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      Buddy Duress, Who Came Off the Streets to Find Stardom, Dies at 38

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      He was a homeless heroin dealer when the Safdie brothers put him in their movies, and the critics raved. But the recklessness that gave his acting authenticity thwarted his career.Buddy Duress, a small-time heroin dealer living on the streets of the Upper West Side who became a sensation in the New York film scene as an actor and muse for the movies “Heaven Knows What” and “Good Time,” which launched the careers of the filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie, died in November at his home in Astoria, Queens. He was 38.The death, which was disclosed only in late February, was from cardiac arrest caused by a “drug cocktail” including heroin, his brother, Christopher Stathis, said.Mr. Stathis said their mother, Jo-Anne Stathis, was seriously ill in November, so he withheld news of the death, hoping to inform her himself at an appropriate time. By early December, he said, he had told her and several other people, but nobody in Mr. Duress’s circle made an announcement. Mr. Duress had been out of the public eye and in jail frequently in recent years.At the height of his career, in the mid-2010s, directors made trips to Rikers Island to visit and audition Mr. Duress. He acted alongside Michael Cera and Robert Pattinson, and critics said he stole scenes. At the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, he strolled down the red carpet of the Grand Théâtre Lumière, the main theater, to a standing ovation, then shoved his face in front of a French TV camera shouting, “What’s up, Queens?”He was ungovernable and thrill-seeking, traits that, on the set, gave his performances authenticity but that also led him to squander opportunities. Each time, though, he said he would finally change: He was ready to dedicate himself to acting.Mr. Duress around the time of the filming of “Heaven Knows What.” The movie, portraying life on the streets of New York, sparked his friendship with the filmmaker Josh Safdie.Eléonore HendricksWe 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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      The Oscars Carpet Color Goes Back to Red

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      Following the surprise of last year’s champagne-hued rug, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled a bright red one on Wednesday at the Dolby Theater.After a red carpet reveal last year that upended the foundations of Hollywood’s staid tradition — it was champagne-colored — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed on Wednesday that, this year, it would be returning to the traditional red.The actress Hong Chau on the champagne-hued carpet last year. Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesRihanna stops for photographs at the Oscar’s last year.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesLast year’s departure from tradition was prompted by the introduction of an orange — sorry, sienna — tent over the carpet that offered the couture-clad arrivals shelter from a forecast rainstorm, which Lisa Love, a red-carpet creative consultant for the Oscars, told The New York Times necessitated the color change to prevent a color clash.After initially considering a chocolate brown carpet, she said, they settled on the champagne color, which, next to the sienna tent, “was inspired by watching the sunset on a white-sand beach at the ‘golden hour’ with a glass of champagne in hand, evoking calm and peacefulness,” she told The Times.Ms. Love acknowledged in the interview that the 50,000-square-foot-rug, which was very much giving “Shoes-off house!” vibes, might be a challenge to keep clean.“It will probably get dirty — maybe it wasn’t the best choice,” Ms. Love said at the time. “We’ll see!” (Heavy rain indeed arrived, and online commentators also questioned the decision.)Last year’s champagne carpet — the first time in more than six decades that the academy’s arrival rug was not red — was part of a trend of colorful carpets that have swept premieres, galas and award ceremonies across the country in recent years. See the Emmys (gray) and the world premiere of “Barbie” in Los Angeles in July (pink, obviously).Red carpets have been a staple at premieres and galas since 1922, when the showman Sid Grauman rolled one out for the 1922 premiere of “Robin Hood,” which starred Douglas Fairbanks, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The Oscars adopted it beginning with the 1961 ceremony, and, ever since, the special shade — known as Academy Red — has been instantly recognizable in photos.But the attention-grabbing rugs have historically presented a challenge for stylists. Red is often not flattering, Mindi Weiss, an event planner who has worked with the Kardashians, Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres, told The Times last year.“The color of red carpets has changed because of fashion,” she said. “It has to match the dresses, and the red clashed.” More

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      Christopher Walken’s Hidden ‘Dune’ Connection

