film, which includes interviews with some of Orry’s long-time colleagues, reveals a talented, and daring professional who was also a thorn in the side of many a studio head and the first Australian to win three Academy Awards.

The Sydney and Toronto title has also sold to Feltrinelli Editore in Italy and to Canal+ in Spain.

Jim Stephens, president of Wolfe Releasing said: “Women He’s Undressed tells the wildly-entertaining story of an amazing gay man...

A performative exploration of Australia’s own Orry-Kelly, perhaps most infamously known as Cary Grant’s lover, Women He’s Undressed is a playful look at the man behind the costumes worn by Marilyn Monroe, Betty Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Rosalind Russell, and Errol Flynn, amongst other legends of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The film’s story is told via an electrifying mix of first-person interviews, performances of Orry-Kelly’s letters, and archival materials, including clips from his films Some Like It Hot, The Maltese Falcon, Les Girls, and Arsenic and Old Lace.

The film’s charms exist in the performative elements contextualized amongst the film’s interviewees. Director Gillian Armstrong (known for her narrative films Little Women and Oscar and Lucinda) paints a picture partially routed in national pride, about a small town boy from rural New South Wales who makes good in Hollywood. The fragmented nature of the narrative...

Oscar winning producer Bruna Papandrea is set to recieve this year's Orry Kelly International Award at the Australians in Film Awards in Los Angeles.

On October 25, Australians in Film will host its annual AiF Awards and Benefit Gala at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles..

Actor, Elizabeth Debicki, has taken out the Breakthrough Talent of 2015 Award..

Presenter Carrie Bickmore will be master of ceremonies at this year.s awards, which celebrates the achievements of Australians working in Hollywood and also recognises the contribution of individuals to the Australian film industry.

.The Orry Kelly International Award is given to an Australian who has paved the way for other Australians in the entertainment industry and who has provided much support, mentoring and inspiration to others..

Papandrea's credits include Milk, Wild and Gone Girl.

Previous Orry Kelly honorees have included director Baz Luhrmann, film executive Greg Coote and filmmaking collective, Blue Tongue Films.

The Toronto International Film Festival’s prominence on the festival circuit has only grown over the years, with films from numerous different fields having gone on to critical and commercial acclaim. Among the festival’s different categories are Tiff Docs and Vanguard. Tiff Docs allows documentaries to get their own spotlight at the festival, giving acclaimed documentarians such as Michael Moore and Frederick Wiseman a platform for their films. The Vanguard section, on the other hand, showcases films that aren’t easily categorisable into a specific genre. With the Canadian Films lineup announcement having revealed the first set of films playing in each group, Tiff today revealed more of the lineup in each section. The list of newly announced films, with their official synopses, is as follows.

Tiff Docs

Amazing Grace, directed by Sydney Pollack, making its International Premiere

Sydney Pollack’s film of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Amazing Grace.’ Filmed...

Gillian Armstrong’s spritzy and theatrical documentary pops the cork on the Australian costume designer behind Some Like it Hot and Casablanca, one-time partner of a certain Archibald Leach

Gillian Armstrong on Orry-Kelly: friendship, fame and homophobia

How do you make a compelling documentary about a deceased subject for whom little archival material exists, without overegging textbook techniques like talking heads and zooming in on old photographs? It’s a challenge Gillian Armstrong has taken on before.

When the veteran film-maker set out to document the colourful life of Florence Broadhurst – a Queensland-born socialite and designer famous for her beautiful hand-printed wallpaper, whose 1977 murder remains a mystery – there wasn’t much pre-existing material to work with.

Continue reading...

This is a golden era for Australian feature documentaries as typified by the five critically-acclaimed titles in contention for the best feature doc prize at the fifth Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby, Michael Ware and Bill Guttentag.s Only the Dead, Jen Peedom.s Sherpa, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gillian Armstrong.s Women He.s Undressed are the nominees.

The Aacta Awards will be presented in Sydney in December, with the Seven Network telecasting the major awards on December 9.

Also revealed today were the nominees for best short animation and best short fiction film. In the running for the former are Adam Elliot.s Ernie Biscuit, Joe Brumm.s The Meek, Mikey Hill.s The Orchestra and Janette Goodey and John Lewis. The Story of Percival Pilts.

The nominees for best short fiction are Matt Holcomb.s Flat Daddy,...

