Latest news with #BretEastonEllis
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Phantom of the Paradise Stage Musical in the Works From Paul Williams, Sam Pressman (Exclusive)
Phantom of the Paradise, the cult classic 1974 Brian de Palma film that reworked Phantom of the Opera and starred songwriting icon Paul Williams as the manipulative music producer known as Swan, is being made into a stage musical by Williams and Sam Pressman, whose father, Ed Pressman, produced the original. 'I'm excited about having a chance to deliver what fans have been suggesting for years… POTP as a stage musical," Williams said in a statement to MovieMaker. "I think it's time has come!' In addition to starring in the film, which De Palma wrote and directed, Williams composed the score and wrote the songs. Pressman told MovieMaker that he and Williams have spoken to multiple potential writers for the stage musical, including American Psycho and The Shards author Bret Easton Ellis — though no commitments have been made. Pressman told MovieMaker that he, Williams and Ellis had "such an amazing dinner — Bret's such a true fan of Phantom and of Paul and it was awesome to introduce the two of them in person." Ellis has also mentioned the meeting on his podcast, though again, nothing is settled in terms of the stage musical's writer. Asked about De Palma's potential involvement in the new stage play, Pressman said there were potentially "different paths... it's just so early." De Palma has been considering a Phantom of the Paradise stage musical for decades. Pressman noted that he recently revisited a libretto, or book, that De Palma wrote for a prospective stage version of the film back in 1987. He has also talked with De Palma. "We certainly wanted Brian to feel honored," Pressman said. "I went to go see Brian last fall, to talk about the dream. Phantom was an early and significant film for him and I'd say the favorite film of my father in his career. I think the chaos and originality of the whole experience was deeply inspiring." Pressman noted that the plan is to open the stage play "not on Broadway" but "building to that stage." Pressman took over his father's company, Pressman Film, after Ed Pressman's death in 2023. Besides Phantom of the Paradise, Pressman Film's credits include Wall Street, The Crow, and Mary Harron's film adaptation of American Psycho. Sam Pressman, an actor and producer who grew up on film sets, has produced films including Harron's recent Daliland and the 2024 The Crow revamp starring Bill Skarsgård. The original Phantom of the Paradise starred William Finley as naive singer-songwriter Winslow Leach, who is tricked by Williams' Swan into sacrificing his life's work. In revenge, Winslow dons a menacing silver mask — which gives his voice a metallic rasp — and terrorizes Swan's new concert hall, The Paradise, while demanding his songs be sung Swan's new protege, a singer named Phoenix, played by soon-to-be Suspiria star Jessica Harper. Williams is one of the most successful and influential songwriters of all, a legend who has worked with everyone from Barbra Streisand to The Carpenters to Daft Punk. His best known songs include the Oscar-nominated "Rainbow Connection" from 1979's The Muppet Movie, and "Evergreen," from the 1976 Streisand version of A Star Is Born. He wrote the lyrics for the song, which won a Grammy and Oscar. At the time de Palma enlisted him for Phantom of the Paradise, he was best known for writing The Carpenters' 'We've Only Just Begun' and 'Rainy Days and Mondays,' as well as Bobby Sherman's "Cried Like a Baby" — and for clowning around on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. But Phantom of the Paradise let him embrace darkness: His ageless, possibly demonic Swan is like a cult leader, exerting control through musical. De Palma wrote and directed the film long before he became known for classics like Carrie, Scarface and The Untouchables. He was a largely underground filmmaker known for counterculture movies like 1968's Greetings and 1970's Hi Mom, with a then-little-known Robert De Niro, and for the well-received 1972 horror film Sisters, with Margot Kidder. He thought Phantom of the Paradise could be his commercial breakthrough. The film, released by 20th Century Fox. underwhelmed at the box office and received mixed reviews (the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas called it 'delightfully outrageous,' while The New York Times' Vincent Canby said it was 'an elaborate disaster.') But like another groundbreaking mid-'70s rock musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it soon found a passionate, loyal audience who appreciated its beauty and unapologetic weirdness. (It hasn't played at midnight screenings all over the world for half a century like Rocky Horror, but neither has anything else.) The passionate Phantom of the Paradise fandom includes an intensely dedicated following in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as detailed in the documentary Phantom of Winnipeg. Its biggest fan is almost certainly Ari Kahan, keeper of the The Swan Archives — the most comprehensive Phantom of the Paradise collection ever compiled. Kahan and Williams came together last year for 50th anniversary screenings of Phantom. The film's influence may be even greater than many fans realize — Kahan has said he believes The Phantom was a significant influence on Darth Vader, noting that De Palma and Star Wars creator George Lucas are friends and contemporaries. "Nobody that I know of has asked Lucas to his face, but I do know that there was a preview screening of Phantom on the Fox lot in July of 1974, so, four or five months before the film was released," Kahan told MovieMaker last year. "Lucas was at that screening and was sufficiently impressed by Paul Hirsch's editing — and I assume that based on Brian's recommendation of Hirsch, that Lucas brought him on to edit Star Wars. "I can't imagine that between the voice box and the heavy breathing and the black outfit that some of the Phantom didn't creep into Darth Vader. But I have no hard evidence and nobody that I know has ever admitted to it. Lucas has not responded to MovieMaker's request for comment. Main image: William Finley in Phantom of the Paradise. 20th Century Fox. 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Gizmodo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘The Phantom of the Paradise' Might Find New Life as a Stage Play
