We need escapism now more than ever so on this July 18th let's looks back into history for easier things to think about then the here and now.
Verhoeven on the set of "Showgirls"
10 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...
1938 Infamous Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Showgirls) born on this day. Elle, his most recent feature, might be hard to top as late career provocations go but the 80 year-old master will certainly try with his next, Benedetta, a 17th century lesbian nuns drama starring Charlotte Rampling. The film is due in 2019.
1967 Mark Vincent Sinclair born in New York City. He later becomes Vin Diesel...
1969 The Chappaquiddick incident, a single car accident, leaves a young woman dead and derails Ted Kennedy's presidential aspirations. This national scandal was dramatized earlier this year in the film Chappaquiddick.
1978 Sugar Ray Leonard beats Dicky Eklund in Boston after Eklund manages to get up from two knockdowns. It's one of the fights Dicky (Christian Bale) obsesses over in The Fighter
1981 Ridiculously delicious Dutch actor Michiel Huisman born. We first drooled on him spotted him in Verhoeven's Black Book, he got much more famous with Game of Thrones, and then he bedded Reese Witherspoon in Wild...
1986 All time badass classic Aliens, from James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver, hits theaters. "Get away from her you bitch!" It receives 7 Oscar nominations including Best Actress but it really should've been up for Best Picture and Best Director as well. Is it Cameron AND Weaver's best film? Maybe. This was one of the first R rated movies I ever saw and I went with one of my friends who I had a HUUUUUGE secret crush on and when the lights went out in the theater, he jokingly whimpered "I'm afraid of the dark" which made me LOL and crush harder. And then Sigourney started crushing it onscreen and I was utterly transported.
1992 Whitney Houston, during the tippity top peak of her career (The Bodyguard will hit movie theaters in four months), marries Bobbie Brown. The rest is tragic history... and probably fully documented in the new documentary Whitney. Have any of you seen it yet?
1997 George of the Jungle opens, turning into a surprise hit
2008 The Dark Knight opens in movie theaters. We just talked about it. On the same exact day Mamma Mia! opened and also became a global touchstone hit even though it is completely terrible (sorry! it's okay if you love it). We have a little piece coming up later today on that one from someone who really loves it.
2014 The romantic comedy starring Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz opens. It's one of three Cameron Diaz headliners in 2014 which proves to be her last year on moviescreens. She retired without telling anyone... but one wishes she would have had a better final triple than The Other Woman, Sex Tape, and Annie.
Do you miss Cameron Diaz? What did you see on this weekend ten years ago?