MERYL STREEP

                                            MERYL STREEP

  Born on June 22, 1949, the American actress from New Jersey is anything but ordinary. The latest movie she starred in was the musical, Into The Woods, released in 2014 and directed by Rob Marshall. Often confused with Glenn Close, this extraordinary actress has received many awards and a long list of nominations. Here is a list of facts you probably did not know about the famous actress.

1- Homecoming queen and cheerleader:

In movies, most popular people in high school are portrayed as less popular after; however, Meryl Streep is living proof of the opposite. After being homecoming queen and a cheerleader in high school, her fame lasted throughout her life.

2- Aspiring lawyer:

 Streep’s original plan was to become a lawyer, but that didn’t workout when she missed the interview for law school. The actress took this as a sign to shift plans and go to drama school instead. Before getting her Master’s from Yale, she had received a Bachelor’s from Vassar. She three honorary doctorates; one from Yale, the other from Princeton and the third from Princeton.

3. Has a matching Muppet in Sesame Street and a song in Fame:

The Muppet is called Meryl Sheep after the famous actress! In the stage version of Fame, she has a song named after her; Think of Meryl Streep. No other actress has a song named after her in Fame!

4- Katherine Hepburn was not a fan:

Hepburn did notlike Meryl Streep. She called her “least favorite modern actress".

5- Forgot Oscar in back toilet:

Streep received her first Oscar in 1979 for a Supporting role in Kramer vs. Kramer. She accidentally left it on the back of a toilet seat during the ceremony. Streep 

has won 3 Oscars just like Jack Nicholson!

6- keeps Devil Wears Prada souvenir: 

After playing in Devil Wears Prada the role of Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Streep kept the awesome sunglasses she wore on set. The glasses re-appeared later in Mamma Mia!, during the “Money, Money, Money” part.

 7- Worked once with Woody Allen:

The first and last time Woody Allen and Meryl Streep worked together was in the movie Manhattan. In the movie, she was Woody’s bitter ex-wife. She later commented about how Woody made her stick to the text without allowing any changes in the words. Maybe that was the reason why the two never worked together again especially since Streep is known for liking to add her insight to the script.

                                                     8- Martin Scorsese thrifty with female roles:

Streep almost teamed up with Robert DeNiro in Gangs of New York, but it didn’t work out. Streep didn’t get an opportunity to work with Scorsese again. Later, Streep said, “I would like Martin Scorsese to be interested in a female character once in a while, but I don’t know if I’ll live till that".

Reference: http://virginradiolb.com/10-facts-you-did-not-know-about-meryl-streep/

THE GODFATHER

                     

 The Godfather

Here are some interesting facts about The Godfather movie:

1-FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WAS AT RISK OF BEING FIRED DURING PRODUCTION:

Francis Ford Coppola (who got the job because of his previous movie, The Rain People) wasn’t the first director Paramount Pictures had in mind for The Godfather. Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, Richard Brooks, and Costa-Gavras all turned the job down. And after filming began, executives didn’t like the brooding, talky drama that Coppola was shooting.

The studio wanted a more salacious gangster movie, so it constantly threatened to fire Coppola (even going so far as to have stand-in directors waiting on set). Coppola was reportedly getting the ax until he shot the scene where Michael kills Sollozzo and 

McCluskey, which the executives saw and loved 

2- COPPOLA FOUGHT TO KEEP THE FAMOUS LOGO:

The studio originally wanted to scrap the now-iconic “puppet strings” logo (which was first created by graphic designer S. Neil Fujita for the novel’s release) with Puzo’s name above the title for the movie release, but Coppola insisted on keeping it because 

Puzo co-wrote the script with him.

 3-HE ALSO FOUGHT TO KEEP THE STORY AS A PERIOD DRAMA:

As a cost-cutting measure, Paramount asked Coppola to modernize the script so the action took place in 1972 and to shoot the movie in Kansas City as a stand-in for the more expensive New York City. Coppola convinced them to keep the story in a post-World War II New York setting to maintain the integrity of the film.