The Phantom of the Paradise, the vastly underrated horror-tinged rock opera from the minds of Brian De Palma (Carrie) and Paul Williams (The Muppet Movie), might be getting a new musical adaptation. Movie Maker reports that Williams and Sam Pressman, whose father Ed Pressman produced the 1974 cult film, are currently developing it as a stage production. 'I'm excited about having a chance to deliver what fans have been suggesting for years… POTP as a stage musical,' Williams said in a statement to MovieMaker. 'I think its time has come!' American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has been approached to pen it (please, no), but he's not committed according to the report. If you've never heard of The Phantom of the Paradise, get thee to a revival theater screening or rent it online—especially if you're a Muppets fan. I know it seems weird to draw a line from 'Rainbow Connection' and 'no cheeses for us meeces' to a glam and gory '70s riff on The Phantom of the Opera, but stay with me for a moment. Not only did the De Palma and Williams musical predate Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway take on the Gaston Leroux novel, but it inspired so many artists we know and love today. After its release Williams went on to become the Muppetational mind behind the music of The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Christmas Carol. Meanwhile, De Palma continued to genre hop from horror to mob movies and started the Mission: Impossible franchise. The Phantom of the Paradise loosely adapts The Phantom of the Opera by way of Faust with a dash of The Picture of Dorian Gray but re-imagined into masterful musical mayhem. It follows a lowly composer named Winslow Leech who chases a deal with the devil in the form of music producer Swan, played by Williams in a tasty turn for the multi-hypenate. (He later also played the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series.) Thanks to his association with Death Records, Leech's musical talents are ripped away and pressed just like his face into records that don't give him credit for his songs. This includes the tunes that transform Leech's crush Phoenix, the ingenue played by Jessica Harper (Suspiria), into a pop star. Vowing revenge he becomes the Phantom of the Paradise and violently haunts every artist Swan tries to give his music to, until they enter a deal that Leech's music will only go to Phoenix. And from there things get real messy and bloody, but man, the needle drops are legendary. So legendary that the film, much like its creative minds behind it, also inspired artists across mediums too. Guillermo del Toro is a vocal fan of the film and has been instrumental in making sure it stays in the horror zeitgeist. He even has one of the Phantom's helmets in his Bleak House collection, which I totally didn't imagine pulling a heist for at the LACMA when it was on display there. The film has also become a touchstone for other musicians. One that really struck me personally was finding out that My Chemical Romance was heavily inspired by the film. I didn't see it until I was an adult, which I deserve a shame circle for as a Phantom of the Opera Universal Monsters and original novel fan—but I knew MCR's The Black Parade. The no-skips album is essentially a rock opera and it made total sense to find out Gerard Way was heavily influenced by Phantom in its creation. If anything, Way should write the book for Williams' upcoming staging and star in it too. Another act that's come under Phantom's spell offers an even more fun realization: Daft Punk. Down to the helmets, aesthetic, and sound of the Phantom, that movie really gave us the greatest electronic duo to ever spin. Williams actually appeared on Random Access Memories track 'Touch,' which sounds like it was yanked from a time machine as a Phantom of the Paradise B-side. The Phantom of the Paradise was ahead of its time and the announcement of its stage musical gives me hope it will find its audience. If they modernize it, I wouldn't hate it because I see the vision. The themes are timeless even in our digital age where content creators with talent who try to build a following get ripped off by artificial influencers with clout. That can be very Leech/Phantom versus Swan-coded for sure. Williams is a stone cold legend and his music mastery is a gift that's still giving—he headlined Coachella this year with Yo Gabba Gabba! While the report mentioned De Palma has been approached about the staging, he's not an announced part of it. 'We certainly want Brian to feel honored,' Pressman said in the article. 'I went to go see Brian last fall, to talk about the dream. Phantom was an early and significant film for him and I'd say the favorite film of my father in his career. I think the chaos and originality of the whole experience was deeply inspiring.'