The late Village Roadshow executive Greg Coote, Anthony Lapaglia and rising stars Margot Robbie and Brenton Thwaites will be honoured in the annual Australians in Film (AiF) awards.

Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian and veteran 20th Century Fox production executive Fred Baron will also be feted at the AiF.s gala dinner in Los Angeles on October 26.

Coote, who passed away in June, is a former chairman and CEO of Dune Entertainment, which co-financed more than 60 movies with Fox. He is the recipient of the AiF Orry-Kelly Award, which recognises Australians who have contributed to the success of other Australians in the industry.

.Greg Coote was an important advisor to Australians in Film from the beginning, helping to shape our early strategy, with a particular focus on supporting emerging Australian talent in Hollywood,. said AiF president Simonne Overend.

.He played such a major part in our success and really did...

The hot favourites romped home at the 86th Academy Awards as 12 Years a Slave was named best picture and Gravity's Alfonso Cuaron became the first Latino to win the best director award.

Cate Blanchett. got the best actress trophy for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, ranking as the first Australian actor to win two gold statues. She won best supporting actress for The Aviator in 2005.

Matthew McConaughey nabbed best lead actor for Dallas Buyers Club and that film.s Jared Leto was named best supporting actor. Lupita Nyong.o was judged best supporting actress for 12 Years a Slave.

Catherine Martin made history by taking her Oscars tally to four, surpassing costume designer Orry George Kelly who won for An American In Paris (1951), Les Girls (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1959).

Cm collected the awards for costume design and production design for The Great Gatsby while that film.s Beverly Dunn shared. the costume design Oscar.

Irene SharaffIf Catherine Martin wins an Oscar this year for her work on The Great Gatsby, she will join prolific costume Designer Orry-Kelly as Australia’s most Oscared individual. If Martin wins both of her nominations? She will become the first Australian to ever win more than three statues (having already won the same two for Moulin Rouge! 12 years ago). We’re not here to talk about Martin, nor Orry-Kelly really, but that’s an interesting statistic nonetheless. One of Orry-Kelly’s wins was for An American in Paris, which he won alongside Walter Plunkett and the main subject of this entry, Irene Sharaff.

Sharaff was a 15-time Oscar nominee for her work as a costume designer and was also nominated once for art direction, which certainly places her as one of the designers' favorites. She doesn’t have the famous name of, say, Edith Head or contemporaries Sandy Powell,...

Screen Australia is investing $5.4 million in six feature films from directors Gillian Armstrong,. Jeremy Sims and Paul Cox and rising filmmakers Kim Farrant, Mark Grentell and Alexs Stadermann.

Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving will star in Farrant.s Strangerland, a mystery drama about a couple whose lives unravel after their two teenage children go missing in the harsh Australian desert.

Michael Caton and Jacki Weaver are attached to star in Sims. Last Cab to Darwin, a comedy-drama about a dying man.s final journey based on Reg Cribb's play Last Cab to Darwin.

Caton will play Rex, a terminally ill cab driver who drove 3,000 km from his home in Broken Hill to Darwin in the early 1990s in hopes of taking advantage of the Northern Territory's voluntary euthanasia laws. Ningali Lawford has been cast as Polly, an Aboriginal woman who is Rex.s next door neighbour and occasional lover,...

Joel Edgerton, Baz Luhrmann and Jacki Weaver will be among the beneficiaries at Oct. 24’s Australians in Film Awards dinner, instituted by Australians in Film, the Los Angeles-based industry guild for Australian filmmakers and performers in the United States. Edgerton and his acting, directing and producing colleagues at the Sydney-based collective, Blue Tongue Films, will receive the Orry Kelly International award. Blue Tongue members include Kieran Darcy-Smith, Luke Doolan, Edgerton and his sibling Nash Edgerton, Mirrah Foulkes, David Michod and Spencer Susser – who have made films including Animal Kingdom and Wish You Were Here -- are being

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Joe's Pub at The Public welcomes world premieres, highly-anticipated debuts and the return of many esteemed performers this May and June. Funny girl Julie Klausner makes her debut with two evenings of cabaret. Legendary downtown performance artist John Kelly returns to premiere Rebel Songs. The 60s-inspired flight attendant Pam Ann returns for five nights in the Cockpit. Elsewhere Tony Award-winners Tonya Pinkins and Lin-manuel Miranda, Once star Cristin Milioti, Taylor Mac's epic exploration of popular music, a special appearance from Justin Vivian Bond, Joey Arias, the greatest rapper in the world, Champagne Jerry and more. Read on for more May and June cabaret, comedy, Broadway and musical theater highlights at Joe's Pub at The Public.