4-PARAMOUNT DIDN’T WANT MARLON BRANDO FOR THE ROLE:

When Coppola initially mentioned Brando as a possibility for Vito Corleone, the head of Paramount, Charles Bluhdorn, told Coppola the actor would "never appear in a Paramount picture".

The studio pushed the director to cast Laurence Olivier as Vito, before eventually agreeing to pursue Brando under three stringent conditions: 1) Brando had to do a screen test; 2) if cast, Brando would have to do the movie for free; and 3) Brando would have to personally put up a bond to make up for potential losses caused by his infamously bad on-set behavior.

Coppola surreptitiously lured the famously cagey Brando into what he called “makeup test” which in reality was the screen test the studio demanded. When Coppola showed the studio the test they liked it so much they dropped the second and third 

stipulations and agreed to let Brando be in the movie.

6-PACINO WASN’T THE FIRST CHOICE TO PLAY MICHAEL, EITHER:

The studio wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O’Neal to play Michael Corleone, but Coppola always wanted Al Pacino. Other actors, like Martin Sheen and James Caan (who would go on to play Sonny), screen tested for Michael. Likewise, Al Pacino’s role as Michael Corleone was in jeopardy for a good chunk of production. The studio believe Pacino was far too restrained for the character. Only after the famous restaurant scene was filmed did Pacino’s position become secure. 

7- ROBERT DE NIRO AUDITIONED FOR SONNY:                                               

Robert De Niro auditioned for the role of Sonny, but Coppola thought his personality was too violent for the role. De Niro would later appear as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II, and win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work.

8-COPPOLA LET THE WEDDING PLAY OUT AND SHOT IT GUERILLA-STYLE:

To add a sense of reality to the wedding scene (and because he only had two days to shoot it), Coppola had the cast freely act out and improvise in the background. He then shot specific vignettes amongst the action.

9- THE GODFATHER’S CAT WAS A STRAY:

During his daily walks to the set, Coppola would often see a stray cat, and on the day of shooting the scenes in Vito’s study, Coppola took the cat and told Brando to improvise with it. The cat loved Brando so much that it sat in his lap during takes for 

the whole day.

10- PACINO WAS THE ARCHETYPICAL METHOD ACTOR:

He really had his jaw wired shut for the first part of the shoot after his character is punched in the face.

 11- THE INFAMOUS HORSE’S HEAD WAS REAL:

The horse head in the movie producer’s bed wasn’t a prop. The production got a real horse’s head from a local dog food company.

12- THE “TAKE THE CANNOLI” LINE WAS IMPROVISED:

The line in the script only had actor Richard Castellano as Clemenza say “Leave the gun” after the hit on the mobster who ratted on the Corleones. He was inspired to make the addition after Coppola inserted a line in which the character’s wife asks him to buy cannoli for dessert.

References: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62427/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-godfather

https://www.phactual.com/15-fun-facts-about-the-godfather/

Stanley Kubrick

                

   STANLEY KUBRICK

Stanley Kubrick was born in New York City in 1928, Stanley Kubrick grew up in one of the more prosperous families of his Bronx neighborhood. Yet his childhood was rather bleak and unhappy. His father, a doctor, tried his best to stimulate his son's interest in learning. He made books from his library readily available, for example, and also taught the boy to play chess. But Kubrick was a poor student throughout his school years; nothing his teachers presented in class seemed to be able to hold his attention. "I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old" he is quoted as saying in The Making of Kubrick's 2001. When he turned 13, however, his father bought him a still camera as a birthday present. As time would tell, it was probably the most significant gift he ever received

Although young Kubrick took a dim view of school, he was an avid moviegoer with a keen sense of what worked and what didn't. "One of the important things about seeing run-of-the-mill Hollywood films eight times a week was that many of them were so bad, " biographer Vincent LoBrutto reports Kubrick told a writer for the New York Times. "Without even beginning to understand what the problems of making films were, I was taken with the impression that I could not do a film any worse than 

the ones I was seeing. I also felt I could, in fact, do them a lot better

      During his long and distinguished career as a filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick has earned a reputation as a control-obsessed perfectionist who often re-shoots scenes hundreds of times, driving actors and actresses to distraction. Yet a number of his films are considered classics of postwar American cinema, including the one critics most often point to as his masterpiece, the black comedy Dr. Strange love, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Kubrick himself for the most part ignores what people have to say about both him and his movies, believing that his 

work speaks for itself.

