It Happened in Hollywood
How Michelle Rodriguez Foresaw Blockbuster Success for ‘Fast & Furious’ Franchise
With one movie, Michelle Rodriguez went from a Toys “R” Us employee with zero acting experience to a bona fide movie star. That movie was 2000’s Girlfight. Karyn Kusama, the writer-director of that indie — which tied for the grand jury prize at Sundance — joined The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast to […]
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‘It Happened in Hollywood’ Podcast: How George Lucas Saved ‘Return to Oz’
Return to Oz, Disney’s 1985 dark take on Dorothy Gale (played by a then-9-year-old Fairuza Balk), shares its creative DNA with Star Wars. Not only that, George Lucas saved writer-director Walter Murch’s job after Disney fired Murch from the Oz shoot. Lucas and Murch were old friends and collaborators, having met in the film department […]
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Why Robert Redford Was “Chronically Late” to ‘The Sting’ Set
Screen legends Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s second and final screen pairing, in 1973’s The Sting, proved even more popular at the box office than their first, 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The film — about a syndicate of confidence men planning cons in the Great Depression — was a dream shoot on […]
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Michelle Pfeiffer Predicted Stardom for Keanu Reeves on Set of 1988’s ‘Dangerous Liaisons’
Michelle Pfeiffer predicted stardom for a young, unknown Keanu Reeves. That revelation comes as director Stephen Frears joins The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast to discuss the making of his 1988 hit, Dangerous Liaisons. The film starred Glenn Close and John Malkovich, playing conniving aristocrats in pre-French Revolution Paris who manipulate the people […]
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‘It Happened in Hollywood’ Podcast: 5 Secrets of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ As Drag Classic Turns 30
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert premiered to a rapturous, midnight-screening reception at Cannes on May 15, 1994. The tart, feel-good comedy follows a trio of Sydney drag queens — Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce — who travel by bus (that’s Priscilla) to a gig in the Outback, finding their way […]
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‘It Happened in Hollywood’ Podcast: Why Tom Cruise Photoshopped Himself Into a Picture of David Fincher and Cameron Crowe
Filmmaker Ed Zwick — whose new memoir Hits, Flops and Other Illusions has just come out — joined The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast for the show’s season five premiere. Zwick has directed some of Hollywood’s biggest stars in films like 1989’s Glory (starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick), 1994’s Legends of […]
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‘Tron’ Creator Says He’s Taking an Obi-Wan-like Role Behind the Scenes of Third Movie
As Disney ramps up production on the long-gestating Tron 3, aka Tron: Ares — adding Dahmer star Evan Peters to the threequel — the godfather of the Tron universe has given the undertaking his blessing. Stopping by The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast, Steven Lisberger — writer/director of 1982’s groundbreaking Tron — says he’s […]
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‘Rocky Horror’ Creator Richard O’Brien Reveals Gender Struggles: “I Have So Much Girl in Me”
Richard O’Brien has revealed that the inspiration for his most famous creation — Dr. Frank N. Furter, the “sweet transvestite” mad scientist played by Tim Curry in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show — was inspired by his own experiences cross-dressing and grappling with his gender identity as a young aspiring actor from […]
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“If You Don’t Change the Movie, You Won’t Direct ‘Wayne’s World 2′”: How Mike Myers and Lorne Michaels Faced Off With Director Penelope Spheeris
Wayne’s World director Penelope Spheeris is setting the record straight about rumored clashes with star Mike Myers on the set of 1992’s Wayne’s World — the first scripted feature for both of them. “It was not an uncomfortable set,” Spheeris, 77, tells THR‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast. “Mike is hypoglycemic, so if he got […]
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Terry Gilliam: Robert De Niro Helped Rescue ‘Brazil’ From Oblivion
Now widely regarded as a masterpiece, Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopic dark comedy Brazil was very nearly shelved by Universal. But one of its stars — Robert De Niro — played a hand in rescuing it from oblivion. “The studio did not like the movie at all,” says Gilliam on The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in […]
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Meet the 91-Year-Old Mastermind Behind ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’
His books have inspired everything from Rian Johnson’s Knives Out to Black Mirror‘s “Bandersnatch” episode. Now Edward Packard is telling all about the creation of Choose Your Own Adventure, the groundbreaking interactive book series that turned “you,” the reader, into the hero. Joining The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood podcast, Packard, 91, details how […]
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What Is ‘The List?’: In Hollywood, Survival Means Being on It
It’s an open secret in Hollywood — and your place on it can mean the difference between career life or death. It’s “The List”: a constantly shifting roll call of the most bankable actors in Hollywood. While the powers that be would never admit to it, such an index does exist, as verified by writer-director […]
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