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its cabaret, Broadway and comedy acts today, April 21-July 28, 2013, including Lindsay Mendez and Michael Holland, Leslie Kritzer, Megan Hilty, Bridget Everett, Song of a Convalescent Ayn Rand, Paul Oakley Stovall and Brad Simmons, Nyu Tisch Presents, Blake Pfeil, Storm Large, Nicole Henry, Erin Markey, Joey Arias, Taylor Mac, William Blake, Moments with Ravi, Natalie Joy Johnson, Champagne Jerry, Wau Wau Sisters, The Georges, Pam Ann Cockpit, Missi Pyle, John Kelly, Tori Scott, Murray Hill and Vagabond Opera.

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its cabaret, Broadway and comedy acts April 21-July 28, 2013, including Lindsay Mendez and Michael Holland, Leslie Kritzer, Megan Hilty, Bridget Everett, Song of a Convalescent Ayn Rand, Paul Oakley Stovall and Brad Simmons, Nyu Tisch Presents, Blake Pfeil, Storm Large, Nicole Henry, Erin Markey, Joey Arias, Taylor Mac, William Blake, Moments with Ravi, Natalie Joy Johnson, Champagne Jerry, Wau Wau Sisters, The Georges, Pam Ann Cockpit, Missi Pyle, John Kelly, Tori Scott, Murray Hill and Vagabond Opera.

Tune in alert as an actual serial killer will help solve cold case murders on "Dark Minds." Unlike scripted crime shows like .The Following. or .Dexter. that dramatize serial killers, Investigation Discovery.s series .Dark Minds. features a real, convicted serial killer who formulates theories about the motives of unsolved murders. From ID: Anonymous and known only as .Raven,. he provides unorthodox yet invaluable information to crime writer M. William Phelps and criminal profiler John Kelly. Phelps says picking Raven.s brain can help reopen and, perhaps, solve cases in the real world. "The emotional toll is overwhelming. It makes my skin crawl, especially listening as Raven describes the enjoyment he got from taking a human life. But, it's...

1.) Three young actresses are vying for the lead in Disney's new live-action version of Cinderella from director Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go). Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, The Lovely Bones) is the most recognizable of the bunch, and her star should only continue to rise with her upcoming role in the adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's The Host. Ronan also recently scored a role in Wes Anderson's next film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, so her biggest hurdle in landing the part might be her busy schedule. Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina) and Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers) are also in the mix, while you might recall Wilde as one of the many young actresses testing for the Transformers 4 lead as Mark Wahlberg's daughter. Whoever gets the job will star opposite Cate Blanchett, who entered negotiations to play the evil stepmother last week. Variety's Jeff Sneider 2.) Seth MacFarlane recently visited UCLA...

I attended a small roundtable with filmmaker and Hollywood's famous go-to scribe Christopher McQuarrie earlier this afternoon to talk about "Jack Reacher," an adaptation of Lee Child's "One Shot".

During the conversation, Graffiti with Punctuation asked about the status of "Mission: Impossible 5" and if McQuarrie had any new updates on "The Wolverine" which he wrote.

I followed that up with a question listing a half dozen projects McQuarrie's name has been attached to in recent years, and I asked what the status of each was. Here's his answers for all of them, plus he also amusingly confirmed he is Not in the running to direct the next "Star Wars" film:

Mission Impossible 5

With "Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol" director Brad Bird confirmed to not be returning, McQuarrie's name became attached as a possible director for a fifth "Mission: Impossible" a few weeks ago. Paramount is reportedly very pleased with...

Now here's a video game adaptation that we can totally get behind. According to a new report, Tom Hardy has signed on to star in a big screen take on "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell."

Video game publisher and developer Ubisoft is already riding high thanks to the news that Michael Fassbender is slated to star in and co-produce an adaptation of "Assassin's Creed," and this news is arguably even more exciting. Variety broke the Hardy news, though little else is known about the project.

"Splinter Cell" isn't currently set up at a studio, though "The International" scribe Eric Warren Singer is planning to write a script for Ubisoft. The company is reportedly in early talks to set up the project with either Warner Bros. or Paramount. Hardy will play main character Sam Fisher, who Variety describes as "a highly-trained special operative in a fictional black-ops operation called Echelon." This...

