Josh Kramer, a veteran Hollywood executive who produced such films as Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden and Sidney Lumet’s Night Falls on Manhattan, has died following a stroke. He was 67.
Kramer died Nov. 27 surrounded by family and friends in Santa Monica, according to a representative. The producer, who was a graduate of the American School in London, earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, where he is said to have made a mark creating conceptual art pieces. He then went on to earn his Mba from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
He began his entertainment industry career by working in foreign sales for legendary Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis, specializing in international presales of films by such directors as Sam Raimi, Michael Cimino, Bruce Beresford and David Cronenberg. One such title he shepherded was the iconic documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare.
Kramer went on...
Kramer died Nov. 27 surrounded by family and friends in Santa Monica, according to a representative. The producer, who was a graduate of the American School in London, earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, where he is said to have made a mark creating conceptual art pieces. He then went on to earn his Mba from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
He began his entertainment industry career by working in foreign sales for legendary Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis, specializing in international presales of films by such directors as Sam Raimi, Michael Cimino, Bruce Beresford and David Cronenberg. One such title he shepherded was the iconic documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare.
Kramer went on...
- 12/19/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When you are an actor who reaches a certain stature, a lot of consideration goes into which roles you choose to devote yourself to. It's a lot different than when you are trying to break into the business, where you'll accept any role offered to you just because you're happy to work. Bonafide leading stars can choose roles that challenge them, bolster their movie star personas, or that allow them to work with people in the industry that they have wanted to work with.
By the late 1970s, Robert De Niro had become one of those actors. Roundly thought of one of the greatest living actors, he won an Oscar for "The Godfather Part II" and became a staple of New Hollywood thanks to his work with Martin Scorsese. He was gearing up to make his passion project, "Raging Bull," which would win him his second Oscar. This picture required...
By the late 1970s, Robert De Niro had become one of those actors. Roundly thought of one of the greatest living actors, he won an Oscar for "The Godfather Part II" and became a staple of New Hollywood thanks to his work with Martin Scorsese. He was gearing up to make his passion project, "Raging Bull," which would win him his second Oscar. This picture required...
- 1/21/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
After the historic success of "Jaws," Roy Scheider was a golden boy at Universal Pictures. The studio had him under contract for three more films and they naturally wanted him in "Jaws 2." Scheider did star in that sequel before bowing out of the sinking franchise that should have been left alone in the first place. However, the other two films could be of Scheider's choosing — a one for them, two for you deal.
As chronicled by GQ, Scheider was interested in Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" and would have played Michael Vronsky. However, as you probably know, he wound up not starring in that film. Producer Thom Mount dispelled rumors that Scheider was unhappy with the script. Instead, Mount believes, it was a dispute over compensation:
"I have heard over the years that the reason given for Scheider not doing the film is that he was unhappy with the script.
As chronicled by GQ, Scheider was interested in Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" and would have played Michael Vronsky. However, as you probably know, he wound up not starring in that film. Producer Thom Mount dispelled rumors that Scheider was unhappy with the script. Instead, Mount believes, it was a dispute over compensation:
"I have heard over the years that the reason given for Scheider not doing the film is that he was unhappy with the script.
- 1/15/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
A glob of stray semen is slathered on as impromptu hair gel. A high school flutist describes all the graphic details of her "one time at band camp." A slobbering frat boy climbs a ladder for a close look at disrobing co-eds — a glimpse so revelatory that he plummets backward without batting an eye. Raunch-comedy history is littered with off-color climaxes, and the genre hasn't blown its load quite yet.
Barely Legal: 30 Nearly Pornographic Films
From full-blown sex romps to softcore substitutes spruced up with gags, Hollywood's history of...
Barely Legal: 30 Nearly Pornographic Films
From full-blown sex romps to softcore substitutes spruced up with gags, Hollywood's history of...
- 7/18/2014
- Rollingstone.com
A mini-retrospective devoted to Polanski at San Francisco's Roxie Theater yields not only a double bill of "Chinatown" and "Frantic," but a live Skyped interview with the director of both, Roman Polanski, from his now seemingly permanent place of exile, Paris. Thom Mount, the executive producer of Polanski's "Pirates" and producer of "Frantic" and "Death and the Maiden," conducts the Skype interview. We're told that there's a camera pointing towards the Roxie audience, so that Polanski can see Mount and us. Polanski talks about editing "Venus in Fur," a French film starring Emmanuuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric. While waiting in line at the Roxie, I'm handed a flyer containing some facts about Polanski's 1977 arrest for statutory rape, which ended with him fleeing the country because of fears that his plea bargain would not be honored and a jail sentence imposed instead. This Is Rape Culture, reads the bottom of the flyer.
