Year: 2024

Happy Birthday: Chris Hardwick

festreviews Happy Birthday

chrishardwick.jpgChris Hardwick

Born: November 23, 1971 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Married to:
Lydia Hearst (20 August 2016 – present)

[on quitting drinking] Ultimately, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. There’s an economy of energy that you have in your life. You just have to devote it to things that are good for you, for the most part, that’s more constructive than drinking. And one of them doesn’t end in uncontrollable vomiting and crying…The first thing I noticed about sobriety? I lost about 20 pounds within a couple of months. I started getting compliments. This was highly motivating. Years later, and through much therapy, I would come to discover all of the really bad things (as opposed to weight gain) alcoholism caused, like anxiety, paranoia, and perpetual emotional infancy.

Happy Birthday: Kelly Brook

festreviews Happy Birthday

kellybrook.jpgKelly Brook

Born: November 23, 1979 in Rochester, Kent, England, UK

[on stripping off for the stage play “Calender Girls”] The getting naked is the easy bit. I’ll make sure I have to get naked in every contract. [laughs] In Calendar Girls, I’m working with some fantastic women. We cover ourselves with various props, but obviously there are a couple of slips now and then! Danny is cool with it, he came on the first night and he loved it. But he did tell me: “You need to slow down because you talk too quickly”. I was so nervous the first night, so he gave me constructive criticism.

My mum was never strict. I was allowed to go out to clubs underage, watch TV, listen to whatever music I wanted to, and that made me not rebel. I have never touched a drug in my life. Why would I? My mum used to smoke cannabis in the front room, so I was never curious about it. My mum’s a cool chick and in some ways we are alike. She’s a strong woman, very sharp and perceptive.

Happy Birthday: Vincent Cassel

festreviews Happy Birthday

vincentcassel.jpgVincent Cassel

Born: November 23, 1966 in Paris, France

[on his wife, Monica Bellucci] Her best asset of actress – and woman too! – is not her beauty, but her intelligence. Her intelligence of people and of things. She is very perspicacious, very attentive with the others and has a great faculty to put them at ease. To work with her, I would say, to put besides any concept of couple, that it is as when I find Mathieu [Mathieu Kassovitz]: together, one goes more directly to essence. Plus, she is an incredible hard worker. She has a curiosity of cinema which is rare. She is moved by the directors, she is very listening . . . In general, I recognize it, I am interested more in the actors than in the actresses – is already well to recognize it! But her, she has something that few actresses have. A manner of exceeding reality, of making dream. I like to look at her playing…

Happy Birthday: Miley Cyrus

festreviews Happy Birthday

mileycyrus.jpgMiley Cyrus

Born: November 23, 1992 in Franklin, Tennessee, USA

[on being in the spotlight] I said I was going to take a year off before I made this record. But it’s hard to take a break. It’s almost depressing when you’re not working. You’re so used to people calling your name, and that energy, and when you don’t have it anymore . . . That’s why I never complain about people wanting autographs or pictures. Because if there were a few days where no one asked, I’d probably be like, “What the fuck’s going on? Do people not like me?” I hate the paparazzi – but when they’re not sitting there waiting for you, you’re like “Who’s bigger news? Who are you trying to get a picture of?”

The thing about L.A. is it’s pretty much always nice out here. Even when it was 100 the other day, I loved it. It felt good. I worked on my album in Philly, and I would take the train to New York on the weekends, and I’d get off the train and immediately want to die. I would just hate my life. And I’m from Nashville, which is kind of similar – when it’s hot, it’s fucking miserable. But Nashville, at least it kind of rains in the summer. I don’t even remember the last time it rained out here. I always wondered how those big-ass fires start in L.A., and then I’ll throw my cigarette out the window or something, and I’m like “There it is.”

