Latest news with #MollyRingwald
Irish Times
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
My Cousin Maria Schneider by Vanessa Schneider, translated by Molly Ringwald
My Cousin Maria Schneider: A Memoir Author : Vanessa Schneider, tr. Molly Ringwald ISBN-13 : 9781472158574 Publisher : Corsair Guideline Price : £10.99 Recounting the press coverage of her cousin Maria Schneider's death (known to most of us as the actor from Last Tango in Paris), Vanessa Schneider writes: 'No one writes about how, when you die, you are sipping champagne, your favourite drink … You leave us amidst bubbles and bursts of laughter, loving faces and smiles – upright with your head held high, a little tipsy. With panache.' Beside this, in the margin I have written 'the dream'. Not that Maria's life was a dream, but scenes like this show Vanessa's magnificent balance of tone . There is something distinctly French in this ability to recount injustice and pain without wallowing in it. There's an enviable simplicity of form, reminiscent of a jumbled photograph album, with each section recounting a memory or fact taken (seemingly) at random. Vanessa's sentences, too, translated by another actor, Molly Ringwald, put me in mind of those of Annie Ernaux, in their all-encompassing brevity. It's almost as if the best French writing is like the best French fashion, each paragraph conveying its message with straightforward elegance. She even pulls off the (usually dangerously insipid) second person, writing directly to 'you', Maria – no mean feat. READ MORE As for Maria herself, it's quickly made clear that the perfect storm of an abusive mother, a manipulatively charismatic father, precocious physical attractiveness, natural talent, a taste for fun and professional mistreatment all led, perhaps inevitably, to addiction. Yet, although her heroin problem is recounted in graphic detail, it's again without the excess of pathos one might fear from an adoring relative. I felt only admiration when Vanessa writes: 'There are few people who admit to fearing the madness of others and fleeing in the face of it. [He] put into words our family's ambivalence – the rush of relief, and the attendant shame we feel when we don't hear from you.' All in all, this is a timely recounting of the toxic misogyny that existed in filmmaking in the 1970s, contained within a candid yet loving celebration of an actor who was offered up as one of its many female sacrifices. Yet, despite the numerous harrowing events of her life, one comes away from these pages admiring rather than pitying Maria. A quiet triumph.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Iconic Stephen King novel is being adapted for the THIRD time... and fans aren't happy about it
One of Stephen King's most popular books is getting adapted for the screen for a third time - and fans aren't happy about it. According to Deadline, Doug Liman will direct a theatrical adaptation of King's The Stand. Released in 1978, King's epic post-apocalyptic novel centers on factions of people trying to survive after a deadly pandemic. The lengthy tome was acclaimed by critics and went on to become one of the author's bestselling books. It's been adapted twice before for television, first in 1994 as a four episode miniseries that took home two Emmys. The 1994 version starred Molly Ringwald and Rob Lowe, and was written and produced by King himself. It was then revived once again by CBS in 2020 as a nine-episode limited series starring James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgård, Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard. Liman's upcoming version will be the first time that The Stand has been adapted theatrically. Fans of the novel have already expressed their frustration with the theatrical version, claiming that a movie isn't enough time to capture the expansive story. 'Unless it's committed to six movies and filmed back to back like Lord of the Rings style I'm not sure there is a reason to make The Stand theatrical,' commented one. 'Multiples movies right? Right? That book CANNOT be told in one film. It simply can't,' wrote another. A third commented, 'Again?! This will be the third attempt. All we want is a Dark Tower series please!' Another wrote, 'I think the scale of The Stand is deserving of the big screen. However, I think it should be a trilogy.' While fans are wary of the big screen adaptation, The Stand appears to be in good hands with Liman directing. Liman was behind some of the most popular action hits of the last few decades, including Edge of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith, and the recent Road House remake with Jake Gyllenhaal. Both Ben Affleck and George A. Romero have attempted to the develop The Stand for the big screen in the past with little luck. Meanwhile, King currently has a number of projects in the works based on his novels. First up is The Institute, which is set to scare viewers when it hits MGM+ next month. The eight-part limited series follows the terrifying story of Luke Ellis, a 12-year-old prodigy whose life is shattered overnight when he's kidnapped and wakes up inside a shadowy facility known only as The Institute. Inside, he meets other children with psychic abilities who are being subjected to disturbing and painful experiments under the watchful eye of the calculating Ms. Sigsby, played by Emmy-winner Mary-Louise Parker. While the children initially believe that they're there to be taught and cared for, they soon discover that the staff at The Institute are trying to weaponize their powers for evil. King's fans were furious earlier this year when Netflix announced it would be making a reboot of his novel Cujo. Amazon Prime also revealed that they're turning his iconic novel Carrie into a series.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
As a child I showed little interest in my mum's sewing skills. After she died, I realised what I'd missed out on
