In 2003, popular actor Jack Black found himself in the middle of the scandal of the century. He managed to squirm his way into a prep school under false pretenses, committed the misdemeanor of impersonating a teacher named Ned Schneebly for the sake of acquiring a little rent money, and led the students to an epic battle of the bands performance that we're still talking about over two full decades later. It was a whole big thing.
Obviously, "School of Rock" went down in history as one of Black and director Richard Linklater's finest moments, not to mention its impact on the ensemble of incredibly talented child actors, all of whom actually played their respective instruments in the film. In short, it was the pop-culture event that inspired a whole generation of kids to embrace their inner punk-rock anarchists, eventually leading to a Broadway musical adaptation and even a short-lived Nickelodeon series.
Obviously, "School of Rock" went down in history as one of Black and director Richard Linklater's finest moments, not to mention its impact on the ensemble of incredibly talented child actors, all of whom actually played their respective instruments in the film. In short, it was the pop-culture event that inspired a whole generation of kids to embrace their inner punk-rock anarchists, eventually leading to a Broadway musical adaptation and even a short-lived Nickelodeon series.
- 3/22/2024
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Starz programming exec Jeff Cooke is set to exit the Lionsgate company.
We’ve learned Cooke, Starz’s SVP of Programming for International Networks, will leave the business this July. The exec has been with Starz owner Lionsgate for a decade and with the U.S. cable network’s international arm since 2018. He was promoted to his current role in January last year.
Starz declined to comment on Cooke’s departure, but we understand he’ll remain with the business until the summer. There is no word on his movements after that.
Cooke’s departure comes four months after Starz International Networks President Superna Kalle stepped down, replaced by EVP of International Networks Darren Nielson, and less than a year after international streaming service Starzplay was rebranded Lionsgate+. In January, we were first with the news Lionsgate International exec Marc Lorber was exiting.
Towards the end of 2022, Lionsgate revealed...
We’ve learned Cooke, Starz’s SVP of Programming for International Networks, will leave the business this July. The exec has been with Starz owner Lionsgate for a decade and with the U.S. cable network’s international arm since 2018. He was promoted to his current role in January last year.
Starz declined to comment on Cooke’s departure, but we understand he’ll remain with the business until the summer. There is no word on his movements after that.
Cooke’s departure comes four months after Starz International Networks President Superna Kalle stepped down, replaced by EVP of International Networks Darren Nielson, and less than a year after international streaming service Starzplay was rebranded Lionsgate+. In January, we were first with the news Lionsgate International exec Marc Lorber was exiting.
Towards the end of 2022, Lionsgate revealed...
- 5/2/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s an iconic scene when dashing anti-hero Ser Jaime Lannister charges his white steed up the grand Baroque steps leading to the Sept of Baelor in Episode 6, Season 6 of HBO’s wildly popular “Game of Thrones.” But the locale is actually in front of the Cathedral of Girona, Catalonia. In fact, a number of Girona’s streets and locations stood in for Braavos and King’s Landing in “Got.”
In another scene, the Arab Baths of Girona, ensconced in a late Romanesqu-style building built in 1194, stand in for the Braavos Baths where a persecuted Arya takes refuge.
“Having ‘Got’ film some Season 6 scenes in Girona in 2015 was a defining moment and marked the beginning of an era,” says Catalan Film Commissioner Carlota Guerrero. “It was the same year when Spain launched its tax incentives and when international productions began to explore Spain alongside new production service companies and discover a rich diversity of locations.
In another scene, the Arab Baths of Girona, ensconced in a late Romanesqu-style building built in 1194, stand in for the Braavos Baths where a persecuted Arya takes refuge.
“Having ‘Got’ film some Season 6 scenes in Girona in 2015 was a defining moment and marked the beginning of an era,” says Catalan Film Commissioner Carlota Guerrero. “It was the same year when Spain launched its tax incentives and when international productions began to explore Spain alongside new production service companies and discover a rich diversity of locations.