It was recently rumored that Tom Hardy would be starring in an adaptation of Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, playing CIA operative-in-training John Kelly, but now it seems that he's gone and attached himself to another Clancy-inspired franchise entirely. New reports have surfaced saying that the Dark Knight Rises actor has signed a deal that will see him star in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, a movie based on the long-running, popular video game. Variety reports that the project isn't set up with a studio yet, but that Ubisoft - the game developer - is behind the adaptation and has been meeting with representatives at both Warner Bros. and Paramount (the latter studio holds the rights to Without Remorse). The feature is being written by Eric Warren Singer (The International) and will feature Hardy as Sam Fisher, "a highly-trained special operative in a fictional black-ops operation called Echelon." In a...

From Dorothy's shoes to Christian Bale's batsuit, costume is a crucial, although often unnoticed, part of film. Bee Wilson takes a tour of Hollywood's wardrobe department at the V&A's starry new exhibition

Carole Lombard "was just a tootsie when she came to Paramount," a movie insider once remarked. What transformed Lombard into a 1930s screwball goddess, the most highly paid in Hollywood in her day, were her gorgeous costumes, flowing, ornate and bias-cut. Designer Travis Banton "saw things in her even she didn't know she had". It was said of Banton that he could take a girl to lunch and instantly see what qualities he needed to accentuate. In Lombard's case, he weighted the gowns to drag backwards, giving her the elongated stature of a star. One of Lombard's most dazzling Banton dresses can be seen in the forthcoming Hollywood Costume show at the V&A. It is...

Paramount is making the start of production on Jack Ryan a two-day event. Yesterday we got a first look at Chris Pine as the title character cruising the downtown streets of Manhattan on his motorcycle and today we get a look at Pine and Kevin Costner exiting a helicopter on top of a building in the city. Costner's character name has not yet been confirmed, though early reports named him as William Harper, a legendary CIA Field Agent who is expected to get his own spin-off film series in very much the same way Samuel L. Jackson has managed to maintain a presence throughout The Avengers franchise as Nick Fury and may be getting his own film in the future. Harper recruits and mentors both Ryan and John Kelly, the latter of whom becomes the CIA operative Clark by the end of Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, which is currently...

Jack Ryan seems like a no brainer for a film franchise, but something always seems to stop it from gaining speed.

Tom Clancy’s protagonist first hit screens in the form of Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October. Ryan was next on screen, this time with Harrison Ford playing the role, in Patriot Games, which is technically a prequel to October. Ford returned as Ryan for Clear and Present Danger. Ben Affleck took over as Ryan in The Sum of All Fears, and that’s the last time the character was seen on screen.

All of the Ryan films have been successful both critically and financially, so it strikes me as odd that it’s been so long since we’ve seen Clancy’s CIA analyst on screen. There’s a wealth of source material here thanks to Clancy’s great books, and a film universe that has...

Update: Deadline is now reporting that Costner is locked and Paramount is putting the pieces in place to have Kenneth Brangh put Jack Ryan out in late 2013 with Chris Pine and Keira Knightley starring, followed by Without Remorse and the as-yet-undecided film based around Costner's Harper character. David Koepp has re-written the Ryan film and Tom Hardy has been offered Remorse, which Christopher McQuarrie has rewritten to direct....It looks like Paramount is hoping to turn their Tom Clancy properties into something of an Avengers-style shared universe, with films planned around both Jack Ryan (the Chris Pine-starring film currently still called, er, Jack Ryan) and fellow CIA operative John Kelly, who will feature in Without Remorse. And the Nick Fury of this particular plan, who will crop up in both those movies and possibly beyond? William Harper, played by Kevin Costner.The studio is now making a deal with...

Earlier this month came word that Kevin Costner was being sought for the co-leading role in Kenneth Branagh's Jack Ryan reboot at Paramount.

Costner's character is William Harper, a true blue American idealist who recruits and mentors Ryan (Chris Pine). The character is a new creation but one akin to the part of Admiral Greer which James Earl Jones played in the first three of the previous Jack Ryan films.

Now, Deadline reports that Costner has accepted the part. Not only that, it appears they are working out a deal that will see his character also play a similar mentor-style role in the spinoff franchise "Without Remorse". He could also potentially headlines his own film (making him the Nick Fury of the Clancy-verse) should the character prove a hit with audiences.

Christopher McQuarrie is slated to direct 'Remorse' which focuses on the John Kelly character whom Tom Hardy is being courted to play.