There is a photograph of a very young me wearing a homemade A-line denim dress with a peace sign boldly embroidered on the front. Mum made me the dress for an anti-nuclear rally sometime in the mid-1970s. I don't remember wearing it that day, or being carried on my dad's shoulders as we marched with thousands of protesters, but I do recall wearing many of the other clothes Mum made me as a child. There was a lemon floor-length cotton number that she pintucked by hand for my role as the narrator in the school play that would swish around my ankles as I walked across the stage. And a white cropped top that she splattered with neon paint, designed to show up under the fluorescent lights of the Blue Light disco when I was in my Wham phase and trying to attract a boy I liked from school. But my favourite was the spotted taffeta bubble skirt of my dreams that I wore to the high school formal, inspired by Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink. Mum made most of my clothes until I hit high school and begged relentlessly for a pair of shop-bought skinny jeans, because I was desperate to look more like my peers. She did buy me the jeans, but she also kept sewing, filling my wardrobe with patchwork skirts, home-knitted vests and a dark-green corduroy coat that I would kill for now. I was always impatient when she made me try things on. I'd stand on a kitchen chair, and she'd have a mouthful of pins, and I'd squirm and wriggle and complain, and if one of the pins jabbed my skin then I'd leap down off the chair in protest – even though she was usually sewing something that I'd asked for. She learned to sew and knit out of necessity, out of poverty. If she wanted a new dress for the local dance then she had to make one, and often it involved cutting up something else because buying new fabric was expensive. She even made her off-white raw silk wedding dress, complete with a hidden zip down the back. I've kept it, even though it is far smaller than I will ever be, because I like imagining her hands working the fabric. From the outside the dress looks polished, as if it has been plucked from the rack of a shop, but if you turn it inside out then you can see that none of the edges are properly finished and the hem is roughly handsewn. Perhaps she knew she'd only be wearing it for a day, so she didn't bother spending too much time on all the details. And, somehow, this makes the dress even more special. There were many attempts to teach me to sew when I was a teenager, but sadly I showed no interest. Instead, I took a job at a local deli so I could start saving for branded things, like a pale pink padded Esprit jacket that cost more than a month's wages. I wore it until the elbows frayed and the zip jammed at the bottom and even mum's skills couldn't save it. As a child, I didn't understand mum's commitment to making our clothes; I always believed it was a hangover from her upbringing. It was only later that I began to realise that it wasn't only about saving money: it was also her way of crafting her own style, of creating things that were unique, like the multi-striped knitted jumpers my dad wore for over 40 years that made him look a little like Ernie from Sesame Street. Mum stopped sewing as my brother and I grew. Occasionally I'd visit for a hem to be taken up or a sleeve to be repaired, but never for an outfit. Then, when I became pregnant with my first child, mum pulled out the knitting needles and got to work. She knitted so many jumpers in one winter that arthritis appeared in both her hands, so she'd stop for a while and move on to sewing quilted overalls that would protect my daughter's knees as she learned to crawl. Cleaning out my parent's house recently, I found the bags of clothes that my children had worn when they were small. After mum died, I'd stored them under a bed in their house because I couldn't fit them all in my apartment and I wasn't ready to hand them on. I was surprised to see that almost all of their clothes were made by my mother. There were dozens of woollen jumpers knitted in stripes, fairy dresses in different sizes with layers of pink tulle and velvet sleeves, padded coats with matching bags, and even blankets to wrap my children up when they were cold. All those hours of work. And buried under the piles of clothes she had made them was the patchwork skirt she'd sewn me when I was 10. Liberty print squares she'd picked up somewhere cheap and sewn together in a mishmash of colours and patterns. I held it up to my waist, wondering if there was some way that I could still wear it, and wishing I'd listened when she tried to teach me how to sew.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sixteen Candles star who played Molly Ringwald's pretty sister still looks great... see her now at 68
This former model was in one of the most successful teen movies from the 1980s. Blanche Baker played Molly Ringwald's pretty older sister whose wedding was such a big deal that everyone forgot about Molly's birthday in the cult favorite Sixteen Candles. She was cast for her good looks and skill at playing a ditzy woman in the 1984 film. And now Blanche - whose mother was 1950s movie star Carroll Baker, 94, who had the lead role in Baby Doll - looks completely different. The actress has posted several images to her Instagram page with her partner as they enjoy life on the East Coast. The eighties wonder is still a beauty as she is slender with a winning smile. And Blanche still works all the time in Hollywood projects though she seems to call New York home. Sixteen Candles was from prolific film director John Hughes. The plot was thin but had a winning formula. With the occasion all but overshadowed by her sister's upcoming wedding, angst-ridden Samantha (Ringwald) faces her 16th birthday with typical adolescent dread. Samantha pines for handsome older boy Jake (Michael Schoeffling), but worries that her chastity will be a turnoff for the popular senior. Meanwhile, Samantha must constantly rebuff the affections of nerdy Ted (Anthony Michael Hall), the only boy in the school, unfortunately, who seems to take an interest in her. Also in the film were eighties stalwarts John Cusack and Jami Gertz. Blanche was already a star before she worked on Sixteen Candles. She won an Emmy Award for her performance opposite Meryl