Pat Saperstein Deputy Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Cole Brings Plenty, the actor who played Pete Plenty Clouds on “Yellowstone” spinoff series “1923,” was found dead in Kansas a week after he was reported missing. He was 27. Plenty was a suspect in a domestic violence case.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor O.J. Simpson, the former champion football running back turned actor who was acquitted in a sensational trial of charges that he murdered his ex-wife and her friend, died of cancer, his family confirmed Thursday. He was 76.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Bruce Kessler, a race car driver who became a TV director as well as a noted yacht designer, died April 4 in Marina Del Rey, Calif. after a brief illness. He was 88.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Kevin Smith could have bought the Quick Stop market he made famous in his first film, “Clerks.” But when the opportunity arose, the indie director instead put his hard-earned cash into his childhood movie theater in Atlantic Highlands, N.J., reopening it in 2022 as SModcastle Cinemas. Now he’s fighting to keep the 103-year-old theater going, even if “exhibition is in the toilet,” as he likes to say. In other words, local audiences sometimes prefer to watch big hits like “Avatar” in modern multiplexes, and keeping a repertory theater vibrant without the help of a pricey beer and wine license is not for the faint of heart, he has found.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor When Jason Reitman announced that he’d bought the Fox Village Theatre in Westwood, film fans were stunned that some of the world’s most prominent directors, from Steven Spielberg to Chloé Zhao to Christopher Nolan, wanted a stake in the classic movie palace. But it’s a strange time for the theatrical exhibition business. Moviegoing always sees an uptick when blockbusters come to town, but for independent theaters, the past four years have been dreadful.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Barbara Rush, who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer in “It Came From Outer Space” and went on to appear in “Peyton Place” and many other movies and TV shows, died Sunday. Her daughter, Fox News Channel correspondent Claudia Cowan, confirmed her death to Fox News Digital.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor “Donating sperm makes me feel good. Maybe it makes me feel wanted, and needed. Worth something to somebody else,” says Stefan, one of the subjects of “Spermworld,” the new FX on Hulu documentary that delves into the landscape of unregulated babymaking and just why prospective parents have sought out these unconventional solutions.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Magnolia Pictures has released a trailer ahead of the May 3 release of “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” about the legendary muse to the Rolling Stones. Scarlett Johansson provides the voice for Pallenberg, based on the words of her unpublished memoir.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Paula Weinstein, the respected producer of films including “The Perfect Storm,” “Analyze This,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys” and “Blood Diamond,” and former chief content officer at Tribeca Enterprises, died Monday in New York. She was 78.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor M. Emmet Walsh, a veteran character actor who appeared in more than 150 films including “Blade Runner,” “Blood Simple” and “Knives Out” and played Dermot Mulroney’s dad in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” has died.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Sam Mercer, producer on several M. Night Shyamalan movies and former head of ILM, died Feb.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor “Food, Inc. 2,” the follow-up to the 2008 Oscar-nominated documentary on the effects of agribusiness on American consumers, is set for a special screening event from Magnolia Pictures on April 9. The feature documentary will be released on digital platforms on April 12.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor A new Los Angeles film festival featuring independent films, documentaries and artist talks is set for April 4-7 at venues in Chinatown, Eagle Rock and Filipinotown. The Los Angeles Festival of Movies was launched by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, and will open April 4 with Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow.” Closing night film is Conner O’Malley and Danny Scharar’s “Rap World” on April 7. Both films screen at Vidiots.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor “Saturday Night Live” host Sydney Sweeney and cast member Chloe Trost were the nation’s No. 1 interior designers for Airbnbs in one of the final skits on Saturday. The pair rolled out all the clichés that Airbnb guests have experienced, from hard-to-operate locks to bland words used as artwork on walls.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Iris Apfel, who became a fashion icon known for her vast, colorful, eclectic wardrobe and was the subject of Albert Maysles‘ 2014 documentary “Iris,” died Friday. She was 102. Apfel died at her home in Palm Beach, Fla., according to the New York Times.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor SPOILER ALERT: This article continues spoilers for the film “Drive-Away Dolls.” In Ethan Coen‘s “Drive-Away Dolls,” an homage to the colorful, brash world of exploitation cinema, there’s a notable cameo from none other than Miley Cyrus. Cyrus appears in a psychedelic swirl of flashbacks as Tiffany Plastercaster, seen titillating a college-aged version of Matt Damon’s character, who will come to be a conservative Senator in Florida.