- 2/16/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Lionsgate+, formerly known as Starzplay, has set March 3 as the premiere date of its darkly comic original series ‘Nacho’ across all Latin America.
The news comes as Atresplayer Premium in Spain has announced that “Nacho” will bow on its service on March 5 as an Atresplayer Premium Original, in other words an exclusive in Spain on the adventurous service whose recent Originals include “Cardo,” produced by Los Javis.
Bowing its international trailer exclusively on Variety, the eight-episode series stars Martiño Rivas (“Cable Girls”) who plays the legendary Nacho Vidal whose notable physique makes him a star in Spain’s incipient porn industry in the ‘90s.
“Proving his talents reach far beyond his most infamous 25 cm [9.8 inches], Nacho changed the rules of the game in the 1990s when he became an international superstar,” the synopsis goes.
Shot in Spain, “Nacho” tells the story of the people behind the country’s porn industry, which...
The news comes as Atresplayer Premium in Spain has announced that “Nacho” will bow on its service on March 5 as an Atresplayer Premium Original, in other words an exclusive in Spain on the adventurous service whose recent Originals include “Cardo,” produced by Los Javis.
Bowing its international trailer exclusively on Variety, the eight-episode series stars Martiño Rivas (“Cable Girls”) who plays the legendary Nacho Vidal whose notable physique makes him a star in Spain’s incipient porn industry in the ‘90s.
“Proving his talents reach far beyond his most infamous 25 cm [9.8 inches], Nacho changed the rules of the game in the 1990s when he became an international superstar,” the synopsis goes.
Shot in Spain, “Nacho” tells the story of the people behind the country’s porn industry, which...
- 1/25/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Gael García Bernal stars in ‘Cassandro’ (Photo © 2022 Amazon Content Services LLC)
Cassandro, writer/director Roger Ross Williams’ joyous celebration of the indomitable spirit of Saúl Armendáriz, is the perfect vehicle to introduce the Lucha Libre world and its groundbreaking, barrier-busting gay star to a wider audience.
The film catches up with Saúl (played by Gael García Bernal) in the 1980s when he’s wrestling as designated loser El Topo (which translates to The Mole). Saúl’s in a rut, and the only way out is to transform into an exótico. But that transformation would require him to incorporate his homosexuality into a character in front of a large audience that includes his homophobic estranged father. It would also mean he’d be forced to continue to lose since the wrestling world – both in the ring and in the stands – doesn’t embrace homosexuals. Gay wrestlers are mocked and ridiculed and subjected to disgusting sexual slurs.
Cassandro, writer/director Roger Ross Williams’ joyous celebration of the indomitable spirit of Saúl Armendáriz, is the perfect vehicle to introduce the Lucha Libre world and its groundbreaking, barrier-busting gay star to a wider audience.
The film catches up with Saúl (played by Gael García Bernal) in the 1980s when he’s wrestling as designated loser El Topo (which translates to The Mole). Saúl’s in a rut, and the only way out is to transform into an exótico. But that transformation would require him to incorporate his homosexuality into a character in front of a large audience that includes his homophobic estranged father. It would also mean he’d be forced to continue to lose since the wrestling world – both in the ring and in the stands – doesn’t embrace homosexuals. Gay wrestlers are mocked and ridiculed and subjected to disgusting sexual slurs.
- 1/23/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Seismic shifts in the world’s entertainment industry have thrown a global spotlight on Spain’s film and TV industry as never before.
Foreign productions are flocking to Spain, spending €263 million (266 million) in 2021, double the 2016-19 average, according to a ProFilm study. International inward investment in national productions has also grown on an unprecedented scale.
All the big streamers have beached in Spain. Reed Hastings cut the tape on Netflix’s first European Production Hub, in Madrid’s Tres Cantos, in 2019. Viacom Intl. Studios (Vis) Emea and Asia and AMC Networks Intl. Southern Europe have set up production operations in Spain. Other players — Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and Starzplay — run offices in the country.