Vogue
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Thom Browne Resort 2026 Menswear Collection
The trend forecasters are predicting a prep revival. The all-American look, born of mid-century country clubs and popularized by 1980s movies, seems to be in the air again. A 17-year-old I know sets out each weekend to shop for vintage polo shirts, and Luca Guadagnino is filming a new version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel, American Psycho. That about synthesizes it. If prep does make a comeback on the runways in the coming weeks, it wouldn't surprise Thom Browne. 'I'm always in that world because I love the timelessness of it and the ease,' he says. 'I like the idea of real clothes being worn in real ways, and not clothing that's too precious. And talk about sustainability—you can wear these things forever.' Just don't call it a passing fad. The Thom Browne crests that appear on jackets and coats in his new collections for women and men paint a picture of the prep lifestyle. In their four quadrants are embroidered tennis racquets, a swimmer, an anchor, and 1965, the year Browne was born. Parts of the collections could find their way to country clubs and swimming pool parties, things like an exceptional handknit argyle cardigan, a neat rain jacket in a green technical cordura fabric, any of the bermuda shorts. The jeans, Browne was careful to point out, are made with selvedge denim in the best denim factory in Japan—the only people more obsessive about American style than Browne may be the Japanese; they even have a name for it, Amekaji. But even as he builds out the TB repertoire, Browne is as devoted to and meticulous about tailoring as ever, in particular the gray suit, but also his custom plaid tweeds and silk mogadors. Staying on theme, a gray skirt suit was topped by a maillot-shaped corset, and taking it to only-for-superfans extremes, other suits were intarsia'd or embroidered with trompe l'oeil effect bikinis. In other news, it's the 10th anniversary of the Hector bag, so you'll see many iterations of the dog-shaped bag here. The palladian window prints and embroideries are a nod to Browne's new project, the renovation of an 18th century house in upstate New York that is now underway.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
5 novels with a psychopath or sociopath as narrator
What do a Wall Street banker, a butterfly collector, a teenage thug, a delusional dropout, and a self-styled poet of perversion have in common? Each is the narrator of their own story, and each warps that story to fit their desires. The books featured here dive into the minds of men who distort reality, sometimes to justify violence, sometimes to escape the void within. From Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho to Nabokov's infamous Lolita, these novels are unsettling not just because of what happens, but because of how it's told. Through unreliable narrators, we are invited into worlds of moral decay, manipulation, obsession, and horror. These are philosophical provocations that ask how far can narrative seduce us before we see the truth. Merger and acquisitions or murder and executions? It does not matter what one hears as both are the business of one Patrick Bateman, investment banker by day and murderer by night. Bateman, the narrator, is young and affluent. He goes to nightclubs, snorts narcotics, is particular about his appearance and keeps track of the fashions of the day. However, as Bateman's veneer of control begins to crack, the distinction between real and imagined blurs. He details his morning skincare routine with the same precision as his torture sessions, raising questions about what is real and what is imaginary. Is he a serial killer or just fantasising to fill the spiritual void? Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho is satirical plunge into the hollow soul of 1980s Wall Street culture. It is a picture of a man consumed, literally and metaphorically, by consumerism. First published in 1991, American Psycho, shocked readers with its graphic violence and was banned or censored in multiple countries. However, it also sparked intense academic debate. Most people have passions that keep them going, for some it is gathering collectables. It might be stamps, pebbles, rare books or plants. John Fowles' in his debut novel, The Collector, twists the concept and takes it to its extreme. First published in 1963, The Collector is the story of Frederick Clegg, a socially awkward butterfly collector who adds something new to his collection – a veritable social butterfly, a living, breathing woman. After winning the lottery, Frederick uses his newfound wealth to kidnap Miranda, an art student he has admired from afar, and lock her in the cellar of his secluded countryside home. He hopes that eventually his captive will fall in love with him. The book is divided into two parts, the first narrated through Clegg's eerily calm perspective and the second through Miranda's desperate diary entries. Narrated from the cellar, one can feel claustrophobia closing in. Zooming out, it is allegory of a world with constant struggles between power, class and control. Critics have called it everything from a twisted love story to a modern Gothic masterpiece. Horrifyingly, some serial killers have listed the book as an influence. