Sundance Channel

“The New York Times Magazine Photographs” goes beyond celebrity

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Celebrity portraiture can seem like an easy way for a photographer to make a buck, and maybe that's what makes it so challenging - to do something new and exciting in such well-trodden territory. Kathy Ryan, the director of photography at The New York Times Magazine, is such an avid proponent of the "good" celebrity portrait that she wrote a book on the subject, "The New York Times Magazine Photographs," a "wonderfully heavy" tome out next month, the result of six years of research poring through 1,700 issues of the magazine.

James Franco is a drag

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:56:13 +0000

Check out these photos of (dilettante?) actor James Franco taken by Terry Richardson.

The Five Worst Celebrity Interviews

Michael Musto — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:02:59 +0000

Interviewing movie stars is an Olympic-caliber game whereby you gently toss questions at them and they volley back by delivering succinct, crisp sayings that are informative, funny, and make great copy too. Alas, that doesn’t always happen and you sometimes feel like you’re engaged in a battle of wits with a half armed opponent. Not me, mind you. My interviews have always been sheer perfection, cough cough. But a friend of mine who’s a longtime reporter has had some awkward star encounters that left his tape recorder metaphorically burning, and he anonymously agreed to share them with me. His five worst have been:

Snap! An infamous lensman gets his close-up

Amy Reiter — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:25:31 +0000

SMASH HIS CAMERS, directed by Leon Gast, Oscar-winning director of WHEN WE WERE KINGS

I suppose it's a mark of where celebrity journalism and gossip are today that paparazzo Ron Galella is finally getting the star treatment. For decades, Galella lurked in bushes and staked out buildings, hunkered down in taxis and emerged seemingly out of nowhere to get his shot of celebrities like Sinatra and Warhol, Sophia and Bianca, Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Sundance founder Robert Redford himself. Jackie O, whom he considered his "Mona Lisa," took out a restraining order against him. Brando broke his jaw. Now, Leon Gast, the Oscar-winning director of WHEN WE WERE KINGS, has focused his own cameras on the infamous lensman in his new documentary, SMASH HIS CAMERA, currently showing at the Sundance Film Festival.

“Paparazzo superstar” or psycho stalker?

Dennis Lim — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:10:27 +0000

SMASH HIS CAMERA, directed by Leon Gast

One of two documentaries about paparazzi culture at the Sundance Film Festival this year — the other is Adrian Grenier’s TEENAGE PAPARAZZO — Leon Gast’s SMASH HIS CAMERA traces the colorful career of Ron Galella, “paparazzo superstar” (as he calls himself). Among the first and by far the most notorious of stalker photographers, Galella played a years-long cat-and-mouse game with Jackie Kennedy and earned a restraining order for his efforts. Once he got too close to Marlon Brando, who rewarded him with a fist in the face. Now in his late 70s, Galella fondly revisits these old war stories in SMASH HIS CAMERA, which also follows the still-active photographer on a few excursions from suburban New Jersey to Manhattan high society. He worms his way up to Robert Redford at a charity event and hands him a copy of his new book (needless to say, this got plenty of laughs at Sundance). He barges onto the red carpet of the CHANGELING premiere to get a good look at Brangelina. Various experts — curators, photographers, lawyers, gossip writers — weigh in on the merits and ethics of Galella’s work (there’s widespread disagreement).

FROM PARIS TO PRECIOUS (aka PUSH): Sundance switches gears

Paula Froelich — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:53:18 +0000

Main Street in Park City, UT during the Sundance Film Festival. I have two words for you: Lyle Lovett. My Mason-Dixon reared soul is all a flutter over this year’s Sundance Film Festival. I will be honest: I haven’t gone to Sundance in four years. I used to cover it when I was the deputy editor for Page Six at the New York Post. For a gossip columnist, it was like shooting ducks in a barrel. Celebrities abounded, bad behavior - thanks to alcohol consumption, high altitudes and a distinct lack of spousal companionship - was everywhere, and I was in heaven. I would see some great movies, interview some actors, and then go to premiere and agency parties, collecting information all along the way. It was fun and I got some good work done. Until 2006.

Actors re-enact iconic roles

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:58:32 +0000

Empire Magazine celebrated their 20th birthday with a special photo collection of leading actors re-creating some of their more famous and iconic roles. This Mel Gibson one is pretty great. [Via]

Naked Levi Johnston Is Not Alone

Michael Musto — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:38:19 +0000

Sarah Palin’s worst nightmare, Levi Johnston, just did his Playgirl shoot, flaunting some of his body parts as unselfconsciously as he tried to show the world the flaws in Palin’s family values. The ex of Palin’s daughter Bristol, Levi’s the one who earlier this year carried out a p.r. campaign labeling Palin a hypocrite and an opportunist who stepped down as Alaska Governor partly because she could make more cash on the lecture circuit. And where does Levi go from there? Making more cash on the nude magazine circuit! Tacky? Maybe, but it was an inevitable step on the road to reality shows and Seth Rogen movies. And Levi will be thrilled to know that the history of celebrity nudity and semi-nudity reveals that he’s in really good company.

Artists homage to Michael Jackson

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:13:30 +0000

Web Designer Depot is compiling a collection of Michael Jackson tributes created by various artists and designers from around the Web. Your mileage may vary with some of the results, but what is clear is that the King of Pop's impact reverberated far beyond simply the world of music.