(We recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of Die Hard, arguably the greatest action movie of all time. /Film has explored the film from every angle with a whole series of articles. To conclude our coverage, we took a special tour of the film’s locations and attended a spectacular screening on the Fox lot.)
By now, everyone knows that the filmmakers behind Die Hard utilized 20th Century Fox’s Fox Plaza, a real skyscraper in Los Angeles’s Century City, to stand in for the movie’s famous Nakatomi Plaza. The building is still being used by Fox today, and typically, film journalists aren’t allowed to go inside and explore it. But this past weekend, we were among a small group of journalists invited to take a Die Hard tour showing off a ton of the locations used during the making of the movie.
To top it all off, Fox organized a 30th anniversary screening of the film on the studio lot, with the building itself towering over the audience. Check out our video and photos below.
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This past weekend, Universal Studios Hollywood held an official Jurassic Park 25th anniversary celebration in the park for fans of Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 classic. They provided tons of Jurassic-themed entertainment for those in attendance, including talent panels with stars like Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, original props and costumes, and much more. They spared no expense (as John Hammond would say), and /Film was there with our video cameras to capture the event on its opening night. Read More »
Earlier this week, the folks at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour invited me and a handful of other journalists to check out the newly-revamped DC Universe Exhibit, which now includes props and costumes from last year’s superhero film Justice League. Typically, they don’t allow video to be taken inside, but they lifted those restrictions for this event and let us bring our cameras inside to take a closer look. Read More »
When Los Angeles residents pass the corner of Hollywood and Vine, there’s normally nothing to see but an empty parking lot. But from now until April 1, that lot has been transformed into the Ready Player One Challenge, a huge interactive maze modeled after Steven Spielberg’s upcoming movie.
/Film was on hand to check out an early look at the event, and we’ve compiled a video highlighting the coolest aspects of the experience.
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In the realm of motion picture effects and make-up, Rick Baker is the name among names. A seven-time Oscar winner, he’s been making us believe the unbelievable for the better part of five decades. From Star Wars to An American Werewolf in London, Thriller, The Rocketeer, Men in Black, Ed Wood, Planet of the Apes, the guy has done it all. And now, you can purchase one-of-a-kind, original props from throughout his career.
On May 29, the Prop Store is hosting a Rick Baker auction featuring props, costumes, make-up effects and more from many of the films mentioned above, along with Hellboy, Gremlins 2, Harry and the Hendersons, Batman and Robin, Batman Forever and others. The stuff is stunning and, below, you can see just a few of our favorite pieces that are part of the auction. Read More »
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Whether you’re a human, animal, alien, cartoon, hobbit, robot or something else, one thing links almost every single character in pop culture: food. We all need something to keep us going, give us energy and maybe be the object of a joke. Some of these pop culture food items can even be as popular as the characters themselves, like the Wonka chocolate Bar, pink Simpsons donut or Pac Man cherries. Fictional Food is everywhere, and it is also the name and subject of Joshua Budich‘s solo exhibit opening Friday May 22 at Gallery 1988 West in Los Angeles, CA.
It’ll consist of 36 small screenprints of fictional food from stories such as Lost, The Simpsons, The Legend of Zelda, and Toy Story, as well as six larger pieces. Below, check out just a hint of the show as well as an exclusive Star Wars piece you’ll only find previewed here on /Film. Read More »
There are less than 24 hours until the big event and Captain America is out. The text comes in at 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday March 18. For the past two weeks, I’ve been talking regularly to writer/director Jason Reitman about the latest installment in his Live Read series, the ongoing set of performances at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in which he assembles famous casts to read famous scripts from famous movies as a one-night only event. We’ve been covering them for a long time. For the final one of this season, I wanted to know how it was done.
This Live Read was to be Dazed and Confused by Richard Linklater, a sprawling coming of age film with a huge cast of characters, many of whom have become iconic for moviegoers. The most iconic is Wooderson, played by Matthew McConaughey. It’s a small role, and one that Reitman thought he had cast months before the event.
Reitman was at the 87th Annual Academy Awards back in February representing Whiplash, a Best Picture nominee he produced. There he ran into Captain American actor Chris Evans and asked him if he wanted to read the role of Wooderson. Evans enthusiastically agreed and was on board… until less than 24 hours before the event, when he had to drop out. “He had a sincere personal reason to pull out,” Reitman writes via text. “He’s an incredibly decent and lovely guy.” Nevertheless, Captain America has caused a bit of a problem.
Below, find out both how that turned out and the entire making of story behind the Jason Reitman Live Read of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused Live Read. Read More »
The great thing about Dazed and Confused? I get older and it stays the same age.
Twenty-two years after Richard Linklater‘s ’70s slice of life film hit theaters, listening to it read by a group of actors still feels as poignant and relevant as ever. Maybe the music and references have changed a bit but a teenager’s insecurities, rebellious nature and mischievousness are and will continue to be universal. In Linklater’s script those ideas are delivered with an almost unfairly simple and eloquent precision.
At Thursday’s Live Read, presented by Film Independent at LACMA, Jason Reitman brought together a group of actors to read the script and, yes, the huge cast of characters made things a little confusing. In back-to-back scenes, an actor might have to jump from nerd to cool guy to stoner, giving the whole evening an unpredictable energy. It was even more unpredictable as they were reading an earlier version of the script that had some huge differences from the final film.
Below, we’ll break down those script changes, the cast, some of the crazy performances, and talk about how even in a form that’s unfamiliar to most of us, Dazed and Confused remains as good as ever. Read More »
Los Angeles has a double-dose of great pop culture art debuting Friday night. Gallery 1988 has their postcard show (check it out here) and the Hero Complex Gallery has Cut It Out: The Silhouette Art of Jordan Monsell. Monsell uses scissors to create the outlines of pop culture icons from TV movies and more. Almost every piece in the show is an original work and there’s something for everyone.
Cut it Out opens from 7-10 p.m. March 20 with a bunch of cool giveaways and remains on display through March 29. Check out a small preview of the pop culture silhouettes below. Read More »
Movies transport us into another world. Sometimes that world is familiar, other times it’s not but in both cases, they’re often places you’d like to go to. And while we might not ever really be able to visit Hill Valley from Back to the Future, Cybertron from Transformers, or Walley World from National Lampoon’s Vacation, the new show at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles lets you take home a souvenir.
The show is called Postcard Correspondence and features over 100 artists creating actual pop culture postcards from their favorite locations in movies, TV, music and more. Some of the locations are real, some are fake, some are specific, some are general, but all are awesome, super affordable and actual postcards. You can send them, frame them, whatever you want.
Postcard Correspondence opens March 20 at Gallery 1988 West in Los Angeles, CA and you can see more of the work – including 10 exclusive reveals – below. Read More »
