Like many festivals, South by Southwest (SXSW) is going online this year, which is a seamless transition considering the Austin-based festival has always included a large digital component. SXSW Online, which takes place March 16-20, has unveiled its initial wave of Featured Speakers and over 230 conference sessions…
Billy Joe Shaver, the outlaw-country original who wrote classic songs for the likes of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and whose “Live Forever” was performed by Robert Duvall in the 2009 Best Picture Oscar nominee Crazy Heart, died today after a stroke in Waco, TX. He was 81. A friend confirmed his death to our…
Your average debut director starts small. A few characters, limited settings, achievable challenges. Ridley Scott's first film was a short following his brother on a bicycle, made in 1963 on a pittance. It'd take him years to rack up the skill and ambition necessary to attempt the likes of Alien, Blade Runner and Gladi…
Here's a first: Woody Harrelson is set to direct and star in a live feature film event Lost In London LIVE in January. Harrelson, who also wrote the project, will be joined by Owen Wilson and Willie Nelson in the film, which will be shot in London and broadcast live to U.S movie theaters, giving audiences the chance…
PBS and BBC Arena are teaming for American Epic, a three-part documentary series and feature-length film that trace an era when the music of ordinary citizens was recorded for the first time across America. Executive produced by T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford and Jack White, it will air in the U.S. and the UK this…
Willie Nelson, Charlotte Rampling and newcomer Sophie Lowe have been cast in Waiting For The Miracle To Come, which will be the first feature film from writer-director Lian Lunson, whose previous music-centric documentaries include the Leonard Cohen pic Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. Production is set to start next…
Billy Bob Thornton has set Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Kevin Bacon, Robert Patrick and Ray Stevenson to star with Thornton in Jayne Mansfield’s Car, the first dramatic feature that Thornton has directed since 2001’s Daddy and Them. The film is being funded by AR Films, whose principal, Alexander Rodnyansky, will produce…
The South by Southwest Festival announced its closing night film will be the World Premiere of The King of Luck, a documentary about Willie Nelson that will be directed by Billy Bob Thornton. The film screens March 19. The fest will also show a work in progress screening of Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids, which was cowritten…
