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John Lithgow Faces the ‘Impossible Task' of Selecting Only a Few Items from the Criterion Closet

John Lithgow Faces the ‘Impossible Task' of Selecting Only a Few Items from the Criterion Closet

Yahoo09-02-2025
'Hi, I'm John Lithgow. I've been given this impossible task to pick out Blu-rays of films that have meant something to me in my life. All of them great.'
Could this possibly be a more inviting intro to a Criterion Closet video? We think not.
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While the 'Conclave' star's Cardinal Tremblay may be a snake in some vestments, beloved performer John Lithgow is nothing but a charmer who's love of cinema is as deeply rooted as his long career. Tracing back to its beginnings, Lithgow shared that one of his early selections, the Richard Harris-led drama 'This Sporting Life' directed by Lindsay Anderson and written by David Storey, had a direct connection with one of his first breakout roles.
'There is a play that David Storey wrote which is basically derived from 'This Sporting Life.' I played a role in it when its American premiere took place on Broadway — 'The Changing Room' — when I was 27 years old,' said Lithgow. 'It was my Broadway debut. And two weeks after it debuted, I won a Tony Award for it. So, needless to say, that goes in my bag.'
Lithgow went on to grab a film he's actually featured in, Brian De Palma's 'Blow Out' starring John Travolta and Nancy Allen. The actor also worked with De Palma on 'Obsession' and 'Raising Cain' and described the filmmaker as 'the master of the macabre.'
'It's all about a sound man who finds a little scrap of sound that he's recorded that unwinds this very elaborate sort of Secret Service undercover crime. And I am the criminal in this case,' Lithgow said of 'Blow Out.' 'I have been three of Brian's villains. They're all kind of innocuous, slightly faceless men who are supposed to be the last person you'd suspect of doing horrific Brian De Palma things.'
After Lithgow chose The Complete Jacques Tati set and offered his impression of the filmmaker and actor's famous tall, clumsy oddball Monsieur Hulot, he explained how the character highly influenced his role on the sitcom '3rd Rock from the Sun.' Though he said he loved all of Tati's work, there is one that stands above the rest to Lithgow.
'The great classic to me is 'Mon Oncle.' He just takes his time setting up a comedy sequence,' he said. 'It can take five minutes to build to this astounding payoff. And it's a lesson in comedy.'
Watch Lithgow's full Criterion Closet visit below.
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Most Embarrassing Celebrity Moments
Most Embarrassing Celebrity Moments

Buzz Feed

time6 minutes ago

  • Buzz Feed

Most Embarrassing Celebrity Moments

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And remember that time a random elderly lady accidentally roasted Dua Lipa to her face? For context, Dua was interviewing a group of old people who were totally oblivious to her fame for Jimmy Kimmel Live. As one of the interviews drew to an end, Dua enthusiastically asked the woman: 'Do you think you could, like, look straight into the webcam and say: 'Dua Lipa is the greatest pop star in history' for me, please?' But the woman point blank refused, dryly telling the Grammy-winning star: 'I'd never say that.' Better luck next time, Dua. You can watch the clip below: Normani's fandom nightmare is even more embarrassing, with the former Fifth Harmony star being accused of running her own fan account, Normani Nation, just last year… And I'm literally grimacing at the memory of it. Basically, in February 2024, Normani Nation posted a screenshot of the singer's Instagram account, which had been totally wiped of all posts as well as her profile picture, to X. 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Skai Jackson Went Wild In Leopard At The Fantastic Four Premiere — And We Cannot Stop Thinking About It
Skai Jackson Went Wild In Leopard At The Fantastic Four Premiere — And We Cannot Stop Thinking About It

Black America Web

time6 minutes ago

  • Black America Web

Skai Jackson Went Wild In Leopard At The Fantastic Four Premiere — And We Cannot Stop Thinking About It

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Finally, the Fantastic Four get the movie they (and we) deserve
Finally, the Fantastic Four get the movie they (and we) deserve

