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    Robert Benton, Influential Director and Screenwriter, Dies at 92

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    Robert Benton, who collaborated on the screenplay for “Bonnie and Clyde,” one of the most explosive movies of the 1960s, and wrote and directed “Kramer vs. Kramer,” one of the most acclaimed movies of the 1970s, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 92. His death was confirmed on Tuesday by Marisa Forzano, his longtime assistant and manager.Mr. Benton’s credits also included such noteworthy films as “Places in the Heart,” which he wrote and directed and for which his script won an Academy Award. But he was a Hollywood neophyte when he and David Newman, a colleague at Esquire magazine, wrote a screenplay based on the exploits of the Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.Directed by Arthur Penn and starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, “Bonnie and Clyde” was a sensation almost from the moment it was released in 1967. Though set in the 1930s, it vividly captured the turbulent, unsettled mood of America in the 1960s.The movie’s unconventional approach, in particular its rapid shifts in tone from comic to serious and back, owed much to the postwar revolution in French cinema known as the New Wave. (The screenwriters’ first choice as director had been the New Wave pioneer François Truffaut.) Its graphic violence upset some reviewers, but it mostly drew rapturous praise; Pauline Kael of The New Yorker said it was the most important and influential film of the 1960s, bringing “into the almost frighteningly public world of movies things that people have been feeling and saying and writing about.”David Newman, left, and Mr. Benton in 1967. They met when they both worked at Esquire magazine and went on to collaborate on “Bonnie and Clyde” and other movies.Everett CollectionFaye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), the first movie for which Mr. Benton and Mr. Newman wrote the screenplay.Warner Bros.A box-office hit that was nominated for 10 Academy Awards — including one for Mr. Benton and Mr. Newman’s screenplay (to which Robert Towne and Mr. Beatty had made uncredited contributions), and won two, for supporting actress (Estelle Parsons) and cinematography (Burnett Guffey) — “Bonnie and Clyde” helped usher in a new era of adventurousness in American cinema.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A New Requirement for Oscar Voters: They Must Actually Watch the Films

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      The new rule, announced this week by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was greeted with laughter and disbelief that it had not been required all along.It has not always been necessary to read the book in order to write a book report, as many a devious middle schooler familiar with CliffsNotes or A.I. can attest. And it turns out that Oscar voters have not always had to watch all the films they passed judgment on.But now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is trying to change that.The academy announced a new rule this week that most filmgoers could be forgiven for assuming was already in place: From now on, members of the academy will be required to actually watch all the nominated films in each category they vote in.Cue the collective side eye.“Like ‘Casablanca,’ I am shocked, shocked to discover that there are academy members who don’t watch all the movies,” said Bruce Vilanch, a comedian who has written for 25 Oscar shows, who added that the new rule was “kind of hysterical.”Skyler Higley, a comedy writer who was on Conan O’Brien’s writing team when he hosted the Oscars last month, called the new requirement “un-American.”“What we do in this country is we sort of vote based on vibes and preferences and biases,” he said. “So to suddenly require that these guys know what they’re talking about when they’re voting, it’s just not what we do in this nation.”Doug Benson, a stand-up comedian and host of the podcast “Doug Loves Movies,” said the rule was “crazy” because most voters were too busy making movies to watch them. “This sucks for academy members,” he said. “But the upside for moviegoers? Maybe award-bait movies will start clocking in at a more reasonable 88 minutes. If they implemented the rule this year, ‘The Brutalist’ would have won squat.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Marvin Levy, Oscar-Winning Publicist to Spielberg, Dies at 96

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      For 42 years, Mr. Levy strategized behind the scenes to promote Steven Spielberg’s movies and ensure that the director was seen as Hollywood’s de facto head of state.Reporters trying to get interviews with Steven Spielberg would sometimes grouse that his publicist’s job amounted to speaking a single word: “No.”But Marvin Levy, who served as Mr. Spielberg’s publicist for 42 years, was responsible for much more than body blocking the fifth estate (which he usually did with a gentlemanly grace). Mr. Spielberg did not become Mr. Spielberg because of his filmmaking alone: For 42 years, Mr. Levy was behind the scenes — promoting, polishing, spinning, safeguarding, strategizing — to ensure that his boss was viewed worldwide as Hollywood’s de facto head of state.In addition to representing him personally, Mr. Levy helped devise and lead publicity campaigns for 32 movies that Mr. Spielberg directed, including several with sensitive subject matter, like “The Color Purple” (1985), “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “Munich” (2005).Mr. Levy died on April 7 at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 96. His death was announced by Mr. Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment.Mr. Levy with his wife, Carol, and Steven Spielberg in 2014.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, via Amblin EntertainmentOver Mr. Levy’s 73-year entertainment career — an eternity in fickle and ageist Hollywood — he worked on more than 150 movies and TV shows. He helped turn “Ben-Hur” (1959), “Taxi Driver” (1976) and “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) into hits.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Stunt Design Becomes a New Oscars Award Category