- 4/8/2013
- by Meredith Brody
- Thompson on Hollywood
Like The Shawshank Redemption and Tommy Boy, Bull Durham is one of those movies that always seems to be on TV. It doesn’t matter whether it’s two in the afternoon or two in the morning, somewhere in the outer reaches of cable, Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon can be found bickering about baseball and who’s taking whom to bed. In my opinion, it’s probably the best sports comedy ever made, right up there with Caddyshack, and the original Bad News Bears. Still, as many hours as I’ve spent in the company of Crash Davis,...
- 7/15/2012
- by Chris Nashawaty
- EW.com - PopWatch
See a new clip courtesy of Apple from Miramax's "Chéri," starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Harriet Walter and Anta Pallenberg. Stephen Frears directs from the writing by Christopher Hampton based on the novel by Colette. Bill Kenwright, Thom Mount and Andras Hamori produce the film. It is turn of the century in Belle Epoque Paris and a scandalous romp is underfoot. The sensational tale begins as the ravishing Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) contemplates retirement from her renowned stature as Paris’s most envied seductress to the rich and famous...
- 6/30/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See the first poster for "Chéri," the Stephen Frears directed drama starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Harriet Walter and Anta Pallenberg. Set in Paris in the 1920s, the romantic drama follows the son of a courtesan who retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to put an end to a relationship with an older woman who served to educate him in love's ways. The film was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Christopher Hampton adapts the screenplay based on the novel by Colette. Andras Hamori, Thom Mount and Tracey Seaward produce. Miramax films sends this one out on June 19th in limited areas. See the poster here. ...
- 3/9/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Moviehole is reporting on a story in the Durham Herald-Sun that claims a sequel to Bull Durham has been green-lit and will begin shooting next spring. The piece quotes producer Thom Mount as saying the script is currently in development and they have no stars attached yet... but they have ...
- 10/9/2008
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Rupert Friend will romance Michelle Pfeiffer under the watchful eye of Kathy Bates in Stephen Frears' French period drama Cheri.
Friend will play the title character, and Bates is in final negotiations to play his mother, Madame Peloux, a famed courtesan in 1920s France. Peloux sends the spoiled Cheri to her courtesan pal Lea de Lonval (Pfeiffer) for an adult education, but their six-year affair comes to a painful end when he's forced to marry a wealthy young woman.
Miramax and Pathe will distribute the adaptation of French writer Colette's provocative 1920 novel with producers Bill Kenwright and Thom Mount.
Friend is no stranger to period romances, having captured the heart of Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice and soon to be seen courting Emily Blunt as Prince Albert in The Young Victoria.
Bates played the unsinkable Molly Brown in Titanic. She currently can be seen torturing James Caan in a DirecTV commercial parody of her Oscar-winning Misery role.
Cheri will reunite Dangerous Liaisons partners Pfeiffer, Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton.
Friend will play the title character, and Bates is in final negotiations to play his mother, Madame Peloux, a famed courtesan in 1920s France. Peloux sends the spoiled Cheri to her courtesan pal Lea de Lonval (Pfeiffer) for an adult education, but their six-year affair comes to a painful end when he's forced to marry a wealthy young woman.
Miramax and Pathe will distribute the adaptation of French writer Colette's provocative 1920 novel with producers Bill Kenwright and Thom Mount.
Friend is no stranger to period romances, having captured the heart of Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice and soon to be seen courting Emily Blunt as Prince Albert in The Young Victoria.
Bates played the unsinkable Molly Brown in Titanic. She currently can be seen torturing James Caan in a DirecTV commercial parody of her Oscar-winning Misery role.
Cheri will reunite Dangerous Liaisons partners Pfeiffer, Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton.
- 3/17/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
SYDNEY -- Sam Neill, Guy Pearce and Miranda Otto will star in new Australian crime drama How to Change in 9 Weeks, which begins shooting in Queensland this week, distributor Icon Film Distribution said Wednesday.
And in an unusual move for an Australian film, director Simone North and producer Tony Cavanaugh have tapped director-producer Sidney Lumet to serve as a mentor for North in her debut feature as a writer-director.
Lumet, who has been advising North for the past year as the project has developed, was bought on board by the film's co-producer, former Universal Pictures president Thom Mount.
