Robin Williams

Robin Williams helped during 'Schindler's List' filming: Steven Spielberg

Apr 292018

The “Lincoln” filmmaker and Williams became close after they worked together on 1991’s “Hook” and when Spielberg took on the emotional task of directing “Schindler’s List” which was about German businessman Oskar Schindler

Steven Spielberg

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg credits late actor Robin Williams for helping him get through the “trauma” of filming “Schindler’s List”. The “Lincoln” filmmaker and Williams became close after they worked together on 1991’s “Hook” and when Spielberg took on the emotional task of directing “Schindler’s List” which was about German businessman Oskar Schindler, who is credited with saving 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, Williams was there to comfort his friend by performing stand-up over the phone, reports aceshowbiz.com.

“Robin called me,” Spielberg said at the Tribeca Film Festival’s 25th-anniversary screening of the film on Thursday. “Robin knew what I was going through. Once a week he called me on schedule. He knew exactly what time it was in Poland, what time it was in San Francisco… and he would do 15 minutes of stand-up on the phone, and I would laugh hysterically because I had to release so much,” said Spielberg.

“The way Robin is on the telephone, he would always hang up on the loudest, best laugh you’d give him. He’d never say goodbye, just hang up on the biggest laugh,” he added. The emotionally-draining process of directing the movie paid off for Spielberg when he brought home Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, but he didn’t feel like he could celebrate.

“That night wasn’t really a celebration at all. I don’t feel this movie is a celebration. The subject matter and the impact the film had on all of us… took sort of the celebration out of that,” he said. “It was wonderful to win, but at the same time I just remember how moved I was when Branko Lustig, our co-producer, showed the world that he was in Auschwitz, too, and had numbers on his arms,” he added.

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From 'Saving Private Ryan' To 'Suburbicon', Here Is How Matt Damon Became One Of The Most Bankable Stars Of The Generation

Celebrities

Jul 312017

Good actors are unpredictable and so is Matt Damon.

With each new performance, Matt keeps growing not only as a performer or an artist but also as a viewer. He knows which roles would suit him the best and so he takes a chance on them. Surprisingly, the performance turns out to be as always a better and polished one. ‘Smart choices’ could be the two words for his splendid and enormous career of around 29 years (since 1988). It could be his brilliance as an artist as he outperformed many others of his age and bagged his first Academy Award, not for acting but for Best Original Screenplay in ‘Good Will Hunting’ (1997), when he was just 27-year-old.

A Look At Actor Matt Damon Brilliant Career Over 25 Years © YouTube

Who would believe by then that the young Matt would certainly become one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood? He is not only an actor by now a producer also. His last production ‘Manchester by the Sea’ (2016) received six Oscar nominations including the one for the Best Picture.

When it comes to acting, Matt has tried his hands onto multifarious roles. For him, it is just not justified to be normally beckoning. He has to be the superior one, a brilliant mathematician, an uptown businessman, or an astronaut cum botanist, as his career demands. That is the hard reality of Damon’s life. Behind those clean blue eyes and the chocolate boy image, there is something more which makes him the ‘Jason Bourne’.

It all started way back in 1997 when Damon teamed up with his childhood friend Ben Affleck and wrote the screenplay for ‘Good Will Hunting’. The two actors with Robin Williams created magic on screen.

Thanks to the fact that this young lad knew by then, what a gripping screenplay is all about. The following year was more glorious for Damon, as he bagged a major role with Tom Hanks, a titular character in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998). However, it is a lesser known fact that Robin Williams, who had earlier worked with Steven Spielberg, introduced Matt to him. Steven signed him later for the role.

After Private Ryan, there was no stopping for him. His character in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ (1999) was critically acclaimed. The very next year he did ‘Dogma’, an intense and highly intellectual subject matter, which earned all praise for him. He also tried his hands onto some romantic dramas, films which proved to be commercially unsuccessful. Damon got a wider recognition when he signed up two major film franchises – Ocean’s Eleven and Jason Bourne, the latter established him a star of global recognition.