Washington Post

time7 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

Finally, the Fantastic Four get the movie they (and we) deserve

Flame on! Buoyant, bracing and, most shocking of all, brief, 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' represents a quantum leap of ship-righting. Everything about this amiable adventure — its space-age idiom, its sub-two-hour footprint, its emphasis on a literal nuclear family of heroes — has been cannily calibrated to dispel the air of listlessness that's engulfed the Marvel Cinematic Universe in recent years. The difficulties adapting the First Family of Marvel Comics go back further than that. Josh Trank's 2015 'Fantastic Four' flamed out despite the presence of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny 'The Human Torch' Storm. Tim Story's 2005 'Fantastic Four' and its 2007 sequel both had Chris Evans playing that physiological hothead, but were too forgettable to disqualify him from suiting up as Captain America later. Most lurid of all was the early '90s 'The Fantastic Four' (italics mine) — rushed to completion by schlock auteur Roger Corman on an austerity budget of $1 million just so producer Bernd Eichinger could hang onto the rights. Those prior iterations hail from a more innocent age of corporate hegemony, before the acquisition of both Marvel and Fox — holder of the Fantastic Four and X-Men movie licenses — by Disney, whose appetites rival those of the new film's major threat, the giant purple planet-eater Galactus. True to creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's crazypants vision, this deity's genocidal pig-out is preceded by a visit to our doomed planet from his emcee and enforcer, the Silver Surfer. (Julia Garner plays the surfer in 'First Steps,' and despite being coated in digital chrome, she conveys palpable melancholy.) After opening in media res via a TV special celebrating the Fantastic Four's many victories, 'First Steps' quickly puts the family in family film, with Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm contemplating a home pregnancy test — one of the more prosaic technological anachronisms in this alternate early 1960s, which also has flying cars and faster-than-light travel. 'Nothing will change,' says her spouse, Reed 'Mr. Fantastic' Richards (the ubiquitous but still welcome Pedro Pascal), because even super-geniuses can be hella dumb. That's our movie: What to Expect When You're Expecting a Violet, Planet-Devouring God. That Sue is in a family way doesn't stop her from blasting off with her family to negotiate with and/or defeat Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson), who demands a biblical tribute. Unwilling to pay up, the Fantastic Four get to work on Plan B, which involves uniting every government on Earth in a coordinated defense requiring global power conservation. (One amusing effect of the brownout is that the Thing can't shave his granite face.) That all this unfolds in just a few brisk scenes with nary a hint of dissent is indicative of the dramatic opportunities that get overlooked when storytellers are bent on efficiency. Still, in an era when blockbuster run times have stretched out longer than Mr. Fantastic's rubbery limbs, it's a refreshing change. Clearly, Marvel and DC have been reading the same feedback cards. Like the equally pithy new 'Superman,' 'First Steps' eschews its heroes' oft-told origin and drops us into a world where Reed, Sue, her brother Johnny and gentle-geologic-giant Ben 'the Thing' Grimm are already beloved public figures. The director is Matt Shakman, who helmed the memorable MCU streaming series 'WandaVision,' where each episode was a pastiche of a distinct era of television. I am duty-bound to tell you 'First Steps' is set on Earth-828, a dimension removed from all the other Marvel heroes — for now, anyway. Maybe that's the reason cinematographer Jess Hall and production designer Kasra Farahani have been permitted to give 'First Steps' a distinct retro-futuristic look that escapes the house-style visual tedium of the MCU. Its off-world middle act evokes the cosmic majesty of Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' more than the screensavery muck of prior spacefaring Marvel films. Equally remarkable is that no member of the cast is ever dwarfed by the extinction-level machinations around them. Pascal and Kirby, in particular, tuck into the nuances of their partnership in ways seldom seen in these films. Even the minor players — Paul Walter Hauser's comic Mole Man, Natasha Lyonne as a Hebrew schoolteacher drawn to the canonically Jewish Mr. Grimm despite his igneous orange bod — leave us wanting more. PG-13. At area theaters. Superhero action, a zero-gravity childbirth sequence, mild cussing. 118 minutes.

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