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      Movies that are released in 2027 will be the first ones eligible for the new category honoring the people who make some of the most audience-pleasing moments.There will soon be a new category at the Oscars: achievement in stunt design.Starting with movies released in 2027, for the ceremony the following year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will honor the people who make some of the most memorable and audience-pleasing moments.It is recognition that to many people is a long time coming.Jack Gill, a stuntman turned second unit director, joined the academy in 1991 with the hopes of getting himself and his colleagues recognized. He was told then it would take three to five years to make that happen.More than 30 years later, the director and former stunt man David Leitch took up the mantle, making several presentations to the academy and centering his 2024 movie, “The Fall Guy,” on the unsung heroes of the stunt community. During its Hollywood premiere, the movie’s star, Ryan Gosling, told the audience, “This movie is just a giant campaign to get stunts an Oscar.”“It finally happened,” Gill said in a text on Thursday after the academy announced the new category.Category rules for eligibility and voting for the inaugural award will be announced in 2027. More than 100 stunt professionals are members of the academy’s production and technology branch.“We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion,” Bill Kramer, the academy’s chief executive, and Janet Yang, the academy’s president, said in a statement.Last year, the academy added achievement in casting to its list of awards. The category’s inaugural prize will be handed out in 2026 for films released this year. More

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      How ‘No Other Land’ Became an Unlikely Box Office Success

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      The Oscar-winning documentary has surpassed $2 million at the box office despite the lack of a traditional distribution deal.“No Other Land” has racked up festival awards, critical acclaim and the Oscar for best documentary feature. Yet the film, a narrative exposé about Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes directed by two Palestinians and two Israelis, has not been acquired by a traditional North American distributor. This is partly a reflection of the collapse of studio interest in newsy documentaries as well as hesitance around a movie that condemns Israeli policies.But as the filmmakers rolled out the movie without the marketing muscle and prestige of a typical release, it has flourished. By the admittedly parched standards of post-pandemic theatrical releases of topical documentaries, it is a hit.“No Other Land” has been a top 25 film each of the past three weeks since its Oscar win, according to the film database Box Office Mojo, with ticket sales set to eclipse $2 million domestically by the end of next weekend. It was playing on 130 screens across the country last weekend, a small number when compared to the thousands of a studio blockbuster, but robust given its circumstances. (The film’s theatrical rights have been acquired in more than 20 other countries.)“Documentaries are having a harder time theatrically these days,” said Connie White, who has programmed “No Other Land” at a dozen theaters from Brookline, Mass., and Pleasantville, N.Y., to Tucson, Ariz., and Omaha. “This is remarkable.”At Film Forum in Manhattan, “No Other Land” sold out seven shows its opening weekend in February and a week’s worth of evening screenings after its Oscar win. It “is shaping up to be among the highest-attended films in our 55-year history,” said Sonya Chung, the cinema’s president and director.At the national Alamo Drafthouse chain, which screens studio tentpoles like “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Snow White,” “No Other Land” has been the 14th-biggest film since its Jan. 31 release, a spokesman said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian Director of ‘No Other Land,’ Is Attacked in West Bank, Witnesses Say

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      Hamdan Ballal was assaulted by masked attackers in his home village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, witnesses said. The Israeli military said he had been detained for questioning.A Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was beaten bloody near his home by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, witnesses said.The director, Hamdan Ballal, was set upon in Susya, his home village, by at least 20 masked people, mostly teenagers armed with rocks, sticks and knives, according to Joseph Kaplan Weinger, 26, who said he had come upon the attack after it began. Mr. Weinger is part of a volunteer initiative that provides protection in areas vulnerable to settler violence.It was not clear what prompted the attack, but Mr. Weinger, who is also a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California in Los Angeles, said the group had descended on Susya, which is south of Hebron, and assaulted West Bank residents as they were breaking the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Some mockingly shouted holiday blessings as they did so, he said.Mr. Weinger said that he began honking the car horn in an attempt to alert nearby Israeli soldiers to the attack, but that the Israeli forces prevented him and two companions from reaching Mr. Ballal’s home.“Soldiers just stood around,” he said. “Later, when we got there, we saw his blood on the ground.”Mr. Ballal, 37, was one of three Palestinians detained, according to witnesses and the Israeli military. Leah Zemel, a lawyer representing the detainees, said that she had been informed that they were being held in a military center for medical treatment ahead of questioning, but that she did not know the reason for their detention.The Israeli military said in a statement that “several terrorists” had hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles near Susya and prompting a “violent confrontation” that involved “mutual rock hurling between Palestinians and Israelis.” The military said that when its forces and the police arrived, “terrorists” threw rocks at them.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sasha Stone, an Original Oscars Blogger, Takes on Hollywood