Mount and Cavanaugh are producing the feature, which also will shoot in Melbourne, through North and Cavanaugh's production shingle Liberty Films International.
North and Cavanaugh have produced and directed a string of successful Australian telefilms and TV series.
The thriller is based on the story of a 15-year-old Australian student, Rachel Barber, who went missing in Melbourne in 1999 and was found to have been murdered by a former childhood friend, Caroline Reid.
And in an unusual move for an Australian film, director Simone North and producer Tony Cavanaugh have tapped director-producer Sidney Lumet to serve as a mentor for North in her debut feature as a writer-director.
Lumet, who has been advising North for the past year as the project has developed, was bought on board by the film's co-producer, former Universal Pictures president Thom Mount.
Mount and Cavanaugh are producing the feature, which also will shoot in Melbourne, through North and Cavanaugh's production shingle Liberty Films International.
North and Cavanaugh have produced and directed a string of successful Australian telefilms and TV series.
The thriller is based on the story of a 15-year-old Australian student, Rachel Barber, who went missing in Melbourne in 1999 and was found to have been murdered by a former childhood friend, Caroline Reid.
- 6/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Burnt Orange Prods., the Austin, Texas-based production company, will begin production in June of the film A West Texas Children's Story. Brad Isaacs has written the screenplay and will direct for producers Polly Platt and Carolyn Pfeiffer and executive producers Tom Schatz, Morna Ciraki and Thom Mount. Burnt Orange, a public/private joint venture of the University of Texas at Austin, will produce the film with the Mount Film Co. The film chronicles the journey of two runaway 12-year-olds.
- 2/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A movie with a mission, Sidney Lumet's somber tale of a New York district attorney's rite of passage into the murky "gray areas" of law enforcement and the criminal justice system finds the veteran filmmaker rebounding after the sensationalistic "Guilty as Sin", but the Paramount Pictures release doesn't win its case even when it bends the rules and creates a tainted hero.
Opening on an off-weekend for big new releases, "Night Falls on Manhattan" has the director's rep and lead Andy Garcia to bolster its counterprogramming pitch.
It needs strong reviews and word-of-mouth to travel far, however, and the gritty reality is that moviegoers are likely to pass it up for less daunting alternatives.
Lumet has not so much adapted Robert Daley's 1993 novel "Tainted Evidence" as thrown it off a roof and picked up the resulting bits and pieces that interested him. Two major differences: The movie is more violent in the initial setup and the main character is no longer a woman.
A brief prologue introduces ex-cop Sean Casey (Garcia) in his new career as an assistant district attorney. It's a tough job and we're expected to bond with honest Casey in preparation for his trials to come.
Sean has no love life and not a lot of motivation beyond his desire to do the right thing.
Meanwhile, his father, Liam (Ian Holm), is a veteran detective with a longtime partner (James Gandolfini). When these two try to apprehend Harlem's biggest dope dealer (Shiek Mahmud-Bey), Liam and three other cops are gunned down in a bloody fiasco which leaves the suspect still on the loose.
The up-for-re-election D.A. (Ron Leibman) raises hell, but he's out-maneuvered by a "Commie shyster" lawyer (Richard Dreyfuss), who convinces the suspect to surrender.
A trial ensues and Sean is made the prosecutor against the wishes of a smarmy rival (Colm Feore) of the incumbent. In post-O.J. fashion, the buttons pushed are blatant stabs at a crumbling system in which the obviously guilty party is portrayed as a victim of a wide conspiracy involving "dirty cops."
Sean wins the case nonetheless, but its ramifications result in an Internal Affairs investigation that eventually zeroes in on Liam and his partner.
Upping the stakes and leaving believability behind, Sean is endorsed by Leibman's ailing character in the election -- and wins. He also collects a girlfriend in the person of Peggy (Lena Olin), a classy opponent in the camp of Dreyfuss' crusading realist.
But dark clouds of moral ambiguity and familial conflict loom. Our "pure" hero has a blood-soaked technical error to deal with and the choices he must make complete his education.
Ambitious but unconvincing, "Night Falls" does boast strong performances from all the principals except Olin, whose character is a sustained objection with no real depth.
Leibman and Holm play strongly realized characters, and the best scenes include these actors with Garcia in intimate, closed-door conferences.
Harking back to Lumet's best works -- "Serpico", "Dog Day Afternoon", "The Verdict" -- "Night Falls" is beautifully shot in naturalistic hues and shadows by David Watkin and makes good use of Big Apple locales.