And here are some facts about Stanley Kubrick:

1. he banned his own movie:

When his family received death threats after the release of A Clockwork Orange, the director pulled the movie from circulation in Britain. It wasn’t re-released in the United Kingdom until 2000—after his death.

2-  His daughter is in four of his movies

Even though no professional actor has ever appeared in more than three of Kubrick’s movies, his daughter has cameos in 2001 as Heywood Floyd’s daughter, in Barry Lyndon as a young party guest, in The Shining as a ghost and in Full Metal Jacket as a TV reporter.

3- He had a favorite tree:

Not just a specific kind of tree, but an actual tree in Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire. He’s buried beside it.

4- He wanted to be a drummer

Specifically a jazz drummer, but he joined the staff of Look magazine at the tender age of 17.

5- You’ve been pronouncing his name wrong:

It’s pronounced Cue-brick, not Koo-brick.

:                                                          Reference

  http://biography.yourdictionary.com/stanley-kubrick

http://www.sundance.tv/blog/2014/10/top-10-things-to-know-about-stanley-kubrick 

Ahmed Zaki

Ahmed Zaki 

was born on November 18, 1949 in Zaqazeeq, Egypt as Ahmed Abdullrahman Zaki. He originally studied mechanical engineering before becoming an actor. He was aslo a producer, he is known for Iskanderia... lih? (1979), Ard al-Khof (1999) and Ma'ali al wazir (2002). He was married to Hala Fouad (she died of cancer in 1991) and has a son Haitham Ahmed Zaki.

Ahmed Zaki was known for portraying prominent characters in Egyptian history like Taha Hussien, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat. He broke 

the color barrier in Egyptian films by being the first Black actor to play leading roles usually reserved for light-skinned actors.

 Egyptian President Mubarak granted Ahmed Zaki the Merit of Arts award for his work in over 50 movies in 2001.

On February 2004, he was diagnosed with lung cancer after undergoing tests in France. French doctors have concluded that his condition is not terminal, and can be easily treated.  Zaki's request, his funeral was filmed, the footage to be used in his final movie, a biography of famous Egyptian singer Abdul Halim Hafez, who died in 1977. The ailing actor insisted on leaving his hospital bed to shoot more scenes. His 21-year-old son Haitham plans to film the remaining scenes, playing Hafez in his youth.

Ahmed Zaki died on March 27, 2005 in Cairo, Egypt.

Reference:

 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0952304/bio

Director

 

,Christopher Nolan 

is best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear  story-telling, acclaimed writer-director Christopher Nolan was born on July 30, 1970 in London, England, studied at University College London and graduated with a B.A. in English Literature. Over the course of 15 years of film-making, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the biggest blockbusters ever made

 He is the first Director to do three live action Film adaptations of the DC Comics character Batman.

 He and Spider-Man (2002) director Sam Raimi are the only directors to do three live-action Comic Book adaptations of the same 

character.

 Nolan Prefers shooting on film stock over digital, and has been outspoken against the 

threat by studios to phase out the use of film as a choice over digital.

 He also refuses to use Digital Intermediates for his films, instead opting to use the 

photochemical timing process.

 He is one of the few people (also including his brother Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer) to work on films about DC Comics' two most famous characters and two of the most iconic heroes in Comics, "Batman" and "Superman".

 Nolan's films often have obsessive protagonists with a troubled past, who are obsessed to gain justice by any means in life (e.g. Leonard in Memento (2000), Al Pacino's character in Insomnia (2002), Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins (2005). Also the protagonist of Following (1998) and Hugh Jackman in The Prestige (2006) were 
obsessive. 

 And Now he is one of the executive producers for Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Dunkirk (2017) Pre Production

:Reference
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/