Thursday 23 November 2023

Clint seen filming on Georgia set of Juror No. 2

Clint seen filming on Georgia set of Juror No. 2

Brian Marks for Dailymail.com 

Clint Eastwood showed he's not ready to slow down yet when he was spotted filming his upcoming film Juror No. 2 on Tuesday in Savannah, Georgia.

The 93-year-old actor-turned-director was shooting a scene for the courtroom thriller featuring his stars Nicholas Hoult, 33, and Toni Collette, 51.

The project has been called the moviemaker's 'final film,' with The Hollywood Reporter describing it as an attempt to find 'one last project in order to be able to ride off into the sunset with his head held high,' though neither Eastwood nor Juror No. 2's studio Warner Bros. have said he is planning to retire after completing it.

Eastwood was previously seen on set with Hoult in June, after the writer's strike had started but just before his cast had to stop working due to the recently wrapped actor's strike.

At the time, photos from Savannah station WSAV show the director with the clean-shaven look he has mostly displayed for the past few decades, but he was seen with a surprising bushy white beard while filming on Tuesday.

Clint looked particularly intrigued while watching footage from the shoot next to his long-time camera operator Stephen Campanelli, who first began working with him on 1995's romance classic The Bridges of Madison County.

It’s great to see the man back on active duty. 

Tuesday 21 November 2023

Chris Messina Joins Hoult in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror No. 2’


Chris Messina Joins Nicholas Hoult in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror No. 2’
Toni Collette and Kiefer Sutherland are already on board the legal drama which has now restarting production. 
It was good to read this article by Borys Kit from The Hollywood Reporter this week – in regards to Clint’s latest movie Juror #2 restarting production and with a new addition to the cast:
Chris Messina, who played sports agent David Falk in Ben Affleck’s Air, has joined the case of Juror No. 2, the legal thriller Clint Eastwood is directing for Warner Bros. Shooting on the feature began in June and was halted due to the actors strike. Production is now resuming in Atlanta.
Nicholas Hoult is leading the courtroom with Toni Collette, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb and Kiefer Sutherland also on the witness stand. Per the studio’s official logline, the script by Jonathan Abrams follows family man Justin Kemp (Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma … one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict — or free — the wrong killer. 

Below: Messina will be playing the case’s public defender.

Collette is playing the prosecutor, Deutch is playing Hoult’s wife and Sutherland is the man’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. On top of directing, Eastwood is producing via his production company Malpaso. Tim Moore and Jessica Meier of Malpaso and Dichotomy’s Adam Goodman and Matt Skiena are also producing. Executive producing are Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jeremy Bell, along with David M. Bernstein.
Messina recently appeared in Amazon’s critically acclaimed Air, which told true story of the rise of legacy sneaker Air Jordan and saw the actor part of an all-star cast that included Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Bateman and Viola Davis. This year Messina also starred opposite Kaley Cuoco in the Peacock true crime satire Based on a True Story, which premiered in June and was recently renewed for a second season. And he appeared in Twentieth Century’s Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman

It’s encouraging to finally see that the production has resumed shooting. The release date will of course be sometime in 2024.

Friday 17 November 2023

Eastwood / Universal mystery promo leaflet


Eastwood / Universal mystery promo leaflet
Here’s something that we had never seen before – and we’re not quite sure of its origins. It’s obviously a promotional leaflet of sorts, and clearly publicising some of Clints major Universal titles. We have no idea of the date it was published, but can guestimate it from around 1972/73 as there is no sign or mention of High Plains Drifter, Breezy or The Eiger Sanction. Our initial thoughts led us to think it was some sort of Cinema hand-out or leaflet. Then we looked at the wording (or partial wording) as we could not secure a picture of it fully opened. But it suggests either, ‘These Top 5 films’ or ‘These Top 5 features’ ‘are now available’. 
The word ‘Available’ didn’t really seem to make much sense in the context of a cinema showing. So, we wondered if this was perhaps an early 16mm rental promotion from Universal – which seem to make more sense to me. But we really have no idea, and that is about the extent of our detective work. 
Perhaps you can help and confirm? Feel free to comment and we can perhaps hopefully put this mystery to rest. 
It apparently sold last month for $36! I guess someone wanted it bad enough. 