A Look At Actor Matt Damon Brilliant Career Over 25 Years © YouTube

One cannot forget his stellar performance in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Departed’. With less noise, the star quietly transformed into a great ‘everyman’ actor (As described in Entertainment Weekly). While his roles in ‘The Informant!’, ‘Invictus’ remained critically acclaimed, his magnetic performance in ‘The Martian’ (2015), when he earned a nomination for Best Actor against Leonardo DiCaprio, got a positive reception from both critics and audience. This year, Matt is coming up with two films of different genres – ‘Downsizing’ and ‘Suburbicon’. ‘Suburbicon’s’ trailer has already hit the screens; Matt seems to have worked really hard to put on some plush for this role.

We hope to see more of Damon year after year, as it is said, the best is yet to come. Though Leonardo got his Oscar in the acting category after 25 years since he started, it will be interesting to see if Matt will be able to bag one, yet again, however, this time for the Best Actor!

A Look At Actor Matt Damon Brilliant Career Over 25 Years © YouTube

Disneys Remake Of A Millennial Aladdin Finally Has A Star Cast

Celebrities

Jul 162017

Everyone’s favourite Arabian nights tale, ‘Aladdin’ is all set to get a millennial treatment. The ne musical remake was announced by Guy Ritchie and it was a known fact in the industry that the team had been looking for faces to cast.

The whole buzz stirred an online discussion where many Indian fans particularly wanted Priyanka to play Jasmine and Dev Patel to play Aladdin.

Disney's Remake Of A Millennial Aladdin Finally Has A Star Cast © Twitter

However, the new star cast has been finalised and the line up sure looks interesting. Mena Massoud Naomi Scott are going to be play the lead pair and the genie in the tale is going to be essayed by none other than the talent house, Will Smith, who will obviously be compared to Robin Williams who was the Genie in the 1992 movie.

Disney's Remake Of A Millennial Aladdin Finally Has A Star Cast © Twitter

Disney is however, still looking for someone to fill the role of Jafar. Fans are taking the news in a positive light and that is kind of important.

Mena Massoud’s first IMDB credit is literally as “Al Qaeda #2” so seeing him as the new Aladdin feels like some kind of progress at least.

— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) July 15, 2017

This is Naomi Scott. She is Indian, and white.

This is Jasmine, she is middle eastern. And not white. #Aladdin pic.twitter.com/MTvfQvyaMt

— Hamza Mussé (@HamzaMusse) July 15, 2017

The live action remake does not have a release date yet but is scheduled to roll shooting in October.

Jumanji Sequel Will Feature A Tribute To Robin Williams

Celebrities

Jun 202017

We don’t think there will ever be a ‘Jumanji’ without Robin Williams. Being the exceptional actor that Williams was, he turned Alan Parrish into a legendary character, whose power the animal kingdom and the humans believed in. After making us fall in love with the cheeky Mrs. Doubtfire, he stole our hearts yet again in the 1995 blockbuster movie, ‘Jumanji’. Although the actor passed away in 2014, he will always live in our hearts as Alan Parrish who was trapped in a mystical world for 26 years. Remembering the celebrated actor, Jack Black revealed that the ‘Jumanji’ sequel will feature Williams and our excitement now knows no bounds.

Black said that Sony Pictures’ new movie, ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ will feature a tribute to Williams. While the first movie revolved around the outside world, the sequel will primarily explore the inside world, the jungle. Black told The Hollywood Reporter, “We’re exploring this jungle and trying to conquer the game; its life or death.” “But while we’re there, we find clues left behind by (Williams’ character Alan Parrish). He built up a full-blown jungle house, similar to a Swiss Family Robinson situation. It’s like he’s there helping us without actually being there,” he further added.

Black also mentioned that exploring the jungle is the “coolest part of the film” since the makers managed to transport the audience to the ‘secret and wondrous land’ of ‘Jumanji’. Although, we badly miss actor Robin Williams, the fact that the new movie will feature a tribute is reason enough for us to head to the theatres on December 20th.