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      The actor who plays the malevolent emperor in the new film actually brought an element of the saga to life once before. Remember “Weapon of Choice”?If you turned on MTV for any length of time in 2001, you almost certainly saw Christopher Walken flying around the lobby of a Marriott in Los Angeles. Even in an era when music videos were far more hotly discussed than they are now, it was a weird sight. Walken’s trim shock of gray hair matched his gray suit, punctuated by a red tie; he looked less like the movie star he was than some guy on a long layover.The music was Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice,” a weird little ditty that did make you want to dance. Having trained as a dancer in his youth — and done a great deal of tap and more in “Pennies From Heaven” (1981) — Walken was well equipped for the concept that the video’s director, Spike Jonze, had cooked up: Normal-looking man hanging out in a hotel lobby hears the song, starts dancing, then flies off a mezzanine before, eventually, returning to his seat. The video was a hit, winning several MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy.The lyrics to “Weapon of Choice” (sung by Bootsy Collins) are heavily distorted — the point isn’t the words so much as the hypnotic beat. But if you listen closely, you can pick up the line “Walk without rhythm/and it won’t attract the worm.”Yes, it’s a reference to “Dune.”In Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, giant ancient sandworms that live beneath the desert on the planet Arrakis are hugely dangerous to humans, though their power can be harnessed for travel and other purposes. They’re one of the most famous elements of the story, so instantly identifiable that they were made into a dubiously conceived popcorn bucket for the release of Denis Villeneuve’s new “Dune: Part Two.” And they’re attracted to rhythmic thumps on the surface, so the Fremen — people who live in the Arrakis desert — walk in strange, loping, arrhythmic steps to avoid accidental detection.In the video, Walken even seems to be imitating those steps:These lyrics also appear. They could mean anything, of course.Don’t be shockedby the tone of my voiceCheck out my new weaponweapon of choiceBut it certainly would make sense if it was a reference to “the voice” (or is it THE VOICE?), a powerful vocal distortion that the mystical sisterhood Bene Gesserit use to control people in “Dune.”This was all a funny reference in 2021, when the first installment in Villeneuve’s adaptation of “Dune” appeared in theaters. But it got much funnier in “Dune: Part Two.” In the new film, the role of Emperor Shaddam — who engineered the extinction, or so he thought, of the House Atreides, making him technically the baddest of the bad guys — is played by Walken himself.Coincidence? Maybe. Delightful? Absolutely. More

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      ‘Ricky Stanicky’ Review: Best Fiends Forever

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      In this slapdash, off-color comedy directed by Peter Farrelly, three buddies use the same imaginary friend as an excuse to get them out of binds.“Ricky Stanicky,” a sloppy shock comedy by the director Peter Farrelly (of the Oscar-winning “Green Book”), is named for an imaginary friend conjured up by three childhood pals (Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler and Andrew Santino). As kids, the lads made their fictional buddy take the fall for a Halloween prank gone wrong.Decades later, they’ve rebranded Ricky as a heroic figure who lives in Nairobi, returning to the States only when the guys want an excuse to ditch their significant others for a bros-only vacation. After one weekend trip goes awry, the longtime liars are forced to prove that Ricky exists.That’s the film’s premise. But the only person invested in it is John Cena as Rod, a broke and salacious nightclub performer hired to embody Ricky for a weekend. Playing this filthy-minded, flop-sweating boozehound, Cena barges into the plot with the get-it-while-you-can gusto of a raccoon upending a trash bin. The joke is that Rod takes his paid acting gig seriously, and he boasts a hustler’s gift for sensing what people want him to say. While the high jinks are too haphazard to give him a credible — or heck, even coherent — character arc, Cena is here and there able to seize moments to show us the fissures in his layered personas, a fragile construction of confidence, ego, vulnerability and need.Pity the script itself suffers from a hopeless identity crisis. Since “Ricky Stanicky” made its debut on the 2010 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays, the project has been circled by three other potential Rickys (James Franco, Joaquin Phoenix and Jim Carrey) and passed through too many hands. It now boasts six credited screenwriters yet feels like a jumble of ideas sticky-noted together during a single lunch break. (Kudos to whoever came up with the dig at how little the friends actually know about Nairobi.)When an investment banker (William H. Macy, whose gameness extends through the end credits) offers Ricky a job, the loosey goosey slapstick momentarily aspires to become a social mobility farce. It’s also, briefly and unconvincingly, about traumatic childhoods, stunted relationships, corporate do-gooderism and vapid local news. In a moment of astonishing chutzpah, Rod-as-Ricky also advises people to be their authentic selves.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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      How Much Say Should Families Have in Biopics?

