#Remembering Gene Wilder

[mootheloon]

I had to draw another Gene Wilder after watching the Netflix documentary on him and then rewatching Blazing Saddles. Completed in Procreate ❤️

[capncarrot]

Remembering Gene Wilder

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

GHOSTS AND DEMONS AND EVEN WILDER YET

Opening this weekend:

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire--This fifth feature in the franchise begins with a nice macabre episode set in 1904, like something from a creepier version of Disney's Haunted Mansion. This is followed by an extended chase through the streets of Manhattan, as the current Ghostbusters pursue, in the "Ectomobile," an eel-like flying dragon spirit up from the sewers.

It's a reasonably diverting start, and the movie goes on to deploy, in addition to Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon and the kids from 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, most of the available stars from the 1984 original. Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Williams Atherton and Bill Murray show up--no Sigourney Weaver or Rick Moranis, alas--and not just in cameos but with fairly substantive screen time. I was disappointed that the all-woman crew from the much-maligned and underrated 2016 version wasn't invited to this party, but apparently fans are still traumatized.

Anyway, the old vets here are good company--Murray with his peerless sardonoic line readings, Akyroyd with his gee-whiz delivery of expository gibberish. A couple of new adds, like Patton Oswalt as an authority on the occult and Kumail Nanjiani as a clod who sells Aykroyd the spherical ancient artifact that serves as the McGuffin, also get into the proper, uhm, spirit of things.

On the whole the movie, directed by Gil Kenan from a script by Kenan and Jason Reitman, is an enjoyable lavish no-brainer. The closest it gets to any emotional weight is an intriguing plot strand in which the teenage heroine (Mckenna Grace) bonds, seemingly romantically, with a teen ghost (Emily Alyn Lind) after she's forbidden to go 'busting until she turns 18; the actors manage a touching rapport even through the special effects prism.

But if Frozen Empire--which concerns a horned demon with freezing superpowers imprisoned inside the McGuffin--doesn't feel like a home run, it may be the result of too much wholesomeness. The teen romance and bickering family dynamic didn't quite feel like Ghostbusters to me, somehow. What made the '84 film seem new was its mix of extravagant, big-budget special effects spectacle with the snarky, irreverent slacker sketch-comedy of Murray and the other stars. Only when Frozen Empire taps into this sensibility does it truly thaw out.

The movie is dedicated to Ivan Reitman, director of the original, and this film, like several of the others, includes a nod to Cannibal Girls, Rietman's 1973 shocker starring the impossibly young and adorable Andrea Martin and Eugene Levy. I hope it makes fans seek out that amusing low-budget creepshow; there's a movie that doesn't suffer from too much wholesomeness.

Late Night With the Devil--Here's another wry paranormal chiller set in New York, although it was conceived by the Australian brothers Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes and filmed in Melbourne. The premise is that we're watching the 1976 Halloween episode of a syndicated talk show, a perennial also-ran in the ratings to Johnny Carson. Desperate for a sweeps win, the recently widowed host (David Dastmalchian) stacks the guest list with a hokey stage psychic (Fayssal Bazzi), an Amazing Randi-type skeptic (Ian Bliss), and a psychiatrist (Laura Gordon) and her patient, an angelically smiling teenage girl (Ingrid Torelli). This girl was rescued from a cult and just might be possessed.

From the set to the music to the "More to Come" break cards, the Cairnes Brothers truly capture the look and feel of anything-goes '70s talk shows to a degree that will be nostalgic to those of us who remember them. The movie also evokes sources of the period from The Exorcist to Network (Michael Ironside provides stentorian narration in the manner of Network's Lee Richardson), and the soundtrack includes the likes of Flo & Eddie's "Keep It Warm."

The "found footage" conceit is quickly strained; the supposed "behind the scenes" sequences are pretty cinematic and helpfully narrative. But after a while you accept it, largely because the acting, especially the haunted yet game showmanship of the excellent Dastmalchian, keeps us involved.

It's a little scary, but mostly Late Night With the Devil is, like Network, a tongue-in-cheek satire of TV business culture, with ripe lines like "Ladies and gentlemen, a live television first, as we attempt to communicate with...the Devil. But not before a word from our sponsors." I also loved the implication that no amount of supernatural power could overtake Carson in the ratings in those days. Apparently even the Devil couldn't do that.

At Harkins Shea...

Remembering Gene Wilder--This documentary, directed by Ron Frank, does indeed fondly remember the late comedy great. Frank makes Wilder himself the narrator, using audiobook excerpts from his noirishly-titled 2005 memoir Kiss Me Like a Stranger.

Born Jerry Silberman in Milwaukee, he grew up trying to make his mother laugh, and later drew inspiration from the mental patients he worked with while serving in the U.S. Army. He wanted, he says, something a bit "wilder" for his stage name when he started acting in New York. Cast in Brecht's Mother Courage and her Children at the Martin Beck Theatre in the early '60s, he met leading lady Anne Bancroft's future husband Mel Brooks, who later cast him in The Producers.

From there, we get a chronicle of some of the highlights of Wilder's movie career--not all of them; Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx and Start the Revolution Without Me, for instance, are passed over. But there's terrific material on Bonnie and Clyde, The Producers, Willy Wonka, Young Frankenstein, his relationship with Richard Pryor, his scenes with the sheep in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (he says that Allen told him that he wanted to do a version of Sister Carrie with a sheep instead of Jennifer Jones), and more. My own favorite of Wilder's characters, Jim aka The Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles, is very well represented here.

