Link Club

• Variety RIP Piero Tosi one of the great costume designers. His film credits include Death in Venice, La Traviata, La Cage Aux Folles and The Night Porter so he's the one responsible for Charlotte Rampling at her most sexually provocative
• BuzzFeed good piece on Brad Pitt's talent and why he shines in weirder sideline roles as opposed to leads... though we object to any notion that he isn't a leading man in Once Upon a Time... but this battle is already lost since critics keep calling him supporting even before the Oscar campaign does. (sigh)

more after the jump including The Hunt, a fun conversation on Hobbs & Shaw, Tarantino and Almodóvar...

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Showbiz History: Shyamalan Twists and Steppenwolf Alum

10 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

we just called to say we loved you, Myrna1905 Charismatic Myrna Loy is born in Montana. She'll come to epitomize urbane style and wit at the movies as one half of The Thin Man's glorious marrieds with William Powell. Though she was never Oscar nominated she was given an Honorary Oscar in '91.

1914 Beatrice Straight is born in New York. In her sixties she'll make history by becoming the actor with the least amount of screentime to win an Oscar. She rages through Network (1976) for all of five to six minutes as a betrayed wife, but that was enough...

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RIP Gene Wilder (1933 - 2016)

Comedy legend Gene Wilder has passed away, after complications with Alzheimer's disease. He served as Mel Brooks's leading player, producing such classics as Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Young Frankenstein. After those films, he also frequently starred opposite Richard Pryor. But to many he will always be remembered for the hilarious sly cruelty of his Willy Wonka, a performance that seen from a childhood gaze is awe-inspiring and warm only to become more delectably rotten in adulthood.

After the passing of his wife Gilda Radner (Wilder also had his own battle with cancer), he mostly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving those mentioned behemoths to speak for his legacy. For me, his Frederic Frankensteen is the one that sticks - all barking neuroses and feigned composure while lampooning the heightened acting styles of Universal horror classics. The performance is so physical and modulated to extremes that his comedy becomes like a set piece, a spectacle worth coming back to again and again.

What are your favorite Gene Wilder memories?

On this day: Royalty Porn, Superman Returns, Stonewall Riots

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

1461 Edward IV is crowned King of England. Over a dozen actors will play him from silent film to TV miniseries including Roy Dotrice (The Wars of the Roses), John Wood (Richard III), and Max Irons (The White Queen) but despite awards-voters fetish for royalty porn this role has never resulted in an Oscar, Tony or Emmy nomination.
1838 Queen Victoria is crowned. Emily Blunt reenacts the ascenscion for Young Victoria (2009) receiving her third of five Golden Globe nominations (she's won once). Oscar, though, has yet to notice her gifts. When Oscar, when? What do you require?...

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