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      The Oscars slate this year is packed with films rooted in historical events and biographies. How much influence should the subjects have?When Walter Naegle was first approached over a decade ago by producers who wanted to make a feature about his late partner, the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, Naegle needed to be talked into it.Rustin, who had been the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington — and an openly gay public figure at a time when few were — had already been the subject of the nonfiction “Brother Outsider” (2003). Naegle remembers saying to the producers, “What do I need you guys for? We have a very good documentary.”But Naegle was persuaded, in part by knowing that a vast audience could be reached with a fictionalized feature, and he gave his blessing, starting a yearslong process of consultation with filmmakers that culminated in “Rustin,” directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Colman Domingo, who has been nominated for an Oscar for his performance.When Naegle saw the film for the first time, he felt overwhelming relief. “Colman’s performance had really captured this person who I cared about,” he said.At Sunday’s Academy Awards, Rustin is one of several historical figures who are the focus of nominated films. Other real-life subjects include the father of the atomic bomb, a lauded American conductor and the victims and perpetrators of the Reign of Terror in the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma.JaNae Collins, left, Lily Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers and Jillian Dion in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was refocused after a meeting with relatives of the real-life Osage subjects.Melinda Sue Gordon/Apple Original FilmsWe 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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      10 Great Oscar Winners for Best Original Song

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      Hear tracks by Billie Eilish, Keith Carradine, Isaac Hayes and more.Billie Eilish, a potential two-time Oscar winner. (We’ll find out Sunday night!)Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDear listeners,Happy Oscar week! The 96th Academy Awards are this Sunday, and you know which competition we’re most excited about here at The Amplifier: best original song. Today’s playlist is a brief but star-studded tour through the category’s history.First awarded at the seventh annual ceremony, best original song has long been a reflection of popular music’s evolving style — the rare honor that’s been won by both Irving Berlin and Eminem. As the two-time winner Elton John can attest, it can be a sure path to an EGOT. As the veteran songwriter Diane Warren, who has been nominated 15 times but never won, might tell you, it can also be maddening.Warren is nominated again this year for Becky G’s “The Fire Inside,” written for Eva Longoria’s directorial feature debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” but she’s got stiff competition from the year’s most commercially successful movie, “Barbie.” (Heard of it?) That film boasts the highest-profile contenders: Ryan Gosling’s theatrical showstopper “I’m Just Ken” (penned by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt) and Billie Eilish’s wispy, haunting ballad “What Was I Made For?,” which last month won the Grammy for song of the year.Jon Batiste’s “It Never Went Away” or Scott George’s “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” could always upset if the “Barbie” songs split the vote, but my money’s on Eilish. “I’m Just Ken” is fun, sure, but in my humble, grouchy opinion, it overstays its welcome and contributes to an overall flaw of the film, which is that the supposed villain is far and away the most charismatic character. (I’m going to go hide now.)Eilish’s song is arresting and finely crafted; with all due respect to Warren, I think it’s the most worthy winner. And if you need another reason to root for the 22-year-old musician, a victory would make Eilish the youngest person ever to win two best original song Oscars, since she already won for her 2021 Bond theme, “No Time to Die.” (Her 26-year-old brother, Finneas, with whom she co-wrote both songs, would become the second-youngest two-time winner.)Today’s playlist is a reminder of some past best original song winners and a testament to the category’s stylistic diversity. Is it the first mix to contain both Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” and Three 6 Mafia’s “Hard Out Here for a Pimp”? It’s certainly the first Amplifier playlist to do so.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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      Best Picture Oscar Nominees: Behind the Scenes of ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Poor Things’ and More

