Entertainment
Woody Allen counters condemnation by Ukraine after speaking at Russian film festival
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned Woody Allen for speaking virtually at a Russian film festival over the weekend, calling his participation in the event “a disgrace and an insult” to the victims of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to Russian media, Allen spoke Sunday at the Moscow International Film Week via video conference. The appearance put him at odds with the Hollywood establishment, which has embraced Ukraine’s cause during Russia’s 3 1/2-year war, with prominent actors signing on to the United24 crowdfunding initiative and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy making virtual appearances at past Golden Globes and Grammys ceremonies.
Footage aired by Russian state TV showed the filmmaker addressing a tightly packed movie theater from a massive screen, with pro-Kremlin film director Fyodor Bondarchuk moderating the session. Russian media stories quoted Allen as saying he’s always liked Russian cinema, recounting his past trips to Russia and the Soviet Union, and talking about what he would do if he were to receive a proposal to direct a movie in the country.
Kike Rincon / Europa Press via Getty Images
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry in an online statement on Monday said it “strongly condemns” Allen’s participation in the festival, which “brings together supporters and mouthpieces of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
The ministry called it “a disgrace and an insult to the victims among Ukrainian actors and filmmakers who have been killed or wounded by Russian war criminals,” adding that Allen “is deliberately turning a blind eye to the atrocities that Russia has been committing in Ukraine.”
In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, Allen criticized Putin and denounced the invasion but called for cultural exchanges to continue.
“When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong. The war he has caused is appalling,” Allen said. “But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.”
The website of the festival, which runs through Wednesday, billed Allen as one of its headliners, along with Serbian film director Emir Kusturica and American actor Mark Dacascos.
Moscow International Film Week is a relatively new festival, first held in the Russian capital in August 2024. It is separate from the decades-old Moscow International Film Festival, which in 2022 was stripped of its International Federation of Film Producers Associations accreditation following the invasion of Ukraine.
Kusturica has been open about his support of Putin, including after the invasion. He received an award from Putin and attended a military parade in Moscow earlier this year.
Allen has long had an affinity for Russian literature and history. His 1975 comedy “Love and Death” spoofs the fiction of Tolstoy and other 19th century Russian novelists. The title of his 1989 release “Crimes and Misdemeanors” echoes Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” and also broods over the themes of wrongdoing, justice and guilt.
In the 1972 essay, “A Brief Guide to Civil Disobedience,” Allen jokes about the Russian Revolution, writing that the serfs rebelled when they “finally realized that the Czar and the Tsar were the same person.”
Entertainment
Stars of “My Life with the Walter Boys” talk season 2 expectations and relating to characters
Gremlins is a well-known black horror comedy franchise that has released two installments, but for the third, there is much anticipation among fans about when it will come.
Now, Chris Columbus, the screenwriter of the original movie, has shared an update on the threequel, as the last film was released in 1990.
“There’s a bunch of scripts for Gremlins,” he teased in an interview with GamesRadar+. “I mean, nothing has been approved. We’re working on something, but we’re always [working on something]. Gremlins is a never-ending writing assignment.”
Besides the update, Chris also weighed in on his initial stance against the making of sequels.
“Back in the early 80s, when we had finished Gremlins, there was the opportunity to do Gremlins 2, but I was of a mind that once I’ve said it, I’ve said it, there’s no reason to do a sequel,” he recalled.
This mindset, he said, led him to consider making other movies instead of Gremlins 2.
“So Steven and I could have worked on Gremlins 2, but I said, ‘No, I’ve done that. I’m going to move on.’ And I moved on to Goonies and Young Sherlock Holmes. So we still worked together,” the director noted.
However, since then, Chris’s views on the sequels definitely evolved as he had made Home Alone two and the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise.
Meanwhile, his latest-directed film, The Thursday Murder Club, is streaming on Netflix.
Hunter Biden is reportedly plotting fresh attacks on George Clooney after he distanced himself from the former president of the United States.
According to Radar Online, the 64-year-old American actor and filmmaker is worried about the secrets which might be revealed after the 55-year-old son of former United States president Joe Biden spoke against him in an interview and seems poised to say more.
For the unversed, Clooney wrote an op-ed article, I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee, stating that Biden should withdraw himself from the 2024 presidential race.
The Wolfs star claimed because of his ‘cognitive decline,’ Joe could not stay the same, which clearly showed in his debate with current president Donald Trump.
An insider told the same outlet that “Hunter considers George a misinformed interloper who kicked Joe while he was down and sabotaged the Democratic Party.”
“He feels the world would be a better place if Joe was in office, and he’s saying George wrecked everything,” the source noted.
“Now he’s planning on delving deep into George’s history and shining a light on anything that looks remotely suspicious – from past relationships to business practices and even his marriage to Amal [Clooney],” the insider reported.
“Everyone has skeletons in the closet, especially a Playboy turned political bigmouth! George is nervous about what Hunter could spill, and he should be. If any story that’s remotely unsavory gets out, he’ll have a hot mess on his hands,” the source stated.
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Stars of “My Life with the Walter Boys” talk season 2 expectations and relating to characters
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