Kevin Costner will appear in two Tom Clancy film adaptations. He will star as William Harper, the mentor of Chris Pine's eponymous CIA operative in Jack Ryan, returning to the role for Without Remorse, reports Deadline. There is also the potential for Costner to headline his own film. Harper is an American idealist who recruits Ryan and his counterpart John Kelly in Without Remorse. Costner had previously (more)...

You know how in the Marvel Studios films, Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) went around all the movies, sometimes appearing for just a few minutes, in order to link the films to the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe that Marvel was building? Well, it looks like Paramount is going to use Kevin Costner to do that with their Jack Ryan franchise. After being courted earlier this month to appear as Jack Ryan’s would-be CIA mentor in the upcoming “Jack Ryan” reboot, Kevin Costner has officially come aboard. He will play a CIA operative name William Harper, described as “a true blue American idealist who recruits and mentors both Ryan” and, later, does the same for John Kelly aka John Clark, the hero of Paramount’s other Jack Ryan franchise, “Without Remorse”, which is currently being scripted by “The Unusual Suspects’” Christopher McQuarrie. And that’s not all. Apparently...

As rumored earlier this month , Kevin Costner is set to play CIA Agent William Harper, the mentor of Chris Pine's Jack Ryan in the still-untitled Kenneth Branagh film. Deadline brings added word, however, that Costner also plans to spin the role off for the studio's Without Remorse , based on a 1993 Clancy novel. That novel's plot is officially described as follows: John Kelly... is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months before, when he befriends a young woman with a decidedly checkered past. When that past reaches out for her in a particularly horrifying fashion, he vows revenge and, assembling all of his old skills, sets out to track down the men responsible, before it can happen again. At the same time, the Pentagon is readying an operation to...

Deadline is reporting that director/writer Christopher McQuarrie has been hired to adapt Tom Clancy’s novel Without Remorse. Though he’s only set to write the project, he does have his eye on the director’s chair too.

Apparently, the studio was pretty happy with the work that McQuarrie did on the upcoming Tom Cruise film Jack Reacher, and they want to stay in business with him.

Paramount has tried to adapt the book in the past but its “incredibly bleak and violent storyline” has made it a tough sell. Though it takes place in the Jack Ryan universe, the novel features another character, John Kelly (aka John Clark).

For those unfamiliar with the plot, check out the summary below:

John Kelly, former Navy Seal and Vietnam veteran, is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months before, when he befriends a young woman with a decidedly checkered past.

"The Usual Suspects" scribe Christopher McQuarrie is near a deal to pen and potentially direct the film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s 1993 novel "Without Remorse" for Paramount Pictures says Deadline.

The 1971-set book has John Kelly, a former Navy Seal returned from Vietnam, taking charge in two operations - an official military rescue of POWs, and a personal vendetta against the drug runners who raped, tortured and killed the first woman he became involved with since his wife's death.

The book is a prequel to events in Clancy's other books as Kelly would later become John Clark, the dark supporting character that would feature in several Jack Ryan novels and films. Willem Dafoe played him in "Clear and Present Danger" while Liev Schrieber took on the role in "The Sum of All Fears".

The studio has made several attempts to adapt the property but the bleak and violent storyline has proven difficult to adapt.

With expectations high for the Tom Cruise-starring Jack Reacher, Paramount are keen to keep writer/director Christopher McQuarrie in-house. Deadline report that he's now been offered Tom Clancy adaptation Without Remorse, and that a deal's very close to being finalised.Without Remorse is about John Kelly (later Aka "Mr Clark") who's juggling both a personal revenge mission and a Pentagon-arranged operation to liberate POWs from North Vietnam. The suggestion is that McQuarrie wil have his work cut out making a palatable blockbuster from what's an extremely violent and bleak source novel. Or here's an idea: let's have an extremely violent and bleak movie. Y'know, for grown-ups.Clancy's principal hero Jack Ryan isn't involved, but the book takes place very much in the same "universe", meaning that future cross-pollination is possible if Kenneth Branagh's Ryan reboot spawns further films and Without Remorse is a success. Kelly/Clark has appeared in the Ryan films already,...

Christopher McQuarrie is in negotiations to write and direct Paramount Pictures' "Without Remorse," an individual with knowledge of the production told TheWrap. McQuarrie is best known for his mind-bending screenplay for "The Usual Suspects" and for penning the script to the historical drama "Valkyrie." "Without Remorse" is set in the Jack Ryan universe, but it does not center on the CIA analyst. Instead, it focuses on another Tom Clancy character, John Kelly/John Clark, a black ops agent for the CIA and U.S. Army who plays a supporting role in "Clear and Present...