Happy Birthday: Scarlett Johansson

festreviews Happy Birthday

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

scarlettjohansson.jpgScarlett Johansson

Born: November 22, 1984 in New York City, New York, USA

Married to:

Colin Jost(October 2020 – present) (1 child)

Romain Dauriac(October 1, 2014 – September 12, 2017) (divorced, 1 child)

Ryan Reynolds(September 27, 2008 – July 1, 2011) (divorced)

Everyone in Hollywood is so damn skinny and you constantly feel like you’re not skinny enough. But I have ‘fat days’ and I accept that I’m never going to be rail thin. It’s hard not to feel pressure in this industry and I already use anti-aging products on my skin. I try not to let the pressure get to me but Los Angeles is a very hard place to be unless you have people here that love you. It can be very, very lonely, and it can eat you up if you don’t take care of yourself.

  • I’m so tired of hearing casting directors ask if I have a sore throat. The people who have told me that my voice is distinctive, it’s unusual… those people have always been close to my heart.
  • [on why she was glad that the drama Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) was a small foreign production] It would be hellish to have the pressure of putting on a Hollywood ending or putting in a scene where Vermeer sees Griet washing her breasts.
  • I always check in the mirror to make sure nothing is see-through.
  • I have a lot of actor friends who worked with their parents closely and have had really horrible experiences. They end up suing or being emancipated. The wonderful thing about my mom [who is also her manager] is that she completely respects my creative weirdness and supports any decision I make.
  • As long as people keep buying tabloids, they will keep harassing people in the public eye. They will make up stories.

Happy Birthday: Mads Mikkelsen

festreviews Happy Birthday

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

madsmikkelsen.jpgMads Mikkelsen

Born: November 22, 1965 in Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark

Married to:
Hanne Jacobsen (2 December 2000 – present) (2 children)

[his version of Hannibal Lecter] He loves fine art. He is a three-piece- suit man. He loves classical music. He hates everything that is banal. And he loves the beauty of everything that’s refined. He’s trying to make friends with people, so I can’t play that one card of being evil. It has to be hidden.

Happy Birthday: Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004)

festreviews Happy Birthday

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

rodneydangerfieldRodney Dangerfield (1921–2004)

Born: November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Long Island, New York, USA
Died: October 5, 2004 (age 82) in Los Angeles, California, USA

Made 70 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).

[in a 1986 interview, explaining the origin of his “no respect” routine] I had this joke: “I played hide and seek; they wouldn’t even look for me”. To make it work better, you look for something to put in front of it: “I was so poor, I was so dumb”, so this, so that. I thought, “Now what fits that joke?” Well, “No one liked me” was all right. But then I thought, “A more profound thing would be, ‘I get no respect!’ “.

Caddyshack
1980
dir. Ramis
starring
Bill Murray
Chevy Chase
Rodney Dangerfield

Died Today (November 22nd): Mae West (1893–1980)

festreviews Uncategorized

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

maewest.jpgMae West (1893–1980)

Born: August 17, 1893 in Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
Died: November 22, 1980 (age 87) in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.

A hard man is good to find.

Men are my life, diamonds are my career!

When women go wrong, men go right after them!

When caught between two evils I generally pick the one I’ve never tried before.

When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better.

Marriage is a great institution. I’m not ready for an institution.

It’s not the man in your life that counts. It’s the life in your man.

Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

Died Today (November 22nd): Scatman Crothers (1910–1986)

festreviews Died Today

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

scatmancrothersBorn: Benjamin Sherman Crothers
May 23, 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA

Died: November 22, 1986 (age 76) in Van Nuys, California, USA

Married to: Helen Crothers (1937 – 22 November 1986) (his death) (1 child)

Died Today (November 22nd): John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)

festreviews Died Today

Watch the best of NEW Films from around the world. Also, a new festival daily. Go to http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the 7 day FREE trial.

johnfkennedyJohn F. Kennedy (1917–1963)

Born: May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Died: November 22, 1963 (age 46) in Dallas, Texas, USA

Married to: Jacqueline Kennedy (12 September 1953 – 22 November 1963) (his death) (4 children)

[6/26/63, speech in West Berlin, Germany] Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was “Civis Romanus sum”. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner”. All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!”.

I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contributions to the human spirit.

 [6/10/63, in a commencement address] The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough–more than enough–of war and hate and oppression.

We shall do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before the task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we must labor on–not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace.

 [June 11, 1963] If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?