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      In these videos, directors walked us through pivotal scenes from their Academy Award-nominated films.How do you go about crafting the perfect dream ballet? What is the most dynamic way to open your movie? How do you build a dance sequence centered around a character who has never danced before?These were some of the questions that faced the directors of the 10 best picture nominees for the 2024 Academy Awards, which air on Sunday. Below, you’ll hear from first-time feature directors (Celine Song and Cord Jefferson), the most seasoned of veterans (Martin Scorsese) and many others about what it took to get a scene just right.Greta Gerwig on ‘Barbie’Greta Gerwig, the co-writer and director of “Barbie,” narrates this musical sequence, including Ryan Gosling’s performance of the song “I’m Just Ken.”Warner Bros.Christopher Nolan on ‘Oppenheimer’The writer and director Christopher Nolan narrates the opening sequence from the film, starring Cillian Murphy.Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, via Associated PressMartin Scorsese on‘Killers of the Flower Moon’The director Martin Scorsese narrates a sequence in which the character Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is cornered by investigators.Apple TV+Alexander Payne on ‘The Holdovers’Alexander Payne narrates a sequence in which two of the main characters, played by Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa, have a tough conversation in a liquor store.Seacia Pavao/Focus FeaturesCord Jefferson on ‘American Fiction’The screenwriter and director Cord Jefferson narrates a scene in which the film’s lead, played by Jeffrey Wright, comes up with an idea for a new novel.Claire Folger/Orion PicturesJustine Triet on ‘Anatomy of a Fall’The director Justine Triet narrates a sequence dissecting an argument between two of the movie’s central characters, played by Sandra Hüller and Samuel Theis.NeonBradley Cooper on ‘Maestro’The director Bradley Cooper narrates a sequence from the film in which he stars alongside Carey Mulligan. The scene involves an argument that takes place on Thanksgiving Day.Jason McDonald/NetflixCeline Song on ‘Past Lives’Two characters, played by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, reunite after many years in this scene narrated by the writer and director Celine Song.Jon Pack/A24Yorgos Lanthimos on ‘Poor Things’The director Yorgos Lanthimos narrates a sequence from the film in which the characters played by Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo share a dance.Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight PicturesJonathan Glazer on‘The Zone of Interest’The director Jonathan Glazer narrates a sequence in this Holocaust drama that takes place in the home of the lead characters.A24 More

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      If You See Only One Beaver Movie This Year …

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      The makers of “Hundreds of Beavers,” a mostly wordless indie comedy, have been touring the country and holding energetic screenings, complete with appearances by the star species.Last week, a bonkers low-budget movie that was shot in black and white and has no Hollywood stars, packed a 200-seat theater on a one-night engagement at the IFC Center in Manhattan. Additional screenings were added.Mike Cheslik, the film’s director, and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, its leading man, don’t have Hollywood connections or sacks of cash. What the two 33-year-old friends do have that helped their film make a splash with its New York debut is a secret weapon that would make a shrewd old-school movie pitchman like William Castle tingle with envy.We’re talking beavers. Big ones.Two life-size beavers, actually — plus a horse, all played by humans — who took selfies with passers-by on the sidewalk and high-fived audience members in their seats before a screening of Cheslik’s frolicsome farce “Hundreds of Beavers.”At a time when Hollywood and scrappy filmmakers alike are stressing over how to get butts into seats, Cheslik and Tews are counting on a live make-believe beaver fight — a marketing gimmick dressed like a vaudeville act — to sell their movie.A scene from “Hundreds of Beavers.”SRHTheir gamble is paying off. A recent multicity tour of 14 theaters in Great Lakes states was almost entirely sold out, thanks in part to the movie’s robust, beaver-heavy social media presence.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