It seems it's all about world building right now. With Marvel proving it can make a billion dollar success by tying together their superhero movies, other studios are giving it a shot. Universal will show the connective tissue between "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Bourne Legacy" on Friday, and you can bet Warner Bros. has that strategy in the back of their mind as they consider greenlighting the massive "The Dark Tower," and the folks over at Paramount may be considering the same thing with their Jack Ryan reboot. Last week, it was reported that Paramount wanted Christopher McQuarrie to tackle their long-brewing adaptation of Tom Clancy's "Without Remorse," and it looks like it's coming together, with Deadline updating today that a deal is pretty much good to go. Set in the 1970s, the story focuses on John Kelly (who later became John Clark, played by Willem Dafoe in...

The adaptation of Jack Reacher from director Christopher McQuarrie is heading to theaters on December 21st just before Christmas, but the filmmaker is already looking at taking another high profile author's work to the big screen again. Deadline has word that McQuarrie, who has written films like Valkyrie and The Usual Suspects, is near a deal to adapt the Tom Clancy novel Without Remorse, and he just might end up directing. Unlike most of the Clancy novels that have hit the big screen, this book doesn't focus on Jack Ryan, and instead gives the spotlight to John Kelly, the operative who becomes Mr. Clark. Here's the official but vague synopsis of the 1993 novel: His code name is Mr. Clark. And his work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded and efficient. But who is he really? In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly...

First announced for development in 2010 , the feature film adaptation of Tom Clancy's Without Remorse has brought aboard Christopher McQuarrie to rewrite and potentially direct. Deadline has the news, claiming that Paramount is likely planning to set the production in the same cinematic universe as their upcoming (and still untitled) Jack Ryan reboot. Published in 1993, Without Remorse centers on former Navy Seal and CIA operative John Kelly, code-named Mr. Clark, who first appeared onscreen in 1994's Clear and Present Danger (played by Willem Dafoe). Liev Schreiber also played the character in 2002's The Sum of All Fears . The book itself, meanwhile, is officially described as follows: John Kelly... is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months...

The studio behind a handful of other, upcoming militaristic thrillers has locked in a deal for McQuarrie to direct an adaptation of famed author Tom Clancy's popular 1993 novel. His code name is Mr. Clark. And his work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded and efficient ... But who is he really? In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly crossed the lines of justice and morality --- to become the CIA legend, Mr. Clark. It is an unforgettable journey into the heart of darkness. Without mercy. Without guilt. Without remorse John Kelly is coming off a soul-shaking tragedy, his pregnant wife has died in a traffic accident. Shell-shocked, Kelly finds his bearings after picking up a young female hitchhiker, a prostitute on the run from brutal employers...

The studio behind a handful of other, upcoming militaristic thrillers is reportedly pursuing McQuarrie to direct an adaptation of famed author Clancy's popular 1993 novel. In 2010, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) was tapped to pen the script for Paramount's planned adaptation of Tom Clancy's popular spy thriller Without Remorse. The book focuses on a Vietnam veteran by the name of John Kelly, who seeks vengeance on the drug runners who were responsible for the death of a young prostitute and drug mule he befriended. Later recruited into the CIA and taking the last name Clark, John becomes one of the Us government's most lethal weapons and the leader of the international anti-terrorism task force Rainbow Six. The role of Clark has already been brought to life twice on screen, once by Willen...

From 1993 to 2005, David Milch and Steven Bochco’s cop drama NYPD Blue was the nakedest, swearing-est show on television. But as we see in this latest installment of Criminal Complex’s episode-by-episode recap of the series, just because there was a lot of sex, violence, and curse words, that doesn’t mean NYPD Blue was without depth, character, and cultural relevance.

Season 1, Episode 4

True Confessions

Original Air Date: October 12th, 1993

“If I had more bullets, I would have shot ‘em all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets.”

-Bernhard Goetz

“Don’t be angry.”

-Detective John Kelly, 15th squad

Anger is something I’ve had to deal with my entire life. Raised by an unrepentant hothead from a long line of unrepentant hotheads, I have had the emotional life of Bruce Banner, going from meekly brainy guy to raging monster at the drop of a hat,...