Some expert cutting from Sam O'Steen helps in the many dramatic scenes, but overall the pacing is uneven and viewers not hooked into the story may find their attention wandering and suspension of disbelief wavering.
NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN
Paramount Pictures
Spelling Films presents
a Mount/Kramer production
A Sidney Lumet film
Writer-director Sidney Lumet
Producers Thom Mount, Josh Kramer
Based on a novel by Robert Daley
Co-producer John H. Starke
Director of photography David Watkin
Production designer Philip Rosenberg
Editor Sam O'Steen
Costume designer Joseph G. Aulisi
Music Mark Isham
Casting Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith,
Kerry Barden
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sean Casey Andy Garcia
Liam Casey Ian Holm
Joey Allegretto James Gandolfini
Peggy Lindstrom Lena Olin
Jordan Washington Shiek Mahmud-Bey
Elihu Harrison Colm Feore
Morgenstern Ron Leibman
Sam Vigoda Richard Dreyfuss
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Opening on an off-weekend for big new releases, "Night Falls on Manhattan" has the director's rep and lead Andy Garcia to bolster its counterprogramming pitch.
It needs strong reviews and word-of-mouth to travel far, however, and the gritty reality is that moviegoers are likely to pass it up for less daunting alternatives.
Lumet has not so much adapted Robert Daley's 1993 novel "Tainted Evidence" as thrown it off a roof and picked up the resulting bits and pieces that interested him. Two major differences: The movie is more violent in the initial setup and the main character is no longer a woman.
A brief prologue introduces ex-cop Sean Casey (Garcia) in his new career as an assistant district attorney. It's a tough job and we're expected to bond with honest Casey in preparation for his trials to come.
Sean has no love life and not a lot of motivation beyond his desire to do the right thing.
Meanwhile, his father, Liam (Ian Holm), is a veteran detective with a longtime partner (James Gandolfini). When these two try to apprehend Harlem's biggest dope dealer (Shiek Mahmud-Bey), Liam and three other cops are gunned down in a bloody fiasco which leaves the suspect still on the loose.
The up-for-re-election D.A. (Ron Leibman) raises hell, but he's out-maneuvered by a "Commie shyster" lawyer (Richard Dreyfuss), who convinces the suspect to surrender.
A trial ensues and Sean is made the prosecutor against the wishes of a smarmy rival (Colm Feore) of the incumbent. In post-O.J. fashion, the buttons pushed are blatant stabs at a crumbling system in which the obviously guilty party is portrayed as a victim of a wide conspiracy involving "dirty cops."
Sean wins the case nonetheless, but its ramifications result in an Internal Affairs investigation that eventually zeroes in on Liam and his partner.
Upping the stakes and leaving believability behind, Sean is endorsed by Leibman's ailing character in the election -- and wins. He also collects a girlfriend in the person of Peggy (Lena Olin), a classy opponent in the camp of Dreyfuss' crusading realist.
But dark clouds of moral ambiguity and familial conflict loom. Our "pure" hero has a blood-soaked technical error to deal with and the choices he must make complete his education.
Ambitious but unconvincing, "Night Falls" does boast strong performances from all the principals except Olin, whose character is a sustained objection with no real depth.
Leibman and Holm play strongly realized characters, and the best scenes include these actors with Garcia in intimate, closed-door conferences.
Harking back to Lumet's best works -- "Serpico", "Dog Day Afternoon", "The Verdict" -- "Night Falls" is beautifully shot in naturalistic hues and shadows by David Watkin and makes good use of Big Apple locales.
Some expert cutting from Sam O'Steen helps in the many dramatic scenes, but overall the pacing is uneven and viewers not hooked into the story may find their attention wandering and suspension of disbelief wavering.
NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN
Paramount Pictures
Spelling Films presents
a Mount/Kramer production
A Sidney Lumet film
Writer-director Sidney Lumet
Producers Thom Mount, Josh Kramer
Based on a novel by Robert Daley
Co-producer John H. Starke
Director of photography David Watkin
Production designer Philip Rosenberg
Editor Sam O'Steen
Costume designer Joseph G. Aulisi
Music Mark Isham
Casting Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith,
Kerry Barden
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sean Casey Andy Garcia
Liam Casey Ian Holm
Joey Allegretto James Gandolfini
Peggy Lindstrom Lena Olin
Jordan Washington Shiek Mahmud-Bey
Elihu Harrison Colm Feore
Morgenstern Ron Leibman
Sam Vigoda Richard Dreyfuss
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/12/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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