Wednesday 1 November 2023

Irene Cara’s Personalised 1984 City Heat Movie Cast Jacket

Irene Cara’s Personalised 1984 City Heat Movie Cast Jacket Warner Brothers
Auction house Invaluable has listed a rather nice and unique piece of memorabilia - Irene Cara’s Personalised 1984 City Heat Cast Jacket. 
Irene Cara Estate personalized Irene 1984 City Heat Movie cast jacket Warner Brothers COA. With Wise Guys Touuca Lake CA California custom shop label and XS label annotated to XXS, dry clean only, WB studio logo with 1984 date, rear embroidered design with lettering applique and Burt Reynolds Clint Eastwood patches, quilted lining and elastic cuffs. Irene Cara played Ginny Lee, 25in long, 13in long under arms.
Discovered in the personal touring trunk of Irene Cara on site at the estate of Irene Cara Escalera, Known professionally as Irene Cara, an Oscar, Grammy, Tony award winner. The multitalented singer, actress, musician and composer rose to international prominence with her starring role as Coco in the movie Fame which inspired a generation of performing arts academies, magnet schools and countless famous performers. Prior to Fame she was a child star as a recording artist and cast member of the first season of Electric Company and she followed up her Fame stardom with the iconic song What a Feeling from Flashdance and an international touring career interspersed with Hollywood movie and television appearances. Irene semi-retired to Florida and continued developing musical projects privately from her home. While All items in this auction were personally removed from her Largo, FL residence by our staff this lot more importantly was discovered inside her touring trunk. Within that trunk multiple television worn vintage garments have been identified and specifically noted in auction lot listings and it is highly likely many more of these trunk treasure trove discoveries will come to be linked to stage and screen concerts and appearances. Each lot comes with a Certificate of Authenticity authorized by her Estate Personal Representatives.

Photo Opportunity #43


Photo Opportunity #43
Like our October Photo Opportunity, we have again ventured right back to the late 50’s or possibly early 60’s to begin the month of November. There isn’t too much known about this photo. Clint is pictured here with actress Mari Blanchard. Blanchard never appeared with Clint in any movies, but like Clint, she was also signed by Universal-International (in 1952) and appeared in a number of B movies. I’m more inclined to believe that this particular photo dates to 1960, as Blanchard and Clint did appear together in an episode of Rawhide, Incident of the Big Blowout, Series 3 Episode 14 which was broadcast on February 10th 1961. Blanchard starred as Laura Carter, so it’s quite possible this photo was taken at the CBS studios. 
One of Blanchard's more memorable film roles, however, was her portrayal of a Venusian queen, Allura, in the 1953 comedy Abbott and Costello Go to Mars. Some other films of the 1950s in which she is featured include Son of Sinbad (1955), Stagecoach to Fury (1956), She Devil (1957), Jungle Heat (1957), No Place to Land (1958), and Machete (1958). Following her work on these films, Blanchard began to focus increasingly on performing on television, although she did appear in a few other films in the 1960s, including a small but flamboyant role as Camille in McLintock! (1963), directed by Andrew MacLaglen and starring John Wayne.
On television, aside from Rawhide, Blanchard appeared in "Escape From Fear" (1955), an episode of the anthology series Climax! She made guest appearances in various television series through the late 1960s, including Bachelor Father (1959), Tales of Wells Fargo (1960), Laramie (1960), Sea Hunt (1960), Hawaiian Eye (1961), 77 Sunset Strip (1961), Burke's Law (1965), The Virginian (1967), and It Takes a Thief (1968). 
She was diagnosed with cancer in 1963, and died aged 47 in Woodland Hills, California on May 10th, 1970.