Curated playlist
Film producers from New York (state)
- Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
- Adam SandlerAdam Sandler once made a Western comedy that critics almost universally panned. On the 6th of January 2016, Netflix announced that the film, The Ridiculous 6, had been watched more times in thirty days than any other movie in the service's…
- Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas insisted on giving blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo an on-screen credit for Spartacus.
- Andy WarholAndy Warhol was shot at his Factory studio in June 1968 by a writer who had appeared in his film.
- Elia KazanIn 1952, Elia Kazan gave a congressional committee the names of eight former colleagues.
- Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi sold CBS a show it already owned. CBS had acquired the Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten it.
- Francis Ford CoppolaMarlon Brando won the Godfather role only after a screen test and a reduced fee.
- Ryan ReynoldsRyan Reynolds gave up his usual fee so the Deadpool film would get made.
- Tom CruiseTom Cruise attended fifteen schools in fourteen years. He was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on the 3rd of July 1962 in Syracuse, New York. Today he is an American actor and film producer, and his career has now run for forty-five years. A…
- Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman was an American actor whose career the director Joel Schumacher summed up in 2000 with bad news and good news. Schumacher put it this way: "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is…
- Mark RuffaloMark Ruffalo has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which ties a record. Each nomination came for a different kind of man. Ruffalo is an American actor and producer, and the road to that record was…
- Jason BatemanJason Bateman, an American actor born on the 14th of January 1969, was only 18 when he became the youngest director in the history of the Directors Guild of America. He earned that record by directing three episodes of The Hogan Family,…
- Dean DevlinStargate, co-written by Dean Devlin in 1994, was the first movie to have a dedicated website.
- Tony GilroyTony Gilroy built Andor, and his brother Dan wrote its Emmy-winning episode.
- Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
- Richard GereRichard Gere had one narrow job at the 65th Academy Awards in 1993, which was to announce the nominees for best art direction. He used the moment to denounce human rights abuses by the Chinese government. The Academy responded by banning…
- Charlie KaufmanEvery company rejected Charlie Kaufman's script for Being John Malkovich. Spike Jonze later agreed to direct it.
- Michael CrichtonMichael Crichton once submitted a George Orwell essay as his own and got a B-minus.
- Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez wore a plunging green Versace silk chiffon dress to the Grammy Awards in February 2000, and a single outfit changed how people used the internet. The dress became the most popular search query in Google's history. That flood…
- Rob ReinerRob Reiner, the American filmmaker, actor and political activist, once joked about how firmly a sitcom nickname had attached itself to him. "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize.'" The remark came…
- James MangoldJames Mangold studied acting because his CalArts teacher urged him to. It gave him a feel for performance.
- Michael FranzeseIn 1986, Fortune magazine ranked Michael Franzese number 18 among the wealthiest and most powerful Mafia bosses in America. He was 35 years old. Franzese was a caporegime, or crew captain, in the Colombo crime family of New York City.…