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor UPDATED: Jason Reitman has gathered more than two dozen filmmakers to help acquire Westwood’s historic Village Theater, which will program first-run and repertory programming. The group includes JJ Abrams, Judd Apatow, Damien Chazelle, Chris Columbus, Ryan Coogler, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonathan Dayton, Guillermo del Toro, Valerie Faris, Hannah Fidell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, James Gunn, Sian Heder, Rian Johnson, Gil Kenan, Karyn Kusama, Justin Lin, Phil Lord, David Lowery, Christopher McQuarrie, Chris Miller, Christopher Nolan, Alexander Payne, Todd Phillips, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Jay Roach, Seth Rogen, Emma Seligman, Brad Silberling, Steven Spielberg, Emma Thomas, Denis Villeneuve, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Aquarius Releasing founder Terence “Terry” Levene, who released dozens of B-movies in grindhouse theaters in the 1970s and ’80s and beyond, died Jan. 13 in Englewood, NJ.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor In the months since it has premiered at Cannes, “The Taste of Things,” a lushly romantic love letter to French cooking, has quickly been anointed one of the best food-focused movies ever made. The film, now playing in selected theaters, revolves around the romance between Juliette Binoche‘s Eugénie and wealthy gourmet Dodin Bouffant, played by Binoche’s former real-life partner Benoît Magimel.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Rod Holcomb, an Emmy-winning TV director of “ER,” “Lost” and other series, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 80. Holcomb was best known for directing both the pilot and the series finale of “ER,” winning an Emmy for that farewell episode in 2009.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Walter E. Calmette, Sr., a film sales and acquisition executive who oversaw business affairs for Felix the Cat, died Jan. 6.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Julian Senior, a veteran international marketing executive for Warners and MGM who enjoyed a long working relationship with Stanley Kubrick and many other notable filmmakers, died Jan. 1. He was 85.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor On New Year’s Eve, 1980, the legendary Hong Kong Café in L.A.’s Chinatown hosted its last beer-soaked, raucous punk show. This past New Year’s Eve was also a milestone event for the historic neon-lit space: It was the opening preview night for Stay, the first alcohol-free cocktail bar in Los Angeles.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor “Last chance before we start dropping dead?” read the Facebook post from the fan page for a Whisky a Go Go show by the Sloths. A little dark, but that’s not surprising for the 1960s L.A.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Netflix is kicking off its Milestone Movies: The Anniversary collection with films that are turning 50 in 1974 — a group that happens to include some of the medium’s all-time classics. The anniversary titles will stream on the platform in the U.S., along with in-person special screenings starting in March at New York’s Paris Theater and L.A.’s Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and Bay Theater in Pacific Palisades.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor One week after Jonathan Majors was convicted of assault and harassment, his film “Magazine Dreams” has been released back to the filmmakers by Searchlight, which will no longer be distributing, Variety has confirmed. The Walt Disney Studios specialty arm acquired the body building drama a few weeks after it premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers will now be free to shop the film to other distributors.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Saturday in New York City. She was 99. Randolph was in hospice care at the time of her death and died of natural causes, her son, Randy, told TMZ.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Eddie Cockrell, who reviewed films for Variety for many years and programmed for several film series, died of liver failure Dec. 29 in Sydney, Australia, according to his sister Ann. He was 67.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor After a starry awards gala kicked off the Palm Springs Film Festival, several of this year’s awards contenders and friends reconnected at Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards Presented by DIRECTV, Friday at the Parker Palm Springs hotel. Before the presentation, the honorees posed on the red carpet and stopped for questions with Variety’s senior culture & events editor Marc Malkin. Anna Kendrick, a new member of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch, recalled the first time she yelled action on set for her film “Woman of the Hour.” “Day one I was really worried about moving slowly on the first shot, of the first day, of the first Monday because it always sets the tone for the week,” the star-turned-director said.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Mickey Cottrell, a veteran publicist for independent films known as a champion of filmmakers and actors, died Monday at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, his sister Suzy Cottrell confirmed. He was 79.