Streep in NBC's 1978 miniseries Holocaust. And the looker had the title role in playwright Edward Albee's 1981 adaptation of Lolita on Broadway. In 1987, she returned to the stage, originating the role of Shelby (played by Julia Roberts in the 1989 film) in the first Off-Broadway production of Steel Magnolias. After Sixteen Candles, she had a supporting role in the 1990 film version of The Handmaid's Tale opposite Natasha Richardson. Then there she did a few popular TV shows such as In the Heat of the Night, Law & Order and Clarissa Explains It All. Then she worked with Sixteen Candles star Molly Ringwald again. They both had roles in the Lifetime original Christmas movie Wishin' and Hopin' in 2014. Baker has directed films too. Her last project was Girl in a Glass Box from the 2023 novel. The 67-year-old is the mother of four children, three with her first husband, director Bruce vanDusen, and a son with current husband Mark McGill. Blanche is active on her Instagram page where she wrote: 'A life spent in the arts..' in her bio. On Memorial Day she was seen on a boat with her spouse as they wore red, white and blue. And the Hollywood vet is often seen with her better half on dates at fancy restaurants. Her mother was a massive 1950s actress. Carroll Baker, 94, played the lead in the adaptation of two Tennessee Williams plays into the film Baby Doll in 1956. Her role in the film as a coquettish but sexually naïve Southern bride earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Baker had other early film roles in Giant (1956) and the romantic comedy But Not for Me (1959). In 1961, she appeared in Something Wild, directed by her then-husband Jack Garfein, playing a rape victim. She went on to star in several critically acclaimed Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, such as The Big Country (1958), How the West Was Won (1962), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). In the mid-1960s, Baker became a sex symbol in The Carpetbaggers (1964). Then she had the role of Jean Harlow in the biopic Harlow (1965). Caroll worked in Italy for years before starring in the Andy Warhol–produced dark comedy Bad (1977). Next came Star 80 (1983), Native Son (1986) and Ironweed (1987). Through the 1990s, Baker had guest roles in several television series, such as Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law, and Roswell. She also had supporting parts in several big-budget films, such as Kindergarten Cop (1990) and the David Fincher–directed thriller The Game (1997). She retired from acting in 2003.
Hindustan Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Generation Z Meets ‘The Breakfast Club'
Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez on the set of 'The Breakfast Club.' 'I can't believe they went without social media in the 1980s,' my student said. 'They get distance from the outside world.' She was referring to 'The Breakfast Club,' which I had just watched with my high-school freshmen. We had recently read 'The Odyssey' and I thought it might be fun to see a movie that also deals with identity and belonging. I hoped my students would see connections between 'The Breakfast Club' and 'The Odyssey' about the distance one gets and doesn't get from home. I was their age in 1985, the year the film came out. 'The Breakfast Club' is about five high-school students who bond during Saturday detention. Each represents an archetype—nerd, princess, jock, basket case and burnout—which makes their connection more poignant. The movie had a big effect on me. I envied the intimacy among the detention-shackled teens. My students were envious for different reasons. They were shocked that the characters went a whole day without social media or parents, and that they spoke candidly about sex and self-loathing—conversations unlikely to happen in school today. 'We're never unplugged,' one student said. 'Group texts, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok 24/7.' When I was in high school, my friends and I had space from our families during the school day, and from each other at home. Social media has blurred these lines, and it is costing our students. They're struggling more than ever with anxiety, depression and short attention spans. My students know their lives aren't like the movies, but they're living every moment on-screen. In 1985 I loved 'The Breakfast Club' so much that I skipped gym class to get a Saturday detention. I thought it would be like in the movie—deep conversations with characters played by Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and other stars. It wasn't. No one opened up about teenage angst. Someone shot a spitball. I hoped my father would drop me off and pick me up like the teens in the film, but he said no. I walked to and from school that day wondering if my life would ever be like the movies. After school the day we watched the film, my students rushed out with the other 4,000 teenagers. Some walked, took the bus, got a ride, rode their bikes or skateboards. I headed to the faculty parking lot overlooking our sports field. For a moment, it resembled the field that John Bender (Judd Nelson) crosses in the film. The grass was plush, the bleachers empty. I pictured him walking and raising his fist in that final scene to the Simple Minds song, 'Don't You (Forget About Me).' Yet as I sat in school traffic, I stared again. It didn't look like the field in the movie at all. The parking lot was too close, the bleachers a different scale; the grass needed watering. Some of my students whizzed past me. Real life might not be like the movies, but for a moment—wind in their hair, backpacks slung over shoulders, alongside friends—they looked like teens from any era. Perhaps the commute itself could provide space from the adult world, for while they were riding, they existed in a neutral space of aliveness—offline, untethered, neither in school nor home, neither bored nor plugged in. As I drove out of the parking lot, I was envious of their youth, and grateful for the distance. Ms. Shulman is a high-school teacher in Evanston, Ill. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