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, presents a dystopian future where teenage gangs roam the streets. It is told entirely from the point of view of 15-year-old Alex, who leads a gang of 'droogs' through a nightmare of 'ultra-violence.' One cannot help but observe that he is smart, sadistic, and obsessed with Beethoven. Strangely, he is both self-aware and of a philosophical bend of mind. He speaks in Nadsat, a teenage slang mashup of English and Russian. Through this strange language and his charisma, Alex invites us into his nightly adventures of 'ultra-violence,' classical music, and drug-laced milk. This continues until he's betrayed, arrested, and subjected to a government experiment that forces him to become 'good.' First published in 1962, it raises the question that if a person's ability to choose evil is taken away, can they still be considered human? The novel's original UK version includes a controversial final chapter where Alex begins to seek redemption, and even imagine a future family. But for decades, American readers got a bleaker version, ending just as Alex reverts to his violent ways. Even Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film adaptation left that final chapter out. Set in the gritty chaos of early '90s New York, The Stalker introduces us to Robert Doughten Savile, known as 'Doughty' to those unfortunate enough to know him. Doughty's a privileged dropout from Darien, Connecticut, coasting on ego and delusions of grandeur while sinking ever deeper into the city's underbelly. He cons his way into the lives and homes of women who mistake his empty confidence for charm. He gaslights, manipulates, and lies with ease. While pretending to be a high-flying real estate mogul, Doughty is actually spending his days smoking in Tompkins Square Park and hustling in train station bathrooms. What he lacks in self-awareness or skill, he makes up for in calculated predation. Bomer through her dark humour peels back the layers of privilege, misogyny, and narcissism. If you're a fan of unreliable narrators, The Stalker is a must-read. In Lolita, Nabokov hands the pen to a predator. Like any storyteller worth his salt, Humbert Humbert is free to drive the narrative as he wishes. He paints himself as a tragic romantic, a man cursed by an 'overwhelming love' for nymphets. He is never a predator, always a poet. He quotes Poe, rhapsodises about beauty, and drops literary allusions, luring us into his warped perspective, until it is too late and the reader complicit in his crime. He calls Dolores 'Lolita,' cloaking her in a fantasy and silence. He blames her for his obsession. Even his name, a pretentious doubling, hints towards his tendency to self-mythologise. He is an unreliable narrator, spinning child abuse as a grand passion while casually admitting to drugging Dolores, gaslighting her, and isolating her from the world. Here's the genius, one catches oneself listening and pitying him. Nabokov forces us to confront how monstrosity wears a charming mask. It also forces one to consider how art aestheticises evil.
Irish Times
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle: A brash novel about early 2000s New York that finds treasure in the trash
Aftertaste Author : Daria Lavelle ISBN-13 : 978-1526683946 Publisher : Bloomsbury Guideline Price : £16.99 Ukrainian-American Daria Lavelle's debut novel is a tale of love, loss and horror set against the freakish backdrop of Manhattan's dining scene. Kostya is a chef who can taste the food dead people desire, which he re-creates for ghosts to share with the ones that mourn them. As with many underworld ventures, things go amiss. Already, Aftertaste has summoned quite a stir, with a movie in the works. There's Stephen King in this novel's ancestry, in style as well as scares. Like King, Lavelle is unabashed that her prose can be clumsy and cliched – 'orgasmic eating experience', 'the perfect, crispy crackle of golden fried chicken skin'. What matters is momentum. Lavelle's writing pounds with bada-boom dialogue and the kind of adrenaline found in an over-heated kitchen during service. In the way she uses brands and celebrities as descriptors, Lavelle evokes Bret Easton Ellis in American Psycho. About one Russian kingpin, she writes: 'While his accent was goofy, all Rocky and Bullwinkle … his face was early-era Brad Pitt, the rest of him in an Armani underwear ad, his confidence reeking with too much cologne.' Just as Ellis never escapes the 1980s, Lavelle's New York, although purportedly present-day, is mired in the early aughts. Macho chefs and hidden speakeasies abound; the East Village is still cool, and Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential very much alive. There's a banquet featuring ingredients that once upon a time might have induced gasps – the endangered songbird ortolan, the potentially lethal fugu fish. Kostya's love interest Maura is by-the-book retro, a manic-pixie dream girl with purple hair. READ MORE Is Afterlife sometimes sloppy and occasionally bad? Perhaps, but to read it is a rush. Besides, one should be suspicious of someone who disdains all junk, be it a McDonald's French fry or Real Housewives marathon. As an elegy to a city where garbage and greatness go hand in hand, it's only appropriate to find a little trash in Aftertaste's soul.