Capitalizing on such a massive presence, in March 2021 the federal government announced an Avs Hub plan aimed at sinking 1.6 billion into the entertainment industry. It is designed to turn Spain into one of the...
Foreign productions are flocking to Spain, spending €263 million (266 million) in 2021, double the 2016-19 average, according to a ProFilm study. International inward investment in national productions has also grown on an unprecedented scale.
All the big streamers have beached in Spain. Reed Hastings cut the tape on Netflix’s first European Production Hub, in Madrid’s Tres Cantos, in 2019. Viacom Intl. Studios (Vis) Emea and Asia and AMC Networks Intl. Southern Europe have set up production operations in Spain. Other players — Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and Starzplay — run offices in the country.
Capitalizing on such a massive presence, in March 2021 the federal government announced an Avs Hub plan aimed at sinking 1.6 billion into the entertainment industry. It is designed to turn Spain into one of the...
- 9/6/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
This article contains spoilers for all of Better Call Saul.
Many shows have pre-credits scenes that are valuable to the greater story of the season. Others don’t care at all about the cold opening, opting to go right into the title card and then to the action. Better Call Saul, like its predecessor before it, takes these few minutes at the beginning of each episode to make some true television magic appear before our eyes.
From montages to flashbacks to mini-expositions about characters we’ve never seen before, the cold open in Peter Gould’s show is pure art in motion. This is a near-impossible task, but we’re going to choose the 15 best ones in the series now that it’s come to a close. Tell us which one is your favorite in the comments section!
15. Season 2 Episode 6 “Bali Ha’i”
When we see Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) doing something laborious,...
Many shows have pre-credits scenes that are valuable to the greater story of the season. Others don’t care at all about the cold opening, opting to go right into the title card and then to the action. Better Call Saul, like its predecessor before it, takes these few minutes at the beginning of each episode to make some true television magic appear before our eyes.
From montages to flashbacks to mini-expositions about characters we’ve never seen before, the cold open in Peter Gould’s show is pure art in motion. This is a near-impossible task, but we’re going to choose the 15 best ones in the series now that it’s come to a close. Tell us which one is your favorite in the comments section!
15. Season 2 Episode 6 “Bali Ha’i”
When we see Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) doing something laborious,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Click here to read the full article.
[This conversation contains spoilers for the full run of AMC’s Better Call Saul, including the series finale, “Saul Gone.”]
Daniel Fienberg: So we’ve taken some time to let the Better Call Saul finale marinate in our brains (and for readers to watch and process), so let’s start, naturally enough, at the end of things.
Finale writer-director Peter Gould and the Better Call Saul team left Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) in a prison, and not the cushy one where he initially wanted to do seven years taking golf lessons. Instead, he’s got 86 years, which sounds very bad, except when you compare his fate to Walter White in the Breaking Bad finale or to Patrick Fabian’s Howard or Michael Mando’s Nacho. Saul has a cushy kitchen job making bread — those Gene Takovic skills from Cinnabon coming in handy — and, more importantly, he has reclaimed his identity as Jimmy McGill.
[This conversation contains spoilers for the full run of AMC’s Better Call Saul, including the series finale, “Saul Gone.”]
Daniel Fienberg: So we’ve taken some time to let the Better Call Saul finale marinate in our brains (and for readers to watch and process), so let’s start, naturally enough, at the end of things.
Finale writer-director Peter Gould and the Better Call Saul team left Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) in a prison, and not the cushy one where he initially wanted to do seven years taking golf lessons. Instead, he’s got 86 years, which sounds very bad, except when you compare his fate to Walter White in the Breaking Bad finale or to Patrick Fabian’s Howard or Michael Mando’s Nacho. Saul has a cushy kitchen job making bread — those Gene Takovic skills from Cinnabon coming in handy — and, more importantly, he has reclaimed his identity as Jimmy McGill.
- 8/16/2022
- by Angie Han and Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.