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      Sasha Stone, who has been covering awards season since the ’90s, has recast herself as a voice against what she perceives as the industry’s liberal status quo.Earlier this month Sasha Stone watched the Oscars alone at her home in a town outside Los Angeles. For someone who has spent more than two decades as one of the premier chroniclers of awards season, it was a notably unglamorous way to take in the ceremony. But she was thrilled that “Anora,” the frantic story of a New York stripper’s romance with a young Russian man, took top honors as part of a historic haul.Stone believed the film had the virtue of not pushing a partisan agenda, which has become one of the top criteria for her when judging a movie. When she made her name as an Oscars blogger, Stone believes she fit neatly into the Hollywood status quo and the brand of liberalism it represented — often onscreen. She says now she sees the error of her old ways, even if she continues to understand the old ways better than conservatives who were never part of that world.“Here is where I run into problems with the right,” Stone said in an interview the day after the ceremony. “They’re never going to give any credit to the Oscars or Hollywood. I knew the script was going to be, ‘The Oscars suck,’ and I was going to have to stand apart from that.”Stone’s advice to the right: Take the win. And after some Monday-morning carping, it collectively did. The ceremony drew praise from conservatives for its largely apolitical content (just one brief comment about President Trump by the host, Conan O’Brien) and for Kieran Culkin’s acceptance speech, in which he publicly asked his wife for more kids — “relatable to any middle-American,” said a Daily Caller writer.Mikey Madison in the Oscar-winning “Anora,” a favorite of Stone’s. NeonStone, 60, is that increasingly familiar figure in conservative life: an apostate from the mainstream, in recovery from her earlier liberalism. During the 2010s, as popular culture appeared to be moving to the left, she had been out in front, celebrating pathbreaking Oscar winners like “Moonlight” and “Parasite.” She also publicly supported Democrats including Hillary Clinton and Joseph R. Biden Jr.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Conan O’Brien to Host the Oscars Next Year, Too

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      Mr. O’Brien received high marks for his work as the emcee of the 97th Oscar telecast this month. It was his first time hosting the show.Conan O’Brien will reprise his Oscar hosting duties next year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday morning, in one of the earliest renewals for an Oscar host.The news comes after Mr. O’Brien received high marks for his work as the emcee of the 97th Oscar telecast, which delivered a five-year ratings high for ABC this month. It was his first time hosting the show.“The only reason I’m hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech,” Mr. O’Brien said in a statement, referring to Mr. Brody’s five-minute oration after winning the Oscar for best actor.The show’s producers, Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney, will also return for a second year. And the ceremony’s executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, will be back for a third consecutive year. The ceremony will be held on March 15, 2026.The job of hosting the Oscar telecast is often a thorny one. The comedian Chevy Chase called it “the most thankless job in the world.” The hosts rarely get credit when things go right — and are often held responsible when things go wrong.In the past few years, the academy has tried to shore up the assignment early, though it didn’t announce its most recent hosts until the November before the March telecast. Jimmy Kimmel signed on for his fourth and final turn in November 2023, and Mr. O’Brien was named in November 2024.“Conan was the perfect host — skillfully guiding us through the evening with humor, warmth and reverence,” Bill Kramer, the academy’s chief executive, and Janet Yang, the group’s president, said in a statement. More

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      Florida Mayor Threatens Cinema Over Israeli-Palestinian Film

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      The mayor of Miami Beach wants to end the lease of a group renting a city-owned property because it is screening the Academy Award-winning “No Other Land” there.The mayor of Miami Beach is seeking to oust a nonprofit art house cinema from a city-owned property for showing “No Other Land,” the Oscar-winning documentary that chronicles the Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank.The mayor, Steven Meiner, introduced a resolution to revoke the lease under which O Cinema rents the space, he announced in a newsletter this week. He described the film as “a false, one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our city and residents.”Kareem Tabsch, the co-founder of O Cinema, said that the threat of losing its physical location in Miami Beach was “very grave and we take it very seriously.”“At the time, we take very seriously our responsibility as a cultural organization that presents works that are engaging and thought provoking and that foster dialogue,” he said. “And we take very seriously our responsibility to do that without interference of government.”The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which is now co-counsel for the theater, criticized the mayor’s move, as did the makers of the film, which won the Academy Award for best documentary earlier this month but has not been acquired in the United States by a traditional distributor for either a theatrical or streaming release. Distributors in two dozen other countries had picked up the film even before it won the award.Daniel Tilley, the legal director of the Florida branch of the ACLU, said in an interview that “what’s at stake is the government’s ability to use unchecked power to punish those who dare to express views that the government disagrees with.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More