Talking heads include Brooks, Carol Kane, Mike Medavoy, Alan Alda, Ben Mankiewicz, Rain Pryor, Harry Connick, Jr., Eric McCormack, and Willy Wonka's Charlie Bucket himself, Peter Ostrum, as well as Wilder's widow Karen Wilder, all speaking with unmistakable love. They tell good stories, but the real joy is simply the big dose of Wilder's utterly sui generis blend of innocent sweetness and strangled volatility. If the clips in this movie don't make you smile, you may need to see a doctor.

[thecurvycritic]

Remembering Gene Wilder is Heartfelt and Love Letter for Fans

Nobody does comedy or drama better than the late Gene Wilder, but he is my forever Willy Wonka https://wp.me/p2v8yf-6ky #rememberinggenewilder #documenary #podcast

Between his many onscreen collaborations with Richard Pryor (Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, See No Evil Hear No Evil, and Another You), marrying one of my SNL favs Gilda Radner, partnering up with Mel Brooks and inhabiting the iconic character of Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder is hands down one of my favorite comedic talents. From his humble beginnings in Milwaukee to the journey on Broadway that would…

[lynnfriedman]

Remembering Gene Wilder: Tribute Doc

Remembering Gene Wilder opened the 2023 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, screened at the beautiful Castro Theatre. Side note: the SFJFF is the oldest Jewish film festival in the world. Through Interviews and archival footage we are given a back stage pass to rub shoulders with the likes of Richard Pryor, Zero Mostel, Gilda Radner, Mel Brooks, Harry Connick Jr, Carol Kane, Alan Alda, and his…

[maroon5gurl88]

Remembering Gene Wilder (2024)

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t have a favorite Gene Wilder performance, whether that’s his indelible performance as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), the Waco Kid in 1974’s Blazing Saddles, or a young Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein (1974). But most would be hard-pressed to say they know anything additional about Wilder, who’s large blue eyes and…

[awardseasonblog]

(via Ora nei cinema USA (15 marzo 2024))

[hollywoodoutbreak]

Gene Wilder's working relationship with Mel Brooks may have only lasted for seven years and three films, but their friendship endured for more than five decades. Wilder, who died at age 83 in 2016, is being memorialized on film with the new documentary, Remembering Gene Wilder, which had its world premiere at a film festival in Los Angeles last month. Wilder spoke to us many times over the years and, during one of those talks, told us why he'd considered Brooks such a close friend.

[and-lo-i-am-that-fawn]

[mindself]

Waiting for one of those great moments of fate that change my life... when something clicks... paths diverge and something great happens-- just right place at right time.... that works with my talents and personality

[raurquiz]

#remembering #genewilder #actor #writer #director #willywonkaanthechocolatefactory #youngfrankenstein #theproducers #seenoevilhearnoevil #TheAdventureofSherlockHolmesSmarterBrother #BonnieandClyde #TheWorldsGreatestLover #TheFriscoKid #TheWomaninRed #AnotherYou #SesameStreet

[novac2281]

genuinely for years when everyone described how scary wonka is I assumed we were all on the same page and in fear for our lives for johnny depp in a bob

[woaheliza]

This outfit IS gender

[citizenscreen]

Remembering Gene Wilder on his birthday #botd

[pedgito]

for those that couldn’t listen, here’s what we’ve learned about Joseph Quinn from today’s panel (creds):

he doesn’t like pineapple on pizza

he’s happy with the questions people ask him

meeting Metallica is one of his favorite memories from this year

he speaks English is is learning Italian and German

he can understand a little bit of spanish but can’t speak it

him being in a bunch of period dramas was not a coincidence

Jamie loves his eyes

Joe Keery is his favorite costar

he has not listened to any more Harry Styles since last month

he likes the WASP pin on Eddie’s vest the most

he doesn’t meditate (but says he probably should)

Sunshine of Your Love by Cream is the first song he learned on guitar

prefers steak pie over fish n chips

he’s doing alright :)

he likes Arctic Monkeys

his favorite Arctic Monkeys song at the moment is Perfect Sense

his favorite role is Eddie

his favorite scene from stranger things was the guitar scene, but he also liked shooting with the cast (Joe, Maya, Natalia, Sadie, etc.)

he was very nervous meeting the stranger things cast

the first s4 scene he shot was in the boathouse

he thinks it’s annoying when actors talk about their process to prepare for roles

he thinks some roles come naturally and some don’t

he loved Toy Story as a child

he loved working with Gaten so much

he did some acting in school and enjoyed it and then went to drama school

he would star in Bridgerton if it was offered to him

fall is his favorite season

favorite animal is a dolphin

he is an only child

his favorite scene as Ralph was when he proposed, but he doesn’t remember much

likes the song I Am by Jamie Campbell Bower

it took him an hour to learn Master of Puppets on guitar, and a few months to get it better

he listens to Metallica

he improvises lines with more spontaneous characters

he’s had social anxiety before

his glasses are reading glasses

he needs contacts but he doesn’t have them yet

biggest pet peeve is fussy eaters but he’s fine with vegans and vegetarians

he can’t choose a favorite pasta

he would stick with Eddie even if he could’ve chosen a different stranger things role to audition for

his comfort character is Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka

Legolas is his favorite LOTR character

he finds it weird to call himself a “famous person”

he thinks him and Eddie share a “questionable fashion sense”

he cannot play the Master of Puppets solo on guitar, but the rest of the song

he loves all of the stranger things fast that he got to work with

he’d love to be a part of A Quiet Place franchise

he wanted to save animals and be a marine biologist when he was a child

his perfect date would be dinner and a movie

when playing Eddie, he drew inspiration from obnoxious people older than him growing up

doesn’t have a least favorite stranger things scene to shoot

favorite movies from this year were The Banshees of Inisherin and The Whale

he is a dog person