On this day in movie history - Fear City (1984)

Fear City

directed by Abel Ferrara,

written by Nicholas St. John,

was released in France on February 16, 1985.

Music by Dick Halligan and Joe Delia.

Cast:

Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Rossano Brazzi, Rae Dawn Chong, Joe Santos, Michael V. Gazzo, Jan Murray, Janet Julian, Daniel Faraldo, Maria Conchita Alonso, Ola Ray, John Foster, Emilia Crow, Nina Jones, Frank Ronzio, Juan Fernández, Jim Boeke, Carl Strano, Ben Kronen, Madison Mason, Bill Henderson, Victor Rivers, Joe Palese, Joe Shea, Bob Yothers, John Roselius, Tracy Griffith, Lori Eastside, Sharon Anton, Barbara Andrews, Jim Brewer, Álvaro López, Eddie Ruffalo, Joy Michael, Linda Lee, Peter Mele, Robert Miano, Raphael Berko, Antony Ponzini, Frank Sivero, Brent Jennings, Jihmi Kennedy, Robert Giarratano, Peter Gumeny, Justin De Rosa, Adrian McKnight, John Barons, Kendall Carly Browne, Nancy Mott, Christine Greenberg, Tricia Brown, Neil Clifford, John Del Rico, Helen Kelly, Tony LaFortezza, Annabelle Larsen, Don Nakaya Neilsen, David Ward.

On this day in movie history - Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Nobody’s Fool

directed and written by Robert Benton,

based on the novel by Richard Russo,

was released in the United States on December 23, 1994.

Music by Howard Shore.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gene Saks, Josef Sommer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Catherine Dent, Margo Martindale, Shannah Laumeister Stern, Angelica Page.

On this day in movie and book history - The Disaster Artist (2017)

The Disaster Artist

directed James Franco,

written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber,

was released in the United States on December 8, 2017.

Based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell.

Music by Dave Porter.

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Cast:

James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver, Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, June Diane Raphael, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrew Santino, Nathan Fielder, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Hannibal Buress, Bob Odenkirk, James Dean, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Ike Barinholtz, Adam Scott, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Lizzy Caplan, Danny McBride, Zach Braff, J. J. Abrams, John Early, Joe Mande, Charlyne Yi, Kelly Oxford, Tom Franco, Zoey Deutch, Sugar Lyn Beard, Brian Huskey, Randall Park, Jerrod Carmichael, Casey Wilson, Lauren Ash, Angelyne, Bryan Cranston, Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau.

Recommended reading - The Disaster Artist

The Disaster Artist

My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell.

 

Published by Simon & Schuster.

Published 2013.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1451661193

ISBN-13: 978-1451661194

 

Description:

From the actor who lived through it all and an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer: the inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny story of a mysteriously wealthy social misfit who got past every road block in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms – the making of The Room, “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” – Entertainment Weekly.

The hilarious and inspiring story of how a mysterious misfit got past every roadblock in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms: a $6 million cinematic catastrophe called The Room.

Nineteen-year-old Greg Sestero met Tommy Wiseau at an acting school in San Francisco. Wiseau’s scenes were rivetingly wrong, yet Sestero, hypnotized by such uninhibited acting, thought, “I have to do a scene with this guy.” That impulse changed both of their lives. Wiseau seemed never to have read the rule book on interpersonal relationships (or the instructions on a bottle of black hair dye), yet he generously offered to put the aspiring actor up in his LA apartment. Sestero’s nascent acting career first sizzled, then fizzled, resulting in Wiseau’s last-second offer to Sestero of costarring with him in The Room, a movie Wiseau wrote and planned to finance, produce, and direct – in the parking lot of a Hollywood equipment-rental shop.

Wiseau spent $6 million of his own money on his film, but despite the efforts of the disbelieving (and frequently fired) crew and embarrassed (and frequently fired) actors, the movie made no sense. Nevertheless, Wiseau rented a Hollywood billboard featuring his alarming headshot and staged a red carpet premiere. The Room made $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. One reviewer said that watching The Room was like “getting stabbed in the head.”

The Disaster Artist is Greg Sestero’s laugh-out-loud funny account of how Tommy Wiseau defied every law of artistry, business, and friendship to make “the Citizen Kane of bad movies” (Entertainment Weekly), which is now an international phenomenon, with Wiseau himself beloved as an oddball celebrity. Written with award-winning journalist Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist is an inspiring tour de force that reads like a page-turning novel, an open-hearted portrait of an enigmatic man who will improbably capture your heart.

On this day in movie history - RKO 281 (1999)

RKO 281

directed by Benjamin Ross,

written by John Logan,

based on the documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane by Richard Ben Cramer and Thomas Lennon,

was released in the United States on November 20, 1999.

Music by John Altman.

Cast:

Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider, Liam Cunningham, David Suchet, Fiona Shaw, Anastasia Hille, Roger Allam, Simeon Andrews, William Armstrong, Jay Benedict, Ron Berglas, Paul Birchard, Neil Conrich, Michael Cronin, Sarah Franzl, Briony Glassco, Louis Hammond, Aaron Keeling, Joseph Long, Gareth Marks, Olivier Pierre, Roger Rose, Rolf Saxon, Adrian Schiller, Kerry Shale, Cyril Shaps, Tusse Silberg, Toby Whithouse, Tim Woodward, Angus Wright, Melissa Hartzel, Zak Shukor, Bobby Valentino, Lucy Cohu, Anthony Maddalena, Tim Packham.